Good morning. We're covering a shake-up of Trump's top aides and the Ukraine-U.S. minerals deal. Plus: The actors up for a Tony Award.
Trump removed his national security adviserPresident Trump announced yesterday that he was removing his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement, and instead nominated Waltz as ambassador to the U.N. It was the first major personnel overhaul of top White House aides, and the kind of move he had wanted to avoid in his second term. Waltz had been on thin ice since he organized a group chat on the app Signal to discuss a sensitive military operation in Yemen and accidentally included a journalist. But even before the group chat leak, most of Trump's advisers viewed Waltz as too hawkish to work for a president who was eager to reach a nuclear deal with Iran and normalize relations with Russia. Rubio will hold both positions for now, something that no other official has done simultaneously since Henry Kissinger held the titles under the Nixon and Ford administrations. What's next: The selection of the next national security adviser will be a critical one, at a moment when the president's top aides have differed sharply on how to handle China, Russia and Iran.
What's in the Ukraine-U.S. minerals dealThe U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal late Wednesday allowing the U.S. to receive future revenue from Ukraine's natural resources. Ukraine hopes it will clear the way for continued U.S. support, including to rebuild whenever the war with Russia ends. But the path to actually extracting the minerals is fraught and uncertain. The agreement, the text of which was made public yesterday, did not mention security guarantees, which Kyiv had wanted. This bargain ties future U.S. military aid to Ukraine contributions of mineral wealth, and it also appears to keep the door open for Ukraine to eventually join the E.U. Here's what we know. What's next: Ukraine's Parliament still has to ratify the agreement, which will probably happen in the next two weeks, lawmakers said. But the deal has given Kyiv new hope, and analysts say the country's prospects look brighter than they have in months. Analysis: It's not clear how the deal will work in practice. It could bring untold money into a joint investment fund, but the resources will take years to extract and yield profits. Related: North Korea and Russia have begun building a two-lane road bridge across their river border.
The death toll rose in sectarian violence in SyriaThe death toll from this week's outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria has surpassed 100, a war monitoring group said yesterday, after clashes between pro-government forces and militants from Syria's Druse minority spread to new areas. It comes as Israeli fighter jets this morning struck near the presidential palace in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in what Israel's prime minister and defense minister said was a message to the Syrian government in support of the Druse community. As of last night, Syrian government representatives had struck accords with Druse leaders in a bid to calm the violence. The move also appeared to be a step toward achieving the new government's goal of integrating the armed groups operating across the country into a national military. In Israel: Firefighters in Israel gained control over the wildfires that had raged for two days on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
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Earlier this year, a diver found the 2,000-pound carcass of a baby gray whale in the waters off San Diego. Just a few weeks later, it had vanished. Where did it go? Lives lived: Ted Kotcheff, a Canadian director whose films included "First Blood" with Sylvester Stallone and "Weekend at Bernie's," died at 94.
Screen stars are up for Broadway's highest honorTony Award nominations were announced yesterday, as Broadway celebrated an unusually starry season. George Clooney, Mia Farrow, Sarah Snook and Sadie Sink all picked up nominations. But many A-listers didn't get in the game — among them Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, who both got shut out for "Othello." The winners will be announced June 8. Read about the picks, and the snubs and surprises.
Cook: These classic sesame noodles are better than takeout. Read: Our critics preview 24 new books coming out this month. Watch: The alien-invasion series "The Eternaut" gives new life to a 1950s comic strip from Argentina. Move: Sitting all day is hard on your hips. Try this simple routine for better mobility. Travel: These tips will help you save time and money at the airport. Game: Despelote revisits Ecuador's 2001 soccer frenzy from a child's perspective. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha P.S. On Day 4 of our poetry challenge, use the verse to greet the day. And here's Day 5, for your weekend. Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
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