June 6, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Israel carried out airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, today, targeting, according to Israeli officials, underground facilities used by Hezbollah for drone production. The Lebanese army condemned the strikes and said such actions could force it to suspend cooperation with the committee monitoring the truce that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war. [more]
• U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday urged attendees of an upcoming conference on ending the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict to both support and facilitate the idea of a two-state solution where independent states of Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1198 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russia carried out large-scale aerial attacks on six regions of Ukraine overnight, launching more than 400 drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles at targets that included the capital Kyiv. Reports say at least three people were killed, and dozens of others were injured, in the strikes. [more]
• In a White House meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine and Russia may need to "fight for a while" before steps are taken to pursue a peace deal. [more]

U.S. EMPLOYMENT | Labor Department data released today shows that U.S. employers added 139,000 jobs in May, down from 147,000 in April, and that the U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged for the month at 4.2%. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | In continuing deterioration of their high-profile relationship sparked by disagreement over the spending and budget bill under consideration in Congress, President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk traded barbs on social media yesterday, with Trump expressing his disappointment in Musk and threatening to cut government contracts with Musk-run companies and Musk accusing Trump of "ingratitude" and suggesting that Trump would not have won last year's presidential election without his support. [more]

U.S. BORDER | In the first trial of a migrant charged with illegally crossing into a newly established military zone along the U.S. southern border, a Texas jury yesterday acquitted Adely Vanessa De La Cruz-Alvarez, 21, of Peru, of charges related to unauthorized access to a National Defense Area. Prosecutors note that Cruz-Alvarez was convicted of illegal entry into the U.S., however, and faces deportation. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | The U.S. District Court in Boston is scheduled to hear arguments today in a lawsuit filed by 19 states seeking to block President Donald Trump's March election rules-related executive order that the states say violates the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives states and Congress control over how elections are run. [more]

U.S. EDUCATION | Boston-based U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs yesterday issued a temporary injunction blocking President Donald Trump's proclamation earlier this week that banned foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University. [more]

U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT | U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions on four judges at the Hague-based International Criminal Court yesterday, saying that any assets the judges have in the U.S. will be frozen due to their "actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel" in the ICC's investigations of alleged war crimes in Gaza. Responding to the sanction, Antonio Costa, president of the European Council and other E.U. officials called the ICC a "cornerstone of international justice" and said the court's independence must be protected, while U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk called for "prompt reconsideration and withdrawal" of the sanctions. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone yesterday – their first call since Trump returned to office. Following the call, Trump said the two countries, which have the world's largest economies, have agreed to resume trade talks. [more]

U.S. AND MEXICO | The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Mexican government that alleged American gun manufacturers should be held responsible for cartel violence on the Southwest border. In a unanimous ruling, the Court said the lawsuit failed to plausibly allege that gunmakers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican weapons traffickers. [more]

GLOBAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE | International police organization Interpol says 20 people in Europe and the Americas have been arrested in an operation targeting child sexual abuse and pornography material in 12 countries. Investigators note that 68 additional suspects have been identified in the case and that investigations are ongoing. [more]

IRAN | Western nations, including France, Germany, the U.K., and the United States, are reportedly preparing to submit a resolution to the U.N.’s nuclear agency calling for Iran to be found in non-compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its alleged failures to provide the International Atomic Energy Agency with "full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations." [more]

GUATEMALA | Emergency officials say nearly 600 residents of communities near Guatemala's Volcano of Fire – one of the most active volcanos in Central America – were evacuated yesterday amidst a new eruption that sent hot gasses and ash high into the air. [more]

JAPAN | Overturning a lower court ruling, Japan's Tokyo High Court today ruled that four former executives at the utility managing the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were not accountable for the 2011 meltdown crisis and do not need to pay damages to the company. [more]

COLOMBIA | Environment Minister Lena Estrada Añokazi says the Colombian government’s integrated plan to address deforestation resulted in a 33% drop in deforestation in the first quarter of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. [more]

BASKETBALL | The Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-110, last night to win Game 1 of the best-of-seven NBA Finals. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1944, during World War II, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on “D-Day” as they launched Operation Overlord to liberate German-occupied Western Europe. [more history]