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Donald Trump was set to meet the leader of Syria and the heads of the Gulf states Wednesday in Riyadh before travelling to Qatar where controversy is swirling over the gifting of a luxury aircraft.The US president was set to “say hello” to Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa during his last day in Riyadh, after vowing to remove sanctions against the war-ravaged country.”I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said during a speech at an investment forum in the Saudi capital. “What I do for the crown prince,” he added, before being joined on stage by Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman, who along with Turkey has backed the Sunni Islamists who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December.The move comes despite misgivings about the direction of Syria from US ally Israel, which has unleashed military strikes on its neighbour both before and after the fall of Assad, an Iranian ally.Trump will also meet with leaders and representatives from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.The diplomatic sitdowns followed a day dedicated to sealing billions of dollars in commercial agreements, with the United States and Saudi Arabia signing a raft of deals involving energy, AI, weapons and tech. The White House said that Riyadh would purchase nearly $142 billion in arms in what it described as the largest-ever weapons deal.Washington said that Saudi company DataVolt was set to pour $20 billion in artificial intelligence-related projects in the United States. Tech companies including Google will also invest in both countries — likely welcome news for Saudi Arabia which has long faced restrictions securing advanced American technology.- Qatar controversy -Trump was set to head to Doha around midday. The tiny Gulf country that is home to a sprawling US air base has also served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas on ending the devastating war in Gaza. But the stop has largely been muddled by controversy following news that Trump planned on accepting a $400 million luxury plane as a gift from Qatar.The Boeing airplane would serve as a new, more modern presidential jet and then be put to Trump’s personal use once he leaves the White House.The move raises huge constitutional and ethical questions — as well as security concerns about using an aircraft donated by a foreign power as the ultra-sensitive Air Force One.Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, on Tuesday vowed to hold up all Justice Department political appointees in protest over the move. The visit to Qatar comes just days after Washington negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of a hostage with US citizenship, Edan Alexander. Qatar, alongside Egypt and the United States, hammered out a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that came into effect on January 19 — a day before Trump’s inauguration — but failed to end the war.The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to chart a path forward. Israel resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip, blocked aid and pledged to conquer the territory.On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days, saying: “There will be no situation where we stop the war.”Trump was set to finish his tour of the Gulf with a final stop in Abu Dhabi later in the week. 

United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to take action “to prevent genocide” in Gaza, delivering a scathing account of Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territory.Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, demanded that Israel lift its aid blockade on Gaza, where its offensive has killed tens of thousands and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.”For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?” asked Fletcher. “Will you act — decisively — to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?”He alleged that Israel was “deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”Fletcher said UN agencies had “life-saving supplies” ready to deliver at the borders but were denied access by Israel. He also decried Israel’s conditions for allowing aid delivery as “a cynical sideshow.””It makes starvation a bargaining chip,” Fletcher said. “A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement. If any of this still matters, have no part in it.”The Israeli proposal for aid deliveries, the details of which have not been made public, “practically excludes many, including people with disabilities, women, children, the elderly and the wounded,” he said.In a joint statement, five European members of the UN Security Council said that they were “deeply concerned” at the Israeli plan, “which the UN has said would not meet humanitarian principles.””Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool or a military tactic,” read the statement by France, Britain, Slovenia, Greece and Denmark.Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, rejected the allegations against his government as “baseless and outrageous accusations.”- ‘Children scream’ -The UN relief chief warned that while the International Court of Justice deliberated over whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted genocide, “it will be too late.””We have briefed this Council in great detail on the extensive civilian harm we witness daily: death, injury, destruction, hunger, disease, torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, repeated displacement, on a large scale.”We have described the deliberate obstruction of aid operations and the systematic dismantling of Palestinian life, and that which sustains it, in Gaza,” he said.On Tuesday, Israeli strikes on Gaza continued, with rescue officials saying an attack near a hospital in the south of the territory killed at least 28 people.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days, after recommencing operations having broken a ceasefire two months ago. The war began in October 2023 after a Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.Israel launched a withering offensive in response, killing at least 52,908 people — mostly civilians — according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.It has also targeted civilian infrastructure, destroying roads, schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods, alleging that Hamas was using them as cover.”I can tell you from having visited what’s left of Gaza’s medical system that death on this scale has a sound and a smell that does not leave you,” said Fletcher. “As one nurse described it: ‘children scream as we peel burnt fabric from their skin.'”The senior official charged that the UN Security Council was not doing enough to prevent the violence.”For those who will not survive what we fear is coming — in plain sight — it will be no consolation to know that future generations will hold us in this chamber to account,” he said.”But they will. And, if we have not seriously done ‘all we could,’ we should fear that judgment.”

Wall Street stocks mostly rose Tuesday while oil prices advanced, extending a rally as the improved state of US-China trade boosts the economic outlook. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished solidly higher following benign US inflation data while the Dow retreated after weakness in UnitedHealth Group shares.Markets continued to cheer the US-China announcement Monday of …

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Gaza rescuers said Israeli strikes close to a hospital in the  Palestinian territory killed at least 28 people Tuesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days.The release of 21-year-old Israeli-American Edan Alexander, who had been in Hamas captivity since their October 2023 attack on Israel, offered a brief pause in the fighting on Monday.But the strikes resumed amid fierce new criticism of Israel’s tactics in the war.Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 28 people were killed in Israeli strikes Tuesday around the European hospital in Khan Yunis. The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas “command and control centre”.AFPTV footage showed large craters gouged into the ground and cracks in the courtyard outside the hospital. A damaged bus was lodged in one hole. “Everyone inside the hospital — patients and wounded alike — was running in fear, some on crutches, others screaming for their children, while others were being dragged on beds,” Amro Tabash, a local photojournalist, told AFP.Earlier, the military said it had struck Hamas militants inside “a command and control centre” at Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Yunis. Gaza’s health ministry said that strike killed two people. One of the dead was journalist Hassan Aslih, the civil defence said.Israel had accused Aslih of participating in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks.”In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a statement released on Tuesday. – ‘Under fire’ -“Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas,” Netanyahu had said in the remarks made late Monday.”There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way.”The Israeli warnings came amid new condemnation of its war tactics.UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called on the UN Security Council to take action “to prevent genocide” in Gaza as he gave a scathing account of Israel’s actions in the  territory.”Will you act — decisively — to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?” he said to UN ambassadors in New York.In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron said that Netanyahu’s actions in blocking aid to Gaza were “shameful”.Late Tuesday, the Israeli military urged civilians in several parts of northern Gaza to evacuate after it intercepted “two projectiles” fired from the territory. The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for rocket fire into Israel, which has been rare in recent weeks. Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a January 19 ceasefire.The Israeli government this month approved plans to expand its offensive, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence in Gaza. Israel says that its renewed bombardments are aimed at forcing Hamas to free hostages.Netanyahu credited Alexander’s release on Monday to a combination of “our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by (US) President (Donald) Trump.”This has been rejected by Hamas which has revealed it was engaged in direct talks with Washington on a ceasefire in Gaza.Netanyahu thanked Trump for helping in the release and said he would be sending negotiators to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss remaining captives.- ‘Over 50 percent will leave’ -Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start a Gulf tour that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.Netanyahu said late Monday that Israel was working to find countries willing to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.Israeli ministers have seized on a proposal initially floated by Trump for the voluntary departure of Gazans to neighbouring countries such as Jordan or Egypt, which have flatly rejected the proposal.”We’ve set up an administration that will allow them (Gaza residents) to leave but… we need countries willing to take them in. That’s what we’re working on right now.” Netanyahu estimated that “over 50 percent will leave” if given the option.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.The Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack has killed at least 52,908 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.

The Cannes film festival kicked off Tuesday with a highly political ceremony that included a tribute to a slain Palestinian photojournalist from Juliette Binoche and a fresh attack on US President Donald Trump from Robert De Niro.Binoche, who heads this year’s Cannes jury that will award the Palme d’Or top prize, lamented the death of Gaza photographer Fatima Hassouna to the star-studded audience.Hassouna, 25, was killed in an Israeli air strike last month along with her family, a day after a documentary about her was selected to premiere at Cannes.  “She should have been here tonight with us,” an emotional Binoche said, adding that “in every region of the world, artists are fighting every day and make resistance into art.”She also briefly referenced the Israeli hostages taken by Palestinian group Hamas in its October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.  On the eve of the festival, more than 380 film insiders including “Schindler’s List” actor Ralph Fiennes and former Cannes-winning directors said they were “ashamed” of their industry’s failure to speak out about Israel’s siege of Gaza. “We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza,” read a letter initiated by several pro-Palestinian activist groups and published in French newspaper Liberation and US magazine Variety. The signatories — who include Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and former Cannes winners Ruben Ostlund, Mike Leigh, Justine Triet and Costa-Gavras — also denounced the death of Hassouna.She was killed along with 10 relatives in an Israeli strike on her family home in northern Gaza.- Trump tariffs -De Niro was guest of honour at the opening ceremony, receiving an honorary Palme d’Or award for his contribution to cinema from fellow actor and occasional co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.The 81-year-old is one of the most outspoken critics of Trump in American cinema, with the “Taxi Driver” star often aiming harsh words at the US president. The veteran actor said that “in my country we are fighting like hell for democracy” against a “philistine president”.He slammed Trump’s plans for 100-percent tariffs on films “produced in foreign lands” which the Republican leader announced on May 5.”You can’t put a price on creativity. But apparently, you can put a tariff on it,” De Niro said. “Of course, all these attacks are unacceptable. This is not just an American problem, it is a global one.”Trump’s idea sent shockwaves through the film world, although few insiders or experts understand how the policy can be implemented. Cannes director Thierry Fremaux has talked up the festival’s “rich” American film programme, with movies from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster and Kelly Reichardt in the main competition.Former Cannes winner Quentin Tarantino declared the festival open.He posed for photos on the red carpet with his Israeli wife Daniella Pick, who wore a yellow ribbon as a tribute to the 251 hostages taken by Hamas in 2023. – Dress code -Tuesday’s opening gala was also a first test of the festival’s new dress code which prohibits excessively large dresses and “total nudity”.Jury member Halle Berry said she had been forced to leave a gown she had chosen for the opening night by Indian designer Gaurav Gupta in her wardrobe.”I cannot wear it because the train is too big,” the Oscar winner told reporters.Others openly flouted the restrictions. German model Heidi Klum sported a pink train at least three metres (10 feet) long, while Chinese actor and influencer Wan Qianhui appeared in an enormous mountain of white taffeta.The opening film was musical drama “Leave One Day” by newcomer French director Amelie Bonnin, who became the first debut director to be granted the prestigious slot.Tom Cruise is to return to the Riviera for the premiere of the latest instalment of his “Mission: Impossible” franchise on Wednesday, three years after attending the festival for “Top Gun: Maverick”.The festival opened hours after a Paris court rocked the film world by convicting legendary actor Gerard Depardieu for sexual harassment and handing him an 18-month suspended prison sentence.The 76-year-old, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France’s response to the #MeToo movement against sexual violence.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday promised billions of dollars in deals with the United States from defence to artificial intelligence as it threw a lavish welcome for President Donald Trump on the first state visit of his second term.Trump returned the favour by lavishing praise on the kingdom’s crown prince and moving on a key Saudi policy request by announcing a lifting of sanctions on Syria.The Saudis escorted Air Force One into the kingdom with fighter jets before bringing out long-stretching guards of honour and sending flag-waving cavalry to accompany Trump’s motorcade to the palace.Under imposing chandeliers, Trump welcomed a promise by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who effectively rules the kingdom due to King Salman’s frail health, for $600 billion in investment and quipped that it should be $1 trillion.”We have the biggest business leaders in the world here today and they’re going to walk away with a lot of cheques,” Trump told the prince.For “the United States, it’s probably two million jobs that we’re talking about,” Trump said.The White House said that Saudi Arabia would buy nearly $142 billion in weapons in what it described as the largest-ever weapons deal, although Trump in his first term trumpeted a larger, longer-term figure.The White House said that Saudi company DataVolt will invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence-related sites in the United States, while tech firms including Google will invest in both countries — welcome news for Saudi Arabia which has faced restrictions on US advanced technology.The US leader will also visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, fellow oil-rich Arab monarchies with long-standing ties to the United States — and to Trump.In choosing Saudi Arabia for his first state visit, as he did in his previous term, the 78-year-old billionaire was again bypassing traditional presidential stops among Western allies, some of which have been unnerved by his norms-shattering diplomacy.- Saudis seek image change -Trump’s embrace of the Saudis contrasts with a more hesitant initial approach by former president Joe Biden, who had vowed to punish the crown prince after US intelligence found that he ordered the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.Since Khashoggi’s gruesome killing, the crown prince has worked aggressively to change Saudi Arabia’s image, from easing restrictions on women to diversifying from oil to new areas such as artificial intelligence.”Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong,” Trump said at an investment forum as the crown prince, at his constant side throughout the day, beamed.Complimenting the gleaming skyscrapers in the desert capital, Trump said: “The transformation that has occurred under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed has been truly extraordinary.””I’ve never seen anything at that scale happen before,” he said.Trump announced, in response to appeals from the crown prince and Turkey but breaking with ally Israel, that he would ease US sanctions on Syria, ruled by Islamists since the toppling of the iron-fisted Bashar al-Assad in December.An ultimate prize, pushed both by Trump and Biden, has been to persuade Saudi Arabia, home of Islam’s holiest sites, to take the landmark step of recognising Israel.Trump called normalisation with Israel “my fervent hope and wish, and even my dream”.”You’ll do it in your own time, and that’s what I want, that’s what you want,” he said.Saudi Arabia has said it cannot follow the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which all normalised relations with Israel during Trump’s first term, without the establishment of a Palestinian state.As Trump was in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the army would enter Gaza again “with full force” against Hamas militants, more than two months after Israel cut off all food and other supplies.The United States, which has quietly been frustrated with Israel, negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of a hostage with US citizenship, Edan Alexander, to whom Trump spoke by telephone Tuesday.- Lavish plane -Trump heads on Wednesday to Qatar, which has offered a luxury Boeing aircraft for Trump to refurbish as Air Force One and then keep after he leaves the White House.Trump’s Democratic rivals have called the gift blatant corruption. Trump has hit back that the deal was “very public and transparent”.Jon Alterman, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that for Trump, the Gulf “is his happy place”.The leaders will “flatter him and not criticise him. And they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners,” he said.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would lift sanctions on Syria to offer it a chance for “greatness” after Bashar al-Assad’s fall, as he cast himself as a peacemaker in the Middle East.On a state visit to Saudi Arabia primarily aimed at securing billions of dollars of investment, the billionaire president took aim both at the US left and right who he said had intervened in the region in the guise of “nation builders” but “wrecked far more nations than they built”.Trump renewed his offer for a better US relationship with longtime nemesis Iran, although he warned the nation’s rulers of consequences if ongoing talks with his administration failed.In his most significant announcement, Trump said he would end sweeping US sanctions on Syria, in place for decades and ramped up dramatically during the iron-fisted rule of Assad, who was overthrown by Islamist-led forces in December.”I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said in a speech in Riyadh.”The sanctions were brutal and crippling,” he said. “But now it’s their time to shine.”Trump will at least “say hello” to Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh on Wednesday, a US official said.Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold more extensive talks in Turkey this week with Syria’s foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, Trump said.Shaibani welcomed the lifting of sanctions, telling state news agency SANA it was a “pivotal turning point for the Syrian people”.- Listening to Saudi appeals -In announcing the move, Trump said he was listening to the appeals of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who joined the crowd in cheering the announcement — as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, the longtime patron of the triumphant Syrian Islamists.United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric welcomed the easing of US sanctions, saying it would “help the Syrian people recover from more than a decade of conflict”.The European Union, Britain and Canada had already eased sanctions that had intensified during Syria’s decade and a half of brutal civil war.But the United States had held out on maintaining sanctions, which have impeded investment for the reconstruction of Syria whose economy was devastated by the war.After Assad’s fall, Washington, then under president Joe Biden, lay down conditions for sanctions removal including protection of minorities.In recent weeks, there have been a series of deadly attacks on the Alawite and Druze minorities.- Breaking with Israel -The last US president to meet a Syrian leader was Bill Clinton, who in 2000 unsuccessfully tried to persuade Bashar’s father Hafez al-Assad to make peace with Israel.On both Syria and Iran, Trump is moving in directions that put him at odds with Israel, which he has long supported.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ordered strikes on Syria, demanded the demilitarisation of its south, and pushed for action against Iran’s contested nuclear programme.The Trump administration has held four rounds of talks with Iran on reaching a nuclear accord to avoid war.Trump, who himself pulled out of an earlier nuclear agreement with Tehran in his first term, sharply criticised Iran’s leaders, saying they had “focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad” and “dragged down an entire region with them.”But he added: “I’m here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran’s leaders, but to offer them a new path — and a much better path — toward a far better and more hopeful future”. If the talks fail, however, Trump said he would “have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure,” including using sanctions to curtail all Tehran’s oil exports.Trump’s speech took on much of the tone of his domestic rhetoric. He lashed out at US rivals and even brought the Saudi crown prince on stage to the sound of the Village People’s “YMCA”, a gay anthem turned Trump campaign song.But the US president, whose second term has included slashing most foreign assistance and aggressively deporting migrants, said that he still saw himself as a “peacemaker”.”In the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think,” Trump said.