World
G7 leaders meet in France after US and Iran declare agreement to end war
Many G7 leaders have been directly impacted by Trump’s volatile moves on the global stage that have upended the Middle East, global trade and diplomacy.
Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations meet at a French lakeside resort on Monday shortly after the US and Iran said they had reached a preliminary deal to end their war, Reuters reported.
Discussing next steps on Iran will be one of several issues the global leaders will wrestle with during the June 15-17 summit, which will also seek common ground on the war in Ukraine, tackling global economic imbalances and sourcing critical minerals outside of the dominant supplier China.
US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Evian-les-Bains on Monday for the gathering at a time when global leaders are increasingly wary of the United States, although French officials were glad to have secured his presence after he left last year’s G7 summit in Canada early.
Many G7 leaders have been directly impacted by Trump’s volatile moves on the global stage that have upended the Middle East, global trade and diplomacy. His actions have led to larger questions about the US commitment to the post-war global order it helped establish.
Trump is due to meet with Middle Eastern leaders and attend a working session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the summit.
The Zelenskiy meeting on Tuesday comes at a time when Russian advances in Ukraine have slowed and Ukraine seeks more military funding from its allies, read the report.
Zelenskiy’s hand has improved since Trump famously told him in the Oval Office last year: “You don’t have the cards”.
But he may find greater U.S. support elusive as Trump prioritises drawing a line under then Iran conflict, which has dented his support domestically.
G7 leaders will be keen to learn the details of the US-Iran deal. A memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland but precise terms were not immediately known.
Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for global oil and gas supplies that Iran has effectively shut down for months, would open on Friday, and that he had ordered the end of the US blockade of Iranian ports.
In a statement, the secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, would end permanently starting on Monday night.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said a more expansive agreement would be negotiated during a 60-day ceasefire period, including sanctions relief for Iran. Iran’s nuclear program will be addressed in those later talks, sources had previously told Reuters.
The United Arab Emirates, directly harmed by the war, and key mediators Qatar and Egypt will also attend the G7.
Trump will be greeted on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron, for whom this summit serves as a diplomatic capstone for his second and final term in office, which draws to a close next year.
Macron is increasingly seen as a lame duck domestically but he still has pull on the global stage, and was able to get Trump to agree to a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday.
Macron has sought to use France’s presidency of the G7 to push for action on global macroeconomic imbalances, a longstanding US concern, before Washington takes the chair of the G20 this year and the G7 next. France has framed the issue as a shared responsibility in that China overproduces, the United States overconsumes and Europe underinvests, Reuters reported.
Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea have been invited to the G7 to join the discussion, while Macron has urged China to boost its own consumption.
World
Yemeni military says it targeted Sanaa Airport runway to stop Iranian plane landing
Yemen’s defense ministry says that its armed forces targeted the runway at Sanaa International Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.
Yemen’s capital Sanaa is under the control of the Iran-aligned Houthi group, while the internationally recognized government, which has the backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, operates out of Aden in southern Yemen.
Houthi movement accused Saudi Arabia of launching air strikes against the international airport in Sanaa, and vowed to retaliate, Reuters reported.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree called the attacks “blatant aggression” and said it had ended a period of de-escalation in the long-running conflict. He said Saudi Arabia would bear the consequences and that the attack would not go unanswered.
Yemen has faced civil war and proxy warfare from outside powers for more than a decade, since the Houthis seized the capital and forced the internationally recognised government to relocate to the south.
The government, operating from the southern port of Aden, retains the backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Moammar bin Mutahar Al-Eryan, the information minister in the internationally recognised government, said the Houthis were detaining an aircraft belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Sanaa airport and holding its pilot and co-pilot.
Earlier on Monday, the government’s defence minister had said it had exhausted diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran and the Houthis to stop what he described as Iranian aircraft violating Yemeni airspace. He said government forces would respond to any hostile aircraft violating Yemen’s airspace “by all available means”, and held Iran responsible.
World
Venezuela quakes leave over 4,300 dead and 16,740 injured
The official tally of injured remained unchanged at 16,740, while 6,462 people have been rescued and about 17,000 have been left homeless.
The death toll from the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 4,333, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez told reporters on Saturday, announcing that the distribution of housing to those affected will begin next week, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, 315 of the dead have not yet been identified, the official said.
The official tally of injured remained unchanged at 16,740, while 6,462 people have been rescued and about 17,000 have been left homeless.
Rodriguez said acting President Delcy Rodriguez will allocate the first 200 homes to those affected next week, but did not give any more details.
Rodriguez also said that 856 buildings were affected, of which 190 either collapsed completely or suffered structural collapse.
According to the government’s preliminary estimates, 25,000 homes are needed. Authorities have already identified around 40 plots of land, totaling about 584,000 square meters, for housing projects in Osma and Chuspa.
Rodriguez said search operations are continuing, saying, “As long as there is life, there is hope. We still have one or two sites where the situation remains uncertain, active sites where we are searching for survivors.”
World
Trump says missiles aimed at Iran if Tehran targets US president
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had ordered the military to be prepared to launch strikes against Iran if the Iranian government carried out or attempted an assassination of the president.
“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” he said in a Truth Social post, Reuters reported.
“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”
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