Regional
Egypt’s Sisi makes first presidential visit to Turkey in 12 years
Erdogan met Sisi at Ankara airport on Wednesday and the two then travelled in the same car to the presidential palace for around two hours of talks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair the long-frozen ties between the regional powers during talks in Ankara, in the first such presidential visit in 12 years.
Relations between Ankara and Cairo collapsed in 2013 after Egypt’s then-army chief Sisi led the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, a Turkish ally who had become Egypt’s first democratically elected president the year before, Reuters reported.
Ties between the two countries began thawing in 2020 when Ankara launched a diplomatic drive to ease tensions with its estranged regional rivals, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Last year, Ankara and Cairo mutually reappointed ambassadors and Turkey said it would also provide Cairo with armed drones. Erdogan travelled to Cairo in February for his first trip to Egypt since 2012.
He met Sisi at Ankara airport on Wednesday and the two then travelled in the same car to the presidential palace for around two hours of talks.
“With a win-win mindset, we will carry our multi-dimensional ties forward,” Erdogan said, adding Ankara particularly wanted to deepen ties with Egypt on natural gas and nuclear energy.
Ministers from the two countries signed 18 memorandum of understanding on cooperation in energy, defence, tourism, health, agriculture, finance, culture, education, and transport.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Erdogan reiterated that Turkey and Egypt wanted to boost annual trade by $5 billion to $15 billion in the next five years.
He added that Ankara and Cairo shared a “common stance” on the Palestinian cause, while Sisi said they were both calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to violence in the West Bank.
Turkey, which has condemned Israel for its war against Hamas militants in Gaza, has sent thousands of tonnes of aid to Egypt for Palestinians and praised Cairo’s humanitarian efforts and role as negotiator in the talks on a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Sisi said they also discussed the situation in Libya, over which the two countries have long been at odds and backed opposing factions in an unresolved conflict.
“We stress that it is important to turn the page on the ongoing crisis through holding presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously with the exit of illegal foreign forces and mercenaries from the country, and put an end to the presence of armed militias to end the division,” he said.
Regional
At least 15 dead in stampede at New Delhi railway station
The incident occurred around 8pm local time on two platforms as passengers waited to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the Hindu Maha Kumbh festival is being hosted

At least 15 people died and another 15 were injured in a stampede at the main railway station in India’s capital New Delhi on Saturday night, the chief minister of the capital territory told reporters early on Sunday.
The incident occurred around 8pm local time on two platforms as passengers waited to board trains to Prayagraj city, where the Hindu Maha Kumbh festival is being hosted, media reports said.
The death toll included 10 women and three children, local media said.
Media showed images and videos of crowds pouring over each other at the station, following the incident, as police and relief teams toiled to ease the congestion, Reuters reported.
Delhi’s chief minister Atishi, who only uses one name, said on X that many of the victims were pilgrims who were going to attend the Maha Kumbh.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some other federal ministers confirmed the stampede incident in posts on X without disclosing the death toll.
“Distressed by the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones,” Modi said on X.
India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X that he had spoken to the railway minister and taken stock of the situation.
An enquiry was ordered into the incident and four special trains were dispatched to evacuate the rush caused at the railway station, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X, adding that the situation is now under control.
“The entire team is working to assist all those who have been affected by this tragic incident,” he said.
Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh in northern India last month as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival.
Regional
Three Israeli hostages freed in Gaza, Israel begins releasing 369 Palestinians in exchange

Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha (Alexander) Troufanov were freed in Gaza on Saturday and Israel began releasing some 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange, after mediators helped avert a ceasefire collapse.
The three Israelis were led onto a stage with Palestinian Hamas militants armed with automatic rifles standing on each side of them at the site in Khan Younis, live footage showed, before they were taken into Israel by Israeli forces, Reuters reported.
Shortly afterwards, the first bus carrying freed Palestinian prisoners and detainees departed Israel’s Ofer jail in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, live footage showed. The bus arrived in Ramallah to a cheering crowd, some waving Palestinian flags.
The swap of the three Israelis for the 369 Palestinians eased fears that the ceasefire agreement could collapse before the end of the 42-day first stage of a ceasefire deal in effect since January 19.
In what has become known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, people broke into cheers and tears when they heard the Red Cross was on its way to deliver the three to Israeli military forces in the Gaza Strip.
They appeared relieved to see that the trio was in apparently better physical condition than another three freed last week who appeared emaciated and weak.
Residents of Israeli kibbutz communities near the Gaza border lined the road cheering and waving Israeli flags as the vehicles carrying the hostages out of Gaza passed by.
Dekel-Chen, a U.S.-Israeli, Troufanov, a Russian Israeli, and Horn, whose brother Eitan was also abducted, were seized in Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities around the Gaza Strip that was overrun by Hamas gunmen on October 7, 2023.
Some of the dozens of masked Hamas fighters deployed at the handover site carried rifles seized from the Israeli military during the October attack, Hamas sources said.
On the handover stage in Khan Younis, the hostages were made to give short statements in Hebrew and militants presented one of them, Iair Horn, with an hourglass and photo of another Israeli hostage still in Gaza and his mother, reading “time is running out (for the hostages still in Gaza)”.
Troufanov was abducted with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend – all of whom were released in the brief November 2023 truce. His father was killed in the attack on Nir Oz, one of the worst-hit communities, where one in four people either died or were taken hostage.
On October 7, Dekel-Chen, 36, left his pregnant wife and two little daughters in the family safe room to go out and fight the gunmen rampaging through the kibbutz. With his release, he will meet his youngest daughter for the first time.
Argentina-born Horn, 46, who managed the Nir Oz pub, was taken captive together with his younger brother Eitan who was visiting that day. Horn appeared to have lost considerable weight in captivity.
“Now, we can breathe a little. Our Iair is home after surviving hell in Gaza. Now, we need to bring Eitan back so our family can truly breathe,” Horn’s family said in a statement.
Nineteen Israeli and five Thai hostages have been released so far, with 73 still in captivity, around half of whom have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
THREATS
Hamas had earlier threatened not to release more hostages after it accused Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire by blocking aid from entering Gaza, drawing counterthreats of a resumption of fighting from Israel, which called up reservists and placed its forces on high alert.
The emaciated appearance of the three hostages freed last week and accounts of abuse by other hostages released since January 19 when the truce took effect have set off Israeli protests demanding the government stick to the ceasefire and pursue the next stage to bring all remaining hostages home.
In an apparent effort to head off some of the criticism of hostage mistreatment, Islamic Jihad, the militant group that is allied with Hamas and held Troufanov, released a video of him on Friday, showing him eating and fishing at the Gaza beach.
Prospects for the ceasefire surviving have also been clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be moved permanently out of Gaza, and for the enclave to be turned over to the U.S. to be redeveloped. That call was flatly rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Western allies.
Hamas agreed last month to hand over 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children and sick, wounded and older men, in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, during a six-week truce during which Israeli forces would pull back from some of their positions in Gaza.
Before Saturday, 16 of the 33 Israeli hostages had been returned, along with five Thais who were handed over in an unscheduled release. That left 76 hostages still in Gaza, only around half of whom are thought to be alive.
The truce was intended to open the way for a second phase of negotiations to return remaining hostages and complete the withdrawal of Israeli forces before a final end to the war and the rebuilding of Gaza, which now lies largely in ruins, facing shortages of food, running water and electricity.
Israel invaded the coastal enclave after the Hamas-led attack on communities in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and taking 251 as hostages.
The Israeli military campaign that followed has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, destroyed many of its buildings and left most of the population homeless.
Regional
Iran’s Khamenei cites need to further develop Iran’s military after Trump threats
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday questioned U.S. sincerity in seeking talks with Tehran while imposing tougher sanctions echoing those Trump implemented during his first, 2017-21 term in office.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Iran should further develop its military, including its missiles, after U.S. President Donald Trump made threats of force against Tehran if it refused to negotiate over its nuclear programme, Reuters reported.
Khamenei spoke a day after Iran’s U.N. ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, condemned what he called “reckless and inflammatory statements” by Trump in interviews with the New York Post and Fox News in which he said he preferred doing a deal to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon to bombing the country.
“Progress should not be stopped, we cannot be satisfied (with our current level). Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward,” Khamenei said, citing a need to focus on innovation in the Iranian military.
“Today, our defensive power is well-known, our enemies are afraid of this. This is very important for our country,” he added after visiting a Tehran exhibition showcasing the latest developments in Iran’s defence sector.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said that during the exhibition a jet-powered “suicide drone” – loitering munitions that hover over targets – was unveiled with imagery of a submarine-launched kamikaze drone displayed for the first time, read the report.
Tehran insists its ballistic missile programme is purely defensive but it is seen in the West as a destabilising factor in a volatile, conflict-ridden region.
Khamenei, who said on Friday that talks with the United States were “not smart, wise or honourable”, made no mention of Trump in his remarks on Wednesday
Trump last week restored his “maximum pressure”, policy towards Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero to push the Islamic Republic into a deal that would severely constrain its disputed nuclear programme.
Western powers have long suspected that Iran’s uranium enrichment programme is a disguised project to develop nuclear bomb material. Iran denies this, saying it seeks nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday questioned U.S. sincerity in seeking talks with Tehran while imposing tougher sanctions echoing those Trump implemented during his first, 2017-21 term in office.
Iravani, Tehran’s United Nations ambassador, wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that the Trump administration’s policy “reinforces unlawful, unilateral coercive measures and escalates hostility against Iran.”
Though Iran has long denied nuclear weapon ambitions, it is “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to 60% fissile purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters in December, Reuters reported.
Tehran has in recent months announced new additions to its conventional weaponry, such as its first drone carrier and an underground naval base amid rising tensions with the U.S. and its regional arch-enemy Israel.
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