Trump: N. Korea summit could still happen on June 12
Washington, May 25: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could still take place as scheduled on June 12, just one day after he cancelled it.
"We'll see what happens. It could even be the 12th," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for the US Naval Academy to deliver a commencement address.
"They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We're going to see what happens," he was quoted as saying by the Hill magazine.
North Korea issued a conciliatory statement on Thursday night in response to Trump's decision to scrap his meeting with Kim.
"We reiterate to the US that there is a willingness to sit down at any time, in any way, to solve the problem," a top North Korean official said.
Trump responded by saying that "it was a very nice statement they put out" and said the US was still "talking to them now", referring to the North Koreans.
Asked whether the North Koreans were playing games, the US President acknowledged they were -- and suggested he was too.
"Everybody plays games. You know that," he said when asked about the ongoing talks. "You know that better than anybody."
Trump's comments fuelled the uncertainty and confusion surrounding his attempts to broker a nuclear agreement with North Korea.
He wrote a letter on Thursday to Kim informing him their June 12 meeting in Singapore was off due to Pyongyang's "open hostility" towards Washington.
A senior White House official said, however, that it would be extremely difficult to hold the summit on the original date, especially because North Korea cut off contact with the US regarding planning and logistics.
"June 12 is in 10 minutes," the official said.
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'The Guardian' exits X, citing platform’s “Toxic Environment”
London, Nov 14: The Guardian, a prominent UK-based media outlet, has announced it will no longer post content on its X account (formerly Twitter), citing a “toxic media environment” as the reason for its exit. In a statement on its website, The Guardian said that the “benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives” and indicated that its resources would be better allocated to other platforms that effectively promote its journalism.
The Guardian has raised concerns over “disturbing content” frequently promoted on X, including far-right conspiracy theories and racist rhetoric, which has intensified during the US presidential election campaign. “This is something we have been considering for a while,” the statement read, adding that the platform’s influence under Elon Musk’s ownership has “shaped political discourse” in concerning ways. The statement also mentioned that the media outlet’s presence on X “plays a diminished role in promoting our work,” urging readers to support its journalism directly on its website.
Although The Guardian will stop posting on X, it confirmed that users will still be able to share its stories on the platform. Additionally, the organization may embed posts from X in its articles, and reporters will continue to use the platform for “news-gathering purposes.”
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, widely criticized for his transformation of Twitter into X after acquiring the platform in 2022, was appointed head of a new government department by President-elect Donald Trump. Alongside politician Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk will co-lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In his announcement, Trump praised Musk and Ramaswamy as “two wonderful Americans” who will work to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies” in line with his administration’s “Save America” movement.
