US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will likely hold talks this week on how to reach a ceasefire deal for Ukraine, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Witkoff, who met with Putin for four hours on Thursday in Moscow, said on Sunday that he had arranged the talk between the two leaders as part of Trump’s goal to seal a 30-day ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Witkoff is a longtime friend of Trump and himself a real estate mogul like Trump. He is playing a key role on behalf of the Trump administration in US foreign policy.

In an interview with CNN, Witkoff described his meeting with the Russian leader as “positive.”

Witkoff claimed Putin shared the same “Trump philosophy” and had agreed to end the Ukraine war.

Source: Presstv

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he was seeking to dismiss the head of Israel’s internal security agency, who swiftly called the move political and said the premier expected “personal loyalty”.

Netanyahu and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar have been engaged in a public spat in recent weeks over reforms to the agency, which has been accused of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered war in Gaza.

At the same time, the Shin Bet has been conducting an investigation into some of Netanyahu’s aides for allegedly receiving payments from Qatar even as the Gaza war raged, according to Israeli media reports.

“Due to ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to bring a proposal to the government to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

Attorney general Gali Baharav Miara, a critic of Netanyahu, said the prime minister’s move is “unprecedented” and its legality needs to be assessed.

In a letter to Netanyahu she said he cannot initiate the process “until the factual and legal foundation of your decision is fully clarified, and until the possibility of addressing the issue at this time is determined.”

Netanyahu, in his statement, said that “there must be complete trust between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet,” given that Israel is at war.

“I have had a persistent lack of confidence in the head of the Shin Bet, a distrust that has only grown over time,” he said.

Netanyahu said Bar’s dismissal “is necessary to restore the organisation, achieve all our war objectives, and prevent the next disaster.”

Previously, he has accused Bar of being behind what he called “part of an ongoing campaign of threats and media leaks” aimed at preventing him “from making the necessary decisions to restore the Shin Bet after its devastating failure on October 7”.

‘Personal loyalty’

Following Netanyahu’s announcement, Bar said he did not believe Netanyahu’s decision was related to the failures on October 7, suggesting instead that the motive was political.

“I took responsibility for the agency’s part (in failing to prevent the attack) … it is clear that the intent behind my dismissal is not related to October 7,” said Bar, whose term is due to expire in October 2026.

“The prime minister’s expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest is an entirely improper expectation” that goes against the agency’s ethics, he said.

Bar has led the Shin Bet since 2021, but his relations with Netanyahu were strained even before the Hamas attack, notably over proposed judicial reforms that had split the country.

Relations worsened after the March 4 release of the internal Shin Bet report on the Hamas attack.

It acknowledged the agency’s own failure in preventing the attack, but also said “a policy of quiet had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup”.

The attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory response in Gaza has killed at least 48,572 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.

In his statement on Sunday, Bar repeated previous comments that a broader probe is necessary to understand the failure to stop the attack.

Bar emphasised the need to “investigate all parties, including the government’s policy and the prime minister, not just the IDF (military) and the Shin Bet”.

Bar’s responsibilities appear to have been curtailed already.

Media reports say he was excluded from a recent security cabinet meeting and also the Israeli negotiating delegation for Gaza truce talks in Qatar. The talks are being led by Bar’s deputy, known only as ‘M’.

Bar had been involved in previous sessions of indirect negotiations with Hamas, including those that led to the current fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s main opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid, who’s government appointed Bar, said his political party, Yesh Atid, would file a legal petition with the Supreme Court to appeal Netanyahu’s decision.

Lapid said on X that the move to remove Bar was to “sabotage a serious criminal investigation into the Prime Minister’s Office”.

Source: AFP

Six weeks into his presidency, Donald Trump came to a US Capitol controlled by his Republican Party to take a lengthy victory lap.

“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started,” he told the joint session of Congress.

In typical Trumpian hyperbole, he said that “many” believed his to be the most successful start to a presidency in US history. He noted what he said was a change in the national mood toward “pride” and “confidence”. He compared himself to George Washington, and boasted about the size of his electoral victory.

The whirlwind start to his presidency offered plenty of material for Trump to cover, and he didn’t shy away from it.

He ticked through a lengthy list of tangible accomplishments – hundreds of executive orders and actions, a freeze on foreign aid, lower levels of illegal border crossing, and the withdrawal from international organisations and agreements.

He also spoke at length about his ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports and moves to get “woke ideology” out of US schools and the military.

“Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone, it’s gone, and we feel so much better for it, don’t we?”

Meanwhile, Democrats – who filled up half the audience in the House chamber – sat in icy silence, as the president repeatedly blamed them, former President Joe Biden and “radical left lunatics” for all the nation’s ills.

Several dozen responded by holding up small black signs with words like “false” and “lies”.

The president seemed to enjoy putting the “bully” in the presidential bully pulpit.

He needled his political adversaries, mocking their refusal to cheer his remarks, dusting off his “Pocahontas” nickname for Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, and wryly noting that attempts to prosecute him “didn’t work out” for his opponents. Texas congressman Al Green was not around to see any of that, however.

Source: BBC

The US has twice sided with Russia in votes at the UN to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the Trump administration’s change of stance on the war.

First the two countries opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which was passed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Then they backed a US-drafted resolution at the UN Security Council calling for an end to the conflict but containing no criticism of Russia.

The Security Council resolution was passed but two key US allies, the UK and France, abstained in the vote after their attempts to amend the wording were vetoed.

The competing resolutions were tabled as French President Emmanuel Macron visited President Donald Trump at the White House in an attempt to address their sharp differences over the war.

On Thursday, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will likewise visit the new American leader.

Trump’s White House has upended the transatlantic alliance, currying favour with Moscow and casting doubt on America’s long-term commitment to European security.

That rift was laid bare on the floor of the 193-member UNGA on Monday as US diplomats pushed their limited resolution mourning the loss of life during the “Russia-Ukraine conflict” and calling for a swift end to it.

European diplomats tabled a more detailed text, blaming Russia for its full-scale invasion, and supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“We need to reconfirm that the aggression should be condemned and discredited, not rewarded,” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa.

UNGA members backed the European resolution by 93 votes but, extraordinarily, the US did not abstain but actually voted against it, along with Russia, Israel, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus, Hungary and 11 other states, with 65 abstentions.

The UNGA also passed the US resolution but only after it was amended to include language supporting Ukraine, which led to the US abstaining.

At the much more powerful 15-member UN Security Council, the unamended US resolution – which called for an end to the conflict but contained no criticism of Russia – was passed by 10 votes, with the UK, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia abstaining.

America’s acting envoy to the UN, Dorothy Camille Shea, described the US resolution as a “simple historic statement… that looks forward, not backwards. A resolution focused on one simple idea: ending the war”.

Rarely has the US been so at odds with its supposed European allies.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, the Security Council has been deadlocked by the power of Russia, one of its five permanent members, to veto any resolution there.

For this reason the UNGA has been the main forum for debating the war. But its resolutions are not legally binding for member states, unlike those of the Security Council.

Source: BBC

Brazil’s prosecutor-general Paulo Gonet on Tuesday formally charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, in a plot that also included a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in a plan to remain in power. The alleged plot also included a plan to poison Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

“The members of the criminal organization structured at the presidential palace a plan to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger,’” Gonet wrote in a 272-page indictment. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”

In November, Brazil’s Federal Police filed a 884-page report with Gonet detailing the scheme. They allege a systematic effort to sow distrust in the electoral system, drafting a decree to provide legal cover for the plot, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan and inciting a riot in the capital .

The Supreme Court will analyze the charges and, if accepted, Bolsonaro will stand trial.

The far-right leader denies wrongdoing. “I have no concerns about the accusations, zero,” Bolsonaro told journalists earlier on Tuesday during a visit to the Senate in Brasilia.

“Have you seen the coup decree, by any chance? You haven’t. Neither have I,” he added.

A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As well as participating in a coup d’état, the 34 defendants are accused of participating in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage qualified by violence and serious threat against the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage, according to a statement from the Prosecutor General’s press office.

Gonet said the criminal organization he charged “had as leaders the (then) president himself and his running mate, Gen. Braga Netto.”

“Both accepted, stimulated, and performed acts that are described in our criminal legislation as attacking the existence and the Independence of (the branches) of power and of the democratic rule,” Gonet wrote in his report.

Source: AP

Nawaf Salam, the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, has been named as Lebanon’s new prime minister.

Two thirds of the 128 members of parliament nominated the 71-year-old judge for the post – reserved for a Sunni Muslim under a sectarian power sharing system – during consultations with newly elected President Joseph Aoun. Caretaker PM Najib Mikati got nine votes.

The presidency said Salam would return to Lebanon on Tuesday.

His appointment is another blow to Hezbollah, which had sought to reappoint Mikati but ended up nominating no candidate. The Iran-backed Shia Muslim militia and political party has been significantly weakened by its recent war with Israel.

Source: BBC

Venezuela’s incumbent President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for his third consecutive term in office months after electoral authorities announced him as the winner of the July 2024 presidential election.

President Maduro took the oath of office before parliament on Friday, vowing his third six-year term in office would be a “period of peace”.

He pledged to focus on working towards a stable and prosperous future for all Venezuelans.

“I swear that this new presidential term will be one of peace, prosperity, equality and new democracy. I swear it by history; I swear it on my life. I will keep my word.” Maduro said in a speech during his inauguration.

“Say what you want, do what you must, but this constitutional investiture could not be stopped and is a great victory of democracy in Venezuela,” Maduro said as he took the oath.

His followers erupted into cheers. One of them was Maricarmen Ruiz, 18, who couldn’t hold back her tears.

“I don’t have words to express my emotion, I’m happy,” she was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

It is unclear how many heads of state attended Friday’s inauguration ceremony. Footage showed Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and Cuba’s Miguel Diaz-Canel as Maduro greeted delegates from what he said numbered more than 120 nations.

Maduro was declared winner of the country’s presidential election on July 28 by electoral authorities. He secured 51 percent of the votes. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained 44.2 percent of the votes.

The 2024 presidential election in the South American country was attended by over 800 international observers and watched closely around the world as Venezuela has been subject to US-led sanctions for over a decade now.

US hostility against Venezuela started more than two decades ago with the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution by late Venezuelan anti-imperialist and revolutionary leader Hugo Chavez, however, a more acute crisis unfolded during the mid-2010s as the Barack Obama administration subjected Caracas to extreme sanctions meant to destabilize the economy of the oil-rich country.

The consecutive US administrations followed Obama’s path, upping the ante with harsher sanctions and even failed mercenary plots.

Maduro became president following the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013 and was re-elected in 2018 despite the US-orchestrated opposition.

Since November 2019, the US-led sanctions have pushed inflation in Venezuela to above 4,000 percent.

Maduro’s planning had driven down inflation by an impressive amount to just around 50 percent in a matter of four years.

Source: Presstv

US President Joe Biden has said he thinks he would have defeated Donald Trump and won re-election in November.

Speaking to USA Today in an exclusive interview, Biden did, however, add that he was unsure if he would have had the stamina for another four-year term.

“So far, so good,” the 82-year-old said. “But who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?”

In the wide-ranging interview with Susan Page, Biden also said he was still considering pre-emptive pardons for foes of Donald Trump, including former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney and former senior health official Dr Anthony Fauci.

Biden considering pre-emptive pardons for Trump critics – sources

In the interview published on Wednesday, Biden said he had been “very straightforward with Trump” about the potential pardons during their Oval Office meeting shortly after the November election.

“I tried to make it clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores,” Biden said, adding Trump did not push back, but “just basically listened”.

Biden said his ultimate decision will depend on who Trump selects for his cabinet.

At that same meeting, Biden said Trump was “complimentary” about his economic record.

“He [Trump] thought I was leaving with a good record,” the Democrat said.

The interview with USA Today is the only exit interview Biden has so far given to a print publication.

Media access to Biden has been strictly controlled by the White House – and the president has not held a news conference since he dropped out of the race on 21 July.

In the interview, the outgoing president also defended the full and unconditional pardon he issued to his son, Hunter Biden, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases – tax evasion and illegally buying a gun – despite repeatedly insisting he would not do so.

Biden, who first came to Capitol Hill in 1972 as a US senator, drew criticism from his own party over his apparent reluctance to drop out of the presidential race amid concerns over his age and mental acuity.

Speaking to USA Today, Biden said “based on polling” he believed he would have won, but conceded his age may have affected him in office.

“When Trump was running again for re-election, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old,” Biden said. “But I don’t know. Who the hell knows?”

Following Vice-President Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump, high-ranking members of the Democratic party, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have said the Democrats might have fared better in the election had Biden exited the race sooner.

Source: BBC