No Sign US Plans to Scale Down Forces in EU East, Lithuania Says
There are no indications 'as of this morning' that the US is planning to scale down its military presence in the European Union's eastern member states, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday.
Budrys spoke hours before US President Donald Trump is set to arrive in The Hague for the summit of NATO leaders, at which they are expected to sign up to ambitious new defense spending target of 5% of GDP. The minister said he saw commitment from member states to line up behind the pledge despite the opposition from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that has threatened to derail the meeting.
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30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ceasefire holds amid reports of limited damage to Iran nuclear plans
A fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding in the 24 hours following US President Donald Trump's announcement of a truce, as media reported that US attacks in Iran have only set back Tehran's nuclear programme by a few months. An initial intelligence evaluation suggests that the weekend's US bombardment failed to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facilities, the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN reported on Tuesday. The media outlets cited officials familiar with the military intelligence report from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Trump claimed that the US attacks at the weekend destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow and described the strikes as a death blow to Iran's nuclear programme. That attack came after Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iranian targets on June 13, saying it aims to prevent the country from building a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran has consistently denied. Iran retaliated with waves of missile and drone strikes on Israel. There have been deaths and casualties on both sides. Not a major setback The DIA report said only the entrances to the deeply buried facility in Fordow were destroyed, while the underground structures themselves remained intact, according to US media. The five-page report also suggests that Iran had already moved its stockpile of enriched uranium to other locations before the attacks, the newspapers reported. CNN reported that the attack had set back Iran's nuclear programme "by only a few months at most." The New York Times estimated the delay to be less than six months, while the Post said the delay was "by only a number of months." White House condemns reported assessement White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, in a post on X, criticized the publication of the report, which she said was leaked to CNN by a "low-level loser in the intelligence community." Leavitt called the assessment "flat-out wrong" and said the leak was designed to "demean President Trump and discredit" the military pilots who "conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program." "Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration." Iran wants to return to normalcy In Tehran, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed a return to normal life for his country, declaring in a televised address on Tuesday evening an end to the 12-day war. Pezeshkian described the conflict as a "terrorist attack" that came while Iran was seeking diplomatic dialogue with the United States. "The enemies violated their commitments and launched an attack during negotiations — a betrayal that history will not forget," he said. Willingness to resume nuclear talks In a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pezeshkian expressed Iran's readiness to resolve differences with the US "within the framework of international norms," signalling openness to a resumption of nuclear negotiations, according to the presidential office. He also welcomed the support of regional partners, including Oman, which recently mediated nuclear discussions between Tehran and Washington. Qatar also played a role in brokering the ceasefire, acting at the request of the US. However Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reaffirmed Iran's intention to continue its nuclear programme. Israel not done? Despite Trump's ceasefire announcement, Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stressed that the campaign against arch-rival Iran was not over. "We have concluded a significant phase, but the campaign against Iran is not over," Zamir said in a statement on Tuesday, without elaborating on future plans. He added that the Israeli military was now entering a "new phase" concentrated on Gaza, where Israel has been fighting the Palestinian militant group Hamas for 20 months. "Now the focus shifts back to Gaza — to bring the hostages home and to dismantle the Hamas regime," he said. Zamir also claimed that Israel's air campaign had significantly damaged Iran's military capabilities: "We've set Iran's nuclear project back by years, and the same applies to its missile programme." These assertions could not be independently verified. Netanyahu threatens Iran with retaliation As midnight was nearing in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a renewed threat to Iran, saying if it moved to restore its nuclear programme, Israel would repeat its recent actions against the Islamic Republic. Should Iran attempt to restore it, Israel "will act with the same determination and the same force to cut off any such attempt," Netanyahu said in an address on Tuesday. After the ceasefire was announced, Trump fumed as the two sides traded accusations of further attacks being carried out, telling reporters gathered outside the White House: "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing." A short time later he posted on his Truth Social platform: "ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. 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!" He said Israel had achieved "a historic victory" and destroyed Iran's nuclear programme. IAEA wants inspections asap To verify all this, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday called for nuclear inspections in Iran and said he's written to Araghchi about this. IAEA inspectors remained in Iran throughout the conflict and are ready to return to the country's nuclear facilities to verify its stockpiles of nuclear material, according to the statement. These include more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, which is close to weapons-grade level.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
OTTAWA, ON, June 24, 2025 /CNW/ - Note: All times local The Hague, the Netherlands7:30 a.m. The Prime Minister will meet with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher for media: Pooled photo opportunity at the beginning of the meeting 9:20 a.m. The Prime Minister will meet with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kristen for media:Pooled photo opportunity at the beginning of the meeting 10:00 a.m. The Prime Minister will attend an official greeting by the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mark Rutte, and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Dick for media:Pooled photo opportunity and host broadcaster 10:20 a.m. The Prime Minister will participate in an official family for media:Pooled photo opportunity and host broadcaster 10:30 a.m. The Prime Minister will participate in the meeting of the North Atlantic for media:Pooled photo opportunity and host broadcaster at the opening remarks of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte 1:10 p.m. The Prime Minister will meet with the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos for media:Pooled photo opportunity at the beginning of the meeting 1:30 p.m. The Prime Minister will meet with the President of Finland, Alexander for media:Pooled photo opportunity at the beginning of the meeting 2:30 p.m. The Prime Minister will hold a media for media:Open coverage 7:15 p.m. The Prime Minister will depart for Amsterdam, the to media Amsterdam, the Netherlands8:00 p.m. The Prime Minister will arrive in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 8:20 p.m. The Prime Minister will depart from Amsterdam, the to media National Capital Region, Canada9:50 p.m. The Prime Minister will arrive in Ottawa, to media This document is also available at SOURCE Prime Minister's Office View original content: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan prosecutor who took on Trump, wins Democratic primary in bid for second term
NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who oversaw the historic hush-money case against President Donald Trump, won Tuesday's Democratic primary as he seeks reelection. Bragg defeated Patrick Timmins — a litigator, law professor and former Bronx assistant district attorney — to advance to November's general election. About 70% of registered Manhattan voters are Democrats. The first-term incumbent will face Republican Maud Maron, who was a public defender for decades and previously ran for Congress and NYC's City Council as a Democrat. Bragg has long been one of the nation's most prominent prosecutors, spotlighted in TV's 'Law & Order' and other shows. The DA directs about 600 attorneys in one of the biggest local prosecutors' offices in the U.S. He raised the office's profile still further by bringing the hush-money case. His predecessor, fellow Democrat Cyrus R. Vance Jr., spent years investigating various Trump dealings but didn't procure an indictment. Bragg decided to focus on how and why porn actor Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 to clam up about her claims of a 2006 sexual encounter with the married Trump. The payment was made, through the then-candidate's personal attorney, weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Trump's company records logged the money as a legal expense. Trump denied any wrongdoing and any sexual involvement with Daniels. But a jury last year found him guilty of 33 felony counts of falsifying business records, the first-ever felony conviction of a former — and now again — U.S. commander in chief. Trump is appealing the verdict. The Republican president has long derided the case as a political 'witch hunt,' and he has kept lambasting Bragg by social media as recently as March. Bragg, 51, was a civil rights lawyer, federal prosecutor and top deputy to New York's attorney general before becoming DA. Raised in Harlem and educated at Harvard, he's the first Black person to hold the post. His tenure had a rocky start. Days after taking office in 2022, he issued a memo telling staffers not to prosecute some types of cases, nor seek bail or prison time in some others. After criticism from the police commissioner and others, Bragg apologized for creating 'confusion' and said his office wasn't easing up on serious cases. The matter continued to animate his critics. Trump repeatedly branded Bragg 'soft on crime,' and Timmins said on his campaign site homepage that the memo "has brought about increased crime and a perception of chaos in the subway and on our streets.' Timmins — who has raised about $154,000 to Bragg's $2.2 million since January 2022 — also pledged to do more to staunch subway crime, keep cases from getting dismissed for failure to meet legal deadlines, and prioritize hate crimes, among other things. Bragg's campaign emphasized his efforts to fight gun violence, help sexual assault survivors, prosecute hate crimes and go after bad landlords and exploitative bosses, among other priorities. His office, meanwhile, has been enmeshed in a string of high-profile cases in recent months. The office is using a post-9/11 terrorism law to prosecute UnitedHealthcare CEO killing suspect Luigi Mangione, lost a homicide trial against Marine veteran and Republican cause célèbre Daniel Penny in a case that stirred debate about subway safety and self-defense, and retried former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein on sex crimes charges. Mangione, Penny and Weinstein all pleaded not guilty. Bragg unexpectedly inherited the Vance-era Weinstein case after an appeals court ordered a new trial. In a jumbled outcome, jurors this month convicted Weinstein on one top charge, acquitted him of another and didn't reach a verdict on a third, lower-level charge — which Bragg aims to bring to trial a third time.
