Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

President Mahmoud Abbas faced criticism from allies and foes alike on Tuesday over a decree overhauling payments to families of Palestinians killed or jailed by Israel, a move to satisfy a U.S. demand that will likely deepen his unpopularity. Palestinian Authority leader Abbas, 89, issued the decree on Monday overturning the system, long condemned by critics as rewarding attacks on Israel but viewed among Palestinians as a vital source of welfare for detainees’ families. The sudden announcement seems aimed at removing a potential source of tension with U.S. President Donald Trump and an attempt to preserve the PA’s role as…

President Mahmoud Abbas faced criticism from allies and foes alike on Tuesday over a decree overhauling payments to families of Palestinians killed or jailed by Israel, a move to satisfy a U.S. demand that will likely deepen his unpopularity. Palestinian Authority leader Abbas, 89, issued the decree on Monday overturning the system, long condemned by critics as rewarding attacks on Israel but viewed among Palestinians as a vital source of welfare for detainees’ families. The sudden announcement seems aimed at removing a potential source of tension with U.S. President Donald Trump and an attempt to preserve the PA’s role as…

The United States will release Russian Alexander Vinnik, a suspected cybercrime kingpin, as part of an exchange with Russia that freed Marc Fogel, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. Vinnik operated BTC-e, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. He was arrested in 2017 and detained at Washington’s request on suspicion of laundering $4 billion through the exchange. In May, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and faced 20 years in prison.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he hoped to reach a deal on critical minerals with the United States at the Munich Security Conference later this week after a top U.S. official presented him with a first draft agreement in Kyiv on Wednesday. Zelenskiy told a joint news conference that he had a productive and constructive discussion with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He said they did not discuss natural resources in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that she was not aware of any preconditions for U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit each other’s nations. “Not that I’m aware of. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” Leavitt said, when asked at a regular news briefing if there were conditions for Trump’s and Putin’s visits. “I was just talking with the president and our national security team, I wasn’t made aware of any conditions,” she added.

Three detainees have been released from detention in Belarus, including one American, U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler told CNN in an interview on Wednesday. “We’ve gotten three detainees out in Belarus,” Boehler said. He did not name the U.S. citizen.

The European Union hopes to avert a damaging trade war with the U.S. over impending metals tariffs by prioritising negotiations rather than retaliatory countermeasures, comments from officials signaled on Wednesday. Ministers responsible for trade from the bloc’s 27 members were due to meet for a video conference on Wednesday to discuss the EU response to U.S. President Donald Trump imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports from March 12. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called those tariffs unjustified and said they would “trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures”. One EU diplomat said it was time to…

U.N. humanitarian officials said on Tuesday aid flows into Gaza had increased significantly since a ceasefire deal took effect on January 19, including for items such as tents that had previously faced Israeli restrictions. Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages until further notice over what the Palestinian group called Israeli violations of the truce accord, raising the risk of reigniting the 15-month conflict. It said that such alleged violations included stopping humanitarian aid from entering Gaza as stipulated in the deal, such as 60,000 mobile houses and 200,000 tents as well as heavy machinery to remove…

With his Gaza home destroyed in Israel’s military offensive, Shaban Shaqaleh was intending to take his family on a break to Egypt once the Hamas-Israel ceasefire is firmly in place. He changed his mind after Donald Trump announced plans to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian residents and redevelop the enclave – plans which the U.S. president said on Monday would not give them the right to return. The Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City, where dozens of newly built multi-storey buildings once stood, is now largely deserted. There is no running water or electricity and, like most buildings there, Shaqaleh’s home is…

Pope Francis sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in an unusual open letter sent to America’s Catholic bishops on Tuesday. The pope, who earlier called Trump’s plan to millions of migrants a “disgrace”, said it was wrong to assume that all undocumented immigrants were criminals. “I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church … not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters,” said the pontiff.