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A federal court in New York has summoned US President Donald Trump to respond to a lawsuit brought by three sitting judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who accuse his administration of punishing them with sweeping sanctions for their work on investigations involving Israel and the United States.

The summons, issued on Thursday by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, requires the government to respond within 60 days to a complaint filed a day earlier by judges Kimberly Prost of Canada, Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin.https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sanctioned-icc-judges-sue-trump-us-over-attack-judicial-independence

The case names Trump as the lead defendant, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

It also names the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which maintains the sanctions list, and its director, Bradley Smith.

It is the first time that ICC judges have personally gone to court to challenge their designation under Executive Order 14203, which Trump signed on 6 February 2025.

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As the sun sets on a vast farm field, soldiers in full body armor pull over on a dirt road and unload what looks like a miniature jet from a truck.

"Our beautiful drone," one of the soldiers says.

This drone, made by Fire Point, a Ukrainian defense technology company, can travel between 800 and 1,200 miles. Ukraine's military has used drones like these to repeatedly hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia, including Moscow and even Siberia. On June 18, Ukraine launched its largest drone offensive yet on Moscow and hit an oil refinery. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky as residents reported a flurry of "oil rain."

The drones have also hit targets in Russian-occupied Ukraine, including the southern peninsula of Crimea, which Russia overran and annexed in 2014. In the last few weeks, Ukrainian drones have struck supply routes for Russian troops as well as railroad bridges, ferry crossings and oil refineries. "Crimea is being isolated by drones," Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in an interview with a prominent Ukrainian journalist. "And in the near future, it looks as though Crimea will become an island."

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The UN-sanctioned Board of Peace announced by Donald Trump earlier this year to rule Gaza is planning a sweeping grant of legal immunity for itself, according to a draft of the resolution obtained by the Guardian. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge”.

The four-page resolution, labeled “sensitive but unclassified”, extends broad protections to every member of the Board of Peace and its administrative affiliate, the office of the high representative (OHR), as well as to the Palestinian technocrats, international military forces and nonresident contractors lined up to perform work in Gaza. It defines legal processes from which they would have immunity as “any arrest, detention or legal proceedings in the courts or other entities in Gaza”.

It is unclear if the document is attempting to relieve the Board of Peace and its affiliates from prosecution in international courts, in addition to potential claims in Gaza.

The Board of Peace’s chair, Donald Trump, would have the right to waive someone’s legal immunity, pending majority support from his peace board, the June 2026 draft resolution states.

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Hundreds of firefighters in Utah have struggled to suppress a wildfire that scorched an additional 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) as of Saturday, as low humidity and strong winds accelerated the fire spread, according to state officials.

The Cottonwood fire erupted on Monday in the Fishlake national forest, located in central Utah. The blaze intensified overnight, growing from about 70,000 acres (28,000 hectares) to more than 92,000 acres (37,000 hectares) on Saturday morning, according to the US Forest Service. The fire is at a 0% containment level and is the largest blaze currently burning in the US, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

There have been no reported injuries or casualties. So far, the fire, whose cause remains under investigation, has left property damage at a ski resort in Beaver county and led to the closure of the national fores

Authorities expect slightly improved weather conditions on Saturday, but they warned that the afternoon may bring “extreme fire behavior” once more due to an increase in temperatures and wind speeds.

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About four million Americans have dropped out of Affordable Care Act insurance coverage this year as costs soared due to the loss of enhanced subsidies.

The figures released late Friday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offer the most complete look to date at what happened to enrollment after Republicans in Congress failed to extend enhanced ACA subsidies at the end of last year.

The loss of those subsidies spiked many people’s premiums by double digits; the new coverage numbers likely reflect the sticker shock Americans experienced.  

Unable to pay, they dropped their coverage.

The report from the health and human services assistant secretary for planning and evaluation said that an estimated 19.2 million people are enrolled in ACA plans as of February.

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The U.S. military is sending additional resources to Venezuela, as the death toll continues to mount and tens of thousands of people are still believed to be missing following a pair of devastating earthquakes.

U.S. South Command (Southcom) announced on Saturday that a specialized rapid resp

“The Department of War is going to have play a logistical – big logistical role here, because they have the ability to land in challenging places,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday, noting that the airport in the capital of Caracas was damaged.

“One of the runways is cracked,” he added. “And so – but the Department of War has the capability to land in situations like that, so we’ll need that.”

onse unit was on its way to Venezuela to assist the local government and aviation authorities with resuming air traffic and airport operations in affected areas.

“The Department of War is going to have play a logistical – big logistical role here, because they have the ability to land in challenging places,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday, noting that the airport in the capital of Caracas was damaged.

“One of the runways is cracked,” he added. “And so – but the Department of War has the capability to land in situations like that, so we’ll need that.”

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Those who live anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains might want to start planning now to stay safe and cool through the July 4 weekend, as the National Weather Service warns days of "significant, dangerous heat" could be ahead.

And they're not talking normal summer heat. This is triple-digit heat indices and blazing hot temperatures that could break records and linger through Independence Day and beyond.

Temperatures are going to be "well above normal across much of the Central and Eastern U.S.," said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service.

From July 3-9, weather service forecasters are seeing increasing confidence for well above-normal and possibly record-breaking summertime temperatures and elevated extreme heat risks for many areas in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. The developing pattern could be favorable for another Omega block-like pattern bringing impacts that last further into July, the forecast discussion noted.

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The U.S. military launched another round of strikes against targets in Iran on June 27 after Tehran allegedly carried out a new drone attack on a commercial oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command.

CENTCOM said the latest operation came after Iranian forces struck the Panama-flagged tanker M/T Kiku with an attack drone around 4:30 a.m. ET Saturday. The tanker was carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil near the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said.

The military said Iran had been "given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement" following U.S. retaliatory strikes a day earlier, but instead "elected not to" after the latest attack on commercial shipping. In response, U.S. aircraft struck multiple military targets, including surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities, according to CENTCOM.

President Donald Trump said in a statement on June 27 that American aircraft had struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites. He also issued a dire warning to Iran if the Middle Eastern country continues to violate the ceasefire agreement.

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