This camera is the best thing ever. Don’t need to own it. Don’t need to use it. Don’t need to be there. Don’t need to be anywhere near it. Ever. Just need to appreciate it. We MUST appreciate it. Lol. But seriously, for me, it validates Nicholas Taleb’s point that the most significant advances come about through constant tinkering. I call it a camera but it is really a massive endeavor and a huge network of professionals connected with mindblowingly fast digital bandwidth and using the most powerful processors…blah blah blah

U.S. president Donald Trump tells reporters at the White House that Israel and Iran “don’t know what the fuck they are doing” as both countries continue to launch attacks despite U.S. claims of a ceasefire. (BBC News) 

The first train from North Korea arrives in Yaroslavsky railway station, Moscow after a five-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (TASS)  (What.The.Fuck.)

Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 

Zohran Mamdani wins the primary to become the Democratic Party nominee for the 2025 New York City mayoral election, defeating former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, with Mamdani having received 43.5% of first-choice votes. 

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A report by the United States Defense Intelligence Agency finds that Iran’s nuclear program has only been set back by a few months after the U.S. airstrikes, with the centrifuges required to enrich uranium left largely intact. (AP) 

Israeli forces kill at least 31 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with at least ten who were seeking humanitarian aid. This accusation has been denied by the IDF. (New York Post) 

Seven Israeli soldiers are killed in Khan Yunis when an explosive device affixed to their armored vehicle detonates. (AP) 

Tuesday,  June 24th, 2025 

The NATO summit is held in The Hague in the Netherlands. (Espreso TV) 

German finance minister Lars Klingbeil announces that the German government will raise its defense budget from 2.4% to 3.5% of its GDP by 2029, citing a NATO quota for member states to raise defense spending. (Politico) 

Israel continues to launch airstrikes on Iran while Iran launches a wave of ballistic missiles at Israel despite the United States claiming a ceasefire had been reached between the warring sides. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) 

Nine people are killed in an Israeli airstrike on residential units in Gilan, Iran. The attack also injured 33 people, including 16 women and children, with five requiring hospital treatment. (Al Jazeera) 

At least 25 Palestinians are killed after Israeli forces open fire towards people waiting for aid trucks in Gaza. (AP) 

Four people are killed and 22 are injured in Beersheba, Southern Israel, after an Iranian missile strikes an apartment block. (The Times of Israel) 

Russian forces launch an Iskander missile strike on Dnipro, Ukraine, killing at least eight people and wounding 84 others. Another nine people are injured in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast as a result of a Russian attack on the city of Samar. (The Kyiv Independent)

Human Rights Watch reports that at least 120 children have been abducted by Islamic State-linked Ansar al-Sunna insurgents in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, this year. The children are used for labor, conscripted as child soldiers, or forced into marriage. (AP) 

Twenty people are injured, including 12 children, after lightning strikes near Lake Murray in the U.S. state of South Carolina. (MSN) 

Three soldiers are killed and eight others are injured when a soldier opens fire on his colleagues during an altercation over paychecks in Mungazi, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. (CTV News) 

The death toll from a boat accident from a storm on Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States increases to eight as the final missing person is recovered. (NPR) 

French police detain twelve people after over 145 people report being stabbed with syringes at Fête de la Musique sites across the country. (DW) 

Former Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin launches a big tent political party, entitled Humanist France. (The Guardian) 

New York City holds its Democratic mayoral primary. (The New York Times) 

Monday,  June 23rd, 2025 

Russian forces launch a large-scale drone and missile attack at Kyiv, Ukraine, damaging residential areas, hospitals, and sports infrastructure, killing nine people and injuring at least 33 others. (BBC News) 

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes kill at least 43 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, including 13 people seeking aid assistance. (Al Jazeera) 

Spanish foreign minister José Albares calls on the European Council to suspend EU relations with Israel due to Israeli human rights violations in Gaza. He also called for an arms embargo against Israel and sanctions on individuals obstructing the two-state solution. (Al Jazeera) 

A United Nations fact-finding mission reports that Israeli strikes on Iran’s state broadcasting agency and killing of Iranian nuclear scientists were likely in violation of international humanitarian law. (Al Jazeera) 

The Israeli military strikes Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, damaging the facility’s infrastructure. State TV showed first responders carrying a casualty and searching for survivors under a collapsed building. (BBC News) 

Qatar closes the country’s airspace amidst an imminent threat of a Iranian ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces stationed in the country. Multiple explosions are reported over Doha. (BBC News) 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps says it has launched missiles at the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and U.S. bases in Iraq. (France 24) 

The Qatar Foreign Ministry says that it has intercepted the missiles launched at the Al Udeid Air Base, and that no injuries are reported.  (Axios) 

The United Kingdom announces it will ban the direct action protest network Palestine Action on anti-terrorism grounds after the group broke into the RAF Brize Norton base and vandalized two planes. (AP) 

NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte announces that European countries and Canada will send Ukraine a combined aid package of €35 billion (US$40.3 billion). (RBC) 

Russian forces launch a large-scale drone and missile strike at Kyiv, Ukraine, damaging residential areas, hospitals, and sports infrastructure, killing nine people and injuring at least 33 others. (BBC News) 

At least seven Ugandan Armed Forces personnel are confirmed killed by Al Shabaab following a three-day siege on Sabiidd-Anole in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia amid ongoing operations against the militant group. The soldiers were part of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, tasked with countering Al-Shabaab.  (The Defense Post) 

The United Nations formally removes Somalia from its annual register of nations that enlist and deploy child soldiers. The country had been included on the register since 2007, owing to consistent reports of child recruitment by Somali Armed Forces and associated militias. (The Eastleigh Voice) 

The Thai Department of Special Investigation seizes 2.4 metric tons of methamphetamine disguised as corn flour packages worth $90.8 million from a tourist boat off the coast of Eastern Thailand and arrests eight men in Rayong province for attempted drug smuggling. (AP) 

The Indonesian National Narcotics Board announces it arrested 285 people, including 29 women and seven foreigners, and seized over 0.68 ton of narcotics in a two-month crackdown operation on narcotrafficking and illegal drug abuse. (AP) 

Sunday, June 22nd, 2025 

U.S. president Donald Trump announces that the U.S. Air Force has conducted strikes on several nuclear facilities in Iran, including Natanz Nuclear Facility and Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant. (The Times of Israel) 

The Parliament of Iran votes for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the U.S. attacks. (The Guardian) 

Iran launches over 40 ballistic missiles at Israel, injuring at least 23 people and destroying apartments and homes. (AP) 

The International Atomic Energy Agency says no increase in off-site radiation levels was detected at the three targeted nuclear sites. (Al Jazeera) 

At least 23 people are killed, including the perpetrator, and 63 others are injured when at least one alleged Islamic State suicide attacker opens fire and detonates an explosive device inside the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria. (CTV News)

The Israel Defense Forces kill at least 51 people and wound 104 others in southern Khan Younis, central Gaza, and northern Gaza City. (Al Jazeera) 

Israeli forces in Gaza recover the bodies of three hostages who were killed and abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attacks. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, of which 20 are thought to remain alive. (Reuters) 

A report by Axios finds that Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence panels were not given advance notice of the attack, while Republicans were given advance notice. (Axios) 

In basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA Finals in 7 games against the Indiana Pacers, winning their first championship in franchise history. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is named NBA Finals MVP. (NPR) 

Saturday, June 21st, 2025 

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi meets with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, France and European Union in Geneva for talks about its nuclear program. (AP) 

Hundreds of thousands of people protest against Israel on the streets of Tehran after weekly prayers, chanting slogans in support of Iranian leaders. Protests also took place in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south. (Al Jazeera) 

The End

Saturday, June 21st, 2025 

At least eight people were killed in a hot air balloon accident in Santa Catarina, Brazil. (CNN) 

Friday,  June 20th, 2025 

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi meets with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, France and European Union in Geneva for talks about its nuclear program. (AP News) 

Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Commission says military strikes on civilian nuclear facilities violate international law in response to Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. (Al Jazeera) 

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes kill at least 82 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, including 34 people seeking aid assistance. (Al Jazeera) 

The United Nations relists Israel on its blacklist of countries committing abuses against children in armed conflict in its annual Children in Armed Conflict report. (Al Jazeera) 

The Nigerien government announces it will nationalize the controlling share of the SOMAIR mining company that previously belonged to French multinational nuclear fuel cycle corporation Orano, which is in turn controlled by the French government. (DW) 

The United Kingdom parliament votes 314–291 to approve the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, allowing terminally ill adults to voluntarily end their lives, moving towards legalizing assisted suicide in England and Wales.  (BBC News) 

The parliament of the Netherlands recognizes the deportation of the Crimean Tatars carried out by the Soviet Union in 1944 as genocide. (Kyiv Independent) 

The End Saturday 

Hundreds of thousands of people protest against Israel on the streets of Tehran after weekly prayers, chanting slogans in support of Iranian leaders. Protests also took place in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south. (Al Jazeera) 

Russian forces launch a large-scale drone strike at Odesa, Ukraine, damaging buildings and public facilities, with one person killed and another 14 injured. (Ukrainska Pravda) 

A federal appeals court rules that President of the United States Donald Trump is allowed to keep the National Guard under federal control in California, pending further litigation. (BBC News) 

The parliament of the Netherlands recognizes the deportation of the Crimean Tatars carried out by the Soviet Union in 1944 as genocide. (Kyiv Independent) 

Thursday, Juneteenth, 2025 

The death toll from Israel’s strikes on Iran rises to more than 240, including 70 women and children. To date, at least 24 people have been killed by Iranian strikes on Israel. (Al Jazeera) 

Iran strikes four sites in central and southern Israel. The Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, is hit by an Iranian ballistic missile, injuring at least 240 people. Iran says it was targeting a military site, striking an Israeli military and intelligence centre located near the hospital. (Al Jazeera)

The Israeli Air Force strikes the Arak Nuclear Complex, a heavy-water reactor near Arak, Iran. (The Times of Israel) 

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes kill at least 92 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, including 16 people waiting for aid assistance near the Netzarim Corridor. (Al Jazeera) 

After three days of dialogue, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda sign a provisional peace treaty and are set to begin negotiations for a draft peace treaty on June 27. (Al Jazeera) 

A rockslide at Bow Glacier Falls near Banff, Alberta, Canada, kills at least two people. Three other hikers sustained injuries. (CTV News) 

A hand grenade is thrown into the courtyard of the residence of the Norwegian ambassador to Israel in Herzliya. (Reuters) 

The Finnish Parliament votes 155–18 to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use of anti-personnel mines, citing the threat Russia poses to its national security. (Reuters) (Helsingin Sanomat) 

Crossover above 

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 

Starship flight test 10 SpaceX Starship 36 explodes when a “major anomaly” occurs during a static fire test. (Yahoo!)