United News of Bangladesh

U.S. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday at a high-stakes Alaska summit that could shape the course of the war in Ukraine and redefine Moscow-Washington relations. The one-on-one talks, followed by meetings with their delegations over a working breakfast and a joint press conference, mark the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders in the conflict context. The summit was held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, providing a secure venue while symbolically emphasizing Alaska’s historical ties with Russia. Trump, seeking to present himself as a global peacemaker and dealmaker, emphasized the possibility of a broad peace deal, including discussions on Ukrainian territorial concessions and security guarantees outside NATO. Putin aimed to solidify Russia’s gains and block Ukraine’s NATO ambitions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders were not invited, drawing criticism for sidelining Kyiv in talks directly affecting its sovereignty. Trump heads to Alaska for high-level talks with Putin Trump acknowledged a 25% chance of summit failure but floated a future three-way meeting with Zelenskyy if progress was made. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would maintain its clear position while avoiding pre-planning outcomes. The summit drew international attention, with analysts noting that U.S. adversaries, including China, Iran, and North Korea, would watch closely for indications of Trump’s negotiating approach and credibility. Moscow-based commentators highlighted the meeting’s potential to strain trans-Atlantic unity and weaken Europe’s stance toward Russia. As the war strains both Ukraine and Russia, the Alaska summit underscores the geopolitical stakes, with the outcome potentially influencing global security, NATO dynamics, and the ongoing conflict along the 1,000-kilometer front line in Ukraine.

Firefighters scrambled to control a fast-moving wildfire that erupted Thursday morning in hills along Interstate 5 in northwestern Los Angeles County, officials said. The King Fire has swiftly charred about 400 acres (162 hectares) of tinder-dry brush in a lightly populated area about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of downtown LA. An RV park was ordered to shelter in place and residents of remote homes were under evacuation warnings. The fire was 5% contained as of 6 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The California Highway Patrol closed some highway lanes as crews battled the flames. Off- and on-ramps were closed at Smokey Bear Road, along with several surrounding roads just north of Pyramid Lake in a mountainous area known for hiking and boating. The blaze is burning a few miles north of the Canyon Fire, which prompted evacuations, destroyed seven structures and injured three firefighters after breaking out Aug. 7. That fire was 97% contained Wednesday after charring about 8 square miles (22 square kilometers) of LA and Ventura counties. The Gifford Fire, California’s largest blaze so far this year, has scorched at least 204 square miles (528 square kilometers) of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties since erupting on Aug. 1. It was 41% contained on Wednesday.  

A Rhode Island man who faked his death to avoid U.S. rape charges has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend, marking the first of two trials in Utah. A Salt Lake County jury on Wednesday convicted 38-year-old Nicholas Rossi of a 2008 rape following a three-day trial during which the victim and her parents testified. Rossi declined to testify in his defense. He is scheduled for sentencing on October 20 and faces another rape trial in September in Utah County. Utah Republicans push to let patients supply their own blood as vaccine concerns linger Rossi had reportedly claimed he died on February 29, 2020, from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, police, a former lawyer, and a former foster family in Rhode Island raised doubts about his death. He was arrested in Scotland in 2021 while receiving COVID-19 treatment, after hospital staff recognized his tattoos from an Interpol notice. Rossi was extradited to Utah in January 2024 following a failed appeal in which he alleged he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed.   Source: Agency

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump has demanded that Hunter Biden retract comments linking her to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, warning she will sue if he fails to do so. The dispute centers on remarks Biden — son of former President Joe Biden — made in an interview earlier this month with British journalist Andrew Callaghan. In the conversation, Biden alleged that Epstein introduced Melania to her husband, now-President Donald Trump. Melania’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, called the claim “false, defamatory and extremely salacious” in a letter sent to Biden on August 6. He said the comments, widely circulated on social media and reported globally, have caused the first lady “overwhelming financial and reputational harm.” During the interview, Biden criticized Democratic Party “elites” whom he claims undermined his father before his withdrawal from last year’s presidential race. Referring to the disputed claim, Biden said: “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep,” attributing the information to author Michael Wolff. Melania has previously dismissed Wolff as a “third-rate reporter” who fabricates stories to sell books. Melania Trump makes stylish return as First Lady The Trumps have long maintained that the couple met in 1998 at a New York Fashion Week party hosted by modeling agent Paolo Zampolli. Legal experts note that public figures like the Trumps face a high bar to win defamation cases in the U.S., but the first lady’s legal threat mirrors her husband’s frequent use of litigation against critics. Brito’s letter was first reported Wednesday by Fox News Digital. Abbe Lowell, Biden’s attorney, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.   Source: Agency

Nearly five centuries after Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés signed it — and decades after it disappeared from Mexico’s national archives — the United States has returned a priceless manuscript page to Mexico. The historic document, bearing Cortés’ signature dated February 20, 1527, was handed back on Wednesday after an FBI investigation traced it to the U.S. The page is considered a significant cultural treasure, as it was signed just six years after Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521, two years after his arrival in present-day Mexico. FBI Special Agent Jessica Dittmer, a member of the bureau’s Art Crime Team, said the manuscript had passed through multiple hands over the years, making it impossible to prosecute anyone. “Pieces like this are considered protected cultural property and represent valuable moments in Mexico’s history,” she said, noting that such items are preserved in the national archives to deepen historical understanding. Advocacy group files lawsuit against Justice Department and FBI seeking Epstein case records The missing page was part of a larger collection of Cortés documents. In 1993, while microfilming the archive’s holdings, staff discovered that 15 manuscript pages had vanished, most likely stolen between 1985 and 1993. Mexico formally sought FBI assistance last year in recovering one of the pages. After narrowing their search to the United States, investigators located the page — though the FBI did not reveal who possessed it. The recovery involved cooperation between the New York City Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Mexico’s government. This is the second time the FBI has returned a Cortés artifact to Mexico. In 2023, the bureau repatriated a 16th-century letter written by the Spanish conqueror. Mexican officials hailed the return as a significant victory in the fight against cultural heritage theft, stressing the importance of safeguarding historical documents that shed light on the country’s colonial past.   Source: Agency

A 30-year-old man opened fire with a long gun at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, firing over 180 rounds in protest against COVID-19 vaccines, officials said Tuesday. Patrick Joseph White broke into a locked gun safe at his parents’ home in Kennesaw, Georgia, to access his father’s firearms before carrying out the attack, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Director Chris Hosey said. Documents recovered from his home revealed his strong opposition to COVID-19 vaccines. White had written about wanting to make the public aware of his discontent with the vaccine. Authorities said White recently expressed suicidal thoughts, prompting law enforcement to intervene weeks before the shooting. White died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing a responding police officer. FBI Atlanta Special Agent Paul Brown said there has been no notable rise in threats based on misinformation about the CDC and vaccines but confirmed that authorities monitor such rhetoric closely. EU urges Trump to protect European security in upcoming talks with Putin White had no prior criminal record, and his family is cooperating fully with investigators. Searches of his home yielded written materials and electronic devices undergoing forensic analysis. Before opening fire at the CDC, White was stopped by security guards and then drove to a nearby pharmacy where he began shooting. The attack shattered blast-resistant windows and forced employees to take cover. Investigators recovered more than 500 shell casings at the scene. Following the incident, CDC officials are reviewing campus security and remain alert to new threats. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has previously criticized COVID-19 vaccines, visited the CDC campus Monday to support staff and met the slain officer’s family.

Less than a week after demanding his resignation, US President Donald Trump has now praised the career of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan as an “amazing story.” Intel’s shares, which fell last week following Trump’s criticism of Tan, rose more than 3% in premarket trading Tuesday. Trump’s initial attack came after Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary raising concerns over Tan’s investments and connections with semiconductor companies reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army. Cotton asked Intel whether Tan had divested from these companies to avoid any conflict of interest. On Thursday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” Intel CEO reacts to Trump’s demand for resignation Tan, who was appointed Intel CEO in March, has not publicly confirmed whether he has divested his interests in those chip firms. In a message to employees, Tan denied misinformation about his past roles at Walden International and Cadence Design Systems, stating he has “always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards.” Following a Monday meeting at the White House with Tan, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump softened his stance. He wrote on Truth Social, “The meeting was a very interesting one. His success and rise is an amazing story. Mr. Tan and my Cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” The ongoing economic and political rivalry between the US and China is increasingly centered on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and other digital technologies expected to shape future economies and military power.   Source: Agency

A federal judge has rejected the Justice Department’s request to release transcripts from the secret grand jury proceedings that led to Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking indictment, sharply criticizing the government’s push as an “illusion” of transparency. In a written decision Monday, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said federal law almost never permits the release of grand jury materials and that making them public without a compelling reason was a bad idea. After privately reviewing the documents, he concluded they offered nothing significantly new compared to evidence presented at Maxwell’s 2021 trial. According to Engelmayer, the materials do not identify anyone besides Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell as having sexual contact with minors, do not name any clients, and reveal no previously unknown methods, crime locations, or investigative details. They also contain no information about the source of Epstein’s wealth, the circumstances of his death, or the government’s investigative path. The judge suggested the government’s real motive might have been to create the appearance of openness rather than provide meaningful transparency. “A member of the public… might conclude that the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed… at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such,” he wrote. The Justice Department had sought to unseal the entire Maxwell grand jury record, with redactions for privacy, in part to quell ongoing public suspicion surrounding the Epstein case. Prosecutors acknowledged only two witnesses testified before the grand jury — an FBI agent and an NYPD detective — and said much of what was discussed has since become public through Maxwell’s trial, civil lawsuits, and victims’ statements. Advocacy group files lawsuit against Justice Department and FBI seeking Epstein case records Florida attorney Brad Edwards, representing nearly two dozen Epstein accusers, said he did not oppose the ruling, noting most victims wanted to protect their privacy and that the transcripts contained little evidentiary value. Maxwell’s lawyer declined comment, and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. The decision does not impact thousands of other pages the government holds but has declined to release, much of it sealed to protect victims. A separate federal judge is weighing whether to unseal grand jury transcripts from a 2005–2007 Florida investigation, but another judge there has already refused disclosure. Maxwell, convicted in 2021 of aiding Epstein in sexually abusing underage girls, is appealing her conviction and has recently been moved from a Florida prison to a Texas prison camp. Her attorney says she testified truthfully in recent Justice Department interviews. The case remains a flashpoint years after Epstein avoided federal charges in a controversial 2008 plea deal, later dying in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. His death fueled conspiracy theories, amplified by former President Donald Trump and his allies, who accused authorities of covering up secrets to protect powerful people. While some Trump allies in the Justice Department once vowed to reveal more about the Epstein investigation, they announced this summer that no further disclosures would be made and that no “client list” exists — a reversal that intensified calls for transparency. Trump has since urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask the courts to unseal the Maxwell grand jury transcripts, but Engelmayer’s ruling blocks that effort, at least for now.  Source: Agency 

President Donald Trump pushes the Senate to confirm his federal judicial nominees, nearly half of them have revealed anti-abortion views or defended state abortion restrictions, raising concerns about the long-term impact on abortion access in the US. Several nominees have played key roles in defending abortion bans and challenging access to medication abortion. Among them are judges who have described abortion as a “barbaric practice” and called themselves “zealots” for the anti-abortion cause. Though Trump has publicly said abortion should be left to the states, his lifetime-appointed judicial picks could influence abortion laws nationwide for decades. Trump’s new tariffs take effect as US economy shows signs of strain Bernadette Meyler, a constitutional law professor at Stanford University, said judicial appointments are a way to shape abortion policy federally “without going through Congress or making a big, explicit statement.” In Trump’s second term, of the 17 judicial nominees, at least eight have argued for abortion restrictions. Many come from states with strict abortion laws such as Missouri and Florida. Notable nominees include Whitney Hermandorfer, who defended Tennessee’s near-total abortion ban; Maria Lanahan, involved in challenging FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in Missouri; and Jordan Pratt, who called abortion a “barbaric practice” and supported Florida’s 15-week abortion ban. Other nominees have defended parental consent laws, ultrasound requirements, and efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. The White House defended the nominees, citing the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and emphasized states’ rights to decide abortion policy. Anti-abortion groups expressed optimism about the nominations, while abortion rights advocates warn Trump is embedding anti-abortion extremists throughout the judiciary, threatening access to abortion nationwide. Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, said Trump’s approach “feeds into this larger strategy” of distancing himself publicly from abortion while appointing hardline judges.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a video Thursday night featuring a Christian nationalist church where pastors called for repealing women’s right to vote, highlighting his close ties to the church’s controversial views. The nearly seven-minute CNN report focused on Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). It included a pastor advocating to remove women’s voting rights from the Constitution, another proposing household-based voting, and a female church member expressing submission to her husband. Accompanying the video on social media platform X, Hegseth wrote, “All of Christ for All of Life.” His post received over 12,000 likes and 2,000 shares, drawing both support and criticism for promoting Christian nationalist ideology. Doug Pagitt, pastor and head of progressive evangelical group Vote Common Good, condemned the views as held by “small fringes of Christians” and described Hegseth’s amplification as “very disturbing.” US Defence Secy Hegseth grilled by Congress over troop deployment, Pentagon budget Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told the Associated Press that Hegseth is “a proud member” of a church affiliated with CREC and values many of Wilson’s teachings. In May, Hegseth invited his personal pastor, Brooks Potteiger, to lead Christian prayer services at the Pentagon during working hours, sending official invitations to Defense Department staff and service members. Wilson told CNN, “I’d like to see the nation be a Christian nation, and I’d like to see the world be a Christian world.” Source: Agency