Author: AFP
The Kremlin on Saturday said a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement, a day after Moscow and Kyiv held their first direct talks in more than three years, which did not result in a truce. The morning after the talks, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in the eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded five, local authorities said. “Yesterday, as on any day of this war, there was an opportunity to cease fire,” Zelensky wrote on social media following…
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged his US counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday to apply pressure for a Gaza ceasefire. “I call on President Trump, as a leader who wants to consolidate peace, to apply all necessary efforts and pressure for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” which would pave the way “for a serious political process in which he would be a mediator and a sponsor,” Sisi said in an address to an Arab League summit in Baghdad.
Hollywood heavyweights Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry’s silence on what it called “genocide” in Gaza, the organisers confirmed Friday. The petition, signed by more than 370 actors and filmmakers, also denounced Israel’s killing of Fatima Hassouna, the young Gaza photojournalist featured in the documentary “Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk”, which premiered at the Cannes film festival Thursday. The organisers of the letter said the French actor Juliette Binoche, who is chairing the jury at Cannes, also added her name to the…
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, at a UN event Thursday commemorating the “Nakba,” urged more action to end the war in Gaza, linking the historical displacement during Israel’s creation to the current conflict. The United Nations has since 2023 commemorated the “Nakba” — “catastrophe” in Arabic — which refers to the flight and expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians during the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. This year the anniversary is particularly painful, as Palestinians say history is being repeated in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza and an aid…
Talks in Istanbul between Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and a Russian delegation ended late on Thursday with the sides set to meet again Friday with the Ukrainians, a foreign ministry source said. “The meeting has ended. Tomorrow there will be more talks in different formats,” the source said, indicating that “trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and Türkiye are on the agenda”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed openness on Thursday to any new ideas to bring aid into Gaza after a US- and Israeli-backed plan was sharply criticised, voicing concern over the humanitarian situation in the territory. “We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one. We are for all the aid we can get without Hamas being able to steal it from people,” Rubio told reporters on a visit to Turkey.
Ukraine and Russia on Thursday or Friday are due to hold their first direct peace talks in more than three years. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had travelled to Türkiye but said he would not attend the talks, after his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin declined his calls for face-to-face negotiations. Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022 and Moscow’s army controls around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Here’s what is known about the talks: – When are the talks? The meeting was initially planned for Thursday but Zelensky said “it could be today, it could be…
India and Pakistan accused each other Thursday of failing to control their nuclear weapons, calling on the world to monitor their neighbour’s arsenal just days after their most serious military confrontation in two decades. Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal should be under the surveillance of the UN’s atomic energy agency, while Islamabad said the international community should investigate a “black market” in India. The latest conflict between India and Pakistan had sparked global concerns that it could spiral into a full-blown war before a ceasefire was brokered on Saturday. “I wanted to raise this question for…
Palestinians on Wednesday commemorated their displacement during the creation of Israel, saying that history was being repeated today in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza and an aid blockade threatens famine, while Israeli leaders continue to express a desire to empty the territory of Palestinians as part of the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack. In the West Bank, too, occupied since 1967, Israeli forces have displaced tens of thousands from refugee camps as part of a major military operation. This year marks the 77th anniversary of the Nakba –…
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said that French President Emmanuel Macron “should not preach morality”, after Macron criticised Israel’s blocking of aid to Gaza. “We remember well what happened to the Jews in France when they couldn’t defend themselves. President Macron should not preach morality to us,” Katz said in a statement, the day after Macron accused Netanyahu’s government of “unacceptable” and “shameful” behaviour in a televised interview.