This season Piastri is in another league compared to his team-mate. The incident in Canada was a direct result of Lando making yet another mistake. McLaren need to prioritise Oscar for the rest of the season, surely? – Anon
To describe Piastri as “in another league” from Norris this year is a bit of a stretch, to say the least.
There’s no doubt Piastri has had a better season than Norris so far, and been the more convincing of the two McLaren drivers. Hence his advantage in the championship and in their head-to-head stats in both races and qualifying.
But in terms of outright performance, there is little between the two, and they are more or less swapping the position of the faster McLaren driver each weekend.
The key this year so far is that Piastri is delivering his best on a more consistent basis than Norris. The Australian is beating Norris, not only on the weekends when he is quicker, but also on some of the weekends when the Briton looks like he probably is, because of the errors he is making.
Canada was a case in point. Had Norris strung his qualifying together, he would probably have been ahead of Piastri on the grid, in which case he would likely have finished ahead of him as well.
The same could have been said of Saudi Arabia and Miami. In Jeddah, Norris crashed in qualifying, trying too hard. In Miami, he qualified ahead but tangled with Verstappen on the first lap, allowing Piastri past.
There is no doubting Norris’ speed, but it’s also undeniable that he is making too many mistakes this season. He knows it; the team know it. And they’re trying to help him with it.
Of course, the question is, why is this happening? Is he feeling the pressure from Piastri? Of being in the best car and this being his best chance of a world title so far in his career? A combination of both, and perhaps other factors as well?
Whatever it is, he certainly needs to get out of the headspace he is in and find a way to get into a place where things flow more naturally for him. Where, essentially, he is not over-striving.
As for the question of prioritising Piastri, that goes back to the first answer. Other than in specific circumstances, that’s not how McLaren go racing, and it’s hard to see a strong argument for it at the moment.
The McLaren is not the fastest car every weekend. But it is consistently the fastest car so far this year.
Their drivers are one and two in the championship, and relatively comfortably so. What would be the argument for them to prioritise Piastri in those circumstances?
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Waves of Russian missile and drone strikes have killed at least 15 people and injured 116 others, with most of the casualties in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have reported.
The massive aerial assault overnight into Tuesday struck 27 locations in the Ukrainian capital, damaging residential buildings and critical infrastructure, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Ukrainian officials were quick to call for international attention on the attacks as Kyiv pushes diplomatic efforts to raise pressure on Moscow to agree a ceasefire.
“Today, the enemy spared neither drones nor missiles,” Klymenko said, describing the attack as one of the largest against Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block, and emergency services were searching through the rubble for possible survivors, Klymenko added.
People were injured in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, and fires broke out in two other parts of the city, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
‘Total disrespect’
Klitschko also noted that a United States citizen died from shrapnel wounds.
The Russian strikes, which lasted throughout the night, came as world leaders met in Canada for the Group of Seven (G7) summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to attend the talks on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump, left, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, on June 16, 2025 [Reuters]
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha suggested the “massive and brutal strike” against Kyiv was deliberately timed, in particular painting it as an insult to US President Donald Trump.
“Putin does this on purpose, just during the G7 summit. He sends a signal of total disrespect to the United States and other partners who have called for an end to the killing,” he wrote on social media.
Zelenskyy is seeking to persuade Trump to extend support to Ukraine and put additional pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a ceasefire.
Sybiha suggested the Russian president wanted to make G7 leaders “appear weak”.
“Only strong steps and real pressure on Moscow can prove him wrong,” the diplomat added.
Zelenskyy called the overnight strikes “one of the most horrific attacks” carried out by Moscow and declared that Putin “does this solely because he can afford to continue the war”.
Little progress
Pressed by Trump, Russia and Ukraine have held two rounds of direct talks over a truce but have made little progress with the exception of agreeing prisoner exchanges and the return of bodies.
In the meantime, Russia has increased its bombardments since a daring operation by Ukraine deep inside Russia on June 1 destroyed much of Moscow’s heavy bomber fleet.
In its latest attacks, Russia used 175 drones and more than 14 cruise missiles, Kyiv’s authorities said on Telegram.
Officials in Odesa said 13 people had been injured in further attacks on the Black Sea port city.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 147 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
While Ukraine is pressing for support from the West to help it maintain its air defences, Russia is suspected of sourcing arms from China, Iran and North Korea.
Reflecting Moscow’s growing ties with Pyongyang, Putin’s top security adviser, Sergei Shoigu, was reported by Russian state media to have arrived in the North Korean capital on Tuesday for talks with leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea is suspected of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles, antitank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition while thousands of its soldiers are reported to have died during operations to oust occupying Ukrainian troops from Russia’s border region of Kursk.
It is the second time that Shoigu has visited North Korea in less than two weeks, and it is seen as a sign that Moscow and Pyongyang are continuing to deepen their alliance. Kim and Putin signed a strategic partnership treaty last year, including a mutual defence pact.
”If you are married in the Philippines, there’s no way you are getting out of that marriage until you die.”
Divorce remains illegal for most people in the Philippines – making it the only country besides Vatican City where it’s banned. With no legal pathway out, activists say women are often forced to stay in abusive or unwanted marriages.
In this episode of Now You Know, we speak with Cindy Diaz. The mother of three has been separated from her abusive husband for over a decade and is fighting to make divorce legal. We also hear from legal expert Clara Padilla, who weighs in on whether that’s possible.
Jalen Williams scored 40 points for Oklahoma City Thunder as they held off an Indiana Pacers comeback to win 120-109 and take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.
The Pacers reduced an 18-point deficit from the second quarter to two points in the fourth quarter before Williams, whose tally was a career best in a play-off game, and team-mate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped guide the Thunder to victory.
NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander provided 31 points along with 10 assists as home side Oklahoma moved one win away from securing the NBA title in the best-of-seven series.
“My team-mates instil a lot of confidence in me to go out and be me,” Williams said. “And [coach] Mark [Daigneault] has done a good job of telling me to just be myself.
“I don’t got to be anything more and that’s given me a lot of confidence.”
The Pacers had overcome a 15-point deficit in game one to win but could not repeat the feat in game five.
“Tonight was the exact same game as game one, to be honest,” Williams said. “Learning through these finals is what makes this team good and we were able to do that.”
Game six will take place in Indianapolis on Thursday at 20:30 local time (Friday, 01:00 BST), with Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton insisting he will be ready for the contest.
Haliburton scored just four points in 34 minutes of action in game five, with Indiana coach Rick Carlisle saying the player was “not 100%”.
He added: “It’s pretty clear. But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game.
“We were concerned at half-time. He insisted on playing.”
Haliburton said: “It’s the Finals, man. I’ve worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete, help my team-mates any way I can.
“I was not great tonight by any means, but it’s not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play. It is what it is. Got to be ready to go for game six.”
Donald Trump’s return to the office of presidency of the United States has restored to prominence issues of NATO’s unity and general strategic purpose. Backtracking from the emphasis of previous administrations on allied unity and common defense, Trump once more put in the spotlight issues of fiscal responsibility, pushing NATO allies to make good on economic commitments or risk reduced American involvement. This transactional orientation has renewed tensions at home in the alliance and challenged the very basic precept of collective defense. Preceding the forthcoming Hague Summit (24–26 June 2025), member states will prepare not only to deal with this American approach but also to encounter a rapidly deteriorating security situation produced by the relentless behavior of Russia in Ukraine.
Right from the first term to his present time in the office, President Trump has continually blamed NATO allies for very low defense investment, making them too dependent on the USA for protection. His insistence on all members reaching or going beyond the 2% GDP benchmark for military spending, as laid down in the 2014 Wales Summit declaration, has meanwhile remained the core of his NATO agenda. The public castigations at the 2018 Brussels Summit were particularly unsettling for transatlantic relationships, the major impact being felt mainly in Germany and Canada, where they failed to meet the target.
The Trump administration has chosen to deal with NATO as if it were a business rather than a multi-party security organization, with the main criterion for appraisal being how cheap the solution is. The new U.S. National Security Strategy unveiled in 2017 overlaps with the idea that the U.S. has allies that, first and foremost, are instrumental for U.S. national interest and not the most important guardians of a common security. The comparison has made European states start to weigh up their potential strategic recovery and long-term flexibility. Member states from the eastern flank of Europe, namely the Baltic countries, Romania, and Poland, are facing both a political and strategic puzzle as a result of the U.S. that is not firm in its commitment. These states are still very much dependent on the faith in U.S. deterrence capability. If there were no clear assurances, their defense strategies would be changed to more independent ones, which would mean the very transfer of the burden that Trump is asking for, but in forms that are not part of NATO.
The Hague Summit is being organized at a time when current geopolitics have been through a phase of a lot of uncertainty. Matters in Ukraine, such as the war entering year number four and NATO interpersonal debates on the subject of fiscal fairness and long-term burden sharing, are the issues that the summit is likely to deal with the most. The most expected themes for discussion include the alliance’s military support to Ukraine, the capabilities of advancing cyber and hybrid defense, the adjustment to new global power competition, and the restoration of unity within the alliance.
Even though officials from the Trump administration have shown their solidarity with Ukraine by stating that they will continuously provide material support, their approach remains centered on visible contributions and the return on the investment. The issue of the discussions at The Hague will most probably be finding a way to change and make military aid more solid and the beginning of the long-term integration of Ukraine into the Western defense frameworks, as well as the reinforcement of the deterrent posture along NATO’s eastern flank. This attitude has already started to change the internal dynamics of NATO decision-making. Member states, in such a situation, are trying out their options, and some are looking for stronger EU defense guarantees or bilateral partnerships, and others are going to the extreme of gaining the favor of Washington by increasing their expenditures or acquiring more defense from U.S. contractors. The pressure may yield short-term gains in spending but could prove corrosive in the long term by reducing trust and weakening the cohesion necessary for coordinated deterrence strategies.
Within NATO, President Trump has repeated calls for greater defense spending on the part of member nations, threatening that America might withdraw from the alliance if its allies do not fulfill financial commitments. Recently, he made a statement that if members “don’t pay their bills,” then he would “absolutely” withdraw from NATO. This stance has caused European nations to rapidly review their defense budgets and led to an increasing push for strategic autonomy among EU member states. Such situations could lead to disagreements concerning summit communiqués, the wording of final declarations, or even if to confirm those basic articles as Article 5 once more. If it is difficult for consensus to be reached, the summit can be like a festival of differences, which are able to be taken advantage of by the adversaries. Besides that, disagreement on the approach to global threats, for instance, on China or occurrences in the Indo-Pacific region, may block NATO’s strategic evolution and prevent its participation in those parts of the world where conflicts of interest will arise.
The summit also might be a major European initiative stage where visible leadership of the continent is given to some of the European Union members. States such as the Netherlands and Germany expect to demand stronger political commitments, while Central and Eastern European nations will require better security guarantees and more decisive action in response to Russian military escalation.
President Trump’s NATO policy resurrects a contentious but prevailing line of questioning within the alliance: who pays, and who benefits? While this emphasis on burden sharing has catalyzed long-needed changes in national defense spending, it also risks undermining the political basis on which NATO exists. The Hague Summit will need to reconcile these tensions and set the stage for a more robust and unified transatlantic security posture. Looking forward, NATO has to reinforce both mechanisms of fiscal transparency and collective strategic direction. NATO has to reconcile equitable contributions with an appreciation that security is not only a question of budgets. Political solidarity, institutional trust, and credible leadership are as important to deterrence as hardware. Above all, the summit must offer a clear vision for the next phase of the war in Ukraine. With the war grinding on and Russian forces intensifying operations, NATO cannot afford uncertainty. A concise, collective blueprint for long-term support, including logistics, infrastructure, and defense integration for Ukraine, will be critical to safeguarding European security.
Finally, the member states should use The Hague Summit as an opportunity to reaffirm NATO’s foundational role: not just as a defense alliance but also as a political community committed to peace, democracy, and the rule of law. Only by embracing both the material and moral dimensions of security can NATO adapt to meet the challenges of the next decade.
Israel has attacked the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB and interrupted a live broadcast with an explosion, marking another escalation in the conflict with Tehran and replicating its previous attacks on news media targets in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
TV anchor Sahar Emami denounced Monday’s “aggression against the homeland” and the “truth” as a blast went off and smoke and debris filled the screen. The footage then showed her fleeing the studio as a voice is heard calling, “God is greatest.”
The attack came shortly after the Israeli military issued a threat for Tehran’s District Three, where IRIB’s headquarters is located, and Defence Minister Israel Katz said: “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear.”
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Israel of committing a “wicked act” that constitutes a war crime and of being the number one “killer of journalists and media people”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has counted 178 journalists killed in Gaza by Israel since October 2023, making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded.
“The UNSC [United Nations Security Council] must act now to stop the genocidal aggressor from committing further atrocities against our people,” Baghaei wrote on X.
The CPJ said it was “appalled” by Israel’s attack on Iranian state TV and argued impunity for the killings of Palestinian journalists had “emboldened” the country to target media elsewhere. “This bloodshed must end now,” the organisation said on X.
Peyman Jebelli, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), said the organisation’s headquarters was attacked because the Iranian media are “precisely targeting the depth of the enemy’s media strategy”.
In a statement quoted by the semiofficial Mehr News Agency, he said employees at the national media outlet “loudly declare” their determination to play their roles in the “hybrid war” initiated by Israel.
Iranian journalist Younes Shadlou said many of his colleagues were inside the building when the Israeli attack happened. “I don’t know how many of my colleagues are still inside right now,” he reported from outside the burning building in Tehran
“We had been given evacuation warnings, but everyone stayed until the very last moment to show the true face of the Zionist regime to the world.”
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said the strike was highly symbolic because it targeted an entity with close links to the Iranian government. “The head of the network is appointed by the supreme leader directly, so it is a significant part of the establishment,” Jabbari said.
“This is going to be a great shock for the Iranian people,” she continued. The station is located in a large, fortified complex that has a long history dating back to the 1940s. The channel is the most watched inside Iran, and Emami is a renowned anchor.
The attack should, therefore, be seen as “a huge message for Iran and the general public and [it] is going to create all kinds of fears”, Jabbari said.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Israel targeted a glass building known as the IRIB’s central building. The live broadcast was briefly disrupted, but Emami went back on TV shortly after the blast, which would likely increase her popularity, the journalist said.
The number of victims remains unclear.
Foad Izadi, professor of international relations at the University of Tehran, said he feared there would be “a lot of casualties” from the attack. “It’s a huge building,” he told Al Jazeera. “Iran’s news channel is located on the first floor. It has four floors, and on every floor, you have at least 200 to 300 people working.”
Izadi said he expected the attack to spark international outrage and be condemned by international media outlets.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it has bombed the building of Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran. “This centre was used by the armed forces to promote military operations under civilian cover, while using its own means and assets,” it said, without giving any evidence for its accusations.
Late on Monday, Iran issued evacuation warnings for Israeli news channels. “Iran has issued an evacuation warning for the N12 and N14 channels of Israel. This order comes in response to the hostile attack of Zionist enemy against the Islamic republic of Iran’s broadcasting service,” Iranian state TV said.
Israel has a dark history of attacking media organisations and journalists, most recently in Gaza.
In October, it targeted Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV studios in southern Beirut during a wave of strikes on Lebanon.
Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by Israeli forces in May 2022 in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. She was a veteran television correspondent who became a household name across the Arab world for her bold coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Vance Boelter, a former state board appointee, was arrested Sunday after allegedly killing ex-House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, ending the largest manhunt in Minnesota’s history.
Israel’s attacks on Tehran have not only targeted military bases and nuclear sites, but they also have penetrated the bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms of ordinary citizens. Children have been killed. Teachers have fallen silent. Athletes have been buried in the rubble. All of them were as far removed from politics as possible.
The attacks between Israel and Iran started on Friday, when Israel launched what it called preemptive air strikes targeting more than a dozen Iranian sites — including key nuclear facilities, nuclear scientists and military leaders — in an operation it said was aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
According to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, at least 224 people have been killed and 1,481 wounded.
Iran has retaliated with a wave of ballistic missile strikes against Israel, claiming the lives of at least 24 people and wounding 380, in an escalation that has raised fears of a broader regional conflict.
In Tehran, the full scale of the destruction remains to be seen. But in the streets, evidence of the lives lost emerges from the wreckage of bombed-out buildings. A child’s lifeless body in the rubble. A dirt-covered doll abandoned in the street. A sketchbook lost among the concrete and dust.
For many Iranians, these scenes evoke memories of the Iran-Iraq War. But this time, the war is not at the borders; it’s in the heart of the capital. Residents say the night sky in Tehran — now dotted with missiles and fires — is not the one they know.
In a mass panic, people are fleeing the city in droves. Petrol stations are overrun. Highways are jammed. Homes that once promised safety stand vulnerable with no emergency shelters or warning sirens.
Here are some of the victims who died in the recent attacks on Tehran.
Pilates instructor Niloufar Ghalehvand was killed in the Israeli bombing campaign [Courtesy of Egab]
The Pilates instructor
On Saturday morning, Tehran reeked of dust and smoke. Israeli missiles had landed on homes that were filled with laughter just hours before. One of the silenced voices belonged to Niloufar Ghalehvand, whose friend Ghazal* recalled the last time she saw her at a cafe sipping coffee, just one night before the bombs fell.
Ghalehvand, a 32-year-old Pilates instructor, was killed along with her father, Kamran Ghalehvand, and her mother, Fatemeh Sedighi, in their home on Ozgol Street in northern Tehran.
“We were at the cafe, having coffee, and she said, ‘Iran is so beautiful. I just wish we could live in peace, like people in other countries,’” Ghazal told Al Jazeera. “I still can’t believe she’s gone. We were making plans to celebrate her 32nd birthday on June 28. She was so full of hope.”
Ghazal said Ghalehvand lived near the residence of Iran’s highest-ranking military commander, General Mohammad Bagheri, the target of the strike.
“They were ordinary people,” Ghazal said of Ghalehvand’s family. “They didn’t engage in political activity.”
Ghalehvand dreamed of becoming a famous Pilates instructor.
“The last time we met, she asked me to help her launch an Instagram page to post her workout videos. She never imagined she would become famous for her death.”
Ghalehvand had been a professional instructor for eight years, but Ghazal said her income was never enough. She worked on commission at local gyms and was always seeking more private clients.
Friends remember Parsa Mansour for his passion for tennis [Courtesy of Egab]
The athlete
On Friday morning, Parsa Mansour, a 27-year-old professional paddle tennis player, was asleep at home in Shahrara, a densely packed district in northern Tehran, when an Israeli missile struck nearby.
The blast shattered the windows, and debris collapsed on top of him, killing him instantly. His parents, who were in the next room, miraculously survived.
“Parsa was full of laughter and always joking,” said Saman*, his best friend. He noted that Parsa was a self-made athlete who trained alone without a coach.
“When I saw the Tennis Federation’s announcement of his death, I was in shock. I didn’t believe it at first. Then I went to his home. It was in ruins,” Saman said.
“Parsa’s father is in a terrible state. He still can’t believe his son is gone.”
Amin Ahmad’s father was killed when a bomb struck their house [Courtesy of Egab]
The son who lost his father
On Sunday afternoon, Amin Ahmad, a 30-year-old taekwondo athlete, witnessed his father’s horrific death in eastern Tehran.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” said Ahmad. “My father was blasted out of the house. His face was burned, and his ears were torn off.”
Ahmad’s voice trembled as he recalled his father’s final moments.
“We were trapped inside. I had to force the window bars open and call out for help. Someone brought a ladder, and my mother and I escaped,” he said.
“My father was a teacher. He bought this home after a lifetime of hard work, so he could retire in peace. Now he’s dead, and the house is destroyed. What was his crime? I don’t know what to do.”
Ehsan Bayrami was killed on his way home from work [Courtesy of Egab]
The photographer
On Sunday at midday, after two nights of Israeli fighter jets buzzing Iranian airspace, an explosion struck the relatively wealthy neighbourhood of Tajrish in northern Tehran. Water pipes burst, flooding the streets.
Ehsan Bayrami, a 35-year-old freelance photographer and graphic designer who was walking nearby, was killed instantly.
Ali*, a colleague, said Bayrami had just left a work meeting and was on his way home.
“He used to film videos for sports clubs and photograph sporting events,” Ali explained.
On Sunday morning, he recalled telling Bayrami to be careful.
“He told me not to worry because it’s safe during the day. ‘Israel only attacks at night when people are asleep,’ he said.”
Ali paused before adding, “Ehsan was incredibly talented and hardworking. He never let anything stop him from working.”
*Ghazal, Saman and Ali preferred not to use their full names while speaking with Al Jazeera to protect their identities.
This article is published in collaboration with the news consortium Egab.
Social media and video networks have become the main source of news in the US, overtaking traditional TV channels and news websites, research suggests.
More than half (54%) of people get news from networks like Facebook, X and YouTube – overtaking TV (50%) and news sites and apps (48%), according to the Reuters Institute.
“The rise of social media and personality-based news is not unique to the United States, but changes seem to be happening faster – and with more impact – than in other countries,” a report found.
Podcaster Joe Rogan was the most widely-seen personality, with almost a quarter (22%) of the population saying they had come across news or commentary from him in the previous week.
The report’s author Nic Newman said the rise of social video and personality-driven news “represents another significant challenge for traditional publishers”.
The institute also highlighted a trend for some politicians to give their time to sympathetic online hosts rather than mainstream interviewers.
It said populist politicians around the world are “increasingly able to bypass traditional journalism in favour of friendly partisan media, ‘personalities’, and ‘influencers’ who often get special access but rarely ask difficult questions, with many implicated in spreading false narratives or worse”.
Despite their popularity, online influencers and personalities were named as a major source of false or misleading information by almost half of people worldwide (47%) – putting them level with politicians.
The report also stated that usage of X for news is “stable or increasing across many markets”, with the biggest uplift in the US.
It added that since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022, “many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently”.
In the US, the proportion that self-identified as being on the right tripled after Musk’s takeover.
In the UK, right-wing X audiences have almost doubled.
Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon are “making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news”, it stated.
Other key findings about news sources:
TikTok is the fastest-growing social and video network, used for news by 17% of people around the world, up four percentage points since last year.
The use of AI chatbots to get the news is on the rise, and is twice as popular among under-25s than the population as a whole.
But most people think AI will make news less transparent, accurate and trustworthy.
All generations still prize trusted brands with a track record for accuracy, even if they don’t use them as often as they once did
The report is in its 14th year and surveyed almost 100,000 people in 48 countries.
China’s response was to strongly condemn Israel’s actions, which violate all basic norms governing international relations. The Chinese Foreign Ministry considered the attacks on Tehran’s nuclear facilities to set a dangerous precedent, the repercussions of which could be disastrous for international peace and stability. In response to this direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran, Beijing has consistently taken a firm pro-Iran stance, with China officially declaring that Tehran is not an instigator of regional instability. Beijing also immediately linked this Israeli escalation against Iran to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, a conflict that China has long advocated for resolving through the United Nations. All Chinese political and intelligence analyses have emphasized that the current situation and the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran are the latest extension of the conflict that has been raging for more than two years in the Gaza Strip. This serves as yet another reminder that the Palestinian issue remains central to the Middle East and impacts long-term peace, stability, and security in the region. To this end, Chinese circles believe that if the conflict in Gaza is allowed to continue, the negative impact of the conflict is expected to spread further, making the region even more unstable.
Reflecting the same context of official Chinese statements, Chinese experts view these events not only as another chapter in the Israeli-Iranian conflict but also as an extension of the war in the Gaza Strip. According to Chinese Professor Liu Zhongmin of Shanghai International Studies University and Professor Tang Qichao, Director of the Research Center for Development and Governance in the Middle East at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the confrontation that began in the Gaza Strip has now expanded to five additional fronts: the West Bank, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Red Sea, where Israel’s enemies are trying to divert its attention and deplete its resources.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China, held talks with his Israeli counterpart. Minister Wang Yi affirmed China’s opposition to Israel’s violation of international law by attacking Iran with force, describing Israeli behavior as internationally unacceptable. China affirmed that diplomatic means regarding the Iranian nuclear issue have not been exhausted, and there is still hope for a peaceful solution to the issue. The Chinese leadership confirmed to President Xi Jinping that “the force used by Israel against the Iranians cannot establish lasting peace between the two sides.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also affirmed that “China is ready to play a constructive role in containing the escalation of the conflict between Tehran and Tel Aviv.”
These Chinese talks with Iranian and Israeli officials to stop the war should be understood as part of China’s efforts to prevent relations between Tel Aviv and Tehran from destabilizing the region’s security, maritime, navigational, and logistical stability. This is particularly true given Iran’s explicit accusations that several regional powers facilitated Israeli airspace attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This is in addition to the current link between US President Trump’s recent visit to three Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE) and the coordination of Israel’s current military strike on Iran. This is in addition to analyses by several Chinese political and intelligence circles that several regional powers have shared intelligence with Israel regarding the attack on Iran. Through China’s analysis of all these current developments, Beijing’s interest in neutralizing the course of Israeli-Iranian relations, at least for the time being, stems from its pivotal role in mediating the restoration of diplomatic relations between these two regional rivals as a price for restoring stability to the Middle East.
Supporting the Chinese view in this context is what Chinese officials consistently praise as a wave of regional reconciliation, as evidence of the effectiveness of the Global Security Initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping. This alternative security framework is often positioned in contrast to the Western system, which Chinese officials and researchers often portray as a front for American hegemony.
Beijing is leveraging Tehran’s support for several groups in the Middle East to advance its interests in confronting the balance of power with the United States in the Middle East, most notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. China and Russia also appear to be working to establish closer relations with Hamas. A delegation of senior leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian movements, including Islamic Jihad, which the United States officially designates as a terrorist group, has visited Moscow and Beijing several times to coordinate their positions on the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip, with explicit American support. Chinese think tanks described this Iranian retaliatory attack against Israel, after its war against it, as an unprecedented development in its long-standing proxy conflict with Israel. They expected Iran to respond militarily soon through a third party, such as the Houthis in Yemen, to disrupt maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, Bab Al-Mandab, and the Suez Canal in Egypt. This would be part of Iran’s leverage over Israel and the United States to halt its war and refrain from continuing to attack its nuclear facilities, harm its interests, and assassinate its military leaders and scientists.
On the other hand, China has several leverage points against Israel. It has significant investments in Israel, particularly in the infrastructure and technology sectors, and has maintained them throughout the conflict in the Gaza Strip. China also relies heavily on Iran for 90% of its crude oil imports, which go directly to China. To this end, China will attempt to play a calming role between Tehran and Tel Aviv, especially since these Israeli retaliatory strikes targeted Iranian oil infrastructure in a way that could impact Iranian oil exports to China. Therefore, Beijing is likely to raise its voice in condemning Israel’s actions against the Iranians and even intervene and broker a peace agreement between the two parties to preserve its oil interests with Tehran. China remains one of the few countries that buys oil from Iran despite US sanctions. Beijing also brokered the agreement to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023, which could play a role in establishing a peace agreement between Tehran and Tel Aviv.
Regarding the views of senior Chinese military leaders regarding Iran’s role in confronting the Israeli war against it, Chinese experts Teng Jiankun, a senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, and Wang Mingzhi, director of the Strategic Education and Research Office at the People’s Liberation Army Air Force Command College, believe a direct attack from Iran is unlikely and instead expect Iran to respond through its proxies, such as the Houthis. In a previous interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Colonel “Du Wenlong” of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences stated, “If Iran transfers its weapons to areas in Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and Lebanon, then through intermediaries, it could achieve war feats similar to those of the Israeli war against it. Therefore, in the next step, Iran could influence actors throughout the Middle East to carry out joint retaliatory operations against both Israel and the United States.” Chinese military expert “Li Li” also emphasized that “Iran has effectively demonstrated its ability to retaliate against Israel, as well as the Iranians’ prowess in operational planning and the capabilities of their military industry,” which she described as “extremely systematic and extensive.” Professor Li Li emphasized that “Iran’s real goal now is to demonstrate its ability to strike deep into Israeli territory and enhance its deterrence to secure political and strategic goals.” Professor Ding Jun, a well-known Chinese professor of Middle East politics and head of the Institute of Middle East Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, emphasized that “the political nature of the operation outweighs its military significance.” According to Chinese political and military analyst Wang Mingqi, “Iran’s restraint in the attack on Tel Aviv may have been due to Tehran’s goal of not diverting the international community’s attention away from Gaza and Israel, which is the same goal the Israelis are aiming to achieve by launching their current, unexpected attack on Tehran.”
By understanding this previous analysis, we find that the American side is counting heavily on China as well to play a role in calming the situation between Tehran and Tel Aviv. The closest example of this is the United States’ request that China use its influence over Tehran to curb the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen, which is attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The assassination attempt on the presidential hopeful has rattled the country, which fears a return to darker days.
Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay is reported to be in extremely critical condition after undergoing surgery to tend to a brain bleed, just more than a week after being shot in the head during a campaign event.
The attack was part of an eruption of violence that has stoked fears of a return to the darker days of assassinations and bombings.
The Santa Fe Foundation hospital on Monday said that Uribe was stable after undergoing a “complementary” operation to his original surgery, but remained in serious critical condition.
It added that an urgent neurological procedure had been necessary because of clinical evidence and imaging showing an acute inter-cerebral bleed, but that the brain swelling persisted and bleeding remained difficult to control.
The 39-year-old potential presidential candidate from the right-wing opposition was shot in the head twice on June 7 during a rally in Bogota.
The assassination attempt, which was caught on video, recalled a streak of candidate assassinations in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when fighting between armed rebels, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and state security forces touched the lives of many Colombians.
Three suspects, including a 15-year-old alleged shooter, are in custody. An adult man and woman are also being held.
The 15-year-old boy, who police believe was a “sicario” or hitman working for money, was charged last week with the attempted murder of Uribe, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was also charged with carrying a firearm.
The adult man, Carlos Eduardo Mora, has been charged for alleged involvement in planning the attack, providing the gun and being in the vehicle where the shooter changed his clothes after the attack, according to the attorney general’s office.
Uribe is a senator for the conservative Democratic Centre party and one of several candidates who hope to succeed left-wing President Gustavo Petro in the 2026 presidential vote.
He comes from a prominent political family. His grandfather, Julio Cesar Turbay, was president from 1978 to 1982, and his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 in a botched rescue attempt after being kidnapped by an armed group led by drug cartel lord Pablo Escobar.
The main dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group on Friday denied responsibility for the attack on Uribe, though it did accept responsibility for a series of unrelated bomb attacks.
Southwest Colombia was rocked by a series of explosions and gun attacks last week which has left at least seven people dead. The attacks hit Cali, the country’s third-largest city, and the nearby towns of Corinto, El Bordo and Jamundi, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings with car and motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone.
Colombia’s government has struggled to contain violence in urban and rural areas as several rebel groups try to take over territory abandoned by the FARC after its peace deal with the government.
Peace talks between the FARC-EMC faction and the government broke down last year after a series of attacks on Indigenous communities.
Multiple blasts were reported in Tehran as Israel issued new evacuation threats to the capital’s residents and attacked a military base in the west of the city.
The Israeli military intensified its bombing of civilian targets, striking the building of Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran as well as the Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah in central Iran, damaging parts of it.
In response, Iran later issued warnings for Israeli news channels N12 and N14.
Iran launched a waves of attacks on Israel, hitting the Tel Aviv area and Haifa in the north.
Israel’s Haifa-based Bazan Group said a power station producing steam and electricity was significantly damaged in an Iranian attack, with all refinery facilities shut down following the attack which also killed three people.
The Israeli army claimed it destroyed one-third of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers without providing evidence.
Israeli Army Radio reported that eight people were killed – five in central Israel and three in the port city of Haifa.
Casualties and disruptions
More than 220 Iranians have been killed. Iranian authorities said 54 women and children were killed in recent attacks and 75 women and children were injured.
The Israeli military’s Home Front Command said more than 20 people have been killed since it attacked Iran and Tehran retaliated.
Electronic interference with commercial ship navigation systems has surged in recent days around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf, impacting vessels sailing through the region.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, said there was a possibility of both radiological and chemical contamination within Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz after Israeli air strikes.
Pakistan shut all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, according to provincial officials. Airspace in the Middle East has also been affected.
Diplomacy
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed parliament, saying the country is “not seeking nuclear weapons” and it “must stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal” and said he was deliberately provoking war to block a diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the United States.
Netanyahu refused to rule out the possibility of targeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying, “It’s not going to escalate the conflict. It’s going to end the conflict.”
US President Donald Trump, speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, said Iran should talk about de-escalating hostilities with Israel “before it’s too late”.
Federal judge on bench for 40 years lambasts grant terminations as ‘racist’ and anti-LGBTQ.
A Massachusetts federal judge has declared that cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants made by the administration of US President Donald Trump are “illegal” and “void,” and ordered that many of the grants be restored.
In a ruling issued on Monday, Judge William Young vacated the terminations that began in late February and said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily cancelling more than $1bn in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Young told the court there could be little doubt the cuts represent “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community”, according to quotes published on X by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.
In April, a group of researchers sued the NIH, saying hundreds of critical research projects were halted due to an “ideological purge”. The plaintiffs argued that the reasons given for the terminations – connections with “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and “gender identity” – were vague and lacking in concrete explanation.
Terminated grants included programmes focusing on women, racial minorities and the health of health of gay, lesbian and transgender people, but also included studies on cancer, youth suicide and bone health. The government has argued that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the NIH has discretion to set its own priorities.
Young said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to organisations and Democratic-led states that sued over the terminations. And the judge strongly suggested that as the case proceeds, he could issue a more sweeping decision.
Young, who was appointed by US President Ronald Reagan, offered a harsh rebuke to the government, saying that in his 40 years on the bench, he had “never seen evidence of racial discrimination like this”.
‘Didn’t take job to terminate grants’
The ruling comes almost a week after Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), admitted that the Trump administration had gone too far in slashing biomedical research grants and said efforts were under way to restore some of the funding
Bhattacharya made the remarks Tuesday during a Senate committee hearing examining both recent cuts to his agency and deeper reductions proposed by the White House in next year’s budget.
“I didn’t take this job to terminate grants,” said the physician and health economist, who left a professorship at Stanford University to join the Trump administration.
“I took this job to make sure that we do the research that advances the health needs of the American people,” he said, adding that he had created an appeals process for scientists and laboratories whose research was impacted, and that the NIH had already “reversed many” of the cuts.
In late March, a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar’s Mandalay region, claiming thousands of lives and worsening an already severe humanitarian and political crisis. Since the February 2021 military coup, the country has faced escalating insecurity, economic paralysis, and failing healthcare systems. While military leader Min Aung Hlaing has pledged elections by the end of 2025, doubts persist over whether such a vote would be either credible or inclusive.
The catastrophe has drawn comparisons to Cyclone Nargis, which tore through the Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008 and left over 130,000 people dead or missing. Back then, the ruling junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), delayed aid, blocked international relief workers, and diverted supplies intended for victims.
The World Food Programme temporarily halted operations after its assistance was seized. Even as the humanitarian emergency deepened, the regime proceeded with a constitutional referendum, prompting widespread condemnation abroad.
Mounting global pressure led to limited concessions. Ban Ki-moon, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, traveled to Myanmar and secured a narrow opening for foreign relief workers. Still, international military or direct emergency teams were barred from operating on the ground. That episode remains a powerful example of how authoritarian systems can worsen natural disasters through political control.
In contrast, the current leadership responded to the 2025 earthquake with a rare public appeal for international help. Governments quickly signaled support, and messages of solidarity circulated on social platforms.
Yet many inside Myanmar, particularly resistance groups and civil society, remain suspicious of any cooperation with the military regime. Carefully coordinated humanitarian aid, if transparent and neutral, might serve as leverage to demand more accountable governance, including fair elections.
However, access to the most affected zones—especially those under opposition control—remains highly restricted. Allegations of aid obstruction continue to surface. Meanwhile, military strikes in quake-stricken regions have drawn sharp rebukes from rights monitors.
The military’s election pledge has raised concern, not least because it maintains limited territorial control. Opposition entities like the National Unity Government (NUG) have rejected any vote managed by the junta as illegitimate.
Within the country, tensions are intensifying. Public distrust of international engagement with the regime is widespread, even when it’s justified by humanitarian intent. For donors and NGOs, the challenge is to support the people without reinforcing military authority.
ASEAN, long hesitant to interfere in member states’ domestic affairs, now faces a pivotal moment. The scale of suffering and regional instability is testing that principle. Frustration with Myanmar’s defiance is growing, particularly in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Despite the tragedy, the earthquake may present a diplomatic opening—one where humanitarian priorities could help unlock political change. But that opportunity hinges on bold and coordinated pressure by regional and international stakeholders. Myanmar’s suffering demands more than sympathy—it demands strategy.
‘You hear the sound of the aggressor attacking the truth’ This is what Iran’s state TV presenter Sahar Emami said moments before an Israeli missile struck the studio, halting her broadcast. Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari breaks it down.
A group of doctors is pleading with EU leaders to pressure Israel to end its siege on Gaza. Members of Doctors Without Borders revealed the extreme conditions they’re working under and said that the world didn’t want to believe them.
Pakistan closes its border with Iran while Jordan suspends flights but keeps land crossings with Israel operational.
Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with Iran for an indefinite period as travel continues to be heavily disrupted by the intensifying conflict between Israel and Iran, and airspace in the region has also been impacted with missiles flying through neighbouring countries in both directions.
Crossing into Iran “has been suspended until further notice”, Atta ul Munim, an official at one of the crossings in Pakistan’s Chaghi district, said on Monday. Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, told the AFP news agency that border facilities along the more than 900km (560-mile) border have been shut.
Iranian airspace has been closed as it counters Israel’s attacks. The Civil Aviation Authority said Iran’s airspace would remain closed “until further notice” to “protect the safety of passengers”.
Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport remained closed “until further notice”. The Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines said it has suspended all flights until at least Thursday with additional cancellations to many European cities extending to June 23.
However, three land border crossings between Israel and Jordan – the Jordan River, the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge and the Yitzhak Rabin crossings – remained functional.
The Israeli National Security Council advised its citizens to avoid travelling through Jordan and Egypt because of security risks. The Israel Airports Authority also said there was “no recommendation” for Israelis to travel to Greece or Cyprus because “passengers can expect to wait for days until a return flight is actually possible.”
Jordan on Sunday announced the closure of its airspace for a second time since Israel launched its surprise assault on Iran on Friday. Amman said the Jordanian military had intercepted some ballistic missiles that had entered Jordanian airspace.
Several countries were preparing to evacuate their nationals from the conflict zone. Poland’s deputy foreign minister said it planned to route about 200 of its citizens visiting Israel through Jordan’s capital.
India said its diplomats were helping some Indian students relocate out of harm’s way in Iran. “The Indian Embassy in Tehran is continuously monitoring the security situation and engaging Indian students in Iran to ensure their safety,” a Ministry of External Affairs statement said.
“In some cases, students are being relocated with [the] Embassy’s facilitation to safer places within Iran,” it added.
Several airlines have announced flight suspensions. Russia’s Aeroflot cancelled flights between Moscow and Tehran and made changes to other routes in the Middle East. Qatar Airways said it had temporarily cancelled flights to and from Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Greece’s Aegean Airlines cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv up to July 12 as well as all flights to and from Beirut, Amman and Erbil through June 28.
