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Tweet Facebook Mail Donald Trump has pushed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to act to reach an immediate cease-fire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as US president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office. "Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal," Trump wrote on social media, referring to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a television interview that aired Sunday, Trump also said he would be open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the United States out of NATO. Those are two threats that have alarmed Ukraine, NATO allies and many in the US national security community. READ MORE: Syrian government falls, ending 50 years of iron rule by one family French President Emmanuel Macron, centre, poses with US President-elect Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace. (AP) Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he were actively working to end the nearly three-year-old Ukraine war, Trump said, "I am." He refused to say if he had spoken to Putin since winning the election in November. "I don't want to say anything about that, because I don't want to do anything that could impede the negotiation," Trump said. Trump's call for an immediate cease-fire went beyond the public policy stands taken by both the Biden administration and Ukraine and drew a cautious response from Zelenskyy. It also marked Trump's wading unusually deeply into efforts before his inauguration on January 20, 2025, to resolve one of the major global crises facing the lame-duck Biden administration. Trump made his proposal after a weekend meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders in Paris, where many world leaders gathered to celebrate the restoration of Notre Dame cathedral after a devastating fire. Of his advisers that traveled with him, none appeared to have expertise on Ukraine. READ MORE: FBI offers $50k reward in hunt for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Ukraine reacted to Trump's call for a ceasefire with caution. (AP) Kyiv would like to close a deal and "stop the madness," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin." "I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!" Trump added. He was referring to mediation efforts by China that many in the West have seen as favouring Russia. Zelenskyy described his discussions Saturday with Trump, brought together by French President Emmanuel Macron, as "constructive" but has given no further details. In a post Sunday on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskyy cautioned that Ukraine needs a "just and robust peace, that Russians will not destroy within a few years." READ MORE: Suspected underground explosion rocks busy Gold Coast street There are fears a ceasefire would favour Vladimir Putin. (AP) "When we talk about an effective peace with Russia, we must talk first of all about effective peace guarantees. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land," Zelenskyy said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Trump's post by repeating Moscow's longstanding message that it is open to talks with Ukraine. Peskov referenced a decree by Zelenskyy from October 2022 that formally declared the prospect of any talks "impossible" as long as Putin was Russia's leader. That decree came after Putin proclaimed four occupied regions of Ukraine to be part of Russia, in what Kyiv and the West said was a clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. Trump's former national security adviser, retired Lieutenant General HR McMaster, warned there was no such thing as a quick fix to ending Russia's war with Ukraine. "What I'm worried about is this kind of flawed idea that Putin can be placated, right, that Putin will come to some kind of a deal," McMaster told "Fox News Sunday." US President Joe Biden has pushed aid for Ukraine. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) "I think it's really important for President Trump to adhere to his instinct in this connection ... peace through strength," McMaster said, adding, "How about give them what they need to defend themselves, and then saying to Putin, 'You're going to lose this war?'" While Trump has said before that he would like to see a quick cease-fire in Ukraine, his proposal Sunday was framed as a direct appeal to Russia. The quick responses from Ukraine and Russia demonstrated the seriousness with which they regarded the idea from the incoming American president. Both Trump and the Biden administration officials have pointed to Russia's disengagement in Syria, where the Russian military largely moved out of the way in recent days as Syrian rebels overthrew the country's Russian-allied president, as evidence of the way the Ukraine was has sapped Russia's resources. The Biden administration and other supporters of Ukraine have made a point of not being seen to press Ukraine for an immediate truce. Ukraine's allies fear a quick deal would be largely on the terms of its more powerful neighbor, potentially forcing damaging concessions on Ukraine and allowing Russia to resume the war again once it has built back up its military strength. Ukraine defenders 'bending but not breaking' in fierce fighting View Gallery For most of the war, Kyiv's official position has been to call for a full withdrawal of Russian troops from internationally recognised Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, as a condition for peace talks. Moscow, too, has demanded heavy concessions from Ukraine as a condition for even beginning talks. Trump portrays himself as up to making fast deals to resolve conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East that have frustrated many of the Biden administration's own mediation efforts. There is no prohibition on incoming officials or nominees meeting with foreign officials, and it is common and fine for them to do so — unless those meetings are designed to subvert or otherwise affect current US policy. The Logan Act bars private citizens from trying to intervene in "disputes or controversies" between the United States and foreign powers without government approval. But the 1799 statute has produced just two criminal cases, none since the 1850s and neither resulting in a criminal conviction. In the NBC interview that was taped Friday, Trump renewed his warning to NATO allies that he did not see continued US participation in the Western military alliance as a given during his second term. Trump has long complained that European and the Canadian governments in the mutual-defence bloc are freeloading on military spending by the US, by far the most powerful partner in NATO. NATO and its member governments say a majority of countries in the bloc are now hitting voluntary targets for military spending, due in part to pressure from Trump in his first term. Asked whether he would consider the possibility of pulling out of NATO, Trump indicated that was an open question. "If they're paying their bills, and if I think they're treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely I'd stay with NATO," he said. But if not, he was asked if he would consider pulling the US out of the alliance. Trump responded, "Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely." Trump expressed the same openness when asked if Ukraine should brace for possible cuts in US aid after Trump moves into the White House. "Possibly," he said. US arms and other military support are vital to Ukraine's efforts to fend off invading Russian forces, and Democratic President Joe Biden has been surging assistance to Ukraine ahead of leaving office. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday announced nearly US$1 billion ($1.57 billion) more in longer-term weapons support to Ukraine. DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP : Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play .
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Agricultural land in Central Asia and the Caucasus is degrading at an alarming rate. Officials did a lot of handwringing about the issue during a roundtable at the recently completed COP29 environmental conclave. But in highlighting urgent needs, participants didn’t proffer many ideas about how to mitigate the myriad challenges. Globally, about 40 percent of agricultural land is vulnerable to degradation, Azerbaijan’s agriculture minister, Majnun Mammadov, stated in his opening remarks at the roundtable, adding as much as 12 million acres of arable land around the world becomes unproductive every year. Conditions are particularly acute in Tajikistan, where almost one-third of the country’s agricultural land is in “critical condition,” according to a published by the Asia-Plus news agency. But such challenges as deforestation, soil salinization and over-grazing are threatening other Central Asian states too, especially Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Citing UN data, the Asia-Plus report stated that 39 percent of Central Asia’s landmass is experiencing drought. In presenting a plan to introduce water-conserving and soil-monitoring technologies in Uzbekistan, the country’s ecology minister, Aziz Abdukhakimov, exuded a sense of urgency. “We must act quickly and decisively, otherwise we will leave only deserts for future generations,” he stated. Participants agreed that a multilateral approach was needed to address soil degradation, but no specific initiatives to promote joint action were discussed. Even if plans had been worked out to address problems, Central Asian states lack the funds to fully implement them on their own. And that situation doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon. Developing nations say substantive climate action will take over $1 trillion per year in funding from wealthy nations. Yet, after prolonged and, at times, bitter negotiations at COP29 in Baku, wealthy nations agreed to commit $300 billion annually to address global-warming related issues, including soil degradation. That figure marks a substantial increase over the $100 billion that wealthy nations had previously pledged to commit to help developing countries adapt to global warming conditions. But somehow everyone departed Baku full of hard feelings. Developing nations accused the globally rich of being cheap. At the same time, many wealthy nations, especially the United States and European Union members, were angry that economically advanced states, such as China and Saudi Arabia, claimed to still be developing countries not obligated to make any contribution to the COP climate action fund. The causes of soil degradation are not new, with many linked to global warming. A published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in 2022 also identified several man-made factors contributing to the loss of farmland and pasture across Central Asia, including an overreliance on cotton cultivation and inefficient irrigation practices. The cumulative effects of soil degradation are heightening social challenges across the region, acting as a “significant trigger” for migration from the countryside to cities, resulting in increases in air pollution, according to the UN report. It also cautioned that a vicious cycle of social harm, fueling a decline in living standards in Central Asia, is taking hold. “Land degradation, combined with increasing anthropogenic pressure caused by population growth and density, leads to a decrease in the availability of productive land and water resources, a drop in crop yields and livestock productivity,” UN study states. ByEx-DePaul guard leads N. Illinois against Chris Holtmann's Blue DemonsOlu Fashanu’s ‘astounding’ Jets rookie season may be over after injury
Syria's president Bashar al-Assad fled Syria as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus Sunday, triggering celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his oppressive rule. Russian news agencies late Sunday said Assad and his family were in Moscow. Crowds toured Assad's luxurious home after the rebels declared he had fled, a spectacular end to five decades of brutal Baath party government. The government fell 11 days after the rebels began a surprise advance more than 13 years after Assad's crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria's civil war, which had become largely dormant until the rebel push. "This victory, my brothers, is historic for the region," Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) that spearheaded the advance, said in an address at the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. US President Joe Biden said Assad should be "held accountable" but called the nation's political upheaval a "historic opportunity" for Syrians to rebuild their country. "The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice," Biden said from the White House. Residents cheered in the streets as the rebel factions heralded the departure of "tyrant" Assad, saying: "We declare the city of Damascus free." Celebratory gunfire sounded along with shouts of, "Syria is ours and not the Assad family's". AFP correspondents saw dozens of men, women and children wandering through Assad's modern, spacious home whose rooms had been stripped bare. "I can't believe I'm living this moment," tearful Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP by phone. "We've been waiting a long time for this day," he said. The rebel factions on Telegram proclaimed the end to "50 years of oppression under Baath rule, and 13 years of crimes and tyranny and displacement". It is, they said, "the start of a new era for Syria." The foreign ministry of Assad's key backer, Russia, had announced earlier Sunday that Assad had resigned from the presidency and left Syria. The head of war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP: "Assad left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left" the facility. Later Sunday, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies that he and his family had arrived in Moscow where they had been granted asylum "on humanitarian grounds". Around the country, people toppled statues of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad's father and the founder of the repressive system of government he inherited. For the past 50 years in Syria, even the slightest suspicion of dissent could land one in prison or get one killed. During their advance, the rebels said they had freed prisoners, including on Sunday at the Sednaya facility, notorious for the darkest abuses of Assad's era. UN war crimes investigators urged those taking charge in the country to ensure the "atrocities" committed under Assad's rule are not repeated. Amnesty International called this a "historic opportunity" for those responsible for the abuses in Syria to face justice. The end of Assad's rule came just hours after HTS said it had captured the strategic city of Homs. Homs was the third major city seized by the rebels, who began their advance on November 27, the same day a ceasefire took place in neighbouring Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Hezbollah had supported Assad during the long civil war but has been severely weakened by Israeli strikes. The group's forces "vacated their positions around Damascus", a source close to the group said Sunday. HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda but has sought to soften its image in recent years. It remains listed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments. On Sunday afternoon the rebels announced a curfew in the capital until 5:00 am (0200 GMT) Monday. The commander of Syria's US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of northeast Syria, hailed the fall of Assad's "authoritarian regime" as "historic". A military council affiliated with the SDF clashed Sunday with Turkish-backed Syrian fighters in Syria's north, leaving 26 fighters from both sides dead, the Observatory said, as the Turkish-backed group launched an offensive on the Manbij area. The Observatory said Israel had struck government security buildings and weapons depots Sunday on the outskirts of Damascus, as well as in the eastern Deir Ezzor province. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of Assad was a "historic day in the... Middle East" and the fall of a "central link in Iran's axis of evil". "This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, Assad's main supporters," he added. The UN envoy for Syria said the country was at "a watershed moment". Turkey, which has historically backed the opposition, called for a "smooth transition". Iran said it expected "friendly" ties with Syria to continue, even as its embassy in Damascus was vandalised. Since the start of the rebel offensive, at least 910 people, mostly combatants but also including 138 civilians, have been killed, the Observatory said. Syria's war has killed more than 500,000 people, and forced half of the population to flee their homes. Millions fled abroad. "I can barely remember Syria," said Reda al-Khedr, who was only five years old when he and his mother escaped Syria's Homs in 2014. "But now we're going to go home to a liberated Syria," he told AFP in Cairo. Liberated, but facing enormous challenges. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday the bloc would help rebuild a Syria that safeguards minorities after Assad's fall. bur-it/jjOpenAI releases Sora AI video generator to public
Felicia Schwartz in Washington Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned there would be “all hell to pay in the Middle East” if Hamas had not released the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza before he takes office in January. Trump’s comments came as Joe Biden’s administration is making a final push for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas after its success last week in brokering an end to the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon. If the hostages are not released by January 20 2025, when he takes office, “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East”, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform . He added: “For those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity, those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America.” It was not clear whether Trump was referring to US military action or other penalties and his campaign did not immediately respond to a request to clarify. US efforts to broker an agreement to end the conflict and secure the release of the remaining hostages have floundered for more than a year. Many diplomats have predicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would wait until after the US elections before agreeing a deal. Trump’s signal that he wants to see an agreement reached before he takes office could provide new momentum in the talks. US officials have said there has been more openness to the discussions from Israeli officials in recent days and that the Lebanon ceasefire has created new opportunities for diplomacy. Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, was in Washington for meetings with officials in the Biden administration on Monday and will head to Florida for talks about a deal with Trump campaign officials, said people familiar with the matter. There are 101 hostages remaining in Gaza, about half of whom are believed dead. Trump’s post came several hours after Israel confirmed an Israeli-US hostage Omer Neutra, a soldier, was killed on October 7 2023. It was previously believed he was alive. More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s ferocious retaliation for the Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Hamas’s militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostage during the assault, according to Israeli officials. Recommended Under Trump, the US approach to the Middle East is expected to place a greater emphasis on confronting Iran. The president-elect’s team is also expected to redouble efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. A Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal would free up his administration to focus on those priorities. Biden discussed the ceasefire negotiations with Trump when they met in the Oval Office last month. The president’s officials have also briefed members of the Trump team, including appointees Mike Waltz, as national security adviser, and Steve Witkoff, as Middle East envoy, about the talks. Comments have not been enabled for this article.Governments around the world have reacted to the abrupt fall of the Assad family's five-decade rule over Syria with a mixture of hope and trepidation, as the balance of power in the Middle East shifts. Several Arab countries expressed support for Syria's unity and territorial integrity after Islamist rebels declared President Bashar al-Assad's ouster and seized control of Damascus early on Sunday. Turkey, Iran, Russia and the United States all deployed forces in Syria after protests against al-Assad's regime erupted into a multi-sided civil war in 2011. Various non-state factions continue to control different parts of the fragmented country. Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, said it stands with Syria and supports its sovereignty. Egypt "calls on all Syrian sides of all leanings to preserve the state resources and national institutions and give precedence to the country's supreme interests," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said. In Jordan, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Syria must be protected from sliding towards chaos." "Jordan will offer all possible support for the brotherly Syrian people in their efforts for rebuilding their country, institutions and political system," he said. The Foreign Ministry of Qatar, a country that has long been an outspoken critic of al-Assad, also said it is necessary to preserve Syria's national institutions and unity of the state to prevent it from "descending into chaos". "The state of Palestine and its people stand by the side of the brotherly Syrian people," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said. But all eyes were firmly on the governments of Iran and Russia, which were staunch backers of al-Assad. With his downfall, their influence in Syria and the wider Middle East could be weakened. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it hopes to maintain good relations with Syria despite the change in power. "Bilateral relations with Syria have a long history and we hope that this will continue with wisdom and foresight," the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said in a statement. Tehran hopes for a quick end to the military tensions and an early dialogue between all political factions in the country, the Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency. According to unconfirmed reports, Tehran is already in contact with the Islamist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in order to facilitate a peaceful withdrawal of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards from Syria. For Tehran, al-Assad was a strategically important ally within a self-declared front of resistance against arch-enemy Israel. Syria also served as a corridor for the supply of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, who in turn would attack Israel. "The change of power in Syria could affect the further course of the resistance front against the Zionist regime in the short term, but definitely not stop it," said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi. The resistance against Israel is "an ideological mission and not a classic war" and will therefore continue, said the top diplomat in an interview with the state broadcaster IRIB late Sunday. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued an appeal for all parties to refrain from the use of force. Al-Assad had abandoned his post and left Syria, the ministry said, without providing any information on the location of its former ally. Russia was in contact with groups in Syria, it said. Moscow had provided critical military support to al-Assad's regime since 2015. Russia maintains an airbase in Syria and a strategic naval base at Tartus, which provides access to the Mediterranean Sea. The ministry said the Russian military bases were not under threat but were in a state of heightened alert. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the seismic change in Syria presented an "opportunity". Israel has frequently hit Iranian-linked military targets in Syria in order to prevent arch-enemy Iran from expanding its influence. Netanyahu said Israel is interested in "neighbourly relations" with Syria, but also in making sure "that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of Israel". In Europe, the French and German governments welcomed al-Assad's overthrow. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it "good news" - but that order needed to be restored and the rights of minorities respected. UN Secretary General António Guterres said he believed there was now a "historic opportunity to build a stable and peaceful future" for Syria.