June 25, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Multiple media outlets cited U.S. intelligence community sources yesterday as saying a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency analysis suggests that the recent U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities set back Tehran's nuclear program only a few months, contradicting government claims that the facilities were "completely and fully obliterated." The analysis is reported to also note that much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium was moved out of multiple sites before the U.S. strikes and that Iran’s centrifuges used to further enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels remained largely intact. [more]
• In an interview yesterday, U.S. special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the U.S. and Iran are in early discussions about resuming nuclear talks. [more]
• Israeli military officials say seven Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday when an explosive device affixed to their armored vehicle detonated in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that most economists, both inside and outside the Fed, still expect tariffs to push inflation higher, and that Fed policymakers want to see what happens over the next couple of months before making any changes to interest rates. [more]

U.S. EV CHARGING | U.S. District Judge Tana Lin issued a preliminary ruling yesterday that orders the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in funds previously allocated to 14 states for the build-out of electric vehicle chargers. [more]

OREGON | Gov. Tina Kotek signed a measure into state law yesterday providing unemployment benefits to striking workers in Oregon for up to 10 weeks, including for picketing public employees — who aren’t allowed to strike in most states. [more]

NEW YORK | Zohran Mamdani declared victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary last night after former New York governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT | The Trump administration yesterday postponed classified briefings to both the House and Senate on the recent U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, prompting criticism that Congress is not being kept informed about the action and its results. [more]

U.S. SPENDING PLAN | Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled yesterday that several Republican-backed provisions in the Trump administration spending bill currently under consideration violate the chamber’s rules. Among the affected measures were a plan to sell more than 3,200 square miles of federal lands, approval of a mining road in Alaska, and changes to speed permitting of oil and gas leases on federal lands. Reports note that while the parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory, they are rarely, if ever, ignored. [more]

U.S. AND JAPAN | A Japanese court found U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 22, of Ohio, guilty of sexually assaulting a Japanese woman last year on the island of Okinawa and sentenced him to seven years in prison. [more]

GLOBAL VACCINATIONS | A new analysis in the journal The Lancet says that global childhood vaccination rates doubled from 1980 to 2023, but slowed between 2010 and 2019 in many countries, including in 21 of 36 high-income countries and territories, and showed significant declines after the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers also note that more than half of the world’s 15.7 million unvaccinated children lived in just eight countries in 2023: Nigeria, India, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Brazil. [full analysis] [more]

NATO | Nearing the conclusion of their two-day summit in The Hague, Netherlands, NATO leaders today endorsed a statement committing to defense spending of 5% of gross domestic product for member nations and reiterating their “ironclad commitment” to NATO’s collective security guarantee. [more]

U.K. | Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced today that the U.K., in a major expansion of its nuclear deterrent, plans to buy 12 U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs and will join NATO’s shared airborne nuclear mission. [more]

PAKISTAN | Local authorities say at least four people were killed, and several others were wounded, today in a landmine explosion in northwest Pakistan’s Kurram district. Reports note that while no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, the Kurram region has a history of sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. [more]

EUROPEAN TRAVEL | Western Europe's Eurostar passenger rail service is experiencing system-wide delays and cancellations today after two people died on a railway track in France and, separately, 600 meters of copper cables were stolen from the rail lines, causing trains to be rerouted. [more]

MEXICO | Amidst increasing violence attributed to drug cartels, police in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas yesterday unveiled a fleet of armed drones that they say will help to combat cartel-associated violence and surveil smuggling routes. [more]

THAILAND | Three years after decriminalizing cannabis, Thailand's government says it is moving to re-criminalize recreational use of the substance, upending what analysts say is the country's estimated $1.2-billion cannabis industry. [more]

AI | A U.S. federal judge ruled this week that artificial intelligence company Anthropic's use of millions of copyrighted books to train its AI models qualified as “fair use” under U.S. copyright law because it was “quintessentially transformative," but also found that the company must face trial over its alleged acquisition of the books by downloading them from online “shadow libraries” of pirated copies. [more]

BASKETBALL | Duke forward Cooper Flag is expected to be taken with the No. 1 overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks in tonight's first round of the 2025 NBA Draft. [more]

R.I.P. | Bobby Sherman, a leading teen idol in the 1960s and '70s, died yesterday at the age of 81, according to an announcement from his family. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1950, the Korean War began as forces from the communist North invaded the South. The conflict lasted for over three years and was responsible for an estimated 3-4 million deaths, with about 70% of casualties thought to have been civilians. [more history]