live U.S. and Iran sign ceasefire agreement, details unclear
U.S. President Donald Trump said a preliminary agreement to end the war in the Gulf has been signed by the U.S. and Iran, though details have yet to b...
The United States and Ukraine have agreed on a revised peace framework to end the war with Russia, saying talks in Geneva produced significant progress toward an updated plan acceptable to both sides, they announced on Sunday.
The joint statement did not provide details of the revised framework, but U.S. officials said it incorporates Ukraine’s core demands, including sovereignty, security guarantees, economic recovery and protection of critical infrastructure.
The White House, however, said Ukrainian negotiators told U.S. officials the revised version “reflects their national interests” and “addresses their core strategic requirements,” though Ukraine itself issued no separate statement.
It remains unclear how the refinements address key issues such as security guarantees for Ukraine or protection against future Russian aggression. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the American delegation, was returning to Washington late on Sunday but said the deadline set by Trump “might not be set in stone.”
Trump has continued to pressure Ukraine to accept a deal, saying on Sunday that Kyiv had shown “zero gratitude” for U.S. support — comments that prompted Ukrainian officials to publicly restate their thanks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to the United States as early as this week to discuss the most sensitive points directly with Trump, according to sources familiar with the talks.
The original plan
The initial 28-point proposal drafted by U.S. officials last week called for Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and abandon its ambition to join NATO, terms many Ukrainians considered tantamount to capitulation after nearly four years of war.
The plan surprised officials across the administration, and sources say it was shaped at an October meeting in Miami attended by special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and sanctioned Russian emissary Kirill Dmitriev.
Democratic lawmakers denounced the original draft as resembling a “Russian wish list,” though Rubio insisted it was a U.S.-written document informed by input from “both sides of the conflict.”
European counter-proposal
European governments, who said they were not consulted on the initial text, issued their own counter-proposal on Sunday.
It would soften some of the territorial concessions and add a U.S.-backed security guarantee modelled on NATO’s Article 5 should Ukraine face renewed attack.
The situation on the ground
The negotiations come as Russia continues to make incremental gains in parts of the front line. Ukrainian power and gas infrastructure has been battered by drone and missile strikes, leaving millions facing hours-long outages.
Zelenskyy is also managing political pressure at home, with a major corruption scandal involving some ministers fuelling public anger. Ukraine’s fiscal outlook remains fragile as it seeks additional international funding.
Still, Kyiv has taken encouragement from recent U.S. sanctions tightening on Russia’s oil sector, a key revenue source for the Kremlin, and from its own long-range strikes that have damaged Russian energy facilities.
Details of a reported draft memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran offer the clearest picture yet of how both sides plan to end months of conflict and move towards a longer-term settlement.
The U.S. and Iran say they have reached a deal to end their conflict, with an immediate ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz after the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade. Talks will continue over the next 60 days to finalise the agreement
A senior U.S. official said on Monday that the memorandum of understanding linked to the U.S.-Iran agreement had been signed by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel does not consider itself bound by a Lebanon-related provision in an emerging agreement with Iran, according to Israeli officials.
Switzerland on Sunday rejected a referendum proposal to cap its population at 10 million, a projection showed, as voters prioritised economic stability and the country's ties with the European Union over immigration concerns.
A Chinese-linked hacking group secretly stole data from academic, medical and military research institutions in the U.S. and Canada for more than a year before being discovered, according to a report published by Google on Monday.
A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed on takeoff on Monday at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California's Mojave Desert, bursting into flames and killing all eight crew members aboard, Air Force officials said.
Firefighters and workers were clearing debris on Monday after what Ukraine described as a deliberate Russian strike severely damaged a nearly 1,000-year-old cathedral in Kyiv, one of the country's most important religious and cultural landmarks.
One month after Ebola cases were confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, health officials and aid organisations say the true extent of the outbreak remains unclear because of major gaps in testing, reporting and disease surveillance.
The first day of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, was dominated by discussions on the Middle East, Ukraine and the global economy, as leaders grappled with multiple crises that have reshaped the international landscape.
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