Latest news with #AbuDhabiInternationalAirport
Gulf Today
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Lots of people are starving in Gaza, warns Trump
US President Donald Trump said Friday that 'a lot of people are starving' in the besieged Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported more than 90 people killed in Israeli air strikes since midnight. Trump´s brief comments on Gaza came as he capped the first foreign tour of his second term, which saw him visit several Gulf countries but excluded key ally Israel. A two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, shortly after Israel reimposed a total blockade on Gaza that aid agencies say has sparked critical food shortages. 'We´re looking at Gaza. And we´re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,' Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Donald Trump speaks on Air Force One at Abu Dhabi International Airport before departing, on Friday. AP Israel cut off aid to Gaza on March 2, a tactic it has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, which is still holding dozens of Israeli hostages it seized in October 2023. Hamas insisted that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was 'the minimum requirement' for talks. It also warned that Gaza was not 'for sale' hours after Trump again floated taking over the territory and turning it into 'a freedom zone'. On Friday, Gaza´s civil defence agency said that 74 people had been killed in Israeli strikes since midnight, reporting dozens more trapped under the rubble as shelling continued. The strikes sparked panic in northern Gaza. 'We were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us,' north Gaza resident Umm Mohammed Al Tatari, 57, told AFP. "Everyone started running. We saw the destruction with our own eyes. There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses. We didn`t know who was dead and who was still alive." Another resident, 33-year-old Ahmed Nasr, said the bombing continued through the night. Agence France-Presse
Japan Today
16-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Today
Trump says Iran has a proposal from U.S. on its rapidly advancing nuclear program
President Donald Trump gestures before departing on Air Force One at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) By ZEKE MILLER and JON GAMBRELL U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has an American proposal over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as negotiations between the two countries go on. Trump's remarks represent the first time he's acknowledged an American proposal is with Tehran after multiple rounds of negotiations between U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Negotiations have gotten into the 'expert' level — meaning the two sides are trying to see if they can reach any agreement on the details of any possible deal. But one major sticking point remains Iran's enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists it must be allowed to do and the Trump administration increasingly insists the Islamic Republic must give up. Trump made the comment aboard Air Force One as he ended his trip to the United Arab Emirates, the last stop on his three-nation tour of the Middle East that also included Saudi Arabia and Qatar. At nearly every event he attended in the region, he insisted that Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear bomb — something American intelligence agencies assess Tehran is not actively pursuing though its program is on the cusp of being able to weaponize. A reporter asked Trump: 'On Iran, has the U.S. given them a formal proposal? Has Steve Witkoff handed that over?' 'They have a proposal,' Trump responded. 'But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.' Trump did not elaborate on the substance of the proposal and Iran did not immediately acknowledge having it. On Thursday, Araghchi spoke to journalists at the Tehran International Book Fair and said that Iran did not have any proposal from the Americans yet. Araghchi also criticized what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the Trump administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy. Witkoff at one point suggested that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying that all Iranian enrichment must stop. Friday night, Araghchi wrote on the social platform X: 'Iran has not received any written proposal from the United States, whether directly or indirectly.' 'In the meantime, the messaging we—and the world—continue to receive is confusing and contradictory,' he added. 'Mark my words: there is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes.' Iranian and American officials have been in Oman and Rome for the negotiations, always mediated by Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a trusted interlocutor between the two nations. The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity. Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran's program if a deal isn't reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran's nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Dubai Eye
16-05-2025
- Business
- Dubai Eye
Trump concludes 'historic' 3-nation Gulf visit
US President Donald Trump has departed the UAE, concluding his three-nation tour of the Gulf region. President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan bid farewell to the US leader at Abu Dhabi International Airport. #رئيس_الدولة في مقدمة مودعيه.. الرئيس الأمريكي يختتم زيارته إلى #الإمارات #الإمارات_ترحب_بالرئيس_الأمريكي #UAE_welcomes_US_President #وام — وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) May 16, 2025 Trump said on Friday the UAE and the US had agreed to create a path for Emirates to buy some of the most advanced AI semiconductors from US companies, a major win for Abu Dhabi's efforts to become a global AI hub. The US leader pledged on Thursday to strengthen US ties with the UAE, announcing deals totalling over $200 billion, including a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 American-made Boeing aircraft. Trump earlier visited the Abrahamic Family House after addressing business leaders at a UAE-US business council roundtable at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, along with senior officials accompanied Trump on a guided tour of the landmark complex and its three houses of worship. الرئيس الأمريكي يزور بيت العائلة الإبراهيمية في أبوظبي #الإمارات_ترحب_بالرئيس_الأمريكي #UAE_welcomes_US_President #وام — وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) May 16, 2025
ARN News Center
16-05-2025
- Business
- ARN News Center
Trump concludes 'historic' 3-nation Gulf visit
US President Donald Trump has departed the UAE, concluding his three-nation tour of the Gulf region. President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan bid farewell to the US leader at Abu Dhabi International Airport. #رئيس_الدولة في مقدمة مودعيه.. الرئيس الأمريكي يختتم زيارته إلى #الإمارات #الإمارات_ترحب_بالرئيس_الأمريكي #UAE_welcomes_US_President #وام — وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) May 16, 2025 Trump said on Friday the UAE and the US had agreed to create a path for Emirates to buy some of the most advanced AI semiconductors from US companies, a major win for Abu Dhabi's efforts to become a global AI hub. The US leader pledged on Thursday to strengthen US ties with the UAE, announcing deals totalling over $200 billion, including a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 American-made Boeing aircraft. Trump earlier visited the Abrahamic Family House after addressing business leaders at a UAE-US business council roundtable at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, along with senior officials accompanied Trump on a guided tour of the landmark complex and its three houses of worship. الرئيس الأمريكي يزور بيت العائلة الإبراهيمية في أبوظبي #الإمارات_ترحب_بالرئيس_الأمريكي #UAE_welcomes_US_President #وام — وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) May 16, 2025
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump gripes again about AF1 as he departs Middle East: ‘I leave now and get on a 42 year-old Boeing - but new ones are coming'
Donald Trump made another crack about Air Force One on Friday, complaining about the plane's age as he wrapped up his four-day tour of the Middle East. The president's trip has been overshaded by his decision to accept a $400m Boeing 747-8 jet gifted by Qatar's royal family. After walking a blue carpet along the tarmac at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Trump turned to reporters and complained: 'I leave now and get into a 42-year-old Boeing. The new ones are coming, new ones are coming.' He then walked up the stairway, delivered one of his trademark fist pumps and entered the cabin to begin the long return journey to Washington DC. The remark follows a week of ethics complaints about the president's acceptance of the 'flying palace' presented to him by Qatar, which Trump hopes to use as a replacement for the current presidential plane, a model he believes is outmoded. The president dismissed the unease surrounding the gesture by saying that only a 'stupid person' would have rejected it. 'Why wouldn't I accept a gift?' he asked Fox News host Sean Hannity incredulously during an interview conducted aboard Air Force One this week. 'The plane that you are on right now is almost 40 years old,' he griped, a claim he added another three years to in his comments on Friday. "When you land and you see Saudi Arabia, and you see UAE, and you see Qatar and they have these brand new Boeing 747s mostly. And you see ours next to it, this is like a totally different plane. It's much smaller. It's much less impressive. 'We're the United States of America – I believe we should have the most impressive plane.' Trump's own Department of Justice lawyers have meanwhile swiftly ruled that accepting the gift would break no laws. Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House lawyer David Warrington said the donation of the aircraft would be 'legally permissible' given that its ownership would be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation before the end of his term. But Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, for one, has expressed outrage and written to the Government Accountability Office to blast the jet as a 'flying grift,' arguing that it violates the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause. Columbia Law School Professor Richard Briffault meanwhile told NPR that if Trump retains ownership of the plane after leaving office, in spite of his claim on Truth Social that it will ultimately be given to the Department of Defense, 'then it's not really a gift to the United States at all' and instead amounts to a 'pretty textbook case of a violation of the emoluments clause.' Professor Briffault further warned that accepting any present leaves the recipient beholden to the gift-giver, an argument also made by Trump nemesis Hillary Clinton, saying that gestures like Qatar's are 'designed to create good feelings for the recipient and to get some kind of reciprocity.' Another cause of concern is the eye-watering cost of retrofitting the luxury jet to make it an acceptable substitute for the presidential plane. Experts warn that it would take several years and require billions of dollars in further investment from the American taxpayer to ensure it meets the necessary standards to replace Air Force One. It would require secure communications, electromagnetic shielding, and in-flight refueling capabilities, to name just three necessary upgrades. A private contractor would, in all probability, have to rip the plane apart before it was fit for use, and aviation experts cited by NBC News have put the bill at $1bn, more than twice the plane's worth.
