Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks with the media at the UN headquarters in New York City, U.S. on May 26, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“We live in a new era in geopolitics and it is going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, said in Washington on February 13 before heading to attend the Munich Security Conference. “The old world is gone,” he said.

The old world Mr. Rubio referred to was one in which Western dominance prevailed unchallenged. On February 14, while addressing the conference, he hailed the colonial period as a phase of the West’s “expansion”.

“For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding — its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe,” he said, with no reference to the crimes and loot of colonialism. “But in 1945, for the first time since the age of Columbus, it was contracting. Europe was in ruins… The great Western empires had entered into terminal decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and by anti-colonial uprisings that would transform the world,” added Mr. Rubio, just a few months ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence from Britain.

Also Read | Rubio strikes constructive tone but persists in U.S. criticism of European allies

‘Managed decline’

This “managed decline”, in Mr. Rubio’s views, was accelerated by two things. First, “waves of mass migration” to the West from the rest that “threatens the cohesion of our societies and the continuity of our culture and the future of our people”. Second, the West embraced “a dogmatic vision” of free trade, which benefited its adversaries who protected their economies and took control of critical supply chains.

In other words, Mr. Rubio was reiterating what U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance said in Munich last year. The liberal, free trade, pro-immigration policies of Western democracies have accelerated the decline of the West, while America’s adversaries (read China) kept growing, altering the balance in the global order. The change in the balance of power led to the collapse of the old order. Mr. Rubio did not stop there.

The system of international cooperation and institutions “must be reformed” and “rebuilt”, he said. The U.N. could not resolve the war in Gaza, Mr. Rubio said, without mentioning the fact that both the Trump and Biden administrations had repeatedly vetoed resolutions in the U.N. Security Council that were critical of Israel. It was the American leadership “that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce”, said Mr. Rubio, without touching upon Israel’s continued bombings in Gaza or its devastation of the enclave where at least 75,000 people, mostly women and children, were killed in two years. Mr. Rubio’s answer to the apparent inability of the U.N. in resolving global conflicts is American unilateralism.

He credited the Trump administration with bringing Russia and Ukraine to tables and “constraining” (not “obliterating” as Mr. Trump has claimed) the nuclear programme of “radical Shia clerics” of Iran. He also claimed that U.S. Special Forces brought Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s President, “to justice”, referring to the January 3 American attack of the South American country and the abduction of its president. In Mr. Rubio’s worldview, international law is an “abstraction”, unilateralism is effective leadership and sovereignty of weaker powers such as Iran and Venezuela, is non-existent and the rights of the Palestinians exist only on the fringes of the old world.

Also Read | With a second aircraft carrier deployment, Trump raises the stakes with Iran

Civilisational alliance

If Mr. Vance disparaged the European model of governance and defence, Mr. Rubio offered a window for Europe to join hands with America. “We are part of one civilization — Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir,” he said in Munich.

But the new alliance, according to him, should be rooted in common civilisational heritage, rather than geopolitical commonalities. “We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalise an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history,” he added. Mr. Rubio said America is “charting a path for a new century of prosperity”. And he wants Europe with the U.S. in this civilisation revitalisation mission. The crowd in Munich applauded when Mr. Rubio ended his speech.

Published – February 18, 2026 01:39 pm IST

By cutting off a nation’s access to resources, finance, and trade, sanctions aim to put economic pressure on the government or leaders to alter their policies.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Hong Kong:

China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from its territory deep into the Pacific Ocean on September 25, the first such test since 1980.

Beijing’s explanation of this extremely rare event was perfunctory, with the Ministry of National Defence (MND) downplaying this hurling of a strategic weapon far across the Pacific. China’s MND described the test thus: “The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) launched an ICBM carrying a dummy warhead to the high seas in the Pacific Ocean at 08:44 on September 25th, and the missile fell into expected sea areas. This test launch is a routine arrangement in our annual training plan. It is in line with international law and international practice, and is not directed against any country or target.”

Of course, this ICBM launch was anything but “routine,” for China has not conducted such a test for 44 years. So significant was the event that Beijing deemed it necessary to warn select nations in advance, including France and the USA.

Sabrina Singh, Pentagon deputy spokeswoman, acknowledged, “We did receive some advance notification of this ICBM test, and we believe that was a good thing. That was a step in the right direction, and it does lead to preventing any misperception or miscalculation.”

Singh added that the USA had pressed China for “a more regular bilateral notification arrangement when it comes to ballistic missiles and space launches”. She described this as “a common sense, confidence-building measure”.

China has a 2009 agreement with Russia for each side to notify the other of ballistic missile launches, but so far China has rejected all American suggestions for such a mechanism.

Warned in advance, the US Air Force deployed an RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft–one of only three existing to collect optical and electronic data on the missile and its warhead about halfway along its flight path. The USAF describes the RC-135 as “a national asset uniquely suited to provide America’s leaders and defence community with vital information that cannot be obtained by any other source”.

The missile splashed down near the exclusive economic zone of French Polynesia, not far from the Marquesas Islands. China had sent its Yuan Wang 5 tracking ship near the landing site to collect data. New Zealand described the ICBM test as an “unwelcome and concerning development”. Indeed, nations like Australia, Japan and New Zealand asked China for an explanation.

Importantly, this test came precisely ten years after the DF-31AG achieved its first launch on 25 September 2014. Symbolism and dates are important to the PLA, and at that time the then-new missile used a lofted trajectory to limit its ground range. However, this latest provocative test came at a time of heightened tensions with neighbours like Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately tweeted, “PLA’s 1st ICBM launch in 44 years exposes the regime’s expansionist ambitions & malign nature. Taiwan vehemently condemns the PRC for its reckless moves destabilising the region & urges China to exercise restraint & cease all actions that undermine global efforts for peace.” This was more than a routine test. China was sending a signal, an intimidating one at that.

China launched this missile from a countryside site in the northern part of Hainan Island, a Chinese island sitting north of the South China Sea. The ICBM flew approximately 12,000km. It is most notable that the distance between Hainan Island and Los Angeles on the west coast of the USA is some 12,100km. China therefore effectively demonstrated its ability to reach the USA with this type of nuclear weapon, even though the newer DF-41 has an even longer range.

Decker Eveleth, an analyst at the American research organization CNA, explained further why China lobbed this missile in the direction it did. “Generally, the PLARF tests ICBMs from the interior of the country, out in the northern desert shooting east to west. This is satisfactory for most system tests (many missile tests are actually conducted to test a specific subsystem). The problem is that this forces you to use a lofted trajectory. The distance from the ICBM test site to the target ranges is around 2,000-3,000 kilometres, so China has to fire their ICBMs very high to compensate. That’s maybe a quarter of an ICBM’s actual range. That means, if the PLARF wanted to test a depressed trajectory, they’re going to need to find another place to test their ICBMs–like the Pacific Ocean.”

Eveleth also identified one possible reason why the missile was fired from Hainan: “Another reason you’d test like this is to test speed and the competence of your missile crews. Launching a missile is complicated, and there are a variety of tasks that, if you mess it up, that missile is going to miss the target, especially considering the ICBM they launched is almost certainly launched from a mobile launcher. By doing it out at Hainan and launching from a launch location the missile crew may be unfamiliar with, you can identify potential pitfalls in the process.”

Eveleth said there is a precedent for this kind of end-to-end test, for China did something similar with a DF-2 in 1966. He said on that occasion the PLA’s launch “was conducted partly to test the entire transportation and launch support infrastructure”. He suggested it was possibly a “similar deal” on this latest occasion.

This was a complex operation for the PLARF, for it entailed transporting a massive HTF5980A 16×16 transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) plus support vehicles from the Chinese mainland across to Hainan Island. A photo circulating on the internet, and others of the launch itself released by the MND, showed that the missile was launched from an unprepared site. Such a procedure with minimal supporting infrastructure makes it much more difficult for an adversary to identify launch sites.

What kind of missile was it? Most analysts agree it was a DF-31AG, a type that publicly debuted in a parade in Beijing on 1 October 2019. The DF-31AG is externally very similar to the earlier DF-31A, suggesting the two ICBMs are not substantially different.

However, the latter uses a truck-and-trailer launcher unit, whereas the DF-31AG is more mobile on an eight-axle truck chassis. Eveleth published a PLARF order of battle in July 2023, where he described the DF-31AG thus: “It is unclear at this point what precisely the difference between the DF-31A and the DF-31AG is, besides the change in transporter and support equipment. PLA military newspapers mention that the AG has upgraded cabling, reducing the number of necessary cables and allowing for faster data transmission times. But what changes, if any, have been made to the missile itself, are still unknown.”

The American researcher added, “The big, big thing they’d want to modernize is the guidance system, which still relies on an antiquated alignment system the US got rid of in the 1990s. As Chinese state media still talk about cable vans and alignment, the AG’s guidance system has likely not been modernized. It’s possible China is working on a new model that updates the guidance system that removes these problems.”

The PLARF’s 624 Missile Brigade is stationed in Hainan, but that unit possesses DF- 21D anti-ship ballistic missiles. In fact, the nearest DF-31AG unit to Hainan is 632 Brigade stationed in Shaoyang (27.2532°N, 111.3859°E). This is approximately 800km away from the Hainan launch site.

Eveleth, in his PLARF order of battle from 2023, estimated China had anywhere from 48-56 DF-31AG TELs. He listed the 621 Brigade in Yibin, the aforementioned 632 Brigade, 642 Brigade in Datong, 643 Brigade in Tianshui and the 664 Brigade in Xiangyang as units operating the DF-31AG.

In a report published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists earlier this year, it estimated China had 64 DF-31AGs. The same document calculated that China currently fields a total of 438 nuclear warheads, plus another 62 warheads that have been produced but not operationalized. This assessment corresponds almost identically to the 500 warheads estimated by the Pentagon’s 2023 report on China’s military capabilities.

The Pentagon predicts the PLARF’s nuclear warhead stockpile will reach 1,000 by 2030. Eveleth also predicted in his report that, by 2028, China will own more than 1,000 ballistic missile launchers. Of these, 507 will be nuclear-capable, 342-432 will be conventional missile launchers, and at least 252 dual-capable launchers.

However, Eveleth offered this opinion: “The most concerning change to China’s nuclear forces is not actually the numerical expansion in launchers, but their apparent shift from a retaliation plan that imagined firing a salvo of nuclear missiles after an adversary had already completed an attack against the Chinese homeland to a posture of launch on warning (LOW). Under launch on warning, an incoming nuclear attack is detected in flight with satellites and ground-based radar, allowing a state to retaliate before the incoming missiles have struck their targets.

“China’s developing LOW capability, combined with solid-fueled missile silos, means that they can quickly launch a nuclear attack at a moment’s notice. A LOW posture presents new challenges in ensuring conventional conflicts stay conventional.”

Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, a Chinese MND spokesperson, said at a 26 September press conference, “China’s nuclear policy is very stable, consistent and predictable. We strictly follow a nuclear policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons, and pursue a nuclear strategy of self-defence.”

Zhang added, “We’ve promised not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against no-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones. China will continue to keep its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national security.”

Zhang further noted that “At present, there’s a more stable momentum in the overall defence relationship between China and the US. The two militaries maintain high-level strategic communication, policy communication, institutionalised dialogues and exchanges in specialized fields. These engagements could help enhance mutual understanding, avoid miscalculation and manage and control risks.”

China may well be hoping to solidify its international status as a global power boasting a world-class military. The USA routinely conducts long-range tests of ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, so China is demonstrating that it can do so too.

Indeed, Beijing now seems unapologetic about conducting military activities that mirror American ones. Therefore, perhaps a pertinent question to ask is whether this latest test has set a precedent for beyond-border flight tests and whether China will continue to do the same in the future. In 2019-20, China launched multiple DF-21D and DF-26 missiles into the South China Sea. That episode might have been a portent for an ongoing practice of splashing missiles down in extraterritorial waters.

Another purpose for this test across the Pacific may relate to reassuring the Chinese people and demonstrating to the world of the credibility of the PLARF. The aforementioned Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists report noted, “The readiness of the Chinese nuclear missile force was challenged in early 2024 with the disclosure that a US intelligence assessment had found that corruption within the People’s Liberation Army had led to an erosion of confidence in its overall capabilities, particularly when it comes to the Rocket Force.”

Remember too that the PLARF was embroiled heavily in a corruption scandal that saw the force’s top two leaders removed and prosecuted. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists report pointed out that “recent dismissals of top defence officials and widespread corruption might chill the Chinese leadership’s willingness to arm missiles with warheads in peacetime.”

The PLARF is a strategic force, but Chairman Xi Jinping has been ruing the lack of loyalty amongst its top leadership, and he was angered by the corruption that appears rife in the organisation. By demonstrating the ability to relocate a sophisticated ICBM and its launch apparatus from the mainland by sea, and by firing a missile thousands of kilometres at a distance sufficient to reach the USA, the PLARF has sharply demonstrated to Xi that this force is politically reliable and that it is combat ready.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris launched a $50 million advertising blitz on Tuesday, capitalizing on the momentum of a fledgling campaign against Republican rival Donald Trump with a one-minute spot titled “Fearless.”

It was Harris’ first big ad buy since consolidating support for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed her.

In addition to garnering the backing of big-money donors, Harris has sparked newfound energy among groups such as young voters that Biden had been struggling to win over.

Public opinion polls in the last week have shown Harris, 59, closing the gap with 78-year-old Trump, who still leads in some national surveys.

The ads will be rolled out on television as well as streaming and social channels across election battleground states in the weeks before the Democratic National Convention that starts on Aug. 19.

The first ad in the campaign begins with images of Harris as a little girl and follows her progression to a prosecutor, attorney general and U.S. vice president. “The one thing Kamala Harris has always been: fearless,” the ad says.

Since stepping into her new role, Harris has focused on Trump’s felony convictions in a hush-money trial involving a porn star and the other criminal charges he faces, and portrayed him as responsible for a wave of anti-abortion measures in Republican-led states around the country.

The Harris campaign’s ad buy dwarfed the $10 million advertising buy announced by Trump’s campaign on Monday, to be launched in six battleground states this week as it tries to counter a surge of voter enthusiasm and donations for Harris.

That was Trump’s biggest ad buy since January.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hong Kong:

Hong Kong pro-democracy news outlet Stand News and its two former chief editors were found guilty of sedition on Thursday, the first conviction of its kind since the city came under Chinese rule in 1997.

The verdict is part of a crackdown on free speech in the former British colony that has seen critics of China jailed or forced into exile, following huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Editors Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and Patrick Lam, 36, are the first journalists to be convicted of sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997, and the ruling drew resounding international condemnation.

Chung and Lam were in charge of Stand News, a Chinese-language website that gained a massive following during the protests in 2019, before it was raided and shut down in December 2021.

On Thursday, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin said the pair were guilty of “conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications”. The parent company of Stand News, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty.

“The line (Stand News) took was to support and promote Hong Kong local autonomy,” according to a written judgement by Kwok.

“It even became a tool to smear and vilify the Central Authorities (Beijing) and the (Hong Kong) SAR Government.”

Kwok also pointed to 11 articles published by Stand News that “caused potential detrimental consequences to national security” and had the intention of “seriously undermining” authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Lam was absent from court on Thursday due to illness.

The judge granted the duo bail before their sentencing on September 26.

Colonial-era law

Chung and Lam were charged under a colonial-era law, which punishes sedition with a maximum jail term of two years.

A recent security law enacted in March raised the jail term for sedition to seven years.

In response to the verdict, the European Union called on Hong Kong to “stop prosecuting journalists”.

“The ruling risks inhibiting the pluralistic exchange of ideas and the free flow of information, both cornerstones of the economic success of Hong Kong,” a EU spokesperson said.

Speaking outside court, police chief superintendent Steve Li said the verdict “clearly illustrated the necessity and lawfulness” of the enforcement actions in 2021 against Stand News.

Asked if the verdict would further affect press freedom, Li said it would “actually help”.

“It would let everyone know what kind of problems could risk breaching the law,” he said.

Not seditious

But Beh Lih Yi from the Committee to Protect Journalists said the ruling showed that Hong Kong was “descending further into authoritarianism”.

“Journalism is not seditious,” she said.

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China Director, called the verdict “one more nail in the coffin for press freedom in Hong Kong”.

Hong Kong has seen its standing in global press freedom rankings plummet in recent years.

Chung had testified that the outlet was a platform for free speech and defended his decisions to publish articles critical of the government.

But prosecutors accused them of bringing “hatred or contempt” to the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.

More than 100 people, including supporters and media professionals, queued up for spots in the public gallery on Thursday morning.

The verdict was also attended by representatives from various consulates — including the United States, Britain, France, European Union, and Australia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paris:

After an escalation of hostilities Sunday amid over 10 months of cross-border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement, here are the major eruptions of violence since their 2006 war.

The devastating month-long war in the summer of 2006 cost Lebanon more than 1,200 lives, mostly civilians, while some 160 Israelis were killed, mostly soldiers.

The following years saw sporadic attacks, which surged following the October 7 attack by Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas on Israel.

2007-2013: rocket fire and incursion

On June 17, 2007, two rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon hitting an industrial zone in the border town of Kiryat Shmona without causing casualties. Hezbollah denies responsibility.

In early August 2010, a move by Israeli troops to uproot trees in a disputed border area at Adaysseh sparks a deadly border battle in which two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist are killed along with a senior Israeli officer.

On August 7, 2013, four Israeli soldiers on patrol were wounded in a blast claimed by Hezbollah 400 metres (yards) inside Lebanese territory.

2014-2015: Israeli strikes

On February 26, 2014, Hezbollah says Israeli warplanes had carried out an air raid on one of its positions at Lebanon’s border with Syria.

On October 7, Israel strikes two Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response to its bomb attack against Israeli troops on the ceasefire line on the Shebaa hills between the two countries that wounded two soldiers.

On January 28, 2015, two Israeli soldiers are killed in a Hezbollah ambush in the Shebaa hills.

The attack is carried out in retaliation for a raid blamed on Israel 10 days earlier on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights, which killed at least six members of Hezbollah and an Iranian general.

In retaliation, Israeli tanks and artillery bombarded several villages in southern Lebanon.

2019: drones and missiles strikes

On August 25, 2019, two explosive-laden drones hit the southern Beirut suburbs, causing material damage according to Hezbollah, which blames the attack on Israel.

The day before, an Israeli air strike in Syria had killed two Hezbollah members.

On September 1, the Israeli army and Hezbollah traded missile fire along the border.

2021: uptick in clashes

On August 4, 2021, three rockets were fired from Lebanon, of which two fell in Israel. The Israeli army responds with air strikes on southern Lebanon.

On August 6, Hezbollah fires more than 10 rockets at Israel, which responds with artillery fire.

2023-2024: October 7 attacks aftermath

Hezbollah has traded almost daily cross-border fire with Israel since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

In southern Lebanon, a Reuters video journalist was killed on October 13, and six other journalists from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera were wounded in a strike by an Israeli tank.

On January 2, 2024, Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri was killed in Beirut’s southern suburbs in a strike blamed on Israel.

On February 26, Israeli strikes Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley in the first such raid on Lebanon’s east since fighting erupted in October.

July, August 2024: Hezbollah, Fatah chiefs killed

On July 27, a rocket strike killed 12 children aged 10-16 in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Israel blames the strike on Hezbollah, which denies the claim.

The Israeli army responds by striking Beirut’s southern suburbs on July 30, killing Hezbollah’s top commander in the south, Fuad Shukr.

In an August 21 strike, the Israeli military kills Khalil Maqdah, described by the Palestinian Fatah movement as “one of the leaders” of its armed wing in Lebanon.

August 2024: hostilities surge

On August 25, Hezbollah says it launched a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones on Israel in response to the killing of Shukr. It says its operation “was completed and accomplished”.

But Israel says it has thwarted the attack, launching air strikes into Lebanon that the military says destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israel:

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was due to travel to Egypt on Tuesday for talks on a Gaza ceasefire after saying Israel had accepted a US “bridging proposal” for a deal and urging Hamas to do the same.

Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since the Palestinian operative group’s October 7 attack triggered the war with Israel, was scheduled to fly from Tel Aviv to El Alamein, the Mediterranean city famous for a World War II battle in 1942, to speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at his summer palace.

Afterwards, he will head to a meeting with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in Doha, the scene of ceasefire talks last week.

Both Egypt and Qatar are working alongside the United States to broker a truce in the 10-month Gaza conflict.

Washington put forward the latest proposal last week after the talks in Doha.

Blinken said Monday he had “a very constructive meeting” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal”.

Ahead of those talks, Hamas called on the mediators to implement the framework set out by US President Joe Biden in late May, rather than hold more negotiations.

The movement said on Sunday that the current US proposal “responds to Netanyahu’s conditions” and leaves him “fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators”.

Earlier on Monday, the US secretary of state had said: “This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security”.

Months of on-off negotiations with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have failed to produce an agreement.

Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for delays in reaching an accord that diplomats say would help avert a wider conflagration in the Middle East that could draw in Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“There is, I think, a real sense of urgency here, across the region, on the need to get this over the finish line and to do it as soon as possible,” Blinken said.

The Biden administration is under domestic pressure over Gaza, with pro-Palestinian protests taking place outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.

Biden said in his farewell speech to the convention that the protesters “have a point”, adding that “a lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides”.

Permanent ceasefire

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for delays in reaching a truce deal.

Hamas insisted on “a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”, saying Netanyahu wanted to keep Israeli forces at several strategic locations within the territory.

Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters who protested in Tel Aviv during Blinken’s visit, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order for an agreement to be reached.

Far-right members crucial to the prime minister’s governing coalition oppose any truce.

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 40,139 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and operative deaths.

Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 111 are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

The Biden framework would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks while Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters Gaza.

Netanyahu said on Monday that negotiators were aiming to “release a maximum number of living hostages” in the first phase of any ceasefire.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kyiv:

A Ukrainian deputy energy minister accused of taking a bribe worth half a million dollars has been arrested along with three alleged accomplices, Ukraine’s SBU Security Service said on Monday.

The minister, whom the SBU did not name, allegedly demanded mining industry officials pay him to transfer equipment from mines in the frontline eastern Donetsk region to a coal basin in western Ukraine.

“The equipment in question is unique and scarce, belonging to one of the state-owned coal companies located in the most active area of the eastern frontline — Pokrovsk,” the SBU said in a statement.

“In the spring of 2024, industry representatives approached the deputy energy minister to obtain permission to evacuate the equipment from the war zone and use it at mines in a western region,” it added.

“However, the official, whose duties included the preservation of mining equipment, demanded money for its removal,” it said.

The minister took the payment with the help of three alleged accomplices, all of whom were caught “red handed” after the minister had received part of the bribe, according to the statement.

The SBU did not disclose the identity of the four accused, posting photos of its officers arresting the suspects with their faces blurred.

But Ukrainian opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak named the minister as Oleksandr Kheilo, a deputy energy minister.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers later issued an order to dismiss Kheilo from his post, according to a government Telegram channel.

Ukraine, which had severe corruption problems even before Russia’s 2022 invasion, has pledged to bolster efforts to combat graft as it seeks EU membership and to reassure its Western military backers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rose to power on a platform of ending corruption, and has fired a number of officials including his defence minister last year over graft scandals in the army.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Ukraine lobbed missiles and drones at Russia’s southwest region of Kursk overnight, the local governor said Wednesday, a day after pro-Kyiv forces crossed across the border with tanks and armoured vehicles.

“Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down by air defence systems in the Kursk region”, regional governor Alexei Smirnov wrote on Telegram social media channel, adding that three drones were also destroyed.

On Tuesday, Moscow’s defence ministry said it had rushed its troops and aviation units to the border in Kursk after a morning raid by Ukrainian units — the latest such attack in the conflict.

The incursion was carried out by some 300 troops, 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured vehicles, Russian authorities said.

Five people were killed throughout the day and some 28 wounded, Smirnov and local health authorities said.

Kursk sits just across from Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.

Ukrainian drones also targeted residential buildings in the border regions of Voronezh and Belgorod, with damage but no casualties reported, local officials said on Wednesday.

Combatants from Ukraine have made several brief incursions into Russia since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022, including by units of Russians fighting in support of Kyiv — the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)