By Catherine Lai

Activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung once led thousands of Hong Kongers in candlelight vigils every June 4 to remember China’s 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

This year, the pair are facing up to 10 years in jail after their trial under a Beijing-imposed national security law, during which they sought to defend the slogans they had chanted openly for decades.

Hong Kong and Macau used to be the only places on Chinese soil that permitted large-scale vigils to mourn those who died on June 4, 1989, when the government sent troops and tanks to crush protests calling for political reform.

But public commemoration has been effectively banned since the national security law’s introduction in 2020, following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before in Hong Kong.

See also: Explainer: What to know about Hong Kong’s past Tiananmen commemorations and nat. security trial of vigil leaders

Lee and Chow’s fate is a “gesture by the government to tell everyone where the boundary is, what is no longer allowed to be discussed”, Dennis, a 29-year-old Hongkonger who used to attend the vigils, told AFP.

“The space for public discussion is much smaller, if it even exists,” he said, using a pseudonym for fear of retaliation.

Lee and Chow, who organised the vigils as leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, are expected to receive their verdict in July on charges of “incitement to subversion”.

‘Space for discussion’

At the time, the Chinese government officially defined the Tiananmen protests as a “counter-revolutionary riot” driven by a “very small number of people”, justifying the use of force on June 4 as necessary to restore order.

It said around 200 protestors were killed, as well as several dozen soldiers.

The precise toll is unknown, but most other estimates range from 400 to over 1,000.

The Hong Kong Alliance, formed in May 1989 to support the demonstrators, began campaigning for redress after the crackdown.

For decades, its annual vigils were attended by tens of thousands, turning the city’s Victoria Park into a sea of candlelight.

Calls to “end one-party rule” and “build a democratic China” were commonplace — a fact prosecutors in Lee and Chow’s trial now argue amounted to incitement to subvert the state.

Dennis remembers watching livestreams of the gatherings as a child, and debating their relevance as a university student when they came to be considered old-fashioned by some.

“At least before… whether you considered (the vigil) cheesy or not, there was still space for discussion,” he told AFP.

‘Everything has changed’

Former legislator Emily Lau said she no longer recognises her own city.

“Everything has changed, there are many things that you are not allowed to say, do not dare to say, won’t say… many media outlets have shut, much of civil society has vanished,” she told AFP.

In recent years, police have detained mourners around Hong Kong’s central Victoria Park and arrested multiple people for Tiananmen-related online posts.

On Wednesday, performance artist Sanmu Chan was stopped by police near the park as he unrolled a 6.4-metre (21-foot) long red string — a reference to the date and “red lines”.

Others will mark the day more subtly.

Dennis said he plans to listen to songs that were played at the vigils while walking around the area.

University student Laurie told AFP she didn’t “feel free speaking my mind… publicly” and would commemorate the day through prayers or a moment of silence.

“The issue is the lack of clear information on what is or is not allowed to (be talked) about, so people end up not saying anything altogether,” the 22-year-old said, using a pseudonym.

Hong Kong’s government told AFP it was committed to safeguarding the freedoms of citizens “that are protected by law”, but added that these were “not absolute”.

It warned that anyone using “the commemoration of a special day… to incite hatred” of China could be in violation of the city’s national security laws.

Zhou Fengsuo, a student leader during the 1989 demonstrations, said it was a “great loss” that the gatherings could no longer influence a young generation of Hong Kong activists.

“Every year on June 4th this (vigil) became a topic of international concern,” he said.

“That’s a crucial factor why the legacy of June 4th, 1989, is still known to the world today despite the Communist Party’s attempts to smear and obliterate it.”

By Emily Wang

Beijing cleaner Lin Meiqiong found her work a little easier the day she was paired with an unlikely new colleague — a tall, wheeled robot with AI-powered tidying skills.

The 56-year-old and her white-and-silver partner, fitted with cameras and two mechanical claws, are part of a new human-robot cleaning service offered by Chinese household help platform 58.com.

It’s a baby step towards a future espoused by tech evangelists in which robots increasingly take over manual labour from humans — though at the moment, such services are largely a data-gathering exercise for companies and a novelty for curious customers.

“It’s definitely different,” Lin told AFP in between cleaning the kitchen and wiping down windows.

“I used to have to do everything myself,” she said. “It’s reduced the workload a bit.”

The cleaning service, a collaboration between 58.com and Chinese robotics company X Square, costs 149 yuan (US$22) for three hours and is available in Beijing and tech hub Shenzhen.

Helped into the apartment by an X Square engineer, the AI-operated Quanta X1 Pro robot uses its cameras to identify areas it could spruce up.

As Lin scrubbed the floor on her knees, it picked up rubbish and folded clothes strewn across a sofa.

Grasping a pair of dark grey trousers, it raised its upper body to stretch the fabric taut, before laying it flat and arranging it into neat halves.

The process took several minutes and resembled a child learning to fold clothes for the first time.

Future iterations of the robot will respond to voice commands and even be able to chat, said the engineer, Hu Bowen.

‘Better than a lab’

Around 200 households have booked the service since it was rolled out in March.

Tan Pei, who works in advertising and booked the robot to clean her Beijing flat, said she had chosen the service because she was interested to “see what it could do”.

“Even though it’s not that perfect, there are still parts of it that surprised me,” such as folding a pair of trousers “quite well”, she said.

China’s robots have wowed audiences with fluid dancing and set-piece martial arts displays onstage, but their application and performance in real-life settings remains limited.

For companies like X Square, the logic of launching an imperfect service lies in data collection for so-called embodied artificial intelligence.

Unlike large language models trained on vast quantities of internet content, robots lack comparable real-world datasets.

“We don’t have a robot internet yet,” Christoforos Mavrogiannis from the University of Michigan told AFP.

“It is much more informative to put the robot out there and study what happens than staying forever in the lab.”

X Square engineer Hu said he sends his robots to work in a “completely unfamiliar environment”.

“That is very challenging, but this unfamiliar data is also very helpful for the robot’s growth.”

As investment into embodied AI booms, similar trials in China include robots directing traffic in cities like Hangzhou or working on factory floors.

On the domestic help front, firm GigaAI also plans to deploy 100 humanoid robots into households in central Wuhan this autumn for free home-service trials.

Investors have poured more than 57.7 billion yuan (US$8.5 billion) into China’s embodied AI industry so far this year, already soaring past the total for last year as a whole, according to business database ITjuzi.

‘Very elementary stage’

But a myriad of hurdles stand in the way of widespread deployment.

As the Quanta X1 Pro’s clothes folding demonstrated, robots still can’t match human dexterity.

“Even though many companies are working on building better hands and building autonomy for hands, we don’t have that yet,” the University of Michigan’s Mavrogiannis said.

There are multiple regulatory issues even once the physical capability is there.

Privacy will become a big issue, as robots would have access to huge amounts of personal data.

“We don’t know where that data is going, where it’s located… who is looking at that information,” said Valeria Alessandra Macalupu Chira from Queensland University of Technology.

The safety of clients and their homes is another unresolved issue.

“I think we are still at a very elementary stage,” said Yang Jianfei from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

Robots currently require supervision by humans who can activate emergency stop functions, he noted, and there are not yet recognised industry-wide safety standards.

Experts agree broad adoption seems a long way off.

Asked whether she thought robots would revolutionise her industry, cleaner Lin did not seem too concerned.

“Compared with people, it’s obviously still not quite there,” she said. “After all, it’s a robot.”

China’s market regulator announced a sweeping investigation on Friday against three major brokers running cross-border trading, as it launched a two-year crackdown on investment leaving the country.

China does not allow private individuals to directly invest in overseas markets, requiring them to trade assets only through approved third-party channels.

However, regulations differ in the semi-autonomous city Hong Kong, and some brokers have been able to legally operate there, attracting investors from mainland China to open trading accounts in the Chinese finance hub.

Authorities have sought to regulate the loophole in recent years, and in 2022 barred private Chinese investors from opening accounts with such brokers.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Friday it will probe and impose penalties on Hong Kong-registered brokers Futu and Longbridge, as well as New Zealand-registered Tiger Brokers.

Regulators said the brokers had conducted securities-related business in China “without obtaining the necessary approvals or licenses”, violating China’s securities law.

The CSRC said in a separate statement Friday it will join forces with seven other bodies, including the Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Bank of China, to carry out a two-year campaign targeting illegal cross-border securities activities.

The campaign aims to “completely eradicate the illegal cross-border operations of overseas securities, futures and fund management institutions”, it said.

Futu said in a filing that Chinese authorities have proposed a fine of about 1.85 billion yuan (US$271 million).

Futu “has already ceased opening accounts for applicants with mainland Chinese identities… has consistently engaged in active dialogue with regulatory authorities and complied with their rectification requirements”, it said in a statement.

Chinese investors accounted for about 13 percent of the firm’s total client base of 29.2 million users registered globally, it added.

UP Fintech, a US-listed brokerage firm who owns Tiger Brokers, said CSRC fined the company 308.1 million yuan and confiscated 103.1 million yuan of illegal income.

The firm “accepts the penalty with sincerity,” it added.

The two brokers’ CEOs were also fined.

Chinese authorities’ aim “is to gain full control of capital outflows, and to block any loopholes of these illegal activities”, Kelvin Lam, a China-focused economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told AFP.

“What China is trying to do at the moment is to make sure no overseas branches of these companies… take funds out of Chinese investors and help them to invest overseas,” Lam said.

Hong Kong cross-border brokers have operated in a regulatory grey zone until now, he said, but authorities are seeking to fully stem the flow of Chinese investment out of the country.

“Rather than worrying the fact of capital leaving China illegally, the aim of Chinese authorities is to seek full control of the situation rather than anything else,” Lam said.

Shares in Nasdaq-listed Futu tumbled more than 25 percent in Friday’s trading, with UP Fintech dropping about 20 percent.

Five-time winners Brazil needed a superb Vinicius Junior equaliser to draw 1-1 with Morocco in their opening game at the World Cup on Saturday as Scotland marked their return to the tournament after a 28-year absence with a nervy 1-0 victory over Haiti.

On the first day to feature four matches at the 48-team tournament, Qatar won the first World Cup point in their history when Miro Muheim’s own goal earned the 2022 tournament hosts a 1-1 draw with Switzerland.

The meeting of Brazil and 2022 semi-finalists Morocco at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City was a clash of the teams ranked sixth and seventh in the world respectively.

Ismael Saibari ran through to give Morocco a 21st-minute lead with a clever scoop in the Group C opener, but Vinicius produced a moment of magic to ensure Brazil came away with a point, cutting in from the left and unleashing a thunderous shot to level on 32 minutes.

Brazil are chasing a record sixth World Cup title, 24 years after last lifting the trophy, but Saturday’s performance suggests there is a lot of work to be done by Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

“I think this was a tough match, especially in the beginning. I think the team was a bit anxious and nerves were all over the place,” said Ancelotti.

“We didn’t play well, but we cannot lose heart. This is the first match in the World Cup and we can’t… think the team is doing perfectly from the get-go.”

Tartan Army

In Group C’s other game on Saturday, Scotland — playing in the World Cup for the first time since 1998 — were roared on to a hard-fought win over Haiti, themselves playing in their first World Cup since 1974.

Hordes of Scotland’s famous “Tartan Army” travelling supporters packed the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, outside Boston, to watch manager Steve Clarke’s side claim their first victory in a World Cup game since the 1990 finals in Italy.

After a deafening rendition of “Flower of Scotland”, the Scots started a physical contest on the front foot, with midfield star Scott McTominay hitting the post in the 17th minute.

The breakthrough came on 28 minutes when Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn bundled a deflected shot past Haiti goalkeeper Johny Placide.

But Scotland were never able to extend their advantage against a resilient Haiti team, hanging on grimly in the closing stages before bagging a precious three points.

“Everyone said it was a must-win game — we won the game,” said Scotland manager Clarke, whose team face Morocco on Friday in their second game.

Qatar history

Earlier, Switzerland had taken the lead against Qatar in Santa Clara, California in Group B when Breel Embolo converted a first-half penalty, but Muheim’s injury-time own goal secured a share of the spoils.

“I am very proud of the team,” said Qatar’s Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui.

“I told them that even if we hadn’t scored the goal and didn’t draw I would have been proud of the mentality and discipline that they showed today. But fortunately, we scored and that was history.”

In Saturday’s late game, Australia take on Turkiye in Vancouver in Group D after the United States kicked off the group on Friday with a 4-1 demolition of Paraguay.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Ghana’s foreign minister said the country had “dispatched an official note of protest” over Canada’s refusal to issue a visa to Thomas Partey and requested the co-host country “reviews its unfortunate decision”.

Midfielder Partey is facing trial in the United Kingdom next year on rape charges.

Ghana open their campaign against Panama in Toronto on Wednesday.

By Allison Jackson and Joy Chiang

Taiwan said Saturday it is an “independent” nation, hours after US President Donald Trump warned the democratic island against declaring formal independence.

Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday where Chinese President Xi Jinping had pressed him not to support Taiwan, which China claims is part of its territory.

Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying out its threat to annex the island by force.

Taiwan “is a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China”, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also insisted that US arms sales were part of Washington’s security commitment to Taiwan, after Trump said it “depends on China” and was a “very good negotiating chip for us”.

Taiwan’s statements came after Trump issued a warning to the island against making a declaration of independence.

“I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that,” he told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier”.

“I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down,” Trump said.

“We’re not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China’s going to be OK with that.”

But Trump added that “nothing’s changed” on US policy towards Taiwan.

The United States recognises only Beijing and does not support formal independence by Taiwan, but historically has stopped short of explicitly saying it opposes independence.

Under US law, the United States is required to provide weapons to Taiwan for its defence, but it has been ambiguous on whether US forces would come to the island’s aid.

Xi had begun the summit with a warning on Taiwan, whose President Lai Ching-te considers the island already independent, making a declaration unnecessary.

The Chinese leader told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue could cause “conflict”.

Taiwan’s Presidential Office noted Saturday the “multiple reaffirmations from the US side, including President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that the consistent US policy and position toward Taiwan remain unchanged”.

“Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the US under the firm commitments of the Taiwan Relations Act,” spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement.

US weapon sales

Ahead of the summit, Trump had said he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, a departure from Washington’s previous insistence that it would not consult Beijing on the matter.

Taiwan’s parliament recently approved a US$25 billion defence spending bill that will be used for US weapons.

Lawmakers have said the funds will cover nearly US$9 billion of the US$11.1 billion arms package announced by Washington in December and a second phase of arms sales — not yet approved by the United States — worth more than US$15 billion.

Speaking to reporters on Friday en route to Washington, Trump said on arms sales: “I’ll make a determination over the next fairly short period of time.”

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said arms were “not only a US security commitment to Taiwan clearly stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act, but also a form of joint deterrence against regional threats”.

Tzeng Wei-feng of the National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations in Taipei said the Trump administration was “leaning to China’s position” on Taiwan in order to have better relations with Beijing and could “change the arms sale package a little bit to show their goodwill”.

Trump “overtly stating that arms are a bargaining chip is exactly what Taiwan didn’t want to hear,” Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University, told AFP.

“The hope is that arm sales were non-negotiable, because it’s part of the six assurances, and what Donald Trump is essentially saying is that one of those assurances no longer matters.”

Tokyo has asked Beijing to ensure its citizens’ safety after a stabbing in a Shanghai restaurant in which two Japanese were injured, Japan’s consulate in Shanghai told AFP Wednesday.

It is the latest diplomatic point of friction as the two countries are embroiled in a stand-off triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion Tokyo might intervene militarily if Beijing were to invade Taiwan.

On Tuesday, Pudong district police said on social media they had received a report that a man “was injuring people with a fruit knife in a restaurant”.

Police said the suspect, a 59-year-old surnamed Yang who was detained at the scene, had a history of mental illness.

Three people were taken to hospital, the statement said, with Japanese media later reporting two were Japanese.

Asked about the reports, the Japanese consulate in Shanghai confirmed two citizens had been hurt, adding they were receiving medical treatment.

“The Government of Japan has requested the Chinese government to… clarify the facts and provide a clear explanation… (and) ensure the safety and security of Japanese nationals,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara later confirmed Tokyo had requested an explanation, adding that a consular alert had been sent out to all Japanese residents in China.

“The government will continue, while maintaining contact with the parties concerned, to provide all possible support from the standpoint of protecting Japanese nationals,” he said.

The restaurant reported to be the site of the attack, matching the police statement’s rough address, appeared calm on Wednesday.

An AFP reporter saw multiple people in grey suits, who appeared to be security, standing guard in the mall it was located in.

Police said that when Yang was detained, he had been “speaking incoherently and behaving erratically”.

AFP has contacted the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs for comment.

China said on Monday that strengthening its military is beneficial to world peace, slamming a think tank report that warned the threat of a direct strike by Beijing on Australia was increasing.

A Lowy Institute report said on Sunday that China is capable of a direct missile strike on Australia and the threat of such a move is growing as Beijing amasses long-range and hypersonic weapons and builds islands in the South China Sea.

China’s capacity to strike Australia would grow over the next decade as “the DF-27 intermediate-range ballistic missile, and potentially a conventionally armed intercontinental ballistic missile, grow in service numbers”, the Sydney-based group said.

China condemned the report’s “serious strategic misjudgement” on Monday, saying it was committed to “a path of peaceful development”.

“The growth of China’s military strength represents an increase in the forces for world peace,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters at a news briefing.

“China’s development of military strength is intended to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests and is not directed at any specific country,” he added.

The report found the main threat to Australia was from Chinese missiles fired from ships, submarines and a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that could reach the island continent from China.

The DF-27 missile has a range of 5,000 to 8,000 kilometres (3,100 to 5,000 miles), the US military said in December.

The report said it was assessing Beijing’s capability and not its intentions.

Lin urged the “relevant institutions” on Monday to “stop hyping up the so-called China threat” and to view the country’s development in an objective, fair and rational manner.

Australia reshaped its military strategy three years ago in response to China’s rapid navy build-up and rising friction between Beijing and Washington, focusing on deterring an adversary from its northern approaches.

RIO DE JANEIRO: At least six people died on Sunday after two helicopters collided mid-air in western Rio de Janeiro, firefighters said.

American singer-songwriter Oliver Tree, who was in Brazil on a world tour, was aboard one of the helicopters that crashed, leaving all occupants dead, a police source told AFP.

The alternative singer and internet personality is listed as one of six people on the manifests of the two aircraft shared by the source, who said the victims could not be formally identified yet as they were badly burned in the crash.

Rio de Janeiro Ma­yor Eduardo Cava­liere said that there were “foreign nationals on board one of the aircraft,” without giving further details.

US singer Oliver Tree listed among dead

After collision, the helicopters crashed into the parking lot of an electric car dealership, igni­ting a fire that engulfed at least 20 vehicles.

The accident took place in the western suburb of Recreio dos Bandeirantes.

Rescue workers discovered one helicopter in flames among the electric cars, with five victims inside. A second helicopter found some 100 metres away was carrying only the pilot, who also died.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2026

Young students gathered in New Delhi on Saturday for the first street protest by the satirical “Cockroach Janta Party” (CJP) over alleged irregularities in recent major examinations.

Carrying paper cockroach masks and pamphlets, the protesters called for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan who has faced criticism over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches.

The CJP has garnered millions of followers on social media since its launch last month.

Modi’s government has blocked the movement’s X account in the country, a move the CJP has challenged in a Delhi court.

Political analysts say the group’s popularity has begun to dent Modi’s image despite his party’s recent victories in key state elections, even as wider frustration grows over rising fuel prices and gas shortages brought by the Iran war.

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Header image: A girl wears a cockroach themed mask, as supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) listens to Abhijeet Dipke, head of the CJP, during a sit-in protest demanding the resignation of Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in New Delhi, India, June 6, 2026. — Reuters

US President Donald Trump on Friday warned Taiwan against declaring formal independence after concluding his visit to China, whose leader Xi Jinping had pressed him not to support the self-ruling island.

Trump ended the state visit claiming to have made “fantastic” trade deals, although the details were vague, and he did not appear to secure any breakthrough with China over his stalemated war on Iran.

Trump invited Xi for a reciprocal visit to Washington in September, signalling both sides will likely seek stability in the often turbulent relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

On a key issue for Xi, Trump made clear he opposed a declaration of independence by Taiwan and appeared to question why the United States would defend the island in case of attack.

“I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that,” he told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

“I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down,” Trump said.

“We’re not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China’s going to be OK with that.”

The United States recognizes only Beijing and does not support formal independence by Taiwan, but historically has stopped short of explicitly saying it opposes independence.

Under US law, the United States is required to provide weapons to Taiwan for its defence, but it has been ambiguous on whether US forces would come to the island’s aid.

Xi had begun the summit with a warning on Taiwan, whose President Lai Ching-te considers the island already independent, making a declaration unnecessary.

Xi told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue could cause “conflict”.

Referring to comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said US policy toward Taipei was unchanged, Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked the United States for showing “it supports and values Taiwan Strait peace and stability”.

No details on ‘fantastic’ deals

On Friday, Boeing confirmed that China had made an “initial commitment” to buy 200 aircraft, a deal previously announced by Trump. The company said more orders could follow.

Trump also said Beijing would buy American oil and soybeans.

“We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries,” he said after a walk with Xi in the gardens of Zhongnanhai, a central leadership compound next to Beijing’s Forbidden City.

“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” Trump added, without providing specifics.

Xi promised to send Trump rose seeds for the White House Rose Garden and said it was a “milestone visit”.

But beyond Boeing, there were no other formal announcements from companies or from China on trade deals.

The reserve on the Chinese side echoes the tone of the summit as a whole, where Trump’s overtures to Xi — whom he described as a “great leader” and “friend” — were met with a more muted response.

“Trump got the optics he was looking for and the Chinese were happy to give them to him,” said Jacob Stokes, a senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security.

Little on Iran

Trump had delayed the trip once due to the war in Iran, which has rebuffed his appeals for a peace agreement and retaliated by exerting control over the key Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.

Trump said Xi had assured him that China was not preparing military aid to Iran. Israel has alleged that Beijing has provided key missile technology to Tehran.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Friday released a statement on Iran saying “shipping lanes should be reopened as soon as possible”.

Trump also acknowledged that he could not persuade Xi to free Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon whose cause is broadly backed in Washington.

“He told me, Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do,” Trump told reporters.

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, noted that Trump had already sounded half-hearted in his public comments on Lai.

“My sense is that the Chinese see that this is not a top priority for the United States,” she said.

“What Trump seems to want most is purchases of American products — that appears to be his highest priority.”

The two leaders had been expected to discuss extending the one-year tariff truce that paused their frenetic 2025 trade war, struck during their last meeting in October.

But Trump told reporters on the way home that it “wasn’t brought up”.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington.

The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.

The development came despite continued cross-border attacks earlier in the day, with Hezbollah saying it targeted Israeli troops and Israeli strikes killing at least ten people in southern Lebanon.

Just hours after the agreement was announced, air raid alarms sounded in northern Israel with a “suspicious aerial target” identified without causing any casualties.

The joint statement said the ceasefire was “contingent on a complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah as well as evacuation of the group’s operatives from southern Lebanon.

The meetings in Washington were the fourth round of direct talks by Lebanese and Israeli diplomats since fighting erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah renewed attacks against Israel in support of Iran.

Both sides will meet for more talks the week of June 22, the statement said, “with a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement”.

Hostilities continue

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon and those on the war with Iran.

Tehran, however, insists the conflicts are linked and its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of war.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a “hostile aircraft” and two projectiles that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Wednesday.

Hezbollah, for its part, said that “in response to the Israeli enemy army’s violation of the ceasefire”, its fighters targeted soldiers in northern Israel with a rocket barrage.

Early on Thursday, the group said it aimed a “salvo of rockets” at Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the southern Lebanon town of Al-Qantara, and also targeted an Israeli command position near the Chqif Castle with two drones.

A truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon was meant to take hold on April 17, but has never been observed, with both sides justifying their ongoing attacks by the other’s alleged violations.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati had told AFP on Tuesday that the group would “not accept a partial ceasefire”.

Paramedics

Among the Israeli strikes on Wednesday was one targeting a car on the main highway out of the capital, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said.

The NNA also reported strikes on more than 20 locations in the south, some after Israel’s military warned residents of several villages to evacuate.

The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli attack on Al-Hawsh near the city of Tyre killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.

The health ministry also said an Israeli strike elsewhere in the south targeted an ambulance, killing two paramedics from the Risala Scouts Association.

The ministry circulated images of a badly damaged ambulance, with medical masks spilling out of the vehicle and scattered on the road.

A third paramedic was later reported killed in an attack that the NNA said targeted an ambulance team affiliated with the Islamic Health Committee in the town of Zibdine.

At least 130 emergency and health workers have been killed since the fighting began.

Lebanon’s army said a soldier was also killed in an Israeli strike, while an officer and a soldier were wounded in a separate attack on a military vehicle.

The force denounced what it called Israel’s “deliberate targeting of army personnel, vehicles and positions”.

The Philippines defence minister was defiant on Friday after Beijing sanctioned him for what it termed “irresponsible remarks” as the two nations grapple over the disputed South China Sea.

Gilberto Teodoro as well as his spouse and child will be banned from entering China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, an unnamed foreign ministry spokesperson said in an online statement on Thursday.

It added that “organisations and individuals in China” will not be allowed to “engage in any transaction, cooperation or other activities with him and his spouse and child”.

The two countries have in recent years regularly dealt with flare-ups in tensions over the disputed South China Sea.

Beijing claims the strategic waterway nearly in its entirety, despite an international ruling that said its assertions are baseless.

In a statement early Friday, Teodoro said he had been sanctioned for “speaking truth”.

“Their own countrymen and the others under their control suffer far worse,” he said. “I will just keep doing my duty and uphold our nation in the face of the wickedness they are committing here and even in our seas.”

Manila reacted to the sanctions late Thursday by saying that “the Philippines views it as an unfriendly act that further complicates the bilateral relations”.

China regularly deploys navy and coast guard vessels to bar the Philippines from important reefs and islands in the area.

The Chinese statement said Teodoro’s rhetoric “undermines China’s legitimate interests and sabotages China-Philippines relations”, without specifying to which remarks it referred.

At a summit in Singapore last month, Teodoro criticised Beijing’s activities in the disputed waters, saying Manila “will not sacrifice our territorial integrity and sovereignty”.

Asked last week about Teodoro’s remarks at the summit, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that he “is known to vilify China”.

“All he cares is selfish personal gains to the point that he would perform political theatrics even when people’s well-being is at stake,” Mao said.