Palestinian PM announces plan for early recovery, reconstruction of Gaza
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa unveiled on Thursday a comprehensive plan for early recovery and long-term reconstruction in Gaza, outlining a five-year effort to rebuild the war-torn enclave.
Speaking at a meeting with international partners at the cabinet headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mustafa said the Palestinian government has established a unified framework for reconstruction through the Gaza Recovery and Reconstruction Implementation Program, based on the Arab Plan for Recovery, Reconstruction, and Development in Gaza adopted at the Extraordinary Arab Summit in Cairo in March.
International assessments estimated that damages and losses from the two-year war in Gaza have exceeded 67 billion U.S. dollars, Mustafa said.
Trump says to meet Putin in Hungary
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, for talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, following a phone conversation between the two leaders.
"I have just concluded my telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, and it was a very productive one," said Trump on Truth Social.
"We also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over," he said.
"I believe great progress was made with today's telephone conversation," he added.
French gov't survives no-confidence votes in National Assembly
The French government led by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survives two no-confidence motions in the National Assembly on Thursday, thus avoiding collapse in a particularly tense political climate.
The motions were launched by far-left France Unbowed (LFI) and the far-right National Rally (RN) in response to the pension reform that the government was planning to implement.
To rally support, Lecornu announced the suspension of the controversial reform, which aimed to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, until the next presidential election. This concession was intended in particular to appease the Socialists, whose votes could make the difference.
Lula says Brazil, U.S. to hold meeting to discuss Trump's new tariffs
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that Brazil and the United States will hold their formal bilateral meeting on Thursday to discuss additional tariffs imposed by Washington on Brazilian products.
The meeting follows a virtual conversation earlier this month between Lula and U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Tomorrow we'll have the negotiation talks," Lula said during an event in Rio de Janeiro.
Yemen's Houthis say chief of staff killed in recent Israeli airstrikes
Yemen's Houthi group said in a statement on Thursday that its Chief of Staff, Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Gumari, had been killed in recent Israeli airstrikes.
The statement, broadcast by the Houthi-run satellite channel al-Masirah, said that several senior officers were also killed alongside him at the same location, but provided no further details.
"The rounds of conflict with the enemy (Israel) have not ended, and the Zionist enemy will receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed," the Houthis said.
Hamas delegation in Cairo for talks on Gaza security
Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on Gaza's post-war security and the implementation of a ceasefire with Israel, Egyptian sources said.
The discussions center on deploying about 1,000 Palestinian security personnel -- trained in Egypt and Jordan -- to maintain order in Gaza under Palestinian Authority (PA) supervision, the sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The plan is part of efforts to restore stability and establish PA control, they said.
Talks are also addressing Hamas's potential withdrawal from Gaza's security apparatus and the handover of its weapons under a U.S.-backed peace plan, the sources added.■
