Ten more hostages will be released from Gaza “very shortly”, Donald Trump said at the White House Friday. The news comes as the president continues to push for a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“We got most of the hostages back. We’re going to have another 10 coming very shortly, and we hope to have that finished quickly,” Trump said during a dinner with Republican senators. He also praised his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “fantastic”.
The current Israel-Hamas ceasefire proposal includes terms calling for the return of 10 hostages, and the remains of 18 others. In exchange, Israel would be required to release an unspecified number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Earlier on Friday, Axios reported that the director of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, visited Washington this week in hope that the United States would support its efforts to ask other countries to take in the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still living in Gaza. Mossad chief David Barnea told Witkoff that Israel has discussed relocating Palestinians to Ethiopia, Indonesia and Libya.
Trump has boasted that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas would be fothcoming since posting on his social media platform on 1 July that Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.
Last week, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House, where he presented Trump with a copy of a letter he had sent to the Nobel committee nominating the president for a Nobel peace prize.
That same week, Qatari officials mediated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a ceasefire.
A spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas told Reuters on Friday that the group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, but could revert to insisting on a full package deal if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations.
Donald Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters for libel and slander over claims that he sent the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a lewd letter and sketch of a naked woman.
In the filing, Trump calls the Wall Street Journal’s report “false and defamatory” and demands at least $10bn in damages and court costs from Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters, News Corporation chief executive Robert Thomson and related corporate entities.
Donald Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters for libel and slander over claims that he sent the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a lewd letter and sketch of a naked woman.
Trump’s lawsuit on Friday, which also targets Dow Jones and News Corp, was filed in the southern district of Florida federal court in Miami.
The lawsuit seeks at least $10bn in damages.
It came after the Journal reported on a 50th birthday greeting that Trump allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003 that included a sexually suggestive drawing and reference to secrets they shared.
It was reportedly a contribution to a birthday album compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida after being found guilty of sex-trafficking and other charges in 2021.
“A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” the Journal reported of the alleged drawing. The letter allegedly concluded: “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump vehemently denied the Journal report and claimed the letter was fake. He said on Truth Social that he warned Murdoch, the founder of News Corp, the newspaper’s parent company, that he planned to sue.
The president posted: “Mr Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but obviously did not have the power to do so. Instead they are going with a false, malicious, defamatory story anyway. President Trump will be suing the Wall Street Journal, News Corp and Mr Murdoch shortly.”
Vice-President JD Vance poured scorn on the report, tweeting on Thursday: “Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it. Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”
The lawsuit is the first that Trump has filed against a media company while in office. But he launched numerous legal actions before returning to the White House, raising fears of a chilling effect on free speech. Most ended in defeat but over the past year he has won more than $30m in settlements from legal actions against ABC News and Paramount.
In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump cast the lawsuit as part of his effort to punish media outlets, including ABC and CBS, which both reached multimillion-dollar settlement deals with the president after he took them to court.
“This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,” he wrote.
But advocates for press freedom cast doubt on the merits of the case.
Professor Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, said: “This defamation case was filed only a day after this explosive story was published, and this speed might actually reflect that. The complaint is heavy on arguments about the story’s reach and how quickly it went viral and was reposted on social media.”
He added: “Asking for $10bn for each count almost sounds comical, and is certainly not related to any plausible damages a plaintiff might have suffered if the story turns out to be false. But the plaintiff [Trump] is going to have to prove that the Wall Street Journal published this story knowing it was false, which does not seem plausible, either.
“We are talking about one of the most highly respected news outlets in the country, if not the world. The reporters and editors, and I’m sure their lawyers, had no reason to doubt the veracity of what they published.”
The case also marked another chapter in the chequered relationship between Trump and Murdoch, whose Fox News network champions the president and has supplied some of his staff. The pair have shared roots in New York’s tabloid culture and recently realigned. In February Trump hosted Murdoch in the Oval Office, praising him as “legendary” and “an amazing guy”.
The president has faced an extraordinary backlash from his own supporters over his refusal to release files about Epstein. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found that 69% of respondents thought the federal government was hiding details about Epstein’s clients, compared with 6% who disagreed and about one in four who said they unsure.
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On Friday, in another effort to dampen the outrage about an alleged government cover-up, Trump ordered his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the prosecution against the disgraced financier.
In a filing in New York, Bondi cited “extensive public interest” for the unusual request to release what is typically secret testimony.
Trump said earlier his Truth Social platform that he had authorised the justice department to seek the public release of the materials, which are under seal, citing “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
He did not say he had authorised the release of files on Epstein held by the justice department and the FBI.
Epstein, a longtime friend of Trump and multiple high-profile men, was found hanging dead in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually exploited dozens of underage girls at his homes in New York and Florida.
The case sparked conspiracy theories, especially among Trump’s far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles. Epstein’s death – declared a suicide – before he could face trial, accelerated the narrative.
When Trump returned to power for a second term this January, his supporters clamored for revelations about Epstein’s supposed list of clients. But Bondi issued an official memo this month declaring there was no such list.
US rejects WHO pandemic changes to global health rules Reuters
US rejects WHO global pandemic response accord Dawn
Joint Statement by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on International Health Regulations Amendments HHS.gov
Trump Rejects Global Pandemic Plan’s ‘Solidarity’ Reforms The Daily Beast
US rejects amendments to WHO international health regulations The Hill
Armed tribes supported by Syria’s Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the community’s Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure.
The United Nations called for an end to the “bloodshed” and demanded an “independent” investigation of the violence, which has claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The renewed fighting raised questions over the authority of interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose interim government also has difficult relations with the Kurdish and Alawite minorities.
It was Sharaa who ordered government forces to pull out, saying that mediation by the United States and others had helped avert a “large-scale escalation” with Israel.
Renewed violence erupted Friday between Bedouin tribal factions and Druze fighters at the entrance to Sweida, an AFP correspondent said.
About 200 tribal fighters clashed with armed Druze men from the city using machine guns and shells, the AFP correspondent said, while SOHR also reported fighting and “shelling on neighbourhoods in Sweida city”.
In the corridors of the Sweida National hospital, a foul odour emanated from the swollen and disfigured bodies piled in refrigerated storage units, an AFP correspondent reported.
A small number of doctors and nurses at the hospital worked to treat the wounded arriving from the ongoing clashes, some in the hallways.
Omar Obeid, a doctor at the government hospital, told AFP that the facility has received “more than 400 bodies since Monday morning”. “There is no more room in the morgue, the bodies are in the street” in front of the hospital, added Obeid, president of the Sweida branch of the Order of Physicians.
The UN’s International Organisation for Migration on Friday said “79,339 people have been displaced since 13 July, including 20,019 on 17 July”.
Tribal groups from across Syria gathered in villages around Sweida on Friday to reinforce local Bedouin, whose longstanding enmity towards Druze people erupted into violence last weekend.
Anas al-Enad, a tribal chief from the central city of Hama, said he and his men had made the journey to the village of Walgha, northwest of Sweida, because “the Bedouin called for our help and we came to support them”.
An AFP correspondent saw burning homes and shops in the village, now under the control of Bedouin people and their allies.
The UK-based SOHR said “the deployment of tribal fighters to Sweida province was facilitated by government forces, because government forces are unable to deploy to Sweida under the terms of the security agreement with Israel”.
Israel, which bombed the Syrian military in Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to put pressure on the government to withdraw, said on Friday that it was sending aid to the Druze community in Sweida.
The 2m shekel (nearly $600,000) package includes food parcels and medical supplies, the ministry said.
A ceasefire was supposed to take effect on Thursday, but Sharaa’s office accused Druze fighters of violating it.
Sweida has been heavily damaged in the fighting and its mainly Druze inhabitants have been deprived of water and electricity, while communication lines have been cut.
Rayan Maarouf, editor-in-chief of local news outlet Suwayda 24, said the humanitarian situation was “catastrophic”. “We cannot find milk for children,” he told AFP.
UN high commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for an end to the bloodshed, saying “the protection of all people must be the utmost priority”.
He demanded “independent, prompt and transparent investigations into all violations” adding that “those responsible must be held to account”.
The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that “health facilities are overwhelmed, medical supplies are dwindling and power cuts are impeding the preservation of human remains in overflowing morgues”.
“The humanitarian situation in Sweida is critical. People are running out of everything,” said Stephan Sakalian, the head of ICRC’s delegation in Syria.
“Hospitals are increasingly struggling to treat the wounded and the sick, and families are unable to bury their loved ones in dignity.”
The latest violence erupted on Sunday after the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant by local Bedouin triggered tit-for-tat abductions, SOHR said.
The Islamist-led government sent in the army, promising to put a halt to the fighting, but witnesses and SOHR said the troops sided with the Bedouin and committed many abuses against Druze civilians as well as fighters.
The interim government has had strained relations with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities since it toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.
This week’s fighting marks the most serious outbreak of violence since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and around Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and five European counterparts agreed on a set of goals on Friday to tighten asylum rules in the bloc, including allowing deportations to Afghanistan and Syria.
The meeting at Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, follows Berlin’s decision in May to reject asylum seekers at the border, a policy it said was coordinated with neighbouring countries but drew significant criticism.
It comes almost exactly a decade after former German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s borders to nearly a million refugees fleeing war and persecution, a landmark decision that reshaped European politics.
Dobrindt met counterparts from France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, as well as EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner.
The agreed asylum policy goals, which require approval from Brussels, include removing legislative obstacles to transferring rejected asylum seekers to secure centres outside the EU and enabling asylum procedures in third countries.
Germany’s new government has already placed curbs on migration including suspending family reunification and resettlement programmes, as it seeks to regain support from voters drawn to the far-right Alternative for Germany, which made historic gains in February’s federal election. On Friday, Germany deported 81 Afghan men to Afghanistan.
“We are all concerned that the overburdening of our countries by illegal migration is also contributing massively to the polarization of society. We want to push back this polarization,” Dobrindt said.
Deportations to countries such as Afghanistan and Syria should be reinstated as standard practice, with citizens from countries failing to cooperate on deportations to face visa restrictions, a joint declaration said.
Trade, and development aid will also be used as leverage to boost returns and strengthen migration cooperation, the document said, pressing for increasing deployment of drones and more EU funding for border infrastructure and personnel.
The countries agreed to combat smugglers and work to dismantle human trafficking networks.
Asylum seekers who have already been granted protection in another EU country will be quickly rejected if they claim asylum elsewhere in the bloc.
“Once we seal the external border, there will be no need for internal border controls,” Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said.
Siemoniak said he discussed the border controls Germany introduced unilaterally at its border with Dobrindt, adding that Poland is ready to waive the controls at its border once Germany does the same.
