🇸🇦🇸🇾❌🇮🇱 —The Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the reported Israeli incursions into Syrian territory and the artillery shelling of Quneitra and Daraa provinces.

➡️ The GCC reaffirmed its support for Syria's sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, rejecting any violations that threaten the country's security and stability.

🇺🇸🇰🇿⚡️ — The NYT reports that business interests linked to the families of President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have become involved in a series of U.S.-backed critical minerals projects, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.

➡️ A Kazakhstan tungsten mining deal—negotiated with support from the Trump administration—was finalized after President Trump and Lutnick secured an agreement with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The project is seeking up to $1.6 billion in U.S. government financing and would provide the U.S. access to one of the world's largest untapped tungsten reserves.

➡️ Investors linked to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, through Dominari Securities, acquired a stake in an entity connected to the Kazakhstan project shortly before the agreement was signed. At the same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, controlled by the Lutnick family, helped raise $210 million for one of the project's lead investors.

➡️ The Trump and Lutnick families have financial ties to at least 14 mining companies that are pursuing critical minerals projects while receiving or seeking more than $8.9 billion in U.S. government funding or permits.

🇷🇺🇫🇮⚡️ — Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Russia will take "necessary political and military measures" in response to Finland's decision to lift its Cold War-era ban on hosting nuclear weapons, warning the move creates "real threats" to Russian national security.

🇻🇪⚡️ — A new pair of earthquakes struck Venezuela on Monday morning.

➡️ The first, measuring 5.1 magnitude, occurred at 7:00 a.m. near the coast of Aragua, followed a minute later by a 4.2-magnitude aftershock located about 10 km east of La Guaira.

🇮🇱❌🇵🇸 — The IDF and Shin Bet announced they killed Ismail Masri, the head of Hamas's military security in the Rafah Brigade, in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

➡️ According to the Israeli military, Masri was a senior figure in the Rafah Brigade responsible for coordinating the unit's security and counterintelligence activities, attempting to rebuild Hamas's military security capabilities, and advancing efforts to "harm the IDF's freedom of action" in Gaza.

🇩🇪⚡️ — Five people were shot dead in the town of Stade, near Hamburg in northern Germany, on Monday, police said.

➡️ Authorities have detained two individuals, including the suspected gunman, while the role of the second person remains unclear.

➡️ Police said no other suspects are being sought, and all of the victims were adults. The motive has not yet been determined, and it remains unclear whether anyone else was injured.

🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡️ — Iran and Oman held the first meeting of a joint committee on the Strait of Hormuz in Muscat to discuss current issues and the strait's future management, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi announced.

➡️ The meeting took place during Gharibabadi's visit to Muscat with Abdulaziz Al-Hinai, ambassador-at-large at the Omani Foreign Ministry.

➡️ Talks covered "the future management of the strait within the framework of Article 5 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and the sovereign rights of coastal states," Gharibabadi said.

🇿🇦⚡️ — Anti-immigrant violence is escalating across South Africa, forcing thousands of refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants to seek shelter outside government buildings, in churches, and public parks or flee the country, WSJ reports.

➡️ The vigilante group March & March, which accuses foreigners of taking jobs and public resources, has set a June 30 deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. The group has been linked by victims and aid workers to assaults, intimidation, and efforts to block foreigners from entering public hospitals.

➡️ At least three people, two Mozambicans and one South African, have been killed in the violence, according to the government. More than 1,800 people have been repatriated to Ghana and Nigeria, while over 1,000 have returned overland to Mozambique. Malawi is also seeking to repatriate more than 10,000 of its citizens.

➡️ President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the violence, warning against scapegoating migrants and saying unemployment and crime stem from deeper economic and governance problems. He also announced plans to send envoys to reassure African governments that their citizens would be protected.

🇮🇷🇺🇸⚡️ — Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi denies Trump's claim of scheduled US technical meetings this week, while confirming consultations with Qatar are ongoing.