Author: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that Europe and the United States had to put pressure on Russia to accept a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia “does not give the impression it sincerely wants peace,” Macron said in a statement provided to AFP following a Saturday morning video conference of countries backing Ukraine organised by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. On the contrary, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “escalating the fighting” and “wants to get everything, then negotiate,” he said. “Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire,”…

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that Europe and the United States had to put pressure on Russia to accept a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia “does not give the impression it sincerely wants peace,” Macron said in a statement provided to AFP following a Saturday morning video conference of countries backing Ukraine organised by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. On the contrary, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “escalating the fighting” and “wants to get everything, then negotiate,” he said. “Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire,”…

Yemen’s Huthis vowed to respond to deadly strikes on the capital Sanaa on Saturday after US President Donald Trump said Washington had launched a “decisive” action against the Iran-backed rebels. “This aggression will not pass without a response, and our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on their Al-Masirah television.

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…

Yemen’s Huthis vowed to respond to deadly strikes on the capital Sanaa on Saturday after US President Donald Trump said Washington had launched a “decisive” action against the Iran-backed rebels. “This aggression will not pass without a response, and our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on their Al-Masirah television.

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…

Fifty-one people have died and over 100 have been injured in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said at a press conference on Sunday in front of the police station in the town of Kočani, where the tragedy occurred. The fire broke out at around 2:30 am (0130 GMT) on Sunday when the popular local band DNK was performing at the nightclub Puls, the minister said. A spark machine used for lighting effects triggered the fire, according to the current state of investigations, he said, adding that the sparks ignited the ceiling construction, which was made…

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday threatened a “decisive” response to any attack, after US President Donald Trump ordered a wave of air strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels and warned Tehran to stop backing the group. On Saturday, Trump said the United States had launched “decisive and powerful military action” to end the Huthi threat to Red Sea shipping, and warned Iran’s support for the rebels “must end immediately”. A Huthi health official said the strikes had killed 31 people. Iranian Guards chief Hossein Salami denounced Trump’s threats in a televised speech on Sunday, adding that “Iran will not wage war,…

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday said Russian President Vladimir Putin would “sooner or later” have to “come to the table” as he opened a virtual gathering to drum up support for Ukraine. “My feeling is that sooner or later, he’s going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion,” Starmer told about 25 fellow leaders who joined the virtual summit. The talks hosted in a call set up by Downing Street aim to urge participating countries to sign up to a coalition willing to protect any eventual ceasefire in Ukraine. Starmer told allies the…

Russia should back a ceasefire deal with Ukraine that could lead to durable peace, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday after a virtual meeting with other leaders. “We reiterate our support to Ukraine’s agreement to a ceasefire. Now Russia has to show that it is willing to support a ceasefire leading to a just and lasting peace,” she said in a message on X, formerly Twitter. She thanked UK premier Keir Starmer for hosting a virtual call with some 25 fellow leaders as they sought to keep up the pressure on Russia and protect any eventual…