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US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory.The Kremlin later confirmed the summit, calling the location “quite logical.””The presidents themselves will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in a statement posted on Telegram.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.”The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.He said earlier at the White House that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.- Trump invited to Russia -Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.The Kremlin’s Ushakov said that Trump had been invited to visit Russia.”Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president,” Ushakov said.- Witkoff visit -The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on “the main results of his conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.Xi expressed support for a “long-term” solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.China’s Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: “China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.Putin also spoke by phone to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi’s oil purchases from Russia.Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region’s east, where Russian forces have been advancing.The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.

US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 Moon mission which nearly ended in disaster in 1970 after a mid-flight explosion, has died at the age of 97, NASA announced Friday. The former Navy pilot, who was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks in the 1995 movie “Apollo 13,” died in a Chicago suburb on Thursday, the US space agency said in a statement. The astronaut’s “life and work inspired millions of people across the decades,” NASA said, praising his “character and steadfast courage.”Lovell travelled to the Moon twice but never walked on the lunar surface.Yet he is considered one of the greats of the US space program after rescuing a mission that teetered on the brink of disaster as the world watched in suspense far below.”There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own,” Hanks said in an Instagram post. “Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy.”- ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’ -Launched on April 11, 1970 — nine months after Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon — Apollo 13 was intended to be humanity’s third lunar landing. The plan was that Lovell would walk on the Moon.The mission, which was also crewed by astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, was already considered fairly routine.Then an oxygen tank exploded on the way there.The disaster prompted Swigert to famously tell mission control: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Lovell then repeated the phrase, which is slightly different to the one used in the Ron Howard movie, according to NASA.The three astronauts and crew on the ground scrambled to find a solution. The United States followed the chaotic odyssey from the ground, fearing that the country could lose its first astronauts in space.Around 200,000 miles from Earth, the crew was forced to shelter in their Lunar Module, slingshot around the Moon and rapidly return to Earth.The composed leadership of Lovell — who was nicknamed “Smilin’ Jim” — and the ingenuity of the NASA team on the ground managed to get the crew safely back home.Lovell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but never returned to space.- ‘Our Hero’ -Born on March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell worked as a Navy pilot before joining NASA.He was one of three astronauts who became the first people to orbit the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The mission also took the famous image “Earthrise,” in which the blue planet peeks out from beyond the Moon.Lovell’s family said they were “enormously proud of his amazing life and career,” according to a statement released by NASA.”But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero,” the statement added.”We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible.”

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.”The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.He said earlier at the White House that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.The Kremlin did not immediately confirm the date or location for the talks.Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.- Witkoff visit -The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on “the main results of his conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.Xi expressed support for a “long-term” solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.China’s Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: “China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.Putin also spoke by phone to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi’s oil purchases from Russia.Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region’s east, where Russian forces have been advancing.The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited false claims to justify terminating 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, researchers said Friday, a day after the World Health Organization called the decision a major blow.Kennedy on Tuesday announced the cancellation of contracts worth around $500 million, marking his latest attempt to infuse vaccine skepticism into the core of US health policy.Citing medical experts, disinformation watchdog NewsGuard identified a series of false claims about the vaccines –- credited with saving millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic — that Kennedy promoted to explain the termination.Kennedy claimed that mRNA vaccines were responsible for “new mutations” of the virus, thus creating new variants that can prolong pandemics.”Kennedy is mistaken in statements made when ceasing funding for mRNA vaccine development,” Stephen Evans, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the London-based Science Media Centre.”No vaccine, including mRNA encourages new mutations.”Kennedy also made two previously debunked claims about the effectiveness of the vaccines.He stated that mRNA vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid” and added that mRNA technology “poses more risks than benefits.”Evans said the vaccines were “extremely effective against Covid, preventing deaths, hospitalisations and clinical or sub-clinical infection.””No vaccine has a zero incidence of side-effects, some of which can be serious, but the benefits of both mRNA vaccines and other types of vaccine –- lives saved and illness reduced — hugely outweigh the risks,” Charles Bangham, a professor of immunology at the Imperial College London, told the Science Media Centre.On Thursday, WHO immunisation figurehead Joachim Hombach called the US decision to terminate the contracts a “significant blow.””mRNA vaccines are a very important technology and platform which has served us extremely well for Covid. We also know there is very promising work going on in relation to influenza vaccines,” he said.Echoing those comments, US experts have warned that the funding cuts threaten critical research and public health around the world.”This sets back vaccine science by a decade,” Andrew Pekosz, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote on X.”Of course they didn’t read the science or listen to the experts… if they did, they wouldn’t have made this decision.”Kennedy, who spent two decades sowing misinformation around immunization, has overseen a major overhaul of US health policy since taking office.He has fired, for example, a panel of vaccine experts that advise the government and replacing them with his own appointees.In its first meeting, the new panel promptly voted to ban a longstanding vaccine preservative targeted by the anti-vaccine movement, despite its strong safety record.He has also ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism.burs-ac/bgs

The Justice Department has opened new investigations into Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, US media reported Friday.The New York Times said a subpoena had been issued to James, an outspoken Trump critic, in the civil fraud case and another that her office brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA).A New York judge ordered Trump in February of last year to pay $355 million plus interest for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.The Times said the Justice Department was examining whether James’s office had violated Trump’s civil rights in the civil fraud suit brought against the real estate tycoon.James’s office also filed a financial mismanagement case against Trump ally Wayne LaPierre, which saw the senior NRA executive banned from serving in any role at the gun rights advocacy group for 10 years.A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports.James is also reportedly the target of a Justice Department criminal probe for allegedly falsifying records related to properties in Virginia and New York to obtain better loan terms.In a statement in April when reports emerged of the investigation, James denied any wrongdoing and said that she “will not be intimidated by bullies.”Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies, stripping former officials of their security clearances and protective details, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.The FBI recently opened criminal investigations into two other prominent Trump critics, former FBI director James Comey and ex-CIA chief John Brennan, for making alleged false statements to Congress.Abbe Lowell, James’s personal lawyer, told the Times that any investigation into James over Trump’s civil fraud case is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.””Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration,” Lowell said.A spokesperson for James said “any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American.”We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association,” the spokesperson said, “and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.”

For US President Donald Trump, it’s up to Israel to decide what to do next in Gaza — meaning Washington is offering quiet support for its ally’s plans to expand the offensive in the war-wracked Palestinian territory.While numerous European and Arab capitals urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to reconsider his decision to “take control” of Gaza City, Trump this week has effectively given the Israeli prime minister free rein — even if it means pushback from the international community. After nearly two years of devastating conflict, Israel’s security cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan to “defeat” Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.Before Israel’s announcement, when asked if he could support such a plan, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was focused on securing an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to help starving Palestinians.”As far as the rest of it, I really, I really can’t say — that’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” Trump said.Then on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that position, telling Catholic TV network EWTN, “Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel’s security will be determined by Israel.”Trump and Rubio’s comments speak volumes about the US strategy: since Israel-Hamas talks on a ceasefire in Gaza fell apart, Washington has broadly embraced Israel’s views following US envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit last week.Details of Witkoff’s meeting with Netanyahu have not been made public, but it is hard to imagine that Trump’s emissary was not briefed on Israel’s plans.While Washington has amped up the pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, it has also insisted that all Israeli hostages — dead or alive — be freed from Hamas captivity and the complete annihilation of the militant group.”Our goals are very clear,” US Vice President JD Vance said Friday during talks with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.”We want to make it so that Hamas cannot attack innocent Israeli civilians ever again, and we think that has to come through the eradication of Hamas.”Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has offered Israel ironclad support, even while pushing for better humanitarian support.He seemed to throw in the towel on securing a ceasefire following repeated failed efforts at mediation, especially after talks crumbled late last month in Doha when Hamas refused a deal to free the hostages.Hamas still has 49 Israeli hostages abducted during the October 2023 attack, 27 of whom are presumed dead.- Capitulation -The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee — who is prone to making eyebrow-raising statements — slammed all criticism of Israel’s plans for Gaza.”So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?” Huckabee wrote on social media.”Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them?” he said in response to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called Netanyahu’s approach “wrong.”In his interview with EWTN, Rubio said “as long as Hamas exists, particularly exists as an armed organization, there will never be peace in Gaza.”Rubio said he understood why the famine facing Palestinians in the territory was getting “almost all the media coverage” but lamented what he called a lack of attention to the plight of the remaining Israeli hostages.In recent weeks, Washington has sharply criticized international initiatives to formally recognize a Palestinian state, led notably by French President Emmanuel Macron, warning that it emboldens Hamas not to give up.

A US federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a contempt finding against President Donald Trump’s administration over its summary deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.The 2-1 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturns a ruling by a federal district judge that there was probable cause to find officials in contempt of court over the deportation flights.The case stems from Trump’s use in March of the obscure 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport more than 200 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador.District Judge James Boasberg verbally ordered a halt to the deportation flights and for the planes to be turned around but it did not happen, leading to his criminal contempt inquiry.The two Trump appointees on the appeals court panel ruled that Boasberg had overstepped his authority while the third judge, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama, dissented.Judge Neomi Rao, one of the Trump appointees, said Boasberg’s finding was an “abuse of the contempt power” and an “intrusion on the President’s foreign affairs authority.””The order forces a coequal branch to choose between capitulating to an unlawful judicial order and subjecting its officials to a dubious prosecution,” Rao wrote.In her dissent, Judge Nina Pillard, the Obama appointee, said “the rule of law depends on obedience to judicial orders.””Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them,” Pillard said. “That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt.”Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed the decision as a “major victory” for the Trump administration and its use of the AEA “to deport illegal alien terrorists.””The DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed what we’ve argued for months: Judge Boasberg’s attempt to sanction the government for deporting criminal-alien terrorists was a ‘clear abuse of discretion’ — failed judicial overreach at its worst,” Bondi said.The White House has been sharply critical of district courts that have blocked some of the president’s executive actions, and Trump called in March for Boasberg to be impeached.That earned the Republican president a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.”For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

More than one million undocumented migrants have left the United States on their own since President Donald Trump took office, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday.Noem also said that hundreds of thousands of “criminal illegal aliens” have been arrested since January and “zero illegal aliens” have entered the country during the past three months.”(This) is the first time in this nation’s history that we’ve seen that kind of security at our nation’s border,” she said at a press conference in Chicago.”Our top priorities have been these two items: securing our borders and arresting dangerous criminals.”We’ve been working on getting dangerous criminal illegal aliens out of our country — murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, human traffickers,” she said.Noem said thousands of migrants have “self-deported” using an app created by the Department of Homeland Security.”But we also know that hundreds of thousands of people have left on their own, not utilizing a government program to do so,” she said.”We believe over a million people have gone home on their own since we have started this administration.”Trump vowed during his White House campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants and has moved to significantly expand the federal agency primarily responsible for doing so, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”President Trump allocated to us the resources to hire 10,000 new ICE officers,” Noem said. “We have had that open for less than a week and we have over 80,000 applicants for those jobs.”Noem also lashed out during her press conference at officials in Illinois and other Democratic-ruled states, accusing them of “obstructing” federal efforts to remove undocumented migrants. 

US President Donald Trump warned Friday of cataclysmic consequences on the US economy if a court rules that his imposition of sweeping tariffs constitutes an illegal power grab.If a “Radical Left Court” strikes down the tariffs, “it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.”It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!” he said.Trump’s hyperbolic statements come as a US appeals court weighs the legality of his broad use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs on trading partners.A lower court ruled against Trump in May, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put the ruling on hold as it considers the case.Trump on Friday touted billions of dollars in tariff revenue “pouring” into the Treasury — paid by US importers — and recent stock market records, as proof his levies had created “the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen.”Many economists meanwhile worry the tariffs are stoking inflation and see trade policy uncertainty as slowing investment.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a slew of new tariffs, seeking to force a reordering of global trade that he has long claimed is biased against the United States.In addition to sweeping tariffs invoked under declarations of economic emergencies, he has also instituted sectoral tariffs of between 25 percent and 50 percent on steel and other items.Those levies have generally followed government investigations and are not at issue in the pending litigation.At a July 31 hearing, members of the appeals court appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments that it had broad discretion to declare national economic emergencies and invoke tariffs as a remedy.To invoke his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on many US trade partners, Trump declared a national emergency over “large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits.”Opponents to the White House policy have argued that such a reason does not qualify under the law Trump has cited for the tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.They also argue that levying blanket tariffs on imports requires the consent of Congress under the US Constitution.The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, where conservatives enjoy a 6-3 majority, though analysts say the outcome is uncertain.

A California library user who allegedly took home rare Chinese manuscripts and returned fake ones in their place has been charged with $216,000-worth of theft, US officials said Thursday.Jeffery Ying used a number of aliases to get access to classics works, some over 600 years old, at the library at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Department of Justice said.Ying, 38, would check the works out and return days later with dummy manuscripts. He would frequently travel to China shortly thereafter, charging documents say.”The library noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing, and an initial investigation revealed the books were last viewed by a visitor who identified himself as ‘Alan Fujimori,'” the DoJ said.When detectives raided the Los Angeles area hotel where Ying was staying, they found blank manuscripts in the style of the books that had been checked out.”Law enforcement also found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create ‘dummy’ books to return to the library in place of the original books.”Libraries allow rare, one-of-a-kind works to be examined on site; they are not permitted to be taken home like regular paperbacks.Ying, from Fremont, in the Bay Area, was also found to have a number of library cards in different names.If convicted of the charge of theft of a major artwork, Ying, who is being held in state custody, faces up to 10 years in federal prison.China is home to one of the world’s fastest-growing art markets, with a booming number of state-sanctioned museums as well as a lively private market, as an increasingly wealthy and nationalistic middle class looks to claim the country’s cultural heritage.