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Kremlin says pause in Ukraine peace talks ‘situational’

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By Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov Reuters The Kremlin said on Thursday that talks between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv on ending the war in Ukraine were on “situational pause” following the start of the Iran war, but Ukraine’s ‌president said new discussions were expected this weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war on his return to ‌the White House but has said efforts to resolve the conflict have been one of his biggest disappointments. The Izvestia newspaper said in a front-page story that the Kremlin ​had confirmed a pause in talks on Ukraine and that war in the Middle East could push Kyiv towards compromise. “This is a situational pause, for obvious reasons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Izvestia report. Peskov said that as soon as “our American partners” could pay more attention to Ukrainian affairs, Moscow hoped that the pause could end and that a new round of talks could take place. In Kyiv, Ukrainian P...
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At least 80 insurgents killed as Nigerian troops repel base assault, army says

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By HARUNA UMAR AP Nigerian  soldiers backed by air support repelled an attack Wednesday by suspected Islamic militants on a military base in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 80 of the assailants, the army said. The militants, suspected members of Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province, were supported by multiple armed drones when they attacked the base in Mallam Fatori in the state of Borno, near the border with Niger, at around 12:50 a.m., army spokesperson Sani Uba said in a statement. Uba said the troops had anticipated the assault and repelled it with ground ​fire and ​air support, killing at least 80 fighters, including three “high-profile” commanders. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claims. A previous statement by the army put the death toll at over 60. The army spokesperson said four soldiers were wounded evacuated for treatment. He said troops recovered a large cache of weapons from suspected militants, including assault rifl...
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Colombia, Ecuador leaders clash over bomb dropped near border

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The leaders of Colombia and Ecuador sparred Tuesday over allegations that the Ecuadoran bombing of suspected criminal hideouts near their shared border had spilled into Colombian territory. Months of tension between Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro and his right-wing Ecuadoran counterpart, Daniel Noboa, an ally of US President Donald Trump, spiked Monday when Petro alleged that explosives were dropped from a plane near the border. On Tuesday, Petro posted on X a photo of an unexploded “bomb” that he said had fallen on the Colombian-Ecuadoran frontier. He called for a thorough investigation, saying: “It fell 100 meters from the home of a poor family.” Local farmers speaking with AFP corroborated Petro’s account. “We were all terrified — you know, scared — and worried that those devices might suddenly explode and take our lives,” farmer Julian Imbacuan told AFP by phone. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez implored residents to avoid the area. Noboa took to X Tuesday...
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Afghanistan says 400 killed in Pakistan air strike on Kabul hospital, Pakistan rejects claim

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By Mohammad Yunus Yawar Reuters At least 400 people were killed and 250 injured in an air strike by Pakistan on a drug users rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, a spokesman of the Afghan Taliban government said on Tuesday, a sharp escalation in the conflict between the neighbours. Pakistan rejected ‌the claim as false and misleading and said it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” on Monday night. The air strike came hours after China said ‌it remained ready to continue efforts to ease tensions between the South Asian Islamic nations and urged both to avoid expanding the war and return to the negotiating table. The conflict that began last month is the worst ​ever between the neighbours who share a 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border. It had ebbed amid attempts by friendly countries, including China, to mediate and end the fighting before flaring up again. The escalation comes amid wider instability in the neighbourhood where the U.S.-Israeli str...
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Trump threatens NATO with ‘very bad’ future if they don’t join Iran war

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Donald Trump says it would be “very bad for the future of Nato” if allies don’t help secure the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway for global oil shipping President Donald Trump urged NATO partners and China to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical conduit for crude that Iran has effectively closed, as major economic players began releasing oil reserves on Monday to ward off supply disruptions. Global oil prices have surged by 40 to 50 percent after Iran choked off the waterway and attacked energy and shipping industry targets in the Gulf in retaliation for the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic. Crude prices were hovering around $100 on Monday as the Middle East war entered its third week, with Israel saying it still has “thousands of targets in Iran”, where it was also “identifying new targets every day”. Trump said the United States was in discussions with Iran but that Tehran was not ready for a deal to end the war, although the Islamic republic’s foreign ...
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African nations tiptoe around recruitment of citizens by Russian networks

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By David Lewis and Tim Cocks Reuters Kenya’s foreign minister is visiting Russia this week under pressure back home to convince Moscow to stop recruiting Kenyans into its military, but Nairobi – like other governments in Africa – is unlikely to take too confrontational an approach. Reports in recent weeks revealed the scope and ‌scale of the recruitment of Africans into Russia’s depleted forces, often via third parties offering lucrative civilian jobs, triggering anger in countries like Kenya, Ghana and South ‌Africa. Families want more action to bring the recruits home but African governments, wary about overtly taking sides during Russia’s war in Ukraine, have avoided angering Moscow, mindful that the recruitment scandal has not yet triggered widespread public outcry or ​political heat. “We want Kenyans stopped – they should not be enlisted at all,” Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters ahead of his trip. “We are getting a lot of pressure from some ...
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Cuban protesters ransack Communist office as energy crisis deepens

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By Dave Sherwood Reuters Anti-government protesters attacked a Communist Party office in central Cuba early on Saturday, a state-run newspaper reported, in a rare outburst of public dissent triggered by blackouts exacerbated by a U.S. oil blockade. A rally against power cuts ‌and food shortages began peacefully in the city of Moron late on Friday then turned violent in the early hours of Saturday morning, ‌Invasor newspaper said. Videos on social media showed a large fire and people throwing rocks through the windows of a building as voices shouted “liberty” in the background. Reuters was able to verify the location ​of one video in Moron, which is on Cuba’s northern coast about 250 miles (400 km) east of the capital Havana near the tourist resort of Cayo Coco. Checks showed it was recent, but could not pinpoint the exact date. The protest appeared to provoke a response from Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who said later in the day on social media that anger over the prolonged ...
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