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DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The US military says it has launched airstrikes against Iran as explosions were reported in several locations in the south of the country.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes began on Tuesday, and are being conducted “in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

Iranian media have reported several explosions in the southern port city of Sirik, as well as Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas.

“According to state TV, six explosions have been heard on the island of Qeshm which is the largest island in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, with very geostrategic significance when it comes to Iran’s control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz,” Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran.

“The state TV also says that at least seven explosions have been heard in the areas close to Sirik Port which is very important because it oversees the Strait of Hormuz, another strategic point from which Iran imposes its control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz,” Asadi said.

Starting from the time after the signing of the [memorandum of understanding], we have been witnessing limited confrontation and escalation in this highly escalated situation at the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.

Following the blasts, Iran’s foreign ministry said it held the US government responsible for the consequences of breaching the memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed between the two countries in June, which was supposed to put to an end to the war the US and Israel began against Iran in late February. The MoU mandated lifting the US naval blockade on Iran in exchange for Tehran reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The US also agreed at the end of June to waive sanctions on Iranian oil for 60 days.

However, the US Treasury Department on Tuesday moved to revoke the temporary suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil, less than 20 days sales after the MoU was signed. The department cancelled a licence announced in June that had allowed Iran to produce, sell and deliver crude oil and related products through August 21.

The move by the Treasury Department comes after tankers in the Strait of Hormuz were attacked. A Qatari tanker caught fire off the coast of Oman Monday after being struck by an “unknown projectile” in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

Iranian television reported claims that the LNG tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings, but Tehran did not directly claim the assault. Neither the US Central Command (CENTCOM) nor the IRGC commented on the incident.

A second ship, a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, was also damaged in the Strait of Hormuz when the IRGC fired missiles, sources told Reuters news agency.

A US ⁠official warned that Iran’s attacks on vessels in the Strait ‌of Hormuz were “wholly unacceptable” and would ‌be ‌met with consequences, Reuters reported Tuesday.

In response, Iran’s foreign ministry said it would take any measure it deemed necessary to safeguard the country’s interests and national security.

“The United States’ action in revoking the waiver for the exemption of sanctions on Iran’s oil sales constitutes a blatant violation of Article 10, and the subsequent military operations of this country against Iran also constitute a serious violation of Articles 1 and 2 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said in a post on social media.

Gharibabadi said the US has “repeatedly” violated the MoU, citing Israeli attacks in Lebanon and threatening statements made against Iran.

July 7 (UPI) — Maryland officials said Tuesday that they have declined to charge police officers who fatally shot an autistic man who had called them for help.

Police shot Alex LaMorie, 25, early in the morning of March 1 in Columbia, Md., after he called them to report that he was being harassed and blackmailed.

“After completing its investigation and evaluating all the available evidence, the Office of the Attorney General has determined that the subject officers did not commit a crime under Maryland law,” said the announcement by state Attorney General Anthony G. Brown. “Accordingly, the attorney general has declined to prosecute the subject officers in this case.”

The attorney general’s Independent Investigations division, which is in charge of investigating and prosecuting police-involved incidents, issued the finding. Officials said they would be unable to secure a conviction of the officers for use of force or homicide offenses and that they would not be able to disprove self-defense on the officers’ part.

In their report, investigators said LaMorie refused police orders to drop a knife and moved toward them before they shot him. State police collected 12 cartridge casings from the scene, The Washington Post reported.

Police said LaMorie made suicidal statements on the phone before they arrived. Officers’ body-camera footage showed he did not lift the knife in their direction, The Post reported.

Jill Harrington, LaMorie’s mother, said in a statement to the Post that the officers should have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and that they “treated Alex’s life-threatening behavioral-medical crisis like a crime.”

“It represents a step backward, and risks undermining the state’s committed progress toward a more humane and effective crisis response system,” Harrington said.

LaMorie lived at Patuxent Commons, an inclusive housing community for those with and without disabilities. He’d moved there days before the shooting.

At least five people were killed after a massive landslide buried a tunnel construction site in Kerala during heavy monsoon rain. CCTV footage captured the dramatic collapse as rescuers search for several people feared trapped beneath the debris.

A French appeals court upheld Marine Le Pen’s conviction for misusing European Parliament funds but shortened her ban from seeking public office, keeping alive a narrow path to the 2027 presidential race. The court also ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag.

SANTIAGO, Chile, July 7 (UPI) — Chile’s government is facing an unexpected political controversy after the suspension of three BTS concerts scheduled for October prompted coordinated protests by the K-pop group’s fans across the country.

President José Antonio Kast’s administration has been forced to reconsider its decision to bar the concerts from the National Stadium after ARMY, BTS’ global fan community, organized simultaneous demonstrations in 11 Chilean cities.

About 5,000 fans marched Sunday to protest cancellation of the performances at Chile’s main sports venue, where all tickets had already sold out. Authorities cited technical concerns over the impact the concerts could have on the stadium’s playing field.

BTS, one of the world’s most successful K-pop groups, uses a 360-degree stage that weigh about 600 tons. The structure would be installed in the center of the field, directly above the stadium’s irrigation system.

Sports Minister Natalia Duco said the production could damage “the country’s most important sports asset” and declined to authorize the venue for the concerts. About 200,000 people were expected to attend the three shows.

“It is impossible to cancel something that was never confirmed,” Duco said after criticism of the decision began.

The move prompted an immediate backlash from BTS fans. ARMY Chile, which has more than 130,000 followers on Instagram alone, organized through social media to pressure the government and called for demonstrations in the streets and outside La Moneda presidential palace.

Supporters also flooded the social media accounts of the Sports Ministry, Duco and concert promoter DG Medios with messages demanding that the shows be held at the National Stadium. “BTS at the National Stadium” became the movement’s main slogan.

“All our support to our Chilean sisters. We sincerely hope this situation can be resolved in the best possible way and that you will receive good news very soon,” ARMY Peru wrote on social media.

The dispute has also spilled into politics. Opposition lawmakers criticized the government and demanded an explanation for the decision, while other public officials and even soccer clubs have offered their stadiums as alternative venues.

Facing mounting pressure, the government said it is willing to reconsider its decision if the concert promoter can meet the conditions required to protect the playing surface. Meanwhile, thousands of fans continue campaigning on social media as they await a final decision.

The 2026 World Cup has a prize pool of $871 million, the biggest in football history. How much is every country getting and where does the money come from? Al Jazeera’s Yasmeen ElTahan explains.

July 7 (UPI) — A group of more than 1,200 former Justice Department employees signed a letter asking senators to reject the nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general.

Justice Connection, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Justice Department civil servants, sent the letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Signees argue that Blanche’s only goal as attorney general is to show loyalty to President Donald Trump, displaying political bias in an apolitical department.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to consider Blanche’s nomination is scheduled for July 15 and 16.

“Since his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche has shown time and again that his guiding star is fealty to the president, not the Constitution,” Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, said in a statement.

“That fealty led to the purge of thousands of experienced career employees, a loss that will have a generational impact on the Justice Department’s ability to carry out its mission and maintain credibility with the courts and the American people.”

The letter highlights Blanche’s management of the department, his role in mishandling the congressionally ordered release of the investigation files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and support for Trump’s plan to pay Jan. 6 rioters and other allies.

Under Blanche, more than 16,000 employees have left the Justice Department, Justice Connection says, including more than one quarter of its attorneys. Signatories include civil servants who worked under Republican and Democratic administrations.

Blanche was nominated by Trump to succeed former Attorney General Pam Bondi last month.

“The consequences of Blanche’s attacks on DOJ’s apolitical workforce radiate beyond the halls of Main Justice, affecting the entire country,” the letter reads. “They’ve meant that much of the department’s vital work isn’t being done, or isn’t being done well — leaving communities less safe, Americans’ rights less protected, and our national security more vulnerable.”

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Appeals court rules the far-right leader ineligible to hold public office for 45 months.

A French appeals court has opened the door for far right leader Marine Le Pen to potentially run in the 2027 presidential election but said she must wear an electronic tag.

A Paris appeals court on Tuesday ruled Le Pen guilty of misusing public funds but reduced the ban on her holding elected office to 45 months, with 30 suspended.

She must now decide whether campaigning in 2027 with a monitoring bracelet as part of her sentence to be served at home is possible.

A lower court last year sentenced Le Pen, 57, to a five-year ban from public office and two years in prison over a fake jobs scam at the European Parliament.

The three-time presidential candidate hopes to run in the race to replace outgoing centrist President Emmanuel Macron in 2027.

Le Pen has said that if the sentence prevented her from campaigning, she would hand the reins over to her 30-year-old lieutenant, Jordan Bardella, leader of their National Rally (RN) party.

More to come…

A NATO summit is being held in Turkiye as US President Donald Trump pressures member states over defence spending. Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid explains how NATO has changed since Trump was elected.

Seoul shares plummeted nearly 5 percent Tuesday as technology stocks extended losses after Samsung Electronics Co. released its preliminary second-quarter earnings estimate. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar.

After opening 1.6 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) extended losses, falling 395.02 points, or 4.91 percent, to close at 7,656.31.

Trade volume was heavy at 512.29 million shares worth 39.66 trillion won (US$25.9 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 509 to 358.

Institutions and foreigners sold a net 309.1 billion won and 2.92 trillion won worth of stocks, respectively, while individuals purchased a net 3.13 trillion won.

Technology stocks plunged on profit-taking after Samsung Electronics estimated its operating profit for the April-June period at 89.4 trillion won, beating market forecasts.

Investors are now focusing on whether rising capital spending, intensifying competition and expanding production capacity will generate the earnings growth needed to justify elevated valuations of technology companies, analysts said.

In Seoul, technology shares led the decline.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics plunged 6.92 percent to 296,000 won, while chip giant SK hynix declined 6.06 percent to 2,201,000 won ahead of its planned US$29 billion U.S. listing later this week.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor dropped 4.48 percent to 479,000 won, and defense company Hanwha Aerospace shed 3.19 percent to 1,122,000 won.

Hanwha Ocean plunged 22.65 percent to 89,800 won after a South Korean consortium that includes the shipbuilder failed to win Canada’s multibillion-dollar submarine procurement project.

Among gainers, cosmetics maker Amorepacific rose 4.2 percent to 126,500 won, and leading refiner SK Innovation climbed 7.56 percent to 103,800 won.

The Korean won was trading at 1,528.20 won per U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m., down 2.1 won from the previous session.

The Korea Exchange (KRX), the country’s bourse operator, meanwhile, activated a circuit breaker for the benchmark index, suspending trading of KOSPI-listed shares for 20 minutes after the index plunged more than 8 percent during the session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 0.4 basis point to 3.780 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds climbed 0.8 basis point to 3.999 percent.

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July 7 (UPI) — Leaders of the Western world’s premier military alliance will gather in Ankara on Tuesday for the start of this year’s NATO summit, with support for Ukraine and questions over U.S. President Donald Trump‘s commitment to the pact expected to dominate the two-day meeting.

The summit in Turkey’s capital is formally focused on reviewing progress made since last year, when the leaders of NATO’s 32 members agreed to raise their annual defense-related spending from the previous 2% target to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035 amid growing global security concerns.

Major new policy pronouncements are not expected, though several large arms deals are. The focus of the two-day summit will be on progress toward that defense-investment plan and how allies intend to spend the money to increase weapons production, cooperation and joint procurement.

Attention will also be on Trump and the U.S. commitment to NATO after his administration announced earlier this year that it would withdraw some American troops from Germany.

Long a demand of Trump’s, the increase in defense spending has done little to curb the American president’s long-held criticism of the alliance, which has intensified since NATO allies offered limited support for the U.S. war against Iran.

Trump departed Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews aboard Air Force One for Turkey a little after 9:40 EDT Monday, with State Secretary Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a number of aides with him.

Trump is expected to meet with Zelensky during the summit.

The two spoke Saturday, according to the Ukrainian leader, who said he called the U.S. president to congratulate him on the United States’ Independence Day.

“We are grateful to the United States for all the assistance we have received — from Javelins and Patriots to political support — and we deeply value that America stands by us in defending our independence,” he said online, adding that they had discussed the situation in the Ukraine-Russia war.

“We have agreed to continue these discussions during the NATO Summit in Ankara,” he said.

On the eve of the Fourth of July, Trump also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly 90 minutes, according to the Kremlin, which said in a statement that they discussed “the Ukrainian settlement, including in light of Donald Trump’s upcoming participation in the NATO Summit.”

The Kremlin said Putin framed the current situation of the war as Russia “steadily advancing” despite Ukraine making recent gains and expanding its long-range attacks.

However, Russia has been targeting Kyiv with massive attacks leading up to the summit. Zelensky has been calling on allies for additional long-range weaponry, or the ability to produce the arms themselves, arguing that if Ukraine can batter Moscow how the Kremlin has been hitting Kyiv, an end to the war could be rapidly secured.

“We have proven to all our partners both the need, and more importantly, the possibility of providing greater protection of lives,” Zelensky said in a Monday statement.

“It is simply nonsensical that, in today’s world, production has still not been scaled up to the level that is actually needed to protect people from ballistic terror. We have long made the case that we are capable of producing such defensive weapons ourselves. If Ukraine were granted U.S. licenses to produce Patriots, our own production would be sufficient both to protect Ukraine and to help partners in need.”

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said Monday night that Russian forces were likely timing these large-scale strikes to send a political message ahead of the summit.

The United States-Israel war on Iran has inflicted the greatest disruption to merchant shipping since the back-to-back shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the war in late February, shipping lines have faced attacks on their vessels, lengthy delays and steep rises in operating costs.

Yet even after more than four months of turmoil for the industry, the most enduring legacy of the war for shipping may end up being just how little it ultimately changes.

While shipping firms are expected to more explicitly factor risk into their expenses and diversify supply chains where possible in the future, the indispensable nature of seaborne trade means the industry is likely to continue much as before over the long term, analysts say.

That is likely to be especially the case for the container shipping industry, which, unlike the operators of the oil and gas tankers whose dislocation has roiled energy markets, is not heavily reliant on the Strait of Hormuz to transport its cargoes, which range from agricultural produce to apparel and consumer electronics.

While there is no alternative to the strait to access oil-producing Gulf nations by sea, container shipping firms have had the option of redirecting their vessels along longer alternative routes to avoid conflict in the region, including attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis in the Red Sea.

The global shipping industry has long stood apart for its resilience in the face of crises, bouncing back from major upheaval at remarkable speed.

In 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic, global container shipping volumes fell by just 1.2 percent compared with the previous year, according to the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), one of the world’s largest associations for shipowners.

By January 2021, the volume of cargo handled at ports worldwide had already surpassed pre-pandemic levels, rising 6.4 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics.

By contrast, it took more than four years for global air travel to fully recover from the shock of COVID-19.

While the Iran war and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea since 2023 scrambled regional supply chains, shipping companies have been rapidly adding capacity since Washington and Tehran signed their memorandum of understanding on ending the conflict on June 17.

After plummeting from 3.2 million TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit of cargo) to 74,000 TEU as of mid-June, container capacity in the region has already rebounded to pre-war levels on some routes, according to Xeneta, an ocean and air freight rate market analytics platform.

Capacity between Asia and the United States’ West Coast last week surpassed its pre-conflict record, hitting 350,000 TEU, according to Xeneta.

On Monday, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, the second- and fifth-largest container shipping firms, respectively, announced that they would begin sailing through the Suez Canal again for the first time since February, following an assessment of the security situation in the Red Sea.

Shipping is indispensable to global trade, in large part because no other mode of transport comes close in terms of capacity and cost-effectiveness.

The world’s largest container ships have capacities exceeding 24,000 TEU – the equivalent of roughly 12,000 trucks, 2,240 cargo planes, or 360 freight trains.

Lacking genuine competition in the transport of goods in huge volumes, shipping facilitates about 90 percent of global trade.

Shipping will look “remarkably familiar” in five years from now because it is an industry driven by demand, said Punit Oza, the head of the consultancy Maritime NXT and the former executive director of the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration.

Even the most severe conflict cannot change the “physics or the economics” of seaborne trade, he said.

“Ships do not sail because shipowners want them to; they sail because consumers somewhere want grain, iron ore, gas, or televisions,” Oza told Al Jazeera.

“It is the consumers of shipping – the cargo interests, the economies, the households – who ultimately shape the industry, and their demand will endure long after the headlines fade.”

Judah Levine‏, head of research at freight booking company Freightos, said container shipping in the future is likely to look “quite similar” to how it did before the war, with Dubai’s Port of Jebel Ali continuing to serve as the region’s main hub for both Gulf-bound goods and cargoes destined for Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

But Levine said diversion of cargoes to smaller hubs – such as the UAE’s Port of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan Port, and Port Sultan Qaboos in Oman – during the war offers a preview of the contingencies shipping firms are likely to deploy in future crises.

“All of a sudden, they were handling much larger volumes, and then creating these land bridges, usually to go on to Jebel Ali,” Levine told Al Jazeera.

“Containers find a way,” Levine said.

“It’s kind of like water. They’ll trickle, you know, to where they need to go by other paths.”

Another lasting impact of the war could be greater international cooperation on maritime security and safety.

The International Maritime Organization, the UN body responsible for shipping and seafarers, has listed the protection of shipping lanes as one of its top agenda items for discussion at its biannual meeting taking place from Monday to Friday.

“Seafarers have tragically lost their lives in connection with this conflict, and the impact has been felt well beyond the region, with real consequences for global trade, energy and food security,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in opening remarks to the session on Monday.

Ruth Banomyong, a professor of logistics and supply chain management at Thammasat Business School in Bangkok, Thailand, said he expects to see international coordination to strengthen trade routes that integrate both land and sea even as shipping networks remain “largely the same”.

“This means ensuring that maritime transport, ports, inland logistics, customs procedures and alternative land transport options work together as an integrated system when disruptions occur,” Banomyong told Al Jazeera.

“Maritime freedom is no longer just about freedom of navigation. It is about ensuring the continuity of global trade.

“The long-term lesson is not to replace the Strait of Hormuz, but to reduce overdependence on any single transport corridor,” Banomyong added.

Oza, the head of Maritime NXT, said the ad hoc naval coalitions deployed to ensure freedom of navigation during times of conflict could ultimately be succeeded by a multilateral security framework with “regional ownership rather than purely external enforcement”.

“Freedom of navigation is too important to be left to improvisation,” Oza said.

“If there is one consistent lesson from shipping’s long history, it is that human ingenuity always finds a way – pipelines get built, reserves get repositioned, technologies emerge, and trade, like water, finds its path. It will do so again,” Oza added.

“The innovations that follow this war will be a tribute to human resilience; the tragedy is that it took a war to summon them.”

NATO leaders are meeting in Ankara, Turkiye on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The summit gets underway as US President Donald Trump renews pressure on member states over defence spending. European nations are expected to respond with billions of dollars in new military contracts.

At the NATO summit last year, members agreed to increase their target to 5 percent of GDP: 3.5 percent on military spending by 2035 and 1.5 percent on security-related needs.

Who is there and what is at stake?

Leaders from all 32 NATO member states are at the summit in Turkiye this week.

Two non-alliance heads of state will also be there: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung.

Australia, Japan and New Zealand are sending defence or foreign ministers, as are Gulf countries affected by the US-Israel war on Iran: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is not expected to attend the summit but is holding a bilateral meeting with Trump in Ankara.

What Trump wants from NATO allies

Trump has questioned NATO’s value since his first presidential campaign. He argued that the US carried an unfair share of the costs. At the time, only five countries spent the agreed two percent GDP on defence.

His questions about shared defence responsibility have produced some results in recent years within the alliance as member states pledged an increased defence budget.

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the German Marshall Fund’s regional director for Turkiye, believes NATO this year will focus on implementing its promises from last year. “NATO allies just decided to increase their defence spending to five percent last year at The Hague and European allies took action to upgrade their defence industries,” he said. “This year in Ankara the discussion will be on how to translate spending to capabilities. It is therefore stronger than it was last year.”

But Paolo von Schirach, president of the Global Policy Institute, noted that any capability gains from increased spending are years away, saying that more orders mean more military hardware but only eventually. “You can spend a lot and obtain not too much,” he said.

What Ukraine needs from this summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting Trump for a bilateral meeting on Wednesday. Ukraine is not a NATO member.

Zelenskyy will be using his face-to-face with the US president to request additional Patriot air defence systems as Russian attacks are intensifying on Ukrainian cities. A drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv killed at least 11 people on Monday morning.

Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute said that Ukraine is looking for ongoing political and military technical support from alliance members, to signal to Russia “that this support will be sustained”.

The idea, he said, was “to show Russia that there will be no diminution in its defensive capacity over the next 12-24 months”.

“There is a direct correlation between the number of interceptors supplied to Ukraine and the damage that Russia can inflict with ballistic missiles,” says Watling.

What European nations are trying to solve for

The billions in contracts expected to be announced by European nations at this summit are seen by some analysts as trying to appease the Trump administration.

When European nations didn’t join the war on Iran, Trump stated he didn’t want their money, just their “loyalty”. He added he might not have attended the summit if it wasn’t hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has in recent years not only increased its defence spending, it also has grown into one of NATO’s largest military exporters.

For now, the tone around defence spending remains sharp. On the eve of the summit, Trump called Germany’s defence spending “ridiculous”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended his country’s budget, saying that “this is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defence capabilities”.

Meanwhile, the US has gone a step beyond rhetoric and announced a phased withdrawal of warplanes, destroyers and submarines from NATO countries. “Less US infantry or armour in Europe has an impact on messaging but little else,” Watling said. But, he added, “the withdrawal of US air power has a more tangible impact”.

Whether the alliance can project unity amid the rhetoric and withdrawals is a key question, said analysts.

“The main value of this summit is political, it shows that the allies are still talking, still meeting, still trying to project unity, even if the underlying disagreements and doubts haven’t disappeared,” von Schirach of the Global Policy Institute said. “Ankara is more about reassurance and signalling than about concrete, immediate changes on the ground.”

EXPLAINER

The far-right leader could be prevented from running for president in 2027 if embezzlement charges are upheld.

France’s appeal court is set to deliver a key verdict on whether Marine Le Pen and other members of her National Rally party misused European Parliament funds in the hiring of aides between 2004 and 2016.

If, on Tuesday, the court upholds her 2025 conviction, which saw her barred from office for five years and sentenced to house arrest, Le Pen – one of the most prominent figures of the European far right and a frontrunner in polls for France’s 2027 contest – is likely to be unable to stand in presidential elections next year.

On Wednesday last week, Le Pen said that even if the court only upholds the order for her to wear an electronic bracelet, she will not stand. “If I can be a candidate, I will be a candidate, provided that I am able to campaign,” the 57-year-old political firebrand told LCI channel.

“Because if I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible.”

What was Le Pen convicted of?

In March 2025, a Paris criminal court ruled that Le Pen was at the heart of “a fraudulent system” that her party used to siphon off EU Parliament funds worth 2.9 million euros ($3.32m).

The court also fined the National Rally party 2 million euros ($2.29m), half of which was suspended.

She had been accused of using money intended to finance the costs of parliamentary ⁠assistants to pay employees working for her political party. EU politicians ⁠are allocated funds to cover expenses, including salaries for parliamentary assistants, but are not allowed to use them for party activities.

Le Pen was ordered to stand trial in 2023, after a seven-year investigation, alongside more than two dozen other defendants. She and her party have denied the accusations, arguing the ⁠money had been used legitimately and that prosecutors had applied an overly narrow definition of what a parliamentary assistant does.

What were the political implications of the verdict?

As part of the initial verdict last year, Le Pen was given a five-year ban from holding elected office and sentenced to two years’ house arrest with an electronic bracelet. Since France will hold the first round of its next presidential election on April 18, 2027, with a run-off set for May 2, Le Pen will not be able to run if she loses the appeal.

The far-right leader has pledged to put up a fight if she’s barred from running. “If I cannot be a candidate, I will make use of every available avenue of appeal,” Le Pen said.

She could go, therefore, to France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, which does not judge the facts but checks whether the courts and court of appeal have applied the law correctly. The court could take about six months to hear the case and issue a verdict.

If allowed to run, Le Pen is widely seen as a top contender to succeed centrist President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election. If not, her 30-year-old protege Jordan Bardella would likely run instead.

What could the Court of Appeal decide?

The appeal court could overturn Le Pen’s conviction in its ruling on July 7, leaving her free to run for president next year. Legal experts say that outcome appears unlikely, however, given the court’s findings at first instance.

The court can instead uphold Le Pen’s conviction. If it confirms the five-year ban requested by prosecutors, it will rule her out of the presidential race, paving the ‌way for Bardella to take her place. Le Pen can then appeal to the Court of Cassation.

A third possibility is that the court upholds the conviction but softens the sentence. If the ban from public office were lifted or shortened to two years or less, the door to a presidential bid would be open.

July 6 (Asia Today) — China launched a strategic missile into international waters in the Pacific on Monday, prompting concern from Japan and other regional powers as a U.S. nuclear and missile expert said the weapon was likely a JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy said on social media that one strategic nuclear submarine successfully fired a submarine-launched strategic missile carrying a dummy warhead toward the Pacific at 12:01 p.m. local time.

The Chinese military said the missile landed accurately in the target sea area but did not disclose the missile type or the exact impact location.

Wang Xuemeng, a spokesperson for the Chinese navy, said the launch was part of annual military training and that relevant countries were notified in advance.

“The launch complied with international law and international practice,” Wang said. “It was not aimed at any specific country or target.”

China also launched an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters in the Pacific in September 2024. That test was China’s first ICBM launch toward the Pacific since a Dongfeng-5 launch in 1980. Based on photos later released, analysts assessed the 2024 missile as likely a Dongfeng-31AG, a road-mobile missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Monday’s launch was China’s first Pacific-oriented strategic missile test in about one year and 10 months.

The Japanese government expressed serious concern over the launch. China notified Japan of the plan in advance and designated areas near Shionomisaki, south of Wakayama Prefecture, as possible falling zones for space debris, Japanese media reported. Japan asked China to reconsider so the launch would not threaten Japanese safety.

The Japanese government said some of the projected debris zones included Japan’s exclusive economic zone, but the missile appeared to have landed outside the zone. It also said there were no confirmed reports that the missile passed over Japanese territory or the exclusive economic zone or that aircraft or ships were damaged.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, the Japanese government’s top spokesperson, said China’s military activities are a serious concern because of Beijing’s lack of transparency.

“China’s military trends lack transparency and have become a grave concern for Japan and the international community,” Kihara said.

China’s Foreign Ministry rejected international criticism, saying the launch was a routine military training activity conducted under safety standards and professional procedures.

“We hope relevant countries will not overinterpret the matter,” the ministry said.

In the United States, analysts said the missile used in the test may have been China’s newest submarine-launched ballistic missile, the JL-3.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told The New York Times that the Chinese military most likely tested the JL-3.

The JL-3 is China’s third-generation submarine-launched ballistic missile. It is believed to have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, or about 6,200 miles, putting most of the world, including the U.S. mainland, within reach.

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles are considered a key part of nuclear deterrence because they are harder to detect than land-based missiles once deployed at sea. China publicly displayed the JL-3 during a military parade in Beijing in September 2025.

Lewis said the test signals that China’s nuclear force modernization has entered a new stage.

“Historically, China has conducted fewer ICBM tests than other countries,” Lewis said. “The reason was political, but the political dynamics have changed, and they seem to be adopting an approach of testing more frequently.”

Lewis said China may conduct more frequent tests of long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in the future.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260706010002183

July 6 (UPI) — An oil tanker was struck by an unknown projectile near the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, the British military said, renewing tensions amid U.S.-Iran negotiations.

The unidentified ship was hit about 8 nautical miles off the coast of Limah, Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said in a statement.

The ship’s master reported the incident at 1:19 a.m. local time, it said.

The strike to the port side of the vessel caused a fire, officials said, though no casualties or environmental impact was reported.

Though Iran has eased its maritime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran continues to seek control over the vital energy transit route.

Following the strike, Iran’s state-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat was targeted after allegedly ignoring Iranian warnings against transiting through what it called the “Omani route” of the Strait of Hormuz.

It said the tanker was being escorted through the route by the U.S. Navy.

It was not immediately clear whether Al Rekayyat had been struck or whether it was the vessel reported by UKMTO.

Al Rekayyat is a liquefied natural gas tanker sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, according to the Marine Traffic website.

Iran has been blamed for attacks on more than 15 ships during its effort to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel launched a joint offensive against Tehran on Feb. 28.

The strait has been a sticking point in ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran toward ending the war. Iran has resisted the Trump administration’s demand for freedom of navigation through the strait, seeking to maintain authority over shipping routes there.

Late last month, the newly founded Persian Gulf Strait Authority warned vessels attempting to transit outside its approved routes that their security cannot be ensured.

Last week, the two sides held indirect talks in Doha, but made little progress.

People in Cuba already faced an ongoing economic and humanitarian crisis, largely due to a US blockade.

Cuba has suffered its third nationwide power blackout since the start of the year, as the country’s fuel reserves diminish and its electric grid crumbles due to an energy crisis precipitated by the US fuel blockade.

The blackout in the country of nearly 10 million people was reported on Monday by the state-run Electric Union, which said that the cause is under investigation.

Cuba’s Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said protocols were quickly activated to restore electricity throughout Cuba after the outage.

“Vital services continue to be protected, amidst this complex situation exacerbated by the energy blockade we face,” he said.

Grid operator UNE said it was providing electricity to some vital services, including hospitals and food production centres, but by late afternoon was able to serve only 1 percent of the capital, Havana’s, ⁠demand.

Cuba was already struggling with fuel supplies before US President Donald Trump cut off oil deliveries from Venezuela to the island in January. But Trump’s actions, including threatening tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, have made things significantly worse, and deepened the island’s financial crisis. As a result, blackouts and power cuts have accelerated.

Since January, Washington has only allowed one oil tanker, from Russia, to pass its blockade and dock in Cuba, as part of a sanctions campaign aimed at ending more than six decades of communist government in Havana.

Trump has pointed to the US abduction of Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, in January, and his replacement with a successor that can be pressured to work with the US, as a potential blueprint for Cuba.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the US of trying to “incite social unrest by strangling Cuba’s fuel supply”.

“The actions of electrical workers in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade are heroic,” he wrote on social media.

The blackout is the eighth on the island of 9.6 million people since late 2024. It comes as the state imposes power cuts across the country – over 30 hours straight in parts of Havana and over 70 hours in some rural areas – in a desperate attempt to preserve fuel.

“Living like this is agony,” Meyboll Font, a 51-year-old self-employed social media community manager, told the AFP news agency.

Font said her Havana neighbourhood has been surviving on just “three or four hours of power a day”, but that the blackout was worse because “you never know when it [electricity] will return”.

Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque reports from West Africa where the Russian navy is carrying a shipment of weapons to help Mali’s government hold off a rebel advance. Al-Qaeda-linked militants and Tuareg separatists are laying siege to areas of Mali’s north, with Russian-backed forces stepping in to keep Mali’s military junta from collapsing.

Comedian Trevor Noah joked that US President Donald Trump’s intervention in Folarin Balogun’s red card saga amounted to “government interference”. His comments came during his livestreamed “Trevor Noah’s World Cup Watch Party” ahead of the USA-Belgium match.

July 6 (Asia Today) — North Korea is using tacit support from China and Russia to harden its status as a nuclear-armed state, raising pressure on South Korea to rebuild the kind of international sanctions coordination that brought Pyongyang back to negotiations in 2018 and 2019, analysts said Monday.

North Korea has repeatedly stressed the “constant expansion and strengthening” of its nuclear forces and the “thorough exercise” of its status as a nuclear-armed state, signaling that it has no intention of returning to talks premised on denuclearization.

Diplomatic observers in Seoul say North Korea is taking advantage of a turbulent international environment to consolidate its nuclear status.

Russia, which has become a close partner of North Korea since the war in Ukraine, vetoed the renewal of the U.N. panel monitoring sanctions on North Korea in March 2024. At the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May, Russia also opposed including language on North Korea’s nuclear program in a consensus document, according to the report.

China, which has long maintained a formal position supporting denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, did not mention the issue during a North Korea-China summit in June.

The North Korean nuclear issue has become even more difficult to resolve as U.S. attention remains focused on the Middle East and the U.N. Security Council has become increasingly ineffective, analysts said.

Experts say South Korea should pursue denuclearization by maintaining sanctions on North Korea, strengthening its military capabilities in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear buildup and securing diplomatic means to apply pressure through China and Russia.

Kim Tae-woo, former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification, said South Korea must acquire capabilities that can offset North Korea’s growing nuclear threat.

“As North Korea’s nuclear threat grows, South Korea must secure corresponding capabilities to neutralize that threat,” Kim said. “Only when North Korea recognizes that an intensifying arms race will be harmful to both Koreas can nuclear arms control negotiations begin.”

Kim said South Korea should quickly move forward with security consultations under the Korea-U.S. joint fact sheet. He said Seoul should pursue the construction of nuclear-powered submarines, secure what he called “nuclear latent capability” and push for stronger U.S. extended deterrence.

Analysts also said Seoul should wage a more active diplomatic campaign toward China and Russia, which retain significant influence over North Korea.

They said South Korea should work to recreate the diplomatic environment of 2016 and 2017, when the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a series of strong sanctions resolutions in response to North Korea’s nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

Experts say those sanctions were the key factor that pushed North Korea into inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks in 2018 and 2019.

A former senior South Korean diplomat, who requested anonymity, said sanctions remain one of the few long-term sources of leverage over North Korea.

“Every area of North Korea except its nuclear program remains backward because of sanctions,” the former official said. “As long as sanctions are not abandoned in the long term, I believe there is still hope for North Korea’s denuclearization.”

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260707010002164

July 6 (UPI) — The White House marked Independence Day by releasing a scathing report on the Smithsonian Institution, particularly the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, for what it called “extreme political activism.”

The report, “Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage,” accuses the museum of anti-white bias and claims it “no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit and discourage our citizens.”

The report takes exception to display language that “refuses to affirm the exceptional courage of the American people” and displays that connect the Founding Fathers with slavery, along with many other complaints.

It also says the museum endorses illegal immigration, advocates transgender issues and focuses on Christianity as “an instrument of conquest, exclusion or cultural erasure.”

Julissa Marenco, a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian, said in a statement, “For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed todoing so,” The New York Times reported.

The report was written by the Domestic Policy Council, a White House organization tasked with the president’s domestic agenda. Vince Haley, its leader, was in charge of the administration’s celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The report particularly criticizes Anthea Hartig, the Smithsonian’s director, saying she has “advanced an ideological agenda contradictory to museum’s founding purpose of fostering patriotism.”

According to the Smithsonian’s website, the institution was founded in 1846 to be “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” It oversees 21 museums and The National Zoo.

This new report is a follow-up to President Donald Trump‘s executive order in March 2025. In that order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” Trump tasked Vice President JD Vance with overhauling the Smithsonian with Congress.

The White House also ordered the institution to turn over thousands of pages of documents, threatening it with budget cuts. The Smithsonian has been independent of the president and executive branch but derives more than half of its budget from federal sources.

Trump’s executive order in 2025 ordered Vance to “prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.”

July 6 (UPI) — A woman who once dated Senate candidate Graham Platner says that he forced her to have sex with him about five years ago.

Jenny Racicot, 41, said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner for more than two years, Politico reported. She said he was intoxicated when he entered her home in Maine one night in 2021 and assaulted her while she told him repeatedly to stop.

“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’ “

Platner, a Democrat, denied the accusations Tuesday, saying any claim of non-consensual behavior is “categorically untrue” and that the allegations are “troubling, serious and false.”

He said, however, that he is “mindful of the political reality (the allegation) will inflect” and that he is taking “time to reflect on the best path forward.”

He is the Democratic nominee running against Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. The party has until July 13 to replace him with another candidate if he withdraws, The New York Times reported.

Racicot previously told The Times that Platner came to her house in 2021 while drunk and said his behavior was “reckless” and “unsettling.” She did not elaborate at that time. Politico published the new interview Monday.

The Platner campaign also issued a statement saying that the candidate “vigorously denies” the allegations, which it called “coached and coordinated by out-of-state establishment operatives.”

“For a year, opponents of this campaign have thrown everything they can at Graham —calling him a Nazi, a war criminal, a communist,” the campaign statement said. “None of it has been true, and this is no different.”

Politico said it interviewed Racicot three times over the past two weeks, interviewed another person she confided in and reviewed documents including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance she warned about Platner.

Collins said in a statement that the “allegations are appalling,” The Times reported.

Other Democratic candidates and politicians, including Rep. RoKhanna, D-Calif., a supporter of Platner’s, called on him to drop out of the race Monday.

End Citizens United, an organization that looks to reduce the role of large campaign donations in politics, rescinded its endorsement of Platner and called on him to end his campaign.