South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung says he’ll bolster US-Japan ties and pursue talks with North

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday he’ll pursue dialogue with North Korea while bolstering a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan.

He said in his inaugural address a day after his election that his government will deal with potential North Korean aggressions with “a strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-U.S. military alliance. But he would also leave the door open for dialogue with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy and boost a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, won a snap election Tuesday that was triggered by the removal of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.

Lee’s term began immediately without the usual two-month transition period after the National Election Commission formally confirmed his victory Wednesday morning.

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US immigration authorities detain the family of the man charged in the Colorado attack

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The wife and five children of an Egyptian man accused of firebombing an event in Colorado in support of Israeli hostages were taken into custody Tuesday by U.S. immigration officials and threatened with a swift deportation.

The family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, could be deported as early as Tuesday night, the White House said in a post on X. It’s rare that family members of a person accused of a crime are detained and threatened with deportation in this way.

Soliman, disguised as a gardener, had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants in Sunday's demonstration and had 18 Molotov cocktails, but he threw just two while yelling “Free Palestine,” police said. Soliman, who federal authorities say has been living in the U.S. illegally, didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an affidavit.

The two incendiary devices he threw were enough to injure 12 of the participants in the weekly demonstration held at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder, authorities said, noting that he expressed no remorse about the attack.

Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his plans for the attack, according to court documents that, at times, spelled his name as “Mohammed.”

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Musk calls Trump's big tax break bill a 'disgusting abomination,' testing his influence over the GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk blasted President Donald Trump's“big, beautiful bill" of tax breaks and spending cuts as a “disgusting abomination" on Tuesday, testing the limits of his political influence as he targeted the centerpiece of Republicans' legislative agenda.

The broadside, which Musk issued on his social media platform X, came just days after the president gave him a celebratory Oval Office farewell that marked the end of his work for the administration, where he spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted on X. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

The legislation, which has passed the House and is currently under debate in the Senate, would curtail subsidies that benefit Tesla, Musk's electric automaker.

The tech billionaire followed his criticism with a threat aimed at Republicans.

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Russian rockets kill 4 in a Ukrainian city as Kyiv claims it damaged a key bridge

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian rocket attack targeted the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding 25, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the assault, saying it underscored that Moscow has no intentions of halting the 3-year-old war.

The attack came a day after direct peace talks in Istanbul made no progress on ending the fighting. Local authorities said the barrage of rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the center of Sumy.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s secret services said they struck inside Russia again, two days after a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack on air bases deep inside the country.

The Ukrainian Security Service, known by its acronym SBU, claimed it damaged the foundations of the Kerch Bridge linking Russia and illegally annexed Crimea — a key artery for Russian military supplies in the war.

The SBU said it detonated 1,100 kilograms (2,400 pounds) of explosives on the seabed overnight, in an operation that took several months to set up. It was the third Ukrainian strike on the bridge since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, the SBU said.

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Gaza officials say Israeli forces killed 27 heading to aid site. Israel says it fired near suspects

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 27, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, in the third such shooting in three days. The army said it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots.

The near-daily shootings have occurred after an Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system it says is designed to circumvent Hamas. The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn't address Gaza's mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.

The Israeli military said it “fired to drive away suspects." In a statement, army spokesperson Effie Defrin said "the numbers of casualties published by Hamas were exaggerated” but that the incident was being investigated. He said the army is not preventing Palestinians in Gaza from reaching aid in the distribution areas, but rather allowing it.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the sites, says there has been no violence in or around them. On Tuesday, it acknowledged that the Israeli military was investigating whether civilians were wounded “after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone,” in an area that was “well beyond our secure distribution site.”

A spokesperson for the group said it was “saddened to learn that a number of civilians were injured and killed after moving beyond the designated safe corridor."

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New Orleans jail escapee releases videos, prompting search of home where they were made, source says

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man who identified himself as a New Orleans jail escapee released videos on social media while still on the run, leading to a police raid that failed to recapture him, an Associated Press source says.

Authorities were so convinced about the authenticity of the videos that they searched a home a little over 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) from the jail late Monday where they believe the recordings were made by escapee Antoine Massey, according to a senior law enforcement official who spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity. The official said he wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation into the May 16 escape by 10 inmates.

Massey was not at the New Orleans home on the edge of the Fairgrounds and Gentilly neighborhoods, the official said, but authorities did locate clothing they believe he wore during filming.

The owner of the home, Shedrick Burnell, said it was being rented and declined to name the tenant. He told AP by phone that he had never seen or heard of Massey before the jailbreak and the videos circulated online, but he appeared unfazed that a fugitive had likely used his property as a hideout.

“I’m 76, I’ve seen a helluva lot worse than this,” said the Louisiana native. “As long as my tenant is safe, there’s nothing I can do.”

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Arkansas authorities release photo rendering of 'Devil in the Ozarks' as manhunt continues

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas authorities on Tuesday released a photo rendering of a convicted murderer and former police chief known as the “Devil in the Ozarks " as the search for the escaped inmate entered its second week.

The new image was released as state legislators raised concerns about Hardin's escape and said they planned to conduct a review of how it occurred.

The Arkansas Department of Corrections said the photo rendering of Grant Hardin, 56, depicts how he may look after he escaped May 25 from the Calico Rock prison. The rendering shows Hardin with some hair on his head and face.

Authorities have said Hardin escaped by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform.

Rand Champion, a department spokesperson, said officials are focusing their search on the north-central Arkansas region where the prison is located. Tips from elsewhere about potential Hardin sightings have come in, but so far none have panned out, Champion said.

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Federal prisons must keep providing hormone therapy to transgender inmates, a judge says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons must continue providing hormone therapy and social accommodations to hundreds of transgender inmates following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that led to a disruption in medical treatment, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said in his ruling a federal law prohibits prison officials from arbitrarily depriving inmates of medications and other lifestyle accommodations that the bureau's own medical staff has deemed appropriate.

The judge said the transgender inmates who sued to block Trump’s executive order are trying to lessen the personal anguish caused by their gender dysphoria, the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match.

“In light of the plaintiffs’ largely personal motives for undergoing gender-affirming care, neither the BOP nor the Executive Order provides any serious explanation as to why the treatment modalities covered by the Executive Order or implementing memoranda should be handled differently than any other mental health intervention,” the judge wrote.

The Bureau of Prisons is providing hormone therapy to more than 600 inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The bureau doesn’t dispute that gender dysphoria can cause severe side effects, including depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, the judge said.

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Knicks fire coach Tom Thibodeau after first Eastern Conference finals berth in 25 years

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Thibodeau just took the New York Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals, the deepest playoff march in 25 years for a franchise that reemerged as a contender after he became their coach.

For that, he was fired.

The Knicks made what they called a “difficult decision” to move on from Thibodeau on Tuesday, believing it was a necessary step in their chase for a championship.

“We can't thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. He led us not only with class and professionalism for the past five seasons, but also to tremendous success on the court with four playoff berths and four playoff series victories,” team president Leon Rose said in a statement.

“Ultimately we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be a part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

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Weinstein retrial nears end as lawyers argue: sexual predator or #MeToo 'poster boy'?

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein 's lawyer portrayed him as the falsely accused “original sinner" of the #MeToo era, while a prosecutor told jurors at his sex crimes retrial Tuesday that the former movie mogul preyed on less-powerful women he thought would never speak up.

The two sides took very different tones in their closing arguments, which are due to conclude Wednesday. Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, veered into folksy jokes and theatricality — sometimes re-enacting witnesses' behavior — as he contended that his client engaged in a “courting game,” not crimes. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, as direct as Aidala was discursive, urged jurors to focus on Weinstein's accusers and their days of grueling testimony.

“This was not a ‘courting game,' as Mr. Aidala wants you to believe. This was not a ‘transaction,’” she told jurors. “This was never about ‘fooling around.’ It was about rape.”

The majority-female jury is expected to start deliberations at some point Wednesday, inheriting a case that was seen as a #MeToo watershed when Weinstein was convicted five years ago. It ended up being retried, and reshaped, because an appeals court overturned the 2020 verdict.

Weinstein, the former Hollywood honcho-turned-#MeToo outcast, has pleaded not guilty to raping a woman in 2013 and forcing oral sex on two others, separately, in 2006.

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