Headlines

• “It is a major blow to Iran and Hezbollah,” the Israeli prime minister emphasized. “The United States and Lebanon recognized our right to maintain a security zone as long as a threat exists," he added.

Tel Aviv, Jul. 3.— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described last Saturday the agreement signed with Lebanon under US mediation, which establishes the maintenance of an Israeli security zone as long as terrorist threats exist in the region, as "a major blow to Iran and Hezbollah."

In his first public appearance since the signing of the agreement in Washington , the Israeli prime minister stated that the United States and Lebanon recognized his country's right to maintain a security zone. “The Lebanese government showed courage. The United States and Lebanon recognized our right to maintain a security zone as long as a threat exists,” Netanyahu said.

• In Defence Investment Plan preview, Britain bets big on drones and ‘hybrid’ navy.   ←click here
• Courtesy of a £8.6 billion investment in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan, the UK is also "renewing" a commitment to build sixth generation fighter jets, under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), in collaboration with Italy and Japan.

Belfast, Jul. 1.— Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that British defense spending will reach close to £80 billion ($105 billion) annually by 2029.

Ahead of the release of Britain’s long-awaited Defence Investment Plan, due today, Starmer told local media that the lucrative figure will be met before the end of the decade. He failed, however, to disclose a timeline for meeting NATO’s 5 percent spending target.

Gdańsk; june 22 (DPnet).– Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset will participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC), co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine,  and will take place in the city of Gdańsk on Junbe 25 and 26, bringing together political leaders, international organizations, financial institutions, business representatives and civil society to discuss Ukraine’s recovery, reconstruction and long-term resilience. 

URC 2026 seeks to bolster international support for the country's reconstruction as well as catalyze investments for Ukrainian businesses, focusing  on the sectors most impacted by Russian aggression: energy, critical infrastructure, and logistics.

SG Berset will highlight the Council of Europe’s leading role in advancing accountability for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, including through the Register of Damage for Ukraine, efforts to establish an International Claims Commission and a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, while underlining the links between accountability, democratic resilience and sustainable recovery.

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz has declared a state of emergency to empower the military to remove road blockades.

LA PAZ, June 20 (AP).— President Rodrigo Paz on Saturday declared a state of emergency that gives the military broad power to remove road blockades that have put a stranglehold on fuel and food supplies in Bolivia's seat of government and other major cities.

A wave of protests over the last five weeks has called for Paz to step down over austerity measures imposed by the government, including the cancellation of fuel subsidies, and other issues. The demonstrations have unleashed violent confrontations between dynamite-wielding demonstrators and riot police, leading to at least 365 arrests and 37 injuries, according to authorities.