MOSCOW: North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui has arrived in Moscow and will hold strategic consultations with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the ministry, in a post on her official Telegram channel, published photographs of Lavrov meeting Choe at a Moscow train station.
“Today, talks between the heads of Russia and the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) will be held in Moscow. Sergei Lavrov greeted his counterpart with a bouquet of flowers,” said Zakharova.
“The meeting began at the Yaroslavsky railway station (in Moscow), where a memorial plaque was unveiled to mark the occasion of Kim Il Sung’s 1949 visit to the USSR,” she said, referring to the founder of the DPRK.
The visit, Choe’s second in six weeks, comes after Pyongyang tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile this week and as Washington says there are 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, including as many as 8,000 deployed in Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian troops have dug in.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the United States expected the North Korean troops in Kursk region to enter the fight against Ukraine in the coming days.
Moscow has neither denied nor directly confirmed the presence of North Korean troops on its soil. President Vladimir Putin has said it is for Russia to decide how to implement a treaty he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June that includes a mutual defense clause.
North Korean foreign minister arrives in Moscow for talks
https://arab.news/64bwt
North Korean foreign minister arrives in Moscow for talks
- The visit comes after Pyongyang tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile this week
- Washington says there are 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia
Cuomo is trying a comeback in New York’s mayoral primary, but Zohran Mamdani stands in his way
- The vote takes place about four years after Cuomo, 67, resigned as governor following a sexual harassment scandal
NEW YORK: New York City Democrats will decide Tuesday whether to reboot Andrew Cuomo’s political career, elevate liberal upstart Zohran Mamdani, or turn to a crowded field of lesser-known but maybe less-polarizing candidates in the party’s mayoral primary.
Their choice could say something about what kind of leader Democrats are looking for during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The vote takes place about four years after Cuomo, 67, resigned as governor following a sexual harassment scandal. Yet he has been the favorite throughout the race, with his deep experience, nearly universal name recognition, strong political connections and juggernaut fundraising apparatus.
The party’s progressive wing, meanwhile, has coalesced behind Mamdani, 33, a self-described democratic socialist. A relatively unknown state legislator when the contest began, Mamdani gained momentum by running a sharp campaign laser-focused on the city’s high cost of living and secured endorsements from two of the country’s foremost progressives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
As results from early and mail-in voting began to roll in Tuesday, they showed a majority of voters had made Mamdani or Cuomo their top choice, with the rest of the field trailing.
The candidates made a final push out in the city earlier in the day, sweating it out with voters on a sizzling summer day in which temperatures reached the triple digits. While initial returns were being released after the polls closed at 9 p.m. Tuesday, a winner might not emerge for a week because of the city’s ranked choice voting system, which allows voters to list up to five candidates in order of preference. If a candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters, they win outright. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the tabulation of the rankings wouldn’t begin until July 1.
The primary winner will go on to face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who decided to run as an independent amid a public uproar over his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent abandonment of the case by Trump’s Justice Department. Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, will be on the ballot in the fall’s general election. There is also a possibility that Cuomo runs on the November ballot as an independent candidate if he loses the primary.
The mayoral primary’s two leading candidates — one a fresh-faced progressive and the other an older moderate — could be stand-ins for the larger Democratic Party’s ideological divide, though Cuomo’s scandal-scarred past adds a unique tinge to the narrative.
The rest of the pack has struggled to gain recognition in a race where nearly every candidate has cast themselves as the person best positioned to challenge Trump’s Republican agenda.
Comptroller Brad Lander, a liberal city government stalwart, made a splash last week when he was arrested after linking arms with a man federal agents were trying to detain at an immigration court in Manhattan. It was unclear if that episode was enough to jump-start a campaign that had been failing to pick up speed behind Lander.
Among the other candidates are City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, hedge fund executive Whitney Tilson and former city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Mamdani’s energetic run has been hard not to notice.
His army of young canvassers relentlessly knocked on doors throughout the city seeking support. Posters of his grinning mug were up on shop windows. You couldn’t get on social media without seeing one of his well-produced videos pitching his vision — free buses, free child care, new apartments, a higher minimum wage and more, paid for by new taxes on rich people. He would be the city’s first Indian American and first Muslim mayor.
That youthful energy was apparent Tuesday evening, as both cautiously optimistic canvassers and ecstatic supporters lined the streets of Central Brooklyn, creating a party-like atmosphere that spread from poll sites into the surrounding neighborhoods.
Outside his family’s Caribbean apothecary, Amani Kojo, a 23-year-old first-time voter, passed out iced tea to Mamdani canvassers, encouraging them to stay hydrated.
“It’s 100 degrees outside and it’s a vibe. New York City feels alive again,” Kojo said, raising a pile of Mamdani pamphlets. “It feels very electric seeing all the people around, the flyers, all the posts on my Instagram all day.”
Cuomo and some other Democrats have cast Mamdani as unqualified. They say he doesn’t have the management chops to wrangle the city’s sprawling bureaucracy or handle crises. Critics have also taken aim at Mamdani’s support for Palestinian human rights.
In response, Mamdani has slammed Cuomo over his sexual harassment scandal and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
In one heated debate exchange, Cuomo rattled off a long list of what he saw as Mamdani’s managerial shortcomings, arguing that his opponent, who has been in the state Assembly since 2021, has never dealt with Congress or unions and never overseen an infrastructure project. He added that Mamdani couldn’t be relied upon to go toe-to-toe with Trump.
Mamdani had a counter ready.
“To Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace,” he said.
Cuomo resigned in 2021 after a report commissioned by the state attorney general concluded that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women. He has always maintained that he didn’t intentionally harass the women, saying he had simply fallen behind what was considered appropriate workplace conduct.
During the campaign, he has become more aggressive in defending himself, framing the situation as a political hit job orchestrated by his enemies.
The fresh scandal at City Hall involving Mayor Eric Adams, though, gave Cuomo a path to end his exile.
A whirlwind 48 hours: How Trump’s Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement came together
WASHINGTON: In a 48-hour whirlwind, President Donald Trump veered from elated to indignant to triumphant as his fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement came together, teetered toward collapse and ultimately coalesced.
Trump, as he worked to seal the deal, publicly harangued the Israelis and Iranians with a level of pique that’s notable even for a commander in chief who isn’t shy about letting the world know what he thinks.
The effort was helped along as his aides and Qatari allies sensed an opening after what they saw as a half-hearted, face-saving measure by Tehran on Monday to retaliate against the US for strikes against three key nuclear sites. And it didn’t hurt that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after 12 days of bombing, could tell the Israeli public that Iran’s nuclear program had been diminished.
“This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!” Trump declared in a social media post announcing the ceasefire.
Netanyahu is less than enthusiastic about Trump’s message
The agreement began taking shape early Sunday morning, soon after the US military carried out blistering strikes on Iranian nuclear sites that US defense officials said have set back Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump directed his team to get Netanyahu on the phone.
The president told Netanyahu not to expect further US offensive military action, according to a senior White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the sensitive diplomatic talks.
The US president made the case that it was time to stop the war and return to diplomatic negotiations with Iran. Trump also noted that the US had removed any imminent threat posed by Iran, according to the official.
For his part, Netanyahu listened to Trump’s argument as Israel was nearing its own objectives with Iran, the official said. Netanyahu did not enthusiastically agree, but understood Trump’s stance that the US had no desire for additional military involvement.
Around the same time, Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff spoke directly with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, telling him to come back to the bargaining table because Iran had seen what the US military could do and that it was capable of doing much more, the official said.
Witkoff stressed that the US wanted peace — and Iran should, too.
The president’s envoy said Tuesday in an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that Trump now wants to land “a comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the ceasefire.”
“We’re already talking to each other, not just directly, but also through interlocutors,” Witkoff said. “I think that the conversations are promising.”
Trump ebullient about Israel-Iran deal prospects
Less than 48 hours later, Trump took to his social media platform to announce that a “Complete and Total CEASEFIRE” had been achieved.
The ceasefire was based solely on the end of military hostilities, rather than on additional conditions about Iran’s nuclear program or its economic interests. Trump was acting on the belief that Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons had been crippled.
But as Trump spoke with confidence about the coming ceasefire, the Israelis and Iranians were notably quiet — neither side publicly commented on what Trump described as a deal that would be phased in over the coming hours.
Araghchi spoke out first, acknowledging the wheels were in motion for a deal, but stopping short of saying Iran had signed off.
“As of now, there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,” Araghchi posted on X. “However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.”
Commitment from Iran and Israel to Trump’s ceasefire remained murky
Not long before Trump’s announcement, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to social media to declare that Iran wouldn’t surrender. It was unclear what role Khamenei, the ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic’s theocracy, had in the deal.
And Netanyahu was silent. He would wait more than eight hours after Trump’s announcement to confirm that Israel had accepted the ceasefire and that it had achieved its war goals against Iran.
Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said ceasefire efforts gained steam after Iran’s retaliatory attack on a major US base in the emirate on Monday evening.
The Iranians fired 14 missiles at the base — with US and Qatari defense systems knocking down 13. One of the missiles, according to Trump, was “‘set free’ because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction.” Trump also claimed the Iranians gave the US and Qatar a heads up, allowing the troops to take shelter and the Qataris to clear their typically busy airspace.
Qatar plays a key role in the ceasefire talks
Iran’s restrained direct response to the US bombardment suggested to Trump administration officials that Iran — battered by Israel’s 12-day assault — and its degraded proxy groups, including Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Yemen-based Houthis, didn’t have the wherewithal to expand the fight.
Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had a “long call” with Trump soon after the Iranian attack on the Al-Ubeid military installation, according to the Qatari prime minister.
“There was an opportunity during this communication to announce a full ceasefire on all fronts, and US authorities asked Qatar to contact Iranian authorities to know how prepared they are for a ceasefire,” the prime minister said.
Trump saw the moment as a clear opening
The president soon got back in touch with Netanyahu to secure his commitment to end the hostilities, officials said. The prime minister agreed to the ceasefire, as long as there were no further attacks by Iran, the officials said.
From there, things moved quickly.
Vice President JD Vance was making an appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report” on Monday evening when Trump took to social media to announce the ceasefire deal had been reached and would go into effect over the coming day. The vice president appeared surprised when host Bret Baier told him that Trump had announced a deal had been reached.
“We were actually working on that just as I left the White House to come over here,” Vance said. “So that’s good news that the president was able to get that across the finish line.”
But after Trump’s announcement, the attacks kept coming. Iran launched a series of strikes on Israel after 4 a.m. local time Tuesday in Tehran, the time that Iran’s foreign minister had said Iran would cease its attacks if Israel ended their airstrikes.
And the Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed that Israel launched a major assault hours ahead of the ceasefire’s start, hitting central Tehran. “We attacked forcefully in the heart of Tehran, hitting regime targets and killing hundreds of Basij and Iranian security forces,” the statement read.
Iranian media confirmed nine casualties in the northern Gilan province. “Four residential buildings were completely destroyed and several neighboring houses were damaged in the blasts.” Fars News Agency reported.
A frustrated Trump lashes out
Trump, who was scheduled to depart the White House early Tuesday to fly to the Netherlands for the NATO summit, was livid. His frustration was palpable as he spoke to reporters on the White House South Lawn.
“I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran, either, but I’m really unhappy with Israel going out this morning,” Trump said. “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— — they’re doing.”
Minutes later, he took to his Truth Social platform to send a warning to Israel.
“ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION,” Trump posted. “BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”
Trump climbed aboard Air Force One and was soon on the phone with Netanyahu. He did not mince words with the Israeli leader, according to one of the White House officials. Trump was “exceptionally firm and direct” with Netanyahu “about what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire.” Netanyahu got the message.
His office confirmed that the Israeli leader held off tougher action after the appeal from Trump and “refrained from additional attacks.”
After the call, Trump once again took to social media to declare the ceasefire was “in effect. ”
“ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran,” Trump declared. “All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran, Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!”
The president went on to spend a considerable chunk of his flight celebrating what his administration is calling a signal achievement.
“It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!”
Trump rattles NATO allies as he descends on summit
- The alliance hopes to keep Trump bound to its mutual defense vow by meeting his demand for a headline figure of five percent of GDP on defense spending
THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump swept into NATO’s Hague summit Tuesday, with allies hoping a pledge to ramp up defense spending will keep the mercurial leader of the military superpower committed to protecting them.
Trump joined leaders from NATO’s 31 other members to kick off the two-day gathering with a dinner hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander in the ornate Orange Hall at his royal residence.
The alliance hopes to keep Trump bound to its mutual defense vow by meeting his demand for a headline figure of five percent of GDP on defense spending.
But Trump refused to say he was committed to NATO’s Article Five clause and protecting Europe in comments that will likely rattle his counterparts on the continent.
“Depends on your definition. There’s numerous definitions of Article Five,” Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One. “I’m committed to being their friend.”
To keep Trump on board, NATO members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate 3.5 percent to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 percent to broader security-related areas such as cybersecurity and infrastructure.
NATO says the military build-up is crucial to deter Russia, which officials warn is rapidly rebuilding its forces depleted by the war in Ukraine and could be ready to attack the alliance in five years.
But it is just as important for keeping Trump engaged as Washington warns it may shift forces from Europe to face the threat from China.
“They’re going to be lifting it to five percent, that’s good,” Trump said. “It gives them much more power.”
But while the promise of more spending could win Trump over, deep divisions remain over the approach to Europe’s key security issue: Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump said he would probably meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky while in The Hague, with Kyiv hoping it can avoid a repeat of the pair’s infamous Oval Office bust-up.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told an audience in The Hague that NATO’s “historic” spending pledge showed that “the Europe of defense has finally awakened.”
Alliance leaders meanwhile — many of whom are struggling to find the money that will be required — lined up to argue that the threats facing the continent required bold steps.
“We must navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in announcing the UK’s commitment to meet the target.
Starmer on Wednesday will formally announce that his country is buying a dozen F-35A fighters, capable of carrying atomic weapons to support NATO’s nuclear mission.
The purchase marks an expansion of Britain’s nuclear deterrence, which is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles.
A statement late Tuesday from Starmer’s office quoted Rutte as saying: “I strongly welcome today’s announcement,” calling it “yet another robust British contribution to NATO.”
Separately, powerhouse Germany announced plans to hit the 3.5-percent figure for core defense needs by 2029 — six years before the timeline.
At the other end of the scale, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has risked Trump’s ire by insisting his country doesn’t have to meet the five percent target.
For its part, the Kremlin attacked NATO for its “rampant militarization,” with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: “This is the reality that surrounds us.”
Since storming back to power, Trump has upended the West’s approach to the three-year conflict by turning his back on Kyiv and opening the door to closer ties with Moscow.
Zelensky was set to play less of a central role than at recent NATO gatherings and will not attend the main working session.
But Ukraine’s president said he would discuss with Trump buying a package of weapons made up mainly of air defenses.
Zelensky would also push Trump on imposing new sanctions on Russia as Moscow has stalled peace efforts being pressed by Washington, Kyiv said.
“There are no signs that Putin wants to stop this war. Russia rejects all peace proposals including those from the US. Putin only thinks about war,” the Ukrainian leader told a defense forum held alongside the summit.
Trump did briefly meet on the sidelines of the summit late Tuesday with Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who urged “close dialogue” to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Rutte said allies would send the message that support for Kyiv was “unwavering and will persist.”
But despite his insistence that Ukraine’s bid for membership remains “irreversible,” NATO will avoid any mention of Kyiv’s push to join after Trump ruled it out.
Lawsuit challenges billions of dollars in Trump administration funding cuts
- The lawsuit argues the Trump administration has used the clause for the basis of a “slash-and-burn campaign” to cut federal grants
BOSTON: Attorneys general from more than 20 states and Washington, D.C. filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging billions of dollars in funding cuts made by the Trump administration that would fund everything from crime prevention to food security to scientific research.
The lawsuit filed in Boston is asking a judge to limit the Trump administration from relying on an obscure clause in the federal regulation to cut grants that don’t align with its priorities. Since January, the lawsuit argues that the administration has used that clause to cancel entire programs and thousands of grants that had been previously awarded to states and grantees.
“Defendants’ decision to invoke the Clause to terminate grants based on changed agency priorities is unlawful several times over,” the plaintiffs argued. “The rulemaking history of the Clause makes plain that the (Office of Management and Budget) intended for the Clause to permit terminations in only limited circumstances and provides no support for a broad power to terminate grants on a whim based on newly identified agency priorities.”
The lawsuit argues the Trump administration has used the clause for the basis of a “slash-and-burn campaign” to cut federal grants.
“Defendants have terminated thousands of grant awards made to Plaintiffs, pulling the rug out from under the States, and taking away critical federal funding on which States and their residents rely for essential programs,” the lawsuit added.
Rhode Island Attorney General Neronha said this lawsuit was just one of several the coalition of mostly Democratic states have filed over funding cuts. For the most part, they have largely succeeded in a string of legal victories to temporarily halt cuts.
This one, though, may be the broadest challenge to those funding cuts.
“It’s no secret that this President has gone to great lengths to intercept federal funding to the states, but what may be lesser known is how the Trump Administration is attempting to justify their unlawful actions,” Neronha said in a statement. “Nearly every lawsuit this coalition of Democratic attorneys general has filed against the Administration is related to its unlawful and flagrant attempts to rob Americans of basic programs and services upon which they rely. Most often, this comes in the form of illegal federal funding cuts, which the Administration attempts to justify via a so-called ‘agency priorities clause.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the lawsuit aimed to stop funding cuts he described as indiscriminate and illegal.
“There is no ‘because I don’t like you’ or ‘because I don’t feel like it anymore’ defunding clause in federal law that allows the President to bypass Congress on a whim,” Tong said in a statement. “Since his first minutes in office, Trump has unilaterally defunded our police, our schools, our health care, and more. He can’t do that, and that’s why over and over again we have blocked him in court and won back our funding.”
In Massachusetts, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said the US Department of Agriculture terminated a $11 million agreement with the state Department of Agricultural Resources connecting hundreds of farmers to hundreds of food distribution sites while the US Environmental Protection Agency terminated a $1 million grant to the state Department of Public Health to reduce asthma triggers in low-income communities.
“We cannot stand idly by while this President continues to launch unprecedented, unlawful attacks on Massachusetts’ residents, institutions, and economy,” Campbell said in a statement.
The lawsuit argues that the OMB promulgated the use of the clause in question to justify the cuts. The clause in question, according to the lawsuit, refers to five words that say federal agents can terminate grants if the award “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
“The Trump Administration has claimed that five words in this Clause— ‘no longer effectuates . . . agency priorities’— provide federal agencies with virtually unfettered authority to withhold federal funding any time they no longer wish to support the programs for which Congress has appropriated funding,” the lawsuit said.
US intel says strikes did not destroy Iran nuclear program
- White House Press Secretary Karline Leavitt confirmed the authenticity of the assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked”
- Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on June 13 in a bid to set back Tehran’s nuclear efforts
WASHINGTON: A classified preliminary US intelligence report has concluded that American strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months — rather than destroying it as claimed by President Donald Trump.
US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency findings as saying the weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.
The strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.
White House Press Secretary Karline Leavitt confirmed the authenticity of the assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked.”
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program,” Leavitt posted on X.
“Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” she added.
US B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Trump called the strikes a “spectacular military success” and said they had “obliterated” the nuclear sites, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.”
General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, has struck a more cautious tone, saying the strikes caused “extremely severe damage” to the Iranian facilities.
Iran’s government said Tuesday that it had “taken the necessary measures” to ensure the continuation of its nuclear program.
“Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance, and our strategy is to ensure that production and services are not disrupted,” the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, said in a statement aired on state television.
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile said his country still had stocks of enriched uranium and that “the game is not over.”
Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on June 13 in a bid to set back Tehran’s nuclear efforts.
Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action.
The US operation was massive, with Caine saying it involved more than 125 US aircraft including stealth bombers, fighters, aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
