Swedish prime minister to attend Sunday's 'Coalition of the Willing' meeting, spokesperson says
Kristersson will however not fly to Washington together with Zelenskiy alongside other European leaders on Monday, the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Marie MannesEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
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The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Congo and M23 rebels miss deadline to reach Doha peace deal
FILE PHOTO: An M23 rebel walks on the outskirts of Matanda which is controlled by M23 rebels, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, March 22, 2025. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo KINSHASA (Reuters) -The Congolese government and M23 rebels have missed Monday's deadline to reach a peace agreement in Doha, raising fears that tensions between the two parties might derail talks and reverse progress made to end the conflict. Fighting in eastern Congo has intensified this year, with the M23 group launching an offensive that allowed it to capture the two largest cities in the region. Under a mediation effort hosted by Qatar, Congo and the rebels signed a declaration of principles on July 19 in which they vowed to start negotiating a deal no later than August 8 with the goal of reaching it by August 18. The AFC-M23 Movement said in a statement on Sunday that only the full implementation of the declaration of principles, which includes the release of prisoners, would enable the next round of talks to proceed. A senior AFC source said on Monday that while rebels didn't expect significant progress from the talks, they would send a small delegation in the coming days due to Qatar's pressure as negotiators. "Our delegation will simply reinforce the need to implement these measures before we can engage in negotiations," the source said. A governmental source said authorities had received a draft agreement from the mediation team, and both parties are working on their comments before delegates return to Doha later this week. It added that the release of prisoners is a complicated prerequisite because it can be a subject of negotiations rather than a condition to continue talks. A Qatari official told Reuters on Sunday that while the timeline outlined in the declaration of principles had not been met, both parties expressed a willingness to continue negotiations. (Reporting by Ange Kasongo in Kinshasa, Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi and Andrew Mills in Doha; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Ayen Deng Bior, Jessica Donati and Sharon Singleton)
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Thousands of Palestinians leave Gaza City fearing Israeli offensive
CAIRO: Fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory. Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City has stirred alarm abroad and at home, where tens of thousands of Israelis on Sunday held some of the largest protests since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held by Palestinian fighters in Gaza since Oct 7, 2023. The planned offensive spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts to forge a deal between Israel and Hamas fighters in Gaza, and a Hamas official said on Monday the group had approved the latest ceasefire proposal. The official did not provide further details, and it was not immediately clear what they accepted. Hamas has responded positively in the past while proposing amendments unacceptable to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas's last big urban bastion. But, with Israel already holding 75 per cent of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare. Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on Oct 7, said he feared the consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City. "I'm scared that my son would be hurt," he told Reuters in Tel Aviv on Monday. In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests soon to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory and wrought a humanitarian disaster, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive. An Israeli armoured incursion into Gaza City could displace hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times during the war. Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south. With the Israeli offensive looming, Mheisen put the number of tents needed for emergency shelter at 1.5 million, saying Israel had allowed only 120,000 tents into the territory during a January–March ceasefire. The UN humanitarian office said last week 1.35 million people were already in need of emergency shelter items in Gaza. "I am heading south because I need to ease my mental state," Mousa Obaid, a Gaza City resident, told Reuters. "I do not want to keep moving left and right endlessly. There is no life left, and as you can see, living conditions are hard, prices are high, and we have been without work for over a year and a half. It is very, very difficult." A protest by unions is scheduled for Thursday in Gaza City, and people took to social media platforms vowing to participate, which will raise pressure on Hamas. Diplomatic Deadlock The last round of indirect ceasefire talks ended in deadlock in late July, with the sides trading blame for its collapse. Israel says it will agree to cease hostilities if all the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its arms – the latter demand publicly rejected by the Islamist group until a Palestinian state is established. A Hamas official told Reuters on Monday the group rejects Israeli demands to disarm or expel its leaders from Gaza. Sharp differences also appear to remain over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how humanitarian aid will be delivered around the enclave, where malnutrition is rife and aid groups warn of unfolding famine. Underscoring the gaps in talks on a ceasefire, US President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday: "We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be." On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was preparing to help equip Gazans with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave. It did not provide further details on quantities or how long it would take to get the equipment into the enclave. "Existing tents where people are living (in the south) have worn out and won't protect people against rainwater. There are no new tents in Gaza because of the Israeli restrictions on aid at the border crossings," Palestinian economist Mohammad Abu Jayyab told Reuters. He said some Gaza City families had begun renting property and shelters in the south and moved in their belongings. "Some people learned from previous experience, and they don't want to be taken by surprise. Also, some think it is better to move earlier to find a space," Abu Jayyab added. The war began when Hamas-led fighters stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel's ensuing air and ground war in Gaza, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants. Five more Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday, raising the number of people who have died of those causes to 263, including 112 children, since the war started. Israel disputed the figures provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Factbox-What does Ukraine's constitution say about territorial changes?
A drone view shows the ruins of residential buildings in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka), which was destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, August 7, 2025. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo KYIV (Reuters) -Territorial questions are certain to be a key area of focus when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders meet U.S. President Donald Trump for talks on Monday to map out a possible peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and the U.S. president has said "land-swapping" and changes to territory will be crucial for any settlement. Two sources briefed on Russian thinking said on Saturday that Putin and Trump have discussed a proposal requiring Ukraine to fully withdraw troops from the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the eastern Donetsk region. UKRAINE'S CONSTITUTION ON THE ISSUE OF TERRITORY Any changes to Ukraine's territory would have to be settled in Ukraine by a referendum, according to the country's constitution. "Issues of altering the territory of Ukraine are resolved exclusively by an All-Ukrainian referendum," Article 73 says. The question can be put to a referendum by popular initiative if the signatures of three million eligible Ukrainian voters are gathered from at least two thirds of the country's regions, it says. UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT STANCE Ukraine, like its European allies, strongly opposes the idea of legally recognising any Ukrainian territory as Russian. But it has tacitly acknowledged it will almost certainly have to accept some de facto territorial losses. Zelenskiy has said talks to end the war should take the current front line as their starting point and cannot begin by Kyiv having to withdraw its troops from parts of its own sovereign territory that Russia does not control. He has said he does not have a mandate to give away any of the country's territory, and that tracts of state land cannot be traded around as if they were his private property. Zelenskiy has also said that if Kyiv withdrew troops from the heavily fortified eastern Donetsk region, it would open up Ukraine to the threat of Russian advances deeper into less well-defended Ukrainian territory. TRUMP'S STANCE The U.S. president has publicly criticized Zelenskiy for saying he could not violate the constitution by agreeing to give away territory. "I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskiy was saying: 'Well, I have to get constitutional approval'. I mean, he has got approval to go into war, kill everybody but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there will be some land swapping going on", he told the press on August 11. UKRAINIANS' VIEW A clear majority of Ukrainians want a negotiated settlement, according to opinion polls, but they also oppose recognising Ukrainian land as Russian. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology says that an opinion poll it conducted in June showed that 68% of those questioned oppose the idea of officially recognising "some parts" of occupied land as Russian, while 24% are open to this. The same survey showed that 78% are against the idea of giving up on land that Kyiv's troops still control. The pollster did not survey opinions in areas occupied by Russia. (Reporting by Yuliia DysaWriting by Tom BalmforthEditing by Frances Kerry)
