03 World

Israel and Lebanon discuss plan to transfer some southern territory to Lebanese army– www.france24.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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Talks between Israel and Lebanon include discussion of a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to hand over some of the territory they have invaded during the war with Hezbollah to the Lebanese military, according to Israeli and Lebanese officials.

The Israeli officials said the Lebanese troops involved would undergo US training and vetting to ensure they are not linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Israel would maintain a military presence in a buffer zone along the border.

The proposed “pilot” project is being discussed in the latest round of talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials, which got underway in Washington on Tuesday.

Nuclear site inspections will happen, but timing “not essential,” IAEA chief says– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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Iranian negotiator calls deal struck with U.S. a “declaration of America’s defeat”

Iran’s chief negotiator called the deal it struck with the U.S. “a declaration of America’s defeat” on Wednesday.

“The Islamabad understanding was not the result of pressure and coercion, but rather the result of the resistance and authority of the brave Iranian nation,” Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Wednesday of the agreement signed last week.

“That is why, the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding became a declaration of America’s defeat,” he said, adding that security in the Middle East must be ensured by the countries of the region.

President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the agreement last week, launching a designated 60-day negotiating period during which Pakistani and other mediators hope to bring the two sides to a permanent settlement to end the war.

Iranian World Cup Fans Defy Regime and FIFA with Banned Displays of Resistance– www.westernjournal.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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When it comes to matters of Iran, it’s hard for Americans not to view the Islamic Republic through the lens of the United States.

After all, few issues have been as contentious — even among conservatives and Republicans — as the Iran conflict has been during President Donald Trump’s second term.

But if you were to separate Washington, D.C., from Tehran, it’s evident that Iran’s issues run far, far deeper than anything the United States is doing or has done to the Middle Eastern country.

Just look at what’s happening at the 2026 World Cup.

Russia targets academics in U.S. as ‘foreign agents’ in intimidation campaign– www.thecollegefix.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime is intimidating Russian organizations and scientists on American soil, according to a prominent professor speaking out about the situation.

The incoming president of the Russian-American Science Association, University of Southern California chemistry Professor Anna Krylov, told The College Fix she fears for her safety and the safety of academics caught in the Kremlin’s scope — but refuses to stand down.

“I definitely am not going to quit RASA, because that’s not the proper response to bullies, and so I will continue with operations as usual,” she said. “I will be organizing our next conference, and I will be participating and doing my job as president-elect and then as president of RASA.”

Kim Jong Un calls for 2 large warships per year in naval expansion plan: report– www.foxnews.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday called for a major expansion of the country’s naval forces, suggesting the regime should build two large warships each year for the next five years.

Speaking at a commissioning ceremony for a new destroyer, Kim suggested North Korea should build two warships comparable in size to its 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class vessel each year over the next five years, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim was celebrating the deployment of the new multipurpose destroyer at the port of Nampho. In April, he observed launches of two cruise missiles and three anti-ship missiles from the vessel.

What has Andy Burnham, Britain’s likely next prime minister, said about President Trump?– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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London — Labour Party lawmaker Andy Burnham, who looks increasingly likely to be Britain’s next prime minister, has previously criticized President Trump, accusing the American leader of bringing “instability” to the world.

Current Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday that he would resign in the wake of disastrous local elections in May, and 20 resignations from his government.

As his Labour Party still has a large majority of seats in the U.K. parliament — won in the last national elections in 2024 — it gets to pick Starmer’s replacement, and Burnham is widely expected to get the job.

Iran’s ‘Deconfliction’ Means a More Vulnerable Israel – PJ Media– pjmedia.com

pgnewser June 24, 2026 0

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Reportedly, one of the results of Monday’s U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva will be a “deconfliction cell” for Lebanon. Its members are supposed to be the U.S., Iran, the Lebanese government, Qatar, and Pakistan. Notably missing from the roster is Israel.

Now — even though Israeli forces in Lebanon have been fending off an ongoing, Iran-directed Hezbollah assault on Israel since March 2 — it’s not even included in “deconfliction.”

Israel Hayom, one of Israel’s two leading dailies, reports that “the State Department strongly opposed the creation of the ‘cell…’ The State Department’s position, as expressed in position papers and closed-door discussions, was that Iran’s goal was to sabotage direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon by creating a bypass route.”

Inflation, AI Job Losses Weigh Down Economy – dc.report

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

Bank of America is predicting the Federal Reserve will issue rate hikes by the end of this year in response to rising inflation. They are predicting a three-quarter-point increase in the benchmark rate. General Motors replaced 1,000 workers with “collaborative robots” in one plant alone. Oracle revealed it replaced 21,000 workers with AI solutions so far this year. The loss of jobs through technology, rising inflation, and potential rate hikes portend a poor-performing economy leading up to the November 2026 Midterm elections.

Go Deeper

Oracle Cut 21,000 Jobs in 12 Months Amid AI Adoption– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Oracle Corp. reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees in the past 12 months, a wider scale than previously known, including those whose jobs were eliminated by the use of artificial intelligence.

“The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce,” Oracle said Monday in an annual financial regulatory filing.

The company’s global headcount shrank to 141,000 full-time employees as of the May 31 end of the fiscal year, compared with 162,000 a year earlier, Oracle said. The reductions led to about $1.8 billion in restructuring costs.

Oracle is under financial pressure because of an expensive build-out of AI data centers for customers like OpenAI. Earlier this year, it began cutting thousands of jobs as part of efforts to save cash, Bloomberg has reported. The exact scope of the cuts was never formally disclosed.

As of the end of May, the company had about 49,000 US workers while about 92,000 were employed internationally.

China’s newest aircraft carrier sails through the Taiwan Strait– abcnews.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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China’s newest and most powerful aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s newest and most powerful of its three aircraft carriers sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the Taiwanese defense ministry said, a day after Taiwan began a five-day military exercise on responding to a Chinese attack.

The Fujian carrier first sailed through the narrow body of water separating China and Taiwan in a trial run last September. It later transited the strait for the first time as a fully commissioned military vessel in December.

African and Caribbean Leaders Target U.S. and Europe’s Taxpayers– legalinsurrection.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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African and Caribbean governments have recently adopted a coordinated strategy to seek slavery reparations that also include formal apologies, financial compensation, debt relief, and “cultural restitution” from former slave‑trading states in Europe as well as the U.S.

The demands were part ‌of a 19-point reparations plan endorsed at the end of a three-day conference in Ghana, whose U.N. resolution recognising transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity” was approved in March despite resistance from Europe and the United States, countries which have a legacy in the sprawling human trafficking system that saw ​millions forcibly taken from their homelands.

Trump Reveals Why He Isn’t Worried About Releasing Frozen Iranian Funds– townhall.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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President Trump revealed on Monday that some of the money Iran will have unfrozen will make its way back to the United States, as the Trump administration’s negotiating team secured an agreement over the weekend for Iran to purchase American agricultural products, including wheat, soybeans, and corn.

The move is intended to ensure the Iranian regime spends a portion of its unfrozen funds on commerce and feeding a starving populace, rather than rebuilding its military capabilities or advancing its nuclear program.

“If the sanctions go out, money is going to be put into this country,” the president said during a press conference. “All that money is coming back in the form of purchases of food, which they desperately need. They have 91 million people. They can’t feed them. So the money that we lift is going to go to our farmers, largely to our farmers.”

U.S.-Iran working to finalize deal as Iranian president arrives in Pakistan – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Iran’s president arrived in Pakistan for talks Tuesday with officials mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington on a permanent end to the war in the Middle East, even as discrepancies emerged on what had been agreed so far and violence broke out again in Lebanon.

President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Islamabad comes as technical teams were working on details of the deal following high-level negotiations in Switzerland Monday led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

In Tehran, Iran’s capital, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters that no visits were scheduled for the U.N. watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — to examine Iranian nuclear sites bombed by the United States last year. Vance previously said the negotiations in Switzerland won an agreement for the inspectors to visit the sites.

Oil prices fall as investors mull Middle East developments– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Commercial vessels and oil tankers preparing to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical strategic waterways for global trade flows, maintain their wait in the Gulf of Oman, on June 17, 2026.

Oil fell Tuesday, reversing slight gains at the start of the session, as investors showed cautious optimism about an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

International benchmark Brent crude futures for August fell 1.57% to $76.68 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for August declined 1.53% to $72.73 per barrel.

EU bets on digital euro to cut US tech addiction– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) believes a digital euro is the answer to cutting its addiction to United States payment systems like Visa and Mastercard, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay, as the bloc seeks to favour European firms over others.

Brussels hopes it could provide an alternative local option for any payments in shops or online since people could easily pay, just like other systems, using a card, an app or via their banking app.

The EU will move one step closer on Tuesday (Jun 23) to creating a digital euro when EU lawmakers hold a long-awaited vote on the virtual currency.

California drivers sue gas stations for allegedly using AI to inflate prices | California– www.theguardian.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Gas ⁠station ​operators including BP, Circle K, Marathon, 7-Eleven, Walmart and Albertsons were sued on Monday by California drivers ⁠who accused them of using artificial intelligence to boost prices at the pump.

According to a proposed class action, the defendants ⁠violated California’s main antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, by using an AI-based tool that ​uses data from competing gas ‌stations to “coordinate high prices ‌and wring more money from the pockets of consumers”.

The lawsuit in the ‌Sacramento federal court said the scheme violated assembly bill 325, a California law that took effect on 1 January and was intended to crack down on algorithmic price fixing.

Vance says Iran to let international nuclear inspections resume after “good day” of talks– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Israel loves President Trump, but “the security of Israeli citizens comes first,” the country’s far-right national security minister said Monday.

“We love President Trump but first and foremost – Israeli soldiers, our fighters, our residents, the security of Israeli citizens comes first,” Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement.

“No more daredevil ceasefire,” he added.

Ben-Gvir, who has been sanctioned by the U.K., Canada, Australia and several other countries for inciting violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, said the deaths of Israeli soldiers taking part in operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon last week showed “the containment policy failed.”

He criticized “years of measured responses” and “attempts to buy temporary peace” with Iran and its proxy forces – Hezbollah being the most serious threat to Israel among them – and said those initiatives had been interpreted by Israel’s enemies as “weakness.”

“The State of Israel must be safe, if not – Beirut will look like Beit Hanun,” he said, referring to a city in Gaza that was once home to more than 50,000 Palestinians. The city was “level[ed] to the ground” during Israel’s war with another Iranian proxy, Hamas, according to Israel’s defense chief.

America’s naval power transformation to be in spotlight at major Threat Status event– www.washingtontimes.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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U.S. naval power is undergoing its greatest transformation in a generation, and the nation’s status as the top global military superpower may hinge on the outcome.

That transformation and all the challenges that come with it — including advanced technology integration, shipbuilding labor shortages and budgetary tensions — will be at the center of a special event to be hosted Wednesday by The Washington Times’ Threat Status national security team at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington.

It’s unclear who will pay for Iran’s $300B reconstruction fund. Here’s why– www.politifact.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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As President Donald Trump and the Iranian government reached a written agreement to end the war, Democrats honed in on a section that appeared to promise hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars to Iran.

“With $300 billion, we could end homelessness, fund cancer research for 40 years, and give every child free pre-K for over 7 years,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in an X post. “Instead, Trump is sending it to Iran.”

Trump dismissed such concerns.

“There is no 300 Billion Dollar payment to Iran by the U.S.,” he said in a June 18 Truth Social post. “That’s Fake News! All there is for the U.S. is Success, Lower Oil Prices, and Victory.”

Turnover at 10 Downing Street raises questions about ‘whether Britain is indeed governable’– www.france24.com

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Why More Data Centers Might Mean Cheaper Electricity | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org

pgnewser June 23, 2026 0

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Economics is full of counterintuitive insights. Rent control can make housing less affordable. Business failures can strengthen an economy. And, yes, higher demand can sometimes lower prices. That’s a possibility worth remembering in the ongoing debates over data centers and electricity bills.

It sure seems like we’re going to build a whole lot more data centers in this country—at least, that’s what Wall Street is expecting. JPMorgan just raised its forecast for data-center capacity growth to 138 gigawatts through 2030, up from 122 gigawatts in its forecast last November. The bank also said it expects $5.5 trillion in AI-related capex through 2030, up from its previous forecast of $5.1 trillion.