President Trump declared Monday that a US-Iran agreement is in its "final throes," predicting the Strait of Hormuz will reopen "upon signing" — a window he put at two to three days. He also privately warned Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to "be very careful" or Israel would be "on its own," marking a sharp shift in US posture. Iranian officials pushed back, saying they see no "serious will" from Washington to close the framework.
Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina all held primary elections Tuesday. The marquee contest is Maine's Democratic Senate primary, where frontrunner Graham Platner — battered by explosive personal allegations — is seeking the nomination to face incumbent Susan Collins in November. Nevada Democrats are consolidating around Attorney General Aaron Ford, while South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial field is so fragmented a runoff looks likely. Maine's ranked-choice system means final results could take days.
A 51-year-old man went on a random stabbing rampage at New York's Penn Station Sunday evening, wounding six people — one seriously — before Amtrak officers tackled and Tased him on the concourse. The suspect, identified as Hector De Leon, is described as homeless and emotionally disturbed with no terror ties. The attack rattled commuters the night before President Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, just a few blocks away.
Wall Street recovered Monday after Friday's sharp selloff, with the Nasdaq climbing 1.4% and the S&P 500 clawing back most of its losses. The relief is fragile: CME FedWatch now puts the odds of at least one Federal Reserve rate hike this year at 72%, driven by May's blowout 172,000-job report that signaled an overheating economy. This week's CPI data is the next flashpoint, and traders are bracing.
Sunday's 7.8-magnitude offshore earthquake in southern Mindanao has now killed at least 35 people and injured more than 200, as rescue crews continue digging through collapsed structures. A 3-foot tsunami swept coastal villages, and a single landslide in Sarangani province killed 13. President Marcos ordered school closures affecting 3.2 million students on what was to be their first day back — and aftershocks reaching 6.5 magnitude are still being felt.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is in North Korea for a two-day summit with Kim Jong Un, the most senior Chinese state visit since 2019. Xi arrived with his defense minister, foreign minister, and a heavyweight delegation — the strategic goal being to reassert Beijing's influence over Kim's regime and reduce its deepening reliance on Moscow. The visit signals China's intent to manage North Korea's alignment as US-China competition in Northeast Asia intensifies.
Sweden's Uppsala Conflict Data Program has published findings showing the number of active armed conflicts globally has reached the highest level ever recorded by the organization. The data is fueling renewed urgency at the United Nations for ceasefire diplomacy across multiple simultaneous theaters — from Ukraine to the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers say no previous period in the dataset comes close.
NASA officially announced the four-person Artemis III crew Tuesday morning from Johnson Space Center. The catch: Artemis III was redesignated earlier this year from a lunar surface landing to a low-Earth-orbit docking demonstration for the commercial lander system. The first crewed American return to the moon is now Artemis IV, targeted for early 2028 — later than the program originally promised Congress or the public.
The Department of Defense added several prominent Chinese businesses to its military entity blacklist Tuesday, barring them from US defense contracts. The move intensifies economic pressure on Beijing-linked firms operating in advanced technology sectors and signals continued hardening of export control policy. It is the latest action in an accelerating pattern of US-China competition over dual-use technology and industrial supply chains.
The Hills reality television star Spencer Pratt spent much of election night leading the race for the second spot in Los Angeles's mayoral runoff — only to be overtaken by City Council member Nithya Raman as the vote count continued. The race still has not been called. Pratt, who ran on a populist platform, came within a whisker of facing former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in November — a storyline no political strategist anywhere could have written.
