Germany’s Merz calls for western unity on Ukraine on eve of peace talks

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a plenum session of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin on May 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 14 May 2025
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Germany’s Merz calls for western unity on Ukraine on eve of peace talks

  • Merz said the West could not accept a dictated peace for Ukraine or a submission to the status quo achieved by Russian military forces
  • “Such a ceasefire can open a window in which peace negotiations become possible“

BERLIN: Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday urged the West not to be divided on Ukraine and said he was working to ensure unity between allies in Europe and the United States on how to end the war.

In his first major speech to parliament since taking office last week, Merz said the West could not accept a dictated peace for Ukraine or a submission to the status quo achieved by Russian military forces.

He was speaking a day before Ukrainian and Russian delegates could meet for peace talks in Istanbul, more than three years after the start of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

After winning elections in February, Merz has promised to give Germany a bigger role on the global stage and beef up its military through more defense spending. Though he has publicly castigated US President Donald Trump’s administration as an unreliable ally, in Wednesday’s speech he thanked Trump for his support in pushing for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

“Such a ceasefire can open a window in which peace negotiations become possible,” he told parliament.

“It is of paramount importance that the political West does not allow itself to be divided, and therefore I will make every effort to continue to achieve the greatest possible unity between our European and American partners.”

“This terrible war and its outcome will not only determine the fate of Ukraine,” he added. “The outcome of this war will determine whether law and order will continue to prevail in Europe and the world, or whether tyranny, military force, and the sheer right of the strongest will prevail.”

Still, strengthening the German military is a top priority, Merz said.

“The government will provide all the financial resources that the Bundeswehr needs in order to become the strongest conventional army in Europe,” he said.

In his speech, Merz took blunt aim at Russia, accusing it of involvement in state-sponsored killings and poisoning in European cities, cyberattacks and the destruction of infrastructure, including undersea cables.

Merz was speaking as German prosecutors announced the arrest of three Ukrainians for their suspected involvement in the shipment of exploding parcels, after a series of fires at European courier depots pointed to suspected Russian sabotage.

Security officials told Reuters the exploding parcels were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. Russia has denied this and other accusations by Western countries of sabotage plots.

The growing closeness between Russia and China was also concerning, Merz added.

In a wide-ranging speech, Merz also rattled through his government’s policy priorities, from boosting growth in Europe’s largest economy to hardening its stance on migration. He stressed the latter would be done within the parameters of EU agreements, seeking to dispel fears that Germany would act unilaterally.


London Southend Airport partially reopens after plane crash that killed four

Updated 3 sec ago
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London Southend Airport partially reopens after plane crash that killed four

Southend Airport reopened “for a small number of flights“
Normal operations will resume from Thursday

LONDON: London Southend Airport said on Wednesday that it had partially reopened after flights to and from the airport were suspended following a plane crash that killed four foreign nationals.

A US-built Beechcraft B200 Super King Air plane had been bound for the Netherlands on Sunday when it crashed shortly after takeoff.

Southend Airport, which is located about 35 miles east of the capital and used by easyJet to fly to European holiday destinations, reopened “for a small number of flights.”

“Four easyJet flights will land at London Southend Airport this evening Eastern Airways will also operate an empty positioning flight,” the airport said in a statement on X.

Normal operations will resume from Thursday.

Police said in a separate update on Wednesday that searches by the Air Accident Investigation Branch were now complete and the aircraft was being “carefully dismantled to move into the next phase of the investigation.”

Prince Harry retraces Diana’s footsteps by walking through a land mine field in Angola for charity

Updated 1 min 55 sec ago
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Prince Harry retraces Diana’s footsteps by walking through a land mine field in Angola for charity

  • Prince Harry walked through a land mine field near a village in Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola
  • It’s not the first time he has retraced the steps of his mother Princess Diana

CAPE TOWN: Prince Harry followed in his late mother’s footsteps on Wednesday by wearing a flak jacket and walking down a path in an active land mine field in Angola to raise awareness for a charity’s work clearing explosives from old war zones.
The Duke of Sussex is in the southern African country with the Halo Trust organization, the same group Princess Diana worked with when she went to Angola in January 1997, seven months before she was killed in a car crash in Paris.
Diana’s advocacy and the images of her walking through a minefield helped mobilize support for a land mine ban treaty that was ratified later that year.
Harry walked through a land mine field near a village in Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola, according to Halo Trust. It’s not the first time he has retraced his mother’s steps after traveling to Angola for a similar awareness campaign in 2019.
The land mines across Angola were left behind from its 27-year civil war from 1975 to 2002. The Halo Trust says at least 60,000 people have been killed or injured by land mines since 2008. It says it has located and destroyed over 120,000 land mines and 100,000 other explosive devices in Angola since it started work in the country in 1994, but 1,000 minefields still need to be cleared.


Spanish PM highlights immigration benefits

Updated 16 July 2025
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Spanish PM highlights immigration benefits

  • Mauritania has however become a key staging post for undocumented migrants
  • “Today, the progress and good economic situation of Spain owes a lot to the contribution made by immigration,” Sanchez said

NOUAKCHOTT: Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday highlighted the benefits brought by immigrants during a visit to Mauritania where he spoke after anti-immigrant unrest in a Spanish town.

Sanchez, stood alongside Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, told reporters that Spain and other rich countries owe a lot to migrants for their development.

Mauritania has however become a key staging post for undocumented migrants who take a dangerous sea route from West Africa to Europe, with many heading for Spain.

“Today, the progress and good economic situation of Spain owes a lot to the contribution made by immigration, to the people who have come to develop their life plans there,” Sanchez said.

The Spanish leader called for closer cooperation with countries like Mauritania “to guarantee migration that is safe, regular, organized, that mutually benefits our societies.”

He spoke as Spanish authorities seek to calm several nights of troubles in the town of Torre Pacheco where migrants have been the target of violence since an attack on a 68-year-old man last week. Spain’s far-right has seized on the unrest to call for deportations of migrants.

Sanchez has defended the role of migration and in August last year went to three West African nations, including Mauritania, seeking to develop “circular migration” that brings trained workers that Spain needs for its economy.

Thousands of would-be migrants have died in recent years seeking to make the sea trip from Mauritania and other North African states to Spain and other European Mediterranean countries.

According to the Spanish charity Caminando Fronteras, nearly 10,500 people died at sea in 2024 alone. Some 46,800 African migrants arrived in Spain’s Canary islands in 2024, according to official figures, though numbers have fallen this year.

Spanish and Mauritanian officials on Wednesday signed four accords on transport and infrastructure, welfare, cybersecurity and national parks, the Spanish government said in a statement.


UN experts demand probe into Belarus deaths in custody

Updated 16 July 2025
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UN experts demand probe into Belarus deaths in custody

  • “Several individuals identified by human rights defenders as political prisoners have died in custody or shortly after being released,” the UN experts said
  • The dead included people who took part in protests surrounding the 2020 presidential elections

GENEVA: United Nations experts on Wednesday demanded transparent investigations into the deaths of people detained in Belarus for voicing political dissent.

Ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, Belarus has outlawed all genuine opposition parties and faces accusations of persecuting dissidents.

“Over the past four years, several individuals identified by human rights defenders as political prisoners have died in custody or shortly after being released,” the UN experts said in a joint statement.

They said the dead included people who took part in protests surrounding the 2020 presidential elections, which rights groups and critics said Lukashenko had rigged.

The call for investigations came from Nils Muiznieks, special rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, plus the rapporteurs on freedom of expression, protecting rights while countering terrorism, and on extrajudicial executions.

UN special rapporteurs are independent figures appointed by the Human Rights Council to report in their field of expertise. They do not speak for the United Nations itself.

The experts raised the cases of three individuals who died in custody.

“It is of the utmost importance to thoroughly investigate the alleged instances of ill-treatment and
neglect that resulted in the deaths,” they said, while highlighting the deaths of others designated as political prisoners by human rights defenders.

“There are strong reasons to believe that these individuals lost their lives in retaliation for exercising their civil and political rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Presenting an annual report to the Human Rights Council, last month Muiznieks said the rights picture in Belarus was “dire” and getting worse.

The eastern European country still holds more than 1,000 political prisoners in its jails, according to Belarusian human rights group Viasna.

“If these figures are even close to being accurate, Belarus probably has the most political prisoners per capita in the world,” said Muiznieks.


Ethiopia arrests 82 suspected members of Daesh group

Updated 16 July 2025
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Ethiopia arrests 82 suspected members of Daesh group

  • Daesh operatives were trained in neighboring Somali Puntland region
  • Ethiopia is part of AUSSOM combating the Al-Shabab group in Somalia

NAIROBI: More than 80 suspected members of Daesh have been arrested across Ethiopia, state media said, claiming they intended to carry out a “terror mission.”
The 82 individuals were trained in neighboring Somali Puntland region, according to state outlet Fana Media Corporation, which cited a statement from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).
Ethiopia shares a long border with Somalia, which for months has been experiencing a resurgence of attacks by the militant Al-Shabab group.
Fana said late Tuesday the suspected Daesh group members were “identified and arrested,” but did not give any further details.
The suspects “had been recruited for a terror mission,” Fana said, noting the arrests took place in several regions across the country, including capital Addis Ababa.
Somalia and Ethiopia have had tense relations for months after Addis Ababa announced an agreement with the breakaway Somaliland region last year, angering Mogadishu and raising fears of regional destabilization.
Relations between Somalia and Ethiopia have since normalized.
Ethiopia is part of the African Union Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) combating the Al-Shabab group in Somalia.
The AUSSOM mission faces funding difficulties, even as fears of the groups resurgence are stoked by attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.