In a major blow to the Democratic establishment, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan despite being vastly outspent by his opponent, Congresswoman Haley Stevens. Abdul El-Sayed campaigned on a platform calling for Medicare for All, ending military aid to Israel and getting money out of politics. Abdul El-Sayed spoke in Detroit Wednesday morning after the Associated Press and CNN called the race. He challenged his Republican opponent Mike Rogers to a series of five debates.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: “Mike Rogers is a guy who has never shied away from a corporation he could do a favor for. Mike Rogers is a guy who, believe it or not, went back to Florida so he could lick every single boot Donald Trump owns to beg for his endorsement. I’m so sorry. If you want a senator who’s going to lick some boots, fine, go vote for Mike Rogers. But if you want a senator who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you’ve got your option right here.”

During a speech on Wednesday, President Trump attacked Abdul El-Sayed, saying, “When I watch Abdul He’s full of s—” — using the four letter word.
In other Michigan news, Democratic Socialist state Representative Donavan McKinney has defeated two-term Congressman Shri Thanedar in their House primary.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche privately assured anti-abortion activists that the Trump administration is working to “make Dobbs permanent” nationwide. He made the pledge on a call hosted by the White House Faith Office with the religious group Intercessors for America, which posted a recording of the call online. Blanche acknowledged the Trump administration’s push to restrict abortion is moving slower than supporters want, but promised it was committed to enforcing the Dobbs decision across the country. On the call, Blanche also pledged to crack down on abortion pills.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: “We’re working, you know, hand in hand with — with HHS and the FDA and — and the White House and President Trump’s team to get permanent solutions, so that — so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.”

In response, Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota said, “Todd Blanche made clear in these secret calls with anti-choice activists that he wants to resurrect the Comstock Act — an antiquated anti-vice law from before women had the right to vote — to ban sending medication abortion in the mail. Republicans will likely do what they always do and confirm Blanche as Attorney General despite all of this, and once again, women across America will pay the price.”

The Senate has voted 51 to 44 to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has been without a permanent director for more than a year after President Trump fired Susan Monarez after she clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy. Dr. Erica Schwartz takes the helm at the CDC as the nation faces its largest measles outbreak in 35 years, as well as a growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis. During her confirmation hearing, Schwartz repeatedly affirmed the safety and efficacy of childhood vaccines, but many Democrats questioned whether she would stand up to Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda.

The state of New Mexico has sued the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for “stonewalling” the state’s investigation into sex crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein’s former estate 30 miles south of Santa Fe known as Zorro Ranch. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has been demanding that the DOJ share information about what happened at the 10,000-acre ranch, where several Epstein survivors say they were trafficked and sexually abused. The ranch is mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files. One email in the files alleges that Epstein ordered the bodies of two girls to be buried in the hills on the property.

In other Epstein news, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have released a report alleging that more than a dozen bankers at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank failed to report hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats say the failures helped enable Epstein to finance his sex trafficking operation.

A federal lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of deliberately targeting children who arrived in the U.S. without a parent or guardian. The suit says officials are pushing to rapidly deport the children back to the countries they fled. It also alleges sweeping policy changes in immigration courts have accelerated the effort. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh (JFCS) and six of its immigrant clients.

The lawsuit reads, “This case is about the most vulnerable in our immigration system: abused, abandoned, neglected, and trafficked children. One would assume it would be a priority of our immigration system to protect, at least, these children. However, protecting vulnerable and trafficked children conflicts with an agenda of 'deport at all costs.'”

In the North African Spanish enclave of Ceuta, local authorities are looking to transfer hundreds of unaccompanied minors to the mainland. According to the local government, these unaccompanied minors who entered the enclave before or during the influx of 72,000 migrants in one week cannot be deported. This is Ana María Sánchez García, who works with the NGO Humanitarians Without Borders.

Ana María Sánchez García: “There’s pregnant women, underage girls alone in the streets. We are trying to provide care for them and listen to them and to try to see what solutions we may provide.”

The New York Times is reporting the CIA has secretly established a new Cuba task force in the latest move by the Trump administration to target Cuba. According to the Times, the CIA is adding case officers who recruit and manage spies, as well as officers who conduct cyber operations and specialize in covert influence operations. This comes as U.S. spy agencies are increasingly focused on Cuba.

The U.S. has made many attempts to overthrow the Cuban government over the past 65 years. In 1960, the CIA formed a Cuba task force that oversaw the failed Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday that Tehran and Oman have agreed on coordinates for a shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. A joint announcement is being finalized. Baghaei cautioned that a deal with Oman alone cannot guarantee safe passage through the waterway. Meanwhile, Reuters reports Iran has told Gulf governments that a renewed U.S. strike on Iranian soil would prompt retaliatory attacks on energy facilities across the region. This comes as The New York Times reports federal and state officials are scrambling to respond to a sweeping cyberattack campaign against U.S. water systems; investigators say Iran could be responsible. At least a dozen states have now reported suspected attacks to the FBI — among them Minnesota and Michigan, where in some cases the response to the hacks impaired water operations.

In Israel, prosecutors indicted settler Yinon Levi Thursday over the killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank last year. Levi is charged with reckless manslaughter, armed trespassing and malicious property damage. According to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, it’s the first time an Israeli has been indicted in the killing of a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023. Hathaleen was a prominent activist against settler violence and was involved in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” about Palestinians resisting the demolition of their villages. Click here to see our interview with Al-Haq, the Palestinian human rights group based in Ramallah that did a dissection, a kind of Forensic Architecture analysis of the killing.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military says it has conducted targeted strikes in the south of the country against Hezbollah, issuing a new evacuation order. It comes a day after the latest round of U.S.-facilitated talks between Israel and Lebanon took place in Rome. The Lebanese Health Ministry said ​the Israeli strike on the southern town ​of Tibnin killed one person and wounded 12 ⁠others. This is the U.N. deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq.

Farhan Haq: “This new order comes as displaced families have been cautiously making their way back to their homes in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, underscoring how fragile the situation remains and the uncertainty that people continue to face.”

In Russia, a car bombing has left the head of a drone manufacturer critically injured. Ukraine is believed to be behind the assassination attempt, as it continues to strike deep inside Russian territory. This comes as a Ukrainian intelligence official claims a North Korean missile unit has begun deploying to western Russia, possibly equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine.

A historic heat wave continues to roil Europe. Austria has broken its national heat record for the second time in two days. One town near the Slovak border reached about 106 degrees Fahrenheit, topping the record Vienna set just a day earlier, according to the national weather service.

In neighboring Hungary, businesses and households are curbing electricity use amid a severe drought. Falling water levels on the Danube have forced Hungary to largely shut down its only nuclear plant, which depends on the river for cooling.

New forecasting suggests that the rapidly developing El Niño weather system could drive roughly 50 million people into acute hunger by the end of 2027. Meteorologists say this year’s El Niño is developing into the strongest in at least 70 years. El Niño is the recurring Pacific weather pattern which alters rainfall across the globe.

In Guatemala, the Fuego volcano is expelling fresh ash and mud. Authorities have already evacuated some 1,700 people from surrounding communities. Officials say the coming three days will be decisive, as expected rain could set off additional mudflows down the volcano’s slopes.

Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced plans to return from exile despite facing a death sentence for ordering a deadly crackdown on the youth-led protest movement that ousted her two years ago. Hasina has been living in exile in India. Student leaders in Bangladesh condemned Hasina’s possible return.

Towhid Islam: “The way we speak about repatriation and the way Sheikh Hasina gets the audacity to say that she will return, where does this courage come from? This loophole is created by the state, because the state has failed to bring her to true justice. Such a culture of impunity and repeated examples from the past are the reason these mass killers gather the courage to talk big.”