Iran says usual cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog cannot go forward
01:58
30/06/2025
France's public broadcasting reform: What would its impact be?
30/06/2025
New York mayoral candidate Mamdani defends campaign despite Democratic unease
30/06/2025
Police inquiry after anti-Israel speech at Glastonbury
30/06/2025
'We have to do more with less' - international development challenges after USAID cuts
30/06/2025
Israeli settlers rampage at a military base in the West Bank
30/06/2025
Nations meet in Spain for UN effort to raise trillions to combat poverty without the US
30/06/2025
Iran: France, Britain and Germany condemn 'threats' made against head of IAEA watchdog
30/06/2025
UK PM condemns 'death to the IDF' chants at Glastonbury Festival
30/06/2025
Anti-Israel chants spark controversy at the Glastonbury music festival
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LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
Netanyahu to visit White House as Gaza truce pressure mounts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House next week for talks with President Donald Trump, a US official said Monday, June 30, as Washington ramps up the pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza. The July 7 visit – Netanyahu's third since Trump returned to power in January – comes after Trump said that he hoped for a truce in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory within a week. A Trump administration official confirmed the visit to AFP on condition of anonymity. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that Netanyahu had "expressed interest" in a meeting with Trump and that both sides were "working on a date." "This has been a priority for the president since he took office, to end this brutal war in Gaza," Leavitt told reporters in a briefing. "It's heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end." A senior Israeli official, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, is due to visit the White House this week for talks to lay the ground for Netanyahu's visit, Leavitt said. 'Going to get a ceasefire' Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his second term in February, when the US president surprised him by suddenly announcing a plan for the United States to "take over" Gaza. The Israeli premier visited again in April. The end of Israel's 12-day war with Iran has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered. "We think even next week, we're going to get a ceasefire," Trump told reporters on Friday. He followed up by pressing Israel in a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday to "make the deal in Gaza." But on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory in a bid to destroy the militant group Hamas. Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 51 people on Monday, including 24 at a seafront rest area. Trump, meanwhile, appeared to leverage US aid to Israel over the weekend as he called for that country's prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Netanyahu. "The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this," Trump posted.
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Trump formally lifts Syria sanctions, eyeing ties with Israel
President Donald Trump on Monday formally dismantled US sanctions against Syria, hoping to reintegrate the war-battered country into the global economy as Israel eyes ties with its new leadership. Trump lifted most sanctions against Syria in May, responding to appeals from Saudi Arabia and Turkey after former Islamist guerrilla Ahmed al-Sharaa ended a half-century of rule by the Assad family. In an executive order, Trump terminated the "national emergency" in place since 2004 that imposed far-reaching sanctions on Syria, affecting most state-run institutions including the central bank. "This is in an effort to promote and support the country's path to stability and peace," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. 01:48 Brad Smith, the Treasury Department official in charge of sanctions, said the move "will end the country's isolation from the international financial system, setting the stage for global commerce and galvanizing investments from its neighbors in the region as well as from the United States." The order, released by the White House, said that Syria has been "transformed" since the fall of Assad, including through "positive actions taken by the new Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa." The orders still maintain sanctions on elements of the former government, including Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia late last year. Syrian Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shibani said the US move marked a "major turning point." "With the lifting of this major obstacle to economic recovery, the long-awaited doors are opening for reconstruction and development" as are the conditions "for the dignified return of displaced Syrians to their homeland," he wrote on X. Syria recently carried out its first electronic transfer through the international banking system since around the time it descended into a brutal civil war in 2011. Israel sees opportunity Israel kept pounding military sites in its historic adversary after the fall of Assad and initially voiced skepticism over the trajectory of its neighbor under Sharaa, who was formerly linked to Al-Qaeda. But Israel said earlier Monday that it was interested in normalizing ties with Syria as well as Lebanon in an expansion of the so-called "Abraham Accords," in what would mark a major transformation of the Middle East. 06:17 Iran's clerical state's once strong influence in Syria and Lebanon has declined sharply under pressure from Israeli military strikes since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas. Trump administration officials argued that lifting the sanctions on Syria would better integrate the country into the region and incentivize overtures by Israel. Israel's intensive attacks on Iran in June opened a "window that has never existed," said Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey who serves as Trump's pointman on Syria. "It's an opportunity that we have never, ever seen, and this president's put together a team that can actually get it done," Barrack told reporters. Despite the upbeat picture of the new Syrian leader, the country has seen a series of major attacks against minorities since the fall of Assad, a largely secular leader from the Alawite minority sect. At least 25 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a suspected Islamist attack against a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus on June 22. Until Trump's surprise announcement of sanctions relief during a trip to Saudi Arabia, the United States had insisted on progress first in key areas including protection of minorities. The United States still classifies Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation that could take longer to lift and which also severely discourages investment.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Netanyahu to visit White House as Gaza truce pressure mounts
The July 7 visit -- Netanyahu's third since Trump returned to power in January -- comes after Trump said that he hoped for a truce in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory within a week. A Trump administration official confirmed the visit to AFP on condition of anonymity. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that Netanyahu had "expressed interest" in a meeting with Trump and that both sides were "working on a date. "This has been a priority for the president since he took office, to end this brutal war in Gaza," Leavitt told reporters in a briefing. "It's heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end." A senior Israeli official, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, is due to visit the White House this week for talks to lay the ground for Netanyahu's visit, Leavitt said. Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in his second term in February, when the US president surprised him by suddenly announcing a plan for the United States to "take over" Gaza. The Israeli premier visited again in April. The end of Israel's 12-day war with Iran has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered. "We think even next week, we're going to get a ceasefire," Trump told reporters on Friday. He followed up by pressing Israel in a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday to "make the deal in Gaza". But on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory in a bid to destroy the militant group Hamas. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 51 people on Monday, including 24 at a seafront rest area. Trump meanwhile appeared to leverage US aid to Israel at the weekend as he called for that country's prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Netanyahu. "The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this," Trump posted. The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Of these, 49 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,531 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
