Morning Briefing: Feb. 19, 2025

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) - Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Wednesday with, including US President Donald Trump's optimism over a peace deal to end Ukraine's war, demolition of several Palestinian homes by Israeli army in West Bank, and release of 6 living Israeli hostages by Hamas under Gaza deal.

TOP STORIES

• Trump says he is 'much more confident' in Ukraine peace deal after Russia talks

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is "much more confident" that a peace deal can be reached to end the war in Ukraine, following the conclusion of an initial round of talks between senior US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.

The president described the discussions, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, and other senior officials, as "very good," saying he believes the Kremlin "wants to stop the savage barbarianism" of the war.

"It's a senseless war. It should have never happened. It would have never happened if I were president. And it's a shame to see," he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate. "I think people are going to be surprised at how many people, not only soldiers, have been killed in Ukraine. A lot more people than you think."

The comments came after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia earlier in the day for the first high-level talks since Russia began its war on Ukraine in February 2022.

• Israeli army demolishes 7 Palestinian homes in West Bank amid military escalation

The Israeli army demolished seven Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday amid military escalation in the occupied territory.

Army forces, escorted by military bulldozers, raided the town of Kafr al-Dik, west of Salfit city, and razed a house for an alleged lack of a building permit, witnesses said.

Six more homes were brought down in the Masafer Yatta area near Hebron in the southern West Bank for lacking construction permits, local activist Fuad al-Amour.

The demolitions came amid Israeli raids in the northern West Bank that have killed more than 55 Palestinians and displaced thousands since Jan. 21.

According to official figures, the Israeli army demolished 126 Palestinian structures in the West Bank last month, including 74 inhabited homes and 29 agricultural facilities.

• Hamas to release 6 Israeli hostages on Saturday under Gaza deal

Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Tuesday that it will release six Israeli captives and the bodies of four hostages this week under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal with Israel.

“It has been agreed to release the remaining six living Israeli captives on Saturday under the first phase” of the Gaza deal, Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Al-Hayya said in a recorded speech.

He named Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu among the six hostages set for release on Saturday.

The Hamas leader said his group would also hand over the bodies of four Israeli captives on Thursday, including members of the Bibas family. “The (Israeli) enemy will release Palestinian prisoners in return under the agreement,” he added.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• A just and lasting peace on the war in Ukraine is possible, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte over a phone call on Tuesday, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said.

• Brazil’s prosecutor-general formally charged former President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday with attempting a coup to stay in office after his election defeat in 2022 that involved a plot to kill his successor and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday "strongly" condemned Israeli police's raid on schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said Türkiye will be an ideal host for possible upcoming meetings between Russia, Ukraine, and the US to end the three-year-long war between Moscow and Kyiv.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that his government was caught off guard by a Russia-US meeting in Saudi Arabia, also held Tuesday, as they learned of it only through the media.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that US representatives in Riyadh proposed a moratorium on attacks on the energy infrastructure of Russia and Ukraine.

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed a Tuesday three-step plan to resolve the Ukraine war during a news conference in Saudi Arabia.

• Talks between Russia and the US on improving ties as well as the Ukraine war—the first such talks in years—concluded after 4 1/2 hours, Russian state media reported Tuesday.

• The Israeli army withdrew from southern Lebanese towns early Tuesday, but its forces remained at five border points, Lebanese media said.

SPORTS

• Amnesty International urges French lawmakers to reject bill banning headscarves in sports

Amnesty International has urged French lawmakers to reject a bill that would ban headscarves and other religious symbols from sports competitions.

The bill, which proposes banning clothing and symbols displaying religious affiliation in all sports disciplines in France, will be debated in the French Senate this week.

Amnesty International highlighted that while the principle of secularism in the French Constitution theoretically protects everyone’s right to religious freedom, it has often been used to restrict Muslim women's access to public spaces.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Trump's reciprocal trade policy to raise uncertainties in tariffs: Fitch Ratings

The US inclusion of a broad variety of elements in its evaluation of whether trade ties with trading partners are fair and reciprocal will heighten uncertainty on the magnitude of tariffs, Fitch Ratings said in a report Tuesday.

According to the policy announced last week, the US will assess relations with trading partners, evaluating a range of factors, including reciprocal tariff rates as well as non-tariff barriers such as value-added taxes (VAT), subsidies and burdensome regulations, and exchange rates and wage pressure, according to the report.

US officials would submit alternatives to the president to maintain ties with each trading partner, and the evaluations might be finished by April 1, clearing the path for follow-up trade steps.

• Elon Musk's AI firm launches Grok 3 model, claims it outperforms rivals

Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence model, Grok 3, which the company says outperforms competitors like OpenAI and China’s DeepSeek in benchmarks for math, science, and coding.

During a live presentation with three xAI engineers on Monday, Musk said Grok 3 has over 10 times the computing power of its predecessor and completed pre-training in early January.

Grok 3, taking its name from a science fiction novel by the late Robert Heinlein, is the smartest AI on Earth, said Musk, who also serves as a top ally of US President Donald Trump.