Politics today swung between confrontation, diplomacy and damage control. In the US, California Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Trump of directing the Justice Department to investigate him and his wife, casting it as political retaliation as he weighs a White House run, though no independent confirmation has emerged. Trump was also at the center of a very different development overseas, with US officials saying he and Vice President J.D. Vance electronically signed a memorandum with Iran intended to ease Gulf tensions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Elsewhere, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called the Philippine Congress into special session to push stalled priority bills and long-delayed appointments. Beyond formal politics, public pressure drove an unusual corporate response in South Korea, where Starbucks will close stores early nationwide for historical sensitivity training, while the UN warned Sudan’s war is exacting an ever higher civilian toll, with drone strikes killing more than 1,000 people this year alone.