LIMA — Right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori has stretched her slim lead over leftist challenger Roberto Sanchez in Peru’s hotly disputed presidential contest, as the slow review of contested ballots continued Monday.
Fujimori reclaimed the top spot in the race midway through last week, largely on the strength of votes cast abroad. As of Monday, she held 50.051% of the vote compared to Sanchez’s 49.949% — a margin of just over 18,300 votes.
According to Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes, 98.59% of all votes have now been counted.
Election officials began examining disputed ballots from the June 7 runoff last Thursday. Authorities say the final certified results may not come for days or even weeks, making this one of the tightest presidential races in Peru’s history.
Over the weekend, Sanchez traveled to the Andean region of Cusco — a stronghold of his support — where he met with backers and expressed that he had “suspicions” about the ongoing vote review.
Last week, Sanchez asked authorities to throw out roughly 400,000 overseas ballots, claiming there were irregularities in how they were transported. Election officials rejected that request.
Supporters of Sanchez have taken to the streets in the capital Lima in recent days, responding to his call to “defend the people’s vote.” The protests, which drew hundreds of demonstrators, remained peaceful.
Following the runoff, both the Organization of American States and the European Union sent election observation missions to Peru. In separate press conferences, both groups said the voting had proceeded normally and encouraged the country to wait for the official results given how close the race is.
Sanchez is running with the backing of former leftist President Pedro Castillo, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison after attempting to dissolve Congress and seize expanded powers in late 2022. Sanchez’s rise has made private investors uneasy.
Financial markets bounced back last week as Fujimori moved ahead in the count. Prior to the election, markets had sold off amid concerns that a Sanchez victory could threaten economic stability, according to traders in stock and foreign exchange markets.
A Nigerian federal court issued a ruling Monday directing the country’s electoral authority to remove one of the nation’s prominent opposition parties — along with four other political organizations — from its official register, citing failures to meet constitutional standards.
Federal High Court Judge Peter Lifu ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to strike the African Democratic Congress and the four other parties from its rolls. The decision came in response to complaints brought by former lawmakers who argued the parties had not reached the minimum performance benchmarks required under Nigerian law.
Under Nigerian law, a political party must either win at least one elected position at any level of government or receive no less than 25% of votes cast in a state during a presidential election. Parties that fall short of these thresholds face the possibility of being removed from the electoral register.
The court’s decision creates a significant obstacle for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who had been running as the ADC’s presidential candidate and was considered one of the strongest challengers to President Bola Tinubu. The ruling could significantly reduce the number of opposition candidates competing in the race ahead of next January’s elections.
ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi sharply criticized the decision, describing it as “a direct invitation to anarchy.” He confirmed the party intends to challenge the ruling through all available legal and constitutional channels.
THE HAGUE — An international arbitration court has determined that Russia violated certain maritime laws during the construction of its bridge spanning the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and annexed Crimea, but rejected the majority of Ukraine’s broader legal claims against Moscow.
The case was brought before the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, after Russia began building the 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula.
Although the ruling was dated April 22, it was only made public on Monday in accordance with the arbitration court’s standard procedures. The five-judge panel dismissed most of Ukraine’s arguments — which centered on Russia allegedly seeking exclusive control over the strait — on procedural grounds.
Where the court did find fault with Russia, it was over the country’s failure to conduct proper environmental impact assessments before and during the bridge’s construction.
Despite finding those violations, the panel chose not to award any financial reparations to Ukraine. Both sides were directed to cover their own legal expenses accumulated over the course of the ten-year proceeding.
This case is among a number of legal actions Ukraine has pursued at various international courts and institutions, stemming from Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale military invasion that began in 2022.
The Kerch Strait bridge holds significant strategic importance, serving as a key supply route for fuel, food, and other goods flowing into Crimea. The peninsula is also home to Sevastopol, the historic base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Syria’s Interior Ministry announced Monday that one of its security officers was killed after forces successfully stopped an assault by two Islamic State militants targeting a command headquarters of the country’s internal security forces in the city of Raqqa.
A ministry statement described how two suicide bombers attempted to force their way into the facility. Security personnel confronted the attackers, neutralizing one of them. The second bomber, after being surrounded, detonated an explosive vest. Three additional security officers sustained injuries in the incident.
Earlier reports from Syria’s state news agency, citing an Interior Ministry spokesperson, indicated that preliminary information suggested at least two ministry personnel had been killed in a suicide attack on a ministry camp in Raqqa — a figure that differed from the later official count.
Islamic State announced in February that it was launching a new campaign of attacks against the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Since then, the group has carried out a series of strikes, including one near Raqqa that killed four Syrian security personnel.
Syria’s government under al-Sharaa joined the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State last year. Al-Sharaa himself previously fought against ISIS when he led the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front during Syria’s civil war, later cutting ties with al Qaeda in 2016.
At the height of its power roughly a decade ago during the Syrian civil war, Islamic State held control over approximately a quarter or more of Syrian territory before being pushed out by the U.S.-led coalition and other opposing forces.
Like all reptiles, sea turtles breathe air — yet they are remarkably suited for a life spent in the ocean. Their bodies are sleek and hydrodynamic, and their large flippers make them efficient swimmers. These ancient creatures inhabit tropical and subtropical ocean waters across the globe.
Of the seven known species of sea turtles in the world, six of them can be found in waters belonging to the United States. Those species are the green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and olive ridley sea turtles.
Sweden’s parliament voted Monday to enact a law requiring government workers to notify police whenever they encounter migrants who do not have legal authorization to reside in the country. Opponents of the measure say it will foster fear among vulnerable populations and could take a serious toll on migrants’ physical and mental health.
The legislation is part of a broader push by Sweden to adopt a stricter stance on migration, coming at a time when the European Union is also restructuring its immigration policies — including measures aimed at speeding up deportations.
Jacob Lind, a migration expert from Malmo University, spoke with the AP following the parliamentary vote. “This is the latest measure in a long list of extremely problematic regulations on migration,” he said. “It has a symbolic meaning because it amounts to snitching by some very important state agencies.”
John Stauffer of Swedish nonprofit Civil Rights Defenders noted to the AP that the bill barely cleared the legislature, passing by just two votes — 174 in favor and 172 against. He said that razor-thin margin reflects the significant opposition that exists within Swedish society over the law.
After criticism from various groups, teachers, physicians, and social workers were carved out from the reporting requirement.
Under the new law, employees at agencies such as tax authorities, employment offices, social insurance agencies, and prison and probation services will be legally required to inform police when they have reason to believe someone they are dealing with lacks the proper documentation to remain in Sweden.
Louise Bonneau, representing Brussels-based nonprofit PICUM — an organization that advocates for migrants — told the AP that such requirements carry wide-ranging consequences. “Reporting obligations imposed on public agencies create a climate of fear that harms not only undocumented people but everyone who depends on these institutions,” she said.
The Swedish government has maintained that additional tools are necessary to ensure that individuals without legal permission to stay in the country can be sent back to their home nations.
A group of researchers from three Swedish universities cautioned in March that the law conflicts with fundamental human rights and encourages racial profiling — a practice in which authorities target individuals based on race or ethnicity rather than actual evidence of wrongdoing.
Those researchers spoke with public servants about the ethical dilemmas the law would introduce into their daily work.
As one example highlighted by the researchers: if a mother without legal residency status gives birth, the midwife is not obligated to report her — but information about the newborn will eventually reach the tax authority, which is then required to report the family to authorities.
“It creates a huge deterrence effect to be in contact with a healthcare professional,” Bonneau said. “We’ll see what happens in practice. Will we see people fearing to be in contact with authorities, issues of maternal health, of the children being born?”
Germany enacted similar legislation back in 2005, requiring certain public agencies to report migrants without valid residency status. That law applies to institutions such as welfare offices, while schools and hospitals remain exempt. Even so, migrants in Germany are known to avoid seeking medical care because doing so requires obtaining paperwork from a welfare office first — a step that can expose them to immigration authorities. In response, several organizations in larger cities like Berlin have established healthcare services specifically for migrants without legal residency status.
In 2018, the United Kingdom revised a policy that had allowed immigration officials to access patient records from the National Health Service. Amid concerns that the arrangement was discouraging migrants from seeking care and compromising patient confidentiality, the government scaled back the rules. Under the revised policy, the Home Office was limited to accessing only the names of individuals suspected or convicted of crimes who faced deportation proceedings.
The University of Delaware women’s soccer team now has its roadmap for the 2026 season. Head Coach Kelly Lawrence made the official schedule announcement on Monday, giving fans and supporters a look at what lies ahead for the Fightin’ Blue Hens.
Delaware is set to compete in 18 games during the upcoming regular season. Of those matchups, 11 will take place on home turf at Stuart & Suzanne Grant Stadium in Newark, giving local fans plenty of opportunities to cheer on the Blue Hens in person.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court handed down a 26-year prison sentence Monday to a Syrian man found guilty of crimes against humanity, including the torture and rape of people imprisoned for opposing the government of former Syrian president Bashar Assad during the country’s devastating civil war.
The defendant, identified under Dutch privacy laws only as Rafiq al Q., stood trial beginning in April on charges that included torture, sexual abuse, and rape. The 58-year-old maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, alleging that both the victims and law enforcement had conspired against him.
The verdict from the District Court of The Hague marks the latest in a growing series of legal actions taken against Syrian suspects in courts around the world, following Assad’s removal from power in December 2024 after a swift rebel offensive that ended years of civil war. Assad subsequently fled to Russia, a longtime ally.
These prosecutions have drawn renewed attention to the widespread abuse that took place inside dozens of Syrian detention facilities while Assad held power. Former prisoners, human rights organizations, and activists have described systematic torture, sexual violence, mass executions, and brutal conditions.
Judges determined that Rafiq al Q. was a member of the pro-Assad National Defense Force, a paramilitary organization, and that between 2013 and 2014 he served as an interrogator for the group. Evidence presented in court showed he was responsible for the torture of detainees held at facilities in Salamiyah, including beatings, suspending victims upside down, and administering electric shocks.
In summarizing its ruling, the court stated: “The defendant was also guilty of sexually abusing multiple victims. He raped one of them. The defendant repeatedly subjected the victims to conditions of extreme fear, threats, pain, hopelessness, and powerlessness. During the court hearings, the victims gave compelling testimonies about the impact this had on them and the consequences they continue to suffer to this day.”
Rafiq al Q. sat quietly beside his attorney, wearing a striped shirt with guards positioned nearby, and appeared to offer no reaction as the conviction and sentence were read aloud. He was cleared of some charges where judges found the evidence insufficient to support a guilty verdict.
He arrived in the Netherlands seeking asylum in 2021 and was living in the eastern town of Druten when authorities arrested him in 2023.
The prosecution was made possible through the legal concept of universal jurisdiction, which permits courts to try individuals for serious international offenses — such as war crimes — even when those crimes were committed in a foreign country.
Both prosecutors and the defense have 14 days to file an appeal of the conviction and sentence.
The Netherlands is not the only country pursuing accountability for those tied to the former Assad regime. Last year, a German court sentenced a Syrian doctor to life in prison for torture and war crimes, including the killing of two people and the torture of nine others in Syria between 2011 and 2012. In 2024, a court in Paris sentenced three senior Syrian officials in absentia to life imprisonment for complicity in war crimes.
Syria itself is also working to hold former regime loyalists accountable. In April, the first public trial of former government officials opened in Damascus. Among those who appeared in court was Atef Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general who led the Political Security Branch in the southern Daraa province under Assad and is also a cousin of the former president. He faces charges related to what state-run news agency SANA described as “crimes against the Syrian people.”
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Heads of state representing the Group of Seven major democracies have descended on a scenic French spa town this week for a multi-day international summit.
The gathering, which kicked off Monday, brings together some of the most powerful leaders on the world stage for high-level discussions among the G7 nations.
The Associated Press has put together a curated photo gallery showcasing highlights from the summit, offering a visual look at the world leaders in attendance.
WASHINGTON — By the time Justin Gaethje finished off his bloodied opponent and celebrated his championship victory with a backflip off the top of the wire-mesh cage — then shook hands with President Donald Trump and even exchanged a fist bump with Melania — the head of the UFC had already made up his mind about one thing.
The White House will not be hosting another UFC event.
“It was an amazing experience, this was a one-of-one,” UFC CEO Dana White told reporters. “It will never happen again.”
That’s not because the event, called Freedom 250 — staged to mark Trump’s 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — fell short of expectations. White was quick to boast about merchandise sales, streaming subscriptions, and hitting every performance benchmark the organization tracks, all shared at a press conference that ran well into the early morning hours.
The setting itself was nearly impossible to beat. Fighters treated their pre-fight walkouts like a guided tour, making their way through the West Wing, past the Oval Office, by presidential portraits, through the Roosevelt Room and the Cabinet Room. Winners even got a personal meeting with the president.
Gaethje paused to look at the copy of the Declaration of Independence displayed in the Oval Office and said a prayer before making the unusually long walk to the cage. He then dominated Spanish-Georgian fighter Ilia Topuria in the main event to claim the UFC lightweight title.
“Usually, I kind of blank out when it comes to getting ready to walk to the cage,” Gaethje said. “It was pretty crazy, looking at the Declaration of Independence. The original one. Their language was different. I’m not smart enough to read that.”
Gaethje also walked away with $825,000 in bonus money after earning both “Performance of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors.
Trump remained at the event through all seven bouts and appeared genuinely engaged throughout the night — at one point sporting a white “USA” baseball cap — and was all smiles each time a victorious fighter came over for a handshake.
Trump later took to Truth Social to declare the evening was “PERFECT!”
“Most people have never seen anything like that kind of human speed and power before,” Trump wrote. “The White House has never looked more beautiful. The setting was unsurpassed!”
The night wasn’t entirely without issues. UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted away from the Ellipse watch party — where thousands of fans had gathered — by police officers. Heavyweight Josh Hokit went further, making an extraordinary and baseless attack rooted in a right-wing conspiracy theory targeting former first lady Michelle Obama.
Despite those moments, the event delivered on its patriotic promise. The Marine Band performed, tributes were paid to first responders, active military members, and other honorees. Gaethje and Ciryl Gane were both crowned champions inside a blood-stained octagonal cage set up outdoors on the White House South Lawn.
“Hopefully tonight created some unity,” White said. “Even for the people that thought this was going to be some big political statement or something, this wasn’t. This was Americans, all Americans celebrating the birthday. For people who tuned in for the first time, because it was at the White House, hopefully they liked the sport. They liked some of the guy’s stories.”
White hopes the event may have attracted some new UFC fans — and they’ll have plenty to watch. International Fight Week is approaching, with UFC 329 set to mark the return of the promotion’s biggest draw, Conor McGregor, after a five-year absence. That event will take place in a traditional arena on UFC’s home turf in Las Vegas.
As for Washington, D.C.? White is firm: it’s a one-time deal. Dealing with unpredictable outdoor weather, the complex logistics of building a cage at a federal landmark, and the staggering price tag — UFC said it covered the $60 million cost itself — made Freedom 250 a singular occasion.
“I can’t afford it,” White said. “I’ll never do the Sphere again and we’ll never do this again.”
A beagle breeding operation in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin — a small town roughly 25 miles southwest of Madison — is shutting down for good, and the hundreds of dogs still on the property are heading to a rescue organization.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue announced Monday that it has reached an agreement with Ridglan Farms for the permanent closure of the facility. As part of the deal, the rescue group will take in the farm’s 475 remaining beagles beginning this week.
According to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, some of the dogs will be distributed to other rescue organizations, while the rest will be transported to the group’s campuses in Florida and Alabama. There, the animals will be spayed or neutered and prepared for adoption into permanent homes.
This is not the first time Big Dog Ranch Rescue has stepped in at this facility. Back in April, the organization purchased approximately 1,500 of the farm’s more than 2,000 beagles for an undisclosed sum. The transfer of the remaining dogs is expected to wrap up by August, at which point no animals will remain at the property.
The rescue group is urging protesters to stand down, saying Ridglan Farms has committed to permanently ending its dog breeding, sales, research, and testing operations.
Lauree Simmons, founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, addressed the situation in a statement: “Our focus now should be on supporting these dogs as they transition into their new lives.”
Representatives for Ridglan Farms did not respond to phone or email messages seeking comment on Monday.
Animal rights advocates have spent years pushing for the facility’s dogs to be placed in adoptive homes rather than sold to research labs. Beagles are the most widely used breed in animal testing, largely due to their small size and calm nature, according to Big Dog Ranch Rescue.
The farm has been the scene of significant unrest in recent months. In April, law enforcement deployed tear gas and pepper spray against a large group of activists who stormed the property in an attempt to remove dogs. In March, protesters broke into the facility and took 30 beagles, resulting in dozens of arrests.
Ridglan Farms previously agreed in October to surrender its state breeding license effective July 1 as part of an arrangement to avoid prosecution on felony animal mistreatment charges. While the company has denied any wrongdoing, a special prosecutor found that the farm had been conducting eye procedures that did not meet state veterinary standards.
Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism and has made his faith a cornerstone of his adult life, has released a new book detailing his spiritual journey — one that many observers believe could lay the groundwork for a future run at the presidency.
Titled “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” the book went on sale Tuesday through Harper, and The Associated Press obtained a copy before its official release. The HarperCollins imprint previously published “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance’s best-selling 2016 memoir that first brought him to national prominence.
Vance has been working on the new book intermittently ever since, across a decade that saw a Hollywood film adaptation of his life story, a brief term as a U.S. senator from Ohio, and ultimately his election as vice president alongside Donald Trump.
The book contains relatively little about Trump or behind-the-scenes political anecdotes. However, Vance does acknowledge regret over his past criticism of the Democratic Party’s “childless cat ladies” — a remark that resurfaced and created headaches for him during the campaign when he was Trump’s running mate.
At its core, “Communion” functions as a kind of argument for the importance of religion in public life. Vance traces his path from Protestant Christianity to atheism and eventually to Catholicism, saying his faith gave him a sense of purpose that neither his education at Yale University nor his career in finance had provided.
The book arrives less than five months before the midterm elections, which will shape the final two years of Trump’s second term and are widely expected to signal the unofficial start of the next presidential race — one in which Vance is considered a likely contender.
Vance described observing what he called “the fusion between Republican politics and the Christianity of my youth.” During that period, he wrote, “I heard a fair amount about the evils of abortion and homosexuality,” along with then-President Bill Clinton’s “rumored moral failings.”
He also said he felt he was “starting to witness the beginning of a fissure in the Republican Party: between its business elites and its religious rank and file” — a divide that, he wrote, would “eventually lead to my election as vice president.”
His grandmother — whom he refers to as his mamaw — was a defining presence in his life, and her death marked the beginning of his drift away from Christianity. “With her gone, no one really cared about my faith, and soon I stopped caring, too,” he wrote. Religion became “completely irrelevant” to him, even during his time serving in Iraq with the Marine Corps.
By the time his military service ended in 2006, Vance wrote that he “was no longer, in any real sense, a Christian.”
On his way back to base following his grandmother’s funeral, Vance recounted losing control of his vehicle on a wet road, only to stop inexplicably before crashing into a guardrail and potentially plunging off a mountainside. He described it as “the closest I’ve ever come to a supernatural experience,” a feeling that stayed with him even through what he called his “later years as a strident atheist.”
As his military career wound down, a fellow servicemember introduced him to the writings of author Ayn Rand, whose philosophy of selfishness as a virtue stood “in as stark opposition to Christian morality as anything I’d ever read.” Vance said Rand’s ideas “filled a void left by the faith I’d discarded” and that he became a “self-professed atheist and meritocrat.” “I didn’t care about God’s will,” he wrote. “I cared about my own.”
Vance wrote that he was immediately captivated by the woman who would become his wife, Usha Vance, telling a friend while the two were in law school that he thought he was “obsessed” with her. He praised her sharpness, intellect, and curiosity. “I will marry this girl,” he wrote. “Or I will be a lifelong bachelor.”
The couple’s differing views on the afterlife emerged through a conversation sparked by Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking.” Vance wrote that his wife, like Didion, didn’t fear the loss of heaven or the pains of hell simply because she didn’t believe they existed. “I came to believe in both, but I still didn’t find either particularly motivating,” he wrote.
Around the same time, Vance attended a lecture by Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley investor who would later become one of his early political supporters. He was struck by Thiel’s views on intense professional competition paired with what Thiel described as “technological stagnation.” Vance called Thiel “possibly the smartest person I’d ever met” and noted that Thiel openly identified as a Christian, which challenged Vance’s assumption “that dumb people were religious and smart people were atheists.”
Vance said he was initially doubtful his first book would find an audience, but an interview he gave in the summer of 2016 about how working-class Americans felt abandoned by their country’s leaders caught on quickly, aligning with Trump’s campaign message that year. “I became a controversial figure in my own right, and I tasted my first bit of heated public criticism,” he wrote.
In 2018, Vance visited a French cathedral with his wife and their young son, Ewan. Reflecting on the Catholic Church’s centuries of endurance, he felt his resistance to religion beginning to soften. He described feeling “a distinct sense of belonging and presence.” He was baptized the following year, writing that he appreciated the “work” involved in becoming Catholic — including readings and in-depth discussions.
When it came to being selected as Trump’s running mate, Vance wrote that he considered it a “long shot.” “When his staff told me I was on the short list, I almost thought it was a prank call,” he wrote. He described the in-person vetting interview as the most memorable part of the process, including being asked whether he had ever been unfaithful to his wife. “I haven’t, but I assume people who have don’t just admit it to a stranger?” he replied.
The campaign transition was hard on his family, he wrote, especially his oldest child. He shared that struggle with Charlie Kirk, the young conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA and was assassinated last year. Kirk’s advice: “Don’t try to convince your son it’s not a sacrifice.”
The “childless cat ladies” remark, originally made in 2021, came back to haunt Vance during the campaign. He now calls the comment “boneheaded” and “one of the dumbest things I ever said.” “Aside from enraging a great number of people,” Vance added, “it had the added benefit of distracting from the actual point I wanted to make, which was that our society is becoming pathologically hostile to having kids.”
The release of “Communion” is widely seen as fueling speculation about a 2028 presidential bid. Vance has said he is not focused on that possibility at the moment and has suggested he would wait until after the 2026 midterm elections before making any decision. Presidential hopefuls frequently publish books ahead of campaigns as a way to build visibility and sharpen their message. Several potential 2028 Democratic candidates have recently published or are preparing to release books of their own, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
THE HAGUE — A district court in The Hague handed down a 26-year prison sentence Monday to a former member of a pro-Assad Syrian militia, finding him guilty of crimes against humanity for torturing and sexually assaulting prisoners over a decade ago.
Judges determined that 58-year-old Rafik A. — whose surname was withheld by the court — served as an interrogator for the National Defense Forces in Salamiyah, Syria, during 2013 and 2014. That militia fought alongside the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was removed from power in December 2024.
Throughout the proceedings, Rafik A. consistently denied any involvement in the alleged crimes and claimed that witnesses who testified against him were lying.
Presiding judge Wim van Hattum outlined the court’s findings in a summary of the ruling, stating: “The suspect was engaged in torture, rape or other sexual abuse of eight victims in this case, either by committing the acts himself or by ordering others to do so.”
The conviction is historic on two fronts: it is the first time a Dutch court has found someone guilty of atrocities in Syria carried out by forces loyal to the Assad government, and it is also the first Dutch conviction in which sexual violence has been classified as a crime against humanity.
Similar legal proceedings against officials tied to the Assad era have been pursued in other European nations, including Germany.
Rafik A. had been residing in the Netherlands for several years under asylum seeker status before his arrest there in 2023.
Dutch law, operating under the principle of universal jurisdiction, permits courts to prosecute foreign nationals for serious crimes committed in other countries, provided that the accused or some of the victims have a presence in the Netherlands.
WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran have reached a signed memorandum of understanding to bring their nearly four-month war to a close, senior U.S. officials announced Monday. A formal signing ceremony is set to take place on Friday.
According to one U.S. official, the agreement has been signed by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
Alongside the announcement of the signed document, officials indicated that maritime activity in the Strait of Hormuz is already beginning to pick up.
“You will see significant increase in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, actually starting already, and that will ramp up slowly over time,” said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a briefing with reporters.
The official tempered expectations for an immediate full return to normalcy, stating, “We probably won’t return to normal in two weeks, but we will see a significant increase in strait traffic.”
Both nations confirmed they had agreed on terms to end hostilities and reopen the strategic waterway, news that offered relief to financial markets. However, the agreement may depend on a cessation of fighting in Lebanon, and discussions about Tehran’s nuclear program have been pushed to a later date.
Though still considered a framework agreement, the deal stands as the most significant breakthrough in efforts to end the conflict, which began in February following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. The war has resulted in thousands of deaths and severely disrupted global energy markets.
A federal judge has permanently thrown out a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which had accused rival OpenAI — led by Sam Altman — of stealing its trade secrets.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, presiding in San Francisco, ruled that xAI failed to demonstrate that OpenAI encouraged a former xAI engineer named Xuechen Li to improperly take trade secrets. The judge also found no evidence that Li revealed any xAI trade secrets during a presentation he made while OpenAI was in the process of recruiting him.
Judge Lin dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning xAI cannot refile it. She described any attempt to continue the legal battle as “futile.” This was not the first time the case was thrown out — Lin had already dismissed an earlier version of the complaint back in February.
The lawsuit was originally filed last September. It alleged that former xAI employees walked out the door with confidential company information, including source code connected to the Grok chatbot, when they departed for positions at OpenAI.
The xAI company operates as part of Musk’s broader enterprise that also includes the rocket, satellite, and AI firm SpaceX.
Attorneys representing xAI had not responded to requests for comment at the time of reporting.
Senior technical staff from the artificial intelligence company Anthropic are scheduled to sit down with officials from the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington on Monday, according to a Trump administration official. The meeting comes after the federal government ordered Anthropic late last week to cut off access to its most powerful AI models for foreign nationals, pointing to national security concerns.
Since the Trump administration first contacted Anthropic on Friday, representatives from the company have been meeting with government officials virtually every day, according to a source close to the company who spoke with Reuters.
The administration’s order directed Anthropic to block foreign nationals — whether they are located inside or outside the United States — from using its two latest models, called Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Anthropic disclosed the order in a blog post on Friday and said it responded by disabling access to those models worldwide.
In that same post, Anthropic explained that the government believes someone has found a way to get around, or “jailbreak,” a safety feature designed to prevent Fable 5 from being used to identify software vulnerabilities. However, Anthropic pushed back, saying the workaround discovered only “minor” security flaws — the kind that other AI models already available to the public can also detect.
As of the time of this report, neither the Commerce Department nor Anthropic had responded to requests for comment regarding Monday’s planned meeting.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is looking for charter boat captains and fishing guides willing to get paid to fight an invasive species problem in the Chesapeake Bay. Through a new initiative called the Reel in the Blues Bonanza, qualified operators can earn up to $1,500 per trip by taking contest winners out on blue catfish fishing excursions during the summer and fall of 2026.
Captains and guides interested in taking part must complete an interest form no later than June 22. The program serves a dual purpose: reducing the population of blue catfish — an invasive species — in the Chesapeake Bay, while also providing a boost to the charter and guided fishing trip industry.
Starting June 24, 2026, the Maryland DNR will open a public giveaway where residents can enter to win free blue catfishing trips on the Chesapeake Bay. Details on how to enter will be shared on the DNR’s website, through email newsletters, and across social media platforms.
Those who win a trip will receive a list of participating captains and guides and can reach out directly to schedule their outing. The DNR will then reimburse the captain or guide up to $1,500 per trip within 30 days of completion. That amount may exceed the standard cost of a charter trip and is designed to also cover a tip for the boat’s mates.
To qualify for the program, captains and guides must hold a Maryland Waterman ID number, possess a valid U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license — known as a Merchant Mariner’s Credential — if serving as a captain, and submit harvest data electronically through the FACTS reporting system.
Blue catfish, known scientifically as Ictalurus furcatus, have become a serious concern in the region. Their aggressive feeding habits, lack of selectivity in what they eat, and rapid reproduction rate make them a threat to native fish species — some of which hold significant commercial and recreational value in Maryland.
This pilot program is one piece of a broader departmental strategy to curb the damage done by invasive catfish to native wildlife and aquatic ecosystems. Other efforts underway include offering incentives to charter captains who collect harvest data during catfish trips, backing invasive species fishing tournaments, and collaborating with various stakeholders and agencies to ramp up removal efforts. Anglers with a valid Maryland fishing license face no season restrictions or catch limits when it comes to recreational blue catfishing.
If funding allows and interest remains strong, the program could continue through 2027 and 2028. The department plans to evaluate the 2026 pilot by tracking participation rates, the number of blue catfish harvested, customer satisfaction, and feedback gathered from the captains and guides involved.
The Denver Broncos are adding a proven pass-catcher to their roster, with NFL Network reporting Monday that the team is signing wide receiver Hakeem Butler, a two-time UFL Offensive Player of the Year.
Butler, who celebrated his 30th birthday last month, claimed the prestigious spring league honor in both 2024 and 2026. His most recent award-winning season saw him top the UFL with 641 receiving yards on 29 receptions and three touchdowns while playing for the St. Louis Battlehawks.
According to the report, Butler will be on the field for the Broncos’ mandatory minicamp, which gets underway Tuesday.
The 6-foot-5 receiver’s path to Denver has been a long one. The Arizona Cardinals selected him in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Iowa State. His NFL playing time proved limited — he appeared in just two games with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020, logging 29 of his 30 snaps on special teams and never recording a reception.
Butler also had stints on the practice squads of the Carolina Panthers in 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2023, and the Cincinnati Bengals in 2024. He also ventured north to the Canadian Football League in 2022, suiting up for both the BC Lions and Edmonton Elks.
His career took a significant turn when he joined the Battlehawks in 2023. Since then, he has established himself as the UFL’s all-time leader in receiving yards, accumulating an impressive 2,192 yards throughout his time in the spring league.
WASHINGTON — The head of the International Monetary Fund says the global economy is holding its own against the pressures created by the war in the Middle East, even as commodity prices have surged, inflation has climbed, and financial conditions have tightened. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva made the comments Monday, noting there are no signs yet of a worldwide economic slowdown.
Georgieva, who leads the international lending organization, expressed support for Sunday’s agreement between the United States and Iran to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, she cautioned in a newly published blog post that any further escalation in the conflict or disruptions to supply chains would pose a “clear risk to global growth.”
The IMF is scheduled to release a revised economic outlook on July 8. Back in April, the fund had laid out three possible scenarios for global economic output in 2026 and 2027. Its middle-ground “adverse scenario” projected growth slowing to 2.5% in 2026, with headline inflation reaching 5.4%.
Last month, Georgieva indicated that the adverse scenario was already unfolding. Her latest remarks, however, suggest the fund may now lean toward its more optimistic baseline projection — one that assumed the Iran conflict would be short-lived and forecast global growth of 3.1% in 2026.
The ceasefire framework represents the most significant step yet toward ending a war that began in February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. The conflict has since expanded into a broader regional confrontation, claiming thousands of lives, rattling global energy markets, and fueling fears of a worldwide recession.
“More than three months into the war in the Middle East, the global economy appears to be holding up. Commodity prices, inflation and expectations for it, and financial conditions have all been impacted — but not yet in ways that signal a global slowdown,” Georgieva wrote in her blog post.
Two Maryland organizations are set to receive financial support to expand environmental education and stewardship efforts across the state.
The funding comes through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant and is administered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Final dollar amounts will depend on federal funding availability and approval.
Two groups were selected to receive awards:
The Accokeek Foundation will use its funding to blend traditional ecological knowledge, cultural heritage, and historical context into programming. A key component is the Wild Rice Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience, aimed at seventh grade students in both Prince George’s County Public Schools and Charles County Public Schools. Participants will take part in hands-on restoration work, including planting, data collection, and maintaining wetland ecosystems.
The Anne Arundel Community College Environmental Center will bring together community members, college students, high school students, and local organizations for field and laboratory research. Activities will include collecting environmental data, assessing horseshoe crab populations, evaluating shoreline conditions, and building a culture of stewardship.
Starting in July, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will begin accepting applications for the next fiscal year through its online Grants Gateway.
American consumers who rely on artificial intelligence tools to help them decide what to buy are proving to be more valuable customers for online retailers, according to new data released in May by Adobe Analytics.
Shoppers who landed on retail websites after receiving product suggestions from large language models — such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini — generated 53% more revenue per visit compared to shoppers who arrived from traditional, non-AI sources.
Vivek Pandya, director of digital insights at Adobe, noted that retailers whose products appear in AI-generated recommendations are better positioned to offer more personalized experiences to shoppers who then leave those AI platforms to complete their purchases directly on a retailer’s own website.
The data also showed that AI-driven traffic to retail websites surged 138% in May compared to the same time last year — the largest share of total retail visits recorded since Adobe Analytics began monitoring this trend in October 2024.
Additional findings from the report include:
Shoppers referred by AI tools converted into buyers at a rate 54% higher than those coming from non-AI sources. They also spent 53% more time browsing retail websites and visited more pages per session than visitors who arrived through other channels.
The data underscores a growing incentive for brands to ensure their web content is optimized and readable by AI systems, as more consumers turn to these tools at the start of their shopping journey.
LAS VEGAS — When the Vegas Golden Knights made the surprising mid-season decision to bring in John Tortorella, there was no promise he would be around past the end of the year. Now, after leading the team all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, Tortorella appears to have made a compelling argument for staying on.
The Golden Knights hired Tortorella with just eight games remaining in the regular season, a move that came alongside the firing of Bruce Cassidy. The team had slipped from first to third place in the Pacific Division when general manager Kelly McCrimmon decided to shake things up.
“If we didn’t have the expectations and the belief in our team that we do, we probably would have let this thing ride out,” McCrimmon said at the time of the change. “We like our team a lot, and we think our team has a chance to win. We needed to make this change to help that happen.”
That gamble paid off. Under Tortorella, Vegas went 7-0-1 to close out the regular season and claimed the Pacific Division title — the franchise’s fifth division crown in its nine-year history. In the playoffs, they knocked out Utah and Anaheim in six games each before pulling off a stunning sweep of Colorado, a team that had won the Presidents’ Trophy and posted an 8-1 record in the postseason.
The Golden Knights then faced Carolina in the Final, taking a 2-1 series lead before the Hurricanes rallied to win three straight games and capture their first Stanley Cup championship in 20 years. Vegas dropped the decisive Game 6 by a score of 3-0.
After that loss Sunday night, Tortorella wasn’t in the mood to talk about his future, though his words hinted strongly that he wants to keep coaching.
“I’ve got to swallow this a little bit,” Tortorella said.
The 67-year-old coach — who turns 68 soon — spoke warmly about the players and the organization, and didn’t sound like someone ready to walk away from the bench.
“I feel very fortunate to get to know the team, get to know the organization,” Tortorella said. “It’s a first-class organization. Just to have the opportunity. I wanted to coach. I want to coach. To jump in with this gang, I feel so fortunate.”
Should he return next season, Tortorella expressed confidence in the team’s ability to make another deep run. The Golden Knights roster features talented players including Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Mark Stone — a group Tortorella clearly believes can compete for a championship again.
“I know we’re on the wrong end of it here, but I just feel that’s a strong room,” Tortorella said. “I’m anxious to see what happens next year because it has another chance.”
The Golden Knights are also known for their willingness to pursue additional talent when needed. What management decides about Tortorella’s future is expected to become clear in the days ahead.
Federal scientists are warning that a combination of El Niño and a significant marine heatwave could have wide-ranging consequences for ocean life along the West Coast.
El Niño is a natural climate pattern characterized by warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. When it occurs alongside a large marine heatwave, the effects on ocean ecosystems can be amplified, potentially affecting everything from fish populations to the fishing fleets that depend on them.
Researchers are closely monitoring how these warming ocean conditions may shift the distribution and abundance of key marine species. Warmer waters can push certain species into new areas while making traditional habitats less hospitable, creating challenges for both wildlife and the commercial fishing industry.
The squid fishing fleet, which operates along the West Coast, is among the industries that could see notable changes as ocean temperatures rise. Commercial fishing operations often rely on predictable patterns of where marine species gather, and significant temperature shifts can disrupt those patterns.
Scientists note that understanding the relationship between large-scale climate events like El Niño and marine ecosystems is critical for managing fisheries and protecting ocean biodiversity during periods of environmental stress.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has handed out competitive grants to nine local governments and community organizations to help plan and design solutions for managing flooding and other weather-related hazards.
The selected projects are aimed at reducing risk in vulnerable communities, incorporating shifting environmental conditions into existing plans, and developing nature-based approaches to handle flooding and erosion challenges.
Money for the grants comes from the state’s Resilience Through Restoration Initiative and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. After operating as a pilot program for eight years, the Resilience Through Restoration Initiative was made permanent through 2026 legislation, cementing its role in shielding Maryland communities from flooding, erosion, and storm damage.
The following local governments and community partners have been awarded Fiscal Year 2027 grant funding, pending final approval from federal partners:
Anne Arundel County: The Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County received a grant to design a living shoreline in Crownsville that will protect a nearby tidal marsh and flood-prone River Road while also preserving and improving bird habitat. The Reverend Samuel Green Sr. Foundation received funding to design a living shoreline in Annapolis along Martins Cove, which will protect existing and planned trails that reconnect two historic African American communities.
Cecil County: Cecil County was awarded funding to launch a public outreach effort on flooding, which includes educating property owners, boosting flood reporting through MyCoast Maryland, and collecting data needed to earn credits through the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System.
Dorchester County: Dorchester County received a grant to design a living shoreline that will protect nearby wetlands and preserve access to a county marina and public boat ramp on Elliott Island.
Harford County: The City of Havre de Grace was awarded funding to design a submerged gravel wetland and an offline wetland along Lilly Run to reduce recurring stormwater overflow and flooding issues.
Howard County: Howard County received a grant to design a stormwater detention pond retrofit featuring bioswales and the removal of a concrete channel at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Old Ellicott City, with the goal of lowering flood risk tied to storm system overflows.
Prince George’s County: The City of Hyattsville was awarded funds to design innovative green infrastructure stormwater practices along Kennedy Street to cut down on neighborhood flooding and test hybrid approaches to localized flood mitigation. The Town of Berwyn Heights received a grant to develop a flood preparedness and mitigation plan that addresses vulnerable properties and infrastructure, recommends green infrastructure solutions, and lays out a framework for future investments.
Somerset County: The City of Crisfield was awarded funding to design a tidal wetland restoration project in southern Crisfield that will reduce tidal and stormwater flooding along South Somerset Avenue and Woodson School Road.
Starting in mid-July, the Department of Natural Resources will begin accepting applications for the next fiscal year through its online Grants Gateway.
A Smyrna man is facing multiple criminal charges after state animal welfare officers removed 19 dogs from his residence, where the animals were found living in conditions deemed inhumane.
Delaware Animal Services (DAS), which operates under the Delaware Division of Public Health’s Office of Animal Welfare, announced the arrest following the rescue operation.
Robert J. O’Neill, 57, has been charged with 19 misdemeanor counts in connection with the case.
Braden Montgomery wasted no time making his mark on the major leagues.
The Chicago White Sox have been turning heads all season, sitting at 38-32 and leading the AL Central — a remarkable turnaround for a team that lost 102 games last year and a record 121 in 2024. The good feelings were already flowing when Montgomery stepped onto the field for his first major league game Tuesday night.
Then he made history. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Montgomery launched a two-run homer to left field, giving the White Sox a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Atlanta Braves. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became just the fifth player ever to hit a walk-off home run in his major league debut, joining Billy Parker, Josh Bard, Miguel Cabrera, and Carlos Pérez.
Montgomery is ranked the No. 2 prospect in the Chicago organization by MLB Pipeline. The outfielder was originally selected by Boston in the first round of the 2024 draft before being included in the trade that sent Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox ahead of last season.
Chicago capped off the week by winning two of three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, following back-to-back wins over Atlanta.
The week also featured two remarkable pitching performances worth noting. On Saturday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired the first 23 batters he faced and carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning before surrendering a leadoff home run. The Dodgers still won that game 7-1 over the White Sox.
Even more impressive, however, was Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, who tossed a one-hitter against Philadelphia on Friday night. He struck out 15 batters in a 6-0 victory and unleashed a pitch clocked at 104.5 mph — the fastest recorded by a starting pitcher since tracking began. Misiorowski became only the fifth pitcher since 1903 to strike out at least 15 batters without issuing a walk while throwing either a no-hitter or a one-hitter.
The others in that exclusive group: Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs, who struck out 20 in a one-hitter on May 6, 1998, against Houston; Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox, who struck out 17 in a one-hitter on September 10, 1999, against the New York Yankees; Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals, who struck out 17 in a no-hitter on October 3, 2015, against the New York Mets; and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who struck out 15 in a no-hitter on June 18, 2014, against Colorado. Of that group, only Misiorowski faced the minimum 27 batters.
Elsewhere, the San Francisco Giants pulled off one of the most stunning comebacks in recent memory. Trailing Washington by eight runs heading into the eighth inning Wednesday, the Giants scored five runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to win 11-10. Baseball Savant put San Francisco’s win probability at just 0.2 percent at that point.
Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers opened the eighth with back-to-back home runs. After two walks, Daniel Susac doubled in a run, and two more scored on a groundout and a wild pitch. After Washington pushed the lead back to 10-6, Luis Arraez and Chapman hit consecutive doubles to begin the ninth. Following a walk and a single that loaded the bases, Bryce Eldridge delivered a grand slam to complete the comeback.
According to Sportradar, teams trailing by at least eight runs in the eighth inning or later had lost 4,291 straight games before San Francisco’s win. The last team to accomplish that feat was Cleveland against Tampa Bay back in 2009.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target is bringing fashion designer and TV personality Isaac Mizrahi back into the fold, naming him to a brand-new position called creative director at large as the discount retailer works to rebuild its standing as a go-to spot for budget-friendly style.
In this new capacity, Mizrahi — known for his bold use of color and his emergence on the fashion scene in the late 1980s — will guide Target’s design team, offer input on product development and innovation, and help forge fresh creative partnerships, the company announced Monday. Target noted that Mizrahi will work closely with Gena Fox, the retailer’s senior vice president of design.
The appointment marks a return to familiar ground for the Minneapolis-based retailer. Mizrahi was the very first prominent fashion designer to partner with Target on a clothing collaboration, doing so back in 2002. That relationship wrapped up in 2009, according to Target. His exclusive line of clothing and accessories for the chain helped set the stage for a series of successful designer partnerships that followed, including collaborations with names like Lilly Pulitzer and Missoni.
In a written statement, Mizrahi described his mission as working “to collaborate with its incredible team to bring more joy, style and sophistication to design through storytelling, creativity and a shopping experience that feels even more fun.”
The hiring is part of a wider effort by Target to reverse a slide in sales under CEO Michael Fiddelke, who stepped into the top role in February after longtime executive Brian Cornell’s departure. Since taking over, Fiddelke has reorganized company leadership and brought in outside talent, including a Walmart executive to oversee the supply chain network.
Revamping its fashion and home offerings has been a central focus for Target. The company has said, for instance, that 75% of its decorative home assortment will be replaced with new products.
Target posted its biggest jump in comparable sales in four years this past May, though a cautious financial outlook tempered enthusiasm over signs that the new CEO’s strategy is beginning to connect with shoppers.
KIGALI, Rwanda — A trial involving Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire got off to a delayed start Monday after she informed the court that spending a year in detention had left her physically and mentally unprepared to proceed with the case.
Ingabire appeared before the high court in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, where she stated she was not well enough to stand trial. Her legal team had already notified prosecutors ahead of time that a postponement would be needed. The presiding judge granted the request, pushing the start of the trial back by one day.
She faces accusations from prosecutors of conspiring to incite unrest against the government of President Paul Kagame. If found guilty, she could spend many years in prison. Ingabire, however, has firmly rejected those charges, calling them baseless and part of a political effort to shut down her pro-democracy movement.
During her court appearance, Ingabire also raised concerns about being prevented from communicating with family members living outside Rwanda and said she had been unable to speak with others who are accused alongside her.
Prosecutors countered that Ingabire had been in unauthorized contact with nine other suspects, including members of the DALFA-Umurinzi group that she leads — an organization the Rwandan government does not officially recognize.
Ingabire has long been one of Kagame’s most persistent critics. She previously led the FDU-Inkingi group, a coalition of opposition parties that was also never allowed to register with the government. Most of those who oppose Kagame have fled Rwanda and continue their activism from abroad, making Ingabire unusual in that she has at times been the only opposition figure maintaining her activism from inside the country.
She spent 16 years living in exile in the Netherlands before returning to Rwanda in 2010 with plans to enter politics. She was arrested before she ever had the chance to run in the presidential election.
In a previous legal case, she was convicted of conspiracy against the government and of denying Rwanda’s 1994 genocide — charges she has consistently denied. She received a 15-year prison sentence but was released in 2018 following a presidential pardon.
Kagame’s party has governed Rwanda since 1994, and his administration has received recognition for maintaining relative peace and stability while working to heal the country’s deep ethnic divisions. However, human rights organizations have accused his government of widespread abuses, silencing independent journalists, and suppressing political opposition — accusations Kagame denies.
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s migration minister is standing firmly behind his country’s immigration crackdown, telling a private television broadcaster on Monday that criticism from human rights organizations is something he wears proudly.
Minister Thanos Plevris, speaking on Action 24, described Greece’s current policies as “the toughest — if not the toughest — in Europe.” His remarks came as Greece’s conservative government works to deepen its relationship with authorities in eastern Libya, a region that has become a key departure point for migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
“Let me tell you something: the days when bureaucrats from Brussels or the United Nations could just show up and dictate how Greece handles the migration crisis are over,” Plevris declared during the broadcast.
The minister also pushed back against the influence of charities and rights organizations that assist migrants, arguing they have no place in determining Greek immigration policy.
“Every time U.N. envoys express concern over my legislation, it makes me proud of that legislation,” he said. “The more Amnesty International, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees or U.N. envoys are irritated by our migration policy, the more I view it as a badge of honor.”
Greece is currently in discussions with several African nations about setting up processing centers on their soil for migrants whose asylum applications have been denied within Europe — a proposal that has drawn sharp criticism from international human rights groups.
On Monday, Saddam Hifter, deputy commander of eastern Libya’s armed forces, visited Athens for meetings with Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Greece has offered eastern Libya’s authorities coast guard training along with support for employment programs and investment projects, all aimed at reducing the number of migrants setting out across the Mediterranean.
The surge in arrivals has been particularly pronounced on the island of Crete. Greek authorities reported Monday that arrivals and interceptions off Crete climbed more than 20% compared to the same period last year, reaching approximately 5,500 through May — with the pace accelerating since early June.
The European Union approved stricter migration measures last week, even as overall crossings from North Africa and the Middle East have declined in other areas.
Libya has long served as a major transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East hoping to reach European shores. More than a decade of political instability there has allowed human trafficking networks to thrive, with smugglers moving people across borders shared with Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia.
An analyst specializing in Libyan politics and security, Jalel Harchaoui, noted that eastern Libya is actively seeking stronger diplomatic relationships with European nations as well as financial support.
BRUSSELS — Ukraine took a historic step Monday by formally opening negotiations to join the European Union, launching what is expected to be a years-long process requiring major political and institutional reforms — all while the country remains at war with Russia.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka attended an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg to begin discussions on the first set of policy areas, a necessary step toward bringing Ukraine’s laws, standards, and values in line with those of the EU.
For Ukraine, joining the EU represents a key “security guarantee” for a stable future once the fighting ends. While NATO membership would be considered an even stronger guarantee, the Trump administration has made clear that is not on the table, and many nations are reluctant to extend membership to a country still engaged in active conflict.
Moldova also formally launched its own EU membership bid on Monday. Russia has long worked to keep Moldova within its sphere of influence, and last year was accused of running a large-scale disinformation campaign powered by artificial intelligence during that country’s elections.
Any nation seeking EU membership must complete negotiations across 35 policy areas — covering everything from agriculture and energy to trade and taxation — a process that typically spans many years.
Monday’s conference opened five key policy chapters, grouped into what the EU calls “clusters,” that address the foundational values of the bloc. These include the rule of law, fundamental rights, and the functioning of democratic institutions. Specifically, the chapters cover the judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, public procurement, statistics, and financial control.
This particular cluster carries special significance for several EU member nations that have expressed concern about Ukraine’s commitment and capacity to combat corruption. Last month, two national anti-corruption agencies named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff as an official suspect in a major corruption investigation, though officials stressed that Zelenskyy himself is not under suspicion.
The talks are unfolding at a moment when several European nations have been pushing hard to fast-track Ukraine’s path into the EU, viewing the country as essential to the continent’s broader security and having already invested heavily in supporting its military.
Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged fellow EU leaders to consider offering Ukraine “associate membership” as a way to inject new momentum into peace negotiations aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia.
France and the Netherlands have also floated alternative arrangements that could bring Ukraine closer to the EU more quickly, though without granting full membership rights.
However, EU officials and other countries currently in the membership queue have pushed back, insisting the process must be merit-based and lead to nothing short of full membership.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen emphasized that completing the full reform process is essential, saying membership is not simply about getting a “club card for the EU.” Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg ahead of the ceremony, she said what Ukrainians “truly are after is freedom, democracy and a transparent market economy without any corruption.”
Ukraine’s path to EU membership had previously been blocked by Hungary, under its strongly nationalist former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was widely seen as Russia’s closest ally within the EU. Orbán repeatedly used voting rules that require unanimous agreement among all 27 member nations to delay progress on sanctions, policy decisions, and political statements.
The European Commission had frozen billions of euros in funding for Hungary over concerns about democratic backsliding under Orbán, and worries remain about the damage a single dissenting government can inflict by using its veto power.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard stressed the need for vigilance going forward. “We need to be very cautious in the future and make sure that these are countries that really want to be a part of Europe, and a part of the European Union, and are willing to work with us,” she said. “In order for the EU to be really strong, we need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”
After a stretch of comfortable weather to start the week, attention is turning to a potentially active weather pattern that could bring strong to severe thunderstorms to portions of the Mid-Atlantic on Thursday afternoon and evening.
We are monitoring a strengthening upper-level trough that will sweep across the Great Lakes and northeastern United States. As this system approaches, a deepening area of low pressure tracking through the eastern Great Lakes will drag a strong cold front toward the region, setting the stage for potentially hazardous weather.
Southerly winds ahead of the approaching front will transport warmer, more humid air northward throughout the day Thursday, allowing instability to build across much of the region. At the same time, increasing winds aloft will create a more favorable environment for organized thunderstorms capable of producing severe weather.
The primary concern at this time appears to be damaging straight-line winds, particularly if storms organize into a fast-moving squall line along the advancing cold front. However, we caution that if instability becomes greater than currently expected or storms develop as isolated cells before forming a line, additional hazards such as large hail and isolated tornadoes could also become possible.
One of the biggest uncertainties remains how much instability can develop before storms arrive. Morning cloud cover and any early-day showers or thunderstorms could limit daytime heating and reduce the overall severe weather threat in some locations. Likewise, the strongest upper-level winds may remain displaced somewhat north of the richest moisture, creating additional uncertainty in the magnitude of the event.
Despite these questions, the overall synoptic pattern is supportive of severe weather, with strengthening wind shear, increasing moisture, and a strong approaching cold front all coming together during the late afternoon and evening hours.
Ahead of the storms, temperatures are expected to climb well into the upper 80s and lower 90s, especially along the Interstate 95 corridor and across the coastal plain away from the immediate shoreline. Combined with increasing humidity, heat index values could approach 100 degrees before thunderstorms develop.
Residents across the Mid-Atlantic, including the Delmarva region, should closely monitor the forecast over the next couple of days as confidence in the exact timing and severity of the threat continues to improve. Forecast adjustments are likely as mesoscale details become better resolved.
Stay weather-aware Thursday afternoon and evening, and be prepared for the potential of rapidly changing conditions if severe thunderstorms develop.
Defense manufacturer KNDS unveiled a new combat tank on Monday at the Eurosatory exhibition near Paris, intended as a bridge solution to replace France’s aging Leclerc tanks while a major joint French-German development program continues to fall behind schedule.
The new vehicle, designated CAPINT — short for “intermediary capability” — pairs a chassis built by KNDS’s German division with a tank gun produced by its French division. According to KNDS, the tank is designed to bolster French Army readiness and help lay the groundwork for the next-generation Main Ground Combat System, known as MGCS.
The MGCS program, which got underway in 2017, is meant to eventually replace both Germany’s Leopard 2 and France’s Leclerc tanks, with an original target of entering service between 2040 and 2045. France’s Leclerc tanks are scheduled to be retired by 2038.
In April, France’s Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin told parliament that Paris had chosen to pursue an “intermediate” tank program because the MGCS effort was running roughly a decade behind schedule.
The CAPINT announcement comes just days after France and Germany scrapped their joint FCAS fighter jet program following months of disputes between Airbus and Dassault Aviation — raising further concerns about the durability of European defense cooperation.
Adding to the uncertainty, a German government spokesperson said Monday that the MGCS project would focus on “platform-independent” technologies, and acknowledged it was not yet clear whether a jointly built tank would actually come to fruition. A French government source, however, maintained that the project remains a priority for both nations as well as for KNDS.
Over the weekend, the CEO of German defense firm Rheinmetall — one of the shareholders in the MGCS initiative — was quoted as saying France was weighing significant cuts to the project’s funding.
KNDS CEO Jean-Paul Alary, speaking with reporters at Eurosatory, said the status of MGCS was a political matter he could not address directly, but warned that if the program collapsed, it would be “very bad news” for Europe.
Germany has already begun developing its own parallel tank program, with KNDS Germany and Rheinmetall working together since 2025 on an intermediate tank — referred to as either the Leopard 2AX or Leopard 3 — to eventually succeed the Leopard 2.
On the business front, KNDS is preparing for an initial public offering with a dual listing planned on stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Paris, expected to take place this year. When asked about timing, Alary said the best outcome would be to move forward “as soon as we can.”
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported Monday that Paris and Berlin had reached an agreement after the German government sought protections ahead of the IPO to prevent sensitive technology from leaving Germany. The German chancellery had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.
KNDS Chairman Tom Enders was cited in the same report as cautioning against a drift toward national protectionism, warning it could erode the foundation of European defense collaboration.
Broader security concerns — including a perceived growing threat from Russia and increasing hesitation from U.S. President Donald Trump to support European defense — have pushed governments across the continent to accelerate military investment, even as joint production efforts face headwinds.
The New York Jets have reached an agreement on a four-year contract extension with right guard Joe Tippmann, according to multiple reports that surfaced Monday.
The 25-year-old Tippmann’s new deal is valued at $62 million, with $31 million in new money guarantees, as reported by The Athletic.
Tippmann had been set to enter the last year of his rookie contract, which carried a base salary of $3.9 million for the 2026 season.
Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 313 pounds, Tippmann started every one of the Jets’ 17 games at guard last season following a position shift from center. Across his NFL career, he has appeared in 50 games and made 48 starts.
General manager Darren Mougey has made it a priority to extend promising young players before their rookie deals expire. Tippmann now joins wide receiver Garrett Wilson, running back Breece Hall, and tight end Jeremy Ruckert as players who have secured new contracts ahead of hitting that milestone.
HOUSTON — It was a lopsided scoreline, but nothing could steal the joy from Curacao supporters after their nation made its long-awaited World Cup debut on Sunday — a 7-1 loss to Germany that still felt like a victory of sorts for the smallest country ever to qualify for the tournament.
Curacao, a tiny island nation that stands out as the smallest country by both population and geographic size to reach a World Cup, faced a harsh welcome from a sharp and efficient German squad. Yet even as the goals piled up, the fans in the stands never stopped cheering.
The moment that had supporters on their feet came in the first 38 minutes, when Livano Comenencia netted what will go down in history as Curacao’s first-ever World Cup goal, briefly leveling the match at 1-1. After that, Germany pulled away decisively.
Still, the pride among Curacao supporters was impossible to contain. Fan Otmar Cornelia captured the emotion of the moment: “(I am) very proud because we are the smallest island, smallest country and we scored against Germany! We are very happy and very, very proud!”
Many supporters expressed hope that the team’s appearance on the world’s biggest soccer stage would ignite a passion for the sport among young people both on the island and in the Curacao diaspora around the globe.
Supporter Sandy Martina put it simply after the match: “Children who see this game know exactly that the future is without any limits. I am honoured, I am happy, I am blessed, I celebrate Curacao. We are again on the world map. We scored our first World Cup goal. I am proud, I am happy and it means a lot to me, it means a lot to my nation.”
Caroline Sluys made the trip from Curacao with her son specifically to witness the historic occasion. “This is so much fun. This is the first time Curacao have made it to the World Cup and we are just a little island of 150,000 inhabitants. It is amazing,” she said.
Curacao’s World Cup journey continues Saturday when they take on Ecuador in Kansas City. They will then wrap up group play against Ivory Coast in Philadelphia on June 25.
A single by-election in northern England on Thursday has the potential to reshape British politics at the highest level — and it may come down not to the winner’s popularity, but to a bitter feud tearing apart the populist right.
Andy Burnham, currently serving as the Labour Party’s mayor of Greater Manchester, is seeking to win the parliamentary seat of Makerfield. Under Labour Party rules, he must hold a seat in parliament before he can mount a challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership.
The roughly 77,000 registered voters in Makerfield, a constituency in northern England, could effectively be choosing the next leader of a country of nearly 70 million people.
Opinion surveys show Burnham with a lead of between five and 12 percentage points over the right-wing Reform UK party — a margin that analysts say exists largely because the right-wing vote is being split between two parties whose leaders were once allies. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, born from an ugly falling-out between the two men last year, are both competing for the same pool of voters.
Peter Thompson, a 78-year-old record shop owner in Ashton-in-Makerfield, said he plans to vote for Reform but worries that Restore’s presence in the race could cost the right-wing bloc the seat. “All my voting in life there’s only been two parties that have run this country, Labour and Conservatives. Look around you, it’s a mess,” he said.
“If it was a straightforward fight, I think Reform may well edge it but because there’s that many parties that you can vote for now, I think it will swing it to Labour’s advantage, unfortunately,” Thompson added.
Both Reform and Restore position themselves as anti-establishment parties with hardline stances on immigration — Restore going so far as to advocate mass deportations. Polling shows Restore pulling in around 7% to 8% support in the constituency, a figure that is seen as seriously damaging Reform’s chances.
Farage warned last week that the race is effectively a two-horse contest, arguing that supporting Restore risks electing “perhaps the most left-wing prime minister of modern times.”
Burnham’s campaign is built around themes of economic abandonment, pointing to the decline of the region’s mining and manufacturing industries. “It all adds up to 40 years of neoliberalism that have not been kind to the North of England. Forty years of trickle-down economics that did not again trickle down very much at all,” he said at the start of his campaign last month.
Official statistics offer a more complicated picture. Makerfield falls roughly in the middle of national rankings when it comes to income deprivation, and performs relatively well on employment and health measures. Its weakest scores come in housing access and services — areas that sit at the center of Burnham’s political vision, which he calls “Manchesterism” and describes as “business friendly socialism.”
Rob Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester, described the seat in an interview with independent consultancy Blonde Money as one of aspirational middle-class commuters rather than a traditional working-class stronghold. “It is ‘Red Wall’ in its heritage and identity, it is not Red Wall in terms of the kind of people who live here,” Ford said, referencing the traditionally Labour-held northern seats that briefly shifted to the Conservatives in 2019 and are now key Reform targets.
The political landscape in the area has already shifted dramatically. Reform swept 24 of 25 Wigan Borough Council seats — which includes the Makerfield area — during local elections on May 7, leaving Labour’s hopes resting heavily on Burnham’s personal name recognition.
On the ground, placards backing Reform outnumber Labour signs in many neighborhoods, particularly in more working-class areas like the Stubshaw Cross estate. Labour has responded by pouring significant resources into the race, with cabinet ministers and prominent lawmakers showing up to campaign and help distribute leaflets.
While Burnham built his reputation as mayor on openness and accessibility, his return to national-level politics is being tightly managed by party operatives based in London — a reflection of just how much is riding on the outcome.
For all the high-level political maneuvering, the final result will come down to individual voters like Neil Price, a 41-year-old bricklayer from the area. “I’m going to be voting for Andy Burnham. I know he does a lot for the community round here. He does well with everything he talks about … so yeah, he’s the one I’m going to be voting for,” Price said.
PRAGUE — The Czech government has approved what is being called its most sweeping overhaul of public media in decades, agreeing to eliminate license fees and replace them with state budget funding — a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from press freedom groups and opposition politicians who say it threatens the independence of public broadcasters.
The government, which is led by the populist ANO party under Prime Minister Andrej Babis and also includes far-right and eurosceptic parties, has frequently clashed with both public and privately owned independent media outlets, accusing them of bias.
If the proposal clears parliament, funding for public broadcasters would shift away from fees currently paid by households and businesses and instead come directly from the state budget. That new level of funding would be approximately 15% less than what the broadcasters currently receive through the fee system.
Opponents of the plan warn that tying broadcaster funding to the state budget creates an opening for political influence over editorial decisions.
Babis, a billionaire businessman and a self-described admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, has framed the change as a cost-saving measure that would also fulfill a campaign promise to relieve citizens of paying the combined monthly fee of 205 crowns — roughly $9.87.
At a news conference, Babis pushed back against accusations that the plan was designed to undermine journalistic independence. “We have never threatened the independence of Czech Television… nor will we,” he said.
Czech Television and Czech Radio both enjoy strong public trust — each earned the confidence of 59% of Czech citizens in a 2025 Reuters Institute survey, the highest marks of any media outlets included in that poll.
Pavol Szalai, the Prague bureau chief for Reporters Without Borders, said the government had effectively institutionalized financial pressure on public media. He added that the move appeared to conflict with European Union guidelines on how public media should be funded.
Babis has maintained that the Czech approach mirrors funding models already in use in other European nations.
Under the specifics of the proposal, Czech Television — the larger of the two public broadcasters — would see its budget allocation drop by approximately 1 billion crowns, bringing it down to 5.74 billion crowns. The station also generates additional revenue through content licensing and advertising.
Czech Television’s director Hynek Chudarek said the financial cuts would likely force the station to lay off between 300 and 500 employees out of its current workforce of 2,900.
A portion of Oliver Guessford Road is closed at this time following an incident involving a downed tree and wires.
The affected stretch runs between Blackbird Forest Road and Dexters Corner Road. Motorists traveling through the area are urged to avoid that section of the road and plan for alternate routes until further notice.
No additional details regarding a timeline for reopening have been provided at this time. Drivers should use caution in the surrounding area.
When Taylor Hall was selected first overall in the 2010 NHL draft, his future linemates were barely old enough to tie their own skates. Logan Stankoven was just 7 years old at the time, and Jackson Blake was days away from turning 7.
More than fifteen years later, the trio nicknamed the “Kids and the Hall” line became the driving force behind the Carolina Hurricanes claiming the Stanley Cup.
“Great all playoffs, all year,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the line. “Their game really hasn’t changed for months.”
While the Hurricanes faced power-play struggles in the first three rounds and inconsistent production from the top line of Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho, and Andrei Svechnikov, Hall, Stankoven, and Blake stepped up in a big way. The three combined for 29 of Carolina’s 66 goals during the entire playoff run, including the two that sealed the deal against goaltender Carter Hart in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against Vegas.
Hall scored what will be remembered as the game-winning goal in Game 6, completing what turned out to be the longest gap between being drafted first overall and hoisting the Cup — 18 seasons. The 34-year-old winger, who won the NHL MVP award in 2017-18 with New Jersey, embraced a supporting role with Carolina, his seventh franchise in the league. He joined the Hurricanes from Chicago as part of a three-team trade in January 2025 and later signed a contract extension.
“You never know what kind of turn your life’s going to take,” Hall said. “I got fortunate coming here. A special group to do it with. They allowed me, personally, just to come in and have success and that says a lot.”
That same trade also brought big winger Mikko Rantanen to Carolina from Colorado, though he lasted only 13 games with the team before being dealt to Dallas. The key piece coming back in that transaction was Stankoven, who had been in the middle of his first season with the Stars.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Stankoven admitted. “It was tough at first just to kind of swallow it and realize that I was getting shipped out.”
Despite the initial shock, Stankoven quickly found his footing as the center Carolina had long been searching for. He finished the playoffs leading the team with 11 goals. Meanwhile, Blake — the youngest player to lift the Cup this time around — assisted on Hall’s goal and added one of his own on Sunday night.
“I have no words right now,” said the 22-year-old Blake. “I’m out of breath. But this is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had in my life. It’s unbelievable. And to do it with these guys, my family here and everyone here supporting us, it’s unbelievable.”
Each player found a distinct role within the line. Hall provided the physical presence, Blake distributed the puck, and Stankoven emerged as the finisher while also generating offense at even strength.
“It’s what you dream of as a kid — to win a Stanley Cup, but also to be a difference-maker in the NHL,” said the 23-year-old Stankoven. “I know that I’m not a finished product. I still have work to put in, and I’m still a young guy. I just want to keep working at my game and just being a sponge.”
While Dallas is certainly pleased to have Rantanen in his prime, Stankoven made the most of his trade 15 months ago. Last summer, he signed an $48 million contract running through 2034, and his playoff performance suggests the investment was well worth it.
“Everything kind of happens for a reason,” Stankoven said. “Dallas got their player, and I just want to become the best version of myself here in Carolina.”
WASHINGTON — The nation’s highest court on Monday turned away an effort to revive a lawsuit filed by a former aide to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign who had been the subject of covert government surveillance during the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference.
Carter Page, who previously reached a $1.25 million settlement with the United States government, had sought to keep his legal battle alive against then-FBI Director James Comey and other former officials. Page accused them of conducting “unlawful spying” as investigators looked into whether the Trump campaign had worked with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Page consistently and firmly denied any improper connections to Russia and was never charged with a crime. A government watchdog later issued a scathing review of the surveillance applications that were used against him.
Lower courts had dismissed his lawsuit, partly on the grounds that he had not filed suit against the individuals who actually conducted the surveillance. The Supreme Court issued a short order declining to take up the case, offering no explanation — which is standard practice when the court refuses to hear an appeal.
Page had alleged that FBI and Justice Department officials made a series of mistakes and left out critical information when they submitted applications in 2016 and 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, seeking permission to monitor him on suspicion he was acting as a Russian agent.
Former FBI and Justice Department leaders who had signed off on those surveillance requests have since acknowledged they would not have done so had they been fully aware of the problems involved. The FBI has said it launched more than 40 corrective measures to improve the accuracy and completeness of future applications.
Even with the flaws in the warrant applications, the surveillance of Page represented only a small part of the broader investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation concluded that Russia had worked to help Trump during the 2016 campaign and that the campaign had welcomed that help. However, Mueller’s team determined there was not enough evidence to establish that a criminal conspiracy had taken place between the campaign and Russia.
Page’s settlement with the Trump administration came in April, while his Supreme Court appeal was still pending. That settlement followed by about a month a roughly $1.2 million settlement with Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with a senior Russian diplomat. Flynn was later pardoned.
SALISBURY, Md. — Poplar Hill Mansion in Salisbury is gearing up to celebrate America’s 250th birthday with two special community events planned for 2026, both tied to the nationwide America250 commemoration of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
The two events — a community potluck picnic in July and an outdoor quilt show in September — are designed to bring the Salisbury community together while honoring both national and local history.
Sarah Meyers, Curator of Poplar Hill Mansion, expressed enthusiasm for the events. “Poplar Hill Mansion is proud to participate in the national America250 celebration while focusing on Salisbury’s local story,” she said. “As Salisbury approaches our own anniversary of 300 years, these events provide a great opportunity to not only commemorate our patriotic past, but also learn about the people and traditions that have made and continue to make Salisbury an exceptional place.”
The America250 Potluck Picnic will take place on Sunday, July 5, 2026, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the mansion’s address of 117 Elizabeth St. The free outdoor gathering invites residents to enjoy the grounds of Salisbury’s oldest house. Attendees are welcome to bring a dish that holds personal meaning — whether it’s a family recipe, a cultural specialty, or a local favorite — though bringing food is not required to attend. Tables, chairs, plates, utensils, and water will all be provided on-site.
During the picnic, the mansion will also be open for tours. Guests can explore the second-floor exhibit titled Long May It Wave: The Evolution of the American Flag and discover more about Salisbury’s early history. The exhibit will remain on display throughout the Fourth of July weekend. The picnic has been officially registered as an America250 event.
Then in the fall, the America250 Quilt Show will be held on Sunday, September 27, 2026, from noon to 4 p.m., with October 4 set as a rain date. The outdoor show will spotlight quilts inspired by American history, culture, and identity — a nod to quilting’s long tradition as a way of telling stories through fabric.
The show will feature five categories for entries: “Three Cheers for the Red, White & Blue,” “America the Beautiful,” “I’ve Been Everywhere,” “Home of the Brave,” and “Ballad of Americans.”
Quilters from across the region are invited to submit one entry per category. Drop-off begins August 15, with a final submission deadline of September 19 at Poplar Hill Mansion. Winners in each category, along with a Best in Show honoree, will be chosen by public vote, and prizes will be awarded. The mansion will also display historic quilts from its own collection alongside community submissions during the event.
For more information, contact Poplar Hill Mansion at 410-749-1776 or visit PoplarHillMansion.org.
The National Milk Producers Federation has published a mid-year data update covering highlights from the dairy industry in 2026.
The report, titled “2026 Dairy Data Highlights: Mid-Year Update,” was released through the federation’s official channels. The full details and specific figures from the report were not included in the available release summary.
For the complete breakdown of mid-year dairy statistics and industry trends, the full report is available through the National Milk Producers Federation.
Google revealed Monday that a hacking group linked to China spent more than a year covertly stealing data from academic, medical, and military research institutions in the United States and Canada before anyone detected the intrusion.
According to Google’s Threat Intelligence Group, the operation ran from September 2023 through November 2025. During that time, the hackers pursued information tied to defense intelligence, military strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, artificial intelligence, unmanned vehicles, cyber warfare programs, and medical research.
While Google declined to identify the specific organizations that were targeted, the company said the victims collectively work across a wide range of fields — including drug discovery, clinical trials, public health policy, and military readiness. Together, these institutions employ thousands of workers and manage research budgets totaling billions of dollars.
Google has attributed the operation to a hacking group it refers to as UNC6508, described as a relatively new and little-known cyberespionage actor. Luke McNamara, deputy chief analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group, noted that the group’s tactics align broadly with Chinese-linked hacking behavior observed over many years — behavior focused on collecting information likely to be of value to the Chinese government.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. China has consistently denied involvement in or support for unauthorized hacking operations.
The earliest confirmed activity in this campaign traces back to September 2023, when the hackers took advantage of security flaws in servers running REDCap — a web-based application commonly used by nonprofits to create and manage online surveys and databases. Using specially crafted malicious software, the attackers obtained legitimate REDCap login credentials and used them to access the targeted networks.
Once inside, they configured a system to automatically route emails containing any of nearly 150 specific keywords and search terms to a Gmail account under their control. Those terms included phone numbers and email addresses for individuals at targeted organizations, along with language related to geopolitical strategy, military planning, advanced technology, and medical research.
Google ultimately identified multiple organizations in the U.S. and Canada that had been compromised and notified each of them, researchers said. REDCap did not respond to a request for comment.
A lane shift is currently in effect on Bridgeville Road between DuPont Boulevard (US 113) and North Bedford Street, according to Delaware transportation officials.
The lane adjustment is expected to remain active until 4 p.m. Drivers passing through the area should slow down and proceed with caution.
No additional details regarding the cause of the lane shift were provided. Motorists are encouraged to allow extra travel time if their route takes them through this stretch of road.
NEW YORK (AP) — By the time Jalen Brunson and his Knicks teammates made it back to New York, the city had turned almost entirely orange. For close to two months, New Yorkers were swept up in the team’s championship push, and the celebration shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
A victory parade down Broadway is set for Thursday — the franchise’s very first, despite winning titles in 1970 and 1973 without ever holding one.
Long after the streets are cleaned up, this team will be remembered. Not just in New York, but across the entire NBA.
The 2025-26 Knicks have secured a place in the 80-year history of the league.
Their postseason performance ranks among the finest ever seen, a stretch filled with dominant victories and stunning comebacks that ultimately delivered the franchise its first championship in more than 50 years.
Former President Barack Obama took to social media to celebrate the achievement, writing: “What a run!” in a post congratulating coach Mike Brown, Brunson, and the rest of the roster — a run some are calling comparable to even Obama’s beloved Chicago Bulls teams.
The Knicks closed out the postseason at 16-3, an .842 winning percentage that ties the 2024 Boston Celtics for the second-best mark since the NBA moved to best-of-seven series in all rounds starting in 2003. Only the 2017 Golden State Warriors, who went 16-1, finished with a better percentage. The 2001 Los Angeles Lakers went 15-1, and the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers finished 12-1, with five other teams finishing a postseason with just two losses.
At one point, New York rattled off 13 wins in a row — second only to Golden State’s 15 consecutive victories in 2017. The Knicks also set records by winning nine straight games away from home and outscoring all postseason opponents by a combined 283 points.
Even before the NBA Finals were finished, rapper Fat Joe — one of many celebrity fans showing up in orange and blue — attended coach Brown’s press conference and offered his assessment of what he was watching.
“Let’s just wait until it’s over, but right now you analyze the numbers, we might be looking at the greatest team ever, like if you analyze the numbers,” Fat Joe said.
When the wins stopped coming easily, the Knicks found another way to make history. Their comeback from 29 points down in Game 4 of the Finals was the largest rally in a Finals game since detailed play-by-play tracking began in 1997. They then capped the championship with a comeback from 16 points down in the clinching game.
Veteran broadcaster Mike Breen, who calls Knicks games on MSG Network during the regular season and has served as ABC’s lead NBA Finals announcer since 2006, weighed in on where this run stands historically.
“It’s absolutely one of the greatest ever,” Breen said. “It’s impossible for me to rank it, but when you take into account the point differential, the nine straight road wins, clinching all four series on the road, the two losses by one point, the two record-setting comebacks, it’s in the conversation as the best ever.”
Two of New York’s three losses came by a single point against Atlanta in the opening round. The third was a four-point defeat in Game 3 against San Antonio, meaning the Knicks finished just six combined points away from a flawless postseason.
On the flip side, they won three clinching games in the Eastern Conference by margins of 51, 30, and 37 points.
Before the playoffs even tipped off, All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns acknowledged the weight of expectations, saying: “At the end of the day we’ll be judged by what we do in this run.”
That judgment has come in, and it’s historic.
“We went through a lot this season, a lot of ups and downs, but we just stayed with it,” forward OG Anunoby reflected. “We’re resilient, mentally tough and we won.”
In honor of America’s 250th birthday, SRN News has launched a special new series called Faith and Freedom.
The series takes a closer look at the relationship between faith and the founding principles of the United States, marking a major milestone in the nation’s history.
Part 8 of the series is now available in audio format through SRN News.
More than 1,000 civilians have been killed by drone strikes in war-ravaged Sudan during the first five months of this year alone, according to a senior United Nations official who addressed the issue on Monday.
Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that his office has recorded a dramatic surge in drone warfare as well as widespread rape and sexual violence throughout the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which has now stretched into its fourth year.
“In Sudan, the horrific conflict has expanded and escalated, marked by a sharp increase in the use of drone warfare,” Türk told the council.
The Sudanese war began on April 15, 2023, when a struggle for power between the country’s military and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces erupted into open combat in the capital city of Khartoum and across the country.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, commonly referred to as ACLED, the war has claimed at least 59,000 lives over three years — though the U.S.-based conflict monitoring organization cautioned that the true death toll is likely far greater due to challenges in gathering accurate data from the region.
ACLED also reported that at least 2,670 people — both fighters and civilians — died in drone-related incidents in 2025, representing a staggering 600% jump in drone-caused deaths and an 81% rise in drone attacks compared to the previous year.
Just last week, a drone strike attributed to the paramilitary group struck a cemetery and a gas station in the central city of el-Obeid, killing at least 15 people, according to local health officials.
Both sides in the conflict have increasingly deployed drones loaded with explosives, with attacks repeatedly hitting civilian targets such as hospitals, dams, schools, markets, and camps housing displaced people. Drone strikes have emerged as the single deadliest threat to civilians in the conflict.
The United Nations estimates that roughly 34 million people — nearly two out of every three people living in Sudan — are in need of humanitarian assistance, making it the largest such crisis in the world.
Beyond the physical destruction, the conflict has been defined by widespread atrocities. The U.N. and various international human rights organizations have characterized mass rape and killings motivated by ethnicity as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Rape and sexual violence are rampant,” Türk stated.
PRAGUE (AP) — One of Europe’s most storied churches now has a new voice. Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral officially unveiled its new organ on Monday, providing the 700-year-old structure — the largest in the Czech Republic — with an instrument worthy of both its religious services and concert performances.
Prague Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl blessed the organ during a ceremonial mass, accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic. The program included Antonín Dvořák’s “The Lužany Mass” along with compositions by Georg Friedrich Händel, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Joseph Haydn.
“St. Vitus Cathedral has gained a new voice,” Archbishop Přibyl said in a prepared statement. “A voice that will not speak with words but will still speak to the heart.”
Eight concerts are planned in the coming days to showcase the new instrument to the public.
The organ, which features four keyboards, was crafted in the workshop of Gerhard Grenzing, located in El Papiol near Barcelona, Spain. The celebrated German organ builder has constructed nearly 140 organs and restored more than 90 historic instruments across numerous countries.
After being completed in Spain, the organ was taken apart and transported piece by piece to Prague by truck. Workers reassembled it inside the cathedral approximately one year ago, after which craftsmen spent several months carefully voicing and tuning each of its pipes.
In total, the instrument contains around 6,000 pipes, with lengths ranging from just 7 millimeters — about a quarter of an inch — to more than 7 meters, or roughly 23 feet.
The cathedral’s previous organ was finished in the early 1930s, but it was never well-suited to the grand space and repeatedly broke down. During World War II and through more than four decades of communist rule, no one pursued repairs or a replacement.
Discussions about building a new organ began approximately 14 years ago. A crowdfunding effort launched in 2017 ultimately raised more than 135 million Czech crowns — equivalent to about $6.5 million — from thousands of individual contributors.
St. Vitus Cathedral holds deep significance in Czech history. It served as the site of royal coronations and burials for Czech kings, and the Czech crown jewels are kept within its walls. The cathedral was also the setting for the funeral mass of Václav Havel, the Czech Republic’s first president, held on December 23, 2011.
LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom has announced plans to prohibit children and teenagers under 16 from accessing a wide range of social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. The decision is aimed at protecting young people from harmful content and the dangers of excessive screen time.
In taking this step, the U.K. joins a growing number of nations that have moved to enforce age-based restrictions on social media access. While many parents and child advocacy organizations have praised these efforts, critics argue the measures are difficult to enforce and raise serious privacy concerns.
Here is a look at what several other countries are already doing or planning to do:
Australia — Australia’s ban was described as a first of its kind globally when it was introduced in December. The law prevents anyone under 16 from holding accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch. Technology companies that fail to take reasonable steps to remove underage accounts can face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars, which equals roughly $35 million. While no fines have been issued yet, the government reports that companies have already shut down nearly 5 million accounts identified as belonging to children.
Vietnam — In March, the Vietnamese government announced that users under 16 would no longer be permitted to hold accounts on platforms that could expose them to addiction, pornography, online scams, and cyberbullying. The affected platforms include YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and gaming platform Roblox.
Malaysia — Social media platforms with at least 8 million users in Malaysia — including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube — are now required to put age-verification systems in place and prevent anyone under 16 from creating an account. Companies that do not comply can face penalties of up to 10 million ringgit, or approximately $2.5 million.
Norway — A law that went into effect in March stops short of an outright ban but requires users under 16 to link their social media accounts to a parent or legal guardian for supervision. The law also bans platforms from using features designed to keep users hooked, such as infinite scroll and autoplay video. Additionally, digital services must verify users’ ages through methods that go beyond simply asking someone to confirm they are over 18, in order to block access to inappropriate or prohibited content.
Canada — The Canadian government introduced legislation this month to establish a new regulatory body called the Digital Safety Commission of Canada. The commission would have the authority to ban children under 16 from social media accounts unless companies can demonstrate they are actively removing harmful content — including nonconsensual intimate images, material that encourages self-harm, content that incites violence, and material that promotes hatred.
Beyond these countries, France, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Thailand, and South Korea are also considering or actively working on their own measures to limit minors’ access to social media platforms.
A London court handed down guilty verdicts Monday against two men charged in connection with a scheme to burn properties belonging to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The arson attacks took place in May 2025 and caused damage to the home Starmer had lived in before becoming prime minister, an apartment building he once had partial ownership of, and completely destroyed his former Toyota SUV. No injuries were reported.
Authorities say the plot was masterminded by a mysterious individual who communicated in Russian and went by the alias “El Money.” This person reached out to Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych through the Telegram messaging app, offering him cryptocurrency in exchange for torching the properties and filming the destruction to post online for maximum visibility.
Despite the investigation, El Money’s true identity was never determined and no charges were filed against the figure. Cmdr. Helen Flanagan, who leads the counterterrorism unit at the Metropolitan Police, said investigators found no proof that a hostile foreign government was behind the fires, as they were unable to establish El Money’s motive or employer.
“Clearly the tasking was to intimidate and create fear for the prime minister and to attack the U.K.,” Flanagan stated.
Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Romanian citizen, were found guilty at London’s Central Criminal Court of conspiring to destroy property through arson. A third defendant, Petro Pochynok, 35, was cleared of the same charge.
Lavrynovych also faced and was convicted on two separate counts of arson that could have recklessly put lives at risk.
During the proceedings, Lavrynovych admitted to starting the fires, saying he was desperate for money. He said he was motivated by a promised reward of 3,000 pounds — roughly $4,000 in cryptocurrency — which he intended to use to cover medical costs for his father. He also claimed El Money had threatened him, and that he had no knowledge of who owned the properties until after the fires were set. He told investigators he had no idea who Starmer even was.
El Money had given Lavrynovych specific instructions on the target locations, directions on how to prepare flammable mixtures, and guidance on how to avoid detection.
Messages found on Lavrynovych’s phone revealed discussions about the fires, as well as other paid acts of vandalism he had carried out — including blacking out car windshields with paint and posting anti-Islam materials in Muslim neighborhoods throughout London.
Following the attacks, El Money told Lavrynovych payment was coming and instructed him to send a coded message using the word “geranium” if he was ever stopped by police. Lavrynovych was arrested shortly after receiving that message. The court was informed he never actually received any payment for carrying out the three fires.
Carpiuc served as a go-between in the scheme, while Pochynok was allegedly brought in to record video of the fires so Lavrynovych could collect his payment.
The fires were set in the middle of the night. Residents who had been asleep were jolted awake to find smoke pouring through their front doors.
Starmer’s sister-in-law, who was staying at his former home, said she heard a loud bang and had difficulty breathing as smoke overtook the stairwell. Her 9-year-old daughter was left terrified by the ordeal.
A resident of the apartment building was forced to retreat to the rooftop after finding the hallways engulfed in smoke.
Sentencing for both convicted men is scheduled for Friday.
Alabama residents are heading back to the ballot box Tuesday for a primary runoff election that will lock in party nominees for an open U.S. Senate seat and several other races where no candidate captured a majority of votes during the May 19 primary.
The winners of Tuesday’s runoffs will advance to compete in the general election this fall, when candidates across the heavily Republican state will face off for a full slate of state and federal offices.
It’s worth noting that primaries for four of Alabama’s seven congressional districts were pushed back from May 19 to an August 11 special primary — a consequence of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that led Republicans in several southern states to scrap their existing congressional district maps.
On the Republican side, the race for U.S. Senate comes down to Barry Moore and Jared Hudson, who are competing for the right to replace U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville chose to run for governor rather than seek another Senate term. Moore, a third-term congressman who represents Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, carries the endorsement of President Donald Trump. His opponent, Hudson, is a former Navy SEAL who runs a security and weapons training company and founded a nonprofit dedicated to fighting human trafficking.
Moore finished first in the May primary with roughly 39% of the vote, while Hudson came in second with about 26%. State Attorney General Steve Marshall finished a close third at around 25%.
Moore’s strongest showing came from his home turf in the 1st Congressional District in southern Alabama, near the Florida border and the Gulf Coast. He also claimed pluralities across a large portion of central Alabama, including the Montgomery area, with narrower margins in the northern and northeastern parts of the state near the Tennessee and Georgia borders.
Hudson performed best in Jefferson County — the state’s most populous county and home to Birmingham — where he secured about 45% of the vote and built a 19-percentage-point lead. Expanding on that advantage will be essential to his runoff chances.
Moore holds an edge heading into the runoff in Madison County, the second-largest county in the state and home to Huntsville — a city nicknamed Rocket City for its NASA presence. Moore pulled in about 34% of the vote there in May, while Hudson placed third with roughly 22%.
Trump’s backing is expected to be a significant factor for Moore in a state where Trump received two out of every three votes against Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. Trump-endorsed candidates have an almost flawless record at the polls, though his pick for Iowa governor did fall short earlier in June.
Democrats are also settling their U.S. Senate nomination Tuesday. The two candidates are Dakarai Larriett — a former corporate executive, aromatherapy pet care entrepreneur and policing reform advocate — and Everett Wess, an attorney and former Midfield Municipal Court Judge. Wess led the Democratic primary field with about 40% of the vote, followed by Larriett at approximately 29%.
Additional Republican runoffs are taking place for lieutenant governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner and other state positions. A Democratic runoff is also being held in the 5th Congressional District, which held its primary back in May. The 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts will hold their primaries in the August 11 special election.
Polls across Alabama close at 7 p.m. Central Time, which is 8 p.m. Eastern Time. The Associated Press will report results and declare winners in runoffs for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, lieutenant governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, state Public Service Commission, state Board of Education, and both chambers of the state legislature.
Under Alabama’s election rules, voters who participated in a partisan primary on May 19 can only vote in the runoff for the same party. Democratic primary voters cannot cross over to vote in the Republican runoff, and vice versa. However, registered voters who sat out the May 19 primary are free to participate in either party’s runoff Tuesday.
As of Thursday, Alabama had approximately 3.8 million registered voters on the books.
During the May 19 primary, around 482,000 people voted in the Republican Senate race, about 474,000 participated in the Republican lieutenant governor primary, and roughly 340,000 cast ballots in the Democratic Senate primary.
Looking at historical trends, the last Republican Senate primary runoffs were held in 2022 and 2020. In 2022, total votes dropped from about 647,000 in the primary to around 402,000 in the runoff — falling from 18% to 11% of registered voters. In 2020, when Tuberville first appeared on the ballot, turnout slipped from roughly 718,000 in the primary to about 551,000 in the runoff, representing a drop from 20% to 15% of registered voters.
Alabama is one of the few states in the country that does not offer any form of in-person early voting, meaning the vast majority of residents cast their ballots on Election Day. In the 2024 primaries, mail voting was minimal — about 4% of Democratic primary voters and just 1% of Republican primary voters used absentee ballots.
Vote reporting practices differ by county. Most counties tend to release absentee ballot results in their first update, sometimes alongside Election Day totals. During the May 19 Republican Senate primary, the AP first reported results at 8:28 p.m. Eastern Time — just 28 minutes after polls closed — with the final update of the night coming at 12:54 a.m. Eastern Time, at which point more than 99.9% of votes had been counted.
The AP does not make projections and will only call a race when it is mathematically clear that a trailing candidate cannot catch up. If a race remains uncalled, the AP will continue monitoring and reporting on significant developments — such as a candidate conceding or claiming victory — while making clear that no official winner has been declared.
Alabama law includes an automatic recount provision, but the state attorney general issued an opinion in 2010 stating that it does not apply to primary elections.
As of Tuesday, 56 days remain until the special congressional primaries on August 11, and 140 days until the November 3 midterm elections.
A bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators, joined by two Democratic House committees, sent letters Monday to the National Science Foundation demanding it reverse plans to dismantle a wide-reaching ocean monitoring system — with House members going further by alleging the agency is acting outside the law.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative is made up of more than 900 underwater and ocean-surface sensors that cost $386 million to build. Over the past decade, the network has gathered data on ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change, and extreme weather. That information has been made freely available to the public and has contributed to more than 500 scientific publications. The project was originally expected to continue operating for another 15 to 20 years.
The National Science Foundation directed that most of the system’s instruments be removed from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and Greenland by 2027. Scientists say that decision came without warning and without any scientific review. The independent federal agency — created by Congress — characterized the move not as a cancellation, but as a “descoping” in line with what it called “evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies.” The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget called for a 55% reduction in the agency’s funding.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon was blunt in his criticism, telling the Associated Press: “It just seems like this is supreme stupidity and a violation of the fundamental distribution of powers in our Constitution. This program is authorized, it’s funded, and for the administration to shut it down without direction from Congress violates that vision in which the people’s representatives decide what’s done and funded, and the executive branch executes that vision.”
Sen. Merkley and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska co-led the Senate letter, which was also signed by Democratic Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Ron Wyden of Oregon. The letter called on the NSF to pause the dismantling and conduct a full review — including input from the marine science community — before moving forward.
“Eliminating most of this complex ocean monitoring system threatens the safety of our coastal communities while undermining our nation’s ability to monitor coastal environments, marine currents, and extreme weather events,” the senators wrote.
House Democrats took an even harder line. Members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee sent a joint letter calling on the agency to “cease this expensive, destructive, and — crucially — illegal action at once.” That letter was led by Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Jared Huffman of California, the top Democrats on their respective committees, and was signed by 23 Democratic members from each panel.
In a statement dated June 3, the NSF said its decision was informed in part by a 2025 National Academies report on the future of ocean science. The agency added: “NSF remains committed to ocean science and will continue working with the scientific community on high-priority research objectives.”
The cuts to the ocean observatory are part of a larger pullback from environmental and climate-related science under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has also moved to reduce staffing at agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, and has loosened emissions regulations.
Federal appropriations law requires the NSF to notify the House and Senate Appropriations Committees at least 30 days before decommissioning any agency-owned facility or asset worth more than $2.5 million. According to the House letter, no such notification was provided.
Sen. Merkley said he first heard about the dismantling through news reports. “It was like the alarm bells just went off,” he said. “None of us knew about this, and there didn’t appear to have been any consultation or any scientific commission or stakeholders that were leading to this.”
While his office was still working to confirm whether formal notification had been given, Merkley added: “If there was no notification, this would appear to be illegal.”
Merkley and Murkowski also planned to introduce legislation Monday that would block the NSF from using federal funds to decommission instruments until a thorough review is completed. Scientists were scheduled to begin pulling the first buoy off the Oregon coast on Tuesday.
The senators also pointed to the approaching El Niño — a periodic Pacific Ocean warming pattern that disrupts weather and intensifies marine heat waves — as evidence that the timing of the cuts is especially problematic. “The loss of this deep-water observation system would threaten our ability to prepare for and monitor future El Niño events,” they wrote, warning that coastal communities, fishermen, and emergency responders would lose access to critical data.
The House letter was equally pointed: “Instead of paying for the valuable insights that can be gleaned from the 10-years-and-counting continuous monitoring, taxpayers are now paying for research vessels to span the ocean dredging up hundreds of pieces of instrumentation. This is pathetic. In a time of strained resources, the NSF is wasting time and money to destroy its own scientific infrastructure.”
CONCORD, N.H. — Paper may be the traditional gift for a first wedding anniversary, but it turns out it’s also a fitting choice for a 250th birthday — particularly when you’re packing a time capsule meant to honor American independence.
A 2016 law established the nonpartisan America250 commission and required that a time capsule be buried in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026, with instructions not to open it until 2276 — a full 250 years later. Just last week, the massive 900-pound cylindrical capsule was officially sealed, marking the end of years of design work, construction, collaboration with states, and careful review of submitted items.
“Once it was closed, it was a little bit anti-climactic, and then it was kind of really emotional,” said Michael Berilla, who leads the fabrication technology office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and headed the team responsible for designing and building the capsule.
Berilla’s office, which falls under the Department of Commerce, has previously built protective encasements for historical documents — though those are typically kept indoors under tightly controlled conditions. A time capsule buried underground faces a very different threat: water. That concern drove much of the design process.
The capsule is cylindrical rather than box-shaped, since corners and square edges are prone to cracking over time. A second outer cylinder will surround it, creating an air barrier that pushes water away. The capsule’s lid is also lined with a soft metal that compresses when sealed.
“When you smash it shut with the lid, that metal goes into all the cracks and spaces and makes an airtight, watertight seal,” Berilla explained.
The contents inside were stored at 35% relative humidity — moist enough to prevent materials from drying out and crumbling, but dry enough to avoid creating moisture-related damage. The capsule will be placed 10 feet underground, shielding it from temperature swings and storm damage.
“Philadelphia would have to be six feet underwater in order for this time capsule to even possibly take on water,” Berilla said. “And if Philly is six feet underwater, you’ve got way bigger problems in the world.”
The capsule holds contributions from all three branches of the federal government, items tied to ongoing America 250 events and programs, and submissions from all 50 states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. Most items are housed in small archival boxes, while paper documents occupy a separate compartment. According to a list published on the America250 website, archival-grade paper was among the most popular choices, with states sending in hundreds of letters, postcards, posters, poems, and other printed materials.
States took very different approaches to their submissions. New Hampshire looked back, contributing a brochure tracing major moments in the state’s Revolutionary War history. California looked ahead, submitting the response it received when it asked an AI chatbot: “Write me a prediction of what California will be like 250 years from July 4, 2026.” According to the AI, highways will disappear, grizzly bears will return, and California will eventually break away to join Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in forming a “Pacific Federation.”
Some states went above and beyond. Utah included 100 cards highlighting historical figures from the state, along with 13 coins, eight documents, eight pins, two granite disks, and a booklet. Arizona used nano-etching technology to engrave the full text of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution onto a stainless steel coin. Other contributions were more unusual — Maine submitted a bone from the endangered North Atlantic right whale, while Arkansas sent an actual diamond.
Tom Medema, a retired National Park Service official who served as project manager for the time capsule, said the range of submissions was remarkable.
“I’m glad there wasn’t really a prescription for it,” he said. “I know that was hard for them, but in the end, it was just up to them to represent themselves.”
Items that could deteriorate or metals that might rust were not permitted. Maryland’s attempt to include Old Bay seasoning was turned away, and a piece of Native American beaded artwork originally backed by elk hide had to be resubmitted on a fabric backing instead.
Medema noted that some submissions reflect difficult chapters in American history, as well as challenges the country faces today. Even so, the overall spirit of the project remained hopeful.
“There’s great hope in what this capsule represents and the messages that are put in it,” he said. “Something about this capsule has been truly uplifting for everyone who’s been involved in it.”
This is not the first time Americans have buried a national time capsule connected to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A so-called “Century Safe” filled in 1876 was opened by President Gerald Ford in 1976. That same year, an official Bicentennial time capsule was created; it is currently held at the National Archives and scheduled to be opened in 2076. A separate time capsule is also being planned for the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
To make sure the America 250 capsule is actually located in 2276, the National Park Service has incorporated details about it into succession plans that will be handed down over the generations. A capstone marking the burial site will also be installed above it.
For Berilla, reflecting on what America looked like 250 years ago brings one word to mind: resilience.
“And when I think forward to the future, I hope that’s what they see from us,” he said. “That, yes, we had it hard compared to them, but more importantly, we were diverse. We were interesting. We were creative. We worked together.”
The capsule includes a photo of his team along with a letter he wrote on their behalf. “Greetings from the living, breathing hearts and hands of 2026,” Berilla wrote. “We will have long since returned to dust, but our devotion, pride, and unwavering hope for what our world could become are alive right here inside this steel. We built this for you.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President JD Vance announced Monday that he is hopeful the written text of an agreement aimed at ending the war in Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz will be made available to the public sometime this week, even as technical negotiations over the finer points of the deal are expected to continue.
Speaking during an interview on CNBC, Vance expressed the United States’ position that the economically critical shipping waterway should remain open without any fees on a permanent basis.
“Our expectation is that the Strait is going to be opened in a toll-free way for the long-term,” Vance said.
He added, “That’s the sort of thing that we’re going to figure out in these technical negotiations. You know that there are a lot of very important details to figure out that we’re actually going to sit at the table and discuss together and figure out a path forward.”
Both the United States and Iran have confirmed they reached terms to end the conflict and reopen the strait. The announcement brought some relief to financial markets, though the agreement may depend on a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and puts off discussions about Tehran’s nuclear program to a later date.
While still considered a framework rather than a finalized agreement, the deal represents the most significant step yet toward resolving a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and rattled global energy markets since it began with joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran back in February.
Vance indicated that Iran’s foreign minister and House speaker will serve as the country’s representatives at a signing ceremony set for Friday in Switzerland. He did not identify who would be present on behalf of the United States at that event.
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s justice minister is warning that a recent surge in violence against foreign nationals is tarnishing the country’s international reputation and triggering a backlash that is affecting South African businesses and entertainers abroad.
At a briefing held Sunday, minister Mmamoloko Kubayi urged South Africans to step back from vigilante actions and allow the government to address illegal immigration through official channels.
Over the past several weeks, South Africa has experienced a wave of protests and violent incidents directed at other African nationals — including some living in the country legally — as anti-immigrant groups point the finger at foreigners for the nation’s high unemployment rate and crime levels.
“A majority of South African artists perform on the continent, and many of them are seeing their gigs being cancelled,” Kubayi said, declining to name any performers specifically.
She added that the government is extending support to South African businesses operating in other countries that have been caught in the resulting backlash.
“We do believe that it can not only hurt the brand, but can hurt our social cohesion,” she said. Kubayi also noted that even some South African citizens have been caught up in the anti-immigrant aggression simply because of their appearance or the way they speak.
Xenophobia has long been a recurring problem in South Africa, and observers say the issue has been stoked by politicians looking to build support ahead of local elections scheduled for November.
Multiple countries — among them Ghana, Malawi, and Mozambique — have moved to bring their citizens back home due to safety concerns. Malawi announced Monday that it was transporting hundreds more of its nationals home by bus from the city of Durban.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to social media platform X to express his dismay, writing: “It is profoundly heartbreaking to witness another surge of xenophobic violence in #SouthAfrica.” He described the situation as a “tragic betrayal” of the African nations that stood by South Africa during its fight against apartheid.
Tedros also reported that five Ethiopians and five Mozambicans had lost their lives in the attacks.
South Africa’s foreign ministry pushed back on that characterization, stating that the deaths of the five Ethiopians were tied to organized crime rather than xenophobic violence. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the five Mozambicans remain under investigation, the ministry said.
“We deeply regret the tragic loss of life in these recent incidents, as one life lost is simply one too many,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri.
MADRID — Spain’s Migration Ministry announced Monday that approximately 900,000 undocumented migrants have applied for legal status through a government program that was originally projected to attract around 500,000 applicants.
The initiative is designed, in part, to bring undocumented workers into Spain’s formal labor market. The country has maintained a relatively open posture toward immigration even as many other European nations have moved to tighten their borders.
CEAR, a non-profit organization that assists refugees, anticipates the total number of applications will surpass one million before the program concludes in two weeks.
Spain’s economy has grown at a pace that has outstripped most of its European counterparts over the past two years. Migrants have played a significant role in that growth, filling critical labor gaps in industries like hospitality and elderly care while also contributing to social security funding.
Since April, Spain has issued 360,000 temporary work permits — approximately 40% of all applications submitted, according to the ministry. Applicants are permitted to start working as soon as their paperwork is accepted for review.
Pilar Cancela, Spain’s secretary of state for migration, told Reuters that the government has the capacity to process up to one million applications between April and June, though she acknowledged that the number of requests will exceed the number of permits ultimately granted.
Spain’s immigration system has long struggled with significant backlogs. Thousands of migrants from countries such as Colombia and Senegal have waited years for asylum decisions, with more than 90% of those requests ultimately denied.
According to the think tank Funcas, those rigid policies have left roughly 840,000 undocumented migrants in a prolonged limbo — living and working in Spain off the books while waiting years to obtain other forms of residency.
CEAR Director Monica Lopez spoke at a press conference Monday, calling for longer-term solutions beyond the current effort. “This is an extraordinary programme, but there should be a structural measure to facilitate access to work and residence permits, in order to avoid creating groups of people living on the margins of society,” she said.
The Carolina Hurricanes are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in two decades, finishing off the Vegas Golden Knights with a dominant 3-0 shutout in Game 6 on Sunday night. The Hurricanes won three consecutive games to close out an exciting final series that featured dramatic momentum shifts and high-powered offense throughout. Goaltender Brandon Bussi, whose entry into Game 3 proved to be a turning point for Carolina, stopped all 22 shots he faced to earn his first career playoff shutout. Jackson Blake contributed a goal and an assist, Taylor Hall struck just 3 minutes and 47 seconds into the game to establish early control, and Nikolaj Ehlers sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Jordan Staal has been awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player, becoming the oldest recipient of that honor at 37 years old. Staal led Carolina in goal-scoring during the final against Vegas and was a dominant two-way center throughout the entire postseason, excelling in faceoffs and shutdown situations. He joined the Hurricanes via a trade from Pittsburgh back in 2012 and has served as team captain for the past seven years, making him the longest-tenured player in the organization.
Brandon Bussi’s path to a Stanley Cup championship is one of the more unlikely stories of this postseason. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour had actually expressed relief before the final that Bussi — the team’s backup — hadn’t been needed. That changed when Bussi entered during Game 3 and ultimately carried the team the rest of the way. The 27-year-old, once a journeyman goalie, had already played in nearly half of Carolina’s regular-season games, helping the team earn the top playoff seed. Starter Frederik Andersen handled the first three rounds before Bussi took over and made crucial saves in the clinching game.
President Donald Trump celebrated his 80th birthday with a UFC event held on the White House lawn. The event, called Freedom 250, featured seven fights and also marked the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Fighters from across the globe participated, with UFC President Dana White alongside Trump as the crowd chanted “USA! USA!” Fighter Bo Nickal won his bout and publicly thanked Trump for the opportunity. Thousands of fans attended, including notable guests such as Mark Zuckerberg, highlighting the long-standing relationship between Trump and White.
Hockey stars Matthew and Brady Tkachuk and Logan Paul were among those taking part in pre-fight festivities for UFC Freedom 250 at the South Lawn of the White House. While VIPs filled the area around the Octagon, a separate viewing party was held at the Ellipse for the general public. Weather was a concern for a time, with dark clouds gathering as the fights began, but the area avoided any storms.
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi says his team is facing a difficult World Cup experience due to the tensions stemming from his country’s conflict with co-host United States. The Iranian squad arrived in the Los Angeles area on Sunday after training in Tijuana, Mexico — just over the U.S. border and roughly 140 miles from the stadium where they will open group-stage play against New Zealand. Taremi said he felt the tension from the moment Iran arrived and described this World Cup as far less enjoyable than his two previous appearances in the tournament.
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is speaking out about the gambling scandal spreading through college football. Sanders, who has dealt with plenty of risk throughout his career, said he will not tolerate wagering on college games. The controversy has grown after Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby obtained a court order last week restoring his eligibility and overturning an NCAA ban that had been imposed for betting on professional and college sports. Colorado is scheduled to face Big 12 rival Texas Tech on October 3rd. Sanders, who missed time last spring and summer while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer, is said to be more involved this offseason as the Buffaloes look to rebound from a 3-9 finish.
The NBA offseason is underway, with plenty of questions surrounding star players including Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James. The New York Knicks are the reigning champions, continuing a remarkable stretch of parity in the league — eight different franchises have won the title over the past eight seasons. That list includes Toronto in 2019, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023, Boston in 2024, Oklahoma City last year, and now New York. The rest of the league is now chasing the Knicks heading into the new season.
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway for his third consecutive victory, moving past the late Kyle Busch into ninth place on the all-time wins list. Hamlin, 45, is the oldest full-time driver in the Cup Series and now has 64 career wins, including four this season. Despite the success, Hamlin says he still plans to retire when his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires in 2027. Tyler Reddick came in second and William Byron finished third. The series heads next to a street race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
The Colorado Rockies set a franchise record with a 23-9 victory over the Athletics on a scorching 101-degree afternoon at Las Vegas Ballpark. Willi Castro drove in seven runs and Hunter Goodman collected a career-best five hits in the lopsided win. The Athletics, who are scheduled to move to Las Vegas full time in 2028, wrapped up a six-game homestand at the ballpark, which currently serves as the site of their top minor league affiliate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump rang in his 80th birthday Sunday with two major moments: announcing an early-stage agreement to bring the conflict in Iran to a close, and hosting a professional cage-fighting event on the historic South Lawn of the White House.
The president had been talking up the emerging Iran deal for weeks, and the ongoing conflict had threatened to cast a shadow over the UFC mixed martial arts spectacle, where fighters inside a wire-mesh Octagon competed to defeat each other through punches, kicks, and grappling.
Before the event got underway, however, Trump announced the agreement to end the fighting “is now complete.” He said the United States would lift its blockade of Iran and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen — though significant details still remain to be worked out in the weeks ahead.
Senior administration officials and Republican congressional leaders were on hand for the fights, among them Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Polish President Karol Nawrocki was also present at the White House.
The evening opened with Trump and UFC president Dana White walking side by side from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony to take in the view of the Octagon, standing together as fighter jets roared overhead during the national anthem.
A massive temporary arena was packed with thousands of spectators beneath “The Claw,” a striking metal arch resembling a spacecraft, outfitted with lights, speakers, and giant video screens. Thousands more fans watched the action on large screens from the nearby Ellipse.
“This event is a one of one event, incredible event,” White said during a Friday night preview gathering at the Lincoln Memorial, where fighters faced off for the cameras beneath the marble statue of Abraham Lincoln.
Before the night’s main event, lightweight fighters Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje each made their entrance by walking out of the Oval Office itself before heading to the Octagon — a gesture that had Trump temporarily giving up his own workspace for the spectacle.
American fighter Gaethje went on to defeat Spanish-Georgian Topuria in an upset after four bloody rounds. Trump later entered the cage himself to greet the fighters and stayed to watch a fireworks show that launched well after 1 a.m.
Throughout the night, many victorious fighters offered thanks to both Trump and God from inside the cage. Heavyweight Josh Hokit went further, making an extraordinary and baseless attack rooted in a right-wing conspiracy theory targeting a former first lady: “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?” Hokit also approached Trump and draped a chain around the president’s neck.
Despite the summer heat, Trump wore a suit and tie throughout much of the evening, often watching the bouts stone-faced through the cage’s wire mesh. At one point, he briefly chatted with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
When American fighter Sean O’Malley faced Canadian Aiemann Zahabi, Trump put on a white USA hat. After Zahabi won, he shook the president’s hand and offered a salute. Earlier, Trump was seen speaking with first lady Melania Trump during the opening bout between Diego Lopes and Steve Garcia. After Bo Nickal knocked out Kyle Daukaus in the second fight, Nickal walked over to Trump and knelt beside him for a brief conversation.
“I gotta thank President Trump for making this happen,” Nickal said in a post-fight interview as Trump smiled nearby, calling the president a “special person” — after which Trump’s signature song “YMCA” played over the speakers.
Trump framed the event as part of broader celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The fights were so central to his plans that the G7 summit of industrialized nations was pushed back to allow Trump to attend his cage-match celebration before flying to Europe for the meetings.
Crowds repeatedly broke into chants of “USA! USA!” when American fighters squared off against foreign opponents, though those chants didn’t always translate into victories — at least until the final bout. Brazilian fighter Mauricio Ruffy, after winning his match, proposed to his girlfriend in the crowd, who flashed a thumbs-up in what observers noted was a very Trumpian moment.
The evening stood in sharp contrast to how Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, spent his own 80th birthday. Biden marked the milestone in November 2022 with a quiet private family brunch at the White House.
Asked about the difference between the two celebrations, White House spokesperson Allison Schuster issued a statement calling the UFC event “one of the most entertaining nights in American history.”
When Biden turned 80, he was the oldest sitting president in U.S. history, and was just months away from launching a reelection campaign he would eventually abandon following a poor debate performance against Trump and growing opposition within his own party.
World leaders have descended on a French spa town for a Group of Seven summit that carries added weight following President Donald Trump’s announcement of an agreement he says will end the U.S. war against Iran.
Trump arrived in Evian-les-Bains Monday afternoon for discussions with G7 leaders, some of whom have been openly critical of how he managed the roughly 15-week conflict — a war that has caused a spike in global energy prices.
Trump has clashed with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over his decision to go to war without consulting them. He has threatened to pull U.S. troops out of all four countries — each a member of the NATO alliance — in response to their lack of support.
The G7 consists of France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. This year’s summit also includes guest nations Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, South Korea, Qatar, Syria, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.
Macron Stands Firm Against Trump’s Tariff Threats
French President Emmanuel Macron made clear Monday that he will not yield to Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on French wines unless Paris scraps its digital tax on American technology companies.
In an interview with French broadcaster TF1, Macron stated that the tax was a European decision and that it is not “for the United States to decide what European or French law should be.” He added that his position is “normal” and will not shift “as long as I am here.”
European Union wines and spirits currently face a 15% tariff when exported to the United States. Macron said he plans to raise the issue in a “respectful but firm” way at the summit.
“What is important to understand is why the G7 was created,” Macron said. “To resolve many of our international imbalances, it is better to coordinate and consult with one another, especially when we are among the world’s major democracies.”
France Ready to Act on Strait of Hormuz Security
Macron said France and other Western allies are “ready to take action very quickly” to help peacefully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping lane.
France and Britain have both pushed for a mission to restore maritime security in the strait once conditions permit.
“We already have forces in the area,” Macron said during his TF1 interview, pointing to France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.
“We are ready to take action very quickly … to send aircraft, deploy a frigate, send mine-clearing vessels. We also have our aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, along with its accompanying strike group, which remains in the region and could be deployed within two or three days following confirmation” of the tentative U.S.-Iran deal, he said.
G7 European Leaders Hail Iran Deal as ‘Diplomatic Breakthrough’
Despite their ongoing disagreements with Trump over the Iran conflict, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement before the summit began, praising the United States, Iran, and the mediators for what they described as a “diplomatic breakthrough.” Canada also signed onto the statement.
The leaders stressed that detailed follow-up negotiations must happen quickly and that the agreement needs to be put into effect soon so the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened to oil tanker traffic. They said they are committed to contributing, including through possible mine-clearing operations.
Macron Thanks Security Forces Protecting the Summit
As world leaders flew into Evian-les-Bains, the quiet lakeside resort town was transformed into a heavily secured zone, with officers stationed throughout the streets checking credentials and monitoring crowds.
Macron stopped by a temporary security command center Monday morning to personally thank the officers on duty.
He described the three-day summit — which covers topics including the Middle East, Ukraine, and trade — as “a big source of pride for France, a big responsibility.”
“We’ll try to make maximum progress on all the issues that are important for our country, our continent and also for global peace and prosperity,” Macron told the assembled police officers, gendarmes, firefighters, health workers, and other personnel.
Macron said nearly 13,800 officers have been deployed for the security operation. “Only your collective mobilization makes this possible,” he said. “Good luck for the coming days. Keep up the work.”
Japan to Join G7 European Nations’ Joint Statement
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced that Japan will sign onto the joint statement issued by the G7’s four European nations, which calls for cooperation in quickly reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending Iran’s nuclear program.
When asked about the statement, Takaichi confirmed Japan had been asked to participate and said simply, “We will join.”
The statement, issued Monday in response to the U.S.-Iran peace deal, emphasized that the agreement must be implemented rapidly and comprehensively. It also noted the signatories’ readiness to help ensure safe commercial shipping and conduct mine-clearing operations in the key waterway, in line with each country’s constitutional requirements.
Takaichi did not detail what Japan’s specific contribution might be, but said she intends to have thorough discussions at the summit about achieving peace and stability across the broader Middle East region.
Trump Announces July 4 Rally at Lincoln Memorial
Even while traveling to France for the G7 summit, Trump shared plans for a major celebration marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
“On July 4th, at The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, in beautiful and safe Washington D.C., we are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ‘TRIBUTE TO AMERICA,’” Trump posted on social media.
Trump said the event will feature military flyovers, a personally selected music playlist, and “the LARGEST FIREWORKS SHOW IN HISTORY.”
Trump had also previously announced in late May that he would headline “The Great American State Fair,” part of the America 250 celebration, after several musical performers withdrew partly due to the event’s association with Trump. Organizers indicated the president’s appearance was set for June 24 to kick off the fair.
Macron Samples the Spring Behind Evian’s Fame
In a lighter moment Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron drank a glass of water from the natural spring that gave Evian-les-Bains its worldwide reputation.
Macron visited the Cachat Spring, which takes its name from the owner of the garden through which the water once flowed in the late 1700s. The water was first scientifically analyzed in 1807 and was originally recommended as a remedy for kidney and bladder conditions. It became a popular table water starting in the 1860s and is now sold globally under the Evian brand.
Brazil’s Leader and UN Health Chief Urge Action on Pandemic Preparedness
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the head of the United Nations health agency are jointly urging world leaders to strengthen a pandemic preparedness agreement passed last year.
“Humanity promised itself, in the rawness of that grief, that it would not face such a day again unprepared,” the two wrote in a shared statement.
Negotiations over a key annex to the accord have stalled due to disagreements about sharing disease-causing pathogens — which frequently emerge in tropical developing countries — in exchange for access to technologies like vaccines, which are typically developed in wealthier nations.
The pair called on G7 leaders and other international groupings to “instruct your negotiators to come to the July session ready to conclude” the annex.
Trump Calls White House UFC Event ‘Incredible’
While en route to France aboard Air Force One, Trump posted on Truth Social praising a UFC fight night held at the White House, calling the fighters “outstanding” and the South Lawn setting “unsurpassed.”
“The White House has never looked more beautiful,” Trump added.
Brazil’s Lula First to Arrive at G7 Venue
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva became the first foreign leader to check in Monday at the Hotel Royal in Evian-les-Bains ahead of the summit’s formal opening.
Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, India, and South Korea have been invited to join select discussions as partner countries alongside the G7 members.
All world leaders, including Trump, were scheduled to receive an official welcome later Monday from French President Emmanuel Macron at the start of the summit.
The Hotel Royal, a five-star property with views of Lake Geneva and the foothills of the Alps, will host the leaders through Wednesday. The hotel is surrounded by sweeping gardens featuring flowerbeds, water features, and both English- and Japanese-inspired landscaping.
UN Human Rights Chief Welcomes US-Iran Deal
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk welcomed the announced peace agreement between the United States and Iran, while also renewing his call for the U.S. to publicly release the findings of an investigation into a deadly strike on a school in southern Iran that occurred when the war began.
Türk said he “deplores” the use of force by Israel and the United States against Iran, which he said has reportedly left thousands dead and caused widespread infrastructure damage. At the same time, he called Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries and Jordan, along with its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, “completely unacceptable.”
“I welcome the announcement that the United States and Iran have agreed on a peace deal that provides for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a framework for further negotiations,” Türk told the Human Rights Council as it convened its latest session.
“At this fragile moment, it is clear all sides need to exercise maximum restraint and work to implement this agreement quickly and in good faith,” he added.
UK’s Starmer Calls Iran Deal a ‘Hugely Significant Opportunity’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the breakthrough in U.S.-Iran talks, describing it as a hugely significant opportunity to bring stability to the region.
Speaking at the start of a news conference at his No. 10 Downing Street office, Starmer emphasized that it is critical for all parties in the region to seize the moment and restore freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We will now work closely with our partners to support this agreement and to ensure that it turns into a durable, lasting peace,” he said.
Trump Warned France of 100% Wine Tariffs Before Departure
Before leaving for the summit, Trump told the New York Post in an interview that he has warned Macron the United States will “have no choice” but to impose 100% tariffs on French wines unless Paris eliminates its digital tax on American technology companies — reviving a threat that first surfaced during his first administration.
Wines and spirits from the European Union currently face a 15% tariff when entering the United States.
Israel Says It Won’t Pull Back from Lebanon
Israel’s defense minister stated Monday that his country has no intention of withdrawing from territory it has seized in Lebanon while the interim U.S.-Iran deal remains pending.
The remarks from Defense Minister Israel Katz marked the first official Israeli response following the deal’s announcement. The two sides — the U.S. and Iran — are expected to meet Friday in Geneva to formally sign the agreement, according to Pakistan.
Katz said Israel plans to remain “indefinitely” in the lands it currently holds in Lebanon, as well as in Syria and the Gaza Strip. Iran has linked the interim deal to a halt in Israeli attacks on Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
Katz also warned that if Iran retaliates against Israel over Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Israel will respond with “great force.”
A stretch of Jupiter Road is experiencing intermittent lane closures due to ongoing construction work.
The closure affects the section of Jupiter Road between Venus Road and Sun Court. Drivers traveling through that area may encounter reduced lanes until 5 PM.
Motorists are encouraged to allow extra travel time or consider using an alternate route to avoid potential delays.
Authorities have canceled a Gold Alert that had been issued for Anthony Pezzullo after he was found safe.
Officials confirmed that Pezzullo has been located, bringing the alert to a close. No additional information was released regarding the circumstances of his disappearance or recovery.
Wall Street was set to surge Monday alongside global markets after a tentative agreement was announced to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz — sending oil prices tumbling nearly $5 a barrel to their lowest point in months.
Before the opening bell, futures for the S&P 500 were up 1.3%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 0.9%, and Nasdaq futures jumped 1.3%.
After several false starts that left investors skeptical, markets appeared to be betting that an end to the conflict was finally within reach. U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the preliminary agreement and gave the green light to lift the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Iran also confirmed the deal, though officials there indicated the agreement would not go into effect until a formal signing ceremony — which Pakistan said would take place Friday in Switzerland. Negotiations on broader issues, including Iran’s nuclear program, are expected to continue over the following 60 days.
Oil prices dropped sharply in Monday trading. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell $4.28 to $83.05 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude dropped $4.55 to $80.33 per barrel — the lowest prices seen since the war’s opening days in late February.
Energy analysts cautioned that it could take months for oil prices to fully stabilize. The war’s disruptions sent fuel and product costs soaring, and experts said shipping and insurance companies will need confidence that the peace agreement will hold before supply flows freely again.
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management offered a measured take in a research note: “The reopening of Hormuz is a relief valve, not a full peace dividend. The market can remove some crude panic, but it still has to price the gap between a headline, a signature, and a regime that actually complies.”
Even so, the announcement brought significant relief to markets that have been in turmoil for more than three months.
On the corporate front, shares of Roku climbed an additional 1.5% Monday morning after Fox Corp. announced it is acquiring the streaming platform in a cash-and-stock deal worth approximately $22 billion. The acquisition gives Fox access to the Roku channel, first-party viewer data, and a customer base of more than 100 million streaming households worldwide. Fox will pay $96 in cash plus 0.9693 shares of its Class A common stock for each Roku share, valuing the transaction at $160 per share. After already jumping more than 20% on Friday when reports of the deal first emerged, Roku shares added another $1.84 to reach $145.50 Monday morning.
Shares of Elon Musk’s SpaceX also gained 5.6% in premarket trading Monday, building on a strong debut on Wall Street last week. The company’s stock had leaped 19.2% on its first day of trading, giving SpaceX a total market value of $2.1 trillion — larger than Exxon Mobil, Bank of America, and Coca-Cola combined. The strong investor appetite reflected continued enthusiasm for artificial intelligence-related companies.
European markets also moved higher by midday. Germany’s DAX rose 1.3% and France’s CAC 40 gained 1.2%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was essentially flat.
Asian markets posted strong gains. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 5% to 69,317.50, setting another record high, driven largely by technology and AI-related stocks. Japan’s benchmark index has now risen more than 80% over the past year.
“This is great news,” said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex. “Buying by foreign investors is leading the market with expectations of easing tensions around the situation in the Middle East. Then the decline in New York crude oil futures is supporting this positive market.”
South Korea’s Kospi surged 5.2% to 8,545.98. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5% to 24,842.67, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.6% to 4,096.47. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.3% to 8,922.90, Taiwan’s Taiex was up 2.8%, and India’s Sensex gained 1.2%.
Looking ahead, investors will be watching several major interest rate decisions this week. The Federal Reserve is set to announce its decision Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England on Thursday. On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate from 0.75% to 1% — which would mark the highest rate in more than 30 years.
Motorists traveling westbound on Concord Road/Hardscrabble Road, also known as Route 20, are facing a lane closure due to ongoing construction work.
The affected stretch runs between Beaver Dam Road and Fleetwood Pond Road (Road 484). Drivers in the area should plan for possible delays and consider alternate routes if available.
The westbound lane closure is scheduled to remain in place until 7:00 PM. Travelers are encouraged to use caution when passing through the construction zone.
Fox Corp. has struck a deal to acquire streaming pioneer Roku in a combined cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $22 billion, including debt.
The acquisition would hand Fox access to more than 100 million households around the world, along with the Roku channel and its first-party viewer data. Fox already operates a broad portfolio of sports, news, and entertainment properties, as well as Tubi, the streaming service it purchased in 2020.
Roku’s origins trace back to the early 2000s, when founder Anthony Wood worked inside Netflix as the company was making its historic transition away from DVD rentals and toward streaming video. Netflix eventually spun Roku off as its own company, and Roku launched its first set-top streaming box in 2008.
Wood, who serves as Roku’s chairman and CEO, has said his original drive to develop the technology came from a personal desire — he simply wanted to record and watch his favorite show, “Star Trek.”
Both companies announced Monday that Roku will continue operating as an open platform that remains friendly to outside partners. Together, Fox and Roku said the combined entity would rank as the third-largest presence in U.S. television based on share of viewing.
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement that bringing the two companies together would unite Fox’s live news and sports programming with a streaming platform boasting a massive audience, while also expanding Fox’s reach into advertising revenue and streaming subscriptions.
“The combination with FOX is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our vision, scale faster and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners and advertisers,” Wood said in prepared remarks.
Wood is expected to remain involved with the company going forward and will join Fox’s board of directors once the transaction is finalized.
Under the terms of the deal, Fox will pay $96 in cash plus 0.9693 shares of its Class A common stock for each Roku Class A and Class B share. The overall transaction is valued at $160 per Roku share.
Once the deal closes, current Fox shareholders are projected to hold roughly 73% of the combined company, while Roku shareholders would own approximately 27%.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, pending approval from shareholders of both companies and sign-off from regulators.
Following the announcement, Fox’s stock slipped in pre-market trading, while Roku shares edged slightly higher.
A right lane on westbound Commerce Street is currently closed due to construction activity, affecting the stretch of road between Farmington Road and Brown Street.
The lane closure is expected to remain in effect until 5 p.m. Drivers traveling through that corridor should allow extra time or consider an alternate route to avoid potential delays.
BANGKOK (AP) — The man who previously led the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar has been taken into custody after arriving back in Yangon, following the organization’s disclosure that it had been investigating suspicious financial dealings by former board members.
Adam Castillo, who founded and owns a security risk management company called AGS Myanmar, was apprehended Thursday at Yangon International Airport, according to a source familiar with the situation who asked not to be named due to safety concerns.
AGS Myanmar told The Associated Press only that the situation was “an ongoing matter” and declined to say anything further. An email sent to Castillo through his personal website went unanswered.
The U.S. State Department confirmed it had received reports of an American citizen being held in Myanmar but said it was unable to comment further, citing privacy considerations.
Myanmar’s military-backed government issued no official statement on the detention. Requests for comment sent to the government, the Yangon regional government office, and the Yangon Regional Police Department all went unanswered. Authorities in Myanmar, a country currently engulfed in civil war, rarely engage with international press.
However, several media outlets with ties to the military — including NP News — reported that Castillo had been arrested following a formal complaint filed against him by the American Chamber of Commerce. He served as the organization’s president from 2023 to 2025.
When asked about the complaint, the chamber’s executive director, Myat Phyu The, said she was unable to share specifics but pointed to the organization’s May 29 annual report, saying it “covers the issue at hand.” The chamber works to support American business interests.
According to that report, the current board discovered last year that certain transactions had been made by “former board representatives” under suspicious circumstances, and the matter was sent to a law firm for review.
Investigators found that “a former board representative” had entered into a contract in November 2024 with a Washington-based public relations firm. That firm paid him $300,000 that was “apparently collected and disbursed outside AMCHAM Myanmar’s accounts.”
“The signature exceeded the signing limits of individual board representatives, the board never approved the agreement,” the report stated. “AMCHAM Myanmar received no funds, made no payments, and received no services, and the matter was not disclosed to the statutory auditors.”
The report references “two former members of the board” as being connected to the case, though neither is identified by name, and no information is provided about what legal steps the organization may have taken. Myat Phyu The declined to elaborate further.
A statement posted to the organization’s website on June 12 said the board “has taken appropriate steps to safeguard the interests of the organization and its members.”
Myanmar has been in turmoil since its military forcibly removed democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in 2021 and violently cracked down on peaceful protests that followed. The crackdown sparked armed resistance from pro-democracy fighters and ethnic minority militias working to push out the military government.
Since the military seized control, Myanmar has seen a growing number of foreigners detained, with foreign journalists covering the country’s political crisis being particularly targeted.
AGS Myanmar, founded in 2013, lists security services on its website alongside offerings such as commercial cleaning and pest control.
Castillo’s company biography describes him as a former U.S. Marine officer who served in Afghanistan and currently chairs “Republican Overseas Myanmar,” a group established in 2024 to advance what it calls “America First policies in Myanmar and across the region.”
It remains unclear where Castillo had been traveling before returning to Myanmar and being detained. His Instagram account, however, shows that just one day before his arrest, he was attending a business forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he also promoted a book he recently published.
That memoir, titled “Finding Our Voice,” chronicles his time in Myanmar during the political upheaval, violence, and economic hardship that followed the military takeover, according to its description.
Whether the book had any connection to his detention remains unknown.
Voters in the Bay Area of California are casting ballots Tuesday in a special congressional primary to begin narrowing a field of nearly a dozen candidates competing to fill the seat once held by Democratic former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell. For many of those candidates, Tuesday marks the second time in just two weeks they have appeared on a ballot for this particular House seat.
A Democratic victory in this heavily Democratic district would put additional pressure on what is already a razor-thin Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Swalwell stepped down from Congress in April following sexual-assault allegations, which he has denied. He also pulled out of the California governor’s race, in which he had been considered a leading contender.
There are actually two separate races happening simultaneously for Swalwell’s former seat. One is a standard scheduled election for the next full congressional term beginning in January 2027. The other is Tuesday’s special primary, which determines who will serve out the remaining 15 weeks of Swalwell’s current term.
Among the Democrats competing in the special primary for the 14th District’s abbreviated term are former Dublin mayor and Bay Area Rapid Transit board member Melissa Hernandez, state Sen. Aisha Wahab, and attorney and education entrepreneur Rakhi Israni Singh. On the Republican side, candidates include real estate investor Wendy Huang and small business owner Dena Maldonado. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will move on to a special general election set for August 18. California uses a top-two primary system in which all candidates from all parties appear on the same ballot.
All five of those candidates also competed in the June 2 primary for the full-term seat, which drew a slightly smaller field of nine candidates overall. Wahab and Hernandez finished first and second in that race, ensuring the seat will remain under Democratic control next year.
The boundaries of California’s 14th Congressional District were redrawn under a new congressional map approved by voters through a 2025 statewide ballot measure called Proposition 50. Those new boundaries take effect for the full-term seat in January, while whoever wins the special election will serve under the current district boundaries for the rest of this year.
Proposition 50 was placed before voters partly in response to mid-decade redistricting efforts pushed by President Donald Trump in several Republican-led states. Although the new map generally benefits Democrats, the changes to the 14th District specifically were not dramatic. Under the current boundaries, Democrats account for 50.4% of registered voters as of October, compared to 17.6% for Republicans. Under the newly drawn boundaries, Democrats make up roughly 49.7% of registered voters as of mid-May, with Republicans at about 17.4%.
In the 2024 presidential election, Democratic nominee and then-Vice President Kamala Harris won the current 14th District with 65.8% of the vote. Under the newly redrawn boundaries, she would have received approximately 65.4% of the vote.
Both versions of the district fall entirely within Alameda County in the East Bay region. The current district encompasses Hayward, Livermore, Pleasanton, and Union City, along with portions of San Leandro, Fremont, and Dublin.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific Time, or 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Associated Press will report vote totals and declare winners in the 14th Congressional District special primary. Any registered voter within the pre-redistricting version of California’s 14th Congressional District is eligible to participate.
As of October 2025, approximately 429,000 voters were registered in the current 14th Congressional District, including around 216,000 Democrats, about 76,000 Republicans, and roughly 114,000 voters with no party preference.
About 214,000 district voters cast ballots in the statewide Proposition 50 measure in November 2025, and around 126,000 cast ballots in the March 2024 primary — the last time the district held a primary under its current boundaries.
In Alameda County, roughly 93% of voters in the March 2024 primary and about 87% of voters in the 2024 general election submitted their ballots either early in person or by mail.
As of Friday, approximately 106,000 ballots had already been submitted for Tuesday’s election. Of those, about 57% came from Democrats, 19% from Republicans, and 20% from voters with no party affiliation.
In Alameda County, the first vote update of the evening typically reflects only mail ballot results, though a significant number of mail ballots usually remain to be counted by the following morning. Because mail voting tends to favor Democrats while in-person Election Day voting tends to favor Republicans, early results could show Democratic candidates leading — with Republican candidates potentially closing that gap as more Election Day votes are tallied. Democrats could also pick up additional ground later as remaining mail ballots are processed after election night.
During the November 4, 2025 special election for Proposition 50, the AP first reported Alameda County results at 11:14 p.m. Eastern — just 14 minutes after polls closed. The final update of that night came at 1:33 a.m. Eastern, with approximately 57% of total votes counted. The county finished tallying about 99% of all votes by November 10.
The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner once it has been determined that no trailing candidate can mathematically close the gap. If a race remains undeclared, the AP will continue reporting on significant developments such as concessions or victory claims, while making clear that no winner has been officially called and explaining the reason for the delay.
California does not have automatic recounts. Any registered voter may request and fund a recount. The AP may still declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if the margin is determined to be too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the result.
As of Tuesday, 63 days remain until the August 18 special general election for Congressional District 14, and 140 days remain until the November 3 midterm general election.
Community-supported agriculture — commonly called CSA — has been a cornerstone of the local food movement for decades. The basic concept is straightforward: a customer pays a farm at the start of the season, and in exchange, they receive regular shares of freshly grown produce throughout the harvest period.
But as consumer habits and preferences continue to shift, some farmers are finding that the traditional CSA structure no longer fits every customer’s lifestyle. In response, growers are experimenting with updated versions of the model designed to give buyers more flexibility and choice.
These changes reflect a growing recognition among farmers that meeting customers where they are — both literally and figuratively — may be key to keeping community-supported agriculture relevant and sustainable in today’s marketplace.
Australia’s stock exchange operator, ASX, has acknowledged that it made misleading statements to the public about the status of a major software overhaul, agreeing on Monday to pay a penalty of A$20.5 million — roughly $14.5 million in U.S. dollars — pending approval from Australia’s Federal Court.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission, known as ASIC, brought legal action against ASX in August 2024. The regulator alleged that statements the exchange made in 2022 about its Clearing House Electronic Subregister System — commonly referred to as CHESS — painted a misleading picture of a project that was already in serious trouble. The system had been scheduled to launch in 2023.
Internal records show that by late 2021, ASX had already classified the project’s status as “red,” a designation indicating significant risks to its timeline. According to the ASIC lawsuit, the exchange’s audit and risk committee was briefed on that “red” status just one week before a February 2022 market update was released.
Despite those internal warnings, a February 10, 2022 announcement — which also disclosed that then-CEO Dominic Stevens planned to retire — told the market that the CHESS replacement project was “progressing well.”
Kai Chen, Director at MPC Markets, offered perspective on what the settlement means going forward. “The fine closes a legal chapter, but the reputational discount and deeper structural questions will persist until ASX faces real competitive pressure or demonstrates genuine cultural reform through delivery,” Chen said.
ASX ultimately abandoned the original CHESS project in November 2022 after repeated setbacks and significant expenditures. A redesigned version of the clearing system began its first rollout phase in April and is now expected to be fully completed by 2029.
In addition to the penalty, ASX has agreed to contribute A$3 million toward ASIC’s legal costs, also subject to Federal Court approval. Both the penalty and the legal cost contribution will be recorded as non-recurring significant items in the exchange’s fiscal year 2026 financial statements.
ASX shares ended the trading day up 2.6%, closing at A$50.46 — outpacing the broader market benchmark, which gained 1.3%.
Canadian financial technology firm Nuvei announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire cross-border payments company Payoneer in an all-cash deal worth approximately $2.75 billion, as part of a broader push to grow its global footprint.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nuvei will purchase every share of Payoneer at $7.40 per share — representing a roughly 44% premium over Payoneer’s closing price on June 8. According to data from LSEG, Payoneer currently carries a market capitalization of around $2.26 billion.
Reuters had reported the previous week that the two companies were deep in acquisition discussions.
The deal reflects a broader trend in the payments industry, where companies have been joining forces to strengthen their presence in high-growth areas like international and business-to-business transactions.
Beyond expanding its global reach, the acquisition is expected to position Nuvei to capitalize on emerging opportunities in stablecoin transactions and commerce powered by artificial intelligence. The deal would also give Nuvei access to a roster of major marketplace clients, including Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Airbnb.
Once combined, the two companies are projected to generate approximately $3 billion in annual revenue and handle more than $500 billion in payment volume each year.
Nuvei CEO Phil Fayer described the strategic value of the merger, saying: “By combining complementary capabilities, we can offer businesses a more complete platform to accept payments, send funds, issue cards, manage treasury and FX needs, and access embedded financial services – at scale.”
Payoneer specializes in helping businesses send and receive payments across international borders and manage money in multiple currencies. The company holds licenses in several major markets around the world.
The transaction requires approval from Payoneer shareholders as well as regulatory clearances, with an expected closing date in mid-2027.
Financing for the deal is being provided by BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, Barclays, UBS, and Wells Fargo. Goldman Sachs is serving as lead financial adviser to Nuvei, with Barclays Capital also in an advisory role. Qatalyst Partners is acting as the exclusive financial adviser to Payoneer.
BEIRUT — An unnamed Hezbollah official revealed to Reuters on Monday that the militant group has refrained from carrying out any operations following the announcement of the Iran-U.S. deal.
The official, who chose to remain anonymous, stated that Hezbollah’s position on the ongoing ceasefire is directly tied to whether Israel complies with its terms. The official also made clear that Hezbollah firmly opposes what it described as Israeli “freedom of movement” within Lebanon.
According to the official, Iran deliberately held off on finalizing the deal with the United States in order to observe how Israel would respond to the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.
As of Monday, Hezbollah had not released any formal or official statement regarding the agreement between Iran and the U.S.
LONDON — A 22-year-old Ukrainian man was convicted Monday of arson attacks targeting properties linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that took place last May.
The attacks unfolded over the course of five days, during which police responded to fires at a north London home connected to Starmer, a nearby residence where he previously lived and where his sister-in-law currently resides, and a blaze involving a Toyota vehicle that had once belonged to the British leader.
Roman Lavrynovych was found guilty at London’s Old Bailey Court on one count of arson with intent to endanger life and one count of arson with reckless disregard for whether lives were put at risk, in connection with one of the house fires. He was acquitted on charges tied to the other property.
Lavrynovych and 27-year-old Stanislav Carpiuc — a Romanian national who was born in Ukraine — were both convicted of conspiracy to commit arson. A third defendant, fellow Ukrainian Petro Pochynok, 35, was found not guilty on that same charge.
Motorists traveling westbound and northbound on Broadkill Road (Route 16) between Jefferson Road and Grant Avenue should be prepared for slowdowns.
Intermittent lane closures and a flagging operation are in place along that stretch of roadway, with crews directing traffic through the area.
The restrictions are expected to remain in effect until 3 PM. Drivers are encouraged to use caution, follow the directions of flaggers on site, and consider alternate routes if possible.
Accused killer Luigi Mangione is back in the spotlight this week as his attorneys appear in a New York City courtroom for an important pretrial hearing in the case.
Mangione, 28, faces charges that he stalked and murdered the chief executive of a major health insurance company. While prosecutors have described him as a cold-blooded killer, he has attracted a wave of public sympathy and support from people around the world who have cast him as a kind of vigilante figure.
That outpouring of support has translated into real money for his legal defense — donors have contributed $1.5 million to help fund his case.
The case has drawn international attention, with a mural of Mangione even appearing in the Bethnal Green neighborhood of London, England, illustrating just how far his notoriety has spread beyond the United States.
Motorists heading westbound and northbound on Broadkill Road, also known as Route 16, should be aware of traffic disruptions currently in place.
Intermittent lane closures and a flagging operation are active along the stretch of roadway between Jefferson Road and Grant Avenue. These restrictions are expected to remain in effect until 3 PM.
Drivers in the area are encouraged to use caution, follow the directions of flaggers on site, and consider alternate routes if possible to avoid delays.
Motorists traveling westbound and northbound on Broadkill Road, also known as Route 16, should be aware of temporary traffic disruptions currently underway.
The stretch of roadway between Jefferson Road and Grant Avenue is experiencing intermittent lane closures, with flaggers on site directing traffic through the area.
The lane restrictions are expected to remain in place until 3 PM. Drivers in the area are encouraged to allow extra travel time or consider an alternate route if possible.
Northbound travelers on Janice Road are facing a right lane closure due to construction activity in the area.
The closure affects the stretch of roadway between Nassau Commons Boulevard and Nassau Park Road. Crews are expected to have the lane closed until 5 PM.
Drivers in the area should allow extra travel time or consider using an alternate route to avoid delays.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A new report from a prominent conflict monitoring organization warns that the Palestinian economy in the occupied West Bank is on the brink of collapse, driven by a series of Israeli restrictions that severely limit opportunities for the millions of Palestinians living under long-standing military occupation.
The International Crisis Group released findings showing that Israeli measures — including limits on movement, the withholding of tax revenue, and land seizures — are not only strangling the Palestinian economy but also stoking dangerous instability in the region.
The report states bluntly: “The economic conditions necessary for any Palestinian future other than permanent subjugation are being dismantled.”
Researchers gathered information through interviews with Palestinian business leaders, mayors, and government officials to document the financial strain being felt by companies, families, and the internationally supported Palestinian Authority, which oversees cities and towns throughout the West Bank.
The report suggests Israeli policies reflect a deliberate push to “advance Israel’s own declared goal of extending its control and preventing a Palestinian state from emerging.”
Decades of military occupation have taken a toll on Palestinian economic life, with checkpoints and military gates restricting the flow of people and goods. Palestinians have long depended on employment and imports connected to Israel while facing limitations on land use and trade. The approximately 3.4 million Palestinians currently living in the West Bank are dealing with an unemployment rate of around 30%, and their economy has contracted sharply since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Israel cancelled work permits for the vast majority of the nearly 200,000 Palestinians who had previously been employed in Israel. While Israeli officials pointed to security concerns as the reason, the move effectively stripped the Palestinian economy of close to $400 million per month — nearly one-quarter of its total economic output.
Today, many businesses are struggling to meet payroll and pay suppliers, with private sector companies reporting an estimated 50% drop in activity compared to before the war. The report attributes this to “tightened movement controls, disrupted supply chains and heightened uncertainty.”
“Palestinian society survives, but in a state of grinding immiseration. Absent remedies, the result will likely be a loss of hope and a growing risk of instability and greater violence,” the report warns.
The Palestinian Authority, which serves as the West Bank’s largest employer and provider of public services, sits at the center of this crisis. Government agencies have taken on heavy debt just to remain operational, while public workers go without pay and basic infrastructure — including roads and water systems — continues to deteriorate. The failure to fund public services is leaving patients unable to access hospital care and children out of school.
The Palestinian Authority relies heavily on tax revenues collected on goods coming into the West Bank through Israeli ports, since Palestinians have no control over their own borders. However, under hard-line ministers within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Israel has withheld billions of dollars in tax funds it owes and has made unilateral deductions from those amounts. No transfers have occurred since May 2025.
Joost Hiltermann, the International Crisis Group’s special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa and the report’s author, said the world’s attention has been largely consumed by more than two years of war in Gaza, causing many to overlook the West Bank — even though the changes happening there could have broader consequences for Palestinians’ long-term aspirations.
Hiltermann noted that Israeli officials, who hold significant sway over many of the policies discussed in the report, declined to be interviewed. He did, however, point to internal disagreements within Netanyahu’s government, with settler leaders and security officials frequently at odds over how to handle the Palestinian economy.
“The security establishment doesn’t want the Palestinian Authority or economy to collapse because they would have to assume the burden of governing the territory in full after essentially destroying it,” Hiltermann said.
Motorists traveling southbound on Foulk Road should plan for a lane restriction currently in place between Chatham Drive and Heather Road East.
A right lane closure is active in that stretch due to ongoing construction work. Drivers in the area are advised to allow extra travel time or consider an alternate route if possible.
The lane closure is expected to remain in effect until 3:00 PM. No additional details regarding the nature of the construction were provided.
Motorists traveling westbound on W Lebanon Road should be aware of an active lane closure currently in effect between Rising Sun Lane and First Tent Court.
The right travel lane and right shoulder along that stretch are shut down, which may cause slowdowns or require drivers to merge left to continue through the area.
The closure is expected to remain in place until 3 PM. Drivers are encouraged to allow extra travel time or consider an alternate route if possible.
Motorists traveling southbound on Foulk Road should be aware of a right lane closure currently in effect between Chatham Drive and Heather Road East.
The lane restriction is the result of ongoing construction work in the area. Drivers are advised to use caution and allow extra travel time when passing through the affected stretch of road.
The closure is scheduled to remain in place until 3:00 PM. No additional detour information was provided at this time.
Travelers making their way along Elderon Drive at the Loop should be prepared for intermittent lane closures as construction work continues in the area.
According to traffic officials, the lane restrictions are expected to remain in place through 6:00 PM. Drivers are encouraged to use caution when passing through the construction zone and to budget additional time for their commute.
No further details about the nature of the construction work were provided. Updates will be issued as conditions change.
LONDON — Britain’s Court of Appeal delivered a ruling Monday upholding the government’s decision to classify the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, reversing an earlier court decision that had sided with the group.
Chief Justice Sue Carr wrote that Palestine Action could not credibly be described as a civil disobedience organization, as the group had argued. She noted that the group operated through covert cells and carried out deliberate destruction of property at defense companies and on military bases.
“In our judgment, that premise was seriously flawed. It was not a sustainable proposition to portray Palestine Action as a non-violent organization,” Carr stated in the ruling.
The decision overturns a February ruling by three senior High Court judges who had concluded that while the group did commit some crimes in pursuit of its political goals, the extent of those activities did not justify a terrorism designation. The ban had remained in effect throughout the government’s appeal process.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori responded defiantly, saying the group would “fight proscription all the way” to both the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. She described the ban as “one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history.”
The British government moved to outlaw the group after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in June 2025 to demonstrate against British military support for Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza — a conflict that has resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths. That incident came after a series of other vandalism-related actions carried out by the group.
By being placed on the terrorism list alongside organizations such as al-Qaida and Hamas, membership in or support for Palestine Action became a criminal offense carrying a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.
Since the ban took effect, more than 3,300 people have been arrested at protests for holding signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Over 700 individuals have been charged under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act, though no convictions have been handed down yet.
Civil liberties advocates and supporters of the group argue that arresting people for peaceful demonstration tramples on free speech rights and the right to protest.
The group Defend Our Juries criticized the ruling, saying it would likely result in more police resources being used to detain peaceful protesters. “It appears the courts have been instrumentalized to suppress opposition to genocide, when they should be doing the precise opposite,” the group said in a statement released following the decision.
Palestine Action has been staging direct action protests at military and industrial locations across the U.K. since its founding in 2020, including break-ins at facilities operated by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK. Authorities say the group’s activities have caused millions of pounds in damage with implications for national security.
The original High Court panel acknowledged that some of those actions rose to the level of terrorist acts but said they could be prosecuted through the criminal justice system without a formal proscription order.
Just last Friday, four group members who broke into an Elbit factory in Bristol in 2024 and destroyed equipment were sentenced to prison after a judge determined they had acted as terrorists. More than 100 Palestine Action supporters were arrested outside the London courthouse where that sentencing took place.
Georgia Republicans are settling their party’s nominations in high-profile runoff contests for U.S. Senate and governor on Tuesday. Beyond those marquee matchups, voters are also choosing nominees for congressional seats, state legislative districts, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and several other races where no candidate claimed a majority in the May 19 primary.
In the U.S. Senate race, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are competing for the Republican nomination to take on U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November. Defeating Ossoff would give Republicans additional cushion as they work to hold onto competitive seats in Alaska, Maine, Ohio, North Carolina, and other states. The party can lose as many as three of its current 53 Senate seats and still retain control of the chamber, with Vice President JD Vance available to cast tiebreaking votes.
Collins led the five-person May 19 primary field with roughly 41% of the vote. He built that lead by running up strong margins in smaller, more rural counties throughout Georgia, as well as in some larger counties north of the Atlanta metro area.
Dooley’s route to the runoff looked quite different. He won just 14 of Georgia’s 159 counties, but those included five of the six most densely populated: Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, and Clayton. He also carried Clarke County, home to the University of Georgia in Athens. His overall share of the primary vote was approximately 30%.
U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter finished a close third with about 25% of the vote. Those Carter supporters could now tip the scales toward either Collins or Dooley in the runoff.
Carter’s geographic base of support aligned much more closely with Collins than with Dooley. He performed strongest in the small, rural counties in southeastern Georgia — territory that largely overlaps with the 1st Congressional District he currently represents.
Both Carter and Collins are more closely tied to President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. Dooley, by contrast, has acknowledged that he did not vote in either the 2016 or 2020 presidential elections.
Trump stayed out of the primary but announced his endorsement of Collins on Sunday ahead of the runoff. Outgoing Republican Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Dooley, a move that likely helped him edge out Carter for second place.
In the governor’s race, Trump did weigh in during the primary, backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who led the field with about 38% of the vote. Healthcare executive Rick Jackson came in second at approximately 33%. Kemp announced his endorsement of Jones on Sunday.
Similar to Collins, Jones built his primary lead by winning in small rural counties across the state. Jackson stayed competitive by narrowly winning larger counties, including Fulton County and several Atlanta-area suburbs.
Polls will close at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
The Associated Press will report vote totals and declare winners in primary runoffs for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, insurance commissioner, state school superintendent, labor commissioner, public service commissioner, and both chambers of the state legislature.
Under Georgia’s runoff rules, voters who participated in a partisan primary on May 19 may only cast a ballot in the runoff of the same party. Democratic primary voters cannot participate in the Republican runoff, and vice versa. However, registered voters who sat out the May 19 primary are eligible to vote in either party’s runoff.
As of May 28, Georgia had approximately 8.1 million registered voters on the rolls.
During the May 19 primaries, around 934,000 votes were cast in the Republican governor’s primary and roughly 913,000 in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Early in-person and mail-in ballots accounted for about 46% of all votes cast in the May 19 primary.
By Friday, approximately 119,000 Democratic and 222,000 Republican runoff ballots had already been submitted ahead of Tuesday’s election.
A significant portion of early voting results is expected to be released shortly after polls close, before most Election Day ballots are counted. About four out of five counties release nearly all of their early in-person results in the first vote update of the evening, and roughly two-thirds do the same with mail ballot results.
In the May 19 Republican primary for governor, the AP reported its first results at 7:13 p.m. ET — just 13 minutes after polls closed. The final update of that night came at 3:13 a.m. ET, with more than 99.9% of votes tallied.
The AP does not make projections. It will only declare a winner once it has determined that no remaining scenario could allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race remains uncalled, the AP will continue reporting on notable developments — such as a candidate conceding or claiming victory — while making clear that no official winner has been declared.
Georgia does not have an automatic recount provision, but a losing candidate may request one if the margin falls at or below 0.5% of the total vote. The AP may still call a winner in such a race if the lead is determined to be too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the result.
As of Tuesday, 140 days remain until the 2026 midterm elections.
Washington, D.C., is heading to the polls Tuesday for a districtwide primary unlike anything the nation’s capital has seen before — one shaped by federal intervention, a wave of open seats, and a brand-new way of casting ballots.
Three major factors are setting this election apart. First, President Donald Trump’s ongoing and unprecedented involvement in how the district operates has become a central issue in the campaign. Second, a rare combination of top offices being open at the same time has created a domino effect of candidates shuffling for position throughout the ballot. Third, voters will be using a ranked choice voting system for the first time in D.C. history.
The Democratic primary for mayor is drawing significant attention, with Ward 4 Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George, former At-Large Councilman Kenyan McDuffie, and five additional candidates vying for the nomination. The endorsements each candidate has secured reveal a clear divide between the party’s establishment wing and its progressive base.
Lewis George has earned the support of four fellow council members, including at-large member Robert White, who is himself running for the district’s congressional seat. She has also received backing from several left-leaning organizations, including the Working Families Party, the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, and Our Revolution, a political committee connected to allies of independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who aligns with Democrats in Congress.
McDuffie’s list of supporters reads more like a who’s who of D.C. political history. Former Mayors Sharon Pratt and Anthony Williams have endorsed him, as have outgoing At-Large Councilwoman Anita Bonds, former longtime Councilwomen Charlene Drew Jarvis and Linda Cropp, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and former Democratic National Committee Chairmen Tom Perez and Jaime Harrison.
Retiring three-term Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser has stopped short of making a formal endorsement, but her preference has been anything but hidden. At an Economic Club event in 2025, she reportedly said, “if you like me, you’re going to love Kenyon, wink, wink,” according to NBC4 Washington. Then at a June Axios Live event, she stated, “I support Kenyon McDuffie, and I have always supported Kenyon McDuffie” — though she insisted she was not officially endorsing anyone.
Bowser has faced a difficult balancing act since Trump returned to the White House in 2025, trying to lead a heavily Democratic city while having limited power to govern independently. Progressives have criticized her for not pushing back harder against the Trump administration. On the campaign trail, Lewis George has taken indirect shots at unnamed leaders she accuses of “complying in advance” and who “shrink in the face of injustice.”
Trump himself entered the conversation Thursday, suggesting he would look at a federal takeover of the District of Columbia if Lewis George wins the mayoral race — a threat he has floated in various forms since the start of his second term.
In the race for D.C.’s non-voting seat in Congress, White, Ward 2 Councilwoman Brooke Pinto, and three others are competing to succeed retiring 18-term Democratic U.S. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Norton’s and Bowser’s retirements have created a situation not seen since 1990 — both the mayor’s office and the congressional seat are open in the same election cycle. That has triggered a chain reaction of open council seats as incumbents reach for higher office.
Washington is an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 15 to one, and the district has not supported a Republican presidential candidate since it first gained the right to vote in presidential elections in 1964.
Despite those lopsided general election results, the district has significant internal divides along socioeconomic lines. Ward 3 in the wealthy upper Northwest has the highest concentration of white residents, the highest median income, and the lowest poverty rate. Ward 8 in Southeast has the largest Black majority, the lowest median income, and the highest poverty rate.
Historical voting patterns show a consistent east-west split. When Bowser first won the Democratic mayoral primary in 2014, she carried the five westernmost wards while incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray held Wards 5, 7 and 8 to the east. White’s only competitive council primary in 2016 followed a similar pattern, with him winning western wards and running nearly even in Ward 4. When he ran against Bowser for mayor in 2022, he carried only Ward 1, which covers the center of the district and includes Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, and the U Street Corridor. In McDuffie’s successful 2022 council race, his strongest showings came from the northwesternmost sections of Wards 3 and 4.
Tuesday’s election marks the debut of ranked choice voting in Washington, D.C. Under this system, voters list candidates in order of preference rather than choosing just one. If no candidate earns a majority of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and those ballots are redistributed based on the voters’ next choices. The process continues until one candidate reaches a majority.
Here is what to know about how the results will unfold:
Polls close at 8 p.m. ET. The Associated Press will provide vote counts and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Delegate to Congress, mayor, attorney general, and district council. A special election is also being held to fill a vacant at-large council seat.
Only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. Democrats cannot vote in the Republican primary and vice versa. Independent and unaffiliated voters cannot participate in either primary.
As of May 31, Washington had approximately 481,000 registered voters. Of those, about 363,000 — more than three-quarters — were registered Democrats. Roughly 25,000, or 5%, were registered Republicans, and approximately 86,000, or 18%, were not affiliated with any party.
In the 2022 mayoral primary, about 127,000 Democrats cast ballots, representing roughly 26% of registered voters. About 92,000 Democrats voted in the 2024 primary for U.S. delegate.
In the 2024 primary, about 78% of all voters cast ballots early in person or by mail — slightly above the 76% who did so in 2022. As of Wednesday, approximately 35,000 ballots had already been submitted ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Early in-person and mail ballot results will be released throughout election night alongside in-person Election Day results. However, mail ballots received on Election Day — whether by mail or drop box — and those received after Election Day with the required postmark will not be included in election night totals.
In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 8:30 p.m. ET, half an hour after polls closed. The final update of that night came at 11:59 p.m. ET, with about 69% of total votes counted.
Because of the ranked choice system, only first-choice vote totals will be available on election night in races where the process is triggered. Additional rounds of counting are expected to be reported by June 21 and June 24, with complete round-by-round results expected on or after June 26. The election is scheduled to be certified on July 17.
The AP will only declare a winner when it is certain no trailing candidate can close the gap. If a race remains undeclared, the AP will continue reporting on developments such as concessions or victory claims while making clear no winner has been officially called.
Automatic recounts are triggered in D.C. elections when the margin falls below 1% of the total vote in races for federal office, mayor, attorney general, and district council, among others. Candidates may also request and pay for a recount regardless of the margin. The AP may still declare a winner in a recount-eligible race if the lead is determined to be too large to be overturned.
Tuesday’s primary comes 140 days before the 2026 midterm elections.
A surge of open seats is drawing Oklahoma voters to the polls Tuesday for a state primary election shaped by term limits, retirements, ambitions for higher office, and a high-profile cabinet appointment made by President Donald Trump.
Oklahomans will choose nominees to fill vacancies left by departing officials at both the federal and state levels — including seats for U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and various state legislative positions. Voters will also weigh in on whether some current officeholders deserve another term, and they’ll decide the fate of a statewide ballot measure on the minimum wage.
One of the most closely watched contests is the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. Nine Republicans are vying for their party’s nomination, among them state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, former state Secretary of Public Safety Chip Keating — the son of former Gov. Frank Keating — former state Sen. Mike Mazzei, and former state House Speaker Charles McCall.
On the Democratic side, state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson and former state Sen. Connie Johnson are competing for their party’s gubernatorial nomination.
Another major opening came when President Trump tapped Republican U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin to serve as Department of Homeland Security secretary, replacing fellow Republican Kristi Noem in that role. Mullin’s appointed successor, U.S. Sen. Alan Armstrong, chose not to run for a full term of his own.
The Republican primary to fill that Senate seat includes U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern along with four other candidates. Five Democrats are also seeking their party’s nomination, including attorney and minister Jim Priest. Hern and Priest are the fundraising leaders in their respective fields — though the gap is vast. As of May 27, the Hern campaign had $6.8 million in available cash, while the Priest campaign had just $118,000.
President Trump has thrown his support behind Mazzei in the governor’s race and Hern in the U.S. Senate contest.
To secure a party nomination outright, a candidate must earn more than half of all votes cast in the primary. If no one clears that threshold, the top two finishers will face each other in an Aug. 25 runoff election.
Also before voters Tuesday is State Question 832, a ballot measure that would increase Oklahoma’s minimum wage from its current $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour by 2029. Beginning in 2030, future wage increases would be tied to changes in the cost of living.
Oklahoma leans heavily Republican in general elections. The state gave Trump his fifth-highest vote share of any state in the 2024 presidential race. No Democratic presidential candidate has carried Oklahoma since President Lyndon Johnson did so in 1964. The state last sent a Democrat to the governor’s office in 2006 and last elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1990.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Central Time, or 8 p.m. Eastern Time. As of May 31, Oklahoma had approximately 2.4 million registered voters — about 1.3 million Republicans, 614,000 Democrats, and 495,000 independents with no party affiliation.
Registered party members may only vote in their own party’s primary. Neither state party has opted to allow independent voters to participate in the 2026 primaries, though all registered voters may cast a ballot on the statewide minimum wage question.
About 35,000 ballots had already been submitted as of Friday, including roughly 21,000 from Republicans, 12,000 from Democrats, and 2,000 from unaffiliated voters.
In the 2022 state primary, results began coming in at 8:10 p.m. Eastern Time — just ten minutes after polls closed — and more than 90% of votes had been counted by 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Oklahoma does not hold automatic recounts in candidate races, though any candidate may request and pay for one regardless of the margin. Automatic recounts are required for statewide ballot questions when the margin falls at or below 0.5% of total votes cast. If a runoff is needed, it will be held Aug. 25, with the general midterm election following on Nov. 3.
NEW YORK — A national coalition of charitable foundations is urging its members to shine a light on the good they do for everyday Americans, launching a campaign tied to the country’s 250th anniversary in response to what the group describes as heightened scrutiny from both the federal government and populist movements.
The Council on Foundations, an advocacy organization representing around 1,000 nonprofits, says public misconceptions — that philanthropy is simply a playground for the ultra-rich to push political agendas or commit fraud — have left the sector open to political attacks that threaten critical community services. The group launched its “Generosity Builds” campaign on Monday, hoping to close what CEO Kathleen Enright describes as a “perception gap.”
Enright says most Americans don’t realize just how much they depend on nonprofit organizations. A 2023 report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that only about 1 in 20 adults said they or a family member had used nonprofit services in the past year.
“This week, I got an MRI at Georgetown University Hospital, I participated in my church at St. Columba’s, my daughter was inducted into National Junior Honor Society. Four or five nonprofits have been instrumental in my life this week,” Enright said. “Folks just aren’t putting that tag on it.”
That recognition is becoming more critical, Enright noted. During last year’s debate over President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation, proposals surfaced that would have imposed new taxes on private foundations — measures Enright said could have drained resources away from communities had they become law.
The broader debate over what nonprofits actually do has intensified under the Trump administration, which has dismantled longstanding partnerships with nonprofit organizations. The White House froze, cut, or threatened a wide range of social service grants, characterizing them as “government largesse that’s often riddled with corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse.” More recently, the Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center — a civil rights nonprofit that Republicans have accused of targeting conservatives through its extremist-tracking work — with defrauding donors via payments made to informants.
Vice President JD Vance, speaking as a U.S. Senate candidate in 2021, called the Ford Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Harvard University endowment “cancers on American society,” telling Tucker Carlson that “we are actively subsidizing the people who are destroying this country and they call it a charity.”
“All across our country, we have nonprofits — big foundations — that are effectively social-justice hedge funds,” Vance said that same year during a talk on “woke capital.”
Enright countered that stories portraying nonprofits as “overly politicized” or wasteful are “extreme minority stories” that don’t accurately represent how the philanthropic sector works.
Surveys consistently show that public trust in nonprofits remains higher than in most other sectors. Still, measuring and communicating their impact can be difficult. According to Kathryn Thomas, vice president of communications for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan, the sector hasn’t faced conditions this difficult in nearly 60 years.
Thomas pointed to congressional efforts to raise taxes on foundations’ investment income and acknowledged the impact of the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts.
“In an era when everything is under partisan attack and there’s so much polarization, we really have to do a better job of emphasizing why we exist,” Thomas said.
Enright pushed back on the idea that philanthropy is about a wealthy person riding in to “save the day.” She acknowledged growing unease about billionaires’ outsized influence, which she said is feeding skepticism about what motivates major donors. Some critics argue that the charitable sector lets wealthy interests determine how tax-exempt dollars are spent, bypassing elected officials.
The campaign will instead highlight that the majority of donors “have just a little bit more than they need and therefore want to give back,” Enright said, particularly at the local level.
“Money does not solve problems. It’s a tool that creative people and institutions inside communities use to solve problems,” she said. “The real heroes of most of these stories are nonprofit leaders, religious leaders, civic leaders who just roll up their sleeves and get something done — but do it with some financial underpinning by charitable foundations.”
One example featured in the campaign comes from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation in Sarasota, Florida. Last year, the foundation helped open a 10-unit affordable housing complex specifically for military veterans.
Jon Thaxton, the foundation’s director of policy and advocacy, said the Sarasota area has an “embarrassingly high” number of unhoused veterans, many of whom have been priced out of a market that has increasingly become a luxury destination with steep real estate costs.
Local donors had been working toward a similar project when they came to the foundation for assistance in 2020. Thaxton helped secure land already designated for affordable housing, assembled $2.2 million in private donations, obtained $800,000 from the city, and gained support from their U.S. representatives.
Foundation leaders say their established reputation made that success possible. President and CEO Phillip Lanham noted the project was completed across multiple election cycles and through a pandemic, arguing that community foundations are uniquely positioned to “play the long game.”
“Most people think that foundations like us deal with money and donors. We really don’t. We deal with relationships and trust,” Thaxton said. “That’s our commodity. That’s what we earn. That’s what we save. And that’s what we contribute back to the community.”
As part of its broader case for philanthropy as a fundamental “part of the American story,” the Council on Foundations will also highlight early, ordinary givers from the nation’s history.
Enright pointed to an 18th century sailor who launched the country’s first charity hospital by leaving his estate to establish a Boston facility for sick and injured sailors. She also cited a formerly enslaved man who donated land in North Carolina that became an African Methodist Episcopal church — one that still serves as a cornerstone of its local community today.
Lillian Kuri, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, welcomed the campaign’s focus on everyday philanthropists. The Cleveland Foundation is widely regarded as the nation’s first community foundation, established in 1914 by attorney Frederick Harris Goff as a vehicle for creating lasting change in the city.
The foundation is exploring new ways to broaden the circle of people committed to improving their communities. This week, it announced new investments in a fund aimed at converting vacant industrial land into job-ready work sites. It also launched a fund allowing donors to invest in major companies in Northeast Ohio, with the goal of growing those contributions into larger sums that can eventually be donated to nonprofits.
“Generosity cuts across everybody,” Kuri said, adding that community foundations provide “a way for everyday people — not just the largest, wealthiest people — to participate in the change they want to see in their communities.”
Motorists in the area should be aware that West Dennys Road, between Dinah’s Corner and Maidstone Branch Road, is experiencing an intermittent lane closure due to construction work.
The lane restriction is expected to remain in effect until 6 p.m. Drivers are encouraged to plan ahead and allow extra travel time if their route takes them through this stretch of road.
No additional details about the nature of the construction were provided. Travelers may want to consider alternate routes to avoid potential delays.
Shipping companies across Asia and Europe are holding off on resuming passage through the Strait of Hormuz, saying it could take weeks to rebuild confidence in the route — even after the United States and Iran reached a framework agreement to reopen the critical waterway.
U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on Friday that would end their war, lift the U.S. blockade of Iran, and reopen the strait. Global oil prices dropped roughly 5% on Monday in response to the news.
While shippers have welcomed the agreement, many are waiting for more specifics — particularly around mine clearance operations in the strait before committing to any voyages.
“Initial reactions in the shipping industry are muted. AIS data shows no wave of ships heading towards Hormuz this morning,” Jyske Bank analyst Haider Anjum wrote in a note to clients.
“The shipping companies probably want to wait until it is clear that the agreement holds, as we have already had Hormuz ‘open’ for a very short time twice before,” Anjum added.
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28, has largely shut down shipping through the strait — a passage that normally handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply, as well as key commodities like aluminium and urea.
Traffic through the waterway remains minimal. India’s Petronet sent the LNG tanker Disha through Hormuz on Monday, making it the only visible shipment so far, according to data from Kpler and LSEG. The tanker had loaded its cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility on March 1-2 and had been waiting west of the strait since then, with India’s Dahej terminal as its final destination. Petronet did not respond to a request for comment.
Shipping association BIMCO said Monday that it still views transits through the strait as highly risky, with mines remaining a top concern.
“The next step is for shipowners to be reassured that transiting the Strait of Hormuz is not only permitted but also safe,” said Jakob Larsen, BIMCO’s chief safety and security officer.
A spokesperson for the Japanese Shipowners’ Association said the group welcomed the peace agreement but wanted to “wait a little longer for more concrete information” before making any decisions.
“Given the situation, we cannot simply say, ‘Right then, let’s go’ based on news of the agreement alone,” the spokesperson added.
Nippon Yusen, the country’s largest shipper, said it hoped operations would return to normal as soon as possible. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said it would only resume navigation once safety has been fully confirmed.
Germany’s shipowners’ association VDR described itself as “cautiously optimistic” about whether the deal could effectively reopen the strait. German shipper Hapag-Lloyd expressed hope that vessels would be able to cross the strait by this week.
As of June 15, an estimated 155 tankers carrying oil and chemicals were in the Middle East Gulf area, down from 201 at the end of May, according to Kpler shiptracking data. Oil Brokerage put its own estimate at 215 tankers. Under unrestricted navigation conditions, the backlog on both sides of the strait could be cleared in 8 to 10 days, according to Anoop Singh, Oil Brokerage’s global head of shipping research.
While some tankers have been quietly moving cargo along Oman’s coastline for weeks — sailing without broadcasting their location and with U.S. Navy support — experts say meaningful traffic won’t resume for some time. David Jorbenaze, global oil market leader at ICIS, said it would take weeks of de-mining operations and a normalization of insurance rates before significant shipping activity could return.
“Returning to full pre-conflict volumes is realistically a 2027 story, and only if the agreement holds without incident and production recovers at pace,” Jorbenaze said.
NAIROBI — The African Export-Import Bank has scrapped plans for its annual meeting, which had been scheduled to take place at the Egyptian resort of El Alamein next week. The decision comes in response to joint measures adopted by Egypt and the African Union following a surge in Ebola cases in central Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded 782 Ebola cases since an outbreak was officially declared one month ago, raising significant concerns about travel throughout the region for meetings and other gatherings. Neighboring Uganda has also reported confirmed infections.
The Cairo-based bank, known as Afreximbank, announced it will instead carry out shareholder business through “correspondence,” according to a statement reviewed by Reuters on Monday. The bank also noted that the Egyptian government has postponed other international events that had been planned for this month.
“These decisions were taken on public health and safety grounds in light of the evolving health situation in parts of the continent,” the lender stated.
Afreximbank is owned by a combination of African governments, regional financial institutions, and private shareholders.
The African Development Bank held its own annual meeting last month in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo — shortly after the Ebola outbreak was declared by its neighbor, the DRC.
Individual investors who jumped into the SpaceX initial public offering are discovering they’re playing by a very different set of rules than Wall Street’s biggest players — and the stakes are high.
Retail trading platforms including Fidelity, Robinhood, E*TRADE, and SoFi all impose restrictions preventing small investors from selling their newly acquired SpaceX shares within 15 to 30 days of the stock’s debut. Breaking those rules carries serious consequences, from temporary suspensions to permanent bans from participating in future IPOs — including potentially hot offerings from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Those penalties are already relevant for investors who wanted to cash out on Friday, when SpaceX shares climbed as much as 30% during their first day of trading before settling at $160.95, a gain of 19% at closing.
Fidelity’s policy requires clients to hold shares for at least 15 days. Violating that rule can trigger a six-month ban from future IPOs, with repeat offenses potentially leading to a permanent ban tied to the account holder’s Social Security number. Robinhood enforces a 30-day holding window and suspends violators for two months. SoFi and E*TRADE also apply 30-day limits, with SoFi permanently banning customers after a third offense.
By contrast, major hedge funds and asset managers — which often receive IPO shares at the original offer price — can in some cases sell immediately to capture the early price surge, commonly called the “IPO pop.” Firms such as BlackRock and Citadel are among those with that kind of access, though neither responded to a request for comment.
Jay Ritter, an IPO expert at the University of Florida, explained the double standard plainly. “It’s very common for brokerage firms to put restrictions on flipping for retail investors,” he said. “But if the hedge funds are profitable enough customers (for banks), they can do whatever they want.”
The SpaceX IPO made the gap between small and large investors especially apparent because retail participation was unusually significant. According to a source close to the deal, individual investors ended up with 20% of the IPO allocation, hedge funds received 10%, and long-term institutional investors took the remaining 70%.
One asset manager, speaking anonymously, told Reuters they received roughly a $300 million allocation in the offering with no flipping restrictions attached. That manager said they plan “to sell it straight into the open and return cash within five days,” capitalizing on demand from smaller investors.
Ritter noted that for large funds, access to IPO shares is driven more by the fees and trading revenue they generate for banks than by market rules. Those relationships are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with underwriters considering the overall business relationship rather than any single transaction.
Retail investors, meanwhile, face a difficult choice: sell early and risk losing access to future IPOs, or hold on and potentially miss the window to lock in gains before market volatility sets in.
Part of that timing pressure comes from how large IPOs get added to stock market indexes. Funds tracking indexes like the Nasdaq-100 may be required to buy shares of a newly listed company within two weeks of its debut. Vanguard’s Total Market funds, which follow a CRSP index, can start adding a new stock within just five trading days. That automatic buying creates predictable demand — demand that larger, unrestricted investors can sell into, while retail holders are still locked out.
At Fidelity, the earliest a retail investor can sell without being labeled a flipper is day 16.
Emil Barr, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who set aside $500,000 for the SpaceX IPO, pushed back on the fairness of the system. “Their entire trading account could be restricted,” he said. “It’s a really deep penalizing system in which the punishment doesn’t quite match the crime.”
Barr said he accessed the IPO through JPMorgan’s private banking service, which is generally available only to clients with more than $5 million in assets. Because of that access, he is not subject to the same restrictive rules. He said he plans to hold his shares.
Still, he was critical of how the structure works for ordinary investors. “I think the underwriting firms are using retail investors as cannon fodder because they have to hold the stock for 30 days,” Barr said. “It’s like a cushion to absorb some of the risk from how highly priced the stock is.”
The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority defines flipping as selling IPO shares within 30 days but does not impose any legal penalties for doing so. The restrictions that exist are set by underwriters and brokerage platforms, which use them to reduce the stock price volatility that can follow a major public offering. Platforms like Robinhood also benefit from enforcing these rules, as banks managing IPOs tend to favor platforms that keep long-term shareholders — rewarding them with larger allocations in future deals.
Darley Road is closed between S. Trail and Indian Field Road while crews conduct tree removal operations in the area.
Motorists are advised to seek alternate routes and allow extra travel time until the road is reopened. No estimated reopening time was immediately available.
The United States and Iran have struck a landmark agreement aimed at bringing an end to their conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz — a development being described as a major breakthrough in a crisis that had destabilized the Middle East and sent shockwaves through the global economy.
The announcement came as President Donald Trump departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on June 15, 2026, heading to Evian-les-Bains, France, for the G7 summit.
While the deal represents a significant step forward, it falls short of resolving all outstanding disputes between the two nations. A number of critical issues were deliberately set aside and will be subject to future rounds of negotiations.
The conflict had drawn widespread international concern, both for its humanitarian impact across the Middle East and for the economic turbulence caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most vital shipping corridors for global oil supplies.
When spring sales failed to materialize as expected, Coley Brady made a tough call at the end of March — scaling back production from five days a week to four on most of the assembly lines at his five recreational vehicle factories in Elkhart, Indiana.
The timing wasn’t coincidental. The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran was only about a month underway at that point, but the ripple effects on global energy markets had already driven American gasoline prices up 33% and diesel prices up 43%.
“Clearly the war and higher gas prices are the easiest things to point to,” said Brady, who co-founded Alliance RV, a company that manufactures high-end fifth-wheel trailers and motorhomes.
The RV industry, which builds more than 80% of the recreational vehicles sold across the country right there in northern Indiana, is often viewed as a barometer for the broader U.S. economy. Commerce Department figures show that inflation-adjusted consumer spending on recreational goods and vehicles dropped for a fifth consecutive month in April — the longest stretch of declining real spending in that category since the depths of the Great Recession back in 2008.
Recreational vehicles are costly, optional purchases that consumers tend to delay when the economic picture looks uncertain. The University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers found that U.S. consumer sentiment hit a record low in May, recovering only slightly in early June. Inflation running at its highest rate in three years continues to squeeze household budgets, and elevated interest rates aren’t helping matters. Most RV buyers take out loans to finance their purchase, and according to LendingTree, the average interest rate on those loans currently sits at 7.53%.
Jeff Hirsch, CEO of Campers Inn — a chain of 50 RV dealerships operating across 22 states — said wealthier baby boomers are still making purchases, but many budget-conscious shoppers “just don’t feel this is the right time to make an investment.”
Spring is typically when RV sales get a boost, as families map out summer road trips to national parks and other destinations. But consumer RV registrations — a closely watched industry indicator — have been falling since last summer, according to Statistical Surveys Inc. That includes a nearly 22% plunge in March and a nearly 17% drop in April when compared to the same months a year ago.
The RV Industry Association reports that manufacturers shipped 13.5% fewer units to dealers during the first four months of this year versus the same period last year. On June 1, the association trimmed its full-year shipment forecast to between 300,000 and 328,100 units — well short of last year’s total of 342,200 units.
“Economic headwinds and tightening household budgets are weighing on consumer demand and contributing to a more cautious outlook for RV shipments in 2026,” said Craig Kirby, the association’s president, in a statement accompanying the revised projection.
The industry has faced a rough stretch in recent years. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand exploded as people looked for ways to travel while avoiding airplanes and hotels. Shipments set a record of just over 600,000 units in 2021. But once the pandemic boom faded, sales cratered and manufacturers were left sitting on enormous excess inventory that took years to clear out.
Gregg Fore, a former RV components manufacturer who now consults for the industry, said the war and elevated fuel costs “killed whatever speed there was” in the market heading into this spring. Many manufacturers are now running reduced production schedules, and some are consolidating their factory operations.
Despite the challenges, Alliance RV’s Brady believes business will rebound later in the year — perhaps even by summer if the conflict in Iran comes to an end. Analysts, however, caution that gasoline prices are likely to remain elevated for some time even if hostilities wind down.
“The stock market is strong, and I think that’ll ultimately be good for business,” Brady said. He also pointed to factors that could steer consumers back toward RV travel: skyrocketing airfares, ongoing safety concerns related to cartels and violence in Mexico, and cruise lines dealing with illness outbreaks. “You’d think all of that would guide back to RV use,” he said.
Alliance built 8,200 RVs last year and expects to exceed that figure this year, though Brady acknowledged it “depends on the market.” He estimates the production cutbacks since March have reduced his output by roughly 10%. “We’re scheduled through July, but if the summer goes well, we have the ability to go higher (with production) in August,” he said.
Michael Hicks, an economist at Ball State University who follows the RV sector, said the industry does have some things going for it. He noted that most RV buyers are in their 50s and 60s, many of them with solid retirement savings. “They’ve lived through high gas prices before, they’ve bought homes at higher interest rates,” he said. “Those are the ones that the industry really counts on.”
Michael Provost fits that description. The 69-year-old retiree from Rhode Island has owned three RVs over the past two decades and has no plans to change his routine of heading to Cape Cod in the summer and Florida in the winter with his wife Cheryl. As for the spike in gas prices, he’s not losing sleep over it. “This year, we went to Florida and when we came back, it was a dollar more (a gallon),” he said. “You kind of take it in stride.”
The recent stock market debut of Elon Musk’s SpaceX is creating a headache for the companies that manage major stock indexes, forcing them to weigh two goals that don’t always line up: follow their established rules for adding new stocks, or update those rules to better reflect today’s market landscape.
Financial advisers and asset managers say both approaches can serve investors well — but the tension between them requires careful thinking about how much risk and price swings investors are actually signing up for, even when index funds are often sold as a straightforward, one-size-fits-all solution.
“The IPO is the headline, but the real story is about index methodology,” said Dina Ting, head of global index portfolio management at Franklin Templeton. “Investors should pay attention … because what you actually own depends on whether you’re buying this index versus that index.”
The wave of massive IPOs — starting with SpaceX and potentially followed by AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI — may push investors and index providers alike to take a closer look at which indexes best match the level of risk they’re comfortable with.
For now, Nasdaq’s decision to fast-track SpaceX into its flagship Nasdaq 100 index, while S&P Dow Jones Indices chose not to immediately include it in the S&P 500, is likely to reinforce the Nasdaq’s image as the go-to choice for investors willing to accept bigger price swings in exchange for potentially higher returns.
“You’re going to get very different experiences because all of the indexes made a bunch of active decisions about which stocks to include, when to include them, how much weight to give them,” said Joel Schneider, deputy head of portfolio management at Dimensional Fund Advisors, an investment firm that describes its approach as “going beyond indexing.”
Schneider added that the surge of major IPOs “is causing advisers and investors to start to pay more attention to some of these decisions and how they are made and what they mean.”
Before its listing, SpaceX had been working to speed up its entry into major indexes, including the S&P 500 — the most widely followed U.S. stock index — and the Nasdaq 100, which has long been a showcase for top American technology companies.
Many everyday investors gain exposure to these indexes through mutual funds and ETFs, such as the Invesco QQQ ETF for the Nasdaq 100 and the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF.
“I think the most aggressive investors have for years been shifting their focus to the QQQs rather than the SPY. The decision by the different index providers will further that trend,” said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp.
By changing its rules to bring SpaceX in within a month of its listing, Nasdaq is returning to its tradition of embracing high-growth companies that haven’t always shown strong financial results. If Anthropic and OpenAI were also to list on the Nasdaq, it could spotlight a valuation gap in U.S. markets not seen since the technology collapse of 2000.
The stakes are enormous. S&P 500 index funds hold trillions of dollars in assets, and those funds would have been required to purchase SpaceX shares had the rules been changed to allow it in. The three largest ETFs tracking the S&P 500, from Vanguard, Invesco, and State Street, hold $3.2 trillion in assets under management, compared to roughly $600 billion in the largest Nasdaq 100 funds.
The S&P 500’s decision to hold off on SpaceX and similar companies could cause the performance of major indexes to drift further apart, putting investors in a tough spot — attracted by the excitement of AI-related offerings but uncertain about the risk tied to trillion-dollar-plus IPO valuations.
“In general, if you’re sort of more risk-on, if you would, then obviously the QQQ has the ability to include companies that are not profitable,” said King Lip, chief strategist at BakerAvenue Wealth Management in San Francisco. “Risk-off market, you’re going to have the S&P probably going to do better from an overall perspective.”
Schneider also pointed to research published this month in the scholarly Review of Asset Pricing Studies showing that IPOs added to indexes on a fast-track basis outperform non-fast-tracked ones by 5 percentage points up until the date they’re officially added — but that those gains are more than cut in half within two weeks of inclusion.
It’s worth noting that S&P 500-linked funds still carry significant exposure to technology stocks and AI-related trends, which have helped fuel market gains but could also make them more vulnerable.
“Obviously, the early inclusion of some of these companies into the indices is a change, so people that have been investing passively are going to find themselves arguably with riskier portfolios than they were historically,” said short-seller Jim Chanos, who has cautioned that the SpaceX offering is driven by “hopes and dreams” that don’t justify its price tag. “And the AI bull market — to the extent there’s anything systemic, it’s just that equity portfolios have gotten a lot riskier.”
SOUTHAMPTON, New York — The world’s top golfers are converging on Shinnecock Hills Golf Club this week for the U.S. Open, scheduled for June 18-21. Here are five major storylines to keep an eye on as the action unfolds.
SCHEFFLER CHASING GOLF’S ULTIMATE PRIZE
World number one Scottie Scheffler — a two-time Masters champion who also claimed last year’s PGA Championship and British Open titles — will have his first opportunity to complete the career Grand Slam by capturing all four of golf’s major championships. A victory would place him among an exclusive group of just seven men to accomplish the feat, joining Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. Through 12 PGA Tour starts this season, Scheffler has posted seven top-10 finishes, including a January win at La Quinta and runner-up showings at the Masters, the Cadillac Championship, and the RBC Heritage.
EUROPEANS RIDING HIGH
European golfers arrive in New York with significant momentum. When Englishman Aaron Rai captured the 2026 PGA Championship just a month after Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy defended his Masters title in April, it marked the first time in the modern major era that the season’s opening two majors were both claimed by European players. McIlroy and Rai will spearhead the European effort at Shinnecock Hills, with McIlroy’s Ryder Cup teammates Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick also looking to build on their own wins earlier this season.
SCOTT POISED TO ENTER RARE TERRITORY
Australian Adam Scott is on the verge of a remarkable milestone. When he tees it up in Thursday’s opening round, he will join Jack Nicklaus as the only men in history to compete in 100 consecutive major championships. Scott’s extraordinary streak dates back to the 2001 British Open and includes his 2013 Masters victory. By comparison, Nicklaus played in 146 straight majors, from the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open.
KOEPKA’S STATUS IN QUESTION
Brooks Koepka would have entered this week with a distinct edge, having won his second U.S. Open title at Shinnecock Hills back in 2018. However, a puzzling hand injury forced him to withdraw during the final round of the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday, casting doubt on whether he’ll be able to compete. Koepka described the moment it became clear something was wrong: “(I) got to the range and went to grip the club and I just couldn’t even grip it,” he told reporters.
THE HAMPTONS BACKDROP
This year’s U.S. Open takes place in the Hamptons, the glamorous Long Island destination favored by celebrities and Manhattan’s wealthiest residents. The influx of summer visitors and tournament traffic is expected to create significant congestion across Long Island. To help ease the burden, a temporary Long Island Rail Road platform has been built right next to the tournament grounds, and organizers have urged ticket holders to use public transportation. Home rental prices in the surrounding area have also surged ahead of the event.
WASHINGTON — New Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh is set to face reporters for the first time Wednesday in what will be his debut press conference as the nation’s top central banker, offering markets and the public their first real glimpse into how he plans to steer monetary policy.
While Warsh has spoken extensively in recent years about the Fed’s balance sheet, his preference for saying less about future interest rate moves, and his view that the central bank should stay out of issues like climate change, Wednesday’s appearance will be his first opportunity to address current economic conditions — including inflation, unemployment, and the broader economic outlook — from the chairman’s seat.
Inflation remains a central concern. Prices are still running more than a percentage point above the Fed’s 2% target, and how Warsh characterizes the path forward will be a closely watched signal for investors who are already pricing in the possibility of higher interest rates later this year.
Several factors are complicating the inflation picture. Price shocks that might have been short-lived — stemming from the Trump administration’s import tariff increases and elevated oil prices tied to the U.S.-backed conflict with Iran — now appear to pose a more lasting inflation threat. At the same time, the U.S. labor market is near full employment, hiring has bounced back, and a recent report from the Fed’s regional districts pointed to growing wage pressures.
The press conference will follow the conclusion of the Fed’s June 16-17 policy meeting and give Warsh a platform to address these competing economic forces as he begins building his narrative about the risks facing the central bank.
Warsh, who took over from former Fed chief Jerome Powell roughly a month ago, has left many questions unanswered about his specific economic views. “He has been much more vocal in terms of the balance sheet, he’s been much more vocal on communication strategy. When it comes to what’s your theory of change for inflation, what’s your view in terms of the current posture of monetary policy, those things are a big black box that we’re going to start to open up,” said Ed Al-Hussainy, portfolio manager for fixed income and macro at Columbia Threadneedle, speaking to reporters last week.
Analysts expect Warsh to face pointed questions about how tariffs are affecting goods prices, whether the recent spike in oil prices will linger and spread through the economy, and whether the progress on inflation that had been coming from slowing rent increases has now stalled.
Those are topics that Powell — who remains on the Fed’s Board of Governors — would typically address head-on. Warsh has expressed a desire to pull back on so-called “forward guidance,” meaning he doesn’t want to tip the Fed’s hand too much on future rate decisions. How he balances that preference against the need to communicate clearly about the economic outlook will be one of the most telling aspects of Wednesday’s appearance.
Christopher Hodge, chief U.S. economist at Natixis CIB Americas, predicted Warsh will sidestep a direct answer on where inflation is headed. “I think Warsh is going to punt on the question,” Hodge said. He still believes the Fed is more likely to cut rates than raise them, though the timing is unclear. Despite what he called a “neutral-to-hawkish tone,” Hodge added, “I don’t think he will preclude cuts, but the onus will be on the data to prove that the energy shock is past us.”
The Fed is broadly expected to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the 3.50%-3.75% range — where it has sat since December. Alongside the policy decision, the central bank will release updated quarterly economic projections from its policymakers, followed by Warsh’s press conference.
Warsh is known to be skeptical of some of the Fed’s existing communications tools, including those projections and the accompanying “dot-plot” chart that maps out individual policymakers’ rate expectations. However, changing or eliminating those tools would require broad agreement among his 18 fellow policymakers.
Warsh is not required to submit his own projections. Doing so could reveal how closely his economic thinking aligns with the Fed’s mainstream view — a potentially sensitive issue given that former Fed Governor Stephen Miran, a brief board member who backed the sharp rate cuts called for by President Donald Trump, has now departed. Miran’s low projection will no longer appear in the dot-plot.
A more significant question is whether the Fed will drop language in its policy statement suggesting the next rate move is likely to be a cut, replacing it with more neutral wording that leaves open the possibility of a rate hike. Three policymakers pushed for that change at the April 28-29 meeting. Since then, influential Fed Governor Christopher Waller and others have indicated they now support the shift after a strong hiring report eased concerns about the labor market. Such a change would also fit with Warsh’s preference for less forward guidance.
One potential communications challenge for Warsh arises if the policy statement takes a more neutral tone while the dot-plot simultaneously shows many policymakers expecting rate hikes before year’s end.
The median policymaker projection is expected to show the Fed holding rates steady through 2026 — a shift away from the quarter-point cut that policymakers had anticipated in their previous two outlooks, which assumed inflation would continue falling toward the 2% target as part of an easing cycle that began in 2024.
If the median inflation outlook is revised higher without a corresponding expectation of rate hikes, it could raise questions about whether the Warsh-led Fed risks repeating the same mistake made under Powell — treating the forces driving prices higher as temporary and expecting them to fade on their own without higher borrowing costs. The policy rules that Warsh himself once called “aspirational” tools during his time at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution now almost universally point toward raising rates.
In the period leading up to his nomination by Trump, Warsh laid out reasons why inflation — and therefore interest rates — could decline, pointing to the potential impact of reducing the Fed’s $6.71 trillion balance sheet and productivity gains from the artificial intelligence boom. He has also suggested that inflation may be mismeasured and actually running lower than official figures show.
How heavily he leans on those arguments to push back against calls for rate hikes will offer an early window into his leadership style and whether it truly differs from the approach he has sharply criticized.
William English, former head of the Fed’s monetary affairs division and now a professor at the Yale School of Management, put it bluntly: “It’s a bad look for the Fed to say inflation is much too high, but we are going to ignore it because if you exclude these five things it will go away. He does not want to get too far in front of that.”
SRN News brings listeners “Global Landscape,” a two-minute feature designed to keep audiences informed on the most important religion-focused news happening around the world.
The segment offers a concise snapshot of significant developments at the crossroads of faith and global affairs, covering cultural shifts, key events, and emerging stories that matter to people of faith everywhere.
For the full audio segment and more religion news from around the world, visit SRN News online.
KINSHASA, Congo — Health authorities in Congo have recorded one of the largest single-day jumps in Ebola infections since the current outbreak began, with ongoing obstacles such as inadequate contact tracing, regional instability, and financial shortfalls continuing to slow efforts to contain the disease.
Congo’s Ministry of Health announced Sunday that 72 new cases were confirmed within a single 24-hour window, pushing the total number of confirmed infections to 782. That same report included 32 additional deaths, bringing the confirmed death toll to 181.
Officials believe the true number of cases is likely even greater. The outbreak was officially confirmed on May 15, several weeks after it is thought to have actually started. Additionally, the rate of contact tracing coverage has dropped to just 56%, a notable decline from the previous week.
This outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. Unlike the Zaire strain — which was responsible for the majority of Congo’s 16 previous Ebola outbreaks — the Bundibugyo virus currently has no approved vaccine or treatment available.
So far, 56 patients have recovered from the disease. The current fatality rate stands at 23%, according to the ministry.
The World Health Organization said Sunday that it is stepping up testing, contact tracing, and treatment efforts in response to the escalating situation.
Africa’s leading health organization also announced it is sending technical specialists and bolstering laboratory systems, active case identification, and community outreach to speed up the overall response to the outbreak.
The head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya, issued a call to action, stating: “We remain committed to supporting affected countries until transmission is stopped. We call on partners and donors to urgently mobilize resources to strengthen the response and save lives.”
The vast majority of cases — more than 90% — are located in Congo’s eastern Ituri province. Additional cases have been identified in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, and the disease has crossed the border into neighboring Uganda.
Containment efforts in Ituri face enormous challenges. According to the United Nations humanitarian office, nearly one million people have been displaced in the region due to armed conflict, making it extremely difficult to track the movements of those who may have been exposed to the virus. People are frequently on the move, either fleeing violence or relocating across a vast province characterized by thick forests, poor road infrastructure, and remote villages that can require days of travel to reach.
Contact tracing is further complicated by the presence of thousands of artisanal miners who routinely travel between isolated work sites throughout the mineral-rich region.
Northbound travelers on Route 13 are facing a right shoulder closure between Big Oak Road and Cathleen Drive as construction crews work in the area.
The lane restriction is expected to remain in effect until 3:00 p.m. Drivers are encouraged to slow down and stay alert when passing through the construction zone.
No additional detour information has been issued at this time. Check back for updates as conditions change.
Last week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual summer gathering produced more than just the widely-discussed decision to codify a ban on female pastors. Delegates — known as messengers — also passed a resolution condemning political violence and hateful speech. A separate resolution called for the humane treatment of people in the country illegally, while at the same time affirming that immigration enforcement is legitimate and rejecting rhetoric that dehumanizes or promotes nativism. The delegates additionally backed a resolution speaking out against anti-Semitic violence and conspiracy theories, with particular attention to those that emerged following the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023.
The United Nations is once more raising the alarm over violence targeting Christians in Nigeria. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reports being overwhelmed with accounts of Muslim terrorist attacks on believers in that country, with women bearing the heaviest burden. According to the U.N., there has been a sharp rise in kidnappings, sexual violence, forced marriages, and enforced disappearances — particularly in Nigeria’s northern and Middle Belt regions. At least two Muslim extremist organizations, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, are known to be operating in Nigeria. Critics have accused the Nigerian government of responding too weakly to the ongoing crisis.
Evangelical Christians continue to stand as one of President Trump’s most reliable voting blocs. A new AP-NORC poll shows that roughly two out of three white born-again Protestants gave Mr. Trump a thumbs-up on his overall job performance in April. That tracks with his electoral history — Mr. Trump earned the backing of about eight in ten White Evangelical Christian voters in both 2020 and 2024. A number of high-profile religious leaders have been among his most vocal supporters. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, said he has been particularly appreciative of Mr. Trump’s creation of the Religious Liberty Commission. Jeffress himself testified before that commission about what he described as unfair scrutiny of his church by the IRS.
