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Xi shores up China's sway in Pyongyang, wary of North Korea-Russia ties

Outdoor hospitals, cut-off communities as Philippine quake toll hits 41

Doctors treated patients in tents set up under a scorching Philippine sun on Tuesday — including helping a young mother give birth — as the death toll from a major earthquake that collapsed buildings and sparked tsunami warnings topped 40. Thousands remained displaced and more than 450 injured following the magnitude-7.8 quake that struck off the southern island of Mindanao on Monday, according to national and local disaster agencies, though only four people were now believed missing. In the hardest-hit Sarangani province, some areas remain accessible only by helicopter and fears of aftershocks were slowing rescue efforts, local officials told reporters at a Tuesday briefing. “There are still aftershocks, so the rescuers are very cautious in their approach. That’s a challenge,” said regional civil defence chief Rodrigo Sosmena. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, while hundreds of tiny quakes followed. Infrastructure damage, meanwhile, means some communities will be cut off for at least a week because of the damage to roads and the collapse of a bridge. At a hospital just outside General Santos, the region’s largest city, AFP reporters heard cries of “push” then an infant’s cries as a mother gave birth outdoors behind a makeshift screen. In Glan municipality, where at least 13 people were buried in their homes by a landslide, staff at another hospital told AFP more than 60 patients were on beds outside the facility due to fears for the building’s structural integrity. “The hospital sustained a lot of damage,” she said. “The municipal engineer decided we could not use the building.” As of Tuesday morning, the death toll from provincial sources contacted by AFP stood at 41. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said he was “deeply saddened by the devastating earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, which has resulted in the tragic loss of precious lives and caused widespread damage”. Extending condolences to the bereaved families and praying for the swift recovery of the injured, Dar expressed Pakistan’s “full solidarity” with the government and the people of the Philippines. Recovery Outside a collapsed grocery store in General Santos, rescuers resumed efforts after an overnight break to recover two store employees who were inside when the building crumpled. AFP journalists watched as rescue dogs and their handlers scoured the pile of broken concrete and jagged metal bars. A local rescuer told reporters the effort was now one of recovery rather than rescue, though a more senior official later insisted that decision had yet to be formally made. At a nearby beach resort, a high-speed Coast Guard vessel plied the waters for two people who went missing while swimming in waters that churned violently as the quake struck. Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP on Monday showed the catastrophic collapse of a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant in General Santos, while an unoccupied school building crumpled in another. In another video verified by AFP, young schoolchildren could be seen screaming in the arms of their teachers as the quake violently swayed them back and forth on the ground. A flimsy metal structure could be seen toppling in the background as the video uploaded to the school’s official Facebook page ends. An accompanying caption said no one was under the structure when it fell. The earthquake saw thousands ordered to evacuate in coastal areas of the southern Philippines and neighbouring Indonesia as tsunami warnings were issued by multiple countries and a regional tsunami warning centre. But by midday, the threat had passed and the alerts were cancelled. Waves that did reach the Pacific coast of Japan, where authorities had issued a tsunami advisory, were reported to be no higher than 20 centimetres. Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people.

White House warns UK against ban on social media for under-16s

The technology secretary hit back at the warning, saying she would not be swayed from doing what she believed was ‘right for children in this country’

Nigeria: NPA, Nimasa, Others Watch As Tankers Shut Down Mile 2-Apapa Expressway

[Vanguard] Motorists and commuters were stranded for hours in traffic, yesterday, following a gridlock caused by an upsurge of tankers along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway that obstructed vehicular movement and blocked access and other link roads.

Any cat to catch the mice

THREE parallel events now underway or recently held carry the potential in varying measure to reset India’s destiny, in all likelihood for the better. From a bird’s eye view, the field looks set for a change. The fact that Germany lost the election for the first time in 40 years for a non-permanent member’s seat at the UN Security Council offers stark lessons for the Modi government to ponder. Germany turned Palestine averse and cosied up to Israel, much like Narendra Modi’s India, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the saddle. The UN defeat is being linked to Merz’s embrace of Benjamin Netanyahu. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s future is also under a cloud, his ties with the Zionist lobby being a key factor. Ergo: Israel’s chums are being globally isolated. India’s proximity to Israel was nudged by right-wing ideologues to counter Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov’s 1998 doctrine to form the Russia-India-China group as a stabilising force in a post-USSR Global South. The Western countermeasures included America’s ‘pivot to the east’, dragging India into the Quad. But when the RIC went on to become BRICS, a ‘West Asian Quad’ was conceived including India, Israel, the UAE and the US. The faint outlines of the outcome of the Iran war are threatening to end India’s entanglement with both Quads. And the German debacle at the UN is the writing on the wall. Potentially, also crucial for the country’s future is the internet-spawned Cockroach Janta Party, which launched its first street protests in New Delhi over the weekend. The party minted into an untested force after a senior judge insulted unemployed youth as cockroaches. The ‘cockroaches’ have given a tart reply to the judiciary, but they’re also demanding the resignation of Modi’s education minister, hitherto an unthinkable prospect. The third albeit widely underplayed event is the fractious INDIA opposition group seeking to get its act together. Twenty-three parties, including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress were holding a make-or-break meeting on Monday (June 8) under the Congress party’s stewardship. All three events have the heft to cause tremors in the Modi establishment. Some say the jolt could be more rattling to him than he experienced in 12 years of unbridled power. Questions have surfaced over the Cockroach lot with insinuations that the cluster of motivated urban youth is supported by the Hindutva order to vent the steam gathering from months of a crippling economic crisis, not all of which is linked to the Iran war. There is also the issue of an overtly corrupt administration keeling over with criminal incompetence amid lacerating acts of omission and commission. Hundreds of thousands of school-leaving students and admission-seeking medical college aspirants have been grievously harmed by leaked papers and erring tabulation mechanisms. The Cockroach party has sought probity in judiciary, education and the nexus between business and the media, but its critics have sought to portray the group as left oriented with some of them belonging to this or that communist party. Another suggestion is that they are an extension of the Aam Aadmi Party, a ploy to shift the focus from the improving chances of opposition unity. It’s a fact that AAP came out of the India Against Corruption campaign of 2011 in which the RSS played a backroom role to successfully undermine the Manmohan Singh government. There’s no need to spread fear of those such as the Cockroach party before they do something wrong. While the AAP’s birth pangs indeed created the grounds for the coronation of Narendra Modi as prime minister in May 2014, it is equally a fact that AAP was applauded the following year as the sheet anchor that stalled the BJP juggernaut in Delhi. Before this, the Modi wave had easily evicted Congress governments in Maharashtra and Haryana polls. And there was no AAP in Maharashtra to blame the defeat on, although in Haryana it did cut some votes. The AAP subsequently propagated a soft temple-hopping Hindutva, in which Arvind Kejriwal scrupulously avoided standing with Muslims when they were under attack from the BJP and the police in 2020. But if he or the Cockroach group can yet consciously or unwittingly help stall the rightward, obscurantist drift the Modi government has set India on, it would make Deng Xiaoping’s spirit burst into a smile. “It doesn’t matter whether a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice.” Deng’s dictum applies to anybody who would rescue India from its current trauma. And there’s no need to spread fear of those such as the Cockroach party before they do something wrong. But let’s not get too swayed also by the shouts of youth power or the roar of something called Gen Z. As far as one could see, it was the youth that demolished the Babri Masjid with their raw sinews. It’s the youth that goes about lynching and harassing innocent citizens in the name of religion. Of course, on the other side, it’s the youth that’s languishing in Modi’s prisons, if they are not out on strictly monitored bail terms, for fighting for a just and equal society in a democratic system that doesn’t discriminate between citizens. Think Umar Khalid. There’s a youth component in almost every political party. The mighty US is split between youthful Zionists and their youthful adversaries. When I looked up Gen Z on a search engine, an option pointed to Gen Ziaul Haq! I think the idea of Gen Z or Gen Alpha etc is conjured to obscure the reality of universal class struggle, and in India’s of its defining caste identity. A few donning cockroach masks at the Delhi rally were seen carrying portraits of Bhimrao Ambedkar thereby putting Dalit politics at the centre. But again, hasn’t everyone used Ambedkar’s portraits to lure support? Finally, while Deng’s point is priceless, a useful caution in T.S. Elliott’s line says: “Youth is cruel and has no remorse. It smiles at situations which it cannot see.” A fair point to ponder. The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi. jawednaqvi@gmail.com Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026

NPA, NIMASA, others watch as tankers shut down Mile 2-Apapa expressway

Motorists and commuters were stranded for hours in traffic, yesterday, following a gridlock caused by an upsurge of tankers along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway that obstructed vehicular movement and blocked access and other link roads. The post NPA, NIMASA, others watch as tankers shut down Mile 2-Apapa expressway appeared first on Vanguard News.

The criminal cartels cashing in on the World Cup – podcast

Football fans are celebrating the tournament coming to Guadalajara. But with a brutal crime syndicate holding sway there, what are the risks for fans – and the government? Excitement is mounting in Mexico as the World Cup opens in Mexico City, then heads to the city of Guadalajara. Mexican journalist Leon Krauze is a fan. He was there the last time the World Cup came to Mexico and will be watching again. The city of Guadalajara has a mythical footballing past: “Pele’s Brazil played there in 1970, then Zico and Socrates played there in 1986. There is a real football memory there, a love affair between Guadalajara and football in general, and I expect it to be a wonderful party.” Continue reading...

Trump formally nominates Blanche to be attorney general

Blanche's nomination sets up a test of Trump's sway over Senate Republicans, who have shown an increasing willingness to resist parts of his agenda after months of largely acceding to his demands.

Police arrest man after viral Mitsubishi Triton rampage on North-South Expressway

BUKIT MERTAJAM, June 9 — Police have arrested a 29-year-old local man after a video showing a Mitsubishi Tri...

Defying Trump with brief Iran fight, Israel seeks sway over peace talks

Trump, who launched the war alongside Israel in February, has been trying to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran, while excluding Israel from those talks.

Defying Trump with brief Iran fight, Israel seeks sway over peace talks

Israel could not accept a scenario in which Iranian strikes on Israel were considered a justifiable "tit-for-tat response" to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

LTO suspends SLEX hit-and-run driver’s license for 90 days

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has suspended for 90 days the license of the driver involved in a hit-and-run incident along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) that injured a member of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG). In a statement on Monday, the LTO cited a viral video showing an HPG

Heavy rain triggers building collapse in Anambra, no casualties reported

A one-storey commercial building containing eight shops at Ikenga Ogidi, near the Building Materials International Market along the Onitsha–Enugu Expressway in Anambra State, has collapsed following heavy rainfall. The post Heavy rain triggers building collapse in Anambra, no casualties reported appeared first on Vanguard News.

Major quake off Philippines kills at least 31, dozen still missing

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake in the southern Philippines on Monday killed at least 31 people, according to provincial authorities, after toppling buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region. National disaster authorities said at least a dozen people were still missing, while 134 had sustained injuries. Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a city of about 720,000, where at least nine were killed. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6.5-magnitude. In General Santos, an AFP journalist watched on Monday afternoon as rescue workers dug through the rubble of a popular grocery store chain in a desperate bid to reach the bodies of two employees buried beneath. Rene Punzalan, disaster chief for hard-hit Sarangani province, told AFP 14 people had died in Glan municipality alone when a landslide buried their homes at the foot of a mountain. “The landslide happened immediately after the earthquake, so many lives were lost,” he said, adding that some areas had yet to report if they had sustained casualties. “The greatest challenge is communication. The power was cut, so it’s hard to get updates,” Punzalan said. “We’re worried about aftershocks,” he added. “We can feel the fear of the residents.” Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant reduced to rubble in General Santos City, while a school building that officials said was unoccupied crumpled in another. “Lord, it has really collapsed! … The building has really collapsed!” someone can be heard shouting as the abandoned school structure topples. In another video verified by AFP, young schoolchildren could be seen screaming in the arms of their teachers as the quake violently swayed them back and forth on the ground. A flimsy metal structure in the background collapsed as the video uploaded to the school’s official Facebook page came to an end. An accompanying caption said no one was under the structure when it fell. ‘Evacuate now’ Punzalan, the Sarangani disaster chief, told AFP that more than 2,000 people evacuated due to a morning tsunami warning were now awaiting a green light to return to their homes. “(Authorities) are still assessing the situation now if it will be OK to send them home,” he said. A notice from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had said tsunami waves were possible along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea. But by mid-afternoon, the Philippines and other countries had cancelled their warnings. Waves that did reach the Pacific coast of Japan, where authorities had issued a tsunami advisory, were reported to be no higher than 20 centimetres. ’We will not leave mindanao behind,’ president says President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered an immediate disaster response in Mindanao, an island the size of South Korea, with agencies directed to prepare relief supplies and evacuation centres and be ready for possible rescue operations. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” he said in a statement. Marcos, who suspended classes across Mindanao island on what was to have been the first day of school, had also called on residents in coastal areas to evacuate immediately. “Move to higher ground now. Do not wait,” he said. “Your life is more important than anything left behind.” The airport in General Santos, meanwhile, has been closed until further notice, officials said. A video verified by AFP showed what appeared to be chunks of ceiling that had collapsed onto the baggage claim area. This comes eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow 6.9-magnitude quake hit off the island of Cebu, killing 79 people. Two powerful quakes struck Mindanao two weeks after that, the strongest at a magnitude of 7.4. The Philippines and Indonesia experience hundreds of quakes each year and sit on tectonically complex parts of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East. The Philippine seismology agency said at least nine strong aftershocks were felt across Mindanao on Monday morning, the strongest of which was a magnitude-6.7. A hospital in General Santos was evacuated due to concerns about cracks on higher floors, while one of the buildings at the city’s Notre Dame of Dadiangas University collapsed, though no one was inside. “I had to duck and shelter myself under the table. And it was very long and strong,” the university president, Manuel de Leon, told broadcaster DZMM. Images from authorities in Sarangani province showed damaged shopfronts with collapsed signs, smashed windows, and piles of rocks from crumbled concrete. Military deployed, Malaysia offers assistance The Philippine military said its disaster response units had been deployed to affected areas. A video shared by a local school the moment the quake struck showed a large group of children sitting on the floor swaying rapidly from side to side, some hugging teachers, before fleeing en masse as a makeshift shelter collapsed behind them. Children react as the roof of a structure at Deped Mahayahay Elementary School collapses during an earthquake in Digos, Mindanao Island, Philippines, June 8, 2026. —Reuters Benjie Ancheta, police chief of Sarangani’s Alabel town, said the quake occurred during a police flag-raising ceremony, causing some people to faint. “This is the strongest earthquake we’ve experienced,” Ancheta said by phone. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government was ready to assist the Philippines. “I pray for the safety and wellbeing of all those affected, wishing them strength and courage in the difficult days ahead,” Anwar posted on X.

Playing Both Sides

For my upcoming book, United States of Oligarchy, I spent the last few years reporting on the activities of a small group of billionaires who have amassed increasing sway over US politics and policy. Chief among them, of course, is Elon Musk, who used a small fraction of his enormous wealth to put Donald Trump back in the […]

Telecoms boost in Perak as new tower resolves Gua Tempurung blind spot along PLUS highway

GOPENG, June 8 — There are no stretches along the North-South Expressway (PLUS) in Perak currently experiencing co...

Earthquake of magnitude 7.8 strikes off southern Philippines, 15 feared killed

At least 15 people were feared dead in the southern Philippines on Monday after a powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the island of Mindanao, triggering tsunami warnings across several countries. The quake came early in the morning as schools were reopening in the Philippines after a long break, with the tremors felt strongly in a dozen provinces and 420 km (261 miles) away in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Tsunami alerts were issued in the southern Philippines, northern Indonesia and the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island after the quake with an epicentre located about 20 km off Mindanao’s Sarangani province. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defence seeking to verify initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. ’We will not leave mindanao behind,’ president says President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered an immediate disaster response in Mindanao, an island the size of South Korea, with agencies directed to prepare relief supplies and evacuation centres and be ready for possible rescue operations. “The national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind,” he said in a statement. This comes eight months after the Philippines suffered its deadliest tremor in 12 years, when a shallow 6.9 magnitude quake hit off the island of Cebu, killing 79 people. Two powerful quakes struck Mindanao two weeks after that, the strongest at a magnitude of 7.4. The Philippines and Indonesia experience hundreds of quakes each year and sit on tectonically complex parts of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active belt stretching from South America to the Russian Far East. The Philippine seismology agency said at least nine strong aftershocks were felt across Mindanao on Monday morning, the strongest of which was a magnitude 6.7. The full extent of the damage was not yet clear and authorities said assessments were underway. Video shared by the local government in General Santos, a city of about 700,000 people, showed the collapse of a building housing a fast-food restaurant, with panicked onlookers fleeing as a cloud of dust spread quickly through the air. A hospital in General Santos was evacuated due to concerns about cracks on higher floors, while one of the buildings at the city’s Notre Dame of Dadiangas University collapsed, though no one was inside. “I had to duck and shelter myself under the table. And it was very long and strong,” the university president, Manuel de Leon, told broadcaster DZMM. Images from authorities in Sarangani province showed damaged shopfronts with collapsed signs, smashed windows, and piles of rocks from crumbled concrete. Military deployed, Malaysia offers assistance The Philippine military said its disaster response units had been deployed to affected areas. A video shared by a local school the moment the quake struck showed a large group of children sitting on the floor swaying rapidly from side to side, some hugging teachers, before fleeing en masse as a makeshift shelter collapsed behind them. Children react as the roof of a structure at Deped Mahayahay Elementary School collapses during an earthquake in Digos, Mindanao Island, Philippines, June 8, 2026. —Reuters Benjie Ancheta, police chief of Sarangani’s Alabel town, said the quake occurred during a police flag-raising ceremony, causing some people to faint. “This is the strongest earthquake we’ve experienced,” Ancheta said by phone. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government was ready to assist the Philippines. “I pray for the safety and wellbeing of all those affected, wishing them strength and courage in the difficult days ahead,” Anwar posted on X. Indonesia Islanders move to higher ground The US Tsunami Warning System said multiple countries could be affected and Australia initially warned of potential tsunami waves on its northern coasts. Japan’s meteorological agency issued an advisory and said a tsunami of 0.2 m or lower had been observed, with some disruption to ferries and precautionary beach closures. Witnesses in Indonesia’s Manado said they felt the quake strongly. Only minor damage was reported, according to Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency. A tsunami with a wave height up to 0.75 m was detected in some regions in North Sulawesi, where people started moving to safer areas, including residents of the remote Sangihe Islands, among the closest to the Philippines. “They are now evacuating to the higher ground… away from the coast, to avoid the potential tsunami,” resident Jufry Dalita said, according to state news agency Antara.

Nigeria: Preventing the Return of Apapa Gridlock

[Vanguard] The shock emergence of gridlock on the Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway last week should worry every Nigerian who remembers the dark days when the nation's busiest port corridor became a symbol of administrative failure. For more than two decades, the Apapa traffic nightmare inflicted untold hardship on residents, motorists, businesses and port users. Thousands of productive hours were wasted daily, goods were delayed, and trillions of naira were lost. The total reconstruction of the Expressway by Dangote

Israel, Iran trade fire despite Trump's call for restraint

Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, seriously testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war. The new attacks, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex, came hours after US President Donald Trump called on Israel to refrain from retaliating against Tehran’s missiles. AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard a series of explosions as they took shelter and the Israeli army said it worked to intercept a new wave of Iranian missiles. The retaliation followed Israel saying it fired on western and central Iran, tit-for-tat action against Tehran’s strikes on Sunday of 11 missiles, all of which were intercepted, with no casualties. Israel’s military and Iranian local media said Monday that Israel struck a petrochemical company in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran. Trump had sought to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel accused Tehran of making a “grave mistake”. Trump has also said new strikes by Israel and Iran would not affect his administration’s peace talks with Tehran, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots.” He has leaned on Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon to allow room for a deal to end the wider war with Iran, including rebuking Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call last week. However, earlier on Sunday, Israel launched strikes in the Beirut area for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week. Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation, putting US-Iran peace talks at risk. But Trump insisted that an agreement to end the wider war remained well within reach. “It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” Trump told the Financial Times. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.” A few hours later, Israel’s defence forces said they had struck Iranian military targets. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attacks. “Everyone has had enough of this maniacal Iranian regime,” Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said on X, adding that Iran had fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel. “No self-respecting country in the world would tolerate such an attack, and neither will Israel,” he said, adding that Israel was targeting Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launch sites and infrastructure facilities unrelated to the energy sector. The latest hostilities drove oil prices up more than three per cent in early trading on Monday, with benchmark Brent futures back above $96 a barrel. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Ramat David air base, near Nazareth. The Israeli military said it identified missiles launched from Iran and its defence systems had intercepted them. As air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, according to a Reuters witness, the Israeli military added it had identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward its territory with aerial defence systems activated to intercept the threat. The attack is also the first from Yemen on Israel since the April 8 truce. Trump urges Netanyahu Trump spoke with Netanyahu by telephone from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for a little less than half an hour on Sunday, an Israeli official said, without giving details. The White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump told Netanyahu during the call to refrain from further strikes because “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal,” according to a US official quoted by Axios. In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump said: “What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.” Since the start of the talks, Israel has kept up attacks in Lebanon in a conflict with Hezbollah that Israeli officials insist should be treated separately from any Iran ceasefire. Tehran has long said any peace deal with the US would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March. Iran’s chief peace negotiator, Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said US bases and Israeli assets were legitimate targets because of hostile acts, including the “violation of agreements over Lebanon.” Before Sunday, Iran had not attacked Israel since a ceasefire in the wider war started in April, although Hezbollah had done so. Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington and Tehran were close to an agreement on ending the war. “We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow the hell out of them,” Trump told NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ in a recorded interview that aired on Sunday to mark 100 days of the conflict. Trump wants no attacks in Lebanon Israel has never halted its Lebanon campaign, which has killed thousands of people and driven hundreds of thousands more from their homes. Hezbollah, which kept out of truce talks, has also continued its attacks and says it will not give up its weapons unless Israel halts its attacks and withdraws from Lebanon. Netanyahu said Israel’s Sunday strikes on Beirut’s southern outskirts, a district known as Dahiyeh and a longtime Hezbollah stronghold, were ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israel. The wider war has been stalled since the US and Israel paused attacks on Iran in early April, with Tehran blocking most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit route for a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports. Though Washington and Tehran have said they are close to a preliminary deal to reopen the strait, they have repeatedly traded strikes, with escalations in recent days that included attacks on nearby Arab states hosting US bases. Trump has said any agreement to end the war must prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and he is under pressure to deliver terms tougher than those agreed in 2015 under then-President Barack Obama in a deal Trump later repudiated. Tehran’s demands include the lifting of US and international sanctions, recognition of its sway over the strait and the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets.

Young woman just months away from becoming first time mom is mowed down on Missouri highway

Leah Hyde, 24, died on the James River Expressway on Tuesday in Springfield, Missouri. She was five months pregnant with her unborn daughter, Lark Elizabeth.