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Macron to meet Zelensky in Paris on Friday

Macron to meet Zelensky in Paris on Friday
French President Emmanuel Macron will host Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in Paris for talks on the war-battered nation's needs, the Elysee palace announced. (AFP/File)
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Updated 04 June 2024
AFP
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Macron to meet Zelensky in Paris on Friday

Macron to meet Zelensky in Paris on Friday
  • The meeting between the two leaders is set to take place after D-Day commemorations
  • Zelensky will also deliver a speech in France’s National Assembly
Updated 04 June 2024
AFP
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PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will host Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in Paris for talks on the war-battered nation’s needs, the Elysee palace announced.
“As Russian strikes intensify on the front line and against energy infrastructure, the two presidents will discuss the situation on the ground,” the presidential palace said Tuesday.
The meeting between the two leaders is set to take place after D-Day commemorations.
The Ukrainian president, who will be welcomed by France’s Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu with military honors on Friday morning, will visit a site of the Franco-German arms group KNDS near Paris.
The defense group makes artillery guns being used in Ukraine.
Zelensky will also deliver a speech in France’s National Assembly and meet with the speaker of the lower house Yael Braun-Pivet, who visited Ukraine in March.
News of his speech met with criticism from the opposition, with the leader of right-wing Republicans in parliament, Olivier Marleix, saying it was “inappropriate” to invite Zelensky to speak just days before the upcoming European elections.
Braun-Pivet said the date of his visit was “on the occasion of the 80th anniversary” of the D-Day landings.
France hosted a conference in February on providing support for Ukraine, after which Macron announced measures to provide more weapons to Kyiv and did not rule out sending soldiers to Ukraine — sparking controversy among his allies.
Earlier Friday, Moscow’s top diplomat warned that French military instructors training soldiers in Ukraine would be a “legitimate target” for Russian strikes, amid reports France could send trainers to the country.
Paris does not officially have military personnel assisting or training Ukrainian forces in Ukraine at the moment, but Kyiv said last week it was “in talks” with France on the issue.

Topics: French President Emmanuel Macron Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky d-day

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Airstrikes target suspected Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan

Airstrikes target suspected Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan
Updated 50 sec ago
AP
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Airstrikes target suspected Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan

Airstrikes target suspected Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan
  • The strikes were carried out in a mountainous area in Paktika province bordering Pakistan, said the officials
Updated 50 sec ago
AP

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Pakistan in rare airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan on Tuesday, dismantling a training facility and killing some insurgents, four security officials said.
The strikes were carried out in a mountainous area in Paktika province bordering Pakistan, said the officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record. It was unclear whether the jets went deep inside Afghanistan, and how the strikes were launched.
No spokesman for Pakistan’s military was immediately available to share further details. But it was the second such attack on alleged hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban since March, when Pakistan said intelligence-based strikes took place in the border regions inside Afghanistan.
In Kabul, the Afghan Defense Ministry condemned the airstrikes by Pakistan, saying the bombing targeted civilians, including women and children.
It said that most of the victims were refugees from the Waziristan region.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this a brutal act against all international principles and blatant aggression and strongly condemns it,” the ministry said.
Local residents said at least eight people, including women and children, were killed in the airstrikes by Pakistan. They said the death toll from the strikes may rise.
In a post on the X platform, the Afghan defense ministry said the Pakistani side should know that such unilateral measures are not a solution to any problem.
“The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered but rather considers the defense of its territory and territory to be its inalienable right.”
The strikes came hours after Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, traveled to Kabul to discuss a range of issues, including how to enhance bilateral trade, and improve ties.
Sadiq during the visit met with Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, to offer his condolences over the Dec. 11 killing of his uncle Khalil Haqqani. He was the minister for refugees and repatriation who died in a suicide bombing that was claimed by a regional affiliate of the Daesh group.
Sadiq in a post on X said he also met with Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and he “held wide ranging discussions. Agreed to work together to further strengthen bilateral cooperation as well as for peace and progress in the region.”
A delegation of the pro-Taliban Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam also visited Kabul on Tuesday to convey condolences over the killing of Haqqani’s uncle.
Islamabad often claims that the Pakistani Taliban use Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan, a charge Kabul has denied.
Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security expert, said Tuesday’s airstrike “represents a clear and blunt warning to Pakistani Taliban that Pakistan will use all the available means against the terrorist outfit both inside and outside its borders.” However, it is not an indiscriminate use of force and due care was taken by Pakistan in ensuring that only the terrorist bases were hit and no civilian loss of life and property took place, he said.
The Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.
The TTP has stepped up attacks on Pakistani soldiers and police since November 2022, when it unilaterally ended a ceasefire with the government after the failure of months of talks hosted by Afghanistan’s government in Kabul. The TTP in recent months has killed and wounded dozens of soldiers in attacks inside the country.

Topics: Pakistani Taliban Afghanistan airstrikes

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On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
Updated 24 December 2024
AFP
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On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
  • Pope had drawn an angry response from Israel at the weekend for condemning the “cruelty” of Israel’s strikes in Gaza that killed children
Updated 24 December 2024
AFP

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis opened the “Holy Door” of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, launching the Jubilee year of Catholic celebrations set to draw more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome.
The 88-year-old pontiff, who has recently been suffering from a cold, was pushed in a wheelchair up to the huge, ornate bronze door and knocked on it, before the doors opened.
In a ceremony watched on screens by thousands of faithful outside in St. Peter’s Square, the Argentine pontiff went through the door followed by a procession, as the bells of the Vatican basilica rang out.
Over the next 12 months, Catholic pilgrims will pass through the door — which is normally bricked up — by tradition benefiting from a “plenary indulgence,” a type of forgiveness for their sins.
Pope Francis then presided over the Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter’s, where he turned once again to the victims of war.
“We think of wars, of machine-gunned children, of bombs on schools and hospitals,” he said in his homily.
The pope had drawn an angry response from Israel at the weekend for condemning the “cruelty” of Israel’s strikes in Gaza that killed children.
He was due to deliver his traditional Christmas Day blessing, Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world), at midday on Wednesday.
Some 700 security officers are being deployed around the Vatican and Rome for the Jubilee celebrations, with measures further tightened following Friday’s car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Germany.
Much of Rome has also been given a facelift in preparation, with monuments such as the Trevi Fountain and the Ponte Sant’Angelo cleaned up and roads redesigned to improve the flow of traffic.
Many residents have questioned how the Eternal City — where key sites are already overcrowded and public transport is unreliable — will cope with millions more visitors next year.
Key Jubilee projects were only finished in the last few days after months of work that turned much of the city into a building site.
Inaugurating a new road tunnel at Piazza Pia next to the Vatican on Monday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it had taken a “little civil miracle” to get the project finished in time.
Over the course of the next few days, Holy Doors will be opened in Rome’s three major basilicas and in Catholic churches around the world.
On Thursday, Pope Francis will open a Holy Door at Rebibbia prison in Rome and preside over a mass in a show of support for the inmates.
Organized by the Church every 25 years, the Jubilee is intended as a period of reflection and penance, and is marked by a long list of cultural and religious events, from masses to exhibitions, conferences and concerts.
“It’s my first time in Rome and for me, to be here at the Vatican, I feel already blessed,” said Lisbeth Dembele, a 52-year-old French tourist visiting St. Peter’s Square earlier.
The Jubilee, whose motto this year is “Pilgrims of Hope,” is primarily aimed at the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics, but also aims to also reach a wider audience.
Traditions have evolved since the first such event back in 1300, launched by Pope Boniface VIII.
This year, the Vatican has provided pilgrims with online registration and multilingual phone apps to navigate events.

Topics: xmas2024 Pope Francis

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Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia

Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia
Updated 24 December 2024
AFP
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Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia

Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia
  • At the same time, in the western part of Bosnia, a state of emergency was declared after severe weather blocked all entry and exit points to the municipality of Drvar, cutting off its 17,000 residents
Updated 24 December 2024
AFP

SARAJEVO: Parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina were cut off and more than 170,000 people were left without electricity on Tuesday due to a snowstorm gripping the region.
“Despite efforts and continuous work to repair the faults, the electricity supply situation worsened. Currently, 127,000 metering points are without power,” distributor Elektroprivreda BiH said.
Elektrokrajina, which covers the municipalities of the Serb entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, also announced that around 50,000 of its users are without power.
“All available field teams have been deployed and have been working since the early morning hours to repair the faults,” the company stated.
At the same time, in the western part of Bosnia, a state of emergency was declared after severe weather blocked all entry and exit points to the municipality of Drvar, cutting off its 17,000 residents.
“The situation is extremely difficult. The snow keeps falling. People are stranded in the snow,” Jasna Pecanac, the president of the Drvar Municipal Council, told local media.
Snowdrifts in some villages around Drvar are up to two meters high, and the heavy blizzard is making clearing efforts even more difficult.
“We are requesting assistance for snow clearing. All available machinery is already in the field,” said Pecanac.
The snow is heaviest in the western parts of the country, where a red weather alert is in effect.
In the hilly and mountainous areas of this region, the severe snowstorm has caused numerous faults in the electricity distribution network.
The Serbian official Hydrometeorological Institute has issued a warning that heavy snowfall will continue.

 

Topics: Bosnia

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1 dead after Russian missile hits Ukrainian apartment block

Rescuers carry the body of killed person at the site where apartment building was hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
Rescuers carry the body of killed person at the site where apartment building was hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
Updated 24 December 2024
AP
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1 dead after Russian missile hits Ukrainian apartment block

Rescuers carry the body of killed person at the site where apartment building was hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
  • Gov. Serhii Lysak said at least 11 other people were injured and more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of the four-story apartment block
Updated 24 December 2024
AP

KYIV: A Russian ballistic missile struck a residential building Tuesday in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih and at least one person was killed, local authorities said.
Gov. Serhii Lysak said at least 11 other people were injured and more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of the four-story apartment block.
Social media footage showed one side of the building had almost completely collapsed.
“Unfortunately, we are preparing for difficult news,” Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul wrote on his Telegram channel.
Minutes before his post, Ukraine’s air force alerted a “ballistic missile strike threat” for southern and central regions of Ukraine, later signaling a “high-speed” target flying in the direction of Kryvyi Rih.
The strike came as Ukraine prepared to officially celebrate Christmas for the second time on Dec. 25. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed legislation in July 2023 to bring Ukraine’s public Christmas holiday in line with the majority of other European countries, rather than the later date followed in Russia.
The shift sought to assert Ukraine’s national identity amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas, Ukrainians continue to suffer from endless Russian attacks,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on social media.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Bangladesh says ousted PM will face charges of ‘crimes against humanity’

Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (AFP)
Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (AFP)
Updated 24 December 2024
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Bangladesh says ousted PM will face charges of ‘crimes against humanity’

Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (AFP)
  • Bangladeshi court issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and her ministers in October
  • In 2015, Dhaka returned Indian separatist leader under extradition treaty with Delhi
Updated 24 December 2024
SHEHAB SUMON

DHAKA: Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will face multiple charges of crimes against humanity, the country’s interim government said on Tuesday after sending an extradition request to India. 

Hasina travelled to New Delhi in August during the student-led demonstrations that ended her 15 years in power. The initially peaceful protests, which began in early July, were met with a violent crackdown by security forces, which left hundreds dead and sparked a nationwide uprising against Hasina, forcing her to flee the country. 

In October, a Bangladeshi domestic criminal tribunal issued arrest warrants for Hasina and more than 40 other people linked to the protest killings. 

Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser, Md. Touhid Houssain, said on Monday that his country had sent a diplomatic note to India’s Foreign Ministry asking for Hasina’s return in order to begin a “judicial process.”

“We expect (India) will respond as soon as possible,” Azad Majumder, deputy press secretary of the head of Bangladesh’s interim government Muhammad Yunus, told Arab News. 

There are multiple charges against Hasina, including that she bears responsibility for forced disappearances, and for ordering the killings that took place during the protests, he added. 

“She will face multiple charges against her regarding crimes against humanity, and investigations are underway in this regard,” Yunus said.

India has confirmed reception of the request from Bangladesh. Bangladesh has an extradition treaty with India, which serves as a “commitment that both parties will comply with this instrument,” said Jyotirmoy Barua, a lawyer at the Bangladesh Supreme Court and a human rights activist. 

In 2015, Bangladesh handed over Anup Chetia, a separatist rebel leader whose group had fought Indian rule in the northeastern state of Assam. He was arrested in 1997 for illegal entry into Bangladesh and for possession of large amounts of foreign currency. 

Though Bangladesh expects that India will return Sheikh Hasina in respect of their bilateral treaty and the precedent that was set in Chetia’s case, there are concerns that New Delhi may not comply. 

“India may (refer to) this clause of the treaty that Sheikh Hasina may face ‘political vengeance’ in the trial process and may not receive justice. On these grounds, India may not eventually comply with Bangladesh’s request,” Barua said. 

“So, there is a fear that India may not follow the diplomatic norms here in returning Sheikh Hasina. It depends on the good judgement of Indian leadership.” 

Topics: Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh

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