BEIRUT – Hezbollah has rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government and demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal. Thursday’s announcement came as local authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least four people. A U.N. peacekeeper was also killed in the crossfire. Hezbollah’s leader said the agreement’s demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean surrender and defeat. The ongoing fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
WASHINGTON – The Senate is beginning a long series of votes on legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans are moving toward passage of three years of funding as Democrats have for months blocked the money in protest. The roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes. First Republicans must beat back a potential gauntlet of amendments that Democrats plan to offer, including to try and permanently ban Trump’s $1.776 billion settlement fund for allies who he believes have been politically persecuted.
CHICAGO – Former President Barack Obama’s influence in his presidential museum runs deep, from the Chicago location to the textured stone adorning its dramatic tower, art installations and a striped reading chairs that resemble ones in his own home. The Obama Presidential Center opens to the general public on Juneteenth after a celebratory dedication in Chicago with dignitaries. But tens of thousands of people, including students and journalists, have already been offered a sneak peek as crews finish final art installations and landscaping. The roughly $850 million project covers the political and personal realms of the nation’s first Black president.
WASHINGTON – Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or sharing diary-like notes with family members. Officials said the material contained classified information as he was preparing a memoir of his time in government. The person familiar with the matter insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that hasn’t been made public
– The Associated Press
