Category: World

SEVERAL weekend shootings across Chicago have left at least nine dead and dozens injured, causing Donald Trump to call for military intervention in the nation’s third-largest city.

The carnage began on Thursday evening when two suspects allegedly opened fire on a large crowd in a drive-by shooting that left 13 people injured.

Over 20 shootings were reported in Chicago between Thursday and Sunday, leaving at least nine people with fatal injuries and over 30 injured.

Three shootings took place in Chicago on Thursday, with the first around 5:44pm leaving a 32-year-old man dead after he was approached by an unknown vehicle and shot multiple times in the abdomen, according to CBS News.

The second shooting occurred around 9:30pm and left a 30-year-old man taking himself to the hospital after being struck in the right foot by gunfire.

He did not provide details of the shooting to police.

In the third incident, police found a 14-year-old boy with multiple gunshot wounds around 11:30pm and transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Trump brought awareness to the over two dozen shootings, writing on Truth Social on Sunday morning, “Lots of Killing going on in Chicago.”

“Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!”

The president went on to say Washington DC “went from one of the worst, to one of the safest cities in the U.S.”

Trump declared “Liberation Day” in the capital in August 2025 after he placed the DC police department under federal control and deployed the National Guard in an attempt to handle ongoing crime issues.

Trump later sent troops to other major US cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland before pulling them out and warning they could return.

The president deployed 300 National Guard members to Chicago in October following a frenzy of anti-ICE protests.

The withdrawal came after the Supreme Court ruled Trump could not use troops in Chicago for domestic law enforcement.

In one of the weekend incidents in Chicago, investigators believe two people in a red SUV began firing at a large crowd before fleeing the scene on Friday night in Princeton Park, according to ABC affiliate WLS.

Responding officers found a 32-year-old woman had been shot in the back twice while a 44-year-old man was grazed in the back four times.

The two victims were transported to local hospitals in good condition while ten others, ranging in ages 17 to 47, took themselves to nearby hospitals.

The youngest victim, a 17-year-old boy, sustained a gunshot wound to the thigh.

The victim count jumped up to 13 after police later revealed a 26-year-old man suffered unknown injuries during the drive-by shooting and refused medical treatment.

After the shooting, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson shared a statement on X thanking local law enforcement for their response.

“I am heartbroken by the violence in Princeton Park last night.

What should have been a night of celebration and community reflection for Juneteenth was shattered by a horrific act of violence,” Johnson said.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.”

At least 11 shootings were reported on Friday between 4:30am and 11:11pm, with injuries ranging from gunshot wounds to the chest, arm, wrist, leg and face.

A 29-year-old man and 70-year-old man standing near a sidewalk were struck by gunfire from an unknown vehicle around 5:14pm.

The 29-year-old sustained several gunshot wounds to the body and face and was later pronounced dead at the hospital while the other man was in stable condition.

Two men, a 50-year-old and 34-year-old, were found in separate incidents with gunshot wounds to the chest and both died of their injuries.

Police were speaking with a person of interest in the case of the 34-year-old victim and a weapon was recovered from the scene of the 50-year-old victim, CBS reported.

An unresponsive 33-year-old man was found on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his body just before 9pm on Friday night. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Another eleven shootings occurred on Saturday between the hours of 12:15am and 11:30pm.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16555005/chicago-shootings-trump-military-action/

MILITARY-LEVEL drone threats over World Cup stadiums in the United States are being discreetly eradicated by sophisticated security planners, a former FBI agent has detailed.

In the lead up to the start of the World Cup, security details at stadiums in hosting cities worked diligently to have counter-drone systems in place, including capabilities to obstruct remote-controlled aircraft.

Andrew Giuliani, the head of the White House World Cup Task Force, called the security operation a “massive undertaking” that required flawless collaboration with state and local law enforcement partners.

“We pushed hard for counter-drone mitigation at all 78 stadiums,” Giuliani told The U.S. Sun.

“That’s really amazing – in 2025, only five special events in the United States had counter-drone coverage.”

“This year, all 78 matches will have counter-drone mitigation coverage, and one fan fest in each of the 11 host cities will have one as well.

“Really incredible work by the White House Task Force, by the Air Sovereignty Task Force, and by all of our federal partners — pushing through the Super Skies Act, working to get reimbursements to the states for the World Cup. The games will be safer because of it.”

The Trump administration has reportedly spent $250million since last December to help US host cities address drone threats.

In Kansas City, Missouri, one of the 11 World Cup host cities in the US, DroneShield is supporting the metropolitan region’s counter drone operation alongside local police and regional partners.

The city’s Arrowhead Stadium is hosting six World Cup matches, while three of the world’s biggest teams, including Argentina, England and Netherlands, have chosen it as their team base for the tournament.

Tom Adams, a retired FBI agent and director of public safety at DroneShield, detailed the complex operation that includes “detecting, tracking, identifying, and mitigating drone threats.”

“Security planners at FIFA World Cup matches are concerned about a wide range of drone activity,” Adams told The U.S. Sun.

Among those concerns are drones “carrying explosives or hazardous materials; drone incursions into restricted airspace near stadiums; and hobbyist or reckless operators whose drones could cause panic, delays, or physical harm in densely populated areas.”

“The methods in which drones can be used nefariously can only be limited by the imagination of criminals and terrorists alike,” Adams added.

Adams, who spent the last three years on the FBI’s counter-drone team, described the ominous way drone threats have evolved.

“We are seeing more sophisticated drone threats today because commercial drones have become cheaper, more autonomous, and capable of longer-range flights, advanced navigation, and payload delivery,” he said.

“At the same time, adversaries and malicious actors have gained access to tactics and technologies once limited to military use.

“This new security challenge knows no borders.”

When DroneShield’s counter-UAS system detects a rogue drone, its operators use information from sensors to assess whether the drone poses a threat, Adams explained.

Those sensors include “radar, RF detection, cameras, or acoustic systems to detect, track, identify, and assess” the remote-controlled aircraft.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16557888/military-drone-threats-world-cup-stadium-droneshield/

Kim Jong Un cited efforts by Washington and Seoul to push forward with South Korea’s possession of a nuclear submarine as one justification for accelerating North Korea’s military buildup.

Kim Jong Un vowed to beef up North Korea’s defence capabilities, citing military modernisation efforts by South Korea and the United States pushing the region “to the brink of a nuclear war”, state media reported on Tuesday (Jun 23).

Pyongyang is under multiple sets of sanctions over its nuclear programme, and the two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

“Comrade Kim Jong Un in his concluding speech reaffirmed the steadfast policy stand of our Party and state to beef up the national defence capabilities faster,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the leader as saying.

The speech was delivered as Kim presided over a three-day meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea that wrapped up on Monday, during which senior officials reviewed policy initiatives, KCNA said.

It quoted Kim as saying “the US and the ROK are pushing forward with the ROK’s possession of a nuclear submarine while getting evermore undisguised in their moves towards the reinforcement and modernisation of armed forces in the region”, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its official name.

According to KCNA, Kim said such moves were “pushing the situation in the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war”.

In the face of such developments, it was the “steadfast stand” of the North to “further expand and strengthen the powerful and absolutely reliable deterrent for self-defence”, Kim said.

“LINE OF NO RETREAT”

KCNA said the meeting “unanimously recognised that to steadily expand and strengthen the nuclear forces … is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently cope with the unpredictable international military and political situation”.

It added the North’s development of a war deterrent “with nuclear technology as a basis” would proceed “at increasing speed”.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/north-korea-kim-jong-un-accelerate-military-build-up-6202041

More than 2 million students appeared for the high-stakes NEET medical entrance exam amid high security after a question paper leak fiasco.

Prince Harry’s highly anticipated reunion with his father, King Charles III, is unlikely to help repair his fractured relationship with Prince William, according to multiple royal experts.

“I think it is almost impossible to draw any conclusions about a reconciliation between Harry and William at this stage,” royal commentator Amanda Matta exclusively told Page Six Monday.

The “Off With Their Headlines” podcast co-host explained that the relationship between the Duke of Sussex and William is the “most strained” out of all the family dynamics involved.

“William is also seeking to project strength and leadership these days, which often results in press briefings that he has opposed the king’s handling of emotionally charged issues like Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and now, Harry’s potential return,” Matta pointed out.

Royal reporter Emily Nash agreed, exclusively telling Page Six Monday that she doesn’t believe William, 44, and Harry, 41, will reunite during this upcoming trip.

“I certainly wouldn’t expect anything to happen on this visit,” Nash said, adding, “I mean, you never know.”

“If it was part of a wider family gathering, it’s possible they could be at the same place at the same time,” she continued. “But, you know, given the very fractious nature of the relationship between William and Harry, I don’t see them rushing to spend time together just because Harry’s back in the UK.”

As for whether Charles would play a role in William and Harry making amends, Nash believes the reigning monarch is staying out of it.

“I think he probably is just focused on his own moment of spending time with the son he’s not seen for a long time,” Nash said of Charles, adding, “Especially potentially meeting his grandchildren… I’m sure that’s probably his primary focus right now.”

In order for the brothers to bury the hatchet, Matta believes William needs to approach the situation “pragmatically rather than emotionally.”

“Sort of the opposite of King Charles’ approach,” she said. “William has been the holdout for years, viewing Harry’s betrayal as unforgivable.”

If there were to be a private meeting between William and Harry, this would be a clear signal that “lines of communication are being reopened,” Matta said.

But Nash doesn’t expect a reconciliation to happen soon.

“These things have to happen step by step,” Nash said. “When things have been as difficult and as estranged as they have been in that family, I wouldn’t expect things to change overnight.”

Last week, Page Six confirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are going to bring their kids to the UK for the first time since 2022.

Our source previously told us that Harry “desperately wants” his kids to meet their grandfather.

Days later, sources told the US Sun that Charles extended an olive branch to Harry and Markle by inviting them to stay at a royal residence during their visit to the UK next month. Charles also allegedly offered to take care of their security arrangements.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/06/22/royal-family/how-prince-harrys-reunion-with-king-charles-will-impact-strained-prince-william-relationship-after-unforgivable-betrayal/

At least 13 people have been killed and 66 injured after an explosion at Qatar’s largest gas facility.

The city’s main liquified natural gas (LNG) processing site suffered a “technical accident” in Ras Laffan industrial zone on Sunday night, the interior ministry said, with the city’s skyline turning orange because of the explosion.

Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said the explosion would not affect the country’s exports, adding “this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature”.

The Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbour in the world and has the world’s largest LNG export facility. It was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year.

The blast on Sunday rattled windows and was felt across central Doha, panicking residents more than 70km (43 miles) from Ras Laffan.

Sherida al-Kaabi added the government was working on determining the cause of the blast which occurred at the Barzan local gas supply facility, he added there was no environmental risks.

However, the energy minister said it would be difficult to determine when operations would resume.

“Plant production was intentionally completely stopped since December 2025 due to urgent maintenance requirements, it was first restarted again only two days ago,” Sherida al-Kaabi said.

An investigation has begun into the cause of the accident and Sherida al-Kaabi confirmed those killed from the blast were all from India and Pakistan.

The Embassy of India in Doha said it was in constant touch with the Qatari authorities and will render all help to the families of those who lost their lives or have been injured.

“We convey our deepest condolences to the families of those who have unfortunately passed away in the sad incident at Ras Laffan Industrial City last night,” the embassy said in a post on X.

On Sunday, QatarEnergy, which is the country’s state-owned energy company, confirmed the explosion occurred at “Barzan local gas supply facility in the evening hours of Sunday 21 June”.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy05llpjpno

Myanmar’s military was responsible for more than 700 civilian deaths over the six-month election period last year, the UN says.

A new report covering from August to January says credible sources have verified a minimum of 702 people were killed, including 224 women and 153 children.

It covers the six months from when the military – who waged a coup five years ago – announced elections, a process widely derided as a sham due to main opposition parties being excluded.

The report warns a “decline in international assistance is further compounding the suffering of millions of people”.

The Myanmar military launched its coup in 2021, sparking a civil war where thousands of people were killed and millions displaced.

Large areas of the country remain under the control of armed opposition groups.

The report, from the UN’s Human Rights Office, states that air strikes “remained the single largest cause of destruction and suffering”.

The region of Sagaing was the “most dangerous region for civilians as the military pressed to gain ground”, with 191 deaths, including of 60 women and 30 children, the report says.

During an attack in October 23 people, including four children, were killed and more than 60 others wounded when munitions struck civilians gathered in front of a school in Chaung-U, Sagaing.

“At the time of the attack, participants were holding a candlelit event to celebrate the end of Buddhist Lent, and to call for the release of political prisoners, oppose military conscription and reject military elections,” the report states.

In December, it says a military aeroplane bombed a tea shop in Tabayin, Sagaing, as people had gathered to watch a football match, killing at least 19 and wounding 20 others.

The report also references abuse of Rohingya people who have been exposed to forced recruitment by the Arakan Army, as well as to killings, arbitrary arrests and sexual violence.

“As if the people of Myanmar have not suffered enough at the hands of the military, they have now seemingly been forgotten by those outside the country,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said.

“Funding for localised protection efforts was in many areas the only solace from the suffering caused by constant targeting and indiscriminate attacks by the military. This pullback just compounds that injury.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnv97e42r7yo

Investigators in the Nancy Guthrie case are taking another look at ransom notes sent in the days after the crime — because of two clues that suggest they were sent by the real kidnappers, according to a new report.

An email ransom note sent shortly after the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie correctly identified a broken flood light behind her home and details about the Apple Watch she had been wearing when she went missing near Tucson, Arizona, in February.

Investigators have gone back to that note — along with a follow-up sent from the same IP address — in a desperate attempt to track Guthrie’s abductors, news outlet Air Mail reported.

The aforementioned details have investigators convinced the emails could have been legitimate — and authorities have renewed efforts to trace a string of proxy servers that could lead back to the suspects, sources told the outlet.

If the early notes are real, it would also suggest that the kidnapping could have been a multi-person operation.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/22/us-news/the-two-details-in-nancy-guthrie-ransom-note-that-have-detectives-believing-they-can-crack-the-case/

Millions of honeybees escaped into a rural Texas neighborhood after a semitrailer carrying about 400 hives tipped over, officials said.

Emergency officials in Orange County, Texas, shut down roads in the area Sunday morning and warned residents to stay in their homes while crews worked to unload the trailer and salvage as many hives as possible. The county is located east of Houston and borders Louisiana.

No bee stings or serious injuries were immediately reported. Officials haven’t identified the owner of the hives.

Christie Ray, who owns nearby Queen Bee Supply, said volunteers from three or four other beekeeping businesses in the area went to the crash scene Sunday to help.

“They just help each other, that’s what they do,” Ray said. “The beekeeping community is a great community.”

Chris Moore, owner of Moore Honey, along with his son and several employees, joined the effort to help the bees, but he estimated that only about a quarter of the 408 hives will survive. It mostly depends on how many queens remain alive after the crash, he said.

The potential impact on a beekeeping business following a loss like this depends on the size of the apiary. Moore pointed out that the keeper is losing not only the hives but also the revenue they could be generating.

“It’s a big loss,” Moore said. “Any time you lose that many in one shot, it’s a big loss.”

It’s common for large beekeeping operations to move hives around the country to provide commercial pollination for agriculture in places like California and to follow blooming seasons throughout the South and the Midwest for honey production.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/beehives-truck-crash-texas-0dd6f1cac99b941901742428c95b1eaf

Two students armed with hand guns opened fire in a high school in the central Philippines on Monday, killing three fellow students and wounding at least 20 others, police said.

The suspects, aged 14 and 15, were arrested. The suspects and the victims were students of the San Jose National High School in Tacloban city, where the mid-morning shooting happened, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy said.

Police said 15 of the 20 injuries were caused by gunshots, including a student who was hit in the head and remained in a hospital. The rest were injured as they stumbled and jumped out of a window as they dashed to safety.

An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the shooting in the government-run school, which has more than 1,500 students. Capoy said that the suspects, who were close friends, said in initial questioning that they were bullied in school. He did not elaborate.

They have no criminal records. One of the suspects got the 9 mm pistol he used in the attack from an aunt, a police officer, who was being investigated. The other suspect used a .38 caliber revolver. They managed to bring the guns onto the campus because there was only one guard on duty at multiple entrances and exits, Capoy said.

“The suspects barged into two rooms because after the shooting in the first, the children scampered and the suspects apparently ran after some victims into another room,” Capoy told reporters.

Most of the dead and wounded were female students, he said. Police recovered at least 40 shell casings at the scene of the attack.

In a video posted online, students hiding under desks in a shut classroom can be heard screaming and weeping as gunshots are heard outside. Some called their mothers. Other videos show visibly terrified students streaming out of the school campus, some holding and embracing each other.

One of the suspects was arrested in the school after the attack but the second fled and hid in a house nearby. He was found by police who were alerted by residents, police said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a thorough investigation of the shooting and asked law enforcers to boost security in all schools, workplaces and public areas, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

“The president was saddened by this incident. Anybody, especially the parents of the victims, will feel sad and terrified,” Castro said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/philippines-high-school-shooting-tacloban-san-jose-022bd9892d858b1bc5e9ed741e0d7222

The FDA has initiated a recall of over 11,000 bottles of Chlorthalidone Tablets USP, 25 mg, due to concerns about their effectiveness.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a nationwide recall of more than 11,000 bottles of a blood pressure medication after tests found the drug may not work as intended.

The recall affects 11,460 bottles of Chlorthalidone Tablets USP, 25 mg, a medication commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure. According to the FDA notice, the product failed to meet required dissolution specifications, raising concerns that patients may not receive the proper dose or therapeutic effect from the medication.

Dissolution testing measures how effectively a drug dissolves and releases its active ingredients once consumed. If a medication fails these standards, it may be less effective at controlling the condition it is intended to treat.

Chlorthalidone is widely used to manage hypertension, a condition that increases pressure on the arteries and can raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular complications.

The France vs Iraq FIFA World Cup 2026 match lasted for almost 4 hours, after the game remained suspended for a whopping 131 minutes.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 Group I match between France and Iraq produced what football fans had feared for most of the tournament. The World Cup witnessed its first serious weather-related interruption, leaving the game paused for more than two hours. In total, a 131-minute delay was witnessed in Philadelphia because of the thunderstorm and lightning protocols set by the authorities in the United States of America.

Thunderstorms and lightning strikes at Lincoln Financial Field forced the organisers to suspend the game over safety concerns. The suspension saw the length of the match drag on to close to four hours, making it the longest-ever World Cup game in the history of the sport.

France were leading 1-0 when the half-time whistle went at 5.49 pm local time. However, the 15-minute break turned into a two-hour suspension as play did not resume until 8.00 pm. Storms continued to bring heavy rain, strong winds and the threat of lightning, forcing fans and players to take shelter.

In the end, the match concluded almost four hours after it started, with France securing a dominant 3-0 win thanks to two goals from Mbappé and a solitary strike from Ousmane Dembélé.

What Led To This Two-Hour Break?

France’s match against Iraq was the first game of the tournament to be delayed due to adverse weather conditions. However, such delays were expected after similar incidents occurred during last summer’s Club World Cup, which was also held in this part of the world. Covered stadiums and better planning, however, ensured that fans and players didn’t have to go through such issues until the 12th day of the tournament this time.

France were leading 1-0 at half-time when supporters were instructed to leave the stands and take shelter because a “severe thunderstorm was approaching.” That resulted in a total delay of 131 minutes before the authorities could give the clearance to resume. The initial hope was that play would restart at 7.00 pm local time, but the weather remained adverse, prompting the game to remain suspended until 8.00 pm.

Source : https://sports.ndtv.com/fifa-world-cup-2026/france-vs-iraq-longest-match-in-fifa-world-cup-history-delay-explained-11673697

The warning came in a joint statement from the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (FIORC), a grouping of intelligence and security entities from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The intelligence oversight bodies of the Five Eyes alliance have issued an unusual public warning that the next generation of artificial intelligence could dramatically reshape the cybersecurity landscape within months rather than years, urging governments, businesses and corporate leaders to treat cyber resilience as an immediate priority.

The warning came in a joint statement from the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (FIORC), a grouping of intelligence and security entities from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The statement was released shortly after the administration of US President Donald Trump moved to restrict access by “foreign nationals” to two advanced artificial intelligence systems developed by the technology company Anthropic. The decision, announced earlier this month, followed advice from American security agencies.

Without naming any specific company or model, the Five Eyes statement warned that frontier AI systems were expected to surpass current industry expectations and significantly alter both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.

“While AI will help us improve cyber defence over time, it also accelerates the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyber threats,” the statement said. “Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months.”

The alliance said cyber resilience had become essential for businesses, market confidence and long-term economic value. It urged leaders to assess risks and accountability, prioritise core cyber security controls, provide cyber security teams with sufficient authority and resources, and remain actively engaged as threats evolve.

“The urgency is clear,” the statement said. “AI is not a future consideration, it is already here.”

According to the Five Eyes statement, AI is shrinking the time between the discovery of a vulnerability and its exploitation by malicious actors. At the same time, officials acknowledged that the technology also provides powerful defensive tools capable of strengthening cybersecurity.

“A whole-of-organisation and whole-of-society response is required,” it said. “Cyber risk can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. This is a core business risk and leadership responsibility.”

The alliance called on company boards and senior executives to ensure that cyber resilience measures not only exist on paper but are capable of functioning effectively during real-world incidents. Leaders, it said, should reassess long-standing assumptions and deploy AI deliberately to strengthen security rather than merely improve efficiency.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ai-artificial-intelligence-months-not-years-five-eyes-alliances-big-warning-on-ai-preparedness-11673180?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

The blast happened as workers were restarting operations, which were halted after an Iranian attack in March.

Qatari authorities on Monday confirmed that 12 Indians were killed in an explosion that rocked Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex on Sunday, the Indian Embassy in Qatar said.

“Qatari authorities have confirmed that 12 Indian nationals have unfortunately passed away in the Ras Laffan incident yesterday night. We extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families and prayers for the departed souls,” the embassy said in a statement.

Qatari authorities have confirmed that 12 Indian nationals have unfortunately passed away in the Ras Laffan incident yesterday night. We extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families and prayers for the departed souls.

Qatari authorities have also confirmed that all…

— India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) June 22, 2026

At least 13 people were killed, and 66 others were injured in the explosoon, the Middle Eastern nation’s energy minister confirmed on earlier on Monday.

“I find myself today having to do something I have always hoped will never happen, and that is to announce, the tragic loss of 13 lives of our people who hold Indian and Pakistani nationalities,” Qatar’s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi told reporters on Monday.

He said 66 others have been injured in the blast, which happened as workers were restarting operations, which were halted after an Iranian attack in March.

The minister did not provide any detail on how many Indians had been killed in the incident.

“Sixty-six people have been reported injured and are receiving medical treatment, none of whom are in life-threatening condition,” al-Kaabi said, addressing a press conference.

On Sunday evening, authorities had said a “technical accident” had at the Barzan local gas supply facility.

The Qatar Energy Ministry said the plant’s export capabilities were not affected due to the accident, and there was no risk to the environment.

“This will not affect in any way our exports to the world,” Saad al-Kaabi told reporters, adding that “this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature”

QatarEnergy did not give out any detail on where inside the plant the explosion took place. The exact extent of the damage due to the explosion was also not disclosed. However, al-Kaabi said an investigation was launched into the incident.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/indians-among-13-killed-in-qatar-gas-plant-explosion-66-injured-11671810?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

QatarEnergy said in a statement that an explosion and fire broke out at the Barzan local gas supply facility on Sunday during the start-up of operations.

Fifty-four people were injured and another 18 were missing after an explosion at Qatar’s main LNG processing complex of Ras Laffan on Sunday, the Gulf nation’s interior ministry said in a statement.

“A total of 54 people were injured in the incident that occurred at a factory in the Ras Laffan Industrial City”, the ministry’s statement on X said, adding that efforts were underway to trace 18 people who remained unaccounted for.

54 injured in Qatar LNG facility explosion

The interior ministry described the incident as an “internal explosion” and later said that a “technical malfunction” had caused the blast.

QatarEnergy said in a statement that an explosion and fire broke out at the Barzan local gas supply facility on Sunday evening during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City.

The company said emergency teams were sent to the site and that the blaze had since been brought under control.

The extent of the damage caused by the explosion is still unclear. Officials had initially said that only a few people were injured, but several hours later Qatar’s interior ministry released a much higher count.

The explosion at the Ras Laffan industrial complex could add to the disruption already affecting global energy markets, as Qatar is one of the world’s leading producers of natural gas.

The country had suspended production after Iran’s restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz prevented shipments from reaching customers.

The Ras Laffan LNG facility in Qatar

Ras Laffan had already suffered much damage during the US-Iran war after Iranian strikes on Gulf energy facilities forced Qatar to suspend gas production.

The Gulf nation, one of the world’s biggest producers of liquefied natural gas along with the US, Australia and Russia, stopped liquefied natural gas production on March 2 after Iranian drone attacks struck major facilities.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/qatar-explosion-lng-hub-ras-laffan-natural-gas-facility-injuries-missing-deaths-west-asia-101782095653898.html

Wyndham Clark held on through challenging conditions and an unfriendly crowd for a rare wire-to-wire win at the U.S. Open on Sunday, fending off a late charge by American Sam ​Burns in a nerve-searing finale at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Clark became only the ninth ever true wire-to-wire U.S. Open winner, as he kept the outright lead ‌following all four rounds, after Martin Kaymer in 2014, picking up the title for a second time.

The 2023 champion seemed nearly untouchable as he started the day at seven under par and six shots clear of the field but struggled to find the fairway on the front nine on the challenging Southampton course and some fans booed his efforts.
He cleaned up early mistakes to card a three-over-par 73 that left him at four-under for ​the tournament, and he hugged his dad after making an easy putt to clinch it on Father’s Day.
“I played some ugly golf the last two days but my putter ​and short game kind of kept me in it,” he said. “It comes down to just believing that good things are going to happen and ⁠you’re going to make the putt.”

Burns, who started the day seven shots back, thrilled the gallery as he mounted an audacious comeback campaign but eventually came up short, carding a three-under-par ​67.

TOUGH CROWD IN NEW YORK

The U.S. Open is known as the toughest test in golf and Shinnecock Hills dished out plenty of pain, from its wind-whipped fairways to its tricky greens and ​a layer of stubborn fog that delayed play for two hours on the opening day.
Clark handled the challenges exquisitely until the final round, when he needed every bit of his six-stroke head start to hoist the trophy.
Burns birdied the first, third and fifth holes before draining a nearly 50-foot putt for another on the par-four eighth. He missed a relatively simple putt on the next hole and made a bogey and could have ​pushed it to a playoff, if not for a final putt that went inches off-course.

As Burns’ form came together, Clark’s fell apart.
He drove into the rough en route to a bogey on ​the par-three second hole before struggling with the sloped green for another bogey on the par-five fifth. He missed an easy putt to make another bogey on the seventh, making the turn at four under.
Clark ‌has been ⁠on a mission to win back fans after an incident at last year’s tournament, where he inflicted damage upon the locker room. But he found little support at Shinnecock Hills, just down the road from Bethpage Black, where the New York crowd hurled abuse at the European Ryder Cup team.
With most of the fans cheering for his playing partner, Scottie Scheffler (71), Clark tried to find some momentum, picking up a shot on the 10th but giving it back on the 13th.
“Man, they definitely didn’t want me to win. It’s pretty rare in an Open Championship or a major to have fans kind ​of boo against your shots or cheer ​for bad shots,” said Clark.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/tennis/clark-eyes-second-us-open-crown-with-massive-lead-2026-06-21/

Ramiro Valdes, one of Fidel Castro’s earliest collaborators who was lauded at home as a hero of the Cuban revolution, has died at the age of 94, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on social media on ​Sunday.
The president did not provide a cause of death.

A top government official for decades after Castro’s rebels came ‌to power in 1959, Valdes held the honorary titles “Hero of the Republic” and “Commander of the Revolution” and formed part of the powerful Political Bureau of the ruling Cuban Communist Party until 2019.

In a post on X, Diaz-Canel said that Valdes’ death “hurts deeply, like that of a father.”
“Until victory, always, ​Commander!” the Cuban president added.
Born on April 28, 1932, Valdes was just 21 when he fought alongside Fidel ​Castro at the assault on the Moncada barracks that launched the 1953 uprising against the government of ⁠Fulgencio Batista.
Exiled with Castro in Mexico, he was one of 82 men who sailed the yacht Granma to Cuba in 1956 to ​restart the insurrection – and one of only 12 to survive.
Those included Castro, who died in 2016, his younger brother and later ​president and head of the Communist Party Raul Castro, and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the Argentine revolutionary who was shot in Bolivia in 1967 while attempting to start an insurrection there.

Valdes joined the Castro brothers in the Sierra Maestra mountains of eastern Cuba, serving as Guevara’s deputy commander. He fought alongside ​Guevara in the decisive Battle of Santa Clara in the final days before Batista fled the country on January 1, 1959.
He ​then headed the security agency created after Fidel Castro took power.
Valdes shared some of the charisma exhibited by Castro and Guevara, and like ‌them he ⁠wore olive-green fatigues in the corridors of power. Until the end he kept the Leon Trotsky-style goatee that he had worn from his early days in the revolution. As a fitness fanatic, he maintained an exercise program well into his 80s.
Among the positions he held over the years were interior minister, vice minister of defense, minister of information and communications, and vice president.

Even ​as Raul Castro sought to ​oversee the handover of power ⁠from his so-called “historic generation” to younger leaders, passing on the presidency that he inherited from his brother to 60-year-old Diaz-Canel in 2018, Valdes remained in key government positions, most recently as deputy ​prime minister with a focus on the island’s energy crisis.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ramiro-valdes-lauded-hero-cuban-revolution-dies-94-2026-06-21/

A day of fragile gains in Bolivia saw major ‌protest roadblocks cleared for the first time in weeks on Sunday, but progress was overshadowed by the crash of a military support flight that killed six people, authorities said.
The country’s highways authority revises its tally of ongoing roadblocks to 28 after a series of breakthroughs with protesters, ​a day after President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency to resolve a 50-day social crisis stemming from ​anti-government blockades that cut off key roads for weeks, stranded trucks and choked supplies of food, ⁠fuel and medicines to many areas.

Earlier on Sunday, Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly overwhelmingly approved Paz’s decree, which aimed to restore transit and ​supply essential goods by enabling wider military deployment to clear blockades and prohibiting people from blocking roads and highways.
Sunday’s vote in ​Congress coincided with several breakthroughs. In Santa Cruz, officials and protest leaders signed an agreement to lift a critical blockade in the town of San Julian.
Meanwhile, the prominent Tupac Katari campesino federation in La Paz announced a pause in its protests, although it said the group’s demands ​still stood. The group’s demands include a mix of economic relief measures, the repeal of multiple government decrees, political and labor ​protections, and actions related to fuel quality.

However, the day was marked by tragedy when an air force jet on an assistance flight, headed ‌to ⁠Cochabamba from the city of El Alto, next to La Paz, crashed and killed all four civilians and two crew members aboard, the defense ministry said in a statement.
The Cessna FAB-409 was found in a remote mountain area in the high Andes of Cochabamba department, west of the city of Cochabamba, the ministry said, without identifying a cause for the crash.
The ministry did ​not give details on the ​jet’s current mission, but said ⁠the plane had in recent weeks been used to transport children suffering from cancer to treatment centers during the blockades.
Many of Bolivia’s roads require significant cleanup and repair from damage sustained ​during the protests.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bolivia-crisis-begins-ease-after-lawmakers-back-state-emergency-2026-06-21/

U.S. and Iranian officials made “encouraging progress” at a first round of talks in Switzerland that ended early on Monday, mediators said, ​although tension persisted over Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz.
Mediators Pakistan and Qatar said the parties had agreed to a roadmap towards a final deal on ending their war in 60 ‌days, despite a tense start as Tehran again shut the strait and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to resume attacks on Iran.

They said the two sides had agreed to a mechanism to end fighting between U.S. ally Israel and Iran-aligned Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, and opened a communications line to help ensure safe passage for commercial ships through the strait, a vital global supply route for oil and liquefied natural gas.
Technical talks will continue for the rest of the week in the Qatari-owned Swiss mountain resort ​of Buergenstock, the joint statement said.
In a post on social media, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had secured waivers for oil and petrochemical exports, the release of some frozen assets ​and the launch of a reconstruction and development plan for Iran.

Oil prices rose sharply when Tehran started blockading the Strait of Hormuz, prompting a U.S. naval blockade ⁠of Iranian ports, but, after the U.S. and Iran signed an interim deal last week, they dropped to levels unseen since the war began on February 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Oil prices fell further ​after Monday’s joint statement, with worries about a supply shortage in global markets easing. Global benchmark Brent crude was trading just below $80 per barrel at 0815 GMT.

SEPARATE ACCOUNTS OF TALKS

U.S. Vice President JD Vance began talks with ​Iranian officials on Sunday under the terms of the memorandum of understanding reached last week to extend a tenuous ceasefire from April for at least another 60 days. The discussions continued until the early hours of Monday.
Before talks officially began on Sunday, Fox News reported that Trump had said he told Iranian officials “you won’t have a country” if they tried to close the strait again. Trump also reiterated an earlier threat that the U.S. would take over the waterway and possibly charge a toll of its ​own, Fox News said.

U.S. and Iranian sources provided separate accounts of the discussions in Switzerland.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing an informed source, said that after Trump’s threats became public, the Iranian delegation refused to return ​to the room where talks were held, though messages were traded via the mediators.
According to Tasnim’s source, Iranians said that the start of negotiations on nuclear matters required the delivery of other parts of the MOU, including the release of ‌frozen assets ⁠and U.S. waivers authorizing Iranian oil exports.
“The Iranians never left and are still here meeting and negotiating deep into the night,” a U.S. diplomat involved in the talks told Reuters. “We’ve talked about the Strait, Lebanon, nuclear issues, and details of implementing the MOU, among other topics.”

The agreement calls for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending all hostilities, including in Lebanon, where Israel has continued strikes as Hezbollah fires at Israeli targets.
Iran says the U.S. has not met a commitment to halt the war in Lebanon. It said at the weekend it had stopped maritime traffic through the strait and that Sunday’s talks would not cover substantive issues such as its nuclear ​programme.
At the talks, where U.S. and Iranian officials met ​in the presence of mediators, Vance played down ⁠the impact of violence in Lebanon, saying progress had been made towards ending hostilities there.
“These things are always a little bit messy,” he said.
Vance told reporters Trump had “asked us to turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran.”
A U.S. diplomat late on Sunday said discussions included “clarifying some of the ​confusing messaging from Iran on the Strait and building deconfliction mechanisms to ensure the Strait will remain fully open.”
As the U.S. lifted its maritime blockade ​of Iran, a second container ship ⁠docked at Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas on Monday and began loading its cargo, the director general of Hormozgan Ports and Maritime Organisation said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-iran-talks-go-into-day-2-after-trump-threats-hormuz-closure-2026-06-22/

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top officials said on Saturday (Jun 20) they were returning Polish awards, in a spiralling row with key ally Poland over World War II massacres.

Zelenskyy infuriated neighbouring Poland this month by naming a military unit after the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) that took part in massacres against Poles in World War II.

On Friday, hard-right Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, the highest honour in Poland, despite requests from both Kyiv and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“We believed that the Order of the White Eagle, awarded in 2023, was meant for the Ukrainian People and our army. That is what was said at the time. Today, I sent the Order back to the President of Poland,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

He posted a photo of the order being packaged for shipment from an ordinary post office, addressed to the Polish presidential chancellery.

“Ukraine is grateful to the Polish People for their support and cooperation,” Zelenskyy’s statement added.

In a statement revoking the award given by his predecessor, Nawrocki said that the move “is not directed against Ukrainian people” and that Poland would continue to support Ukraine.

‘Gift to aggressor’

On Saturday, Zelenskyy’s top aide and Ukraine’s ambassador to Warsaw followed Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga in saying they were relinquishing awards bestowed by Poland as a way of showing solidarity with the president.

They argued the move by Nawrocki benefitted Russia, whose war with Ukraine is now in its fifth year.

“This is a gift to the Moscow aggressor, who will certainly use it against both of our countries,” Zelenskyy aide Kyrylo Budanov said on social media.

He said he was returning the Gold Officer’s Cross of the Polish Order of Merit.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Warsaw Vasyl Bodnar said on Saturday he was relinquishing his Knight’s Cross of the Polish Order of Merit, describing Nawrocki’s move as a “gesture directed at the entire Ukrainian people”.

Sybiga said on Friday he planned to return an award he received from Poland in 2022 after the “unjustified, impulsive and disrespectful” decision.

Russian officials, who have repeatedly invoked World War II to justify the invasion by saying they are fighting “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine, welcomed the decision.

“Poland’s president has finally stripped (Zelenskyy) of the Order of the White Eagle,” said Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, the current deputy chair of Russia’s security council.

The UPA fought both the Nazis and the Soviets in its quest for a Ukrainian state, and killed thousands of Polish civilians between 1943 and 1945 in Volhynia, a Ukrainian region that was part of Poland before World War II.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/ukraines-zelenskyy-top-officials-return-polish-awards-in-world-war-ii-row-6198806

If UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns, his replacement will be Britain’s seventh premier in 10 years.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was considering his political future on Sunday (Jun 21), after rival Andy Burnham’s decisive election victory to parliament prompted more ministers in the governing Labour Party to call for him to go.

Struggling with some of the lowest popularity ratings for any British leader, Starmer could decide as soon as Monday whether to step aside or fight a leadership contest against Burnham, one source said.

The scale of the victory Burnham won for a parliamentary seat in northwestern England on Friday has piled pressure on Starmer, with dozens of lawmakers and some ministers privately calling for him to set out a timetable for his departure to clear the way for the former mayor.

A source with knowledge of the matter said Starmer was spending the weekend thinking about and discussing his position with his family, but that an expected conversation with Burnham would clarify matters.

“Keir likes to think about things,” the source said.

Starmer’s unpopularity was laid bare by Labour’s heavy losses in local elections in May, and polls of party members indicate Burnham would win a formal leadership contest.

Should Burnham take the helm, he would become Britain’s seventh prime minister in the past 10 years.

STARMER’S POSITION UNDER THREAT

Sky News reported that it understood foreign minister Yvette Cooper had called on Starmer to stand down in a private conversation over the weekend.

Her spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Her apparent appeal, alongside other ministers and dozens of lawmakers, increased the sense that it was now a case of when, rather than if, Starmer would step aside.

Starmer said only a few days ago that he would stand in any formal Labour leadership contest that sought to replace him.

While Starmer’s team believes his landslide national election win in 2024 gives him the mandate to stay in post until 2029, business minister Peter Kyle said the prime minister was reflecting on “the political challenges that he faces in this moment”.

Kyle said he had spoken to Starmer on Friday and had found a man who was questioning what “the country expected of him”.

The conversation showed Starmer was in “very difficult circumstances”, the business minister said.

“So I’m not going to deny the political challenges that he faces in this moment, but what I’m also not going to do is say there is ever anything inevitable about the days ahead,” Kyle told LBC radio.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/uk-prime-minister-resign-keir-starmer-6198256

Leadership at the highest level is needed to reframe human capital as a strategic issue, said Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash.

Singapore workers, especially those under 35, are among the most disengaged in the region and world, which could be a “strategic liability” for the economy, according to the results of a study published on Monday (Jun 22).

Only 14 per cent of Singapore employees felt engaged in 2025, behind both the global mean of 20 per cent and regional figure of 25 per cent in Southeast Asia, according to the inaugural Singapore Workplace Report 2026 by the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) and United States analytics firm Gallup.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash said many organisations continue to treat human capital as a human resources function rather than a matter for strategic discussion.

This framing may be a “strategic liability”, he said.

“Reframing human capital as a strategic issue requires leadership at the highest level. When human capital is treated with the same rigour and discipline as financial capital, for example, organisations make better decisions about their people, and these better decisions then translate directly into better long-term performance.”

Workplace engagement in Singapore has hovered around the same level since dipping in 2019.

By comparison, in 2025, workplace engagement measured 9 per cent in Vietnam, 25 per cent in Malaysia, 27 per cent in Indonesia and 34 per cent in Thailand.

The study defines employee engagement as how involved and enthusiastic employees are at work. To determine how engaged a worker is, researchers asked how far they had their basic needs met, chances to contribute, a sense of belonging and opportunities to learn and grow.

Managers were identified as the greatest driver of employee engagement, but researchers found that investment and support to build their capabilities was lacking.

The SID and Gallup report said Singapore’s “chronically low engagement” may increasingly become a “strategic liability” that inhibits the economy’s future competitiveness.

This is even more important for Singapore as its economy is highly services-oriented, and the impact of worker engagement is greater in service-intensive industries, the report said.

Disengagement at work likely costs Singapore’s economy billions of dollars annually, added the report. It cited a cost of US$10 trillion (S$13 trillion) to the global economy from lost productivity due to low engagement in 2025, or about 9 per cent of global GDP.

Mr Dinesh stressed that good jobs and engaged workplaces are built deliberately.

The dimensions of good jobs set out strategic directions for organisations, while measures of employee engagement allow firms to find opportunities to do more to bring out the best in their workers, he said.

Engagement benefits both workers and employers, and for Singapore, an engaged workforce can be a powerful engine of sustained economic growth and social cohesion, he said.

Gallup’s 2025 survey of employee engagement in Singapore was conducted through phone interviews with about 1,000 workers between June and July last year.

Singapore’s workplace engagement numbers were calculated on a three-year rolling average, while the global and regional figures are based on a single year.

GENERATIONAL DIVIDE

A generational gap is also evident in Singapore as younger employees under 35 felt less engaged and more negatively at work than older employees aged 35 and above.

While global generational differences follow a similar pattern, the generational split in Singapore is greater, with a six percentage point difference in engagement.

“Singapore’s generational discussions often give rise to unhelpful character generalisations. Younger employees are frequently described as entitled, fragile or insufficiently committed to their employer and career progression,” said the report.

Under-35 workers lagged behind older workers in levels of thriving at work. More of them experienced negative emotions, including a 16 percentage point lead over older workers when it came to stress on a daily basis.

Late millennial and Gen Z employees are sometimes labelled the “strawberry generation”, but the reality is more complex, the report added.

“The generational split is real and not imagined, and consequently, Singapore’s employers need to respond to the unique needs of younger employees.”

The report also included insights from up to 17 senior leaders of public and private sector organisations in Singapore.

Most of them described the generational differences in terms of reactions to structural economic and labour market conditions, rather than differences in character.

“For example, some leaders mentioned factors that impact young people more than older, established employees, like Singapore’s high cost of living, national service obligations, growing job and career uncertainty, and a new perspective on personal and professional success,” said the report.

But a “large minority” of the leaders were concerned about what they saw as reduced ambition among younger employees.

This was expressed most strongly by executives in logistics and professional services, where long hours and weekend availability have in the past been “non-negotiable employee requirements”, the report said.

REASONS FOR LOW ENGAGEMENT

Researchers interviewed the senior leaders about how they view artificial intelligence. Most were confident that their organisations can realise the value of the technology while managing its risks.

“However, leaders were less optimistic about the future direction of Singapore’s workforce, perhaps indicating low confidence in the preparedness of the country’s employees to adapt to disruptive forces such as AI adoption,” said the report.

The leaders also expressed concern about the friction that arises when employees are asked to use generative AI tools, but at the same time believe that successful deployment of these tools could reduce the need for their roles.

“In this context, the rational response is to resist AI rather than embrace it,” said the report.

Many of the senior leaders attributed low employee engagement to external factors like global market forces, challenging economic conditions or labour market policy, said the report.

Some also attributed it to the high proportion of family-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore.

SMEs employ about 70 per cent of Singapore’s workforce.

“If you look at the employment landscape, it’s largely SMEs and family-owned companies. Sixty-two per cent or so of our listed companies in Singapore are family-owned … If you have a tycoon or some first- or second-generation guy, he’s not going to have all these best practices,” one unnamed executive was quoted as saying.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/philippines-cuts-2026-growth-forecast-citing-graft-scandal-and-energy-crisis-6200261

Footage of fires at a major depot on Crimea circulated on social media. The Moscow-aligned governor of Crimea has halted public fuel sales after the attack.

A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula has left at least four people dead and 28 others injured, the territory’s Russia-backed authorities said Sunday.

What do we know so far?

Videos circulating on social media showed a major fuel depot on fire in Crimea.

Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed governor in Crimea, announced that fuel sales at Crimean gas stations would be halted on Sunday, with fuel only to be sold to state-run companies.

Crimea is internationally-recognized Ukrainian territory which was annexed by Russia in 2014 in a move met with sanctions by the US and the EU. Crimea hold a strategic position on the Black Sea and is also a logistical asset for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

A separate Ukrainian drone attack was also reported in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, with local authorities saying one person was killed.

Ferry traffic between Crimea and the Krasnodar region has been temporarily stopped after the attacks with the bridge connecting the two regions also being shut down.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said hundreds of Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later confirmed the attacks on Crimea and Krasnodar.

“Facilities on both sides of the Crimean Bridge were hit: maritime logistics used to transport oil in the Krasnodar region and an oil depot in temporarily occupied Kerch,” Zelenskyy said.

“In addition, military logistics facilities were successfully struck, along with four radar stations belonging to S-400 systems and two Pantsir systems.”

Ukraine escalates attacks on Russian infrastructure

Ukraine has ramped up its drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure in recent days.

Ukraine launched a drone assault on Moscow on June 18, hitting an oil refinery in what is believed to be the largest Ukrainian attack on Russian territory since the start of Russia’s invasion.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-drone-strikes-crimea-russia-war/a-77642973

Five people were injured in the attacks on Friday that were described by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as being motivated by “anti-Muslim hatred.”

“A 36-year-old man has been charged in connection with a number of incidents which took place in Edinburgh on Friday, 19 June, 2026,” the Scottish police statement read.

“A report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal, and the individual will appear at court in due course.”

On Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the attacks appeared to be motivated by “anti-Muslim hatred.”

Starmer condemns ‘appalling’ Edinburgh attacks

Britain’s prime minister condemned the attacks.

“Absolutely appalling. No one should face violence on our streets,” Starmer said in a post on X.

“The suspect appears to be motivated by anti-Muslim hatred. I will not tolerate this – he will face the full force of the law.”

Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, also condemned the attacks.

“I am deeply concerned by these incidents,” he said in an X post.

“There is no place for violence, racism or intolerance in our country. I met community groups last week to assure them of the strong support of the Government.”

What were the Friday attacks in Edinburgh?

On Friday, police said that they had responded to reports of “violent attacks including threats, robbery and vandalism” across the city and that counterterrorism police had launched a probe into the incidents

Police closed off the major Leith Walk road that connects the city center to the Leith coastal suburb.

British media reported the attacks appeared to have begun near a mosque in western Edinburgh and continued through other parts of the city.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/scottish-police-arrest-man-over-edinburgh-attacks/a-77647568

Australian police have seized 2.7 tonnes of cocaine – the country’s largest ever such bust – from an underground bunker system in western Sydney.

The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$816m (£433m, €500m), were found on Friday in compartments concealed beneath false floors in three shipping containers at a property in Londonderry.

Two men aged 21 and 25, who allegedly attempted to flee from police, were arrested at the scene and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.

Police say the cocaine was smuggled into Australia via the small town of Midge Point in North Queensland on the orders of an organised crime group.

The two men, who were remanded in custody after appearing in court on Saturday, face life in prison if convicted.

Police said the raid on the Londonderry property was part of “Operation Minjiang” which was launched in May after 40kg of cocaine was found floating in the water off a boat ramp at Midge Point.

Another six people in Queensland and New South Wales were arrested and charged as part of investigations sparked by the find, police said last week.

An alleged “mother vessel” suspected of being part of the smuggling operation has also been detained in Solomon Islands.

Despite its remoteness, Australia is a lucrative market for the drugs trade, with cocaine typically fetching around A$300 per gram, according to an illegal drugs monitoring system run by the University of New South Wales.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14ygjzr8j7o

A 51-year-old Connecticut man fell to his death from an upper deck of Madison Square Garden during a concert on Saturday night, police said.

Officers responding to a 911 call around 9:51 p.m. found the man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicating a fall from an “elevated position,” New York City police said. Police did not say how far the man fell, but said he was in Section 300. They identified him as Paul Kueker of Niantic, Connecticut.

The man was with his wife, according to police. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police do not suspect foul play.

The rock band Goose was performing. In a statement, the band said it was “reeling” from the tragedy.

Goose played a concert Sunday evening in Central Park and said all proceeds from the show would go toward a charitable fund providing support and resources for their fans.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/madison-square-garden-fall-death-concert-970aa027812d4f79d7a236328f61e072

Political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella held a razor-thin lead in Colombia’s presidential election with nearly all the votes counted Sunday, in a runoff vote marked by people’s fears of a renewed internal conflict.

A victory by de la Espriella would effectively be an indictment of the policies of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, whose protégé had promised to continue his agenda if he defeated his rival.

De la Espriella, a business owner and lawyer who earned U.S. President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite never having run for office, led progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda taking 49.7% of the votes, with 99.9% of the results released by electoral authorities. Cepeda, Petro’s ally, earned 48.7% support. Election officials have not formally announced a winner.

“I appear before you tonight to announce the most important news of my life: the Colombian people have entrusted me with the supreme honor of serving them as their next president of the Republic of Colombia,” de la Espriella told thousands of supporters as he stood behind bulletproof glass in the northern city of Barranquilla. “I will govern for all Colombians … there will be no retaliation, no persecution, because in a democracy there are no irreconcilable enemies.”

Cepeda told supporters that his campaign considers the count “unofficial and non-binding” and that his team will challenge results from more than 30,000 voting stations. No recount has flipped the results of a presidential election in Colombian history.

“We will not allow … the rollback of the social gains we have achieved,” Cepeda said. “We will not allow democracy to be violated.”

Petro also vowed to challenge the outcome.

Both candidates pitched voters widely different strategies to prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements, that Colombians lived with in previous decades.

Sunday’s winner will begin a four-year term Aug. 7.

De la Espriella promises tough-on-crime approach

De la Espriella, 47, promised a heavy-handed approach to crime-fighting, including drug trafficking. He also said he plans to end Petro’s attempts to establish parallel peace negotiations with multiple armed groups — an effort that has largely failed — and build mega-prisons, emulating Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s aggressive policies. Those tactics have lowered homicide rates in the Central American country but have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

De la Espriella, nicknamed “The Tiger,” holds dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship. He’s a Trump supporter and a member of the Republican Party.

“We have had an armed conflict and a drug trafficking problem for too long, and this has greatly polarized the country,” retired economist Víctor Duque, 72, said while wearing a national soccer team jersey at a voting center in the capital, Bogota. “I believe it is one of the most important elections that has taken place in Colombia this century.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Presidents Javier Milei of Argentina and Daniel Noboa of Ecuador were among the first political leaders to congratulate de la Espriella.

“The Trump Administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen our economic ties,” Rubio said on X. “Colombia’s best days are ahead.”

“He Won, BIG!” Trump later said on his social media platform.

Voters seek change

In the first round, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella garnered 44%, according to official results. Petro, without evidence, sowed doubts in the results after Cepeda, who had consistently led polls ahead of the May vote, did not win outright and even finished behind de la Espriella.

Yolanda Hernández, 49, voted early Sunday before she started selling black-ink pens outside a Bogota voting center. Clients, she said, buy the pens because ink cannot be erased from paper ballots, which reduces the possibility of fraud.

Hernández, who recycles trash for a living, voted for Petro in 2022, but cast her ballot for de la Espriella this time. While she acknowledged that Petro was unable to deliver on promises meant to help the poor because of congressional gridlock, she said Colombia cannot afford another four years under his vision for the country.

“We want change in Colombia because it’s always the same violence, always the same thing,” Hernández said. “(Petro) said he was going to lower the cost of services, that he was going to lower the price of food, and everything is more expensive.”

People in the streets of Bogota yelled “Petro out! Petro out!” and honked car horns as results became public.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/colombia-presidential-election-espriella-cepeda-petro-a20f9dca2f33a7c72cd7deaa04578e5b

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that federal authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he said were vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project he launched for the nation’s 250th anniversary seemingly backfired.

Trump said his predecessors had let the pool turn an algae-stained green and that he’d line it with “American flag blue” so it better reflected the Washington Monument. But after the new pool was unveiled, its blue tinge quickly became a familiar green. Workers treated it with chemicals to kill the algae, but then the painted blue lining on the bottom began to peel.

On Friday night, Trump posted about the pool.

“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” he posted on his social media site Friday night. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”

He offered no details to substantiate his claim.

Agencies responsible for law enforcement and upkeep on the National Mall — the U.S. Park Police, National Park Service and Interior Department — did not respond to requests for comment. Trump on Saturday followed up by posting that Park Police “have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll,” correcting his spelling to “Pool” later.

He went on: “Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!”

Trump later acknowledged in a post that the Reflecting Pool will need to be repaired, yet again, to restore it to “an equal level of Beauty” as before. “We met with contractors today, will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible,” he wrote.

One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, who owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft. He said he stopped by the pool during his 64-mile bike ride Friday to see what was going on.

Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, told The Associated Press that he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating. He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.

But, Hearn said, he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released Friday night.

“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn said in a telephone interview. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”

The Washington Post first reported Hearn’s arrest, and he said he has a date to appear in court next month and is looking for legal help.

Even if someone pulled ribbons of paint from the side of the pool, it would not explain the clouds of algae in green water and swaths of loose blue paint detached from the bottom.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-reflecting-pool-paint-algae-6b7b499ada2701a34bc6bc380013ad04

Sir Keir Starmer is weighing up his political future as pressure grows on him to announce his resignation.

It comes as cabinet ally Peter Kyle said the prime minister was considering “political realities” after Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election last week cleared a path for him to challenge for the Labour leadership.

In the wake of the result, the prime minister has faced fresh pleas from senior ministers to effectively make way for Burnham by setting out a timetable for his departure.

And in a further blow to the embattled Labour leader, US President Donald Trump said Sir Keir “will resign as prime minister”, as he attacked his record in office.

In a social media post, Trump said Sir Keir had “failed badly” on immigration and energy policy, as he repeated his calls to “open North Sea oil”.

He added: “I wish him well!”

No 10 told the BBC the two leaders, who last saw each other at a G7 summit in France last week, had not spoken over the weekend.

In the immediate aftermath of Burnham’s victory, Sir Keir continued to insist he would fight any formal leadership bid, meaning a contest in which Labour members and affiliated trade union supporters decide on the party’s future would be needed.

But in a shift in tone, Kyle, the business secretary, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the prime minister was “taking the time to think through what the political realities are today, compared to last week and the week before”.

He said he had spoken to Sir Keir on Friday and was sure that “every decision he makes today” about Labour’s future would reflect “what’s in the best interests of the country”.

Kyle said he did not want to “be delusional that there is no process” and “no forces at work” that were challenging Sir Keir as party leader.

While using a formal process to change leader was “better wherever possible”, this needed to be balanced against the need to maintain the government’s authority “through any processes that may unfold”, he added.

The 2020 leadership race that led to Sir Keir being made Labour leader took six weeks, with some Labour MPs expressing concerns that disagreements that would accompany a similar contest could further damage the party’s prospects.

Concerns have also been raised that this could create unnecessary uncertainty for the markets and delay key government decisions.

Burnham was able to fend off a challenge from Reform UK in Makerfield on Thursday and increase Labour’s majority, bucking a recent trend of electoral losses.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper have since urged Sir Keir to set out an exit timetable, it is understood.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband had already done the same in the aftermath of devastating results for Labour in a series of elections last month. Scores of Labour MPs have also publicly urged Sir Keir to resign immediately or draw up an exit timetable.

Burnham, who is understood to be spending time with his family this weekend, is expected to travel to Westminster on Monday to formally take up his seat as an MP.

His allies urged the prime minister to reflect over the weekend and listen to his cabinet ministers, MPs and his family.

Among those supporting Burnham was Labour MP Helen Hayes, the chair of the Education Select Committee.

Speaking on Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour, the Labour MP said the “victory we saw last week in Makerfield was truly extraordinary”.

Asked whether there should be a contest or a coronation, Hayes said she did not have a preference.

“Andy feels confident in what he’s offering to the country, based on the contest that we’ve just seen in Makerfield. I think he would do very well if there was a contest,” she said.

“The PM has faced a catastrophic drop in popularity, we need to make a change.”

There was wide expectation on the front pages of Monday’s newspapers that change was coming soon, with reports saying Sir Keir was poised to set out a timetable for his departure.

Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a potential leadership rival to Burnham, has previously said he would join any contest, arguing the party needed to undergo a “battle of ideas” over its future direction.

Jess Phillips, who was one of four ministers to quit in the immediate aftermath of May’s election results, said: “It feels like we’ve come to the end of the road.”

But the former safeguarding minister, seen as a close ally of Streeting, said she hoped the party would find a means to question “what’s coming next” even if this did not “end up with a full-scale contest”.

“You can’t just come and take over,” she told Kuenssberg. “You do have to come and present your ideas to, at the very least, the Parliamentary Labour Party.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8k1my75gno

Wyndham Clark came to Long Island hoping to put the ugly incident at Oakmont at last year’s U.S. Open in the rearview mirror, but it didn’t seem like fans were willing to let it go as he was actively being rooted against during Sunday’s final round of the tournament.

Clark had come into the day six up for the lead in the U.S. Open, but a tough start to his Sunday round opened the door for those chasing him to catch up and the fans to dig into him.

The chirping became an issue as the day went on and led to fans being kicked out of Shinnecock Hills by police, according to Fried Egg Golf’s Kevin Van Valkenburg.

Cops are booting people for shouting “Don’t choke Wyndham!” as he sets up to his shot. This young man got bounced for saying it before Clark’s tee shot at No. 4 pic.twitter.com/M1d1ZO687u

— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 21, 2026

Fans shouted out “don’t choke Wyndham” as he was setting up his shot, and in one instance, one fan, who appeared to be wearing some sort of U.S. Open credential, was being removed from the grounds after he shouted the choke line during Clark’s tee shot on the fourth hole, Van Valkenburg reported.

Clark was also hearing “in the bunker” screams from fans, including on the seventh hole.

The Long Island fans gave Clark a tepid reception when he came onto the tee for his first shot of the day, while Scottie Scheffler was given a loud applause, SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio reported on air while covering Sunday’s final round at Shinnecock Hills.

On the NBC broadcast, the cheers were audible when his shot on the second hole ran back on him and Normal Sports’ Kyle Porter reported that there were loud cheers when he ran over the green on the second hole.

The reception toward Clark stems from last year’s U.S. Open incident in which he destroyed the locker at the historic golf course, along with his public response and apology for what happened, as well as his reputation as one of golf’s villains.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/21/sports/cops-ejecting-us-open-fans-yelling-dont-choke-at-wyndham-clark/

Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday killed at least six people, including two children and a cameraman with broadcaster Al Jazeera, according to Palestinian health officials.

Despite an October ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas, the enclave has seen near-daily Israeli attacks that have killed over 1,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The first strike on Saturday hit an apartment in Gaza City around 2 a.m., according to the ministry. At the site, an Associated Press reporter saw rubble and chunks of concrete stained with blood.

The bodies of two sisters, 4-year-old Zina and 14-year-old Lana, were sent to Shifa Hospital’s morgue, where they lay in white hospital bags, surrounded by family members.

“I was sitting at home. The rocket fell on us without a warning,” said their cousin, Mohammad Safadi, whose forehead was wounded. He said his wife was also hurt.

“This ceasefire the occupation and the negotiation team speak of … is this really a ceasefire? We are civilians. I never held a weapon,” Safadi said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident.

On Saturday evening, three Israeli strikes killed four people and wounded at least a dozen others.

The first hit a house in central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp without warning, killing three people, including Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Wishah, according to Al-Aqsa hospital. Al Jazeera confirmed Wishah’s death.

Wishah’s brother Mohamed, who was a correspondent for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike in April.

Another strike on Saturday targeted a group of people in the sprawling tent camp of Muwasi in southern Gaza, killing one and wounding eight others, according to Nasser hospital, where the casualties were taken.

A third strike in Gaza City targeted a group of people and wounded at least four, according to Shifa hospital.

The Israeli military in a statement said it killed the Al Jazeera cameraman in a “precise strike.” It asserted that he had been part of Hamas’ military wing and had posed a threat to troops in the area.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-gaza-strike-f45ace109972b8c36364e7a75cc9bb7f

U.S. and Iranian negotiators headed to a Swiss venue Saturday for talks on adding key details to their interim agreement to halt the war, hours after Tehran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that little might be achieved if the fighting doesn’t stop.

U.S. President Donald Trump, in response, unleashed a new threat to impose American tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.” The agreement calls for toll-free travel for 60 days.

The announcements indicated a rough start to the technical-level talks that key mediator Pakistan said will begin Sunday, with Qatari mediators also participating.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance left for Switzerland on Saturday evening, just as Iranian state TV posted video showing Iran’s negotiators arriving there. They are led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and include Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and central bank and oil officials, among others. The deal calls for billions of dollars of Iran’s assets to be unfrozen.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir also left for Switzerland late Saturday.

Talks were meant to start Friday, but the Iranians canceled plans to attend because of escalating fighting in Lebanon. Negotiators for the U.S. and Qatar, with help from Iran, worked out an agreement between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group to tamp down hostilities, according to U.S. and regional officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Vance told reporters he would be in Switzerland “for a day or two” but was optimistic about making progress in talks about Iran’s nuclear program and on a ceasefire in southern Lebanon. He earlier confirmed that top negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already in Switzerland.

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state TV that negotiations toward a final agreement will begin once key commitments are upheld. If they are not, “the memorandum of understanding as a whole will be jeopardized.”

The strait once again becomes a challenge

The strait has emerged again as a focus. Iran’s joint military command said it was closed because of the U.S. “clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon.

The U.S. disputed Iran’s announcement.

“Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command. The military said that 55 merchant ships transited Saturday with more than 17 million barrels of oil.

The global economy braced for more uncertainty.

Ships began transiting after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed earlier in the week, a milestone that left plenty of questions unanswered. The U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and now allows Tehran to sell its oil freely — terms that have left some in U.S. Congress asking whether the war was worth it.

The interim deal signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, but the issue is intricate and the time can be extended.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon kill at least 16

Earlier Saturday, as mediators tried to get the parties to Switzerland, a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that Iran informed the militant group that Tehran won’t reopen the strait until Israel announces publicly that it will comply with a “comprehensive ceasefire” in Lebanon and an end to military operations there. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

The official said that Hezbollah would commit to a ceasefire if Israel does.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, later said that the military had received “updated directives from the political echelon to cease fire.” The official said that the military is operating in a defensive manner in Lebanon, which includes the right to respond to Hezbollah attacks.

The official also said that five Israeli soldiers had been killed in the past 48 hours in southern Lebanon.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah are signatories to the deal between the U.S. and Iran.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 16 people, including two children. Seven people were trapped under rubble after strikes hit the southern city of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

An Israeli military official said that Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon overnight. Israel’s army said that it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets and militants.

The death toll in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war has surpassed 4,000, Lebanon’s health ministry later announced.

Hezbollah and Israel went to war two days after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-lebanon-hezbollah-june-20-2026-6e23fb5f37e23427dbfc2bc80c59bda8

“My brother was murdered for not paying an extortion payment…in front of his children,” Edilma Martinez Flores said at a support centre for displaced people in Bogotá.

She fled her home on the outskirts of Cali, in the south-west, after armed criminal groups handed out leaflets ordering residents to leave or face violence.

“We had no choice but to leave our things behind. They started placing bombs along the routes people travel.”

Edilma is far from alone, and experiences like hers are why insecurity is dominating voters’ minds in Sunday’s key presidential election.

Colombia’s six decades of conflict between armed groups, the state and cartels has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

It isn’t new, but illegal armed groups have roughly doubled their membership in the last five years.

These include Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissident factions, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Clan del Golfo, who have expanded their control of rural areas key to drug trafficking and illegal mining.

A brutal offensive between the ELN and FARC dissidents near the Venezuela-Colombia border last year displaced tens of thousands of people.

The two presidential candidates have starkly different visions for tackling this violence, in a campaign marked by the assassination of a presidential candidate, homicides, kidnappings and bombings.

Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda is seen as the “architect” of the current president Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” strategy, prioritising negotiation with armed groups. Critics say it has failed and let armed groups exploit ceasefires to expand their control. Supporters argue it prevents a larger loss of life.

He also played a key role in the 2016 peace deal which disarmed thousands of FARC fighters.

He has pledged “social transformations that the country urgently cries out for” while promising to “take stock” of the peace strategy and “make the necessary changes”.

His challenger is a conservative outsider, right-wing businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, who calls himself El Tigre (The Tiger in English). He’s been endorsed by Donald Trump, and is a US citizen. The signature outfit for him and his supporters is the Colombian football shirt, which the left has accused him of politicising.

He has promised 10 mega-prisons, a tough military crackdown, and an end to negotiations with armed groups, saying he has the “balls” to take them on.

“Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down,” he has promised.

For many Colombians, how this issue is tackled will have a huge impact on their lives.

Isabelita Mercado Pineda, a government advisor for peace, victims and reconciliation in Bogotá, says forced displacement rose 300% between 2024 and 2025.

“We have not seen displacements like this for the last two decades,” she added.

She said it has been driven by factors including rising cocaine production, the army failing to occupy territories left by the FARC after it demobilised in 2016, leaving voids for armed groups to fill, and a “failure” of the government’s strategy that she argued provides criminal groups with “carrot but not enough stick”.

The support centre for victims in Bogotá shows the scale of this issue. Erin Gamboa from the Chocó region on the Pacific Coast said his half-brother was taken by FARC guerillas and they have not heard from him since.

“My region is heavily contested, criminal gangs fight over the territory,” he said, outlining how paramilitaries, guerillas and the FARC fight over illegal mining and cocaine trafficking sites.

Another couple, who wanted to remain anonymous, said their small food delivery business was contacted by a man claiming to be from the FARC. He began extorting their children, demanding 5 million pesos (about $1,500; £1,100).

Through tears, the woman described how crime has grown “so much” and you “can’t go out in peace anymore”.

Trump’s endorsement of de la Espriella, criticised by the left as foreign interference, comes as the US takes a more interventionist stance towards criminal groups in Latin America.

Trump said the election would determine Colombia’s relationship with the US, adding that “if Abelardo wins…[Colombia] will have the total support and strength of the United States behind him”, and called Cepeda a “radical left Marxist”.

De la Espriella grew up on Colombia’s Caribbean coast where he retains strong regional support.

Maria Luisa Sanchez, a childhood family friend and neighbour, said de la Espriella has “achieved everything he has set out in life, he is a man with very strong convictions”.

“He has that character, courage, it’s what we need for Colombia, a person … who is tough on drug-trafficking, tough on guerillas.”

Supporter Sandra Caballero, from a village outside of Barranquilla, said he “will work with the United States to fight drug trafficking and doesn’t plan to speak with criminals – which has not given results in four years”.

“He wants to change taxes to help companies generate more jobs and invest in security and health.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgqv8q1ndpo

US President Donald Trump had initially said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “begged” him for a picture at this week’s G7 summit, but she angrily denied the claim, calling it “made up.”

US President Donald Trump escalated a diplomatic row with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday (June 20), accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him and linking the dispute to tensions over Iran and NATO.

The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power.

Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7 that Meloni “begged” him for a picture at this week’s G7 summit in France, saying he agreed only because he “felt sorry for her.”

Meloni angrily denied the claim, calling it “made up,” but Trump doubled down in a post on Truth Social, saying Meloni had asked “over and over” for a photograph during the summit.

He also accused her of trying to repair relations with Washington for domestic political reasons after Italy failed to support US action against Iran.

“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again, in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!” Trump wrote.

He said Meloni was doing “poorly in Italy,” and suggested this was linked to her refusal to let the United States use Italian “landing strips or runways” during the conflict with Iran.

Trump also revived his long-running complaint that the United States spends heavily to protect “so-called” NATO allies, saying Washington contributes hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Italy and others.

The remarks were a sharp escalation of a dispute that had already triggered anger in Rome and came at a moment when Trump had already unsettled European partners with his handling of the war in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a planned visit to the United States, saying on Friday that Trump’s “grave and offensive” words toward Meloni “offend the whole of Italy.”

PAINFUL INJURY

Tajani had been due to travel to Miami on June 21 and 22 for a business conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but the State Department confirmed the event had been cancelled.

Meloni, who leads Italy’s far-right Brothers of Italy party, said she was “frankly stunned” by Trump’s original comments.

“I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way with his own allies,” she said in a video posted on X.

She also accused Trump of showing more deference to the West’s adversaries than to its partners.

“It’s a pity he doesn’t show the same determination with enemies of the West, with enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom, instead, he is far more accommodating,” she said.

The backlash was notable because Meloni, unlike many European leaders, had invested heavily in personal diplomacy with Trump and had been viewed in Rome and Washington as one of his most natural partners on the continent.

She had spent months cultivating close ties with the US president while trying to reassure European allies wary of his second term.

She had said at the end of the G7 summit in Evian that the atmosphere had been “very positive” and that there was “no friction” between Trump and other leaders.

She acknowledged, however, that she and Trump both had “quite strong characters,” and the pair were seen together several times at the summit, including during a meeting on a sofa after which Trump appeared to pat her shoulder.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/meloni-hits-back-trump-escalates-g7-photo-spat-6197446

The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon and has been contained within the warehouse, but continues to burn, sending up fumes that smell of burning plastic.

Los Angeles was under a state of emergency Saturday (Jun 20) as fire crews fought a days-long battle against a stubborn warehouse blaze that has filled the air with acrid black smoke.

“This is a major, multi-jurisdictional incident,” Karen Bass, mayor of the second-largest US city, said in a statement.

The declaration will “ensure the city has the resources it needs.”

The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in a 500,000-square-foot (46,400-square-meter) frozen food warehouse, where burning foam insulation, suspected ammonia leakage and melting solar panels have complicated the firefight, officials said.

“The smell of smoke has reached most of the city, and we encourage everyone to limit exposure as much as possible,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a Facebook post.

The fire has been contained to the warehouse but continues to burn, spewing fumes that smell of burning plastic.

Early on, residents of the area surrounding the warehouse in Boyle Heights, a diverse neighborhood in east Los Angeles, were warned to shelter in place, close windows and avoid breathing the air.

Authorities opened 24-hour relief centres for people unable to otherwise escape the smoke.

But fire officials have since lifted those orders, saying the smoke is not toxic or different from a normal structure fire.

Air quality officials have issued warnings for people in affected areas to avoid outdoor activity.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/la-state-emergency-warehouse-fire-6197956

The Malaysian Meteorological Department said the earthquake occurred at 1.17am, and tremors may be felt around Batu Pahat, Johor.

A weak earthquake measuring 3.3 in magnitude struck the waters off Batu Pahat, Johor, early this morning, according to a statement by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia).

The department said that the earthquake took place at 1.17am.

This location was 20 km southwest from Batu Pahat, at a depth of 10km, it added.

MetMalaysia said that tremors may be felt around Batu Pahat and that it will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-earthquake-johor-batu-pahat-6198036

The Trump administration has restricted foreign access to Anthropic’s latest AI models over security fears, forcing a global shutdown. Could the row hurt the Claude-maker’s IPO plans and set a far-reaching precedent?

Silicon Valley executives and global policymakers are scratching their heads at US President Donald Trump’s latest crackdown on Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind the powerful Claude models.

Just days after the release of its most powerful upgrades — Claude Fable 5 and the even more powerful Mythos 5 — the Trump administration imposed strict export controls on Anthropic’s tools on June 12.

Washington cited national security risks from so-called jailbreaking — clever prompts that bypass AI safety rules — which the San Francisco-based tech giant said were minor, overblown and also present in rival AI platforms.

Yet with the US Commerce Department effectively banning foreign nationals worldwide from using the models, including Anthropic’s own staff, the firm had little choice but to suspend global access entirely.

Washington’s move came days after Anthropic filed plans for a public listing, likely this fall, hoping to raise tens of billions from investors.

Experts, allies stunned by US ‘kill switch’

The export ban drew sharp criticism from the technology sector.

In an open letter published on Sunday, a group of more than 170 tech executives warned that the curbs “risked America’s AI leadership” by depriving cybersecurity defenders of their strongest tools, while China’s capabilities advance rapidly.

At this week’s G7 summit in Evian, France, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for “broad and inclusive” access to US AI models, while the UK requested a carve-out from the ban, which was rejected.

Some European lawmakers, meanwhile, described Washington’s ability to shut off access as a “kill switch” that reinforced the need for the European Union to secure its own AI sovereignty.

“We won’t buy any models made by these companies if overnight, you can just flip the switch,” French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Wednesday.

Ad hoc moves expose US regulatory gaps

Risto Uuk, head of European policy and research at the Future of Life Institute, described the US move as “hasty and uninformed” and called on Washington to set clearer and stronger AI regulations similar to those being rolled out by the EU in August.

AI safety “cannot depend on a single firm’s goodwill on a given week,” Uuk told DW.

Washington has typically deployed lawfare tactics — legal tools like export controls — against foreign rivals such as China and Russia.

Targeting an American company like Anthropic, however, sets a dangerous new precedent, say tech experts and policymakers, as it risks undermining investor confidence in the AI boom, stifling innovation and weakening the US’s overall technological edge

Clemens Fuest, the president of Germany’s ifo Institute, warned in a research note published Friday that the export ban highlights Europe’s “vulnerability” in AI capabilities and called for an expansion of data centers, chip factories and energy infrastructure within the bloc.

Despite being a major AI user, Fuest said Europe controls less than 5% of global AI infrastructure, versus the US with 75% and China with 15%.

Anthropic made enemies in the Pentagon

Earlier this year, Anthropic clashed with the US Department of Defense after refusing to lift longstanding curbs on its AI models for the mass surveillance of US citizens or fully autonomous lethal weapons systems.

The Pentagon designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk” and threatened to cancel contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, prompting the Claude-maker to launch legal action.

Anthropic has built a reputation for being among the most cautious players in the frontier AI race, adopting a safety-first approach where the models are trained to self-critique against a set of written principles, known as Constitutional AI.

Is Anthropic being over-cautious?

AI researcher Pedro Domingos argues that it is Anthropic, not the Trump administration, that is guilty of dangerous overreach — positioning itself as a self-appointed moral authority.

“They really do honestly believe that AI is a mortal danger,” Domingos, a computer science professor at the University of Washington, told DW. “And they also believe that they should be running the world.”

“A lot of their problems with the government are that they seem to arrogate [usurp] to themselves the functions of a government,” he added.

But will these controversies harm Anthropic’s plans for a public listing in the fall?

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/trumps-anthropic-ban-sets-a-risky-precedent-for-ai/a-77577694

Iran’s joint military command said the strait had been closed due to Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Iran’s negotiators are heading to Switzerland for Iran-US talks on their interim deal.

A source has divulged that Tom Holland’s viral performance of “Umbrella” was the exact moment Zendaya became “smitten” with her now-husband.

The “Euphoria” actress was said to have fallen “hard for” Holland after witnessing his fishnet-clad, rain-soaked 2017 drag performance of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” during an episode of “Lip Sync Battle,” according to a source for the Mail on Sunday.

The insider reportedly told the newspaper that the daring performance — complete with fireworks — “sealed the deal” for the “Greatest Showman” star, 29.

“It’s not just sexy but it shows how amazingly talented he is,” the source told the outlet. “It takes a lot of confidence for a straight guy to pull off drag.”

During the performance — which has since gone viral — the “Dune” actress could be seen gaping and laughing in disbelief as Holland performed sultry choreography in black frilly shorts and a latex corset top.

“When he was announced as Spider–Man, people were taken aback because he’s slightly wimpy,” the source told the outlet. “But what he lacks in stature he more than makes up for in talent.”

They added of the famous moment, “You can see the shock on her face but then the admiration. I’m sure it’s something they will show their kids one day.”

Reps for Zendaya and Holland did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment on Saturday.

The report emerged just days after the “Spider Man: Far From Home” actor, 30, confirmed he and Zendaya are husband and wife after months of speculation.

During an interview with Esquire published Tuesday, the “Avengers: Endgame” actor was asked if he had to clarify to family that AI photos of them at a wedding celebration were bogus.

“No, because they were all there,” Holland said, adding, “That’s all you’ll get on that.”

Holland made no secret of the fact that marriage to the Emmy winner has been good to him.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/06/20/celebrity-news/zendaya-reveals-moment-she-fell-hard-for-tom-holland/

Jimmy Kimmel announced comedian Rosie O’Donnell will be temporarily taking over his late-night show as he steps back for a two-month sabbatical.

“I will be taking the next two months off, this time voluntarily,” Kimmel said on Thursday night’s episode, jokingly referring to the brief period his show was pulled by ABC over his comments regarding Charlie Kirk’s death in September.

But, the show will still go on as he named the “potent group of” guest hosts which includes Tiffany Haddish, Colman Domingo, Ike Barinholtz, Anthony Anderson and Jelly Roll.

“And… I asked one of our commander-in-chief’s all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming,” he shared, prompting a roar of applause from the audience.

O’Donnell is one several celebrities who left the states following Donald Trump’s second election win. Along with her youngest child, Clay, 13, they settled down in Ireland.

“The View” alum and Trump have long had beef between each other. Though, it appears their feud reached its peak in July 2025 when the president threatened to take away the actress’s US citizenship.

“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” he wrote in his Truth Social post at the time.

He continued: “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA.”

O’Donnell hit back at Trump with an equally heated Instagram post.

“The president of the usa has always hated the fact that i see him for who he is – a criminal con man sexual abusing liar out to harm our nation to serve himself – this is why i moved to ireland,” she captioned her post.

Since her citizenship appears to remain intact, it looks like O’Donnell will be returning to the US for an extended stay.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/06/20/entertainment/jimmy-kimmel-taps-longtime-trump-nemesis-rosie-odonnell-to-replace-him-as-he-steps-back-from-late-night-show/

Negotiators from the United States and Iran were set to start peace talks in Switzerland on Sunday, even as U.S. officials disputed Iranian claims about closing ​the key Strait of Hormuz.

High-level officials from Iran arrived in Switzerland for peace talks with the U.S., Iranian state media reported, as U.S. Vice President JD Vance departed Washington for meetings ‌that Pakistan said will begin on Sunday.

Although the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire while negotiations take place, Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday declared the Strait of Hormuz shut, though the U.S. military said commercial vessels had continued operating in the waterway.

Those developments could complicate talks in which both sides seek to advance an interim deal brokered by Pakistan and signed on Wednesday by Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian to end their almost four-month war.

STRAIT OF HORMUZ, LEBANON REMAIN FLASHPOINTS

Pointing to what it called ​Israeli “crimes” in Lebanon that violated U.S. commitments to a ceasefire, the IRGC warned ships would be at risk if they approached the Strait, a vital conduit for global oil and gas supplies. But U.S. ​Central Command said 55 merchant ships transited the strait on Saturday with more than 17 million barrels of oil for global markets.

U.S. forces will ensure commercial traffic ⁠continues, Central Command said.

Trump said no toll would be charged for passage through the strait during or after the 60-day ceasefire — unless the U.S. imposes one should peace talks fail. In a social media post, he cited ​the possibility of a toll levied by the United States “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East” if a peace deal is not completed.

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah ​Mojtaba Khamenei, accused the U.S. on X of failing to implement the first clause of its 14-point interim deal with Iran, which includes a ceasefire “on all fronts”, including Lebanon.

He said that, as long as the agreement was only on paper, the flow of Middle East energy would remain halted.

The Lebanon truce appeared fragile as Israeli forces and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked each other.

The Iranian delegation is led by chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as well as senior security, central bank ​and oil officials, Iranian media said. In addition to Vance, the U.S. negotiating team includes envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-disputes-iranian-claims-about-closing-strait-hormuz-negotiators-head-2026-06-20

A former US Olympian was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC.

David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist, was cycling past the monument on Friday when he said he stopped and noticed a piece of the pool’s liner floating in the water.

President Trump announced that “many additional people” have also been arrested in connection to the “disgraceful Vandalism [sic].”

“What these terrible Vandals [sic] have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly,” Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday.

Trump claimed that the vandals poured destructive chemicals into the pool and that it would have to be drained so that repairs could be made.

“The Reflecting Pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened. We are very proud of what we have done with this magnificent structure, and we will get it repaired, quickly, to an equal level of Beauty,” Trump wrote.

He blamed the vandals for the current dismal state of the Reflecting Pool, just weeks after a $14.8 million restoration project was completed.

He vowed to have the pool repaired as quickly as possible.

Additionally, the grass at the National Mall was defaced after with giant etchings of the numbers “86 47.”

The numerical phrase came into prominence after former FBI Director James Comey posted a picture of the numbers written with seashells on Instagram in May 2025.

Comey was indicted in April on charges of allegedly threatening to kill President Trump. “86” is common restaurant slang meaning a person should be ejected from the establishment or an item should be disposed of.

Hearn, 67, claimed to the Washington Post he reached out and touched the detached piece and let it go after a worker told him to. He was then taken into custody by Park Police.

Video of the incident went viral, with Hearn shown looking bewildered as he’s confronted by members of the National Guard and then put in cuffs by US Park Police.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/20/us-news/american-olympic-canoeist-david-hearn-arrested-for-allegedly-vandalizing-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool

Hours after the two sides agreed to stop fighting, Israel and Hezbollah traded attacks in Lebanon Saturday threatening to upend a fragile peace agreement between the US and Iran.

The terror group launched “some 50 projectiles at Israeli troops” overnight, prompting Israel Defense Forces’ attacks on what an official described as “Hezbollah targets.”

An IDF soldier was killed and 13 others were wounded by the terror group in the Nabatieh-area village of Kfar Tebnit, the Israeli military said.

“Hezbollah broke the ceasefire, not Israel,” Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter wrote on X Saturday. “Terrorists lie. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Hezbollah lies.

“Iran is using its proxy to extract concessions. That is the modus operandi of the murderous regime in Tehran.”

The IDF carried out a wave of retaliatory strikes killing at least 27 people, according to Lebanese officials, the Times of Israel reported.

Hezbollah denied that it was the the first to strike, claiming it had “adhered to the ceasefire” since the truce with Israel, which was brokered by the US and Qatar, went into effect Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., local time.

The terror group — based in southern Lebanon — said its fighters engaged with IDF troops attempting to advance on Lebanese territory.

“We will not tolerate any attempt by the enemy to seize land and expand its occupation,” Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday.

“The continuation of brutal Israeli attacks aims to obstruct any solution that would allow for restoring stability in Lebanon,” the Lebanese army said of Israel’s actions that have sparked unprecedented criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from President Trump.

“I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and Hezbollah,” the president told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit earlier this week.

“Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed,” Trump also said. “You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody.”

He warned the Israeli prime minister that he “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon” and urged him to accept the cease-fire Friday.

Under pressure from the Trump administration, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Netanyahu instructed the Israeli military to “hold its fire” in Lebanon on Saturday, Channel 12 news reported.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/20/world-news/conflict-erupts-in-lebanon-between-israel-and-hezbollah-just-hours-after-two-sides-reach-critical-truce

He had some away game.

Brazilian Football Confederation President Samir Xaud, 42, is at the center of a sex scandal that has fans wondering if he confused federation budget with his personal checking account.

According to Brazilian news outlet Portal Leo Dias, Xaud allegedly used federation funds to fly a mistress to New York before later meeting up with his wife in Mexico City for the World Cup’s opening ceremony — a travel itinerary ambitious enough to make even seasoned fliers dizzy.

The woman at the center of the New York leg of the trip, fitness entrepreneur Camila Cristina Andrade, reportedly spent eight days at Manhattan’s Hyatt Regency Grand Central on a reservation allegedly booked under Xaud’s name.

The hotel stay reportedly came with a price tag of roughly $11,500, the outlet reported.

Photos published by the outlet appear to show Xaud and Andrade enjoying dinner at Harry Cipriani on June 3 before leaving in a vehicle allegedly rented by the federation.

The plot then took another turn.

Xaud reportedly left Andrade in New York, flew back to Brazil to attend a women’s national team match against the United States on June 8, the news site reported.

He then headed to Mexico City, where he reunited with his wife of more than 20 years, Natalia Xaud, with whom he shares three children.

But, according to the report, this wasn’t the first time federation-funded travel allegedly raised eyebrows.

Portal Leo Dias also reported that Xaud used federation funds to send model and influencer, Tamares Fernandes Barcellos, to Qatar for a FIFA Intercontinental World Cup match in December 2025.

The trip allegedly included a business-class flight on Emirates and a stay at the Ritz-Carlton Doha from December 15-19, with documents obtained by the outlet reportedly showing the federation paid nearly $3,400 for the hotel.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/20/world-news/brazil-football-boss-allegedly-uses-federation-funds-to-fly-mistress-to-nyc-before-meeting-up-with-wife-for-world-cup-opening-ceremony

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni clapped back at President Trump Saturday for what she called his “senseless” attacks – as their extraordinary transatlantic feud escalated.

The two leaders traded barbs on social media, with Meloni posting on Instagram shortly after Trump slammed her on his Truth Social account.

“President Trump, these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless. As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you,” Meloni wrote on Instagram.

“My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done.”

Then she referenced US use of military bases in Italy, saying they are governed by agreements “we have always respected.”

“In any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours,” she concluded in a sharp sign-off.

The spat began when Trump claimed at the G7 last week that Meloni had “begged” him to take a photo with her.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/20/us-news/italian-pm-claps-back-at-trump-for-senseless-verbal-attacks-slams-prezs-political-popularity-as-feud-escalates

With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn, says Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on Friday (June 19, 2026) that “all of Lebanon must burn” after Israel’s military announced the deaths of four soldiers there.

The Israeli losses were the first to be announced since a U.S.-Iran deal was signed to end the West Asia war.

The agreement was also supposed to halt the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Washington has expressed frustration at Israel’s ongoing campaign there.

“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn,” Mr. Ben Gvir said in a statement.

tamar Ben-Gvir. File picture | Photo Credit: Reuters

“For every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,” he added. “In the Near East, you don’t win with measured responses and restraint.”

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel must “go wild. Eradicate. Defeat terrorism.” “We must let fire speak… and open the gates of hell,” he added, without explicitly mentioning Lebanon.

The U.S.-Iran agreement has been widely perceived in Israel as detrimental to its interests, signalling a failure by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to force U.S. President Donald Trump to take account of Israeli security demands.

Mr. Netanyahu is under pressure ahead of elections due to be held by the end of October.

According to a poll published on Friday (June 19) by the newspaper Maariv, 63% of Israelis are “worried” about the future of Israel following the deal.

Source : https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/israeli-minister-says-all-of-lebanon-must-burn-after-four-soldiers-killed/article71123373.ece#google_vignette

As Iranian media boast of the “magnificent defeat” of the United States, Tehran is pressing its advantage, racing to sell oil under the interim peace agreement signed this week and trying to halt Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

But the Islamic Republic suffered its own major blows and faces challenges ahead. Its economy is in shambles after the war, the country was rocked by mass protests in January, and its supreme leader has yet to appear in public. It is entering nuclear talks with the U.S. after coming under attack during two previous rounds.

The deal offers desperately needed sanctions relief, much of which will come only if Iran rolls back its nuclear program, including at a minimum diluting its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. That concession has angered Iranian hard-liners. The U.S. is meanwhile demanding it cease enrichment entirely, something Iran has staunchly refused for decades.

Iran’s leaders are projecting confidence, having clung to power despite weeks of heavy U.S. and Israeli strikes. They also believe U.S. President Donald Trump is unlikely to carry out threats to resume the war because of Iran’s demonstrated ability to close the Strait of Hormuz and damage the world economy.

“It’s too much to say that Iran has emerged a victor, but it could have been much worse,” said Farzan Sabet, an Iran expert at the Geneva Graduate Institute think tank. “I think that the real victory for Iran was … survival.”

The deal offers financial benefits

Under the interim deal, the U.S. is to issue waivers to allow for the export of Iranian crude oil. At least three state-owned Iranian oil tankers have already set sail as the U.S. has lifted its blockade, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

Iran has exported nearly 18 million barrels in the last five days, the firm TankerTrackers.com said Friday, putting the value at $1.44 billion.

Dozens more tankers loaded with oil could soon depart from Kharg Island, Iran’s main export terminal on the Persian Gulf, further pushing down world prices.

Benchmark Brent crude, which traded over $110 a barrel last month, has fallen to around $80 since the deal was reached. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. also has dropped to under $4, a closely watched metric ahead of midterm congressional elections.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-strategy-us-war-israel-analysis-c3711f45fbb3a21723273e6156e4992e

Hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth upbraided his NATO allies and announced a Pentagon review of their performance, the leaders of many European nations were assessing a check list of progress made on security priorities.

In essence, Hegseth was telling the Europeans things they already know.

The list included their hike in defense spending, investment in industry to boost the production of military equipment, best use of lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, and the need to buy or develop drones, air defense systems and long-range weapons.

At a summit ending Friday, they mulled how to put joint European Union funding to best use and cut red tape to speed purchases, weighed the state of “military mobility” to speed the deployment of troops and equipment, and upgrade ports and airports.

“Europe’s defense readiness must be decisively ramped up by 2030,” they reaffirmed. The list was not new, rather something they have developed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Intelligence agencies have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an attack elsewhere in Europe before the end of the decade, especially if he defeats Ukraine. Already they accuse Russia of acts of sabotage and misinformation across Europe.

About two-thirds of EU member countries also stand in NATO’s ranks, and the added unpredictability of the Trump administration has only girded them to forge ahead alone. Hegseth’s Pentagon review was just the latest surprise.

Pentagon chief blasts US allies

Hegseth does not attend many NATO meetings, and he left Thursday’s gathering of defense ministers early. But his first major speech to the allies in February 2025 and his follow-up this week were memorable.

On Thursday he berated NATO as a “paper-tiger,” said allies had been “shameful” and that “too many failed” a test put to them by President Donald Trump when he sought use of their bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran.

He even took a shot at their focus on “gender equity and climate change” and slammed their migration policies.

Hegseth then gave them six months to shape up for a Pentagon performance review that tied the presence of U.S. forces in Europe and American investment in NATO to whether he believes they are pulling their weight.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/nato-us-hegseth-pentagon-review-europe-spending-0529a8f0c581ff34a427a70086223c61

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has been stripped of Poland’s highest state honour, the Order of the White Eagle, over Kyiv’s decision to name a military unit after controversial World War Two fighters.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki branded Ukraine’s decision late last month to name the unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) “outrageous”, “incomprehensible” and “deeply disappointing”.

Nawrocki stressed the diplomatic row would not impact Poland’s support for Ukraine against Russia.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha denounced Warsaw’s move, calling it a “strategic mistake” and “disrespectful”.

Many in Ukraine regard the UPA, which existed in the 1940s and 1950s, as heroes who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Soviet Red Army as well as Nazi Germany and Polish authorities. So for Ukrainians the title “Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army” is a major honour.

Poland, however, accuses the UPA of carrying out a genocide of ethnic Poles in Volhynia (now Volyn in Ukraine) in 1943-45.

“For the overwhelming majority of Polish society, the UPA remains, above all, a formation responsible for the brutal crimes committed against citizens of the Republic of Poland during World War II,” Nawrocki said in a video released on the president’s official website.

“That is why the Ukrainian authorities’ decision to glorify the UPA is not only outrageous, it is also incomprehensible and deeply disappointing,” he said.

“It hurts not only our historical memory. It also undermines the trust built up over the years and in recent months,” he added.

The Polish president pointed to the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees welcomed into the country following the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

“Poles opened their borders, their homes, and their hearts to millions of Ukrainians,” he said.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7xzg3dmj8o

Afghanistan has conducted air strikes targeting alleged militant bases in Pakistan, escalating tensions and jeopardizing the fragile ceasefire between the two nations.

Afghanistan has announced that it carried out air strikes against alleged militant hideouts inside Pakistan, marking a major escalation in tensions between the two neighbours and putting their already fragile ceasefire at further risk.

According to Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry, the strikes were launched on Thursday night against targets in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, both of which border Afghanistan. Kabul claimed the sites were being used by ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) militants in coordination with what it described as “hostile intelligence circles” to plan attacks against Afghanistan.

The ministry said one of the locations targeted was frequently used by senior ISIS-K leaders and claimed that several “important targets” were successfully hit. However, it did not specify the extent of the damage or how the operation was conducted.

Pakistan swiftly rejected the allegations, calling them “false” and accusing Afghanistan of spreading misinformation. Islamabad insisted that terrorist groups, including ISIS and several other militant organisations, continue to operate from territory controlled by the Taliban government.

The strikes mark the latest flare-up in a conflict that has repeatedly erupted along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Both countries have accused each other of sheltering militant groups responsible for cross-border attacks.

Relations deteriorated sharply earlier this year after a series of retaliatory military operations. A ceasefire brokered in March collapsed within weeks as both sides accused the other of violating the agreement. Subsequent mediation efforts led by China have so far failed to produce a lasting peace deal.

Pakistan has repeatedly blamed Kabul for allowing fighters from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to operate from Afghan territory and launch deadly attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban government has consistently denied the accusations, arguing that Pakistan’s security challenges are an internal matter.

The latest Afghan operation is notable because it represents one of Kabul’s most significant offensive actions in recent months. While Afghanistan does not possess fighter jets, military analysts say the Taliban controls several aircraft and helicopters inherited after the 2021 withdrawal of foreign forces, as well as a growing fleet of drones that have previously been used in clashes with Pakistan.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/afghanistan-launches-strikes-inside-pakistan-threatening-fragile-border-truce-article-154690840

Pakistan will send a high-level delegation to the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following his assassination earlier this year.

Pakistan will send an official delegation to attend the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday, underscoring Islamabad’s close ties with Tehran following the cleric’s assassination in US-Israeli strikes earlier this year.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Sharif revealed that he held a telephone conversation with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday evening. According to the prime minister, the Iranian leader repeatedly thanked Pakistan for its support during challenging times and extended an invitation to attend Khamenei’s funeral ceremony scheduled for July 3-4.

Sharif told lawmakers that while he may not attend personally, Pakistan would be represented at the highest level.

“I assured President Pezeshkian that Pakistan’s delegation will be present at the funeral to demonstrate the deep respect and admiration we hold for Ayatollah Khamenei,” Sharif said.

The Pakistani premier also highlighted Islamabad’s role in facilitating the recent peace agreement between the United States and Iran, describing it as a major diplomatic achievement for the country.

He claimed Pakistan’s international standing had risen significantly because of its mediation efforts, saying the country’s name was now being spoken with “respect and honour” across regions ranging from East Asia and the Middle East to Europe and the Americas.

Sharif reserved special praise for Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, crediting him with playing a pivotal role in advancing peace efforts that ultimately contributed to the US-Iran agreement. He also acknowledged the contributions of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as well as Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

In addition to discussing foreign policy developments, the prime minister announced a substantial reduction in fuel prices, describing it as a measure aimed at providing relief to citizens.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/pakistan-to-send-delegation-for-ayatollah-khameneis-funeral-says-pm-shehbaz-sharif-article-154691230

A fire broke out at an elementary school in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, prompting a large-scale rescue operation as emergency crews responded to reports of several children trapped inside.

A fire at an elementary school in Tokyo, Japan, triggered an emergency response on Thursday as firefighters and rescue personnel rushed to the scene amid reports that several children remained inside the building during the initial stages of the incident. According to Japanese broadcaster FNN, thick black smoke could be seen billowing from the multi-storey school building. According to the lates information, several children have been reported to have inhaled smoke. Meanwhile, one teacher has been injured.

Aerial footage circulating on Japanese television and social media showed a large plume of smoke rising above a residential neighbourhood of the Japanese capital. The building appeared to be a typical elementary school structure with large classroom windows, while the Tokyo Skytree could be seen in the background. As per the responders, all children and teachers have been evacuated from the premises.

Rescue Operation Underway As Emergency Crews Respond

Emergency responders moved quickly to secure the area and begin rescue operations after the fire was reported. Initial media reports indicated that some children were unable to immediately escape the building, prompting firefighters to focus on evacuation efforts while simultaneously working to contain the blaze.

Tokyo’s fire and disaster management agencies have deployed personnel to the scene as smoke continued to pour from parts of the structure. While television footage showed active emergency operations, officials had not publicly confirmed how many students or staff members were inside the school when the fire broke out.

Japan’s School Safety Measures Face Real-Time Test

The incident has drawn widespread attention because Japanese schools are generally regarded as among the most prepared educational institutions in the world when it comes to emergency response procedures. Schools across Japan routinely conduct evacuation drills and maintain detailed emergency protocols designed to protect students during fires, earthquakes and other disasters.

Those measures include regular staff training, coordinated planning with local fire departments and clearly marked evacuation routes throughout school facilities. Such systems are intended to ensure rapid movement of students and staff to safety during emergencies.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/asia/tokyo-school-fire-rescue-teams-rush-to-elementary-school-children-trapped-in-burning-building-article-154680360

Despite the rise in traffic, uncertainties remain regarding future shipping flows amid ongoing negotiations between the two nations.

Commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has risen to its highest level in two months following an agreement between the United States and Iran to halt their war, according to maritime tracking data. A total of 25 commercial vessels crossed the strategically important waterway on Thursday, the highest daily figure since mid-April, according to data released by maritime tracking firm AXSMarine.

The increase came after Washington and Tehran agreed earlier this week to re-open the route under a deal aimed at ending the conflict.

Vessel Crossings Surge

In a statement, AXSMarine said: “On June 18 we observed 25 verified commercial vessel crossings through the Strait of Hormuz — the highest single-day count since 18 April and more than five times the average daily level recorded during the first ten days of June.”

Iranian forces had effectively closed the strait after US and Israeli strikes triggered the war on 28 February. Maritime authorities reported dozens of attacks on vessels operating in the region during the conflict.

Iran later briefly reopened the waterway to commercial traffic, resulting in a short-lived increase in crossings on 18 April. Before the conflict, approximately 120 vessels passed through the strait each day, according to shipping publication Lloyd’s List. Economists estimate that around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports normally transit through the route.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/middle-east/strait-of-hormuz-status-updates-live-traffic-hits-two-month-high-us-iran-peace-deal-oil-article-154689730

Former President Barack Obama criticized President Trump’s military actions against Iran, suggesting they have weakened the U.S. despite significant costs.

Former President Barack Obama has criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, arguing that the United States may now be in a weaker position despite the immense costs of the conflict.

Speaking in an interview with NBC’s TODAY show ahead of the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Obama said the war had consumed vast resources, strained the military and resulted in significant loss of life without producing a clear strategic gain.

“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, put enormous strain on our military, and a lot of people have died,” Obama said. “It feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off.”

Welcomes Ceasefire, But Raises Questions

Obama said he was encouraged by the recently announced ceasefire and expressed hope that it would hold, but questioned the reasoning behind the conflict in the first place.

His comments came days after the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending hostilities and creating a framework for future negotiations.

The agreement, signed by President Trump, establishes a 60-day window for negotiators to pursue a more permanent settlement between the two countries.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/obama-slams-trumps-iran-deal-says-war-left-america-worse-off-article-154690584

The incident occurred in Bedford area, which is around 90 kilometres from London.

Two trains collided north of London on Friday, killing a driver and seriously injuring dozens of people on board. A passenger described being thrown forward by the impact then seeing fellow travelers with broken bones and bloody injuries.

Both trains were traveling south to London St. Pancras station when they collided outside the town of Bedford around 5:15 p.m., according to information on rail tracking websites. Emergency services deployed a number of resources to the scene including an air ambulance and hazardous incident team from the East of England Ambulance Service.

“We know that a number of people have been injured and one person has very sadly died,” police said in a statement. “A major incident has been declared, and officers are continuing to respond at the scene alongside colleagues from Bedfordshire Police and the local Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services.”

The East of England Ambulance Service later said that 11 people had very serious injuries, 22 were seriously injured and 56 had minor injuries.

Eddie Dempsey, the general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, said the fatality was a train driver.

Peter Knapp, a passenger, said he was in the rear train when the collision occurred without any warning.

“There was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke,” Knapp said. “People were crying, screaming. People were so scared and confused.”

“I got up and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs,” he added. “And then I managed to get out of the train and because I’m quite thin I was able to squeeze out through the gap in the doors.”

Photos and videos posted on social media showed dozens of people, some with bandages but many who appeared uninjured, standing and sitting among emergency vehicles parked on a road that runs parallel to the train tracks.

The RMT union, which represents many railway workers, said it was monitoring the situation and expressed its concern over reports of “serious injuries” sustained by both train staff and passengers.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/two-trains-collide-near-london-injuries-reported-11661536?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Israeli envoy Danny Danon clashed with UN official Vanessa Frazier at a meeting to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

“Be Quiet”: Israeli Envoy, Top UN Official’s Shouting Match At New York Meet
Israeli envoy Danny Danon clashed with UN official Vanessa Frazier at a meeting to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Reuters
World News
Jun 20, 2026 07:49 am IST
Published On Jun 20, 2026 07:33 am IST
Last Updated On Jun 20, 2026 07:49 am IST

Read Time: 2 mins
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“Be Quiet”: Israeli Envoy, Top UN Official’s Shouting Match At New York Meet
Danny Danon and Vanessa Frazier (File photos)

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Diplomatic niceties broke down at the United Nations on Friday when Israel’s ambassador and the UN secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict became embroiled in a furious shouting match at a public hearing.

At a meeting in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Israeli envoy, Danny Danon, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced a report that blacklisted Israel for such alleged abuses for the first time, accusing her of bias.

“You caved to the secretary-general’s obsession with targeting Israel,” Danon said, referring to UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Another UN official, Vanessa Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict and compiler of a separate report that also blacklists Israel, interjected by shouting a point of order. She demanded that Danon refrain from “personal attacks” and added that she had “verified evidence.”

Danon said Frazier should be quiet.

“We are a member state, and you work for the U.N., and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet … you and your shameful report,” he said.

Frazier, Malta’s former UN ambassador, issued her report this week on behalf of Guterres warning that Israeli settler groups could be added to a global blacklist for violations against children as the UN chief voiced alarm at what he called a “staggering” rise in violations against Palestinian children.

Israel itself already features in that report’s so-called list of shame annexes for alleged violations.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israeli-envoy-danny-danon-un-official-vanessa-frazier-clash-at-public-hearing-on-children-in-conflict-be-quiet-11662086?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

At least 30 people have died ​since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, and, because of the symptoms, ‌could indicate Ebola is spreading fast there.

It was not possible to confirm the causes of death because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia – the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo – had until Thursday refused testing the living or dead, a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas said.

However, all had symptoms including headaches, fever and vomiting, which are associated with Ebola, a camp spokesperson, a bereaved father, three aid sources and a civil society ​leader told Reuters.

“People didn’t just die like this before,” camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.

The deaths in Kigonze, which has more than 15,000 residents, raise fears that Ebola may ​be circulating undetected among eastern Congo’s over 5 million displaced people, with resistance to testing compounding the challenge posed by severely limited sanitation measures.

BODIES COVERED ⁠IN SHEETS

Camp President Dz’djo Ndrutsi Etienne said 10 people were buried this week alone. Grodya said the camp typically recorded between one and three deaths per month.

Justin Zanamuzi, director of Catholic aid organization ​Caritas, which helps Kigonze’s residents, said his team on Wednesday saw several bodies covered in sheets, including a pregnant woman and children.

Footage from Thursday shared by the civil society leader and verified by Reuters ​showed health teams in hazmat suits disinfecting more bodies and preparing tiny coffins next to a crucifix as mourners wailed.

“Our team tried to persuade people to accept doctors to inspect the bodies. They completely refused,” Zanamuzi said.

The outbreak in the country was first declared by Congolese officials on May 15, but the officials said the deaths had begun earlier in the month.

Grodya, the camp spokesperson, said health workers had now taken samples from five victims and were ​awaiting the results. Cholera also has Ebola-like symptoms and spreads quickly in poor communities, though it tends not to transmit person to person.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/least-30-deaths-congo-camp-show-ebola-could-be-spreading-fast-2026-06-19

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her on Friday, after the ​U.S. president told an Italian TV channel that she had “begged” him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.

Meloni said she was “astonished” by ‌his comments, which were “completely made up”. She also chided him for acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.

Their pointed exchange marks a significant deterioration in ties, coming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a relationship strained by tensions over the conflict in the Middle East.

Underscoring how much Trump’s ​comments have angered Meloni’s government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani pulled out of a visit to the U.S. next week. A U.S.-Italy business conference scheduled for ​Monday in Miami was also called off after Tajani cancelled his visit, the Italian embassy said.

The U.S. State Department did not ⁠respond when asked about Tajani’s cancelled trip.

“I FELT SORRY FOR HER”

Video from the event in France showed Meloni and Trump deep in conversation, sitting side-by-side on a small sofa, ​but the U.S. leader suggested he had merely been indulging her.

“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Trump was quoted as saying ​by La7 TV channel in a brief interview, after he himself asked the journalist about Italy’s prime minister.

“She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” Trump said, according to La7’s translation.

A European diplomatic source said Meloni was one of the most forceful voices at the G7, ​openly challenging Trump on several points. The source said she firmly defended Europe’s stance, telling Trump he should stop saying he had been abandoned by Western allies, stressing ​that they had been supportive.

MELONI HITS BACK IN SHARPLY WORDED STATEMENT

Meloni responded swiftly to the president’s comments.

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don’t know why the ‌president of ⁠the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover,” she said in a video posted on social media.

“I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence,” she said, adding: “There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.”

In an interview with NBC News on Friday, Trump continued his criticism of Meloni.

“She was ​a big fan,” Trump was quoted as saying ​by the network. “But I don’t want ⁠her as a fan because she was not there – along with the NATO group – having to do with the strait.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/meloni-fights-back-after-trump-tells-italian-tv-she-begged-photo-with-him-g7-2026-06-19

Diplomatic niceties broke down at the United Nations on Friday when Israel’s ambassador and the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for children ​and armed conflict became embroiled in a furious shouting ‌match at a public hearing.

At a meeting in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Israeli envoy, ​Danny Danon, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced ​a report that blacklisted Israel for such alleged abuses for ⁠the first time, accusing her of bias.

“You caved to the secretary-general’s ​obsession with targeting Israel,” Danon said, referring to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.

Another ​U.N. official, Vanessa Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict and compiler of a separate report that also blacklists Israel, interjected by shouting a point of ​order. She demanded that Danon refrain from “personal attacks” and added that ​she had “verified evidence.”

Danon said Frazier should be quiet.

“We are a member state, and ‌you ⁠work for the U.N., and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet … you and your shameful report,” he said.

Frazier, Malta’s former U.N. ambassador, issued her report this week on behalf of Guterres warning ​that Israeli settler ​groups could be ⁠added to a global blacklist for violations against children as the U.N. chief voiced alarm at what ​he called a “staggering” rise in violations against Palestinian children.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-envoy-un-official-clash-hearing-children-conflict-2026-06-19

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon on ​Friday after an escalation in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, ‌Steve Witkoff, is traveling to Switzerland for the first round of talks with Iran on a potential nuclear deal, Axios reported on Friday, citing a U.S. official.

The development comes a day after Vice President JD Vance canceled plans to attend the talks, which were called off amid the renewed fighting in Lebanon. That escalation has raised fresh uncertainty over the fate of negotiations critical to reopening the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.

Trump told NBC News he had spoken with Israel and asked it to agree to the ceasefire.

“You just gotta ​calm down sometimes and use your head,” Trump was quoted as saying by an NBC reporter on X, who added that the president had declined to specify whether he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ​Netanyahu directly.

A senior U.S. official said the ceasefire came into effect around 4 p.m. Lebanon time (1300 GMT) following an exchange of fire, adding that negotiators for the U.S. ⁠and Qataris had worked out the agreement with help from Iran.

Two sources from Iran-aligned Hezbollah and a senior Israeli official confirmed the ceasefire to Reuters.

“If Hezbollah does not attack us, then for us it is not a time of ​war,” the Israeli official said, adding that Israel would keep its forces in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied an area along Israel’s northern border.

Two Lebanese security sources said Israel had carried out a dozen airstrikes in the first ​hour of the ceasefire but none were recorded after 5 p.m.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes after midnight into Friday had killed 47 people and wounded 97, while the Israeli military said four soldiers had been killed in an incident in Lebanon, without giving further details.

The conflict in Lebanon could weigh on negotiations because ending fighting there is a condition for the broader U.S.-Iran accord.

TOUGH ISSUES STILL UNRESOLVED

A memorandum of understanding signed this week by the Iranian and U.S. presidents left discussion of Iran’s nuclear programme and other tough issues until later, giving ​the sides 60 days to reach a lasting agreement or extend the interim deal.

Preparations for technical talks to start in the Swiss mountaintop resort of Buergenstock were far advanced when the White House said on Thursday that Vance would ​not attend.

The Swiss foreign ministry said the talks had been postponed and that Switzerland remained ready to facilitate them and the relevant preparatory work was continuing.

The broad interim deal requires the United States, Iran and their allies to declare an immediate and permanent ‌termination of military ⁠operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

Israel, left out of the talks, says it is not party to the deal.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a phone call with his Pakistani counterpart on Friday, said the U.S. would be responsible for any violation of its commitments under the deal, including ending the fighting in Lebanon, his ministry said.

NEW ROUND OF ISRAEL-LEBANON TALKS DISCUSSED

Lebanon was sucked into the regional war when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel on March 2, prompting Israel to launch an offensive against the group and invade the south of the country.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the latest Israeli attacks but said the escalation would not hinder efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire.

The U.S. State Department said Secretary ​of State Marco Rubio spoke to Aoun and reiterated ​the need to disarm Hezbollah while reaffirming U.S. support ⁠for a “fully sovereign” Lebanese state.

It said they also discussed holding a next round of Israel-Lebanon negotiations in Washington from June 23-25. The Lebanese presidency said a comprehensive ceasefire was a fundamental pillar for these talks.

TRUMP DEFENDS INTERIM DEAL

The Iran war, which began on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli air attacks on Iran, has killed at least 7,000 ​people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. It also pushed up energy prices, stoking inflation worldwide.

Brent crude ticked higher on Friday, but stayed set for a weekly fall of around ​8% after the Lebanon ceasefire, and ⁠oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz picked up after the signing of this week’s deal.

The strait carried nearly a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before it was blockaded by Iran during the war.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-iran-peace-talks-postponed-clouding-prospects-lasting-truce-2026-06-19

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), opens new tab told some employees working in its financial crimes and risk management team that it would run software to track their work, prompting questions around consent and privacy ​in the workplace as the Canadian lender tries to increase productivity, according to a recording of a team call reviewed by Reuters and a ‌document TD shared with employees.

The program will track the time employees spend on browsers and internal chat and meeting applications, according to the recording.

Companies are increasingly facing employee pushback over the deployment of software to monitor their work.

TD said in a statement to Reuters the deployment is “standard practice across the industry.” “In various parts of our business, we use automated solutions to improve insights and better allocate resources,” the company said. “This is ​not AI and not specific to any business or matter, the tool allows managers to more accurately manage workflows, team capacity and performance. Where deployed, colleagues are ​informed about where they are used and for what purpose.”

TD said it has safeguards in place to protect colleagues’ privacy.

ActiveOps, the company ⁠providing the software, describes WorkiQ as a tool for “employee and wellbeing intelligence” on its website. ActiveOps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The idea is it’s going to ​show pain points, where do we spend too much time … We know we have a lot of pain points across our systems,” Deanna Pacitti, TD’s associate vice president of high-risk investigations, ​told her team on the call on Thursday.

“It is running in the background and it did go through privacy review,” Pacitti said of WorkiQ in response to employee questions about privacy concerns. The tool will not listen to conversations if employees are in a meeting, but will show if the employee is active, she said. She subsequently clarified that being active referred to an employee being in a meeting. ​In another example, Pacitti said the tool will capture the employee working in Excel, but will not track what they are doing in the spreadsheet application.

INTERNET DURING LUNCH?

TD has ​expanded its financial crimes and compliance unit in recent years, after paying a record fine for money laundering violations in the U.S., and the largest such fine paid by a major bank in Canada.

Most ‌TD employees have ⁠worked on a hybrid basis between the office and home since the pandemic.

In an undated Frequently Asked Questions document shared with Reuters, TD told employees WorkiQ will help managers regain transparency lost in a remote work environment. The document responded to questions such as “Can I use the Internet during my lunch hour?” and “How much time is a colleague expected to have accounted for during the day?” TD said in the document there is an acceptable amount of unaccounted-for time and the company is working to determine those time expectations.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/canadian-lender-td-tells-some-employees-it-will-use-software-monitor-their-work-2026-06-19

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was flowing Friday — under Iran’s monitoring — after a radio message to vessels in the region suggested the waterway had been closed over tensions with Israel and the US.

“The armed forces of Iran, in accordance with the memorandum of understanding [MOU] to end the war dated June 18, 2026, have taken the necessary measures to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, and shipping in this route is currently underway,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Friday, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.

Earlier, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) statement read over maritime radio channels warned vessels from entering the strait because the US was in violation of the MOU between Washington and Tehran, which President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed Wednesday.

“Since Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, the complete lifting of the naval blockade, and the withdrawal of American terrorist forces from the Persian Gulf and the region are among the main conditions of the agreement between Iran and the United States, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until these conditions are met,” it said. “All ships are requested, for the sake of their security and safety, not to approach the Strait of Hormuz. Any vessel that defies this directive will be targeted.”

The MOU declared Iran would open the strait — which has been closed since the war began on Feb. 28 — in exchange for the US lifting its blockade on Iranian ports.

US Central Command said Thursday it had formally lifted its two-month blockade on Iranian ports.

The differing messages mirrored internal divisions in Iran over whether it should keep fighting the US or seek a truce — strife American and regional sources have cited as a significant reason why it took roughly two months of negotiations for finalize the MOU.

The Iranian regime ultimately approved the MOU, while some members of the IRGC — which internally opposed ending the war — argued that Tehran should wait to sign the agreement until Israel withdraws all troops from Lebanon.

Richard Goldberg, Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior adviser and a fromer White House National Security Council official, told The Post the ordeal was evidence the US must remain steadfast during the next 60 days of negotiations, as Tehran will continue to push the envelope on what it can swindle out of the US and the world.

“It’s going to be important at every step of the way to ensure we respond forcefully to every attempt by the Iranians to pull back, jerk us around, or shake us down for more,” he said.

“There is a fine line between strategic patience and prudent strategy versus getting sucked into an extortion racket. And we should proceed to ensure we are pursuing the former and not the latter.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announcement came after a US official said Israel and Hezbollah had reached a new cease-fire agreement.

The new cease-fire — negotiated by the US and Qatar — came just a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the Jewish state’s forces would continue hunting terrorists in Lebanon despite the US-Iran MOU.

“We will restore security and prosperity to northern towns,” Netanyahu said. “That requires maintaining the security zone in southern Lebanon.”

The Israel Defense Forces had also published a new map showing an expanded zone of occupation, deploying troops more than 6 miles across the Lebanese border, including north of the Litani River.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/19/world-news/iran-declares-the-strait-of-hormuz-closed-again-after-us-lifts-blockade

GUNFIRE erupted in the heart of Times Square as footage captured hundreds of people fleeing in panic.

The shooting occurred at around 4pm on Thursday, hours after millions of diehard Knicks fans took over Lower Manhattan to celebrate the team’s championship victory.

Surveillance footage showed at least two individuals, both wearing dark clothing, appear to open fire.

At least a half-dozen gunshots could be heard as people ran in terror, seeking safety.

The New York City Police Department confirmed to The U.S. Sun that one suspect was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered at the scene.

It’s unclear what sparked the shooting or whether anybody was injured.

Authorities blocked off portions of the area as they investigated the incident.

Despite Times Square being a designated “gun free zone,” the area has seen its episodes of shootings throughout the years.

The most recent occurred on Sunday when a 17-year-old male was shot in the foot after the Knicks’ Game 5 victory against the San Antonio Spurs during the NBA Finals.

Times Square has been a hotspot for World Cup activity as hundreds of tourists are in the city for the global event.

Soccer fans have packed the Big Red Steps area in recent days to cheer their nations before they take the pitch at MetLife Stadium.

The violent incident disrupted the celebratory atmosphere that engulfed New York City recently.

Lower Manhattan was a roaring sea of orange and blue Thursday morning as millions of Knicks fans celebrated the basketball team’s first NBA championship in 53 years.

Parade-goers lined up before sunrise to secure their spot along the historic Canyon of Heroes from the Battery Park area to City Hall.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16535949/gunfire-erupts-times-square-after-knicks-parade/

DONALD Trump’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz has been officially lifted as millions of oil barrels now flow through the key trade route again.

Supreme nepo-tyrant Mojtaba Khamenei has meanwhile accused the US president of making a peace deal out of “desperation”, despite his regime’s economy requiring open- heart surgery.

US Central Command said that their siege of the embattled strait had ceased, allowing “all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President’s direction”.

Vice President JD Vance declared earlier that 12.5 million barrels moved through the waterway overnight, and that Iran did not fire on any ships.

An average of 20 million barrels would flow through the strait pre-war, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

But Trump appeared optimistic that trade would bounce back once a detailed deal has been hashed out over the next 60 days.

The president signed a landmark memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, which will come as a huge relief for Brit drivers who have been hammered by soaring pump prices in recent months.

Both petrol and diesel prices in the UK have started to come down in recent weeks, and there are hopes an agreement will reduce them further.

After the memorandum was announced, Brent crude oil – the international benchmark – dropped to under $83 a barrel. This was its lowest level since the start of March.

Trump’s deal will also attempt to pave the way to long-term peace in exchange for an Iranian pledge to never build a nuclear weapon.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16536034/trump-hormuz-blockade-oil-iran-khamenei-deal/

“A resolution of the outstanding issues in accordance with international law will create the necessary conditions for lasting peace, security, and stability in the region,” says MFA.

Singapore welcomes the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States of America and Iran to cease all military operations in the Middle East and establish a framework for further negotiations on outstanding issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Thursday (Jun 18).

US President Donald Trump and Iran’s president signed a deal on Wednesday meant to end the Middle East war, paving the way for a broader 60-day negotiation period.

MFA commended the efforts of the mediators that have made this possible, in particular Pakistan and Qatar.

“A resolution of the outstanding issues in accordance with international law will create the necessary conditions for lasting peace, security, and stability in the region,” it said.

MFA added that it welcomes the commitment under the MOU to reopen the Strait of Hormuz – the Strait is used for international navigation and a critical conduit for maritime trade.

“We urge all parties to uphold their obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and customary international law with respect to safe and unimpeded transit passage in the Strait of Hormuz, and to protect the safety and well-being of seafarers and ships in the region.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-us-iran-war-mou-hormuz-6193356

Businesses in the country’s capital have reported a surge in interest following the national team’s victory against the Czech Republic last week.

Ryu Je-ha does not typically put on a national team jersey and cheer on his countrymen – but South Korea’s winning start to the FIFA World Cup has changed that.

“I’m normally not interested enough to wear a jersey and cheer. But this World Cup has been exciting and I like the jersey design, so I wanted to support the team by wearing one,” the Seoul resident told CNA while shopping at a merchandise store in the trendy Seongsu district.

“I would also like to experience the atmosphere of being with a lot of people and cheering together,” added Ryu, who plans to head to Gwanghwamun Square in the heart of Seoul for Friday’s (Jun 19) match against Mexico.

World Cup fever is building across the South Korean capital as the national team prepares for its second group-stage match.

From fan events and merchandise sales to live match screenings at restaurants, businesses have reported a surge in interest following the Taegeuk Warriors’ victory against the Czech Republic last week.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/world-cup-2026-south-korea-football-fever-seoul-businesses-surge-interest-6192476

Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Lublin police arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of the Russian national and critical artist known as Semyon Skrepetsky. He said investigators were still seeking a “mastermind.”

A suspect has been detained in connection with the fatal shooting of a Russian national and subversive artist earlier this week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.

The homicide of an artist who was critical of Russian, Soviet and Chechen leaders comes amid the heightened tensions amid President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It’s one of several killings targeting prominent opposition or dissident figures in NATO countries in recent years, from Poland to Lithuania, or Britain or Berlin.

What did Tusk say about the arrest on Thursday?

Tusk said that police and Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) coordinated in the arrest.

He said that the suspect was using a Georgian passport, and that investigations continued trying to find out where the orders for the killing might have hailed from.

“Suspect involved in the murder of a Russian in Biala Podlaska detained by Lublin police and ABW! He is using a Georgian passport. The services are working to establish the mastermind,” he wrote online.

Tusk also said that the killing appeared to be a “political murder.”

“If it was commissioned by Russia, then this is also a very serious matter with an international dimension,” he said.

Police in Lublin said the seized passport belonged to a 36-year-old man.

Thursday’s arrest comes after two other Belarusian suspects were also detained, but not charged.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/semyon-skrepetski-suspect-arrested-poland/a-77602774

Ukraine hit Moscow’s refinery while Kyiv was hit by Russian missiles. The attacks come as Zelenskyy intensified efforts to end the war.

Russia struck Kyiv with missiles overnight while Ukraine hit a major oil refinery in Moscow with drones hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with ‌US President Donald Trump ⁠and ⁠European leaders.

Multiple sources reported explosions in Kyiv. Authorities in the city of Sumy also reported one fatality.

“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in safe places until the air ​raid alert is over!” Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a Telegram post early on Thursday.

This is the second time Kyiv has come under attack this week. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has been trying to pressure Russia to end the war that has dragged on for more than four years.

Ukraine’s attack in Russia

Ukrainian drones ‌hit the Moscow Oil Refinery (MNPZ), Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, marking the second attack on the facility in a week.

Russia said on Thursday its ‌air defence ⁠systems ⁠had intercepted and ​destroyed 555 Ukrainian drones ​over multiple ​regions ‌overnight, while Sobyanin said ‌around 180 drones ‌heading ​for the capital had been ​downed.

“Air ⁠defense forces ​continue to repel a massive attack. Several drones managed to reach the Moscow oil refinery,” Sobyanin said ​on Telegram.

He added that a shopping centre on the outskirts of Moscow also suffered minor damage as a result of falling drone debris.

Flights at all ‌major ⁠Moscow airports ⁠have ​been temporarily suspended ​for ​safety ‌reasons after the ‌drone attack, ‌Russia’s aviation ​authority, Rosaviatsiya, said on ​Thursday.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-war-strikes-russia-oil-refinery/a-77597307

Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama have welcomed three ex-US presidents, dignitaries and celebrities to the opening of the Obama Presidential Center.

The Chicago attraction, a monument to the eight years the couple spent in the White House, has been in the works since the 44th president left the Oval Office a decade ago.

George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden attended, but current President Donald Trump, who has long feuded with Obama, was not invited. The BBC contacted the White House for comment.

The Obamas chose the Jackson Park neighbourhood on the South Side for the 20-acre campus, near the home where they lived before moving to the White House.

Obama, who was president from 2009-17, told visitors during Thursday’s opening ceremony: “We wanted it [the centre] to be a vibrant, living celebration of community.

“Where we can learn together and share the joys of art and music and sport and play.”

He appeared emotional as his wife gave a heartfelt tribute to him.

Neither Obama mentioned Trump by name, but each made pointed remarks that were widely interpreted as implicit rebukes of the current administration.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who were in office during Obama’s tenure – attended.

There were also performances from artists including Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Common, Marc Anthony, U2’s Bono and The Edge, as well as Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly91eqyd0ko

Visitors to the Acropolis can now see the Parthenon’s western side looking whole for the first time in about 220 years.

Officially unveiled Thursday, restorers have slotted two new marble blocks into long-empty gaps high on the temple’s western end — the view visitors see when they first enter the ancient monument in Athens.

The 25-century-old monument overlooking the Greek capital attracted about 4.6 million visitors last year. Long-term restoration projects address damage caused by war, weather and looting, including the broken outline of the western side.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni described the sight after the latest restoration as “truly stunning.”

The two new stones, she said, do more than fill a gap.

“They allow the unique proportions and the geometric perfection of the Parthenon’s western face to be seen once again,” she said.

The project was funded through a European Union program. It is part of a broader restoration effort that began in 1975.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/greece-acropolis-restoration-parthenon-tourism-da06640fcd747498613d31b64dac369a

Janeese Lewis George, who pledged to aggressively stand up to federal intervention into Washington, D.C.’s affairs, won Tuesday’s Democratic primary for mayor, setting up a potential showdown with the Trump administration over its moves to challenge the city’s limited autonomy.

In an overwhelmingly Democratic city, Lewis George is likely to take the top spot in November’s general election, replacing moderate Muriel Bowser, who decided not to run again after three terms.

Lewis George joins Robert White Jr., who won the Democratic primary for the district’s delegate to Congress, as the top local officials who likely will contend with the federal government’s intentions for the city. They each campaigned on a promise to take a harder line than their predecessors against the Trump administration’s moves on the district, including its deployment of the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission meant to fight crime.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Lewis George said she hoped she could work together with the administration “as every mayor has had to work with any president of the United States, no matter their party.”

But, she said, she would oppose actions that threaten the city’s residents.

“We are not going to be able to stand up for our autonomy and fight for D.C. statehood ultimately, by just complying in advance,” Lewis George said. “I have also been very clear that I will work with anyone including the president for the best interest of D.C. residents.”

Washington has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

President Donald Trump further encroached on that autonomy last year when he briefly federalized the city’s police force and deployed an ongoing law enforcement surge that included the National Guard. Trump’s efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. He has also been reshaping the city by renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/janeese-lewis-george-washington-dc-mayor-primaries-a792a2b725d641ca511c81d8faf6ebc8

A flu outbreak at Joint Base San Antonio has led to 159 confirmed cases among Air Force recruits, with two requiring hospitalization.

A flu outbreak has spread among Air Force recruits at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, with at least 159 confirmed cases and two hospitalizations reported, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The outbreak is affecting trainees at the Air Force’s basic training facility and comes weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended the requirement for annual flu vaccinations for all US military personnel, making the shot optional instead of mandatory.

An Air Force spokesperson confirmed a “localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training,” adding that medical teams have implemented isolation and treatment measures to limit further spread. Symptomatic recruits are being monitored and treated, including with antiviral medications such as Tamiflu, and will return to training once cleared.

Sources said the vaccination rate among recruits at the San Antonio base has dropped to around 40% since the mandate was lifted, compared with nearly 100% under the previous requirement.

The policy change, announced in April, applied to both active-duty and reserve personnel and aligned with earlier decisions making COVID-19 vaccination optional across the military. The Pentagon has since allowed service-specific exceptions under which vaccines may still be required in certain circumstances.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said exemptions were granted for multiple services and agencies, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, NSA, and Defense Health Agency, following risk assessments aimed at balancing readiness and force protection.

Hegseth defended the policy shift earlier this year, calling the previous mandate “overly broad and not rational,” and emphasizing personal choice for service members.

Public health experts, however, have warned that military populations—particularly young recruits in close-quarter training environments—are more vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks. A Defense Health Agency study found that influenza hospitalizations have historically been highest among service members under 25, especially new recruits.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/flu-outbreak-strikes-air-force-in-san-antonio-recruits-after-mandatory-vaccine-policy-ends-article-154677249

A total of eight Hangor-class submarines were to be acquired under the deal signed by Pakistani and Chinese authorities during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Islamabad in April 2015.

Over a decade after signing a submarine deal with China, Pakistan has inducted its first vessel. The deal is the largest defence acquisition in the country’s history.

A total of eight Hangor-class submarines were to be acquired under the deal signed by Pakistani and Chinese authorities during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Islamabad in April 2015. Per the contract terms, four submarines were to be constructed in China and delivered to Pakistan before 2022-2023. The other four vessels would be assembled at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) by 2028.

However, by 2026, just one submarine, PNS Hangor, had been inducted into the Pakistan Navy.

The other three submarines that were to be built in China – PNS Shushuk, PNS Mangro and PNS Ghazi – have been launched and are undergoing advanced sea trials. Thus, the original deadline of delivering the China-built submarines expired without a single submarine entering service.

Reasons Behind the Delay Of The Programme

There were multiple reasons behind this delay.

Germany’s refusal to issue export licences for the MTU engines selected for these vessels became a huge issue. This meant that Pakistan and China had to use Chinese-built CHD-620 engines instead.

Additionally, delays happened due to the pandemic impact and difficulties of integrating a completely new submarine design. The Pakistani side did not provide any information on revised deadlines.

The Original Deadline Under Threat

When the contract was signed, the deadline to deliver the first four submarines was set for 2023.

It is expected that all eight submarines will be delivered between 2028 and 2030, several years after the deadline.

According to defence analysts, the other three submarines built in China can enter service relatively quickly.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/crippled-by-delays-pakistans-ambitious-submarine-programme-gasps-for-breath-11656649?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

The U.S.-Iran agreement — the first signed by an American and an Iranian president since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution — is being hailed by its backers as the deal of the century.

But for Tehran’s ​adversaries across the Middle East — from Israel to Gulf states and factions in Lebanon — it looks more like the curse of the century: an accord that could leave Iran more secure, more ‌legitimate and ultimately more influential.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the interim deal on Wednesday, ending a three-month war. Trump chose to formalise it at Versailles, on the sidelines of the G7 summit — a setting widely seen as symbolic of the remaking of international order after conflict.

The 14-point agreement extends a ceasefire by 60 days, including in Lebanon, to allow negotiations on a permanent settlement and address issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme.

“For Washington and Tehran, this is a grand bargain — the deal of the century, with ​no turning back,” said Lebanese commentator Sarkis Naoum. “The probability of success outweighs the risk of failure. Iran cannot endure further economic pain under sanctions, and Trump has no incentive to start a new war.”

DEAL ​IS A SETBACK FOR ISRAEL

Israeli analyst Danny Citrinowicz described the agreement as a strategic “catastrophe”. What had been framed as a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign to weaken, or even topple ⁠the Islamic Republic has, in his view, flipped into American recognition of Iran.

“We went to topple the regime with U.S. backing and ended with Washington effectively giving legitimacy and strengthening the same regime we wanted to bring ​down,” said Citrinowicz, a senior Iran researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

He says the deal delivers none of Israel’s core demands: no curbs on Iran’s missile programme or proxies and no clear path to dismantling its ​nuclear facilities. Even Israel’s campaign in Lebanon has been constrained by the ceasefire framework imposed at Iran’s insistence.

The fallout is both political and strategic. The deal undercuts Netanyahu’s narrative on Iran and exposes the limits of his leverage with a U.S. president seen as closely aligned with Israel.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-iran-deal-redraws-middle-east-iran-gains-rivals-alarmed-2026-06-18

Meta Platforms has lobbied the U.S. Congress for legal immunity from child-harm claims tied to ‌social media products such as Instagram, as it faces thousands of lawsuits from young users and their families, according to a source familiar with the matter and proposed legislative language reviewed by Reuters.

If adopted by lawmakers and passed into law as part of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) under consideration in the U.S. Senate, such a provision could ​undermine thousands of lawsuits against Meta and other online platforms over harms to children. Meta and Google’s YouTube face a combined $6 million ​in damages after they lost the first case at trial early this year.

While legislators have given no indication of ⁠adopting the language, the lobbying effort shows the kind of legal protections Meta is seeking amid the biggest attempt to regulate online platforms in the ​U.S. since the 1990s.

The proposed language reviewed by Reuters would make online companies “immune from suit or liability under state law with respect to all claims ​for loss caused by, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from the safety or privacy of individuals under the age of eighteen online or otherwise related to the provisions” of KOSA. The provision appears alongside language that would preempt state laws on children’s online safety and privacy.

Asked about the lobbying effort and the proposed language, Meta spokesperson ​Stephanie Otway said the provision “does not extinguish existing lawsuits, nor does it represent blanket immunity.”

“Instead, it establishes uniform national standards for online youth safety, ​ensuring these critical issues are governed by comprehensive federal legislation, not plaintiffs’ lawyers or patchwork state legislation,” she said.

Julia Duncan of the American Association for Justice, a group ‌that represents ⁠trial lawyers, said that if passed, however, the provision would knock out any lawsuits pending when the law took effect.

“The language is pretty clear-cut immunity against every parent, every school district, that is seeking to hold any AI or social media company accountable for harm” to children, Duncan said. “There is no other way to read this language.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/meta-lobbies-congress-protection-child-harm-lawsuits-2026-06-18

Ohio can implement a ‌law requiring social media companies, including Meta Platforms’ (META.O), opens new tab Instagram, to obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to use their platforms, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday.

A 2-1 panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned, opens new tab a lower-court ruling that ​had put the law on hold at the request of the tech industry trade group NetChoice. The ​panel found the law did not violate free speech protections under the First Amendment ⁠of the U.S. Constitution.

NetChoice said in a statement that the court’s decision threatens the online privacy and constitutional rights ​of Ohio residents, but the group “remains fully confident that this unconstitutional law will ultimately be struck down permanently.”

Ohio Attorney ​General Andy Wilson in a statement said the decision “gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”

The ruling comes as governments around the world, including in Australia, move to restrict children’s access to social media, reflecting growing concern among lawmakers about the platforms’ ​effect on young people’s health and safety.

The Ohio case is one of an array of legal challenges that NetChoice ​has been pursuing to prevent states from implementing laws the authorities say are needed to protect children from the mental health dangers ‌posed ⁠by social media.

The Ohio law, known as the Social Media Parental Notification Act, was passed by the state’s legislature in 2023 and took effect in January 2024, only to be quickly blocked from being enforced by U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley.

The law requires operators of websites that can be reasonably anticipated to be accessed by children under 16 to ​verify their age. It ​provides an 11-factor list to ⁠determine whether a website falls within that definition, along with certain exceptions.

NetChoice, whose members include TikTok, Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), opens new tab YouTube, and Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta, had argued the law was ​unconstitutionally vague and improperly restricted children’s access to content protected by the First Amendment.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-court-rules-ohio-can-restrict-childrens-use-social-media-2026-06-18

The blast was so powerful that the huge disc-shaped lid of an oil storage ​tank was launched into the sky over Moscow like a frisbee.

Evading Russian air defences, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in southeast ‌Moscow on Thursday for the second time in three days, igniting a fierce blaze that spewed out clouds of black smoke.

But by striking with apparent impunity at a piece of critical infrastructure located inside Moscow’s ring road, just 16 km (10 miles) from ​the Kremlin, Ukraine is also sending a message to ordinary Russians.

“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is ​going on?’ I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing ⁠our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on ​X.

Kyiv says its strikes deep inside Russia are evidence that it is turning the tide of the war – a message that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy took this week to ​U.S. President Donald Trump and other G7 leaders at a summit in France.

A Kremlin aide denied on Thursday that the battlefield situation was shifting in Ukraine’s favour and said Trump had been “pumped up” with harmful ideas at the meeting. There was no immediate comment from President Vladimir Putin, who was hosting leaders from Southeast Asia at a summit in the ​city of Kazan.

ATTACK CAUSES MAJOR DISRUPTION

Throughout more than four years of war, political analysts and opinion pollsters say many Russians have sought to shut out the ​reality of the conflict – still described by the Kremlin as a “special military operation” – and get on with their lives.

Moscow has been periodically hit by drones since as far back ‌as May ⁠2023, when two of them reached the Kremlin itself, without causing damage. Until now such attacks had scarcely intruded on everyday life in the city of 13 million people.

On Thursday, however, there was major disruption across the capital. Flights were suspended at all Moscow airports and traffic halted on the highway around the city near the refinery. Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow’s busiest, was evacuated.

In online chat rooms, some residents complained about the lack of warning, saying no sirens had sounded.

A Moscow ​news channel reported that suburban residents ​said a shower of rain had ⁠left spots and smears of oil on cars and window sills.
In a sign of the broader economic impact of Ukrainian attacks, gasoline shortages have emerged in some parts of the country in recent weeks.

Russia, the world’s third-biggest oil producer and a ​major oil and fuel exporter, is set to import fuel by sea this month, industry sources have told ​Reuters.

Moscow authorities said the ⁠petrol situation in and around the capital was “normal”, but the federal anti-monopoly watchdog asked a major retailer to explain why it had hiked prices by 19% in the past week for the most popular grade of gasoline.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-brings-war-moscow-huge-blasts-shake-refinery-2026-06-18

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday limited the application of a decades-old federal law that bars firearms possession by certain drug users, rejecting a position taken by President Donald Trump’s administration that had threatened the gun rights of millions of Americans who ​use marijuana and own firearms.

The justices, in a 9-0 ruling, upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss an illegal gun possession charge brought under the law at issue against Ali Hemani, an American-Pakistani ‌dual citizen and Texas resident who told authorities he was a regular marijuana user.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the ruling, wrote that the government had failed to show that its prosecution of Hemani complied with the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”

The Trump administration had defended the law, though midway through the case it softened its position on barring marijuana users from owning guns. Gorsuch said the government’s shift “leaves it awkwardly positioned to suggest that the millions of Americans who now regularly use marijuana are categorically and unusually dangerous.”

A 1968 federal ​law called the Gun Control Act made possession of a firearm illegal for anyone who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.”

Thursday’s ruling stopped short of precisely defining the bounds of that legal ​provision, including which types of drugs, if any, pose a special risk of misuse of guns. But the court, which often has taken an expansive view of Second Amendment protections, ⁠said the government’s failure to even allege that Hemani was an addict or show that his marijuana use made him a danger to himself or others all but doomed its case.

Naz Ahmad, a lawyer for Hemani, welcomed the decision.

“The court’s ​unanimous ruling will protect millions of Americans from draconian punishment, simply because they happen to use marijuana and own a firearm,” Ahmad said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-backs-challenge-ban-gun-ownership-by-drug-users-2026-06-18

Artificial ‌Intelligence will lead to labour shortages, not the replacement of humans, Amazon (AMZN.O), founder Jeff Bezos predicted in a highly optimistic appearance at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Wednesday.
Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his ​space venture Blue Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, which is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing.

“I know ​there’s a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is ⁠going to make humans redundant and so on,” Bezos said. “I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, ​in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage.”
The comments come when global companies cut thousands of jobs after investing ​heavily in AI, with many, primarily tech firms, pointing to higher efficiencies from the technology’s rapid adoption.
U.S.-based employers announced 97,006 job cuts in May with AI linked to 40% of the layoffs, according to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

Half of Americans fear the ​rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of work, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month.
From ​Gen Z entering the job market to unions at South Korean carmakers and Hollywood scriptwriters, there has been a widespread pushback against AI ‌use.
Bezos, the ⁠world’s fourth-richest person with a net worth around $250 billion, argued that people have “endless” things to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower.
Amazon, too, has trimmed some 30,000 corporate roles since late last year, partly due to AI efficiency gains. Its CEO Andy Jassy had previously said increasing automation through AI tools would result in corporate job ​losses.

BEZOS’ SPACE FOCUS

One goal of space ​exploration is to move ⁠polluting industries off Earth, said Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to compete with trillionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX.O), in rockets.

“If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials ​from asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be ​returned to its ⁠pre-Industrial Revolution state,” Bezos said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/ai-will-lead-labour-shortages-jeff-bezos-says-vivatech-2026-06-17/

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating a health insurance executive ​in a carefully executed plot, could have a hard time convincing jurors at his murder trial that he suffered a ‌mental health breakdown, legal experts said.
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in Midtown in December 2024. Defense lawyers indicated on Wednesday that Mangione plans to mount a type of legal defense that allows jurors to downgrade murder charges to manslaughter if they believe a defendant lost control of their actions due to an “extreme emotional ​disturbance.”

But allegations that Mangione meticulously planned the assassination and concealed his identity as he led law enforcement on a five-day manhunt could ​cut against an argument that he lost control of his actions, according to former Manhattan state prosecutor Gary Galperin.
“This is ⁠a strategic choice on his part to limit his exposure on conviction, and while legally viable, I think factually he has a high hurdle ​to convince a jury,” said Galperin, now a professor at Cardozo School of Law.
Mangione’s legal team and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office declined to ​comment.
Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty to state murder, weapons and forgery charges, is expected to go to trial in September.

The brazen killing was widely condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with rising healthcare costs and insurance industry practices.
An extreme emotional disturbance defense under New York law is different from an insanity defense, which requires ​a psychiatric diagnosis and proof a defendant did not know what they did was wrong. The emotional disturbance defense does not require a defendant ​to admit to the crime.
The defense has been successful in New York in cases where defendants acted with overwhelming emotions such as anger and passion or reacted to ‌extreme trauma. ⁠The defense has been rejected in cases in which there is evidence that a defendant engaged in planning and maintained a calm, careful demeanor, according to legal experts.
Carro will decide before instructing the jury whether Mangione provided enough evidence for them to consider downgrading to manslaughter, which could spare Mangione a possible life sentence if he is convicted.

Mangione suffered from chronic back pain, according to friends and social media posts, and prosecutors say they found a ​notebook where he criticized the health insurance ​industry and wrote about “wack(ing)” an ⁠executive.

RELATABLE STRUGGLE?

Mangione’s lawyers could seek to convince jurors that the days or weeks around the alleged shooting were an extended mental health crisis that departed wildly from Mangione’s normal behavior, according to New York Law School professor Anna ​Cominsky.
“They could argue this isn’t normally what he did: sit around and talk about how corrupt the ​insurance industry is,” Cominsky ⁠said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/mangione-accused-insurance-ceo-killer-could-face-hurdles-with-mental-breakdown-2026-06-17/

The U.S. and Iran released the text of an interim agreement their presidents have signed to end their war on Wednesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to resume attacks and kill Iranian officials if they failed to honour their ​commitments.
Trump, attending the G7 with other leaders in France, also withdrew at least one of his stated rationales for attacking Iran in the first place, saying it would be “unfair” for Tehran not to have ballistic missiles, having previously ‌vowed to obliterate them.

“We’re going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement,” Trump said of Iran at a press conference. “I don’t want them to. I want them to honor the agreement.” He also called Iranians “smart people” as U.S. and Iranian negotiators work on a permanent truce over the coming 60 days, which Trump said he hoped would usher in peace in the Middle East and lower oil prices.
Earlier, he had said: “If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, OK?”
Iran’s leaders did not address the new threats while celebrating the ​moment, releasing photographs of what is believed to be the first agreement signed by both a U.S. and Iranian president since the Islamic Republic’s founding in 1979.

“Everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained several times over through negotiation; it ​was not even comparable,” Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told state television about the agreement, which includes the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets.
The U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran ⁠on February 28, assassinating the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and military leaders on the first day. It quickly spiralled into a regional conflict that has killed more than 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon; driven up energy prices; renewed inflationary pressures and sparked concerns about a ​major food supply crisis in developing countries.
The 14-point agreement extends a ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days, including in Lebanon, to allow the two sides to negotiate a final truce. Both Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have digitally signed the memorandum in English and Farsi, U.S. and Iran ​officials said, with Iran’s foreign ministry saying the agreement was already in effect as of Wednesday.

Trump signed just before a grand dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, the site of the signing of the eponymous treaty that formally ended World War One.

G7 LEADERS WELCOME IRAN DEAL

The memorandum includes an immediate end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, the full resumption of maritime traffic “with no charge” in the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, the waiving of U.S. sanctions on Iran, the unfreezing of its assets, and a $300 billion investment fund for the Islamic Republic’s post-war reconstruction.
Oil ​prices fell again on Wednesday on prospects for the reopening of the Hormuz, the slender, vital waterway between Iran and Oman, with Brent crude futures below $80, at their lowest level since the war’s start. They later regained more than 1% after Trump threatened renewed violence.
Iran also undertakes not to ​build nuclear weapons, reaffirming a vow it had made for decades. It also agreed to the on-site “down-blending” of its stockpile of enriched uranium under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, although Trump had wanted to take it out of the country, which Iran has rejected.

Despite his combative rhetoric, Trump appears ‌to have achieved ⁠little of what he said he wanted in going to war, while Iran appears much closer to sanctions relief worth billions of dollars than before it was attacked.
Iran’s theocratic government remains in place, its stockpile of highly enriched uranium has not been surrendered, its ballistic missile capabilities have not been destroyed and it has not ended its support for anti-Israel militias like Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Trump recanted his February promise to destroy all of Iran’s missiles and “raze their missile industry to the ground.”
“I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” Trump told reporters in Paris after leaving the summit.
G7 leaders hailed the agreement at their summit, held in the French town of Evian-les-Bains, an hour’s drive along the shore of Lake Geneva from where the U.S. has said a formal signing ceremony for the ​U.S.-Iran agreement was due to be held across the Swiss border on ​Friday.
But Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei cast doubt on ⁠this, telling IRIB’s News Network that, because the two presidents had already signed, “No signing ceremony will be held in Switzerland.”
European leaders share U.S. concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, but never endorsed his decision to go to war without United Nations authorization, and worry Iran has gained leverage by withstanding the superpower onslaught and asserting control over the strait.
The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Italy, Canada and the U.S. demanded in ​a joint statement an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, where the memorandum calls for a halt to hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group that have killed thousands of people and displaced more ​than a million more.
Fighting there has abated ⁠but not ceased since the agreement was reached on Sunday, and Israel, which was not part of the negotiations and whose military is occupying southern Lebanon, says it retains the right to use force.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/g7-leaders-demand-ceasefire-lebanon-welcome-iran-deal-2026-06-17/

Caleb Yirenkyi scored a stoppage-time winner to earn Ghana a 1-0 win ​over Panama in a chilly and lively World Cup game on Wednesday in which the African side were forced to play ‌the second half without starting goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi.
After a lightning-quick counter-attack, Brandon Thomas-Asante charged forward before playing a precise pass into the area for Yirenkyi, who tapped home in the fifth minute of extra time for his first competitive international goal.

“I got the ball in the box and I finished it there,” Yirenkyi told ​reporters when asked what he remembers about the moment that sent the yellow-clad Ghana supporters into party mode.
Panama, bolstered by a ​vociferous red-clad contingent of supporters, were energetic, purposeful and threatening in the final third while Ghana were unable ⁠to find their rhythm until the second half when the tables turned.
Despite dominating possession in the first half, Panama, whose only other appearance ​in the finals ended at the group stage in 2018, had nothing to show for their efforts and their loss left them with work to ​do.

“The result is painful, but that is because we deserved better,” said Panama manager Thomas Christiansen. “We controlled the first half, but in the second half, we played their game a bit more. That’s not how we wanted to play, but now is not the time for regrets.”

HYDRATION BREAK BOOED LOUDLY IN THE RAIN

Ati Zigi ​was by far Ghana’s best player in the first half, commanding his area impressively while his teammates were unable to manage a single attempt ​on the Panama goal, but he did not come out for the second half after a collision.
Shortly after a hydration break that was loudly booed by ‌spectators as ⁠light rain fell, Panama threw everything they could at the Ghana goal but failed to find a way through.
Panama demanded a penalty after Cristian Martinez went down in the box but their claims that there was contact from Jerome Opoku did not convince the referee.

ATI ZIGI RECEIVES TREATMENT

Ati Zigi received treatment following a collision near the end of the first half and was replaced by Benjamin Asare when the game started to ​open up and Ghana found their ​stride.
Panama nearly opened the scoring ⁠in the 60th minute but Martinez lashed his attempt from close range into the side-netting from a tight angle and Jonas Adjetey almost scored for Ghana when he rose high to meet a cross with a ​header that forced a smart stop from Orlando Mosquera.
Thomas-Asante sent a gorgeous low cross into the box ​for Jordan Ayew but ⁠Panama defender Jiovany managed to poke it just wide of the post before the night’s second hydration break was booed.
Immediately after the final whistle, Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz went to the pitch and signalled toward a section of his team’s fans who were the loudest all evening.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/yirenkyis-last-gasp-winner-seals-1-0-victory-ghana-over-panama-2026-06-18/

Rex Heuermann, known as the Gilgo Beach serial killer, who admitted to brutally murdering eight women, received the maximum sentence on Wednesday.

He will serve three life sentences for first-degree murder, plus 25 years to life on four second-degree murder charges, all running consecutively.

The sentencing in New York followed a series of angry, poignant statements, as victims’ family members described how the brutal losses created “lifelong devastation” for them.

In April, Heuermann confirmed that he strangled and bound his victims before scattering their remains along Long Island’s remote beaches.

“You are a disgusting and despicable, small man, if you’re a man at all. And you’re a coward,” said Judge Timothy Mazzei as he handed down the sentence in a Riverhead, Long Island courtroom. “Get him out of here.”

The courtroom erupted in cheers.

Heuermann, who appeared in a dark suit, blue shirt and grey tie, gave a brief statement before the sentence, claiming responsibility, then acknowledged that at this point, his words had “no meaning.” When asked by the judge if he was “a little bit sorry”, he replied, “yes”.

The murders took place between 1993 and 2010, but the case took over a decade to solve.

After initially pleading not guilty, Heuermann ultimately admitted to the murders of: Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Costello, 27; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Jessica Taylor, 20; Valerie Mack, 24; Sandra Costilla, 28; and Karen Vergata, 34.

After the hearing, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney praised the families of the victims. “I want them to get their revenge by going on to have wonderful lives…now it’s time for them to heal,” he said.

Heuermann’s defence attorney Michael Brown said he spoke to his client after the hearing briefly and that he will be visiting him in prison.

“From his standpoint, we saw the writing on the wall. He wanted to spare his family the ordeal of going to trial,” said Brown.

The hearing started with fiery statements from victims’ family members.

Amanda, sister of Barthelemy, described to the court the phone calls Heuermann made to her family after killing her sister, detailing how he was letting her sister’s body “rot” and how he raped her. “I was 15,” she said.

She addressed him directly: “You can look at me when I’m talking to you. It’s been 17 years since we last spoke.”

For the first time, Heuermann, who had been staring straight ahead blankly, turned towards the podium, then immediately back.

“The things I’d do to you are worse than what you’ve ever done to anyone,” she said as gasps were heard in court. “Save me a spot in hell because I’ll see you there.”

Taylor’s cousin told the court on Wednesday that she will never forget getting calls that parts of her cousin’s body had been found on Gilgo Beach.

“I couldn’t wrap my head around the word ‘torso’,” she said, repeating “headless and handless”.

She called Heuermann “sick, twisted, heartless”. “23 years we waited. For a while it felt like this day would never come,” she said.

Police arrested Heuermann, a married father of two living in the suburb of Massapequa Park, in 2023. The 62-year-old architect was taken into custody by Suffolk County police who swarmed his Midtown Manhattan office after tying him to the murders with DNA from a pizza box.

Heuermann was first charged in the murders of seven women, but in April, he pleaded guilty to an additional killing in 1996. Though many of his victims were missing for years, the case came to light in 2010 when investigators found four sets of remains within a quarter mile of each other on Gilgo Beach.

“Mr Heuermann, you have done horrendous things to Valerie’s earthly body, but you have not touched the real Valerie,” said Mack’s father.

“I can only imagine when my day comes and I stand before Jesus, Valerie will be at his side.”

Heuermann’s victims are all believed to be sex workers at the time of their death, some of them contacted by him through their advertisements on Craigslist.

At the time, some of them had young children – now adults – who the court heard from during the hearing.

Nicolette Brainard-Barnes, daughter of Maureen, acknowledged that her mother was a sex worker, which she said led her name to be “slandered”.

“Like every sex worker, my mother was an entire human being,” she said.

She said she was only 7 when her mother disappeared. “I had to wonder where she was,” she said. “I was a little girl and I needed my mom.”

Her whole life has been shaped by her mother’s absence, she said.

“She was young at heart, but she was also just young. Now I’m nearly two years older than she will never be.”

Liliana Waterman, Megan’s daughter, was 4 when her mother’s body was found. She said she learned details of the crime on the internet when she was 9.

“I remember asking my grandparents what the words ‘prostitute’ and ‘pimp’ meant,” she said.

She wondered if her mother was scared or if it was her fault, she said.

The sister of Brainard-Barnes broke down into sobs as she talked about how much she missed her.

“Nothing could have prepared me for the day Maureen didn’t come home,” she told the court. “This was not only a destruction of life, this has become a lifelong devastation of a family.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyw29kvlydo

Investigators combed through wreckage Wednesday for clues to why a business jet crashed on a Texas highway, killing one person on board after its pilots reported mechanical problems while requesting an emergency landing at a nearby airport.

The fiery crash late Tuesday in Laredo near the Mexican border sent bystanders racing from their cars to help police rescue passengers and crew from the burning aircraft. The crash killed Joshua Baer, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors, the president of Baer’s company said.

Video from the frantic scene showed someone trying to smash the cockpit glass with a sledgehammer, while others used makeshift levers as they worked to open the plane’s door. Local officials said a firefighter entered the smoke-filled jet to extract one person still inside after the rest had escaped.

“While the loss of life is deeply regrettable, it is nothing short of a miracle that this tragedy did not become a mass fatality event,” Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño said during a news conference Wednesday.

Two pilots and three teenagers survived the crash and have since been released from the hospital, according to the Laredo Police Department. A dog on board that suffered from smoke inhalation was also expected to survive, said Jose Baeza, an investigator with the police department.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating along with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Laredo Police Chief Miguel Rodriguez Jr. said investigators working to reconstruct the crash were at the crash site Wednesday.

Crash victim worked to help entrepreneurs launch startups

Baer, 50, was known as a central figure in Austin’s turbocharged evolution as a tech hub. He was the founder and chief executive of Capital Factory, which helps entrepreneurs connect with investors and others to launch their businesses.

“The number of lives Josh impacted in Austin, across Texas, and throughout the technology community is impossible to measure,” Capital Factory President Bryan Chambers said in a post on LinkedIn.

Capital Factory executives did not immediately return phone messages Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Baer lived in Austin with his wife and three children, according to his LinkedIn page. He recently taught a student entrepreneur class at the University of Texas at Austin.

“I help people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs,” Baer said on his LinkedIn page.

Pilots reported low fuel and power loss, airport director says

The Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet departed Tuesday evening from the Mexican resort city of San José del Cabo and was bound for Austin, Texas, the FAA said in a statement.

The plane was operated by NetJets, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that lets people buy part ownership in private jets. NetJets said in a statement it was cooperating with authorities.

The jet went down at about 10 p.m. Tuesday on the Loop 20 highway, just a few minutes after its pilots radioed the local airport seeking to make an emergency landing. Their call to air traffic controllers “mentioned low fuel and a power outage,” Laredo International Airport Director Gilberto Sanchez said.

“They had mechanical issues and they lost communication with the tower,” Sanchez said Wednesday.

Dashcam video posted on social media showed the aircraft careening down the highway and knocking down a light post before stopping near the airport. The jet also barreled into a car, sending one motorist to a hospital in stable condition, Baeza said.

Five officers treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation have since been released, according to Rodriguez.

Experts wonder if jet lost engine power, had fuel leak

NetJets, started as a private jet charter service in 1964, had never had a fatal crash before Tuesday. Aviation safety experts interviewed Wednesday praised the company’s safety record.

It shouldn’t take investigators long to get a good idea of what caused the crash, in part because both pilots survived, former NTSB investigator Alan Diehl said.

The flight’s final minutes suggest the plane may have lost power to both engines and been attempting to glide into the Laredo airport, said Jeff Guzzetti, a former FAA and NTSB investigator.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/texas-plane-crash-9d1eb45ec3c4482f2362ec3a39693a82