Iran hits Tel Aviv after overnight Israeli strikes on Tehran

Iran unleashed a barrage of missile strikes on Israeli cities early Monday, after Israel struck military targets deep inside Iran, with both sides threatening further devastation. AFP images showed gutted residential buildings in Tel Aviv and fires smouldering outside the coastal city of Haifa, after Israel’s army warned people to take cover from incoming Iranian missiles.In Jerusalem, an AFP journalist heard loud explosions, while footage showed Israeli air defences lighting up the night sky.After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war fought through proxies and covert operations, Israel’s surprise assault on Iran last week has touched off the most intense fighting yet and triggered fears of a lengthy conflict that could engulf the Middle East.Israel says its attacks have hit military and nuclear facilities, and killed many top commanders and atomic scientists — but a senior US official said Sunday that US President Donald Trump told Israel to back down from a plan to kill supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Trump has urged the foes to “make a deal”, but told reporters Sunday that “sometimes they have to fight it out” first.Monday’s Iranian missile attack followed Israeli strikes in central Iran, which Israel’s army said targeted surface-to-surface missile sites.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said Monday they had “successfully” struck Israel and vowed “effective, targeted and more devastating operations” to come. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said five people had been killed and 92 wounded following the latest Iranian attack. – ‘A heavy price’ -Residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities broke out Friday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming Iran Sunday for allegedly targeting civilians.”Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said while visiting a residential building struck by a missile in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.Iranian strikes since Friday have killed more than a dozen people in Israel.Iran’s health ministry reported at least 224 people killed and more than 1,200 wounded in Israeli attacks since Friday.Iranian state television reported at least five people were killed Sunday by an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in central Tehran.Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, threatened a “devastating response” to Israel’s attacks.”Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he warned in a televised address, adding shelters will “not guarantee security”.Addressing parliament on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens to “stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence”.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz later warned that Tehran’s residents would “pay the price” for Iranian attacks on Israeli civilians.Despite reports of people fleeing the Iranian capital, some were determined to stay. “It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” Shokouh Razzazi, 31, told AFP.- ‘Make a deal’ -Trump said Washington “had nothing to do” with Israel’s bombing campaign but threatened to unleash “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacked American interests.On Sunday, he urged the two foes to “make a deal” but expressed scepticism about the prospects for peace. “But sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House.A senior US official told AFP that Trump had urged Israel to drop a plan to assassinate Khamenei.”We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,” said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Asked in an interview with Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of the objectives of Israel’s strikes, Netanyahu said that “it certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak”. Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi maintained Tehran had “solid proof” that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.He also told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Iran’s actions were a “response to aggression”.”If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added. Iran scrapped planned nuclear talks with the United States, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while under fire.Iranian judiciary said a convicted agent for Israel’s Mossad spy agency was hung on Monday.Israel has said it had taken two individuals into custody over alleged links to Iranian intelligence.burs-tym/jsa

Mondial des clubs: le PSG poursuit sur sa lancée de champion d’Europe

En étrillant l’Atlético Madrid dimanche (4-0) à Los Angeles, le Paris SG a envoyé un message aux autres favoris du Mondial des clubs: le champion d’Europe poursuit sur sa lancée avec l’objectif bien affirmé de conquérir le monde.Le 5-0 infligé à l’Inter Milan il y a deux semaines en finale de la Ligue des champions à Munich avait marqué les esprits, et le match de dimanche a confirmé que le PSG ne faisait pas de quartiers.”Nous, on défend notre titre de champion d’Europe ici, il faut continuer sur la même lancée”, a exhorté le capitaine Marquinhos, radieux depuis le 31 mai, et ambitieux: “On a gagné la C1 mais la vie continue, les compétitions continuent, la motivation c’est toujours la même, la faim c’est toujours la même”.Marquer quatre buts à l’Atlético Madrid est en soi une prouesse, tant la formation de Diego Simeone est bâtie sur la rigueur défensive et l’énergie mise dans les duels. Et le PSG le savait mieux que quiconque, lui qui avait dû s’incliner sur le fil le 6 novembre dernier en phase de poules de la Ligue des champions, malgré une grosse domination (2-1).Dimanche dans un Rose Bowl stadium quasi plein et sous une chaleur écrasante, les Parisiens ont montré le chemin parcouru depuis l’automne et se sont vengés avec la manière. Ils ont d’emblée monopolisé le ballon grâce à leur supériorité technique, notamment celle des étincelants milieux de terrain Vitinha, Joao Neves et Fabian Ruiz. Le premier et le troisième ont même été buteurs, démontrant à nouveau leur polyvalence.- Maturité -“On a su marquer vite dans le match, ça nous a mis à l’aise”, a raconté Senny Mayulu, auteur du troisième but quelques minutes après son entrée en jeu. “Ensuite, on n’avait plus qu’à garder la balle, trouver des occasions et les finir.”Il y a bien eu quelques failles défensives, à l’image des espaces trouvés par l’Atlético sur le but de Julian Alvarez, annulé après arbitrage vidéo (57e), et un pressing sans doute moins intense que lors de la campagne européenne. Mais le PSG a géré cette rencontre avec la maturité qui le caractérise depuis six mois. “Chacun a son rôle, chacun sait ce qu’il doit faire, et quand vous le faites bien, tout va très bien”, a résumé Vitinha, joueur du match tout sourire.Il est aussi parlant qu’au coup de sifflet final, les joueurs n’aient pas exulté. Ils se sont tranquillement congratulés, comme pour signifier que cette performance n’était qu’un tout début.Car le club peut voir loin dans cette compétition nouveau format qu’il ne prend pas à la légère. “Le but est de marquer l’histoire. On l’a déjà fait, c’est très positif, mais on ouvre un nouveau chapitre”, a expliqué l’entraîneur Luis Enrique, qui avait aligné l’équipe type, sans Ousmane Dembélé blessé.”On doit montrer que l’on est capables de se réinventer. C’est un très beau challenge pour l’équipe”, a-t-il ajouté.- Formalité -Vitinha a abondé: “C’est ça l’envie, on veut faire une saison historique, elle l’est déjà, mais si on peut ajouter cette nouvelle compétition (au palmarès), la première fois que ça se passe, c’est encore plus incroyable”.Pour conquérir un cinquième titre cette saison (après le championnat, la Coupe de France, le Trophée des champions et la Ligue des champions), le PSG doit d’abord prendre l’une des deux premières places du groupe B.Cela devrait être une formalité puisque l’Atlético était l’équipe la plus dangereuse, par rapport à Botafogo jeudi (03h00 vendredi en France) et les Seattle Sounders le 23 juin. Surtout si Dembélé et Bradley Barcola, l’autre joueur convalescent du groupe, peuvent rejouer.En attendant, l’équipe va rejoindre ses quartiers à Irvine, banlieue sud de Los Angeles. Le PSG actuel est ainsi, il chemine dans son coin, sereinement, sans se soucier des attentes énormes qui pèsent désormais sur ses épaules.”La chose qui nous a amenés loin en Ligue des champions et dans les autres compétitions, c’était de voir match après match, et c’est ça qu’on va faire”, a confié Vitinha. “On a bien joué contre l’Atlético, on va penser à Botafogo maintenant.”

China factory output slows but consumption offers bright spot

Growth in China’s factory output hit a six-month low last month as trade war pressures bit, official data showed Monday, while a bump in a key gauge of domestic consumption offered a rare bright spot for the economy.The United States and China this month agreed to a temporary truce in a standoff that saw tariffs hiked to eye-watering levels and upended global supply chains.But the impact of the row was highlighted by official figures showing industrial production rose just 5.8 percent last month, below the 6.0 percent predicted in a Bloomberg survey and its slowest pace since November. It was also below a forecast-beating 6.1 percent in April, according to the data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).”Weaker external demand was partly to blame,” Zichun Huang, China Economist at Capital Economics said in note. “Despite the tariff truce, the contraction in industrial sales for export appears to have deepened last month.”However, retail sales  — a key gauge of consumer demand — grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in May, the fastest since December 2023, according to the NBS.This topped the 4.9 percent forecast in the Bloomberg survey and was sharply up from April’s 5.1 percent increase.”It’s an encouraging sign of recovery, as policy support efforts filter through the economy,” Lynn Song, Chief Economist for Greater China at ING, said.”However, a more sustainable consumption recovery will likely require a turnaround of consumer confidence, which remains much closer to historical lows than historical averages,” he added.And Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note that the retail sales figures “came as a surprise” — pointing to the possible impact of a government trade-in programme for consumer goods.The NBS said the world’s number two economy “maintained stability” last month as authorities “stepped up the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies”.But it added that “there are still many unstable and uncertain external factors, and the internal momentum for expanding domestic demand needs to be further strengthened”.Beijing has struggled to sustain strong growth since the pandemic, grappling with deep-seated problems at home including a persistent slump in domestic consumption and a debt crisis in the property sector.Commercial property prices in a representative group of 70 cities fell month-on-month in May, reflecting continued consumer caution, the NBS said.The surveyed unemployment rate — another closely watched figure as millions of young people struggle to find suitable work — edged down to five percent in May from 5.1 percent the previous month, the bureau said.China is targeting economic growth of around five percent this year.But the picture has been complicated by trade tensions with Washington that erupted in a gruelling tit-for-tat tariff war after US President Donald Trump took office in January.The two sides have since agreed a pause on retaliatory levies but have not yet announced a lasting deal.

G7 confronts Israel-Iran crisis as Trump dominates summit

Group of Seven leaders including US President Donald Trump prepared to hold talks Monday in the Canadian Rockies, tackling issues including whether they can find common ground on an escalating conflict between Iran and Israel.The three-day gathering in the mountain town of Kananaskis marks the return to the international diplomatic calendar for Trump, who has stunned allies by defying norms and slapping sweeping tariffs on friend and foe alike.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had designed an agenda aimed at minimizing disagreements within the club of wealthy industrial democracies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.But Israel shocked the world two days before the summit with a surprise, massive military campaign against Iran.Canada is now sounding out countries about making a joint call on Israel and Iran, diplomats said.The statement could call for de-escalation or could simply back Israel, saying that it has a “right to defend itself” due to Iran’s contested nuclear work.European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told reporters that she spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the summit and agreed that Iran was to blame.”Of course I think a negotiated solution is, in the long term, the best solution,” she said, stopping short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.Trump has praised Israel’s strikes, noting it used US weapons, even though Netanyahu defied his public calls to hold off as the United States sought a negotiated solution.Unusually, Japan, which historically has maintained cordial ties with Iran, made a forceful break with allies in the United States and Europe when it denounced Israel’s strikes as “deeply regrettable.”European powers have all steered clear of criticizing Israel on the Iran strikes, despite separate concern about the humanitarian situation in besieged Gaza.French President Emmanuel Macron has called for restraint and urged Iran to re-enter talks with the United States, while also blaming Tehran for escalating tensions over its nuclear program.- Visiting ’51st state’ -Trump is visiting Canada despite his mockery of the United States’ northern neighbor, which he has said would be better off as the 51st state.Tensions have eased since Carney, a former central banker known more for his competence than pizzazz, took over in March from Justin Trudeau, an erstwhile star on the global stage whom Trump made no secret of disliking.When Trump last visited Canada for a G7 summit, in 2018, he bolted out early and tweeted from Air Force One insults about Trudeau, disassociating the United States from the final statement.But deep tensions remain. Trump, seeking a radical transformation of a global economic order centered on free trade, has vowed to slap sweeping tariffs on US friends and foes alike on July 9, a deadline he postponed once.Von der Leyen, who spoke to Trump by telephone on Saturday, voiced hope that the Europeans can reach a solution and offered veiled criticism of the US approach.”Let us keep trade between us fair, predictable and open. All of us need to avoid protectionism,” she said.- Linking Ukraine and Iran -Von der Leyen also called for the Group of Seven to link the crises in Iran and Ukraine, which has been hit by drones sold to Russia by Tehran’s cleric-run state.”The same type of Iranian-designed and -made drones and ballistic missiles are indiscriminately hitting cities in Ukraine and in Israel. As such, these threats need to be addressed together,” she said.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among the invited guests and hopes to speak to Trump, who publicly derided him when they met at the White House on February 28.Trump had hoped to force Ukraine into a quick deal with Russia, but he has grown frustrated after President Vladimir Putin refused US-led appeals for at least a temporary truce.Trump spoke by telephone with Putin on Saturday, both about the Israel-Iran conflict and Ukraine.Macron, however, cast doubt on Putin serving as a Middle East mediator.The French president headed to Kananaskis after stopping in Greenland, where he denounced Trump’s threats to seize the Danish autonomous territory.”That’s not what allies do,” he said.Trump for his part arrived at the summit after attending a military parade in Washington that coincided with his birthday, prompting nationwide protests over steps seen as increasingly authoritarian.