June 12, 2025

AIR INDIA CRASH | An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft bound for London with 242 people on board crashed just minutes after take-off today in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad. Reports cite local officials as saying they do not believe there were any survivors of the crash. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to assist in investigating the incident and some 130 Indian military personnel have been dispatched to the crash site to help in clearing debris and treating persons injured on the ground. [more]

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• The U.S. State Department said yesterday that it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East amidst increasing regional tensions centering on U.S.-Iran nuclear talks that appear to have hit an impasse. [more]
• The U.N. General Assembly is expected to overwhelmingly approve a non-legally-binding resolution today that demands an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and the opening of border crossings into Gaza for aid deliveries, and "“strongly condemns any use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” [more]
• Israeli military officials say several members of the Hamas militant group were detained today in a raid on the southern Syrian village of Beit Jin near the border with Lebanon. Syrian media has confirmed the raid and reports that one person is believed to have been killed during the incident. [more]
• Israel and Hamas have offered contrasting accounts of an incident in Gaza yesterday in which Gaza’s Hamas-run police force clashed with an Israel-backed militia. Reports say both sides suffered casualties in the clash near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, and cite Israeli officials as saying the incident began when Hamas attacked a bus carrying aid workers. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1204 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Ukrainian officials say at least three people were killed, and dozens of others were injured, in overnight Russian drone attacks that targeted Ukraine's Donetsk, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions. [more]

U.S. PROTESTS | Demonstrations against federal immigration raids, the domestic mobilization of federalized National Guard and active-duty Marines, and alleged government overreach continued in Los Angeles yesterday and spread to additional large U.S. cities including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle. [more]

U.S. MILITARY | San Francisco-based Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer is scheduled to hear arguments today on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's challenge to the Trump administration's deployment of federalized National Guard and active-duty Marine troops to Los Angeles to assist with immigration raids and secure federal facilities. [more]

U.S. VACCINES | Following his removal earlier this week of all members of the expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced eight new panel members yesterday, including, according to reports, several who have criticized vaccines, spread related misinformation, and opposed U.S. COVID-19 policies. [more]

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION | Among developments in Trump administration actions and policies being reported today are the following:

• President Donald Trump is expected to sign a measure Thursday that blocks California’s first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. [more]
• President Trump said this week that he intends to begin "phasing out" the Federal Emergency Management Agency following the 2025 hurricane season, with plans to shift more of FEMA's responsibilities to individual states. [more]
• A new proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday would repeal rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says the move would help to "unleash" American energy production. [more]

OREGON | Emergency officials say Oregon's ongoing Rowena wildfire has prompted the evacuation of some 700 homes and the closing of about 20 miles of Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge. [more]

ARKANSAS | A group of Arkansas families filed a lawsuit this week challenging a state requirement that copies of the Christian Bible's Ten Commandments be displayed in all public-school classrooms. In the lawsuit, the families say the display requirement "unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture." [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | President Donald Trump said yesterday that the U.S. and China have agreed to a new trade deal under which U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will be reduced to 55%, Chinese students will continue to be allowed to attend American colleges and universities, and the U.S. will receive rare earths and magnets from China. Trump characterized the deal as "done," but reports cite Chinese officials as being more reserved about the agreement, including descriptions of the progress as more of a "framework." [more]

U.S. AND IRAN | Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi says a sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks will be held in Oman this coming Sunday. [more]

U.S. AND DENMARK | Denmark's parliament voted today to allow U.S. military bases on Danish soil, expanding an existing military agreement between the two countries that permitted U.S. access to Danish airbases. [more]

GLOBAL DISPLACEMENT | According to the U.N. refugee agency's new Global Trends report, an estimated 123.2 million people worldwide – about 1 in every 67 people on Earth – were forcibly displaced at the end of 2024 due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and other events – up 7 million people, or about 6% from the number seen at the end of 2023. [full report] [more]

IRAN | The board of governors of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency voted today to find Iran in violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and called for Iran to provide information on uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. Responding immediately after the IAEA vote, Iran said it plans to establish a third facility for enrichment of nuclear materials at an undisclosed location and upgrade its centrifuge technology at another existing site. [more]

ISRAEL | Amidst ongoing political tensions over whether to require ultra-Orthodox citizens to register for military service, the coalition government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived an opposition-led vote to dissolve parliament today. [more]

SUDAN | The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said yesterday that it has seized a strategic area along Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt. The statement followed yesterday's announcement from the Sudanese military that its forces had withdrawn from the region. [more]

SOUTH AFRICA | Emergency officials say search and rescue operations continue today following widespread flooding in South Africa's Eastern Cape province this week in which at least 49 people are reported to have died. [more]

MALI | The Council of Ministers approved a bill yesterday granting Gen. Assimi Goita, the head of Mali's military junta, an additional five years in power. Reports note that Goita has led the West African nation since orchestrating two coups in 2020 and 2021 and that the extension of power bill follows the junta's dissolution of political parties last month. [more]

BASKETBALL | The Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 116-107, last night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. [more]

R.I.P. | Brian Wilson, songwriter and co-founder and leader of the iconic band The Beach Boys, died yesterday at the age of 82. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down a state law that banned interracial marriage, ruling that it was unconstitutional under the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  [more history]