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CIA chief Ratcliff lands in Cuba

The US government is committed to Belarus. China’s head of state receives an invitation to Washington. All developments in the news blog.

The U.S. Supreme Court has again allowed the abortion pill to be prescribed via telemedicine and sent by mail. The judges approved the urgent applications from two pharmaceutical companies on Thursday. They stayed a lower appeals court’s decision.

At the beginning of May, this blocked a 2023 regulation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that had made it easier to access the drug mifepristone. As is usual with emergency decisions, the Supreme Court’s order remained without justification. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted against it.

The US House of Representatives narrowly rejects a resolution introduced by Democrats to end the Iran war. The bill failed by a vote of 212 to 212, as a simple majority is required for passage. The aim of the initiative is to stop US President Donald Trump’s military deployment until Congress approves it.

It is the third vote in the chamber on such a resolution this year. The results are becoming increasingly scarce. Trump’s Republicans only have a slim majority. A similar proposal also narrowly failed in the Senate on Wednesday with a vote of 50 to 49.

A US delegation led by CIA Director John Ratcliffe met in Havana with his counterpart from the Cuban Interior Ministry. Both sides have underlined their interest in law enforcement cooperation, the government in Havana said on the state news portal “Cuba Debate” on Thursday.

This serves the security of both countries as well as regional and international security, the statement continued. The government also assured the US delegation that Cuba does not pose a threat to US national security.

The US government needs to fill the top border guards. The previous head of the authority, Michael Banks, is surprisingly resigning from his position. Read the full article here.

According to US President Donald Trump, China wants to buy 200 aircraft from the US company Boeing. Trump said this in an interview excerpt published on Fox News on Thursday. “He agreed to one thing today, he will order 200 machines,” the broadcaster quoted the president as saying, referring to Chinese head of state Xi Jinping. “Boeing wanted 150, they got 200.”

The USA is urging the Lithuanian government to resume exports of Belarusian fertilizer. Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys confirmed pressure from Washington on Thursday. “The situation is changing,” he said. There have been no such efforts to date, but additional US activity has now been reported. However, Budrys stressed that Lithuania supports the EU sanctions against Belarusian potash. As long as these are in force, there will be no discussion about resuming exports. The US Embassy in Vilnius did not initially comment.