Plus, Starmer vows to fight as Burnham wins big.

Go beyond the headlines with Reuters on the stories shaping the day. Subscribe for $1/week.

 

Daily Briefing

Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. US-Iran peace talks are postponed, clouding the prospects for a lasting truce.

Meanwhile in the UK, Starmer vows to fight any challenge after leading rival Burnham wins big, and Tata's iPhone parts factory faces a health probe in India.

Plus, the White House delays the release a of US voting machine study as midterms near.

Today's Top News

 

Israeli military vehicles drive on a Lebanese road by the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu 

  • Switzerland said US talks with Iranian negotiators on a pact to end the Middle East conflict would not take place, while Vice President JD Vance dropped plans to travel there, fueling uncertainty whether a lasting truce can be found. Patricia Zengerle tells the Reuters World News podcast why some of Trump's most loyal supporters are among the most unsettled by the pact.
  • Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has set up secretive new cells in Iraq to carry out attacks on Gulf countries that host American forces, bypassing established militia networks to avoid detection, eight Iraqi sources told Reuters. Read our exclusive.
  • Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would not walk away from his job, vowing to fight any challenge from his leading party rival Andy Burnham and potentially ushering in a ‌new bout of political instability in Britain.
  • The paint on Washington's newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is already ‌peeling away from the bottom and into the algae-tinted water, less than two weeks after President Donald Trump announced the job's completion.
  • The US Supreme Court limited the application of a decades-old federal law that bars firearms possession by certain drug users, rejecting a position taken by Trump's administration that had threatened the gun rights of millions of Americans who use marijuana and own firearms.
  • Communities rebuilding from devastating floods in southern Brazil two years ago are bracing for an intense El Nino that meteorologists warn could bring extreme rains this year.
 

Business & Markets

 

A woman plants a rose sapling in a field adjacent to the Tata Electronics' components factory for Apple's iPhone in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India, June 17, 2026. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh

  • An Indian state health authority is investigating how liquid discharged from Apple supplier Tata's iPhone components factory has affected farmers, some of whom complained about skin issues from contamination in their farmlands.
  • US Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh put his stamp on the job fast this week at a debut policy meeting that produced a return to stripped-down, 1990s-style central banking.
  • Meta has lobbied the US Congress for legal immunity from child-harm claims tied to ‌social media products such as Instagram, as it faces thousands of lawsuits from young users and their families.
  • Shares of SpaceX dropped more than 6% on Thursday, as the post-IPO frenzy that briefly placed Elon Musk's rockets-to-AI firm among the world's top five most valuable ‌companies appeared to fizzle out.
  • A Swedish transport authority is recommending a vote against the Europe-wide rollout of Tesla's supervised self-driving software, unless the US EV maker disables its ability to exceed legal speed limits, a regulatory letter shows.
  • Markets head into the long weekend on edge as US–Iran talks hit an early snag. Why is a shaky ceasefire rattling oil traders? Listen now on the Reuters Morning Bid podcast.
 

The Week Ahead

  • Colombians vote on Sunday in a presidential runoff offering sharply different economic paths from right-wing lawyer Abelardo De La Espriella and leftist senator Ivan Cepeda.
  • London hosts its largest-ever climate week, with more than 75,000 participants across over 1,000 events. Sharon Kimathi will bring you all the latest news from the events.
  • Investors will get a key US inflation update on the heels of a Federal Reserve meeting that prompted a hawkish market reaction.
  • Trump will headline an event commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary on the National Mall.
  • Here's all you need to know about the coming week in financial markets.
 

White House delays release of US voting machine study as midterms near

 

Wrapped voting machines wait for delivery inside the Allegheny County Elections Warehouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

White House officials have for months delayed the release of a US government report that outlines what it describes as significant vulnerabilities in the nation's voting machines ahead of the November midterms, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The report, produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, concludes that voting ‌machines could be further safeguarded by, for example, updating their software, the sources said.

Some White House officials have argued the report could undermine voter confidence, particularly among Republicans. Others have said they do not believe the report goes far enough in supporting Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, the three sources said.

Read our exclusive