World News

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Israeli military announced Sunday it launched strikes on Beirut targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Smoke could be seen rising over the Lebanese capital.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel.

When Israel last struck the Beirut suburbs a week ago, Iran responded with strikes on Israel.

Tehran, which is Hezbollah’s main backer, has insisted that any U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal must also include an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, sparking war in the Middle East.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Iran and the U.S. inched closer to a deal to end the Iran war, as Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran on Sunday to finalize the agreement, according to two regional officials.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, expressed cautious optimism that the U.S. and Iran were finally approaching an agreement that could halt hostilities that have killed thousands of people and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has thrown world markets into disarray.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Saturday that the deal would be signed on Sunday, while Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said it could happen in the coming days. Trump said that the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately after the signing.

The deal is expected to be signed electronically, without an in-person ceremony, though it’s unclear when or how the signing will take place.

The deal does not solve the thorniest issues between the U.S. and Iran, including Iran’s nuclear program or its frozen assets, but offers a 60-day framework for technical discussions on those issues, according to Pakistani and regional officials familiar with the ongoing negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The officials described Pakistan’s monthslong effort leading the negotiations, struggling to keep both sides from walking out of the room and a total collapse of the negotiations on multiple occasions.

Under the current deal being discussed, U.S. and Israel appear to have fallen short of their original goals of destroying Iran’s missile and nuclear programs and ending its support for proxies. It is not clear how the deal will address these issues, or if they will be part of the final agreement.

Meanwhile, Trump was expected to discuss demining the Strait of Hormuz during the Group of Seven summit that starts Monday. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.

The apparent breakthrough came after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel earlier in the week, threatening to rupture the ceasefire and push the Middle East back into full-scale war. A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since April 7.

Iran’s nuclear program and highly enriched uranium have long been at the center of tensions with the U.S. and Israel and an international source of concern.

Trump on social media asserted that “when all is calm,” the U.S. would go in and “downblend and destroy” the enriched uranium in Iran or in the U.S.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

Meanwhile, fighting has continued in Lebanon between Israel, which has pushed its invasion deeper than at any point in over a quarter-century, and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group despite a ceasefire.

Iran has wanted a ceasefire deal to include the fighting in Lebanon. Tehran also has sought the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.

The deal in its current form is a deep disappointment to Israel’s government, which has been sidelined in negotiations led by Pakistan and others. Even critics in Trump’s own Republican Party, struggling with an unpopular war ahead of the midterm elections, criticized the deal. Some said it did not improve on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term and which he still describes as “bad.” __

Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel.

source

DUBLIN (AP) — Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney continued his efforts to pivot away from the United States and align with Europe, meeting with the leader of Ireland on Saturday ahead of the upcoming G7 summit and saying middle power countries shouldn’t compete for favor with America.

Carney said that Canada and the European Union have a combined population that is more than twice that of the United States, with a similarly sized economy and a collective defense budget that is twice that of China’s.

He said smaller nations can multiply their strength by partnering with like-minded allies.

“In a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice — to compete for favor or to combine to create a third path with impact,” Carney said at Trinity College in Dublin.

He made similar comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which became a symbol of middle-power resistance in January, when he declared the global rules-based order over and condemned coercion by great powers on smaller countries.

Carney visited Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin earlier on Saturday and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ahead of the Group of Seven summit of industrialized democracies that begins on Monday in France.

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves for the G7 summit right after he hosts UFC fights at the White House on Sunday for his 80th birthday.

Trump is not currently scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Carney during the summit, according to a senior U.S. administration official.

Carney described Canada and Europe as a ”force for good — because we safeguard the values of human rights, dignity and pluralism that our people hold dear.”

The prime minister said together, the EU and Canada are one of the largest economic, cultural, technological, financial and military blocs in the world.

“The new world order will be built starting with Europe,” Carney said at an earlier joint news conference with Martin. “Canada is the most European of non-European countries. We are transforming our cooperation with Europe.”

In February, Canada became the first non-European member of the SAFE mechanism, the European Union’s defense procurement initiative. Carney, on this ninth trip to Europe since becoming prime minister 15 months ago, noted Canada 56 partnerships in the critical minerals sector across more than 10 countries, primarily in Europe.

Trade tensions continue to simmer between Canada and the U.S. There is a scheduled July 1 review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) the latest iteration of the North American free-trade pact that has intertwined the economies of the three countries since the early 1990s. Trump said this week that he may not renew the deal.

Carney said Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the summit.

The prime minister said he doesn’t believe the U.S. is interested in big changes to free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.

“The U.S. has been clear. They don’t want to change the fundamental architecture,” Carney said.

Carney emphasized that the Trump administration has allowed about 85% of Canadian trade to the U.S. to be tariff free because it is covered under USMCA.

Carney said that to fundamentally change the agreement the White House would have to go to Congress, adding that the White House doesn’t want to do that.

The U.S. official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity on ground rules set by the White House, said the U.S. has had outreach from Canada to set up further discussions on trade with the U.S. administration.

The Trump administration views a recent move by the Canadian government to roll back a regulatory decision that required foreign streaming platforms to allocate a portion of their Canadian revenues to fund local news and programming as positive decisions, the official added.

But, the official added, “no major breakthroughs” with Canada are expected during the summit.

Trump said again this week that the U.S. doesn’t need anything that Canada has. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying Trump’s trade war is causing a chill in investment.

“Prime Minister Carney has spoken with great clarity and conviction about Canada’s desire to deepen its engagement with Europe. Ireland warmly and unreservedly welcomes that ambition, and we will do what we can to strengthen relations between the European Union and Canada during our forthcoming presidency,” Martin said.

Ireland will be holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union starting in July.

___

AP writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Washington.

source

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A mass shooting in South Africa this week was the latest in a trend of killings in some of the country’s poorest areas that experts say is a symptom of organized crime gangs taking advantage of the failures and sometimes absence of police.

The shooting carried out by multiple suspects in an informal settlement of shacks in Johannesburg left 12 people dead and at least 15 wounded, according to authorities.

There have not been any arrests.

South Africa’s president deployed the army to the streets in several hotspots earlier this year in an attempt to combat organized crime — an unusual move seen by critics as an admission that police in Africa’s most developed country were losing the battle in those areas.

Alongside that, South Africa’s police force has been embroiled in allegations of corruption and collusion with criminal syndicates. That has resulted in more than a dozen senior officers being arrested and top officials, including the police minister and the national police commissioner, being suspended.

Recent mass shootings — including two in December that left more than 20 people dead — have occurred in poor areas away from city centers where organized crime gangs take advantage of conditions like a lack of security, poor lighting and slow police responses, experts say.

“Criminal syndicates explicitly capitalize on this to hide weapons, execute hits, and vanish into the shadows,” Jacob Mofokeng, a professor of criminology at the University of South Africa, told The Associated Press.

South Africa has very high levels of violent crime, with the most recent annual statistics showing an average of more than 60 homicides a day.

But the vast majority of killings occur in poor townships or informal settlements. South Africa has a long history of deep inequality that is reflected in its crime: rich neighborhoods have much lower violent crime rates.

Illegal mining gangs have long been a problem in and around South Africa’s largest city of Johannesburg, which has some of the biggest gold reserves in the world.

The gangs are notorious and known as zama zamas — which translates roughly as “hustlers” or “chance-takers” in the Zulu language. They establish bases in impoverished and poorly policed areas and fight turf battles with other gangs or use violence to hold control in those areas.

Mining gangs often include migrants from neighboring countries who are in South Africa illegally, according to authorities.

That makes it hard for police to track down suspects as they have “no legal identification, no registered address, and no fingerprints or DNA profile,” said Mofokeng. “They are effectively a ghost.”

South Africa’s government has said it loses more than $3 billion a year to illicit mining. Zama zamas have been a problem for decades and were one of the reasons South African President Cyril Ramaphosa authorized a yearlong deployment of troops on the streets to fight organized crime in specific areas across the country.

Residents in the Johannesburg neighborhood hit by this week’s mass shooting said illegal mining gangs were known to operate there. Police said the motive for the shooting was not known, but mining gangs were a focus of the investigation.

South Africa has strict regulations controlling the legal ownership of firearms, but there are around 2 million to 3 million illegal guns circulating in a country of 62 million people, according to independent studies and civil society organizations.

Guns are by far the most common cause of homicides.

Willem Els, an analyst at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, said the flow of illegal guns and police failures led to an ideal environment for criminality.

“In South Africa, we actually managed to create conditions that are very conducive for violent crime and also for organized crime syndicates to operate with impunity,” he told the AP. “We’ve got a lot of unregistered firearms that are not being controlled by the police.”

Analysts say police in South Africa are underresourced, but allegations of corruption in the force have also seriously undermined its credibility.

South Africa has had police corruption problems before. A new allegation last year by a provincial police commander that top officers and officials were colluding with organized criminals led President Ramaphosa to announce a national investigation into police corruption. That has resulted in a wave of arrests of senior police officers.

Private investigator and security specialist Mike Bolhuis said police corruption has implications for on-ground policing in those areas impacted by violent crime as citizens are sometimes hesitant to give out information or help authorities.

“The public doesn’t trust the police, they don’t trust the authorities, and they don’t trust each other,” Bolhuis said.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

source

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ supporters took to the streets of Romania and Bulgaria’s capitals on Saturday for their annual Pride parades, against a backdrop of rising opposition from conservative groups in the Orthodox Christian countries.

Marchers walked through Bucharest in Romania and Sofia in Bulgaria, waving colorful flags and blowing whistles and calling for equality.

Both Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007. Ahead of accession to the bloc, both countries adopted human rights legislation to meet EU standards, despite public opinion polls often indicating a lack of support for the community compared with other EU countries.

In ILGA-Europe’s 2025 Rainbow Map, which assesses the legal and policy landscape for LGBTQ+ people across Europe, Romania and Bulgaria ranked last among all 27 EU countries.

“We still have a deeply conservative society, with very strong traditional values,” said Alina Purcaru, a writer who attended the Bucharest march. “We still live in a patriarchy, sometimes explicit … with a lot of prejudice and a lot of fear.”

Romania and Bulgaria do not recognize same-sex marriage or civil partnerships, despite the bloc prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“That is why we are taking to the streets today … to demand the legalization of civil partnerships,” Vlad Viski, president of the nongovernmental organization MozaiQ, told The Associated Press.

“We are talking about essential rights, such as the right to inheritance, hospital visits, medical decisions, survivor’s pension,” he added.

Simeon Vassilev, one of the organizers of Sofia Pride, told journalists on Saturday that in Bulgaria, “thousands of same-sex couples live together, build homes, raise children, and care for one another … without the right to legal protection or recognition of their relationships.”

In recent years, hostility and hate speech against the LGBTQ+ communities in the two Eastern European countries have been on the rise, according to rights groups. On Saturday, anti-LGBTQ+ rallies were held in both capitals.

In Sofia, a “March of the Family” rally — set up by right-wing and religious groups in 2021 — celebrated “Christian, patriotic and traditional values” in its Saturday event. The conservative Orthodox Church, which unites some 80% of Bulgarians, expressed its “disagreement with the ideas and messages” and blessed the “traditional family.” In Bucharest, a “March for Normality” was also held by a nationalist group.

This year’s Pride event in Sofia was billed under a “Different Together” banner, with the organizers hoping to counter widespread rhetoric against the community.

Additionally, the “Progressive Bulgaria” party of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, which won an April general election, voiced support for the “March of the Family” in Parliament, saying that it’s “a cornerstone of our national security, identity and future.”

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee criticized the statement for “placing one type of citizens as more valuable than others.”

___

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.

source

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Belfast on Saturday to denounce anti-immigrant rioters who set fire to homes and cars earlier in the week after a brutal stabbing blamed on an asylum seeker.

The anti-racism rally came after nights of fiery violence in parts of Northern Ireland following the arrest of a 30-year-old man from Sudan on charges of attempted murder in a stabbing that left a man partly blind.

Protests turned violent when groups of masked men set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, torched a bus and pelted police with bricks, bottles and firebombs. More than two dozen people were left homeless and 12 police officers were injured in what officials called “thuggery.”

“All it takes is for one person who’s not white and local to commit a crime and that fire of racism is rekindled,” Elaine Crory told the crowd gathered outside Belfast City Hall.

Peaceful demonstrators carried signs saying, “The problem is evil & violence not race,” “Your racism is not patriotism” and “Protect people not prejudice.”

Newlyweds Cara Bell and Matthew Richardson said it was a happy coincidence to emerge from getting married in City Hall and joining the peaceful demonstration after the ugly violence they witnessed earlier in the week.

“It’s important to note that things like today really show that this is not the general feeling of people in Belfast,” Bell said, noting it was “a week where you’ve seen the worst of humanity and the best of humanity in Belfast.”

Despite calls for calm by officials and the family of the victim, far-right and anti-immigrant figures were blamed for whipping up protests in several place across the U.K. earlier in the week.

Disorder in Glasgow, Scotland, targeted minorities and terrified worshippers at a mosque went into lockdown, police said.

On Saturday, an anti-racism group rallied thousands to reclaim Glasgow streets and “stand up to the far right.”

The group was met by a much smaller contingent of mostly men who appeared to make Nazi salutes and shouted anti-Muslim chants.

The anti-racism group shouted, “Nazi scum off our streets.”

source

SEOUL, June 14 (Reuters) – North Korea said on Sunday denuclearisation is a matter that is terminated irreversibly, as it condemned recent nuclear deterrence talks between the U.S. and South Korea.

“The U.S. and its vassal forces’ meaningless rhetoric against the DPRK and cooperation in posing a nuclear threat to it can never affect the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state,” a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media KCNA, using the country’s official name.

“The ‘denuclearisation’ is an irreversibly finalised matter,” it said.

Last week, the U.S. and South Korean officials discussed strengthening nuclear deterrence and readiness against North Korea’s growing ​weapons programme at talks in Seoul under their ‌Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG).

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

source

MEXICO CITY, June 13 – Authorities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca are investigating the fatal shooting of the mayor of San Miguel Amatitlan, the state prosecutor’s office said on Saturday, as security forces launched an operation to hunt those responsible.

Jose Angel Bravo Martinez died after being shot in an attack in the Mixteca region, officials said, adding that they were treating the case as a high-impact crime and had opened a formal investigation. The mayor of another Oaxaca town was murdered last month.

State investigators and forensic teams were dispatched to the scene shortly after the attack to process evidence and recover the body, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that it was coordinating with federal security officials.

Authorities did not immediately provide further details about a possible motive for the killing of Bravo, who belonged to a coalition of opposition parties, including the PAN (National Action Party). 

Violence against local officials remains a concern in parts of Mexico, where organized crime groups often wield influence, particularly in rural areas. Mario Hernandez Garcia, the mayor of another Oaxaca town, Santiago Amoltepec, died last month in an attack that also left two other people dead.  

At least 60 politicians or lawmakers died in targeted killings last year, according to data by the non-governmental organization Causa en Comun.

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City; Editing by David Gregorio)

source

ROME (AP) — Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of the Italian capital in anti- and pro- migration demonstrations Saturday, after a far-right citizens’ initiative seeking sweeping measures against migrants garnered enough support to be brought to Parliament.

A petition by the initiative, named “Remigration and Reconquest,” gathered the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion, pushing the once-fringe concept of “remigration” into the political mainstream. No date has been scheduled yet for a vote.

The proposal, promoted by right-wing groups, calls for sweeping measures targeting foreigners, including coercive returns, incentives to leave Italy and broader policies critics say could extend to legal residents.

Several thousand demonstrators from around Italy gathered for the anti-migration march, singing the national anthem. On several occasions, many of them raised their arms in the fascist salute, shouting “Duce! Duce!,” a reference to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.

A rival, pro-migration demonstration saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets in another part of Rome Saturday evening. That march was attended by various left-wing groups and trade unions, with some demonstrators waving Palestinian flags.

Thousands of police were deployed to ensure the two rival groups would remain apart. No violence was reported.

The debate on migration represents a delicate balancing act for Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition. While the anti-migration League has backed opening discussion, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and centrist allies have been more cautious about endorsing a proposal linked to extremist circles, amid concerns over legal risks and internal divisions.

Critics, including opposition parties and legal experts, argue the proposal would violate constitutional and international anti-discrimination principles by targeting people based on ethnic background, including naturalized citizens and their descendants.

The controversy comes even as Meloni’s government pursues a parallel policy of expanding legal migration, having approved a multiyear plan to admit hundreds of thousands of non-EU workers to address labor shortages in key economic sectors.

The demonstrations in Rome a day after a new set of European Union rules came into effect governing how each of the bloc’s 27 member states will deal with irregular migration and asylum seekers.

The European Migration and Asylum Pact is the culmination of years of grueling negotiations that overhauled the previous system, which was widely considered a failure and gave far-right parties a potent issue to win votes.

source

US, Pakistan Confirm Iran MoU Signing on Sunday as Tehran Questions Timeline and Israel Warns of Security Threats 

Iran indicated that the signing of the agreement “will not be tomorrow” (Sunday), as Israeli officials warn the deal will “endanger Israel’s security interests” 

[ISLAMABAD] Pakistan and US President Donald Trump have officially confirmed that the electronic signing ceremony of the US–Iran agreement will be held on Sunday. However, Iran has raised doubts concerning the timeline and Israeli officials expressed concerns about the deal’s security risks.  

In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar held a telephone conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan regarding the matter. 

According to the statement, both welcomed the US–Iran negotiations in their final stage, with the electronic signing ceremony scheduled for Sunday, and expressed the hope that this important development will contribute to lasting peace and stability in the region. 

The Saudi Foreign Minister appreciated Pakistan’s consistent and sustained efforts in support of mediation and dialogue throughout the process. Both sides also discussed the forthcoming Regional Four (R-4) Foreign Ministers’ meeting, scheduled to be held in Egypt later this month. 

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the United States and Iran are closer to a peace deal than ever before, with the finalization of the agreement expected within the next 24 hours. 

In a statement posted on X on Saturday evening, he said Pakistan was preparing for the electronic signing of the deal immediately after its finalization, followed by technical-level talks next week. 

The Prime Minister thanked the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their continued commitment during the negotiations and expressed appreciation for the support extended by regional partners. 

Shehbaz Sharif said he was confident that the “historic peace deal” would provide a strong foundation for lasting peace. 

The Prime Minister tagged US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in his post. 

His X post was also shared by US President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account. 

President Donald Trump confirmed that an agreement with Iran is scheduled to be signed on Sunday and said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen immediately afterward.  

In a Truth Social post, President Trump wrote: “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.” 

The president said Iran would not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon and asserted that the regime is no longer pursuing one. He also addressed Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles, indicating they would not be removed immediately. 

“At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains,” President Trump wrote. 

CNN reported that Iran had fortified areas surrounding enriched uranium stockpiles with explosives to prevent the material from being seized. 

President Trump added: “We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future. Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!” 

The president’s comments contrasted with remarks from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, who signaled that no signing was expected Sunday. 

“We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” Baghaei said. 

The reported framework includes a proposed 60-day ceasefire on multiple fronts, including the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, discussions on sanctions relief and the possible release of frozen Iranian assets contingent on Iranian compliance. Follow-up negotiations would focus on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched uranium stockpiles. 

Senior Israeli officials quoted by Channel 12 said the agreement appears to accept Tehran’s “main conditions” and could “endanger Israel’s security interests.” 

According to the officials, Iran would receive substantial benefits before addressing core concerns. “The Iranians are not agreeing to this for nothing,” one official said. 

The officials argued that Tehran is effectively “paying on credit” and questioned what leverage Washington would retain if Iran fails to meet future obligations. They also objected to the reported treatment of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. 

“The uranium extraction has become uranium dilution and the missile system is not part of the agreement at all,” the officials said. 

They further argued that the framework does not require Iran to end support for proxy organizations. “All the goals that Israel set are not immediately dealt with in the agreement,” the officials said, adding, “Not only is Iran not required to stop supporting proxies, it is reconnecting itself with Hezbollah through the agreement.” 

Channel 12 reported that President Trump discussed the agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Thursday. According to an American official, President Trump told Netanyahu: “This is the deal. It’s an excellent deal, and it’s to end this war.” The US official added: “Bibi didn’t say much in the call. Evidently, he understood that there’s going to be a deal, and that he can’t stop it.” 

On Friday, Sharif said that the final text of a peace agreement between Iran and the United States had been agreed upon during Pakistan’s vigorous mediation efforts. 

In a statement, he said that a coordinated disinformation campaign was currently underway to sabotage the agreement. However, he added that Pakistan was pushing forward, completely unfazed by the surrounding clamor. 

According to the Prime Minister, the final and mutually agreed text of the agreement has been finalized, and Pakistan is working in close contact with both parties to give shape to the next stages of the process. 

According to a separate statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dar held a telephone conversation with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Saturday. 

Both leaders welcomed progress towards understanding between the United States and Iran, expressing a hope that ongoing diplomatic efforts would contribute to promoting peace and stability in the region. They also agreed to maintain continued mutual contact. 

Switzerland had earlier proposed hosting the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran. 

This is a developing story 

source

By Christian Martinez and Jasper Ward

June 12 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday said U.S. forces carried out a strike that killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero, the leader of Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua.

“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Nino Guerrero the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday evening.

“This action was coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike was conducted earlier this week and that Guerrero “was confirmed killed during the strike.”

Venezuela’s information ministry said that during the operation there were clashes with members of criminal groups, in which the leader, Guerrero, was neutralized.

The operation involved specialized technological support and was carried out through cooperation and intelligence-sharing between authorities of both countries, the ministry said.

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted Guerrero and other leaders of the Tren de Aragua organization with sanctions over alleged involvement in criminal activities such as illicit drug smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering.

The State Department has designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization.

Trump has claimed Tren de Aragua coordinated its U.S. activities with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has cited the alleged connection to justify deporting some immigrants in the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

Tren de Aragua is known for being involved in human trafficking and controls routes taken by Venezuelans and other South American migrants heading south to relatively prosperous Chile and other destinations in South America or Europe.

The group has also been linked to extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, contract killings, smuggling and organized retail theft from Panama to Brazil and along the Andean corridor, Latin American police officials say.

Guerrero escaped from the Tocoron prison in Venezuela along with other gang leaders just before a police raid in 2023.

(Reporting by Christian Martinez and Jasper Ward; Additional reporting by Shivani Tanna; Editing by Sergio Non and Kim Coghill)

source