Russia and the G-7?

Trump suggests inviting Russia to the G7 as other leaders push back [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In the news today Trump suggests inviting Russia to the G-7 [Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump shake hands during a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019.]( Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/File Photo United States President Donald Trump [held a phone call with President Vladimir Putin Monday]( and discussed his idea that Russia should be invited to attend the next G-7 summit. The US is hosting the summit of industrialized nations this year, but Trump announced Saturday it [would be postponed until September]( amid the coronavirus pandemic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel [suggested she had not yet made up her mind]( on her attendance due to the virus. Trump also suggested the G-7, or Group of Seven, expand to include Australia, South Korea and India. The G-7 currently includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Russia was expelled from the group in 2014 in response to its annexation of Crimea. The [UK and Canada have spoken out]( against the idea of readmitting Russia. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau [said on Monday]( that Russia's continued “disrespect and flaunting of international rules and norms is why it remains outside of the G-7, and it will continue to remain out.” A global spotlight on US amid ongoing protests Trump is expected to visit the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, DC, this morning. The plans mark the second religion-theme appearance for Trump as [the world watches protests]( across the US over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed by [asphyxiation]( under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Monday night demonstrators protesting outside of the White House were aggressively pushed back by police to make way for Trump to [controversially stand in front of St John's Episcopal Church]( with a bible in his hand. What The World is following Authorities in Myanmar have seized 990 gallons of methyl fentanyl in raids over the last couple of months. Its seizure, which also included methamphetamine, heroin, opium and opium poppy, [marks the first time]( one of the dangerous synthetic opioids that have ravaged North America has been found in Asia’s Golden Triangle drug-producing region. Also, the United Nations and Saudi Arabia are holding a [virtual pledging conference today]( to raise money for aid operations in war-torn Yemen, which risks being overwhelmed by the coronavirus. Saudi Arabia has been widely criticized over its bombing campaign targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen's civil war. And, India is staring down another cyclone just weeks after facing Cyclone Amphan. Authorities there are evacuating people around Mumbai — hard hit by COVID-19 — ahead of Cyclone Nisarga, [expected to hit the country's west coast tomorrow](. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Can a star-studded, global Pride parade online replace the real thing?]( [Participants march under a giant rainbow flag during the LGBTQ Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 26, 2019.]( Credit: Eason Lam/Reuters Since the first brick was thrown at Stonewall in the summer of 1969, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities around the world have celebrated queerness each June, with protests, parties and day-long parades. But nearly 500 Pride events have been canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. [Celebrations this year will look different — online.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- The Number in the News: 3,500 Things have been quiet for the past few months. Fewer cars and fewer people have been out on the streets as the world lived through coronavirus lockdown. The silence has brought some usually drowned-out sounds to the surface. British sound artist Stuart Fowkes has been collecting the sounds of lockdown in his online archive "Cities and Memory" — from owl calls in the busy port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, to the quiet sounds of bedtime stories being read aloud in Finland. The Number in the News is The World’s daily smart speaker show, where you’ll learn one number you won’t forget and why it's in the news today. [Click here to add The Number in the News]( to your Amazon or Google flash briefing and hear a new episode seven days a week. [Cold War 'CORONA' images find new life in ecology research]( [Satellite image of San Francisco for the CORONA, ARGON, and LANYARD Program, circa 1959-1972.]( Credit: National Archives During the Cold War, the United States took hundreds of thousands of surveillance images of the Soviet Union using spy satellites. The project was called — in an odd historical twist — “CORONA.” But today, some of the more than 800,000 images taken during CORONA's operational life are getting a second life, as researchers use them to [track biodiversity and species decline](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Today in history The SpaceX NASA Dragon crew [docked with the International Space Station Sunday](, making history as the first US spacecraft to do so in almost a decade. In 1966, the US space program also made history as Surveyor 1 touched down on the moon on June 2, 1966. [A screengrab of a tweet including a picture from NASA's Surveyor 1 mission to the moon.]( [Credit: Screenshot from Twitter]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it on The World - [Migrants stuck in Panama]( - [Irish meatpackers during a pandemic]( - [Pride parades are being reconstructed due to COVID-19 restrictions]( - [US firms becoming collateral damage in Beijing-Washington spat]( - [America’s adversaries lecture US on protests]( - [Conceptual artist Christo dead at 84]( - [Hurricane season starts in the Atlantic]( - [The powers of the administration to curb unrest]( - [George Floyd’s death sparks protests around the world]( - [Is global attention on protests having an impact?]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. 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