Latest news for 10 June 2026

IRAN

Apache down.

Iran has carried out more attacks on US targets across the region, after the US conducted another round of what it’s calling proportional self-defence strikes following the downing of an Apache helicopter patrolling Hormuz! (Independent)

Comment: When we warn of ‘miscalculation’ in a high-stakes world, this is what we mean — each new twist risks another. And tweets aside, nobody seems to have an exit.

UNITED KINGDOM

Violence in Belfast.

A wave of unrest has hit the Northern Irish city of Belfast, with houses, cars, and buses torched after video of a 30-year-old Sudanese asylum-seeker carrying out a brutal knife attack went viral. Police say they’re still working on a motive. (BBC)

RUSSIA

The latest.

A presumed Ukrainian car bomb has killed the head of Russia’s main missile and artillery directorate in Moscow, while Ukraine’s new Flamingo cruise missile just scored its deepest hit yet, taking out a plant 1,000km+ into Russia. (KyivPost)

Comment: This will only get worse for Putin.

INDONESIA

Raise those rates!

Indonesia’s central bank has unexpectedly raised rates again in an attempt to defend the rupiah, which continues to hit new lows against the dollar. (Reuters)

Comment: That’s a cumulative 75bp rate rise in three weeks, signalling a pretty strong degree of urgency. But only time will tell whether it’s enough to counter the core drivers, including a mix of external shocks (Hormuz energy prices) and domestic pressures (jitters over Prabowo’s fiscal profligacy and central bank independence).

CHINA

On the list.

The Pentagon has added China’s Alibaba (e-commerce), Baidu (search), and BYD (EVs) to a blacklist of companies the US says are working with China’s military. The firms have denied the accusations and are pledging legal action. (Al Jazeera)

Comment: It’s symbolic at this stage, though for the first time now includes massive civilian-facing giants, per DC’s warnings of China’s ‘military-civil-fusion’. The timing makes us wonder if it’s to nudge China to resume rare earth exports to Japan, slated for discussion at Monday’s G7 summit in France. There’s also the risk China might respond with its own blacklist of US firms selling to the Pentagon (though these US defence ties tend to be more voluntary, commercial, and transparent).

DR CONGO

Regional huddle.

A Kinshasa military court has found a colonel guilty of orchestrating the 2017 murder of two UN experts who were investigating reports of state-linked mass killings in the southern-central Kasai region. (Reuters)

Comment: It’s a rare step towards accountability for a high-profile case that embarrassed the Congolese state, particularly as it seeks more regional and international help tackling its overlapping Ebola and security crises. But it all risks giving off selective justice vibes: throw a mid-level officer under the bus for international optics, while protecting those higher up the chain.

BULGARIA

No more military aid.

The new Bulgarian defence minister has announced he’s halting military transfers to Ukraine, in line with newly-installed PM Radev's campaign pledge. (Politico)

Comment: It’s really a symbolic move (Bulgaria has been a minor supplier lately), framed more as “Ukraine needs more people, not arms” together with “this war won’t be resolved on the battlefield”. It might encourage Putin’s hopes of Western disunity, and rattle those fearing Radev could be Orbán 2.0, though it reflects domestic drivers around inflation and corruption, as much as any foreign policy pivot.