First Thing: Kim Jong-un pledges to support Russia ‘in fight against imperialism’

North Korea’s ‘first priority’ is its relationship with Moscow, Kim tells Putin during meeting at remote Russian space base. Plus, why is the US addicted to laxatives?

Good morning.

Kim Jong-un has pledged to support all of Russia’s decisions as he met Vladimir Putin at a remote Russian space base during a rare trip outside North Korea.

Putin and Kim were meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome – Russia’s most modern space rocket launch site – for talks expected to include a deal to supply North Korean weapons for the war in Ukraine. Putin has reportedly promised to help the isolated state build satellites.

Speaking before the meeting, Kim said: “Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security. We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership … and we will be together in the fight against imperialism.”

Putin welcomed Kim, saying: “We, of course, need to talk about questions of economic cooperation and questions of a humanitarian nature. We have a lot of questions.” The US has suggested that Russia is seeking North Korean military hardware to aid in the invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has previously denied supplying weapons to Moscow.

What has the Kremlin said about the meeting? A Kremlin spokesperson said the relationship between Russia and North Korea is not aimed at other countries, and should not be a worry for third countries. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea this morning as a demonstration of strength while Kim was out of the country. Japan has protested.

Rightwing women’s group criticised over keynote address by ‘misogynist’ Trump

Concerned Women for America (CWA), a rightwing group that describes itself as the largest public policy women’s organisation in the US, was criticised for hosting “a misogynist indicted criminal”, after it announced a keynote speech by Donald Trump.

“Of course a misogynistic indicted criminal would speak to a conference of women determined to block access to reproductive healthcare and move backward instead of looking toward the future,” said Christian F Nunes, the national president of the National Organization for Women.

Last year, the right to abortion was removed by a supreme court to which Trump installed three conservative judges.

Nunes added: “We seek truth and accountability from our elected officials – former president Trump doesn’t know the meaning of those words.”

What did the CWA say about the speech? Announcing its Trump speech, the CWA said the multiply accused former president had signed its “presidential promise to American women, pledging to recognise the unique dignity of women”.

House speaker Kevin McCarthy announces impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden

The speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, yesterday announced that Republicans would open an impeachment investigation into Joe Biden over unproven allegations of corruption in his family’s business dealings.

The announcement by McCarthy kicks off what are expected to be weeks of Republican-led hearings intended to convince Americans that the president profited from the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden and other family members, but it is unclear if the GOP has the evidence to substantiate the long-running claims, or even the votes for impeachment.

The campaign comes as McCarthy tries to hang on to his position as leader of Congress’s lower chamber, despite a mere four-seat Republican majority and rising discontent among its most extreme conservative lawmakers, who are upset over a deal McCarthy reached with Biden to raise the debt ceiling while cutting some government spending, and have demanded recompense in the form of an impeachment inquiry.

What did McCarthy say? “I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public. That’s exactly what we want to know – the answers. I believe the president would want to answer these questions and allegations as well,” he said.

What has the White House said? The White House spokesperson Ian Sams called McCarthy’s announcement “extreme politics at its worst”.

In other news …

Taylor Swift once again dominated the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), winning for every televised category in which she was nominated, on a night that otherwise celebrated Latin music, including the pre-eminence of Shakira, as well as 50 years of hip-hop.

Descendants of enslaved people are fighting against the “erasure” of their historical land on Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia. The community of Gullah Geechee people are protesting a vote for lifting protective laws, threatening a 230-year-old heritage.

Five former Memphis police officers are facing federal civil rights charges in the beating death of Tyre Nichols as they continue to fight second-degree murder charges.Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith were indicted yesterday.

A cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew onboard has run aground in north-west Greenland, and remained stuck even after high tide. Cmdr Brian Jensen of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command said that nobody onboard was in danger and that no damage has been reported.

Don’t miss this: The US has such a love affair with laxatives that there is now a national shortage. This is not normal

“American exceptionalism strikes again, this time in the pharmaceutical aisle. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the US is having a love affair with laxatives; Americans of all ages are ingesting so much of the stuff that there are now shortages nationwide.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t a lecture on how you ought to be cultivating a healthy gut by subsisting on homegrown kale, foraged berries, and thrice-filtered spring water,” writes Arwa Mahdawi. “(Do you know what I’m having for dinner tonight? Takeaway pizza.) Nope, that sort of advice is Gwyneth Paltrow’s domain. I’m just here to say, very emphatically, that a nationwide shortage of stool softeners isn’t normal. The fact that #HotGirlsHaveStomachProblems is a trending hashtag isn’t normal.”

Climate check: US behind more than a third of global oil and gas expansion plans, report finds

The US accounts for more than a third of the expansion of global oil and gas production planned by mid-century, despite its claims of climate leadership, research has found. Canada and Russia have the next biggest expansion plans, calculated based on how much carbon dioxide is likely to be produced from new developments, followed by Iran, China and Brazil. The United Arab Emirates, which is to host the annual UN climate summit this year, Cop28 in Dubai in November, is seventh on the list. The data, in a report from the campaign group Oil Change International, also showed that five “global north countries” – the US, Canada, Australia, Norway and the UK – will be responsible for just over half of all the planned expansion from new oil and gas fields to 2050.

Last Thing: Portuguese town flooded by river of ‘good quality’ red wine

Alcohol flowed freely in the Portuguese town of Levira over the weekend, after two vats holding about 2.2m litres of wine at a local distillery burst and flooded the streets. Images and videos posted online showed red wine – almost enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool – gushing down the streets of Levira in Anadia, central Portugal. The wine flowed down nearby roads, flooding land and at least one cellar, local media reported. The spill lasted for about an hour but did not leave a strong smell behind because it was “good quality wine”, the distillery’s chief executive, Pedro Carvalho, told the New York Times.

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