“The coach of the Iranian soccer team said that his team had to leave the U.S. shortly after its 2-2 draw against New Zealand to open the FIFA World Cup. Amir Ghalenoei said that officials did not give his team time to ‘recover’ from the match before ordering them to return to Tijuana, Mexico. The Iranians are staying in Tijuana, which is a short flight from southern California — where the team played on Monday and will compete in its second game against Belgium on Sunday. … Ghalenoei did not say who ordered his team to depart the U.S. back to Mexico. While all 31 Iranian players and their coaches received visas, multiple members of the team’s traveling party did not.” (06/16/26)
“Secret Service officials are reportedly angry with FBI Director Kash Patel for announcing Tuesday the FBI had intercepted an alleged plot targeting President Donald Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event before many arrests had been made in the case. Officials ‘woke up’ Tuesday morning to find Patel had posted on X, boasting about the FBI’s work to thwart the planned attack and arrest several individuals accused of conspiring in the plot. … However, not all suspects had been arrested and the case was sealed in court at the time, angering Secret Service officials who led the investigation, sources told MSNOW. … Federal law enforcement had five people in custody Monday but identified 23 others as part of a ‘network of plotters’ who allegedly planned to use a drone equipped with an explosive to hit buildings near the event, force a mass evacuation and steer crowds toward a sniper team, officials told Fox News Digital.” [editor’s note: A 19-year-old is identified as the alleged mastermind/leader of what would have been a large operation, so I suspect the whole thing is more law enforcement hype than reality – TLK] (06/16/26)
“The global outlook for electric vehicle demand has been cut for a second year in a row, with policy shifts in the United States driving a significant downgrade to long-term expectations, according to BloombergNEF. The latest forecast points to a slower pace of electrification across major automotive markets, even as overall adoption continues to rise. … EV sales are now expected to account for just 17% of [US] passenger vehicle sales by 2030, down sharply from 27% in last year’s forecast and far below earlier expectations of 48%. The revision reflects a cumulative loss of around 14 million EV sales through 2030 compared with previous projections, highlighting how quickly policy changes are reshaping the market outlook. Several policy adjustments are behind the slowdown. The $7,500 federal tax credit for EV buyers has expired, fuel economy standards have been eased, and efforts to limit California’s ability to set its own emissions rules are adding further uncertainty.” (06/16/26)
“A Russian artist critical of Vladimir Putin and the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has been shot and killed in the eastern Polish town of Biała Podlaska, a prosecutor has said. Five shots were fired at the victim, including one to the head, in the attack on Monday, said Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the district prosecutor in Lublin. Two Belarusians have been detained but not charged in connection with the case, he added. Local media identified the victim as Robert Kuzovkov, who was also known by his artistic pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, a Russian artist and performer known for his criticism of the Russian leader.” (06/16/26)
“Yum Brands on Tuesday announced it is selling Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital for roughly $1.5 billion. The deal excludes the pizza chain’s locations in mainland China; Yum China will acquire those in a separate transaction for about $1.2 billion. The deals cap off years of struggles for Pizza Hut, which has weighed on Yum’s overall financial performance. In the U.S., the pizza chain has transitioned from the sit-down format and salad bars of yore to focus on delivery and carryout — far behind the curve. … The deal severs Pizza Hut’s decades-long ties to Taco Bell and KFC, its sister brands in Yum’s portfolio.” (06/16/26)
“Ukraine and Moldova took a major step towards joining the European Union on Monday as the bloc formally launched the accession process for both countries, opening negotiations that will require years of political and institutional reforms. For Kyiv, the move comes as it continues to fight Russia’s invasion and pursues EU membership as both a security guarantee and a pathway towards deeper integration with the West. The launch of the process was marked by an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg attended by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka.” (06/16/26)
“Italian police have arrested seven people accused of belonging to an anarchist militant network and carrying out sabotage on a high-speed railway line during the Winter Olympics in February. In a statement on Tuesday, police said a judge had ordered five suspects to be held in prison and two placed under house arrest. The charges include terrorist association and subversion of the democratic order. Police said two of those arrested were accused of taking part in a February 14 attack on the Rome-Florence high-speed rail line. According to investigators, the sabotage was carried out using improvised explosive devices, causing severe damage to infrastructure estimated at €455,000 ($528,000). The attack led to train delays of more than an hour during the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which ran from February 6 to 22.” (06/16/26)
“SpaceX has agreed to buy AI coding start-up Cursor for $60bn (£45bn) just days after its bumper initial public offering (IPO). Elon Musk’s rocket company will take over Anysphere, which makes the artificial intelligence coding agent. The move comes after SpaceX joined New York’s tech-focused Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday in the biggest ever listing, valuing it at more than $2tn and raising $85.7bn. … Like OpenAI and Anthropic, Cursor’s technology uses AI to automate the process of writing code, one of the most prominent current uses for artificial intelligence.” (06/16/26)
“A U.N.-backed court in the Central African Republic on Tuesday opened the trial of former President François Bozizé, who is accused of crimes against humanity for abuses committed by members of his security forces between 2009 and 2013. The trial is the sixth held by the Special Criminal Court, a tribunal created in 2015 with U.N. support to prosecute serious crimes committed during the country’s conflicts. …Prosecutors accuse Bozizé of being responsible as a military commander for crimes committed by members of his presidential guard and other security forces, including ‘murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other inhumane acts.’ Bozizé, 79, is being tried in absentia. He has been living in exile in Guinea-Bissau since 2023, and authorities there have refused to extradite him despite an international arrest warrant issued by the court in 2024.” (06/16/26)
“A Texas man who was in Colombia to adopt a 7-year-old boy was arrested after a huge, angry mob accused him of sexually abusing the child in plain sight on a balcony, according to reports. The 36-year-old suspect was seen holding the boy in front of him on a balcony of a building in an upscale neighborhood in Bogota on Sunday afternoon — and an outraged crowd quickly formed below, according to viral video of the incident shared on social media. ‘He’s abusing the child, let him go!’ shouted the woman recording along with others before the man eventually took the child inside, the dramatic clip shows. The otherwise unidentified suspect was arrested at the scene …. the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare later said there were no physical signs of sexual violence, while stressing that the investigation is ongoing because ‘there are other factors involved in sexual abuse,’ according to Bogota-based newspaper El Espectador.” (06/16/26)
