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A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff in California Monday, June 15, military officials said.

The aircraft carrying eight people crashed shortly after taking off from Edwards Air Force Base airfield at 11:20 a.m. local time, the base reported. All eight are believed to be dead.

"An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine mission crashed shortly after take-off," base officials said in a statement. "Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable. Emergency response personnel are on scene, and officials are working to account for all personnel."

Base officials did not release the names of any of the crewmembers but added that more information will be released as the investigation continues. Officials said "our thoughts and prayers are with the families and unit members at this time."

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On 3 June, for the first time, Germany failed to secure a rotating seat on the UN Security Council, falling 23 votes short. The announcement was made by Annalena Baerbock, Germany's former foreign minister and current president of the UN General Assembly.

The vote was a verdict on Germany's standing in the world, and even Berlin knows why.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul acknowledged that the country had lost votes over its support for Israel's war on Gaza, or as he put it, "Germany's special responsibility for Israel".

He was quick to add that Germany would continue to fulfil that responsibility, despite the international embarrassment.

At a moment when rogue states such as the United States and Israel are waging wars and pursuing coercive campaigns against countries of their choosing - from Iran and Yemen to Lebanon, Palestine and Venezuela - the rest of the world is looking for international partners who can help weather the storm, not fuel it.

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Thousands of Palestinians trapped beneath the rubble in Gaza may never be identified, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned, citing slow recovery efforts and the large number of bodies yet to be retrieved, The Guardian reported on Sunday.

"There is no doubt that these bodies could soon become difficult to identify," Pat Griffiths, the ICRC spokesperson in Jerusalem, told the British newspaper.

The longer it takes for human remains to be recovered, the more difficult it can be to identify them. The longer the deceased lie beneath the rubble, the more likely they will be in advanced stages of decomposition – even skeletonised – when eventually recovered."

"Forensic experts lose access to circumstantial evidence that can be used to corroborate their identity."

The ICRC warned that the more time passes, the greater the risk that crucial identifying evidence, including fingerprints, dental records and personal belongings, will be lost.

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When news came that the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, would be travelling to Normandy to mark D-day, some in the seaside village of Langrune-sur-Mer – where the afternoon ceremony was slated to be held – felt they had to speak up.

“We found it unbelievable that they could send someone who held views and values contrary to democracy, human rights, peace and Europe,” said resident Chantal Richard. To her, the incongruence felt deeply personal. “We grew up going to D-day ceremonies, some of us had grandparents or parents whose lives were affected by this war.”

The view led Richard and the 40 or so other members of Langrune en Commun, a residents’ association, to sign a 179-word statement. Published days before the 82nd anniversary of the D-day landings, it called for Hegseth’s visit to be cancelled.

“The honour of Langrune, that of France and the memory of the young allied soldiers – American, British and Canadian – who died on our beaches in the name of democracy demand that this individual’s visit be cancelled,” it said.

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Ukraine has come under a massive Russian missile and drone attack with waves of explosions echoing through the capital, Kyiv, in the early hours of Monday morning as air raids killed at least five people across the country.

Among targets hit in the sustained wave of strikes were the city’s historic Dormition Cathedral within the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine’s most significant religiMore...ous sites, as well as residential buildings across the city.

Footage from the Perchersk Lavra, a Unesco world heritage site, showed towering flames licking up towards its domes. Six people were reported injured.

“[T]he roof of one of the holiest places in the Christian world – the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra – is burning,” Metropoliton Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, wrote on X.

Yulia Svyrydenko, the prime minister, posted a picture of the monastery building in flames and wrote: “A brutal assault on our people ‌and our heritage. This is the true face of Russia’s Orthodox values.

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The American musician Oliver Tree has died in a helicopter crash in Brazil at the age of 32, according to reports.

Two helicopters collided over Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning and crashed in the city’s western zone, killing all six people onboard, including Tree, several Brazilian media outlets reported.

Rio de Janeiro’s military fire department said one of the helicopters crashed on a car dealership, where several electric vehicles were parked, igniting a fire that was extinguished.

Officials said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the collision.

Tree, 32, who was in Brazil on a world tour, was aboard one of the helicopters that crashed, leaving all occupants dead, a police source told AFP.

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Before Sayuri Tsuchitani became an entrepreneur, she spent two decades on her feet: cutting, coloring and styling hair. A hairdresser's work is physically tough, and Tsuchitani often wondered how she'd manage as she grew older.

When the pandemic shut the Los Angeles salon where she worked, she recognized a chance to make a change: She applied for a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, or the SBA, for a business of her own.

"The SBA led me to my success of the American dream," said Tsuchitani, who took advantage of a pandemic-era funding program to open a Japanese head spa: a salon offering blood-flow massages, ayurvedic oil treatments and deep scalp cleanses. She launched one location, then two more; hired one worker, then nine more.

But today, the SBA would disqualify Tsuchitani from its loan program because of a new policy. Tsuchitani is a green-card holder, also known as a lawful permanent resident; she moved from Japan 28 years ago. And in March, the U.S. small-business agency, for the first time in its history, stopped approving loans to firms that are not fully owned by U.S. citizens — and only citizens.

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A plane carrying passengers planning to spend a sunny afternoon skydiving crashed Sunday in Missouri, killing all 12 people aboard, authorities said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement that troopers were on the scene, assisting the Butler Police Department & Bates County Sheriff’s Office. The crash occurred near the Butler Memorial Airport. The small town of Butler has a population of around 4,300 people and is roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Kansas City.

Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Ewing said the plane was taking people up to skydive. Emergency responders got a call that a plane was down and engulfed in fire around 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning, he said.

Emergency responders were able to extinguish the fire shortly after the crash, Ewing said, calling the scene “brutal.”

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