King Charles to Visit New York to Commemorate 9/11 Victims

US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)
US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)
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King Charles to Visit New York to Commemorate 9/11 Victims

US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)
US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)

Britain's King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla arrive in New York on Wednesday to commemorate victims of the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attack on the city, part of a four-day state visit to the US.

The king and queen's visit to New York follows a packed day in Washington on Tuesday, when Charles delivered a speech to the US Congress, held private meetings with President Donald Trump amid tensions between the US and Britain over the Iran war, and sat down with leaders of the US tech industry.

At a White House state dinner on Tuesday night, Trump suggested Charles told the president he did not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The king is not a spokesman for the UK government and it could not be confirmed that Charles made the statement to Trump.

Britain was one of the countries alongside the US that negotiated the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which sharply limited Tehran's nuclear programs and opened them to inspectors until Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the agreement during his first White House term.

Charles and Camilla's visit to New York comes on the third day of their state visit to the US during a tense time in relations between the US and Britain after Trump has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for what Trump says is his lack of help in prosecuting the Iran war.

Charles and Camilla will begin their day in New York with a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in lower Manhattan, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by al Qaeda suicide bombers on September 11, 2001, an attack that killed nearly 2,800 people.

Charles is expected to meet with New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, at the ceremony.

The king will then head to Harlem to visit a grassroots community organization that created a sustainable after-school urban farming initiative in an effort to combat food insecurity, according to local media. Such projects have been a passion of the king's for decades.

Meanwhile, Camilla will celebrate the 100th birthday of A.A. Milne’s fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh on behalf of her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, which Buckingham Palace is calling a "literary engagement" event.



Macron: French Navy Intercepted Another Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Tanker

France's President Emmanuel Macron addresss the press at the end of the meeting of state leaders of the European Group of Five (E5) and the NATO Secretary General, on June 24, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron addresss the press at the end of the meeting of state leaders of the European Group of Five (E5) and the NATO Secretary General, on June 24, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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Macron: French Navy Intercepted Another Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Tanker

France's President Emmanuel Macron addresss the press at the end of the meeting of state leaders of the European Group of Five (E5) and the NATO Secretary General, on June 24, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron addresss the press at the end of the meeting of state leaders of the European Group of Five (E5) and the NATO Secretary General, on June 24, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that his country's navy had intercepted an oil tanker as it transited near the coast of Sicily, in what he called his country's latest action against the 'shadow fleet' Russia uses to ship oil and gas and ⁠to skirt Western ⁠sanctions.

"This new action against the shadow fleet, conducted days after a similar operation by Britain, shows Europeans' determination," Macron said in ⁠a post on Instagram, adding that the interception took place on Tuesday.

"We will not let the shadow fleet evade sanctions and finance the Russian war effort," Reuters quoted Macron as saying.

Macron posted a video showing Marines descending from helicopters onto the ⁠Deliver.

⁠France has intercepted at least five tankers it says are part of Russia's shadow fleet, old vessels that Russia has relied on to ship oil and gas and to skirt Western sanctions.

Moscow has called such actions illegal.


Ukraine Drone Attacks Kill 5 in Russia, Crimea

FILE PHOTO: Explosion at Moscow oil refinery after Ukrainian drone attacks on the city, in Moscow, Russia june 18, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Explosion at Moscow oil refinery after Ukrainian drone attacks on the city, in Moscow, Russia june 18, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
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Ukraine Drone Attacks Kill 5 in Russia, Crimea

FILE PHOTO: Explosion at Moscow oil refinery after Ukrainian drone attacks on the city, in Moscow, Russia june 18, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Explosion at Moscow oil refinery after Ukrainian drone attacks on the city, in Moscow, Russia june 18, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS

Ukrainian drone strikes killed five people, including two children, in Russia and on the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, in attacks that also triggered a fire at a major oil depot in the country's south, local officials said Thursday.

Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russia in recent months in retaliation for Moscow's near-daily barrages of drones and missiles throughout its five-year offensive, AFP reported.

Russia's defense ministry said it downed 269 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

In Crimea, which Ukraine is trying to cut-off from Russian logistics and supply routes, the Russia-appointed governor Sergey Aksyonov said: "Two people, including a child, were killed and two others wounded ... as a result of overnight enemy attacks.

Drone strikes also killed two people in the border Bryansk region -- a 23-year-old driver and 15-year-old girl -- and one in the Belgorod region, regional authorities said.

Kyiv insists that the Ukrainian army first and foremost targets military installations and energy infrastructure, in a bid to deprive the Kremlin's war chest of vital fossil fuel revenues.

In Russia's southern Krasnodar Krai region, debris from a drone strike triggered a fire at an oil depot, authorities said Thursday.

"Following the fall of UAV debris, a fire broke out at the Poltavskaya oil depot," Aleksandr Kharitonov, head of Krasnoarmeysk district in Krasnodar Krai, wrote on Russia's state-run Max platform.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 90 drones and an Iskander missile -- launched from Crimea -- at Ukraine overnight, adding that 83 of the drones had been shot down.

But Ukraine's state railway operator said a crew member was killed in a strike on a train in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.


Iran Warns Against Hormuz Crossings Without Authorization

FILE PHOTO: Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Iran Warns Against Hormuz Crossings Without Authorization

FILE PHOTO: Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned against any crossings of the Strait of Hormuz without authorization, saying vessels not complying "will be dealt with.”

The future of the strait, a vital route for energy shipments that was blockaded by Iran during the war, is a key sticking point in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

Tehran has said it plans to impose what it calls maritime service fees, as opposed to tolls, while the United States argues it is an international waterway and therefore should not be charged.

"The only authorized route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the route announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran," said the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military.

Any crossing without authorization is "unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” they warned in a statement.

According to AFP, they also denounced what they said was a new route through the waterway announced by "certain authorities.”

The statement did not elaborate but it appeared to be a response to an announcement overnight of a temporary corridor by Oman, which also borders the strait.