“The U.S. national average gas price has dropped back below $4 a gallon, per AAA, a sign of Americans’ pain at the pump easing after months of war in Iran. Iran’s squeeze on oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz battered the global economy. But crude prices in June fell to their lowest levels in over three months on news of an extended ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran. … The national average is now $3.9990 a gallon, per AAA. A year ago, the average was $3.1880.” (06/18/26)
“Russia faced one of the biggest aerial assaults of the war so far from Ukraine overnight, saying its air defences downed as many as 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions. Moscow has ordered the suspension of flights at all its major airports, while traffic was halted on Moscow’s ring road near an oil refinery after multiple drone strikes. Photos and videos shared online purported to show massive explosions at the refinery, including one that blew an oil container lid hundreds of feet into the air. Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobhyanin said around 180 drones heading for the capital alone had been downed.” (06/18/26)
“President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday digitally signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at developing a permanent peace deal to end the war between their two nations, officials said. … Trump signed the MOU before a dinner in Versailles, France, with French President Emmanuel Macron, France’s first lady Brigitte Macron, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others, according to a video posted online by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino.” (06/17/26)
“The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced that all immigrant [abductees] have been transferred out of a Florida [concentration camp] known as Alligator Alcatraz, effectively shuttering the controversial facility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday that everyone being held in the state-run facility had been transferred out, citing concerns about the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. … reports of its impending closure had intensified for months. Several anonymous officials told The New York Times in May that the isolated facility, located inside Florida’s Big Cypress Natural Preserve, was too costly to maintain.” (06/18/26)
“The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged amid resurgent inflation, but nearly half of its policymakers said they would support a rate hike later this year. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the federal funds rate, which affects borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, in its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Economists had widely expected the central bank to keep rates steady. … The central bank’s previous forecast, issued in March, forecast that the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, would end the year at an annual rate of 2.7%. But in today’s forecast, the FOMC members are penciling in inflation rising to an annualized 3.6% by year-end.” (06/17/26)
“Finland’s parliament on Wednesday voted to lift a decades-old ban on nuclear weapons, approving a major defense policy shift aimed at aligning the country more closely with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) deterrence strategy. Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said a strong majority backed the amendment to the Nuclear Energy Act, calling it a ‘historic reform’ that strengthens Finland’s security and that of the alliance. … The measure repeals provisions in Finland’s 1987 Nuclear Energy Act that banned the import, production, possession and detonation of nuclear explosives. If enacted, the legislation would allow nuclear weapons to be transported, supplied or possessed in Finland where the country’s military defense requires it. … The bill now moves to the president for final approval.” (06/17/26)
“South Africa’s biggest labour unions on Wednesday urged workers not to participate in anti-immigrant protests that have seized the country, and said they could face consequences if they skip work to attend. South Africa is on edge ahead of a June 30 deadline which anti-immigrant groups have given for all undocumented foreigners to leave the country. Protests and potential civil unrest are expected, after weeks of sometimes violent xenophobic attacks. Four major unions including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which represents around 2 million people, said in a statement that workers would not be protected if they do not go to work on June 30. … ‘Removing foreign nationals from workplaces, communities or public spaces will not reopen factories, repair municipalities, strengthen public healthcare or create sustainable jobs,’ said the unions COSATU, FEDUSA, SAFTU and NACTU.” (06/17/26)
“The Justice Department is seeking to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging a Chicago suburb’s housing reparations program for [b]lack residents, arguing it is ‘racially discriminatory’ and unconstitutional. The city council in Evanston, Ill., earmarked $10 million in revenue generated from cannabis sales taxes in 2019 for a first-of-its-kind local reparations program for [b]lack residents and their direct descendants who suffered housing discrimination due to the city’s policies and practices between 1919 and 1969. … The Justice Department has alleged that the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act because it is ‘not narrowly tailored to remediating specific, identified instances of past discrimination’ and public money is distributed solely based on race.” (06/17/26)
“The Department of Justice is trying to quash a lawsuit against a power plant that supports an xAI data center and is arguing that the turbines are essential to national security. The suit, filed by the NAACP and several environmental groups against Elon Musk’s xAI, alleges that a power plant in Southaven, Miss., is operating without permits and violates the Clean Air Act. The plant powers the xAI Colossus 2 data center, which is over the state line in Memphis, Tenn. Colossus 2 supports the Grok artificial intelligence bot. The NAACP alleges that the power plant runs 57 turbines with no pollution controls, making it one of the biggest single industrial sources of smog-forming nitrogen oxide in the United States and a significant source of other harmful air pollutants like particulate matter and formaldehyde, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups like children, older adults and low-income or minority households.” (06/17/26)
“African and Commonwealth nations called Tuesday for a swift implementation of a landmark treaty protecting the high seas, warning that despite record commitments to marine conservation, much of the world’s ocean protection still exists only on paper. The call to action was issued at the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, the first time an African nation has hosted the major annual event, which focuses on addressing critical ocean issues, including climate change, biodiversity and pollution. Hundreds of delegates from Africa, the United States, the European Union, and climate-vulnerable Caribbean and Pacific island nations are taking part in the conference, where leaders have sought to position Africa as a driving force in global ocean governance.” (06/16/26)
