BOEING DOWN: An Air India Boeing 787 carrying 242 people bound for London crashed moments after takeoff today from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Authorities say there are many bodies in the wreckage but also that survivors have been taken to hospitals.

  Video shows the plane in level flight losing altitude then dropping out of sight before exploding in a fireball. The jet crashed in the residential area of a local medical college.

  The airline said that the plane was carrying 169 Indian citizens, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. The crash is already bringing renewed questions about Boeing’s safety record.

SABER RATTLING: Israel may be on the verge of attacking Iran, US authorities say, causing the withdrawal of US diplomatic personnel from Iraq and authorization for the voluntary departure of US military family members from the Middle East.

  The President Trump said last night at the Kennedy Center, “Well they are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place. We’ll see what happens.”

  The US has been negotiating with Iran to curtail their production of fuel for a nuclear weapon but Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has been growing impatient. Trump himself said that he has become “less confident” about reaching a deal with Iran.

FIRE AND ICE:  Relative calm settled in downtown Los Angeles last night after the 6^th day of protests against immigration roundups. Law enforcement cleared the streets around 9 pm, an hour after the mayor’s curfew went into effect.

  About 220 people were arrested yesterday and a federal judge will hear arguments today on California’s request that troops not be used to enforce the law.

  As protests against immigration enforcement has spread to other cities, fear has settled in to everyday hubs of California life from high schools to Home Depot parking lots. Agricultural workers have disappeared from the fields as  federal agents have descended on farms and food packing facilities.

  In an attempt to ramp up citizen enthusiasm for its campaign against illegal immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security released a graphic of Uncle Sam tacking up a notice saying, “Help Your Country and Yourself …” with the message “ REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— After firing all 17 members of the CDC advisory committee on vaccines, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed eight replacements, including four who have criticized or spoken out against vaccination in some way. Experts on health and vaccination immediately said Kennedy had broken his word not to appoint anti-vaxxers.  

— The entire 12 member board of the Fulbright Scholarships resigned accusing the Trump administration of political interference. The board charged that political appointees at the State Department, which manages the program, sent letters of cancellation to nearly 200 American professors and researchers who had been approved to go to universities and other programs overseas. 

   The resigning board said that the State Department illegally sent rejection letters to the scholars  primarily because of their research topics. 

— In its plan to restore the names of Confederate heroes to military bases while being able to claim that’s not what they’re doing, the Pentagon announced it is re-naming Ft. Lee in Virginia … named after Robert E. Lee … after Pvt. Fitz Lee, a Black Medal of Honor winner from the Spanish-American War.

ECON 101: The rate of inflation has yet to be impacted by the Trump import tariffs, according to the latest figures. Consumer prices in May were up 2.4% from a year ago.

CLOSING CREDITS: A New York jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of one charge of sexual assault, not guilty of a second, and has not reached a verdict on a third in a retrial of the disgraced movie producer, sealing his closing credit as a sexual predator. The jury was instructed to return today to continue deliberating on a charge of rape.

  Weinstein’s Miramax company produced such hits as the 1994 “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” in 1998. But the secret about him exploded in 2017 when women came forward with accusations of rape and sexual assault going all the way back to the 1970s.

  Weinstein’s 2020 conviction in New York for sex crimes was overturned but he remained in custody because he was also convicted in California. Weinstein is 73, in poor health, and the charge on which he was convicted yesterday carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Brian Wilson the genius lyricist and arranger behind the Beach Boys in the 1960s who had the nation dreaming about surfing, beaches, hot cars, and California girls while going on to live a life plagued by mental illness and drug addiction, has died at age 82.

  In their prime years 1962 to 1966, the group had 13 singles in the Billboard Top 10. Three of them went to No. 1: “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda” and “Good Vibrations.”

  The band was comprised of Brian, his brothers Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love, and a friend, Al Jardine. There isn’t time to list their hits, but their music sparked a rivalry with the Beatles who responded to innovations of the Beach Boys. It was all driven by the brilliance of Brian Wilson who said he never learned to surf and never even tried.

THE SPIN RACK: Fired ABC News Correspondent Terry Moran says he is continuing his “important work” on Substack. — Late night comedians were fed a groove ball when President Trump said at Ft. Bragg that President Biden was “never the sharpest bulb.”

BELOW THE FOLD: The NY Times reports a crackdown on dog walking and the condemnation of pet ownership in Iran, which is very popular there.

  Iran’s supreme leader issued a fatwa religious order explaining that a dog’s saliva or hair would render anything it touched — like a person, clothing or a surface — impure.

“Prayer is invalid with the presence of dog hair,” his fatwa read.

  And let’s not even talk about the sofa.

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