Chief-Exec.com

Israel and Iran step back from further strikes after renewed clashes
Israel and Iran appeared to back away from further strikes on Monday, hours after they traded fire for the first time since the US agreed to a ceasefire with Tehran two months ago. Both countries warned that they were ready to launch retaliatory attacks if provoked. The renewed hostilities raised concerns that the Middle East could plunge back into a full-scale war. Since the US and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict. The new attacks prompted US President Donald Trump to call for an immediate stop to fighting between Israel and Iran. France 24, June 9

Russia's fuel crisis intensifies as Ukraine steps up strikes on occupied territories
Ukraine's sustained campaign of drone attacks on Russian-occupied territories is disrupting Moscow's supply lines and intensifying a fuel crisis already triggered by long-range strikes on Russia's oil refineries. Crimea - which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 - in particular has been experiencing serious logistical difficulties and shortages. Many of the issues stem from recent Ukrainian strikes on a key motorway and bridge linking the southern Russian city of Rostov to Crimea via the occupied port city of Mariupol. The road "is basically the backbone of Russian occupation in the south", Clément Molin, an analyst at the French-based think tank Atum Mundi, told the BBC. Molin said that Ukraine had carried out 300 drone strikes on trucks, including 30 tankers, since the start of May and that the campaign had become more intense this month. The operation is having tangible effects on Crimea. The peninsula is strategically important for Moscow, as it has been used by its forces to launch drones and missiles at the rest of Ukraine. With its Mediterranean climate and long beaches, Crimea is also a popular holiday destination for Russians in the summer. BBC news, June 9

White House tells UK: Don’t ban social media for under-16s
The White House has advised the UK government not to ban social media for under-16s. The Trump administration criticised plans for Australian-style age restrictions, arguing that they could harm freedom of speech and that parents should on the whole be responsible for regulating their children’s social media use. In a submission to the government’s consultation, the US warned against “prescribed one-size-fits-all government restrictions” and “blunt regulatory instruments” to tackle online harms. A notice, published by the US embassy in London, said that the White House favoured “targeted requirements” on “pornographic and adult commercial content … rather than broad social media bans”. The US administration also raised concerns about age restrictions that would “impose disproportionate compliance burdens on American companies”. UK ministers are braced for a slew of lawsuits from technology giants over the plans. Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the ban next week after tens of thousands of parents wrote in favour of the decision in a government consultation that closed at the end of last month. The Times, June 9

World’s largest banks pledged $906bn to fossil fuel companies in ‘unfathomable’ increase in 2025, report finds
The world’s largest banks committed $906bn in financing to the fossil fuel industry last year, an “unfathomable” increase in investment locking in years more of coal, oil and gas production as the world continues to overheat, a new report has found. The surge in new fossil fuel lending, up $64bn or nearly 8 per cent on 2024, shows that the world’s largest 65 banks are making decisions incompatible with international agreements to restrain rising global temperatures, according to the coalition of environmental groups behind the new analysis. JPMorgan Chase is again the world’s leading financier of fossil fuels, according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, after pushing $58bn to the sector last year - up 13 per cent from 2024. Bank of America committed the second largest amount to fossil fuels last year, followed by Japanese banks MUFG and Mizuho Financial. Citigroup, another US bank, rounds out the top five, with Barclays, at number eight, the highest placed British bank. The Guardian, June 9

GSK to buy US cancer biotech Nuvalent for $10.6bn
GSK has agreed to buy US cancer biotech Nuvalent for $10.6bn in the UK pharmaceutical group’s biggest acquisition for more than a decade, marking a big bet on oncology treatments by new chief executive Luke Miels. The cash deal values Nuvalent at $124 per share, a 40 per cent premium to the New York-listed company’s closing price on Monday. Including Nuvalent’s cash pile, the deal puts the biotech’s enterprise value at $9.4bn. Nuvalent owns two late-stage lung cancer drugs - known as zidesamtinib (NVL-520) and neladalkib (NVL-655) - that Miels described as “potential best-in-class assets”. The drugs “could launch this year if approved by the FDA and offer significant new treatment options to patients with two forms of non-small-cell lung cancer,” said GSK’s chief. The deal will give the FTSE 100 company new sales growth opportunities immediately and improve profit contributions from 2027, he added. Financial Times, June 9

Donald Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee blocked by judge
The Trump administration’s decision to add a $100,000 fee to H-1B visa applications for highly skilled foreign workers is unlawful, a federal judge ruled on Monday. Judge Leo Sorokin ordered Donald Trump’s proclamation sharply increasing the cost of the non-immigrant work visas must be rescinded. The Department of Justice is expected to appeal but declined to confirm whether it would pursue further legal action. Tech companies and specialist industries widely use H-1B visas, and more than 400,000 were approved last year. Before the fee increase, the government charged $215 to register for the H-1B visa lottery and $780 more for employers sponsoring visa applicants. The Trump administration imposed the six-figure fee in September in an attempt to limit US companies using foreign workers. In his proclamation, Trump cited reports that US tech companies had laid off “qualified and highly skilled” American workers and replaced them with thousands of H-1B visa holders. Financial Times, June 8

Explosions heard in central Tehran as Israel and Iran trade air strikes
Explosions were heard in central Tehran on Monday morning as Israel traded fire with Iran and its allies in a cycle of attacks that threatened to ignite a broader round of fighting in the Middle East. Iranian media reported explosions in western, south-western and eastern Tehran shortly before noon local time, hours after Israel said it had struck military targets in western and central Iran. On Sunday night, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at northern Israel in retaliation for an earlier Israeli strike on southern Beirut targeting the Iran-allied Hizbollah militant group. The Iranian barrage, which did not cause any injuries, was the first that Tehran had launched at Israel since a fragile ceasefire took effect in April. Iran has insisted that the Israeli-Hizbollah conflict should be part of the broader truce, and had warned that it would retaliate if Israel struck Beirut. A person briefed on the developments said Israeli officials assessed the renewed fighting could last for a “few days”, but cautioned that “nobody knows how it can escalate”. Financial Times, June 8

Trump says Netanyahu will have ‘no choice’ but to accept a deal with Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept any deal the US negotiates with Iran, Donald Trump said, because the US president “calls the shots”. “He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the FT in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.” Trump spoke shortly after Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel in the most serious breach of the ceasefire that was struck in early April. The president separately told Fox News that he would instruct Netanyahu to refrain from taking retaliatory action against Iran - a position at odds with statements from the Israeli military. Trump said that Iran’s strikes had not changed his desire to conclude US-Iran negotiations. “It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” he told the FT. “We’ll see how it ends up. But they [the missile strikes on Israel] were attacks that did not kick at all. It’s one of those things that’s been going for 3,000 years, or 47 years, depending on how you count.” Financial Times, June 8

UK readies sanctions against Israel to deter proposed illegal West Bank settlement
The UK Foreign Office and a group of western countries are due to announce a package of sanctions against Israel this week designed to deter companies from becoming involved in a proposed West Bank settlement that would split the territory in two and render the concept of a two-state solution near impossible. Nine countries including France, the UK and Australia have warned that settlement violence must stop and no company should be involved in what is known as the E1 development. Tenders were opened this month for the development of more than 3,000 homes between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim. The development would split the West Bank between north and south, and so in effect make a contiguous Palestinian West Bank impossible. The Guardian, June 7

Stock markets fall on tech plunge and renewed Middle East attacks
Global stock markets have fallen after a sharp sell-off in technology shares led to some bruising falls in Asia. South Korea's stock market was forced to halt trading for 20 minutes on Monday after the Kospi index plunged by nearly 9 per cent within minutes of opening. The Kospi eventually closed down 8.3 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index fell by 3.8 per cent. European markets opened lower, but saw much smaller falls than those seen in Asia. Markets were also rattled by a rise in oil prices, fuelling concerns of inflation, after Iran and Israel exchanged strikes for the first time since a ceasefire was agreed between the sides and the US in April. Traders are nervously watching a "messy mix" of several shocks to the market mainly tied to the tech sector and accelerated by rising energy prices, said chief investment strategist Charu Chanana from Saxo. Tech stocks have seen a strong run in recent weeks, but investors are "repositioning" over fears the investments into artificial intelligence may be overvalued, she said. Markets like the Kospi and Nikkei are particularly exposed to such shocks given their exchanges are dominated by tech stocks. BBC news, June 8

Armenia PM Pashinyan's ruling party wins landslide election victory
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling party has won parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed on Monday, a victory seen as endorsement of the nation's pro-Western shift after threats from Moscow and claims of Russian interference. Pashinyan's push to forge closer ties with the West and move Armenia out of the orbit of its former imperial ruler has angered the Kremlin and drawn rebukes from President Vladimir Putin. The election comes after years of turmoil since Pashinyan was swept to power in a 2018 street revolution. The small Caucasus country is still haunted by Azerbaijan's 2023 military takeover of Karabakh, which ended decades of territorial conflict and prompted the exodus of the enclave's 100,000-strong ethnic Armenian population. Pashinyan framed the vote as a choice between lasting peace with Azerbaijan and a return to war. His ruling Civil Contract party got 49.8 percent of the vote, comfortably ahead of the 23.3 percent of the Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia alliance, the Central Election Commission said. Pashinyan had the backing of Europe and the United States ahead of the vote. France 24, June 8

Keir Starmer forces tech firms to block nude images for children
Sir Keir Starmer has announced rules designed to make it impossible for children to use technology to take, share or view nude images, in a move that will also help to prevent them accessing pornography. He said “standing by was not an option” as he made a staunch defence of intervening, insisting that technology “should adopt to the needs of society, not the other way round”. However, it marks another U-turn from the prime minister and comes after the former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips revealed in a damning resignation letter last month that he had resisted making the move mandatory. Phone companies such as Apple and Google will be forced to introduce built-in features on smartphones and tablets that can detect and block nude images for children. In a speech at a conference of tech companies to mark Tech Week in west London, the prime minister confirmed reports in The Times last week for plans to prevent predators from being able to exploit and abuse victims through their devices as well as stopping children from being able to access pornography. The Times, June 8