Daily SumUp

The US president has repeatedly threatened to unleash air strikes targeting Iran's programme if a deal isn't reached...

Israel's military has announced the launch of a major offensive aimed at defeating Hamas and securing the freedom of remaining hostages in Gaza. The Israeli Defense Forces said on its Hebrew X account that it had mobilised troops for "Operation Gideon's Chariots" to seize "strategic areas" of the strip. Hamas-run civil defence and health ministry officials say Israeli attacks have killed around 250 people since Thursday.

Key Takeaways from US President Donald Trump’s Middle East trip...

Israeli fighter jets carried out a wave of airstrikes in Yemen on Friday afternoon, targeting two Houthi-controlled ports in the west of the country, and threatened to kill the terror group’s leader, in response to the Iran-backed group’s ongoing missile and drone attacks on Israel.Israel had waited until the end of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region before launching its reprisal strikes on the Houthis. Since the Israel Defense Force’s last strike on Yemen, on May 6, the Houthis launched at least seven missiles and two drones at Israel, the latest of them on Thursday night.Fifteen fighter jets were involved in the strike on Friday, dropping some 35 munitions on the Hodeidah and Salif ports, destroying infrastructure, the military said. IAF refuelers and spy planes also participated in the operation.

U.S. tech giants Nvidia, Cisco, Oracle and OpenAI are supporting the “UAE Stargate” artificial intelligence data center announced this week.The data center will collaborate with the AI infrastructure project of the same name in the U.S., which was announced by President Donald Trump.Trump was in the United Arab Emirates as part of his first state visit trip abroad in his second term. Trump also visited Saudi Arabia.

Pope Leo XIV has offered the Vatican as a venue for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, following the failed negotiations in Istanbul where Putin was notably absent. The Vatican called Putin’s no-show “tragic” and reaffirmed its openness to mediation. Cardinal Parolin acknowledged the difficulty of the situation but stressed the Holy See’s readiness. In his first Sunday blessing, Pope Leo urged both leaders to “meet, talk, and negotiate,” emphasizing that peacemakers are the ones who truly “make history.” The Pope has pledged to prioritize peace throughout his papacy.

Over three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the countries are finally meeting for direct peace talks in Istanbul. Vladimir Putin will be not be attending.Ironically, given his no-show, it was Putin who suggested the peace talks instead of immediately agreeing to a proposed 30-day ceasefire. But like Russia’s 2024 presidential elections, from the outside the peace talks appear to be a total farce. Putin is not just stringing the international community along, he is also testing his “friendship” with the US president, Donald Trump.Trump ran on a platform that he would he end the war in Ukraine quickly (in 24 hours), arguing that he was the only one with the gravitas and strength to handle the Russian leader. Yet Putin has repeatedly ignored Trump’s warnings.Two days after Trump was inaugurated, the US president posted that new sanctions would be imposed on Russia if the conflict did not end quickly. Then in early and late March, Trump again threatened sanctions if there was no ceasefire. Most recently, on May 8, Trump called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, warning that violations would be met with sanctions.

The United States has revealed the first federal charges against a foreign national for providing material support to one of the criminal groups that President Donald Trump has designated a “foreign terrorist organisation”.On Friday, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a statement identifying the suspect as 39-year-old Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez of Mexico.

The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, five people with knowledge of the effort told NBC News.The plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libya’s leadership, two people with direct knowledge of the plans and a former U.S. official said. In exchange for the resettling of Palestinians, the administration would potentially release to Libya billions of dollars of funds that the U.S. froze more than a decade ago, those three people said.No final agreement has been reached, and Israel has been kept informed of the administration’s discussions, the same three sources said.