Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the split focus of the G-7, the World Trade Organization’s warning for global trade norms, and an ongoing U.S. criminal case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

G-7 foreign ministers convened in the French countryside on Thursday for a two-day summit aimed at addressing the Russia-Ukraine and Iran wars. Yet the fireworks are not expected to take place until Friday, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive to deliver what analysts expect will be a blunt message about the United States’ agenda.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the split focus of the G-7, the World Trade Organization’s warning for global trade norms, and an ongoing U.S. criminal case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

G-7 foreign ministers convened in the French countryside on Thursday for a two-day summit aimed at addressing the Russia-Ukraine and Iran wars. Yet the fireworks are not expected to take place until Friday, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive to deliver what analysts expect will be a blunt message about the United States’ agenda.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, cohesion among the G-7 has largely frayed. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom have all faced the White House’s ire at some juncture during the past year, whether over tense trade negotiations or demands that they do more to counter global security threats.

On Thursday, Trump once again blasted NATO (which all G-7 members except Japan are part of) for doing “ABSOLUTELY NOTHING” to help the United States and Israel counter Iran, particularly Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the U.S. State Department, Rubio will use Friday’s G-7 meeting to “advance key U.S. interests” and “discuss shared security concerns and opportunities for cooperation.” Meanwhile, the other attendees—including foreign ministers from Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Ukraine—hope that Rubio will use this time to shed light on the White House’s ambitions in the Iran war as well as outline what diplomatic........

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