Israel’s Stunning Attack on Iran, and India Plane Crash Survivor Speaks

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Headlines Hosted by Michael Simon Johnson | The New York Times | Release Date: June 13, 2025

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1. Israel Launches Operation Rising Lion Against Iran

00:48 – 05:56

In a bold and unprecedented move, Israel initiated Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military campaign aimed at neutralizing the perceived existential threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions.

• Operation Details:
  Israel deployed approximately 200 warplanes, executing a series of hundreds of bombings targeting over one hundred key sites in Iran, including pivotal nuclear facilities such as the main nuclear enrichment center and a prominent nuclear research institute. The strikes resulted in the deaths of at least two leading Iranian nuclear scientists and inflicted significant damage on Iran's military command structure.

• Immediate Impact:
  Tehran experienced a night of terror marked by widespread explosions. Aaron Boxerman, an on-ground reporter in Israel, described the suddenness of the attack:

  “The sirens weren’t warning of rockets or drones; they served as a national wake-up call as the military began its wide-scale assault on Iran’s nuclear program.” (02:09)

• Political Reactions:

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the operation as a success but issued warnings to the Israeli populace to brace for prolonged conflict:

    “We are at war.” (02:35)

  • Iranian Leadership Response:
    Leader Ayatollah Khamenei threatened severe retaliation, labeling Israel a target for harsh punishment.

• U.S. Involvement and Repercussions:
  While American officials initially stated non-involvement, revelations indicate the White House was briefed before the strikes. President Trump’s ongoing negotiations with Iran to halt its nuclear program were derailed, with Iran subsequently withdrawing from talks. Jonathan Swan, a White House reporter, highlighted the administration's ambiguous stance:

  “The statement is organized around distancing the Trump administration from Israel's actions and warning Iran not to target Americans in the region.” (04:09)
  This development has escalated fears of a broader regional war, with uncertain implications for global stability and the U.S. political landscape.

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2. California Judge Blocks Trump’s Mobilization of National Guard

05:56 – 08:50

In a significant legal setback for the Trump administration, a federal judge temporarily prohibited the mobilization of 4,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles, a move perceived as an overreach of presidential authority.

• Legal Ruling:
  The judge deemed Trump's attempt to deploy the National Guard illegal and unconstitutional, emphasizing the necessity of coordinating such actions with state authorities. Consequently, authority over the troops reverted to Governor Gavin Newsom.

• Trump Administration's Response:
  Relying on a seldom-used law, Trump bypassed the governor’s consent, sparking judicial opposition. The administration swiftly filed an appeal, resulting in an appeals court blocking the judge’s order pending further review.

• Incident Involving Senator Alex Padilla:
  During a press briefing by Secretary of Homeland Security Christine Noem, Senator Alex Padilla attempted to query the administration regarding its immigration policies. His interruption led to federal agents forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him, an action that has ignited widespread condemnation:

  “If this is how the Department of Homeland Security and the people around the secretary treat a United States senator... Imagine what they are doing to people in communities.” (08:03)

  • Reactions:
    • California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the incident as outrageous.
    • Even within the Republican ranks, figures like Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski expressed disturbance over the treatment of a sitting senator.

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3. Tragic Air India Plane Crash in Western India

08:50 – 10:16

A catastrophic crash involving an Air India flight bound for London resulted in over 260 fatalities on Thursday.

• Crash Details:
  The aircraft malfunctioned moments after takeoff, as captured in verified video footage showing the plane descending erratically before crashing into a local medical college. The impact caused extensive destruction, including damaging nearby buildings.

• Survivor’s Account:
  The sole known survivor recounted the harrowing experience:

  “When the plane crashed, he literally cooked off the plane and video called my dad saying, 'Oh, our plane's crashed.' He was in shock, unable to comprehend how he survived.” (09:37)

• Aftermath:
  Emergency services in the region are overwhelmed, conducting hundreds of DNA tests to identify victims and facilitate the return of remains to families.

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4. The Enduring Relationship Between Humans and Bedbugs

10:16 – 11:13

A fascinating study published in Biology Letters sheds light on the ancient symbiosis between humans and bedbugs, revealing that their association spans approximately 245,000 years.

• Study Highlights:
  Initially, bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) subsisted on the blood of cave-dwelling bats. The evolutionary shift occurred when bedbugs began feeding on early humans, such as Neanderthals, residing in the same habitats. This led to a divergence into two distinct species: one that remained reliant on bat blood and another that became exclusively human-dependent.

• Factors Contributing to Their Survival:
  The study attributes bedbugs' longevity to their resilience:

  • Longevity Without Feeding: Capable of surviving over a year without a blood meal.
  • Pesticide Resistance: Rapid genetic mutations enable them to overcome chemical deterrents.

• Current Trends:
  Modern factors like globalization, increased air travel, and urbanization have contributed to a resurgence in bedbug populations, intensifying their pervasive relationship with humans.

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Conclusion

Today's episode of The Headlines delved into high-stakes international conflicts, domestic political upheavals, tragic accidents, and intriguing scientific discoveries. From Israel's aggressive stance against Iran's nuclear capabilities to significant legal battles within the United States, the episode provided comprehensive coverage of events shaping our world. Additionally, the discussion on the enduring bond between humans and bedbugs offered a unique perspective on species coexistence. Stay informed and engaged with The New York Times for in-depth analysis and reporting on the issues that matter most.

Transcript

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[Michael Simon Johnson]

From the New York Times, it's the Headlines. I'm Michael Simon Johnson. Today's Friday, June 13th. Here's what we're covering.

[News Anchor]

Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

A targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.

[Reporter]

Israel launched a stunning series of strikes.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Against Iran last night with 200 Israeli.

[Reporter]

Warplanes dropping hundreds of bombs across the country and striking over a hundred targets.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Residents of Iran's capital, Tehran, weathered a.

[Reporter]

Night of terror and shock, reeling from explosions across the city as the entire Middle east moves closer toward a full blown regional war.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Among Israel's targets were some of Iran's.

[Reporter]

Key nuclear sites, including its main nuclear.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Enrichment facility and as well as a nuclear research center.

[Reporter]

At least two prominent nuclear scientists have been killed. Israel also struck a huge blow to Iran's military chain of command.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Iran has confirmed that its three highest ranking generals have been killed for years.

[Reporter]

Iran has openly called for Israel's destruction and Israel has argued that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons would be an existential threat.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Israel is describing this attack as preemptive.

[Reporter]

With one official saying that Iran was within days of having enough material to assemble 15 nuclear bombs.

[Aaron Boxerman]

So at about 3 in the morning overnight in Israel, air raid sirens blared out all across the country. I heard them in Jerusalem, my colleagues heard them elsewhere.

[Reporter]

Aaron Boxerman is in Israel covering the attack.

[Aaron Boxerman]

And what was unusual about these sirens is that they weren't warning of incoming rocket fire or drone attacks. They essentially served as a kind of national wake up call because the Israeli military had just begun a wide scale attack targeting Iran's nuclear program.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hailing the attack as a success, but warned the Israeli public that they should prepare.

[Reporter]

For the fighting to go on for days. A senior official from the Israel Defense.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Forces told Israeli television, quote, we are at war. Iran's leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Iranian.

[Reporter]

State television that Israel should anticipate a harsh punishment. Iran later fired about 100 drones at Israel.

[Aaron Boxerman]

I think it's very hard to know what the next couple of days are going to bring. In Israel, people are anxiously awaiting Iranian retaliation, which would likely take the form of volleys of hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones and other munitions. In Iran, people are similarly fearfully waiting what might come next, how far this fighting will go. And the truth is that we don't really have a template for this because we've never really been here before. Israel and Iran have fought a decades long shadow war, which was characterized by covert assassinations and subterfuge and sabotage. But we're in a totally different place right now.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

American officials have said that the US.

[Reporter]

Was not involved in the strikes, but the Times has learned that the White House was briefed on the attack beforehand. President Trump has been trying to negotiate with Iran to get the country to.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Freeze its nuclear program. Israel's strikes have torpedoed those plans, with.

[Reporter]

Iran saying it won't participate in talks.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

With the US until further notice. The US has more than 40,000 troops in the region, scattered across more than a dozen bases.

[Reporter]

All are on high alert.

[Jonathan Swan]

I'm Jonathan Swan. I'm a White House reporter for the New York Times. I've just been in the White House trying to get some answers on what's going on behind the scenes with Israel's war against Iran. The White House has been notably quiet in responding to this. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has so far provided the only statement from the administration. It's a highly unusual statement from an American administration as it relates to Israel, because it does not have the sentence we stand with Israel, you know, our closest ally does not contain that statement. In fact, the whole statement is basically organized around trying to distance the Trump administration from what Israel's done and warning Iran not to attack Americans in the region. So it's not clear to me yet what's going to happen next, the extent to which America is going to help Israel when Iran inevitably counter strikes. And by the time your listeners hear this, I'm sure that will be underway. President Trump's dealing with someone in Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu, that he really doesn't trust and he has a very complicated relationship with, and he campaigned on being the President of peace. So we now, potentially, depending on how this plays out, could have a war that's not just between Iran and Israel, but it could spill out into a broader regional war. So it's a moment of really high risk for the world, for the region. And for President Trump's own administration and political standing.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

In California, today was really.

[California Governor]

About a test of democracy. And today we passed the test. We, the people, passed the test.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from mobilizing National Guard troops in Los Angeles. In a ruling Thursday night, the judge.

[Reporter]

Cut off the president's control of the troops, calling their deployment a dangerous precedent that was illegal and unconstitutional.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Trump relied on a rarely used law.

[Reporter]

To mobilize 4,000 National Guard troops. That law requires the president to go through the governor to do so. But the administration ignored that and went around Governor Gavin Newsom.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

It was the latest judicial rebuke over.

[Reporter]

Trump's use of emergency powers. And the ruling returned authority of California.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

National Guard troops back to Newsom.

[California Governor]

The National Guard will be redeployed to what they were doing before Donald Trump commandeered them. The National Guard will go back to border security, working on counter drug enforcement and fentanyl enforcement.

[Reporter]

The order was supposed to take effect today, but the administration quickly filed an appeal. And late last night, an appeals court blocked the order from going into effect until it can review the case.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Meanwhile, sir, Hands up.

[Senator Alex Padilla]

Hands up. I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

At a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, California Senator Alex Padilla was.

[Reporter]

Forcibly removed, shoved to the ground and and handcuffed by federal agents as he interrupted a briefing by Secretary of Homeland Security Christine Noem.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Hands behind your back. Padilla had attended the press conference because.

[Reporter]

He said he could not get answers from the administration on its immigration crackdown. And at one point, he interrupted Noem calling out a question about mugshots that were on display.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

That's when agents grabbed him, pushed him.

[Reporter]

Out of the room, and forced him to his knees. Padilla appeared stunned and repeated that he was a US Senator. He was uncuffed only after an advisor to Noem intervened.

[Senator Alex Padilla]

If this is how the Department of Homeland Security and the people around the secretary will treat a United States senator for having the audacity to ask a question, then imagine what they are doing to people in communities, not just throughout Los Angeles, but throughout the country.

[Reporter]

Padilla and other Democrats expressed outrage after the incident. Gavin Newsom called the scene outrageous.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland.

[Reporter]

Security defended the agents, saying they believed.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Padilla was an attacker and accused the.

[Reporter]

Senator of engaging in, quote, disrespectful political theater.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Top FBI officials also defended the federal agents.

[Reporter]

But even some Republicans denounced Padilla's treatment. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said the incident was very disturbing.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

And Lisa Murkowski, a senator from Alaska.

[Reporter]

Said, quote in it's not the America I know. More details are emerging from a plane.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Crash in western India that killed more.

[Reporter]

Than 260 people on Thursday.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

The Air India flight, which was headed to London, crashed just seconds after takeoff.

[Reporter]

Video verified by the Times shows the plane descending slowly. It then appears to have skidded along.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

The ground, damaging buildings and then crashing.

[Reporter]

Into a local medical college.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

At least five students at the college were killed, but officials say as many.

[Reporter]

As three dozen people caught in the path of the plane may have died.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Of the more than 240 passengers on.

[Reporter]

The plane, just one is known to have survived. The Times spoke with his family who.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Lives in the uk Hours after the.

[Survivor]

Crash, when the plane crashed, like he literally cooked off the plane and he video called my dad saying, oh, our plane's crashed from right outside the plane. Oh, my God. He's like, I have no clue how I got outside or how I've survived. And he was like, I don't see any other passengers. He was just in shock. Like, I don't know how I'm alive.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

This morning, local health services appeared overwhelmed.

[Reporter]

As they carried out hundreds of DNA.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Tests to identify bodies so they can.

[Reporter]

Return them to families.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

And finally, there are some relationships that.

[Reporter]

Are just meant to be, even if one party isn't entirely thrilled about it. And research now shows that nothing quite compares to the connection between humans and bedbugs.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

According to a new study published in the journal Biology Letters, the bed bug's.

[Reporter]

Long affair with humans has been going on for much longer than previously thought, about 245,000 years.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Back then, the insect fed entirely off.

[Reporter]

Of cave dwelling bats until it discovered the blood of a Neanderthal or some.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Other early human that set up shop.

[Reporter]

In the same cave. From that point on, scientists say bedbugs diverged into two distinct species. One that lived solely on bat blood and one that became exclusively reliant on humans.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

But the study says the key to the bed bug's longevity is, is their resilience.

[Reporter]

They can live for more than a year without feeding. And they have a remarkable ability to overcome pesticides through rapid genetic mutation.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Today, their populations are surging, thanks to globalization, the rise of inexpensive air travel and accelerating urbanization. In some sense, our relationship has never been stronger. Those are the headlines, but stick around. We've got the Friday News quiz for you after the credits. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Tracy Mumford, Jan Stewart, and me, Michael Simon Johnson. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Katie o' Brien, and Paula Schuman. Now for the quiz, we've got questions about three stories the Times has covered this week. Can you answer them all?

[News Anchor]

First up for a little breaking news. We are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker.

[Reporter]

During a speech this week, President Trump said he will restore the names of.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

US army bases like Fort Lee or Fort Hood that were once named for Confederate generals.

[News Anchor]

Fort Bragg is in. That's the name. And Fort Bragg it shall always remain. That's never going to be happening again.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

He was speaking to soldiers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

[Reporter]

Originally named for the Confederate general Braxton.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Bragg, that name temporarily changed in 2023.

[Reporter]

What name had it changed to?

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Was it Fort Freedom, Fort Liberty, or Fort Eisenhower?

[Reporter]

The answer?

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Fort Liberty. The change came after Congress passed a law mandating that Confederate names be removed from bases. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restored the name back to Bragg in February, and now they're doing that for seven more army installations. In a statement, the army said that the restored base names will no longer honor Confederates, but instead honor other American soldiers with similar names or initials. Okay, next question. Organizers in Spain, Italy, and Portugal are planning to protest against over tourism in visitor hotspots. On Sunday, they're expected to hold marches, disrupt traffic, picket airports, and block entrances to tourist attractions.

[Reporter]

They say the surge in tourism has contributed to housing shortages and rising rents for locals. This isn't the first time tourists have been targeted.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Last summer, during a march in Barcelona, protesters harassed visitors using what? This news report from last year has.

[Reporter]

The answer bleeped out? See if you can get it. They marched around major tourist hotspots in that city with brightly colored encouraging them to go home.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

What were the protesters carrying? The answer is water guns. They squirted tourists sitting outside restaurants. Organizers say it was such a hit last year that they're encouraging protesters to bring back their colorful water guns this weekend. Okay, last question. We told you earlier this week that the world is on the cusp of a BTS reunion. The popular boy band has been on hiatus since 2022, releasing solo albums and serving their mandatory military service in South Korea. The last member wraps up his service next week, and the band expects to go into the studio soon to work on a new album.

[Reporter]

So to honor the return of one.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Of K pop's biggest acts, we want to test how well, you know BTS songs. We'll play you three clips.

[Reporter]

Two of them will be from BTS. One of them will be from another K pop group.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

You have to figure out which one isn't a BTS song. Okay, here's song number one.

[Reporter]

Here'S number.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Two, and here's the last song. Okay, which one is not from bts? If you said song number one was not bts, you're right.

[Reporter]

That was the group Stray Kids with.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Their hit God's Menu.

[Reporter]

The BTS songs were Butter and Fake Love.

[Michael Simon Johnson]

Full disclosure, I would absolutely have not gotten that. Alright, that's it for the News quiz. If you want to tell us how you did or what you think about the quiz, you can always email us@the headlinesytimes.com the show will be back on Monday and we'll try a few more questions next Friday.