Bolivian president declares state of emergency and deploys military to quell anti-government protests

• Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz on June 20, 2026, escalating regional tensions by blocking a critical global shipping lane. • Simultaneously, Tehran announced that a negotiating team is traveling to Switzerland to engage in diplomatic talks with the United States.

• Iran is currently facing severe internal instability, characterized by an ailing economy, environmental degradation, and growing tension between the state and society. • A critical political uncertainty looms over the country regarding the eventual succession of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

• Finland has developed a dual-use sports hall that doubles as a massive bomb shelter capable of protecting 7,000 people from nuclear threats. • Located just over 100 miles from the Russian border, the facility was created by excavating and expanding a former military rifle workshop.

Scores of Alan Latham’s firms were removed by Companies House, including one set up for movie starring Liz HurleyA prolific film producer, whose projects have starred the likes of Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer and Four Weddings and a Funeral’s Anna Chancellor, has had scores of his production businesses forcibly removed from the UK’s companies register, leaving workers unable to chase unpaid fees.Alan Latham, whose low-budget films have previously raised questions over his use of tax credits, has seen 50 of his film businesses compulsorily struck off by Companies House, according to data compiled by the film workers’ union, Bectu. Continue reading...

Bank details at risk as criminals use AI to create fake sites and emails offering pre-release beta test versionLike millions of gamers around the world, you have been waiting years for Grand Theft Auto VI to be released. Now you have the opportunity to play the much-anticipated game before everyone else.An email has arrived inviting you to play a pre-release “beta” version of the game so that you can alert the makers to any bugs before its official release later this year. Continue reading...

Spain’s leading festival of photography showcases the work of more than 300 visual artists in nearly 100 exhibitions across the countryPhotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists.From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena Continue reading...

Even voters for far-right and Eurosceptic parties back closer relations, polling saysTwo-thirds of EU citizens would back Britain rejoining the bloc, while most UK voters say Brexit has been bad for the issues they care about and want closer ties, including levels of integration – such as free movement – long seen as toxic, a survey has found.Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a thinktank, found 66% of respondents across 15 countries felt UK membership was a very good, good or “neither a good nor a bad” idea. Continue reading...

Ten years ago Ebbw Vale had the highest proportion of leave voters in Wales despite huge EU funding, which has not been fully replacedWhere Ebbw Vale’s steelworks once stood is now a cluster of gleaming modern buildings including a hospital, a leisure centre and a college. Over the past decade, these public facilities have been joined by a public-private cybersecurity research centre and two tech firms. A new railway station opened at the site in 2015.Yet, during the Guardian’s visit to the Welsh valleys town last week, the area was quiet. Nearly as many sheep as people appeared to be using the new facilities: a ewe and three lambs, escaped from somewhere, busied themselves in a strip of rewilded land next to the tech buildings. Continue reading...

Frontrunner Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to return to full-scale military confrontation with armed groups Colombians go to the polls on Sunday in a presidential runoff expected to trigger to a dramatic shift in the country’s decades-long armed conflict, now at its most violent point since the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).Polls show the frontrunner is the Trump-admiring far-right lawyer and millionaire businessman Abelardo de la Espriella, who has vowed to abandon President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan of negotiating the disarmament of all criminal organisations and instead return to full-scale military confrontation with armed groups. Continue reading...

Follow live updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTram passengers in Melbourne will be able to pay for their trip using a bank card, smartphone or smartwatch from today.The long awaited expansion of tap-and-go payments follows a staged roll out to the city’s train network and main regional routes. Buses are expected to follow.From today, you can step off a train and straight on to a tram using the same phone, watch or bank card.Four in five tap and go trips are already being made with a phone or smartwatch – showing more Victorians are leaving the wallet at home.The potential for this virus to kill wildlife in significant numbers means it could be particularly catastrophic for threatened species.We are talking about possible extinctions, alongside severe impacts to common birds like our beloved pelicans and black swans.This is a genuine wildlife emergency and it must be treated as such with emergency funding to increase efforts to protect wildlife populations. Continue reading...

Blaze broke out in single-storey pavilion in New Zealand Way in White City on Saturday eveningThree people have died after a fire at a building in London, the London fire brigade (LFB) has said.The fire service said it received reports of the blaze in New Zealand Way in White City, west London, at 6.52pm on Saturday. Continue reading...