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Israel launched an unprecedented strike on Iran’s military and nuclear sites on June 13, a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board passed a resolution saying Tehran was not complying with its commitment to nuclear safeguards.

Though Israel did not use the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s resolution to justify the Iran attack, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the IAEA resolution, calling it “a necessary and overdue step” that confirmed Iran’s “systematic clandestine nuclear weapons programme”.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Atomic Energy Organization in a joint statement condemned the resolution, calling it “politically motivated”. The resolution, the joint statement said, “seriously undermines the credibility and integrity of the IAEA”.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and that its facilities are monitored by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Here’s what the IAEA said about the Iranian nuclear programe earlier this month, and its criticisms against its past actions.

Did the IAEA think that Iran was building nuclear weapons?

The IAEA cannot fully assess Iran’s nuclear energy programmes, as Tehran halted its implementation of the Additional Protocol in February 2021, which permitted the IAEA enhanced inspection rights – including snap inspections and continuous surveillance.

Iran continued to comply with IAEA’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement after 2021, which permitted access to Iran’s declared nuclear sites (Natanz, Fordow, Bushehr) and also allowed for routine monitoring and verification of declared nuclear material.

At a press event in Vienna on June 9, however, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said Iran’s recent failure to comply with reporting obligations had “led to a significant reduction in the agency’s ability to verify whether Iran’s nuclear programme is entirely peaceful”.

During the IAEA’s Board of Governors meeting (which took place from June 9-13), Grossi said Iran had “repeatedly either not answered… the agency’s questions” regarding the presence of man-made uranium particles at three locations – Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad.

Grossi also described Iran’s “rapid accumulation of highly-enriched uranium” as a “serious concern”, referring to the 60 percent pure uranium enrichment facilities at Fordow and Natanz.

In 2023, the IAEA had discovered 83.7 percent pure uranium particles at Fordow – close to the 90 percent purity required to make an atomic bomb.

On June 12, one day before Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the IAEA board passed a resolution declaring that Tehran was breaching its non-proliferation obligations.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Vienna on June 12, noted it was the first time in almost 20 years that the IAEA, which monitors Iran’s nuclear programme, had accused Tehran of breaching its non-proliferation obligations.

Last week, however, Grossi emphasised that the IAEA had found no evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons production.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on June 19, Grossi was emphatic that Iran’s alleged violations of its assurances had not led his agency to conclude that Tehran was building bombs.

“We have not seen elements to allow us, as inspectors, to affirm that there was a nuclear weapon that was being manufactured or produced somewhere in Iran,” he said.

United States Vice President JD Vance invoked the IAEA resolution to make a case for the military action against Iran.

“They’ve been found in violation of their non-proliferation obligations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is hardly a rightwing organization,” he posted on X on June 17.

The US president ordered his military to bomb three Iranian sites on June 22 – a decision welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been making claims for decades that Iran was on the cusp of making nuclear weapons.

Trump has claimed that the nuclear sites have been “obliterated” and Iran’s nuclear programme has been set back by decades.

How has Iran responded?

On June 23, the national security committee of Iran’s parliament approved the outline of a bill designed to suspend Tehran’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, committee spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei told the Tasnim news agency.

Rezaei said that, according to the bill, installing surveillance cameras, allowing inspections, and submitting reports to the IAEA would be suspended as long as the security of nuclear facilities is not guaranteed. Iran joined the IAEA in 1959.

In particular, Rezaei said Iran asserts its right, as a 1968 signatory to the UN’s nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including uranium enrichment.

Parliament still has to approve the NPT withdrawal bill in a plenary.

Tehran has long complained that the treaty fails to protect it from attack by a country with a nuclear arsenal, the US, and another widely believed to have one, Israel.

What’s more, Iranian authorities have claimed Grossi is looking to become the next secretary-general of the UN, and is therefore sacrificing the nuclear watchdog’s integrity by adopting pro-Western rhetoric to gain personal favour.

On June 1, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, told state TV: “Rafael Grossi [is] driven by his ambitions and a strong desire to become the UN secretary-general, is seeking to gain the approval of a few specific countries and align himself with their goals.”

Did the IAEA skirt controversy over the Fukushima disaster?

In June 2023, the Japanese government started releasing treated, but still radioactive, water from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the Pacific Ocean.

The IAEA gave the controversial plan the green light following a two-year review.

At the time, Grossi said the agency’s safety review had concluded the plan was “consistent with relevant international safety standards… [and] the controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water to the sea would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment”.

More than 1.3 million tonnes of water had built up at the Fukushima plant since a March 2011 tsunami destroyed the power station’s electricity and cooling systems and triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl.

The release of the water, which began in August 2023, encountered fierce resistance from Japan’s neighbours and Pacific island nations as well as fishing and agricultural communities in and around Fukushima, which fear for their livelihoods.

Beijing, in particular, was a fierce critic of the water discharge plan. In a statement following the IAEA’s July 2023 report, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs chastised its “hasty release”, claiming it “failed to fully reflect views from experts”.

Are there echoes of Iraq in the current debate about Iran?

To several observers, there are.

In the lead-up to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the US and the United Kingdom asserted that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), including chemical weapons, in addition to pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

These claims were central in justifying military action under the argument that Iraq posed an imminent threat to regional and global security.

Towards the end of 2002, the IAEA carried out several inspections of Iraqi weapons programmes.

In early 2003, they established the existence of high-tolerance aluminium tubes in Iraq. In theory, these can be used to enrich uranium for use in a nuclear warhead.

The aluminium tubes became a cornerstone in the Bush administration’s Iraq mandate. As the only physical evidence the US could brandish, they gave credibility to the apocalyptic imagery invoked by President George W Bush and his advisers.

The tubes were “only really suited for nuclear weapons programmes”, Condoleezza Rice, the US national security adviser, explained on CNN on September 8, 2002. “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

For its part, the IAEA refuted the theory that the tubes were destined for use in a nuclear programme. And after the invasion, extensive searches found no active WMD programmes in Iraq.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a leader in protests against the PM, is accused of a plot to overthrow the government.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says security officials have thwarted a coup plot involving a leading cleric from Armenia’s national church.

The arrest of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, leader of the opposition movement Holy Struggle, on Wednesday marks a sharp escalation in Pashinyan’s standoff with the leadership of the powerful Apostolic Church.

The church’s leader, Catholicos Garegin II, has called for Pashinyan’s resignation after Armenia lost a war to Azerbaijan in 2020, while Galstanyan, the primate of the Diocese of Tavush, led mass protests last year, aiming to unseat the prime minister, channelling widespread public anger over military defeats and territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

“Law enforcement officers prevented a large and sinister plan by the ‘criminal-oligarchic clergy’ to destabilize the Republic of Armenia and seize power,” Pashinyan wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, sharing a statement by Armenia’s Investigative Committee.

The committee said it had filed criminal charges against Galstanyan and 15 others, who they said had “acquired the means and tools necessary to commit a terrorist attack and seize power”.

A total of 14 people had been arrested, investigators said, without naming them.

The committee’s statement claimed that Galstanyan — who has previously expressed his desire to replace Pashinyan as prime minister, although he is unable to hold office due to being a dual Armenian-Canadian citizen — sought to overthrow the government with the help of his supporters.

It said the group had recruited about 1,000 people, mainly former soldiers and police officers, and divided them into strike groups, assigning each a task to destabilise the country, by blocking roads, inciting violence or blocking the internet.

It claimed that the group had acquired weapons, explosives, and other dangerous materials in preparation for the plot.

It said searches were under way at the homes of Galstanyan and about 30 of his associates.

The committee also published audio recordings purporting to reveal Galstanyan and others discussing plans for the alleged coup plot.

‘We are coming’

News.am, an Armenian news website, published footage of Galstanyan being taken from his house into a car by masked police officers, and driven away.

“Evil, listen carefully – whatever you do, you have very little time left. Hold on, we are coming,” he said, in an apparent reference to Pashinyan, as a crowd outside shouted “Nikol is a traitor”, the AFP news agency reported.

A lawmaker close to Galstanyan, Garnik Danielyan, said the raids were “actions of a dictatorial regime” and said the accusations against the archbishop were fabricated, AFP reported.

Wednesday’s developments follow the arrest of another prominent government opponent earlier this month, when Russian-Armenian real estate billionaire Samvel Karapetyan was detained on accusations of making public calls to usurp power, the Reuters news agency reported.

Divided nation

Armenia’s humiliating military defeat by Azerbaijan, resulting in the 2023 loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist enclave in Azerbaijan, has left bitter divisions in Armenia, notably between Pashinyan and the Apostolic Church.

Earlier this month, Pashinyan unsuccessfully attempted to oust Garegin II as the head of the church, calling on the faithful to elect a new spiritual leader to “liberate” the church, AFP reported.

Russia, a treaty ally of Armenia, said the alleged coup plot was an internal matter for Yerevan, but had an interest in calm and order being maintained, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Kenyan police fired tear gas to disperse protesters marking one year since the deadly 2024 anti-government protests, when at least 60 people were killed and demonstrators stormed parliament over tax hikes and alleged state corruption.

US President Donald Trump has compared the US strikes in Iran to the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, telling reporters at the NATO summit in The Hague the attacks “ended the war” and prevented further conflict.

Rights groups say at least 60 people were killed last year by security forces in weeks of youth-led protests against planned tax rises.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Kenya to mark a year since people stormed parliament at the peak of antigovernment demonstrations, despite fears that they would be met by state-backed gangs and police violence.

At least 60 people were killed last year by security forces in weeks of protests over tax rises and the dire economic situation for young Kenyans, rights groups say. On Wednesday, activists and families of victims called for peaceful demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the deadliest day of unrest.

Police blocked main roads leading into the capital’s central business district, while government buildings were barricaded with razor wire.

Thousands of protesters, mostly young men, waved Kenyan flags and placards with pictures of demonstrators killed last year and chanted “Ruto must go”, referring to President William Ruto, whose proposed tax hikes triggered last year’s youth-led protests.

“I’ve come here as a Kenyan youth to protest, it is our right for the sake of our fellow Kenyans who were killed last year. The police are here … they are supposed to protect us, but they kill us,” Eve, a 24-year-old woman, told the AFP news agency.

“It is extremely important that the young people mark June 25th because they lost people who look like them, who speak like them… who are fighting for good governance,” Angel Mbuthia, chair of the youth league for the opposition Jubilee Party, added.

Police brutality

The anniversary comes amid soaring anger over police brutality, particularly after 31-year-old blogger and teacher, Albert Ojwang, was killed in custody earlier this month following his arrest for criticising a senior officer.

Six people, including three police officers, were charged with murder on Tuesday over Ojwang’s killing. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Police have said protests are permitted as long as they are “peaceful and unarmed”.

But a group of peaceful protesters were attacked last week by a large gang of motorbike-riding “goons”, as they are known in Kenya, armed with whips and clubs and working in tandem with the police.

On Tuesday, the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other Western nations released a joint statement on X urging all involved to “facilitate peaceful demonstrations and to refrain from violence”.

“The use of plain clothed officers in unmarked vehicles erodes public trust,” the statement said. Rights campaigners condemned the presence of unidentified police officers at protests last year.

Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late on Tuesday that any policing violations would be addressed through government institutions, including the parliament and the judiciary.

“The ministry reminds all that diplomatic partnerships flourish best in mutual respect, open channels and a recognition of each other’s unique governance contexts,” it said.

There is also growing resentment among young people towards Ruto, who came to power in 2022 promising rapid economic progress.

Many have been disillusioned by continued stagnation, corruption and high taxes, even after last year’s protests forced Ruto to cancel an unpopular finance bill. His government has been at pains to avoid direct tax rises this year.

But the frequent disappearances of government critics – rights groups have counted more than 80 since last year’s protests, with dozens still missing – have led many to accuse Ruto of returning Kenya to the dark days of its dictatorship in the 1980s and 90s.

Ruto previously promised an end to abductions but was unapologetic in a speech on Tuesday, pledging to “stand by” the police.

“You cannot use force against the police or insult, or threaten the police. You are threatening our nation,” he warned protesters.

Downing Street says the purchase will be the ‘biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation’.

The United Kingdom plans to buy at least a dozen F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, in what will be the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office says.

Starmer will make an announcement about the purchase, which will allow the UK’s air force to carry nuclear weapons for the first time since the end of the Cold War, at the NATO summit in The Hague on Wednesday, where NATO leaders are expected to approve a major boost to their defence spending.

The UK’s nuclear deterrence capability is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles.

“In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security,” Starmer said in a statement.

“These F35 dual-capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our Allies.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in the statement that he strongly welcomed the announcement, describing it as “yet another robust British contribution to NATO”.

‘Dual-capable’ fighter jets

The F-35A, produced by United States company Lockheed Martin, is similar to the F-35B currently used by the UK air force, but can carry nuclear bombs in addition to conventional weapons.

Seven NATO members, including the US, Germany and Italy, already have dual-capable planes on European territory capable of carrying the same US B61 nuclear warheads that the UK will likely carry, the AFP news agency reported.

The aircraft would be deployed as NATO’s nuclear dual-capable aircraft mission, strengthening the alliance’s nuclear deterrence posture, Downing Street said.

The new jets would be based at the Marham airbase, with the acquisition of the planes expected to support 20,000 jobs in the UK, the statement said, as 15 percent of the global supply chain for the jets is based in the country.

Europe re-arms

NATO’s 32 members are expected to approve a major hike in targets for the defence spending, from 2 percent to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), at the summit in The Hague.

The UK has already committed to meeting the spending target, and has announced major investments in building new attack submarines and munitions factories.

The boost in defence budgets follows criticism from the Trump administration, which says the US carries too much of the alliance’s financial burden. US President Donald Trump has questioned whether the alliance should defend countries that fail to meet the spending targets, and has even threatened to leave the bloc.

Other countries have also signalled they are making major investments in their militaries in response to the threat posed by Russia, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying Tuesday that Germany would increase spending to become “Europe’s strongest conventional army”.

Published on
25/06/2025 – 8:08 GMT+2

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Investors kept an eye on the Middle East on Wednesday as a fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to hold after initial shakiness.

Both sides claimed victory; Iran’s president said Israel had suffered a “historic punishment”, while Israel’s prime minister argued the offensive had removed “the Iranian nuclear threat”.

A new US intelligence report nonetheless found that Tehran’s nuclear programme had only been set back by a few months by US strikes. Washington denied the findings of the leaked report.

Early in Europe, Brent crude had risen around 1.15% to $67.91 a barrel, while WTI was 1.21% higher at $65.15. The prices suggest the market has still not fully calmed after the conflict in the Middle East, with investors continuing to monitor the shaky ceasefire.

US President Trump rebuked both countries for violating the announced ceasefire on Tuesday. 

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, the biggest load that we’ve seen,” he said.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, he wrote: “Israel, do not drop those bombs. If you do, it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!”

Trump claimed that neither Iran nor Israel “know what the f*** they’re doing”.

Stocks, meanwhile, rose modestly on Wednesday. Dow Jones futures rose 0.06% to 43,452.00, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.05% to 6,149.25.

In Asian trading, the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.44% to 3,435.60, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.31% to 38,910.93, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 0.78% to 24,364.79, while South Korea’s Kospi was almost flat, rising 0.01% to 3,104.20.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 notched up 0.09% to 8,563.20.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 97.98 although the currency has still failed to recover from losses seen earlier this year. The euro rose less than 1% against the dollar while the Japanese Yen dropped around 0.12% against its US safe-haven alternative.

“The situation in the Middle East is fluid. While the downside risks have subsided, the situation can change quickly and the balance of risks remains weighted toward higher oil prices,” said Ryan Sweet, Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics, on Tuesday.

California leaders reached a tentative agreement Tuesday night on the state budget, which hinges on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s demand that the Legislature pass a housing reform proposal.

The eleventh-hour negotiations about the spending plan, which takes effect July 1, speak to the political challenge of overhauling longstanding environmental regulations to speed up housing construction in a state controlled by Democrats.

The party has been loath to do more than tweak the California Environmental Quality Act, or approve one-off exemptions, despite pressure from the governor and national criticism of a law that reform advocates say has hamstrung California’s ability to build.

The proposal is among a series of policies Newsom and Democratic lawmakers are expected to advance in the coming days as part of the $321.1-billion budget. The deal reflects the Legislature’s resistance to the governor’s proposed cuts to reduce a $12-billion budget deficit expected in the year ahead, citing uncertainty about the scope of the state’s financial problems.

“We appreciate the strong partnership with the Legislature in reaching this budget agreement,” said Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom. “The governor’s signature is contingent on finalizing legislation to cut red tape and unleash housing and infrastructure development across the state — to build more, faster.”

The consensus comes after weeks of conversations about how to offset the deficit, caused by overspending in California, and start to address even larger financial problems anticipated in the future, including from potential federal policy changes.

The tentative deal largely relies on borrowing money, tapping into state reserves, and shifting funding around to close the shortfall. By reducing and delaying many of the governor’s proposed cuts, the budget continues a practice at the state Capitol of sparing state programs from immediate pain while avoiding taking on California’s long-term budget woes.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) said the budget deal papers over the state’s financial problems.

“We’re in this situation because of overspending,” Gallagher said. “We’ve made long-term commitments to programs that Democrats have championed, and now, just like everybody warned, the money is not there to support them all, and they don’t want to cut back their program that they helped expand.”

The cuts lawmakers and the governor ultimately agreed to will reduce the expansion of state-sponsored healthcare to undocumented immigrants and reinstate asset limit tests for Medi-Cal enrollees. The final deal, however, achieves less savings for the state than Newsom originally proposed.

The plan restores cost-of-living adjustments for child-care workers, which the governor wanted to nix, and rejects his call to cap overtime hours for in-home caregivers.

Democrats in the Legislature successfully pushed to provide another $500 million in funding for Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grants. The governor originally resisted giving more money to counties, which he has chastised for being unable to show results for the billions of dollars in state funding they have received to reduce homelessness.

Assembly Budget Chair Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) pushed back on the notion that the Legislature hasn’t done “real belt-tightening.” Lawmakers are trying to balance compassion and fiscal responsibility before making drastic cuts to safety net programs that Californians rely on, he said.

“That is the balance that we are trying to strike here with this budget of being responsible, of focusing on the work that we need to do regardless, but also understanding that there is a pretty high delta of uncertainty for a lot of reasons,” Gabriel said.

The budget also preserves Newsom’s plan to provide $750 million to expand the California Film and Television Tax Credit, a proposal supported by Hollywood film studios and unions representing workers in the industry.

The tentative agreement is expected to serve as a precursor to more challenging financial discussions about additional reductions in the months ahead.

California expects to lose federal funding from the Trump administration and state officials predict a potentially greater funding dilemma in 2026-27.

Here are few key elements of the budget deal, detailed in summaries of the agreement and legislation:

A housing caveat

Described colloquially as a “poison pill” inserted into the budget bill, the agreement between the Legislature and Newsom will only become law if legislators send the governor a version of a proposal initially introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).

Wiener’s bill is expected to lessen the number of building projects that would require a full environmental review under CEQA and make the process of developing environmental impact reports more efficient.

Paired with another proposal that could exempt more urban housing developments from CEQA, the legislation could mark a significant change in state policy that makes it easier to build.

Newsom is effectively forcing the Wiener proposal through by refusing to sign a budget deal without the CEQA exemptions. The proposal was still being drafted as of Tuesday evening.

The governor declared lofty goals to build more housing on the 2018 gubernatorial campaign trail, but he has failed to spur enough construction to meet housing demand and make homes more affordable.

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein effectively called out the inaction in California caused by the state’s marquee environmental law and a lack of political will in his recent book “Abundance,” which increased pressure on the governor and other Democrats to reconsider their approach and push for more substantial fixes this year.

The CEQA reform bill must be passed by Monday under the budget agreement, which omits a separate Newsom call to streamline the Delta tunnels project.

Changes to Med-Cal funding

Medi-Cal cost overruns are causing major problems for the California budget. The challenges stem from a higher-than-expected price tag for the expansion of state-sponsored healthcare to all income-eligible undocumented immigrants and medical care for other enrollees.

Newsom’s budget proposal in May suggested substantial trims to the healthcare program for people who are undocumented. His plan included freezing new enrollment as of Jan. 1, requiring all adults to pay $100 monthly premiums, eliminating long-term care benefits and cutting full dental coverage. The changes offered minor savings in the year ahead but could save billions of dollars in future years.

Lawmakers ultimately agreed to require undocumented immigrant adults ages 19 to 59 to pay $30 monthly premiums beginning July 2027. They plan to adopt Newsom’s enrollment cap but give people three months to reapply if their coverage lapses instead of immediately cutting off their eligibility.

Democrats agreed to cut full dental coverage for adult immigrants who are undocumented, but delayed the change until July 1, 2026.

State leaders agreed to reinstate much higher limits than the governor originally proposed on the assets Medi-Cal beneficiaries may possess and still get coverage. The new limits would be $130,000 for individuals and $195,00 for couples, compared to prior limits of a few thousand dollars.

They also adopted Newsom’s proposal to withdraw Medi-Cal benefits for specialty weight-loss drugs.

Shifting money around

The negotiations resulted in less general fund spending than the Legislature proposed in a counter to Newsom’s budget revision in May, dropping from $232 billion to an estimated $228 billion for 2025-26.

Officials are using more money from California’s cap-and-trade program, which sets limits on companies’ greenhouse gas emissions and allows them to buy pollution credits from the state, including $1 billion next year. They are also using $300 million from climate change bonds instead of the general fund to pay for environmental programs.

Lawmakers and the governor agreed to delay a $3.4-billion payment on a loan to cover Medi-Cal cost overruns and increase the loan by another $1 billion next year.

Trump uncertainty

The plan continues an agreement to take $7.1 billion from the state’s rainy day fund to help cover the deficit and taps into another $6.5 billion from other cash reserves to balance the budget.

California leaders for months have warned about the so-called Trump effect on the state budget.

Financial analysts at UCLA predict that the state economy is expected to slow in the months ahead due to the effects of Trump’s tariff policy and immigration raids on construction, hospitality, agriculture and other key sectors.

Meanwhile, the state is warning that federal funding reductions to California could require lawmakers to adopt additional budget cuts in August or September, during a special session in the fall or early next year.

State officials expect future deficit estimates to range from $17 to $24 billion annually, according to an Assembly summary of the budget deal.

More to come

The final budget agreement is being publicly released in bits and pieces this week through a series of trailer bills that appear online at random hours.

Lawmakers are expected to pass a main budget bill on Friday and approve additional legislation by Monday, before the July 1 deadline for the budget to go into effect. Some legislation, such as the CEQA housing exemptions, will not appear in print until the end of the week.

Other decisions, such as reauthorizing California’s cap-and-trade program, will be considered later in the year outside of the budget process.

The State Department has offered up to $3m for information leading to the arrest of Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano.

The United States Treasury Department has sanctioned the alleged leader of Tren de Aragua (TDA), a Venezuelan gang that the administration of President Donald Trump has used as justification for its immigration crackdown.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano was not only sanctioned but also indicted by the Department of Justice.

According to unsealed court documents, Mosquera Serrano faces charges related to drug trafficking and terrorism. He was also added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, with a $3m reward offered for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

In the statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Tren de Aragua, under Mosquera Serrano’s leadership, of “terrorizing our communities and facilitating the flow of illicit narcotics into our country”.

It was the latest effort in the Trump administration’s campaign to crack down on criminal activity that it claims is tied to the proliferation of foreign gangs and criminal networks in the US.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua and other Latin American gangs as “foreign terrorist organisations”, a category more commonly used to describe international groups with violent political aims.

But Trump has used the threat of criminal networks based abroad to justify the use of emergency powers during his second term.

For instance, the Trump administration has claimed that Tren de Aragua is coordinating its US activities with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. That allegation was then used to justify the use of a rare wartime law: the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Claiming that the presence of groups like Tren de Aragua constituted a foreign “invasion” on US soil, Trump leveraged the Alien Enemies Act as the legal basis for pursuing the expedited deportations of alleged gang members.

More than 200 people were sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, where many of them remain to this day.

Those deportations have drawn widespread criticism, along with a slew of legal challenges. Critics have said that the expedited deportations violated the immigrants’ rights to due process. They also pointed out that many of the deported men did not have criminal records.

Lawyers for some of the men have argued that they appear to have been imprisoned based on their tattoos and wardrobe choices. The Department of Homeland Security, however, has disputed that allegation.

At least one top US official has acknowledged that Maduro’s government may not direct Tren de Aragua.

An April memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, obtained by news outlets like NPR and The New York Times, likewise cast doubt on the idea that Venezuela was controlling the gang’s movements in the US.

Rather, the memo said that the Maduro government likely sees Tren de Aragua as a threat.

“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the memo reads.

Last July, the US and Colombia offered joint multimillion-dollar rewards for information leading to the arrest of Mosquera Serrano and two other men believed to lead Tren de Aragua.

The group was also sanctioned in the same month as a transnational criminal organisation for “engaging in diverse criminal activities, such as human smuggling and trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking”, according to a Treasury Department statement.

Numerous countries in Latin America have struggled with the gang’s rapid growth, which has been linked to political assassinations and widespread human trafficking, though experts say there is little to suggest the gang has infiltrated the US.

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Dnipro region killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 200 others, including 18 children, Ukrainian officials said. As rescue crews combed through rubble, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged NATO allies in the Netherlands to invest in Ukraine’s defence.

Here are the key events as a ceasefire was declared in the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict.

Here’s where things stand on Tuesday, June 24:

Fighting

• A US-brokered ceasefire began at around 04:00 GMT on Tuesday, with Iran halting attacks first and Israel following suit 12 hours later.
• After a rocky start, the ceasefire was holding later in the day, with the missiles and drones silent in both directions for the first time in nearly two weeks.
• The phased 24-hour process was initially violated by both Iran and Israel.
• Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz initially ordered “intense strikes” on Tehran, accusing Iran of violating the truce first, something Iran denies.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin quickly acceded to United States President Donald Trump’s demand to stand down on further attacks.
• Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s military “destroyed a radar installation near Tehran”, claiming it was in retaliation for several earlier Iranian missile strikes.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said 14 missiles were launched against military centres across Israel, adding that the last wave of missiles was carried out minutes before the ceasefire implementation and in response to deadly Israeli strikes.

Casualties and disruptions

• Iran’s Red Crescent Society announced that four of its ambulance workers were killed by the Israeli military. They identified the medics as Mojtaba Maleki, Mehdi Zartaji, Amirhossein Jamshidpour and Yasser Zivari.
• The Iranian judiciary said several employees and visiting family members died as a result of Israel’s attack on Evin Prison on Monday.
• Iran’s Health Ministry said 610 people were killed in Israeli strikes over the past 12 days.
• Israel’s military said a soldier, identified as 18-year-old Eitan Zacks from Beersheba, was killed “as a result of a missile launched from Iran”. Three others died in that attack.
• Israel said its airspace has reopened for emergency flights, while Israel’s flag carrier said it will boost its flight schedule to bring tens of thousands of Israelis back from abroad.
• Syrian airspace reopened after being temporarily closed, Syrian media reported.
• Oman Air said its flight operations also returned to normal following cancellations last night over regional tensions.
• Other countries in the region, including Qatar and Iraq, also reopened their airspace, with flight operators confirming their plans to resume services on Tuesday.

Politics and diplomacy

• Trump said he was “really unhappy” with Israel for violating the truce. He called on Israel to stop dropping bombs and to “bring your pilots home, now!”
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared the “end of the 12-day war” with Israel to be a “total victory”.
• Pezeshkian also said his country is ready to resolve issues with the US based on international frameworks.
• Pezeshkian called Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani a day after an Iranian attack on the US military base Al Udeid and expressed “regret”, noting Qatar and its people were not the target of the attack.
• Netanyahu said that Trump “expressed his immense appreciation” for attacking Iran, and that Israel “achieved all of the war’s goals”.
• Netanyahu also said: “We rose like a lion, and our roar shook Tehran. This war will be studied in all the armies of the world. We destroyed the critical facilities in Arak, Natanz, and Isfahan.”
• Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that it was a “great honour” to “destroy” Iran’s nuclear facilities, and then “stop the war”.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is more determined to hold on to its nuclear programme after the 12-day Israeli assault, saying “our scientists made massive sacrifices and even lost their lives for this goal”.
• Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, in remarks to Al Mayadeen TV, said that Iran is alert and ready to respond to any attack.
• Yemen’s Houthi rebels lauded Iran’s “heroic” battle against Israel, with the group’s spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam saying the war was also against “other Western countries that stood with the aggressors”.
• Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China supports Iran in achieving a “genuine ceasefire” after it condemned the US for striking the country’s nuclear sites.
• .British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met at the NATO summit in The Hague, saying that it was now “time for diplomacy”, as the fragile ceasefire took hold.

In a region that’s seen its fair share of instability, the conflict between Israel and Iran is threatening to create unprecedented chaos.

US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, just hours after Iran launched missiles towards the US military base in Qatar. That ceasefire is now at risk of falling apart.

Trump urged Israel to “calm down” and demanded that both sides do more to stick to the truce. But will it hold? And where does Iran go from here?

And is there a new balance of power in the Middle East?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Dania Thafer – Executive director at the Gulf International Forum

Ellie Geranmayeh – Deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Doug Bandow – Senior fellow at the Cato Institute and former special assistant to US President Ronald Reagan

Published on
24/06/2025 – 18:17 GMT+2

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The Brazilian ambassador to the EU has told MEPs in Brussels that a disinformation campaign surrounds the trade deal signed in December 2024 between the EU and the Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva strenuously countered the arguments of the deal’s critics during a hearing of the Parliament’s trade committee on Tuesday.

“The occurrence of animal diseases is much higher in the EU than in Brazil. It shows the need to check the veracity of some narratives,” the ambassador said, holding up a sheet of paper and adding: “In any case, I need to stress that nothing in the agreement changes the right of the EU and its member states to protect human, animal, or plant health.”

The Mercosur agreement aims to establish a transatlantic free trade zone encompassing 750 million people and nearly one-fifth of the global economy.

The EU member states have yet to adopt the deal, but some – led by France – oppose it, facing strong domestic resistance from environmental activists and farmers who argue that it would create unfair competition and fail to uphold environmental and phytosanitary standards.

“The debate about this agreement has not always been a balanced one. Some people want to apply a unique benchmark to Mercosur and ask us to engage in an endless loop of negotiations,” Da Costa E Silva said.

He denounced what he described as unfair treatment of the deal when compared to others the EU has negotiated – citing recent agreements between the EU with Chile or Mexico, and those under discussion with India and the US – claiming these haven’t faced the same kinds of “accusations, and unreasonable demands and expectations”.

The ambassador also sought to counter the arguments raised by farmers concerned that their Brazilian counterparts would gain unfair competitive advantages.

“The [market] access we received in products considered sensitive by the European producers is very limited,” he said. And he claimed that some Brazilian standards are more stringent than European. “For example: the share of land that our farmers need to set aside for the protection of native vegetation varies from 20% of their properties in the south of Brazil to 80% in the Amazon region. This is far beyond the requirements asked of European farmers.”

For the Palestinians who have managed to leave, the decision to stay and risk death or abandon their homes and loved ones is an agonising one. Many more are desperate to escape, but have no way out. So what becomes of those who do make it out? How do they carry on after such deep trauma, while fearing for the families and friends they left behind as the war continues? And will they ever truly heal?

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Safwat Al Kahlout – Al Jazeera producer
Abubaker Abed – Palestinian journalist and commentator

Israeli forces and drones have reportedly killed dozens in the latest attacks on people seeking aid in Gaza.

The violence, carried out as Palestinians waited for aid at distribution sites across the enclave on Tuesday, may have killed as many as 50 people in total, according to Palestinian health workers and witnesses, although figures remain unverified.

The killings are the latest in a wave of daily carnage near aid distribution points established late last month by the controversial Israeli and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) has labelled a “death trap”.

Sources in Gaza hospitals told Al Jazeera that up to 50 people had been killed by Israeli fire near aid distribution centres since dawn, along with 21 others across the territory.

Medical sources reported that at least 25 people were killed in an incident on Salah al-Din Street south of Wadi Gaza in central Gaza, according to The Associated Press news agency. More than 140 other people were injured, 62 of them critically.

Footage posted on social media site Instagram, and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency, showed bodies being brought to al-Awda Hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp.

Similar scenes were reported from the Nasser Medical Complex to the south in Khan Younis, following unverified reports that the Israeli army had targeted people waiting for aid on al-Tina Street.

People approaching an aid point in Gaza City were also killed, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from the city in the north of the territory, as well as Rafah in the south.

“Casualties were brought to various health facilities, including al-Shifa Hospital [in Gaza City],” he said. “The emergency ward there turned into a bloodbath, and many died waiting for medical care.”

Witnesses told AP that Israeli forces had opened fire as people were approaching the aid trucks.

“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa, reporting that tanks and drones had fired “even as we were fleeing”.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing reports of casualties from fire by its troops after a group of people approached soldiers in an area near the militarised Netzarim Corridor.

Israel has said that previous shootings near GHF aid sites have been provoked by the approach of “suspects” towards soldiers.

Witnesses and humanitarian groups have said that many of the shootings took place without warning.

‘Death trap’

The killing of aid seekers has become an almost daily occurrence since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) took over the distribution of food and other vital supplies.

The foundation launched its aid distribution programme in late May after Israel had completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, prompting warnings of mass famine.

The United Nations has refused to work with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs, and condemned it for its “weaponisation” of aid.

The GHF distribution sites have been plagued by scenes of chaos and carnage. More than 400 people have been killed and 1,000 wounded by Israeli soldiers since the GHF aid rollout began.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday that the system for aid distribution in Gaza was “an abomination”.

“The newly created so-called aid mechanism is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people,” said at a news conference in Berlin. “It is a death trap costing more lives than it saves.”

In a letter published on Monday, the International Commission of Jurists — a human rights NGO of prominent lawyers and judges — joined 14 other groups in condemning the GHF and calling for “an end to private militarized humanitarian aid operations in Gaza”.

Philip Grant, executive director of Geneva-based NGO TRIAL International, said GHF’s model of militarised and privatised aid delivery “violates core humanitarian principles”.

He added that those who enabled or profited from the GHF’s work faced a “real risk of prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including the forcible transfer of civilians and the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”.

Russian appears to have raised the scale of hostilities as the US has become distracted with the Israel-Iran war.

Russia and Ukraine have swapped drone strikes, with at least three people reportedly killed by Moscow near the shared border.

Strikes were reported overnight on Tuesday in several areas of Ukraine, as well as in Moscow.

The attacks are the latest in a series of intensifying hostilities as the efforts of the United States to broker a ceasefire have stalled, with Russia appearing eager to take advantage, as global attention is dominated by the war between Israel and Iran.

A Russian drone attack on a village in Sumy killed an eight-year-old boy and two adults, and injured another three people, the military administration of the region said.

Drone strikes also wounded five people in Kharkiv and four others in the Dnipropetrovsk region, local authorities said.

The attacks came a day after a “massive” missile and drone strike on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv killed at least 10 people.

“The strike took the lives of people from different families,” the military administration said on Telegram regarding the Sumy attack. “They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes. But Russian drones interrupted their sleep – forever.”

Ukraine has also stepped up its drone attacks on a wide range of targets in Russia in recent months.

Russia said a Ukrainian drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, and triggering a fire.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said that the drone started a fire on the 17th floor of the building in the town of Krasnogorsk, west of the capital.

“About 100 people were evacuated from the building, including 30 children,” Vorobyov said, adding that the injured were receiving treatment at a hospital.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the Moscow region, local news agencies reported, citing Russian defence ministry data.

Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 – in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.

US President Donald Trump had promised to swiftly end the war while on his campaign trail, but his diplomatic attempts have not resulted in a ceasefire so far.

While Washington succeeded in bringing the two sides together for direct talks last month, little progress was made and no meetings have taken place in the last three weeks.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal in order to prolong its full-scale offensive and seize more territory.