Author: AFP

Pakistan said early Sunday that it “remains committed to faithful implementation” of the ceasefire it has agreed to with India, after New Delhi accused it of violating the truce and said it was retaliating. Accusing India of committing its own violations, the Pakistani foreign ministry said its forces “are handling the situation with responsibility and restraint.” “We believe that any issues in smooth implementation of the ceasefire should be addressed through communication at appropriate levels. The troops on ground should also exercise restraint,” the statement continued.

Raging floods have killed more than 100 people, many of them as they slept, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a local official told AFP on Saturday. The floods were sparked by torrential rains and ripped through the Kasaba village in the Sud Kivu province during the night of Thursday-Friday, Bernard Akili, a regional official, told AFP. Sammy Kalonji, the regional administrator, said the torrent killed at least 104 people, many of them children, and caused “enormous material damage.”

The Israeli military is planning to expand strikes in Yemen and potentially target certain locations inside Iran, according to Israeli media. Israel’s attacks on the Houthis in Yemen will proceed “without any restrictions,” said a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, citing unnamed security sources. “Iran will not emerge unscathed from this exchange of attacks with Yemen,” said the report, that suggested in response to missiles launched by the Houthi, which Israel claims are Iranian-made, Tel Aviv is considering direct retaliation against Iran. The Israeli military is reportedly preparing to respond to Houthi attacks with “stronger and broader” operations. Security…

France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for the speedy drawing up of a US-Europe plan for a 30-day truce in the Russia-Ukraine war that would be backed by “massive sanctions”. “My wish … is that in the coming hours and coming days, we manage to all come together to commit to a ceasefire, saying that if one of the parties betrays it, there will be massive economic sanctions,” Macron told Polish television channel Telewizja Polska. He said that there had to be stronger action “so that we are much more dissuasive, Europeans and Americans united”.

Pakistan charged India Friday with bringing the nuclear-armed neighbours “closer to a major conflict”, as the death toll from three days of missile, artillery and drone attacks passed 50. The bloody escalation comes after an attack on tourists last month in the Indian-run part of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 people, and which New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — an allegation Pakistan denied. India responded with air strikes Wednesday on what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan, killing more than 20 civilians and fuelling the worst clashes between the two in decades. “We will not de-escalate, with the damages…

Vladimir Putin is backing war rather than peace, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, condemning “belligerent” comments made by the Russian leader at a Moscow parade marking victory in World War II. “President Putin is on the side of war, not the side of peace. The belligerent comments that he made, the reality of every day, only underline that,” Macron said alongside Polish Premier Donald Tusk as Washington seeks to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin vowed on Friday Russia would win in Ukraine as the Soviet Union had in World War II, aiming to rally Russian support at the Moscow military parade put on before key allies. Putin sat with China’s Xi Jinping watching a processions of thousands of troops — some of whom fought in Ukraine — and an array of weapons like new tanks and drones to mark the defeat of the Nazis. Since launching the Ukraine offensive in 2022, Putin has evoked the Soviet war effort for his own military campaign that has killed many thousands and left Moscow…

Ukraine and Hungary expelled two diplomats each on Friday in an escalating row sparked by Kyiv’s detention of two people it alleged were spying for Budapest. Relations between Kyiv and Budapest have become strained in recent years, with Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor Orban voicing support for Moscow after it invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Budapest blocking Kyiv’s efforts to join the European Union. Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Friday it had detained two alleged Hungarian spies it accused of gathering intelligence, including the location of air defence systems, in the western Zakarpattia region bordering Hungary. “For the first time…

US President Donald Trump signaled on Friday that he could lower tariffs on Chinese imports, as the rival superpowers prepare for trade talks in Switzerland over the weekend. “80% Tariff on China seems right!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, which would bring them down from 145 percent, with cumulative duties on some goods reaching a staggering 245 percent. He added that it was “Up to Scott B.”, referring to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will confer with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng this weekend in Geneva to try to cool the conflict roiling international markets. US Trade…

The United States’ measles outbreak has surpassed 1,000 confirmed cases with three deaths so far, state and local data showed Friday, marking a stark resurgence of a vaccine-preventable disease that the nation once declared eliminated. The surge comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to undermine confidence in the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — a highly effective shot he has falsely claimed is dangerous and contains fetal debris. An AFP tally showed there have been at least 1,012 cases since the start of the year, with Texas accounting for more than 70 percent. A vaccine-skeptical Mennonite…