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Germany Hosts Recovery Conference for Ukraine Before a Peace Summit in Switzerland 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pose for a picture during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, June 11, 2024. (Reuters)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pose for a picture during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, June 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Germany Hosts Recovery Conference for Ukraine Before a Peace Summit in Switzerland 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pose for a picture during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, June 11, 2024. (Reuters)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pose for a picture during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, June 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Germany is hosting a conference on Tuesday to gather support for Ukraine's recovery from the destruction wreaked by Russia's war, sending a new signal of solidarity with Kyiv at the start of a week of intense diplomacy.

The two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, following up on a similar gathering in London a year ago, comes before the Group of Seven summit of Ukraine's leading Western allies in Italy and a global peace summit in Switzerland this coming weekend.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who last week attended events marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France, is expected at the gathering, which the German hosts say will bring together 2,000 people from politics, business and other areas.

"Even during the current times of war, Ukraine needs to continually rebuild houses, water pipelines, hospitals and power grids," German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said in a statement. "People want to keep on living in their country, and to do so they need electricity, water and a roof over their heads."

The task of supporting Ukraine's recovery in the short and long term "is too big to be tackled by governments alone — which is why we are expressly inviting companies, civil society and municipalities to the conference," Schulze added.

Among other immediate problems Ukraine faces, sustained Russian attacks on its power grid in recent weeks have forced leaders in Kyiv to institute nationwide rolling blackouts.

In London last year, Ukraine’s allies pledged several billion dollars in nonmilitary aid to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, fight corruption and help pave Kyiv's road to membership in the European Union.

That focus on reforms remains central this year.

"We are pulling out all the stops so that Ukraine can soon take a seat at the table of the European Union — because, in addition to our military support, that’s the best protection there is," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

On Monday, the head of the State Agency for Restoration of Ukraine, Mustafa Nayyem, announced his resignation on Facebook. He cited "systemic obstacles that prevent me from exercising my powers effectively" and accused the government of bogging his agency down in red tape.

Ukraine hasn't had a minister dedicated to reconstruction since Oleksandr Kubrakov was dismissed in May. Nayyem complained that Ukraine's prime minister barred him from attending the Berlin conference.

Zelenskyy, making his third visit to Berlin since Russia's full-scale invasion started on Feb. 24, 2022, is also expected to make a speech to the German parliament, or Bundestag. He made a video address to lawmakers a few weeks after the war started.

The Ukrainian president last visited in mid-February, when he signed a bilateral security agreement with German Chancellor OIaf Scholz, one of a string of such accords that allies have reached with Kyiv to signal their long-term backing.

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World

At Least 37 Dead after a Passenger Bus Falls into a Ravine in Peru

The health manager of the Arequipa region said the bus hit a pickup truck and it went off a road on a curve, falling more than 200 meters (more than 650 feet) to the banks of the Ocoña river - (File photo of Peru police/The AP)
The health manager of the Arequipa region said the bus hit a pickup truck and it went off a road on a curve, falling more than 200 meters (more than 650 feet) to the banks of the Ocoña river - (File photo of Peru police/The AP)
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At Least 37 Dead after a Passenger Bus Falls into a Ravine in Peru

The health manager of the Arequipa region said the bus hit a pickup truck and it went off a road on a curve, falling more than 200 meters (more than 650 feet) to the banks of the Ocoña river - (File photo of Peru police/The AP)
The health manager of the Arequipa region said the bus hit a pickup truck and it went off a road on a curve, falling more than 200 meters (more than 650 feet) to the banks of the Ocoña river - (File photo of Peru police/The AP)

A passenger bus fell into a deep ravine early Wednesday after crashing with another vehicle in southern Peru, killing at least 37 people and injuring 13 more, authorities said.

The health manager of the Arequipa region, Walther Oporto, said to local radio RPP that the bus hit a pickup truck and it went off a road on a curve, falling more than 200 meters (more than 650 feet) to the banks of the Ocoña river.

The bus had departed from the city of Chala, a mining area also in southern Peru, and was heading to the city of Arequipa.

Fatal bus accidents are not uncommon in Peru. The cause of Wednesday's accident was not clear, but authorities have said in the past that reckless driving and excessive speed are behind many of these events, The AP news reported.

In August, a bus overturned on a highway and 10 people died. In July, another bus traveling from Lima to Peru’s Amazon region also overturned, leaving at least 18 people dead and 48 injured.

In January at least six people died and 32 were injured when a bus fell into a river.

In 2024 there were approximately 3,173 deaths as a result of traffic accidents in the South American country, according to official data from the Death Information System.

World

Palestinian NGO Cannot Appeal UK Court Ruling over F-35 Parts to Israel

Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organized by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organized by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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Palestinian NGO Cannot Appeal UK Court Ruling over F-35 Parts to Israel

Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organized by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organized by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville

A Palestinian NGO was on Wednesday refused permission to appeal a court ruling that Britain lawfully allowed F-35 fighter jet parts to be indirectly exported to Israel, despite accepting they could be used to breach international humanitarian law.

Al-Haq, a Palestinian rights group based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, unsuccessfully challenged Britain's Department for Business and Trade over its decision last year to exempt F-35 components when it suspended export licences for arms that could be used in the war in Gaza.

The group last month asked the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge a lower court ruling that found Britain's decision was lawful and dismissed Al-Haq's challenge, Reuters reported.

The Court of Appeal refused permission, ruling that it was a matter for the government to decide whether national security issues relating to the supply of F-35 components outweighed an assessment that Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law.

When it suspended export licences in 2024, Britain assessed that Israel was not committed to complying with such law in its military campaign, which Gaza health officials say killed more than 68,000 Palestinians.

But Britain did not suspend licences for British-made F-35 components, which go into a pool of spare parts Israel can use on its existing F-35 jets.

London's High Court rejected the challenge in June, saying in its ruling that then-business minister Jonathan Reynolds was "faced with the blunt choice of accepting the F-35 carve-out or withdrawing from the F-35 programme and accepting all the defence and diplomatic consequences which would ensue".

The Court of Appeal heard Al-Haq's application for permission to appeal as Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement last month to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

In a similar case earlier this month, a Dutch appeals court confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by pro-Palestinian groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

World

UN Watchdog Hasn't Been Able to Verify Iran's Stockpile of Near-weapons Grade Uranium in Months

The International Atomic Energy Agency Logo - AP
The International Atomic Energy Agency Logo - AP
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UN Watchdog Hasn't Been Able to Verify Iran's Stockpile of Near-weapons Grade Uranium in Months

The International Atomic Energy Agency Logo - AP
The International Atomic Energy Agency Logo - AP

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not been able to verify the status of Iran’s near weapons-grade uranium stockpile since Israel struck the country’s nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June, according to a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog circulated to member states and seen Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The IAEA said that the status of the near weapons-grade material “needs urgently to be addressed.”

According to the IAEA’s last report in September, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi warned in a recent interview with the AP. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

Iran long has insisted its program is peaceful, but the IAEA and Western nations say Tehran had an organized nuclear weapons program up until 2003.

According to the safeguards agreement that Iran has with the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran is obliged to produce a “special report” detailing the location and status of its nuclear material, including its highly enriched uranium stockpile, following events such as attacks or earthquakes. The special report must also address the status of the facilities affected by the June war.

The IAEA said Wednesday that “the provision of such a report is indispensable for the Agency to provide assurances that nuclear material subject to safeguards in Iran remains in peaceful nuclear activities and that the facilities subject to safeguards are not misused.”

Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after the war with Israel in which the US struck several Iranian nuclear sites.

Tehran did, however, allow the IAEA to inspect undamaged facilities after Grossi reached an agreement with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Cairo at the beginning of September.

But later that same month, the UN reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran, drawing an angry response from Tehran and leading the country to halt implementation of the Cairo agreement.

Iran is legally obliged to cooperate with the IAEA under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

European powers decided to reimpose the UN sanctions via the so-called snapback mechanism after Iran failed to enter into direct talks with the US, resume full cooperation with the IAEA and clarify the status of its near weapons-grade uranium stockpile.