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Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
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Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER

US President Joe Biden and European leaders meeting during his farewell visit to Germany on Friday were expected to renew calls for a Gaza ceasefire after Israel said it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
While still on Air Force One, Biden hailed the death of the man Israel blames for the October 7 attack as a "good day", saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, AFP reported.
Biden and the German, British and French leaders were also set to pledge their sustained military support for Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion.
Biden's flying 24-hour visit comes as Ukraine faces a third grueling winter at war, and a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his "victory plan" to the European Union and NATO in Brussels.
Biden arrived late Thursday for the Berlin visit, just weeks ahead of a US election in which allies are nervously eyeing a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
On Friday Biden is to hold talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump, who during his last term berated NATO allies, has also opposed the level of US military support for Ukraine and would be expected to soften US criticism of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Biden's meetings in Berlin were expected to address the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and its Hezbollah allies, including the risk of a wider escalation with Iran.
Biden said Thursday he would "congratulate" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also "discuss the pathway" for securing the release of hostages and "ending this war once and for all".
"There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he said.
Scholz, speaking in Brussels Thursday, said "there is a proposal from President Biden and others as to what such a ceasefire could look like and we fully support that".
'Stand with Ukraine'
Now in his last months in office, 81-year-old Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a four-day state visit that would have included a major Ukraine defense meeting with Zelensky.
After canceling that trip to coordinate the response to Hurricane Milton, Biden was at pains to make his valedictory Germany trip nonetheless, with a stripped-down program squeezed into a one-day visit.
Traditionally strong US-German relations soured during the Trump presidency, and Scholz told parliament Thursday that Biden had overseen "an incredible improvement in cooperation".
Biden was to start his visit with a meeting from 0800 GMT with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was to present him with Germany's highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
Steinmeier's office said this was to recognize Biden's "services to German-American friendship and the transatlantic alliance... in particular in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine".
Zelensky's plan includes a request for an immediate invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and the lifting of restrictions by Western allies on using long-range weapons.
A senior US administration official told AFP ahead of Biden's visit that there was "not consensus at this time" on a NATO invitation.
But the official pointed to a summit of the alliance in July where member states had "affirmed that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership".
Despite recent Russian battlefield gains, the US official said that "time is, in fact, on Ukraine's side" and vowed: "We will stand with Ukraine and give it what it needs to prevail."
Macron said at the end of EU summit talks in Brussels that France supported Zelensky's request that Ukraine be regularly invited to NATO summits.
As for the broader question of security guarantees wanted by Kyiv, Macron said: "This is what we will have to discuss" at Friday's talks.
The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said Biden was seeking "to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term".

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World

Netanyahu Vows to Eliminate Iran Threat ‘Once and for All’

10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)
10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)
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Netanyahu Vows to Eliminate Iran Threat ‘Once and for All’

10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)
10 November 2026, Israel, Jerusalem: Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on the sidelines of the opening session of the new Knesset. (dpa)

Israel's caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated his calls for a national unity government with his opponent Gadi Eisenkot, as well as his vow to eliminate the threat from Iran.

A meeting with Eisenkot on Thursday "only strengthened the conviction that it is essential to form a national unity government" to guarantee Israel's security, Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that such a government could "eliminate the Iranian threat once and for all".

World

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Escalates Criticism of SpaceX Over Speed Caps

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Escalates Criticism of SpaceX Over Speed Caps

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen November 10, 2026. (AFP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ‌escalated his criticism of SpaceX on Saturday, saying speed restrictions on its military-grade Starshield satellite terminals had dangerous political implications and undermined critical air defenses.

Zelenskiy said Starshield terminals operating in temporarily Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine had been limited to a maximum speed of 161 kph for the past five days, hampering Ukraine's military capabilities.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has raised the issue with SpaceX at the ‌institutional level, ‌Zelenskiy said.

"The restrictions have now ‌been ⁠in place for ⁠five days. They say it is some kind of technical issue. We do not believe that is the case," Zelenskiy told reporters in remarks released by his office on Saturday.

"If you impose restrictions there, you are already partially recognizing the temporarily ⁠occupied territories as not ours. And ‌that is why I ‌believe we have the right to raise this ‌issue and restore the speed – so that there ‌are no restrictions at all."

Zelenskiy said the speed restrictions made it more difficult for Ukrainian air defense units to intercept Russian jet-powered drones and made Ukrainian cities ‌more vulnerable. He said he had ordered his top military and foreign ministry ⁠officials ⁠to address the issue and seek clarification.

SpaceX has pushed back against the allegations, denying that it introduced new restrictions or made any changes to its satellite operations.

It is the second such outage in recent weeks. In mid-October, Ukrainian officials said that SpaceX limited the speed of Starlink and its Starshield communication systems to about 160 kph (100 mph) amid tensions with US President Donald Trump's administration over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. Service was then restored on October 24.

World

UN Official Urges Iran, US to Let Fertilizers Through Hormuz Strait

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)
Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Official Urges Iran, US to Let Fertilizers Through Hormuz Strait

Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)
Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), and coordinator of the UN Strait of Hormuz Task Force established by the UN Secretary-General, speaks during an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the 31st United Climate Change Conference (COP31), at the media center located on the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 14, 2026. (AFP)

Iran and the United States should "immediately" allow fertilizer shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to ease the crisis in some of the most vulnerable countries, a senior UN official said Saturday.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, told the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya that the lack of fertilizers could push millions into poverty.

The Iranian blockade of the vital waterway, which started after the joint US-Israeli attack against Iran in late February, has choked shipping in the region and beyond. The US blockade of Iranian ports has further complicated matters.

While Iran and the United States are still trying to negotiate an end to the conflict, Moreira da Silva said he had the same message for both countries.

"They should continue their negotiations about the comprehensive deal -- but that deal should not avoid an immediate, exceptional, limited, and time-bound solution for the fertilizers," he said.

"Basically, what we need is five vessels a day with fertilizers," he added.

- Millions at risk -

Moreira da Silva heads up the UN task force dedicated to facilitating the safe passage of fertilizers during the crisis.

Before the conflict, a third of the world's fertilizers passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and since the blockades, their prices had risen by 30 percent, he said.

"But what I think is not sufficiently recognized is the disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable countries," he added.

Sudan's finance minister recently told him that the price of food there had doubled in six months, he added. In Nepal, they had told him that farmers could no longer afford to buy fertilizers.

"So, it's very important that we are aware that countries such as Mozambique, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are facing very significant impact."

The effects of this shortage could be catastrophic, he warned.

"If we continue missing the planting seasons in different parts of the world we may have 45 million people facing severe and acute food insecurity," he said.

"We may have 30 million people being forced into poverty."

The UN had a system ready to get fertilizer shipments moving within seven to 10 days, he said.