The US Armed Forces have lifted the naval blockade on Iran and are no longer restricting the movement of vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

"Today, US forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President's direction. American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. All US military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased. Our great Naval Ships will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect," the statement said.

#CENTCOM added that #US naval vessels will remain in the region to monitor compliance with the agreements reached. According to the command, their task will be to ensure adherence to all provisions of the agreement and oversee its implementation.

TYRE, Lebanon — Adnan Kaour returned on Thursday to check on his home in southern Lebanon ‘s coastal city of Tyre — once known as an idyllic summer getaway spot — just a week after Israel issued warnings for all of its residents to evacuate.

The warnings were followed by sweeping airstrikes, which Israel said targeted the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

What Kaour found back in Tyre shattered his hopes. His dream family apartment overlooking the shimmering Mediterranean Sea was a heap of rubble and shattered glass.

His return came after the announcement of an agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East. The deal also calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, but it’s unclear what that means in practice.

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as “Israel’s security needs require it.”

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri -- a Hezbollah ally -- said Thursday that the group was committed to the ceasefire, “provided that Israel adheres to it fully and comprehensively.

For its part, Hezbollah has said that it’s committed to resisting any occupation by Israel. Fighting between the two sides, which was still underway on Thursday in some parts of southern Lebanon, could derail the deal.
Many hope the U.S.-Iran deal signals better times

For residents in the south of crisis-battered Lebanon, hopes of better times are mixed with skepticism after many ceasefire announcements that had failed to halt the fighting.

Kaour lives in Germany, but spends most of the summer in Tyre. Last month, when an Israeli strike hit their street without warning, he was abroad with his family.

When he returned, he saw his building, with a popular sweets shop and an electronics store on the ground floor, was still standing, unlike surrounding structures that were levelled to the ground.

But walls and windows had been blasted out. He was relieved his family had not been there, he said.

“I’m hopeful for peace, and God willing this is the end of the war, and everyone can go back to their homes,” he said. “We are living abroad, but our minds are here in our country.”

Outside, the street filled with people trying to clear the rubble.

Kaour’s neighbour one floor above, Samih Haidar, had also just returned and found his door bolted by wooden boards.

He tried to kick them down, but failed, then anxiously waited as two men who had been clearing rubble on another floor came and unscrewed the bolts.

Through a gap, Haidar climbed in. He didn’t know what to expect. He had rented the apartment out to a family displaced from another area in the south, people who came to him through a friend.

His anxiety turned into shock: broken furniture, shattered glass, rubble and a burned out kitchen that had caught fire after the strike. He slowly walked through each room, quietly filming with his phone. He doesn’t know what became of the tenants — displaced from Tyre like scores of others, he presumed.

“We want things to work out and live in safety, so there can be stability for us and everyone else,” Haidar said.
An isolated enclave hopes for reprieve

Farther south, the Christian village of Ain Ebel is one of a few enclaves in Lebanon’s border area where residents have remained during the war. Christian villages, where Hezbollah has little presence, have been largely spared the destruction of neighboring Shiite villages. But they have their own problems.

The village is cut off from the rest of Lebanon by fighting and Israeli checkpoints, relying on aid convoys that require extensive coordination to get through. One such convoy, organized by the Order of Malta, a Catholic lay religious order, arrived Thursday bearing emergency livestock feed and supplies for farmers.

Cattle farmer Boutros Maroun said people in Ain Ebel are exhausted.

“We don’t care about America and Iran, we want the Lebanese people to live comfortably and happily,” he said. ”Every two years there’s a new war, and we can no longer take it.”

The convoy was delayed in returning to Beirut because of explosives found on the road, which had to be cleared by U.N. peacekeepers.
Fighting pierces a tenuous ceasefire

The fighting subsided but did not stop Thursday. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported several Israeli drone strikes, including one on a car in the town of Kfar Tebnit that killed one person and critically wounded another. Hezbollah later said in a statement that its fighters clashed with Israeli troops trying to advance on the town. Israel did not comment.

To the north, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, displaced families huddled along the waterfront in Beirut. Most of them have been sleeping in tents for months, living in limbo. For others, it’s a bench or a mattress on the ground.

Many said they’re not convinced that the U.S.-Iran deal will hold or that they will be able to return to their homes — if they still exist. In the border area close to Israel, many Lebanese villages have been almost completely demolished.

“I haven’t felt relieved at all,” said Mohammed Ashmar, displaced from the border village of Deir Seryan, holding a cup of coffee and sitting near his tent on the waterfront. “Until I get back to my home ... I won’t be convinced of anything.”

The Israel-Hezbollah war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon, and killed more than 3,900, according to Lebanese officials. About 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Speaking during a visit by foreign dignitaries on Thursday, Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said the country faces urgent humanitarian needs but also the daunting task of planning for the return of displaced families and reconstruction of the destroyed areas.

“The Lebanese people deserve peace,” she said. “They deserve to return safely to their homes, rebuild their communities, and look to the future with confidence and hope.”

___

Associated Press journalists Fadi Tawil in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. Hussein reported from Ain Ebel, Lebanon.

Kareem Chehayeb Malak Harb And Bilal Hussein, The Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his work at the Russia-ASEAN summit, dedicated to the 35th anniversary of Russia’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Thursday is the main day of the event.

The Russian leader is expected not only to participate in two multilateral sessions but also to hold a series of bilateral meetings. He is set to meet with almost all heads of the foreign delegations that have arrived in Kazan, the summit’s host city.

Participants will gather in the morning at the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Center, where the Russian president will welcome delegation heads. They will pose for a traditional family photo before proceeding to the first session, scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (7:00 a.m. GMT).

The session will open with addresses by Putin and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who are co-chairing the summit. Other delegation heads will also deliver speeches, and everyone will exchange views on the most pressing issues on the international and regional agenda. Besides, the parties will also review the main achievements of strategic partnership between Russia and ASEAN, outlining new goals in politics, security, trade, investment and humanitarian cooperation.

Four documents are planned to be signed as the result of the session. The first one, titled the Kazan Declaration, will "enshrine the coinciding approaches by Russia and ASEAN to international issues and the fields of further cooperation." Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said earlier that "commitment to forming a fair and democratic multipolar world order, based on universally recognized principles of international law and the UN Charter, has been especially emphasized."

The parties will also adopt the 2026-2030 Comprehensive Action Plan to Implement Russia-ASEAN Strategic Partnership. The document outlines specific steps to expand practical cooperation in key areas, including politics, security, trade, investment, energy, transport, agriculture, digital technology, and science. Russia and ASEAN will also approve joint statements on the energy sector and culture.
Working breakfast, bilateral meetings

The heads of delegations will then take part in a second session, a working breakfast dedicated to integration processes in Eurasia. The event will also involve Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

The participants will hear a report on the outcome of the June 17 Russia-ASEAN Business Forum, delivered by Sergey Katyrin, president of Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The session, to be held behind closed doors, will feature a free discussion.

Putin and Marcos Jr. will make statements to the media afterward.

The Russian president will then continue the series of bilateral meetings that began on Wednesday. Putin is particularly expected to meet with the prime ministers of Vietnam, East Timor, Cambodia, Singapore, and Thailand. Yesterday, the Russian leader held conversations with the Philippine president, the leader of Brunei and the prime minister of Malaysia. He also received Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Russia-ASEAN summit

The current summit marks the 35th anniversary of relations between Russia and ASEAN.

This is not the first time Russia has hosted such a gathering. In 2016, the Black Sea resort city of Sochi hosted a summit marking the 25th anniversary of #Russia-ASEAN relations.

ASEAN comprises 11 member states: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, #Singapore, Thailand and #Vietnam.

On his way home from the #G7 in France, Donald Trump send more mixed signals about the future of the North American trade pact. Read the Canada Daily newsletter.

Trump said that Iran can access a $300 billion private fund 'only if they’re doing things right' and that the US has taken a lot of Iran's money which will at 'some point' have to be returned

#Cargo ship's chief engineer charged in 2024 Francis Scott Key bridge collapse in Baltimore.

Karthikeyan Deenadayalan was charged in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Monday with one count of violating the federal Port and Waterways Safety Act. Deenadayalan’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Prosecutors also filed notice of a “deferred prosecution agreement” with the court, but did not provide details about the terms of that deal. Deferred prosecution agreements are typically used when a defendant has agreed to meet certain conditions — such as providing testimony, or paying restitution — in exchange for the charges against them being dropped.

Prosecutors say in court documents that Deenadayalan was the chief engineer of the container ship when it was in the Port of Baltimore in the days before the deadly bridge collision, and that Deenadayalan willfully failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard that an improper fuel pump without a backup system was being used to power two of the ship’s generators.

The Dali, bound for Sri Lanka, lost power twice in a four-minute span as it moved to sea from the Port of Baltimore, causing it to crash into the Key Bridge in the early hours of March 26, 2024. Investigators say a loose wire in a switchboard likely caused the first power loss that led to its steering failure.

But after regaining power, the ship found itself in trouble again, prosecutors say, because the fuel pump used on the two generators was not designed to automatically restart after the first blackout. That caused a second blackout to occur, and the vessel crashed into a supporting column of the bridge, killing six construction workers who had been filling potholes on the structure. The toll bridge first opened in 1977 and is traveled by millions of cars every day.

The Singapore-based ship operator and another employee were indicted on criminal charges in May, accused of relying on the improper pump and then lying about it to investigators. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd. and Chennai, India-based Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd. and the ship’s former technical superintendent Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, are charged with conspiracy, misconduct causing death, failing to immediately inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazardous condition, obstructing the National Transportation Safety Board and making false statements.

A trial in the case against the ship’s operator and the technical superintendent has been scheduled for October 2027.

After the indictment, Synergy Marine expressed disappointment and accused the U.S. Justice Department of turning an accident into a crime. Nair’s lawyer, David Gerger, had a similar response, saying in May that his client “thinks about this accident every day, but he certainly did not cause it.”

In April, a US$2.25 billion settlement was announced between the state of Maryland, Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean Private Limited, the Singapore-based ship owner. Grace Ocean hasn’t been charged with any crimes related to the collapse.

Earlier this month, a federal judge agreed to postpone a civil trial over the collapse after a flurry of last-minute settlements resolved most of the remaining claims, including deals resolving all pending claims over the deaths of six construction workers.

Virtually all of the unresolved claims are alleging economic losses by businesses and local governments. None of the remaining parties were asking to start the trial as scheduled this week.

#Pakistan moves to slash period tax, after legal challenge by two young lawyers. Pakistan’s government is set to abolish sales tax on sanitary products, in a sweeping new measure that reproductive justice advocates say could de-stigmatize ubiquitous social taboos around sexual health.

The planned withdrawal of the 18 per cent sales tax on sanitary items and contraceptives, announced as part of the country’s fiscal budget last week, comes after a campaign for improved access to commercial period products in a nation where only a tiny proportion of woman currently use them.

Such items are “indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities,” said Muhammad Aurangzeb, the finance minister, on Friday.

Aurangzeb said the government would also abolish tax on contraceptives, citing the country’s “alarming” population growth. “Pakistan is the fifth-largest country in the world in terms of population,” he added. “Family planning is a top priority of the government.”

Lawyers Ahsan Jehangir Khan, 29, and Mahnoor Omer, 25, are widely credited with sparking the national discourse in Pakistan after they took the government to court in a landmark legal case urging lawmakers to remove the so-called “period tax” and categorize menstrual products as essential goods instead of luxury items.

According to the United Nations’ children’s agency UNICEF, it is estimated that just 12 per cent of women and girls in Pakistan use commercial sanitary products. Most others resort to cloth and other homemade alternatives, advocates say.

Cost is considered a factor in the low uptake, with locally made products currently incurring the 18 per cent sales tax, and an additional 25 per cent customs tax being added on imported products, according to Khan and Omer’s legal petition submitted in October.

When coupled with other local taxes, women in Pakistan face a total 40 per cent surcharge on period products, according to UNICEF, pricing out the most vulnerable.

While welcoming the sales tax proposal, Omer, the petitioner in the legal case, and Khan, who is representing her, are pressing for the complete eradication of the entire taxation regime surrounding menstrual items, including additional levies on raw materials used to make sanitary pads.

They say that, by applying tax, the Pakistani government has systematically neglected women’s and girls’ rights to health and education – hindering their ability to fully participate in public life – and violated Article 25 of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

Khan told CNN on Sunday that the ongoing case “highlighted the absurdity of the taxation regime” on sanitary items.

“If there was never a constitutional petition, the government would not have woken up to the fact that even the sales tax is wrong,” he said.

In recent years, other governments – including India, Nepal, Scotland and more than a dozen U.S. states – have made similar reforms to lower or remove taxes on period products.
‘Our fight is very much ongoing’

The UN Women agency welcomed the “important step” on Monday, saying that increased affordability of menstrual products will enable more women and girls to stay in the workplace and school.

Bushra Mahnoor, a reproductive justice activist, hailed the “symbolic value” of the proposed change.

“More than the impact this tax removal is going to have in prices, is the impact it has in de-stigmatizing menstruation, and we should not take that lightly,” she told CNN.

But Mahnoor, who co-founded the Pakistan-based non-profit Mahwari Justice, which seeks to end period poverty and menstrual stigma, cautioned that the intervention “does not impact all the menstruators in the country, and definitely not the most vulnerable ones.”

As of mid-2025, nearly 45 per cent of the country’s population were living below the World Bank’s global lower middle-income poverty line of US$4.20 (about 1,175 Pakistani rupees) per day, it reported last year.

However, on average, a pack of 10 commercial sanitary pads costs more than a third of a day’s income and might not be enough to last one woman or girl for a month.

Following a hearing in late November, a court in Rawalpindi ordered the government to give a “timely response” to Khan and Omer’s arguments as stated in their petition, so the case could proceed.

In a summary of those responses earlier this year, seen by CNN, the government denied that such tax rates were “excessive” and “discriminatory” because the structure was “designed to meet the revenue needs of the state, which funds public services, including those benefitting women.”

Now that the federal government has shared their replies to Khan and Omer’s petition, the case is due for final arguments, after which a decision will be given by the judiciary. If Omer and Khan’s case is successful, the ruling could prompt the scrapping of all taxes related to sanitary products – including customs tax on raw materials – or of import tax on imported menstrual items.

“Our fight is very much ongoing, but we are elated that at least the government has realized that these are not luxury products,” added Khan.

By Sana Noor Haq, CNN

#World leaders caught on these hot mics at the #G7. Here’s what they said. EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — The leaders of the world’s richest democracies are talking about how to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems this week, but hot mics at the G7 summit revealed that conversations also covered lighter fare. Sports. Cigarettes. The weather. And something about Greenland?

As world leaders made their way into conference rooms at a lakeside resort, microphones set up for their weighty discussions about war and trade often caught off-the-cuff banter.

Meloni quit smoking

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’ s smoking habits were the subject of a hot-mic moment on Tuesday. Asked by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz if she had already had a cigarette that morning, Meloni revealed that she hadn’t smoked “since the first of May.”

Her turn against tobacco prompted enthusiastic congratulations from leaders of Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union. Meloni raised her hands in celebration. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had a question for her.

“Do you have a patch?” Carney asked, grabbing his own arm.
Sports talk includes ‘Allez les blues!’

With the World Cup underway in the United States, Mexico and Canada, soccer naturally became a fallback of discussion.

As leaders gathered for lunch, French President Emmanuel Macron and others weighed in. Someone shouted “Allez les bleus,” the cheer for the French team. Another leader can be heard talking about the recent Champions League victory by Paris-Saint Germain.

U.S. President Donald Trump turned attention to the UFC cage-match event he hosted at the White House on Sunday. Trump, who sat ringside on his 80th birthday, spoke glowingly about Dana White, the CEO of UFC.

At another point in the day, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer effused about Cape Verde’s surprise 0-0 draw against World Cup champion Spain. “Quite remarkable, I have to say,” he said.

Trump makes a cryptic Greenland reference

In a moment of intrigue, Trump was caught on microphone talking with European Council President António Costa.

“You understand?” Trump said before pausing and looking squarely at Costa. “Greenland.” The start and end of the conversation was unclear.

European politicians have been outraged by Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Macron loses track of time — literally

Later, Trump added some levity after Macron appeared to have left his watch behind when he departed the group’s working lunch. Carney drew attention to it, saying, “He’s left his watch here. We’ve got his watch.”

“Give me it if he left, gimme,” Trump chimed in, drawing laughs from the group.

Trump gets a jersey for his birthday, and a bike

The day brought a few instances of gift-giving diplomacy.

Macron gave all seven of his counterparts personalized bicycles to promote the Cycling World Championships scheduled next year in the French Alps, according to David Lappartient, president of the Union Cycliste Internationale, on social media.

There was no hot mic moment to detect the reaction of Trump, who is not known to bike and has joked about doing minimal exercise beyond regular golf outings.

Merz, who recently sparred with Trump over the war in Iran, presented Trump with a German national team soccer jersey bearing Trump’s name and the number 47. Trump raised it and smiled for a photo before setting it aside.

Merz posted a photo of the exchange on social media and offered a pointed message: “After all, we’re on the same team.”

Indigenous #Taiwanese to paddle to the Philippines reconnecting long-lost route

#US-Iran memorandum general in nature — JD Vance . The US vice president says that the details of the agreement will be worked out during technical negotiations.

The US-Iran memorandum of understanding is a short document of a general nature; the details of the agreement will be worked out during technical negotiations, US Vice President JD Vance stated.

"The memorandum of understanding is about a page and a half, so it is a very general document. <…> On a number of issues, we are going to have to figure this stuff out during the technical negotiation phase, but what the memorandum of understanding does is set up a framework whereby the Iranians get the benefits of the bargain by meeting their obligations under the bargain," he told CNN in an interview.