عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Trump to Host Netanyahu at the White House on July 7, US Official Says

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Trump to Host Netanyahu at the White House on July 7, US Official Says

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump plans to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on July 7, a US official said, as the US president pressed for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and the return of remaining hostages.

Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is in Washington this week to meet with officials at the White House, Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.

An Israeli official in Washington also confirmed the meeting next Monday. The two leaders are expected to discuss Iran, Gaza, Syria and other regional challenges, the official added.

The visit was first reported by Axios.

Israel ramped up its attacks on northern Gaza on Monday, a day after Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, posting on social media: "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back."

Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people across Gaza on Monday in some of the heaviest attacks in weeks.

Leavitt told reporters the Trump administration was in constant communication with the Israeli government, saying Trump viewed ending the war in Gaza and returning remaining hostages held by the Palestinian group Hamas as a top priority.

She said it was heartbreaking to see images coming from both Gaza and Israel, but Trump's main priority was securing the release of the remaining hostages.

The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel's single deadliest day.

Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

UK Police Arrest Pro-Palestinian Protesters as Authorities Toughen Hate Speech Law Enforcement

Police officers carry a protester during a protest to support Palestine Action in London, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)
Police officers carry a protester during a protest to support Palestine Action in London, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)
TT
TT

UK Police Arrest Pro-Palestinian Protesters as Authorities Toughen Hate Speech Law Enforcement

Police officers carry a protester during a protest to support Palestine Action in London, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)
Police officers carry a protester during a protest to support Palestine Action in London, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)

Police in London arrested two people who called for “intifada” during a pro-Palestinian protest, which followed a decision by authorities to toughen enforcement of hate speech laws after a deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.

The arrests Wednesday came hours after police in London and Manchester, England, announced a crackdown on protesters using slogans such as “globalize the intifada.” The Arabic word intifada is generally translated as “uprising.”

While pro-Palestinian demonstrators say the slogan describes the worldwide protests against the war in Gaza, Jewish leaders say it inflames tensions and encourages attacks on Jews, including the attack that killed 15 people on Sunday at Bondi Beach in Sydney, The Associated Press said.

London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said they decided to take a tougher stance after Bondi Beach and an Oct. 2 attack on a Manchester synagogue that left two people dead.

“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as `globalize the intifada,’ and those using it at future protest or in a targeted way should expect the Met and GMP to take action,” they said in a joint statement released Wednesday. “Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence.”

In the hours before Wednesday night’s demonstration in support of Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group that was banned as a terrorist organization earlier this year, London police warned protesters to be aware of the earlier announcement.

Two protesters were arrested for “racially aggravated public order offenses” after they shouted slogans calling for intifada during the protest outside the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday night, the Metropolitan Police Service said on social media. A third person was arrested for trying to interfere with the initial arrests.

The term “intifada” is used to describe two major Palestinian uprisings against Israeli policy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the first beginning in 1987 and the second beginning in 2000. During the recent conflict in Gaza, the slogan “globalize the intifada” has been widely used by pro-Palestinian protesters around the world.

The debate over such language comes after antisemitic hate crime and online abuse soared in Britain following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Israeli military campaign in Gaza that followed.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel. More than 70,660 Palestinians have been killed during the ensuing Israeli campaign in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.

World

Russia Says It Hopes Trump Does Not Make 'a Fatal Mistake' on Venezuela

Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro wave a Venezuelan flag during a rally demanding peace in Caracas on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro wave a Venezuelan flag during a rally demanding peace in Caracas on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
TT
TT

Russia Says It Hopes Trump Does Not Make 'a Fatal Mistake' on Venezuela

Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro wave a Venezuelan flag during a rally demanding peace in Caracas on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro wave a Venezuelan flag during a rally demanding peace in Caracas on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)

Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that it hoped that US President Donald Trump's administration did not make a fatal mistake over Venezuela and said that Moscow was concerned about US decisions that threatened international navigation.

Trump on Tuesday ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela as Washington tried to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's government.

There has been an effective embargo in place after the US seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.

"We hope that the D. Trump administration, which is characterized by a rational and pragmatic approach, will not make a fatal mistake," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that Venezuela was a friendly country to Russia, and that Moscow hoped the US would not wade into a situation that would have "unpredictable consequences for the entire Western Hemisphere".

Russia quoted Simon Bolivar, a brilliant Venezuelan military tactician who liberated much of South America from centuries of Spanish rule, as saying that every nation had the right to choose its own rulers and that other countries should respect this.

Russia, the ministry said, wanted a normalization of dialogue between Washington and Caracas, and reaffirmed Russia's "solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of the trials they are going through."

Russia supports "the Maduro government's course aimed at protecting the national interests and sovereignty of the Motherland."

World

Cambodia Says Thailand Bombs Casino Hub on Border

Cambodia said Thailand's military on Thursday bombed the casino hub Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes. TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP/File
Cambodia said Thailand's military on Thursday bombed the casino hub Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes. TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP/File
TT
TT

Cambodia Says Thailand Bombs Casino Hub on Border

Cambodia said Thailand's military on Thursday bombed the casino hub Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes. TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP/File
Cambodia said Thailand's military on Thursday bombed the casino hub Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes. TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP/File

Cambodia said Thailand's military on Thursday bombed the casino town of Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes.

Thai forces "dropped two bombs in the area of Poipet Municipality, Banteay Meanchey Province" at around 11:00 am (0400 GMT) Thursday, the Cambodian defense ministry said in a statement.

Thailand has not yet confirmed any strike on Poipet -- a bustling casino hub popular with Thai gamblers.

The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing around 800,000, officials said.

The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians.

Thailand said Tuesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Thai nationals remained stranded in Poipet after Cambodia closed its land border crossings with its neighbor.

Cambodia's interior ministry said the border closures were a "necessary measure" to reduce risks to civilians amid the ongoing combat, adding that air travel remained an option for those seeking to leave.

At least four casinos in Cambodia have been damaged by Thai strikes, the interior ministry said this week.

'Shuttle-diplomacy'

Five days of fighting between Cambodia and Thailand in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and Malaysia, and then broken within months.

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly intervened in the long-standing conflict this year, claimed last week that the two countries had agreed to a new ceasefire.

But Bangkok denied any truce had been agreed, and fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets has continued daily since a border skirmish earlier this month sparked the latest round of conflict.

China said it was sending its special envoy for Asian affairs to Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday for a "shuttle-diplomacy trip" to help bridge the gaps and "rebuild peace".

"Through its own way, China has been working actively for deescalation," Beijing's foreign ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.

Foreign ministers from ASEAN regional bloc nations are due to meet on Monday in Malaysia for emergency talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.

"Our duty is to present the facts but more important is to press upon them that it is imperative for them to secure peace," Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told journalists late Wednesday.

"We are appealing to them to immediately stop this frontline offensive and if possible, an immediate ceasefire," Anwar said at his official residence in Putrajaya, adding that he was "cautiously optimistic" about the talks.

European Commission vice-president Kaja Kallas said in a statement that she had spoken with the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand on Wednesday, offering the European Union's support for ceasefire monitoring with satellite imagery.

"The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia must not be allowed to spiral further. That's why the ceasefire needs to be immediately restored," Kallas said.