Foreign News
European leaders to visit US to discuss war in Ukraine, Trump says
European leaders will visit the United States on Monday or Tuesday to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump has said.
The US president added that he would also speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin “soon”, as well as signalling that his administration was ready to move to a second phase of sanctions on Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the sanctions were the “right idea”, and urged European nations to stop buying Russian energy.
It comes as Russia launched its largest aerial bombardment on Ukraine of the war so far, killing four and hitting Ukraine’s main government building in Kyiv for the first time.
After the attack, during which Russia fired at least 810 drones and 13 missiles at Ukraine, Trump said he was “not happy with the whole situation”.
“Certain European leaders are coming over to our country on Monday or Tuesday individually,” Trump said. It was not clear to whom Trump was referring.
Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine since Trump and Putin held a summit in Alaska last month.
Speaking to ABC News, Zelensky said that European partners continuing to buy Russian oil and gas was “not fair”.
He added: “We have to stop buying any kind of energy from Russia, and by the way, anything, any deals with Russia. We can’t have any deals if we want to stop them.”
Zelensky also welcomed Trump’s plans to impose secondary tariffs on countries that trade with Russia – aimed at frustrating Moscow’s ability to fund the war.
“I think the idea to put tariffs on the countries who continue to make deals with Russia, I think this is the right idea,” he said.
Russia has sold around $985bn (£729bn) of oil and gas since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in March 2022, according to the think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The biggest purchasers have been China and India. The EU has dramatically reduced – but not completely stopped – purchases of Russian energy. In June, Brussels laid out plans to end all purchases by 2027.
Last month, the US imposed tariffs of 50% on goods from India as punishment for continuing to buy Russian oil. The Indian government has said it will continue to pursue the “best deal” on buying oil for the economic interests of its population.
And at a meeting in Beijing last week, Russia said it would increase supplies of gas to China.
Zelensky’s intervention comes as the OPEC+ group of oil producing nations, which includes Russia, has again agreed to increase production, a move which will put downward pressure on oil prices.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press that the US was looking for more support from the EU to impose secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil.
Bessent said that if EU nations increased sanctions and secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, “the Russian economy will be in total collapse, and that will bring President Putin to the table”.
He added: “We are in a race now between how long can the Ukrainian military hold up, versus how long can the Russian economy hold up.”
[BBC]
US authorities have found debris from a medical transport aircraft that went missing with six people on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration told the BBC it had lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 plane just after 01:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday, while it was travelling from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts.
The search for survivors continues off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, the US Coast Guard said.
Authorities have notified the next of kin of those on the flight, four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals.
“Search crews located a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft off the coast of Nantucket,” the US Coast Guard said in an update on Saturday night. It added that ships, helicopters and planes were involved in searches that would through continue the night.
The plane departed from Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time, according to flight data from FlightAware, and was due to land at Boston’s Logan International at 01:30 EDT (05:30 GMT).
According to the tail number released by the Coast Guard, the plane belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that provides international medical flights for patients returning home.
Among those on board were two pilots and two medical staff, both Canadian, Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude, told CBC News.
The crew flew to Bermuda to collect a patient and their relative, who are not Canadian, Togeretz said.
FlightAware’s tracker shows the aircraft significantly dropped in altitude before its communications went dark, plummeting from around 7,300m (24,000ft) to 3,300m (11,000ft).
Radio transmissions shows trouble with communications between the air traffic controller and the pilot, the Boston Globe reported based on transmissions provided by LiveATC.net.
“You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?,” the air traffic controller asked. “Are you declaring an emergency, or no?”
The pilot’s response was inaudible.
“You’re coming in a little weak so I didn’t hear what your response was, if you were declaring an emergency or not,” the air traffic controller said, according to the Globe.
The air traffic controller later confirmed the pilot had declared an emergency.
An area fire dispatcher asked emergency crews just after 01:00 EDT to prepare to meet a plane with an “electrical issue”.
The dispatcher later said “the aircraft has lost radio and radar”.
The Coast Guard said it would provide an update on Sunday morning local time.
[BBC]
A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.
New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.
Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.
The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.
“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.
“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”
“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.
[Aljazeera]
Polls have opened in Latvia for an election taking place against the backdrop of perceived security threats from Russia and a nationwide cost-of-living squeeze.
Saturday’s vote is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs after coming to power in May this year when his predecessor resigned due to a backlash from stray drone incursions from Ukraine.
Kulbergs, whose right-wing United List party is currently polling at about 20 percent, is expected to hold onto his position, but the decline of two allies in his current coalition means he is set for a complicated negotiation over the makeup of any future government.
Polls opened at 05:00 GMT and will close at 17:00 GMT. The results are not expected to change Latvia’s pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course.
About 1.5 million people are eligible to vote in the country’s 11th parliamentary election since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Latvian politics are highly fragmented, with parties rarely seeing above 20 percent vote share and coalitions being the norm.
This year, 14 electoral lists are contesting the election, but polls indicate only seven are likely to enter parliament, with the rest expected to fail to meet the minimum 5 percent vote threshold.
Rising living costs, low wages, strains on the healthcare system and long-term population decline have all featured prominently in campaign debates.
Most parties in Latvia are pro-Ukraine; however, the populist Sovereign Power party – which says it wants Ukraine to win but argues money spent supporting Kyiv would be better spent at home – looks likely to become the country’s second-biggest party, with more than 9 percent of the vote. Most other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with Sovereign Power.
Latvia First, a pro-Ukraine and populist nationalist party currently polling at about 9 percent, could be a potential coalition partner for PM Kulbergs.
The Progressives, a pro-European social democratic party, are polling at 6 percent.
Ethnic Russians make up roughly one in four Latvian citizens, but their vote, which has traditionally been cast along identity-based lines, looks set to be made according to economic and social issues.
Latvia is the poorest of the Baltic states, and it has sharply increased its defence spending since Russia invaded Ukraine, now allocating nearly 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defence.
[Aljazeera]
Debris found from plane that went missing off US coast
Construction of Jet A-1 Aviation fuel pipeline and new oil tank complex at Muthurajawela begins under President’s patronage
Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura
No handshakes and a delayed ceremony as India beat Pakistan at Asian Games
Showers or thundershowers will occur in most parts of the island after 1.00 p.m
Lanka enters new phase of prosecutions as hurdles clear
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News7 days agoPolice remove Thileepan statue in Jaffna
-
Features7 days agoThe 22nd Amendment, constitutional recovery and illiberal slippage
-
Features7 days agoOf foreigners as CEOs of Lankan ventures
-
Latest News4 days agoGold winner Tharanga gets brand-new Honda Vezel from SLAAJ
-
News7 days agoSajith rejects Jt. Opp. protest sabotage claim; SJB TU chief demands remedial action
-
Features5 days agoWhy Sri Lanka needs an Inclusive Civic Nationalism – urgently
-
News4 days agoUS-assisted ‘Ice’ detection: NPC to examine IGP’s move to transfer drug-busting team
-
Features6 days agoThailand’s biggest new global star …