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Congress delivered another surprise rebuke to President Trump as House lawmakers bypassed party leadership to advance billions in new aid for Ukraine, while a centerpiece Republican election bill ran out of votes in the Senate.
Beyond Washington, clashes in Mogadishu forced civilians to flee their homes, Xi Jinping is preparing for a rare trip to North Korea, and Hezbollah has rejected a proposed ceasefire framework. We'll also cover a breakthrough in AI-designed vaccines, the latest Stanley Cup Final drama, and why America's biggest banks are exploring tokenized deposits.
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The Big Read
House passes Ukraine aid as 18 Republicans defect
The House voted 226–195 Thursday to pass the Ukraine Support Act, providing over $1 billion in security assistance and $8 billion in reconstruction loans. Passage came via a discharge petition that bypassed Republican leadership entirely, requiring 18 GOP members to break with both their party and the president.
The bill faces a hostile Senate and a White House that has signaled opposition. Congress has now delivered two major foreign-policy rebukes to Trump in one week — this one landing just days after the House passed a war powers resolution on Iran.
Republican Election Overhaul Dies in the Senate
The SAVE America Act, the sweeping voter-eligibility bill President Trump had named his top legislative priority for the year, failed to clear the Senate on Thursday. Supporters fell short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, with three Republicans joining every Democrat in opposition.
The bill would have required documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a change critics said would burden married women whose surnames don't match birth certificates. Backers argued it was a basic safeguard; either way, the measure is dead for this Congress.
Fighting in Mogadishu Forces Civilians to Flee
Residents fled parts of Mogadishu after clashes erupted between Somali government forces and militias aligned with opposition figures. The fighting broke out ahead of a planned opposition demonstration and disrupted daily life across sections of the capital.
The violence highlights growing tensions between the government and its political opponents at a time of heightened uncertainty in Somalia. Civilians were forced to seek safety as gunfire and road closures spread through affected neighborhoods.
World View
Xi to visit North Korea next week — first trip since 2019
Xi Jinping will visit Pyongyang on Monday and Tuesday, one day after North Korea unveiled a new uranium enrichment facility where Kim Jong Un pledged to expand nuclear forces "at an exponential rate." Beijing is moving to reassert influence over a country that has spent the past year deepening military ties with Russia — including deploying troops to support operations in Ukraine.
Putin floats peace terms at St. Petersburg Forum
Vladimir Putin told the St. Petersburg Forum that Russia accepts Trump's Alaska summit proposals as a basis for peace — provided Ukraine accepts them too. Zelenskyy separately proposed direct face-to-face talks; Trump called the idea "great," but Putin rejected EU mediation and said there is no need to pause fighting before negotiations begin.
Hezbollah rejects ceasefire, calls framework 'humiliating'
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem rejected the ceasefire Thursday, calling it "absurd, humiliating and insulting" and demanding full Israeli withdrawal. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the same agreement "the last chance" for peace — as Israeli strikes killed at least four people in Lebanon and a Serbian U.N. peacekeeper died by mortar fire near Marjayoun.
Need To Know
Republican fractures widen as Trump pushes agenda limits
Private Republican frustration with President Trump is becoming harder to contain, with a growing number of lawmakers openly raising concerns about the administration's direction on Iran, domestic spending, and White House protocol. Republican pollsters now warn that voter patience with Trump's personal agenda items is not unlimited — and midterm exposure is rising with each confrontation.
Colorado Court Tosses Paramedics' Convictions in McClain Case
A Colorado appeals court ordered new trials for Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper, the paramedics convicted in 2023 of injecting Elijah McClain with a fatal dose of ketamine. Judges cited errors in jury instructions as the basis for the reversal.
Farms Lean Harder on a Strained H-2A Program
American farms admitted a record number of guest workers under the H-2A visa program this season as immigration enforcement squeezed the undocumented labor pool. Federal inspectors say abuse complaints — wage theft, unsafe housing — are climbing faster than they can investigate.
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Money & Markets
Stocks Retreat as Iran Talks Stall
Global stocks slipped as hopes for progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations faded, adding to concerns about energy markets and the broader economic outlook. Investor sentiment was also weighed down by weakness in AI-related shares after Broadcom declined to raise its revenue forecast, cooling enthusiasm in one of the market's strongest sectors.
Quantinuum Goes Public, Lands With a Thud
Honeywell-backed quantum computing firm Quantinuum closed flat on its Nasdaq debut Thursday despite upsizing its offering ahead of the listing. Honeywell retains a majority stake, leaving public investors with limited voting power in a company still years from meaningful revenue.
Big Banks Explore Shared Digital Deposit Network
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and other major banks are discussing a potential system that would use tokenized bank deposits to speed up payments and transfers. The project remains under consideration, but it reflects growing efforts by traditional lenders to adapt digital-asset technology while keeping transactions within the banking system.
Future Frontiers
China poaches OpenAI talent — Anthropic sounds alarm
A former OpenAI researcher is now at Tencent with an explicit mission to build AGI in China, part of a broader wave of Chinese firms recruiting U.S.-trained AI talent as immigration uncertainty pushes researchers back home. On the same day, Anthropic warned publicly that frontier models are approaching the ability to self-improve without human oversight — and called for an industry slowdown before that threshold is crossed.
Cambridge Tests First AI-Designed Vaccine
Cambridge scientists say they've tested what they call the world's first vaccine designed by artificial intelligence, with early human trial data showing a strong immune response. If the approach holds up at scale, it could compress vaccine design timelines from years to weeks.
Scientists Pull Off Precise Edit of a Human Embryo
Researchers reported the first precise gene edits in human embryos using a newer, more accurate CRISPR-derived technique. The work reopens a debate bioethicists thought had been settled, with the prospect of engineered embryos now firmly back on the table.
The Score
Rockets Reveal Retro 'Ketchup and Mustard' Look
Houston unveiled new uniforms and an updated "Dunkstronaut" logo that revives the franchise's red-and-yellow Hakeem-era palette. The redesign leans hard into the city's space-program heritage, which the team has spent the last decade quietly underplaying.
Chwalinska reaches Roland Garros final as history-making qualifier
Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska defeated Diana Shnaider 7-6(4), 6-4 Thursday to become the first qualifier in Roland Garros history to reach the women's final. Chwalinska will face Russia's Mirra Andreeva — both players are first-time Grand Slam finalists, making this one of the most unexpected women's finals Paris has ever produced.
Hurricanes Rally Past Golden Knights in Game 2
The Carolina Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals and defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The victory leveled the series after Vegas won Game 1.
Life & Culture
Trump Scraps 'Freedom 250' Concerts for a Rally
President Trump officially canceled the Freedom 250 concert series on the National Mall after most of the booked artists withdrew. The shows will be replaced with a rally headlined by Trump and Lee Greenwood, billed as "the Greatest Rally EVER!"
Actor James Handy Killed; Teen Arrested
Veteran American actor James Handy was found dead at his home in Texas after being stabbed, and authorities arrested his girlfriend's teenage son in connection with the case. Handy appeared in dozens of film and television productions during a career that spanned more than four decades.
'Persepolis' Author Marjane Satrapi Dies at 56
Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel Persepolis chronicled growing up during Iran's Islamic Revolution, has died at 56. Her work introduced a generation of Western readers to the texture of life under the new regime and helped legitimize the graphic memoir as serious literature.
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Deep Dive
The Hormuz Trap: How One Choke Point Is Rewriting the Clean Energy Case
What it is: The Strait of Hormuz — a 21-mile passage between Iran and Oman — handles roughly 20% of global oil and LNG shipments daily, making it the world's single most critical energy chokepoint. Since U.S. military operations against Iran began in late February, the strait has been effectively closed to commercial tanker traffic, triggering the most severe oil supply shock since the 1970s.
The detail: Renewable energy advocates have spent years losing the intermittency debate — the argument that wind and solar can't serve as reliable baseload replacements for fossil fuels. A four-month Hormuz closure has reframed it: fossil supply chains carry their own catastrophic fragility, and unlike a windless night, a strait blocked by warships offers no market workaround.
Why it matters: Europe's pivot toward U.S. LNG after Russia's invasion of Ukraine was meant to fix an energy dependency problem. Oxford professor Jan Rosenow notes that LNG from the U.S. still requires a functioning global tanker market — which conflict can sever overnight, exactly as it has now.
What to watch: The pace of U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks will determine how long the strait stays closed — and how structural the clean energy shift turns out to be. A swift deal reopens oil flow and may close the political window; a prolonged standoff could make this conflict the most consequential structural energy turning point since 1973.
Extra Bits
- A coyote that became trapped in four feet of mud in a New York marsh was rescued by animal welfare workers and emergency responders after a difficult recovery effort.
- A sprawling fortress built in a remote Russian field is drawing attention online for looking remarkably prepared for a zombie apocalypse, complete with thick walls, self-sufficiency features, and enough defenses to make doomsday planners jealous.
- A tiny kitten rescued from a storm drain in California is recovering after animal services crews spent hours working to safely reach the trapped feline.
Today’s Trivia
The world's smallest mammal is so tiny it could sit on your thumbnail and weighs barely more than a penny. What is it?
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