Read the daily news to learn English

Trump claims Iran has agreed to hold peace talks in Doha after recent clashes

Donald Trump has claimed that Iran has agreed to hold talks in Doha after the US and Tehran traded fire in the strait of Hormuz this weekend, threatening the collapse of a ceasefire meant to keep the strait open and pave the way for peace talks. In a terse post on Truth Social, the US president claimed the meetings would take place in the Qatari capital, as US media reported that the two sides had agreed to halt strikes after tit-for-tat attacks that once again cut off shipping through the crucial waterway. Trump wrote: “IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA! President DJT.” But on Monday night, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said US officials’ trip to Doha had nothing to do with the Iranian delegation visiting the city, adding: “We have not yet entered the stage of negotiating a final agreement … Over the coming days, we will not have any negotiation meetings with the US side at any level.” Trump’s announcement came after Iran on Saturday targeted a cargo ship in the strait in a drone attack, leading US Central Command (Centcom) to launch retaliatory strikes against Iranian “military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities”. Iran’s Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) then said on Sunday it ⁠had launched a joint missile and drone ⁠operation targeting eight US military ‌sites in ‌Kuwait and Bahrain. With the deal faltering, the White House stepped in to seek an off-ramp from the resuming hostilities, even as the specifics of who will hold control over the strait and whether Iran can charge fees for passage in the future remains unclear. Agence France-Presse reported that commercial ships had virtually ceased using the Omani southern corridor through the strait after civilian ships were struck on Thursday and then again on Saturday. Iran has warned ships transiting through the waterway that they must receive approval from Tehran. Ships have continued travelling through the Iranian-approved northern corridor. The Omani foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said on Monday that Oman was in discussions with Iran on charging service fees for transiting the strait, including safety measures and navigation assistance, but would not explicitly charge tolls for using the waterway. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News that a US delegation to Doha would include Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iranian negotiators are expected to meet them there. Axios, a US website, reported that the talks would also include “technical teams” meant to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme, indicating that pre-planned negotiations may now focus on how to prevent a return to open conflict between the US and Iran. The US vice-president, JD Vance, last week credited new high-level contacts with the Iranian government with preventing a new outbreak of violence in the region. A US official told Axios that the US had “decided to stop all the kinetic activity”, meaning strikes against Iran, in advance of the talks. The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, also told state media on Monday that Qatar would release $6bn (£4.52bn) of nearly $12bn in Iranian frozen assets. The interim deal signed by the US and Iran stipulated that the release of frozen Iranian assets would be connected to the implementation of a new nuclear deal. US officials have said that no frozen Iranian assets had been released. The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, has said his country will deploy troops along its entire southern border as part of a framework agreement signed with Israel on Friday. That deal calls for Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, to be disarmed before Israel withdraws its troops from southern Lebanon. The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has said its military would not withdraw “a millimetre” from southern Lebanon, where it is occupying a swath of land, until Hezbollah was disarmed. Israel would pull out of two locations as a “pilot programme” in which Lebanese forces would replace them. But otherwise, he said, “people should not hold their breath wondering where the next place will be from which Israel will withdraw in Lebanon, because it will not happen until Hezbollah is disarmed”. Katz also claimed he had received backing from the US Centcom chief, Adm Brad Cooper, who he said agreed that “the [Israel Defense Forces] will not withdraw from the three security zones – in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza”. A senior Hezbollah official, Mahmoud Qmati, said on Monday the accord was “effectively dead” already but said Hezbollah would mainly rely on Iran to represent its interests during upcoming negotiations with the US. Hezbollah “will hold on to our weapons”, he said in an interview with the New Arab website. “We will continue to rely on the Islamabad and Switzerland track and the pressure from Iran, which possesses leverage to pressure the Americans so that they, in turn, pressure the Israelis to withdraw from our land.”

EU sets up three months of talks with China over €360bn trade deficit

The EU and China have agreed to enter three months of talks to try to avoid a trade war over the bloc’s €360bn (£310bn) annual import/export imbalance. In their first joint statement in seven years, the two sides agreed in Brussels to open a formal trade consultation after weeks of threats and recriminations from China if the EU imposed any measures to stop the flood of goods and components into the bloc. The EU’s trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said he hoped the “dialogue would bring tangible results” before the next meeting in Beijing in October. He met his Chinese counterpart, the commerce minister, Wang Wentao, for talks on Monday as part of a diplomatic offensive. They said in a joint statement: “The EU and China as key trade partners, agree that the main objective of the TIC [trade and investment consultations] is to strengthen dialogue at ministerial level on trade and investment policies with the view to stabilise and make our bilateral relationship more balanced.” EU leaders met two weeks ago to discuss concerns over what is now widely being described as China Shock 2.0 – a threat to European industries and jobs that extends far beyond electric vehicles and green energy. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, said on 15 June that Chinese exports to the EU outweighed imports from the bloc by €1bn a day. “We simply cannot afford to continue in the unsustainable growth of the trade deficit from the European perspective,” said Šefčovič. “We just didn’t want to wait too long. You hear it from European leaders, you heard it from the president of the European Commission, that what is very important for us is engagement, it’s dialogue. But it has to bring tangible results, and we believe that we can achieve them by October.” Industry groups including the European Chambers of Commerce in China say the level of exports going to Europe is threatening to “cannibalise” EU factories heavily reliant on components from China. The two sides have agreed to enter into consultation on four areas: the rebalancing of trade and investment; export controls including those on rare earths; intellectual property rights and World Trade Organization reforms. They have also agreed to a joint monitoring mechanism going beyond the headline figures recorded by Eurostat and GACC, the Chinese customs database. This will enable both sides to identify sudden surges in exports or imports with “political” discussions triggered should either side go into an “amber or red” danger zone, said Šefčovič. It is understood the European Commission has been mapping in fine detail the imports and exports data for the past year, suggesting that the three months of talks will focus on political dialogue. The EU has adopted a cautious approach after its 2024 imposition of tariffs failed to curb imports of EVs, with sources saying quotas on hybrids and chemicals could be mooted for the autumn.

Strong aftershock terrifies Venezuelans days after devastating twin quakes

A strong aftershock has rattled northern Venezuela, sending terrified residents racing on to the streets five days after the twin earthquakes that killed 1,719 people, left tens of thousands missing and triggered a growing humanitarian emergency. The aftershock early on Monday – which the US Geological Survey measured at a magnitude of 4.6 – shook the capital, Caracas, and the devastated port city of La Guaira, where rescue crews are still hoping to pull as many survivors as possible from the rubble. Colombia’s geological survey put the aftershock’s magnitude at 5.1. Although Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the Venezuelan national assembly, said there were no immediate reports of new damage, the trembling earth and sounding of quake sirens brought fresh panic to Caracas and La Guaira. “I was asleep when the shaking woke me up. It felt almost as strong as Wednesday’s earthquake, even though I hadn’t felt the other aftershocks,” said Amarelis Mendoza, a resident of El Hatillo in Caracas. In the hardest-hit areas of the capital – including Altamira and San Bernardino – people poured on to the streets from the makeshift shelters where they had been staying. Many have been sleeping outside apartment buildings or in tents pitched along sidewalks, fearing further collapses. Several lines of the Caracas metro were shut down again over concerns that additional aftershocks could further damage already weakened infrastructure. In San Bernardino, search operations at the 22-unit Rita apartment building, which collapsed completely during last week’s earthquake, were suspended for about an hour and a half following Monday’s tremor. As the new week began, some businesses across the capital started to reopen. But the number of people seeking refuge in parks and public squares continues to grow as the humanitarian crisis deepens. Hundreds of displaced families from Caracas and beyond have been camping out in Parque del Este, a 200-acre park in the east of the capital. “Life is worth more than anything else,” said 35-year-old Katiuska Asuaje, who fled her home in the La Cruz sector of Bello Campo in Caracas with four children. “We weren’t going to wait for the house to collapse on top of us because one of the concrete roof slabs had already come loose.” Maryuri Pérez, 36, and Jaime Blanco, 40, had nowhere to go back to after their shack in west Caracas collapsed. “What we need most is a tent or at least a mattress to sleep on,” said Pérez. “Thank God the neighbours have been bringing us food, but we have nowhere to sleep.” The aftershock came as local people and Venezuelan and international search teams continued to comb the rubble for survivors of last Wednesday’s back-to-back quakes, which measured magnitude 7.2 and 7.5. The rescue of a man and his teenage son who were pulled alive from the rubble in La Guaira state on Sunday offered a brief moment of optimism. “Today we have rescued people who are still alive and therefore these efforts will not be suspended,” said Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez. But the chances of similar rescues are dwindling. A Salvadoran rescue worker, who declined to give his name, told Agence France-Presse: “At this point, they are probably dead bodies. Thanks to God maybe we can find people still alive.” According to the government, which has been criticised for its slow response and lack of preparation for the disaster, 5,034 people were injured and almost 800 buildings were badly damaged when the quakes hit. Tens of thousands of people are still missing well after the closure of the critical 72-hour window for rescuing trapped victims following a natural disaster, while millions more lack sanitation and other basic necessities. Even as rescue efforts continued, outbreaks of looting hit La Guaira, which is near the country’s main international airport. Much of the city now lies in rubble after last week’s disaster. Pharmacies, supermarkets and other businesses were ransacked, said residents, some of whom complained of the slow and meagre post-quake aid coming from authorities. The authorities have barred international journalists from entering the collapse zones in La Guaira for 48 hours, saying the restriction had been imposed for security reasons. Exasperation has boiled over in some areas where people claim that authorities have not done enough to rescue earthquake victims. “The country needs you. Put down your weapon,” one man shouted to soldiers in the Tanaguarena area of La Guaira state, urging them to swap their guns for picks and shovels. Twenty-four nations have so far sent 521 tonnes of supplies, 86 units with dogs trained to locate people trapped beneath the rubble and more than 2,700 search-and-rescue personnel, she said. The UN migration agency said that up to 6.76 million people could be affected by the disasters, and would require shelter, water, sanitation, healthcare and essential relief items. Venezuela’s worst earthquakes in more than a century have come after the oil-rich country endured more than a decade of economic collapse. The crisis has hollowed out hospitals and public services, driving millions to leave the country. The UN has put the bill for physical repairs at $6.7bn (£5bn) – equivalent to 6% of Venezuela’s GDP. On Monday, the US announced it was doubling its aid package from $150m to $300m. “These funds will provide emergency medical care, food assistance, water and sanitation, shelter, protection, and logistics,” the state department said. The Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado, who is in exile, announced she would return “very soon” to her homeland. “The time has come,” she told the US broadcaster Fox News on Sunday. “We need to be together, to embrace, to grieve and mourn together, but also to give each other strength at this difficult time.” Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting

Venezuela earthquakes aftershock hits near capital city as man rescued from rubble after being trapped for 106 hours – as it happened

The United States has pledged more than $300m in funding to aid earthquake-hit Venezuela, the state department said today, up from a previous commitment of $150m. “These funds will provide emergency medical care, food assistance, water and sanitation, shelter, protection, and logistics,” the department said in a statement. Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez has posted footage of the rescuing of Aaron Levi Cantillo Vargas, 21, who she says was trapped under rubble in the town of Caraballeda for 106 hours before being pulled out to safety earlier today The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly has warned time is running out to rescue survivors trapped under the rubble. The death toll from the earthquakes has risen to at least 1,450 people, with 3,150 injured and 12,721 others displaced, Jorge Rodríguez said yesterday in a televised address. A 4.6-magnitude aftershock centred ⁠at ⁠a depth of 10km (six ⁠miles) hit north of the Venezuelan ⁠capital Caracas early ‌on ‌Monday, according to ‌the US Geological Survey. No damage was immediately reported from the ‌aftershock. US Marines are working to repair the Venezuelan port of La Guaira, a senior administration official said Monday, as Washington boosted its financial commitment for the earthquake-hit country to $300m. A “specialised team of Marines” are “working around the clock to repair that port and allow the delivery of critical supplies by sea,” the US official told journalists on condition of anonymity, adding that the USS Fort Lauderdale – an amphibious transport dock warship – had also docked there. Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, the Netherlands defence minister and deputy prime minister, said last night that the patrol vessel HNLMS Groningen was heading from the Caribbean to Venezuela to provide assistance to Venezuela following the earthquakes. In a post on X, she said the ship, which will deliver relief supplies, can provide and produce drinking water to affected areas in the country. The wife and two children of Argentine footballer Lucas Trejo have died after the powerful twin earthquakes struck Venezuela last week, his team said on Sunday. Trejo, who plays for Club Sport Maritimo La Guaira, a second-division team in Venezuela, had searched for his wife Yanina and children Aarón and Ainhoa in the rubble for three days before rescue workers recovered their bodies, CNN reported. China says it will send 100 million yuan ($14.7m; £11.1m) in disaster relief aid to Venezuela. The Chinese government will provide Venezuela with “emergency free relief supplies... to support earthquake relief and post-disaster reconstruction”, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters this morning. All schools in Venezuela will remain closed until at least 6 June due to the extensive damage caused by the earthquakes that struck last week, the country’s education ministry has said. The government has urged families to follow official channels to keep informed about the latest developments.

Iran is jealously competing with Oman as decision-maker over strait of Hormuz

The strait of Hormuz is Iran’s chief bargaining tool in the negotiations with the US and so it was always likely to be the greatest point of contention. Every inch of the 24-mile-wide waterway is being contested in a test of wills and patience. For Iran, the continuation of the dispute is not a problem so long as it does not lose control. Under the memorandum of understanding signed with Washington on 18 June, substantive talks over Iran’s nuclear programme do not need to start until the lifting of the blockade of the strait – something Iran is required to use only “its best endeavours” to achieve. Moreover, the longer the blockade lasts, the closer come the US midterm elections for Trump. Iran’s government may yet find itself in a reckoning with its inflation-ravaged electorate but no date for that is fixed. Iran is adopting a maximalist interpretation of the memorandum, decreeing that it alone can lift the blockade. Jealously guarding this prerogative, it has been resisting the involvement of any other country or institution in opening the strait. For that reason, Iran rejected the suggestion of a southern route close to the coast of Oman developed with the UN’s International Maritime Organization. The idea was that, as the central route through the strait had been closed because of mines, two new shipping lanes could be opened, one in Omani waters overseen by the US Joint Maritime Information Center, and one farther north close to Iran. The IMO thought it had Iran’s agreement for the proposal. But either different parts of the Iranian regime adopted different positions or the IMO misunderstood Iran’s flexibility. Either way the Iranian attack on a Singaporean ship passing through the southern route on Thursday led the IMO to abandon the plan. For Iran, losing the strait card would mean returning to negotiations on prewar terms and losing an important strategic tool. At a news conference in Baghdad the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said: “Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements from those currently being pursued by the Islamic Republic will only lead to further complications, delays in reopening the strait of Hormuz and an increase in tensions.” But the row over the southern route – likely to be discussed in talks in Doha – has the potential to overshadow the search for a long-term solution to the management of the strait – a solution that has been worked up in considerable legal detail by Oman over the past two months. The plan has been crafted with the aim of meeting the requirements of international law and also securing Iran’s eventual support. But Oman, a neutral nation by temperament and practice, is in a delicate diplomat spot. It knows that if it ignores Iran’s objections, Tehran is less likely to agree to Oman’s plan for the future of the strait. But if Oman does not take the initiative in helping the humanitarian operation to release thousands of trapped sailors, the less likely it is that its proposals for the strait will be accepted by the region or by the UN – and the more likely it is the US will return to all-out war. The very fact that Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, held joint discussions in Muscat with Oman’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Abdulaziz al-Hinai, is a tacit acknowledgment by Tehran that it does not have sole decision-making powers in the strait’s future management. What Oman has tried to do is construct a management system that will ensure littoral states receive income from commercial shipping passing through the strait but the income would come as much as possible in the voluntary contributions, or payments for specific navigational services made by trade groups, ships or states. The Omani foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, explained: “We are not in favour of imposing tolls on passage through the strait of Hormuz, which is prohibited internationally – whereas service fees are legal, and discussions are currently under way with the Iranian side concerning them.” It is a distinction with a difference, and one that has been developed with some of the best UK commercial legal advice. Article 26 of the law of the sea expressly forbids payment for mere passage but article 43 permits user states and strait states to fund cooperatively the provision of maritime services, including a port call or service used. This point will have been made by the sultan of Oman during his meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday. In theory, Macron and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, have a naval taskforce ready to set sail to police an agreement on freedom of navigation. The sultan is likely to have argued that if the west adopts Oman’s plan, there will be no need for such a force.

Five people killed in shooting in northern Germany, police say – Europe live

We are now closing today’s live blog. Five people – four women and one man – have been killed in a shooting at a youth welfare facility ⁠in a northern German town of Stade. One person died later from their injuries at a hospital. Two people – unofficially identified by the German media as a man and a woman, both 21-year-old – remain in police custody in connection with the shooting. There is an unknown number of people injured, some seriously, with concerns that the death toll could rise further in the coming hours. The motive for the shooting and the circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear at this stage. A further press conference is scheduled for 7.30pm local time. Separately, Extreme temperatures continue to affect large parts of central and eastern Europe, with at least 130 million people expected to experience temperatures of 35C and above today, AFP estimates said (11:50). Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Serbia are among the countries most affected today, with temperatures up to 40C. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Sydney to get parking zones for shared ebikes in bid to stop ‘wild west scenes’ of blocked footpaths

Shared ebikes cluttering Sydney footpaths will be kicked to the kerb in the coming months under funding to establish marked parking bays, the New South Wales government says. On Tuesday, the state government announced $6.6m in funding for Sydney local councils to nominate and paint dedicated parking areas. Each council will be given up to $200,000. Operators are paying for the Sharing Scheme Grant Program through a 60c fee on each shared ebike trip. When the program was first announced last year, operators including Lime suggested the levy would probably be integrated into existing management fees for ebike users. The number of shared ebikes in Australia has quadrupled in less than two years, with the vast majority in Sydney. The city’s ebike fleet has surged from 13,000 in January to more than 20,000 in May, according to Transport for NSW. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The NSW transport minister, John Graham, said while the growth of shared schemes was a positive development, “we are not willing to stand around and let the wild west scenes … go on any longer”. “Pedestrians have been crying out for order and for their footpaths back.” The government says the funding is for the 16 councils that now host shared ebike schemes, to deliver marked bays on streets and kerbside zones “in the areas of most conflict and complaint”. The scheme was announced last year alongside expanded powers for LGAs, which will be rolled out progressively in the coming months. Councils can decide “no-go’” and “go-slow” zones for shared and private ebikes, and penalise shared ebike operators if parking areas aren’t used, with a maximum penalty of $55,000 plus $5,500 for each day the offence continues. Multiple councils have already piloted shared parking schemes, including the City of Sydney, North Sydney and Waverley. Transport for NSW has trialled parking zones at nine train and metro stations around Sydney, with space for about 190 ebikes. The transport secretary, Josh Murray, said the agency was accelerating its own rollout of bays at other transport hubs and stations. “We’re aiming to have 250 bays available by late this year, with 62 already in delivery,” he said. The government said its trial pointed to marked bays reducing kicked-over bikes and blocked footpaths by half. The changes are part of a safety crackdown on shared and private ebikes amid a surge in injuries and come after an incident earlier this year when dozens of ebikes swarmed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The government has given authorities powers to seize and crush private ebikes operating at speeds more than 25km/h but has yet to decide on a minimum age to ride an ebike.

Pakistani airstrikes kill dozens in eastern Afghanistan

Pakistani airstrikes in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan killed 36 civilians and wounded 163 others, Afghan officials have said, as attacks between the two countries showed no sign of abating. Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the operations on Sunday night were aimed at a terrorist group his country blamed for a deadly militant attack in Karachi that killed three security personnel over the weekend. Tarar said Pakistani security forces had carried out an “intelligence-based ground operation” followed by airstrikes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border targeting terrorist hideouts over the border. Afghan authorities have repeatedly denied that their territory harbours militants. Hamdullah Fitrat, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said Pakistani forces targeted a home in the Chamkani district of Paktia province, killing an older man and a child and wounding other family members. When residents gathered to rescue people, the area was struck again, killing 28 villagers and wounding 158, he said. Six people, mostly women and children, were killed when a home was struck in a village in Giyan district, Paktika province, Fitrat said. A civilian home in Kunar province was also hit, causing no casualties but killing 30 livestock. Another Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, condemned the military action as a “cowardly act of aggression”. The strikes are the latest flare-up of violence between the two countries, whose relationship has been fraught since the Taliban government took power in 2021, and follow a weeks-long war that erupted in February. On Saturday, militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers in Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested a wounded assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement on Saturday night. Tarar said Pakistan’s latest operation along the Afghan border targeted the hideouts and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khawarij, a term Pakistan uses for the Pakistani Taliban. “Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time shall not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens, which remains our top priority,” Tarar said. Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence. The TTP is a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The countries agreed to a ceasefire in March but there have been sporadic attacks since, with Pakistani strikes in June killing 13 people, according to Afghan officials. As Islamabad mediates between the US and Iran to end their war in the Middle East, Pakistan says its battle against militancy at home requires its strikes on Afghanistan. Afghan authorities say Pakistani operations have caused a heavy civilian death toll, including a strike at a drug treatment centre in March that the UN said killed hundreds. The conflict has included fierce fighting along the frontier and unprecedented Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan cities including the capital, Kabul, and Kandahar, where the Taliban supreme leader is based. Mediation from several countries including China and Saudi Arabia has failed to produce a lasting resolution and the frontier has been largely closed since cross-border violence in October. In early March, Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan could prevail only if the Taliban regime “renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations”. With Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press