Israel signed off on latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, says White House - The Economic Times Video
Israel has signed off on the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza before it was sent to the Palestinian Hamas group, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.President Donald Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff submitted the proposal to Hamas after Israel signed off on it, she said.
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Hindustan Times
21 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Mexican band Grupo Firme cancels US show, saying their visas were suspended by Trump administration
MEXICO CITY — The popular Mexican regional music band Grupo Firme announced on Friday that it was canceling a performance in a music festival in California over the weekend after the United States government suspended the musicians' visas. It comes after the U.S. State Department has revoked visas of a number of Mexican musicians for playing a genre of music that it says glorifies cartel violence. The group, which has soared to international fame playing Mexican regional music, said in a statement posted on its Instagram account that the visas of them and their team are currently under 'administrative review by the U.S. Embassy" and that it would make it 'impossible' for them to perform in the La Onda Fest to be held in the city of Napa Valley, California on June 1. But the post didn't detail what it would mean in the long term for the musical group. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said that visa cases are confidential according to U.S. law and couldn't provide more information on the case. The suspension is just the latest in a series of moves the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has taken targeting Mexican artists in the genre, who in some cases have glorified the leaders of cartels as sort of Robin Hood figures. While the genre of 'narco-corridos' has stirred controversy, much of the music also speaks to the harsh realities facing Mexican youth caught in cartel violence. Two months ago, the Mexican musical group Los Alegres del Barranco was sanctioned after it projected images of the leader of the feared Jalisco New Generation Cartel at a concert in the western state of Jalisco. 'I'm a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that doesn't mean that expression should be free of consequences,' U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said at the time. 'The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists.' But Grupo Firme has taken steps in recent months to distance itself from the facet of the musical genre glorifying criminal groups, announcing in April shortly after the controversy that it would not sing such music in concerts.
India.com
22 minutes ago
- India.com
Israel Warns Hamas To Accept US Envoys Gaza Ceasefire Deal Or Face Destruction
New Delhi: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has issued a stern warning to Hamas, urging them to accept the Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The proposal outlines a two-phase release of 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 1,236 Palestinian detainees and prisoners, along with 180 Palestinian bodies. Katz emphasized that Israel's military operations in Gaza will continue with full force until Hamas accepts the deal, with intense air, land, and sea attacks aimed at protecting Israeli soldiers. In a statement issued by his office, Katz said the Israeli military continued its operations in Gaza with full force, carrying out attacks by air, land, and sea on an unprecedented scale "for maximum protection of our soldiers in preparation for the entry of the maneuvering forces in each area." In a statement issued on Friday, the Israeli military said that since Thursday, its air force, alongside ground forces, had struck dozens of targets across the Gaza Strip, which "eliminated terrorists, dismantled weapons, terrorist infrastructure, and underground infrastructure sites." It added that during the military operations, two rocket-propelled grenades were fired at Israeli troops, lightly wounding three soldiers. Of the 251 hostages seized during the October 2023 Hamas attack, 57 remain in Gaza, of whom 34 are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military. Earlier on Friday, the White House said that Israel has signed off on a 60-day Gaza ceasefire proposal as Israeli army continues its military actions in the war-torn area. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed at a press briefing that US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump "submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported."
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Business Standard
28 minutes ago
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UN seeks 20% cut in staff to help deal with critical funding crunch
More than 60 United Nations offices, agencies and operations have been ordered to submit proposals by mid-June to cut 20 per cent of their staff, as part of a major reform effort to consolidate operations in the face of a critical funding crunch. The cuts affect about 14,000 posts covered by the regular budget, or about 2,800 posts, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday. These include staff in the UN's political and humanitarian offices, and its agencies helping refugees, promoting gender equality and dealing with international trade, the environment and cities. The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is also on the list. UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan said in a memo to the affected agencies that the staff cuts are part of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' goal of achieving a reduction of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent in the UN's current budget of USD 3.72 billion. The cuts are part of the UN80 reform initiative launched by Guterres in March as the world body approaches its 80th anniversary later this year. The UN chief has dismissed any relationship with the cuts to foreign aid and other programmes by US President Donald Trump. Instead, he has pointed to shrinking UN resources over at least the past seven years as not all member states pay their yearly dues and many don't pay on time. The US, with the world's biggest economy, is expected to pay 22 per cent of the regular budget, while China, with the second-largest economy, recently had its share raised to 20 per cent. Last year, 152 of the UN's 193 member nations paid their dues in full, including China, but 41 countries did not, including the US. The controller's memo, obtained Thursday night by The Associated Press, gives advice to the heads of agencies on which posts to cut: Assess functions based on efficiency; Prioritise based on impact; Target redundant, overlapping or non-critical functions or roles for consolidation or abolition. Guterres and his predecessors in past decades struggled to reform the United Nations, which was established following World War II, and bring it into a modern era with different powers, new technology and greater global divisions. One key problem is that while the secretary-general is the UN's chief executive, power rests with the 193 member nations, which have very different ideas about the UN and the world. The proposed cuts must be submitted to the controller by June 13. Dujarric said they will be incorporated into Guterres' proposed 2026 budget, to be adopted by the General Assembly in December. The UN's 11 peacekeeping missions are financed by a separate budget, and many of its far-flung agencies and operations are funded entirely by voluntary contributions, including the Rome-based World Food Programme, known as WFP. Several UN agencies were already planning to slash jobs or cut costs in other ways, with officials pointing to funding reductions mainly from the United States and warning that vital relief programs will be severely affected as a result. WFP is expected to cut up to 30 per cent of its staff, and the head of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said it would downsize its headquarters and regional offices to reduce costs by 30 per cent and cut senior-level positions by 50 per cent, according to internal memos obtained by the AP. Other agencies, including UNICEF, the UN children's agency, and OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, have also announced or plan to make cuts.
