16 h. ago Europe, Ukraine prepare plan to end war, proposing peace board headed by Trump

European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Vladimir Putin’s renewed demands to the US for Kyiv to surrender territory in return for a peace deal. A peace board chaired by US President Donald Trump would oversee implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter. Once Russia follows Ukraine in agreeing to a ceasefire and both sides commit to halting territorial advances, the...

Politics

46 h. ago Trump’s envoys arrive in Israel as Gaza ceasefire teeters after deadly strikes

The top US envoys to the Middle East conflict arrived in Israel on Monday to inspect progress on the Gaza plan after weekend violence threatened to wreck the hard-won ceasefire. Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza for aid shipments, a security official and a humanitarian source said, after it was closed briefly on Sunday following the killing of two Israeli soldiers. In response, Israel carried out dozens of strikes targeting Hamas across Gaza, accusing the militant group...

Events

49 h. ago Will Zelensky join Trump and Putin in Budapest for peace talks? Only if invited

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump at their summit in Hungary if he is invited. Trump and Putin said they would meet in the Hungarian capital, possibly in a matter of weeks, as the US leader continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war, triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion. “If I am invited to Budapest – if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three...

Politics

7 d. ago The Nobel Peace Prize should now be called the Nobel war prize

Donald Trump is reportedly furious that he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, it went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. But if the US president could see beyond his megalomania for a moment, he would realise that the Norwegian Nobel Committee has bent over backwards to placate his administration. The far-right Machado, after all, was nominated by Trump’s own Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he was still a senator, and former national security adviser and now US...

Events

8 d. ago CNBC Daily Open: A chance for peace in the Middle East and the U.S.

CNBC Daily Open: A chance for peace in the Middle East and the U.S.-China trade war  CNBC

Politics

9 d. ago Trump says Gaza ‘war is over’ as he heads to Middle East on high

The war in Gaza has ended and the Middle East is going to “normalise”, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday as he flew to Israel, which was waiting for Hamas to release Israeli hostages as world leaders were gathering to discuss the next steps toward peace. “The war is over, you understand that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he began a flight from Washington to Israel. Asked about prospects for the region, Trump said: “I think it’s going to normalise”. A ceasefire between...

Politics

1 week ago Trump says he may go to Middle East, with Gaza deal ‘very close’

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he may travel to the Middle East later this week, as negotiators in Egypt reported “encouraging” progress toward a deal to end the Gaza war. Trump, whose 20-point peace proposal forms the basis of the talks in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, said a peace deal between Israel and Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is “very close”. “Negotiations are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I may go there sometime toward...

Politics

2 w. ago Israel shells Gaza on war anniversary, amid Hamas talks on Trump plan

Israeli tanks, boats and jets pounded parts of Gaza on Tuesday, giving Palestinians no respite on the anniversary of the Hamas attack that led to two years of war and underlining the challenges at talks on US President Donald Trump’s plan to halt the conflict. With no ceasefire in place, residents said Israel pressed on with its offensive after Hamas and Israel began indirect negotiations on Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on key issues such as Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’...

Politics

2 w. ago Israel, Hamas hold indirect peace talks in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks on Monday at an Egyptian resort on a US-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary. The talks, which went on for several hours, unfolded amid many questions about the plan presented by US President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group – a key Israeli demand – and the future governance of Gaza. Trump has indicated that an agreement on Gaza could pave the way for a...

Politics

2 w. ago Israel, Hamas hold indirect talks in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks on Monday at an Egyptian resort on a US-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary. The talks, which went on for several hours, unfolded amid many questions about the plan presented by US President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group – a key Israeli demand – and the future governance of Gaza. Trump has indicated that an agreement on Gaza could pave the way for a...

Politics

2 w. ago Rubio says Gaza war ‘not yet ended’ despite peace plan progress

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the war in Gaza has not yet ended despite Israel and Hamas both agreeing to parts of US President Donald Trump’s plan for the strip, as Gazans called for its quick implementation to end their suffering. “We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics,” Rubio told NBC News’ Meet the Press about the release of hostages from Gaza. Hamas had drawn a welcoming response from Trump...

Events

3 w. ago Gazans call Trump’s peace plan a ‘farce’; Israelis are cautiously optimistic

Residents of war-torn Gaza expressed scepticism over the latest peace plan unveiled on Monday by US President Donald Trump, dismissing it as a farce that fails to end the war. “It’s clear that this plan is unrealistic,” 39-year-old Ibrahim Joudeh said from his shelter in the so-called humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi in south Gaza. “It’s drafted with conditions that the US and Israel know Hamas will never accept. For us, that means the war and the suffering will continue,” said the computer...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump meets Israel’s Netanyahu in US for pivotal talks on Gaza peace proposal

US President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for pivotal talks on Monday to press him to back a Gaza peace proposal aimed at ending a nearly two-year war that has seen Israel face growing international isolation. In Netanyahu’s fourth visit since Trump returned to office in January, the right-wing Israeli leader was looking to shore up his country’s most important relationship after a slew of Western leaders formally embraced Palestinian statehood last week in...

Politics

3 w. ago Between Peace and War: Exploring China’s Gray Zone Strategy Toward Taiwan

Between Peace and War: Exploring China’s Gray Zone Strategy Toward Taiwan  Stimson Center

Events

3 w. ago Lula says Zelensky ‘more willing to talk’ as he revives Brazil

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday said he saw new signs that both Kyiv and Moscow may be edging towards negotiations to end the three-year war in Ukraine, reviving his joint peace push with China and urging the United Nations to take a central role. Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Lula said he believed both sides now understood the limits of their battlefield ambitions. “I felt Zelensky was much more...

Politics

3 w. ago What China seeks to achieve with the Global Governance Initiative

Eighty years ago, the people of the world won a great victory in the war against fascism. In its wake, the United Nations was born, to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind”, opening a new chapter in global governance. Today, though the historical trends of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit remain unchanged, a Cold War mentality, hegemonism and protectionism continue to haunt the world. With new...

Politics