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Ukraine restores diplomatic ties with Syria, Zelenskiy says

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Ukraine and Syria formally restored diplomatic relations on Wednesday as their leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine broke off relations with Syria in June 2022 after ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s government recognised the independence of swathes of occupied Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion, Reuters reported.

Ukraine has worked to engage with Syrian authorities since the December 2024 toppling of Assad, who was for years a staunch Russian ally and allowed Moscow to build up a military foothold on its territory.

“We are pleased with this important step and are ready to support the Syrian people on their path to stability,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram after announcing the restoration of diplomatic relations.

Zelenskiy sent his foreign minister to Damascus last December to hold talks with the new Syrian leadership, urging them to cut Russia’s presence from its territory and promising food aid shipments.

The Syrian leadership said it was hoping for close relations with Kyiv.

Russia, which has given Assad asylum, has itself made visible efforts to build relations with the new Syrian government and sent a big delegation headed by a top energy official to visit earlier this month.

On Wednesday, Zelenskiy told the U.N. General Assembly in his speech that Syria deserved stronger international support, and that Damascus was still having to appeal for an easing of crippling economic sanctions.

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Suspected suicide bombing at police station kills at least 14 in Pakistan, officials say

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At least 14 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside ​a police station in northwestern Pakistan on ‌Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.

The explosion took place ​in the Kabal area of Swat, a district ​in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Reuters reported.

A pro-police rally of ⁠local residents was taking place in the same ​area on Sunday, but it was not immediately ​clear whether the rally was the intended target.

Fida Hussain, a regional police official, said the victims included five police officers and ​eight civilians. The 14th person was believed to ​be the suicide bomber, he told Reuters.

At least 18 people ‌were ⁠wounded, according to a police statement. It said an operation had been launched to arrest anyone who may have assisted the attack.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif ​in a statement ​expressed “deep grief ⁠and sorrow over the suicide blast”.

 

 

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Bomb carried by woman kills three, injures 21 near Moscow restaurant, authorities say

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A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21 in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow ​on Saturday evening, the authorities said.

The explosion occurred just before 2000 ​local time close to an Italian restaurant located in one ⁠of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinkskaya Square, the police said, Reuters reported.

Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said that ​an unidentified woman had tried to get into the restaurant but was stopped by ​a security guard, the state RIA news agency reported.

It said the woman, the security guard and a customer at the Balzi Rossi Italian restaurant had been killed in the ​blast that followed.

Those injured received wounds of varying seriousness, the police said.

Russia’s state ​RIA news agency released video of heavily armed law enforcement officers at the scene, which ‌had ⁠been closed off to the public.

The authorities did not name those killed or injured nor did they say who they thought might have been responsible.

More than four years into a full-scale war with Ukraine, Russia’s FSB security service said earlier ​this year that authorities would step ​up protection for ⁠high-ranking military officials after a series of assassinations and attempted killings it blamed on Kyiv.

The Kommersant daily newspaper cited its ​own sources as saying that the bomb had been intended ​to maim ⁠and kill guests who were enjoying themselves on the restaurant’s summer terrace outside.

It suggested that the bomb had been set off by someone else remotely and ⁠that the ​woman carrying it may not have known ​that it was an explosive device.

The restaurant’s website said the venue had been closed on Saturday for ​a private event.

 

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Trump says he will hold off on fresh Iran attack in hope of quick deal

The Saudi crown prince spoke to Trump, a White House official told Reuters, but did not provide details.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said ​late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran’s nuclear ‌ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.

Iran and “other Middle Eastern Countries” asked for a time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the Strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject ​to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”

Israel “joins me in this commitment,” Trump wrote. Israel did not immediately make a public statement on the issue.

Iran warned the U.S. this ​weekend against any “adventurous action” and said it would retaliate decisively if American forces followed through on Trump’s threats of fresh attacks on Iranian targets.

Iranian ⁠Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s comments in separate phone calls on Saturday with senior Turkish, Pakistani and Saudi officials came just hours after Kuwait’s army said it destroyed hostile drones launched by ​Iran against several vital facilities.

Speaking to Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Araqchi said Iran would respond decisively to any “aggression” and discussed the consequences ​of “destabilizing actions” by the U.S., as well as prospects for heightened regional insecurity, according to Araqchi’s Telegram account.

Araqchi later told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that any attacks by the U.S. and Israel or participation by regional countries in such actions would be met with a “proportionate response.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Trump on Saturday and “expressed concern and asked for clarity” about U.S. plans for Iran, ​a U.S. official told Axios.

The Saudi crown prince spoke to Trump, a White House official told Reuters, but did not provide details.

Nournews, a media outlet affiliated with Iran’s top security body, ​said on Saturday that U.S. attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure would prompt Iranian strikes on oil fields in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the gas fields of Qatar and ‌Israel, saying, “all ⁠will be burned to ashes.”

At a cabinet meeting on Friday at the Camp David retreat, Trump said he believed U.S. negotiators, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, could still reach a deal with Iran, read the report.

But Trump also said he was losing faith in the Iranians, saying, “They break their word so often” — a claim Tehran has frequently leveled at Washington — and said he would be “hitting them.”

Oil prices have stayed high since U.S. and Israeli forces started the war with strikes on Iran on February 28. Trump has ​argued that his stated goal of keeping ​Iran from gaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel ⁠costs in the near term, but the economic pain has put political pressure on him to find a way to end the war.

Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 24% in July, and analysts polled by Reuters expect prices to rise further this year.

The risk of Iranian attacks has deterred ​most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, an important conduit for global energy supplies, since the start of the conflict, sending shockwaves through ​the world economy.

A government ⁠facility in northern Kuwait and civilian property belonging to a company on Bubiyan Island were hit on Saturday, with falling shrapnel causing material damage but no casualties, the Kuwaiti army said.

Adding to the energy industry’s concerns, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen recently began threatening the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait at the other end of the Red Sea from the Suez Canal, another export route for Saudi ⁠crude.

The United Kingdom ​Maritime Trade Operations said on Saturday it had received reports of two maritime incidents off Oman, including one ​in which a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile that damaged the engine room. In the other incident, the master of a tanker reported seeing a large splash and an explosion close to the vessel, though no ​damage was reported.

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