عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
TT
TT

Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER

US President Joe Biden and European leaders meeting during his farewell visit to Germany on Friday were expected to renew calls for a Gaza ceasefire after Israel said it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
While still on Air Force One, Biden hailed the death of the man Israel blames for the October 7 attack as a "good day", saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, AFP reported.
Biden and the German, British and French leaders were also set to pledge their sustained military support for Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion.
Biden's flying 24-hour visit comes as Ukraine faces a third grueling winter at war, and a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his "victory plan" to the European Union and NATO in Brussels.
Biden arrived late Thursday for the Berlin visit, just weeks ahead of a US election in which allies are nervously eyeing a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
On Friday Biden is to hold talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump, who during his last term berated NATO allies, has also opposed the level of US military support for Ukraine and would be expected to soften US criticism of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Biden's meetings in Berlin were expected to address the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and its Hezbollah allies, including the risk of a wider escalation with Iran.
Biden said Thursday he would "congratulate" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also "discuss the pathway" for securing the release of hostages and "ending this war once and for all".
"There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he said.
Scholz, speaking in Brussels Thursday, said "there is a proposal from President Biden and others as to what such a ceasefire could look like and we fully support that".
'Stand with Ukraine'
Now in his last months in office, 81-year-old Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a four-day state visit that would have included a major Ukraine defense meeting with Zelensky.
After canceling that trip to coordinate the response to Hurricane Milton, Biden was at pains to make his valedictory Germany trip nonetheless, with a stripped-down program squeezed into a one-day visit.
Traditionally strong US-German relations soured during the Trump presidency, and Scholz told parliament Thursday that Biden had overseen "an incredible improvement in cooperation".
Biden was to start his visit with a meeting from 0800 GMT with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was to present him with Germany's highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
Steinmeier's office said this was to recognize Biden's "services to German-American friendship and the transatlantic alliance... in particular in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine".
Zelensky's plan includes a request for an immediate invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and the lifting of restrictions by Western allies on using long-range weapons.
A senior US administration official told AFP ahead of Biden's visit that there was "not consensus at this time" on a NATO invitation.
But the official pointed to a summit of the alliance in July where member states had "affirmed that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership".
Despite recent Russian battlefield gains, the US official said that "time is, in fact, on Ukraine's side" and vowed: "We will stand with Ukraine and give it what it needs to prevail."
Macron said at the end of EU summit talks in Brussels that France supported Zelensky's request that Ukraine be regularly invited to NATO summits.
As for the broader question of security guarantees wanted by Kyiv, Macron said: "This is what we will have to discuss" at Friday's talks.
The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said Biden was seeking "to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term".

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Russia Hits Ukraine's Oil, Gas Infrastructure in Poltava Region, Naftogaz Says

FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
TT
TT

Russia Hits Ukraine's Oil, Gas Infrastructure in Poltava Region, Naftogaz Says

FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

Russian drones hit Ukraine's oil and gas infrastructure in the central Poltava region, causing ‌damage ‌and a ‌fire, ⁠the state energy company ⁠Naftogaz said on Friday.

"This is yet another targeted ⁠attack on ‌our ‌oil and ‌gas infrastructure. ‌Since the beginning of the year, the ‌enemy has attacked Naftogaz Group facilities ⁠more ⁠than 20 times," Sergii Koretskyi, Naftogaz CEO said in a post on Facebook.

World

Kim Jong Un Vows to Boost Living Standards as He Opens Rare Congress 

This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
TT
TT

Kim Jong Un Vows to Boost Living Standards as He Opens Rare Congress 

This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to lift living standards as he opened a landmark congress, state media said Friday, offering a glimpse of economic strains within the sanctions-hit nation.

Supreme Leader Kim took center stage with a speech to start the Workers' Party congress, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from house building to war planning.

Held just once every five years, the days-long congress offers a rare glimpse into the workings of a nation where even mundane details are shrouded in secrecy.

"Today, our party is faced with heavy and urgent historic tasks of boosting economic construction and the people's standard of living and transforming all realms of state and social life as early as possible," Kim said in his opening speech.

"This requires us to wage a more active and persistent struggle without allowing even a moment's standstill or stagnation."

For decades, nuclear weapons and military prowess came before everything else in North Korea, even as food stocks dried up and famine took hold.

But since assuming power in 2011, Kim has stressed the need to also fortify the impoverished nation's economy.

At the last party congress in 2021, Kim made an extremely rare admission that mistakes had been made in "almost all areas" of economic development.

Analysts believe such language is designed to head off public discontent stirred by food shortages, military spending, and North Korea's continued support for Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

Kim said North Korea had overcome its "worst difficulties" in the last five years, and was now entering a new stage of "optimism and confidence in the future".

North Korea's economy has for years languished under heavy Western sanctions that aim to choke off funding for its nuclear weapons program.

But Pyongyang refuses to surrender its atomic arsenal.

Kim has already declared this year's congress will unveil the next phase in the nation's nuclear weapons program.

- Ruling dynasty -

Thousands of party elites packed the cavernous House of Culture in Pyongyang for the opening day of the congress.

It is just the ninth time the Workers' Party congress has convened under the Kim family's decades-long rule.

The meeting was shelved under Kim's father Kim Jong Il, but was revived in 2016.

Kim Jong Un has spent years stoking his cult of personality in reclusive North Korea, and the congress offers another chance to demonstrate his absolute grip on power.

Footage showed Kim stepping out of a black limousine and striding into the meeting flanked by officials.

Delegates broke into hearty applause as he took his place at the center of the imposing rostrum overlooking proceedings.

Analysts will scour photographs to see which officials are seated closest to Kim, and who is banished to the back row.

Particular attention will be placed on the whereabouts of Kim's teenage daughter Ju Ae, who has emerged as North Korea's heir apparent, according to Seoul's national intelligence service.

- 'Biggest enemy' -

The ruling parties of China and Russia -- North Korea's longtime allies -- sent friendly messages to mark the start of the meeting.

"In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, China-DPRK relations have entered a new historical period," said a telegram from the Chinese Communist Party, using the official acronym for North Korea.

Kim appeared alongside China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing last year -- a striking display of his elevated status in global politics.

At the previous congress five years ago, Kim declared that the United States was his nation's "biggest enemy".

There is keen interest in whether Kim might use the congress to soften this stance, or double down.

US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was "100 percent" open to a meeting.

Kim has so far largely shunned efforts to resume top-level diplomatic dialogue.

World

Police Search Royal Mansion as Probe Into King's Brother Goes On

British newspapers, featuring coverage of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain's King Charles, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, sit on display in a newsagent in London, Britain, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Jack Taylor
British newspapers, featuring coverage of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain's King Charles, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, sit on display in a newsagent in London, Britain, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Jack Taylor
TT
TT

Police Search Royal Mansion as Probe Into King's Brother Goes On

British newspapers, featuring coverage of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain's King Charles, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, sit on display in a newsagent in London, Britain, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Jack Taylor
British newspapers, featuring coverage of the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain's King Charles, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, sit on display in a newsagent in London, Britain, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Jack Taylor

British police were searching the former mansion of King Charles' younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Friday after a photograph of the royal emerging from a police station was splashed on newspapers around the world.

Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday, his 66th birthday, on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he sent confidential government documents to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was a trade envoy.

The former prince was released under investigation after being held by police for more than 10 hours. He has not been charged with any offence but looked haunted in a Reuters photograph after his release, slumped in the back of ‌a Range Rover, eyes ‌red and with a look of disbelief on his face.

The photograph ‌of ⁠a man who ⁠was once a dashing naval officer and reputed favorite son of the late Queen Elizabeth was carried on the front page of newspapers in Britain and around the world, accompanied by headlines such as "Downfall".

Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who took his own life in 2019, and said he regrets their friendship. But the release of millions of documents by the US government showed he had remained friends with Epstein long after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from ⁠a minor in 2008.

Those files suggested Mountbatten-Windsor had forwarded to Epstein British ‌government reports about investment opportunities in Afghanistan and assessments of Vietnam, Singapore ‌and other places he had visited as the government's Special Representative for Trade and Investment.

The arrest of the senior royal, eighth in line to the throne, ‌is unprecedented in modern times. The last member of the royal family to be arrested in Britain was Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649 after being found guilty of treason.

King Charles, who stripped his brother of his title of prince and forced him out of his Windsor home last year, said on Thursday he ‌had learned about the arrest with "deepest concern".

"Let me state clearly: the law must take its course," the king said. "What now follows is the ⁠full, fair and proper process ⁠by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities."

The news broke early on Thursday morning that six unmarked police cars and around eight plain-clothed officers had arrived at Wood Farm on the king's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England, where Mountbatten-Windsor now resides.

Thames Valley Police officers also searched the mansion on the king's Windsor estate west of London where Mountbatten-Windsor had lived before being forced out amid anger at the Epstein revelations.

Officers said late on Thursday that the royal had been released under investigation. They said the searches at Sandringham had concluded but the searches in Windsor were continuing.

While being arrested means that police have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed and that the royal is suspected of involvement in an offence, it does not imply guilt.

A conviction for misconduct in a public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and cases must be dealt with in a Crown Court, which handles the most serious criminal offences.