World
CIA director meets Russian counterpart in Ankara
White Home official says the 2 spy company chiefs in Ankara didn’t talk about any negotiations over the battle in Ukraine however talked concerning the penalties of nuclear weapons.
CIA Director William Burns has met his Russian counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, the top of Russia’s International Intelligence Service, within the Turkish capital, Ankara, the Kremlin has confirmed.
In keeping with the TASS information company, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned: “Such negotiations actually occurred. It was the initiative of the American aspect.”
A White Home official mentioned the discussions between Burns and Naryshkin on Monday have been concerning the penalties of utilizing nuclear weapons.
United States President Joe Biden had the same dialog with Chinese language President Xi Jinping over decreasing the specter of nuclear battle in Ukraine.
However the US official, who spoke to the Reuters information company on the situation of anonymity, mentioned: “[Burns] shouldn’t be conducting negotiations of any form. He’s not discussing settlement of the battle in Ukraine.”
“He’s conveying a message on the implications of using nuclear weapons by Russia and the dangers of escalation to strategic stability,” the official mentioned.
“He can even increase the circumstances of unjustly detained US residents,” the official mentioned.
Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, was despatched to Russia in 2021 by Biden to warning President Vladimir Putin about his troop build-up round Ukraine.
“We briefed Ukraine prematurely on his journey,” the US official mentioned. “We firmly stick with our elementary precept: nothing about Ukraine with out Ukraine.”
Whereas the assembly between Russia and the US was first reported by Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, The Related Press reported that two Turkish officers have mentioned they didn’t learn about a gathering between US and Russian delegations.
Nuclear weapons
Final month, Biden declared that the chance of nuclear “armageddon” is at its highest degree for the reason that 1962 Cuban missile disaster.
Since Moscow’s unlawful annexation of 4 areas in Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly mentioned it’s going to defend its territories with all obtainable means, together with nuclear weapons.
Earlier than a G20 summit will get underneath manner in Bali on Tuesday, Biden spoke to Xi and mentioned Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, which “reaffirmed our shared perception within the menace or using nuclear weapons is completely unacceptable”.
The talks referenced Moscow’s thinly veiled threats to make use of atomic weapons as its invasion of Ukraine reached its ninth month.
Prisoner swap
The US and Russia have a variety of points to debate moreover the battle in Ukraine, starting from the extension of the START arms treaty and the Black Sea grain export deal, which is because of expire quickly.
UN Secretary Basic Antonio Guterres was requested in Bali concerning the US-Russian contact in Turkey, and he mentioned the United Nations was not concerned within the talks.
“It’s very constructive that the US and Russia are having talks as a result of that’s a particularly related growth in relation to the longer term, however we’re not concerned,” Guterres mentioned.
Biden mentioned this month that he hoped Putin can be prepared to debate a potential prisoner swap to safe the discharge of US basketball star Brittney Griner, sentenced to 9 years in jail on medication prices, and former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years on espionage prices.
Viktor Bout, a Russian arms seller jailed within the US, has been talked about as an individual who may very well be swapped for Griner and Whelan in any future prisoner change.
World
Brad Pitt and George Clooney Dance to 4-Minute Standing Ovation for ‘Wolfs’ During Chaotic Venice Premiere
Brad Pitt and George Clooney hugged and danced at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday night as the two megastars’ latest film, “Wolfs,” received a polite four-minute standing ovation.
The premiere itself was delayed by more than 30 minutes as fans crowded into Venice’s Sala Grande in an attempt to catch a glimpse at Pitt and Clooney. When the duo finally arrived inside, the sound — and general vibe — in the theater could only be described as carnal. Both actors took to different sides of the carpet, signing autographs and taking selfies, before being whisked away to their seats by security.
As the two stars entered the theater, they greeted the eager crowd with a booming “Buonasera!,” prompting some fans to shout back in hopes of being noticed. Even as the film began rolling, the chaos continued, with those without tickets scrambling to find any empty seats. Some were ejected during the early scenes in the film as latecomers entered.
When the credits rolled on the crime romp, Pitt and Clooney hugged it out before grooving to Sade’s “Smooth Operator.” Clooney then turned to his wife Amal, and the two shared a sweet kiss. He and Pitt then walked down the stairs, from the balcony of the theater where they were seated, to greet the cheering fans.
The four-minute ovation was perhaps not as long as one may have expected given Pitt and Clooney’s star power, but it seemed that festival officials were keen on getting audience members out of the theater given the premiere’s late start time and unruly energy.
Pitt landed in Venice only two days after his ex Angelina Jolie debuted her latest movie “Maria” here, to an eight-minute standing ovation and Oscar buzz. Neither mentioned their long pending divorce, and Pitt wasn’t asked at a press conference on Sunday about court documents that allege “a history of physical abuse of Jolie” in their marriage. (The hashtag #BradPittIsAnAbuser trended on the social media platform X shortly after “Wolfs” premiered.)
Written and directed by “Spider-Man” helmer Jon Watts (who had to miss the premiere after testing positive for COVID), the Apple Original Films action-comedy stars Pitt and Clooney as two professional fixers who prefer to work alone, but must come together after being hired for the same job. “Wolfs” also stars Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams and Poorna Jagannathan. A sequel to the film is already in development with Watts and the two stars attached, Apple announced earlier this month.
“Wolfs” marks Pitt and Clooney’s first time co-headlining a film since the Coen Brother’s 2008 black comedy “Burn After Reading.” Prior to that, the two were co-stars in the “Ocean’s” franchise from 2001 to 2007. Both actors have graced the Lido before, with Clooney attending in 2009 for Grant Heslov’s “The Men Who Stare at Goats” and Pitt having premiered David Fincher’s “Fight Club” in 1999 and earning the Volpi Cup for best actor with Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” in 2007.
In a recent cover story for GQ, Pitt and Clooney discussed their longtime friendship and the state of Hollywood today. “They haven’t developed stars the way the studio system used to,” Clooney said. “We kind of were at the very end of that, where you could work at a studio and do three or four films, and there was some plan to it. And I don’t think that’s necessarily the case anymore. So it’s harder for you to sell somebody something on the back of a star.”
After its Venice premiere, “Wolfs” will release in theaters for a limited time starting Sept. 20 before debuting on Apple TV+ on Sept. 27.
World
UN chief slammed for not condemning Hamas terrorists in statement on murdered US and Israeli hostages
JERUSALEM – The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, is facing a barrage of criticism for failing to explicitly condemn the Hamas terrorist movement for its murders of one American and five Israeli citizens on Saturday.
Israel Defense Forces were looking to rescue the six hostages held by Hamas, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in the tunnel system below Gaza’s Rafah city, but instead found all six murdered at the hands of the terror group. The Times of Israel, quoting Israel’s ministry of health, reported that the hostages had been murdered between Thursday and Friday morning.
Guterres wrote on X, “I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families. Today’s tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.”
ISRAEL SHARES DOSSIER SPELLING OUT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST 12 UN EMPLOYEES ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN HAMAS ATTACK
Guterres’ post on X sparked criticism from Israel’s former U.N. ambassador Gilad Erdan for playing down the severity of the murders by labeling the news as merely “tragic” and not condemning Hamas outright.
Guterres’ spokesman did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query.
Erdan, who only left his role as ambassador last month, told Fox News Digital , “The Secretary General not only has Israeli blood on his hands, but he has American blood on his hands too. Since his “fig leaf” meeting with the hostage families, he has done ZERO to help them. He could have demanded visits from the Red Cross, he could have condemned Hamas and held them to account, but instead he spent his time criticizing the law-abiding democracy of Israel instead of the ISIS-like terrorists.”
Erdan continued “This is a new low, even for the Secretary General. Even today, he wouldn’t condemn the evil Hamas terrorists, but of course, you can’t condemn what you support. Hamas terrorists can rely on a morally bankrupt Secretary General for their survival whose only actions are meaningless photo-ops with hostage families, and criticism of Israel, while innocent hostages are being executed in cold blood.”
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and the president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that “U.N. Secretary-General Guterres despicably now turns the cold-blooded murder of Israeli hostages by Palestinian terrorists into a win for the terrorists. He refuses to name the perpetrators. And equates their horrible deliberate execution with Israel’s effort to release them.”
She added “The United Nations top apparatus – its Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council – has never specifically condemned Hamas. U.N. denial of the right of Israeli self-defense and its promotion of violence against the people of Israel has never been more clear. No amount of U.N. photo-ops with hostages or their families will erase the reality of the U.N.’s insidious role in the nightmare of war in Israel for seven decades.”
UN, HUMAN RIGHTS, MEDIA GROUPS RELY ON HAMAS DEATH TOLL IN ‘SYSTEMATIC DECEPTION’: EXPERT
In October, Erdan urged Guterres to resign after he claimed that the head of the world body had suggested that Israel was to blame for Hamas’ October 7 massacre that resulted in the murders of nearly 1,200 people, including more than 30 American citizens, and the kidnapping of over 250 people. Guterres came out to refute Erdan’s charges, but the United Nations has long been seen by critics as a bastion of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.
On Guterres’ watch, a number of U.N. agencies have been embroiled in scandals where they showed sympathy for Hamas. The scandal-plagued United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing a lawsuit in Manhattan for its alleged role in aiding the terrorist movement Hamas’ slaughter on October 7.
Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, lambasted Guterres’ decision to not name the perpetrators of the mass murder of the six people. “Hamas just murdered six Israeli and American hostages by shooting them in the head. Why can’t you say so? Why can’t you condemn them?,” wrote Neuer in a post on X.
Hamas is not on the United Nations’ list of terrorist organizations. Fox News Digital sent press queries to Israel’s current U.N. ambassador and the country’s foreign ministry.
World
Poland marks 85th anniversary of Nazi German invasion
In more than five years of brutal German occupation during WWII, the central European country lost 6 million citizens, or a sixth of its population, of which 3 million were Jewish.
Poland held solemn ceremonies early on Sunday, marking the 85th anniversary of German Nazi forces invading and bombing the central European country’s territory at the start of World War II.
Sirens wailed and a memorial bell tolled as Polish President Andrzej Duda and deputy ambassador of Germany, Robert Rohde, attended an observance in the town of Wielun, the first civilian target of German bombing in the small hours of 1 September 1939 in Europe.
Some 1,200 people were killed in the attack.
“We can say that we have forgiven even though we remember, even though the pain is persisting, and even though there are still tens of thousands of those who have been directly hurt by the Germans,” Duda said. He also called on Berlin to make amends.
Meanwhile, at a monument on the Baltic Sea’s Westerplatte peninsula, where a military outpost was shelled by a German warship just minutes after Wielun was attacked, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz laid wreaths and attended a memorial roll call for fallen soldiers.
At the time, the outpost’s outnumbered troops fought for seven days before surrendering to the Germans, becoming a symbol of heroism and patriotism.
Tusk said war was present again in the region as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, grinds on.
He said, in a clear reference to Germany, it wasn’t enough to speak about “reconciliation” or to “bend your head in a sense of guilt,” adding that the best sign of lessons learned from the past is “the readiness to organise the entire western world, Europe, and NATO for the defence against aggression that we are witnessing today in the battlefields of Ukraine.”
“Today we will not say ‘never again’. Today we must say ‘never again alone’,” the prime minister said. Tusk also said Poland was building “the most modern army in Europe, one of the strongest in Europe” to actively contribute to the unity and strength of the NATO defence alliance and the European continent, “to defend our civilisation,” and “never again expose our homeland to any risks”.
In more than five years of WWII and brutal German occupation, Poland lost 6 million citizens, or a sixth of its population, of which 3 million were Jews.
Poland’s previous right-wing government demanded $1.3 trillion (€1.17tr) in damages from Germany. Tusk’s current cabinet has toned the demand down to some form of compensation that could serve to strengthen the ties between the two neighbours.
The country also suffered huge losses to its infrastructure, industry, and agriculture.
Germany insists the matter is closed because it paid damages to the Moscow-led East Bloc after the war. Warsaw says it did not receive any share of it.
However, addressing attendees at the Wielun observance on Sunday, Duda said: “Forgiveness and the admission of guilt are one thing, but compensation for the damage caused is another thing. And this issue has not been settled yet.”
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