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Exclusive: Zelenskiy says 'Let's do a deal', offering Trump mineral partnership, seeking security

  • In interview, Ukraine's Zelenskiy offers mineral partnership to US

Zelenskiy emphasizes need for security guarantees in any deal

Ukrainian president keen to speak to Trump before Putin does Ukraine proposes using its gas storage for U.S. LNG supplies

KYIV, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pored over a once-classified map of vast deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals during an interview with Reuters on Friday, part of a push to appeal to Donald Trump's penchant for a deal.

The U.S. president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine's war with Russia, said on Monday he wanted Ukraine to supply the U.S. with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort.

"If we are talking about a deal, then let's do a deal, we are only for it," Zelenskiy said, emphasising Ukraine's need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement.----

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apnews.com Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed and could be resettled in the US. They say no thanks

Groups representing some of South Africa’s white minority have responded to a plan by U.S. President Donald Trump to offer them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, but no thanks.

Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed and could be resettled in the US. They say no thanks

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Groups representing some of South Africa’s white minority responded Saturday to a plan by President Donald Trump to offer them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, but no thanks.

The plan was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and financial assistance to South Africa as punishment for what the Trump administration said were “rights violations” by the government against some of its white citizens.

The Trump administration accused the South African government of allowing violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.”

The South African government has denied there are any concerted attacks on white farmers and has said that Trump’s description of the new land law is full of misinformation and distortions.

Afrikaners are descended from mainly Dutch, but also French and German colonial settlers who first arrived in South Africa more than 300 years ago. They speak Afrikaans, a language derived from Dutch that developed in South Africa, and are distinct from other white South Africans who come from British or other backgrounds.

Together, whites make up around 7% of South Africa’s population of 62 million.

‘We are not going anywhere’

On Saturday, two of the most prominent groups representing Afrikaners said they would not be taking up Trump’s offer of resettlement in the U.S.

“Our members work here, and want to stay here, and they are going to stay here,” said Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Afrikaner trade union Solidarity, which says it represents around 2 million people. “We are committed to build a future here. We are not going anywhere.”

At the same press conference, Kallie Kriel, the CEO of the Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, said: “We have to state categorically: We don’t want to move elsewhere.”

Trump’s move to sanction South Africa, a key U.S. trading partner in Africa, came after he and his South African-born adviser Elon Musk have accused its Black leadership of having an anti-white stance. But the portrayal of Afrikaners as a downtrodden group that needed to be saved would surprise most South Africans.

“It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the U.S. for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged,” South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said. It also criticized the Trump administration’s own policies, saying the focus on Afrikaners came “while vulnerable people in the U.S. from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship.”

There was “a campaign of misinformation and propaganda” aimed at South Africa, the ministry said.

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apnews.com Rwanda-backed rebels move deeper into eastern Congo as UN reports executions and rapes

The U.N. says Rwanda-backed rebels were quickly expanding their presence in eastern Congo after capturing the region’s major city.

Rwanda-backed rebels move deeper into eastern Congo as UN reports executions and rapes

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Rwanda-backed rebels were quickly expanding their presence in eastern Congo after capturing Goma, the region’s major city, the U.N. said Friday, also expressing concerns over executions it learned were carried out by the rebels following a major escalation of their yearslong rebellion.

The rebels and Rwandan were now 60 kilometers (37 miles) to South Kivu’s provincial capital of Buakavu and “seem to be moving quite fast,” U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said at a press briefing on Friday. M23 has captured several towns after seizing neighboring Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for many of the 6 million people displaced by the conflict.

The central African nation’s military has been weakened after it lost hundreds of personnel and foreign mercenaries who surrendered to the rebels after the fall of Goma.

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www.cbsnews.com Military to provide facilities at Colorado's Buckley Space Force Base to process detained migrants

The U.S. military is providing facilities at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to process detained migrants. That's according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command.

Military to provide facilities at Colorado's Buckley Space Force Base to process detained migrants

The U.S. military is providing facilities at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to process detained migrants. That's according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command, who told CBS News the request came from the Department of Homeland Security.

No military personnel will be involved in the ICE operations, according to a statement provided by the U.S. Northern Command.

In regards to Buckley Space Force Base, USNORTHCOM released the following statement:

At the request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), USNORTHCOM is providing facilities at Buckley Space Force Base beginning on January 27, 2025, to enable U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stage and process criminal aliens within the U.S. for an operation taking place in Colorado. Military personnel are not involved in this operation.

ICE requirements for the facility include a temporary operations center, staging area, and a temporary holding location for the receiving, holding, and processing of illegal aliens. This facility will be manned by ICE senior leaders, special agents, and analysts, as well as members of DHS Components and other federal law enforcement agencies.

On Tuesday CBS News confirmed that the Denver metro area will be the next target for stepped-up arrests ICE has been conducting since the start of the Trump administration.

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www.cnbc.com Trump administration offering buyouts to nearly all federal workers

The Trump administration is offering millions of federal workers the option to accept buyouts through a government-wide "deferred resignation" program.

Trump administration offering buyouts to nearly all federal workers
  • The Trump administration is offering millions of federal workers the option to accept buyouts through a government-wide “deferred resignation” program.
  • The offers come as President Donald Trump’s administration pushes federal employees to return to the office five days per week.
  • The White House expects up to 10% of federal employees to take the buyout, an official told NBC News.

The Trump administration is offering millions of federal workers the option to accept buyouts through a government-wide “deferred resignation” program if they resign by Feb. 6.

Those who accept the offer will receive pay and benefits through Sept. 30, according to a draft email obtained Tuesday by NBC News.

The sweeping buyouts are being offered to “make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards,” a senior administration official told NBC on condition of anonymity.

“We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable,” the official said, citing a report from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who co-chairs the congressional DOGE caucus.

The White House expects up to 10% of federal employees to take the buyout, the official said.

The emails will be sent starting Tuesday afternoon, NBC reported.

Buyouts are being offered to all full-time federal employees except military personnel, U.S. Postal Service workers, roles related to immigration enforcement and national security, and “any other positions specifically excluded by your employing agency,” the emails will say, according to NBC.

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Elephants cannot sue to get out of the zoo, Colorado's top court rules

  • Court says elephants not human, cannot seek freedom

  • Animal rights group says decision perpetuates an injustice

  • Zoo called lawsuit frivolous, cites earlier rulings

Jan 22 (Reuters) - Five elderly African elephants at a Colorado zoo will stay there, after the state's highest court said the animals have no legal right to demand their release because they are not human.

Tuesday's 6-0 decision by Colorado's Supreme Court means Jambo, Kimba, LouLou, Lucky and Missy will remain at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs.

It followed a similar decision in 2022 by New York state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, that another aged elephant, Happy, had to remain at New York City's Bronx Zoo.

An animal rights non-profit, Nonhuman Rights Project, brought both cases on the elephants' behalf under a legal doctrine known as "habeas corpus," saying the animals should live in sanctuaries.

Citing affidavits from seven animal biologists, the group told the Colorado court that elephants are highly social and mobile, share many cognitive abilities with humans including empathy and self-awareness, and when confined in zoos can experience boredom and stress that could lead to brain damage.

But the court said Colorado's habeas statute applies to persons, not to nonhuman animals "no matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated" they might be.

It also said Nonhuman Rights Project's concession during oral argument that it was seeking only different confinement, not complete freedom, for the elephants was another reason to treat them and humans differently.

The case "does not turn on our regard for these majestic animals generally or these five elephants specifically," Justice Maria Berkenkotter wrote. "Because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim."

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Trump campaign against diversity urges government employees to turn informer

  • executive orders seek to dismantle DEI

  • Government employees urged to root out hidden programs

  • Civil rights advocates say measures will reverse hard-fought gains

Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday urged government employees to inform on each other and their departments in order to root out any attempts to hide diversity programs.

The latest escalation in U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) comes a day after he pressured the private sector to join the initiative and told government employees in offices administering such programs they would be placed on paid leave.

Trump also issued a series of executive orders to dismantle DEI programs on his first day in office on Monday, marking a complete reversal from his predecessor Democrat Joe Biden, who prioritized DEI programs and initiatives across the federal government.

DEI programs attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups.

Civil rights advocates have argued such programs are necessary to address longstanding inequities and structural racism.

Trump and his supporters say DEI programs end up unfairly discriminating against other Americans and weaken the importance of candidates' merit in job hiring or promotion.

In a new message distributed on Wednesday, government employees were warned they would face "adverse consequences" if they failed to promptly report any hidden DEI programs.

"We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language," said the memo, which set a 10-day deadline for information.

It was not immediately clear what evidence the administration has of any efforts to conceal diversity programs.

"There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences," the memo said.

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Saudi Arabia plans $600 billion in new US investment, trade over four years

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Donald Trump that the kingdom wants to put $600 billion into expanded investment and trade with the United States over the next four years, the Saudi State news agency said early on Thursday.

In a phone call between the two leaders, the crown prince said the Trump administration's expected reforms could create "unprecedented economic prosperity", the state news agency reported.

The report said Saudi Arabia wants its investments to capitalize on these conditions. It did not detail the source of the $600 billion, whether it would be public or private spending nor how the money would be deployed.

The investment "could increase further if additional opportunities arise", the agency quoted Bin Salman as telling Trump.

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Trump grants temporary security clearances to officials who have not been fully vetted

CNN —

President Donald Trump is granting temporary, six-month security clearances to incoming White House officials who have not completed the vetting process typically required before being allowed to access highly-classified information, blaming a backlog of background checks that he helped cause.

It’s a move national security lawyers inside and outside the government say is unusual, if not unprecedented.

One former US official who worked on clearance issues in the Biden and first Trump administrations raised concerns that foreign intelligence partners, on which the US relies for much of its intelligence work, will curtail what they share with the US, out of fear that their sources may be put in danger.

“They will start restricting their intelligence,” the official said. “If someone on the other end here has not been vetted, why would they share that?”

Trump made the move in one of the dozens of executive orders issued on his first day in office, immediately giving high-level clearances called TS/SCI to incoming officials, including some who have never been vetted for potential security vulnerabilities.

“It’s such a dangerous thing,” the former official said. “To forego that process is stupid.”

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Saṃsāra, the ruleless cycle

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Smirule

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apnews.com Tensions over Essequibo region resurface as Venezuela completes a bridge to a disputed border base

Guyana’s government has formally protested to Venezuela following the completion by Venezuela’s armed forces of a bridge built on a remote river island shared by both countries.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s government Saturday formally protested to Venezuela following the completion by Venezuela’s armed forces of a bridge built on a remote river island shared by both countries. Work on the bridge, which links Venezuela’s mainland to a military base, has caused a decades-old row over border lines in the Essequibo region to flare up again.

Guyana Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said in a statement that he was forced to summon Venezuelan Ambassador Amador Perez Silva to his office Thursday to condemn the move by Venezuela to build the bridge.

The bridge links Venezuela’s mainland to the eastern side of Ankoko island. The ministry claims the bridge connects the Venezuelan mainland to a small military base that Venezuela built illegally on Guyana’s side of Ankoko, a small island that is mostly inhabited by gold miners and military personnel.

The two neighboring states have feuded over land and maritime borders for decades as Venezuela claims that an 1890s boundaries commission cheated it out of the oil rich Essequibo region. The region currently makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. The area was administered by Britain for more than a century, and it has been under Guyanese control since 1966, when the nation gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

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Mouse Rule

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What is my city ruling to?

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www.nbcnews.com Ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad issues his first statement since leaving the country

“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” according to a statement attributed to Assad and shared on his Telegram account.

Ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad issues his first statement since leaving the country

Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad planned to keep fighting rebel forces in the country before Russia evacuated him, according to a statement attributed to him released Monday.

“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” Assad, 59, said on his Telegram account.

Assad said he remained in Damascus until the early hours of Dec. 8 — the day the rebels entered Syria’s capital.

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Exclusive: Syrian rebel leader says he will dissolve toppled regime forces, close prisons

DAMASCUS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - told Reuters in a written statement on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the toppled regime of Bashar al-Assad.

His forces swept across Syria in a lightning offensive that overthrew 50 years of Assad family rule, replacing it with a three-month transitional government of ministers that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria's northwest.

The military command affiliated with his group, which is known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, already said they would grant an amnesty to military conscripts.

He would now also "dissolve the security forces of the previous regime and close the notorious prisons," Sharaa said in a statement shared exclusively with Reuters by his office.

Syrians have flocked to the infamous prisons where the Assad regime is estimated to have held tens of thousands of detainees, desperately looking for their loved ones. Some have been released alive, others were identified among the dead and thousands more have not yet been found.

Sharaa also said he was closely following up on possible chemical weapons depots and coordinating with international organisations to secure them. The group had already announced it would not use those weapons under any circumstances.

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Trump asks judge to dismiss Central Park Five defamation lawsuit

Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of making defamatory statements during his campaign about five Black and Hispanic men who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white jogger in New York’s Central Park.

Trump's lawyers said in a court filing , that his statements about the men, known widely as the Central Park Five, were legally protected expressions of opinion.

The Central Park Five were cleared in 2002 based on new DNA evidence and another person's confession. Trump falsely said at a Sept. 10 presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that they had killed a person and pleaded guilty.

Attorneys for Trump said the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment "protects the President-elect’s speech about matters of public concern."

A lawyer for Trump at Dhillon Law Group declined to comment, and a spokesperson for his transition team did not immediately respond to a request for one. Trump on Monday said he would nominate Dhillon Law Group's founder Harmeet Dhillon to lead the Justice Department's civil rights division.

Shanin Specter, an attorney for the Central Park Five — Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise — said they expected Trump's arguments to fail.

"We look forward to taking discovery and proceeding to trial," Specter said.

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apnews.com South Korean president says martial law was an act of governance and denies rebellion charges

The South Korean president has defended his martial law decree as act of governance and denied rebellion charges.

South Korean president says martial law was an act of governance and denies rebellion charges

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges Thursday, rejecting the opposition-led impeachment attempts against him and investigations into last week’s move.

Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised statement came hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new impeachment motion against Yoon. The opposition party plans to put the motion on a floor vote this Saturday.

Its earlier attempt to impeach Yoon fell through last Saturday, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a vote at the National Assembly.

Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, has generated political chaos and large protests calling for his ouster. The decree brought hundreds of armed troops attempting to encircle parliament and raiding the election commission, though no major violence or injuries occurred, and he was forced to lift it about six hours later.

“I will fight to the end, to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.

Yoon, a conservative, said his martial law introduction was meant to issue a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he said has been paralyzing state affairs and destroying the country’s constitutional order. He said the deployment of less than 300 soldiers to the National Assembly was designed to maintain order, not dissolving or paralyzing it.

Yoon called the Democratic Party “a monster” and “anti-state forces,” which he said repeatedly tried to use its legislative muscle to impeach top officials, undermine government budget bills and sympathize with North Korea.

“The opposition is now doing a knife dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?” Yoon said.

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Syrian democratic forces, rebels reach US-brokered ceasefire agreement in Manbij, SDF commander says

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Refugees return to Syria as caretaker prime minister appointed

  • Syrian refugees return to Damascus to rebuild lives

  • Little-known Bashir takes over as caretaker prime minister

  • Bashir says will be PM until March 1

  • US urges rebels not to adopt autocratic leadership

DAMASCUS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Refugees from Syria's long civil war were making their way home on Wednesday, as a new interim prime minister said he had been appointed with the backing of the rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. officials, engaging with rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urged them not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government.

The new government must "uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

HTS is a former al Qaeda affiliate that led the anti-Assad revolt and has lately downplayed its jihadist roots.

In a brief address on state television on Tuesday, Mohammed al-Bashir, a figure little known across most of Syria, said he would lead the interim authority until March 1.

"Today we held a cabinet meeting that included a team from the Salvation government that was working in Idlib and its vicinity, and the government of the ousted regime," he said.

Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation Government before the 12-day lightning rebel offensive swept into Damascus.

Behind him were two flags - the green, black and white flag flown by opponents of Assad throughout the civil war, and a white flag with the Islamic oath of faith in black writing, typically flown in Syria by Sunni Islamist fighters.

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