World News in Brief: June 16

The Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, will hold its 16th session in Beijing from June 24 to 27.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Monday it would keep its forecasts for global oil demand growth unchanged at 2.9 percent for 2025 and 3.1 percent for 2026.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Monday it would keep its forecasts for global oil demand growth unchanged at 2.9 percent for 2025 and 3.1 percent for 2026.

* Cambodian Senate President Samdech Techo Hun Sen Monday warned to ban the imports of vegetables and fruits from Thailand within 24 hours if the latter does not normalize the operation at border crossings.

* Cambodian and Thai officials on Sunday concluded their "open and positive" negotiations over border issues, said press releases from both countries.

* Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Monday that Thailand has not closed its border with Cambodia but only taken some border control measures based on the evolving situation and security requirements, while stressing that Thailand will not accept any form of threat.

* Russia has transferred the bodies of 6,060 fallen soldiers to Ukraine, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky said Monday. Russia agreed to return the bodies of 6,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers after Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on June 2.

* Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in downtown Calgary on Sunday as the Group of Seven (G7) leaders arrived in the city on their way to the two-day summit in Kananaskis in the province of Alberta.

* French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nuuk on Sunday for an official visit to Greenland, underscoring France's commitment to the unity of the European community.

* Iran launched a new pre-dawn missile attack on Israel on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens, Israeli officials said, as the four-day conflict triggered by an Israeli surprise assault intensified.

* Israel issued on Monday evacuation warning to a municipal district in Tehran, calling its residents to urgently leave ahead of Israeli airstrikes.

* Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday Israel seeks to expand the war to other countries in the West Asia region.

* U.S. President Donald Trump vetoed a recent Israeli plan to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to multiple media reports on Sunday.

* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan engaged in separate telephone discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, urging a diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.

* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke by phone with the Sultan of Oman Sheikh Haitham bin Tariq on Sunday morning to discuss the escalating situation in the Middle East, according to a German government spokesperson.

* Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed on Sunday the tense situation in the Middle East with two senior U.S. diplomats.

* More than 100,000 protesters gathered in the center of The Hague on Sunday for a new "Red Line" demonstration opposing the Dutch government's stance on Israel.

* Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) on Monday extended the suspension of all flights to and from the country until early Tuesday, citing "special circumstances" and the need to ensure passenger and flight safety.

* A total of 497 Afghan refugee families have returned to their homeland in a single day on Saturday, reported the state-run Bakhtar news agency on Sunday.

* New Zealand and Indonesia have signed a landmark halal cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening trade ties and unlocking new opportunities for New Zealand's red meat and dairy sectors, according to the New Zealand government on Monday.

* Republic of Korea's finance ministry said Monday that it will extend fuel tax cuts for two more months and consumption tax reductions for six more months.

* Cambodia's trade volume with its fellow ASEAN member states reached 7.2 billion USD in the first five months of 2025, up 5.5 percent over the same period last year, a report said on Monday.

* Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments to Nepal increased by 36 percent year-on-year during the first 11 months of the current 2024-25 fiscal year, showed the latest data from the Department of Industry.

* The Indonesian government is aiming to build a total of 1,100 fishing villages across the archipelago nation by the end of 2027, an official of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said on Monday.

* The Central Bank of Myanmar has held a workshop to combat money laundering associated with online financial fraud, the state-owned newspaper The Mirror reported on Sunday.

* Turkey has increased the transit fees for international vessels navigating through the strategic Turkish Straits, which connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea, authorities announced on Sunday.

* Indonesia has officially lifted import quotas on live cattle in a move to strengthen food security, a minister announced on Sunday.

* The World Bank's board of executive directors has approved 250 million USD in financing to bolster public sector performance in Bangladesh by fostering transparency, accountability, and efficiency in key government agencies.

* Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos reached 2.97 billion USD in April 2025, 4.1 percent higher than the 2.86 billion dollars recorded in April 2024, the Philippine central bank said Monday.

* Czech police on Sunday detained a suspect following a shooting incident that left two people dead in a town east of Prague.

Xinhua
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