Trump Said He Would Lift Sanctions on Syria
Trump announced the policy change at the start of his four-day tour of the Middle East. He received a lavish welcome in Saudi Arabia today, complete with a lavender carpet, a team of Arabian horses and a delegation of royals. Executives from some of America's largest companies also joined him for lunch.
Our photographer Doug Mills photographed the day's extravagant events.
White House officials said that Trump had already secured $600 billion in deals with the Saudi government and Saudi companies. But the details his aides provided were vague and totaled less than half that number. Several were already in the works before Trump returned to the White House in January.
In other news from Washington:
Israeli officers concluded Gaza is on the brink of starvation
In public, Israel has for months maintained that its blockade on food and fuel to Gaza did not pose a major threat to civilian life. But in private, some senior Israeli officials have said that Palestinians in Gaza face widespread starvation unless aid deliveries are restored within weeks.
Israeli military officers who monitor humanitarian conditions in Gaza have warned their commanders in recent days that unless the blockade is lifted quickly, many areas of the enclave are likely to run out of enough food to meet minimum daily nutritional needs. They said that immediate steps were needed to ensure that the aid system could be reinstated fast enough to prevent starvation.
In related news, Israel bombarded Khan Younis in Gaza in an attempt to kill Muhammad Sinwar, one of Hamas's top remaining leaders.
A star witness took the stand in Sean Combs's trial
Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, testified today in the sex trafficking trial of the music mogul Sean Combs. It was her 2023 lawsuit, which accused Combs of rape and years of abuse, that led to his downfall. Her testimony is vital to the prosecution's case.
In tear-filled testimony, Ventura told the jury today that Combs's drug-fueled sex sessions with prostitutes could last several days and made her feel 'disgusting' and 'humiliated.' She also said there were 'violent arguments' and 'physical abuse' during her long-term relationship with Combs, describing busted lips, black eyes and 'bruises all over my body.'
Data shows that boys are falling behind
Boys and young men are struggling. Research suggests that across their lives — in their educational achievement, mental health and transitions to adulthood — they are stagnating, as their female peers surge ahead.
My colleague Claire Cain Miller highlighted the warning signs in the data.
More top news
A Hollywood takeover at Cannes
The lineup for this year's Cannes Film Festival, which began today, has so many English-language films that it could be mistaken for a Hollywood event.
The biggest premieres include 'Die My Love,' with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, and the Spike Lee film 'Highest 2 Lowest.' Several actors, like Kristen Stewart and Scarlett Johansson, will be presenting their directorial debuts. Here's what to look out for.
For more: The 'naked dress,' a Cannes mainstay, will be covered up by a new dress code.
Chernow's new biography is an endurance test
Ron Chernow is one of the best-known biographers of his time. So 'Mark Twain,' published today, was among the most hotly anticipated nonfiction releases of the season.
Unfortunately, our critic Dwight Garner found the 1,174-page book to be bland and remote. 'It squats over Twain's career like a McMansion,' Dwight wrote. He observed that Chernow blows through the first third of the writer's life in 150 pages, and that he 'skimps on the things that formed Twain and made him the most lucid, profound, unpredictable and irascibly witty American of his time.'
Dinner table topics
Cook: Spice up your dinner with this bulgogi cheese steak.
Watch: 'Reversi' is one of the best science fiction movies to stream right now.
Exercise: Here's how to make each one of your push-ups count.
Consider: How healthy are mangoes?
Design: Interior murals are gaining popularity.
Compete: Take our quiz to see if you can match famous quotes to their novels.
Play: Here are today's Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here.
A celebrity on four wheels
When Joe McCallen drives through cities, people point, wave and stare. That's because, for the last three years, he has been patrolling America's roads inside the Google Street View car. With a camera turret strapped to the top, McCallen has helped map out roughly 100,000 miles of roads across the Midwest and East Coast.
Thanks to him and many other drivers, the views Google Maps offers across 110 countries are the closest thing humans have to teleportation. Recently, a Times reporter rode along with McCallen to see what it's like.
Have an eye-catching evening.
Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
Laurence Tan was our photo editor.
We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Netanyahu to send negotiating team to Qatar for ceasefire talks, but calls Hamas proposals "unacceptable"
Israel is sending a negotiating team to Qatar for indirect ceasefire talks with the terrorist group Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday. Netanyahu's office said that it would send its negotiating team to Qatar on Sunday, this after Hamas on Friday said it had issued a "positive response" to a U.S.-mediated ceasefire proposal in the Israel-Hamas war. However, in the statement, Netanyahu's office said that the "changes" Hamas requested to the ceasefire proposal "are unacceptable to Israel." In a post to Telegram Friday, Hamas said it "submitted a positive response to the mediators' latest proposal." It added that it was "fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework," according to a translation of the post. On Tuesday, President Trump announced that Israel had agreed to a proposal for a two-month ceasefire. At the time, neither Israel nor Hamas confirmed Mr. Trump's statement. "I think it's been very positive, a good response," Mr. Trump told reporters late Friday night aboard Air Force One regarding the Hamas statement. "There could be a Gaza deal next week," the president later added. "...I'm very optimistic, but you know, it changes from day to day. It's been changing for years." Israeli sources told CBS News on Wednesday that while there was support for the terms of the proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, Israel was not committing to it yet. Netanyahu is expected to visit Washington, D.C., on Monday to meet with Mr. Trump at the White House. A Palestinian official told The Associated Press on Friday that Hamas was still working on its response to the proposal presented to it by Egyptian and Qatari mediators. He said Hamas is insisting on guarantees regarding an Israeli withdrawal to positions it held on March 2, during a previous ceasefire, and an end to the war following a 60-day truce, as well as ending the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) system for distributing aid. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed 57,000 since the war began about 21 months ago. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry says at least 640 civilians have been shot to death in recent weeks trying to access desperately needed humanitarian supplies, including more than 400 at distribution sites run by GHF. Since it began operating in Gaza on May 26, GHF has faced near-daily claims of aid-seekers being killed by Israeli forces as they try to reach its four hubs in Gaza. "I do not want to diminish these reports, but we can't control what happens outside our distribution sites," GHF's director, American evangelical reverend Johnnie Moore, told CBS News in an interview Tuesday in response to a question about reports from doctors and eyewitnesses that Israeli soldiers have repeatedly opened fire on unarmed civilians trying to reach its aid hubs. Earlier this week, more than 170 humanitarian groups called for the opaquely run organization — which has never revealed its funding or management structure — to be disbanded and all aid efforts in Gaza to be reorganized under the long-established United Nations-led system. Those international humanitarian efforts have been largely blocked by Israel since March.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
DHS Dismisses Palestinian Woman's Treatment In ICE Detention As 'Sob Story'
A Palestinian woman released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention on Tuesday says she and others faced mistreatment while detained. Still, the Department of Homeland Security dismissed her account as one of many 'sob stories.' 'The entire detention process was not great. I wouldn't wish this upon anybody. It was very hard, very traumatizing, and very, very difficult, is what I would say,' Ward Sakeik told CNN's Danny Freeman on Saturday morning. Sakeik, 22, a stateless person whose family is from Gaza, was born in Saudi Arabia, a country that does not grant birthright citizenship to children of foreign-born parents, according to The Guardian. She entered the U.S. legally under a tourist visa when she was 8 and was allowed to remain, as long as she regularly checked in with ICE. After getting married, she began the process of obtaining a green card, but was taken by ICE officials in February on her way back to Texas from her honeymoon in the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CNN that Sakeik's arrest was not part of a targeted operation by ICE, but that she was flagged by Customs and Border Patrol trying to reenter the U.S. after flying over international waters. In a statement shared with HuffPost, McLaughlin said Sakeik was not 'complying with immigration policies.' 'The facts are she is in our country illegally,' McLaughlin said. 'She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade.' Sakeik was released Tuesday and appeared at a press conference where she talked about her experience, saying she was handcuffed for 16 hours without any water or food on a bus. 'I was moved around like cattle, and the U.S. government attempted to dump me in a part of the world where I don't know where I'm going and what I'm doing or anything,' Sakeik said. Sakeik went on to describe her conditions, which she said included unhygienic restrooms, rusted beds and insects that bit other detained migrants. 'I was criminalized for being stateless, something that I absolutely have no control over,' she said. 'I didn't choose to be stateless. I had no choice.' She is now using her experience to advocate for others who are facing the same treatment, including women she met in detention. 'A lot of these women don't have the money for lawyers or media outreach. They come here to provide for their families and that's pretty much it,' Sakeik said. 'They're mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers. They're superheroes. They are humans and their lives hold values and I will continue to fight with them, for them, every single step of the way.' In the statement shared with HuffPost, McLaughlin said 'any claim that there is a lack of food or subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false,' and that those who are detained are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and opportunities to talk with family members and lawyers. 'Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE. Meals are certified by dieticians,' McLaughlin said. 'Why does the media continue to fall for the sob stories of illegal aliens in detention and villainize ICE law enforcement?' DHS had given the same statement to Newsweek earlier this week. Sakeik's attorney, Eric Lee, responded to McLaughlin's comments Saturday morning on CNN. 'They called it a 'sob story,'' Lee said. 'I guess what we would ask the American people is, 'Who are they gonna believe, their lying eyes or the statements of the people who are responsible for carrying out what are really crimes against humanity here in the United States?'' Earlier this month, NPR published a report on inhumane conditions at ICE facilities, interviewing more than a dozen detainees, family members and lawyers who described issues like severe overcrowding and lack of food. The Big-Box Store Caught Up In Trump's Immigration Crackdown Cities Are Canceling Fourth Of July Events Over Immigration Raid Fears You Can Actually Help Kneecap Trump's 'Mass Deportation' Arrests. Here's How.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Khamenei Appears in Public for First Time Since Israel War Began
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared publicly on Saturday night for the first time since the 12-day war with Israel began last month, Iran's state media and his official website reported. Mr. Khamenei issued a defiant video message last week, in his second public statement after the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities. But his long absence from public life was without precedent during his three-decade rule, and had fueled speculations about his health and threats to his life. After weeks of sheltering in a bunker, Mr. Khamenei on Saturday night attended an annual Shiite religious ceremony for Ashura, which was held at his compound. The attendees appeared surprised. When Mr. Khamenei walked in, wearing a black clerical robe and his checkered kaffiyeh, the crowd of hundreds of men and women rose to their feet, thumping their fists in the air, and chanting, 'Heydar, Heydar,' a Shiite battle cry. Mr. Khamenei waved and sat on the side of the stage, videos on state television showed. He did not address the crowd, which included the vice president, minister of justice, and speaker of the Parliament, sitting on the floor. Mr. Khamenei was the only person perched on a chair. In his brief video messages to the public, after the United States bombed Iran's nuclear sites and after a cease-fire with Israel went into effect, Mr. Khamenei appeared weak, struggling to finish sentences in a raspy voice. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
