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(NewsNation) — The United States and China have reached a trade deal, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President XI and me,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Trump said China would provide the U.S. with magnets and rare earth minerals “up front,” while the United States has agreed to allow Chinese students to attend U.S. colleges and universities.

Tariffs on Chinese goods will move to 55%, Trump said.

This is a breaking news story; refresh for updates.

A dangerous mpox outbreak is unfolding in Sierra Leone. In just the first week of May, cases rose by 61%, and suspected cases surged by 71%. Roughly half of all confirmed mpox cases in Africa now come from this small West African nation. The virus is moving widely, across geographies, genders, and age groups. 

And the virus is changing.

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Genomic analysis has revealed a fast-moving new variant of mpox—called G.1—that likely emerged in late November. At first it circulated silently but has since taken hold and quickly began sustained human-to-human transmission. Cases have been doubling every two weeks. Estimates suggest more than 11,000 people in Sierra Leone may already be infected. 

This is how outbreaks become epidemics, and mpox, as a pandemic, could be brutal.

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) belongs to the same viral family as smallpox. It causes a disease that can be painful, disfiguring, and debilitating, particularly in children. In Sierra Leone, nearly all patients present with severe rashes, and about a quarter have required hospitalization; in some, the disease has progressed to necrotizing lesions. It’s no longer rare, no longer contained to the LGBTQ community, and it has already reached more than 100 countries.

Read More: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Global-health architect

Sierra Leone has been here before, at the epicenter of a disease outbreak while the world looked away. In 2014, Ebola swept through the West African region. A single mutation supercharged its spread just as it reached Sierra Leone. Tens of thousands died. Health systems collapsed. The global cost soared into the billions. The lesson? Delay is deadly.

As infectious disease researchers, we’ve lived that lesson. For two decades, we’ve worked alongside colleagues across Africa and around the world to build faster, smarter ways to detect and respond to outbreaks. We were on the ground during Ebola, Zika, the COVID-19 pandemic, and recently Marburg—plus, many outbreaks that never made the news because they were stopped in time. Together, we’ve built technologies that track viruses in real time and trained thousands of frontline workers to use them. What once took months, we can now do in days. And now, in Sierra Leone, we are putting that progress to the test.

This time, Sierra Leone isn’t waiting for others to step in to do testing and sequencing—it’s leading.

Within days of the outbreak’s escalation, local public-health teams and scientists under the leadership of Sierra Leone’s National Public Health Agency—working with international partners including ourselves—expanded testing, began sequencing the virus, analyzed its evolution, and shared data in real-time. They also launched robust social mobilization and contact tracing that are helping to slow the spread. 

To stay ahead of the virus, teams in Sierra Leone are using powerful new tools. One is Lookout, our real-time national platform that fuses genomic, diagnostic, clinical, and epidemiological data into a single cloud-based system. As more data come in, Lookout gives health officials a live, evolving map of the outbreak, showing where it’s spreading, how it’s changing, and where to act next.

Lookout is just one example of the infrastructure that teams in the U.S. and Africa have co-created through decades of collaboration. It belongs to a broader system called Sentinel, an outbreak detection and response network we co-lead, launched with support from the Audacious Project, a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED. Sentinel is just one part of a larger movement: scientists, engineers, public health leaders, industry partners, and frontline workers working together to build faster, smarter systems to stop outbreaks before they explode.

But even the best systems can’t run without support.

Earlier this year, the U.S. canceled all funding to Sierra Leone and halted a $120 million initiative by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) aimed at strengthening epidemic preparedness in the country. The Africa CDC, U.S. CDC, World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations continue to offer vital support, but with far fewer resources than before. Philanthropic and industry partners, including the ELMA Relief Foundation, Danaher, and Illumina, have admirably stepped in, but they cannot fill the gap alone. 

Today, local teams are doing so much right—with nearly everything stacked against them. The warning signs are flashing. But their resources are running out.

Read More: ‘This is About Children’s Lives’: Gavi’s CEO Makes the Case for Funding the Global Vaccine Alliance

It’s tempting to believe this isn’t our problem. But thanks to collaborative sequencing efforts, we know the G.1 variant spreading in Sierra Leone has already been detected in at least five patients across multiple U.S. states—Massachusetts, Illinois, and California—and in Europe. It may seem distant—like COVID-19 did at first—but it’s not.

Yes, vaccines exist, and they are expected to be effective against this new variant. But supply is limited, distribution is deeply inequitable, and the vaccines themselves present challenges—from limited clinical data and uncertain duration of protection to storage requirements—that make large-scale campaigns far from straightforward. West Africa has received only a fraction of the doses it needs. Without both vaccine access and real-time tracking, we’re flying blind. Surveillance isn’t a luxury. It’s our first and best line of defense.

Sierra Leone is showing the world what preparedness looks like. But it shouldn’t have to stand alone. We can wait—again—until the virus spreads further. Or we can act now, support the leaders in Sierra Leone already responding, and get them the resources they need—like diagnostics, clinical support, vaccines, sequencing reagents, and frontline outbreak response—to save lives and cut this outbreak short.

We’ve seen how the story of viral outbreaks can unfold. This time, with the present mpox epidemic in Sierra Leone, we still have a chance to change the ending.

Disclosure: TIME’s owners and co-chairs Marc and Lynne Benioff are philanthropic supporters of Sentinel.

A private plane loaded with 26 suitcases of cocaine, weighing more than 1500 pounds. Sounds like a plot point in a Hollywood heist movie, but it really happened in 2013.

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When the stash was discovered in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on a plane bound for France, the pilots Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos were taken into custody. Then, in another plot twist straight out of a movie, they escaped to their native France via boat in 2015. The two pilots were convicted in a 2019 trial and sentenced to six years in prison, but they appealed the verdict, and were ultimately acquitted in 2021. 

Now the pilots appear in a new Netflix docu-series Cocaine Air, out June 11. The main question in the legal proceedings was whether they were supposed to check the contents of the 26 suitcases. In the series, Fauret and Odos defend themselves, saying that they couldn’t possibly have known about the contents of the suitcases, while Christine Saunier Ruellan, who spearheaded the investigation of the case in France, explains what she sees as suspicious activity in the walk-up to the 2013 flight.

Here’s how Cocaine Air presents both sides of the case. 

Pilots seen as heroes

Both pilots described the shock of being detained in the Dominican Republic. Odos describes the rollercoaster of emotions he was feeling in the moment: “When you’re innocent, you almost turn yourself in. It’s like a way to say—okay, please help me.”

In France, both pilots were seen as national heroes because they served in the French army, transporting nuclear weapons before moving into commercial aviation. They garnered a lot of support from people who couldn’t imagine that French army veterans would be capable of participating in drug trafficking, and they are seen throughout the series holding up messages of support outside the buildings where legal proceedings took place.

Cocaine Air co-director Jérôme Pierrat explains that the pilots’ defense lawyers successfully compared pilots to taxi drivers, arguing, “Just as taxi drivers do not have to check your suitcase as it goes in the trunk, it’s the same for them [the pilots].” 

The pilot’s lawyers made the case that the contents of suitcases is the responsibility of border control offices and that pilots are not supposed to be asking passengers what is in their suitcases. 

As Fauret put it himself in the doc, “they tell me the date, and I fly. I never know the purpose of the trip.”

The series also features the owner of the plane, eyeglasses magnate Alain Afflelou. Afflelou leased the plane to another agency when he wasn’t using it, so he was never linked directly to the infamous flight.

An investigator sees red flags

As the series shows, the investigation by Christine Saunier-Ruellan focused on why three flights were flown with the same pilots and the same passenger. On the March 2013 flight that resulted in the pilots’ arrest, the manager and stewardess were told that the client did not need her services—

Through intercepting the pilots’ devices, she found what she thought were suspicious messages sent by the pilots, from “nature of cargo confirmed” and “we did what we had to do.” Saunier-Ruellan also discovered Internet searches on Fauret’s personal computer that were about the drug trafficking situation in Ecuador and the penalties. 

She questioned if these were all signs that the pilots knew that cocaine was in the 26 suitcases, but no definitive link could be made between the messages and behaviors and the luggage. “The appeals court considered these arguments solid enough to overturn the conviction,” says Olivier Bouchara, Cocaine Air co-director. 

At one point, she even went so far as to bug former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s phone because he had flown that airline in the past. But he had nothing to do with the plane full of cocaine and appears in Cocaine Air to set the record straight on any misconceptions.

“In the case of the two pilots, she didn’t have direct proof,” Bouchara says. “What she had were indications, or circumstantial evidence.” 

Yet even after spending months immersing themselves in the details of this case, the filmmakers are also not convinced that they know everything about the pilots’ role in the scandal. As Bouchara put it, “Jerome and I were wondering during all of the shooting, are they responsible? And I have to say that we don’t have the final answer.” 

Bouchara stresses that he and Pierrat were not jurors, or judges, but journalists: “Sometimes, we’d be shooting a scene and we’d look at each other and think, ‘Wait, maybe they knew. Maybe they were in on it.’ Other times, we’d come across a detail that made us doubt everything again. And that’s part of what we wanted to share: not a verdict, but a conversation.”

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

U.S. PROTESTS RESPONSE 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass yesterday imposed a curfew in downtown L.A., in a bid to avert looting and vandalism as protests stretched into their fifth day. Separately, in a televised address, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that Trump’s response to the protests is a “perilous moment” for democracy and that “Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles.” Blake Jones reports for POLITICO; Laurel Rosenhall reports for the New York Times.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday defended the Trump administration’s military response to the L.A. protests while testifying in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. He said that the deployment would last 60 days. Bryn MacDonnell, the official performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense, added that the deployment would cost approximately $134 million. Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Kristen Holmes, and Haley Britzky report for CNN.

Several U.S. cities are bracing for planned protests against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids today. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he would deploy the National Guard ahead of the protests. Brad Brooks, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Dietrich Knauth report for Reuters.

President Trump yesterday stated that “those that want to protest” at the weekend military parade will “be met with very big force.” Reuters reports.

Los Angeles school officials on Monday said that L.A. school police would set up safety perimeters around campuses and school events to keep federal immigration agents away from students, employees, and families. Howard Blume reports for the LA Times.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway yesterday announced they would sanction Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over Ben Gvir and Smotrich “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.” The countries’ statement added that the sanctions “cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza.” Lauren Kent and Eugenia Yosef report for CNN.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the imposition of sanctions on Ben Gvir and Smotrich, while Israel called the measures “outrageous.” Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the U.S. and Israeli condemnation of sanctions was “predictable” and that Ben Gvir and Smotrich had impeded a two-state solution. Reuters reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office yesterday said that it had received a letter from the Palestinian Authority that contains “concrete and unprecedented commitments” to reform, including a call for Hamas to no longer rule Gaza and hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian security forces. An Élysée source also said that Paris is moving in the direction of recognizing a Palestinian state, refuting reports that France is retreating from a plan to do so. Saskya Vandoorne, Joseph Ataman, and Nadeen Ebrahim report for CNN.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE

The Treasury Department yesterday imposed sanctions on Addameer, a major Palestinian legal group for prisoners and detainees, and five other charitable entities across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, alleging they support Palestinian armed factions and militant groups under the pretense of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Fatima Hussein and Julia Frankel report for AP News.

The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, yesterday suggested that the United States no longer wholeheartedly endorses an independent state for Palestinians as a policy goal and that “Muslim countries” should give up their land to create a future Palestinian state. Ethan Bronner reports for Bloomberg News; Mike Wendling reports for BBC News.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Gunfire, including by Israeli troops, killed 36 people and wounded 207 Palestinians trying to access aid in Gaza yesterday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry and witnesses. The incidents bring the total of people killed while trying to access aid at sites run by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to 163, with 1,495 people wounded. Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy report for AP News.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

U.S. and Chinese officials yesterday announced the two countries had agreed to roll back some of the punitive measures they had taken against each other’s economies and present a new trade “framework agreement” to President Xi Jinping and Trump for approval, following two days of talks in London. Alan Rappeport, Ana Swanson, and Jonathan Swan report for the New York Times.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday ordered U.S. embassies to move ahead with a directive to fire all remaining U.S. Agency for International Development staffers, stating that the State Department will take over USAID’s programs by Monday. Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging mass firings at multiple agencies say that Rubio’s plan appears to violate a court injunction. Ellen Knickmeyer and Lindsay Whitehurst report for AP News.

The Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department, and other U.S. agencies in 2022 and 2023 tracked foreign nationals coming and going to Elon Musk’s properties, sources say. The investigation, which focused on possible attempts by foreign nationals to influence Musk, did not progress to charges and its current status is unclear. Dana Mattioli, Michelle Hackman, Josh Dawsey, and Emily Glazer report for the Wall Street Journal.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR 

A Russian drone assault overnight into today killed three people and wounded 60 others in residential districts of northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv, local officials said. AP News reports; Vitalii Hnidyi reports for Reuters.

Russia and Ukraine both said they had exchanged an unspecified number of sick and wounded prisoners of war yesterday under a deal reached at last week’s peace talks in Turkey. Aleksandar Vasovic reports for Reuters.

U.S.-IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS

Trump on Monday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he believes there is a chance of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran and that, for now, he opposes military action on this basis, according to an Israeli and a U.S. official. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.

Tehran will strike U.S. bases if nuclear negotiations fail and conflict between Iran and the United States arises, Tehran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said today. Reuters reports. 

The U.S. Army has presented Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with “a wide range of options” on how to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, head of U.S. Central Command General Michael “Erik” Kurilla told a congressional hearing yesterday. Reuters reports.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

A wave of explosions killed at least seven people in southwest Colombia yesterday, the Colombian National Army said. The army alleged that Colombian police were a “direct target” and that the attacks were linked to the leader of the guerrilla group Estado Mayor Central. Mitchell McCluskey, Michael Rios, Stefano Pozzebon, Fernando Ramos, and Gerardo Lemos report for CNN.

Argentina’s Supreme Court yesterday upheld the corruption conviction of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s former president who was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from political office for life. Daniel Politi reports for the New York Times.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS 

The Trump administration is preparing to begin the transfer of potentially thousands of foreigners who are in the United States illegally to the Guantánamo Bay military base as early as this week, U.S. officials say. Those transferred could include hundreds of migrants from friendly European nations, including the United Kingdom, France, or Germany, and it is unlikely the administration will notify the other governments in advance, U.S. officials add. John Hudson and Alex Horton report for the Washington Post.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month signed off on a recommendation for the Treasury Department to investigate whether Harvard University violated federal sanctions by collaborating on a health insurance conference in China that may have included officials blacklisted by the U.S. government, according to sources and documents reviewed by the New York Times. It is unclear whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which assesses sanctions compliance, opened an investigation in response. Michael C. Bender and Michael S. Schmidt report.

The Justice Department has closed about “half of the open investigations” into allegations of bribery by U.S. businesses overseas and will target “misconduct that undermines American companies and our global standing” when launching future investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced yesterday. Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times.

Trump yesterday said he plans to “wean off” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 2025 hurricane season, the clearest timeline to date of his administration’s plan to dismantle FEMA. Gabe Cohen reports for CNN.

The acting head of enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Cara Petersen, yesterday announced her resignation in an email to her department, stating that she “[has] never before … seen the ability to perform [the Bureau’s] core mission so under attack.” Stacy Cowley reports for the New York Times.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will today announce the repeal of the Biden-era federal limits on power plant climate pollution, multiple sources say. Jean Chemnick and Zack Colman report for POLITICO.

Trump has the authority to abolish national monuments intended to protect historical and archeological sites, the Justice Department assessed in a legal opinion released yesterday. The opinion disavows a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act cannot be revoked. Matthew Brown reports for AP News.

The Trump administration is considering cutting federal education funds to California, sources say, adding that a decision on the issue has not yet been made. Rebecca Carballo, Juan Perez Jr., and Eric He report for POLITICO.

Trump yesterday announced he plans to restore the names of seven Army bases that once honored Confederate leaders by renaming them after soldiers who share the same last names. Jack Detsch and Paul McLeary report for POLITICO.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 

A grand jury yesterday indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) on felony charges over allegations McIver forcibly interfered with law enforcement officials during protests outside an immigration detention facility in Newark last month, interim U.S. Attorney for N.J. Alina Habba said. McIver said the case was “an effort by Trump’s administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare [her] out of doing the work [she] was elected to do.” Ry Rivard reports for POLITICO.

ABC News yesterday announced that it would not renew the contract of longtime ABC News correspondent Terry Moran after he made a social media post critical of Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The network described the post as a “clear violation of ABC News policies.” Aaron Pellish reports for POLITICO.

The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents on Monday decided the institution will review all of the contents of its 21 museums and zoo to remove “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” and “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,” according to a document viewed by the Wall Street Journal. Natalie Andrews, Katy Stech Ferek, and Annie Linskey report.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

A federal appeals court yesterday allowed Trump to maintain tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, in a ruling extending a stay granted shortly after the U.S. Court of International Trade last month found that Trump did not have the power to impose the measures. The appeals court directed an immediate expedited review of the case, scheduling a hearing on July 31 to be heard by the full court. Tony Romm reports for the New York Times.

The Trump administration, for now, does not have to comply with a judge’s order directing the government to give due process to Venezuelan immigrants who were deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act authority, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The court’s decision to issue the interim stay is intended to give appellate judges more time to consider the merits of the lower court’s ruling. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.

A federal judge yesterday declined to immediately grant Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state of California’s request for a temporary order restraining Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from ordering National Guard troops and Marines to support immigration raids in Los Angeles. The judge gave the Trump administration 24 hours to respond and set a hearing on the matter tomorrow. Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.

A federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. African Development Foundation, finding that Trump was acting within his legal authority when he fired the USADF’s board members in February. Rebecca Boone reports for AP News.

 

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

 

 

If you enjoy listening, Just Security’s analytic articles are also available in audio form on the justsecurity.org website.

ICYMI: yesterday on Just Security

 

“The Insurrection Act” by Any Other Name: Unpacking Trump’s Memorandum Authorizing Domestic Deployment of the Military
by Elizabeth Goitein

Russia’s Drone-Dropped Landmines Threaten Human Lives and Hard-Won Humanitarian Protections
by Mary Wareham

Terrorism and the Threat of Weak States
by Khusrav Gaibulloev, James Piazza, and Todd Sandler

The Just Security Podcast: A Conversation with Jen Easterly — Cybersecurity at a Crossroads
by Jen Easterly, Brianna Rosen, and Maya Nir

The post Early Edition: June 11, 2025 appeared first on Just Security.

For the Operation Spiderweb, SBU engineers secretly designed, built, and deployed unique long-range drones capable of striking Russian bombers from thousands of kilometers away.

A critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Roundcube was exploited days after patch, impacting over 80,000 servers.

Threat actors exploited a critical remote code execution (RCE) flaw in Roundcube, tracked as CVE-2025-49113, just days after the patch was released, targeting over 80,000 servers.

Roundcube is a popular webmail platform and has been repeatedly targeted by advanced threat groups like APT28 and Winter Vivern. In the past, attackers exploited these vulnerabilities to steal login credentials and spy on sensitive communications. These campaigns show how unpatched systems remain at serious risk, especially for high-value targets.

Last week, the critical flaw CVE-2025-49113 (CVSS score of 9.9) was discovered after it had gone unnoticed for over a decade. An attacker can exploit the flaw to take control of affected systems and run malicious code, putting users and organizations at significant risk. Kirill Firsov, founder and CEO of FearsOff, discovered the vulnerability.

“Roundcube Webmail before 1.5.10 and 1.6.x before 1.6.11 allows remote code execution by authenticated users because the _from parameter in a URL is not validated in program/actions/settings/upload.php, leading to PHP Object Deserialization.” reads the advisory published by NIST.

The vulnerability has been addressed in 1.6.11 and 1.5.10 LTS.

Firsov estimates that the flaw impacts over 53 million hosts (and tools like cPanel, Plesk, ISPConfig, DirectAdmin, etc.), he said that details and PoC will be published soon.

After the disclosure of the flaw, the researchers at Positive Technologies announced they have reproduced CVE-2025-49113 in Roundcube. The experts urge users to update to the latest version of Roundcube immediately.

Researchers at the Shadowserver Foundation warned that roughly 84,000 Roundcube instances exposed on the Internet are still unpatched.

For the last few days, we are reporting out Roundcube CVE-2025-49113 vulnerable instances (allows remote code execution by authenticated users). Roundcube vulnerabilities have been frequently used for targeted attacks by possible state actors. We see ~84K unpatched worldwide. pic.twitter.com/ZmjVz3dlU5

— The Shadowserver Foundation (@Shadowserver) June 8, 2025

At this time, Shadowserver data shows more than 84,000 Internet-facing servers are vulnerable.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Roundcube)

For a second night in a row, riots rocked the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, lasting into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Protesters used petrol bombs and fireworks as they clashed with the authorities. In response, police used plastic baton rounds and a water cannon.

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The overnight disruption in Ballymena, situated north of the capital Belfast, resulted in the injury of 17 police officers, with some requiring hospital treatment. Five people were arrested on suspicion of riotous behavior, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Police have said that across both nights of rioting, businesses and homes have been “attacked and damaged,” adding that more vehicles were set alight on Tuesday evening, as tensions escalated. 

A number of protests also took place in other towns and cities across Northern Ireland, including Belfast, Lisburn, and Newtownabbey.

Here’s what to know about the ongoing unrest in Ballymena.

What prompted the riots in Northern Ireland?

The disorder started on Monday, June 9, after a peaceful protest took place in the town of Ballymena over an alleged sexual assault that police say occurred the previous Saturday.

Earlier on Monday, two 14-year-old boys appeared at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court in relation to the assault. The boys are charged with attempted oral rape. Both deny the charges.

The boys appeared via videolink from a juvenile center, and confirmed their names and ages via a Romanian translator.

Later in the day, hundreds of people—including men, women and children—peacefully protested the ongoing case in the town centre of Ballymena, raising concerns about the safety of young women and locals.

Separate riots then began in the town on Monday night, as police reported a number of “missiles” thrown at officers and properties nearby being damaged.

The authorities have referred to the escalated riots as “racially-motivated” attacks that are targeting minority ethnic communities.

Chief Superintendent Sue Steen issued a plea to the public on Monday night, saying: “We are urging everyone to remain calm and to act responsibly. Violence and disorder will only place people at greater risk.”

How long are the riots expected to last?

Speaking to the BBC’s Nolan Show on Wednesday morning, assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson said that more disorder is expected.

“We are absolutely prepared that we may see more of this in the coming days,” he said.“Given that we have seen it now for two nights and the severity has maintained over both nights, we are certainly preparing that we may face similar tonight.”

Henderson urged the public to stay at home on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, Sky News correspondent Connor Gillies, who is in Ballymena, said that some families are “barricading themselves” in their attics amid the escalating violence. “The talk here in this town is that it could go on for weeks yet,” he said.

How have police responded?

In response to the first night of rioting, Henderson said during a press conference: “This violence was clearly racially-motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and the police. It was racist thuggery purely and simply, and any attempt to justify or explain it as anything else is misplaced.”

The BBC has reported that some households have put up signs signifying the ethnicity or nationality of its residents, seemingly in an effort to remain out of harm’s way. One photo showed a sign above a door reading “Filipino lives here.”

In a statement released on Wednesday in response to the second night of chaos, chief constable Jon Boutcher called the riots “mindless violence” and that it was “deeply concerning and utterly unacceptable.”

“These criminal acts not only endanger lives but also risk undermining the ongoing criminal justice process led by the [police] in support of a victim who deserves truth, justice, and protection,” Boutcher said. “Ironically, and frustratingly, this violence threatens to derail the very pursuit of justice it claims to challenge. Let me be clear: This behaviour must stop. I appeal to everyone involved to cease all further acts of criminality and disorder immediately.”

The chief constable also thanked the police officers tasked with handling and responding to the riots, adding that he believes the PSNI is “critically underfunded.”

“Despite operating under immense financial pressure—far greater than that faced by other public services in Northern Ireland or police forces across the UK and in the Republic of Ireland—our officers continue to display unwavering professionalism, courage, and resolve,” said Boutcher.

What have politicians said about the riots? 

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called the disorder in Ballymena “very concerning,” saying that there is “no justification” for the damage and injuries caused.

“The reports of sexual assault in the area are extremely distressing, but there is no justification for attacks on police officers while they continue to protect local communities,” said a Downing Street spokesperson. “PSNI and the justice system must be allowed to carry out their jobs and our thoughts are with the victims of the assault as well as the police officers who were injured.”

Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, has called for an immediate end to “the racist and sectarian attacks on families across the North and the rioting in Ballymena.”

Speaking out via social media on Wednesday morning, she said: “No one, now or ever, should feel the need to place a sticker on their door to identify their ethnicity just to avoid being targeted.”

Leader of the Northern Irish Unionist Ulster Party Mike Nesbitt, who also serves as Health Minister, said: “There is no justification for this mayhem, and my thoughts are with those who have lost their homes and the greater number who are feeling intimidated and unwelcome. I understand there are community concerns regarding an alleged serious sexual assault. There are legitimate ways to express those concerns. Street violence is not one of them.”

Sinn Féin MP (Member of Parliament) John Finucane has condemned the attacks.

“The racist attacks on a number of homes near the Ballysillan area last night were abhorrent, and my thoughts are with those families affected. Sickening behaviour such as this has no place in our society,” Finucane said in a statement shared via social media on Wednesday morning. “I will be contacting the families affected to ensure they receive the support they need in the time ahead. Racism, wherever it occurs, must be stamped out and faced down through strong leadership in our communities.”

Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long has also expressed her concerns over the “disturbing scenes” from Ballymena. 

“There is absolutely no place in our society for such disorder and there can be no justification for it,” Long said. “Attacking homes and police officers serves no purpose other than to damage communities and raise tensions. Those involved will be pursued and held accountable for their actions.”

Poland faces another crucial vote on Wednesday.

(NewsNation) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday said her city has “reached a tipping point” amid continued protests, police clashes and looting.

The city’s police chief confirmed nearly 200 were arrested on Tuesday, with thousands of National Guard troops standing by at the behest of President Donald Trump. U.S. Marines are expected to be deployed in LA’s streets on Wednesday.

The protests — which began Friday after federal immigration raids in LA — have caused chaos in the nation’s second-largest city, inspired similar rallies across the country and reignited tensions between Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Demonstrations are expected to continue throughout the week, with “No Kings” events planned across the country on Saturday to coincide with Trump’s military parade through Washington.

Mayor Karen Bass sets curfew amid LA protests

Bass declared a local emergency and implemented a curfew for the city: 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time. Officials said the restriction aims to deter vandalism and looting.

Police made arrests as soon as the curfew took effect, while members of the National Guard stood watch behind plastic shields. The curfew is expected to last several days, Bass said.

The curfew doesn’t apply to residents who live in the designated area, people who are homeless, credentialed media or public safety and emergency officials, according to LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

Immigration protests erupt across US

Protests erupted in Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, Portland, New York and more on Tuesday, echoing the demonstrations in LA.

In Chicago, the city’s transit authority temporarily suspended bus services to the Loop, its downtown neighborhood, as protests and marches spread.

NewsNation affiliate WGN reported a car appeared to drive through a crowd of marching protestors, narrowly missing them. It is unclear if the person in the vehicle has been apprehended by law enforcement.

In El Paso, Texas, activists gathered in the city’s downtown San Jacinto Plaza in solidarity with California’s communities, NewsNation affiliate KTSM reported.

“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is not new. It’s the amplification of a strategy we’ve endured at the border for years,” said Fernando Garcia, executive director for Border Network for Human Rights, in a news release. 

Marines, National Guard deployed to LA will cost $134M: Pentagon

According to the Pentagon, the deployment will cost at least $134 million and mostly cover “just the cost of travel, housing and food” for about 700 active-duty Marines and more than 4,100 National Guard troops sent to protect federal buildings and personnel.

“We stated very publicly that it’s 60 days because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere,” Hegseth told lawmakers.

Trump, Newsom clash over LA protests

The war of words between Trump and Newsom has escalated alongside the protests.

In sending troops to LA, Trump cited Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which allows the president to “call into federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary” when there is a rebellion, an invasion or the danger of either happening.

Newsom called the deployment a threat to democracy and sued the administration. Though a judge did not grant an injunction on Tuesday, a hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta told NewsNation on Wednesday that Trump has overstepped.

“There’s existing law that governs what the president can do and can’t do. The president has invoked a specific statute to call in the National Guard that he believes authorizes him … and that law requires that there be a rebellion there,” Bonta said Tuesday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

“There’s no rebellion. It requires that there be an invasion. There’s no invasion,” he said.

The president has not ruled out invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to use the military to conduct civilian law enforcement activities.

The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

On Monday, Trump floated the idea of border czar Tom Homan arresting Newsom, telling reporters, “I would do it if I were Tom.”

NewsNation’s Anna Kutz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

On June 1, Ukraine launched a bold drone operation deep inside Russia, claiming to have damaged or destroyed 41 strategic bombers. Moscow dismissed Ukraine’s success as “purposefully exaggerated.”