US-Iran ceasefire offers welcome respite but true peace looks distant as ever

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• President Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately targeting the Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Kyiv, resulting in 11 confirmed deaths. • The Ukrainian leader dismissed Moscow's claims that the site was not targeted, highlighting the ongoing destruction of cultural landmarks.

• Expatriates living in the UAE have expressed relief and cautious optimism following a peace deal between the US and Iran. • Residents highlighted that the agreement reduces regional geopolitical uncertainty, which directly impacts their job security, business operations, and travel plans.

• The United States and Iran have confirmed a peace deal to end the ongoing conflict involving the US and Israel, as reported on Sunday, June 14, 2026. • The formal signing of the agreement is scheduled to take place this coming Friday.

Varley presented himself in court as a doting dad to Preston Davey but prosecution said he used adopted boy as a sexual ‘plaything’‘They were an ordinary couple,” said one neighbour. Their baby “was happy, he was smiley, he was beautiful,” said a friend. There were nobig concerns about the teacher and the sales manager who were doing what thousands do every year – adopting a child.In reality, Jamie Varley and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, were child abusers and Varley murdered the baby boy they adopted, Preston Davey, when he was 13 months old. Continue reading...

A five-year-old girl was swept away and a woman was pulled into the water, prompting authorities to urge precautionMassive waves, coastal flooding and dangerous rip currents are roiling the California coastline this week as authorities advise people to take precautions while visiting beaches following two deaths last week.Turbulent waters swept a five-year-old girl, who was walking with her mother and brother, out to sea from the shore of Treasure Island Beach in Orange county in southern California on Tuesday. Bystanders were able to rescue the mother and son, but the girl was not found and her body was recovered on Thursday. Continue reading...

Dan Jarvis under pressure about why Russian oil tanker in Channel was captured days after his predecessor resignedDan Jarvis has told MPs that the Russian oil tanker seized on Sunday had been monitored for several days as he deflected suggestions that its seizure had been ordered by a prime minister under pressure after the resignation of John Healey last week.The new defence secretary, flanked supportively in the Commons by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the Smyrtos had been “closely tracked” as he faced a question from the Conservatives as to why the capture took place over the weekend. Continue reading...

US president says strait of Hormuz will be open from Friday but questions remain over waterway fees and Israeli breaches of ceasefire in LebanonTallying the global cost of the US-Israel war against IranMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has declared that the strait of Hormuz will be “completely open” from Friday, as western leaders gathering at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains battled to prevent the fragile US deal with Iran from almost immediately unravelling.“The deal’s all signed. And the strait ⁠is already partially opened,” Trump said as he arrived at the summit in France, but Israeli breaches of the ceasefire in Lebanon and Iran’s claims about its right to charge fees in the crucial waterway revealed the agreement’s many loose ends. Continue reading...

California governor says Trump is ‘coming after me because I am considering running for president’Gavin Newsom said on Monday that Donald Trump directed the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate him and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom.The California governor said in a video statement that federal agents had knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees in recent days as part of an effort to find a crime, demanding records and “abusing the grand jury process”. Continue reading...

Mark Carney says Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise office hasn’t been ‘effective’ since its 2019 setupCanada is eliminating a watchdog that investigates alleged human rights violations committed by Canadian companies operating abroad, after Mark Carney said the office hadn’t been “effective” since it was set up in 2019.The move comes as Canada faces criticism from Donald Trump’s administration over its “unacceptable” efforts to combat forced labour. Continue reading...