Headline
US Wants To Please Putin, Says Ukraine’s Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast Monday that the United States was trying to “please” Moscow in talks on Ukraine and warned of Europe’s military “weakness”.
Reacting to conciliatory comments towards Russia by US officials, Zelensky said: “The US is now saying things that are very favourable to Putin… because they want to please him.”
“They want to meet quickly and have a quick win. But what they want — ‘just a ceasefire’ — is not a win,” Zelensky said, according to a translation provided by broadcaster ARD of an interview recorded Saturday in Munich.
US President Donald Trump shocked allies last week by announcing he had a direct conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a process to quickly end the war in Ukraine.
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US defence chief Pete Hegseth also appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking the territory lost since 2014.
On the contours of any future deal, Zelensky said “we will not sign just anything in order to be applauded” and stressed that “the fate of our state for generations to come” was at stake.
He rejected the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory that Russia has seized, saying: “We will reclaim it all.”
As European leaders held crisis talks in Paris on the way forward, ARD broadcast the interview which Zelensky recorded during the three-day Munich Security Conference that ended on Sunday.
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The Ukrainian president warned that Europe was in a weak position if it could not rely on the US security umbrella.
While “readiness has increased” in recent years, “in terms of troop strength, the number of combat troops, the fleet, the air force, the drones… I honestly think that Europe is weak today”, he said.
Zelensky said Ukraine had grown more resilient over the past three years and that “Putin wouldn’t be able to occupy us the way he wanted to”.
Even so, he warned that “there will definitely not be a Ukrainian victory without US support”.
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Zelensky said he and Trump had spoken about deploying foreign troops to police a future ceasefire.
“I told him the Americans should be a part of this, because otherwise we might lose our unity,” he said.
At a meeting of Kyiv’s backers in Brussels last week, Hegseth flatly rejected the possibility of a US troop deployment to Ukraine.
When asked whether he would give up the presidency if necessary for an agreement, Zelensky said that “for peace I am prepared to do anything”.
“If tomorrow Ukraine were accepted into the EU and NATO, if Russian troops were to withdraw and we got security guarantees, I wouldn’t be needed anymore,” he said.
Headline
Woman Wanted Over Mutilation Of Boyfriend’s Genitals In US

Authorities in Toledo, Ohio, United States, are searching for a 45-year-old woman, Jeanita Hopings, accused of breaking into her boyfriend’s home and attacking him with a sharp object, causing serious injuries to his genitals.
As reported by PEOPLE on Thursday, warrants issued for Hopings’ arrest show she faces charges of felonious assault and aggravated burglary in connection with the October 7 incident.
Investigators allege that Hopings “forcefully kicked open the front door” of her boyfriend’s home before entering “without permission,” according to one of the warrants.
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Once inside, she allegedly attacked the victim with an “unknown instrument,” inflicting a deep wound.
“The victim’s testicle was clearly exposed as the result of the laceration,” the warrant stated.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police confirmed.
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Hopings has not yet been arrested and has not entered a plea to the charges. Court records from Lucas County indicate that she has no prior felony history, though she has previously faced several traffic-related misdemeanour offences.
Police say Hopings remains at large as the investigation continues.
Headline
US To Execute Man Convicted Of Rape, Murder Of Teen

A 53-year-old man convicted of the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl is to be executed by lethal injection in the US state of Indiana on Friday.
Roy Lee Ward was sentenced to death in 2002 for the murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne at her home in the town of Dale.
Payne was repeatedly stabbed and died of her injuries several hours after the attack.
Ward was arrested at the scene while still holding a knife.
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The execution is to be carried out between midnight and sunrise on Friday morning at a state prison in Michigan City.
Ward will be the third person put to death in Indiana since the state resumed executions last year after a 15-year hiatus because of difficulties obtaining the lethal drugs used in them.
There have been 34 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2014, when 35 inmates were put to death.
Florida has carried out the most executions — 13 — followed by Texas with five and South Carolina and Alabama with four.
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Twenty-eight of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and four by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.
The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.
President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”
AFP
Headline
Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he may go to the Middle East at the end of this week as a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is “very close.”
Trump said during an event at the White House that he would “go to Egypt most likely” but that he would also consider going to war-torn Gaza.
“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually. And we’ll see, but there is a very good chance. Negotiations are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the event.
“Our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas, and it seems to be going well. So we’ll let you know, if that’s the case, we’ll be leaving probably on Sunday, maybe on Saturday.”
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Near the end of the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio unexpectedly entered the room and handed Trump a note.
The US president told reporters the note said that “we’re very close to a deal” and that his presence was needed. “I have to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East,” he added.
Hamas and Israeli officials are having indirect talks in Egypt on a 20-point peace proposal unveiled by Trump to end the two-year-old war.
– ‘Very close’ –
Trump said as he began the event that he had come off the phone with officials in the Middle East, where his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner had just joined discussions in Egypt.
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“‘Peace for the Middle East,’ that’s a beautiful phrase, and we hope it’s going to come true, but it’s very close, and they’re doing very well,” Trump added.
“We have a great team over there, great negotiators, and they’re, unfortunately, great negotiators on the other side also. But it’s something I think that will happen.”
Asked if he would consider going to Gaza if a deal happens, Trump replied: “I would, yeah. I would. I might do that. I may do that. We haven’t decided exactly.”
Trump said he would insist on the release of hostages held by Hamas before traveling to the region.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier that he had received “encouraging” signs and hailed the support of Trump.
Hamas too expressed “optimism” over the indirect discussions with its foe Israel.
Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
AFP
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