Trump taps housing chief

to lead national intelligence

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans say President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence seems unqualified.

Democrats say federal housing finance director Bill Pulte lacks national security experience.

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas are leaving the chamber after this year’s elections and say Pulte lacks qualifications to be DNI.

The Republican president says Pulte will remain director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chair of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while filling in for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Pulte has abused his authority as housing finance director.

Iran fires missiles; US

strikes back in retaliation

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military says Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait and Bahrain failed or were shot down, and says the U.S. launched strikes on an Iran facility in response.

The attacks happened after Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel, according to reports Tuesday from two semiofficial Iranian news agencies. President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing. The reports come as Iran insists the fighting in Lebanon is part of the wider ceasefire talks with the United States over the war.

Israel and the U.S. maintain Israel’s fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.

Rubio remains optimistic

on nuclear talks with Iran

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he’s optimistic about the potential for a resumption in nuclear talks with Iran despite a shaky ceasefire in the war that’s looking increasingly in doubt. Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday the Iranians have agreed to negotiate on nuclear points they had not been willing to address in the past.

Rubio wouldn’t offer an assessment on what those talks might produce and added it was no guarantee they would result in an an acceptable deal.

Rubio’s optimism runs counter to reports by two semiofficial Iranian news agencies that Iran has stopped communicating with mediators after Israel threatened to bomb Beirut as it fights the Hezbollah militant group.

day after deescalation talk

BEIRUT — Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon killed 11 people Tuesday, including a man along with his son and daughter.

This comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to reduce fighting.

Another round of ceasefire talks between Israel and Lebanon began Tuesday in Washington. Hezbollah continues launching projectiles and drones toward Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israeli forces are making their deepest incursion into a in 26 years. Israel had threatened to strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, causing panic and mass evacuations.

Trump announced no troops will go to Beirut, but attacks continue.

The Associated Press

The show will go on: White House correspondents’ dinner rescheduled for July, with Trump attending

NEW YORK — The White House Correspondents Association dinner has been rescheduled for July 24. The event was initially disrupted in April by an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, announced the new date and emphasized enhanced safety measures and new access procedures. Trump revealed on his Truth Social platform that the dinner would be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. He said he has accepted an invitation to speak, and called the rescheduling a sign of strength. Jiang highlighted the dinner’s purpose as a celebration of a free press and democracy, despite some critics questioning whether it should be held at all.

Trump signs an executive order that invites vetting of top AI models for national security risks

President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order on oversight of artificial intelligence, less than two weeks after postponing a White House ceremony over his concerns that a similar policy could dull America’s edge on AI technology. It was not immediately clear to what extent the order signed Tuesday differed from the one he declined to sign on May 21. The order establishes a framework to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. The government will be able to work with trusted partners “to promote secure innovation and strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure,” the order says.

Wall Street inches to more records thanks to booming AI stocks

NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market inched to more records as winners of the artificial-intelligence boom kept driving higher. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. All three indexes set all-time highs. Marvell Technology leaped to its biggest gain ever after Nvidia’s CEO suggested it could be the next company to be worth $1 trillion. But Alphabet weighed on the market after the parent company of Google said it’s raising $80 billion to help pay for its AI investments. Oil prices rose.