Russia on Sunday began direct commercial flights to North Korea, in a further sign of closer ties with its Asian ally helping its offensive in Ukraine.
The first Moscow-Pyongyang flight, operated by Russia’s Nordwind Airlines, took off at 1625 GMT, according to the Sheremetyevo airport’s website.
It is scheduled to land in the North Korean capital some eight hours later.
But initially, the route will only be serviced once a month, Russia’s transport ministry said.
Nordwind Airlines — which used to carry Russians to holiday destinations in Europe before the EU imposed a ban on Russian flights — had tickets priced at 45,000 rubles ($570).
“This is a historical event, strengthening the ties between our nations,” Oleg, a Nordwind employee managing the flight who did not want to give his full name, told AFP at the airport.
He also declined to say how many passengers were on board.
“For the first time in more than 70 years of diplomatic relations, we are launching direct flights between the capitals of our countries,” Russia’s deputy transport minister Vladimir Poteshkin was quoted as saying by the ministry’s Telegram account.
Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that the first return flight from Pyongyang to Moscow would take place on Tuesday.
Russia and North Korea restored train links on June 17 after suspending them in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
The two countries have been forging closer military bonds in recent years, with Pyongyang supplying troops and weapons for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
They signed a mutual defence pact last year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea.
North Korea confirmed for the first time in April that it had deployed a contingent of its soldiers to the frontline in Ukraine, alongside Russian troops.
US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen were set for make-or-break talks in Scotland Sunday, aimed at ending a months-long transatlantic trade standoff, as negotiations went down to the wire.
Trump has said he sees a one-in-two chance of a deal with the European Union, which faces an across-the-board US levy of 30 percent unless it strikes a trade pact by August 1 — with Washington warning Sunday there would be “no extensions.”
Von der Leyen’s European Commission, negotiating on behalf of EU countries, is pushing hard for a deal to salvage a trading relationship worth an annual $1.9 trillion in goods and services.
According to an EU diplomat briefed ahead of the meeting, set for 4:30 pm (1530 GMT), the contours of a deal are in place after talks went late into Saturday night — but key issues still need settling.
And of course the final word lies with Trump.
“A political deal is on the table — but it needs the sign-off from Trump, who wants to negotiate this down to the very last moment,” the diplomat told AFP.
The proposal, they said, involves a baseline levy of around 15 percent on EU exports to the United States — the level secured by Japan — with carve-outs for critical sectors including aircraft and spirits, though not for wine.
Any deal will need to be approved by EU member states — whose ambassadors, on a visit to Greenland, were updated by the commission Sunday morning, and would meet again after any accord.
According to the EU diplomat, the 27 countries broadly endorsed the deal as envisaged — while recalling their negotiating red lines.
Baseline tariff
The Trump-von der Leyen meeting was taking place in Turnberry on Scotland’s southwestern coast, where the president owns a luxury golf resort. He was out on the course for much of the weekend.
The 79-year-old Trump said Friday he hoped to strike “the biggest deal of them all” with the EU.
“I think we have a good 50-50 chance,” the president said, citing sticking points on “maybe 20 different things”.
The EU is focused on getting a deal to avoid sweeping tariffs that would further harm its sluggish economy — while holding out retaliation as a last resort.
Under the proposal described to AFP, the EU would commit to ramp up purchases of US liquefied natural gas, along with other investment pledges.
Pharmaceuticals — a key export for Ireland — would also face a 15-percent levy, as would semi-conductors.
The EU also appears to have secured a compromise on steel that could allow a certain quota into the United States before tariffs would apply, the diplomat said.
Questions on auto sector
Hit by multiple waves of tariffs since Trump reclaimed the White House, the EU is currently subject to a 25-percent levy on cars, 50 percent on steel and aluminium, and an across-the-board tariff of 10 percent, which Washington threatens to hike to 30 percent in a no-deal scenario.
It was unclear how the proposed deal would impact tariff levels on the auto industry, crucial for France and Germany, with carmakers already reeling from the levies imposed so far.
While 15 percent would be much higher than pre-existing US tariffs on European goods — averaging 4.8 percent — it would mirror the status quo, with companies currently facing an additional flat rate of 10 percent.
Should talks fail, EU states have greenlit counter tariffs on $109 billion (93 billion euros) of US goods including aircraft and cars to take effect in stages from August 7. Brussels is also drawing up a list of US services to potentially target.
Beyond that, countries like France say Brussels should not be afraid to deploy a so-called trade “bazooka” — EU legislation designed to counter coercion that can involve restricting access to its market and public contracts.
But such a step would mark a major escalation with Washington.
Ratings dropping
Trump has embarked on a campaign to reshape US trade with the world, and has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive tariffs if they do not reach a pact with Washington by August 1.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday the August 1 deadline was firm and there will be “no extensions, no more grace periods.”
Polls suggest however the American public is unconvinced by the White House strategy, with a recent Gallup survey showing his approval rating at 37 percent — down 10 points from January.
Having promised “90 deals in 90 days,” Trump’s administration has so far unveiled five, including with Britain, Japan and the Philippines.
Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery, killing at least 11 civilians, in a dramatic escalation of a long-running border row between the two neighbours.
The neighbours are locked in a bitter spat over an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of both countries and Laos meet, and which is home to several ancient temples.
The squabble has dragged on for decades, flaring into bloody military clashes more than 15 years ago and again in May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a firefight.
The conflict blazed up on Thursday, with Cambodia firing rockets and artillery shells into Thailand and the Thai military scrambling F-16 jets to carry out air strikes.
The Thai ministry of public health said at least 11 civilians had been killed, most of them in a rocket strike near a petrol station in Sisaket province.
Footage from the scene showed smoke pouring from the roof of a convenience store attached to the petrol station. Provincial officials said most of the dead were students inside the shop when the attack happened.
Six Thai air force jets were deployed from Ubon Ratchathani province, hitting two “Cambodian military targets on the ground”, according to Thai military deputy spokesperson Ritcha Suksuwanon.
Both sides blamed the other for starting the fighting, which erupted near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey.
Cambodian defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata said in a statement that Thai troops launched an “armed assault on Cambodian forces”.
“In response, the Cambodian armed forces exercised their legitimate right to self-defence, in full accordance with international law, to repel the Thai incursion and protect Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address what his foreign ministry labelled “unprovoked military aggression”.
Thailand’s government spokesman, meanwhile, accused Cambodia of being “inhumane, brutal and war-hungry”, and Bangkok’s foreign ministry said all border crossings had been shut and nearby residents evacuated.
The Thai military blamed Cambodian soldiers for firing first, and later accused them of a “targeted attack on civilians”, saying two BM-21 rockets had hit a community in Surin’s Kap Choeng district, wounding three people.
According to the Thai military, the clashes began around 7:35 am (0035 GMT) when a unit guarding Ta Muen temple heard a Cambodian drone overhead.
Later, six armed Cambodian soldiers, including one carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, approached a barbed-wired fence in front of the Thai post, the army said.
Around 8:20 am, Cambodian forces opened fire toward the eastern side of the temple, about 200 metres from the Thai base.
Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said “the situation requires careful handling, and we must act in accordance with international law”.
“We will do our best to protect our sovereignty,” he said.
In a Facebook post, Thailand’s embassy in Phnom Penh urged its nationals to leave Cambodia “as soon as possible” unless they had urgent reasons to remain.
China, a close ally of Cambodia, said it was “deeply concerned” about the clashes, calling for dialogue — while also urging its citizens in Cambodia to avoid the country’s frontier with Thailand.
Long-running row
The violence came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy in protest after five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine.
On Thursday morning, Cambodia announced it was downgrading ties to “the lowest level”, pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.
Recent weeks have seen a series of tit-for-tat swipes by both sides, with Thailand restricting border crossings and Cambodia halting certain imports.
The border row also kicked off a domestic political crisis in Thailand, where prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended from office pending an ethics probe over her conduct.
A diplomatic call between Paetongtarn and Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former longtime ruler and father of Hun Manet, was leaked from the Cambodian side, sparking a judicial investigation.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called on both sides to “stand down” and start talks.
Malaysia currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which both Thailand and Cambodia are members.
Smoke rises from PTT gas station area at Ban Phue, Nong Ya Lat sub-district as at least five people were killed after Cambodian artillery struck a convenience store located at a petrol station in Thailand's Sisaket border province, Thailand's public broadcaster reported on Thursday, in Sisaket, Thailand on July 24, 2025.
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