New German leader Friedrich Merz will meet Trump at the White House next week
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington next week to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, with the war in Ukraine and trade tensions among the items on the agenda, the German government said Saturday.
Merz's office said the new German leader, who took the helm of Europe's biggest economy on May 6, will meet Trump at the White House on Thursday — the first in-person meeting between the two.
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Winnipeg Free Press
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What we know about the attack against a group of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Six people calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza were injured Sunday at an outdoor mall in Boulder, Colorado, by a man who police say used a makeshift flamethrower and hurled an incendiary device into a crowd. The FBI immediately described the incident as a 'targeted terror attack.' The suspect, identified by the FBI as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, yelled 'Free Palestine' during the attack on the group of demonstrators, said Mark Michalek, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Denver field office. Soliman was arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment, but authorities didn't elaborate on his injuries. Here is what we know about the attack: What happened at the outdoor mall? Soliman attacked demonstrators with a volunteer group called Run for Their Lives, which organizes run and walk events to call for the immediate release of the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza since a war between Israel and Hamas sparked in 2023, authorities said. The group had gathered at the Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block area in downtown Boulder popular with tourists and students. The Israel-Hamas war continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. It occurred more than a week after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington by a Chicago man who yelled 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza' as he was being led away by police. Police in Boulder evacuated multiple blocks of the pedestrian mall. The scene shortly after the attack was tense, as law enforcement agents with a police dog walked through the streets looking for threats and instructed the public to stay clear. 'Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available,' FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media. The violence comes four years after a shooting rampage at a grocery store in Boulder, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Denver, that killed 10 people. The gunman was sentenced to life in prison for murder after a jury rejected his attempt to avoid prison time by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. Who are the victims? Those injured range in age from 67 to 88, officials said. All were hospitalized. Photos from the scene showed a woman lying on the ground in the fetal position with her hair soaked, and a man helping her and getting water from someone with a water jug. The injuries authorities found were consistent with reports of individuals being set on fire, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said, adding that injuries ranged from serious to minor. Redfearn told reporters Sunday evening that it was too early to discuss a motive but that witnesses were being interviewed. 'It would be irresponsible for me to speculate on motive this early on,' he said. Who is the suspect? Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was arrested at the scene. No charges were immediately announced but officials said they expect to hold him 'fully accountable.' Video from the scene showed him shirtless and wearing jeans and holding two clear bottles with a transparent liquid in them while shouting at onlookers. Another video shows a witness shouting, 'He's right there. He's throwing Molotov cocktails,' as a police officer with his gun drawn advanced on the suspect. FBI leaders in Washington said they were treating the Boulder attack as an act of terrorism, and the Justice Department — which leads investigations into acts of violence driven by religious, racial or ethnic motivations — decried the attack as a 'needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans.' 'This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts. We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it,' FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a post on X.
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South Korea holds a snap presidential election Tuesday. Here's what to know
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After months of political turmoil, South Korea will elect a new president this week to succeed conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who was ousted over his brief but shocking imposition of martial law. Surveys suggested liberal Lee Jae-myung is heavily favored to win Tuesday's snap election, riding on a wave of public disappointment of Yoon's martial law debacle in December. The main conservative candidate, Kim Moon Soo, wants a come-from-behind victory, but observers say his refusal to directly criticize Yoon made it difficult for him to narrow the gap with Lee. The winner will be sworn in as president on Wednesday without the typical two-month transition period. The new leader faces the urgent tasks of trying to heal the deep domestic divide over Yoon's action as well as focusing on U.S. President Donald Trump's America-first policy and North Korea's advancing nuclear program. Who is running for the presidency? Lee, who represents the main liberal Democratic Party, is the favorite to win the elections. In three Gallup Korea surveys released last week, 46% to 49% of respondents picked Lee as their choice for next president, giving him a comfortable lead over Kim with 35% to 37%. Lee narrowly lost the 2022 election to Yoon, and spearheaded parliament's two votes to overturn Yoon's martial law decree and impeach him, before the Constitutional Court formally dismissed him in April. Lee's outspoken criticism of South Korea's conservative establishment and calls to punish those involved in Yoon's martial law enactment have caused worries among his opponents that Lee's election would further polarize the country. Kim, a former labor minister under Yoon, has fought an uphill battle against Lee as his People Power Party struggles to restore public confidence. Kim's opposition to Yoon's impeachment and reluctance to explicitly criticize the disgraced leader drove him away from moderate voters, analysts say. Four other politicians are running for the presidency, including Lee Jun-seok of the small conservative New Reform Party, who has categorically rejected Kim's request to field a unified candidate between them to prevent a split in conservative votes. What are main issues? The election has got ugly, with candidates levelling damaging statements, personal attacks and even sexually offensive language against each other without unveiling clear, long-term vision for South Korea. During last week's televised debate, Lee Jae-myung labelled Kim as 'Yoon Suk Yeol's avatar,' while Kim called Lee a 'harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship.' Lee Jun-seok faced withering public criticism after he used graphic references to women's bodies to criticize Lee Jae-myung's son over his purported sexually explicit online slur targeting a female singer. Unlike past elections, North Korea's nuclear program hasn't emerged as a hot-button topic, suggesting that most candidates share a view that South Korea has few immediate ways to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. Dealing with Trump's aggressive tariffs policy hasn't been a divisive issue either. Kim has instead focused on portraying Lee Jae-myung as a dangerous leader who would likely wield excessive power by putting the judiciary under his control and revising laws to stop his criminal trials. Lee Jae-myung, for his part, has repeatedly questioned Kim's ties with Yoon. What challenges await the new leader? South Korea's new president will have little time to negotiate with the United States before July 9, when Trump's 90-day pause on global tariffs expires, potentially exposing South Korean products to 25% tax rates. A U.S. federal court has recently ruled that Trump lacks authority to impose the tariffs, but the White House has appealed, leaving the long-term outcome unclear. South Korea's outgoing administration was trying to finalize a comprehensive 'package' deal with the U.S. by early July to soften the blow to the country's trade-dependent economy. Lee has accused government officials of rushing negotiations for short-term political gains and said it wouldn't serve national interests to obsess over securing an early agreement with Washington. Kim said he would place a priority on a meeting with Trump as soon as possible to resolve trade issues. The next government in Seoul may also struggle to ease security tensions over North Korea's advancing nuclear weapons program, which has been complicated by North Korea's support of Russia's war against Ukraine. Lee has expressed a willingness to improve ties with North Korea but acknowledged that it would be difficult to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un anytime soon. He said he would support Trump's push to resume nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. Kim Moon Soo has promised to build up South Korea's military capability and win a stronger U.S. security support, suggesting he would uphold Yoon's hard-line approach on North Korea. Can the new government ease the national divide? The most pressing domestic issue facing the new president will be a starkly divided nation that had seen millions rallying for months to either support or denounce Yoon. Yoon had labeled Lee's party as 'anti-state' forces abusing their legislative majority to block his agenda. He also endorsed unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that the liberals had benefited from election fraud, prompting his supporters to rally in the streets with 'Stop the Steal' signs. Lee has issued a message of unity and vowed not to seek political vengeance against his rivals if elected. But his critics doubt that, suspecting Lee could use investigations of Yoon's martial law decree as a vehicle to suppress his opponents. Yoon's legal saga is likely to overshadow the early months of Seoul's next government, as the former president continues to stand trial on high-stakes rebellion charges, which carry a possible sentence of death or life in prison.
