World
Ukraine to share revised peace plan with US on Tuesday, Zelenskiy says
Zelenskiy pointed to the delicate balancing act the European powers need to strike as they try to negotiate better terms to the proposed U.S. plan:
Ukraine will share a revised peace plan with the U.S. on Tuesday that is aimed at ending Russia’s war, after talks in London between President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the leaders of France, Germany and Britain.
As the war nears its four-year mark, Kyiv, under pressure from the White House to agree quickly to a peace settlement, wants to balance out a U.S.-backed draft that was widely seen as favourable to Moscow.
Monday’s hastily arranged meeting among British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Zelenskiy was aimed to strengthen Ukraine’s hand.
Zelenskiy told reporters after the meeting that the revised plan comprised 20 points, but that there was still no agreement on the issue of giving up territory – which Moscow has pushed for.
“The mood of the Americans, in principle, is for finding a compromise,” he said. “Of course, there are complex issues related to the territory, and a compromise has not yet been found there.”
He repeated his oft-stated position that Ukraine cannot give up any part of its land.
Zelenskiy later flew to Brussels, where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said in social media posts that any peace deal had to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and guarantee its long-term security.
Zelenskiy, writing on Telegram, described his meeting with the two EU institution chiefs, as well as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, as “good and productive. We are acting in a coordinated and constructive manner.”
Earlier, a British government source had said Monday’s meeting would focus on using the value of Russian assets frozen in the West.
Leaders from Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden urged the European Union to move quickly with a stalled proposal to use those assets to provide funds for Ukraine.
Starmer, Macron, Merz and Zelenskiy are also aiming to get U.S. security guarantees to help deter any further attacks from Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The publication of a U.S. ceasefire plan last month has gone some way to focus the minds of European leaders, who fear that Kyiv could be forced to accept many Russian demands, which some say could destabilise the continent.
But although U.S. officials said they were in the final stage of reaching an agreement, there has so far been little sign that either Ukraine or Russia is willing to sign the framework deal drawn up by Trump’s negotiators.
“We stand with Ukraine and, if there was to be a ceasefire, it has to be a just and lasting ceasefire,” Starmer said after welcoming the leaders to his Downing Street residence.
Macron and Merz also expressed their determination to press on with a firm plan, at a time the German chancellor described as “decisive … for all of us”.
Zelenskiy pointed to the delicate balancing act the European powers need to strike as they try to negotiate better terms to the proposed U.S. plan:
“There are some things we can’t manage without the Americans, things we can’t manage without Europe; that’s why we need to make some important decisions.”
Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in a video address late on Sunday that a “new diplomatic week” was starting.
“First and foremost, security issues, support for our resilience, and support packages for our defence. First and foremost, air defence and long-term funding for Ukraine. Of course, we will discuss a shared vision and common positions in the negotiations,” he said.
Ukraine is enduring one of its toughest periods of the war. Russian troops are grinding forward in the east, and Ukrainian cities and towns are suffering hours of power cuts due to intensified Russian strikes on the energy grid and other crucial infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner brought a revised plan to Moscow last week, then held several more days of talks with Ukrainian officials in Miami, which ended on Saturday with no breakthrough.
Zelenskiy called the discussions constructive but not easy. Trump said on Sunday he was “disappointed” with Zelenskiy, accusing him of not having read the latest proposals backed by the U.S.
World
Death toll from migrant rush into Spanish enclave in North Africa rises to 72
Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.
The death toll from a mass rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week reached at least 72 on Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast, officials said, Reuters reported.
The number of fatalities was considerably higher than what was announced by Moroccan authorities on Sunday.
More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc. More than 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours and more did so over the weekend, Spanish authorities said.
The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, told reporters on Sunday that, in addition to the 72 fatalities, more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services. The situation in the enclave had improved markedly, he said, but more remained to be done to re-establish normality.
Some migrants drowned and others were crushed while trying to climb a breakwater and border fence. Many had been driven to migrate by economic hardship and encouraged by social media rumours.
Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 11 people had died, mostly by drowning while trying to cross into Spanish territory, noting that it was fact-checking reports on deaths from the other side of the border, read the report.
The ministry blamed the rush of migrants on social media misinformation, human trafficking networks and misinterpretation of a Spanish ruling banning immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea. That statement is similar to the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s comments on the matter.
Moroccan authorities set the number of those involved in the crossing at 40,000, far lower than the figure used by Spanish officials, adding that 1,135 were stopped from entering Melilla, another Spanish enclave.
The statement reiterated that Morocco was committed to countering illegal migration and called for the burden of managing migration to be shared.
“It pains me deeply that young people are dying at sea. It’s not right that, in the year 2026, women with children as young as two months old should be crossing the sea only to die,” Karima Abenaz, a French national in Ceuta with family in Morocco, said while holding back tears.
“In Morocco, there’s food, there’s everything we need,” she added. “If we don’t have a decent job, we should go on strike and demand our rights from the government. We shouldn’t be dying at sea, it’s not right.”
Ceuta leader Juan Jesus Vivas told the newspaper El Pais the city’s morgue had received 88 corpses, including some who had died in earlier, smaller attempts to reach the territory in hazardous night-time swims over the past two weeks. He said Moroccan authorities were also recovering bodies from the sea, but no official information was available.
Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.
Twenty-two European Union member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures after the Ceuta incident. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month, Reuters reported.
Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants than most other EU countries, introducing a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
It has rejected suggestions that the scheme encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying that those who entered the enclave irregularly could not travel on to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.
World
Three killed, two injured in shooting at Idaho shopping center
Authorities said at least two other people were wounded and transported for medical treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.
Three people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and at least two others were injured after a shooting at a busy shopping area in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, local authorities said.
The incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. local time near an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in a high-traffic commercial district, according to Josh Palmer, the city’s public information coordinator.
Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said the suspected shooter was among the dead and confirmed that the threat to the community had been eliminated.
“At this point, the shooter is no longer a threat,” Hicks told reporters, adding that investigators are working to identify the suspect and determine a motive for the attack.
Authorities said at least two other people were wounded and transported for medical treatment. Their conditions were not immediately released.
Following the shooting, the Twin Falls Police Department temporarily closed roads surrounding the scene, including a nearby bridge, as officers secured the area and launched an investigation.
Twin Falls, with a population of about 47,400, is located in Idaho’s Magic Valley region.
Police have not yet released additional details about the victims or the circumstances surrounding the shooting, and the investigation remains ongoing.
World
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