Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

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  • Swiss voters reject right wing’s bid to cap population at 10 million, early results show

    GENEVA — Nearly 55% of voters in Switzerland on Sunday rejected an initiative championed by the top right-wing party to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million, early results showed.

    The populist Swiss People’s Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighboring European Union.

    Some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit” because it could jeopardize Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union, anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties, and cross-border travel, among other things. Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them

    Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency suggested that it could be a close contest.

    Preliminary results shared by the federal government showed that nearly 55% of voters rejected the proposal, with nationwide turnout almost 59%. Results were still pending from many of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.

    Party says Swiss way of life strained by growing population

    The number of people living in Switzerland has soared by nearly one-quarter over the last generation, and foreigners today make up nearly one-third of the population.

    Critics say the boom in migration has brought foreign labor and skills to sectors such as healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology.

    The right-wing party put forward the “sustainability initiative” measure, saying Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programs, natural resources, and way of life have been strained by the spike in demographic growth.

    The federal government, Parliament and EconomieSuisse, a major business association, oppose the idea.

    In Geneva, Switzerland’s second-largest city and a hub of U.N. institutions and humanitarian groups, early results showed about two-thirds of voters in the region opposed the measure.

    Maria Lalu, a former diplomatic mission worker from the Philippines who arrived in Switzerland in the early 1980s, said she supported the proposal. “I have nothing against immigration. I also am a stranger,” she said after casting her vote, adding that she wants immigration to be more orderly.

    Schoolteacher Natascha Robert said she voted against the bid, expressing concern that approval could hurt Switzerland’s relationship with the EU. She also said Switzerland’s growing diversity is an asset.

    “I think people always have something to bring us,” she said outside a polling station in the central Paquis neighborhood, emphasizing that she was born in Switzerland to two Swiss parents. “Does that mean that we have more foreigners, I feel less Swiss? Really, not.”

    International migration is a controversial issue across Europe

    Swiss democracy gives voters a direct say in policymaking through referendums typically held four times a year. Most ballots are cast through the mail, and in-person voting ended at noon local time on Sunday.

    A “yes” vote would require the Swiss government to take action to cap the population by 2050.

    If the population reaches 9.5 million before then, the government would be forced to restrict asylum, family reunification, and residency permits, and may have to scrap Switzerland’s EU deal on the free movement of people.

    The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported that Switzerland had a foreign-born population of 32% as of 2024, behind only Luxembourg and Australia among the group’s 38 member countries.

    International migration has long been a sensitive issue in Europe, as nations grapple with an aging population and increasing anti-foreigner sentiment. While that sentiment in other European countries centers on migrants from the developing world, most foreigners in Switzerland are Europeans.

    Since Switzerland and the EU eased restrictions on citizens living and working across their borders in 2002, the Swiss population has grown by 23%, to 9.1 million as of the end of last year. Economic output has also increased, up 24% over the same period, government data show.

    Swiss voters have repeatedly tackled the immigration issue over the last half-century. Only one such referendum — “Against mass immigration” in 2014 — narrowly passed, after campaigners stoked fears about overpopulation and rising numbers of Muslims in the country.

    While many countries have limits on immigration, none has ever voted to limit its population, Swiss experts say.

  • Former Senate leader Mitch McConnell is in the hospital, but little more information is known

    WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to a hospital Sunday, his spokesperson said, but there was no immediate information about why he was there or his prognosis.

    McConnell, 84, was the longest serving Senate leader in history before stepping aside from that role while finishing his final term, which ends in January.

    “Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” spokesperson David Popp said in a statement without elaboration. It was not immediately clear whether the Kentucky lawmaker was in Washington, his home state, or elsewhere.

    McConnell’s health has been a subject of scrutiny for years.

    He fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon in December 2024. He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. After he returned, he twice froze up during news conferences that summer, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff came to his assistance.

    McConnell had polio in his early childhood and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs. In addition to his 2023 fall, he also tripped and fell in 2019 at his home in Kentucky. He had surgery for a fractured shoulder.

    McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican leader from 2007 until last year, serving as both majority and minority leader during that period.

    He remains active in the Senate, showing up for work when the chamber is in session, and recently chairing public hearings and grilling officials from his perch as the chairperson for the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense. He has intermittently used a wheelchair to navigate the Capitol and routinely has his security detail, as a former congressional leader, at his side.

  • Britain detains sanctioned oil tanker believed to be linked to Russia’s shadow fleet

    LONDON — Armed British forces boarded and detained a sanctioned tanker Sunday that is suspected of being part of the Russian “shadow fleet,” shipping oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday.

    Royal Marine commandos rappelled from helicopters onto the vessel, the Smyrtos, in the English Channel, in what the country’s Defense Ministry called “the first U.K.-led operation of its kind.”

    The vessel will be held and monitored off the south coast of England for investigation, according to the Defense Ministry. The operation was carried out “in close coordination” with French authorities, who have previously intercepted a number of vessels linked to the shadow fleet.

    “This operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide,” Starmer said.

    Russia is believed to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade sanctions over its war against Ukraine.

    Sailing under a Cameroon flag, the Smyrtos left the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on June 5 destined for Port Said, Egypt, according to the MarineTraffic website.

    U.K. authorities said that such operations were “directly bearing down on the resources sustaining Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and reducing its capacity to threaten security across Europe and beyond.”

    Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelensky thanked Starmer and the British people for their “principled resolve.”

    “It was Russia’s hubris, fueled by high oil and gas revenues, that paved the way for this war, and every decision by partners that deprives Russia of money also limits the war itself,” Zelensky said on X.

    “Europe urgently needs to take legislative steps to enable not only the detention of tankers and restrictions on oil shipments, but also the confiscation of the oil they carry.”

  • Palestinian death toll in Gaza tops 73,000 as Israel launches strikes despite ceasefire

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 73,000, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday, as Israeli military operations continued despite a stalled and fragile ceasefire in place since October.

    Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat, and responding to ceasefire violations, including occasional attacks.

    Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire, according to the health ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the truce.

    The number of deaths since the beginning of the war is now 73,001, according to the health ministry’s tally. Over 173,200 people have been wounded since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, following the Hamas-led attack into Israel. That attack killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

    The health ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

    Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

    Stalled ceasefire

    The U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal reached in October ended full-scale military operations and led to the return of all the remaining hostages. But other elements of the deal have stalled as Hamas has refused to disarm and Israeli troops have advanced in Gaza, rather than withdrawn. Both sides accuse the other of violating the agreement but say it is still in effect.

    Progress on all other issues — including reconstruction, Israeli troop withdrawals, and the establishment of a new Palestinian government — is being held up by the deadlock over disarming Hamas, the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, has said.

    The war displaced most of the Palestinian population of over 2 million, left large parts of the territory in rubble and created widespread shortages of food, medicine, and other basic supplies as the border crossings with Gaza — all but one controlled by Israel — slammed shut.

    At least eight more Palestinians killed in the weekend

    An Israeli strike on Sunday afternoon in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp killed at least four people and wounded others, according to health officials at the Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken. An Israeli military official, who spoke anonymously in line with military guidelines, said the military “struck terrorists” in the area, without elaborating.

    A 13-year-old boy was among five Palestinians killed in Gaza on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday, according to Palestinian health officials. In response to the Saturday night strike that killed two of the five, the Israeli military claimed that it was striking Hamas militants.

  • Putin, Zelensky speak with Trump by phone as drone strikes kill 2 in Russia

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky each spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, as Trump marked his 80th birthday and the war in Ukraine remained a flashpoint ahead of this week’s G7 summit.

    Putin’s call with Trump lasted just under an hour, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, who briefed reporters afterward.

    On Ukraine, Ushakov said Trump emphasized the need to end hostilities and stated his readiness to influence European allies and Kyiv toward that goal, including at the upcoming G7 summit.

    Trump also said that recent strikes on civilian targets in Russia complicate a settlement — though the White House has not confirmed that, nor commented on the call — and said that ending the war quickly could open the door to “a truly new quality of U.S.-Russian relations,” Ushakov quoted him as saying.

    Putin, for his part, argued that attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure by Kyiv would not change Ukraine’s position on the battlefield, and said that if Zelensky wants a meeting with him, “let him come to Moscow,” according to Ushakov.

    U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Russia soon, Ushakov said.

    The leaders also discussed Iran, where Trump said a U.S. agreement with Tehran was close and that he hoped the results of the talks could be made public Sunday, Ushakov said.

    Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram Sunday that he had a “wonderful conversation” with Trump.

    Beyond congratulating Trump on his birthday, the Ukrainian president said he thanked the U.S. president for supporting Ukraine.

    He said they discussed “what could help bring peace closer now,” without providing details. Zelensky also informed Trump about how Ukraine’s position along the eastern front line has improved and strengthened.

    “We agreed to discuss more during our meeting at the G7 summit,” he said.

    The calls came as Trump prepared to mark his birthday with a UFC fight on the White House lawn Sunday evening, an event without precedent in American history. Once it concludes, Trumpwas set to fly overnight to France for the G7 summit, where Ukraine is expected to be a major topic of discussion Tuesday and Zelensky is due to join the gathering.

    Russia’s war in Ukraine has long frustrated Trump, who as a candidate claimed he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office. He has since stopped making such claims and tends to pivot away from the topic when pressed. He has also grown increasingly vexed by the war between Israel and Iran, which has driven up gas prices, rattled financial markets, and stoked concerns about inflation.

    The diplomatic exchanges came against the backdrop of continued fighting. Ukrainian drone attacks killed one person and wounded nine others overnight in a residential building in the regional capital of Russia’s Oryol region, Gov. Andrei Klychkov said Sunday. Another drone attack killed one person Sunday in Russia’s Bryansk region, local authorities said.

    A separate drone strike hit fuel storage facilities in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, around 440 miles from the Ukrainian border, sparking fires. Zelensky said the strike had hit “an oil facility that was important for the reserve of the aggressor state.”

    Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure in recent months, arguing the sector funds Moscow’s invasion.

  • Deal is reached to end Iran war and Trump orders stop to US naval blockade

    ISLAMABAD — The United States and Iran have reached an initial agreement to end their war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the Gulf region and global economy more than three months since fighting began.

    Details of the deal were not immediately released and Iran signaled implementation would not start until the signing, which key mediator Pakistan said would occur Friday in Switzerland. It was expected to extend the tenuous ceasefire reached in April so that negotiators can try to resolve thorny issues such as Iran’s nuclear program and related sanctions.

    There was no immediate word from Israel, which together with the U.S. started the war on Feb. 28 but has expressed skepticism about the negotiations.

    But even as it became clear the parties still have days to influence what lies ahead, the announcements had an air of relief.

    “Congratulations to all!” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media, adding: “I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade,” imposed in retaliation for Iran’s grip on the crucial waterway.

    He soon hedged, however, saying the strait wouldn’t open until Friday’s signing. The U.S. previously said it would ease its blockade of Iranian ports as the strait reopens, and would agree to relax sanctions to allow Iran to sell more of its oil and strengthen its battered economy.

    Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed the agreement on state television but said Iran would not start implementing it until it was signed on Friday. He said the deal followed talks with Qatar, another mediator.

    Qatari mediators later left Tehran following 17 hours of negotiations, said an official briefed on the developments who spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the talks. Separate preparatory meetings with each side will take place in Doha this week, the official said.

    After months of fighting, a ‘critical step’ is taken to end the war

    “This represents a critical step towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” the spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general said of the deal and framework for further negotiations.

    Pakistan first announced the deal after a day in which Israel, sidelined from the negotiations, attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs while pursuing the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Iran’s deputy foreign minister hinted at the tensions that caused, saying “our armed forces were fully prepared to give a decisive response to Israel’s actions.”

    Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said “both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” adding that mediators this week will facilitate meetings to “lay the foundation for the technical talks.”

    There was no immediate comment from Israel, which had criticized the emerging deal. Iran wanted a ceasefire deal to include Lebanon, where Israel has pushed its invasion deeper than at any point in over a quarter-century.

    Iranian state TV later cited the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council saying the war on all fronts “will end immediately and permanently beginning tonight” — but that the U.S. blockade “will be terminated immediately and in full.”

    It was not clear who from Iran would sign the deal on Friday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News the White House was still figuring out who would attend: “I certainly plan to be there, but it’s possible the president himself could be there.”

    The deal came under criticism even in the final hours

    Broader negotiations on outstanding issues like Iran’s nuclear program would continue over the next 60 days, two senior Pakistani officials said earlier Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. If the sides fail to reach a resolution within that time, the timeline could be extended.

    The deal likely returns the region to a status that existed before the war, but with thousands of people dead and Iran wielding a new source of negotiating pressure with its ability to influence shipping in the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.

    Even with a deal, it will take months for oil and gas supplies to flow freely enough for the world’s needs to be met because shipping and insurance companies want to be confident the agreement will last, energy experts said.

    Of the stated targets by the U.S. and Israel when they launched the war on Feb. 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran still has a missile program, support for armed proxies in the region like Hezbollah and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium for its nuclear program.

    Khamenei’s son is now supreme leader, though he has not been seen in the public since the war began. His approval was needed for Iran to sign off on the deal.

    There was apparent friction inside Iran in the hours before the announcement, as the government warned that division at home over the deal weakens its negotiating position. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called it a “disgrace” when someone stands before parliament and calls anyone who negotiates a traitor.

    The emerging deal had been sharply criticized by critics in Trump’s own Republican Party. Some said it did not improve on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term and still describes as “bad.”

    The central question of Iran’s nuclear program remains

    After the war began, Iran attacked Israel and several Arab Gulf nations with missiles and drones. A ceasefire was reached on April 7. Ten days later, the U.S. military imposed its blockade. A historic face-to-face meeting between Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf ended without success.

    Throughout negotiations, Trump alternatively threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure, even its civilization, and praised the relationship with Iran as “more professional” as his administration sought an exit from the war with midterm U.S. elections coming later this year.

    Iran’s government, with its own tensions around hard-liners as it scrambled to replace several top officials killed in the war, repeatedly expressed wariness of negotiations after rounds of talks last year and early this year ended with U.S. and Israeli attacks.

    Tehran has emphasized that it wanted a deal to focus on ending the war, with discussions put off until later on its nuclear program — the issue at the center of it all.

    Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

    Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

    At times, the U.S. had sought the removal of the enriched uranium from Iran as part of a deal. Russia has offered to take it. At other times, Trump said he wanted the uranium destroyed.

  • After 53 years, the New York Knicks are NBA champions. And the wait sure seemed worth it

    SAN ANTONIO — Knowing New York had waited 53 years to see the Knicks hoist the NBA championship trophy, owner James Dolan didn’t even wait to be handed the 30-pound gold-plated prize.

    He grabbed it and lifted it skyward with a yell.

    “I want to say something to New York,” Dolan shouted. “Hey New York! I’m sorry it took so long! But here we are, and hopefully it won’t take that long again!”

    The New York Knicks are champions of the NBA for the first time since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games for this title. The clincher came Saturday night in a 94-90 victory, the Knicks’ fourth comeback win of the series.

    Some will say it’s the first “major” professional sports championship for New York in more than 14 years; that would be true when counting only Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL, and the NBA, though it would be wrong to ignore the New York Liberty’s run to the 2024 WNBA title and New York City FC winning the MLS Cup in 2021.

    But as far as the teams that have been part of the city’s fabric for generations and generations, yes, this 14-year drought is finally over. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, capping the 2011 season.

    The Yankees — the most decorated team in U.S. major pro sports history — haven’t won a World Series since 2009. The Mets haven’t brought a World Series title to New York since 1986. The Rangers last hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1994, the Islanders in 1983. The New York Jets haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1969.

    None of that matters, at least not right now. The Knicks — who won 13 consecutive games at one point in this playoff run and rallied from 29 points down to win Game 4 of the finals at MSG — are the toast of the town.

    “Of course I’ve never seen anything like it, because it’d never happened before,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the Game 4 comeback in an interview on NBA TV on Saturday. “But it’s been amazing.”

    The Amazin’ Knicks, indeed.

    A third title, finally

    It took them 80 years — the Knicks won the first game in NBA history in 1946, three years before what was then the Basketball Association of America started being known as the National Basketball Association — but the franchise has now become the ninth that can say it has at least three championships.

    Boston has 18, the Los Angeles Lakers have 17, Golden State has seven, Chicago has six, San Antonio has five, and Philadelphia, Detroit and Miami all have three.

    Welcome to the club, New York.

    “I enjoy watching these guys,” Knicks legend Larry Johnson said. ”The Garden is back. … It’s back like when we played and made our little run. The city is behind us.”

    It’s a franchise that has gone through 24 different coaches and more than 400 players since what was, until now, the most recent championship season. Some of the game’s biggest superstars called Madison Square Garden home and couldn’t end the title drought, names like Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Bernard King, and Carmelo Anthony.

    The Knicks lost a Game 7 in the 1994 finals to Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston, then made a miracle run to the 1999 finals in a shortened season only to lose to San Antonio in five games — the first of what became five championships for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs.

    “We didn’t get it done. … I always say the third time is the charm,” former Knicks guard John Starks said.

    Starks was right. It took the Knicks 27 years to get back to the finals, had the Spurs again standing in their way, and to fully flip the script, it was New York prevailing in five games.

    MSG, a banner is coming

    And finally, the world’s most famous arena — which has raised banners for Billy Joel, Elton John, and Harry Styles more recently than it had hoisted one for the Knicks — will be adding to the collection swaying from the rafters. If it follows form from the others, the banner will only have the Knicks logo, then “2025-26 World Champions” beneath that.

    A simple message. Getting to the place where the Knicks could say those words again, that wasn’t so simple.

    “There are a couple of franchises that are pretty iconic just because of the history that they have, the location that they’re in, sometimes even the building that they’re in,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown, who won this title in his first season with the club. “New York is definitely one of the few that you could say that to in all three facets.

    “Everybody goes through their ups and downs. I don’t really think much about the tough times that they had, because everybody has tough times, including individuals. You just want to try the best you can to be a part of whatever you can to bring joy to the city, to the organization. At the end of the day, the chips are going to fall how they fall. I feel blessed, fortunate, lucky, to be a part of what is going on now.”

    It is, to put it mildly, an interesting organization. Dolan — who rarely speaks publicly — isn’t afraid of clashes, even including ones with former Knicks greats like Charles Oakley, who was at road games in this title run but has remained away from MSG for years. Leon Rose, the team’s president, typically doesn’t make himself available to reporters either. There is an absolute mystique around the team and how it operates.

    It has not always worked. Over a 25-year stretch that ended with the 2021-22 season — not that long ago — the Knicks had the worst record in the NBA. In the four years since, starting with the acquisition of Jalen Brunson from Dallas, the Knicks have the NBA’s fifth-best record.

    And now, Brunson — the finals MVP — is the best player on the best team in the world.

    “It means the world to me,” Brunson said.

    Start spreadin’ the news …

    And this year, as Frank Sinatra said, the Knicks are king of the hill, top of the heap. Some in the fan base grumbled when the Knicks declined to hang an NBA Cup championship banner after beating San Antonio for the in-season tournament title earlier this season. Turns out, the Knicks were just waiting for something better.

    So, the 53-year wait is over. It was a very different league, and a very different game, in 1973.

    There were 17 teams in the NBA that season, barely half of the 30 that there are now. Teams called Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City-Omaha, and Seattle home then; the league has expanded many times since, adding 13 teams in nine different states, plus Canada and the District of Columbia.

    The top salary in the league then was about $380,000, or roughly $2.9 million in today’s dollars. There was no 3-point line then, no multi-billion-dollar television deal, no international players.

    The Knicks flew home on a United Airlines flight from the 1973 title clincher in Inglewood, Calif., and officials at Kennedy Airport expected what was then called a “rabid” crowd of fans present to greet the plane. They braced for “hundreds” of people that day.

    This celebration might be a little bigger.

    “To have the fans that we have in New York City and be able to bring home a championship after all these years is absolutely amazing,” Brown said. “It’s a surreal feeling.”

  • Jalen Brunson pours in 45 points as Knicks close out Spurs for first NBA title since 1973

    SAN ANTONIO — Jalen Brunson and the Comeback Knicks did it again. And now they’re the Champion Knicks.

    For the first time in 53 years, New York rules the NBA. Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.

    The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night. Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed.

    Brunson, fittingly, closed with a flourish. He set a Knicks record for points in a finals game; it had been 38 by Willis Reed against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series. It now belongs to the left-handed point guard who changed the franchise’s fortunes when he arrived four years ago.

    Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart — the other two parts of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Brunson, three players who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same — combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14, Hart 13.

    Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova — both in Texas, the 2016 one in Houston and the 2018 one in San Antonio, just a few miles away from the arena that the Spurs call home.

    A Texas three-step of titles, and this one was surely the sweetest of all.

    Dylan Harper scored 25 for the Spurs, who got 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots from Victor Wembanyama.

    The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road. It didn’t feel like the road, though — not with thousands of New York faithful having made the trip to Texas to see a moment 53 years in the making.

    New York got to the brink of this title by rallying from 29 points down in Game 4 to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left on Wednesday night. It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and the biggest comeback in any game this season, regular season or playoffs.

    By comparison, then, a 16-point rally in this one seemed easy.

  • Trump, Pakistan say Iran deal could be signed Sunday

    ISLAMABAD — Key mediator Pakistan on Saturday said a deal to end the Iran war was closer than ever and U.S. President Donald Trump asserted it would be “signed tomorrow,” while Iran made some of its most optimistic statements yet but indicated a bit more time was needed.

    Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately after the signing.

    Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a deal was expected to be finalized within 24 hours. Each side was expected to sign electronically. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the signing ceremony was scheduled for Sunday but did not provide details.

    Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei in statements carried by state media said the signing “will not happen tomorrow,” but “the likelihood of finalizing the memorandum of understanding in the coming days is high.”

    A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since April 7. Trump has asserted multiple times in recent weeks the countries were on the cusp of a deal.

    Iran has long expressed wariness in negotiations, pointing out that previous talks with the U.S. last year and early this year ended with attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

    Trump to discuss demining the strait at G7 summit

    Trump was expected to discuss demining the Strait of Hormuz during the Group of Seven summit that starts Monday.

    A senior U.S. official, who briefed journalists on condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, said Trump planned to meet on the G7 sidelines with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates to discuss efforts to wind down the war.

    G7 members Britain and France have expressed interest in assisting with demining once the conflict is paused.

    It was not clear how many mines are in the strait that Iran has effectively controlled since shortly after the war began, virtually shutting down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports in response.

    The nuclear issue remains elusive

    Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the memorandum of understanding under discussion was focused on ending the war and “at this stage, it has been decided that there will be no discussion of the nuclear issue.”

    Iran’s nuclear program and highly enriched uranium have long been at the center of tensions with the U.S. and Israel and an international source of concern.

    Trump on social media asserted that “when all is calm,” the U.S. would go in and “downblend and destroy” the enriched uranium in Iran or in the U.S.

    The apparent breakthrough in negotiations came after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel earlier in the week, threatening to rupture the ceasefire and push the Middle East back into full-scale war.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X on Friday that an agreement “has never been closer.” Trump on Thursday claimed significant progress in negotiations, hours after he threatened to seize Iran’s oil industry.

    Iran’s former supreme leader will be buried in July

    Iran’s state-run television said funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the war’s opening attack, will take place in July.

    The funeral, burial, and farewell events for Khamenei will occur between July 4-9 during Muharram, a traditional period of mourning in the Shiite Muslim calendar.

    Khamenei is succeeded by his son, Mojtaba, who is considered less compromising and has not been seen publicly since the war began.

    Funeral ceremonies are expected to begin in Tehran and move to Qom, a stronghold of many senior Shiite clerics, then to Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace. He’ll be buried there at the Imam Reza Shrine, considered the holiest place among Shiite devotees.

    Khamenei remolded the Islamic Republic following the death in 1989 of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fiery, charismatic ideologue who led the overthrow of the shah and installed rule by Shiite Muslim clerics.

    Khamenei ruled far longer than Khomeini. He greatly expanded the Shiite clerical class and built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the most important body underpinning his rule. The Guard became a military and business behemoth, the country’s most elite force and head of its ballistic missile arsenal — a key target for Israel and the U.S. in the war.

  • Trump’s name gone from the Kennedy Center’s facade

    WASHINGTON — The curtain may have come down for President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center but the tarp stays up for now.

    Matt Floca, executive director and chief operating officer of the performing arts venue, told a federal court Saturday that the institution had complied with an order to remove Trump’s name from the facade. In a filing, Floca said the board of trustees and the center had removed “all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds, including the front portico, that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump.”

    But for onlookers who have gathered on the plaza in front of the center over the past day hoping to witness a dramatic moment symbolizing the limits of Trump’s power, it was virtually impossible to see whether the signage was gone. A tarp hung over the scaffolding constructed for workers to perform that task. It was unclear when the tarp might be removed to reveal the original lettering that had endured for decades: “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

    A reporter was able to peer through a slight opening in the tarp, which was pulled tightly against the wall, and saw that the letters for Trump’s name were no longer affixed to the building.

    By the end, the Kennedy Center’s leadership had dug in against a federal judge’s order to erase Trump’s name from the building. Two courts rejected the institution’s last-minute request to retain Trump’s name pending an appeal. After severe thunderstorms raked Washington on Friday evening, the Kennedy Center sought one more extension before complying with a noon Saturday deadline.

    Those who pushed for the scrubbing of Trump’s name were in a celebratory mood. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D.,Ohio), an ex officio member of the board who sued to remove references to the president from the building and the center’s operations, was spotted in the plaza late Friday and Saturday morning. She posted a video to social media that purported to show her performing the “Trump dance” in one of the Kennedy Center’s great halls.

    “Today’s victory is the beginning of returning the Kennedy Center to the American people,” Beatty said in a statement. “The rule of law prevailed, and that is worth celebrating.”

    Leo Bartholomaus, a recent graduate of Syracuse University who lives in Virginia, said he was walking by the Kennedy Center on Friday afternoon after visiting the National Mall to see events related to this weekend’s UFC match at the White House. He said he was not happy that Trump added his name to the building.

    “My grandmother had a big love of the arts,” he said. “I’ve been here to see The Lion King. I wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump putting his name on it. I thought it was better as the Kennedy Center.”

    Closing an unusual chapter

    The removal of Trump’s name closes one of the more unusual chapters in the history of the Kennedy Center, which began construction in 1964 and was dedicated to the memory of the slain president, Democrat John F. Kennedy. At what is typically one of the few relatively nonpartisan spaces in Washington, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his second term.

    Though he rarely discussed the Kennedy Center during his 2024 campaign, Trump moved quickly to oust the institution’s leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building.

    While the removal of his name marks a setback for Trump, he is moving forward with plans to reshape the physical landscape of the nation’s capital in ways that have few modern parallels.

    He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a controversial ballroom in its place. He remodeled the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and plans extensive renovations of a golf course in East Potomac Park, moves that could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River in Virginia.

    Indeed, as Trump’s name was being removed from the Kennedy Center, the South Lawn of the White House has been transformed into a venue for a UFC match intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence but also coinciding with Trump’s birthday on Sunday.

    Questions linger about the Kennedy Center’s future

    Back at the Kennedy Center, there are many questions about the institution’s future. The same May court decision that ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the building also blocked a planned two-year closure for renovations that was set to begin next month.

    The Kennedy Center’s calendar for the weeks ahead include performances of Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Bluey’s Big Play. Comedian Bill Maher is to be awarded the Mark Twain Award for American Humor during a ceremony on June 28.

    But little is scheduled for the stages beyond that and, after substantially reducing staff, it is unclear how quickly the Kennedy Center could build out a robust performance list. Trump, angered by the court’s order to remove his name, has said he would turn the Kennedy Center over to Congress and has suggested it might simply shutter because of public safety concerns.

    In its unsuccessful appeal on Friday seeking a pause on the order removing Trump’s name, the Kennedy Center’s leadership argued, in terms that seemed similar to the president’s speech patterns, that the lower court was interfering with needed renovations.

    “The District Court is not allowing us to close in order to properly fix up and repair the Building, including potentially life threatening structural damage like beams and parking garage ceilings that are rusted, and in serious danger of falling onto people below,” according to the appeal. “Indeed, total collapse!”

    The institution also suggested that the president’s name could return to the building if the Kennedy Center later wins its appeal.

    If the court denied the venue’s request for a pause, the Kennedy Center argued it would “be forced to squander time and money — by both removing the signage and then potentially returning it after appeal.”