Category World News

Trump’s ‘board of peace’ appears to seek wider mandate beyond Gaza

By in News, World News

According to reports, US President Donald Trump has begun inviting world leaders and other well-known figures to his “board of peace,” which would outline a longer-term plan for a body that addresses international conflicts beyond Gaza.

In the enclave, Trump had initially proposed the board as part of the second phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza. The board would be in charge of “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation.”

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

However, Trump’s letters, which were posted on social media on Saturday by two leaders who were invited to be board members, Santiago Pena and Javier Milei, pointed to wider goals. According to several reports, the letter’s so-called “charter” also included loftier objectives.

The board would “seek to consolidate Peace in the Middle East,” the US president wrote in Trump’s letter to Milei, and it would “enter a bold new strategy to resolving global conflict” at the same time.

The accompanying “charter,” which was quoted by The Financial Times as saying, “is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” was also quoted as saying.

The charter, which did not directly mention Gaza, was used to define “durable peace” and necessitated “pragmatic judgment, common sense solutions, and the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too frequently failed,” according to the newspaper.

A “charter” that laid out a wider scope for the body was also included in the invitations, two diplomatic sources told the Reuters news agency.

One diplomat in contact with the news agency claimed, “It’s a “Trump United Nations” that disregarded the fundamentals of the UN charter.”

Meanwhile, a senior US official told The Associated Press that the board of peace’s expanded role is still “aspirational.”

The official continued, noting that Trump and his advisers think it was possible to play such a role, given Washington and other UN members’ repeated grievances with the organization.

The board of peace, according to the official, did not intend to replace the UN.

Concentration on Gaza

The Trump administration has, to be sure, stated in the past that Gaza will be the first priority for the board of peace.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, were announced as the board’s founding executive members on Friday.

Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, Marc Rowan, and Robert Gabriel, a deputy US national security adviser, were also first-named as officials.

A separate “Gaza executive board,” which is supposed to control a technocratic group of Palestinians, is named the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and many of those figures were also given names. Hamas is expected to take over the committee’s daily management of Gaza.

Blair, Kushner, and Witkoff are on the executive board, along with Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay, Qatari diplomat Ali Al Thawadi, Qatari diplomat Ali Al Thawadi, United Arab Emirates peace coordinator Sigrid Kaag, and Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Ali Al-Hashimy, who are also on the 11-member executive board.

Turkey’s Milei and Pena, along with Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, have confirmed that their respective leaders, Milei and Pena, have been invited to the wider board of peace. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, was also invited to represent the EU, according to a representative from the EU.

Although there is no official confirmation, four sources tell Reuters that the board’s members include members from France, Germany, Australia, and Canada.

In the upcoming weeks, the White House said it would add more members.

However, the initial board members’ announcement sparked outrage from many Middle Easterners because they didn’t include any Palestinians but instead elevated steadfast supporters of Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Gaza executive board on Saturday, claiming that its makeup “was not in line with Israel and goes against its policy.”

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,424

By in News, World News

On Sunday, January 18, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

  • Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian military, about 1, 225, 590 personnel have been lost, according to estimates from the general staff of the Ukrainian military.
  • According to the office, Russia has lost an additional 11 569 tanks, 23 914 armoured fighting vehicles, 74, 601 vehicles and fuel tanks, 36, 261 artillery systems, 1, 615 multiple launch rocket systems, 1, 278 air defense systems, 434 aircraft, 347 helicopters, 108, 605 drones, 28 ships and boats, and two submarines. Since the start of the war, it has been challenging to independently verify the causalties of both sides.
  • Russian forces reportedly seized Pryvillya and Prylukya, both of which are located in the Donetsk region, according to the Russian TASS news agency.
    in the Zaporizhia region, citing Moscow’s Ministry of Defense.
  • According to the ministry, 305 Ukrainian forces have lost 1,030 personnel in the past 24 hours, and 214 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones and two long-range Neptune missiles have been shot down by Russian air defenses.
  • In addition to “ammunition depots, assembly workshops, storage sites, pre-flight preparation and launch sites for long-range unmanned aerial vehicles,” Russia’s defense ministry reported that it carried out attacks on Ukrainian energy and transportation infrastructure in 167 locations over the course of the past 24 hours.

Energy strikes

    The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported that the Russian forces were continuing their assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the weekend night, carrying out attacks in the Kyiv and Odesa regions. Russian authorities have portrayed the attacks as an attempt to sabotage the country’s energy system due to the country’s current cold weather.

  • More than 20 communities in the Kyiv region were left without power as a result of the strikes, according to the Ukraine’s Energy Ministry in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
  • Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, claimed that the energy system of Ukraine’s second-largest city was “constantly operating at its limits” because of constant Russian attacks. He claimed that overnight strikes caused three injuries to three people.
  • The most pressing energy issues are affecting Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, during a meeting on energy coordination. He added that countries must increase their energy imports and seek out additional equipment from allies.
  • Despite power outages, infrastructure problems, and extreme cold predictions, foreign embassies are planning to remain in Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian news outlet Kyiv Independent. Weather forecasts for later this month range from 20 degrees Celsius (–4 degrees Fahrenheit). According to the report, Kyiv hosts about 80 foreign diplomatic missions.
  • Moscow is reportedly planning attacks to shut Ukraine out of three nuclear power plants in the coming days, according to Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence body. According to the intelligence agency, those efforts are intended to “force Ukraine to accept unacceptable capitulation demands to end the war” and undermine the nation’s energy infrastructure.

Peace talks

  • Kyrylo Budanov, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said he was scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, US Secretary of the US Army, and Secretary of State Dan Driscoll, US President.
  • On Sunday, Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia, the negotiators from Ukraine, will also participate in the discussions in Miami, Florida.
  • On Friday, Zelenskyy stated that the weekend discussions would concentrate on developing ideas for a possible peace agreement regarding issues like economic reconstruction and post-war security guarantees.
  • The delegation’s statement, “in addition to stressing the destructive role that Russian continued strikes play on Ukraine,” was “constantly worsening” the country’s already constrained prospects for a peaceful resolution to end the war.
  • The two nations could sign a document at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week if the Trump administration and Ukraine reach a consensus on a proposal. Russian support would also be required for any such proposal.

Diplomacy

    Kaja Kallas, the head of the European Union’s foreign policy, claimed that the Trump administration’s threats to seize control of Greenland and impose tariffs on European allies who disagree with him should not be allowed to undermine the effort to put an end to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, which she described as the “core task” of the bloc.

  • As Trump continues to threaten the self-governing Danish territory and NATO member, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev made fun of European leaders by sending military personnel there. In a social media post addressed to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, he said that European nations should not “provoke the daddy”.
  • Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, praised Denmark and Greenland as examples of how the continent’s “sovereignty is upheld,” and claimed that the concept of sovereignty underlies France’s support for Ukraine.
  • Before the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, Zelenskyy announced Ukrainian sanctions against individuals and organizations involved in Russian athletics, claiming that Moscow uses “sports venues to spread anti-Ukrainian narratives and Russian propaganda.” Russian athletes are prohibited from competing, but they can still be considered “neutral athletes.”

US says it killed al-Qaeda-affiliated leader tied to deadly Syria ambush

By in News, World News
An al-Qaeda-affiliated leader who had ties to an ISIL (ISIS) member who was killed last month in a deadly ambush of US forces, according to the United States, was killed by an airstrike in northwest Syria.

Bilal Hasan al-Jasim, who was “directly connected to the ISIS gunman who killed and injured American and Syrian personnel,” was killed in an airstrike on December 2, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

There is no place for those who carry out, plot, or inspire attacks on Americans and our warfighters. We’ll locate you, according to CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper.

In the ISIL ambush in Palmyra, Syria, on December 13 two US soldiers and a military interpreter were killed.

The US has since launched a number of massive strikes in Syria as a response to the deadly assault on American forces.

Since the US military launched its retaliatory operation in December, US forces and their partners have attacked more than 100 ISIL “infrastructure and weapons” sites, according to CENTCOM on Saturday.

In addition, over 20 ISIS operatives have been killed and captured by US and partner forces in Syria over the past year, according to the statement.

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, had promised to punish those responsible for the deadly attack on US troops.

US urges de-escalation as Syrian army advances on Kurdish-held territory

By in News, World News

In the wake of clashes with Kurdish-led forces over strategic posts and oilfields along the Euphrates River, the United States has urged Syrian troops to halt their advance through Kurdish-held territory in Syria’s north.

Following recent fighting in Aleppo and areas east of the city over stalled plans to merge the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian state, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) agreed to retreat east of the river.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

Syrian troops should “cease any offensive actions in areas” between the city of Aleppo and the town of Tabqa, which is located 160 kilometers (100 miles) further east in the Raqqa governorate, according to Brad Cooper, the head of the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM).

The Syrian Army Operations Command announced on Saturday that the military had entered Tabqa, a strategic town close to a dam and military air base, in Arabic. The SDF refuted the claim, claiming that there were still its troops “in their positions.”

‘Betrayal’

The SDF had previously stated that it would withdraw from the important Aleppo governorates’ Deir Hafer and Maksana, as well as some of the nearby Arab-majority communities.

On Saturday, the Syrian army accused the SDF of violating a withdrawal agreement by shooting an army patrol close to Maksana and killing two soldiers.

Meanwhile, the SDF claimed Damascus had violated the agreement by entering the towns “before our fighters had fully withdrawn.”

Later, Syrian troops reportedly advanced further, breaking into the Raqqa countryside, breaking into towns and villages controlled by Kurds, including Hneida, Rajm al-Ghazal, Mansoura, and Zur Shamar, and imposing a curfew in the Maadan area as they pushed their way closer to Tabqa.

Damascus was accused of betrayal by the SDF. During the implementation of the withdrawal provisions, our forces and Damascus factions continued to engage in violent clashes, according to a statement from the organization. Additionally, parts of Raqqa were “subjected to artillery shelling and rocket fire.”

However, the SDF claimed in a statement on Saturday that Tabqa was “outside the scope of the agreement” and that it would fight to keep the town and an oilfield close by.

Zein Basravi, a journalist from Aleppo, reported that the Raqqa governorate was still under ongoing shelling.

It is unsurprising, he said, “Seeing the amount of weapons, the amount of long-range artillery, and the truckloads of ammunition going in that direction is unbelievable.”

This is a very active, ongoing theater of operations, he continued, noting that there are ongoing battles involving oilfields that were being fought by the SDF.

Shortly after soldiers seize the Deir Hafer and Maskana oil fields from the SDF, the Syrian Petroleum Company announced on Saturday that it had taken control of the al-Rasafa and Safyan oilfields from the Syrian Army.

Unresolved problem

In order to balance years of support for the SDF, with whom it had been allied in the fight against ISIL (ISIS), and its support for Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian president, whose forces had ousted Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, the US has had to reevaluate its Syria policy.

On Saturday, US envoy Tom Barrack met with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and Abdi in Erbil, a Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Authorities in the Kurdish region welcomed a decree released on Friday that formally recognizes the Kurdish language and grants Kurdish Syrians citizenship, but it required that it be passed and enshrined in the constitution.

Bernard Smith of Al Jazeera reported from Baghdad that the “unresolved issue of how to integrate these tens of thousands of heavily armed, well-trained SDF fighters into the Syrian Army” lay beneath the “conciliatory words”

EU, Mercosur bloc sign free trade deal after 25 years of negotiations

By in News, World News
In light of tariff threats and growing uncertainty surrounding global cooperation, European and South American officials have signed a significant free trade agreement, opening the way for the largest-ever trade agreement for the EU.

After 25 years of negotiations, the 27-nation EU and South America’s Mercosur bloc reached a deal that will make one of the largest free trade areas in the world.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

The European Parliament must now approve the agreement, which is intended to lower tariffs and promote trade between the two regions, and have it ratified by the legislatures of Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

At the signing ceremony in Asuncion, the country’s capital, EU leader Ursula Von der Leyen said, “We choose fair trade over tariffs, we choose a productive long-term partnership over isolation.”

In “a global scenario marked by tensions,” Paraguay’s president Santiago Pena also praised the agreement as sending “a clear signal in favor of international trade.”

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira hailed it as a “bulwark” in the face of a “globalized, oppressive, and coercive world”

The leaders of the EU and Mercosur take a group photo of the Asuncion, Paraguay signing of the free trade agreement on January 17, 2026.

Farmers and environmental groups, who have voiced concerns about a surge of cheap South American imports and worsening deforestation, gave the deal a green light from the majority of Europe’s nations last week.

Last week, thousands of Irish farmers launched a protest against the agreement, accusing European leaders of sacrificing their interests.

However, the Paraguayan leaders claimed that the agreement would provide opportunities for people on both sides of the Atlantic.

Together, the EU and Mercosur account for more than 700 million consumers and 30% of the global GDP. By the end of 2026, the agreement, which eliminates tariffs on more than 90% of bilateral trade, is anticipated to be in force.

The agreement will facilitate the entry of South American beef, poultry, sugar, rice, honey, and soya beans into Europe while promoting European exports of cars, wine, and cheese.

The Mercosur countries make up a “huge area that produces enormous amounts of agricultural products [products] and raw minerals,” according to Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman, who was reporting from Paraguay on Saturday.

They are extremely interested in the deal because it will open up an enormous market for them in Europe, but with more stringent requirements than they have so far,” they said in South America. Therefore, there will need to be some accommodating,” Newman said.

She added that signing the deal meant sending a “geopolitical message” to the United States and other countries was crucial.

According to Newman, “this is a gesture to support multilateralism at a time when isolationism and tariffs are trying to rule the world,” as Von der Leyen said.

US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs against a number of European nations shortly before the signing ceremony for their opposition to his plan to annex Greenland.