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Moscow:

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned  Donald Trump of World War III after the US President said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was “playing with fire” by continuing the war with Ukraine. The threat came as Trump said he would “absolutely” consider new sanctions on Moscow amid missile and drone bombardment in Ukraine that left many dead.

“Regarding Trump’s words about Putin “playing with fire” and “really bad things” happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing – WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!” Medvedev said in a post on X.

Medvedev served as Russia’s President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Minister between 2012 and 2020. 

Trump’s Frustration With Putin

Trump’s frustration at his failure to end a war he said he could solve within 24 hours boiled over the weekend after Russia’s drone barrage killed at least 13 people. Diplomatic efforts to end the war have intensified in recent weeks, but Putin has been accused of stalling peace talks.

On Tuesday, he warned Putin of serious consequences, saying, “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

Though Trump did not specify what the serious consequences would be, the Wall Street Journal and CNN both reported that the Republican was now considering fresh sanctions as early as this week. Trump told reporters on Sunday he was “absolutely” weighing such a move.

Meanwhile, Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, did not react to Trump’s comments on Tuesday, but it had earlier sought to blame Ukraine for the impasse. Moscow insisted it was responding to escalating Ukrainian strikes on its own civilians and accused Kyiv of trying to “disrupt” peace efforts. Russian authorities said almost 150 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted, including 33 heading toward Moscow.

In a meeting last week, top Trump aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to seek to arrest 3,000 people a day, Axios wrote in a report.

This new target is triple the amount of arrests agents were making during the early days of Trump’s second term. 

As a part of Trump’s “big beautiful bill” that passed the House last week, Capitol Hill Republicans are working on providing an extra $147 billion in immigration funds over the next 10 years.

The change comes when border-crossing numbers have plummeted during the first few months of Trump’s term, when officials are taking an increasingly aggressive approach to make arrests of non-border communities nationwide.

Trump’s relentless approach to round up unauthorised immigrants, and in some instances even US citizens and legal residents, have caused his poll numbers on immigration to slip.

Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, demanded in a meeting on 21st May, that field office directors and special agents in charge get deportation numbers up. According to the source, people left the meeting fearing the new targets, if not reached, might hamper their jobs. However, another person said that Miller was just trying to motivate people with a harsh tone. The sources also added that this is not the first time Miller had yelled at on senior DHS officials to ramp up deportation numbers.

Moreover, DHS and ICE have posted out requests for additional staffing, bed space and resources. The latter has also signed agreements to add more bed space to existing detention spaces in the country.

Although through the media reports, and deportation flight announcements, it seems like the Trump administration has accelerated the arrests, the numbers seem to roughly be the same as they were during President Biden’s last year in office.

According to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), an independent organisation, border-area deportations have lowered because migrants are not attempting to cross the United States border. However, they have increased removals from inside the country.

“Keeping President Trump’s promise to deport illegal aliens is something the administration takes seriously,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “We are committed to aggressively and efficiently removing illegal aliens from the United States, and ensuring our law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to do so. The safety of the American people depends upon it.”

Tory Lanez is “deeply thankful to God” and thanking his supporters after he was attacked Monday at a California prison where he’s serving a 10-year sentence for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet.

A post on his verified social media on Monday shared that Lanez, who was born Daystar Peterson, was “stabbed 14 times- including 7 wounds to his back, 4 to his torso, 2 to the back of his head, and 1 to the left side of his face.”

“Both of his lungs collapsed, and he was placed on a breathing apparatus,” the post read. “He is now breathing on his own.”

According to the post, “Despite being in pain, he is talking normally, in good spirits, and deeply thankful to God that he is pulling through.”

“He also wants to thank everyone for their continued prayers and support,” the post concluded.

The Associated Press reported that the Canadian artist was attacked at a housing unit at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi at about 7:20 a.m. according to Pedro Calderon Michel, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Staff immediately gave Lanez medical aid and called 911, and he was taken to an outside hospital, Michel said. The prison’s investigative unit and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office are investigating, he said.

In December 2022, a Los Angeles jury found Lanez guilty of three charges related to the July 2020 shooting of fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion whose legal name is Megan Pete.

She testified during the trial that she and Lanez had left a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home in July 2020 when Lanez fired a gun at the back of her feet and ordered her to dance. She said the shooting occurred after they argued and she exited the SUV in which they had been traveling.

“Every day I think of others across the world who are victims of violence and survive. It is truly the most powerless feeling, especially when you question whether the justice system can truly protect you,” she said in a statement which LA County District Attorney George Gascón read at a press conference following Lanez’s conviction. “Fortunately, the district attorney’s office fought for me. I’m incredibly grateful to them and the jury for the attention to the evidence and siding with the truth. But if it can happen to me, imagine those who lack the resources and support systems to help them.”

Lanez has insisted on his innocence and his lawyers appealed his conviction. In May 2023 a judge denied a motion for him to receive a new trial. The star’s legal team had argued that some of the evidence presented had wrongly been admitted into the trial.

Olympic medalist Rohan Dennis earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of committing an aggravated act likely to cause harm Maja Smiejkowska/ReutersAdelaide, AustraliaAP — 

Former Olympic cyclist and world champion Rohan Dennis received a suspended sentence on Wednesday over what was termed a “tragic accident” that led to the death of his wife, fellow Olympian Melissa Hoskins.

The 34-year-old Dennis appeared in South Australia District Court after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of committing an aggravated act likely to cause harm.

Dennis was arrested after Hoskins, 32, was struck by his vehicle in front of their home at Medindie in Adelaide’s north on Dec. 30, 2023. Hoskins suffered serious injuries in the crash and died at Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The court was told that the couple had argued over kitchen renovations before Dennis left their home and drove away. The court also heard that Hoskins had jumped onto the hood of the car during the incident. His licence was also suspended for five years.

Dennis on Wednesday was sentenced to one year, four months and 28 days in jail, to be suspended for two years. The sentence was reduced from two years and two months because of his guilty plea and he’s been placed on a two-year good behavior bond.

Melissa Hoskins at the Uci Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne, Australia in 2012. She died in December 2023. Joe Castro/EPA/Shutterstock

The offense carried a maximum sentence of seven years in jail but lawyer Jane Abbey asked that her client receive a suspended sentence, which was not opposed by the prosecution.

During sentencing submissions in in April, Amanda Hoskins said her daughter had loved Dennis “and I know that you would never intentionally hurt her.”

“I believe this is a tragic accident. Your temper is your downfall and needs to be addressed,” she said.

Hoskins’ funeral was held in her home city of Perth, Western Australia and a public memorial service was held in Adelaide in February 2024. Dennis attended the service with their two children.

Hoskins competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics on the track in the team pursuit and was in the squad that won the 2015 world title. Dennis won two world titles in the road time trial, as well as silver in the team pursuit at the 2012 Olympics and bronze in the road time trial at the Tokyo Olympics.

US President Donald Trump returns the pen to his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, after signing the guest book at Qasr Al-Watan in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. 

The United States and United Arab Emirates will partner to build a massive data center complex in Abu Dhabi to advance artificial intelligence capabilities with 5-gigawatts of capacity — enough to power a major city.

The agreement, announced Thursday during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UAE, will mark the largest data center deployment outside of the United States, according to the Commerce Department. It will begin with a 1-gigawatt AI data center, but will eventually span 10 square miles.

The project is also expected to expand the footprint of American AI and cloud companies in the Middle East, allowing them to better serve the global south.

No companies were named in the Commerce Department’s announcement, although Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was spotted at one of Trump’s UAE meetings. Nvidia declined to comment.

Trump has been working to push AI investment, as the success of US tech companies are seen as key to retaining the US’s position as a global superpower.

he UAE has also said it wants to become a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031.

Ahead of Trump’s visit, UAE Minister of Education Sarah Al Amiri said the country is looking to diversify its economy, especially in the areas of AI and technology. Investments in AI infrastructure are seen as crucial to securing the region’s post-oil future.

The White House also announced on Thursday an agreement under which the UAE has committed to build or finance data centers in the United States that are “at least as large and as powerful” as those in the UAE.

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