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Police beefed up security at schools and religious buildings across Washington Friday as the US capital reeled from the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum.The 31-year-old Chicago man accused of Wednesday’s attack shouted “Free Palestine” as he was taken away by police — exacerbating fears over rising anti-Semitism since Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the unprecedented October 2023 Hamas attack.”Around DC, you will see an increased presence of law enforcement officers around the community, you will find us around our faith-based organizations,” Metropolitan Police (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith told reporters.”You will see an increased presence around our schools and places like the DC Jewish Community Center. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish community.”Authorities in Washington said they were investigating the shooting “as an act of terrorism and as a hate crime” ahead of a preliminary court hearing set for alleged killer Elias Rodriguez on June 18.President Donald Trump — who spoke with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — posted on social media that the attack was clearly anti-Semitic.The shooting, just a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the White House, triggered international outrage as Israel blamed European criticism of its Gaza offensive, which came in response to the Hamas attack.The victims of Wednesday’s attack, Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky and American Sarah Lynn Milgrim, had been planning to marry.- ‘Crazy’ -Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser gathered her interfaith council, local Jewish leaders, city councillors and law enforcement officials on Thursday to coordinate the community response.”We have a long history, and a lot of practice in our city, of working with Jewish organizations around safety and around protection,” she told a news conference.Aaron Hiller, head of the board of the Hill Havurah synagogue, who was organizing a vigil for the victims in Washington late Friday, said the attack was “unfortunately … not unexpected.””Both acts of anti-Semitism and acts of violence are all too common,” Hiller said, though insisting the community was “very safe.””I walk to work and from work very late at night (and) my kids roam the neighborhood freely,” he said.But “particularly since the events of October 7th, we are taking steps to enhance our security here and elsewhere.”Daniel Ben Chitrit, who was at the vigil, said he was deeply shaken by Wednesday’s killings, adding that he was supposed to have been at the Jewish Museum that evening.”I didn’t know the victims, but I’ve met the victims at previous events,” he said.He insisted there had been no way for the shooter to know the couple worked at the Israeli embassy.”All he knew is that they were coming from the Jewish event,” he said.

US President Donald Trump on Friday threw his support behind a new “partnership” between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel, sending the American firm’s share price skyrocketing on hopes of an end to the long-running saga over foreign ownership of a key national asset.  While the details of the deal remained unclear, the Pennsylvania-headquartered firm’s …

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US President Donald Trump rekindled his trade war with the European Union on Friday by threatening 50 percent tariffs, as Brussels reacted with a call for “respect.”Trump also unleashed a broadside against smartphone makers including US tech giant Apple, threatening them with new duties of 25 percent if they do not move production to the …

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Stock markets dropped Friday after US President Donald Trump ended a lull in his trade war with threats of massive tariffs on Apple products and imports from the European Union.Wall Street’s main indexes spent the entire session in the red. The biggest loser of the three was the Nasdaq, weighed down by a three percent …

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The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruelest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments to resume as it pressed a newly expanded offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.Gaza civil defence agency official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP at least 71 people were killed, while “dozens of injuries, and a large number of missing persons under the rubble have been reported as a result of Israeli air strikes” on Friday.UN chief Antonio Guterres said “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict”, adding that Israel “must agree to allow and facilitate” humanitarian deliveries.He pointed to snags, however, noting that of the nearly 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza in recent days, only 115 were able to be collected.”In any case, all the aid authorised until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” he added in a statement.”Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction,” he said.The World Food Programme said Friday that 15 of its “trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries”.”Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity,” the UN body said in a statement, calling on Israeli authorities “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster”.- ‘No one should be surprised’ -Aid shipments to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade, which has resulted in severe shortages of food and medicine.”I appeal to people of conscience to send us fresh water and food,” said Sobhi Ghattas, a displaced Palestinian sheltering at the port in Gaza City. “My daughter has been asking for bread since this morning, and we have none to give her.”COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday.But Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday that the UN had brought in 500 to 600 per day on average during a six-week ceasefire that broke down in March.”No one should be surprised let alone shocked at scenes of precious aid looted, stolen or ‘lost’,” he said on X, adding that “the people of Gaza have been starved” for more than 11 weeks.- ‘Enough!’ -The Israeli military said that over the past day, its forces had attacked “military compounds, weapons storage facilities and sniper posts” in Gaza.”In addition, the (air force) struck over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” it added.The military said on Friday afternoon that air raid sirens were activated in communities near Gaza, later reporting that “a projectile that crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip was intercepted” by the air force.In Gaza’s north, Al-Awda hospital reported Friday that three of its staff were injured “after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs” on the facility.The civil defence agency later said it had successfully contained a fire at the hospital.An AFP journalist saw large plumes of smoke billowing above destroyed buildings in southern Gaza after Israeli bombardments.”Have mercy on us,” said a distraught Youssef al-Najjar, whose relatives were killed in an air strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis. “We are exhausted from the displacement and the hunger — enough!”Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending the ceasefire that began on January 19.On Friday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Iran’s foreign minister described nuclear talks with the United States as “complicated”, following the conclusion of a fifth round of discussions in Rome on Friday.The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump’s first term.Since returning to office, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.Iran wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions which have battered its economy.”The negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings,” Iranian Foreign Minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi said, as the Oman-mediated talks concluded.A senior US official nonetheless described the talks as “constructive” and said the two sides agreed to meet again.”The discussions were both direct and indirect, and lasted over two hours. The talks continue to be constructive — we made further progress, but there is still work to be done,” the official said. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said on X, that the fifth round concluded “with some but not conclusive progress”, adding that he hoped “the remaining issues” would be clarified in the coming days.Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had earlier said that chief US negotiator Steve Witkoff had left the talks “due to his flight schedule”.The fourth round of talks, in the Omani capital Muscat, ended with a public spat over enrichment.Witkoff said Washington “could not authorise even one percent” enrichment — a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.- ‘Fundamental differences’ -Ahead of Friday’s talks, Araghchi said “fundamental differences” remained with the United States, while adding that Tehran was open to its nuclear sites undergoing more inspections.”We will not have an agreement at all” if the United States wants to prevent Iran from enriching uranium, he said.The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the October expiry of the 2015 accord.The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed to allay Western suspicions that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has consistently denied.In return for curbs on its nuclear programme, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions.A year later, Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below, though close to, the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.- ‘It’s quite simple’ -Analysts in Tehran said Iran was unlikely to back down.”It’s quite simple; if the US expects Iran to halt nuclear enrichment, then there can’t be a deal,” said Mohammad Marandi, a political scientist who was once an adviser on the nuclear issue.The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the country’s nuclear industry employs 17,000 people, similar to other countries where uranium is enriched for civilian use.”The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Brazil and Japan enrich (uranium) without possessing nuclear weapons,” its spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said.Iran’s enmity with Israel, whose main backer is the United States, has been a constant backdrop to the talks.In a letter to the United Nations, Araghchi wrote: “We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the US government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility.” The warning came after CNN, citing unnamed US officials, reported Israel was making preparations to carry out such a strike.The White House said Trump had a “productive discussion” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about Iran and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington.- ‘Irreversible’ -Friday’s talks take place before an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna in June during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.The 2015 deal provides for the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called “snapback” if Iran fails to fulfil its commitments.The agreement’s three European parties — Britain, France and Germany — have warned they will trigger the mechanism if the continent’s security is threatened.Araghchi said such a move would have “consequences — not only the end of Europe’s role in the agreement, but also an escalation of tensions that could become irreversible”.

The United Arab Emirates registered a sizzling 50.4 degrees Celsius on Friday, the highest on record for May, following weeks of sweltering temperatures in the desert nation acutely vulnerable to climate change.Worshippers at Friday prayers reported feeling faint and some residents appeared unsteady on their feet, even in a country that is accustomed to extreme temperatures.The highest temperature was recorded in an area of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich Gulf state that lies in one of the world’s hottest regions.”The weather was extremely hot today, unbearably so,” said one 26-year-old Abu Dhabi resident, who said he arrived at the mosque late and had to pray outside.”I was drenched in sweat by the end of the prayers,” he said, preferring not to give his name, adding that he felt like he was “about to faint”.The high temperature of 50.4°C (122.7 Fahrenheit) is the hottest in May since records began in 2003, outstripping the 50.2°C seen in 2009, the National Center of Meteorology told AFP.The UAE, one of the world’s biggest oil exporters and host of the COP28 climate talks in 2023, has just emerged from a record-breaking April with an average daily high of 42.6 degrees Celsius.- ‘Swaying right and left’ -The NMC on Friday urged residents to stay safe, advising them to keep out of the sun, drink plenty of fluids, wear appropriate attire and use sunscreen.Friday’s temperatures were accompanied by high humidity of up to 80 percent in some parts of Abu Dhabi.”I literally saw someone swaying right and left before he stopped by the side of the street,” said Dubai-based marketing specialist Mohammed Juma, 31. “God help people, truly.”Youssef, 45, who operates hot air balloons for tourists in Dubai, said the “suffocating” conditions made him feel “unable to do anything at all”.”The whole problem is in the humidity. The air had no oxygen,” said the 45-year-old, who did not want to give his full name.Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming and that they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense. The number of extremely hot days has nearly doubled globally in the past three decades.Outdoor workers in Arab states face some of the highest exposure to heat stress in the world, with 83.6 percent suffering from excessive heat exposure on the job, according to a 2024 report from the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency.The risks from a warming planet were on stark display last June, when more than 1,300 people died while performing the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, according to an official tally — most of them unauthorised pilgrims exposed to long periods outdoors.According to a Greenpeace study in 2022, the Middle East is at high risk of water and food scarcity as well as severe heat waves as a result of climate change.The report, which focused on six countries including the UAE, found the region was warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, making its food and water supplies “extremely vulnerable” to climate change.

The leaders of pro-Iran Palestinian factions close to former ruler Bashar al-Assad have left Syria under pressure from the new authorities, Palestinian sources said Friday, a key US demand for lifting sanctions.A pro-Iran Palestinian faction leader who left Syria after Assad’s December overthrow said on condition of anonymity that “most of the Palestinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus” to countries including Lebanon, while another still based there confirmed the development.”The factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres” to the authorities, who also received “lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons” and demanded that those arms be handed over, the first added.A third Palestinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad’s overthrow, “we gathered our members’ weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection… with the (authorities’) authorisation”.In the Yarmuk Palestinian camp in the Damascus suburbs which was devastated during the war, factional banners usually at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.- ‘No cooperation’ -Many Palestinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of Palestinian factions.Pro-Iran Palestinian factions had enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.Washington, which considers several Palestinian factions to be “terrorist” organisations, last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria after earlier saying Damascus needed to respond to demands including suppressing “terrorism” and preventing “Iran and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory”.According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia last week, US President Donald Trump gave new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting “Palestinian terrorists”.The factions along with groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen are part of the Iran-backed “axis of resistance” against Israel, some of which fought alongside Assad’s forces after civil war erupted in 2011.In neighbouring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Palestinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Sharaa’s Islamist group led the offensive that ousted Assad, a close ally of Iran. Last month, Sharaa met Abbas on a visit to Damascus.The factions “did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory” but instead faced restrictions, the first Palestinian factional leader said, noting that some factions “were de facto prohibited from operating” or their members were arrested.- ‘Unwelcome’ -The new authorities have seized property from “private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces”, he said.The Syrian authorities did not immediately provide comment to AFP when asked about the matter.Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.In April, the Al-Quds Brigades said Islamic Jihad’s Syria official Khaled Khaled and organising committee member Yasser al-Zafri had been detained “without explanation”.A source from the movement told AFP on Friday that they were still detained.The second Palestinian official, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was “no cooperation between most of the Palestinian factions and the new Syrian administration”.”The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don’t say that clearly,” he added, also requesting anonymity.The Fatah movement and militant group Hamas appear to be unaffected.A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had “channels of communication with our brothers in Syria”. Hamas left after the civil war began as ties with the government deteriorated amid the Palestinian group’s support for opposition demands, and has minimal representation there.Yarmuk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that “nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership”, adding that “people just want to live, they are exhausted” by the conflict and factional infighting.

Iranian and US negotiators met in Rome on Friday for a fifth round of nuclear talks, after a public disagreement over Tehran’s uranium enrichment.The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump’s first term.Since returning to office, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.Iran wants a new deal that would ease sanctions which have battered its economy.”The fifth round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, began in Rome, with the mediation of Oman,” Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.The fourth round of talks, in the Omani capital Muscat, ended with a public spat over enrichment.Witkoff said Washington “could not authorise even one percent” enrichment — a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.- ‘Fundamental differences’ -Ahead of Friday’s talks, Araghchi said “fundamental differences” remained with the United States, while adding that Tehran was open to its nuclear sites undergoing more inspections.”We will not have an agreement at all” if the United States wants to prevent Iran from enriching uranium, he said.Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that the talks in the Italian capital were scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).They come ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the October expiry of the 2015 accord.The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed to allay Western suspicions that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has consistently denied.In return for curbs on its nuclear programme, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions.A year later, Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.- ‘It’s quite simple’ -Analysts in Tehran said Iran was unlikely to back down.”It’s quite simple; if the US expects Iran to halt nuclear enrichment, then there can’t be a deal,” said Mohammad Marandi, a political scientist who was once an adviser on the nuclear issue.The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the country’s nuclear industry employs 17,000 people, similar to other countries where uranium is enriched for civilian use.”The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Brazil and Japan enrich (uranium) without possessing nuclear weapons,” its spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said.Iran’s enmity with Israel, whose main backer is the United States, has been a constant backdrop to the talks.In a letter to the United Nations, Araghchi wrote: “We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the US government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility.” The warning came after CNN, citing unnamed US officials, reported Israel was making preparations to carry out such a strike.The White House said Trump had a “productive discussion” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about Iran and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington.- ‘Irreversible’ -Friday’s talks take place before an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna in June during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.The 2015 deal provides for the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called “snapback” if Iran fails to fulfil its commitments.The agreement’s three European parties — Britain, France and Germany — have warned they will trigger the mechanism if the continent’s security is threatened.Araghchi said such a move would have “consequences — not only the end of Europe’s role in the agreement, but also an escalation of tensions that could become irreversible”.