Ukraine peace talks to resume in Riyadh on Monday

Update Ukraine peace talks to resume in Riyadh on Monday
Zelensky wrote on his X.com account that: “Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days” . (FILE/AFP)
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Updated 20 March 2025
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Ukraine peace talks to resume in Riyadh on Monday

Ukraine peace talks to resume in Riyadh on Monday
  • Saudi capital to host delegations of experts from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv

MOSCOW: Three-way talks to advance the process of ending the war in Ukraine will resume in Riyadh next week, officials said on Thursday.

Delegations from the US and Russia will negotiate “initiatives” regarding the safety of shipping in the Black Sea discussed this week by their presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov said.
Ushakov said he had confirmed the meetings in Saudi Arabia with US national security adviser Mike Waltz. Both agreed to send “expert groups” for the talks, he said.

 

 

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said a delegation from Kyiv would be present at the talks involving the US and Russia, but would not be in the same room as the Russian delegation.
“There will be technical teams present there,” Zelenskiy said during a visit to Norway. “I understand that the structure is the following: there will be a meeting of Ukraine and America and then some shuttle diplomacy, as our American colleagues said, America with Russia.”

 


Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years

Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years
Updated 9 sec ago
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Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years

Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years
  • France and Madagascar signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding, including in energy, agriculture and education
  • Macron also announced funding from the French Development Agency and a loan from the French treasury for the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Volobe in eastern Madagascar

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar: French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day visit to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar on Wednesday and spoke of the need for his country to find new markets and boost economic cooperation in the region.
Macron’s visit marked the first by a French leader to the former colony off the east coast of Africa since Jacques Chirac’s in 2005.
The trip also delved into disputes between the nations stemming from the colonial era, including Madagascar’s claims over a group of small islands that are French territory, and its demands that France return the remains of a local king who was killed by French colonial forces in the late 1800s.
Macron met with Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina in the capital, Antananarivo, and they signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding, including in energy, agriculture and education.
Macron also announced funding from the French Development Agency and a loan from the French treasury for the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Volobe in eastern Madagascar, which has been planned for nearly a decade.
Macron is due to attend Thursday a summit of the Indian Ocean Commission in Madagascar, a bloc made up of Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Reunion — which is a territory of France. China, India and the European Union are among a group of countries and international bodies that have observer status at the commission.
“We need to conquer, at least, the market of the (Indian Ocean Commission),” Macron said Wednesday. “And then, more widely, East Africa and the Indian Ocean.”
On some of their disagreements, Rajoelina said there would be a new round of meetings on June 30 over the fate of the Scattered Islands, five small islands around Madagascar that fall under France’s overseas territories but are claimed by Madagascar.
France favors a system where the islands would be jointly managed by the two countries, but the UK’s decision last year to hand over control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius has spurred some in Madagascar to push for full control of the Scattered Islands — which are known as the Eparses Islands in France.
Madagascar and France “are determined to find a solution together,” Rajoelina said.
Macron said he would work with Madagascar over the agreed return of three skulls that were taken from Madagascar more than 125 years ago and displayed in a Paris museum. One of them is believed to be the skull of King Toera of the Sakalava people, who was beheaded by French troops in 1897.


Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance

Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance
Updated 28 min 36 sec ago
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Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance

Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance
  • “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelensky’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump said
  • “Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky was quoted as saying

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a deal on halting the Ukraine war was “very close,” but slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over his refusal to formally cede Crimea to Russia.
“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelensky’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The outburst came after US media reports said Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed Crimea as Russian territory, and after Vice President JD Vance said land swaps would be fundamental to any deal.
In his post, Trump was referring to Zelensky’s comments, published in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, in which he said that ceding Crimea is against Ukraine’s constitution.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky was quoted as saying. “There is nothing to talk about here.”
Trump lambasted Zelensky over the remarks.
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia,” Trump said, adding that if Ukraine “wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?“
He added: “The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!“
“We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”


Court overturns French decision to cut funding to biggest Muslim school

Court overturns French decision to cut funding to biggest Muslim school
Updated 48 min 58 sec ago
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Court overturns French decision to cut funding to biggest Muslim school

Court overturns French decision to cut funding to biggest Muslim school
  • Lille administrative court said the prefecture didn’t provide sufficient evidence that the school was failing to comply with French republican values
  • “It’s a victory for the rule of law,” the high school said

PARIS: An administrative court on Wednesday overturned France’s decision to cut government funding to the country’s biggest Muslim high school in 2023, in what rights groups say is part of a wider crackdown on Muslim schools.
Private school Averroes, the first Muslim high school to open in mainland France in 2003 in the northern city of Lille, had 800 pupils in 2023 and had been under contract with the state since 2008. Pupils follow the regular French curriculum, and are also offered religion classes.
At the end of 2023, the government’s local representative known as the ‘prefecture’ said the school had administrative and financial problems and some teaching did not align with French republican values, therefore public funding was to be cut.
In its Wednesday ruling, the Lille administrative court said the prefecture didn’t provide sufficient evidence that the school was failing to comply with French republican values. Other failings for which the prefecture did have evidence, such as refusing a surprise inspection, did not give sufficient grounds to justify ending its contract with the school.
“It’s a victory for the rule of law,” the high school said in a statement on Wednesday. “Averroes is a high school aiming for excellence and will now be able to continue its work with its pupils serenely.”
As a result of the ruling, the high school’s contract with the state will be automatically reinstated, Paul Jablonski, a lawyer for Averroes, told Reuters. He added he hoped the prefecture would not appeal the ruling.
The Lille prefecture didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.


Greek PM ‘not trying to pick a fight’ with Turkiye, to pursue visit

Greek PM ‘not trying to pick a fight’ with Turkiye, to pursue visit
Updated 57 min 12 sec ago
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Greek PM ‘not trying to pick a fight’ with Turkiye, to pursue visit

Greek PM ‘not trying to pick a fight’ with Turkiye, to pursue visit
  • Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would go ahead with a planned meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday vowed to carry out a planned visit to Turkiye despite regional tension and the recent arrest of Istanbul’s mayor.
The Greek leader was to visit Ankara this month under a schedule agreed in 2023 to smooth over differences between the rival neighbors, who are NATO members.
The trip appeared to have been shelved after the Athens government last month said it was “difficult” to organize after the “worrying” arrest of Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Mitsotakis said Wednesday however that he would go ahead with a planned meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He did not say when it would happen.
“There is no issue or particular reason why this meeting should be postponed,” he told Proto Thema daily.
Mitsotakis added that he was “not trying to pick a fight with Turkiye” to burnish his domestic standing.
The Aegean boundary between the two, which Greece says is based on 20th century treaties, is a key obstacle in relations.
There are frequent disputes over migration, energy exploration in the Aegean and territorial sovereignty.
Greece last week released a marine spatial planning map which Turkiye said violates its maritime jurisdiction in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Turkiye has also sought to impede an electricity cable project between Greece, Cyprus and Israel called the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI).
Mitsotakis on Wednesday called the cable “a European project which will proceed in due course.”


Germany says monitoring Russia’s use of ‘disposable’ agents

Germany says monitoring Russia’s use of ‘disposable’ agents
Updated 23 April 2025
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Germany says monitoring Russia’s use of ‘disposable’ agents

Germany says monitoring Russia’s use of ‘disposable’ agents
  • European intelligence services believed that Russia was behind the plot
  • Kock declined to go into detail but said German authorities were “closely observing the means Russian services are now resorting to”

BERLIN: Germany said Wednesday it was monitoring changing Russian sabotage tactics, after media reports linked a plan to plant explosive devices on cargo planes to low-level operatives hired by Moscow.
European intelligence services believed that Russia was behind the plot, which saw parcels explode at two DHL depots last July, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily and public broadcasters WDR and NDR reported.
Several people implicated in the operation were believed to be “disposable” agents with no official position in the Russian intelligence services, according to the report.
Such low-level agents were typically recruited via messaging apps to carry out tasks for money, the report said.
Quizzed about the incidents at a regular press conference, German interior ministry spokeswoman Sonja Kock said investigations were “continuing intensively.”
Kock declined to go into detail but said German authorities were “closely observing the means Russian services are now resorting to,” including the use of “so-called low-level agents.”
Kock also told the briefing that Russian intelligence services operating in Germany had been “recently weakened by the expulsion of numerous agents.”
Another interior ministry official later told AFP that she was referring to the April 2022 expulsion of 40 Russian diplomats who were intelligence officers, and further departures of diplomats the following year.
The explosions at DHL depots in Leipzig, Germany and Birmingham in Britain have been described by Germany’s domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang as a “lucky accident” because of the limited impact.
Testifying before a parliamentary committee in October, Haldenwang said “there would have been a crash” if the parcels had exploded mid-flight on planes.
Kock said Wednesday that the “danger of sabotage... has increased significantly in Germany since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.”
German authorities were doing “everything in our power to thwart... Russian espionage, sabotage and cyber-attacks,” she said.