TFI Daily News

Dry, windy conditions fuel explosive wildfire growth across western US (AP) Three firefighters died and two were injured while tackling fires on the Colorado-Utah border, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service reported Sunday. Wildfire activity has intensified across the western United States, as consecutive days of hot, dry and windy weather have fueled flames in Utah, Arizona and elsewhere as new fires popped up across the region. The largest blaze, the Cottonwood Fire, was burning in rugged terrain in southwest Utah. It ballooned Saturday to more than 144 square miles (373 square kilometers) after marching through canyons and mountainsides, destroying part of a ski resort and other summer cabins along the way.

Mexican Officials Have Become Informants for the Trump Administration (NYT) As the Trump administration ramps up its investigations into Mexico’s government, elected officials in the country’s governing party have been quietly offering themselves to U.S. authorities as informants against fellow party members, according to eight people involved in the conversations. The discussions have come in the weeks since the United States indicted 10 current and former Mexican officials, charging them with colluding with one of the nation’s most powerful drug cartels. In turn, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has made challenging those investigations a rallying cry for her leftist political party, Morena, denouncing the indictments as foreign interference. At least a dozen elected officials in Mexico—including governors and members of Congress, many from the governing party—have reached out to discuss sharing information about fellow politicians, multiple people said, and several have already begun talks with the United States. Many of the officials are seeking to get ahead of investigations that they fear could soon focus on them, the people said.

Venezuela Was on the Cusp of Rebirth. Then Disaster Struck, Again. (NYT) The blows just keep coming. Venezuela’s economy began crumbling so badly more than a decade ago that hospitals were hollowed out, blackouts were everywhere and even the most basic goods disappeared from store shelves. Soon, millions of Venezuelans fled the country. Faced with the nation’s steep decline, Venezuela’s already repressive government clamped down even harder, stealing an election and people’s hopes for change. Next came American military strikes on boats off the nation’s coasts, a partial blockade of its oil and a stunning intervention: The Trump administration raided the capital, seized Venezuela’s authoritarian leader and declared that the United States would run the country, effectively turning it into a vassal state. After all the head-spinning crises, Venezuela finally appeared to be on the cusp of an economic rebirth this year. Oil was flowing again, its leaders were mending ties with global lenders and energy executives were flocking to Caracas, the capital, to explore potential deals. Then, the twin earthquakes this week upended everything. The cash-strapped Venezuelan government, already struggling to tame the world’s highest inflation rate, must now somehow muster an enormous disaster response: clearing vast amounts of rubble; finding and caring for countless, newly-homeless survivors; and restoring basic services to a nation in crisis. “This is a country that already had massive reconstruction needs,” said Francisco Rodríguez, a prominent Venezuelan economist. “Now, on top of that, they need to rebuild without having ready access to resources.”

Venezuelans sleep in cars and under trees as they question where they’ll live after the earthquakes (AP) The Quintero family crowded around their new home this week after two deadly earthquakes forced them to flee their apartment building in Caracas. Francisco Quintero reserved the seats of his small, beat-up car for his children, while the trunk is now home to Paquito, their green-and-red parakeet, and a handful of pet turtles. Quintero, a musician, said he and other adults in the family search nightly for a place to sleep near the car “until we get an answer about what they might do with us.” Thousands of Venezuelans left suddenly homeless have since poured into parks, plazas and even the shoulders of blocked highways, looking for a place to lay their heads. The latest crisis in this nation of roughly 30 million comes after decades of economic struggle. More than half of the population lives in extreme poverty and nearly 8 million were already in need of humanitarian aid before the quakes struck.

Thousands of Vespas swarm Rome’s historic center to mark iconic scooter’s 80th anniversary (AP) More than 10,000 Vespas putt-putt-putted around the Colosseum and past the Roman Forum on Saturday, marking the 80th anniversary of the iconic scooter. Enthusiasts came from all over; the AP spoke to people from across continental Europe, northern England, San Francisco, Australia’s Gold Coast, the Philippines and more. Vespa-borne visitors converged on the Eternal City’s cobblestone streets to celebrate a brand they likewise view as timeless. If for only a day, Ferrari and Ducati were forgotten as the little Vespa left them in its dust. “The passion for Vespa is for the Italian style, freedom, the ‘60s,” said Natalie Dunand, a retiree from France who was celebrating her own 61st birthday, too. “I love it.” With curved lines evoking a bygone era, plus an ability to produce smiles among onlookers, Vespa—which means “wasp” in Italian—is to two-wheeled transport what the Volkswagen Beetle is to cars.

Central Europe sizzles as heat records are smashed in Switzerland, Denmark and Czech Republic (AP) Temperatures soared to record highs from Switzerland to the Czech Republic and Denmark on Saturday, as a heat wave that baked western European countries this week moved to central and eastern parts of the continent. Unusually high temperatures were recorded even in the Nordic countries not known for sweltering summers. Denmark’s Meteorological Institute reported a record 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Ødum north of Aarhus—the warmest day since records there began in 1874. In Switzerland, a record 38.8 C (101.8 F) was set in the city of Basel. Germany’s famous Autobahn was overwhelmed, too, as temperatures were expected to hit 40 C (104 F). In two places outside Berlin, the concrete of the A2 burst due to the high temperatures and the highway had to be closed. Other highway damage was reported across the country, according to the German daily Bild.

The U.S. is losing ground to China in university research (NPR) The U.S. was once the leading force in the world's research engine, but it is now losing ground to China. The country may be taking the dominant role due to significant investments and a disruptive year for American universities under the Trump administration. This year, Harvard University lost its top position in a global ranking measuring academic output to a Chinese university. In fact, seven out of the top 10 institutions on the list, compiled by Leiden University in the Netherlands, are located in China.

A Mayor Is Taking Maternity Leave in Japan. Some Men Are Furious. (NYT) The news traveled fast in Yawata, a spiritual oasis of 68,000 people in western Japan known for its traditional tea culture and cherry blossoms. Shoko Kawata, the city’s mayor, was pregnant with her first child—and she was planning to take maternity leave, the first mayor in Japan to do so. Many residents of Yawata celebrated Ms. Kawata, 35, and her decision, which she announced in May. They offered gifts like crocheted baby shoes and auspicious ceremonial rocks. But in Japan’s patriarchal society, some people—especially men—responded with anger, calling her irresponsible, and accusing her of placing her personal life above her constituents. Ms. Kawata’s decision has prompted a national debate about the hurdles that working women still face—on the factory floor, in corporate suites and in government. Discrimination against young mothers is still so common that there is a Japanese word for it: matahara, or maternity harassment.

African migrants fear a surge in xenophobic violence in South Africa (NPR) Johannesburg has always been a melting pot. Traverse South Africa’s economic capital and you’ll come across Zimbabweans trained as doctors but driving Ubers, Ethiopians running bustling restaurants, and Congolese selling colorful wax print fabrics. Some of these immigrants have lived here for years. Others have recently arrived, seeking a better life in one of the continent’s richest and most stable democracies. Some are here legally, others not. But all of them are now under threat as South Africa is engulfed by a rising tide of xenophobia. For months now, mobs of anti-immigrant protesters, many brandishing sticks, have been marching through the streets. Foreign-owned businesses have been attacked, people chased from their homes, and several migrants have been killed. In Durban, it’s a tinder keg, and thousands of Malawians who have fled their homes to escape the violence have camped out in the open, in winter, begging their country to send buses to rescue them. Nigeria, Ghana and Mozambique weren’t waiting—they’ve already repatriated those citizens who wanted to leave.

Deal With Israel Divides Lebanese, Fueling Protests in Beirut (NYT) After Israel and Lebanon signed a preliminary agreement in Washington on Friday aimed at establishing a lasting peace between them, the reaction in Lebanon was immediate and sharply divided. Supporters of the U.S.-brokered deal said it was a move to curtail Iranian influence in Lebanon, setting out a pathway for the disarmament of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which Israel is at war with. They also said it asserts Lebanese sovereignty over the country’s internal security. Others, not least Hezbollah, rejected the framework, calling it a capitulation to Israeli and American demands. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said his group will keep fighting until Israel is forced to leave Lebanon. At the core of the deal is a phased security arrangement in which the Lebanese Armed Forces would gradually assume control over all Lebanese territory as nonstate armed groups, like Hezbollah, are disarmed and their military infrastructure is dismantled.

Iran and the U.S. exchange attacks (Politico) Iran launched a fresh round of attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait, responding to U.S. airstrikes this weekend in a back-and-forth that is rattling the shaky ceasefire and threatening to derail negotiations, AP’s Jon Gambrell And Melanie Lidman report. Trump accused Iran of violating the agreement and threatened to “complete the job.” But Iran is saber-rattling over the Strait of Hormuz, as it looks to gain complete control over the international waterway. Complicating the peace deal further are tensions over Hezbollah in Lebanon, with Trump now pushing Syria to take the lead in combatting Hezbollah. Trump has suggested that the battle-hardened and Islamist-led insurgents who overthrew Syria’s autocratic President Bashar Assad a year and a half ago and formed a new government would do a better job of rooting out Hezbollah than the Israeli army. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said he has no interest in doing so, and has asserted that Trump’s comments were misconstrued. But Trump has doubled down on the idea. The prospect of a Syrian invasion has raised alarms in Lebanon—and also in Israel, which regards al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government with suspicion and has seized control of a strip of southern Syria since he took power.

Nursing homes, factory owners and immigrants brace for fallout from Supreme Court ruling (Washington Post) Immigrants began making plans to sell or rent their homes, secure bank accounts and figure out thorny issues like child custody arrangements. Business owners started calculating how many days they can continue to employ workers whose legal status is set to expire. And nursing home leaders warned they would have fewer beds to offer if health aides are forced to leave the country. Panic rippled through communities from Florida to Ohio and beyond in the hours after the Supreme Court cleared the Trump administration Thursday to strip humanitarian protections from Haitians and Syrians—and potentially all 1.3 million immigrants from over a dozen countries who had been previously shielded from deportation. Some of those immigrants have lived in the United States for decades and said they feared being sent back to conflict-ridden homelands that they barely know and whose languages some do not speak.

Trump Threatens to Impose 100% Tariff on European Countries Over Tech Taxes (NYT) President Trump threatened to scrap a just-finalized trade deal with the European Union on Friday, saying that any country that levies a digital services tax would be hit immediately with a 100 percent tariff on all exports to the United States. Mr. Trump seized on the fact that several European countries are discussing imposing such taxes. Those taxes would apply to the revenue that major U.S. tech firms earn in Europe. If they choose to proceed, the United States would “immediately” impose a 100 percent tariff on them, he said.

Vance dismisses Watergate scandal, says ‘deep state’ went after Nixon (Washington Post) Vice President JD Vance on Thursday expressed sympathy for former president Richard M. Nixon, suggesting that Nixon was wrongly forced out as president in 1974 and comparing his political travails decades ago to those facing President Donald Trump now. “As I joked … backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story,” Vance said in remarks at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California. “The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.” The Watergate scandal, which began in 1972 with a botched attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, mushroomed into a wide-ranging investigation by reporters and lawmakers that revealed Nixon was aware of the break-in and directed secret White House payments in an effort to cover it up. He resigned as president two years after the scandal broke, with Nixon blaming The Washington Post for its central role in exposing his involvement in the break-in and other abuses. The scandal also prompted a series of reforms intended to rein in presidential authority, including more independence for government watchdogs such as inspectors general, which Trump has steadily rolled back.

Victories by Pro-Palestinian Democrats Show the Party’s Shift on Israel (NYT) Three Democrats who made criticism of Israel central to their political identities swept to victory in House primary races in New York City on Tuesday, signaling a new era of skepticism in their party toward the Jewish state and its actions. The striking results reflected a fast-moving shift in liberal politics. Democratic voters are now more likely to be critical of Israel and its government than they are to be supportive, according to several recent polls, a monumental change in American sentiment. And while many Democratic officials remain supportive of Israel, next year’s class of congressional Democrats is on track to be more wary about America’s relationship with Israel than at any other moment since the Jewish state was established after World War II.

Utah declares state of emergency as nation’s largest wildfire grows (AP) Hot, dry and windy conditions are fueling a fast-moving wildfire in Utah, forcing the governor to declare an emergency and restrict fireworks as critical weather across the West gives way to mounting concerns that anything could cause a spark. Firefighters are facing more challenges on the ground from what fire managers and experts call unprecedented conditions. Air tankers and helicopters were grounded Friday as winds picked up on the Cottonwood Fire, the largest blaze currently burning in the U.S. Gusts were clocked at 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) and humidity levels were in the single digits, leaving crews with few options for slowing the flames, especially as they raced through the treetops.

Window Narrowing to Find Survivors as Quake Death Toll Surpasses 1,400 (NYT) With loved ones trapped under ruins for nearly three days, Venezuelans raced against the clock on Saturday to save survivors of the earthquakes that struck Venezuela this week and devastated a country that had hoped a new U.S. alliance could lead it out of crisis. The death toll rose to 1,430 people, according to Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly. Speaking in a televised address, he said that more than 3,200 people had been injured and more than 3,000 left homeless by the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes. Many more people are believed to be missing, and hundreds of rescue workers from around the world were joining in the search for them. But they are landing in damaged airports, traveling down congested, splintered roads and finding little help from Venezuela’s hollowed-out emergency services. Many feared that time was running out. Aid groups say that the first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for finding survivors. The quakes exposed the fragility of Venezuela’s infrastructure. There are only three functioning ambulances serving greater Caracas, one doctor said. Firefighters are relying on cellphone lights. A hospital in the disaster zone is operating without running water.

Older buildings and substandard construction left Venezuela vulnerable to earthquakes (AP) Older buildings, substandard construction and geography left many neighborhoods in Venezuela vulnerable to strong earthquakes like the ones that struck the country this week. Engineers and other experts said the back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday were among the most intense to hit the country in more than a century, leveling buildings and leaving more than 900 dead with the number expected to rise. Videos and satellite imagery from the disaster zone reviewed by The Associated Press reveal scores of multistory buildings had collapsed. David Cocke, a structural engineer in California and former president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, said that a combination of soft soils, tall towers and older concrete structures contributed to the widespread damage, particularly when buildings pancaked, or collapsed floor-by-floor.

Europe’s Trains, Nuclear Plants and Factories Can’t Take the Heat Either (NYT) This sweltering week, the signs of a breakdown have been everywhere. Train networks across Western Europe were snarled by heat that threatened to buckle tracks. Several nuclear reactors in France shuttered or slowed because the cooling water they were discharging into rivers was getting too hot. Museums curtailed hours because they couldn’t control the heat. At a French auto plant, union leaders called for a strike, saying conditions on the factory floor had become excruciating. And electricity outages knocked out power for hundreds of thousands in France and Italy. The heat seeped through thick-walled apartments and turned cities into hotboxes that couldn’t cool at night. Sleep-deprived Europeans staggered into parks after midnight, or joined in frenzies to buy portable air-conditioning units, or even sought refuge in hotels. The world’s fastest-warming continent is filled with buildings and infrastructure designed for a climate that no longer exists.

Ukrainian Attacks Spur State of Emergency Declaration in Crimea (NYT) The authorities in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula controlled by Russia, declared a state of emergency on Friday after weeks of intense air attacks by Ukraine, including a wave of drone strikes overnight that appears to have been one of the largest since the war began. Over the past several months, Ukraine has carried out increasingly heavy air attacks on Crimea and parts of Russia, puncturing the peace that Russian civilians had largely enjoyed during the four-year-old war. Ukraine’s assaults on Crimea, meant to isolate the strategic Black Sea peninsula, have rattled everyday life there to an extent unseen since Russia illegally annexed the region in 2014. Gas stations in Crimea have run out of fuel, with local officials banning sales last Sunday. Summer camps have been canceled and children have been evacuated. Rolling power outages have crippled the territory, disrupting water supplies that rely on electric pumps.

Iran Devastated an American Naval Base (WSJ) When the Iranian missiles and drones came for the nerve center of America’s naval operations in the Middle East, some of them hit their mark. The U.S. Navy base in Bahrain was repeatedly targeted between late February and June. Strikes that got through caused extensive damage, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite imagery, social-media footage and interviews with current and former servicemembers—damage that the Pentagon hasn’t publicly acknowledged. Hit hard were the command headquarters and at least a dozen other buildings, along with two satellite communications terminals.

US strikes Iran to respond to attack on ship that Trump says violated ceasefire (AP) The U.S. struck Iran on Friday in response to a drone attack a day earlier on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. It's the most significant test yet to an interim understanding reached a week ago by the two countries to begin working to end their months-long war and reopen the pivotal waterway. U.S. President Donald Trump said the drone attack violated the ceasefire. U.S. Central Command said the military struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran.

Is the World Cup reviving America’s international reputation? (The Week) Many international soccer fans were worried about “visa access, high costs, gun violence” and other issues ahead of this year’s World Cup, said Reuters. Visiting teams and their fans have instead “flooded” social media with posts revealing a “warm welcome from Americans” as well as a “distinctive culture” awash in “free soda refills” and “chicken wings dipped in ranch dressing.” Host cities across the United States have witnessed an “unlikely romance between everyday Americans and squads from around the world,” said The New York Times. While polls show the U.S. global reputation “has dipped in recent years,” the visitors are discovering American communities have “all kinds of estimable traits.” “Welcome to the World Cup of U.S. hospitality,” Jack Butler said at The Wall Street Journal. There is a “long tradition” of foreign visitors being “deeply affected” by their visits to the United States. Now international soccer fans are “showing America’s greatness in real time.” They are “also amazed by America’s material abundance.” Buc-ee’s and Bass Pro Shops have been featured in viral videos and so has Chicago deep-dish pizza. America’s vastness “contains multitudes.” U.S. residents are welcoming the world “even when their government has failed to do so,” Juliette Kayyem said at Early Warning. “Americans are proving better diplomats than their administration.”

The Data-Center Boom Is Sparking a Third Wave of Inflation (WSJ) President Trump’s trade wars have waned. The price of gas is finally falling. But inflation has a new catalyst: America’s massive artificial-intelligence build-out is beginning to push up prices on everything from smartphones to electricity. The question now is how widely that build-out might ripple through the economy, and how long it could keep inflation elevated. The answers will have big consequences for the economy. The data centers used for AI require sophisticated computing equipment, cooling systems to keep that equipment from overheating, electric and fiber-optic cables and backup generators to prevent power disruptions. Based on announced and planned developments, Columbia University economist Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh estimates that spending on the AI build-out through 2032 could come to about $8 trillion—nearly five times the market value of the entire New York City property market. With so much demand, prices are rising for many of the things that go into the AI build-out. And because those things are used for more than just AI, those price increases are spilling over into the broader economy.

California Will Vote on a Billionaire Tax. Billionaires Aren’t Happy. (NYT) Californians will vote in November on a groundbreaking plan to impose a one-time tax on the wealth of billionaires, with most of the money going to health care programs, according to the union pushing the measure. The billionaires are already fighting back. Several wealthy Californians financed a campaign to also get two competing measures onto the ballot that could nullify the tax before it’s even collected. The proposed tax has divided Democrats in California, a deep-blue state where progressive ideals often collide with support for a tech-driven economy that has created vast wealth. The ballot battle also reflects a broader tension in American politics. President Trump and congressional Republicans passed big tax cuts for the wealthy last year while cutting food and health care benefits for many of the nation’s poor. Progressive Democrats like New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and a Los Angeles mayoral candidate, Nithya Raman, have risen to prominence amid public discontent over the rising gap between America’s richest people and everyone else.

Record profits, terrible service: something’s got to give for consumers (Guardian) When Delta Airlines charged Marie Duggan, an economic historian visiting Oaxaca, Mexico, $1,200 to change a scheduled flight to the United States, she was so angry she cancelled. Instead, she took a $250 flight on Aeromexico to Hermosillo, in the north-western state of Sonora, and then a $59 bus across the Mexico border. She was “exhausted” after the trip. But she was also pleased not to have to pay Delta the money. A Delta spokesman said that, like the rest of the industry, it relies on “dynamic ticket prices” with “clear rules that determine pricing based on objective details”. Decades of mergers have limited consumer options. Companies are so big they can push industry-friendly regulation and charge what they want, safe in the knowledge that disgruntled customers have nowhere to go. No wonder consumers feel so squeezed, disrespected and preyed upon. As a result, they are becoming “reactive”, said Alexander DePaoli, a Northeastern University marketing professor who studies consumer anger. They’re starting to see brands as “a rival or an adversary” and are trying to beat them at their own game. “Asking why [companies] went ‘bad’ is like asking why a company that sells reasonably priced goods on the near side of the TSA checkpoint is charging $15 for water on the far side of the TSA checkpoint,” at an airport, said Cory Doctorow, author of Enshitification: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it. “It’s not because they’re evil, it’s because you can’t go anywhere else to buy your water.”

Search for Venezuela Quake Survivors Grows More Urgent (NYT) Rescue crews and residents dug through rubble in an increasingly desperate search for survivors on Thursday evening, more than 24 hours after the worst earthquakes to hit Venezuela in nearly six decades. At least 235 people were killed, and hundreds more were trapped in the rubble or missing, according to the government. More than 4,300 people were injured in the back-to-back quakes on Wednesday, and the number of dead and injured was virtually certain to rise. The president of Venezuela’s national assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, said on Thursday afternoon that more than 200 people were trapped in the rubble of destroyed buildings, and another 157 were missing. Videos posted on social media show collapsed residential towers in the capital, Caracas, and in the nearby port cities of La Guaira and Catia La Mar. Anguished survivors mourned lost loved ones in those port cities, popular beach destinations near the country’s main international airport. In some places, bodies lay in the streets. Residents of La Guaira said they had seen few rescue workers and minimal government presence on Thursday. Although Venezuela is rich in oil, it is still trying to emerge from a decade-long depression that hollowed out its rescue services, left its infrastructure deteriorating, and sent inflation to record highs—all factors likely to compound the challenges of recovery.

Newspaper sets up Belgian Prime Minister's residence on Airbnb (Belgian News Agency) Belgian newspaper De Standaard has revealed serious weaknesses in Airbnb’s identity verification system after successfully creating a fake host profile in the name of prime minister Bart De Wever. As part of an investigation into Airbnb listings in Belgium, journalists created an Airbnb account using the prime minister’s name and photo. They then listed 16 Rue de la Loi (Wetstraat 16), the official residence and office address of the prime minister in Brussels, as a holiday rental for 150 euros per night. The property, advertised as the “Law Street Lodge”, remained online for nearly two months and received several booking requests.

Ukraine unleashes one of its heaviest drone bombardments (AP) Ukraine launched a major nighttime attack on a dozen Russian regions, Russian-held Crimea and the surrounding seas, Moscow's Defense Ministry said Friday, in what appeared to be one of Kyiv's biggest drone assaults since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion more than four years ago. Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones, Russia's Defense Ministry said. In an effort to turn the tables on Russia's grinding war of attrition, Ukrainian long-range drones have been battering oil production and energy facilities behind the front line and deep inside Russia. The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Moscow's efforts on the battlefield, Western officials and analysts say, and has heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Delayed rains bring water shortages to cities and uncertainty to farms across India (AP) The late arrival of India’s monsoon season and below-average rainfall have caused problems ranging from planting delays for farmers to water restrictions for construction sites in its largest business hub, Mumbai. Water shortages have been reported around the country due to the late start of the rainy season, which typically begins in June but has grown erratic in recent years. Climate experts said the El Nino, a warming of the Pacific that affects weather around the globe, combined with an already heating planet, will likely result in weak, scattered rainfall across the country.

Small Plane Crashes Into Tallest Building in Beijing (NYT) A small aircraft flew into the tallest building in Beijing on Friday, sending huge hunks of debris and plane parts plummeting onto the streets below and prompting crowds to flee. Video shared on social media and verified by The New York Times showed debris falling from the skyscraper, as people ran to safety. The footage showed broken windows and debris, including what appeared to be the tail of a small aircraft, falling dozens of stories into the street below. The building is in the capital’s busy central business district, which was clogged with cars at evening rush hour. It was not immediately clear how many people were injured, if any were. The whereabouts and identity of the pilot were also unknown. Photos posted to social media from the site showed parts of an aircraft that appeared to be a lightweight model with only a few seats, registered to the airline Shuangyue General Aviation, a regional flight training provider.

The US military footprint in Australia (The Week) The US military will include Australia in a global pre-positioning programme for weapons, ammunition and vehicles for the first time, according to reports. There is a “growing US footprint in Australia”, said Defence Minister Richard Marles, which is “important in terms of building our own military capability” but critics have asked if Australia is “acting like America’s 51st state”. Although Australia does not permit foreign military bases on its soil, it hosts US Marines for exercises for six months of the year in the northern city of Darwin, and a “rotating force” of US-commanded submarines will arrive in Western Australia next year, reported France 24. If the US and China “come to blows over Taiwan”, the naval base in Western Australia “offers a berth” that would bring American nuclear-powered submarines “close to the fight”—and provide a “haven if things go wrong”, said The Wall Street Journal.

America’s data-centre backlash (Economist) The mammoth data centres of the future, capable of training frontier ai models in 2030, will not be in the urban clusters in Virginia or California that currently house most of America’s server farms, but in the emerging “Silicon Heartland” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, or in southern states like Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Vast sums of capital—as much as $750bn by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle, plus billions more by data-centre specialists—are being ploughed into investments in these places. An estimated $3trn will go into AI data centres globally between 2026 and 2030, according to Moody’s, an information provider. Much of that is earmarked for America. And almost everywhere across the country, people of all political stripes are furious about it. There is plenty to dislike: the ugliness of the buildings; the roar of generators and cooling systems; the skeleton army of new transmission towers crisscrossing the landscape; the fear of contaminated water. Surveys suggest that Americans would sooner live next to a nuclear plant than a data centre. At least 20 data-centre projects worth $42bn, which would have used 3.5GW of power, were cancelled in the first three months of 2026 after local pushback.

Americans are inundated with suspected scams (AP) Most Americans are inundated with scam attempts on a daily basis—and about 3 in 10 have personally lost money or personal information to scams, according to a new AP-NORC survey. A separate survey conducted by Gallup and the Stop Scams Alliance that was provided exclusively to the AP found that last year alone, about 1 in 10 U.S. adults said they or someone else from their household was deceived by a scammer into losing money or providing access to a financial account, with nearly half saying they lost more than $500. That leaves many Americans feeling like they’re constantly at risk of falling for a scam, often without a sense of recourse. In both surveys, few victims said they reported the scam to the federal government or local law enforcement. Many victims didn’t report the scam, Gallup found, because they didn’t think it would make a difference in getting money back.

Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump administration on 2 immigration cases (AP) The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Thursday to allow the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation. The Department of Homeland Security can now end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries. The Supreme Court also voted 6-3 to clear the way for the Trump administration to potentially revive an immigration policy once used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The court overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day.

Visitors Look at the Reflecting Pool and Disagree on What They See (NYT) Wednesday morning in Washington began with a typical mix of visitors along the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool: joggers, bikers, school groups, foreign tourists, a dancing majorette troupe from Carbondale, Pa. The Washington Monument, skinny and straight as six o’clock, was shimmering in the water. But that was not what people were looking at, not today. After 104 years of alluring visitors with its reflections of some of America’s most majestic buildings, the attraction of the Reflecting Pool now is the pool itself. The water is no longer the color of a putting green, but what color it was exactly—what the different shades might mean, whether there were cracks on the basin floor, how much this all cost—these were the things people were reflecting on. Over the past few weeks, the Reflecting Pool has truly lived up to its name, as the president, a good portion of the Washington press corps and large swaths of social media have reflected on it relentlessly. Some see “an expensive fiasco.” Others see “fake news.”

Venezuela: Rescuers Search for Survivors After Worst Quakes in Decades (NYT) Rescue crews and residents dug through the rubble of buildings on Thursday searching for survivors after the worst earthquakes to hit Venezuela in nearly six decades. At least 235 people were killed and more than 4,300 injured in back-to-back quakes on Wednesday. The toll from the quakes, which struck the country’s populous northern states, was virtually certain to rise as rescuers began to reach the hardest-hit areas. Videos posted on social media show collapsed residential towers in the capital, Caracas, and in the nearby port city of La Guaira, where more than 100 buildings were destroyed, according to the United Nations’ main humanitarian agency. There were growing fears about the toll in nearby shantytowns, where many people live in precarious homes built on hillsides. Venezuela is rich in oil, but is still trying to emerge from a decade-long depression that wiped out most of its economic production and prompted millions to leave the country. Its rescue services have been hollowed out, infrastructure has deteriorated and inflation has reached record highs, which is likely to compound the challenges of recovery. Ms. Rodríguez said that rescuers from other countries would start arriving in Venezuela early Thursday, including teams from the United States, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Qatar. China, Brazil and several Caribbean nations have also offered support, she added.

Trump-endorsed de la Espriella declared winner of Colombia’s presidential runoff election (AP) Conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, a millionaire political neophyte, will be Colombia’s next president after electoral authorities on Wednesday declared him the winner of Sunday’s runoff election. The businessman and lawyer, whose ventures include a clothing line, wine and rum brands, and a restaurant, earned U.S. President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite never having run for office. He defeated progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda by 1 percentage point, or more than 251,000 votes. De la Espriella’s win adds Colombia to a growing list of countries that have turned to political outsiders in search for solutions to complex social, security and economic challenges.

To Escape Record Heat, the French Are Taking to Water. Both Have Been Deadly. (NYT) Perched on the cobblestone bank of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, watching his children whoop and shout as they splashed in the murky water, Stéphane Guillaume looked like a rare Parisian who’d beaten the heat. But in the new normal of scorching-hot Paris summers, he said, any victory would be fleeting. “It’s going to get worse every year,” said Mr. Guillaume, a 44-year-old computer engineer. “It’s very worrying because we’re already at the limit of what’s bearable.” With temperatures across France soaring to the highest levels ever recorded in June—more than 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit—thousands of people are turning to extreme measures: jumping into canals, rivers and other waterways for relief. It can be a deadly choice. Forty people have drowned in heat wave-related accidents between June 18 and June 23, according to the French government. Many in France still recall the summer of 2003, when nearly 15,000 people in the country, most of them older, died in a freak heat wave. That prompted recurring debates about how to weatherproof French society. The Ecologists, a green party, is proposing paid time off for those most exposed to climate disruptions, while decades of cultural resistance to air conditioning seems finally to be on the wane.

Greetings from sweltering Switzerland (NPR) When I stepped outside, it looked like Switzerland, but it didn't feel like it. In the distance, the white-capped Alps stood, majestic, reflected in the turquoise waters of Lake Lucerne as I strolled along the waterfront. But the air was scorching and thick with humidity, and walking through it was like wading through cotton dipped in boiling water. In front of me was beautiful Lucerne, but the air felt like I was in Luzon (Philippines). Along the waterfront, red-and-white-clad soccer fans clustered together to watch jumbo TV screens showing a FIFA World Cup match played an ocean away in the U.S.; Switzerland versus Bosnia-Herzegovina. Each time the Swiss team scored, a deafening roar cut through the thick tropical air. At the end of the evening, Switzerland won its World Cup match, but it continues to lose its battle against a warming climate.

Ukraine’s latest long-range strikes on Russia hit a major natural gas plant and satellite centers (AP) Ukrainian forces struck a major natural gas processing plant and two key satellite communications centers in their latest nighttime attacks on Russia, Ukraine’s General Staff said Wednesday. The operation was part of Ukraine’s aerial campaign targeting energy facilities and military industries that has intensified as Kyiv builds bigger and better long-range weapons to ward off Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.

Powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes off northern Japan (AP) A powerful earthquake struck off Japan’s northern coast on Thursday. The quake had a magnitude of 7.2 and occurred off the eastern coast of Iwate, an area where strong earthquakes have repeatedly been reported in recent months, including one that triggered a weeklong mega-quake caution advisory in December. The quake, which struck Japan’s northeastern region during Thursday’s morning rush hour, also mildly shook Tokyo. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

As reports of anti-Christian incidents in Israel increase, advocates press police to act (Religion News Service) This past spring, a case of a Jewish man assaulting a Catholic nun in Jerusalem made international headlines. And earlier this month, the Religious Freedom Data Center reported 88 incidents of anti-Christian harassment in Israel so far in 2026—63 of them between April and June. The Israeli nongovernmental organization, which runs a hotline documenting such incidents targeting Christians, recorded 180 incidents in all of 2025—up from 107 in 2024, putting this year on track for a continued spike in anti-Christian harassment. The majority of cases recorded involved vandalism and graffiti at Christian cemeteries, crosses and statues, as well as spitting and verbal abuse against Christians in Jerusalem, especially in the Old City. For Christians living in the country who spoke with RNS, these types of incidents, almost always perpetrated by young Jewish extremists, are becoming increasingly normalized. While Christian clergy and the Israeli activists who track such harassment said the vast majority of Israelis consider such behavior abhorrent, they also accused law enforcement of largely ignoring victims’ complaints until they turn into an international scandal.

U.S. and Iran Offer Conflicting Accounts of Nuclear Discussions (NYT) President Trump and Iranian officials sharply disagreed on Tuesday about whether Tehran had agreed to open its nuclear sites to U.N. inspectors, one of several disputes between the two countries that reflected the morass of details still to be resolved. As peace talks were underway in Switzerland, a United Nations maritime agency said on Tuesday that it had started an effort to free hundreds of ships and thousands of mariners that have been trapped in the Persian Gulf during the war, moving them through the Strait of Hormuz along a route near Oman’s coastline. After Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that Iran had agreed to let inspectors back into its nuclear sites, Iranian officials said on Tuesday that their country did not make any such commitment. In fact, they said, the matter was barely discussed. Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said there was no plan to invite inspectors to nuclear sites that were hit by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in June 2025.

Federal judge bars Trump from implementing proof of citizenship requirement to vote (AP) A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump's administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump's efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban. She wrote that the Constitution "does not grant the President any specific powers over elections." Among other proposed changes, Trump's order would have required people to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote, prevented mail ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked by then, and punished states that failed to comply by withholding certain federal money.

Mexico’s president seeks to restart oil shipments to Cuba as island’s crises deepen (AP) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that her country seeks to restart oil shipments to Cuba soon, a move that could provide much-needed relief as the island’s crises deepen given a lack of petroleum. Sheinbaum said her administration would seek to send the oil via commercial and privately owned firms instead of state-owned companies as it has done in the past. Mexico became a key fuel supplier to Cuba after the U.S. attacked Venezuela in early January and halted critical oil shipments. But those shipments, which had already been reduced, were completely suspended after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that provides or sells oil to the island. The lack of fuel has worsened an energy crisis on the island that produces only 40% of the petroleum it needs, leading to severe power outages, reduced work hours, water shortages, suspended surgeries and spoiled food.

Venezuela reeling after powerful twin earthquakes kill at least 32 people (AP) Powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela in quick succession Wednesday evening killed at least 32 people and injured 700, the nation’s acting president said, as communities across the South American country sustained damage. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez warned the toll was expected to rise as rescuers search collapsed buildings and emergency crews reach devastated areas after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck shortly after 6 p.m. Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday and said the quakes caused damage in several states. The casualty figures released early Thursday excluded the state of La Guaira, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and the area hardest hit. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” she said.

He Has Outlasted 5 Prime Ministers: Meet ‘Hot Podium Guy.’ (NYT) In England, over the last few years, when a lectern has appeared outside the black door of 10 Downing Street, the office and official residence of the prime minister in London, it has typically been an indicator of one of four things. It could be that the prime minister is about to resign, call a general election or address the nation. Or it means the internet is likely to be reacquainted with the so-called hot podium guy, a dashing sound engineer who has been tasked with setting up the lectern and microphones for these momentous events. In Britain’s political merry-go-round of the last decade, the mysterious heartthrob has been a welcome distraction and an enduring presence. He appeared again on Monday, when Keir Starmer resigned from his post. The man, Tobias Gough, a 42-year-old sound engineer with MGi London, first caught the public’s attention in 2019, while setting up the lectern when Theresa May, then the prime minister, stepped down. Almost overnight, he became a social media sensation. In the years since, prime ministers have come and gone, while Gough, in his uniform black T-shirt, has outlasted them all. Pictures and videos of him carrying the lectern and testing its microphones have become something of a harbinger of significant political news.

As Europe Warms, Scientists Ask: How Much Hotter Could Summers Get? (NYT) Millions of people seeking refuge from the dangerous heat in France this week have found little relief with the setting sun, as temperatures shatter both daytime and nighttime records. Highs in Britain could reach triple digits on Wednesday and Thursday, beating the country’s previous June temperature record of 96 degrees. Heat warnings are in place from Spain to Germany. Summer is just getting started, but Western Europe is already sweating through its second severe heat wave of the year. That’s prompting scientists to confront an urgent question: How hot can a heat wave actually get? Not in future decades, but today. Maybe even this summer. “We do know that heat waves are becoming more severe and more frequent, and they’re lasting longer,” said Rebecca Emerton, a senior scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, England. What’s striking now, Dr. Emerton said, is the big margins by which temperature records are being broken. In Western Europe, heat records are being smashed this week for the second time in a month. Tuesday was France’s hottest day ever recorded, the national weather agency said, with the mercury climbing as high as 111.7 degrees Fahrenheit in the country’s southwest.

Russia Considers Diesel Export Ban after Ukraine Refinery Attacks (Bloomberg) Ukraine’s recent, dramatic counter-assault on Russia, and particularly its use of drones to hobble the invading nation’s energy industry, appears to be bearing fruit. The Kremlin is weighing a ban on exports of diesel to avoid domestic shortages after Ukraine intensified attacks on its refineries. Russia is second only to the US in global export rankings for diesel, with Turkey and Brazil making the bulk of the purchases. The move could potentially put extra pressure on international fuel supplies, which are already under strain due to the disruption caused by the Iran war.

Myanmar: The War Forgotten by the World (NYT) On a forgotten front line, the rebels fight deep in the jungle. The military’s bombs keep falling, as they have for five years now. Civilians try to rebuild their lives, but death keeps finding them. This is Myanmar’s civil war, fought in the shadows. Far from the spotlight fixed on Iran, Ukraine, Lebanon and other global conflicts, Myanmar, a Southeast Asian nation of about 50 million people, has quietly collapsed.

Japan’s billion-dollar quest to help a sleep-starved nation rest (Washington Post) The Japanese get the least sleep of all major countries, so much so that there’s a flourishing market to help people in this sleep-deprived nation fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. On average, the Japanese sleep almost an hour and half less than Americans, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Researchers attribute this to long commute times, long work hours and a culture that does not emphasize the importance of sleep. Sleep has now become a billion-dollar industry in Japan, catering to those looking for help improving their quality of sleep, even if they still don’t get as many hours as they’d like. The latest “sleep tech” products here go beyond the usual aids like eye masks or comfortable pillows—think smart beds, for example. The newest smart beds use built-in airflow systems to reduce humidity, helping users stay comfortable through Japan’s hot and humid summer nights. Others gently vibrate, to help you relax and fall asleep. Japan’s leading furniture manufacturer, Nitori, started selling a new smart bed this year that uses sensors to monitor the sleeper’s condition and automatically adjust to a comfortable sleep angle throughout the night.

Philippine devotees honor St. John the Baptist with a mud-covered display of faith (AP) Hundreds of Catholic devotees wrapped themselves in dried banana leaves and covered their bodies with mud on Wednesday in the Philippine village of Bibiclat, taking part in a display of faith honoring St. John the Baptist. The Taong Putik, or Mud People, festival is held annually in this village in Asia’s largest Catholic nation as devotees thank the local patron saint for miracles and fulfill vows made in prayer. Melencio Nenuda, a 39-year-old construction worker, said the mud-covered parishioners frightened him as a child and he used to hide when they passed by. But that changed when when he fell seriously ill in the sixth grade and his mother prayed to St. John the Baptist, vowing that he would join the tradition if he recovered. Local church leaders say the practice began in the 1800s, when farmers smeared themselves with mud as an expression of humility, and covered themselves with the leaves to conceal their identities due to discrimination against the poor during that time.

Lebanese on the edge of Israel’s occupation live with fear and rising tensions (AP) Looking out from a friend’s balcony, Milia el-Cheikh struggled to find her own home in the ruins of her now-deserted village, its entrances strung with barbed wire. Her village of Dibbine is one of several Shiite-majority communities across southern Lebanon destroyed by Israeli forces battling the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah. Israel has occupied vast areas and fighting has raged through declared ceasefires. The latest truce—part of the interim peace deal between the United States and Iran—appears to be holding. Jdeidat Marjayoun is one of a string of towns and villages visited by The Associated Press on the blurry edge of the Israeli-occupied zone of southern Lebanon. The military has pushed out the mostly Shiite population, believing they harbor Hezbollah, and many towns have been demolished. Residents of neighboring Christian, Sunni and Druze communities have been allowed to stay, but the conflict has transformed their lives. Their homes have been struck, road closures have isolated them from the rest of Lebanon, and nighttime raids by Israeli troops have terrified residents. Israeli warnings against hosting Hezbollah fighters have effectively barred them from taking in displaced Shiites, driving a wedge between longtime neighbors and stoking political and sectarian tensions.

Anthropic’s Mythos AI Model Reportedly Breached NSA Classified Systems in Hours (Cyber Security News) Anthropic’s flagship Mythos AI model reportedly infiltrated nearly all of the National Security Agency (NSA)’s classified systems within a few hours during an authorized red-team evaluation on June 11. This incident now seems to be the main reason for a broad U.S. government directive on export controls issued the following day. Senator Mark Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed that General Joshua Rudd, who simultaneously leads the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, told him directly that Anthropic’s Mythos model “broke into almost all of our classified systems, not in weeks, but in hours.” The statement, first reported by The Economist, has not been formally confirmed by any government agency, but has rapidly reshaped the narrative around Washington’s decision to pull Anthropic’s two most advanced models from public access.

In Oklahoma, poor families often have to live in the dark (Washington Post) The lights went out when Tammy Dikes was in the shower. All of a sudden, her windowless bathroom went black. It was the middle of March, and Dikes’s bills had been piling up. Now she owed the electric company $884.48. Having your electricity disconnected is more common in Oklahoma than any other state. In 2024, Oklahoma’s electric companies, which have 1.8 million customers, disconnected households 572,480 times. Though some people might be disconnected more than once, that’s a 30 percent annual disconnections-per-households rate. In 41 states, it’s less than 10 percent. Electricity isn’t particularly expensive in Oklahoma—as of March, the state’s average residential price-per-kilowatt-hour was the eighth-lowest in the nation. But residents’ incomes are lower than all but five states.

Priced out of World Cup games, Mexican fans take celebrations into their own hands (AP) “GOOOOOOOOOAL!” The thunderous cry rings out over a crowd gathered in front of a television propped up on plastic tables and past a maze of vendors lining a bustling working-class neighborhood in downtown Mexico City. It echoes over fans across the Latin American nation, who roar as they watch Mexico’s national team win another match in the FIFA World Cup with eyes glued to screens set up in plazas, below highway underpasses and tucked away in taco stands. Priced out of stadium tickets to the tournament their country is hosting alongside the U.S. and Canada, many Mexicans are reclaiming the event and staging their own celebrations on the streets. “Honestly, there’s nothing like going to the stadiums, but I prefer being here in the street. … For me it’s like watching the game from my living room,” said Esmeralda Serrato, who watched a TV in the street with dozens of neighbors. In Mexico, where the average worker earns around $433 a month and soccer is considered a sport that unites people across class, the gap between who can and cannot get into games is felt acutely.

Trump appointee argued the US could take Greenland and its seafood to save endless shrimp at Red Lobster: report (Independent) The Trump administration has made multiple cases for acquiring Greenland, pointing to strategic security interests, untapped mineral wealth and what it describes as Denmark’s inadequate stewardship of the vast Arctic territory. Now, a much stranger justification has entered the mix: that by taking control of Greenland’s seafood industry, the U.S. could secure a limitless pipeline of shrimp for Red Lobster customers. Tom Dans, the Trump-appointed chair of the United States Arctic Research Commission, made that pitch earlier this year, back when the billionaire president’s desire to annex the world’s largest island dominated headlines. “My view is that the United States could take all the seafood Greenland could produce, and cut out the middleman, and keep it from China—and you could bring back all-you-can-eat shrimp at Red Lobster,” he told The New Yorker. Despite never having set foot in Greenland, Dans insisted that U.S. acquisition of the territory—which would eclipse the Louisiana Purchase in scale—is a no-brainer.

Britain’s economic woes fuel discontent with Brexit a decade after historic vote to leave EU (AP) Simon Boyd’s firm makes prefabricated steel structures on the south coast of England and ships them to customers as far away as Ghana and Barbados. Mike Hawes represents Britain’s carmakers as the head of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The business leaders were on different sides of the debate when Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. But 10 years later they are both frustrated by Brexit. A decade ago, backers promised that Brexit would be the key to a bright new future where, freed from the edicts of EU bureaucrats, Britain would regain control of its laws and its borders and the economy would boom. But the reality failed to live up to the hype as Britain struggled to adjust to life without unfettered access to the 27-nation free trade bloc and its market of 450 million people. Economic growth is anemic, taxes are high, public services are creaking and successive governments have been unable to stem the flow of migrants who wash up on the English Channel coast in inflatable boats. As a result, it’s not exactly a happy anniversary.

Those British Strawberries Are Now Being Picked by Central Asian Workers (NYT) There were dozens of strawberry plants to prune, and Shukrat Djuraev was more than 3,000 miles from home, but he was not complaining as he worked his way down a giant greenhouse tunnel in Kent, in southern England. “I like it here,” said Mr. Djuraev, 44, who is from Bukhara in Uzbekistan and is one of thousands of seasonal workers that British farmers rely on every year to get their produce into stores. “It’s good working here. It’s very steady and calm.” Before Britain quit the European Union, many farm workers came from Eastern Europe. After Brexit, they lost the right to work in Britain—and many voters assumed, therefore, that fewer foreign workers would come. Instead, 10 years after the Brexit referendum, British farmers have filled labor shortages by turning to a more distant region for seasonal workers, granted entry on six-month visas: Central Asia. Immigration was an animating issue in the Brexit vote, with its promoters promising that leaving the European Union would allow Britain to “take back control” of the country’s borders. A decade later, it remains one of the biggest political pressure points.

A red alert over France, and heat that may rewrite the record books (AP) Millions of people across France woke up drenched in sweat on Tuesday after another night of scorching heat, with most of the population exposed to extreme and exceptional temperatures. Temperatures will remain exceptionally high around the clock as the national weather service, Meteo France, placed 54 departments under a red heat wave alert. That is about half of the country. In a country without widespread air-conditioning, schools, trains and sporting events remain impacted, while some 20 drowning deaths have been reported since the weekend. Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many towns.

Japan quintuples visa fees in first price hike since 1978 (BBC) Japan has implemented a five-fold increase to visa fees for all foreigners, marking the first price hike in nearly 50 years. From 1 July, single-entry visa fees will be raised from the current 3,000 yen ($18.69; £14) to 15,000 yen, while multi-entry visas will now cost 30,000 yen, up from 6,000 yen. The visa fee revisions—the first since 1978—were made to “reflect inflation and exchange rate fluctuations”, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters on Friday. The Japanese yen has been weakening continually since 2021, and is now hovering near historic 40-year lows. This, along with a post-pandemic travel rebound, has led to a surge in tourists to Japan. The country welcomed a record 42.7m international tourists last year.

The Strait of Hormuz’s future is unsettled even as more ships venture through (AP) Ship traffic has picked up in the Strait of Hormuz since Iran and the U.S. signed an interim deal to end a war that constricted global oil supplies and fueled inflation, but questions remain surrounding control of the vital waterway and whether vessels will be charged tolls to cross it. President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might impose its own tolls on strait crossings if a final deal with Iran was not reached during the countries’ 60-day negotiating period. Passage was free before the war, but Iran last month established a new governmental authority to collect money from ships and has said it still expects vessels to register with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority. No one country owns the Strait of Hormuz, which borders both Iran and Oman. Last week’s memorandum of understanding allowed Iran to manage the strait for now while holding discussions with Oman and six other Gulf states “to define the future administration and maritime services” of the waterway.

Israeli strike kills teen on her way to school in Gaza, relatives say (AP) An Israeli strike killed a teenage girl Monday as she walked to her high school to take an exam in Gaza City, relatives said. Raghad Hassan Ashour, 16, was headed to the 11th grade test when the blast occurred in a busy street in the Rimal district, according to a relative, Jameel Ashour. The military said the strike targeted a Hamas militant, but that it was aware of a claim that an “uninvolved individual was harmed.” Dozens of Palestinians, including Ashour’s mother, gathered to mourn the girl after her body was taken to Shifa Hospital. Three other people were injured in strikes in the same area, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.

The Art of the Deal (Politico) After a weekend of stops and starts, the signals from U.S.-Iran peace talks turned more positive on Monday, with both sides hailing progress across multiple fronts. Most notably at the negotiations in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, VP JD Vance announced that Iran had agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency back into the country to look at nuclear sites. This is still just the start of a long and perilous process to hammer out the stickiest nuclear issues in negotiations, which could be derailed at any moment by an uptick in Israel-Hezbollah fighting or a Trump Truth Social post. Back in Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the next step of issuing a two-month sanctions waiver for Iranian oil sales, as had been laid out in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding. Longtime Iran watchers know that the IAEA and sanctions news both constitute an approximate return to the shape of the Barack Obama Iran deal that Trump ended in his first term. As CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Jennifer Hansler report, Trump, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for years all opposed Iranian sanctions relief. But the administration argues that this deal is stronger and Tehran is now weaker.

World Cup visitors cut costs the American way (Washington Post) He’d already spent a grand on tickets, plus hundreds more on flights and lodging, so by the time Edwin Hernandez arrived from Ecuador for the World Cup, he was determined to minimize expenses. That usually meant eating at McDonald’s or Subway. But hours before Sunday’s match, Hernandez allowed himself a small luxury, making his way to Pat’s King of Steaks, the world-famous cheesesteak shop, only to find a line of yellow Ecuador jerseys snaking through the patio. Soccer fans from around the world have poured into the United States for the World Cup. And no matter where they went, they engaged in the most America-circa-2026 pastime there is: looking for cheap food. For visitors who have plunked down thousands on travel, not to mention the most expensive tickets in World Cup history, food is one cost they can control. Bankers from Mexico City, who each paid $500 for a France-Senegal ticket, found salvation at Chick-fil-A and Joe’s Pizza. A father from Paris traveling with his two young kids, raved about the fried rice at a New York City Chinese food joint. From street tacos to bodega burgers, ramen bowls to Times Square pizza, they’ve tried it all, so long as it’s all cheap and, hopefully, cheesy.

Staggering amounts of fentanyl hit streets as the DEA watched and took no action, records show (AP) Even as it battled the deadliest drug epidemic in American history, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, according to three current and former DEA agents and government records reviewed by The Associated Press. DEA agents repeatedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills—but did not seize them—as federal prosecutors sought to bring bigger criminal cases against traffickers of a synthetic opioid that the White House last year designated a “ weapon of mass destruction.” Agents and experts, however, said the tactic amounted to a gamble with public safety. “We poisoned our community to make cases,” DEA Special Agent David Howell told AP in a series of interviews in New Mexico. “Through our own willful blindness, we get to say, ‘We don’t really know what happened to the drugs.’ But we 100% got people killed.”

Owning a home is getting more expensive in every way (WSJ) A home buyer in 2019 could expect to spend about $20,000 a year on basic homeownership expenses: mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs. By 2025, that annual bill had topped $28,500, according to data from Intercontinental Exchange and home-services marketplace Angi, keeping many would-be buyers out of the market.

Trump-Backed Outsider Appears to Win Colombian Presidential Race (NYT) Abelardo De La Espriella, a criminal defense lawyer with no previous political experience, appeared headed for a razor-thin victory on Sunday in Colombia’s presidential election, in a potential win for his fervent supporters, the global right and President Trump, who had endorsed him. Mr. De La Espriella—who transformed himself from sharply dressed Miami lawyer to populist in a soccer jersey and a straw hat—won 49.7 percent of the vote with more than 99 percent of the votes counted, according to preliminary official results. Iván Cepeda, a leftist senator and a longtime human rights advocate received 48.7 percent. His victory would return Colombia to conservative rule after four years under Gustavo Petro, the country’s first leftist president. It would also advance Latin America’s broader shift to the right.

Starmer Announces Resignation as Prime Minister (NYT) Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain announced his resignation on Monday, bowing to a mutiny inside his party and a challenge to his leadership of the country. Mr. Starmer said he would remain as prime minister until a new party leader is selected, by September, rather than fight to remain in the job he won almost two years ago. His decision clears the way for Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade, extending a period of political turmoil for the country since it voted to leave the European Union in 2016. The most likely replacement for Mr. Starmer is Andy Burnham, whose resounding victory last week in a special election energized his bid to oust the prime minister. Burnham will face the same challenges that Starmer did, including rising global energy prices and strained public finances.

France cancels events and restricts alcohol consumption amid brutal heatwave (Guardian) Authorities in France have placed more than a third of the country under a red heat alert, cancelled some outdoor sports events and restricted alcohol consumption at the nationwide Fête de la Musique event amid a brutal heatwave forecast to push temperatures above 40C. Level 1 or 2 heat alerts were issued on Sunday for about 53 million people, just over 75% of the population. A record 35 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were put on danger-to-life red alert, with another 45 under an orange warning.

Ukrainian attacks prompt Russian-held Crimea to halt civilian gasoline sales (AP) Officials in Russia-occupied Crimea suspended civilian gasoline sales Sunday as Ukraine ramped up attacks on fuel supplies on the Black Sea peninsula. Gov. Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, said that overnight Ukrainian strikes killed four people and wounded 28 others. He did not specify the target of the attack. He later wrote on social media that local gas stations would halt all sales to non-state companies and individuals for an undefined period. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted fuel supplies to Crimea in recent weeks, triggering the worst energy crisis in the region since it was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Cambodia cracked down on scams costing Americans billions. It created a new crisis (NPR) All over Phnom Penh are vestiges of the multibillion-dollar online scam industry, which thrived here for more than half a decade until a recent government crackdown. There are luxurious high-rise towers overlooking the Mekong River, where entire floors are now deserted following police raids that cleared out the illicit operations hidden there. Disintegrating cardboard boxes and bits of Styrofoam litter the entrance of a branch of Prince Supermarket, after its parent company—the massive Cambodian conglomerate Prince Holding Group—was slapped with U.S. sanctions for allegedly running industrial-scale scam compounds. But the crackdown has created a secondary crisis: thousands of stranded foreign workers transported to Cambodia by the online scam operators and forced to work as hostage employees are now roaming the streets of Phnom Penh, after being freed when the scam operations closed. NGOs, including Amnesty International, say many of the workers are victims of human trafficking. They are now at the center of a silent humanitarian crisis in Cambodia, aid workers say, left with few options and abandoned amid the highly-publicized government crackdown.

While the World Scrambles for Oil, China Sits on Full Tanks (NYT) While the United States and Iran haggle over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restoring oil exports from the Persian Gulf, China, the world’s largest oil importer, is not expected to quickly ramp up purchases from the region. China finds itself in a very different position from much of the world, which is emerging from the war in Iran with depleted oil supplies. The crude stockpiles held by the country’s state-owned energy companies remain nearly full. China cut its daily oil imports by roughly a third during the war. China was able to reduce imports so sharply in part because it had been buying more oil than it needed before the war. For years, it accumulated inventories whenever prices were low as part of a broader push to strengthen national self-reliance and improve its ability to withstand supply disruptions.

Taiwan begins 5-day military drill with tanks patrolling streets (AP) Taiwan kicked off a five-day set of military drills on Monday aimed at boosting the island’s combat readiness in case of a Chinese military attack. In the city of Taoyuan, home to the island’s largest international airport, tanks drove down city streets and highways, videos and photos of the exercise showed, as armored vehicles from the Army’s 269th Infantry Brigade conducted combat readiness patrols. The Immediate Combat Readiness Exercises are meant to test how rapidly military units can deploy.

2 students in custody after shooting at high school in Philippines kills 3 (AP) Two students armed with hand guns opened fire in a high school in the central Philippines on Monday, killing three fellow students and wounding another seven, police said. The suspects, aged 14 and 15, were arrested. The suspects and the victims were students of the San Jose National High School in Tacloban city, where the mid-morning shooting happened, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy said. An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the shooting in the government-run school, which has more than 1,500 students. Capoy said that the suspects, who were close friends, said in initial questioning that they were bullied in school.

Israeli strikes leave Lebanon’s ancient coastal city of Tyre shaken (AP) The dust has barely settled in Tyre after weeks of Israeli airstrikes on the ancient city along Lebanon ‘s Mediterranean coast. Despite the relative calm, life remains largely at a standstill. A new ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group is in effect. But previous ceasefires have broken down. Over 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March. Large swaths of southern Lebanon have been left in ruins, including Tyre. “Every day they tell us there’s a truce or ceasefire. Where is this truce? We can’t see it,” said Ali Bazzi, 31, who lives alone on a tour boat that belongs to family friends. His home in Toura, several kilometers away, was destroyed by an Israeli strike. For months, Bazzi has been sleeping on a mattress on the deck, and selling sandwiches at a small stand a few steps away to earn money. He said he woke one night to the sound of a drone hovering over the port and worried it had come for him.

US-Iran talks continue after Trump’s threats  (AP) Negotiators from the U.S. and Iran were set to engage in a second day of talks Monday to solidify a permanent end to the war between the countries, after a first day of mediation began with a rocky start. The first full day of talks between the U.S. and Iran, who were accompanied by Qatari and Pakistani officials, was jolted by blistering statements from U.S. President Donald Trump, who from thousands of miles away from the Swiss negotiating venue was firing off comments that offended the Iranians. Iranian state media said talks had paused after the “publication of an insulting message by the U.S. President.” Trump also continued to issue warnings against Iran on social media, posting as negotiators worked: “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”

Congress wonders as the Iran war draws to a close: Was it worth it? (AP) The question hangs in the halls at the Capitol: Was it worth it? Congress, which never authorized the war against Iran yet never fully objected to it, now must grapple with the consequences of President Donald Trump’s nearly four-month conflict: the lives lost, the billions spent and the national security fallout that has reordered the political dynamics in the Middle East. Ask senators what they think about the deal Trump struck to end the war, and they do not search too far for words. “Pathetic. Failure. Inevitable conclusion of a combination of never making the case to the American people, flawed strategic vision, lack of grasp of the regional dynamics,” said Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “How many ways, can I say, bad, bad, bad?” Asked whether Trump should get credit for ending the war now, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said, “That's like literally an arsonist starting a fire and getting credit for running out of the burning building.”

Economic anxiety (WSJ) America’s economic anxiety is rising up the income ladder. A new Wall Street Journal poll finds that even those who consider themselves among the wealthiest classes in America carry high levels of concern about their current finances, the years ahead and the prospects for their children. More than 40% of Americans who call themselves upper class or upper-middle class say they haven’t saved enough money to retire comfortably. Only about 40% say their financial security is where they thought it would be at this point in their lives. Nearly three in five say they are strained by high gasoline prices. Those in the wealthiest classes have lost faith that an economy that has benefited them can lift future generations. Some 86% of people who call themselves upper class or upper-middle class say they lack confidence that life for their children will be better than theirs has been. That’s up from 64% in a 2019 survey and shows a level of pessimism that matches the views of less-fortunate groups.

No End in Sight for U.S. Military Mission Along Border With Mexico (NYT) For more than a year, the Pentagon has deployed about 9,000 active-duty troops along nearly 2,000 miles of the southwest border to confront illegal migrants, smugglers and drug cartels. The troops are still there—at a cost of tens of millions of dollars each week—even though the Trump administration months ago largely achieved its goal of slashing illegal crossings. Some members of Congress have questioned whether the patrols are the best use of active-duty troops who would otherwise be training for deployments to Eastern Europe, the Middle East or the Indo-Pacific region. Lawmakers and independent analysts have voiced concerns that the border missions will distract from training, drain resources and undermine readiness.

Trump’s escalating rhetoric shows a Cuba invasion could be imminent (Axios) President Trump said Thursday on “The Axios Show“ that “it’s possible” a potential Cuba invasion would resemble the swift capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. Trump wants to project U.S. military power across the Western Hemisphere. Trump also acknowledged the Iran conflict is taking longer to resolve because Iran has a “more powerful“ military and is far away. He suggested Cuba could be easier to overpower.

Bolivia’s president declares a state of emergency as road blockades choke supplies (AP) President Rodrigo Paz on Saturday declared a state of emergency that gives the military broad power to remove road blockades that have put a stranglehold on fuel and food supplies in Bolivia’s seat of government and other major cities. A wave of protests over the last five weeks has called for Paz to step down over austerity measures imposed by the government, including the cancellation of fuel subsidies, and other issues. The demonstrations have unleashed violent confrontations between dynamite-wielding demonstrators and riot police, leading to at least 365 arrests and 37 injuries, according to authorities. At least 17 people have died, most of them linked to a lack of medical care caused by transportation disruptions, according to Bolivia’s ombudsman’s office and human rights organizations.

Britain Is Set to Test How Far Charisma Can Shift Electoral Dynamics (NYT) If Andy Burnham’s election to Parliament on Thursday results in him becoming Britain’s 59th prime minister in the weeks ahead, it will test the power of personality over policy. Mr. Burnham, the 56-year-old former mayor of Greater Manchester, is a Labour Party politician, just like Prime Minister Keir Starmer. They both speak often of the importance of adhering to “Labour Party values.” They disagree in some areas about what that means, but so far there’s little to suggest that a Burnham government would differ drastically in policy terms from Mr. Starmer’s. But many Labour Party lawmakers—spooked by how deeply unpopular Mr. Starmer has become among voters—appear convinced that Mr. Burnham, who is seven years younger, more charismatic and offers a more authentic personal style, will be able to shake the party, and the country, out of its doldrums. Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said, “Things have looked so bleak for so long for the government, [they are] hoping by sheer force of personality Burnham can persuade people to give the party a second look, a second chance.”

Trump deepens the dustup with Italy’s Meloni, who says his ‘unprovoked attacks are senseless’ (AP) President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting that she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war. The remarks deepen the spat that began this week with the Republican president’s interview with an Italian broadcaster, during which Trump claimed Meloni “begged” for the photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni has called that “completely fabricated.” The dustup led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni’s government lined up in her defense. “Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. He continued: “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!).”

Luxury Kushner Project Collides With Albanian Discontent (NYT) For more than three weeks protesters have gathered peacefully in Tirana, the capital of Albania, cheered on by Americans who see them as plucky warriors against President Trump, Israel and the greed of the “1 percent.” The protests were set off by public outrage over violent security guards at the site of a planned coastal development financed by Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and investors from the Gulf with an estimated cost of more than $4 billion. For Americans on the left, Albanians are resisting Trump family corruption and so-called billionaire vultures. Conspiracy theorists on the right are embracing a different theory; they see pushback against Israel and supposed plans for what they call a “new Epstein island” off the southern coast of one of Europe’s poorest nations. Albanians actually taking part in the protests, however, beg to differ. “Nobody here is protesting against Trump or Israel,” said Elis Kodra, 33. “We are protesting against everything else,” he added, complaining that Albania has been ruled since the collapse of Communism 35 years ago by the same self-serving politicians who rotate in and out office, give state contracts to their friends in business and pay little attention to the economic and other grievances of ordinary citizens.

U.S., Qatar Work to Give Iran Access to Billions of Dollars in Frozen Cash (WSJ) The U.S. is working with Qatar on a plan to make billions of dollars in frozen funds available to Iran for humanitarian spending, another early financial incentive under the recently signed deal to end the war, people familiar with the matter said. The plan, which isn’t yet completed, is aimed at giving Iran access to the spending power of some of its estimated $100 billion in cash frozen worldwide, beginning with $6 billion held in Qatar. Under the deal, Qatar would allow purchases of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods ordered by Iran’s central bank with money drawn from frozen Iranian assets, mainly cash from oil sales that has been locked up overseas by sanctions, the people said. The facility could provide a template for dealing with other pools of frozen Iranian cash around the world.

Tyre in southern Lebanon marks Muharram holy month after destruction from Israel-Hezbollah war (AP) Wearing a yellow scarf showing her son killed fighting for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Iman Dilbani wept during a religious sermon Friday in the battered southern city of Tyre during the Islamic holy month of Muharram. Tyre, Lebanon’s fourth largest city, has been devastated by the Israel-Hezbollah war that reached a reported ceasefire Friday, with damaged buildings and structures reduced to rubble seen on almost every street following intense Israeli airstrikes. After Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with its ally Iran, Israel launched massive aerial bombardments that regularly struck Beirut and flattened large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon. Over one million Lebanese remain displaced, and Israeli ground forces invaded the country, controlling swaths of southern Lebanon. Almost 4,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 6, including 2 children and an Al Jazeera cameraman (AP) Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday killed at least six people, including two children and a cameraman with broadcaster Al Jazeera, according to Palestinian health officials. Despite an October ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas, the enclave has seen near-daily Israeli attacks that have killed over 1,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Sunday is the longest day of the year for half the planet (AP) This is the sun’s time to shine: Sunday is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Sunday is the solstice, marking the start of astronomical summer north of the equator. It’s the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year and winter will start. The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol,” for sun, and “stitium,” which can mean “pause” or “stop.” The summer solstice is the end of the sun’s annual march higher in the sky, when it makes its longest, highest arc. The bad news for sun lovers: It then starts retreating and days will get a little shorter every day until late December.

New Strait of Hormuz Closure Announcement Threatens the Slow Uptick in Traffic (NYT) Shipping numbers in the Strait of Hormuz have been on a slow climb since the United States and Iran agreed to a preliminary deal this week to end the war and reopen the vital waterway. But traffic was suddenly jeopardized on Saturday, when Iran’s military said it was shutting the strait once again. The closure came as U.S. Central Command announced a milestone, saying 55 commercial ships transited the strait on Saturday. That would be the largest number of ships to cross in a day since Iran effectively closed the strait early in the war—though it’s still far below the 130 daily prewar average. Throughout the war, Iran has used the strait—a critical route for the world’s oil and gas supplies—as one of its largest sources of leverage, and even the threat of renewed fighting has been enough to throttle shipping.

Our Allies Are Wondering Whether Supporting the American War Machine Is Worth It (NYT Magazine) The toll of the war with Iran was felt heavily at U.S. bases across the Middle East, which were thought to offer regional allies a security guarantee, assuring them of their safety under the American protective umbrella. The Iran war has exposed the fragility of that promise. The Navy’s base in Bahrain was hastily evacuated before an Iranian attack damaged it. The Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar is now reportedly inoperable. “This chain of bases across the Middle East were really effective—it was like having a string of pearls surrounding Iran,” says Vali Nasr, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. But, he adds, “The way in which the U.S. was not able to defend them, and the way that they were damaged, has a nonmonetary cost to it that is quite significant.” Around the world, at least 51 nations host American military bases. But after this war, friendly nations are weighing the risks of supporting the American war machine. “For any patriotic citizen of Qatar or any other Gulf country, the question arose over whether hosting U.S. military bases was worth it,” Maryam Al-Kuwari, a scholar of international relations at Qatar University, wrote in a briefing paper for her policy institute, the Arab Center. U.S. diplomats in Bahrain have warned of an emerging perception, fueled in part by Iranian social media bots, that the Americans left the nation alone to defend for itself. The war has enabled the rest of the world to clearly see what the White House cannot acknowledge: The United States is no longer the world’s unquestioned hegemon, and the promise of its protection is not absolute. The war in Iran marks the end of any lingering illusions of American omnipotence.

A New Air Force One, via Qatar, Nears Its First Presidential Flight (NYT) President Trump unveiled on Friday the red, white and blue 747 Boeing jetliner donated by the government of Qatar that will serve as the new Air Force One, closing the chapter on the aircraft that had carried presidents for more than three decades. The donated luxury jet, which prompted scrutiny from lawmakers, replaces two baby-blue planes that served as the presidential planes since 1990 and have been suffering from maintenance problems. Mr. Trump argued that the new plane, painted with the words “United States of America,” was needed after he noticed that other nations had planes that looked better than Air Force One. He said he expected the new Air Force One to lead a flyover of Washington on July 4, trailed by F-22 and F-35 military aircraft.

Cuba pushes through sweeping free-market reforms in biggest economic shift since the revolution (AP) Observers on Friday called Cuba’s new free-market reforms the most sweeping economic overhaul of the island’s communist economy since the Cuban revolution, as the grandson of former President Raúl Castro said in an interview that Cuba must seek to move its economy forward. The 176 measures aim to further decentralize Cuba’s state-run economy, which has been left gasping by a tightened embargo under President Donald Trump. Under the island’s current economic model, the government largely determines what is produced, who produces it, the prices at which goods are sold and how the country’s resources are allocated. The plan includes more space for private businesses, imports and exports without state intermediation, free hiring of personnel, authorization for private banks and investment by Cubans abroad. It even permits fast-food chains to establish themselves on the island.

Massive fire destroys resort in Dominican Republic and forces evacuation of almost 1,700 tourists (AP) A large fire almost completely destroyed a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic on Friday, forcing the evacuation of almost 1,700 tourists, authorities said. Local media reported an Italian tourist died in the fire and several other tourists required medical assistance. The Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham resort is located in Bayahibe, a popular destination for U.S. and international tourists on the Dominican Republic’s southeastern coast. Authorities reported about 1,690 tourists had to be evacuated from the resort to other hotels and nearby housing facilities because of the massive blaze.

Two trains collide north of London, killing at least 1 person and seriously injuring dozens (AP) Two trains collided north of London on Friday, killing a driver and seriously injuring dozens of people on board. Both trains were traveling south to London St. Pancras station when they collided outside the town of Bedford around 5:15 p.m., according to information on rail tracking websites. The East of England Ambulance Service later said that 11 people had very serious injuries, 22 were seriously injured and 56 had minor injuries.

Moscow Refinery Blast May Have Been Caused by Friendly Fire, Video Suggests (NYT) The dramatic explosion of a fuel storage facility in Moscow on Thursday may have been caused not by a Ukrainian drone but instead by a Russian air defense missile, an analysis of social media videos verified by The New York Times indicates. The blast became the defining image of Ukraine’s largest-scale drone attack on the Russian capital since the start of the war. The Russian authorities said they had shot down 992 Ukrainian drones across the country on Thursday, in addition to those that reached their targets. The roof of the storage silo flew high into the air, appearing to surf atop a plume of black smoke before plummeting to earth as the installation in southeast Moscow became engulfed in fire. The possibility that the explosion was a self-inflicted “friendly fire” incident highlighted the difficulties that Russian air defenses are facing as Ukraine increases the scale of its drone attacks to break through a layered shield of systems designed to protect the capital.

War-weary Iranians see glimmers of relief as Trump deal takes shape (Washington Post) In Iran, a war-weary population met with cautious relief the news of diplomatic progress between their government and the Trump administration as an initial agreement took shape. Even as their government, and President Donald Trump, vie to hold up the agreement as evidence of victory, many ordinary Iranians say the war has yielded nothing but devastation. Over five weeks of active combat, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes hit more than 13,000 military, industrial and political targets in Iran, damaging or destroying thousands of structures and killing more than 1,700 civilians, including more than 150 children at a school on the war’s first day. While the onslaught failed to topple the Iranian government, it did compound the country’s economic crisis, punishing a civilian population already mired in years of hardship. Inflation has grown to more than 70 percent and the country’s currency, the rial, is trading at over 1.8 million to the U.S. dollar, one of multiple record lows set in recent years.

U.S. intelligence warns Israel is likely to undermine Iran peace deal (Washington Post) U.S. intelligence agencies have warned the Trump administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to take steps that will undermine President Donald Trump’s effort to reach a lasting peace deal with Iran, as the Israeli premier faces intense political pressure to continue waging his country’s war in Lebanon, current and former U.S. officials said. The analysis comes at a moment of growing tension between Netanyahu’s government and Trump administration officials, who have publicly warned Israel against launching attacks against Hezbollah that might derail Trump’s deal.

Israeli envoy and UN official clash at hearing on children in conflict (Reuters)—Diplomatic niceties broke down at the United Nations on Friday when Israel’s ambassador and the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for children ​and armed conflict became embroiled in a furious shouting ‌match at a public hearing. At a meeting in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Israeli envoy, ​Danny Danon, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced ​a report that blacklisted Israel for such alleged abuses, accusing her of bias. Frazier, Malta’s former U.N. ambassador, issued her report this week on behalf of U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warning ​that Israeli settler ​groups could be ⁠added to a global blacklist for violations against children as the U.N. chief voiced alarm at what ​he called a “staggering” rise in violations against Palestinian children. Israel ​itself ⁠already features in that report’s so-called list of shame annexes for alleged violations.