Category: WORLD

Iran’s chief negotiator on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to the United States to accept the conditions in Tehran’s 14-point proposal for peace in the Middle East war or face “failure”.

The defiant message came after US President Donald Trump rejected the latest counteroffer from Iran and said that a fragile ceasefire in place since April 8 was on “life support”.

But Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Washington had to accept Tehran’s “rights” if it wanted to end more than two months of conflict, as peace talks remain deadlocked after an initial round failed to produce a breakthrough last month.

“There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another,” said Ghalibaf in a post on X.

“The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.”

Iran has refused to back down in its war with Washington, with military officials warning they are prepared to respond to any renewed US attack.

It has choked traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz trade route, rattling global markets and giving it vital leverage, while the US has imposed its own naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Details of the latest US proposal remain limited, though media reports say it involves a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the fighting and establishing a framework for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s foreign ministry said its response called for ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, halting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and securing the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad under longstanding sanctions.

It did not elaborate on what Iran would offer in return.

On Tuesday, the spokesman for Iran’s parliamentary national security commission said lawmakers would consider the possibility of enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels if conflict resumed.

“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will examine it in parliament,” Ebrahim Rezaei wrote in a post on X.

Tehran possesses a significant stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, with roughly 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains a key sticking point in negotiations with the United States, which insists the material must be transferred out of the country.

Iran has so far refused to move its enriched uranium stockpile abroad and insists on its right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, though it has said the level of enrichment remains “negotiable”.

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer defied calls to resign on Tuesday, telling ministers he would “get on with governing” despite a “destabilizing” 48 hours of growing calls to set out a timetable for his departure after an election drubbing.

At a meeting of his cabinet team of ministers, ‌Starmer, in the top ‌job for less than two years, ‌repeated ⁠that while he ⁠took responsibility for one of his Labour Party’s worst election defeats, there had been no official move to trigger a leadership contest.

“The past 48 hours have been destabilizing for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families,” Starmer told ministers, according to his Downing Street office.

“The ⁠country expects us to get on with ‌governing. That is what I ‌am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.”

British government ‌bonds rallied weakly on Starmer’s comments, but remained firmly ‌in the red for the day.

His defiance was in marked contrast to the feelings of many in his Labour Party.

On Tuesday, a junior minister resigned after a handful of ministerial aides also ‌left the government. More than 80 Labour lawmakers have publicly called for him to set ⁠a resignation ⁠date so the party could install a new leader in an orderly manner.

Starmer had sought to shore up his position on Monday when he promised to act more boldly and with more urgency to tackle Britain’s many problems.

He had said the country would never forgive the center-left Labour Party if it embarked on a leadership challenge, just two years after its huge parliamentary majority was supposed to bring an end to the political chaos that had gripped the country since Britain voted to leave the European Union 10 years ago.

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Brazilian activist Thiago Avila returned to Sao Paulo on Monday following his detention and deportation from Israel, where he alleged he was tortured and witnessed abuses of Palestinian prisoners during 10 days in custody.

Avila and Spanish national Abu Keshek were part of the second Global Sumud Flotilla that launched from Spain on April 12 attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza ‌by delivering aid. The ‌two men were arrested and taken ‌to ⁠Israel after Israeli forces ⁠intercepted the flotilla, while more than 100 other pro-Palestinian activists were taken to Crete.

They were held under suspicion of offences including aiding the enemy and contact with a terrorist group. Both denied the allegations. They were released on Saturday and handed to immigration authorities for deportation.

“My return was simply a correction of a ⁠serious violation. I was kidnapped by Israel, I ‌wasn’t imprisoned,” Avila told reporters ‌after his arrival at Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport.

Avila claimed that he and ‌Abu Keshek suffered “all kinds of violations” during their detention, ‌adding that Palestinian prisoners in nearby cells experienced worse treatment.

Israel dismissed claims by human rights group Adalah, which represented the men in a court hearing in Israel, that the men had been tortured ‌in custody, and said all measures taken were in accordance with the law.

The governments of ⁠Spain and ⁠Brazil have said the detention was unlawful.

“We need to defeat (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu and (US President) Donald Trump, we need to defeat the war criminals,” Avila said as supporters held signs calling for Brazil to cut ties with Israel.

Gaza is largely run by Palestinian group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by Israel and much of the West.

The group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel started the Gaza war that has left much of the enclave’s population homeless and dependent on aid – that humanitarian agencies say is arriving too slowly.

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President Donald Trump is scheduled to see doctors for a medical and dental checkup this month — his fourth publicized visit to medical experts since returning to office — in what the White House describes as an annual physical and regular preventive care.

Trump, who turns 80 next month and was the oldest person elected US president, will see his doctors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on May 26, the White House said in a brief statement Monday evening.

The president’s health has been the subject of tremendous scrutiny, so much so that Trump said he regretted getting imaging on his heart and abdomen last year because it raised public questions about his health.

Trump, who has been frequently critical of former President Joe Biden for age-related health and fitness issues, has recently remarked how good he feels despite his years.

Earlier Monday, Trump that he feels the same as he did 50 years ago. “I feel literally the same,” he said at an Oval Office event. “I don’t know why. It’s not because I eat the best foods.”

Last week, he joked about his exercise regimen, saying that he works out “like about one minute a day, max.”

Presidents have wide discretion over what health information they choose to release to the public. Trump’s doctor reported after an annual physical exam in April 2025 that the president was “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief.

His physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said Trump was 20 pounds lighter since a 2020 checkup that showed him bordering on obesity.

Months after the visit reported last April, Trump had a checkup after noticing what the White House described as “mild swelling” in his lower legs. Tests by the White House medical unit found that Trump had chronic venous insufficiency, a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins.

At the time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also addressed bruising on the back of Trump’s hands that has sometimes been covered by makeup. Leavitt said it was the result of irritation from frequent handshaking and aspirin use. Trump takes aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Trump went on to have an October medical exam that the White House called a “semiannual physical,” where he also got his yearly flu shot and a COVID-19 booster vaccine. He later told The Wall Street Journal that he underwent advanced imaging on his heart and abdomen in October as preventive screening.

In his first term, Trump had at least four medical exams in office, aside from a stay at Walter Reed when he got COVID-19 in October 2020.

His upcoming dental evaluation follows two other recent visits to a local dentist near his estate in Florida, where Trump often spends his weekends.

The checkup is scheduled to take place about 10 days after Trump is expected to return from a summit in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

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At least 372 Afghan civilians were killed in conflict between government forces and Pakistan in the first three months of the year, the United Nations reported on Tuesday, with more than half the deaths attributed to airstrikes on a drug rehab facility in Kabul.

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have been fraught since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, and exploded into what Pakistan’s defense minister called “open war” in February.

Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban government of sheltering militants behind a surge in attacks — particularly the Pakistan Taliban, who have waged a violent campaign for years.

Afghan officials deny the charge and counter that Pakistan harbors hostile groups and does not respect its sovereignty.

“Between 1 January and 31 March 2026, UNAMA documented a total of 372 civilians killed and 397 injured as a result of cross-border armed violence” between Afghanistan’s security forces and Pakistani military forces, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.

In a written response to the report, Islamabad said 130 Pakistani civilians and security personnel were killed since the beginning of this year.

On Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry summoned Kabul’s top envoy to Islamabad, saying a suicide attack that killed 15 people, mostly police officers, at the weekend was “masterminded by terrorists residing in Afghanistan”.

Long-running cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalated in October last year, leaving dozens dead, but after subsiding, they resumed at the end of February.

The UN mission, which has a mandate to monitor civilian casualties only in Afghanistan, said its report was based on checks with three independent sources.

The latest three-month figure is higher than any toll for the period recorded by UNAMA since 2011.

According to the report, 13 women, 46 children (31 boys and 16 girls) and 313 men were killed in Afghanistan between January 1 and March 31.

– NGO worker killed –

“The leading cause of civilian casualties was airstrikes (64 percent) with the remaining caused by indirect cross-border firing” and one “targeted killing” of an NGO worker, the UN said.

The high proportion of men was attributed to the March 16 strikes on a Kabul drug treatment hospital which admitted only male patients. At least 269 people were killed and 122 wounded.

Many bodies “could not be identified because they were reduced to dismembered body parts”, while others were unrecognizable “due to extensive burns”, the report said.

“The real figure may be significantly higher,” the UN added.

The Taliban government reported more than 400 civilians killed in that incident.

In a written response included in the report, Pakistan insisted “no hospital, drug rehabilitation center, or civilian facility was targeted”.

“Pakistan’s actions were directed solely against terrorist and military infrastructure,” Islamabad said.

The UN mission urged Afghan authorities to “compile a record of the missing” from the hospital strike to help their relatives find answers about their fate.

UNAMA also called on the warring parties to respect international law by refraining from targeting health facilities or from firing shells or grenades into areas populated by civilians.

The report recounted the death of a female Afghan employee of an NGO in Nuristan on March 19 during the Eid al-Fitr holiday — even though a ceasefire had been agreed a day earlier.

As she tried to return home with her husband and three children, “Pakistani military forces began firing at their vehicle”, the UN said.

They stepped out of the car to cross the river and reach a safer area when “the NGO worker was shot in her right side and fell into the water and drowned with her three-year-old son”.

Since talks in early April in China, Pakistan and Afghanistan have committed to avoiding any escalation, according to Beijing.

Incidents have decreased without stopping entirely.

On April 27, seven civilians were killed and 85 wounded by shelling that hit, among other places, a university in Asadabad, according to Afghan authorities. 

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Russia resumed strikes on Ukraine as a three-day truce expired on Tuesday, attacking the capital with drones and killing one person in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian authorities said.

The Russian military meanwhile said it had shot down 27 Ukrainian drones after the ceasefire expired.

US President Donald Trump had announced the truce on Friday, hours before Russia’s World War II victory celebrations, saying he hoped it would mark “the beginning of the end” of the four-year-old conflict.

But even before it expired, the two countries had traded accusations of attacks on civilians that violated the truce.

As the ceasefire ended on Tuesday, Kyiv came under drone attacks, according to Ukrainian authorities.

“Enemy UAVs are currently over Kyiv. Please stay safe until the alert is cleared,” the head of the capital’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, posted on Telegram.

The alert siren was the first confirmed in the capital since Friday, before the ceasefire came into force.

Kyiv’s regional military administration told residents to remain in shelters and said its air defenses could be operating in the area.

Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine killed one person and wounded at least four others, regional military authorities said.

The strikes killed a man and wounded a woman in the area of Synelnykove in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Ganzha posted on Telegram.

He added three others were wounded in strikes elsewhere in Dnipropetrovsk.

On the Russian side, “air defense duty assets intercepted and destroyed 27 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles” over the Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions from midnight to 7:00 am Moscow time (2100 to 0400 GMT), Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement.

– ‘No silence at front’ –

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said Monday that fighting with Russia was ongoing despite the truce, accusing Moscow of not wanting to end the war started by President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“Today there was no silence at the front, there was fighting. We have recorded all of this,” Zelensky said in his daily address in the final hours of the truce.

Zelensky also said it was “clear that the war in Iran is now drawing the most attention from America”.

Negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine war have so far led nowhere, and have been largely sidelined by the Iran conflict — though Trump’s ceasefire announcement had raised some hope that US-led talks to end Russia’s invasion could be resumed.

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Two planes with 28 passengers from ‌the MV Hondius cruise ship, which was hit by a hantavirus outbreak, landed in the Netherlands on Tuesday and a Dutch hospital treating a hantavirus patient quarantined 12 staffers in a preventative measure.

The planes landed at Eindhoven Airport shortly after midnight, carrying eight Dutch nationals. Other passengers of different nationalities will continue on to their home countries from the Netherlands, authorities previously said.

The Dutch hospital staff members were placed into preventive quarantine for six weeks after blood and urine were handled without updated and more strict protocols, the Radboudumc hospital in the city of Nijmegen ‌said, adding ‌that the infection risk is very low and patient ‌care ⁠continues uninterrupted.

Radboudumc admitted ⁠a Hondius passenger infected with hantavirus on May 7.

“We will carefully investigate the course of events to learn from this so that it can be prevented in the future,” said Bertine Lahuis, the chair of the hospital’s executive board.

Meanwhile, the Hondius set sail for the Netherlands late on Monday evening with 25 crew as well as a ⁠doctor and a nurse. All passengers have disembarked the ‌ship. It is expected to arrive in ‌the Netherlands by May 17, ship owner Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Three people – a Dutch ‌couple and a German national – have died since the start of ‌the outbreak on the ship, which is usually spread by wild rodents but can also be transmitted person-to-person in rare cases of close contact.

The World Health Organization on Monday said there were now seven confirmed cases of the ‌Andes strain of the hantavirus and two other suspected cases – one person who died before being tested, and ⁠one on ⁠Tristan da Cunha, a remote South Atlantic island where there were no tests available.

The confirmed cases include a French passenger, who tested positive after the ship docked in the Canary Islands on Sunday. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Monday said the passenger was in stable condition after her health had briefly worsened.

“Our compatriot who tested positive for Hantavirus is still in intensive care in a stable condition,” he said.

One of 14 Spaniards quarantining at a military hospital in Madrid has tested positive for the virus, the Spanish Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday evening, adding that the patient presented no symptoms and further tests were being done before a definitive result was announced.

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Seven people, including two police officers and five civilians, were killed and dozens wounded in a blast at a market in north-western Pakistan on Tuesday, a senior police officer said, the second deadly attack in the region in four days.

The bomb blast – which took place in Tehsil Sarai Nawrang Bazar near ‌Bannu district ‌on the border with Afghanistan – threatens ‌to ⁠reignite tensions between ⁠the neighbors whose militaries clashed fiercely this year, Reuters said.

Ambulances and fire vehicles have been dispatched to the scene of the blast, the agency involved in rescue activities said in a statement.

Those with serious injuries had been rushed ⁠to hospitals in Bannu, Deputy Superintendent of ‌Police Nawrang Saeed ‌Khan said.

Mohammad Ishaq, the medical superintendent of THQ ‌Hospital, said they had received 37 patients so ‌far and that the condition of some of them was critical.

Visuals from the scene of the blast showed damaged shopfronts and a mangled vehicle.

A ‌car bombing followed by an ambush at a police post in ⁠the same region ⁠killed 15 police personnel on Saturday. Pakistan blamed Afghanistan-based militants for the attack and delivered a strong protest to Kabul.

The Afghan Taliban government said on Monday it has no comment to offer immediately.

Pakistan has blamed Kabul for harboring militants who it says use Afghan soil to plot attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban has denied the allegations and said militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.

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The Treasury Department wants US banks and other financial institutions to monitor for suspected Iranian money laundering networks that use their funds to smuggle sanctioned oil through shell companies and crypto networks.

The move, which effectively deputizes the global financial system to help disrupt Iran’s sanctions-evasion infrastructure, comes as the US and Iran reached another impasse over how to end their war while their ceasefire has grown increasingly shaky.

President Donald Trump on Monday said the Iran ceasefire is on “life support” after he rejected Tehran’s latest proposal to end the war.

The Trump administration is calling on banks to flag certain customers who may launder funds for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including newly formed companies moving unusually large amounts of money, firms that route payments through multiple intermediaries or transactions connected to Iranian crypto firms, among other indicators.

As part of the US initiative to monitor Iranian oil sales, banks are being asked to watch out for oil labeled as “Malaysian blend” to disguise its Iranian origin, missing or falsified shipping documents or ship-to-ship oil transfers that obscure where cargo came from.

A Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network report released Monday says oil firms linked to Iran conducted roughly $4 billion in transactions in 2024.

And dozens of shipping companies based in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong — all connected to transporting sanctioned Iranian oil — processed about $707 million through US accounts in 2024.

Along with a bombing campaign in Iran, the Trump administration has turned toward an economic-focused effort aimed at choking Tehran into submission, through sanctions and the threat of secondary sanctions on Iran’s allies.

In April, Treasury sent a letter to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, and others threatening to levy secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran and accusing those countries of allowing Iranian illicit activities to flow through their financial institutions.

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Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity, a level considered ‌weapons-grade, if ‌the country is ‌attacked ⁠once more, parliamentary ⁠national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson ⁠Ebrahim Rezaei ‌said ‌on Tuesday.

“One of ‌Iran’s ‌options in the event of another ‌attack could be 90 percent enrichment. ⁠We ⁠will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted on X.

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