Bahraini award to UK envoy shows ‘our diplomats are up for grabs’, says peer

• Iran's economy nearly stagnated in 2025, recording a marginal growth rate of only 0.2% while non-oil GDP experienced a contraction. • The slowdown is attributed to a series of conflicts, including a 12-day war with Israel in the summer and a 40-day conflict involving the U.S. and Israel in the winter, alongside January's nationwide protests.

• The conflict in Iran has exposed the severe vulnerabilities of Asia's energy dependence, transforming a fragile situation into an economic emergency. • The Asian Development Bank warns that if oil prices remain around $96 per barrel for the year, GDP growth could drop by 0.7 percentage points in 2026.

• Iran and the United States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to end the conflict in West Asia and ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains open. • As part of the agreement, fighting in Lebanon is set to cease to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in the region.

• A new book titled "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" reveals that a former cabinet member referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a "special needs child for the Europeans." • The comments reportedly surfaced during a meeting focused on discussing a proposed minerals deal between the United States and Ukraine.

• On June 23, 2026, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared that Iran will not engage in negotiations regarding its ballistic missile program. • This stance comes amidst an ongoing conflict involving the United States and Israel, signaling a hardening of Tehran's position on its strategic weaponry.

• President Donald Trump has dismissed claims that no visits are scheduled for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, insisting that Iran has already agreed to increased nuclear inspections. • This diplomatic tension occurs alongside ongoing military conflict, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon continues despite a renewed ceasefire agreement reached on Friday.

Makerfield MP considering northern base for PM’s office as part of measures to devolve power away from LondonUK politics live – latest updatesAndy Burnham is planning to move parts of the No 10 operation to Manchester as part of measures to devolve power away from London.The Makerfield MP will say next week he wants to transfer parts of the prime minister’s office to the north should he become prime minister later this year. Continue reading...

Bahrain Mujagata is just 21 years old and balances taxi driving with university studies and acting classes“I’ve got T-shirts older than you!” The joke draws laughter from a table of black-cab drivers gathered in the Astral cafe on Regency Place in Westminster. Around the table, cabbies swap stories accumulated over decades behind the wheel: picking up the England World Cup hero Geoff Hurst, ferrying senior politicians around London, and navigating the capital long before smartphones and satnavs existed.At just 21, Bahrain Mujagata is an anomaly among them. In late 2025, he became London’s youngest licensed black-cab driver after completing the Knowledge – the notoriously demanding test of the capital’s streets – in just two years and five months. Most candidates take three to four years to qualify, according to Transport for London. Continue reading...

Gen Christopher Donahue, commander of forces in Europe and Africa, is leaving after just 18 months in the jobThe army’s commander of its forces in Europe and Africa – who was famously the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021 – is unexpectedly stepping down from his post after just 18 months in the job, the Army confirmed late Tuesday.Gen Christopher Donahue, commanding general of US Army Europe and Africa and commander of Nato’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish his command on 2 July, according to an army statement provided to the Associated Press. He is the latest in a line of nearly two dozen top military leaders to either retire or depart their jobs early under the leadership of the defense secretary Pete Hegseth, who has undertaken an effort to thin the ranks of the military’s top brass with the mantra “less generals, more GIs”. Continue reading...

Local sheriff’s office appealed for citizens to keep their eye out for Gracie’s ‘rounded ears’ – to distinguish from any other missing giraffesFor almost two weeks, residents of a rural Texas county have been looking, mostly up, for a missing giraffe called Gracie that wandered off from a private game ranch.On Wednesday, it appeared the free-roaming mammal’s odyssey was over, after it was reportedly found safe a “little farther out than expected” from its hill country home. Continue reading...

Camp owners said total debt exceeds $10m in chapter 11 filing after catastrophic flood last JulyCamp Mystic, the Christian summer camp in Texas where 28 people died in a catastrophic flood last July, has filed for bankruptcy, according to court records.In a Chapter 11 filing, submitted Wednesday in the southern district of Texas, the camp’s owners said that the camp’s total debt “exceeds $10m”. Continue reading...

Miranda and Eisa Davis’s concept album based on the 1979 film is to be realised for the stage, co-directed by Jenny Koons and Hamilton’s Andy BlankenbuehlerLin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’s concept album based on The Warriors, the cult novel and film about warring New York gangs, is to become a Broadway musical next year.The album, Warriors, was released to critical acclaim in 2024 and followed the eponymous Coney Island clan’s odyssey back to the Bronx after being falsely accused of killing the leader of the city’s biggest gang. The original story was written by Sol Yurick, whose 1965 book was inspired by Xenophon’s ancient epic Anabasis, and it became a Walter Hill action film in 1979. Continue reading...