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US President Donald Trump on Monday issued Moscow with a dramatic new deadline to end the war in Ukraine or face tough new sanctions, as he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.Saying he was not very interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin anymore, the US leader also shifted his tone on Gaza, acknowledging there were signs of “real starvation” in the conflict-ravaged Palestinian territory.Trump, sitting alongside Starmer at the US leader’s luxury golf resort in Turnberry, south of Glasgow, said he was “very disappointed” with Putin over continued strikes against Ukrainian civilian targets.He announced that he was reducing an earlier 50-day deadline set on July 14 for Putin to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end to “about 10 or 12 days”, starting immediately.”There is no reason in waiting,” Trump said, adding he thought Putin would want to end things quickly.”I really felt it was going to end. But every time I think it’s going to end he kills people.”I’m not so interested in talking (to him) anymore,” he added.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky swiftly praised the US president’s stand, thanking Trump for his “clear stance and expressed determination”.”Right on time, when a lot can change through strength for real peace. I thank President Trump for his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war,” Zelensky said on social media.The talks between Trump and Starmer focused on ending the suffering in Gaza and reviving stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.Trump announced the United States would set up walk-in “food centres” in Gaza, and said he believed a ceasefire was still possible.- Golf diplomacy -“We’re going to be getting some good strong food, we can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids — that’s real starvation stuff,” he said.Starmer, under domestic pressure to follow France’s lead and recognise a Palestinian state, called the situation unfolding in Gaza an “absolute catastrophe”.The pair also discussed the implementation of a UK-US trade deal that was signed on May 8 that lowered tariffs for certain UK exports but has yet to come into force.Trump hosted Starmer and his wife Victoria under tight security at Turnberry, where he had spent two days playing golf since landing in Scotland on Friday night for a five-day visit.They then flew by Air Force One to Prestwick, near Glasgow, where they boarded the helicopter Marine One to fly to Trump’s other golf resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, for a private dinner.Their talks came after the United States and the European Union reached a landmark deal to avert a full-blown trade war over tariffs, when EU chief Ursula von der Leyen visited Trump at the resort on Sunday.Trump hinted that he would not impose heavy tariffs on British pharmaceuticals.”We certainly feel a lot better with your country working on pharmaceuticals for America than some of the other countries,” he told Starmer.”With the relationship we have, you would not use that as a cudgel. You wouldn’t be using it as a block,” he added.Trump set out early in his second term to fulfil a decades-long desire of reshaping US trade with the world, with his administration predicting his aggressive strategy of punitive tariffs could bring “90 deals in 90 days.”After months with very little to show, he is now enjoying some success, landing accords with Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and, most importantly, the European Union.The deals are expected to kick in on August 1 to replace the current tariff regime these economies face, a White House spokesperson told AFP.The US president is due to open a new golf course at his Aberdeenshire resort on Tuesday, before heading back to the United States later in the day.

There is no alternative to a two-state solution between Israelis and the Palestinians, France told a UN conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia Monday that was boycotted by Israel and branded a stunt by Washington.”Only a political, two-state solution will help respond to the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. There is no alternative,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said at the start of the three-day meeting.Days before the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would formally recognize Palestinian statehood in September, provoking strong opposition from Israel and the United States.Luxembourg hinted Monday that it could follow France and recognize a Palestinian state in September, with the possibility that other countries could announce similar plans when the conference resumes Tuesday.”All states have a responsibility to act now,” said Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa at the start of the meeting, calling for an international force to help underwrite Palestinian statehood.He called for the world to recognize Palestinian statehood, while later demanding that Hamas surrender control of the Gaza Strip and its arms as part of a deal to end fighting in the territory.France is hoping Britain will follow its lead. More than 200 British members of parliament on Friday voiced support for the idea, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that recognition of a Palestinian state “must be part of a wider plan.”United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the meeting “the two-state solution is farther than ever before.”According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.In 1947, in a resolution approved by the General Assembly, the United Nations decided to partition Palestine, then under a British mandate, into Jewish and Arab states. Israel was proclaimed in 1948.For decades, most UN members have supported a two-state solution with Israel and a Palestinian state existing side-by-side.But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could become geographically impossible.The current war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives and destroyed most infrastructure in the enclave.Barrot said it would be an “illusion to think that you can get to a lasting ceasefire without having an outline of what’s going to happen in Gaza after the end of the war and having a political horizon.” – ‘Israeli unilateral actions’ -Beyond facilitating conditions for recognizing Palestine, the meeting will focus on three other issues: reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states.However, no new normalization deals are expected to be announced at the meeting, according to a French diplomatic source.Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said US President Donald Trump could be a “catalyst” to ending the war in Gaza and jump-starting the two-state solution, stressing Riyadh had no plans to normalize relations with Israel.Following his plea to Trump, the US State Department labeled the three-day event “unproductive and ill-timed,” as well as a “publicity stunt” that would make finding peace harder.Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said action was needed to counter Israeli “settlements, land confiscation (and) encroachments on the holy sites.”Israel and the United States were not taking part in the meeting, amid growing international pressure on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza.Despite “tactical pauses” announced by Israel, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza will dominate speeches.Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said “this conference does not promote a solution.”

The dollar jumped Monday on the back of a US-EU trade deal, but the main European stock markets fell, reflecting unease at terms viewed as lopsided.Frankfurt closed sharply down, as shares in German carmakers plunged. Paris dipped, while London — outside the EU — also receded.Wall Street, meanwhile, finished mixed after a choppy session. Both …

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US President Donald Trump warned Monday that the people of Gaza are facing “real starvation”, as aid agencies sought to take advantage of an Israeli “tactical pause” of some military operations to rush in food aid.Speaking in Scotland, Trump contradicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dismissed famine fears as Hamas propaganda.Trump said the United States and its partners would help set up food centres to feed the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza facing what UN aid agencies have warned is a deadly wave of starvation and malnutrition. “We’re going to be getting some good strong food, we can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids — that’s real starvation stuff,” he said at a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We have to get the kids fed.”Trump’s remarks came after Netanyahu declared on Sunday that “there is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza.”- US food centres -The United States already backs food centres under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the GHF’s operations have come under repeated criticism, with the UN saying hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while trying to access its sites.The Foundation has also been accused by aid groups of facilitating Israel’s military goals.Trump said the UK and European Union would back new food centres that would be easier to access — “where the people can walk in, and no boundaries”.The war in Gaza has dragged on for almost 22 months, creating a dire humanitarian crisis exacerbated by an Israeli blockade on supplies imposed from March to late May.The easing of the blockade coincided with the beginning of the GHF’s operations, which effectively sidelined Gaza’s traditionally UN-led aid distribution system, and which have been criticised as grossly inadequate.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday welcomed steps to reduce restrictions to lifesaving aid, but said it “is far from the solution to end this nightmare.”In recent days, the UN and humanitarian agencies have begun delivering more truckloads of food after the Israeli military declared a daily “tactical pause” in the fighting and opened secure aid routes amid mounting international outrage.Jamil Safadi said he had been getting up before dawn for two weeks to search for food, and Monday was his first success. “I received about five kilos of flour, which I shared with my neighbour,” said the 37-year-old, who shelters with his wife, six children and a sick father in a tent in Tel al-Hawa.Other Gazans were less fortunate. Some complained aid trucks had been stolen or guards had fired at them near US-backed distribution centres.”I saw injured and dead people. People have no choice but to try daily to get flour”, said 33-year-old Amir al-Rash.Israel’s new tactical pauses apply only to certain areas, and Gaza’s civil defence agency reported 54 people killed in Israeli attacks on Monday.The Israeli defence ministry’s civil affairs agency COGAT said the UN and aid organisations had been able to pick up 120 truckloads of aid on Sunday and distribute it inside Gaza, with more on the way on Monday.- Basic supplies -Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have begun airdropping aid packages, while Egypt has sent trucks through its Rafah border crossing to an Israeli post just inside Gaza.Germany on Monday said it would work with Jordan to airlift aid for Gaza and coordinate with France and Britain.The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, cautiously welcomed Israel’s recent moves but warned Gaza needed at least 500 to 600 trucks of basic food, medicine and hygiene supplies daily.”Opening all the crossings and flooding Gaza with assistance is the only way to avert further deepening of starvation,” UNRWA said.Netanyahu has denied Israel was deliberately starving civilians, but on Monday two local rights groups, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, accused the country of “genocide” — a first for Israeli NGOs. The amount of aid entering the territory still falls far short of what is needed, say experts, who have called for a permanent ceasefire, the reopening of more border crossings and a long-term, large-scale humanitarian operation.”We’re one-and-a-half days into these new measures. Saying whether or not it is making a difference on the ground will take time,” Olga Cherevko, a spokeswoman for the UN’s humanitarian agency, told AFP from Gaza.   The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 59,921 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.