Author: AFP

Israel said Monday it will “take control” of the whole of Gaza, where rescuers reported more than 50 killed in Israeli strikes as the military pressed a newly intensified campaign. After more than two months of a total blockade, the World Health Organization issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying “two million people are starving”. Under mounting pressure to lift the blockade it imposed on Gaza on March 2, Israel has announced it would let limited aid into the besieged territory and said a first delivery of “trucks with baby food” would enter…

Joe Biden on Monday expressed his gratitude to Americans for their “love and support” after the former US president said he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places,” the 82-year-old Biden posted on X, with a photograph of him and his wife Jill Biden. “Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”

The United States agreed to “tightly coordinate” Ukraine talks with European partners following a call between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the German government said Monday. Immediately after his conversation with Putin, Trump held a second call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. The readout of the call provided by Merz’s spokesman said that the leaders “spoke to each other about the next steps” and “emphasised their willingness to closely accompany Ukraine on…

Securing South Africa’s trade ties with the United States will be a key aim of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Washington this week to meet Donald Trump, a minister in the delegation said Monday. Ramaphosa was to be accompanied by four cabinet ministers on the high stakes visit and was expected to meet Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Ties between Pretoria and Washington have plummeted since Trump took office in January and Ramaphosa’s visit is seen as an attempt to reset the relationship. A priority is securing trade relations in order to “protect jobs, grow the economy and…

The head of the World Health Organization said Monday that two million people were starving in the Gaza Strip while tonnes of food was being blocked at the border. “Two million people are starving” while “tonnes of food is blocked at the border, just minutes away,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told opening of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, adding: “The risk of famine in Gaza is increasing with the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday ruled out withdrawing troops from parts of eastern and southern Ukraine under Kyiv’s control, rejecting demands put forward by Russia as a condition for ending its three-year invasion. “No one will withdraw our troops from our territories,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv when asked about Moscow’s demands for Ukraine to fully abandon the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — four regions that Russia claims to have annexed but does not fully control.

President Donald Trump said he made progress on Monday during his call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and that he also spoke to the heads of most European nations. Earlier, Trump said that Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire and an end to their three-year-old war.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he asked Donald Trump not to make decisions about Ukraine “without us” before the US president held a call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. “I asked him not to make any decisions about Ukraine without us before his conversation with Putin,” Zelensky told reporters. “These are matters of principle for us and very important.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on Saturday for pressure to stop Israel’s “massacre in Gaza” and said Madrid plans a UN resolution requesting a world court ruling on aid access to the Palestinian territory. Sanchez told an Arab League summit in Baghdad that the war triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel has led to “unacceptable numbers” of victims in Gaza, violating the “principle of humanity”. “The extremely grave humanitarian crisis Gaza has endured since October 2023 has caused more than 50,000 dead, 100,000 wounded and two million displaced,” said Sanchez, who has sharply criticised the Israeli offensive.…

Iran’s top diplomat said Sunday his country was ready to rebuild trust with European powers considering whether to reimpose UN sanctions on the Islamic republic under a 2015 nuclear deal. “Iran is ready, should it observe genuine will and an independent approach from the European parties, to begin a new chapter in its relations with Europe,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. “If Europe possesses the necessary will to rectify this path, Iran sees no obstacle to rebuilding mutual trust and expanding relations,” he told a diplomatic forum in Tehran. On Friday, senior Iranian diplomats met counterparts from Britain, France and…