Russia will achieve its Ukraine aims by force if Kyiv doesn't want peace: Putin MOSCOW, Dec 28: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force. Putin's remarks on Saturday, carried by state news agency TASS, followed a vast Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say Russia was demonstrating its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace. Zelensky is to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to seek a resolution to the war Putin launched nearly four years ago with a full-scale invasion of Russia's smaller neighbor. — AFP
Iran's president says his country is in a full-scale war with the West TEHRAN, Dec 28: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country is in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's meeting Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump. Pezeshkian said in an interview published on the website of the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday that the war is worse than Iran's deadly war with Iraq in the 1980s. "We are in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe; they don't want our country to remain stable," he said. Pezeshkian said the West's war against Iran is "more complicated and more difficult" compared to the 1980-1988 war with Iraq that left more than 1 million casualties on both sides. — AP
Netanyahu to meet Trump in US today JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump in Florida today (Monday), an Israeli official told AFP, in what is seen as a crucial visit for the next steps of the fragile Gaza truce plan. It will be Netanyahu's fifth visit to see key ally Trump in the United States this year. His trip comes as the Trump administration and regional mediators push to proceed to the second stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli official on Saturday said Netanyahu would leave for the US on December 28 and meet with Trump a day later in Florida, without providing a specific location. — AFP
470-kilo WWII bomb removed in Belgrade BELGRADE, Dec 28: A 470-kilogram (1,000-pound) World War II aerial bomb was safely removed on Sunday from a construction site in a central district of Serbia's capital, Belgrade, police said. The US-made AN-M44 bomb was used during Allied air raids on German positions during the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi occupation in 1944. — AFP
TEHRAN, Dec 28: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country is in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's meeting Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump. Pezeshkian said in an interview published on the website of the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday that the war is worse than Iran's deadly war with Iraq in the 1980s. "We are in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe; they don't want our country to remain stable," he said. Pezeshkian said the West's war against Iran is "more complicated and more difficult" compared to the 1980-1988 war with Iraq that left more than 1 million casualties on both sides. — AP