Trump suggests willing to extend arms control deal with Russia
Trump suggests willing to extend arms control deal with Russia/node/2617898/world
Trump suggests willing to extend arms control deal with Russia
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 21 sec ago
AFP
Trump suggests willing to extend arms control deal with Russia
New START restricts both countries’ deployed offensive nuclear weapons
Updated 21 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was prepared to maintain a nuclear arms treaty between Washington and Moscow, after his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin proposed a one-year extension.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Trump said at the White House when a reporter asked for his response to Putin’s offer to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, four months before its February 5, 2026 expiration.
New START restricts both countries’ deployed offensive nuclear weapons, requiring that intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and nuclear warheads remain below the agreed-upon limits.
The treaty, signed in 2010, limits each side to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, and 800 deployed and non-deployed ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers.
It also provides for a mutual verification system.
But such inspections have been suspended since Moscow halted its participation in the treaty two years ago, against a backdrop of the war in Ukraine and growing tensions with the West.
In January, Trump expressed a desire for a negotiated denuclearization with Moscow and Beijing. He has also asked the Pentagon to develop a huge and ambitious US missile defense system known as Golden Dome.
France unveils new government amid political deadlock
New cabinet lineup unveiled nearly a month after the appointment of Lecornu, Macron’s seventh prime minister
Lecornu risks being toppled by the opposition in a deeply divided parliament despite his efforts to obtain cross-party support
Updated 18 sec ago
AFP
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron named a new government on Sunday, putting together a team of largely familiar faces under Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu as he struggles to pull the country out of a political crisis.
The new cabinet lineup was unveiled nearly a month after the appointment of Lecornu, Macron’s seventh prime minister.
The latest premier risks being toppled by the opposition in a deeply divided parliament despite his efforts to obtain cross-party support, and opposition leaders on the right and left were livid on Sunday night.
Bruno Le Maire, who served as economy minister from 2017 to 2024, was named defense minister at a deeply sensitive time of tension with Russia over Ukraine.
Roland Lescure, a Macron loyalist, was named to take over the economy portfolio, with the difficult task of delivering an austerity budget plan for next year.
But many of the other key ministers kept their jobs.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot retained his post, the presidency said.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin both stayed put.
Rachida Dati, a scandal-ridden culture minister who is set to stand trial for corruption next year, also remained in place.
The presidency unveiled a total of 18 names, with more appointments to be announced at a later stage.
‘Procession of revenants’
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said the new cabinet lineup was “pathetic.”
Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old leader of Le Pen’s National Rally party, also mocked the government and reiterated the threat of censure.
“We made it clear to the prime minister: it’s either a break with the past or a vote of no confidence,” he said on X.
French far-right leader and member of parliament Marine Le Pen, president of the French far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party parliamentary group, speaking to journalists as she leaves after a meeting with the French PM as part of a series of consultations at the Hotel Matignon in Paris on October 3, 2025. (REUTERS)
Bardella said the cabinet lineup was “decidedly all about continuity and absolutely nothing about breaking with the past.”
Le Pen, whose party senses its best chance to come to power, has said she is waiting to hear Lecornu’s general policy speech on Tuesday before deciding on any further course of action.
Boris Vallaud, head of Socialist lawmakers, accused Macron’s supporters of seeking to plunge France “further into chaos.”
“They lose elections but they govern. They don’t have a majority but refuse to compromise,” he said on X.
The head of the hard-left France Unbowed group, Jean-Luc Melenchon, slammed what he described as a “procession of revenants” mostly hailing from the right, which he said “will not last.”
“The countdown to get rid of them has begun,” he said on X.
Some opposition leaders have urged Macron to call snap legislative elections or even resign.
Macron, who has just 18 months left in power and is enduring his worst-ever popularity levels, has insisted he will serve out his term in full.
‘What a mess’
Lecornu might be toppled by the end of next week, Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director at risk analysis firm Eurasia Group, told AFP.
“His odds of surviving are dwindling,” he said. “The mood is darkening.”
Paul Taylor, a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Center, said that French politics was increasingly driven by “anger and emotion rather than rationality.”
“If Lecornu fails, I don’t see much alternative to a dissolution,” he told AFP. “What a mess France is stuck in until 2027, and maybe longer.”
Fabien Roussel, national seeecretary of French Communist Party (PCF), and party mates speak to journalists as they arrive for a meeting with the French PM as part of a series of consultations at the Hotel Matignon in Paris on October 3, 2025. (REUTERS)
Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were ousted in a legislative standoff over France’s austerity budget.
France’s public debt has reached a record high, official data showed last week.
France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now the European Union’s third-highest after Greece and Italy, and is close to twice the 60 percent permitted under EU rules.
France has been mired in deadlock since Macron gambled on snap elections in the middle of last year in the hopes of bolstering his authority.
The move backfired, with voters electing a parliament fractured between three rival blocs.
In appointing Lecornu in early September, Macron plumped for one of his closest allies rather than seeking to broaden the appeal of the government across the political spectrum.
For the past month, the new prime minister has held a series of consultations with centrist allies and opposition leaders on the right and left in a bid to agree on a non-aggression pact in parliament and adopt the budget.
In recent days, he has announced a number of concessions, including a pledge not to ram his austerity budget through parliament without a vote, but opposition leaders said they wanted more.
Gunmen kill two, injure 12 in a shootout in a crowd in Alabama capital city’s downtown
Shootout began when someone targeted one of the 14 victims, prompting multiple people to pull their own weapons and start firing back, say police
The dead included a 43-year-old woman and a 17-year-old male. Five of the wounded were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, including a juvenile
Updated 06 October 2025
AP
MONTGOMERY, Alabama: Rival gunmen shot at each other in a crowded downtown nightlife district in Alabama’s capital city Saturday night, killing two people and injuring 12 others in a chaotic street scene that left authorities trying to find out who started it, police said.
The dead included a 43-year-old woman, identified by police as Shalanda WIlliams, and a 17-year-old identified as Jeremiah Morris. Five of the wounded were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, including a juvenile, Montgomery police said.
No one had been arrested as of Sunday afternoon as police appealed to the public for information and sorted through a complicated crime scene that involved multiple people firing weapons in a crowd just after the Tuskegee University-Morehouse College rivalry football game ended blocks away.
“We’re gonna do whatever we can not only to arrest those responsible, we’re going to do whatever to arrest those connected in any way, who knew what may have happened, who knew what could take place,” Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed told a Sunday news conference. “We’re not going just to stop with those folks that were pulling the trigger last night.”
The shooters “had no regard for human life,” he said.
Police were reviewing surveillance video, interviewing witnesses and potential suspects and trying to piece together a motive for why the shooting started.
Police were called around 11:30 p.m. to what Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys described as a “mass shooting” that broke out near the Hank Williams Museum, the Rosa Parks Museum and the Alabama Statehouse, within earshot of officers on routine patrol in downtown Montgomery.
The shooting began when someone targeted one of the 14 victims, prompting multiple people to pull their own weapons and start firing back, Graboys said.
“This was two parties involved that were basically shooting at each other in the middle of a crowd,” Graboys said.
The shooters, he said, “did not care about the people around them when they did it.”
Seven of the 14 victims were under 20, and the youngest was 16, Graboys said. At least two of the victims were armed, Graboys said.
Multiple weapons and shell cases were recovered from the scene, Graboys said.
Few other details were available.
It was a particularly busy weekend in Montgomery, with Alabama State University’s homecoming football game that day at Hornet Stadium, the Alabama National Fair ongoing at Garrett Coliseum and the Tuskegee University-Morehouse College game having just ended at nearby Cramton Bowl.
Reed said there were police patrols within 50 feet (15 meters) when the shooting broke out. One officer was so quick to arrive on the scene that he transported a victim to the hospital before an ambulance arrived, Graboys said.
Government shutdown enters fifth day as Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, among those appearing on the Sunday news shows, said there have been no talks with Republican leaders since their White House meeting Monday
Updated 06 October 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: Republican and Democratic lawmakers at an impasse on reopening the federal government provided few public signs Sunday of meaningful negotiations taking place to end what has so far been a five-day shutdown.
Leaders in both parties are betting that public sentiment has swung their way, putting pressure on the other side to cave. Democrats are insisting on renewing subsidies to cover health insurance costs for millions of households, while President Donald Trump wants to preserve existing spending levels and is threatening to permanently fire federal workers if the government remains closed.
The squabble comes at a moment of troubling economic uncertainty. While the US economy has continued to grow this year, hiring has slowed and inflation remains elevated as Trump’s import taxes have created a series of disruptions for businesses and hurt confidence in his leadership. At the same time, there is a recognition that the nearly $2 trillion annual budget deficit is financially unsustainable, yet there has to be a coalition around the potential tax increases and spending cuts to reduce borrowing levels.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, among those appearing on the Sunday news shows, said there have been no talks with Republican leaders since their White House meeting Monday.
“And, unfortunately, since that point in time, Republicans, including Donald Trump, have gone radio silent,” Jeffries said. “And what we’ve seen is negotiation through deepfake videos, the House canceling votes, and of course President Trump spending yesterday on the golf course. That’s not responsible behavior.”
Trump was asked via text message by CNN’s Jake Tapper about shutdown talks. The Republican president responded with confidence but no details.
“We are winning and cutting costs big time,” Trump said in a text message, according to CNN.
His administration sees the shutdown as an opening to wield greater power over the budget, with multiple officials saying they will save money as workers are furloughed by imposing permanent job cuts on thousands of government workers, a tactic that has never been used before.
Even though it would be Trump’s choice to cut jobs, he believes he can put the blame on the Democrats because of the shutdown.
“It’s up to them,” Trump told reporters on Sunday morning before boarding the presidential helicopter. “Anybody laid off that’s because of the Democrats.”
While Trump rose to fame on the TV show “The Apprentice” with its catchphrase of “You’re fired,” Republicans on Sunday claimed that the administration would take no pleasure in letting go federal workers, even though they have put funding on hold for infrastructure and energy projects in Democratic areas.
“We haven’t seen the details yet about what’s happening” with layoffs, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on NBC. “But it is a regrettable situation that the president does not want.”
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the administration wants to avoid the layoffs. It had indicated they could start on Friday, a deadline that came and went without any decisions being announced.
“We want the Democrats to come forward and to make a deal that’s a clean, continuing resolution that gives us seven more weeks to talk about these things,” Hassett said on CNN. “But the bottom line is that with Republicans in control, the Republicans have a lot more power over the outcome than the Democrats.”
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California defended his party’s stance on the shutdown, saying on NBC that the possible increase in health care costs for “millions of Americans” would make insurance unaffordable in what he called a “crisis.”
But Schiff also noted that the Trump administration has stopped congressionally approved spending from being used, essentially undermining the value of Democrats’ seeking compromises on the budget as the White House could decline to honor Congress’ wishes. The Trump administration sent Congress roughly $4.9 billion in ” pocket rescissions ” on foreign aid, a process that meant the spending was withheld without time for Congress to weigh in before the previous fiscal year ended last month.
“We need both to address the health care crisis and we need some written assurance in the law — I won’t take a promise — that they’re not going to renege on any deal we make,” Schiff said.
The television appearances indicated that Democrats and Republicans are busy talking, deploying Internet memes against each other that have raised concerns about whether it’s possible to negotiate in good faith.
Vice President JD Vance said a video putting Jeffries in a sombrero and thick mustache was simply a joke, even though it came across as mocking people of Mexican descent as Republicans insist that the Democratic demands would lead to health care spending on immigrants in the country illegally, a claim that Democrats dispute.
Immigrants in the US illegally are not eligible for any federal health care programs, including insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Still, hospitals do receive Medicaid reimbursements for emergency care that they are obligated to provide to people who meet other Medicaid eligibility requirements but do not have an eligible immigration status.
The challenge, however, is that the two parties do not appear to be having productive conversations with each other in private, even as Republicans insist they are in conversation with their Democratic colleagues.
On Friday, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government failed to notch the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster. Johnson said the House would close for legislative business next week, a strategy that could obligate the Senate to work with the government funding bill that was passed by House Republicans.
“Johnson’s not serious about this,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on CBS. “He sent all his congressmen home last week and home this week. How are you going to negotiate?”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Sunday that the shutdown on discretionary spending, the furloughing of federal workers and requirements that other federal employees work without pay will go on so long as Democrats vote no.
“They’ll get another chance on Monday to vote again,” Thune said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“And I’m hoping that some of them have a change of heart,” he said.
Indonesian rescuers search for missing students after school collapse kills 49
The structure fell on top of hundreds of students, mostly boys between the ages of 12 and 19, on Sept. 30 at the century-old Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo on the eastern side of Indonesia’s Java island
Updated 06 October 2025
AP
SIDOARJO, Indonesia: Indonesian rescuers searching for missing students after a prayer hall at an Islamic boarding school collapsed on Tuesday recovered more than two dozens bodies over the weekend search, bringing the confirmed death toll to 40.
Using jackhammers, circular saws and sometimes their bare hands, rescue teams diligently removed rubble in an attempt to find the 23 students reportedly still missing. Rescuers found 26 bodies over the weekend alone, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.
The structure fell on top of hundreds of students, mostly boys between the ages of 12 and 19, on Sept. 30 at the century-old Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo on the eastern side of Indonesia’s Java island. Only one student escaped unscathed, authorities said, while 95 were treated for various injuries and released. Eight others suffered serious injuries and remained hospitalized Sunday.
Police said two levels were being added to the two-story building without a permit, leading to structural failure. This has triggered widespread anger over illegal construction in Indonesia.
“The construction couldn’t support the load while the concrete was pouring (to build) the third floor because it didn’t meet standards and the whole 800 square meters (8,600 square feet) construction collapsed,” said Mudji Irmawan, a construction expert from Tenth November Institute of Technology.
Irmawan also said students shouldn’t have been allowed inside a building under construction.
Sidoarjo district chief, Subandi, confirmed what the police had announced: The school’s management had not applied for the required permit before starting construction.
“Many buildings, including traditional boarding school extensions, in non-urban areas were built without a permit,” Subandi, who goes by a single name, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Indonesia’s 2002 Building Construction code states that permits have to be issued by the relevant authorities prior to any construction, or else owners face fines and imprisonment. If a violation causes death, this can lead to up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 8 billion rupiah (nearly $500,000).
The school’s caretaker is Abdus Salam Mujib, a respected Islamic cleric in East Java. He offered a public apology in a rare appearance a day after the incident.
“This is indeed God’s will, so we must all be patient, and may God replace it with goodness, with something much better. We must be confident that God will reward those affected by this incident with great rewards,” he said.
Criminal investigations involving Muslim clerics remain sensitive in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
There has been no comment from school officials since the collapse.
“We will investigate this case thoroughly,” East Java Police Chief Nanang Avianto said Sunday. “Our investigation also requires guidance from a team of construction experts to determine whether negligence by the school led to the deaths.”
Using helicopters and chemical agents, US immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago
More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since an immigration crackdown started last month in the Chicago area
US citizens, immigrants with legal status and children have been among detained in increasingly brazen and aggressive encounters
Updated 06 October 2025
AP
Storming an apartment complex by helicopter as families slept. Deploying chemical agents near a public school. Handcuffing a Chicago City Council member at a hospital.
Activists, residents and leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest city.
“They are the ones that are making it a war zone,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday on CNN. “They fire tear gas and smoke grenades, and they make it look like it’s a war zone.”
More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since an immigration crackdown started last month in the Chicago area. The Trump administration has also vowed to deploy National Guard troops in its agenda to boost deportations.
But US citizens, immigrants with legal status and children have been among detained in increasingly brazen and aggressive encounters which pop up daily across neighborhoods in the city of 2.7 million and its many suburbs.
Arriving by helicopter
Activists and residents were taking stock Sunday at an apartment building on Chicago’s South Side where the Department of Homeland Security said 37 immigrants were arrested recently in an operation that’s raised calls for investigation by Pritzker.
While federal agents have mostly focused on immigrant-heavy and Latino enclaves, the operation early Tuesday unfolded in the largely Black South Shore neighborhood that’s had a small influx of migrants resettled in Chicago while seeking asylum.
Agents used unmarked trucks and a helicopter to surround the five-story apartment building, according to bystander videos and NewsNation, which was invited to observe the operation. The outlet reported agents “rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters.”
Agents then went door to door, woke up residents and used zip ties to restrain them, including parents and children, according to residents and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which canvassed the area.
Rodrick Johnson was among the US citizens briefly detained and said agents broke through his door and placed him in zip ties. The 67-year-old was released hours later.
“I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “They never brought one.”
Dixon Romero with Southside Together, an organization that’s also been helping residents, said doors were knocked off the hinges.
“Everyone we talked to didn’t feel safe,” he said. “This is not normal. It’s not OK. It’s not right.”
Pritzker, a two-term Democrat, has directed state agencies to investigate claims that children were zip tied and detained separately from their parents, saying “military-style tactics” shouldn’t be used on children.
DHS officials said they were targeting connections to the Tren de Aragua gang. Without offering details on arrests or addressing how children were treated, DHS said “some of the targeted subjects are believed to be involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes, and immigration violators.”
Agency officials did not return a message left Sunday.
Four US citizens were also briefly detained, Brandon Lee, with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said while some residents were placed on ankle monitors, others remained unaccounted for.
“It is plain and clear that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) are violent forces in our communities,” he said in a statement. More tear gas and smoke bombs
Meanwhile, the use of chemical agents has become more frequent and visible in the past week. Used initially to manage protesters, agents used it this week on city streets and during immigration operations, according to ICIRR.
An emergency hotline to report immigrant agent sightings topped 800 calls on Friday, the same day activists said agents threw a cannister of a chemical near a school in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood. The activity in the northwest side neighborhood prompted nearby Funston Elementary School to hold recess indoors.
The same day Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was placed in handcuffs at a hospital. She said she asked agents to show a warrant for a person who’d broken his leg while chased by ICE agents who then transported him to the emergency room.
“ICE acted like an invading army in our neighborhoods,” said state Rep. Lilian Jiménez, a Democrat. “Helicopters hovered above our homes, terrifying families and disturbing the peace of our community. These shameful and lawless actions are not only a violation of constitutional rights but of our most basic liberty: the right to live free from persecution and fear.”
On Saturday, immigration agents shot a woman they allege tried to run them over after agents were “boxed in by 10 cars.” They later said the woman was armed. However, activists said immigration agents caused the multi-vehicle crash and detained the woman, who is a US citizen.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the aggressive tactics, calling the mission treacherous to agents and alleging threats on officers’ lives.
“It’s an extremely dangerous situation,” she said Sunday on the “Fox & Friends” weekend show. Going to court
Leaders of a Chicago suburb that’s home to an immigration processing center have taken their fight against federal agents to court.
The village of Broadview has become a front line in the immigration operation. The center in the community of 8,000 people is where immigrants are processed for detention or deportation.
Protests outside have become tense with near daily arrests. Civil rights organizations have blasted aggressive tactics by agents, while village officials have launched three separate criminal investigations against federal agents.
City officials have demanded the federal government remove an 8-foot fence they say was “illegally” put up outside the facility. They filed a federal lawsuit Friday seek a temporary restraining order and the immediate removal of the fence they say blocks fire access.
“The fence also constitutes an immediate public safety hazard,” the lawsuit said.
Also pending is an expected ruling on alleged violations of a 2022 consent decree on how federal immigration agents can make arrests in six states including Illinois. While the order expired in May, attorneys have sought an extension and filed dozens of more alleged violations in the past month.
