NEW: Israel's government is suing the New York Times over a Nick Kristof column over sexual assault of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.

Marco Rubio:

The Chinese side said they are not in favor of militarizing the Strait of Hormuz or a tolling system, and that's our position.

Marco Rubio:

US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today.

It was raised. They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics.

Marco Rubio:

I think China's preference is probably to have Taiwan willingly voluntarily join them.

In a perfect world, what they would want is some vote or a referendum in Taiwan that agrees to fold in. I think that's what they would prefer.

Ultimately it's featured prominently in President Xi's mandate in the time he's been in office. He's made clear that what they call reunification, what they call it, is something that has to happen at some point.

We think it would be a terrible mistake to force that through force or anything of that nature.

Marco Rubio:

The pace of growth in the Chinese military over the last 10 years has no precedent, none.

They've put billions and billions and billions of dollars in their system. I don't think it's just limited to Taiwan.

I think they have ambitions to ultimately be able to project power globally the way the US does now.

They're still behind us in that regard, but nonetheless, they are investing a lot of money. They are right now the world's 2nd most powerful military without a doubt.

Elon Musk attended the Beijing summit with his son X Æ A-Xii.

Nigel Farage bought a £1.4m house in cash in May 2024 after receiving a £5m personal gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Source: Sky News

Cuba says it is “ready” to review a proposed $100 million aid offer from the United States.

Israel's Defense Minister attacks Lamine Yamal.

Saudi Arabia has floated a Middle East non-aggression pact with Iran as part of discussions on managing regional tensions after the US-Israeli war.

Diplomats said Riyadh is looking at the 1970s Helsinki Process as a possible model for easing tensions with a weakened but still threatening Iran.

Source: FT

Belgium's Defence Minister Theo Francken on his Türkiye visit:

What you're doing is amazing and you have to be very proud of your industry and that's why we are here.

We can learn from Türkiye, Turkish companies, and we can make more defense industry together and that is what we're here for.

Belgium's Defence Minister Theo Francken:

We're living in very strange and difficult and instable times and in a very difficult world and getting Türkiye on our side, getting Türkiye in Europe, it is crucial.

Q: Which Turkish weapons systems and platforms have impressed you the most?

Belgium's Defence Minister Francken: Well, the fighter jets, unmanned fighter jets, the Kızılelma… it is really wow. There’s a lot of other capabilities that we don’t have.

NEW: A flotilla of 54 boats carrying nearly 500 activists from 45 countries set sail from Marmaris, Türkiye today, heading for Gaza.

This is their second attempt.

Israeli forces intercepted the first fleet in late April, detaining activists for up to 10 days.

The convoy regrouped in Türkiye, grew in size, and is now back underway — with Israel already signaling it will intercept again.

The cargo is: rice, flour, infant formula, medicines.

Q: Did you discuss China's support for Iran with Xi?

Trump: He said he's not gonna give military equipment. That's a big statement.

But at the same time, he said they buy a lot of their oil there, and they'd like to keep doing that.

Hezbollah FPV drones struck an Israeli military base on the Lebanese border; hitting a pickup truck, a Merkava Mk.4M tank, and command vehicles.

Separate drone footage confirmed the kills.

The U.S. has sharply increased visible surveillance flights and drones near Cuba in recent weeks, using aircraft like the P-8, RC-135, and MQ-4.

Officials say the missions are meant to gather intelligence and pressure Cuba politically — not necessarily signal an imminent invasion.

Source: NYT