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President Trump confirmed Wednesday that he intends to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, setting the stage for their third face-to-face meeting as Trump seeks to renew direct diplomacy with the nuclear-armed regime.

Trump did not reveal when or where the meeting would take place. Reports have suggested that the summit could be held in November, when the president is expected to travel to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump defended his relationship with Kim and argued that maintaining a personal rapport with the North Korean leader benefits the United States.

“I get along with him, and you know what? The fact that I get along with him-that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that Kim has “57 very powerful nuclear weapons.”

Trump then criticized previous U.S. administrations for allowing North Korea’s nuclear arsenal to reach its current size, arguing that the buildup would not have occurred under his leadership.

“Should have never allowed it to happen,” the president added. “They should have never allowed it. If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But he’s got them.”

Trump’s statement about the size of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal was particularly notable because U.S. officials have generally avoided publicly providing an exact number of operational North Korean nuclear weapons.

Previous intelligence assessments have estimated that North Korea possesses between 50 and 60 active nuclear warheads. Trump’s assertion that Kim controls precisely 57 marked the first time a U.S. official has publicly provided a specific figure for the country’s nuclear arsenal.

The IDF on Wednesday identified four senior Hamas Nukhba terrorists eliminated in an airstrike in northern Gaza, including a commander who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre and three others involved in planning and carrying out attacks against Israeli troops.

The four terrorists, all commanders in the Nukhba force of Hamas’s Beit Lahia Battalion, were targeted Tuesday in the Al-Shati area of the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF identified the first terrorist as Muhammad Hamdi Ahmad Al-Masri, a Nukhba company commander who was involved in advancing terror attacks against IDF forces operating in Gaza.

Samed Samir Harb Abu Habal, a Nukhba platoon commander, was also eliminated in the strike. According to the IDF, Abu Habal infiltrated Israeli territory during the Hamas-led October 7 massacre.

A third terrorist killed in the attack was Muhammad Attar, a Nukhba platoon commander who was involved in both planning and carrying out terrorist attacks targeting IDF troops.

The fourth was Muhammad Fathi Hussein Nasser, another Nukhba platoon commander who the military said played a role in advancing and executing attacks against Israeli forces.

According to the IDF, the activities of the four Hamas commanders represented an ongoing threat to troops operating in Gaza, prompting the military to target them in an aerial strike aimed at eliminating that threat.

The IDF said precautions were taken before the attack to reduce the danger to civilians in the surrounding area. Those measures included the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance.

The military said it will continue conducting its operations in accordance with international law while taking measures ahead of strikes to minimize harm to civilians.

Israel is demanding that the process of disarming the Gaza Strip begin on Oct. 7, a highly symbolic date marking the anniversary of the Hamas massacre that triggered the war in 2023, according to a report by the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya network.

Sources told Al Arabiya that Israel specifically requested the Oct. 7 start date for the disarmament process. According to the report, recent statements by President Donald Trump on the issue came after he was presented with Israeli polling showing significant public opposition to an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The Board of Peace, meanwhile, has reportedly made clear that the political future of Hamas leaders in any future Palestinian government will depend on the terror group surrendering its weapons. Board envoy Nickolay Mladenov told Hamas that meaningful negotiations cannot take place while weapons remain widespread throughout Gaza.

The Board of Peace has also informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel will not be required to begin withdrawing its forces from Gaza before Hamas has been completely disarmed. The provision is part of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem, however, told AFP that the terror organization remains committed to the agreed-upon process, while claiming that Israel has yet to provide mediators with a clear approval of the proposed roadmap.

The developments follow a series of meetings held by U.S. envoy Jared Kushner in Egypt and Israel aimed at advancing the next stage of the Gaza agreement. As part of the emerging arrangements, an American military officer is expected to oversee the process by which Hamas hands over its weapons.

President Donald Trump is pressing his advisers to arrange a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as early as this fall, seeking to revive the nuclear diplomacy that the two leaders pursued during Trump’s first term.

According to U.S. officials, Trump has privately discussed the possibility of meeting Kim during his upcoming trip to Asia. One potential opportunity could come in November, when Trump is expected to travel to Shenzhen, China, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ gathering.

Trump’s push comes as diplomatic efforts involving Iran have encountered delays and as some U.S. officials and experts warn that renewed negotiations with Pyongyang could result in an unfavorable agreement that effectively legitimizes a nuclear-armed dictator.

Bruce Klingner, a former CIA officer, criticized the approach, saying it amounts to “appeasing a dictator based on the mistaken perception that a personal relationship will achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives.”

Independent assessments by arms-control experts indicate that North Korea’s nuclear capabilities have expanded considerably since Trump and Kim last engaged in direct diplomacy. The country is now believed to possess more than 100 nuclear warheads, aided by increases in its supplies of plutonium and enriched uranium, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Trump also sought to arrange a meeting with Kim during his trip to Asia last year, but logistical difficulties ultimately prevented the encounter from taking place.

More recently, Trump announced on social media that a joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise would be scaled back, saying the decision was made “based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un.” Trump later said the move was connected to South Korea’s failure to assist with reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea’s embassy in the United States said it hopes the “friendly relations” between Trump and Kim will help produce meaningful dialogue and greater stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Those developments come as South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has called for his country to achieve complete military independence from the United States.

Experts caution, however, that Kim would enter any new negotiations in a substantially stronger position than he held during his previous meetings with Trump. The North Korean leader has strengthened ties with China, expanded cooperation with Iran and Russia, and dispatched thousands of North Korean troops to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

{Matzav.com}

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions Tuesday against the president of the International Criminal Court and one of its senior trial lawyers, intensifying the Trump administration’s confrontation with the Hague-based tribunal over its efforts to prosecute officials from countries that do not recognize its jurisdiction.

The latest sanctions target ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye. Rubio described the move as part of “our unwavering mission to protect Americans from this sham of a court.”

The United States is not a member of the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the ICC and defines its authority. Rubio has also urged other nations to cut their ties with the court.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” Rubio said in a statement.

Under the sanctions, Americans are generally prohibited from conducting transactions with Akane and Seye and could face penalties for doing so. The measures also effectively cut the two ICC officials off from the American financial system.

The ICC responded by criticizing the administration’s action, telling The Hill that “measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff who work towards the fulfilment of the mandate that was conferred to the ICC by States undermine the rule of law.”

“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the statement continued.

The court vowed that it remains “undeterred and stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities.”

“The Court will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality, in full accordance with the Rome Statute and in the interest of victims of international crimes,” the court added.

The ICC is expected to issue a more extensive official response to the sanctions early Wednesday.

Rubio had signaled last month that the administration intended to dramatically increase pressure on the court, promising to use American diplomatic and governmental power to dismantle the institution “brick by brick.” Among the measures he outlined were additional sanctions, travel restrictions, visa cancellations, penalties targeting organizations affiliated with the ICC and diplomatic efforts encouraging other countries to leave the court.

The Trump administration has already sanctioned several ICC judges and prosecutors following the tribunal’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, who previously served as Israel’s defense minister, in connection with the Gaza war.

Washington’s dispute with the ICC predates the Gaza case. The United States has also strongly objected to the court’s previous investigation into the conduct of American military personnel in Afghanistan.

The administration’s sanctions campaign has triggered a series of legal challenges in American courts. Three ICC judges filed a lawsuit in New York in June arguing that sanctions imposed against them by the Trump administration violate U.S. law.

Two human rights organizations filed a separate lawsuit in July seeking to block sanctions against ICC officials. The groups argued that the administration’s actions had produced a “chilling effect” on their efforts to document alleged Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

Four additional human rights organizations filed another lawsuit against the Trump administration last week, contending that the sanctions imposed on ICC personnel are unlawfully obstructing their work involving international criminal justice.

COVID-19 infections are climbing across virtually the entire United States, according to new federal estimates, although serious illness and COVID-related emergency room visits remain at very low levels.

Modeling from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that “COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 50 states.” As of mid-August, the agency was not estimating declining infections in any state, while no estimate was provided for Iowa.

The widespread increase does not appear, at least so far, to be producing a corresponding surge in severe disease. The CDC continues to classify COVID-related visits to hospital emergency departments as “very low.”

Wastewater surveillance is providing another window into the summer increase. Because people infected with COVID can shed the virus regardless of whether they have symptoms or seek medical care, sewage monitoring can detect community spread that might otherwise go unnoticed. Wastewater surveillance “can pick up signs of infection even from people who feel perfectly healthy,” according to the CDC.

Hawaii and Mississippi currently stand out as the two states with “moderate” levels of COVID activity detected in wastewater, although the available wastewater information for Mississippi is limited.

The West and South are showing somewhat greater viral activity than much of the rest of the country. Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington are currently classified as having “low” wastewater levels, while the remaining states are listed as “very low.”

The increase comes as the XFG lineage remains a major focus of federal health officials. The CDC continues to use genomic surveillance to track the proportions of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants around the country.

Despite COVID’s current upward trajectory, two other major respiratory illnesses are less prevalent. CDC wastewater monitoring shows influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, appearing at lower levels than COVID.

Meanwhile, a newly formulated COVID vaccine designed for the 2026-2027 season is expected to become available beginning this fall. The Food and Drug Administration has advised vaccine manufacturers that the updated shots should use the JN.1-lineage XFG variant in a monovalent vaccine to more closely match viruses now circulating.

The decision followed a May 28 meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which reviewed variant circulation, vaccine effectiveness, immune-response data and other evidence before recommending XFG for the new formula.

Manufacturers had indicated to the FDA that they were prepared to produce XFG-targeted vaccines for the upcoming season, and Moderna said in materials submitted to the agency that it was prepared to supply its updated formulation by mid-August.

The latest numbers suggest that the United States is experiencing another period of increased COVID transmission heading toward the end of summer. For now, however, federal data indicate a significant distinction from earlier waves: infections may be increasing broadly, but severe cases remain comparatively uncommon.