12/04/2026

theSun on Sunday APR 12, 2026

WORLD 8

US, Iran begin talks ISLAMABAD: Senior US and Iranian leaders were in Islamabad yesterday for Fighting continues in Lebanon Islamabad yesterday, where they were received by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. term in office. That year, Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war six weeks ago, banned further direct talks between US and Iranian officials. Mohammad Baqer said

conflict since World War II. Over the past few years, fighting on the front has come to a near standstill. Russia has made small territorial gains at a high cost. But Kyiv recently managed to push back in the southeast and Russian advances have been slowing since late last year. Moscow occupies just over 19% of Ukraine, most of which was seized during the first weeks of the conflict. – AFP Gaza fibreglass homes offer dignified living KHAN YOUNIS: In southern Gaza, aid workers are assembling fibreglass homes meant to shelter thousands of Palestinians still displaced six months after a ceasefire started between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two million people in Gaza are living in makeshift shelters and the humanitarian situation remains dire. The fibreglass units are designed to offer a modicum of relief – homes with slightly more comfort than a tent vulnerable to the coastal winds that hit Gaza. Alessandro Markic, head of the UN Development Programme office in Gaza, initiated the plan. He said families “are facing extremely difficult conditions”. About 4,000 units are planned in the al-Mohararat area, west of Khan Younis. Workers assemble walls, instal small windows, and lay roofs for families who try to settle in with rugs and cushions inside. “These are very basic and temporary solutions, while we continue to plan for recovery and reconstruction,” Markic said. The homes provide more dignity, privacy and protection during the winter. Some Gazans were visibly relieved to have an alternative to the tents. Nasma Sharab has moved into one unit with her sons, and affirmed it was “better” than a tent. The fibreglass homes “don’t constantly blow away in the wind,” she said. But she added: “It’s a temporary solution while we wait for reconstruction to begin and for people to be able to go back to their homes.” – AFP a backpack of clothes, and was forced to urinate in plastic bottles and use garbage bags. Heitz said there is no medical evidence supporting claims that the boy suffered from psychiatric issues. Records show he had been a high-achieving student in Mulhouse through the 2023–24 school year. – Bernama

concessions that Zelensky has ruled out as tantamount to capitulation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia had discussed the ceasefire with Ukraine or the United States in advance and said it was not linked to negotiations to end the war. The war has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes, making it Europe’s deadliest The boy was taken to a clinic in the eastern city of Mulhouse. The man’s girlfriend was also taken into custody. While the child was living in the vehicle, the father, his girlfriend, and two girls aged 10 and 12 lived in the apartment as a household. The boy told authorities he was given food and water but had only Iran’s state broadcaster said the Iranian delegation would meet Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to determine the timing and manner of “possible negotiations”. Mohammad Baqer said Iran was ready to reach a deal if the US offered what he described as a genuine agreement and granted Iran its rights, Iranian state media reported. The White ߑ House did not immediately comment on the Iranian demands but Trump posted on social media that the only reason the Iranians were alive was to negotiate a deal. “The Iranians don’t seem to realise they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the world by using international waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate,” he said. Vance, speaking as he headed to Pakistan, said he expected a positive outcome but added: “If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive.” Preliminary discussions have been separately held by Pakistani officials with advance teams from both sides, sources in Islamabad said. Israeli and Lebanese officials will hold talks in Washington on Tuesday. Lebanon’s presidency said officials from the two countries had spoken by phone on Friday and agreed to discuss announcing a ceasefire and setting ߑ a start date for bilateral talks under US mediation. But Israel’s embassy in Washington said the talks would constitute the start of “formal peace negotiations” and that Israel had refused to discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah. – Reuters

The Iranian delegation, led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, arrived on Friday. These will be the highest level US-Iran talks since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. If the two sides hold face-to-face negotiations as expected, they would be first direct talks since 2015, when they reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump scrapped ߑ the nuclear deal in 2018 during his first

negotiations to end their six week-old war, although Tehran threw the talks into doubt by saying they could not begin without commitments on Lebanon and sanctions. The US delegation, led by Vice-President J.D. Vance and including President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, landed in two US Air Force planes at an air base in

Washington had previously agreed to unblock Iranian assets and to a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Hezbollah have killed nearly 2,000 people since the start of the fighting last month. He said talks would not start until those pledges were fulfilled. Israel and the US have said the Lebanon campaign is not part of the ceasefire.

Russia, Ukraine begin Orthodox Easter truce KYIV: A temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for Orthodox Easter began yesterday afternoon, as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war falter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had “repeatedly stated” it was ready for a ceasefire over Easter, and was willing to reciprocate. wounded, just hours before the ceasefire was set to begin. Abbas looking at photos of children killed in Madrasa Minab in Iran, while aboard a plane on his way to Pakistan. – AFPPIC/IRANIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS HANDOUT

Two people were killed and about 15 others wounded on Friday night in attacks in Poltava and Sumy, regional authorities said. Several rounds of US-led talks have failed to bring the warring sides closer to an agreement. The negotiations have become deadlocked, with Moscow demanding territorial and political locked in the van at some point between September and December 2024 and had last showered at the end of that year. He was found lying in a foetal position under a blanket in the van. After the prolonged confinement, he was no longer able to walk when found, prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said.

The temporary ceasefire came as US-led talks on ending the four-year-old conflict have been derailed by the Middle East war. Authorities in Ukraine’s southern Odessa said yesterday that two people had been killed in Russian strikes, and two others

The Kremlin said it had ordered a temporary truce from yesterday until today, a 32-hour period. Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and army chief Valery Gerasimov have been instructed to “cease hostilities”, said the Kremlin.

Malnourished boy confined to live in van rescued after 15 months PARIS: French police have

The child was later found naked and malnourished inside the parked vehicle in the courtyard of an apartment block in Hagenbach, a village in the Alsace region near the German and Swiss border. The father lived in one of the apartments in the building. The boy said he had been

arrested a 43-year-old man accused of confining his nine year-old son inside a delivery van for more than a year, reported German Press Agency (dpa). The case came to light on Friday after neighbours reported suspicious noises, prompting officers to investigate.