Trump Bans Travel For 12 Countries, Israel Recovers Two Hostages’ Bodies, Nintendo Switch 2 Launch

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Venezuelan daily El Periodiquito de Aragua’s front page reads “Trump limits entry of Venezuelans into the U.S.,” after the U.S. president signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning the citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States, and restricting entry of people from seven other countries, including Venezuela. The directive is part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year, which has also included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Trump announces travel ban for 12 countries. U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday a ban on travel to the U.S. from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Iran, in a bid to protect Americans from “foreign terrorists” and other security threats. An additional seven countries are facing partial travel restrictions, including Cuba and Venezuela. The ban will be effective from June 9. Meanwhile, Trump also suspended for an initial six months the entry into the U.S. of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University, citing national security concerns.

• Israel recovers bodies of two Israeli-American hostages. The Israeli military says it has found in southern Gaza the bodies of Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, two Israeli-American hostages who were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7. The couple was reportedly killed near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas attack on southern Israel in 2023. A total of 56 hostages remain in Gaza and at least 20 are believed to be alive. Meanwhile, the U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza on Wednesday, saying it undermines ongoing diplomacy. The other 14 members voted in favor of the text and criticised the U.S. for blocking it.

• Russian strike kills five in Ukraine, North Korea vows support for Moscow. A nighttime Russian drone strike that hit the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky on Thursday killed at least five people, including a 1-year-old child, his mother and grandmother. The attack came hours after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly said that Russia would retaliate for Ukraine’s stunning drone attacks on Russian military airfields over the weekend. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that Pyongyang would “unconditionally support” Russia in its war in Ukraine and that he expected Moscow to “surely win victory in the sacred cause of justice.”

• German chancellor to meet Trump on inaugural trip. Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time on Thursday for high stakes talks in the Oval Office that are expected to focus on the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, as well as trade. Read more in this Die Zeit analysis, translated from German by Worldcrunch: Merz’s Half-A-Trillion Bet: Reinvent The German Economy Or Become The World Champion Of Waste.

• NATO set to approve new military purchases. NATO defense ministers are expected to approve purchasing targets for stocking up on weapons and military equipment on Thursday, as part of a U.S. push to ramp up security spending. This comes ahead of a June 24-25 meeting that will focus on setting new defense investment goals.

• Vietnam scraps two-child limit policy amid falling birthrate. Vietnam has abolished its longstanding two-child policy, state media Vietnam News Agency reported Wednesday, as the South Asian country aims to reverse its declining birthrate and ease pressure on an aging society. Last year, Vietnam’s birthrate had reached a record low of 1.91 children per woman. For more, check this Worldcrunch original: Are Low Birth Rates Really A Simmering Feminist Revolt?

• News Quiz! The original cast of science fiction franchise Back to the Future reunited to plead for the return of a prop that went missing about 40 years ago. Which one?

A. The DeLorean time machine
B. Marty’s hoverboard
C. The Gibson ES-345 guitar
D. The self-lacing Nike shoes
[Answer below]

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

£47 million

Organized criminals stole 47 million pounds ($63.76 million) from the UK’s tax authority, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), last year by phishing over 100,000 customer accounts and fraudulently claiming government payments. HMRC said on Wednesday that it had secured affected accounts and no customers suffered financial loss. A criminal investigation led to arrests, and officials called the breach “very unacceptable,” stressing that it occurred through identity theft outside HMRC’s own systems. 

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

✊ As Trump’s administration ramps up attacks on civil rights, diversity efforts, and climate initiatives, artists across the U.S. are transforming urban spaces into places of resistance.
— LA MAREA

👶 As China’s population declines, more women want children without husbands. But strict laws and traditional values still block their path to single motherhood.
— DIE ZEIT

🕌 Architecture is a form of soft power, a symbolic language through which Gulf states tell stories about themselves to the world and to their own citizens — and ultimately, to exercise control.
— WORLDCRUNCH

📣 VERBATIM

“We would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.”

— U.S. Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea said that a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza would “undermine diplomatic efforts” to reach a ceasefire. The U.S. was the only country of the 14-member council to vote against the measure on Wednesday. Shea added that the UN has not labelled Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and that the U.S. “would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.”