Morning Brief, Saturday 6 June

US Central Command said American forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones over the Strait of Hormuz, then struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites at Goruk and on Qeshm Island. Washington described the strikes as defensive and said the drones threatened regional shipping. Iran did not immediately comment on the latest exchange, but the incident added another dent to a ceasefire that has never really gone quiet.

Romania faced a different kind of scare when a Ukrainian maritime drone detonated inside Constanta, its main Black Sea port, near an oil terminal. Ukraine’s navy said it lost the craft to Russian electronic warfare during a mission. Romanian officials evacuated the area before the blast, which damaged a rescue agency building and a vessel but caused no injuries. The more awkward fact came later: officials and naval experts said the drone had moved through the industrial port zone for hours without being detected by proper sensors.

The two incidents do not belong to the same war, but they rhyme. Cheap unmanned systems are forcing expensive states to defend chokepoints, ports and energy routes with gear that often arrived late or not at all. The Gulf clash threatens oil and gas traffic; the Constanta blast reminds NATO’s eastern members that spillover no longer needs a pilot, a flag or even a working navigation system. The hard lesson is simple: modern deterrence now starts with noticing the thing before it reaches the pier.

Spain’s Socialist Party faced a darker turn in the Ferraz probe after police went to PSOE headquarters to collect documents requested by investigating judge Santiago Pedraz. The High Court inquiry covers alleged criminal organisation, bribery, disclosure of secrets and influence peddling. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez insisted the party was complying with a document request, not enduring a police raid, but that distinction will not comfort a government already hemmed in by court files.

Investigators now place Santos Cerdán, the former PSOE organisation secretary, at the centre of the alleged network. Anti-corruption prosecutors say the operation expanded from public-contract rigging into efforts to interfere with investigations touching the prime minister’s family circle. The Guardia Civil also seized a 2025 agenda from Leire Díez, a former party militant nicknamed the PSOE’s plumber, containing several references to the initials P.S.; Moncloa denies that they refer to Pedro Sánchez.

The prime minister tried to draw a bright line between himself and the alleged sewer operation, while also defending José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero after the former prime minister was placed under investigation in a separate influence-peddling and money-laundering case. That is a lot of smoke for a party that built much of its pitch on democratic hygiene. The case will decide whether this is a contained scandal of fixers and files, or a governing-party crisis that eats into Pedro Sánchez’s authority from the inside.

SpaceX added fresh fuel to its artificial-intelligence pitch before its planned Nasdaq debut. The company said Google will pay $920m a month from October for cloud capacity, including about 110,000 Nvidia GPUs, under a multi-year agreement running to June 2029. Investor demand for the IPO has reached about $150bn, roughly twice the $75bn SpaceX wants to raise, although those orders remain indications rather than final allocations.

The listing still carries limits that hype cannot erase. Underwriters barred investors in China and Hong Kong from participating, citing regulatory and compliance concerns, and SpaceX does not yet meet S&P 500 entry rules on trading history, profitability or free float. Reuters figures in the source material show a $4.94bn net loss in 2025 despite revenue rising to $18.67bn, while free float is expected at only 3% to 4%, below the 10% index threshold.

Germany supplied the day’s colder business lesson. Eli Lilly said it would halve a planned roughly $2.5bn investment in Alzey, while Boehringer Ingelheim dropped €900m of domestic investment planned for 2027 to 2030. Both blamed Berlin’s proposed health reforms, which seek savings through drug price freezes and rising manufacturer rebates as statutory health insurance faces a widening deficit.

SpaceX shows how capital floods toward the promise of scarce compute; Germany shows how fast it retreats when policy turns a business plan into a political bill. Money is not patient, even when governments wish it were patriotic.

The World Health Organization and Africa CDC launched a $518m Ebola response plan for June to November, aiming to coordinate surveillance, testing, infection control, clinical care, logistics and community work. The plan targets an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain in DR Congo and Uganda, where officials fear the virus circulated before authorities formally declared it in May.

DR Congo reported 381 confirmed cases and 63 deaths, with Ituri province accounting for most confirmed infections and deaths. Uganda has confirmed 19 cases and two deaths. The WHO said 34 health workers have been infected, seven have died and six have recovered, a worrying sign because sick clinicians both suffer first and weaken the response around them.

Bundibugyo is rarer than better-known Ebola strains, and there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for it. US disease officials warned that the outbreak could resemble or exceed the scale of West Africa’s 2014-2016 crisis if the response falters. Kenya has already seen protests over a planned US quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base, showing how public-health logistics can turn political before a virus crosses a border.

The practical test is not just money, though $518m is a serious start. Ebola containment lives or dies on trust, fast reporting and the ability to protect health workers before fear starts writing the rules.

French authorities formally identified the body of 11-year-old Lyhanna after DNA tests matched remains found in an abandoned grain silo near Puycasquier. The girl had been missing since 29 May from Fleurance. Jérôme Barella, a 41-year-old father who knew her through his daughter, has been indicted for kidnapping and sequestration and placed in pre-trial detention. Prosecutors have not yet established the cause of death or whether sexual violence occurred.

The case quickly moved from grief to institutional anger. Jérôme Barella had faced rape complaints in 2022 and 2025; the first was dismissed and the second remains under investigation. President Emmanuel Macron called the situation an unacceptable dysfunction, and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin apologised on behalf of the justice system while demanding quick findings from an administrative inquiry.

Magistrates pushed back, arguing that ministers cannot blame individual prosecutors while underfunded offices and weak databases leave warning signs scattered. The Syndicat de la magistrature accused Gérald Darmanin of pointing at magistrates to avoid political responsibility, while other legal voices cited poor use of police and court information systems. A white march is planned in Fleurance, and child-protection groups plan to demonstrate outside the Ministry of Justice.

A small town is mourning a child; Paris is now arguing about whether its justice machine can read its own warning lights.