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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
VENEZUELA QUAKE – CASUALTIES
At least 235 people were killed and 4,300 injured after two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela Wednesday evening, officials said Thursday. The death toll is expected to rise as thousands remain missing, Megan Janetsky, Andry Rincón, and Juan Pablo Arraez report for AP.
A missing-person website shared by opposition leaders listed 49,500 people as unaccounted for. Jonathan Wolfe reports for the New York Times; Vivian Sequera, Mayela Armas, and Tibisay Romero report for Reuters.
VENEZUELA QUAKE – U.S. RESPONSE
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 60, authorizing Venezuela earthquake-relief transactions that would otherwise be barred by U.S. sanctions through Oct. 23. The license also allows U.S. financial institutions and money transmitters to process third-country funds transfers supporting relief transactions, but does not unblock frozen property or authorize activity barred by other sanctions authorities. Reuters reports.
The United States is mobilizing $150 million for Venezuela earthquake relief, including $50 million in new partner awards and $100 million for a U.N. pooled fund, the State Department said in a press release. The department said it is deploying a regional disaster response team, two urban search-and-rescue teams from Fairfax County and Los Angeles County, and military logistics support to move personnel, equipment, and aid into affected areas. Reuters reports.
U.S. Southern Command is “surging” military support for the relief operation, including two Navy ships and transport, reconnaissance, and rotary-wing aircraft, SOUTHCOM confirmed in a series of press releases Thursday. SOUTHCOM said Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Jarrard has arrived in Caracas as its senior official on the ground, and that U.S. forces will help move response personnel, search-and-rescue teams, equipment, and humanitarian assistance after interim Venezuelan authorities formally requested U.S. support. Filip Timotija reports for The Hill; ABC reports.
At least two U.S. urban search-and-rescue teams have deployed to Venezuela as part of the federal response. Los Angeles County’s USA-2 team includes 71 members, six canine teams, and about 84,000 pounds of equipment, and will work alongside Fairfax County’s USA-1 team to locate and rescue survivors trapped in collapsed structures. Shannon Kingston reports for ABC News; Madison Weil reports for ABC7 Los Angeles; Qasim Nauman reports for the New York Times.
VENEZUELA QUAKE – INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
International support for Venezuela has begun to span cash assistance, rescue teams, medical supplies, search dogs, equipment, field-hospital support, and food aid. The U.N. humanitarian office said it is coordinating international urban search-and-rescue deployments, while Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, France, Spain, Italy, El Salvador, the Vatican, and World Central Kitchen announced or began relief efforts. Reuters reports.
Mexico was the latest country to send rescue teams to Venezuela, with specialists and search dogs arriving Friday to help locate people trapped under collapsed structures. Francesca Regalado reports for the New York Times.
China said its government and the Red Cross Society of China will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Venezuela. Pei-Lin Wu reports for the New York Times.
IRAN WAR
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Friday that the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding provides for IAEA supervision of Iran’s nuclear material and facilities, and that inspections would be necessary, as Washington and Tehran dispute what the interim deal requires. Grossi said technical work on IAEA access has started, while talks with Tehran over its uranium stockpile remain at an early stage, adding that a “very strong” verification system is needed. AFP and CNBC report.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have taken different public tones on Israel and the preliminary U.S.-Iran deal, with Vance criticizing Israeli actions he said undermine peace efforts and Rubio defending Israel’s Lebanon campaign as a response to Hezbollah attacks, Reuters reports. The White House and State Department denied any policy split, saying the administration remains aligned behind President Trump. Gram Slattery reports.
Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after a nearly four-month halt, shipping data showed. Two Saudi-controlled supertankers were loading crude and another was waiting nearby, as regional producers moved to restore exports following the preliminary U.S.-Iran deal. Florence Tan and Siyi Liu report for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – STRAIT OF HORMUZ TENSIONS
Two senior U.S. officials said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck the Singapore-flagged cargo ship Ever Lovely with a one-way attack drone near Oman on Thursday, damaging the ship’s bridge but causing no casualties, the Wall Street Journal reports. The ship, owned by Evergreen Marine Asia and traveling from Umm Qasr, Iraq, to Singapore, was hit hours after Iran warned vessels not to use routes through the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran had not approved. Shelby Holliday and Rebecca Feng report.
CNN separately reported that a U.S. official said the vessel was hit in an Iranian drone attack, without providing further details. Iran has not claimed responsibility. Mohammed Tawfeeq, Zachary Cohen, and Jessie Yeung report.
In response, the U.N.’s shipping agency paused its Strait of Hormuz evacuation operation, saying the targeted vessel had passed through the strait but “did not transit under” the agency’s “evacuation framework.” International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the pause is meant to reconfirm safety guarantees, while Reuters reports that 57 ships carrying about 1,100 seafarers had used the evacuation plan from Jun. 23 to the morning of Jun. 25.
Iran is seeking to charge for security, safety, and environmental services in the Strait of Hormuz, estimating the plan could generate $40 billion a year for participating states, officials told the Wall Street Journal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected the idea during his Gulf tour, saying no country has the right to charge for use of international waterways. Benoit Faucon, Summer Said, Costas Paris, and Robbie Gramer report.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man inside his home in Sarta in the occupied West Bank, a relative said Thursday. The Israeli military confirmed the shooting and said the man had thrown objects at troops. The Palestinian Health Ministry said his death brings the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year to 72. Aref Tufaha reports for AP.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
The EU disbursed the first 3 billion-euro tranche of a 90 billion-euro loan to Ukraine as European leaders opened a reconstruction conference in Gdansk. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said another 6 billion euros for drone production will follow in the coming days, while European leaders launched an equity fund to support strategic Ukrainian sectors. Claudia Ciobanu reports for AP.
Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones overnight across 12 Russian regions, occupied Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday. The barrage appeared to be one of Ukraine’s largest drone attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion, coming after Zelenskyy ordered what he called a “40-day influence operation” to pressure Moscow into ending the war. AP reports.
Zelenskyy said Russia is moving significant air-defense assets to protect Moscow, Valdai, and the Kerch Bridge after Ukrainian long-range drone strikes deep inside Russia. His claims could not be independently verified and Russian officials did not immediately comment. Illia Novikov reports for AP.
SOUTH KOREA
A Seoul court sentenced Kim Keon Hee, wife of ousted former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, to seven years in prison Friday after convicting her of taking luxury gifts from businesspeople and others seeking favors. The court ordered confiscation of gifts including a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, a Tiffany brooch, a Dior handbag, a gold-turtle case, and a Lee Ufan painting; Kim denies the gifts were tied to favors and plans to appeal. Kim Tong-Hyung reports for AP.
South Korea said it will train 500,000 “drone warriors” and deploy tens of thousands of unmanned systems across frontline units to counter North Korea. The defense ministry said it plans about 60,000 drones by 2029, including about 11,000 in 2026, alongside laser, high-power microwave, AI swarm, and loitering-munition systems. Kyu-Seok Shim and Heejin Kim report for Reuters.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Afghanistan’s Taliban government ordered a nationwide ban on smartphone use by civil servants, including judges and officials in military and civilian institutions, effective Jun. 16, according to a military court order seen by Reuters. The order says violators’ phones will be smashed and they may face legal punishment, while rights advocates warned the ban could further restrict access to information. Mohammad Yunus Yawar reports.
NATO allies will announce tens of billions of dollars in new defense-related deals at next month’s Ankara summit, including major arms contracts and weapons-production commitments, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday and diplomats told POLITICO. Draft summit language also reaffirms Article 5, identifies Russia as a long-term threat, pledges substantial military support for Ukraine, and may call on Iran to uphold freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Rutte said the summit will underscore allies’ path toward a 5 percent of GDP defense-spending target by 2035 and send Putin a message that NATO will defend itself. Reuters reports; Laura Kayali and Victor Jack report for POLITICO.
President Xi Jinping said China is willing to establish a security partnership with Cambodia during a meeting with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen in Beijing, Chinese state media reported. Xi said Beijing supports Cambodia’s sovereignty and security and wants to raise strategic mutual trust, Reuters reports.
A British police force built a sprawling crime-prediction system that used sensitive data to score adults and children for risks including exploitation, offending, going missing, and domestic abuse victimization, WIRED reports. The force, Avon and Somerset Police in southwest England, developed at least 23 predictive analytics models using police, housing, mental health, pregnancy, and school meal records; documents obtained by WIRED show two child-exploitation models were dropped after officials said they could no longer trust them, while reviewers found poor predictive performance and transparency gaps as the U.K. launches PoliceAI to expand AI tools across 43 police forces. Matt Burgess and Mark Wilding report.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw weapons tests Thursday and called for a more “deadly and destructive” military posture, state media said. The tests included upgraded 240-mm multiple rocket launchers, tactical ballistic missiles, a 155-mm self-propelled howitzer, and a special-mission warhead, with North Korea saying the systems could target airfields, ports, power facilities, and southern border defenses. Reuters and AP report.
Shiite Muslims marked Ashoura Friday in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere, with this year’s commemorations shaped by the fallout from the U.S.-Israel-Iran war and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing. In Lebanon, mourners gathered near Hassan Nasrallah’s shrine and in damaged Nabatiyeh, where AP journalists reported nearby Israeli strikes during the commemoration. Fadi Tawil and Abby Sewell report for AP; Mariam Fam reports for AP.
TECHNOLOGY
OpenAI will initially release its newest general-use model, GPT-5.6, only to a small group of U.S. organizations approved by the Trump administration, two people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. OpenAI changed course after a White House request, amid developing federal review procedures for advanced AI models. Cheyenne Haslett reports.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Damascus is pressing the Trump administration to remove Syria from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and POLITICO’s NatSec Daily reports it viewed texts from a U.S. official saying the designation would be lifted by the end of summer. The State Department said President Trump’s ordered review remains ongoing with no timeline, and neither State nor the White House confirmed the texts. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) separately said he has Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s support for ending the remaining Syria sanctions. Daniella Cheslow and Jerry Wu report.
NATO allies are trying to show Washington they can defend the alliance’s Arctic flank, but major gaps remain in icebreakers, submarines, drones, satellites, and surveillance capacity, Reuters reports. The effort comes as Russia expands its northern military posture, including around the Kola Peninsula, which hosts roughly two-thirds of Russia’s second-strike nuclear capabilities. Gwladys Fouche, Stine Jacobsen, Lili Bayer, and Sabine Siebold report.
U.S. ARMS DEALS
The State Department approved a potential $250 million sale of F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft training and related equipment to Australia. Costas Pitas and Ismail Shakil report for Reuters.
The Trump administration formally notified Congress of its intent to sell more than $700 million in General Electric jet engines to Turkey for Ankara’s KAAN combat-jet project, Reuters reports. The move faces objections from Democratic lawmakers over Turkey’s Russian S-400 air defense systems, and Congress has 15 days to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval. Humeyra Pamuk reports.
State Department East Asia official Michael DeSombre told lawmakers Thursday that a pending Taiwan arms-sale notification does not depend on talks with China, despite Trump previously describing the package as a “bargaining chip.” DeSombre said the longstanding Six Assurances still guide U.S. policy, though he gave no timeline for a decision. Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom report for Reuters.
IMMIGRATION
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, reversed district-court orders that had allowed Syrian and Haitian Temporary Protected Status holders to keep their status while their lawsuits continued, holding that the TPS statute bars review of their APA claims. The Court also held that the Haitian plaintiffs were not likely to succeed on their equal protection claim, allowing DHS’s terminations of Syria’s and Haiti’s TPS designations to take effect while the litigation proceeds. Justice Thomas concurred, and Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. Josh Gerstein and Gary Fineout report for POLITICO.
The Justices, in a 6-3 decision, reversed the Ninth Circuit and held that asylum seekers standing in Mexico have not “arriv[ed] in the United States” under the INA, meaning the statute neither entitles them to apply for asylum nor requires inspection before they cross the border. The ruling clears the way for the government to use “metering” at U.S.-Mexico ports of entry, a practice of limiting how many asylum seekers CBP processes each day, despite the challenged policy having been rescinded in 2021. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO.
The DHS inspector general announced two reviews of ICE detention, one examining rising detainee deaths and another assessing use-of-force standards. The deaths review will examine whether systemic factors, policies, or processes contributed to detainee deaths from Oct. 1, 2021, through Mar. 31, 2026. Laura Strickler reports for NBC News.
Florida’s Everglades immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” has closed, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday, after officials transferred all detainees elsewhere and cited hurricane-season safety risks. DeSantis said 21,000 people were deported through the temporary site, while immigrant and environmental advocates said the closure does not resolve alleged harms or environmental damage. Jeffrey Collins reports for AP.
A Tennessee judge temporarily barred the state health department from sharing information about roughly 400 seriously ill or disabled immigrant children enrolled in a medical assistance program with state immigration authorities. The order followed a lawsuit by Nashville doctors challenging a new state law requiring agencies to check immigration status before residents receive public benefits; a hearing is set for Jul. 2. Kristin M. Hall reports for AP.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Former national security adviser John Bolton is expected to plead guilty Friday to illegally retaining classified information in notes compiled for his memoir, people familiar with the plea deal told the New York Times. The agreement would resolve an 18-count indictment alleging Bolton shared more than 1,000 pages of notes containing national defense information with family members who lacked security clearances; Aishvarya Kavi and Devlin Barrett report.
National Guard troops and mobile surveillance cameras are stationed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after President Trump blamed vandals for problems with the newly repainted blue basin, Reuters reports. The Interior Department said six people have been arrested and seven cited, but Reuters reports no evidence has emerged to support Trump’s claim that a vandal cut a 350-foot gash in the pool, and agencies have not disclosed names or charges. Andrew Goudsward reports.
The DEA asked the Justice Department’s internal watchdog to investigate whistleblower claims that agents allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach New Mexico streets while monitoring shipments to build larger cases. The request follows an AP investigation citing current and former agents and government records, and comes after New Mexico’s governor asked the state attorney general to examine whether the DEA’s actions violated state law. Jim Mustian reports for AP.
A federal magistrate judge ordered Elon Musk to testify under oath in two proposed class actions alleging he and America PAC misled swing-state voters before the 2024 election with a $1 million-a-day giveaway. The judge also recommended allowing one fraud claim to proceed over whether voters were tricked into providing personal identifying information, while recommending dismissal of a related contract claim. Jonathan Stempel reports for Reuters.
Members of the House Oversight Committee have discussed subpoenas to obtain testimony about confidential settlements between some of Jeffrey Epstein’s friends and accusers, according to people with knowledge of the agreements. The settlements reportedly include NDAs barring accusers from speaking publicly, while subpoenas could compel testimony as the committee investigates DOJ’s handling of Epstein-related cases. Jacob Shamsian reports for POLITICO.
Manhattan prosecutors moved to drop a third-degree rape charge against Harvey Weinstein after accuser Jessica Mann said she did not want to testify in what would have been a fourth trial. Prosecutors also asked the court to sentence Weinstein to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley. Jack Queen reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
President Trump nominated Chris Klomp, chief counselor at the Department of Health and Human Services, to serve as the department’s deputy secretary. Carmen Paun reports for POLITICO.
Trump is expected to nominate FCC general counsel Adam Candeub to lead the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, a source told Reuters. Candeub, a former Trump Commerce and Justice Department official and author of Project 2025’s FTC chapter, would succeed acting antitrust chief Omeed Assefi, who is expected to step down. Jody Godoy reports.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host a July 15 summit with representatives from more than 60 countries to discuss countering political violence, a State Department official told Reuters. The planned “ministerial on resurgence of political terrorism” follows Trump’s May counterterrorism strategy targeting violent political groups, including those the White House described as anti-American, “radically transgender,” or anarchist. Steve Holland reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Justice Department must by Jul. 2 either produce or justify withholding sender, recipient, and potential co-conspirator names redacted from specified Epstein-related emails and DOJ documents, plus underlying FBI interview notes for four FD-302 reports, a federal judge ordered Thursday. Granting journalist Katie Phang’s APA preliminary-injunction motion, the court found she likely had standing based on informational and economic injuries and treated DOJ’s failure to answer her Epstein Files Transparency Act merits arguments as conceded. DOJ must also begin review and production of potentially responsive foreign-language materials, notify the court and parties, and either publish the Act’s Federal Register redaction log or show cause why it cannot. James Hill and Peter Charalambous report for ABC News; Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
Federal agencies must permanently stop enforcing key provisions of President Trump’s election executive order for the Nov. 3, 2026 general election and any earlier federal elections in plaintiff states, a federal judge ordered Thursday. The court declared legally void provisions directing DHS to compile state citizenship lists and USPS to maintain mail-in and absentee participation lists and refuse ballot delivery to voters not on them, holding that the provisions exceeded presidential authority and violated separation-of-powers principles. The order also treats the five-year election-record retention provision as a nonbinding recommendation and requires defendants to file a compliance status report within seven days. Nate Raymond and David Shepardson report for Reuters.
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ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security
When Warning Loses to Permission: Iran, Trump, and the Misapplied Label of “Intelligence Failure”
By Brian O’Neill
