TFI Daily News

A Dangerous Limbo Leaves Iran, and the World, Between Peace and War (NYT) In just the past five days, the United States and Iran traded missile strikes after the downing of an American helicopter; Israel bombarded Lebanon, drawing retaliation from Iran; and the Iran-backed Houthis joined the reprisal from Yemen. Then in a matter of hours on Thursday, President Trump called off another major attack on Iran and again held out the prospect of a peace accord, which Iran downplayed. In the two months since the U.S. and Iran nominally declared a cease-fire, the line between peace and war has been all but erased across the Middle East, with attacks and counterattacks alongside promises to end the hostilities that never quite materialize. It is less a cease-fire than a “lesser fire,” in the words of the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres. Even if the combatants manage to get a framework for a deal this time, this gray zone of “neither war nor peace” may persist for weeks or months, analysts and diplomats say. Such a stalemate would consign the Middle East to a purgatory of sporadic violence and constant anxiety. And it would force the rest of the world to confront a stark new economic reality. Long-term disruption of oil and gas shipments would ripple into global supply chains, causing food shortages and driving up prices at the fuel pump and in grocery stores.

Elon Musk Becomes World’s First Trillionaire on SpaceX’s First Day of Trading (NYT) SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and artificial intelligence company, capped the biggest-ever initial public offering by rising 20 percent in its trading debut on Friday, turning the world’s richest man into the first trillionaire and setting the stage for fast-growing A.I. companies to reach the stock market in a once-in-a-lifetime bonanza. The pop in SpaceX’s share price also catapulted Mr. Musk, 54, to trillionaire status. The entrepreneur, who not only leads SpaceX but also runs the electric carmaker Tesla and other businesses, has long been the planet’s wealthiest person. But passing the trillionaire milestone is significant, further augmenting Mr. Musk’s fortune and influence. In recent weeks, SpaceX, which has contracts with NASA and other federal agencies, has also faced questions about its business, including its spending and how it can justify its valuation. In its I.P.O. prospectus, the company reported that it had lost more than $4.9 billion last year.

Tornadoes in Illinois and Indiana leave residents grappling with damage (AP) Residents in tornado-ravaged areas in Illinois and Indiana were grappling with the damage to their homes and neighborhoods on Friday, after the strong line of storms barreled through communities south of Chicago and left trails of destruction. Thursday’s storms ripped roofs off of buildings, flattened homes, brought down scores of trees and power lines and caused hundreds of thousands of power outages and major air traffic disruptions. Officials said there were no reports of deaths or life-threatening injuries, though there were several people treated for minor injuries.

Once beset by power outages, Puerto Ricans also hit with severe water shortages (AP) Thousands of Puerto Ricans are struggling with water shortages so severe that the governor of the U.S. territory has activated the National Guard and emergency responders are fielding calls every day. Officials have not publicly pinpointed the cause, with shortages largely affecting some areas in the island’s most populated cities, including the capital San Juan. Residents are being forced to buy potable water, spend money at laundromats and haul heavy buckets up several flights of stairs to wash dishes, flush toilets and take showers. The elderly and disabled struggle the most, with community leaders noting that some have been hospitalized as water shortages persist.

Pope Leo had to catch a ride from the king of Spain after plane’s engine failed (Washington Post) For Pope Leo XIV, it pays to have friends in high places—even earthly ones. Shortly after Leo closed his seven-day trip to Spain on Friday with an outdoor Mass in the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, he arrived on board his chartered Iberia flight back to Rome. A few moments later, a dejected captain announced a system failure on board, and in no time, Spain’s King Filipe VI, who has been shadowing the first U.S.-born pontiff, boarded the plane and personally whisked Leo off as journalists in the back gaped. Soon, the Vatican put out a statement saying the king had offered Leo the services of his private Falcon jet for a flight to Rome—which Leo accepted.

Donald Trump’s son-in-law accidentally sparked an Albanian uprising (Politico) When Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner decided to invest in a luxury holiday development on Albania’s idyllic southern coast, he probably didn’t count on provoking a national uprising. But Albanians, it turns out, weren’t crazy about wealthy foreign investors concreting over their natural treasures to build hotels for wealthy foreign holidaymakers. The proposed 10,000-bed resort near a protected wildlife area that’s home to flamingos, turtles and one of Europe’s most pristine river deltas ignited perhaps the biggest popular demonstrations since the small Balkan country abandoned communism more than three decades ago. Within two weeks the “flamingo revolution,” as it’s become known, has grown from a narrow environmental protest into a nationwide campaign directed at Albania’s entire ruling class. Years of perceived government corruption, unchecked tourism, frustration over Albania’s economic development (it’s one of Europe’s poorest countries) and a general perception that the nation is being run for the wealthy few rather than the general population, have tipped many Albanians over the edge. Demonstrators are now calling for the resignation and even imprisonment of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

EU agrees to launch membership talks with Ukraine next week even as war with Russia drags on (AP) European Union nations agreed on Friday to open membership talks with Ukraine next week, officially launching the process for the war-torn country to eventually join the world’s biggest trading bloc. At a meeting in Brussels, ambassadors from the 27 EU nations decided to officially open negotiations with Ukraine as well as with Moldova, which Russia has also tried to drag back into its orbit, on Monday in Luxembourg. Ukraine sees EU membership as an important “security guarantee” for a stable future once war with Russia ends.

What Happens to an Economy When It’s Too Hot to Work? (Bloomberg) In the scorching heat of Kanpur, the center of India’s leather industry, workers move slowly and deliberately as temperatures hit 46C (115F). AKI Chief Executive Officer Asad K. Iraqi has his 100 workers drink oral rehydration salts solution twice a day, and he recently invested in additional cooling systems. But it’s not enough. Some workers are falling sick, while others are returning to their villages. “My productivity is down 40%,” Iraqi says, his brow glistening with sweat. “Workers can’t survive in this heat without proper hydration and cooling.” It’s a scene playing out across India as summers become increasingly unlivable. “The impact of heat is like death by a thousand cuts,” says Aditya Valiathan Pillai, a visiting fellow at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative think tank in New Delhi who researches climate adaptation, citing the hit to productivity. India is emerging as one of the clearest examples of how extreme heat can become a structural economic constraint, particularly for developing economies dependent on physical labor. Lost labor from rising heat and humidity could jeopardize 2.5% to 4.5% of India’s gross domestic product by 2030.

China and Myanmar detain U.S. citizens in separate incidents, sparking alarm (Washington Post) China on Friday said it had arrested a U.S. citizen who researched Myanmar politics and accused him of espionage. In a separate incident, on Thursday, authorities in Myanmar detained an American businessman who ran a security consultancy there, according to people who were briefed on the incident. Min Zin, who was arrested in China, and Adam Castillo, who was detained in Myanmar, are well known among diplomats, journalists and analysts interested in Myanmar’s political situation. Both also have been vocal commentators on China’s growing influence on Myanmar’s civil war, and they traveled periodically to Washington to share their views with policymakers and legislators. News of the detentions has spread panic among the community of people focused on Myanmar. Saw Zin Maung Soe, founder of the nonprofit CAN-Myanmar, said, “While we already know [the Chinese] don’t tolerate issues regarding Tibet, Uyghurs or Tiananmen Square, we now have to question whether ‘Myanmar’ has also become part of that list.”

Syria is an unexpected beneficiary of the Gulf war (Economist) These days the 860km-long road from Ramadi in Iraq to western Syria is lined with lorries heaving with oil. They rumble past ancient ruins and deserted villages before emptying their tanks at the Baniyas terminal on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. They then return to Iraq to fill up and make the journey again. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz means the oil giants of the Middle East are scrambling for new routes to get their product to global markets. Iraq, which is the world’s sixth-largest producer, has been searching for a way to shift its 4m barrels of oil a day. The current answer is Syria. Iraq’s state firm in charge of oil exports, SOMO, has given three firms the job of trucking 650,000 tonnes of oil per month out of the country. The Syrian route is shorter than those through Jordan or Turkey, and takes the oil straight to the Mediterranean. Syria provides police escorts for the thousand-odd lorries a day, receives a transit fee, and the remainder goes to the Syrian Petroleum Company, a new state-backed firm, whose subsidiaries manage the storage and pumping of oil onto tankers at Baniyas. With Hormuz blocked, Syria could become a key transit hub, making it a rare beneficiary of the Iran war.

El Niño is officially here, bringing domino weather effects across the planet (Washington Post) El Niño is here, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A chain-reaction process in the atmosphere is underway and will influence global weather patterns in the months ahead. And this installment of El Niño looks to be particularly intense and could develop into a highly anticipated super El Niño. Unlike a storm that suddenly hits your town, El Niño’s influence on the global climate will gradually build in the months ahead. Drought is likely in southern Africa, Australia, India, the Indochina peninsula and Oceania. Southeast Asia, meanwhile, could see above-average rainfall and more flooding. And in the United States, a stronger, straighter west-to-east wintertime jet stream is expected over the southern part of the country. That will mean wetter conditions and more severe weather along the Gulf Coast, but drier and warmer conditions to the north. That could lead to a less intense winter across northern parts of the Lower 48.

World Bank Says Two-Thirds of Economies Face Hit From Iran War (Bloomberg) The decision by US President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wage a surprise war on Iran, and the global energy crisis triggered by its retaliation, has damaged two-thirds of the world’s economies. This from the World Bank, which on Thursday cut its outlook for growth in part because of the war’s disruption of commodity flows and rising import costs. The global economy will expand 2.5% in 2026, it said, the slowest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic caused a global recession in 2020. “This is the biggest supply shock in more than 50 years,” said Chief Economist Indermit Gill. “If the conflict persists, the next thing that will be affected is food prices.” The bank said risks to its outlook are skewed to the downside. Global growth could fall to 1.3% this year if “energy supply disruptions prove more severe than assumed and are accompanied by substantial financial stress.”

Trump Isn’t Giving Up on His Slush Fund (The Atlantic) Despite insisting that a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund has been scrapped, the administration is quietly assuring allies that payout plans remain on track. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recently asked Congress to take him at his word that President Trump’s project for rewarding those who were allegedly victimized by the Biden-era Justice Department had truly been abandoned. (Although Blanche refused requests from a representative to put that in writing.) Behind the scenes, Justice Department and other Trump-administration officials have quietly assured allies that plans for some form of payout remain on track. I spoke with eight people familiar with the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund—including current and former Justice Department officials, current and former members of Congress, a defense attorney, and political operatives close to the administration. All said that Justice Department officials and people close to the White House have indicated that the payout idea has not actually been scrapped.

U.S. Plan Is Said to Pull a Third of Fighter Jets It Provides NATO for Europe (NYT) The United States plans to significantly reduce the aircraft and warships that it makes available for NATO operations in Europe, according to two senior European officials, accelerating America’s effort to scale down the protection it has offered to European allies for eight decades. The decision would limit NATO’s ability to launch long-range strikes and conduct surveillance. It was communicated to allies in early June in a written document, parts of which were reviewed by The New York Times. The European officials, who were briefed on the decision, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely about sensitive military plans. The Pentagon has not yet publicly revealed the timeline for the drawdown but American officials have indicated it will take effect very soon—far earlier than European counterparts had been preparing for.

Argentina’s inflation slows to 8-month low in a boost for President Milei (AP) Argentina’s inflation slowed for the second straight month in May, economic data released Thursday showed, providing some welcome news for President Javier Milei after almost a year of stubbornly persistent price increases. Consumer prices rose 2.1% last month compared with April, the government statistics agency INDEC reported—a rate hailed by Economy Minister Luis Caputo as the lowest monthly level in eight months. But annual inflation rose marginally to 33.2% this May. Rising prices are squeezing households and fueling public frustration with Milei’s government as it grapples with a series of corruption scandals and struggles to respond to a slump in economic activity across the labor-intensive sectors of retail and manufacturing.

In the U.K., a Violent Cycle: Hateful Attacks, Right-Wing Agitation and Riots (NYT) The cycle of violence and right-wing agitation in Britain has become all too frightening and frequent. It can start with a stabbing, horrific in nature, that causes fear and anger. Condemnation from political leaders and law enforcement swiftly follows. But when the attacker is an immigrant or a person of color, a malign, distorted narrative often explodes onto the internet. Right-wing politicians and commentators seize on it to foment outrage in support of their anti-immigrant agenda, aided by social media algorithms that feed on conflict and division. Within hours, the anger they stoke online has jumped to the real world, setting off protests that become angry riots. There are pleas for calm and promises of action by government and law enforcement. But soon afterward, the cycle begins again.

Pope’s visit highlights migrants’ plight (BBC) Pope Leo has arrived in Gran Canaria as part of a two-day tour of the Canary Islands. Recognition and solidarity is the theme of the Pope’s visit, a clear counterpoint to the portrayal of migration in Europe by others as a crisis or invasion. In the southern port of Arguineguín—often used by migrants—Pope Leo stressed the need for alternative “legal and safe pathways” above all. He called on the “conscience of Europe” not to “grow accustomed” to its seas becoming unmarked graves or to a world where “so many risk death to seek life.” Bakary Jaiju sees himself as one of the lucky ones. First, his boat with around 160 people on board managed to evade naval patrols. Days later, they were rescued off the tiny Spanish island of El Hierro. He then spent three months in a migrant camp in Tenerife until he joined a project helping him to learn Spanish and find a way to stay on the island legally. The driving force behind that is Padre Pepe, a chatty parish priest in jeans and checked shirt. The Good Samaritan Foundation now offers accommodation and all kinds of workshops to about 170 young men. “The labour market could absorb all these people, there is huge demand,” the priest insists.

Ukraine hits fuel supplies to Crimea, sparking a fuel crisis on the Russian-held peninsula (AP) Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, depots and pipelines. Tanker trucks attacked and left ablaze along the land corridor from Russia to Crimea. Motorists waiting in long lines at gas stations. In a new blow to the Kremlin’s narrative that Moscow is winning the 4-year-old war in Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces have targeted supplies to Crimea, triggering the worst fuel crisis on the Black Sea peninsula since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. The persistent attacks reflect the growing intensity and efficiency of Ukraine’s drone strikes and have caught Russia off guard and struggling for a response.

Whipsawed Between Fear and Relief, Iranians Hope for War’s End (NYT) For days, Iranians have gone to bed hearing the sounds of explosions or reports that their country and the United States were trading fire. And then they have awakened to news that the attacks had concluded and negotiations for a peace deal were still ongoing. On Thursday, the pendulum again swung wildly—within a few hours. First, President Trump threatened to hit Iran “VERY HARD” and take over Kharg Island, Iran’s oil export hub. Then he abruptly canceled attacks because, he said, progress had been made in peace negotiations. Between the president’s two statements, Tehran’s armed forces had threatened retaliation against energy infrastructure in the region if attacked. For ordinary Iranians, the constant vacillation between fear and relief, anxiety and hope, has been emotionally taxing. In phone interviews and text messages, some said that they just wanted the war to end, one way or another. “They go to war at night, they stop the war by morning, it’s all ridiculous,” said Vahid, a 37-year-old resident of Tehran. “Either fight or don’t fight,” he added. “We are fed up.”

Israel deports French journalist over coverage critical of its policies in Gaza and the West Bank (AP) Israeli authorities on Thursday deported prominent French journalist Alice Froussard after she was refused entry upon landing at the country’s main international airport the day before, her employer and the Foreign Press Association in Israel said. Several Israeli media outlets quoted the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism as saying it recommended Froussard be denied entry for coverage that was critical of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank. In a post on X, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, celebrated her deportation. “I am pleased to announce that at this very moment, Alice Froussard, a French journalist who supports Hamas, and who claims that the October 7 massacre must be viewed ‘in context,’ is making her way from Ben Gurion Airport back to Paris,” he wrote. The Foreign Press Association, a nonprofit representing journalists who work for international outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories, called the allegations against Froussard “outrageous.” “This is not the first case in which the Israeli government decides that the journalist coverage is ‘one-sided,’” the FPA said in a statement. Press freedom groups have condemned Israel for its attacks on journalists since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed 259 media workers and journalists, mostly in Gaza but also in conflicts in Iran, Lebanon and Yemen, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit promoting press freedom worldwide.

First group of Nigerians returns home after anti-immigration protests in South Africa (AP) The first group of Nigerians returned home from South Africa on Thursday as part of repatriation ordered by the government following violent anti-immigration protests. A total of 262 passengers and three officials were on board the flight to Lagos, according to Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry earlier said over 1,000 Nigerians have registered for voluntary return. Authorities in South Africa said the returnees were found to be in the country illegally, contradicting Nigerian officials that they were fleeing xenophobic attacks. Nigeria is the latest African nation to organize such evacuation flights from South Africa. Since April, a series of anti-immigration protests have led to attacks against some foreigners. The protests highlight tensions between foreign workers and locals who claim foreigners are taking their jobs.

Trump calls off latest threats to strike Iran, citing a breakthrough in talks to end the war (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, claiming a breakthrough in negotiations to end the war just hours after the American leader threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing control of Iran’s oil industry. Trump has said multiple times in recent weeks that the warring parties have been on the cusp of a deal without anything coming to fruition. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran.

White House Again Shrugs Off High Prices Amid War With Iran (NYT) Prices jumped in May for the third straight month, leaving U.S. families and businesses to suffer the sting from the war with Iran. And for the third time, the White House largely shrugged off the news, insisting that the problem was temporary—and that President Trump’s agenda was working. “No, I love it, the numbers were great,” the president told reporters on Wednesday. “I love the inflation.” It was a familiar pattern, one that appeared to underscore the widening chasm between Mr. Trump and the majority of Americans who say they are frustrated with the direction of the economy.

$60M and 7 federal agencies required to stage Trump’s UFC fight at White House (AP) President Donald Trump’s planned UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn has required a monumental effort from more than seven federal agencies, hundreds of staff working onsite daily and at least $60 million, according to a legal filing that offers a glimpse into the preparations. The event is part of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and is scheduled for the weekend with the main attraction—seven mixed martial arts matches—on Sunday.

Mexico City installed a chandelier in its metro for the World Cup. Then came the crush of memes (AP) The sound of construction roared over the most memed metro station in Mexico City as workers hammered at marble floors under a chandelier and rows of lamps reminiscent of a scene from “Harry Potter” or “Titanic,” racing to finish ahead of the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony Thursday. Mexicans milling through the busy Hidalgo metro station pointed and laughed, occasionally snapping pictures of the face-lift that has become the subject of a cascade of internet memes. The cosmetic makeover that authorities have attempted to give the capital as visitors arrive from around the globe also has become a symbol of criticisms that the government is prioritizing its superficial appearance for World Cup fans over fixing critical structural issues that have long plagued the city. “People make fun of it because it’s a failed aesthetic, it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Silvia Escamilla, 28, who was hustling to work among a crowd of Mexican commuters. “All these renovations are like putting makeup on the city, because the infrastructure they could actually invest in just isn’t there.”

Pentagon’s Hegseth warns Cuba that arms procurement could invite confrontation (Reuters) On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth traveled to the U.S. naval base/prison/CIA black site on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. There, he warned Cuba’s government against procuring weapons which could be used against the U.S., even as the Trump administration has drummed up consent for a future invasion of the island nation. “It would be unwise of the government of Cuba to try to procure or get access to the types of weapons that could reach this base or the American homeland,” Hegseth said. “They would be inviting the kind of confrontation not only do they not want but ​they could not stand. No country on Earth can match the capabilities of the United States of America.” The state of Cuba’s economy has become increasingly dire over the past few months, as Trump has maintained the U.S.’s economic sanctions on the island nation while also blocking it from importing fuel. The White House has threatened to slap steep tariffs on countries that sell oil or gas to Cuba, leading to endless power outages as the Cuban government struggles to keep the lights on.

Peru’s presidential runoff shows a razor-thin gap between candidates (AP) The gap between Peru’s two presidential candidates narrowed to less than 20,000 votes Tuesday with 96% of ballots counted after Sunday’s runoff contest. The winner will be the South American country’s ninth president in 10 years. Official figures showed nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez with 50.055% of votes, while conservative politician Keiko Fujimori had 49.945%. The electoral body has counted more than 17.8 million votes.

Only 11% of Europeans view US as ally, survey shows (Reuters) Only 11% of Europeans across 15 countries view the United States as an ally, a historic low and down from 16% half a year ​ago and 22% in November 2024, according to a survey published ‌by the European Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday. The findings, released ahead of G7 and NATO summits, highlight Europe’s waning confidence in Washington as a reliable security partner. Majorities in ​all surveyed countries expressed doubts that the U.S. would come to their ​defence in the event of an attack. Majorities in every country polled ​except Bulgaria ⁠thought U.S.-European relations would improve when U.S. President Donald Trump left office.

Europe shakes off innovation gloom (CSM) The handful of U.S. firms that dominate global tech and artificial intelligence has almost universal name recognition. And it’s quite widely known that they rely on semiconductors manufactured in East Asia, mainly Taiwan. But it’s safe to say that very, very few people realize that the world’s only maker of the complex lithography machines—used by Asian firms to fabricate the chips that power American tech advances—is headquartered in ... Europe. (The Netherlands, to be precise.) Not knowing this little factoid is about more than industry trivia. It points to long-standing, and not entirely merited, views of the continent as an economic has-been, held back by red tape, capital constraints, and innovation inertia. In fact, the European Union is making quiet, consistent progress in undoing both limiting perceptions and policies. “Europe is no musty backwater,” The Economist stated in April. “It has the talent, resources and incentive to lead. It should start to think, and act, like it.”

The War in Ukraine Has Now Gone On Longer Than World War I (NYT) The war in Ukraine has often been compared to World War I for its brutal infantry assaults and heavy casualties. Yet the idea that it could, by any measure, surpass a conflict so long and bloody that French soldiers hoped it would be “the last of the last” once seemed unthinkable. That is just what happened on Thursday. The war in Ukraine—which reached 1,569 days, or more than four years and three months—has now outlasted World War I. When President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sent his troops into Ukraine in February 2022, he believed the country would fall within days. After Ukraine pushed the Russians back and the conflict settled into a war of attrition, even many of those fighting could not imagine it would last this long. But the war has raged on, and, with peace talks stalled, it shows no sign of ending soon. Polls suggest that about half of Ukrainians believe it will not end before next year, which would push it closer to another threshold: the duration of World War II, which lasted six years.

Washington Is Testing Singapore’s Patience (Foreign Policy) One of the United States’ most important strategic partners in Southeast Asia—Singapore—is beginning to lose faith in the Trump administration. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, coupled with the acute energy crisis caused by his war against Iran and U.S. government pressure to force Singapore into even closer alignment, have severely frustrated Singaporean leaders. As Singapore seeks a stable place in an increasingly disorderly international system, this could result in a more diversified Singaporean foreign policy, including a more prominent role for China. Alienating Singapore would be an unforced error—and perhaps a significant one. The city-state sits on a small island strategically located on the vital Strait of Malacca that connects the Indian and Pacific oceans, and it serves as a de facto security ally of the United States. Singapore hosts and maintains U.S. warships at its Changi Naval Base and participates in a range of other military agreements, making it a potentially critical node of support to U.S. military forces defending Taiwan or addressing any number of other future contingencies throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Philippine town seeks immediate airlift of food to ease hunger in quake-hit villages (AP) The mayor of a southern Philippine town that was devastated by a powerful earthquake pleaded Thursday for helicopters to transport food to stave off hunger in several landslide-isolated villages. The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the Philippine archipelago in a half century, struck Monday off the southern province of Sarangani and has left at least 47 people dead and injured 688 with 31 still missing. More than 45,000 people remained displaced, about half in emergency shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 houses in farming towns and cities. Many were still too traumatized to return home due to aftershocks, provincial officials said.

Amnesty accuses Israel’s government of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians from the West Bank (AP) Amnesty International accused Israel on Wednesday of carrying out a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank with the intention to annex the Palestinian territory. The accusation came in a new, 149-page report alleging that the forced displacement of West Bank Palestinians resulted from a concerted state policy, and not just the actions of violent settlers. While much of the displacement is driven by settlers who build outposts on Palestinian land, the report asserts that the process could not occur without the support of the government. U.N. data says that over 100 West Bank villages have been fully or partially emptied out between January 2023 and April 2026. At the same time, the United Nations has tracked more than 7,280 instances of individual Palestinian displacement because of demolition of homes and structures by Israeli forces, a figure that includes people who were displaced more than once.

US launches a second day of strikes on Iran and Iran fires back at the Gulf states and Jordan (AP) The United States launched a second round of airstrikes on Iran into Thursday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations, and Iran responded with strikes targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. The new U.S. assault across multiple Iranian cities came as efforts to negotiate an end the war again appeared stuck. The American attack appeared more intense and wider than the day before, but Iran released little information on the extent of the damage. Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours because of the Thursday morning attack, but did not elaborate on any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area that is home to an air base hosting U.S. troops, though no one was hurt.

A Challenge in the U.S.-Iran Talks: Both Sides Demand Victory (NYT) For weeks, the parameters of a preliminary agreement to end the war between the United States and Iran have been clear to its negotiators. The hang-up? How to devise a deal so each side can claim a win. Washington and Tehran—both neither fully victorious nor completely defeated in the war—badly want a deal. But they also need something they can present as favorable to the hawks and hard-liners back home. Added to this fundamental dispute are the peculiarities of the two countries’ leaders. One of them is in hiding and slow to sign off on any proposal; the other is so unpredictable, his own envoys struggle to negotiate on his behalf. Unsuccessful efforts at devising this alchemy of wording have mired the two sides in a state of neither war nor peace. They have left the global economy in limbo, too, as both sides continue their blockades of the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Social Security at Risk for Cuts by 2032, Unless Congress Acts (NYT) The financial forecast for Social Security worsened this year, according to the annual financial report released on Tuesday by the program’s trustees. If Congress does not develop a plan to shore up the program, it will need to cut benefits for millions of Americans in just a little more than six years. Social Security’s deteriorating finances have long been thought of as a future problem—for another president, or another Congress, to resolve. But now, it is creeping ever closer because funds will run out before the end of the next president’s term. The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, which helps pay retiree and survivor benefits to more than 68 million beneficiaries, is now expected to run out of money at the end of 2032, one quarter earlier than projected last year. That means incoming revenue would be enough to pay only 78 percent of benefits, in other words, a reduction of 22 percent, according to the report.

Billionaires’ Billions Are Increasing Faster Than Ever (NYT) Fifteen years ago, the world’s billionaires collectively had $4.5 trillion. By 2024, their wealth had more than tripled to $14.2 trillion. Now, their combined wealth totals $20.1 trillion—an amount that is equivalent to nearly a fifth of the entire world’s total yearly output. The stunning figures—calculated by the French economist Gabriel Zucman, director of the International Tax Observatory, a research organization funded by the European Union—reveal more than a surprisingly rapid increase in the concentration of wealth at the tippy top. They also reflect a series of important global trends: the growing dominance of a few technology companies leading artificial intelligence development; the shrinking slice of the economic pie that goes to workers; and a deepening inequality that will be handed down to the next generation. These developments are particularly prominent in the United States, where roughly one-third of the world’s nearly 3,000 billionaires reside.

Two more Texas screwworm infections found in animals far apart, USDA says (ABC News) On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it had confirmed two more cases of the New World screwworm infecting animals in Texas. Those confirmations bring the total number of screwworm cases in the U.S. up to four, after the worm was found in two calves living miles apart late last week. According to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, though, the U.S. cattle industry is “not at risk” from the larva. “This is not a virus, it’s not a disease, it’s just a little pest, a larva that lands in a calf’s wound, for example, and it can be treated,” she said. Meanwhile, the USDA is racing to set up a new facility for breeding and releasing sterile flies into the wild, which will curb the pest’s population in the U.S. by preventing future generations from being born—unfortunately, that operation will only reach full capacity in November 2027. The fly was originally eradicated from the U.S. in 1960s and was kept at bay thanks to eradication efforts across Central and South America, but Elon Musk’s DOGE cut U.S. funding for a screwworm monitoring and containment program last year, even as the parasite’s population was inching closer to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Violent anti-immigration protests erupt in Belfast after brutal stabbing attack (Washington Post) Masked men set houses, vehicles and a city bus ablaze in Belfast on Tuesday night, torching neighborhoods across the city after a graphic video of an alleged knife attack by a Sudanese asylum seeker went viral, igniting the latest anti-immigration violence to convulse the United Kingdom. Ignoring pleas for calm from politicians and clergy, rioters rampaged through heavily immigrant neighborhoods in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, in some cases going door-to-door and causing some families to flee under police protection. Men in balaclavas and hoods shouted “foreigners out,” witnesses said. One family with children had to be escorted from a burning house, according to the BBC, and a family of Ukrainian refugees fled through their back door as the front door burned. The riots spread from Belfast to towns across Northern Ireland and reached into Scotland and England by nightfall.

Vote looms in Switzerland after foes of migration put proposal to cap population at 10 million (AP) Swiss voters will take up an unprecedented proposal to limit Switzerland’s population, part of a longtime push by right-wing leaders to cap the number of foreigners who migrate to the rich and economically vibrant Alpine country. A national vote on whether to cap Switzerland’s population at 10 million in coming decades culminates with in-person balloting on Sunday. Recent polling suggested that it could be a close contest. Supporters of the initiative dislike an influx of expatriates from the neighboring European Union, and say Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programs, natural resources and way of life have been strained under demographic growth.

Ukraine’s Neighbors Seek Shelter as More and More Drones Fly Overhead (NYT) The red alert came from a crisis control room buried under the Lithuanian capital. It sent the president, prime minister, mayor, school children and hundreds of thousands of other residents racing to underground shelters for cover from a fast approaching drone. Military radar showed the drone coming in from the east, where Russia and its close ally Belarus have long loomed as a menace to NATO’s eastern flank. But, according to Lithuanian officials, the drone that triggered the take-cover order last month in the capital, Vilnius began its journey in Ukraine, as did dozens of others that in recent weeks have entered the airspace or waters of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Romania. All are members of NATO and strong supporters of the Ukrainian military’s battle against the Kremlin. Ukraine has been sending swarms of drones to hit Russian ports, oil terminals and other facilities on the Baltic Sea. But some veer off course en route and end up menacing countries that have been among Ukraine’s staunchest allies. Repeated recent episodes of drones changing direction highlight how the devices are scrambling clear lines between friend and foe, intent and result.

Aftershocks complicate Philippine recovery from quake that killed 45 and displaced thousands (AP) Dozens of rescuers in hard hats scrambled out of a partially collapsed grocery in a southern Philippine city Wednesday as it was rattled by an aftershock from a powerful earthquake that left at least 45 people dead and 17 others missing in the region. A safety officer blew his whistle and others screamed to warn about 30 firefighters and coast guard personnel to dash to safety as concrete debris crashed down from the leaning three-story building in General Santos city in a frantic scene witnessed by an AP video journalist. The earthquake has been followed by more than 2,100 aftershocks including a few that ranged up to 6.4 magnitude, which is strong enough to cause more casualties and damage. More than 25,000 people remain displaced, many of them staying in 45 government-run emergency shelters and still too traumatized to return home, officials said.

Sea of tents in heart of Beirut lays bare Lebanon’s crisis (Financial Times) In a central Beirut parking lot, between waterfront nightclubs and restaurants popular with parliamentarians, about 1,000 people who fled Israeli bombings sleep in identical blue tents, differentiated only by numbers spray-painted in white. The tent grid looks like a refugee camp, even if neither its inhabitants nor the Lebanese government will call it one. It has become a symbol of the uprooting of Lebanon’s people during Israel’s war with Hizbollah, and of the struggle to shelter them indefinitely. Nearly 1mn, about a fifth of Lebanon’s population, remain displaced more than a month and a half after the ceasefire that nominally halted the conflict. For Lebanon’s leaders and its people, the vast displacement has begun to look less like a temporary emergency than something more permanent. Lebanon’s impoverished state can ill afford a drawn-out crisis. Lebanese minister Haneen Sayed said that while the country received $700mn in aid, including from Gulf countries and the UN, during the 2024 war between Israel and Hizbollah, the total this time was less than $250mn. Shipments of donated supplies were also a quarter of what they were during the last war.

Israel is tightening its grip on east Jerusalem with evictions and demolitions (AP) Fakhri Abu Diab fought for decades to save his home. But when Israeli authorities arrived with bulldozers two years ago, he was powerless to stop them. He and his wife now live among shards of memory: a bicycle where his bedroom stood; the garden where he planted tomatoes as a boy; a portrait of his late mother painted on a wall, based on a photograph lost in the demolition. Their mobile home, set up amid the rubble, is also marked for removal. For decades, Israel has worked to expand the Jewish presence in annexed east Jerusalem—the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and home to major Jewish, Christian and Muslim sites. Settlers have exploited discriminatory policies and archaeological claims to evict Palestinians far from the region’s war zones. Activists say those efforts have gone into overdrive in recent years, as Israel is no longer constrained by U.S. pressure and attention has shifted to Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Over 260 homes and other structures were demolished in 2025, a 70% increase from three years earlier.

The Era of Me-First Energy (NYT) The monthslong closure of the Strait of Hormuz is reinforcing an expensive geopolitical lesson about how risky it can be to rely on imported energy. From South America to Southeast Asia, governments and private companies are being forced to look inward and take steps to harness what they can domestically, even when doing so raises upfront costs. Call it the era of me-first energy. Guyana, a fast-growing South American oil producer that ran short of fuel this spring, is discussing building its first refinery. Indonesia is accelerating plans to harness more power from the sun. Many other Asian countries have turned to coal in order to plug their energy gaps, at least for now. And in Europe, Belgium is trying to nationalize nuclear energy. Individuals are also taking matters into their own hands, buying electric vehicles to avoid rising fuel costs or installing rooftop solar panels to lower electricity bills. In the Philippines, imports of electric cars and solar equipment from China recently hit records. Countries and businesses can do only so much on their own. Still, each gallon of gasoline or kilowatt-hour of electricity available locally offers that much more of a buffer in the next war or shipping disruption.

Trump Wants to Call the Shots. But in Iran, He Keeps Hitting His Limits. (NYT) President Trump has defined his career in politics with displays of dominance and control. But in the Middle East, he faces a rolling crisis that keeps thwarting those impulses. On Sunday, Mr. Trump lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling The Financial Times that the Israeli leader “won’t have any choice” but to accept a U.S.-negotiated deal with Iran. “I call all the shots,” he said. But early Monday, Mr. Trump was still trying to rein in Mr. Netanyahu, writing on social media just after 5:30 a.m.: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’” One hundred days after starting the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on Feb. 28, Mr. Trump is grappling with his own version of the sort of Middle East military quagmire that beset his predecessors—and that he promised to avoid. “Trump launched a war of choice overestimating America’s military capacity and underestimating Iran’s,” said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official who is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “That is a box that Trump cannot get out of right now.”

Trump says US 'must' respond after confirming Iran shot down Apache helicopter (WSJ/AP) President Trump on Tuesday accused Iran of shooting down a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz and said the U.S. must respond to the attack. The downing of the helicopter late Monday set off a race to find two American crew members before Iranian forces could close in on them. They eventually were rescued by a drone boat in a first-of-its-kind operation at sea, the military said. The unmanned surface vessel, a Saronic Corsair, located the crew in the waters off the coast of Oman and brought them to shore. Then early Wednesday, the United States launched airstrikes against Iran after blaming Tehran for the crash of the helicopter, prompting new attacks from Iran and further widening the retaliatory strikes that threaten to derail talks to end the war. Iran launched attacks on sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, which both sounded alerts and fired air defenses in response. Jordan also reported shooting down five missiles that Iran shot at an air base hosting U.S. forces.

Fewer Americans say democracy is central to country’s identity, poll finds (AP) As the U.S. prepares for an extravagant celebration of its founding principles, fewer Americans see their country as exceptional, a new poll finds. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research highlights many Americans’ feeling of unease over the future of its representative government—particularly among young people. Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, the new poll found, while 44% say it’s one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others. About 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S., an increase from 19% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2016. Agreement about other aspects of the country’s underlying character appears to be eroding, the survey found. Americans are less likely to see a democratically elected government as “extremely” or “very” important to the United States’ identity as a nation than they were just a few years ago.

US carriers spent $6.5B on fuel in April; global profit forecast is cut nearly in half (AP) U.S. airlines spent more than $6 billion on jet fuel in April, up 78% from a year earlier despite using slightly less fuel, government data released Monday showed. Meanwhile, the airline industry’s top global trade group warned that soaring energy costs could nearly halve profits in 2026. In an effort to contain costs, airlines around the world have raised airfares and fees, cut other perks and canceled flights or trimmed schedules.

Judge Throws Out Policy Imposing $100,000 Fees for Skilled Worker Visas (NYT) A Trump administration initiative to impose $100,000 fees on employers seeking visas for skilled foreign workers amounts to an unlawful tax on those companies and must be voided “in its entirety,” a federal judge ruled on Monday. The decision by Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts nullified one of a series of tactics the Trump administration has used to restrict legal immigration, even in fields in which foreign skilled labor helped address severe shortages.

Forecasters warn of flooding risk as 2 storms form off southern Mexico’s Pacific coast (AP) Tropical Storms Boris and Cristina formed off of southern Mexico’s Pacific coast on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center. According to the hurricane center, the center of Boris should reach the coast of Guerrero, Mexico, with little change in strength forecast until landfall. Tropical Storm Cristina formed about 100 miles west-southwest of the coast of Managua, Nicaragua. The government of Honduras has issued a tropical storm warning for Puerto Sandino to the Guatemala/El Salvador border.

Protesters, police clash in Bolivia after president signs law enabling a harsher crackdown (AP) Protesters in Bolivia demanding the resignation of conservative President Rodrigo Paz hurled firecrackers, stones and sticks at police who responded with tear gas on Monday, leading to dozens of arrests as road blockades continue to paralyze the Andean nation. The renewed clashes in the central city of Cochabamba erupted after President Paz signed a measure that could pave the way for a hardline government crackdown on the demonstrations that have roiled Bolivia over the past five weeks, disrupting transportation and causing shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies. Protesters have set up 90 blockades on key routes nationwide, effectively isolating major cities.

The European Union has a Taiwan problem (Bloomberg) The EU is worried about signs that Trump is looking to ingratiate himself with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a means of warming up US-China relations. In doing so, the thinking goes, he may be giving Beijing a greenlight for further incursions and provocations tied to the island democracy. Put that together with increasing Chinese aggressiveness in the region and you’ve potentially got a recipe for trouble. In a worst-case scenario of a US-China war over Taiwan, research from Bloomberg Economics shows the EU economy would suffer a hit equivalent to about $2 trillion over the first year. Germany’s economy alone would contract by about 14%, roughly twice as much as the US or China. Those conclusions underline one of the main lessons from Trump’s attack on Iran: the US may call the shots in global affairs, but Europe often pays the bigger price.

20,000 people displaced by the Philippine earthquake that killed at least 37 (AP) Rescuers searched ruined buildings in the southern Philippines on Tuesday to ensure no one was still trapped a day after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the country in a half-century killed at least 37 people and displaced more than 20,000. The earthquake centered off Mindanao, the second most populous Philippine island, injured nearly 500 people. Hundreds of aftershocks have continued to jolt the area.

Lebanon says Israel has bombed it nearly 3,500 times during ceasefire  (Reuters) Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 air strikes on Lebanon ​and hundreds of controlled explosions since the U.S. announced a ceasefire ‌for the country on April 16, Lebanon's defence minister, Michel Menassa, said on Monday. During a cabinet meeting, Menassa ​said that from April 17 to June 7, Israel had carried out 3,491 air ​strikes, 407 controlled demolitions and six "razing" operations, or demolitions—which have left some entire villages in the southernmost strip of Lebanon entirely flattened. The statistics were later published on X by ​the office of Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Salam said the latest escalation between Iran and Israel had ‌caused additional ⁠waves of displacement, straining Lebanon's ability to host fleeing families.

Israelis push Netanyahu to keep fighting in Lebanon (Washington Post) Rani Ben Dov, one of the few farmers still left in this northern border town, was exhausted. He was tired of seeking shelter from incoming Hezbollah fire, but even now the last thing he wanted was for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull the plug on the military offensive in Lebanon, just a mile away. “We need to let the generals do what they need to do and eliminate Hezbollah,” Ben Dov said, as the sound of shelling punctured the hot summer air. “We can’t just leave.” The sentiment is pervasive. In war-weary border villages, on prime time talk shows, within the political opposition and among Netanyahu’s supporters, Israelis are pushing their prime minister to fight—and stay—in Lebanon. For weeks, Iran has demanded an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the Shiite militia it supports in Lebanon, as a condition of a comprehensive peace deal with President Donald Trump. Trump has voiced frustration about Netanyahu “constantly fighting” in Lebanon, but Israeli military and political analysts say Netanyahu almost certainly will keep forces in Lebanon for several more months, if not years.

UN inquiry finds Israeli forces shield settlers during attacks on Palestinians (Reuters) Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and ​displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli security forces provide protection to settlers, a U.N. inquiry said on Tuesday. The report by the Commission ‌of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israeli authorities have enabled settler attacks through financial and military support, in a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement bodies. It said attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land have surged since 2023, rising by 130%, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants. Israeli security forces have routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield for the violence, ​the report said.

Trump Says He Never Promised No New Wars (NYT) President Trump, who campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars, denied in an interview aired on Sunday that he’d ever made the pledge. “I didn’t guarantee no war,” Mr. Trump said in a lengthy interview with Kristen Welker, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” taped during his trip to Wisconsin on Friday. “Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” Speaking about the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, he continued: “So when you say I promised, I didn’t promise anything. I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We’ve been doing this for three months.” He did promise. As a candidate in 2024, Mr. Trump repeatedly pledged not to involve the United States in war, including on the night he won the election. “They said, ‘He will start a war,’” Mr. Trump said during his victory speech. “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.”

US troops, families adjust to new normal of Iran war (Reuters) Fourteen weeks after President Donald Trump ordered an attack on Iran, the U.S. military is adjusting to an unusual state of conflict that is not full-scale war, but also far from peace. On ships and bases in the Middle East, U.S. troops—some recovering from injuries—operate amid exchanges of fire with Iran every few days as the Navy blockades Iran’s ports. At home, ‌the Pentagon is scrambling to bolster production of depleted munitions as families of service members cope with the stress of extended deployments. Counterattacks from Iran continue against U.S. allies in the region, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, ‌which Iran targeted in a ballistic missile attack on Friday. The threat ​requires U.S. troops to maintain an acute state of readiness. “To maintain this constant state of ‘Level 10’ alert vigilance, to be ready to go at the drop of a hat, is a very stressful and difficult operational mission,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Strongest earthquake in nearly 150 years hits off Cuba, shakes Mexico, Florida (Reuters) A historically strong earthquake struck off Cuba's northwest coast on Monday, shaking parts of Cuba, Mexico and ‌Florida that are typically not prone to quakes. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured ‌the quake at a magnitude 6.1 at a shallow depth of 26 km (16 miles) and its epicenter 104 km ​west-northwest of Mantua, Cuba, about two to four hours by car from the capital Havana. Authorities have not yet reported any major damage or casualties, but the quake spiked concern in Cuba, where decades of economic ​crisis have ​left buildings in severe disrepair.

Cuba’s iconic antique cars sit idle as US energy blockade deepens fuel crisis (AP) A worsening fuel crisis across Cuba is testing the island’s famed “almendrones,” the vintage American cars that serve as vital shared taxis and embody the island’s ingenuity and endurance. These days, many of the iconic gas-guzzling antique cars sit idle, casualties of fuel shortages that have gripped Cuba since January and that Cuban officials blame on a U.S. energy blockade. Outside his modest concrete-block home on a dirt road in Las Minas, a town of about 2,000 people on the outskirts of Havana, Diriel Valdez is restoring a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe. The burgundy body is intact and the original engine still works. Finding fuel for it, however, is another matter. Cuba is experiencing one of its most severe energy crises in years. The population, already battered by decades of economic crises and shortages, is now navigating daily blackouts that can last up to 20 hours in some parts of the island.

Votes being counted in runoff election to choose Peru’s ninth leader in 10 years (AP) The winner of Peru’s presidential runoff election was not yet known hours after polls closed Sunday as electoral authorities slowly tallied votes cast for the ninth head of state in 10 years. Figures released by electoral authorities showed conservative politician Keiko Fujimori with a modest lead over nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez with 58% of ballots tallied in a contest overshadowed by people’s concerns about surging crime. The outcome, expected to be tight, may not be known for days. Fujimori, daughter of a disgraced former president, and Sánchez, an ally of an imprisoned ex-president, were on the runoff’s ballot after beating 33 other candidates in the vote in April, but neither earned even 20% of support.

As Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion, some regions see a rise in premature births (AP) When Marharyta Nekhoroshyva first saw her newborn son, she was gripped by fear. Born after just 26 weeks of pregnancy, he weighed only 940 grams (2 pounds) and wore diapers no larger than the palm of an adult hand. “The doctors told me that if he survived the first three days, everything would be OK,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t believe in God, but I was praying.” Now 9 months old, Mark is energetic and lively, but he has chronic breathing problems and requires frequent hospital stays. Nekhoroshyva must navigate her son’s illness while living under the constant threat of attack in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, where hospitals board up their windows because blast waves from Russian strikes routinely shatter glass. She is doing it alone while her husband fights in the war. A rising number of babies are being born prematurely—before 37 weeks of pregnancy—in Ukraine, particularly in regions near the front lines, where some areas have seen rates nearly double since the conflict started with Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The World’s Most Surprising Economic Success Story Is … North Korea? (WSJ) North Korea is the world’s most unlikely growth story. Its economy is flourishing in ways not seen in years, aided by arms sales and troop deployments to Russia, supplies and financing from China, and the ability to flout international sanctions to import more energy, components and materials. The Kim regime slammed its borders shut during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has since reopened to only a select few outsiders, including Russian and Western travelers and diplomats. Those visitors describe a North Korea unrecognizable from the past, especially its capital, Pyongyang, where Kim and the country’s elite live.

7.8 quake and tsunami warnings in southern Philippines (AP) An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines Monday, killing at least 19 people, injuring more than 200 others mostly in damaged buildings and sending a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts. A few buildings collapsed and key infrastructure sustained quake damage in the city of General Santos, and tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village. Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.

What Visual Evidence Tells Us About Israel’s Use of White Phosphorus in Lebanon (NYT) The Israeli military has deployed white phosphorus, an incendiary substance that can be extremely harmful, over populated areas in Lebanon in its battle against Hezbollah, according to experts, aid groups and visual evidence collected by The New York Times. Distinctive smoke trails from this type of munition were seen as recently as May 30 in Nabatieh, a city of roughly 40,000, in social media footage verified by The Times, which was filmed as Israeli forces captured Beaufort Castle, a landmark in the area. Other verified footage showed that white phosphorus had also been used in the vicinity of the coastal city of Tyre. Once exposed to air, white phosphorus spontaneously ignites and is exceptionally difficult to extinguish. Often deployed by militaries to create fires and smoke screens during combat, white phosphorus is not illegal in itself, but deploying it deliberately against civilians or in an area populated by civilians violates the international laws of war.

An airstrike trapped a journalist. She died as rescuers waited for permission to save her. (Washington Post) A team of reporters reconstructed the final hours of Amal Khalil, a Lebanese journalist who was killed by the Israeli military on April 22. “The first strike hit a car driving in front of her, the second destroyed her car as she hid nearby, and the third collapsed the building where she had taken shelter with another journalist,” they write. While Khalil was still alive, the Israeli military did not give the green light for rescuers to reach her; by the time they got approval, she was dead. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called her death a murder, defined as a targeted killing “in direct reprisal for the journalist’s work.”

War Report (Politico) President Donald Trump today (Monday) tried to keep a lid on an outburst of Israel-Iran hostilities that threatened to derail the Middle East war’s fragile ceasefire. Early this morning, the president posted on Truth Social that both countries “must immediately stop,” and then hopefully declared that everyone wanted to move quickly toward a ceasefire and a more durable peace deal. Trump combined those messages with a direct call to Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he asked the Israeli PM to stand down from any further attacks on Iran. Ultimately, Israel and Iran announced that they’d suspend their barrages. But both countries threatened to resume intense attacks if the other’s aggression continued. The immediate trigger for the latest hostilities was Israel’s ongoing fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which prompted Iran to rain down ballistic missiles on Israel. Jerusalem and Tehran then launched waves of retaliatory strikes against each other.

After Months of War, Iranians Sink Into Disillusionment and Despair (NYT) When Israel and the United States attacked Iran in late February, some Iranian opponents of the Islamic Republic hoped that it would bring an end to decades of theocratic rule they saw as oppressive. Now, after devastating strikes and amid a teetering cease-fire, those hopes have been snuffed out. Feelings of disillusionment and despair have taken their place, driven by a reported death toll of 1,700 civilians, vast destruction and an economic implosion that has made daily life a struggle. A cease-fire has provided some relief from bombs, but an economic war has sent the prices of basic goods skyrocketing. The crippling of critical industries and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz—a key trading route for Iran’s most precious export, oil—have tipped the already troubled economy into free fall. “I’m angry. I feel alone,” Kimia, a 25-year-old designer, said in an interview from Tehran. “We don’t matter to the world at all; we’re only seen as tools for war and negotiation, while we are human beings.”

The Nigerian army frees 360 abducted people in northeastern Borno state (AP) The Nigerian army said Sunday it freed 360 people abducted by Boko Haram in southern Borno, in the northeastern part of the country. The operation, according to the army’s statement, was conducted in the Mandara mountains which form a part of the militant group’s stronghold. Nigeria faces a complex security crisis, especially in the north where a more than decade-long insurgency and the activities of armed groups that carry out kidnappings for ransom and illegal mining have heightened the country’s security challenges.

At least 12 people shot at an Ohio festival and a search for suspects is still ongoing, police say (AP) Gunfire erupted Saturday near a busy street festival in Ohio, wounding at least 12 people and sending some eventgoers scrambling for cover while others rushed to help the victims. The shooting happened near the Old West End Festival, an annual gathering of live music and home tours. Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said it appeared that at least two people fired weapons and they were “probably shooting at each other.” Two of the victims were in critical condition, Heffernan added.

C.I.A. Officer Found With Gold Bars Said to Have Created Fake Spy Program (NYT) A C.I.A. employee who was found recently with $40 million of gold bars in his house had created a secret intelligence program to funnel millions of dollars from the federal government to himself, according to two U.S. officials. David Rush, the employee, created a fake “special access program,” a sensitive intelligence tool that has highly limited visibility even within the C.I.A., the officials said. Mr. Rush, a C.I.A. officer for 17 years, was arrested on May 19 after F.B.I. agents found 303 gold bars weighing about one kilogram each in Mr. Rush’s home, according to an affidavit. The agents also seized nearly three dozen luxury watches, many of them Rolexes.

Jamaica scrambles to restore power after rare islandwide blackout (AP) Jamaica’s national electricity provider said it was racing to restore service early Saturday, after an outage left the entire island without power overnight. The company president, Hugh Grant, said authorities were still investigating the causes of the blackout, but that it was likely related to lightning that struck near major substations and other grid infrastructure. Such sudden systemwide grid failures are rare in Jamaica, where major disruptions are usually linked to severe weather.

This Debt Collector Is the Devil (NYT) Dr. Diablo, Rodrigo Herrera, is arguably Venezuela’s best-known debt collector. His premise is simple: Individuals and companies hire him to collect debts ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. As Dr. Diablo, he then uses public humiliation to pressure deadbeats into paying up. Many do after his “Anti-Debtor Mobile Squad” ambushes them, often at work. This entourage includes a pitchfork-wielding right-hand man clad as the devil; a female “diablita” in demon horns, skintight pants and a sequined red boa; and Mr. Herrera himself in dark sunglasses, a black suit and a flame-adorned necktie. Such circuslike street tactics reflect the imaginative ways Venezuelans find to resolve disputes in a country where rule of law has been gutted by corruption and one-party rule. When his retinue headed out one afternoon in May to mortify a debtor, they strutted through the streets of Caracas in full regalia. “It’s the devil!” passers-by yelled, whipping out phones to take pictures. “I’m a lawyer and I know how the system works,” said Ada Gallardo, 69, one observer. “No one trusts a judge. We need more people like Dr. Diablo to get things done.”

1 million turn out for pope’s Mass in Spain and iconic procession along flower-carpeted route (AP) Pope Leo XIV honored Spain’s centuries-old tradition of religious devotion on Sunday as a “school of faith” for today, as he presided over a Mass before a million people and a procession highlighting one of the most iconic expressions of Spanish popular piety: flower carpets. According to Spanish organizers, the 16 flower carpets decorating the half-kilometer (mile) procession route off Plaza Cibeles were prepared by a Spanish florists association from Galicia. Florists used more than 30,000 flowers. Leo, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his weeklong visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Catholic devotion here to encourage especially young generations to find their faith.

Ukraine Strikes St. Petersburg in Long-Range Drone Attack (NYT) Ukraine hit a Russian military base and other targets near St. Petersburg with a barrage of long-range drones early Saturday, just hours after President Vladimir V. Putin, addressing an important annual economic forum in the city, rejected a peace overture by his Ukrainian counterpart. The Russian authorities called the attack “unprecedented,” with Gov. Aleksandr Drozdenko of the Leningrad region around the city announcing that more than 140 drones had been shot down. The attack ignited a fire at an unspecified military facility, causing “insignificant” damage and the evacuation of some residents, he said. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, writing on X, stressed the distance that the drones had flown, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), to strike a naval base at Kronstadt, on an island just west of St. Petersburg, as well as a naval arsenal.

Armenians go to the polls under Russian pressure aimed at preventing a drift toward West (AP) Armenians are voting Sunday in parliamentary elections as the incumbent government, under mounting Russian pressure, seeks to loosen ties with Moscow and deepen cooperation with the West. Russian officials have hit Armenian exports with a barrage of restrictions in recent weeks, while high-ranking officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia’s path to that already taken by Ukraine.

Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel (NYT) Recent U.S. intelligence reports have raised concerns about Israeli spy agencies eavesdropping on American negotiators working on a peace deal with Iran, amid rising concern over a more general counterintelligence threat by Israel. Israel and the United States have long known, and tolerated, that each was spying on the other. But an intensified Israeli effort to learn about U.S. positions in talks with Iran has crossed a line, according to some American officials. The reports include concerns that Israel has stepped up its efforts to eavesdrop on senior American officials, including Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s top negotiator, Elbridge A. Colby, the Pentagon’s top policy official, and one of his main deputies, Michael P. DiMino IV. Another report, written by the Defense Intelligence Agency and other military intelligence offices and focused on earlier events going back several years, said that the counterintelligence threat level posed by Israel had been increased in recent weeks to the top level, from high to critical.

Palestinians suffer from lack of proper toilets across Gaza’s vast tent cities (AP) In their bare-bones tent in southern Gaza, Mostafa Shaaban built his family’s makeshift toilet behind a curtain in a corner. He dug a shallow pit in the sandy soil, poured a concrete slab around it, fixed a bottomless bucket over the hole, then topped it off with a battered, plastic toilet seat. It reeks with a foul odor and buzzes with flies and mosquitoes only a few feet from where they sleep and prepare meals. Every week, Shaaban has to dig the sewage sludge out of the pit. But at least it’s more private than the fetid communal latrines used by hundreds of other people in their sprawling tent camp. “The situation is revolting,” he said of having the toilet inside the tent, “but at least it has more dignity.” There is not a single proper toilet across the vast tent cities housing most of Gaza’s 1.7 million Palestinians left homeless by the war. Displaced families have largely been left on their own to dig their own latrines, some shared by extended families. The result is a hygienic nightmare as horrible smells drift among the tightly packed tents and pools of sewage collect from leaking cesspits or from people dumping the contents of their latrines.

Israel and Iran exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire (AP) Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. Yemen’s Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension. The renewed threat comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. Iran closed the airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main airfield, after an Israeli attack. Israel’s military updated its guidelines for civilians on Sunday evening, limiting large gatherings and canceling school across the country. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down. The Israeli strikes came in apparent defiance of President Donald Trump, who told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he doesn’t think Israel needs to respond further.

A new defence champion is rising from the Gulf (Economist) The petro-monarchies of the Gulf are celebrated big spenders—not least by the West’s defence industry. Their oil wealth pays for about a fifth of global arms imports, with a shopping list ranging from fighter jets to frigates. In a noisy, volatile neighbourhood, safety comes at a price. Now the rich rulers are nurturing their own defence industries, hoping to reduce their reliance on the West. It is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where momentum is strongest. In 2019 around 25 Emirati companies were merged to form the EDGE Group, a national defence champion.In November it formed a joint venture with Anduril, a fast-rising American defence-tech firm, to make drones for the UAE and its allies. Last year EDGE’s revenue topped $5bn, with “healthy” profit margins. Already it is among the world’s top three makers of precision-guided munitions. The UAE’s growing defence prowess has stood it in good stead in the war. Iran has struck at the Emirates far more often than at Saudi Arabia or Qatar. About 80% of Iran’s incoming Shahed drones were tackled by Emirati products, officials say. EDGE’s electronic-warfare systems kicked into action, spotting incoming missiles and drones, and setting off jamming and spoofing, working in concert with American anti-ballistic-missile systems.

Sorry, I’m Not Available. Talk to the A.I. Version of Me. (NYT) It started as a writing assistant. Jeremy Allaire, the C.E.O. of the stablecoin company Circle, trained an A.I. agent to think and write like him, feeding it his podcast interviews, his public writing and a corpus of internal communications. He called it the “Jeremy Allaire skill.” The bot helped him compose drafts. And Allaire was impressed by how well the artificial intelligence captured the way he thinks and writes. So impressed that he decided to let the bot talk to his more than 1,000 employees. Because while Allaire can’t meet with everyone, he realized that the A.I. version of him can. “It’s available to everyone in the company who wants to have a dialogue with me.” Across the business world, many leaders are experimenting with similar tools. Consultants and executive coaches who don’t have the bandwidth to address every inquiry are referring some clients to their A.I. doubles. Harvard Business School professors have incorporated A.I. versions of themselves into courses and office hours. And executives are using their A.I. avatars to address employees in other countries in their own languages.

The US job market is strong but many Americans are still frustrated by prospects and rising prices (AP) The American job market continues to show surprising strength. Employers added 172,000 jobs in May—roughly double what forecasters had expected—and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday. With just five months to go before consequential midterm elections in the U.S., Americans have grown increasingly frustrated by rising costs, and it’s unclear if the strong job numbers this year will change their gloomy view of the economy. Inflation data last week showed that in addition to gasoline, prices for groceries, clothing and electricity are also on the rise, indicating that inflation may be growing more entrenched. Many young people are still finding it tough to catch a break on a job, and workers who have been laid off have struggled to find another. Nearly 28% of the unemployed in April had been jobless for more than six months, the largest share since December 2021.

In Trump’s second term, financial gain has become a defining feature (CSM) On matters of personal and family money, President Donald Trump appears to be playing by a different rulebook from other presidents—and even from his own first term in office. By his own admission, he feels little pressure to restrict family business dealings simply because of his role in government. A tide of actions reflects the trend: Investors have pumped vast sums into Trump family members’ business interests. Projects such as the White House ballroom are being funded by donors who have dealings with the government. Agencies have granted no-bid contracts to Trump-friendly firms. And in the 19 months since his election, the personal fortunes of the president and his family have soared. To President Trump’s detractors, it’s unprecedented self-enrichment and corruption, or at the very least a failure to follow norms upheld by past occupants of the Oval Office. To defenders, including his Cabinet, staff, and base supporters, the criticism is politically motivated, aimed at punishing a president who they say is transparent in his dealings and follows all applicable laws.

Texas Races to Contain Screwworm as a Second Case Is Confirmed (NYT) Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Friday that the state is working with the federal government to slow the spread of the New World screwworm days after the first case was detected in the United States in decades. Mr. Abbott said in a press briefing Friday that Texas, led by the U.S.D.A., is dispersing millions of sterile male New World screwworm flies that would prevent wild female flies from producing offspring and gradually drive the population toward eradication. He also signed a statewide disaster declaration to ensure that the affected areas received resources ahead of what he said is likely to be “an extraordinarily challenging summer to get through this.” The move comes two days after the U.S.D.A. confirmed the first case of screwworm since the 1960s. The news unnerved the cattle and beef industries in Texas, long considered the heart of the American beef industry. Texas leads the nation in beef production, with more than 4.1 million cattle, and accounts for about 15 percent of beef production in the United States, according to the Texas Agriculture Department.

Pope acknowledges stiff competition with Bad Bunny this weekend in Spain (AP) Pope Leo XIV acknowledged Saturday as he headed to Spain that he’s competing with another VIP in Madrid this weekend. Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny is performing two shows of his 10-concert Spanish tour in the Spanish capital. Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane, Leo acknowledged the Bad Bunny draw when he referred to anecdotal reports of a newfound spiritual awakening especially among young people in Spain. The American pope said he understood that young adults are sensing a lack of meaning in their lives and mused that his visit might help “awaken” something in them. “If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

Ukraine targets St. Petersburg again after Putin rejects Zelenskyy’s offer for direct talks (AP) Residents of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, were told not to leave their homes after a “large-scale” Ukrainian drone attack targeted the city Saturday morning, local officials said, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia. Regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 376 Ukrainian drones. Although no casualties were immediately reported, the renewed attack on St. Petersburg strikes a further embarrassing blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

EU inches toward ‘membership-lite’ plan for candidate countries (Politico) EU leaders are seeking consensus on a plan to offer candidate countries some of the economic and political benefits of membership while they navigate the years-long process of joining the bloc. The proposal, drawn up by France and Germany, was presented ahead of a meeting of presidents and prime ministers in Montenegro on Friday. Paris and Berlin suggested offering Western Balkan candidate countries observer status in the EU institutions and limited access to the Single Market as they complete the accession process. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia have all applied to join the EU and have been waiting for years while the terms are discussed. The idea of giving these countries pre-accession benefits is seen as a way to ensure they don’t become disillusioned.

Kosovo to hold third election in 18 months as frustration grows over political impasse (AP) Kosovo will hold its third parliamentary election in 18 months this weekend as frustration grows over a continued political impasse in the small Balkan country that is aspiring to move closer to the European Union and NATO. While the key players blamed each other for the crisis, their inability to reach a compromise has fueled disappointment among Kosovo’s around 2 million voters, who want the government to focus on the economy and living standards instead.

Laboring Under Delhi’s Harsh Heat, Workers Must Choose Health or Wages (NYT) Sunil Rastogi, an auto-rickshaw driver in New Delhi, normally works 12-hour days to make ends meet and save for the heart surgery he needs. But in summer, as temperatures climb above 100 degrees, he faces a dilemma. Should he work fewer hours, bringing home less for his family and delaying his surgery, or press ahead and risk worsening his fragile health? For millions of workers like Mr. Rastogi—wage laborers, construction workers, street vendors, delivery drivers—the scorching summer in New Delhi often forces them into a bitter trade-off between health and income. They keep the machinery of this city running, and they are among the most susceptible to its harshest conditions. On the hottest days, the surface temperature of the ground can reach 140 degrees, according to the Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based think tank.

Mideast war updates (Politico/compiled) Violence flared again in the Middle East Friday night, as the U.S. said Iran had sent drones toward the Strait of Hormuz, per Reuters. The U.S. military said it had shot down those drones and hit Iranian sites in response. There was also incoming from Iran in Bahrain and Kuwait.       Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that peace negotiations are dragging on because Iranian leaders are “going to have to do” things that injure their pride. “They’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,” he said. A top adviser to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei got more specific: Mohsen Rezaei told CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen and Claudia Otto that talks have come to a standstill over whether the U.S. will agree to unfreeze $24 billion in Iranian funds. (As WSJ’s Laurence Norman notes, doing so would be “politically hazardous” for Trump.)       Meanwhile, Pentagon concerns about Israel spying on the U.S. have led the government to move Israel’s classification to the highest counterintelligence threat level, NBC’s Gordon Lubold and colleagues scooped. The White House said the story is false, and Israel said it doesn’t spy on its ally.       An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon Saturday killed several members of the Lebanese military, including a brigadier general, the Lebanese army said, days after the two sides reached a new ceasefire deal.

Most people across 36 countries have negative views of Israel and little confidence in Netanyahu (Pew Research Center) Majorities in most of the three dozen countries we’ve surveyed this year express an unfavorable view of Israel and little or no confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These findings come from a Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 8-May 13, 2026. Most interviews took place after the United States and Israel launched a military campaign in Iran on Feb. 28. Across the 36 countries, a median of 67% of adults have an unfavorable view of Israel, while 25% have a favorable view. While public sentiment toward Israel was already fairly negative last year, unfavorable views have become more common in 13 of the 24 countries where we have trend data. Majorities in most countries we surveyed say they are not too or not at all confident in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs. This includes more than half of adults in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the U.K., and the West Bank and East Jerusalem who say they have no confidence at all.

Judge Says Government Must Restart Asylum and Immigration Processing (NYT) A slate of the Trump administration’s immigration policies were struck down on Friday by a federal judge, who rejected the government’s indefinite holds on asylum applications globally and on immigration applications from people from 39 countries who had been unable to obtain green cards and citizenship. In a searing 135-page opinion, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote that actions to lock eligible asylum seekers out of the immigration system and deny others temporary work permits had made it functionally impossible for a broad swath of people to remain in the country. The resulting squeeze, he wrote, “placed the lives of countless individuals on hold—solely by virtue of their countries of birth.” The freeze resulted in many immigrants inside the United States waiting indefinitely for decisions on their applications, disrupting their ability to legally work and leaving them to question whether they could remain in the country. “Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status, and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” Judge McConnell wrote. Judge McConnell wrote that the burden of the changes fell hardest on people who had followed all the procedures demanded of them, rather than immigrants who entered the country illegally, whom the Trump administration routinely vilifies. “The court is reminded of a line often repeated in discussions around immigration policy: If people wish to immigrate to the United States, they ought to ‘follow the law’ and ‘do things the right way,’” he wrote. “This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.”

Trump administration has separated dozens of children from their parents for a second time, AP finds (AP) Eleven-year-old Ederson Galicia Alva had just stepped off the plane and into the Miami airport’s dim hallways when federal agents pulled his mother aside for questioning. Again. Panic welled up. His excitement at soon being back at recess with his Florida classmates fell away. Would the government take her away again? This was not his first trauma. In 2018, when he was just 3 years old, Ederson was taken from his mother’s arms at the U.S.-Mexico border under the first Trump administration’s family separation policy and kept apart from her in a government facility for months. They were finally reunited after lawyers intervened. Then, in June of last year, he and his mother were separated a second time, despite legal protections meant to keep them and families like theirs together. He later joined his mother in Guatemala. After a destitute, torturous 11 months in the indigenous highlands, Ederson’s family was allowed to return to Florida last week, following a federal judge’s order that the government had acted illegally. Now, eight years after President Donald Trump’s forcible border separations came to an official halt following global outrage, an Associated Press investigation has found that the government has re-separated dozens of children from their families, despite a landmark legal settlement meant to reunify them. Some of their parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again. In some cases, immigration officials conducting interior arrests deported people despite discovering they were legally off limits for removal, according to emails obtained by AP.

Protests and last-minute construction work disrupt Mexico City ahead of World Cup (Reuters) Eight days before Mexico City kicks off the World Cup, mass protests by teachers and retired judges, road closures and last-minute construction work caused chaos in the capital on Wednesday for millions of residents who face long delays ​and complex rerouting of their daily commutes. On June 11, Mexico City will host the inaugural World Cup match between ‌Mexico and South Africa at Azteca stadium in the capital. With Mexico in the global spotlight, teachers and other groups have staged marches and blocked major avenues. They have said their protests, which are unrelated to the tournament, could intensify unless President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government addresses their demands.

European companies flee Cuba as US sanctions go into effect (Politico) European companies from Spanish hotels to German shipping lines are ending their Cuban operations as Washington on Friday moved to intensify its decades-old embargo, expanding its focus from the regime in Havana to EU business ties to the island. Among the hardest hit are Spain’s Meliá and Iberostar hotel groups. For decades, the lush resorts they operated on Cuba’s most idyllic beaches were the crown jewels of their global portfolios. Faced with the risk of asset freezes and exclusion from the U.S. financial system, European companies active in sectors ranging from shipping and logistics to energy and agriculture are desperately offloading their interests on the island and rushing for the exits.

Catholics hope Pope Leo’s visit to Europe’s migration hot spots will ease political tensions (AP) Pope Leo XIV is delving into the hotly contested issue of migration by visiting two flashpoints—Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic next week, and Italy’s Lampedusa island in the Mediterranean in early July. These rocky, remote outposts of Europe have struggled with the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly African migrants through some of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Even as numbers decreased this year, especially in the Canaries, the issue continues to roil politics in these historically Catholic countries. Many Catholics and migrants hope the upcoming papal trips will refocus attention on solidarity and support—and away from divisive political debate that is splitting the right in addition to pitting it against the left. “Stuck in the middle are the migrants,” said the Most Rev. José Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. “So the church says, ‘Let’s give them a face, because we’re talking about people, not numbers.’”

Zelensky Mixes Taunts and Peace Talks Offer in Letter to Putin (NYT) On the heels of a flurry of Ukrainian drone strikes deep in Russia and recent shifts in Ukraine’s favor on the battlefield, President Volodymyr Zelensky published on Thursday an open letter to President Vladimir V. Putin. The letter, posted on the Ukrainian president’s website, offered to resume peace talks—but taunted the Russian leader over wartime setbacks, inflation and Russia’s dependence on China. It also made note of Mr. Putin’s advancing age. Mr. Zelensky noted that Mr. Putin has by now spent about half of his 26 years in power as Russia’s paramount leader fighting Ukraine. The timeline counts the Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014 and the full-scale invasion launched in 2022. He offered a cease-fire if Mr. Putin wanted one. Mr. Zelensky said he would meet for direct talks outside the Trump administration’s negotiating process. He has offered direct meetings with Mr. Putin before, without result.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week in first visit since 2019 (AP) hinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, both countries announced Friday, in what will be his first visit in nearly seven years. His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine. “As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Xi’s trip to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests in northeast Asia,” said William Yang, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Hezbollah rejects latest ceasefire agreement as Israeli strikes kill 4 in Lebanon (AP) Hezbollah on Thursday rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government, and the militant group demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as more fighting there hampered efforts to end the Iran war. The Hezbollah announcement came as Israeli strikes killed at least four people, according to local authorities, and a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire. An Israeli soldier was also killed in combat in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, in a written statement read on TV, called the negotiations “absurd, humiliating and insulting.” “What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” he said. “So long as our villages are not safe and are being bombed and destroyed and our people are killed,” he said, northern Israel “will not be safe.”

Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Riot Against Military Draft Outside Judge’s Home (NYT) Dozens of ultra-Orthodox extremists in Israel staged a violent riot outside the home of a top judge on Wednesday night in protest against the country’s military draft, shocking many Israelis and adding to a fraught atmosphere ahead of national elections. The police said on Thursday that 65 of the protesters were detained for questioning. The rioters damaged property at the home of Supreme Court justice, Noam Sohlberg, in Alon Shvut, a West Bank settlement, police said, though no injuries were reported. It was unclear why that particular judge’s house was targeted, but it was the Supreme Court that had issued a ruling two years ago, formally ending the decades-long military draft exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, known in Hebrew as Haredim. Despite the court ruling, most Haredi men still do not show up for service.

Why You Don’t Slash Humanitarian Aid (Nicholas Kristof/NYT) After Elon Musk “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” as he put it last year, he and President Trump scoffed that American humanitarian aid was, in effect, woke nonsense. Yet in reality American humanitarian aid not only saved one life every 10 seconds but was also safeguarding the world from epidemics. So now we face a rapidly increasing outbreak of Ebola, and the Trump administration is finding that some of the things that went into the wood chipper were the very tools needed to tackle the virus. One was the destruction of U.S.A.I.D. Jeremy Konyndyk, who oversaw the response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic for the agency, noted that it used to have a major presence in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Ebola outbreak appears to have begun. But most of the aid to Congo was cut, and Ebola spread widely by the time anyone realized that it was present.