Top Iranian cleric issues ‘fatwa’ against Trump, Netanyahu
Iran’s top Shiite cleric issued a religious decree against President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, an act some experts called an incitement to terrorism.
The fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi called on Muslims around the world to take a stand, according to the New York Sun. It states that any individual or government that challenges or endangers the leadership and unity of the global Islamic community (the Ummah) is to be regarded as a “warlord” or a “mohareb,” defined as someone who wages war against God. Under Iranian law, those identified as mohareb can face execution, crucifixion, limb amputation, or exile.
“Those who threaten the leadership and integrity of the Islamic Ummah are to be considered warlords,” Makarem said in the ruling. He finished with a prayer asking for protection from these “enemies” and for the swift return of the Mahdi, a messianic figure in Shiite Islam.
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British-Iranian commentator Niyak Ghorbani condemned the fatwa, describing it as a state-endorsed incitement to global terrorism.
He posted on his X account that the Islamic Republic’s aggression is not limited to domestic dissent but signals broader international ambitions for religiously motivated violence.
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“The West must realise: the Islamic Republic is not only targeting its own people — it is preparing for global violence in the name of religion,” he wrote in the post.
This fatwa followed what has been dubbed the “12-Day War,” during which American and Israeli efforts reportedly inflicted significant damage on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
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On June 13, Israeli airstrikes targeted Iranian nuclear and military facilities, reportedly killing top scientists and commanders. In retaliation, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israeli cities. The U.S. joined the conflict a week later, striking three Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump had earlier warned that any further enrichment of uranium by Iran to weapons-grade levels would provoke additional American action. This warning followed a brief ceasefire that ended a 12-day period of intense conflict.
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It is not the first time Iranian clerics have used fatwas to incite violence.
The most infamous case was the 1989 decree against author Salman Rushdie after the release of his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which many Muslims considered offensive. That fatwa forced Rushdie into hiding, led to the murder of a Japanese translator, and multiple attacks on the book’s publishers.Rushdie has survived multiple assassination attempts since, including a 2023 stabbing attack in upstate New York in which he lost an eye.
Satellite photos reveal ongoing activity at bombed Iranian nuclear site
Recent satellite imagery has revealed ongoing activity and fresh evidence of significant damage to tunnels and access roads at Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment site caused by last week’s airstrikes.
The facility was targeted by Israeli forces on June 23, one day after the U.S. carried out strikes using bunker-buster bombs.
The new high-resolution satellite imagery, collected by Maxar Technologies, shows an excavator and several personnel positioned immediately next to the northern shaft on the ridge above the underground complex.
The crane also appears to be operating at the entrance to the shaft, where several additional vehicles are seen below the ridge, parked along the access path that was built to access the site.
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Maxar’s photos also reveal the complete destruction of a facility north of the site, surrounded by more craters and scattered dust. One more crater and visible burn marks are seen on a western access route.
Analysts believe the primary goal of the strikes was to hinder access to the sites and complicate repair efforts.
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Both the United States and Israel have stated that these military actions were aimed at hindering Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has rejected these accusations, maintaining that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
The Fordow site, which is buried within a mountain near Qom, about 60 miles southwest of Tehran, was bombed by the U.S. on June 22, resulting in six prominent craters and a noticeable spread of grey debris, according to satellite photos.
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On the following day, Israel confirmed it had conducted a second strike on Fordow, specifically targeting the roads leading to the facility. Iranian officials later acknowledged this attack.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during a Pentagon briefing last Sunday that while all three Iranian nuclear sites targeted in the strike “sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” the full damage would take time to assess.
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The latest strike on Fordow comes as the Israel Defense Forces said Israel also launched a series of strikes targeting the notorious Evin prison and several Iranian military command centers in an “ongoing effort to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities.”
Music legend halts tour as health crisis becomes ‘unmanageable’ following diagnosis
Paul Simon was forced to cancel a string of concerts Saturday after suffering an injury.
The “You Can Call Me Al” singer has been “struggling with chronic and intense back pain,” which forced the cancellation of shows on the East Coast.
Simon, 83, will undergo minor surgery in the “next few days,” according to a post shared on his Instagram account.
“Regretfully, Paul Simon must cancel two shows tonight June 28 and tomorrow night June 29 – at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music,” Simon shared online.
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“Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain. Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention.”
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The statement continued, “Unfortunately we have to cancel these shows at this time, as we don’t have the ability to reschedule them. However, we are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates.”
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It’s unclear when Simon will reschedule the concerts, and concertgoers were encouraged to contact their local ticket providers for a full refund.
Fox News Digital contacted Simon’s representative for a comment.
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The “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” musician announced his “A Quiet Celebrations” tour in February, to coincide with his “Seven Psalms” album. The tour kicked off in April, and was supposed to end in Seattle in August.
“The evolution of this extraordinary artist continues to unfold,” a press release stated at the time. “In which Simon chose to perform in intimate venues where the acoustics are optimal in consideration of the severe hearing loss that he incurred over the last few years.”
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In May 2023, Simon realized most of the hearing in his left ear was gone while he was creating the album.
“Quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it. So, everything became more difficult,” Simon told The Times.
“My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself.”
In 2018, Simon announced he was retiring from touring. In a social media post, he wrote, “I feel the travel and time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts from the joy of playing,” adding, it “feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief.”
His wife of over 30 years, Edie Brickell, sang a duet with him in the final section of “Seven Psalms,” which includes the lyrics, “Heaven is beautiful/ It’s almost like home/ Children, get ready/ It’s time to come home.”
The couple share three children: Adrian Edward, Lulu and Gabriel Elijah.
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Simon was previously married to the late Carrie Fisher. The couple met in the late ‘70s but didn’t wed until August 1983. They divorced less than a year later, in July 1984.
Trump reacts to Tillis’ retirement while sending warning to Republicans
President Donald Trump celebrated the retirement announcement of one of the two Republicans who voted against advancing his “big, beautiful bill.”
“Great News! ‘Senator’ Thom Tillis will not be seeking reelection,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“For all cost-cutting Republicans, of which I am one, REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected. Don’t go too crazy! We will make it all up, times 10, with GROWTH, more than ever before,” he continued in a separate post.
The North Carolina Republican announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election in the 2026 cycle. Tillis would have been among the most vulnerable Republicans running next year. He faced threats from Trump to face a challenger after his vote against the president’s agenda Saturday night.
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The lawmaker voted against advancing the bill and is likely to vote against final passage, because deep Medicaid cuts inside the colossal bill brought on changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate.
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Tillis railed against the slow death of bipartisanship in Washington in a statement.
“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” he said.
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His announcement also comes after Trump spent much of Saturday evening blasting Tillis as a “grandstander” and vowing to interview potential primary challengers, while Vice President JD Vance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and his leadership team worked over holdout fiscal hawks.
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“Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Former NBC host says Democrats are just ‘collection of people that don’t like Trump’
Ex-NBC News host Chuck Todd lamented on Thursday that the Democratic Party was just a collection of people who disliked President Donald Trump when pressed on whether the Democrats were a left-of-center party.
“I think this is the identity crisis that they have. I think it’s just a collection of people that don’t like Trump right now, right? And that’s served them well in ‘20, but imagine trying to create a big tent that had AOC and John Kasich in it, right? You know? Or Liz Cheney and AOC. You sort of got to rip a hole in the middle, right, as you’re trying to stretch that tent,” Todd told disgraced former CBS News anchor Charlie Rose.
Todd and Rose discussed Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayor primary win and more during the conversation.
“It feels like they’re way too poll-tested. It feels like that they’re trying so hard to sort of keep their suburban voters, and that’s been part of their problem. The growth in the Democratic electorate is in the suburbs, wealthy suburbs, and so the growth of the Republican electorate has been in the working-class exurbs and actually, even in working-class urban areas. And, I think that that’s been their disconnect, is that their voters are in one place, their messaging is in another, but when they try to message to their suburban voters, they’ve sort of lost touch with their working-class roots,” Todd continued.
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Todd said both parties’ coalitions were too big and added, “we would probably be a better democracy if we could have 4 major parties.”
The ex-NBC “Meet the Press” moderator has been critical of the party in the wake of former Vice President Kamala Harris‘ loss to Trump.
He questioned whether the public was sold a “40-year bill of goods” with regard to former President Joe Biden‘s family-man image during a conversation with CNN host Jake Tapper on the “Chuck Toddcast.”
“You and I covered, for most of our professional lives, the story of Joe Biden was: This guy cared about his family so much he commuted home every night from Washington,” Todd said. “You know what else you could say is, this man was so ambitious that after his family went through that tragedy, he commuted every day to work, like it’s the same story. I sit here, I look at this, and I think, were we sold a 40-year bill of goods?”
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Todd said in March that Democratic leadership, specifically House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, were feeling “paralyzed” by the two different constituencies within the Democratic Party.
“Jeffries and Schumer are acting paralyzed because they have two different constituencies. They have ones who are worried about a left-wing tea party, and they should be worried about that, because I do think this anger inside the base is real,” Todd said. “Then you have others who are like, hey, I won, and Trump carried my state. So I’ve got to do this. So, I think that’s why Jeffries and Schumer come across as paralyzed, because they’re trying to placate a coalition party that doesn’t know which direction to go to.”
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Todd suggested during his conversation with Rose that the Republicans might not have stuck with Trump as their nominee if Biden didn’t run for re-election at all.
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GOP faces revolt after Schumer forces reading of Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
Senate Democrats’ delay tactic has finally come to a close, but Senate Republicans are still a ways out from voting on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced clerks on the Senate floor to read aloud the entirety of the Senate GOP’s version of Trump’s megabill on Saturday. In all, reading the 940-page legislative behemoth bled well into Sunday and took nearly 16 hours.
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Schumer announced that he would be forcing the clerks to read the bill ahead of the ultimately successful, albeit drama-filled, procedural vote. And after forcing the reading of the bill, he said on X, “Republicans are squirming.”
“I know damn well they haven’t read the bill, so we’re going to make them,” he said.
It’s an oft-unused strategy Schumer and Senate Democrats deployed as part of the pain campaign against Republicans, who have iced them out from having input on the president’s agenda.
SCHUMER FORCES READING OF TRUMP’S ENTIRE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AS SENATE BRACES FOR ALL-NIGHTER
The last time Senate clerks were forced to read the entirety of a bill on the floor was in 2021, when Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., similarly objected and demanded that former President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Act be read aloud.
Now with the reading dispensed, lawmakers will trudge onward with 20 hours of debate evenly divided between both Democrats and Republicans. Senate Democrats are expected to squeeze every second from their allotted time, while Senate Republicans will likely only use a couple of hours at most.
That time on the GOP side will be used by those already critical of the bill, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. While his support for final passage is unlikely, he is not the only headache that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., may have to worry about.
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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is unlikely to change his mind and vote for final passage – despite Trump bashing him on social media and threatening a primary challenger – unless substantial changes are made to the Medicaid adjustments in the bill.
Tillis further steeled his resolve against the bill when he announced his retirement from Washington at the end of his term, opting against a likely grueling primary battle.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who supported the legislation through the first test, also wants to see real changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate.
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Then there are the fiscal hawks who held the vote hostage on Saturday night as they negotiated with Thune, with the help of Vice President JD Vance, to get an amendment to make changes to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP), which is the amount that the federal government pays for Medicaid to each state.
Changes to FMAP are not popular among most Senate Republicans, save for fiscal hawks looking for steeper cuts in the colossal bill.
Indiana player sounds alarm on locker room ‘islands’ as Fever face mounting pressure
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham made a passionate statement about the state of the team as it deals with Caitlin Clark’s injuries and tries to keep the season from spiraling.
Cunningham spoke to reporters about being the team that everyone in the league has circled on their calendars before their win over the Dallas Wings on Friday.
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It was the second night of a back-to-back as they came off of a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.
“I think so far this season, we’ve had a lot of distractions. Some injuries. Don’t know who’s playing. Just a lot of distractions. But I think that’s really good for us,” she said, via the Indy Star. “Let’s go through the adversity early. Let’s learn from it. Good news is we’re not going to peak too early, so I mean, that’s a positive. It’s not an excuse. Everyone’s playing a back-to-back. Everyone has this kind of rough schedule. For us, we get another opportunity tomorrow, and we’ve got to capitalize on it. Dallas is a team that’s hungry for a win.
“We’ve talked about this, we’re circled on everybody’s schedule. No one likes us, right? So, everyone in our locker room? That’s the only type of people that we have that we can lean on. We’ve got to be better in that area. We have got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent and we’ve got to lean on each other. I think that we’ve kind of wavered a little bit on that. We have our own islands.”
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Cunningham added that the tough schedule was “just an excuse” and that she had to do a better job for her teammates.
She then had five points and four assists on Friday as the Fever defeated the Wings, 94-86.
The WNBA schedule has become a tension point with some players.
New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart spoke about the problems of a 44-game schedule earlier this month.
“We want to play the games, especially if that’s what is wanted for TV and having these sellout arenas,” she said. “I think the hardest part is no matter what, when I was playing 36 games or 32 games, it was in the same amount of time as 44 games.
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“I know on both ends between April and October there’s things happening. But I think that’s one of the biggest talking points in the next CBA is like, alright, how can we make it so teams aren’t playing four (games) in six (days) three times in a season and continuing to have the rest and recovery so we are at our best. It’s tough, it’s a tough thing.”
‘I’m coming for you’: Boxing legend rises from wheelchair to challenge Jake Paul
The former boxing champion known as Butterbean announced on Sunday he was back for “one more fight” as part of a campaign with Lucky Energy, and he called out Jake Paul.
Butterbean, whose real name is Eric Esch, is 58 years old, but that didn’t appear to be a problem in the ad he was in. The clip showed the former boxer get up from his wheelchair to call out Paul.
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“There’s only one fighter out there who wants to fight retired bald guys. Jake Paul, I’m coming for you,” he said in the commercial posted to Instagram. “… I want to fight Jake Paul because he runs his damn mouth too much.”
The commercial also took a shot at the Paul brothers’ energy drink, Prime, which is a major sponsor in WWE as Logan Paul competes as a wrestler there.
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Butterbean, 58, was the IBA world super heavyweight champion during his career and won the Elite-1 MMA super heavyweight championship when he tried his hand at mixed martial arts. He was 77-10 as a boxer and 17-10 as an MMA fighter.
After he hung up the gloves, Butterbean dealt with chronic pain that hampered his mobility and put him in a wheelchair for about nine years. He worked with WWE legend “Diamond” Dallas Page’s yoga program to regain his ability to stand up and walk.
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Paul has taken the boxing world by storm since he began his foray into the sport. He defeated Julio Cesar Chavez via unanimous decision. It was his first bout since the spectacle with Mike Tyson.