Flagship

Israel launches huge Iran attack

Israel launched a huge attack on Iran’s nuclear program, hitting uranium-enrichment facilities and wiping out Tehran’s top military leadership in the biggest strikes on Iranian soil in decades. Hundreds of jets carried out the attack, which also reportedly included drone strikes launched from within Iran: The targets included the site where Tehran has produced the majority of its atomic fuel, while top nuclear scientists and military commanders were killed, forcing what one analyst described as “generational turnover” in Iran’s leadership. Tehran called the assault a “declaration of war,” and launched more than 100 drones in response, but Israel said it intercepted all of them. World powers urged de-escalation following Israel’s attacks, which were notably carried out without US support.

Israel strikes upend diplomacy

Israel’s stunning attack on Iran threw regional diplomacy into chaos, upending nuclear negotiations and drawing long-held alliances into question. The attack likely undermines protracted American efforts to reach a deal with Tehran over its nuclear program: It was unclear whether negotiations due to be held in Oman on Sunday would go ahead, talks Israel views as a delaying tactic by Iran in order to strengthen its nuclear capabilities. Israel carried out the strikes without Washington’s support, a move likely to amplify tensions with the US. The two allies have grown distant in recent months, disagreeing over how to respond to Iran’s nuclear program as well as over Israel’s conduct and strategy in its war in Gaza.

Markets tank on Israel attack

Israel’s strike on Iran roiled markets, driving oil prices up and sending global stocks falling. Crude prices at one point rose the most since the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and could rise far further: With tensions in the region surging in recent days, JPMorgan analysts have warned of a possible “exponential” increase in oil prices. Traditional haven assets like gold and US Treasury bonds rose, despite Treasurys having been seen as increasingly risky in recent months. The latest selloff comes with markets having only just recovered from the punishing tariffs that Washington imposed in April, Bloomberg noted.

US court allows LA deployment

A US court said that President Donald Trump could temporarily keep deploying troops in response to protests in California, after an earlier ruling barred him from doing so. National Guard forces were deployed to Los Angeles days ago, against the state governor’s wishes. One judge said the Guard can only be put under federal control in cases of “rebellion” — adding the protests “fall far short” of this — but an appeals court suspended the ruling until a hearing next week. California is boiling over: Senator Alex Padilla was handcuffed and forced to the ground while questioning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference, a scene several Democrats and some Republicans likened to that of a “fascist” state.

China EV sector feels strain

Concern is growing about the health of China’s electric-vehicle sector, as a years-long price war threatens to hammer the industry. Companies across the country’s EV supply chain are grappling with the fallout, with a Financial Times analysis showing that for a third of publicly listed carmakers, liabilities exceed assets, putting pressure on their ability to pay suppliers. Analysts have long predicted China’s EV industry is due a wave of consolidation, but the consequences could be far costlier, some fear: The chairman of Great Wall Motor compared the sector to the country’s disastrous property market, implying parallels between its iconic, collapsed market leader, Evergrande, and the dominant EV maker, BYD.

Brazil seeks to develop rare earths

Brazil is courting investors to develop its vast rare-earth deposits as it looks to become an alternative to China, the world’s biggest producer. Beijing recently halted exports of rare earths — elements used for high-tech products and military equipment — as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations, hurting global supply chains. This week China temporarily lifted restrictions, but could reimpose them if Washington threatens sanctions again, The Wall Street Journal reported. In response, Brasília is looking to attract billions of dollars to boost its reserves, the world’s second largest. Only around 30% of Brazil’s territory has been surveyed, buoying hopes that its deposits could be still bigger. “Brazil cannot afford to miss this opportunity,” the country’s president said last month.

Kenya protests over blogger killing

Thousands of people protested in cities across Kenya after a blogger critical of the government died in police custody. Authorities had previously claimed that Albert Ojwang died from self-inflicted injuries, but an autopsy showed that he was likely killed by an assault; a police officer has been arrested. Ojwang’s case has reignited long-running anger against police brutality in a country that has been roiled by anti-government protests in recent years. At least 60 people were killed last year after demonstrators turned to Nairobi’s streets to criticize a contentious tax law. “We are on our own, and it’s becoming more dangerous,” a human rights activist told The Washington Post.

Cleo Abram left Vox and started her YouTube show, Huge If True, three years ago. Since then, the channel has grown to nearly 6 million subscribers and she’s become one of the most important tech journalists in the world. This week, Ben and Max talk to Cleo about why she started an optimistic show in an age of pessimism, the time she got space-sick in zero gravity, and how she navigates conversations with tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang.

Germany to revive railways

Germany’s massive infrastructure spending surge will focus on reviving the country’s now-decrepit rail system. Germany’s once-vaunted railways are now one of the worst-performing in Europe, with just 72% of German trains arriving within 10 minutes of their scheduled time. The bulk of this year’s share of a 12-year, $570 billion investment announced in March will go to rail, in an attempt to end the country’s economic stagnation: The government is betting that improving intercity commuting will strengthen both productivity and the political mood, and help stave off the far right. Much of the rest will go to Germany’s crumbling road system, especially bridges: Experts estimate that 16,000 bridges, including 4,000 on the autobahns, urgently need repair or replacement.

World Bank lifts nuclear ban

The World Bank lifted its decades-long ban on funding nuclear plants, part of a global revival of nuclear energy. The bank’s move, announced to staff this week, comes as several countries pivot to nuclear: The UK recently announced two major projects, Germany’s new government dropped its opposition to financing the technology, and the US presidential administration is strongly pro-nuclear. The US private sector is also seeing rapid growth: Dozens of startups are looking to build smaller reactors, The Wall Street Journal reported, as demand surges for clean energy to meet artificial intelligence’s capacious electricity needs.

DeepMind’s new AI weather tool

Google DeepMind launched an artificial intelligence weather-forecasting tool that it said is better at predicting cyclones than existing systems. Conventional weather-forecasting tools simulate the atmosphere in an enormous grid, inputting air pressure, wind speed, temperature, and other variables, while the AI model uses decades of historical weather data to recognize weather patterns and predict what happens next, similar to how a chatbot predicts the next word in a sentence. DeepMind said that it can predict weather events five days ahead as accurately as existing systems can predict 3.5 days, giving an extra 36 hours to arrange evacuations and other responses, and creates those forecasts eight times faster.

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with UK Foreign Minister David Lammy in Washington, DC.
• The Globsec Forum continues in Prague, bringing together leaders from Eastern European nations.
• Season 3 of Kings of Jo’Burg, a drama about a South African crime family, drops on Netflix.

A score of three under par on a single golf hole. The US golfer Patrick Reed sank a 286-yard shot to finish the par-five fourth hole at the US Open in two strokes yesterday; it was just the fourth albatross, also known as a double eagle, in the competition’s 130-year history. Legend has it that the ornithological terms for doing well in golf — “birdie” for one under par, “eagle” for two — follow a 1903 event in which a golfer in Atlantic City described a particularly good stroke as “a bird of a shot,” a term that stuck; “eagles” and eventually “albatrosses” were added by analogy, being larger and more impressive birds.

Spaceballs, dir. Mel Brooks. With the news that Brooks, now 98, will be making a sequel to his 1987 Star Wars parody, it seemed appropriate to recommend the original: Roger Ebert called it a “cheerfully silly” romp, gleefully spoofing all the heroes and villains of the George Lucas saga, sometimes “painfully juvenile” (well, it is Mel Brooks) but with some “great visual gags.” Flagship’s hopes for the new one are not high, but at least in its early promotional material it nails the recent craze for revisiting existing intellectual property: It is described as “‘A Non-Prequel Non-Reboot Sequel Part Two’ but with Reboot Elements Franchise Expansion Film.” Stream Spaceballs in your area.

Days ahead of New York City’s mayoral primary, the only real challenger to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is 33-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, reported Semafor’s David Weigel.

As Democrats on the Hill fret over finding moderate candidates to remake the party’s damaged, elitist image, the biggest city in the country is considering a move in the opposite direction — toward the Bernie Sanders model, Weigel writes.