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Trump Says He Told Netanyahu to End Gaza War But Criticizes Ceasefire Call

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, US, August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, US, August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo
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Trump Says He Told Netanyahu to End Gaza War But Criticizes Ceasefire Call

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, US, August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, US, August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their last meeting in July to quickly end Israel's war in Gaza, but the former president also criticized ceasefire demands.
"He knows what he's doing, I did encourage him to get this over with," Trump told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. "It has to get over with fast. ... Get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop."
Trump was referring to his meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in late July, when Netanyahu visited the United States. He also met President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during his trip, said Reuters.
There has been an increased risk of a broader war in the Middle East after the recent killings of Palestinian group Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Both drew threats of retaliation against Israel.
In an event later on Thursday about tackling antisemitism, Trump criticized Biden and Harris' months-long calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel's hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire," Trump said, adding it "would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack."
Trump added: "I will give Israel the support that it needs to win but I do want them to win fast."
In the same event, Trump also labelled pro-Palestinian supporters calling for an end to US support for Israel's war as "pro-Hamas thugs". He threatened to arrest and deport them from the US if he became president.
Netanyahu's office and Trump both separately denied on Thursday an Axios report that said they had spoken the previous day about Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks.
Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have run into repeated obstacles.
The Axios report cited two US sources. One source said the reported call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal, but stressed he did not know if this is indeed what the former president told Netanyahu.
Egypt, the United States and Qatar have scheduled a new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations this week.
Washington, Israel's most important ally, has said that a ceasefire in Gaza will reduce the rising threat of a wider war.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

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Former Commander of Troops in Syria Named to Head Russian Aerospace Troops

Russian military convoy near Hmeimim air base, Latakia, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Russian military convoy near Hmeimim air base, Latakia, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Former Commander of Troops in Syria Named to Head Russian Aerospace Troops

Russian military convoy near Hmeimim air base, Latakia, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Russian military convoy near Hmeimim air base, Latakia, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)

‌A former commander of Russian troops in Syria was named to head the country's aerospace forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

A ministry statement said ‌Lieutenant-General Alexander Chaiko ‌had been appointed ‌to ⁠the position last ⁠month by virtue of a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin.

He had previously served ⁠as deputy head ‌of ‌the chief of staff of ‌the armed forces.

The ‌ministry said Chaiko had headed for nearly a year the group of ‌Russian forces in Syria deployed from ⁠2015 ⁠at the behest of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was granted asylum in Russia after being ousted from power.

Chaiko had also headed Russian forces in the country's eastern district.

World

Bill Gates Tells Lawmakers Meeting Epstein Was a ‘Grave Error in Judgment’ in Closed-Door Hearing

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, arrives on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Washington, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP)
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, arrives on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Washington, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP)
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Bill Gates Tells Lawmakers Meeting Epstein Was a ‘Grave Error in Judgment’ in Closed-Door Hearing

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, arrives on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Washington, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP)
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, arrives on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Washington, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP)

Bill Gates said Wednesday that he made a “grave error in judgment" by ever meeting with Jeffrey Epstein as the Microsoft co-founder faced questions behind closed doors from lawmakers about his relationship with the disgraced financier.

In an opening statement provided to The Associated Press, Gates said he “should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” but that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.”

The tech billionaire became the latest powerful figure linked to Epstein to testify before the House Oversight Committee. As Gates arrived at the Capitol, he noted that he was there voluntarily and said he hoped his testimony would be useful.

“I hope my testimony is helpful to the work, the important work, of the committee, to find justice for the victims,” he said.

The committee chairman, Republican US Rep. James Comer, formally requested that Gates testify after he appeared multiple times in a trove of documents released by the Justice Department as part of its Epstein probe. Before the interview on Wednesday, Comer told reporters that “no one’s accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing.”

“This is about the survivors" of Epstein and his confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. "This is about trying to figure out how the government failed,” Comer said.

Gates said he was introduced to Epstein through people involved in his professional and philanthropic work and was drawn in by Epstein’s claims that he could help raise billions of dollars for global health initiatives. Gates says he ended the relationship in 2014 after concluding Epstein could not deliver on those promises.

Gates added that he never went to Epstein's island or his other infamous properties.

“I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” Gates said.

The remarks come as lawmakers review documents detailing Gates’ interactions with Epstein. Included in the files are calendar entries for meetings between Gates and Epstein, email correspondence between the two about philanthropic projects and photos of Gates at events that Epstein also attended.

Their relationship began in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor, and continued until at least late 2014, according to the documents.

Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. He has said the two met only to discuss philanthropy and previously described the relationship as “a huge mistake.”

Both Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have said his association with Epstein created tension in their marriage.

The foundation acknowledged in February that a small number of employees had met with Epstein based on his “claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health.” They never created a charitable fund together, and the foundation made no payments to Epstein.

Epstein was federally indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The Justice Department alleged that Epstein formed a vast network of girls, some as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse between 2002 and 2005. He died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

The files released by the Justice Department read like a who’s who of powerful men across tech, finance, politics and other industries. All have denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes, but some maintained or formed friendships with him even after his history of sexual abuse came to light.

At another closed-door deposition in February, former President Bill Clinton faced more than six hours of questioning from lawmakers about his association with Epstein more than two decades ago. Epstein visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency, and Clinton flew occasionally on Epstein's private jet.

The former Democratic president said he saw no signs of Epstein’s sexual abuse and stopped associating with him long before Epstein's 2008 guilty plea. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

World

UN Chief Warns of Risk of Return to ‘Full War’ in Middle East

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East, at UN Headquarters in New York, on June 10, 2026. (AFP)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East, at UN Headquarters in New York, on June 10, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Chief Warns of Risk of Return to ‘Full War’ in Middle East

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East, at UN Headquarters in New York, on June 10, 2026. (AFP)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East, at UN Headquarters in New York, on June 10, 2026. (AFP)

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday of the risk of return to "full war" in the Middle East after Iran and the United States traded strikes.

His intervention came after Iran and the United States once again traded fire following the downing of an American helicopter, further straining a ceasefire that took effect in April but has been marked by sporadic flare-ups of violence.

"We should not minimize the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire, or in another word -- full war," Secretary-General Guterres said at a meeting of the UN Security Council devoted to the situation in the Middle East.

The UN rights chief echoed Guterres, saying he was "horrified by the fact that we see escalation upon escalation."

"We have, I mean, we're always very relieved when ceasefires are announced, but ceasefires need to be respected in full. International law needs to be respected in full," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in Geneva.

The war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, threw the region into chaos and rattled global markets before the shaky truce began.

Iran said it attacked Jordan and Bahrain on Wednesday after US forces carried out strikes on the country in retaliation for the downing of a helicopter.