A Russian missile strike damaged a school and a hospital in Ukraine on Monday, wounding at least 74 people, as US and Russian officials discussed a narrow proposal for a ceasefire at sea in the hope it could lead to wider peace talks.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he expected a US-Ukraine revenue-sharing agreement on Ukrainian critical minerals would be signed soon.
Egypt has floated a new proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters on Monday, as Palestinian health authorities said Israeli strikes had killed at least 65 people in the enclave in the previous 24 hours.
Scores injured as Russia strikes Ukraine during ceasefire talks
A Russian missile strike damaged a school and a hospital in Ukraine on Monday, wounding at least 74 people, as US and Russian officials discussed a narrow proposal for a ceasefire at sea in the hope it could lead to wider peace talks.
The talks in Saudi Arabia, where a Ukrainian delegation was present on the sidelines, so far have only modest objectives but are being presented by Washington as a step in President Donald Trump’s effort to end the three-year-old war.
Trump himself listed other issues he said were on the table: “We’re talking about territory right now. We’re talking about lines of demarcation, talking about power, power plant ownership.”
He also said he expected Ukraine would soon sign an agreement sharing revenue from mineral wealth with the US.
Russia rejected a proposal by Trump last week for a full 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and has so far agreed only to a moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure.
As Monday’s talks were under way in Saudi Arabia, Russian missiles struck the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine. Several high-rise residential blocks were damaged along with a school and hospital, said regional governor Volodymyr Artiukh in a video filmed in front of a blaze producing a column of smoke.
The schoolchildren were in a shelter at the time, averting worse casualties, he added.
“Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities,” said Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha.
“Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians.”
The talks in Saudi Arabia follow phone calls last week between Trump and the two presidents, Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin of Russia. Ukrainian officials met the Americans in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Trump, who has scaled back US diplomatic backing for Ukraine and shifted publicly to a stance far less critical of Russia than that of his predecessor Joe Biden, says he aims to bring a quick end to the war.
But although Ukraine had previously agreed to Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire, Putin agreed only to pause attacks on energy targets. Kyiv then said it would also accept a moratorium on hitting energy targets if a formal document is signed.
Even as the talks have unfolded, Moscow has launched three straight nights of air attacks on Kyiv, filling the air above the capital with anti-aircraft fire. One person was wounded and homes were damaged in the surrounding region.
Russia, for its part, said it had downed 227 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours. Firefighters in its southern Krasnodar region also battled for a fifth day to put out a blaze at an oil depot struck in a Ukrainian drone attack last week.
The White House says the initial aim of the Saudi talks is to secure a maritime truce in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping.
But maritime battles have been a comparatively limited facet of the war since 2023, after Ukrainian attacks drove Moscow to move its navy far from contested waters, making it possible for Ukraine to reopen ports and resume exports at near-pre-war volumes.
“This is primarily about the safety of navigation,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. He said a previous UN-backed agreement on Black Sea shipping had failed to deliver some of Moscow’s demands.
A source briefed on planning for the Saudi talks said the US side was being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official.
Russia was represented by Grigory Karasin, a former diplomat who is now chair of the Russian upper house’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
Karasin was cited by Interfax news agency as saying during a break after nearly three hours of talks that they were progressing “creatively” and that the two sides had discussed issues regarded as “irritants” in bilateral ties.
Trump has expressed broad satisfaction over the way talks have been going and has been complimentary about Putin’s engagement.
But major European powers doubt whether Putin is ready to make real concessions or will stick to what they see as his maximalist demands, which do not appear to have changed since he sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.
Putin says he is ready to discuss peace but that Ukraine must officially drop its Nato ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of four Ukrainian regions that Russia has unilaterally annexed.
Trump says he expects to sign Ukraine minerals deal soon
Trump said on Monday he expected a US-Ukraine revenue-sharing agreement on Ukrainian critical minerals would be signed soon.
Trump also told reporters as he met his Cabinet that the US was talking to Ukraine about the potential for US firms to own Ukrainian power plants.
“We’re talking about territory right now. We’re talking about lines of demarcation, Talking about power, power plant ownership. Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant … because we have the expertise,” he said.
Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza truce as Israeli strikes kill 65
Egypt has floated a new proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters on Monday, as Palestinian health authorities said Israeli strikes had killed at least 65 people in the enclave in the previous 24 hours.
The proposal, made last week, follows an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against Hamas militants on 18 March, ending two months of relative calm after 15 months of war.
Gaza health officials said Israeli airstrikes and shelling had killed nearly 700 Palestinians since then, including at least 400 women and children.
Among those killed on Monday were two local journalists, Mohammad Mansour and Hussam Shabat, said medics. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said at least 206 journalists had been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since early October 2023, when the conflict erupted. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Hamas said several of its senior political and security officials had also been killed.
The Egyptian plan calls for Hamas to release five Israeli hostages each week, with Israel implementing the second phase of the ceasefire after the first week, two security sources said.
Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, with 24 thought to be still alive, among the more than 250 it seized in its 7 October 2023 cross-border attack on Israel. Most of the rest have been freed, or their bodies handed over, in negotiated exchanges.
Both the US and Hamas had agreed to the proposal, said the security sources, but Israel had not yet responded.
A Hamas official did not confirm the proposed offer, but told Reuters that “several proposals are being discussed with the mediators to bridge the gap and to resume negotiations to reach common ground that would pave the way to start the second phase of the agreement”.
The sources said the Egyptian proposal includes a timeline for a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, backed by US guarantees, in exchange for the release of remaining hostages.
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement but has said it is willing to negotiate a renewed truce and was studying proposals from Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Israel says it resumed its military operations to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza.
Palestinian officials on Sunday put the number of dead from nearly 18 months of conflict at over 50,000.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies.
In Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the municipality said thousands of people were stuck inside the Tel Al-Sultan district where some Israeli military forces had entered, with families trapped among the ruins, with no water, food, or medicine.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 50,000 residents remained cornered in Rafah, which abuts the border with Egypt.
The Israeli military said troops had encircled Tel Al-Sultan to dismantle “terror infrastructure sites and eliminate terrorists in the area”.
A United Nations spokesperson said on Monday it would reduce its footprint in Gaza after five staff members of its Palestinian relief agency Unrwa were killed in the renewed conflict, but it remained committed to providing aid to civilians.
Separately, Unrwa said 124,000 Palestinians had been displaced in Gaza in recent days.
UK sanctions former Sri Lankan commanders over civil war abuses
Britain on Monday imposed sanctions on three former senior Sri Lankan military commanders and one former Tamil Tiger rebel commander over human rights violations during a civil war that ended in 2009.
The measures, which include bans on travelling to Britain and asset freezes, target the former chief of staff of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, Shavendra Silva, the former commander of the navy Wasantha Karannagoda and former commander of the army Jagath Jayasuriya.
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, known as Karuna Amman, a former commander in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was also sanctioned. Amman split from the LTTE before the war ended and later led a paramilitary group working for the Sri Lankan Army.
The United Nations estimates that 80,000-100,000 people died in the 26-year war between government forces and Tamil separatists.
Sri Lanka’s army and security forces have been accused of war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, torture and sexual violence, and of abductions and torture long after the end of the war.
Erdoğan slams protests over jailing of Istanbul mayor
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that protests over the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor had become a “movement of violence” and that the main opposition party would be held accountable for injured police officers and damage to property.
The detention last Wednesday of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdoğan’s main political rival, has triggered the biggest street protests in Turkey in more than a decade. On Sunday, a court jailed him, pending trial, on corruption charges that he denies.
Imamoglu’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated and undemocratic, which Erdoğan’s government denies.
Despite a ban imposed on street gatherings in many cities, the mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations continued for a fifth consecutive night on Sunday, with hundreds of thousands taking part and the CHP’s leader, Ozgur Ozel, calling for the nationwide protests to continue.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdoğan said the CHP should stop “provoking” citizens.
Earlier, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya accused some protesters of “terrorising” the streets and threatening national security. He said 1,133 people had been detained during five days of protests and that 123 police officers had been injured.
Imamoglu (54) was jailed pending trial on Sunday, as the CHP held a primary election to name him presidential candidate. Some 15 million votes were cast in support of the mayor.
News of Imamoglu’s arrest covered the front pages of Turkish newspapers on Monday, with opposition media suggesting the mayor was arrested for being the most credible challenger to Erdoğan.
Pope Francis returns to Vatican, but remains out of public view
After 38 days in hospital battling double pneumonia almost entirely out of sight, Pope Francis made his first public appearance on Sunday since February 14 and returned to the Vatican.
But with his doctors prescribing the 88-year-old pontiff another two months of rest to allow his ageing body to fully heal, it is unclear how often people will get to see the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in the coming weeks.
The pope left Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Sunday and returned to the Casa Santa Marta, a small building at the Vatican which has been his home since his election as pontiff in 2013.
Constructed in 1996 as a place for cardinals to stay during a papal conclave to elect a new pope, Santa Marta is structured like a hotel, with guest rooms across five floors, a small cafeteria and a chapel.
But the facility is not generally open to the public. In the years between conclaves, it is primarily a home for many of the priests who work at the Vatican, who have special passes allowing them entry.
The Vatican has indicated that no new special arrangements have been made to the facility to care for Francis as he recovers from pneumonia.
The only change was to install a new adjustable bed, with electronic controls to make it more accessible for the pope, who has used a wheelchair in recent years, Italy’s Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday.
The vice director of the Vatican’s healthcare service, Luigi Carbone, told reporters on Saturday that Francis would have a 24-hour nurse and would continue receiving supplemental oxygen, as needed.
Canadian election campaign limits government as more tariffs loom
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to call for a snap election on 28 April could curtail his ability to respond forcefully if the US carries out a threat to impose additional tariffs.
Now that campaigning has started, the government is bound by a so-called caretaker convention, which means it can engage in routine business but should avoid major policy decisions.
The election comes at a particularly sensitive time for Canada given the threat it faces from Trump’s tariffs and remarks about annexing Canada, which Carney on Sunday called “the most significant crisis of our lifetimes”.
Ministers retain their jobs but virtually all aides were obliged to stop using their work emails and cell phones the second the election was announced on Sunday.
This begs the question of what happens if Trump follows through with a plan to slap additional tariffs on Canadian imports on 2 April, on top of the 25% tariffs already imposed in March on Canadian imports of steel and aluminium.
The caretaker convention allows the government to take care of urgent business, so Canada would be able to announce the countermeasures it has already promised, said experts, though additional retaliation could be more difficult.
Asked on Sunday why he was calling an election in the middle of a tariff war, Carney said he needed a vote to take place to show he has a strong mandate to manage Canada’s economy and negotiate with Trump.
Thousands protest against Kushner’s Serbia project
Thousands gathered in Belgrade on Monday to remember a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 and protest against the development of a luxury compound by an investment company set up by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump.
Serbia has seen months of anti-government rallies after 16 deaths from a railway station roof collapse triggered accusations of widespread corruption and negligence.
The protests have swelled to include students, teachers and farmers in a major challenge to President Aleksandar Vučić, a populist in power for 12 years as prime minister or president.
The protest on Monday was called by students of Belgrade State University, who have been blocking classes at their faculties since early December and who have led anti-government protests for the past four months.
Ognjen Pjevac, a 20-year-old student at the faculty came to the protest in front of the former army headquarters which was last year leased to Kushner’s US-based investment firm Affinity Partners by Serbian authorities.
“It is the 26th anniversary of the Nato bombing. And we protest because this building has been given to someone to make a profit,” said Pjevac. “But it [the buildings] should remain here as it is a testimony to Nato aggression.”
The two buildings were damaged during Nato bombing of what was then Yugoslavia, which included Serbia and Montenegro, to halt the killing of ethnic Albanians in police counter-insurgency.
The buildings were designed by Serbian architect Nikola Dobrovic and built between 1957 and 1965.
Their design is meant to resemble a canyon of the Sutjeska River in Eastern Bosnia, where one of the major World War Two battles was fought in 1943.
“The buildings should have remained as a protected cultural monument,” Predrag Janjic (61) one of the protesters told Reuters.
El Salvador court to hear defence of jailed Venezuelans deported from US
A law firm will on Monday present a habeas corpus lawsuit to El Salvador’s Supreme Court in defence of 30 Venezuelan citizens jailed in the Central American nation’s “mega-prison” after being deported there by the US.
The lawsuit, which will seek to question the legality of their detention, comes after the US sent some 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
The judges in charge of the case are allies of President Nayib Bukele, who has offered to hold US prisoners in its prison system and accepted payment from the US to do so.
Outside the court, lawyer Jaime Ortega told reporters that while 30 Venezuelan nationals had granted them the powers of attorney to represent them, they would request habeas corpus for the rest of the Venezuelans detained in the country.
Some 137 of the group of Venezuelans were deported under an obscure US wartime law targeting “alien enemies” that was quickly blocked by a US judge, who ordered the flight carrying the Venezuelan citizens to turn around.
However, the Venezuelan citizens were later received in El Salvador where they were taken into custody in a massive anti-terrorism prison, under a deal in which Washington is paying El Salvador’s government $6-million, according to the White House.
Lawyers and family members of many of the migrants deny they are members of Tren de Aragua and the US Judge James Boasberg on Monday ruled they must be given the chance to challenge the government’s claim that they are gang members.
The judge also cited accounts of poor prison conditions, including beatings, humiliation, irregular access to food and water and having to sleep standing up because of overcrowding.
South Korean wildfires spread, three more disaster zones named
Deadly wildfires spread further across South Korea on Monday as authorities designated three more counties “special disaster zones”.
At least four people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes since blazes broke out in several areas on Saturday, stoked by strong winds and dry weather.
Kim Byung-wook, a 64-year-old farmer in Sancheong County in the southern part of the country, said the house he had lived in for more than 30 years had been destroyed.
“Things that remind me of my youth disappeared without a trace — photos of my children when they were young,” he told Reuters.
“The biggest priority is to quickly come up with measures to support and allow disaster recovery as soon as possible,” he said.
Sancheong was already a special disaster zone — a designation that triggers extra funding and other measures. Acting President Han Duck-soo added another county in South Gyeongsang Province and two others in Ulsan and North Gyeongsang Province to the list.
French actor Depardieu in court over alleged sexual assaults
Actor Gerard Depardieu went on trial on Monday over alleged sexual assaults on a film set, in a case that placed one of France’s best-known movie stars at the heart of the country’s broader reckoning over sexual violence.
A towering figure of French cinema, Depardieu has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years. Depardieu (76) has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and this is the first case for which he would be standing trial.
If found guilty, Depardieu could face a sentence of up to five years in jail and a €75,000 fine.
The trial, expected to last at least two days, and possibly more, was initially due to be held in October but was postponed due to Depardieu’s ill health.
On Monday, Depardieu, his hand on his lawyer’s shoulder, passed calmly past reporters, looking straight at the cameras without saying a word, before walking into the courtroom and chatting with a couple of actors present there.
He was expected to make a statement in court on the first day of the trial.
His lawyer, Jeremie Assous, told reporters that the accusations were false and based on lies.
“Truth is on our side,” he said.
Prosecutors allege the assaults against two women — whose full identities have not been revealed — took place during the filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (The Green Shutters).
The prosecutors accuse Depardieu of groping one of the women, whom they named Amelie K, on the film set, pulling her towards him and trapping her with his legs before touching her waist, hips and breasts while saying obscene words. Three people witnessed the scene, say prosecutors.
They say the second woman was groped by Depardieu on set and in the street.
Amelie K’s lawyer told Reuters ahead of the trial that her client had been scared to come forward against Depardieu.
“There’s a fear, because he’s a cinema giant,” said Carine Durrieu-Diebolt. “It’s a struggle between David and Goliath and they are afraid of retaliation as they all work in cinema but at a much lower level than Depardieu.” DM