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President Donald Trump is moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as “terrorist” organizations earlier this year.The New York Times reported that Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against cartels deemed terrorist organizations.The Wall Street Journal said the president ordered options to be prepared, with the use of special forces and the provision of intelligence support under discussion, and that any action would be coordinated with foreign partners.White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, while not confirming the reports, said in a statement that Trump’s “top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.”The United States designated Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and six other drug trafficking groups with Latin American roots as terror groups in February.The US embassy in Mexico released a statement later Friday, saying both countries would use “every tool at our disposal to protect our peoples” from drug trafficking groups.But the Mexican foreign ministry stressed that Mexico “would not accept the participation of US military forces on our territory.”- ‘No invasion’ -Trump’s administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has allegedly shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades.The United States accuses Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro of leading that cartel — an allegation Caracas has rejected as a “ridiculous smokescreen.”Trump signed an executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, creating a process for the designation of the cartels, which he said “constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Thursday interview with EWTN that the designations allow “us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever — to target these groups.””We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations,” Rubio said. “It’s no longer a law enforcement issue. It becomes a national security issue.”Trump vowed in March to “wage war” on Mexico’s drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder.His Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, following the reports of potential US military action against cartels, insisted on Friday that there would be “no invasion” of her country.Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against Mexico’s cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularly fentanyl.”We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out,” she said.Sheinbaum has been dubbed the “Trump whisperer” for repeatedly securing reprieves from his threats of stiff tariffs over the smuggling of drugs and migrants across their shared border.

President Donald Trump demanded a massive $1 billion fine from the prestigious University of California system on Friday as the administration pushed its claims of antisemitism in UCLA’s response to 2024 student protests related to Gaza.The figure, which is five times the sum Columbia University agreed to pay to settle similar federal accusations of antisemitism, would “completely devastate” the UC public university system, a senior official said. President James Milliken, who oversees the 10 campuses that make up the University of California system, including Los Angeles-based UCLA, said managers had received the $1 billion demand on Friday and were reviewing it.”As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians,” he said.”Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that save lives, grow the US economy, and protect our national security.”Asked about Trump’s fine during a press conference on Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom — who sits on the UC’s board — said “we’ll sue” and accused the president of trying to silence academic freedom.”He has threatened us through extortion with a billion dollar fine unless we do his bidding,” Newsom said, crediting the UC system as “one of the reasons California is the tentpole of the US economy, one of the reasons we have more scientists, engineers, more Nobel laureates, than any other state in this nation.” Media reports suggest the government wants the money in installments and is demanding the university also pay $172 million to a claims fund to compensate Jewish students and others affected by alleged discrimination.The UC system, with schools that are consistently ranked among the best public universities in the United States, is already grappling with the Trump administration’s more-than half-billion dollar freeze on medical and science grants at UCLA alone.The move appears to follow a similar playbook the White House used to extract concessions from Columbia University, and is also trying to use to get Harvard University to bend.Columbia’s agreement includes a pledge to obey rules barring it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring, among other concessions, drawing criticism from Newsom.”We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom, or on this extraordinary public institution. We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path,” Newsom said.Pro-Palestinian protests rocked dozens of US campuses in 2024, with police crackdowns and mob violence erupting over student encampments, from Columbia to UCLA, with then-president Joe Biden saying “order must prevail.” Universities have been in Trump’s sights since he returned to the White House in January.His Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement views academia as elite, overly liberal and hostile to the kind of ethno-nationalism popular among Trump supporters.

New York is waging a war on multiple fronts to combat the near ubiquitous rats that plague city streets and the subways, leaving some residents afraid to let their children walk on sidewalks.Faced with an overwhelming and ever-growing problem, officials have moved beyond gassing burrows to suffocate rodents and are now using high-tech mapping tools to try and sterilize the population.Alongside targeted interventions, officials are mounting an effort to educate the public about the need to avoid leaving behind food waste that feeds and sustains the rat population.Caroline Bragdon, director of neighborhood interventions for Pest Control Services within New York City’s Department of Health, told AFP that the lack of food “stresses” rats and other vermin. “Perhaps this forces them to go further in search of food, but perhaps they simply have fewer offspring,” she said. “That’s usually what we’re seeing. Fewer rats over time. Less breeding leads to less rat activity,” Bragdon added.The city is testing out an arsenal of different tools in the Harlem neighborhood, aiming to find new products and methods to tackle the rats. For large, densely populated cities like New York — with its 8.5 million inhabitants — food sources for the rodents are bountiful, whether it’s on sidewalks, in overflowing trash bins, or in parks.”Lately, I haven’t felt that I have to run in between the mounds of trash to run away from rats because they have those new (sealed trash) containers,” said Harlem resident Karen Del Aguila, 50.Rats, which survive on practically the same diet as humans, can flourish even on items discarded as trash — like soda cans thrown into recycling bins, or crumbs given to pigeons, warned Bragdon. A rat needs one ounce (28 grams) of food per day to sustain itself, and it can have up to 12 offspring per litter. During its short life of less than a year, it can have between five and seven litters. The best way to counter the scourge of rats is to “remove their food source… So make it harder for them, then they’re going to have to travel further to try and find something,” said Alexa Albert, a supervisor for the city’s pest control service.- ‘It can be done’ -She swiped her screen to show the street-level data logged on a rat tracker app used by those involved in the crusade against rodent infestation.The city health department’s 70 inspectors use the mobile app to detect, report and monitor rodent activity — as well as plot abatement tactics.Inspectors go door to door asking businesses and residents to clean buildings, stores, and sidewalks.Authorities also now offer training on how to combat rats, taken by thousands of residents and building managers. In October 2022, New York City vaunted a “trash revolution,” aimed at installing sealed containers to allow the removal of black bags of organic waste from sidewalks after rats surged during the coronavirus pandemic.Pre-pandemic, their population had been cut by as much as 90 percent in some areas.”So we know it can be done,” said Bragdon, who added that she hoped 2025 would be a “turnaround year.”Local resident Jessica Sanchez said she had observed much fewer rats in her neighborhood.”Not a long time ago, when you went to put out the trash, five of them came out,” she said.”I was even afraid to put my son on the floor.”The rat warriors are seeking to learn the rodents’ dietary habits throughout the year by using samples of different food types to identify what bait they are most likely to take.In 2024, complaints about rat activity dropped 25 percent compared to the year before, according to official data. But so far, only Manhattan’s Chinatown has managed to bring the rat population under control.

After nearly five months onboard the International Space Station, an international crew of five astronauts began their descent back down to Earth on a SpaceX capsule Friday. US astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are expected to spend more than 17 hours in the capsule before splashing down off California’s coast at 1533 GMT on Saturday.Their return will mark the end of the 10th crew rotation mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.The Dragon capsule of billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company detached from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2215 GMT on Friday.The capsule’s dizzying drop back down to Earth will be slowed when it re-enters Earth — and then again by huge parachutes to soften its landing.After the capsule splashes down, it will be recovered by a SpaceX ship and hoisted aboard. Only then will the astronauts be able to breathe Earth’s air again, for the first time in months.The astronauts, known as Crew-10, conducted numerous scientific experiments during their time on the space station, including studying plant growth and how cells react to gravity.Their launch into space in March was heavily scrutinized because it finally allowed two US astronauts — who had been unexpectedly stuck onboard the space station for nine months — to return home.When they launched in June 2024, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only supposed to spend eight days in space on a test of the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight. However, the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back, leaving them stranded in space.NASA announced this week that Wilmore has decided to retire after 25 years of service at the US space agency. Last week, US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov boarded the ISS for a six-month mission.

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory.The Kremlin later confirmed the summit, calling the location “quite logical.””The presidents themselves will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in a statement posted on Telegram.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.”The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.He said earlier at the White House that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.- Trump invited to Russia -Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.The Kremlin’s Ushakov said that Trump had been invited to visit Russia.”Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president,” Ushakov said.- Witkoff visit -The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on “the main results of his conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.Xi expressed support for a “long-term” solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.China’s Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: “China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.Putin also spoke by phone to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi’s oil purchases from Russia.Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region’s east, where Russian forces have been advancing.The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.

US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 Moon mission which nearly ended in disaster in 1970 after a mid-flight explosion, has died at the age of 97, NASA announced Friday. The former Navy pilot, who was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks in the 1995 movie “Apollo 13,” died in a Chicago suburb on Thursday, the US space agency said in a statement. The astronaut’s “life and work inspired millions of people across the decades,” NASA said, praising his “character and steadfast courage.”Lovell travelled to the Moon twice but never walked on the lunar surface.Yet he is considered one of the greats of the US space program after rescuing a mission that teetered on the brink of disaster as the world watched in suspense far below.”There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own,” Hanks said in an Instagram post. “Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy.”- ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’ -Launched on April 11, 1970 — nine months after Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon — Apollo 13 was intended to be humanity’s third lunar landing. The plan was that Lovell would walk on the Moon.The mission, which was also crewed by astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, was already considered fairly routine.Then an oxygen tank exploded on the way there.The disaster prompted Swigert to famously tell mission control: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Lovell then repeated the phrase, which is slightly different to the one used in the Ron Howard movie, according to NASA.The three astronauts and crew on the ground scrambled to find a solution. The United States followed the chaotic odyssey from the ground, fearing that the country could lose its first astronauts in space.Around 200,000 miles from Earth, the crew was forced to shelter in their Lunar Module, slingshot around the Moon and rapidly return to Earth.The composed leadership of Lovell — who was nicknamed “Smilin’ Jim” — and the ingenuity of the NASA team on the ground managed to get the crew safely back home.Lovell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but never returned to space.- ‘Our Hero’ -Born on March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell worked as a Navy pilot before joining NASA.He was one of three astronauts who became the first people to orbit the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The mission also took the famous image “Earthrise,” in which the blue planet peeks out from beyond the Moon.Lovell’s family said they were “enormously proud of his amazing life and career,” according to a statement released by NASA.”But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero,” the statement added.”We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible.”

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.”The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.He said earlier at the White House that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.The Kremlin did not immediately confirm the date or location for the talks.Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.- Witkoff visit -The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on “the main results of his conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.Xi expressed support for a “long-term” solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.China’s Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: “China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.Putin also spoke by phone to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi’s oil purchases from Russia.Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region’s east, where Russian forces have been advancing.The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited false claims to justify terminating 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, researchers said Friday, a day after the World Health Organization called the decision a major blow.Kennedy on Tuesday announced the cancellation of contracts worth around $500 million, marking his latest attempt to infuse vaccine skepticism into the core of US health policy.Citing medical experts, disinformation watchdog NewsGuard identified a series of false claims about the vaccines –- credited with saving millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic — that Kennedy promoted to explain the termination.Kennedy claimed that mRNA vaccines were responsible for “new mutations” of the virus, thus creating new variants that can prolong pandemics.”Kennedy is mistaken in statements made when ceasing funding for mRNA vaccine development,” Stephen Evans, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the London-based Science Media Centre.”No vaccine, including mRNA encourages new mutations.”Kennedy also made two previously debunked claims about the effectiveness of the vaccines.He stated that mRNA vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid” and added that mRNA technology “poses more risks than benefits.”Evans said the vaccines were “extremely effective against Covid, preventing deaths, hospitalisations and clinical or sub-clinical infection.””No vaccine has a zero incidence of side-effects, some of which can be serious, but the benefits of both mRNA vaccines and other types of vaccine –- lives saved and illness reduced — hugely outweigh the risks,” Charles Bangham, a professor of immunology at the Imperial College London, told the Science Media Centre.On Thursday, WHO immunisation figurehead Joachim Hombach called the US decision to terminate the contracts a “significant blow.””mRNA vaccines are a very important technology and platform which has served us extremely well for Covid. We also know there is very promising work going on in relation to influenza vaccines,” he said.Echoing those comments, US experts have warned that the funding cuts threaten critical research and public health around the world.”This sets back vaccine science by a decade,” Andrew Pekosz, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote on X.”Of course they didn’t read the science or listen to the experts… if they did, they wouldn’t have made this decision.”Kennedy, who spent two decades sowing misinformation around immunization, has overseen a major overhaul of US health policy since taking office.He has fired, for example, a panel of vaccine experts that advise the government and replacing them with his own appointees.In its first meeting, the new panel promptly voted to ban a longstanding vaccine preservative targeted by the anti-vaccine movement, despite its strong safety record.He has also ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism.burs-ac/bgs

The Justice Department has opened new investigations into Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, US media reported Friday.The New York Times said a subpoena had been issued to James, an outspoken Trump critic, in the civil fraud case and another that her office brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA).A New York judge ordered Trump in February of last year to pay $355 million plus interest for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.The Times said the Justice Department was examining whether James’s office had violated Trump’s civil rights in the civil fraud suit brought against the real estate tycoon.James’s office also filed a financial mismanagement case against Trump ally Wayne LaPierre, which saw the senior NRA executive banned from serving in any role at the gun rights advocacy group for 10 years.A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports.James is also reportedly the target of a Justice Department criminal probe for allegedly falsifying records related to properties in Virginia and New York to obtain better loan terms.In a statement in April when reports emerged of the investigation, James denied any wrongdoing and said that she “will not be intimidated by bullies.”Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies, stripping former officials of their security clearances and protective details, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.The FBI recently opened criminal investigations into two other prominent Trump critics, former FBI director James Comey and ex-CIA chief John Brennan, for making alleged false statements to Congress.Abbe Lowell, James’s personal lawyer, told the Times that any investigation into James over Trump’s civil fraud case is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.””Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration,” Lowell said.A spokesperson for James said “any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American.”We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association,” the spokesperson said, “and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.”

For US President Donald Trump, it’s up to Israel to decide what to do next in Gaza — meaning Washington is offering quiet support for its ally’s plans to expand the offensive in the war-wracked Palestinian territory.While numerous European and Arab capitals urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to reconsider his decision to “take control” of Gaza City, Trump this week has effectively given the Israeli prime minister free rein — even if it means pushback from the international community. After nearly two years of devastating conflict, Israel’s security cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan to “defeat” Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.Before Israel’s announcement, when asked if he could support such a plan, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was focused on securing an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to help starving Palestinians.”As far as the rest of it, I really, I really can’t say — that’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” Trump said.Then on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that position, telling Catholic TV network EWTN, “Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel’s security will be determined by Israel.”Trump and Rubio’s comments speak volumes about the US strategy: since Israel-Hamas talks on a ceasefire in Gaza fell apart, Washington has broadly embraced Israel’s views following US envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit last week.Details of Witkoff’s meeting with Netanyahu have not been made public, but it is hard to imagine that Trump’s emissary was not briefed on Israel’s plans.While Washington has amped up the pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, it has also insisted that all Israeli hostages — dead or alive — be freed from Hamas captivity and the complete annihilation of the militant group.”Our goals are very clear,” US Vice President JD Vance said Friday during talks with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.”We want to make it so that Hamas cannot attack innocent Israeli civilians ever again, and we think that has to come through the eradication of Hamas.”Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has offered Israel ironclad support, even while pushing for better humanitarian support.He seemed to throw in the towel on securing a ceasefire following repeated failed efforts at mediation, especially after talks crumbled late last month in Doha when Hamas refused a deal to free the hostages.Hamas still has 49 Israeli hostages abducted during the October 2023 attack, 27 of whom are presumed dead.- Capitulation -The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee — who is prone to making eyebrow-raising statements — slammed all criticism of Israel’s plans for Gaza.”So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?” Huckabee wrote on social media.”Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them?” he said in response to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called Netanyahu’s approach “wrong.”In his interview with EWTN, Rubio said “as long as Hamas exists, particularly exists as an armed organization, there will never be peace in Gaza.”Rubio said he understood why the famine facing Palestinians in the territory was getting “almost all the media coverage” but lamented what he called a lack of attention to the plight of the remaining Israeli hostages.In recent weeks, Washington has sharply criticized international initiatives to formally recognize a Palestinian state, led notably by French President Emmanuel Macron, warning that it emboldens Hamas not to give up.