Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Trump has turned on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, calling Israeli strikes on Lebanon 'vicious' — a remarkable public rupture between the two leaders. The criticism comes as Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich simultaneously announces the army has taken control of Hebron in the West Bank, expanding Israeli military authority on a second front.
Georgia Republicans have chosen Representative Mike Collins over former football coach Derek Dooley to take on Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November's midterms — a race widely seen as a bellwether for Trump's political standing. In the separate governor's race, billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson beat Trump-backed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones by nearly 20 points, spending over $100 million in the process.
Mike DeWine, the Republican governor of Ohio who co-wrote the bill reinstating the state's death penalty 45 years ago, has publicly called for its abolition, saying it neither deters murder nor can be morally justified. The reversal from a conservative incumbent carries particular weight as a potential signal for GOP positions on capital punishment heading into the midterm cycle.
Brazil's supreme court has unanimously convicted Eduardo Bolsonaro for soliciting US interference in the coup-plot trial of his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro. The verdict arrives amid active US retaliation — Washington has already placed tariffs on Brazilian goods and sanctioned the judges involved in the trial.
A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed in a fireball during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, killing all eight people on board. The investigation is expected to take up to six months, and the crash is one of the deadliest US military aviation accidents in years — Edwards sits roughly 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
