Israel and Iran hit each other overnight as conflict continues
JERUSALEM/DUBAI (Reuters) -- Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict, as U.S. President Donald Trump said it could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any U.S. targets.
Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13.
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Asahi Shimbun
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- Asahi Shimbun
South Korea's Lee plans to hold bilateral talks at G-7 summit, his office says
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a press conference at the presidential office in Seoul on June 4. (Pool via REUTERS/File Photo) SEOUL--South Korean President Lee Jae-myung plans to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of countries attending the G-7 summit, with details still being coordinated, his office said on Sunday. Lee will depart on Monday for the summit in Canada, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac told a briefing. The presidential office said Seoul was open to holding trilateral talks with Washington and Tokyo, the Yonhap news agency reported. Lee was also preparing for potential talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in case he attends, Yonhap said, citing a presidential office official. "By engaging with the leaders of the United States and Japan, we can explore ways to resolve pending economic and trade issues such as tariffs," Wi said. Lee plans to hold meetings with leaders of key countries before and after attending the extended session of the summit, Wi added, without naming countries. Seoul and Washington are holding working-level tariff talks, crucial for South Korea's export-oriented economy, with key sectors from chips to vehicles and shipbuilding heavily exposed to global trade. U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on South Korea, a long time ally with which it has a bilateral free trade deal, and pressed it to pay more for the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed there. Lee, a liberal, was elected on June 3 after former conservative leader Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached and ousted over his short-lived declaration of martial law last year. The visit will mark Lee's first diplomatic trip since taking office.
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Trump's plan to begin 'phasing out' FEMA after hurricane season burdens states, experts warn
By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office of the the White House on June 10, as from left, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, listen. President Donald Trump's plan to begin 'phasing out' the federal agency that responds to disasters after the 2025 hurricane season is likely to put more responsibilities on states to provide services following increasingly frequent and expensive climate disasters, experts said. 'We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level,' Trump said in an Oval Office appearance with administration officials about preparations for summer wildfires. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly signaled their desire to overhaul, if not completely eliminate, the 46-year-old Federal Emergency Management Agency. While there has been bipartisan support for reforming the agency, experts say dismantling it completely would leave gaps in crucial services and funding. 'It just causes more concern on how states should be planning for the future if the federal government's not going to be there for them,' said Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations. Disaster response is already locally led and state-managed, but FEMA supports by coordinating resources from federal agencies, providing direct assistance programs for households and moving money to states for repairing public infrastructure. Trump said Tuesday he wants to 'give out less money,' and to 'give it out directly,' sidestepping FEMA programs. He said he did not know who would distribute the funds, saying they could come 'from the president's office' or DHS. 'I was left with the impression that he doesn't really understand the scale of what FEMA manages on a yearly basis with a budget of over $30 billion,' said Coen. Dismantling FEMA, or even changing how much of the costs it shares with states in the event of a major disaster declaration, would require action from Congress, including amending the 1988 Stafford Act, which outlines FEMA's roles and responsibilities and the cost share between the feds and the states. Declaring fewer major disasters or giving less federal support could put an untenable financial burden on states, said Sara McTarnaghan, principal research associate at the Urban Institute. 'Very few of them would have had enough funds set aside to anticipate the federal government stepping back from its historic role in disaster recovery for major events,' McTarnaghan said. A recent Urban Institute analysis found that between 2008-2024, quadrupling the economic threshold of when major disasters are declared would have shifted $41 billion in public assistance costs alone to state and local governments. 'I think the trade off for states and communities is going to be, do we accept a less full recovery or do states draw on other resources to meet these goals and needs, perhaps at the cost of investments in other kinds of social programs or functions of the state,' said McTarnaghan. Not all states will be able to generate much more revenue, she added. 'The confluence of states that have really high disaster exposure and states that have relatively limited fiscal capacity are overlapping in many ways,' she said. 'That's the case for a lot of states along the Gulf Coast that we're concerned about going into hurricane season but also the case for some Midwestern states that face issues with severe convective storms.' Trump dismissed the idea that states can't handle the bulk of disasters on their own. 'The governor should be able to handle it and frankly if they can't handle the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn't be governor,' he said. He suggested that some of the gaps could be filled by more collaboration among states. Noem said FEMA is building communication and mutual aid agreements among states 'to respond to each other so that they can stand on their own two feet.' A national mutual-aid structure called the Emergency Management Assistance Compact already exists, but its operations are typically reimbursed by the federal government, said Coen. 'There's already robust communication between states. The confusion is what they can expect from the federal government.' Regarding the current hurricane season, which began June 1, Noem said FEMA 'stands prepared.' But there have already been changes to how the agency operates. It suspended its door-to-door canvassing program that helped enroll survivors for assistance. More than 2,000 FEMA staff, around one-third of the full-time workforce, have left or been fired since January. After severe weather this spring, some states waited as long as eight weeks for their disaster declaration requests, and several requests are still pending. Trump has not approved any requests for hazard mitigation assistance since February, a typical add-on to individual and public assistance that helps states build back in more resilient ways. A FEMA review council established by Trump and co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will submit suggestions for reforms in the next few months, according to Noem. In its first meeting in May, Noem told the group of governors, emergency managers, and other officials primarily from Republican states that Trump is seeking drastic change. 'I don't want you to go into this thinking we're going to make a little tweak here,' she said. 'No, FEMA should no longer exist as it is.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
Canada, UK agree to establish trade working group, expand defense collaboration
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a bilateral meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, before the start of the G7 summit, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool By Promit Mukherjee Canada and the United Kingdom agreed on Sunday to set up a trade working group which will submit its recommendations to the prime ministers of the respective countries within the next six months, a joint statement by the two governments said. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Canada for bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Mark Carney before the G7 leaders' summit in Alberta from Sunday to Tuesday. Carney has been reaching out to allies to strengthen and diversify the country's trade as its industries, especially steel, aluminum and automobiles, face U.S. tariffs. "We will establish a new structured UK-Canada Economic and Trade Working Group to deepen our existing trading relationship further," the joint statement by the two prime ministers said. The working group would seek to address market access barriers, expand arrangements into areas such as digital trade, and explore cooperation to develop critical minerals and artificial intelligence infrastructure, the statement said. While the UK is an important trading partner for Canada, it represents only a small share of Canada's exports. In 2024, the UK represented 3.6% of exports and 1.2% of imports for the country, according to the Conference Board of Canada. Exports to the UK are mainly dominated by gold and energy products. The joint statement also said that Canada would introduce legislation in the second half of the year to ratify the UK's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade group of 11 countries. The group comprises Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada. The UK gained access to nine countries under the Indo-Pacific trade treaty last year and is still awaiting its ratification by Canada and Mexico. The two countries will also expand defense collaboration including support for Ukraine, the statement said. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
