Portal:Current events/2018 June 26

June 26, 2018 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Eastern Daraa offensive (June 2018)
  - Syrian Army troops and Liwa al-Quds militiamen seize control of the strategic town of Busra al-Harir in the southern Daraa Governorate. Around 45,000 people have been displaced in the region due to recent fighting. (BBC)
- Syrian state media reports two Israeli missiles struck targets near Damascus International Airport overnight, including an Iranian cargo plane which had just landed. (Al Jazeera)
Gaza–Israel conflict
- The Israeli Air Force strikes vehicles it claims were being used to launch incendiary balloons from Gaza over the border into Israel. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discusses the conflict with Gaza with the United Nations Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, who has been preparing humanitarian projects for Gaza. (The Jerusalem Post)

Business and economy

Economy of Iran, 2017–18 Iranian protests
- Protests in Iran, particularly the capital, Tehran, enter their second day as thousands of protestors demand action following a collapse in the value of the Iranian rial. President Hassan Rouhani takes to live TV to call the protests "foreign media propaganda" and says the United States is waging "psychological, economic and political war" with Iran. Protestors blame the Iranian government for the crisis, saying billions are being wasted on expensive conflicts. Iran blames sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump. (The Times of Israel)
- The protests become the biggest in Tehran since 2012. (The Independent)

Disasters and accidents

A van is driven into the headquarters of De Telegraaf in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The building is severely damaged in an ensuing fire. Terrorism has not been ruled out. (NL Times)
Authorities in France and French Polynesia meet to discuss rescue plans for MV Thorco Lineage, a freighter hauling zinc that is grounded with eighteen people on board on a coral reef near Raroia, Tuamotus. (Radio New Zealand)
A lorry and a bus collide in Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire, UK. Two people are killed and twelve are injured, five seriously. (BBC)
2018 Tham Luang cave rescue
- Navy divers attempting to rescue a children's football team and their adult coach after they became trapped in Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand, on Saturday resume searching after rising waters earlier hampered efforts. They report finding fresh footprints in the cave. (BBC)
The US National Transportation Safety Board reveals the lithium ion battery on a Tesla Model S involved in a double-fatality crash in Florida reignited twice after initially being extinguished by firefighters. It also reveals the vehicle was traveling at 116mph when the accident occurred; Tesla has introduced speed limiters on their cars as a result. (Engadget)
Latvia opts to describe an ongoing drought as "a natural disaster of a national scale" that can be dealt with using normal laws, in preference over declaring a state of emergency. (LSM)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Container ship MV Alexander Maersk is allowed by Italian authorities to dock in Pozzallo, Sicily, after several days. There, it discharges over 100 rescued migrants. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says German migrant rescue ship MV Lifeline will be permitted to dock in Malta in a deal that will see some of the migrants on board come to Italy. (Al Jazeera)
An Israeli official says that the nation has asked Cyprus to consider allowing Israel to set up a shipping point on the island for goods destined for Gaza. (Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority rejects proposals from Israel and the United States to reduce sanctions that the PA has imposed on Hamas-controlled Gaza. The PA says that there is a "conspiracy" afoot to create a "humanitarian issue" out of the disagreements. (The Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

Terrorism in France
- French police continue questioning ten suspected far-right terrorists arrested on Saturday over an alleged plot to attack Muslims. An extension to their detention was authorised late last night. (The Local)
Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- UK citizen Khalid Ali is found guilty at the Old Bailey in London of plotting a terror attack after he was found with knives in the city, and of building and detonating bombs for the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was detained within metres of Parliament, and wished to murder MPs and police officers. (BBC) (The Guardian)
Legal challenges to the Trump travel ban
- The U.S. Supreme Court rules 5–4 in favor of the Trump administration's September 2017 travel ban. (CNN)
Trump administration family separation policy
- Eighteen attorneys general, representing seventeen U.S. states and Washington DC, sue the Trump administration over migrant family separations at the U.S. border with Mexico. The litigants demand around 2,000 migrant children be reunited with their families. (The Independent)

Politics and elections