President Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner said today that the U.S. will announce new steps next week on the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan as a follow-up to the Bahrain conference.
Why it matters: The White House presented the economic part of the peace plan in Bahrain, but most of the international community is anxiously waiting for the political plan. The White House has hinted it will release the peace plan in November after a new government is formed in Israel.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country will start enriching uranium to "any amount we want" on July 7, reports AP.
"Our advice to Europe and the United States is to go back to logic and to the negotiating table. Go back to understanding, to respecting the laws and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. Under those conditions, all of us can abide by the nuclear deal."
The big picture: Iran is trying to pressure European countries to find a way around the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S.
While embroiled in the most vivid display of great power rivalry since the Cold War, the U.S. and China are both also battling a largely invisible force — relentlessly unfavorable demographics that are sapping their long-term economic vitality.
Driving the news: As we have reported, the global population as a whole is aging and shrinking, but the trend is striking China especially hard just as it challenges the U.S. for long-term global primacy, according to experts and a number of recent reports.
Steve Biegun, the Trump administration's North Korea negotiator, told reporters in an off the record briefing Sundaythat the administration wanted a "complete freeze" of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program while they are negotiating with the U.S.
Between the lines: Biegun's off the record remarks, made aboard Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's plane during the return trip to Washington from Korea, signaled he's willing to be more flexible with North Korea than the hardliners in the Trump administration. Biegun said the administration isn't ready to lift the sanctions against North Korea if it freezes its weapons program, but that it could give Kim other concessions, such as humanitarian relief and improved diplomatic ties.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of President Trump, said on Tuesday in a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) that he plans to talk to Trump and urge him to base the White House's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan on a two-state solution.
Why it matters: Although Trump said publicly last September that he supports a two-state solution, it is unclear if the U.S. peace plan will include this principle. The administration's support of settlements in the West Bank is likely to make a two-state solution far more difficult.
Protests against a proposed Chinese extradition bill in Hong Kong have continued as groups of protesters occupied and ransacked the city's legislative chamber Monday and were met with tear gas. The city's leader, Carrie Lam, condemned the "extreme violence and vandalism."
Why it matters to the market: The growing unrest could dampen the territory's prominent financial market, which saw a major boom in the first half of the year.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in told a Cabinet meeting Monday his meeting with President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Demilitarized Zone marked "an end of hostile relations," AP reports.
Why it matters: Trump on Sunday became the first sitting U.S. president to enter North Korea before his summit with the 2 Korean leaders. Leading Democrats dismissed the event as little more than a "photo op." AP notes that many experts also believe it lacked substance, but Moon said the talks were the "start of an era of peace."
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday she condemned what she called the "violent acts" of protesters who stormed and ransacked the Legislative Council the previous night, the BBC reports.
Details: There's a tense calm in the territory, after police used tear gas to evict the activists who'd occupied the building into early Tuesday, according to Reuters. Some had spray-painted slogans on the walls of the main chamber demanding the release of Hong Kongers arrested in last month's protest, as well as the resignation of Lam, per AP
