People react as police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Middle East

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed their ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting terrorism and opening up the worst rift in years among some of the most powerful states in the Arab world. Gulf Arab states and Egypt have already long resented Qatar's support for Islamists, especially the Muslim Brotherhood which they regard as a dangerous political enemy. Iran – long at odds with Saudi Arabia and a behind-the-scenes target of the move – immediately blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for setting the stage during his recent trip to Riyadh. "What is happening is the preliminary result of the sword dance," Hamid Aboutalebi, deputy chief of staff of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, tweeted.

Qatar Airways says it is suspending all flights to Saudi Arabia

London Bridge attacks

Londoners fought back with whatever they could get their hands on, including hurling chairs and tables, when three men armed with a van and knives went on the attack in a bustling area of the British capital on Saturday night. The attack, in which the assailants killed at least seven people and injured almost 50 before they were shot dead by police, began with a van being driven at high speed into a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge.

In the shadow of deadly attacks, British election campaign resumes

The three attacks carried out by Islamist militants in Britain in the last three months have been largely domestic plots and the majority of the threat facing the country is not directed from overseas, London's police chief said.

Oregon

Riot police turned out in force in downtown Portland on Sunday to maintain order as supporters and opponents of President Donald Trump faced off in dueling political rallies, a week after racially charged killings that shook Oregon's largest city.

Ariana Grande performs during the One Love Manchester benefit concert for the victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack at Emirates Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Britain June 4, 2017. Danny Lawson/One Love Manchester/Handout via REUTERS

Business

Oil jumps as Qatar ditched, London attacks hurt sterling

Canada has overtaken the United States as the top North American supplier of pork to China as farmers and meat packers in both nations battle for lucrative shares of the biggest global market. Canadian farmers have almost completely removed the growth drug ractopamine from their pigs' diet - largely because it is banned in China. Only about half of the U.S. herd has been weaned off the drug, according to U.S. hog producers, meat packers and animal feed dealers.

A South Dakota meat processor's $5.7 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC pits big agriculture against big media, and is a first major court challenge against a media company since accusations of “fake news” by Trump and his supporters have become part of the American vernacular. 

Oil producers near New Mexico's border with Texas steadily pumped low-cost oil through the downturn, using a technique that has been heralded worldwide as a way to reduce carbon emissions and boost oil output. A tax credit that helps insulate these wells in a downturn could triple in size if Congress approves a new measure this summer.

In early May, Goldman Sachs turned down a request from Caracas to convert $5 billion in sovereign bonds into marketable securities partly because it would mean dealing directly with a Venezuelan state bank, according to people familiar with the talks.

Russia probe

The investigation into alleged ties between President Donald Trump’s election campaign and Russia is threatening to dampen already flagging momentum for the president’s legislative agenda of rolling back Obamacare and overhauling the tax code. James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump on May 9, will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday and will be grilled on whether Trump tried to get him to back off an investigation into alleged ties between the president's 2016 campaign and Russia.

In an interview with NBC with Megyn Kelly, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied having compromising information on Trump and said he hasn’t seen “direct proof” of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. "You created a sensation out of nothing. And out of this sensation, you turned it into a weapon of war against the current (U.S.) president.”

Deutsche Bank has asked for more time to respond to a request from Democrats on a U.S. House of Representatives panel for details about Trump's possible ties to Russia, a person familiar with the matter said.