US lawmakers fight Trump administration cuts to $386m ocean monitoring program: ‘supreme stupidity’

• Despite the rise of globalization and the digital economy, global conflicts and power dynamics remain fundamentally rooted in geography. • Critical infrastructure, including semiconductor facilities, data centers, and undersea cables, as well as mineral supply chains, remain concentrated in specific physical locations.

• An Iranian official stated that achieving an end to the current war requires the termination of Israel’s occupation of Lebanon. • In a separate development, it was noted that congressional leaders and intelligence committees typically receive high-level briefings and advance notice of major events before rank-and-file members.

• An Iranian official stated that a permanent end to the war must include the termination of Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, according to state television reports. • These developments follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of an agreement to conclude the 3 1/2-month-old U.S. conflict with Iran.

• President Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Evian-les-Bains, France, during the G7 summit to discuss a deal to end the U.S. conflict with Iran. • Trump described the agreement as a potential breakthrough for global security, though some lingering questions remain before the formal signing.

• UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to combat food insecurity and famine risks in Somalia. • The funding arrives as humanitarian partners report that many newly displaced families have lost their belongings and tents, forcing them to rely on relatives and friends.

• Author Dylan Muggleton analyzes the feasibility of a "grand bargain" or grand plan to stabilize the current global geopolitical environment. • The analysis argues that such a deal is unrealistic because modern competition occurs across multiple simultaneous domains, including technology, energy, security, and economics.

British prime minister was left making small talk unsure if a meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy was going aheadThe wait for Keir Starmer’s first session of the G7 gathering in Évian-Les-Bains was undoubtedly awkward. A meeting about the future of Ukraine had been due to start at 9am but more than half an hour later Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron were nowhere to be seen.On a live Reuters feed, Starmer could be seen standing next to the leaders of Canada and Japan as they milled about making small talk. “Are they, are they having a meeting?” the British prime minister could be heard asking. If he was referring to the missing attenders, and they were indeed having a meeting, it was clear he hadn’t been invited. Continue reading...

Helen Cammock says her comments blaming wartime leader for Bengal famine were intended to create ‘dialogue’ A Turner prize-winning artist accused of telling a “barefaced lie” about Winston Churchill in a video piece installed at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) has defended her work, saying it was intended to create a “dialogue” about figures in the gallery’s collection.Helen Cammock’s 40-minute moving image piece called Persistence has been at the centre of a row about the role Churchill played in the Bengal famine of 1943. Continue reading...

Prime minister faces prospect of going it alone against Iran as strategic interests of US and Israel are divergingIt took more than a day after news of Donald Trump’s deal with Iran went public for Benjamin Netanyahu to speak out.When he finally appeared at a press conference on Monday evening, the Israeli prime minister skirted a cornerstone of his past public appearances: his excellent relationship with the US president. Continue reading...

Young adults and teens are being recruited through apps like Telegram and paid to carry out attacks, officials sayPolice investigators in Toronto have said that dozens of shootings – including one at the US consulate in March – are linked to a “multilayered” gun-for-hire network that is also responsible for attacks on synagogues around Canada’s largest city.Toronto’s police chief, Myron Demkiw, told reporters on Tuesday that young adults and teenagers are being recruited through encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp by “bad actors” and paid by the networks to carry out the attacks. Shooters are required to film their attacks in order to get paid. Continue reading...

Switch to ChapsVision announced by PM comes amid concern about reliance on US-controlled technologyFrance’s domestic intelligence service is to ditch AI data tools from the US tech giant Palantir in favour of a domestic provider in an effort to avoid “strategic dependency”, the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has said.“We must use our own AI models; we cannot accept new strategic dependencies in ‌the digital sphere,” Lecornu posted on social media. “We cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools.” Continue reading...

Abbas Araghchi says ‘war has not fully come to an end’ without Israeli forces leaving territories occupied during present conflictMiddle East crisis – live updatesIran’s top diplomat has said a peace deal with the US would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, as concern grows that Israel could undermine diplomatic efforts to finally end the Middle East war, with Donald Trump even criticising his ally and war partner as irresponsible.“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” said the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Continue reading...