North Korea's Kim Jong Un Attends New Year's Celebrations with Daughter

This photo provided on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with his daughter, second left, attend a New Year celebration in Pyongyang, North Korea on Dec. 31, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
This photo provided on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with his daughter, second left, attend a New Year celebration in Pyongyang, North Korea on Dec. 31, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
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North Korea's Kim Jong Un Attends New Year's Celebrations with Daughter

This photo provided on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with his daughter, second left, attend a New Year celebration in Pyongyang, North Korea on Dec. 31, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
This photo provided on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with his daughter, second left, attend a New Year celebration in Pyongyang, North Korea on Dec. 31, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Ju Ae attended New Year's celebrations including fireworks and an ice dancing display, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday.
Senior North Korean officials joined them in watching the events, state media photos showed. There was no mention of any speech by Kim.
KCNA said on the previous day that Kim had pledged to solidify the country's comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia in a letter to President Vladimir Putin.
In the message, Kim sent New Year greetings to Putin and all Russians, including their troops and expressed his willingness to further step up bilateral ties, which he said the two leaders have elevated to a new height this year, through new projects, KCNA said.
Kim "wished that the New Year 2025 would be recorded as the first year of victory in the 21st century when the Russian army and people would defeat neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory," KCNA said.

Kim and Putin signed a mutual defense treaty at a summit in June, which calls for each side to come to the other's aid in case of an armed attack.
North Korea has since dispatched tens of thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, and Seoul and Washington said that more than a thousand of them have been killed or wounded.



Italy Says No US Extradition Request for Detained Iranian Businessman So Far

A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
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Italy Says No US Extradition Request for Detained Iranian Businessman So Far

A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)

The United States has not submitted any formal request of extradition for an Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini detained in Milan, Italy's justice minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
"The matter of Abedini is purely legal ... regardless of the (freeing of Italian journalist) Cecilia Sala. It is premature to talk of extradition, also because no formal request has been sent to our ministry so far," Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told daily La Stampa.
Abedini is wanted by the United States on suspicion of involvement in a drone strike against US forces in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement and said last week the detention of the Iranian national amounted to hostage-taking.
His arrest has been linked to the detention three days later of Italian reporter Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran on Dec. 19 while working under a regular journalistic visa and freed on Jan. 8.