G7 Abandons Joint Ukraine Statement as Zelenskiy Says Diplomacy in Crisis 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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G7 Abandons Joint Ukraine Statement as Zelenskiy Says Diplomacy in Crisis 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaves the Group of Seven summit on Tuesday with new aid from host Canada for its war against Russia but without a joint statement of support from members or a chance to meet with US President Donald Trump.

The G7 wealthy nations struggled to find unity over the conflict in Ukraine after Trump expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and left a day early to address the Israel-Iran conflict from Washington.

Canada dropped plans for the G7 to issue a strong statement on the war in Ukraine after resistance from the United States, a Canadian official told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa would provide C$2 billion ($1.47 billion) in new military assistance for Kyiv as well as impose new financial sanctions.

Zelenskiy said he had told the G7 leaders that "diplomacy is now in a state of crisis" and said they need to continue calling on Trump "to use his real influence" to force an end to the war, in a post on his Telegram account.

Although Canada is one of Ukraine's most vocal defenders, its ability to help it is far outweighed by the United States, the largest arms supplier to Kyiv. Zelenskiy had said he hoped to talk to Trump about acquiring more weapons.

After the summit in the Rocky Mountain resort area of Kananaskis concluded, Carney issued a chair statement summarizing deliberations.

"G7 leaders expressed support for President Trump’s efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine," the statement said.

"They recognized that Ukraine has committed to an unconditional ceasefire, and they agreed that Russia must do the same. G7 Leaders are resolute in exploring all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions."

Canada holds the rotating G7 presidency this year. Other leaders do not need to sign off on G7 chair statements. "There would be things that some of us, Canada, included, would say above and beyond what was said in the chair summary," Carney said at a closing news conference.

Trump did agree to a group statement published on Monday calling for a resolution of the Israel-Iran conflict.

"We had a declaration given the exceptional, fast moving situation in Iran," Carney said. "We concentrated on that as a specific one. I held this (Ukraine)for my chair summary."

A European official said leaders had stressed to Trump their plans to be hard on Russia and Trump seemed impressed, though he does not like sanctions in principle.

Three European diplomats said they had heard signals from Trump that he wanted to raise pressure on Putin and consider a US Senate bill drafted by Senator Lindsey Graham, but that he had not committed to anything.

"I am returning to Germany with cautious optimism that decisions will also be made in America in the coming days to impose further sanctions against Russia," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

G7 leaders agreed on six other statements, about migrant smuggling, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, wildfires, transnational repression and quantum computing.

KREMLIN SAYS G7 LOOKS 'RATHER USELESS'

Trump said on Monday he needed to be back in Washington as soon as possible due to the situation in the Middle East, where escalating attacks between Iran and Israel have raised risks of a broader regional conflict.

A White House official on Tuesday said Trump explained that he returned to the US because it is better to hold high-level National Security Council meetings in person, rather than over the phone.

Upon arriving at the summit, Trump said that the then-Group of Eight had been wrong to expel Russia after Putin ordered the occupation of Crimea in 2014.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Trump was right and said the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked "rather useless."

Many leaders had hoped to negotiate trade deals with Trump, but the only deal signed was the finalization of the US-UK deal announced last month. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained at the summit after Trump left.

Carney also invited non-G7 members Mexico, India, Australia, South Africa, South Korea and Brazil, as he tries to shore up alliances elsewhere and diversify Canada's exports away from the United States.

Carney warmly welcomed Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Tuesday, after two years of tense relations between Canada and India.



Israel Says it Will Pursue Every Successor of Iran's Khamenei

FILE - Smoke rises behind the Azadi (Freedom) monument in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026, following the US-Israeli military attack. (Davoud Ghahrdar/ISNA via AP, File)
FILE - Smoke rises behind the Azadi (Freedom) monument in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026, following the US-Israeli military attack. (Davoud Ghahrdar/ISNA via AP, File)
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Israel Says it Will Pursue Every Successor of Iran's Khamenei

FILE - Smoke rises behind the Azadi (Freedom) monument in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026, following the US-Israeli military attack. (Davoud Ghahrdar/ISNA via AP, File)
FILE - Smoke rises behind the Azadi (Freedom) monument in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026, following the US-Israeli military attack. (Davoud Ghahrdar/ISNA via AP, File)

The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran's next supreme leader.

In a post ⁠on X in ⁠Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would ⁠pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body ⁠charged with ⁠choosing the country’s supreme leader.

The clerical body that will choose Iran's next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.

The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying "some obstacles" still needed to be resolved regarding the process.

On ⁠Saturday, a senior ⁠cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet "within one day" to choose the leader.

Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final ⁠decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality.

Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.

He ⁠said ⁠a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader's advice that Iran's top leader should "be hated by the enemy" instead of praised by it.

"Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name," Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, was an "unacceptable" choice for him.


Netanyahu, Trump Strike a Defiant Tone as Iran Says Can Fight for Months

Explosions erupt following strikes in Tehran on March 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Explosions erupt following strikes in Tehran on March 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Netanyahu, Trump Strike a Defiant Tone as Iran Says Can Fight for Months

Explosions erupt following strikes in Tehran on March 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Explosions erupt following strikes in Tehran on March 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the country's forces could fight an intense war for six months against the United States and Israel, which said it struck Tehran's commanders at a seaside hotel in the heart of Beirut.

Tehran accused the US and Israel of striking an oil depot in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the first reported assault on the country's oil infrastructure as stock markets have slumped and crude prices surged.

The Israeli military said it struck "a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran" that were used "to operate military infrastructure".

Israel's military also launched a new wave of strikes "across Tehran" on Sunday, after carrying out a precision strike targeting "key commanders" in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, at a hotel in an area of central Beirut popular with tourists.

Lebanon's health ministry said the strike killed at least four people at the hotel, where an AFP photographer saw shattered windows and charred walls.

First aid responders inspect a Ramada hotel room targeted by an Israeli strike, in Beirut's seaside Rawche area, on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war against Iran "with all our force", with a plan to eradicate the country's leadership after joint US-Israeli raids killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei last week, sparking the regional conflict.

Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that Iranian forces could wage an "intense war" for six months at the current speed of fighting.

Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used "first and second generation" missiles, but will use "advanced and less-used long-range missiles" in the coming days.

Iran's security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.

"Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela -- they would strike, take control and it would be over -- but now they are trapped," he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.

Netanyahu said Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.

US President Donald Trump Trump struck a similarly defiant tone, repeating the claim that Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon.

He also suggested US troops could eventually be needed to secure Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.

Separately, he blamed Iran for what the country's authorities said was a deadly strike on an elementary school in Minab last Saturday that killed at least 150 people. Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.


Eight Dead as Tornadoes Surge Across Central US

A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Eight Dead as Tornadoes Surge Across Central US

A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)

Tornadoes tore through the central United States in a series of storms that continued into Saturday, leaving eight people dead and at least a dozen others injured, authorities said.

Four people were reported killed in Oklahoma, where the twisters gained strength, and four others died further north in the Midwestern state of Michigan.

The Branch County Sheriff's Office said a tornado touched down near Union City in southern Michigan on Friday, killing three people and injuring 12.

About 50 miles (80 kilometers) west, officials in Cass County said one person was killed and "several injuries" were reported after a tornado hit the area.

"Our thoughts are with those who have lost family, friends, and property during this incident," the Branch County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Authorities in Cass County said a number of trees had fallen onto roads and buildings, and more than 500 people were reported to be without power.

"Emergency Management personnel will be conducting damage assessments in the affected area as required by the State of Michigan," the local sheriff's office said.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Friday evening she was activating a state emergency operations center "to coordinate an all-hands-on-deck response to severe weather in southwestern Michigan."

In Oklahoma, the extreme weather led to fourth deaths late Thursday and Friday, and people were waking up Saturday to scenes of destruction and loss in several towns across the state.

"Severe weather struck Major County last night and tragically claimed the lives of a mother and daughter," Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt posted on X.

Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said in a statement that two people died in a tornado that hit the town of Beggs on Friday night.