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Department of the Interior Approves Shell's Risky Arctic Exploration Plan
Agency gives Shell the stamp of approval to drill in fragile Arctic Ocean, despite threats to the Arctic and the climate
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced approval today for Shell's plan to drill in the Arctic Ocean's Chukchi Sea starting in July.
Earlier this month, Earthjustice submitted approximately 38,000 comments to the agency of behalf of environmental supporters that requested the Interior reject Shell's risky plan. The project Interior approved today is bigger, dirtier, and louder than any previous plan, calling for more sound disturbances and harassment of whales and seals, more water and air pollution, and more vessels and helicopters. It also runs the risk of a catastrophic oil spill that could not be cleaned in Arctic waters.
The company's accident-filled efforts to drill in 2012 demonstrate that neither Shell nor any other company is ready to drill in the Arctic Ocean. Shell proved that again just last month when its Discoverer drillship was held in port due to pollution control failures. Drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean also takes us in the wrong direction on combating climate change.
Interior rushed through its reconsideration of the lease sale by which Shell obtained its leases when it reaffirmed a Bush era oil lease sale in late March. Now it has rushed to approve Shell's drilling plan without adequately considering the potentially significant risks and effects of Shell's operations.
"This decision places big oil before people, putting the Arctic's iconic wildlife and the health of our planet on the line," said Erik Grafe, Earthjustice staff attorney. "The agency should not be approving such threatening plans based on a rushed and incomplete environmental and safety review. Ultimately, Arctic Ocean drilling is far too risky and undermines the administration's efforts to address climate change and transition to a clean energy future. These fossil fuels need to remain in the ground."
ONLINE VERSION: https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2015/department-of-the-interior-approves-shell-s-risky-arctic-exploration-plan
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Trump Bombs Iran for Second Night After Complaining Talks Have 'Taken Too Long'
One human rights expert noted that the president's complaint about the drawn-out talks came "even though he is the one who ripped up an entirely effective deal... and in February ended negotiations to start bombing."
Jun 10, 2026
US President Donald Trump bombed Iran for the second consecutive night on Wednesday after complaining on social media that Tehran has taken too long on peace negotiations and vowing to respond to the downing of an American military helicopter.
US Central Command said Tuesday that CENTCOM "forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5:00 pm ET today at the commander in chief's direction, in response to yesterday's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression."
Trump took to his Truth Social platform just after 7:00 am ET Wednesday, writing that "Iran's Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn't even exist anymore—They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"
Ken Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton University and the former longtime executive director of Human Rights Watch, noted that Trump's complaint about the drawn-out talks with Iran came "even though he is the one who ripped up an entirely effective deal... and in February ended negotiations to start bombing."
Trump unilaterally ended the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, during his first term. There has been no agreement in place since.
After Trump's strikes on Tuesday night, Iran fired at Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, which all host US troops. The recent exchanges cast further doubt on the ceasefire deal negotiated in April, after the American president's genocidal threat against Iran.
Later Wednesday, CENTCOM announced that US "forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 pm ET against multiple targets in Iran at the commander in chief's direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression."
Drop Site News reported that "as the strikes were announced, Iranian media reported a series of explosions across Hormozgan province, the southern Iranian province that borders the Strait of Hormuz," a key trade route through which Iran has largely restricted ship traffic since Iran and Israel began bombing the country in late February.
As Drop Site detailed:
- Sirik: At least four explosions were heard in the coastal town on the eastern side of the strait, according to Tasnim News, with a local source saying the blasts were coming from the sea.
- Minab: An explosion was reported near the city, about 60 miles east of Bandar Abbas, according to Mehr News.
- Korgan Port: Several explosions were also heard near the port area on the Gulf of Oman coast, according to Mehr News.
- Bandar Abbas: An explosion was also reported in Iran’s main commercial port and naval hub overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Fars Gulf Broadcasting Center.
Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an expert on US-Iranian relations, said, "It appears the US/Israel-Iran war has started again... or perhaps more accurately, it never really ended."
Fox News' Trey Yingst reported on air late Wednesday that "President Trump told me that Iran called him tonight. Top Iranian officials and President Trump spoke directly, according to the commander in chief tonight, as the president was sitting in the Situation Room, and he told me that the Iranians asked them to stop bombing, and the president said to me, 'The bombing will stop shortly.'"
According to Reuters, Iran's media contradicted that reporting, with an unnamed senior Iranian official saying, "Trump's false claim that Iranian officials contacted him is a cover to evade war with Iran."
Asked by Yingst what will happen if the Iranians don't sign a new deal soon, Trump reportedly responded, "We'll bomb the shit out of them tomorrow night."
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8,000+ Italian Medical Professionals Sign Open Letter Decrying US Blockade of Cuba
"Italy is indebted to Cuba," the letter states. "Every day of silence has a cost in human lives."
Jun 10, 2026
As of Wednesday, more than 8,000 Italian medical and scientific professionals have signed an open letter acknowledging their indebtedness to Cuban doctors and condemning the tightening of the 65-year US embargo on Cuba by President Donald Trump as he threatens "take" the island.
"Over the decades, Cuba has built a health system that was considered an international model, capable of guaranteeing universal access to care even in limited resource conditions. Since 1963, more than 600,000 Cuban health workers have served in more than 160 countries, including Italy," states the letter addressed to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Health Minister Orazio Schillaci.
"That system is currently in a state of collapse," the letter continues. "Survival in childhood cancers has fallen from 80% to 65% due to the lack of first-line drugs."
The publication notes that "96,000 people—almost 1% of the population—including 11,000 children are on the waiting list for surgery. If the situation does not change, the list could affect 160,000 patients by the end of 2026. Over 300 pediatric surgeries per week are compromised by shortages of drugs, oxygen, anesthetics, and consumables."
"The crisis has its roots in a combination of factors that have progressively worsened," the letter continues. "The tightening of the economic embargo during the first Trump administration, Covid-19, and, since January 2026, the near-total blockade of energy supplies following the Venezuelan crisis have deprived the island of fuel, electricity, and access to international drug and medical device markets."
A report published in April by researchers at the Center for Economic Policy and Research confirmed an “unprecedented increase” in Cuba’s infant mortality rate, which soared 148% between 2018 and 2025.
Report co-author Joe Sammut said that “the blockade has had a particularly dire effect on Cuba’s healthcare infrastructure, with frequent power outages" exacerbated by the US oil blockade "interrupting the use of critical equipment for the treatment of patients, including incubators for premature babies, and ventilators to help sick newborns breathe."
The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the broader US embargo—which Cuba’s government says has cost the island's economy more than $1 trillion over seven decades—33 times.
"The collapse of a health system is not just a local tragedy: It is a violation of fundamental human rights that requires a response from the global community, beyond any political assessment of the Cuban regime," the Italian letter argues.
"Italy cannot remain indifferent or silent, also because it is indebted to Cuba for the help received during the Covid-19 pandemic and for the current work of Cuban doctors in the Calabria Region to guarantee the functioning of the local health service," the publication adds.
The Trump administration has been pressuring Italy to curb its use of Cuban doctors, who are essential to Calabria's healthcare system.
"It is the duty of the global health community—doctors, researchers, institutions, scientific journals—but also of the civil community to act without ambiguity, in compliance with the fundamental principles of humanitarian law," the letter concludes. "Every day of silence has a cost in human lives."
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Israel to Blame for 56% of 22,600+ Civilians Killed by Explosive Weapons Globally Last Year
"What is particularly alarming is that this harm has become persistent across conflicts worldwide, risking the normalization of civilian suffering on a massive scale," said the report's lead author.
Jun 10, 2026
While the overall number of civilians killed by explosive weapons decreased by 21% last year, largely due to Israel scaling back attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in response to ceasefire deals, "the majority—56%—of all global civilian fatalities in 2025 could be attributed to Israeli armed forces, most of which occurred in Palestine," according to an annual report released Wednesday.
The report is the latest publication from the Explosive Weapons Monitor, a research initiative of the International Network of Explosive Weapons, whose members include nongovernmental organizations around the world such as Action on Armed Violence, Center for Civilians in Conflict, Human Rights Watch, Humanity & Inclusion (HI), PAX, and Save the Children.
Based on data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data as well as Insecurity Insight, the monitor found that there were at least 22,616 civilian fatalities from explosive weapons across 65 countries and territories last year.
In addition to Lebanon and Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen were "heavily impacted," the publication says. Countries' armed forces were responsible for the vast majority—85%—of all incidents that reportedly affected civilians or civilian infrastructure last year.
"The number of attacks in which explosive weapons affected humanitarian aid operations, aid workers, and camps increased by 52%," to 2,541, last year—and while they were documented in 17 countries and territories, "about 90% of all incidents were recorded in Palestine," the report notes.
Attacks on education increased by 64%, to 1,416; they occurred in 27 places, but were most common in Myanmar, Palestine, and Ukraine. The report also highlights continued attacks on healthcare facilities and workers (1,272 incidents in 22 places), and on food and water systems (1,082 incidents in 15 places).
"Every destroyed school, hospital, market, water system, or humanitarian convoy represents far more than damaged infrastructure—it represents opportunities lost, futures disrupted, and communities pushed further from recovery," said Alma Taslidžan, HI's disarmament advocacy manager, in a statement.
"Long after the explosions end, civilians continue to live with the consequences of disrupted healthcare, interrupted education, damaged livelihoods, and the daily challenge of rebuilding their lives," Taslidžan emphasized. "For many, the consequences of explosive weapons become part of everyday life and suffering for years to come."
Explore the report's data and view country-specific analysis in a new interactive dashboard:➡️ explosiveweaponsmonitor.org/global-figur...
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— Explosive Weapons Monitor (@weaponsmonitor.bsky.social) June 10, 2026 at 8:29 AM
The report argues that "it remains a critical humanitarian priority" to bring the 2022 Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising From the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas into greater effect.
The publication also calls out eight countries—Cambodia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States—that endorsed the declaration but whose armed forces reportedly used explosive weapons that caused civilian harm in 2025.
"The devastating impact of explosive weapons on civilians is both foreseeable and preventable. Yet across numerous conflicts, their continued use has entrenched a pattern of civilian harm that is increasingly treated as routine rather than exceptional," said Katherine Young, the report's lead author and the monitor's research and monitoring manager, in a statement.
"When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, civilians suffer," Young stressed. "What is particularly alarming is that this harm has become persistent across conflicts worldwide, risking the normalization of civilian suffering on a massive scale."
The release of the report comes amid renewed Israeli attacks on Lebanon—which intensified after the United States and Israel launched an illegal war on Iran in February, and have continued despite a new ceasefire agreed to in April—as well as on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
"This weekend, eight children were reported killed and a further 17 injured in five different locations in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank, a 7-month-old boy died after being shot by Israeli forces in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron," said Edouard Beigbeder, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, on Wednesday.
"We cannot let this become the new normal—children losing their lives to violence should cause global outrage and must be condemned at every level," he continued. "UNICEF calls on the Israeli authorities to take decisive action to protect all Palestinian children. Authorities must ensure transparent, credible, and robust investigations, as well as accountability whenever children are killed or maimed."
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Israeli forces have slaughtered at least 72,991 Palestinians in Gaza—an assault widely condemned as genocide. That includes 981 people killed since the ceasefire reached last October, according to local health officials. Israeli attacks on Lebanon have left thousands more dead, including at least 3,666 since early March, per the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
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