Sterling extended losses after UK Prime Minister Starmer announced his resignation. The move was widely anticipated; Starmer had faced pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham, who won last week's by-election and has positioned himself for a leadership bid. GBP/USD was down 0.3% on the day and EUR/GBP was up 0.1%, both little changed versus pre-announcement levels.

Al Jazeera reported Hezbollah opposes direct talks between the Lebanese government and the US, saying such negotiations would weaken Lebanon’s sovereignty and serve Israeli interests. The group said the Lebanese delegation in Washington was asked to sign US-proposed terms that “deprive Lebanese sovereignty” and align Lebanon with forces reconciled with Israel, calling the talks based on a “flawed” premise that would produce “surrender” rather than serve Lebanon’s interests. Hezbollah added that government participation hinders efforts to counter enemy plans and resistance on the ground, risks Lebanon’s stability and independence, and amounts to compliance with US and Israeli policy objectives.

China condemns any attacks on innocent civilians and urges parties to exercise calm and restraint and stop strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing on June 22. China said dialogue and negotiations are the only viable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis and called on the parties to cool the situation to create conditions for resuming direct talks.