Author: AFP
US President Donald Trump’s envoy said on Sunday that he does not see President Vladimir Putin wanting to invade beyond Ukraine and described fears of broader Russian aggression as “academic.” “I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe,” Steve Witkoff told Fox News. “I take him at his word in this sense, so, and I think the Europeans are beginning to come to that belief, too. But it sort of doesn’t matter. That’s an academic issue…. The agenda is, stop the killing, stop the carnage. Let’s end this thing.”
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.
The Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations for a rapid resolution to the Ukraine conflict, saying talks were just beginning and that “difficult negotiations” were ahead. Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are set to hold separate talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia over the next 48 hours as President Donald Trump pushes for a rapid end to more than three years of fighting. “We are only at the beginning of this path,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV. He said there were many outstanding “questions” and “nuances” over how a potential ceasefire might be implemented. Russian President Vladimir…
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.
President Donald Trump, fresh from railing against “partisan” judges thwarting his agenda, threw his weight Sunday behind a Republican running for an open spot on the supreme court of the politically heavyweight state of Wisconsin. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the race for the seat on Wisconsin’s top court is “really big and important” and “could have much to do with the future of our Country.” He called on voters there to embrace Republican Brad Schimel over opponent Susan Crawford. Using language reminiscent of his own race against Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, Trump called…
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…
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…
Moscow is hoping to achieve “some progress” at talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a Russian negotiator told state media on Saturday, ahead of US officials holding separate talks with Ukraine and Russia on a possible ceasefire. Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukraine proposal of a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, instead suggesting just to halt aerial strikes on energy infrastructure. The US will hold parallel talks with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on Monday in a bid to secure a breakthrough. “We hope to achieve at least some progress,” senator Grigory Karasin told the Zvezda TV channel, owned by…
Russia reserves the right to a “symmetrical response” to Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of blowing up a Russian gas pumping station in a border area where Ukrainian troops have been retreating. Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure in three years of fighting, and Ukraine has struck energy facilities in Russia. “As in 2022, provocations are being used again with the aim of disrupting the negotiation process. We are clearly warning that if the Kyiv regime continues its destructive line, the Russian Federation…
The United States is importing Turkish and South Korean eggs to ease an avian flu-fueled supply crunch that has pushed up prices across the country, Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary confirmed Friday. Brooke Rollins told reporters in Washington that imports from Turkey and South Korea had already begun and that the White House was also in talks with other countries about temporarily importing their eggs. “We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term,” she added. The cost of eggs has skyrocketed due to multiple bird flu outbreaks in the United States, forcing farmers to cull…