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North Korea confirmed for the first time Monday that its troops were fighting alongside Russia in its war against Ukraine, saying they helped Moscow take back control of its Ukraine-controlled Kursk region.

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said North Korea sent as many as 12,000 troops to Russia last fall to fight in Kursk, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last August. North Korea had not confirmed or denied those reports until now.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the troops’ deployment under a mutual defense pact that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in June 2024, North Korea’s Central Military Commission said in a statement that was carried by state-run news agency KCNA. The treaty includes a pledge of mutual defense if either country is attacked.

The statement said the operation to regain control of Kursk had been “victoriously concluded” and that it was “an honor to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation.”

“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” Kim was quoted as saying.

The North Korean report came two days after Russia said it had recaptured Kursk with the help of North Korean soldiers, which was also its first confirmation of their presence in the conflict. Ukraine denied that Kursk had been retaken, saying its defensive operations are continuing in some areas.

If Russia is confirmed to have retaken Kursk, it would be a blow to Ukraine amid U.S.-led efforts to negotiate an end to the war, which is now in its fourth year. On Saturday, President Donald Trump questioned whether Putin — who last week launched one of the worst attacks on Ukraine’s major cities since the war began — was willing to end the war.

In exchange for providing Russia with reinforcements, North Korea gains valuable experience for its military, which has not been deployed overseas since the Vietnam War. While North Korean soldiers are fiercely loyal to Kim, experts say their limited exposure to modern warfare leaves them vulnerable on the battlefield, especially against drones.

About 4,000 of the North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured, according to South Korean officials. They said last month that North Korea had sent an additional 3,000 troops to aid Russia’s war effort since the start of this year.

The North Korean statement did not say how many of its troops were sent to Russia in total or how many casualties there have been.

Kim said a monument to their “battle feats” would be erected in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and that flowers would be placed “before the tombstones of the fallen soldiers.” He also said measures should be taken to “preferentially treat and take care of the families of the brave soldiers who participated in the war.”

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense denounced the North Korean troop deployment and said that by officially announcing it the North had “effectively admitted to its criminal behavior.”

“Our military strongly urges North Korea to immediately cease its deceitful and inhumane actions that threaten international peace and force the sacrifice of its residents through illegal military dispatches,” the ministry said Monday.

The deployment of troops to Russia is just part of Kim’s efforts to expand the capabilities of his nuclear-armed military. On Friday, he unveiled a new naval destroyer at a ceremony at a military shipbuilding dock in the port of Nampo, KCNA reported Saturday, saying the 5,000-ton warship would enter service early next year.

The warship was built “within 400-odd days perfectly with our own strength and technology” and is equipped with the “most powerful weapons,” the report quoted a secretary in Kim’s party as saying. 

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker took a stage commanded by past presidential hopefuls Sunday and implored Democrats to forcefully resist the Trump administration while panning leaders in his own party for having acted too timid for too long.

As Pritzker denounced President Donald Trump in a speech to New Hampshire Democrats, he also accused Democratic politicians of embracing a “culture of incrementalism” that has led the party to be run over by Republicans, who are implementing an agenda that is counter to the left’s value system. 

“It’s time to fight, everywhere, all at once,” Pritzker said. “Let’s start with something that should be easy to say: It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law.”

Cheers rang out in the audience at that comment at the annual McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club state party dinner, which brought in the largest crowd New Hampshire Democrats have seen since 2020, organizers said — more than 800 people. The presidential race is three years away, but animated Democrats who jumped to their feet several times Sunday signaled a hunger to hear about challenging the Trump White House.

It was the first event in a historic early presidential primary state to host a potential 2028 presidential candidate — and in Pritzker, it featured a politician who has thrown down an early marker on how best to challenge Trump and the GOP, as different Democrats seek out different lanes in the early days before the next national election.

In an interview, Pritzker batted away the notion that he’s considering running for president, saying he has yet to decide whether he will seek a third term as governor in Illinois.

But he has long been seen as a member of the short list of 2028 contenders, and as a billionaire who has self-funded his political campaigns in the past, he is well-positioned to launch a campaign. The state party dinner in New Hampshire is a traditional stop for potential presidential candidates in the years before a campaign.

He has also been an early and consistent voice of opposition to Trump. In his state of the state address this year, Pritzker shifted to issue a warning about the administration’s actions, saying, “If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic.” 

New Hampshire has long been the first-in-the-nation primary state in Democratic presidential contests. That changed under President Joe Biden in 2024, but Democratic leaders have said they would most likely revamp the calendar again before 2028.

Pritzker told the Democrats that he had never called for protests in the past but that he was now calling for “mass protests,” “mobilization” and “disruption.”  

“Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.” Pritzker said.

In the interview, Pritzker went even further, saying that if Democrats reclaim a majority in the House, they should investigate the actions of Trump administration officials, including who accessed sensitive taxpayer data. 

“We’re going to hold people responsible. They can’t just get away with what they’re doing right now,” Pritzker said. “Anybody that’s breaking the law, anybody that’s breaching the Constitution as a regular matter of the way they run their offices, those people all should be investigated if they are breaking the law. … Think about the privacy of Social Security and Medicaid records and all of that DOGE went in and just breached, as if that’s OK. How about IRS records, right? I mean, all of that.”  

Back in his speech, Pritzker said Democrats should blame their losses in November on a “lack of guts and gumption,” not on the party’s defense of Black people, transgender kids and immigrants. 

“Voters didn’t turn out for Democrats last November not because they don’t want us to fight for our values, but because they think we don’t want to fight for our values,” he said.

He also took a shot at other Democrats’ “flocking to podcasts,” without singling anyone out. California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently launched his own podcast, which has generated some controversy inside the party. 

“What I find ironic about the current conversation surrounding our party,” Pritzker said, “is that the voices flocking to podcasts and cable news shows to admonish fellow Democrats for not caring enough about the struggles of working families are the same ones who, when it comes to relieving the struggles of real people, have been timid, not bold.”

CLEVELAND — Jarren Duran has found plenty of support from his Boston Red Sox teammates and others outside baseball since he revealed in a Netflix documentary that he attempted to take his life three years ago.

His openness has also exposed him to hecklers, though.

Duran said a fan in the front row Sunday near the Red Sox dugout in Cleveland said “something inappropriate” to him after the All-Star left fielder flied out in the seventh inning of a 13-3 victory over the Guardians.

Duran stayed on the top step of the dugout and glared at the fan as the inning played out. During the seventh-inning stretch, before the singing of “God Bless America,” Red Sox teammates and coaches kept Duran away from the area as umpires and Progressive Field security personnel gathered to handle the situation.

The fan tried to run up the aisle, but was caught by security and taken out of the stadium.

“The fans just said something inappropriate. I’m just happy that the security handled it and the umpires were aware of it and they took care of it for me,” Duran said.

After the game, the Guardians released a statement apologizing to the Red Sox and Duran. The team said it has identified the fan and is working with Major League Baseball on next steps.

Duran said it was the first time he was heckled by a fan about his suicide attempt and mental health struggles since the Netflix series “The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox” was released April 8.

“When you open yourself up like that, you also open yourself up to the enemies. But I have a good support staff around me, teammates, coaches. There were fans that were supporting me, so that was awesome,” he said.

Boston manager Alex Cora was in the opposite corner of the Red Sox dugout but lauded security for how the incident was handled.

Cora was even prouder of Duran’s restraint. Duran was suspended for two games last season when he directed a homophobic slur at a heckling fan at Fenway Park when the fan shouted that Duran needed a tennis racket to hit.

“There’s a two-way street. That’s something I said last year. We made a mistake last year and we learned from it. We grew up, you know, as an individual and as a group,” Cora said.

The incident dampened what had been a solid game and series for Duran. He went 4 for 6 with an RBI and had at least three hits in consecutive games for the second time in his career.

One person is dead and multiple people are injured after a boat collided with a ferry in Clearwater, Florida, on Sunday night, officials said.

The Clearwater Ferry was carrying 45 people when a boat struck it and fled, the city of Clearwater said in a statement. The ferry came to a stop on a sandbar under the Memorial Causeway bridge.

“We believe that the boat responsible for hitting the ferry left the scene immediately, and we believe that our law enforcement partners may have that boat,” Clearwater Police spokesperson Rob Shaw said.

One person died from injuries suffered in the collision, the city said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were injured, but police said the injured were all passengers.

All were removed from the vessel, police said.

The city said the fleeing boat has been identified and that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will lead the investigation.

Two seriously injured passengers were flown by helicopter to hospitals, the police department said. Bayfront Hospital received one patient with a femur fracture and one with unknown injuries, an Orlando Health spokesman said.

The Clearwater Fire Department declared the crash a “mass casualty incident” because so many people were injured. Shaw said there were six trauma alerts.

Shaw said officers are still working to account for all of the people who were on the ferry but said he believes everyone has been rescued.

Clearwater police are leading the investigation with assistance from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. The Coast Guard is on the scene, it said on X.

A spokesperson for the Clearwater Ferry confirmed the vessel was in an accident Sunday but declined to provide further information, citing the ongoing investigation.

Clearwater is about 23 miles northwest of St. Petersburg.

An estimated 114 undocumented immigrants were detained at an “underground nightclub” in Colorado after a Drug Enforcement Administration raid, officials said.

Jonathan Pullen, the DEA’s special agent in charge in Denver, said more than 100 people were detained after a monthslong investigation involving the Colorado Springs club led to the raid Saturday night, which ran into early Sunday.

Some of the patrons were arrested based on active state warrants, he said at a news conference. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi put the number of people arrested based on warrants at two.

Also inside the club, Pullen said, were guns, drugs and more than a dozen active-duty service members posing as patrons or working as armed security.

“As you may suspect, when the cops showed up at the door, most of the drugs hit the floor, and we did find cocaine,” he said. “We haven’t had time to test everything, but there were dozens of small packages.”

Army Criminal Investigation Division personnel were at the raid and were helping investigate, Pullen said. The division and Army Public Affairs at nearby Fort Carson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday night.

The DEA posted video of the moments before the raid on social media. It shows law enforcement officers in tactical gear surrounding the location and features audio of warnings in English and Spanish to those inside to exit peacefully.

Pullen alleged the club, in what appears to be a strip mall, was a location for drug deals and sex workers. Events there had been under surveillance by law enforcement for months, he said.

“What was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence,” Pullen said. “We seized a number of guns in there.”

He indicated the investigation that led to the raid was ongoing, saying authorities “actually have a few other operations pending” across the city.

President Donald Trump posted video of part of the raid to his Truth Social account and alleged some of those rounded up are murderers and other violent criminals. The DEA has not identified anyone accused of murder among those detained.

Trump characterized it as “a big raid last night on some of the worst people illegally in our country.”

Bondi said on X that members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, as well as of the Los Angeles-founded MS-13 gang, were detained. Both gangs have been repeatedly named as violent threats to the United States as the Trump administration forges ahead with its crackdown on illegal immigration.

Pullen said agents conducting surveillance at the venue spotted who they believe to be Tren de Agua and MS-13 members, as well as members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.

Bondi praised Trump for “achieving results” under his mission to “make America safe again.”

Large-scale roundups of those suspected of being in the country illegally have long concerned advocates for immigrants, as well as civil liberties lawyers.

The Colorado Rapid Response Network, which provides information about raids to immigrant communities, urged relatives of those detained to remind them that they may remain silent, do not have to sign any documents and can request legal representation.

“We don’t know all the facts,” the group said on Facebook.

Partygoer Jose Dominguez said in an interview, part of which aired on NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver, that law enforcement put him and others in handcuffs until their presence in the United States could be determined as legal or not.

“Then they let me go,” he said, “as if nothing happened.”

How North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, 73, met girlfriend Jordon Hudson, 24, may be a fair question given Belichick’s fame as the Super Bowl’s winningest head coach.

But before he could answer during an interview with “CBS Mornings” that aired Sunday, Hudson interrupted from a seat off-camera: “We’re not talking about this,” she said.

Belichick, who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl championships, did not answer.

The interview with CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil came as Belichick is promoting his forthcoming biography, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football,” which is scheduled to be released May 6.

The segment showed Hudson standing nearby during the conversation.

“Jordon was a constant presence during our interview,” Dokoupil said over video and sound of her speaking from the sideline.

He asked the coach about how he handles interest in the relationship.

“Never worried about what anybody else thinks,” Belichick said.

“How did you guys meet?” Dokoupil asked.

The video cut to a camera that captured Belichick’s back and Hudson sitting at a desk in the background. “We’re not talking about this,” she said.

“No?” Dokoupil said.

“No,” she responded.

NBC News reached out to Belichick for comment via the University of North Carolina but did not receive a response.

The exchange lit up sports media, with some pundits questioning Hudson’s influence on a man nearly 50 years her senior.

NBC Sports reported that Hudson has “a very active role” in Belichick’s professional life and is “exerting a very high degree of influence.”

The CBS interview continued following Hudson’s interjection.

The interview moved on to the coach’s use of social media, including Instagram photos of him and Hudson in couples yoga-style poses on a beach.

“I’m on some of those social media platforms,” Belichick said, “but I honestly don’t follow them.”

Dokoupil asked the coach about the book’s lack of a mention for Patriots‘ owner Robert Kraft, despite the Belichick’s highly successful time in Boston.

The two parted ways in 2024, leading Belichick to college football for the first time as a head coach, with a five-year contract with the Tar Heels.

“Do you feel like you were treated with dignity and respect when you were let go by Robert Kraft?” Dokoupil asked.

“Yeah, well, it was a mutual decision for us to part ways,” Belichick responded.

Dokoupil noted that Kraft had used the word “fired.” Belichick held fast, repeating the term “mutual decision.”

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