03/06/2026

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 3, 2026

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Russia bombards Ukraine o Kyiv warned of major attack Thousands seeking

Iran has not yet sent its response DUBAI: Iran has not yet responded to a proposed final agreement with the United States aimed at ending the conflict between the two countries, and discussions on the final text are continuing in Tehran, a source close to the Iranian negotiating team told Mehr News yesterday. The source said Iran was reviewing the proposal cautiously because of what it sees as a history of non-compliance and mistrust. “Iran is seeking tangible and real benefits,” the source said. A senior Iranian military officer said a resumption of hostilities with the United States was inevitable, as negotiations appeared to stall. “The United States demands our total surrender, and the Iranian nation will never surrender,” said Mohammad Jafar Assadi, deputy head of Iran’s central military command, Khatam al-Anbiya. “Without surrender, war is inevitable.” President Donald Trump told ABC News on Monday that he thinks there will be a deal with Iran to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz “over the next week”. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said: “No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear file. At this stage, our priority is ending the war.” Trump insists Iran’s nuclear programme must be part of any deal, saying Tehran must not get nuclear weapons. – Reuters/AFP WASHINGTON: A gunman killed six members of his family, then took his own life on Monday in the Iowa city of Muscatine, a waterfront town situated across the Mississippi River from Illinois. Four of the victims were found shot to death inside a residence. Although the suspect had fled the scene, he was quickly identified as Ryan Willis McFarland, 52, of Muscatine, and was located on the city’s riverfront trail near a pedestrian bridge, Muscatine Police Chief Anthony Kies said. While officers were talking with him, he took his own life. After information surfaced there may have been additional victims, police found the bodies of two other men McFarland was believed to have shot: one in a nearby home and another at a business. – Reuters BURNHAM NOT EYEING EARLY ELECTION LONDON: British Labour Party politician Andy Burnham will not call an early national election should he replace Keir Starmer to become prime minister, his spokesperson said. Burnham is running for a vacant seat in parliament and, if successful, would then be able to launch a leadership challenge to Starmer, whose authority has been badly damaged after poor local election results and other missteps. His spokesperson said Burnham had no plans to call an immediate election if he did become prime minister. Britain is next due to hold a national parliamentary election in 2029. The Sun had reported that Burnham might call an early election should he replace Starmer as leader. – Reuters GUNMAN KILLS SIX FAMILY MEMBERS

massive strike is possible. They have prepared one,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “Our defenders are ready 24/7 to the fullest extent possible with the supplies currently available.” In Ukraine’s northeastern region of Kharkiv, a child was among the 10 people injured in drone and missile attacks, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. Russian regions also came under attack. The Ilsky oil refinery, in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, caught fire after a drone attack, local authorities said yesterday. In Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, an 11-year-old boy was injured after a Ukrainian drone hit a home, local authorities said on Telegram. Russia downed 148 Ukrainian drones overnight, its Defence Ministry reported. Air defence systems were also repelling drone attacks over Sevastopol, a Russian naval fleet base, in Russia-occupied Crimea. – Reuters

shelter flooded into the Kyiv subway system early yesterday, witnesses said, some carrying belongings and mattresses, as the sound of defence systems repelling Russian attacks filled the air. More explosions were heard in the capital after dawn, a witness said. Six people were killed and 36 injured in a missile and drone attack on the southeastern city of Dnipro and its surroundings, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram. All the injured were in hospital in moderate condition, he said, posting pictures of destroyed residential buildings, burnt-out vehicles and a damaged children’s playground. Air raid warnings sounded over much of the country early yesterday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s warnings the previous day of a possible major assault. “Intelligence warnings regarding Russian strikes remain in effect. A

KYIV: Russian drones and missiles pounded Ukrainian cities such as Kyiv and Dnipro early yesterday, killing at least 13 people and wounding about 100, authorities said, following days of warnings about Moscow’s plans for a major assault. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power supply and infrastructure in a war now more than four years old, while Ukraine has stepped up attacks this year on Russian oil facilities. Both deny targeting civilians. Last week, the Kremlin warned that it intended “systematic strikes” on targets in Kyiv in response to a drone attack on a dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-held region of Luhansk, which killed 21. Ukraine denied the attack. Photographs showed large explosions and plumes of smoke billowing over high-rise buildings in Kyiv, where overnight strikes killed

four people and wounded 58, including children, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. “We couldn’t understand what was happening ... some kind of apocalypse?” said Olha Mudra, speaking at the site of one strike, accompanied by her six-year-old daughter Natalia. “Everything was covered (with debris), everything in smoke,” she said, as she stood in front of a destroyed residential building. A missile strike on a 24-storey apartment building triggered a collapse, leaving people probably trapped under the rubble, Klitschko said, while a nine-storey apartment block was among other buildings set ablaze by missile debris. “In the Obolon district, cars are burning after being struck by falling missile debris,” Klitschko said. “There are also fires at two locations in open areas, including one near a kindergarten.”

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Firefighters putting out a blaze at a car dealership in Kyiv yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Man, son, daughter killed in Israeli strike BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said yesterday an Israeli strike a day earlier killed a man, his son and daughter in the country’s south, while a local priest said they were returning from doing university exams. said the man had been returning home with his son and daughter, both in their early 20s, after they did university exams. on dozens of south Lebanon locations on Monday. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,433 people and wounded 10,395 others since the latest war with Hezbollah erupted on March 2.

back,” Trump said on his Truth Social network after a “very productive” call with Netanyahu. “Likewise, through highly placed representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop ... that Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel,” he said. Netanyahu later said he had told Trump “that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and citizens, Israel will strike Beirut”. But Trump doubled down on his ceasefire push, posting “hopefully” Israel and Hezbollah would stop fighting “for eternity!” – AFP

“The man and his two children went to the university in the morning so they could do their examinations, and on their way back the Israeli drone hit their car,” he said. “We don’t understand why this happened,” he said, adding that a Bible and prayer book were found in the heavily damaged car. “He’s a dentist and his children are university students ... this is extremely sad news for the village.” The NNA reported Israeli airstrikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to cast doubt on any truce and a report by US news outlet Axios on Monday said President Donald Trump called him “f...ing crazy” and accused him of putting Iran peace talks at risk. “There will be no troops going to Beirut, and any troops that are on their way, have already been turned

National News Agency (NNA) said the man, a dentist from the border village of Qlayaa, “was killed with his son and daughter when an enemy drone targeted his car on the Nabatieh-Khardali road”. Father Antonios Farah, a priest for the Qlayaa parish where some people are still holding out despite Israeli evacuation orders to leave,