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Rubio: Trump Likely to Visit India Early Next Year

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with members of the media before departing for Bahrain International Airport after his visit to the Middle East, Manama, Bahrain, June 25, 2026. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with members of the media before departing for Bahrain International Airport after his visit to the Middle East, Manama, Bahrain, June 25, 2026. (Reuters)
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Rubio: Trump Likely to Visit India Early Next Year

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with members of the media before departing for Bahrain International Airport after his visit to the Middle East, Manama, Bahrain, June 25, 2026. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with members of the media before departing for Bahrain International Airport after his visit to the Middle East, Manama, Bahrain, June 25, 2026. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State ‌Marco Rubio said the US is seeking to arrange a visit to India by President Donald Trump early next year as the countries work on a bilateral trade deal, Indian media outlet IANS reported on Saturday.

Rubio is likely to travel to India this year to prepare for the president's visit, he told ‌IANS in ‌an interview.

"We're working towards sometime ‌early ⁠next year to ⁠have the president come," he said, according to IANS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Trump last week on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of Seven industrial powers in France. Trump ⁠said that they had a "very ‌good" conversation.

India ‌has been pressing the United States for ‌months for a Trump visit, potentially as ‌part of a meeting including Japan and Australia.

India-US ties have been rocky over the past year since Washington imposed high tariffs on ‌Indian goods, punishing New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, and engaging ⁠closely ⁠with India's arch-rival Pakistan.

Rubio visited India last month seeking to repair ties, but the killing of three Indian sailors in attacks on commercial ships by the US Navy in the Gulf has roiled relations again.

In the IANS interview, Rubio said the US hoped to conclude a trade deal with India. "We're on the last inches of getting it done and it's very positive."

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World

Burkina Faso Cuts Diplomatic Relations with France, Once a Key Ally

FILE - In this photo provided by RIA Novosti, Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore arrives at the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 10, 2025. (Stanislav Krasilnikov/RIA Novosti via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by RIA Novosti, Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore arrives at the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 10, 2025. (Stanislav Krasilnikov/RIA Novosti via AP, File)
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Burkina Faso Cuts Diplomatic Relations with France, Once a Key Ally

FILE - In this photo provided by RIA Novosti, Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore arrives at the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 10, 2025. (Stanislav Krasilnikov/RIA Novosti via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by RIA Novosti, Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore arrives at the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 10, 2025. (Stanislav Krasilnikov/RIA Novosti via AP, File)

Burkina Faso’s military government severed diplomatic ties with France, its former colonial ruler that had been a key security partner for the West African nation before relations fractured.

The junta said in a statement Friday it broke off relations with France effective immediately, accusing it of "blatant neo-colonial ambitions and active support for subversive networks and terrorists,” without providing evidence.

France’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said in a statement that the country regrets the “hostile and unfounded decision, which illustrates the worrying drift of the Burkinabè authorities.”

“Necessary reciprocal measures are currently under review,” he said. Confavreux added that France is monitoring the safety of French government personnel and citizens in Burkina Faso and urged them to exercise heightened vigilance.

The West African country of 23 million people has been battered by yearslong violence perpetrated by extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the ISIS group, as well as government forces often accused of extrajudicial killings.

It was unclear what would follow the end of diplomatic relations or how the French embassy in Burkina Faso would be affected.

“The conditions essential for fostering relations based on mutual respect, reciprocal trust, and respect for the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and national sovereignty are no longer met,” Burkina Faso’s Communications Minister Pingdwende Gilbert Ouedraogo said in a statement.

The two sides suffered broken relations for years.

Burkina Faso's military government has in the past targeted foreign diplomats, including the French, whom it has often accused of working against its interests. In 2023, the junta asked France to recall its ambassador and declared the United Nations’ resident and humanitarian coordinator in the country persona non grata, while in 2024, it expelled three French diplomats for alleged subversive activities.

France was Burkina Faso's major security partner until a 2022 coup. The junta then sacked hundreds of French forces sent to fight extremist groups.

The violence has worsened under the military government that had promised to curb it, analysts say.

In the two years following the coup, Burkina Faso forces allegedly killed twice as many civilians as extremists, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Watch, which blamed government forces for at least 1,200 of the 1,837 civilians killed in the country between January 2023 and August 2025.

World

Iran Accuses US of 'Blatant Violation' of Peace Deal

Oil tanker Al Shaffiah sails at the sea near the Omani coast, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Oil tanker Al Shaffiah sails at the sea near the Omani coast, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
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Iran Accuses US of 'Blatant Violation' of Peace Deal

Oil tanker Al Shaffiah sails at the sea near the Omani coast, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Oil tanker Al Shaffiah sails at the sea near the Omani coast, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Iran on Saturday accused the United States of a "blatant violation" of the peace deal reached between the two sides to end the Middle East war after the latest American strikes on the country.

"These brutal attacks, which targeted Iranian coastal surveillance facilities, are a blatant violation" of the memorandum of understanding to end the war, the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The US military said its forces struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar locations on Friday in response to an Iranian attack on a cargo ship transiting the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

 

World

Seoul Says Chinese, Russian Military Aircraft Enter Its Air Defense Zone

A person holds a South Korean flag in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 6, 2024. (Reuters)
A person holds a South Korean flag in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Seoul Says Chinese, Russian Military Aircraft Enter Its Air Defense Zone

A person holds a South Korean flag in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 6, 2024. (Reuters)
A person holds a South Korean flag in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 6, 2024. (Reuters)

South Korea said it had sent up fighter jets as a precaution after more than 10 Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered its air defense zone on Saturday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said the Chinese and Russian aircraft had entered and then left the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) over the East Sea and the South Sea.

"South Korea's military detected the Chinese and Russian aircraft before they entered the zone and deployed Air Force fighter jets to prepare for any contingency," it said in a statement, without giving more details.

The Chinese and Russian aircraft did not violate South Korean airspace, it said.

An air defense identification zone is not sovereign airspace but a buffer area where countries identify approaching aircraft for security purposes.

Military aircraft are generally expected to notify the relevant country before entering its air defense zone, although such notification is not legally required.

China and Russia did not comment immediately about the incident.

South Korea and Japan reacted furiously when nine Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered the KADIZ in December 2025, the previous such incident.

South Korea's defense ministry lodged protests with Beijing and Moscow over that incident, while Japan expressed its "serious concern" over national security.

China and Russia said the flights were part of a joint patrol over the East Sea and the western Pacific.