The Supreme Court preserved a key part of the Affordable Care Acts preventive health care coverage requirements on Friday, rejecting a challenge from Christian employers to the provision that affects some 150 million Americans.
The 6-3 ruling comes in a lawsuit over how the government decides which health care medications and services must be fully covered by private insurance under former President Barack Obamas signature law, often referred to as Obamacare.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court's majority. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch.
The plaintiffs said the process is unconstitutional because a volunteer board of medical experts tasked with recommending which services are covered is not Senate approved.
President Donald Trump's administration defended the mandate before the court, though the Republican president has been a critic of his Democratic predecessor's law. The Justice Department said board members dont need Senate approval because they can be removed by the health and human services secretary.
Medications and services that could have been affected include statins to lower cholesterol, lung cancer screenings, HIV-prevention drugs and medication to lower the chance of breast cancer for women.
The case came before the Supreme Court after an appeals court struck down some preventive care coverage requirements. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Christian employers and Texas residents who argued they cant be forced to provide full insurance coverage for things like medication to prevent HIV and some cancer screenings.
Well-known conservative attorney Jonathan Mitchell, who represented Trump before the high court in a dispute about whether he could appear on the 2024 ballot, argued the case.
The appeals court found that coverage requirements were unconstitutional because they came from a body the United States Preventive Services Task Force whose members were not nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
A 2023 analysis prepared by the nonprofit KFF found that ruling would still allow full-coverage requirements for some services, including mammography and cervical cancer screening.
A mother and her two young kids are fighting for their release from a Texas immigration detention center in what is believed to be the first lawsuit involving children challenging the Trump administration's policy on immigrant arrests at courthouses.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the family's arrests after fleeing Honduras and entering the U.S. legally using a Biden-era appointment app violate their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizure and their Fifth Amendment right to due process.
The big picture is that the executive branch cannot seize people, arrest people, detain people indefinitely when they are complying with exactly what our government has required of them, said Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, one of the lawyers representing the family.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Starting in May, the country has seen large-scale arrests in which asylum-seekers appearing at routine court hearings have been arrested outside courtrooms as part of the White Houses mass deportation effort. In many cases, a judge will grant a government lawyers request to dismiss deportation proceedings and then U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will arrest the person and place them on expedited removal," a fast track to deportation.
Mukherjee said this is the first lawsuit filed on behalf of children to challenge the ICE courthouse arrest policy. The government has until July 1 to respond.
There have been other similar lawsuits, including in New York, where a federal judge ruled earlier this month that federal immigration authorities cant make civil arrests at the state's courthouses or arrest anyone going there for a proceeding.
The Texas lawsuit was filed using initials for the children and Ms. Z for the mother. Their identities have not been released because of concerns for their safety.
For weeks in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the mother has watched her 6-year-old son's health decline, Mukherjee said. He recently underwent chemotherapy treatment for leukemia and because of his arrest, missed his check-in doctors appointment, Mukherjee said.
Hes easily bruising. He has bone pain. He looks pale," Mukherjee said, adding that he has also lost his appetite. "His mom is terrified that these are symptoms that his leukemia situation might be deteriorating.
The mother, son and 9-year-old daughter fled Honduras in October 2024 due to death threats, according to the lawsuit. They entered the U.S. using the CBP One app and were paroled into the country by the Department of Homeland Security, which determined they didnt pose a danger to the community, Mukherjee said. They were told to appear at a Los Angeles immigration court May 29.
President Donald Trump ended CBP One for new entrants on his first day in office after more than 900,000 people had been allowed in the country using the app since it was expanded to include migrants in January 2023.
During the family's hearing, the mother tried to tell the judge that they wished to continue their cases for asylum, Mukherjee said. Homeland Security moved to dismiss their cases, and the judge immediately granted that motion.
When they stepped out of the courtroom, they found men in civilian clothing believed to be ICE agents who arrested the family, Mukherjee said. They spent about 11 hours at an immigrant processing center in Los Angeles and were each only given an apple, a small packet of cookies, a juice box and water.
At one point, an officer near the boy lifted his shirt, revealing his gun. The boy urinated on himself and was left in wet clothing until the next morning, Mukherjee said.
They were later taken to the processing center, where they have been held ever since.
The family is suffering in this immigration detention center, she said. The kids are crying every night. Theyre praying to God for their release from this detention center."
Their lawyers have filed an appeal of the immigration judge's May decision, but they're at risk of being deported within days because the government says they are subjected to expedited removal, Mukherjee said.
The arrests of the family were illegal and unjustified, said Kate Gibson Kumar, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights project who is also representing the family.
The essential question in our case is, when you have these families who are doing everything right, especially with young children, should there be some protection there?" Gibson Kumar said. "We say yes.'
A Canadian man being held by immigration officials in South Florida has died in federal custody, officials said.
Johnny Noviello, 49, died Monday afternoon at the Bureau of Prisons Federal Detention Center in Miami, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release said. The cause of death was under investigation.
Noviello was being detained pending removal from the U.S., officials said. He entered the U.S. in 1988 on a legal visa and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991. He was convicted of drug trafficking and other charges in 2023 and sentenced to a year in prison, officials said.
Noviello was picked up by ICE agents at his probation office last month and charged with removability because of his drug conviction, authorities said.
Seven other immigration detainees have died in federal custody this year, with 11 deaths reported in 2024.
"ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay," ICE said in a statement. "All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care."
The Justice Department said Thursday that it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges in Tennessee before it moves to deport him to a country that is not his native El Salvador.
This defendant has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again, DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press.
Gilmartin made the statement hours after a federal prosecutor told a federal judge in Maryland that the U.S. government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country that isn't El Salvador. But Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn said there was no timeline for the deportation plans.
Guynn acknowledged the governments plans during a hastily planned conference call with Abrego Garcias attorneys and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. Abrego Garcia's lawyers had filed an emergency request for Xinis to order the government to take Abrego Garcia to Maryland when he is released in Tennessee, an arrangement that would prevent his deportation before he stands trial.
We have concerns that the government may try to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia quickly over the weekend, something like that, one of his attorneys, Jonathan Cooper, told Xinis on the call.
Prosecutor says there's no timeline
Xinis, however, said she could not move as quickly as Abrego Garcia's attorneys would like. She said she had to consider the Trump administration's pending motions to dismiss the case before she could rule on the emergency request. The judge scheduled a July 7 court hearing in Maryland to discuss the emergency request and other matters.
It was unclear whether the government would seek to deport Abrego Garcia before he stands trial in the U.S. on criminal charges unsealed earlier this month.
Guynn told the judge during Thursday's call that theres no timeline.
We do plan to comply with the orders weve received from this court and other courts, he said. "But theres no timeline for these specific proceedings.
Deporting Abrego Garcia before his trial would be a reversal for an administration that brought him back from El Salvador just weeks ago to face human smuggling charges, with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying: This is what American justice looks like.
Abrego Garcia, a Maryland construction worker, became a flashpoint over Trump's immigration policies after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March. He's been in jail in Tennessee since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7 to face the human smuggling charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee, has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial. But she decided Wednesday to keep him in custody for at least a few more days over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly try to deport him again.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys in Maryland, where his wife is suing Trump's Republican administration over his March deportation, offered up a solution when they asked Xinis to direct the government to take him to Maryland while he awaits trial. Xinis has been overseeing the lawsuit in her Greenbelt court.
If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland, Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote in their request to Xinis.
Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland, just outside Washington, with his American wife and children for more than a decade. His deportation violated a U.S. immigration judge's order in 2019 that barred his expulsion to his native country. The judge had found that Abrego Garcia faced a credible threat from gangs who had terrorized him and his family.
The Trump administration described its violation of the immigration judges 2019 order as an administrative error. Trump and other officials doubled down on claims Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang, an accusation that Abrego Garcia denies.
Those charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee, during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers without luggage.
Holmes, the magistrate judge in Tennessee, wrote in a ruling on Sunday that federal prosecutors failed to show that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a danger to the community.
During a court hearing on Wednesday, Holmes set specific conditions for Abrego Garcia's release that included him living with his brother, a U.S. citizen, in Maryland. But she held off on releasing him over concerns that prosecutors can't prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting him.
Holmes ordered Abrego Garcias lawyers and prosecutors to file briefs on the matter on Thursday and Friday respectively.
U.S. has to pull diplomatic levers
Csar Cuauhtmoc Garca Hernndez, an Ohio State University law professor, said the Trump administration would be fully within its legal power to attempt to remove him to some other country.
The Trump administration would have to pull its diplomatic levers, the professor added. Its unusual. But its not unheard of.
Abrego Garcia also could contest the criminal allegations and attempts to remove him in immigration court while demonstrating his ties to the U.S., Garca Hernndez said.
Whatever decision an immigration judge would make, it can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, Garca Hernndez said. And the boards ruling can then be contested in a federal appeals court.
The Trump administrations new vaccine advisers on Thursday endorsed this falls flu vaccinations for just about every American but threw in a twist: Only use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.
What is normally a routine step in preparing for the upcoming flu season drew intense scrutiny after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired the influential 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and handpicked replacements that include several vaccine skeptics.
That seven-member panel bucked another norm Thursday: It deliberated the safety of a preservative used in less than 5% of U.S. flu vaccinations based on a presentation from an antivaccine group's former leader without allowing the usual public airing of scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The preservative, thimerosal, has long been used in certain vaccines that come in multi-dose vials, to prevent contamination as each dose is withdrawn. But it has been controversial because it contains a small amount of a particular form of mercury.
Study after study has found no evidence that it causes autism or other harm. Yet since 2001, all vaccines routinely used for U.S. children age 6 years or younger have come in thimerosal-free formulas including single-dose flu shots that account for the vast majority of influenza vaccinations.
The advisory panel first voted, with one abstention, to back the usual U.S. recommendation that nearly everyone age 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination. Then the advisers decided people should only be given thimerosal-free single-dose formulations, voting 5-1 with one abstention.
That would include single-dose shots that already are the most common type of flu vaccination as well as the nasal spray FluMist. It would rule out the subset of flu vaccine that is dispensed in multi-dose vials.
There is still no demonstrable evidence of harm, one panelist, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist formerly with the National Institutes of Health, said in acknowledging the committee wasnt following its usual practice of acting on evidence.
But he added that whether the actual molecule is a risk or not, we have to respect the fear of mercury that might dissuade some people from getting vaccinated.
Normally the CDCs director would decide whether to accept ACIPs recommendation, but the Senate has not yet confirmed nominee Susan Monarez. Administration officials said Kennedy would make that decision.
While Thursday's debate involved only a small fraction of flu vaccines, some public health experts contend the discussion unnecessarily raised doubt about vaccine safety. Already, fewer than half of Americans get their yearly flu vaccinations, and mistrust in vaccines overall is growing.
What should have been a rigorous, evidence-based discussion on the national vaccine schedule instead appeared to be a predetermined exercise orchestrated to undermine the well-established safety and efficacy of vaccines and fundamental basics of science, said Dr. Jason Goldman of the American College of Physicians.
Public health experts decried the panel's lack of transparency in blocking the presentation of CDC's analysis of thimerosal that concluded there was no link between the preservative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. The data had been posted on the ACIP's website Tuesday, but was later removed because, according to ACIP member Dr. Robert Malone, the report hadn't been authorized by Kennedy's office. Committee members said they had read it.
The ACIP, created more than 60 years ago, helps the CDC determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when. Those recommendations have a big impact on whether insurance covers vaccinations and where theyre available.
Kennedy has long held there was a tie between thimerosal and autism, and also accused the government of hiding the danger. Thimerosal was placed on the meeting agenda shortly after Kennedys new vaccine advisers were named last week.
Sean Diddy Combs thought his fame, wealth and power put him above the law as he led a criminal enterprise for two decades, using power, violence and fear to carry out brutal crimes, a prosecutor told a jury at the music mogul's sex trafficking trial during closing arguments Thursday.
Over the last several weeks, youve learned a lot about Sean Combs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik began. Hes the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesnt take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes he committed with members of his enterprise.
She said charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy were supported by proof that over two decades, Combs kidnapped one of his employees, committed arson by trying to blow up a car, engaged in forced labor, bribed a security officer and carried out the brutal crimes at the heart of this case.
Combs again and again forced, threatened and manipulated former girlfriend Casandra Cassie Ventura and an ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym Jane into having sex with escorts for his own entertainment, Slavik said, speaking from a lectern positioned between jurors and the tables where prosecutors and defense lawyers sat.
The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted, she said. He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.
Slavik said Combs counted on silence and shame to enable and prolong his abuse. He used a small army of employees an inner circle that included personal assistants and bodyguards to harm women and cover it up, she said.
The theory of racketeering law is that when someone commits crime as part of a group, theyre more powerful and dangerous, Slavik said. The defendant was a powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of his inner circle, his businesses the enterprise.
Combs and his inner circle committed hundreds of racketeering acts, she said.
As Slavik spoke, jurors saw photos of key figures in Combs orbit, as well as excerpts from related testimony in the trial transcript and slides to categorize evidence.
One slide listed crimes prosecutors allege as part of the racketeering conspiracy, including drug distribution, kidnapping, arson and witness tampering. Another slide listed drugs such as cocaine, meth, ketamine, Oxycodone and MDMA, that Combs aides said they procured for him, or that federal agents said they found last year in raids of Combs homes.
Combs sat with his head down, his chair pushed back a few feet from the defense table, as Slavik spoke. He was wearing a light-colored sweater over a white button-down shirt and khakis.
Since his arrest at a Manhattan hotel last September, prosecutors have said Combs coerced and abused women for years as he used his power and prestige as a music star to enlist a network of associates and employees to help him while he silenced victims through blackmail and violence.
They've said the Bad Boy Records founder induced female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed Freak-Offs.
Defense lawyers have argued that Combs was involved in domestic violence but committed no federal crimes.
They built their case for acquittal through lengthy cross-examinations of most of the government's 34 witnesses. Some witnesses testified only in response to subpoenas and made it clear to the jury that they didn't want to be there.
Combs lawyers contend there was no racketeering conspiracy because none of his employees agreed to be part of any conspiracy.
But in her closing, Slavik said employees repeatedly agreed to commit crimes for Combs, such as delivering him drugs; accompanying him to kidnap his personal assistant, Capricorn Clark; and locking his girlfriend in a hotel room after he stomped on her face.
Before Slavik began her closing, Judge Arun Subramanian told the jury they would hear a closing argument from a defense lawyer on Friday and a rebuttal by a prosecutor before he instructs them on the law and allows them to begin deliberating as early as late afternoon.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez arrived in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday ahead of their star-studded weekend wedding, which has galvanized an assortment of protesters.
Bezos waved from a water taxi as he and Sanchez arrived at the dock of the Aman Hotel on the Grand Canal with two security boats in tow.
Their wedding has drawn protests by groups who view it as a sign of the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots, while residents complain it exemplifies the way their needs are disregarded in the era of mass tourism to the historic lagoon city.
About a dozen Venetian organizations including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups have united to protest the multi-day event under the banner No Space for Bezos, a play on words also referring to the brides recent space flight.
They have staged small-scale protests, unfurling anti-Bezos banners on iconic Venetian sites. They were joined Monday by Greenpeace and the British group Everyone Hates Elon, which has smashed Teslas to protest Elon Musk, to unfurl a giant banner in St. Marks Square protesting purported tax breaks for billionaires.
On Wednesday, other activists launched a float down the Grand Canal featuring a mannequin of Bezos clinging onto an Amazon box, his fists full of fake dollars. The British publicity firm that announced the stunt said it wasn't a protest of the wedding but against unchecked wealth, media control, and the growing privatisation of public spaces.
Bezos representatives have not commented on the protests.
The local activists had planned a more organized protest for Saturday, aiming to obstruct access to canals with boats to prevent guests from reaching a wedding venue. They modified the protest to a march from the train station after claiming a victory, asserting that their pressure forced organizers to change the venue to the Arsenale, a more easily secured site beyond Venice's congested center.
It will be a strong, decisive protest, but peaceful, said Federica Toninello, an activist with the Social Housing Assembly network. We want it to be like a party, with music, to make clear what we want our Venice to look like."
Among the 200 guests confirmed to be attending the wedding are Mick Jagger, Ivanka Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Venice, renowned for its romantic canal vistas, hosts hundreds of weddings each year, not infrequently those of the rich and famous. Previous celebrity weddings, like that of George Clooney to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014, were embraced by the public. Hundreds turned out to wish the couple well at City Hall.
Bezos has a different political and business profile, said Tommaso Cacciari, a prominent figure in the movement that successfully pushed for a ban on cruise ships over 25,000 tons traveling through the Giudecca Canal in central Venice.
Bezos is not a Hollywood actor, Cacciari said. He is an ultra-billionaire who sat next to Donald Trump during the inauguration, who contributed to his reelection and is contributing in a direct and heavy way to this new global obscurantism.
Critics cite Amazons labor practices, ongoing tax disputes with European governments and Bezos political associations as reasons for concern.
Activists also argue that the Bezos wedding exemplifies broader failures in municipal governance, particularly the prioritization of tourism over residents' needs. They cite measures such as the day-tripper tax which critics argue reinforces Venices image as a theme park as ineffective. Chief among their concerns is the lack of investment in affordable housing and essential services.
City officials have defended the wedding. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called the event an honor for Venice, and the city denied the wedding would cause disruptions.
"Venice once again reveals itself to be a global stage, Brugnaro told The Associated Press, adding he hoped to meet Bezos while he was in town.
Meanwhile, a Venetian environmental research association, Corila, issued a statement saying Bezos Earth Fund was supporting its work with an important donation.
Corila, which unites university scholars and Italys main national research council in researching Venetian protection strategies, wouldnt say how much Bezos was donating but said contact began in April, well before the protests started.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s new vaccine advisers alarmed pediatricians Wednesday by announcing inquiries into some long-settled questions about childrens shots.
Opening the first meeting of Kennedys handpicked seven-member panel, committee chairman Martin Kulldorff said he was appointing a work group to evaluate the cumulative effect of the childrens vaccine schedule the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood.
Also to be evaluated, he said, is how two other shots are administered one that guards against liver-destroying hepatitis B and another that combines chickenpox protection with MMR, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
It was an early sign of how the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is being reshaped by Kennedy, a leading antivaccine activist before becoming the nation's top health official. He fired the entire 17-member panel this month and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.
Vaccines are not all good or bad, Kulldorff said. We are learning more about vaccines over time and must keep up to date.
His announcement reflected a common message of vaccine skeptics: that too many shots may overwhelm kids immune systems or that the ingredients may build up to cause harm. Scientists say those claims have been repeatedly investigated with no signs of concern.
Kids today are exposed to fewer antigens immune-revving components than their grandparents despite getting more doses, because of improved vaccine technology, said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.
The American Academy of Pediatrics announced Wednesday that it would continue publishing its own vaccine schedule for children but now will do so independently of the ACIP, calling it no longer a credible process.
The narrative that current vaccine policies are flawed and need fixing is a distortion," said the AAPs Dr. Sean OLeary. "These policies have saved trillions of dollars and millions of lives."
The ACIP, created more than 60 years ago, helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when. Those recommendations have a big impact on whether insurance covers vaccinations and where theyre available, such as at pharmacies.
After Kennedys abrupt dismissal of the existing expert panel, a number of the CDCs top vaccine scientists including some who lead the reporting of data and the vetting of presentations at ACIP meetings have resigned or been moved out of previous positions.
And shortly before Wednesdays meeting, a Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist appointed to the committee stepped down. According to the Trump administration, he withdrew during a customary review of members financial holdings.
Scientists show data that COVID-19 vaccines protect pregnant women and kids
First on the committees agenda on Wednesday was COVID-19 vaccinations. Kennedy already sidestepped the panel and announced the vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women.
Yet CDC scientists told the panel that vaccination is the best protection during pregnancy, and said most children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were unvaccinated.
COVID-19 remains a public health threat, resulting in 32,000 to 51,000 U.S. deaths and more than 250,000 hospitalizations since last fall, according to the CDC. Most at risk for hospitalization are seniors and children under 2 especially infants under 6 months who could have some protection if their mom got vaccinated during pregnancy, according to the CDCs presentation.
The new advisers werent asked to vote on Kennedys recommendations, which raise uncertainty about how easily people will be able to access COVID-19 vaccinations this fall.
After CDC staff outlined multiple overlapping systems that continue to track the vaccines safety, several advisers questioned if the real-world data really is trustworthy.
Vote on RSV protections is postponed
Also Wednesday, the committee took up RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants.
In 2023, U.S. health officials began recommending two new measures to protect infants a lab-made antibody for newborns and a vaccine for pregnant women that experts say likely drove an improvement in infant mortality. The antibody proved to be 63% to 76% effective against emergency department visits for infants over the last year.
"People need to understand what a spectacular accomplishment these results are, said ACIP member Dr. Cody Meissner, of Dartmouth.
The committee postponed until Thursday a vote on whether to recommend another company's newly approved antibody shot as well.
Flu shot recommendations to be debated
At its June meetings, the committee usually refreshes guidance for Americans 6 months and older to get a flu shot, and helps green light the annual fall vaccination campaign.
But a vote set for Thursday also promises controversy.
The panel is set to consider a preservative in a subset of flu shots that Kennedy and some antivaccine groups have falsely contended is tied to autism.
In preparation, the CDC posted a new report confirming that research shows no link between the preservative, thimerosal, and autism or any other neurodevelopmental disorders. By Wednesday afternoon, the analysis had been removed from the committee's website.
Russian drones and missiles killed at least 14 civilians and injured several dozen others in Ukraine in overnight attacks, local officials said Monday, with nine deaths reported in the capital, Kyiv, where an apartment building partially collapsed.
The attacks came as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began a visit to the United Kingdom, where he met privately with King Charles III.
Russia fired 352 drones and decoys overnight, as well as 11 ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles, Ukraines air force said. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 339 drones and 15 missiles before they could reach their targets, a statement said.
A Russian ballistic missile strike destroyed a high school later in the day in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, killing two staff, authorities said. No children were on the premises due to the summer vacation, said Zelenskyy, who described the strike as absolutely insane.
The strikes came nearly a week after a Russian attack killed 28 people in Kyiv, 23 of them in a residential building that collapsed after a direct missile hit. Russia has also hit civilian areas with long-range strikes in an apparent attempt to weaken Ukrainian morale.
'Coalition of murderers'
Russian forces have been trying to drive deeper into Ukraine as part of a summer push along the roughly 620-mile front line, though the Institute for the Study of War said progress has failed to make significant gains.
Russian forces are largely relying on poorly trained infantry to make gains in the face of Ukraines drone-based defense, the Washington-based think tank said late Sunday.
Zelenskyy said preliminary data indicated that Russian forces used North Korean missiles in the Kyiv strike. He described Russia, North Korea and Iran, which has provided drones to Russia, as a coalition of murderers."
Zelenskyy said Ukraines defense and new ways to pressure Russia will be the two main topics in his visit to the United Kingdom on Monday. Zelenskyy met privately with King Charles III and stayed for lunch, Buckingham Palace said. He was also expected to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of this weeks NATO summit in The Hague, Starmers office said.
Drones hit hospitals and residential areas
Drones and missiles hit residential areas, hospitals and sports infrastructure in numerous districts across Kyiv, emergency services said.
The most severe damage was in Shevchenkivskyi district, where a section of a five-story apartment building collapsed.
Nine people were killed in the district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ten others, including a pregnant woman, were rescued from a nearby high-rise that also sustained heavy damage. Dozens of vehicles were burned or mangled by flying debris.
Oleksii Pozychaniuk, 29, who lives in the building next to the one struck, said he heard the whistle of the rocket approaching and froze in terror before feeling the impact.
Windows burst out, glass was flying everywhere, he said. We barely made it downstairs with my child. Everything here was on fire.
Klitschko said rescue workers were searching for survivors.
The Russian attack also damaged the entrance to the Sviatoshyn subway station in Kyiv, slightly injuring two people, said Timur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration. He said more than 30 people were injured across the city.
Underground subway stations have served as shelters for those seeking protection from aerial attacks. During almost nightly strikes, stations across Kyiv are often filled with people waiting out the danger.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot said the latest strikes demonstrated Russias unlimited cruelty by deliberately aiming at civilian targets, and promised more European sanctions on Moscow.
Long process to identify returned remains
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a drone attack killed two people and wounded 10 more in the Chernihiv region late Sunday, authorities said. Three children were among the wounded, according to the regional administration head, Viacheslav Chaus.
Another person was killed and eight wounded overnight in the city of Bila Tserkva, around 53 miles southwest of the capital.
Meanwhile, Russias Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight into Monday.
Ukraine will take at least a year to identify the thousands of soldiers' bodies repatriated by Russia and establish whether Moscow has mistakenly included more of its servicemen, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia had included at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it as a result of Moscows disorganization in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains.
At least five of the bodies can be proven to be Russian, Klymenko told a press conference, with tests being conducted on others. Journalists were shown uniforms and items including cigarettes belonging to what Ukraine said were the five Russians.
Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre doesn't know how to tell his children where their mother went after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her last month.
When his nearly 2-year-old son Noah asks for his mother before bed, Clouatre just tells him, Mama will be back soon. When his 3-month-old, breastfeeding daughter Lyn is hungry, he gives her a bottle of baby formula instead. Hes worried how his newborn will bond with her mother absent skin-to-skin contact.
His wife, Paola, is one of tens of thousands of people in custody and facing deportation as the Trump administration pushes for immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day.
Even as Marine Corps recruiters promote enlistment as protection for families lacking legal status, directives for strict immigrant enforcement have cast away practices of deference previously afforded to military families, immigration law experts say. The federal agency tasked with helping military family members gain legal status now refers them for deportation, government memos show.
To visit his wife, Adrian Clouatre has to make an eight-hour round trip from their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to a rural ICE detention center in Monroe. Clouatre, who qualifies as a service-disabled veteran, goes every chance he can get.
Paola Clouatre, a 25-year-old Mexican national whose mother brought her into the country seeking asylum more than a decade ago, met Adrian Clouatre, 26, at a southern California nightclub during the final months of his five years of military service in 2022. Within a year, they had tattooed each other's names on their arms.
After they married in 2024, Paola Clouatre sought a green card to legally live and work in the U.S. Adrian Clouatre said he is not a very political person but believes his wife deserved to live legally in the U.S.
Im all for get the criminals out of the country, right?" he said. "But the people that are here working hard, especially the ones married to Americans I mean, thats always been a way to secure a green card.
Detained at a green card meeting
The process to apply for Paola Clouatre's green card went smoothly at first, but eventually she learned ICE had issued an order for her deportation in 2018 after her mother failed to appear at an immigration hearing.
Clouatre and her mother had been estranged for years Clouatre cycled out of homeless shelters as a teenager and up until a couple of months ago, Clouatre had no idea about her mother's missed hearing or the deportation order, her husband said.
Adrian Clouatre recalled that a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staffer asked about the deportation order during a May 27 appointment as part of her green card application. After Paola Clouatre explained that she was trying to reopen her case, the staffer asked her and her husband to wait in the lobby for paperwork regarding a follow-up appointment, which her husband said he believed was a ploy.
Soon, officers arrived and handcuffed Paola Clouatre, who handed her wedding ring to her husband for safekeeping.
Adrian Clouatre, eyes welling with tears, said he and his wife had tried to do the right thing and that he felt ICE officers should have more discretion over arrests, though he understood they were trying to do their jobs.
Its just a hell of a way to treat a veteran, said Carey Holliday, a former immigration judge who is now representing the couple. You take their wives and send them back to Mexico?
The Clouatres filed a motion for a California-based immigration judge to reopen the case on Paola's deportation order and are waiting to hear back, Holliday said.
Less discretion for military families
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Paola Clouatre is in the country illegally" and that the administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.
Ignoring an Immigration Judges order to leave the U.S. is a bad idea, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a June 9 post on X which appeared to refer to Clouatre's case. The agency added that the government has a long memory and no tolerance for defiance when it comes to making America safe again.
Adrian Clouatre said the agency's X post does not accurately reflect his wife's situation because she entered the country as a minor with her mother, seeking asylum.
She was not aware of the removal order, so she was not knowingly defying it, he said. If she had been arrested, she would have been deported long ago, and we would never have met."
Prior to the Trump administration's push to drive up deportations, USCIS provided much more discretion for veterans seeking legal status for a family member, said Holliday and Margaret Stock, a military immigration law expert.
In a Feb. 28 memo, the agency said it will no longer exempt from deportation people in groups that had received more grace in the past. This includes the families of military personnel or veterans, Stock said. As of June 12, the agency said it has referred upward of 26,000 cases to ICE for deportation.
USCIS still offers a program allowing family members of military personnel who illegally entered the U.S. to remain in the country as they apply for a green card. But there no longer appears to be room for leeway, such as giving a veteran's spouse like Paola Clouatre the opportunity to halt her active deportation order without facing arrest, Stock said.
But numerous Marine Corps recruiters have continued to post ads on social media, geared toward Latinos, promoting enlistment as a way to gain protection from deportation for family members.
I think its bad for them to be advertising that people are going to get immigration benefits when it appears that the administration is no longer offering these immigration benefits, Stock said. It sends the wrong message to the recruits.
Marine Corps spokesperson Master Sgt. Tyler Hlavac told The Associated Press that recruiters have now been informed they are not the proper authority to imply that the Marine Corps can secure immigration relief for applicants or their families.
Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals unprecedented access to accounts consumers use each day.
According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple.
Sixteen billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had credentials for more than one account leaked. Cybernews notes that there are most certainly duplicates in the data and so it's impossible to tell how many people or accounts were actually exposed.
It's also important to note that the leaked login information doesn't span from a single source, such as one breach targeting a company. Instead, it appears that the data was stolen through multiple events over time, and then compiled and briefly exposed publicly, which is when Cybernews reports that its researchers discovered it.
Various infostealers are most likely the culprit, Cybernews noted. Infostealers are a form of malicious software that breaches a victim's device or systems to take sensitive information.
Many questions remain about these leaked credentials, including whose hands the login credentials are in now. But, as data breaches become more and more common in today's world, experts continue to stress the importance of maintaining key cyber hygiene.
If you're worried about your account data potentially being exposed in a recent breach, the first thing you can do is change your password and avoid using the same or similar login credentials on multiple sites. If you find it too hard to memorize all your different passwords, consider a password manager or passkey. And also add multifactor authentication, which can serve as a second layer of verification through your phone, email or USB authenticator key.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked off the court for the final time this season, collapsed into the arms of coach Mark Daigneault and finally smiled.
It was over.
The climb is complete. The rebuild is done. The Oklahoma City Thunder are champions.
WATCH | OKC Thunder win first NBA Championship
OKC Thunder win first NBA Championship
The best team all season was the best team at the end, bringing the NBA title to Oklahoma City for the first time. Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers who lost Tyrese Haliburton to a serious leg injury in the opening minutes 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
It doesnt feel real, Gilgeous-Alexander said. So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. Its crazy to know that were all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours and we deserve this.
Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who finished off a season for the ages. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third most in any season.
Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.
Its the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979; the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. Theres nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title.
In October, a championship banner is finally coming. A Thunder banner.
The Pacers led 48-47 at the half even after losing Haliburton to what his father said was an Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes into the game. But they were outscored 34-20 in the third quarter as the Thunder built a 13-point lead and began to run away.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers who were 10-15 after 25 games and were bidding to be the first team in NBA history to turn that bad of a start into a championship had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didnt have enough in the end.
Home teams improved to 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history.
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic bubble in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston won last years title.
And now, the Thunder get their turn. The youngest team to win a title in nearly a half-century has reached the NBA mountaintop.
The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's 12 seasons leading the league. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.
A Tennessee judge on Sunday ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But he is not expected to be allowed to go free.
At his June 13 detention hearing, prosecutors said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would take Abrego Garcia into custody if he were released on the criminal charges, and he could be deported before he has a chance to stand trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to discuss the conditions of Abrego Garcia's release. The U.S. government has already filed a motion to appeal the judges release order.
Holmes acknowledged in her ruling Sunday that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is little more than an academic exercise because ICE will likely detain him. But the judge wrote that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and a full and fair determination of whether he must remain in federal custody pending trial.
Holmes wrote that the government failed to prove that Abrego was a flight risk, that he posed a danger to the community or that he would interfere with proceedings if released.
Overall, the Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abregos release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community, the judge wrote.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify the deportation mistake after the fact.
The acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Rob McGuire, argued on June 13 that the likely attempt by ICE to try to deport him was one reason to keep him in jail.
But Holmes said then that she had no intention of getting in the middle of any ICE hold.
If I elect to release Mr. Abrego, I will impose conditions of release, and the U.S. Marshal will release him. If he is released into ICE custody, that is above my pay grade, she said.
The judge suggested that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security could work out between themselves whether the governments priority is to try him on the criminal charges or deport him. No date has been set for the trial.
Will Allensworth, an assistant federal public defender representing Abrego Garcia at the detention hearing, told Holmes that its not necessarily accurate that he would be immediately deported.
A 2019 immigration judges order prevents Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland, from being deported to his home country of El Salvador, Allensworth said in court. Thats because he faces a credible threat from gangs there, according to court papers.
The government could deport him to a third country, but immigration officials would first be required to show that third country was willing to keep him and not simply deport him back to El Salvador, Allensworth said.
The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Although officers suspected possible smuggling, he was allowed to go on his way with only a warning. He has pleaded not guilty.
At the detention hearing, McGuire said cooperating witnesses have accused Abrego Garcia of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing the women he transported, among other claims. Although he is not charged with such crimes, McGuire said they showed Abrego Garcia to be a dangerous person who should remain in jail pretrial.
Abrego Garcias attorneys have characterized the smuggling case as a desperate attempt to justify the mistaken deportation. The investigation was launched weeks after the U.S. government deported Abrego Garcia and the Supreme Court ordered the administration to facilitate his return amid mounting public pressure.
The U.S. is now expected to try to deport him again with much of the world watching and the outcome hard to predict.
Most people in ICE custody who are facing criminal charges are not kept in the U.S. for trial but deported, Ohio State University law professor Csar Cuauhtmoc Garca Hernndez said.
The U.S. will likely try to deport Abrego Garcia quickly without going before an immigration judge, the professor said. The government would not need a conviction to deport him because Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. illegally.
The legal standard is laxer, Garca Hernndez said. The governments argument is on stronger legal footing.
However an immigration judge rules, the decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, Garca Hernndez said. And the boards ruling can then be contested in a federal appeals court.
The Houston Rockets are acquiring 15-time All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns in a blockbuster deal struck Sunday, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press.
The Rockets are giving up Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and six future picks including the No. 10 selection in Wednesdays opening round of this years draft according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was still pending NBA approval.
It ends weeks of speculation about where Durant would end up. Many teams were involved at various times, including Miami and Minnesota, but in the end Phoenix took the Rockets offer.
Fans learned of the news while Durant was on stage in New York at Fanatics Fest NYC, and when they began reacting, Durant started smiling broadly.
We're gonna see, man, Durant said from the stage. We're gonna see.
Boardroom, the ever-growing media company that Durant and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, co-founded in 2019 teams up with Fanatics on a number of projects. The panel that Durant was set to appear on there Sunday was called Global Game Changers.
He certainly figures to change the game for Houston.
Houston finished No. 2 in the Western Conference in the regular season, albeit 16 games behind No. 1 Oklahoma City. It now adds a two-time champion to its young core as it looks to make another jump next season.
Durant averaged 26.6 points this season, his 17th in the NBA not counting one year missed because of injury. For his career, the 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 27.2 points and seven rebounds per game.
The move brings Durant back to the state of Texas, where he played his one year of college basketball for the Longhorns and was the college player of the year before going as the No. 2 pick in the 2007 draft by Seattle.
Houston will become his fifth franchise, joining the SuperSonics (who then became the Oklahoma City Thunder), Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix. Durant won his two titles with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and last summer in Paris he became the highest-scoring player in U.S. Olympic basketball history and the first men's player to be part of four gold-medal teams.
Several close U.S. allies urged a return to the negotiating table in the wake of American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, while noting the threat posed by Tehrans nuclear program. Some countries and groups in the region, including those that support Iran, condemned the move while also urging de-escalation.
U.S. President Donald Trump had said Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved in Israels war with Tehran. In the end, it took just days. Washington hit three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday.
While the amount of damage remained unclear, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. had crossed a very big red line, the time for diplomacy was over and Iran had the right to defend itself.
Some have questioned whether a weakened Iran would capitulate or remain defiant and begin striking with allies at U.S. targets scattered across the Gulf region.
Here is a look at reactions from governments and officials around the world.
United Nations
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States.
There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world, he said in a statement on the social media platform X. I call on Member States to de-escalate.
There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for Iran to return to the negotiating table to diplomatically end the crisis, saying stability was the priority in the volatile region.
The U.K., along with the European Union, France and Germany, tried unsuccessfully to broker a diplomatic solution in Geneva last week with Iran.
Starmer said Irans nuclear program posed a grave threat to global security.
Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the U.S. has taken action to alleviate that threat, Starmer said.
Russia
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of President Vladimir Putins Security Council, said several countries were prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons.
He didn't specify which countries, but said the U.S. attack caused minimal damage and would not stop Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons.
Russias Foreign Ministry said it strongly condemned the airstrikes and called them a a gross violation of international law, the U.N. Charter, and U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Iraq
The Iraqi government condemned the U.S. strikes, saying the military escalation created a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East. It said it poses serious risks to regional stability and called for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis.
The continuation of such attacks risks dangerous escalation with consequences that extend beyond the borders of any single state, threatening the security of the entire region and the world, government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in the statement.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern about the U.S. airstrikes, but stopped short of condemning them.
The Kingdom underscores the need to exert all possible efforts to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia had earlier condemned Israels strikes on Irans nuclear facilities and military leaders.
Qatar
Qatar, which is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, said it regrets escalating tensions in the Israel-Iran war.
Its Foreign Ministry in a statement urged all parties to show restraint and avoid escalation, which the peoples of the region, burdened by conflicts and their tragic humanitarian repercussions, cannot tolerate.
Qatar has served as a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas war.
Hamas and the Houthis
Both the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas have condemned the U.S. strikes.
In a statement on Sunday, the Houthi political bureau called on Muslim nations to join the Jihad and resistance option as one front against the Zionist-American arrogance.
Hamas and the Houthis are part of Irans so-called Axis of Resistance, a collection of pro-Iranian proxies stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave the Islamic Republic considerable power across the region.
Lebanon
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the U.S. bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations.
Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region, Aoun said in a statement on X. It is unwilling to pay more.
Pakistan
Pakistan blasted the U.S. strikes as a deeply disturbing escalation just days after it nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic intervention with the India-Pakistan crisis.
These attacks violate all norms of international law, the government said in a statement. Iran has the legitimate right to defend itself under the U.N. Charter.
China
China condemned U.S. strikes on Iran, calling them a serious violation of international law that further inflamed tensions in the Middle East.
In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged all parties especially Israel to implement a cease-fire and begin dialogue.
China is willing to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and contribute to the work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East, the ministry said.
European Union
The European Unions top diplomat said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but she urged those involved in the conflict to show restraint.
I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on social media.
Italy
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Irans nuclear facilities represented a danger for the entire area but hoped the action could lead to de-escalation in the conflict and negotiations.
European Council
President Antonio Costa said he was deeply alarmed by the bombings and called on all parties to show restraint and respect for international law and nuclear safety.
Too many civilians will once again be the victims of a further escalation, Costa added. The EU will continue engaging with the parties and our partners to find a peaceful solution at the negotiating table.
Netherlands
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country is hosting a summit of NATO leaders including Trump on Tuesday and Wednesday, said the governments national security council would meet later to discuss the issue.
He said said the U.S. attacks amounted to a further escalation of a worrying situation in the Middle East.
Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters Sunday that it was crucial to calm the situation as soon as possible, adding that the Iranian nuclear weapons development also must be prevented.
Ishiba, asked if he supports the U.S. attacks on Iran, declined to comment.
The Vatican
Pope Leo XIV made a strong appeal for peace during his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peters square, calling for international diplomacy to silence the weapons.
After an open reference to the alarming situation in Iran, the first American pontiff stressed that today more than ever, humanity cries out and invokes peace and it is a cry that demands reason and must not be stifled.
Pope Leo urged every member of the international community to take up their moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.
Irans state-run IRNA news agency confirmed there were attacks early Sunday at Iran's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.
IRNA quoted Akbar Salehi, Isfahans deputy governor in charge of security affairs, saying there had been attacks around Isfahan and Natanz. He did not elaborate. Another official confirmed an attack targeting Irans underground Fordo nuclear site.
Israel launched a surprise barrage of attacks on sites in Iran on June 13, which Israeli officials said was necessary to head off what they claimed was an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs.
Iran, which has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, has retaliated with a series of missile and drone strikes in Israel, while Israel has continued to strike sites in Iran.
The U.S. and Iran had been in talks that could have resulted in the U.S. lifting some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium. Until Saturday, Washington had helped shoot down Iranian strikes on Israel but had not launched direct attacks on Iran.
Heres a look at the sites Trump said the U.S. struck and their importance to Iran's nuclear program.
Natanz enrichment facility
Irans nuclear facility at Natanz, located some 220 kilometers (135 miles) southeast of Tehran, is the countrys main enrichment site and had already been targeted by Israeli airstrikes. Uranium had been enriched to up to 60% purity at the site a mildly radioactive level but a short step away from weapons grade before Israel destroyed the aboveground part of the facility, according to the U.N.s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Another part of the facility on Irans Central Plateau is underground to defend against potential airstrikes. It operates multiple cascades, or groups of centrifuges working together to more quickly enrich uranium. The IAEA has said it believes that most if not all of these centrifuges were destroyed by an Israeli strike that cut off power to the site.
The IAEA said those strikes caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area.
Iran also is burrowing into the Kh-e Kolang Gaz L, or Pickax Mountain, which is just beyond Natanzs southern fencing. Natanz has been targeted by the Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges. Two separate attacks, attributed to Israel, also have struck the facility.
Fordo enrichment facility
Irans nuclear facility at Fordo is located some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. It also hosts centrifuge cascades, but isnt as big as Natanz. Its construction began at least in 2007, according to the IAEA, although Iran only informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog about the facility in 2009 after the U.S. and allied Western intelligence agencies became aware of its existence.
Buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordo appears designed to withstand airstrikes. Military experts have said it could likely only be targeted by bunker buster bombs a term for bombs that are designed to penetrate deep below the surface before exploding such as the latest GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in the American arsenal. The roughly 30,000 pound (13,600 kilogram) precision-guided bomb is designed to attack deeply buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels.
The U.S. has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver that bomb, according to the Air Force. The B-2 is only flown by the Air Force and is produced by Northrop Grumman, meaning that Washington would have to be involved in such an operation.
Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center
The facility in Isfahan, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) southeast of Tehran, employs thousands of nuclear scientists. It also is home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the countrys atomic program.
Israel has struck buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site, among them a uranium conversion facility. The IAEA said there has been no sign of increased radiation at the site.
Other nuclear sites
Iran has several other sites in its nuclear program that were not announced as targets in the U.S. strikes.
Irans only commercial nuclear power plant is in Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, some 750 kilometers (465 miles) south of Tehran. Iran is building two other reactors like it at the site. Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the IAEA.
The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.
The Tehran Research Reactor is at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the civilian body overseeing the countrys atomic program. It initially required highly enriched uranium but was later retrofitted to use low-enriched uranium over proliferation concerns.
Belarus has freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and 13 others following a rare visit by a senior U.S. official, Tsikhanouskayas team announced on Saturday.
Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger and activist who was imprisoned in 2020, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners, his wife's team said. The release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko met with U.S. President Donald Trumps envoy for Ukraine in Minsk. Keith Kellogg became the highest-ranking U.S. official in years to visit Belarus, Moscow's close and dependent ally.
A video published on Tsikhanouskaya's official Telegram account showed Tsikhanouski disembarking a white minibus, smiling broadly despite his shaved head and emaciated frame. He pulled his wife into a long embrace as their supporters applauded.
My husband is free. It's difficult to describe the joy in my heart, Tsikhanouskaya told reporters. But she added her team's work is not finished while over 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus.
Tsikhanouski, known for his anti-Lukashenko slogan stop the cockroach, was jailed after announcing plans to challenge the strongman in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran in his stead, rallying large crowds across the country. Official results of the election handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham.
A crackdown snuffed out protests after 2020 election
Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in the aftermath of the August 2020 vote, in the largest protests in the country's history. In the ensuing crackdown, more than 35,000 people were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned. Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison on charges of organizing mass riots.
Lukashenko has since extended his rule for a seventh term following a January 2025 election that the opposition called a farce. Since July 2024, he has pardoned nearly 300 people, including imprisoned U.S. citizens, seeking to mend ties with the West.
At the meeting in Minsk, Lukashenko hugged and warmly welcomed Kellogg and the American delegation to his residence.
I really hope that our conversation will be very sincere and open. Otherwise, what is the point of meeting? If we are clever and cunning in front of each other, we will not achieve results, Lukashenko said. You have made a lot of noise in the world with your arrival.
Lukashenkos press secretary, Natalya Eismont, told Russian state media hours later that he freed the 14 prisoners following a request from U.S. President Donald Trump.
It was not immediately clear whether Kelloggs visit might pave the way for the lifting of some U.S. sanctions against Minsk, imposed over the brutal crackdown against the 2020 protests and Lukashenkos support of Russias all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Lukashenko is clearly trying to get out of international isolation, and the release of such a large group of political prisoners signals a desire to start a dialogue with the U.S. in order to soften international sanctions, Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich told The Associated Press.
After five years, Lukashenko is trying to loosen the knot with which the Kremlin tied him, using him for the war against Ukraine, Karbalevich said.
Belarus has allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to send troops and weapons into Ukraine, and also to station its forces and nuclear weapons there.
Others remain behind bars
Many other prominent dissidents still languish in Belarusian jails, among them Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, a human rights advocate serving a 10-year prison sentence on charges widely denounced as politically motivated.
Bialiatski, founder of Viasna, Belarus oldest and most prominent rights group, was arrested in 2021 during raids by the country's main security agency that still goes by its Soviet-era name, the KGB.
In March 2023, he was convicted on charges of smuggling and financing actions that grossly violated public order, and sentenced to 10 years. Authorities labeled him especially dangerous because of alleged extremist tendencies.
He, his family and supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated, and a U.N. panel of human rights experts called on Belarus to release him. In 2022, when Bialiatski was behind bars, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraines Center for Civil Liberties.
Bialiatski has been serving his sentence at a penal colony for repeat offenders in the city of Gorki. The facility is notorious for beatings and hard labor. Bialiatskis wife warned last year about his deteriorating health, saying the 62-year-old battles multiple chronic illnesses.
Also behind bars is Viktor Babaryka, a former banker who was widely seen in 2020 as Lukashenkos main electoral rival, and Maria Kolesnikova, a close ally of Tsikhanouskaya and charismatic leader of that year's mass protests. With her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming her hands into the shape of a heart, Kolesnikova became an even greater symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. She responded by tearing up her passport at the border and walking back into Belarus.
A journalist walks free, but many more languish
Released alongside Tsikhanouski was longtime Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty correspondent Ihar Karnei, the U.S. government-funded broadcaster confirmed. Karnei, who had also worked with prominent Belarusian and Russian newspapers, had been serving a three-year service on extremism charges he rejected as a sham.
RFE/RL's Belarusian service had been designated extremist in the country, a common label handed to anyone who criticizes Lukashenko's government. As a result, working for it or spreading its content has become a criminal offense.
We are deeply grateful to President Trump for securing the release of this brave journalist, who suffered at the hands of the Belarusian authorities, the broadcaster's CEO Stephen Capus said Saturday in a press release.
Karnei was detained several times while covering the 2020 protests. Unlike many of his colleagues, he chose to stay in Belarus despite the ensuing repression. He was arrested again in July 2023, as police raided his apartment seizing phones and computers.
The group Reporters Without Borders says Belarus is Europes leading jailer of journalists. At least 40 are serving long prison sentences, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists. Many face beatings, poor medical care and the inability to contact lawyers or relatives, according to activists and former inmates.
Belarus also freed an Estonian national who had set up an NGO to raise funds for Belarusian refugees. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Allan Roio was detained last January, and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison on charges of establishing an extremist organization.
A hot-air balloon caught fire and tumbled from the sky on Saturday in Brazil s southern state of Santa Catarina, killing eight people, firefighters said.
Footage shared by local news outlet G1 showed billows of smoke coming from the balloon in flames as it hurtled toward the ground in the municipality of Praia Grande.
On a video on social media, two people can be seen falling through the air as the fire spread onboard the aircraft.
Three people died hugging each other, said Ulisses Gabriel, chief of Santa Catarina's civil police force, on X. It hurts the soul.
Thirteen people survived and were taken to hospitals, Santa Catarinas military fire brigade said, adding that 21 people were on board including the pilot.
We are in mourning. A tragedy has happened. We will see how it unfolds, what happened, why it happened. But the important thing now is for the state structure to do what it can, Gov. Jorginho Mello said in a video on X.
Mello said he has asked authorities to head to the municipality to do as much as possible to rescue, to help, to take to hospital, to comfort the families.
According to the pilot, who is one of the survivors, a fire started inside the basket and then he began to lower the balloon. When the balloon was very close to the ground, he ordered people to jump out of the basket, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper quoted Praia Grande head police officer Tiago Luiz Lemos as saying.
"Some of them didnt manage to jump. The fire increased and the balloon ended up falling, Lemos added.
G1 reported that the balloon's expected flight time was 45 minutes, with the balloon reaching 1000 meters, and cost 550 reais (around $100) per passenger.
Praia Grande is a common destination for hot-air ballooning, a popular activity in some parts of Brazil's south during June festivities that celebrate Catholic saints such as St. John, whose feast day is on June 24.
Last Sunday, a balloon came down in Sao Paulo state, killing a 27-year-old woman and injuring 11 other people, G1 reported.
California's challenge of the Trump administration's military deployment in Los Angeles returned to a federal courtroom in San Francisco on Friday for a brief hearing after an appeals court handed President Donald Trump a key procedural win.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer put off issuing any additional rulings and instead asked for briefings from both sides by noon Monday on whether the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits troops from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil, is being violated in Los Angeles.
The hearing happened the day after the 9th Circuit appellate panel allowed the president to keep control of National Guard troops he deployed in response to protests over immigration raids.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his complaint that violation of the Posse Comitatus Act is imminent, if not already underway but Breyer last week postponed considering that allegation.
Vice President JD Vance, a Marine veteran, traveled to Los Angeles on Friday and met with troops, including U.S. Marines who have been deployed to protect federal buildings.
According to Vance, the court determined Trumps determination to send in federal troops was legitimate and he will do it again if necessary.
The president has a very simple proposal to everybody in every city, every community, every town whether big or small, if you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, were not going to send in the National Guard because its unnecessary, Vance told journalists after touring a federal complex in Los Angeles.
Vances tour of a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations have calmed after sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and break-ins that followed immigration raids across Southern California earlier this month. Tens of thousands have also marched peacefully in Los Angeles since June 8.
National Guard troops have been accompanying federal agents on some immigration raids, and Marines briefly detained a man on the first day they deployed to protect a federal building. The marked the first time federal troops detained a civilian since deploying to the nations second-largest city.
Trump allowed to keep control of National Guard
Breyer found Trump acted illegally when, over opposition from California's governor, the president activated the soldiers. However, the appellate decision halted the judge's temporary restraining order. Breyer asked the lawyers on Friday to address whether he or the appellate court retains primary jurisdiction to grant an injunction under the Posse Comitatus Act.
California has sought a preliminary injunction giving Newsom back control of the troops in Los Angeles, where protests have calmed down in recent days.
Trump, a Republican, argued that the troops have been necessary to restore order. Newsom, a Democrat, said their presence on the streets of a U.S. city inflamed tensions, usurped local authority and wasted resources.
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