Hungarian police ban Budapest Pride march

BUDAPEST, June 19 (Reuters) - Hungarian police said on Thursday in a statement that they were banning the Budapest Pride march of the LGBTQ+ community planned for June 28.
Hungary's parliament, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing Fidesz Party has a big majority, passed legislation in March that created a legal basis for police to ban LGBTQ marches, citing the protection of children.

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Scottish Sun

2 hours ago

• Scottish Sun

Watch hacked Iranian state TV call for REVOLUTION after Israeli hospital is blitzed and Trump ‘approves US attack plan'

RISE AGAINST REGIME Watch hacked Iranian state TV call for REVOLUTION after Israeli hospital is blitzed and Trump 'approves US attack plan' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WATCH the moment Iranian TV urges uprising against its own regime after Israel hacked the state broadcaster. The hijack comes as President Trump hovers over the decision to join Israel and blast targets in Iran, which he has approved in principle, according to reports. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Revolutionary scenes were beamed across Iranian TVs after Israel briefly hacked the state broadcaster Credit: X 6 Smokes raises from a building of the Soroka hospital after an Iranian strike 6 Donald Trump has declared he only wants a 'total and complete victory' against Iran and is no longer interested in a ceasefire Credit: EPA 6 A still image released by Iranian media that shows a missile being fired towards Israel Credit: Reuters Images of women chopping their hair and protesting were briefly beamed to screens by pro-Israeli hackers, who have also knocked out banking services and destroyed Iranian crytpo. The footage repeats famous rebellion motto: 'Women, life, freedom", that Netanyahu recited as he encouraged civilians to overthrow the creaking government. The PM said this week: "In the end, [Iranians] have to rise up themselves, but we are creating the conditions." A major Israeli hospital and an Iranian nuclear reactor were both blitzed during a sixth night of heavy missile exchange. Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was severely damaged when it was struck by an Iranian ballistic missile, and Israel reported over 100 casualties across the country. The IDF confirmed it attacked an "inactive" plutonium nuclear reactor in Arak to "prevent it from being restored and used for nuclear weapons". After days of speculation, Trump has approved plans to attack Iran but is holding off in case Tehran agrees to abandon its nuclear programme, reports the Wall Street Journal. If given the go-ahead, the plans would see the US join Israel in pounding Iran's nuke sites - which Tehran has warned would spark "all out war". 6 6 Netanyahu has urged Iranians to rise up against the regime Credit: Reuters The UK is yet to declare whether it would stand with the US if it committed, as Attorney General Lord Hermer questions the legality of Israel's action, according to Sky, and Starmer held a Cobra meeting. Trump has become much more vocal on the conflict, though still refuses to confirm his plans: "I may do it, I may not do it," he said on Wednesday about striking Iran. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minster, Kazem Gharibabadi, hit back: 'If the US wants to actively intervene in support of Israel, Iran will have no other option but to use its tools to teach aggressors a lesson and defend itself." Iran's Fordow nuclear development area is likely to be the prime target of any imminent US airstrikes. Israel doesn't have the weapons to strike the core of the mountain fortress site, but the US has a fearsome 15-ton mega bomb, known as a Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bomb, which could bust it open. Trump acknowledged the US is the only nation capable of blitzing the key nuke site, but added: "That doesn't mean I'm going to do it - at all." He has also been manoeuvring US Air Force assets into battle-ready positions as the military stands ready to enact orders. Iran's infrastructure has taken a serious pounding, with internet and banking services intermittently knocked out. In a sign that panic is spreading, the regime has been reaching for ways halt Israel's surgical offensive through international conventions. Iran today requested an emergency meeting of the UN's Security Council and reported Israel to the nuclear watchdog for supposed violations of international law. The Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has also arranged to meet with his European counterparts in Geneva tomorrow, according to state media. And President Trump revealed that Iran has been knocking at the door to rekindle negotiations with the US towards a nuclear deal - an option which he has not yet totally ruled out. Stay up to date with the latest on Israel vs Iran with The Sun's live blog below...

Reuters

3 hours ago

• Reuters

Rare earth access is the European Union's priority at China summit

BRUSSELS/BEIJING, June 19 (Reuters) - European Union leaders will use a summit with China next month to seek better access to Chinese rare earths and critical minerals, four sources familiar with the plans said, as the two sides tackle an array of tariff-related issues. For years, China has had a near monopoly on rare earth production. It increased its export controls on the minerals, in demand from automakers, the defence industry and producers of renewable energy, following the tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2. China also has grievances with the EU as the bloc has sought to protect its auto-making sector from cheaper Chinese imports, while China has imposed measures on France's brandy industry. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa will travel to Beijing for the summit on July 24-25. It marks 50 years of EU-Chinese relations and will also take place two weeks after a deadline set by the United States for most trade partners to agree deals to avert higher tariffs. As automakers have said China's export restrictions on rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays, European leaders are expected to press their case with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in separate meetings, said an EU official, who declined to be identified. Two EU sources said the EU mission to China is solely focused on rare earths until the summit. China's ministry of commerce in May said a "green channel" expediting rare earth licences for EU firms had been set up. However, one EU diplomat said that out of several hundred applications, no more than half had shown signs of being processed. "The situation is improving, although the percentage of cleared licences does vary. Additionally, even once the licence is given, delays can still be seen in customs clearances," Adam Dunnett, secretary general of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, said. The quest to resolve the supply crunch is among a number of trade conflicts between Europe and China. Brussels has imposed tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles alleging unfair state subsidies, prompting China to impose anti-dumping measures on EU brandy. Beijing has also initiated trade probes into EU pork and some dairy goods. The lead-up to the summit, has not been smooth. It had been Brussels' turn to be the host but after China indicated Xi would not travel to the Belgian capital, Beijing was chosen as the venue. Some EU officials said they did not expect the summit to produce major deals, one commenting that China was "playing its cards very well". The official said China had identified rare earths as a major vulnerability and was waiting until the last minute to make any concessions. The EU wants China to grant rare earth licences for a longer period or to scrap them for exports to the bloc. In any case, it wants Beijing to clearly differentiate between the EU and the United States. China offered to prioritise civilian-use rare earth export licences for U.S. firms during talks in London earlier this month. "If China wants the EU equidistant between itself and the Trump administration, China's trade regimes cannot equate the U.S. and Europe either," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of trade think tank ECIPE, who met senior Chinese officials last week. Another EU official said the impending deadline to secure an agreement with the United States, which might press the EU to be hard on China in exchange for moderating U.S. tariffs, made it difficult for the EU to work on a deal with Beijing. The official said it was always possible the July 9 deadline would be postponed or that details of any U.S. deal could emerge later, limiting the possibility of EU progress with China. China wants the EU to replace its import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles with minimum price commitments and other concessions after it delayed the imposition of duties on EU brandy. China has said talks are in the final stages, but EU officials say progress has been limited.

Reuters

3 hours ago

• Reuters

Israel's airstrikes aim to break foundations of Khamenei's rule in Iran

Dubai, June 19 (Reuters) - Israel's sweeping campaign of airstrikes aims to do more than destroy Iran's nuclear centrifuges and missile capabilities. It seeks to shatter the foundations of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's government and leave it near collapse, Israeli, Western and regional officials said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants Iran weakened enough to be forced into fundamental concessions on permanently abandoning its nuclear enrichment, its ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups across the region, the sources said. He also wants to leave Khamenei's government debilitated. The campaign is about "exhausting the regime's ability to project power and maintain internal cohesion," one senior regional official said. Iran's Islamic government faces an existential crisis unlike anything since the 1979 Revolution - not even the brutal 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war posed such a direct threat to clerical rule. Israel, the Middle East's most advanced military, can strike anywhere in Iran with drones and advanced F-35 fighter jets, assassinations by Mossad operatives, and cyberwarfare technology. In recent days, Israel has broadened its targets to include government institutions like the police and state television headquarters in Tehran. Netanyahu's government is planning for at least two weeks of intense airstrikes, according to four government and diplomatic sources, though the pace depends on how long it takes to eliminate Iran's missile stockpiles and launch capacity. Dennis Ross, a former Middle East envoy and advisor to several U.S. administrations, believes Iran is feeling the pressure and may be inching toward the negotiating table after the strikes eliminated much of Khamenei's inner circle, damaged nuclear infrastructure and missile sites, and killed top security figures. "I do think the regime feels vulnerable," said Ross, now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. While he insisted Israel's primary aim is to cripple Iran's nuclear and missile programs, Ross conceded that if the regime were to fall as a consequence, "Israel wouldn't be sorry." Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's belligerent tone in recent days, he would likely accept if Tehran can offer a credible path to a deal, Ross said. But, after Tehran offered no concessions during six previous rounds of nuclear negotiations with the U.S., Washington will need firm assurances from Iran that its goals, including the permanent abandonment of enrichment, will be met before it will support a ceasefire. "I think the cost to them is going to be high,' he said. For Iran, there is one key calculation: letting the 86-year-old Khamenei retreat without humiliation, two Iranian sources said. Strip him of dignity or the prospect of survival and he may choose all-out conflict, they added. After Trump demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender" on social media on Tuesday, Khamenei promised in a televised speech that any U.S. military intervention in Iran would be met with "irreparable damage". In recent days, Netanyahu has also overtly raised the prospect of regime change, promising Iranians "the day of liberation is coming". Regional governments are fearful the situation could spiral out of control, pushing Iran - an ethnically diverse nation of 90 million people that straddles the Middle East and Asia - into chaos or unleashing a conflict that could spill across its borders. "You can't reshape the region through belligerent force," said Anwar Gargash, advisor to the president of the United Arab Emirates. "You might resolve some issues, but it will create others." Iran's decades-old playbook - waging war from the shadows via its proxies - collapsed under an Israeli offensive following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Its regional Axis of Resistance crumbled, with Hamas crushed in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon defeated, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ousted by rebels, and the Houthi militia in Yemen on the defensive. Russia and China - seen as allies of Tehran – have remained on the sidelines, leaving Iran isolated in the face of Western powers determined to end its regional influence and nuclear ambitions. "Iran isn't just facing Israel," said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute, based in Washington D.C. "It's facing off the United States and European powers." And while Sunni Arab Gulf states have publicly condemned Israel's strikes, privately leaders in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi – longtime U.S. allies - may welcome a weakening of their Shi'ite rival, whose proxies have targeted vital Gulf infrastructure, including oil facilities, analysts say. Militarily, Tehran has few options. Israel controls the skies over Iran, having largely destroyed its air defences. Much of Iran's stockpile of ballistic weapons is believed to have been damaged by Israeli strikes, and 400-or-so it has fired have mostly been destroyed by Israel's multi-layered aerial defence system. "When the missiles run out, what's left?," asks Vatanka. But with the Iranian opposition fragmented and no signs of divisions within the powerful Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which has nearly 250,000 fighters including its Basij militia volunteers, there is scant prospect Iran's ruling elite will collapse easily. There have been no major protests on the streets of Tehran, and many Iranians profess anger towards Israel for the attacks. Without a ground invasion or domestic uprising, regime change in Iran is a distant prospect, the officials said. On Tuesday, Trump issued a veiled threat to Khamenei, declaring that U.S. intelligence knows his location and had no intention to kill him "for now". Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September plunged the Lebanese group into disarray but regional officials and observers warned that killing the ageing Khamenei would not have the same impact. "Real power now resides with his son, Mojtaba, and the IRGC, which is deeply embedded despite the loss of key commanders," one regional source said. "They remain the regime's spine." Killing Khamenei, a religious leader to millions of Shi'ites, could cause a major backlash. Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy U.S. national intelligence officer on the Middle East during Trump's first term, said that if the Israeli campaign does foment regime change in Iran, it could result – at least initially – in a more hardline administration. "What is likely to follow a theocratic Iranian government is not democracy but Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–istan," said Panikoff, now at the Atlantic Council think-tank. "Israel might find itself in a perpetual, ongoing, and far more intense war that is no longer in the shadows." The next move belongs to Trump, Ross said, who must decide whether to intervene militarily to try to force Iran's hand. Israeli officials acknowledge that to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities – which are hidden in secure locations deep underground like the fortified Fordow site outside Tehran – it would need the U.S. to provide its largest bunker-busting bombs. On the other hand, if Trump declares a ceasefire linked to a nuclear deal with Iran, Netanyahu will not protest provided he can credibly claim that Tehran's threat to Israel has been fundamentally rolled back. In recent days, Trump has hardened his tone towards Iran, making veiled military threats while leaving open the possibility of negotiations. "No-one knows what I'm going to do," he told reporters on Wednesday, adding that Iranian officials had reached out about negotiations. "It's a little late." The message to Iran is clear, Ross said: start serious talks soon, or face a military situation far worse than today's. The White House referred Reuters to Trump's latest remarks and declined further comment for this story. In an effort to restart negotiations, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday in Geneva. Mark Dubowitz, chief executive at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington, said he believed Trump ultimately wanted a diplomatic solution but he was likely to allow Israel more time to pursue its military campaign to give the U.S. more leverage at the negotiating table. Dubowitz, an Iran expert who has been consulted by the Trump administration on its policy, said Israel's main objective appears to be setting back Iran's nuclear program as many years as possible. Central to that is removing its human capacity by killing nuclear and weapons scientists, and Dubowitz said his team had identified 10 to 12 more who are likely being hunted by Israel. Meanwhile, Israel's opposition parties – and the public – have rallied behind Netanyahu, giving him leeway to pursue the difficult operation, despite Iranian missiles hitting Israeli soil. Israel is operating 1,500–2,000 km from home, with complex and costly logistical needs. "This is math," said one Israeli source. "How many missiles they launch. How many we destroy. How long we can keep going." The Israeli strikes have already killed key members of the so-called "weaponisation group" - those Israel alleges are tasked with turning enriched uranium into an actual bomb – and eroded Iran's ability to produce long-range missiles. That, Israeli leaders argue, creates the conditions for a U.S.-Iran agreement that addresses Israel's red lines. Yuli Edelstein, head of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, and a prominent member of the ruling Likud party, told Reuters that if Washington and key European powers engage diplomatically, apply pressure, and shape a clear exit plan, "they can prevent unnecessary developments in this war." If the conflict does escalate, regional officials fear a collapse of Khamenei's government would not lead to democracy but to fragmentation - or worse: a civil war, fuelled by Iran's marginalized minorities - Arabs, Kurds, Azeris, Baha'is, Baluchis and Christians - could erupt in a dangerous power vacuum. "And that," a Gulf source warned, "no one is ready for." The UAE foreign ministry directed Reuters to its statements condemning Israel's strikes against Iran. Saudi Arabia's and Qatar government media office did not respond to a request for comment. French President Emmanuel Macron echoed that warning at this week's G7 leaders summit, saying forced regime change in Iran would bring chaos. He cited the failures of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the 2011 NATO-backed intervention in Libya as cautionary examples. Vatanka, of the Middle East Institute, warned that shockwaves from the collapse of the government in Tehran would not stop at Iran's borders. "A destabilized Iran," he added, "could ignite unrest from Azerbaijan to Pakistan. Its collapse would reverberate across the region, destabilizing fragile states and reigniting dormant conflicts."