Russia: 79,702 civilians evacuated from Syria’s eastern Ghouta

Children wait to be evacuated from Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Syrian Red Crescent buses on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus on March 19, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 20 March 2018
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Russia: 79,702 civilians evacuated from Syria’s eastern Ghouta

MOSCOW: The total number of civilians, mostly children, who have been evacuated from Syria’s besieged eastern Ghouta district since the start of a humanitarian operation has risen to 79,702, Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
It said in a statement posted on its website that on Monday, 6,046 civilians left the district via humanitarian corridors.


Trump offers to mediate Egypt-Ethiopia dispute on Nile River waters

US President Donald Trump and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (REUTERS)
Updated 5 sec ago
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Trump offers to mediate Egypt-Ethiopia dispute on Nile River waters

  • Egypt says ​the dam violates international treaties and could cause both droughts ⁠and flooding, a claim Ethiopia rejects

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump offered on Friday to mediate a dispute over Nile River ​waters between Egypt and Ethiopia. “I am ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to responsibly resolve the question of ‘The Nile Water Sharing’ once and for all,” he ‌wrote to ‌Egyptian President ‌Abdel ⁠Fattah El-Sisi ​in ‌a letter that also was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account.
Addis Ababa’s September 9 inauguration of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been a source of anger ⁠in Cairo, which is downstream on the ‌Nile.
Ethiopia, the continent’s second-most ‍populous nation ‍with more than 120 million people, ‍sees the $5 billion dam on a tributary of the Nile as central to its economic ambitions.
Egypt says ​the dam violates international treaties and could cause both droughts ⁠and flooding, a claim Ethiopia rejects.
Trump has praised El-Sisi in the past, including during an October trip to Egypt to sign a deal related to the Gaza conflict. In public comments, Trump has echoed Cairo’s concerns about the water issue.