Day: June 23, 2026

Despite the two incidents interrupting the relative calm on the Lebanese front since Saturday and Sunday, the broader ceasefire seemed to hold, News.Az reports, citing The Times of Israel.
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During the first incident, the IDF stated that a group of Hezbollah terrorists approached the ridge and were struck by the military in response. According to local Lebanese media, the IDF killed two and wounded two.
In a second incident later in the afternoon, the military said it attacked four Hezbollah fighters who had likewise approached the ridge in a bulldozer and on a motorcycle.
The IDF said that the vehicles were an attempt to disguise the Hezbollah terrorists as civilians. However, the IDF said its forces were still able to identify them as a threat, with some reports stating they were trying to enter a nearby tunnel.
According to the Israeli military, its troops fired warning shots to deter the Hezbollah operatives from approaching.
When the Hezbollah fighters continued their approach, the IDF troops opened fire at them directly, striking at least one fighter.
It was unclear what happened to the other Hezbollah operatives, and also unclear why the IDF fired warning shots only in the second incident, but not during the first.
In both cases, Hezbollah said that the IDF had violated the ceasefire, though at press time, it had not responded with any drone or rocket attacks.
Similar incidents occurred after the November 2024 ceasefire between the two sides, as Hezbollah regularly tested how strongly the IDF would enforce its positions within southern Lebanon.
In another dramatic development, the 30 or so Hezbollah operatives trapped in a tunnel near Tibnin – which was recently surrounded by IDF soldiers – are being allowed to live without surrendering for now, pending negotiations about IDF withdrawals.
All of this is concurrent with Israel and Lebanon’s new round of direct talks in Washington. These talks addressed a wide range of issues, including when and to what extent the IDF will withdraw from southern Lebanon.
Israel is offering modest withdrawals, possibly from places like Tibnin and the Ali Taher Ridge, which the IDF took over only last week.

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Today, 700 tons of grain, consisting of ten wagons, were dispatched from Bilajari station toward Boyuk Kesik, News.Az reports, citing AZERTAC.
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To date, more than 33,000 tons of grain, around 8,000 tons of fertilizer, 133 tons of aluminum, 68 tons of buckwheat, and 414 tons of anthracite have been transported from Russia to Armenia in transit via Azerbaijan.
In addition to transit operations, petroleum products are also exported from Azerbaijan to Armenia. So far, more than 14,000 tons of diesel and over 4,000 tons of AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline have been exported from Azerbaijan to Armenia.

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Two whales were killed off the coast of Iceland overnight Sunday, two days after commercial hunting resumed, local media and animal rights activists reported Monday, News.Az reports, citing Euronews.
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The kill ends a two-year pause and marks the first catches since 2023.
Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that two fin whales were killed. The fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth after the blue whale.
Before the vessels set off on Friday, a protester had attached himself to one of the masts in the port of Reykjavik, but climbed down and was escorted away by police.
Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only three countries that still openly permit whaling, despite international condemnation from the public and animal welfare organisations.
Iceland cancelled its whale hunt over the past two years, partly because economic problems had cut demand and the industry was not deemed profitable enough.
“The first fin whale deaths in Iceland’s hunt this year are devastating,” said Joanna Swabe, European senior public affairs director for animal rights group Humane World for Animals.
“Iceland has killed more than 1,000 fin whales in the past two decades — not only the second largest animal on the planet but also a species classified as globally vulnerable to extinction,” Swabe said in a statement.
Iceland’s government has said it is planning to introduce a bill aimed at banning whaling this autumn.
The International Whaling Commission banned the commercial killing of whales in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals.
Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has recommended that no more than 150 fin whales are caught in the 2026 season.
That represents a 28-percent drop on the annual quota it recommended for the period 2018–2025, it said.
The institute has set an annual catch of 168 animals for the minke whale hunt this year, a 23-percent drop on 2018-2025.

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions target five Cuban entities, including three linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces. Best known as GAESA, it is believed to command nearly 40% of Cuba’s gross domestic product. As of early 2024, it held $14.5 billion in liquid reserves, News.Az reports, citing PBS Online.
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“The situation in Cuba is devolving as the island’s corrupt, brutal and anti-American Communist regime continues to prioritize its own total control over the freedom, opportunity and basic well-being of the Cuban people,” Rubio wrote on X.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, accused the “regime elites” of using GAESA to “steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people.”
Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s foreign affairs minister, rejected the sanctions, calling Rubio “dishonest and mendacious.”
“Cuba has proven stronger, more capable, and more effective than he anticipated in the face of the ruthless aggression and collective punishment inflicted upon its people and their living conditions,” he wrote on X. “What this individual is promoting from the world’s greatest power is a crime.”
Anyone that provides services to the targeted Cuban entities risks being sanctioned and cut off from the U.S. financial system.
“By designating specific entities, they’re making it clear to foreign investors: ‘If your business in Cuba touches any of these folks, you risk being banned,’” said Michael Bustamante, a professor and chair in Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.
“For most of these companies, it’s a bridge too far,” he said of the impact of the new sanctions.

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Unlike traditional wagering platforms, Arena is expected to debut with a video-game-style points system rather than real-money betting, though insiders note that Meta has not ruled out integrating actual cash wagers down the line. The app will operate entirely independent of Meta’s core ecosystem—which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—but plans to leverage the company’s massive base of 3.56 billion daily active users to drive rapid growth, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The move comes as prediction markets experience an unprecedented surge in mainstream popularity, evolving from election forecasting tools into a major financial asset class.
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While Wall Street analysts estimate annual trading volumes could skyrocket to $1 trillion by the end of the decade, the industry is simultaneously facing heightened regulatory scrutiny over high-stakes, anonymous trades that have netted millions during major political events. Meta has not yet officially commented on the leak.

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The convictions stem from a July 4, 2025, incident at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Prosecutors detailed that a group of armed militants clad in black tactical gear descended on the facility and opened fire on law enforcement officers, leaving one police officer wounded. Benjamin Song, identified by the state as the operation’s primary organizer, received the maximum 100-year sentence after being convicted of attempted murder, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

“This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard.” — Philip Hayes, Defense Attorney for Benjamin Song

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During the hearings at the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, judges handed down sentences between 30 and 70 years to seven other co-defendants—identified as Autumn Hill, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada—most of whom were convicted in March on charges of rioting and supporting terrorism. Defense attorneys pushed back heavily against the sentencing, arguing the group had merely planned a peaceful protest in support of detained immigrants, while denying any formal ties to antifa. An additional defendant, Ines Soto, is scheduled for sentencing in July, and Song’s legal team has already signaled plans to appeal the verdict.

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Kyiv and Chisinau reached a milestone on their path into the bloc when EU countries unanimously approved, on June 15, the opening of the first formal negotiating chapter for both countries. The move had been blocked for years by former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who opposed Ukraine’s EU membership. (Ukraine and Moldova’s bids are politically linked, so one could not advance without the other), News.Az reports, citing Politico.

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The two countries now hope to quickly progress through the EU’s accession process, with Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka telling POLITICO earlier this month that Kyiv is aiming to open all six negotiating clusters (groups of formal chapters) by mid-July.

But that timeline is now at risk after Hungary on Tuesday opposed sending a letter to the European Council and Commission, on behalf of the bloc’s 27 members, that spells out the joint position of EU capitals. Hungary was the only country to oppose the move, which requires unanimous approval from all 27 and will be discussed again next week, the diplomats said.

A spokesperson for the Hungarian Permanent Representation in Brussels did not reply to a request for comment.

The move is in keeping with Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s cool stance toward Ukraine’s membership.

While Magyar did not oppose opening a first cluster for Ukraine, his government insisted on deleting the words “as soon as possible” regarding Kyiv’s EU membership from the written conclusions of a gathering of EU leaders in Brussels last week, according to one of the diplomats.

Both diplomats were granted anonymity because they are not allowed to speak on the record about closed-door procedures.

During a news conference at the end of the European Council meeting last week, Magyar doubled down, telling reporters: “There are six clusters in total, and we don’t think opening them all at once is a good idea — partly because the ink on the first one isn’t even dry yet, and partly because it would send the wrong message to the countries of the Western Balkans — Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia — [which] have spent years working toward EU membership.”

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