Sources & Citations
1 sourceThe Guardian (World)[1]
Ukrainian president says peace deal proposed by US included ceding land to Russia. What we know on day 1,492The US is making its offer of security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters in an interview. With the US focused on its own conflict with Iran, Donald Trump is applying pressure to Ukraine in an effort to bring a quick end to the four-year war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, Zelenskyy said. “The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, still chooses a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” he told Reuters. Russia sought to blackmail the US by offering to stop sharing military intelligence with Iran if, in return, Washington would cut off Ukraine from its intelligence data, Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. Zelenskyy, who said on Monday that Ukraine’s military intelligence had “irrefutable” evidence that Russia was continuing to provide intelligence to Iran, told Reuters he had seen the data but provided no further details. ’ Isn’t that blackmail?
Russian attacks killed two people in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv and the region around it and a strike on the Danube port of Izamil damaged port facilities and energy infrastructure, officials said. Prosecutors in Kharkiv region, in a statement on Telegram early on Thursday, said a woman injured in an attack on the city of Kharkiv had died of her injuries in hospital. They said nine people were injured in strikes on two districts of the city, a frequent target of Russian forces, 30km (18 miles) from the border. Ukrainian drone strikes killed two people on Wednesday in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, the regional governor said. Vyacheslav Gladkov, writing on Telegram, said drones had killed an 18-year-old man aboard a motorcycle in a village near the border and a woman in her car in the town of Graivoron, also near the border. Belgorod has been a frequent target of Ukrainian forces during the four-year war pitting Kyiv against Moscow. Zimbabwe said on Wednesday that 15 of its citizens had been killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine, the latest African country to report recruits dying on the frontlines. The information minister, Zhemu Soda, told a press conference that the 15 had been deceived into enlisting, referring to it as human trafficking.
He said one recruitment method used by traffickers targeting Zimbabweans was social media. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Wednesday he had given the military permission to board and detain Russian ships his government alleges are part of a network of vessels that enables Moscow to export oil despite western sanctions. Other European nations have stepped up efforts to disrupt Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used by Moscow to fund its four-year war against Ukraine. The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally, was greeted by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, as he arrived on his first visit to the reclusive nation, the Korean Central news agency reported on Thursday. A ceremony welcoming Lukashenko took place on Kim Il Sung Square on 25 March, with Kim “gladly” meeting and “warmly” welcoming the Belarus leader, the report said. Lukashenko visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – where the embalmed bodies of Kim’s father and grandfather lie in state – to pay his respects, flanked by top North Korean officials, the report said. Lukashenko laid a bouquet on behalf of Putin, it added. Continue reading...
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• Envoys from the UK, France, and Germany issued a joint statement following diplomatic discussions in Moscow. • The representatives formally conveyed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's request for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Read original · kyivpost.com
Kyiv Post• Multinational banks are reassessing their cross-border strategies as geopolitical considerations increasingly influence how they organize international operations and evaluate risk. • Financial institutions are now balancing the pursuit of robust financial performance with the need to manage complex geopolitical exposure.
Read original · internationalbanker.com• The UN Peacebuilding Fund has approved $4.8 million for a new program targeting central Mali. • The initiative aims to strengthen local institutions and communities in regions severely impacted by violent extremism.
Read original · press.un.org• The war in Ukraine has officially surpassed the duration of World War I, leading analysts to draw unsettling parallels between the two conflicts. • The comparison highlights a pattern where initial technological innovations in warfare fail to provide a lasting strategic advantage.
Read original · port.ac.ukJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling, facing questions over items found in office safeThe former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is being investigated for possible tax fraud and smuggling after police discovered jewellery valued at more than €1.3m (£1.1m) while searching his office safe as part of a separate inquiry.Zapatero, who led two socialist governments between 2004 and 2011, is already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling and other offences relating to the state bailout of the Spanish Plus Ultra airline during the Covid pandemic. He is alleged to have overseen “a hierarchical structure of influence-peddling”, whose purpose was “to obtain economic benefits through intermediation and the exercise of influence before public bodies in favour of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra”. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comFormer defence secretary’s accusation, that PM lacks impetus and is easily swayed by chancellor’s demands, is familiar territoryOne of the most scathing accusations made by John Healey in his resignation letter on Thursday was that the prime minister lacks the authority to stand up to his chancellor.“You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats,” the former defence secretary wrote. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comWith more than 177,000 people forcibly disappeared since 2011, short doc Maybe Tomorrow captures ‘the violence of waiting’ experienced by familyWhen Wafa Mustafa was a child, she remembers her father playing the music of Umm Kulthum non-stop at home in Syria, humming along to the legendary Egyptian singer’s melodic tones. One day, in an effort to encourage his daughter to appreciate music, he asked her to take a pen and paper and write the lyrics of a song she loved. Wanting to impress him, Mustafa chose an Umm Kulthum song called “Aghadan Alqak”, which translates to: “Will I meet you tomorrow?”“The lyrics are literally about someone who’s gone, about the waiting for them and the love you have for them,” says Mustafa. “It feels like I knew what was coming … as if I manifested my life since I was very young.” Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comCyber agency says BlackCore targeted John Swinney, as well as interfering in France, New York and elsewhereFrance’s cyber-security agency has accused an Israeli firm called BlackCore of interfering in the Scottish elections earlier this year by targeting the first minister, John Swinney.The disinformation detection agency Viginum said BlackCore had used proxy social media accounts to target Swinney, the Scottish National party and the Scottish government on four occasions this year. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comPM promises to fight any leadership challenge, saying any successor would face same problems as himUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has said he knows he has to “turn things around” after a series of crises culminating in the resignation of John Healey, the defence secretary, but warned that any successor would face the same set of difficult decisions.In an interview with the BBC after Healey’s departure in a row over defence spending, Starmer promised again to fight any leadership challenge from Andy Burnham or others, saying: “I’m not going to go away.” Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comGuardian reporters Fabiola Cineas and Adria Walker held a Reddit Q&A about Louisiana v Callais – here’s a rundownIn April, the supreme court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais struck a massive blow to the Voting Rights Act, eliminating a key provision that gave minority voters representation in Congress.Within days of the decision, Republican-led states in the south moved to redraw congressional maps to erase majority-Black districts. Some of those maps have already gone into effect ahead of the midterms. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comNo injuries reported as fire in Tracy destroys medical equipment warehouse and authorities investigate causeA fire at a 1m sq ft warehouse complex was burning out of control in California early Friday as authorities fought to tamp the large blaze and began investigating the cause.The raging inferno was pumping thick black smoke up in billowing clouds as flame and a red hot glow were visible beneath from aerial images. The fire has destroyed the medical equipment warehouse in Tracy, in northern California, and prompted evacuations of other nearby facilities, with no injuries reported. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comStarmer shows no will to pursue the main options for rising commitments: spending cuts, tax rises or borrowingWhen Keir Starmer wanted to promise Donald Trump that the UK would increase defence spending, he decided to fund it by slashing the UK’s aid budget – losing a cabinet minister, Anneliese Dodds, in the process.This time around, with John Healey’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) demanding an additional £18.5bn over four years to fund the defence investment plan, there was no such lever to hand. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.com