#Russia may put forward new initiatives on creating a zone free of nuclear and other #weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East, Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Izvestia.

"The idea of creating the WMD-free zone in the Middle East will remain on the international agenda until fully accomplished. It is possible that Russia will come up with new initiatives on this matter should the need arise," he said.

According to the Russian diplomat, #Israel strongly rejects the idea of joining the #Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (#NPT) but, at the same time, demands that other countries of the region fully comply with the agreement.

#NAIROBI, #Kenya — Recent flooding during ongoing heavy rains in Kenya left 18 people dead over the past week, police said Sunday, with most of the deaths attributed to drowning.

More than 54,000 households have been affected by the flooding countrywide, with 6,000 of those being in the capital, Nairobi, according to the Interior Ministry.

Dozens of schools and hospitals across the country have flooded, and 17 roads have been cut off.

Mudslides have also forced thousands to move from the western Rift Valley area, while people living downstream of the Tana and Athi rivers have been urged to move to higher ground as water levels in the country’s hydroelectric dams rise.

The Kenya Meteorological Department has warned that enhanced rainfall is expected to continue in the first two weeks of May.

Heavy rains in the country started in March at the beginning of the rainy season and have left a trail of destruction, with more than 100 people dead by the end of March.

The Associated Press

Hundreds of #Dominicans protest Canadian mining project. The so-called Romero project aims to extract deposits of gold, copper and silver from a reserve of 1.1 million ounces, valued at around US$5 billion, according to GoldQuest.

The project would be located in Central Cordillera, far from tourist areas, near the southern province of San Juan where the agriculture-based economy supports 143,000 residents.

Although the project still does not have the necessary permit, GoldQuest hails the Dominican government’s “commitment” to moving forward with the project on its website.

“Water yes, gold no!” protesters chanted as they carried Dominican flags during a march to Sabaneta, home to the province’s main dam, which supplies water to more than 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of crop-bearing lands.

The dam also produces hydroelectric power.

GoldQuest says its underground mineral extraction process has limited environmental impact, but locals worry the water supply will be tainted by the mining project.

“Water is our life,” housewife Juana Ramon told AFP. “We don’t agree because...they’re going to spoil that water, damage it.”

Local farmer Manuel Encarnacion is also against the project.

“If they exploit that, we would have to leave here. I’d rather die than let them exploit” this area, he told AFP.

But another mining operation in the Dominican Republic, Canadian company Barrick Gold’s project in Cotui, has caused relocation of families and accusations of water and soil contamination, sparking protests, according to local press.

Farmer and shopkeeper Leuri Camarena pointed to Cotui’s experience and said, “We don’t want that mining operation here.”

“Here we grow rice, beans, pigeon peas, squash, plantains,” Camarena said. “If we exploit that mine, what’s going to grow here? We’ll be eating gunpowder.”

#Iran presses for an end to war within 30 days as Trump expresses doubts. U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was reviewing a new Iranian proposal but expressed doubt it would lead to a deal, adding on social media that “they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years” since the Islamic Revolution there.

Iran’s 14-point proposal calls for an end to the war, rather than just an extension of the truce. The proposal, a rebuttal to the U.S. nine-point plan, also calls for the U.S. lifting sanctions on Iran, ending the naval blockade, withdrawing forces from the region, and ceasing all hostilities, including Israel’s operations in Lebanon, according to the semi-official Nour News agency, which has close ties to the country’s security organizations.

There was no mention, however, of Iran’s nuclear program and its enriched uranium, long the central issue in tensions with the U.S. and one that Tehran would rather address later.

Iran sent its reply via a Pakistani intermediary, the news agency reported. Pakistan has hosted previous negotiations between Iran and the United States.

Pakistan’s prime minister, foreign minister and army chief continue to push negotiations and encourage the U.S. and Iran to speak directly, according to two officials in Pakistan who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The fragile three-week ceasefire appears to be holding, though Trump on Saturday told journalists that further strikes remained a possibility.

Also on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who oversaw previous rounds of talks between the U.S. and Iran before the war.

#Kenya : Renowned gynaecologist Dr Job Obwaka dies in hospital

Suitcase stuffed with marijuana bursts open on flight, leading to arrest at Dallas Love Field, police say.

Jennifer Manzanares‑Herrera was arrested before she left the airport and charged with possession of marijuana between 50 and 2,000 pounds, a second‑degree felony, according to the Dallas Police Department.

Airline staff alerted officers on Thursday Police said the department’s Narcotics Unit maintains a presence at Love Field to prevent drug trafficking through the airport.

Officers were alerted Thursday when airline staff reported that a suitcase on the Las Vegas flight had broken open, revealing a large quantity of marijuana.

Two more suitcases discovered Narcotics detectives later found two additional suitcases containing vacuum‑sealed packages of the drug.

In total, detectives recovered 75 pounds of marijuana, police said.

CBS News Texas will provide updates should additional information become available.

#Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon kill 7 despite ceasefire. Israel’s military on Saturday issued a new warning for residents of nine southern villages to evacuate. Israel and Lebanon’s militant #Hezbollah group have kept up their attacks despite a ceasefire in place since April 17.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an airstrike on a car in the village of Kfar Dajal killed two people, while another hit a home in the village of Lwaizeh, killing three. Two others were killed in a strike on the village of Shoukin, it said.

Israel’s military Arabic-language spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, posted on X that the Israeli air force carried out about 50 airstrikes over the past 24 hours targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and members.

Hezbollah said that it attacked with a drone Israeli troops who gathered on Saturday inside a house in the coastal village of Bayed.

Over the past weeks, the Israeli army has been leveling neighborhoods in towns and villages near the Lebanese-Israeli border. The military says it destroys buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed group.

The Israeli military released a new video that it said shows Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon being blown up. The video, released Friday, shows soldiers holding an Israeli flag and walking among the destruction of a soccer stadium in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil. The military said on its website that the air force “destroyed the town’s stadium after it was discovered to be booby-trapped.”

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on its main backer, Iran. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.

Since then, Lebanon and Israel have held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on April 17. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.

Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press

Associated Press writer Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

#Israel police arrest man suspected of attacking French nun in #Jerusalem. JERUSALEM - Israel’s police said Wednesday they had arrested a man suspected of assaulting a French nun in Jerusalem the previous day, amid a rise in attacks targeting Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“The suspect, a 36-year-old male, was identified and subsequently arrested by police,” the force said in a statement, adding it viewed with “utmost severity” any violent act “driven by potentially racist motives and directed toward members of the clergy.”

Contacted by AFP, police declined to disclose the suspect’s nationality, but said he was arrested “on suspicion of assault, with all potential motives under examination.”

Footage shared by police showed bruises on the right side of the nun’s face.

#Ukraine says a strike hit Tuapse oil terminal, the fourth attack on the region in 2 weeks.

Explosions and a fire were recorded on the premises of local oil infrastructure, the statement from the General Staff said. Local officials in Russia said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked the blaze and that no casualties were reported.

The facility had been hit previously on April 16, April 20 and April 28. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said a fire at the city’s oil refinery had also been extinguished Thursday, less than 24 hours before the latest strike.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks continued to strike Ukraine.

Russia attacked the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil with over 50 drones on Friday, according to mayor Serhii Nadal.

Hits were recorded in industrial facilities and infrastructure, he said. At least 10 people were wounded, he added, while some neighborhoods remain without electricity as a result of the mass attack.

Two multi-story residential buildings and port infrastructure in Odesa were damaged after Russian forces launched another overnight drone attack on the southern region, local authorities said.

As a result of the strikes, an apartment in a 16-story building was destroyed and the roof caught fire. In another high-rise residential building, a fire engulfed the 12th floor, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.

In a post on Telegram, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least five people were wounded in the region. He said damage from overnight attacks was also recorded in the central city of Kryvyi Rih and the northeastern Kharkiv region, where railway infrastructure was hit.

“Russia continues to attack our energy infrastructure, critical infrastructure, and civilian objects. Tonight, there were 210 drone strikes, and about 140 of them were “Shahed” drones,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The Associated Press

US President Donald Trump questioned the need to resume airstrikes on Iran in a conversation with reporters on Thursday.

The US leader was asked if he is looking to break the ceasefire. "I don't know that we need it. We might need it," Trump stated as he claimed that the Islamic Republic is "dying to make a deal."

When asked whether he thought that the talks were being stalled by Iran, Trump replied: "Nobody knows what the talks are, except myself and a couple of other people."

On February 28, the US and Israel launched a large-scale operation against Iran. On April 7, US President Donald Trump announced a two-week mutual ceasefire with Tehran. According to the Iranian side, a total of 3,375 Iranians died as a result of US and Israeli attacks over the 40 days of war. On April 11, Iran and the US held several rounds of talks in Islamabad. Both Tehran and Washington reported that the parties failed to reach an agreement on a long-term settlement due to a number of contradictions. On April 21, the US leader announced on Truth Social that Washington intends to extend the ceasefire with Iran, which was set to expire in a few hours. According to the Iranian state broadcaster, Tehran does not intend to comply with Washington’s unilaterally announced extension of the ceasefire and will prioritize its own interests.