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President Donald Trump was on the receiving end of some harsh language during a call with European leaders ahead of his summit with Vladimir Putin.The U.S. president told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders on Wednesday that he hoped to achieve a ceasefire and get a better understanding of whether a peace deal is possible during Friday's meeting with the Russian president, two sources familiar with the call told Axios."Trump had downplayed the likelihood of major breakthroughs in Alaska, calling it a 'feel-out meeting,'" the website reported. "But French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who were also on the call, both confirmed afterwards that Trump said he wants to try to obtain a ceasefire."Zelensky warned Trump during the call, which lasted more than an hour, that "Putin cannot be trusted," according to a knowledgeable source, who added that Trump told the leaders that land swaps would be necessary for a peace deal."Trump said it's Vladimir and Volodymyr who have to discuss territories with each other, not him," the source said.Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte were both "very active" on the call, according to the source, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni "raised some good points" and Polish President Karol Nawrocki "reminded Trump of the Battle of Warsaw, exactly 105 years ago, when Poland fought together with Ukrainians against the Bolsheviks in Russia" – but one leader angered the U.S. president."A source who was on the call said Macron took 'very tough' positions and told Trump 'a meeting is a very big thing to give to Putin,'" Axios reported, quoting the source. "'Trump didn't like that.'"

Vice President JD Vance is on his eighth vacation in the six months he has spent in office, and this time, he may have broken local laws. The BBC reported on Wednesday that Foreign Secretary David Lammy admitted he didn't have a rod licence when he went fishing with Vance. So, when the two took out their rods, they broke the law. Lammy called it nothing more than an "administrative error."But the report also noted that "it is not clear if Vance had bought a fishing licence," and his office isn't answering questions about it. "The foreign secretary has written to the Environment Agency over an administrative oversight that meant the appropriate licences had not been acquired for fishing on a private lake as part of a diplomatic engagement at Chevening House last week," said the Foreign Office in a statement.Lammy bought the license after the fact. The license costs a mere £7.30, the BBC reported. However, "fishing illegally can incur a fine of up to £2,500, and offenders can also have their fishing equipment seized."Just a few months ago, six anglers were found guilty after they were fishing illegally in London. The group received a fine of £2,182."Everyone who goes fishing needs [a] licence to help improve our rivers, lakes and the sport anglers love," said the spokesperson for the Environment Agency. "We understand the relevant licences have been purchased."Though the office didn't clarify whether that applied to Vance as well as Lammy.Vance called this vacation a "working vacation."Read the full report here.

Business leaders are growing concerned about President Donald Trump's new executive order that, in effect, wages a war against the Mexican drug cartels and how it could impact their companies. Politico explained in a Wednesday report that the administration has designated several major Mexican cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations," putting them in the same category as groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. This classification allows for the deployment of military, intelligence, and law enforcement tools to dismantle cartel operations more aggressively. In April, Trump's administration went so far as to advocate the use of drones to strike key areas of the cartels and conduct intelligence. Last week, Trump secretly signed a directive authorizing the Pentagon to use military force against specific Latin American drug trafficking organizations. It's an escalation of past efforts by the U.S., which has largely used local and federal law enforcement against such networks. However, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reassured citizens on Friday that the U.S. is not putting boots on the ground in their country. “The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” she said in a news conference. “We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table.”All of it rattles international corporations and businesses, which fear not only escalating violence and destabilizing the region, but there is also an economic impact. "Trump’s move means a company in Mexico that engages in a financial transaction with a cartel could face new U.S. sanctions or criminal charges of providing material support for terrorism," Politico said. "Given the vast reach of the cartels, which have expanded beyond drugs to become more like multinational conglomerates, odds are high that firms here occasionally brush against such networks, even unwittingly.""They’re worried," said one top Chamber of Commerce official, Pedro Casas Alatriste. “Let’s say they have one of their workers get kidnapped, and they have to negotiate in a way that touches organized crime — then they’re susceptible."Read the full report here.

Vice President JD Vance's English countryside getaway descended into mockery overload as protesters gathered to demand the Trump administration official "go home" from his luxury vacation spot.The "Dance Against Vance" demonstration, organized by the Stop Trump Coalition, targeted the Vance family's stay at an 18th-century manor house in the tiny Cotswolds Hamlet of Dean, Oxfordshire. His 20-vehicle convoy and Secret Service detail have forced road closures and ID checks that have "hobbled day-to-day life" for locals."He's simply not welcome here," declared Sue Moon, a therapist from nearby Chipping Norton, told The Guardian. "We don't want anything to do with people like him."The protest featured the viral meme depicting Vance as a bloated baby—the same image that got a Norwegian tourist kicked out of the U.S. earlier this year. Demonstrators brought cake decorated with the mocking image, while the group Everyone Hates Elon raised over $6,000 for a van displaying the meme to drive around the Cotswolds.Many attendees expressed outrage over Vance's February confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Natasha Phillips, who traveled 70 miles to protest, carried a sign reading "JD Vance–the guy who bullied a war hero from the comfort of his couch," the Guardian reported."The way he treated Volodymyr Zelenskyy was disgusting," Phillips said. "The Ukrainian people are heroes."Folk singer Dolly Mavies told the BBC she "packed up our stuff and left" when learning Vance would attend her scheduled performance, stating "morals are more important than money."The vice president has faced similar protests during family vacations to Disneyland and Vermont ski resorts, where demonstrators previously urged him to "try Russia" instead.

A plan to go forward with contempt proceedings against officials in Donald Trump administration for defying court orders had the plug pulled on it Friday morning.According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, two of the three judges in the D.C. Circuit Court who signed the decision ruled against US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg who has been battling with the administration over the forced removal of immigrants without due process.As Cheney posted on BlueSky, "The D.C. Circuit has vacated Judge Boasberg's contempt order over the Trump administration's decision to deport people under the Alien Enemies Act in defiance of his TRO. Rao (Trump), Katsas (Trump) side against Boasberg Pillard (Obama) dissents."That makes another win for the president, his Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security after AG Pam Bondi filed an official complaint alleging misconduct by Judge Boasberg at the end of July.Following the ruling, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman took to social media to express his dismay by writing, "Ugh 2-1 dc circuit-katsas Rao pillars dissents- vacates Boasberg contempt order."The former prosecutor then added, "Boasberg, the latest public servant, who for his integrity and dedication to duty winds up getting put through the wringer— distorted and even vilified."

President Donald Trump said during his 2024 campaign that he wanted to bomb the drug cartels in Mexico, which he links to the high rate of opioid addiction in the U.S. Now, he has secretly moved to deploy soldiers to begin an all-out war with the cartels. The New York Times reported Friday that a directive was secretly signed for the Pentagon to target certain Latin American cartels that he decided in January to label terrorist organizations. The Times called it "the most aggressive step so far in the administration's escalating campaign against the cartels." Thus far, Trump has targeted the countries of origin, demanding that Mexico and Canada, for example, take steps to stop the flood of opioids (particularly fentanyl) coming over the border. A very small percentage comes from Canada, but Trump continued to demand that they take additional steps. The order provides details indicating that the military could deploy soldiers to war on both land and sea. Those familiar with the conversations told the Times, "U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups."One concern remains the legal problems it could cause for soldiers. Constitutionally, Congress is the only branch that can declare war. So, if U.S. forces kill someone in a conflict that Congress hasn't approved, could it be considered "murder?"The Times said they didn't know where the respective departments were on the matter and, in particular, whether the Department of Justice had penned any options to fight a case over the matter in court. Trump has specifically targeted Tren de Aragua and MS-13, gangs from Venezuela and Mexico. It isn't clear whether Trump will be sending soldiers to invade either country.Read the full report right here.

In its haste to impose sweeping tariffs on countries the world over, the Trump administration is now admitting to making an "extremely regrettable” blunder after having accidentally double tariffs on certain products for Japan, and is now vowing to correct the matter, The New York Times reported Friday.“Washington is just randomly shooting and they are shooting some like-minded countries from behind,” said Japanese lawmaker Taro Kono this week during a press conference.President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs went into effect Thursday, including tariffs on Japan, one of the United States’ largest trading partners. However, due to the way Trump’s executive order implementing the tariffs was written, a handful of products saw new tariff rates stacked on top of existing ones, instead of modified, such as beef imports from Japan, rising from 26.4% to 41.4%.Trump has singled out Japan for its trade relationship with the United States several times in recent months, calling the country “spoiled” for not importing American-made rice, and for not purchasing American-made vehicles, complaints economists have ridiculed the president over for demonstrating a lack of understanding on basic economics.The latest trade blunder with Japan, The New York Times reporter River Davis argued, was just the latest example of the shoddy implementation of the sweeping tariffs, which continues to heighten tensions between the United States and its trading partners.“This latest development is another example of how a deal with no publicly disclosed written joint agreement – assembled quickly just days before higher threatened tariffs were set to take effect – is causing confusion and growing tension between the United States and one of its top allies and trading partners,” Davis wrote.Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief trade negotiator, said on Thursday that he had requested of the Trump administration a correction to the White House’s tariff blunders, but added that he had not been given a timeline for the correction, and was only told that the errors would be corrected in a “timely” manner, The New York Times reported.

Toward the end of an extensive interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, MSNBC's Eugene Robinson was afforded an opportunity to question the Donald Trump official and put him on the spot over the tariffs that went into effect at midnight.After making a pitch to co-host Joe Scarborough that the tariffs should soon increase employment numbers, Robinson asked Bessent, "Mr. Secretary, there's one question I've got to ask you, because there has been some confusion. So we've got a tariff of, what, 50 percent on Brazil now, I think. And so if someone here, an importer wants to buy Brazilian products today or tomorrow and import them, they're going to pay 50 percent to the Treasury. And so who writes that check?""Well, it's a couple of things," the Trump Cabinet member replied. "First, we could have substitutions. So there's very little that only comes from Brazil, you know that it could it could come from Argentina. It could come from ––.""Right," Robinson interrupted. "But assuming it does come from Brazil, say, or it comes from any country with a tariff, who writes the check to the treasury?""Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock in the U.S.," Bessent tentatively answered."Ummhmm, the check is written by the person who receives it at the dock. So tariff is paid in this country by the importer, is that right?" the smiling Robinson persisted."But the Brazilian exporter could decide that they want to keep market share," Bessent protested. "They could lower their price so that the full 50 percent of the tariff, say, and ––.""You're right, they can eat part of the cost," Robinson interjected."Which is what we've seen," Bessent offered."Okay, okay, but the check is written by the importer right at the dock?" Robinson asked once again."Yeah, and then, you know, the importer can pass it on or not," the Trump official blandly suggested.You can watch below or at the link right here. - YouTube youtu.be