International News
Trump Warns Of Make-Or-Break Chance With Putin As Pressure Mounts
Pressure mounted ahead of a landmark summit in Alaska between the United States and Russia, as Donald Trump warned that Vladimir Putin had only one chance but Moscow pressed ahead with major battlefield gains in Ukraine.
Putin and Trump will meet Friday at an air base in the far-northern US state, the first time the Russian leader has been permitted on Western soil since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine which has killed tens of thousands of people.
With such high stakes, all sides were pushing hard in the hours before the meeting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has refused to surrender territory to Russia, spoke by telephone Wednesday with Trump, as did European leaders who voiced confidence afterward that the US leader would seek a ceasefire rather than concessions by Kyiv.
Trump himself sent mixed messages, saying that he could quickly organize a three-way summit afterward with both Zelensky and Putin but also warning of his impatience with Putin.
“There may be no second meeting because, if I feel that it’s not appropriate to have it because I didn’t get the answers that we have to have, then we are not going to have a second meeting,” Trump told reporters.
Russia, Trump said, would face “severe consequences” if it does not halt its offensive.
But Trump said: “If the first one goes okay, we’ll have a quick second one,” involving both Putin and Zelensky.
Putin pitched the meeting after Trump threatened sanctions on Russia. Trump has already ramped up tariffs on India, which has become a key buyer of Russian energy.
Zelensky, after being berated by Trump at a February meeting in the White House, has publicly supported US diplomacy but made clear his deep skepticism.
“I have told my colleagues — the US president and our European friends — that Putin definitely does not want peace,” Zelensky said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who welcomed Zelensky in Berlin, said Ukraine is ready to negotiate “on territorial issues” but stressed that legal recognition of Russian occupations “would not be up for debate.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte declared: “The ball is now in Putin’s court.”
Talks at Cold War base
Trump will meet Putin on Friday at Elmendorf Air Force Base, a major US military hub in Alaska’s most populous city of Anchorage that played a key role in monitoring the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Off the base, on the rainy streets of Anchorage, there were few signs that the world’s eyes would soon be on the city, other than an influx of media who have booked up virtually all rooms.
The US Treasury Department announced that it would temporarily ease sanctions on the visiting senior Russian officials, who normally would struggle to carry out simple transactions, such as withdrawing cash in Western countries.
The most visible sign of the impending summit was in Ukraine itself.
According to an AFP analysis of battlefield data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces made their biggest 24-hour advance into Ukraine in more than a year on Tuesday.
The Russian army took or claimed 110 square kilometers (42.5 square miles) on August 12 compared with the previous day.
Ukrainian soldiers in Kramatorsk, an eastern city about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front, said they had low expectations for Trump’s meeting with Putin.
Artem, a 30-year-old serviceman, said the war would likely continue for “a long time.”
“Putin is massing an army, his army is growing, he is stockpiling weapons, he is pulling the wool over our eyes.”
Trump has long voiced admiration for Putin and had vowed to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of returning to the White House.
But he has since voiced frustration as Putin ignores his pleas for a ceasefire and presses ahead with attacks on Ukraine.
AFP
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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