Iran Tensions Escalate, UK-Bound Jet Crashes, Strawberry Moon

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia lends its frontpage to the “historic” agreement settled Wednesday between Spain, the UK and the European Union over the island of Gibraltar, after years of talks. The deal will preserve the Schengen area, the EU Single Market and Customs Union on the British overseas territory, and remove all physical barriers, checks and controls on persons and goods at the crossing points between Spain and Gibraltar. Checks will however be carried out at Gibraltar’s port and airport. All sides were eager to find a deal before the EU’s new entry/exit system comes into force, which is now slated for October.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Iran to create new uranium enrichment facility amid threat of Israeli attack. Iran announced on Thursday it will establish a new enrichment facility after the UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors declared at the International Atomic Energy Agency that Tehran has failed to meet its nuclear non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. This comes amid heightened tensions with Israel, as U.S. intelligence indicates that the country is making preparations for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned on Wednesday that any strikes against Iran would be met with retaliatory attacks against U.S. bases in the region. This led the U.S. to move personnel out of the Middle East, with non-essential U.S. embassy staff and their dependents in Baghdad set to be evacuated from Iraq. 

• UN to vote to demand immediate Gaza ceasefire. The United Nations General Assembly is expected to adopt with overwhelming support a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza on Thursday. General Assembly resolutions are not binding and previous demands by the body to end the war have been ignored. Meanwhile, Israel’s parliament rejected on Thursday a preliminary vote to dissolve itself after an agreement was reached regarding a dispute over conscription.

• Russia launches new drone assault across Ukraine. At least three people were killed and 64 others wounded after Russian forces launched a new drone assault across Ukraine overnight on Wednesday. The city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine was one of the hardest-hit areas, with 17 attack drones striking two residential districts. 

• Protests over immigration raids spread across U.S. Demonstrations against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s raids and President Donald Trump’s move to mobilize the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles are spreading nationwide and are expected to continue into the weekend. Downtown LA is under curfew for a second night while the mayor of Spokane, Washington, announced a state of emergency and a curfew. Meanwhile, as U.S. Marines are expected to join National Guard troops on the streets of LA within 48 hours, a federal court hearing is scheduled for Thursday on California’s push to limit how the Trump administration can use the Marines and the National Guard in the state. Read more about the ICE protests here.

• DEVELOPING: Passenger plane crashes in India. A London-bound Air India plane carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members crashed in a residential area shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India. There is no update yet on casualties, as rescue teams are working actively on site. There were reportedly 169 Indian nationals onboard, as well as 53 British passengers, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.

• Number of people displaced worldwide remains “untenably high.” At least 123.2 million people, or one in 67 individuals worldwide, were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024 due to longstanding conflicts such as those in Sudan and Ukraine, according to a report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday. While forced displacement fell in the first four months of this year, as nearly two million Syrians were able to return home from abroad, the UNHCR warns that the total number remains “untenably high.” Follow Worldcrunch’s Migrant Lives special category for more.

• News Quiz! Denmark’s two largest cities, Copenhagen and Aarhus, have announced they are taking a big step over economic and security concerns. What have they decided to do?

A. Launch their own communication satellites
B. Move away from Microsoft programs
C. Soundproof all saunas
D. Unplug the internet
[Answer below]

💬 LEXICON

Khankhuuluu mongoliensis

Canadian researchers have discovered a new species of dinosaur which they named Khankhuuluu (pronounced khan-koo-loo) mongoliensis, meaning “Dragon Prince of Mongolia.” This discovery “rewrites” the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs, as they explain in their article published in the scientific journal Nature. The two 86 million-year-old skeletons studied in the collection of a Mongolian museum belong to a species that is now the closest known ancestor of all tyrannosaurs, the superfamily of carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs, including the iconic T.rex.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🎥 Born into an early Italian cinema family, Sergio Leone rose from Cinecittà sets to revolutionize film by creating the Spaghetti Western. Though fascinated by America, he viewed it as a cultural adversary, crafting a uniquely Italian cinematic voice that reshaped global cinema.
— LA STAMPA

🏠🔑 Homeownership for young people is becoming less attainable across the globe, in the face of record high home prices, cost of living crises and high debt. The economic shift is changing the very nature of society.
— WORLDCRUNCH

📱While parents are busy working, ideologues are targeting their children online with misogynistic propaganda. Die Zeit’s Caroline Rosales never imagined that her own son could be at risk of becoming a so-called “incel”.
— DIE ZEIT

📣 VERBATIM

“He was our American Mozart.”

— Sean Ono Lennon, son of Beatles frontman John Lennon and Yoko Ono, paid tribute to Brian Wilson, their legendary frontman and co-founder of the Beach Boys music band, who died Wednesday at the age of 82. Born and raised in Hawthorne, California, Wilson was known for using the recording studio to create unique sounds, which contributed to his reputation as a music pioneer. “Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson’s genius magical touch,” wrote Mick Fleetwood of the band Fleetwood Mac. Bob Dylan said he thought about “all the years he’d been listening to him and admiring his genius.” Elton John also described Wilson as a “true giant” who had the “biggest influence” on his songwriting.