Category: Trending

Foreign tourists are trickling back to China after the country loosened its visa policy to unprecedented levels. Citizens from 74 countries can now enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, a big jump from previous regulations.

The government has been steadily expanding visa-free entry in a bid to boost tourism, the economy and its soft power. More than 20 million foreign visitors entered without a visa in 2024 — almost one-third of the total and more than double from the previous year, according to the National Immigration Administration.

“This really helps people to travel because it is such a hassle to apply for a visa and go through the process,” Georgi Shavadze, a Georgian living in Austria, said on a recent visit to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

While most tourist sites are still packed with far more domestic tourists than foreigners, travel companies and tour guides are now bracing for a bigger influx in anticipation of summer holiday goers coming to China.

“I’m practically overwhelmed with tours and struggling to keep up” says Gao Jun, a veteran English-speaking tour guide with over 20 years of experience. To meet growing demand, he launched a new business to train anyone interested in becoming an English-speaking tour guide. “I just can’t handle them all on my own” he said.

After lifting tough COVID-19 restrictions, China reopened its borders to tourists in early 2023, but only 13.8 million people visited in that year, less than half the 31.9 million in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.

30 days for many in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mideast
In December 2023, China announced visa-free entry for citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia. Almost all of Europe has been added since then. Travelers from five Latin American countries and Uzbekistan became eligible last month, followed by four in the Middle East. The total will grow to 75 on July 16 with the addition of Azerbaijan.

About two-thirds of the countries have been granted visa-free entry on a one-year trial basis.

For Norwegian traveler Øystein Sporsheim, this means his family would no longer need to make two round-trip visits to the Chinese embassy in Oslo to apply for a tourist visa, a time-consuming and costly process with two children in tow. “They don’t very often open, so it was much harder” he said.

“The new visa policies are 100% beneficial to us,” said Jenny Zhao, a managing director of WildChina, which specializes in boutique and luxury routes for international travelers. She said business is up 50% compared with before the pandemic.

While the U.S. remains their largest source market, accounting for around 30% of their current business, European travelers now make up 15–20% of their clients, a sharp increase from less than 5% before 2019, according to Zhao. “We’re quite optimistic” Zhao said, “we hope these benefits will continue.”

Trip.com Group, a Shanghai-based online travel agency, said the visa-free policy has significantly boosted tourism. Air, hotel and other bookings on their website for travel to China doubled in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year, with 75% of the visitors from visa-free regions.

No major African country is eligible for visa-free entry, despite the continent’s relatively close ties with China.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/china-visa-free-entry-transit-tourism-48ff1727c87e11becd18e6d1a113f49d

A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted, spewing a colossal ash tower 18km into the sky on Monday (Jul 7), authorities said, just weeks after it caused dozens of flight cancellations to and from the popular resort island of Bali.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, a 1,584m-high twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted at 11.05am local time, the volcanology agency said in a statement.

“An eruption of Lewotobi Laki-laki Volcano occurred … with the observed ash column height reaching approximately 18,000m above the summit,” the agency said.

The agency said the explosion came with loud thuds. It warned of the possibility of hazardous lahar floods – a type of mud or debris flow of volcanic materials – if heavy rain occurs, particularly for communities near rivers.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-volcano-eruption-lewotobi-laki-laki-ash-5224066

Russia’s Investigative Committee says former Russian transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead, apparently with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

He was dismissed earlier on Monday by President Vladimir Putin.

No reason for Starovoit’s dismissal was given and deputy transport minister Andrei Nikitin was announced as his replacement shortly after.

The Investigative Committee said it was working to establish the circumstances of the incident.

Starovoit was appointed minister of transport in May 2024.

Before that, Starovoit had served as governor of the Kursk region for almost six years, until May 2024.

The region was partly seized by Ukrainian troops in August 2024 in a surprise offensive. Moscow only recently managed to drive out the Ukrainian forces, although in late June Kyiv said it was still holding a small area of territory inside Russia.

Starovoit’s successor, Aleksey Smirnov, was only in post for a short while. He was arrested in April and was later accused of embezzling funds that had been allocated for the building of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.

According to Russian outlet Kommersant, Starovoit was about to be brought in as a defendant in the same case.

It is unclear when, exactly, Starovoit died.

The head of the State Duma Defence Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, told Russian outlet RTVI that his death occurred “quite a while ago”.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7nvxzrvr0o

Russia has become the first country in the world to formally recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban government. This improves the radical group’s standing on the world stage, and puts pressure on the West to follow suit.

“This brave decision will be an example for others.” With these words, Amir Khan Muttaqi, foreign minister in Afghanistan’s Taliban government, welcomed the announcement by Russia that it was officially recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry wrote on X that this would be the start of “a new phase of positive relations, mutual respect, and constructive engagement.” It also posted a video of the meeting in Kabul between Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, and Muttaqi, in which Muttaqi declares: “Now that the process of recognition has started, Russia was ahead of everyone.”

Economic interests
Afghanistan expert Conrad Schetter, the director of the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (bicc), commented that Russia may have very specific reasons for recognizing the Taliban. It may, he told DW, have considerable interests in establishing economic ties with Afghanistan, not least as a potential hub for trade with Asia. Russia has been under international sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace drew the same conclusion in a study published in 2024. “Russian officials have again begun speaking about using Afghanistan as a transit hub — for exporting Russian natural gas to India, and other goods to ports in Pakistan,” it said. “However, this requires a gas pipeline to be built through the mountains, and a railroad, which currently ends at Mazar-i-Sharif at the Uzbek border, to be extended.”

Until now, the construction of a railroad from Russia to Pakistan via the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan has been nothing more than a pipe dream. If it were built, it would give Russia direct access to the Indian Ocean.

According to a study by the consultancy SpecialEurasia published on Friday, Moscow is hoping that its formal recognition of Afghanistan means it will become a major supplier and economic partner for the country “by expanding trade in oil, gas, and wheat, and by collaborating on infrastructure, energy, and agriculture projects.”

Schetter believes that Moscow wants to be the trendsetter in establishing a new way of dealing with Afghanistan, and that this is probably also a major factor in the decision. “They’re now hoping that other countries under authoritarian rule will follow suit,” he says. “With this step, they want to assume a leading role among the autocratic states. This too is probably a significant motivation behind this decision.”

Pressure on the West
While Russia is the first country to recognize the Taliban officially, others, mostly countries under authoritarian rule, have maintained relations with the Taliban for some time. The Chinese embassy in Kabul is still open, for example, and meetings between the two countries have taken place at ministerial level. Iran also maintains diplomatic contacts with the Taliban, and it too has an embassy in Kabul.

Pakistan has a close relationship with Afghanistan, despite political tensions caused by the activities of Sunni extremists along the border between the two countries. The region is seen as a breeding ground for extremist and terrorist activity around the world. The forced mass exodus of ethnic Afghans from Pakistan to Afghanistan shows the extent to which the two countries actually cooperate.

Qatar is acting as an intermediary between the Taliban government and the West, and the 2020 Agreement between the US and Taliban governments that regulated the withdrawal of US troops was signed in Doha.

Schetter comments that if these countries were to follow the Russian example, it would put considerable political pressure on Western states to do the same. “These states would then have to consider their attitude toward the Taliban. And this is precisely what could create a diplomatic dynamic that the Taliban now, because of this latest move by Russia, are more hopeful for.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-russia-recognizes-the-taliban-government/a-73162697

The joint statement by the group’s finance ministers marks the first time the BRICS countries have agreed on a unified position on the proposed reforms.

Rio De Janeiro: Finance ministers from the BRICS group of developing nations called on Saturday for reform of the International Monetary Fund, including a new distribution of voting rights and an end to the tradition of European management at the helm.

The joint statement by the group’s finance ministers marks the first time the BRICS countries have agreed on a unified position on the proposed reforms. They agreed to back the shared proposal at an IMF review meeting coming up in December, which will discuss changes to a quota system that defines contributions and voting rights.

“Quota realignment should reflect members’ relative positions in the global economy, while protecting the quota shares of the poorest members,” the ministers wrote in their statement after meetings in Rio de Janeiro, adding that the new formula should increase quotas for developing countries.

The BRICS ministers called for a new formula weighted by economic output and purchasing power, considering the relative value of currencies, which should better represent low-income countries, said a Brazilian official who followed negotiations.

The ministerial meetings came ahead of a leaders summit in Rio for the bloc that expanded last year beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

That has added diplomatic clout to the group, which aims to speak for developing nations in the Global South, urging reforms of institutions long dominated by traditional Western powers.

“With full respect to a merit-based selection process, regional representation must be enhanced for the IMF management, overcoming the anachronistic post-World War II gentlemen’s agreement that is unfit for the current world order,” the finance ministers wrote.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/world/brics-finance-ministers-make-unified-proposal-for-imf-reforms-3617633

ELON Musk has launched a new political party following his explosive row with President Donald Trump.

The billionaire promised to “give back your freedom” as he made the announcement on X last night.

Musk created an online poll on July 4 where he asked his followers if he should spearhead a fresh political party.

Of those polled, over 65% answered ‘yes’, which paved the way for the announcement.

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he wrote.

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

It is unclear whether the party has been formally registered with US election authorities.

Musk has not provided any details around the party’s leadership either, or put forward any specific policies he hopes to fight for.

His latest announcement comes in the wake of his public feud with Trump, which saw the Tesla boss delete a post on X last month claiming the president was named in the so-called “Epstein files”.

The former allies were locked in an ensuing war of words for days – publicly hurling insults back and fourth.

When asked about a possible call with Musk to calm tensions, Trump told ABC News: “You mean the man who has lost his mind?”

“Not particularly,” he added when pressed on whether he planned to speak to the billionaire.

Musk was a key Trump advocate in the 2024 election, splashing $250m (£187m) to help him regain office.

He was later appointed leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), tasked with helping to identify cuts in the federal budget.

However, his fallout with Trump began when he left the White House in May, publicly criticising Trump’s tax and spending plans and branding his “big, beautiful bill” a “disgusting abomination”.

The legislation was narrowly passed by Congress and signed into law by the president this week.

Republicans have expressed concern that Musk’s on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14637062/elon-musk-launches-new-political-party/

At least 24 people are dead after ten inches of rain caused deadly flash flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas.

There also fears for 20 schoolgirls who are missing from a summer camp after the rain raised waters by 22 feet overnight bringing catastrophic flooding to the area.

The raging waters have overtaken areas in South Central Texas, including overnight summer camps for kids and families in the area.

Acting Texas Governor Dan Patrick said more than 20 girls from Camp Mystic, an all-girls camp along the river in Kerr County, were missing after the camp evacuated overnight.

The camp said on Friday morning that the parents of missing children had been notified.

“Right now, there are 20-something [children] that aren’t accounted for,” Patrick said on Friday afternoon.

“That does not mean they’ve been lost. They could be in a tree or out of communication,” he added.

“We’re praying for all of those missing to be found alive.”

Patrick said rescue teams are searching the area by ground as helicopters and drones look by air.

Footage shared on social media showed what appeared to be a camp cabin traveling down the river with multiple people inside.

It’s unclear where the cabin came from and the condition or identities of the people inside.

The raging floods have swept away homes, entire RV parks and cars across the region, which was pummeled with one-third of a year’s worth of rain over the course of just a few short hours.

Kerr County residents near the river are being told to evacuate the region immediately and to avoid traveling.

The South Central Texas area is experiencing historic rainfall, which has triggered a “deadly flood wave” that prompted four flash flood emergency warnings.

Over seven inches of rain fell within six hours in the county.

“Flash flooding is already occurring. This is a Flash Flood Emergency for the Guadalupe River from Center Point to Sisterdale,” the National Weather Service warned.

“This is a particularly dangerous situation. Seek higher ground now!”

The deadly floods have already claimed the lives of several people.

“We can confirm (the deaths) but we are afraid there may be more,” County Judge Rob Kelly told the Austin American-Statesman.

“They are still looking.”

First responders rushed to an RV park near Howdy’s Restaurant in Kerrville, where the second flash flood warning was issued.

The Kerr County Sheriff’s Office reiterated earlier warnings for residents to move to higher ground.

“The entire county is an extremely active scene,” the office shared on Facebook.

“Residents are encouraged to shelter in place and not attempt travel.

“Those near creeks, streams, and the Guadalupe River should immediately move to higher ground.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14629808/deadly-flooding-guadalupe-river-texas/

It was a very emotional moment outside the Palace of Justice in Istanbul last Sunday. Two men ran toward each other, brimming with impatience; they hugged, and just stood there for a moment, clasped together. The taller man was visibly fighting back tears, and kept wiping his eyes, but the smaller of the two appeared relaxed. He turned with a smile to the group nearby: “Nobody is allowed to criminalize us LGBTQ+ people,” he said resolutely.

This gray-haired man in his late 40s is Irfan Degirmenci, a well-known TV presenter in Turkey. He presented news broadcasts for more than 25 years until he came out at the end of last year and moved into politics. Degirmenci was the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP) candidate in the mayoral election in the capital, Ankara, and although he lost, he remains politically active. Last Saturday, he — along with 41 others — was arrested while giving a speech at an LGBTQ+ event for Istanbul Pride Week.

Bans and police action

The governor of Istanbul, Davut Gül, had made threatening statements beforehand.

In a reference to the LGBTQ+ community, he wrote on X that “some marginal groups” had called on people to assemble for a rally. Governor Gül asserted that these calls “undermine social peace, family structure, and moral values” and would not be tolerated.

The police, he said, would take action against anyone who did not abide by the ban on events.

The very next day, the security forces went ahead with a crackdown on those who participated in the Istanbul Pride parade. The march was announced in advance, but it wasn’t given permission to go ahead.

Despite the threats, some people still took to the streets, chanting, “We insist on life!”

More than 50 demonstrators were detained.

“Insisting on life”: The theme for 2025

“Insisting on life” — “Yasamda Israr” in Turkish — is the slogan of this year’s Pride Month. The LGBTQ+ community wants to stress that it still exists, and is still active, in spite of repression and attempts at intimidation.

This takes a lot of courage, as was apparent once again in mid-June. In the run-up to Pride Week, the homepage and social media channels of news magazine Kaos GL — the oldest magazine in Turkey with an LGBTQ+ focus — were blocked by court order. The magazine has been reporting on discrimination and violence against this community since 1994, as well as campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights. There is now also a non-profit association of the same name, offering services that range from a hotline where people can report hate crimes to advice and information.

For Yildiz Tar, editor-in-chief of Kaos GL, the blocking of their online portal is not just censorship, but part of a systematic mechanism attempting to erase the very existence of the LGBTQ+ community.

Demonization of LGBTQ+

The association ÜniKuir also reports being targeted by hate campaigns. It advocates for the equal rights and participation of LGBTQ+ people in higher education. Its current report says that between June 2023 and September 2024, 41 members of the Turkish parliament openly opposed the rights of LGBTQ+ people. In particular, MPs from the government alliance of the Islamic-conservative AKP and the ultra-nationalist MHP used words like “deviant” and “perverse” to portray LGBTQ+ people as a global threat.

ÜniKuir says there has been a huge increase in verbal attacks. It adds that the murders of trans women, as well as other hate crimes and crimes against LGBTQ+ people, especially in the big metropolises like Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, did not even make it onto the parliamentary agenda.

“The media hardly report on hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people and events, or Pride marches,” complains Yildiz Tar from Kaos GL. There are also no LGBTQ+ characters in films or TV series, he points out, which is why news portals like his are so important: “Instead, hostile rhetoric and targeted verbal attacks and discrimination are getting worse.”

Tar says the persecution has assumed a dimension that can’t be explained by prejudice or ignorance alone.

Politics has contributed to the dangerous atmosphere

Observers are also convinced that the government’s decision to declare 2025 the “Year of the Family” is no coincidence.

At the ceremony to launch this initiative, Turkey’s Islamic-conservative president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stressed that his government wanted to protect families and children at all costs. He described the LGBTQ+ community as a great threat to the family, and claimed that digital platforms and articles devoted a great deal of space to LGBTQ+ interests.

According to the journalist Irfan Degirmenci, violence begins with the language coming from the top. “We’re described as deviant, perverse,” he says, and warns that LGBTQ+ people are dehumanized on a daily basis by Diyanet, the state institution that oversees religious affairs, as well as by the ministries of family and education, and by provincial governors.

Lawyer Nilda Balta confirms this. There are many disturbing developments in the country, she says, such as the family ministry’s decree that people should stop using terms like gender equality, LGBTQ+, and others that it claims harm the image of the family.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/lgbtq-in-turkey-insisting-on-life/a-73161247

At least 69 people have been killed by Israeli fire across Gaza on Thursday, rescuers say, as Israel intensified its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

One air strike killed 15 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced families in Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. The Israeli military said it targeted a “key” Hamas operative based there.

The Civil Defence also reported that 38 people were killed while queueing for aid, or on their way to pick it up. The military said such reports of extensive casualties were “lies”.

It comes as pressure mounts on both Israel and Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal being pushed by US President Donald Trump.

Trump announced on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire. However, there are still obstacles that could prevent a quick agreement.

Hamas has said it is studying the proposals – the details of which have still not been made public – but that it still wants an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will travel to Washington on Monday, has meanwhile insisted that the Palestinian armed group must be eliminated.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its aircraft had struck around 150 “terror targets” across Gaza over the previous 24 hours, including fighters, tunnels and weapons.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said 118 people had been killed during the same period.

Fifteen people, most of them women and children, were killed when a school housing displaced families in the al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City was struck before dawn on Thursday, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency and medics said.

Witness Wafaa al-Arqan told Reuters news agency: “Suddenly, we found the tent collapsing over us and a fire burning… What can we do? Is it fair that all these children burned?”

The IDF said it struck a “key Hamas terrorist” who was operating in a “command-and-control centre” in Gaza City, without mentioning the school.

The IDF added that it took numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians and accused Hamas of using human shields – an allegation the group has repeatedly denied.

At least another five displaced people were reportedly killed when a tent was struck overnight in the southern al-Mawasi area, where the IDF has told residents of areas affected by its evacuation orders to head for their own safety.

Ashraf Abu Shaba, who lived in a neighbouring tent, said he saw the bodies of children and women wrapped in blankets afterwards.

“The occupation [Israel] claims there are safe zones, but there are no safe zones. Every place is a target… The situation is unbearable,” he added.

Later, Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP news agency that another 38 people were killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid.

He said 25 were killed near the Israeli military’s Netzarim corridor in central Gaza. Six died at another location nearby, while seven were killed in the southern Rafah area, he added.

Medics at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis separately told Reuters that at least 20 people were killed while making their way to an aid distribution centre.

There was no direct response to the reports from the IDF.

Last week, the IDF said it was examining reports of civilians being harmed while approaching sites in southern and central Gaza run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

On Thursday, IDF spokesman Brig-Gen Effie Defrin acknowledged at a briefing that Israeli forces were facing a “complex challenge” and drawing “lessons from every incident to prevent similar cases in the future”.

But he declared: “The reports of allegations of extensive casualties in the aid distribution centres are lies.”

There have been reports of deadly incidents near the distribution sites almost every day since the GHF began operating on 26 May.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 408 people have been killed near GHF centres over the past five weeks. Another 175 people have been killed seeking aid elsewhere, including along routes used by UN aid convoys, it says.

The GHF, which uses US private security contractors, said “distribution at all sites ran smoothly” on Thursday and that it had now handed out more than one million boxes of food.

The GHF also rejected as “categorically false” allegations from a former security contractor, who told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire on civilians waiting for aid.

The UN and other aid groups refuse to co-operate with the GHF, saying its new system contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d1r93gg9ro

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday (Jul 3) secured a major political victory when Congress narrowly passed his signature tax and spending Bill, cementing his radical second-term agenda and boosting funds for his anti-immigration drive.
A jubilant Trump said the Bill’s passage would supercharge the US economy “into a rocket ship” – glossing over deep concerns within his own Republican Party that it will balloon the national debt and gut health and welfare support.

Speaking to reporters as he headed for a rally in Iowa to kick off America’s 250th birthday celebrations, the president called the spending package “the biggest Bill of its kind ever signed”.

A small group of Republican opponents finally fell into line after Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night to corral dissenters in the House of Representatives behind the “One Big Beautiful Bill”.

The Bill squeezed past a final vote, 218-214. The White House declared “VICTORY” on social media and said Trump would sign the Bill into law on Friday, the Jul 4th Independence Day holiday.

The timing of the vote had slipped back to Thursday as Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke against the Bill for nearly nine hours to delay proceedings.

MASS DEPORTATIONS, TAX BREAKS
The legislation is the latest in a series of big wins for Trump, including a Supreme Court ruling last week that curbed lone federal judges from blocking his policies, and US air strikes that led to a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

His sprawling mega-Bill narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and had to return to the lower chamber for a rubber stamp of the senators’ revisions.

The package honours many of Trump’s campaign promises: boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing US$4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief.

“Everything was an absolute disaster under the Biden-Harris radical regime, and we took the best effort that we could, in one big, beautiful Bill to fix as much of it as we could,” Johnson said.

“And I am so grateful that we got that done.”

But it is expected to pile an extra US$3.4 trillion over a decade onto the country’s fast-growing deficits, while shrinking the federal food assistance programme and forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance scheme for low-income Americans since its 1960s launch.

Some estimates put the total number of recipients set to lose their insurance coverage under the Bill at 17 million. Scores of rural hospitals are expected to close.

While Republican moderates in the House fear the cuts will damage their prospects of reelection next year, fiscal hawks chafed over savings that they say fall far short of what was promised.

Johnson had to negotiate tight margins, and could only lose a handful of lawmakers in the final vote, among more than two dozen who had earlier declared themselves open to rejecting Trump’s 869-page text.

Trump has spent weeks hitting the phones and hosting White House meetings to cajole lawmakers torn between angering welfare recipients at home and incurring the president’s wrath.

Democrats hope public opposition to the Bill will help them flip the House in the 2026 midterm election, pointing to data showing that it represents a huge redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-big-beautiful-bill-trump-spending-pass-republicans-5219606

Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” has passed the US Senate and now only needs to be sent to his desk by the Republican-controlled House to be signed into law.

It means the US president, who has long pressured Republicans to pass the bill, is now on the brink of an important legislative milestone and political victory.

Much of his second term has so far been marked by executive orders, which are presidential instructions with the force of laws but which don’t need the approval of Congress. But having this major spending and tax bill passed by Congress will finance a huge chunk of his presidential campaign promises.

“I think, politically, this is a winner for Donald Trump, he can point to some sort of legislative success for his agenda,” said Steven Webster, a political scientist at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Trump has demanded the House pass the bill for him to sign by July 4 — suggesting his desire for an Independence Day themed victory lap — but there are still hurdles to overcome within his own party.

“Some people dislike the bill because of the cuts to part of the American health care and safety net system,” said Peter Loge, a political analyst at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

“Some people don’t like the legislation because it adds a tremendous amount to the US debt. It’s incredibly expensive.”

So what’s in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’?

The big bill is a big attempt to check off Trump’s long list of campaign promises.

It includes a mix of individual and business tax cuts, massive cash injections to immigration controls, increased military spending and a ramping up of fossil fuel incentives.

There are also changes to health and social program eligibility and a winding down of some of the climate transition initiatives introduced by former President Joe Biden.

The winners, unsurprisingly, are policy realms that have been the foundation of Trump’s “America First” mantra.

A total of $178 billion (about €150 billion) in spending will go to programs intended to restrict immigration, including resuming the construction of Trump’s Mexico border wall, as well as to staff and resource border police, immigration prosecutions, detention and criminal investigations.

Around $153 billion will be spent on defense: shipbuilding, missile defense, nuclear weapons and supporting military assistance of the border.

And after promising to “drill, baby, drill” during his campaign and in his victory speech — a call for fossil fuel extraction to be ramped up — the bill would simultaneously incentivize gas exploration and exports, while ending concessions and incentives for electric vehicles, clean energy and emissions reduction programs.

There also tax cuts of about $4.5 trillion (€3.8 trillion) for individuals and business, which include Trump’s pledges to stop taxing tips and overtime.

“Nothing in this bill should be surprising,” Loge said, “It promises to spend a lot of money capturing immigration concerns in the US… it would spent a huge amount of money strengthening our immigration system and finding and deporting people who are here without proper authorization. That’s by-and-large popular among many people.”

A big bill, but not beautiful to everyone

In both houses, Republican leaders have been forced to balance the demands of holdouts — those unhappy with the measures contained within the bill.

Debt is a major concern for fiscal conservatives. Nonpartisan analysts project about $3.4 trillion (€2.3 trillion) will be added to the US national debt over the next decade because of the bill. The debt limit has been raised by $5 trillion.

The debt disquiet inside the Capitol has been echoed outside, most notably from one-time Trump ally Elon Musk.

Prior to the Senate passing the bill, the world’s richest person and the top donor to Trump’s presidential campaign threatened to run candidates against Republicans who supported the measures during upcoming primary contests, and went as far to suggest he’d start his own “America Party” in opposition.

“I think the party is likely to struggle to explain how adding three-and-a-half trillion dollars to the national debt is in line with their stated goal of getting the nation’s fiscal house in order,” said Webster.

The bill is also unpopular with the public.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll from mid-June, 53% of Americans support the bill and 27% don’t (the rest didn’t offer an opinion). Only two-thirds of Republican voters are in favor. Analysts DW spoke with said that when the content of the bill tends to be explained to voters, including Republicans, support declines.

Changes to health and social programs likely play a major role.

New eligibility rules, particularly for the Medicaid scheme which extends health care coverage to low-income people, and the SNAP food aid program could see millions of people lose health insurance coverage by 2034, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office. In all, more than $1 trillion have been cut from health measures.

“It’s about 17 million that would lose coverage,” said Elisabeth Wright Burak, a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, a nonpartisan research center.

“Even if there are some sort of tax or other benefits, if you’re losing your health insurance coverage, or you’re losing your nutrition assistance, that’s a hit to your [personal] bottom line.”

That could also hit important parts of Trump’s MAGA base — including working Americans who have flipped their support to him during the last decade.

While many of the health program changes have been made because of what Trump has called large scale “fraud and abuse” within the US public health infrastructure, many experts have argued the claimed attempt to cut fat from health care initiatives is hacking into muscle.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/how-will-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-impact-americans/a-73116182

At least four people were dead and dozens unaccounted for on Thursday (Jul 3) after a ferry sank on its way to the resort island of Bali, according to local authorities who said 23 survivors had been plucked from the water so far.

Rescuers were racing to find 38 missing people in rough seas after the vessel carrying 65 passengers sank before midnight on Wednesday as it sailed to the popular holiday destination from Indonesia’s main island Java.

“23 rescued, 4 dead,” Rama Samtama Putra, police chief of Banyuwangi in East Java, where the boat departed, told AFP.

President Prabowo Subianto, who was on a trip to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency response, Cabinet secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement on Thursday, adding the cause of the accident was “bad weather”.

Java-based Surabaya search and rescue agency head Nanang Sigit confirmed the same figures in a statement, and said efforts to reach the boat were initially hampered by adverse weather conditions that have since cleared up.

Waves as high as 2.5m with “strong winds and strong currents” had affected the rescue operation, he said.

The agency had earlier said 61 people were missing and four rescued, without giving a cause for the boat’s sinking.

“KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya … sank about 25 minutes after weighing anchor,” the Surabaya search and rescue agency said.

“The ferry’s manifest data totalled 53 passengers and 12 passenger crews,” it said.

A rescue team of at least 54 personnel, including those from the navy and police, were dispatched along with inflatable rescue boats, while a bigger vessel was later sent from Surabaya city to assist the search efforts.

The ferry crossing from Ketapang port in Java’s Banyuwangi regency to Bali’s Gilimanuk port – one of the busiest in Indonesia – is around 5km as the crow flies and takes around one hour.

It is often used by people crossing between the islands by car.

Four of the known survivors saved themselves by using the ferry’s lifeboat and were found in the water on early Thursday, the rescue agency said.

It said the ferry was also transporting 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks.

It was unclear if any foreigners were onboard when the ferry sank.

ACCIDENTS COMMON

Rescuers said they were still assessing if there were more people onboard than the ferry’s manifest showed.

It is common in Indonesia for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest.

Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards and sometimes due to bad weather.

In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-bali-61-missing-boat-sinks-5217481

Sales of Tesla electric cars fell 13 per cent in the last three months as boycotts over Elon Musk’s political views continue to keep buyers away, a significant development given expectations that anger with the company’s billionaire CEO would have faded by now.

The plunging sales add to growing signs that Musk’s embrace of US President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe has had a deep and enduring hit to Tesla’s brand appeal.

The new figures are also a possible sign that Tesla could disappoint when it announces second-quarter earnings later this month. In the first three months this year, net income fell 71%.

Sales fell to 384,122 in April through June, down from 443,956 in the same period last year. During this period, Musk formally left the Trump administration as a cost-cutting czar, and hopes rose that sales would recover.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/tesla-sales-fell-13-three-months-due-anti-musk-sentiment-5216591

United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (Jul 1) he could consider deporting Elon Musk, after the South African-born billionaire slammed his flagship spending Bill.

Trump also said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk headed before stepping down in late May, may train its sights on the Tesla and SpaceX founder’s government subsidies.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to take a look,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if he would consider deporting Musk.

“We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”

Trump doubled down on the threat when he said he believed Musk was attacking his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” because he was annoyed that it had dropped measures to support electric vehicles (EV).

“He’s losing his EV mandate. He’s very upset about things, but you know, he could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Elon can lose a lot more than that.”

Trump made similar comments on his Truth Social network late on Monday, saying that “without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa”.

Musk, the world’s richest person, was Trump’s biggest donor in the 2024 election and initially maintained a near-constant presence at the newly elected president’s side.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-look-deporting-elon-musk-doge-subsidies-tesla-5214391

Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday, pending an ethics investigation over accusations that she was too deferential to a senior Cambodian leader when the two discussed a recent border dispute in a phone call that was leaked.

Paetongtarn has faced growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the dispute, which involved an armed confrontation on May 28, in which one Cambodian soldier was killed. In a call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, she attempted to defuse tensions — but instead set off a string of complaints and public protests by critics who accused her of being too fawning.

Paetongtarn’s suspension raises the possibility of renewed instability in Thailand, a still fragile democracy that has suffered several similar bouts of uncertainty. At the root of much of that were concerns from the conservative establishment, including the military, that the political dynasty started by Paetongtarn’s father, the popular but divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was growing too powerful.

She is the third member of her family to hold the prime minister’s office — and the third to face the possibility of removal before her term ended. Thaksin was removed from office in a 2006 coup and driven into exile, while his sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawtra, was removed by a court order in 2014, followed shortly after by a coup.

This “recurring cycle of political instability” would likely keep repeating unless Thailand goes through a genuine democratic reform that includes limiting power of unelected institutions, said Purawich Watanasukh, a political science lecturer at Thammasat University in Bangkok.

“Without such foundational reforms, any government, regardless of who leads it, will remain vulnerable to the same forces that have repeatedly disrupted Thailand’s democratic development,” he said.

Growing discontent

The suspension also comes at a time when the country is facing an economic slowdown and growing discontent with Paetongtarn and her Pheu Thai party, in general, with critics saying her government’s performance has been underwhelming.

The judges voted unanimously Tuesday to review the petition accusing her of a breach of the ethics, and voted 7-2 to immediately suspend her from duty as a prime minister until a ruling is given. The court gave Paetongtarn 15 days to give evidence to support her case.

After the court order, Paetongtarn said that she would accept the process and defended her actions.

“I only thought about what to do to avoid troubles, what to do to avoid armed confrontation, for the soldiers not to suffer any loss,” she said.

Fallout from leaked call

She also apologized to people upset over the leaked call and left the Government House shortly after.

Suriya Jungrungruangkit, who is a deputy prime minister and a transport minister, will take charge as acting prime minister, said Chousak Sirinil, minister of the prime minister’s office.

Earlier Tuesday, before the court suspended Paetongtarn, King Maha Vajiralongkorn had endorsed a Cabinet reshuffle after a major party left the government coalition over the leaked call.

G7’s statement reiterated its stance that Iran “can never have nuclear weapons” and urged Iran from “reconstituting its unjustified enrichment activities”.

The foreign ministers of the ‘Group of 70 (G7) countries have urged Iran to resume negotiations for a deal to address the country’s nuclear program in a joint statement on Monday. The statement said that they support the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which was announced by United States President Donald Trump, and have urged all the parties to avoid actions that could “further destabilize the region”.

The statement also reiterated in the context of the recent 12-day war between Israel and Iran that the former “has a right to defend itself.”

“We reiterate our support for the security of Israel,” the group said.

The foreign ministers of the G7 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America – met on June 25 in The Hague and discussed Middle East tensions.

In the joint statement released on Monday, the G7 countries appreciated Qatar’s “important” role in facilitating the ceasefire between Israel and Iran and expressed “full solidarity to Qatar and Iraq following the recent strikes by Iran and its proxies and partners against their territory.”

‘Iran can never have nuclear weapons’

The statement reiterated the G7 nations’ stance that Iran “can never have nuclear weapons” and urged Iran from “reconstituting its unjustified enrichment activities”.

“We call for the resumption of negotiations, resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran’s nuclear program,” the statement said.

“In order to have a sustainable and credible resolution, we call on Iran to urgently resume full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as required by its safeguards obligations and to provide the IAEA with verifiable information about all nuclear material in Iran, including by providing access to IAEA inspectors,” it added.

The group of some of the world’s most advanced economies also condemned calls in Iran for “the arrest and execution of IAEA Director General Grossi”.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/g7-seeks-resumption-of-talks-for-agreement-on-irans-nuclear-program-101751316546500.html

Human trafficking-fueled scam centers have significantly expanded their operations worldwide, according to a crime trend update released on Monday by the international police agency Interpol.

Hubs where trafficking victims are forced to take part in online fraud first emerged in a few Southeast Asian nations, but investigators are now also uncovering similar fraud centers in other regions.

Where are scam centers spreading?

According to the international police organization, victims now come from 66 countries across all continents, highlighting what Interpol describes as a “global crisis” involving hundreds of thousands of people.

Scam centers are now increasingly found in other regions, including the Middle East, West Africa — fast emerging as a new regional hub — and Central America.

Victims are often lured with fake job offers and then held captive in scam compounds. Many are blackmailed over alleged debts, beaten, sexually exploited, and in some cases tortured or raped.

Inside these centers, they are forced to run online scams, mostly targeting people abroad to steal money.

A 2024 Interpol-led operation exposed dozens of cases where victims were coerced into committing fraud, including a raid on an industrial-scale scam centre in the Philippines. That same year, police dismantled a centre in Namibia where 88 youths were forced to scam others.

Emerging technologies are fuelling this trend further. The crime update notes a surge in the use of artificial intelligence, from generating fake job ads to creating deepfake profiles for “sextortion” and romance scams.

Who are the victims?

Interpol says the pool of those preyed upon has widened significantly.

While early human trafficking victims were mainly Chinese-speaking and came from China, Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore, people are now being trafficked to such hubs from South America, East Africa and Western Europe.

“Tackling this rapidly globalizing threat requires a coordinated international response,” said said Interpol’s acting head of police services Cyril Gout.

Who are the people traffickers?

The report found that about 90% of human trafficking facilitators came from Asia, while 11% were from South America or Africa.

About 80% of these facilitators were men, with 61% aged between 20 and 39.

Online scam centers were initially concentrated in Cambodia, with additional trafficking hubs later uncovered in Laos and Myanmar. Today, similar operations have been identified in at least four more Asian countries, and evidence shows the model is spreading to other regions such as West Africa, where cyber-enabled financial crime is already common.

In its findings, Interpol warned that the spread of such criminal networks needs urgent, coordinated action to disrupt trafficking routes and support victims.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/human-trafficking-on-the-rise-as-online-scam-hubs-go-global/a-73095664

It comes as Tehran contradicted the Ayatollah by admitting damage done to their nuclear sites was “severe”

DONALD Trump has claimed that he saved Iran’s Supreme Leader from an “ugly death” by ordering Israeli jets to turn around mid-air during an attack.

The President slammed the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after he claimed Iran had won the war – following Tehran’s response to Trump’s Operation Midnight Hammer attack.

In a Truth Social post, Trump raged: “I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH.

“And he does not have to say, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!’

Iran responded to Trump’s strikes on key nuclear sites in Iran by targeting a US army base in Doha, Qatar, with a daring missile blitz.

Tehran admitted that Operation Midnight Hammer and Israeli attacks had caused “excessive and serious” damage to the nuclear facilities.

But the admission on Friday contradicted the Supreme Leader’s claims that Trump “exaggerated” the success of the sophisticated attack.

Trump said of the American strikes: “His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED, and I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered.”

The US President then made the bombshell claim that he saved the Ayatollah’s life, saying he “would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life”.

He explained: “In fact, in the final act of the War, I demanded that Israel bring back a very large group of planes, which were heading directly to Tehran, looking for a big day, perhaps the final knockout!”

He added: “Tremendous damage would have ensued, and many Iranians would have been killed.

“It was going to be the biggest attack of the War, by far.”

Trump also blasted the Ayatollah’s claims that Iran won the war.

He said: “Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war torn Country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the War with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie, it is not so.

“As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister said that US and Israeli airstrikes caused “excessive and serious damage” to the Ayatollah’s nuclear facilities.

And he shut down suggestions that the mullahs would return to the negotiating table for a nuclear deal following the devastating blitz.

Abbas Araghchi said: “I would like to state clearly that no agreement, arrangement or conversation has been made to start new negotiations.

“Don’t take Trump’s words seriously… No plan has been set yet to start negotiations.”

His words came after the White House claimed Iran’s nuclear sites had been “completely and totally obliterated” by the strikes – and said they would take years to rebuild.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14577725/trump-saved-ayatollah-death/

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday (Jun 29) the 12-day war with Iran had created opportunities for Israel, and the first was the return of hostages held in Gaza by Palestinian militants who attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

His remarks, coupled with the Jerusalem District Court’s postponement of his testimony this week in his long-running corruption trial, gave rise to speculation that progress may be made to end the Gaza conflict and secure the hostages’ release.

The court accepted on Sunday Netanyahu’s request for the delay, citing classified diplomatic and security grounds. US President Donald Trump had suggested on Saturday the trial could interfere with the Israeli leader’s ability to negotiate.

Israel’s military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on Friday the war in Iran, which ended on Jun 24, could help advance Israeli objectives against the Iranian-backed Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.

Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power”, was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.

“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honour and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.

Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-holds-funeral-top-military-commanders-scientists-killed-by-israel-2025-06-28/

Budapest advertises itself as a party town. On Saturday, the party spilled out onto the streets, and occupied, in the scorching heat of summer, the Elizabeth Bridge and the river banks and downtown areas on both shores of the Danube.

Between 100,000 and 200,000 mostly young people danced and sang their way from Pest to Buda.

A distance that usually takes only 20 minutes on foot stretched to three hours.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ban, many Budapest Pride participants told me, spurred them to attend an event they usually stay away from. Last year, just 35,000 took part.

Many banners mocked the Hungarian prime minister. It was like a peaceful revenge by some of those he has declared war on during his past 15 years in power.

“In my history class, I learnt enough, to recognise a dictatorship. You don’t need to illustrate it – Vik!” read one hand-made banner. “I’m so bored of Fascism,” read another.

T-shirts with Orban’s image, in bright eyeshadow and lipstick, were everywhere.

While the LGBT community with its vivid paraphernalia made up the core of the march, this year’s Pride turned into a celebration of human rights and solidarity.

“We don’t exactly look as though we were banned!” a beaming Budapest mayor, Gergely Karacsony, told the crowd, in a speech in front of the Budapest Technical University.

Saturday’s march could go down as the crowning moment of his political career. A city hall starved of funds and in constant struggle with the central government dared to host an event the government tried to ban, and won – for now at least.

“In fact, we look like we’re peacefully and freely performing a big, fat show to a puffed-up and hateful power. The message is clear: they have no power over us!” Karacsony continued.

Among the attendees was Finnish MEP Li Andersson, who felt Orban was using arguments on family values as a pretext to ban the march.

“It’s important to emphasise that the reason why we are here is not only Pride – this is about the fundamental rights of all of us,” she said.

The ban was based on a new law, passed by the big majority held by Orban’s Fidesz party in parliament, subordinating the freedom of assembly to a 2021 Child Protection law that equated homosexuality with paedophilia, and therefore banned the portrayal or promotion of homosexuality in places where children might see it.

The police justified a ban on Saturday’s march on the grounds children might witness it. In response, the mayor cited a 2001 law stating events organised by councils do not fall under the right of assembly.

In the end, the police officers present at the march kept a discreet presence, looking on mournfully at a party from which they were excluded.

In another part of the city, Orban attended the graduation ceremony of 162 new police and customs officers, and new officials of the National Directorate-General for Policing Aliens.

“Order does not come into being by itself, it must be created, because without it civilised life will be lost,” Orban told the students and their families.

Earlier, he and other prominent Fidesz officials posted pictures of themselves with their children and grandchildren, in an attempt to reclaim the “pride” word.

“Post a picture, to show them what we’re proud of,” Alexandra Szentkiralyi, the head of the Fidesz faction in the Budapest Council, posted on Facebook, alongside a picture of herself in a rather plain “Hungary” T-shirt.

The police presence was restrained in Budapest on Saturday, but temporary cameras installed ahead of the march and mounted on police vehicles recorded the whole event.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clylnev5y36o

Four people have been arrested in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest that involved vandalizing military aircraft at an airbase in in the United Kingdom, authorities said.

On June 20, two activists from the group Palestine Action allegedly broke into the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, England, where they sprayed red paint on two refueling and transport aircraft and damaged them with crowbars.

Three individuals, aged 29 to 36, were arrested on suspicion of committing, preparing, or instigating acts of terrorism. A fourth person, a 41-year-old woman, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, according to UK police.

UK moves to ban protest group Palestine Action

Palestine Action, who claimed the action, responded to the arrests by accusing authorities of cracking down on “nonviolent protests” that disrupt the flow of weapons to Israel during what it called the country’s “genocide in Palestine.”

Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer labeled the act “disgraceful,” while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday announced plans to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws.

According to Cooper, the group’s actions have become “more aggressive,” with members showing a “willingness to use violence.”

The Home Secretary decided to proscribe the group following the incident. Once the ban takes effect next Friday, supporting the group will become a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/four-arrested-over-pro-palestine-vandalism-at-uk-air-base/a-73067757

Wall Street climbed into record territory on Friday (Jun 27) as the United States and China moved closer to a trade deal and Washington signalled it could reach tariff agreements with over a dozen other partners.

With the Israel-Iran ceasefire holding, investors turned attention back to the wider economy and President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz.

Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on goods from nearly every country at the start of April, but he delayed higher rates on dozens of nations until Jul 9 to allow for talks.

On Thursday, he said the United States had signed a deal relating to trade with China, without providing further details.

China said on Friday that Washington would lift “restrictive measures”, while Beijing would “review and approve” items under export controls.

“While details remain sparse, the announcement removed another layer of uncertainty from the global risk environment,” said David Morrison, an analyst at financial services firm Trade Nation.

“Investors welcomed the confirmation as a positive signal for supply chains and global trade, even if the implementation timeline remains vague,” he added.

TRADE DEAL PROGRESS

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added on Friday that Washington could reach key tariff deals with over a dozen partners in the coming months and have its trade agenda completed by early September.

The United States is focusing on agreements with 18 key trading partners.

“If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labour Day (Sep 1),” Bessent told Fox Business.

Wall Street stocks pushed higher, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices entering record territory.

The gains came despite the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, coming in at a higher-than-expected 0.2 per cent increase in May.

“Today’s inflation report should not be enough to give markets a significant scare, but it probably dashes the slim hopes investors had for a July rate cut,” said eToro US investment analyst Bret Kenwell.

“Further, it may give investors a bit of hesitation with stocks surging into record high territory as we near quarter-end,” he added.

EUROPEAN AND ASIAN MARKETS

European stock markets also rose, with the Paris CAC 40 leading the way, boosted by a rise in luxury stocks.

Traders brushed off data showing that inflation edged up in France and Spain in June, even as it added to speculation that the European Central Bank might pause its interest rate cut cycle.

In Asia, Tokyo rallied more than one per cent to break 40,000 points for the first time since January, while Hong Kong and Shanghai equities closed lower.

WEAKER DOLLAR

The dollar held around three-year lows on Friday as traders bet on US interest rate cuts, especially after Trump hinted at replacing Fed chief Jerome Powell.

The prospect of lower borrowing costs sent the Dollar Index, which compares the greenback to a basket of major currencies, to its lowest level since March 2022.

Weak economic data on Thursday, showing that the world’s top economy contracted more than previously estimated in the first quarter and softer consumer spending, further fuelled rate cut expectations.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-stocks-hit-record-us-china-trade-progress-5208076

At least 29 school students were killed in a stampede in the Central African Republic as they took their exams, authorities said on Thursday.

The incident occurred as more than 5,300 pupils sat their baccalaureate exams at Barthelemy Boganda High School in the capital, Bangui, on Wednesday.

An electrical transformer exploded and sparked panic, leading to a stampede. Some students were seen jumping from the first floor of the school.

Most of the victims — including 16 girls — died at the scene, according to the Health Ministry. At least 260 other students were treated for injuries.

“The hospital was overwhelmed by people to the point of obstructing caregivers and ambulances,” a Health Ministry source told the AFP news agency.

President declares 3-day mourning period

Central African President Faustin Archange Touadera responded to the news while attending a vaccine summit in Brussels, Belgium. He announced three days of national mourning.

“I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students,” he said in a video posted to Facebook.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/dozens-killed-in-central-african-republic-school-stampede/a-73051599

WATCH as Kim Jong Un surveys the “North Korean Benidorm” which will finally welcome guests next week after the dictator personally oversaw the mega tourism project.

Hundreds of Brits have already signed up to visit the artificial resort – eager for a glimpse of life inside the Hermit Kingdom – and Kim has now cut the ribbon.

The first guests will finally be welcomed to the Wonsan-Kalma resort next week after years of blundering delays.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the site and made a grand speech at a ceremony on Tuesday.

Footage shows him beaming in front of jack-rabbiting crowds and taking a seat to watch “volunteers” fly down waterslides.

Kim declared that the completed project would go down as “one of the greatest successes this year” and hailed the site as “the proud first step” towards a thriving tourism industry.

The only hitch is that very few foreigners are actually allowed into North Korea.

Foreign visitors are almost exclusively Russian, reflecting Kim’s bromance with Vladimir Putin.

After a total shutdown during the pandemic, Pyongyang opened the border to Russian tourists in February 2024.

Before Covid, Chinese group tours made up 90 percent of North Korea’s overseas tourism, but that inflow is still being heavily limited.

Wonsan-Kalma, built at a former missile base, is modelled on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

Kim event sent a party of stooges there in 2017 to take notes.

Work kept stalling and the site was even overrun by homeless wanderers – known as “kotjebi” in North Korea – who filled the empty hotels with faeces.

But Kim plodded on with the project, and visited one numerous occasions to monitor progress.

He was pictured strolling along the beach with his daughter Ju-ae at the end of last year.

When word spread that the resort was almost ready, holiday planners On The Beach opened a link for people to express their interest – and it racked up more than 250 sign-ups from Brits within a month.

This is despite a terrifying warning that a trip to the dictatorship could cost holidaymakers their lives.

Campaigners have warned that nobody’s safety is assured in Kim’s kingdom.

Greg Scarlatoiu, director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said a trip there would be unsafe and immoral.

He said: “The Wonsan-Kalma resort was built with forced labour. Vacationing there is morally and ethically wrong – it is truly an abomination.

“Having Russian nationals vacation there is testament to the pathetic isolation of both Russia and North Korea.”

Past tourists in the country have even lost their lives.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14566026/kim-jong-un-north-koreas-benidorm-open/

LGBTQ+ Sri Lankans face violence, while promises by the government to repeal colonial-era laws remain unmet.

When 20-year-old Maya went to what he thought was a meeting with a Facebook acquaintance two months ago, it turned out to be a trap.

Maya described how he was met by four men who assaulted him for being gay.

“They said ‘How can you be like this? This isn’t legal in Sri Lanka,’ and beat me,” Maya told DW.

“I didn’t go to the police, because there’s no law, and they won’t take any action.”

Sri Lanka has not yet repealed sections 365 and 365A of the penal code, colonial-era laws that criminalize “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and “acts of gross indecency.”

Although the law broadly applies to all kinds of sexual activity with no reproductive nature, it has “overwhelmingly been used against the LGBT community,” rights lawyer Aritha Wickramasinghe told DW.

Wickramasinghe works with iProbono, a global group of organizations providing free legal service to help people access their rights.

Many of Maya’s friends have cut him off for being gay, he said, adding that hateful comments directed toward him have deeply affected him.

“When other people go and tell my family members, ‘How can a man behave like this?’ I feel really upset. I’ve even attempted suicide, that’s how disturbed I was,” Maya said.

A history of discrimination

Sri Lanka’s colonial-era laws echo those once seen across Asia. Many countries have repealed these laws — notably India in 2018 and Singapore in 2022 — but Sri Lanka still lags behind.

Kannan Sathurshan, a 27-year-old performance artist, said he felt “trapped between society and the law, and unable to move forward” and was considering leaving Sri Lanka to live more openly with his boyfriend.

“As a gay man, I can’t be open about who I am,” he told DW. “There are younger people who look up to me as a role model, but when they see that even I’m not open about who I am, how will they be?”

Although the laws are not widely enforced, LGBTQ+ people in Sri Lanka continue to face discrimination in many aspects of life.

“Sri Lankans never had a problem with homosexuality,” said Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and director of the LGBTQ+ organization EQUAL GROUND.

“It was the British who brought this into our country, and it has been used by some politicians to vilify LGBTQI people in order to cause division within society,” Flamer-Caldera said.

She told DW that Sri Lankan society had “come a long way” in the last 20 years, with far more public support for LGBTQ+ people. However, she also noted a rise in hateful rhetoric towards the LGBTQ+ community.

Wickramasinghe said that although the use of the law was going through its “quietest period,” police officers continued to use it against LGBTQ+ people, contrary to reports that it was unenforced or dormant.

He said his organization had previously handled cases of forced anal and vaginal examinations of LGBTQ+ people being conducted by the police.

Police media spokesperson Frederick Udayakumara Wootler told DW that consenting LGBTQ+ couples could not be prosecuted for having sex in private in the absence of a complaint that alleged a use of force or a lack of consent.

He said the message of sensitivity towards LGBTQ+ individuals had been conveyed “very clearly” to police officers through circulars and directives, and said, “there won’t be any harassment against” LGBTQ+ individuals.

Fight for decriminalization

Sri Lanka’s current government, led by leftist Anura Kumara Dissanayake, promised in itsbmanifesto to repeal the laws that criminalize the LGBTQ+ community.

However, seven months after it won a supermajority in November’s parliamentary elections, there has been no official action on the topic.

A private member’s bill was put forward in 2023 by parliamentarian Premnath C. Dolawatte to repeal the colonial-era laws.

The same year, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court welcomed the move and said decriminalization would not be unconstitutional.

The court ruled that the decriminalization of sexual activity amongst consenting adults “only furthers human dignity and as such this cannot be considered as being an offence that must be maintained in the statute book.”

Lawyer Wickramasinghe told DW the Human Rights Commission had also written to the government to ask them for decriminalization.

Adhil Suraj, the executive director of the LGBTQ+ organization Equite, told DW the government’s lack of action was “questionable.”

He said Equite was planning to meet parliamentarians from the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) alliance, opposition leaders and international stakeholders to advocate for decriminalization.

“We can’t express ourselves as who we really are,” he said. “The law is a really bad barrier to day-to-day life on many levels — economically, socially, politically.”

Maya believes that a change in the law will mean a change in attitudes both within the community and beyond.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/lgbtq-discrimination-persists-in-sri-lanka/a-73034352

Meanwhile, a Brit couple have been held in Iran for unspecified espionage charges

IRAN executed three more prisoners accused of spying for Israel as it launched a major crackdown in the wake of the 12-Day War.

The three men – named as Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul – were hanged yesterday morning.

The trio were paraded on State TV in blue prison uniforms after being convicted of espionage.

At least six men have been killed in the past 10 days on the orders of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A further 700 have been rounded up and arrested.

Iran human rights boss, Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, said: “After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic Republic needs more repression to cover up military failures, prevent protests, and ensure its continued survival.

“Executions are the Islamic Republic’s most important tool for instilling societal fear, and in the coming days and weeks, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of prisoners might be at risk of execution.”

In May, a young son of a British couple imprisoned in Iran on spying charges revealed how devastated he was after hearing of his parents’ arrest.

Husband and wife Craig and Lindsay Foreman have spent almost 150 days in jail since being detained during a round-the-world motorbike trip.

The Brits entered Iran despite being warned by the Foreign Office and their family to avoid passing through the notoriously strict state.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14562617/iran-executes-prisoners-spying-israel/

A shaky ceasefire began to take hold between Israel and Iran on Tuesday (Jun 24) under pressure from US President Donald Trump, raising hopes for an end to the biggest ever military confrontation between the Middle East arch-foes.

Trump scolded both sides for early violations of the truce he announced at 0.500 GMT, but directed especially stinging criticism at Washington’s close ally Israel over the scale of its strikes, telling it to “calm down now”.

He later said Israel called off further attacks at his command to preserve the deal to end a 12-day air war with Iran.

Both Iran and Israel sent signals that the conflict was over, at least for now.

President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed a “great victory” in a war he said Iran had successfully ended, according to Iranian media.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA earlier reported Pezeshkian as saying during a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Iran was ready to resolve differences with the US based on international frameworks.

Israel’s military, meanwhile, said all regions of the country had moved to full activity level without restrictions from 8.00pm local time (17.00 GMT). Its airport authority said Ben Gurion Airport had reopened.

Israeli armed forces chief of staff Eyal Zamir said the military was at “the conclusion of a significant chapter, but the campaign against Iran is not over”, though he added the military was refocusing on its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Whether the Israel-Iran truce can hold is a major question. Signalling a difficult path ahead, it took hours for Israel and Iran to even acknowledge that they had accepted the ceasefire that Trump said he had brokered.

Still, oil prices plunged and stock markets rallied worldwide in a sign of confidence arising from the ceasefire pact, which was taken to mean there would be no threat of disruption to critical oil supplies from the Gulf.

CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS?

Iran and Israel earlier on Tuesday accused each other of violating the truce.

Trump, en route to a NATO summit in Europe, admonished Israel with an obscenity in an extraordinary outburst at an ally whose war he had joined two days before by dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear sites.

“All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

That followed a post in which he had said: “Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!”

Before departing the White House, Trump told reporters he was unhappy with both sides for breaching the ceasefire, but particularly frustrated with Israel, which he said had “unloaded” shortly after agreeing to the deal.

“I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now,” Trump said. Iran and Israel had been fighting “so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office acknowledged that Israel had bombed a radar site near Tehran in what it said was retaliation for Iranian missiles fired three-and-a-half hours after the ceasefire had been due to begin.

It said Israel had decided to refrain from further attacks following a call between Netanyahu and Trump, but did not explicitly say whether the strike on the radar site took place before or after they spoke.

The Islamic Republic denied launching any missiles and said Israel’s attacks had continued for an hour-and-a-half beyond the time the truce was meant to start.

Pezeshkian said later Tehran would not violate the ceasefire unless Israel did so, and that it was prepared to return to the negotiating table, without elaborating, according to state-run Nournews.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One heading to the NATO summit, Trump said he did not want to see Iran’s ruling system toppled.

“I don’t want it. I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos,” he said.

“Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon, by the way, I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”

In the hours before the truce took effect, four people – one of them an off-duty Israeli soldier – were killed by Iranian missiles that hit a residential building in Beersheba in southern Israel, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

Iranian officials said nine people were killed by a strike on a residential building in northern Iran.

SENSE OF RELIEF

In both countries, there was a palpable sense of relief that a path out of war had been charted, 12 days after Israel launched it with a surprise attack, and two days after Trump joined in with strikes on Iranian nuclear targets.

“We’re happy, very happy. Who mediated or how it happened doesn’t matter. The war is over. It never should have started in the first place,” said Reza Sharifi, 38, heading back to Tehran from Rasht on the Caspian Sea, where he had relocated with his family to escape the airstrikes.

Arik Daimant, a software engineer in Tel Aviv, said: “Regrettably, it’s a bit too late for me and my family, because our house back here was totally destroyed in the recent bombings last Sunday. But as they say: ‘better late than never’, and I hope this ceasefire is a new beginning.”

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One heading to the NATO summit, Trump said he did not want to see Iran’s ruling system toppled.

“I don’t want it. I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos and ideally, we don’t want to see so much chaos,” he said.

“Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon, by the way, I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”

In the hours before the truce took effect, four people – one of them an off-duty Israeli soldier – were killed by Iranian missiles that hit a residential building in Beersheba in southern Israel, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

Iranian officials said nine people were killed by a strike on a residential building in northern Iran.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/israel-says-hit-iran-radar-conflict-refrained-other-strikes-donald-trump-call-5200861

Dozens of tourists and workers, some carrying children, were left stranded on Tuesday (Jun 24) at Thailand’s main land crossing with Cambodia, after the army stopped almost all border traffic in an escalating territorial dispute.

Thailand has closed crossing points in all seven border provinces to everyone except students and those seeking medical treatment, after a long-running row erupted into military clashes last month in which a Cambodian soldier was killed.

There was confusion at the Ban Khlong Luek checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province – the main crossing for people travelling overland to Cambodia’s Siem Reap, where the Angkor Wat complex is located.

Around 50 Cambodian workers, mostly vendors who regularly cross into Thailand for trade, found themselves stuck at the checkpoint, unable to return home.

“I wanted to go back last night but had to sleep at my shop instead because police didn’t allow me to cross,” said Malin Po, 38, a clothing seller.

“I usually cross every day because I come to work in Thailand and go back home to Cambodia.”

She said no one had explained why the checkpoint was closed, leaving many frustrated.

Riot police were stationed near the crossing point – a grand archway sealed shut with yellow railings – as people trudged back towards the Thai side after being turned away.

Chanta Wo, 32, a Cambodian carpenter based in Sa Kaeo, said he was trying to cross the border after learning that his 73-year-old mother-in-law had just died.

Travelling with his wife, brother, two-year-old daughter and one-month-old baby, he was seen changing his infant son’s nappy on a bench near the checkpoint.

“I was warned away by the police … I’m very concerned,” he told AFP.

BORDER ROW

As well as Cambodian workers, a handful of tourists hoping to cross the border also found themselves stuck.

Matteo Toso, 34, from Turin, Italy, said he was backpacking across Asia and had spent two months starting from Nepal before attempting to cross into Cambodia.

“I might have to go back to Bangkok and take a plane to Cambodia but of course that’s more expensive,” he told AFP.

He said he was concerned that tensions between Thailand and Cambodia could impact Thailand’s tourism in the long run.

Dozens were also stuck on the Cambodian side of the border, where food sellers urged the two sides to reconcile.

“I appeal to both Cambodia and Thailand to get along with each other again, so all people can make mutual benefits,” seafood vendor Phong Ratanak, 37, told AFP.

Touch, 18, who has been working on a farm in Thailand, said she did not know the news about the border restrictions imposed by the Thai army.

“I have been waiting at the checkpoint since the morning. I don’t know what would happen,” she told AFP, adding she felt “a bit sad”.

Thailand and Cambodia are at odds over several small sections of their border in a row that dates back to the drawing of the 800km frontier in the early 20th century during the French occupation of Indochina.

Violence sparked by the dispute has led to at least 28 deaths in the region since 2008, but the issue had died down in recent years until last month’s flare-up.

Peace-seeking talks stalled, and Cambodia has banned imports of fuel and oil from Thailand, as well as Thai fruit and vegetables.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/cambodia-thailand-border-crossing-shut-confusion-5200766

The US Embassy in India now requires F, M, and J visa applicants to make their social media profiles public to strengthen identity verification and eligibility screening. This builds on a 2019 rule mandating all visa applicants to submit social media identifiers as part of the application process.

The US Embassy in India has introduced a new requirement for F, M, and J non-immigrant visa applicants to adjust their social media privacy settings, making their profiles publicly visible. This measure aims to enhance the screening process, allowing officials to verify applicants’ identities and assess their eligibility under US law.
In the social media post announcing the requirement, the US Embassy noted that in 2019, the United States had implemented a requirement for all visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigrant and non-immigrant visa application forms.

The post does not specify the duration for which applicants need to make their social media profiles public. The US State Department under President Trump has taken several steps to increase scrutiny for foreign nationals entering the US. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously announced that visa applicants with social media activity related to the Israel-Gaza war can face stricter vetting or outright rejection.

In addition, the US government has announced a new travel ban targeting 12 countries, completely barring entry for nationals from those nations and imposing partial visa restrictions on seven others. The policy, aimed at safeguarding national security, focuses on countries considered high-risk due to security gaps and terrorism-related concerns, primarily in the Middle East and Africa.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/us-embassy-in-india-announces-new-social-media-privacy-requirement-for-f-m-and-j-visa-applicants-article-152139037

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday (Jun 24) said Israel has agreed to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire with Iran after it achieved its goal of removing Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threat.

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office thanked Trump and the US for their support and participation. Israel also said it would “react with force” to any violation of the truce.

Trump’s declaration came after a sharp escalation of the conflict since Sunday, when the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites, prompting Iran to retaliate by firing missiles at a US base in Qatar on Monday.

Israel agrees to Trump’s proposal for ceasefire with Iran

Israel has agreed to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire with Iran, having achieved its goal of removing Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement just posted by his office.

The statement added that Israel had “inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets”, and “all the objectives” of Operation Rising Lion, which was launched on Jun 13, had been met.

“Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defence and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat. Israel will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire.”

Iran-Israel ceasefire is now in effect, proclaims Trump

“The ceasefire is now in effect. Please do not violate it,” said US President Donald Trump in his latest Truth Social post.

However, both Iran and Israel have yet to officially confirm the agreement, although Iranian state TV earlier announced that a ceasefire had been “imposed” on Israel.

A senior White House official had said Trump brokered a deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks.

Death toll in Iran missile strike on Israeli city rises to 4

In an update, Israel’s emergency services said four people had now been killed, while over a dozen were wounded after an Iranian missile struck the city of Beersheba in the country’s south.

Israel’s Magen David Adom added that over 20 people were injured, and search and rescue operations were ongoing. Pictures and videos of the incident showed a partially wrecked residential block, with debris everywhere in the aftermath of the strike.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-ceasefire-iran-israel-5197361

The NATO alliance has crafted a summit in The Hague this week to shore itself up by satisfying U.S. President Donald Trump with a big new defence spending goal – but it now risks being dominated by the repercussions of his military strikes on Iran.
The two-day gathering is also intended to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO is united, despite Trump’s previous criticism of the alliance, and determined to expand and upgrade its defences to deter any attack from Moscow.
The summit and its final statement will be short and focused on heeding Trump’s call to spend 5% of GDP on defence – a big jump from the current 2% goal. It is to be achieved by investing more in both militaries and other security-related spending.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, however, upset NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s preparations on Sunday as he declared Madrid did not need to meet the new spending target even as Spain approved the summit statement.
Rutte insisted on Monday that Spain did not have an opt-out and NATO was “absolutely convinced” Madrid would have to hit the new target to fulfil its military commitments to the alliance.

“NATO does not have – as an alliance – opt-outs, side deals, et cetera, because we all have to chip in,” he told reporters in The Hague.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has had to settle for a seat at the pre-summit dinner on Tuesday evening – rather than a formal session with the leaders when they meet on Wednesday – due to his volatile relationship with Trump.
The U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites at the weekend makes the summit much less predictable than Rutte – a former prime minister of the Netherlands hosting the gathering in his home city – and other NATO member countries would like.
IRAN ADDS UNCERTAINTY
Much will depend on the precise situation in the Middle East when the summit takes place – such as whether Iran has retaliated against the U.S. – and whether other NATO leaders address the strikes with Trump or in comments to reporters.

The deal to increase NATO member countries’ defense spending reportedly went through after Spain secured an exemption, following its staunch opposition. Spain called the rise to 5% “disproportionate and unnecessary.”

NATO members agreed on Sunday to increase defense spending to 5% of their countries’ GDP, a benchmark long sought by US President Donald Trump, who had complained more vocally than other US presidents that his country had shouldered much of Europe’s security for too long.

Spain had sought to block the measure, but ultimately dropped its opposition after a deal was reached for it to be exempt.

It is expected that NATO members will vote in favor of ramping up defense spendingto 5% during the upcoming two-day NATO meeting set to start Tuesday in The Hague.

Once adopted, all member nations except Spain will have until 2035 to reach the goal of 5%.

The agreement calls for at least 3.5% of national GDP to be spent on core military needs, while an additional 1.5% can be allocated for related expenditures.

Spain claims exemption
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez fought the deal. In a blistering letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte, Sanchez said the 5% figure “would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive.”

Sanchez went further during a national address on Spanish television. “A 5% spending would be disproportionate and unnecessary,” he said.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/nato-members-agree-to-increase-defense-spending-to-5/a-73000676

Iran’s parliament has voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping channel through which around 20% of the world’s daily oil flows.

The move, which could block $1 billion in oil shipments per day, is likely to send oil prices soaring.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, jumped 3.9% to $80 a barrel on Sunday, while US crude rose 4.3% to $77 a barrel.

The conflict between Israel and Iran has sent oil prices yo-yoing over the past week, which has in turn caused see-saw moves for the U.S. stock market, because of rising and ebbing fears that the war could disrupt the global flow of crude. Iran is a major producer of oil and also sits on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s crude passes.

It will come into effect pending a final decision by Iran’s Supreme Council.

The Supreme Council’s decision must be made by tonight, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.

Iran’s major escalation in response to US strikes on its nuclear facilities “will be done whenever necessary,” Email Kosari, Commander in the Revolutionary Guards, said on Sunday.

The strait connecting the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf is one of the world’s most critical chokepoints — just 20 miles wide at its narrowest point.

Shipping lanes in the strait — the area that is deep enough for ships to pass — are even narrower at less than two miles wide in each direction, making them much more vulnerable to attacks and threats of closure.

The channel is shallow, making it a particular target for underwater mining, while the narrowness of the strait makes passing vessels vulnerable to attack from shore-based missiles or interception by patrol boats or helicopters.

“Iran would most likely pursue a multi-layered asymmetric strategy rather than attempting an outright naval blockade,” Gregg Roman, Executive Director of the Middle East Forum told The Post.

“Their primary approach would involve rapidly deploying naval mines across the shipping lanes—this is their most effective tool for immediate disruption. They’d simultaneously launch anti-ship missiles from mobile coastal batteries like their Ghader and Nasir systems, targeting oil tankers from distances up to [185 miles].”

Iran has no legal authority to block sea traffic through Hormuz, and any attempts by its navy to bar entry to the strait would likely be met by a strong response.

Ships with the US Fifth Fleet, along with other Western navies, are patrolling the area at all times.

It is bordered by Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

The bulk of all oil exported by the regional petro giants, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, all travel through this narrow waterway.

Asia is likely to bear the brunt most from any closures to the waterway, with China, India, Japan and South Korea all getting most of their oil imports through the strait.

China, the world’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil and a critical partner that has previously used its veto power at the UN Security Council to block sanctions or resolutions against Tehran, would be particularly affected by any closure.

The move would also hit Iran’s own economy.

“Any closure attempt would be temporary and ultimately self-destructive. Iran depends on the strait for its own vital imports and knows that such action would trigger an overwhelming response from the US 5th Fleet, which maintains detailed operational plans for exactly this scenario,” Roman said.

“It would amount to economic suicide while alienating China, their primary oil customer. Tehran understands this calculus, which is why the threat remains more valuable as leverage than as an actual course of action.”

Iran last disrupted traffic in the Persian Gulf in April last year when it seized an Israel-linked container ship near the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the MSC Aries of violating maritime regulations.

In April 2023, Iran seized a US-bound tanker, claiming the ship had struck another vessel.

And in May 2022, two Greek tankers were held for six months in what was widely seen as retaliation to the confiscation of Iranian oil on a different ship by Greek and US authorities.

In previous years, the Houthi militia in Yemen was able to successfully disrupt traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait leading into the Red Sea on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

Using the firing of missiles and drones, the Houthis were able to cut ship traffic through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden some 70% in June compared with the average levels in 2022 and 2023, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd, a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker.

Vessel operators have been forced instead to reroute traffic around the southern tip of Africa instead of using the Suez Canal, making journeys for ships traveling between Europe and Asia vastly more expensive and much longer.

Iran’s Navy was likely to employ the same tactics previously used by the Houthis, along with cyber attacks and other sabotage operations, Roman added.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/06/22/world-news/iran-orders-closure-of-strait-of-hormuz-putting-one-fifth-of-worlds-oil-supply-at-risk/

THE US military has bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities in an historic strike against the Islamic Republic.

America has now directly joined Israel’s campaign as they both seek to obliterate Tehran’s nuclear program.

President Donald Trump announced the strikes in a surprise late-night post on TruthSocial.

He said US bombers had hit three nuclear plants in Iran at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – all key to Iran’s doomsday project.

The bombings come just two days after Trump said he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join key ally Israel in attacking Iran.

In a nationally televised speech at the White House, Trump said: “Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.

“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.

“Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.

“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”

Trump said the US and Israel worked as a “team”, adding: “I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

“We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.”

Netanyahu said afterwards: “Congratulations, President Trump.

“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous mind of the United States will change history.

The US is now bracing for Iran to shoot back – with Trump warning they shouldn’t and should instead look for peace.

But pro-Ayatollah voices have already shot back, warning Trump’s bombing would be “a recipe for all-out war” in the region.

Hossein Shariatmadari, a pro-regime media figure, said: “It is now our turn to act without delay.

“As a first step, we must launch a missile strike on the US naval fleet in Bahrain and simultaneously close the Strait of Hormuz to American, British, German, and French ships.”

The US military used six of their flagship B-2 bombers to drop 12 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) 30,000lb “bunker-buster” bombs on Fordow, officials revealed.

They said the assessments indicated that the facility had been “taken off the table”.

While 30 BGM-109 Tomahawk Land-Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAMs) were launched from submarines with the US Navy at the Natanz and Isfahan Nuclear Facilities.

It marked the first combat use of GBU-57 MOP in the history of warfare.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks targeted the country’s Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.

IRNA quoted Akbar Salehi, Isfahan’s deputy governor in charge of security affairs, saying there had been attacks around the sites. He did not elaborate.

Another official confirmed an attack targeting Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear site.

On Saturday, the US deployed B-2 long-range stealth bombers capable of dropping the bunker-buster bombs required to wipe out Iran’s most secretive nuclear facility – Fordow.

Israel said its airstrikes on Iran will not stop until it destroys the regime’s capability of enriching uranium to weapons-grade and making a nuclear weapon.

At the heart of its nuclear program, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, is encased in steel more than 300 feet beneath solid rock.

Israel’s arsenal lacked huge bunker-buster bombs needed to destroy the underground enrichment facility – some 125 miles from capital Tehran.

The attack now threatens to ignite a massive Middle East war involving the US, Israel and Iran.

UN chief Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran”.

He called it a “dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge and a direct threat to international peace and security.”

He added: “There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.

“At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos. There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace.”

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said it would not allow the development of its “national industry” to be stopped, and said the attacks violated international law. It did not clarify the extent of damage.

Israel launched a surprise barrage of attacks on sites in Iran on June 13, which Israeli officials said was necessary to head off what they claimed was an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs.

Iran, which has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, has retaliated with a series of missile and drone strikes in Israel, while Israel has continued to strike sites in Iran.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14534022/us-bombs-iran-fordow-israel/

The Middle East risks a nuclear catastrophe if Israel strikes Iran’s southern nuclear facility in Bushehr, the head of the UN atomic watchdog warned on Friday (Jun 20).

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the UN Security Council that while no radiation has been detected so far from Israel’s week-long military campaign against Iran, the risk remains high, especially if Bushehr is targeted.

“Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns, and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear — in case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,” Grossi said.

The Bushehr reactor, located in southern Iran, is the Middle East’s first civilian nuclear plant and contains thousands of kilograms of nuclear material. Grossi warned that a direct hit or even damage to the electrical lines powering the site could trigger a meltdown.

POTENTIAL FOR REGIONAL IMPACT

In a worst-case scenario, Grossi said evacuations and shelter orders would need to be issued across areas within several hundred kilometers of Bushehr, potentially affecting population centers in the Gulf Arab states.

He added that civilians may also be required to take iodine and face disruptions in food supplies. The plant sits near a vital artery of the global economy, heightening the stakes of any possible fallout.

Construction on Bushehr began in the 1970s under Iran’s then pro-Western shah. While initially assisted by German firms, the Islamic Republic has worked with Russia to complete and maintain the facility since the 1990s.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/iaea-warns-nuclear-disaster-if-israel-strikes-irans-bushehr-plant-5194656

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited the border with Cambodia on Friday as she faced resignation calls following a leaked phone call between her and Cambodia’s former leader discussing recent border tensions.

Paetongtarn traveled to a border town in northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, near a small contested territory with Cambodia where a brief confrontation between the two sides on May 28 killed one Cambodian soldier.

A statement from Thailand’s Government House said Paetongtarn’s visit was aimed at boosting morale among soldiers who are working hard to protect the country’s sovereignty and interests.

Several groups of activists said Friday that they would rally next week to demand Paetongtarn’s resignation.

Cambodia’s Senate President Hun Sen on Wednesday released a 17-minute recording of a conversation with Paetongtarn. She could be heard telling Hun Sen not to listen to “an opponent” in Thailand. It’s believed to be a reference to regional Thai army commander Boonsin Padklang, who had publicly criticized Cambodia over the border dispute.

Before the leak, Paetongtarn had already been criticized for a perceived soft stance toward Cambodia, especially by right-wing nationalists who are longtime foes of her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

During Friday’s visit, Paetongtarn was filmed walking alongside Boonsin, the commander of the 2nd army area who oversees the border area including the site of the recent clash, in an apparent display of unity between the government and the military.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/thailand-border-cambodia-paetongtarn-449b4340ae6467657da67596b20b60e5

Israel’s defence minister said on Thursday (Jun 19) that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “can no longer be allowed to exist”, just days after reports that Washington vetoed Israeli plans to assassinate him.

The comments from Defence Minister Israel Katz came after the Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba reported 40 people injured following a fresh salvo of Iranian missiles.

“Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed – he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals,” Katz told journalists in the city of Holon near Tel Aviv.

“Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.”

When asked about Khamenei on a visit to Beersheba on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I have made it clear that no one is immune.”

But he added: “In war, I believe one must choose words carefully and execute actions with precision.”

A senior United States official told AFP on Sunday that President Donald Trump had “found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader”.

“President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,” said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu has neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

In a television interview on Monday, he did not rule it out, saying that killing the 86-year-old cleric who has ruled Iran since 1989 would “end the conflict” between the two countries.

Trump wrote on Tuesday that the US knew Khamenei’s location but would not kill him “for now”.

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks.

Citing a message from Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”

Israel launched strikes on Iran last Friday in what it said was an 11th-hour move to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

It has since hit hundreds of targets, including military commanders, top nuclear scientists and military and nuclear facilities.

“REGIME CHANGE”

The movements of the supreme leader, who has not left Iran since he took power, are subject to the tightest security and secrecy.

Netanyahu has not said publicly that Israel is trying to topple him, only that regime change could be a result of its military action.

Iranians “understand that the regime is much weaker than they thought – they realise it, and that could lead to results”, he told a press conference on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that any attempt at forcing change through military action would result in “chaos”, while both China and Russia have demanded that Israel cease fire.

Iran denies seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, and reports citing US intelligence officials this week have cast doubt on Israeli claims that it has accelerated efforts to produce one.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/israel-iran-khamenei-no-longer-exist-missile-strikes-netanyahu-us-trump-5192491

Chinese authorities have warned of flash floods and swift currents in mountainous areas in the eastern, central, southern and southwestern regions of the country after heavy rains there.

The red alerts, the first for this year, were issued late on Thursday (Jun 19) covering areas in the provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi region, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the water resources ministry and national weather forecaster China Meteorological Administration.

China is experiencing heavy and sudden rain in many parts, which meteorologists have attributed to climate change, leaving its huge population vulnerable to related disasters.

In southern Hunan, heavy rainfall triggered the largest floods since 1998 in the upper and lower reaches of the Lishui River after its water levels breached the safety mark by more than two metres on Thursday.

In the hilly metropolis of southwestern Chongqing, apartment blocks were submerged in muddy waters and some vehicles were swept away in flood waters gushing down streets, according to state broadcaster CCTV’s footage and images from Thursday.

An image showed flood waters almost reaching the top of power cable lines. Water and power supply were also disrupted in some areas, CCTV said.

Nearly 300 people were evacuated from towns and villages in Pengshui county, where cumulative daily rainfall had reached 304mm, and floods were made worse by precipitation from the mountains converging into the Ditang River which had swollen by 19m, according to CCTV.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-warns-extensive-flooding-heavy-rains-5193266

Hidden away in a mountainside south of Tehran is an enrichment plant that is vital to Iran’s nuclear ambitions – and Israel’s attempts to dismantle them.

Israel may have achieved dominance over Iran’s skies but the Fordo nuclear facility – believed to be deeper underground than the Channel Tunnel connecting the UK and France – has remained out of reach of Israel’s weaponry.

Only the US is considered to have a bomb that might be large enough to destroy Fordo, a move that could dramatically widen a Middle East war.

We take a look at the secretive site, which Iran insists is for civilian purposes only but Israel says threatens its survival.

In a setback for transgender rights in the United States, the conservative-dominated court voted to uphold a ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for minors.

The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.

The court, which is dominated by conservative justices, voted 6-3 in favor of the Republican-backed ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for patients under the age of 18, ruling that it does not violate the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

What did the judges say?

“Tennessee concluded that there is an ongoing debate among medical experts regarding the risks and benefits associated with administering puberty blockers and hormones to treat gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder and gender incongruence,” wrote conservative Chief Justice John Roberts.

“[The Tennessee] ban on such treatments responds directly to that uncertainty.”

The Supreme Court ruling comes after several plaintiffs, including three transgender minors, their parents and a Memphis-based doctor who provides such care, took legal action against the Tennessee law, which they argued discriminates based on sex and transgender status, thus violating the 14th Amendment.

But Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the court largely deferred to the state legislature’s policy choices in upholding the ban without conducting a “meaningful judicial review.”

Dissenting “in sadness,” she said the court had “abandon[ed] transgender children and their families to political whims.”

Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, representing the plaintiffs, said that the Tennessee law has “taken away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering” for those concerned.

The first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the court, Strangio added: “What they’ve done is impose a blunderbuss ban, overriding the very careful judgment of parents who love and care for their children and the doctors who have recommended the treatment.”

A setback for transgender rights in the US

The decision represents a setback for transgender rights, an issue at the heart of the culture debates that have become a dominant feature of American political life.

While the Justice Department under Democratic former President Joe Biden had challenged the Tennessee law, his Republican successor Donald Trump has taken a hardline stance against transgender rights.

“Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children,” read a January 28 executive order signed by Trump, who had said in his inauguration speech that his government would only recognize two genders: male and female.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-supreme-court-backs-tennessee-youth-transgender-care-ban/a-72966021

THIS is the terrifying moment a huge cargo ship is sent up in flames after reportedly smashing into another vessel.

Footage shows a supposed “dark fleet” tanker on fire in the Persian Gulf with thick black plumes of smoke billowing over the water.

The MV Adalynn was left a flaming wreck after it was crashed into by another tanker, believed to be the MV Front Eagle just south of Strait of Hormuz in early hours of this morning, according to local reports.

All 24 crew on board the Adalynn were quickly and safely evacuated with neither vessel dealing with any casualties or major injuries.

The collision is said to have been caused by a simple navigation error as the pair of ships passed through the Khor Fakkan anchorage near Fujairah.

The 900ft Adalynn is registered in Antigua and Barbuda and is reportedly owned by Global Shipping Holding Ltd.

It was sailing without cargo towards the Suez Canal in Egypt, say reports.

The area where the fiery crash took place has been embroiled in a surge of GPS related interference fears in recent months.

The UK-based Maritime Trade Operations monitor said on Tuesday there was no evidence that any hostile activity caused the tanker collision.

But they did warn all vessels going through the region to take care and use caution.

The situation has heightened in recent days amid the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.

The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow Persian Gulf maritime gateway, is currently under Iranian control.

Iran has already threatened to close the strait off completely to foreign ships which would have major implications on the world’s oil and gas supply trade.

It comes as a major fireball collison sparked fears of international interference after a cargo ship collided with an oil tanker in the North Sea.

Heart-stopping footage showed a massive explosion as the Portuguese-flagged Solong ploughed into the anchored Stena Immaculate off the coast of Hull back in March.

Cops have arrested the Russian captain of the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14503557/cargo-ship-fire-tanker/

President Donald Trump called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Tuesday (Jun 17) and warned that US patience was wearing thin, but said there was no immediate intention to kill Iran’s leader “for now”, as the Israel-Iran air war raged for a fifth day.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said meanwhile that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the same fate as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion and hanged in 2006 after a trial.

“I warn the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and fire missiles at Israeli citizens,” Katz told top Israeli military officials.

Explosions were reported in Tehran and the city of Isfahan in central Iran, while Israel said Iran had fired more missiles towards it late on Tuesday, and air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and southern Israel. The Israeli military said it had conducted strikes on 12 missile launch sites and storage facilities in Tehran.

Trump’s comments, delivered via social media, suggested a more aggressive stance toward Iran as he weighs whether to deepen US involvement.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now…Our patience is wearing thin.”

Three minutes later, he posted, “Unconditional surrender!” in all capital letters.

Trump’s sometimes contradictory and cryptic messaging about the conflict between close US ally Israel and longtime foe Iran has deepened the uncertainty surrounding the crisis. His public comments have ranged from military threats to diplomatic overtures, not uncommon for a president known for an often erratic approach to both domestic and foreign policy.

Trump had predicted earlier on Monday that Israel would not be easing its attacks on Iran. But he also said he might send US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet Iranian officials.

Trump had said his early departure from the Group of Seven nations summit in Canada had “nothing to do” with working on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran, and that something “much bigger” was expected.

Vance said the decision on whether to take further action to end Iran’s uranium enrichment programme, which Western powers suspect is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb, “ultimately belongs to the president”. Britain’s leader said there was no indication that the US was about to enter the conflict.

Trump met for 90 minutes with his National Security Council on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the conflict, a White House official said. Details were not immediately available.

The US is deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes, three US officials told Reuters. The move follows other deployments that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as defensive in nature.

REGIONAL INFLUENCE WEAKENS

Khamenei’s main military and security advisers have been killed by Israeli strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.

The Israeli military said Iran’s military leadership was “on the run” and that it had killed Iran’s wartime chief of staff Ali Shadmani overnight, four days after he replaced another top commander killed in the strikes.

With Iranian leaders suffering their most dangerous security breach since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the country’s cyber security command banned officials from using communications devices and mobile phones, Fars news agency reported.

Israel launched a “massive cyber war” against Iran’s digital infrastructure, Iranian media reported.

Ever since the Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and triggered the Gaza war, Khamenei’s regional influence has been weakening as Israel has pounded Iran’s proxies, from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq. And Iran’s close ally, Syria’s autocratic president Bashar al-Assad, has been ousted.

Israel launched its air war, its largest ever on Iran, on Friday after saying it had concluded the Islamic Republic was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that he will not back down until Iran’s nuclear development is disabled, while Trump says the Israeli assault could end if Iran agrees to strict curbs on enrichment.

Before Israel’s attack began, the 35-nation board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.

The IAEA said on Tuesday there were indications of direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at the Natanz facility, and that there was no change to report at the Fordow and Isfahan sites.

Israel’s Katz said the Iranian nuclear installation at Fordow, where an enrichment site is dug deep into a mountain, was an issue that will “of course” be addressed.

Israel says it now has control of Iranian air space and intends to escalate the campaign in the coming days.

But Israel will struggle to deal a knock-out blow to deeply buried nuclear sites like Fordow without the US joining the attack, according to analysis echoed on Tuesday by Germany’s leader.

Iran has so far fired nearly 400 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones towards Israel, with about 35 missiles penetrating Israel’s defensive shield and making impact, Israeli officials say.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-calls-irans-unconditional-surrender-israel-iran-air-war-rages-5188001

On Friday, after Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran, its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Iranians directly. Speaking in English, he told them that the time had come for them to stand up against an “evil and oppressive regime”.

Israel’s military operations were, he announced, “clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom”.

Now, as the military confrontation between Iran and Israel intensifies, and the range of targets widens, many are asking – what is Israel’s real endgame?

Is it simply to end, as Netanyahu also declared on Friday on the first night of strikes, “the Islamic regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile threat”?

Was it also to finish off any more talks between the US and Iran, to reach a new negotiated deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of painful sanctions?

Or could that message to Iranians about clearing a path to achieve freedom nod to an even bigger aim of trying to bring an end to Iran’s clerical rule?

The FBI is warning millions of Americans to be wary of an innocuous-seeming text message that’s making the rounds — and to delete it immediately if they get it.

(Surprise! It’s a scam.)

Americans have been bombarded with text scams for some time now, but according to Forbes, attacks on iPhone and Android users surged more than 700% this month alone. And the latest one’s a doozy, the feds say.

Here’s how the scammers trap unsuspecting iPhone users in their web — by posing as the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of different states.

The messages look like they could be legit, telling people that if they don’t pay an unpaid toll or fine, they might be subjected to having their driving privileges revoked or possible jail time.

The text includes a link and instructs people to reply to the message then open the link.

But officials warn that all of this is just someone trying to steal your personal data — and urged users not to click the link and rather immediately delete the text.

These kinds of texts can “put malware on your phone, which then can go in and steal information from your device, or collect your payment information,” FBI Tennessee’s Supervisory Special Agent David Palmer said in a statement.

Palmer also noted that, in general, if you get a link from an unknown number, you should exercise caution and not click on it.

“These scam texts lead to phishing websites designed to steal people’s credit card information and make unauthorized charges,” a rep for Guardio, a tool that offers protection against malware, identity theft and phishing on your browser, told Forbes.

New York State DMV Commissioner Mark J. F. Schroeder added, “These scammers flood phones with texts, hoping to trick unsuspecting people into handing over their personal information. DMV will never send texts asking for sensitive details.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/06/16/tech/fbi-issues-urgent-text-scam-warning-to-iphone-users/

Satellite imagery shared with BBC Verify has provided a clearer picture of damage inflicted on two of Iran’s key nuclear sites as well as other military targets.

Imagery from two different providers shows damage to the Natanz nuclear facility as well as a missile site south of the city of Tabriz – hit in the first round of strikes against Iran on Friday.

Other images show damage to other known missile bases.

Israel is continuing to target numerous sites across Iran, which has prompted retaliatory strikes.

IRAN and Israel have both launched blistering missile attacks at each other as the Middle East faces a third night of carnage.

Benjamin Netanyahu said just before his latest blitz that Iran is now “very weak” as he warned of an impending “regime change” in Tehran.

Israel successfully blasted numerous Iranian targets on Sunday as Tehran Iran fired back with a barrage of around 30 missiles targeting central Israel and Jerusalem.

But the retaliatory attacks have done little to restore much faith among Iranian locals who have spent the past three days awaiting the next Israeli blitz.

Chaos erupted in Tehran this weekend as civilians started to flee the Iranian capital amid car bombings and relentless Israeli air strikes.

A CNN correspondent based in Tehran reported people becoming increasingly more stressed and panicking amid the high intensity attacks.

Pictures show hundreds of cars gridlocked on roads as they try to flee the capital city.

Local media reports heavy damage was caused to Tehran’s urban infrastructure.

Many buildings were seen destroyed in various parts of the city.

The strikes are also said to have obliterated an aircraft repair centre, and targeted the city’s famous Valiasr Square.

A slew of car bombings were also reported, which the Iranian media has blamed in Israel.

Tel Aviv has denied setting off these bombs.

Netanyahu told Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier that Iranian civilians are now growing tired of the current regime.

The Israeli PM claims the current leadership doesn’t “have the people”, and says “80 per cent of the people” want to overthrow it.

Israeli officials have even said Iran’s theocratic dictator Khamenei is not “off limits” from being targeted in the airstrikes.

There is now growing concerns that the US may be drawn into the raging conflict.

Donald Trump told ABC News network that it remains possible he will become involved at some point if strikes continue.

He warned Tehran would experience “the full strength” of the US military if it attacks the US bases in the Middle East.

Iran and Israel sit on the brink of a full-scale war after Tel Aviv accused Tehran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14467652/israel-iran-attack-live-updates/

Israel launched an expanded assault on Iran on Sunday, targeting its energy industry and Defense Ministry headquarters, while Tehran unleashed a fresh barrage of deadly strikes.

The simultaneous attacks represented the latest burst of violence since a surprise offensive by Israel two days earlier aimed at decimating Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

New explosions boomed across Tehran as Iranian missiles entered Israel’s skies in attacks that Israeli emergency officials said caused deaths around the country, including four in an apartment building in the Galilee region. A strike in central Israel killed an 80-year-old woman, a 69-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy, officials said.

Casualty figures weren’t immediately available in Iran, where Israel targeted its Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran as well as sites that it alleged were associated with the country’s nuclear program. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed that Iranian missiles targeted fuel production facilities for Israeli fighter jets, something not acknowledged by Israel.

Amid the continued conflict, planned negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program were cancelled, throwing into question when and how an end to the fighting could come.

“Tehran is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

Both Israel’s military and Iran state television announced the latest round of Iranian missiles as explosions were heard near midnight, while the Israeli security cabinet met.

Israel’s ongoing strikes across Iran have left the country’s surviving leadership with the difficult decision of whether to plunge deeper into conflict with Israel’s more powerful forces or seek a diplomatic route.

Urgent calls to deescalate

World leaders made urgent calls to deescalate and avoid all-out war. The attack on nuclear sites set a “dangerous precedent,” China’s foreign minister said. The region is already on edge as Israel makes a new push to eliminate the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza after 20 months of fighting.

Israel — widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East — said its hundreds of strikes on Iran over the past two days have killed a number of top generals, nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s U.N. ambassador has said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded.

U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency have repeatedly said Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon before Israel unleashed its campaign of airstrikes targeting Iran beginning Friday. But Iran’s uranium enrichment has reached near weapons-grade levels, and on Thursday the U.N.’s atomic watchdog censured Iran for not complying with obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program his top priority, said Israel’s strikes so far are “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”

In what could be another escalation if confirmed, semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported an Israeli drone struck and caused a “strong explosion” at an Iranian natural-gas processing plant. It would be the first Israeli attack on Iran’s oil and natural gas industry. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.

The extent of damage at the South Pars natural gas field was not immediately clear. Such sites have air defense systems around them, which Israel has been targeting.

Iran calls nuclear talks ‘unjustifiable’

The sixth round of U.S.-Iran indirect talks on Sunday over Iran ’s nuclear program will not take place, mediator Oman said. “We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,” said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy.

Iran’s top diplomat said Saturday the nuclear talks were “unjustifiable” after Israel’s strikes. Abbas Araghchi’s comments came during a call with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat.

The Israeli airstrikes were the “result of the direct support by Washington,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The U.S. has said it isn’t part of the strikes.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, adding that “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

US helps to shoot down Iranian missiles

Iran launched its first waves of missiles at Israel late Friday and early Saturday. The attacks killed at least three people and wounded 174, two of them seriously, Israel said. The military said seven soldiers were lightly wounded when a missile hit central Israel, without specifying where.

U.S. ground-based air defense systems in the region were helping to shoot down Iranian missiles, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the measures.

Israel’s main international airport said it will remain closed until further notice.

First responders were looking for survivors and clearing the remnants of a missile that fell on a neighborhood outside of Tel Aviv early Sunday morning.

An Associated Press reporter saw streets lined with damaged and destroyed buildings, bombed out cars and shards of glass.

Responders used a drone at points to look for survivors in some of the areas that were too hard to access. Some people were fleeing the area with their belongings in suitcases.

‘More than a few weeks’ to repair nuclear facilities

Israel attacked Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. Satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage there. The images shot Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility.

U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said.

Israel said it also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan, including “infrastructure for enriched uranium conversion,” and said it destroyed dozens of radar installations and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Iran confirmed the strike at Isfahan.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said four “critical buildings” at the Isfahan site were damaged, including its uranium conversion facility. “As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected,” it added.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official procedures, said that according to the army’s initial assessment “it will take much more than a few weeks” for Iran to repair the damage to the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The official said the army had “concrete intelligence that production in Isfahan was for military purposes.”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-missile-drone-attacks-nuclear-a8b23f58b502ed77a20a9d843bf30f76

Masses of demonstrators packed into streets, parks and plazas across the U.S. on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump, marching through downtowns and small towns, blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights.

Organizers of the “No Kings” demonstrations said millions had marched in hundreds of events. Governors across the U.S. had urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering.

Confrontations were isolated. But police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raids erupted a week earlier and sparked demonstrations across the country, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended. Officers in Portland also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening.

And in Salt Lake City, Utah, police were investigating a shooting during a march downtown that left one person critically injured. Three people were taken into custody, including a man believed to be the shooter, who also suffered a gunshot wound, according to Police Chief Brian Redd.

Redd said it was too early to tell if the shooting was politically motivated and whether those involved knew each other. The shooter appeared to be walking alongside the group of thousands who were marching, he added. Video feeds showed demonstrators running for safety as gunshots rang out.

Huge, boisterous crowds marched, danced, drummed, and chanted shoulder-to-shoulder in New York, Denver, Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles, some behind “no kings” banners. Atlanta’s 5,000-capacity event quickly reached its limit, with thousands more gathered outside barriers to hear speakers in front of the state Capitol. Officials in Seattle estimated that more than 70,000 people attended the city’s largest rally downtown, the Seattle Times reported.

Trump was in Washington for a military parade marking the Army’s 250th anniversary that coincides with the president’s birthday. About 200 protesters assembled in northwest Washington’s Logan Circle and chanted “Trump must go now” before erupting in cheers. A larger-than-life puppet of Trump — a caricature of the president wearing a crown and sitting on a golden toilet — was wheeled through the crowd.

In some places, organizers handed out little American flags while others flew their flags upside down, a sign of distress. Mexican flags, which have become a fixture of the Los Angeles protests against immigration raids, also made an appearance at some demonstrations Saturday.

In Culpepper, Virginia, police said one person was struck by an SUV when a 21-year-old driver intentionally accelerated his SUV into the crowd as protesters were leaving a rally. The driver was charged with reckless driving.

The demonstrations come on the heels of the protests over the federal immigration enforcement raids that began last week and Trump ordering the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, where protesters blocked a freeway and set cars on fire.

“Today, across red states and blue, rural towns and major cities, Americans stood in peaceful unity and made it clear: we don’t do kings,” the No Kings Coalition said in a statement Saturday afternoon after many events had ended.

Thousands gathered downtown, where organizers handed out small American flags and people carried protest signs saying “fight oligarchy” and “deport the mini-Mussolinis.”

Karen Van Trieste, a 61-year-old nurse who drove up from Maryland, said she grew up in Philadelphia and wanted to be with a large group of people showing her support.

“I just feel like we need to defend our democracy,” she said. She is concerned about the Trump administration’s layoffs of staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fate of immigrant communities and Trump trying to rule by executive order, she said.

A woman wearing a foam Statue of Liberty crown brought a speaker system and led an anti-Trump sing-along, changing the words “young man” in the song “Y.M.C.A.” to “con man.”

”I am what the successful American dream looks like,” said C.C. Téllez, an immigrant from Bolivia who attended the protest. “I’ve enjoyed great success here in the United States, and I’ve also contributed heavily to my community. And if there was space for me, I think there’s a way for everybody else to belong here as well.”

Los Angeles

Thousands gathered in front of City Hall, waving signs and listening to a Native American drum circle before marching through the streets.

As protesters passed National Guard troops or U.S. Marines stationed at various buildings, most interactions were friendly, with demonstrators giving fist bumps or posing for selfies. But others chanted “shame” or “go home” at the troops.

Amid signs reading “They fear us don’t back down California” and “We carry dreams not danger, ” one demonstrator carried a 2-foot-tall (60-centimeter) Trump pinata on a stick, with a crown on his head and sombrero hanging off his back. Another hoisted a huge helium-filled orange baby balloon with blond hair styled like Trump’s.

A few blocks from City Hall, protesters gathered in front of the downtown federal detention center being guarded by a line of Marines and other law enforcement. It was the first time that the Marines, in combat gear and holding rifles, have appeared at a demonstration since they were deployed to city on Friday with the stated mission of defending federal property.

Peter Varadi, 54, said he voted for Trump last November for “economic reasons.” Now, for the first time in his life, he is protesting, waving a Mexican and U.S. combined flag.

“I voted for Donald Trump, and now I regret that, because he’s taken this fascism to a new level,” Varadi said. “It’s Latinos now. Who’s next? It’s gays. Blacks after that. They’re coming for everybody.”

Even after the formal event ended, the downtown streets were packed with a jubilant crowd as people danced to salsa music and snacked on hot dogs and ice cream bought from vendors, many of whom are Latino immigrants. But the previously calm demonstration turned confrontational as police on horseback moved into the crowd and struck some people with wood rods and batons as they cleared the street in front of the federal building.

New York City

Marchers in the crowd that stretched for blocks along Fifth Avenue had diverse reasons for coming, including anger over Trump’s immigration policies, support for the Palestinian people and outrage over what they said was an erosion of free speech rights.

But there were patriotic symbols, too. Leah Griswold, 32, and Amber Laree, 59, who marched in suffragette white dresses, brought 250 American flags to hand out to people in the crowd.

“Our mothers who came out, fought for our rights, and now we’re fighting for future generations as well,” Griswold said.

Some protesters held signs denouncing Trump while others banged drums.

“We’re here because we’re worried about the existential crisis of this country and the planet and our species,” said Sean Kryston, 28.

Minnesota

Gov. Tim Walz and law enforcement encouraged people not to attend rallies “out of an abundance of caution” following the shootings of the Democratic state lawmakers.

Dozens of events were canceled, but tens of thousands still turned out for demonstrations in Duluth, Rochester and St. Paul, which included a march to the state Capitol. Walz canceled his scheduled appearance at the St. Paul event.

Authorities said the suspect had “No Kings” flyers in his car and writings mentioning the names of the victims as well as other lawmakers and officials, though they could not say if he had any other specific targets.

Seda Heng, 29, of Rochester, said she was heartbroken by the shootings, but still wanted to join the rally there. “These people are trying to do what they can for their communities, for the state, for the nation,” Heng told the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

North Carolina

Crowds cheered anti-Trump speakers in Charlotte’s First Ward Park before marching, chanting “No kings. No crowns. We will not bow down.”

Marchers stretched for blocks, led by a group of people holding a giant Mexican flag and bystanders cheering and clapping along the way.

Jocelyn Abarca, a 21-year-old college student, said the protest was a chance to “speak for what’s right” after mass deportations and Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles.

“If we don’t stop it now, it’s just going to keep getting worse,” she said.

Naomi Mena said she traveled an hour to demonstrate in Charlotte to represent her “friends and family who sadly can’t have a voice out in public now” to stay safe.

Texas

A rally at the Texas Capitol in Austin went off as planned despite state police briefly shutting down the building and the surrounding grounds after authorities said they received a “credible threat” to Democratic state lawmakers who were to attend.

Dozens of state troopers swarmed through the grounds about four hours before the event, but the area was later opened and the rally started on time. The building remained closed.

The Department of Public Safety later said one person was taken into custody “in connection with the threats made against state lawmakers” after a traffic stop in La Grange, Texas, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of Austin. State police did not detail the threat or immediately identify the person, but said there was no additional active threat.

Mississippi

A demonstration of hundreds of people opened to “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath playing over a sound system on the state Capitol lawn in Jackson.

“A lot of stuff that’s going on now is targeting people of color, and to see so many folks out here that aren’t black or brown fighting for the same causes that I’m here for, it makes me very emotional,” said Tony Cropper, who traveled from Tennessee to attend the protest.

Some people wore tinfoil crowns atop their heads. Others held signs inviting motorists to “Honk if you never text war plans.”

Melissa Johnson said she drove an hour-and-a-half to Jackson to protest because “we are losing the thread of democracy in our country.”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/no-kings-protest-trump-philadelphia-los-angeles-immigration-raids-a3b67d23733cd060f8d01aef1e391dbf

Iran and Israel targeted each other with airstrikes early on Saturday after Israel launched its biggest-ever offensive against its longtime foe in a bid to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Iranian missiles and rockets struck Tel Aviv early on Saturday, while explosions were heard in Jerusalem, Israel’s two largest cities, as hostilities between the Middle East’s two biggest adversaries escalated. The fresh wave of airstrikes came a day after Israel launched its largest-ever offensive against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, killing top military commanders, and destroying critical infrastructure. In retaliation, Iran fired missiles at Israeli cities, while fresh Israeli strikes triggered explosions in parts of Tehran.

Iran’s assault on Tel Aviv, dubbed “Operation True Promise,” killed one person and injured around 34 others, according to Israeli police and health authorities. Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion”, which launched on Friday, and continued on Saturday, reportedly killed at least 78 people, mostly civilians, and left over 320 injured.

HERE ARE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

• Iran and Israel exchanged airstrikes early on Saturday, a day after Israel launched its largest-ever offensive aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Israeli forces said they were actively intercepting a “barrage of missiles” fired by Iran, as air raid sirens blared across multiple cities. At least 35 people were reported injured in Tel Aviv. Explosions were also heard in Jerusalem, according to news agency Reuters.

• Israel quickly launched another round of strikes on Tehran, with several explosions heard across the Iranian capital. According to local media reports, two projectiles struck Mehrabad Airport, located near key Iranian leadership sites and home to an air force base housing fighter jets and transport aircraft. Flames were reported at the site. This marked the third wave of airstrikes on Saturday, following two salvos late Friday night.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “more is on the way,” declaring that Israel’s efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme are “just beginning.” In a fresh statement, Netanyahu said the offensive is directed against what he called the “murderous Islamic regime that oppresses and impoverishes the Iranian people.” He asserted that the campaign is aimed at eliminating what he described as an “existential threat” posed by Iran.

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  Ù‡Øïف عمÙÄÛŒØçت ØçسØñØçØæÛŒÙÄ Ø¬ÙÄÙˆÚïÛŒØñÛŒ Øçز تهØïÛŒØï هسته‌ØçÛŒ Ùˆ موØôÚéÛŒ… pic.twitter.com/sS5cXgJExi — Benjamin Netanyahu – ×‘× ×™×ž×™×Ÿ × ×ª× ×™×”×• (@netanyahu) June 13, 2025

   

• Iran’s barrage of rockets on Israel came after a televised address from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who pledged: “The armed forces of the Islamic republic will inflict heavy blows upon this malevolent enemy.” He warned the consequences of Israel’s attack “will bring it to ruin”.

• The United States said the Donald Trump administration was not directly involved in the latest escalation, though the President remarked that they “knew everything”. American ground-based air defence systems in the region were assisting in intercepting Iranian missiles. “We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death. I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out. They can still work out a deal, however, it’s not too late,” Trump added.

• The strike came as the US was urging Iran to sign a nuclear agreement. Former President Donald Trump called on Iran to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme, warning of “even more brutal” Israeli attacks if it failed to do so. Iran said on Friday the dialogue with the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme is “meaningless” after Israel’s military strike. “The other side (the US) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime (Israel) to target Iran’s territory,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Iran foreign ministry spokesperson.

   

• Israel said that the attack was planned way back in November 2024, shortly after the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. In the current operation, Israel deployed warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.

• Israeli strike on Friday killed three of Iran’s top military leaders — one who oversaw the entire armed forces, General Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/israel-iran-tensions-conflict-benjamin-netanyahu-nuclear-sites-hit-2740505-2025-06-13

The role of Elon Musk’s SpaceX in an ambitious new U.S. missile defense system is in question following the dramatic feud last week between the billionaire entrepreneur and President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the project.
The White House until recently had considered a plan for SpaceX, Musk’s rocket and satellite venture, to partner with software maker Palantir (PLTR.O), and drone builder Anduril to construct crucial elements of the project, dubbed “Golden Dome.” The administration had instructed the Pentagon to prioritize a network of satellites for the purpose, these people said.

But a new framework for the system, which would seek to track and prevent possible missile attacks against the United States, is now being considered that could reduce the role of SpaceX. One possibility, the three people said, could initially forego SpaceX’s satellite capabilities and focus on the expansion of existing ground systems for missile defense instead.
In a statement, a White House spokesman said “the Trump Administration is committed to a rigorous review process for all bids and contracts.” A senior Defense Department official said the Pentagon “has no announcements regarding future contracts associated with the Golden Dome effort.”

SpaceX, Anduril and Palantir didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A reduced role for SpaceX would represent the first known setback to Musk’s huge volume of business with the U.S. government since his break with Trump last week. The shift in plans, especially for a project that Trump has touted as paramount for U.S. defense strategy, also underscores the highly personalized nature of the president’s leadership, aerospace and defense experts said.
“That people guiding the program or building it are approved based on their political affiliation signals a real concern that the project itself is very politicized and not being conducted on the technical merits,” said Laura Grego, a missile defense expert and research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In its statement to Reuters, the White House said any decision would be made “prioritizing the best deal for America and leveraging the most advanced and innovative technology.”
Trump in May said the defense shield should be operational by the end of his presidency, January 2029. But industry experts have said that timeframe, and a projected cost of some $175 billion, could be too optimistic.
The change in the proposed “architecture” of the system, the three people said, could have the political advantage of allowing the current administration to deliver at least a portion of it. It isn’t clear how soon a final decision on the project could come or whether the ultimate role of any company, including SpaceX, has been determined.
Trump’s efforts to roll out the project fast have led to uncertainty about the project’s details and a scramble by contractors to be involved, industry experts and some of those involved in its development told Reuters. “To this day, no one knows what the requirements are,” said one of the people familiar with the process. “There isn’t a coordinated effort with a true vision. All of these companies are just grabbing at this pot of money.”

SpaceX, Anduril and Palantir were all founded by entrepreneurs who have been major political supporters of Trump. The three companies had previously met with top administration officials and decisionmakers from the Defense Department to discuss Golden Dome, according to people familiar with those discussions.
Before his high-profile falling out with the president, Musk served as a key Trump advisor and donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect him. But the recent dispute, which included Musk calling for Trump’s impeachment and accusing the president of improper involvement with disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, triggered the change in direction, the three people told Reuters.
“Because of the blowup, the Pentagon has been given the space to look at other alternatives,” one of the people said.
In recent days, Musk has sought to temper the dispute, saying he regretted some of his comments and taking down some of his social media criticism of Trump, including the call for impeachment. Earlier this week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump appreciated Musk’s apology and that she was unaware of any administration efforts to review Musk contracts because of the dispute.
Reuters couldn’t determine whether Musk’s conciliatory overtures might improve SpaceX’s chances of winning Golden Dome contracts or securing further new business with the U.S. government.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/after-trump-feud-role-musks-spacex-golden-dome-missile-shield-question-2025-06-12/

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because “it could be a dangerous place,” adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy and will allow military dependents to leave locations around the Middle East due to heightened security risks in the region, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources.

The four U.S. and two Iraqi sources did not say what security risks had prompted the decision and reports of the potential evacuation pushed up oil prices by more than 4%.
A U.S. official said the State Department had authorized voluntary departures from Bahrain and Kuwait.
The State Department updated its worldwide travel advisory on Wednesday evening to reflect the latest U.S. posture. “On June 11, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel due to heightened regional tensions,” the advisory said.
The decision by the U.S. to evacuate some personnel comes at a volatile moment in the region. Trump’s efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran appear to be deadlocked and U.S. intelligence indicates that Israel has been making preparations for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters. “We’ve given notice to move out.”
Asked whether anything can be done to lower the temperature in the region, Trump said: “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simple, they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if stuttering talks over its nuclear programme fail and in an interview released earlier on Wednesday said he was growing less confident that Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium, a key American demand.
Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh also said on Wednesday that if Iran was subjected to strikes it would retaliate by hitting U.S. bases in the region.
The U.S. embassy in Kuwait said in a statement on Wednesday that it had “not changed its staffing posture and remains fully operational.”

MILITARY PRESENCE

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and rare earth minerals, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world’s two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

Trump’s comment on social media came after two days of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in London.

Details remain scarce. Trump didn’t fully spell out what concessions the U.S. made. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.

What Trump described as a “deal’’ is actually less than that: It’s a “framework’’ meant to set the stage for more substantive talks.

And Trump’s own comments created confusion about what was happening to his taxes – tariffs — on Chinese imports, generating uncertainty about more than $660 billion in annual trade between the two countries.

On social media, Trump declared: “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” But a White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the terms publicly and insisted on anonymity to describe them, said the 55% was not an increase on the previous 30% tariff on China because Trump was including pre-existing tariffs, including some left over from his first term.

“We have no idea what the rules are,″ said Rick Woldenberg, CEO of the educational toy company Learning Resources, who is part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs.

In a follow-up social media post, Trump said he and Xi “are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”

The framework emerged late Tuesday in London after intense talks involving U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer. Leading the Chinese delegation was Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has deployed tariffs aggressively, seeing them as a way to raise money for the federal government, protect American industries, lure factories back to the United States and pressure other countries into bending to his will.

He has imposed baseline 10% tariffs on imports from almost every country on earth after having introduced and then suspended for 90 days bigger tariffs on countries based on the size of U.S. trade deficits last year.

To American trading partners and to businesses calculating their import tax bills, the president’s mercurial approach to trade policy can be baffling. For example, he recently doubled his steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, likely increasing costs for U.S. manufacturers and construction companies that rely on the metals as raw materials.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/china-xinjiang-critical-minerals-forced-labor-uyghur-eac368889c299fd304a3b7beefc7469a

A former pupil killed 10 people and himself at a secondary school in Austria’s second city, Graz, on Tuesday in the worst school shooting in Austria’s modern history.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said six of those killed at the school were female and three were male, without giving any details of their ages. Graz Hospital later confirmed the death of a 10th person.

Karner said another dozen people had been injured but gave no further details about the victims. Austrian media said most were pupils.

Police said they believed the 21-year-old Austrian shooter, who was found dead in a bathroom, had been operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire. His motive remained unclear.
Director General of Public Security Franz Ruf told state broadcaster ORF that victims were found outside and inside the school on various floors, adding the gunman had been armed with both a shotgun and a pistol, both found at the scene.
Chancellor Christian Stocker called the shooting a “dark day in the history of our country”.
“There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.”

Stocker travelled to Graz where, at a press conference alongside officials including Karner, he announced three days of national mourning. A minute’s silence was set for 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday.
Ruf also told ORF the suspect had left behind a farewell letter, both in analogue and digital form, in which he said goodbye to his parents but gave no indication of a motive, which was still being investigated.
More than 300 police were called in after shots were heard around 10 a.m. at the school, for pupils of 15 and above. Ambulances also arrived within minutes as the premises were cordoned off.
The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper said in an unconfirmed report that the suspect had opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own. It said he had been a victim of bullying.

Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria’s post-war history.
Foreign leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed shock.
Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/one-person-killed-attack-austrian-school-media-report-2025-06-10/

Protests have rocked Los Angeles since last Friday (Jun 6) as federal agents faced off against hundreds of demonstrators following immigration raids.

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to the city, a rare deployment that goes against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has called it “purposely inflammatory” and unlawful.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 on Monday in emotional homecoming scenes, the first step in a series of planned prisoner swaps that could become the biggest of the war so far.
The exchange was the result of direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul on June 2 that resulted in an agreement to exchange at least 1,200 POWs on each side and to repatriate thousands of bodies of those killed in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The return of POWs and the repatriation of the bodies of the dead is one of the few things the two sides have managed to agree on as broader negotiations have failed to get close to ending the war, now in its fourth year.
Fighting has raged on, with Russia saying on Monday its forces had taken control of more territory in Ukraine’s east-central region of Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv saying Moscow had launched its largest drone attack of the war.
Officials in Kyiv said some of the Ukrainian prisoners who came home on Monday had been in Russian captivity since the beginning of the war.
At a rendezvous point for the returning Ukrainian prisoners, soon after they crossed back into northern Ukraine, an official handed one of the freed men a cellphone so that he could call his mother, a video released by Ukrainian authorities showed.

“Hi mum, I’ve arrived, I’m home!” the soldier shouted into the receiver, struggling to catch his breath because he was overcome by emotion.
The released Ukrainian men were later taken by bus to a hospital in northern Ukraine where they were to have medical checks and be given showers, food and care packages including mobile phones and shoes.
Jubilation was tinged with sadness because outside the hospital were crowds of people, mostly women, looking for relatives who went missing while fighting for Ukraine.
The women held up pictures of the missing men in the hope that one of the returning POWs would recognise them and share details about what happened to them. Some hoped their loved ones would be among those released.
Oksana Kupriyenko, 52, was holding up an image of her son, Denys, who went missing in September 2024.

The Israeli army said on Sunday it had retrieved the body of Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza, following a targeted operation last month.
Another senior Hamas leader, Mohammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene along with a number of other militants, who are still being identified, said IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.
“This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals, again and again,” said Defrin.
“We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar’s death last month, but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond doubt it was him.

Hamas has not commented on reports of the death of either Sinwar or Shabana.
Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies, and which triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Shabana was one of Hamas’s most senior and battle-hardened commanders in southern Gaza. He played a central role in constructing the network of tunnels under the southern city of Rafah, which were used for ambushes and cross-border raids.

DESTRUCTION

The drive to Khan Younis in Israeli military vehicles showed widespread devastation, with countless buildings lying in ruins, and piles of rubble collected at the roadside.
The Israeli military has raided or besieged numerous hospitals during the war, alleging that Hamas uses them to conceal fighters and orchestrate operations — a charge Hamas has repeatedly denied. While Israel has presented evidence in certain cases, some of its assertions remain unverified.

Defrin said the army had carefully planned the strike near the European Hospital in order not to damage it.
A large trench dug infront of the Emergency Room entrance led down to a hole in the claustrophobic, concrete tunnel, that was used as a hideaway by Hamas fighters, the army said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-reveals-tunnel-under-gaza-hospital-says-body-sinwars-brother-found-there-2025-06-08/

US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12.01am Eastern Time (12.01pm, Singapore time) on Monday (Jun 9), a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists”.

The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.

Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists”, fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.

He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.

The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.

Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.

“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the US a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the US.

Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/donald-trump-travel-ban-12-countries-goes-effect-early-monday-5170381

“Private companies can do whatever they want,” leftists once snorted in defense of companies like Facebook banning conservative speech.

But now the tables have turned, and LGBTQ activists have found themselves in a state between panicked and sulky as their fair-weather friends in corporate America are pulling sponsorships of Pride celebrations this month.

As a result, Pride events across the nation are facing budget shortfalls, and activists are blaming everyone but themselves.

At least 14 companies — including Pepsi, Citi, MasterCard, Nissan, Garnier, and US defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. — have dropped or greatly scaled back their financial contributions to annual Pride events nationwide.

Anheuser-Busch, makers of Bud Light, has also backtracked on Pride sponsorship — and for good reason. The company lost an estimated $395 million after its botched partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney led to a nationwide boycott in 2023.

Ever since, Bud Light has struggled to reposition itself as the good ol’ boys, God ’n’ guns beverage, to lukewarm reception.

The numbers are grim: Heritage of Pride, organizers of New York City’s festivities, by far the largest in the nation, faces a $750,000 shortfall this year after nearly a quarter of corporate donations dried up. This follows years of operating at a loss: In 2022, the group was $2.7 million in the hole, and another $1.2 million the following year.

In California, longtime corporate donors ran for the hills when San Francisco Pride executive director Suzanne Ford reached out begging for money. Twin Cities Pride has seen longtime corporate sponsors in Minnesota shift into retreat mode, and now the group is scrambling to meet a $200,000 goal. Organizers in Washington, DC, Milwaukee, and St. Louis all have reported being ghosted by big companies they once relied upon.

All of this is occurring at a time when a dozen companies have withdrawn participation from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, a shakedown scheme used by the LGBT nonprofit behemoth to enforce woke capitalism.

For LGBTQAI2S+ activists, the reason for all this is simple: It’s Trump’s fault.

“There’s a lot of fear of repercussions for aligning with our festival,” Wes Shaver, president of Milwaukee Pride, told The New York Times, joining others who believe companies fear they may be penalized by the White House if they donate to Pride events, citing the administration’s effort to curtail DEI initiatives.

(When asked about this, the White House didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from The Post.)

What’s equally likely is that everyone just has gay fatigue — a collective eye roll at the oversaturation of LGBT themes in culture, combined with all the negative connotations now associated with Pride. Once a niche event of subculture fun and revelry, it’s devolved into a mainstream, month-long orgy of far-leftism that looks more like a tent revival beckoning an impending open-borders transgender race war.

Rage-hungry conservative influencers have latched on to videos of public nudity and shameless parents forcing Pride spectacles onto their children. Transgender insanity has swallowed the entire movement and, in doing so, repelled middle-of-the-road Americans.

Simply put, it’s exhausting.

And what company, in its right mind, wants to be tied to all that? While activists say companies are afraid of Trump, the same could have been true about Biden. Businesses certainly felt the Democrat gun in their back to start coughing up their woke bona fides during his term.

Overall, the corporate retreat from Pride is a good thing for everyone, and it ought to continue. The grotesque parade of political and corporate pandering that’s defined Pride over the last two decades is embarrassing, as any honest gay person will admit.

After all, who wants their sex life validated by junk food companies and bomb-makers?

It’s also alienated plenty of old-timers.

“The cold corporations are more important to the rotating Heritage of Pride than the actual surviving Stonewall veterans. Plenty are still alive and kicking,” former New York City Pride Grand Marshall Williamson Henderson, of the Stonewall Veterans Association, and who participated in the original Stonewall rebellion in June 1969 (the reason Pride Month exists), told The Post.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/06/07/opinion/why-theres-no-shame-in-corporate-america-boycotting-lgbt-pride-month/

Thailand and Cambodia have reinforced their troops at a disputed border after a recent military skirmish. Tourists have been ordered not to use two border crossing points between the neighbors.

The decision follows the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a brief military clash on May 28 in an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of the two neighbors and Laos meet.

Thailand and Cambodia share an 817 kilometer (508 mile) border, first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony. For most of the following century, the neighbors have disputed various un-demarcated points along the frontier.

What did Thai authorities say?
Authorities in the eastern province of Chanthaburi said in a statement that they had “temporarily suspended” crossings by Thai and Cambodian tourists at two permanent border checkpoints.

The Royal Thai Army cited a threat to Thailand’s “sovereignty and security” as the reason for the move.

The army said trade would be unaffected and Cambodian workers could still enter Thailand.

Six other border checkpoints tightened their opening hours and issued bans on six-wheeled vehicles.

Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the army had reinforced its military presence at the border following an increase in troops on the other side.

“There has been a reinforcement of military presence [by Cambodia], which has exacerbated tensions along the border,” Phumtham, who is also deputy prime minister, said in a statement.

“Consequently, the Royal Thai Government has deemed it necessary to implement additional measures and to reinforce our military posture accordingly.”

The army said Friday it was ready to launch a “high-level operation” to counter any violation of Thailand’s sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the Thai Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the country was committed to holding bilateral talks with Cambodia on June 14 to resolve the dispute.

What has Cambodia said?
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet insisted in a speech Saturday that his country’s stance was “not to initiate conflict, but to defend ourselves.”

Hun said earlier this week that the kingdom would file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the border dispute.

The two neighbors had agreed to ease tensions following last month’s killing but Cambodia then said it would keep its troops in the area, in defiance of a request by Bangkok.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/thailand-closes-border-to-tourists-after-cambodia-clash/a-72830456

US President Donald Trump is not interested in talking with Elon Musk, a White House official said on Friday (Jan 6), signaling the president and his former ally might not resolve their feud over a sweeping tax-cut bill any time soon.

The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no phone call between Trump and the Tesla CEO was planned for the day. Earlier, a different White House official had said the two were going to talk.

In interviews with several US media outlets, Trump said he was focused on other matters.

“I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem, the poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump told CNN on Friday morning.

Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Musk’s electric cars on the White House lawn, the official said.

Musk, for his part, did not directly address Trump but kept up his criticism of the massive Republican tax and spending bill that contains much of Trump’s domestic agenda.

On his social-media platform X, Musk amplified remarks made by others that Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would hurt Republicans politically and add to the nation’s US$36.2 trillion debt. He replied “exactly” to a post by another X user that said Musk had criticized Congress and Trump had responded by criticizing Musk personally.

People who have spoken to Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they think he will want to repair his relationship with Trump, according to one person who has spoken to Musk’s entourage.

The White House statements came one day after the two men battled openly in an extraordinary display of hostilities that marked a stark end to a close alliance.

Tesla stock rose on Friday, clawing back some losses from Thursday’s session, when it dropped 14 percent and lost US$150 billion in value, the largest single-day decline in the company’s history.

Musk’s high-profile allies have largely stayed silent during the feud. But one, investor James Fishback, called on Musk to apologize.

“President Trump has shown grace and patience at a time when Elon’s behavior is disappointing and frankly downright disturbing,” Fishback said in a statement.

Musk, the world’s richest man, bankrolled a large part of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-president-trump-musk-feud-tax-cut-bill-5169346https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-president-trump-musk-feud-tax-cut-bill-5169346

India has said that the IWT will remain in abeyance until Islamabad “credibly and irrevocably” ends its support for cross-border terrorism.

Pakistan wrote to India as many as four times urging it to reconsider its decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), which has now left Pakistan battling for water, reported news agency IANS, citing sources. Syed Ali Murtaza, Secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources, sent four letters to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, which has since then forwarded them to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Sources said Murtaza has urged India to revoke the suspension and resume the agreement. The suspension has led to a water shortage in Pakistan, with many dams left without water.
India had suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan on April 23, a day after terrorists shot dead 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. It was one of the punitive measures India took against Pakistan; others being suspending all visa services, closing Attari border and asking Pakistan nationals to leave.
India said that theIWT will remain in abeyanceuntil Islamabad “credibly and irrevocably” ends its support for cross-border terrorism. This is the first time New Delhi has hit pause on the World Bank-brokered agreement.

After India launched Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi clearly said that “water and blood cannot flow together” and “terror and talks cannot happen at the same time”, underlining the government’s uncompromising position.

Exposed around the globe, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been expressing Islamabad’s willingness to engage in peace talks with India to resolve ongoing disputes.

Notably, Pakistani politicians had issued repeated warnings calling the IWT suspension an “act of war”. Many leaders pleaded to the Shehbaz government to “defuse” the “water bomb” that is hanging over the country.
“We would die of hunger if we don’t resolve the water crisis now. The Indus Basin is our lifeline as three-fourths of our water comes from outside the country, nine out of 10 people depend on the Indus water basin for their living, as much as 90 per cent of our crops rely on this water and all our power projects and dams are built on it. This is like a water bomb hanging over us and we must defuse it,” Pakistan Senator Syed Ali Zafar was heard saying during a Senate Session last month.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/pakistan-syed-ali-murtaza-wrote-4-letters-to-india-pleading-to-resume-indus-waters-treaty-report-pahalgam-attack-article-151806706

Harvard University said on Thursday (Jun 5) that US President Donald Trump’s move to bar foreign nationals seeking to study at the Ivy League school from entering the United States is illegal, and asked a judge to block it immediately pending further litigation.

Harvard amended an earlier lawsuit, which it had filed amid a broader dispute with the Republican president, to challenge the proclamation that Trump issued on Wednesday.

“The Proclamation denies thousands of Harvard’s students the right to come to this country to pursue their education and follow their dreams, and it denies Harvard the right to teach them. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the school said in the filing.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called Harvard “a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators”, claims that the school has previously denied.

“Harvard’s behaviour has jeopardised the integrity of the entire US student and exchange visitor visa system and risks compromising national security. Now it must face the consequences of its actions,” Jackson said in a statement.

Trump cited national security concerns as justification for barring international students from entering the US to pursue studies at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university.

The suspension will initially be for six months but can be extended. Trump’s proclamation also directs the US State Department to consider revoking academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students who meet his proclamation’s criteria.

In Thursday’s court filing, Harvard said Trump had violated federal law by failing to back up his claims about national security.

“The Proclamation does not deem the entry of an alien or class of aliens to be detrimental to the interests of the United States, because noncitizens who are impacted by the Proclamation can enter the United States – just so long as they go somewhere other than Harvard,” the school said.

The Trump administration has launched a multifront attack on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, freezing billions of dollars in grants and other funding and proposing to end its tax-exempt status, prompting a series of legal challenges.

Harvard argues the administration is retaliating against it for refusing to accede to demands to control the school’s governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students.

Trump’s directive came a week after a federal judge in Boston, US District Judge Allison Burroughs, announced she would issue a broad injunction blocking the administration from revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, who make up about a quarter of its student body.

Harvard said in Thursday’s court filing that the proclamation was “a patent effort to do an end-run around this Court’s order”.

The university sued after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on May 22 that her department was immediately revoking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which allows it to enroll foreign students.

Noem’s action was temporarily blocked almost immediately by Burroughs. On the eve of a hearing before her last week, the department changed course and said it would instead challenge Harvard’s certification through a lengthier administrative process.

Nonetheless, Burroughs said she planned to issue a longer-term preliminary injunction at Harvard’s urging, saying one was necessary to give some protection to Harvard’s international students.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/harvard-challenges-trump-proclamation-ban-international-students-entry-5168361