First lady Melania Trump said she has established an “open channel of communication” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months, hoping to reunite children separated from their families during the war in Ukraine. In one of her most substantive public remarks since her husband’s return to office, Trump said her representatives and Putin’s office have “participated in several backchannel meetings and calls, all in good faith,” about the welfare of children affected by the war. “President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of children for the past three months,” Trump said, adding that both sides “agreed to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all people involved.” Trump claimed that eight Ukrainian children have been reunited with their families in the past 24 hours as part of the initiative. Three of the children had been separated from their parents and displaced inside Russia due to front-line fighting, she said, while five others had been cut off from family members across borders since the early stages of the conflict. The first lady said she had received documentation and photographs from Russian officials verifying the identities and conditions of the children involved, including a “verification report” prepared by the commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on human rights and the Russian presidential commissioner for children’s rights. The facts have been confirmed by the U.S. government, she said. “This is an important initiative,” Trump said. “It is still on shared purpose and lasting impact. My ongoing mission is two-fold — to optimize a transparent, free-flow exchange of information surrounding all children who have fallen victim to this war and to facilitate the regular communication of children with their families until each individual returns home.” Trump said the discussions also covered those who were minors when displaced but have since turned 18 and remain in Russia. She claimed that Moscow agreed to “rejoin” those individuals with their families “within a short period of time.” The International Criminal Court last year issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the alleged unlawful deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territories. The first lady has largely stayed out of the spotlight since Donald Trump returned to office. The reunification of children initiative marks her most substantial public policy effort this year. She first relayed a letter to Putin after Donald Trump met with the Russian president in Anchorage, Alaska, in August. “A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity—an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,” she wrote in the letter, telling Putin “it is time” for the Ukrainian children to return home. Donald Trump has spoken to the impact that his wife has had on him in keeping abreast of Russia’s repeated missile attacks on Ukraine. The first lady has pointed out that Putin’s words haven’t matched his actions, the president told reporters in the Oval Office in July. “There’s times I’d get home. I’d say, ‘first lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we’re finished.’ And then I’ll turn on the television, or she’ll say to me one time, ‘Wow, that’s strange because they just bombed a nursing home. I’d say, ‘What?’” Trump said at the time.

Kuomintang (KMT) heavyweight and media personality Jaw Shau-kong (趙少康) on Saturday called on Beijing to stop any interference in the party's upcoming chair election, warning that online disinformation...

La gauche a jugé décevantes les esquisses de concessions sur la réforme, pourtant inédites. Emmanuel Macron avait érigé le texte en totem de son second quinquennat.

La renomination de l’ancien ministre des armées pour former un « gouvernement de mission » qui sera « déconnecté des ambitions présidentielles », a ravivé les critiques à l’encontre du chef de l’Etat, accusé de persévérer dans le déni par les oppositions mais également, désormais, par son propre camp.

Le chef de l’Etat doit mettre fin, d’ici à vendredi soir, à cinq jours de suspense et tenter une nouvelle fois de désamorcer une crise politique en nommant un chef de gouvernement après la démission de Sébastien Lecornu. Alors que son nom circule pour Matignon, Jean-Louis Borloo a assuré ne pas avoir eu de contact avec l’Elysée.

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