June 27 0800 UTC Brief

In business RENK America says it has won a $691 million, five-year Army production contract for its HMPT 800 transmission, the fourth straight multi-year deal in the same program. Separately, African governments are pushing for a bigger share of gold revenue, while much of the value still flows out of the continent. Mining the resource, then letting someone else collect the money, has proved a stubborn business model. In Europe and security Ukraine says it struck a key Russian defense manufacturing site in Volgograd, with open-source analysts pointing to the Titan-Barrikady plant, which makes components tied to the Iskander missile system. In a separate warning sign for the continent, NATO allies in Eastern Europe are increasingly unsure the U.S. would come to their aid if Russia attacked, after Trump-era rhetoric and a muddled answer from a U.S. official in Tallinn. In the Middle East Iran and the United States are again trading blame after fresh attacks, with both sides warning that any further escalation would be met in kind. Tehran also condemned recent U.S. strikes as a violation of the memorandum of understanding, while Washington said it targeted Iranian missile and drone storage sites. The ceasefire is looking less like a ceasefire and more like a pause someone forgot to agree on. In the UK and domestic security Home Secretary Mahmood has announced a new capped, legal refugee sponsorship route into the UK, saying it is meant to restore confidence in the asylum system. In the U.S., prosecutors say Somali intelligence helped lead to the arrest of a key suspect in a Minnesota fraud case, adding an overseas assist to a domestic investigation.