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New details have emerged about a Ukraine peace plan secretly worked up between the U.S. and Russia – and how Trump administration officials intend to impose its conditions.President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has been drafting the 28-point plan with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to reporting from Tuesday night, and Politico Playbook reported Wednesday the White House will soon unveil the agreement to end the three-and-a-half year war to an end."So this is one way to distract from the Epstein files," Playbook reported. "A senior White House official [says] they expect a framework for ending the conflict to be agreed by all parties by the end of this month — and possibly 'as soon as this week.'""Buckle up," the report added.Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, along with a pair of four-star general and other senior U.S. military officials, made a highly unusual trip to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Trump administration officials said a plan was on the table to end the Russian invasion."But here’s the thing: This new peace plan has seemingly had no direct input from Ukraine, nor from America’s allies in Europe," Playbook reported. "And we have no sense yet of the details, of what’s been hammered out on the thorniest questions around Russia’s seizure of vast swathes of Ukrainian territory, the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children or the security guarantees being offered to Ukraine in the aftermath."The White House feels confident an agreement will be reached because, as administration officials said, Zelenskyy is under too much pressure to turn it down."What we are going to present is reasonable," a senior White House official said.Russian officials apparently agree, and Playbook noted "this sounds ominous."“We feel the Russian position is really being heard," Dmitriev, the Russian envoy. "[This is a proposal] to address the Ukraine conflict, but also how to restore U.S.-Russia ties [and] address Russia's security concerns. It's actually a much broader framework, basically saying, 'How do we really bring, finally, lasting security to Europe, not just Ukraine.'"A senior White House official was asked to comment on Europe's possible input on the agreement and dismissed the issue entirely.“We don't really care about the Europeans,” the official told Playbook. “It's about Ukraine accepting.”

Exclusive: Images are first indication that Israel has used cluster munitions in nearly 20 yearsIsrael used widely banned cluster munitions in its recent 13-month war in Lebanon, photos of munition remnants in south Lebanon seen by the Guardian suggest.The images, which have been examined by six different arms experts, appear to show the remnants of two different types of Israeli cluster munitions found in three different locations: south of the Litani River in the forested valleys of Wadi Zibqin, Wadi Barghouz and Wadi Deir Siryan. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump surrendering American security for the sake of cozying up to Saudi Arabia should have even MAGA questioning their life choices, Axios CEO Jim Vandehei told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Wednesday's "Morning Joe.""If you're in MAGA and you're America First, what the hell are you thinking today?" said Vandehei. "You're watching the fact that you have the White House and Congress. The only thing that they've done in the last two months is vote to release the Epstein files over the objection of the president, who doesn't didn't want any of the files to be released in the first place. Nothing else. Then you put next to that the fact that you have a quasi-state dinner with the Saudis.""Now, remember, like, it was the Saudis who were on the airplane that crashed into our Towers, killing 3000 Americans. That's just a fact," said Vandehei. "And it's also a fact that the journalist that he was deriding when he was talking to the press yesterday was sawed into pieces. And the CIA, under Trump, had a report that linked it pretty directly to at least the crown prince being aware of it. And you have him talking to the Saudis about getting deals from us, where we're going to let them have our F-35s on their soil. We're going to give them access to our AI technology" — even as the Saudis say they could pass that tech along to China."It's understandable there's a burgeoning revolt among MAGA activists, Vandehei continued, because "this isn't what we paid for, this isn't what we voted for. This isn't what we asked for in your competence.""If you're a republican, you got to boil at some point because you've got Nirvana. You've got as much power as I've ever seen, vested in one party at one time in one city," said Vandehei. "And yet, if you look at the number of laws actually being signed, the things that will outlast the short term deals, very few of them. And then you look at the polling and you look at that working class white voter who put you into office and they're frustrated ... every issue that they care about, including things being really expensive and them being very worried about whether they're going to get a job or their kid's going to get out of college and enter the job market that we've seen in 5 or 10 years, not even really discussed.""And it does come down to competence," he added. "If you have the right people doing the right work at the right time, you get really good results. That's like the trick of leading anything, running a company, running a government." - YouTube youtu.be

South Sudan has resumed transporting and exporting crude oil after drone attacks on two key oil installations in neighboring Sudan forced an emergency shutdown, a senior official said Wednesday

Senior aide to Mohammed bin Salman allegedly led campaign to identify users who were posting critically about Saudi regimeA senior official in Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage, who is expected to travel with the crown prince on his first trip back to the US in seven years, has previously been accused by US prosecutors of playing a central role in a conspiracy to infiltrate Twitter and identify users who were posting critically about the Saudi regime.Bader al-Asaker, who has headed Prince Mohammed’s private office since before he became crown prince, has never been formally charged by the US government for his role in the 2014-15 scheme, but was accused in court by a US government lawyer as having led the campaign to find a “mole” who would be able to extract sensitive information from the social media company, which is now known as X. Continue reading...

It is one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks, but this tropical rainforest is losing out when it comes to climate policy and fundingIn October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction.For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” says Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI). Continue reading...

Hosts of the pro-MAGA Real America's Voice network accused Pope Leo XIV of a "woke turn" after a meeting with Hollywood stars did not include conservatives like Mel Gibson."It's time to stay awake, not woke," host Terrence Bates noted on Monday. "That is where Pope Leo the 14th just hosted a private meeting with Hollywood A-listers, Spike Lee, Kate Blanchett, Judd Apatow, all there. But noticeably not there: Conservatives like Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Jon Voight, and James Woods.""I grew up in Catholic churches," co-host Gina Loudon explained. "My heart just breaks for the good people I know who are Catholics who have had to endure now two popes in a row, I've lost count, is it three popes in a row? All the popes since Pope John Paul essentially have been just— not what the average Catholic that I know believes, right?""What in the heck is this guy doing?" she asked. "What a mockery of God's faithful in the Catholic Church to be worried about getting to rub elbows with Hollywood elite? It sickens me, to be honest.""A hundred percent, I agree with everything you said," co-host David Brody agreed. "Why, just because he's the pope, I mean, all of a sudden there has to be this reverence because he's the pope?"According to Brody, the pope was "doing stuff that's just not biblical in many ways.""We can go down the list if you want to talk about the LGBT aspect of it, or how about blessing a block of ice?" he continued. "I feel bad for the Catholics that are just like, you know, would like to see a pope actually speak out on the traditional biblical values that are not only time-honored and cherished but are actually factual and accurate and biblical.""Don't put him on a pedestal," Bates added.

Hasina sentenced in absentia by court in Dhaka over deadly crackdown on student-led uprising last yearBangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.A three-judge bench of the country’s international crimes tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes including incitement, orders to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities as she oversaw a crackdown on anti-government protesters last year. Continue reading...