Top White House Officials Were Using Auto-Deleting Signal Chat More Than Previously Known: ReportSeveral high-ranking White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly used the self-deleting messaging app Signal to discuss government affairs far more than was previously known after revelations last year that it was being used to share real-time war plans.Chat records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Democracy Forward Foundation (DFF) show that a range of officials were using the app, including after President Donald Trump’s orders not to and likely in violation of the Federal Records Act, The Atlantic reported Monday citing DFF’s findings.In addition to Rubio and Vance, these individuals reportedly included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine.A White House spokesperson referred to the chat records as “old news” to The Atlantic and called Signal an “approved app that is pre-loaded on government phones.” While it’s not entirely clear what the officials discussed with Signal — the records obtained by DFF were described as incomplete — the app is not approved for communicating classified information. It also auto-deletes messages, which would violate federal record-preservation laws.Latest Live UpdatesBreaking UpdateSupreme Court Delivers Blow To Trans Kids In Ruling On Sports BansThe Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Title IX, the federal gender equity law, allows bans on trans girls’ and women’s participation in school sports to stand.Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the 6-3 decision, which combined two cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. He was joined by Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett. The more liberal justices concurred in part and dissented in part.Read more here:U.K. May Intervene In $110 Billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery DealBritain said on Tuesday it could intervene in Paramount Skydance Corp’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, potentially holding up the $110 billion deal after the U.S. and China gave it the green light.The move is the first step in a process that could see the deal referred to the U.K.'s anti-trust regulator, which made headlines in 2023 when it blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard to the fury of the two U.S. companies. It later changed its mind after Microsoft amended its acquisition plan.Read more at Reuters:Vast Swaths Of U.S. Prepare For Extreme Heat WaveNEW YORK — From Chicago to New York, city and county officials are preparing for a heat wave that is expected to grip much of the central and eastern United States through the Fourth of July weekend.The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat watch for Philadelphia and surrounding regions starting Wednesday afternoon and into Saturday evening, with dangerously hot “feels like” temperatures up to 110 F during the daytime.The heat index in Boston and much of southern New England could skyrocket to 111 F, with the weather warning starting Wednesday morning.In New York City, Thursday is forecast to bring the first 100 F day in Central Park since July 18, 2012.An extreme heat watch will be in effect in New York City from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday evening.Zohran Mamdani, the city's mayor, has enacted an “unprecedented, historic heat emergency plan,” and he told New Yorkers in his Tuesday morning briefing to prepare for the extreme weather “before the worst of it arrives.”An extreme heat warning is also in effect for Kansas City and other portions of west central Missouri until Friday night, with heat index values as high as 105 F to 110 F expected.SCOTUS To Close Term With Rulings On Birthright Citizenship, Trans Athletes In Women's SportsThe Supreme Court is expected to hand down it's final decisions of the term on Tuesday, with rulings on cases concerning birthright citizenship, bans on trans women athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports in public schools, and campaign finance regulations to come in starting at 10 a.m. ET.The major cases we're watching on the last day of the term:Birthright citizenship (Trump v. Barbara): The court is reviewing President Donald Trump's executive order on Day 1 that denied automatic U.S. birthright citizenship to children born in America to parents without permanent legal status.Banning trans women in sports (Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.): The court is looking at whether states can legally bar transgender women and girls from participating in female sports teams.Campaign finance regulations (National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission): Republicans are seeking to overturn limits on party committees’ spending money in coordination with individual candidates.Birthright citizenship is the most anticipated decision of the term after Trump issued the executive order on his first day to ban birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents entered the country illegally or are here via temporary protected status.Under scrutiny is whether the order was lawful under the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."A decision siding with the Trump administration would upend nearly 125 years of legal precedent and raise new challenges and questions around enforcement for families with mixed status. James Talarico And Ken Paxton Locked In Dead Heat: PollDemocrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton are locked in a dead heat about four months out of election day, according to a New York Times/Siena poll released Tuesday.Both Talarico and Paxton got 47% of the vote in the poll, reflecting the tightness of the U.S. Senate race in Texas.But the voter survey reveals the state of the challenge ahead for Talarico as Republicans have not lost a statewide race for years in the Lone Star State. While Talarico is ahead in urban centers, Paxton is leading him everywhere else, the Times noted.But there are still bright spots for the Democrat.Read more at The New York Times.WH Routed No-Bid Contract For Trump Ballroom Through Office Exempt From Competitive Bidding: WaPoDonald Trump's White House routed a $500 million no-bid contract to build the president's East Wing ballroom through the Executive Residence, which is exempt from rules that require federal agencies to obtain competitive bids to ensure taxpayers pay a fair price, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.The Post noted that Trump personally negotiated some of the costs of his ballroom project, citing records.A White House official told the newspaper the contract was routed through the Executive Residence because the office "will be the primary support of the facility."The cost of the project has ballooned since it was first announced, and taxpayers will foot the bill for half of it despite Trump's past assurances that its construction would be funded by private donations.Read more at The Washington Post:Hormuz Disruption May Have Lasting Impact On Vulnerable Economies: U.N. Trade AgencyThe U.N. trade and development agency warned on Tuesday that while the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will bring immediate relief to energy markets, vulnerable economies remain at risk from prolonged increases in food and fuel costs.Food and transport systems are likely to take longer than energy markets to recover, as disrupted supply chains need more time to reset following more than 100 days of severe disruption to shipping through the strategic waterway, a U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in a new report.The strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies, was effectively paralyzed during the conflict triggered by joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.Although Brent crude has fallen sharply back to around $73 a barrel, close to pre-conflict levels, following the interim U.S.-Iran agreement, UNCTAD said higher fuel, gas and fertilizer costs could continue to feed through into agricultural production, transport costs and household budgets.Vulnerable economies remain particularly exposed to oil and fertilizer price shocks, while persistently high food prices could place further pressure on poorer households. UNCTAD said a 5% increase in food prices can significantly raise the risk of childhood wasting.The agency identified 61 vulnerable economies exposed to oil and cereal import shocks linked to the Strait of Hormuz disruption. Among them is Cape Verde, which relies heavily on imported fuel and has experienced rising electricity, transport and food costs that could continue even after energy markets stabilize.Staple food-importing countries such as Yemen also remain highly vulnerable because their fragile economies are ill-equipped to absorb higher grain prices and transport costs. UNCTAD called for international support to help the most exposed countries recover from the recent shocks.Uncertainty Over Qatar Diplomacy Clouds Prospects For U.S.-Iran DealTop U.S. envoys were due to arrive in Qatar on Tuesday, but uncertainty over the timing and content of any diplomatic talks raised questions over efforts to bring a lasting halt to the Iran war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.The diplomacy follows exchanges of fire over the weekend that tested the June 17 interim accord between the United States and Iran. The 14-point pact allowed 60 days for the two sides to negotiate a permanent truce in the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and to resolve thorny issues including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.Read more at Reuters:Montana GOP Senate Nominee Kurt Alme Let Child Sex Offender Off The HookMontana Republican Senate nominee Kurt Alme, who previously served as his state’s U.S. attorney, cut a plea deal in 2020 that allowed a tribal police officer who sexually abused a 6-year-old girl to serve less than a year in prison and avoid being registered as a sex offender.Alme, who has President Donald Trump’s backing in his bid for Senate, served as Montana’s U.S. attorney in two stints. Trump appointed him both times; Alme served in the role from September 2017 through December 2020, and then again from March 2025 through March 2026.Read more here:Venezuelan Opposition Leader Blocked From Returning HomeVenezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado was blocked from returning to Venezuela as the country reels in the aftermath of two powerful earthquakes that have killed at least 1,700 people, according to The Wall Street Journal.Machado boarded a plane from Virginia to Curaçao, which was authorized by the U.S., but the plane was ordered to turn around once it reached North Carolina, The Journal reported. Just two days later, Machado took a commercial flight to Panama City but was then blocked from boarding a separate flight to Caracas as airline representatives said they were worried that allowing her to travel there would prompt the government to cancel the airline's flights to Venezuela, The Journal said.Machado has reportedly annoyed Trump officials with her criticism of Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, and her calls for a swift democratic transition in media interviews, the newspaper noted.Read more at The Wall Street Journal:See All Updates