Friday, Apr 11th
Last update08:28:06 AM GMT
International Glance
President Trump on Thursday cut off talk during a press conference with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer about his desire to make Canada “the 51st state,” with Starmer insisting there is no daylight between the two leaders on top issues.
The White House quickly pushed back on any interpretation that Trump cut off Starmer, sharing on the social platform X, “Fake News. President Trump was clearly talking to the reporter trying to goad the leaders into division.”
Ofri Bibas, sister of released hostage Yarden Bibas, slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, telling him to “shut up” after he repeatedly described the murders in captivity of Yarden’s wife Shiri and young sons Ariel and Kfir, against the wishes of the family.
She also took Israeli news outlets, social media users and public diplomats to task for what she said was a blatant violation of the wishes of the family.
Publishing such information over the family’s repeated requests was “abuse for its own sake of a family that has gone through 16 months of hell and still has the worst ahead,” wrote Ofri Bibas on Facebook, a day before the funeral of her nephews and sister-in-law.
TVNL Comment: Where in the US has Hamas' side of this tragedy been told? Where is evidence about these deaths? Why is it not possible that Israeli bombs killed them?
President Trump has shared an AI-generated video depicting his resort-like vision for the future of Gaza — featuring a gigantic golden statue of the president as well as images of him lounging topless poolside with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The 30-second clip, shared on Truth Social late Tuesday, opens by showing a blighted Gaza following 15 months of Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists — before asking, “What next?” in red, white and blue text.
Scenes of destruction morph into a sunny beach resort, as a lively dance track with the lyrics “Donald Trump will set you free, bringing the life for all to see, no more tunnels, no more fear, Trump Gaza is finally here” starts to play.
TVNL Comment: Genocide 101 explained. How ugly can these egoists get?
The US president said Washington would get “a lot of money” back from Ukraine under the deal, but warned that he would be providing minimal guarantees to Ukraine for security from future Russian aggression under any peace deal.
“I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much - we’re going to have Europe do that because we’re talking about Europe is their next door neighbour,” Mr Trump told reporters.
Mr Zelensky has said that a framework economic deal with the US is ready – but security guarantees that Kyiv views as vital remain to be decided.
Fired USAid employees and advocates for people with HIV staged a protest in a Capitol office building on Wednesday, warning that Donald Trump’s drive to dismantle the agency tasked with implementing Washington’s foreign aid agenda imperils the fight against the virus.
Wearing white T-shirts that read “Aids funding cuts kill” and chanting “Congress has blood on its hands, unfreeze aid now”, around three dozen protesters lay down in the rotunda of the Cannon House office building, home to the offices of representatives from both parties. Capitol police said about 20 arrests were made of demonstrators who defied their orders to disperse.
“What we are demanding of Congress is that they stop behaving like doormats in the face of this attack on humanitarian assistance that truly is highly effective and life-saving,” Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap, a global advocacy group fighting against HIV, said prior to the protest.
The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration.
The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.
The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday and temporarily blocked a court order requiring the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnigh
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to exchange the bodies of dead Israeli hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, keeping the fragile ceasefire deal intact for at least a few more days. As part of the agreement, the bodies of four Israeli hostages will be released in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners, Egyptian state-linked media reported late on Tuesday.
Israel has delayed the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners since Saturday to protest what it called the "cruel treatment" of hostages during their release by Hamas, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing them as "humiliating ceremonies". The Palestinian group claimed the delay was a "serious violation" of their ceasefire and that talks on a second phase were not possible until they were freed.
The deadlock had threatened to collapse the five-week-old fragile truce when the current six-week first phase of the deal expires this weekend.
On Tuesday, Hamas confirmed the new agreement, under Egyptian supervision, saying it was part of the first phase of its ceasefire deal with Israel.
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