Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown

• President Donald Trump began his visit to the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, by praising a new agreement intended to end the conflict between the U.S. and Iran. • During a meeting on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump described the deal as a potential breakthrough for global security.

• The U.S. and Iran are reportedly nearing a peace deal that would effectively end their current conflict. • Key terms of the agreement include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade.

• A peace deal is expected to be signed this Friday to end military operations across all fronts, including conflicts in Lebanon. • Donald Trump has announced that the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz will be re-opened as part of the resolution.

• Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a summit in June 2026 to discuss regional stability and diplomatic cooperation. • The meeting serves as a critical test of China's strategic claim that it can lead and maintain a "stable" new global order.

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday that malnutrition has worsened across much of Afghanistan, with conditions deteriorating in 26 provinces. • The situation has reached critical levels in 12 provinces, highlighting a severe decline in nutritional stability compared to 2025.

• The UN human rights chief formally praised a new peace treaty signed between the United States and Iran on June 13, 2026. • The accord aims to resolve decades of conflict between the two nations and serves as a critical step toward establishing broader regional stability.

• G7 energy billionaires have reportedly accumulated $300 million daily amid ongoing conflicts involving the US, Israel, and Iran. • Total billionaire wealth has surged by nearly $10 trillion during the fifth global economic crisis since 2020.

Thinktank says decoupling electricity from gas prices has also helped shield Spain from hikes caused by Iran warSpanish households save €10 a month on electricity bills because of wind turbines and solar panels installed in the last five years, a report has found.Typical energy bills would be 19% more expensive if electricity costs were still as tightly coupled to gas prices as in 2021, according to Ember, a climate thinktank. It found Spain’s “strategic” expansion of renewables since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 has shielded Spanish households from the latest rises in fossil fuel prices caused by the Iran war. Continue reading...

Independent watchdog clears officers of serious misconduct but finds they ‘did not meet minimum standards’ on night Lindy Lucena was killed in BallinaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAt 7pm on 3 January 2023, New South Wales police received a triple zero call reporting that a woman was “being bashed” behind the Salvation Army building in Ballina.“I’m just letting you know, there’s a woman getting bashed behind Salvation Army in Ballina and that’s all I got to say I don’t want to be reported or anything,” the caller said. Continue reading...

Victoria and NSW police search seven properties as they examine where shooter travelled after killing two officers in PorepunkahTwo more men have been arrested as police continue their investigation into Porepunkah shooter Dezi Freeman’s months on the run after he killed two police officers.In a statement on Tuesday, police also revealed they believed Freeman travelled between Victoria and New South Wales in the seven months between the August 2025 shooting at Porepunkah and when he was found on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victoria-New South Wales border, on 30 March. Continue reading...

Emily Lal – paid $6,000 to provide freebirth support package to Stacey Warnecke – tells coroner her role was primarily to be a ‘supportive friend’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA birthkeeper hired by a woman who died after giving birth at home has told a coroner that she was “not there to make a birth safer”.Emily Lal gave evidence on Tuesday at the inquest into the death of 30-year-old Stacey Warnecke, who died on 29 September in Frankston hospital after giving birth at home with her husband and Lal present. Continue reading...

Tech is helping to identify and save new specimens and could open ‘genomic goldmine’ of fungi dataThe rise of AI and digitisation could be a turning point in the “race against extinction” faced by botanists trying to identify and save vital plants before they vanish, according to a major report from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.New technology is enabling scientists to track how flowering times have shifted by weeks around the world, rapidly identify new specimens and even get crucial genetic data from 180-year-old fungus specimens, potentially opening a “genomic goldmine”. Digitisation and online access to millions of specimens that were until now only accessible in archives is also producing new insights, especially in the global south. Continue reading...