South Korea President Lee promises to help companies minimise difficulties from competing globally
FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks during a press conference at the Presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Ahn Young-joon/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Zelenskiy says Ukraine halts Russian troops' advance in Sumy region
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a joint press conference with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (not pictured) after talks, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian forces have stopped Russian troops advancing in the northeastern Sumy region and are now battling along the border to regain control, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. In remarks released for publication by his office on Saturday, Zelenskiy said that Moscow has amassed about 53,000 troops in the direction of Sumy. "We are leveling the position. The fighting there is along the border. You should understand that the enemy has been stopped there. And the maximum depth at which the fighting takes place is 7 km from the border," Zelenskiy said. Reuters could not verify battlefield reports. Russia's troops have been focusing their assaults in the eastern Donetsk region, but since the start of the month, they have intensified their attacks in the north-east, announcing plans to create a so-called 'buffer zone' in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. The Russian war in Ukraine is in its fourth year but it has intensified in recent weeks. Ukraine conducted an audacious drone attack that took out multiple aircraft inside Russia and also hit the bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula using underwater explosives. Zelenskiy said that the Ukrainian troops had maintained their defensive lines along more than 1,000 kilometres of the frontline. He also dismissed Moscow's claims that Russian troops had crossed the administrative border of the Ukrainian central region of Dnipropetrovsk. Zelenskiy said that Russia was sending small assault groups "to get one foot on the administrative border" and make a picture or a video but these attacks were repelled. Dnipropetrovsk region borders three regions that are partially occupied by Russia – Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia now controls about one-fifth of the Ukrainian territory. Zelenskiy acknowledged that Ukraine was unable to regain all of its territory by military force and reiterated his pleas for stronger sanctions on Russia to force Moscow into negotiations to end the war. Two rounds of peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul produced few results that could lead to a ceasefire and a broader peace deal. The two sides agreed only to exchange prisoners of war. Several swaps have already been conducted this month, and Zelenskiy expected POW swaps to continue until June 20 or 21. "The agreement is that the exchanges will be completed, and the sides will discuss the next step," Zelenskiy said. (Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Toby Chopra)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Canada's Sikhs voice outrage over Modi G7 invitation
FILE PHOTO: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the ceremonial recption of Angola's President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco at the Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in New Delhi, India, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo TORONTO (Reuters) -Members of Canada's Sikh community who were warned by police that their lives were at risk and allege the Indian government is responsible for the threatare incensed by Ottawa's invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Modi, although India is not a G7 member, to attend the summit that starts on Sunday as a guest. It will be Modi's first visit to Canada in a decade and a diplomatic test for Carney, a political neophyte. Canada's relationship with India has been tense since former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2023 accused India's government of involvement in the June 18, 2023, murder ofHardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in Canada. Modi's government has denied involvement in Nijjar's killing and has accused Canada of providing a safe haven for Sikh separatists. "'Outrage' is the kind of term that I've heard from people," Sikh activist Moninder Singh, a friend of Nijjar, said of the invitation. He and other Sikh leaders plan to hold a protest in Ottawa on Saturday. Carney, locked in a trade war with the United States, is trying to shore up alliances elsewhere and diversify Canada's exports. Carney told reporters he invited India due to its importance in global supply chains. India's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a Thursday press briefing that a meeting between Modi and Carney "will offer an important opportunity for them to exchange views on bilateral and global issues and explore pathways to set or reset the relationship." SIKHS FACE THREATS That rationale rings hollow for Singh, who lives in British Columbia. He has received multiple warnings from police that his life was at risk. One such warning forced him from his home for months in 2023 for his children's safety. "On a personal level, and on a community level, as well, it was deeply insulting ... Sikh lives aren't as important as the fifth-largest economy in the world that needs to be at the table," he said. A spokesperson for Carney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in October they had communicated more than a dozen threats to people like Singh who are advocating for the creation of a Sikh homeland carved out of India. In October, under Trudeau, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to Nijjar's murder and alleging a broader government effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada through killings, extortion, use of organized crime and clandestine information-gathering. India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats and called the allegations preposterous and politically motivated. Canada has said it does not have evidence linking Modi to the threats. The tension has thrust Canada's Sikh community - the largest outside India's Sikh-majority Punjab state - into the spotlight. Singh said there should have been conditions on Modi's invitation. "Any meetings with them should have been under the conditions that Mr. Modi and his government would take responsibility for what has been uncovered and cooperate, but none of that happened." Carney told reporters Modi had agreed to "law enforcement dialogue." Jaiswal said Indian and Canadian law enforcement agencies will continue to cooperate in some ways. Some activists and politicians in Canada have accused Carney of putting economic issues ahead of human rights concerns. But Sanjay Ruparelia, a Toronto Metropolitan University politics professor, said the prime minister is simply being practical. "(Carney's) watchword since he's come to office is pragmatism. And this is very much a pragmatic, realpolitik decision." (Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto with additional reporting from Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Rod Nickel)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Iraq reopens Syria crossing for trade and passenger traffic
FILE PHOTO: Iraqi army commanders visit by helicopter a military base near a border crossing with Syria at Al-Qaim, Iraq January 18, 2021. Picture taken January 18, 2021. REUTERS/John Davison/File Photo ANBAR (Reuters) -Iraq has officially reopened the Qaim border crossing with Syria for trade and passenger traffic, a spokesman for the Iraqi border authority said on Saturday, marking a key step in efforts to normalise relations and revive economic ties between the two countries. 'The Qaim crossing is now fully operational for both cargo trucks and civilian movement,' the spokesman told Reuters, adding that the reopening followed joint security assessments by Iraqi and Syrian officials. The move comes three months after Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani visited Baghdad and urged Iraq to resume cross-border trade. The crossing had been shut in the wake of the revolt that toppled President Bashar al-Assad and the ensuing years of conflict that destabilised the region. The reopening is also seen as a sign of warming ties between Baghdad and Syria's new leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has sought to re-establish diplomatic and economic relations with regional neighbours. Iraqi officials say the two governments have intensified coordination on border security and trade facilitation since al-Sharaa took office last year. 'This crossing will serve as a strategic corridor for commodity trade between Iraq and Syria,' said Turki al-Mahallawi, mayor of the town of al-Qaim, where the border post is located. (Reporting by Kamal Mohammed in Anbar; Writing by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Toby Chopra)
