Trump spars with European leader during Ukraine talks over key step to peace
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz broke with the generally optimistic tone of European leaders during their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump on Monday, stating that peace talks could not continue without a ceasefire. This follows Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday and a meeting with Zelenskyy on Monday. Merz, who has been in office since May, issued an impassioned call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, despite Trump having repeatedly expressed his belief that a ceasefire is not necessary to achieve a permanent peace between Russia and Ukraine. Merz thanked the president for arranging the meeting at the White House, calling it “extremely helpful.” However, he said that “the next steps ahead are the more complicated ones.” TRUMP: ZELENSKYY MEETING NOT ‘END OF THE ROAD’ FOR US SUPPORT IN SECURING A PEACE DEAL “Now the path is open. You opened it last Friday, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations,” he said, adding, “And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire at the latest from the next meeting on.” “I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” he went on. “So, let’s work on that.” He urged leaders to pressure Russia to agree to a ceasefire, saying, “Let’s try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of this effort, these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on, at least, a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from the next step on. So, I would like to emphasize this aspect and would like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting wherever it takes place.” In response, Trump, who has said he is determined “to go directly to a peace agreement” without a ceasefire, said, “Well, we’re going to let the president [Zelenskyy] go over and talk to the president [Putin], and we’ll see how that works out.” ‘OUR POSITION IS CLEAR:’ ZELENSKYY AND EU DISMISS CEDING UKRAINIAN LAND TO RUSSIA Trump pointed to his recent successes in helping to broker peace deals between other countries without a ceasefire. “I will say, and again, I say it, in the six wars that I’ve settled, I haven’t had a ceasefire,” he said. “We just got into negotiations and… one of the wars was, as you know, in the Congo, was 30 years, 31 years long. Another one that we settled last week was two great countries, was 35 years going on, and we had no ceasefire.” “So, if we can do the ceasefire, great. And, if we don’t do the ceasefire because many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us. Great points,” he added. PRESIDENT TRUMP TOUTS SOLVING ‘MAJOR WARS’ MEDIA DOESN’T COVER Trump has previously said that if his meeting with Zelenskyy went well, they will work to schedule a trilateral meeting with Putin, presumably to get a peace agreement finalized and signed.
Trump: Europe will ‘take a lot of the burden’ in providing security guarantees for Ukraine
President Donald Trump predicted Monday that European allies would bear the brunt of responsibility providing Ukraine certain security guarantees to prevent Russian aggression, but that the U.S. would also help them. Trump’s comments come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with other European leaders, visited Washington, D.C., to advance peace talks to end the war in Ukraine just days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine. And this is one of the key points that we need to consider,” Trump said Monday during a meeting with European leaders at the White House. “And, we’re going to be considering that at the table. Also, like who will do what? Essentially, I’m optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine.” ZELENSKYY HEADS INTO CRUCIAL TRUMP MEETING AS US WEIGHS SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR KYIV “I think that the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden,” Trump said. “We’re going to help them, and we’re going to make it very secure. We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact. That means the war zone, the war line center. Pretty obvious. Very sad, actually, to look at them and negotiating positions.” Trump said Sunday that Ukraine could end the war immediately if it agreed to cede Crimea to Russia, and abandon its bid for NATO membership. Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff also said Sunday that Putin has agreed to allow the U.S. and other European allies to provide additional protection for Ukraine, similar to protections included in NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause. ZELENSKYY ARRIVES IN WASHINGTON, DC FOR TRUMP MEETING, URGES LASTING PEACE WITH RUSSIA Likewise, Trump said earlier Monday that he hadn’t ruled out the possibility that U.S. troops could be dispatched to Ukraine following a peace negotiation to deter Russian aggression to support other European allies bolstering security for Ukraine. Although he refrained from sharing specific details, Trump said that the U.S. is “going to help them out also. We’ll be involved.” For his part, Zelenskyy said U.S. backing on security guarantees is critical to delivering stability to Ukraine. “Security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts,” Zelenskyy said Monday. “We spoke about it and we will speak more about security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said. “This is very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees.” EUROPEAN LEADERS WILL JOIN TRUMP-ZELENSKYY MEETING, SIGNALING SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe is aware that it will shoulder much of the weight of responsibility tied to various security guarantees — and acknowledged it is necessary in order to preserve each respective country’s safety. “In order to have such a long-standing peace for Ukraine and for the whole continent, we do need the security guarantees,” Macron said. “And the first one is clearly a credible Ukrainian army. For the years and decades to come. And the second one is our own commitments. All of us… You can be sure that the Europeans are very lucid about the fact that they have their fair share in the security guarantees for Ukraine, but their own security is clearly at stake in this situation.”
Potential Pelosi successor re-ups bill to ban ICE from obscuring identities: ‘Shut this mask s–t down’
A high-profile California Democrat erupted at ICE after agents showed up at California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press conference announcing his redistricting plans were meant to confront the Trump administration and Texas Republicans. California state Sen. Scott Wiener, of San Francisco County, expressed his outrage on Reddit, reposting a tweet from Newsom’s press office that mocked President Donald Trump’s all-caps custom. “I’m authoring legislation to shut this ski mask s–t down,” Wiener wrote in bolded letters above an image of Newsom’s office’s tweet, which read: “BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!” (sic). Wiener went on to call Texas’ redistricting process “rigged” and accused “Trump and his cronies” of initiating it. CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS ACCUSE NEWSOM OF ‘SINISTER REDISTRICTING SCHEME’ AFTER TRUMP MOCKERY “Trump’s thugs showed up with ski masks. This situation — California leaders rallying for democracy and Trump’s secret police showing up to intimidate people — encapsulates exactly where our country is right now,” Wiener said. “I’m proud of California for standing up for our democracy, and I look forward to voting for the California redistricting plan next week.” Wiener’s bill would enforce misdemeanor charges against law enforcement who wear any “personal disguise while interacting with the public in performance of their duties, except as specified.” CALIFORNIA’S TOP REPUBLICAN RIPS DEMS BLOCKING ‘OIL GOLDMINE’ AFTER NEW TRUMP PROJECT REBUFFS SCHIFF “By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would additionally state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to ensure that Special Weapons and Tactics team officers can utilize gear necessary to protect their faces from physical harm while they perform their duties, and to enact legislation to require local, state, and federal law enforcement officers to include their name or badge number on their uniforms.” California Democrats, including Newsom, previously enforced the opposite during the coronavirus pandemic, ordering Californians to wear face masks in public. Wiener also filed paperwork earlier this summer to run as a candidate in the 2028 election for the congressional district now represented by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. KRON, which also reported on the fiery Reddit post, asked the lawmaker about the filing. Wiener told the outlet that he intends to run for Pelosi’s seat whenever she vacates it, whether it be in 2026 or the following cycle. “This filing is a critical step to prepare for the serious work of running to succeed one of the icons of American politics.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The 11th Congressional District is rated D+37 by the Cook Political Report, one point more Republican than it was in 2023. Therefore, the Democratic primary election is often indicative of the general’s result. “In a potential race against extremely wealthy candidates who can self-fund, I’ll have to work very hard to prepare to go toe to toe,” Wiener told KRON, citing a “fight for democracy.” Pelosi is 85 years old and has held the seat since she won a special election to succeed the late Rep. Sala Burton, D-Calif., in 1987. Millennial businessman Bruce Lou garnered 19% of the vote in November as Pelosi’s most recent Republican opponent. Lou also slammed the state’s redistricting plans on Friday, calling them a “Gavin-mander.”
Russia pounds Ukraine, kills more civilians before White House meeting
Russian attacks on major Ukrainian cities have killed at least 12 people as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Washington, DC, supported by European leaders, for high-stakes peace talks with United States President Donald Trump that could determine Ukraine’s future and its fate in the war, now in its fourth year. An entire family, including a toddler and a 16-year-old, were among seven people killed in an overnight drone strike on a residential neighbourhood in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, authorities said on Monday. The attack also injured 20 people, including six children. Russian forces killed five people and injured four in attacks in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where some of the fiercest fighting on the ground rages on and where Russian President Vladimir Putin, feeling Moscow has the upper hand, seeks Ukraine’s withdrawal from the third of the region Kyiv still controls. In Zaporizhzhia, a city in the southeast, 17 people were injured in an attack, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov. Russian air raids also targeted the northeastern region of Sumy and the southern region of Odesa. Ukraine’s air force said Russian forces launched 140 drones and four missiles at Ukraine overnight, adding that 88 drones had been downed. Russia has been intensifying its fight in Ukraine. According to the United Nations monitoring mission on Ukraine, about 2,600 drone attacks were recorded in the past month, the highest rate since the beginning of the war, and more than 300 civilians were killed. The Russian drone strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv also injured 20 people, six of whom were children [Handout/State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv via Reuters] Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said on Monday that its drones had struck an oil-pumping station in the Tambov region, a strike 1,923km (1,195 miles) from Ukraine, leading to the suspension of supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Advertisement “As a result of the strike, a fire broke out at the facility. Oil pumping through the Druzhba main oil pipeline was completely stopped,” the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in a statement. In Russia’s border region of Belgorod, four people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack while Russian officials reported shooting down hundreds of drones and munitions. Negotiating an end to the war Zelenskyy called the latest attacks on Ukraine “demonstrative and cynical”. “Putin will commit demonstrative killings to maintain pressure on Ukraine and Europe, as well as to humiliate diplomatic efforts,” he wrote on X. Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Kyiv, said Zelenskyy saw the killing of civilians as a strategy aimed at giving Trump more bargaining chips with which to pressure Ukraine into accepting an unfavourable peace deal. “This shows how much pressure Zelenskyy is under as he goes into … potentially the most vital diplomatic effort to end this war,” Stratford said. Zelenskyy on Monday was expected to meet Trump for talks at the White House alongside a cadre of heavyweight European leaders, including European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen. On the table for discussion are possible land concessions as well as NATO-like security guarantees that Ukraine requires for any peace deal with Russia. To date, Zelenskyy has refused to consider the possibility of ceding Ukrainian territory to bring about peace. It is also forbidden under the Ukrainian Constitution, The meeting comes on the heels of a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that ended with no clear breakthrough on the war in Ukraine. Military analyst Sean Bell said he had little hope that a peace deal would come out of the talks in Washington, DC, either. “The harsh reality is that unless Putin has achieved his objectives, he’s got no appetite for negotiations,” Bell told Al Jazeera. “If President Zelenskyy is doing all the giving, that’s in effect a surrender. Zelenskyy can’t do that,” he continued. At the same time, Bell said he did not expect Russia to accept a deal that entails NATO-like security guarantees for Ukraine. Bell said a “catalyst” was needed to bring the war to a close, the most effective of which he believed to be Trump’s stiff tariffs on buyers of Russian oil and gas, like India. The US president threatened to enact these secondary sanctions but has so far refrained from putting new pressure on Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues. “The fact that Trump has avoided doing that means the killing is going to continue,” Bell said. Advertisement Strength and safety in numbers appear to be factors in the group visit by European leaders with memories still fresh about the hostile reception Zelenskyy received in February from Trump and US Vice President JD Vance in a public White House dressing-down. They castigated the Ukrainian leader as being ungrateful and “disrespectful”. Adblock test (Why?)
UK warns Sally Rooney after novelist pledges to fund Palestine Action
The government of the United Kingdom has warned Irish novelist Sally Rooney against funding Palestine Action after she pledged support to the campaign group banned by the Labour-led government as a “terrorist” group last month. The prime minister’s office said on Monday that “support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act” and warned against backing such organisations. “There is a difference between showing support for a proscribed organisation, which is an offence under the Terrorism Act, and legitimate protest in support of a cause,” a spokesperson was quoted by PA Media. In an opinion piece in the Irish Times on Saturday, Rooney, the author of best-selling novels such as Normal People and Conversations with Friends, criticised the government’s move to ban the pro-Palestinian group. “Activists who disrupt the flow of weapons to a genocidal regime may violate petty criminal statutes, but they uphold a far greater law and a more profound human imperative: to protect a people and culture from annihilation,” she wrote in the article. Palestine Action was banned after its activists broke into a military base in central England in June and sprayed red paint on two planes in protest against the UK’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. What’s Palestine Action? Since its founding in 2020, Palestine Action has disrupted the arms industry in the UK with “direct action”. It says it is “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”. Advertisement Israel has been accused of widespread abuses in its 22 months of war on Gaza. The International Court of Justice in January 2024 said Israeli actions in Gaza were plausibly genocide. Since then, multiple rights organisations have called Israel’s war a genocide. In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes. Rooney said she chose the Dublin-based newspaper to publicise her intention rather than a UK one as doing so “would now be illegal” in Britain after the government banned Palestine Action. “The UK’s state broadcaster … regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can,” she wrote. Hundreds arrested More than 700 supporters of Palestine Action have been arrested in the UK, mostly at demonstrations, since the group was outlawed under the Terrorism Act 2000. “I feel obliged to state once more that like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend, I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it,” Rooney said. The spokesperson from the prime minister’s office said Palestine Action was proscribed “based on security advice following serious attacks the group has committed, following an assessment made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre”. The government ban on Palestine Action came into force on July 5, days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.3m) of damage to two aircraft. The group said its activists were responding to Britain’s indirect military support for Israel during the war in Gaza. Being a member of Palestine Action or supporting the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. It places the campaign group on the same legal footing as ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. More than 500 people were arrested at a protest in London’s Parliament Square on August 9 for displaying placards backing the group. The number is thought to be the highest ever recorded number of detentions at a single protest in the capital. At least 60 of them are due to face prosecution, police said. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has defended the proscription of the group, stating: “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.” Advertisement “The assessments are very clear – this is not a nonviolent organisation,” she said. In her article, Rooney accused the UK government of “willingly stripping its own citizens of basic rights and freedoms, including the right to express and read dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel”. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran’s president visits Armenia for talks on US-backed Azerbaijan corridor
Iran rejects ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ (TRIPP), says the presence of American companies in the region would be ‘worrying’. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is visiting Armenia for talks on a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan near the border with his country, days after Iran said it would block the project included in a United States-brokered peace accord that puts a potential Washington presence on Iran’s doorstep. The land corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), is part of a deal signed earlier this month in Washington between former foes Armenia and Azerbaijan. US President Donald Trump said the deal granted the US exclusive developmental rights to the transport corridor. Washington was also signing bilateral agreements with both countries to increase cooperation in areas like energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Before departing for the Armenian capital Yerevan on Monday, Pezeshkian described the possible presence of American companies in the region as “worrying.” “We will discuss it [with Armenian officials] and express our concerns,” he told state television. The proposed route would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, passing near the Iranian border. Tehran has long opposed the planned transit route, also known as the Zangezur corridor, fearing it would cut the country off from Armenia and the rest of the Caucasus while bringing potentially hostile foreign forces close to its borders. Since the deal was signed on August 8, Iranian officials have stepped up warnings to Armenia, saying the project could be part of a US ploy “to pursue hegemonic goals in the Caucasus region”. Advertisement On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described it as a “sensitive” issue, saying Tehran’s main concern is that it could “lead to geopolitical changes in the region”. “They [Armenian officials] have assured us that no American forces … or American security companies will be present in Armenia under the pretext of this route,” he told the official IRNA news agency. The proposed corridor has been hailed as beneficial by other countries in the region including Russia, with which Iran has a strategic alliance alongside Armenia. Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Tehran would block the initiative “with or without Russia”. Trump “thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years”, Velayati told state-affiliated Tasnim News soon after the deal was signed, adding that the area would become “a graveyard for Trump’s mercenaries”. Moscow cautiously welcomed the deal, saying that it supported efforts to promote stability and prosperity in the region. Similarly to Iran, however, it warned against outside intervention, arguing that lasting solutions should be developed by countries in the region. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan Baku took control of the territory in a military operation in 2023, leading to an exodus of the ethnic Armenian population. Armenia last year agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what Baku described as a “long-awaited historic event”. Adblock test (Why?)
Himachal Pradesh monsoon havoc: IMD warns of heavy rain, Kullu landslide cuts off 15 panchayats, horrifying video emerges
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Meerat Disturbing Video: Over 10 people brutally kicking and beating an army man on his way to join duty in Kashmir goes VIRAL – Reason will shock you
Meerut: The footage showed one of the toll plaza workers striking Kapil with a stick. When a fight with toll plaza workers broke out, the soldier was on his way to the Delhi Airport to board a flight for Srinagar after spending his leave with his family in his village.
Weather Update: Light to very heavy rainfall alert issued in Mumbai, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka; Here’s IMD forecast for next 5 days
India is experiencing a severe monsoon season with heavy rainfall and flooding in several states, prompting the IMD to forecast more intense rain in the coming days. Check here to see full forecast
Nirmala Sitharaman birthday: From BJP spokesperson to leading India’s economy, tracing her remarkable journey
As Nirmala Sitharaman marks her 66th birthday, her journey from BJP spokesperson to India’s first woman finance minister highlights her resilience, leadership, and remarkable political growth.