Author: AFP
Senate Democrats accused US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance of siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin after they berated Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky in an extraordinarily tense White House meeting on Friday. “Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on social media.
Meta on Thursday said it had laid off 20 workers for leaking information to the media, as the social media giant faces pressure over the recent political shift of its boss Mark Zuckerberg towards US President Donald Trump. “We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent,” a Meta spokesperson said, confirming a story first reported in The Verge. “We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company, and we expect…
Israel is to impose restrictions on movement during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when hundreds of thousands normally visit Jerusalem to pray, government spokesman David Mencer said on Thursday. “The usual restrictions for public safety will be in place as they have been every year,” Mencer told a press briefing. The restrictions will target “people seeking to foment violence and attacks” but “all peaceful visitors” will be allowed access to religious sites, he said. Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian national identity, where clashes often erupt between…
The Kremlin on Thursday ruled out giving back Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed as part of a future peace deal, setting out a major red line as Russian and US officials met in Istanbul for a new round of talks to normalise relations. US President Donald Trump has pushed for a quick end to the three-year conflict since taking office last month, reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a stunning shift in US foreign policy. The Istanbul talks come after a high-level meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, and aim at restoring diplomatic ties after…
More than 200 Italian Jews have signed an appeal against “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territories, provoking strong media reaction. Writers, academics, philosophers and journalists were among the 220 signatories of the text, which was published in daily newspapers La Repubblica and Il Manifesto. It claimed that US President Donald Trump “wants to expel Palestinians from Gaza. Meanwhile in the West Bank the violence of the Israeli government and settlers continues”. “Italian Jews say no to ethnic cleansing. Italy must not be an accomplice,” they added. The call aims to “bring out a clear and strong Jewish voice of disapproval”,…
An internal probe into Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack released on Thursday acknowledged the Israeli military’s “complete failure” to prevent the assault, which killed hundreds of Israelis, a military official said. “October 7 was a complete failure, the IDF (military) failed in fulfilling its mission to protect Israeli civilians,” the official said on condition of anonymity, adding: “Too many died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where was the IDF.”
At least 70 people have died from cholera and more than 2,200 have been infected in southern Sudan over the past week, Save the Children said Thursday, citing health ministry data. The outbreak White Nile state capital Kosti, followed a reported drone strike on the Um Dabakar power station, 275 kilometres (170 miles) south of Khartoum, which disrupted access to clean water. It comes as Sudan’s healthcare system, crippled by a brutal civil war nearing its second year, struggles amid tens of thousands killed and over 12 million displaced. “More than 2,200 people, including children, are now battling the deadly…
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Thursday he wants defence spending excluded from EU spending rules, in an interview with the daily Figaro. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month that the EU would suspend public spending rules to ramp up defence investments as the US commitment to European security has come under question. EU members are bound by spending rules obliging them to keep the public deficit below three percent of economic output and debt at 60 percent of GDP. But the EU can suspend the rules in exceptional circumstances and crises, as it did…
Iran has significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in recent months, according to a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seen by AFP Wednesday. Tensions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have repeatedly flared since a 2015 deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief fell apart. The IAEA said in its quarterly report that it is of “serious concern” that Iran has an estimated amount of 274.8 kilograms enriched to up to 60 percent as of 8 February, up by 92.5 kilograms since the last report in November. It comes after…
Bangladesh’s interim government praised on Wednesday Moscow’s “important” backing of a controversial nuclear plant during the first visit by the director of Russia’s state-owned Rosatom since Dhaka’s revolution last year. Construction on the nuclear plant at Rooppur began in 2017 during the iron-fisted tenure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The much-delayed 2,400-megawatt project is aimed at bolstering an overstretched energy grid and will be Bangladesh’s largest power station by generating capacity once fully operational. Alexey Likhachev, chief of the Russian nuclear energy giant, was last in Bangladesh in April 2024, shortly before a student-led uprising that culminated in ousting…