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Zelensky says does ‘not believe’ Russian truce pledge

Update Czech President Petr Pavel (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky review a military honor guard in front of Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 4, 2025. (AFP)
Czech President Petr Pavel (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky review a military honor guard in front of Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 05 May 2025

Zelensky says does ‘not believe’ Russian truce pledge

Zelensky says does ‘not believe’ Russian truce pledge
  • Citing a military report, he said Russia had carried out more than 200 attacks on Saturday
  • “Putin can end the war with a single decision, but he has not shown any willingness so far," adds Czech president

PRAQUE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that he did “not believe” Russia would adhere to a three-day truce to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a three-day truce during commemorations for the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, saying it would test Kyiv’s readiness for a long-term ceasefire.
“This is not the first challenge, nor are these the first promises made by Russia to cease fire,” Zelensky said at a news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.
“We understand who we are dealing with, we do not believe them,” said Zelensky, who arrived in Prague Sunday for a two-day visit accompanied by his wife.
“Today and all these days they are talking about wanting some kind of partial ceasefire, but you should know, for example, that the number of assaults today is the highest in recent months,” Zelensky said.

Citing a military report, he said that Russia had carried out more than 200 attacks on Saturday.
“So there is no faith (in them),” Zelensky said.
In a statement issued later Sunday, Zelensky summarized his meeting with Pavel.
Discussions were underway for a Ukrainian-Czech pilot training school for American F-16 jets, which could not be established in Ukraine “due to current security concerns,” he added.
Zelensky also said there would be a meeting Monday with “Czech defense companies,” with details to be announced later.
Pavel, a former NATO general, said that “Putin can end the war with a single decision, but he has not shown any willingness so far.”
The Czech Republic, a member of the European Union and NATO, has provided Ukraine with substantial humanitarian and military support since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022.
It has received more than half a million war refugees and supplied the Ukrainian army with equipment including tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters.
Prague also steers a European drive to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine, financed largely by NATO allies. “The Czech artillery initiative is working brilliantly,” said Zelensky.
The initiative is designed to make up in part for the EU’s inability to meet its promise to supply one million shells to Ukraine.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the speakers of both parliament chambers said they would meet Zelensky in Prague on Monday.


Strike in Italy over Gaza flotilla strands commuters

Strike in Italy over Gaza flotilla strands commuters
Updated 3 sec ago

Strike in Italy over Gaza flotilla strands commuters

Strike in Italy over Gaza flotilla strands commuters
  • A general strike in Italy in support of the Gaza aid flotilla disrupted trains and threatened more commuter chaos Friday in a second day of demonstrations in Rome
ROME: A general strike in Italy in support of the Gaza aid flotilla disrupted trains and threatened more commuter chaos Friday in a second day of demonstrations in Rome.
The strike, called by the USB and CFIL unions, follows demonstrations Thursday in several cities across the world, including in Milan and Rome, where some 10,000 people marched from the Colosseum.
Protesters began to amass again Friday morning in Rome to march to the vast plaza outside the central train station of Termini, where services were canceled or delayed up to 80 minutes.
“The squares will be packed,” the head of the CGIL union, Maurizio Landini, told Radio Anch’io Friday.
“It shows the humanity and determination of decent people who want to stop genocide and are doing what governments and states have pretended not to see or are even complicit in,” Landini said.
In Milan and other cities, travelers experienced similar delays and cancelations, with national railway Trenitalia warning that the national strike would extend through 20:59 p.m. Friday.
“Today, one million Italians will be left stranded on trains alone,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini told the Mattino Cinque television show.
Commercial traffic was blocked at the port of Livorno, local media reported.
The strike began as Italy’s foreign ministry announced that four Italian parliamentarians had been released by Israel after being arrested in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which aims to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.
The two Italian members of parliament and two Italian members of the European Parliament were due to arrive back in Rome Friday, the ministry said.
The flotilla said Friday the Israeli navy had intercepted 42 vessels this week while officials said more than 400 activists were detained. The last ship set sail on Friday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the national strike while at an EU meeting in Copenhagen Thursday.
“I would have expected that at least on an issue they considered so important, the unions would not have called a general strike on Friday, because long weekends and revolution do not go together,” said Meloni.
The head of the right-wing government had previously called the flotilla a “dangerous, irresponsible” initiative, even while Italy sent a navy frigate to provide assistance.
Meloni’s reluctance to overtly criticize Israel and her unwillingness to break ranks with US President Donald Trump has encountered increasing resistance in Italy, spurring a wave of protests in recent weeks.
Italy’s strike watchdog has already called Friday’s action illegal, due to unions not having given the necessary 10-day notice.

UK police name victims of Manchester synagogue attack

UK police name victims of Manchester synagogue attack
Updated 03 October 2025

UK police name victims of Manchester synagogue attack

UK police name victims of Manchester synagogue attack

LONDON: British police on Friday named the two men killed in an attack on a Manchester synagogue as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, who were both local residents.
The men were killed on Thursday when a man drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing them outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the city in northern England.
The attacker, since named as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, was shot dead at the scene by armed officers.
“My deepest sympathies are with Mr.Daulby and Mr.Cravitz’s loved ones at this extremely hard time,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes in a statement.


India, China to resume direct flights after 5-year suspension

India, China to resume direct flights after 5-year suspension
Updated 03 October 2025

India, China to resume direct flights after 5-year suspension

India, China to resume direct flights after 5-year suspension
  • Direct flights between both nations were suspended during Covid pandemic and didn’t resume as they engaged in prolonged border tensions
  • Flights between designated cities will resume by late October subject to commercial carriers’ decisions, the Indian embassy to China said

BEIJING: India and China plan to resume direct flights between some of their cities after a five-year suspension as the relations between the two countries begin to thaw, Indian authorities announced Thursday.

Direct flights between the two countries were suspended during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and did not resume as Beijing and New Delhi engaged in prolonged border tensions.

Flights between designated cities will resume by late October subject to commercial carriers’ decisions, India’s embassy to China said in a post on social media platform WeChat.

The resumption is part of the Indian government’s “approach toward gradual normalization of relations between India and China,” the embassy added.

India’s largest carrier IndiGo announced Thursday it would resume flights from Kolkata, India, to Guangzhou, China, beginning Oct. 26.

The resumption comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China last month for the first time in seven years to attend a regional security forum, which was part of efforts by the two countries to normalize ties.

Relations between China and India plummeted in 2020 after security forces clashed along a disputed border in the Himalayan mountains. Four Chinese soldiers and 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the worst violence in decades, freezing high-level political engagements.


Indonesia free meals program under fire after thousands sickened

Indonesia free meals program under fire after thousands sickened
Updated 03 October 2025

Indonesia free meals program under fire after thousands sickened

Indonesia free meals program under fire after thousands sickened
  • Indonesian families whose children were offered free school meals are joining non-profit groups calling for the flagship government program to be suspended after thousands of students fell ill

JAKARTA: Indonesian families whose children were offered free school meals are joining non-profit groups calling for the flagship government program to be suspended after thousands of students fell ill from the food.
Cases of food poisoning spiked last week in West Bandung, a district of Java island, when more than 1,300 children were rushed to health clinics after suffering from breathing difficulties, nausea and diarrhea, local media reported.
President Prabowo Subianto’s initiative was touted as a way to tackle a child nutrition crisis but the government has instead had to suspend dozens of production kitchens.
“This program should be stopped and replaced with cash,” said 50-year-old grandmother Aminah, who goes by one name and whose seven-year-old grandson got sick after a free meal.
“I’d rather the kids bring their own lunch from home.”
The disastrous rollout comes as Prabowo is working to move on from violent anti-government protests fueled by deep inequality in Indonesia, where stunting spurred by malnutrition affects more than 20 percent of children.
But nine months after the program began, food poisoning cases have affected thousands of people, prompting mounting calls from non-profit groups for a temporary halt to the multi-billion-dollar scheme.
In West Bandung, students wailed in pain as they were hooked up to oxygen tanks in a temporary health clinic set up by local government to handle the surge in food poisonings, an AFP journalist saw.
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN), which is responsible for the initiative, reported 70 food poisoning incidents since the program began in January until late September.
More than 6,400 people are affected, the agency said in an update on Wednesday.
The reported cases were the “tip of the iceberg,” said Diah Satyani Saminarsih, founder of the non-profit Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives.
“The actual number of cases could be higher because the government has not yet provided a publicly available reporting dashboard,” Diah said.
Part of the problem was the government’s rapid expansion of the program, she added.
Rapid expansion
The government initially aimed to deliver meals to almost 83 million people by 2029, including students, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, but now says the target will be reached by the end of 2025.
The nutrition agency expanded the number of production kitchens from around 1,000 in April to more than 9,600 by late September.
The number of beneficiaries grew from three million to 31 million over the same period.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dadan Hindayana, chair of the nutrition agency, said in a statement on Sunday that most of the cases occurred in newly operating kitchens where cooks lacked experience.
The food poisoning incidents were also caused by the quality of raw materials, water and violations of operational standards, he said.
Prabowo’s administration has allocated 62 cents per meal and set a budget of 71 trillion rupiah ($4.2 billion) for 2025.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said last week that the government had prepared an additional budget of 28 trillion rupiah requested by the agency, local media reported.
Prabowo defended the program in a televised speech on Monday, saying cases of food poisoning incidents were long a small percentage of the number of meals served.
“We calculated from all the food that went out, the deviation, or shortcoming or error is 0.00017 percent,” he said.
He added that all kitchens involved in the program were ordered to test foods before distribution.
Calls for suspension
It was “very urgent” for the program to be suspended given the number of people who fell ill, said Izzudin Al Farras, a researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance.
Ubaid Matraji, a researcher at the Network for Education Watch, said the program should be suspended before matters worsen.
“We stress that we will no longer wait until we have thousands more victims — we cannot let death happen,” he said.
The nutrition agency suspended 56 kitchens allegedly responsible for “food safety incidents,” it said in a statement Monday.
Nanik S. Deyang, the agency’s deputy chair, said the suspension was part of a “comprehensive evaluation” to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
“The safety of the people, especially children who receive the free nutritious meals, is our top priority,” she said.


Gaza crisis features in march remembering 1968 Mexican massacre

Gaza crisis features in march remembering 1968 Mexican massacre
Updated 03 October 2025

Gaza crisis features in march remembering 1968 Mexican massacre

Gaza crisis features in march remembering 1968 Mexican massacre
  • The annual march in Mexico City to commemorate the 1968 student massacre has been overshadowed by demands to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza

MEXICO CITY: The annual march to commemorate the 1968 massacre of protesting students in Mexico’s capital was eclipsed Thursday by demands to end a humanitarian crisis halfway around the world in Gaza.
The Oct. 2 march that has regularly been used not only to remember that earlier massacre, but also Mexico’s tens of thousands of other missing and abuses of authority, was this year full of Palestinian flags and signs demanding an end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
“We feel empathy not only for ours, for those our grandparents died for, but for all men and women around the world who are suffering what at one time we suffered,” said Edgar López, a 23-year-old economics student, who marched with a Palestinian flag on his back.
Protesters marched from the Tlatelolco plaza where in 1968 Mexican troops attacked students demanding an end to Mexico’s militarization and greater freedoms, leaving a never established death toll believed to be in the hundreds, to the capital’s central plaza.
While much of the march was peaceful some groups vandalized storefronts and threw objects, including Molotov cocktails, at the hundreds of police guarding the National Palace.
Mexico City officials estimated the march drew 10,000 people and authorities said there were about 350 who were masked and acting aggressively.
AP journalists saw at least three other journalists attacked by police and protesters, and a police officer cornered and attacked by protesters.
Local press reported at least six injured police, but authorities did not immediately confirm that number.
A smaller spontaneous protest had broken out in the capital the previous night after Israel detained members of a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid. Among those detained were six Mexicans.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier Thursday that her administration had demanded their immediate repatriation.