🇺🇸🇳🇱⚡- "Mark Rutte, the NATO Chief who's your friend, he called you 'daddy' earlier. Do you regard your NATO allies as kind of children?" - Sky News reporter to President Trump.

"No, he likes me, I think he likes me. If he doesn't, I'll let you know, I'll come back and I'll hit him hard. He did it very affectionately: 'Daddy, you're my daddy,'" - President Trump.

🇨🇳⚡- "China has told companies in its rare-earth industry to give the government lists of employees with technical expertise, aiming to ensure they don’t divulge trade secrets to foreigners.

One of the people said some experts at Chinese companies have been asked to turn in their passports to their companies or local authorities, to ensure they don’t make any unauthorized trips," - The Wall Street Journal.

🇨🇳🇹🇼⚡- "Independence provocations from [Taiwan's President] Lai and his administration will face resolute countermeasures," - Zhu Fenglian, Spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing.

🇨🇳🇹🇼⚡- "China cannot invade Taiwan. It cannot invade what is already Chinese land," - Zhu Fenglian, Spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️- Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Jerry Nadler, two of the most prominent Jewish Democrats in the country, have endorsed Zohran Mamdani in order to maintain party unity,

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️- Steve Witkoff says the US will soon make "major announcements" about new countries joining the Abraham Accords.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- "The US Senate will hold a classified hearing on Thursday regarding the situation in Iran," - CNN.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- The CIA says it has credible intelligence that Iran's nuclear program was severely damaged by the US strikes, and that it would take years to be rebuilt.

🇺🇳🇮🇷⚡- "The IAEA has lost the ability to track Iranian enriched uranium after the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran," - Rafael Grossi, Chief of IAEA, on French Channel 2.

🇬🇧🇷🇺⚡️- British Government is accusing Russia of facilitating illegal migrant boats into the country. Security sources claims that Russia provides fake documents, transportation routs, and even military escorts to smuggling gangs in an effort to destabilize the country.

This comes as NATO will now allow border protection to count towards the 5% defense spending targets of NATO members. NATO this week also recognized illegal immigration into Europe and North America as key national security threats.

🇹🇭⚡- Calls for the resignation of Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra amid border tensions.

🇹🇭⚡- Demands for Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's resignation stem from a leaked call with Cambodia's Senate President Hun Sen.

In the call Shinawatra criticizes her own Thai general over a border clash last month that left one Cambodian soldier dead.

🇨🇳⚡- After the arrival Russia's Belousov and Iran's Nasirzadeh, the Defense Ministers of Belarus, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have also arrived in Qingdao, China.

The 10-members Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SCO, Defense Ministry Summit will begin tomorrow.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡️- NBC reports that Israel is running low on munitions, according to three undisclosed U.S. officials.

‼️🇮🇷🇺🇸 - Iran retains tactical ability to threaten US troops, CENTCOM admiral says

Iran retains the ability to threaten U.S. service members despite being in a weakened state following Israel’s military campaign against Tehran and American assaults on its nuclear program, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who is nominated to take command of U.S. forces in the Middle East in the summer, told senators at his confirmation hearing that the protection of troops is top of mind because Iran continues to possess “considerable tactical capability.”

🔗 Stars and Stripes

🇺🇸🇫🇮⚡️- President Trump announced during the NATO summit that the United States is negotiating the purchase of 15 icebreakers from Finland.

"You are the ‘King of Icebreakers’, you make ‘em good. So we negotiated for 15 icebreakers; one of them is available now," Trump said.

🇲🇽🇷🇺🇨🇳⚡️- Mexico has been invited to participate in the 2025 BRICS summit.

🇷🇺🇧🇷⚡️- Putin will skip the July BRICS summit in Brazil due to an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes. Russia fears Brazil, an ICC member, may be obligated to detain him. He'll join via video; Lavrov will attend in person. —Reuters

🇧🇷🇮🇳🇨🇳⚡️- Xi Jinping will skip the BRICS summit in Brazil, marking his first absence since taking office. China cites a scheduling conflict, but reports suggest Beijing was unhappy with Brazil hosting a state dinner for India’s Modi, which could have made Xi appear like a “supporting actor” at the summit. Premier Li Qiang will attend instead.