KOENIG

European foreign ministers held a confrontational call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X/Twitter.

Araghchi had made no headway regarding concessions for his country's nuclear program, the report said. He reportedly expressed some openness to extending the snapback deadline Europe set, which is set for the end of the month, but stressed this is for the United Nations Security Council to decide. 

Araghchi reported that the US was not interested in negotiations with Iran and that the two countries had no plans to meet.

Berlin has no immediate plans to recognize a Palestinian state, a German government spokesperson declared on Friday, calling such a move at this stage “counterproductive.”

“A negotiated two-state solution remains our goal, even if it seems a long way off today,” the spokesperson told a press briefing. “Recognition of Palestine is more likely to come at the end of such a process. Right now, it would undermine efforts toward peace.” 

Berlin’s statement stands in sharp contrast to the positions of capitals such as Paris, London, Canberra and Ottawa, where governments have signaled willingness to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly annual general debate in September.

Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are scheduled to meet with US counterparts in Washington next week amid mounting alarm over the agency's inability to confirm the fate of Iran's near-weapons grade uranium, diplomats told Bloomberg.

The talks come after chief inspector Massimo Aparo, acting under the direction of IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, failed to secure Tehran's consent to reinstate monitoring following the June war between Israel and Iran, three diplomats said to Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, the IAEA has become increasingly discouraged about prospects of returning inspectors since they were expelled during the June hostilities, a step that ended global monitoring of the scope and intent of Tehran's nuclear work.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Gaza Division on Thursday to approve the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) operational plans for a takeover of Gaza City and the defeat of Hamas. Speaking to troops on the ground, Netanyahu emphasized the dual mission of military operations and hostage negotiations.

"I have come to approve the IDF's plans to take over Gaza City and defeat Hamas. At the same time, I have instructed to begin immediate negotiations on the release of all our hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel," Netanyahu said. "These two things defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages go hand in hand."

Netanyahu’s visit coincides with heightened military activity on the outskirts of Gaza City, where IDF forces have already established a presence. Additional forces are expected to join them as operations intensify.

James Dobson, the influential conservative Christian therapist, author and radio personality who founded Focus on the Family, has died at the age of 89.

The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute announced Thursday morning that Dobson had passed away following a brief illness. He is survived by Shirley, his wife of 64 years, two children, and two grandchildren.

“Dr. Dobson was a pioneer — a man of deep conviction whose voice shaped the way generations view faith, family and culture,” said Gary Bauer, senior vice president of Public Policy at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, as quoted in the announcement.

“His bold leadership, integrity, and compassion helped equip countless families to thrive in a world of shifting values. He was a mentor, a counselor, and a steady voice of truth in turbulent times.”

Syria’s foreign minister held a rare meeting with an Israeli delegation in Paris on Tuesday, the Syrian state-run news agency reported. The talks were brokered by the United States, which has been pushing for Syria and Israel to normalize relations, the report said.

The SANA news agency said Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani met with Israeli officials to discuss deescalating tensions and restoring a 1974 ceasefire agreement. The talks resulted in “understandings that support stability in the region,” according the agency.

“These talks are taking place under US mediation, as part of diplomatic efforts aimed at enhancing security and stability in Syria and preserving the unity and integrity of its territory,” it added.

A major construction project that would see some 3,400 housing units built in the contentious E1 area in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, was given final approval Wednesday.

Announced last week by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the controversial plan was formally greenlit by the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, a Defense Ministry department.

Smotrich, who also holds a junior ministerial position in the Defense Ministry that grants him wide say in settlement construction, called the decision “historic.”

The IDF has begun the first steps of its invasion of Gaza City, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin confirmed on Wednesday.

"Our forces already control the outskirts of the city," Deffrin said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upbraided French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, charging that the latter’s move to recognize a Palestinian state fuels antisemitism, drawing a combative response from Paris.

Late last month, Macron said France would formally recognize a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, drawing a swift rebuke from Israel.

By announcing the move, France was set to join a growing list of nations to have recognized statehood for the Palestinians since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago. Many Western nations have followed in Paris’s footsteps.

Talks between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are ongoing and “will continue in the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told Iranian state media on Monday.

IAEA deputy director general Massimo Aparo visited Tehran last week to begin talks on how the U.N. agency and the Islamic Republic will interact following Israel’s attack on its nuclear and ballistic missile facilities in June, semi-official Iranian outlet Mehr News Agency reported.

“The talks began last week, and another round of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA is likely to take place in the coming days,” he said.

In an unprecedented personal attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was a “weak” politician who “betrayed Israel” and “abandoned” his country’s Jewish community, amid an escalating diplomatic crisis between the two nations.

In an English-language statement posted on his official account on X, Netanyahu said: “History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid criticized Netanyahu, saying that world leaders are strengthened by public rows with “politically toxic” Israeli leader, and that the premier had given Albanese a “gift” with his attack.

The Russian Foreign Ministry roundly rejected the idea of NATO forces serving as peacekeepers in Ukraine, a provision sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European allies in U.S.-brokered peace talks.

"We confirm the position that has been voiced more than once about our categorical rejection of any scenarios involving the appearance of Ukraine military contingent with the participation of NATO countries (which is fraught with an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences)," a foreign ministry statement reported by Russian state media outlet Ria read.

President Donald Trump spelled out the objectives for his talks with European leaders, saying they would discuss “who will do what” as part of security guarantees for Ukraine and “possible exchanges of territory” to end the war.

“President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine. And this is one of the key points that we need to consider, and we’re going to be considering that at the table,” he said.

The president said the land concession issue would take “into consideration the current line of contact.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads into a high-stakes White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday, as Washington considers security guarantees for Kyiv and debate intensifies over whether land concessions to Russia could end the war.

Zelenskyy will be flanked by key European allies at the White House, a diplomatic overture that signals Europe’s determination to rally behind Ukraine.

Hamas told Egyptian and Qatari mediators that they agreed to the latest Gaza hostage-ceasefire proposal, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. 

Israel received Hamas's proposal on Monday evening. An Israeli official told the Post that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will consider Hamas's proposal despite it being only a partial deal that doesn't include the release of all the hostages. However, according to sources, Israel's position, which includes the release of all the hostages and other conditions to end the war, has not changed. 

The proposal would see the release of ten living Israeli hostages in return for a 60-day ceasefire, and the release of 150 terrorists serving life sentences.

Sharaa is now in a difficult predicament: he wants complete control over all of Syria, but in the six months of his rule, he has lost the trust of the minorities.

The regime in Damascus is now on a collision course with all minorities. While the Alawites are defenseless, the Druze are backed by Israel, and the Kurds constitute a large, armed force that still enjoys a kind of American patronage.

On recent days, the regime in Damascus has been publishing lists of detainees, alleged lawbreakers, who participated in the massacre against the Alawites and Druze. But it is doubtful whether these arrests will restore trust in the regime. From the perspective of the minorities, the option of the control of the security forces of Sharaa in their territories is the most frightening and threatening. Syria is in real danger of disintegration.

As Israelis across the country blocked roads Sunday and called for an end to the war and a hostage release deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the nationwide strike was making a ceasefire with Hamas less likely.

The remarks were met with anger from the families of hostages, who accused the prime minister of lying to the public.

“Those who call today for ending the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’s position and distancing the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the atrocities of October 7 will repeat themselves again and again, and that our sons and daughters will have to fight again and again in an endless war,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Gaza residents will be provided with tents and other shelter equipment starting from Sunday ahead of relocating them from combat zones to safe ones in the south of the enclave, the IDF announced on Saturday.

This comes days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban center, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that before launching the offensive, the civilian population will be evacuated to what he described as "safe zones" from Gaza City, which he called Hamas' last stronghold.

US President Donald Trump told Ukraine's leader on Saturday that Russia's Vladimir Putin offered to freeze the frontlines elsewhere if Kyiv agreed to withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a person familiar with the matter said.

Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff told Ukraine's Zelensky that Putin said there could be no ceasefire before that happened, and that Putin could pledge not to launch any new aggression against Ukraine as part of an arrangement.

Putin told a televised meeting of senior officials in the Kremlin on Saturday that his visit to Alaska had been "timely and extremely useful."

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday said he had agreed with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the best way to end the war between Russia and Ukraine was to go straight to a peace settlement rather than via a ceasefire.

The statement is at variance with the demands of Ukraine and its European allies, yet echoes previous remarks by Putin that Russia is not interested in a temporary truce, and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscow’s interests into account. 

"It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on Truth social.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) — A highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow’s war in Ukraine, despite both leaders describing the talks in Alaska as productive.

During a brief appearance before the media following the nearly three-hour talks, the two leaders said they had made progress on unspecified issues. But they offered no details and took no questions, with the normally loquacious Trump ignoring shouted questions from reporters.

“There were many, many points that we agreed on. I would say a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump said, standing in front of a backdrop that read, “Pursuing Peace.”

A B-2 bomber and four F-35 fighter jets flew over Russian President Vladimir Putin's head while meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump as they walked on a red carpet platform during their Friday meeting in Alaska, video footage showed.

Trump and Putin were then seen entering the same limousine, and there did not appear to be any interpreters, as the Russian leader speaks English well enough to converse with Trump, according to The New York Times.

Trump prepared for what he called a "high-stakes" summit with the Russian leader to discuss a ceasefire deal to end the invasion of Ukraine

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy explained why it "makes sense" for President Donald Trump to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in his state Friday.