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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for “urgent de-escalation” of hostilities in a phone conversation with Iran’s foreign minister following Tehran’s weekend attack on Israel. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that Guterres also called for “a renewed focus on bringing peace to the Middle East.” Dujarric said Guterres spoke to Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday. World leaders have urged Israel not to retaliate after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles over the weekend in an unprecedented mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a regionwide war. The attack happened less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.

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The Supreme Court has sided with a decorated veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in a protracted fight with the government over 12 months of G.I. Bill educational benefits. The court ruled Tuesday the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly calculated the educational benefits for James Rudisill, a retired Army captain from Virginia. Rudisill is in a category of veterans who earned credit under two versions of the G.I. Bill, before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack. Each program gives veterans 36 months of benefits, with a 48-month cap. Rudisill thought he had 10 months of benefits remaining under the old program, plus another year in the new system. The VA denied the additional year.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with China’s national defense minister in the latest in a series of U.S. steps to improve communications with the Chinese military and reduce unsafe and aggressive incidents in the Indo-Pacific. It is the first time Austin has talked to Adm. Dong Jun. And it's the first time he has spoken at length with any Chinese counterpart since November 2022. Tuesday morning's call comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China this month for talks. Washington and Beijing have been working to expand communications and ease escalating tensions.

Argentina’s defense minister has signed a deal worth about 2.1 billion kroner ($300 million) to buy 24 of Denmark’s aging F-16 fighter jets. Denmark is getting new F-35 aircraft instead. No date for the F-16s to be handed over to Argentina has been announced. They are expected to be transferred in the coming years. Denmark's defense minister says the nearly 40-year-old F-16s “have been thoroughly maintained and technologically updated." Denmark has 30 operative F-16s. An unspecified number of the remaining jets have been promised to Ukraine as part of a donation.