Author: AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday the West would try to undermine Russia regardless of whether it lifted sanctions, telling business leaders in Moscow they should look elsewhere to invest. Delivering a broadly anti-Western speech ahead of a crunch phone call with US counterpart Donald Trump, Putin said the G7 group was too small to see “on a map” and that Western dominance was “slipping away”. Western countries introduced sweeping sanctions on Russia in response to its full-scale military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, restrictions that the Kremlin has called an “illegal” attempt to destroy its economy. “Even if…

Russia said on Tuesday that Ukrainian army units attempted a ground assault on the Belgorod region earlier but were pushed back, in what Moscow cast as an attempt to undermine ceasefire talks with the United States. US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a phone call earlier, in which the Russian leader agreed to a limited deal to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy targets for 30 days but no full truce. Ukraine used up to 200 fighters in the assault, as well as “five tanks, 16 armoured combat vehicles and three demolition vehicles”, the Russian defence ministry said. “A…

The EU on Monday vowed around 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in aid for Syria as the bloc seeks to help the country’s recovery after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. “Syrians need greater support, whether they are still abroad, or they decide to go home. And this is why today, the European Union is increasing its pledge for Syrians in the country and in the region to almost 2.5 billion euros for 2025 and 2026,” European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told a donor conference in Brussels.

President Donald Trump on Monday declared he will hold Iran directly responsible for any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Huthi rebels, who have targeted multiple US and other foreign ships in the Red Sea. “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. While the United States has been carrying out strikes on Huthi targets for months, Trump’s comments were unusually pointed at Iran, whom he…

The World Health Organization chief called Monday on Washington to “reconsider” its sharp cuts to aid going towards global health, warning that the sudden halt threatened millions of lives. “We ask the US to reconsider its support for global health,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, saying that disruptions to global HIV programmes alone “could undo 20 years of progress, leading to more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and three million HIV related deaths”.

An Israeli negotiating team is currently discussing the hostages issue with Egyptian mediators in Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Sunday. “Under the directive of Prime Minister Netanyahu, representatives of the negotiation team are currently meeting in Egypt with senior Egyptian officials to discuss the issue of the hostages,” the statement said, a day after announcing that a team would continue indirect ceasefire negotiations with Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday informed the head of the Shin Bet, the country’s internal security agency, that he will ask the government to dismiss him. “Due to ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to bring a proposal to the government to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief” Ronen Bar, the prime minister said in a statement.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing outlets long seen as critical to countering a Russian and Chinese information offensive. Hundreds of reporters and other staff at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes, office-issued telephones and other equipment. Trump, who has already eviscerated the US aid agency and Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media as among “elements…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told US counterpart Donald Trump in a call on Sunday that he supported his “direct and decisive” initiatives to end the three-year war in Ukraine, his office said. NATO member Türkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbours since the Russian invasion three years ago and has twice hosted direct talks aimed at ending the war. In his phone call with Trump on Sunday, Erdoğan said he “supported determined and decisive efforts by American President Trump to put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine,” adding that…

Pope Francis acknowledged on Sunday being fragile and “facing a period of trial”, as he thanked well-wishers for prayers in a message from hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for pneumonia. The 88-year-old pope, hospitalised since February 14, sent a particularly personal message to the faithful published by the Vatican, as he once again missed delivering the traditional Angelus prayer in person. “I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a period of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me,” wrote the pope. “Our…