作者： root

US Senate advances ICE bill as Democrats aim to make Trump a liability for Republicans

2026-06-03T21:16:42.976Z / Reuters

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) – The Republican-led U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to open debate on a $70 billion bill to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, clearing the way for a marathon of debate and amendment votes that Democrats will try to use to tie Republicans to Trump’s efforts to compensate his allies and protect himself from tax scrutiny.

The move to advance the partisan funding bill for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol toward a vote on passage later this week came days after fierce opposition among Senate Republicans forced the Trump administration to abandon plans for a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Political fallout over the fund had already prevented Republicans from moving the bill forward last month.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

Trump’s recent actions, from the fund to his decision to name political ally Bill Pulte as U.S. intelligence chief, have gone down poorly with Republicans since he oversaw the primary defeats of Republican Senators John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy last month.

The Senate will hold hours of debate before initiating a lengthy vote-a-rama in which members of both parties will propose amendments they want included in the legislation ahead of a final vote on passage that could come as early as Thursday.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer vowed on Wednesday to bring a slew of amendments that would force Republicans to vote on Trump’s fund, a deal that protects Trump and his family from future IRS tax audits, the Iran war, Trump’s tariffs and actions by immigration enforcement officials, including the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens earlier this year.

“Even without Trump’s $1 billion taxpayer-funded ballroom … the bill is rotten through-and-through,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Every amendment we’ll bring to the floor will demonstrate that Democrats are standing up for the American people and Republicans are selling out to Donald Trump.”

Democrats hope that their legislative onslaught will undermine Republicans in the November midterm elections, in which Democrats are favored to take control of the House of Representatives and could also capture the Senate.

But Republicans have shown little outward concern about seeing any Democratic amendments win enough support for passage, saying the decision to move forward with the legislation signaled that their 53-47 majority would have the wherewithal to withstand the attack.

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis dismissed Democrats on Wednesday, saying: “They must have more free time on their hands than I do.”

Reporting by David Morgan and Nolan D. McCaskill in Washington, editing by Deepa Babington

NAACP says US Postal Service mail-in voting plan violates settlement

2026-06-03T21:12:26.385Z / Reuters

A mail-in ballot, during the Pennsylvania primary election, is displayed in this illustration picture taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 19, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary
• Companies

• NAACP argues USPS rule violates 2021 ballot delivery settlement agreement
• USPS proposes refusing ballot delivery if states don’t meet new requirements
• White House defends executive order as legal challenges proceed in ​multiple courts

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) – A leading civil rights group asked a federal court on Wednesday ‌to block the U.S. Postal Service’s proposed restrictions on mail-in voting, arguing they violate a settlement that required expedited mail-in ballot handling.

The Postal Service last week proposed a rule requiring states to provide lists of voters and adopt new balloting procedures before the mail agency would make deliveries. If states did not comply, the Postal ​Service would refuse to deliver the ballots.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

The regulations stem from U.S. President Donald Trump’s March executive order that aimed to severely ​restrict mail-in voting, which he has said, without providing evidence, is prone to fraud.

In its motion before the ⁠District Court for the District of Columbia, rights group the NAACP said the USPS rule would create a process “that directly violates its obligations” under ​a 2021 legal settlement which forced USPS officials to prioritize ballot mail and take “extraordinary measures” to ensure its timely delivery.

The group asked a U.S. judge ​to issue a ruling by June 22, saying the postal plan could “prevent millions of eligible voters from receiving mail-in ballots to which they are entitled.”

“USPS has committed over and over to playing its part in democracy by prioritizing the timely delivery of mail-in ballots,” Samuel Spital, associate director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ​told Reuters. “And now for USPS to say we affirmatively will not deliver a ballot at all because it doesn’t meet criteria that we invented ​out of whole cloth, not only violates the settlement agreement, but also the historical role of the USPS in our democracy.”

A representative for the Postal Service ‌declined to ⁠comment.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement on Monday, before the motion was filed, that the “Trump administration will continue lawfully enacting the agenda President Trump was elected to enact – which includes the safety and security of American elections … The administration remains confident that the executive order will be implemented by the November election, which was always the intent when it was signed.”

The NAACP’s 2020 lawsuit originally challenged new postal policies ​that slowed mail delivery at the ​height of the COVID-19 pandemic ⁠and in the run-up to that fall’s presidential election.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan held daily, and sometimes explosive, status conferences on the state of mail delivery, installing the court as a type of independent monitor of election ​mail. USPS implemented measures, including ballot-expediting procedures and daily facility ballot sweeps, to comply with Sullivan’s orders, ​and later made them ⁠standard operating procedure during election season.

In 2021, USPS and NAACP settled the case by agreeing to meet in the months before subsequent federal elections and maintaining the “extraordinary measures” for ballot delivery.

Wednesday’s motion says the settlement is “incompatible with a rule under which USPS chooses which mailed ballots to deliver – and which ⁠not to ​deliver.”

Trump’s executive order already faces legal challenges. A federal court in Boston appeared poised ​Tuesday to halt the order in a case brought by more than 20 states and a handful of voting rights groups. A judge in Washington in a separate case allowed ​the mail-ballot restrictions to proceed, saying the case was not yet ripe for arguments.

Reporting by David Shepardson and Jacob Bogage; Editing by Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Trump says anti-fraud efforts are uncovering billions in waste, claims savings could balance budget

June 3, 2026 6:17pm EDT / Fox News

President praises Vance’s efforts, saying ‘Billions of Dollars is being found, and we’ve just started’

By Brittany Miller Fox News

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud efforts and claimed Republicans are uncovering enough government fraud to potentially balance the federal budget, while accusing Democrats of resisting investigations because they are “in on the act.”

In a Truth Social post, Trump praised Vance and Republican officials for what he described as a nationwide effort to identify fraud and waste in government spending.

“Vice President JD Vance and Republicans are doing a great job hunting down Fraud in the various States,” Trump wrote. “Billions of Dollars is being found, and we’ve just started!”

Trump’s comments come as the administration has sought to highlight anti-fraud efforts led by Vance. In April, Fox News Digital reported that Vance’s newly created anti-fraud task force had identified nearly $6.3 billion in government contracts believed to be tied to potentially fraudulent businesses.

Officials said nearly 400 businesses would be required to prove they had legitimate operations and physical addresses.

JD VANCE’S TASK FORCE FLAGS NEARLY $6.3B IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS GOING TO POTENTIALLY FRAUDULENT BUSINESSES

Vance says anti-fraud funding will be cut to states that don’t respond to Medicaid letters.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, File)

The president argued that the amount of fraud being uncovered could have major implications for federal spending and taxes.

“If we found it all, we would literally be able to balance the Budget, and simultaneously reduce Taxes, cutting them even more than I have already done, which is a RECORD!” Trump wrote.

Trump did not provide evidence that fraud findings identified by Republicans would be sufficient to eliminate the federal deficit. While the president argued uncovering fraud could eventually balance the budget, the administration has not publicly released figures showing identified fraud totals approaching the size of the annual federal deficit.

BESSENT SAYS MINNESOTA FRAUD RECOVERY COULD HELP FUND TRUMP’S $1.5T DEFENSE PLAN

President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order on a task force on fraud in the Oval Office with Vice President JD Vance.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo, File)

The anti-fraud task force was established by executive order in March, and is chaired by Vance. The administration has said the initiative is designed to identify fraud, waste and abuse across federal programs and government contracts as part of a broader effort to reduce spending and strengthen oversight.

Trump also sharply criticized Democrats, saying he was surprised efforts to uncover fraud had not received bipartisan support.

“Amazingly, Dumocrats are fighting us all the way,” Trump wrote. “This is something that I am surprised at, because I thought this would be a Bipartisan effort.”

JD VANCE WARNS BLUE STATE OFFICIALS COULD FACE PRISON OVER BILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD EPIDEMIC

Vance’s anti-fraud efforts have received praise from Trump.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, File)

Trump went on to suggest Democrats may oppose such investigations because they have a vested interest in preventing further discoveries.

“It’s looking like they’re in on the act,” Trump wrote.

The president further claimed Democrats do not want Republicans to uncover what he described as “Hundreds of Billions of Dollars of FRAUD!”

Trump later compared Democratic opposition to anti-fraud efforts with several other issues that have become central themes of his political messaging, including transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, mail-in ballots, voter identification requirements and proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The administration has made rooting out waste, fraud and abuse a recurring focus of its messaging as it seeks to reduce government spending and defend broader fiscal policy initiatives.

Democrats have argued Republicans frequently conflate fraud, waste and policy disagreements when discussing federal spending reductions and have questioned whether projected savings touted by the administration can ultimately be realized.

Brittany Miller is a Breaking News Writer for Fox News Digital. Tips can be sent to brittany.miller@fox.com and @BrittMillerFox on X.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6397457752112

American Airlines suspends 6 routes because of high jet fuel costs

June 3, 2026 / 4:37 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

American Airlines has joined the list of carriers temporarily cutting routes as the ongoing war in Iran drives up jet fuel costs.

The airline told CBS News on Wednesday that it has adjusted schedules for “select routes” in August and September. An American Airlines spokesperson said the changes are in response to elevated fuel costs and that the affected routes will not be permanently cut.

“American is not suspending any routes indefinitely as part of this adjustment,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The affected routes being temporarily cut are:

• Los Angeles to Cleveland
• Los Angeles to Columbus
• Los Angeles to Pittsburgh
• Los Angeles to Washington Dulles
• Charlotte to Ontario
• Charlotte to Sacramento

Jet fuel accounts for roughly 25% to 30% of an airline’s overall costs, according to industry analysts. The ongoing Iran war has choked global oil supplies, driving up carriers’ operating costs. In some cases, airlines have raised fares or tacked on jet fuel surcharges to ticket prices, while also suspending unprofitable routes.

American Airlines said it will accommodate customers with tickets for flights on the affected routes, either by rebooking them on a different flight or offering a refund.

The carrier isn’t alone in looking to offset rising jet fuel costs. Delta Airlines raised its baggage fees, citing “evolving global conditions.” European airlines KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Lufthansa have also announced route cuts in response to rising jet fuel costs.

Edited by Alain Sherter and Aimee Picchi

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/summer-travel-costs-rising-analyst-says-book-now/

中国专项治理微短剧：涉儿童有害、软色情擦边等问题

2026年6月4日 07:34 / 联合早报

中国国家广播电视总局宣布，在星期一（6月1日）启动微短剧有害低俗内容和侵权盗版专项治理，治理部分微短剧存在的涉儿童有害、软色情擦边等问题。

广电总局星期三（3日）在微信公众号公布，这个专项治理为期两个月，将集中治理部分微短剧存在的涉儿童有害、软色情擦边、拜金炫富、畸形婚恋观、封建糟粕、暴力复仇、低俗片名、侵权盗版这八个重点问题，规范微短剧创作传播行为。

广电总局有关负责人说，本次专项治理对于营造微短剧行业良好内容生态具有重要意义。

广电总局强调，各省级广电行政主管部门要切实履行属地管理责任，建立巡查与抽查机制，对辖区内平台和制作机构实行全周期、动态化监管；相关平台和制作机构要认真落实主体责任，积极主动开展全面排查，对发现的问题内容即查即改、处置到位。

国家广播电视总局也说，专项治理结束后，将及时总结经验，开展常态化监测监管，制定完善法规制度，进一步营造良好网络视听环境。

法网溃败争冠梦碎 阿丽娜：现在只想退出网坛

2026年6月4日 07:47 / 联合早报

法网溃败争冠梦碎 阿丽娜：现在只想退出网坛

在法网八强出局后，阿丽娜在赛后记者会上显得相当沮丧。 （路透社）

（巴黎综合电）世界第一女单阿丽娜·萨巴伦卡（Aryna Sabalenka，白罗斯）星期三（6月3日）在法国网球公开赛八强意外输给俄罗斯的戴安娜·施奈德（Diana Shnaider）出局后对自己的表现相当失望，直言当下想从此不打球。

阿丽娜在首盘6比3胜出，第二盘5比3领先的情况下发挥失常，随后连丢10分，意外以6比3、5比7、0比6的比分输给25号种子戴安娜，冲击个人首座法网冠军的梦想彻底破灭。

她在赛后说：“没有想法，没有情绪。我现在只想退出网坛。几天后再看如何，希望我能在精神上重新回到正轨。

“我觉得我在第二盘有很多非常好的机会，但我搞砸了，然后她（戴安娜）就趁势而上，打得非常出色。我觉得在心理上，第二盘之后我真的无法恢复。我认为那是我最大的错误。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqriX9fOP8g

“我不知道我上次连续输掉10局比赛是什么时候。我想，我在心理上陷入一个非常深、非常黑暗的境地，我就是无法在精神上重新回到正轨。”

获胜的戴安娜将在半决赛和另一位来自波兰的资格赛黑马玛雅·赫瓦林斯卡（Maja Chwalinska）争夺决赛资格。另一场半决赛由乌克兰的玛尔塔·科斯秋克（Marta Kostyuk，15号种子）对阵俄罗斯的米拉·安德烈娃（Mirra Andreeva，八号种子）之间的胜者。在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的背景下，玛尔塔曾多次为乌克兰发声，批评俄罗斯和其选手。

贝雷蒂尼退赛 阿纳尔迪晋级男单四强

男单半决赛也尘埃落定，近年来饱受伤病困扰的意大利好手贝雷蒂尼（Berrettini）在5比7、2比5落后的情况下，因臀部受伤被迫退赛。同胞阿纳尔迪（Arnaldi）晋级，并将在半决赛对阵另一位意大利选手科博利（Cobolli，10号种子）。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncb6CmbP3rM

世界排名第104的阿纳尔迪说：“你永远不希望有人以这种方式结束比赛。我为他（贝雷蒂尼）感到遗憾，希望他能康复，很快就能在草地赛季强势回归，届时他将非常难以对付。”

排名第105位的贝雷蒂尼自2021年以来首次亮相法网赛场，但他在经历几场高强度比赛后臀部不适，在教练组的示意下，最后只好退赛。

贝雷蒂尼说：“不幸的是，我必须做出正确的决定。尽管这是一个重要的舞台，我是最不想退赛的人。我厌倦了退赛。我只是不想这样做，但有时你不得不这样做。”

另一场半决赛将由德国的兹维列夫（Zverev，二号种子）对垒捷克的门希克（Mensik，26号种子）。在意大利头号种子辛纳（Sinner）早早出局后，兹维列夫迎来获得首个大满贯冠军的最好机会。

Trump says he doesn’t know whether the $1.8 billion payout fund is dead

2026-06-03 / The Washington Post

In his first comments since the apparent collapse of the plan, the president was less definitive than acting attorney general Todd Blanche was a day earlier.

June 3, 2026 at 5:55 p.m. EDT Yesterday at 5:55 p.m. EDT

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By Cat Zakrzewski

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was not sure whether a proposed $1.8 billion fund for people claiming political persecution was dead, a departure from acting attorney general Todd Blanche’s more definitive assurance of the fund’s demise a day earlier.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers,” Trump said when a reporter asked him whether the fund was dead or just on hold. “I don’t know.”

A day earlier, Blanche told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the administration is “not moving forward with the fund. Period.”

The president’s vaguer response is likely to roil Republican lawmakers, many of whom are sharply opposed to the fund and pressured the White House to abandon it by threatening to derail a $72 billion immigration enforcement funding package that Trump badly wants.

After Blanche’s assurance that the fund was dead, all Senate Republicans voted to move forward on the budget package, which advanced 53-46 along party lines Wednesday.

Even so, many Democrats and some Republicans said they wanted a more formal assurance that the administration had dropped any intention of creating such a fund, and several said they would introduce amendments to the immigration bill officially killing the idea.

When asked why he dropped the fund, Trump suggested it was because “a radical-left judge ruled against it.”

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Friday paused work on the fund pending a June 12 hearing on the matter. The administration has suggested she had permanently and definitively shut down the fund — a far broader reading than conveyed by the judge’s language.

Trump spoke of his “love” for the idea of a payout fund aimed at people who claimed they were the targets of political prosecutions by the government. The proposal has been sharply criticized by lawmakers in both parties as a vehicle that would reward the president’s allies, including those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“We’ll see how that all works out,” Trump said. “But a radical-left judge ruled against it, but these people, their lives have been destroyed, their families have been destroyed, many of them. Not just, I’m not just talking about a few people, many of them. I’m one of them.”

Trump also suggested that the people who swarmed the Capitol that January day in 2021 in an effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory had done so “with love.” He talked about a “tremendous crowd” that gathered early in the day during a speech he delivered.

“And there was so much love and friendship. It was the most amazing thing. People were crying,” Trump said.

The pro-Trump mob at the Capitol that day assaulted police officers and ransacked lawmakers’ offices. Many members of Congress were evacuated or barricaded themselves in their offices.

Trump cut off the reporter when she pressed him on Republican lawmakers’ concerns that “people who beat up cops” would be eligible for payments from the fund.

Trump’s unexpected Oval Office session with reporters was his first public appearance — and his first exchange with the White House press corps — in about a week, an unusually long time for him.

The hiatus unfolded as Trump faced several setbacks, including a judge’s ruling against the president’s plans for the Kennedy Center, the delay in reaching a deal with Iran and the loss of a Trump-endorsed candidate in Iowa.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/03/trump-blames-radical-left-judge-demise-payout-fund/

Bessent sets record straight on Trump team dinner clash that nearly turned into a throwdown: ‘Kick his a–’

2026-06-03T16:36:12-04:00 / Fox News

The secretary called Pulte on Tuesday to congratulate him after Tulsi Gabbard stepped down from the DNI role

By Ashley J. DiMella Fox News

Published June 3, 2026 4:36pm EDT

Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich has the latest on President Donald Trump appointing Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William ‘Bill’ Pulte on ‘Special Report.’

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed his past clash with Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s newly tapped acting intelligence chief, after senators pressed him Wednesday over reports that he once threatened to punch him at a dinner party.

“Did you actually tell Pulte you were going to punch them in the face,” asked North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on Wednesday, referencing reports from 2025 that Bessent threatened Pulte during a dinner.

“No sir, I actually said I was going to kick his ass,” the secretary quipped.

The exchange during the Treasury’s budget hearing renewed scrutiny of earlier reports detailing a clash between the two men, coming just days after Trump announced that the Federal Housing Finance Agency director would take on one of the government’s most sensitive national security responsibilities.

DEM LASHES OUT AT BESSENT DURING HEATED COMMITTEE HEARING EXCHANGE: ‘EXCUSE ME’

Treasury Secretary Bessent downplayed his reported feud with Bill Pulte, saying he called to congratulate him on his new role leading intelligence.(Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Reports at the time found that Bessent allegedly accused Pulte of undermining him with the president and threatened to punch him in the face while at a dinner in September. But as senators pressed him about Pulte’s elevation to acting director, Bessent downplayed the flared tempers and revealed that he called Tuesday to congratulate him.

“Many teams squabble in the locker room and go out in the field,” responded Bessent when asked if he was comfortable with Pulte’s appointment.

When asked at the time about the alleged dinner quarrel, Bessent commented in September that it is not unprecedented to have Cabinet members to have physical altercations.

“Treasury secretaries dating back to Alexander Hamilton have a history of dueling,” Bessent said in a CNBC interview.

DC DINNER TURNS CHAOTIC AS CODEPINK ACTIVISTS CORNER TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: ‘BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS’

“Many teams squabble in the locker room and go out in the field,” responded Bessent.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump tapped Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte after former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she would step down last month to support her husband following his diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer.

TRUMP NAMES BILL PULTE ACTING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9, 2026.(Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Pulte will remain FHFA director and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while serving in the new post.

Bessent also made headlines in April 2025 for an alleged face-to-face with SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk.

The two men reportedly entered into a shouting match while in the West Wing over who would lead the IRS, Axios reported at the time.

Democratic lawmakers have expressed their disagreement with the Pulte pick, calling his qualifications into question.

“Trump’s appointments of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence appears to have been a hastily considered backroom deal based on loyalty to Trump, not the security of our nation,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“What exactly are Bill Pulte qualifications? Does he have a national security background? The answer would be no. Does he have a military background? The answer would be no. Does he have a law enforcement background? The answer would be no,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

He added, “What qualifies Bill Pulte to hold one of the most important national security positions for the United States of America? One thing, apparently, that Bill Pulte is willing to say anything or do anything that Donald Trump demands, no matter how reckless, vengeful or unlawful Donald Trump’s demand may be.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Treasury Department and DNI for comment.

Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.

NASA declares end of mission for long-lasting Mars orbiter

June 3, 2026 / 5:26 PM EDT / CBS News

As it passed behind Mars six months ago, NASA’s MAVEN probe was still working normally, studying how the solar wind impacts the Martian atmosphere. But during that 20- to 30-minute pass behind the red planet, out of contact with Earth, something went wrong, and the spacecraft has not been heard from since.

On Wednesday, after concerted efforts to remotely reset the spacecraft’s computer and prompt the probe to “phone home,” agency officials said the $582 million orbiter could not be recovered and that its extraordinarily successful mission was at an end.

“Our last successful communication with MAVEN occurred on December 6 of 2025,” said Mike Moreau, MAVEN project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. “The MAVEN spacecraft and all of the subsystems were nominal when the spacecraft entered a normally scheduled occultation where the spacecraft passed behind Mars.”

“There were no indications of problems with the spacecraft in the week prior to the loss of signal, but when the spacecraft emerged behind Mars on December 6, the Deep Space Network did not detect a signal,” Moreau said.

An artist’s impression of the MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars. NASA

Commands were sent in the blind in an attempt to force MAVEN’s flight computer to restart, but to no avail.

“Unfortunately, all of these efforts to reestablish communication with MAVEN were ultimately unsuccessful, and no telemetry or signal has been received from the spacecraft since December 6,” Moreau said.

Launched on Nov. 18, 2013, MAVEN, an acronym standing for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, braked into orbit around Mars the following September.

Equipped with a sophisticated suite of instruments, the probe was designed to study the Martian atmosphere to learn more about how it is eroded, or blown away and thinned out by particles in the solar wind.

Originally designed to operate for just one year around Mars, MAVEN’s mission was repeatedly extended, enabling the most extensive research into the workings of the Martian atmosphere ever attempted.

Mars was once a warmer, wetter world, but for water to exist on the surface, a much higher atmospheric pressure is required than what is present today. MAVEN has provided major insights into how charged particles in the solar wind have eroded the Martian atmosphere over billions of years.

“One of our most exciting discoveries used 11 years of MAVEN data to observe, for the first time in any planet, an atmospheric escape process called ‘sputtering,’” said Shannon Curry, the principal investigator at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“This is where charged particles crash into the upper atmosphere and splash out the neutral atmosphere, much like doing a cannonball in a pool,” Curry said. “Our team (confirmed) that this process has been a dominant escape mechanism for billions of years, which has incredible implications for other planets in our solar system and even exoplanets.”

Along with studying the red planet’s atmosphere, MAVEN also helped relay signals from NASA’s two operational Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, to flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Three other Mars orbiters provide similar communications relay service.

While MAVEN operated well beyond its initial mission, NASA is attempting to find out what might have gone wrong in case there are lessons to be learned for other missions. In February, the agency set up an anomaly review board to look for the root cause.

As part of that ongoing investigation, engineers re-analyzed recordings of what the Deep Space Network possibly could have “heard” when MAVEN emerged from behind Mars as part of an ongoing radio science experiment. As expected, normal telemetry was not there, but they found fragments of data indicating the spacecraft was rotating at 2.7 revolutions per minute.

Other than periodically changing its orientation as required for science observations, communications and power generation, MAVEN did not normally rotate, keeping its solar panels aimed toward the sun and its antenna pointed toward Earth.

At the observed rotation rate, normal communications likely would not have been possible, and the arrays would have been unable to generate sufficient power. In that scenario, the probe’s batteries would have quickly drained.

Moreau would not speculate on what might have happened while the spacecraft was out of contact with Earth, saying he was eager to hear the results of the ongoing investigation.

Whatever the cause, the rotation rate observed in the recovered telemetry was not survivable. The spacecraft is expected to remain in the same orbit around Mars for at least the next 50 to 100 years, but NASA will make no additional attempts to regain contact.

“On a personal note, leading this team has been a privilege and an honor,” Curry said. “This team has worked tirelessly on operating the spacecraft and delivering exceptional science. It’s their vision, their drive and their curiosity that brought these amazing discoveries into fruition. I will miss the spacecraft and this team dearly.”

Asked by a reporter what should go on MAVEN’s tombstone, Curry said: “Best Mars mission ever.”

Five tense moments from Rubio’s testimony over the war in Iran

2026-06-03 7:42 PM EDT / By Samantha Lindell, CNN

A House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday repeatedly turned contentious as Secretary of State Marco Rubio was grilled on the US war on Iran.

3:38 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/03/politics/video/tense-moments-from-rubio-testimony-war-in-iran-digvid