The Russian president said decisions were made during the rebellion to avoid bloodshed.

By David Morgan WASHINGTON Fledgling U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson faces his first big legislative battle

After attacking his former attorney general on Truth Social earlier in the day for his assessment that he is “toast” following his federal indictment, Donald Trump lashed out at Bill Barr three times during a sprawling interview on Roger Stone’s first radio show. Having called him a “gutless pig” online and told his followers to switch off Fox News anytime Mr Barr is a guest, the former president kept the attacks going during his chat with Mr Stone on WABC. Mr Barr gave a devastating assessment of the indictment of the president in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case during an appearance on Fox News earlier on Sunday 11 June. Speaking about the indictment, the former president took his first shot at Mr Barr: “This thing is a disgrace and virtually everybody other than a lowlife like Bill Barr, who, as you know, I terminated because he was gutless. He wouldn’t do what you’re supposed to do. But everybody says this is a disgraceful indictment.” Mr Stone asked a little later in the interview: “Do you believe that former Attorney General Bill Barr is in fact part of the Deep State?” Mr Trump demurred from calling his former attorney general that, but said: “I think he’s a coward who didn’t do his job.” He added: “We had unbelievable people, as you know, in the administration. But we also had some that we got wrong. And Bill Barr was a mistake.” As usual, Mr Trump got personal with his criticism of one of his chief detractors who made a point of noting in his interview on Fox News Sunday that he had defended the former president on numerous occasions. Said Mr Trump: “And now he goes and he sits down — if they can find a chair for him, because it’s not that easy — and he sits down and he just bloviates and it’s disgraceful.” “It’s actually unpatriotic. It’s so bad for our country, just so bad. But, you know, he’s got a lot of hatred,” he added. Before the end of the 45-minute interview, which covered a wide range of topics from UFOs to Melania Trump to Ron DeSantis, in addition to the indictment, the former president got one more shot in. He said: “When I talk about a slob like Bill Barr, just a stupid person in a lot of ways, this is really not the standard. We’ve had tremendously successful people. But some we haven’t and you know, we cannot afford to have cowards. We need strong people, because our country is going to hell.” Mr Stone and Mr Trump both made a point of telling the former president’s supporters to protest peacefully if they come to the courthouse on Tuesday for his first hearing. Read More ‘If even half of it is true, he is toast’: Bill Barr gives devastating view of Trump indictment on Fox News Trump allies cite Clinton email probe to attack classified records case. There are big differences Jim Jordan rejects Trump’s statement suggesting Mar-a-Lago papers weren’t declassified Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

A Georgia judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump and 16 others will be tried separately from two defendants who are set to go to trial next month in the case accusing them all of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election

Environmentalists have slammed Malaysia's move to let Australian miner Lynas import and process rare earths until March 2026

By Jennifer Rigby DUBLIN Weight loss drug Wegovy has transformed the obesity market and pharmaceutical companies with existing

Michael Easter told Joe Rogan that during his research, he came across anti-gambling researchers but proved their claims wrong

A federal appeals panel on Tuesday declined to issue a broad order blocking special counsel Jack Smith's team from accessing data from Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry's cell phone that was seized by the FBI, and sent the case back to a lower court for further litigation over what material investigators can examine.

BRICS leaders announced on Thursday the "historic" admission of six new countries, as the bloc seeks to reshape the Western-led global order and expand its influence...

A gunman has killed two people at a downtown construction site in New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland, as the nation prepared to host games in the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament

Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man for a double slaying in 2001 despite his claims that he acted in self-defense

Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started and stopped again heading into a weekend where President Joe Biden and world leaders watched from afar, hoping high-stakes negotiations would make progress on avoiding a potentially catastrophic federal default. In a sign of a renewed bargaining session, food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. No meeting was likely Saturday, according to a person familiar with the state of the talks who was not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Biden's administration is reaching for a deal with Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, so the government can keep paying the nation’s bills. Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts the Democrats oppose. Negotiations had came to an abrupt standstill Friday morning when McCarthy said it was time to “pause” talks. Then the teams convened again in the evening, only to quickly call it quits for the night. Biden, attending a meeting of global leaders in Japan, tried to reassure them on Saturday that the United States would not default, a scenario that would rattle the world economy. He said he felt there was headway in the talks. “The first meetings weren’t all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was,” he said. The president said he believes "we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done.” Negotiators for McCarthy said after the Friday evening session that they were uncertain on next steps. “We reengaged, had a very, very candid discussion, talking about where we are, talking about where things need to be, what’s reasonably acceptable," said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. was asked if he was confident an agreement over budget issues could be reached with the White House. He replied, “No.” As the White House team left the nighttime session, Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti, who is leading talks for the Democrats, said he was hopeful. “We're going to keep working,” he said. McCarthy had said resolution to the standoff is “easy,” if only Biden's team would agree to some spending cuts Republicans are demanding. The biggest impasse was over the fiscal 2024 top-line budget amount, according to a person briefed on the talks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Democrats contend the steep reductions Republicans have put on the table would be potentially harmful to Americans, and they are insisting that Republicans agree to tax increases on the wealthy, in addition to spending cuts, to close the deficit. Wall Street turned lower as negotiations came to a sudden halt. Experts have warned that even the threat of a debt default would could spark a recession. Republicans argue the nation's deficit spending needs to get under control, aiming to roll back spending to fiscal 2022 levels and restrict future growth. But Biden's team is countering that the caps Republicans proposed in their House-passed bill would amount to 30% reductions in some programs if Defense and veterans are spared, according to a memo from the Office of Management and Budget. Any deal would need the support of both Republicans and Democrats to find approval in a divided Congress and be passed into law. Negotiators are eyeing a more narrow budget cap deal of a few years, rather than the decade-long caps Republicans initially wanted, and clawing back some $30 billion of unspent COVID-19 funds. Still up for debate are policy changes, including a framework for permitting reforms to speed the development of energy projects, as well as the Republican push to impose work requirements on government aid recipients that Biden has been open to but the House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has said was a "nonstarter." McCarthy faces pressures from his hard-right flank to cut the strongest deal possible for Republicans, and he risks a threat to his leadership as speaker if he fails to deliver. Many House Republicans are unlikely to accept any deal with the White House. Biden is facing increased pushback from Democrats, particularly progressives, who argue the reductions will fall too heavily on domestic programs that Americans rely on. ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Josh Boak in Hiroshima, Japan, and AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Will Biden's hard-hat environmentalism bridge the divide on clean energy future? Russia warns of ‘colossal risks’ if F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine G7 'outreach' an effort to build consensus on global issues like Ukraine, China, climate change