While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 22, 2025
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US President Donald Trump (centre) Vice-President J. D. Vance (left) and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly took part in a tense June 19 call with Israel's leaders over Mr Trump's two-week deadline on whether to strike Iran.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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US split as Israel seeks swift action on Iran, sources say
Israeli officials have told the Trump administration they do not want to wait two weeks for Iran to reach a deal to dismantle key parts of its nuclear programme and Israel could act alone before the deadline is up, two sources said, amid a continuing debate on Mr Trump’s team about whether the US should get involved.
The two sources familiar with the matter said Israel had communicated their concerns to Trump administration officials on June 19 in what they described as a tense phone call.
The Israeli officials said they do not want to wait the two weeks that US President Donald Trump presented on June 19 as a deadline for deciding whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran war, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli participants on the call included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and military chief Eyal Zamir, according to a security source.
B-2 bombers moving to Guam amid Middle East tensions
via REUTERS
The United States is moving B-2 bombers to the Pacific island of Guam, two US officials told Reuters on June 21, as President Donald Trump weighs whether the US should take part in Israel’s strikes against Iran.
It was unclear whether the bomber deployment is tied to Middle East tensions.
The B-2 can be equipped to carry America’s 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, designed to destroy targets deep underground. That is the weapon that experts say could be used to strike Iran’s nuclear programme, including Fordow.
Mahmoud Khalil vows to resume pro-Palestinian activism
AFP
Mahmoud Khalil vowed to resume his pro-Palestinian activism as he returned to New York a day after he was released on bail from a jail for immigrants, even as US President Donald Trump’s administration said it will continue its efforts to deport the recent Columbia University graduate.
He arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on the afternoon of June 21 to cheers and ululations from friends and supporters.
Mr Khalil, 30, was reunited with his wife, a US citizen, and greeted at the airport by US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York.
Eight dead in Brazil hot-air balloon accident
SCREENSHOTS: X/@AVIATIONBRK
At least eight people were killed on June 21 when a hot-air balloon with 21 passengers caught fire in southern Brazil, a state governor said.
It was the second fatal balloon accident in the vast South American country in less than a week.
Videos taken by bystanders and carried on Brazilian television showed the moment when the balloon erupted in flames above a rural area outside the Atlantic coast town of Praia Grande, a tourist hotspot popular for hot-air ballooning.
Belarus opposition leader freed after US mediation
X via REUTERS
Belarus’ top jailed opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky was freed alongside over a dozen other political prisoners on June 21 in a surprise release the European Union hailed as a “symbol of hope”.
His wife, Mrs Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who took the mantle of the opposition after his jailing, said the United States helped broker the deal and thanked US President Donald Trump.
Mr Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years.
