00:00Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder held a surprise one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according
00:08to the Kremlin.
00:09The U.S. military says it has carried out strikes on Iranian radar sites as the Trump administration continues to
00:16pile pressure on Tehran to secure a peace deal.
00:20Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder held a surprise one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, as
00:28announced by the Kremlin,
00:29in what is a perceived blow to Europe.
00:31The Kremlin described the discussion between the pair as friendly, adding that the meeting took place in Moscow.
00:38It's not clear what Putin and Schroeder discussed, but the war in Ukraine was likely to top their agenda.
00:44Schroeder served as German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, when his Social Democratic Party was voted out by incoming Angela
00:52Merkel.
00:52He has subsequently worked for Russian state companies, where he has cultivated a close relationship with Putin, one he often
01:00describes as a friendship.
01:02Putin has even named the former German leader as the only suitable European mediator to engage in talks aimed at
01:08ending the war in Ukraine, a proposition the EU firmly rejected.
01:12The meeting comes just days after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested in an open letter a meeting with Putin to
01:19explore ways to end the invasion of his country.
01:22Putin snubbed the letter, calling it rude, and stressed that there was no reason to meet, a move Kyiv described
01:29as evidence of Russia's unwillingness to end the war.
01:32Meanwhile, Russian attacks are continuing to pummel Ukrainian cities, while Kyiv also continues to carry out its own counter-offensive
01:40targeting Russian energy sites and ports.
01:45The U.S. military says it has shot down Iranian radar systems and sites in response to Tehran's earlier wave
01:52of attacks on Friday targeting the Strait of Hormuz and Washington's Gulf Arab allies.
01:57The U.S. Central Command said Iran had earlier launched seven ballistic missiles targeting Kuwait and the tiny island of
02:04Bahrain, six of which were intercepted, while a seventh failed to reach its target.
02:09The attacks come at a time of heightened tensions, as the Trump administration looks to ramp up pressure on Tehran
02:15to secure a peace deal.
02:17U.S. President Donald Trump says he's confident the war, which started on the 28th of February, will come to
02:24an end soon.
02:33U.S. officials have been saying that negotiations over a potential deal are in the latter stages, but have not
02:40detailed what sticking points remain between the two sides.
02:44Iran has, however, stated that it wants at least $24 billion in frozen assets freed, a U.S. withdrawal from
02:51the region, and a permanent truce in Lebanon as part of any arrangement.
02:58International leaders and military personnel gathered in Normandy on Saturday to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day beach
03:06landings.
03:08The ceremonies at Langrune-sur-Mer honored those who took part in Operation Overlord during World War II, with six
03:15of the last surviving veterans making the journey to France.
03:19U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hexate was present alongside military commanders to late tributes and praised the servicemen who fought
03:26to change the course of the war.
03:28The men buried here fought in a warfighting alliance where every partner brought its full measure of industry, courage, and
03:38sacrifice.
03:39Not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques, real allies, doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause
03:54worth fighting and dying for.
03:57U.K. Defense Secretary John Healy also paid his respects, laying a wreath at the British Normandy Memorial, which lists
04:04more than 22,000 names on its role of honor.
04:07The landings across five separate beaches with thousands of men still remain the largest seaborne military operation in history.
04:37U.K. Defense Secretary George's
04:41U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hexate
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