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LEBANON
Israel-Lebanon direct talks open in Washington today, running through June 25. They are the fourth round of direct negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats since the war began. Rubio confirmed them in a call with Lebanese President Aoun on Friday. The State Department called them “the only feasible path to reconstruction, economic recovery, and ending recurrent cycles of violence.” Hezbollah is not a party to these talks. It has rejected every previous negotiated deal.
Overnight Monday, Israeli drones killed at least eight people in Lebanon. One of the dead was James Karam, a dentist, killed along with his daughter and son when a drone struck their car in southern Lebanon. Trump had publicly declared on Monday that “all shooting will stop.” Israel kept shooting.
The Lebanon de-confliction cell agreed in Switzerland is being tested in real time. Iran has made Lebanon’s Point 1 provision the condition for everything else in the MOU. The Washington talks operate on a separate bilateral track between Israel and Lebanon. Whether those two tracks connect — or whether Israel uses the bilateral track to run out the clock on Point 1 — is the question the next 72 hours will begin to answer.
🇺🇸 What American readers need to know: Peace talks between Israel and Lebanon open in Washington today while Israel is killing people in Lebanon. Trump said Monday that all shooting would stop. Eight people were killed overnight. The dentist’s name was James Karam. He was killed with his daughter and his son.
Sources: CBS News liveblog (US — Washington talks June 23-25 confirmed, Rubio call with Aoun, State Dept “only feasible path” statement, Trump “all shooting will stop” Monday confirmed); Democracy Now (US — eight killed overnight confirmed, James Karam dentist named, daughter and son killed, June 23 headlines)
KOHEN WILEY UPDATE
His name is Hunter Foster.
Nine days after Sergeant Hunter Foster of the Senatobia Police Department shot and killed one-year-old Kohen Wiley in a Walmart parking lot, public records obtained by Action News 5 Memphis and independently confirmed by FOX13 Memphis have identified him. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation initially released his name to one outlet by mistake, then declined to officially confirm it. The city of Senatobia has not confirmed it. The MBI has not confirmed it. Public records did.
Foster was hired by the Senatobia Police Department on March 4, 2025. Six months later, in September 2025, he was promoted to Patrol Sergeant. The Mississippi Free Press has formally requested his prior employment history and use-of-force record from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. That request has not been answered. The MBI told Mississippi Public Broadcasting the investigation may take six to nine months. The body camera footage, dash camera footage, and Walmart surveillance footage remain withheld. No charges have been filed. No arrest has been made.
Community advocate Marquell Bridges alleged on Facebook that a fellow officer filed a misconduct complaint against Foster for using racial slurs inside the precinct days before the shooting. IBTimes UK confirmed it could not independently verify that allegation. No official record of the complaint has been produced. ROTWR does not publish unverified allegations as fact. The allegation exists. It is unverified.
Kohen’s mother Vellesiya Wiley said in a video, “I raised my baby up, trying to show them that he was in the car. By the time I sat my baby down, it was like three to four shots.” She disputes the official account that the vehicle was driven toward officers. She said they were on the right side of the car while it moved to the left.
🇺🇸 What American readers need to know: The officer’s name is Hunter Foster. It took nine days and a public records request to get it. The investigation will take six to nine months. The footage is withheld. No charges. No arrest. Kohen Wiley has been dead for nine days.
Sources: IBTimes UK (UK — Foster name confirmed, FOX13 Memphis verification, hiring date, promotion date, racial slur allegation unverified, June 20); Mississippi Free Press (US — prior employment request confirmed, six to nine months investigation, Vellesiya Wiley video quote); Times Now World (India — LinkedIn details, Bethel University, Drug Recognition Expert Instructor, SWAT Operator, profile now deleted)
ALSO DEVELOPING
Ghana: The bill that keeps not dying: Ghana’s parliament passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill on May 29. It criminalizes identifying as LGBTQ+, punishes “promotion” of LGBTQ+ activities with up to ten years in prison, and imposes a “duty to report” prohibited acts to authorities. President John Mahama has indicated he will sign it. It has not yet been signed into law as of the most recent confirmed reporting. This is the bill’s third passage through Ghana’s legislature — previous versions passed in 2024 but were never signed, lapsing with each parliament’s end. Senegal and Burkina Faso have passed similar legislation. Uganda passed a law in 2023 that allows for the death penalty in certain cases. American Christian nationalist groups, including MassResistance, have provided counsel and support throughout the bill’s passage.
This is the story ROTWR’s Special Report “The Export” was written about. Read it here. The bill passing in Ghana is confirmation of its thesis — that American Christian nationalist infrastructure is being deployed abroad to accomplish what it cannot yet accomplish at home. Sources: Democracy Now (US — passage confirmed, ten-year maximum, duty to report, Senegal/Burkina Faso/Uganda context, June 2); LGBTQ Nation (US — MassResistance involvement confirmed, Mahama pressure, HRC statement, June 1); JURIST (Ghana/academic — May 29 passage confirmed, awaiting presidential signature, UN treaty obligations context, June 19)
China sanctions 10 US military companies: China announced sanctions on ten American military-related companies Monday, in direct response to a recent US move barring leading Chinese tech companies from defense contracts. The action marks another escalation in the US-China technology and defense cold war that has been building for three years. Neither side has publicly indicated where the line is. Source: NPR (US — sanctions confirmed, ten companies, direct response framing, June 22)
WAR DAY 115 | NUMBERS AT PUBLICATION
🇮🇷 Iran: 3,468 killed, 26,500+ injured (Iran Ministry of Health, via Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10)
🇱🇧 Lebanon: 4,000+ killed (Lebanon Health Ministry, confirmed June 21 per Time — tracker frozen June 10)
🇮🇱 Israel: 35+ killed (Israeli news source via Time, June 21 — tracker frozen June 10)
🌍 Gulf states/Iraq: 131 killed — Iraq 118, Kuwait 7, Bahrain 3, Oman 3 (Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10)
🇺🇸 US military: 13 killed, 381 injured (Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10)
🛢️ Brent crude: $77.39/barrel (OilPrice.com — down from $79.22 yesterday; markets reading Switzerland progress positively)
⛽ US national gas average: $3.93/gallon (AAA — down from $3.97 earlier this week; $0.63 below the May 21 peak of $4.56)
Sourcing note: All war casualty figures sourced to the Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10, 2026, except Lebanon and Israel. Lebanon updated to 4,000+ per Lebanon Health Ministry confirmed by Time, June 21. Israel updated to 35+ per Israeli news source via Time, June 21. All figures are floor estimates. Methodology differs between sources; figures are not directly comparable.
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789
