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Cape Verde’s national football team has arrived in the US ahead to take part in their first ever FIFA World Cup. Players filmed themselves dancing in the aisle of the plane and were cheered on the tarmac.

June 2 (Asia Today) — U.S. crude oil exports reached a record high in May as demand from Asian and European refiners surged, market data showed.

U.S. crude exports averaged 5.6 million barrels per day in May, surpassing the previous record of 5.2 million barrels per day set in April, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.

The increase was driven in part by a widening price gap between West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark crude, and Brent crude, the global benchmark.

The spread between WTI and Brent widened to as much as $20.69 a barrel in March, the largest gap in 13 years. In April, the gap averaged $8.86 a barrel, wider than the prewar average of $4.85.

Supply disruptions in the Middle East caused by the war involving Iran also prompted refiners in Asia and Europe to seek more U.S. crude as an alternative.

Asia imported an average of 2.45 million barrels per day, making it the largest destination for U.S. crude for a second consecutive month.

Japan was the biggest Asian buyer, importing 808,000 barrels per day, up 32% from the previous month.

Europe ranked second, importing 2.4 million barrels per day.

Italy led European demand with imports of 335,000 barrels per day. Bulgaria, Croatia, Turkey and Greece also made rare purchases of U.S. crude, according to the data.

Industry analysts expect U.S. crude exports to decline from June. Consulting firm Energy Aspects projected exports would fall to an average of 4.9 million barrels per day in June and 4.6 million barrels per day in July.

Sources and analysts said declining WTI inventories in the United States are expected to encourage domestic storage and reduce export volumes.

— 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=20260602010000543

June 2 (Asia Today) — Naver Cloud is moving to expand its presence in the global artificial intelligence infrastructure market through a deeper partnership with Nvidia.

The company aims to combine its HyperCLOVA X large-scale AI model and sovereign AI capabilities with Nvidia’s AI infrastructure platform to become a key player in the era of AI factories.

Industry officials said Tuesday that Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won attended the Nvidia Cloud Partner Summit in Taiwan and outlined the company’s strategic cooperation with Nvidia.

The partnership is drawing attention because it goes beyond a simple graphics processing unit supply arrangement and extends across infrastructure, AI models and services.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduced Naver Cloud as a major AI-native cloud partner in the global AI ecosystem during his keynote speech at GTC Taipei 2026 on Monday.

The two companies also plan to expand cooperation in large language models. Naver Cloud plans to use Nvidia’s open large language model technology, Nemotron 3 Ultra, to advance HyperCLOVA X. The companies also plan to jointly study model optimization and core technologies.

Cooperation will also continue in physical AI. In March, Naver Cloud unveiled the Seoul World Model, a digital recreation of Seoul built with Nvidia’s Cosmos physical AI platform.

The Seoul World Model was trained on South Korean map data and 1.2 million panoramic images collected across Seoul, allowing it to reproduce real road environments and spatial structures.

Naver Cloud plans to target the global AI market by emphasizing its full-stack capabilities, which combine its own AI models and cloud infrastructure. The company also plans to expand sovereign AI projects that protect national data sovereignty by working with governments and local companies.

Naver board chair Lee Hae-jin and Huang are expected to meet soon in South Korea and disclose specific plans for the AI factory project.

“The AI industry paradigm is shifting from models to inference-focused AI factories that can operate large-scale infrastructure reliably,” Kim said. “Our cooperation with Nvidia is not a simple supply relationship but a strategic decision to expand the global AI ecosystem together.”

— 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=20260602010000541

June 2 (Asia Today) — South Korean small business owners called for more practical labor consulting and measures to ease payroll burdens during a government meeting Tuesday.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups held a roundtable on labor difficulties facing small businesses at the Korea Certified Public Labor Attorneys Association in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

Minister Han Seong-sook, government officials and representatives from convenience stores, restaurants and cafes attended the meeting to discuss labor management difficulties in the field.

Participants said complicated wage rules, including weekly holiday allowances and severance pay, have become a major management burden. They urged the government to provide professional consulting support.

At the meeting, the ministry announced support measures to help small businesses manage labor issues. The measures include a question-and-answer guidebook on commonly missed labor rules, regional on-site briefings and stronger online guidance through short-form videos.

The ministry also plans to help resolve disputes through counseling centers and labor lawyers. It said it will link a 24-hour artificial intelligence labor law counseling service with Small Business 24, a government support platform for small businesses.

Small business groups, however, expressed disappointment with the measures. They said expanding online and offline counseling channels could become a formality unless the government also secures enough budget and staffing to handle a surge in labor complaints.

They also said 24-hour AI counseling may have limits because labor disputes often involve complicated facts and competing interests that differ from case to case.

Participants emphasized that small businesses need more than basic information or counseling. They said the government should build a field-based consulting system and adopt policies that directly reduce labor cost pressures.

They said the government needs a bolder approach that goes beyond publicity-focused measures to address the core problems facing small businesses, including complex employment structures and allowance management.

“We will implement the measures announced today without disruption to create an environment where small business owners can run their businesses with confidence,” Han said.

The government said it will continue listening to difficulties in the field and review possible improvements to the system.

— 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=20260602010000499

Benchmark Nikkei 225 tops 68,000 for first time as AI-driven buying frenzy shows no signs of slowing down.

Japan’s stock market has hit an all-time high as a global buying frenzy driven by AI shows no signs of slowing down.

The Nikkei 225 rose nearly 3 percent on Wednesday, lifting the benchmark index above 68,000 for the first time.

The latest surge continues a banner year for Japan’s stock market, which is up nearly 33 percent so far in 2026.

“Investor enthusiasm over the AI boom is helping drive Asian equity markets higher,” Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ, told Al Jazeera.

“While strong demand for high-end chips has seen the top semiconductor companies in Taiwan and South Korea rally strongly, this is also benefiting Japanese markets, which are also getting some tailwind from a weak yen.”

Japanese firms involved in the semiconductor business led the gains.

Tokyo Electron, Japan’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor equipment, soared as much as 14 percent in morning trading.

Advantest, which supplies testing equipment to the semiconductor industry, rose more than 5.5 percent.

Shin-Etsu Chemical, a supplier of silicon wafers used in integrated circuits, gained about 4 percent.

Softbank, which is heavily invested in AI models, chips and data centers, fell about 3 percent, after overtaking auto giant Toyota on Monday to become Japan’s biggest company by market capitalisation.

Ferocious demand for AI chips has been driving record-breaking rallies in stock markets across the globe, taking key indexes in the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan to record highs.

During the past month, three memory chip makers – South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, and US-based Micron – entered the elite club of firms with a market capitalistion of at least $1 trillion.

Only 17 companies have hit the milestone, all but five of which are based in the United States.

Despite concerns about the sustainability of the sky-high valuations in the sector among some investors, tech companies are continuing to commit huge sums to AI-related infrastructure.

US tech giants are expected to spend about $800bn on AI-related capital investment in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs.

Google parent company Alphabet on Monday became the latest Silicon Valley giant to outline its AI-related investment plans, announcing that it would sell $80bn worth of shares to help fund expected capital expenditures of $180-190bn in 2026.

June 2 (Asia Today) — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited the SK hynix booth at Computex 2026 in Taipei on Tuesday, meeting SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won for a second straight day as the companies deepen their artificial intelligence partnership.

Huang, who met privately with Chey on Monday, examined SK hynix’s major memory products and wrote “Please Make More” on an HBM4E wafer displayed at the booth.

Chey also signaled that SK plans to expand production. He said the group aims to double wafer production capacity within five years as demand for memory chips is expected to surge.

Huang toured the booth with Chey and SK hynix executives. He signed the HBM4E wafer with the message “Please Make More” and wrote “LOVE SOCAMM” on a 192GB SOCAMM product.

SK hynix currently supplies Nvidia with its latest high-bandwidth memory, including sixth-generation HBM4, as well as high-performance low-power LPDDR5X memory. Huang said in his GTC Taipei keynote Monday that Nvidia will begin full-scale production of its next-generation AI accelerator, Vera Rubin, in the second half of this year.

As AI demand increases and memory supply shortages deepen, Chey said SK is moving quickly to expand production.

“The memory bottleneck is expected to continue until 2030,” Chey told reporters at the SK hynix booth. “We are pushing forward at full speed to expand production capacity.”

“Building new memory fabs requires enormous investment and takes at least three years,” he said. “Despite these challenges, we plan to double wafer production capacity over the next five years.”

It was the first time SK Group publicly presented a specific goal of doubling its overall production capacity within five years. SK hynix is making large-scale investments to strengthen production capacity, including projects at its M15X and P&T7 facilities in Cheongju, the Yongin semiconductor cluster and an advanced packaging plant in the United States.

— 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=20260602010000823

Hawkish voices in Israel have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of holding back on bombing Beirut, to appease the Trump Administration and ensure his own political survival. Nida Ibrahim explains.

Mexico and Canada have backed extending the USMCA trade agreement for another 16 years as negotiations over its future continue. The proposal comes amid an ongoing trade dispute with the United States.

June 2 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s consumer price growth topped 3% in May for the first time in 26 months as a prolonged Middle East war drove up global oil prices, raising concerns that high inflation could continue through the second half of the year.

The consumer price index stood at 119.92 in May, with 2020 set as the base year of 100, up 3.1% from a year earlier, according to consumer price data released Tuesday by the National Data Agency. It was the first increase of 3% or more since March 2024.

Industrial products rose 4.2% from a year earlier, while service prices increased 2.8%. Petroleum prices showed the sharpest increase, jumping 24.2%, the largest gain in three years and 10 months since July 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine war was at its height.

Gasoline prices rose 23.1%, diesel prices climbed 33.3% and kerosene prices increased 21.7%.

Among services, international airfares, which are directly affected by fuel costs, rose 33.5%, while overseas group tour fees increased 26.3%.

The living price index, which tracks frequently purchased items with a high share of household spending, rose 3.3% from a year earlier, showing a worsening burden felt by consumers.

Lee Doo-won, an official in charge of economic trend statistics at the data agency, said petroleum prices rose more sharply because of higher international oil prices caused by the Middle East war.

“International airfares and prices for travel and lodging-related items rose sharply as fuel surcharges linked to global oil prices increased and the number of peak-season days, including holidays, grew,” Lee said.

The government said it will work to reduce price uncertainty by stabilizing petroleum prices.

A Finance Ministry official said the government’s petroleum price cap and fuel tax cut reduced the May consumer price increase by 0.6 percentage point.

“We will make every effort to stabilize prices felt by households through petroleum price stabilization measures and a task force on livelihood prices,” the official said.

Experts said inflation led by higher global oil prices is likely to continue in the second half.

“Although the United States and Iran have announced plans to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the high oil price trend is likely to continue in the second half even if the war ends, given the destruction of local oil facilities,” said Jeong Se-eun, an economics professor at Chungnam National University.

“For South Korea, which imports all of its oil, oil prices affect overall inflation. There is also concern that abnormal weather forecast for this summer could raise agricultural prices,” Jeong said.

“With no notable downward factor in the second half, inflation is expected to stay around 3%,” she added.

Park Jin, a professor at the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management, said prices are determined by market supply and demand.

“On the supply side, there are inflation concerns caused by unstable oil prices. On the demand side, there are price-increase factors such as a strong domestic stock market,” Park said. “Preemptive steps, including consideration of an interest rate hike, are needed.”

— 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=20260602010000704

The image of the “fighter” often brings to mind a man, but women have always been present on and around the battlefield – in rebellion, defence and offence alike. Their contributions have shaped wars in ways history rarely records, and are often simplified or fetishised in popular narratives.

Around the world, women make up a far greater share of rebellions than of national armies. So what are the motivations, struggles and circumstances that drive women to take up arms and how significant is their impact on how battles are fought?

Join Ali Rae in Episode Four of All Hail the Military – a five-part series that reveals the systems, power and hidden complicities that sustain global militarism – and the profound impact it has on us all.

US President Donald Trump reportedly lashed out at Israeli PM Netanyahu during a phone call over Israel’s threat to strike Beirut’s suburbs.

June 2 (UPI) — Two supporters of President Donald Trump who were injured during an assassination attempt during Trump’s 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pa., are suing the federal government for negligence.

James Copenhaver and David Dutch, both of Pennsylvania, attended the rally in July 2024 and were shot by Thomas Crooks, whom authorities say tried to assassinate Trump. Copenhaver was struck twice and received injuries to his abdomen, spine and left arm, his lawsuit says, while Dutch was shot and suffered “severe, serious, permanent and grievous injuries” according to his lawsuit.

Crooks killed one person, attendee Corey Comperatore, in the attack. Trump received a minor wound to his ear. Secret Service members killed Crooks on site.

The two lawsuits say the Secret Service failed to properly secure the rally, leading to their injuries. Copenhaver’s wife, Marianne Copenhaver, is also part of his lawsuit. The plaintiffs are seeking at least $150,000 in damages each, Politico reported.

“The events which led to [Dutch’s] grievous and permanent injuries were shocking and preventable, should not have happened, and the failures, as highlighted herein, exposed President Trump and all Butler Rally attendees … to grave, mortal danger,” Dutch’s lawsuit says. It says the security failures at the rally were “rampant.”

A House of Representatives task force and a Senate committee on homeland security both found that the Secret Service had “significant failures” in security at the event, including failures to act on tips about the shooter before the rally. The Secret Service suspended six agents for their actions.

In January 2024, the publication Axios reported that the United States president at the time, Joe Biden, was “running out of patience” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza had been raging for months by that point, and Biden was facing public backlash over US support for the conflict.

The assault would continue for the rest of Biden’s term and bleed into the first 10 months of Donald Trump‘s second presidency.

Since then, media outlets have continued to publish anonymous accounts of rifts and “frustrating” calls between Trump and the Israeli prime minister. But US support for its Middle East ally has never wavered.

Another anonymously sourced report about a furious, expletive-laden call between US and Israeli leaders came out this week, and it spread rapidly across international media.

Axios reported on Monday that Trump called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” and berated him over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.

Around the same time, an Israeli attack killed six people, including two children, in the southern Lebanese town of al-Marwaniyah.

Experts say that despite leaks of feuds and harsh words between US leaders and Netanyahu, policies are ultimately what matters, and they have changed very little.

Ryan Costello, the policy director at the National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC), said political observers have grown to “mock” reports of closed-door anger from US presidents against Netanyahu.

“What’s really important is what actually happens in practice,” Costello told Al Jazeera.

Two administrations, same reports

Though there are reports of Trump giving Netanyahu a dressing-down, Isabelle Hayslip, an advocacy manager at the US-based rights group DAWN, said that US policy remains aligned with Israeli interests.

“Single-source reporting of Trump as a strongman who picks up the phone and yells at Netanyahu for undermining US policy is contradicted by the actual policy outcomes where Netanyahu gets exactly what he wants,” Hayslip told Al Jazeera.

“Trump has no final say over Israeli actions. Like his predecessors, the president has proved completely unable to prioritise American interests, instead catering to Israel’s expansionist whims.”

The latest report comes as Trump faces increasing pressure from his Democratic rivals and segments of his base over his handling of the war on Iran, which he launched jointly with Netanyahu on February 28.

The conflict, which saw Iran close the Strait of Hormuz, has sent gasoline prices soaring in the US and fuelled inflation.

Critics have accused Trump of allowing Israel to drag the US into a war that does not advance Washington’s priorities.

With negotiations to end the war stagnating, Israel’s escalation in Lebanon and its threat to bomb Beirut risks derailing the fragile truce that came into effect in April.

Iranian officials have suggested that they cut off contact with the US over the Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Before the Axios report, Trump announced he had spoken to Netanyahu and an unidentified Hezbollah representative, and both sides agreed that “all shooting will stop”.

But Netanyahu was quick to assert that the Israeli military “will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon”, where it is deepening its invasion and turning entire towns into rubble.

Advocates say Israeli atrocities in Lebanon and across the region could not have happened without US backing.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the US has provided Israel with nearly $25bn in military aid, helped fend off retaliatory Iranian attacks against the country and vetoed several ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.

Nonetheless, anonymous accounts that the US president is angry at Netanyahu have become a regular feature in the media.

Such reports are attributed to US officials, but it is unclear how leaks with a similar message on the same topic have continued across two administrations from different political parties.

‘Moderating the anger’

Publicly, aides of both Biden and Trump have largely refrained from criticising Israel.

Trump has regularly praised the Israeli prime minister, arguing on more than one occasion that Israel would have ceased to exist without Netanyahu’s leadership.

In December, the US president also called the Israeli prime minister a “hero” during a meeting in Florida.

“We’re with you, and we’ll continue to be with you,” Trump told Netanyahu.

Two weeks earlier, Axios reported that the White House had “scolded” Netanyahu over Israel’s ceasefire violations in Gaza.

“The White House message to Netanyahu was: ‘If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements, be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza,” the publication quoted a US official as saying.

Few people know the exact content of high-level calls at the White House. Sometimes, top officials, including members of the National Security Council, sit in on conversations between the president and world leaders after briefings.

Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a research nonprofit, said the leak about the tense call between Trump and Netanyahu may be aimed at making Trump look tough on Israel to quell outrage over the war.

“It could be sort of a way of moderating the anger or the blame at the US for continuing this unpopular, illegal, unnecessary war,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera.

She added that the message it sends is, “Look, we’re very angry at Israel. We yell at them. We call them names.”

But Mortazavi stressed that policy is more important than rhetoric: “Does that change the facts on the ground?”

Information war

For his part, Costello argued that the leak was likely directed at Iran.

“I see this one primarily as a signal to the Iranians that Trump is serious, and he wants to insulate what’s happening in Lebanon and Israel’s attacks from the Iran negotiations,” Costello said.

“It remains to be seen the extent to which that excoriation has actually led to a change in Israel’s policies, and I think there is a strong incentive for continued defiance from Netanyahu.”

Axios, meanwhile, has defended its coverage.

“We stand by our reporting, which by the way noted ‘Trump and Netanyahu have had several tense calls in the past but have still coordinated closely on Iran and other issues,’” Jake Wilkins, a spokesperson for the publication, told Al Jazeera in an email.

Mortazavi warned that all sides of the war on Iran are trying to influence public perceptions of the conflict.

She pointed to recent reports that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had resigned, a rumour that was promptly denied by his office.

“This is a very hybrid war. It’s a war on the battlefield. It’s an intelligence war. It’s a war of narratives,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera. “And then there’s also an information war, which includes disinformation, half-truths and strategic leaks.”

June 2 (UPI) — Officials have rescheduled the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner for July 24, several weeks after a gunman disrupted the original event.

Weijia Jiang, president of the association and a senior White House correspondent for CBS, said Tuesday that the event will be a “more intimate gathering” with additional security precautions.

“When gunfire interrupted this year’s event, it further clarified the WHCA’s mission to advocate for the freedoms that are protected in the First Amendment,” Jiang wrote in an email to WHCA members. “We will not allow an act of violence to have the last word, especially during a year when we are reflecting on the 250th anniversary of America and everything we stand for.”

The original event April 25 ended when an armed man charged a security checkpoint outside the event at the Washington Hilton, and the president and other officials evacuated. The suspect, Cole Allen, 31, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president, assaulting a federal law enforcement official with a deadly weapon and other offenses. Allen pleaded not guilty to all charges.

President Donald Trump posted on social media Tuesday that he will attend and speak at the dinner, which he called a ” ‘HOT’ ticket!”

Trump said the dinner will take place at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., which is the former Trump International Hotel. In the email announcing the rescheduling, Jiang did not mention a site.

“This dinner will not only be an opportunity to carry out our program,” she wrote. “It will be a statement that violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence. As you have all demonstrated, courage and community can and should rise above.”

The Washington Post reported after the prior event that some critics thought the president should not be so prominently featured.

“Why do I need to pay hundreds of dollars and dress up in a tuxedo to go listen to the president of the United States insult my colleagues?” Steven Herman, executive director of the University of Mississippi’s Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation, said in the Post. “I think he’s made it pretty clear he is not a champion of free speech or a free press. He only likes press or speech when it reflects positively on him.”

Getting a visa can be expensive, frustrating, and for many people, unsuccessful. So what happens when governments outsource that process to private companies? An investigation by Lighthouse Reports examines VFS Global, the world’s largest visa processing firm, revealing how billions in applications generate enormous profits, even when visas are denied.

In this episode: 

• May Bulman (@maybulman), Investigative Editor, Lighthouse Reports

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by our guest host, David Enders, Sarí el-Khalili, and Catherine Nouhan. It was edited by Alexandra Locke. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Rick Rush mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. 

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

June 2 (UPI) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate on Tuesday morning that Iran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz and commit to future talks on its nuclear program before the United States will make concessions.

He testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before a scheduled afternoon meeting with a House panel on State Department spending. Both sessions were planned so that Rubio could defend the department’s nearly $36 million budget request for the 2027 fiscal year.

Rubio is also President Donald Trump‘s national security adviser.

The Washington Post reported that Rubio’s testimony with lawmakers has been mostly friendly. He served in the Senate for 14 years and in the House for 8, representing Florida.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed frustration with the cost and potential political fallout from the war with Iran.

“This war and the administration’s decision to blockade has now held the entire world economy, and the U.S. economy, hostage to the ability to negotiate an agreement with Iran,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, The Post reported.

The Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed by Iran since late February, must reopen, Rubio stressed. The strait is a critical waterway for shipping of much of the world’s oil, gas and fertilizer. The closure has caused gas prices to rise, causing anxiety as Republicans fear losing House and Senate seats in November.

Rubio said Trump demands that Iran enter into negotiating “severe and long-term limitations” on its nuclear program, including disposing of enriched uranium, and those talks could take months.

But he said he’s optimistic that Iran is more willing to negotiate on nukes.

“They have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention,” The Guardian reported Rubio said. He warned that it’s “not a guarantee that ultimately it will lead to a deal that’s acceptable,” and Iran’s leadership instability has made the negotiations more difficult.

Rubio said Iran had intended to use its conventional weapons capabilities as a “shield” to protect its nuclear program, The Guardian reported.

“What they tried to do is, they were going to try to build a conventional shield and hide behind that conventional shield,” he said, explaining why Trump wanted to start the war.

He also admitted, after questioning by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that another sticking point for Trump was that Iran stop supporting terrorist proxy groups. He said Trump is not willing to ease sanctions just for opening the strait.

Rubio said that Iranian Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to be alive.

“I would imagine, given what’s happened to multiple leaders in that system, being very public is probably not something that’s recommended for them internally,” he said. “But that said, I think there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level, although all of his communications have been in writing and through intermediaries.”

Along with Iran, lawmakers were expected to ask Rubio about the president’s comments about Cuba and Taiwan.

June 2 (UPI) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro reiterated allegations Tuesday of possible electoral fraud in the first round of the country’s presidential election, claiming irregularities in the voter registry and vote-counting systems ahead of the June 21 runoff.

In a message posted on X, Petro said he was presenting the “verified basis of possible fraud” and claimed he could submit evidence to the relevant authorities.

Petro said he has evidence of software modifications that allegedly introduced hundreds of thousands of voter identification records that were not properly registered and altered voting tables.

Petro contended that last-minute technical changes to systems operated by Colombia’s National Civil Registry, known as the Registraduria Nacional, resulted in irregularities, including an increase of 885,409 voter identification records in the electoral roll and the appearance of 1,493 additional voting tables that he claimed were not authorized.

He also alleged that the algorithms used in private software for preliminary vote counting and official tabulation were secretly modified three times during the final week of the campaign.

As a result, Petro said, he would only recognize the final official results certified by judicial authorities serving on Colombia’s electoral review commissions.

He said the alleged irregularities benefited far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella and harmed his preferred candidate, left-wing Sen. Ivan Cepeda.

After preliminary results showed De la Espriella leading with 43.74% of the vote and Cepeda in second place with 40.90%, Petro said he would not accept the preliminary count and pledged to present evidence to electoral authorities.

Before the election, several polls had projected Cepeda as the frontrunner, although analysts noted a rapid surge in support for De la Espriella during the final weeks of the campaign.

Petro intensified his criticism Tuesday, claiming electoral authorities were seeking to “close the vote count quickly” to avoid reviewing his allegations.

The National Civil Registry reported that the official count had reached 99.98% completion and said final results matched the preliminary count of 99.94%, rejecting claims of widespread manipulation.

According to Colombian media reports, Cepeda significantly softened his position Monday after initially supporting Petro’s concerns on election night.

The candidate of the Historic Pact coalition said that after an extensive review conducted by his monitoring team, no evidence was found of irregularities significant enough to call the legitimacy of the first-round results into question.

Voters will return to the polls June 21 to choose between two sharply different political visions.

De la Espriella, a political outsider associated with what supporters describe as a “new right,” has centered his campaign on public security and advocates a hardline approach to crime inspired by the policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Argentine President Javier Milei.

Cepeda, meanwhile, has campaigned on social justice and supports continuing and expanding Petro’s agrarian reform and energy transition agenda, while promoting negotiations with armed groups as part of a broader peace strategy.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has proposed a new 25 percent tariff on imports from Brazil amid allegations of unfair trading practices.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the new punitive tariffs late on Monday, stemming from issues including digital trade and illegal deforestation.

The new tariffs would be imposed under Section 301 of US trade policy — a statute that gives the US government broad authority to impose trade sanctions based on violations of trade agreements, as well as what it deems “unfair” trade practices under the Trade Act of 1974.

Greer said there has been an investigation that began in July. The practices under investigation were related to issues such as illegal deforestation, ethanol market access, and anticorruption enforcement, among other key issues, according to the summary released by the US Department of Commerce on Tuesday.

In the 107-page document, the US government said that trade practices between the two nations “are unreasonable and burden or restrict US commerce”, and pointed to agreements that Brazil has with Mexico and India.

“Brazil’s trade arrangements with Mexico and India also create incentives to offshore US production by creating a financial advantage to exporting to Brazil from these countries, as opposed to exporting from the United States,” the document says.

There is a comment period for the general public to weigh in on the proposed tariffs, which begins on Thursday. The written comment period ends on July 1, and there will be a public hearing in Washington on July 6.

Beef, coffee, rare earths, other metals, energy, and aircraft parts are among the products that would be exempt from the tariffs.

On CNBC, Greer said that it would release more findings on unfair trade practices in the next several weeks in order to address what Greer called a “giant” trade deficit.

However, the data shows that the US maintains a trade surplus with Brazil. In March, Brazil bought more goods, worth $3.3bn, from the US than it exported at $2.9bn, representing a $420m trade surplus.

Other countries under investigation include China and Vietnam.

The new tariff would partially replace a tariff of 50 percent on many Brazilian goods imposed last year by Trump, with 40 percent serving as a punishment for Brazil’s prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.

The White House also recently dropped tariffs on select aluminium, copper, and steel imports, which include agricultural equipment such as harvesters. Those tariffs will drop from 25 percent to 15 percent. The tariffs expire in December 2027.

The new tariffs come after the Supreme Court, in February, struck down the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the White House used to impose its sweeping global tariffs.

“They are the first of many new tariffs to replace the IEPPA national security tariffs. The period of public comment will allow for potential modest tweaks and exemptions. Ultimately, it will add to some inflation pressure compared to the last few months but not compared to a year earlier,” Rachel Ziemba, a senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera.

Political tensions

The changes come despite President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s visit to Washington last month, as relations have deteriorated in recent months.

The US State Department has also designated two of Brazil’s criminal gangs as “terrorist organisations”, a move that supported Senator Flavio Bolsonaro’s position, Lula’s main rival in October’s election, and over the objections of Brazilian officials.

“I expressly asked President Trump not to tariff our companies,” Bolsonaro wrote on X on Tuesday. “Tariffs are not the solution.”

The White House did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

SANTIAGO, Chile, June 2 (UPI) — Chile has recorded a historic decline in births, with the birth rate falling 46.9% over the past 32 years and the total fertility rate dropping below one child per woman for the first time, raising concerns about long-term population replacement.

According to the National Statistics Institute, or INE, report “Demographic Overview of Chile,” the number of births declined to 146,446 in 2025 from 275,916 in 1993. The average number of children per woman last year fell to 0.99 live births, a 59.4% decrease from 1993.

At the same time, the share of births to foreign mothers has increased significantly. Between 2017 and 2025, the proportion nearly tripled, rising to 19.7% of live births from 6.9%.

“These are concerning figures. Chile is the most aged country in Latin America, with one of the region’s highest life expectancies at 81.5 years, comparable to Canada,” public health specialist Claudia Rodriguez, head of the Public Health Department at the University of the Andes, told UPI.

“As a result, Chile is beginning to display the demographic characteristics of a developed country without being one, and the country could soon reach a point where deaths outnumber births,” she said.

Sara Parada, director of obstetrics at Andres Bello University, said the decline reflects a combination of social, economic, cultural and institutional changes.

“Women are making reproductive decisions in a more informed environment. Greater female participation in higher education and the labor market has contributed to delaying motherhood,” she told UPI.

She said additional factors include the high cost of raising children, uncertain or unstable employment conditions, and limited support from partners in caregiving responsibilities.

“There has been a significant cultural shift. Motherhood is no longer viewed as an obligatory path for all women, but as an autonomous and informed decision that coexists with other life goals,” Parada said.

“That in itself is not negative. The problem arises when people who do want children do not find the material, labor, family or institutional conditions needed to have them.”

Parada noted that Chile’s situation is not unique and reflects a broader trend across Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Fertility has been steadily declining across the region. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, fertility reached 1.8 children per woman in 2024 and has remained below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman since 2015,” she said.

“In 2024, 76% of countries and territories in the region recorded fertility rates below that threshold.”

She said Costa Rica registered 1.32 children per woman, Uruguay 1.40 and Argentina 1.50.

Uruguay’s birth rate continues to decline. The country recorded about 50,000 births in 2016, but the figure fell to 29,000 within a decade. The National Institute for Educational Evaluation estimates the number of students will decline by 25% by 2045.

“In less than 10 years, Argentina’s birth rate has fallen 40%. The countries facing the most severe fertility crises in the region are Uruguay, followed by Chile and then Argentina,” family specialist Lorena Bolzon told Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

Parada said Chile stands out not only for having one of the region’s lowest fertility rates, but also for the speed of the decline.

Analysts warn that a sustained drop in births could have significant long-term consequences by reducing the future working-age population, potentially affecting labor availability, productivity and economic growth unless accompanied by adaptation policies.

“It also increases the proportion of older adults relative to the active population, placing greater pressure on pension systems, healthcare spending and long-term care services,” Parada said.

She said governments should not focus solely on encouraging births, but instead adopt comprehensive measures that support families, including access to child care, work schedules compatible with family life and financial assistance for raising children.

Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon have continued, a day after US President Donald Trump said the ‘shooting’ would stop. Raids targeted areas across the Nabatieh district, causing destruction and leaving several people injured.

Southampton back Tonda Eckert despite missing out on a playoff final for a Premier League place due to spying scandal.

Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has apologised for orchestrating the “spygate” scandal that led to the club’s expulsion from the Championship playoffs, as owner Dragan Solak insisted that he would not sack the German.

“For everything that’s happened, I do want to apologise, and I hold my hand up because as a head coach I am responsible for everything that has happened in this football club,” Eckert said in a video statement on Tuesday.

The Saints were kicked out of last month’s playoff final after admitting they had observed a training session held by semifinal opponents Middlesbrough, as well as two other similar incidents during the season.

They also received a four-point deduction that will be applied to the 2026-27 Championship table, while the Football Association has opened its own investigation and could yet charge Eckert.

An independent disciplinary commission of the English Football League (EFL) ruled that there had been a “contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage” through spying missions.

It said Eckert had authorised the tactics, highlighting the “particularly deplorable” use of junior members of staff to conduct clandestine operations.

Southampton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 over two legs in the playoff semifinals, but Boro were reinstated, going on to lose in the final to Hull City, who were promoted to the Premier League.

The prize for the winners of the final is regarded as the most lucrative in world football, with the winners joining the richest domestic league in the world. Hull will receive an estimated 200 million pounds ($268m) in extra income.

Eckert, who was appointed head coach in December, put out an eight-minute video statement about the scandal on Southampton’s social media channels.

The 33-year-old said: “I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship [with fans] back up, the season has come to an end, come to an end that couldn’t have left us in a worse place than we are in right now.”

He claimed that observing other teams was routine in other countries, though he admitted that this was not an excuse for his actions in the English second tier.

“When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting lineup that we’ve chosen for the games was always out in the media before games,” he said.

“And the reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed from the media and have always been observed from opponent teams that we came up against.

“[Pep] Guardiola has spoken about this in his time at Bayern Munich, that it has been common practice in Germany to observe training sessions, knowing that other teams would do the same.”

Many had anticipated Eckert would lose his job after Southampton’s expulsion from the playoffs, but chairman Solak gave robust backing to Eckert in his own post on the club’s channels on Tuesday.

“Tonda’s period as our head coach has been a success so far. Our form during 2026 has been remarkable, and we believe he is the man to take us forward,” Solak said.

“As a board, we are fully behind him, and together we only have one objective – we want promotion back to Premier League.”

Solak told the BBC separately that Tonda had been subject to a witch-hunt in the media, saying he believed the club had been “over-sentenced”.

The Serbian, whose media company acquired a majority stake in the south-coast club in 2022, said: “I believe Tonda that he didn’t know that it was the rule that he was breaking.

“My personal opinion, and the opinion of the board, is that he is a manager who deserves to be backed by us and to be supported by us.”