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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from Iran: “Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash, state media reported today. The cause of Sunday’s crash was unclear. Iranian officials said fog and bad weather in the area slowed rescuers’ response.”
* The prosecution rests: “Prosecutors rested their hush money case against Donald Trump on Monday, turning it over to the former president’s lawyers for a chance to call witnesses. The prosecution’s final witness, at least for now, was also their most important: Trump attorney-turned-adversary Michael Cohen, who the defense over several hours of cross-examination sought to paint as a serial fabulist who is on a revenge campaign aimed taking down Trump.”
* From the International Criminal Court: “The chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court sought arrest warrants Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over actions taken during their seven-month war. ... The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.”
* On a related note: “President Joe Biden denounced as ‘outrageous’ the International Criminal Court’s announcement Monday that it is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders and charge them with war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
* A step in the right direction at Port Au Prince: “Haiti’s main international airport reopened Monday for the first time in nearly three months after relentless gang violence forced authorities to close it to all traffic in early March.”
* I’ll be eager to learn Trump’s position on this: “The United States and Europe are coalescing around a plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian central bank assets to provide Ukraine with a loan to be used for military and economic assistance, potentially providing the country with a multibillion-dollar lifeline as Russia’s war effort intensifies.”
* This took longer than it should’ve: “Rudy Giuliani, who for weeks had evaded Arizona officials’ efforts to deliver notice of his indictment in the state election fraud case, was finally served in Florida on Friday night after openly taunting the Arizona attorney general on social media — and at his 80th birthday party, no less.”
* A labor setback: “Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama have voted against joining the United Auto Workers, a setback for the union as it tries to organize the auto industry in the South.”
* Remember this one? “When Republicans in Alabama enacted a law earlier this year to protect in vitro fertilization following a court decision that halted the treatment in the deeply conservative state, they pitched it as a temporary fix. They vowed to revisit the issue. ... They never did.”
* An unsettling warning: “The State Department has issued a global security alert warning Americans abroad that terrorists could target lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and LGBTQ-related events during Pride Month in June.”
* Diversity matters: “In three and a half years, President Biden has already installed more non-White federal judges than any president in history. His slate of judges is also majority female — another first.”
See you tomorrow.