Category: World

Can Putin's 'Flying Kremlin' travel through EU airspace to Budapest?4 hours agoShareSavePaul KirbyEurope digital editorShareSaveGAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFPPutin flew to Alaska in his specially modified Il-96 plane in AugustThe summit has not been set in stone, but if Russia's Vladimir Putin does go to Budapest to meet US President Trump in the next two weeks, he would need to clear a few hurdles first.
When Putin travelled to Alaska for his Anchorage summit in August, the US granted special permission for the presidential plane – a modified Ilyushin Il-96 airliner dubbed the “Flying Kremlin” that has four engines and is bristling with defence systems.
Russian planes are banned from US airspace, and from EU airspace too. So if Putin does fly to Budapest he would need special dispensation if he decided to fly over an EU member state.
It is perfectly possible, but landlocked Hungary is not the easiest destination to get to for a Russian president who rarely sets foot abr..

Trump says he will meet Putin in Hungary for Ukraine talks after 'very productive' call1 hour agoShareSaveSean SeddonShareSaveReutersPutin and Trump met in person at a US base in Alaska in August 2025US President Donald Trump says “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin “immediately” after the “extremely frank and trustful” call.
The talks came a day before Ukraine's President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was “rushing to resume dialogue as ..

Netanyahu 'determined' to pressure Hamas to find remaining dead hostages4 hours agoShareSaveSean SeddonShareSaveEPABenjamin Netanyahu addressed a memorial ceremony at the Mount Herzl cemetery in JerusalemIsrael's prime minister has told a memorial for victims of the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that he is “determined” to secure the return of the dead hostages still in Gaza, and that the country will continue to fight terrorism with “full force”.
Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments hours after Hamas returned the bodies of two more hostages but said it was not able to access the remaining 19.
There has been fury in Israel that Hamas has not returned all the bodies in line with last week's Gaza ceasefire deal, though the US has downplayed the suggestion it amounts to a breach.
Also on Thursday, Donald Trump signalled he was willing to see fighting resume if Hamas “continues to kill people”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president said “we will hav..

Hamas returns two more bodies but says it cannot retrieve remaining dead hostages1 hour agoShareSaveShareSaveReutersHamas says it needs specialised equipment to recover the remaining bodies of the hostages Hamas says it has handed over the bodies of two more Israeli hostages under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, but says it needs time and specialised equipment to recover the rest of the deceased from the ruins of Gaza
The group's armed wing said in a statement it was committed to the deal but had returned all the bodies of hostages it was able to reach.
US President Donald Trump has said Israeli forces could resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not uphold the agreement.
In a statement, the Israeli PM's office said Israel had received – through the Red Cross – coffins containing the bodies of hostages which were now awaiting official identification.
“The IDF urges the public to act with sensitivity and wait for official identification, which will first be communi..

'Worse than starting from scratch': How big is the task of rebuilding Gaza?5 hours agoShareSavePaul Brown,Kayleen Devlin,Erwan Rivault andBarbara MetzlerBBC VerifyShareSaveGetty ImagesAs thousands of Gazans made the journey back to their neighbourhoods following the ceasefire, many of them already knew their homes were in ruins.
The prospect of rebuilding homes, businesses and all the institutions and services needed for a return to normal life in Gaza is daunting by any measure: the UN estimates that the damage amounts to $70bn.
As Prof Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security expert from King's College London, says: “It's worse than starting from scratch – here you aren't starting in the sand, you are starting with rubble.”
The level of destruction on the strip is “now in the region of 84%. In certain parts of Gaza, like in Gaza City, it's even up to 92%”, says Jaco Cilliers, UN Development Programme special representative for the Palestinians.
This damage ..