Passenger of Bedford crash says 90% of people on his carriage were injured

• Xinhua News Agency announced its coverage schedule for Saturday, June 20, focusing on key developments within China. • A primary feature will examine the growth of China-Europe freight services and their role in stimulating pan-continental economic development.

• Iran has stated it is open to pursuing diplomatic engagement with the United States, provided Washington can guarantee that Israel adheres to the terms of a ceasefire. • This demand comes as violent clashes continue to escalate across Gaza and Lebanon, complicating efforts to stabilize the region.

• A contingent of 40 Indian Army personnel from the JAT Regiment has departed for Mongolia to participate in the KHAAN QUEST 2026 multinational exercise. • The drill focuses on UN peacekeeping operations, allowing participating nations to exchange best practices and improve collective responses to humanitarian crises.

• Australia has confirmed its first mainland case of the H5N1 bird flu virus after a wild brown skua was found in a remote area of the southwest. • Agriculture Minister Julie Collins announced the discovery on Saturday following positive laboratory test results.

• Recent global reports highlight positive trends, including a decrease in drug, alcohol, and suicide-related deaths within the United States. • In a significant legal victory for human rights, Colombia has officially outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM).

Figures including Jared Kushner and Scott Bessent named in directory of Dialog participants that was exposed onlineA website leak has exposed participants in the secretive, Peter Thiel-founded Dialog retreats which includes top politicians from across the American divide, officials from foreign countries, other titans of the tech industry world and prominent media figures.The annual Dialog retreats, which have been compared to other quasi-secret elite conferences like the Bilderberg Group and Bohemian Grove since they began in 2006, have had some participants revealed in previous media reports. Fairly little is known about the invitation-only event, which is usually held at luxury establishments around the world and features organized discussions on global affairs. Continue reading...

Mona Khalil led decades-long effort to protect nesting site for turtles near her home in south of the countryThe Lebanese marine activist Mona Khalil, who became a beloved figure in the country for a decades-long effort to protect a nesting site for turtles near her home, has died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike.Khalil, 76, ran a sanctuary called the Orange House Project near the Mediterranean city of Tyre. She hosted volunteers in her house to clean and monitor a mile-long beach and welcomed tourists to stay and learn about conservation. Continue reading...

Colombians will choose on Sunday between two men whose lives have been very differently shaped by the militias, and whose visions for the country are poles apartWhoever wins Sunday’s presidential runoff vote in Colombia, the country’s next leader will have a personal history intertwined with one of the criminal forces at the heart of a decades-long armed conflict that claimed nearly half a million lives.The lives of Iván Cepeda and Abelardo de la Espriella have, in very different ways, been shaped by their relationship with Colombia’s paramilitaries – private armies originally established by rightwing landowners, drug traffickers, businessmen, mining magnates and politicians to fight leftwing guerrilla groups. Continue reading...

Outbreak of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has forced mediators to cancel US-Iran peace talks in SwitzerlandIsraeli strikes on southern Lebanon have killed at least 16 people, local authorities said on Saturday, despite reports of a renewed ceasefire aiming to end persistent violence that threatens the new agreement between the US and Iran.Lebanon’s civil defence agency said its personnel transported “16 dead and 12 wounded” to hospital, adding that they had been working “since the early morning hours” in the Nabatieh district in response to “ongoing attacks targeting the area”. Continue reading...

Designer turns to the accessory that launched his empire as he invokes the golden age of Italian sportFor his second standalone menswear show in Milan, Ralph Lauren reverted to the accessory that launched his empire in 1967 – ties.Skinny silk ties featuring subtle swirly prints were neatly knotted and used as the finishing touch to elegant pinstripe suits, while more brightly printed or striped cravats were whirled and worn like ties peeking out from under knitwear and rugby shirts. Continue reading...

Arrests after explosion and caravan fires heighten controversy over number of people living in vehiclesJan Johnston was tucked up in the van she calls home when she was rocked by the explosion. “I heard this massive boom,” she said. “I came out and there was thick, black, billowing smoke. It was like a bomb had gone off.”It turned out not to be a bomb, but a suspected arson attack on one of the many caravans, motorhomes and converted vehicles tucked away in side roads and industrial estates around the town of Glastonbury in Somerset. Continue reading...

Kennedy overrides CDC order saying an American who came into contact with hantavirus can self-quarantine The Trump administration is employing “authoritarian” and “unconstitutional” quarantine measures for at least one person who came into contact with a hantavirus patient, health law experts say.The mandatory quarantine, reimposed without an offering scientific evidence, reveals how the US might approach future cases of Ebola and other pathogens in the US – and sets a precedent for detaining Americans with no scientific rationale. Continue reading...