World - Wednesday, June 17, 2026

A U.S. official provided what was described as the text of the preliminary agreement, which outlined a $300 billion plan for Iran’s reconstruction and 60 days of talks on its nuclear program.

Qantas now says first Project Sunrise flight due to take off in November 2027. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Coalition says it’s good Hanson and One Nation getting the scrutiny of a party on the rise Kevin Hogan, the shadow assistant treasurer, says he thinks it’s good Hanson was able to speak at the press club yesterday as One Nation “needs to be put under much more scrutiny” amid surging support. The GetUp stunt completely backfired, it makes them look like [bullies] and makes her look like, you know, a victim in the sense that she’s being picked on. And that never works. One Nation have tapped into, I think, to some fear and anxieties in the Australian public, and I think we have to acknowledge that. I certainly don’t agree with all the solutions that she puts out there, but look, I think it was healthy that she front up and that she was invited yesterday. If you’re coming to Australia to have a better life, you become an Australian. That’s what we’re referring to as a monocultured Australia. You’re an Australian first, and your ethnicity or your creed comes second … The reality is, we’re a Christian Judeo society with a law structure around us, and they’ve come with one clear objective: to have a better life. And that one clear objective should be, if they want to have a better life here, is to live within our culture and live within our laws and rules. It was direct shooting. It hit the targets. It was clear. It was successful. And it addressed a number of the elephants in the room … So the speech hit the target for where Australians are today. Continue reading...

Memorandum of understanding signed off on Wednesday; Tehran will charge ships after the 60-day negotiation period has ended, says chief negotiator Analysis: Where does Iran deal leave US-Israel relationship? Trump also addressed media reports of a leaked US-Iran deal (see post at 11:57 ), denying claims it includes a $300bn reconstruction fund for Tehran. “We’re not putting up 10 cents,” he said. “We are not investing and we do not have a fund.” It’s not final. It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them , dropping bombs on their head. If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, okay, because they’ve misbehaved for 47 years.” Continue reading...

Group of 7 leaders will discuss Artificial Intelligence and global imbalances on Wednesday, even as questions over Iran linger.

Colombian military forces neutralized five members of the militant group allegedly responsible for the bus bombing that killed 20 civilians in Cauca.

Diezani Alison-Madueke had been accused of receiving bribes from oil tycoons but was found not guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court.

Democrat Jamie Raskin seeks ‘comprehensive accounting’ and requests interview with outgoing Bard president Harvard University and Bard College are facing new questions about the institutions’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein amid allegations that the convicted child sex trafficker leveraged his ties to the universities and their faculty to traffic women, while also burnishing his reputation to avoid detection. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said in a statement that Harvard and Bard had both previously attempted to investigate the role their universities and leadership played in facilitating Epstein’s abuse, but that those attempts either failed or fell short of a full accounting of what occurred. Continue reading...

Senator Bill Cassidy attacks ‘worst foreign policy blunder in decades’ while others in his party skeptical over peace deal A handful of Senate Republicans have sharply criticized the agreement Donald Trump reached with Iran, accusing the administration of committing “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”. On Wednesday, the Trump administration released the text of an interim deal between Washington and Tehran to end the 110-day conflict, framing it as a “major win” for the US – even as the 14-point accord made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”. Continue reading...

Snippets of conversations picked up on microphones at the annual Group of 7 summit in France offered a glimpse behind the scenes, as leaders chatted about issues great and small.

Israel's government brands Route 60 as the Biblical Highway, aiming to strengthen heritage tourism and the nation's identity as the land of the Bible.