देश-विदेश

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has announced that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her position at the end of August, saying she wants to spend more time with her young children. Trump praised the 28-year-old spokesperson as one of his most trusted aides and said he respected her decision to step away from one of the most demanding roles in the administration. In a social media post, Trump said Leavitt would continue to advise him from outside the White House and would remain an influential voice within the Republican Party. Leavitt confirmed her departure, describing her time as White House press secretary as an “honor and adventure of a lifetime.” She said balancing motherhood with one of the most demanding jobs in Washington had been both rewarding and challenging. After returning from maternity leave following the birth of her second child, Leavitt said she realised she could not give her two young children the time and attention they deserved while continuing to meet the demands of the press secretary’s role. Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, welcomed a daughter in May. The couple also have a two-year-old son. She returned to the White House last month after taking maternity leave. Leavitt became White House press secretary last year and made history as the youngest person to hold the position. During her tenure, she became one of the administration’s most recognisable public figures and frequently defended Trump’s policies during tense exchanges with journalists. Her relationship with sections of the US media was often confrontational. Leavitt accused some journalists of political bias, while supporters of the Trump administration praised her for forcefully presenting the president’s position. Her tenure also included changes to the White House press-access system. Her office took greater control over the press pool and temporarily restricted access for the Associated Press after a dispute over the administration’s preferred terminology for the Gulf of Mexico. Before becoming press secretary, Leavitt had already established close ties with Trump. She worked in his first administration as an assistant press secretary and speechwriter. She later served as communications director for Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and launched an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022. Although she won a competitive Republican primary, she lost the general election to Democratic Representative Chris Pappas. Leavitt subsequently worked as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc, a pro-Trump fundraising organisation, before joining Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign as national press secretary. She became one of the longest-serving press secretaries in Trump’s two administrations, behind former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The White House has yet to announce who will succeed Leavitt. During her maternity leave, several senior administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, took turns addressing reporters. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who described Leavitt as a close friend and role model, said her departure would not end their professional relationship. He said they would continue working together and expressed confidence that Leavitt’s career would continue to develop beyond her White House role.

A severe drought across Europe has caused water levels in the Danube River to drop to record lows, exposing the remains of two World War II German soldiers and military equipment near central Budapest. The discovery was initially reported by a passerby who spotted a motorcycle handlebar protruding from rocks along the riverbank near Batthyany Square. Recovery operations conducted by the German War Graves Commission alongside Hungarian military historians unearthed a largely intact Wehrmacht motorcycle, identified as a DKW NZ 350-1 model, along with anti-tank mines that prompted a brief deployment of bomb disposal personnel. The site yielded well-preserved personal items, including intact identification tags, a wedding ring, and a Kuban shield combat decoration. Experts noted that a combination of riverbed mud and petroleum slowed the decay of the artifacts and human remains over the past eight decades. Analysis of the identification tags revealed that one soldier served in the Wehrmacht while the other belonged to the Waffen-SS. Because both halves of the soldiers’ identification tags remained intact rather than split, as was customary when casualties were processed, investigators confirmed that neither death was officially recorded during the war. The commission has initiated bone analysis and archival checks to identify the deceased before their eventual burial at the German war cemetery in Budaors.

A massive Ukrainian drone and missile strike targeted the strategic Russian port of Novorossiysk overnight, damaging two major grain export terminals and striking key naval assets in the Black Sea. Local officials reported that three people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed and 24 others were injured in the attack, which prompted an emergency declaration in the city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the assault as a unique operation utilizing rockets, jet drones, and naval drones. Military officials in Kyiv later confirmed that four Russian warships, including two frigates, were damaged during the strike. Novorossiysk became the primary hub for Russia’s Black Sea fleet after Ukrainian attacks previously forced Russian naval forces to relocate from Sevastopol in occupied Crimea. The damage to the export hubs led the Russian agriculture ministry to begin rerouting cargo flows toward alternative maritime routes in the Baltic and Caspian Seas. The barrage comes amid intensified military exchanges in the region, following overnight Russian missile and glide bomb attacks that killed at least 11 civilians in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

Japan issued a strong protest on Thursday following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iturup, an island within the disputed Kuril Islands chain claimed by both nations. According to Russian state media, the visit represents Putin’s first in-person trip to the archipelago. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi reiterated Tokyo’s position, stating that the islands are inherently Japanese territory under both historical context and international law. The territorial row over the four southernmost islands, which Japan refers to as the Northern Territories and Russia calls the Southern Kurils, has prevented the two countries from signing a formal World War II peace treaty. The Soviet Union seized the chain in 1945 and subsequently expelled roughly 17,000 Japanese residents. During his itinerary on Iturup, known in Japan as Etorofu, Putin inspected a local fish-processing plant and sampled regional seafood following his observation of naval drills in Russia’s Far East. The strategically located island also houses a primary Russian military air base. Bilateral relations between Moscow and Tokyo have grown increasingly strained in recent years, particularly following Japanese sanctions imposed over the ongoing war in Ukraine.