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Jun 21, 2026 - World

Poll also finds three quarters of people in Britain want closer ties, with majority accepting free movementTwo-thirds of EU citizens would back Britain rejoining the bloc, while most UK voters say Brexit has been bad for the issues they care about and want closer ties, including levels of integration – such as free movement – long seen as toxic, a survey has found.Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a thinktank, found 66% of respondents across 15 countries felt UK membership was a very good, good or “neither a good nor a bad” idea. Continue reading...

Jun 21, 2026 - World

Unclear if threat has been carried out or if move will jeopardise talks with US scheduled for SundayMiddle East latest updatesIran has said it is closing the strait of Hormuz after waves of Israeli strikes in Lebanon in a move that threatens to derail the fragile interim peace deal with the US, signed just days ago.The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships not to approach the strategic waterway, which before the war carried a fifth of global oil and liquid gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli crimes in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire there. Continue reading...

Jun 21, 2026 - World

Bulldozers sent in to clear roadblocks that have stifled the country as farmers and Indigenous groups protest against conservative president Bolivia’s president declared a state of emergency on Saturday and deployed soldiers and bulldozers to raze anti-government roadblocks that have paralysed the country.For more than six weeks, unions, Indigenous groups and coca farmers have marched through cities and blocked roads across the country with rubble, logs and debris in protest against the conservative government. Continue reading...

Jun 21, 2026 - World

This blog has now closedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTed O’Brien distanced himself from Pauline Hanson’s suggestion that Australia shouldn’t give aid to Pacific countries that also take aid from China.He said it was a legitimate concern, but her solution was “completely wrong” for the Pacific and not in Australia’s national interest.The idea that you effectively hold a gun to the head of our Pacific neighbours – that’s not what a friend does, that’s not a way of building trust, you don’t basically create an ultimatum.You certainly don’t say it’s all about who you’re going to get money from. The relationship that we have with the Pacific islands is far deeper than development money.From Australia’s perspective, I think that’s the main thing that we should be concerned about, because that has a direct impact on the prices we pay here in Australia.A permanent toll would be bad in practice, wrong in principle, and set a dangerous precedent for how otherwise waterways should be managed internationally. Continue reading...

Jun 21, 2026 - World

A woman in South Africa found opportunity in a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 when she used the suspension of her studies at an agricultural college to plant her own vineyard at her family home