The briefing for Wednesday, May 27.

Israeli forces intensified attacks across Lebanon on Tuesday, striking Hezbollah positions in the Bekaa Valley and pushing toward the strategic Litani River. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "increase the blows" against the militant group, warning he would "smite them hip and thigh." The escalation came as U.S. military forces conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran, which Tehran denounced as a ceasefire violation and "bad faith" during ongoing negotiations.

The fragile ceasefire that began April 7 has seen daily violations, with Hezbollah firing over 1,000 drones and 700 rockets at Israeli forces since the truce took effect. More than 400 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli bombardment during this period, including many emergency workers. Israel says it won't withdraw troops until Hezbollah no longer threatens northern Israeli towns, while Hezbollah vows to continue fighting until Israeli strikes end and troops leave Lebanese soil.

The fighting complicates broader U.S.-Iran peace negotiations. Iran insists any deal must include an end to all regional fighting, including in Lebanon, while the U.S. wants Israel to maintain the right to act against what it considers imminent threats. According to ABC News, draft terms would gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and allowing Iran to sell oil through sanctions waivers. Lebanon's government hopes direct talks with Israel will lead to a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal, though the latest violence raises doubts about reaching agreement before the scheduled Friday Pentagon meeting between Lebanese and Israeli military officials.

At least 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees have died by suicide since President Trump took office in January 2025, a pace far exceeding previous years. An AP investigation found the deaths mark an alarming spike, with seven suicides already classified this fiscal year—the most in ICE history. The agency typically records one or no such deaths annually. Among the victims was Brayan Rayo Garzon, who killed himself in April 2025 after being isolated with COVID-19 and denied his nightly call to his mother.

Public health officials say the unprecedented number indicates authorities are failing to properly oversee tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in Trump's aggressive deportation strategy. Dr. Sanjay Basu, a UC-San Francisco epidemiologist who studied detainee mortality rates, called it "one of those alarming, sudden increases" and said "something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of public health or mental health perspective." Nine of the 10 victims were Hispanic men who had arrived from four countries; seven had no record of violent crimes in the U.S. Their average age was 32.

The suicides account for nearly a fifth of 51 total deaths in ICE custody since January 2025. While DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bies said suicide deaths remain "extremely rare" and that detention staff follow protocols to protect at-risk detainees, experts say well-run lockups should have few if any suicides. The AP's investigation found ICE detention centers have repeatedly fallen short of safety standards, with detainees reporting intense stress, fear of being returned to dangerous countries, and frustration over language barriers and inability to access legal help.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton easily defeated Senator John Cornyn in Tuesday's Republican primary runoff, marking a stunning defeat for an incumbent who served in Congress for 23 years and held high-ranking Senate leadership positions. The race set a record as the most expensive Senate primary campaign in U.S. history, with Paxton winning despite being outspent 9-to-1 by Cornyn. In the March first round, Cornyn finished slightly ahead at 42.5% to Paxton's 40.8%, but failed to reach the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

The outcome showcases the continued power of Trump's populist base in Texas, even as the former president's endorsement of Paxton came only after it appeared likely he would win. Cornyn, 74, was a party loyalist who touted his ties to Trump and faithfully toed the Republican line throughout his Senate tenure. But Paxton, 62, campaigned against him as too old, too timid, and too aligned with the political establishment. Trump later accused Cornyn of being "very disloyal" on social media, arguing he didn't fight hard enough to save Trump's voting reform legislation.

The victory sets up a closely watched November general election between Paxton and Democratic state legislator James Talarico. Many Democrats view Paxton—who faces personal and political scandals—as the weaker candidate and see an opportunity to flip a Senate seat in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. Polls indicate a tight race. The result will help determine whether Democrats can win back Senate control for the final two years of Trump's presidency. Just 10 days earlier, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy also failed to reach his party's runoff primary, marking the first time in 46 years at least two incumbent senators were felled by their own party in the same election cycle.

Republican redistricting efforts suffered two major setbacks Tuesday as South Carolina's Senate rejected changes to congressional districts and a federal court blocked Alabama's new map. In South Carolina, where early voting had already begun for June 9 primaries, the Republican-led Senate declined to cancel congressional votes and reschedule under revised districts. Some senators said it was simply too late to make changes, while others worried a plan to reshape the state's only Democratic-held district could backfire by adding too many Democratic voters to Republican districts.

In Alabama, a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from using a Republican-drawn congressional map, ruling the plan "intentionally discriminated based on race" by including only one Black-majority district. The judges ordered the state to continue using a court-imposed map containing two districts where Black residents compose a majority or close to it—both currently held by Democrats. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall vowed an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court, calling the decision baseless and predicting eventual victory.

The decisions are part of a broader redistricting battle sparked by President Trump urging Republican-led states to redraw districts ahead of November's midterm elections. Since Trump first urged Texas to redistrict last summer, Republicans have enacted new maps in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, and Tennessee, while Democrats gained favorable maps in California and Utah. Republicans hope to gain as many as 14 seats from redistricting, while Democrats aim for six. Louisiana is expected to pass new districts soon, though voting rights groups continue challenging maps in Florida and Tennessee. Trump hopes the unusual mid-decade redistricting can help Republicans retain control of the closely divided House despite negative approval ratings and historical headwinds.

NASA outlined the first phase of its Moon base plans Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies less than two months after the successful Artemis II lunar flyby. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin will provide landers to deliver moon buggies built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost to the lunar surface near the south pole. Firefly Aerospace, which successfully landed on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones. All this hardware is scheduled to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.

The ambitious timeline targets Artemis III for mid-2027, when astronauts will practice docking NASA's Orion capsule with lunar landers being developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX. A landing by two astronauts would follow as soon as 2028. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the announcements mean the U.S. will "never give up the Moon again," though most experts agree the timeline is unrealistic given ongoing setbacks with SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System. Dr. Simeon Barber, a lunar scientist at Open University, told BBC News it "would not surprise me at all if China gets there first," citing NASA's challenges in securing a spacecraft capable of safely landing humans.

NASA's Ignition Moon Base program unfolds in three phases. The first runs through 2029 with robotic exploration including 25 launches delivering 4 metric tonnes of cargo. The second phase will build permanent infrastructure including nuclear and solar power grids. By 2032, NASA aims to support astronauts for extended periods in semi-permanent housing during the third phase. Program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan envisions a base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with drones marking the perimeter. The goal is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting research and laying groundwork for Mars expeditions, though NASA faces competition from China, which launched its Shenzhou-23 spacecraft to the Tiangong space station on Monday as part of plans to land humans on the Moon by 2030.

Rescuers in Laos found five villagers alive inside a flooded cave Tuesday after they were trapped for a week following heavy rain and landslides. Two other villagers who entered the cave with them remain missing. The seven were part of a group from Xaysomboun province who entered the cave on Wednesday last week searching for gold deposits and wildlife but couldn't exit after the entrance was blocked. Footage shared by rescuers showed cave divers crawling through narrow, muddy passageways that were almost completely flooded.

The survivors were found at 4:30 p.m. local time by Lao and Thai rescue teams, according to posts on social media. Bounkham Luanglath of Rescue Volunteer for People told the Associated Press the search for the missing would continue, saying "I'm still shaking. Our team made it happen." The cave system, located about 120 kilometers north of the capital Vientiane, extends deep underground with some chambers measuring only about 50 centimeters wide.

Finnish rescue diver Mikko Paasi said rescuers needed to "navigate hundreds of metres of constant restrictions, flood waters, collapse hazards and high risk of contaminated air quality" inside what he called an "abandoned gold mine." He estimated the trapped villagers were located around 300 meters from the exit. The rescue operation involved some of the same Thai experts who helped bring 12 young boys and their football coach to safety after they were trapped for two weeks in a flooded cave in Thailand's Chiang Rai province in 2018, a dramatic rescue that involved more than 10,000 experts from around the world and drew intense global attention.