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Voting closed Sunday in the race to lead Canada’s Liberal Party, with a former central banker and political novice favored to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the country confronts threats from US President Donald Trump. Mark Carney, who served as the governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, is the front-runner to be named Liberal leader when results are announced, likely before 7:00 pm (2300 GMT).Voting closed at 3:00 pm after 151,899 party members cast ballots, the Liberal party said.  Carney has racked up endorsements, including from much of Trudeau’s cabinet and more than half of Liberals in parliament.  His main challenger is Trudeau’s former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who held several senior cabinet positions in the Liberal government that was first elected in 2015.A Freeland win would be a surprise for the party as it heads towards an election that must be held by October, but could come within weeks.  The new Liberal leader will become prime minister in the coming days, turning the page on the Trudeau era, but they may not have the job for long, with current polls putting the Conservatives as slight favorites to win the upcoming vote. Both Freeland and Carney have maintained that they are the best candidate to defend Canada against Trump’s attacks.The US president has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada and thrown bilateral trade, the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, into chaos with dizzying tariff actions that have veered in various directions since he took office.- ‘Most serious crisis’ -Party supporters gathered Sunday at an Ottawa hall draped in red where the winner will be announced. Lozminda Longkines, a Carney supporter, told AFP that Trump’s repeated musings about making Canada the 51st US state were “a blessing in disguise.””We are so united… We have a common enemy,” the 71-year old said.Greg MacEachern, who declined to say who he was supporting, agreed the party would emerge from the vote tightly focused on Trump. “This is a serious time, and I think people have taken this leadership race very, very seriously,” said MacEachern, wearing a hockey jersey. Carney has argued that he is the ideal counter to Trump’s disruptions, reminding voters that he led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and steered the Bank of England through the turbulence that followed the 2016 Brexit vote. Trump “is attacking what we build. He is attacking what we sell. He is attacking how we earn our living,” Carney told supporters at a closing campaign rally near Toronto on Friday.”We are facing the most serious crisis in our lifetime,” he added. “Everything in my life has prepared me for this moment.”Data released from the Angus Reid polling firm on Wednesday shows Canadians see Carney as the favorite choice to face off against Trump, potentially offering the Liberals a boost over the opposition Conservatives. Forty-three percent of respondents said they trusted Carney the most to deal with Trump, with 34 percent backing Tory leader Pierre Poilievre. Before Trudeau announced his plans to resign in January, the Liberals were headed for an electoral wipeout, but the leadership change and Trump’s influence have dramatically tightened the race.”I think we were written off about four months ago, and now we’re right back where we should be,” second tier leadership candidate and former MP, Frank Baylis, told AFP in Ottawa. – Not a politician? -Carney made a fortune as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before entering the Canadian civil service. Since leaving the Bank of England in 2020, he has served as a United Nations envoy working to get the private sector to invest in climate-friendly technology and has held private sector roles. He has never served in parliament or held an elected public office.Analysts say his untested campaign skills could prove a liability against a Conservative Party already running attack ads accusing Carney of shifting positions and misrepresenting his experience. The 59-year-old has portrayed himself as a new voice untainted by Trudeau, who he has said did not devote enough attention to building Canada’s economy. In the coming days, Trudeau and the new Liberal chief will visit Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon — King Charles III’s official representative in Canada — who will task the leader with forming a government.  

“Mickey 17,” a black comedy from Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho, topped the North American box office this weekend with an estimated take of $19.1 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.But Warner Bros. and Plan B are not celebrating yet — given the film’s production cost of a reported $118 million.  The film — the director’s first since his “Parasite” became the first foreign language film to win a best-picture Oscar — had been eagerly awaited. Robert Pattinson plays Mickey, who volunteers for hazardous space missions and, when killed, is repeatedly “reprinted” to be sent out again. Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo also star.Marvel and Disney’s “Captain America: Brave New World” slipped one spot to second, earning $8.5 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period. In four weeks, the superhero flick has taken in $176.6 million domestically and an additional $194 million abroad.Focus Features’ “Last Breath” earned $4.2 million for third place. Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole play a team of deep-sea divers racing to save a stranded teammate.In fourth was Neon Studio’s comedy-horror film “The Monkey,” based on a Stephen King story, at $3.9 million. Theo James, Rohan Campbell and Elijah Wood star in the tale of a toy monkey with a homicidal gleam in its eye.And in fifth was Sony and Columbia’s “Paddington in Peru,” about the lovable red-hatted teddy bear, at $3.85 million.It was a notably slow theatrical weekend, coming just a week after Oscar-winning director Sean Baker (“Anora”) made an impassioned plea at the Academy Awards ceremony for people to support the big-screen experience.But analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore said things will get better. “That is the rollercoaster that is the box office,” he said. “It will come back.”Rounding out the top 10 were:”Dog Man” ($3.5 million)”Anora” ($1.9 million)”Mufasa: The Lion King” ($1.7 million)”Rule Breakers” ($1.6 million)”In the Lost Lands” ($1 million)

The United States has ended a sanctions waiver that allowed Iraq to buy electricity from neighboring Iran, in line with President Donald Trump’s policy of exerting “maximum pressure” on Tehran.In a statement Sunday, the State Department said the decision not to renew the waiver was made to “ensure we do not allow Iran any degree of economic or financial relief.”The move comes two days after Trump said he had written Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to press for new talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.The US president warned of possible military action if Iran did not give in — a message that prompted Khamenei to reject “bullying” by foreign powers. Iran supplies a third of Iraq’s gas and electricity, providing Tehran with substantial income.- ‘Never take place’ -The Iranian mission to the United Nations on Sunday suggested Tehran might be willing to discuss certain issues — but not the complete end of its nuclear program.”If the objective of negotiations is to address concerns vis-a-vis any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program, such discussions may be subject to consideration,” said a statement from the mission.”However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place.”The waiver was introduced in 2018, when Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran after Trump abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran negotiated under President Barack Obama.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has reinstated his policy of exerting “maximum pressure” against Iran.”The President’s maximum pressure campaign is designed to end Iran’s nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop it from supporting terrorist groups,” a spokesman for the US embassy in Baghdad said earlier Sunday.The spokesman urged Baghdad “to eliminate its dependence on Iranian sources of energy as soon as possible.”The landmark 2015 deal that Obama helped negotiate between Tehran and major powers promised sanctions relief in return for Iran curbing its nuclear program.Tehran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, initially adhered to the nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of it, but then rolled back commitments.US officials estimate Iran would now need mere weeks to build a nuclear bomb if it chose to.- ‘All scenarios’ -Trump pulled out of the agreement over the objections of European allies, instead imposing sweeping US sanctions on any other country buying Iran’s oil. The waiver was extended to Iraq as a “key partner” of the US.Iraq, despite having immense oil and gas reserves, remains dependent on such energy imports. But Baghdad said it had prepared “for all scenarios” regarding the waiver.The ending of the energy waiver is expected to worsen the power shortages that affect the daily lives of 46 million Iraqis.Gulf analyst Yesar Al-Maleki of the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) said Iraq will now face challenges in providing electricity, especially during summer.To alleviate the impact, Iraq has several options including increasing imports from Turkey.

Since Donald Trump’s election, many ordinary voters have been desperate for an effective resistance to his aggressive drive to downsize the US government and recalibrate its foreign policy.But they are bristling at what they have seen so far — Democratic lawmakers waving paddles in Congress and appearing in much-mocked dance videos, and staid press conferences outside the gray buildings of Washington institutions.”Democrats need a plan. Not placards on the House floor, not screaming at the president, not silly videos,” said top strategist Richard Gordon, who has advised politicians and candidates at all levels for more than 35 years.”They need a plan on how to improve the lives of everyday Americans. Until they do, all the screaming and protesting in the world will fall on deaf ears.”In the latest in a series of missteps ripped apart on social media, Democrats protested against Trump’s speech to Congress with a variety of stunts that were largely missed by TV audiences. Texas Congressman Al Green was ejected for interrupting the president, but for the most part the Democrats were ignored by the cameras as they waved anti-Trump slogans, some “protesting” in pink, in a display that almost no one at home would have noticed.- Theatrics -For critics of the Democratic response to Trump’s first weeks in office, the episode demonstrated the party’s lack of discipline and a clear strategy to oppose the Republican leader.”These theatrics made the Democrats look petty and, ultimately, incapable of influencing the debate,” said Matthew N. Klink, a veteran political strategist and communications expert.Democratic Senator Adam Schiff acknowledged the lack of a coordinated response to Trump’s speech was “a mistake” and said it was time the party got its act together.”Taking our eye off the ball, I think, is very dangerous,” he told ABC “This Week” on Sunday.In a whirlwind first six weeks in office, Trump has issued a torrent of contentious executive orders, given allies cause to fear America has switched sides in the Russia-Ukraine war and unleashed tech billionaire Elon Musk to fire thousands of federal workers and begin dismantling government agencies.Meanwhile Democratic senators have responded with gestures of cooperation, voting to confirm Trump cabinet appointees, doing little to slow down his breakneck agenda and even voting with Republicans to pass immigration legislation.Opposition can be tough for any party effectively leaderless after losing Congress and the White House — but analysts see pitfalls that Democrats could be avoiding.Brad Chase, who has worked in communications and crisis management for more than 20 years, says Democrats are not speaking the language of voters with their focus on nuance and “high-minded ideals.””Trump and the (Republicans) go extremely basic — ‘The Bidens are a crime family.’ That is memorable and easy to understand,” Chase told AFP. “The Dems act like lawyers and bend over backwards to explain what is ‘alleged’ or to explain things rather than just tell people.”- Too many issues -Those protests during Trump’s speech to Congress highlighted another problem, says Chase — a lack of message discipline. “Dems all went off on different topics. Al Green was so itching for a fight that he jumped up… over the mundane issue of Trump’s so-called ‘mandate’ — not over some blatant lie about Russia or economics,” he said.”The American people don’t want 50 issues. They want one or two.”For Mike Fahey, who ran an independent candidate’s 2024 presidential campaign, Democrats’ insistence on practicing pre-Trump politics is leaving them trailing in his wake.”It’s not about an all-night debate in Congress. People want to see action now. And frankly, they’re not,” he said.So what would that action look like? For many Washington-watchers, it’s the economy, stupid.”If the last election was primarily about inflation and grocery prices, there’s an opportunity for Democrats to reclaim this issue,” said Andrew Koneschusky, a former aide to the party’s leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer.”Groceries prices aren’t going down, they’re going up. Every Democrat in front of a camera should have a giant poster next to him or her with the current price of eggs.”

In the fiery spat between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, it was a sentence that went largely unnoticed, but said quite a lot about the closeness the US leader thinks he has with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.”Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said on February 28 in the unprecedented and very public Oval Office clash.”He went through a phony witch hunt,” Trump added, referring to an investigation during his first term into whether his 2016 election campaign colluded with Moscow.Even though that allegation was repeatedly denied by the Kremlin, the Republican president seems now to be saying the incident forged a sense of solidarity between the leaders.The day before, in talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump said he believed Putin would “keep his word,” adding: “I spoke to him, I’ve known him for a long time now.”For Sasha de Vogel, the associate director of the Authoritarian Politics Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Trump “sees Putin as almost an aspirational figure.””He sees Putin as a strong man, a leader who is the decider in the situations that he is involved in, who has made Russia a much stronger country on the global stage during his time in office — and Trump wants to have that same kind of position.”The researcher however believes that Trump “overestimates their relationship.””Putin is not a businessman who Trump can earn the trust of. Putin is a highly strategic, extremely experienced politician,” she said, adding that the former KGB agent is “not operating on these same kinds of terms of personal like and dislike.”- ‘Great-power politics’ -Other experts note a certain ideological convergence between the longtime Russian leader and the new US administration.Putin hopes to “return to a model of great-power politics, where the United States and Russia can negotiate as equals and agree on spheres of influence,” Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine.According to Seskuria, the Russian leader believes that all territory of the former Soviet Union is his “rightful sphere of influence,” while Trump has a similar “expansionist mindset” that extends to Greenland, Canada and even the Panama Canal.After a long telephone conversation on February 12 with Putin, Trump said the Russian president wanted “peace” in Ukraine, adding: “I think he would tell me if he didn’t.”On other occasions, he has called Putin “a very smart guy” and “a very cunning person,” all the while refusing to call him a dictator — a word he has used to describe Zelensky.Trump “wants to be liked/respected by Putin, not understanding that… Trump’s fawning over him will be greeted by scorn in the Kremlin,” said Timothy Ash, a Russia specialist at the London-based think tank Chatham House.- ‘Erratic’ -De Vogel, however, said calling Trump a puppet of Putin, as some Democrats have done, is too reductive.”He changes his mind quite quickly. He’s very driven by emotion and by personal vengeance and things like this,” she told AFP.”And for that reason, he’s also erratic as a partner to Russia.”During Trump’s first term in the White House (2017-2021), the United States was not as favorable to Moscow as the Kremlin had hoped it would be.Trump agreed to sell Javelin anti-tank missiles to Kyiv, and his administration imposed a series of sanctions on Russia.The US leader sprung a surprise again on Friday, writing on his Truth Social platform: “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia.”Shortly afterward, in an exchange with reporters, Trump’s tone became much more conciliatory, as he said it was “easier” to deal with Russia than with Ukraine.”I’ve always had a good relationship with Putin. And you know, he wants to end the war,” he said.”I think he’s going to be more generous than he has to be, and that’s pretty good. That means a lot of good things.”

Canada’s Liberal Party looked set Sunday to choose a former central banker and political novice as its next leader, replacing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as it confronts threats from US President Donald Trump. Mark Carney, who served as the governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, is widely expected to be named the new Liberal leader when results from a vote of around 400,000 party members are announced later Sunday. The other main challenger is Trudeau’s former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who held several senior cabinet positions in the Liberal government that was first elected in 2015.Whoever wins the vote will take over from Trudeau as prime minister, but will soon face a general election that polls currently show the rival Conservative Party as slight favorites to win.Carney has racked up endorsements, including from much of Trudeau’s cabinet, and a Freeland win would be a shock for the Liberals as they head towards a general election. Despite dramatically breaking with the prime minister in December, analysts say voters still tie Freeland to Trudeau’s unpopular record. Carney and Freeland have both maintained that they are the best candidate to defend Canada against Trump’s attacks. The US president has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada and thrown bilateral trade, the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, into chaos with dizzying tariff actions that have veered in various directions since he took office.- ‘Most serious crisis’ -Carney has argued that he is a seasoned economic manager, reminding voters that he led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and steered the Bank of England through the turbulence that followed the 2016 Brexit vote. Trump “is attacking what we build. He is attacking what we sell. He is attacking how we earn our living,” Carney told supporters at a closing campaign rally near Toronto on Friday.”We are facing the most serious crisis in our lifetime,” he added. “Everything in my life has prepared me for this moment.”Data released from the Angus Reid polling firm on Wednesday shows Canadians see Carney as the favorite choice to face off against Trump, a trait that could offer the Liberals a boost over the opposition Conservatives. Forty-three percent of respondents said they trusted Carney the most to deal with Trump, with 34 percent backing Tory leader Pierre Poilievre. Most polls, however, still list the Tories as the current favorites to win the election, which must be held by October but could come within weeks.- Not a politician? -Carney made a fortune as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before entering the Canadian civil service. Since leaving the Bank of England in 2020, he has served as a United Nations envoy working to get the private sector to invest in climate-friendly technology and has held private sector roles. He has never served in parliament or held an elected public office.Analysts say his untested campaign skills could prove a liability against a Conservative Party already running attack ads accusing Carney of shifting positions and misrepresenting his experience. The 59-year-old has positioned himself as a new voice untainted by Trudeau, who he has said did not devote enough attention to building Canada’s economy. On Friday, Carney said Canadians “from coast to coast” wanted change, and referred to himself as a political outsider.”It’s getting to the point where after two months I may have to start calling myself a politician,” he joked.Trudeau has said he would agree on a transition of power once the new Liberal leader is in place, declining to give an exact date. When ready, the pair will visit Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon — King Charles III’s official representative in Canada — who will task the new Liberal chief with forming a government. The new prime minister may only hold the position for several weeks, depending on the timing and outcome of the looming election. 

Shipbuilding has been in steady decline in the US since the end of the Cold War but some in the industry now hope for a revival of the sector, as was promised last week by President Donald Trump.The United States was once a world leader in both commercial and naval construction, but has fallen far behind its main rival China.Trump has now promised to reverse this, declaring in an address to Congress on Tuesday that he would “resurrect” the sector and create an Office of Shipbuilding in the White House. “We used to make so many ships,” Trump said, promising tax breaks. “We’re going to make them very fast, very soon.” American shipbuilders say they are ready to seize the moment, but experts warn that even a concerted effort to respond to China’s overwhelming dominance of the sector will take years — and cost many billions of dollars.   “This is a historic moment,” said Matt Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), which represents more than 150 US shipbuilding companies. The US Navy, when asked for comment, referred AFP to the White House.”We are waiting to learn more,” Cynthia Cook, who heads the defense-industrial group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told AFP. “It is clear that shipbuilding is an industrial weakness of the United States.”But, she added: “You cannot immediately get more ships by throwing money at the problem.”US ship production is down 85 percent from the 1950s, and the number of naval shipyards capable of building the largest vessels has fallen by 80 percent, according to the McKinsey consultancy.- ‘Not what it was’ -In the 1970s, five percent of commercial ships built in the world (in gross tonnage) came from American shipyards. That share has since plunged to a scant one percent, a drop in the water compared to China (50 percent), South Korea (26 percent) or Japan (14 percent).”We need some solutions to our shipbuilding gaps,” said the CSIS’s Cook, while noting that Seoul and Tokyo, at least, are US allies.”I absolutely admit that US shipyard capacity is not what it once was,” Paxton said last month before a congressional committee.”Our market has changed dramatically since World War II, when shifting administrative priorities, from Republican and Democratic administrations, curbed programs to support our industry,” he said.The US naval fleet has shrunk from 471 vessels after the Cold War in 1992 to 295 today, Paxton said.According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the US Navy’s current plan to build a fleet of 390 vessels by 2054 — with the purchase of 364 new vessels because of the decommissioning of older models — would cost an average $40 billion a year.Paxton said the Trump administration needs a comprehensive strategy for the industry — including ways to reduce administrative and regulatory obstacles — if it is to achieve its shipbuilding goals.Republican Senator Roger Wicker painted a dire picture during a confirmation hearing last month for businessman John Phelan as navy secretary. “Just about every major US shipbuilding program is behind schedule, over budget or irreparably off track,” said Wicker, who chairs the Armed Services Committee.- Worker shortage -Shipbuilders say their work is regularly complicated by last-minute changes requested by the navy, which cause delays and budget overages.Another problem is a severe worker shortage. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted a wave of early retirements and career-switching, while slowing training. And amid historically low US unemployment, industry wages have had trouble competing.Still, naval shipbuilding contributes, directly or indirectly, more than $40 billion to the country’s GDP.The industry continues to build “lots of ships,” mainly for the domestic market, said Paxton, while adding that Trump probably wants a much larger US share of the global market.US shipyards not only produce and maintain ships for governmental bodies — from the US Navy to agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — they also produce and maintain the roughly 40,000 commercial vessels.But competition is fierce, with the industry in many countries — notably China — enjoying extensive subsidies and tax breaks, sources say. A spokesman for Huntington Ingalls Industries said HII, one of the largest US shipbuilders, was “grateful” for Trump’s comments and was working with the government to help “meet a generational increase in demand.”

At a red-brick school in Virginia, Hayden Jones is one of 1,000 students banned from using their phones as part of a trial hoping to boost learning.But the 12-year-old’s verdict on the restrictions — a shrug of his shoulders — reflects the skepticism shared by some students and parents.The phone ban at Twain Middle School is among a wave of measures implemented around the United States, and is part of a global movement replicated in Brazil, France and beyond.Supporters believe restrictions will guard pupils from the apparent harms of smartphone use while at school, but opponents say the measures fail to prepare teenagers for the digital world they will inevitably enter.Since September, Jones must now place his Android phone in a magnetic pouch each morning, which is locked until the end of the school day as part of a pilot scheme this academic year.Jones, speaking to AFP in a corridor lined with classrooms, said he hopes the ban will be gone by the time he starts eighth grade in September.”I like being able to go to my locker and call my parents. That’s a big concern for me,” he said, adding that some pupils have found ways to still use their devices — including by bringing a “dummy phone” to put in the pouch.School principal Matthew Mough admitted that enforcing the ban — and winning over students — has proved challenging, though he said most follow the rules.”The majority of kids who have phones don’t love it,” he said. “However, if you dig deeper with them in the conversation, they will acknowledge that it’s helped them remain focused.”Mough said the phone ban has reduced classroom distractions, cyberbullying and instances of students meeting up to skip lessons.- ‘Heads in the sand’ -Cell phone bans come alongside research suggesting that social media use increases the likelihood of mental illnesses like anxiety and depression in young people. Advocacy groups regularly cite these studies as justification for school phone bans, which have seen rare political consensus in a nation deeply divided on virtually every other political issue.Around 76 percent of US public schools — from liberal California to conservative Florida — had some sort of ban on non-academic phone use, according to the latest Department of Education figures, with several state-wide measures also in place or under consideration.They are largely backed by teachers, with the National Education Association saying 90 percent of its members support policies banning phones during lessons.”The biggest problem is that kids aren’t in a place developmentally where they’re able to handle the type of technology that we’re talking about,” said Sabine Polak, co-founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement, which backs full-scale phone bans.Critics of the restrictions argue that educating children about the potential risks of social media and smartphone use is better than prohibition.”The answer is not to just ban and put our heads in the sand,” said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, which represents over 1,000 parent organizations in the United States.She compared efforts to ban phones to “abstinence education,” noting that failing to properly teach children about complicated issues such as sex has failed in the past.”It’s not effective, and frankly, it’s dumb,” Rodrigues told AFP. “What we need to do is equip our kids with the information, with the skills and the strategies they’re going to need to navigate a digital future.”At the school in Virginia, Jones said the phone ban has not changed how he interacts with his device, still using it for games, social media and watching YouTube videos. His one complaint about his phone? “Nothing really, honestly, I mean besides the fact that it weighs a ton in my pocket.”

Russia said Saturday its troops had retaken three villages seized by Ukraine in its Kursk border region, in a fresh setback for Kyiv ahead of talks to try to end the war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday named a high-level delegation including ministers to meet US negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, seeking to repair ties with President Donald Trump’s administration.”We hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps”, Zelensky said, stressing that Ukraine was “fully committed to constructive dialogue”.But he condemned “brutal” deadly strikes on eastern Ukraine, saying they proved that Russia was “not thinking about how to end the war”.Trump on Friday threatened new sanctions and tariffs against Russia over its bombardment of Ukraine.The three-year-long war is now at a critical juncture for Kyiv after Trump suspended US military aid following his public falling-out with Zelensky last week.Ukraine still controls some 400 square kilometres (150 square miles) in the Kursk region after launching an offensive last August. Zelensky sees this as a possible bargaining chip in peace talks.But Ukraine’s troops in Kursk have seen their position worsen in recent weeks as Russian forces pushed back.- Russian claims gains -Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday announced the recapture of three more villages: Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina.According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in the Ukrainian defence lines near the town of Sudzha, which is under Kyiv’s control.The advance appears to have cut off the logistics route needed by Ukraine to supply its troops, although Kyiv has not confirmed this.Russia has already taken back more than two-thirds of the territory Ukraine initially seized in Kursk.The Ukrainian military General Staff said Saturday that clashes were ongoing amid heavy bombardment with artillery and guided aerial bombs.Small groups of Russian troops have also mounted attacks in recent weeks into Ukraine’s Sumy region bordering Kursk.Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation on Saturday denied reports of a “massive breakthrough”, saying its forces were destroying small groups trying to cross.- Saudi talks -Full peace negotiations remain a distant prospect, with Kyiv and Moscow making starkly opposed demands. Trump has made settling the conflict a priority since his return to the White House.But by reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin while criticising Zelensky, he has raised fears in Kyiv — and among its European allies — that Trump may try to force Ukraine to accept a settlement that favours Russia.Senior US and Ukrainian officials are set to meet for talks on the war in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Zelensky will also visit Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.US envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday that Washington wanted to discuss an “initial ceasefire” with Russia and a “framework” for a longer agreement.Zelensky said Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would be among those representing Ukraine.In his evening address, he told Ukrainians he was “confident that the meeting will be productive”.Zelensky also urged allies to “increase sanctions against Russia” after heavy overnight bombardment in the east and northeast.A Russian barrage hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region late Friday, killing 11 people and wounding 40, said the emergency services. “Russia is proving literally every day with its cruelty that nothing has changed for them,” Zelensky said.Moscow wanted to “destroy and capture more as long as the world allows them to wage this war”, he said.On Saturday, a strike on the embattled city of Pokrovsk killed a man in his 40s and wounded two others, Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said. Four people were killed Saturday by drone attacks in the eastern Kharkiv region, the head of its military administration, Oleg Synegubov, said.A drone attack also killed a 74-year-old man in the southern Kherson region, the governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.- ‘More bombs’ -The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, reacting Saturday to the latest deadly attacks on Ukraine, wrote on X: “Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace.”This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X. “More bombs, more aggression, more victims.”France’s Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the La Tribune newspaper Saturday that Paris would use 195 million euros of frozen Russian assets to fund more military aid for Ukraine.The money would, among other things, pay for the delivery of armaments used by the Mirage 2000 fighter jets France delivered to Ukraine in February, he added.In Dobropillia, AFP saw charred residential buildings, flattened market stalls and evidence of cluster bomb damage.Irina Kostenko, 59, spent the night cowering in her hallway with her husband. When she left the apartment building on Saturday, she saw a neighbour “lying dead on the ground, covered with a blanket”.”It was shocking, I don’t have the words to describe it,” Kostenko told AFP.burs-lgo-led-am/jj