University of Reading report says conflicts including war in Ukraine among 12 most pressing threats to pollinator
War zones, microplastics and street lights are among the emerging threats to the bee population, according to scientists.
Bee experts have drawn up a list of the 12 most pressing threats to the pollinator over the next decade, published in a report, Emerging Threats and Opportunities for Conservation of Global Pollinators, by the University of Reading.
Continue reading...Trump describes call as ‘excellent,’ despite Putin’s lack of support for ceasefire that US said was primary objective
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have held a rare phone call, which the US leader described as “excellent”, but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, despite pressure from Washington and European allies.
Speaking to reporters in Sochi after the two-hour conversation on Monday, Putin described the call as “very meaningful and frank” and said he was prepared to work with Ukraine on drafting a memorandum for future peace talks.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskyy and JD Vance among 150,000 present as Leo says he wants Catholic church to be ‘leaven of unity’
Pope Leo XIV said he wanted the Catholic church to be a “small leaven of unity” in a time of “too much discord and too many wounds”, during his inaugural papal mass attended by world leaders including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the US vice-president, JD Vance.
Calling for more love and unity, Leo said the church’s “true authority” was the charity of Christ. He said: “It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving as Jesus did.”
Continue reading...Fleet of tankers sailing under flags of convenience estimated to carry up to 85% of Russia’s oil exports
Calls to step up and coordinate the interdiction of the unflagged Russian “shadow fleet” of oil tankers in the Baltic Sea were made this weekend before the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, which is expected to impose sanctions on 180 ships, taking the total number of ships sanctioned by the EU to 350.
The efforts to stop the fleet, estimated to be carrying as much as 85% of Russia’s oil exports and so funding roughly a third of Russia’s budget, is seen as a critical proof of the EU’s determination to keep the economic pressure on Russia.
Continue reading...Kyiv officials believe Moscow is not interested in peace despite talks in Istanbul and Trump’s intervention
Ukrainian officials believe a largely stalemated war of attrition with Russia is likely to continue for several more years, despite international efforts pushed by Donald Trump to end the fighting.
After the inconclusive breakup of the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul on Friday, and despite the US president’s planned calls with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they see no evidence that Moscow is serious about peace.
Continue reading...One woman killed in Kyiv region in air offensive that follows first direct peace talks between the two sides
The largest known Russian drone attack since full-scale war began in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv region and wounded at least three people, Ukrainian authorities said early on Sunday.
The attack came two days after Ukraine and Russia held their first direct talks since 2022 and a day before a planned phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Continue reading...In social media posts, president also slammed Walmart for price increases and spread anti-Clinton conspiracy theories
Donald Trump has said that he will speak to both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an effort to stop what he called the “bloodbath” war in Ukraine, in a barrage of new social media posts that included baseless conspiracy theories and a demand that Walmart not raise prices for customers because of tariffs he has imposed.
Trump, posting on his Truth Social account on Saturday, wrote that he will speak to Putin on Monday morning. “THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE,” Trump wrote, in his customary all-capitalized prose.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president describes attack on minibus reportedly carrying mostly elderly women as ‘deliberate killing of civilians’
Nine people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a minibus Ukraine says was evacuating civilians, prompting Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call for tougher sanctions against Moscow.
Local authorities said that most of those killed were elderly women being evacuated from Bilopillya, a town in the Sumy region that has come under repeated Russian attack.
Continue reading...The 33-year-old Melbourne man was convicted of being a ‘mercenary in an armed conflict’ by a Russian-controlled court
An Australian man captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine has been jailed for 13 years on the charge of being a “mercenary”, a move that has “appalled” the Australian government.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said on Saturday that Russia was obliged to treat Oscar Jenkins humanely as he was “a full serving member of the regular armed forces of Ukraine” and therefore “a prisoner of war”.
Continue reading...Path to peace looks as unclear as it was before European leaders’ meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv
This week began with four European leaders, standing defiantly in Kyiv alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy, issuing an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: sign a ceasefire now, or together with Donald Trump we will force you to do so, with sanctions and other tough measures.
Over the subsequent days, there followed a series of offers, counter-offers, ultimatums and deflections, in a dizzying week of high-stakes diplomacy that often seemed to resemble a geopolitical poker game.
Continue reading...In Cannes to promote his Stalinist drama Two Prosecutors, the film-maker said he feared the US and Russia would soon ‘become equal’
One of Ukraine’s leading film-makers has spoken of the “nightmare” of an emergent alliance between authoritarian leaders in Russia and the US, as his new film on contemporary echoes with the Stalinist era opens at the Cannes film festival.
“The events that unfolded in the past 100 days really surprised many people all over the world,” said director Sergei Loznitsa, whose new film Two Prosecutors received its world premiere on Wednesday. “One couldn’t even imagine in a nightmare such a union, such an understanding between two authoritarian leaders.”
Continue reading...Kremlin refuses to say whether Russian president will be part of delegation
“I worry a lot about a kind of world war one-type scenario,” former White House Russia adviser Fiona Hill told Lucy Hough, “in which the prevailing system is broken down, and you get a whole outbreak of conflicts that meld together.”
People are always asking: ‘What should we be worried about in the future?’ We should be worried about the here and now.
He wanted a very close relationship with Putin, kept talking about him as his friend, talking about phone calls he had when he hadn’t had phone calls. He’s done this with China as well.
It’s almost as if he’s saying: ‘Please call me.’ He’s laid out every way in which he can be manipulated, and that’s what Putin has done. Putin is an expert in manipulation.
Continue reading...Prosecutors say men intended to attack German cargo transport by sending packages that would explode in transit
Three Ukrainian nationals have been arrested on suspicion of plotting parcel bomb attacks in Germany on behalf of the Russian state, prosecutors said.
The German federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that the men, identified only as Vladyslav T, Daniil B and Yevhen B, in line with German privacy rules, had been detained in recent days in Germany and Switzerland.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: the Ukraine president’s call for Putin to meet him in person represents a huge gamble in the prospect of peace
Good morning.
Talks. Istanbul. Thursday. In the geopolitical equivalent of a playground challenge, the latest move in the back-and-forth brinkmanship between Russia and Ukraine has seen President Zelenskyy call Putin’s bluff.
US politics | Donald Trump says he will lift sanctions on Syria and meet with the country’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his tour of the gulf states. Sharaa’s pitch to woo the US offered access to Syrian oil, reconstruction contracts and to build a Trump Tower in Damascus.
UK news | Peter Sullivan, who has spent 38 years in jail, has had his murder conviction quashed in what is thought to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history. Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the frenzied murder of a florist and part-time pub worker, Diane Sindall, 21, in Merseyside.
Conservatives | An MP has been charged with sexual assault over alleged incidents at London’s Groucho Club in 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. Patrick Spencer, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, was charged with two counts of sexual assault against two separate women, said the CPS.
Assisted dying | At least five MPs have decided to vote against the UK assisted dying bill, the Guardian understands. It comes as the Scottish parliament votes to consider a bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people for the first time.
UK news | A man has been arrested in connection with a series of suspected arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer, Scotland Yard has said. The 21-year-old was arrested in the early hours on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and remained in custody, the Metropolitan police said.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says if Russian leader does not arrive it will indicate ‘that he does not want to end the war’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has doubled down on his promise to wait in Turkey on Thursday for face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin, calling it a test of Russia’s willingness to pursue peace.
Speaking to journalists in Kyiv on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he planned to wait for Putin in Ankara alongside the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, adding that he would travel to Istanbul if Putin opted to hold the meeting there.
Continue reading...New pontiff also urges a ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza and welcomes truce between India and Pakistan
Pope Leo XIV has called for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and pleaded for an end to global conflicts, which he likened to a “third world war in pieces”.
In his first Sunday address at the Vatican, the new pontiff urged an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza and the release of all hostages. He also welcomed the truce between India and Pakistan and referenced the end of the second world war in 1945.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president proposes face-to-face meeting after Russian leader suggests two sides hold talks in Turkey
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has challenged Vladimir Putin to meet in person for peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday, in a dramatic gambit after a weekend of diplomatic flurry.
His comments came after Putin rejected a demand from Ukraine and European allies to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire, but said Russia was ready for direct negotiations with Ukraine. Putin said delegations from the two countries should meet on Thursday in Turkey.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed, you can read our full report on this story here
It is the first time the leaders of the four European nations (France, the UK, Germany and Poland) have made a joint visit to Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We are clear the bloodshed must end. Russia must stop its illegal invasion,” the leaders said in a joint statement, adding:
Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.
We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine. Until Russia agrees to an enduring ceasefire, we will ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine.
Continue reading...Leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland told Russian president to accept unconditional 30-day ceasefire by Monday or face increased sanctions and weapons transfers to Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has rejected an ultimatum by European leaders to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face increased sanctions, but has proposed holding direct negotiations with Kyiv this week.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland told the Russian president either to sign up to an unconditional ceasefire by Monday or face increased sanctions and weapons transfers to Ukraine.
Continue reading...The rules-based world order is in retreat and violence is on the rise, forcing countries to rethink their relationships
In a week in which former allies in a redividing globe separately commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, the sense of a runaway descent towards a third world war draws ever closer.
The implosion of Pax Americana, the interconnectedness of conflicts, the new willingness to resort to unbridled state-sponsored violence and the irrelevance of the institutions of the rules-based order have all been on brutal display this week. From Kashmir to Khan Younis, Hodeidah, Port Sudan and Kursk, the only sound is of explosions, and the only lesson is that the old rules no longer apply.
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