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US Envoy Sees ‘Movement’ Toward Three-Way Talks with Russia, Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)
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US Envoy Sees ‘Movement’ Toward Three-Way Talks with Russia, Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)

A top US envoy on Monday touted progress in weekend discussions with Ukraine and Russia, raising the prospect of reviving three-way peace talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky met separately with top US envoys in a renewed push to end the fighting, which began when Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine more than four years ago. 

"Substantive progress was made, including movement on scheduling additional trilateral talks," US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X. 

Witkoff, a business ally of US President Donald Trump, traveled to Russia and Ukraine over the weekend alongside negotiating partner Jared Kushner, who is Trump's son-in-law. 

Sunday's appearance in Kyiv was their first official trip to the Ukrainian capital. 

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Sunday that the two envoys had brought new and "more effective" proposals on ending the war, but Zelensky warned that fighting appeared likely to continue into the winter. 

The Kremlin on Monday did not rule out three-way talks with the United States and Ukraine aimed at ending the conflict. 

"But it is too early to say anything about the venue or the exact dates at this stage," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 

Also on Monday, Zelensky said he and his negotiating team were "coordinating our next steps" following the talks with Trump's envoys and European officials, but the Ukrainian leader did not elaborate on what those steps would be. 

Negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv last met for US-mediated talks in Geneva in February, but did not reach an agreement on territorial issues. 

Diplomatic efforts led by Washington have slowed in recent months as the Trump administration shifted focus toward the war with Iran. 

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, and the subsequent years of fighting have left hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead. 

The war has displaced millions of people, ravaged Ukraine's economy, put Russia's military under massive strain and has led to the expanded use of drone warfare. 

The UN rights chief Volker Turk expressed alarm on Monday at reports of fully autonomous drones killing people in Ukraine, and called for an urgent ban on weapons that can kill without human involvement. 

While Kyiv has faced near-nightly attacks, Ukraine has also escalated its retaliatory strikes on Russia in recent months, in part to try to pressure Moscow into coming to the negotiating table. 

Talks remain deadlocked in part over the issue of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, which Russia does not fully control but has demanded as part of any peace settlement. 

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World

Far-Right Triumph in Eastern Germany Leaves Migrants Questioning Their Future

A general view taken on September 7, 2026 in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, shows Saxony-Anhalt's State Parliament, the day after the state election. (AFP)
A general view taken on September 7, 2026 in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, shows Saxony-Anhalt's State Parliament, the day after the state election. (AFP)
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Far-Right Triumph in Eastern Germany Leaves Migrants Questioning Their Future

A general view taken on September 7, 2026 in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, shows Saxony-Anhalt's State Parliament, the day after the state election. (AFP)
A general view taken on September 7, 2026 in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, shows Saxony-Anhalt's State Parliament, the day after the state election. (AFP)

Mamad Mohamad watched with mixed emotions as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) swept to a historic victory on Sunday evening in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

A member of the Greens, the 46-year-old is set to become one of the first lawmakers with an immigrant background to enter the state parliament, alongside Mustafa Groener of the Left (Die Linke) party.

For Mohamad, who arrived in Germany from Syria as a 16-year-old Yazidi Kurd in 1996, it was a milestone that should have been a moment of celebration. Instead, he described it as a "poisoned victory".

"My heart was split," Mohamad said, recalling the first projections that showed the AfD outperforming expectations ‌while Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ‌governing conservatives slumped to a historic low.

'CULTURALLY ALIEN'

The AfD has long ‌campaigned ⁠for tighter immigration ⁠and asylum policies, arguing that Germany has lost control of its borders and that migration is putting heavy pressure on public services, security and social cohesion.

According to its election manifesto, an AfD-led Saxony-Anhalt would launch a state-level campaign to deport rejected asylum seekers.

The party also proposes encouraging businesses to adopt artificial intelligence and automation rather than rely on skilled migration from what it describes as "culturally alien" backgrounds.

The AfD rejects accusations that its rhetoric contributes to a hostile climate for migrants, insisting it opposes only illegal and uncontrolled ⁠migration.

"Everyone is warmly welcome who contributes positively to our society, who ‌wants to work here, who is qualified, who pays taxes, ‌and who abides by the law," AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said on Monday.

PACKED BAGS

The mood in Mohamad's ‌family was somber on Monday.

His daughter, he said, was reluctant to attend school, one of ‌several criticized by the AfD over projects that examine threats to democracy.

Though anxiety is running high in many immigrant communities, the result has prompted unease rather than surprise, said Undra Dressler, managing director of the State Network of Migrant Organizations in Saxony-Anhalt.

People with migrant backgrounds have long faced discrimination and structural barriers in access ‌to work, education, healthcare and public services, Dressler said.

"All of this is our reality," she told Reuters.

Sunday's result nevertheless marks a turning ⁠point, she said. "There are ⁠many people in our communities who say: 'We've already packed our bags and have concrete plans, and we'll be leaving soon,' or, in some cases, have already left."

Pascal Begrich, managing director of democracy advocacy group Miteinander, said he did not expect a large-scale exodus, partly because of economic realities, but agreed that many migrants but also employers were reassessing their future in Saxony-Anhalt.

"There are companies asking themselves whether they really want to locate here and whether they can ensure their workers will be safe," Begrich told Reuters.

CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITS

Mohamad said he feared the political shift could make it harder to attract newcomers to a state already grappling with demographic decline.

"Skilled workers and families will look elsewhere," he said.

Despite concerns about the state's political direction, both Dressler and Begrich stressed that any future government would remain bound by Germany's constitutional order and protections for minorities.

"Every government is bound by this," Dressler said. "And the 15 other federal states have a duty to monitor this and, if necessary, to intervene."

World

Russia Announces the Closure of the German Consulate in St. Petersburg

A person walks past the German Consulate General in Saint Petersburg, Russia September 2, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Dmitry Vasilyev
A person walks past the German Consulate General in Saint Petersburg, Russia September 2, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Dmitry Vasilyev
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Russia Announces the Closure of the German Consulate in St. Petersburg

A person walks past the German Consulate General in Saint Petersburg, Russia September 2, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Dmitry Vasilyev
A person walks past the German Consulate General in Saint Petersburg, Russia September 2, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Dmitry Vasilyev

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the German consulate in St. Petersburg will have to close, a tit-for-tat move that reflected the simmering tensions between the two countries.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the German consulate must stop operations by Sept. 18, following an earlier move by Moscow to close German cultural centers on its territory.

The ministry said the closure was in retaliation for Germany’s decision Wednesday to close both the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural center in the German capital, Berlin.

Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Aug. 4, when an explosives-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian plane.

The airport is a major international freight hub used for providing support to Ukraine. The drone was later defused.

Moscow has denied involvement.

 

 

 

World

North Korea, Russia Open their First Road Bridge, a Symbol of Expanding Ties 

The first road bridge between Russia and North Korea across the Tumen River, locally known as Tumannaya, on the border with North Korea in the Primorsky region, Russia, in this still image from a video released September 7, 2026. Russian Government/Handout via REUTERS
The first road bridge between Russia and North Korea across the Tumen River, locally known as Tumannaya, on the border with North Korea in the Primorsky region, Russia, in this still image from a video released September 7, 2026. Russian Government/Handout via REUTERS
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North Korea, Russia Open their First Road Bridge, a Symbol of Expanding Ties 

The first road bridge between Russia and North Korea across the Tumen River, locally known as Tumannaya, on the border with North Korea in the Primorsky region, Russia, in this still image from a video released September 7, 2026. Russian Government/Handout via REUTERS
The first road bridge between Russia and North Korea across the Tumen River, locally known as Tumannaya, on the border with North Korea in the Primorsky region, Russia, in this still image from a video released September 7, 2026. Russian Government/Handout via REUTERS

North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge on Monday in a carefully choreographed display of friendship, a structure which spans the Tumen river and which both sides cast as an important milestone in their deepening strategic partnership.

The first flag-adorned trucks trundled across the 1 km (0.6 mile) long two-lane bridge as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and North Korea's Premier Pak Thae Song tuned in by video link to address workers and government officials from both countries.

Construction of the new bridge, which had been under discussion for years, began in April last year after the project was agreed during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to North Korea in 2024. There are already direct air and rail links between Moscow and Pyongyang, but until Monday there had not been a proper road link. Instead, since 1959 and by special arrangement, planks had been placed on the nearby rail bridge - for decades the sole border crossing point - in order to move vehicles across the border between the two countries.

"I am convinced that the expansion of cross-border transport infrastructure will provide a powerful impetus for the further development of trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation," said Mishustin, who said ties between Moscow and Pyongyang were "at an unprecedented high level" and called the opening of the bridge "a genuinely historic event."

The construction of the bridge was not merely an engineering project, he said, but "a new symbol of friendship".

Mishustin said up to 300 vehicles would be able to cross every day and that the bridge would be linked to Russia's federal road network and have easy access to the transport corridor which runs from the far eastern city of Vladivostok to St Petersburg. Trucks would begin to use the bridge immediately to transport cargo, the Russian government said. At the end of this year, the bridge would be fully operational and could be used for passenger traffic too.

The bridge was built near an existing "Friendship Bridge", a rail bridge which was commissioned in 1959 after the Korean war. Symbolically, the new bridge is named after Yakov Novichenko, a Red Army soldier who Pyongyang credits with protecting the life of North Korea's first leader Kim Il Sung in 1946 by intercepting a grenade thrown at him and others.

Ties between the two countries have grown stronger since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops to Russia's Kursk region to help repel a 2024 Ukrainian incursion there.

Mishustin made a reference to that in his speech on Monday, referring to "the Korean heroes who, only recently, fought shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers and defended Russian soil".