GENEVA: US President Joe Biden is expected to attend a high-level Ukraine war peace conference which is expected to be held in Switzerland in mid-June, Swiss media reports said.
The conference date has not yet been set but several media outlets this week suggested June 16-17.
Invitations have not been sent but the NZZ daily newspaper quoted “reliable sources” as saying the US president would attend along with top representatives from dozens of countries.
Swiss authorities have not given any details about the conference.
In January, Switzerland announced that it had agreed to organize talks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the country when he met with his Swiss counterpart Viola Amherd.
At the time, Zelensky spoke of a “summit” without any Russian participation.
But traditionally neutral Switzerland called it a “high-level conference on peace in Ukraine” and is battling to attract China and other emerging powers.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis also tried to woo Moscow, meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York in January.
The Kremlin believes, however, that Switzerland is no longer impartial as it has endorsed European Union sanctions against Russia.
According to Bloomberg, the conference will not take place in Geneva, as some media reports suggested, but in Lucerne in the Swiss Alps at the luxurious Burgenstock Hotel.
In January, Switzerland hosted more than 80 national security advisers for talks seeking common ground on Ukraine’s peace formula.
The meeting was based on Zelensky’s 10-point proposals to halt the war since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. “The purpose is to prepare so that we are ready and ripe to launch a process with Russia — when the time comes,” Cassis told a press conference at the time.
Biden to attend Ukraine peace talks in June: Swiss media
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Biden to attend Ukraine peace talks in June: Swiss media
- The US president would attend along with top representatives from dozens of countries
- The Kremlin believes, however, that Switzerland is no longer impartial as it has endorsed European Union sanctions against Russia
Wagner replaced by Russia’s Africa Corp. in Mali: diplomatic sources
- Mali’s ruling junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, broke off ties with former colonial power France and pivoted toward Russia for political and military support
- Mali has never officially admitted Wagner’s presence, insisting it only worked with Russian instructors
DAKAR: The Russian paramilitary group Wagner has left Mali and its units there have been taken over by the Moscow-run Africa Corps, diplomatic and security sources told AFP on Sunday.
“Officially, Wagner is no longer present in Mali. But the Africa Corps is stepping up,” one diplomatic source in the Sahel region said.
A Telegram account affiliated with Wagner said: “Mission accomplished. PMC Wagner is going home.”
Mali’s ruling junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, broke off ties with former colonial power France and pivoted toward Russia for political and military support.
Wagner, Russia’s best-known mercenary group, was disbanded and restructured after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023 following a short-lived rebellion against Moscow.
Mali has never officially admitted Wagner’s presence, insisting it only worked with Russian instructors.
Wagner yesterday or Africa Corps today, our point of contact remains the same, it is the central power in Russia, that is to say the Kremlin
Malian security source
France withdrew its 2,400 troops from Mali in 2022 after ties with the junta soured and anti-French sentiment surged among the public.
“The Kremlin remains in control,” the same diplomatic source added.
“Most of the Wagner personnel in Mali, who are originally from Russia, will be reintegrated into Africa Corps and remain in northern regional capitals and Bamako.”
The Africa Corps is another paramilitary group with links to the Kremlin and seen as the successor to the Wagner group. Like Wagner, its mercenaries are active supporting several African governments.
For over three years, Mali had relied on Wagner in its fight against jihadists who have killed thousands across the country.
“Wagner yesterday or Africa Corps today, our point of contact remains the same, it is the central power in Russia, that is to say the Kremlin,” a Malian security source said Sunday.
The paramilitary group’s brutal methods on the ground in Mali have been regularly denounced by human rights groups.
A UN report accused Mali’s army and foreign fighters of executing at least 500 people during a March 2022 anti-jihadist sweep in Moura — a claim denied by the junta.
Western governments believe the foreign fighters were Wagner mercenaries.
Last April, bodies were discovered near a Malian military camp, days after the army and Wagner paramilitaries arrested dozens of civilians, most from the Fulani community.
Wagner’s withdrawal comes amid what the Malian army calls a “resurgence““of jihadist attacks, including two assaults that killed dozens of soldiers and forced troops to abandon a key central base.
A European diplomatic source in the Sahel believes Africa Corps will probably do “much more training of Malian soldiers than Wagner did.”
“Although Wagner claims that its operations and support strengthened the Malian army, Africa Corps will need to continue training and support, especially after the recent wave of attacks against the FAMA (Malian Armed Forces),” said Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
National Guard troops arrive in Los Angeles on Trump’s orders to quell immigration protests
- In recent days, clashes between between federal immigration authorities and protesters seeking to block them from carrying out deportations erupted in Los Angeles
- Trump has said he is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell the protests
LOS ANGELES: National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles early Sunday on orders from President Donald Trump in response to clashes in recent days between federal immigration authorities and protesters seeking to block them from carrying out deportations.
Members of California’s National Guard were seen staging early Sunday at the federal complex in downtown Los Angeles that includes the Metropolitan Detention Center, one of several sites that have seen confrontations involving hundreds of people in last two days.
The troops included members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense that showed dozens of National Guard members with long guns and an armored vehicle.
Trump has said he is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell the protests, which he called “a form of rebellion.”
Early Sunday, the deployment was limited to a small area in downtown Los Angeles. The protests have been relatively small and limited to a downtown section. The rest of the city of 4 million people is largely unaffected.
Their arrival follows clashes near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles. As protesters sought to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement, federal agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
On Sunday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the National Guard would “keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order.”
In a signal of the administration’s aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines “if violence continues” in the region.
The move came over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom, marking the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Newsom, a Democrat, said Trump’s decision to call in the National Guard was “purposefully inflammatory.” He described Hegseth’s threat to deploy Marines on American soil as “deranged behavior.”
Trump’s order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back.
Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.
Outrage as pro-Palestine protester to spend 21 months in prison before trial
- William Plastow, 34, took part in a demonstration against Israeli weapons firm’s factory last year
- He was given a trial date of April 2026 over charges of criminal damage, violent disorder, aggravated burglary
LONDON: The mother of a British man charged over a protest against an Israeli weapons firm has voiced outrage over the expected 21-month imprisonment of her son before his trial, The Guardian reported.
William Plastow, a 34-year-old resident of Manchester, is accused of taking part in a Palestine Action demonstration against a factory in Bristol owned by Elbit Systems.
The protest, which took place in August last year, involved 17 others. The group has been dubbed the “Filton 18.”
Plastow, a script editor, has denied charges of criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary relating to the demonstration.
Six of the 18, including Plastow, who are all being held in prison, have been given a trial date of April next year.
Defendants should not spend more than six months in jail while awaiting trial, according to custody time limit guidelines.
By the time of Plastow’s expected trial, he will have served the equivalent of a sentence of more than five years, based on new sentencing rules that allow the release of convicted criminals who have served one-third of their sentences.
Jane Plastow, his mother, said the case might set a record for the longest time anyone has been held in prison awaiting trial on protest charges in Britain.
The 66-year-old, an academic, said: “It’s outrageous, it’s terrible. Will is a kind of glass-half-empty guy, so he tends toward (believing in) the worst possible outcome.
“Every day, which has become a kind of ritual, I have to say: ‘Yes, you are going to get out of there, this is not the end of your life. They are not going to be able to keep you in for years and years and years.’ Because you just obviously feel so helpless and hopeless locked up in that place.”
In a prison diary published in Inside Time, Plastow revealed he had suffered suicidal thoughts.
He was denied bail despite agreeing to a slew of measures designed to limit his behavior, including wearing an electronic tag, having his phone and passport confiscated, and submitting regular police reports on his activity.
The judge responsible for the decision said Plastow posed a risk of breaking the law again, his mother said.
“What you’re being required to prove is a negative — well, you can never prove the negative, can you?” she said. “You can’t prove that you’re not going to do anything.”
Plastow’s artner of a decade, Valentina Tschismarov, said: “I think the worst that I have personally seen him was when his bail application was denied, which obviously was really disheartening for all of us. Shortly afterward myself and his mum went to visit him together and I was very worried at that point because he was really shaken, just out of it.
“Even on the phone in the weeks after that, he just sounded very distant and kind of broken down. It seems incredibly disproportionate. I always imagined that there were these protections in place and you couldn’t just have somebody jailed without a conviction for these amounts of time.
“I think people are not really aware.”
The 18 protesters arrested at the Elbit facility last year were initially arrested under the Terrorism Act, meaning they could be held for 14 days without charge.
However, despite the Crown Prosecution Service saying the protest held a “terrorism connection,” none of the 18 have been charged with terror offenses.
Kemi Badenoch says she refuses to speak to women in burqas at constituency surgeries
- ‘I’m not talking to people who are not going to show me their face,’ UK Conservative Party leader tells interviewer
- Badenoch links issue to concerns over integration, pointing to Shariah courts and cousin marriages as ‘more insidious’ challenges
LONDON: The leader of the UK’s Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch has said she asks women to remove face coverings, including burqas, before speaking with them at constituency surgeries, and believes employers should be allowed to ban staff from wearing the garment.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Badenoch said she supported the right of individuals to wear what they liked, but drew a line at face coverings in certain settings.
“If you come into my constituency surgery, you have to remove your face covering, whether it’s a burqa or a balaclava,” she said. “I’m not talking to people who are not going to show me their face.”
Her comments follow renewed debate over the issue after Reform UK’s new member of Parliament, Sarah Pochin, urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to consider a burqa ban similar to those in countries such as France.
Party leader Nigel Farage also backed the call, prompting a backlash from Muslim groups and some within his own party.
Reform’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, briefly resigned after the row, citing exhaustion and racist abuse, but has since returned.
He told The Sunday Times he might support a ban in principle, but said other issues were more urgent.
Yusuf is expected to take on a number of roles within the party, including overseeing local council spending.
Badenoch linked the issue of face coverings to broader concerns over integration, pointing to Shariah courts and cousin marriages as “more insidious” challenges.
“People should be allowed to wear whatever they want, not what their husband or community tells them to wear,” she said.
She also backed the right of organizations to set their own dress codes, saying: “It shouldn’t be something that people should be able to override.”
While employers can impose dress policies, they must meet legal tests of proportionality and legitimacy under equality and human rights law.
Restrictions may be justified on grounds such as health and safety, or the need for clear communication.
The debate echoes comments made in 2006 by then-Labour home secretary Jack Straw, who said he asked women visiting his surgery to remove the burqa to enable more meaningful conversation.
Restive Indian state orders curfew after fresh violence
- Manipur in India’s northeast has been rocked by periodic clashes between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community
- The latest violence was triggered Saturday after reports of the arrest of five members, including a commander, of Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei group
IMPHAL, India: An Indian state riven by ethnic tensions imposed an Internet shutdown and curfew after protesters clashed with security forces over the arrest of some members of a radical group, police said Sunday.
Manipur in India’s northeast has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than two years between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community that have killed more than 250 people.
The latest violence was triggered Saturday after reports of the arrest of five members, including a commander, of Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei group.
Incensed mobs demanding their release stormed a police post, set fire to a bus and blocked roads in parts of the state capital Imphal.
Manipur police announced a curfew in five districts, including Imphal West and Bishnupur, due to the “developing law and order situation.”
“Prohibitory orders have been issued by District Magistrates. Citizens are requested to cooperate with the orders,” the police said in a statement.
Arambai Tenggol, which is alleged to have orchestrated the violence against the Kuki community, has also announced a 10-day shutdown in the valley districts.
The state’s home ministry has ordered all Internet and mobile data services in volatile districts to be shut off for five days in order to bring the latest unrest under control.
Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur during the initial outbreak of violence in 2023, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures.
Thousands of the state’s residents are still unable to return home owing to ongoing tensions.
Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.
Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.
