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More details of US plan for Ukraine emerge, sees territory ceded to Russia

By in News, World News

More details are emerging from a 28-point peace plan backed by United States President Donald Trump aimed at ending Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine, with several media outlets and officials confirming that the plan, which has yet to be officially published, appears to favour Russia.

Details of the plan also come after US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told the UN Security Council on Thursday afternoon that the US had offered “generous terms for Russia, including sanctions relief”.

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“The United States has invested at the highest levels, the president of the United States personally, to end this war”, Waltz told the council.

In the meantime, Russia’s unrelenting attacks on Ukraine continue. A Russian strike on the city of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine late on Thursday killed five people and wounded three others, emergency services said. Russia has been gaining ground in the Zaporizhia region that houses the southeastern Ukrainian city that straddles both banks of the Dnipro River.

The AFP news agency reported on Friday that the plan, which the US views as a “working document”, says that “Crimea, Lugansk]Luhansk] and Donetsk will be recognised as de facto Russian, including by the United States”.

This corresponds with an earlier report from US media outlet Axios.

The Associated Press (AP) news agency also reported on Friday that the plan would require Ukraine to surrender the Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that Ukraine currently partly holds.

Under the draft, Moscow would hold all the eastern Donbas region, even though approximately 14 percent still remains in Ukrainian hands, AP reported.

AFP and AP also confirmed Axios’s earlier report that the plan would require Ukraine to limit the size of its military.

According to AFP, the plan specifically says that the army would be limited to 600, 000 personnel. Ukraine is estimated to currently have just under 900, 000 active duty military staff.

Two Ukrainian soldiers check the scopes of their anti-aircraft systems to ensure they are working properly before heading out on a mission in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in October 2024]File: Fermin Torrano/Anadolu]

‘ A neutral demilitarised buffer zone ‘

Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko shared a document showing what appeared to be the full 28-point peace plan with his 223, 000 followers on the Telegram messaging app, late on Thursday, Ukraine time.

Russia’s state TASS news agency also reported on details included in the document shared by Goncharenko, saying it “purportedly represents a Ukrainian translation of 28 points of the new American plan for a peace settlement in Ukraine”.

New details included in the document shared by Goncharenko include that “Ukraine has the right to EU]European Union] membership” and that the “United States will work with Ukraine to jointly restore, develop, modernise, and operate Ukraine’s gas infrastructure, including pipelines and storage facilities”.

Additionally, according to the document, Ukraine’s “Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant” will be under the control of [UN nuclear agency] IAEA, and the generated electricity will be split equally between Russia and Ukraine in a 50:50 ratio.

According to Goncharenko’s shared statement, “Ukrainian forces will withdraw from the portion of the Donetsk region that they currently control, and this withdrawal zone will be regarded as a neutral demilitarized buffer zone.”

In addition to being illegal under Ukrainian law, giving territory to Russia would be deeply unpopular in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has repeatedly ruled out this possibility.

Despite opposition from European allies who claim that the US-backed plan favors Russia, Zelenskyy has said he is willing to work with the US on the proposal. On Thursday, Zelenskyy’s office confirmed that he had received a draft of the plan and that he would speak with Trump in the coming days.

Ukraine does not acquiesce to NATO.

Additionally, according to the plan, European fighter jets would be stationed in Poland to protect Ukraine, according to the AFP news agency.

Kyiv would have to accept the fact that there would be no NATO forces stationed in Ukraine and that it would agree to stay away from the military alliance.

Russia’s commitment to stopping all future attacks on Ukraine, which the White House sees as a concession by Moscow, is another information that AP reported.

According to AP, $100 billion in Russian assets will also be used to rebuild Ukraine.

According to AFP, Russia would be re-admitted to the G8 group of nations and re-integrated into the global economy as part of the plan.

Russians and Ukrainians have been involved in the plan, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been quietly working on for a month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre , welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff to their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
On April 25, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin greets US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. [Kristina Kormilitsyna/Sputnik/Pool via AP Photo]

Strictly Come Dancing’s oldest ever contestant Angela Rippon wants to host the show

By in Entertainment News, News

When she agreed to take part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2023, veteran broadcaster Angela Rippon was referred to as the “dream signing.”

Angela Rippon — Strictly Come Dancing’s oldest ever contestant — is interested in presenting the BBC flagship show, reports claim.

The veteran broadcaster dazzled viewers with her jaw-dropping high kick when she was a competitor in 2023. She was the eighth celebrity to be eliminated, getting the boot in Blackpool after she and pro partner Kai Widdrington performed American Smooth to Tea For Two by Ella Fitzgerald.

But the former newsreader, who presented the original Come Dancing series between 1988 and 1991, has thrown her hat into the ring to host the much-loved revamp. Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly are both leaving after the current season, which will reach its finale next month.

Angela, 81, responded, “If they asked me, of course, if I did,” when asked about stepping into either of their shoes. It has a lot of viewers. No job is for life without a job, but Claudia and Tess did a fantastic job.

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The shock move would come more than three decades after the BBC’s then-director-general, Lord (John) Birt, told Angela she’d “had her day” when she was a spring chicken aged 50. The Daily Mail says, though, the journalist — who has more than 60 years of experience in broadcasting — would excite fans of the flagship programme.

Angela said the next host must be “someone who will bring the glamour, and that’s what everyone loves about Strictly,” at the Starry Night Gala this week to support the charity Action for Children at The Peninsula London. She entered it in 2023 at the age of 79, becoming the oldest contestant to do so.

Angela, the daughter of a Royal Marine, has worked in the media for a long time, most recently hosting Holiday Hit Squad with Helen Skelton and Joe Crowley, both of whom she was Top Gear presenter in the 1970s.

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One source claimed that when she was offered to participate in Strictly two years ago, “She is the dream signing.” Many people will remember her from her days as host of the show in its previous incarnation, and the audience will love her.

The broadcaster, who is originally from Plymouth, Devon, has maintained a close relationship with her Strictly partner, Kai, 30, and they recently collaborated on “Let’s Dance”!, a project that aims to inspire people of all ages to experience the joy of dancing.

Lebanon arrests alleged drug kingpin sanctioned by US State Department

By in News, World News

Two years after the country’s most notorious drug lord was found by the Lebanese army due to his alleged involvement with narcotics rings in Syria, he was given a two-year suspension by the US.

The Lebanese army confirmed to the Reuters news agency that a citizen with the initials “NZ” had been detained in a post on X on Thursday, and three security sources confirmed to the news agency that Noah Zaitar was the subject of the incident.

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Security forces in Baalbek, in eastern Baalbek-Hermel governorate, detained Zaitar following a “series of precise security surveillance and monitoring operations,” according to the Lebanese military.

According to the military, “the detainee is one of the most dangerous wanted individuals, pursuant to a large number of arrest warrants,” for crimes involving the establishment of gangs in various Lebanese regions engaged in drug and arms trafficking, narcotics manufacturing, and robbery and theft by force of weapons.

He had previously opened fire on military installations, citizens’ homes, and kidnapped people for cash as a result. Under the supervision of the competent judiciary, the investigation has already begun with the detainee,” it continued.

In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley region close to the Syrian border, Zaitar allegedly ran a drug empire that produced and exported drugs, including the synthetic stimulant captagon.

Zaitar was given a life sentence in 2024 for killing a Lebanese soldier after avoiding arrest for years while residing in his hometown of Kneisseh&nbsp, surrounded by armed supporters.

He was also named in US Department of State sanctions against Bashar al-Assad’s ousted regime and those connected to his lucrative captagon trafficking network in 2023.

Zaitar, according to the State Department, had close ties to the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arab Army, an elite unit that was once a key player in the captagon trade, and was a “known arms dealer and drug smuggler.”

Zaitar is also wanted for “materially supporting, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services” to Hezbollah, according to the statement.

Zaitar’s arrest comes as part of a country-wide crackdown on drug traffickers, which is currently being carried out by Lebanon’s authorities.

The Lebanese military claimed that two soldiers were killed on Tuesday in clashes in Baalbek as they pursued fugitive drug traffickers in a separate post on X on Wednesday.

The first assistant Martyr Bilal al-Baradi and Corporal Martyr Ali Haidar were killed on April 11, 1920 when an Army unit carried out a series of raids supported by an Army unit in the al-Sharawna area – Baalbek. &nbsp,

Another Lebanese citizen, identified by the local news outlet Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International as Hassouneh Jaafar, was shot and killed after opening fire on Lebanese security forces during that raid, according to the military.

The fugitive was wanted in connection with drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, and the murder of four soldiers.