World Echo

Delegations from the United States, Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 314 prisoners, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday, adding that significant work remained to end the war. "Today, delegations from the United States, Ukraine, and Russia agreed to exchange 314 prisoners—the first such exchange in five months," Witkoff said in a post on X. Read: Ukraine and Russia resume US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi "This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive. While significant work remains, steps like this demonstrate that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine." Today, delegations from the United States, Ukraine, and Russia agreed to exchange 314 prisoners—the first such exchange in five months. This outcome was achieved from peace talks that have been detailed and productive. While significant work remains, steps...

Ukraine and Russia started a second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, after a first day described as productive and positive by both Kyiv and Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said on Thursday that there was progress and a positive movement forward in talks on how to end the four-year war. Ukraine's top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said after Wednesday's meetings that the discussions were "meaningful and productive, focusing on concrete steps and practical solutions". Read: Israeli strikes kill 20 in Gaza as Rafah medical exits halted Announcing the start of the second day of talks, he said the officials would work in the same formats as during their first day - trilateral consultations, group discussions, and then again joint coordination of the positions. "The second day of negotiations in Abu Dhabi has begun," Umerov said on the Telegram app. Dmitriev said that active work was underway torestore Russia...

Women in Iran can now formally obtain a licence to ride a motorcycle, local media reported on Wednesday, ending years of legal ambiguity surrounding two-wheelers. The law previously did not explicitly prohibit women from riding motorbikes and scooters, but in practice authorities refused to issue licences. Due to the legal grey area, women have been held legally responsible for accidents even when victims. Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref signed a resolution on Tuesday aimed at clarifying the traffic code, which was approved by Iran's cabinet in late January, the country's Ilna news agency reported. The resolution obliges traffic police to "provide practical training to female applicants, organise an exam under the direct supervision of the police, and issue motorcycle driver's licences to women", Ilna said. The change follows a wave of protests across Iran that were initially sparked by economic grievances but which grew last month into nationwi...

Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 20 Palestinians, including four children, in Gaza on Wednesday, and Israel halted the passage of patients through the Rafah border crossing, Palestinian officials said. Among the dead was a medic who rushed to help victims of a strike in the southern city of Khan Younis and was then killed by a second attack on the same location, health officials said. Other strikes hit Gaza City in the north, where health officials said a 5-month-old boy was killed. Israeli tanks had fired on Gaza, and airstrikes had been launched after a gunman shot at Israeli soldiers and injured a reservist near the armistice line, the Israeli military claims. The strikes targeted Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis. A Gazan health official told Reuters that Israel had also halted the passage of patients through the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, two days after it had reopened, allowing a trickle of Palestinians to cross for the first time in months. Read: Gaz...

The most wide-ranging modelling to date suggests that reductions in overseas aid could result in over 22 million preventable deaths by 2030, including 5.4 million children under five. Researchers writing in The Lancet Global Health note that child deaths from infectious diseases have dropped sharply over the past 20 years, largely because donor-funded programs supported health efforts in developing countries. However, they warn that sudden funding cuts by donors such as the US and UK could undo much of that progress. To estimate the impact, the team analyzed how changes in aid levels related to death rates in recipient countries from 2002 to 2021, then projected outcomes under three scenarios: a status quo scenario, a mild reduction where aid declines similarly to recent years, and a severe reduction where aid falls to roughly half of 2025 levels through the end of the decade. In the severe scenario, the model projects about 22.6 million additional deaths by 2030, including 5.4 million...

Iranian police said 139 foreign nationals have so far been arrested in the central province of Yazd for their participation in recent protests, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, without specifying their nationalities. Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a relatively small population above 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests in January. The protests, which started in December over economic hardships and quickly turned political, were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The official death toll stands at 3,117, although rights groups say many more people have been killed. US-based rights group HRANA has said that nearly 50,000 people have so far been arrested. Authorities blame Israel and the United States for fomenting the violence. "These (foreign) individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with netwo...