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Russia Calls for International Monitoring Mission in Gaza

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov waits before a meeting of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan October 12, 2023. (Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Kremlin via Reuters)
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov waits before a meeting of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan October 12, 2023. (Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Kremlin via Reuters)
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Russia Calls for International Monitoring Mission in Gaza

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov waits before a meeting of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan October 12, 2023. (Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Kremlin via Reuters)
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov waits before a meeting of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan October 12, 2023. (Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Kremlin via Reuters)

Russia on Sunday called for an international monitoring mission to go to Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation, and said it was unacceptable for Israel to use Hamas' Oct. 7 attack as justification for punishing the Palestinian people.

Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for Hamas attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people. Israel's assault on Gaza has killed at least 17,000 people, Gaza health authorities say.

The United States on Friday vetoed a proposed UN Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We strongly condemned the terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Al Jazeera in an interview aired on Sunday at the Doha Forum conference.

"At the same time, we do not believe it is acceptable to use this event for the collective punishment of the millions of Palestinian people with indiscriminate shelling."

Lavrov said that for there to be "humanitarian pauses" in Gaza "some kind of monitoring on the ground" was needed.

"We addressed the Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] suggesting that he use his authority to consider some kind of monitoring - but so far to no avail," Lavrov said.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly accused the United States and the West of ignoring the need for an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders. Putin on Sunday spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Gaza.

"This happened not in a vacuum," Lavrov said, pointing to decades of blockade and unfulfilled promises about a Palestinian state.

The UN's Guterres has previously said that the Hamas attack did not happen in a vacuum. Israel said Guterres had justified the Hamas attacks with such words. Guterres rejected the Israeli accusations.

Ukraine

Asked in the Al Jazeera interview if Russia was being hypocritical with its criticism about that fate of the Palestinians while Russia fights a war in Ukraine, Lavrov said neither he nor Russia were hypocritical.

Lavrov said that the West was trying to exhaust Russia in Ukraine by supplying weapons and that if peace talks were to take place then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would have to annul his own presidential decree.

"It is up to the Ukrainians to recognize how deep they are in the hole where the Americans put them," Lavrov said when asked if the war was at a stalemate.

When asked by Al Jazeera what the chances were of diplomacy to bring about a ceasefire or peace in Ukraine, he said: "You'll have to call Mr. Zelenskiy because a year and half ago he signed a decree prohibiting any negotiations with Putin."

Lavrov said that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia was almost reached in Istanbul in March and April 2022 based on the idea of Ukrainian neutrality.

"This deal was aborted - it was cancelled because the Americans and the Brits decided that if Putin is ready to sign it then let's exhaust him more. That's what they are doing now. Stalemate or no stalemate - that is the fact," Lavrov said.

Asked in the interview about the August plane crash which killed Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Lavrov said investigators had probed the crash.

"As regards the soldiers from Wagner group... quite a number of them went to Belarus and started to serve there," Lavrov said "Others joined the regular structures of the Russian army - and they continue to serve." 

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World

Japan Could Consider Hormuz Minesweeping if Ceasefire Reached, Minister Says

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi applauds US President Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi applauds US President Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Japan Could Consider Hormuz Minesweeping if Ceasefire Reached, Minister Says

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi applauds US President Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi applauds US President Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil supplies, if a ceasefire is reached in the US-Israeli war on Iran, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Sunday.

"If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up," Motegi said during a Fuji TV program. "This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established ‌and naval ‌mines were creating an obstacle, then I ‌think ⁠that would be ⁠something to consider."

Japan's military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Japan to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack, including on a close security partner, threatens Japan's survival and no other means are available to address it.

Tokyo has no ⁠immediate plans to seek arrangements to allow passage ‌through the Strait of ‌Hormuz for stranded Japanese vessels, Motegi said, adding it was "extremely ‌important" to create conditions that allow all ships to ‌navigate through the narrow waterway, the conduit for a fifth of the world's oil shipments.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Japan's Kyodo news agency on Friday that he had spoken to ‌Motegi about potentially letting Japanese-related vessels pass through the strait.

Japan gets around 90% of its ⁠oil shipments ⁠via the strait, which Tehran has largely closed during the war, now in its fourth week. A spike in global oil prices has prompted Japan and other countries to release oil from their reserves.

US President Donald Trump met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday, urging her to "step up" as he presses allies - so far unsuccessfully - to send warships to help open the strait.

Takaichi told reporters after the Washington summit that she had briefed Trump on what support Japan could and could not provide in the strait under its laws.

World

UK Minister Says Trump Speaks for Himself on His Deadline for Iran

British Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed looks on, as he speaks to the press, on the first day of Britain's Labor Party's annual conference, in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble Purchase Licensing Rights
British Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed looks on, as he speaks to the press, on the first day of Britain's Labor Party's annual conference, in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble Purchase Licensing Rights
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UK Minister Says Trump Speaks for Himself on His Deadline for Iran

British Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed looks on, as he speaks to the press, on the first day of Britain's Labor Party's annual conference, in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble Purchase Licensing Rights
British Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Reed looks on, as he speaks to the press, on the first day of Britain's Labor Party's annual conference, in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble Purchase Licensing Rights

British cabinet minister Steve Reed said on Sunday that US President Trump spoke for himself when he threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power ‌plants if Tehran ‌did not ‌fully ⁠reopen the Strait ⁠of Hormuz within 48 hours.

Asked what Britain's position on Trump's deadline was, Housing Secretary ⁠Reed told ‌Sky ‌News: "The US president ‌is perfectly capable of ‌speaking for himself and defending what it is that he's ‌saying."

"We're not going to be dragged ⁠into ⁠the war, but we will protect our own interests in the region. We will work with our allies to de-escalate the situation."

World

Cuba Hit by Second Nationwide Blackout in a Week

Cuba has been hit by several blackouts due to an aging power grid and a US fuel embargo. Yamil LAGE / AFP
Cuba has been hit by several blackouts due to an aging power grid and a US fuel embargo. Yamil LAGE / AFP
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Cuba Hit by Second Nationwide Blackout in a Week

Cuba has been hit by several blackouts due to an aging power grid and a US fuel embargo. Yamil LAGE / AFP
Cuba has been hit by several blackouts due to an aging power grid and a US fuel embargo. Yamil LAGE / AFP

Cuba plunged into darkness for the second time in less than a week on Saturday after its national power network failed again, strained by aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.

As night fell, Havana's streets were mostly pitch black, with people navigating using phone lights or flashlights, just five days after the previous blackout.

In the touristy old city, some restaurants were able to stay open thanks to generators, with musicians playing music, but the regular blackouts have made life more difficult for Cubans.

"This is becoming unbearable," Ofelia Oliva, a 64-year-old Havana resident, told AFP.

"It hasn't even been a week since we experienced a similar situation. It is getting tiresome," Oliva said as she returned home after giving up on plans to visit her daughter.

The "total disconnection" of the national electricity system was due to an outage in a power unit at one of the country's thermoelectric plants, causing a "cascading effect", the state-owned Cuban Electric Union said.

It said it was activating micro-grids to provide power to critical facilities, including hospitals and water treatment plants.

"I wonder if we're going to be like this our whole lives. You can't live like this," Nilo Lopez, a 36-year-old taxi driver, told AFP.

- US blockade -

The country's electricity generation is sustained by a network of eight aging thermoelectric plants -- some in operation for over 40 years -- that suffer frequent breakdowns or must be shut down for maintenance cycles.

Cubans face daily blackouts of up to 15 hours in Havana. In the interior of the island, these outages can exceed 40 hours.

The breakdowns have intensified since Cuba's main regional ally and oil supplier, Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, was captured in a US military operation in January.

And US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.

No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.

The blackout occurred as an international aid convoy began to arrive in Havana this week, bringing sorely-needed medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to the island.

- 'Honor of taking Cuba' -

The crisis in the country of 9.6 million people comes as Trump has made no secret of his desire to see regime change in Havana.

"I do believe I'll be...having the honor of taking Cuba," he said.

"Whether I free it, take it -- think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They're a very weakened nation right now."

The next day, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that "any external aggressor will encounter an unbreakable resistance."

Tanieris Dieguez, Cuba's deputy chief of mission in Washington, told AFP earlier this week that Havana was open to broad talks with Washington and allowing more investment.

But she said Cuba's political system would "never" be part of the negotiations.

The outages as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics are spurring frustrations, with demonstrators vandalizing a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend.

With Cuba in desperate need of fuel, maritime trackers reported this week that two tankers carrying Russian oil and diesel appeared to be on their way to the island, but their status remains unclear.

Some took the latest outage in stride.

Meiven Rodriguez, 40, kept working in a small shop, selling cigarettes and using her phone light to count money.

"You have to keep going, otherwise you won't bring money home," she said.

A few fishermen cast for sardines into the dark waters of the oceanfront city.

"What would we do at home?" said Leonsio Suarez, 50.