North Korea warns US against pushing it to give up nukes
North Korea warns US against pushing it to give up nukes/node/2609811/world
North Korea warns US against pushing it to give up nukes
This photo provided by the North Korean government, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, delivers a speech during a national meeting against the coronavirus, in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Aug. 10, 2022. (AP)
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Updated 26 sec ago
Reuters
North Korea warns US against pushing it to give up nukes
Kim said the “personal relationship” between her brother and Trump was “not bad,” but warned that should not be used to “serve the purpose of denuclearization” in any future talks
Updated 26 sec ago
Reuters
SEOUL: The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader warned the United States on Tuesday against pursuing denuclearization, after a White House official was quoted as saying President Donald Trump was open to dialogue with Kim Jong Un.
“Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state... will be thoroughly rejected,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media, referring to the North by the acronym for its official name.
Kim said the “personal relationship” between her brother and Trump was “not bad,” but warned that should not be used to “serve the purpose of denuclearization” in any future talks.
Trump and the North Korean leader met three times during the US president’s first term in a bid to reach an agreement on the denuclearization of the North.
But since their second summit in Hanoi in 2019 fell apart over failure to agree on what the North would get in return, Pyongyang has accelerated its nuclear program.
“Shortly ago, a person in authority of the White House said... that he (Trump) is still open to dialogue with the DPRK leader for achieving the complete denuclearization of the DPRK,” Kim Yo Jong said Tuesday, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
She appeared to be referring to an unnamed White House official who was quoted by Yonhap news agency at the weekend as saying Trump “remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully de-nuclearized North Korea.”
“I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present US president is not bad,” she said, but warned Washington against trying to use that to achieve denuclearization.
If it is used for that purpose, “it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party,” she said, urging the United States to recognize the North as a “nuclear weapons state.”
Trump has talked up his “great relationship” with the North Korean leader, and hinted that he might seek to rekindle talks with the third-generation ruler in Pyongyang.
Extreme weather turns Beijing into rain trap, kills at least 30
Much of the rain inundated Beijing’s mountainous north near the Great Wall
Beijing experienced rainfall of up to 543.4mm in its northern districts
Updated 44 min 23 sec ago
Reuters
BEIJING: Extreme weather killed at least 30 people in Beijing after a year’s worth of rain fell in a matter of days, stretching the Chinese capital’s disaster management capabilities and prompting some experts to call the city a rain trap.
Much of the rain inundated Beijing’s mountainous north near the Great Wall, with 28 deaths reported in the district of Miyun and two in Yanqing, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday. It did not say when or how the deaths occurred. Heavy rain started last Wednesday and intensified around Beijing and surrounding provinces on Monday, with the capital experiencing rainfall of up to 543.4 mm (21.4 inches) in its northern districts, Xinhua said. The average annual rainfall in Beijing is around 600 mm.
“The cumulative amount of precipitation has been extremely high – reaching 80 percent to 90 percent of the annual total in just a few days in some areas,” said Xuebin Zhang of the University of Victoria in Canada and CEO of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC).
“Very few systems are designed to handle such an intense volume of rainfall over such a short period,” Zhang said.
The local topography – mountains to the west and north – “trapped” the moist air and forced it to rise, enhancing the extraordinary amount of precipitation, he said.
China’s usually arid north has seen record precipitation in recent years, with some scientists linking the rainfall to global warming.
In the summer of 2023, heavy rain and flooding killed at least 33 people in Beijing. Rainfall in the city of Xingtai in neighboring Hebei province exceeded 1,000 mm in two days – double the yearly average. Late on Monday, President Xi Jinping said there had been “heavy casualties and property losses” in Beijing and the provinces of Hebei, Jilin and Shandong, and ordered “all-out” search and rescue efforts.
More than 80,000 Beijing residents had been relocated, Xinhua reported, with roads and communication infrastructure damaged and power to 136 villages cut off overnight.
The most intense rain occurred on Saturday in Beijing’s hilly Huairou, which saw 95.3 mm of rain in one hour. In Miyun on Monday, some people were trapped at an elderly care center as water levels rose close to the roof. Emergency rescue services swam into the building and used ropes to pull out 48 people.
On Tuesday, parks, libraries and museums including the Palace Museum at the Forbidden City were closed. Train and bus services in the suburbs and along waterways were suspended. Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at Beijing’s two airports, state media reported.
‘Flood still coming’
Heavy rain also pounded the province of Hebei and the city of Tianjin neighboring Beijing, which are all part of the vast Hai river basin.
Four people were killed in a landslide in Hebei on Monday, with eight still missing, as six months’ worth of rain fell over the weekend.
In two villages in Tianjin on Monday, major roads were flooded, bridges damaged, with only the roofs of single-story houses visible, China Central Television (CCTV) reported. Heavy rain is expected to persist in parts of Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin on Tuesday, the emergency management ministry said Monday night, adding that “the disaster relief situation is complex and severe.”
Some residents in the region posted on social media platform Weibo calling on authorities to expedite rescue efforts.
“The flood is still coming, and there is still no power or signal, and I still can’t get in touch with my family!” a post on Tuesday morning said.
Officials say a man with a rifle killed an off-duty New York City police officer and three other people before taking his own life at a Manhattan office tower
Shane Tamura, of Las Vegas, was identified as the gunman by police, although his motive and reasoning for targeting the building was not immediately clear
Updated 50 min 6 sec ago
AP
NEW YORK: A man with a rifle killed an off-duty New York City police officer and three other people before taking his own life at a Manhattan office tower on Monday, according to officials.
Law enforcement officials were working to unravel what took place and why this location may have been targeted in a city that had recently announced it was on pace to have its fewest people hurt by gunfire than any year in recent decades. What happened?
A man exited a double parked BMW with an M4 rifle and then walked toward the building on Monday evening, according to surveillance video.
He quickly opened fire on the NYPD officer as he entered the building before shooting a woman who tried to take cover, police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference on Monday night. He then started “spraying” the lobby with gunfire.
The man went to the elevator bank and shot a security guard who was taking cover behind a security desk and also another man in the lobby, Tisch said.
The man took the elevator to the 33rd floor to a real estate management company and one person was shot and killed on that floor. The man then walked down a hallway and shot himself, she said. What do we know about the gunman?
Police identified Shane Tamura of Las Vegas as the gunman, although his motive and reasoning for targeting the building was not immediately clear.
Tamura had a “documented mental health history,” Tisch said.
His vehicle had traveled across the US through Colorado on July 26 and then Nebraska and Iowa on July 27. It arrived in Columbia, New Jersey, as recently as Monday afternoon, before making it to New York City, she said.
Officers found a rifle case, a revolver, magazines and ammunition in his car, Tisch said.
No one answered the door at the address listed for Tamura in Las Vegas. Who were the victims?
Didarul Islam, 36, had served as a police officer in New York City for 3 1/2 years. He was an immigrant from Bangladesh.
Islam was married and had two young boys, Tisch said. His wife is pregnant with their third child.
The names of the other victims, along with a man who was seriously wounded and remains in critical condition, have not yet been released. Where did the shooting happen?
The shooting took place at 345 Park Avenue, a commercial office building in a busy area of midtown that is just a short walk north from Grand Central Terminal and about a block east of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The building houses offices for companies including the NFL and real estate company Rudin, as well as finance companies KPMG and Blackstone. It also includes the consulate general of Ireland.
Trump says he is not seeking summit with Xi, but may visit China
Aides to Trump and Xi have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders during a trip by the US president to Asia later this year
A trip would be the first face-to-face encounter between the men since Trump’s second term in office
Updated 29 July 2025
Reuters
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was not seeking a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but added that he may visit China at Xi’s invitation, which Trump said had been extended.
“I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended. Otherwise, no interest!,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Aides to Trump and Xi have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders during a trip by the US president to Asia later this year, sources previously said.
A trip would be the first face-to-face encounter between the men since Trump’s second term in office, at a time when trade and security tensions between the two superpower rivals remain elevated.
While plans for a meeting have not been finalized, discussions on both sides of the Pacific have included a possible Trump stopover around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea or talks on the sidelines of the October 30-November 1 event, the people said.
The third round of US-China trade talks taking place in Stockholm this week may lay the groundwork ahead of a leaders’ summit in the autumn, analysts say.
A new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely impact any plans for a meeting with Xi.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (L) and US President Donald Trump. (AFP file photo)
Updated 29 July 2025
AFP
Trump slams London mayor again on UK visit
Trump then accused Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when he was first elected in 2016, of doing a “very bad job on terrorism,” calling him a “stone cold loser” and “very dumb”
Updated 29 July 2025
AFP
TURNBERRY, United Kingdom: US President Donald Trump attacked London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan once again at a news conference in Scotland alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who interjected that Khan was his “friend.”
Asked by a reporter if he intended to come to London in September during a state visit, Trump responded affirmatively but then clarified: “I’m not a fan of your mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job.”
“The Mayor of London... a nasty person,” he added.
The comments prompted Starmer to state: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”
But doubling down on his view of Khan, Trump went on: “I think he’s done a terrible job. But I would certainly visit London.”
There is no love lost between Trump and Khan, like Starmer a member of the Labour Party.
In January, on the eve of Trump’s return to the White House, Khan penned an article warning of western “reactionary populists” posing a “century-defining challenge” for progressives.
During his first term in power, Khan also became embroiled in a war of words after speaking out against a US travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries.
Trump then accused Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when he was first elected in 2016, of doing a “very bad job on terrorism,” calling him a “stone cold loser” and “very dumb.”
In a podcast recorded before Trump’s re-election on November 5, 2024, Khan accused the incoming president of targeting him because of the color of his skin.
“He’s come for me because of, let’s be frank, my ethnicity and my religion,” he said.
But in a interview with AFP in December, Khan said the American people had “spoken loudly and clearly” and “we have got to respect the outcome of the presidential elections.”
In a statement later Monday, a spokesperson for Khan said the mayor was “delighted that President Trump wants to come to the greatest city in the world.”
“He’d see how our diversity makes us stronger not weaker; richer, not poorer,” he added.
France circulates draft outcome document from UN 2-state solution conference
Arab News can reveal it reaffirms the international community’s ‘unwavering commitment’ to the vision of Israel and Palestine as 2 democratic states existing side-by-side in peace
It strongly condemns the ‘barbaric and antisemitic terrorist attack’ by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and demands an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and full humanitarian access
NEW YORK CITY: Arab News has been given an exclusive first look at a preliminary outcome document from the conference on a two-state solution to the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, which began on Monday at the UN headquarters in New York.
Circulated by France among UN member states and open for comments until Tuesday morning, the document represents a critical step in attempts to revitalize long-stalled efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, against a backdrop in recent years of renewed violence and diplomatic deadlock.
The draft strongly condemns the “barbaric and antisemitic terrorist attack” on Israeli towns launched by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. It demands an immediate ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages still held by Hamas, including the return of the remains of those who have died.
It also stresses the urgent need for unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of civilians caught up in the crisis.
Central to the draft text is a reaffirmation of the “unwavering commitment” of the international community to the vision for two democratic states — Israel and Palestine — living side by side in peace within secure and internationally recognized borders.
Emphasizing the need for Palestinian political unity, the document underscores the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the governance of the Palestinian Authority, presenting this as the cornerstone for a future Palestinian state that is both legitimate and demilitarized.
Copy of a preliminary outcome document from the conference on a two-state solution to the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
The document welcomes commitments made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in June this year, and acknowledges his condemnation of the Oct. 7 attacks, his call for the release of hostages, and his pledge to disarm Hamas. Abbas has also vowed to end contentious “pay-to-slay” payments; implement education reforms; hold elections within a year to foster generational renewal; and accept the principle of a demilitarized Palestinian state — all of which are viewed as critical steps to rebuild trust and lay the groundwork for peace.
In anticipation of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in September, the document envisions that signatory countries will either have officially recognized the State of Palestine or expressed a willingness to do so. It further encourages nations that have yet to establish diplomatic ties with Israel to begin normalizing relations and to engage in dialogue regarding the regional integration of Israel, signaling a broader vision for Middle East cooperation.
As of early this year, about 147 of the 193 UN member states had officially recognized the State of Palestine, representing about 75 percent of the international community.
They include the majority of African, Asian and Latin American countries. Several European nations also recently joined the list, including Norway, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and Armenia, as have the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados.
But key Western powers including the US, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Australia have yet to officially recognize Palestine, as has Japan.
Notably, however, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has announced plans for his nation to formally recognize Palestine, with the official declaration expected during the UN General Assembly in September. France would be the first G7 country to do so, and could influence a broader European recognition trend.
The draft document also outlined a commitment to develop a comprehensive framework for the “day after” peace is declared in Gaza, emphasizing guarantees for reconstruction, the disarmament of Hamas, and the exclusion of the group from Palestinian governance, measures that are intended to secure lasting stability and prevent further violence.
Formally titled the “High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution,” the two-day event in New York is being co-chaired by ֱ and France.
