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Venezuelan Nobel Winner Machado Holds Call with Netanyahu

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Venezuelan Nobel Winner Machado Holds Call with Netanyahu

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures as she votes during the presidential election, in Caracas on July 28, 2024. (AFP)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, in a call on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hailed the fight against "totalitarian forces," in what Israel presented as an endorsement of its Gaza offensive.

Writing on X, Netanyahu's office said Machado told the Israeli leader she "greatly appreciates his decisions and resolute actions in the course of the war" and also praised the "agreement for the release of the hostages in Gaza."

But in a separate post on X, opposition leader Machado, who won the Nobel for leading resistance to authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, avoided all mention of Israel and Gaza.

In a carefully worded statement, she said Venezuelans knew that achieving peace "requires immense courage, strength, and moral clarity to stand against the totalitarian forces that oppose us."

"Just as we fight for freedom and democracy in Venezuela, all nations in the Middle East deserve a future built on dignity, justice, and hope -- not fear," she added.

She did however directly call out "the Iranian regime," as "a key supporter of the Maduro regime" which also "backs terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis."

Colombia's left-wing president Gustavo Petro, a fierce critic of Netanyahu, last week questioned the awarding of the Nobel to Machado, over her past outreach to the Israeli leader in seeking support for her campaign to oust Maduro.

Venezuela does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

Maduro's firebrand socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez broke off relations in 2009 in protest over the 2008 Gaza war.

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World

Kremlin Says Putin and Trump Agreed During Weekend Call to Talk Again in ‘Near Future’

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Dmity Milyaev, Governor of Tula region of Russia at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 6, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Dmity Milyaev, Governor of Tula region of Russia at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 6, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Kremlin Says Putin and Trump Agreed During Weekend Call to Talk Again in ‘Near Future’

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Dmity Milyaev, Governor of Tula region of Russia at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 6, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Dmity Milyaev, Governor of Tula region of Russia at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 6, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump had agreed in a weekend call that they would talk again "in the near future," suggesting they are likely to talk this week during or after the NATO summit.

Trump is planning to meet Ukrainian President ‌Volodymyr Zelenskiy on ‌Wednesday in Türkiye where ‌he ⁠will be attending ⁠the NATO summit, a senior US official said on Sunday. The idea, the official said, was to make a renewed push to end the war in Ukraine.

The same official said Trump would likely ⁠follow up with Putin after talking ‌to Zelenskiy. ‌

Asked on Monday if Trump would phone Putin after ‌meeting Zelenskiy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ‌told reporters: "Yes, indeed, both President Putin and President Trump have agreed that their contacts will continue in the near future."

Peskov said Trump ‌had held a pretty consistent position on the conflict in Ukraine.

"You ⁠know, ⁠President Trump, the US president, has a fairly consistent stance, and all these fabrications about him supposedly changing his views like a weather vane are, of course, untrue," said Peskov.

"He is consistent and confident in his understanding of what is happening, but, most importantly, he (Trump) is open to listening to the information that is conveyed to him by Putin."

World

Netanyahu Urges US Not to Sell F-35 Fighter Jets to Türkiye

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Urges US Not to Sell F-35 Fighter Jets to Türkiye

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged the United States not to sell its F-35 fighter jets or components to Türkiye, arguing it would "upset the power balance" in the region.

US President Donald Trump travels later Monday to Ankara for a NATO summit, and his visit could be seen by the Turks as an opportunity to secure acquisition of dozens of jet engines and potential readmission to the F-35 fighter jet program.

The Israeli prime minister however warned that it would be a mistake for Washington to reward Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Netanyahu said "calls openly for the annihilation of Israel," with advanced military technology.

"I don't think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets, because that'll upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America's posture in the Middle East," Netanyahu told Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends."

Last month, Trump promised to make Erdogan "very happy" when asked about Türkiye looking to secure F110 jet engines and regaining access to the F-35 program.

Analysts say Türkiye wants to secure the new engines for use in its flagship KAAN stealth fighter project, as Ankara seeks to join the exclusive club of nations producing fifth-generation combat aircraft, notably the United States, China and Russia.

In 2017 however, Türkiye acquired a Russian S-400 missile defense system, a move that infuriated Washington, which expelled Türkiye from the F-35 program in 2019.

Netanyahu also reiterated that he remains a close ally to Trump, despite hiccups in their relationship in recent weeks over the Iran war.

"We are the best of allies," the Israeli leader said. "My relationship with the president is fine."

World

French Government Survives No-Confidence Vote Over Heatwave Handling

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu speaks during a parliamentary session on a motion of censure against the government presented by Les Ecologistes (The Ecologists party) at the National Assembly in Paris, France, 06 July 2026. (EPA)
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu speaks during a parliamentary session on a motion of censure against the government presented by Les Ecologistes (The Ecologists party) at the National Assembly in Paris, France, 06 July 2026. (EPA)
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French Government Survives No-Confidence Vote Over Heatwave Handling

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu speaks during a parliamentary session on a motion of censure against the government presented by Les Ecologistes (The Ecologists party) at the National Assembly in Paris, France, 06 July 2026. (EPA)
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu speaks during a parliamentary session on a motion of censure against the government presented by Les Ecologistes (The Ecologists party) at the National Assembly in Paris, France, 06 July 2026. (EPA)

The French government survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament on Monday over its handling of a severe heatwave in late June.

Backers of the motion said the government failed to do enough to blunt the effects of last month's ‌heatwave in a country ‌where 2,025 excess deaths ‌have ⁠been recorded so ⁠far. French health authorities warned the number would likely rise.

The motion, filed by France's Green Party, which needed 289 votes to pass, was backed by only 132 members of ⁠parliament.

"No one is fooled. This ‌motion will ‌not protect an isolated elderly person. It will ‌not cool down a hospital room. It ‌will not modernize a water supply network. On the contrary, it will add a political crisis to climate, healthcare and international ‌crises that the government already must deal with," French Prime Minister ⁠Sebastien ⁠Lecornu told lawmakers ahead of the vote.

The vote took place as firefighters battled a wildfire in southwestern France that has forced the evacuation of 10,000 people.

Early summer heatwaves in France and across western Europe have made the scorched land particularly vulnerable to wildfires this year, and temperatures are set to rise again.