TVG Daily Brief 5 June 2025

5 June 2025

Stay informed and ahead of the curve with today’s top headlines, breaking stories, and the latest updates shaping our world. Get the BLUF (bottom line up front!) on defense, national security, economy, business development, technology, American manufacturing, school safety, 2A issues - and more. Prep for the whiplash and stay engaged. Know better - do better. Be the somebody!

DEFENSE

-Pentagon chief confident NATO will commit to Trump's defence spending target: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he was confident that members of the NATO alliance would sign up to Donald Trump's demand for a major boost in defence spending, adding that it had to happen by a summit later in June. The U.S. president has said NATO allies should boost investment in defence to 5% of gross domestic product, up from the current target of 2%. (Reuters)

· “To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations. You got to be more than conferences,” Hegseth said as he arrived at a gathering of NATO defence ministers in Brussels. “We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defence spending across this alliance, which we think will happen,” Hegseth said, adding: “It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month.”

· Diplomats have said European allies understand that hiking defence expenditure is the price of ensuring a continued U.S. commitment to the continent’s security and that keeping the U.S. on board means allowing Trump to be able to declare a win on his 5% demand during the summit, scheduled for June 24-25.

· “That will be a considerable extra investment,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters, predicting that in the Hague summit "we will decide on a much higher spending target for all the nations in NATO." In a bid to meet Trump's 5% goal, Rutte has proposed alliance members boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending, Reuters has reported.

-Pentagon chief says NATO allies can't have 'reliance' on US: US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday told NATO allies they could not depend solely on Washington for defence, as he urged them to agree a spending deal of five percent of GDP. "Our message is going to continue to be clear. It's deterrence and peace through strength, but it can't be reliance. It cannot and will not be reliance on America in a world of a lot of threats," Hegseth said at a meeting with NATO counterparts in Brussels. (AFP)

-NATO chief says US not planning ‘at the moment’ to withdraw troops from Europe: The US has no immediate plans to drawdown its armed forces in Europe, NATO’s top official said today, despite Washington prioritizing talks on the matter with the alliance. “There are no plans at the moment for the US to withdraw troops,” said Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, ahead of an alliance defense ministers meeting in Brussels. “What we do know is that the US is completely committed to NATO.” (Breaking Defense)

· Rutte specifically dismissed the idea that his position contradicts that of Matthew Whitaker, US ambassador to NATO. “We speak every week, and I know exactly what he said, and what he said is exactly as I said, ‘We have to pivot more towards other theaters … and we will make sure that there will be no capability gaps in Europe.'”

· In May, Whitaker reportedly said that proposals to withdraw tens of thousands of troops from Europe would be discussed “later” this year, but no sooner than the forthcoming NATO Summit.

· Jan Senior, fellow of transatlantic defense and security at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said last month that cuts to US forces in Europe is not “feasible” ahead of the Summit, because of the length of time it takes to work up a global posture review.

· Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously claimed that an “internal fight” in the Pentagon had erupted over “how deep the cuts” to US forces in Europe will be. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report.

-U.S. Is Redirecting Critical Antidrone Technology From Ukraine to U.S. Forces: The Trump administration is redirecting a key antidrone technology earmarked for Ukraine to American forces, a move that reflects the Pentagon's waning commitment to Kyiv's defense. The Pentagon quietly notified Congress last week that special fuzes for rockets that Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones are now being allocated to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East. (WSJ)

· The move comes as President Trump said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him in a phone call that Moscow would have to respond forcefully to recent Ukrainian attacks, dampening the prospects for a halt in the war that began in early 2022.

· Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth skipped a meeting Wednesday at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters with European defense ministers on coordinating military aid to Ukraine. Hegseth has warned that European allies must provide the overwhelming share of future military assistance to Kyiv while casting the western Pacific as the Pentagon’s “priority theater.”

· The defense chief went further in an internal memo last month. In it, he authorized the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell, a Pentagon office that ensures commanders’ weapons needs are met, to provide the fuzes to the U.S. Air Force, even though they were initially bought for Ukraine.

· The Pentagon told the Senate Armed Services Committee in the previously undisclosed message that the U.S. military’s need for the fuzes was a “Secretary of Defense Identified Urgent Issue.” The Pentagon declined requests for comment.

· The decision to redirect the component illustrates the scarcity of crucial defense items as Ukraine steels itself for more Russian drone and missile attacks, while U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East prepare for a possible conflict with Iran or renewed fighting with Houthi militants in Yemen.

· Supporters of the move say the Pentagon has the flexibility to take such an action under the emergency military-spending bill passed last year. But the move had prompted concerns among Ukraine’s supporters in Congress, who say that the Pentagon hasn't explained what effect the move would have on Ukrainian defenses or whether the Air Force need is urgent.

-At AI conference, Gen. Caine calls for connecting with ‘founders and funders’ of emerging tech: In his most high-profile public address since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine told members of industry Wednesday that the Pentagon needs to do more to connect with “founders and funders” of emerging technologies. (DefenseScoop)

· During a keynote address at the AI+ Expo in Washington hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project, which brought together some of the biggest companies in the tech sector as well as smaller vendors with more niche capabilities, Caine suggested legacy systems and old ways of doing business won’t be sufficient for maintaining military superiority in the future.

· “Peace in our nation will not be won by the legacy systems that we’ve had or the legacy thinking. It will be determined by the entrepreneurs and innovators and leaders, both in government and out of government, that create overwhelming strength. It will be won by our breakthroughs in AI, cyber, autonomy, space, energy, advanced manufacturing, data, compute, you name it. And we need your help with this,” he said.

· New capabilities can improve command-and-control systems, decision-making, mission execution and survivability, he noted. However, the Pentagon needs industry to scale new technology to the point that it becomes a “strategic differentiator.”

-‘We need your creative, innovative, patriotic, and diabolical minds’: Joint Chiefs Chairman Caine: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, chose a massive AI conference in the nation’s capital for one of his first public addresses as chairman, invoking his own business background in a passionate appeal to tech entrepreneurs in the audience. (Breaking Defense)

· “I deliberately chose this forum to have one of our first public appearances, mindful of the audience today,” Caine told the third annual Ash Carter Exchange and AI+ Expo, convened by the Special Competitive Studies Project to continue the late defense secretary’s campaign to bridge the gap between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley.

· “I’m so lucky to have come from a unique background where I had time as a fighter pilot, time as a special forces officer, a part-timer in the military service [as an Air National Guard officer], but for this crowd, time is both a founder and a funder in several different sectors,” Caine told the overwhelmingly civilian audience. “That has allowed me to see things from a lot of different angles … [and] one of the things that I learned is we cannot do this alone. We have to do this, we have to do this together. And frankly, my friends, the joint force needs your help.

· “Your nation needs you with a sense of urgency,” the chairman continued. “We need your creative, innovative, patriotic and diabolical minds — 24/7/365.”

· In a brief and broad-strokes speech — just over 15 minutes — Caine spent most of his limited time and considerable energy on exhortations, but he still managed to hint at some specific policy priorities. In particular, he praised the Defense Innovation Unit, created by then-Defense Secretary Carter in 2015 as the military’s embassy to a then-highly skeptical Silicon Valley, and promised to build on DIU’s success.

· “We’ve got to reinforce those things that we’ve made strong progress in, organizations like DIU, and we’ve got to drastically scale that capability and that culture inside the joint force,” Caine said.

· That’ll be a hard slog, because in many ways the military is surprisingly behind the times, Caine acknowledged. At least as of a few years ago, he told the assembled techies, “in one of the most secret rooms in the Pentagon, there’s a typewriter. There’s a typewriter there because we could not sort out how to merge multiple levels of classification together on the systems that we have, and we had to hand-jam a memorandum for a senior policy leader.”

-Trump names nominees to take over Middle East and Africa commands: Trump is nominating Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to take over as the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement that Trump also is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson to head U.S. Africa Command. Cooper is currently deputy commander of U.S. Central Command and has extensive experience serving and leading troops in the Middle East. It’s a crucial role as the region has been shaken by conflict, with the Trump administration pushing to broker a ceasefire deal after 20 months of war in Gaza and holding nuclear talks with Iran. (AP)

· A 1989 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Cooper commanded naval forces in the Middle East for close to three years as the head of the Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. He left in February 2024 to take over as deputy at Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and is based in Tampa.

· Army and Marine generals have largely held the Middle East job since it was created in 1983. And two of the recent leaders — former Army Gen. Lloyd Austin and former Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, went on to serve as defense secretary. Central Command covers 21 countries across central and south Asia and northeast Africa and has overseen the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Syria and Yemen.

· Anderson, nominated to lead operations in Africa, is a pilot who has flown the KC-135 tanker, the C-130 transport aircraft and the U-28A surveillance aircraft used largely by special operations forces. He has flown more than 3,400 flight hours, including 738 in combat. He is currently serving as the director of joint force development on the Joint Staff.

· According to the Air Force, he commanded a special operations squadron, an expeditionary squadron, an operations group and a special operations wing. He also led the task force that coordinated the repositioning of U.S. forces from Somalia and headed Special Operations Command, Africa, from 2019 to 2021.

-US military announces detention of Islamic State leader: US military officials announced Wednesday the detention of an Islamic State group (IS) leader during international coalition operations in Iraq and Syria which also killed two other operatives. US Central Command wrote on X that the operations, conducted from May 21 to 27, "served to disrupt and degrade" IS's ability to "reconstitute, plan, organize and conduct attacks against civilians and US and partner forces in the region." (AFP)

· In the course of supporting six operations in the ongoing campaign, five in Iraq and one in Syria, the US military reported two IS operatives were killed, two were detained -- including an IS leader -- and multiple weapons were recovered. "Operations like these underscore the commitment of USCENTCOM, along with our allies and partners, to the enduring defeat of ISIS in the region," USCENTCOM Commander Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement. The operations in Iraq were carried out by Iraqi forces in the north, where IS cells have remained active and carry out sporadic attacks against Iraq's army and police.

-Wicker unveils $150B military cash injection but says defense is 'far from paid for': Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) today unveiled the GOP's bill to increase defense spending by $150 billion using budgetary reconciliation, calling the amount a "major opportunity," but said it is not adequate in relation to the Trump administration's flat fiscal year 2026 Pentagon budget request. “This is a start but it’s far from paid for,” he said during a Defense Writers Group call. (Inside Defense)

· The amount sought by the White House Office of Management and Budget is nowhere near enough, Wicker said. He also repeated his assertion of recent weeks that OMB’s claim that the administration is seeking $1 trillion for national defense is a budgetary “sleight of hand” because it counts the one-time, $150 billion boost of reconciliation toward its total.

· Lawmakers, Wicker said, “have the power of the purse” and will work toward a higher FY-26 defense appropriation separate from reconciliation. “It will not be uncommon to see a vastly different number coming out of the Congress,” he said. “We have the power of the purse and we're going to try to accommodate what I've said many times is the most perilous threat environment we've seen since World War II.”

-Senate Adds Billions for Air Force Programs to GOP Spending Bill: Senate lawmakers unveiled legislation June 4 that would funnel at least $26 billion to the Air Force and Space Force starting this year as Washington Republicans aim to modernize America’s aging military and revitalize the defense industrial base for an era of competition between world powers. The Senate bill offers billions more dollars for military aerospace than its House counterpart, which narrowly passed May 22 as part of a partisan tax-and-spending package making its way across Capitol Hill. The Department of the Air Force stands to receive many billions more under broad provisions for military space sensors and missile development, for instance, that don’t specify which organization would use the funds. (Air & Space Forces Magazine)

· The provisions are part of the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that would enact large swaths of Republican President Donald Trump’s policy agenda through the budget reconciliation process, which lets lawmakers pass spending legislation with fewer votes than usual.

· It illustrates the Senate’s commitment to “peace through strength,” Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told reporters at a June 4 Defense Writers Group event.

· “We still have a strong military, but the trend is not headed in the right direction,” Wicker said. “The military advancements that will result from this bill are indeed historic, and their importance cannot be overstated.”

· Senators kept the bill’s $150 billion cap for defense spending but set slightly different priorities than the House for how that money should be spent to challenge Chinese dominance in the Pacific, secure the U.S.-Mexico border and bolster America’s air defenses, among other issues.

· As in the House, the Senate defense panel looks to boost production of the F-15EX fighter, B-21 bomber, C-130J transport aircraft, EA-37B electronic-attack jet and MH-139 patrol helicopter. It would also prevent retirement of the F-22 and F-15E fighters, speed development of the next-generation F-47 fighter and Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones, and fund Air Force training in the Pacific. It offers $2.1 billion for spare parts and repairs for Air Force platforms as well.

-Key House lawmaker worries shipbuilding is slipping through cracks in defense budget gambit: House lawmakers are not happy with the lack of line-item budget information provided by the Pentagon to date, especially when it comes to Navy shipbuilding accounts, where vessel procurement plans and funding levels face increased uncertainty, according to the ranking member on the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee. (Inside Defense)

· At issue, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) said, is that the $20.8 billion in shipbuilding funding requested in the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2026 budget would mark a substantial reduction compared to the previous year—when Congress appropriated over $36 billion for shipbuilding—without the addition of separate funding included in a pending budget reconciliation package.

· “We are now being told that the reconciliation bill—that still has not been enacted—will backfill this delta, since it included $33 billion for Navy shipbuilding. Only around half of this $33 billion is clearly marked for procurement of vessels that typically fall under” the Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy account, Courtney said today during a Navy-focused hearing.

· With support from GOP lawmakers, the Trump administration is attempting a novel budget approach that splits FY-26 defense spending between two separate pieces of legislation: a traditional FY-26 defense appropriation request with a $893 billion topline, and a separate $150 billion defense package included in the sweeping reconciliation bill favored by the president.

· Taken together, the two pieces of pending legislation are being touted as a boost to FY-26 defense spending, lifting total national defense funding above the $1 trillion threshold. But defense hawks on both sides of the aisle are skeptical, with some criticizing the approach as a “gimmick.”

· Today, Courtney questioned how much of the reconciliation funding will actually be spent on FY-26 ship procurement, given that this money is not constrained to a single year and can instead be obligated over a four-year period running through September 2029.

-China may own the ‘narrative’ of future conflict if the US crushes the satellite imagery biz: experts: Congress is weighing reductions to the National Reconnaissance Office's budget for acquiring commercial satellite imagery, a move that could ultimately give China an edge in the influence domain and on the battlefield. (Defense One)

· The cut could slow growth and innovation at U.S. remote-sensing companies, at a time when China's own burgeoning satellite-imagery industry is aggressively seeking clients. Though European countries are unlikely to become reliant on Chinese imagery, the same cannot be said for governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. If Chinese companies can offer comparable imagery at lower cost, the profits could fuel innovation at a pace that U.S. firms struggle to match.

· That could leave U.S. adversaries in control of how the world perceives developing conflicts, warned Kari Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former deputy defense undersecretary for intelligence.

· “If Chinese companies end up leading in this area, they would be positioned to become the partner of choice, to undercut our companies in the global marketplace, and ultimately could control the narrative of what happens on Earth,” Bingen said. “On February 23, 2022, instead of Western companies publicly releasing imagery of the buildup of Russian forces along the Ukrainian border—and marrying that with intelligence on what we anticipated—imagine if those images and that narrative had come from China?”

· The Trump administration is weighing a proposal to reduce funding for NRO’s Electro-Optical Commercial Layer program from $300 million a year to $200 million, SpaceNews first reported. And NRO requested no funding for its commercial radar program in 2026, despite expectations that it would ask for about $30 million, according to industry and congressional sources.

-Bipartisan frustration at hearing on modernizing Army: The U.S. Army's top leaders encountered bipartisan frustration from House lawmakers Wednesday, as they sought to sell Congress on the Trump administration's ambitious-if-vague modernization plans for the service that members of both parties said they want to support but can't without the critical budgetary blueprint required to fund the vision. (WP)

· “The committee is willing to work with you,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Alabama) told Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, who was joined at the hearing by Gen. Randy A. George, the Army chief of staff. “But we need to see your math. When can we expect the full details of exactly what you’re proposing?”

· President Donald Trump has called on Congress to approve a 13 percent increase in defense spending for the coming year - sending the Pentagon’s bottom line, already the federal government’s largest, to more than $1 trillion dollars - but his administration has yet to submit a comprehensive funding request. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle warned Driscoll and George that without one, and absent clear policy objectives, it’s difficult for Congress to give the Army what it needs.

· The modernization initiative, a vague directive unveiled by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in April, aims to “streamline” the Army’s “force structure, eliminate wasteful spending, reform the acquisition process” and “reestablish deterrence,” among other priorities. It will be “an iterative process,” Driscoll said Wednesday.

· “And so there will be no one date” when everything in the “first batch” of priorities is completed, he added. “We will be hopefully doing what the best companies in America do, and learning as we go.” “So will it be reflected in the President’s FY 26 budget?” Rogers asked. “Many of the cuts and the lack of requests for obsolete equipment will be reflected in that budget,” Driscoll replied.

· The president is required by law to submit a budget to Congress in February, however it often comes later in the first year of a presidential term. Still, Democrats say Trump's budget is now more delayed than any previously submitted to Congress.

-Army leaders defend parade and border spending: Army leaders are defending spending as much as $45 million to add a parade to the service’s 250th birthday celebration on June 14, saying it will help boost recruitment. They are responding to members of Congress who argue that the money could be better spent on troops’ barracks or other priorities. Members of the House Armed Services Committee also said during Wednesday’s hearing they are concerned that the Defense Department is shifting about $1 billion from a variety of accounts — including base housing — to cover the costs of shoring up the defense of the southern border. (AP)

· U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., questioned whether the additional cost of the parade was appropriate since all the military services are facing 8% budget cuts, and said perhaps it could be used to improve troops’ quality of life or warfighting capabilities. He prodded Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll on what he would prioritize if Congress wrote him a blank check for $45 million.

· Driscoll replied that he thinks the parade offers a chance to tell the public about the Army. “I believe very specifically that telling that story will directly lead to a recruiting boom and will fill up our pipeline for the coming years," he said.

· At the same time, he and Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army, told lawmakers that the service has now met its recruiting goal for the year — with 61,000 recruits. Army officials have predicted for months that they would hit the target early after making a series of changes to recruiting programs, recruiters and policies over the past several years.

· That prompted Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., to ask why the parade was needed for recruiting if it’s already surging. Driscoll said the Army believes the parade “will empower an entire new generation of America’s youth to catch the spirit to serve their nation.”

· Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., defended the parade spending, saying “you cannot put a price tag on patriotism.”

· House members on both sides of the aisle pressed the Army about a recent request to shift money from across the budget to support the southern border. The biggest concern, they said, is that it takes money away from base housing, which has been plagued with persistent problems, including mold, rodents and raw sewage in barracks.

· Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., agreed the nation needs a strong border, but said lawmakers worked for the past year on a broad effort to address the housing problems. “I feel like a decision was made that undermined this whole effort that we spent the last year doing.,” he said.

· Pressed on the issue by Carbajal, George acknowledged that redirecting the money has an impact on the barracks. “If we took $1 billion out of barracks, we would be able to fix less barracks,” he agreed, but also said, “You have to make choices, congressman.”

-Rep. Castro to U.S. defense chief: Don't pull Army North, South out of San Antonio for new command: Three San Antonio area congressmen want to make sure the U.S. Army's new Western Hemisphere Command headquarters is located at Joint Base San Antonio. Under a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Army plans to consolidate three units to make up the new command. It will include San Antonio-based Army North (ARNORTH) and Army South (ARSOUTH), as well as Forces Command based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (TPR)

· Army North explained on its website that its mission is to conduct "Unified Land Operations in support of U.S. Northern Command in order to detect, deter and defeat threats to the Homeland, conduct support of civil authorities, and security cooperation initiatives to defend the United States and its interests." Northern Command oversees U.S. military operations in North America, Mexico and the Caribbean region. Army South fulfills a similar mission for U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations through most of Latin America.

· The Defense Department hasn’t said where the new headquarters will be located but Congressmen Joaquin Castro, Greg Casar and Henry Cuellar said in a letter to Hegseth that moving operations out of San Antonio would be devastating to the Alamo City and to military readiness.

· In a statement, they said, “For over two decades, San Antonio has served as the nerve center for ARSOUTH’s operations. ARSOUTH’s mission across 31 countries and 15 areas of special sovereignty benefits immensely from Texas’s proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean. Its geographic location enables rapid engagement with partner nations and is supported by co-located intelligence, communications, and logistics infrastructure at Joint Base San Antonio-Ft. Sam Houston.”

· They added: “San Antonio is also a growing cybersecurity hub. The city is home to one of the largest concentrations of cybersecurity professionals outside of Washington, D.C. and hosts the Texas Cyber Command Center and multiple DOD cyber operations. This capacity strengthens both homeland defense and transnational threat responses, capabilities directly relevant to the missions of ARNORTH and ARSOUTH.”

-US Army helicopter flights at Pentagon remain suspended after close call: U.S. Army helicopter flights around the Pentagon remain suspended after two passenger airline flights were forced to abort landings on May 1 at Reagan Washington National Airport because of a nearby Black Hawk helicopter, the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

· Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau told a U.S. House hearing that the agency had barred the Army from training or priority transport flights as it revisits the agency’s letter of agreement with the military. “They are not flying right now,” Rocheleau said. “We’ve shut those down until such time as we’re comfortable with kind of what we call new rules of the road.”

· The Army told the Associated Press last month that military air traffic controllers lost contact with the helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the May 1 flight that disrupted the two passenger planes. Delta Air Lines Flight 1671, an Airbus A319 that had originated in Orlando, and Republic Airways Flight 5825, an Embraer 170 that had departed from Boston, were both forced to perform go-arounds around 2:30 p.m. on May 1 due to the nearby Army helicopter.

-Guam barracks conditions spur Navy-wide housing inspection: Mold-infested walls, exposed electrical wiring and other subpar living conditions at Andersen Air Force Base’s military barracks in Guam prompted a recent Navy-wide review of all unaccompanied housing, according to a new investigative report from an independent government watchdog. (Military Times)

· After Navy Secretary John Phelan saw Andersen’s Palau Hall barracks during a May 2 visit, he immediately ordered sailors and Marines to be moved out within 10 days, according to a report published by the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, last week.

· Photos of Palau Hall barracks obtained by POGO show exposed wires, walls with mold that had been painted over and damaged plumbing. “I actually thought the buildings were condemned,” Phelan told POGO. “When we pulled up to them and saw what shape they’re in, I was shocked.” By May 22, three weeks after Phelan’s visit, 25 Marines and 48 sailors had left the barracks.

-How the Houthis Rattled the U.S. Navy—and Transformed Maritime War: The evening of May 6, an F/A-18 Super Hornet was coming in for a landing on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. An onboard mechanism to slow down the fighter jet failed, and the $67 million aircraft slid off the carrier's runway and into the water. (WSJ)

· It was the third fighter jet that the Truman had lost in less than five months, and came hours after President Trump surprised Pentagon officials with the announcement that the U.S. had reached a truce with the Houthis in Yemen. The Truman had arrived at the Red Sea in December 2024 to battle the Iran-aligned militants—joining a campaign filled with heavy exchanges and close calls that strained the U.S. Navy.

· Officials are now dissecting how a scrappy adversary was able to test the world’s most capable surface fleet. The Houthis proved to be a surprisingly difficult foe, engaging the Navy in its fiercest battles since World War II despite fighting from primitive quarters and caves in one of the world’s poorest countries.

· The Houthis benefited from the proliferation of cheap missile and drone technology from Iran. They fired antiship ballistic missiles, the first-ever combat use of the Cold War-era weapon, and they innovated how they deployed their weaponry. The latest technologies have transformed maritime warfare, much the way they have rewritten the script for land wars in Ukraine—forcing militaries to adapt in real time. The U.S. is developing fresh ways to intercept the newest drones and missiles but still relies largely on expensive defense systems.

· Some 30 vessels participated in combat operations in the Red Sea from late 2023 through this year, around 10% of the Navy’s total commissioned fleet. In that time, the U.S. rained down at least $1.5 billion worth of munitions on the Houthis, a U.S. official said.

· The Navy was able to destroy much of the Houthis’ arsenal—but it has yet to achieve the strategic goal of restoring shipping through the Red Sea, and the Houthis continue to regularly fire missiles at Israel.

· Military and congressional leaders who have begun scrutinizing the campaign for lessons worry about the strain of such grueling deployments on overall force readiness. The Pentagon is also investigating the lost planes and a separate at-sea collision—incidents that all involved the Truman strike group—with results expected in the coming months.

-Air Force Special Operations Command Names New Enlisted Leader as Predecessor Faces Investigation: Air Force Special Operations Command has named a new top enlisted leader nearly two months after his predecessor was removed from the role amid an ongoing investigation. (Military.com)

· Chief Master Sgt. Courtney Freeman officially assumed command during a ceremony Monday at Hurlburt Field in Florida. He's replacing Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Green, who was removed from the AFSOC leadership role in mid-April due to "a loss in confidence" in his abilities -- a phrase often used by all the military services to obscure the specific reason behind a firing.

· Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse, a command spokesperson, told Military.com on Wednesday that Green "has been reassigned outside of AFSOC HQ and [an] investigation is still ongoing."

· Freeman will be overseeing Air Force Special Operations Command's 21,000 air commandos and advising AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Michael Conley on the training, education and quality of life of the enlisted force.

-Philippines, U.S., hold joint maritime drills for seventh time: The Philippines and United States militaries have sailed together in the South China Sea for a seventh time to boost interoperability between the two sides, Manila's armed forces said on Thursday. The exercises, held on Wednesday in waters off the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Zambales and away from contested features, included joint operations near shorelines as well as fire support. "The MCA (maritime cooperative activity) is a demonstration of both nations' resolve to deepen cooperation and enhance interoperability in line with international law," the Philippine armed forces said in a statement. (Reuters)

· The joint sail also showcased the Philippine vessel Miguel Malvar, a 118-metre guided missile frigate commissioned last month. It is one of two corvettes built by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries under the Philippines' military modernisation programme. Military engagements between the treaty allies have soared under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has pivoted closer to Washington in response to China's growing presence in the South China Sea.

VETERANS

-GOP plan provides $453 billion for VA programs, benefits next year: House Republicans unveiled plans Wednesday for a $453 billion Department of Veterans Affairs budget next fiscal year, with a dramatic increase in mandatory health care and benefits funding but only a 3% boost in discretionary veteran program spending. The proposal also includes a host of controversial social items that drew immediate condemnation from Democratic lawmakers who promised a fight over the measure. (Military Times)

· “This bill needlessly fixates on keeping guns in the hands of those who are potentially a danger to themselves or others, and restricts reproductive rights, and [includes] other cruel and pointless policy restrictions,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said in a statement. “I cannot tell those currently serving and those who defended our nation that this is the best we can do.”

· The budget plan is expected to be voted on by a House Appropriations Committee panel on Thursday morning. Republican lawmakers praised the proposal as “maintaining our commitment to the well-being of both service members and veterans.”

· The appropriations bill represents an $83 billion boost from Congress’ approved spending plan for VA in fiscal 2025. That’s an increase of more than 22%, but nearly all of that boost is tied up in mandatory funding related to medical programs and veterans payouts.

· Discretionary funding — money for new program starts and support services — would rise to about $134 billion, up about 4% but about $1 billion less than what the White House requested in its fiscal 2026 budget plan.

· Almost all of that difference came in the VA Electronic Health Record Modernization initiative account. Spending for the project would double from this year’s spending under the plan, to about $2.5 billion. But that is nearly $1 billion less than what the White House requested.

· The legislation also includes provisions to block VA from providing abortions or abortion-related counseling at department medical centers — a priority of the previous administration — and prohibit vaccination requirements for any department health care personnel.

· Republicans also included language that would bar the department from reporting veterans found financially incompetent from being reported to the National Instant Background Check System. Republicans have called it an unnecessary infringement of Second Amendment rights. Democrats have criticized the provision as undermining gun safety efforts.

· The VA funding bill also includes about $18 billion for military construction projects, an increase of about 3% from fiscal 2025. That includes $830 million for child development centers and barracks improvements.

-Budget for Veterans to See Private Doctors Would See Big Boost in GOP's VA Funding Proposal: The program that allows veterans to see private doctors using Department of Veterans Affairs funding would get a 50% boost under a spending plan released by House Republicans on Wednesday. Overall, the House Appropriations Committee's fiscal 2026 VA spending bill would give the department about $453 billion -- a whopping $83 billion more than Congress approved for the department for this year. Most of that increase would be slated for so-called mandatory spending, the type of funding that goes to benefits such as veterans disability pay. Discretionary spending -- the type of funding that is mostly used for medical care -- would get a 4% bump to about $134 billion. (Military.com)

· "This bill is a testament to our unwavering commitment to those who wear the uniform and to the veterans who have served our nation honorably," said Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee's VA and military construction subcommittee. "We're not just talking about supporting our military and veterans -- this bill does it. This legislation invests in the health and well-being of our veterans, including focusing on mental health and homelessness assistance."

· Within the medical care budget, House Republicans are proposing $34 billion for community care, which is the program that allows veterans to see non-VA doctors on the VA's dime, matching the Trump administration's budget request. By contrast, the approved amount for the community care fund this year is about $22 billion, which was a dip from previous year's $31 billion.

· The proposed increase continues a trend of community care costs growing exponentially since the 2018 Mission Act that expanded the program and comes at a time when the future of the community care program is being hotly debated.

· The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have been seeking to make it easier for veterans to see private doctors after spending years accusing the Biden administration of restricting access to community care. VA Secretary Doug Collins recently implemented a law passed last year to remove a bureaucratic hurdle to seeing private doctors. He also recently shifted millions of dollars from canceled contracts to the community care program.

· Democrats, meanwhile, have been accusing Republicans of seeking to privatize the VA. On Wednesday, they seized on the community care funding in the appropriations bill as proof of Republicans’ goal.

· “They have introduced a funding bill that does nothing to remedy the chaos and pain this administration has caused thousands of veterans and instead pushes extreme, partisan Project 2025 goals of privatizing veterans health services, only raising the costs of critical care," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.

-Groups that file free disability claims for vets oppose bill allowing companies to charge a fee: Advocacy groups that help veterans file disability claims for free with the Department of Veterans Affairs are opposing a Republican-led bill that would enable commercial companies to charge thousands of dollars for the same service. The CHOICE for Veterans Act would allow private for-profit companies to offer initial claims assistance and charge up to $12,500 — or an amount equal to five times a monthly benefit award “increase,” according to the legislation. But the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and other veterans service organizations argue the help already is provided without charge by trained members of their organizations who receive accreditation from the VA. (Stars and Stripes)

· VFW leaders expressed concern that commercial companies would charge veterans for the help before claims are final and benefits are determined. “The VFW believes veterans should never have to go into debt to access their earned benefits,” the organization said.

· Under federal law, it’s illegal to charge a fee for assistance with an initial filing for a disability claim. Only VA-accredited representatives can legally assist with the VA claims. Accredited attorneys and claims agents can charge fees, but only after a final decision from the VA and required documents are filed, according to the agency.

· The CHOICE for Veterans Act is led by Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, and Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Bergman is a committee member. The lawmakers said the legislation opens up claims assistance to the private sector while establishing regulations to stop companies from making false assertions, such as promising an early decision or higher disability rating when the VA determines disability.

· “This bill would ensure crooked claims sharks are punished while guaranteeing veterans the freedom of choosing honest paid services,” Bost said at a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing in May that introduced the CHOICE for Veterans Act and more than a dozen other bills.

· Current law that defines how disability claims can be prepared lack penalties for punishing offenders, said Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He has introduced a separate bill called the Guard VA Benefits Act to reinstate criminal penalties for unaccredited claim representatives who charge unauthorized fees.

· Pappas opposes the CHOICE for Veterans Act. “Instead of restoring VA’s authority to penalize illegal behavior, [the CHOICE for Veterans Act] would legalize it, granting accreditation without safeguards and allowing companies to charge up to $12,500 just for helping a veteran file their claim,” he said.

-Bill would cover ‘Forever Chemical’ exposure at bases under VA benefits: A bipartisan bill would allow veterans with health issues caused by exposure to “forever chemicals” at U.S. military bases to be treated as service-connected disabilities, which would further open the door to health care and benefits compensation for those impacted. Forever chemicals, more technically known as polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are long-lasting chemicals that break down slowly. They are found in many everyday objects, food, and in air, water, and soil around the world, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Task & Purpose)

· The bill, titled “Veterans Exposed to Toxic PFAS Act,’’ or the ‘‘VET PFAS Act,” would designate exposure to PFAS as a service-connected condition for veterans, making them eligible for disability compensation through the Department of Veterans Affairs. It would also allow military dependents, including those “in utero while the mother” resided at a base with PFAS exposures, to be eligible for hospital care and medical services for certain diseases and conditions, according to the text of the bill.

· If passed, the legislation would be a major expansion of health conditions and illnesses for which veterans could receive VA care and disability benefits. The bill was introduced in the House on May 29 by New York Rep. Josh Riley, a Democrat, and Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, and builds upon measures from the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act. The PACT Act, passed in 2022, was the largest expansion of service-connected health conditions eligible for VA care, including service members exposed to burn pits during Iraq and Afghanistan deployments, for Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange-related chemicals, and very specific instances of base exposures.

-Trump’s pick for VA watchdog role promises independence, impartiality: President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as the top watchdog for Veterans Affairs on Wednesday defended her ability to be an unbiased investigator of the administration, despite her past political role with the department. (Military Times)

· “I consider myself to be an impartial, independent aide to the department,” Cheryl Mason, currently a senior adviser to VA Secretary Doug Collins, told members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee during a confirmation hearing for the department’s inspector general role.

· “I am loyal to the veterans. That’s who I serve. That’s who I’m loyal to. I work for the president and the [VA] secretary, but also, if confirmed, I will work for this committee.”

· Democratic lawmakers challenged that assertion, questioning whether Mason can be an effective check on problematic policies set by department leadership. They accused Trump officials of politicizing a critical oversight position that should be nonpolitical.

· “We have never confirmed someone for the [inspector general] position who was a political appointee already serving in any department,” committee ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “What we need now, more than any time in our history, is a person in that position who is nonpolitical, completely nonpartisan and independent.”

-The Bonus Army of World War I Fought for Their Pay. Now, Veterans Are Fighting For Their Jobs: When the promises politicians made went unkept, when they were left without any reasonable alternatives, American veterans took to the streets by the thousands, forced to become their own advocates. (War Horse)

· The year was 1932, and the men who’d served in World War I were demanding the bonus pay they’d been promised for their years fighting in Europe. Calling themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force, or the “Bonus Army,” veterans hitchhiked and rode freight train boxcars from all over the country to get to Washington, D.C. They protested for months, and the entire nation took notice.

· In 2025, a new Bonus Army has assembled and plans to rally in Washington on June 6 to protest the administration’s cuts to Veterans Affairs and federal employment, where veterans and their families comprise 30% of the workforce.

· “The federal workforce is one of the only places in the entire country that truly takes into account the merit of military service, and [the cuts are] something that really pisses me off,” said Will Attig, a protest co-organizer and executive director of the Union Veterans Council, which advocates for veterans jobs and a robust VA.

· Now “veterans that serve their country are being called the worst type of names and are being told that they’re DEI hires, being told that their jobs are handouts, that they’re lazy bums,” he said. “We can all agree, veterans need jobs. Veterans do better when they have good jobs, and taking that pathway away and then disrespecting the thousands, the tens of thousands of veterans that play those roles” is enraging.

· The new efforts bear the name and the legacy of thousands of American soldiers who took to the streets almost a century ago, and they echo generations of veterans who have advocated for their benefits and applied their moral weight to right wrongs.

· The Bonus Army protests of 1932 led to the GI Bill more than a decade later. Vietnam veterans not only protested the war in Southeast Asia, but two veterans—Sens. John McCain and John Kerry—helped lead the reconciliation efforts. Gulf War veterans steadfastly pushed to have Gulf War syndrome and the effects of Agent Orange recognized and VA benefits to treat it.

· “All veterans were willing to give their lives in service to their country. In other words, we ‘walked the walk,’” said historian and veteran Marc Leepson. “And that gives us a good measure of credibility, if not gravitas” when advocating for certain issues.

-Weber County seeks creation of special court to aid veterans caught up in the legal system: In a bid to help military veterans in the justice system contending with drug and mental health issues, Weber County leaders are pursuing creation of a special court meant to help them address their particular needs. (KSL)

· “The focus is really more on getting them treatment, support and rehabilitation rather than incarceration,” said Jim Retallick, director of the Weber Public Defender Group and a key force behind the effort. The public defender group provides attorneys for indigent people facing criminal charges in Weber County.

· The proposed veteran treatment court serving Utah’s 2nd District Court system in Weber, Davis and Morgan counties would be geared to lower-level criminal offenders who have served in the military. The focus would be on helping them “achieve sobriety, recovery and long-term stability,” reads a press release on the plans.

· While new to the 2nd District Court system, veteran treatment courts aren’t a new concept in Utah. Such courts now serve the 3rd District Court in Salt Lake County, the 4th District Court in Utah County, U.S. District Court in Utah, and Salt Lake City Justice Court. Retallick said 800 such courts operate all around the country. "Caring for our veterans is a priority," said Weber County Commissioner Gage Froerer.

· Eligible veterans caught up in the legal system would have to have received an honorable or general discharge, while Retallick said veteran treatment courts are typically geared to those charged with nonviolent offenses. "The offenses usually involve substance use and/or offenses involving mental health issues. However, the team is able to review all applicants on a case-by-case basis to determine participation," Retallick said.

· A survey conducted by the Weber Public Defender Group found that about one-third of veterans reported having been arrested at least once compared to one-fifth of nonveterans. Veterans, moreover, are twice as likely to face jailing as nonveterans, suggesting a need for specialized attention. Veteran treatment courts, meanwhile, have been shown to have a positive impact.

· Studies indicate that only 14% of veterans in veteran treatment courts reoffend, while the recidivism rates for veterans in traditional courts range from 23% to 46%, according to Retallick.

-Veteran nonprofit said its seeing an increase in veteran suicide: As nearly 2,000 Iowa Army National Guard members prepare for a year-long deployment to the Middle East, the founder of a group that assists veterans emphasizes the importance of supporting their mental health upon return. President of “Salute to the Fallen”, John Thompson, said the number of veterans they’ve assisted across the state is more than double from last year. While it’s a number he said doesn’t surprise him, he also said it’s an issue that needs to be talked about openly. (KCRG)

· U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Steven Macdk said he felt called to serve his country after the attack on 9/11. “I remember being a sophomore and sitting in social studies and watching it on TV,” he said. Sgt. Mack spent 20 years in the military, including two tours in Iraq where an explosive device injured him. He was then medically retired from the Army. It was then that he learned the struggle of returning to civilian life. Last year, Mack was pushed to his limit, and it all came to a head one night during a fight with his girlfriend. “I was kind of at a point where I was ready to end everything,” he said.

· That is until John Thompson with “Salute to the Fallen” received a call. Thompson’s nonprofit looks to help those who leave service. That includes everything from preventing veteran suicide to offering funeral assistance. He found Mack the help he needed, but he said all too often that help doesn’t come in time to prevent veterans from taking their own lives. “This year we are double what we are used to,” he said. “As of Money, we were at forty veterans or military personnel lose their fight here at home.”

· Thompson keeps track of all the veterans he receives a call for help, but state and national statistics are more than two years old. The VA reports 17 veterans die by suicide daily with Iowa’s rate slightly higher than the nation’s. Thompson said there’s a reason why the numbers he sees might be going up. “The running statement that I hear from a lot of guard and reserve guys is that it’s five years after something,” said Thompson. “We’re starting to see effects of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

-WWII veterans speak of sacrifice and freedom on France's D-Day battlefields, 81 years later: The D-Day generation, smaller in number than ever, is back on the beaches of France where so much blood was spilled 81 years ago. World War II veterans, now mostly centenarians, have returned with the same message they fought for then: Freedom is worth defending. (AP)

· In what they acknowledge may be one of their last hurrahs, a group of nearly two dozen veterans who served in Europe and the Pacific is commemorating the fallen and getting rock-star treatment this week in Normandy — the first patch of mainland France that Allied forces liberated with the June 6, 1944, invasion and the greatest assembly of ships and planes the world had known.

· On what became known as “Bloody Omaha ” and other gun-swept beaches where soldiers waded ashore and were cut down, their sacrifices forged bonds among Europe, the United States and Canada that endure, outlasting geopolitical shifts and the rise and fall of political leaders who blow hot and cold about the ties between nations.

· In Normandy, families hand down D-Day stories like heirlooms from one generation to the next. They clamor for handshakes, selfies, kisses and autographs from WWII veterans, and reward them with cries of “Merci!” — thank you. Both the young and the very old thrive off the interactions. French schoolchildren oohed and aahed when 101-year-old Arlester Brown told them his age. The U.S. military was still segregated by race when the 18-year-old was drafted in 1942. Like most Black soldiers, Brown wasn’t assigned a combat role and served in a laundry unit that accompanied the Allied advances through France and the Low Countries and into Nazi Germany.

· Jack Stowe, who lied about being 15 to join the Navy after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, said he gets “the sweetest letters” from kids he met on previous trips. “The French people here, they’re so good to us,” the 98-year-old said, on a walk to the water's edge on Omaha. “They want to talk to us, they want to sit down and they want their kids around us.” “People are not going to let it be forgotten, you know, Omaha, these beaches,” he said. “These stories will go on and on and on.”

GLOBAL

-US vetoes UN Security Council demand for Gaza ceasefire: The United States on Wednesday vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that demanded an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza and unhindered aid access across the war-torn enclave. The other 14 countries on the council voted in favor of the draft as a humanitarian crisis grips the enclave of more than 2 million people, where famine looms and aid has only trickled in since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade last month. (Reuters)

-Israel says it has recovered the bodies of 2 Israeli-American hostages from the Gaza Strip: Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday meanwhile killed at least 13 people, including three local journalists, according to health officials in the territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency. The military says they were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and taken into Gaza. Hamas-led militants are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive. (AP)

-Pressure mounts on Netanyahu as opposition moves to dissolve parliament: A member of Israel's right-wing coalition threatened to quit the cabinet on Wednesday and support an opposition motion to dissolve parliament tabled for next week, piling pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Latest opinion polls suggest that Netanyahu's coalition would lose power if an election was held today, with many voters unhappy over the continued war in Gaza prompted by the attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel in October 2023. (Reuters)

· United Torah Judaism, one of two ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, said it would withdraw from the government unless it secured last-minute concessions formalising an exemption for ultra-Orthodox men from military service.

· The opposition party Yesh Atid, led by former prime minister Yair Lapid, put forward a parliamentary vote for next week to topple the government, even as the Israeli army continues battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It would require the support of 61 out of the 120 members of the parliament to succeed.

-Israel Had Record Weapons Sales in 2024, With Europe as Largest Buyer: Israel sold more weapons to other countries in 2024 than ever, government officials said on Wednesday, even as it fought on multiple fronts in the longest war in its history. Israeli producers signed contracts to export about $14.8 billion in weapons last year, up from a previous record high of $13 billion in 2023, according to new data from Israel's Defense Ministry. The figures reflect the remarkable speed at which Israel has ramped up its wartime production and sought new markets in Europe, where demand is growing for arms to protect against Russian aggression. They are also a rare respite in a domestic economy that has struggled during the war. (NYT)

-Large majority of Germans want tighter controls on arms exports to Israel: Some 73% of Germans want tighter controls on arms exports to Israel, including 30% who favour a total ban, a poll showed on Wednesday, reflecting growing public unease over the government's Israel policy. Since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Germany has remained one of Israel's staunchest allies and its second largest arms supplier, despite Israel's increasing international isolation and rising criticism over its devastating war in Gaza. (Reuters)

-Iran's Khamenei dismisses US nuclear proposal, vows to keep enriching uranium: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. (Reuters)

-Putin ready to 'help resolve' Iran nuclear stand-off: Kremlin: Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to "help resolve" the standoff between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme, the Kremlin said Thursday. "We have a close partnership with Tehran. And President Putin said that he was ready to use this partnership to help resolve the Iranian nuclear issue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. After a call between the leaders on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said Putin had offered to "participate" in talks on Tehran's nuclear programme, as Trump accused Iran of "slow-walking" its response to Washington's offer of a deal. (AFP)

-Pakistan 'ready but not desperate' for talks with India, says foreign minister: Pakistan is "ready but not desperate" for talks with arch-rival India, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, underlining the lack of a thaw in relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours following their worst military conflict in decades. Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery last month in four days of clashes, their worst fighting in decades, before a ceasefire the U.S. said it brokered on May 10. India has denied any third party role in the ceasefire. (Reuters)

-As Afghanistan and Pakistan mend ties, China could be the real winner: As Pakistan and India exchanged strikes last month, bringing the nuclear-armed nations to the brink of all-out war, regional diplomats worked quietly to end a different conflict — with help from China. (WP)

· In a May meeting in Beijing, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to reinstate ambassador-level diplomatic ties after years of deteriorating relations and a surge in deadly violence along their shared border. Afghanistan was also invited to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project that is a cornerstone of China’s economic ambitions.

· The long-elusive breakthrough was the culmination of years of diplomatic efforts by China, according to five Pakistani and Afghan officials with knowledge of the talks, most of whom spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations. But it was the fighting with India, which put strain on Pakistan’s already overstretched military, that gave the talks added urgency and helped get the deal across the finish line, said one Pakistani official.

· Negotiators from both sides, as well as their Chinese mediators, were driven by a set of converging interests, officials said. Afghanistan is desperate for economic investment to help weather Western sanctions and global aid cuts; Pakistan is beset by multiple insurgencies and is eager to stabilize its volatile western border; China is increasingly frustrated by militant attacks on its infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

· Beijing was probably also keen to bolster its image as a diplomatic power broker, analysts said, and to present an alternative to Western-led peace efforts. Last week, China launched an International Organization for Mediation in Hong Kong, which Foreign Minister Wang Yi said was intended to "fill a gap" in global statesmanship.

-Trump: Putin said Russia would respond to Ukraine drone attacks: Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow would have to respond to the recent Ukrainian drone attacks, the U.S. President said. Trump said the two men "discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides." (Reuters)

· After Ukraine bombed bridges and attacked Russia’s fleet of bombers deep in Siberia and Russia’s far north, Putin on Wednesday said he did not think Ukraine’s leaders wanted peace. Shortly after Putin discussed the attacks with top ministers in Moscow, Trump said he had spoken by telephone with Putin for one hour and 15 minutes, and that they had discussed the Ukrainian attacks and Iran.

· “We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides. It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace,” Trump said on social media. “President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump said.

· A foreign policy aide to Putin, Yuri Ushakov, said the Russian leader told Trump on the call that ceasefire talks between Moscow and Kyiv have been productive, despite what he termed attempts by Ukraine to “disrupt” them. “Let me stress that our president described in detail the content of the talks and that these talks on the whole were useful,” Ushakov said.

· Memorandums outlining peace plans were exchanged and will be analysed, Ushakov said, “and we hope that afterwards the two sides will be able to continue their talks.” Ushakov confirmed the two presidents discussed other international issues, particularly the Middle East conflict and how Russia could help deal with Iran and its nuclear programme.

· On Iran, Trump said he believed Putin agreed with Washington that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon,” and accused Tehran of “slowwalking" decisions regarding the talks.

-Putin says deadly bridge attack shows Ukraine's leaders do not want peace: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace after accusing them of ordering a deadly bomb attack in Russia that killed seven and injured 115 more just a day before talks in Turkey. (Reuters)

· A highway bridge over a railway line in the Bryansk region of western Russia was blown up at 10:33 pm (1933 GMT) on Saturday night just as a passenger train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath, Russian investigators said. Russia’s top state investigator said Ukraine was responsible for planting the three bombs in the Bryansk bridge attack, five bombs in the attack against a bridge in neighbouring Kursk and another bomb attack against a bridge in Bryansk on Sunday.

· In some of his most hawkish remarks in recent months on the outlook for peace, Putin said the attacks had been directed against civilians and accused the Kyiv leadership of being a “terrorist organisation” supported by powers who were becoming “terrorist accomplices”. “The current Kyiv regime does not need peace at all,” Putin said at a meeting with senior officials. “What is there to talk about? How can we negotiate with those who rely on terror?”

· In the remarks released by the Kremlin, Putin did not mention the high-profile Ukrainian operation - which unfolded on Sunday - to attack strategic bomber aircraft at Russian air bases.

· Before Putin spoke, other Russian officials said that military options were “on the table” for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused the West of being involved in them. “We urge London and Washington to react in such a way as to stop further escalation,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. Ryabkov oversees relations with the U.S. and arms control.

· British and U.S. officials have said they had no prior knowledge of the weekend attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers. U.S. President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy said the risk of escalation from the war was “going way up” after the attacks on the nuclear-capable bombers. A week earlier, Trump rebuked Putin over a fierce aerial attack on Ukraine.

-In call with Putin, Pope Leo urges Russia to support peace: Pope Leo urged Russia to take steps towards ending the conflict in Ukraine when he spoke to President Vladimir Putin for the first time, the Vatican said on Wednesday. "The pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that favours peace, emphasising the importance of dialogue for achieving positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict," the Vatican said. (Reuters)

Germany starts hunt for more air defences as Zelenskiy pleads for Patriots: Germany launched a fresh bid on Wednesday to chase down more air defence systems for Ukraine, which in past weeks has suffered some of the heaviest Russian attacks since the full-scale invasion in 2022. Berlin aims to potentially surpass the sum of 1 billion euros which it collected with a similar initiative last year, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters in Brussels. (Reuters)

· He was speaking before a meeting of the Ramstein group of some 50 nations set up by the U.S. to coordinate military aid. It has been co-chaired by Germany and Britain since Washington decided to no longer lead the group. Washington was represented by its NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker, with U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth expected to join a day later for a meeting with his NATO counterparts.

· Addressing the gathering at NATO’s Brussels headquarters online, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated his calls for more air defences to protect Ukrainians, in particular for Patriot or similar systems. “The stronger our air defence is, the less value (Russian President Vladimir) Putin sees in attacking our cities and villages, so please let’s continue strengthening our air shield,” he said. “This is the most effective way to force Russia to stop its missile strikes and terror,” he added.

-Ukraine hit fewer Russian planes than it estimated, US officials say: The United States assesses that Ukraine's drone attack over the weekend hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two U.S. officials told Reuters, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Still, the U.S. officials described the attack as highly significant, with one of them cautioning that it could drive Moscow to a far more severe negotiating position in the U.S.-brokered talks to end more than three years of war. (Reuters)

· Ukraine says it targeted four air bases across Russia using 117 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from containers close to the targets, in an operation codenamed "Spider's Web." It released footage on Wednesday showing its drones striking Russian strategic bombers and landing on the dome antennas of two A-50 military spy planes, of which there are only a handful in Russia’s fleet.

· The two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, estimated the Ukrainian strikes destroyed around 10 and hit up to 20 warplanes in total. That estimate is far lower than the one Zelenskiy offered to reporters in Kyiv earlier on Wednesday. He said half of the 41 Russian aircraft struck were too damaged to be repaired.

-Russian war bloggers blame military command for stunning Ukrainian attack on bomber fleet: Russian military analysts are hunting for scapegoats after Ukraine stunned Moscow with weekend drone attacks that destroyed a number of strategic bomber planes, weakening a key component of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Aerospace forces commander-in-chief Viktor Afzalov and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu - now secretary of Russia's Security Council - are among those being publicly singled out for blame. (Reuters)

· The drone strikes have prompted accusations of negligence, complacency and corruption. How was it possible, commentators are asking, for nuclear-capable aircraft to be left exposed, unprotected by hangars, and for Ukrainian intelligence to smuggle the drones within close reach of air bases and unleash them with devastating effect?

· Two influential military blogs, Voyenkor Kotenok and Two Majors, said Shoigu had promised as far back as April 2021 to build more than 300 reinforced concrete shelters for aircraft, but this had not happened. Military analyst Vladislav Shurygin condemned the "blatant irresponsibility and negligence" of the aerospace command headed by Afzalov, accusing the top brass of failing to anticipate threats and learn from past mistakes.

-Russian forces advance deeper into Ukraine's Sumy region: Russian forces on Wednesday advanced further into Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, threatening the regional capital after taking more than 150 square km (58 sq miles) of the area in less than two weeks, according to Russian officials and Ukrainian open source mapping. (Reuters)

· Despite the relaunch of peace talks, the war has been heating up and Russian forces, which already control just under a fifth of Ukraine, advanced in May at their fastest pace for at least six months, according to Ukraine’s authoritative Deep State online map project.

· Russia in April said it had ejected Ukrainian forces from the western Russian region of Kursk, and President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces to follow up by carving out a "buffer zone" in the adjoining Sumy region of Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry said its troops had taken the settlement of Kindrativka and were now 25-30 km (15-20 miles) from the city of Sumy, which is now within artillery and drone range.

-Russian strike kills 5 in Ukraine, including a 1-year-old, hours after Trump-Putin call: At least five people, including a 1-year-old child, were killed in a Russian drone strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky overnight, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said Thursday. Six more people were wounded in the attack and have been hospitalized, Chaus said. According to him, six Shahed-type drones struck residential areas of Pryluky early Thursday morning, causing severe damage to residential buildings. Hours later, seventeen people were wounded in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Thursday, including children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional head Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. (AP)

-China helps Russia pull ahead in lethal drone war race with Ukraine: Russia is catching up to Ukraine in drone production thanks to greater financial resources, production lines far from the front lines and especially help from China, a senior Ukrainian official told POLITICO. (Politico)

· “Chinese manufacturers provide them with hardware, electronics, navigation, optical and telemetry systems, engines, microcircuits, processor modules, antenna field systems, control boards, navigation. They use so-called shell companies, change names, do everything to avoid being subject to export control and avoid sanctions for their activities,” said Oleh Aleksandrov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service. “Yet officially, China sticks to all the rules. Yet only officially.”

· Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying any drones or weapons components to Russia, calling Ukrainian protests “baseless accusations and political manipulation.” But Aleksandrov said Russia has a critical dependency on the supply of Chinese spare parts for both tactical and long-range drones.

· That is allowing Russia to erode Ukraine's lead in drone technology and production — something that helped keep Ukraine in the fight at times when it was suffering from ammunition shortages and slow weapons deliveries from its allies.

-Russia outlaws British Council as 'undesirable organisation': Russia on Thursday banned the British Council as an "undesirable organisation", as Moscow branded London the architect of global crisis and "instigator of wars". Russia's prosecutor general accused the British Council of trying to promote British interests "under the guise of teaching English" and of supporting the "LGBT movement", which Russia has outlawed as "extremist". "Various projects are being implemented to systematically discredit the domestic and foreign policies of the Russian Federation," it added. Moscow has labelled dozens of Western-backed organisations "undesirable", a designation that outlaws their work in Russia and makes anybody who works for them liable to years-long jail sentences. (AFP)

-Turkey to press allies for access to EU defence funds: Turkey will press European allies which plan to sharply ramp up their defence spending to ease restrictions that now require most of that money to be spent in the EU, Defence Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters on Wednesday ahead of a NATO meeting. In written answers to questions from Reuters, Guler also said Turkey hopes a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Tayyip Erdogan will finally yield progress in lifting U.S. sanctions that expelled Turkey from the F-35 jet programme. (Reuters)

· Guler said Turkey, which has the second biggest army in NATO after the United States, has advanced capabilities in areas such as drones, which would be valuable to its allies as they plan major new spending on defence. “Allies need to spend not only more, but also smarter – and there is a need for more cooperation than ever before,” Guler said when asked about Trump’s call on the alliance to ramp up defence spending to target 5% of output.

· Many European nations have announced plans for major increases in defence spending. The EU itself, driven by fears of a Russian attack and doubts about U.S. security commitments, has approved creating a 150 billion-euro ($170 billion) EU arms fund to boost the defence industry, labelled the SAFE scheme. But it mandates that 65% of projects are funded by firms in the bloc, the broader European Economic Area, or Ukraine.

· Guler said such restrictions would exclude non-EU countries like Turkey from Europe’s defence and security architecture, which he said was “an issue that cannot be discussed only within the EU”. Turkey wants to “build the security of the future together” with the EU, and would continue to work with “open-minded and visionary European allies within or outside SAFE,” he said, specifically listing drones, air defences, naval systems, armoured vehicles and land platforms, electronic warfare and radar systems, ammunition and rocket systems.

· Greece, Turkey’s longstanding adversary, has demanded Ankara lift a lift a 30-year old war threat over territorial waters to be permitted to access EU defence funds. Guler said such demands were a mistake, amounting to “involving multilateral platforms in bilateral disputes”.

· Ankara’s defence cooperation with its NATO allies has been hampered in recent years by U.S. sanctions imposed over a Turkish decision to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems, which resulted in Turkey’s expulsion from the U.S.-led F-35 programme as both a buyer and manufacturer of the advanced jets.

-Italy calls on EU to allow deficit leeway for defence spend over 20-30 years: The European Union should allow member states to spread out potentially wider fiscal deficits linked to higher national defence spending up to 30 years from the four currently proposed, Italy's defence minister said on Wednesday. There is growing pressure in Europe to boost military spending to deter a potential attack from Russia and become less dependent on the United States for security, with Brussels announcing a plan earlier this year to mobilise some 800 billion euros ($910 billion). As part of this push, the European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product each year for four years without any disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a deficit is more than 3% of GDP. (Reuters)

· “I think (the plan) is useful because it allows you to invest in defence during a dramatic time like this without affecting other important expenses, such as social spending. However, it should be spread over 20-30 years,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told broadcaster SkyTG24.

· Italy has projected that its public debt will rise to almost 138% of GDP in 2026 before edging down the following year. “We do not want to make expenditures that we will offload onto a government that might come after ours in four years,” said Crosetto, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party. "The 4 to 5 years are too few for us," he said.

-2032 too late to reach 5% NATO spending target, Lithuania's defence minister says: Lithuania's defence minister Dovile Sakaliene said on Wednesday that a 2032 deadline to reach NATO's likely new defence target of 5% of gross domestic product was too late, saying she preferred 2030 at the latest. "Is it really that difficult to understand that it doesn't really matter how much you invest if it is too late?" she told reporters ahead of a meeting of the military alliance's defence ministers. (Reuters)

-Poland says containers with arms, ammunition found near Ukraine border: Containers with ammunition and weapons were found in a Polish village near the Ukrainian border, possibly stocks of a private company meant for delivery to Ukraine, Polish authorities said on Wednesday. Private broadcaster TV Republika had earlier reported that eight containers containing weapons had been found at an airstrip in the village of Laszki. "The containers with ammunition and weapons found in the town of Laszki in the Podkarpacie region ARE NOT the property of the Polish Army," the Defence Ministry said on X. "The appropriate services are securing the place and equipment." (Reuters)

· Interior Ministry spokesperson Jacek Dobrzynski told reporters he believed the arms in question were anti-aircraft weapons, that they were part of the stock of a private company and that they were probably supposed to be delivered to Ukraine. He said such weapons were not properly supervised, labelling this a "scandal".

-Estonian parliament votes to withdraw from landmines treaty: The Estonian parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines amid concerns over the military threat posed by neighbouring Russia. Eighty-one members of the 101 parliament supported the motion, its press office said. All five European Union and NATO countries which border Russia – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland - have said they plan to exit the international treaty due to the military threat from their much larger neighbour. Russia is not a member of the Ottawa Convention and has used landmines in its invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)

-Georgia to shutter EU and NATO information centre as ties with West fray: The Georgian government is to close its information centre on NATO and the European Union, Georgian media reported on Wednesday, citing the country's foreign ministry, amid souring ties between Tbilisi and the West. According to its website, the information centre aims "to engage our population in Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes and to gain their well-informed support". (Reuters)

· The centre, opened in 2005, is based in a large building on Freedom Square in downtown Tbilisi and flies the flags of the EU, the NATO military alliance and Georgia. Georgia's Interpress news agency reported that the centre is to be merged into the foreign ministry and that some staff have been told they are to be dismissed. The ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

· Georgia has been an EU candidate member since 2023, while NATO said in 2008 that the mountainous country of 3.6 million would eventually join the alliance. But though once among the most pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union's successor states, Georgia's government has in recent years moved to clamp down on domestic critics, while also rebuilding ties with former imperial overlord, Russia.

-Swiss probe intelligence leaks to Russia: Switzerland's defence ministry has launched an investigation into leaks from the country's intelligence service to Russia's military intelligence, the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS reported Wednesday. The ministry was responding to revelations by the public broadcaster SRF, based on an internal report from the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), which said an officer in charge of the cyber team allegedly transmitted highly sensitive information to the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky -- which then ended up in the hands of Russia's GRU spy agency. (AFP}

-EU picks 13 new critical material projects, including in Greenland: The European Union on Wednesday announced 13 new raw material projects outside the bloc to increase its supplies of metals and minerals essential for it to stay competitive in the energy transition as well as defence and aerospace. The announcement follows China's decision in April to impose export curbs on rare earth magnets until new licences are obtained, leaving diplomats, carmakers and other companies from Europe and elsewhere scrambling to secure meetings with Beijing officials and avert factory shutdowns. (Reuters)

-Germany's Merz to face Trump in Oval Office on inaugural trip: any's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will hold his first face-to-face talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday in a high stakes meeting in the Oval Office as Europe seeks to stave off looming U.S. tariffs and sustain U.S. backing for Ukraine. The 69-year-old conservative, who took the helm of Europe's largest economy last month, is scheduled to join Trump for lunch and one-on-one talks that analysts say could set the tone for U.S.-German ties for years to come. (Reuters)

· Germany’s export-oriented economy stands more to lose from U.S. tariffs than others and the country is also the second largest military and financial backer of Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion, after the United States. The meeting comes amid a broader fraying of the transatlantic relationship. Trump’s administration has, for example, intervened in domestic European politics in a break with past practise, aligning with right-wing political movements and challenging European policies on immigration and free speech.

· The encounter will be closely watched after some recent meetings in the Oval Office, with the leaders of Ukraine and South Africa, for example, turned tense when Trump ambushed them with false claims and accusations. Merz and his entourage have sought coaching from other leaders on how to deal with Trump to avoid conflict.

-Skeletons, bullets unearthed in cemetery near WWII Senegal massacre: The first excavation of a cemetery at the former military camp outside Dakar where French soldiers massacred African troops who had fought in WWII has unveiled skeletons with bullets, a source told AFP Wednesday. The excavations have been under way since early May at the Thiaroye military camp, and are meant to shed light on the 1944 incident, when at least dozens of African soldiers who had fought for France protested against pay delays and were killed. The episode marks one of the worst massacres during French colonial rule, and questions remain concerning the number of soldiers killed, their identities and the location of their burial. While French authorities at the time said 35 had been killed, historians say the real death toll could be as high as 400. (AFP)

-Britain's Prince Harry explored changing surname to Spencer, says Guardian report: Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan explored the idea of changing their family name to Spencer amid months of delays in their two children receiving British passports, the Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday. Harry, the Duke of Sussex, believed that the passport delays were the result of British officials blocking the applications over the use of the Sussex surname and HRH titles (his or her royal highness) for his children, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed source. (Reuters)

-China issues warrants for alleged Taiwanese hackers and bans a business for pro-independence links: China issued warrants Thursday for 20 Taiwanese people it said carried out hacking missions in the Chinese mainland on behalf of the island's ruling party, while separately banning dealings with a Taiwanese company whose owners mainland authorities called “hardcore Taiwan independence supporters.” Police in the southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou said they were led by a man named Ning Enwei on behalf of Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party but did not identify their alleged crimes. Meanwhile, China's government said all commercial contact had been banned with the Sicuens International Company Ltd., which it says are led by businessman Puma Shen and his father, calling the two men independence supports. (AP)

-China offers bounty on hackers it says are linked to Taiwan: Authorities in southern China have offered an undisclosed bounty for more than 20 people they say are linked to Taiwan and suspected of cyber attacks in China, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday, accusations Taipei strongly rejected. The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou said the hackers were connected to the Taiwan government and published their pictures, names and Taiwan identity card numbers. (Reuters)

· Chinese authorities accused Taiwan of organising, planning and premeditating attacks on key sectors such as military, aerospace, government departments, energy and transportation, maritime affairs, science and technology research firms in China as well as in special administration regions Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said.

· Xinhua, citing a cybersecurity report, said the Taiwan “information, communication and digital army” had cooperated with U.S. anti-Chinese forces to conduct public opinion and cognitive warfare against China, secretly instigate revolution and attempt to disrupt public order in China.

· Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement it was not carrying out any “corporate cyber attacks”, and that China’s offers of a bounty highlighted “the rude and unreasonable attitude of the Chinese communists in intimidating and coercing the Taiwanese people”. “Recent statements by the European Union, the United States and the Czech Republic condemning the Chinese communists’ hacking organisations for carrying out cyber-attacks prove that the Chinese communists are not only a regional troublemaker, but a common threat to the global internet,” it added.

· A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the Chinese allegations were invented, saying Beijing was trying to shift the focus from Czech and European scrutiny over alleged Chinese hacking activities there. “They fabricated a false narrative to shift the focus. It’s a very typical behaviour by the Chinese Communist Party,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.

· China also said Taiwan had longstanding cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies as part of the United States’ “Asia-Pacific Strategy”, calling it Taiwan’s attempt to gain independence through relying on the United States.

· “The US intelligence department has long provided personnel training and technical equipment support for Taiwan’s ‘information, communication and digital army’, and many police stations have sent 'hunting' teams to Taiwan, to launch a cyber attacks on China," according to a social media post by an account linked to Chinese state television

-Hong Kong curbs Tiananmen anniversary, as US and Taiwan say world must remember: Security was tight in Hong Kong and activists faced pressure from police on the 36th anniversary of China's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, which Taiwan and the United States said must never be forgotten. The events on and around the central Beijing square on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end student-led pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in China, which treats the date as taboo and allows no public remembrance. (Reuters)

-A quiet Tiananmen Square anniversary shows China's ability to suppress history: For most Chinese, the 36th anniversary of a bloody crackdown that ended pro-democracy protests in China passed like any other weekday. And that's just how the ruling Communist Party wants it. Security was tight Wednesday around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where weeks of student-led protests shook the party in 1989. Under then-leader Deng Xiaoping, the military was sent in to end the protest on the night of June 3-4. Using live ammunition, soldiers forced their way through crowds that tried to block them from reaching the square. Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed, including dozens of soldiers. (AP)

· The party has tried, with some success, to erase what it calls the “political turmoil” of 1989 from the collective memory. It bans any public commemoration or mention of the June 4 crackdown, scrubbing references from the internet.

· In recent years, that ban has been extended to Hong Kong, where a once-massive annual candlelight vigil is no longer permitted. Police said they brought 10 people on suspicion of breaching public peace to a police station for investigation. Three were still detained late Wednesday, while the rest were allowed to leave. Police also arrested a woman for failing to show her identity document and a man for obstructing police officers from performing their duties. It is only in Taiwan, a self-governing island that is claimed by China but runs its own affairs, that large June 4 gatherings can still take place.

-North Korea's Kim vows unconditional support for Russia in meeting with Shoigu: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russia's Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday, state media KCNA reported. Kim pledged unconditional support for Russia's position on Ukraine and other international issues, the report said on Thursday. (Reuters)

-Four N. Koreans crossed maritime border with South, Seoul says: A wooden boat carrying four North Koreans drifted into waters south of the de facto maritime border with the South last month, Seoul's military said on Thursday. They were discovered in the East Sea -- known internationally as the Sea of Japan -- in waters around 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of South Korea's Gangwon province, it said. The South Korean military "detected a small North Korean wooden boat in waters... east of Goseong in Gangwon Province", an official said. (AFP)

-South Korea's new President Lee begins moves to tackle economic 'crisis': South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung held his first cabinet meeting on Thursday focused on devising an emergency package to address stagnating economic growth and aid households, moving swiftly to start tackling a top campaign pledge. Lee took office on Wednesday just hours after riding a wave of anger over a brief martial law imposed by Yoon Suk Yeol to win the snap election. The attempt at military rule led to Yoon's ouster and sent shockwaves through Asia's fourth-largest economy. (Reuters)

· In brief remarks open to the media, Lee told the cabinet carried over from the caretaker government put in place following Yoon's impeachment in December that there was no time to waste in getting to work as the people were facing hardship. Lee has so far only nominated a close political ally and legislative veteran as prime minister and is racing to form a cabinet and staff his office to maintain continuity in administration.

-South Korean lawmakers approve special investigations into martial law and Yoon's wife: South Korea’s liberal-led legislature overwhelmingly passed bills Thursday to launch special investigations into former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law in December and criminal allegations against his wife, targeting the ousted conservative a day after his liberal successor took office. The National Assembly also passed a bill to initiate an independent investigation into the 2023 drowning death of a marine during a search-and-rescue operation for flood victims, an incident the Democratic Party, which holds majority, accuses Yoon’s government of covering up. (AP)

-Japan's ispace counts down to second moon-landing attempt on Friday: Japanese startup ispace aims to become the first non-U.S. company to achieve a controlled moon landing as it prepares for the touchdown of its second uncrewed spacecraft on Friday, two years after its inaugural mission ended in failure. Tokyo-based ispace hopes to join U.S. firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace, which have accomplished commercial landings since last year amid an intensifying global race for the moon that includes state-run missions from China and India. (Reuters)

-Indonesia weighing purchase of China's J-10 fighter jets: Indonesia is weighing buying China's J-10 fighter jets, given their relatively cheaper price and advanced capability, as it also considers finalising a purchase of U.S.-made F-15EX jets, a senior official said on Wednesday. Southeast Asia's most populous country has in recent years embarked on efforts to modernise its ageing military hardware. In 2022 it bought 42 French Rafale jets worth $8.1 billion, six of which will be delivered next year. (Reuters)

· “We have had talks with China and they offered us a lot, not just J-10, but also ships, arms, frigates,” said Deputy Defence Minister and retired Air Marshal Donny Ermawan Taufanto. “We’re evaluating J-10,” Taufanto said, adding that Jakarta was reviewing system compatibility and after-sales support as well as pricing. A potential purchase has been considered for over a year, before the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, but Taufanto said Indonesia would factor in reports that a Pakistani J-10 plane shot down multiple Indian jets last month.

· Jakarta also continues to consider whether to proceed with the next step for its purchase of F-15EX fighters, he said, following the defence ministry’s deal with planemaker Boeing for the sale in 2023. Taufanto said the U.S. jets' capabilities were well recorded, but suggested the offered price of $8 billion for 24 planes remained in question.

-Australia says China anxiety, geography driving closer Indonesia ties: Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that security anxiety over China was partly driving deepening ties with Indonesia in a region riven by rivalry between Beijing and Washington. His visit to meet counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Jakarta came weeks after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made Indonesia his first foreign trip following his landslide election win. (AFP)

· Marles said the alliance with Indonesia stood on its own terms, but concerns about China's military build-up in the region influenced Australia’s foreign policy thinking. “We’ve made no secret of the fact that we have a security anxiety in relation to China. We’ve made that clear to China itself,” Marles, who also serves as deputy prime minister, told journalists in the Indonesian capital. “It does shape how we think about the strategic landscape that we face.”

· He said geography was also a key part of closer relations with President Prabowo Subianto’s government, with whom they signed a defence pact last year. “You just need to look at the map to understand how strategically important Indonesia is to Australia. Its geography is profoundly important," he said. "That's actually what's driving the increase in the activity between Australia and Indonesia."

-Canadian bill seeks to deny hearings to some asylum-seekers: A Canadian border-security bill introduced by the Liberal government earlier this week may deny some asylum-seekers a refugee hearing and make it easier for the government to revoke migrants' status. The bill comes as the government seeks to address U.S. concerns about its border security and reduce the number of migrants in the country. In addition to denying some refugee hearings and allowing the suspension, cancellation or variance of immigration documents, the bill facilitates sharing people's information and makes it easier to read people's mail, among other measures. (Reuters)

-Cuban students seek concessions as frustration grows over internet rate hikes: Cuban students clamored on Wednesday for further concessions to roll back a rate hike on internet data, saying a decision on Monday to offer them discounted access did not go far enough. Students of at least one department at the University of Havana, the country's largest, called on their peers to skip classes in protest of the price hikes, which have been rebuked across the Caribbean island nation. (Reuters)

-El Salvador judge orders detention of prominent lawyer Ruth Lopez: A judge in El Salvador ordered the provisional detention of prominent lawyer Ruth Lopez, human rights group Cristosal said on Wednesday. Lopez, a well-known human rights and anti-corruption advocate, was arrested by Salvadoran authorities last month over allegations of embezzlement during her time as a state official. (Reuters)

-Peru's Nazca Lines face mining threat after protected area slashed: Peru's government has significantly reduced the protected area around its famed Nazca Lines, a move critics and archaeologists fear could leave the ancient geoglyphs vulnerable to hundreds of nearby informal mining operations. Peru's Culture Ministry last week slashed the protected zone from 5,600 to 3,200 square kilometers, attributing the move to topographical and archaeological studies that more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value." (Reuters)

-Peru orders mining operations restart in violence-hit north: Peru's government has restored formal mining operations in northern parts of the country that were affected by violence, Defense Minister Walter Astudillo said on Wednesday. Last month, President Dina Boluarte suspended local mining operations after 13 gold mine workers in the northern district of Pataz were kidnapped and killed by illegal miners. (Reuters)

-US, UN, UAE urge Sudan respect humanitarian law after aid workers killed: The United States, United Arab Emirates and other key players on Wednesday urged Sudan's warring sides to respect humanitarian law after five aid workers were killed in besieged El-Fasher. A joint statement that also included the United Nations, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the African Union and Switzerland said that the group "urgently reiterates that international humanitarian law must be fully respected." "Attacks directed against civilians and civilian objects, including humanitarian personnel and assets, are serious violations of international humanitarian law," said the statement issued by the US State Department. (AFP)

BORDER

-Soldiers on US-Mexico border hunt drones with air defense radars typically used in combat: Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are at the U.S.-Mexico border tracking drones with the same kinds of radar systems that the U.S. funded for Ukraine to help the country counter aerial threats from Russia. The presence of these radar systems on the southern border highlights the proliferation of drones and their use by Mexico-based cartels. (Task & Purpose)

· U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say that the agency’s personnel have witnessed reconnaissance drones surveilling border personnel and that the agency “continues to receive reporting of Mexico-based cartels utilizing armed drones against rival cartels,” a spokesperson for CBP told Task & Purpose.

· “Because of this evolving threat, CBP works with the Department [of] Defense to maximize domain awareness for border security and officer safety of all threats, to include armed small unmanned aerial systems (drones). CBP continues to assess that currently, Mexico-based groups utilize drones to fuel intra and inter-cartel violence,” the spokesperson said.

· The Department of Defense currently has around 8,500 troops supporting the Joint Task Force — Southern Border mission, providing assistance to Customs and Border personnel for logistics, vehicle maintenance, transportation, intelligence analysis, and aviation aerial reconnaissance.

-New House cartel task force wants intel agencies to target fentanyl trade: In a rare moment of congressional bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats on June 4 announced a new Cartel Task Force to best weaponize U.S. spies and intelligence analysts against Mexican fentanyl trafficking and human smuggling organizations. The task force will be run through the House Intelligence Committee and led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas. (USA Today)

· The task force will hold hearings on how to improve intelligence collection against drug cartels, and conduct site visits for on-the-ground insight into the U.S. fight against fentanyl and migrant smugglings, Crenshaw said. The Cartel Task Force is an “actionable response” to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, said committee chairman Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark. In that assessment, the ODNI highlighted smuggling and drug cartels – and the fentanyl crisis in particular – as perhaps the top threat to U.S. security.

-Trump reinstates US travel ban, bars citizens of 12 countries: U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning the citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States, saying the move was needed to protect against "foreign terrorists" and other security threats. The directive is part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has also included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members, as well as efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students and deport others. (Reuters)

· The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The entry of people from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, will be partially restricted.

· “We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X. He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added. The proclamation is effective on June 9, 2025 at 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT). Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order said.

· Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a "large-scale presence of terrorists," fail to cooperate on visa security and have an inability to verify travelers' identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States. "We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States," Trump said.

-Homeland Security says its cracking down on visa overstays after attack left several injured in Boulder, Colorado: The Department of Homeland Security says it will be going after people who stay in the U.S. once their visas expire after an Egyptian man who overstayed his visa was charged with injuring several people in Boulder, Colorado. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is among hundreds of thousands of people known to overstay their visas each year in the United States. In a statement Wednesday, Homeland Security said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are ramping up their reviews of immigration records. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned that anyone aiming to come to America and “advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism” was not welcome and would be prosecuted. (AP)

-U.S. judge temporarily blocks deportation of family of Colorado attack suspect: A federal judge in Colorado on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting the wife and five children of the Egyptian man charged in a fire-bomb attack in Boulder, Colorado. U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Gallagher said in an order that deporting the family members, who include children ages 4 to 17, without adequate process could cause "irreparable harm." (Reuters)

-Hundreds of Venezuelans deported to El Salvador have right to challenge detention, US judge rules: Hundreds of Venezuelans deported from the United States to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law must be given the chance to challenge their detentions, and the Trump administration must facilitate the legal challenges, a U.S. judge ruled on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg stopped short of expressly ordering the Trump administration to bring the hundreds of Venezuelan migrants currently being held in a mega-prison in El Salvador back to the United States. (Reuters)

-Guatemalan deportee arrives in US after judge orders Trump to facilitate return: A Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico despite stating he feared being persecuted there was flown back to the United States on Wednesday after a judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. Judges have directed U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to help return several migrants to the country because they were wrongly deported, and the man's arrival appeared to mark the first time one of those migrants has been able to come back. (Reuters)

-Unsealed records in Abrego Garcia case offer few details that are new, unknown: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the unsealing of several court documents in the lawsuit over Kilmar Abrego Garcia's deportation, rejecting the Trump administration's arguments that it would risk national security. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued her order after media organizations, including The Associated Press, argued the public has a right to access court records under the First Amendment. Filings unsealed so far offer little information that’s new or unknown publicly. Xinis described one document as “relatively boilerplate.” It was a request by the Trump administration to temporarily halt discovery, an early phase of a lawsuit where parties share evidence. (AP)

-Attorneys have had no contact with migrants held at military base in Djibouti, groups tell Supreme Court: A group of migrants that the Trump's administration has been holding on a military base in Djibouti have been unable to contact their attorneys, immigrant rights groups told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The detainees, who were initially bound for South Sudan, are part of a high-profile emergency appeal pending at the Supreme Court over the administration's effort to remove migrants to places other than their homeland. Lower courts have required officials to provide those migrants additional notice and an opportunity to claim a fear of being tortured. (CNN)

-US appellate judges skeptical of Trump birthright citizenship order: A U.S. appeals court appeared likely on Wednesday to conclude that President Donald Trump's executive order curtailing automatic birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, though it may wait for the Supreme Court to first decide whether to narrow judicial orders that have prevented it from taking effect. During arguments in Seattle, a majority of a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed skepticism about the administration's claim that the U.S. Constitution does not extend citizenship to nearly all children born in the United States regardless of immigration status. (Reuters)

-Trump administration violated a settlement to provide legal advice to families separated at the border, judge says: A federal judge in San Diego says the Trump administration violated a settlement to provide legal advice to thousands of families that were separated at the border. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt says the legal advice could be critical for families as they seek to renew humanitarian parole, which began expiring in May 2024 under the settlement. Justice Department attorneys argued that a new service from its immigration courts fulfills its obligations, but the ACLU countered that they failed to show even a single person signed up. The ACLU wants the government to rehire the Acacia Center for Justice, whose contract for the free legal advice was ended in April. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said he would likely decide on concrete steps by early next week. (AP)

-Trump Halts New Foreign Student Enrollment at Harvard: President Trump suspended Harvard from participating in the student visa program, effectively prohibiting foreign nationals from attending the nation’s most prominent university. The proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday ramps up Trump’s attacks on the university, which has fought back against the administration in federal court. The proclamation seeks to prevent students from receiving visas to study for six months and perhaps longer. (WSJ)

-Trump promised to welcome more foreign students. Now, they feel targeted on all fronts: Students from around the world say being an international student in American today comes with feelings of fear, anxiety and insecurity that have made them more cautious in their daily lives. To attract the brightest minds to America, President Donald Trump proposed during his campaign he would grant green cards to all foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. But that promise never came to pass. International students have found themselves at the center of an escalating campaign to kick them out or keep them from coming as his administration merges a crackdown on immigration with an effort to reshape higher education. (AP)

GUNS

-FBI says active shooter incidents were down by 50% in 2024: The United States had half as many active shooter incidents in 2024 as it did in 2023, the FBI announced on Tuesday. The federal law enforcement agency released its "2024 Active Shooter Incidents in the United States" report, which shows 24 such reported incidents last year versus 48 in 2023. The active shooter incidents killed a total of 23 and wounded 83 others. The 106 casualties were down 57% from 244 in 2023. The federal law enforcement agency defines an active shooter incident as one or more people actively engaged in killing or trying to kill others in a populated area. (Newsweek, UPI)

· The FBI says lone shooters accounted for all but one of the active shooter incidents, and two were involved in the lone incident with more than one shooter. Males, 88%, greatly accounted for active shootings, with 22 reported vs. three, 12%, involving females.

· The number of female shooters in "active shooter" incidents increased in the United States, even as the total number of incidents fell in 2024, according to new data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. One criminologist told Newsweek it's difficult to know if the increase is a new trend or "statistical noise."

· Texas led all states with four active shooter incidents, followed by two each in California and North Carolina, according to the report. Common shooting locations were open spaces, businesses, schools, government locations and houses of worship, according to the FBI. Places of business and educational locations each accounted for four active shooting incidents, followed by three in a governmental location and one in a house of worship.

· The FBI report says 29 firearms were used in the 24 active shooter incidents. A total of 17 handguns were used in 59% of incidents, vs. nine rifles in 31% and three shotguns in 10% of such events. No active shooters wore body armor, and 14 of the 25 active shooters in 2024 were arrested, while five were killed by law enforcement. Six shooters committed suicide.

-Second Amendment advocacy groups push for more provisions in ‘big, beautiful bill’: Firearm manufacturers and Second Amendment advocacy groups are flexing their muscle to push for more pro-gun measures in the GOP reconciliation bill being considered by the Senate. Gun Owners of America and other groups say they are asking lawmakers to include a measure called the Short Act that would remove short-barreled rifles, shotguns and other weapons from the definition of “firearms” for the purposes of regulations under the National Firearms Act. (Washington Times)

· “The Short Act is really important because of the Biden pistol brace ban. Biden weaponized the 1934 National Firearms Act tax law to ban up to 40 million short-barreled firearms,” GOA Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston told The Washington Times. “We need to get rid of that law so it’s never weaponized for a national gun ban again.” The current NFA requirements include a $200 tax stamp for both manufacture and transfer of the devices, broad paperwork rules, and lengthy waiting times.

· The House last month narrowly passed the GOP’s reconciliation bill, which, though it doesn’t include the Short Act, does have a separate firearms provision that gun rights group support, but also want to have tweaked. The Hearing Protection Act would remove the tax and regulations on firearm suppressors from the National Firearms Act of 1934.

· But while it would remove suppressors for the definition of a “firearm” under the act, Mr. Johnston said it does not go far enough because of a quirky interaction with many state laws. “What isn’t in the bill is a protection for gun owners … that would protect gun suppressor owners at the state level, where their state’s statutes reference the federal registration requirement,” he said.

· According to Mr. Johnston, in some states, one can only own a suppressor if it’s registered with the federal government, and if the federal government removes gun suppressors from the National Firearms Act, gun owners won’t have their suppressors registered. Therefore, they wouldn’t be able to possess them legally under these state statutes.

· “So there’s a provision to state that anyone who lawfully possesses a firearm under federal law is considered to have met those federal registration requirements,” Mr. Johnston said. He said, “It’s very important that the Senate include this provision that the House failed to include, otherwise we’re going to end up accidentally banning suppressors in certain states.”

· Gun control organizations are urging lawmakers on Capitol Hill to vote against the president’s reconciliation package and say that the current restriction measures on suppressors are what is keeping the devices away from criminals. “Voters across the political spectrum understand that selling silencers to anyone, no questions asked, will increase crime and put police officers at risk.

· As the Senate formulates its own version of the bill, they would be wise to remove this dangerous provision — we will make sure voters are paying attention,” said Emma Brown, executive director of the group Giffords. “Republican Senators can see this is an obvious political loser: Voters don’t want criminals to have access to silencers, which is why three-quarters of Senate battleground voters oppose allowing silencers to be sold without a background check,” she said.

-Wait times for D.C. concealed carry permits reduced since Trump order fast-tracked process: Wait times to get an appointment for a concealed carry permit in the District have been significantly reduced, months after President Trump signed an executive order creating a task force to fast-track the permit process. D.C. now offers next-day appointments on the Metropolitan Police Department’s website, cutting wait times that reportedly could last at least four months to be photographed and fingerprinted. The visit also entails submitting paperwork to prove the applicant completed a 16-hour gun safety class and two hours at the range. (Washington Times)

· However, the District has imposed site restrictions on where permit holders can carry firearms, a vast expanse of the city that includes federal properties blanketing downtown. This prevents people with concealed carry permits from carrying a handgun where most people work, park their cars or traverse on an average day in the District’s downtown.

· Signed on March 28 by Mr. Trump, the executive order says the “Task Force shall coordinate to ensure effective Federal participation in the following tasks: … collaborating with appropriate local government entities to provide assistance to increase the speed and lower the cost of processing concealed carry license requests in the District of Columbia.”

· Pro Second Amendment advocacy organizations lauded the order. Gun Owners of America Senior Vice President Erich Pratt told The Washington Times, “Washington, D.C. has always been a stronghold for the political elite — surrounded by armed security while regular Americans are left without the means to defend themselves.”

· “That changed in March, when President Trump issued an executive order to streamline the concealed carry process for law-abiding citizens in the District,” he said. “It was a bold, necessary step toward restoring real public safety and standing up for the Second Amendment in a city where it’s been under constant attack. Trump recognized a simple truth: if we want to make America safe again, we have to start by making D.C. safe — not just for the politicians, but for the people.”

-Freedom to Carry bill advances in NC, but governor signals impending veto: North Carolina’s permitless concealed carry bill—the Freedom to Carry NC Act—cleared another hurdle Tuesday with a narrow 6–5 vote in the House Judiciary 2 Committee. The House has now taken its first steps toward clearing Senate Bill 50 since it passed the Senate in March. The bill would allow individuals 18 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, placing North Carolina on track to become the 30th state to legalize constitutional carry. (NC Newsline)

· “I appreciate y’all bringing this before us, and there’s been a willingness in the House for the past several years to make this happen,” Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender, said to Senate bill sponsors. “I don’t think the same willingness in the Senate. Can you tell me what’s changed where y’all not only want to move this bill, but move your own bill?”

· “I think there are a lot of things that change around here from session to session, as far as people’s opinions on what’s necessary, and we believe now that this is necessary to get this done,” replied Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson.

· However, the bill’s path to law faces a major roadblock if it successfully passes through the House: Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. On Tuesday, Stein suggested to reporters that he would veto it if it passes the House, which could be his first veto since taking office in January.

· “My standard reviewing any piece of legislation is, will this make us safer?” Stein said when asked about Senate Bill 50. “I don’t know what the version of the bill is today. I was going to see what they ultimately do with this bill. If it doesn’t make us safer – and the previous version certainly did not – I cannot support it.”

-Mobile theater shooting reignites Alabama permitless carry law debate: A fatal shooting at a child’s dance recital inside a crowded downtown Mobile theater has reignited fierce criticism of Alabama’s permitless carry law. City officials, a defense attorney, and even a state legislator are speaking out — some demanding change, others defending the status quo. “At the end of the day, it’s the State of Alabama,” said Mobile City Council President C.J. Small. “The state has failed the citizens of Mobile.” But Alabama lawmakers who ushered in permitless carry in 2022 over objections from county sheriffs, are not likely to make sweeping changes to a relatively new law that allows people to carry a pistol without having to pay for a permit. (AL.com)

· “I don’t think someone who is willing to walk into an auditorium full of people and shoot someone in cold blood will not commit that crime because (they are required to have) a permit,” said Rep. Shane Stringer, R-Citronelle, who sponsored the permitless carry legislation in the Alabama House. “It was a horrible situation and I understand that,” said Stringer, referring to the shooting. “But we need to enforce the laws we have on the books and keep people in prison who are violent offenders.”

-Dems unveil gun safety bills targeting ghost guns, suicides: Wisconsin Democrats are attacking gun violence and rising suicide and homicide rates with a series of gun bills that would also bring back a 48-hour waiting period to buy a hand gun. The announcement came at a Tuesday news conference that included several Democrat lawmakers and Attorney General Josh Kaul. According to Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, the legislation comes at an important time in the wake of the December Abundant Life Christian School shooting. "By the end of this year, an average of 741 Wisconsinites will lose their lives to gun violence," Stubbs said. "An additional 1,686 people will be injured by a gun. Sixty-nine of those fatalities will be children and teens." (Center Square)

-Boulder suspect's application for concealed handgun permit was denied: The suspect in Sunday’s Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder, Colorado, tried to buy a handgun in November but was denied, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Mohamed Soliman -- who was arrested after allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails during a pro-Israel demonstration, injuring 12 -- tried to buy the weapon on Nov. 22, 2024, but was denied based on National Instant Criminal Background Check System, according to the bureau. (ABC News, KDVR)

· The reason for his denial wasn’t disclosed. He didn’t appeal the denial, the bureau said. About a month later, on Dec. 30, 2024, CBI denied his application for a concealed handgun permit. After Soliman was arrested Sunday, he allegedly told investigators that he took a concealed carry class to learn how to fire a gun, but "had to use Molotov cocktails [for the attack] after he was denied the purchase of a gun due to him not being a legal citizen," state court documents said.

· CBI Strategic Communications Director Rob Low said CBI was able to confirm that Soliman attempted to purchase a handgun at Scheels All Sports in Colorado Springs on Nov. 22, 2024. “Colorado’s firearm background check system worked as designed when it comes to the actions of accused Boulder terrorism suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman,” Low said. “His application was processed through the CBI InstaCheck system, and shortly thereafter, Soliman’s attempted purchase was denied.”

-2 arrested with arsenal and Nazi paraphernalia after base robbery were ex-military, prosecutors say: Two men arrested in Washington state with an arsenal that included dozens of guns, explosives and body armor, along with Nazi paraphernalia, were former military members who attacked a soldier with a hammer while stealing gear from Joint Base Lewis-McChord last weekend, investigators say. (AP)

· Levi Austin Frakes and Charles Ethan Fields were arrested Monday night at their home in Lacey, near Olympia, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Federal court records did not list an attorney for either man.

· One of the defendants told investigators the pair had been stealing equipment from the base for the past two years to sell or trade, and agents found about $24,000 in cash at the home, wrote Special Agent Christopher J. Raguse of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.

· Washington state business license records show that Frakes and Fields have a company called Sovereign Solutions, which featured an “SS” logo with the letters separated by a lightning bolt. Its website advertises “Quality Training and Equipment for the Modern Warfighter,” including marksmanship classes, as well as a T-shirt with the company logo and the words “Professional War Crime Committer.”

· The federal complaint charges them with robbery, assault and theft of government property. They also face investigation on state charges of unlawful possession of incendiary devices, short-barreled rifles and a machine gun. Each was being held at the Thurston County Jail on $500,000 bail.

-Texas DACA recipient sentenced for firearm straw purchase scheme running guns to Mexico: Two men living in the Texas border town of Edinburg have been sentenced for their role in straw purchasing firearms related to a scheme involving running guns to Mexico. Referred to as “don’t lie for the other guy,” a straw arm purchase prohibits the transfer of a firearm to someone who is legally prevented from owning one. Edinburg residents Mario Elier Leal, 22, and Rodolfo Benitez-Garza, 24, pleaded guilty in 2024 and received sentences announced on Tuesday. (Center Square)

· Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane ordered Leal to serve 97 months in federal prison and Benitez-Garza 18 months. In 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Community Act to increase the maximum penalty for straw purchasing to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine and up to 25 years in prison if the weapon is used to commit a felony, in an act of terrorism, or a drug trafficking crime.

-Musket vs. AR-15: Judges Are Throwing Out Gun Restrictions Because of Antiquated Laws From America’s Founding: On January 29, in a federal courtroom in Mississippi, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves delivered a ruling that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable: He found the decades-old federal ban on machine guns unconstitutional. (The Trace)

· At the center of the case was a firearm that seemed designed to provoke: an AR-15-style rifle named the “NFA Whore, Whore-16.” It had a switch that allowed its user to select between three modes of fire: “MARY” for safe, “SLUT” for semiautomatic, and “WHORE” for fully automatic machine gun. The defendant was also accused of illegally possessing 20 Glock “switches” — devices that convert pistols to automatic fire — and more than 400 rounds of ammunition.

· But Reeves made clear that his decision had little to do with the weapon’s offensive branding or the intensifying public safety threat posed by automatic weapons. He said his hands were tied by the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which upended Second Amendment law. Bruen mandated that modern gun regulations align with historical firearms regulations. Suddenly, judges were less arbiters of modern safety and more reluctant antiquarians, tasked with finding 18th- or 19th-century parallels for today’s gun laws.

· While the Justice Department is appealing Reeves’ ruling, it is among a growing number of decisions striking down gun laws in the post-Bruen era. At least three rulings in the past year have invalidated federal restrictions on machine guns, once considered settled law. Bruen has also imperiled concealed carry laws, assault weapons bans, and a host of other gun restrictions. A Trace analysis of more than 2,000 challenges to gun laws since Bruen found that a case’s outcome now hinges on conflicting interpretations of America’s complex and often uncomfortable past. As judges, lawyers, and historians argue over what history counts and what it means, gun rights groups have capitalized on the confusion — with sweeping consequences for public safety.

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

-Trump renegotiating CHIPS Act awards: The Trump administration is renegotiating some grants previously awarded to companies under a law design to reinvigorate semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in a hearing Wednesday. When asked at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing about delays in doling out CHIPS Act funding awarded to some companies, Lutnick said they have been reworking some agreements to try and generate additional domestic investment. “Are we renegotiating? Absolutely, for the benefit of the American taxpayer, for sure,” Lutnick said. “All the deals are getting better. And the only deals that are not getting done are deals that should have never been done in the first place.” (AP)

· The CHIPS Act, a law passed in 2022 with bipartisan support, was designed to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing while sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and minimizing future supply chain disruptions. But recent tariffs and export limitations paired with the administration’s threats against the CHIPS Act, could dramatically slow its goal of ensuring the U.S. maintains a competitive edge in artificial intelligence development.

-Trump’s China ethane export curbs are another exercise in self-harm: The Trump administration's latest efforts to curb U.S. petrochemical exports to China could end up hurting the U.S. energy sector just as much, or more, than the Chinese economy. The booming plastics feedstock trade between the world's two largest economies is a prime example of the benefits of a dynamic, open, global trading system. As U.S. ethane production exploded in recent years, the excess production was largely met by a parallel expansion in appetite in the overseas petrochemical sector, particularly from China. (Reuters)

· Trump exempted energy products from his sweeping “Liberation Day” import tariffs on April 2, an apparent sign of his administration’s sensitivity to the impact that energy levies could have on consumer prices.

· But Enterprise Products Partners, one of the top U.S. operators of marine export terminals of natural gas liquids, on May 29 said that it had been notified by an agency of the Department of Commerce that the company will now require a licence to export ethane and butane to China due to the “unacceptable risk” that China could use these products for military purposes.

· Around 40% of the roughly 213,000 barrels per day of ethane loaded last year from Enterprise’s main export terminal was shipped to China. The company said it could not determine if it could obtain a licence.

· The U.S. decision was the latest step in Washington’s high-stakes trade war with Beijing, which seemed to cool somewhat after the sides held bilateral talks in Geneva last month and agreed on a 90-day truce to dial back triple-digit tariffs. These export curbs, particularly on ethane, a byproduct of natural gas that is used to produce the building blocks for plastics, speak to the slapdash nature of this trade war salvos

-Canada prepares reprisals over U.S. metals tariffs, EU reports progress in talks: Canada prepared possible reprisals while the European Union reported progress in trade talks on Wednesday as new U.S. metals tariffs triggered more disruption in the global economy and added urgency to negotiations with Washington. President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports kicked in on Wednesday, the same day his administration sought "best offers" from trading partners to avoid other punishing import levies from taking effect in July. (Reuters)

-Mexico to announce 'measures' next week if no deal on US metals tariffs: Mexico will announce measures next week if there is no agreement reached with the United States on the steel and aluminum tariffs announced, president Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday. She also called the U.S. announcement to raise the metals' tariffs to 50% from the 25% introduce in March an "unfair measure" during her morning conference, citing the free trade agreement Mexico and Canada share with the United Sates. (Reuters)

-China's rare earth export curbs hit the auto industry worldwide: Some European auto parts plants have suspended output and Mercedes-Benz is considering ways to protect against shortages of rare earths, as concerns about the damage from China's restrictions on critical mineral exports deepen across the globe. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. (Reuters)

· China's dominance of the critical mineral industry, key to the green energy transition, is increasingly viewed as a key point of leverage for Beijing in its trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. China produces around 90% of the world’s rare earths, and auto industry representatives have warned of increasing threats to production due to their dependency on it for those parts.

· “It just puts stress on a system that’s highly organised with parts being ordered many weeks in advance,” said Sherry House, Ford’s finance chief, at an investor conference on Wednesday. She said China’s export controls add administrative layers that are sometimes smooth, and sometimes not. "We're managing it. It continues to be an issue, and we continue to work the issues."

ECONOMY

-Stock Futures Tick Up as Investors Await Key Jobs Report: U.S. stocks looked set to edge higher on Thursday as investors shied away from making any big moves ahead of crucial jobs data that will show how the labor market held up over months of tariff-fueled chaos. (Barron’s)

· Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 48 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were flat.

· The three blue-chip indexes had risen early Wednesday, then lost some steam after the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book showcased some pessimism seeping into the economy. But the crunch moment is likely to come tomorrow, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics set to publish the May nonfarm payrolls report. It’ll be a big test for the market, which surged last month despite ongoing uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

· “The bulls are well and truly back in the driving seat,” Michael Brown, a strategist at the foreign exchange brokerage Pepperstone, writes. “This is, quite clearly, an equity market that wants to rally; a market that is happy to look through the to-and-fro on tariffs, so long as the direction of travel remains towards deals being done.”

· While stock futures were pointing to a quiet session early Thursday, there’s always a chance that fresh news–or Truth Social posts–about the Trump administration’s levies could drive bigger market moves.

· The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped 1 basis point to 4.35% on Thursday. The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a weighted basket of six other currencies, edged up 0.1%.

-US economic activity declines as tariffs pressure prices, Fed says: U.S. economic activity has declined and higher tariff rates have put upward pressure on costs and prices in the weeks since Federal Reserve policymakers last met to set interest rates, the U.S. central bank said on Wednesday in its latest snapshot of the nation's economy. "On balance, the outlook remains slightly pessimistic and uncertain, unchanged relative to the previous report," according to the document, known as the "Beige Book" and which is based on surveys, interviews and observations collected from the commercial and community contacts of each of the Fed's 12 regional banks through May 23. "There were widespread reports of contacts expecting costs and prices to rise at a faster rate going forward." (Reuters)

-Fed's Bowman confirmed by Senate to central bank's top regulatory post: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman was confirmed to the central bank's top regulatory post by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, where she is expected to push an agenda aimed at easing rules for banks. Bowman, a former community banker who President Donald Trump nominated to the Fed's Vice Chair for Supervision role in March, has served on the Fed's board as a governor since 2018. She was confirmed by a vote of 48 to 46. (Reuters)

-Trump says Fed's Powell must lower interest rate - Truth Social post: U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday redoubled his calls for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, noting that payroll processing firm ADP reported that job creation slowed in May. "ADP number out. 'Too Late' Powell must now lower the rate. He is unbelievable. Europe has lowered nine times," Trump said in a Truth Social post. (Reuters)

-U.S. Is Trimming Back Its Collection of Consumer Price Data: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is cutting back its collection of data on consumer prices, raising questions about the reliability of federal economic statistics under President Trump. (NYT)

· Every month, a small army of government workers visits stores and other businesses across the country to check prices of eggs, underwear, haircuts, and tens of thousands of other goods and services. The data collected is the basis for the inflation measures that determine cost-of-living increases in union contracts and Social Security benefits and that guide policymakers at the Federal Reserve when they set interest rates, among other applications.

· The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is part of the Labor Department, said on Wednesday that it was reducing its collection of price data “in areas across the country” and that it had stopped gathering data entirely in Buffalo; Lincoln, Neb.; and Provo, Utah. The agency did not give a specific reason for the cuts, but said it “makes reductions when current resources can no longer support the collection effort.”

· The agency said the cuts would have “minimal impact” on estimates of the overall inflation rate, though they could “increase the volatility” of more detailed measures, such as price indexes for individual categories or regions. But economists said the cuts were the latest blow to a statistical system that was already struggling to maintain the quality of its data in the face of tight budgets and declining response rates to government surveys.

-Selway tapped to run SEC's trading and markets division, sources say: Jamie Selway, a long-time market structure and investment technology expert with ties to the crypto sector, has been tapped to run the trading and markets division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Selway, who withdrew as a candidate for the position in the previous Trump administration, would take charge of a division heavily depleted by this year's voluntary staff reductions at the markets watchdog. (Reuters)

-Tax Bill’s Bid to Ban New AI Rules Faces Bipartisan Blowback: A Republican attempt to block states from enforcing new AI rules has drawn bipartisan criticism from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). More than 200 state lawmakers from both parties also urged Congress this week to scrap the measure. Markey and Warren have been forceful in pushing back against the measure, arguing that it violates Senate rules that bill language included in the budget reconciliation process must relate to spending. (Bloomberg)

· “This backdoor AI moratorium is not serious. It’s not responsible. And it’s not acceptable,” Markey said. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has said he’s “not certain if that provision will survive,” though he has expressed support for it.

· “We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years,” Greene wrote on X on Tuesday, noting she only discovered the provision after voting for the tax bill. She has pledged to oppose the package when it returns to the House if the AI language is not removed. “Giving it free rein and tying states’ hands is potentially dangerous.”

· If Congress backs away from the proposal, it would mark a setback for top AI developers. In March, OpenAI asked the White House to help shield AI companies from a possible onslaught of state AI rules. “This patchwork of regulations risks bogging down innovation and, in the case of AI, undermining America’s leadership position,” the company wrote in a set of policy recommendations submitted to the White House. However, OpenAI stopped short of asking to be exempted from all state regulations, just those concerning the safety risks of building more advanced models.

-Deal-hungry equity investors eye Europe's potential defence industry boom: Global investors and advisers gathered at their annual conference in Berlin are looking at channelling funds into Europe's defence industry, seeking to profit from governments' ramped-up military spending and revive a sluggish private equity market. (Reuters)

· Private equity and venture capital-backed investment in Europe’s aerospace and defence sector is dwarfed by that funnelled into the U.S. and Canada, which have absorbed 83% of all such investment since 2020, according to S&P.

· Once a controversial topic for investors in Europe concerned with environmental, social, and governance investment policies, the continent’s defence sector is now drawing private equity funds, said seven advisers and fund executives - some of whom are attending the SuperReturn conference this week.

· European money managers have been reconsidering policies on investing in defence, under pressure from clients and some politicians to loosen restrictions and help fund the continent’s race to re-arm and reduce dependence on the U.S.

· “Defence used to be a topic that received automatic exclusion, now even some ESG-focused investors are looking to deploy capital to support European defence,” said Sophia Alison, EMEA Direct Lending Portfolio Manager at Macquarie Asset Management, who was attending the conference. “That’s a very tangible shift from 12 or 18 months ago.”

· While none of them gave estimates of how much funding might shift to Europe from the U.S. and Canada, private investors are looking in particular at opportunities in space technology, both for military and civilian use.

GOVERNMENT NEWS OF NOTE

-Trump tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit and leave 10.9 million more uninsured, CBO says: President Donald Trump’s big bill is likely to unleash trillions in tax cuts and slash spending, but also spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade and leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance. That's according to a new analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The findings are raising political stakes for the GOP’s signature domestic priority. Senate GOP Leader John Thune said after a meeting with Trump at the White House that they're committed to getting it done. Republican leaders are determined to muscle the package through Congress by Trump's July Fourth deadline. But billionaire Elon Musk is trashing the package, posting “Kill the bill,” and Democrats are piling on their own opposition. (AP)

-GOP Senators Map Out Path to Write Bills in Chevron Aftermath: A new conservative bill-writing guide aims to reshape how congressional staffers approach legislation as part of a larger Republican effort to weaken the power of federal agencies. A 150-page report first shared with Bloomberg Government comes from the Senate’s conservative bloc in the wake of last year’s landmark US Supreme Court case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which eliminated Chevron deference, or the requirement that judges cede to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous or silent statutes. (Bloomberg)

· The report marks one of the Republicans’ first concrete steps to respond to the Loper Bright decision. It includes words to avoid, red flags, and best practices, while urging congressional Republicans to think “generationally” about weakening federal agencies.

· “The rise of the Administrative State has been antithetical to our Constitution and our Republican form of government,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), chair of the Post-Chevron Working Group, said in a statement. “In our system, the people elect their leaders.”

· Democrats, who decried the Loper decision and have introduced legislation that would codify Chevron deference into law, will likely blast Schmitt’s recommendations. “Corporate interests want extremist judges to write the rules at the expense of consumers, workers, safety, and the environment,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) previously said.

-US House plans quick action on Trump cuts to foreign aid spending: Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives said on Wednesday they would act quickly on President Donald Trump's request to slash $9.4 billion in spending on foreign aid and public broadcasting, hoping to file a bill as soon as Thursday. "Yesterday the White House sent the rescissions package. It's the first, maybe, of many. We are now putting that in bill format. We'll file that bill, hopefully by tomorrow, and then bring it up to the floor quickly," Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, told a news conference. (Reuters)

-House panel expands inquiry into Biden’s health in office: The House Oversight Committee is requesting interviews with members of former President Joe Biden’s innermost circle as Republicans ramp up their investigation into the final moves of the Biden administration. Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky requested transcribed interviews with five former Biden aides, alleging that they had participated in a cover-up over “Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.” Comer also requested interviews with Biden’s physician and four other senior aides. He cited a new book that details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden’s mental state and age. Biden and members of his family have vigorously denied the book’s claims. (AP)

-US Senate committee to consider nomination of Republic Airways CEO to head FAA: The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said on Wednesday it would hold a June 11 hearing on President Donald Trump's nomination of Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Bedford, a pilot and industry veteran of more than 30 years, was nominated in March and previously headed two other carriers and oversaw a significant expansion of Republic Airways, which operates regional flights for American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. (Reuters)

· Indiana-based Republic is one of the biggest regional airlines in North America, operating a fleet of more than 200 Embraer aircraft with 900 daily flights in the United States and Canada. In April, Mesa Air Group agreed to merge with Republic in an all-stock deal.

· Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars to modernize the aging U.S. air traffic control system to address airport congestion, flight delays and a shortage of 3,500 certified controllers.

· The FAA’s air traffic control network’s woes have been years in the making, but a rush of high-profile mishaps, near-misses and a catastrophic crash in January involving an American Airlines regional jet operated by PSA Airlines and an Army helicopter killed 67 and prompted new calls for action.

· The next FAA administrator will also face challenges on how to oversee Boeing and when to lift a production cap of 38 planes per month on the 737 MAX imposed after a January 2024 mid-air emergency.

· The FAA last month convened an emergency task force and said it was fast-tracking urgent steps to prevent additional telecom outages at the facility overseeing Newark air traffic after three incidents have shaken public confidence and disrupted hundreds of flights.

-White House taps special ops vet for key Latin America post, sources say: The White House has tapped a career special forces operative with experience in counterterrorism operations to oversee Latin America policy at the National Security Council, two U.S. officials said. The appointment of retired Air Force commander Michael Jensen as senior director of Western Hemisphere affairs at the NSC follows President Donald Trump publicly floating the idea of sending troops into Mexico to battle drug cartels. (Reuters)

-Trump orders investigation into Biden's actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor: President Donald Trump is directing his administration to investigate Joe Biden’s actions as president, alleging aides masked his predecessor’s “cognitive decline” and raising questions about his use of the autopen to sign pardons and other documents. The order Wednesday marks a significant escalation in Trump’s targeting of political adversaries, and it could lay the groundwork for claiming that a range of Biden’s actions were invalid despite the president’s pardon power being enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Biden responded, “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," adding, "Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.” (AP)

-Trump Wants His Presidential Library Set in Florida, Enticed by Free Land: Donald Trump is considering the campus of Florida Atlantic University for a presidential library, on a site where he has been offered free land, as planning begins for the MAGA mecca he eschewed during his first term. Trump and his advisers are planning a campaign to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for a library fund. One of the president's sons, Eric Trump, and one of his sons-in-law, Michael Boulos, recently established a nonprofit to support the library. More than $37 million from lawsuits involving ABC News and Meta Platforms, as well as tens of millions of leftover inauguration funds, are expected to fund construction of the complex, along with donors. Trump envisions turning a $400 million Boeing 747 jet—a gift from Qatar—into a tourist attraction at the library. (WSJ)

· After leaving office in 2020, Trump refused to give serious consideration to a library and focused instead on his political comeback. Aides said there was an unspoken rule not to talk about a presidential library because it would signal Trump's political career was over. Having achieved his return to the White House, he now wants a Trump-size presidential center to commemorate his time at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

-The Trump administration revives an old intimidation tactic: the polygraph machine: When President Ronald Reagan's White House threatened thousands of government officials with polygraph exams, supposedly to protect classified data (but probably also to control press leaks), his Secretary of State George Shultz threatened to resign. Reagan's White House backed down and agreed to impose the tests only for those suspected of espionage, according to a 1985 New York Times report. In terms of catching spies, polygraph tests failed spectacularly in key moments. More on that in a moment. (CNN)

· First, consider the second Trump administration, which is leaning in on polygraphs, presumably to ferret out leakers, but also as an apparent method of intimidation. “The polygraph has been weaponized and is being used against individuals who have never had a polygraph requirement, whether pre-employment or security, in their entire federal careers,” said Mark Zaid, an attorney who specializes in representing people who work in national security, after a slew of published reports about polygraph threats throughout the Trump administration.

· The tests are frequently being used to identify not leaks of classified information but rather “unclassified conversations regarding policy or embarrassing decisions that have made their way through the rumor mill or directly to the media,” said Zaid, who has previously testified before Congress about the use of polygraphs and sued federal agencies for their practices.

· At the FBI, the New York Times reports, an increased use of polygraphs has “intensified a culture of intimidation” for agents.

· At the Pentagon, officials publicly threatened to conduct polygraph tests as part of an effort to figure out how the press learned that Elon Musk was scheduled to get a classified briefing about China, which a billionaire with business interests in China probably should not get. It’s not clear if polygraph tests were ultimately administered as part of the probe, according to CNN’s report.

· At the Department of Homeland Security, according to CNN, polygraph tests have been used on FEMA and FAA officials in addition to those in more traditional national security roles.

· Administration officials have defended the practice as a way to protect government information. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the use of polygraph tests during an interview on CBS in March. "The authorities that I have under the Department of Homeland Security are broad and extensive," she said.

-Justice Department pushes to unseal FBI’s surveillance records of Martin Luther King Jr.: A federal judge is weighing a request from the Trump administration to unseal records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. — files that the civil rights leader’s relatives want to keep in the national archives. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., said during a hearing Wednesday that he wants to see an inventory of the records before deciding whether the government can review them for possible public release. Justice Department attorneys have asked Leon to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date. A department attorney said the administration is only interested in releasing files related to King’s assassination. (AP)

-Hamas Graffiti Likened to Cross Burning: The Justice Department, intent on pursuing a criminal case against student protesters at Columbia University, argued that graffiti with a Hamas symbol outside the home of the school's interim president threatened her life and was comparable to a racist cross burning, newly unsealed court documents show. The documents offer new insight into a contentious fight between political appointees in the department who told the civil rights division to open the case in late February and federal judges and career prosecutors who believed the move was risky overreach. (NYT)

· The records also underscore how determined the Trump administration was to press forward with a case judges viewed as weak. Justice Department leaders pushed for an investigation of a student group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, but federal judges in New York rejected the administration's efforts to get a search warrant four times, in what some veteran lawyers described as an unusually prolonged disagreement between federal prosecutors and the courts.

-'The intern in charge': Meet the 22-year-old picked to lead terrorism prevention: When Thomas Fugate graduated from college last year with a degree in politics, he celebrated in a social media post about the exciting opportunities that lay beyond campus life in Texas. “Onward and upward!” he wrote, with an emoji of a rocket shooting into space. His career blastoff came quickly. A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism. (Defense One)

· The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence. Fugate’s appointment is the latest shock for an office that has been decimated since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began remaking national security to give it a laser focus on immigration.

· News of the appointment has trickled out in recent weeks, raising alarm among counterterrorism researchers and nonprofit groups funded by CP3. Several said they turned to LinkedIn for intel on Fugate — an unknown in their field — and were stunned to see a photo of “a college kid” with a flag pin on his lapel posing with a sharply arched eyebrow. No threat prevention experience is listed in his employment history.

· Typically, people familiar with CP3 say, a candidate that green wouldn’t have gotten an interview for a junior position, much less be hired to run operations. According to LinkedIn, the bulk of Fugate’s leadership experience comes from having served as secretary general of a Model United Nations club.

· In the past seven weeks, at least five high-profile targeted attacks have unfolded across the U.S., including a car bombing in California and the gunning down of two Israeli Embassy aides in Washington. Against this backdrop, current and former national security officials say, the Trump administration’s decision to shift counterterrorism resources to immigration and leave the violence-prevention portfolio to inexperienced appointees is “reckless.”

-African history classes are safe if they teach ‘both sides,’ McMahon says: Education Secretary Linda McMahon made the comment Wednesday while facing questions by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Asking about the Trump administration’s push to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Democratic Rep. Summer Lee asked if courses on African American history should be permitted. “I do not think that African studies or Middle East studies or Chinese studies are part of DEI if they are taught as part of the total history package,” McMahon said. “If you’re giving the facts on both sides, of course they’re not DEI.” Lee responded, “I don’t know what both sides of African American history would be.” Lee posed the same question about lessons on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. “I’d have to get back to you on that,” McMahon said. (AP)

-Trump cannot proceed with gutting US Education Department, court rules: A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to lift a judge's order blocking President Donald Trump's administration from carrying out his executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and requiring it to reinstate employees who were terminated in a mass layoff. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's request to put on hold an injunction issued by a lower-court judge at the urging of several Democratic-led states, school districts and teachers' unions. (Reuters)

-Columbia failed to meet accreditation standards, US government says: The U.S. Department of Education said on Wednesday it has notified a university accreditation body that it believes Columbia University had violated federal anti-discrimination laws by its alleged failure to protect Jewish students on its campus. The alleged violation means that Columbia has not met the standards of accreditation set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the department said. (Reuters)

-Judge blocks Trump administration's effort to eliminate Job Corps: A U.S. judge on Wednesday temporarily stopped the Trump administration from moving ahead with an effort to eliminate the Job Corps, the largest U.S. job training program for low-income youth. U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan issued a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed by a trade group representing contractors that operate Job Corps centers. Carter ordered the government not to terminate Job Corps contractors or stop work at Job Corps centers until a further ruling in the case, and he ordered the Labor Department to appear at a court hearing on June 17. (Reuters)

-Letter outlines drastic cuts at Voice of America: Sharp job cuts at the state-run Voice of America have been outlined in a letter to Congress that was obtained by The Associated Press. The cuts would reduce personnel at the state-run service that provides news to other countries from more than 1,000 to 81, according to the letter. Voice of America has been largely silent since mid-March, when the administration put most of its staff on administrative leave and terminated the arrangements of contract workers. Trump says he believes the service speaks with a liberal bias. An employee who is suing the government to keep the service operational says it’s absurd to think it can run with these staffing levels. (AP)

-Fired NTSB vice chair sues Trump over removal from office: The fired vice chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board sued President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying his removal from office was illegal and threatened the independent agency's safety mission. Alvin Brown, a Democrat who was the first-ever African American elected mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, was designated as vice chair in December by then-President Joe Biden after he joined the five-member board in March 2024. Reuters first reported his May 5 removal from office by the White House. (Reuters)

-Judge tosses Democratic committees’ lawsuit over the Federal Election Commission’s independence: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block Trump’s administration from implementing an executive order that Democratic Party officials claim could undermine the independence of the Federal Election Commission. U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington ruled late Tuesday that there’s insufficient evidence that the Republican administration intends to apply a key portion of Trump’s executive order to the FEC or its commissioners. “This Court’s doors are open to the parties if changed circumstances show concrete action or impact on the FEC’s or its Commissioners’ independence,” the judge wrote. (AP)

OTHER DOMESTIC NEWS OF NOTE

-Pennsylvania sues the USDA over cutting funding to $1 billion food aid program: The state says the agency under Trump illegally cut off funding to it through a program designed to distribute more than $1 billion in aid to states to buy food from farms for schools, child care centers and food banks. The lawsuit in federal court was announced by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and comes three months after states received notices of termination from the Department of Agriculture saying the pandemic-era assistance program no longer reflects agency priorities. (AP)

-Chinese hackers broke into US telecom earlier than previously known, Bloomberg reports: Corporate investigators found evidence that Chinese hackers broke into a U.S. telecommunications company in the summer of 2023, indicating the hackers penetrated the U.S. communications system earlier than previously known, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. Investigators working for the telecommunications firm discovered last year that malware used by Chinese state-backed hacking groups was on the company's systems for seven months starting in the summer of 2023, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter and a document. (Reuters)

-Yale nears deal to sell $2.5 billion of private equity stakes, Bloomberg News reports: Yale University is finalizing the sale of up to $2.5 billion of its private equity and venture capital assets, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. The Ivy League school's endowment is in advanced talks on the portfolio sale, code-named "Project Gatsby," with an overall discount expected to be less than 10%, Bloomberg News reported citing people familiar with the matter. (Reuters)

-Man charged with supplying explosive chemicals to bomber of Palm Springs fertility clinic: Federal authorities say they have arrested a Washington man who provided chemicals to make explosives used to bomb a California fertility clinic in May. Authorities arrested 32-year-old Daniel Park on Tuesday night in New York upon his extradition from Poland. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli say Park sent more then 250 pounds of ammonium nitrate to Guy Edward Bartkus, who bombed the clinic. The chemical compound is an explosive precursor that can be used to make homemade bombs. Park also traveled to Southern California in late January to experiment with explosives with Bartkus, who was killed in the explosion. (AP)