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Trump says China conspiring against US with Putin, Kim meeting at military parade

September 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump took to his social media platform as Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared together in Beijing for China’s largest-ever military parade on Wednesday.

Trump accused Xi of “conspiring against” the United States as they attended the parade, which marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.

“May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” Trump wrote on social media as the parade was underway.

Trump referenced America’s involvement in World War II in his post on, saying, “The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader.”

“Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice!” the president wrote.

In his remarks at the parade, held in front of the Tiananmen Gate, Xi hailed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army as a “heroic force” and spoke of nations and treating each other as equals.

“The Chinese nation is a great nation that does not fear violence, and that stands independent and strong,” Xi said. “In the past, when confronted with a life-or-death struggle between justice and evil, light and darkness, progress and reaction, the Chinese people stood united, rose up in resistance, and fought for the survival of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation and the cause of human justice.”

Yuri Ushakov, a top aide to Putin, dismissed Trump’s conspiracy allegations.

“I want to say that no one organized any conspiracies, no one was weaving anything, no conspiracies,” Ushakov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, who is close to the Kremlin and has previously interviewed Putin. “Moreover, no one even had that in their minds, none of these three leaders had that,” Ushakov said.

“Everyone understands the role that the United States, the current administration of President Trump and President Trump personally play in the current international arrangements,” Ushakov said in a video posted by Zarubin to his Telegram channel.

Kim, Xi and Putin gathered for the military parade amid Ukrainian and Western concerns over the collaboration of the three nations in bolstering Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ongoing since February 2022.

Putin sent an invitation to meet with Kim on the sidelines of the military parade, according to Putin’s top foreign policy aide. The two leaders met after the event, according to a Kremlin readout published Wednesday.

Putin thanked Kim for sending North Korean troops to fight Ukraine’s incursion in Russia’s western Kursk region last year. “I would like to emphasize that your soldiers fought valiantly and heroically,” the president said, according to the Kremlin’s readout. “We will never forget the sacrifices made by your armed forces and the families of your military personnel.”

In response, Kim said, “As I said during our previous meeting, if there is anything we can do to help Russia, we will certainly do that, and we will regard this as our fraternal duty. We will do everything in our power to assist Russia.”

After the meeting, Putin and Kim hugged in front of reporters, with the Russian leader inviting Kim to visit Russia. “Come back again,” Putin said.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a Wednesday statement that Kim was “enveloped in an atmosphere of the warmest friendship and enthusiastic welcome” on his arrival in Beijing.

Ukrainian and Western governments have accused North Korea of supplying significant amounts of ammunition and troops to support Russia’s war, while Kyiv and its NATO backers have identified China as Moscow’s prime source of materiel and a vital economic lifeline.

ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova, Somayeh Malekian and Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.

Virginia police seek help in manhunt for suspect in fatal freeway shooting

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A manhunt for the suspect in a Virginia freeway shooting that left a 20-year-old driver dead and his passenger injured intensified on Tuesday when state police asked for the public’s help and released photos of the alleged gunman and his vehicle.

The suspect was identified as 19-year-old Jason Allen Glidewell, who the Virginia State Police said should be considered armed and dangerous.

The shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon on Interstate 85 in Mecklenburg County, about five miles from the Virginia-North Carolina border, according to a statement from the state police.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

The victim killed in the freeway shooting was identified by state police as 20-year-old Hunter A. Bates, of Colonial Heights, Virginia.

Bates was driving northbound on Interstate 85 when he was shot around 3:47 p.m., according to the state police. Bates’ car swerved off the freeway and came to a rest in a culvert, police said.

Bates was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. His passenger, a woman whose name was not released, was taken to a local hospital, treated and released, police said.

“State Police are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to please contact the Virginia State Police Division 3,” according to the state police statement.

Authorities on Tuesday released a photo of Glidewell, who is believed to have ties to the Richmond and Henrico, Virginia, area.

“On August 28, 2025, Hunter’s life was cut short by a senseless act of violence that has left our hearts broken. As we come to terms with this unimaginable loss, we are reminded of how precious and fragile life is,” Bates’ family said of Hunter Bates in an obituary published by the Owen Funeral Home in Jarratt, Virginia.

ABC News’ Benjamin Stein contributed to this report.

Shark bites 8-year-old boy in Florida Keys, prompts airlift to Miami hospital: Sheriff

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(KEY LARGO, Fla.) — An 8-year-old boy was bitten by a shark while snorkeling off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, on Labor Day, officials said.

The incident occurred around 3:24 p.m. on Monday, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. The child was airlifted by Trauma Star to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

A good Samaritan, identified as Richard Hayden, heard calls for help over the radio and helped guide the boy’s boat to shore, according to an incident report. Hayden assisted the child’s father in applying tourniquets to the boy’s right leg to control bleeding before emergency responders arrived, the report stated.

Officials notified the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about the incident. The Key Largo Fire Department said they believed the attacking shark was a reef shark of unknown length.

The boy’s current condition has not yet been released.

This attack marks the latest in a series of shark encounters in the Florida Keys region. Last July, a 37-year-old man survived multiple bites from a bull shark while spearfishing near a reef off Key West.

Northwestern University professor reported missing after leaving home to go on walk: Police

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(EVANSTON, Ill.) — Officials in Illinois are searching for a Northwestern University professor who was reported missing after leaving home to go on a walk, according to the Evanston Police Department.

Nina Kraus, a 72-year-old professor at the university’s school of communication, was last seen on Monday after she left her Evanston home to go on a walk at approximately 9 a.m. local time, officials said. Her family reported her missing the same day, officials said.

“The University is hopeful that with the community’s help, we can find Professor Kraus and assure her safety,” Northwestern said in a press release on Monday.

She was last seen wearing long pants and a windbreaker, and was believed to be carrying a dark backpack, officials said.

Kraus is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs approximately 140 pounds and has long silver hair, police said.

On Tuesday, police said they would be flying drones along the waterfront of Lake Michigan as part of the investigation.

According to her faculty bio, Kraus’ is a “scientist, inventor and amateur musician who studies the biology of auditory learning.”

“My research on sound and the brain aims to understand how our life in sound, for better or worse, alters the processing of sound in the brain, makes us us, and affects the world we live in,” Kraus wrote in her bio.

Officials said anyone with information on Kraus’ whereabouts should contact police at 847-866-5000.

Israel begins ground operation in Gaza City, IDF says

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Israel has begun its ground operation in Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Tuesday.

“We are going to increase and enhance the strikes of our operation, and that is why we called you,” Zamir said in Hebrew, addressing reservists who have been called up to serve in recent weeks. “We have already begun the ground operation in Gaza [City].”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also released a message addressing Israeli Defense Force reservists Tuesday.

“I want to strengthen and express my deep appreciation to you, IDF soldiers and reserve soldiers and your families,” Netanyahu said in the video message in Hebrew. “Now we are facing the decisive stage. I believe in you, I trust you and the entire nation embraces you.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Secret Service counter sniper team faces ‘chronic understaffing,’ DHS IG finds

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — More than a year after a Secret Service counter sniper team killed a would-be assassin targeting President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, a report from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General found the team faces “chronic understaffing.”

“The United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) Counter Sniper Team (CS) is staffed 73 percent below the level necessary to meet mission requirements,” the inspector general’s report says. “Failure to appropriately staff CS could limit the Secret Service’s ability to properly protect our Nation’s most senior leaders, risking injury or assassination, and subsequent national-level harm to the country’s sense of safety and security.”

The Secret Service does not have an effective process to hire counter snipers, the IG found; all the while, the demand for them increased 151% from 2020 to 2024.

It takes about three years from the time a uniformed Secret Service officer joins the agency to when they can join the counter sniper team, according to the IG.

Counter snipers who missed mandatory weapons training supported 47 of the 426 events (11%) attended by protectees in calendar year 2024, the inspector general found.

Those events included events attended by then-President Joe Biden, including the wake for Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas on Jan. 8, 2024, a campaign reception in New York on Feb. 7, 2024, and when he delivered remarks in Manchester, New Hampshire on March 11, 2024.

The United States Secret Service has 344 protectees and supported 5,141 protective visits (4,723 domestic, 337 foreign, and 81 U.S. territorial), and its budget is about $1.2 billion to support protectees, according to the IG.

While the number of total counter snipers was redacted, the IG found that during the 2024 campaign, the Secret Service would sometimes rely on other components’ counter snipers. For example, when the president is visiting a site, a Secret Service counter sniper team would automatically be assigned, but if it was for another protectee, the Secret Service might assign another component’s team or rely on state and local support because of the staffing issues, the IG found.

In an August 2024 letter, the acting deputy director of ICE asked for Homeland Security Investigations Special Response teams to be embedded with the counter sniper teams to better cover residences in Palm Beach, Florida, and Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

The Secret Service agreed with the inspector general’s assessment of the counter sniper team and are working on hiring more officers to become counter snipers.

Gold prices hit a record high as economic uncertainty looms

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The price of gold topped $3,500 per ounce for the first time ever on Tuesday, reaching toward new record highs as trading stretched into midday.

Gold prices have soared 35% so far this year, far outpacing a 9% gain in the S&P 500. Over that period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has jumped 6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq has climbed 10%.

The rush toward gold reflects heightened economic uncertainty, experts said. The safe-haven asset offers investors a hedge against an uneasy financial environment as a sharp hiring slowdown coincides with a steady uptick of inflation, according to analysts. Stress in long-term bond markets and a devaluation of the U.S. dollar have unsettled alternative assets typically viewed as low-risk investments, they added.

“The probability of an economic slowdown has greatly increased and people naturally look for a safe haven asset,” Campbell Harvey, a professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business who studies gold prices, told ABC News.

However, gold prices carry volatility of their own, especially when buyers enter the market at a high point, risking losses instead of a security blanket.

The run-up in gold prices comes after a steep drop-off in monthly hiring and a gradual rise in inflation.

The U.S. added an average of about 35,000 jobs over three months ending in July, which marked a major cooldown from roughly 196,000 jobs added on average over the previous three-month period, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.

Meanwhile, a measure of underlying inflation stands at its highest level since February, in part due to tariff-induced price increases.

Investors widely expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this month in an effort to counteract the labor market slowdown. Markets peg the chances of a quarter-point interest rate cut at 91%, according to CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of investor sentiment.

The expectation of an interest rate cut establishes financial conditions marked by low interest rates for short-term U.S. bonds alongside persistently elevated interest rates for long-term bonds, since many investors fear a return of inflation amid ongoing tariffs, Aakash Doshi, head of gold strategy at State Street Investment Management, told ABC News.

Those dynamics reflect a favorable environment for gold, Doshi added. On the one hand, a near-term interest rate cut would reduce competition from short-term U.S. bonds, since the interest payments on such products will fall.

Meanwhile, elevated interest rates for long-term bonds reflect flagging demand for such investments as inflation fears mount and President Donald Trump pressures the Fed to dramatically lower interest rates. By comparison, gold appears a relatively safe long-term investment.

“The Fed is cutting because of a weak labor market but inflation is still elevated. That supports alternative fiat assets like gold,” Doshi told ABC News.

The flight away from some long-term bonds has coincided with a depreciation in the value of the U.S. dollar. Its value against other currencies plunged about 11% over the first half of 2025, the biggest decline in more than 50 years, a Morgan Stanley report last month found.

The decline in the U.S. dollar’s value reflects a shift away from global dependence on the dollar as a global reserve currency, Harvey said. As a replacement for the dollar, some investors have sought out gold, boosting the asset’s price, he added.

“Countries and institutions are diversifying their portfolios, which are heavily weighted to U.S. dollar assets. They’re adding something else – and that something else is in part gold,” Harvey said.

13-year-old boy killed while setting off fireworks in Oklahoma: Police

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(TULSA, Okla.) — A 13-year-old boy died while setting off fireworks in Oklahoma, according to police.

The incident occurred Monday evening near an apartment complex in Tulsa, where a group of boys were setting off “mortar-style fireworks,” according to police.

Someone in the group told police that the victim “was holding the tube with the mortar facing his head when it ignited,” the Tulsa Police Department said in a statement.

A small grass fire also ignited near the complex in the explosion, police said.

Witnesses pulled the teen away from the fire and called 911, police said.

Firefighters responded and attempted lifesaving efforts on the teen, who was reported to be in cardiac arrest, according to police.

He was transported to a local hospital, where he died, police said. Authorities did not release the name of the victim.

“This is a stark reminder that fireworks can be extremely dangerous,” the Tulsa Police Department said. “Please take every precaution when handling them.”

Utah college student dies after falling from balcony: Officials

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(ST. GEORGE, Utah) — A college student in Utah has died after falling off a balcony just days after the academic year began, according to the university and fire officials.

At approximately 5:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, fire officials and paramedics responded to reports of a “fall from a balcony” at Utah Tech University’s Campus View Student Housing, St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said in a statement to ABC News.

The student — who has not been identified — was transported to St. George Regional Hospital where they died “due to the injuries sustained in the fall,” Stoker said.

The university said in a statement to ABC News that the community is “devastated by the loss of a member of our Utah Tech family” and that the student will be “deeply missed on campus.”

“We are thinking of the family and friends and will continue to support one another as we grieve together during this difficult time,” the university said.

Mental health professionals are available for students, faculty and staff “needing assistance processing this tragedy,” the university said.

Classes for the new academic year at Utah Tech began on Aug. 20, according to the school’s calendar.

The Utah Tech University Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Trump vows to take on crime in Chicago ‘fast’ after violent Labor Day weekend

September 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday again took aim at Chicago as he suggested federal intervention is needed to combat crime.

Trump pointed to gun violence in the city over Labor Day weekend, as eight people were killed and more than 50 injured.

“Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, is set to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday afternoon to address residents amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago.

Pritzker and local Chicago officials have rejected Trump’s desire to send National Guard troops to the city. Pritzker, during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, said such a move would be “un-American.”

“National Guard troops, any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong, unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency. There is not,” Pritzker said. He said if troops are sent to the city, it would amount to an “invasion.”

On Monday, Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson led a chant of “no troops in Chicago” at a Labor Day march.

“No federal troops in the city of Chicago, no militarized force in the city of Chicago,” he said in fiery remarks. “We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.”

Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, according to official data released by the city. Shootings were down 37% and homicides have dropped by 32% compared to the first half of 2024, while total violence crime dropped by over 22%, according to the crime statistics.

A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News last month that planning was underway at the Pentagon for the potential use of National Guard troops in Chicago — an area Trump has repeatedly singled out as he mulled sending the Guard to other major American cities following his federal takeover of Washington.

Trump then appeared to back off somewhat, saying he preferred cities ask for his administration’s assistance.

But over the weekend, referencing recent crime, Trump warned Pritzker to “straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”

Meanwhile, the administration is preparing for a surge in increased immigration enforcement operations in Chicago as soon as this week, sources told ABC News.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the intention was for more resources to be sent to Chicago but did not divulge details.

“I won’t disclose the details because they are law enforcement and investigative folks that are on the ground there, and I want to make sure we keep their security our number one priority,” Noem said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “But we will continue to go after the worst of the worst across the country, like President Trump has told us to do, focusing on those that are perpetuating murder and rape and trafficking of drugs and humans across our country, knowing that every single citizen deserves to be safe.”

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Michael Pappano and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

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