U.S.-Iran deal hailed by supporters as historic "grand bargain".
Critics say accord legitimises and strengthens Iran.
To Israel, the deal is strategic setback undermining core goals Lebanon pulled into U.S.-Iran framework, limiting its own track.
Gulf states alarmed by shifting regional order.
Reporting Highlights...
Climate Rollbacks: Trump's EPA is planning to weaken restrictions on oil and gas wells that produce very little energy but release vast amounts of methane.
A Wealthy Beneficiary: Oil billionaire Jeffery Hildebrand, a major Trump donor, is set to reap the benefits. Society as a whole will deal with the environmental costs.
The Influence Campaign: A former Hildebrand lobbyist now rewriting the EPA's methane rules has solicited input from oil industry groups backed by the billionaire.
ICE is planning to offload seven warehouses purchased for more than $700m by either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is a good human being
Cody Johnston analyzes how we're making the same mistakes we did in 1980 and how what we now call AI "slop" has always been here. Watch to the end (without skipping ahead) before you comment. I dare you.
President Donald Trump believes he handed Republicans a winning playbook for the midterms -- if only they'd follow it. Gerrymander everywhere possible, get rid of the filibuster, fire the Senate parliamentarian and pass the SAVE America Act.
Experts raise concerns about medical care, supervision in ICE detention centers. ICE death records lack critical information - such as medications and emergency response records. DHS says it is committed to ensuring 'safe, secure and humane environment' for detainees.
Ukraine's e-Points system is pushing soldiers toward higher-value Russian targets. Units earn points for confirmed hits and use them to buy drones, robots, and other gear. The system shows how Ukraine is using incentives, data, and decentralization to fight faster.
The Trump administration is U-turning on its controversial decision to dismantle a critical ocean monitoring system that provides vital information on the health of the world's oceans, after a bipartisan backlash in Congress. In late May, the National Science Foundation, which funds the $386 million deep-ocean system, announced it would be pulling up buoys and other underwater equipment from arrays off the coasts of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina and Greenland in what it called a "descoping" of the network. Read more
Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi, musicians Ehsan Beiraqdar and Soheil Faqih Nasiri, and six members of the production team for the Caravanserai Concert were ordered to be lashed 74 times by the Qom Provincial Criminal Court, Iranian human-rights groups and diaspora media outlets reported Thursday. The artists will also face a two-year travel ban and a two-year restriction on all artistic activity. The court ruled they had offended "public decency through the production and publication of obscene and immoral content on cyberspace platforms." The artists and their team were first arrested after their performance was broadcast on YouTube last December. They were ordered to appear before the Prosecutor's Office for Moral Security in January.
Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George is slated to be the next mayor of Washington DC after her opponent conceded on Thursday. Lewis George, a city council member, ran on a platform of expanding childcare, education and housing, and revoking the district's cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. In the city's first ranked-choice voting election, she succeeded in securing the Democratic nomination in a party stronghold, fending off another former city council member, Kenyan McDuffie. McDuffie had run a campaign more focused on public safety and local businesses. Now, Lewis George will be on the ballot in November's general election, where she will probably run unopposed.
WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Texas State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, on Thursday visited Waco to call on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to "release the Hoffman Files."
Talarico held a news conference at the McLennan County Courthouse to attack Paxton, his Republican opponent in the senate race.
"Ken Paxton gave Adam Hoffman an Epstein style sweetheart deal," Talarico said, "Ken Paxton had a chance to protect a child. Instead, he protected a child predator."
A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said. The defense secretary described the vaccine requirement, which he lifted in April, as an "absurd, overreaching" mandate.
Lawmakers in the state Senate took the final vote on these taxes on Thursday morning, sending them to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk where he's expected to sign the legislation before the end of the month. One proposal involves an increase in taxes on health plans, which experts say will raise rates for individuals with private health insurance by an average of $100 per year. This tax is expected to generate $2 billion annually to help fund Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program for low-income residents. The second tax increase would impose a new sales tax on digital software, including programs like Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, Slack, and Workday. This tax, starting at 7.25%, could vary depending on the region of California where the software is purchased or used. The measure is projected to bring in approximately $900 million annually for the state's general fund. Read more
Guess dumping in all the hydrogen peroxide, AKA paint stripper, was a bad idea.
President Donald Trump and his team had several red lines that they used to justify the US war against Iran. At a press conference on Wednesday, Trump largely brushed them aside.
AP: Efforts by Major League Baseball teams to promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity during Pride Month haven't been embraced with open arms by some of its rank-and-file players, and the league's response is prompting criticism from prominent Republican politicians. Several members of the San Francisco Giants added Bible verses or opted not to wear the themed cap at all during the club's Pride Night on June 12. A few nights earlier, two Los Angeles Dodgers players did not wear rainbow-themed caps with their teammates. MLB warned Giants players that writing on the caps is a violation of league policy, though the league added its issue was not with the content of the respective messages but the act of modifying the cap itself. The fallout has included criticism from notable politicians, including Vice President JD Vance and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.
