Trump says he hopes to meet Kim Jong-un and raises prospect of US taking over some South Korean land

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South Korean president Lee Jae Myung uses Oval Office meeting to encourage Trump to engage with North Korean leader

Donald Trump has said he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, possibly this year, in an attempt to revive the failed nuclear diplomacy of his first term as US president.

“I’d like to have a meeting. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future,” Trump said during an occasionally awkward meeting at the Oval Office with South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, in which he raised the prospect of taking ownership of South Korean land that hosts a US military base.

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French prime minister to face potential ousting in high-stakes confidence vote

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François Bayrou to seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France’s public finances

France’s embattled prime minister looks likely to be ousted and his government toppled next month in a high-stakes confidence vote that could plunge the EU’s second-biggest economy into even deeper political crisis.

François Bayrou said on Monday that he would seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France’s ailing public finances on 8 September, asking deputies to “confirm the scale” of spending cuts he says are needed to save €44bn (£38bn) a year.

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Lil Nas X charged with four felonies after allegedly attacking police in Los Angeles

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Police say musician charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down an LA street last week

Lil Nas X was charged on Monday with four felonies after police say he charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down a Los Angeles street last week.

Prosecutors charged the musician, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer, the district attorney’s office said. He was initially booked on suspicion of misdemeanor obstructing an officer on Friday.

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Wildfires in California and Oregon destroy homes and prompt thousands of evacuations

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Pickett fire chars Napa wine country while predicted thunderstorms add to danger of Oregon’s Flat fire

Wildfires raging in northern California wine country and central Oregon have destroyed multiple homes and threatened thousands more as hot, dry weather created challenges for firefighters battles the blazes.

Ten structures – including four homes – have been destroyed in Oregon’s Deschutes County as of Monday, where a wildfire dubbed the Flat fire continues to burn.

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Home Office promises ‘big surge’ in asylum hotel closures in new year

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Angela Eagle accuses other parties of offering ‘fag packet plans’ as ministers face mounting pressure on immigration

The Home Office has promised a “big surge” in asylum hotel closures in the new year, with five more to shut in the coming months, as ministers face mounting pressure over the government’s record on immigration.

Speaking after a weekend of protests and counter-protests over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said the government had inherited a “border security system in tatters” and accused opposition parties of offering “the fag packet plans without the substance on delivery”.

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Musk’s AI startup sues OpenAI and Apple over anticompetitive conduct

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Lawsuit accuses companies of ‘conspiracy to monopolize markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots’

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is suing OpenAI and Apple over allegations that they are engaging in anticompetitive conduct. The lawsuit, filed in a Texas court on Monday, accuses the companies of “a conspiracy to monopolize the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots”.

Musk had earlier this month threatened to sue Apple and OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, after claiming that Apple was “making it impossible” for any other AI companies to reach the top spot on its app store. Musk’s xAI makes the Grok chatbot, which has struggled to become as prominent as ChatGPT.

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Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ pleads guilty to racketeering in New York

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Ismael Zambada was co-founder of Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, now imprisoned in US

The Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges as well as running a criminal enterprise on Monday, more than a year since he was arrested in Texas after what has been described as a kidnapping.

“I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico,” the 77-year-old Zambada said in court through a Spanish-language interpreter. “I apologize for all of it, and I take responsibility for my actions.”

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Screenwriter Paul Laverty arrested at Palestine protest in Edinburgh

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Ken Loach collaborator was allegedly wearing a T-shirt that referenced banned group Palestine Action

The award-winning Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty has been arrested in Edinburgh for wearing a T-shirt that allegedly referenced the proscribed protest group Palestine Action.

Laverty was attending a protest outside St Leonard’s police station in the city centre to support Moira McFarlane, a member of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was due to be charged under section 13 of the Terrorist Act for wearing a T-shirt with the words: “Genocide in Palestine, time to take Action”.

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Woody Allen rebuts Ukrainian condemnation over Moscow film festival appearance

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The director said he did not ‘feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help’ after Ukraine calls the film-maker’s participation a ‘disgrace’

Woody Allen has denied claims that his participation in a Moscow film festival was “whitewashing” Russian atrocities, after condemnation of his appearance by Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs.

Allen said in a statement to the Guardian: “When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong. The war he has caused is appalling. But, whatever politicians have done, I don’t feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help.”

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Poland’s president vetoes legislation to prolong benefits for Ukrainian refugees

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Karol Nawrocki says only Ukrainians in work should receive child benefit payments in Poland

Poland’s president has vetoed legislation to prolong benefits received by Ukrainian refugees in Poland, following up on a campaign promise to tighten welfare payments amid a steady growth in anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Poles.

Karol Nawrocki, who took office earlier this month after winning an election in spring, said only Ukrainians in work should receive child benefit payments.

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Sole survivor of Australian deadly mushroom poisoning grieves loss of wife and friends – PBS

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  1. Sole survivor of Australian deadly mushroom poisoning grieves loss of wife and friends  PBS
  2. Sole survivor of Australian mushroom poisoning grieves loss of wife and friends  ABC News
  3. Mushroom murder: Family of toxic lunch victims face killer in court  BBC
  4. Sole survivor of Australian mushroom poisoning feels ‘half alive’ after the murder of his wife and friends  CNN
  5. Australia mushroom murderer Erin Patterson left me 'half alive,' lone surviving victim says  KSL.com
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Israel’s attack on hospital in Gaza may constitute a war crime on many fronts

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Double-tap strike suggests killing of civilians, rescue workers and journalists deliberate and not a mistake

Israel’s twin strike on the Nasser hospital in Gaza, which killed five journalists including staff working for the Associated Press, Reuters, NBC and Al Jazeera, is a potential violation of international law writ large.

The attack targeted a civilian building, specifically a hospital, in a reckless double-tap strike that killed civilians, with rescue workers and journalists among them. All categories that should be protected under international law.

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Kneecap cancel all US tour dates over clash with court hearing in London

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Band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh faces terrorism charge in UK for alleged display of Hezbollah flag mid-performance

The Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap have cancelled their scheduled US tour dates in October, citing the proximity to a court hearing in London involving band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s alleged mid-performance display of a Hezbollah flag.

Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence in the UK in May after being accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah during a concert in London last November.

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UK gender pay gap underestimated for two decades, report says

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Findings suggest since 2004 ONS failed to properly account for fact it received more data from larger employers

The UK’s gender pay gap has been underestimated for more than 20 years, according to research that could raise fresh questions about the quality of data used to inform key pay decisions across the UK.

The findings, released in the British Journal of Industrial Relations on Monday, suggest that, since 2004, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had failed to properly account for the fact that it received more data from larger employers, when it reported its annual survey of hours and earnings (Ashe).

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Top Senate Dem Says Gaza Famine is a ‘Shameful Black Mark on Humanity,’ Admits Party Failed to Act – Common Dreams

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  1. Top Senate Dem Says Gaza Famine is a 'Shameful Black Mark on Humanity,' Admits Party Failed to Act  Common Dreams
  2. Israel pushes back at ‘tailor-made’ UN-backed report claiming Gaza famine  Fox News
  3. Three more Gazans have died of malnutrition, Hamas-run health ministry says  The Times of Israel
  4. Arguing over hunger in Gaza ‘kind of obscene,’ UNICEF official says  Politico
  5. Headlines for August 26, 2025  Democracy Now!
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French government risks collapse after Bayrou calls high-stakes confidence vote – politico.eu

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  1. French government risks collapse after Bayrou calls high-stakes confidence vote  politico.eu
  2. French government risks collapse with budget confidence vote in September  CNN
  3. French Prime Minister Calls Special Parliamentary Session to Address Ballooning Debt  The New York Times
  4. French PM Bayrou says he will request confidence vote from parliament  Reuters
  5. France’s Government Risks Another Collapse, Weighing on Markets  Bloomberg.com
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