Boeing 787 Bound for London Crashes in India
13:12 Share

At GMC, ignorance is the furthest thing from bliss. Bliss is research, testing, testing the testing, until it results in not just one truck, but a whole lineup.

The 2025 GMC Sierra lineup featuring the Sierra 1500, Heavy Duty, and EV. Because true bliss is removing every shadow from every doubt. We are professional grade. Visit GMC.com to learn more. ♪

Iran plans to establish a new nuclear enrichment facility amid rising tensions with the U.S. Plus, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. names new members to a key immunization committee, including vaccine skeptics. And we'll look at signs of an improving IPO market. IPOs are debuting and the share prices are up. That's not something we've seen in a while. And so it's given people a new sense of optimism that there could be a lot more coming.

It's Thursday, June 12th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

We begin with some breaking news as an Air India plane carrying 242 people has crashed near an airport in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. According to Air India, 169 of those on board are Indian nationals, 53 are British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.

Flight AI-171, which was bound for London, crashed shortly after taking off, with local television channels showing heavy plumes of smoke rising into the sky. The airline added that the injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals. According to data from flight tracking website FlightAware, the jet was an 11-year-old Boeing 787.

Iran says that it plans to establish a new nuclear enrichment facility in a secure location following a vote against it this morning by members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who found that the country is not complying with its nuclear obligations. The U.S., France, Germany, and the U.K. put forward the resolution, which Russia and China opposed.

The vote marks the first time in two decades that Iran has been declared out of compliance with provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with the State Department ordering all non-essential personnel to withdraw from Iraq and saying that all non-essential staff and their families can leave Bahrain and Kuwait as well. With more on the situation, I'm joined by the journal's Benoit Faucon.

Benoit, explain for us what appears to have been a very rapid deterioration of relations between Tehran and Washington of late. Yeah, I mean, what happened really is that in the past, I would say, two days was an incredibly, you know, sort of increasingly bearish situation.

view from US President Donald Trump about the outcome of the US-Iranian talks over Tehran's nuclear program. And in response, the Iranian side, Iran defense minister said, well, you know, we know people are saying that if the deal isn't struck, then an attack will come next and we will respond immediately.

by attacking US bases. So that's kind of a variable escalation from what I hear from US officials with the key factor in deciding what is a relatively limited piece of action in terms of withdrawing, like you say, non-essential stuff. But the big picture of all is we're still at the moment in pressure tactics.

We're not on the cusp of war as far as I've heard from U.S. officials and Iranian officials. And we should note more talks are scheduled for this weekend. So things aren't so bad that the two sides aren't able to meet. Absolutely. I mean, if we were in a danger zone, I mean, they'd pull out from the talks. And yes, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Whitcough is going to fly to Muscat in Oman to meet his Iranian counterpart. Obviously, that's going to happen in a very tense context. What is at stake now is going to look much,

more significant, you know, the risk of conflict in the region. Obviously, Israel has promised so far to President Trump not to carry a strike. But obviously, if the talks collapse, the risk of strike from Israel, possibly with U.S. assistance, becomes very high.

You mentioned earlier Iran threatening strikes on U.S. bases if these talks go sideways or fall apart. But putting posturing aside, it does seem as if markets are indicating to us that investors see an increased geopolitical risk truly is present here.

Yeah, I mean, number one, after two months of talks, the talks are completely deadlocked, right? The Iranian side wants to continue enrichment in its nuclear program. The U.S. says it should be zero enrichment. So they are nowhere near an agreement. So that's one aspect. Now, there is a concrete element that followed the pullout of the personnel, and that was a U.K.-U.S. agreement.

sort of joint force on maritime security in the Persian Gulf said that the risk was now at an elevated threat and that shippers and crews should be very careful about any suspicious movement. They should increase their awareness and security. So the oil price yesterday rose by 5% on the back of these concerns about regional escalation. And knowing that one of the biggest oil routes is the Persian Gulf and an economic actor, you think, well, there's going to be a physical risk

and it's taken seriously. I've been speaking to Wall Street Journal correspondent Benoit Faucon. Benoit, thank you as always for the update. Thank you. You're welcome.

Back in the U.S., California Governor Gavin Newsom is set to face off with the Trump administration in a San Francisco courtroom today over the president's deployment of National Guard units and Marines to the state in order to aid in deportation efforts. The administration is leaning into the president's authority under the Militia Act of 1908, which enables units to be called into federal service during specified emergencies, including the threat of foreign invasion or rebellion against the U.S. government.

However, California argues in legal papers that nothing close to those conditions exists, noting that most demonstrators have been peaceful and that state and local leaders condemned incidents of violence and vandalism. So far, around two dozen businesses in downtown Los Angeles have been looted and hundreds more vandalized after daytime protests in recent days turned violent at night.

The imposition of a curfew starting Tuesday night has helped to tamp down criminal activity, though it's also forced some establishments, including restaurants and theaters, to limit their hours. Despite that impact, Mayor Karen Bass suggested yesterday the measures would remain in place

Here she was, courtesy of ABC7 Los Angeles. The emergency declaration that I signed yesterday does not have a time limit to it. And so the curfews will go on as long as they are needed. But you know, it's really kind of interdependent on what the response is from the federal side. If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our street, I would imagine that the curfew will continue.

We've left a link to reporting from the journal's Ben Fritz on how L.A. business owners are faring during protests in our show notes.

And Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced eight new picks for a key vaccine panel, some with ties to vaccine skeptic groups. The move comes two days after he abruptly dismissed all 17 prior members of the Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices, which advises on vaccines and when children and adults should receive them.

Kennedy says the panel will apply gold-standard science to both new and existing vaccine guidelines, though critics warn the people have no scientific expertise related to vaccines.

Coming up, we'll look at signs that the IPO market could be finding its footing again after the tariff shock earlier this year and investor excitement builds ahead of the expected approval of a new shot to prevent HIV. We've got those stories and more after the break.

This message is brought to you by Abercrombie & Fitch. I've been ready for summer for a while, and now it's finally time for summer outfits. With the trip coming up, the A&F Vacation Shop has me covered. Abercrombie really knows how to do a lightweight outfit. Their tees, sweater polos, and linen blend shorts never miss. I wear Abercrombie denim year-round. Their shorts are no different and have the comfort I need for summer.

Prep for your next trip with the ANF Vacation Shop. Get their newest arrivals in-store, online, and in the app. Turning to markets now, there are signs the IPO market is finding its footing again after President Trump's trade war earlier this year prompted several companies to cancel their plans to list.

Yesterday, shares in space and defense tech company Voyager Technologies climbed in their New York Stock Exchange debut. Voyager is working with companies including Airbus, Mitsubishi, MDA Space, and Palantir on the Starlab space station planned for low Earth orbit. Finance editor Alex Frankos has more. We had this Voyager IPO yesterday, and then recently Circle Financial, the stablecoin company, which

had a kind of blockbuster IPO and that the stock price has just gone absolutely ballistic. We haven't seen that kind of thing in a while. And so that's giving people a sense that the market is open again. And that's something that's been missing for a very long time. It's been a real winter for IPOs. So people are hoping to see a return to that kind of dynamism. That said, the actual volume of IPOs, the amount of money raised, the number of companies is still pretty anemic.

Shares in Oracle jumped after hours on expectations for dramatically higher revenue growth in its cloud applications and cloud infrastructure businesses. This as the company logged double-digit revenue growth in the most recent quarter at almost $16 billion.

And finally, it is shaping up to be a breakthrough month for HIV prevention, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration widely expected to approve a groundbreaking injection to ward off the once devastating disease. That is raising investor excitement around Gilead Sciences, the dominant player in HIV treatment, whose shares have surged since reporting last June that just two annual shots of the drug prevented all HIV infections in a study of women and girls.

A further study in men is to be completed late this year or early next. Journal columnist David Wehner says Gilead is hopeful the shot can restart its growth engine. This is a chance to finally grow and to finally break through this range that its stock has traded over the last decade.

10 years or so. About a decade ago, the company launched breakthrough hepatitis C cures, essentially, that were seen as fantastic growth opportunity and the stock soared initially on them. But the stock then fell back after most patients had been treated and the market essentially dried up.

The company then really fell into this value trap territory for a long time, weighed down by sluggish growth and a string of underwhelming deals as it tried to break into the cancer market with moderate success. Gilead had for years tried to move beyond HIV, but it's really the HIV prevention market that's really helping investors see this long-term growth opportunity.

And that's it for What's News for this Thursday morning. Today's show was produced by Kate Boulivant and Pierce Lynch. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.