Diplomats try to arrange a second round of US-Iran talks during first full day of American blockade
By: MUNIR AHMED and SAM METZ
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Diplomats worked through back channels on Tuesday to arrange a new round of talks between the United States and Iran after Washington enacted its blockade of Iranian ports, while Tehran threatened to retaliate by striking targets across the war-weary region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days,” telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres concurred, saying it’s “highly probable” that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar.
Meanwhile in Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. concluded on a productive note, according to the U.S. State Department.
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Trump says he won’t apologize to Pope Leo and explains his reason for posting much-criticized meme
By: WILL WEISSERT, JOSH BOAK and NICOLE WINFIELD
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump refused to apologize to Pope Leo XIV on Monday after criticizing the pontiff for his opposition to the war in Iran — and he sought to explain away a now-deleted social media post depicting himself as Jesus by saying he had thought the image was of him as a doctor.
Trump was asked about his comments toward the U.S.-born head of the Catholic Church, as well as the post depicting himself as a saint-like healer, in a hastily called question-and-answer session with reporters at the White House.
“He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,” Trump said, adding, “I think he’s very weak on crime and other things, so I’m not going to apologize.”
“He went public,” the Republican president added. “I’m just responding to Pope Leo.”
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Magyar wants to take over as Hungary’s prime minister as early as May 5
By: JUSTIN SPIKE and SAM McNEIL
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s election winner, Péter Magyar, called Monday on the country’s president to convene the parliament to form a new government “as quickly as possible,” in hopes that he can take over from Viktor Orbán as prime minister as early as May 5.
With an overwhelming new mandate, Magyar pledged to cooperate with other European countries, ending Orbán-era obstruction of Europe-wide policies, while also representing Hungarians’ wishes.
At a news conference Monday in Budapest, he promised to restore rule of law and overhaul government structures to make them more independent and able to fight corruption, and to create new ministries to address acute problems in areas like public health, environmental protection and education.
He said he opposes fast-track EU membership for Ukraine while the country is still in a war. But he suggested he wouldn’t veto a 90-billion-euro EU loan for Ukraine, as Orbán did, and instead wants Hungary to ″opt out″ of participating in the loan because of its own financial struggles.
