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South Korea to shift civilian restricted line at border with North Korea

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE South Korea will shift a line running parallel to the military border ‌with North Korea to narrow the area that ‌restricts civilian access to reflect an evolving security environment and for the ​convenience of local residents, the defence minister said on Wednesday. The so-called Civilian Control Line is currently as much as 10 km (6.2 miles) to the south of the Military ‌Demarcation Line (MDL) drawn up ⁠at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Authorisation by the military is required ⁠to enter the area. Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the change that will shift the civilian access line by an ​average of ​6 km from the ​MDL is in response ‌to years of requests by residents and is made possible by improved defence readiness. As many as 20,000 people reside inside the zone according to media reports, and others enter the area to farm or work going through authorisation ‌procedures. The ministry also announced other ​changes that will ea...
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G7 leaders meet in France with Iran and Ukraine high on agenda

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By SYLVIE CORBET, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and AAMER MADHANI AP U.S. allies at the Group of Seven summit of major industrialized nations worked Tuesday to push the  war in Ukraine  back up the agenda of President Donald Trump after more than four years of fighting sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Iran conflict  has in recent weeks overshadowed the war in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched. Host President Emmanuel Macron of France said he’ll seek to persuade Trump to continue supporting Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to help reach a peace agreement. As the U.S. under Trump has cut back aid to Ukraine, France and its European allies are now the biggest providers of military and financial support to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined G7 leaders for a morning working session but talks wrapped quickly, as leaders gathered for just 75 minutes, according to the French G7 presidency. The Ukraine...
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Iran, US agree to halt war and reopen Hormuz, sending oil prices tumbling

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By Parisa Hafezi, Yomna Ehab and Humeyra Pamuk Reuters and by TOE U.S. and Iranian officials said they had reached an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a preliminary pact that sent oil prices falling but leaves the fate of Tehran’s nuclear program to further negotiations. While still a framework, the deal marked the biggest breakthrough towards resolving ‌the conflict that has killed thousands and upended energy markets since it began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February. “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” U.S. President Donald ‌Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at around 5:30 p.m. in Washington (2130 GMT) on Sunday. His post came shortly after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, announced a deal had been struck early on Monday local time. The memorandum of ​understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland....
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Switzerland votes on plan to cap population at 10 million

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By Nina LARSON AFP and Posted by TOE Swiss voters will decide the fate of a divisive anti-immigration proposal on Sunday to cap the country’s population, and another referendum on restricting access to conscientious objection to military service. Opinion polls suggest that both votes, put forward under Switzerland’s direct democracy system, could be tight. Voting booths will open for just a few hours Sunday morning before closing at noon (1000 GMT), most of the votes having been cast in advance by post. The first results are expected by mid-afternoon. Tensions have been running particularly high over the “No to a Switzerland with 10 million!” initiative, put forward by the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP). That proposal wants measures to stop the wealthy Alpine nation’s population — currently 9.1 million — going above 10 million before 2050. In a country where foreigners make up over a quarter of the populatio...
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U.S., Iran signal peace deal near as Tehran claims victory

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By Steve Holland, Parisa Hafezi and John Irish Reuters and Posted by TOE The United States and Iran signalled on Friday that an agreement to end their war was close, with a senior U.S. administration official saying both sides had agreed on a text and that Washington expects to sign an initial deal in the coming days. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said changes were still ‌possible, but the tentative agreement showed his country had emerged stronger from the conflict. “Iran is the winner of the war with the U.S.,” he said on state television. The proposed memorandum of understanding calls ‌for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports, sources on all sides of the talks said. Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program — U.S. President Donald Trump’s stated rationale for starting the war — would take place afterward. The U.S. official, speaking on condition ​of anonymity, told reporter...
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Trump cancels new Iran strikes, announces ‘approved’ peace deal

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 By Stephen Feller UPI and Posted by TOE President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he cancelled new U.S. strikes in Iran because Iranian leadership, and other regional powers, have approved “final points” in a deal to end the war. Trump said in a mid-afternoon post on Truth Social that he cancelled military strikes that were announced on Wednesday because the United States, Iran, Israel and other Middle Eastern nations reached an agreement. The United States on Wednesday had launched airstrikes in Iran and that it planned to hit the country “very hard,” Trump had said, and would seize Kharg Island, where 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports are shipped from. A shaky cease-fire had held in the three-month-old conflict, occasional skirmishes and blockage of the Strait of Hormuz aside, for weeks until Iran carried out a “powerful assault” on U.S. military assets Tuesday, which prompted Trump’s now jettisoned threat of new, larg...
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Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

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By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
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