Author: AFP
The European Union’s member states announced on Thursday sanctions on a further 25 individuals and seven entities over what the EU said was the undermining of democracy and rule of law in Belarus. Among those being sanctioned is the Belarus Central Election Commission, the EU Council said. In January, Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election which Western governments rejected as a sham.
The United States said Tuesday it will support Russian fertilizer exports, a grievance for Moscow after sweeping sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. “The United States will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions,” a White House statement said following conflict talks in Saudi Arabia.
Russia and Ukraine agreed Tuesday to halt military strikes in the Black Sea and on energy sites during talks brokered by the United States, which offered as a first concrete incentive for Moscow to ease pressure on agricultural exports. With President Donald Trump pushing for a rapid end to the war that has killed tens of thousands of people, US negotiators shuttled separately over three days in the Saudi capital Riyadh between delegations from Ukraine and Russia. In parallel statements, the White House said that each country “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force and prevent the…
The Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was attacked by settlers and arrested by the Israeli army on Monday in the occupied West Bank, according to his co-director Yuval Abraham. In a post on X, Abraham said a “group of settlers” had set upon Ballal. “They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since,” Abraham wrote. The incident took place in the southern West Bank village of Susiya, according to the anti-occupation NGO Center for Jewish Nonviolence, whose members…
President Donald Trump said Monday he knew nothing about a journalist being included in a group chat in which top US officials discussed upcoming strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels. “I don’t know anything about it,” Trump told reporters when questioned on the apparent security breach. “You’re telling me about it for the first time.”
The White House on Monday confirmed that a journalist was included in a group chat in which US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top officials discussed upcoming strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels. President Donald Trump announced strikes on March 15, but in a shocking security breach, The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that he had hours of advance notice via the group chat on Signal. “The message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said. Goldberg did not…
More than 20 years after his success with “Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra”, French director Alain Chabat has again teamed up with the plucky Gauls for a 3D animated series that was presented Sunday at a festival in Lille before it runs on Netflix. The series is based on the 1961 comic book “Asterix and the Big Fight”, the seventh in the series illustrated by Albert Uderzo and written by Rene Goscinny about the pugnacious warrior Asterix and his menhir deliveryman sidekick Obelix. There are five episodes of about 20 minutes each, with three being shown to an appreciative audience…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin must be pushed to halt his three-year invasion, as talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on a partial ceasefire get underway. “No matter what we talk about with our partners, we need to push Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes: the one who brought this war must take it away,” Zelensky said in an evening address posted on social media.
Pope Francis returned home to the Vatican on Sunday after more than five weeks in hospital with pneumonia, taking time before leaving to thank well-wishers for their support. Looking tired and worn, the 88-year-old Catholic leader waved to a crowd outside Rome’s Gemelli hospital from a balcony, the first time he has been seen in public since he was admitted on February 14. “Thank you, everyone,” a weak-sounding Francis said into a microphone, seated in a wheelchair, as hundreds of pilgrims chanted his name. He waved his hands from his lap, doing an occasional thumbs-up sign, and drew laughter when…
US President Donald Trump’s envoy said Sunday he expects Ukraine and Russia to make progress on a ceasefire in the Black Sea when they talk Monday in Saudi Arabia. “I think you’re going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that you’ll naturally gravitate to a full-on shooting ceasefire,” Steve Witkoff told Fox News.