Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Germany’s Olaf Scholz on Friday of playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the chancellor spoke by phone to the Kremlin chief for the first time in almost two years.In the call, Scholz “condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw troops”, the chancellor’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.The German leader “urged Russia to show willingness to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace”, Hebestreit added in a statement.The Kremlin confirmed the call between Scholz and Putin, which it said was held at the invitation of the German side.Separately, Zelensky said Friday that Russia’s war against his country will “end sooner” than it otherwise would have done once Donald Trump becomes US president next year.”It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne.The Kremlin described Putin’s call with Scholz as a “detailed and frank exchange of views over the situation in Ukraine”.Putin told the German leader that any agreement to end the war in Ukraine “should take into account the security interests of the Russian Federation”, the Kremlin added.An accord should “proceed from the new territorial realities and, most importantly, address the root causes of the conflict”.Russia has demanded Ukraine surrender four regions as a precondition for talks, which Kyiv has rejected.Ukraine responded angrily to Berlin reviving its lines of communication with Moscow. The call had opened a “Pandora’s Box”, Zelensky said.”This is exactly what Putin has been wanting for a long time: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation,” Zelensky said.

This will not be Narendra Modi’s first visit to Guyana, as he travelled to the Caribbean region in 2000, including stops in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago

Protesters attacked and demonstrated in front of the homes of at least two Manipur Ministers and three MLAs in Imphal on Saturday, demanding justice for the murder of three persons in Jiribam district, the police said.

The mob attacks on legislators’ houses prompted the Imphal West administration to impose prohibitory orders in the district for an indefinite period. The authorities have suspended internet and mobile data services for two days in Imphal West, East, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Kakching, Kangpokpi and Churachandpur.

A mob stormed the residence of Health and Family Welfare Minister Sapam Ranjan in Lamphel Sanakeithel area, a senior officer said.

Agitators in Sagolband area of Imphal West district gathered in front of the residence of BJP legislator RK Imo, who is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, and raised slogans demanding an “appropriate response from the government” over the killing of three persons and urging the authorities to “arrest the culprits within 24 hours”.

Protesters, who had come to meet Keishamthong constituency’s independent legislator Sapam Nishikanta Singh at his residence at Tiddim Road, targeted the office building of a local newspaper owned by him after they were told that the legislator was not present in the state, a senior officer said.

Three bodies, suspected to be of six missing people from Jiribam district, were found near the confluence of the Jiri and Barak rivers along the Manipur-Assam border on Friday night.

This morning, the sources confirmed two of the bodies were of children and one was of a woman. The corpses had bloated due to some decomposition, they said.

The women and children were taken hostage by a group of suspected Kuki insurgents from Jiribam’s Bokobera neighbourhood while another group of insurgents were engaged in a gunfight with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), sources have said.

Ten of the suspected Kuki insurgents were shot dead in the encounter.

Fighting broke out in the northeastern state more than a year ago between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community. The conflict has simmered since then, splitting previously cohabitating communities along ethnic lines.