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Iran Says US To Unfreeze $12BN, Insists It Alone Will Decide How Funds Used, Contradicting Vance

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Iran Says US To Unfreeze $12BN, Insists It Alone Will Decide How Funds Used, Contradicting Vance

Among the biggest latest developments in the immediate wake of the Switzerland meeting is that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has announced an agreement has been reached for the United States to release $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

It also comes after the US Treasury Department announced temporary sanctions relief, namely freeing up Iranian oil and petrochemical sales until August 1st. Concerning the frozen asset partial release, Tehran is now emphasizing that it alone will decide how the funds will be used.

But this may be another area where the headlines and declarations are too far out front, given Washington has sought to impose some caveats which likely remain unacceptable to the Iranians side. For example Vice President JD Vance made clear his stance Monday that Iranian assets had not yet been unfrozen as part of the deal, describing that if there were, they must be limited in use and implementation – to purchase US agricultural goods. He has emphasized – perhaps wishing to address American domestic criticisms – that the funds would not be used to support terrorism.

Ali Bahreini, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, has already firmly rejected the soybean plan, saying at a UN press briefing, “Iran is the only country who will decide what to do with its assets, which are going to be defrozen.”

In total a whopping $50 billion could eventually be released under the MoU framework – something which will drive Republican hawsk mad. Al Jazeera reports Tuesday, citing the Iranian side: 

A spokesperson said the agreement would allow Iran access to previously frozen assets, although the US says restrictions would remain in place under the arrangement.

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, two separate tranches of $6bn were originally agreed in Doha, with the final signing ceremony intended to take place in Switzerland. The Iranian spokesperson now says that process has been completed.

Under the reported framework, an initial $12bn in Iranian funds would be released. During the 60-day negotiation period, a further $12bn could be unlocked. If the parties ultimately reach a final agreement, the value of sanctions relief and released funds could reportedly rise to as much as $50bn.

Another point of disagreement remains the entry of IAEA nuclear inspectors into the Islamic Republic. Vance had hailed Tehran already agreed to this, while Iran’s leaders are in effect saying not so fast. It’s but one of several major contradictions in public rhetoric coming from either side in the wake of the top-level round one meeting in Switzerland.

Something interesting – which Washington may or may not be on board with – is that Tehran is now signaling openness to Russia hosting its enriched nuclear material.

Al Arabiya reports that Iran’s aforementioned UN ambassador says “transferring enriched uranium to Russia is under consideration.“ This could indeed be enough to satisfy President Trump, considering it would be a ‘lesser evil’ option if indeed the Iranians are actually ready for such a plan (which Moscow has offered several times to facilitate over the past year).

Lebanon is another issue which could threaten to unravel all the progress made thus far, but reports cite a ‘cautious calm’ across the south, but with some limited, sporadic exchanges of fire.

One correspondent on the ground reports, “Here in Tyre, people driving across the city this morning are picking up bits of rubble, starting to clear things out and searching for what they can salvage among their destroyed homes and businesses. That is what people are using this moment of calm for.”

However, there’s been reports of at least two new Lebanese deaths. In one instance Lebanese national media indicated “A young man was killed and two others were injured” when Israeli soldiers “opened machine gun fire in their direction while they were standing near an excavator which was clearing a road” in a locality near the town of Nabatieh – per the National News Agency. Hezbollah is saying Tuesday that this violates the ceasefire agreement.

The situation on Monday was such that the Iranian delegation almost quit the Sunday-Monday talks completely, Iran’s top negotiator has explained:

*  *  *

Below are some latest developments on the US-Iran peace front via Middle East Eye:

  • Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said an agreement had been reached to release $12bn in frozen Iranian assets.
  • The US Treasury Department announced temporary sanctions relief allowing Iranian oil and petrochemical sales until 1 August.
  • Washington said the measures follow Iran’s commitment to permit international nuclear inspections after intensive talks in Switzerland.
  • President Donald Trump said released Iranian funds would be used to purchase food and agricultural products from US farmers.
  • Iran’s Central Bank rejected Trump’s comments, saying Tehran is under no obligation to spend released funds on American goods.
  • Iranian officials said technical negotiations with the United States have concluded and the process is entering a new phase.
  • President Masoud Pezeshkian said the effectiveness of future talks depends on all sides fully implementing their commitments.
  • A US official said Centcom has launched a monitoring mechanism in Lebanon to provide American officials with assessments of fighting on the ground.
  • Israeli officials reiterated that military operations in Lebanon would continue despite ongoing diplomatic progress between Washington and Tehran.
  • Markets and regional observers continued to focus on sanctions implementation, Hormuz shipping activity and the durability of the broader agreement.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 07:20

Half Of Crimea Goes Dark After Ukrainian Strike Hits Thermal Power Plant

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Half Of Crimea Goes Dark After Ukrainian Strike Hits Thermal Power Plant

Yet more drone attacks sent by Ukraine’s military has crippled much of the infrastructure of the Crimean peninsula. Reuters is confirming significant power outages, while some regional reports say as much as half of all Crimea is without power Tuesday.

One of the regional publications specified that “Yevpatoria, Saki, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoy, and surrounding areas were left without electricity, reports the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda.”

“Preliminary, electricity supply is planned to be restored within 24 hours” – after several facilities in Crimea suffered direct hits by inbound drones. Fires have been witnessed at at railway and military facilities. Importantly, a large fire is being reported at a thermal power plant in Kerch, which left the greatest impact in terms of the widespread regional blackout:

Telegram channel “Crimean Wind” has written, “The CHP plant fire in Kerch is confirmed; the fire spread to a reservoir. The monitoring group, relying on satellite imagery, records a smoke plume about 47 kilometers long.”

According to more: “A strike on an oil depot, a TPP-Terminal, port infrastructure, and facilities in the area of Henichesk and the Arabat Spit is also reported.”

It was only two days ago, on June 21, that an oil depot in the Crimean city of Kerch was attacked, it is reportedly still burning, with reports of fires at the sprawling terminal complex’s Kavkaz port.

Life for millions in Crimea is already seriously strained, after those prior Sunday attacks resulted in the most severe fuel restrictions imposed on the population since the war began over four years ago.

Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov had previously confirmed the fuel crisis for the whole region, saying, “Today, June 21, starting from 09:00 am, fuel sales at Crimean petrol stations have been suspended” – though he added that fuel would only be sold to state enterprises.

He made clear in a Telegram post that starting Sunday morning local time gas stations across the peninsula would stop selling fuel to individuals and businesses. All cash, card and fuel coupons were immediately halted.

Relentless, nightly drone attacks making life harder on common Russians – in tandem to the Ukrainian population also having suffered immensely under Russia’s bombs and drones…

Ukraine’s President Zelensky boasted of the weekend attacks, stating on social media that “Facilities on both sides of the Crimean Bridge were hit: maritime logistics used to transport oil in the Krasnodar region and an oil depot in temporarily occupied Kerch.”

BBC had separately earlier reported that Kiev “hit a logistics facility for oil transportation in Russia’s Krasnodar region, which lies adjacent to Crimea across the Kerch Strait. Local authorities said one person had been killed on a passenger ferry.”

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 06:55

Worst Ad Campaign Ever…

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Worst Ad Campaign Ever…

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

There’s having no discernment, and then there’s this…

A three-year-old boy remains in critical but stable condition at Addenbrooke’s Hospital after being thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a Cambridgeshire zoo. His alleged attacker, a 30-year-old man from Norfolk with reported learning difficulties, was quickly released on bail with his identity withheld from the public, sparking backlash. In the middle of this horror, discount retailer Wowcher blasted out an email urging customers to “Snap up these deals quicker than a croc can catch a kid.”

Yes, really.

The tone-deaf marketing stunt has triggered widespread revulsion, forcing the company into a grovelling “unreserved” apology while exposing yet another layer of institutional detachment from real human suffering.

The attack unfolded on a Thursday afternoon at the family-run Johnsons of Old Hurst zoo near Huntingdon. The boy, who was not known to the suspect, suffered serious injuries including a broken arm, a broken pelvis likely caused by the impact of being thrown, and multiple crocodile bites.

Zoo staff pulled him from the enclosure and administered immediate treatment at the scene. In a moment of extraordinary bravery, Tracey Johnson, wife of zoo owner Andy Johnson, jumped into the crocodile pit to help rescue the child.

Cambridgeshire Police arrested the 30-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder. He was assessed as unfit for interview and has since been released on bail until 18 September. His identity remains hidden.

The decision to release the suspect on bail while concealing his identity has fuelled intense public anger. Many see it as further evidence of a justice system that prioritises processes and sensitivities over the basic protection of children and the public.

Some media outlets also softened the deliberate nature of the attack by reporting that the boy had “ended up” in the crocodile enclosure rather than stating he was thrown.

Screenshots of the Wowcher email spread rapidly. Fury erupted on social media and community forums. The Norwich Norfolk UK Community Notice Board posted: “Why do wowcher think its ok to use this as a heading on their emails??”

Customers expressed immediate disgust. One described themselves as “now unsubscribed.” Another called the email “disgusting” and added “if that’s real someone needs to be fired.” A third said they had emailed the company with no reply and would “not be using them again for sure, even if its a poor effort at a joke somehow.”

A marketing professional who encountered the email on LinkedIn described it as “tone deaf, clueless, moronic, irresponsible, sick” and expressed disbelief that it had cleared multiple layers of approval. He told the Wowcher marketing team to “take a good, hard look at yourselves” and warned that not every trending moment should be jumped on for reactive marketing.

Wowcher moved swiftly to contain the damage. A spokesman issued the following statement: “We are extremely sorry for an email subject line sent by Wowcher yesterday. The wording was unacceptable. It should never have been written. It was never approved for use. The responsibility sits with us and we are urgently reviewing how our processes failed. We recognise the hurt and distress it has caused, particularly for the young child’s family at this unimaginably difficult time.”

The spokesman continued: “We are reviewing all scheduled marketing content while we urgently strengthen our creative, approval and sign-off safeguards. There is no excuse for this. We apologise unreservedly and will take the necessary steps to make sure this does not happen again.”

The company’s insistence that the email “was never approved for use” has been widely interpreted as an attempt to shift blame onto an individual rather than accept full institutional responsibility for the failure of basic safeguards.

This episode reveals something deeper than one bad subject line. It shows how insulated people have become. They operate in environments where real events – especially tragedies involving children – are treated as abstract content or “trending moments” rather than visceral realities that demand basic human restraint.

A child fighting for his life after being thrown to crocodiles becomes raw material for a flippant pun about deals. The suffering is unreal to them, something happening to other people in another sphere they can comment on or monetise without consequence.

It reflects a wider modernity that strips away moral grounding and discernment. When everything is content, empathy atrophies. People in these bubbles no longer instinctively recoil from turning horror into marketing copy because the horror never feels fully real to them.

They have no skin in the game, no direct encounter with the raw aftermath that families and communities actually endure. The result is not just bad taste but a gradual hollowing out of the shared humanity that once made such behaviour unthinkable.

The same pattern appears elsewhere: institutions that release individuals accused of extreme violence with minimal transparency, media that softens language around attacks on children, and corporations that later issue polished apologies while claiming the offending material “was never approved.”

All of it stems from the same root – a culture that has grown comfortable treating real human pain as distant, manageable, and ultimately secondary to process, narrative, or engagement.

A society that loses the capacity to recognise horror when it stares it in the face – whether in a justice decision, a media report, or even a marketing email – has already surrendered something essential.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 06:30

Piper Sandler’s Top Economist Sees “Big Bounce” In Consumer Sentiment As Gas Prices Tumble

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Piper Sandler’s Top Economist Sees “Big Bounce” In Consumer Sentiment As Gas Prices Tumble

Building on last week’s theme of “early signs of a turn in U.S. consumer discretionary,” Piper Sandler analysts note that the sharp decline in gasoline prices at the pump is beginning to lift consumer sentiment, particularly among lower-income households. Their proprietary daily confidence data suggest the rebound is still in the early innings, but the direction is clear: cheaper gas is easing pressure on working-class folks.

Piper Sandler’s chief global economist and head of the firm’s economics research team, Nancy Lazar, provided clients with three of the most important consumer conclusions of the week as the national average for gas at the pump tumbled due to easing tensions in the Middle East:

1. The steep rollover in gasoline prices triggered a big bounce in PSC’s Daily Confidence Survey last week, with low-end consumers particularly more cheerful.

2. With all daily survey components improving, the observed retail sales aggregate has hooked up.

3. Higher prices weighed on consumers last quarter, according to Kroger & La-ZBoy.

Lazar’s note, titled “The Gasoline Down-Confidence Up Two-Step,” says that cheaper pump prices are now producing consumer tailwinds amid a still-healthy labor market.

She shows that Piper Sandler’s proprietary high-frequency gauge of U.S. consumer sentiment, conducted by Rasmussen Reports, “appears to have bottomed, mirroring the sharp rollover in gasoline prices – adding to economic tailwinds from refunds and healthy labor.”

“The impact of easing pump prices is clear in both confidence and consumption,” Lazar continued in the note.

In markets, she pointed out, “The Russell 2000 and XRT retailing ETF certainly act as if the bottom is in for confidence.”

More consumer sentiment data from Piper’s internal sources show improvement:

The rebound in sentiment could help drive consumers back into retail stores and support spending on experiences…

Great news for the Trump administration, with 136 days until the midterm elections this fall. 

Professional subscribers can read more consumer notes at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 05:45

These Are The Countries Where $1,000 Takes The Longest To Earn

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These Are The Countries Where $1,000 Takes The Longest To Earn

How long would you need to work to earn $1,000? In Colombia, the answer is roughly 86 hours. In Luxembourg and Iceland, it’s just 16.

Using data from the OECD on average annual wages and Our World in Data’s figures for annual working hours, Visual Capitalist’s Srijaa Chatterjee created this visualization ranking countries by how long it takes the average worker to earn $1,000.

The figures are expressed in purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted dollars, which account for differences in local price levels and make incomes more comparable across countries. Taxes are not included.

How Many Hours of Work Earn $1,000?

Workers in the lowest-ranked countries need more than five times as many hours to earn $1,000 as workers in the highest-ranked countries. The gap ranges from 16 hours in Luxembourg and Iceland to 86 hours in Colombia.

The data table below shows the number of hours worked per $1,000 earned by country in purchasing power parity-adjusted dollars:

Rank Country Hours Worked per $1,000 Earned
1 🇨🇴 Colombia 86
2 🇲🇽 Mexico 78
3 🇬🇷 Greece 60
4 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 53
5 🇭🇺 Hungary 51
6 🇨🇱 Chile 51
7 🇨🇿 Czechia 48
8 🇸🇰 Slovakia 47
9 🇵🇹 Portugal 45
10 🇵🇱 Poland 43
11 🇪🇪 Estonia 42
12 🇱🇻 Latvia 38
13 🇰🇷 South Korea 38
14 🇹🇷 Turkey 37
15 🇮🇱 Israel 34
16 🇮🇹 Italy 34
17 🇯🇵 Japan 34
18 🇱🇹 Lithuania 33
19 🇪🇸 Spain 30
20 🇳🇿 New Zealand 28
21 🇮🇪 Ireland 27
22 🇸🇮 Slovenia 27
23 🇫🇮 Finland 25
24 🇨🇦 Canada 25
25 🇫🇷 France 25
26 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 24
27 🇸🇪 Sweden 24
28 🇦🇺 Australia 23
29 🇺🇸 United States 22
30 🇧🇪 Belgium 21
31 🇩🇪 Germany 20
32 🇦🇹 Austria 20
33 🇩🇰 Denmark 19
34 🇳🇱 Netherlands 19
35 🇳🇴 Norway 19
36 🇨🇭 Switzerland 18
37 🇮🇸 Iceland 16
38 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 16

Europe dominates the top of the ranking. Luxembourg, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands all require fewer than 20 hours of work to earn $1,000.

For comparison, the average American worker needs about 22 hours to earn $1,000, placing the U.S. among the stronger earners but still behind multiple European economies.

Latin America Earns Less While Working More

Colombia and Mexico sit at the bottom of the ranking, requiring 86 and 78 hours of work, respectively, to earn $1,000. Both figures are more than triple the U.S. level and more than four times higher than Luxembourg’s.

While workers in these countries often log similar or even greater annual hours than workers in richer economies, average wages remain substantially lower.

Research highlighted by Our World in Data finds that workers in lower-income countries tend to work longer hours while generating less income per hour worked. Economists point to lower productivity levels, a larger informal sector, reduced access to capital, and weaker wage growth as contributing factors.

Nordic Countries and Luxembourg Stand Out

At the other end of the spectrum are Luxembourg and the Nordic economies. Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland combine relatively high wages with advanced, high-productivity economies.

Analysis from the Becker Friedman Institute and CEPR highlights how strong labor-market institutions, high workforce participation, and substantial investments in education contribute to both high wages and relatively compressed income distributions.

Luxembourg benefits from an especially high concentration of financial and professional services jobs, helping support some of the highest average wage levels in the world.

Why Purchasing Power Matters

The analysis uses purchasing power parity (PPP), which adjusts wages to reflect differences in local price levels. PPP adjustments allow economists to compare what incomes can actually buy in a specific country rather than relying solely on market exchange rates.

Without PPP adjustments, workers in lower-cost countries could appear poorer than they actually are, and vice versa.

Want to explore wage differences across Europe? Check out Mapped: Average Full-Time Salary in Europe by Country on the Voronoi app.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 03:30

AfD Co-Leader Demands Ukraine Pay Reparations To Germany

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AfD Co-Leader Demands Ukraine Pay Reparations To Germany

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

Europeans and especially Germans have borne enormous costs to perpetuate the Ukrainian Conflict while receiving absolutely nothing of tangible benefit in return.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel responded to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal to grant Ukraine associate membership in the EU, which was analyzed here and here, by declaring that “We need to know how this state-terrorist act against the most important infrastructure we had, namely the Nord Stream pipelines, came about and what role Ukraine played in it. The flow of payments should actually be moving in the opposite direction.”

She then added that, “Ukraine must pay reparations to the Federal Republic of Germany, because we have suffered enormous damage – and so has Europe as a whole – from the loss of cheap Russian fossil fuels.” Weidel made a solid point about the economic damage that the Ukrainian Conflict has caused to Europe, even independently of the Nord Stream terrorist attack, which she implied was committed by Ukraine like Berlin suggested but which the famous Seymer Hersh cited sources to blame on the US.

To elaborate a bit more on the background of Berlin’s innuendo, it sought the extradition from Poland last year of a Ukrainian suspect but was rebuffed by the judge for the reasons explained here, which lent credence in a lot of the public’s mind to the claim of Ukrainian culpability. Nevertheless, that narrative was already counteracted here, here, and here over the years long before the extradition request was made and rejected, but Weidel, many Germans, and a lot of folks across the West in fact still believe it.

In any case, having clarified the context of her implied accusation against Ukraine and circling back to her reparations demand, the EU spent hundreds of billions of dollars on aid for Ukraine and its refugees. When calculating the higher cost of fuel since then, including that which it still purchases from Russia, the total credibly approaches $1 trillion and might even surpass it by some estimates.

The most that the EU might receive in exchange is arms and reconstruction contracts for only a handful of companies.

That nowhere near justifies the enormous costs that the EU has paid to perpetuate the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine, which highlights the ideological motives behind this policy. The liberal-globalists that rule the bloc are hellbent on inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia through NATO-backed Ukraine, to which end no cost is too high to pay, especially since it’s average Europeans and not them that are paying it.

This cynical policy is already backfiring in Germany by turbocharging the AfD’s rise.

It’s now the most popular party in the country by far and its appeal continues to grow since it’s one of the few forces apart from the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance that’s speaking truth to power about this conflict and its crushing economic consequences for Europeans. Germany in particular has been hit exceptionally hard with growth crawling to a halt and many suspecting that the bloc’s largest economy is actually already in a recession that might soon be confirmed and then spread throughout the EU.

Weidel knows very well that Ukraine will never pay reparations to Germany and that even the hypothetical cession of its key industries to her country wouldn’t come anywhere near compensating the costs that Germans have already paid. Her rhetoric was thus meant to draw attention to these same costs. The more that Germans dwell upon them and realize that their country received nothing of tangible benefit in return, the more likely they are to support the AfD in a bid to bring about real change.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 03:30

Rubio Heads To Gulf Capitals As Washington Races To Lock In Iran Deal

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Rubio Heads To Gulf Capitals As Washington Races To Lock In Iran Deal

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates this week, set for June 23–25, following the weekend breakthrough Switzerland-based negotiations with Iran, Department of State Spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced Monday.

The announcement comes on the heels of indirect talks between Iranian and American officials – the latter delegation which was led by Vice President JD Vance in person, which took place on Sunday in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock under the mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain from June 23-25. The Secretary will discuss a range of regional priorities,” Pigott said in the official statement released by State. These countries will likely seek some kind of serious reconstruction reparations for the attacks they suffered through the opening months of Operation Epic Fury.

via Associated Press

According to the spokesperson, Rubio’s diplomatic tour will focus heavily on the newly drafted US-Iran memorandum of understanding, alongside ongoing initiatives to restore free, safe, and regular commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Pressure has also been put on Oman of late to not side with Iranian demands for its own protocol for international vessel passage. Broader regional stability will top the agenda, even as official claims in terms of technical details agreed to by the warring sides is somewhat at odds.

“In Bahrain, the Secretary will also meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss shared priorities across the region,” Pigott added.

The signed MoU accord establishes specific timelines for the United States to eventually dismantle its naval blockade of Iranian ports in exchange for Iran restoring safe shipping lanes through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

This is a big ‘if‘ given that the Iranian side has signaled that this could take a long time, and as a 60-day window for formal negotiations – focusing especially on the nuclear file – is sure to be wrought with many hurdles and hold-ups.

Furthermore, Tehran has committed to refraining from seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran will seek among primary objectives for these subsequent talks the formal lifting of longstanding anti-Iran sanctions.

But already there’s been plenty of disagreement on how that will look as well, in terms of the concrete details.

On Monday the US Treasury issued a temporary 60-day general license authorizing the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil. There’s real positive momentum, this one big development reveals.

While this suggests that Washington is very serious about ending the war at this point, a lot could still go wrong, also as Israel and Hezbollah have continued sporadic fighting in Lebanon. At the moment an uneasy official ceasefire is on in south Lebanon, but this and other key sticking points remain huge question mark issues.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 02:45

Starmer’s Gone, But UK’s Right May Have Little To Cheer About

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Starmer’s Gone, But UK’s Right May Have Little To Cheer About

Authored by Remix News via Modernity News,

The deeply unpopular British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced his resignation on Monday morning, but despite his upcoming departure, the right may have little to cheer about.

During a speech outside Downing Street, Starmer announced he was stepping down after holding office since July 7, 2024. In that election, his Labour Party won 412 seats, securing a comfortable majority and decimating the Tories, who had governed Britain since 2010.

Starmer revealed on the morning of Monday, June 22, that he had already spoken with King Charles III to inform him of his decision. The Labour Party’s National Executive Committee will now develop a timetable for the election of a new leader, who will also become Prime Minister. He stressed that this process should be completed by the end of the summer holidays. Until then, Starmer will remain at the helm of the British government.

According to Reuters, the main favorite to replace Starmer is the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who won a seat in the House of Commons during the Makerfield constituency by-election in northwest England on June 18, defeating Nigel Farage’s party.

The right now has a challenger

Burnham may pose a grave challenge to Restore Britain and Reform UK, the two main right-wing parties running against the British left.

Under Starmer, multiple polls predicted a strong majority for Reform UK, with some even forecasting a blowout election victory.

However, the rise of Restore Britain had already siphoned off a number of voters from Reform UK, narrowing Farage’s lead.

Now, with Starmer gone, some polls show Reform UK barely leading Labour in a general election. A new poll from Politico shows Farage winning 27 percent of the vote versus 20 percent for Labour under Starmer’s current numbers – but when tested against Burnham, Labour’s chances receive a significant boost. Some within Labour even describe Burnham as a “Reform Slayer,” as he polls better against Farage than anyone else in the party.

Nevertheless, the Politico article also describes an uphill battle for Burnham, given how far Labour has fallen out of favour with British voters during Starmer’s rule. Notably, Burnham is described as more left-wing than Starmer, who is categorized as a “centrist.”

Although the Tories are still seen as a formidable election force, they have long since discarded any semblance of right-wing politics. Nevertheless, they are also siphoning voters away from both Restore Britain and Reform UK, retaining voters who might lean personally to the right but still vote Conservative out of habit.

The combined effect of vote-splitting on the right and Burnham leading Labour could deliver a shock upset in favor of Labour, ending Farage’s dream of winning the office of prime minister.

British commentators point out that Starmer’s position has been weakening for months. More than 100 Labour MPs – around a quarter of the parliamentary party in the House of Commons – had publicly stated they wanted the prime minister to resign or set a timetable for his departure.

Labour Party members pointed to a total loss of trust in the head of government and his leadership abilities. The government had recently been rocked by a number of high-profile resignations, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Defence Secretary John Healey.

Polling also showed that Labour members overwhelmingly wanted Burnham, nicknamed the “King of the North” after winning three consecutive mayoral terms. He is currently Labour’s most popular politician. His recent victory in the Makerfield seat also bodes poorly for Reform UK and Restore Britain; the constituency is predominantly white and working-class, representing the exact demographic that these two right-wing parties are seeking to win over from Labour.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/23/2026 – 02:00

Israeli Troops Deployed To Somaliland In Covert Mission

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Israeli Troops Deployed To Somaliland In Covert Mission

Via The Cradle

Israel secretly deployed a small contingent of forces to Somaliland earlier this year following its recognition of the breakaway territory, a senior Somali government official revealed to Middle East Eye (MEE) on Monday.

“According to our intelligence reports, the Israeli military selected Israeli soldiers of African heritage, especially Ethiopians, so as not to draw attention to themselves and to blend in more easily with the local community,” the senior Somali official stated.

via Reuters

The Somali official said that Israel had deployed a group of 50 soldiers to Somaliland shortly after the recognition and the resumption of the war on Iran in late February.

On June 17, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted to years of clandestine, “under the radar” security operations with Somaliland.

During a high-level meeting in Tel Aviv with Somaliland’s visiting president, Israeli officials confirmed that Israel is now directly involved in training the breakaway region’s military and police.

“For many years, we cooperated under the radar in a series of operations that will remain classified. Now we are determined to bring our security cooperation to new heights, for the benefit of both peoples and for the benefit of stability in the region,” Katz said.

In early June, CNN reported that the breakaway republic of Somaliland had provided Israel with an additional military position on the Horn of Africa, allowing Israeli aircraft to “potentially stop” long-range flights to Iran.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on 2 May that a senior official in Somaliland said the territory is ready to cooperate with Israel to confront what it described as the “threat” from the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) to the highly strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The official said that any “disruption of maritime security” would push Somaliland to expand its relations with Israel, including to the level of a security alliance.

The official also noted that Somaliland currently cooperates with partners such as the US and the UAE, which maintain a presence in the territory’s Berbera Port, and said a similar partnership would be possible with Israel. 

The UAE operates the Berbera Port, using it as a logistics hub to transfer arms and mercenaries to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is responsible for committing alleged genocide against non-Arab tribes in Sudan.

Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, and in December 2025, Israel became the first and only UN member state to recognize it as an independent and sovereign state. Israel later appointed Michael Lotem as its first ambassador to Hargeisa in April, drawing worldwide condemnation.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 06/22/2026 – 23:25

Apollo Gates Private Credit Investors For 2nd Quarter As 17% Rush To The Exits

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Apollo Gates Private Credit Investors For 2nd Quarter As 17% Rush To The Exits

It would appear that the private credit crisis has not, in fact, been contained.

With the software bounce now dead and buried…

… amid growing fears that the next round of the SAASpocalypse will be far worse (just look at the spectacular implosion in Accenture stock), the private credit firms that had tons of Software exposure (“but muh cash flows”) are once again in the market’s crosshairs, and after first Cliffwater, then Blackrock gated investors as redemptions requests soared even more in Q2 compared to the already skyhigh levels in Q1, today it was the turn of Private Equity giant Apollo Global Management to join the club and again limiting withdrawal requests from its largest non-traded private credit fund for retail investors, as broader concerns about the asset class persist. 

Apollo Debt Solutions, which has roughly $25 billion in assets, capped withdrawals at 5% of outstanding shares on Monday after investors asked to redeem 16.8%, according to a shareholder letter first seen by Bloomberg. Redemption requests in Q2 were more than 5% higher than the 11.2% investors wanted to pull in the first quarter when they were gated for the first time.

As shown in the chart below, for those hoping that Q2 redemption requests would moderate, well… the trend is not your friend. 

The fund, taking rare delight in glorious irony, reported that it has generated an 8.1% total net return since it was launched, which however does not appear to have impressed its shareholders who instead want their money and are capped at 5% of it. 

As we reported previously, private credit icon Cliffwater faced requests to pull 17% of shares from its flagship fund, while the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, received about 13% earlier this month. Both funds enforced a 5% cap for their BDCs.

Apollo President Jim Zelter predicted – correctly – in May that redemptions from BDCs will continue for the next two quarters following a turbulent first quarter for the sector, and that such requests could even increase. Spoiler alert: when software stock puke again, and when BDCs write down their SAAS loans form par to their fair value of plus or minus 0, not only will the requests increase, there may come a day when there is a literal run on the private credit bank, with crowds of people gathering across various lobbies on Park Avenue demanding their money (good luck folks).

 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 06/22/2026 – 23:09

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