Flagship

Israel strikes Iran state TV

Israel and Iran stepped up their attacks on Monday amid reports that Tehran is eyeing ceasefire talks. Israel heralded “full aerial superiority” over Tehran’s skies, and issued an evacuation warning for a district in the capital before bombing an Iranian state broadcaster. Iran fired more missiles at Israel and urged Tel Aviv residents to evacuate. Tehran has reportedly signaled to Arab mediators it is open to negotiating a ceasefire and resuming nuclear talks. But the escalating strikes indicate that the conflict is likely to last weeks rather than days, The New York Times wrote. “Israel will keep going until, one way or another, Iran no longer retains an enrichment capability,” an Atlantic Council expert said.

Tehran fights for survival

Israel’s assault on Iran’s military leadership and nuclear facilities poses the greatest threat in decades to the Islamic Republic’s leadership, analysts said. The regime has endured “blow after blow” since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October 2023, The New York Times wrote, including the weakening of its proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen. With Israel’s premier refusing to rule out killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei’s “priority is regime survival,” a Chatham House expert said. Iran considers surrender unthinkable, but fighting back poses a dilemma, Bloomberg wrote: “How far can it go against Israel without pushing things so far that the US joins in?”

The US question mark surrounding Iran

The US is beefing up its military presence in the Middle East, rerouting two aircraft carriers to the region as it weighs how to approach the Israel-Iran conflict. US President Donald Trump has branded himself a peacemaker, urging the two countries to strike a deal. He remained vague on Monday about what would prompt US military involvement; Axios reported that the White House told Middle East allies it doesn’t plan to get involved unless Iran targets Americans. Trump’s strategy on Israel and Iran remains the “biggest question mark” so far, conservative writer Noah Rothman wrote: “Washington’s reliable fear of the unknown should not blind it to the prospect of better outcomes… The Trump administration should think big. The Israelis certainly are.”

Trump criticizes G7 on Russia expulsion

The opening of the G7 summit in Canada was marked by divisions over Russia and Iran. US President Donald Trump on Monday publicly criticized the 2014 decision to expel Moscow from the group of industrialized nations following its invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. And US officials said Trump doesn’t plan to sign onto a potential G7 joint statement urging an Iran-Israel de-escalation. Trade presented one avenue for optimism in Alberta: Trump finalized the US’ deal with the UK and voiced hope for an agreement with Canada. But given the global tumult, negotiating complex trade pacts could prove difficult. “Everybody just wants to survive,” a former US diplomat told Politico. “There’s not a lot of interest in making deals.”

China deepens Central Asia push

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Kazakhstan underscored Beijing’s growing economic and geopolitical influence in Central Asia. Xi’s attendance at the summit with Central Asian leaders, beginning Tuesday, makes Kazakhstan his second most visited country, after Russia. Beijing has increased trade with the energy-rich nation and ramped up infrastructure investment — efforts that take on heightened importance as China looks to diversify its trade routes amid simmering economic conflict with the US. Kazakhstan, too, is balancing its ties to global superpowers: Its foreign minister visited Washington last week, and the country’s first two nuclear power plants are being built by Russia and China, respectively.

Nicaragua’s first woman leader dies

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the former president of Nicaragua and the first elected female leader of a Central American country, died at 95. Barrios de Chamorro entered politics after the assassination of her newspaper-editor husband, a fierce critic of Nicaragua’s Somoza family dictatorship. After initially joining the leftist Sandinistas who replaced the Somozas, she ran against them in 1990, amid US destabilization campaigns, civil war, and economic woe, defeating the incumbent Daniel Ortega. She ended the war and began a process of national reconciliation, and although her economic reforms were less successful, opinion polls suggest she remains Nicaragua’s most admired figure, The New York Times wrote, “a symbol of reconciliation bathed in a Madonna-like aura of deep Christian faith.”

Trump widens business ventures

The Donald Trump brand is coming to smartphones and rice cookers. The Trump Organization announced Monday it would roll out a wireless service called Trump Mobile, with a $47.45 monthly phone plan and a gold-hued “T1” smartphone priced at $499. And at least three major home-goods companies including Instant Pot are developing special collections featuring Trump, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reported. The US president on Monday reported he made more than $600 million last year from his business ventures including cryptocurrency and golf clubs — some $6 million came from licensing his name and likeness. The new deals show “how much the country has changed since his first run for president, when brands saw public support for the Republican as a risk,” Talcott wrote.

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Retailers confront scalping problem

Scalping — buying up in-demand items and selling them at a markup — is becoming increasingly widespread. The multi-billion dollar British gaming company Games Workshop shut down its website this week and canceled orders after one new product sold out in moments, thanks to scalpers using bots. The problem is worst in areas characterized by extreme fan interest: It is “nearly impossible” for collectors to get new Pokémon cards without paying scalpers’ exorbitant markups, an industry blog said. In tech, Nvidia’s new chips all sold within a few minutes in February thanks to bots, later reappearing with a large markup on online marketplaces. Retailers are in an arms race with scalpers, using queue systems and CAPTCHAs to defeat ever more sophisticated bots.

Louvre shuts down over mass tourism

Exasperated workers at the Louvre spontaneously went on strike, forcing the world’s most-visited museum to shut down Monday. Staff said they had become overwhelmed by crowds, with overtourism making their jobs “untenable,” The Associated Press reported. The Louvre has rarely closed in its centuries-long history, though staff most recently walked out over overcrowding in 2019 and safety fears in 2013. The museum has become a symbol of overtourism, which has frustrated residents across Europe. Anti-tourism protests sprung up on Sunday at popular destinations across Spain, Italy, and Portugal, with locals arguing that overtourism increases the cost of living and ruins city centers; some fired water guns at holidaymakers in Barcelona.

World’s oldest human fingerprint found

The world’s oldest human fingerprint was discovered in a cave in Spain. The print was found on a granite stone that has a coincidental resemblance to a human face; an ancient human at some point made a red mark in ochre on it, apparently to indicate its nose. Additionally, Spanish forensic police found a fingerprint, invisible to the naked eye, proving that the stone had been held by an adult man 42,000 years ago. The Abrigo de San Lázaro archaeological site near Segovia holds evidence of the last European Neanderthals, The Conversation wrote, making this stone the oldest known piece of portable art associated with the now-extinct human species.

June 17:

• Seanergy 2025 — an offshore renewable energy business conference — opens in Paris.
• The Bank of Japan announces an interest rate decision.
• American rapper Kendrick Lamar celebrates his 38th birthday.

A new Basel exhibition explores how a Swiss artist spent her life challenging labels through her art. Although Meret Oppenheim found early success with Object (1936) — a fur-covered tea cup that transformed an object of feminine refinement into a surrealist masterpiece — she resisted the celebrity it brought her, withdrawing from public life and destroying much of her work before mounting a successful comeback in the 1950s. At a moment when overlooked 20th-century women artists are finally getting their due, the exhibition showcasing her full depth of work is a reminder “that you don’t know Meret Oppenheim,” Artnet wrote. “Being misunderstood was the drama of her life,” the gallery curator said.

South Korea’s new president should work with US tech giants to pursue a Stargate-like artificial intelligence partnership as a matter of global security, a Korean tech executive told Semafor’s J.D. Capelouto.

Jeff Kim, a leading AI figure in South Korea, said President Lee Jae-myung wants to turn Korea into an “AI-driven state.” After six months of political chaos in South Korea, Lee took over last week with ambitious plans for the country’s AI sector, including a 100 trillion won (nearly $74 billion) fund aimed at turning the country into one of the top three AI powers globally.