Armed with nothing but a baseball bat and street smarts, Rochester, NY, resident Curtis Jones is ready to go toe-to-toe with what he swears is a mountain lion on the loose in his neighborhood. “It went right over there, and it said ‘Rawr!’” Jones told reporters, gesturing with the seriousness of a man who’s seen things. “I seen it, see me, see it.” Translation: mutual eye contact was made, and it was primal. Jones isn’t alone in his claim. Several Rochester residents say they saw the sleek, shadowy feline slink through their streets last Wednesday, prompting a brief shelter-in-place order while police and drones scoured the area. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and even Seneca Park Zoo confirmed all their lions were still properly enclosed, but Jones remains unconvinced.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the Iranian regime is “in deep trouble” and pushed for an “exceptional deal” to curb its nuclear and military ambitions, during an hour-long interview with Mark Levin aired on Fox News. The interview, filmed during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week, was one of three he granted to American media outlets. Notably, he did not sit for any interviews with the Israeli press traveling with him. Netanyahu laid out the conditions he believes should form the foundation of any future agreement with Tehran: “No uranium enrichment, as President Trump and I have always insisted. No ballistic missiles beyond 300 miles, as stipulated by international treaties.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reportedly promised Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Israel will fully resume its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the conclusion of the proposed 60-day ceasefire currently under discussion in Doha, according to a Channel 12 report. In a series of behind-the-scenes meetings, Netanyahu is said to have assured Smotrich that the pause in fighting will serve as a strategic intermission — not a conclusion. “After the pause, we will transfer the population in the Strip southward and impose a siege [on northern Gaza],” Netanyahu reportedly told the minister, outlining plans to isolate Hamas from the civilian population to facilitate renewed operations.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is under fire after quietly slashing the city’s investment in Israel Bonds—prompting a fierce rebuke from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, which accuses Lander of appeasing the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. A letter sent Sunday by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro blasts Lander for what the mayor’s office calls a “sustained and coordinated decision” to divest from Israel, noting that the city’s pension holdings in Israel Bonds plummeted from “tens of millions” to just $1.2 million under Lander’s watch. The only fund still holding the bonds is the Police Pension Fund.

Iran is vowing that Israel will “pay a price” for what Tehran claims was a failed assassination attempt on President Masoud Pezeshkian, during a high-level security meeting in the heart of the Iranian capital. In comments to Al Jazeera, an official confirmed that Iranian authorities have launched a broad investigation into the “coordinated operation” to kill Pezeshkian during Operation Rising Lion, and are probing whether internal collaborators aided in the attempt. According to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), six bombs detonated near a key government building in western Tehran on June 16, as the Supreme National Security Council was meeting on a lower floor.

A group of six masked pro-Palestinian activists stormed the newly opened “King David Burger” kosher restaurant in Athens over the weekend, leaving a trail of hate and intimidation in their wake. The attackers, clad in black and armed with spray paint, scrawled messages such as “Smash Zionism” and “No Zionist is safe here” across the restaurant’s counters, walls, and tables. Red and black paint stained the interior as terrified Greek employees looked on, unable to intervene. “This was a coordinated hate crime,” said owner Tzvi Levinson, an Israeli businessman. “They finished the attack in seconds.

“Al-Udeid Air Base is fully operational, working with Qatari partners to ensure regional security and stability,” Pentagon stated, confirming a single Iranian missile hit the base on June 23.

The Syrian government’s Internal Security Forces have begun deploying along the border between the Daraa and Suwayda Governorates, in response to Druze-Bedouin clashes, according to Syrian State Media. Local reports say the clashes have spread to the village to Al-Surah Al-Kabira.

More major flooding is hitting Kempner, Texas, with the Lampasas River surging 33 feet in just four hours.

NEC Director Kevin Hassett on the Federal Reserve’s palace-like office renovation: “This is the most expensive project in D.C. history — $2.5 billion, with a $700 million cost overrun … The Fed has a lot to answer for.”