BRATISLAVA -- Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Sunday that his government cannot support the European Union's (EU) proposal to completely halt nuclear fuel imports from Russia.
Addressing a press conference, Fico said the plan would threaten the operation of nuclear power plants in Slovakia.
The European Commission last month unveiled a new roadmap to end EU's reliance on Russian energy. The REPowerEU Roadmap sets out a phased and coordinated plan to halt imports of Russian natural gas, oil, and nuclear materials across the 27-member bloc, according to the Commission.(Slovakia-Russian Energy)
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WARSAW -- Karol Nawrocki is now narrowly leading Rafal Trzaskowski in Poland's presidential runoff on Sunday, according to a late poll conducted by Ipsos. Earlier exit poll results had shown Trzaskowski ahead.
Nawrocki, a historian and head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, received 50.7 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff, ahead of Trzaskowski, the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) candidate and mayor of Warsaw, who garnered 49.3 percent, according to the late poll released by Ipsos at about 11 p.m. local time (2100 GMT).
According to the Polish Press Agency, the late poll is based on official results from 50 percent of randomly selected polling stations where Ipsos conducted its survey. The statistical margin of error is estimated at 1 percentage point. (Poland-Presidential-Election)
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BEIRUT -- A Hezbollah member was killed Sunday evening in an Israeli strike targeting a vehicle in southern Lebanon, according to a statement from the Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health.
Security sources told Xinhua that the slain Hezbollah member was Mohammad Ali Srour, from the village of Aita al-Shaab, located in the central sector of southern Lebanon. He was on the Debel road in Bint Jbeil district when the strike targeted him.
The airstrike came despite a U.S.- and French-brokered ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel that has been in effect since Nov. 27, 2024. The deal ended more than a year of cross-border hostilities triggered by the war in the Gaza Strip.(Lebanon-Israel-Killing)
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TEHRAN -- President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami said on Sunday that uranium enrichment is the foundation of the nuclear industry and a red line for Tehran.
He made the remarks in an interview with state-run IRIB TV while reacting to the U.S. calls on Iran to cease its uranium enrichment and a "comprehensive" report compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Tehran's nuclear activities, which was made public by the media on Saturday.
Eslami said nobody could claim that Iran did not have the right to enrich uranium, stressing that in the absence of uranium enrichment, there would be no nuclear fuel cycle, which would impact Iran's research and applied activities across various sectors.(Iran-Nuclear-IAEA)
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GAZA/JERUSALEM -- Hamas said on Sunday that it affirms its readiness to begin indirect negotiations over the Gaza ceasefire immediately.
In a press statement, Hamas expressed its appreciation for the continued efforts by Qatar and Egypt to broker a ceasefire agreement.
The movement said that it is ready to "immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations" to address the outstanding issues with "the other party." (Gaza Strip-Hamas-Israel) ■
