WORLD NEWS
Sudan group accuses RSF of raping 19 women who fled el-Fasher | Crimes Against Humanity News
A prominent Sudanese doctor’s group has accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of raping at least 19 women as they fled the city of el-Fasher in Darfur.
The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on Sunday that it documented the rapes among women who had fled to the town of al-Dabba in the neighbouring Northern State.
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Two of the women were pregnant, the group said.
“The Sudan Doctors Network strongly condemns the gang rape being perpetrated by the RSF against women escaping the horrors of El-Fasher, affirming that it constitutes a direct targeting of women in a blatant violation of all international laws that criminalise the use of women’s bodies as a weapon of oppression,” the group wrote on X.
Sudan Doctors Network: We have documented 19 cases of rape committed by the Rapid Support Forces, including two pregnant women, at Al-Afad Camp in Al-Dabba
The Sudan Doctors Network team at Al-Afad Camp in Al-Dabba has documented the rape of 19 women while they were fleeing from… pic.twitter.com/u5qWp4bdSD
— Sudan Doctors Network – شبكة أطباء السودان (@SDN154) December 7, 2025
Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million, according to the United Nations. It has also left some 30 million in need of humanitarian aid.
The RSF took the city of el-Fasher, the capital of the state of North Darfur, in October after an 18-month campaign of siege and starvation. The city was the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the region.
Survivors who fled the city in the subsequent days recounted mass killings, rape, pillaging and other atrocities, prompting an international outcry.
Amnesty International has accused the RSF of “war crimes”, while the UN Human Rights Council has ordered an investigation into the abuses in el-Fasher. Officials who visited Darfur and spoke to survivors described the region as an “absolute horror show” and a “crime scene”.
Widespread sexual assault
Mohammed Elsheikh, a spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that he was “100 percent sure” that sexual violence committed by RSF fighters is far more widespread than reported.
“Because most of the communities look at it as a stigma, most of the raped women tend not to disclose this information,” he said.
Elsheikh said the network had also documented 23 cases of rape among women who fled el-Fasher for the nearby town of Tawila.
“Unfortunately, the age of these raped victims varies from 15 years to 23 years old,” he said.
In its statement, the Sudan Doctors Network urged the international community to take urgent action to protect Sudanese women and girls.
It also called for “serious pressure on RSF leaders to immediately stop these assaults, respect international humanitarian law, and secure safe corridors for women and children”.
The latest accusations came amid a growing outcry over another RSF attack on a pre-school in the state of South Kordofan that local officials said killed at least 116 people. Some 46 of the victims were children, according to the officials.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Abdullah Dirife said Khartoum was willing to pursue political talks aimed at ending the conflict, but insisted that any settlement must “ensure there is no presence for ‘terrorist’ militias in both the political and military arenas”.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, he said the rebels “need to agree to give their weapons in specific areas and leave all these cities, and the police should take over”.
Dirife also called for putting a stop to the “transfer of weapons and the infiltration of mercenaries into Sudan” and claimed that fighters and arms were entering from regions including South America, Chad and the UAE.
The RSF currently holds all five states of Darfur, while the Sudanese army retains control of most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.
Dirife also accused the RSF of repeatedly breaking past commitments to adhere to regional and global mediation initiatives.
“The last initiative we signed was the Jeddah Declaration. However, this militia didn’t commit to what we agreed on,” he said in Doha.
The Jeddah Declaration – brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia in May 2023 – was meant to protect civilians and lay the groundwork for humanitarian access. Several ceasefires followed, but both sides were accused of violating them, prompting the mediators to suspend talks.
The UN has meanwhile formally declared famine in el-Fasher and Kaduguli in South Kordofan and warned of the risk of a hunger crisis in 20 additional areas across the Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan regions.
The World Food Programme’s Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the agency was providing aid to five million people, including two million in areas that are difficult to reach, but warned that assistance has fallen far short of needs.
“World attention needs to be on Sudan now, and diplomatic efforts need to be stepped up in order to prevent the same disaster we saw in el-Fasher,” he said.
12/08/2025December 8, 2025
Report says Merz filed hundreds of insult complaints, prompting two home searches
Merz’s office said he donated the fines from the insult cases to charityImage: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa/picture alliance
Chancellor Friedrich Merz filed hundreds of criminal complaints for insult during his time as leader of the conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag,according to a media report.
In two cases, this was followed by police searches of the homes of the suspected authors, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported, citing documents such as lawyers’ letters and investigation files.
The insults in question on social media included terms such as “a**hole,” “filthy drunk,” and “little Nazi.” According to the report, the latter two expressions led to house searches, though in the case of “filthy drunk” a court later ruled the search unlawful.
The period in question was before Merz became the chancellor, at which point he ceased to be the parliamentary group leader.
In Germany, insulting a person can constitute a criminal offense under the criminal code, allowing authorities to investigate if the alleged victim files a complaint.
Merz’s parliamentary office “largely” confirmed the incidents, the report continued. According to the newspaper, the current Chancellor donated compensation payments and fines “in full to charitable causes in the Hochsauerland district,” where Merz’s constituency is located.
About a year ago, a house search following a criminal complaint by then-Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party sparked a public debate about proportionality.
That case involved an insult using the word “idiot.” The author was later sentenced to a fine, though not for the insult itself, but for a different post with a Nazi reference. The incident was taken up particularly in right-wing circles and triggered accusations of alleged state censorship.
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Hundreds of rare books were damaged when a pipe burst inside the Louvre’s Egyptian antiquities library, a setback that comes just weeks after the museum was rocked by a brazen jewel heist.
The museum’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, told BFM TV that the flooding happened in one of the three rooms housing the Egyptian antiquities library.
“We have identified between 300 and 400 works, the count is ongoing,” he said, adding that “no precious books” were lost. Many of the damaged items were periodicals and archaeology journals regularly used by Egyptologists.
Steinbock said staff were still assessing the full number of damaged books and had begun drying those soaked in the flooding, including dehumidifying them page by page with Buffard paper and modifying plants.
FOUR MORE ARRESTED IN LOUVRE JEWEL HEIST, AUTHORITIES SAY
People walk outside the Louvre Museum, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Paris. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
The art site La Tribune de l’Art blamed the burst pipe on deteriorating infrastructure, reporting that the department had long sought funding to protect its collection. Steinbock acknowledged the issue had been known for years and said repairs were scheduled for September 2026.
The leak underscores the museum’s aging infrastructure just weeks after thieves stole crown jewels in a brazen daytime heist that exposed glaring security gaps at the museum.
A police car parks in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum, one week after the robbery, on Oct. 26, 2025, in Paris. (Thomas Padilla, File/AP Photo)
A four-person team stormed the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in broad daylight on Oct. 19, stealing jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) in less than eight minutes.
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Police arrested and charged four men suspected of being a part of the robbery crew in the subsequent weeks. A woman was also arrested, though she has denied involvement through her lawyer.
Police secure the area outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, where burglars used a truck-mounted moving lift to reach a second-floor window and steal royal jewelry valued at more than $100 million. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)
The stolen items have not been recovered. They include a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.
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The emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WORLD NEWS
Tucker Carlson says he’s buying property in Qatar to prove ‘I’m an American and a free man’
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Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson has said he is buying a property in Qatar, a revelation that swiftly reignited MAGA accusations that he is too closely aligned with the Gulf state.
Carlson made the claim while interviewing Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on stage at the Doha Forum Sunday.
“I have been criticized as being a tool of Qatar, and I just want to say – which you already know – which is I have never taken anything from your country and don’t plan to,” Carlson told the PM.
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Tucker Carlson interviews Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday (The Tucker Carlson Show)
“I am, however, tomorrow buying a place in Qatar. I like the city, I think it’s beautiful, but also to make a statement that I’m an American and a free man and I’ll be wherever I want to be. I have not taken any money from Qatar, but I have now given money to Qatar.”
The declaration invited an immediate backlash from Laura Loomer, a longstanding enemy of Carlson’s and President Donald Trump’s self-appointed “loyalty enforcer,” who wrote on X: “Qatar is the financier of the Muslim Brotherhood and they continue to allow HAMAS officials to live in Doha, where Tucker now wants to buy a place to live.
“The Prime Minister then admitted Qatar spends ‘a lot of money on lobbying’ by paying people to come to Qatar so they can ‘protect’ the U.S.-Qatari relationship.”
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, whom Carlson humiliated in an interview this summer, also attacked him on social media in vulgar terms.
Carlson repeated his defense of the decision to Doha News, saying: “I like it here a lot. By the way, I’m an American, I can go wherever I want and speak to anyone I want to because I’m a free man.
“That’s the promise of my country. And some are seeking to change that and to put our population into mental bondage. And I’m not participating in that.”
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Laura Loomer led the attack on Carlson by accusing him of taking money from Qatari lobbyists, an accusation he has repeatedly denied (AP)
Carlson previously clashed with Loomer and Cruz in June after the right-wing commentator, typically an isolationist on foreign policy issues, broke ranks with Trump. He shared his disapproval of U.S. air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, arguing that America should not allow itself to be drawn into another regional conflict out of loyalty to Israel.
That prompted the more hawkish members of Trump’s MAGA coalition to accuse him of taking money from Qatar when he interviewed Al Thani previously in March, mocking him with the nickname “Qatarlson.”
“They know I’m not working for Qatar,” Carlson subsequently told Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast.
“I’ve never taken a dime from any foreign country or anybody. They’re the ones who have these weird, complex motives, and so they project onto everyone else the same.”
NEED TO KNOW
- The 2026 Golden Globe nominations are being announced on Monday, Dec. 8
- Comedian Nikki Glaser will host the 83rd annual Golden Globes live on Sunday, Jan. 11
- There are 28 categories this year, including a new one for Best Podcast
It’s time for the 2026 Golden Globe nominations.
Starting at 8:15 a.m. ET, Monday, Dec. 8, Marlon Wayans and Matlock star Skye P. Marshall are announcing the nominees for the 83rd annual Golden Globes, highlighting the best movies and TV of the year. Plus, this year marks a new category: Best Podcast.
Comedian Nikki Glaser will return to host the award show live on Sunday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.
Read on for the complete list of nominees. (This list is being updated live. Refresh the page for updates.)
Movies
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Motion Picture – Animated
Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
TV
Best Television Series – Drama
Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television
Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy
Best Podcast
‘It used to be lovely here.’
10:57, 08 Dec 2025
‘People came to the area because they knew it was a place they could get work — I’m not sure that’s the case anymore,’ says Janet Pilkington(Image: Andrew Dowdeswell / YorkshireLive)
Residents of a once-“rammed” town have expressed concerns about deteriorating living conditions, shop closures and dwindling employment opportunities as increasing numbers of residents relocate elsewhere. Stocksbridge, situated in north Sheffield, was once a thriving steelwork community. Samuel Fox established a wire works there in 1842.
Over 180 years on, Liberty Speciality Steel continues to operate a steel mill locally, but locals claim it no longer generates the commercial activity it once did, reports Yorkshire Live.
“When I was a child it was absolutely buzzing,” said one resident, who wished to remain anonymous. “We used to have buses coming in three times a day with workers from Barnsley, Penistone and other places. They were rammed.”
She claimed the town has been neglected in terms of investment recently, with retailers shutting down and commerce being drawn away.
“There were shops all down here,” she explained, gesturing towards the high street. “There were bakers, green grocers, butchers. Now it’s just a lot of takeaways. It’s sad to have seen it decline like that.”
She recalled how workers, including her husband, would previously receive their wages on Thursdays, before completing their weekly shopping on Fridays. A substantial portion of earnings was circulated within the local economy.
Stocksbridge is one of 25 areas in South Yorkshire that have witnessed a population decline over the past two decades. According to the 2021 census, the population has dipped by 3.8% over the last 20 years. In contrast, South Yorkshire’s overall population has grown by 9%. As of 2021, Stocksbridge was home to 7,263 residents, a decrease from nearly 7,500 in 2001.
The dwindling steel industry and the subsequent job losses have been frequently cited as significant factors contributing to the town’s shrinking population. Janet Pillkington, a lifelong resident of Stocksbridge, reminisces about the bustling steel works of her youth.
“You can sometimes hear the clink of metal,” she shared. “It’s a lovely sound as I remember it from my childhood, but you don’t hear it very often anymore.”
Eric and Jean Yeardley have lived in the Stocksbridge area for nearly 60 years and love it here(Image: Andrew Dowdeswell / YorkshireLive)
The Fox Valley Shopping Centre, a £50 million development that launched in 2018, is ‘always busy’(Image: Andrew Dowdeswell / YorkshireLive)
However, there are people who still love living here.
“We like it here,” expressed Eric, 82, and Jean Yeardley, 78. The couple, who have resided in the Stocksbridge area for the majority of their 61-year marriage, cherish the local walking routes.
“There’s plenty of walks around here,” Eric noted. “Bolsterstone and the moors. It’s lovely.”
Jeansaid the town has been neglected in recent years and believes it requires rejuvenation.
“It’s never had the investment,” she stated. “There’s a lot of money that needs putting into it. It’s not been helped because it’s so old. They have not updated anything.”
Strolling down the high street reveals shuttered storefronts, an abundance of takeaways and some worn-out signage. Yet there’s also the Fox Valley Shopping Centre, a £50 million development that launched in 2018 and remains “always busy”, locals report.
A sense of community pride is something another resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, believes has disappeared.
“Everybody had pride outside their houses,” she explained. “People used to sweep and clean and be proud of it. But new people are coming in and they are turning it into an area that’s not well kept. They are throwing litter on the floor. They stand around shops, smoking. It used to be lovely here, but they do drag it down.”
Those relocating to Stocksbridge are also unlikely to be employed locally. Locals noted that many commute elsewhere for employment, with fewer people settling in Stocksbridge specifically for work opportunities in the town.
Janet explained: “My family came to work in the steel works. My friends dad came from Ireland to find work in the steel industry. He came to the area looking for Fox Valley Steelworks. People came to the area because they knew it was a place they could get work. I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.”
Stocksbridge registers a deprivation score of 18.03 on the index of multiple deprivation. This figure sits considerably beneath both the national average of 21.81 and Sheffield’s rating of 27.57. The scoring system evaluates seven elements of deprivation, encompassing income, health and additional factors to produce an overall deprivation rating. Consequently, the locality is considered far more deprived than comparable areas within Sheffield or nationwide.
At the same time, Liberty Speciality Steel, operating facilities in Stocksbridge, Rotherham and Wednesbury, entered government ownership earlier this year with its future remaining unclear. Officials are seeking a purchaser for the business, though a government-sanctioned liquidator acknowledged that without securing a buyer, closure of the sites would be inevitable. Industry minister Chris McDonald MP has expressed optimism that an agreement can be reached.
This sense of uncertainty, economic decline and neglect resulted in Stocksbridge and Don becoming Sheffield’s first ward to return a Reform councillor. John Booker secured victory in June’s by-election, narrowly defeating the Liberal Democrats. Labour, previously dominant in the ward, slipped to third place.
Upon taking office, Booker claimed his party had “galvanised public opinion”. He stated he “believes in common sense” and would offer an “alternative voice” within Sheffield City Council.
Published On 8 Dec 2025
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Syrians are celebrating the anniversary of the overthrow of the al-Assad dynasty’s repressive 50-year rule.
The country heralded the end of Bashar al-Assad’s reign on Monday. However, Syria is left facing a significant challenge to heal following 14 years of civil war.
Al-Assad’s downfall came as a shock, even to the rebels who unseated him.
In late November 2024, groups in the country’s northwest – led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group whose then leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is now the country’s interim president – launched an offensive on the city of Aleppo, aiming to recapture it from the al-Assad government’s forces.
They were startled when the Syrian army collapsed with little resistance, first in Aleppo, then in the key cities of Hama and Homs. That left the road to Damascus open.
Meanwhile, rebel groups in the south mobilised to mount their own push towards the capital.
The rebels seized Damascus on December 8, while al-Assad was whisked away by Russian forces. He remains in exile in Moscow.
However, his longtime ally did not intervene militarily to defend him. Instead, Moscow has established ties with Syria’s new rulers, while maintaining its military bases on the coast.
The Syrian war that erupted in 2011 killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, driving about five million into neighbouring countries as refugees.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Monday that some 1.2 million refugees, along with 1.9 million internally displaced people, had returned home since al-Assad was toppled, but warned that a decline in global funding for UN programmes and aid agencies could deter others.
Still, Syria’s central bank governor said last week that the return of about 1.5 million refugees was helping to boost economic growth.
According to media reports, OpenAI plans to unveil a new artificial-intelligence reasoning model this week that is reportedly surpassing Google’s latest, most advanced family of AI models, Gemini 3.
Online tech magazine The Decoder cites industry insiders who claim the launch is intended to counter Google’s recent advances in state-of-the-art reasoning, deep multimodal understanding of text, images and video, as well as Gemini 3’s powerful coding capabilities.
Google’s parent company Alphabet introduced Gemini 3 in November, boasting benchmark results that surpassed OpenAI’s flagship model ChatGPT in key categories.
Google’s Gemini 3 has reportedly pushed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to prioritize work on ChatGPT’s reasoningImage: Rodrigo Reyes Marin/ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance
The outcome rattled OpenAI, which has been viewed as the industry front-runner since ChatGPT’s debut in 2022 transformed public awareness of generative AI and briefly left competitors scrambling.
Now, OpenAI’s lead is no longer assured.
A ‘code red’ moment for OpenAI
The reaction inside OpenAI has been urgent, with CEO Sam Altman reportedly declaring a “code red” in an internal message, instructing teams to focus on improving the quality of ChatGPT and delaying other products as a result, according to the memo cited by the US business newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
“We’ve reached a point where it’s not only about having the best model, but also about access to computing power and the ability to turn that technology into revenue,” Adrian Cox, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Research, told DW.
OpenAI gained an early edge thanks to a period in which its models outperformed any alternatives, he added, but competitors are quickly closing the gap — and many are backed by companies with enormous distribution networks and cloud infrastructure.
“Models like Gemini benefit from being tightly integrated into products that already reach huge online audiences, along with access to vast data-center capacity,” said Cox.
AI and its impact on the environment
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According to Altman, ChatGPT attracts more than 800 million weekly users. But Alphabet can deploy Gemini directly within Google Search, its most profitable product.
The Gemini app already reaches more than 650 million monthly users, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai wrote on Google’s blog, adding that more than 70% of its cloud customers are using AI tools.
“[Thirteen] million developers have built with our generative models, and that is just a snippet of the impact we’re seeing,” he wrote.
OpenAI still not carving a profit
While Google generates revenue across a wide portfolio of operations, OpenAI must monetize its AI models directly. It currently relies on premium ChatGPT subscriptions and enterprise licensing. Microsoft, a major shareholder, also pays to embed OpenAI technology into its products.
Even so, Altman has acknowledged the company is not yet profitable.
OpenAI does not disclose financials. But according to Cox, investors were told over the summer that 2030 could be the first profitable year for OpenAI.
HSBC analysts take a dimmer view, as the British financial newspaper, Financial Times, reported recently. The bank projects revenue could reach $213 billion (€182 biilion) by 2030 — but still this would likely result in a loss of more than $70 billion due to soaring infrastructure costs.
Massive AI investment needs
Training and running cutting-edge AI systems demand huge outlays for data-center capacity.
Google plans to invest up to $93 billion in AI this year alone, with “significant increases” earmarked for the years to come. The fourth-quarter revenue of its parent Alphabet exceeded $100 billion, fueled largely by advertising and growing cloud demand.
Google also has a hardware advantage, as its proprietary AI chips support model training inside company-owned data centers, thus avoiding purchases of more expensive semiconductors from AI-chip market leader Nvidia.
Facebook’s parent company Meta has reportedly expressed interest in using Google’s processors for its own AI infrastructure.
Given those strengths, Adrian Cox sees “a very high probability” Google will have the leading model at least into next year — not OpenAI. OpenAI’s priority, he says, is identifying a business model capable of funding a user base that could soon approach a billion people per week.
“It’s uncertain how that will work in practice. Subscription revenues alone may not be enough to cover costs,” he said, noting the company is exploring other revenue streams.
Competition widens beyond Big Tech
Meanwhile, the race for AI leadership is no longer limited to the two Silicon Valley contenders. “Competition has intensified significantly since 2022. We now see strong challengers for the best model like Anthropic alongside established companies like Google,” Cox said.
Open-source models from the US, China, and Europe — including from European startup Mistral — are also gaining traction. These systems are smaller and cheaper than OpenAI’s offerings, designed for targeted applications rather than broad capability.
“Customers today have a very wide range of options — from highly advanced models to lightweight, fast, cost-efficient open-source systems,” said Cox, and added that forthcoming ChatGPT-5 may be the most versatile model currently in development, but its complexity makes it “expensive to operate and less tailored to specific user groups.”
Additionally, China’s AI companies are also pushing forward. In September, search-engine provider Baidu unveiled its DeepSeek model, claiming performance on par with ChatGPT-5 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro.
Can Europe keep up with the US, China in the high-tech race?
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Analysts say the country is once again leaning on aggressive pricing strategies to undermine competitors in foreign markets — a tactic previously used in solar, steel, and electric vehicles.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warned in November that China is “only nanoseconds behind America in AI.”
Across the industry, Cox sees a diverging ecosystem forming as the market is splitting between “smaller, customizable open-source models that are cheap to run, and the large, sophisticated proprietary models.”
Yet, he doesn’t expect a winner-take-all outcome. “The more [artificial] intelligence becomes available, the more user applications will emerge.”
This article was originally written in German.
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Donald Trump has said he is “disappointed” after claiming that Volodymyr Zelensky has not read his peace plan for Ukraine in his latest attack on the Ukrainian leader.
Speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC on Sunday, the US president claimed that both Moscow and “Zelensky’s people” support the agreement but that the Ukrainian president was preventing talks from moving forward.
“We’ve been speaking to President Putin, and we’ve been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including President Zelensky. And I have to say I’m a little disappointed Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago,” he said.
“Russia’s fine with it. You know, Russia would rather have the whole country.”
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US special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin last week (Sputnik)
Mr Zelensky will meet with Sir Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday to discuss the US-drafted plan.
Their visit comes days after Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner held five hours of negotiations with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The Russian president described the talks as “very useful” but stressed that differences remained.
The original 28-point peace plan, drafted by the US and briefed to the media last month, sparked consternation in Europe as it appeared to cede to Moscow’s maximalist demands.
A flurry of diplomatic activity between the US, Russia and Ukraine in the past fortnight has so far proved unsuccessful, with both sides no closer to agreeing to a peace deal. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine must give up occupied territory as part of an agreement and significantly reduce the size of its army. Kyiv says both demands are unacceptable.
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Donald Trump claims the Ukrainian president was preventing talks from moving forward (PA)
Despite the lack of a breakthrough on key issues, Mr Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg insisted that a peace agreement was “really close” on Sunday but that two obstacles remained: the fate of the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
European leaders fear the deadlock could see Washington eventually walk away from peace talks and withdraw support for Kyiv.
Last week, Mr Macron told European allies that Mr Trump may “betray” Ukraine during peace negotiations in a transcript of a conference call leaked to Der Spiegel. The French president said that the Trump administration could attempt to force Ukraine to give up territory “without clarity on security guarantees”.
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On Sunday Donald Trump Jr said the president may walk away from the peace process altogether (AFP via Getty)
His comments underline a growing rift between Europe and Washington over how to end the nearly four-year-old conflict.
Concerns were heightened further last week following the release of an explosive US National Security Strategy document that claimed that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” due to mass migration, a narrative that aligns with the European far-right. The document did not name Russia as a threat to the US.
On Sunday, Mr Trump’s eldest son told Sky News that the president may walk away from the peace process altogether as the issue was less important to Americans than his father’s “war” on drug cartels.
NEED TO KNOW
- A ‘heroic’ father has died after the kayak he was traveling in with his 7-year-old son capsized
- The 54-year-old man attempted to keep his son afloat in the vessel and subsequently drowned
- The California Department of Parks and Recreation noted in their press release about the incident — which took place on Saturday, Dec. 6 at Lake Perris, California — that neither the father nor the son was wearing a life jacket despite there being one in the kayak
A man has died trying to keep his son afloat after their vessel capsized while kayaking at Lake Perris State Recreation Area.
On Sunday, Dec. 7, the California Department of Parks and Recreation revealed in a press release that the 54-year-old had died after helping to keep his 7-year-old son alive and afloat on Saturday.
“At approximately 4:13 p.m., California State Park peace officers at Lake Perris SRA responded to reports of screaming and persons in distress in the water near Moreno Beach,” the release read.
The kayak capsized after the pair had been kayaking offshore, according to officials.
Neither the father nor son was wearing a life jacket during the incident, but one was located on the vessel, per officials.
“State Park peace officers quickly arrived on scene via patrol vessel and immediately recovered the man, who was unconscious and partially submerged,” the department added.
Ambulance california.
Penny Collins/NurPhoto via AP
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They went on to say that the child “was in distress but conscious and holding his father, helping to keep himself above water.”
“Investigators noted that the father heroically kept his son afloat throughout the ordeal, supporting him until rescue personnel arrived,” the department continued.
Authorities said the father and son were pulled from the lake before CPR was performed on the man.
“I would say it was … at least 45 minutes that CPR was going on,” witness Michelle Juarez told OnScene.TV, per Los Angeles Times. “We could hear from the boat [someone] saying, ‘Take the child to the ambulance.’ … Something tragic definitely happened.”
Lake Perris State Recreation Area in Spring, Riverside, California.
Alamy
The father and son were both taken to Riverside University Health System, “where the father was pronounced dead,” the department said. “The 7-year-old was being evaluated at the hospital.”
The department expressed their “deepest condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this tragedy.”
The California State Parks law enforcement and the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office are reportedly investigating the incident.
“State Parks urges all visitors to wear a properly fitted, U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket at all times while recreating near or on the water,” the department urged in its release. “California law requires children 12 and under to wear a life jacket on a moving recreational vessel of any length. For safety tips when recreating in the outdoors, visit parks.ca.gov/SafetyTips.”
WORLD NEWS
‘Shooting’ at Norwegian shopping centre: Police apprehend suspect as search underway for possible victims
A Norwegian shopping centre has been placed on lockdown after reports of a shooting.
Police said they had received reports of a shooting at Storo Storsente in Oslo and the suspected shooting has been apprehended.
Emergency services are searching the premises for potential victims and others involved, the police said in a statement.
Footage shows panicked shoppers fleeing from the centre after shots were reportedly fired.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.