Author: AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would “finish the job” against Iran with US support, during a Jerusalem news conference with visiting Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President (Donald) Trump and with your unflinching support, I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job.” Netanyahu said, adding “Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran.”
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 100,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on “critical infrastructure”. Ukrainian officials had earlier said that Russian drones had hit a local thermal power plant. Zelensky said the attack was proof Russia did not want peace, in a statement that came after he warned Western leaders not to trust Moscow and as Europe braces for a summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. “Today, more than a 100,000 people in Mykolaiv were left without heating as a result of a Russian Shahed…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes Russia is preparing to “wage war” against a weakened NATO should President Donald Trump dilute US support for the alliance. In an interview with broadcaster NBC on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky also said Trump had the leverage to push Vladimir Putin into ceasefire negotiations over Ukraine, but warned the Russian leader should never be trusted. “We believe that Putin will wage war against NATO,” Zelensky told the network in an interview aired Sunday. He suggested Putin may be waiting “for a weakening of NATO,” which could be triggered by the possibility…
Hamas said an Israeli air strike that killed three of its policemen Sunday near the southern Gaza city of Rafah constitutes “a serious violation” of the ceasefire in effect since January 19 in the Palestinian territory. “The treacherous firing carried out by a Zionist drone this morning east of Rafah city, targeting police elements tasked with securing the entry of aid… is considered a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement”, the Palestinian resistance movement said in a statement.
Standing in the freezing cold at Moscow’s Borisovsky Cemetery, 63-year-old Anna looked at the hundreds of people flocking to the grave of a man whose name the Kremlin has warned not to utter in public — Alexei Navalny — and could not hold back the tears. The child psychologist joined hundreds to honour the memory of Vladimir Putin’s main opponent on the first anniversary of his death in mysterious circumstances in an Arctic prison. Moscow has branded Navalny and his organisation — whose members are in exile or prison — as “extremist”. Mentioning him in Russia without including the label…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down expectations Sunday of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials on ending the war in Ukraine. President Donald Trump had repeatedly insisted he would end the conflict in a single day if he returned to the White House, but Rubio stressed it would “not be easy” to resolve such a long-running, bloody and complex conflict. “A process towards peace is not a one meeting thing,” he said in an interview with the CBS network on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Rubio is set to lead a high-level US team…
President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US overseas funding could result in millions more deaths from AIDS, the head of the UN’s programme for the illness warned Sunday. The United States is the world’s largest provider of official development assistance, with most funds directed through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Trump froze the bulk of US foreign assistance for three months on returning to office in January, leaving global humanitarians scrambling to deal with the fallout. “It’s dramatic in many countries,” UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told AFP. “I need to sound the alarm so that it’s…
Pope Francis followed Sunday mass and his traditional Angelus weekly prayer on television in a Rome hospital where the 88-year-old pontiff is being treated for bronchitis. The Argentine pope was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Friday for the latest respiratory infection, influenza or bronchitis, he has caught in recent winters. The Vatican said Sunday that the pope was in a “stable” condition and his treatment would continue. “This morning he received the Eucharist and followed the Holy Mass on television. In the afternoon he alternated reading with rest,” said the Vatican in a bulletin. Doctors have prescribed “absolute rest” for…
Europeans must do more and better for their collective security given the US position on Ukraine, a senior figure in French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Sunday. “Because of the acceleration of the Ukrainian issue, and as a result of what US leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better, and in a coherent way for our collective security,” his adviser said.
The EU on Sunday said that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin bore “ultimate responsibility” for the death of Alexei Navalny, as it paid tribute to the late opposition figurehead on the one-year anniversary of his passing. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Navalny “gave his life for a free and democratic Russia” and called for the release of all political prisoners in the country. “Today marks one year since the death of Russian opposition leader politician Alexei Navalny, for which President Putin and the Russian authorities bear ultimate responsibility,” Kallas said in a statement. The charismatic Navalny –…