Zelensky and Austin use their final meeting to press Trump to keep supporting Ukraine

Zelensky and Austin use their final meeting to press Trump to keep supporting Ukraine
President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncements about pushing for a quick end to the war and his kinship with Putin have triggered concern among allies. (AP)
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Updated 10 January 2025
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Zelensky and Austin use their final meeting to press Trump to keep supporting Ukraine

Zelensky and Austin use their final meeting to press Trump to keep supporting Ukraine
  • Austin warned that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war”
  • President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncements about pushing for a quick end to the war and his kinship with Putin have triggered concern among allies

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin used their final meeting Thursday to press the incoming Trump administration not to give up on Kyiv’s fight, with Austin warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”
“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Zelensky said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncements about pushing for a quick end to the war, his kinship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and uncertainty over whether he will support further military aid to Ukraine have triggered concern among allies.
The Biden administration has worked to provide Ukraine with as much military support as it can, including approving a new $500 million package of weapons and relaxing restrictions on missile strikes into Russia, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.
Austin doubled down on Zelensky’s appeal, saying “no responsible leader will let Putin have his way.”
And while Austin acknowledged he has no idea what Trump will do, he said the international leaders gathered Thursday at Ramstein Air Base talked about the need to continue the mission.
The leaders were attending a gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of about 50 partner nations that Austin brought together months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 to coordinate weapons support.
“I’m leaving this contact group not with a farewell but with a challenge. The coalition to support Ukraine must not flinch. It must not falter. And it must not fail,” Austin said during his final press conference. “Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is all of our security.”
Some discussed what they would do if the US backed away from its support for Kyiv, if the contact group would assume a new shape under one of its major European contributors, such as Germany. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country and several other European nations are discussing options.
Austin said the continuation of the group is essential, calling it “the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy” and “the most consequential global coalition in more than 30 years.”
President Joe Biden was to have his final face-to-face meeting with Zelensky in the coming days in Rome, but he canceled the trip because of the devastating fires in California.
Pistorius said he intends to travel to the US shortly after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration to meet his new counterpart to discuss the issue.
“It’s clear a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” and it will require even more cooperation, Zelensky said.
Ukraine has launched a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating position possible before Trump takes office.
Zelensky called the Kursk offensive “one of our biggest wins,” which has cost Russia and North Korea, which sent soldiers to help Russia, thousands of troops. Zelensky said the offensive resulted in North Korea suffering 4,000 casualties, but US estimates put the number lower at about 1,200.
Zelensky said Ukraine will continue to need air defense systems and munitions to defend against Russia’s missile attacks.
The latest US aid package includes missiles for air defense and for fighter jets, sustainment equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems and small arms and ammunition.
The weapons are funded through presidential drawdown authority, meaning they can be pulled directly from US stockpiles, and the Pentagon is pushing to get them into Ukraine before the end of the month.
Unless there is another aid package approved, the Biden administration will leave about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding for any future arms shipments to Ukraine. It will be up to Trump to decide whether or not to spend it.
“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin told the contact group leaders. “If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.”
In the months since Trump’s election victory, Europeans have grappled with what that change will mean in terms of their fight to keep Russia from further advancing, and whether the post-World War II Western alliance will hold.
In recent days, Trump has threatened to take Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — a NATO member — by military means if necessary. Such action would upend all norms of the historic NATO alliance and possibly require members to come to the defense of Denmark.
Austin declined to comment on Trump’s threat, but Pistorius called it “diplomatically astonishing.”
“Alliances are alliances, to stay alliances. Regardless of who is governing countries,” Pistorius said. “I’m quite optimistic that remarks like that won’t really influence US politics after the 20th of January.”
Globally, countries including the US have ramped up weapons production as the Ukraine war exposed that all of those stockpiles were woefully unprepared for a major conventional land war.
The US has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80 percent and 90 percent — already to Ukraine.


North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats

North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats
Updated 56 min 45 sec ago
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North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats

North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats
  • Kim Jong Un oversaw the missile tests off the country’s west coast Wednesday
  • They were North Korea’s fourth missile launch event this year

SEOUL: North Korea said Friday it had test-fired strategic cruise missiles to demonstrate its nuclear counter-attack capability, days after it vowed to respond to what it called escalating US-led hostilities since the start of the Trump administration.
The official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the missile tests off the country’s west coast Wednesday. They were the North’s fourth missile launch event this year and the second of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The launches were designed to inform “the enemies, who are seriously violating our security environment and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment,” of the North Korean military’s counterattack capability and the readiness of its nuclear operations, KCNA said.
Kim expressed satisfaction over the results of the drills and said the military must be fully ready to use its nuclear weapons, the report said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement later Friday that it had detected and tracked the North Korean launches. It said the South Korean military maintains readiness to repel any potential provocation by North Korea based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has boasted of his summitry with Kim during his first term and said he would reach out to Kim again. North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture as it continues its typical aggressive rhetoric against the US and weapons testing activities.
Many experts say Kim, now preoccupied with his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with supply of weapons and troops, won’t likely embrace Trump’s outreach anytime soon. They say Kim could reconsider if he doubts he’ll maintain North Korea’s current solid cooperation with Russia after the war ends.
Last Saturday, North Korea’s Defense Ministry alleged the US and its allies were ramping up more serious military provocations targeting North Korea since Trump took power. It cited the recent US-South Korean aerial exercise involving a US B-1B bomber and other reported activities involving US military assets. A Defense Ministry statement said North Korea will counter the strategic threat of the US with strategic means.
Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 to discuss the fate of North Korea’s nuclear program, but their diplomacy derailed due to disputes over US-led sanctions on the North. Kim has since sharply increased the pace of weapons tests to expand and modernize his nuclear arsenal. Having a bigger nuclear arsenal now, experts say Kim would think he could win greater US concessions if he revives diplomacy with Trump.


US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China
Updated 28 February 2025
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US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday strongly condemned ally Thailand for deporting dozens of Uyghurs back to China, where he said the mostly Muslim minority faced “genocide.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Thailand’s forced return of at least 40 Uyghurs to China, where they lack due process rights and where Uyghurs have faced persecution, forced labor and torture,” Rubio said in a statement.


Italian Jews call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Palestinian territories

Italian Jews call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Palestinian territories
Updated 28 February 2025
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Italian Jews call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Palestinian territories

Italian Jews call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Palestinian territories

ROME: More than 200 Italian Jews have signed an appeal against “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territories, provoking strong media reaction and dividing the country’s Jewish community.
Writers, academics, philosophers and journalists were among the 220 signatories of the text, which was published in daily newspapers La Repubblica and Il Manifesto.
It claimed that US President Donald Trump “wants to expel Palestinians from Gaza. Meanwhile in the West Bank the violence of the Israeli government and settlers continues.”
“Italian Jews say no to ethnic cleansing. Italy must not be an accomplice,” they added.
The call aims to “bring out a clear and strong Jewish voice of disapproval,” said the Jewish Antiracist Laboratory, a group of young Jewish-origin Italians which is behind the petition.
The organization said it was “opposed to the annexation of Palestinian territories by Israel and all forms of anti-Semitism.”
The head of the Jewish community in Rome, Victor Fadlun, criticized what he said was a “dishonorable” initiative at a time when Israel was holding the funerals of three former hostages.
Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas were kidnapped in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and were killed in captivity in Gaza.
Fadlum’s predecessor, Riccardo Pacifici, said the petition risked “stirring up anti-Jewish hatred,” according to comments published in Il Corriere della Sera.
One of the newspaper’s journalists, Federico Fubini, signed the appeal and wrote on X that he was “against ethnic cleansing in Gaza and oppression in the West Bank.”
Both were “very close to my heart,” he added. “But in no way does this endorse Hamas, obviously, nor the many forms of explicit, insidious and hypocritical anti-Semitism that we see everywhere, including in Italy.”


Ethiopia, Somalia reaffirm ties after diplomatic row

Ethiopia, Somalia reaffirm ties after diplomatic row
Updated 27 February 2025
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Ethiopia, Somalia reaffirm ties after diplomatic row

Ethiopia, Somalia reaffirm ties after diplomatic row

MOGADISHU: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited Somalia on Thursday and met with its President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to reinforce their fragile reconciliation after a row over ties to a separatist region.
They discussed topics “including peace and security, economy, diplomacy and potential to build joint infrastructure,” Ahmed said in a message on X afterwards.
The Somali government said in a statement ahead of the meeting that they would also discuss “the fight against terrorism in the region.”
Residents reported mortar attacks in areas near Mogadishu airport shortly after the visiting delegation passed through it en route to the presidential palace.
It was unclear whether the attacks were linked to Abiy’s arrival.
Security officials at the airport said Abiy’s delegation safely left the airport without incident.
Somalia’s security situation is highly volatile, with the Islamist Al-Shabab group maintaining a presence in the country.
“Two rounds of mortar shells landed in Bulohubey neighborhood. An elderly woman was wounded after the shell exploded close to her house,” local resident Abdiraham Hassan told AFP.
A member of Ethiopia’s delegation told AFP they had not been aware of any mortar attacks.
Tension between the two countries mounted last year after Ethiopia struck a deal with the Somali breakaway region of Somaliland to gain access to the sea.
But they announced a full restoration of diplomatic ties in January following a deal mediated by Turkiye.
The two countries said in a joint statement that Thursday’s visit “reinforces the normalization of bilateral nations.”
Abiy said in his post after the meeting: “Regional thinking and collaboration are essential, and we are ready to work with Somalia to make this a reality.”
A source in the Somali presidential palace told AFP on Wednesday, on condition of anonymity, that Abiy’s visit was “part of a broader effort to complete and implement the Ankara agreement,” referring to the deal struck in the Turkish capital in December.
Somaliland said its January 2024 deal with Ethiopia would have led to Addis Ababa recognizing its independence — though that was never confirmed — in exchange for a long-desired naval base for the land-locked nation.
Mogadishu was furious over the deal and withdrew its ambassador from Ethiopia.
Following the rapprochement, the fate of Ethiopia’s deal with Somaliland remains uncertain.


8 killed in Philippine fire that gutted a residential building in less than an hour

8 killed in Philippine fire that gutted a residential building in less than an hour
Updated 27 February 2025
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8 killed in Philippine fire that gutted a residential building in less than an hour

8 killed in Philippine fire that gutted a residential building in less than an hour

MANILA: Eight people were killed in a nighttime fire in the Philippine capital region that gutted a three-story residential building early Thursday in less than an hour, officials said.

The fire, which also injured at least one resident, broke out after midnight in the building, which was mostly made of wood, as people slept in San Isidro Galas village in suburban Quezon city, officials said.

An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire.

Two of the dead were found on the ground floor and six others were recovered on the second floor, where the fire apparently started, senior fire officer Rolando Valeña told The Associated Press, citing witnesses.

The blaze happened just two days before the Philippines marks fire-prevention month in March, when the government launches an annual campaign to raise awareness about fire hazards ahead of the onset of the scorching summer season.

Many deadly fires in the Philippines have been blamed on poor enforcement of safety regulations, overcrowding and faulty building designs.

A 1996 disco fire in Quezon city killed 162 people, mostly students celebrating the end of the school year, in one of the deadliest nightclub fires in the world in recent decades. 

They were unable to escape because the emergency exit was blocked by a new building next door.