Author: Disha Mishra

Russian special forces crept miles through a major gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces as part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk, pro-Russian war bloggers said. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized about 1,300 square km of Russia’s Kursk region in August last year in what Kyiv said was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to force Russia to shift military forces from eastern Ukraine. In its daily update on the situation in Kursk, Russia’s Defence Ministry said its…

(Forelines) – Israel and Hamas signaled on Saturday they were preparing for the next round of ceasefire negotiations, as mediators pushed forward with talks to extend the fragile 42-day truce that started in January, according to Reuters. Hamas stated there were “positive indicators” for the start of the ceasefire’s second-round talks but did not elaborate. Israel further stated it was preparing for talks. “Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the U.S., and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations,” according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office report. A…

(Forelines) – Ahmed Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, stated current developments are within “expected challenges”, according to Arab media reported on Sunday, as clashes continue between forces aligned to the new Islamist rulers and fighters from deposed leader Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect. Ahmed Sharaa also urged for national unity in a video shared by Arab media, including Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya TV, which featured him addressing at a mosque. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated on Saturday that two days of clashes in the country’s coastal region have died over 1,000 people.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Iran will not be bullied into negotiations, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to the country’s top authority to negotiate a nuclear deal. In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal” to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. At a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said the aim of Washington’s offer for negotiations was to “impose their own expectations”, Iranian state media reported. “The insistence of some bullying governments on…

At least 11 people were died and 30 injured, including five children, in Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s eastern city of Dobropillia overnight, stated by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Saturday. Russian forces striked Dobropillia with ballistic missiles, several rockets, and drones, causing damage to eight multi-storey buildings and 30 vehicles, as per the ministry. The attack resulted in the deaths of 11 people, including five children, and left 30 others injured. “While extinguishing the fire, the occupiers struck again, damaging the fire truck,” stated by the ministry on the Telegram messenger app. Photographs of partially destroyed buildings…

(Forelines) – On Wednesday, Denmark’s foreign minister stated that it was important that United States President Donald Trump had recognised Greenland’s right to self-determination while reiterating an interest in acquiring the island in his address to Congress. Donald Trump on Tuesday painted a picture of prosperity and safety for the people of Greenland, an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, which Trump has stated he wants to make a part of the U.S. Opinion polls suggest that most Greenlanders oppose joining the United States, although a majority favour eventual freedom from Denmark, while the Danish government has stated the…

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Republican U.S. President Donald Trump from firing the Democratic chair of a U.S. agency that hears appeals by federal government employees when they are fired or disciplined. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., ruled, opens new tab that the president could not remove Cathy Harris from her position at the Merit Systems Protection Board before her term expires without cause. The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, had on February 18 issued a temporary restraining order that required Harris to be reinstated as the board’s chair while he considered…

Arab leaders meet in Cairo on Tuesday with Egypt to present a plan for Gaza that would sideline Hamas and create interim bodies run by Arab, Muslim and Western states in contrast to U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea of a “Middle East Riviera”. Who will run Gaza is the big unanswered question in negotiations over the future of the Palestinian enclave shattered by 15 months of Israel’s war with Hamas. The militant group has said it rejects any solution imposed on the Gaza Strip by outsiders. Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states have for almost a month been consulting over…

Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defence cooperation with Moscow, a Reuters review of travel records and employment data indicates. The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight. The booking records include the men’s passport numbers, with six of the seven having the prefix “20”. That denotes a passport used for official state business,…

U.S. President Donald Trump paused military aid to Ukraine following last week’s clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, potentially hampering Ukraine’s efforts to fend off Russia as he pivots towards warmer relations with Moscow. Trump upended U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia upon taking office in January, opening talks with Moscow. The reversal culminated in an explosive confrontation with Zelenskiy at the White House on Friday, in which Trump upbraided him for being insufficiently grateful for Washington’s backing. “President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as…