US president says he may warn Russian counterpart ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’. What we know on day 1,328
Donald Trump has threatened to send longe-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin does not end his invasion. “I might talk to him [Putin]. I might say, ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East. The US president said Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawks in a call on Saturday when they were discussing a fresh supply of weapons for Kyiv. “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” added Trump. “Do they [Russian forces] want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies ever since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal. Putin has previ..

US president says Middle East will ‘normalize’ before he boarded flight to Israel for world leaders’ peace summit
The war in Gaza has ended and the Middle East is going to “normalize”, Donald Trump said on Sunday as he flew to Israel, which was waiting for Hamas to release Israeli hostages as world leaders were gathering to discuss the next steps toward peace.
“The war is over, you understand that,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he began a flight from Washington DC to Israel.
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Tariffs have caused a Chinese exit from the soybean market – and midwestern farmers are waiting on a solution
At the Purfeerst farm in southern Minnesota, the soybean harvest just wrapped up for the season. The silver grain bins are full of about 100,000 bushels of soybeans, which grab about $10 a piece.
This year, though, the fate of the soybeans, and the people whose livelihoods depend on selling them, is up in the air: America’s soybean farmers are stuck in the middle of a trade war between the US and China, the biggest purchaser of soybean exports, used to feed China’s pigs.
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Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday night that Israel and Hamas had agreed the first phase of a new ceasefire deal in Gaza. We’ve been here before, but is it different this time? Has Trump proved the doubters wrong?
Jonathan Freedland speaks to Julian Borger about the prospect for peace in the Middle East and the US president’s role in getting to this point
Archive: PBS Newshour
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Sidelines chat at UN was turning point for US president, but others also have right to claim role in end of two-year war
It is a well-known adage in politics that success has many parents, but failure is an orphan. Except when Donald Trump is involved, in which case there is only one parent.
Nevertheless, many countries and individuals have a right to step forward to claim an authorial role in the deal that it is hoped will bring an end to the two-year war in Gaza.
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After 733 days, news of agreement greeted with celebration in Tel Aviv and stickers saying: ‘They’re coming home’
Gaza ceasefire plan – live updates
For 733 days, Israelis have come to “hostages square” in Tel Aviv with a yellow piece of tape on their shirts bearing the number of days since 251 hostages had been taken captive by Hamas-led militants. On Thursday, the yellow stickers remained but the tally was gone. In its place was a simple phrase: “They’re coming home.”
For two years, protesters had occupied the square, which faces the Israeli military headquarters, with an encampment and held rallies demanding the hostages be returned from Gaza. The area was filled with art installations, pictures of the hostages and an electronic screen counting the days and seconds that hostages had been in captivity.
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An initially improbable peace plan put forward by US president Donald Trump was on Thursday agreed to in its ‘initial phase’ by Israel and Hamas
Rounds of celebratory gunfire rang into the night sky and people cried tears of joy and disbelief on Thursday as news of a peace deal reached those in devastated Gaza – and in Israel, where relatives have anxiously awaited the release of hostages detained since the war broke out two years ago.
“It’s a huge day, huge joy,” exclaimed Ahmed Sheheiber, a displaced Palestinian, crying over the phone from his shelter in Gaza City as he learned of the deal.
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The plan attempts to thread the needle between creating the conditions for a ceasefire and negotiating a lasting end to the war but hard questions remain
Follow the latest updates live
For Donald Trump, a peace deal – or even a durable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas – could be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.
The details and sequencing of a deal to end Israel’s war in Gaza remain murky but the statement of purpose by both Israel and Hamas is meaningful. In agreeing to a deal with political backing from Arab states and other regional powers, this is the best chance for an end to the war since a ceasefire broke down in March, returning Gaza to a grinding war that has left nearly 68,000 people dead, most of them civilians.
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Russian lawmaker says of US missiles: ‘We will hurt those who cause us trouble’; Ukrainian counteroffensive causing heavy losses for Russia. What we know on day 1,324
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During a White House roundtable, secretary of state Marco Rubio handed Donald Trump a handwritten note with the words ‘very close’ underlined. ‘I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they’re going to need me pretty quickly,’ said the US president
Trump says Gaza peace deal ‘very close’ and he may travel to Middle East in days
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Fueled by dissent over the war in Gaza, the US public’s views are changing – and support for the Palestinians is rising
They seemed to be the ties that would for ever bind.
For three-quarters of a century, unshakable support for Israel – in the form of military aid and diplomatic backing, and underpinned by broad public sentiment – has been an indelible feature of the US political landscape.
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Trump administration reported to be planning expansion of ‘global gag rule’ to halt any initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion
The Trump administration plans to export its “war on woke” by forcing foreign governments, non-governmental organisations and international bodies to abandon working on diversity, equity and inclusion or face being stripped of US funding.
The plans have been called an attack on other nations’ sovereignty and one health organisation warned of “unimaginable effects” including a rise in deaths and violence, as safe clinics for vulnerable groups close.
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Israelis gather to commemorate the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack in which 1,200 people were killed. This live blog is closed
Deborah Cole is Berlin correspondent for the Guardian
Germany marked the two-year anniversary of the 7 October attacks with sombre commemorations across the country and official flags pulled to half mast.
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In two years there have been many versions of a ‘day after’ plan for Gaza and many obstacles to overcome
George Mitchell, the great US advocate for the Northern Ireland peace agreement, described diplomacy as 700 days of failure and one of success. In Gaza, tragically, there have been 730 days of failure and none of success. Indeed, the destruction, the death toll and the spillover of the conflict into other countries is a monument to shame diplomacy and what remains of international law. Arguably, it is the profession’s lowest point since 1939.
Some will claim failure is inevitable since this conflict is now so embedded and impervious to compromise that it can only be settled at the barrel of the gun, in essence through the repression or erasure of one side.
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Allies of President Nicolás Maduro vow to resist any military intervention but experts suspect Venezuela’s leaders were rattled by Trump’s decision to bomb Iran
The mayor of Caracas had come to one of her city’s busiest tube stations wearing a camouflage T-shirt declaring herself a card-carrying combatant – and with a message to match.
“They think they’re the owners of the world,” Carmen Meléndez complained of the Trump administration and its pressure campaign against Venezuela’s government. “But if they dare [to invade] we’ll be waiting for them here.”
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Negotiators have gathered in Egypt to discuss the US president’s 20-point plan. Is an end to the war finally in sight?
On the face of it, Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan looked far from promising. It was created with a notable lack of Palestinian input, at a time when Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was mounting a ferocious attack on Gaza City. And there was criticism that the plan lacked detail.
Yet now negotiators are gathering in Cairo and there is real momentum behind the talks. The Guardian diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, tells Nosheen Iqbal: “There’s a big prize there for Israel because they could get the release of all the remaining hostages. It’s whether they’re willing to pay the price that will be asked for that to happen.”
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This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest reports here:
Gaza flotilla members allege beatings and insults in Israeli detention
Israel and Hamas begin indirect talks as hopes rise of ending Gaza war
Iran signalled its support for Trump’s Gaza plan, with the country’s foreign ministry saying it supports any initiative that brings an end to the genocide of Palestinian people.
Iran’s foreign ministry wrote in a post on X:
Taking into account the dangerous dimensions and aspects of this proposal, and while reiterating its warning about the repeated breaches and obstructionism by the Zionist regime in fulfilling its promises, especially in light of its expansionist and racist plans, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers any decision in this regard to be within the authority of the Palestinian people and resistance.
It welcomes any decision by them that guarantees halting the genocide of Palestinians, the withdrawal of the occupying Zionist army from Gaza, respect for the Palesti..

Hamas’s acceptance of key conditions of deal galvanises momentum but large gaps remain between camps
Israel and Hamas have begun indirect talks in Egypt on a US ceasefire proposal amid cautious optimism that the nearly two-year war in Gaza may be nearing its end, despite deep divisions between the two sides.
Negotiations will focus on the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The three issues constitute the first phase of a 20-point plan presented by the US president, Donald Trump, last week that aims to end the war.
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Presidents spoke on a video call as expert speculates that Haiti could be an area where the two leaders can cooperate
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has urged Donald Trump to scrap tariffs on his country’s imports and sanctions against its officials, as the two men held what the Brazilian presidency called a “friendly” video call, swapping phone numbers after months of friction.
Ties between the US and Brazil have nosedived as a result of Trump’s campaign to pressure Brazilian authorities into abandoning the coup trial of his far-right ally, Jair Bolsonaro.
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US state department spokesperson says officials unable to shop ‘while Iranian people endure poverty’
Iranian officials at the UN summit this week won’t be able to shop in New York after the US government barred them from purchasing everything from bulk household goods to expensive watches.
The restrictions on the visiting Iranians were described by a state department spokesman as “maximum pressure”.
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Having exhausted a failed policy of appeasement, the US president may at last be ready to put pressure on Moscow
The judgment of a man who fails to distinguish between aggressor and victim when describing the Russia-Ukraine war is not worthy of respect. Unfortunately, when that man is the US president, his opinion cannot be ignored.
Earlier this year, Donald Trump asserted that Vladimir Putin had “all the cards” and urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make peace in terms that resembled surrender. This week, Mr Trump declared that Kyiv might achieve total victory, liberating all territory currently under Russian occupation.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
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Ukrainian president tells world leaders that combination of drone technology and AI would end in catastrophe
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to global leaders to intervene to prevent Russia from leading the world through “the most destructive arms race in human history”, warning that the combination of drone technology and artificial intelligence would end in catastrophe.
Speaking to the UN general assembly, the Ukrainian president tried to galvanise not just the west but also China. His chilling account of how Russia is using technology to change the face of war was the opposite of Donald Trump’s claim that Russia’s military may only be a paper tiger.
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US president claims Russia is in ‘big economic trouble’ as he calls for Nato countries to stop imports of Russian oil
Donald Trump has said he believes Ukraine can regain all the land that it has lost since the 2022 Russian invasion in one of the strongest statements of support he has given Kyiv.
The US president delivered his upbeat assessment by claiming Russia was in big economic trouble in a post on Truth Social after meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in New York.
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US president’s speech made a mockery of UN values and highlights the need for strong anti-Trumpian alliances
Such is the gravitational pull cast by Donald Trump and the US economy that the politics of the other 192 countries that make up the United Nations are rapidly being reduced to one long discussion about how to relate to and challenge this ever darker and weirder presidency.
Before Trump’s extraordinary 58-minute speech on the supposed threats posed by open borders, sharia law, the UN’s failings and the “climate hoax”, the supporters of the UN’s values already knew they faced a challenge. Now they realise the degree to which the world’s superpower seems bent on the destruction of everything they believe.
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While the Trump administration claims no one will die over the axing of its overseas development budgets, aid agencies say the action will cost at least 3 million lives. Fatima and her baby were among the first
When she woke on that Sunday morning, Fatima was part of a family preparing to celebrate – she was due to give birth to her third child any day and her brother was on his way home from Saudi Arabia to get married.
But by mid-afternoon, the family were instead preparing for a funeral – both Fatima and her baby were dead.
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The Australian prime minister appears to have failed to secure a bilateral with the US president on his visit to the UN general assembly in New York
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Anthony Albanese has been left off Donald Trump’s official meeting schedule this week at the UN general assembly in New York.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday (Australian time) the US president would hold bilateral meetings with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Union boss, Ursula von der Leyen.
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Exclusive: Documents show how fraught the effort was to line up a one-on-one between the Australian and US leaders in June, with the PM again hoping to meet Trump next week
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Anthony Albanese is anticipating his first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump next week.
If it goes ahead, it will be the culmination of a long and complicated process of diplomatic scheduling, according to documents obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information.
Their meeting was locked in just days before;
Officials’ uncertainty over the status of the meeting;
The response among Australian officials when the US president cancelled meetings with Albanese and other world leaders.
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Ukrainian president will urge his US counterpart to impose more sanctions on Russia when they meet next week
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will urge Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russia when they meet next week at the United Nations in New York, and has called on Ukraine’s allies to “stop wasting time”.
Zelenskyy said he expected further sanctions to be imposed if Vladimir Putin refuses to meet him for face-to-face talks or to agree to a ceasefire. “If the war continues and there are no moves towards peace we expect sanctions,” he said.
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Move deals potentially major blow to US tech industry, which relies heavily on workers from India and China
Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Friday that would impose an annual $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, dealing a potentially major blow to the US tech industry, which relies heavily on workers from India and China.
The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said at a Friday press briefing that “all the big companies” had been briefed on the new fee.
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Fossil fuels made the nation prosperous but as reserves dwindle, do they drill deeper, even as the Caribbean feels the heat of the climate crisis, or shift to a greener economy?

In 1930, Trinidad and Tobago produced more than 40% of the British empire’s oil. By the 1970s, the newly independent republic was producing 278,000 barrels of crude oil a day. For a country of just 1 million people, after the collapse of its sugar and cocoa industries, oil proved to be transformative.
Today, with a population of 1.5 million and oil production down to less than 54,000 barrels a day, Trinidad and Tobago is at a crossroads. The country’s only petroleum refinery closed in 2018 due to mismanagement and declining production by the state-owned Petrotrin company. A recent analysis noted that the energy revenues plummeted 48.4% to $14.7bn (£10.9bn) in the last fiscal year, while non-energy revenues grew by 26% to $32.7bn.
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PM cannot afford for US president to walk away from Ukraine crisis and must persuade him to publicly support specific Gaza plans
With bear traps avoided and fireworks unlit, Keir Starmer will be delighted that his press conference with Donald Trump lent credence to his claim to be America’s first partner in defence, trade and now technology.
Trump, for his part, got the “great pictures” he wanted and was on his best low-wattage behaviour. He said he did not disagree with his host about much, save Starmer’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state. And he teetered on the edge of being diplomatic, at least until he advised Starmer to use the military to stop small boats crossing the Channel.
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US president suggests he is negotiating with Taliban for American forces to once again occupy base
The United States is seeking to retake control of Bagram airbase from the Taliban, Donald Trump has said, bringing back a key strategic asset that was surrendered during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The US president suggested he was negotiating with the Taliban for American forces to once again occupy the base, formerly the largest US military site in the country, and an important regional foothold because of its proximity to China.
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Core budget to fall to $3.2bn next year and initial minimum 3,000 job cuts expected amid streamlining process
The UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.
The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started cutting his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget.
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Donald Trump hailed the ‘eternal’ bond between the United States and Britain in a Windsor Castle state banquet toast, praising British heritage and shared values as King Charles hosted him during his historic second state visit. Charles touched on security in Europe, environmental concerns and the continuation of the ‘special relationship’ between the two countries
Starmer banks on £150bn investment to placate critics of Trump state visit
Superfans descend on Windsor to enliven Trump’s festival of nothing
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Prime minister seeks to make best of difficult state visit by US president with package of commitments by US firms
Keir Starmer has sought to navigate a politically treacherous state visit by Donald Trump with an announcement of £150bn of US investment in the UK, as the president was kept safely within the confines of Windsor Castle.
As thousands of protesters voiced their anger in London at a Stop Trump Coalition protest, the US president was escorted by the king and queen through a first day that ended in a state banquet but kept him out of reach of his critics.
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With most late-night hosts on Emmys break, Meyers discusses Trump’s feckless foreign policy as Russia impedes on Poland’s airspace
As several late-night hosts take a break for the Emmys – which went to the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Sunday night – Seth Meyers looked into Donald Trump’s lack of international leadership.
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Alexandre Padilha’s father fled dictatorship for the US – now the health chief’s family is a target of Trump’s bully tactics
When Alexandre Padilha’s father most needed help, the United States took him in.
It was 1971, the height of Brazil’s brutal two-decade dictatorship, and Anivaldo Padilha, a young Methodist activist, had been forced to flee his homeland after spending 11 months in one of São Paulo’s most notorious torture centres.
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Keir Starmer will have to choose how to spend limited political capital, with most pressing issues ones UK and US do not agree on
Donald Trump has repeatedly described Keir Starmer as a “good man”, distancing himself from the attacks on the UK prime minister mounted by other figures on the US far right such as Elon Musk.
One of the many known unknowns, however, of a Trump state visit is what kind of Trump will show up when a microphone is placed in front of him.
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US president contradicts reports Putin meeting Zelenskyy was a precondition of a US-Russia summit
Donald Trump has said he was ready to meet Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader’s refusal to meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dispelling speculation that direct talks between the two warring presidents were a precondition to a high-level US-Russia summit.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said that Putin did not have to meet with Zelenskyy first before the US and Russian presidents could meet.
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Clock ticking to secondary sanctions on Friday; majority still trust Zelenskyy but rating down after anti-corruption debacle. What we know on day 1,261
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia seemed “more inclined to a ceasefire” after a visit to Moscow on Wednesday by a US envoy. “The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US,” Ukraine’s president said in his nightly address.
Despite the engagement, sanctions targeting Russian oil “are still expected to be implemented on Friday”, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Separately, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he did not want to exaggerate the progress made during Steve Witkoff’s talks with Putin. Many “impediments” remained, especially Russia’s territorial claims, and there was no concrete proposal for a ceasefire. There have been unconfirmed reports that the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both ..

State department condemns judge’s decision to place former Brazil president under house arrest as trial proceeds
The US has intensified its campaign to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid punishment for allegedly masterminding a failed coup, with the state department denouncing the decision to place Brazil’s former president under house arrest.
“Let Bolsonaro speak!” the department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs tweeted on Monday night after the far-right populist was confined to his mansion in the capital, Brasília, and police seized his mobile phone.
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Hundreds of people gathered in New York to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza and demand that the Trump administration put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The protest, organised by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, began at Columbus Circle and ended outside the Trump International hotel, where several people were arrested for blocking the road. Palestinian officials have said 175 people have died from hunger in Gaza since the beginning of the war, 93 of them children
More than 40 arrested at protest against Gaza war at Trump hotel in New York
House Democrats sign letter urging Trump to recognise Palestinian statehood
Israeli forces kill at least 27 at food site while minister’s al-Aqsa visit causes outrage
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Draft backed by over a dozen Democrats says Palestinian rights ‘as a people and nation’ must be urgently upheld
More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress have signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian.
Congressman Ro Khanna of California is leading the letter addressed to the president and secretary of state Marco Rubio, and is joined by several House progressives, including Greg Casar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Maxwell Frost of Florida.
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Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Republican visit for ‘undermining efforts to stop the war and cycle of violence’
Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza.
The excursion followed Johnson’s arrival in Israel on Sunday on an unannounced visit with other Republican lawmakers, and his meeting with Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and foreign minister Gideon Saar.
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Steve Witkoff to travel to Moscow before US president’s Friday deadline after which new sanctions could be imposed
Donald Trump’s special envoy is expected in Moscow days before the US president’s deadline on Friday for Russia to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine or face increased US sanctions.
Trump said Steve Witkoff would visit Moscow on Wednesday or Thursday. When asked what message Witkoff would take to Russia and what Vladimir Putin could do to avoid new sanctions, the US president answered: “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”
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Prime minister faces a choice between high tariffs or giving up cheap oil, putting New Delhi’s non-alignment policy under severe strain
The relationship between India and the US is facing one of its most significant challenges in decades, as the Trump administration doubles down on its demands that India stop buying Russian oil or face punitive tariffs.
The US president, Donald Trump, has refused to cut tariffs on Indian exports to the US, as he has for other countries, and on Monday said he would significantly raise them over its purchases of cheap Russian oil, which now account for one-third of its imported oil.
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Open letter calls on US president to pressure Israel to end conflict as Netanyahu mulls expanding offensive
About 600 former Israeli security officials, including previous heads of the Mossad and the military, have urged Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza as the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, considers expanding the conflict.
In an open letter, the former officials said an end to the war was the only way to save hostages still held by Hamas.
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Karin Keller-Sutter accused of mishandling talks as shares dive after Switzerland hit with 39% tariff
US live – latest updates
The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country’s president, Karin Keller-Sutter, has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff.
Switzerland, home to some of the world’s best-known luxury brands, was left stunned after the US president on Friday imposed one of the highest tariff rates in his global trade reset. Industry associations said tens of thousands of jobs were at risk.
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Family of Evyatar David condemn video as protesters in Tel Aviv call for a deal to be made to return hostages
Starvation takes hold in Gaza after a week of appalling milestones
Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, as the group released its second video in two days of an Israeli hostage.
Responding to one of the key Israeli demands to end the war in Gaza, Hamas – which has dominated the territory since 2007 – said it could not yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.
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Declassified document contains deflating conclusion for DNI director that Russian spies were behind key 2016 emails
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, hoped to uncover evidence that Barack Obama and his national security team conspired to undermine Donald Trump in a slow-motion coup.
But if her crusade was aimed at proving that Obama embarked on a “treasonous conspiracy” to falsely show that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, Gabbard made a mistake. A previously classified annexe to a report by another special counsel, John Durham – appointed towards the end of Trump’s first presidency – has further undermined Gabbard’s case.
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Prominent groups, including traditional defenders of Israel, urge action on aid as Gaza humanitarian crisis worsens
‘We are dying slowly, save us’: starvation takes hold in Gaza after a week of appalling milestones
As global outrage intensifies over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a growing number of prominent Jewish American organizations, including some traditional defenders of Israel, are speaking out and imploring the country to ensure that humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza.
This week, a UN-backed food security group warned that a “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza and health authorities there report dozens of deaths from starvation.
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Witkoff says he is helping ‘craft a plan’ to deliver aid as UN reports that Israeli forces have killed 1,353 Palestinians who were waiting for food
Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has visited Gaza and been shown one of the controversial food distribution sites around which hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces.
Witkoff, the US president’s special envoy for the Middle East, had earlier met the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, amid mounting international horror over conditions of starvation in Gaza occurring after months of Israeli-imposed aid restrictions.
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Russian president’s remarks come as Kyiv rescuers find more than a dozen dead in apartment block after strikes
Vladimir Putin has said he wants a “lasting and stable peace” in Ukraine but given no indication that he is willing to make any concessions to achieve it, after a week in which Russian missiles and drones again caused death and destruction across Ukraine.
“We need a lasting and stable peace on solid foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and would ensure the security of both countries,” said Putin, speaking to journalists on Friday, a week before a new deadline imposed by Donald Trump for hostilities to cease.
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Joe Biden has said ‘these are dark days’ in the US, and accused the Trump administration of ‘doing its best to dismantle the constitution’ with the help of the Republican-controlled Congress and the supreme court.
‘We see the apparent glee of some of our politicians while watching immigrants who are in this country legally torn from the arms of their family, dragged away in handcuffs from the only home they’ve ever known,’ the former president said
Joe Biden says US is facing ‘existential’ fight with marginalized groups ‘dramatically under attack’
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The two sworn enemies went to war twice over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan eventually captured in 2023
US president Donald Trump announced he will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday for what he called a “Historic Peace Summit” aimed at ending decades of hostilities between the two former Soviet republics.
Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan “will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony,” Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social platform.
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Nicolás Maduro was indicted in 2020 on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine
The Trump administration is doubling to $50m a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narcotraffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Thursday in a video statement announcing the reward.
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US president contradicts reports Putin meeting Zelenskyy was a precondition of a US-Russia summit
Donald Trump has said he was ready to meet Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader’s refusal to meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dispelling speculation that direct talks between the two warring presidents were a precondition to a high-level US-Russia summit.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said that Putin did not have to meet with Zelenskyy first before the US and Russian presidents could meet.
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Summit with Russian leader would follow ‘great progress’ made by special envoy Steve Witkoff during Moscow visit
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, White House officials have said, although senior aides warned that serious “impediments” remain to achieving a ceasefire.
Late on Wednesday, the US president told reporters at the White House, when asked when he would meet the leaders of Ukraine and Russia: “There’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon.” Trump said there had been no specific breakthrough leading to talk of a meeting but that US officials had been working on it for “a long time”.
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Clock ticking to secondary sanctions on Friday; majority still trust Zelenskyy but rating down after anti-corruption debacle. What we know on day 1,261
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia seemed “more inclined to a ceasefire” after a visit to Moscow on Wednesday by a US envoy. “The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US,” Ukraine’s president said in his nightly address.
Despite the engagement, sanctions targeting Russian oil “are still expected to be implemented on Friday”, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Separately, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he did not want to exaggerate the progress made during Steve Witkoff’s talks with Putin. Many “impediments” remained, especially Russia’s territorial claims, and there was no concrete proposal for a ceasefire. There have been unconfirmed reports that the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both ..

State department condemns judge’s decision to place former Brazil president under house arrest as trial proceeds
The US has intensified its campaign to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid punishment for allegedly masterminding a failed coup, with the state department denouncing the decision to place Brazil’s former president under house arrest.
“Let Bolsonaro speak!” the department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs tweeted on Monday night after the far-right populist was confined to his mansion in the capital, Brasília, and police seized his mobile phone.
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Hundreds of people gathered in New York to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza and demand that the Trump administration put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The protest, organised by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, began at Columbus Circle and ended outside the Trump International hotel, where several people were arrested for blocking the road. Palestinian officials have said 175 people have died from hunger in Gaza since the beginning of the war, 93 of them children
More than 40 arrested at protest against Gaza war at Trump hotel in New York
House Democrats sign letter urging Trump to recognise Palestinian statehood
Israeli forces kill at least 27 at food site while minister’s al-Aqsa visit causes outrage
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Draft backed by over a dozen Democrats says Palestinian rights ‘as a people and nation’ must be urgently upheld
More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress have signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian.
Congressman Ro Khanna of California is leading the letter addressed to the president and secretary of state Marco Rubio, and is joined by several House progressives, including Greg Casar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Maxwell Frost of Florida.
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Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Republican visit for ‘undermining efforts to stop the war and cycle of violence’
Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza.
The excursion followed Johnson’s arrival in Israel on Sunday on an unannounced visit with other Republican lawmakers, and his meeting with Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and foreign minister Gideon Saar.
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Steve Witkoff to travel to Moscow before US president’s Friday deadline after which new sanctions could be imposed
Donald Trump’s special envoy is expected in Moscow days before the US president’s deadline on Friday for Russia to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine or face increased US sanctions.
Trump said Steve Witkoff would visit Moscow on Wednesday or Thursday. When asked what message Witkoff would take to Russia and what Vladimir Putin could do to avoid new sanctions, the US president answered: “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”
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Prime minister faces a choice between high tariffs or giving up cheap oil, putting New Delhi’s non-alignment policy under severe strain
The relationship between India and the US is facing one of its most significant challenges in decades, as the Trump administration doubles down on its demands that India stop buying Russian oil or face punitive tariffs.
The US president, Donald Trump, has refused to cut tariffs on Indian exports to the US, as he has for other countries, and on Monday said he would significantly raise them over its purchases of cheap Russian oil, which now account for one-third of its imported oil.
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Open letter calls on US president to pressure Israel to end conflict as Netanyahu mulls expanding offensive
About 600 former Israeli security officials, including previous heads of the Mossad and the military, have urged Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza as the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, considers expanding the conflict.
In an open letter, the former officials said an end to the war was the only way to save hostages still held by Hamas.
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Karin Keller-Sutter accused of mishandling talks as shares dive after Switzerland hit with 39% tariff
US live – latest updates
The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country’s president, Karin Keller-Sutter, has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff.
Switzerland, home to some of the world’s best-known luxury brands, was left stunned after the US president on Friday imposed one of the highest tariff rates in his global trade reset. Industry associations said tens of thousands of jobs were at risk.
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Family of Evyatar David condemn video as protesters in Tel Aviv call for a deal to be made to return hostages
Starvation takes hold in Gaza after a week of appalling milestones
Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, as the group released its second video in two days of an Israeli hostage.
Responding to one of the key Israeli demands to end the war in Gaza, Hamas – which has dominated the territory since 2007 – said it could not yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.
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Russian president’s remarks come as Kyiv rescuers find more than a dozen dead in apartment block after strikes
Vladimir Putin has said he wants a “lasting and stable peace” in Ukraine but given no indication that he is willing to make any concessions to achieve it, after a week in which Russian missiles and drones again caused death and destruction across Ukraine.
“We need a lasting and stable peace on solid foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and would ensure the security of both countries,” said Putin, speaking to journalists on Friday, a week before a new deadline imposed by Donald Trump for hostilities to cease.
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Joe Biden has said ‘these are dark days’ in the US, and accused the Trump administration of ‘doing its best to dismantle the constitution’ with the help of the Republican-controlled Congress and the supreme court.
‘We see the apparent glee of some of our politicians while watching immigrants who are in this country legally torn from the arms of their family, dragged away in handcuffs from the only home they’ve ever known,’ the former president said
Joe Biden says US is facing ‘existential’ fight with marginalized groups ‘dramatically under attack’
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‘Ukraine is not afraid of meetings; we expect the same brave approach from Russia.’ What we know on day 1,262
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Europe must participate in the peace process between his country and Russia after a call with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Thursday. The Ukrainian president embarked on a lightning round of calls with European leaders ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin expected soon. As the Kremlin refused a three-way meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump, Zelenskyy said: “Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side.”
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had spoken with Zelenskyy about the developments of the past days and “next steps on the way towards a negotiated peace agreement and Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union as well as its reconstruction”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, reaffirmed France’s full support for a ceasefire in Ukraine..