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The decision follows U.S. airstrikes targeting several Iranian nuclear facilities, which violated the United Nations Charter. On Wednesday, Iran’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The decision follows U.S. airstrikes on Sunday targeting several Iranian nuclear facilities, which Iranian officials have condemned as a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.

“While the Israeli regime waged its war of aggression against Iran starting June 13, the U.S. intervened and carried out airstrikes on three nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan in the early hours of Sunday,” stated the document approved by Iran’s legislature.

“Iran has stated that it reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interests and people, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran declared that the attack violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and will not stop Iran from pursuing its peaceful nuclear program,” it added.

At the same time, Iran’s parliament accused IAEA Director Rafael Grossi of issuing “false” reports and collaborating in hostile actions against Iran. In response, Iran filed a formal complaint with the United Nations against Grossi, alleging his involvement in Israel’s aggression against Iranian territory.

Iranian lawmakers also demanded compensation from the Israeli government for damages and called for the establishment of an international tribunal to try Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

On June 16, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei announced that the country was drafting a bill to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while reaffirming that Iran “remains opposed to the development of nuclear weapons.”

Iran joined the NPT in 1970, a treaty that obligates signatories to refrain from developing nuclear weapons and to accept inspections by the U.N. nuclear agency.

Once approved by parliament, the suspension of cooperation with the IAEA must still be ratified by the Guardian Council of the Revolution and signed by the country’s president.

At the NATO summit, he also said Trump is ‘a man of common sense’ who is letting old wars run out of fuel. On Wednesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pledged to prevent Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“NATO has no business in Ukraine. Ukraine is not member of NATO. Neither Russia. My job is to keep it that way,” he said upon arriving at the NATO summit in The Hague.

Orban said he would not block a potential final declaration from the meeting that names Russia as an adversary, but expressed confidence that Moscow does not pose a threat to the alliance.

“It’s always referred to that way. I believe Russia is not strong enough to pose a real threat to us. We are stronger,” he said, emphasizing that the real threat to Europe is not security-related but economic — specifically, the loss of global trade competitiveness.

Orban also praised U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him “a man of common sense” who is “making new wars shorter and letting old wars run out of gas.”

Asked whether Hungary will commit to spending 5% of its GDP on defense, the prime minister said they would do so only on the “precondition” that the European Union’s budgetary regulations are “completely reformed,” though he did not elaborate on what changes he was referring to.

“If we keep the regulations as they are, no one in the EU will be able to reach 5%, no matter what they say. We need to recalculate everything using a different method,” Orban added.

Governments must ensure that the wealthiest pay their fair share of taxes, the ETUC pointed out. On Wednesday, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warned that social budgets should not be affected by European leaders’ plans to increase defense spending, which are under discussion at the NATO summit.

The ETUC said social spending must be protected, while also voicing support for “coordinated and enhanced security policies that ensure Europe contributes to securing peace, the rule of law, human rights, and social progress at the international level.”

“EU funds originally intended for cohesion and recovery programs have already been redirected toward the defense sector,” the European unions said.

The announcement came during this week’s NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, where European leaders are discussing ways to raise defense and security spending to 5% of member states’ GDP. Most currently allocate between 1% and 2%.

Governments “must avoid increasing the financial burden on workers” and “ensure that the wealthiest pay their fair share of taxes,” the European unions pointed out.

ETUC Secretary General Esther Lynch said the lack of investment in public services will leave Europe unprepared for the challenges it faces.

“The EU must stop draining already insufficient social funds, and governments must not make workers, retirees, or people with disabilities pay the price for unrealistic targets they have set,” she said, calling for safeguards to ensure that the rise in public defense spending does not “simply enrich shareholders and CEOs of weapons manufacturers.”

“Funding must be tied to social conditions that guarantee workers in the sector are covered by collective agreements ensuring fair wages, working conditions, and training,” Lynch concluded.

President Lukashenko noted that Belarus and Cuba provide each other with unconditional mutual support. On Wednesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, reaffirming his country’s interest in finding alternatives to challenges posed by Western sanctions against their nations.

“The pressure of illegal sanctions against our states not only persists but intensifies. This is especially true in financial settlement mechanisms. Yet these negative external factors only motivate us to jointly seek effective solutions,” Lukashenko said in Minsk during the Cuban leader’s official visit.

He emphasized that the international landscape is experiencing significant turbulence, marked by the obsolescence of traditional structures and the emergence of new actors that still lack sufficient resources to address contemporary crises. “While old international structures stagnate, new ones still lack the resources to resolve crises—let alone prevent them. We must work together on this,” he said.

Lukashenko highlighted the constructive nature of Belarus-Cuba cooperation on the global stage, noting that both nations share similar approaches on key international issues, and provide unconditional each other with mutual support.

“Just hours after his arrival in Belarus, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was received by President Alexander Lukashenko in an official ceremony held at the Palace of Independence.”

During talks, Lukashenko and Diaz-Canel acknowledged that the work of the Belarusian-Cuban commission on trade and economic cooperation has reached a steady annual pace, demonstrating mutual interest in strengthening ties.

Among promising areas for expanding trade and economic cooperation, Lukashenko mentioned sectors of strategic importance to Havana, including food security, industrial modernization, construction development, transportation infrastructure, energy, mining, and access to quality medicines.

“Given the complementary nature of the Belarusian and Cuban economies, our experts have identified several promising growth points in trade and economics,” the Belarusian leader said, adding that his country is prepared to ensure the supply of new equipment, including through leasing arrangements, and to export engines, spare parts, machinery, and repair equipment to benefit Cuban enterprises.

Belarus could also supply raw materials and share expertise and technology for joint dairy and meat production, leveraging its experience in these sectors. In closing, Lukashenko stressed Belarus’ readiness to take joint steps to help ensure economic and social stability and the well-being of both nations.

‘Protecting the candidates means ensuring peace for the country and for democracy,’ Interior Minister Benedetti said. On Tuesday, Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti announced that his government has deployed more than 1,000 state security personnel and 500 vehicles to protect 41 presidential pre-candidates and congressional hopefuls ahead of the 2026 elections.

“Protecting the candidates also means ensuring peace for the country and for democracy,” Benedetti said at the conclusion of the Third Follow-up Meeting on the Comprehensive Electoral Security Plan (CORMPE).

The announcement comes in the wake of a June 7 attack on Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a presidential pre-candidate from the far-right Democratic Center party founded by former President Alvaro Uribe.

Uribe Turbay was shot twice in the head and once in the left leg while addressing supporters at a rally in Bogota. His condition has improved, and his critical status has lessened 16 days after the attack, according to a statement from Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota, the hospital where he remains under care.

The attack has heightened concerns over the safety of presidential contenders and other candidates ahead of the upcoming elections. Colombia is entering an electoral year, with legislative elections scheduled for March 8, 2026, and the presidential election set for May 31, 2026.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said intelligence mechanisms have been activated, including the Integrated Electoral Intelligence Information Center. Cyber capabilities have also been deployed to prevent threats, disinformation campaigns and polarization on social media platforms.

As part of the government’s “Democracy Plan,” President Gustavo Petro’s administration also announced that the military will contribute nearly 80,000 service members to secure more than 13,000 polling stations across the country.

La Paz, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Bolivia closed the deadline for the substitution of candidates for the general elections of next August 17 with 368 changes, said today an official source.

According to the vocal Gustavo Avila, 368 applications were received from the 10 qualified political organizations, five alliances and the same number of parties.

The authority specified in declarations to the Uno network that up to 23:30 of this Wednesday Bolivian time “(...) the 10 political organizations have actually made 368 substitutions of candidates”. He explained that the procedures will be reviewed this Thursday in a session of the Plenary Chamber, with the intention of providing certainty both to the parties and to the citizenship.

Avila emphasized that the process also seeks to encourage informed voting, since in the next few weeks the definitive list of qualified candidates will be published.

The day before, in addition to the registration of substitutions, the five parties and five political alliances went to validate the design of their stripes on the ballot.

Each political organization had until that same date to submit the photographs of their candidates for the Presidency and for single-member and special deputies.

Reportedly, Nueva Generación Patriótica (NGP) presented Jaime Dunn as its new candidate for the Presidency, replacing Fidel Tapia.

Previously, Dunn's candidacy was observed due to a problem of fiscal solvency, however, once the issue was solved, the ultra-liberal candidate managed to register his candidacy on Wednesday night.

Avila explained to the press that the alliance that did not meet the deadline of 00 Bolivian time this Thursday to register its candidates, would remain on the ballot as it was until that time.

“(...) It does not seem responsible to us, that is why we have called for the political organizations to comply with this deadline”, warned Avila.

With the steps taken until this Thursday, the TSE continues the progress in the electoral calendar, in compliance with the established deadlines and with the objective of guaranteeing transparent elections and with clear information for voters, according to an institutional note.

At this moment, the full chamber is analyzing and defining which substitutions are valid, according to the requirements of each one of them.

Minsk, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel proposed today to create in his country a logistics center for the distribution of goods from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) to Latin American countries.

“An initiative is being launched to use Cuba as a logistics and investment center, taking advantage of the capabilities of its special economic zone, since its geographical advantages make the country a starting point for the expansion of UEE products to Latin America and the Caribbean,” the president said at the plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk.

The Cuban head of state added in his speech that at the same time transit will be promoted and the export potential of the countries of the Union will be expanded.

The Eurasian Economic Forum is part of the Eurasian Economic Union summit, which is being held on June 26-27 in the Belarusian capital.

The EEU is an economic alliance comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. In addition to the member countries, this year's summit is being attended by Cuba, the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Uzbekistan.

Havana, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) Cuba reiterated today its zero tolerance policy in the fight against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, on the occasion of the International Day against this scourge.

Through his profile on the social network X, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that such efforts respond to the will of the Cuban state to address this issue from a comprehensive approach, with actions of prevention and confrontation.

On December 7, 1987, the United Nations General Assembly established every June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The purpose of the celebration is to strengthen global action and cooperation to achieve a society free of drug use, and to raise awareness of the serious problem that illicit drugs represent for society.

Buenos Aires, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) The Minister of Deregulation and Transformation of the State, Federico Sturzenegger, celebrated today that more than 50,500 workers of public entities have already been laid off, which means, according to his calculations, saving two billion dollars.

The Minister boasted after President Javier Milei made official the elimination of the holiday for the Public Employee's Day, which is celebrated every year on June 27 (tomorrow), although the response of the Association of State Workers (ATE) was not long in coming:

Rodolfo Aguiar, secretary general of ATE, stated that in any case all the unions that make up this federation will take the day anyway in protest, which includes the demand for wage improvement and against the adjustment policy of the national government and, in addition, filed a criminal complaint in the labor justice against Milei's decree.

"The chainsaw continues. Let's remember that every peso saved by the State is one peso less in taxes paid by the citizens. We are already saving two billion dollars a year. That's why the chainsaw is so popular," Sturzenegger wrote by way of a pretext in X.

The drive by Sturzenegger, who was head of Argentina's Central Bank during the presidency of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), to deregulate and restructure decentralized agencies not only generates internal tensions, but also has far-reaching geopolitical and economic implications, political analysts point out.

According to official statistics, in May alone 2,864 jobs were lost in state entities.

At that rate, since December 2023, 50,591 workers have already been cut. Of this total, 29,499 correspond to the centralized and decentralized Administration, 15,592 to State Enterprises and 5,500 to Military and Security Personnel.

VIJAYAWADA: In a significant verdict affirming the rights of transgenders, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Saturday ruled that trans women (individuals who transition from male to female) cannot be denied recognition as women under the Indian law solely on the grounds of their inability to bear children.

The court further categorically rejected the argument that womanhood is tied exclusively to reproductive capacity, stating that such a claim is ‘completely incorrect and legally unsustainable’. It made it clear that defining womanhood by the ability to reproduce goes against the spirit of the Constitution, which guarantees dignity, equality and identity to all citizens, irrespective of gender.

Justice Venkata Jyothirmai Pratapa highlighted the Supreme Court directions in the landmark NALSA vs Union of India case, which clearly upheld the rights of transgenders, including the right to self-identify their gender. The High Court stated that this recognition is protected under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.

The court observed that trans women are entitled to protection under IPC Section 498A - a provision dealing with cruelty by a husband or his relatives - just like cisgender women. “Denying such protection by questioning their womanhood amounts to discrimination,” the Judge noted.

While hearing a petition filed by Viswanathan Krishnamurthy and his parents, who challenged a dowry harassment case registered against them by Shabana, a trans woman from Ongole, who alleged cruelty and dowry demands from her husband and in-laws.

The couple lived together in Ongole for a brief period before Viswanathan reportedly left for Chennai, and ceased communication. Shabana subsequently approached the Ongole women police station, alleging that her in-laws threatened to kill her, and that her husband verbally abused her. Based on her complaint, the police registered a case against Viswanathan, his parents, and relatives under IPC Section 498A.

However, the petitioners approached the High Court in 2022 seeking quashing of the case, arguing that Shabana, being a trans woman, could not invoke this legal provision of Section 498A.

The counsel on behalf of petitioners contended that trans women do not fall under the legal definition of woman due to their inability to conceive, and the charges under Section 498A should not apply. They also claimed the allegations levelled by Shabana were baseless, and unsupported by evidence.

However, the High Court dismissed the argument, stating that gender identity is not dependent on biological factors such as childbirth. It held that trans women, too, have the right to file complaints under Section 498A, and enjoy all constitutional rights available to women.

However, the court quashed the case against Viswanathan and his family - not on grounds of gender - but due to lack of evidence. The bench noted that there was no material to support Shabana’s claims of dowry demands or cruelty. It observed that continuing the trial in the absence of any prima facie evidence would amount to misuse of judicial process.

Justice Jyothirmai further elaborated on the evolving understanding of gender identity, citing that a person’s gender need not correspond to the sex assigned at birth. “A trans woman is a person born male, who later transitions to female. She is legally entitled to be recognised as a woman,” the Judge asserted.

The reform must be applied in every public or private company… Ignoring the law is to break democracy, he said. At midday on Wednesday, Colombian president Gustavo Petro will sign the Labor Reform law, which Congress approved on June 20.

His signature will put this law into effect, returning rights and recognizing the dignity of working people, the Colombian president said on social media.

“We invite you to the Quinta de Bolivar Museum House in Bogota to celebrate this historic act by which workers win. Colombia wins!” it added.

During a demonstration in Medellin on Saturday, Petro announced that thousands of Ministry of Labor inspectors will be hired to ensure compliance with the reform.

“In Colombia, labor reform was implemented 34 years late. There are Colombians who have not been able to live their lives because before the 1991 Constitution, they had no labor rights, and after that Constitution, they waited 34 years,” said Juan Carlos Monedero, an academic and international political analyst.

“The reform must be applied in every public or private company, from media outlets to factories, from the countryside to working-class neighborhoods. Ignoring the law is to break democracy,” the Colombian president said.

The law seeks to improve conditions for more than 10 million formal workers registered in the country. Among its most important benefits is the gradual increase in the additional compensation paid to workers who labor on Sundays or holidays to 100 percent.

The labor reform also defines nighttime working hours as beginning at 7 p.m., establishes employment contracts for apprentices of the National Learning Service (SENA) and eliminates the possibility of hiring workers by the hour.

Washington, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) The U.S. government plans to initiate deportation proceedings against Kilmar Ábrego García and send him to a country other than his native El Salvador, prosecutors told a judge in Maryland today.

Ábrego García, who remains in a Tennessee jail, was mistakenly removed in March to a Salvadoran mega-jail, by the Trump administration's own admission. Now prosecutors also said they would comply with all court orders and that their plans are not imminent.

His lawyers previously asked the judge in Maryland to order his return to that state upon his release from prison, which would prevent possible attempts by immigration officials to quickly deport him.

A Maryland construction worker and father of three children, Abrego Garcia became a point of contention in President Trump's immigration policies following his deportation.

After his return to the United States, he was sent on June 7 to a Tennessee prison awaiting trial on federal human trafficking charges.

U.S. Magistrate Barbara Holmes in Nashville ruled that Abrego Garcia is entitled to await trial at liberty. But on Wednesday she decided to keep him in custody for at least a few more days out of fear that U.S. immigration officials would try to quickly deport him again.

Paula Xinis, a federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland, wrote that "if this Court does not act quickly, it is likely that the Government will remove Abrego Garcia to a place far from Maryland.