Ukraine's Zelenskyy to meet Trump on Monday after US-Russia summit secured no peace agreement
Kyiv (AP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday after Trump's summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin ended without an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump declared on his social media site that Friday's meeting in Alaska “went very well.” After the summit and calls early Saturday with Zelenskyy and European leaders, he wrote: “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
Putin has previously said that Russia is not interested in a temporary truce, and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscow's interests into account.
Zelenskyy said he held a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump. He thanked Trump for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”
It will be Zelenskyy's first visit to the US since Trump berated him for being “disrespectful” during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting in February.
Trump confirmed the White House meeting and said that “if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.”
Trump rolled out the red carpet on Friday for Putin, who was in the US for the first time in a decade. But he gave little concrete detail afterward of what was discussed.
Trump had warned ahead of the summit of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin doesn't agree to end the war.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
