
By Simon Mckeown. Professor of Art, School of Arts & Creative Industries, Teesside University, Teesside University
Born in Bradford and shaped by northern art-school discipline, David Hockney brought a working-class, almost punk refusal to British art: do the work, trust the eye, do not ask for approval. Hockney made success look effortless: all color, good humor, great glasses, cigarettes and smoky charm. But for a young gay artist from a northern mill town, nothing about that journey was effortless.

Argentina's President Javier Milei reformed by decree the system for appointing Supreme Court justices: he eliminated a stage of citizen participation prior to the nomination and removed the recommendation to consider criteria of gender, specialty and regional-origin diversity. The measure, made official on Tuesday, was questioned by legal experts and judicial-sector organizations.

The United States government on Wednesday released the official text of the agreement reached with Iran to end the war, a 14-point document called the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding that provides for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a reconstruction plan of at least $300 billion and the lifting of sanctions. The text, read by a senior official of Donald Trump's administration, will be signed on Friday in Switzerland and will open a 60-day period to negotiate the definitive agreement.

The crisis caused by more than seven weeks of road blockades in Bolivia, driven by sectors demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz, has left at least 16 people dead, as the government called the Bolivian Workers' Center (COB) on Wednesday to a dialogue to seek a way out. By midday, the country's largest union confederation had not confirmed its attendance.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday asked his US counterpart, Donald Trump, not to interfere in Brazil's elections, a matter he stressed is exclusive to Brazil, just as his country does not seek to meddle in the electoral processes of the United States. The demand was a response to remarks Trump had made about Brazil hours earlier.

Ten days after the June 7 presidential runoff, Peru still has no proclaimed winner, but the right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori is heading toward victory. With 99.1% of the vote counted, she leads the left-wing Roberto Sánchez by some 36,889 votes and is projected as the virtual winner, while the left pushes mobilizations and nullity appeals. The official proclamation remains pending on 0.84% of tally sheets under review, with a deadline of mid-July.

Spain's former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appeared on Wednesday before Judge José Luis Calama, of the Audiencia Nacional, as an investigated person in the Plus Ultra case, in what constitutes an unprecedented event in Spanish democracy: it is the first time a former head of the Executive sits before a magistrate as a suspect. He will answer questions from the judge and his lawyer, but not from the Anti-Corruption prosecutor.

Uruguay enjoys a positive discrimination relative to other economies for its institutional solidity, respect for agreements and political maturity, but its economic growth has been low over the past decade and its potential GDP —now at 2.1%— is declining. That was the assessment of economists from BBVA Research, one of Europe's largest banks, at the Situación Uruguay webinar, where they said the country's main challenge is to boost investment and raise productivity.

Argentina began their defense of the World Cup title won in Qatar 2022 on Tuesday with a 3-0 thrashing of Algeria, in the Group J opener of the 2026 World Cup, played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Captain Lionel Messi guided Lionel Scaloni's side with a hat-trick that left him atop the tournament's all-time scoring history.

Former deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced on Tuesday to four years and two months in prison by Brazil's Supreme Court for coercing the justice system through his lobbying of the United States government to impose sanctions against the country. The sentence would be served under a semi-open regime and automatically entails his political disqualification.