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A well-worn expression among oceanographers and others who explore the watery depths of planet Earth is that we humans “know the surface of Mars better than our ocean floors.” Covering more than 70 percent of the world’s surface, oceans are notoriously difficult to study—not to mention pretty inhospitable to any creatures sans gills.

Case in point: Scientists from Tokyo University and Hokkaido University in Japan stumbled across some mysterious jet-black eggs while piloting a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of roughly 6,200 meters (or 3.85 miles).

This is the maximum depth of the abyssopelagic zone, which is the deepest layer of most of the ocean—hadopelagic zones are technically deeper, but only fill deep trenches. Any biological discovery in this zone is immensely important, as the life cycles of creatures living there are largely unknown.

Unsure what these eggs were, University of Tokyo marine researcher Yasunori Kano—who was at the controls of the ROV at the time—opted to retrieve a sample of the eggs for further analysis topside.

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House Democratic leadership on Tuesday urged members to vote with their conscience on a controversial amendment to cut U.S. funding for Israel, underscoring deep divisions in the caucus over America’s relations with the Jewish state.

Fiscal hawk Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) sponsored the amendment, seeking to add it to a national security and State Department spending bill that is expected to come up for a vote this week. The text of Massie’s amendment says none of the funds of the act will be made available for Israel and lowers overall spending in the bill by $3.3 billion.

After a Democratic caucus meeting in which Massie’s bill was a focus of debate, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) expressed shock at the fraught conversations around Israel in his conference.

“I’ve been around a long time, I’ve never seen it,” he said. 

Thompson said conversations centered around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, and noted deeply negative views of the long-time Israeli leader among young, Democratic voters.

Many of these voters have adopted a view that Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, launched after the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, amounted to a campaign of genocide against Palestinians living there. Congressional Democrats have also raised urgent concern over Israel’s policies towards Palestinians in the West Bank.

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The White House awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million for the construction of the East Wing ballroom, with President Donald Trump being directly involved in negotiating some costs, The Washington Post reported, citing a copy of the agreement, related correspondence and records it had obtained.

The contract, awarded to Virginia-based Clark Construction, was ⁠routed ⁠through the Executive Residence, an office that is exempt ​from rules requiring federal agencies to seek competitive bids and make contract details public, according to the June 30 report.

USA TODAY has not seen the agreement. Neither the White House nor Clark Construction immediately responded to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

The project is one of many undertaken by the president as he looks to remake the White House and Washington, D.C., including the Triumphal Arch, rehabilitating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and Lafayette Square Park. Many of these projects have drawn criticism for a variety of reasons, including not seeking congressional approval and awarding no-bid contracts.  An analysis of federal contract data by USA TODAY found that 20 days before Trump first announced the renovation of the reflecting pool, the government had already committed $8.5 million to fix the pool even though the president said it would cost $2 million.

The company charged a ⁠3% profit for its early work on the East Wing, and subsequently projected that it would receive a total of $65 million in combined profit, overhead and daily rates for on-site staff and other costs, according to the new report.

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The Supreme Court ruled that all children born in the United States are citizens, upholding what has been one of the country’s bedrock principles for more than 125 years and handing President Donald Trump a loss on one of his top priorities.

Trump signed an executive order the first day of his second term to limit citizenship to children born to citizens or legal permanent residents, rather than tourists or undocumented immigrants. But the high court has interpreted the Constitution’s 14th Amendment – ratified in 1868 and upheld in a ruling in 1898 – as granting citizenship to all babies born in the country, regardless of parentage.

After the ruling, Trump urged Congress to adopt his citizenship restrictions through legislation.

In another decision Tuesday, the court ruled 6-3 to allow West Virginia and Idaho to ban transgender athletes from participating in female sports teams. Trump has been a vocal opponent of transgender athletes.

The conservative majority also sided with Vice President JD Vance and Republicans in striking down a law limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with an election candidate.

Advocates for the winning side said they were surprised that the Supreme Court did not issue a more lopsided decision in favor of birthright citizenship. Six of nine justices agreed Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship was unlawful, and five of those said the order was unconstitutional.

“It just really shows the more rightward movement that the Supreme Court basically has been,” said Juan Proaño, the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens. He called the vote count “a powerful statement” that is “very concerning from a long-term perspective.”

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A framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel has drawn warnings that a clause in the deal could effectively shield Israel from accountability for war crimes.

Article 13 of the 14-point trilateral framework, signed on 26 June, commits Israel and Lebanon to "take good faith measures that demonstrate positive intent, including the cessation of all hostile or adverse actions in international political or legal fora."

The provision has raised alarm among Lebanese human rights and legal experts. 

"The violations committed in Lebanon give the Lebanese state and people the right to seek reparations," Halima Kaakour, a Lebanese MP who is also an international law expert and human rights advocate, told Middle East Eye.

"This provision disregards that right and deprives the Lebanese people of justice. The right to justice is more important than any agreement," she said.

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Floodwaters tore through Kentucky neighborhoods, damaging homes and streets as photos capture the aftermath.

Floodwaters tore through Kentucky neighborhoods, damaging homes and streets as photos capture the aftermath.

Pictured here, Commhttps://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/weather/2026/06/29/kentucky-flood-aftermath-damage-photos/90736114007/unity members help remove a vehicle from a pile of debris on June 28, 2026 in Richmond, Kentucky. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a statewide state of emergency on Saturday, after several consecutive hours of heavy rainfall caused flash flooding along Tates Creek in Madison County.

People help clear debris in a home belonging to the Rhodus family on June 28, 2026 in Richmond, Kentucky. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a statewide state of emergency on Saturday, after several consecutive hours of heavy rainfall caused flash flooding along Tates Creek in Madison County.

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The Supreme Court on Thursday restricted the use of a relatively new law enforcement technique that allows police to tap into giant tech-firm databases to see who was near the scene of a crime.

Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Elena Kagan said that the technique, known as geofencing, sent the case back to a lower court to determine whether the search was "reasonable" under the Fourth Amendment to the Constihttps://www.npr.org/2026/06/29/nx-s1-5844697/supreme-court-restricts-use-of-geofence-warrantstution.

"The Fourth Amendment must, as ever, protect against unjustified government intrusion on the privacy of the individual," she wrote.

"The Fourth Amendment must, as ever, protect against unjustified government intrusion on the privacy of the individual," she wrote.

Justice Samuel Alito, in his dissent, called the court's opinion an "irresponsible escapade" and accused the court's majority of "striking a pose as a great champion of privacy in the digital age."

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The Supreme Court dealt President Donald Trump's agenda major blows June 29 when it comes to regulating the economy and targeting mail-in voting, but also issued a historic decision expanding his control over federal agencies.

In split decisions, the justices blocked Trump from immediately firing Lisa Cook, a governor on the board of the Federal Reserve, and upheld a Mississippi law that allowed mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted later.

The court also rejected Trump's appeal against a $5 million judgment awarded to New York writer E. Jean Carroll after a jury concluded he sexually abused and defamed her – claims he denies.

However, the court also backed Trump's firing of a Democratic appointee to the Federal Trade Commission, Rebecca Slaughter, in a 6-3 decision overturning a 90-year-old legal precedent that limited presidential firing powers.

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