Latest news for 16 June 2025

CANADA

G7 kicks off.

Prime Minister Carney is now in the Rockies hosting G7 leaders, plus guests from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa. Ukraine’s Zelensky will also be there for a busy agenda that’ll include the Israel-Iran and Russo-Ukraine wars, plus trade. (DW)

Comment: That’s almost the full G20 in attendance, minus (for example) China, Russia, and Indonesia (the latter two are meeting in Moscow this week). It’s an example of how, as these big forums struggle to address the world’s problems, hosts will mix and match different guest lists in an attempt to break any impasse.

UNITED KINGDOM

New boss for Bond.

MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, has selected intelligence veteran Blaise Metreweli to become MI6’s new chief (aka ‘C’). She’s moving up from her current role as head of the agency’s famous tech arm (aka ‘Q’). (Guardian)

TAIWAN

Taipei hits Huawei with export controls.

Taiwan has now (like the US) quietly slapped China’s tech titans Huawei (comms) and SMIC (chips) with export controls, potentially hamstringing their access to the world’s most advanced AI chips. (Taipei Times)

Comment: History will reveal whether this move taps the brakes on China’s tech advancement, or just hits the gas on China’s tech independence.

FRANCE

Give that back.

Authorities have stripped former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy of France’s highest distinction (the Legion of Honour medal) after a court upheld last year’s conviction on corruption and influence-peddling charges. He now joins others like Harvey Weinstein and Lance Armstrong who likewise lost their Legion. (Euronews)

Comment: Interestingly, current leader Emmanuel Macron actually spoke against yoinking Sarkozy’s medal. It’s partly a reflection of Macron’s yearning for statesman status (above the political fray), but it also reflects Sarkozy’s continued influence within French conservativism just as Macron tries to hold a shaky coalition together.

VIETNAM

Booze tax to 90%.

Vietnam’s quasi-parliament has approved plans to increase the country’s liqueur tax from 65% to 90% by 2031, in hopes of curbing alcohol in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest beer consumer. (Reuters)

Comment: It’ll generate a bit of much-needed revenue and might curb some of the broader challenges around excessive boozing (described as helping “social welfare”), but at 90%, we can’t help but wonder how long until the bootlegging really takes off.

UNITED STATES

Cops capture Minnesota assassin.

After what state officials are describing as the biggest manhunt in Minnesota’s history, police have captured 57-year-old Vance Boelter, the man accused of shooting dead the state’s former house speaker and her husband on Saturday. While authorities say he acted alone, they’re still investigating his motive. (AP)

ALGERIA

Stop the spread.

French authorities keep seizing jars of a popular Algerian hazelnut spread known as El Mordjene. Coming against the backdrop of persistently frosty French-Algerian ties, Paris says Algiers has no agreement to sell dairy products into the EU, while critics allege it’s an attempt to protect the EU’s Nutella from competition. (New Arab)