Democrats to call on Vance to testify to House committee over Epstein files

• A new analysis by Press Gazette, utilizing Similarweb data, reveals that 80% of the top 50 US news websites experienced a traffic decline in May. • More than half of these major newsbrands saw double-digit year-on-year traffic drops, indicating a significant downward trend in digital readership.

• The Iranian clerical establishment is experiencing a period of systemic volatility and intense internal political friction. • High-level administrative infighting has escalated into an overt political war centered on the regime's approach to international diplomacy.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed a Security Council open debate in New York, urging member states to utilize the UN Charter to settle Middle East disputes peacefully. • Guterres highlighted how restrictions on navigational rights in the Strait of Hormuz are destabilizing global energy prices and disrupting critical supply chains.

• Tensions in the Middle East are escalating as warring parties resume hostilities and diplomatic relations deteriorate. • Iran remains defiant, demanding that the United States take accountability for ceasefire violations involving military strikes.

• The UK, Australia, and Canada have launched a major new international fund designed to scale civil society initiatives and address the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. • The fund will invest in grassroots projects aimed at rebuilding trust and reducing community divisions, integrating civil society efforts directly into broader diplomatic strategies.

Detectives ‘keeping an open mind to the motivation’ of Tuesday’s attack, but believe there is no further threat to the publicPolice have confirmed that a counter-terrorism unit is leading an investigation into three stabbings at a school in Manchester.A 14-year-old girl was arrested after two students and a staff member were stabbed at the Co-op academy in Blackley on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Woman, 58, was last heard from Monday afternoon and her car was found the next dayA man has been charged over the alleged kidnapping and murder of a woman whose body is yet to be found.Police have been investigating the disappearance of a 58-year-old woman who failed to returned to her home in Sydney’s northwest on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Long-awaited course to examine human effects on natural world and explore everyday ways to aid biodiversitySchool pupils will learn how to plant a wildflower-friendly garden, according to long-awaited plans announced on Thursday for a natural history GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.Campaigners have for more than a decade called for the study of biodiversity loss and global heating to be introduced as a dedicated subject in classrooms across the country, but despite a curriculum being previously drawn up, its launch has faced repeated delays. Continue reading...

Australia’s defence minister had been due to visit a naval base in Portsmouth with British defence secretary John Healey. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.We kick off with news from the UK, where our deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, was visiting for a ministerial summit but had the wind taken from his sails when his British counterpart abruptly quit over defence funding. Continue reading...

Strikes on Bemani damaged key water reservoir for 20,000 people living in area amid a historic drought in the countryMiddle East crisis – live updatesMilitary strikes that damaged two water storage facilities in southern Iran may constitute a war crime, military and legal experts say, after reviewing media reports and visual evidence of a 10 June strike on Bemani, a small district about 2 miles from the strait of Hormuz.It’s unclear if the strikes deliberately targeted the district’s water tanks, or if they unintentionally destroyed a key reservoir for about 20,000 people living nearby. But if the tanks were the target, then the legal question becomes critical, Brian Finucane, a former state department lawyer, said. “It’s either a military objective or it’s a civilian object: attacking one is lawful, attacking the other is a war crime,” Finucane said. Continue reading...

People in city’s minority ethnic communities speak of alarm as violence casts light on racism in Northern IrelandAs widespread violence broke out in Belfast, a list of addresses began circulating on social media. Spread geographically wide, on dozens of streets across the city, the addresses were reportedly houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) where immigrants live.Joseph and Solomon, both from Eritrea, came to Belfast as refugees, now have leave to remain, and work full-time. They live on the same street as one of the properties on the list, but Joseph thought it was theirs that was meant to be on it. “It’s obviously for us,” he said. Continue reading...