US and Ukraine concluded ‘productive’ talks in Riyadh: Ukraine defense minister

Ukrainian and US officials began talks on Sunday in Saudi Arabia on proposals to safeguard energy facilities and critical infrastructure. (File Photo)
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Updated 24 March 2025
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US and Ukraine concluded ‘productive’ talks in Riyadh: Ukraine defense minister

  • Ukraine defense minister says talks aim to bring ‘just peace closer’
  • US envoy upbeat, says Russia’s Putin ‘wants peace’; Kremlin warns of ‘difficult negotiations’

RIYADH: The latest round of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Riyadh on de-escalating the war with Russia were “productive and focused,” Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov said Sunday.
“We have concluded our meeting with the American team. The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy,” he said on social media, adding Ukraine was working to make its goal of a “just and lasting peace” a “reality.”

The talks on Sunday focused on proposals to safeguard energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukraine’s defense minister said, part of a diplomatic push by US President Donald Trump to end three years of war.

The meeting, which preceded talks on Monday between the US and Russian delegations, came as US special envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism about the chances for ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

“I feel that (Russian President Vladimir Putin) wants peace,” Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday.

“I think that you’re going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that, you’ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”

Separately, White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said on Sunday the United States was talking through a range of confidence-building measures aimed at ending the war, including on the future of Ukrainian children taken into Russia.

Long journey to peace

Discussions between the United States and Russia were set for Monday, with Russian state media reporting Moscow’s delegation had arrived in Riyadh on Sunday.

But the Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution, saying talks were just beginning and warning of “difficult negotiations” and a long journey to peace.

“We are only at the beginning of this path,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.

He said there were many outstanding questions over how a potential ceasefire might be implemented.

Despite both sides proposing different plans for temporary ceasefires, attacks have continued unabated. A Russian strike on the Ukrainian capital killed three civilians overnight, while Ukrainian drones killed two in Russia, officials said Sunday.

Originally scheduled to take place simultaneously to enable shuttle diplomacy — with the US going back and forth between the delegations — the talks on a partial truce are now taking place one after the other.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian call for a full and immediate 30-day pause, proposing instead a halt in attacks only on energy facilities.

“There are difficult negotiations ahead,” Peskov said in the interview, published on social media.

Peskov said the “main” focus in its talks with the United States would be a possible resumption of a 2022 Black Sea grain deal that ensured safe navigation for Ukrainian farm exports via the Black Sea.

“On Monday, we mainly intend to discuss President Putin’s agreement to resume the so-called Black Sea initiative, and our negotiators will be ready to discuss the nuances around this problem,” Peskov said.

Moscow pulled out of the deal — brokered by Turkiye and the United Nations — in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia’s own exports of farm produce and fertilizers.

Peskov said on Sunday that the “potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide variety of spheres between our countries cannot be overstated.”

“We may disagree on some things but that does not mean we should deprive ourselves of mutual benefit,” he added.

Zelensky urges allies to put pressure on Russia

On the eve of the negotiations, both sides launched fresh drone attacks on the eve of the negotiations.

Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack killed three civilians in Kyiv, including a five-year-old girl and her father.

Deadly strikes on the well-protected city are rarer than elsewhere in the country.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 147 drones at the country in the latest barrage.

Russia said it had repelled nearly 60 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Officials said one man was killed in the southern Rostov region of Russia when his car was set alight by falling drone debris, and a woman was killed in the Belgorod border region, also by a drone attack.

Ukraine’s army, meanwhile, said it had captured a small village in its eastern Lugansk region, a rare battlefield success for Kyiv’s struggling forces.

In an evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “Russia is the only one who is dragging this war out.”

“No matter what we talk about with our partners, we need to push Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes: the one who brought this war must take it away,” he said.

Zelensky urged his country’s allies to put fresh pressure on Russia.

“New decisions and new pressure on Moscow are needed to bring an end to these strikes and this war,” he posted on social media on Sunday.


Macron says France does not want ‘World War III’ over Ukraine

Updated 5 sec ago
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Macron says France does not want ‘World War III’ over Ukraine

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France did not want to unleash “World War III” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and vowed referendums on key issues as he outlined his aims for for the remaining two years of his mandate in a marathon television appearance.
Macron, who came to power in 2017 promising radical change, will step down in 2027 after serving the maximum two terms allowed under the constitution.
On occasion over the last year, Macron has appeared as a lame duck especially after his decision to hold snap legislative elections backfired, leaving the far-right as the biggest party in parliament and his own party a diminished, minority presence.
But recent months have seen a newly energised Macron, boosted by his presence on the international front as he seeks to bring an end to the three-year-war sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We must help Ukraine defend itself but we do not want to unleash a Third World War,” Macron said in the interview that lasted more than three hours.
“The war must cease and Ukraine must be in the best possible situation to go into negotiations,” he added.
But Macron said France was ready to start discussing with other European countries deploying French warplanes armed with nuclear weapons on their territory, as the United States does.
“The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkiye,” Macron said.
“We are ready to open this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come,” he said.
Those who put their points of view in front of Macron ranged from the head of the hard-line CGT union, Sophie Binet, to Tibo Inshape, a muscular and massively followed fitness influencer.
Amid concern about some 600 jobs in France, Macron told Binet that the French operations of steelmaker ArcelorMittal would not be nationalized but vowed to save its two plants in the country.
In a key announcement, he said he favored holding several referendums on the same day for voters to decide on French social and economic “reforms.”
“I want us to organize a series of consultations,” Macron said, adding that the votes would take place on one day in coming months and address “major” economic and social reforms.
While he would not go into details, he was open to a suggestion by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who has proposed holding a referendum on a plan to reduce France’s debt.
However, Macron rejected the idea of putting immigration issues to a popular vote despite repeated requests from the right and far right.
Tackling delicate social issues, the French president spoke out against the wearing of religious symbols, such as the Islamic veil, in sports competitions, but he added that for non-competitive sports practice it was up to sports federations to decide.
While Macron, 47, must step down in 2027 after serving two consecutive terms, he could in theory return in 2032, something no French leader has ever done before.
But he said at the end of the TV marathon he had not yet thought about his future after 2027 and was only thinking of France in his daily work.


New suburban Chicago mayor promises equal rights for Arabs ‘disrespected’ by predecessor

Updated 16 min 12 sec ago
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New suburban Chicago mayor promises equal rights for Arabs ‘disrespected’ by predecessor

  • Jim Dodge tells Arab News all residents deserve same level of respect ‘regardless of their race, religion or national origin,’ and irrespective of any issue they might raise
  • He defeated Keith Pekau, who last year clashed during a village meeting with Arab Americans who asked him to support a ceasefire in Gaza, telling them to ‘go to another country’

ORLAND PARK, ILLINOIS: Jim Dodge, who on April 1 won the election to become mayor of Orland Park in suburban Chicago, unseating a predecessor accused of disrespecting and bullying local Arab Americans, vowed that those residents will now receive “the respect they deserve as community residents, business owners, taxpayers and families.”

In an interview with Arab News, he said that every resident deserves to receive the same level of respect “regardless of their race, religion or national origin,” and irrespective of any particular issue they might want to raise.

Dodge’s comment related to a confrontation during a village board meeting on Feb. 5, 2024, between the former mayor, Keith Pekau, and 75 members of the Arab American community who asked him to support a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The board had passed a similar resolution on Ukraine a few months earlier but Pekau responded to the Gaza request by brushing it aside, criticizing the residents and telling them to “go to another country” if they did not like living in America.

When Arab Americans attending the meeting protested against his comments, Pekau ordered them out of the chamber, paused the meeting until they were gone, and then reconvened with no members of the public present and continued to berate the community over its request.

Dodge described Pekau’s response to the residents of the village as “inappropriate” and “disrespectful,” adding: “We are all people who live in Orland Park and we want to see the best things for our community, for our families and for our children. It’s about attitude. That’s not what we saw at that meeting.

“Nobody should be prejudged because of their race, religion or ethnicity. Orland Park has a strong and vibrant, diverse community of residents and they all deserve respect, regardless of the issues. Arab Americans are no different than any other community we have in Orland Park; Irish, Polish, Hispanics, many others — everyone should be treated with respect and that is what I promise my administration will do.”

Pekau’s abusive response motivated Arab Americans in the area to make an effort to increase voter engagement in the run-up to the elections. More than 1,000 Arab Americans subsequently registered to vote, which played a part in removing Pekau from office.

Dodge, who received 9,539 votes in the mayoral election to Pekau’s 6,960, said what Arab Americans had experienced was similar to the experiences of other communities in the village under Pekau’s brand of leadership. “Together, they all brought this important change,” he added.

Dodge, who held his first board meeting last week, said one of his first priorities will be to restore the village’s committee system, which Pekau dismantled, that allows residents to participate in policy decisions and engage with officials directly on a variety of important issues. He added that he would meet with leaders from all communities to ensure they can engage in this way.

Arab American community leaders welcomed Dodge’s “open-minded approach to government and inclusion.”

Mohammed Jaber, who serves as a board trustee for High School District 230, which contains three high schools with a large proportion of Arab students, said the approach promised by the new mayor was exactly what Orland Park and its Arab American residents need.

“The most important thing is to be involved and work with one another for the betterment of Orland Park,” Jaber told Arab News.

“It doesn’t mean that everyone agrees on an issue, it means that our officials listen and consider the positions and ideas we have as constituents, especially since we are 25 percent of the tax base. That in itself is a major change from the past administration.”

Lena Matariyeh, who won a seat on the Orland Township Board of Trustees in another local election on April 1, said past experiences with Pekau and other nonresponsive local elected officials had shown Arab Americans the importance of being actively engaged with local elections and speaking out on community issues.

“What happens in our local communities, like Orland Park, truly matters,” she told Arab News. “Change begins at the grassroots level and when we come together, regardless of background, we can help shape the future we want to see.

“The recent elections showed an inspiring level of engagement from the Arab American community, and many others who are stepping up, getting involved and making their voices heard. It’s about ensuring that all communities feel represented, respected and included in the decisions that impact their daily lives.”

Hassan Nijem, president of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, praised Dodge for his commitment to respecting all residents, including Arab Americans.

“This is significant that a mayor of a major suburban city has said that he rejects the disrespect the former mayor showed to our community,” Nijem told Arab News.

“Our community came together and we got involved to make change happen, and we did that. We are looking forward to being actively involved in local government issues, to being heard, and to participating in forging the future of Orland Park, which has a large Arab American community.”

Arab Americans need to develop stronger voices in their communities, and the wider country, if they hope to increase their ability to help bring about peaceful, positive change in the Middle East, where their origins lie.

Arab American candidates won 18 of 36 election contests in the Chicagoland suburbs last month, a feat that surpassed previous voting achievements. Orland Park has more than 58,000 residents and is the largest municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago.


Uruguay’s ex-president Jose 'Pepe' Mujica dead at 89

Updated 13 May 2025
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Uruguay’s ex-president Jose 'Pepe' Mujica dead at 89

  • Jose 'Pepe' Mujica was a guerrilla fighter and hero of the Latin American left
  • Mujica won fame as the 'world’s poorest president' for giving away much of his salary to charity

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay’s former president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, a guerrilla fighter and hero of the Latin American left, has died at the age of 89, the government in Montevideo said Tuesday.
“With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” the country’s current president, Yamandu Orsi, said on X.
Mujica won fame as the “world’s poorest president” for giving away much of his salary to charity, during his 2010-2015 presidency.
In May 2024, he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, which later spread to his liver.
His wife Lucia Topolansky said this week he was receiving palliative care.
The man who made Uruguay into a paragon of progressive politics by legalizing abortion, gay marriage and the use of recreational cannabis, campaigned for the left until the end.
In a November 2024 interview with AFP he described the presidential victory of his political heir, history teacher Orsi, as “a reward” at the end of his career.
The blunt-spoken, snowy-haired politician was a fierce critic of consumer culture.
As president he walked the talk by actively rejecting the trappings of office.
He attended official events in sandals and continued living on his small farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, where his prized possession was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.
Tupamaros movement
In the 1960s, he co-founded the Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla movement Tupamaros, which started out robbing from the rich to give to the poor but later escalated its campaign to kidnappings, bombings and assassinations.
During those years, Mujica lived a life of derring-do. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and took part in a mass prison breakout.
But when the Tupamaros collapsed in 1972, he was recaptured and spent all of Uruguay’s 1973-1985 dictatorship in prison, where he was tortured and spent years in solitary confinement.
After his release, he threw himself into politics and in 1989 founded the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP), the largest member of the leftist Broad Front coalition.
Elected to parliament in 1995, he became a senator in 2000 and then agriculture minister in Uruguay’s first-ever left-wing government.
He served just one five-year term as president, in line with Uruguay’s term limits.
Mujica had no children and is survived by fellow ex-guerrilla Topolansky.


Carney says new govt will ‘relentlessly’ protect Canada sovereignty

Updated 13 May 2025
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Carney says new govt will ‘relentlessly’ protect Canada sovereignty

  • “Canadians elected this new government with a strong mandate to define a new economic and security relationship with the United States,” Carney said
  • Carney replied the Canada “won’t be for sale, ever“

OTTAWA: Canada’s new government will relentlessly protect the nation’s sovereignty as it works to redefine fraught relations with the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday as his cabinet was sworn in.

Carney’s election win two weeks ago was largely defined by threats from President Donald Trump, whose trade war and repeated talk of annexing the United States’ northern neighbor upended Canadian politics.

Carney, a former central banker with experience leading through major financial crises, convinced enough voters that he was the right choice to take on Trump, whose tariffs on imported autos and other goods have already cost Canadian jobs.

“Canadians elected this new government with a strong mandate to define a new economic and security relationship with the United States,” Carney said in a statement before his new ministers took their oaths.

Addressing reporters after the ceremony, with a cabinet of Liberal Party loyalists assembled behind him, Carney said his “government will work relentlessly to keep Canada secure as a sovereign nation.”

Trump discussed absorbing Canada into the United States on several occasions in his first Oval Office meeting with Carney last week.

The president insisted it would be a “wonderful marriage” if Canada agreed to his repeated calls to become the 51st US state.

Carney replied the Canada “won’t be for sale, ever,” and referenced the deep hostility among Canadians toward the prospect of a political union with the United States.

Carney’s cabinet retains several key figures involved in negotiating with the Trump administration over tariffs, although some job titles have shifted.

Dominic LeBlanc, who has dealt directly with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in recent weeks, has been named the minister responsible for Canada-US trade.

Former foreign minister Melanie Joly has been moved to industry minister, with Anita Anand replacing her as Canada’s top diplomat.

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne is keeping his post.

Since taking over from Justin Trudeau on March 14 as prime minister, Carney has tried to create distance from the previous Liberal regime, which became deeply unpopular over its decade in power.

His cabinet includes Trudeau allies, but also brings in new faces.
Evan Solomon, a prominent former journalist entering parliament for the first time, has been named minister for artificial intelligence, a new post nodding at Carney’s pledge to transform Canada’s economy.

Carney said his cabinet will be focused on a “core mission,” which is “to create the strongest economy in the G7.”

He promised to act fast on a middle class tax cut and remove inter-provincial trade barriers by Canada Day, on July 1, a move some economist believe could soften the impact of Trump’s tariffs.

Carney had a lucrative career as an investment banker before serving as the governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England.

He is a political novice who will be new to parliament when the House of Commons reconvenes on May 27, opening with a throne speech by King Charles III, the head of state in Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth.

But Carney assured voters his experience in the private sector and as a central banker will help him rebuild Canada’s economy, a message that resonated with voters.

Opinion polls showed the Liberals trailing the Conservatives by more than 20 points at the start of the year, but Carney’s replacing Trudeau, combined with Trump’s threats, sparked an unprecedented comeback.

The Liberals fell just short of the 172 seats needed for majority control of Parliament, but with 170 confirmed wins they will be in a strong position to pass legislation.


Sweden detains suspected spy, TV reports diplomat in custody

Updated 13 May 2025
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Sweden detains suspected spy, TV reports diplomat in custody

  • The suspect had been posted to a number of embassies around the world
  • SAPO was investigating a potential connection between the suspect and the resignation of the government’s national security adviser last week

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s security service has detained a Swedish diplomat on suspicion of espionage, public television SVT reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified sources.
The security service (SAPO) said it had detained a person on suspicion of spying after an operation in the Stockholm area in the last few days, but declined to give further information.
“It is correct that we have a case where the suspicion is spying,” SAPO spokesperson Karin Lutz told Reuters. “One person has been taken into custody.”
SVT said the suspect had been posted to a number of embassies around the world and that SAPO was investigating a potential connection between the suspect and the resignation of the government’s national security adviser last week.
A security service spokesperson said SAPO had noted the media report but declined to comment further.
“The investigation is at an early stage and we cannot say anything due to secrecy considerations,” the spokesperson said.
Tobias Thyberg, a foreign service veteran who in previous roles served as ambassador to both Ukraine and Afghanistan, resigned a day after being named as national security adviser.
Thyberg is not suspect in a crime, SVT said. Thyberg’s predecessor stepped down in January and was then charged with negligent handling of classified information.
Anton Strand, the lawyer appointed to defend the person in custody, told newspaper Aftonbladet his client denied wrong-doing and had filed a criminal complaint against the police over the arrest. He did not immediately respond to Reuters’ attempts to reach him by phone and email.
Swedish authorities have fretted in recent years about increasing threats from both foreign powers like Russia, China and Iran and groups engaging in actions ranging from violent attacks and hybrid warfare to corporate espionage.
In March, SAPO warned that foreign powers are operating in ways that threaten security, using hybrid activities to destabilize Sweden and Europe.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told SVT the government had been informed of SAPO’s operation and the person in custody was suspected “on reasonable grounds” of espionage. Reasonable grounds is the lower of two grades of suspicion in Sweden.
“The investigation has to be carried out and I don’t want to preempt it,” Strommer said in a statement to SVT.