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South Korea’s Lee Asks Trump to Lead Peaceful Diplomacy with North Korea

South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, left, and South Korea's First Lady Kim Hea Kyung arrive for a family photo photograph during a gala dinner as part of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday June 16, 2026. (AP)
South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, left, and South Korea's First Lady Kim Hea Kyung arrive for a family photo photograph during a gala dinner as part of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday June 16, 2026. (AP)
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South Korea’s Lee Asks Trump to Lead Peaceful Diplomacy with North Korea

South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, left, and South Korea's First Lady Kim Hea Kyung arrive for a family photo photograph during a gala dinner as part of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday June 16, 2026. (AP)
South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, left, and South Korea's First Lady Kim Hea Kyung arrive for a family photo photograph during a gala dinner as part of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday June 16, 2026. (AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked US President Donald Trump to take the lead in seeking a peaceful resolution of tensions with North Korea during a brief exchange at the Group of Seven summit on Tuesday, Lee's office said.

The two leaders greeted each other during a ‌G7 leaders' group photo, ‌presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said, where Trump asked Lee ‌about ⁠the current state ⁠of relations with North Korea.

Lee asked Trump to lead efforts to resolve the North Korea issue peacefully, as he had done with the war in the Middle East, according to Lee's office. Trump responded that he would work to address the North Korea issue, Kang said.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday following the summit, G7 leaders expressed "deep concern" about North Korea's nuclear and ⁠ballistic missile programmes and reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete ‌denuclearisation of North Korea in accordance with ‌UN Security Council resolutions."

The leaders also urged North Korea to resolve the issue ‌of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang and reiterated the need to jointly ‌address North Korea's cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrimes.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held three meetings during Trump's first term, including a landmark summit in Singapore in 2018, a second summit in Hanoi in 2019 and a meeting later that year ‌at the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, where Trump became the first sitting US president to step into ⁠North Korea.

The ⁠diplomacy collapsed after the Hanoi summit failed to produce an agreement on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme and easing US-led sanctions.

Trump has repeatedly signalled interest in reviving direct diplomacy with Kim. He said in August 2025 that he looked forward to seeing the North Korean leader "in the appropriate future", and said in October he would "love" to meet Kim again.

Trump last week posted a captionless photo of himself with Kim Jong Un on Truth Social, in an apparent reminder of their past diplomacy.

South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Monday said he viewed the post as a "good signal" that Trump would be willing to focus on a meeting with Kim once the conflict with Iran is resolved, local media reported.

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World

Davutoglu Investigated for ‘Insulting’ Turkish President

Davutoglu speaks in the Turkish parliament. (File photo - Future Party on X)
Davutoglu speaks in the Turkish parliament. (File photo - Future Party on X)
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Davutoglu Investigated for ‘Insulting’ Turkish President

Davutoglu speaks in the Turkish parliament. (File photo - Future Party on X)
Davutoglu speaks in the Turkish parliament. (File photo - Future Party on X)

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into former Turkish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on suspicion of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The prosecutor’s office said Thursday it launched the investigation on its own initiative under Article 299/1 of the Turkish Penal Code over remarks deemed insulting to the president that circulated on social media.

An old video resurfaced Wednesday showing Davutoglu speaking with villagers while he was leader of the opposition Future Party, which announced on July 30 that it would dissolve and withdraw from politics. Insulting the president is punishable by up to four years in prison under Turkish law.

In the video, Davutoglu criticized Erdogan without naming him.

“Unlike the ministers who came after me, I did not earn a single penny illicitly,” he said. “I told them not to make illicit gains, but they did. They added billions to their billions, amassed ill-gotten gains and enriched their entourage.”

He added: “He appointed his son-in-law [Berat Albayrak, former energy and natural resources minister and treasury and finance minister] as a minister, enriched his relatives and handed Türkiye over to five contractors.”

A political science academic known as “the professor” within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Davutoglu served as an adviser to former President Abdullah Gul and later to Erdogan when he was prime minister before becoming foreign minister.

He succeeded Erdogan as AKP leader after Erdogan was elected president in 2014, when Türkiye’s parliamentary system barred presidents from belonging to political parties. Davutoglu resigned as party leader in 2016 amid differences with Erdogan over the management of the party and country.

He left the AKP in 2019 as their differences deepened and founded the Future Party. On July 30, he unexpectedly announced plans to dissolve it and withdraw from party politics, citing Türkiye’s “corrupt political climate.”

Davutoglu said the decision was “not a surrender or an abandonment of politics,” but an attempt to maintain an “ethical distance” from the political sphere.

He criticized Türkiye’s presidential system, citing a weakened separation of powers and ineffective checks and balances, and identified corruption, lack of merit, polarization and declining trust in the judiciary among the country’s main problems.

Davutoglu also warned that anger over authoritarianism, corruption, income inequality, restrictions and violations of the law could produce a “retaliatory counter-government” as polarization spreads from politics into society.

The Future Party was formally dissolved at a general congress on August 22. Political circles in Ankara said Davutoglu’s decision followed failed merger talks with the right-wing New Welfare and Felicity parties.

World

Tanker Captain Arrested Over Cargo Ship Sinking Off Istanbul

This handout photograph taken and released on September 2, 2026, by the Istanbul Governor's Press Office, shows a Turkish Coast Guard ship during a search for crew members around the ALSU oil tanker after it collided with another ship near Silivri in the Sea of Marmara, off Istanbul. (Photo by Handout / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released on September 2, 2026, by the Istanbul Governor's Press Office, shows a Turkish Coast Guard ship during a search for crew members around the ALSU oil tanker after it collided with another ship near Silivri in the Sea of Marmara, off Istanbul. (Photo by Handout / AFP)
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Tanker Captain Arrested Over Cargo Ship Sinking Off Istanbul

This handout photograph taken and released on September 2, 2026, by the Istanbul Governor's Press Office, shows a Turkish Coast Guard ship during a search for crew members around the ALSU oil tanker after it collided with another ship near Silivri in the Sea of Marmara, off Istanbul. (Photo by Handout / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released on September 2, 2026, by the Istanbul Governor's Press Office, shows a Turkish Coast Guard ship during a search for crew members around the ALSU oil tanker after it collided with another ship near Silivri in the Sea of Marmara, off Istanbul. (Photo by Handout / AFP)

The captain of an oil tanker that hit a cargo ship that sank in waters off Istanbul, leaving 10 missing, has been arrested along with his third officer, media reports said Friday.

The pair were formally arrested by a court late on Thursday, a day after the pre-dawn collision in which the ALSU, an empty oil tanker, struck the Tugberk Imamoglu, a cargo vessel carrying rolled steel, in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul.

The court in Silivri, on the western edge of Istanbul province near where the collision occurred, ordered their arrest, but there no immediate details on the charges, with four other suspects granted conditional release, Türkiye’s DHA news agency said, according to AFP.

Officials said the damaged cargo ship sank "very quickly" in waters about 900 meters (3,000 feet) deep, some 18 nautical miles off Silivri, leaving all 10 crew members missing.

Although rescuers have yet to recover the Tugberk Imamoglu's voyage data recorder (VDR) -- its "black box" -- an expert report prepared for Silivri prosecutor's said there had been multiple breaches of safety procedures aboard the tanker.

"The fundamental root cause... resulting in a catastrophe, was the deficiencies and failures on the bridge of the M/T ALSU," the report said, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Thursday.

It also pointed to shortcomings on the part of the cargo ship.

Search and rescue operations continued on Friday.

Anadolu state news agency said nine ALSU crew members, excluding the cook, had been detained and questioned by police, six of whom had appeared in court on Thursday.

World

Musk Super PAC Wades into US Midterms With $800,000 for Republicans in Close Races

Elon Musk departs after a welcome ceremony with President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP)
Elon Musk departs after a welcome ceremony with President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP)
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Musk Super PAC Wades into US Midterms With $800,000 for Republicans in Close Races

Elon Musk departs after a welcome ceremony with President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP)
Elon Musk departs after a welcome ceremony with President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP)

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has spent more than $800,000 in recent days on over a dozen key congressional races through his super PAC, funding direct-mail and other campaign materials for Republican candidates who face close races in the midterm elections.

Musk’s political action committee America PAC, which has been sitting on a $50 million war chest funded by the world's richest man, reported its first spending for the 2026 election in a filing late on Wednesday, with a focus on races in Texas and other battleground states.

The PAC expects to play a major role in Republican voter turnout efforts, with spending on door knockers, digital advertising and direct-mail campaigns ahead of the November 3 election, Reuters reported in July. It has a funding target of up to $120 million, according to the New York Times.

A spokesperson ‌for America PAC declined ‌to comment on Thursday. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ‌PAC ⁠spent the most ⁠money in Texas, where Musk's SpaceX is headquartered with multiple rocket and Starlink facilities. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has received a $247,595 boost from Musk since August 20 for his Senate race against Democrat James Talarico, who has been narrowly leading in public opinion polls since mid-April according to election tracker Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin.

US Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee which controls federal spending, was the next biggest beneficiary with $170,224 going towards her campaign, the filing shows. She is in a closely watched race against Democrat Troy Jackson.

In Ohio, where Republican Senator Jon Husted faces a ⁠tough battle to keep his seat against former Senator Sherrod Brown, America PAC has printed $105,675 ‌in materials. Like Collins, Husted sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee which controls ‌the funding for some of Musk’s biggest government contracts at SpaceX.

The PAC's filing showed Musk also boosted the campaign of Senator ‌Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. That committee oversees the Pentagon and ‌many of the projects that Musk’s space, satellite and artificial intelligence companies provide to the federal government.

In US House races, Musk’s PAC boosted several sitting members of the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees as well as other committees that may touch on or oversee the work of his companies. They include Republican Representatives Scott Perry and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, Tom Kean of New ‌Jersey, Jennifer Kiggans of Virginia, Mike Lawler of New York and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.

All of the spending disclosed on Wednesday night was for "printing," suggesting it ⁠was used for direct-mail, ⁠postcards, door hangers, canvassing literature, yard signs and the like.

The spending has drawn criticism from Democrats, including US Representative Chris Pappas, who is favored in polls to win next week's Democratic primary for the New Hampshire Senate race. If victorious, he would face former Republican Senator John Sununu, who is running for his old seat.

Musk's PAC spent more than $90,000 on materials opposing Pappas, who has been highly critical of Musk's past work running the Department of Government Efficiency.

“MAGA Republicans like Elon Musk are trying to buy this Senate seat for John Sununu because they know he would be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s toxic agenda,” Rachel Petri, Pappas' campaign manager, said in a statement to Reuters.

Sununu's office did not return a request for comment.

A spokesman for US Representative Ryan Mackenzie said the campaign has not talked with any super PACs, including Musk's, about coordinated campaign spending.

Spokesman Arnaud Armstrong said Mackenzie was a champion for government reform "leading the charge to crack down on congressional stock trading, taking on large corporations, and holding big tech accountable."

A spokesperson for Husted declined to comment while representatives for the other Republican candidates did not immediately return requests for comment.