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Former national security adviser John Bolton's guilty plea, a mysterious plane crash into Beijing's tallest skyscraper, and a U.S.-brokered peace framework between Israel and Lebanon lead today's edition.

We'll also examine rising abortion access despite Dobbs, growing concerns over AI spending on Wall Street, Congo's expanding Ebola outbreak, and new discoveries that could reshape neuroscience and our understanding of black holes.

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John Bolton pleaded guilty Friday to retaining national defense information — down from 18 charges — after sharing classified briefings with family via AOL email. Bolton faces up to 5 years in prison; sentencing is October 28.

Bolton served as Trump's national security adviser until 2019 before a public falling-out; his memoir alleged Trump sought foreign help in the 2020 election. Friday's plea ends a three-year federal prosecution; Bolton's aide faces separate sentencing.

A small training plane struck Beijing's CITIC Tower — China's 109-story skyscraper — around 6pm Friday, sending debris to the street and triggering immediate evacuations. Airspace over central Beijing is among the most restricted in the world; authorities offered no public explanation for how the aircraft entered it.

Chinese authorities scrubbed footage of the crash from Weibo and Douyin within hours of it appearing — videos of the impact deleted as they were posted. No casualty figures were released; state media acknowledged only an "aviation incident" at the tower.

Israel and Lebanon signed a peace framework in Washington on Friday — the most formal arrangement the two countries have reached in decades. Secretary Rubio hosted the signing; Hezbollah immediately said it would confront any enforcement of the deal.

Under the deal, Israeli forces withdraw from two pilot zones while Lebanese Armed Forces take exclusive control — US officers will verify the zones are Hezbollah-free. Hezbollah holds seats in Lebanon's parliament and controls territory throughout the south; Fadlallah said the group would retain its weapons regardless.

Trump accused Iran of ceasefire violation after four drones targeted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz — one struck a cargo vessel, three were shot down. Iran disputed the claim; Revolutionary Guards had warned only Iranian-authorized routes would guarantee safe passage.

Several Democratic governors are sending National Guard troops to Washington ahead of America's 250th birthday celebrations, joining roughly 5,000 Guard members already deployed by Trump. Governors say the move is about celebration security; critics call it a political statement against Trump's militarized presence in the capital.

Congo's Ebola outbreak tops 1,000 cases in just over a month — caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine. Trump's foreign aid cuts to the region are under scrutiny; health officials warn the response is falling behind.

Prediction platform Kalshi has launched event contracts for the 2026 World Cup hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, letting users trade on match outcomes and tournament winners. The rollout marks the biggest test yet of whether federally regulated prediction markets can absorb the global betting volume that traditional sportsbooks already dominate.

Georgia lawmakers voted to push back a law banning QR codes on ballots, moving its effective date from July 1 of this year to 2028. The delay buys election officials time to overhaul vote-counting machinery without scrambling ahead of the upcoming election cycle.

Four years after Dobbs, national abortion numbers have risen each year — driven by telehealth and mailed medication pills that reach patients even in ban states. Shield laws in blue states allow clinicians to serve out-of-state patients; 29% of all US abortions now happen via telehealth.

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Oracle shares finished their ugliest week since 2001 as investors fixated on the company's ballooning AI spending, negative free cash flow, and $130 billion debt pile. The selloff is the clearest sign yet that Wall Street is finally asking whether the AI capex boom pencils out

OpenAI is delaying its IPO to 2027, spooked by SpaceX's post-debut decline and broader AI stock volatility. Kalshi prediction markets give 59% odds on an announcement by March 2027; OpenAI confidentially filed to go public on June 8.

Volkswagen is reportedly planning to eliminate roughly 15% of its workforce — about 100,000 positions — and shutter four German plants in the years ahead. The cuts mark a stark retreat for an industrial pillar of the German economy facing Chinese EV competition and stalled domestic demand.

Astronomers used the loudest gravitational waves ever recorded to study the event horizon of a black hole — the point past which nothing returns. The observations sharpen tests of Einstein's general relativity in conditions no laboratory on Earth can reproduce.

Researchers mapped the fly's full connectome — brain plus ventral nerve cord — creating the most complete neural wiring diagram for any complex organism. Circuits for escape, feeding, and reproduction form distinct modules linked by long-range neurons spanning the entire body.

Scientists found high dietary cholesterol activates a liver cell pathway that degrades LDL-clearing receptors — essentially letting the diet disable its own cleanup mechanism. Blocking a key enzyme in that pathway restores receptor levels in lab cells, pointing to a potential non-statin cardiovascular therapy.

US Soccer has offered Mauricio Pochettino a contract extension that would keep the former Tottenham and PSG boss in charge of the men's national team through the 2030 World Cup. The federation is trying to lock him in before European clubs come calling after the home World Cup this summer.

Atlanta acquired Aaron Wiggins from OKC for two second-round picks, with the Thunder shedding over $60 million in projected luxury tax liability. Wiggins, 27, was a key contributor on OKC's championship squad and carries a $9M/year contract.

The X Games opened in Sacramento Friday at Cal Expo with over 100 athletes competing across 18 medal events through Sunday. Events include BMX Park, Skateboard Vert, and Moto X Best Trick; all competition streams live on ESPN and ESPN+.

Brad Pitt scored a courtroom win Friday in his long-running litigation with Angelina Jolie over the French winery Château Miraval. The case has spent years airing the origins of the couple's divorce, with no apparent appetite from either side to stop.

Horror film The Backrooms crossed $100M domestically in six days — A24's biggest domestic hit ever — made for around $10 million by YouTuber Kane Parsons. Opening weekend was $81 million from 3,442 theaters, roughly triple A24's prior opening record.

Lionel Richie has postponed his next two shows after falling ill during his tour's opening night in St. Paul, Minnesota, exiting the stage before the performance was cut short. No further details on his condition were released.

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What it is: A small two-seat training plane crashed into the CITIC Tower — Beijing's 109-story skyscraper — on Friday evening, sending debris onto the street below and triggering immediate evacuations. Chinese authorities have offered no casualty figures and no explanation for how the aircraft entered one of the most restricted airspace zones in the world.

The detail: The CITIC Tower, also called China Zun, rises 528 meters in Beijing's Guomao Central Business District — the city's financial heart. Central Beijing has operated under strict flight restrictions since the 2008 Olympics; civilian small aircraft are barred from most of the city's core, which makes the aircraft's presence near the building not just dangerous but essentially unexplained by any normal navigation error.

Why it matters: China's first response was censorship. Videos of the impact circulating on Weibo and Douyin were deleted within hours of appearing; state media published only a brief notice acknowledging an "aviation incident" at the tower. Beijing has a documented pattern of suppressing information around infrastructure failures — the 2011 high-speed rail collision, the early weeks of COVID — and anything that risks undermining confidence in the state's ability to control its own systems. A dramatic, publicly visible event in the country's financial district is precisely the kind of story the censorship apparatus is built to contain.

What to watch: Casualty figures, if they emerge at all, will be the first indicator of the incident's scale — their absence is itself informative. Watch whether footage surfaces through foreign media or VPN-accessed platforms, and watch whether Beijing offers any explanation for the airspace breach, which would be a significant departure from its standard pattern of silence on security failures.

- A Domino's manager in Virginia has been crowned the "World's Fastest Pizza Maker" after assembling three large pizzas in just over a minute, proving there are, in fact, people who can make dinner faster than most of us can decide what to order.

- A parakeet named Spoodles has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living parakeet at 32 years old, an age that has surprised even avian experts and greatly exceeded the species' typical lifespan.

- A North Carolina man who claims the world's smallest member at 0.38 inches has launched a fundraiser for enlargement surgery, citing, among other things, improved urination.

That is today’s Five Minute Daily. Share it with someone who wants the news without the noise.

—The Five Minute Daily Team