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President Donald Trump arrives at Calgary International Airport for the G7 leaders' summit in Calgary, Alberta, on June 15, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump arrived in Canada on Sunday for the Group of 7 summit, marking his first major international leaders’ gathering since beginning his second term in January.

Over the three-day summit, Trump will engage with the leaders of the world’s seven advanced economies to tackle pressing economic challenges and escalating geopolitical crises, particularly in the Middle East given the recent escalation to direct conflict between Israel and Iran.

A group of local leaders greeted the president at Calgary International Airport in Alberta. Alberta, a conservative, oil-rich province, is an intriguing choice for the summit, given an upcoming 2026 referendum on its potential separation from Canada.

The leaders’ summit, which marks the 50th anniversary of the G7, will be held in Kananaskis, nestled in the Canadian Rockies, from June 15 to June 17.

The group comprises the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, representing more than half of global GDP.

This year’s gathering unfolds against the backdrop of active conflict between Israel and Iran, with both countries exchanging strikes for a third consecutive day as of June 15.

The fighting began on June 12 after Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, senior officials, military leaders, and nuclear scientists.

The strikes came after the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on June 9 that he was seriously concerned about Iran’s “rapid accumulation of highly enriched uranium.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in recent months, Iran had taken steps to “weaponize” and that “if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.”

In response to the strikes, Iran launched missiles that breached Israel’s air defenses, striking residential areas, including in the capital of Tel Aviv. Israel has threatened a strong response. (More)

More Politics:

Authorities say they’ve captured Vance Boelter, the suspect behind the slaying of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and an attack on a state senator and his wife.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced the arrest just before during a press conference held late on Sunday.

“We got him,” Walz wrote on X.

Boelter’s capture comes after a multi-day manhunt involving local, state, and federal authorities. He’s believed to have been the assailant who murdered former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. He’s also the suspect in an attack on state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife that left both injured.

Authorities said earlier on Sunday that they had searched a car abandoned in a rural area of Minnesota that was believed to have been used by Boelter to flee. The vehicle was found outside Minneapolis.

Boelter allegedly wore a mask and posed as a police officer before he shot and killed Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband on June 14 at their home in Brooklyn Park, officials said.

Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were injured at their home in Champlin. Boelter is also the suspect in that case, officials added. (More)

More U.S. News

Taiwan is imposing new export restrictions on Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), dealing a major blow to communist China’s ambition to advance its domestic chipmaking industry and challenge global leaders like Nvidia.

Taiwan’s International Trade Administration on June 15 said it has updated its Strategic High-Tech Commodities Entity List to include Huawei and SMIC, the two companies spearheading the Chinese regime’s efforts to develop high-end chips needed for artificial intelligence technologies.

“To combat arms proliferation and address other national security concerns, a total of 601 entities involved in arms proliferation activities were added to the list released on June 10, including Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Myanmar, and mainland China, including Chinese companies such as Huawei and SMIC,” the administration said in a statement.

Taiwanese companies must get government approval before they can ship anything to entities on the list, according to the administration.

The move aligns Taiwan more closely with the United States’ strategy of tightening restrictions on the transfer of semiconductor technology, tools, and materials to China. The U.S. Commerce Department placed Huawei on its own entity list in 2019, and SMIC in 2020, cutting both companies off from U.S. suppliers in almost all circumstances.

In the years that followed, both the Biden and Trump administrations urged U.S. allies to adopt similar export controls to deny China’s access to advanced chips produced by firms such as Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung. TSMC currently makes cutting-edge AI chips for companies like Nvidia, which Huawei and SMIC are attempting to rival. (More)

More World News

📷 Photo of the Day: Competitors take part in the Race the Waves motoring event held on the beach in Bridlington, England, on June 15, 2025. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

Day in Photos: Protests in Spain, First Veterans Day in Germany, Iran-Israel Strikes Continue

 🎤 Crossroads: The communist tactics at play behind the LA riots. (Watch)

✍️ Opinion: Signs of Xi Jinping’s Diminished Power Continue as CCP Faces Internal Turmoil Ahead of Key Meeting by Michael Zhuang (Read)

🎙️Podcast: California has more than 39,000 idle oil wells, many of which pose environmental and financial risks if left unaddressed. While often treated as a burden, former state energy regulator Bill Bartling sees a missed opportunity. (Listen)

🎵 Music: Bach - Partita No. 1 (Listen)

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Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock

For over a decade, Martin Cermak, now 27, lived in two worlds—the physical one where he struggled with relationships and direction, and a digital one where he ruled as a skilled gamer.

What rocked his worlds was a breakup that left him in cold shock. His first-ever girlfriend suddenly ended their relationship after nine months of dating.

“I honestly couldn’t believe it at first,” Martin told The Epoch Times.

For months leading up to the breakup, Martin had fallen into a downward spiral. He had quit his job in the military, spending most of his days gaming, streaming himself gaming, or watching streams. He was also at risk of losing his part-time job, having skipped several shifts when he didn’t feel like working. Only when it was necessary did he attend his college classes, but in every other free moment—he gamed.

“I had a long and hard period of thinking, deciding what to do next. I had an idea to get back together. I had an idea to start going to church. I also had an idea to quit gaming, and I did.” His decision changed his life.

Once stereotyped as a nerdy hobby, video games have become mainstream. Today, 70 percent of American adults identify as gamers, spending an average of 14 hours per week playing.

Real life is hard, and games offer a virtual world to escape to, where achievements and desires are easily fulfilled, and life is so much more exciting. As games increasingly draw people into virtuality, their deeper effects are beginning to surface. (More)

Spot the Difference is our readers’ favorite. Play it here.

Play more games at Epoch Fun ➞

Thanks for reading.

Have a wonderful day.

—Ivan Pentchoukov, Madalina Hubert, and Kenzi Li.

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