Current Final

Author: AFP

  • ‘Tesla vandals will end up behind bars’

    ‘Tesla vandals will end up behind bars’

    US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday in the latest public show of support for Elon Musk, a top ally of President Donald Trump, that serious charges are being brought against three people accused of targeting Tesla cars.

    “Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars,” Bondi said in a statement.

    The three defendants, who were not identified, “will face the full force of the law” for using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla vehicles and charging stations in Oregon, Colorado and South Carolina, the Justice Department said.

    In the South Carolina incident, an individual “wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire,” it said.

    The Justice Department did not specify the exact charges but said the three defendants could face a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years.

    Musk, the South African-born billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is leading Trump’s ruthless cost-cutting drive at the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

    Several Tesla dealerships around the country have been vandalized in recent weeks and the company’s stock price has plummeted over the past month.

    Trump, in an unprecedented product endorsement by a sitting president, sought to boost Tesla sales earlier this month, briefly turning the White House into a showroom and announcing he was buying one of the electric cars.

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Bondi’s remarks in an interview with Fox News on Thursday, saying the president will ensure the “harshest penalties” for those who engage in “this vicious violence” against Tesla.

    Leavitt was also asked by reporters about an unusual appeal to buy Tesla stock during a television appearance by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik.

    “I think the commerce secretary was reiterating that the president supports an American made company like Tesla,” she said.

    Tesla, Leavitt added, “was beloved by the American people, particularly Democrats, until Elon Musk decided to vote for Donald Trump.”

    Musk, in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Tuesday, said Tesla was being targeted because DOGE was taking away money that people were “receiving fraudulently.”

    “They get very upset and they basically want to kill me because I’m stopping their fraud,” he said. “And they want to hurt Tesla because we’re stopping this terrible waste and corruption in the government.”

  • Israel expands Gaza ground operation as missiles intercepted

    Israel expands Gaza ground operation as missiles intercepted

    Israel’s military on Thursday expanded ground operations across Gaza, after it reported missiles intercepted from Yemen and Hamas militants said they fired rockets towards Tel Aviv.

    The rocket fire from Hamas was its first military response to the growing civilian death toll from Israel’s resumption of aerial bombardment and ground operations in Gaza this week.

    The offensive has drawn widespread condemnation and shattered a relative calm in the genocide-ravaged Palestinian territory where a ceasefire began on January 19. Talks on extending the truce reached an impasse, and Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday.

    Early Friday, the head of Shin Bet — Israel’s domestic intelligence agency — was sacked, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

    Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Ronen Bar, who joined the agency in 1993.

    Late Thursday the military said troops had begun “conducting ground activity” in the Shabura area of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city near the Egyptian border.

    “As part of the activity, the troops dismantled… terrorist infrastructure,” the military said in a statement, adding that “troops are continuing ground activity in northern and central Gaza.”


    Israeli protesters and police scuffle in front of the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem during a demonstration calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and to bring home all hostages held there by militants     Photo: Menahem Kahana

    Israel earlier said it had closed off the territory’s main north-south route as part of expanding ground operations that resumed on Wednesday.

    Gaza’s civil defence agency said 504 people had been killed since Tuesday, including more than 190 under the age of 18.

    The toll is among the highest since the genocide started more than 17 months ago.

    The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired rockets at Israel’s commercial centre in response to “massacres” of Gaza civilians.

    The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, claimed by Iran-backed Huthi rebels who say they act in support of the Palestinians, for the second time within a day.


    A boy in Gaza City’s Yarmuk area eats at a camp sheltering displaced Palestinians in a landfill     Photo: Omar AL-QATTAA

    US President Donald Trump “fully supports” Israel’s renewed Gaza operations, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when asked if he was trying to get a Gaza ceasefire back on track.

    Israel’s military said an air strike had “in recent days” killed Rashid Jahjouh, the head of Hamas’s internal security agency.

     

    In Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, Alaa Abu Nasr said 17 members of his family were killed in an air strike.

    “They are targeting civilians, not fighters,” he said among the rubble.

    Military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that Israeli troops “have begun a targeted ground operation in the central and southern Gaza Strip in order to expand the security zone between the northern and southern parts”.

    Palestinians ride vehicles with their belongings as they flee from the northern Gaza Strip toward the south Photo: Eyad BABA

    Movement along Salaheddin Road between northern and southern Gaza is prohibited “for your safety”, he said.

    Palestinians were seen fleeing south along a section of Salaheddin Road still open, near central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, atop donkey-drawn carts piled high with belongings.

     

    In Gaza’s south, the army warned people to evacuate Bani Suheila before a strike on militants “firing rockets from populated areas”.

    Government spokesman David Mencer said Israel controlled central and southern Gaza and was “expanding the security zone” and creating a buffer between the north and south.

    An official from Gaza’s interior ministry said the Israeli army had closed what it calls Netzarim Junction, just south of Gaza City on Salaheddin Road.

     
    Israeli troops gather near the Gaza border Photo: GIL COHEN-MAGEN

    The official said Israeli tanks had deployed at the junction after the withdrawal of American private security contractors stationed there since the pullback of Israeli forces in February, under the ceasefire.

    The first stage of the ceasefire, under which Israeli hostages held by Hamas were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, expired early this month.

    Israel rejected negotiations for a second stage, demanding the return of all remaining hostages under an extended first stage. Hamas insisted on engaging in talks for phase two.

     

    Under the agreed truce deal, as outlined by then-US president Joe Biden, negotiations towards phase two were to begin during the initial six-week phase.

    Mkhaimar Abusada, an associate professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, said that if Netanyahu “was really interested in releasing all Israeli hostages, he could have gone with a second phase of the ceasefire. But he has never made any commitment to an end to the war”.

    A picture taken from Israel’s southern border with the Gaza Strip shows destroyed buildings in northern Gaza Photo: Jack GUEZ

    Speaking before the UN Security Council, former hostage Eli Sharabi called on the world to “bring them all home”, referring to the dozens still held by Gaza militants.

    He said he was “chained, starved, beaten and humiliated” during his Hamas captivity.

    Resumption of fighting in Gaza has coincided with a reignited protest movement by Israelis who see Netanyahu’s policies as a threat to democracy.

    On Thursday President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, spoke of “controversial initiatives that create deep rifts within our nation.”

    He also called it “unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home.”

    Hamas appealed to Arab and Islamic nations “to take urgent action” in the United Nations Security Council and other forums to halt the renewed fighting.

     

    Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Israel’s latest strikes on Gaza a “catastrophic crime” and said the United States “shares responsibility”.

    Israeli retaliatory attacks and genocide after Hamas’s October attack on Israel has resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

    The overall death toll in Gaza since the start of the genocide is 49,617, according to the territory’s health ministry.

  • Trump signs order to ‘eliminate’ US Education Department

    Trump signs order to ‘eliminate’ US Education Department

    US President Donald Trump signed an order Thursday aimed at “eliminating” the Department of Education, a decades-old goal of the American right, which wants individual states to run schools free from the federal government.

    Surrounded by schoolchildren sitting at desks set up in the East Room of the White House, Trump smiled as held up the order after signing it at a special ceremony.

    Trump said the order would “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”

    “We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing us no good,” Trump said. “We’re going to return education back to the states where it belongs.”

    The Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress — but Trump’s order will likely have the power to starve it of funds and staff.

    The move honors one of Trump’s campaign promises and is among the most drastic steps yet in the brutal overhaul of the government that Trump is carrying out with the help of tech tycoon Elon Musk.

    The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States.”

    Democrats and educators have slammed the move.

    The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, called it a “tyrannical power grab” and “one of the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken.”

    Republican leaders, including governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, were in the audience for the signing ceremony.

    Trump has cast the move as necessary to save money and improve educational standards in the United States, claiming they are lagging behind those in Europe and China.

    But education has been a battleground for decades in America’s culture wars, and Republicans have long wanted to remove control of it from the federal government.

    ‘Beautiful day’

    Trump’s appointment of McMahon — the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment — to lead the department was widely seen as a sign that its days were numbered.

    The president said at the signing ceremony that “hopefully she will be our last secretary of education.”

    McMahon, who moved to halve the department’s staff after being sworn in earlier this month, told reporters at the White House that Trump “wants to get those dollars back to the states without the bureaucracy of Washington.”

    Trump promised on the campaign trail to get rid of the department and devolve its powers to US states, in much the same way that has happened with abortion rights.

    But the White House said earlier that a rump education department was likely to stay on to deal with “critical functions” including loans and some grants for low-income students.

    “The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters before the signing.

    The Heritage Foundation — a right-wing think-tank that has seen many of its “Project 2025” recommendations adopted by Trump — welcomed the move.

    “It’s a beautiful day to dismantle the Department of Education,” it said on X.

    Traditionally the US government has had a limited role in education, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, the rest being funded by states and local communities.

    But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs. And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students.

    Trump, his billionaire advisor Musk and Musk’s Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) have already dismantled several other government agencies, effectively crippling them by slashing programs and employees.

    A similar move to dismantle the US Agency for International Development was halted earlier this week by a federal judge, who said the push likely violated the US Constitution.

  • Sultana Siddiqui says ‘duty to raise awareness’ after drama Tan Man Neel o Neel’s portrayal of mob violence

    Sultana Siddiqui says ‘duty to raise awareness’ after drama Tan Man Neel o Neel’s portrayal of mob violence

    An axe-wielding mob chases a terrified group; a daring Pakistani television drama has for the first time tackled the deeply sensitive issue of the dozens murdered for alleged blasphemy.

    Islam is the official religion in Muslim-majority Pakistan, and accusations of insulting religious sentiments can easily incite mob violence.

    Blasphemy is an incendiary charge, and the issue is rarely discussed by major media broadcasters due to security concerns.

    But producer Sultana Siddiqui challenged that with an 11-part television drama, which has earned praise since it began airing in December for handling a taboo topic with sensitivity.

    “This issue has not been raised before because of fear,” Siddiqui, founder of the HUM Network media company, told AFP.

    Her drama Tan Man Neel o Neel tells the stories of people in a small Pakistani town, and has generated millions of views and widespread praise on social media.

    “I took the risk in a careful manner,” she said. “That’s why people appreciated it.”

    ‘Malicious disinformation’

    In the drama, the case of blasphemy centres around a character who falsely claims a dance performance takes place in a mosque, rather than the abandoned mansion it happened in.

    That storyline of false allegations is an echo of reality.

    Pakistan’s independent Human Rights Commission, in a report last month, described the “impunity for perpetrators of hate and violence”.

    It detailed cases of people killed, and followers and places of worship of Pakistan’s minority religions, including Christians and Hindus, being attacked over false claims.

    “Law enforcement… have often failed to rescue blasphemy suspects from vigilante violence,” the commission said.

    “A careful examination of various blasphemy allegations shows that these are invariably based on fabrications, malicious disinformation and fake news.”

    Siddiqui said she was motivated by a 2017 case in the city of Mardan when a mob beat 23-year-old journalism student Mashal Khan to death after accusing him of posting blasphemous content online.

    “I couldn’t sleep after hearing Mashal’s mother say that ‘not a single bone in his body was left unbroken — even his finger bones were fractured’,” she said.

    “I kept wondering: How brutally must they have beaten him?”

    Mohammad Iqbal, the murdered student’s father, said that the producer had chosen the “right topic” and had “honoured his son”.

    “We, those most affected, have rarely spoken about it publicly,” he told AFP.

    “At last, this conversation is happening on television”.

    ‘Raise awareness’

    Siddiqui said she had long wanted to address the issue and had been carefully collaborating with fellow directors and writers to address the subject matter appropriately.

    “I, too, fear extremists who might not like me and could harm me,” she said.

    “However, I believe we should address these issues with them in a respectful manner.”

    Siddiqui said it was her “duty to educate people” and “raise awareness about crucial social issues” that impact society.

    Pakistani dramas boast a massive viewership and their popularity serves as a powerful vehicle for social change.

    A Gallup survey conducted in October 2023 suggested that two-fifths of the country watch dramas.

    “We should have spoken about such issues much earlier,” said Mustafa Afridi, the writer of the show.

    “If we had, perhaps we wouldn’t be in this situation today, perhaps our children wouldn’t be dying.”

    ‘Viral critique’

    Pakistan’s media industry has been wary of the topic — and fallen foul in the past of accusations of creating blasphemous content.

    The release of the 2019 award-winning film Zindagi Tamasha was halted after the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) objected to its portrayal of a cleric they deemed “blasphemous”.

    In 2020, a music video shot at Lahore’s Wazir Khan mosque sparked furious protests after singer Bilal Saeed was filmed dancing with actor Saba Qamar.

    Police filed a case against them, and they apologised — and were eventually acquitted two years later.

    Arafat Mazhar, the director of the Alliance Against Blasphemy Politics group, said Siddiqui’s show had “sparked a viral critique of blasphemy-related mob violence”.

    He called the reaction “unprecedented”.

    “It wasn’t just that people were watching a drama about mob violence – it was that the conversation centred on mob violence at such a large scale for the first time,” he told AFP.

    “The battle against blasphemy violence is not just about speaking out against mob killings. It is about challenging the structures that create and sustain them”.

  • Trump admin begins mass layoffs at Voice of America

    Trump admin begins mass layoffs at Voice of America

    President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday began mass layoffs at Voice of America and other US-funded media, making clear its intent to gut outlets long seen as critical for US influence.

    Just a day after all employees were put on leave, staff working on a contractual basis received an email notifying them that they were terminated at the end of March.

     

    The email, confirmed to AFP by several employees, told contractors that “you must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems.”

    Contractors make up much of VOA’s workforce and dominate staffing in the non-English language services, although recent figures were not immediately available.

    Many contractors are not US citizens, meaning they likely depend on their soon-to-disappear jobs for visas to stay in the United States.

    Most full-time VOA staff, who have more legal protections, were not immediately terminated but remain on administrative leave and have been told not to work.

    Voice of America, created during World War II, broadcast around the world in 49 languages with a mission to reach countries without media freedom.

    Liam Scott, a VOA reporter who covers press freedom and disinformation, said he was notified that he also reported that he was being dismissed as of March 31.

    The Trump administration’s destruction of VOA and sister outlets “are part of its efforts to dismantle the government more broadly — but it’s also part of the administration’s broader assault on press freedom and the media,” he wrote on X.

     

    “I’ve covered press freedom for a long time, and I’ve never seen something like what’s happened in the US over the past couple of months.”

    With VOA in limbo, some of its services have switched to playing music for lack of new programming.

    Trump signed an executive order Friday targeting VOA’s parent US Agency for Global Media in his latest sweeping cuts to the federal government.

    The agency had 3,384 employees in the 2023 fiscal year. It had requested $950 million for the current fiscal year.

    The sweeping cuts also froze Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, formed in the Cold War to reach the former Soviet bloc, and Radio Free Asia, established to provide reporting to China, North Korea and other Asian countries with heavily restricted media.

    Other US-funded outlets being gutted include Radio Farda, a Persian-language broadcaster blocked by Iran’s government, and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network established after the Iraq invasion in the face of highly critical coverage by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.

    The White House said in a statement Saturday that “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” a charge rarely leveled before Trump at the staid VOA, long aimed at countering communism.

    Trump regularly criticizes media coverage of him and has questioned the wisdom of funding VOA when it has a “firewall” ensuring its editorial independence.

    Trump, with the advice of tech billionaire Elon Musk, has vowed to drastically reduce the size of government to make way for tax cuts. His administration has already ended the vast majority of foreign development assistance and moved to eviscerate the Education Department.

    The moves come as China and Russia invest heavily in state media to compete with Western narratives, with China often offering free content to outlets in the developing world.

    In an editorial on the demise of VOA, China’s state-run Global Times said that “the monopoly of information held by some traditional Western media is being shattered.”

    “As more Americans begin to break through their information cocoons and see a real world and a multidimensional China, the demonizing narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times,” it said.

  • Pro-Palestinian protesters fill NY’s Trump Tower

    Pro-Palestinian protesters fill NY’s Trump Tower

    Hundreds of Jewish demonstrators overran New York’s Trump Tower on Thursday, March 13, in support of Palestinians as well as detained Palestinian student campaigner Mahmoud Khalil. Wearing matching red T-shirts emblazoned with “Jews say stop arming Israel,” the group protested for over an hour inside the Manhattan skyscraper, where President Donald Trump’s family business is headquartered and he has a personal residence. The building was also where Trump memorably rode down a golden escalator in 2015 to announce his first run for president.

    Police said they arrested 98 people, marching under the banner of the group called Jewish Voice for Peace, for crimes including trespassing. The group, which apparently caught security and police off guard, chanted “fight Nazis, not students,” a reference to Trump’s crackdown on foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.

    Police loaded detained protesters on buses, including a repurposed city bus, in front of the Gucci store at the foot of the tower as a helicopter and drone flew overhead. Across town at Columbia University, where Khalil had been a student, administrators announced they had issued “multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions” of students who had occupied a campus building last year during demonstrations against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    The short statement did not provide further details, such as who had been sanctioned, but comes less than a week after the Trump administration cut $400 million in federal funding for the university, accusing it of not sufficiently addressing anti-Semitism. It also comes days after Khalil, a recent graduate and one of the protest leaders, was detained by immigration authorities.

    The Trump administration has moved to revoke Khalil’s green card, accusing him of leading “activities aligned with Hamas,” the group whose October 7, 2023 attack was followed by intense retaliatory attacks by Israel in Gaza. His arrest has triggered outrage from critics of the Trump administration as well as free speech advocates, including some on the political right, who say such a move has a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

     

    ‘What fascists do’

    At Trump Tower, filmmaker and Columbia Professor James Schamus told Agence France Press (AFP) “New York Jews are coming out to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil and demand that our Jewishness not be weaponized to steal the rights of American citizens and to end our democracy.”

    “The Trump-Musk regime has made it clear that they are not charging Mahmoud Khalil with any crime, that they are accusing him of having opinions that they say ‘align with Hamas’,” he added ahead of the protest action.

    Confused tourists visiting the skyscraper took pictures and milled around as police attempted to clear protesters, with an officer delivering a large box of MaxCuff plastic cable ties. “It was suspicious when all these people came in and none went to the restaurant,” said a Trump Tower employee who declined to be named.

    Police Chief John Chell said the protest passed off without injuries or damage and that the atrium had been cleared of protesters within two hours.

    “As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads. This is what fascists do as they cement control” said Jewish Voice for Peace member Jane Hirschmann, a Jewish New Yorker whose grandfather and uncle were abducted by the Nazis.

  • Arab ministers, US envoy meet on Gaza reconstruction

    Arab ministers, US envoy meet on Gaza reconstruction

    Arab foreign ministers met in Qatar on Wednesday with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss reconstruction for Gaza, devastated by war with Israel, the Gulf state said.

    “The Arab foreign ministers discussed the Gaza reconstruction plan, which was approved during the Arab League Summit held in Cairo on March 4, 2025,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

    Foreign ministers from Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation were present at the meeting, according to the statement.

    “They also agreed with the US envoy to continue consultations and coordination on the plan as a foundation for the reconstruction efforts,” it added.

     

    On Saturday, the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) formally adopted a plan put forward by the Arab League at an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia.

    The Egyptian-spearheaded plan emerged as a proposal to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority in response to a proposal by US President Donald Trump to take over Gaza and displace its residents.

    The plan by Mulsim-majority nations has been rejected by both Israel and its key ally the United States, but has been endorsed by Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

    A fresh round of talks on a fragile ceasefire in Gaza also began in Qatar on Tuesday, with Witkoff dispatched to Doha for the mediations.

    “The ministers emphasised the importance of maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing the need to launch a genuine effort to achieve a just and comprehensive peace,” the Qatari statement added.

    The 42-day first phase of the truce deal expired in early March without agreement on subsequent stages meant to secure a lasting end to the war, which erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

    Israel has also sent a team of negotiators to the Doha talks aimed at extending the ceasefire.

  • Trump optimistic about potential Ukraine ceasefire

    Trump optimistic about potential Ukraine ceasefire

    President Donald Trump expressed optimism that US negotiators could secure a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, even as Kyiv and Moscow launched fresh aerial attacks early Thursday.

    The United States wants Russia to agree to an unconditional halt to hostilities, officials said Wednesday.

    The Kremlin said it was awaiting details of a US-Ukrainian proposal agreed this week, and gave no indication of its readiness to stop fighting that has left tens of thousands dead in the past three years.

     

    President Vladimir Putin visited Russian troops who have made gains against Ukrainian forces battling to keep Russian territory seized in an offensive last year.

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was ready to embrace a deal, and the United States had indicated it would issue a “strong” response if Putin refuses an accord.

    “People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin.

    The White House said that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, a mediator in the Gaza and Ukraine wars, would be in Moscow this week.

     

    Trump on Wednesday did not mention whether he would speak with Putin, but added that there had been “positive messages” from Moscow, saying: “I hope he’s going to have a ceasefire.”

    ‘Horrible bloodbath’

    Trump said that if the fighting could be halted, “I think that would be 80 percent of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath finished.”

     

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington wanted Moscow’s agreement with no strings attached. “That’s what we want to know — if they’re prepared to do it unconditionally,” Rubio said on a plane heading to a G7 meeting in Canada.

     

    “If the response is, ‘yes’, then we know we’ve made real progress, and there’s a real chance of peace. If their response is ‘no’, it would be highly unfortunate, and it’ll make their intentions clear,” he added.

    Russian news agencies reported earlier that the heads of the CIA and Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency had held their first phone call in several years.

    Rubio was to give an update on the initiative at the G7 meeting in Charlevoix, Canada.

    The defense ministers of France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland met in Paris to discuss how they could support Ukraine, and any ceasefire.

    While the Kremlin made no immediate comment on the US-Ukraine proposal — agreed at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday — the Russian foreign ministry said earlier this month that a temporary ceasefire would be unacceptable.

    Trump said “devastating” sanctions were possible if Russia refused a deal.

    “I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace,” Trump said.

    ‘None of us trust the Russians’ 

    The latest dramatic diplomatic swing came less than two weeks after Trump kicked Zelensky out of the White House complaining about the Ukrainian leader’s lack of gratitude for US assistance.

    Trump halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, but that resumed after the truce proposal was agreed on Tuesday.

    Trump had previously said he was ready to welcome Zelensky back to the White House and speculated he could speak with Putin this week.

    In Kyiv, Zelensky said the United States would pile pressure on Moscow if it did not accept a ceasefire.

    “I understand that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters.

    “Everything depends on whether Russia wants a ceasefire and silence, or it wants to continue killing people,” the Ukrainian leader added.

    He said Ukrainians had no confidence that fighting would stop. “I have emphasized this many times, none of us trust the Russians.”

    Ukraine is increasingly suffering on the battlefield, losing ground in the east and south of the country, where officials said eight people were killed on Wednesday.

    Russia has also reclaimed territory in its western Kursk region, pushing back Ukrainian troops who staged a shock offensive last August.

    Putin was shown on Russian television visiting troops in Kursk on Wednesday.

    “I am counting on the fact that all the combat tasks facing our units will be fulfilled, and the territory of the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy,” Putin said.

     

    Russian chief of staff General Valery Gerasimov said that 430 Ukrainian troops had been captured and Putin called them “terrorists.”

    Ukraine military commander-in-chief General Oleksandr Syrsky indicated that some forces in Kursk were pulling back to “more favorable positions.”

    Russia downed 77 Ukrainian drones overnight, its defence ministry said Thursday, two days after Kyiv carried out its largest direct strike on Moscow during the three-year war.

    Multiple Ukrainian cities were also under attack Thursday morning, with a 42-year-old woman killed in Kherson, according to regional military administration head Roman Mrochko.

    Authorities in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk also reported coming under attack.

  • PSG stun Liverpool on penalties to make Champions League quarters

    PSG stun Liverpool on penalties to make Champions League quarters

    Paris Saint-Germain produced a historic turnaround to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals at Liverpool’s expense as they triumphed 4-1 on penalties after a 1-0 second leg win at Anfield.

    Never in Liverpool’s history had they lost a European tie after winning the first leg away from home but Ousmane Dembele’s early strike brought the French champions level at 1-1 on aggregate.

    PSG were then perfect with their four spot-kicks, while Gianluigi Donnarumma saved from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones.

    Luis Enrique said before the game that the winners would progress to the final and PSG will be supremely confident of reaching the semi-finals at least as they will face Aston Villa or Club Brugge in the last eight.

    “Both of the teams deserve to go to the next phase,” said PSG boss Luis Enrique.

    “We were better in Paris and they were better here, but I think my team at Anfield, in a special stadium showed great personality and character.”

    A famous victory for the Parisians was deserved over the tie after they dominated the first leg only to be denied by the brilliance of Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal before Harvey Elliott snatched a late winner.

    The roles were reversed this time as Liverpool were made to rue not making more of their chances.

    “Over 90 minutes we didn’t deserve to lose today, over 180 minutes maybe it was deserved,” said Liverpool boss Arne Slot.

    “We ran out of luck after last week.”

    Brilliant play by Alexis Mac Allister should have created the opener on four minutes when the Argentine’s cross picked out Mohamed Salah, whose goalbound effort was deflected over by Nuno Mendes.

    PSG took 10 minutes to ride out the storm from the home side before finding their feet.

    The visitors took the lead on 12 minutes when Ibrahima Konate could only turn Bradley Barcola’s cross beyond Alisson to leave Dembele with a simple finish.

    The French international has now scored 23 goals in his last 17 games and could have had more before the end of the night.

    PSG who had the better openings to extend their advantage before half-time.

    Twice Alisson had to be at his sharpest to race off his line and save one-on-ones against Barcola and Dembele.

    Quansah hits inside of post 

    PSG beat Liverpool to the signing of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January and the Georgian proved a constant menace to the Reds’ defence.

    Kvaratskhelia’s shot from Dembele’s cross was arrowing towards the top corner until a deflection from Ryan Gravenberch took it just over the crossbar.

    Improved second-half performances have been a common theme of Slot’s first season at Liverpool and the hosts came roaring out of the traps after the break.

    Dominik Szoboszlai had a goal ruled out for offside against Luis Diaz earlier in the move.

    Szoboszlai then had a goalbound effort blocked by Willian Pacho before Donnarumma made a vital stop from Diaz from the resulting corner.

    Liverpool’s momentum could have been halted by the loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold to a knee injury after the right-back landed awkwardly.

    But his replacement, Jarell Quansah, was inches away from winning the tie when his header came back off the inside of the post.

    PSG barely threatened during the second half of the 90 minutes but Liverpool were left hanging on for penalties in extra time.

    Lucas Beraldo’s header and Desire Doue’s shot flew just wide before more Alisson heroics kept PSG at bay with a stunning stop to turn Dembele’s curling effort round the post.

    However, Alisson could not save them in the shootout as it was the other goalkeeper who was the hero.

    Donnarumma produced great saves to deny Nunez and Jones, either side of four confident strikes from Vitinha, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele and Doue to send PSG into the last eight.

  • Two arrested over gang-rape of Israeli tourist and local woman in India

    Two arrested over gang-rape of Israeli tourist and local woman in India

    Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the gang-rape of two women including an Israeli tourist and the death of a man near a UNESCO World Heritage site in India, police said Sunday.

    A group of two women and three men were attacked late Thursday near the Group of Monuments at Hampi, an ancient village in the south Indian state of Karnataka.


    The case highlights the chronic issue of violence against women in the world’s most populous country, where an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022.


    “The horrific assault and rape… is a deeply heinous crime,” the state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on X Saturday.


    “The police have already arrested two accused and are continuing the investigation. We will take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents from recurring,” he added.


    The group were attacked by individuals on a motorbike while stargazing on the banks of a canal in Koppal after refusing to give them money, according to local media reports.


    The attackers threw the men, who were from India and the United States, into the canal before sexually assaulting both women.


    One of the two men from India was confirmed dead after police recovered a body from the canal on Saturday.


    Both women, an Israeli tourist and local homestay owner, were taken to hospital where they are receiving treatment.


    Mallesh alias Handi Malla, 22, and Chetan Sai Sillekyatar, 21, were arrested on Saturday, The Times of India reported, while police are continuing to search for a third suspect.


    “Out of the three accused, we have arrested two and efforts are being taken to nab the third suspect in the case,” Koppal police superintendent Ram L Arasiddi told NDTV news channel.


    The local woman who was attacked said “that besides being beaten up, the two women were sexually assaulted by the accused,” Arasiddi added.


    It comes only weeks after an Indian court sentenced the rapist and murderer of a 31-year-old doctor to life in prison.


    That case sparked nationwide protests and widespread hospital strikes last year, with regional and national authorities promising strict and swift punishments in such cases.


    The 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus also sparked weeks of nationwide protests in India and led to a series of changes to swiftly prosecute such crimes.