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CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — Their red jerseys stood out against the green pitch. Most were teenage girls. Some had fled war. Others had never played in an organized soccer league or set foot in a major stadium before.

Yet when they took the field at Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco, they marked Sudan’s first appearance in international women’s soccer since a civil war erupted in a country where women’s participation in sports has long been controversial.

“My goal is to lift up soccer in my country,” Nura Mohamed, the 17-year-old team captain, told The Associated Press.

“It’s a beautiful, unique feeling because, at the end of the day, I just love playing.”

Sudan’s under-17 women’s national team traveled to Morocco last week for qualifying matches on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The inexperienced squad suffered heavy defeats against Comoros, conceding 30 goals in two matches. Many of the players broke down in tears after the final whistle in front of a dozen cheering fans.

They faced an older, fitter, and more experienced opponent. Unable to assemble a senior women’s squad in time, Sudan’s soccer federation entered a younger team to avoid forfeiting its place in the qualifiers. They only started training weeks ago.

“The difference between us and the others is huge. We cannot yet compete at the highest level,” Burhan Tia, a veteran Sudanese soccer coach who oversees all of Sudan’s women’s national teams, said after the first match, a 17–0 defeat.

“Comoros has many players competing in Europe, our team is mainly made up of schoolgirls.”

Sudan’s women’s soccer collapsed when civil war erupted in 2023. For federation officials, debuting this young squad in Casablanca after years of conflict marks an important step in keeping women’s soccer alive in Sudan.

“Some traveled long distances just to attend training. Many are separated from their families, yet they continue to work hard and pursue their dream,” Manal Ali Bushra, a businesswoman who heads the women’s soccer committee, told the AP.

To support that vision, Ali Bushra said the federation is working on infrastructure projects, including a planned sports city and the renovation of key stadiums in safer parts of the country. She declined to answer questions about the women’s program budget and funds.

Tia knew the magnitude of the challenge when he accepted the job of rebuilding a shattered team.

“First, I had to find girls who played soccer. Then, once I found girls who played, I had to make sure they were the right age,” he said. “Then I needed to convince their parents to let them miss classes for training.”

With the league suspended, his scouting trips took him to schools across Sudan and to neighboring Egypt, where many families had fled the war. He recruited 10 players from teams and academies in Cairo, with the rest drawn from Sudanese cities.

Tia would have liked to recruit from conflict-hit areas like Darfur or Kordofan, a region known for producing Sudan’s top athletes. But many girls had lost their identification documents, making it impossible to verify their ages under international regulations. The war has also shattered transportation, turning journeys between cities that once took hours into perilous trips lasting days.

On the field, the players’ lack of experience was evident. Several struggled with basic positioning, failing to hold the offside line or maintain tactical discipline. Throughout the matches, they repeatedly looked to the sidelines for instructions from the coach and his assistant.

The United Nations has described the war in Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It began in 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted into fighting marked by mass killings, rape and ethnic violence. More than 40,000 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures, and over 14 million have been displaced, with famine and disease spreading across parts of the country.

The war halted every sports activity, including the women’s soccer league, which was officially established after the 2019 progressive revolution that ousted President Omar al-Bashir. His three-decade Islamist rule was marked by Public Order Laws that rights groups said restricted women’s freedoms. Even after the revolution, prominent Sudanese preacher Abdulhay Yousif said the establishment of a women’s football league was aimed at undermining religion.

“The idea of women running, jumping, sweating, and even something as simple as their bodies being visible in motion, was seen by Bashir’s Islamist regime as producing fitna, which in a Sudanese context was understood as sexual or moral chaos,” Liv Tønnessen, a political scientist researching gender politics in Sudan, told the AP.

“So when women step onto a soccer pitch, they are directly confronting that entire logic. They are not just present in a male-dominated sports arena, they are moving freely in it, on their own terms,” Tønnessen, a former guest researcher in a women-only university in Sudan, added.

Beyond institutional hurdles, players also faced a wave of sexist abuse online. On the national team’s social media accounts, many commenters mocked them for big defeats. Others posted the phrase “go back to the kitchen,” in multiple languages.

While Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s military government has allowed international soccer trips for teenage girls, the U.N. has documented sexual and gender-based violence by the Sudanese Armed Forces, which he commands.

Tønnessen sees the state backing as a calculated effort by the military to project legitimacy. By sponsoring the team, she said, the army attempts to signal that the state is functioning normally and to align itself with the spirit of the 2019 revolution.

Hala Al-Karib, a prominent Sudanese women’s rights activist, dismissed critics who say the team is being used to portray a more progressive image on women’s rights.

“The main challenge for me is a reform of the federation,” she told the AP, citing a lack of investment in and support for women’s soccer in Sudan.

Back on the field in Casablanca, the politics, war and debate faded away, leaving only a group of teenagers chasing a ball.

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By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, June 17 (Reuters) – Australia cannot be a multicultural society and immigration policies have put the country in crisis, Pauline Hanson said on Wednesday, as the right-wing leader enjoys a surge in support for her One Nation party.

Hanson, whose policies have drawn comparisons to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, blamed the centre-left Labor government for “this immigration catastrophe”, saying a recent influx of migrants had pushed up house prices, making it unaffordable for families.

“Undeniably, immigration or migration policy has our country in the state of crisis. At the centre of this crisis is the utterly flawed policy of multiculturalism,” Hanson told the National Press Club in Canberra, in one of the veteran lawmaker’s highest-profile speeches to date.

“We cannot be a multicultural society. We are a multiracial society. But we must be monocultural,” she said, adding that she was gravely concerned about “radical Islam”.

Almost one-third of Australia’s 28 million population was born overseas, according to the Bureau of Statistics, double the proportion of the United States or France.

Hanson refused to start her speech with a customary acknowledgment of Australia’s Indigenous communities, a practice she called “divisive”.

A banner highlighting Hanson’s opposition to pay rises for workers was unfurled behind her as she was speaking and was quickly removed by organisers, while protesters gathered outside.

One Nation, which wants to emulate President Trump’s aggressive deportations in the U.S., proposes mandatory visa cancellation for criminal offenders, withdrawal from the U.N. Refugee Convention, tighter visa rules and a longer wait for Australian citizenship.

An opinion poll conducted for the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Monday showed Hanson had overtaken Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as Australians’ first choice for the top role.

Founded in 1997, the party was long seen as fringe but Hanson’s headline-grabbing comments and hard line on immigration have drawn more support, recent polls show.

Australian media have also compared One Nation’s rise with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK amid gains for right-wing parties globally. One Nation has polled ahead of both Labor and the conservative coalition opposition in some recent surveys, a sharp shift in a system long dominated by the two major parties.

Despite the gains, Australia’s preferential voting still favours Labor, and some data suggest it would likely retain power if an election were held now. Under the system, votes are distributed until a winner is declared.

One Nation currently holds only one lower house seat, which it secured in a May by-election in the rural New South Wales seat of Farrer, defeating a conservative Liberal Party candidate in a historical stronghold for the coalition. The party has four of the 76 seats in the upper house Senate.    

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Alasdair Pal and Lincoln Feast.)

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Knesset House Committee Advances Immunity for Likud Lawmaker Tally Gotliv in Shin Bet Disclosure Case

The Knesset House Committee on Monday recommended granting procedural immunity to Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv, giving the coalition a first victory in its effort to keep a criminal case against her out of court. The 11 to 3 vote does not settle the matter. The recommendation must still go to the full Knesset, where lawmakers will decide whether Gotliv should be protected from prosecution over allegations that she revealed classified information connected to a serving Shin Bet employee, a case that has become a wider fight over parliamentary privilege, security secrecy, and the attorney general’s authority.   

The case has drawn attention not only because of the allegation itself, but because of what it exposes about the limits of parliamentary immunity in Israel. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara approved an indictment against Gotliv in May over the alleged disclosure and publication of confidential information under the Shin Bet law. According to the indictment, the material published by Gotliv identified the partner of anti-government protest figure Shikma Bressler as a Shin Bet employee and linked him to claims surrounding the October 7 attacks. Israeli security officials have rejected those claims, and prosecutors argue that the publication was not a passing remark made in the heat of parliamentary debate, but a repeated and deliberate act.   

Gotliv has framed the case very differently. She has argued that she acted as an elected lawmaker engaged in a public fight over what she describes as unanswered questions from October 7 and the conduct of state institutions. Her request for immunity relies on the claim that her actions were connected to her role as a member of Knesset, and that a criminal proceeding against her would harm her ability to represent her voters. That position has turned the hearing into a test case for the coalition’s wider argument that lawmakers must be able to confront legal and security bodies without fear of prosecution.   

The legal framework, however, is narrower than the political debate around it. The immunity route available to Gotliv is limited. Israeli law allows a lawmaker who has received a draft indictment from the attorney general to ask the Knesset to block the case from being filed while the current parliament remains in office. It is a procedural protection, not a determination that the allegations are unfounded.   

Substantive immunity is broader in another sense, because it applies to acts or statements made in the course of parliamentary work and can survive the end of a lawmaker’s term. The question before the Knesset now is whether Gotliv’s case falls within those protections, or whether the indictment should proceed to court.   

A legal memorandum prepared for committee members emphasized that immunity hearings are quasi-judicial proceedings. Committee members are expected to hear both the lawmaker requesting immunity and the attorney general, consider the legal grounds set out in the statute, and decide on the merits rather than along ordinary party lines. In practice, Monday’s vote followed a sharply political pattern. Coalition lawmakers backed Gotliv, while opposition members voted against granting immunity.   

Critics of the committee decision argue that the case goes beyond political speech. The Shin Bet employee’s lawyer and the Movement for Quality Government both urged the committee to reject Gotliv’s request, arguing that the alleged publications were planned, repeated, and outside the natural risks of parliamentary activity.   

For opponents of the move, the concern is that the Knesset would set a precedent whereby political backing can stop a security-related indictment before it reaches a judge. The next vote will take place in the plenum, where the coalition must decide whether to complete the immunity process or leave Gotliv to contest the indictment in court.   

If the Knesset approves immunity, the indictment will not proceed during the current Knesset’s term unless circumstances change. If the plenum rejects it, the attorney general will be able to file the indictment in court, and Gotliv will face the case as a criminal defendant rather than only as a lawmaker fighting a political battle.   

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LONDON (AP) — The British military is investigating reports that a Russian warship fired warning shots at a U.K.-registered yacht in the English Channel on Tuesday.

The Defense Ministry said it was investigating an “incident” after the yacht said it was fired on by a Russian navy vessel about 500 yards (460 meters) away. It happened about 20 miles (about 30 kilometers) south of the Isle of Wight, outside U.K. territorial waters.

There were no reports of injuries or damage to the yacht.

The Russian government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

British media reported that the Russian vessel is the frigate Admiral Grigorovich. Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, and patrol vessel HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian ship at the time of the reported incident.

The incident occurred two days after British commandos boarded and detained a sanctioned tanker in the Channel that is suspected of being part of the Russian “shadow fleet.” Officials are not linking the two events.

The tanker’s captain, an Indian national charged with shipping Russian oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, was ordered held in jail after appearing Tuesday in court.

The British military has had several close encounters with Russian vessels in the region and warned Moscow in November that it was ready to deal with any incursion into its territory after the spy ship Yantar was detected on the edge of U.K. waters north of Scotland.

In April, Britain and Norway said they had tracked a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K. for several weeks.

A Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel spent weeks following the Russian vessels and prevented them from carrying out “nefarious” activities against underwater infrastructure, then-Defense Secretary John Healey said.

He accused Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe.

Five years ago, Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the Black Sea to force the British destroyer HMS Defender out of an area near Crimea that Moscow claimed as its territorial waters.

The U.K. denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon. It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow acknowledged using live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West. The incident occurred about six months before Russia invaded Ukraine.

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PARIS (AP) — For weeks, a black mountain loomed over the Seine where Paris’ oldest bridge should have been. On Monday evening, its doors finally opened.

Inside, Paris smells different. The air carries the scent of earth after rain — damp ancient stone, cellar walls, perhaps a trace of smoke.

Visitors step from the bright riverfront into a dark passage lined with glowing photographs of caves, as a low electronic pulse seems to breathe through the walls.

Beneath it all, the old cobblestones of the Pont Neuf rise and fall underfoot.

The Pont Neuf Cavern, a monumental installation by French street artist JR — also known as the French Banksy — is free to enter around the clock through June 28.

Made largely from printed fabric and air, it transforms the 17th-century bridge into an artificial cavern rising 18 meters (59 feet) above the Seine.

“It feels like the city has disappeared,” said Léa Martin, a 22-year-old art student from Lyon on Tuesday. “You know the river is right outside, but for a moment you’re somewhere ancient.”

The smell is central to the illusion.

Olfactory expert Sarah Bouasse created two shifting scents: drawing on geosmin and isoborneol, compounds associated with the aroma released when rain strikes dry earth.

It changes along the crossing: first wet earth and mineral dampness, then something warmer, smokier and faintly animal.

“Usually I cross here without looking up once,” said Michel Dupré, a 67-year-old retiree, blinking as he emerged into daylight. “Today I felt the stones under my feet. And smelled them too. It makes you walk like a child again.”

A sound installation by Thomas Bangalter, formerly of the French electronic duo Daft Punk, accompanies the work, filling the cavern with low rumbles, echoes and pulses.

Completed in 1607, the Pont Neuf — despite its name, “New Bridge” — is the oldest bridge still standing in Paris.

JR’s installation asks people to experience the familiar crossing through their noses, ears and feet.

It also pays tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, whose 1985 wrapping of the bridge in pale golden fabric drew an estimated 3 million visitors.

Their work covered the Pont Neuf in light.

JR sends visitors into darkness.

“You enter into the darkness,” he has said, “and emerge into the light on the other side.”

Visitors can also raise their phones to activate an augmented-reality experience developed with tech company Snap.

Digital bats trail light through the cave, passing bodies leave ghostly traces and a dancer materializes in space.

JR has linked the work to Plato’s allegory of the cave, in which prisoners mistake shadows for reality. Today’s cave walls, he argues, are screens and the algorithms that shape what people see. Yet the installation’s strongest effects require no phone.

“It’s completely strange,” said Nadia Benali, 34, smiling beside the artificial cliffs. “Paris needs things that make people stop.”

When the cave closes, its fabric will be reused or recycled.

The mountain will vanish, traffic will return and the Pont Neuf — older than the French Revolution — will emerge into the light once more.

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DAKAR, June 16 (Reuters) – Equatorial Guinea’s government resigned on Tuesday after failing to meet its objectives, the West African oil-producing country’s Vice President Teodoro Obiang Mangue said.

• President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo appointed Manuel Osa Nsue Nsua as prime minister in 2024.

• The president’s son and the country’s vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, said on X that the prime minister had presented the resignation of all members of the government because it had barely reached 10% of its targets.

• He didn’t specify which targets the government was expected to achieve.

• A statement from the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) said that during its time in power the government had implemented various initiatives in areas such as public administration, infrastructure, public services, and economic development.

• “The government’s collective resignation is part of the institutional reorganization processes that are periodically carried out in the country with the aim of adapting the government structure to the state’s new priorities,” the party said in its statement on Facebook.

• President Obiang has been in power in Equatorial Guinea since 1979, making him the world’s longest-serving president.

(Reporting by Clement Bonnerot and Anait MiridzhanianEditing by Gareth Jones)

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President Trump Calls FT Report on $300 Billion Iran Reconstruction Fund ‘Fake News’  

President Donald Trump rejected a Financial Times report that the Trump administration was supporting a plan to invest $300 billion in Iran’s reconstruction, insisting the claim was “fake news” while reiterating that Tehran had agreed not to obtain a nuclear weapon.   

A proposed reconstruction fund worth $300 billion could be established if Iran accepts the terms outlined in a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict and reaching a nuclear agreement, The Financial Times reported.  

The fund would be financed primarily by private investors and international partners rather than directly by the US government, but would be backed by the Trump administration.    

President Trump responded on social media by dismissing the report as “fake news” and blaming what he called “Dumocrats,” a term apparently directed at Democrats.   

“Iran has agreed to never have a Nuclear Weapon! Also, the story that the U.S. is paying Iran 300 million Dollars is Fake News, put out by the Dumocrats!!!” he wrote.   

His post referred to “300 million Dollars,” while the Financial Times article cited a figure of $300 billion. The report also did not state that the funding would come directly from the US government, instead describing a structure backed by private investors and international partners.   

The exchange came shortly after Trump announced that the United States and Iran had reached an agreement to end the conflict.   

Following that announcement, Trump traveled to the G-7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, where he expressed confidence in the agreement and said additional negotiations would follow.   

“We have our deal done with Iran, and it should be successful, it goes to a second stage, which I think would be actually easier,” Trump told reporters at a G7 summit.   

He described the agreement as “a wall to a nuclear weapon” for Iran.   

Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif said the proposal is expected to move to a formal signing ceremony on Friday in Geneva. 

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(Corrects timeframe and extent of Nepal-India border dispute in paragraph 5)

By Joe Cash

BEIJING, June 16 (Reuters) – Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal met China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Monday, his first trip to the neighbouring superpower since his party swept to election victory in March, and days after visiting Beijing’s regional rival India.

The ousting of a Communist Party-led coalition government in Beijing’s backyard presents a conundrum to Chinese diplomats, who have been working to shore up vital ties in the near abroad while reasserting claims in the East and South China Seas, analysts say.

“China has always placed Nepal at the forefront of its ‘neighbourhood diplomacy’,” said Wang, according to a foreign ministry readout released late on Monday, and “will support Nepal in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Analysts said Nepal’s ties to South Asian power India gave the country of some 30 million people a degree of leverage over China, putting Beijing in the unfamiliar position of having to prove its worth.

While Kathmandu and Delhi have feuded over parts of their 1,751-km (1,088-mile) border for decades, Khanal told his hosts in Delhi earlier this month that the new government in Nepal was “free from the political baggage from the past,” and ready to improve relations with India.

Nepal’s ties with China have been bogged down due to inaction over project delivery for infrastructure earmarked as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative, which Nepal joined in 2017, mostly due to financing disagreements. 

Wang reiterated China’s commitment to building up Nepal’s infrastructure, highlighting cooperation in power generation, highways, ports and aviation. 

Eric Olander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project, a media and research organisation, said Beijing may have been unpleasantly surprised by the Nepalese election outcome.

“Beijing doesn’t like change that directly impacts them,” he said. “Change that is potentially hostile or challenges their interest is what gets their attention.

“My guess is they didn’t see this coming in Nepal and they don’t like it when popular movements overthrow incumbent governments.”   

(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa on Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the Soweto uprising when over 200 young people protesting against the apartheid education system were shot and killed by the police.

The events of June 16, 1976 — now commemorated annually as Youth Day — are considered a turning point in South Africa’s liberation struggle against white minority rule.

They ignited more demonstrations in various parts of the country, fueled more resistance against the apartheid and brought international attention to the racial oppression faced by Black people in South Africa.

Fifty years after the uprising, however, there are still concerns about the plight of young people in the country.

Survivors of the violent protests, experts and young South Africans have lamented the challenges facing the country’s youth including inequality, high unemployment, poverty and social problems such as drug and alcohol abuse.

Soweto, one of the oldest townships in South Africa, bears symbols of the historic day which are frequently visited by local and international tourists.

These include a memorial named after Hector Pieterson, the 13-year-old whose lifeless body appears being carried away by another student in an iconic photograph that came to symbolize the 1976 uprising after it was published around the world.

Murals and billboards depicting protesting students can be found throughout the township, which is also home to the June 16 Memorial commemorating the uprising.

But for those who survived the protests, the symbols are a painful remembrance of the day that changed their lives forever.

Seth Mazibuko, a survivor of the deadly protests, remembers vividly how students fought back against the police, who were using tear gas to try and disperse the defiant demonstrators.

“They struggled with the tear gas because when they threw it our way, the wind would blow the gas back to them, so it was also affecting them,” said Mazibuko. “They then started sending the police dogs to us, we used stones to chase the dogs back to them.”

Mazibuko was detained for 18 months after his arrest and later imprisoned in Robben Island, where he served 7 years alongside other political prisoners.

Fifty years after the uprising, South Africa has undergone significant changes but inequality, unemployment and poverty are among the most pressing challenges facing its “born free” generation — those born after the end of apartheid.

“I would say the issues of poverty and crime are the most pressing ones,” said Sima Poto, a 19-year-old visiting the June 16 Memorial. “It is poverty that is leading many of them into crime.”

Zola Mguli, a 29-year-old who works with the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance, an organization campaigning against alcohol and substance abuse, said he is grateful to belong to a generation that has grown up in freedom, even as significant challenges remain. “Things are not going as well as our forefathers hoped, there is still racism, alcoholism and other things we are battling with,” he said. “But if we, the youth, rise up, we can do better.”

Historian Noor Nieftagodien said the 1976 student protest movement was a traumatic and transformative moment that reshaped the anti-apartheid struggle, placing young people at the forefront of liberation politics.

“This was a generation that was young, gifted, and Black,” he said. “They wanted education.”

“The idea of Black power resonated with this new generation of young people,” Nieftagodien said. “Black consciousness was kind of electrifying; it inspired university students and then increasingly also students in high schools.”

He said that since June 16 was declared a public holiday after the end of apartheid, the significance of the historic event has diminished, overshadowed by celebratory events that, in his view, water down its political meaning.

“It has lost its meaning,” he said. “What has happened is that we’ve had the day marked with concerts, etc. I’m all for concerts. But, in fact, in so doing, the kind of celebrations that have been organized have been disinvested from politics, from a critical understanding of what happened.”

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By John Irish, Julia Payne and Michel Rose

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France, June 16 (Reuters) – European leaders will warn U.S. President Donald Trump at Tuesday’s G7 summit that a superficial interim Iran deal risks entrenching Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, while also pressing him to rethink his Ukraine strategy.

The June 15 to 17 gathering in Evian-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva, brings together the leaders of France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, alongside the European Union.

Trump arrived in France on Monday evening buoyed after Washington and Tehran agreed a preliminary deal to end the wider conflict, with a formal signing targeted for Friday.

“The Iran deal will bring a lot of success,” Trump said shortly after he arrived in Evian-les-Bains.

SOLID NUCLEAR DEAL NEEDED

French President Emmanuel Macron said the priority was to ensure there is a “solid, serious agreement that is finalised.” 

He said a Tuesday lunch session would focus on the safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, including a possible Franco-British-led maritime mission and identifying alternative energy routes bypassing the waterway. Trump said the strait would be “completely open” on Friday.

Leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt will attend Tuesday’s talks. They are not expected to get into detailed discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme, but may outline their expectations, diplomats said.

The interim deal should open a 60-day window for complex technical negotiations that would include the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium and sanctions lifting.

However, European allies fear an inexperienced U.S. negotiating team may fail to secure a robust nuclear agreement or address Iran’s ballistic missile programme in the next phase, risking a prolonged standoff.

France, Britain and Germany want a role shaping the coming talks after being sidelined in recent months.

The three countries first engaged Iran on its nuclear programme in 2003 and later worked with then-U.S. President Barack Obama to secure a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has been disparaging of that accord, which he pulled the U.S. out of during his first presidency.

“It’s not like the Obama document, that was a terrible document,” Trump said of his deal before going into a bilateral meeting with Macron.

SEEKING RESET ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE TALKS

European diplomats also see the summit as an opportunity to convince Trump that past U.S. proposals for a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine have been too favourable to Moscow.

European nations want to signal that they are willing to engage in talks with President Vladimir Putin while tightening sanctions on Russia and boosting military support for Ukraine, emphasising that it is Moscow, not Kyiv, that is blocking progress.

Trump said he thought Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were “open to do something about the war.” Zelenskiy will take part in the first session of the day dedicated to “building peace in Ukraine” and may talk separately with Trump.  

With negotiations stalled, Zelenskiy is pushing for renewed momentum and a greater European role. He said on Monday he had offered to meet Putin at the G7 summit for talks to end the four-year war, but that Putin was not ready to speak.

“Ukraine is holding the front line and even partially regaining territory. Ukraine has developed the capability to strike strategic targets deep inside Russia. And Ukraine has become a world-leading producer of cutting-edge military equipment,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Evian.

“On the other hand, Russia is feeling the strain and pressure of sanctions … Putin’s war economy has never been as weak.” 

Zelenskiy frets that the conflict in Iran has diverted U.S. attention. Meanwhile, dynamics on the battlefield have shifted, with Ukrainian drones striking deeper into Russian territory to cut battlefield supply lines and hobble energy infrastructure.

Putin maintains that intensified Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets will not change the situation on the battlefield, according to a Kremlin foreign policy adviser.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Richard Lough and Hugh Lawson)

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