WASHINGTON, June 18 — Shortly after the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, US President Donald Trump laid out a host of objectives, from destroying Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities to ensuring Tehran can never have a nuclear weapon.

More than three months later, with a preliminary peace deal in place, what has Trump achieved?

Missiles and drones

Before the war, Iran held the largest ballistic stockpile in the Middle East, with between 2,500 and 6,000 missiles of different types. Some were capable of reaching Israel, with ranges of up to 2,000 kilometres, and some carried cluster munition warheads that are harder to defend against.

Iran is also a major manufacturer of long-range drones - in particular, the one-way Shahed drone that has been used by Russia against Ukraine, as well as by Tehran.

Roughly one month into the war, US sources told Reuters that one-third of that arsenal was destroyed, with another third likely damaged, destroyed or buried.

US Admiral Brad Cooper told Congress on May 14 that Iran’s ability to build and stockpile missiles and long-range drones had been set back by years. He said more than 1,500 missiles and 6,000 drones had been intercepted by the US and its allies during the conflict.

It is unclear how many missiles Iran has left, but the country still has the ability to reach US allies - most recently on June 6, when it launched salvos at Kuwait and Bahrain, and June 7, when it fired missiles at Israel. Those countries said the attacks did no significant damage.

Conventional military

The US military says it has degraded Iran’s conventional military ability to project power in the region or threaten US operations.

Cooper told Congress that the US military had destroyed 161 Iranian naval ships and knocked out 82 per cent of its air defence systems. He said the Iranian air force, which flew up to 100 sorties daily before the war, now does not fly any missions at all.

Despite this, Iran was still able to effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz through the duration of the conflict, bottling up merchant ships that transport one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supply through the use of speedboats, mines, drones and missile boats.

Nuclear programme

Trump has repeatedly said that his main goal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Tehran has consistently said it has no intention of building a bomb and its programme is for peaceful purposes.

But the war has not significantly changed Iran’s nuclear capability. US intelligence last month estimated that Iran would need less than a year to produce a nuclear weapon - the same timeline it laid out following the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran’s nuclear programme will be a central issue for negotiators once the framework deal is formally signed tomorrow. Trump has said Iran’s enriched uranium must be taken out of the country, while Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says it must not be sent abroad, sources say.

Iranian proxies

Trump said on March 2 at the White House that Tehran cannot be allowed to continue to arm and fund the armed proxy groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen that Iran has relied on for decades to project power and harass enemies.

Iran has shown no willingness to halt its support for those groups since the start of the war, but US military and independent assessments have found that Iran’s proxy network is much less effective than it used to be.

Much of this was underway before the war began. Israel killed many of Hamas’ top leaders and thousands of its fighters in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack on its territory and killed many of the Hezbollah militia’s leadership in Lebanon as well. Iran also lost an important conduit for resupplying Hezbollah with the collapse of former President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria in 2024. Sanctions and Iran’s economic woes also undercut its ability to fund these groups.

The groups have not played a major role in the war. Hamas has not attacked Israel from its Gaza enclave, while the Houthis have not significantly disrupted Red Sea shipping from Yemen.

Hezbollah joined the war on March 2 when it launched missiles and drones into Israel, prompting Israel to respond with airstrikes and a ground invasion that have killed nearly 3,700 people and displaced 1.2 million in Lebanon. Some 28 Israeli soldiers and four civilians have died in the conflict so far.

Cooper told Congress in May that Iran no longer has the ability to reliably supply those groups with advanced weapons, though he did not specify what that meant.

Regime change

Trump encouraged Iranian protesters to overthrow their rulers before the war began and said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death on February 28 was their “single greatest chance” to seize the government. On March 6, he said the war would only end with “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” from Iran, paired with a new, “acceptable” leader.

Though the war has failed to dislodge Iran’s theocratic government, Trump has claimed that he has accomplished his goal because Khamenei has been replaced by his son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Trump characterised the new leadership as “a new, and more reasonable, regime” on March 29.

Trump in recent weeks has refrained from repeating his calls for the toppling of Iranian leaders. — Reuters

JEJU, June 18 — In excruciating pain from a debilitating neurological condition, South Korean Lee Myung-shik had reluctantly given up on assisted death in Switzerland when he learned his daughter risked prison time if she helped him.

Now the 65-year-old is looking to South Korea’s Constitutional Court for help in what is the first known legal challenge to the country’s assisted dying ban, according to his lawyer.

Despite strong opioid pain medication, wheelchair-bound Lee has endured constant discomfort since his 2020 diagnosis with acute myelitis, a rare condition that has no known cure.

His urine is drained through a catheter, and a carer manually removes his stool.

The pain, Lee said, feels like “my thighs are being crushed by a heavy press, as though my lower body were pinned beneath a dump truck”.

“I am not really living. I am merely surviving,” Lee, who also contends with pressure sores and skin necrosis, told AFP.

He has long come to see death as the only escape.

In 2022, Lee was planning to travel to Switzerland with the help of Dignitas, a Swiss non-profit that supports people seeking an assisted death.

As he cannot travel alone, his daughter was to accompany him.

But “joy turned to sorrow”, Lee said, when he realised she could face up to 10 years in prison back home under a ban on assisted suicide in South Korea’s Criminal Act.

“While preparing the paperwork, I halted the process because I could not bring myself to list a companion,” he said, dashing his “only hope”.

South Korean Lee Myung-shik had reluctantly given up on assisted death in Switzerland when he learnt his daughter risked prison time if she helped him. — AFP pic

In 2023, Lee filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, arguing that when medicine offers no cure and life entails only physical and mental suffering, a person’s “right to decide on their own death” should be protected by the state.

“Incurable, persistent and excruciating pain is the most brutal form of torture on Earth,” he said.

‘Cautiously optimistic’

Dignitas said it had helped 11 South Koreans with assisted deaths by December 2025.

None of those who accompanied them have been prosecuted, according to Lee’s lawyer, Kim Jae-ryon.

“It appears people travelled there secretly and no one reported them to the police,” Lee said.

It is a risk he was not willing to take, nor should anyone have to, insisted Lee.

“If the constitutional complaint succeeds, the legal interpretation of aiding and abetting suicide could shift, allowing people in similar circumstances to avoid criminal punishment,” he said.

Lawyer Kim said a public hearing may be held later this year, nearly three years after Lee’s petition was filed.

Rulings usually take several months.

Kim said she was “cautiously optimistic” of a positive outcome, citing a global trend toward allowing assisted dying and growing demand in South Korea.

A total of 144 South Koreans had applied for Dignitas’s services by the end of last year — the 14th-highest national figure, according to the Swiss non-profit.

Public debate

A December 2024 survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs found 82 per cent of South Korean respondents supported assisted dying.

But under the law as it stands, doctors or others who help another person die risk between one and 10 years in jail.

Lee argues the provision is unconstitutional.

A lawmaker introduced a bill to legalise medically assisted dying in 2024, but the initiative stalled in the face of fierce resistance from religious groups and the Korean Medical Association.

Countries including Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Spain, Uruguay and some US states allow assisted dying.

In most cases, years of court rulings, civil society debate and patient advocacy paved the way, said Park Hye-yoon, a physician at Seoul National University Hospital.

Such discussions “have yet to fully mature in South Korea”, she said, and could take years to bear fruit.

According to Lee, he had an assurance from Dignitas “that they would accept me at any time”. — AFP

JERUSALEM, June 18 — Israel’s foreign minister said Thursday that he was severing all contact with the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas over reported remarks in which she allegedly compared Israel to the apartheid regime that once ruled South Africa.

Diplomatic relations between Israel and the EU have come under heavy strain since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, as well as over violence by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, Gideon Saar accused EU foreign policy chief Kallas of “acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness” towards Israel.

“Recently, it was published that during her visit to Mexico, she compared Israel to the racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa,” Saar wrote on X.

“However, to date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement.

“Therefore, as the foreign minister of the State of Israel, I have no choice but to sever all contact with Ms Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world’s only Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said.

According to European news outlet Euractiv, Kallas made the remarks during a closed-door meeting with Mexican government officials while on a visit to Mexico last month.

Kallas responded to Saar’s comments on Thursday by emphasising the need for continued dialogue between the EU and Israel, but declined to address the alleged “apartheid” remarks.

“I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively,” Kallas wrote on X.

“The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel. To bring peace to the Middle East, the Two-State Solution remains the only viable path.

“The EU has condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal. That is the EU position,” Kallas added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused EU envoy Kaja Kallas of ‘acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness’ towards Israel, and cut diplomatic ties on June 18, 2026. — AFP pic

Earlier this week, Kallas said that the EU would explore options for restricting trade with Israeli settlements following calls from several member countries.

Kallas also noted that a number of EU countries had proposed sanctions against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, although no consensus has yet emerged.

Any EU sanctions have to be signed off by all 27 member states, and staunch supporters of Israel have opposed such measures.

Calls to blacklist Ben Gvir grew after he published video last month of himself mocking bound activists, some of them from European Union member states, seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has increased since the start of the Gaza war. 

Rights groups report near-daily attacks on Palestinians and their property.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and since then settlement expansion has been a policy under successive Israeli governments.

But it has accelerated significantly under the current coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians. — AFP

TEHRAN, June 18 — Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian welcomed on Thursday what he called a “historic” deal with the United States to end their war and pave the way for negotiations towards a final settlement.

“This is a historic document and a message from a powerful Iran: peace will be achieved in the shadow of mutual respect,” Pezeshkian said in a social media post showing an image of the document, which carried his signature as well as US President Donald Trump and their mediator, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. — AFP

ISTANBUL/LONDON, June 19 — Three Saudi oil supertankers have reappeared outside the Strait of Hormuz after last being spotted in the Gulf two months ago, as commercial vessel movements through the key energy chokepoint draw renewed attention following a US-Iran agreement.

According to Anadolu Ajansi (AA), the vessels, identified as Awtad, Jaham and Shaden, had not been sending signals since then.

According to data analytics company Kpler, the tanker Awtad, loaded with 2 million barrels of Saudi crude oil, passed through the Strait of Hormuz and exited the Gulf. The tanker is heading to South Korea.

Two other Saudi tankers, Shaden and Jaham, are believed to be carrying Saudi crude oil and are estimated to have passed through the strait with their signals switched off. The two tankers are currently located in the Gulf of Oman.

The tanker Viraj, carrying around 27,500 barrels of contaminated petroleum products from Iran’s Bandar Imam Khomeini port, also passed through the Strait of Hormuz and is heading towards the United Arab Emirates.

The movements come after an agreement was reached between the US and Iran, which includes a 60-day negotiation period towards a final deal. Under the 14-point agreement, Iran will make “all possible efforts and arrangements” to ensure commercial vessels can pass between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman safely and free of charge for 60 days.

Commercial ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been sharply disrupted since Feb 28 amid the US/Israel-Iran war.

Before the conflict, an average of around 130 ships passed through the strait daily. That figure has since fallen by more than 90 per cent, according to calculations by an Anadolu correspondent.

Around 1,000 commercial vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the 100 days of the war, corresponding to an average of about 10 vessels per day.

Most commercial vessels passing through the strait either follow the designated “Iranian route” within Iranian territorial waters or switch off their automatic identification system, known as AIS, while transiting the waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran and Oman, is one of the world’s most important energy routes, linking crude and fuel shipments from Gulf producers to global markets. — Bernama-Anadolu

TEHRAN, June 18 — Iran said today that its missile programme would not be part of future negotiations with the United States, after the two sides agreed a framework deal for ending their war.

US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding early today, ending a regional war that erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes.

The agreement lays the groundwork for detailed negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and sanctions relief for Tehran.

There is no mention in the deal of Iran’s missile programme, a longstanding concern for Washington and its ally Israel.

“Our missiles do not like at all to be talked about by anyone,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in an interview with Iranian state television.

“Iranian missiles are only for firing, not for negotiations. Iran’s defence capability will not be discussed in any way, in any process or with any party.”

During the nearly 40-day war, Iran’s missile infrastructure came under heavy US-Israeli bombardment, but Tehran continued to respond with missile and drone attacks across the region.

Before the war, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had warned that Iran would need to negotiate over its ballistic missile arsenal, which Washington views as a threat to Israel and US military bases in the region.

Iran has repeatedly refused to discuss what it describes as its defensive capabilities.

Yesterday, Trump appeared to soften his position, saying it would be “unfair” for Iran not to have missiles.

“I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” Trump said.

“A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we are talking about when we talk nuclear.” — AFP

NEW DELHI, June 18 — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there had been “significant progress” in long-running talks with Washington for a trade deal, according to a statement issued today after his meeting with President Donald Trump.

The leaders met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian in France yesterday, their first face-to-face talks since February 2025 in Washington.

“The leaders noted with particular satisfaction the significant progress made in negotiations towards an interim Bilateral Trade Agreement”, a readout of the meeting from India’s foreign ministry read.

Asked if the US and India are close to a trade deal, Trump told reporters in Evian that they were “very close”.

“He’s a very tough negotiator, one of the toughest, actually. So you look at this man, I’ll give you a lesson,” said the US president.

“He’s the most beautiful looking man. He looks so nice. He’s like an angel, but actually he’s a killer.”

The Indian statement said the leaders had ordered officials to work towards striking a “commercially meaningful agreement at the earliest”.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will visit India next week for the latest round of talks.

Washington and New Delhi have set a target of boosting bilateral trade to US$500 billion (RM2.05 trillion) by 2030, holding multiple rounds of negotiations in a bid to resolve market access and tariff disputes.

The two countries reached an initial understanding for the trade deal in February, but negotiations slowed after Trump’s sweeping tariff measures were struck down by the US Supreme Court.

After the court order, the Trump administration launched investigations into unfair trade practices against several countries, including India, while imposing a blanket 10 per cent tariff.

India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in early June that the countries were “about 99 per cent” done with the first tranche of a trade deal.

Modi also urged Trump to ensure the safety of Indian seafarers as part of the implementation of an Iran-US deal aimed at ending the Middle East war, after three Indian sailors were killed in a US strike on a commercial vessel off Oman on June 10.

The South Asian nation has been hard hit by the Middle East conflict, as energy supplies were throttled by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil and gas transport.

Modi yetserday warned that the impact of the war would take time to resolve.

“The disruptions in fuel, fertiliser and food supply chains caused by the crisis... will continue to impact the Global South for a considerable period,” he said, according to a statement. — AFP

LONDON, June 18 — The northern English area of Makerfield votes today in a local election that could return Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to parliament, paving the way for him to launch a bid to take over as prime minister.

The election, ‌triggered by a party colleague resigning his seat, has brought unusual attention to the former coal mining area near Manchester as its result will determine the shape of an inevitable challenge to the deeply unpopular Keir Starmer.

If Burnham defeats the candidate for Reform UK, Brexit advocate Nigel Farage’s populist party, his victory will fire the starting gun on a race to replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party, a contest that could give Britain its seventh prime minister in just over a decade. Starmer himself has pledged to fight on.

Greater Manchester mayor and Labour candidate Andy Burnham applauds on the day he delivers a speech on apprenticeships, ahead of the June 18 Makerfield by-election, in Wigan June 13, 2026. — Reuters pic

Andy Burnham: Local man with national ambitions

Burnham, 56, made two unsuccessful bids to become Labour leader, in 2010 and 2015. He has mostly tried to play down his leadership ambitions by casting the by-election as a fight to improve the life chances of people in the area, close to where he now lives and ‌where his three children went to school.

But more attention has focused on his hints of how he might govern Britain, ⁠leading to accusations from other candidates that, to him, the ⁠poll is just a stepping stone to winning national power.

“Change is coming, but the ⁠question tonight is ‘what kind of change?’” Burnham said ⁠in a speech to ⁠party supporters, also broadcast on X, late yesterday.

“A vote for me is a vote to end 40 years of trickle-down economics that didn’t trickle down much at all to people here.”

After flooding Makerfield with senior ministers and dozens of lawmakers, Labour is ⁠nervously confident that Burnham can defeat Reform’s candidate, Robert Kenyon, a self-employed plumber who is also from the area.

Polls put Burnham ahead with Reform close behind, its share of the vote dented by a new right-wing party called Restore Britain. Results are expected in the early hours of tomorrow.

If Burnham wins, he has made clear he would run in any leadership race against the prime minister, although he might not move immediately. Another leadership rival, former health minister Wes Streeting, says he ⁠is prepared to trigger a challenge if Starmer does not step down as Streeting has urged.

Starmer, 63, has repeatedly said he will contest any leadership bid, saying he has “always battled against the odds” by taking a Labour ⁠Party that suffered its worst defeat for 84 years in 2019 to a landslide victory in 2024.

But several senior Labour lawmakers ⁠say Starmer ⁠could be persuaded to hand the reins to Burnham, who appears to command significant support among Labour members of parliament, to prevent a months-long leadership contest that could further alienate voters before a national election due in 2029.

Burnham could then offer Streeting a high-profile cabinet job in return ‌for declining to trigger a contest for the leadership, Labour lawmakers said.

One senior lawmaker said the party’s standing could only suffer from a likely three-month leadership campaign over the summer, and that its members of parliament were likely to prioritise a quick, clean resolution. — Reuters

HONG KONG, June 18 — Hong Kong’s observatory raised its highest black ‌rain signal today at 12.55pm local time (0455 GMT/12.55pm Malaysian time), prompting schools to close and some businesses to halt, ‌as it asked residents to take shelter and be on guard for severe flooding.

Heavy rain exceeding 70 millimetres in an hour is likely to continue, the observatory said on its website. It is the second time the black warning signal has been hoisted this year; the first occurred more than a week ago ‌on June 8.

The financial hub, along with ⁠much of southern China, ⁠has been soaked for several ⁠days now due to ⁠an active ⁠southwest monsoon and a lingering trough of low pressure.

Intense gusts may continue to affect Hong ⁠Kong, with wind strength of around 80km per hour recorded in the city’s south-western district of Tai O, the observatory said.

It comes ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival ⁠tomorrow, which gives residents a three-day weekend, when many are expected to travel.

Authorities across the border ⁠in Shenzhen, mainland China, hoisted the red rain signal ⁠and ⁠urged residents to stay away from low-lying, waterlogged and what it called “other dangerous areas.”

There was an increased ‌risk of mountain floods, landslides and other disasters, they said. — Reuters

TAIPEI, June 18 — Taiwan’s president said yesterday he hoped the United States would approve a US$14 billion (RM57 billion) arms sale “as soon as possible”, reiterating that the democratic island “rejects unification” with China.

Taiwan relies heavily on US support to deter any potential Chinese attack, and Washington has put pressure on Taipei to increase its defence spending.

But arms sales also complicate ties between Washington and Beijing, which opposes them. In May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US$14 billion deal was “under review”.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said Thursday he still had “high hopes”, adding: “We hope that the arms purchases can be approved as soon as possible.”

“Taiwan’s efforts to safeguard its national security, uphold its democratic and free way of life, and reject unification and the rule of the Chinese Communist Party should not be seen as a provocation against China or a troublemaker in the region,” he said to journalists in Taipei.

The United States formally recognises only China, but is also required under domestic law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

US authorities said last month they were reviewing a massive arms sale package to Taiwan to ensure the American military had sufficient munitions for its Iran operations.

Lai’s government has vowed to increase overall defence spending to more than three per cent of GDP this year.

It has proposed NT$1.25 trillion (RM163 billion) for weapons purchases, including US-developed arms as well as Taiwan-made drones and other items.

But Taiwanese lawmakers have disagreed over how much to spend on improving defence capabilities.

Opposition parties, which hold a majority in the legislature, passed a US$25 billion special defence budget last month, slashing by a third the one proposed by Lai’s ruling party.

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to seize it, has consistently opposed US arms sales and official exchanges with the island. — AFP

SEOUL, June 18 — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung left the G7 summit in France ‌with the souvenir of a pen from US President Donald Trump and the promise of a golf game after a dinner discussion he described as making ‌progress over the issue of North Korea.

Lee, attending the summit in Evian-les-Bains as an invited partner, said today he had spoken at length with Trump during the leaders’ dinner.

“We had an in-depth conversation for about 90 minutes about peace on the Korean peninsula and South Korea-US relations, and made significant progress,” Lee wrote on X.

The next day Trump handed Lee the pen he had been using to sign documents at the summit, a gesture that Lee ‌suggested echoed their own first summit, when Trump received a pen ⁠Lee used.

Lee said Trump also talked over ⁠dinner about playing golf with him and ⁠first lady Kim Hea Kyung.

“I ⁠thought it was ⁠just a passing remark, but it seems I should prepare,” Lee said, adding that Trump raised the matter twice.

“He said he would ⁠play golf with my wife and me, and my wife even sealed the promise by hooking fingers,” Lee said. “Then, after today’s luncheon, he again said we should definitely play golf together.”

While posing for a group photograph earlier, Lee asked Trump to take the lead in ⁠pursuing a peaceful resolution of tension with neighbouring North Korea, Lee’s office said.

The presidential Blue House said the leaders also ⁠discussed mutually beneficial efforts such as shipbuilding, and agreed on the importance of cooperation ⁠between ⁠South Korea, the United States and Japan.

Seoul and Washington are close security allies, though ties in recent years have been strained at times over issues ‌such as US tariffs and the sharing of defence costs.

Trump described Lee as a “strong leader,” Lee’s office said. — Reuters

WASHINGTON, June 18 — US President Donald Trump and Iran’s president signed a deal yesterday meant to end the Middle East war, with Tehran agreeing to dilute its enriched uranium in return for large-scale economic relief.

Trump put his signature to the memorandum of understanding during a candlelit dinner at the Palace of Versailles following a G7 summit, as host French President Emmanuel Macron and other guests applauded, a video posted by a Trump aide showed.

“Just signed it,” Trump told reporters as he emerged from the palace.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, said the document “was finalised with the signatures of the presidents.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which mediated the agreement, said on X that it “shall enter into force with immediate effect.”

The deal aims to draw a line under the war launched February 28 by the United States and Israel, prompting Iran to counterattack with missile and drone salvos across the region — and effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world economy. The US responded by blocking shipping to and from Iranian ports.

“As a first step, Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade,” Sharif wrote.

Under the text, Washington also commits to immediately waive oil sanctions crippling Iran’s economy.

And once a final agreement is reached on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme, the United States will also facilitate the release of a US$300 billion (RM1.2 trillion) reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, the deal says.

The agreement had earlier been slated for signatures by Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and US Vice President JD Vance. Iran said an in-person ceremony was no longer needed.

But Sharif said an official ceremony will take place tomorrow in Switzerland and technical talks will commence.

‘Great victory’ 

Iran insisted the deal represented a US “failure.”

“People will see it and judge,” Ghalibaf said on state television late yesterday, after the text was released by both sides.

Highlighting the global impact of any deal, China said yesterday that its top diplomat had impressed on Tehran that it was “key” for all sides to “genuinely implement” their commitments.

But Trump’s decision to pull the plug on the war, in which 13 US service members were killed and vast amounts of US ammunition stockpiles were used up, has unsettled some of his own allies at home.

Social media post by US President Donald Trump announcing a deal with Iran to end their war, June 14, 2026. — Social media website handout pic via Reuters

The agreement is only a temporary arrangement meant to give time for starting detailed negotiations on the far more complex issue of long-term control over Iran’s nuclear power ambitions, which Washington has long suspected of harbouring a secret bomb-making programme.

Trump said earlier yesterday that he was prepared to “bomb the hell” out of Iran if they violated the agreement.

But US Senator Bill Cassidy from Trump’s own Republican Party was scathing.

“Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works,” he said. “Sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”

The head of the pro-Tehran Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, yesterday described the deal as a “great victory” for Iran.

He thanked Tehran for insisting that the truce cover Lebanon, which was drawn into the conflict when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of Iran.

Negotiations to begin 

A two-month negotiating period now begins, with the much-anticipated reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as the first step.

Under the terms of the deal released by US officials, Iran will dilute its enriched uranium stocks, possibly by “down-blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA” — the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

This would lead to more far-reaching economic assistance for Iran.

But a US official said Washington would not be required to contribute financially.

Oil prices have tumbled in recent days as optimism grew of a lasting Middle East peace agreement, but reversed course yesterday.

Prices briefly jumped five per cent as uncertainty spread about the signing, before stabilising later in the day.

Lebanese front 

While violence declined in Lebanon following the announcement of the deal, Israeli strikes on the south have killed at least five people since then, according to state media, which also reported Israeli raids on south Lebanon yesterday.

Israel’s army said five soldiers were wounded yesterday, one of them severely, “as a result of an explosive drone impact in southern Lebanon”, the first such announcement since the US-Iran deal.

The Israeli military also said its air force intercepted “several rockets” launched toward soldiers operating in south Lebanon, without reporting casualties. — AFP

WASHINGTON, June 18 — The US has held off adding China’s AI startup DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT and more than 100 other companies flagged as national security risks to a trade blacklist, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration tries to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing.

DeepSeek, CXMT and other companies were approved by an interagency committee last year for addition to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which is being reported for the first time. 

Reuters is also exclusively reporting the large number of companies awaiting publication on the list. 

DeepSeek, whose low-cost AI model sent shockwaves through the technology world in January 2025, has supported China’s military and intelligence operations, a senior US State Department official told Reuters last year, adding that the startup tried to use Southeast Asian shell companies to illegally access advanced US chips. 

This year, Anthropic said it identified a campaign by DeepSeek and two other Chinese AI labs to illicitly extract capabilities from its Claude AI platform to improve their own models, and OpenAI warned lawmakers that DeepSeek also was targeting its models.

ChangXin Memory Technologies, China’s top memory chipmaker, was designated as a Chinese military company by the Defense Department under the Biden administration. 

The Commerce Department considered placing it on its Entity List more than a year ago, Reuters and others reported.

US companies cannot ship goods, software and technology to companies on the list without a license, which is likely to be denied.

DeepSeek and CXMT could not be reached for comment outside normal business hours. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees the list, did not directly respond to questions about why updates to the Entity List had not been published since last year, or comment on DeepSeek and CXMT.

The bureau uses “many policy and enforcement tools, including the Entity List … on a daily basis to ensure we are combating bad actors,” BIS said in a statement.

Tense rivalry 

The United States and China are locked in a tense rivalry over technology, trade and national security, with Washington using tariffs and export controls to keep Beijing at bay while China maintains a stranglehold on rare earth minerals that defense, auto and chipmaking firms need.

The US has not posted any additions to its Entity List since October, the longest stretch between new postings in more than a decade, said Philip Luck, who studies global supply chains at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The Entity List is like whack-a-mole and you’ve got to keep whacking the moles,” Luck said, referring to an arcade game.

The lack of new listings is likely allowing American technology to reach adversaries who could use it against the US, he added.

“The fact the US hasn’t put any companies on the Entity List since October demonstrates that trade policy is overshadowing the use of a critical national security tool,” said Kevin Kurland, a former Commerce Department official.

Multiple Chinese companies were slated for the list for supplying Russian drones that were recovered in Poland last September, one of the people said. 

Listing those lesser-known companies is even more important to US suppliers who may not know the nature of their business, the person said.

Dozens of other Chinese companies were identified last year as national security risks for selling restricted Nvidia chips to Chinese universities, but were not added to the list, a third source said.

Chinese companies that make and sell drones and robot dogs for the country’s military were also selected as potential targets, according to the third person.

Since late 2025, Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, has sought to avoid listing Chinese parties for fear of escalating tensions between the US and China, according to the first source and other people familiar with the matter. 

The dearth of listings offers a window into what many see as a larger problem at the Bureau of Industry and Security under the second Trump administration — an inability to act or issue new rules to combat threats that can be reduced by restricting exports. 

Early last year, for instance, the bureau said it would replace a regulation created under former President Joe Biden to govern global access to US-origin AI chips. 

But it has still not published a replacement, and is not enforcing the earlier rule, opening a potential loophole that may have allowed the chips to be exported to Chinese companies outside China.

Decisions regarding whether to add an entity to the list are made by an interagency committee, which includes officials from the departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State and sometimes Treasury. 

But the first two sources said the committee has approved companies for the list and Commerce has not published them.

At least 75 Chinese entities in advanced semiconductor production, semiconductor manufacturing equipment production and AI modeling have gone through the committee and were slated for blacklisting, one of the sources said. — Reuters

BEIJING, June 17 — An alleged leading member of a prominent crime syndicate that operated scam centres in Cambodia has been extradited back to China, Beijing said on Wednesday.

Cambodia has emerged as a hub for crime syndicates running fake romantic relationship and cryptocurrency investment schemes in which scammers – some willing, others trafficked – defraud internet users around the world.

But under pressure from several countries including China, which has called for the complete eradication of the scam centres, Cambodian authorities say they are cracking down on the industry.

China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) published a video on Wednesday showing a man it identified as Liu Ren in handcuffs as security forces lifted a black bag off his head, after he had been escorted off a China Southern plane.

“Recently, with the strong support of relevant Cambodian authorities, a task force dispatched by the Ministry of Public Security successfully extradited Liu Ren – a key member of the Chen Zhi criminal syndicate – back to China from Phnom Penh,” the ministry said in a statement.

Phnom Penh extradited Chen Zhi in January after his Cambodian conglomerate was sanctioned by the US and UK governments months earlier over its alleged involvement in cyberscams.

The MPS hailed the extradition of Liu as a “success” in law enforcement cooperation with Cambodia.

Chen, the MPS said, had directed Liu and others to establish the Jin Bei Group in Cambodia in 2016, with the company operating “telecom fraud parks” in the country and committing “large-scale telecom and online fraud involving massive sums of money”.

Liu is also suspected of involvement in serious violent crimes, including “illegal detention and intentional injury”, the MPS added.

He is “currently being subjected to compulsory measures in accordance with the law”, and the case is under investigation.

In April, the China-born former boss of a financial services firm, Li Xiong, accused by the United States of laundering illicit funds for North Korean and Southeast Asia-based cybercriminals, was extradited from Cambodia. — AFP

EVIAN, France, June 17 — US President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned Iran he was ready to resume military action if Tehran did not abide by its obligations, two days ahead of the signing of an accord to end the war between the foes.

“If they (the Iranian side) don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head,” Trump said at the G7 summit alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. — AFP

LONDON, June 17 — UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried Wednesday to ward off an expected leadership challenge by saying he wants would-be rival Andy Burnham to play “a big role” in his Labour government.

Burnham is widely predicted to try to oust Starmer from office if he wins a crunch by-election on Thursday for the parliamentary seat of Makerfield in northwest England.

In an interview with Sky News, Starmer signalled he could invite Burnham to join his top ministerial team if he is successful in his bid to become an MP.

“Andy is a great asset. And, yes, I want him to have a big role in government,” Starmer said of the Greater Manchester mayor.

The prime minister, who has been clinging on to power since disastrous local and regional election results last month, added he would talk to Burnham “after the weekend”.

Starmer warned him against launching an immediate leadership challenge, saying the whole of the Labour party should instead focus on defending the vacated mayoral seat.

Starmer, in power since July 2024, has insisted he intends to remain prime minister despite rock-bottom poll ratings and several ministerial resignations.

“If there is a challenge, then I intend to fight,” he said during the interview in the French spa town of Evian, where Starmer was attending the G7 summit.

Burnham is expected to easily muster the support of 81 of Labour’s 400-plus MPs needed to launch a contest.

A contest would be divisive, however, and Burnham allies have briefed UK media that they hope Starmer could instead be persuaded to lay out a timetable for his departure.

Former health minister Wes Streeting, who also wants the top job, said Tuesday that Starmer should be given “space over the weekend” to consider his future. — AFP

JILJILIYA (Palestinian Territories), June 17 — Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in a West Bank village on Wednesday, the local mayor said, while AFP journalists at the site saw signs of arson and vandalism.

The incident comes amid an increase in attacks against Palestinian communities by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.

Osama Abdullah, head of the village council in Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, told AFP that “settlers set fire to the ablution room, caused damage to the village’s main mosque, and scrawled hostile slogans on the outer walls”.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

AFP journalists who visited the mosque on Wednesday reported that the ceiling, walls and floors were blackened by smoke and flames.

They said graffiti in Hebrew had been scrawled on the walls, including some reading “vengeance” and “hi from the Hilltop Youth”.

The Hilltop Youth are a group of Israelis in the West Bank who are regularly accused of violence towards Palestinians they seek to evict from areas they wish to take over.

Mayor Abdullah said settlers arrived to burn down the mosque between 2am and 3am but found its door was locked, so instead set fire to a room dedicated to ablutions on a lower floor.

He said Palestinian civil defence crews, along with young men from the village and neighbouring areas, extinguished the blaze.

A Palestinian man rinses the soles of his shoes from soot after inspecting the damage inside a mosque reportedly burnt by Israeli settlers over night, in the Israeli occupied West Bank village of Jiljlia, just north of the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 17, 2026. — AFP pic

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, excluding east Jerusalem, among some three million Palestinians.

Settlements, which are illegal under international law, have sprouted all over the West Bank since the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office, which contains many pro-settlement ministers in its ranks.

The United Nations recently warned that settler violence in the West Bank has reached record levels, with an average of six attacks daily causing casualties or damage.

Locals allege that Israelis act outside the law with impunity. — AFP 

THE HAGUE, June 17 — A 66-year-old Rwandan on trial in the Netherlands for inciting and participating in the massacre of 3,000 Tutsis during the 1994 genocide denied the charges Wednesday, saying he was himself a victim.

Prosecutors have accused the man, identified as Eugene N., of being “personally involved in the killing of Tutsis”, around 800,000 of whom were murdered over a three-month period.

They allege he went on a “rampage of looting and destruction” against Tutsis in the southern Rwanda district of Mbazi, torching houses and plundering possessions.

Shortly afterwards, an estimated 3,000 Tutsis who had fled to a stadium in Mbazi were killed.

The suspect faces charges of inciting and co-perpetrating genocide, as well as war crimes over the looting.

But as his trial opened in The Hague, the suspect told judges: “I have not committed all the acts I am accused of.”

“On the contrary, I was also one of the wanted persons. I have lost many family members during those horrific events,” he told the court, pleading for his acquittal.

At the request of the defence, his face was hidden and his voice distorted, amid fears for his safety in Rwanda.

More than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda between April and July 1994, according to UN figures, most of them from the Tutsi minority.

According to Dutch authorities, the suspect has long been in the crosshairs of Rwandan prosecutors, who issued an international arrest warrant for him in 2014.

However, the man has obtained Dutch nationality and cannot be extradited to Rwanda. He has lived in the Netherlands since 1998.

Dutch investigators have been looking into his case since 2020, interviewing dozens of witnesses including in Rwanda.

N.’s defence lawyers told the court their client did “everything in his power” to prevent the genocide and that he finds it “unbearable” to be now accused of those crimes.

One lawyer said that N. had suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts as he relives the trauma of the violence.

“This case has torn his scars open again. He is a broken man,” she told the court.

The trial at the district court of The Hague is set to last until June 29, with a verdict expected on August 28.

European courts have tried and convicted several dozen people involved in the Rwanda genocide under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows them to hear the most serious crimes even if committed abroad. — AFP

TOKYO, June 17 — The head of a Japanese sightseeing boat company was sentenced to five years in jail on Wednesday over the 2022 sinking of a vessel that killed at least 20 people, the local court said.

An investigation faulted a deck hatch and improper maintenance aboard the Kazu I, which was carrying 24 tourists and two crew when it sank off the northern island of Hokkaido.

Twenty bodies were recovered and six people are still listed listed as missing after the April 23, 2022 incident off the Shiretoko Peninsula famous for its wildlife and scenery.

On Wednesday, the Kushiro District Court “handed down five years in jail” to Seiichi Katsurada, president of the Kazu I’s operating company, a court spokesman told AFP.

During the trial, Katsurada reportedly denied criminal responsibility. His lawyer has appealed the verdict, Jiji Press reported.

Katsurada was arrested in 2024 on charges including professional negligence resulting in death, a coastguard official told reporters.

He was released on bail in October 2024 and will remain out of custody pending the outcome of his appeal.

A report by a government transport committee concluded in 2023 that the Kazu I set sail without a deck hatch properly fastened, causing water to seep in.

The report also cited poor maintenance and oversight of the worn-out hatch, adding that the operator’s lack of personnel with “sufficient expertise and experience in safe cruising” contributed to the disaster.

Authorities said the absence of any survivors made for an “extremely difficult, painstaking” investigation that took more than two years to complete.

Top government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters on Wednesday after the ruling that the government “is committed to continue efforts to ensure the safety of passenger ships... to prevent such tragic accident from ever happening again.”

The boat operator president issued a statement saying the company “will continue to offer our apologies and provide compensation,” according to public broadcaster NHK. — AFP 

EVIAN-LES-BAINS (France), June 17 — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday the firing of warning shots by a Russian frigate to divert a UK-flagged civilian yacht near British territorial waters was reckless and deeply concerning.

The incident occurred on Tuesday, according to statements from the defence ministries of Britain and Russia. They said the firing was designed to prevent a collision after unsuccessful attempts by the Admiral Grigorovich to contact the yacht.

“What happened in the Channel was deeply concerning. It was reckless,” Starmer, who is in France for the G7 summit, told BBC News. He said the Ministry of Defence’s assessment was that the Russian vessel was “drifting, and they were warning shots”.

“That shouldn’t have happened. It is reckless, and the couple on the yacht must’ve been terrified.”

The Russian ministry said on Tuesday the crew of the frigate spotted a yacht travelling on a course that risked collision with the ship.

After repeated attempts to establish radio contact failed, the frigate fired warning shots, including small arms fire, ahead of the yacht, the ministry said. It said the yacht then altered course and moved away.

Britain’s defence ministry described it as “an isolated incident” and not linked to the interception of a Russian shadow fleet vessel intercepted by British commandos over the weekend. — Reuters 

LONDON, June 17 — Britain’s former health minister, Wes Streeting, said he would be prepared to trigger a Labour leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister as soon as next week, urging a speedy end to the “uncertainty and paralysis”.

Streeting, who has said he has the backing of the 81 Labour lawmakers needed to trigger a challenge, told BBC Newsnight late on Tuesday he thought a contest should be initiated sooner rather than later.

But Starmer, speaking at the G7 summit in Evian, repeated on Wednesday that he would fight to stay in his job if a formal challenge was launched against his leadership.

“If there is a challenge, I intend to fight in any challenge to my leadership,” Starmer said.

“I don’t think there should be a challenge, because I think that is a bad thing for the country.”

The Labour Party is waiting to see if Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, can win a local election in Makerfield on Thursday to return to parliament, where he would become the frontrunner in any challenge to Starmer.

Streeting, who quit last month in protest at the prime minister’s record, said he wanted Starmer to take “time to reflect over the weekend and I think we should see where we are then”.

“I would prefer the PM to take a decision on his own terms rather than leave it for me or Andy or anyone else to trigger a contest... We can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis.”

In a further blow to Starmer’s authority, the highly respected defence minister, John Healey, resigned last week, accompanied by a scathing critique of Starmer’s record in allocating funds to increase defence spending. — Reuters 

PARIS, June 17 — France braced for another heat wave on Wednesday, with Paris allowing swimming in one of its canals so residents could cope with the heat.

It will be the second spell of hot temperatures this year, after an unusually scorching week in May smashed records in half of the country.

“A heatwave episode will gradually set in across the country this week,” said Christelle Robert, of national weather service Meteo-France.

Temperatures were set to reach 36°C or 37°C in some areas on Wednesday, then peak at 40°C in some regions on Sunday as the country celebrates summer solstice with its annual nationwide music festival, “La Fete de la Musique”.

In Paris, swimming would be allowed from Wednesday evening under lifeguard supervision in one part of the Canal Saint-Martin in the east of the city, mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said on Tuesday evening.

Youth plunged into the canal during the scorching week last month.

“Spending an enormous amount of energy, municipal police, and national police to stop young people from swimming when it was 40 degrees... struck us as slightly absurd,” Gregoire said, however reminding youth that jumping from the bridges was dangerous and remained forbidden.

Alexandra Cordebard, the mayor of the capital’s 10th district, said allowing swimming in the canal earlier than scheduled in July was “a new way of fighting climate change and adapting the city”.

Later in the summer, swimmers will also be able to cool off at designated points along the Seine River, after it reopened to swimmers last summer for the first time in a century.

Paris had poured more than a billion euros (RM4.7 billion) into making the waters clean enough to use during the 2024 Olympics.

Studies and scientific bodies agree that heatwaves in Europe are becoming more frequent as a consequence of climate change.

Meteo France says that of the 51 heatwaves recorded nationwide since 1947, 34 have occurred since 2000 and 26 since 2011.

Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations has warned. — AFP 

SEOUL, June 17 — Civilians in South Korea will be able to get several kilometres nearer North Korea under new rules broadening public access to the highly militarised border zone, Seoul’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, and are separated by a demilitarised zone through which the border runs.

A Civilian Control Line (CCL) has long restricted civilian access to areas within 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) south of the heavily fortified border in order to protect military facilities.

The CCL will be shrunk to an average of six kilometres starting 2027, Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back told reporters in Seoul, increasing access for villagers and farmers, and visitors to the region.

Ordinary South Korean citizens require permission from the military to reside or farm in the area, and analysts say residents have long faced significant economic disadvantages.

The new measures aim to “enhance the convenience of local residents while ensuring the effectiveness of military operations”, said Ahn.

They would include a significant simplification of flight approval procedures for agricultural drones.

“We will enable regional development to the extent that it does not interfere with military operations, Ahn said.

Residents welcomed the move, saying it would allow freer farming activities in the area and boost development and tourism.

Kim Deok-hyeon, mayor of Yeoncheon county near the inter-Korean border, said the measures would “significantly alleviate the inconvenience faced by local farmers.”

Councillor Park Heung-yeol of Ganghwa County told AFP that construction even on privately-owned land within the controlled area requires military approval.

This area will now be smaller.

“Local residents have long harboured complaints due to inconveniences regarding access procedures and the inability to exercise their property rights,” added Kim Seok-in, another county official.

The new measure would bring “significant advantages for regional development,” he added.

CCTV 

Analysts said the measure was unlikely to upset North Korea, as it concerns areas on the South’s side of the border.

South Korea removed loudspeakers last year that were used to blast K-pop and news broadcasts into the North, as the dovish government of Lee Jae Myung sought to ease tensions with its diplomatically isolated, nuclear-armed neighbour.

Under his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, Pyongyang transmitted bizarre and unsettling noises across the border that became a major nuisance for residents in nearby South Korean regions.

Analysts said the move also had to do with smaller troop numbers.

“South Korea is increasingly relying on technologies such as CCTV and mobile apps to secure front-line areas,” Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University, told AFP.

It reflects “a view that the AI era has made traditional manpower-intensive border patrols obsolete”. — AFP 

TOKYO, June 17 — Summer is coming, a boom time for ice cream makers, but Japanese authorities have raided six major firms on suspicion of colluding to raise prices.

Among the country’s biggest ice cream firms, the six “are suspected of colluding” to hike prices, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Wednesday.

Company officials are thought to have sent emails or met up for years to coordinate the timing and size of hikes, the unnamed source said.

Officials from the the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) searched the head offices on Tuesday of Meiji Co., Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Lotte Co., Ezaki Glico Co., Morinaga & Co., and Akagi Nyugyo Co., according to company officials and the source.

Since around 2022, the ice cream companies have raised retail prices every year at around the same time, local media reported.

The JFTC is also investigating whether the companies took advantage of inflation to raise prices beyond what was justified by a spike in raw ingredient costs, according to Kyodo News.

Five of the companies issued statements on Tuesday or on Wednesday saying their offices had been raided by the JFTC and that they “would cooperate with the investigation”.

Natsuyo Suzuki of Akagi Nyugo also confirmed to AFP that the firm would work with investigators following an “on-site inspection”.

If the JFTC concludes that there was a cartel, the antitrust watchdog will order the firms to improve their business practices and pay a fine.

In the fiscal year ending in March, ice cream sales in Japan hit a record high of more than 660 billion yen, according to the Japan Ice Cream Association, as the country sweltered through its hottest summer since records began in 1989. — AFP 

BEIRUT, June 17 — Israeli forces on Wednesday carried out airstrikes on several areas in south Lebanon, state media reported, despite a peace deal in the Middle East war that includes Lebanon.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched raids targeting the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area and the eastern outskirts of neighbouring town Kfar Tebnit.

The Israelis also launched a drone strike on the town of Ansariyeh in the Zahrani area, NNA reported.

While violence has declined in Lebanon since a US-Iran agreement to end the Middle East war was announced on Monday, Israeli strikes on the south have still killed at least five people since the deal, according to NNA.

The reduction in violence has allowed some south Lebanon residents to return and inspect their towns and villages, but the Lebanese army has urged locals to delay their return, citing “the risk of Israeli violations and attacks”.

The Iran-backed group Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in early March by firing rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with a massive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that an end to the conflict would be incomplete “without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories it occupied in this war”.

“Any military attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon from now on and the continued occupation of Lebanese territories from now on will be considered a violation of the memorandum of understanding in our view,” he said.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that his country’s forces would remain in Lebanon “for as long as necessary”.

Hezbollah has so far not issued any statements since Tuesday claiming attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon.

The group’s leader Naim Qassem is due to make a televised address on Wednesday.

He expressed “profound gratitude” on Tuesday for Iran’s efforts “to compel the Israeli entity to an immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts including in Lebanon”.

Lebanon’s health ministry on Tuesday raised the death toll in Israeli attacks since the war broke out to 3,826, as rescuers pull more bodies from the rubble. — AFP 

SYDNEY, June 17 — The leader of Australia’s ascendant far-right party assailed “radical Islam” and the media on Wednesday  and vowed to pull the country out of international organisations in an address briefly interrupted by the unfurling of a protest banner.

For years a political outsider, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has surged this year to become the country’s most popular party, according to opinion polls.

The senator — long compared to US President Donald Trump or France’s Marine Le Pen — is also Australians’ favourite choice in recent polls to be prime minister at the next election, due to be held in 2028.

Addressing the country’s top political journalists at Canberra’s National Press Club, Hanson condemned them for dismissing her rise as a blip.

“Australians aren’t buying this crap from the political establishment and its media supporters anymore,” she said.

“I don’t answer to the media. I answer to the Australian people.”

She also pledged sweeping cuts to government spending — akin to Elon Musk’s DOGE in the United States — but misstated the name of the Indigenous affairs department she would scrap.

In another nod to the Trump administration, Hanson said Australia would need to re-evaluate its ties with international organisations.

“We need to look at where we are with the United Nations,” she said.

“We’ve been dictated to on too many occasions, and people want their sovereignty back.”

Hanson also pledged she would scrap aid to Australia’s Pacific Island neighbours — nearly US$1.6 billion (RM6.5 billion) in 2023, according to the Lowy Institute — if they continued to accept development help from China.

“China is a real big concern to me,” Hanson said.

The senator dismissed the Australian government’s efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions.

And she vowed to draw down the Australian state’s support for public broadcasting — telling a journalist from the taxpayer-funded SBS that “you’re going to be without a job”.

Hanson called for Australia to “dig baby dig” for energy rather than relying on its Asian partners.

Her speech was briefly interrupted by protesters unfurling a banner accusing her of opposing a pay rise for workers

Opinion polling does not suggest that One Nation would win a parliamentary majority in the next election but instead could serve a kingmaker role in a coalition of right-wing parties.

Australia’s government has acknowledged there are “legitimate concerns” about the economy and housing driving the rise in support for the far-right.

But it has dismissed One Nation’s policies — including seizing property owned by foreign residents — as divisive.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier on Wednesday said he would skip Hanson’s address but would instead be tuning in to the National Rugby League’s State of Origin game later in the day. — AFP 

MADRID, June 17 — Former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will begin two days of unprecedented court hearings on Wednesday suspected of influence peddling, the latest corruption affair threatening the leftist government.

The investigation into the Socialist titan comes as a string of graft probes into Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s family and former top political allies have threatened to topple his minority coalition.

Clashes with US President Donald Trump and virulent criticism of Israel have made Sanchez a global progressive star, but the scandals have eroded the domestic standing of one of Europe’s few remaining Socialist leaders.

Zapatero, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, was placed under formal investigation last month for alleged influence peddling in connection with the bailout of small airline Plus Ultra in 2021.

Plus Ultra received €53 million (RM250 million) of public money after the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed global travel.

Investigating judge Jose Luis Calama has said Zapatero allegedly headed a “stable and hierarchical” structure that used “opaque financial channels” to conceal the movement of money and obtain bribes for his illicit manoeuvring.

Zapatero has denied the allegations, while Sanchez has expressed “full support” for his mentor.

A police search of Zapatero’s office found jewellery and luxury watches valued at €1.3 million, leading Calama to probe additional alleged offences of tax fraud and smuggling.

Zapatero’s entourage attributes the hoard to a family inheritance.

Zapatero is due to speak at the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid from 9am (0700 GMT) — becoming the first former or serving Spanish prime minister to declare as a suspect in a corruption probe.

“What is at stake is the reputation of someone who has become... the moral beacon of Pedro Sanchez and the current Socialist party,” Astrid Barrio, a political science professor at the University of Valencia, told AFP.

Government under threat 

Sanchez vowed to clean up Spanish politics upon taking power in 2018 after the main conservative Popular Party was convicted in its own graft affair.

But a two-year-long investigation into his wife Begona Gomez for alleged influence peddling had already shaken the government, with a decision to send her to trial potentially coming in days.

Verdicts are also due in separate corruption trials of Sanchez’s former right-hand man Jose Luis Abalos and his brother David Sanchez.

Recent revelations about an ongoing police probe into a former Socialist activist suspected of leading a plot to sabotage investigations into Sanchez’s entourage have piled further pressure on the government.

Amid the relentless stream of negative headlines, the Socialists have suffered four regional election drubbings since late 2025, in a possible precursor to next year’s national vote.

The conservative and far-right opposition have demanded Sanchez’s resignation and early elections, saying the scandals have exposed systemic Socialist corruption.

Sanchez insists his government will see out its term until 2027.

But researcher Barrio said “two very serious issues” could yet bring him down: being placed under investigation himself or a charge of illegal financing against the Socialists. — AFP 

KAZAN (Russia), June 17 — President Vladimir Putin hosts a summit of South-east Asian leaders in the central Russian city of Kazan from Wednesday, as the West pressures Moscow to end its Ukraine offensive.

Putin has sought to deepen political and economic ties with Asia during Moscow’s more than four-year full-scale offensive against Ukraine.

The summit in the capital of Tatarstan, around 700 kilometres (435 miles) east of Moscow, comes as the G7 meets in France with ending the Ukraine and Middle East wars its main focus.

Representatives of 11 countries in the Association of South-east Asian Nations will arrive in Kazan on Wednesday, with the main day of the summit set for the following day.

It commemorates 35 years of collaboration between Russia and the Asean countries, the Kremlin said.

Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore are sending their prime ministers, while the Philippines will be represented by President Ferdinand Marcos.

Myanmar — which held a coup in 2021 and has close ties to Moscow — will also send a delegation.

Moscow said the leaders will “exchange views on global and regional problems” and new aims in Russia-Asean ties in “security, trade, investment and humanitarian cooperation.”

Facing giant Western sanctions over its Ukraine offensive, Moscow has reoriented its economy — especially oil exports — towards Asia.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim intends to discuss “ensuring that oil supplies can continue to be channelled” to Malaysia, the country’s national news agency reported.

Asian countries have been particularly hard hit by the energy crisis triggered by the US-Israel war with Iran.

Pressure on Russia 

Russia’s economy — on a war footing for four years — is struggling due to high inflation, a labour shortage and high borrowing costs.

On the Ukrainian battlefield, the advance of forces has slowed this year. Kyiv has multiplied attacks on Russian soil, including Tatarstan, where the summit will be held.

At the G7 in France, US President Donald Trump said Moscow should “make a deal” to end the Ukraine war, as he met Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump also said Washington will soon be able to reimpose sanctions against Russian oil.

“Soon we will be able to do that as the oil is now flowing” through the Strait of Hormuz after the deal with Iran to end the Middle East war, Trump said.

Washington had imposed and then extended a sanctions waiver for Russian oil cargoes already at sea, troubling European allies.

Putin has repeatedly refused offers for face-to-face talks with Zelensky, insisting that Moscow intends to capture Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region by force.

The Russian leader, 73, ordered a full-scale military attack on Ukraine in February 2022, which has since turned into Europe’s worst conflict since WWII. — AFP 

BEIJING, June 17 — China vowed on Wednesday to take “resolute countermeasures” in response to Taiwan launching a website for Chinese citizens to leak intelligence, state media reported.

China claims democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to take it, while Taipei accuses Beijing of using espionage and infiltration to weaken its defences.

The new platform created by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) invites Chinese nationals “who share the same values of democracy” to collaborate on reporting on Beijing.

The NSB introduced the platform on Sunday with a one-minute, AI-generated video showing a Chinese civil servant witnessing colleagues being removed and investigated, “reflecting a pervasive atmosphere that everyone is on edge under China’s totalitarian regime”, it said in a statement.

China criticised the website on Wednesday, with its Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua saying it “undermined cross-strait relations” and reflected the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “persistent confrontational mindset”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“We strongly condemn these actions and will take resolute countermeasures,” Chen added.

He warned that people who provide intelligence to Taiwan’s agencies will be held legally accountable.

“Chinese citizens, political parties, people’s organisations, enterprises, public institutions, and other social organisations all bear the responsibility and obligation to safeguard national security,” he added.

Taiwan’s NSB said that an “increasing number” of people have approached agencies on the self-ruled island “wishing to provide various types of information”.

Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets, warships and coast guard ships near Taiwan, and has held several major military exercises around the island in recent years. — AFP 

EVIAN-LES-BAINS (France), June 17 — G7 leaders on Tuesday pledged to step up efforts to address high debt burdens among developing countries, including middle-income countries not currently eligible for a debt relief initiative launched by the broader Group of 20 large economies during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a joint declaration issued after a session that included guest countries Kenya, Egypt, India, Brazil and South Korea, the G7 leaders affirmed their commitment to international cooperation on development while urging reforms and a greater emphasis on private investment.

They said traditional development policies had produced results, but had only “limited impact in reducing financial dependency on external assistance.” Public resources, curtailed sharply by the US and other advanced economies in recent years, would continue to play a key role, but were insufficient to meet global development needs, the leaders meeting in the French lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains said.

“We will enhance efforts to address escalating global debt vulnerabilities that threaten economic stability and constrain fiscal space for essential public service interventions,” the statement, backed by South Korea and Kenya, said.

The leaders also underscored the importance of progress toward a common approach to debt restructurings for vulnerable middle-income countries not eligible for the G20 Common Framework, set up during Covid to aid the poorest countries.

“Essentially what they’re calling for is pre-emptive debt restructuring — dealing with debt before it becomes a crisis,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, a development group, welcoming the leaders’ statement. He said the focus on private sector investment was important, given the decline of public development funding.

OECD data showed official development assistance dropped by 23.1 per cent in real terms in 2025 to US$174.3 billion (RM709 billion), led by a nearly 57 per cent drop in aid by the US and smaller declines from Germany, France, Britain and Japan.

Kevin Gallagher, director of Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, noted that it was the G7’s first official acknowledgement of debt concerns among poorer countries that were not eligible for the Common Framework. He expressed surprise, however, that the declaration did not address the urgent, immediate needs of developing countries caused by the war in the Middle East.

“Countries outside of the G7, especially in Asia and Africa, that are net energy importers need immediate liquidity finance, immediate fiscal support for imports and fuel/fertilizer subsidies, and longer-run low-cost development finance to shift away from such vulnerable positions in the world economy,” he said.

Development group Oxfam International criticised the G7 statement, and called on its leaders to increase their aid to the 0.7 per cent of gross national income previously promised.

“The G7 has made the biggest collective cut in life-saving aid in its history, a move that is already causing millions of people to die,” said Joern Kalinski, the group’s senior adviser on G7. “Repurposing life-saving aid to provide multiple financial incentives for private investors rather than building public schools and hospitals is the wrong thing to do, and will make a bad situation far worse.” — Reuters

WASHINGTON, June 17 — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a rare public rebuke of Israel’s military tactics in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah fighters, saying it was unnecessary to bomb entire apartment buildings to hunt militants.

Trump, who in recent days had expressed his displeasure over Israeli attacks in Beirut that he said could have endangered his peace deal with Iran, said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned Lebanese militia, for “too long”.

“Too many people have been killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah,” Trump said at the G7 summit in France.

His complaint comes at a moment of rising tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has remained a key political ally despite occasional ups and downs between the two leaders over the years.

Recently, tensions have been more prominent. Israeli officials are quietly expressing frustration about the Iran deal that the Republican president struck while Trump is growing impatient with Netanyahu over Israeli strikes of Beirut, which triggered Iranian attacks just when he was working to finalise the peace deal.

Trump said he has a “great relationship” with Netanyahu but in the same breath added that he should be “more responsible” with Lebanon. “Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”

The two leaders have repeatedly clashed over Israel’s refusal to constrain its pursuit of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where a cessation of hostilities is a key Iranian demand. Trump and other US presidents do not often criticise Israel’s military tactics.

Shortly after he made his comments, an official White House social media account that typically shares clips of his public comments posted a video of those specific remarks.

The White House did not say why the official account chose to post those Trump remarks but said the president has a strong relationship with Netanyahu and that the Israel Defense Forces were “incredible partners”.

“There has been no greater friend to Israel and a fighter for peace than President Trump...Americans and our allies around the world are already safer for the United States and Israel’s bold actions to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon,” a White House official said.

There is no indication that Trump’s comments would translate into meaningful policy that would force Israel to rethink its military tactics in a way to ensure greater protection for civilians.

Israel has faced sharp criticism from other countries, particularly during its assault on Gaza that has killed 73,000 people, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Israel says it never targets non-combatants and says militant groups such as Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah regularly use civilians as human shields.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington did not have any comment for this story. — Reuters 

SAN FRANCISCO, June 17 — Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool Grok was used in strikes against Iran, the United States government revealed in a legal briefing seen Tuesday by AFP.

The June 15 brief defends the gas turbines used by a giant data centre belonging to the trillionaire’s company xAI, which are the target of an environmental lawsuit.

In the brief, the US Department of Justice argued that the lawsuit “threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.”

To support the argument, federal prosecutors presented testimony from Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley in which he states, under oath, that Grok is already in use within Project Maven, the US military’s AI-assisted targeting program that was initially powered by Anthropic’s Claude model.

The project’s Maven Smart Systems (MSS) “enabled US forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury,” Stanley’s statement said.

Stanley praised Musk’s technology and “the greatly increased operational efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model.”

The NAACP, a civil rights organisation defending Black Americans’ rights, is suing xAI and accusing it of operating dozens of turbines without permits in violation of the Clean Air Act.

The rights group says they pollute majority Black neighborhoods, but xAI says the turbines are temporary and mobile, and therefore not subject to regulation.

At the end of February, the government terminated its contracts with Anthropic after it refused to allow its tools to be used for fully automated strikes or the mass surveillance of Americans.

The Pentagon then turned to Anthropic’s competitors, like Google, OpenAI and xAI, to continue its pursuit of AI.

At Google, more than 600 employees demanded the company not provide AI to the military for classified operations. Others have raised broad concerns about AI’s threats.

The US military’s transition to AI is taking time, and in March the government had to acknowledge that Claude was still being used for the war in Iran.

A close ally of President Donald Trump, Musk folded xAI into his space exploration company SpaceX in February, which carried out the largest IPO in history on June 12. — AFP 

LONDON, June 17 — Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots Tuesday at a yacht making a “dangerous approach” in the Channel, as the UK evaluated that the shots were “not aimed at the vessel”.

The incident involved the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich and a UK-registered yacht around 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight just outside British waters, a UK defence source told AFP.

The latest at-sea tension between London and Moscow came after UK commandos on Sunday intercepted and boarded a suspected Russian shadow fleet vessel in the same part of the Channel.

The shooting incident coincided with G7 leaders gathering in eastern France and agreeing Tuesday to intensify pressure on Russia to end more than four years of war against Ukraine.

“Following attempts to contact a British vessel in the channel, the Grigorovich fired warning shots. These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision,” the UK defence ministry said in an update on the incident.

The ministry insisted that it was an “isolated” incident not linked the UK’s interception of a Russian vessel over the weekend.

According to the UK defence source, the Russian frigate appeared to have been “drifting rather than being manoeuvred under power, which may have made her feel more vulnerable”.

The Russian defence ministry said “signal flares were fired and audible signals were sounded” to get the attention of the yacht on Tuesday.

“Despite these measures, the vessel continued its dangerous approach,” Moscow said in a statement.

Following this, “the frigate’s commander decided to fire warning shots in the vessel’s direction using the ship’s small arms,” it added.

Russia ‘baring teeth’ 

Steve Prest, an associate fellow at the RUSI think tank and retired British navy commodore said the warning shots could have been the warship “getting a bit nervous”.

“However, in the context of what’s been going on with the (Russian) Dark Fleet, the Royal Marines seizing that ship, I think this is the Russians baring their teeth,” said Prest in written comments shared with AFP.

Labour MP Tan Dhesi, head of the parliamentary defence committee, warned that delays in defence investment, and the resignation on Thursday of UK defence minister John Healey over a defence spending row, “have slowed us down at a time when we need to invest in defence”.

The UK-registered yacht alleged that the Russian vessel had fired the warning shots at a distance of approximately 500 yards (450 metres, 1,500 feet).

No injuries nor damage was reported by the yacht, which was continuing its journey after a welfare visit by a seaboat dispatched from British naval vessel HMS Tyne.

It is understood another British naval vessel, HMS Mersey, was monitoring the Russian ship at the time.

The UK’s Royal Navy said it had deployed multiple patrol ships in April to monitor the Grigorovich, which reportedly escorted tankers part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of sanctions-busting ships through the Channel.

It added that the frigate had escorted Russian-flagged ships “heading to and from the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Baltic”.

Shadow vessel captain 

Sunday’s interdiction saw British commandos board the sanctioned oil tanker Smyrtos — suspected of being part of Russia’s shadow fleet — in a dramatic operation hailed by Kyiv and London as a blow to Moscow’s war machine.

The operation took place off the southern English coast, with the commandos fast-roping from a helicopter in the dark, according to defence ministry footage released.

British prosecutors on Monday charged Ajay Pant, the Indian captain of the Smyrtos, with contravening UK sanctions imposed on Russia following its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The 38-year-old appeared Tuesday at Southampton Magistrates’ Court by videolink from Bournemouth police station for a preliminary hearing.

He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, and to gave his address as being in India. He also gave no indication of his plea and his solicitor requested the case be sent to the crown court.

Pant was remanded in custody, ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court on July 16. — AFP 

WILMINGTON, June 17 — A suspect remains at large after a shooting at Wilmington Hospital in Delaware left one person dead and another injured on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Wilmington Police Chief Wilfredo Campos said officers were called to the hospital on West 14th Street at about 3.30pm following reports of gunfire, CBS News reported.

Police found two people with gunshot wounds. 

One died at the scene, while the condition of the second victim has not been disclosed.

Campos said investigators are working to identify the shooter and have not confirmed whether the suspect is a current or former hospital employee. 

He added that the building had been fully cleared during the search.

The hospital’s emergency department diverted incoming patients during the incident, according to a ChristianaCare spokesperson.

Wilmington Hospital was placed under lockdown for several hours before restrictions were lifted later in the day.

Police said the investigation is being led by Wilmington Police with assistance from New Castle County Police, Delaware State Police and the FBI in Baltimore.

Wilmington Mayor John Carney described the incident as “senseless”, saying hospital staff endured a frightening ordeal as law enforcement swept through the building.

A hospital employee said he heard what sounded like “firecrackers” before running for safety, adding that staff were trained to evacuate in such situations.

“It’s scary, very scary,” he said, describing panic inside the emergency department.

Another witness said her daughter, who works at the hospital, was locked inside a room during the lockdown as SWAT teams cleared the building before they were later reunited.

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer said the incident was a stark reminder of the impact of gun violence, noting his personal connection through his wife’s work in the health system.

US lawmakers including Representative Sarah McBride and Senators Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt Rochester said they were monitoring the situation and praying for those affected as investigations continue. 

NOTTINGHAM, June 17 — Two businessmen brothers who ​held opposite positions on Brexit at the time of the vote are both feeling disappointed 10 years on. For one new freedoms have been squandered, while the other bemoans the complications to ‌trade.

The disillusion felt by Nigel Baxter, who has a commercial vehicles business, and Ian Baxter, who ​owns a logistics company, over the UK’s departure from the European Union reflects the feeling across the country.

Almost six in 10 people now think Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU, according to a YouGov poll on June 9. The 52 per cent of people who voted ​on June 23, 2016, to leave have found out they were “sold a dream”, Ian, 60, said.

Nigel, who campaigned to leave, and is based in Nottingham, central England, said the deregulation, tax cuts and inward investment he hoped Brexit would bring have not happened, blaming the government for a lack of dynamism.

“We have failed to capitalise on something that was monumental in terms of the decision,” Nigel, 63, said.

Impact on trade

For Ian, staying ‌in the bloc was the pragmatic choice and the best way to ensure Britain’s prosperity and security.

There had been ⁠no “catastrophic consequences” from leaving, he said, but it had become ⁠much harder for British companies to sell goods to the EU, which remains ⁠the UK’s biggest trading partner by far.

Ironically, thanks ⁠to Brexit, Ian’s logistics ⁠business, also based in Nottingham, has grown significantly because he established a unit to provide customs services to help UK companies sell to the EU.

“It’s thriving at the cost of our customers really and their trade with the European Union which ⁠is not as strong as it otherwise would have been,” he said. “My view is still it should never have become more complicated.”

As well as being at odds over Brexit, the brothers support rival football teams, Chelsea and Arsenal, but throughout the Brexit debate they have maintained a close relationship.

That was not always the case in the wider country in 2016, when tempers flared over Brexit, with dire warnings over the economic impact of leaving, and incendiary billboard posters featuring ⁠long queues of migrants.

Brexit battleground in any leadership contest

Today, the mood over the historic decision is more muted, overtaken by new fractures in society, but with voters still concerned about similar issues – stagnant living ⁠standards, underfunded public services and migration.

“It’s sort of faded in my mind to be honest with you,” Nigel said.

For Ian, Brexit ⁠is still front ⁠of mind, and the issue has reemerged as a battleground in a potential leadership contest in the governing Labour Party.

He is pleased the ​current government, elected in 2024, has been trying to forge closer ​relations with the EU, but he rejects the idea of rejoining ‌on worse terms.

“I’m not sure the EU would offer us the ​sweetheart deal that we had then ... I doubt ​very much that is available and therefore I don’t see the UK rejoining the EU,” he said. — Reuters

LONDON, June 17 — Britain holds a special vote on Thursday that is expected to set in motion an attempt to oust Labour leader Keir Starmer as prime minister.

Below is everything you need to know about what UK media is calling “the most consequential by-election” in British political history.

What is happening?

In short, it is a poll to elect a member of parliament to represent the Makerfield constituency near Manchester in north-west England, but in reality, it is so much more.

Long-time Starmer critic Andy Burnham, a popular metro mayor, is looking to win the seat so he can run for the Labour leadership, and premiership.

If Burnham loses, then his ambitions are effectively dead in the water and the unpopular Starmer, who has been clinging onto power for weeks, earns another temporary reprieve.

Starmer’s immediate future, therefore, rests in the hands of roughly 76,000 people who are eligible to vote in the constituency.

Polling stations will open at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) and close at 10:00 pm. A result is due in the early hours of Friday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a press conference to announce government action to protect children online at Downing Street in London on June 15, 2026. — AFP pic

Why is it happening?

By-elections usually occur when an MP has been forced to quit over a scandal, or they have died.

But Thursday’s vote was triggered after incumbent Josh Simons announced he would stand down so that Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, could try to become an MP and use that to launch his bid to oust Starmer.

Veteran politician Burnham, 56, is popular on Labour’s so-called soft-left wing.

He has been an outspoken critic of Starmer, who has tried to govern more from the centre since ousting the Conservatives in July 2024, but whose time in office has been plagued by policy U-turns.

A scandal over his appointment of ex-Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington contributed to dire local and regional election results for Labour last month.

Under Labour party rules, it is impossible for someone outside parliament to become leader, hence why Burnham, who was an MP between 2001 and 2017, wants back in.

Will Burnham triumph?

Polls predict that Burnham should win, although it is expected to be a tight contest with the hard-right Reform UK party, whose candidate is local plumber Robert Kenyon.

While Labour is typically a safe Labour seat, Simons secured a majority of just over 5,300 at the 2024 general election.

Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, also won every council ward in the area during last month’s council polls.

But Burnham’s personal popularity is expected to see him through, plus Kenyon has been dogged by offensive remarks he previously made on social media, including about women.

Seventy-year-old Susan Smith told AFP in the town of Hindley that she will vote for Burnham.

“He’s done a lot of good work for the community,” said the charity shop manager.

But Simon, 32, who asked not to give his full name, said he plans to vote Reform, mainly because of the hot-button immigration issue.

“Labour, Tories, all of them have had a chance. Let the rest of them have a chance,” he told AFP.

Restore Britain, backed by Elon Musk and which is even further right of Reform, could play a deciding factor.

A More in Common poll for the Sunday Times predicted Restore will win an eight per cent vote share, greater than the difference between the 45 per cent expected for Burnham and 40 per cent tipped for Kenyon.

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe walks the streets to campaign for the party’s candidate ahead of the Makerfield by-election on June 18, west of Manchester, north-west England on June 13, 2026. — AFP pic

What next?

Multiple reports have suggested Burnham could launch a leadership bid quickly if he is victorious, although others have speculated he could wait until Labour’s annual conference in September.

He would need the support of 81 of Labour’s 402 MPs to trigger a contest, the outcome of which would be decided by Labour Party members, not just lawmakers.

Others may also throw their hat into the ring, including the former health minister Wes Streeting and ex-defence minister John Healey, who had been considered loyal to Starmer until his shock resignation last week.

A YouGov poll last month suggested Burnham would defeat Starmer.

The prime minister warned Monday that a contest would plunge the country “into chaos”, repeating that he would stand and fight any challenge.

Unnamed allies of Burnham quoted in newspapers have expressed hope that Starmer could instead be persuaded by his ministers to resign or lay out a timetable for his departure. — AFP

BERLIN, June 16 — Centre stage at last week’s Berlin airshow was the “wingman” drone, Europe’s latest-generation defence ‌weapon designed to accompany fighter jets.

As the war in Ukraine in particular has underscored the growing ​importance of drones and electronic warfare, European and US defence forces are rapidly developing their own AI-powered drones to complement their fighter jets and carry extra sensors, jammers and weapons.

In Berlin, four companies – Airbus, Boeing, Helsing and General Atomics – were looking to ​tout their latest designs of the technology to Germany’s military and beyond.

Wingman drones, sometimes referred to as wingman aircraft, are known as collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) and range in size from small interceptors to being as big as planes. They fly in what is known as a “loyal wingman” system as they flank manned aircraft.

Investment in the technology comes as Europe faces a debate over the value ‌of building its own sovereign defence industry and reducing reliance on the United States.

“The AI agent, of ⁠course, the brain of these systems, needs to be ⁠controlled in a sovereign fashion,” Stephanie Lingemann, head of air domain at ⁠German defence startup Helsing, told Reuters at ⁠the airshow.

Germany and France ⁠this month shelved plans for a joint fighter jet but are now looking to salvage parts of the Future Combat Air System programme by developing a related drone system and data network.

Not yet operational

The war in ⁠Ukraine has shown how disrupting sensors and communications can be as critical as kinetic attacks.

Helsing says its electronic attack drone is designed to operate alongside strike drones in autonomous swarms.

Boeing Australia’s Managing Director Amy List insisted its MQ-28 Ghost Bat wingman was not a drone, but an unmanned jet designed “to enhance the capabilities, be a force multiplier for crewed platforms.”

The company is collaborating with German firm Rheinmetall to build what ⁠it says is its tried and tested technology.

“It can go out ahead of crewed platforms, provide situational awareness, analyse data, it can fuse that data and provide decision-making quality information back to ⁠a human,” List told Reuters.

As it stands, wingman drones or aircraft have not yet arrived on the battlefield. Boeing ⁠says its ⁠model can be in service for the German Luftwaffe by 2029, while Airbus’ model, the U760b Ravenstorm, won’t be available until ​the 2030s, the company says.

General Atomics’ YFQ-42A is in testing ​and was selected in 2024 by the US Air ‌Force among other technologies to receive funding and other support for prototype ​development.

Lockheed Martin and US defence ​technology startup Anduril are expected to display similar technologies at upcoming airshows, including Britain’s Farnborough airshow starting on July 20. — Reuters

SYDNEY, June 16 — The US military is planning a permanent war-ready weapons stockpile for its Marine Corps on Australia's southeast coast beyond the range of most Chinese missiles, tender documents show and officials confirmed to AFP.

The development of the stockpile, a first for the Marine Corps in Australia, comes as the United States is keen to leverage the continent's strategic location in the South Pacific to counter China's rapid military build-up, analysts said.

The US Marine Corps began global prepositioning of military supplies during the Cold War — using floating stores on ships and caves in Norway where weapons, ammunition and vehicles to sustain thousands of troops are kept.

The first land stockpile in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to open this year in the Philippines, close to potential flashpoints in the South China Sea.

Documents published by the US Navy this month show advanced planning for an even larger Australian stockpile, with US$30 million allocated to build warehouses and offices in southeastern Victoria state for "critical forward provisioning".

The Australian stockpile, expected to reach full capacity by 2028, will be kept in Melbourne before being moved to US warehouses to be constructed next year at an Australian military base at Bandiana in rural Victoria, tender documents show.

Australia does not permit foreign military bases on its soil, a sensitive issue in a country that has a security alliance with the United States and is hosting an increasing variety of US forces on rotation at Australian defence bases.

The US Navy is engaging a global defence contractor to employ around 110 engineers, mechanics, material and safety specialists to manage the Australian stockpile, which includes "crew-served weapons", the documents show.

"Marine Corps activities in Australia support integrated global sustainment by maintaining ready-for-issue equipment and supplies for operations and exercises across the Indo-Pacific," a US Marine Corps Forces Pacific spokesperson told AFP.

The spokesperson declined to comment on contract details or force planning assumptions but said Marines equipment is kept at "high readiness".

Contracting arrangements and the operation of the facility would be made in close coordination with Australia's Department of Defence.

"These activities improve responsiveness, strengthen interoperability with allies and partners, and support a range of missions across the Indo-Pacific," the spokesperson said, using an alternative description for the Asia-Pacific region.

US Army trucks were left at the Bandiana base in 2023 after an Australian war game involving US troops held every two years. The Marines stockpile at Bandiana, approved last July, is separate.

"Marine Corps and Army equipment programmes are designed to support their respective service requirements and are managed under separate authorities and processes," the Marines spokesperson said.

Beyond China's missiles? 

The Pentagon has asked Congress for US$500 million next year to improve prepositioning of equipment and fuel across the Asia-Pacific to deter China.

Around 2,000 US Marines conduct exercises for six months of the year on the opposite coast of Australia in the northern city of Darwin.

A report from the Lowy Institute think tank this week warned that China has the capability to strike northern Australia with ballistic missiles deployed from its South China Sea outposts.

Its director of international security, Sam Roggeveen, told AFP that was likely a "relevant consideration" in placing a stockpile in Australia's southeast.

"Once these facilities are operational, they would be obvious targets for China," he said.

The growth of US forces and equipment in Australia is "a major change to Australian policy that ties Australia much more closely to America's strategic objectives in the region", Roggeveen said.

Australian National University professor of international security John Blaxland said the country's location is being seen with "a growing sense of significance" given concerns over the vulnerability of the US military base on Guam.

"With competition for influence in the Indo-Pacific having reached the highest level in over a generation, it is not surprising that the US Marines might look to Australia to enable such storage," he said.

"Barring a massive increase in Australian defence expenditure, for which there is little political appetite, facilitating greater US investment in Australian real estate is widely considered to be the most prudent approach to take."

Australia's Department of Defence told AFP it has a strategy to maintain "southern base infrastructure focused on force generation, sustainment, health networks and logistics nodes", to enable the military to project power from Australia's north. — AFP

WASHINGTON, June 16— As the US approaches its 250th birthday next month, two out of five Americans do not believe it will endure another 250 years beyond that, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that highlighted deep divisions over how the nation views itself.

The four-day poll, which concluded on Monday, comes amid the polarising pageantry that President Donald Trump has brought to celebrations for July 4, which will mark 250 years since the people who became known as the founding fathers of the US declared their independence from Britain.

Trump has put himself at the centre of many of the events to mark the anniversary, including staging a White House cage match on his birthday on Sunday.

On Monday he said he would be the main attraction at a July 4 celebration in Washington that will also serve as a political rally for the Republican as his party looks to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

Trump has framed his presidency as a bid to save America from being destroyed by Democrats. Democratic leaders contend it is Trump who is the danger to democracy and allege he is using federal law enforcement to target political critics.

Some 38 per cent of respondents in the poll - including 40 per cent of Democrats and 26 per cent of Republicans - said they didn’t think the US will exist as a single country 250 years from now. Just 62 per cent thought their nation would last.

Trump has accused Democrats — and especially the prior presidential administration of Democrat Joe Biden — of illegally targeting his allies, including those involved in the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol, which was an attempt to overthrow Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.

Republicans also point to multiple assassination attempts against Trump as evidence that the leader’s opponents are bent on violence.

Many see democracy in danger of failing 

Two-thirds of respondents — including 85 per cent of Democrats and 50 per cent of Republicans — said they agreed with a statement that American democracy was in danger of failing.

The overall share seeing democracy at risk was up from 57 per cent in a poll conducted in August of last year, with the increase driven by more Republicans worried about democracy’s staying power.

Trump for years has claimed falsely that his 2020 loss was the result of widespread voter fraud and has been pushing for changes to voting laws.

Some 77 per cent of poll respondents said it was likely that political violence would increase in the next five years.

Greatest country in world?

The poll also showed the share of Americans who see the country as a global standout is on the decline. Some 30 per cent of respondents said they considered America the greatest country in the world, down from 38 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in November 2017, during Trump’s first term in office.

The share of Democrats with this view fell to 11 per cent from 26 per cent, while the share of Republicans held steady at about six in 10.

A majority of Americans — including three-quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans — said they thought the events celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary had grown too political.

Americans were also divided along more mundane matters like how to celebrate Independence Day. Some 52 per cent of Republicans said their celebrations would include wearing red, white and blue clothing — the colours of the US national flag — compared to 20 per cent of Democrats. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say they planned to attend a fireworks show — 46 per cent to 28 per cent.

The poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,537 US adults nationwide and its results had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction. — Reuters 

MADRID, June 16 — Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger has extended his contract until 2027, Los Blancos announced today. 

“Real Madrid and Antonio Rudiger have agreed the extension of our player’s contract, who will stay at the club until June 30, 2027,” said Madrid in a statement.

The 33-year-old centre-back signed for Real Madrid from Chelsea in 2022, after playing for Stuttgart and Roma.

Rudiger won La Liga and the Champions League in 2024 with Los Blancos and the Copa del Rey in 2023.

After failing to win major trophies for two consecutive seasons Madrid president Florentino Perez appointed Jose Mourinho as coach earlier in June.

Yesterday, Madrid announced the signing of Spanish left-back Marc Cucurella from Chelsea.

The club have also been strongly linked with Bernardo Silva and Denzel Dumfries, and are set to sign Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate at the end of his contract at Anfield. — AFP

BAGHDAD, June 16 — US President Donald Trump will host Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House next month, the Iraqi leader’s office and the US embassy in Baghdad said today. 

“Special Presidential Envoy Barrack conveyed President Trump looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Al-Zaidi to the White House mid-July to discuss the future of this important relationship,” said a joint statement from the Iraqi leader and Trump’s special envoy to Iraq, Tom Barrack, issued by the embassy.

The announcement comes during a visit by Barrack to the Iraqi capital Baghdad during which he discussed with the prime minister disarming and dissolving Iraq’s armed groups operating outside state authority.

The United States has recently increased pressure on Baghdad to disarm Iran-backed groups. In early May, Washington pledged to resume financial transfers to Iraq and security assistance once “concrete steps” have been taken against the groups.

Armed groups launched attacks against US facilities in Iraq after the Middle East war broke out in late February, before a ceasefire took effect on April 8.

The US has also launched strikes on some of the factions, which has strained ties between Washington and Baghdad.

Al-Zaidi, who took office in mid-May, has promised to ensure that the state maintains a monopoly on weapons.

He has also reaffirmed Iraq’s commitment to deepening trade and investment relations with Washington.

A framework agreement to end the Middle East war was announced yesterday by Iran and the United States.

Iraq has long been a battleground between the United States and Iran, with successive governments negotiating a delicate balance between them. — AFP

TEHRAN, June 16 — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, was “the most important” issue in the peace deal with the United States announced the day before.

“The important point I want to emphasise here is that in our view, there are two parties to this memorandum—one side is America and Israel, and the other side is Iran and Hezbollah,” said Araghchi during a briefing with foreign diplomats broadcast on state television.

“This is perhaps the most important issue in the memorandum—the declaration of an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he said, adding that “ending the war in Lebanon is an inseparable part of the complete end of the war”.

His remarks came one day after Tehran and Washington announced a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict, which broke out on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran and engulfed the Middle East.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in early March when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.

Araghchi said an end to the war would not be complete “without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories it occupied in this war”.

“Any military attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon from now on and the continued occupation of Lebanese territories from now on will be considered a violation of the memorandum of understanding in our view,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country’s forces will remain in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza “as long as necessary”.

Following the deal announcement yesterday Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli forces trying to advance in southern Lebanon.

The deal is expected to be signed on Friday in Switzerland. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said his country’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will attend the signing with an Iranian delegation, according to state television.

The US delegation will be headed by Vice President JD Vance, he added.

“It is also not yet clear how the signing will take place, including whether it will be conducted electronically or not,” he said.

Araghchi said the signing “will take place soon” and that talks with the United States on a final agreement covering Iran’s nuclear programme will begin after the signing.

“Likely on Friday, at a location to be determined... a new round of negotiations between Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement will begin,” Araghchi said.

“In the final agreement, decisions will be made on the nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions,” he added. — AFP

HANOI, June 16 — More than 40 abducted cats have been reunited with owners after Vietnam police busted a feline theft ring and rescued 400 pets destined to be slaughtered for food, an animal rights group said today. 

Nine people were arrested last week in connection with the “criminal group specialising in stealing and collecting cats”, according to the official newspaper of the Ho Chi Minh City police.

Authorities clawed back more than 400 live cats and 80 dead ones preserved on ice, the newspaper said. They seized another 21 cats from a separate facility.

Consumption of dogs and cats is legal in Vietnam, where many restaurants openly advertise the meat—however vendors are required to obtain certificates showing the origin of the animals.

Police said they swooped on the gang after responding to rampant pet thefts in Ho Chin Minh City, and the suspects confessed to luring and trapping the cats over three years across southern Vietnam.

At least 40 of the pinched pets have been reunited with their owners, Humane World for Animals said in a Tuesday statement, praising police for “decisive action that has saved the lives of so many animals”.

However, it said around 100 of the rescued cats “later perished due to what they have endured”.

“While efforts are continuing to reunite stolen cats with their families, our main concern is for the cats who remain at the police station as evidence during the prosecution,” Humane World for Animal’s Karanvir Kukreja said, according to the statement.

He said the organisation had donated food and was arranging the delivery of fans to keep the pets from overheating.

Ho Chi Minh City police did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment. — AFP

JERUSALEM, June 16 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he intended to run in elections scheduled for later this year, as he faced domestic criticism over his wartime leadership.

Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has led his country through three years of war on multiple interconnected fronts, and is currently on trial for corruption.

In recent months, he has come under mounting fire from opposition leaders who accuse him of failing to achieve the war aims he set out following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.

“I am going to run in the elections and intend to win,” the veteran leader said in a televised press conference, his first comments after Washington and Tehran agreed to a deal to end the Middle East war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

On Monday, Israeli figures across the political spectrum slammed the US-Iran agreement, saying it would not protect their country’s interests.

Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister and leading contender in the upcoming election, said it marked a “dangerous turn for Israel’s security”.

Earlier in June, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party said the 76-year-old would seek re-election in the vote, which is scheduled to be held by the end of October.

It came after US President Donald Trump publicly questioned whether the veteran politician and close ally would run.

Netanyahu has served as prime minister for nearly two decades across multiple terms and has also battled a recent series of health issues.

Earlier this year, he disclosed that surgeons had successfully removed what he described as a “small, early-stage malignant tumour” from his prostate. — AFP

WASHINGTON, June 16 — The United States said Monday that ships will move toll-free through the Strait of Hormuz under an Iran peace deal signed by President Donald Trump, and insisted Tehran would have to fulfil its commitments before getting any economic benefits.

They included a possible US$300 billion reconstruction fund for the war-battered country, but the release of funds will be “tied to performance,” a senior Trump administration official said in a call with reporters.

Trump, US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf electronically signed the so-called memorandum of understanding (MoU) Sunday, the officials said.

“The president wanted to sign it personally because he wanted to show his dedication to the process,” one of the US officials said on condition of anonymity.

But Vance admitted the brief outline deal kicks the thorniest issues — especially Iran’s nuclear programme — down the road.

“The MoU is about a page and a half, so it is a very general document,” Vance told CNN.

He later said on NBC that US and international nuclear inspectors will be allowed back into Iran to help destroy its enriched uranium.

Vance will lead technical talks this week and attend a physical signing ceremony expected in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trump, attending the G7 summit in France, said the text would likely be released after Friday—but the US officials said it would be “put out in the next 24-48 hours.”

Hormuz normal in ‘couple of weeks’?

The signing will kick off a 60-day period in which Tehran and Washington will try to hammer out a full-scale peace deal.

“We want to put the nuclear discussions up front,” a US official said on the call.

But the Strait of Hormuz bottleneck is an immediate priority due to the global economic effects from the spike in oil prices.

Vance told CNBC there was an understanding with Iran that the strait would reopen “in a toll-free way for the long term, and that’s the sort of thing that we’re going to figure out in these technical negotiations.”

Trump himself said the critical strait would be “completely open” from Friday but added there was still “hunting” going on to ensure it was de-mined.

Shipping traffic should return to pre-war levels “over the next couple of weeks” but there had already been a “substantial increase in traffic,” the first US official said.

However, Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that the deal would allow it to charge maritime service fees on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, rather than imposing “tolls.”

‘Zero’ funds released

Uncertainty also surrounds other key aspects of the deal, including Iran’s access to its frozen funds and relief from sanctions.

The issue is politically sensitive for Trump because he has alleged that a deal signed under Democrat Barack Obama — which Trump scrapped in 2018 — gave Tehran too much money.

“The very simple fact is zero dollars of frozen assets have been released by the United States or any other country,” the first US official said.

“We discussed the possibility of releasing frozen funds, sanctions relief, a big US$300 billion fund to rebuild their country, and all of these things are going to be tied to performance,” added the second official.

Vance said no US taxpayer money — “they never get a dime” — will go to Iran under the deal and argued that Americans stand to benefit from lifting of sanctions against Iran by bringing it back into the international economy.

“There’s a lot of benefit there, not American money, but there’s a lot of economic prosperity that can flow from that,” Vance told Fox News late Monday.

As part of a flurry of interviews to talk up the deal, he told NBC that US and UN nuclear inspectors will be allowed to enter Iran.

“In fact, one of the core parts of the agreement is that the (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly” in the MoU, Vance said. — AFP

LOS ANGELES, June 16 — Eight people died when a US B-52 bomber crashed and erupted into a catastrophic fire shortly after takeoff at an air force base in California on Monday, officials said.

The heavy bomber was on a routine testing mission with a mixture of military, government and civilian contractors on board when it came down in a huge fireball at Edwards Air Force Base, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.

Footage of the aftermath of the crash, which officials said was “unsurvivable,” showed a large charred patch of ground on which almost nothing remained of the huge plane.

“Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans,” Colonel James Hayes told reporters at the base.

Hayes said the B-52 Stratofortress — a long-range bomber used by the US military since the 1950s — was on a test sortie as part of a radar modernization process.

“It took off, and immediately after takeoff, crashed and burst into flames,” he said, adding emergency services quickly swung into action, but soon determined that there would be no one to rescue.

“After reviewing the footage of the crash, it was deemed that this was an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable.”

There was no immediate indication as to the cause of the tragedy, and a safety investigation probe was immediately begun.

The crash happened around lunchtime at the base, a major operations center for the US military, and was contained within the perimeter, Hayes told reporters.

In the aftermath of the accident, the airfield was closed and all inbound aircraft were being diverted, the base said on social media.

Hayes said the identities of those who perished would not be released until all next of kin had been informed, a process he said was ongoing and could last for the rest of the day.

The B-52 is a heavy bomber that first flew in 1954 and was originally designed for war with the Soviet Union. It has received continual upgrades to keep it in service for decades since the Cold War’s end.

The massive bomber — which can carry a range of weapons, including bombs and cruise missiles — has a wingspan of 185 feet (56 meters) and a length of 159 feet (48 meters).

The plane is usually crewed by five people: an aircraft commander, a pilot, a radar navigator, a navigator and an electronic warfare officer, according to a US Air Force fact sheet on the plane.

With a combat range of up to 8,800 miles, the plane is capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

The United States has deployed the aircraft in conflicts in Vietnam, the Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently in Iran. — AFP

TEHRAN, June 16 — US President Donald Trump said Monday that ships were again moving through the Strait of Hormuz and the vital oil route would be “completely open” by Friday, after Washington and Tehran announced a deal to end the Middle East war.

The reopening of one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints would mark a major step toward ending months of deadly conflict and economic turmoil triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

“Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said, adding later that he did not “think we will need much help” keeping the waterway open.

Iranian media reported on Monday evening that three oil tankers and two cargo ships carrying goods had passed through the area that had been subject to a US naval blockade.

Iran had blockaded the strait since the start of the war, sending oil prices soaring and raising fears of a prolonged inflation shock. The United States then blocked shipping to and from Iranian ports.

The US, Iran and mediator Pakistan said the peace agreement was to be signed Friday in Switzerland.

A senior US administration official, however, said Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had already signed the text electronically.

“The president wanted to sign it personally because he wanted to show his... dedication to bring this through to a successful resolution,” said the official.

Asked at the G7 in France when the text would be released, Trump said: “It’s a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So probably pretty soon.”

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the deal brought an “immediate end” to the war, with talks on a “final agreement” to be held within two months.

His country’s military hailed the accord as a victory, claiming it had “humiliated” the US and Israel, while President Masoud Pezeshkian called it “a great achievement” for the region.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a more cautious note.

“We have a history of broken commitments,” he said. “We have a history of agreements being torn up. All of this is present in our minds.”

Lebanon questions

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Washington must ensure that Israel stops fighting in Lebanon under the agreement.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in early March when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.

“The United States must honour its commitments. It must ensure that the Zionist regime also respects its own regarding Lebanon,” Baqaei said.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s forces would remain in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza “as long as necessary”.

He said the war with Iran had spared Israel from the Islamic republic’s threat of “nuclear annihilation”, while Israeli figures across the political spectrum criticized the deal.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the agreement during a call with Araghchi, saying he hoped it would be a “positive step towards reducing tensions”.

Lebanese state media later reported the first deadly strike since the announcement, saying the Israeli attack in the south killed one person.

Hezbollah, which thanked Iran for insisting Lebanon be included in the deal, said it had repelled an Israeli force trying to “advance” in southern Lebanon.

Terms unclear

The deal follows weeks of fraught negotiations and threats of renewed hostilities, but key details remain unclear.

Baqaei said Washington had “committed” to releasing frozen Iranian funds abroad and compensating Tehran for wartime damage.

Iran’s Mehr news agency had reported the US would release US$12 billion in frozen assets before negotiations begin.

Baqaei said Tehran would seek UN Security Council ratification after negotiating a final agreement on its nuclear programme.

That could prove contentious as Washington presses to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions and address its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, said to have been buried by US strikes last year.

Trump told The New York Times the US was still negotiating whether Iran would suspend enrichment for 20 years, hinting he might settle for 15.

Baqaei said Iran would charge maritime service fees, rather than tolls, on shipping through Hormuz.

The announcement of the agreement sent oil prices sharply lower and lifted global stocks, with traders betting that the reopening of a route that normally carries about 20 per cent of the world’s crude would ease pressure on energy supplies.

Crude prices fell nearly five percent toward US$80 a barrel after having surged above US$110 soon after the war began, while the Dow hit a fresh record and the Nasdaq jumped more than three percent.

In Tehran, English teacher Arya, 38, said “our people will not return to normal”.

“They came to understand that Trump is not their ally,” he said. — AFP

WASHINGTON, June 16 — With an agreement on a framework for a peace deal with ‌Iran, US President Donald Trump may have found a way to begin extricating himself from an unpopular war while setting global markets on a path toward easing ​energy prices that have spiked during the crisis.

But he has settled for a deal that appears short of many of the goals he outlined in the early days of the conflict, potentially opening himself up to attacks from hawks in his own party and leaving the US looking strategically worse off than it did before he went to war.

More than three months after attacking the Islamic ‌Republic, Trump on Sunday gave his approval to a “memorandum of understanding” that marks the most significant breakthrough in peace talks so far, including Iran’s commitment to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which could help lower high ​US gasoline prices.

At the same time, the Pakistani-mediated deal – the text of which was not immediately released – also apparently calls for significant US concessions, including deferring discussions over ending Iran’s nuclear program, Trump’s main stated war objective.

Trump’s pursuit of an exit plan has intensified amid growing pressure to end a war that has killed thousands, inflicted economic pain at home and driven down his approval ratings just months ahead of November’s US midterm elections. His Republican Party is struggling to maintain control of Congress.

In the run-up to Sunday’s announcement, his efforts, however, had already faced pushback from Iran hawks in Washington ​who warned about giving up too much to Tehran.

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!” Trump said in a social media post on his 80th birthday. Shortly afterwards, Iran confirmed the accord, which is due to be signed on Friday but will leave many critical questions unanswered.

The two sides have put forth sometimes conflicting interpretations of the framework, which is meant to extend the current ceasefire for 60 days to allow for detailed talks to permanently end a war that has created an unprecedented global energy supply shock.

Trump also faces the prospect of the US looking weakened, while Iran, though battered militarily and economically, could end up with greater leverage, analysts say.

Although there is little doubt that US and Israeli strikes heavily degraded Iran’s military capabilities, Tehran has shown it can survive an onslaught while throttling one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

The White House did not respond to ‌Reuters’ questions for this story.

Some Trump objectives unmet

Trump, who campaigned for a second term on promises to avoid foreign interventions and focus on Americans’ economic concerns, has framed the outcome as a resounding US victory – even as Iran has made similar claims.

Still, ⁠most analysts agree that Trump – who once demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” – has been stymied on many of his often-shifting goals for the ⁠war.

Iran’s theocratic government, which Trump urged Iranians to overthrow at the outset of the conflict, remains largely intact, and leaders who replaced those killed in joint US-Israeli strikes appear even ⁠more hardline. Also unmet are his earlier demands that Iran dismantle ⁠its ballistic missile program and stop support for regional proxies. Even ⁠so, a US official told reporters that the preliminary deal accomplishes Trump’s core objectives.

In addition, the MOU does not fully resolve the fate of Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stockpile.

Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that the US would go in, get the material and “downblend and destroy it,” but gave no timetable. An Iranian official spoke only of Iran agreeing to “dilute” the stockpile on its own but with no mechanism yet determined.

“This deal is likely the best possible outcome to avert further conflict, but it is no ⁠better than what could have been achieved had the United States pursued diplomacy rather than war in the first place,” said Victoria Taylor, a former deputy assistant secretary of state now at the Atlantic Council think tank.

It is also unclear if the final deal will be an improvement on the one former President Barack Obama reached with Iran in 2015 to rein in its nuclear program, and which Trump scrapped in 2018 during his first term.

US officials have insisted that any unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian funds or easing of sanctions will be gradual and based on whether Tehran meets requirements. Iran has signalled it expects some money and sanctions relief up-front.

By opening the door to such moves, Trump could face the kind of accusations he has long leveled at Obama of providing Iran with a financial lifeline to help underwrite its nuclear ambitions and other security threats.

Iran threat to persist

Trump and his aides have touted as a major achievement what they say is ⁠Iran’s commitment never to acquire a nuclear weapon.

But Tehran had declared for years that it would always abide by an Islamic decree issued by former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an air strike at the start of the war, that prohibited development of a bomb.

Though the MOU calls for Iran to quickly lift restrictions on shipping in the strait and for the US to remove ⁠its naval blockade of Iranian ports, Tehran has insisted that it must retain a role that it lacked pre-war in managing the strategic waterway.

The reopening of the strait itself would only return to the status quo that existed before the conflict. “Iran has demonstrated ⁠that even in a starkly weakened ⁠state, it can shut the Strait of Hormuz at will. That’s not going away,” said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

The war started by Trump has killed thousands, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Iran-aligned Hezbollah militants was ​reignited. The conflict has also claimed the lives of 13 US service members.

The US military’s price tag has amounted to tens of billions of dollars, ​and munitions stockpiles have been drawn down. There have also been deepening strains between the US and European allies, who were ‌not consulted before Trump went to war. Another challenge for Trump is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who forged a close wartime alliance with him but has said ​his country will not be party to the MOU. The two leaders clashed ​on Sunday over Israel’s continuing military campaign in Lebanon.

Washington’s Gulf allies, the targets of Iranian missile and drone attacks, have pushed for a peaceful settlement but will now face the prospect of a wounded neighbor still able to threaten them with its remaining arsenal. — Reuters

BOGOTÁ, June 15 — Colombians eyeing a runoff election face two starkly different economic models against a backdrop of messy government finances.

Rightwing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella wants a leaner state with pro-business policy while leftist Ivan Cepeda is pushing for greater government spending on social programs in the runup to the June 21 election.

Outgoing leftist President Gustavo Petro is finishing his four-year term with high approval ratings among low income people because he has reduced poverty, supported public education, cut unemployment and raised the minimum wage.

But Colombia’s first leftist president has also been criticised for heavy public spending, nasty remarks to the business community and what UN economic experts call the worst fiscal deficit in Latin America after Brazil.

Diego Soler, a businessman in the textile sector, said Petro was downright anti-business. Soler runs a company called American Tactical, which imports and markets tactical equipment such as for protecting police and soldiers.

“We went from paying a 15 per cent tariff in the case of textiles to 40 per cent,” he told AFP.

In Latin America’s fourth-largest economy, his company survived a 23 per cent increase in the minimum wage without having to fire anyone. But it has been unable to expand.

In the runoff election on June 21, Cepeda proposes pushing on with Petro policies to put priority on social spending and the transition away from fossil fuels.

De la Espriella wants to encourage private investment to stimulate the free market and is big on exploiting Colombia’s oil and other natural resources.

Laura Valverde, a 34-year-old accountant, backs Cepeda. She said she is happy with the increase in the minimum wage, a cut in daily working hours and government aid money for her disabled son.

“It frightens me how people can support someone who wants to take a step back after we made progress for four years,” Valverde said.

Supporters of Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the Salvadores de la Patria movement attend his closing campaign rally in Buga, Colombia on June 14, 2026. — AFP pic

Without a ‘saw’

While many in Colombia are worried about a wave of guerrilla and other violence that has swept the election campaign, experts say the greatest challenge facing the next president will be the economy.

Ana Fernanda Maiguashica, an economist who runs the Private Competitiveness Council, a business think tank, said people “are going to feel the deterioration of the fiscal deficit.”

Cepeda says he wants to go even further with the Petro social spending programs in a country with one of the world’s most glaring gaps between rich and poor.

Petro’s social spending policy has “all but eliminated extreme poverty” in Colombia, said Jorge Restrepo, a professor at Xaverian University.

But Petro is leaving with a fiscal deficit of nearly seven per cent of GDP and a slim coffer for government money.

De la Espriella, an admirer of Argentina’s President Javier Milei, says he will cut the size of the state by 40 per cent and impose fiscal austerity.

Experts say this is a challenge because he would need approval from Congress.

“He is Milei without the details, a Milei without the buzz saw,” Restrepo said, alluding to the Trump-backed Argentine leader’s gimmick for depicting himself as a spending slasher.

Then there is the issue of cocaine, of which Colombia is the world’s largest producer. It accounts for four per cent of GDP here, according to a study by Los Andes University.

De la Espriella has made the novel suggestion that drug cartels be able to keep 10 per cent of their revenue if they give the rest to the government. This would be in exchange for incentives like protection against extradition.

Cepeda proposes negotiating with armed groups involved in drug trafficking, having them give up their weapons and providing compensation to victims of decades of war and other violence in Colombia. — AFP

CHICAGO, June 15 — The risk that a traveller infected with Ebola could arrive in the United States during the 2026 World Cup tournament that ‌kicked off last week is low but not zero, and if that happens, US hospitals are ready to respond, US infectious disease experts say.

It wasn’t always so.

During the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, arrived in a Dallas hospital with Ebola symptoms and was turned away before being admitted.

Two nurses were infected but survived.

That led to US$260 million (RM1.05 trillion) in US funding for Ebola preparedness training and response capabilities and 13 specialised treatment centres — all intended to help hospitals identify, ‌isolate and safely care for suspected Ebola patients.

“We’re not going to be able to prevent 100 per cent of infections, but we certainly are the most prepared that we have ever been,” said Dr Gavin Harris, an expert in serious communicable diseases at Emory University in Atlanta, one of 11 US World Cup host cities.

Public health officials and hospitals in the US host cities have been preparing for a range of infectious disease threats as 6.5 million fans travel across North America during the 39-day event featuring 104 matches in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pan American Health Organisation and the World Health Organisation have all described the risk of Ebola to World Cup host countries as low, citing measles, Covid-19 and influenza — which spread when large crowds gather — as the most likely threats.

But the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has infected more than 675 people and killed more than 135 remains a concern.

“The risk of Ebola to anyone at the World Cup is extremely low. Ebola isn’t airborne and doesn’t spread through casual contact — it requires direct contact with the body fluids of someone who is ill,” said Dr Tom Frieden, chief executive of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the CDC.

“But low isn’t zero, and it won’t be zero until the outbreak is stopped at its source in DRC.”

Learning from the past

US Ebola preparedness efforts that began in 2015 were born out of a collaboration between Emory University, the University of ‌Nebraska Medical Centre and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue in New York City — facilities that cared for Ebola patients during the West African Ebola outbreak, the largest to date.

“There was a recognition that we had a duty to ⁠train other facilities to recognise potential patients who might be exposed or sick with something like Ebola,” Emory’s ⁠Harris said.

Thousands of healthcare workers have since been trained to recognise and treat patients with Ebola and other serious pathogens.

For the World Cup, preparedness experts have ⁠conducted nationwide training exercises simulating a potential MERS outbreak at ⁠the games.

They have also compiled guidance for physicians, raising ⁠awareness of illnesses not typical of their home cities, including mosquito-borne conditions such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

The United States, Mexico and Canada have instituted airport screening and travel bans restricting entry of non-citizens with recent travel to countries affected by the outbreak, and the US has urged Europe to impose similar restrictions. Harris said those bans are likely to decrease the chances of Ebola at World Cup venues.

In order to comply with US restrictions, the DRC ⁠national football team left the country in May and trained in Belgium ahead of travel to the United States.

In each host city, Fifa, local public health officials and hospital systems have formed medical committees that have been conducting Ebola and other infectious disease threat assessments based on the teams that will play in their cities, diseases prevalent within their home countries, visa restrictions and stadium logistics, Harris said.

Some areas have discussed supplying disease-specific treatments or protective gear to the venues and are using surveillance tools, including wastewater monitoring, air quality data and electronic medical records, to detect unusual illness clusters.

Fifa said medical-related risks are assessed as part of overall tournament planning and managed in close coordination with the host cities, which provide medical leaders that oversee and coordinate services.

It said it is monitoring the Ebola outbreak and is in contact with sporting and health authorities in ⁠the DRC and the three host countries.

A general view inside the stadium during the Group D Fifa World Cup 2026 match between United States and Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium, Inglewood, California June 12, 2026. — Kiyoshi Mio/Imagn Images pic via Reuters

Filling in the gaps

Dr Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, said planning for mass gatherings in the US is not new.

“State and local health departments working in conjunction with CDC have for many years been at the forefront of individuals coming into this country,” he said.

To help with disease monitoring and ⁠coordination, Georgetown University has set up an independent Health Security Operations Center in collaboration with more than 30 public and private sector entities.

More than 700 state and local health authorities have signed up for the group’s daily reports, as ⁠have some 60 federal partners, ⁠Fifa and the CDC.

Still, staff cuts at the CDC, the US departure from WHO, and strain on state and local health departments that have been battling the biggest US measles outbreak in decades have taken a toll, Frieden and two other experts said.

“My biggest concern is whether a CDC that’s lost thousands of staff has the capacity, support, and mandate to move fast enough — both here and in DRC,” Frieden said.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, did not ‌respond to a request for comment.

Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cuts to public health have led to an exodus from government agencies.

“Nonetheless, we know the people who are still there are working around the clock in many cases to try to keep us safe,” she said in a briefing. — Reuters