Category: World

Trump’s remarks came as Tehran officially began six days of public funeral ceremonies for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening phase of the US-Iran conflict.

US President Donald Trump took a swipe at Iran as Tehran officially began a six-day funeral for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying Washington allowed the Iranians a week for the funeral because “we’re nice.”

Speaking at a large gathering at Mount Rushmore ahead of the July 4 celebrations, Trump boasted about military victories against Iran in the recent war in the Middle East, claiming that Iran was dying to settle the conflict.

“We knocked the hell out of Iran. They’re dying to settle. They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral because we’re nice,” he said, with the crowd erupting into thunderous cheer at the remarks.

His remarks came as Iran began six days of public funeral ceremonies for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the initial salvo of the US-Israeli strikes on February 28. Khamenei was killed alongside several members of his family, including his daughter, son-in-law, infant granddaughter and daughter-in-law.

The United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iranian military, nuclear and government targets following weeks of escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US military bases, Israel and key energy infrastructure across the region, and disrupted shipping across the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a global energy crisis.

Khamenei’s funeral proceedings began after the US and Iran reached a framework agreement for a deal to end the war, even though tensions still persist between the two sides.

Trump Says American Identity ‘Under Attack’

Meanwhile, Trump claimed a fresh threat to American identity ahead of the 250th independence celebrations, taking aim at domestic “radicals and extremists.”

“As we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack,” he said, citing a “resurgence of the communist menace in our land.”

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/gave-them-a-week-off-because-were-nice-trump-takes-swipe-at-iran-over-khameneis-funeral-ws-l-10189727.html

While giving credit to Pakistan’s military for its diplomatic manoeuvring, Kausikan said external achievements could not compensate for internal weaknesses.

Former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan has sharply criticised Pakistan’s political leadership and state institutions, saying the country has been “teetering on the brink of failure” for years because of poor governance, economic mismanagement and the unchecked rise of extremist groups.

Speaking at the National Press Foundation’s International Reporting Fellowship, Kausikan rejected the suggestion that Pakistan’s geographical location was the main reason behind its problems. Responding to a question from a Pakistani journalist, he argued that the country’s challenges were rooted in decades of poor governance rather than geography.

“That’s just an excuse. The fact is that Pakistan, from the very beginning, has been mismanaged terribly,” he said.

Kausikan also took aim at both the military establishment and the civilian political class, saying the country’s governance crisis could not be blamed on a single institution.

“The military is both part of the problem and what holds the country together. Your civilian politicians are a waste of time, all of them, regardless of party,” he remarked.

Kausikan served as Singapore’s Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2013 and currently chairs the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Recalls 1991 Singapore Airlines Hijacking

Drawing on a personal experience, Kausikan referred to the hijacking of a Singapore Airlines aircraft by Pakistani militants in March 1991 to illustrate what he described as Pakistan’s feudal political culture.

He claimed the hijackers wanted to speak with former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was no longer in office and was staying in Sindh at the time.

According to Kausikan, he contacted Bhutto’s residence in the early hours of the morning with the assistance of Pakistan’s High Commissioner. Despite repeatedly explaining that the hijackers had threatened to begin killing passengers unless they were allowed to speak with Bhutto, he said his request was refused.

“I explained this to the person three times,” Kausikan recalled.

He said the reply he received was: “Madam is sleeping, cannot be disturbed,” before the call was abruptly ended.

Singapore’s security forces later launched an operation to retake the aircraft, killing all four hijackers and rescuing every passenger and crew member unharmed.

“We still do not know and we’ll never know what they really wanted because they’re all dead,” he said.

Kausikan said the incident reflected what he viewed as the deeply feudal nature of Pakistan’s society.

‘Pakistan’s Problems Are Much Deeper’

During the discussion, another journalist highlighted Pakistan’s domestic challenges, including high inflation, rising fuel prices and deteriorating law and order.

Kausikan acknowledged that Pakistan had recently achieved some diplomatic success but argued that such gains did little to address the country’s underlying problems.

“Pakistan was very agile and very successful in taking advantage of a diplomatic opportunity. But that doesn’t feed the Pakistani people,” he said.

He added that Pakistan’s fundamental issues remained unresolved.

“Pakistan is a state that is teetering on the brink of failure and has been for some time. It hasn’t quite fallen over, for which we should all be grateful, but that diplomatic success doesn’t change that fundamental reality,” he said.

‘Diplomatic Success Cannot Replace Reforms’

While giving credit to Pakistan’s military for its diplomatic manoeuvring, Kausikan said external achievements could not compensate for internal weaknesses.

“Pakistan’s problems are not diplomatic; Pakistan’s problems are much more fundamental within Pakistan,” he said.

He identified economic mismanagement and the unchecked growth of jihadist groups as key reasons behind the country’s instability.

“Mismanagement of the economy, letting various jihadist movements get out of hand – if you don’t fix those problems, you’re always going to be teetering on the brink of state failure,” he warned.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/madam-is-sleeping-cant-be-disturbed-ex-diplomat-calls-pakistani-politicians-waste-of-time-ws-l-10189609.html

According to NYT, US officials feared Israel may be hatching a plan to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed The New York Times report claiming that United States officials feared Israel was planning to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks and called it “fake news”, The Times Of Israel reported.

Reacting to the report, the Prime Minister’s Office said, “As usual, The New York Times’ latest story about Israel and the Iranian negotiators is fake news. A complete fabrication of reality.”

The New York Times reported yesterday that United States officials had reached out to regional countries to warn Iran about the chances of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf facing assassination attempts during negotiations.

What Did The NYT Report Say?

According to The New York Times, US officials feared Israel may be hatching a plan to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran earlier this year and sought help from regional countries to warn Iran about the possibility.

The report, citing current and former American officials, said US concerns centred on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during ceasefire negotiations that began in April.

According to the report, US officials believed that any assassination attempt on the two leaders during the talks could derail negotiations and trigger renewed fighting.

It said Washington asked other countries in the region to alert Iran to the possibility that Israel could target the two officials.

The report said that while US officials considered Araghchi and Ghalibaf legitimate military targets during the active phase of the conflict, they believed any attack after negotiations began would jeopardise diplomatic efforts.

According to the report, the Trump administration later learned that Ghalibaf was on an Israeli target list and asked Israel not to carry out any strike against him.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/fake-news-israel-calls-nyt-report-complete-fabrication-of-reality-denies-plot-to-kill-iranian-officials-ws-l-10189530.html

David Wurmser, a former senior US foreign policy adviser, in an exclusive interview with Times Now Digital, emphasised that India should be prioritized as a crucial ally, similar to Japan, Israel, and the UK.

David Wurmser, a former senior US foreign policy adviser who served under Vice-President Dick Cheney and at the State Department under John R. Bolton, has called Washington’s decades-long neutrality between India and Pakistan “one of the great mistakes” of American policy, arguing, in an exclusive interview with Times Now Digital, that it is New Delhi, not Islamabad, that must become one of America’s “key foundational allies.”

The intervention lands at a pointed moment. US President Donald Trump has spent recent weeks publicly courting Pakistan, hosting its army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and praising Islamabad’s role in mediating with Iran, while repeatedly claiming credit for an India-Pakistan ceasefire that New Delhi has flatly rejected.

Wurmser, who was also a long-time foreign policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, told Times Now Digital that India should be treated as a strategic partner on a par with Japan, Israel and the UK.

“I believe it is one of the great mistakes of American policy to remain neutral between Pakistan and India. On virtually every major strategic question, India must become one of America’s key foundational allies in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in the areas that connect to it,” Wurmser said.

Wurmser argued that India’s strategic importance to the United States should be recognised more explicitly.

“I believe India will have to play a major role, along with other key allies such as Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Greece, in securing a stable environment stretching from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. There are forces at work there that are destabilising and dangerous — both in terms of the regional politics of Asia and the Middle East, and in terms of the global challenge to the stability of the world,” he said.

Calling India “an indispensable nation”, Wurmser said he expected bilateral ties to deepen further. “India is an indispensable nation in helping maintain that stability, and I believe Indian-American relations will improve to the level we see with some other countries, such as Japan, Israel or the UK, because they simply must.”

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/us-neutrality-india-pakistan-great-mistake-former-cheney-adviser-david-wurmser-exclusive-interview-article-154923808

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday lifted a judge’s order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to ​reinstall dozens of exhibits that it removed from national parks on topics such as slavery and climate change.
A three-judge ‌panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold, a judge’s order requiring the National Park Service to reinstall exhibits that it removed under the Republican president’s directive targeting displays that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

Boston-based U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley last month concluded that the displays were removed from the nation’s parks ​as part of the administration’s unlawful effort to “rewrite the nation’s history with a white-out pen.”
Kelley reached that conclusion in a lawsuit ​by groups representing park conservationists, historians and scientists who accused the administration of engaging in a concerted censorship ⁠campaign aimed at erasing aspects of American history that did not conform with Trump’s ideals.
But a panel of the 1st Circuit composed only ​of judges appointed by Democratic presidents agreed to put Kelley’s ruling on hold while the administration appeals it. The court said the government ​was likely to prevail on appeal because the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that the policy would irreparably harm them while the litigation played out.

Brooke Menschel, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the liberal advocacy group Democracy Forward, called the ruling a disappointing but “temporary procedural setback,” as the court did not decide the question of whether ​the administration’s actions were lawful.
“Unfortunately, for now, the decision allows the administration to continue removing and altering interpretive materials that are critical for ​millions of visitors to understand our nation’s history,” Menschel said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said in ‌a statement ⁠it has “encouraged Americans to visit our cultural and historic sites and engage in meaningful conversations about the moments that have shaped our country.”

DOZENS OF REMOVED EXHIBITS

At least 51 exhibits from 37 sites have been removed or discarded from parks nationwide in order to comply with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s implementation of an executive order Trump signed in March 2025.

Trump’s executive order took aim at what he called a “revisionist movement” that portrayed the United ​States as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive or ​otherwise irredeemably flawed,” and directed ⁠changes be made to parks nationwide.
Among those removed was an exhibit at the President’s House in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park describing the ownership of enslaved people by George Washington, the first U.S. president.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-administration-can-avoid-reinstalling-exhibits-slavery-climate-parks-us-2026-07-02/

Meta (META.O), Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged shortcomings ‌in the company’s sweeping restructuring at an internal town hall on Thursday, saying the systems known as AI agents had not progressed as quickly as he had expected, according to a recording heard by Reuters.
Zuckerberg added that a company reorganization that included major job cuts was not as “clean” as it could have ​been and that executives had miscalculated on the timing of the changes.

Zuckerberg and other Meta executives have been seeking to ​moderate some of the organizational changes introduced earlier this year, without fundamentally changing course. The company laid off ⁠about 10% of its global workforce and reassigned roughly 7,000 employees to AI-focused teams in May, moves that prompted employee pushback and ​raised concerns about morale.
The changes were part of a broader restructuring aimed at funding costly investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and positioning Meta ​to capitalize on efficiency gains from AI-assisted work. Zuckerberg told employees in May that he did not expect further companywide layoffs this year, though some workers were skeptical.

In retrospect, he said, the “trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn’t really accelerated in the way that we expected,” and ​that the company’s bets on the new structure “haven’t come to fruition yet.” Zuckerberg was referring to AI agents, automated systems that can ​execute tasks on behalf of a user.
Conversations he was having “with our top people” when they started planning the restructuring in January and February “were that they ‌were ⁠worried that we weren’t going to move fast enough to adapt,” Zuckerberg said.
At the time, he said, executives were “super optimistic” about tools like Claude Code from AI startup Anthropic.
Meta is projected to spend as much as $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, a significant portion of Big Tech’s more than $700 billion outlay on the technology.

Zuckerberg said he expects that the social media giant will begin to experience more significant ​benefits from its AI investments ​within the next three to ⁠six months.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/zuckerberg-says-ai-agent-development-going-slower-than-expected-2026-07-02/

A Los Angeles-area man pleaded guilty to felony harassment charges in ​federal court on Thursday for sending fake ransom notes posing as a kidnapper of “Today” show co-host Savannah ‌Guthrie’s missing elderly mother.
Derrick Callella, 42, pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment by telecommunications device, marking the only criminal conviction to date stemming from the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie from her home in Tucson, Arizona, five months ago.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of ​two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. But the plea agreement with prosecutors calls for Callella, a resident ​of Hawthorne, California, to serve five years on probation, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson. ⁠Formal sentencing was set for September 10.
The plea deal, entered in U.S. District Court in Tucson, leaves Guthrie’s fate ​unknown and the underlying kidnapping case as yet unsolved.
Guthrie, in frail health with limited mobility, was last seen alive on January ​31 at her home. A friend contacted family members the next day, when she did not show up to church as expected, and relatives entering her home found her gone.

A search of Guthrie’s residence showed she had left behind essential items such as her wallet, cellphone, ​hearing aid and medication. Blood found on Guthrie’s front porch was hers, DNA tests confirmed later.

He was arrested on February ​5, four days after Guthrie was reported missing. By then, according to court records and FBI public statements, local media had received ‌a ransom ⁠note on February 2 demanding payment in bitcoin and setting deadlines for payment.
In entering his guilty plea, Callella admitted that he called and sent text messages to Guthrie’s family on February 4 inquiring about a bitcoin transfer, and “he acknowledged that he knew an earlier ransom demand had been made,” the U.S. Attorney statement said.
“Callella also admitted that his actions were meant ​to harass the family by ​seeking information about the ⁠investigation into the missing person’s disappearance,” the statement said.

The guilty plea came a day after the FBI field office in Phoenix said on X that investigators have received “several” ransom notes in ​the course of the investigation, some deemed to be “extortion attempts without legitimacy,” others being ​treated as potentially ⁠genuine.
The FBI said Guthrie’s disappearance continues to be investigated as a kidnapping-for-ransom case.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/california-man-admits-sending-fake-ransom-notes-nancy-guthrie-abduction-2026-07-02/

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, killing at least 30 people, wounding scores more and damaging around 130 buildings in the deadliest attack on the capital this year.
Multiple explosions shook central Kyiv ​and reverberated across the capital throughout the night as thousands of residents rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations. Huge columns of smoke filled the skyline.

The death toll climbed to 30 after three more ‌bodies were recovered from the rubble, Ukraine’s emergency service said. The head of the capital’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, earlier said 91 were injured.
He had earlier warned that the toll was likely to rise as rescue teams worked through the night, sifting through rubble in search of trapped residents.
He said teams at one site in an eastern suburb on the capital’s left bank of the Dnipro River had recovered five bodies while eight residents were unaccounted for.
“Rescue crews will work without interruption until all the debris is cleared,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, more victims may still be found.”

The scale and spread ​of destruction across the breadth of the capital had little precedent even in a war now in its fifth year. Twenty-four people died in an attack on Kyiv in May.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who cut short his visit to Ireland ​and rushed home, visited the site where a nine-storey residential building was half destroyed. He blamed the destruction in part on a failure of allies to deliver promised air defenses.
“If our ⁠partners had delivered on their promises in a timely manner, I think we could have saved more homes and lives today,” said Zelenskiy, who looked tired and frustrated. “All we ask of our partners is simply to do what we’ve agreed on. We’re ​not even asking for more.”
Later, in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said the issue of air defences would be “one of the key outcomes” of next week’s NATO summit in Turkey, as he repeated his call for the development of European air defences.

“If, of ​course, NATO still means anything to the allies,” he said. “Europe must have its own sufficient capability to defend against all types of threats, including this one – from Russian ballistic missiles.”
Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Yuri Ihnat, the Air Force spokesperson, said the number of ballistic missiles was unusually high and the interception rate was low. Ukraine has struggled with shortages of Patriot missiles in recent months.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in a Telegram post, said its “massive attack” using long-range, high-precision air-, land- and sea-launched weapons and drones hit military and ​energy facilities, as well as airports in Kyiv and other locations.
Moscow said the attacks were retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia. Kyiv, which has stepped up strikes in recent weeks on Russia’s domestic fuel supply, said it had hit an oil ​refinery overnight in the Russian region of Nizhny Novgorod, where the governor reported one person killed in a strike on an industrial facility.
The Kremlin said Russian military commanders had briefed President Vladimir Putin about the Russian attacks, adding that Moscow would increase pressure to achieve its ‌war aims.

DAY OF ⁠MOURNING ANNOUNCED IN KYIV

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning in Kyiv for Friday. He said that damage was recorded across the city of about 3 million, with some buildings heavily damaged.
The Ukrainian Red Cross, in a post on X, said its humanitarian warehouse in Kyiv has been destroyed in the assault and posted pictures of a shattered building interior. It said 320,000 relief items had been lost, “affecting emergency response and humanitarian operations across Ukraine”.
Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said that “Russia unleashed hell on Kyiv” overnight, and had struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel. Diplomats were unharmed, but their belongings were damaged in a fire.
City officials said that the injured included children, paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station.
“Our house is on fire. Oleg was pulling ​our neighbour out of the burning house, while I was ​phoning all the emergency services during the explosions,” Kyiv resident ⁠Iryna Plekhova said on Facebook, posting a picture of a half-destroyed apartment building. “We do not have an apartment anymore.”
The National Institute of Biochemistry was among many buildings damaged: its state-of-the-art biochemistry laboratory and other offices were gutted during the attack.
“This is a catastrophe for medical and biological science of Ukraine,” biologist Yurii Danylovych told Reuters.
Ukraine’s neighbour Poland, a NATO and EU member, briefly scrambled fighter ​jets as a preventive measure. Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland, its defence forces said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-drones-attack-ukrainian-capital-set-central-district-hotel-fire-2026-07-01/

U.S. job growth slowed sharply in June and payroll gains for the prior two months were revised lower, pointing to a cooling labor market and prompting financial markets to dial back expectations for a near-term interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
While the ​Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Thursday showed the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% last month from 4.3% in May, that was due to 720,000 people leaving the labor force, which pushed down the participation ‌rate to the lowest level in more than five years.

Some economists said the bigger-than-expected slowdown in job growth was likely a delayed response to the Middle East conflict, which has raised gasoline prices and boosted inflation. They pointed to a 61,000 drop in leisure and hospitality payrolls, the largest since the pandemic, which the government said reflected “weaker than usual seasonal hiring.”
Though gasoline prices have dropped below $4.00 a gallon amid a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, prices at the pump remain above the national average retail price of $2.98 before the war started at the end of February. Economists said Americans ​could be eating out less as a result.

They generally viewed the labor market as remaining in a “low hire, low fire” state, and expected the U.S. central bank to stay focused on inflation.
“I would expect that most policymakers would continue ​to regard the labor market as stable and neither too hot nor too cold,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets. “There was a substantial knee-jerk reaction in ⁠financial markets, including scaling back the odds of rate hikes this year. I view the latter as an improper response.”
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 57,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing ​110,000, with estimates ranging from as low as 25,000 to as high as 200,000.
The establishment survey also showed the economy created 74,000 fewer jobs in April and May than previously reported.

Still, employment gains averaged 111,000 per month in the second quarter, far more than ​the 34,000 during the same period last year. The report was released a day early due to Friday’s public holiday marking the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence on Saturday.
The moderation and downward revisions brought payrolls into alignment with other labor market surveys, including small business hiring plans, which have offered a less-robust picture of the jobs market. Financial markets expected the U.S. central bank to keep monetary policy unchanged this month, and lowered the odds of a rate hike in September to about 60% from roughly 75% before the employment report.
The Fed last month left its benchmark overnight interest ​rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range, but updated quarterly projections showed policymakers expected to raise borrowing costs this year.
Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher. The dollar eased against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury yields fell.

LOW LAYOFFS UNDERPINNING LABOR MARKET

A historically low level of ​layoffs remains the key driver of payroll gains, with hiring tepid, attributed to what economists said were never-ending headwinds first from tariffs last year and recently the U.S.-led war with Iran.
“It is hard to keep track of which way the pendulum is swinging in the labor market ‌as the stronger ⁠jobs picture just a month ago has suddenly weakened perhaps with the delayed reaction to the war in the Middle East,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.
Professional and business services led job gains last month, with 36,000 positions added. Social assistance employment increased 25,000, while healthcare payrolls rose 22,000, below the monthly average gain of 38,000 over the past year.
Leisure and hospitality employment dropped 61,000, the most since December 2020. Payrolls at restaurants and bars tumbled 32,900, while those at hotels and motels fell 21,700 despite expectations the FIFA World Cup tournament, jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, would boost hiring.
“June is usually a strong month for travel, restaurants, hotels, and entertainment,” said Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University. “Some of this may be payback ​after earlier strength, but it also raises a broader concern; lower-income ​consumers may be pulling back, and service employers may ⁠be less confident about summer demand.”
Construction employment increased 11,000, while manufacturing payrolls rose 3,000. The retail sector shed 7,500 jobs and employment in the information industry dropped 9,000. The financial sector added no jobs. Government payrolls increased 8,000 after surging 32,000 in May.
The share of industries reporting job growth slipped to 54.4% from 56.0% in May. Despite the cooling in employment gains, wages maintained their ​noninflationary pace of growth. Average hourly earnings increased 3.5% in the 12 months through June after rising 3.4% in May. Wages are trailing inflation, with the Consumer Price Index increasing 4.2% ​year-on-year in May, which economists warned ⁠will eventually hamper spending.
The drop in the unemployment rate in June followed three straight months of steady readings at 4.3%. The labor force has declined in four of the last six months, attributed to an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-job-growth-misses-expectations-june-unemployment-rate-falls-42-2026-07-02/

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first World Cup knockout-stage goal of his career, Goncalo Ramos netted a stoppage-time header and Portugal got a last-second break on an offside call to beat Croatia ​2-1 on Thursday and set up a last-16 clash with Spain.
Croatia looked to have equalised at the end, leaving Ronaldo crestfallen on the bench, but the last-gasp effort was ruled offside after ‌a video assistant referee review, prompting the team’s supporters in the south end of Toronto Stadium to shower the pitch with debris.

“It’s difficult because it’s a game if you don’t win, you go home,” said Ramos. “But for me, especially, I love those types of moments, I love those types of games, I want to play every game like that, I want to be in the big moment.”
It was Josko Gvardiol who thought he had equalised for Croatia in the 103rd minute but a review showed the ball had touched Igor Matanovic on ​the way through, which made Gvardiol offside.
“We didn’t deserve this sort of finish,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic. “It’s never easy when you concede a goal in the last minutes of the match but we should ​have resolved this differently.”

Ronaldo, 41, became the oldest player to score in the knockout stage of a World Cup when he fired home from the spot to draw Portugal ⁠level in the 68th minute of a pulsating game before substitute Ramos rose above the Croatia defenders in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
The goal for Ronaldo, who was taken out of the game by coach Roberto Martinez ​in the 81st minute, was his first in a World Cup knockout game.
Ivan Perisic had put Croatia in front when he brought down a pass from Josip Stanisic and coolly fired home at the far post in the 53rd minute ​as the game opened up considerably with incredible back-and-forth action.

PORTUGAL DOMINATE FIRST HALF

Portugal dominated possession in the first half but struggled to convert their chances on a night when a breeze off Lake Ontario offered reprieve from the sweltering heat that blanketed the city for much of the day.

Ronaldo, booed heavily by Croatia supporters every time he touched the ball, failed to get his head on an early Pedro Neto cross and then he and Bruno Fernandes were unable to take advantage of a deep cross from Joao Cancelo.
Croatia, World ​Cup runners-up in 2018 and third in 2022, came roaring out of the restart and had Portugal on the back foot as Mateo Kovacic picked up a loose ball and went through the defenders but his shot hit ​the side of the net not long before they opened the scoring.
Nikola Vlasic thought he had Croatia’s second but was ruled offside after poking the ball in before Portugal stormed back down the field where Rafael Leao drilled a shot from outside the ‌area that slammed ⁠off the crossbar.
Ronaldo nearly scored when he coolly flicked the ball over the goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and into the net but was ruled offside.

The Portugal captain finally got his moment in the 68th minute when he fired a penalty straight down the middle of the goal after Renato Veiga was pulled down in the area by Vlasic.

EMOTIONAL RONALDO PUTS ON JOTA SHIRT AFTER THE MATCH

Portugal took to the pitch with heavy hearts as the match was played a day before the one-year anniversary of the death of their forward Diogo Jota in a car crash.
An image of Jota in his No. 21 shirt was shown on video boards at Toronto Stadium after the playing of Portugal’s national anthem. Portuguese supporters ​then gave a standing ovation in honour of Jota in ​the 21st minute.
After the game an emotional Ronaldo ⁠put on Jota’s red No. 21 shirt while fighting back tears.
“We won for us, Diogo and Portugal. Let’s Go,” Ronaldo posted on his official Instagram account.
Portugal’s Martinez also spoke about Jota. “Several beautiful symbols of power and energy and what Jota meant for the team,” the coach said.
“He was someone who believed, and we have responsibility for Diogo and we ​are going to keep doing this.”
The last Toronto-based game of the global showcase was a marquee all-European clash featuring two ageless wonders going head-to-head and it was Ronaldo ​who kept his hopes for ⁠an elusive World Cup alive while Luka Modric was left to ponder his international future.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/ramos-scores-late-winner-portugal-beat-croatia-reach-world-cup-last-16-2026-07-03/

Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 36 years, was killed on February 28 – the day the US and Israel began striking Iran, triggering a war in the Middle East.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will not attend the funeral ceremonies of his father, Ali Khamenei – the former Leader of Iran – over security concerns, his representative in India has reportedly said.

According to Ayatollah Hakim Elahi, the Israeli threats and surveillance risks would make Mojtaba’s public attendance “dangerous”, reported news agency ANI.

Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 36 years, was killed on February 28 – the day the US and Israel began striking Iran, triggering a war in the Middle East. The former Supreme Leader’s funeral ceremonies will begin in Tehran on July 4 and conclude with his burial in his hometown, the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, on July 9.

The funeral rituals will include events in Qom – a holy city south of Tehran, on July 7, and other religious observances.

Iranian authorities expect millions of mourners to hit the streets over the six-day period, making the funeral one of the closely tracked global events.

Many posters and giant billboards have been put up across Iran showing the late Khamenei.

Speculations regarding the timeline of the final ceremonies had been building since March. While the Islamic jurisprudence typically dictates that a dead person be buried as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours, this was an exception due to a state of war.

Indian delegation to attend Ali Khamenei’s funeral

According to sources, Bihar Governor General Syed Hasnain and Minister of State for External Affairs Pavitra Margarita will be part of the Indian delegation at Ali Khamenei’s funeral ceremony in Iran. Additionally, former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid will reportedly represent the Congress party at the burial ceremonies.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state funeral and the burial ceremonies for the top Shia cleric. However, PM Modi is unlikely to be part of the delegation.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mojtaba-khamenei-to-skip-father-ali-khameneis-funeral-over-security-concerns-report-iran-us-war-iran-supreme-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-11720442?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Taxila, located in the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, is a vast serial site that includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of four early settlement sites, Buddhist monasteries, and a mosque and madrassa.

The Pakistani government’s so-called “reconstruction” work at the ancient archaeological complex of Taxila has come under scrutiny after UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, asked Islamabad to reverse “conservation work” that “undermined the integrity” of the Vedic-era site. Taxila, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of South Asia’s most significant mahavihara complexes.

The UN agency, in a recent meeting, warned senior government officials that if the “unnecessary interventions” at the historical sites at Mohra Moradu and Sirkap are not reversed, the complex would be placed on the agency’s “danger list,” the Dawn newspaper reported, quoting sources.

UNESCO also warned that it would not hesitate to “delist” the sites, just like it had “delisted” a World Heritage Site in Germany if the actions were not reversed.

Where Is Taxila

Taxila, located in the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, is a vast serial site that includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of four early settlement sites, Buddhist monasteries, and a mosque and madrassa.

The ruins of the four settlement sites at Taxila reveal the pattern of urban evolution on the Indian subcontinent through more than five centuries, according to the UNESCO website.

Why UN Warned Pak

In March, a visitor shared information and pictures with Pakistan’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO in Paris, highlighting reconstruction works by the Punjab archaeology department. The visitor observed interventions that could “affect the authenticity and integrity of the property, specifically original walls being replaced with new construction or their height being raised,” the report said.

Against this controversy, UNESCO, on June 12, conducted a joint technical visit with Pakistan’s Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM) and the Ministry of National Heritage and Cultural Division to the Taxila Museum.

During the visit, the Punjab archaeology department tried to justify its stance. But the department was unable to provide the specific documentation regarding Mohra Moradu and Sirkap about the conservation and restoration works requested by UNESCO.

Later, an official told Dawn that the Punjab Archaeology Department used “cement” to erect walls of World Heritage sites. Photos also showed that fresh masonry works had replaced some ancient walls, and reconstruction was carried out to increase the height of the walls, the report said.

It was easy to discern between old stones, which are irregular in size, and modern building material, which seems polished and uniform in size, the paper reported.

“Restoration and using cement to erect walls of World Heritage sites is a serious violation of UNESCO rules for conservation of archaeological monuments of historical value. This weakens Pak­istan’s position, which is endeavoring to have 24 more sites of historical importance included in Unesco’s World Heritage list since 1997,” the official said.

Subsequently, UNESCO cautioned that “unnecessary interventions” compromised the authenticity and integrity of these sites and could put them at risk of being placed on the “danger list.”

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pakistan-uses-cement-on-vedic-era-taxila-walls-gets-delisting-warning-from-un-11720494?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Sardar Aman Khan, the leader of the Joint Awami Action Committee, claimed that it is Pakistan’s military that originally supplied weapons to Kashmiris.

The anti-government protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have entered the 24th day, with over 80,000 demonstrators gathered at the Eidgah grounds in Rawalakot, with Sardar Aman Khan, the leader of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), making one of the biggest revelations about Pakistan’s state-sponsored terror infrastructure.

Khan claimed that it is Pakistan’s military that originally supplied weapons to Kashmiris. He said that the Pakistan Army pushed weapons and ammunition into Jammu and Kashmir.

“It was the Pakistan Army itself that handed guns to Kashmiris. And today, they have the audacity to call us terrorists,” he said.

While addressing the gathering, Khan also referred to a Jaish-e-Mohammed event last year in February in which armed participants marched through the city carrying dangerous weapons such as AK-47s and swords.

He said that the Deputy Commissioner of Rawalakot allowed and provided security to the rally.

“Deputy Commissioner Rawalkot, you used to organise rallies here with guns and swords. Do you remember? And you will call us terrorists. All these people (protesters) are heirs of this land,” he said.

His address was met with loud applause from the crowd.

Khan warned the Pakistani government that if the 38 demands of the movement were not accepted and implemented, the issue would no longer be limited to that and would instead become a movement to demand that Pakistan completely vacate Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pok-protests-pakistan-army-handed-guns-to-kashmiris-now-they-call-us-terrorists-pok-leader-11718963?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also cited the situation in Gaza, Israel’s “incessant bombardment” of Lebanon, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the civil war in Sudan as signs that pointed toward a greater devaluation of respect for international norms and laws.

Norway’s unilateral decision to scrap a missile deal with Malaysia points to a “dangerous trend of double standards” for the rule of law and a worrying erosion of respect for international norms, said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Speaking at the 39th Asia-Pacific Roundtable – which discusses key issues impacting the Asia-Pacific region – in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (Jul 2), Anwar also blasted the “hypocrisy of those who are conveniently muted on such violations”.

“Is it acceptable for some countries to ignore international laws and norms, while others are subjected to the strictest standard of compliance?” he said, as he questioned whether Western powers are leaning towards a principle of “one rule for me, and another for thee”.

“If this is how partners in the West are going to treat those in the Global South … then it does not bode well for our future as equitable partners and friends. As the old Dutch saying goes, ‘trust arrives on foot and departs on horseback’,” said Anwar.

In May, the Norwegian foreign ministry had said that “certain licences related to the export of specific defence technology to Malaysia have been revoked”.

This followed earlier reports that Norway had banned the delivery of the Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) just days before the scheduled date under a procurement contract signed in April 2018 with Malaysia.

Anwar had then chastised Norway’s decision and said that signed contracts are binding obligations, and not mere “confetti” to be discarded at will.

On Thursday during the question-and-answer session after his keynote address, Anwar noted that leaders from the European Union (EU) have reaffirmed their support for Malaysia after he had written to them to demand clarity on whether the Norwegian government’s decision reflected a broader European position.

Anwar said that among others, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had told him that the Scandinavian country’s position did not represent that of the EU’s.

Although closely aligned with the bloc, Norway is not an EU member.

“Is it a fair decision taken? No reasons given. In fact I did speak to him, the Prime Minister of Norway (Jonas Gahr Stoere) … he said (it was because of) security considerations. You think we are selling these missiles to Al Qaeda?” Anwar said, referring to the militant group that was responsible for the Sep 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Anwar also noted that while the Malaysian government initially suspected the US of having pressured Norway to cancel the missile deal, he said that this was not the case.

Anwar pointed out that the US continues to supply weapons to Malaysia.

“People will say ‘why do I choose to defend the US’. I am not defending the US, I am giving the facts. We were not sure … We acknowledge that we were wrong,” he said.

DEVALUATION OF RESPECT FOR INTERNATIONAL NORMS: ANWAR

In his speech, Anwar cited the situation in Gaza, Israel’s “incessant bombardment” of Lebanon, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the civil war in Sudan as signs that pointed toward a greater and systematic devaluation of respect for international norms and laws.

He said that the war in Gaza remained a “festering wound” on the collective conscience of the world.

“The failure to intervene, especially by countries with the power to influence the Zionist regime, has only empowered them to expand their wars in the region,” said Anwar.

He stressed that such violence and brutality – whether in Europe, West Asia or Africa – must come to an end, with a cessation of hostilities that prioritises the protection of civilians.

Anwar said the current situations painted a bleak future when humankind could otherwise be celebrating tremendous advancement of economic and technological growth.

“Most disturbingly, the signs point toward a greater and systematic devaluation of respect for international norms and laws,” he said.

“Might now makes right, as does narrow national interests. Even at the expense of rubbishing the sanctity and legal obligations of an international contract,” he added, in a pointed reference to Malaysia’s situation with Norway.

Anwar then went on to outline how Malaysia can navigate an “increasingly uncertain, undependable and transactional world” amid challenging geopolitical and geoeconomic fluctuations.

First, Malaysia’s foreign policy will remain “fiercely independent, proactive and non-aligned”, he said, stressing that this has to be done through a calculated and deliberate approach.

“We will not hesitate to adopt positions, cultivate relationships, and support initiatives that advance our values, beliefs and interests,” he said, pointing to the Palestinian struggle as among the issues that Malaysia cannot remain neutral on.

He added: “We take principled stances and positions but not sides. These include our unwavering support for the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law. The use of force or coercion, military or economic, will only compound resentment and unintended consequences.”

Not long after Norway scrapped the missile deal in May, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Khaled Nordin was quoted as saying that Putrajaya would demand over RM1 billion (US$245 million) in damages from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA), which manufactured the NSMs.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-anwar-ibrahim-norway-missiles-western-hypocrisy-6227001

FORMER Olympic canoeist David Hearn has been indicted on a felony charge after allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

He now faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted over the bizarre incident.

Hearn was charged by a Washington, DC, grand jury with destroying property worth more than $1,000.

The indictment claims he “maliciously did injure, break and destroy” the lining material at the bottom of the landmark pool.

Hearn was arrested last month after reaching into the water and touching a loose flap of blue material.

He previously said that part of the lining had already detached when he approached it.

A National Park Service worker warned him not to reach into the pool before US Park Police placed him in handcuffs, he said.

Hearn has denied vandalizing the landmark and insisted he touched the material only because he was curious.

His attorney said he had not yet been made aware of the latest development in the case, CNN reported.

The lawyer said Hearn had previously received a citation involving less serious misdemeanour allegations.

The grand jury indictment now raises the case to a felony carrying a maximum 10-year sentence.

Hearn represented the US in canoe slalom at three Olympic Games.

His arrest came shortly after the Reflecting Pool reopened following President Donald Trump’s multimillion-dollar renovation.

The troubled project has since been hit by bright green algae, peeling sealant, repair work, and repeated claims of deliberate vandalism.

Crews were photographed scraping algae from the water and using chlorine compounds, hydrogen peroxide, and a $1.7million nanobubble system to tackle the bloom.

Officials insisted the algae was part of the pool’s “normal startup process” after its supply lines had sat dormant during construction.

A dead duckling was also found floating in murky water, although its cause of death remains unknown and there is no evidence linking it to the chemicals or repair work.

Pictures of the pool showed the water turning such a vivid green that the landmark appeared to blend into the surrounding lawns when viewed from above.

The project was intended to be completed before this weekend’s Independence Day celebrations.

Trump had personally selected an “American Flag Blue” coating and claimed the new surface would prevent the pool from leaking.

However, sections of the lining began peeling soon after the pool was refilled, while officials said other areas had been cut with a knife or razor.

But algae and peeling paint or sealant appeared soon after the public was allowed back near the pool.

Trump later warned that people accused of “vandalizing” the site could face lengthy prison terms.

The Interior Department later said seven people had been arrested, seven others had received federal citations, and 18 police reports had been filed.

Police also released footage of a woman reaching into the pool as investigators sought to identify her, although she was not publicly accused of causing damage.

Chain-link fencing was installed around sections of the landmark amid the investigation and preparations for the July 4 celebrations.

Trump claimed someone used a sharp object to carve a long gash into the lining.

The president said those responsible appeared to have used “probably a box cutter or a very sharp razor of some kind or a knife.”

“They went down with probably a box cutter or a very sharp razor of some kind or a knife, and they cut, and then they started ripping it up,” he said.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16622975/olympian-david-hearn-charged-vandalizing-reflecting-pool/

An international operation led by German and British police has uncovered 156 suspects and victims in cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault. Operation Medusa has led to 57 arrests and 158 safeguarded victims so far.

A police operation spanning seven countries has identified 156 perpetrators and victims of drug-facilitated sexual assaults, authorities announced on Thursday.

The victims were almost exclusively women.

“Investigations have uncovered online networks where perpetrators objectify and dehumanize victims,” said Europol, which coordinated much of the investigations.

“They use encrypted messaging services, forums and closed chat groups to exchange experiences, normalize abusive behavior, facilitate the illegal trade in prescription medications and narcotics and coordinate criminal acts,” Europol said. “These communications reveal detailed planning, reinforcing harmful actions, and sharing of material. They show that these crimes are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of organized and interconnected behavior.”

Operation Medusa was led by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Britain’s National Crime Agency, with coordination through Europol. Law enforcement from Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States contributed to the team.

The investigation comes in the wake of the Gisele Pelicot case in France, which made worldwide headlines after her then-husband was found guilty of sedating her and soliciting men to rape her over many years.

Many victims unaware they have been assaulted

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office said on Thursday that the investigation focused on perpetrators who committed sexual violence against people in their close social circles and over extended periods.

The victims are sedated, typically with “amateurish” mixtures of painkillers, other medications and alcohol — a potentially life-threatening combination for victims.

“Many victims are unaware that they have been sexually assaulted,” the BKA said. “This is because the sedatives and painkillers administered prevent the victims from remembering the incident or immediately feeling the physical effects of the rape.”

Police encouraged anyone who suspects they may have been a victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault to file a police report and consult a doctor.

Possible indicators include unusually long sleep duration, inexplicable grogginess or lethargy in the morning, memory gaps, or bodily abnormalities without any clear explanation, such as bruises, nausea or sexually transmitted diseases.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/operation-medusa-police-arrest-drug-facilitated-sexual-assault-dfsa-europol-germany/a-77805092

US Ambassador Mike Waltz warned Iran against disrupting the Strait of Hormuz, stating that ‘threatening commercial vessels is not justified under the UN Charter’

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz issued a stark warning to Iran against any attempt to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that “threatening commercial vessels cannot be justified under the UN Charter.”

The comments came as the United States and Iran remain engaged in negotiations over a framework to end the war in West Asia, with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz –– which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the global oil and gas trade –– emerging as a major sticking point.

Speaking during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council convened at Bahrain’s request, Waltz said: “Our message to the Iranian regime is clear: closing international waterways is not self-defence.”

Urging the UN Council to hold Iran accountable over its actions, the US envoy said threatening commercial vessels “cannot be justified under the UN Charter“.

“If it has a backbone, it won’t stand for it”, Waltz said.

‘Did Singapore Attack Iran’?

Accusing Iran of targeting civilian infrastructure and commercial vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz, Waltz cited recent attacks involving Singaporean- and Panama-flagged vessels.

“I ask, did the Singaporean air force or military attack Tehran or attack Iran? No, but yet Iran attacked a Singaporean-flagged commercial vessel. We have the ambassador here from Panama. Panamanian-flagged vessels were attacked just this last week. Did Panama attack Iran? Is that self-defense against Panama?” he asked.

In strongly-worded remarks against Tehran, Waltz urged the country to resort to peace and dialogue: “There’s an old scripture that says, ‘I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.’ Iran cannot keep choosing death and curse. 

And today we once again urge Iran to revert to the path of peace and dialogue. The world is not with Iran. Iran’s own people are not with this regime, and its neighbors are not with this regime.”

Claiming the negotiations with Washington would furnish Iran a “real, transformative, positive” opportunity, the US envoy warned President Donald Trump’s patience is “not unlimited”.

I cannot stress enough the possibility of real transformative positive opportunity for the nation and people of Iran is on the table, but President Trump’s patience is not unlimited.

The world cannot continue to suffer, and Iran must abide by its obligations to this Council… pic.twitter.com/E3eqCXOOiZ

— Ambassador Mike Waltz (@USAmbUN) July 2, 2026

“I cannot stress enough the possibility of real transformative positive opportunity for the nation and people of Iran is on the table, but President Trump’s patience is not unlimited. The world cannot continue to suffer, and Iran must abide by its obligations to this Council that this Council voted for without opposition, and the world must hold this regime to account”, he said.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/if-it-has-a-backbone-it-wont-stand-for-it-us-warns-iran-against-attempt-to-disrupt-hormuz-ws-l-10187752.html

The US officials feared any Israeli attempt to kill Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi or Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf would derail peace talks.

United States officials feared Israel may be hatching a plan to kill two of Iran’s senior negotiators during indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran earlier this year and sought help from regional countries to warn Iran about the possibility, according to a report by The New York Times.

The report, citing current and former American officials, said US concerns centred on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during ceasefire negotiations that began in April.

US Fears Assassination Attempt Would Derail Negotiations

According to the report, US officials believed that any assassination attempt on the two leaders during the talks could derail negotiations and trigger renewed fighting.

It said Washington asked other countries in the region to alert Iran to the possibility that Israel could target the two officials.

The report said that while US officials considered Araghchi and Ghalibaf legitimate military targets during the active phase of the conflict, they believed any attack after negotiations began would jeopardise diplomatic efforts.

Araghchi and Ghalibaf have been leading Iran’s engagement with regional countries and the United States on ceasefire negotiations and efforts to reach a broader peace agreement.

US Learns Ghalibaf On Israel’s Target List

According to the report, the Trump administration later learned that Ghalibaf was on an Israeli target list and asked Israel not to carry out any strike against him.

In March, the Wall Street Journal had reported that both Araghchi and Ghalibaf were on an Israeli target list, but were temporarily removed as the United States prepared to begin negotiations with Iran.

Ghalibaf Was Israel’s Target During Islamabad Talks?

According to the New York Times, Iranian officials sought assurances from the United States through Pakistani and Qatari intermediaries before Ghalibaf’s planned visit to Islamabad in April for talks with US Vice President JD Vance. According to the report, Tehran was concerned Israel could use the visit to target either Ghalibaf or Araghchi.

The report said Pakistani fighter jets escorted the Iranian delegation’s aircraft between the Iranian border and Islamabad.

On the return journey, Iranian security officials informed the delegation that intelligence suggested Israel planned to attack the aircraft and that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace from the western border near Iraq, according to the report.

Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Ghalibaf who was part of the delegation, confirmed the account on social media, the report said. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Mashhad, after which the delegation travelled by road to Tehran.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/us-feared-israel-would-kill-irans-top-negotiators-sought-regional-help-to-warn-tehran-ws-l-10187676.html

Russia launched a combined drone and ballistic missile attack on Kyiv overnight, triggering multiple fires, damaging residential and commercial buildings.

Russian forces launched a large-scale combined drone and ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, late on Wednesday and into the early hours of Thursday, setting off multiple fires, damaging buildings, and prompting residents to seek shelter as officials warned the assault could unfold in several waves.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the overnight strike sparked a fire on the roof of a hotel in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. Images shared online showed flames burning across the top of the CityHotel Residence as firefighters and rescue teams were dispatched to the scene.

“In the Shevchenkivskyi district, in the center of the capital, there is also a fire – on the roof of a hotel. Rescuers and firefighters are on site. The attack on the capital continues. Stay in shelters!” Klitschko said.

City Hotel Residence struck in Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Hg4DmccYnl

— AZ Intel (@AZ_Intel_) July 1, 2026

Klitschko also reported that the roof of a three-story non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district caught fire during the attack. Later, he said rescuers were responding to the collapse of a nine-story apartment building where people were believed trapped, while firefighters battled blazes at multiple locations across the city.

The head of Kyiv’s Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said the hotel fire was caused by the drone strike. He added that debris from intercepted drones also fell near a private home in the Desnianskyi district, though no fire was reported there.

After the initial drone assault, Ukrainian authorities warned of a ballistic missile threat. At about 1:53 AM local time, Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian ballistic missiles were approaching Kyiv from the north, prompting officials to urge residents to remain in shelters.

According to local authorities, Russian drones entered Kyiv from several directions, raising concerns that the assault could unfold in several stages. Explosions echoed across the capital as air defense systems engaged incoming targets, with many residents taking refuge in underground metro stations carrying sleeping bags, children, and pets.

Klitschko later said five healthcare workers were wounded in the Shevchenkivskyi district, one of them critically. Officials also reported damage to a residential building and a medical facility as emergency crews worked across the city.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that intelligence indicated Russia had been preparing a major overnight strike and said he was cutting short his visit to Dublin.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/europe/watch-russia-launches-drone-attack-on-kyiv-ukraine-fire-near-premier-palace-and-cityhotel-residence-article-154832764

The Justice Department on Tuesday pledged to crack down on so-called “birth tourism” after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s executive order outlawing birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and US visitors.

Colin McDonald, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for fraud enforcement, directed federal prosecutors to “zealously protect the sanctity of United States citizenship by investigating and prosecuting those who fraudulently exploit our immigration system” by traveling to the country under “false pretenses” to give birth.

“The criminal laws of the United States already prohibit conduct inherent to so many of these so-called ‘birth tourism’ schemes,” McDonald, the administration’s “fraud czar,” wrote in a memo to DOJ employees. “For example, many such schemes start with a false visa application – with lies about the purpose or duration of one’s travel to the United States.”

McDonald included three examples of birth tourism schemes the DOJ has prosecuted in recent years.

In 2024, Michael Wei Yueh Liu and Jing Dong – a husband-and-wife team – were each sentenced to 41 months in prison after being accused of running a birth tourism business that catered to Chinese nationals. Their company – “USA Happy Baby” — charged clients tens of thousands of dollars and assisted them in fraudulently obtaining US visas, according to McDonald.

The fraud czar also highlighted the 2022 case of Ibrahim Aksakal, who was convicted of healthcare and wire fraud conspiracy charges and sentenced to 27 months in prison. Operating out of New York, Aksakal allegedly advertised a birth tourism scheme on Turkish-language social media pages and instructed women on how to conceal their pregnancies.

Finally, the DOJ official pointed out the 2020 case of Chao “Edwin” Chen, who allegedly boasted that his 100 employees in the US and China had helped more than 500 customers successfully travel to the US to give birth. Chen’s “You Win USA” business charged customers as much as $80,000. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison for operating the “large-scale birth tourism scheme,” McDonald wrote.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/07/01/us-news/doj-vows-birth-tourism-crackdown-after-supreme-court-rules-against-trump-in-birthright-citizenship-case/

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce aren’t asking everyone to sign on the dotted line.

While many guests at the couple’s wedding have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements, the pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end’s inner circle have not been asked to do the same, a source exclusively told Page Six.

“Their closest friends and family haven’t been asked to sign NDAs,” the insider said. “Protecting their privacy is just something everyone in their inner circle has always naturally done.”

“Nobody wants to be the reason details leak,” the source continued. “The people in their inner circle have gone out of their way to protect them. Some even offered to sign NDAs simply to give Taylor and Travis extra peace of mind.”

According to the insider, Swift and Kelce, both 36, are “incredibly grateful for the people around them.”

“They know there’s enormous interest in every detail of their wedding plans, so they don’t take for granted how fiercely loyal their friends and family have been,” the source noted.

The couple has “been able to enjoy this experience without wondering who’s going to talk or what’s going to end up in the press because the people in their lives genuinely want to protect them and that’s not something they take for granted,” the insider added.

A-list guests expected to attend the wedding of the year include Adrien Brody, Sombr, Zoë Kravitz, the Haim sisters, Gigi Hadid and more. Meanwhile, Page Six exclusively revealed that Miles Teller and his wife, Keleigh Sperry, didn’t make the cut for an invite.

Reps for Swift and Kelce did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.

TMZ reported last month that guests attending the pair’s star-studded wedding have been asked to sign NDAs as part of extensive efforts to keep details of the celebration private.

Those going have been prohibited from sharing details about the ceremony, which we hear will take place at Madison Square Garden Friday.

Meanwhile, a possible nod to one of Swift’s songs added to the buzz outside the iconic Midtown venue Monday.

Page Six spotted several vendors setting up for a massive event at MSG, including a lighting company, a piping and draping business, a transportation services company and several unmarked trucks.

Staffers were seen unloading large items wrapped up in tarps off of parked semi-trailer trucks. There were also forklifts seen moving massive trunks filled with unknown inventory.

The couple are building a massive castle inside MSG for their star-studded nuptials, Page Six confirmed.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/07/01/entertainment/why-taylor-swift-is-letting-certain-guests-off-the-hook-with-ndas-for-msg-wedding/?_gl=1*min6bd*_ga*MTg2NjYyMzM1MC4xNzczODEwMTg2*_ga_0DZ7LHF5PZ*czE3ODI5NjAzMzYkbzE1MCRnMSR0MTc4Mjk2MTIyMyRqMTYkbDAkaDA

The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have caused a rift between the US and Saudi Arabia — leaving America to consider possibly reducing its military footprint in the kingdom, officials said.

Disputes over President Trump’s handling of the war and economic threats to Saudi Arabia have caused the partnership to sour, with both Washington and Riyadh allegedly snubbing each other and cutting back on the mutual military alliance, officials familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

The fallout has led the US to reconsider its presence in the kingdom and focus its forces on nations that support the war with Iran, including Israel and Jordan, sources told the outlet.

The already shaky alliance with Saudi Arabia began to fall apart after Trump launched a joint war with Israel against Iran in February, which Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors had been lobbying against for months.

The war risked retaliatory attacks across the region and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which Saudi Arabia depended on for the bulk of its oil exports.

Both fears manifested during the war, with Saudi Arabia becoming a target of Iran despite the kingdom’s initial refusal to let the US use its bases and airspace for the attacks.

The Trump administration would also go on to ignore the Saudis push to end the war early and drop the American blockade on Iranian ports, with Riyadh urging diplomacy over warfare, the WSJ reported.

The situation reached a boiling point when Trump suddenly announced the launch of Project Freedom, which was meant to be a full military effort to shield oil tankers and cargo ships crossing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fearing further retaliation from Iran and the closure of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, where Saudi Arabia’s exports had been moved to, Riyadh blocked access to its bases and airspaces.

The result led to Project Freedom being abruptly shelved less than two days after its inception, with the mission only ever guiding two American vessels through the strait in a blow to the Trump administration.

Since then, things have remained rocky between the US and Saudi Arabia, with Riyadh only ending its restriction on its basing and airspace after American officials reportedly warned that it would drop the kingdom from its priority list for receiving defense weapons, Arab officials told the WSJ.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/07/01/world-news/iran-war-drives-wedge-between-us-and-saudi-arabia-report/

The Mexican capital was packed after the national team’s victory over Ecuador, with three people dying near a landmark in the city center.

Three people died in Mexico City on Tuesday night after being caught in a crowd crush during celebrations of host Mexico’s World Cup victory over Ecuador.

The deaths occurred as thousands of fans gathered near the Angel of ⁠Independence landmark along one of the city’s main boulevards, the Paseo de la Reforma avenue, which had been closed to traffic and set up for the celebrations.

Early Wednesday, Mexico City’s health office said two women aged 19 and 48, and a 44-year-old man, had died of suffocation in the street.

The victims were not immediately identified and authorities have not provided additional details about the circumstances of the deaths.

Mexico City packed after World Cup victory

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said on X that “all emergency medical protocols were activated” after three people were found unconscious at different locations near the landmark.

Fans took to the streets to ​celebrate after the Mexican national team beat Ecuador 2-0 at Azteca Stadium, ending a 40-year wait for a World Cup knockout victory.

Brugada said in a social media video on Tuesday night that an estimated 1 million people were celebrating in the streets across Mexico City and urged the public to avoid heading downtown.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/3-die-during-mexico-city-world-cup-celebrations/a-77791673

It was the deadliest reported strike in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Most of the victims were children.

In almost any other conflict, these haunting truths would be seared into national memory. Yet more than 120 days since at least one U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school, there remains no final accounting of what happened.

The Trump administration has yet to directly accept the blame or formally release findings of a Pentagon investigation into the bombing, even though the military possessed evidence almost immediately that the site of the school had been struck, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation, told The Associated Press.

The AP has reconstructed the story of the attack, beginning in the schoolyard on the morning of Feb. 28, drawing from open-source information, video footage, human rights reports and interviews with researchers and civilians inside and outside Iran to reveal previously unreported details about the bombing in Minab, including the diversity of children killed.

Still, many details about the blast remain elusive, as a lack of information from the Pentagon and politicization of the attack by Iran’s theocracy have complicated independent reporting efforts. That has created an accountability vacuum, leaving the families of the victims without resolution. Among the mysteries remaining are the number of munitions that hit the school and a complete list of the dead.

When asked last week about the incident, President Donald Trump said he hadn’t read the Pentagon’s report and had seen nothing to make him believe the U.S. had carried out the attack.

“I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it, because there were missiles flying all over the place,” he said. “I don’t think it was us.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.

Video evidence, interviews and other sources yield a fuller picture

The reconstruction draws from interviews with U.S. officials, Iranian human rights workers, a resident of Minab, an international representative of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Union and researchers from major international rights groups.

Several people who spoke to the AP were in direct contact with the families of victims and rescuers who rushed to the scene. Most requested anonymity for fear of retribution against them and those with whom they spoke.

Teachers called parents to pick up their kids. Then the bomb fell

Skies over the city of Minab, located in southeastern Iran about 16 miles (25 km) from the Strait of Hormuz, were clear and bright on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 28, a school day in Iran. It was Ramadan.

Students of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school, Farsi for “Good Tree,” jostled past the colorful murals lining the schoolyard and into the building. Boys and girls filtered into separate spaces with brightly painted desks.

The school they entered was one of over 30 with the same name established to serve children from families closely tied to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard or other state institutions, said Shiva Amelirad, the international union representative who also worked as a teacher in Iran for 18 years and has been in contact with people in Minab.

Though most schools in Iran operate within guidelines proscribed by the Islamic Republic, the Shejareh Tayyebeh schools were more explicitly oriented toward reproducing and reinforcing the Guard’s worldview, she said, adding that children are civilians regardless of their family backgrounds, and “any attack targeting a school is unequivocally condemnable.”

The school lay within the same walled compound as a Guard base, according to an AP assessment of satellite imagery and open-source mapping. It was once part of that neighboring base, before it was fenced off and converted over a decade ago.

Though some of its pupils were the children of Guard officers working on the nearby base, others were local children from Minab, which is populated predominantly by people of the majority-Sunni Baluch ethnic minority who often face repression from the Iranian government, said the Balochistan Human Rights Documentation Network.

Hundreds of students are believed to have been inside the building by the time teachers and administrators received the news that bombs had begun falling on Tehran around 9:40 a.m.

Teachers and administrators thought it prudent to send the children home. They called parents on landline phones, summoning them for an early pickup, two people told the AP. A recently released report by Airwars, a London-based independent group that tracks recent conflicts, also found that parents were called to pick up their children.

At 10:15 a.m., Iran’s state media sent out an advisory, closing schools across the country.

One father, who lived a short distance away, went immediately to pick up his 10-year-old son, said a resident of Minab, who relayed the stories of several families to the AP. The AP verified details of the residents’ stories against available lists of the dead and rights groups’ chronologies of the day’s events.

The father noticed his 6- and 7-year-old relatives among the students waiting for their parents, said the resident. He asked them if they’d like a ride home and they said no, that their own father was on the way.

He left with his child and headed to the supermarket. Ten minutes later, he heard the explosions.

Multiple munitions pummeled the compound, striking at least five buildings, according to an AP analysis of satellite imagery. Hundreds of pounds of explosives collapsed the school.

A tiny arm, suspended in the rubble

The father raced back to a scene of chaos, where onlookers gathered, screaming, as men pawed through smoking rubble to dig out bodies, according to video of the aftermath circulated by Iranian state media.

Eventually, the father made out two burned figures he believes were those of his relatives, but he couldn’t be sure.

People kept coming. One man from a nearby Sunni village arrived to search for his nephew after receiving a panicked call from the boy’s mother. In the rubble, he found her dead son.

Rescuers found small backpacks and children’s drawings, colored pencils and worksheets. Gently suspended, a tiny arm lay in the wreckage.

Men carried disfigured limbs and torsos to the local hospital, said the Balochistan Human Rights Documentation Network, whose staff spoke with two families of those killed. The AP has not been able to verify how many munitions specifically hit the school, but the attack had left flesh so mutilated that many body parts were unrecognizable.

By the end of the day, doctors at the hospital estimated they had at least 108 bodies, but cautioned that it was likely an undercount, said the resident of Minab.

By the next day, state media was saying around 150 had been killed. Soon, it was reporting a death toll of 168.

‘They called the kids martyrs’

Three days after the bombing, state TV showed thousands of Iranians packing a Minab roundabout, where the crowds faced a podium and a large portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic.

The gathering might have been mistaken for a demonstration, if it were not a funeral. All the parents of victims, regardless of ethnicity or religion, had to participate, said the Minab resident. Most women in the crowd donned the black chador garment customary to the Islamic Republic, even though it’s not typically worn by Baluch people at funerals.

Parents were told they’d be permitted to take their children’s bodies back to their villages and conduct their own observances, said the resident. In the end, though, many decided to bury their children together.

In footage captured by drone cameras and circulated by state media, workers broke ground on an earthen lot, creating a grid of tiny, identical, unmarked graves.

“The state media advocated a narrative based on IRGC interest,” said Amelirad. “You can tell because they called the kids martyrs.”

The story grows harder to tell

Strikes continued to ravage Iran, targeting more sites in its opening days than the start of recent U.S. or Israeli military campaigns, including in Gaza, an Airwars analysis found.

Racing to document the ongoing bombardment, journalists and rights groups struggled to verify details from Minab. They had no access to the target site. Government restrictions in Iran prevented most foreign journalists from entering the country. The opening day of the war, Iran shut down the internet, making it nearly impossible to hear from ordinary civilians.

As the war progressed and the Strait of Hormuz became a major battlefield, the situation in the province grew more tense, said the resident. All branches of the military were deployed heavily in the area. Families of the victims feared retribution for speaking out. People were reportedly being detained for trying to communicate with foreign media.

That left Iran’s government in control of the messaging around the strike.

Iran’s soccer team wore golden “#168” pins on their jackets upon their arrival at the FIFA World Cup.

The Iranian team negotiating for a pause to the war with the U.S. named itself “Minab 168.”

The children were depicted as animated Lego figures in viral videos made by pro-Iran groups trolling the U.S.

“In the aftermath of the attack, Iranian authorities … exploited the suffering of victims’ families and surviving children for propaganda purposes,” wrote Amnesty International in a March report investigating the deaths.

Through it all, there remained no public list of the names of the dead.

The Pentagon finds clues in archive

Locked out of Iran, researchers focused on the question of responsibility.

Iran blamed the U.S. Trump cast doubt on American culpability and pointed the finger at Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said only that the Pentagon was investigating.

Internally, the U.S. military knew more than it initially let on. The clues were buried in their archives.

When the news first surfaced, the U.S. military knew they had conducted strikes in the vicinity — though it took the military time to verify the Iranian claims that a school was struck and begin a formal investigation, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing inquiry.

It appears that while the building housing the school was identified as such by one analyst as early as seven years ago, that discovery was not sufficiently made known across different intelligence and military staffs and agencies, the U.S. official said.

Ultimately, the building was not known among target developers as a school, revealing potential systematic shortfalls in the target analysis and review process, they said.

One former Pentagon official, similarly speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bombing came as a natural result of changes made by the Trump administration to reduce staff to mitigate civilian harm and Hegseth’s emphasis on lethality.

When Hegseth took charge, he slashed the size of an office called the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, created at the direction of Congress in late 2022. That stopped the office’s work on updating “no-strike lists,” which are lists of protected sites such as hospitals, schools, churches and mosques, that the Pentagon keeps, said Wes Bryant, who began working at the office in 2024 as the Branch Chief of Civil Harm Assessments.

When he was working at the Pentagon, it was well known that the list was out-of-date, he said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-school-strike-baluch-trump-2a134a5c74d80db763db4c3eb6d0d847

Heat can be dangerous, but health experts say there are ways to manage the threat.

Scorching temperatures, especially combined with high humidity, pose risks particularly for children, older people and those with certain health conditions. Anyone can suffer from heat-related illness.

Climate change is also exacerbating heat waves and heat stress.

When heat becomes dangerous

Dangers posed by hot weather depend on more than the temperature. The most detailed measurement is called the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which includes temperature, humidity, cloud cover and wind. The heat index, which measures temperature and humidity, is less descriptive but easier to find on weather apps. Both explain why a shaded soccer field on a 90 degree F day (32 degree C) in arid Phoenix may be less risky than an exposed park on an 80 degree F (27 degree C) day in soupy Little Rock.

Just based on heat index, NOAA has a chart that calculates how dangerous prolonged exposure can be. For example, a day in which temperatures reach 96 degree F (36 degrees C) and 45% humidity would fall into the “danger” category for prolonged exposure or strenuous activity.

The WBGT threshold isn’t exact, but recent research suggests that even some young, healthy people can’t endure hours of exposure to high heat and humidity.

How to cool down

Overnight temperatures can be a particularly dangerous part of a heat wave, said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University.

“Your body needs a reprieve,” she said. “You don’t get that overnight, we start the next day at a deficit.” Heat can worsen labor productivity and lead to more visits to the emergency room.

“When we have overnight temperatures that don’t drop below 75 degrees” F (24 degrees C), she said, “you start to see some pretty extraordinary outcomes with respect to heat illness and heat stroke, and even mortality.”

Ward said air conditioning can help, but she acknowledged that not everyone has access.

If you can’t afford to cool the whole house, Ward said, create a “cool corner” and sleep there, so your body is prepared to tackle the next day.

Evaporative or “swamp” coolers can help in dry heat, but they increase humidity and can make it more difficult to cool down. In humid places, just use a fan.

If you don’t have air conditioning, find public places that do, including movie theaters, malls and libraries. Some communities set up cooling centers.

Depending on where you live, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program can help you buy a window air conditioning unit, according to the National Council on Aging. Some local nonprofits and civic organizations can also help.

Know your rights if you work outside

Knowing what workplace protections you have is important. Some states have them, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Other states don’t have any.

If your state has work rules, try to learn them — though there are still challenges to ensuring regulations are actually enforced, said Bharat Venkat, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Heat Lab.

He notes that sometimes shaded areas are too far away for workers to take breaks without losing wages, or that management can make it impossible for workers to advocate for themselves. “Most workers don’t actually have control over their time or control over where they work,” Venkat said.

Within those constraints, finding ways to stay hydrated and lower your body temperature are important. You can do this by drinking lots of fluids, wetting clothing or putting cold water or a cold rag on your hands, feet, armpits and neck. A portable handheld fan or a cooling vest can also help.

If you’re exercising, avoid the hottest times of day and bring more water than you think you need.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/heat-wave-humidity-air-conditioning-cooling-centers-c275c904fcda067a87777ab57ba18b5f

In May 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a voter-passed Colorado measure that had denied gay people legal protections against discrimination. It was a landmark ruling under the U.S. Constitution’s promise of equal protection that heralded several other decisions by the court expanding LGBT rights in the decades to come.
Thirty years later, the tide has turned. The court in another important decision on Tuesday ruled against transgender student athletes, ​permitting state laws banning them from participating on female sports teams at public schools including universities.

The court rejected claims that the bans enacted in West Virginia and Idaho ran afoul of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment principle of equal protection ‌under the law and the Title IX civil rights statute that bars discrimination in education “on the basis of sex.”
Those laws designated sports teams according to “biological sex” and barred “students of the male sex” from female teams. The states said the laws preserve fair and safe competition for women and girls.

‘SHIFTED DIRECTIONS’

Legal experts said the ruling, issued on the final day of the court’s nine-month term, represented another setback for transgender people fighting a growing array of state and federal restrictions targeting them — and for gay rights more generally.

“The court has clearly shifted directions on LGBTQ rights,” Rutgers Law School professor Katie Eyer said.
“In numerous rulings over the course of the last several terms, ​they have made clear that they sympathize far more with those who wish to discriminate against LGBTQ people, than they do with LGBTQ people themselves,” said Eyer, an expert in anti-discrimination law.
Advocates for transgender rights sought to emphasize the positive on Tuesday, noting ​that the ruling was narrowly focused on the sports context and that its reasoning did not foreclose successful challenges to other restrictions on transgender people.
“Other discriminatory laws or government actions will have to be scrutinized ⁠to determine whether they can be justified,” said Karen Loewy, a lawyer with the LGBT rights group Lambda Legal.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, decided 9-0 that the state laws did not violate Title IX. It decided 6-3, along ideological lines, that the laws also ​did not violate the 14th Amendment. The three liberal justices said a factual dispute in the West Virginia case should have precluded resolving that issue.
In all, 27 of the 50 U.S. states have such laws.
“After today’s decision, the 23 states still on the sidelines have run out of ​excuses,” said Kristen Waggoner, president of the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative Christian legal group, which helped the states defend their bans.
“This is a victory for every girl who refused to stay quiet in the face of injustice. Men cannot be women, and no drug erases the male athletic advantage,” Waggoner said.

MILITARY BAN

The court’s conservative majority, since last year, has allowed Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to ban transgender people from the military and bar passport applicants from designating their gender identities for the document. And, in a case from Tennessee, it let states ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.

Ruling in favor of a Christian licensed counselor in March, the court rejected a ​Colorado law that banned psychotherapists from using “conversion” talk therapy intended to change an LGBT minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The court last year also endorsed the right of religious parents to remove their children from school classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read. And in 2023, it ruled ​that certain businesses have a free speech right to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings.

TRANSGENDER RUNAWAYS

The court has also signaled continuing interest in deciding cases involving transgender rights. In a case to be heard in their next term, which begins in October, the justices will consider whether parents in Washington state ‌can pursue a challenge ⁠to laws protecting the rights of transgender runaway children who seek gender-affirming care at shelters. A lower court ruled that the parents lacked the necessary legal standing to make the challenge.
The court’s current posture toward transgender rights contrasts with a series of cases expanding LGBT rights, beginning in 1996 in the case called Romer v. Evans, which struck down the Colorado measure denying gay people protections against discrimination.
The court ruled in that case that the state measure violated the equal protection clause because its purpose was to make gay people unequal to others.
“This Colorado cannot do,” the ruling stated. “A state cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws.”
In the following decades, the court delivered several other historic wins for LGBT rights, including throwing out a Texas anti-sodomy law targeting same-sex individuals in 2003 and recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage in 2015. ​And in 2020, in a ruling written by conservative Justice Neil ​Gorsuch, the court decided that U.S. law protects gay and ⁠transgender employees from workplace discrimination.

A CONSERVATIVE SUPERMAJORITY

That ruling was issued about four months before conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court, replacing the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett, the last of three Trump appointees from his first term as president, gave the court its current conservative supermajority.
“The Romer v. Evans case did inaugurate a period in which the Supreme Court increasingly recognized LGBTQ+ rights and delivered victories for LGBTQ+ ​litigants,” Wake Forest University School of Law professor Marie-Amélie George said.
But the 2023 ruling signaled an end to this expansion, George said.
Tuesday’s ruling “is consistent with its more recent cases, which have demonstrated a deep ​skepticism of LGBTQ+ rights generally, and ⁠transgender rights claims in particular,” George added.
In the 2025 gender-affirming care case from Tennessee, the conservative majority held that the state law did not create a sex-based category, which under the court’s precedents would trigger tougher judicial review, making it harder to defend in court under 14th Amendment protections.
In the sports case, the court recognized that the bans categorize based on sex, but found that they pass tougher scrutiny regardless, because they further the states’ interests in “safety and competitive fairness,” due to biological differences.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/transgender-people-finding-it-hard-win-us-supreme-court-2026-07-01/

U.S. President Donald Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family’s crypto ventures last year, showing how Trump now derives most of his income from digital assets that have benefited from his policies, ​according to a review of his latest financial disclosures on Tuesday.
The filings, his annual disclosure for 2025 with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, disclosed that his companies ‌received almost $800 million from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons co-founded. That income, which the president splits with family members, included more than $520 million from sales of crypto tokens and more than $250 million from the sale of interests in the World Liberty business.

Trump reported another $635 million from the sale of his Trump meme coins.
The news underlines how crypto has transformed the president’s fortunes. In his disclosure a year ago, for example, the president reported $57.35 million from ​token sales at World Liberty, which then leaped nine-fold in this year’s filing.
Reuters recently estimated the Trump family has made at least $2.3 billion from crypto-related projects since Trump returned to ​the White House in 2025.
On taking office, Trump began to put in place policies and initiatives that the industry saw as beneficial, from implementing federal ⁠rules for stablecoins to dialing back policing of the industry by the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For 2025, the president also reported over $80 million in income from settlements with ​various media companies and $52 million in income from his company licensing his name to overseas property developers, driven principally by deals with Middle Eastern partners.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement, “Neither the President ​nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest. President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions.”
Kelly added: “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”

While the White House has previously ​said the president’s business interests are currently overseen by his children, the president remains the beneficiary of the assets in the trust that ultimately receives the income.

NEW WEALTH DRIVEN BY CRYPTO

Although crypto is by ​far the largest driver of income for Trump, his traditional businesses — in particular golf courses and resorts — continued to bring in millions.
Trump reported a 15% rise in revenue at his golf and resort facilities to just over $500 ‌million in ⁠2025. The strongest increases were at clubs where the president has spent considerable time since his 2025 inauguration.
Revenue at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which Trump dubbed the Winter White House, soared to $77 million from $50 million in 2024, while revenue at his golf club in nearby West Palm Beach jumped 27%. Revenue fell at Trump’s Los Angeles course last year.
Trump also secured a more than $50 million loan last year from Charles Schwab Bank, the filings showed. They did not say what the loan was for.
Trump hosted winners of his second annual meme coin contest at Mar-a-Lago in April.Trump’s income from his real estate interests – the ​business in which he made his name – had ​less spectacular growth. He reported income from a ⁠dozen significant commercial real estate ventures, mainly interests in buildings he built or acquired decades ago. The filing doesn’t give specific rent figures for properties like Trump Tower in New York but rather income ranges. For most, the income range in 2025 was the same or lower than Trump reported a ​decade prior.
A spokesperson for the Trump family business, The Trump Organization, said in a statement that “the breadth and depth of this filing further underscores ​our commitment to transparency. At ⁠nearly 1,000 pages, it represents one of the most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates a level of financial transparency unmatched in presidential history.”
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reports-more-than-14-billion-income-crypto-ventures-2026-06-30/

A Russian daredevil couple climbed to the top of the Empire State Building’s towering spire in New York City on Wednesday to ‌unfurl a large banner urging world peace in what appeared to be an elaborate marriage proposal that ended in their arrests.
Dressed in sleeveless black outfits and documenting their time in the sky on social media, Angela Nikolau and Vanya Beerkus hung onto the landmark skyscraper’s antenna spire near the glowing red light at its ​tip some 1,454 feet (443 meters) above the sidewalks of midtown Manhattan.

They held a black banner with a message in all-capital white ​letters that flapped in the wind that said: “When the power of love beats the love of power the world ⁠knows peace.”

A DIZZYING PROPOSAL

A little after 12:30 p.m., the pair could be seen on aerial video feeds slowly climbing down to a slightly ​lower platform in the antenna structure, where they paused. Beerkus then appeared to propose to Nikolau, getting down on one knee, before the ​couple embraced and kissed.
Nikolau, wearing her trademark Catwoman-style headgear, could then be seen admiring her hand and taking photographs of her ring to share on Instagram. The couple and their adventures in what has become known as “rooftopping” were the subject of a 2024 Netflix documentary called “Skywalkers: A Love Story.”

The New York Police Department closed down streets around the ​building and later said they had taken the couple into custody “without incident.”

The couple, identified by police as Angelina Nikolau, 33, and Ivan ​Kuznetsov, 32, were charged with several offenses, including burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, criminal tampering, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
The ‌spokesperson said ⁠he did not know whether the couple were still in custody.
It was not clear how they gained access to the antenna.
New York landmarks including the Empire State Building have heightened security since the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. The climb came as the heatwave-gripped city is already in high spirits, bracing for the expected wedding of musician Taylor Swift and National Football League star Travis Kelce, and crowds for the July 4 ​celebration of the 250th anniversary of ​the Declaration of Independence.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/two-people-unfurl-peace-banner-new-yorks-empire-state-building-spire-2026-07-01/

The Trump administration on Wednesday ​declined to extend the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, starting a decade-long clock to wind down the trade deal as it seeks changes to try to reshore manufacturing jobs and reduce U.S. trade deficits ‌with its North American neighbors.
The decision, announced after a six-year review of the North American free trade zone, keeps the agreement in place for another 10 years with annual reviews before it expires, unless the three countries agree to renew it with changes.

“The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “As a result, the USMCA is not renewed. The United States will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the agreement’s shortcomings ​and our trade deficits with these countries.”
Greer said the U.S. will proceed with a USMCA bilateral negotiating round scheduled with Mexico during the week of July 20. A senior administration official said that those ​talks in Mexico City would focus on strengthening North American rules of origin for autos and other industrial goods and economic security to keep other countries, including ⁠China, from benefiting from USMCA access.

Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a news conference that Mexico wanted to help address U.S. concerns about job losses and trade deficits, but the U.S. and Mexico remain divided over U.S. ​demands for stricter regional automotive rules of origin.
“There is no difference that I can identify between Mexico, the United States and Canada that is so big that we cannot resolve it,” said Ebrard, who participated in a virtual meeting ​on Wednesday with Greer and Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister responsible for U.S.-Canada trade.
“We wouldn’t allow our (auto) industry to be at a disadvantage,” Ebrard said. “I’d say that has been the main point of discussion with the United States in all these talks: protecting our automotive industry.”
LeBlanc added that Canada would continue to work to address President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.

“We agreed on the importance of continuing our discussions and identifying ways to ensure trade and investment frameworks between Canada, the ​United States and Mexico continue to support North American prosperity and competitiveness,” he said.

DENIAL LONG EXPECTED

The USMCA was negotiated by Trump’s first administration to strengthen the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and underpins a highly integrated ​regional economy with some $1.6 trillion in annual trilateral trade.
The U.S. decision was widely expected, as Greer said that more time was needed to address problems with USMCA, including persistent and growing U.S. goods trade deficits with Mexico and Canada that reached $197 billion ‌and $48.3 billion in ⁠2025, respectively.

Much of the deficit with Canada is driven by oil imports, while the deficit with Mexico has grown as companies shifted supply chains away from China in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
The senior Trump administration official told reporters that it was still in U.S. interests to come to agreement on possibly separate trade “protocols” with Mexico and Canada “as quickly as possible,” but did not provide an expected time frame.
But the official added that Trump, who has already changed the USMCA relationship by imposing tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian autos, 50% on metals, and 10% on lumber, is likely to remain skeptical of any deal.
Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. would ​do better without USMCA despite launching it in 2020 as “the ​best agreement we’ve ever made.”
In two rounds of ⁠negotiations with Mexico, Trump’s administration has demanded that North American-built vehicles contain 50% U.S. content, pushing the regional total to 82%.

AFFORDABILITY QUESTIONS

Industry groups, including those representing automakers, have called for continuation of USMCA as a trilateral deal with duty-free trade to keep U.S. manufacturing competitive against competitors in Asia and Europe.
Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa told Reuters that the ​future of the USMCA, including potential requirements for more U.S. content, could worsen a growing affordability problem for American car buyers and this needs to be ​considered by policymakers.
Nissan builds two small ⁠cars in Mexico for the U.S. market — the Versa and Sentra — both now subject to a 25% tariff, but they remain profitable, he told Reuters in an interview in New York.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-canada-mexico-review-trade-pact-likely-putting-it-into-limbo-trump-demands-2026-07-01/

South African police arrested more than 900 ​people during nationwide anti-migrant protests on Tuesday that were ‌mostly peaceful but at times turned violent, with shops looted, police said on Wednesday.
Of 120 marches, 108 were peaceful while 12 required ​police intervention, deputy national police commissioner Tebello Mosikili ​told a press conference, adding reasons for the ⁠arrests ranged from immigration violations to public violence, harbouring ​undocumented migrants and robbery.

Police said in a separate statement that ​one person was shot dead late on Tuesday in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township, where residents were looting informal cornershops known as spaza shops ​owned by foreign nationals.

Police reinforcements were deployed across five ​of the country’s nine provinces overnight, while soldiers were sent to Johannesburg’s ‌inner-city ⁠Hillbrow neighbourhood, where two people were injured in a shooting.
In the port city of Durban police opened an inquest over the death of a foreign national who allegedly ​jumped from the ​eighth floor ⁠of a building on the eve of the protests, believing he was being targeted.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/south-african-police-say-they-arrested-over-900-people-during-anti-migrant-2026-07-01/

Iran and the United States concluded ​a round of indirect talks on Wednesday with no sign they had made headway toward a lasting peace, focusing instead on ‌issues that they said had been resolved when an interim agreement was announced two weeks ago.
Sources familiar with the discussions said negotiators for the two countries spent two days in Doha discussing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezing Iran’s funds, two critical issues under the initial agreement.

The next meeting will take place after funeral processions for ​Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried on July 9, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.
The Doha discussions ​produced “positive progress” on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June and were “building on the outcomes” of ⁠a summit in Switzerland, the ministry spokesperson said in a post on X.
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said the two sides were making progress ​on possible limits to Iran’s nuclear program — the main reason he launched the war along with Israel in February. “The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well,” ​he told reporters. “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.”

But the sources said the nuclear program did not come up in the talks, which were technical in nature.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that matter would be addressed later. “Obviously, we’re worried about the nuclear issue, we’re going to start talking about that,” he told reporters.
American and Iranian negotiators held ​separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and top U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, dispatched to the region for ​what the White House had billed as “high-level” talks, did not attend the sessions, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The leader of Iran’s delegation, Deputy ‌Foreign Minister ⁠Kazem Gharibabadi, said the talks concluded. Neither side said whether they had managed to bridge any of their differences.

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT?

The initial deal calls for Iran and the United States to allow shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquid natural gas trade before the war. Though traffic has partially resumed, the status of the strategic waterway remains unclear and the two countries exchanged strikes last weekend following an ​Iranian attack on a cargo ship.
​Iran is determined to win international ⁠recognition of its control over the strait even if it has to do so by force, two senior Iranian sources said, and has repeatedly said it will assess tolls on shipping starting in mid-August, after a toll-free period specified ​by the initial agreement expires.
Trump’s comments on Wednesday played down the possibility of a return to all-out war ​with Iran. “I think they’ve ⁠come a long way,” he said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-iran-enter-technical-talks-secure-peace-deal-restart-shipping-2026-07-01/

Seeping into just about every conversation at this week’s meeting of the world’s top central bankers was one big unknown: how artificial intelligence will impact the world economy and therefore their mandate to ​ensure financial stability.
The consensus of those discussions at the ECB’s annual conference in the windy hills of Portugal was that AI has the power to disrupt everything and ‌create problems they can’t even imagine right now: in financial and labour markets, in bank lending, for security, and even for power demand.

“If AI overdelivers, it will impact financial stability. If AI underdelivers, it will impact financial stability,” Torsten Slok at Apollo Global Management told the arbiters of interest rates around the world at one of the main panel sessions in the resort of Sintra.
AI was such an overarching theme in Sintra that the topic found its way ​into every discussion, from immigration and supervision to climate.
It even outdid new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, making his debut meeting with fellow central bankers, as the clear star of ​the three-day show.
While AI can improve every corner of life, the fear of many speakers was that it can also disrupt it, at times ⁠illegally, and that finance officials have few if any tools to stop it.

“This is the biggest time of consequence to each of our economies, I think, in our lifetime,” Warsh said about the ​AI revolution.
“Who knew when the internet was born that the internet was going to create a million and a half jobs as Uber drivers? We are in the first to second inning of this ​revolution,” he told the ECB Forum.

INFLATING BUBBLES

In the case of trading, automation is already running most functions. But an AI-driven boost could inflate bubbles at warp speed, then crash them, profiting both on the way up and on the way down in a type of collusion that is now illegal.
“Something that is even more advanced and potentially more disturbing, is the ability of these algorithms to coordinate on a manipulative path of prices,” University of Pennsylvania ​professor Itay Goldstein said.
“These algorithms indeed manage to achieve this kind of manipulation, creating bubbles leading to crashes, and this, I think, has more significant implications for financial stability,” he added.

One potential bubble ​AI is already creating is that of AI stocks, in part generated by massive capital spending on the building blocks of AI, which Slok estimated had added one percentage point to U.S. GDP alone.
While valuations have retreated ‌in recent ⁠weeks, experts liken the rapid rise in pricing to some of the biggest asset price busts in history, like the British railway mania of the 1840s, the roaring 1920s or the dotcom boom.
“The scale and pace of the current AI investment boom accompanied by expectations of large productivity payoffs bear resemblance to these precedents, highlighting potential downside risks in the near term,” the Bank for International Settlements said in a report.

SUPERVISING THE UNEXPLAINABLE

AI will also help — but complicate — lending. Banks will be able to do more sophisticated credit analysis and extend funding to borrowers now outside their traditional sphere.

But supervising this will ​be a nightmare.
“How do supervisors assess those kind ​of agentic loan decisions? They are a little ⁠bit black box. There’s potentially a lack of explainability, and I think that is a key supervisory challenge,” Tobias Adrian, a senior IMF official, said.
AI will also drive a wedge between richer and poorer firms and countries.
Defending against malicious threats will become even more expensive, and otherwise viable firms will ​struggle to protect themselves.
“When you think of the most outrageous attacks, they’re often attacking the weakest link,” Adrian said.
Sarah Breeden, a Bank of England ​Deputy Governor, said a ⁠potential solution may be to create some sort of insurance scheme, likening it to deposit insurance in case of bank failures.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ai-hopes-fears-dominate-global-central-bank-meet-2026-07-01/

Ten-man United Statesmoved into the last 16 at the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Bosnia on Wednesday, ending a ‌24-year wait for a knockout-stage win to keep alive hopes of an American dream run in soccer’s global showpiece.
In a dramatic high-tempo game in the San Francisco Bay Area, Folarin Balogun scored near halftime then was sent off after the break, with Malik Tillman converting a ​free kick late on to spark euphoria in a partisan arena of red, white and blue.

Victory brought an ​end to a dismal U.S. run of 10 consecutive defeats by European opposition, and set up ⁠a last-16 tie in Seattle with Belgium, who had earlier rallied from two goals down to beat Senegal 3-2 after extra time.
“I ​felt we put on such a good performance and didn’t deserve the red card,” said Christian Pulisic.
“But for us to ​dig in deep like that and just to get another goal and to defend the way we did, it took a real team effort, but we’re proud of that.”
It was a physical encounter in the Golden State where luck was not always on the side of the ​hosts, with Balogun and Pulisic having goals ruled out and Bosnia crowding out their defence to stifle a succession ​of U.S. attacks.

Balogun was always a threat, coming close a few times early on before seizing his chance, slotting home a loose ball ‌to ⁠put the hosts ahead for his third goal of the tournament.
He was stunned when he was dismissed after the break for a serious foul on Tarik Muharemovic that appeared accidental.

PATRIOTIC FERVOUR

Playing in their first-ever World Cup knockout round match, Bosnia had barely threatened and looked content defending compactly and hoofing long balls upfield towards Edin Dzeko, who forced a save early on ​from goalkeeper Matt Freese.
In a ​match full of patriotic fervour ⁠that got under way with a flyover by fighter jets, the Americans started with attacking verve and silky one-touch moves, spurred on by the reverberating roars of U-S-A by a ​crowd with high expectations.
And the U.S. delivered, showing speed, grit and intensity, with talisman Pulisic ​back in the ⁠team and intoxicating the crowd with a few blazing runs for goal.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/update1-soccer-us-keep-world-cup-dream-alive-with-gutsy-win-over-bosnia-2026-07-02/

Asked about criticisms that he was using his position to enrich himself, the billionaire president said his earnings were placed in blind trusts to ensure that he could not do so.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended earning around $1.2 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency activities last year, saying “everybody’s profiting” from his time in power.

“You know why I’m profiting, because the stock market’s going up, everybody’s profiting,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to take his first flight on a new Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar.

Asked about criticisms that he was using his position to enrich himself, the billionaire president said his earnings were placed in blind trusts to ensure that he could not do so.

“I don’t get involved in my personal (finances), we have funds that run my money,” Trump said. “I’ve made a lot of money before I became president, and they invest my money, and I don’t talk to them.”

Trump also insisted that his wealth was due to his prior career, despite the fact that the earnings were related to crypto ventures launched during his first year back in the White House.

“I don’t know if I’ve had a better career in politics or business, but I had a great career in business, and you know, you saw the cash, and you report the different things,” he said.

“So we’re all profiting. I’m profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash.”

According to financial disclosures released by the US Office of Government Ethics on Tuesday, Trump received nearly $550 million from his ties to the startup World Liberty Financial in 2025.

World Liberty Financial (WLF) was co-founded in September 2024 by Trump’s sons and the son of Trump’s Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff.

The 927-page filings also mention $635 million in royalties received under a licensing agreement related to the $TRUMP cryptocurrency, launched just hours before the president’s inauguration in January 2025.

Source :https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/everybodys-profiting-donald-trump-defends-earning-more-than-1-billion-on-crypto-11714307?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Artificial intelligence would be a specific subject for a separate joint statement between the two sides, who also plan to collaborate on research and development, industrial applications, digital public infrastructure, skill development and responsible governance of technologies.

As part of the rapidly expanding relations, India and Japan are all set to release their groundbreaking Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in New Delhi.

The Joint Declaration would ensure that economic security forms the core of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership, encompassing everything from critical technologies and resilient supply chains to semiconductors, artificial intelligence, clean energy and strategic minerals. Senior diplomatic sources told NDTV it is likely to emerge as the flagbearer of the visit.

In a time when global supply chains are under fresh threat of disruption amid intense strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, New Delhi and Tokyo are moving in the same direction. The Joint Declaration would reflect a clear evolution of the partnership, which combines the elements of economic resilience with national security objectives.

Artificial Intelligence, Semiconductors And Clean Energy

Artificial intelligence would be a specific subject for a separate joint statement between the two sides, who also plan to collaborate on research and development, industrial applications, digital public infrastructure, skill development and responsible governance of technologies.

Other areas of focus include semiconductors, advanced battery technology, pharma, biogas, oil and gas production and advanced manufacturing. Among the efforts related to clean energy, Japan is expected to support India in establishing a major green ammonia plant in India — which can decarbonise shipping and fertiliser sectors besides ensuring long-term energy security.

Strategic minerals would be another important topic for both sides. India and Japan have been working towards securing diversified supply chains of materials required for electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy technologies. Several new understandings and agreements on exploration, processing and resilience are likely to come out during the summit.

Next-Generation Mobility And Defence Cooperation

The Next Generation Mobility Partnership is another area that has emerged in the India-Japan cooperation, where both sides are working together on electric mobility, hydrogen mobility and connected/intelligent systems.

Also on the agenda would be defence and maritime security, where leaders are likely to review the ongoing cooperation in equipment and technology transfer, the free and open Indo-Pacific and the MAHASAGAR (Maritime Heads for Active Security And Growth for All in the Region) initiative.

On the commercial front, around 120 new memorandums of understanding (MoUs) between Indian and Japanese companies would be signed in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy and innovation. This follows the promise of a JPY 10 trillion (roughly $67 billion) investment commitment by Japan during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Tokyo in August 2025, which was doubled from the previous target that was already surpassed.

Track Record Of Economic Partnership

India has enjoyed a great development partner in Japan for decades. Since 1958, Japan has committed assistance worth over JPY 8.5 trillion in metro systems, freight railways, highways and urban infrastructure, with about 100 projects going on right now.

India-Japan trade is at $27.47 billion in 2025-26, while Japan has invested nearly $45 billion to date in India, making it the country with the fifth largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India. Surveys show that the level of confidence among Japanese firms remains high, with India emerging as the number one investment destination abroad for the fourth consecutive year, with over 81 per cent of Japanese companies in India planning to grow their investments.

More than 1,400 Japanese firms operate in India through 5,200 establishments, including those in the manufacturing sector that accounts for almost 50 per cent.

The Next Step

Collaboration in pharmaceuticals, advanced healthcare technologies, quantum technologies and advanced materials would also be on the horizon with the launch of several joint research programmes. People-to-people connections would also be further boosted through enhanced collaborations in universities and regional partnerships, paving the way for celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2027.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/economic-security-declaration-to-ai-whats-on-japan-pms-india-agenda-11715403?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

Russia imports Indian gasoline by sea to ease shortages after Ukrainian drone strikes, while Indian refiners hit a record 2.70 million barrels per day of Russian crude in June

Russia has started importing gasoline from India by sea to tackle nationwide fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries, two industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday, even as separate ship tracking data showed Indian refiners bought a record 2.70 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June.

Tankers Dispatched, As Fuel Shortages Spread Across Russia

At least 60,000 metric tons of gasoline have been dispatched from India to Russia, one of the sources said. Another source put the figure at two tankers, each carrying between 30,000 and 40,000 tons.

A third source said Russia intends to import 400,000 tons of gasoline every month from several countries to plug the gap, including Belarus, which has already been sending fuel to Russia by rail for months.

Russian gasoline consumption runs to at least 110,000 tons a day in summer, when demand for fuel peaks and shortages bite hardest, the sources said. It remains unclear which Indian refiner is supplying the cargoes, and neither country’s oil ministry has confirmed the identity of the buyer or seller.

The shortages have left drivers across Russia’s 11 time zones facing rationing and long queues at filling stations, alongside a record increase in gasoline prices at the pump.

President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the disruption on Sunday at a meeting with government ministers and other officials, telling them that Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries had triggered fuel shortages in some regions, though he said the government was already dealing with them.

Belarus Rail Supplies Nearly Triple, Tax Code Changed

Belarus almost tripled its gasoline rail shipments to Russia, sending more than 70,000 tons in the first half of June compared with the first half of May, according to Reuters calculations based on data and sources.

Russia’s parliament approved amendments to the tax code last week aimed specifically at tackling the fuel shortages caused by the drone attacks, including subsidies on fuel imports pegged to Indian delivery costs and prices.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia was in contact with other countries and discussing imports of fuel at acceptable prices, without naming which countries were involved.

India’s Russian Oil Imports Climb To A Record 2.70 Million Barrels-Per-Day

Separately, India’s imports of Russian crude climbed to their highest level on record in June, according to ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler. Indian refiners received about 2.70 million barrels per day of Russian oil during the month, preliminary data from both trackers showed.

That compares with 2.13 million barrels per day in May by Kpler’s count and 1.95 million barrels per day by LSEG’s count, a gap between the two trackers that reflects differing methods of tracking cargoes at sea.

Russian oil accounted for more than half of India’s total crude imports in June, up from 36.5 percent in May, the Kpler data showed. India’s overall crude imports stayed nearly flat at 4.9 million barrels per day during the month, with Russia remaining the largest single supplier to the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer.

Hormuz Closure Pushes Refiners Further Toward Discounted Russian Crude

Indian refiners have leaned further on discounted Russian barrels to offset the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure on supplies reaching them from the Middle East, the data showed, with the discount making Russian cargoes more attractive at a time when alternative Gulf supply has grown harder to secure.

Russian oil has dominated India’s crude imports since 2022-23, after several European buyers stopped purchasing from Moscow in retaliation for its war on Ukraine, leaving discounted barrels available for Indian refiners to buy in place of costlier Gulf and Atlantic Basin crude.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/russia-buying-gasoline-from-india-to-tackle-fuel-shortages-triggered-by-ukrainian-drone-strikes-ws-l-10185392.html

Donald Trump jokes about giving himself and his two eldest sons Medals of Honor during Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library event.

United States President Donald Trump made a bizarre joke involving himself and his two eldest sons while speaking about recipients of the Medal of Honour during the inauguration of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, on Wednesday.

Speaking about former US president Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Trump noted that they were one of only two father-son pairs to have received the United States’ highest military award for bravery.

“Except for Arthur and Douglas MacArthur … they’re the only father and son pair to receive our nation’s highest military award for courage above and beyond the call of duty,” the US president said.

Looking at his sons in the audience, Trump then joked: “Now, as I see my two beautiful sons sitting there, I think I’m going to give one to myself, one to them, and we’ll have a threesome.”

Trump on the Medal of Honor:

I see my two beautiful sons sitting. I think I am going to give one to myself and one to them, and we will have a threesome.

I will give them the Congressional Medal of Honor for something. pic.twitter.com/27BLNyPLEw

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 1, 2026

Trump’s remark was met with awkward laughter from the audience at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

As the remark drew audible reactions from the audience, Trump clarified that he would choose only one of his sons.

“Ok, I’ll pick out one of the two. I’ll give them the Congressional Medal of Honor for something for their genius at hunting, and I’ll get one for taking on Russia, Russia, Russia, or something, and we’ll have a third pair now,” he said.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/well-have-a-threesome-trumps-bizarre-joke-about-himself-sons-leaves-audience-agape-ws-l-10185548.html

DONALD Trump has vowed to ask Congress to end birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court struck down his executive order to end the policy in a fractured 6-3 ruling.

The president called the decision “too bad for our Country” and implied it was a win for China in a string of scathing Truth Social posts after the opinion was announced.

China has been accused of using the US policy for “birth tourism” with nationals having children in American territories to ensure their kids are citizens.

“I would like to congratulate President Xi, and the Great Country of China, on their massive Birthright Citizenship WIN!” the president posted.

Trump also insisted lawmakers could restrict birthright citizenship – one of his biggest immigration priorities – without changing the Constitution

The justices in Washington handed down the highly anticipated decision on Tuesday on the final day of the Supreme Court’s term.

The judgment upheld the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment and blocked Trump’s executive order from last year from taking effect.

The executive order sought to deny automatic citizenship to US-born children whose mothers were in the country illegally or temporarily and whose fathers were neither American citizens nor permanent residents.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh provided the sixth vote against Trump’s order but did not join the majority’s constitutional reasoning.

Kavanaugh said the directive instead conflicted with federal citizenship law, which grants citizenship at birth using wording similar to the 14th Amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts led a narrower 5-4 majority finding that the 14th Amendment protects citizenship for children born in the US to parents who are living in the country illegally or temporarily.

The result was a 6-3 ruling against Trump’s order, but only five justices agreed that his policy also violated the Constitution.

Roberts was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

He wrote that children born on American soil to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are “citizens at birth.”

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote.

“We keep that promise today.”

The judgment therefore struck down Trump’s order 6-3, while the broader constitutional protection for birthright citizenship was backed by a slimmer 5-4 majority.

Trump seized on Kavanaugh’s separate reasoning as he demanded that Congress pass legislation restricting the right.

“The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!”

Trump urged lawmakers to “start TODAY” on ending what he described as “expensive and unfair to our Country” birthright citizenship.

“They will have my Complete and Total Support!” he added.

However, any such law would face a fresh legal challenge because five justices found that the Constitution itself protects citizenship for the children covered by Trump’s order.

Trump signed the executive order on January 20, 2025, his first day back in the White House.

It told federal agencies not to recognize the citizenship of babies born in the US when neither parent was an American citizen or lawful permanent resident.

The measure targeted children whose mothers were in the country illegally or legally present on temporary visas.

Lower courts blocked the order before it could take effect, eventually sending the dispute to the nation’s highest court.

Under the longstanding interpretation of US law, almost every child born on American soil automatically becomes an American citizen regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

The principle is known as jus soli, or “right of the soil,” because citizenship is based on where someone is born.

Lower courts blocked the order before it could take effect, setting up the showdown before the nation’s highest court.

Under current practice, almost every baby born on American soil becomes a citizen regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

The rule is based on the principle of jus soli, or “right of the soil,” which grants citizenship according to where someone is born.

Other countries rely on jus sanguinis, or “right of blood,” which bases a child’s citizenship on their parents’ nationality.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 following the Civil War, declares that all people “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are citizens.

Congress later included the same principle in federal citizenship law passed in 1940.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16606091/supreme-court-strikes-trump-birthright-citizenship-trans-sports-ban/

A prolonged and dangerous heatwave will intensify across a swathe of the US this week, ushering in scorching daytime heat, high humidity and stifling overnight temperatures, forecasters predict.

Some 120 million people nationwide are under an extreme heat warning as of Tuesday, as Americans head into the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

To the north, much of Canada began experiencing its own heatwave on Tuesday, with temperatures up to 37C (99F) expected in Ontario.

It comes after Europe’s unprecedented early summer heatwave scorched several countries over recent days, with temperature records broken across the continent.

The heatwave is forecast to hit a large area of the country, from the US east coast to central areas of the country.

The extreme temperatures caused by a heat dome, will peak in the Midwest and Mississippi Valley by Thursday, the NWS predicted.

It will shift east into the Ohio Valley and East Coast on Thursday and into the holiday weekend, according to the weather service.

Temperatures ranging from 95F-105F (35C -40.6C) combined with high humidity will bring the heat index to 100F-115F (38C-46C).

Daily temperature records are expected to be broken on Thursday and Friday, with some monthly and all-time records possible.

Officials are warning people living in the affected areas to limit time outdoors, stay hydrated and ensure access to air conditioning or cooling centres.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani activated a heat emergency plan with hundreds of cooling centres set to open across the city on Wednesday.

Detroit, Michigan, where temperatures could reach 100F (38C), opened a dozen recreation centres with air conditioning for residents to cool down.

With the intense weather, some World Cup matches could have heat indexes exceeding the threshold where global players’ union Fifpro consider it too unsafe for play.

The hottest weather will be in Texas, which will mostly hit fans travelling to and from the air-conditioned stadiums in Houston and Arlington.

This may also be the case for the England v DR Congo match on Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, is moving parts of its Fifa World Cup Fan Festival into cooled tents on Thursday and Friday.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2j8kd0dk4o

It has been four days since a small plane slammed into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, killing the pilot – the only person on board – and wounding 13 others, but it’s still unclear why, and how, that happened.

A 60-word report detailing the basic facts in state-owned Beijing Daily is the only official statement China has published so far on the crash, which happened just a few kilometres from Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party’s headquarters.

Friday’s collision left holes on the side of the 109-storey CITIC Tower, which have since been boarded up. Dramatic footage of the incident has been scrubbed off the internet. At least three aviation firms tell the BBC they’ve been told to suspend light aircraft operations but declined to elaborate, saying they had been instructed not to discuss it.

Amid the information vacuum, speculation is mounting as to how the aircraft managed to penetrate a city which has some of the world’s strictest airspace controls.

China is no stranger to censorship. Criticism of the party, the country’s leaders or the government is rare, and any discussions that seem critical, have political implications or touch upon sensitive issues quickly disappear.

But this time it has gone well beyond the obvious targets. Photographs and memes of the skyscraper, which are unrelated to Friday’s incident, have also been removed from Chinese social media platforms.

Shaped like a Chinese wine vessel, the building is a local crowd-puller. Many see it as a lucky charm and young people wishing for good fortune, from exam results to jobs, either stop by or share photos of it online, along with a quick prayer.

The censorship machinery kicked in so quickly and thoroughly this time possibly because Beijing’s leadership is “still not exactly sure what happened”, says Manya Koetse, who runs the Eye on Digital China newsletter.

“This is a highly unusual incident,” she says, adding that it calls into question government competence and threatens “important party narratives”.

Even those aviation firms that confirmed to the BBC that authorities have grounded light aircraft operations since the incident did not wish to say more.

“We were told to not speak about it. Please ask others,” said a lady at a flight training institute in Beijing.

Another firm in Chengdu declined to specify which authority the instruction came from, and promptly ended the call.

Beijing enforces a permanent no-fly zone of roughly 100 sq km (39 sq miles) over its political core covering Tiananmen Square and Zhongnanhai, the heavily guarded compound where the country’s top leaders live and work.

Describing the incident as a “massive security breach”, China analyst Bill Bishop wrote on X: “Not many more seconds of flying and [the crash] could have been at Zhongnanhai… [That would have been] an earthquake in Beijing’s security system.”

Beijing also recently tightened regulations on drones, citing security concerns – drones now have to be registered before they can be brought in and out of the capital city.

“The fact that a small plane, considerably larger than most drones, was able to fly across much of the city and get quite close to Zhongnanhai is both politically embarrassing and a major security lapse,” says Raymond Kuo, vice-president of research at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs.

It could have been a case of pilot error or a mechanical failure, Kuo says, but adds that it could also “potentially have been intentional”.

The plane was a two-seat, single-engine Aurora SA60L manufactured by Chinese company Sunward Aircraft, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24. At 6.9m long, with a wingspan of 8.6m, it is designed for touring, aerial photography and recreational aviation.

Outside China, Friday’s incident has recalled, for some, the moment they heard about the September 11 attacks in 2001, when suicide attackers crashed US passenger jets into two New York skyscrapers, killing thousands of people.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlwe28dz44o

A quiet Brooklyn storefront served as a key part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme led by the Russian mob, a federal indictment charges — and could even have been backed by the Kremlin.

The scheme was so brazen, one medical supply company linked to the outfit submitted bills totaling over $250 million for urinary catheters in 2023 alone, according to the feds.

The number was so large it amounted to $50 million more than the combined spend of every other medical provider in the country on catheters that year.

The scam started in 2022 when a Russia-based transnational criminal organization bought up over 30 medical supply companies across the US — from California to Texas to Chicago — which were already enrolled in Medicare, according to the indictment.

The organization then recruited young men, primarily from Russia and Estonia, and sent them to the US to act as straw owners of the companies.

The fraudsters then indiscriminately began blanket billing Medicare for supply reimbursements, mostly urinary catheters, using the stolen credentials of 7,000 physicians and over a million Medicare recipients, feds allege.

Thousands of bills originated from G&I Ortho Supply in Gravesend, Brooklyn, and were sent on behalf of Medicare customers across the country. It is one of two addresses in the borough the gang operated from, the other hasn’t been revealed.

The crime syndicate made $10.6 billion in fraudulent claims in total, according to prosecutors. They were paid $941 million, which the gang are charged with promptly laundering through China, Israel, Pakistan, Singapore and Turkey.

While some of the hired patsies have been caught and prosecuted, a recently unsealed superseding indictment is short on details of who was running the scheme, beyond they are believed to have operated from outside the US.

Experts are convinced the scheme goes to the top of Russian society.

“These are big numbers. I don’t see how you become a John Gotti in Russia without the government either giving you permission or controlling what you do,” Jay Albanese, a criminology professor specializing in international crime rings at Virginia Commonwealth University, told The Post.

An earlier prosecution of two men who fronted businesses involved in the scheme shed more light on how it worked.

The straw owners’ main job was collecting the Medicare reimbursements from the medical facilities, as they sent as physical checks through the mail, and then banking it.

Aleksandr Lis, a 26-year-old soccer-loving Estonian, was recruited by the gang and flew to New York where he was put up in a Times Square hotel.

He lived there for nine months as nominee owner of Texas’ Konaniah Medical Supplies and another Kentucky medical supply business. Instructions on how to do his job were sent to him via text message, his lawyer Daniel Wachtell said.

The lonely, low-paid young money-runner received $17,000 for the nine months he was on the job, which seemed unextraordinary to the uneducated, former package delivery man who arrived speaking no English. He had to file documents, collect money, open an account asking for a Russian-speaking bank clerk by name, Wachtell said.

Text messages show he and another nominee-owner complained of loneliness and boredom while shacked up in New York and at one point suspected their jobs might not be what they thought.

Prosecutors said over $6 million in fraudulent funds passed through Lis’s hands and he pleaded guilty in 2025 in the Eastern District of Kentucky to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He has already been released from prison after getting sentenced to 28 months, mostly due to time served and was deported back to Estonia upon release, his lawyers confirmed to The Post.

In court, Lis’s attorneys argued he was a low-level operative swept up in the scam. “Aleks regrets ever having come to this country for this job, and I’m very grateful that he’s at home with his family now,” Wachtell told The Post.

John Jay College criminology professor Serguei Cheloukhine, who specializes in post-Soviet organized crime, isn’t as convinced by the defense.

“You cannot pick up a guy off the street in Chechnya or Estonia and do this. That’s not how it works. They have this dark network that they communicate with. There’s passing on of references,” Cheloukhine, a former Interpol cop, told The Post.

In January, Kazakh national Anuar Abdrakhmanov was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering in a similar massive Medicare fraud scheme in Chicago federal court.

Prosecutors allege Abdrakhmanov — who arrived on a visitor’s visa but was able to procure a New York state driver’s license — took control of Priority One Medical Equipment, a Kentucky company, in April 2024 and used it to submit roughly $666 million in fraudulent claims for glucose monitors and catheters.

The company’s Kentucky office was largely vacant; employees were paid $6,000 a month to forward mail and checks via the Telegram encrypted messaging app to an unidentified supervisor and ship payments to Chicago-area addresses, according to the indictment.

Abdrakhmanov allegedly wired proceeds overseas, including to Hong Kong accounts. The case remains in pretrial proceedings and he has not yet entered a plea.

The indictment unsealed last week contained the names of 12 people charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, healthcare fraud and money laundering, all nationals of Russia, Czechia, Estonia and one US citizen, Jason Onoufrienko.

All are wanted by the feds, who noted the Russian gang had directed members in the US to flee across the Mexico border when law enforcement began making arrests.

On the other side of the scheme, affected citizens and businesses blame Medicare for not catching on sooner.

In April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid alerted providers that 1.3 million recipients had been issued new Medicare ID numbers — presumably because their original ones were compromised in the Russian mob breach.

The scheme triggered over 400,000 complaints from beneficiaries and providers who noticed fraudulent billing on their Medicare statements.

Just seven of the fraudulent medical supply companies accounted for a $1.9 billion spike in catheter reimbursements in 2023.

Around that time, local news outlets proliferated with stories Medicare recipients getting eye-popping catheter bills — which can now be traced to the Russian outfit.

New Hampshire woman Laura Colquhoun told CBS New York she was billed $1,800 for catheters from the Brooklyn site, G&I Ortho Supply in Gravesend, one of the two New York addresses the gang operated out of, according to the indictment.

“So, all these charges were all fraudulent,” Colquhoun told the outlet.

“Medicare is just saying, ‘OK, here, here’s taxpayers’ money,’ and I think they have to be more concerned because it is from taxpayer money.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/30/us-news/russian-mobsters-1b-medicare-scam-likely-state-sanctioned-sources/

The U.S. Justice Department and 17 states reached settlement agreements with three major egg producers this week to resolve allegations that the companies illegally colluded for years to raise prices, including when the cost soared to record highs last year.

The states and federal government accused Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch of a behind-the-scenes arrangement to “artificially inflate the daily price quotations for eggs” between June 2022 and March 2025. In particular, their investigation found that the companies coordinated on what bids they would submit to Urner Barry Publications, a company that runs an index key to determining how much grocery stores, restaurants and others pay for billions of eggs each year.

In turn, that meant “higher prices for eggs sold to consumers,” alleged the complaint, which was filed in Iowa on Monday, the day the settlement terms were announced.

“When powerful corporations collude behind the scenes to raise prices, working families suffer the costs,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who helped lead the investigation, said in a statement. “These egg producers manipulated the market to squeeze even more profit out of consumers and businesses.”

None of the companies admitted wrongdoing under the settlements. But to settle the states’ claims, Cal-Maine, Versova and Hickman’s will collectively be on the hook for $3.3 million and 53 million eggs, James and others said. Those eggs would be donated by the companies and make their ways to food banks and nonprofits. The money will be distributed to the states.

The Justice Department and the states also outlined actions the companies will need to take, including adopting antitrust compliance programs and banning communicating with competitors on pricing and bidding strategies.

The settlements would still need court approval. The Justice Department’s Omeed A. Assefi said Tuesday that the proposed settlements “resolve years of conduct that dragged on Americans’ finances and their everyday lives.”

Average U.S. egg prices soared to a record high of about $6.23 per dozen in March 2025, amid a bird flu epidemic that forced farmers to slaughter millions of egg-laying chickens. Egg producers blamed price spike on the outbreak, but critics accused big companies of taking advantage of their market dominance and the government began its investigation.

Monday’s complaint notes that price quotations “dropped significantly” after Cal-Maine, Versova and Hickman’s learned of the Justice Department’s investigation and were instructed to preserve documents in March 2025. Consumer egg prices also later tumbled — to under $2.20 per dozen as of May 2026 — as replenished flocks caught up despite the ongoing outbreak.

Cal-Maine maintained Monday that allegations of price manipulation were “baseless” and that it believes its conduct has been legal. It also noted that while it was part of a cooperative with the other egg producers, it left the group in May 2024.

Still, Cal-Maine CEO Sherman Miller said the company’s settlement agreement “enables us to move forward so we can devote our full attention to what matters most: delivering affordable, high-quality eggs and egg-based prepared foods to consumers nationwide.”

Miller added the period the Justice Department reviewed “was a particularly challenging time” — noting that, beyond avian flu, the COVID-19 pandemic, weather and other market conditions have contributed to temporary supply shocks and high prices in recent years. He said Cal-Maine “took numerous steps to protect and grow its hen flock” in that time.

Versova echoed a similar sentiment, particularly pointing to the toll the bird flu has had on its farmers, who it noted “don’t set the wholesale price of eggs.” Instead, Versova said the price of most of its eggs depends on cost fluctuations of grain used in hen feeds.

Meanwhile, Hickman’s owner Mantiqueira USA, which acquired the egg producer in November, said the “conduct referenced in the complaint predates our acquisition,” noting that it is committed to complying with the law.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/egg-prices-collusion-settlement-d32b05892541613df3f4e4932109ee0c

The World Cup is in the lose-and-go-home stage of the tournament and the pressure keeps rising with every minute of every match.

The biggest pressure cooker of them all: the penalty kick shootout. Exhausted players and goalkeepers face off in a tense one-on-one confrontation that carries the hopes and dreams of entire nations.

Two of the first four matches in the round of 32 were settled by shootouts: Morocco beat the Netherlands and Paraguay bested Germany.

A miss can mean humiliation. A goalkeeper’s save or the final bulge of the ball in the back of the net can bring tears of joy to millions.

That kind of pressure can reach “inhumane” levels, almost all of it focused on the penalty takers, said Geir Jordet, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and author of the book, “Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shootout.”

“In our research, the only emotion everyone agrees is present is anxiety,” Jordet said.

Expect more shootouts, more pressure, more anxiety.

A record five games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar were settled by penalty kicks, including the final when Argentina beat France.

“As you go into knockout football it’s something that becomes more prominent in the games,” England winger Noni Madueke said. “So like every part of our game we want to be at the highest level when it comes to that.”

The physical and mental distance from spot to goal

This tense battle of wills is fought over a 12-yard (11-meter) distance between the penalty spot and the goal line. The shootout was added to the game in 1970 and has settled several of the world’s biggest tournaments.

The first World Cup final to be settled by penalty kicks was Brazil’s 1994 victory over Italy. That shootout also produced one of the most infamous misses in soccer history when Italy great Roberto Baggio sent the final kick over the crossbar.

The penalty taker

Techniques vary.

Some take the kick quickly. Others pause, taking deep, calming breaths before they approach. Some run and strike it hard. A popular variation is the stutter-step, waiting for the goalkeeper to commit to which way he’s going.

The penalty taker faces the most pressure in the moment because he’s expected to score, Jordet told The Associated Press by email.

Oman’s Hormuz proposal is partly modelled on Straits of Malacca and Singapore, where a private foundation collects voluntary contributions to support safe navigation.

Iran and US-allied Oman are moving ahead with plans to introduce payments for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz despite public objections from Washington, according to a report published by The New York Times.

The proposal, if implemented, would mark a significant departure from the pre-war status of the strategic waterway, where commercial vessels had long transited free of charge between Iran and Oman while transporting oil and gas from the Persian Gulf to global markets.

During the conflict earlier this year, Iran effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and sending global energy prices sharply higher. Since then, Iranian officials have repeatedly said they intend to monetise the waterway.

Oman Submits Hormuz Fee Proposal To Western Allies

According to the report, Oman has submitted a formal proposal to the United States and other Western allies outlining a framework under which shipping companies would pay service fees to use the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to the NYT, a person familiar with the US position said American negotiators had received the proposal and intended to discuss their concerns with Omani officials. The person and the regional diplomat said the proposal referred to voluntary service fees rather than mandatory tolls.

The Iranian official, however, said the payments would be compulsory.

The future of the Strait of Hormuz remains a key issue in negotiations between Washington and Tehran over a lasting peace agreement.

According to the regional diplomat, Oman’s proposal is partly modelled on arrangements in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, where a private foundation collects voluntary contributions to support safe navigation.

Oman Partners With Iran On Hormuz Crisis

On Monday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran’s priority was to reach an agreement with Oman on managing the waterway. However, if Oman does not agree to establish a joint framework, Iran will proceed independently, according to remarks carried by Iranian state television.

Oman has long served as a mediator between the United States and Iran and has sought to maintain a neutral position amid regional tensions.

Trump Threatens To Bomb Oman

After reports emerged in May that Oman had discussed partnering with Iran on charging service fees in the strait, US President Donald Trump warned he would bomb Oman if it did not “behave just like everybody else.”

Last week, Trump also described the idea of collecting tolls or fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz as “unacceptable.”

It remains unclear whether the Trump administration would accept a system based on voluntary service fees.

60-Day Free Transit Through Hormuz

A framework peace agreement signed by the United States and Iran earlier this month guaranteed “the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge” through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days while negotiations continue over a longer-term arrangement.

The agreement also calls for Iran and Oman to begin a dialogue on the future management of the waterway after the 60-day period.

According to The New York Times, American negotiators valued Washington’s partnership with Oman and were confident that differences over the proposal could be resolved through technical discussions.

Oman’s Opaque Stance On Iran’s Hormuz Fee Demand

Three European diplomats said Omani officials had initially presented the proposal as a contingency plan to facilitate maritime trade if the conflict continued.

Although European governments oppose the introduction of fees, they are focused on ensuring any arrangement complies with international law, they said.

According to remarks carried by Iranian state television, Gharibabadi said Iran and Oman would begin talks next week on arrangements for the strait, including the collection of fees from passing ships and changes to existing shipping routes.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/iran-oman-move-ahead-with-hormuz-fee-proposal-despite-us-opposition-report-ws-l-10183175.html

A patient is being tested for suspected Ebola at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, though Scottish health officials say there are no confirmed cases and the public risk remains low.

A patient is being tested for suspected Ebola at a hospital in Glasgow, prompting health officials to activate established safety protocols while stressing that the risk to the public remains low. A ward at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was partially closed on Tuesday after the patient, who arrived at the Acute Receiving Unit during the early hours of the morning, was identified as a suspected Ebola case.

Public Health Scotland said there are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland, adding that the country has well-established procedures for assessing and testing travelers arriving in the UK from regions affected by the virus.

“There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland, and the risk to the general public remains low,” a spokesperson said.

The agency said it is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to assess travel routes into the UK from affected countries. Officials also noted that the NHS has established procedures for detecting and managing suspected Ebola cases.

If necessary, contact tracing will be carried out, with close contacts undergoing clinical assessment and precautionary testing. Public Health Scotland also confirmed that the UKHSA’s Returning Workers Scheme has been activated to monitor people traveling from the UK to Ebola-affected areas as part of their work.

The difference is not about one country building stronger roads than another. It comes down to the way road materials are selected based on the climate they are expected to handle.

As parts of Europe experience record-breaking temperatures, reports of roads becoming soft and damaged in the UK have drawn attention. The situation has also sparked comparisons with India, where temperatures regularly cross 45 degrees Celsius during peak summer months without roads commonly reaching the same level of failure.

The difference is not about one country building stronger roads than another. It comes down to the way road materials are selected based on the climate they are expected to handle.

European Roads Are Designed For Freezing Winters

In countries like the UK, road construction has traditionally focused on surviving cold conditions. Roads must withstand repeated cycles of freezing and thawing, which can cause cracks and structural damage.

For this reason, many European roads use materials such as hot-rolled asphalt (HRA) and dense asphalt concrete. These mixes contain a higher proportion of bitumen and finer aggregates, giving the surface more flexibility.

That flexibility is useful during harsh winters because the road can expand and contract without easily cracking. Softer grades of bitumen help roads remain durable when temperatures drop below zero.

However, the same quality can become a weakness during extreme heat.

Why High Temperatures Can Affect UK Roads

When temperatures rise close to 40 degrees Celsius or beyond, the bitumen in these asphalt mixes can begin to soften. Under pressure from heavy vehicles, the surface may deform, creating issues such as ruts, sinking or softened patches.

Since such extreme heat has historically been unusual in many parts of the UK, roads are not always engineered around prolonged exposure to these conditions.

Indian Roads Are Built To Handle Scorching Summers

India faces a different climate challenge. Instead of long freezing periods, roads must endure months of intense heat, strong sunlight and heavy traffic.

To deal with this, Indian road construction commonly uses harder grades of bitumen, including VG-30 and VG-40. These materials have higher viscosity and are better able to maintain their strength when temperatures rise significantly.

Road mixes in India also often include larger aggregates, helping surfaces remain stable even during severe heat. This reduces the chances of the road becoming soft or developing permanent deformations under constant traffic loads.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/why-roads-in-uk-melt-at-40-degrees-but-survive-indias-gruelling-heat-11708908?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Deuri — a first-year student at Central Law College in Old Dhaka, who also occasionally serves as an assistant priest at the central temple of Jagannath University — was targeted by unidentified persons late on Monday.

A Hindu student, who also works as an assistant priest at a temple, was allegedly kidnapped, tortured, and forced to pay ransom after being picked up from Dhaka’s Wari area in Bangladesh. The victim, 25-year-old Subhash Deuri, is currently undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said police.

Deuri — a first-year student at Central Law College in Old Dhaka, who also occasionally serves as an assistant priest at the central temple of Jagannath University — was targeted by unidentified persons late on Monday, according to reports by Bangladesh’s Daily Star and Bdnews24 media portal.

It was not immediately clear if Deuri was targeted because of his faith.

What Family Said

According to his relatives, Deuri was abducted around 8:00 pm after he arrived in the Swamibagh area by rickshaw. He managed to escape on Tuesday morning and later sought help from his roommate, who took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

His sister, Jaya, told Bdnews24 that around 1 am on Tuesday, she received a call from his phone number. An unknown man demanded 30,000 Bangladeshi Taka.

One of the abductors gave her a phone number to transfer money, and he was dumped on the street in the Old Dhaka area after 26,000 Bangladeshi Taka was transferred to the account linked to that number.

The victim’s relative, Dipu Barman, told Daily Star that Deuri suffered fractures to his leg and hip, and doctors have said he will require surgery.

What Police Said

Mofizur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Wari Police Station, told the Daily Star that Deuri told police that he had gone to a temple in Swamibagh on Monday night, where several people allegedly abducted him and confined him in a house.

“He later escaped by jumping from a part of the building in the early hours of the morning. He sustained injuries while jumping,” the officer said.

He added that police are investigating the incident.

‘Not A Permanent Priest’

Meanwhile, Anik Kumar Das, member secretary of Jagannath University’s central temple committee, clarified that Deuri is not a permanent temple priest.

“He is not our permanent priest. Our priest is Saikat Pathak. However, Subhash occasionally performs religious rituals in his absence. This incident has no connection with our temple. We have already stated on our temple’s Facebook page clarifying the matter,” he told The Daily Star.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/25-year-old-hindu-priest-kidnapped-tortured-for-ransom-in-bangladesh-11710319?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

U.S. President Donald Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family’s crypto ventures last year, showing how Trump now derives most of his income from ​digital assets that have benefited from his policies, according to a review of his latest financial disclosures on Tuesday.
The filings, his annual disclosure for 2025 with ‌the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, disclosed that his companies received almost $800 million from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons co-founded. That income, which the president splits with family members, included more than $520 million from sales of crypto tokens and more than $250 million from the sale of interests in the World Liberty business.

Trump reported another $635 million from the sale of his Trump meme coins.
The news underlines how crypto has transformed the president’s fortunes. In his disclosure a year ​ago, for example, the president reported $57.35 million from token sales at World Liberty, which then leaped nine-fold in this year’s filing.
Reuters recently estimated the Trump family has made at least $2.3 ​billion from crypto-related projects since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
On taking office, Trump began to put in place policies and initiatives that ⁠the industry saw as beneficial, from implementing federal rules for stablecoins to dialing back policing of the industry by the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For 2025, the president also reported ​over $80 million in income from settlements with various media companies and $52 million in income from his company licensing his name to overseas property developers, driven principally by deals with Middle Eastern partners.
White House spokesperson ​Anna Kelly said in a statement, “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest. President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions.”
Kelly added: “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media ​have been pushing for a decade.”

While the White House has previously said the president’s business interests are currently overseen by his children, the president remains the beneficiary of the assets in the ​trust that ultimately receives the income.

NEW WEALTH DRIVEN BY CRYPTO

Although crypto is by far the largest driver of income for Trump, his traditional businesses — in particular golf courses and resorts — continued to bring in millions.
Trump reported a ‌15% rise in ⁠revenue at his golf and resort facilities to just over $500 million in 2025. The strongest increases were at clubs where the president has spent considerable time since his 2025 inauguration.
Revenue at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which Trump dubbed the Winter White House, soared to $77 million from $50 million in 2024, while revenue at his golf club in nearby West Palm Beach jumped 27%. Revenue fell at Trump’s Los Angeles course last year.
Trump hosted winners of his second annual meme coin contest at Mar-a-Lago in April.Trump’s income from his real estate interests – the business in which he made his name – had less ​spectacular growth. He reported income from a dozen significant ​commercial real estate ventures, mainly interests in ⁠buildings he built or acquired decades ago. The filing doesn’t give specific rent figures for properties like Trump Tower in New York but rather income ranges. For most, the income range in 2025 was the same or lower than Trump reported a decade prior.
A spokesperson for the Trump family business, The ​Trump Organization, said in a statement that “the breadth and depth of this filing further underscores our commitment to transparency. At nearly 1,000 pages, ​it represents one of the ⁠most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates a level of financial transparency unmatched in presidential history.”
A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial declined to comment.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reports-more-than-14-billion-income-crypto-ventures-2026-06-30/

The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a painful defeat on Tuesday by rejecting his move to restrict birthright citizenship on the final day of its momentous term, while also letting states ban transgender student athletes from women’s sports teams and striking down more ​campaign finance limits.
The top U.S. judicial body’s annual term — nine months long — was packed with major rulings, including some big victories for Trump in areas such as presidential powers and immigration as well as losses for him on tariffs, firing a Federal Reserve official ‌and, on Tuesday, birthright citizenship.

The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority that includes three Trump appointees.
Limiting birthright citizenship was one of the top priorities in the Republican president’s crackdown on immigration — so much so that he signed an executive order on the matter on his first day back in office last year.
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored Tuesday’s 6-3 decision, said Trump’s directive violated language in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that guarantees citizenship to virtually anyone born in the United States, with a few narrow exceptions.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War that ended slavery in the United States, confers citizenship to those born ​in the United States who are “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” There were narrow exceptions such as the children of foreign diplomats or members of an enemy occupying force.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” ​Roberts wrote, adding that the authors of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to every free-born person in the land.
“We keep that promise today,” Roberts wrote.
Trump’s directive instructed federal agencies not to recognize the citizenship ⁠of children born in the United States if neither parent is an American citizen or legal permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder. Critics have accused Trump of racial and religious discrimination in his approach to immigration.
Ahead of the ruling, some experts had estimated that Trump’s directive could ​affect the legal status of as many as 250,000 babies born each year and could require the families of millions more to prove the citizenship status of their newborns.

“The court’s decision reaffirms a fundamental American promise — if you are born here, you are a citizen,” said ACLU National Legal ​Director Cecillia Wang, who argued the case on behalf of the challengers at the Supreme Court.
“A president cannot change the Constitution by executive fiat,” Wang added.
Following Tuesday’s ruling, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the ruling was “too bad for our Country” and urged Congress “to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship.”

TRANSGENDER SPORTS

The controversy over transgender athletes has become enmeshed in the American culture wars.
Laws in West Virginia and Idaho designate sports teams at public schools including universities according to “biological sex” and bar “students of the male sex” from female teams. The states said the laws preserve fair and safe competition for women and girls. Twenty-five other ​states have similar laws.

Critics saw the measures as part of a broader assault on the rights of transgender Americans by Trump and various states.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned decisions by lower courts siding with transgender students who challenged the bans in the two states as violating the ​Constitution and a federal anti-discrimination law.
The court decided 9-0 that the state laws do not violate the Title IX civil rights statute that bars discrimination in education “on the basis of sex.” The justices divided along ideological lines — with the six conservative justices in the majority — in deciding that the measures also do not ‌violate the 14th Amendment ⁠guarantee of equal protection under the law.
“Consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex. The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America,” conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the ruling.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said after the ruling: “BIG WIN: The United States Supreme Court just RULED AGAINST MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS. Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!!”
It was the court’s second major ruling against transgender plaintiffs in a span of a year. In a case from Tennessee in June 2025, it let states ban gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

The court has ruled against various campaign finance restrictions since 2010. On Tuesday, it sided with Republican challengers ​including Vice President JD Vance to federal limits on coordinated spending between ​political parties and candidates, as major Republican committees head toward the ⁠November midterm elections with a significant cash advantage over their Democratic counterparts.
The ruling was 6-3, authored by Kavanaugh and powered by the conservative justices. The court found that the current cap on the amount of money parties can spend on campaigns with input from candidates violated the Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government abridgment of freedom of speech.

A CONSEQUENTIAL TERM

The court issued numerous important rulings during its term.
In February, it rejected Trump’s sweeping ​global tariffs pursued under a law meant for national emergencies.
On Monday, it backed Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission member, expanding his powers over the government while overturning a 1935 precedent that had ​long curtailed the ability of presidents to ⁠fire officials at independent agencies. But it also refused in a separate case to let him immediately fire Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve Board of Governors member.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/supreme-court-spurns-trump-birthright-citizenship-allows-transgender-sports-bans-2026-06-30/

Anthropic said on Tuesday that the U.S. Commerce ​Department lifted export controls on its most advanced Fable and Mythos AI models, less than three weeks after the company was ordered to suspend their access over national ‌security risks.
Washington has stepped up oversight of new model releases to identify potential threats amid concerns that advanced AI models could be misused by military intelligence in China, Russia or other countries of concern.

A June 12 order requiring Anthropic to immediately restrict access for Mythos 5 and Fable 5 to foreign nationals prompted the company to disable both models for all users as there was no way to verify nationality in real time.
Last week, the U.S. government allowed the company to release ​Mythos 5 but only to some “trusted” U.S. organizations. The model — designed to detect cybersecurity vulnerabilities — had earlier been made available to a broader group of companies as part of its Glasswing ​project.
Anthropic said on Tuesday that all export controls on the models have now been lifted after the implementation of safeguards.

It is working with the U.S. ⁠government to expand access to Mythos 5 to the broader set of domestic and international partners in the Glasswing program, it said in a blog post. Fable 5, which is intended for the general ​public and has stronger safeguards, will be available from Wednesday.

US GOVERNMENT COLLABORATION AND MOVE TO INDUSTRY STANDARDS

Anthropic, which has had a rocky relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration this year, also said it was ​deepening its collaboration with the U.S. government, giving designated government partners expanded early access to both its models.
It is also working with Amazon (AMZN.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), Google (GOOGL.O), and other Glasswing partners to develop shared common standards to assess and fix potential AI jailbreaks (techniques that bypass safeguards), including a system to rank the severity of such jailbreaks.

A letter to Anthropic from U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that was seen by Reuters said Anthropic had agreed to work diligently with the U.S. government ​on protocols for Mythos, Fable and future models and to inform the U.S. government of any malicious activity.
Lutnick, however, said that the department “reserves the right to reevaluate the decisions made in this letter and ​the necessity of reimposing a license requirement, should circumstances change or should Anthropic fail to adhere to its commitments”.

EFFORTS TO TACKLE POTENTIAL AI JAILBREAKS

Anthropic said the June 12 export-control order followed Amazon researchers reporting a way to bypass Fable ‌5’s safeguards, allowing ⁠the model to identify software vulnerabilities and, in one case, generate code demonstrating how one vulnerability could be exploited.
Anthropic said it has now implemented a new safeguard that blocks the behavior described in the report.

Any blocked request will instead be sent to its Opus 4.8 model, and Anthropic acknowledged that although this would be frustrating for users, the tradeoff was made in the interest of making the model’s other capabilities widely available.
Anthropic warned that it was “probably impossible” to make any AI model fully robust to jailbreaks and noted the potential for the development of a universal jailbreak that would be able to unblock “an entire class ​of harmful behaviors.”
“There will be many minor jailbreaks, some ​narrow harmful ones, and although no universal ⁠jailbreaks for Fable 5 have been discovered at the time of writing, expert safety researchers continue to red-team it,” the company said.
Isaac Harris, executive director of the Frontier Security Institute, a nonprofit focused on AI and national security, said there now appears to be a process for standards of the U.S. models.
But ​he added: “There’s still a question mark as to how equivalently dangerous capabilities coming from China with less guardrails will be handled by the administration in ​the U.S. market.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/us-lift-export-controls-anthropics-fable-ai-model-tuesday-source-says-2026-06-30/

Iran said on Tuesday it would not meet with top U.S. envoys who flew to the region following ​an outbreak of hostilities, clouding the prospects for a lasting peace between the two countries.
Iranian officials also said the two sides must still ‌sort out the terms of a ceasefire they signed two weeks ago before they could tackle more difficult topics, such as possible limits to its nuclear program.

The developments indicated the two sides are far apart on key pillars of the initial framework, which calls for Iran to lift its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for financial incentives, and sets up 60 days ​of negotiations to work out a permanent peace deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha for what the ​White House described as “high level” talks, but Iran and host Qatar said they would meet with mediators, rather than the Iranians themselves.
Qatar ⁠said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was among those to meet with Witkoff and Kushner.

“No meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled ​for the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.
The two countries were due to commence lower-level technical talks, according to Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry.

TRUMP ​SAID TO BE CONTEMPLATING STRIKES

Looking for ways to break the deadlock, Trump has weighed a return to all-out war, holding conversations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine on conducting more strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. sources familiar with the discussion. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
But for now Trump, who ​has publicly threatened Iran with more attacks, has decided to give diplomacy more time, the report said.
Shipping has partially resumed through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global ​oil and liquefied natural gas before the war broke out on February 28.

But Iranian officials said they had a right to manage traffic along with U.S. ally Oman, which lies on ‌the other ⁠side of the strategic waterway, and would impose tolls in mid-August when the 60-day period expires.
“The sovereignty of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran and Oman, and traffic in the Strait is subject to arrangements determined by Iran,” Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said on state TV.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Iran would be prevented from charging tolls through the international waterway, telling The Michael Knowles Show, “This is not going to end in a place where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships ​going through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Vance also ​said in the interview recorded on ⁠Monday but released on Tuesday that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had returned to pre-war levels, even exceeding that on some days, without citing figures.

Despite the uncertainty, oil prices have fallen since the weekend, when the U.S. bombed Iranian military ​facilities in response to drone strikes on commercial ships and Iran attacked U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Vulnerable economies, however, ​could remain at risk from ⁠food and fuel price increases even after energy markets feel relief, the U.N. trade and development agency said on Tuesday.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/uncertainty-over-qatar-diplomacy-clouds-prospects-us-iran-deal-2026-06-30/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday visited ​Lebanese territory occupied by the Israeli military, telling soldiers that Israel would not withdraw from the country’s south ‌as long as Iran-backed Hezbollah continued to pose a threat.
It was the first visit by Netanyahu to occupied Lebanese territory since the Israeli and Lebanese governments reached a security agreement last Friday mediated by the United States under which Israel will hand over two areas to Lebanon’s army.

“Our insistence is ​that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is removed,” Netanyahu told troops, according to a statement ​released by his office, referring to Hezbollah.
“And as long as Hezbollah remains here, armed and threatening ⁠us, we will remain here as well,” he said.
Netanyahu, who last publicly visited occupied Lebanese territory in April, was joined ​by Defence Minister Israel Katz and senior military officials.

‘PILOT ZONES’

Under the U.S.-backed security agreement, Israeli forces are to withdraw from two “pilot zones” ​and allow the Lebanese armed forces to take control of the areas. Few details have been made public on how the project will work in practice.

Israel invaded Lebanon after it was fired upon by Hezbollah on March 2 in response to the U.S. and Israel attacking Iran on February ​28, sparking a regional war that killed thousands, mostly in Iran and Lebanon but also in the Gulf and in Israel.
Israel’s ​military has created a “buffer zone” about 10 km (6 miles) into Lebanon along the entire length of the Israeli border. Israeli officials say the zone ‌is ⁠necessary to protect northern Israeli communities from attacks launched by Hezbollah.
The military has forced the local Lebanese population from their homes and carried out raids of villages, destroying buildings. The military says it is destroying infrastructure, including underground tunnels, used by Hezbollah.
Over 4,000 Lebanese have been killed and more than a million displaced by Israel’s campaign in Lebanon since March. At least 32 Israeli soldiers ​and four Israeli civilians have ​been killed by Hezbollah, most ⁠of them in southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu told Israeli troops on Tuesday that Hezbollah still had around 12,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal and that the Israeli military had killed 9,000 militants in ​Lebanon. He gave no timeframe for the latter figure but appeared to be referring to ​the number killed ⁠since March 2.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-visits-occupied-southern-lebanon-says-israel-wont-leave-yet-2026-06-30/

Guo Wengui, who was once believed to be one of China’s richest businessmen, has been sentenced to 30 years in jail in the US for running a billion dollar scam.

The former property tycoon fled China to the US in 2017, where he reinvented himself as a Communist Party critic and built a loyal online following.

But Guo was later convicted on charges of racketeering, fraud and money laundering.

New York court judge Analisa Torres said Guo had “preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to China”, taking their money to fund his lavish lifestyle.

The BBC has contacted Guo’s representatives for comment.

Guo – who goes by several names, including Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok – was sentenced in a courtroom packed with his supporters.

US attorney Sean S Buckley told the BBC: “Rather than being satisfied with the many legitimate opportunities afforded to him, Guo exploited the trust that thousands had placed in him for his own greed.”

“Today’s sentence shows that fame and wealth do not place you above the law, and that fraudsters who victimise families to enrich themselves will be met with significant consequences,” Buckley said.

Before fleeing China, Guo built a fortune as a property developer and had good ties with the country’s government.

But he sought asylum in the US after being accused by top Chinese officials of corruption.

Guo became a critic of China’s Communist regime and cultivated a wide online following among the Chinese community in the US.

Prosecutors said Guo raised more than $1bn (£760m) from online followers, who joined him in investment and cryptocurrency schemes between 2018 and 2023.

The money he raised was used to fund Guo’s lavish lifestyle which included a 50,000 square foot mansion, a $1m Lamborghini and a $37m yacht, they said.

Guo denied the allegations, saying the funds were used for his political activism.

He had built ties with other China critics, including Steve Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjeg15vw3z9o

Student-led demonstrations continued even after President Vucic announced his plan to resign within weeks. For more than 18 months, demonstrators have kept Vucic under pressure.

Thousands of protesters on Sunday rallied in central Serbia, a day after President Aleksandar Vucic said ⁠he would step down within weeks following more than a year of student-led protests.

“The students are winning,” Nemanja Karovic, a Belgrade professor who supports the movement, told the crowd from a stage in the main square in Kraljevo, some 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of the capital Belgrade.

Serbia has seen regular student-led, anti-government protests since the collapse of a railway station canopy in the northern city of Novi Sad in November 2024.

The incident, which killed 16 people, has been widely blamed on broader government mismanagement of construction projects and systemic corruption.

President Vucic says he plans to resign within weeks

Vucic has branded protesters “foreign agents” who seek to overthrow the government, and has rejected calls for early elections before he is officially due to step down in 2027.

However, on Saturday, Vucic told his supporters at a pro-government rally in Belgrade that he would be president “for only a couple more weeks.”

“And then I will resign,” he added, without giving further details on the election timeline.

Vucic also said he would help his ruling Serbian Progressive Party in the next election.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/serbia-protests-continue-after-vucic-says-he-will-step-down/a-77746666

Pakistan launched its deadliest attack on Afghanistan in months, with Islamabad saying on Monday it killed dozens of militants as the Afghan government reported civilian casualties.

India has condemned Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan over the weekend, calling them “reckless” and a “blatant act of aggression” threatening regional peace. The Taliban government in Kabul has said Islamabad’s ‘double tab’ attacks had hit three eastern provinces, killing 36 civilians and wounding 163.

Pakistani authorities, meanwhile, placed the casualties at 29, claiming those killed in the strikes were ‘militants’ associated with the deadly weekend assault in Karachi, although Afghan authorities have repeatedly denied their territory harbours attackers.

What India Said

In a statement, the foreign ministry said that India “strongly condemns” the Pakistani airstrikes conducted on Afghan territory in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, which Islamabad claimed targeted terrorist hideouts. The statement said the attack resulted in several civilian casualties, including women and children.

“This blatant act of aggression by Pakistan is an assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a direct threat to regional peace and stability. It reflects Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behaviour and its futile attempt to externalise internal failures through desperate acts of violence beyond its borders,” the statement read.

India strongly condemns air-strikes by Pakistan on Afghan territory

🔗 https://t.co/1mONzLsCU4 pic.twitter.com/IDqzhgwPP2

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) June 29, 2026

India also conveyed its condolences to Afghan families that have lost loved ones and wished early recovery to those injured, while reiterating its unwavering support for Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Attack

Pakistan launched its deadliest attack on Afghanistan in months, with Islamabad saying on Monday it killed dozens of militants as the Afghan government reported civilian casualties. The nighttime strikes were the latest flare-up of violence between the neighbours whose relationship has been fraught since 2021, when the Taliban government took power in Kabul, and followed a weeks-long war that erupted in February.

A resident of Paktia province, Adam Khan, told news agency AFP that he “cannot put into words the condition of the children I saw at the hospital, or the screams of their parents and siblings”.

Those killed in one of the strikes “were innocent civilians, including children, elderly people and women” sleeping in a house, the 63-year-old said.

In neighbouring Paktika province, community leader Amin Mangal told AFP a Pakistani strike on a house killed six people. “They were very poor and helpless, had no working man in the household, and were living with the help of charity,” Mangal said.

The Pakistani operation along the border is the deadliest since March, when an attack on a drug treatment centre in Kabul killed hundreds according to the United Nations. Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the latest offensive targeted Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/blatant-act-of-aggression-india-slams-pakistan-for-strikes-in-afghanistan-11705181?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

India and US have been negotiating the first phase of a bilateral trade agreement aimed at expanding market access, reducing tariff barriers and strengthening economic cooperation.

United States Ambassador to India Sergio Gor on Monday said the India-US bilateral trade agreement is in its final stages, with negotiators working through the last 1 or 2% of the legal text.

Speaking at the IX US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit 2026, Gor said the deal has been under discussion for around 18 months, was briefly delayed by a recent judicial intervention, and has since been pushed back toward completion through high-level diplomatic engagement. He also said President Donald Trump remains committed to a “win-win” alignment with New Delhi.

“That trade deal, we thought was done, until the Supreme Court decided to have it underway. And so we continue to pursue that, and we are very close…Most of this deal is complete. There’s a few items that are made for both sides, but it’s in the last 1-2% of that deal,” Gor said.

Referring to the recent visit of US Trade Representative Jamieson Lee Greer to New Delhi, Gor said the trip helped keep the negotiations on track.

“Ambassador Greer visited us in New Delhi for 2 days, and we are hopefully in the final steps of this deal. Most of this deal is complete, and there are a few items that remain from both sides, but it is in the last 1-2%… I am determined to bring this to a close because this is beneficial to both sides,” he added.

He said the trade negotiations involve thousands of items and require extensive legal work, adding that Greer has the President’s full confidence.

“Ambassador Greer has the President’s full confidence, and so we are getting close to finalising that. But, these things are complex legal things, and this is not of one page. We have thousands of items between our two nations that we are working on. And so the fact that we’ve gone so far, that is a great sign for the relationship, and I am hopeful that we will be able to wrap this up sooner than later,” the envoy said.

Gor also said the US Mission in India has facilitated $20.5 billion in brand-new investments back into the United States this year, and contrasted that with the pace of trade negotiations with Europe.

“People ask me why this is taking so long? We’ve been at this trade deal for a year and a half. To put it into perspective, the European trade deal took 20 years. And so no matter what, as long as we beat the European deal, I think we’re in good shape,” the envoy said.

“The US wants to work hand in hand with India… Our embassy in New Delhi this year, we were very proud to announce that we brought in $20.5 billion in new investments,” he added.

‘Win-Win Situation For Both’: Sergio Gor On India-US Trade Deal

The ambassador also spoke about a recent two-hour meeting with President Trump in Washington before the weekend, saying the conversation covered India, trade and the broader strategic relationship.

“I have been with the President for 10 years, so a large part of the conversation was like two friends catching up… but I also told him about my visits to India… I also spoke to him about the growing trade relations. On both sides, we see businesses coming here and going there every week, and it is a win-win situation for both…”

He said Trump remains deeply interested in India and recalled the President’s memories of his earlier visit.

“He was captivated by what I had seen in India. He has very fond memories of India. His last visit was one of the most remarkable visits that he continues to talk about,” Gor noted. “He holds India in a very fond place… And so I look forward to at some point… having the president visit us back in India,” he added.

Gor said the future of the relationship lies in deep technology, defence and artificial intelligence, and that there is “unlimited potential” for cooperation.

“There is not a day that goes by that a new item pops up for the 2 countries (India and the US) to work together… Whether that’s AI, technology, defence, it’s unlimited potential… And I aim to harvest that and to bring the two sides together. And it comes down to that win-win situation,” he said.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/its-in-the-last-1-2-us-envoy-sergio-gor-claims-india-us-trade-pact-nearing-finish-line-ws-l-10180884.html

US President Donald Trump has demanded that gasoline retailers immediately lower fuel prices, arguing that falling crude oil prices should translate into cheaper petrol for consumers.

US President Donald Trump has called on gasoline retailers across the United States to immediately reduce fuel prices, arguing that the recent decline in global crude oil prices should be reflected at the pump without delay. In a strongly worded post on Truth Social, Trump said retailers were charging too much despite oil trading at around $68 per barrel, warning that companies failing to pass on lower costs to consumers could face consequences.

In a recent interview, Beatrice Keul described the encounter as violent and distressing. Keul also recounted being approached by Jeffrey Epstein that same day.

A former beauty queen who has accused US President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her has alleged that he later warned her not to speak publicly about the incident, telling her that “bad things can happen if you speak out”. Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland and Miss Europe contestant, made the claims in an interview with PunchUp, a publication by The Daily Beast.

Keul, 55, first publicly accused Trump in October 2024, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 after inviting her to a private meeting during his Donald J Trump American Dream Pageant in New York. According to Keul, she was 23 at the time and working as a banking executive while modelling part-time. She alleged that an aide escorted her to a suite at the Plaza Hotel, where Trump assaulted her.

Speaking to PunchUp, Keul said the encounter ended after she persuaded Trump to stop. “He was grabbing and touching my body everywhere he could,” she alleged. “It was violent, it was quick, it was intense. I was screaming for help, and nobody came. It was bad.” She further alleged that Trump warned her not to discuss the incident, saying: “Otherwise, bad things can happen.” Keul said she interpreted the remark as a threat.

“I stood up to the American president to save lives,” she told PunchUp. “This is my truth, and I will not be silenced.” Keul also alleged that the late financier Jeffrey Epstein approached her on the same day, introducing himself as “Don’s best friend” and telling her she was supposed to be his “prey”.

In an earlier interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Keul described the events as “like a horror show”, saying: “First, the sexual assault by Donald Trump, and then Jeffrey Epstein wouldn’t let go of me.”

According to PunchUp, Keul said she has received repeated threats since making her allegations public. She said one AI-generated audio message, received around the time of the death of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre in April 2025, stated: “We know where you are, and we will get you.” Her allegations were previously detailed in a December 2024 investigation by The New York Times, in which several women came forward with accounts of alleged sexual misconduct involving Trump.

Trump has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct made against him, calling them “unequivocally false”, and has said he has “never met” some of his accusers.

Responding to Keul’s latest interview, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Beast and PunchUp: “Just as President Trump has said, he’s been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.” She added that Trump “has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.”

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/beatrice-keul-trump-allegations-assault-claim-jeffrey-epstein-article-154799442

The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to let Donald Trump fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as it stood firm to preserve the central bank’s cherished independence against an unprecedented challenge by the Republican president.
The court, in a 5-4 ruling, blocked Trump from removing Cook for now, providing a safeguard for the Fed specifically, even as it boosted the president’s power over government in a separate landmark ruling on Monday. In that ruling, involving Trump’s dismissal of a Federal Trade Commission member, the court expanded presidential authority to fire leaders of other U.S. agencies, overturning ​a precedent dating to 1935 in the process.

No other president since the central bank’s founding in 1913 had sought to oust a Fed governor. In his second term as president, Trump has tested the limits of presidential power in numerous other ways as well.

UNPROVEN ALLEGATIONS

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the ruling, said Trump ‌had “failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute. Without such protections, she could not properly dispute the charges the president laid against her.”
Trump last August cited unproven mortgage fraud allegations in trying to oust Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. Cook denied the allegations, calling them a pretext to remove her for monetary policy differences.

Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal justices in the ruling. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.
The ruling definitively protects Fed officials from being fired at will by a president. Canvassing the history of the Federal Reserve System and its predecessor central banks since the founding, including the Bank of North America and the First and Second Banks of the United States, Roberts emphasized that all have featured independence from the president to shield monetary policy from political interference.
“Like the directors of its ​three predecessors, however, the Federal Reserve’s Governors do not serve at the president’s pleasure — they instead serve staggered 14-year terms, and may be removed only ‘for cause,'” Roberts said.

“We see no reason to leave the public in limbo, or to sow doubt as to the status of one of our nation’s (and the world’s) most important financial institutions,” Roberts added.

‘I REFUSED TO ​BOW’

Cook welcomed the court’s decision, saying it affirms the Fed’s obligation to make policy decisions independently, free from political interference.
“This was never about mortgage documents signed years before I became a Federal Reserve governor. It was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to ⁠bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based only on what would best serve the American people,” Cook said.
The court said its ruling was not deciding the validity of the factual dispute in the case, which can now return to lower courts where action has been stalled while the Supreme Court weighed in.
“It at least remains an open question what precisely happened here, and ​indeed whether Cook committed ‘gross negligence,’ let alone ‘deceitful and potentially criminal conduct,’ as the president’s letter alleges,” Roberts wrote, adding that Cook must be able to respond to the charges made against her.

‘APPROPRIATE ACTION’

Trump reacted to the decision in a social media post.
“The Cook Lawsuit, having to do with her suitability in sitting on the Board of the Federal Reserve, was sent back by the Supreme Court on a strictly ​procedural basis, we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s targeting of Cook and a separate criminal investigation his administration launched in January, but later dropped, against then-Fed Chair Jerome Powell together represented the biggest challenge to the central bank’s independence since its founding.
In its separate 6-3 ruling powered by the conservative justices, the Supreme Court backed Trump’s firing of Democratic Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter. Trump called that ruling “one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers.”
The court overturned its pivotal decision in a case called Humphrey’s Executor v. United States that rebuffed Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt’s attempt to fire an FTC member over policy differences.
Monday’s rulings follow the court’s February 20 decision in another case with major economic ramifications to strike down most of Trump’s sweeping global ​tariffs.

THE POWER OF THE FED

The Fed is the world’s most important central bank, an institution that determines the cost of credit for the United States and beyond and which has been in Trump’s crosshairs since his return to the presidency in January 2025.
As a Fed governor, Cook helps set U.S. monetary policy with the rest of the central bank’s seven-member board and the heads of the 12 ​regional Fed banks. Cook’s term in the job was due to run until 2038. She was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden in 2022.
May 15 was the final day of Powell’s eight years as Fed chair, though he remains a member of its Board of Governors. The U.S. Senate on May 13 voted to confirm Trump’s nominee Kevin Warsh as Powell’s successor, and he was sworn in on May 22.
When the justices in October, agreed ‌to hear the case involving ⁠Cook, they left her in the post for the time being. In contrast, they let Trump remove Slaughter last year.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE ACT

In creating the Fed in 1913, Congress passed a law called the Federal Reserve Act that included provisions to shield the central bank from political interference, requiring governors to be removed by a president only “for cause,” though the law did not define the term nor establish procedures for removal.
While Monday’s ruling did not define exactly what could constitute the “cause” under which a president could fire Cook or other board members, Roberts said that the Fed’s history and independence suggested it should be a “substantial threshold.”
“Without such constraints in place, any perceived or alleged misstep (past or present) could provide a ready pretext for a governor’s removal — a fact that he would surely know, and that would surely weigh on him as he decided what to say and how to vote,” Roberts wrote. “Nothing could be more corrosive of the independence that Congress sought to preserve.”
Trump sought to fire Cook on August 25, 2025, by posting a termination letter on social media citing the allegations disclosed by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee, involving homes owned by her in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta. Trump this month appointed ​Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.
Pulte wrote on social media on Monday, “As I have repeatedly ​said, I believe Lisa Cook will be indicted for mortgage fraud.”
In what is called ⁠a criminal referral, Pulte asked the Justice Department last year to open a criminal investigation into Cook and others over alleged mortgage fraud. There has been no indication of any such criminal investigation moving forward.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in September ruled that Trump’s attempt to remove Cook without notice or a hearing likely violated her right to due process under the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. The judge also said the allegations made against Cook likely were not a legally sufficient cause to remove her under the Federal Reserve Act as they relate to conduct that occurred before she served in the post.
The ​U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined Trump’s request to put Cobb’s order on hold.
Thomas, in a dissenting opinion, said the president can remove Cook “for any reason he wants and by any procedure he wants.” Thomas said any statute that hinders such power ​is unconstitutional.
Barrett faulted the ruling for “settling” the question of whether ⁠the Federal Reserve Act’s removal restriction is constitutional based on a “conclusory analogy” to predecessor central banks. Alito and Gorsuch criticized the ruling’s scope.

PUSHING THE LIMITS

Trump has heaped pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates more rapidly and more deeply than it has been willing to do as it combats persistent inflation, and lashed out repeatedly at Powell for not complying with his wishes.
Both Cook’s case and the fight over tariffs involved the legal fallout from Trump aggressively pushing the limits of presidential power since returning to office in January 2025.
Trump has also used executive authority to quickly transform policies on immigration, military service, federal employment and beyond. To date, the Supreme Court has allowed most of those policies to go ahead despite legal challenges, on a preliminary basis, though the tariffs decision was a major exception.
Trump reacted furiously to that ruling, saying he was “absolutely ashamed” ⁠of some of the ​justices and called the court’s Republican appointees — including two of his own — who ruled against him “fools” and “lapdogs” for Democrats.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-rejects-trumps-unprecedented-bid-fire-feds-cook-2026-06-29/

Iranian and U.S. negotiating ​teams were due in Doha this week, but Iran said on Monday no meeting had been scheduled as weekend missile fire from both sides tested the interim ceasefire ‌to end the four-month-old war.
U.S. President Donald Trump is sending his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his envoy Steve Witkoff to lead the negotiating team, according to his press secretary Karoline Leavitt. While Iran is sending its technical delegation to Qatar this week, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said this had “no relation” to the Americans’ visit and no talks between the two sides were scheduled.

“We will not have any negotiation meetings at any level with the American side in the coming days,” Baghaei ​said.
The disagreement over whether the sides would even meet underscored the fragility of a June 17 accord to pause a conflict that has disrupted global oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz ​and created a political headache for Trump ahead of November’s congressional elections.
The U.S. and Iran gave themselves at least 60 days to implement the 14-point memorandum of ⁠understanding to extend an April ceasefire, discuss Iran’s nuclear program and negotiate a permanent truce. But progress has been halting, with each side accusing the other of violating agreed terms.

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran ​on February 28, maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow chokepoint that previously carried about a fifth of the global oil trade, came to a virtual standstill.
Israel has not joined the U.S.-Iran peace talks ​and has distanced itself from the agreement. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have complicated efforts to end fighting in Lebanon, where Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Iran-backed Hezbollah, has cast doubt on a separate, U.S.-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel aimed at halting the conflict.
Closure of the waterway sent oil prices to above $100 a barrel, pushing up global inflation and putting pressure on Trump ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress, where some of his ​fellow Republicans have criticized the president for waging war without lawmakers’ authorization.

A senior Iranian official said there would be a meeting in Doha on Tuesday, but unlike previous technical talks between Iran and U.S. teams in ​Switzerland, the focus would be on managing the Strait of Hormuz and de-escalating tensions.
Another official with knowledge of the plans said technical teams from the U.S. and Iran are expected to meet separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators ‌on Wednesday.

UNCERTAINTY ⁠IN WASHINGTON

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “the meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not. We’re going to find out.”
At the same time he maintained “we’re winning militarily” and repeated his condition that Iran must be stopped from producing a nuclear weapon.
Iran has sought leverage by flexing its control of the strait shared with neighboring Oman, saying it plans to charge fees to ships using the waterway and obstructing vessels that stray outside defined paths.

The U.S. has accused Iran of hitting at least two commercial ships with missiles or drones in recent days and bombed Iranian military facilities in response. Iran in turn launched missiles ​and drones at U.S. military sites in Kuwait ​and Bahrain early on Sunday.
Witkoff and Secretary of ⁠State Marco Rubio briefed members of Congress on Iran by phone on Monday. Republican Senator Steve Daines told reporters they kept their remarks to a minimum but he nonetheless deemed the conversation “constructive.”
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, however, called the briefing “deficient, and devoid of details.”
“After dragging America into a costly war, the Trump ​administration still can’t name a single thing Americans got in return. Instead, Secretary Rubio confirmed to me that Iran will reap billions in oil revenue ​while retaining dangerous leverage over ⁠the Strait of Hormuz,” Schumer said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/mediators-set-up-de-escalation-channels-ahead-us-iran-talks-source-says-2026-06-29/

Stocks of ​crude oil in the U.S. ‌Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 5.5 million barrels to 325.7 million barrels, ​the lowest level since May ​1983, according to data from the ⁠Department of Energy.
The drawdowns are ​a part of a U.S. ​agreement to release 172 million barrels from the facility to plug a gap in ​global inventories after the Iran ​war and help push down fuel prices.

U.S. ‌crude ⁠stocks have rapidly declined in recent weeks due to strong export and refining demand for American ​oil.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-stocks-us-strategic-petroleum-reserve-fall-by-55-million-lowest-level-since-2026-06-29/

Sensitive lists of components and suppliers, and photos of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models are part of files posted on the ‌dark web by the ransomware group that stole data from the U.S. firm’s Indian supplier Tata Electronics, according to documents and a source.
The exposure threatens the carefully negotiated business of building the iPhone, which Apple assembles from a thicket of suppliers worldwide. It could also upset Apple and its relationship with Tata given most of the supplier arrangements are fiercely protected by Apple, and could also hand ​rivals, counterfeiters and its own vendors a view of who makes what.

Tata, which both supplies parts and assembles iPhones as a contract manufacturer, is emerging as ​one of Apple’s most important manufacturing partners outside China, an expansion that is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to ⁠make India an electronics manufacturing powerhouse.
Apple is reportedly on track to release its iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in September. The leak comes at a difficult time ​for Apple, which last week raised iPad and MacBook prices due to soaring memory and storage chip costs, with analysts expecting Apple to increase iPhone prices in the coming months.
Reuters ​has previously reported the Tata Electronics leak of more than 200,000 files on the dark web by World Leaks had files with purported component design papers of older iPhones and some parts of Tesla – both Tata clients. They also included documents of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW), and Qualcomm (QCOM.O), both of which make parts used in iPhones.

New documents reviewed by Reuters show there are at least six files that map ​many components in the iPhone 18 Pro models to the specific company that supplies them. These include details of chips on its main circuit board and parts of ​the battery and cameras.
Apple considers this detail sensitive and is concerned about the documents being shared on the dark web as they relate to unreleased models, according to the person familiar with ‌the matter. ⁠The data maps suppliers to iPhone parts, which Apple does not disclose in its public database of suppliers, the person added.
In all, the documents detail hundreds of parts to be on the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models.
The records also show where Apple draws a part from several suppliers and where it relies on just a few, laying bare both its bargaining leverage and its vulnerabilities.

Spokespeople for Apple and Tata did not respond to Reuters queries.
World Leaks has previously claimed responsibility for a Nike break-in. Reuters has not verified the ​authenticity of the data and could not ​immediately reach World Leaks for comment.
News website ⁠AppleInsider first reported last week that iPhone 18 Pro documents were part of the Tata leak.
Reuters has previously reported that Apple is investigating the matter and working with Tata on long-term measures. Tata has restricted internal access to sensitive systems as it investigates the ​leak, and hired a global consultant to conduct a forensic audit.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/apple-iphone-18-pro-supplier-list-parts-photos-exposed-tata-data-leak-2026-06-29/

Frustration ​rose across Venezuela over a lack of government help in areas struck by deadly twin earthquakes five days ago, with miracle rescues increasingly rare and the death toll hitting more than 1,700 on ‌Monday.
Among the casualties are believed to be as many as 140 people deported from the United States, including children, who were staying at a hotel that was toppled by Wednesday’s back-to-back 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes.

On the fifth day of rescue efforts, the government tally showed nearly 200 buildings completely flattened and several hundred severely damaged. The rising toll of casualties – including 5,000 injured – was likely exacerbated by decades of neglect, poor building code enforcement and shoddy licensing practices under past leaders Hugo Chavez and ​Nicolas Maduro, experts said.
In El Junquito, a small mountainous region about 33 km (20 miles) west of Caracas where Venezuelans often vacation on weekends, residents say they have seen few public officials, while ​farmers and other residents have been providing basic supplies to the community.

“We are waiting for answers, for debris to be cleaned up, for inspections,” said Keily ⁠Ibarra, a 33-year-old manicurist leading citizen complaints to authorities. She called on the government to do “what needs to be done.”
El Junquito’s commercial center was largely destroyed by the quakes, with collapsed buildings visible during a ​Reuters visit. Several residents with nowhere else to go have set up tents in an open field, despite the risk posed by damaged and collapsed buildings nearby.
“We don’t know where we are going to be located or ​how long we are going to be here,” said Tony Abreu, the owner of a local candy store who has been living in a tent since the quakes because his home and business are not safe.
Signaling rising tensions surrounding the politics of the recovery effort, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the Venezuelan government had blocked her entry from Panama but resolved to find a way back to help the victims.

Machado had been seen as a credible opponent to Maduro, but ​the Trump administration’s ouster of Maduro in January led to his vice president Delcy Rodriguez taking power, with Washington’s backing. Trump’s administration has asked Machado to put her return on hold.
“At this moment, I am ​willing to do whatever it takes, speak to whoever I need to speak to, in order to coordinate and serve our people,” Machado said in a video on X.

RISING DEATH TOLL

The international community has rallied to help Venezuela deal ‌with the ⁠disaster, with most help focused in La Guaira, the hardest-hit state.

Authorities said the oil-rich South American country has received support from 30 nations, including 1,000 metric tons of supplies, more than 3,600 rescue and support workers as well as 118 search-and-rescue canines.
It is unclear how many people are still trapped. Websites where citizens register missing loved ones show about 45,000 people unaccounted for.
Jorge Rodriguez, the acting president’s brother and president of the National Assembly, on Monday put the number of confirmed dead at 1,719, with 5,034 injured and 15,866 left homeless.
Power outages on Monday have prevented a refinery, a petrochemical complex and other industrial plants in the country’s central region ​from restarting, industry sources said.
Despite those issues, state-run ​oil company PDVSA was not expecting any domestic ⁠fuel shortages as output from refineries in the country’s eastern and western regions is capable of meeting demand, even after increased usage by the rescue teams, they said.
Oil output and exports remained normal, the sources said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/aftershock-hits-caracas-rescue-efforts-enter-critical-hours-venezuela-2026-06-29/

Italy and the Balkans felt the impact on Monday of a record-breaking heatwave that has caused hundreds of excess deaths and disrupted ​daily life across the continent for more than a week, with growing concerns over the spread of wildfires.
Across the Atlantic, the National Weather ‌Service warned of “dangerous heat with temperatures in the 90s and lower 100s (degrees Fahrenheit) across much of central and eastern U.S.,” in the days before the July 4 celebrations on Saturday, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

“The combination of prolonged daytime heating and limited nighttime relief will increase the risk of heat-related illnesses, especially for vulnerable populations and those without adequate cooling,” the National Weather Service added.
For ​Western Europe, where temperatures have dipped from record June highs, there was also a warning that the heat was likely to build again next week.
In Italy, 22 ​cities from Bolzano in the north to Palermo on the southern island of Sicily were covered on Monday by a red heat ⁠warning.
Pilgrims at the Vatican used fans to cool themselves and sheltered under umbrellas for shade as Pope Leo delivered his Angelus message from a balcony to the crowd ​below on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, a holiday in the city of Rome.

WILDFIRES IN WESTERN BALKANS

In Croatia, the weather service issued a red alert on Monday for ​regions including the capital Zagreb and the tourist destinations of Split and Dubrovnik.
Dozens of firefighters, assisted by four aircraft, battled a wildfire burning pine forests on the tourist island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea, some 34 miles (55 km) southwest of Split.
In neighbouring Serbia, the State Hydrometeorological Service (RHMZ) has warned temperatures would reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.
Further south, Albania contained a wildfire that ​has consumed many hectares of bushes and olive trees near the southern village of Klos over the weekend.
The heatwave, which began on June 20, set records for early summer ​and the blistering conditions disrupted power generation, damaged infrastructure and overwhelmed healthcare systems.

France has reported 1,000 excess deaths blamed on the heatwave. The French public health agency said most of the heat-related fatalities ‌involved older ⁠people and warned the number was expected to rise.
French media reported that funeral homes in Paris and the surrounding area were overwhelmed by the number of bodies they had to deal with.
The heatwave would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, which has made this week’s soaring night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been just two decades ago, according to scientists.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/southeastern-europe-feels-effects-heatwave-wildfires-break-out-2026-06-29/

Paraguay stunned four-time world champions Germany 4-3 on penalties on Monday to advance to the World Cup round of 16 in one of the biggest upsets in ​the competition’s history, after the teams were tied 1-1 over 120 minutes.
Jose Canale hit the decisive penalty to give the underdogs a memorable victory ‌and spark wild celebrations, as they advanced to the next round where they will face either title contenders France or Sweden in the last 16.

The Germans saw Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah fail to score from the spot before Canale, after two misses by the South Americans, kept his composure to seal their win.
For the Germans, who had a Tah header disallowed in extra time, it was a bitter ​defeat and the first time they lost a penalty shootout at a World Cup.
“We should not be blaming the referee or the penalty shootout today,” Germany captain ​Joshua Kimmich said. “If you cannot beat Paraguay over 120 minutes then you are deservedly eliminated. You should not depend on the opponents’ ⁠luck or no luck. You should have the quality in the squad to clearly beat this opponent.”

It was the biggest win at the tournament for the South Americans, who ​reached the quarter-finals in 2010 and had not qualified since, while Germany’s international reputation is now in tatters after consecutive World Cup group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022.
“I think the ​feeling we have is difficult to explain,” a beaming Paraguay captain Gustavo Gomez said. “I’m very proud of my teammates and of this group. Today was a match in which we had to be Paraguay more than ever.”
“I think deep down Germany knew that if they wanted to beat us, they would have to sweat blood, because we were going to make defeat very, very expensive for them,” he said.
Germany’s ​Julian Nagelsmann, who at the age of 38 became the youngest coach in a World Cup knockout stage in 40 years, will now be under massive pressure once he ​returns home after yet another World Cup debacle.

“I am disappointed. It was just not enough to beat this opponent,” said Nagelsmann, who had publicly set Germany the goal of winning a fifth World ‌Cup. “The opponent ⁠scored once and we did not defend very well. We lost control of possession. We tried a lot of things but we should have scored earlier.
“If you are eliminated by Paraguay you are just not a first-class football team. I am very disappointed.”

ATTACKING START

Nagelsmann opted for an attacking lineup, giving his team’s top scorer in the tournament, Deniz Undav, his first start. The forward, who had three goals and two assists in the group stage, threatened early on with a curled shot as the Germans controlled possession.
While spending most of the ​time without the ball, Paraguay were content ​to soak up the pressure as ⁠Germany attempted every possible route to their opponents’ goal but had no single effort on target in the entire first half.
By the 35th minute Germany had completed 244 passes to Paraguay’s 31 but had not managed to come any closer to breaking the deadlock.
Executing their ​game plan to perfection, the South Americans, with Miguel Almiron back in the side after his suspension, stunned the favourites with a ​quick move down the right ⁠before Enciso powered home his header to score his country’s first-ever goal in the knockout stage of a World Cup.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/paraguay-knock-germany-out-world-cup-penalties-major-upset-2026-06-29/

For years, Baloch nationalist groups, families of missing persons and international rights organisations have alleged that enforced disappearances have become a recurring feature of Pakistan’s counter-insurgency operations

Baloch human rights activist Sammi Deen Baloch has issued a deeply personal open letter marking 17 years since the enforced disappearance of her father, Dr Deen Mohammad Baloch, renewing international attention on allegations of systematic abductions, custodial torture and impunity in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.

In an emotional appeal addressed to those responsible for her father’s disappearance, Sammi writes that after nearly two decades of uncertainty, her family deserves either his safe return or official confirmation of his fate.

“Maybe this year, you will let him come home. And if you have killed him, then perhaps this year you will finally decide that you owe us a death certificate instead of another adjournment,” she wrote.

Dr Baloch, a physician from Khuzdar district, allegedly disappeared on June 28, 2009, after being taken into custody. His whereabouts remain unknown. His family and rights groups accuse Pakistan’s security establishment – including the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – of involvement in enforced disappearances across Balochistan, allegations Islamabad has consistently denied.

Describing the lifelong trauma inflicted on families of the disappeared, Sammi recounts growing up without knowing whether her father is alive or dead.

“I was given disappearance. I was given denial. I was given humiliation. I was given the lifelong punishment of loving a father whom the state took,” she wrote, adding that while other children grew up with memories of their fathers, she inherited “petitions, batons, tear gas and posters.”

Sammi Deen Baloch, now general secretary of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), has become one of the most prominent faces of the campaign against enforced disappearances in Balochistan. Over the past decade she has led protests, documented alleged disappearances, assisted families in filing legal petitions and campaigned internationally for accountability despite repeated arrests, surveillance and alleged harassment.

Coinciding with the anniversary, international human rights organisation Front Line Defenders reiterated its support for Sammi Deen Baloch and demanded that Pakistani authorities immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of Dr Baloch. The Dublin-based organisation said his disappearance represents a broader pattern of impunity and called on Pakistan to investigate all cases of enforced disappearance and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Front Line Defenders noted that Sammi Deen Baloch herself has allegedly faced repeated reprisals for her activism, including arbitrary detention, surveillance, house raids and a week-long enforced disappearance in 2016. She was also arrested by Karachi police in March 2025 during protests demanding justice for missing persons.

The open letter comes amid an intensified crackdown on Baloch rights activists.

Earlier this year, activist Dr Mahrang Baloch – another leading campaigner against enforced disappearances and alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan – was sentenced to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court in a case widely criticised by rights organisations and Baloch activists as politically motivated.

Human rights groups argued that the prosecution relied on questionable evidence and viewed the conviction as part of a broader effort to silence peaceful dissent and suppress voices demanding accountability from Pakistan’s security establishment. Islamabad has maintained that legal proceedings against Baloch activists are conducted under Pakistani law and rejects allegations of politically motivated prosecutions.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/17-years-of-silence-baloch-activists-open-letter-exposes-pak-forced-disappearances-11699323?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

It’s been almost two years since Sheikh Hasina was hounded out of the country that her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had carved out of a belligerent Pakistan. Facing death penalty and her Awami League party banned in Bangladesh, things can’t get worse for the former prime minister.

But she remains unfazed, just like decorated American General Douglas MacArthur. “I’ll be back home this year,” declared the Awami League leader from exile, asserting that her party is not merely an organisation but a “force”. Any attack on the minorities is an attack on the independence of Bangladesh, she stressed.

Awami League marked its 77th Founding Day last Tuesday (June 23) in defiance of a nationwide ban. Dozens of its activists were arrested amid tight security.

The exiled leader, in an exclusive email interview with NDTV, spoke on all things Bangladesh. Here’s a transcript of the interview:

Question: You have often indicated-and your supporters are upbeat-about your possible return to Bangladesh soon, with some leaders suggesting it could happen within this year. How realistic is this, given the death penalty against you?

Hasina: My return is not a question of personal ambition. It is tied to a far larger question: the political rights of the people of Bangladesh, the restoration of democracy, the rule of law, and the spirit of our Liberation War. I do not do politics for power. I do politics for the welfare of the people of Bangladesh and for the fulfilment of the dream of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to build a Sonar Bangla.

The verdict against me is not justice. It is part of an illegal, unconstitutional, and politically motivated process. The judiciary has been turned into an instrument of political revenge to make the Awami League leaderless. Such attempts have been made before. They failed then, and they will fail again.

I do not fear death. In 1975, I lost my parents, my brothers, and almost my entire family. On 21 August, there was an attempt to kill me with grenades. Many conspiracies have been hatched against me. But breaking through every web of conspiracy, I stood beside the people of Bangladesh. I was elected Prime Minister five times by the people’s vote and worked for the country’s unprecedented development. Almost my entire life has been tied to the people of Bangladesh, to the Awami League, to the democratic struggle, and to the development of Bangladesh. So, I want to say clearly: overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy, I will return to my country this year.

Question: There are signs the Awami League may be regaining support amid perceived gaps in the Bangladesh government. Does the party have the organisational strength to turn this into political success?

Hasina: The Awami League is not a paper organisation. It is a political force rooted in the soil of Bengal, in the people of Bengal, in the history of Bengal, and in the identity of the Bengali nation. In its 77-year journey, the Awami League has been attacked many times, has shed blood many times, and has been banned many times. But each time, it has risen again through the strength of the people.

Lionel Messi scored a superb free-kick in Argentina’s 3-1 win over Jordan to achieve a big record in FIFA World Cup history.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi continued to rewrite the FIFA World Cup record books as he broke Brazil legend Rivellino’s long-standing record for the most goals scored from outside the box in tournament history during the Group J match against Jordan in Arlington. Messi’s stunning free-kick in Argentina’s 3-1 victory over Jordan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Saturday (Local Time) marked his sixth World Cup goal from outside the penalty area, moving him past Rivelino’s previous record of five.

The strike also took the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s overall World Cup tally to 19 goals, further extending his record as Argentina’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament. He has now scored six goals in this World Cup.

The goal completed another landmark evening for the reigning world champions, who finished the Group J campaign with a perfect record of three wins from three matches.

Messi’s historic scoring streak began with a hat-trick against Algeria before he netted twice against Austria. Rested at the start of Argentina’s final group-stage fixture, the 39-year-old came off the bench in the 60th minute and curled home a trademark free-kick 20 minutes later to become the first men’s player to score in seven successive FIFA World Cup appearances.

The Argentine captain also joined an exclusive list by becoming only the fourth player to score in all three group-stage matches of a single World Cup since the current group-stage format was introduced in 1998, following Cristiano Ronaldo (2018), David Villa (2010) and Fernando Torres (2010).

Argentina also reached another significant milestone by registering their 50th FIFA World Cup victory, becoming only the third nation to achieve the feat after Brazil and Germany.

With qualification already secured, head coach Lionel Scaloni rotated his squad heavily, making nine changes to the starting XI. The changes did little to disrupt Argentina’s rhythm as Giovani Lo Celso, making his long-awaited World Cup debut after missing the 2022 edition through injury, opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a superb curling free-kick.

Lautaro Martinez doubled Argentina’s advantage from the penalty spot after a VAR review awarded a spot-kick for a foul on Marcos Senesi, with the Inter Milan striker scoring his first-ever World Cup goal.

Jordan briefly threatened a comeback when Musa Al-Tamaari finished from close range in the 55th minute after a dangerous delivery from Ihsan Haddad.

Source : https://sports.ndtv.com/fifa-world-cup-2026/lionel-messi-achieves-stunning-fifa-world-cup-record-after-group-stage-overtakes-brazil-icon-11698249?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

A thirsty George Russell held off Max Verstappen to end his winless streak in Austria on ​Sunday and trim Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli’s Formula One lead to 40 points.
The top three drivers were separated by a mere two seconds ‌after 71 laps, with Red Bull’s Verstappen finishing runner-up, 1.6 behind, at his team’s home circuit and chased to the line by Antonelli, who took the chequered flag a further 0.3 adrift.

The win was Russell’s second of the season, after he took the opener in Australia, his career seventh and Mercedes’ seventh in eight rounds so far.
“Incredible to be back on the top step. ​It’s been a little while, so I am definitely going to enjoy this one this evening,” said Russell, who started on pole position and can ​now head to his home race at Silverstone next weekend on a high.
The Briton revealed over the radio after taking the ⁠chequered flag that his drinks system had failed during the race, the first of the season to be declared a “heat hazard”. “Nice race for it to do so, I’m ​a little bit thirsty,” he said.

HAMILTON DROPS TO THIRD OVERALL BEHIND MERCEDES DRIVERS

Antonelli has 171 points to Russell’s 131 with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, fifth on Sunday after running ​second and battling Verstappen wheel-to-wheel, dropping to third on 125. In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes have 302 points to Ferrari’s 204.
Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Hamilton, with Isack Hadjar sixth for Red Bull.
Reigning champion Lando Norris, last year’s winner in Austria, was seventh with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc eighth and Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad completing the top ​10.
“I was having to push every single lap and when you push those boundaries there’s bound to be a small mistake or two,” said Russell, who made a ​clean getaway at the scenic Red Bull Ring while Hamilton passed Leclerc for second in the early jostling for position.

“I knew how quick the guys were behind. Kimi has been extraordinarily quick ‌this whole ⁠season, so every lap I was looking at the timing board.”

VERSTAPPEN’S BEST RACE OF THE SEASON SO FAR

Verstappen had started fifth after crashing in qualifying but Sunday turned out to be the four-time world champion’s best race so far this season, with Red Bull’s upgraded car showing a notable improvement.
“To be second and that close to a win is extremely positive,” said the Dutch driver. “I knocked my knees in qualifying, that was not nice, but today was okay.”
Antonelli returned to the podium after a non-finish at the ​previous race in Barcelona but he felt ​he had paid the price for ⁠not being calmer on the opening laps.
“I was a bit too excited on the first few laps. Definitely didn’t drive well,” said the 19-year-old Italian, who caught up with Verstappen on the last lap.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/formula1/russell-wins-austria-trim-antonellis-lead-2026-06-28/

President Vladimir ​Putin said on Sunday that Russia will press ahead with its battlefield aim of fully capturing four Ukrainian regions, rejecting what he ‌said was a new proposal by Ukraine to rein in hostilities in the more than four-year-old war.
Putin, speaking to a Russian state television interviewer, also said Russia needed to boost its air defence capacity to counter intensified Ukrainian drone attacks aimed mainly at its oil industry. He said Russia was coping well in tackling fuel supply problems linked to the Ukrainian strikes.

Putin acknowledged ​earlier on Sunday at a meeting in the Kremlin with government ministers and other officials that the strikes had triggered fuel shortages in ​various Russian regions but that Russia was dealing with them.
In his television interview, Putin said that Ukraine had proposed a mutual ⁠halt to long-range strikes as a step towards peace. But Moscow saw it as a means to relieve pressure on Kyiv’s forces along the two sides’ ​1,250-km (775-mile) front line and would not be distracted by it.
“It is clear why this proposal is being made, because our counter-strikes deep into Ukrainian territory are much ​stronger, have greater impact and are, frankly, more destructive,” Putin said.

“Given their catastrophic shortage of personnel, the Ukrainian Armed Forces apparently believe this could be their salvation. But saving the Kyiv regime is not part of our plans.”
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not immediately respond to a request, submitted during late-night hours in Ukraine, for comment on Putin’s remarks.
Zelenskiy ​wrote an open letter to Putin this month proposing a face-to-face meeting, which the Russian leader has rejected.
In the television interview, Putin said that Ukrainian attacks were “aimed ​at diverting our attention and forces from achieving the main objectives – the complete liberation of Donbas and Novorossiya,” a reference to the two regions of the Donbas and the adjacent ‌regions of ⁠Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Putin has long insisted that Ukraine abandon its remaining positions in Donetsk Region in Donbas as a key condition of any peace deal. Seven months after its 2022 invasion, Russia annexed the four regions — the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Donbas, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which it only partly controls.

UKRAINIAN DRONE ATTACKS

Addressing Ukraine’s medium- and long-range drone campaign, Putin said: “The first task is to quickly and significantly ramp up production of those air defence systems that are most needed.”
“All the ​strikes, wherever they hit our infrastructure, absolutely ​do not affect the situation on ⁠the front, on the line of combat contact,” he said.
Putin said Russia was expecting a resumption of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the war and a new visit to Moscow by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner once the “hot ​phase” of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran was resolved.
He appeared to agree with comments last week by U.S. Secretary of State Marco ​Rubio that no formal ⁠agreement had been reached at Putin’s talks in Alaska last year with U.S. President Donald Trump, although U.S. proposals had been discussed.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-says-russia-will-press-with-front-line-campaign-regardless-ukraine-2026-06-28/

Migrants in the United States on temporary protected status should seek permanent residence or leave for their home ​countries, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Sunday.
The remarks to CNN’s “State of ‌the Union” program follow last week’s split Supreme Court decision allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to strip hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants of a humanitarian status that protects them from deportation to home countries plagued by ​conflict and destitution.

“Either try to fill out the paperwork and be here underneath a permanent ​status or we’ll help you get back to your country,” Mullin said.
“We’ll actually ⁠give you a plane ticket, plus roughly $2,100 to help you re-establish when you get there, ​but temporary protective status, according to the courts and in its name itself, is not permanent status,” ​he added.
Federal law allows the administration to grant temporary legal residency in the United States to people fleeing war, disaster or other adverse conditions.
The status had previously been renewed successively and, despite the move to end these ​protections, the State Department currently warns against traveling to either Haiti or Syria, citing widespread violence, ​crime, terrorism and kidnapping.

The United States first provided TPS to Haitians after a devastating earthquake in 2010, and to ‌Syrians ⁠after their country descended into civil war in 2012.
The prospect of large-scale deportations faces opposition, even among some Republicans. Also speaking to CNN on Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said it was not safe for Haitians to return and that the removal of diligent workers would hurt the Ohio ​economy and leave the healthcare ​industry short-staffed.
During the ⁠2024 election, Trump falsely accused Haitians living in Ohio of eating others’ household pets. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority found, however, that Haitians suing the ​administration were unlikely to succeed in their argument that the administration’s actions ​were racially ⁠biased.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/migrants-us-temporary-status-should-seek-permanent-status-or-leave-homeland-2026-06-28/

Rescue teams raced on Sunday to find more survivors ​of the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela this week, with signs of life bringing occasional relief to a grim quest to whittle down a list of tens of thousands missing.
The ‌death toll from Wednesday’s twin earthquakes neared 1,500 people as foreign rescue teams poured into La Guaira, the hardest-hit state of a country long mired in a deep political and economic crisis.

Dozens of buildings collapsed into piles of sand and rubble in the coastal state, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Caracas.
“Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing. Today (Sunday) we have recovered people alive and, therefore, operations are not being suspended. We always maintain hope,” said interim President Delcy Rodriguez, after announcing a presidential commission that would determine the habitability of buildings.
Flanked by ​several of her ministers, Rodriguez said school classes would be suspended for one more week and the electricity supply in La Guaira had been restored to 75%.
The government — headed by Rodriguez since her predecessor ​was ousted by the U.S. in a January raid — had thanked civilian volunteers ferrying aid to La Guaira, but then tightened access to the road, saying traffic was preventing ⁠efficient movement of emergency vehicles.

Earlier, Jorge Rodriguez, the acting president’s brother and president of the National Assembly, said the death toll rose by 20 people on Sunday to reach 1,450. He added that 3,150 people remained injured, ​12,721 had been displaced, and 774 buildings had collapsed.
“We are in critical hours, in crucial hours to continue rescuing lives and to build camps where those people who have lost their homes, or who cannot return, for whatever reason, ​to their residences can stay,” he said.
Families and volunteers spent days pulling survivors and bodies from the rubble before the arrival of the more than 2,600 foreign rescue workers, often complaining of scant heavy equipment and a limited official presence, as hundreds of aftershocks deepened damage and kept residents on edge.
So far this weekend, the government said at least 33 people had been rescued by Saturday evening, including several children, while tens of thousands remained unaccounted for.

A father and his son were pulled out alive from the rubble of a collapsed building on ​Sunday as rescue workers raced against the clock to find more survivors.
Although the government has given a figure of hundreds missing or trapped, just under 50,000 people were listed as unaccounted for on a website promoted by the ​country’s political opposition on Sunday, a slight decline from 55,000 people a day earlier.

LIMITED TIME FOR FINDING SURVIVORS

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which would place them among Latin America’s deadliest ‌of the ⁠last century.
“There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,” said Sebastian Eugster, the leader of the Swiss rescue team.
The 80-strong team had found multiple people alive in the rubble thanks to alerts from their eight search dogs, but had not been able to pull them out in time to save them, he added.
Saturday evening marked 72 hours since the quakes.

RESCUED CHILDREN

The U.S. State Department hailed the rescue of an infant by U.S. rescue crews on Saturday, posting a video on X showing helmet-clad rescuers removing the blanket-wrapped and wailing child from the rubble.
A Colombian rescue team also saved an 11-year-old boy, Moises, who had been ​trapped some 3 meters (10 feet) deep in rubble, after identifying ​his location with a scanner, Reuters TV reported.
He ⁠was removed on a stretcher with a broken arm, his eyes covered by cloth to protect them from the shock of daylight. His mother and sister were killed.
Mexican rescuers working at a collapsed building in the town of Caraballeda rescued another 11-year-old boy, Rodriguez posted on X late on Saturday, showing crews carrying a small figure on a ​stretcher out of the rubble.
Pope Leo on Sunday told worshippers gathered for the Angelus prayer in Rome that he wanted “to express my closeness to the Venezuelan sisters ​and brothers affected by the recent ⁠earthquakes” and expressed gratitude to rescue workers.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/thirty-three-people-rescued-thousands-still-missing-after-venezuela-quakes-2026-06-28/

The Russian leader also vowed to strengthen national security despite the growing number of Ukrainian attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said Moscow is going through a “difficult period” but insisted the country would overcome every challenge as Ukraine stepped up retaliatory strikes deep inside Russian territory.

Speaking at the congress of the ruling United Russia party ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September, Putin acknowledged the hardships facing the country but said they had made Russia stronger.

“We are going through a difficult period, but it has taught us much,” he said, according to Russian state news agency TASS, while wishing his party success in the upcoming polls.

The Russian leader also vowed to strengthen national security despite the growing number of Ukrainian attacks. “Yes, we see the problems, we are aware of them and are responding to them, but we will certainly ensure the security of both the country and our citizens, as well as the inviolability of Russia’s borders,” Putin said.

“We will undoubtedly overcome all the challenges facing us today, including terrorist attacks on our territory and infrastructure facilities,” he added.

Ukraine continues strikes inside Russia

Putin’s remarks came as Ukraine claimed responsibility for fresh drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

A Ukrainian drone attack reportedly killed one person in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region and triggered a fire at an oil refinery, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes were aimed at weakening Russia’s ability to continue the war.

In a post on X, he said Ukrainian forces had struck the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, around 300 kilometres from the frontline, as well as another refinery in the Yaroslavl region, about 700 kilometres from Ukraine’s border.

The latest attacks follow another Ukrainian strike last week that caused a major fire at a refinery southeast of Moscow, sending thick black smoke into the capital’s suburbs.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/putin-says-russia-going-through-difficult-period-amid-ukraine-strikes-vows-to-overcome-challenges-ws-l-10178675.html

Mam for president? There’s just Zo way.

Mayor Mamdani laughed off the idea of changing the US Constitution so he can run for president when he’s done with New York City in an interview Sunday.

“No,” Mamdani told ABC News’ “This Week” when asked. “I think the Constitution looks good the way it is.”

Under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, only natural born citizens 35 years and older can seek the presidency.

Hizzoner, 34, was born in Uganda and emigrated to the US around the age of seven. He became a naturalized citizen in 2018.

“I’m very excited to focus on New York City, but thank you for reminding me of my upcoming mortality,” Mamdani added, referring to how ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl referenced his upcoming 35th birthday.

During the 2025 mayoral campaign, Mamdani repeatedly needled former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), accusing him of setting his sights on higher office.

Despite claiming that he’s not after the presidency, Mamdani was bullish on his role as a major powerbroker in the Democratic Party.

“Let them,” Mamdani snapped back when asked about Republicans trying to make him the poster child for Dems.

“We don’t have to ask ourselves what life looks like if a socialist wins. I won last November, and over the course of these last 6 months, what we’ve delivered.”

Last week, Mamdani scored a victory over Democratic leadership when three candidates he endorsed in competitive primary races — Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier — won.

Those three have championed a far-left agenda, with Avila Chevalier, in particular, having a history of bragging about wiping her dirty hands on the American flag, calling to abolish prisons and the border, blasting former President Joe Biden as a rapist, and more.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/28/us-news/mamdani-weighs-in-on-changing-the-constitution-so-he-can-run-for-president/

The remains of at least 117 dogs were found on the grounds of a California “no-kill“ animal shelter, many of them with gunshot wounds, authorities said.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that it also discovered 21 canine skulls, hundreds of bones and other remains during searches at Miranda’s Rescue Animal Sanctuary, a 50-acre (20-hectare) facility in Fortuna, California.

Investigators combing the site on Thursday located an area in a barn where they believe dogs were likely killed, the sheriff’s office said. More than 600 dog collars were found nearby, the office said.

Sheriff William Honsal called it a “horrific scene.” No charges have been filed.

A message seeking comment was left for the shelter’s founder, Shannon Miranda.

In a statement posted to the shelter’s website on June 18, Miranda said that recent media coverage and online commentary “have presented an incomplete and, in some cases, inaccurate picture of our work.”

“At Miranda’s Rescue, our mission is to save as many animals as we safely can—always balancing compassion for animals with our responsibility to protect families, children, other pets, and the public,” Miranda wrote.

The sheriff’s office said it started investigating the shelter after receiving “credible information” in April “regarding allegations of felony animal abuse, animal cruelty, fraud, and conspiracy.”

Miranda’s Rescue collects fees from shelter transfers, as well as donations that it says helps cover the costs of food, housing, veterinary care, medications, facility expenses and staffing.

An affidavit from an earlier search of the property said that the sheriff’s office was tipped off by a pair of animal advocates, one of whom owns property adjoining the shelter and used trail cameras to monitor activity near an alleged burial site.

The advocates later went onto shelter property and dug up dog remains, the affidavit said.

“This investigation is just getting started,” Honsal said in a statement. “There is a tremendous amount of data to process, witnesses to interview, and evidence to examine.”

Investigators using ground-penetrating radar found 117 intact remains in various stages of decomposition buried in an open field, the sheriff’s office said.

They X-rayed 70 of the remains on site and found evidence of bullet fragments in many of them. The cause of death for many of those animals appeared to be gunshot wounds, the sheriff’s office said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/dog-remains-animal-rescue-california-92545f7942f1f8663d5665c3b5bafec8

FROM dogs forced to sprint on treadmills to horses doped with Viagra, gun-toting mafia gangsters are lining their pockets with millions from animal abuse.

The dark underworld of the so-called “zoo mafia” operates with impunity across Italy – with videos of illegal races published across social media.

Horrifying footage shows masked Sicilian gangsters shooting AK-47s while chasing a horse on motorbikes.

Speaking to The Sun, criminologist Ciro Troiano said: “It is a blatant display of criminality, complete with the brandishing of Kalashnikovs.

“The message is clear and unmistakable: we’re in charge here.”

Animal activist Enrico Rizzi said: “They can’t even be called illegal anymore because they’re done in broad daylight.”

During his nearly 20 years of investigating animal abuse, Enrico said “what is most striking is the normality with which certain incidents occur… almost as if they were accepted”.

The abuse is widespread in Sicily where the mafia “still dominates and controls portions of territory”, he explained.

Trapani and Palermo are also hotspots where dogs are trained to fight using “extremely violent methods, based on isolation and deprivation”.

Police first coined the term “zoo mafia” in the late 1990s following several reports of animal abuse and illegal betting on dog fights and races.

“The business is multi-million dollar,” Enrico explained, adding that a single dog fight or horse race can rake in bets of up to €50,000 (£43,000).

Animals – including predators like alligators and cobras – are also used “as tools for prestige, intimidation, or territorial control”.

Criminals turn sniffer dogs into “veritable war machines” to intimidate locals, Enrico said.

He added: “I have witnessed situations where particularly aggressive dogs were used by individuals connected to criminal organisations to instill fear in residents of certain neighbourhoods.”

It’s not always possible to prove direct connection with the mafia – but that “the use of animals as tools of intimidation is a real phenomenon,” he said.

Enrico has been threatened by the mafia and has been living under state protection since 2016.

Marco Trapuzzano, the chief commissioner of Italy’s environmental police told Italian newspaper Corriere della Ser in 2014: “The Camorra [mafia] is combining the use of these animals with bullets.”

He recounted two attacks in Naples where gangsters hurled snakes – a 3ft cobra and a python – into the back seats of police officer’s cars.

Police raids have found parrots squawking “I’ll shoot you” and crocs used to threaten victims – allegedly because the predators were “more convincing and made less noise” than a shootout.

But the biggest money-makers for Italian mafias – and criminal cartels around the world – is the abuse of dogs and horses.

Makeshift pits are formed by bloodthirsty spectators and muscly canines are forced to maul one another – often until one of the dogs dies.

The large bets placed on the animals make dog-fighting a lucrative industry – and breeders spend years training their pups into vicious fighting machines.

One technique used to “train” the animals is forcing the dogs to pull heavy sleds of bricks – straining their necks to reach food or water, reported SFGate.

Sonny Richichi, president of the charity Italian Horse Protection, told The Sun that horses are pumped full of drugs to “hyperstimulate” the animals before the races – and numb the pain of their destroyed legs.

He said: “Many times they have found cocaine in the horse’s blood.”

Police have frequently cracked down on “zoo mafia” but the laws are not strong enough to punish the perpetrators, experts say.

Referring to Italy’s animal rights Brambilla law, Enrico said “the penalties are so ridiculous that no one ever ends up in prison”.

“If the state fails to severely punish those who commit these criminal acts, it’s only natural that unscrupulous individuals continue to commit crimes as if nothing had happened,” he added.

“They know they will go unpunished”.

Under the 2025 law, violators face four years in prison and fines of up to £51,000 (€60,000) – a drop in the ocean compared to the hundreds of thousands which may be won in two or three races.

Lesser fines of between £4,300 (€5,000) and £8,600 (€10,000) or one year in prison apply to criminals who chain up, abuse or abandon animals.

But according to Sonny, it’s “almost impossible” for mafia members to end up behind bars.

“Two days after a raid, they start again without any problem,” he said.

He described a case where the mafia built a racetrack in northwest Sicily and advertised it on Google Maps – and other gangsters posted details of the races on Facebook.

It is not only the Italian mafia who rake in millions from abusing animals.

In the United States, criminal networks across the country also imprison dogs and secretly train them up for fights.

In February, Dallas cops and animal rights groups stormed dozens of Texan compounds under “Operation Fight Club”.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16594622/zoo-mafia-gangsters-turn-animals-war-machines-brit/

TAYLOR Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding will be a star-studded celebration, as many A-listers are expected to gather for the couple’s big day – though not everyone made the guest list.

The lovebirds are rumored to be tying the knot next week at a lavish multi-day bash in New York City‘s Madison Square Garden.

It’s foreseen to be one of the largest celebrity weddings, with reportedly 1,000 people invited to the festivities from July 2 to July 4, including an intimate 100-person gathering when they say, “I do.”

However, Taylor, 36, and Travis, 36, have still pared down their guest list to include only those they want to celebrate with, and some didn’t make the cut.

Those expected to attend include Taylor’s BFFs, Selena Gomez and Gigi Hadid, whom The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed are in her bridal party.

Also, San Francisco 49ers star Kyle Juszczyk and his fashion designer wife, Kristin, will be present for the fairytale wedding.

“We’ve known Travis for a while now, and we’re just so happy that he found his person,” Kristin told Page Six earlier this week.

She has also designed many of the memorable gameday outfits that Taylor wore while cheering on her Kansas City Chiefs star husband-to-be.

“Really, it is just excitement … it’s the royal wedding!” Kyle added.

Another football star who scored an invite is San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, and his wife, Claire.

During the 2026 Tight End University event in Nashville, the duo confirmed they’ll be attending the wedding and that the bride and groom asked for no gifts.

It’s also suspected that many of Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs teammates will be present for his special day, as several have reportedly already booked rooms at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, and the team’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany, also received invites and are most likely attending the wedding.

Meanwhile, many other big names on Taylor’s side will be heading to NYC for the nuptials, including Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody.

Sources also told TMZ that Sombr is also on the guest list, after he and Taylor recently developed a tight bond.

All three Haim sisters, Alana, Danielle, and Este, are invited to the party, which comes as no surprise to fans, given their close friendship.

Suki Waterhouse, Robert Pattison, Cara Delevingne, and Ed Sheeran, who has been a part of Taylor’s inner circle for years, are also on the guest list.

It has also been reported that Zoë Kravitz will be attending, despite rumors that she and Taylor were feuding.

She’s likely to be going without her new fiancé, Harry Styles, who is currently out of the country for his Together, Together tour.

While there appears to be no bad blood between Taylor and Zoë, that can’t be said for several others who were once part of the pop star’s friend group.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/16584997/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-wedding-guest-list-uninvited/

Police have urged people to “strictly avoid” the area around the airport in Tomblaine. The plane was reportedly carrying skydivers.

A civilian aircraft crashed near the northeastern French town of Tomblaine on Sunday, killing all 11 people on board.

Police urged people to “strictly avoid” the area around the airport in Tomblaine, the French AFP news agency reported.

What do we know about the crash?

The plane was carrying a group of people on a skydiving trip.

Those killed were 10 passengers, including five students and five instructors, and the pilot, according to the prefecture.

Yves Seguy, the prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region, told reporters near the scene of the crash that authorities were collecting witness statements.

“There were no bystanders among the victims,” Seguy said, speaking at a press conference.

The aircraft was registered in Germany, an AFP journalist reported. It crashed in a grassy area near the runway of the Nancy-Essey aerodrome.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Speaking to broadcaster BFM, Seguy said the aircraft appeared to suffer damage before plunging vertically to the ground, near a shopping center.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/france-plane-crash-tomblaine-nancy/a-77743392

The broadcaster Geo News was handed a 15-day suspension for a documentary that was “liable to hurt the religious sentiments of viewers,” Pakistan’s media watchdog said.

Pakistani broadcaster Geo News on Sunday apologized for airing a documentary after it was handed a 15-day suspension a day earlier.

Geo News said it apologized for the contents of the program “Safar-e-Ishq” that was transmitted during the sacred month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

“Geo News has acknowledged an editorial error regarding content aired during its 10th Muharram transmission,” the broadcaster said on its website.

It said that the program had shown “certain rituals practiced by a limited number of people in Iraq and some other Middle Eastern countries.”

It did not clarify what rituals were portrayed in the documentary.

What did Pakistan’s media watchdog say about the Geo News suspension?

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said on Saturday that the “broadcast of such visual representation, given the religious, cultural and social sensitivities, constitutes a serious regulatory concern,” adding that the program in question “was liable to hurt the religious sentiments of viewers… and create a risk of disturbance to public peace.”

Pakistan has heightened media regulation during the sacred month of Muharram.

The statement also did not provide further details of the documentary’s content.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/pakistans-geo-news-apologizes-for-muharram-broadcast/a-77744988

It’s been more than two weeks since the World Cup started, and Leon Goretzka still is getting familiar with the landscape.

A hilarious video emerged Saturday afternoon of Germany’s midfielder accidentally walking onto the wrong bus.

Goretzka was spotted accidentally walking into the Ecuador team bus instead of the Germany team bus.

As Goretzka entered the bus, he was seen through the windshield of the bus walking in and immediately turning around after realizing he was on the wrong team’s bus.

Goretzka played off the awkward moment very nonchalantly as he casually walked off the Ecuador bus without an expression and made his way over to Germany’s.

The awkward moment between Goretzka and Ecuador came after Ecuador pulled off a come-from-behind 2-1 win to keep its World Cup dreams alive.

Throughout three matches during the World Cup, Goretzka has appeared in two of Germany’s games and has logged 22 minutes during the group stages.

His highest amount of playing time came during Germany’s dominant 7-1 victory over Curacao on June 14.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/27/sports/germany-soccer-player-hilariously-enters-wrong-team-bus-at-world-cup/

A gruesome underwater buffet drew a pack of hungry sharks to California’s central coast Friday, where drone footage captured the predators tearing into the rotting carcass of a dead whale in a feeding frenzy.

The dramatic video, filmed off Martin’s Beach just south of Half Moon Bay, showed everything from juvenile great white sharks to massive adults circling the floating whale before lunging in to rip off chunks of blubber.

The predators took turns darting in and out of the animals decomposing carcass like diners at some kind of all-you-can-eat buffet, feasting on the whale — the latest sign of increased shark activity along California’s coastline.

“I spent most of the day filming multiple Great Whites tear apart this whale carcass,” drone operator Sammy Rigling wrote about the action he posted on social media.

“I must have seen 6-8 different sharks throughout the day. A handful of juveniles and 2 or 3 large Whites.”

One shark he estimated was at least 15 feet long. In a second video, he posted a close up of all the action noting that Shark week came early this year.

The area is known as a natural habitat for the great whites.

Experts have said they expect more juvenile white sharks than typical along the coastline of Southern California up to Monterey this summer, due to unusually high ocean temperatures pushing them up the coast from Mexico.

The wild video surfaces just days after two paddle boarders were stalked by a great white, as a drone video showed the predator appearing to track them off the coast of Santa Barbara.

The two were visiting family during Father’s Day weekend and had initially heard about the shark sighting before going off to locate it.

Source : https://nypost.com/2026/06/27/us-news/wild-drone-footage-capture-great-white-feeding-frenzy-off-california-coast/

(This June 27 story has been corrected to say 20 people were injured, not no injuries, in headline and first bullet point)
A strong earthquake struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said, sending out tremors that could be ​felt from the capital Kabul across the border into neighbouring Pakistan.

​There were no immediate official reports of casualties or damage ⁠from the earthquake, but checks were ongoing, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management ​Authority said in a statement.

The magnitude 6 quake occurred at a ​depth of 100 km (62 miles), EMSC said.
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Pakistan earlier on Saturday, according to EMSC.
More than 20 people were injured and dozens of houses were damaged ​in different areas of Musakhail district in Pakistan, the district’s deputy commissioner ​Abdul Razzaq Khajak told Reuters.
The disaster management authority in Pakistan’s Balochistan province said ‌around ⁠125 houses were damaged, adding that relief teams were sent to the affected area along with tents and food, solar panels, blankets and other items.
People ran out of their doors in panic in Swat district in northern ​Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, ​resident Daniyal Ahmad ⁠told Reuters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/strong-earthquake-hits-hindu-kush-shaking-afghanistan-pakistan-2026-06-27/

Democratic Republic of Congo superfan Michel Kuka Mboladinga will miss their key World Cupclash against Uzbekistan on Saturday because he was not granted a ​United States visa.
Mboladinga rose to prominence at the Africa Cup of Nations ‌finals in Morocco at the turn of the year.

He cut a unique figure on the terraces as he stood motionless throughout DR Congo’s matches in tribute to his country’s first Prime Minister, ​Patrice Lumumba, a revered figure in the country after being killed by firing ​squad in 1961.

Mboladinga bears a remarkable resemblance to Lumumba, wearing colourful ⁠suits with his country’s colours.
But after supporting the Congolese in their last match in ​Mexico, he will not be in Atlanta for their must-win game as they look ​to advance to the last 32.
Congolese Ambassador in Washington, Kapinga Yvette Ngandu told Reuters she hoped he would get a visa if DR Congo progressed to the knockout stage of the World Cup.
“I ​hope he brings his own brand of support to the team,” she said ​on Saturday.
Nicknamed ‘Lumumba Vea’ because of his tribute, Mboladinga raises his arm to strike a pose similar ‌to one ⁠held by Lumumba in a statue of him in the capital Kinshasa.

In stark contrast to the vibrant singing and cheering fans around him, Mboladinga is still throughout the game.
His unique support won him worldwide notoriety and when he got back from Morocco ​in January he ​was gifted a jeep ⁠by the Congolese government.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/dr-congo-superfan-denied-us-visa-support-team-world-cup-2026-06-27/ 

This stunt was all wet.

A suited-up Mayor Zohran Mamdani leapt into an East Harlem pool Saturday morning to officially kick off the Big Apple’s summer pool season.

Hizzoner joined dozens of young kids at Thomas Jefferson Pool for the plunge and broke the rules in the process, which requires all swimmers to wear bathing suits in the water.

Mamdani even kept his black socks on as he made his half-hearted cannonball.

“It was so fun. I didn’t think he would do it! And then he shook my hand. That felt amazing,” said Mila Mader, 12.

“I told my brother, Leo, I was like, ‘Oh my God, the mayor shook my hand.’ He shook my brother’s hands, too.”

The socialist mayor had committed to the leap after being pressed by Katie Honan of The City Reporter, who asked if he would resume the obscure practice of mayors jumping into pools on opening day.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the last to get wet, with Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams tapping out on the tradition.

“I’m gonna be honest, I may do it. I may commit to it,” Mamdani said in March, though he only officially confirmed his daring leap this week.

Source: https://nypost.com/2026/06/27/us-news/zohran-mamdani-jumps-into-nyc-pool-to-kick-off-summer-tradition/

Former Pakistan captain Sana Mir has blasted critics and fans who are giving a ‘sexist’ touch to the performance of the national team in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup.

Former Pakistan captain Sana Mir has blasted critics and fans who are giving a ‘sexist’ touch to the performance of the national team in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup. Pakistan ended its campaign in the World Cup on Saturday with a consolation win over the Netherlands after losing four straight games to India, South Africa, Australia and Bangladesh. Mir said in an interview to a Pakistani media outlet that when the national men’s team doesn’t do well does anyone say that the players would be better off making ‘rotis’ in the kitchen.

“I see double standards while talking about the performances of the men’s and women’s teams. I don’t agree with the tone of the criticism. Yes the team has not come up to the expectations but just because it is the women’s team why add a sexist tone to it,” she said.

Sana, who is commentating in the World Cup, said everyone was disappointed with the team’s performance but it is the way we discuss the team is what is troubling for me.

“Even after so many years we still don’t give the required respect to the women’s team while discussing its performances.” Sana said fans and critics had to take into count the problems girls face when they take up professional cricket in Pakistan.

“Our players could not perform the way we expected. It took many years to convince everyone that Pakistan’s girls have what it takes, that they can cause upsets,” she said and also stressed that the mindset surrounding women’s cricket needed to change first.

“Until we change this mindset, we will get nowhere,” she added.

Sana also slammed the use of AI generated videos on social media by some people to mock the women’s players and spread misinformation which caused so much pain to their families.

Source: https://sports.ndtv.com/women-s-t20-world-cup-2026/pakistan-crickets-double-standards-exposed-by-ex-captain-fumes-at-sexist-tone-targetted-at-female-players-11696203?pfrom=home-ndtv_lateststories

King Charles has made history by revealing his £12.9m tax bill, but the payment is far from ordinary.

The announcement comes alongside the Royal Household publishing its annual financial report.

Here’s what the document tells us – and doesn’t tell us – about the King’s unique tax situation.

1. The King pays some taxes voluntarily
King Charles is not legally required to pay income tax, capital gains tax, or inheritance tax.

Instead, he voluntarily pays some income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax according to an agreement with the government called the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

The MoU came about in 1993 following public pressure over the cost of running the Royal Family and is occasionally updated, most recently in 2023 to reflect the change of monarch following Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

The fact that some of the King’s taxes are voluntary is not the case for regular taxpayers, and some argue this means that it is not a tax at all.

HMRC defines tax as “money that individual people and businesses are legally required to pay to the government”.

Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, told the BBC: “If it’s voluntary, it’s not tax.”

Meanwhile, the report says King Charles pays VAT, employer taxes, and local rates “in line with requirements”.

2. We don’t know how his tax bill was calculated
While the Royal Household describes releasing the King’s tax bill as part of its “commitment to transparency”, it’s not clear how it has been figured out.

So although we know that the King has agreed to pay tax on personal income, income from the Privy Purse not spent on official duties, and capital gains tax on private property sales, we don’t know what proportion of those taxes make up the £12.9m paid.

The Privy Purse is a source of private income for the ruling monarch.

It mostly comprises income from the Duchy of Lancaster, an estate that belongs to whoever is the ruling monarch and includes, among other things, thousands of hectares of valuable land, castles and quarries.

The report does say that the Privy Purse received £25.2m from the Duchy of Lancaster for the year to 31 March, but that is not all of the King’s income.

He also has personal earnings which the Royal Household says may include “investment income and trading profits”. The report does not put a figure on this.

Three unusual things about the King’s tax bill

Buckingham Palace described the move to publish the King’s tax bill – as well as Prince William’s – as increasing transparency which it said aimed to “encourage wider understanding of our accountability”.

Historian Anna Whitelock said the King revealing his tax bill puts him “front and centre as a very rich man”.

“I do think this is very much a sign of the times, and it’s an attempt by the monarchy to try and get on the front foot and before they were absolutely pushed to try and show they are responsive and not reactive.”

However, Shaun Moore, tax and financial planning expert at wealth manager Quilter, said there’s ultimately not much detail to look at in report.

“The headline figure is a large sum of tax and there’s also a large sum of income quoted as well, but there’s not any breakdown of about how that was arrived at.”

3. He can deduct official royal business from the bill
Another thing not detailed in the report is what proportion of the Privy Purse income has been spent by the King personally and what proportion of it has been spent for official royal duties.

This matters because the King only voluntarily pays tax on income spent personally, meaning the King can effectively deduct royal business from his tax bill.

The King also does not pay tax on the Sovereign Grant, which is money paid from the Treasury to the Royal Household to pay for official duties.

This system is a bit like how a self-employed person can file expenses on their self-assessment tax return for things like uniform or training.

Except that the King has two tax-free ways in which he can fund official duties.

Also, what counts as official duties is very different from what a regular self-employed taxpayer can expense.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8kg7zg09ko

Once, video games came with lots of physical goodies, such as guides, maps and manuals.

Those days are mostly gone, but gamers have, up to now, usually been able to rely on one thing they could literally get their hands on – a disc.

But when pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 went live on Thursday, developer Rockstar said customers who opted for the physical edition would get a box that just contained a code for a digital download instead.

It’s not the first time a physical edition has launched this way.

But if the makers of one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history has decided to follow suit, does that mean the disc is dead? And what does that say about game ownership in the digital age?

Unacceptable – or inevitable?
“My initial reaction was one of confusion and shock,” Ben, a UK-based 24-year-old gamer who covers GTA news on social media under the handle ‘videotech’, told me following the announcement.

In an interview with Variety in February, Strauss Zelnick, the chief executive of Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company, had said a digital-only launch was “not the plan”.

Ben said this led many to hope the physical disc would be available at launch too – and for more than sentimental reasons.

“An important benefit of owning a disc is that you can lend the game to a friend or sell it later,” he said.

Online retailers selling the physical edition have stated that, as with other digital game codes, the one being offered for GTA 6 is single-use and will become invalid after it is redeemed.

Digital sales now account for the vast majority of game revenue, and online stores such as Steam for PC and the PlayStation Store have been around for many years.

The addition of consoles without physical disc drives is only helping further this trend, said Mat Piscatella, senior director and video game industry advisor at market research firm Circana.

“More than half of all Xbox Series consoles in the US don’t have a physical drive, while over a quarter of PS5’s are the same,” he posted.

For some gamers, the news they wouldn’t be able to play GTA 6 on a disc therefore felt like less of an upset.

“I’m pretty much all digital these days, I download most of my games directly onto my console,” Alogirlx, a gaming content creator from Canada, told the BBC’s What in the World podcast.

“Whether there’s a physical disc or not it doesn’t really change anything for me,” she said.

With physical game sales at an all-time low, the issue may well be less about the disc itself than what its absence may represent.

For some, it appears to be another step away from buying a physical product, and instead towards buying a licence or access to software controlled by the publisher and platform holder.

Ross Scott is the founder of the growing consumer rights movement Stop Killing Games.

The group is campaigning for publishers to leave online games playable if they end up switching off their servers.

He told me the issue raised by Rockstar’s code-in-a-box is less about the missing disc itself – after all, an online game on a disc can still become unplayable if its servers are shut down.

Instead, he said, it was about a lack of trust that publishers will preserve access to games consumers have already paid for.

“The problem is the industry has a very poor reputation of disabling games once they end support, so the trust from customers for many large publishers just isn’t there,” he said.

“I don’t think the lack of a disc is the problem in itself, but rather it can be a symptom of a larger, very consumer-hostile practice.”

Why might Rockstar have done this?
The BBC has reached out to Rockstar for more details on its decision, but it is yet to comment.

Chris Scullion, deputy editor of Video Games Chronicle, pointed to previous data leaks suffered by the studio as a possible explanation for why it may want to ensure its content cannot be easily ripped from a disc and shared before release.

He added that the game, which has already been delayed twice, may also be “so close to the wire” in development that players could still get an out-of-date version if they picked up a disc rather than the digital edition.

“A cynic would also say it’s simply a way to make more money on each physical copy sold,” he said.

Rockstar is not the only company moving away from the traditional physical format, however.

Nintendo has also shifted further towards digital distribution in recent years with the introduction of Game-Key Cards – physical cartridges that act as a key to download a game, rather than containing the game itself.

What have physical retailers said?
The GTA franchise is one of the biggest and most profitable entertainment properties in history.

GTA V has sold nearly 230 million copies, and the launch of its successor is expected to be such a major economic event that Bank of America has weighed in on its price.

Despite this, Rockstar’s announcement has prompted some independent retailers to refuse to stock the code-in-a-box version.

VGP, an online retailer with a physical store in Toronto, said while it had “tremendous respect” for Rockstar, it was “committed to preserving the value of physical game ownership”, so would not be offering the product.

Lootbox Gaming, an independent retailer in Delaware, also declined to stock it, telling me the decision “speaks volumes about the future for AAA (big-budget) releases on physical media”.

Meanwhile, PNP Games, an online retailer with three stores in Winnipeg, has launched a petition, calling on Take-Two to release a physical disc version.

Piscatella suggested the code “may provide a better opportunity for retailers, particularly those that don’t sell used games”, given the number of PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles without disc drives.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6210nj8gpro