What happened
The US and Iran traded fresh warnings yesterday as their negotiators met in Switzerland for the first direct talks since signing a preliminary agreement aimed at ending their recent conflict.

Donald Trump told Tehran that it could face renewed military action if it failed to rein in Hezbollah following a surge in violence between the Lebanese group and Israeli forces despite last week’s accord.

Who said what
Iran “must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble”, wrote Trump on Truth Social. Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed the warning, saying: “No matter how much they talk, it is we who take action.”

Roughly 100 days after the war began, “sceptics are expressing bafflement over what exactly has transformed”, said Neil MacFarquhar in The New York Times. Overall, the memorandum of understanding that the two countries signed is “widely seen as encompassing minimal concrete change”.

What next?
Negotiators will continue discussions on a permanent settlement, with Iran’s nuclear programme expected to be a central issue. US Vice-President JD Vance said Trump wanted negotiators to “turn over a new leaf”.

What happened
Forecasters have issued amber extreme heat warnings for large parts of England and Wales, with temperatures expected to climb to as high as 38C this week and potentially surpass records for the month of June.

The Met Office placed central and southern England, the Midlands and parts of Wales under warning from today, before extending alerts into Wednesday and Thursday to include parts of northern England and north Wales.

Who said what
The Met Office has said “adverse health effects are likely in the wider population”, including cases of sunburn, dehydration and heat exhaustion. The UK Health Security Agency said the hot weather was expected to increase the number of deaths among vulnerable groups.

This year “has already been a milestone-setting year”, said Joe Palmer in The i Paper. Meanwhile, “much of Europe is also sweltering”, said Eliana Nunes in The Mirror, with temperatures forecast to hit 37C in Rome and 39C in Madrid today.

What next?
Meteorologists say there is increasing confidence that the UK’s current June record of 35.6C, set in Southampton in 1976, could be exceeded. There is also a one-in-four chance that temperatures could reach 40C. Emergency services are preparing for increased demand, while transport disruption, power outages and pressure on health services are all possible.

Conditions are expected to become more unsettled later in the week, with showers and thunderstorms forecast in some areas from Thursday and Friday.

Summer is “a boom time for ice cream makers”, said Agence France-Presse. But in Japan some of the country’s biggest firms are feeling the heat.

Officials from the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) have raided six companies on suspicion of colluding to hike prices in a cartel. Staff are believed to have “sent emails or met up for years to co-ordinate the timing and size” of the increases, said an anonymous source, violating anti-monopoly laws.

The anti-trust watchdog searched the head offices of Meiji, Morinaga Milk Industry, Lotte, Ezaki Glico, Morinaga & Co and Akagi Nyugyo, company officials have confirmed. Sources say the six firms are “suspected of raising the suggested retail prices of ice cream” in increments of 10 yen, according to The Japan Times. The aim seems to be “securing profits for each company”.

The case “threatens to undermine the reputations” of some of Japan’s largest food companies, said The New York Times. The ice cream industry has “boomed in recent years”. Last year it was valued at more than $4 billion, up 3% from 2024.

But rising prices have “stoked public anger” in the nation, which is battling inflation for “the first time in decades”, fuelled by higher energy costs from the war in the Middle East.

The JFTC will analyse seized materials and interview individuals to investigate the suspected violation of anti-monopoly laws. But if the commission “concludes that there was a cartel”, said AFP, the anti-trust watchdog will “order the firms to improve their business practices and pay a fine”.