Middle East crisis live: Iran says ‘fundamental’ issues’ still to be resolved with US amid strait of Hormuz impasse

• Bahrain has accused Iran of launching a drone attack targeting the island kingdom, escalating tensions in the region. • The United States and Iran have exchanged military strikes following U.S. accusations that Tehran attacked a cargo ship, threatening a fragile ceasefire.

• Venezuelan citizens are conducting their own search and rescue operations as the death toll continues to rise following a devastating earthquake. • The U.S. State Department announced the creation of a "Military Coordination Group for Lebanon" to implement a new strategic framework for the region.

• Saudi Arabia has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting stability in Sudan, focusing on securing a ceasefire and preserving the nation's territorial integrity and state institutions. • According to a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency on Saturday, the Kingdom emphasized that the crisis must be resolved through a Sudanese-led political solution.

• Professor Michel Chossudovsky published an analysis on June 26, 2026, arguing that the United States has been engaged in a continuous conflict with Russia and the Soviet Union for over a century. • The article details a historical timeline of US-led wars and strategic initiatives aimed at destabilizing and eventually eliminating the Soviet Union from the global map.

• On Friday, June 26, 2026, the United States launched military strikes against Iran following threats from Donald Trump to respond to fires in the Gulf region. • The escalation occurs amidst a broader conflict involving a US-Israel war against Iran and ongoing Israeli military attacks targeting Lebanon.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says too many children still on platforms but he is ‘heartened’ by world-leading lawSocial media bans go global: big tech faces a reckoning after Australia’s crackdownGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe federal government will double the penalty for breaches of Australia’s youth social media ban to $99m, arguing tech companies are “not doing enough” to keep children off harmful social media sites.And the eSafety commissioner, now investigating potential breaches of the law by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, will have its information-gathering powers strengthened under proposed further reforms. Continue reading...

Experts say students from poorer backgrounds increasingly having to limit their options because of money worriesMost days, Mariam spends hours simply waiting.The 19-year-old University College London student often finishes her lectures by mid-morning but has careers events or society meetings in the evening. The three-hour round trip to her family home means travelling back and forth makes little sense, so she waits on campus instead. More often than not, by the time the event starts, she is too exhausted to stay long. Continue reading...

Court files show how men connected through TikTok and encrypted apps planned attack on White House UFC fightWhen Tycen Proper, 19, finished high school, his family gave him at least $3,000 of “graduation money”, according to court documents. Despite the generosity, he seemed content to just live at his parents’ home, in a tiny Ohio town near Amish country, and spend more and more time on the internet.But Proper did have ambition of a kind, an affidavit says. He quit his job to focus on a special project that he was planning with friends from the internet. His mother saw him studying maps of Washington DC. He also put his graduation money into investments that made his father uneasy: a rifle, a shotgun, body armor, ammunition. Continue reading...

Former Westminster correspondent earned a reputation for uncovering political wrongdoing in the 1990sThe acclaimed journalist David Hencke, whose career at the Guardian spanned more than three decades, has died from liver cancer aged 79.Hencke, the Guardian’s former Westminster correspondent, was instrumental in exposing the “cash for questions” scandal that forced the resignations of two Conservative ministers, as well as the scoop that led to Peter Mandelson’s first resignation from government. Continue reading...

Leader of local authority in Oxfordshire faces backlash over injunction ‘to maintain neutral, safe space for residents’While Londoners scurried from building to building seeking shade on another baking hot day this week, one man paused in the shadow of the Royal Courts of Justice.The leader of Oxfordshire county council, Tim Bearder, was not only satisfied in the shade of the court’s gothic towers. He had just won a landmark legal victory. Continue reading...

Editor-in-chief has developed network of UK thinkers she believes reject what she regards as overly ‘woke’ consensusIn the six years since she very publicly resigned from the New York Times, and in her tumultuous eight months as editor-in-chief of one of the US’s most prestigious television networks, Bari Weiss has become renowned as a media disruptor and challenger of what she regards as an overly “woke” journalistic consensus.As Weiss continues to face bitter internal and external opposition to her leadership of CBS News, she has been turning to figures from UK journalism in her attempts to tackle what she sees as US newsroom “groupthink”. Continue reading...

Next250’s Declaration of Interdependence, a new art gallery that features Americans’ collective values and hopes for the future, will open in McPherson SquareThousands are expected to gather a block away from the White House today to unveil their vision for America’s future.At the Next250 All of US rally, held a week before the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, organizers will launch their Declaration of Interdependence, an art installation featuring the collective values they believe should define the next 250 years of America’s story. The pledge – a take on the Declaration of Independence, the country’s founding text – aims to build a country where everyone can earn a living wage, have access to green spaces and feel safe in their communities, activists said. Continue reading...