U.S. President Donald Trump, hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, said the United States had scheduled talks with Iran and indicated progress on a controversial effort to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza.

According to REUTERS at the beginning of a dinner between U.S. and Israeli officials, Netanyahu said the United States and Israel were working with other countries who would give Palestinians a “better future,” suggesting that the residents of Gaza could move to neighboring nations.

“If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,” Netanyahu said.
“We’re working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realize what they always say, that they wanted to give the Palestinians a better future. I think we’re getting close to finding several countries.”

Trump, who initially demurred to Netanyahu when asked about the relocating of Palestinians, said the countries around Israel were helping out. “We’ve had great cooperation from … surrounding countries, great cooperation from every single one of them. So something good will happen,” Trump said.

The president earlier this year floated relocating Palestinians and taking over the Gaza Strip to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Gazans criticized the proposal and vowed never to leave their homes in the coastal enclave.

Human rights groups condemned the plan as ethnic cleansing.

Trump and Netanyahu met for several hours in Washington while Israeli officials continued indirect negotiations with Hamas aimed at securing a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

Netanyahu returned to the Blair House guest house late on Monday, where he is due to meet Vice President JD Vance at 9:30 EDT on Tuesday.

Netanyahu’s visit follows Trump’s prediction, on the eve of their meeting, that such a deal could be reached this week. Before heading to Washington, the right-wing Israeli leader said his discussions with Trump could help advance negotiations under way in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

It was Trump’s third face-to-face encounter with Netanyahu since returning to office in January, and came just over two weeks after the president ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear sites in support of Israeli air strikes. Trump then helped arrange a ceasefire in the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Trump said his administration would be meeting with Iran. “We have scheduled Iran talks, and they … want to talk. They took a big drubbing,” he said.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the meeting would take place in the next week or so.
Trump said he would like to lift sanctions on Iran at some point. “I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off,” he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview released on Monday that he believed Iran could resolve its differences with the United States through dialogue.

Trump and his aides appeared to be trying to seize on any momentum created by the weakening of Iran, which backs Hamas, to push both sides for a breakthrough in the 21-month Gaza war.

The two leaders, with their top advisers, held a private dinner in the White House Blue Room, instead of more traditional talks in the Oval Office, where the president usually greets visiting dignitaries.

Outside, hundreds of protesters, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and waving Palestinian flags, gathered near the White House, waving banners that read “Stop Arming Israel” and “Say No to Genocide”.

They also called for Netanyahu’s arrest, referring to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Israeli leader over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Netanyahu met earlier on Monday with Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He planned to visit the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to see congressional leaders.

During their meeting, Netanyahu gave Trump a letter that he said he had used to nominate the U.S. president for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump, appearing pleased by the gesture, thanked him.
Ahead of their visit, Netanyahu told reporters Israeli negotiators were driving for a deal on Gaza in Doha, Qatar’s capital.
Israeli officials also hope the outcome of the conflict with Iran will pave the way for normalization of relations with more of its neighbors such as Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

SECOND DAY OF QATAR TALKS

Witkoff, who played a major role in crafting the 60-day ceasefire proposal at the center of the Qatar negotiations, will travel to Doha this week to join discussions there, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier on Monday.

In a sign of continued gaps between the two sides, Palestinian sources said Israel’s refusal to allow the free and safe entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza remains the main obstacle to progress in the indirect talks.

Israel insists it is taking steps to get food into Gaza but seeks to prevent militants from diverting supplies.

On the second day of negotiations, mediators hosted one round and talks were expected to resume in the evening, the Palestinian sources told Reuters.

The U.S.-backed proposal envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.

Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to halt fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas dismantled.

Trump told reporters last week that he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza deal and that the Israeli leader also wanted to end the war.

Some of Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners oppose halting military operations but, with Israelis having become increasingly weary of the Gaza war, his government is expected to back a ceasefire if he can secure acceptable terms.

A ceasefire at the start of this year collapsed in March, and talks to revive it have so far been fruitless. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution.

Gazans were watching closely for any sign of a breakthrough. “I ask God almighty that the negotiating delegation or the mediators pressure with all their strength to solve this issue, because it has totally became unbearable,” said Abu Suleiman Qadoum, a displaced resident of Gaza city.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

Trump has been strongly supportive of Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics last month by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

REUTERS

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One of the oldest people in the U.S. is celebrating her birthday on Independence Day.

Bonita Gibson, one of the oldest people in the United States, calls Canton, Michigan, home.

She will celebrate her 114th birthday on the Fourth of July.

She is believed to be the oldest living person in Michigan and one of only a few supercentenarians in the United States.

“She’s a clown. I would say class clown if I should say that,” Scott Gibson, Bonita Gibson’s grandson, said. “She’s always joking, and even with her problems hearing right now, she still gets me cracking up.”

Over the years, Bonita Gibson lost her hearing, so her grandson writes to help communicate.

Each year, the team at Waltonwood Carriage Park Senior Living asks what she wants for her birthday.

“Every year, she just opens up and smiles,” Angie Hanson, the facility’s executive director, said. “She’s so generous. It’s nice she wants to do a big celebration.”

One of the oldest people in the U.S. is celebrating her birthday on Independence Day.
One of the oldest people in the U.S. is celebrating her birthday on Independence Day.

“She’s kind, generous, never forgets a person’s name, always remembers birthdays. She’s just a good, good person,” Waltonwood Carriage Park life enrichment manager Erin McGraw added.

This year, Bonita Gibson said she wanted to be in Plymouth’s Fourth of July parade.

Her wish is coming true.

She will ride with her special-made umbrella and accompanied by a huge banner.

“She was in it 10 years ago, so Erin got right on it. The family will be coming. They’re very excited. The community came in to support,” Hanson said. “I think there’s going to be some surprises”

Born in 1911 in rural Missouri, Bonita Gibson has lived through World War I and World War II, the Great Depression, and the invention of sunglasses.

“The Titanic sank a year after she was born,” Scott Gibson added.

Bonita Gibson has also survived mumps, measles, whooping cough and COVID twice. She says her secret to a long life is potatoes and no drinking or smoking.

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The US State Department says it will resume scheduling appointments for international student visas, but will ask all applicants to make their social media accounts public for enhanced screening.

Officials have been instructed to expand social media vetting of applicants and search for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”.

The Trump administration had halted the scheduling of student visa appointments in late May as it prepared to step up measures to restrict applicants deemed hostile to the US.

The guidelines will impact all applicants who apply for F visas, which are primarily used by students.

Applicants for the M visas, used for vocational students, and the J visas, used by exchange students, will also be impacted, a State Department spokesperson said.

Those who keep their social media accounts private may be deemed as trying to hide their activity, the department added.

“It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump Administration is doing every single day,” a senior State Department official said.

Officers have also been instructed to screen for those “who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful anti-Semitic harassment or violence”.

The move is part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration against America’s most elite universities.

President Donald Trump has deemed these institutions too left-wing, and has accused them of failing to combat antisemitism when pro-Palestinian protests have unfolded on campuses.

Trump’s crackdown has also included the freezing of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities, as well as moving to deport students or revoking visas for others. Many of those actions have been blocked by US courts.

Among the institutions scrutinised by the president is Harvard University, which had $2.65bn (£1.96bn) in federal grants frozen.

Trump has also tried to revoke Harvard’s ability to enrol international students, though that move has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge while the matter is being heard in court.

More than 1.1 million international students from over 210 countries were enrolled in US colleges in the 2023-24 school year, according to Open Doors, an organisation that collects data on foreign students.

SOURCE: BBC

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday made inflammatory remarks about Iran’s leadership, stating the United States knows the whereabouts of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but will not target him “for now.”

In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared that “we have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” and warned that U.S. patience was “wearing thin.”

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding… He is an easy target… but we are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump posted, without clarifying whether the “we” referred to the United States directly or its allies.

In a follow-up message, Trump demanded Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” — a stark signal that U.S. involvement in the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict may be escalating.

The remarks came shortly after Trump returned early from the G7 summit in Canada and was scheduled for high-level briefings in the White House Situation Room.

While maintaining that the U.S. is not directly involved in the conflict, Trump has hinted at possible intervention and reiterated his call for Iran to accept a nuclear deal he claims to have previously offered.

Tensions in the region remain high as Israel, backed by U.S.-supplied weaponry, intensifies strikes on Iranian targets.

Democratic US Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday and placed in handcuffs.

Noem was giving an update on immigration enforcement after nearly a week of protests in the city, when Senator Padilla interrupted and started shouting a question.

“I’m Senator Alex Padilla,” he said as he was confronted by authorities. “I have questions for the secretary!”

Video of the incident shows the senator struggling with multiple Secret Service agents before being shoved out of the room and dragged away, before uniformed FBI agents placed him on the ground and arrested him.

Noem, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers while the senator was ejected.

Padilla’s removal prompted immediate condemnation and an angry backlash on Capitol Hill, where fellow Democratic members of Congress called the arrest a “sickening disgrace” and an “affront to democracy”.

LA Mayor Karen Bass called it “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous”, adding that the Trump administration’s “violent attacks on our city must end”.

Some Republicans also condemned the incident. “It’s horrible,” Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters. “It is shocking at every level. It’s not the America I know.”

In a video posted to social media later in the day, Padilla said he “couldn’t accept the rhetoric anymore” during the news conference and so tried to interject with a question.

“I’m OK,” he said. “But if they can do that to me, a United States senator… what are they doing to a lot of folks out there when the cameras are not on?”

“What we’ve seen here should not be normalised,” he added.

Kristi Noem said she met with Padilla for 15 minutes afterwards, saying while they “probably disagree on 90% of the topics”, the pair would continue to talk.

“I wish he would’ve acted that way in the beginning rather than creating a scene,” she said in a social media post.

The Trump administration accused Padilla of “disrespectful political theatre”.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said he lunged at Secretary Noem. That was disputed by the senator’s office and fellow Democrats.

The department said the senator was told to back away and did not comply with officers’ commands, adding that the Secret Service “thought he was an attacker”.

Padilla told reporters that he was already in the federal building for a previously scheduled meeting. He said he stopped by Noem’s news briefing because he and his colleagues have received “little to no information in response” to several immigration-related queries.

Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, is the most senior Democrat on the Senate’s Border Security and Immigration subcommittee.

“I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information,” he said.

He urged Americans across the country to “continue peacefully protesting” the Trump administration and its policies.

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom called on Republican congressional leadership to condemn the detaining of Padilla.

“If they can handcuff a US Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you,” Newsom wrote on social media.

But the White House accused the California senator of storming the press conference.

“Padilla didn’t want answers; he wanted attention,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson said. “Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theatre-kid stunt – but it’s telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA.”

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Additional report from BBC