North Korea dismisses US intent to resume diplomacy on denuclearization
In his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has bragged of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed hopes of restarting nuclear diplomacy between them. Their high-stakes diplomacy in 2018-19 unraveled due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea. Kim has since executed weapons tests to modernize and expand his nuclear arsenal.
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Winnipeg Free Press
19 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Liberian women are leading the charge against the country's drug crisis
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Women's groups on Thursday led a protest of thousands of people against a rampant drug problem in Liberia, urging the government to declare a national emergency over the crisis and enforce stricter punishment for drug abuse. Marching through the capital, Monrovia, with banners and flags, the demonstrators presented a petition at parliament that called for a special court for drug cases and to increase the jail term for first-degree drug-related felonies to a minimum of 20 years — currently the maximum term limit. The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia, meanwhile, launched a public campaign on Wednesday against drug use and deployed members to carry out sensitization campaigns in communities. One in five youths in the West African country are using illicit drugs with more than 800 hubs known as 'drugs dens' located across the capital, according to the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, a similar problem in some of its neighbors in Africa. The most common drug in the region is kush, a cheap, synthetic drug found to contain opioids that are sometimes deadly. Addressing the drug crisis was a key campaign promise of President Joseph Boakai before his election in late 2023. Activists, however, accuse him of not doing enough to tackle the problem. 'We are raising our voices against the mockery of President Boakai's promises to rescue Liberia's youth from the scourge of addiction,' according to a statement from the women's groups of three of the nation's political parties that are part of the ongoing campaign. Bowoulo Taylor Kelley, one of the leaders of the female lawyers, said that the drug crisis is 'destroying the future of our youth and women are bearing the brunt.' Joanna Jah, a resident who said her son is a victim of the drug crisis, was among Thursday's protesters. 'We have tried everything to keep them from the streets, but it has not worked,' Jah said. 'This is an opportunity to speak out loud — that's why I took upon myself to form part of the march.'
CTV News
19 minutes ago
- CTV News
U.S. secures strategic transit corridor in Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal
An Armenian soldier stands guard next to Nagorno-Karabakh's flag atop of the hill near Charektar in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh at a new border with Kalbajar district turned over to Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) WASHINGTON - When U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House on Friday, the meeting will culminate in the signing of a peace framework that includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus, officials told Reuters. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh - an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population - broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. A peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkiye and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are to join Trump at the White House for talks and the signing ceremony, the U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They are to sign a framework aimed at reaching a 'concrete pathway to peace' and addressing a long-simmering transit issue, the officials said. Azerbaijan has asked for a transport corridor through Armenia, linking the bulk of its territory to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani enclave that borders Baku's ally Turkiye. Under a carefully negotiated section of the documents the leaders will sign on Friday, Armenia plans to award the United States exclusive special development rights for an extended period on a transit corridor that will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, and known by the acronym TRIPP, the officials said. The route will be operated according to Armenian law and the United States will sublease the land to a consortium for infrastructure and management, the officials said. 'Through commercial means, this step will unlock the region and avert further hostilities,' one of the officials said. The Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders will also sign documents requesting the dissolution of the Minsk Group, which has been co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States since its establishment in 1992 to mediate the conflict, the officials said. Progress on the Armenian-Azerbaijan issue began in March when U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff visited the region. Members of his team made several subsequent trips there to help broker the agreement. U.S. officials believe a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan could prompt negotiations on the entry of Azerbaijan into the Abraham Accords, the series of normalization agreements that Trump brokered between Israel and four Muslim-majority countries in his first term. The White House summit comes as Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House has credited him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pakistan and India. Trump has been less successful in ending Russia's war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The summit will take place on the same day that Trump set as a deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to steps to halt his invasion of Ukraine or face further economic sanctions. Reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Ross Colvin and Lincoln Feast.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Ohio river's level raised to accommodate Vice President JD Vance's birthday kayaking trip
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Vice President JD Vance's security detail had an Ohio river's water level raised last week to accommodate a kayaking trip he and his family took to celebrate his 41st birthday. The U.S. Secret Service said it requested the increased waterflow for the Little Miami River, first reported by The Guardian, to ensure motorized watercraft and emergency personnel 'could operate safely' while protecting the Republican vice president, whose home is in Cincinnati.
