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UN condemns deadly attack on famine-hit camp in Darfur that killed 40

UN condemns deadly attack on famine-hit camp in Darfur that killed 40

Washington Post5 days ago
CAIRO — The United Nations on Tuesday condemned an attack by a paramilitary group on a famine-hit displacement camp in Sudan's western region of Darfur, killing at least 40 people.
Monday's attack by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, on the Abu Shouk camp outside el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, also wounded 19 others, according to the Emergency Response Rooms, an activist group that tracks Sudan's civil war .
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European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelensky for meeting with Trump
European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelensky for meeting with Trump

Los Angeles Times

time6 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelensky for meeting with Trump

KYIV, Ukraine — European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington for talks with President Trump on ending Russia's war in Ukraine, with the possibility of U.S. security guarantees now on the negotiating table. European leaders, including heavyweights France, Britain and Germany, are rallying around the Ukrainian leader after his exclusion from Trump's summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their pledge to be at Zelensky's side at the White House on Monday is an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the Ukrainian leader's last one in February, when Trump berated him in a heated Oval Office encounter. 'The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated, and so they want to support Mr. Zelensky to the hilt,' said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. 'It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump,' he said. Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Putin agreed at the meeting in Alaska with Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3½-year war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Zelensky, said, 'We welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. And the 'coalition of the willing' — including the European Union -- is ready to do its share.' Von der Leyen was joined Sunday by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in saying they will take part in Monday's talks at the White House, as will the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Mark Rutte. The European leaders' demonstration of support could help ease concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal that Trump says he wants to broker with Russia. Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said European leaders are trying to 'shape this fast-evolving agenda.' After the Alaska summit, the idea of a ceasefire appears all but abandoned, with the narrative shifting toward Putin's agenda of ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that a possible ceasefire is 'not off the table' but that the best way to end the war would be through a 'full peace deal.' Putin has implied that he sees Europe as a hindrance to negotiations. He has also resisted meeting Zelensky in person, saying that such a meeting can only take place once the groundwork for a peace deal has been laid. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Trump, the Russian leader raised the idea that Kyiv and other European capitals could 'create obstacles' to derail potential progress with 'behind-the-scenes intrigue.' For now, the Zelensky meeting offers the Europeans the 'only way' to get into the discussions about the future of Ukraine and European security, Melvin said. But the sheer number of European leaders potentially in attendance means the group will have to be 'mindful' not to give 'contradictory' messages, he said. 'The risk is they look heavy-handed and are ganging up on Trump,' he added. 'Trump won't want to be put in a corner.' Although details remain hazy on what Article 5-like security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe would entail for Ukraine, it could mirror NATO membership terms, in which an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all. In remarks made on CNN's 'State of the Union,' Witkoff said Friday's meeting with Trump was the first time Putin has been had heard to agree to such an arrangement. Zelensky continues to stress the importance of both U.S. and European involvement in any negotiations. 'A security guarantee is a strong army. Only Ukraine can provide that. Only Europe can finance this army, and weapons for this army can be provided by our domestic production and European production. But there are certain things that are in short supply and are only available in the United States,' he said at the news conference Sunday alongside Von der Leyen. Zelensky also countered Trump's assertion — which aligned with Putin's preference — that the two sides should negotiate a complete end to the war rather than first securing a ceasefire. Zelensky said a ceasefire would provide breathing room to review Putin's demands. 'It's impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons,' he said. 'Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it.' Kullab and Leicester write for the Associated Press and reported from Kyiv and Le Pecq, France, respectively. AP writers Pan Pylas in London and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

Israel's growing frustration over the war in Gaza explodes in nationwide protests
Israel's growing frustration over the war in Gaza explodes in nationwide protests

Los Angeles Times

time7 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Israel's growing frustration over the war in Gaza explodes in nationwide protests

JERUSALEM — Israeli police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests Sunday as thousands of protesters demanding a deal to free hostages in the Gaza Strip aimed to shut down the country with a one-day strike that blocked roads and closed businesses. Groups representing families of hostages organized the demonstrations as frustration grows in Israel over plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza's most populated areas, which many fear could further endanger the remaining hostages. Fifty hostages remain, and 20 of them are believed to still be alive. 'We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages,' protesters chanted in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Even some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs now call for a deal to end the fighting. Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lighted bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity. Police said they arrested 38 people. 'The only way to bring [hostages] back is through a deal, all at once, without games,' former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv. Her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, is still being held by Hamas. One protester carried a photo of an emaciated Palestinian child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over the hunger crisis there after more than 250 malnutrition-related deaths, including more than 100 children. An end to the conflict does not seem near. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is balancing competing pressures including the potential for mutiny within his coalition. 'Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas' position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated,' Netanyahu said, referencing the Hamas-led attack in 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and sparked the war. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages earlier this year, far-right members of his Cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the demonstrations 'a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas' hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.' The new offensive would require the call-up of thousands of reservists, another concern for many Israelis. Hospitals and witnesses in Gaza said Israeli forces killed at least 17 aid-seekers on Sunday, including nine awaiting United Nations aid trucks close to the Morag corridor. Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor awaiting a convoy when Israeli snipers fired, first to disperse the crowds, then from tanks hundreds of yards away. He saw two people with gunshot wounds. 'It's either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation,' he said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the Israeli-backed and U.S.-supported distribution points that have become the main source of aid since they opened in May, said there was no gunfire 'at or near' its sites, which are in military-controlled areas. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions. Israel's air and ground war has displaced most of Gaza's population and killed more than 61,900 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says about half were women and children. Two children and five adults died of malnutrition-related causes Sunday, according to the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. The United Nations has warned that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Most aid has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after ending a ceasefire. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed. It is not clear when Israel's military will begin the new offensive in crowded Gaza City, Muwasi and the 'central camps' of Gaza, as Netanyahu describes them. The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, this weekend noted plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones to southern Gaza 'for their protection.' Designated 'safe zones,' however, also have been bombed during the war. War-weary Palestinians on Sunday insisted that they won't leave, arguing that there is 'no safe place' in Gaza. 'There are no humanitarian zones at all,' said Raghda Abu Dhaher, who said she has been displaced 10 times during the war and now shelters in a school in western Gaza City. Mohamed Ahmed also insisted that he won't move south. 'Here is bombing and there is bombing,' he said. Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Sunday, escalating strikes on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who since the war in Gaza began have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah Television said the strikes targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, sparking a fire and knocking it out of service. Israel's military said the strikes were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel. While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its 12-day war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen. Its military later Sunday said it had intercepted another. Metz, Melzer and Magdy write for the Associated Press and reported from Jerusalem; Nahariya, Israel; and Cairo, respectively. AP writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

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