Trump Pushes for Green Cards for Foreign Graduates as Global Tensions Rise

Donald Trump suggests automatic green cards for graduates from US colleges, including junior colleges, during the All-In podcast. Meanwhile, global geopolitical tensions intensify with new military pacts and conflicts involving North Korea, Russia, Israel, and Gaza. Extreme heatwaves claim lives worldwide as the Northern Hemisphere marks the start of summer.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Trump says foreign college graduates should automatically get green cards

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that people who graduate from college in the United States should "automatically" get a green card to be able to stay in the country. "You graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country and that includes junior colleges too," Trump said on the All-In podcast hosted by tech investors.

New North Korea-Russia pact calls for immediate military aid if invaded

North Korea and Russia have agreed to provide immediate military assistance if either faces armed aggression, according to the full text of a landmark pact released on Thursday by Pyongyang after a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin. South Korea responded by convening an emergency meeting of its national security council and said it would now consider sending arms to Ukraine, which it had previously ruled out.

Lawmakers in Philippines push for probe into Pentagon's anti-vax propaganda operation

Lawmakers in the Philippines, including the head of the Senate's foreign relations committee, are seeking an investigation into a secret U.S. military propaganda operation that aimed to cast doubt among Filipinos about China's vaccines during the height of the COVID pandemic. Philippine Senator Imee Marcos, who chairs the foreign relations committee, and House Representative France Castro filed resolutions in the country's Congress this week to initiate the probe, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

Israel pounds central Gaza camps, deepens invasion of Rafah

Several Israeli air strikes in the central and northern Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens of others, according to medics, while tanks deepened their invasion into Rafah in the south, residents said.

Israeli planes struck a house in Al-Nuseirat camp, killing two people and wounding 12 others, while tanks shelled areas in Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij camps, wounding many other people, health officials said. Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij are three of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps.

Weary Lebanese brace for war after new Hezbollah threats

Lebanese product designer Tara Tabet does not want to see her country pulled into a full-scale war with Israel, but like many of her compatriots is bracing for possible conflict after new threats by armed group Hezbollah against both Israel and Cyprus. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah surprised many on Wednesday when he said Cyprus - the EU member state closest to Lebanon - could be drawn into the group's conflict with Israel, raging in parallel with the Gaza war. Cyprus has denied taking sides in any war.

Putin says Russia may deliver weapons to North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia might supply weapons to North Korea in what he suggested would be a mirror response to the Western arming of Ukraine. Putin was speaking to reporters in Vietnam, a day after visiting nuclear-armed North Korea and signing a mutual defence agreement with its leader, Kim Jong Un.

Gaza pier resumes operations as aid collects in marshalling area

The U.S. military's floating pier off Gaza has resumed bringing humanitarian aid into the Israeli-besieged Palestinian territory, the Pentagon said on Thursday, even as aid continues to collect in a nearby marshalling area since the United Nations has not restarted transporting it to warehouses. The pier had been re-attached to the shore on Wednesday after being temporarily removed last Friday due to poor sea conditions, the latest challenge to the effort that has been hampered by bad weather since it was put into place in May.

Exclusive-Somalia asks peacekeepers to slow withdrawal, fears Islamist resurgence

Somalia's government is seeking to slow the withdrawal of African peacekeepers and warning of a potential security vacuum, documents seen by Reuters show, with neighbouring countries fretting that resurgent al Shabaab militants could seize power. The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a peacekeeping force, is committed to withdrawing by Dec. 31, when a smaller new force is expected to replace it.

Extreme heat kills hundreds, millions more sweltering worldwide as summer begins

Deadly heatwaves are scorching cities on four continents as the Northern Hemisphere marks the first day of summer, a sign that climate change may again help to fuel record-breaking heat that could surpass last summer as the warmest in 2,000 years. Record temperatures in recent days are suspected to have caused hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths across Asia and Europe.

Visiting Vietnam, Putin seeks new 'security architecture' for Asia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to build a "reliable security architecture" in the Asia-Pacific region during a state visit to Vietnam on Thursday, part of a trip to Asia seen as show of defiance to the West. A day after signing a mutual defence agreement with North Korea, Putin received a 21-gun salute at a military ceremony in Vietnam, was embraced by two of its Communist leaders and lavishly praised by one of them.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)