David Harbour on Lily Allen’s West End Girl album: ‘It wasn’t my experience’

• Regional tensions persist in the Middle East nearly four months after the latest crisis erupted, despite a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran. • The UN Security Council is convening for a high-level debate to discuss advancing political solutions to address ongoing conflicts and humanitarian emergencies.

• The International Day for Dialogue Among Civilizations 2026 will focus on the theme of "Digital Dialogue" to highlight the role of technology in cultural exchange. • The initiative emphasizes how digital communities, including social media groups and virtual exchanges, facilitate mutual learning and global solidarity.

• Former President Donald Trump claimed that Iran shot down a helicopter on June 9, 2026, and vowed that the United States would "respond" to the incident. • The claim comes amid escalating tensions involving a broader US-Israel military conflict against Iran and ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

• UN partners in Gaza reported a significant decline in food aid as of May 31, with 80 kitchens delivering 678,000 meals daily, down from 1.5 million meals provided by 170 kitchens in mid-March. • UN official DiCarlo urged parties to return to diplomacy and good-faith negotiations, reiterating the Secretary-General’s demand for an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire.

• U.S. Central Command has launched strikes against Iran in response to the downing of an American military helicopter. • Iranian officials report that the strikes hit two water storage tanks in Sirik County, Hormozgan province, cutting off drinking water for local residents.

• Two decades of Global Peace Index (GPI) data reveal a global trend of deteriorating peace and an increasing inventory of unresolved conflicts. • The report highlights a significant success in Ethiopia, where the November 2022 Pretoria Peace Agreement reduced annual conflict deaths in Tigray from over 100,000 to roughly 2,300 in 2023.

• Global conflicts have surged to their highest levels since World War II, according to data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program. • Conflict-related fatalities reached a record high in 2025, with approximately 244,600 people killed.

• Portugal's Minister for Diplomacy, Mr. Rangel, announced that the agreement allowing the United States to use Lajes Air Base will be reviewed. • The review is deferred until after the current crisis in the Middle East is resolved to ensure regional stability.

• The 2026 Global Peace Index reports that global peace has reached a historic low due to a record-high number of interconnected conflicts. • This decline is attributed to the "Great Fragmentation," a geopolitical shift where traditional European powers are losing influence to rising middle powers.

Treasury minister Lucy Rigby says the government has the right to alter terms of existing agreementsMinisters have rejected accusations that recent changes to student loans were unfair, arguing they are so heavily subsidised that the government has the right to alter their terms.Pressure has been intensifying on the UK government to reform the student loans system but the chief secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, told MPs on Wednesday that less than half of young people go to university, and the government had to bear in mind “fairness to taxpayers as a whole”. Continue reading...

Republican who chairs House panel says he based decision on testimony from Epstein’s longtime assistant Lesley GroffRepresentative James Comer, the Republican who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform, announced that he would be asking Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s former attorney, to appear before the panel as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.“I am going to ask Alan Dershowitz to come in, we will have questions for him and we will give him an opportunity to come in,” Comer said on Wednesday morning, adding that the decision was based on the testimony of Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant, who testified before the committee on Tuesday, as well as “a meeting that I had afterwards with several of the Epstein survivors”. Continue reading...

A cycle of threat, detente and deadlock repeats itself wearisomely as the president’s war in Iran drags onUS politics live – latest updatesAs the story of the US-Iran war is written direct to social media, Donald Trump may be the genre’s premier unreliable narrator.Since the war began, Trump has again and again threatened Iran with fearsome consequences if Tehran doesn’t come to the table and sign a peace deal that the US president said was imminent weeks ago. And he has also repeatedly claimed that an Iran deal is “close” – without any result. (A CNN tally put the number of times he’s claimed it at 38.) Continue reading...