Evening Brief, Saturday 20 June

Iran's armed forces central command declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to maritime traffic on Saturday after Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. Lebanese authorities reported at least 38 deaths by mid-afternoon, while other reports put the toll above 50; Israel's military said it struck after Hezbollah fired on its forces and maintained that it still supported the ceasefire. The closure, if enforced, would strike at the first promise in the United States-Iran memorandum, a halt to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.

The order looked dramatic but not yet decisive. United States Central Command said 55 merchant vessels crossed the strait on Saturday, which suggested either a staged warning or uneven enforcement. The Swiss technical talks remain scheduled in some accounts, but separate reports said the nuclear talks were postponed after Iran demanded guarantees that fighting in Lebanon would stop.

Abbas Araghchi framed Lebanon as the proving ground for Washington's word.

Donald Trump brokered a pause that promised to reopen energy flows and begin final talks, but Benjamin Netanyahu's room for manoeuvre is constrained by Israeli domestic politics and Hezbollah's insistence on withdrawal. The agreement now depends less on elegant Swiss diplomacy than on whether Washington can restrain friends as well as bargain with enemies.

Donald Trump turned a G7 grudge into a transatlantic quarrel by claiming Giorgia Meloni had begged him for a photograph and by attacking Italy's refusal to let the United States use Italian air bases during the Iran war. Giorgia Meloni replied in English and Italian that the story was fabricated, that Italy does not beg, and that the use of bases follows agreements a sovereign government must respect.

Giorgia Meloni chose a tone rare between allied leaders.

Antonio Tajani then cancelled a planned June 21-22 visit to the United States, giving the spat its first practical consequence. Sergio Mattarella called Giorgia Meloni to express solidarity, while Italian opposition figures mostly condemned Donald Trump's words even as some argued that the episode exposed the limits of Giorgia Meloni's Washington strategy.

Donald Trump also tied the quarrel to wartime logistics, accusing Italy of creating a burden during the Iran campaign. Giorgia Meloni countered that popularity and policy must rest on national interests, not personal favour from foreign leaders.

The damage is not that two leaders traded insults; allies do that. The damage is that a dispute over basing rights, wartime trust and personal loyalty has made NATO solidarity look like a group chat with bad manners and worse timing.

France braced for a possible red heatwave alert on Sunday as 60 departments sat under orange warning and forecasters projected local highs of 41°C. Météo-France called the episode widespread, long-lasting and intense, while Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu prepared to activate the inter-ministerial crisis centre across health, transport, education, agriculture and the armed forces.

Germany showed the other side of the same air mass: heat by day, violent storms by evening. Lightning injured nine people at a handball festival in Rastatt, six of whom went to hospital, while floods hit parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and festivals adjusted schedules or evacuated sites. Spain declared its first official heatwave of the summer, with a red alert for the interior Basque Country and up to 40°C expected in several valleys.

Romania issued its first yellow heat warnings of the season, with 36°C forecast in the west and southwest, while Poland sent nationwide phone alerts as heat and storms threatened 15 regions. The pattern is not subtle: hotter air loads the dice, then thunderstorms cash the ticket in hail, floods and broken events.

Matthieu Sorel made the wider link plain.

This matters because Europe is no longer preparing for heatwaves as exceptions; it is learning to run schools, trains, hospitals and festivals inside them.

Two East Midlands Railway trains bound for London St Pancras collided south of Bedford shortly after 5pm on Friday, when a Corby service struck the rear of a Nottingham service on the same line. One driver died at the scene, more than 80 people received hospital treatment, 28 remained in hospital on Saturday morning, and nine were in critical condition.

Passengers described a violent impact, smoke and confusion inside the carriages. Peter Knapp, who was travelling near the front of the second train, said people were thrown forward and many could not stand or speak after the crash.

British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch opened investigations, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said it was too early to identify the cause. Early speculation has focused on a possible problem with the automatic warning system, but officials have not confirmed any explanation. The line between Bedford and London St Pancras will remain suspended until at least Monday.

Keir Starmer responded with a short statement of sympathy.

Britain's railways still rank among the safer ways to travel, which is exactly why a rear-end collision on a main line cuts so deeply. The inquiry will decide whether this was a freak failure or a warning light that blinked too late.

A Spanish judge ordered Begoña Gómez, the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, to stand trial and withdrew her passport, citing a flight risk. Juan Carlos Peinado also barred her from leaving Spain and required her to report to court every 15 days while she faces counts including embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of public funds.

The case centres on a chair at Madrid's Complutense University that Begoña Gómez co-directed, and on allegations that she used public resources and personal connections to advance private interests. Begoña Gómez denies wrongdoing, and government figures accused Juan Carlos Peinado of disproportion and political obsession. The opposition moved faster and rougher.

María Jesús Montero defended Begoña Gómez and attacked what she called a campaign to hurt the government through the prime minister's wife.

The pressure does not stop with Begoña Gómez. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a former Socialist prime minister, has become the first ex-premier to appear before a judge as a suspect, and Judge José Luis Calama has now charged José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's secretary and daughters in a separate alleged influence-peddling network tied to the Plus Ultra rescue.

Pedro Sánchez can survive one hostile file by calling it lawfare, but several cases begin to look like weather. His government is now trying to govern under a legal cloud that keeps finding new people to rain on.