Farm workers at high risk amid screwworm outbreak in US south-west

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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...

Woman posed as sex worker and drugged men in order to steal from them with accompliceA woman posed as a sex worker and administered a deadly amount of sedative to two men so that she and an accomplice could steal from them.Adina Mihai, 31, and Madalin Dumitru, 30, admitted the manslaughter of an 80-year-old Gloucestershire man and a 37-year-old from Oxfordshire. Continue reading...

Rights activists call UK ambassador ‘morally compromised’ for accepting honour from Bahraini king in apparent breach of Foreign Office rulesThe British ambassador to Bahrain has been accused of breaching government rules over accepting an award by the Gulf state’s king, a move critics suggest signals diplomats and civil servants are “up for grabs”.This week, the ambassador, Alastair Long, received the Order of Bahrain from King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, in recognition of his diplomatic tenure, which human rights activists and politicians say is in “direct breach” of the Foreign Office’s rules on accepting foreign awards. Continue reading...

The New York Knicks might have won in five, but the city’s mayor did it in three: a trio of candidates backed by Mamdani appear set to land seats in US CongressUS politics live – latest updatesA man or a movement? That was the question being asked when Zohran Mamdani gambled his political capital on Tuesday’s elections in New York.The answer from voters was emphatic: they prefer Mamdani and his brand of democratic socialism to the Democratic party establishment and its lukewarm version of capitalism. America’s biggest city has swung even further to the left. Continue reading...

Interim report says other train it hit had halted on line because warning system wrongly caused it to brakeThe train whose driver died in the Bedford rail crash passed a danger signal and was not automatically stopped – while the train it hit had halted on the line because its warning system had wrongly caused it to brake, investigators believe.An initial report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch into the crash, which killed a train driver and injured more than 100 people, said it was not yet clear whether the train’s automatic warning system alerted the driver of the southbound Luton airport express from Corby that he had passed a red signal. Continue reading...