European allies seek united Ukraine front as US backing wavers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is honored with standing ovations as he arrives on the stage to give a speech during the 61st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 16 February 2025
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European allies seek united Ukraine front as US backing wavers

MUNICH, Germany: European leaders on Saturday scrambled to force their way to the table for any talks on the Ukraine war, as Washington announced a team of senior US officials was planning to meet in Saudi Arabia with counterparts from Moscow and Kyiv.
US President Donald Trump upended the status quo this week when he announced he was likely to soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start talks to end the conflict, leaving US allies in Europe concerned their interests would be sidelined.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, US officials said Saturday, without giving details on when the meeting would happen.
Rubio had already began his Mideast tour on Saturday, arriving first in Israel.
The top US diplomat also had a call Saturday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, in which he “reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine,” spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
In Munich, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Europe had to come up with “good proposals” for securing peace in Ukraine if it wanted to be involved in US-led talks.
“If Europeans want to have a say, make yourself relevant,” Rutte told journalists at a gathering of top policymakers.
Rutte also said he would head to Paris on Monday to take part in an expected meeting of European leaders convened by French President Emmanuel Macron.
A spokesman for Macron’s office told AFP “discussions” were ongoing over a “possible informal meeting.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe “must take on a greater role in NATO” and work with the United States to “secure Ukraine’s future.”
As part of any eventual “security guarantees” for Ukraine, talks have begun in Europe over a potential deployment of peacekeepers.
But those discussions are at an embryonic stage — and others argue the focus needs to be on building up Ukraine’s own forces.

European army
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington.
“We can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” Zelensky said.
“I really believe that time has come. The Armed Forces of Europe must be created.”

The push for a joint continental force has been mooted for years without gaining traction and Zelensky’s intervention seems unlikely to shift the balance.
Zelensky’s rallying cry came a day after he met US Vice President JD Vance and as Kyiv tries to ensure it is not sidelined by Trump’s engagement with Putin.
“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,” Zelensky said in a speech.
“No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.”
But Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, gave Europeans reasons to doubt they would be heard.
Europe would not be directly involved in talks but would still have an “input,” Kellogg said in Munich.

Vance's assurance
US officials have sought to assure Ukraine that it will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion.
Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that the United States was looking for a “durable, lasting peace” that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years.
But Washington has sent mixed messages to Kyiv, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appearing to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.
Trump has also pushed for access to Ukraine’s stocks of rare earth minerals as compensation for the military aid provided by the United States.
Zelensky said Saturday he blocked a deal that would have given the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources as it lacked “security guarantees” for Kyiv.
“In my opinion, it does not protect us... our interests,” Zelensky told journalists.
The situation for his forces on the ground has continued to deteriorate.
Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forward in eastern Ukraine for more than a year.
Outside the Munich conference, several hundred pro-Ukrainian demonstrators voiced fears about what may come from talks.
“It’s terrifying,” said Ukraine-born protester Nataliya Galushka, 40, who left the country when she was a child.
“The fact that (Trump is) talking to Putin, a criminal, what kind of world is this?“
 


Polish centrist’s narrow presidential lead leaves pro-EU path in balance

Updated 13 sec ago
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Polish centrist’s narrow presidential lead leaves pro-EU path in balance

  • Centrist and liberal left parties score lower than expected
  • Far-right voters to play crucial role in second round

WARSAW: Polish liberals performed worse than expected in a presidential election on Sunday, an exit poll showed, as Rafal Trzaskowski from ruling centrists Civic Coalition (KO) scraped to victory setting up a close fight for Warsaw’s pro-European path.
Trzaskowski placed first with 30.8 percent of the vote, ahead of Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, who had 29.1 percent, according to an Ipsos exit poll. The gap was much narrower than the 4-7 percentage points seen in opinion polls before the vote.
If confirmed, the result would mean that Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will go head-to-head in a runoff vote on June 1 to determine whether Poland sticks firmly on the pro-European track set by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk or moves closer to nationalist admirers of US President Donald Trump.
“We are going for victory. I said that it would be close and it is close,” Trzaskowski told supporters. “There is a lot, a lot, of work ahead of us and we need determination.”

Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate of the Civic Coalition reacts to exit polls for the first round of Poland's presidential election, in Sandomierz, Poland, on May 18, 2025. (REUTERS)

Nawrocki also told supporters he was confident of victory in the second round and called on the far-right to get behind him and “save Poland.”
“We have to win these elections so that there is no monopoly of power of one political group, so that there is no monolithic power in Poland,” he said.
An Opinia24 poll for private broadcaster TVN published after the first round gave Trzaskowski 46 percent in the run-off and Nawrocki 44 percent, with 10 percent of voters either undecided or refusing to say.
Far-right candidates Slawomir Mentzen and Grzegorz Braun scored almost 22 percent combined, a historically high score.
Braun, who in 2023 used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles in the country’s parliament, an incident that caused international outrage, won 6.2 percent of the vote according to the exit poll.
Mentzen stopped short of immediately endorsing Nawrocki.
“Voters... are not sacks of potatoes, they are not thrown from one place to another,” he said. “Each of our voters is a conscious, intelligent person and will make their own decision.”
Stanley Bill, Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, said the combined strong showing of nationalist and far-right parties meant the results were “a disappointment for the Trzaskowski camp and put wind in the sails of Nawrocki.”
“I would add to this that the results are a significant blow to Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition,” Bill added. “Candidates representing parties that won 53.7 percent of the vote in the 2023 parliamentary elections won only 44.9 percent of the vote this evening.”
Turnout was 66.8 percent according to the exit poll.
The vote in Poland took place on the same day as a presidential run-off vote in Romania, in which centrist Bucharest mayor, Nicusor Dan, appeared on course to defeat Euroskeptic hard-right lawmaker George Simion.

Karol Nawrocki, presidential candidate for the 2025 Polish presidential election supported by Poland's national conservative Law and Justice party, wave to supporters as first exit polls following the presidential elections are announced in Gdansk, Poland, on May 18, 2025. ( AP Photo)

Presidential veto
In Poland, the president has the power to veto laws. A Trzaskowski victory in the second round would enable Tusk’s government to implement an agenda that includes rolling back judicial reforms introduced by PiS that critics say undermined the independence of the courts.
However, if Nawrocki wins, the impasse that has existed since Tusk became prime minister in 2023 would be set to continue. Until now, PiS-ally President Andrzej Duda has stymied Tusk’s efforts.
If the exit poll is confirmed, the other candidates in the first round, including Mentzen from the far-right Confederation Party, Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia of the center-right Poland 2050 and Magdalena Biejat from the Left, will be eliminated.
Two updated polls that take into account partial official results will be published later in the evening and early on Monday morning.

Role in Europe
Trzaskowski has pledged to cement Poland’s role as a major player at the heart of European policymaking and work with the government to roll back PiS’s judicial changes.
Nawrocki’s campaign was rocked by allegations, which he denies, that he deceived an elderly man into selling him a flat in return for a promise of care he did not provide. But Trump showed support by meeting Nawrocki in the White House.
Nawrocki casts the election as a chance to stop Tusk achieving unchecked power and push back against liberal values represented by Trzaskowski, who as Warsaw mayor was a patron of LGBT marches and took down Christian crosses from public buildings.
Unlike some other euroskeptics in central Europe, Nawrocki supports military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russia. However, he has tapped into anti-Ukrainian sentiment among some Poles weary of an influx of refugees from their neighbor.
He has said Polish citizens should get priority in public services and criticized Kyiv’s attitude to exhumations of the remains of Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War Two.


Starmer discusses Russian war against Ukraine with US, Italy, France and Germany

Updated 2 min 33 sec ago
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Starmer discusses Russian war against Ukraine with US, Italy, France and Germany

  • The talks followed intense diplomacy by the leaders that started with their May 10 trip to Kyiv when the major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine with leaders of the US, Italy, France and Germany, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Looking ahead to US President Donald Trump’s call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday, the leaders discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire in the war that Russia launched against its smaller neighbor more than three years ago.
They also discussed the use of sanctions if Russia fails to engage seriously in ceasefire and peace talks, the spokesperson added.
The talks followed intense diplomacy by the leaders that started with their May 10 trip to Kyiv when the major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire.
“Tomorrow, President Putin must show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X after the Sunday call.
UK’s Foreign Minister David Lammy on Saturday accused Moscow of obfuscating after talks between Ukraine and Russia on a possible ceasefire ended in less than two hours and Trump said “nothing could happen” until he had met directly with Putin.
Russia — which is slowly but steadily advancing on the battlefield and is worried that Ukraine will use such a pause to regroup and re-arm — has said it needs to nail down the terms of a ceasefire before signing up to one.


Paris airport chaos to enter second day after air traffic breakdown

Updated 19 May 2025
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Paris airport chaos to enter second day after air traffic breakdown

  • The breakdown hit on Sunday and has affected thousands of passengers

ORLY, France: An air traffic control breakdown at Paris-Orly airport caused the cancelation and delay of hundreds of flights and the aviation authority said the chaos would extend into Monday.
The breakdown hit on Sunday and has affected thousands of passengers with some already sat in planes at the French capital’s second biggest airport when flights were canceled.
The control tower breakdown forced the cancelation of about 130 flights in and out of Orly Sunday, officials said.
It had not been resolved by late Sunday and the DGAC French civil aviation authority said it was “asking airlines to reduce their flight schedules by 15 percent” on Monday and warned that “delays are expected.”
“The situation is improving but still requires traffic regulation,” the DGAC said.
The authority blamed an air traffic control “malfunction.” An airport source said there had been a “radar failure.”
Flights to European and North Africa destinations and across France were among those hit. Long queues formed at terminals amid a frenzied rush to find alternative transport.
“We were in the aircraft, all seated and strapped in, ready to go, when they made us disembark and collect our bags ... then began the ordeal,” said Azgal Abichou, a 63-year-old business owner.
“The only option is a 300 euro flight — and there’s only one seat left, but there are two of us and we are not even sure it will take off,” said Romane Penault, a 22-year-old student. “So for now, we’re going home.”
Agnes Zilouri, 46, tried desperately to find a seat for her 86-year-old mother and six year old son in the terminal. The family should have taken a flight to Oujda in Morocco on Sunday evening to go to a funeral.
“The flight is canceled. Fortunately I am with my mother,” she said.
Last year Orly handled about 33 million passengers, approximately half the number of the main Paris Charles de Gaulle international airport.


Authorities say suspect in California fertility clinic bombing left behind ‘anti-pro-life’ writings

Updated 19 May 2025
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Authorities say suspect in California fertility clinic bombing left behind ‘anti-pro-life’ writings

  • US Attorney Bilal “Bill” Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in the area, called the writings “anti-pro-life”

A 25-year-old man the FBI believes was responsible for an explosion that ripped through a Southern California fertility clinic left behind “anti-pro-life” writings before carrying out an attack investigators are calling an act of terrorism, authorities said Sunday.
Guy Edward Bartkus of Twentynine Palms, California, was identified by the FBI as the suspect in the apparent car bomb detonation Saturday that damaged the clinic in the upscale city of Palm Springs in the desert east of Los Angeles.
Investigators believe Barktus died in the blast, which a senior FBI official called possibly the “largest bombing scene that we’ve had in Southern California.” A body was found near a charred vehicle outside the clinic.
Bartkus attempted to livestream the explosion and left behind writings that communicated “nihilistic ideations” that were still being examined to determine his state of mind, said Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. US Attorney Bilal “Bill” Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in the area, called the writings “anti-pro-life.”
The Associated Press reported Saturday night that those writings professed a sentiment that the world should not be populated.
“This was a targeted attack against the IVF facility,” Davis said Sunday. “Make no mistake: we are treating this, as I said yesterday, as an intentional act of terrorism.”
The bombing injured four other people, though Davis said all embryos at the facility were saved.
“Good guys one, bad guys zero,” he said.
Authorities were executing a search warrant in Twentynine Palms, a city of 28,000 residents about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Palm Springs, as part of the investigation.
The suspect posted writings online and attempted to record the explosion, though authorities said the video failed to upload. An official who was not authorized to discuss details of the attack spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP.
The blast gutted the single-story American Reproductive Centers clinic, though a doctor said its staff members were safe.
“Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients,” Dr. Maher Abdallah, who leads the clinic, told the AP in a phone interview Saturday.


Former US President Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

Updated 19 May 2025
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Former US President Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

  • Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday after having experienced urinary symptoms

Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday after having experienced urinary symptoms, and he and his family are reviewing treatment options with doctors, the statement said.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said.
Biden, who served as president from 2021 to 2025, abruptly ended his bid for reelection last July, weeks after a halting performance during a debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump prompted panic among his fellow Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the party’s nominee but lost in November to Trump.
Biden’s physical health and mental acuity drew intense media scrutiny even before the debate. At the time of his election, Biden was the oldest person to win the presidency.
Trump, 78, broke that record when he defeated Harris last year.