5 things to know for June 13: Israel-Iran, Air India crash, DOGE cuts, Immigration protests, Extreme weather
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Israel has launched an unprecedented attack on Iran that targeted its nuclear program and military. Israel's 200 fighter jets hit dozens of targets and reportedly damaged the country's primary nuclear enrichment facility. Nuclear scientists and key military leaders — including the commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's highest-ranking military officer and an aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — were killed. During the 'large-scale strike,' Iranian civilians reportedly felt the ground shaking and heard repeated explosions. Multiple videos showed flames and smoke billowing from buildings across Tehran. In response, Khamenei has vowed that Israel will face 'severe punishment for the attacks.' Israeli citizens have already begun to prepare by closing schools and securing medical facilities. Overnight, Iran launched over 100 drones toward Israeli territory in what is expected to be the first stage of a much larger counter-attack.
At least 290 people died when an Air India jet crashed soon after departure from an airport in Ahmedabad, India, yesterday. The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, was en route to London when it crashed, hitting a hostel for doctors. The death toll includes 241 passengers and crew on Flight AI171 as well as people on the ground. Only one passenger, a British national, survived. Three officials from India's National Disaster Response Force said the flight recorder had been located. According to Boeing, this was the first major incident involving a 787 Dreamliner since the aircraft entered into service in 2011. However, the aerospace giant has had to deal with numerous safety incidents in the last several years, including fatal crashes and quality issues.
The GOP-led House narrowly passed some of the federal spending cuts that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sought to make unilaterally. The vote on Thursday to cancel $9.4 billion in federal spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting looked like it was going to fail. Then, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York and Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, both of whom had initially voted no, changed their votes in the final moments. If approved by the Senate, the legislation would cut $8.3 billion for US Agency for International Development (USAID) programs that provide humanitarian assistance, including health care, disaster aid and hunger relief. The bill would also slash $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Full Congressional approval would codify the DOGE cuts into law so that they can't be reversed by the next administration, and would help to insulate the Trump administration from legal challenges.
Hours after a district court judge ruled that President Donald Trump had unlawfully federalized thousands of members of California's National Guard and ordered him to return control of the troops to the state, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals put that ruling on pause. California Gov. Gavin Newsom had sued Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the president called the troops into federal service to quell the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. In his ruling, senior US District Judge Charles Breyer said Trump had not satisfied any of the requirements that must be met to call up a state's National Guard and that the demonstrations did not constitute an insurrection. A panel of three judges from the 9th Circuit will hold a hearing on the issue next week.
Torrential rains swept through San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday, triggering flash floods that swept away 15 vehicles and claimed the lives of at least five people. The rains were so sudden and heavy that the San Antonio River rose from about 3 feet to over 25 feet in just two hours. Ten people had to be rescued from trees and bushes about one mile from where they entered the water, a San Antonio Fire Department official said. Authorities are continuing to search for two people who are still missing.
Hats off to the first American pontiff
Or should we say 'hats on?' Pope Leo XIV showed his allegiance to one Chicago sports team this week by donning a baseball cap during an appearance at the Vatican.
Hey look! It's a new dinosaur.Scientists have identified a previously unknown species that fills an early gap in the fossil record of tyrannosaurus. The 86-million-year-old dinosaur has been named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis (the 'dragon prince of Mongolia').
'Jaws' celebrates semi-centennialIt's been 50 years since the release of the original summer blockbuster — and going to the beach hasn't been the same since. To commemorate the film's upcoming anniversary, NBC plans to air a shark-ton of 'Jaws'-related content.
'Levitating' with happinessSinger Dua Lipa is positively thrilled by the ring on her left hand, particularly since it was placed there by her new fiancé, actor Callum Turner.
Great idea or gross mistake?Instant ramen maker Cup Noodles is releasing a limited edition flavor that's sure to appeal to Gen Z, young millennials and anyone who follows TikTok trends.
Which popular TikTok personality left the US this week after being detained by immigration agents in Las Vegas?A. MrBeastB. Addison RaeC. Charli D'AmelioD. Khaby Lame
Take me to the quiz!
$3.48 millionThat's how much a collection of historic gold coins fetched at auction in Paris this week. The coins, many of which date back centuries, were recovered from the wall of a house in France after the owner died in 2024.
'Weakening the standards now is indefensible from a public health standpoint and a betrayal of EPA's mission. The agency's mission is to protect public health and the environment, not to expose people to more toxic pollution.'
— American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer, on the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to scrap two major federal regulations that limit air pollution and planet-warming emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants.
Check your local forecast here>>>
See this elusive squid for the first timeScientists captured the first live sighting of the Gonatus antarcticus from 7,000 feet below the ocean's surface.
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Amid President Donald Trump's push to secure a peace deal in Ukraine, he has taken frequent opportunity to claim success in efforts to end other conflicts around the world. In recent days, he repeated claims to have ended six, and on Tuesday, the list grew to seven: He appeared to have been missing one. Some of the conflicts in question, such as the 12-day exchange after Israel attacked Iran, loomed large for the American public. Some were more obscure, if they could be considered conflicts at all. In some, his role was clear. In others, it remains contested, or analysts warned that lasting peace could be elusive. He has long emphasized his role as a dealmaker. He has said he wants to be remembered for building peace — and to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. In recent remarks, he said that he was solving roughly one war per month. 'I've solved seven wars,' Trump said during an appearance Tuesday on 'Fox & Friends.' If 'I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons,' he added later, referring to his push to end the war in Ukraine. In confirmation of the figure the president has cited, the White House said Tuesday that Trump has solved seven conflicts, so many that even White House reporters can't keep them straight. Here's a list of the conflicts that Trump has said he has solved and where they stand now. The ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave long administered by Armenia within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, was forced to flee en masse in September 2023 as Azerbaijani forces took the territory by force. After four decades of conflict, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a deal that included a peace framework meant to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, at the White House earlier this month. 'It's a long time, 35 years, they fought, and now they're friends, and they're going to be friends for a long time,' Trump said to the cameras at the signing ceremony. Under the agreement, the U.S. gained exclusive rights to develop a transit corridor linking Azerbaijan with the contested territory of Nakhchivan, an energy-rich enclave sandwiched between Armenia, Iran and Turkey. The corridor, dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), could shift the regional security balance, giving the U.S. a foothold between Iran and Russia and offering Turkey new trade access to Asia. What the leaders signed on Aug. 8 was largely an economic partnership, not a full-on peace deal. Khazar Ibrahim, the Azerbaijan ambassador to the United States, said the Trump deal was not a formal peace agreement and that Azerbaijan has not signed one because the Armenian constitution still refers to territory claimed by Azerbaijan as Armenian. 'We have been very clear, the Armenia constitution still has territorial claims against us, so we don't want to have a stillborn document,' Ibrahim said. Until Armenia's constitution is changed, peace would not be possible, he said. But Ibrahim said he believed Trump's efforts would result in more peaceful relations with Armenia. 'It's essential to have a strong political will from a strong global leader. That is what I believe was lacking and that is what I believe now exists,' he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed concerns over the U.S.-brokered deal, describing the prospect of U.S. companies near Iran's northern border as 'worrying' in an interview with state television before his trip to Armenia this week. Leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda gathered in the Oval Office on June 27 to sign a U.S.-brokered deal that aimed to temper a decades-long conflict that has left millions dead. The agreement introduced a new security coordination mechanism and inked state commitments to stop arming local groups and to facilitate the return of various refugee populations, many displaced since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. While Trump celebrated 'a glorious triumph for the cause of peace,' some experts and diplomats have been more circumspect, noting that one of the main parties in the conflict, the M23 rebel group, was not party to the U.S. deal and continues to operate. 'This hasn't solved the problem,' said Michelle Gavin, a former U.S. ambassador to Botswana and National Security Council member during the Obama administration. Armed forces have yet to withdraw from eastern Congo following the deal, she said. Like the agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the deal promises the expansion of 'significant' investments facilitated by the U.S. government and private groups, who probably hope to tap into the region's mineral reserves, valued at $24 trillion by the U.S. Commerce Department. 'It is a mineral deal first, an opportunity for peace second,' Lewis Mudge, Human Rights Watch's Central Africa director, wrote in a statement. 'Making the deal work will depend on continued monitoring by the U.S. government and support from Congress.' Serbia and Kosovo have not been engaged in active conflict since the late 1990s, but the Trump administration said it prevented new violence. The president of Kosovo backed Trump's claim, saying that Serbia had planned to attack Kosovo in May before Trump intervened. 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It's unclear to what extent talks have restarted under Trump's second term, but tensions between the two counties appear to have eased, which analysts say is due in part to heavy rainfall. Egypt is primarily concerned with how Ethiopia will operate the dam during times of drought. The embassies of Egypt and Ethiopia in Washington did not respond immediately to queries about the status of the dispute or Trump's role in mediating it. After 10 days of conflict between two nuclear armed powers, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire May 10. Trump said he headed off the escalatory tit-for-tat. Pakistan praised Trump as a peacemaker. But India denied a U.S. role, a stance that appears to have contributed to the fading friendship between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a tense call on June 17 after Trump left a world leaders' summit early and canceled his in-person meeting with Modi, the Indian premier told Trump that India 'does not and will never accept mediation,' according to an Indian readout. Trump took offense at being denied credit and imposed a punishing 50 percent tariff on India in August, amid a trade dispute in part over India's Russian oil imports. On July 24, Thailand launched airstrikes on Cambodia, escalating a skirmish between the two countries, which share a disputed 508-mile border and a decades-old enmity. As Cambodia retaliated with artillery and the casualty count rose, tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border fled. Two days later, Trump stepped in. 'We happen to be, by coincidence, currently dealing on Trade with both Countries, but do not want to make any Deal, with either Country, if they are fighting — And I have told them so!' Trump posted on Truth Social. The threat appeared to work. On July 28, Trump said a ceasefire had been reached and instructed his trade teams to restart negotiations. 'I have now ended many Wars in just six months — I am proud to be the President of PEACE!' he posted. After 12 days of fighting between Iran and Israel in June that began with an Israeli attack on Iran — a conflict that included U.S. strikes on sites key to Iran's nuclear program — the Trump administration pushed for a ceasefire, which has held. 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f--- they're doing,' Trump told reporters when attacks launched by both sides threatened the ceasefire in its infancy. In the run-up to the conflict, Trump had been pushing for a renewed nuclear deal with Iran. Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.
