World News LIVE Updates: Donald Trump Announces 50% Tariff On Brazil Over Bolsonaro Trial

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is reportedly furious after Israeli negotiators presented new maps on Thursday outlining a partial troop withdrawal during a proposed 60-day ceasefire—an apparent concession after both Hamas and the US rejected Israel’s original deployment plan.

Sources familiar with the talks said that when Israel first shared its troop deployment map, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer that the proposal was unacceptable and would derail the negotiations.

Palestinian authorities reported that Israeli forces killed a 55-year-old man in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday. According to the Ramallah-based health ministry, coordination officials informed them that soldiers shot and killed the man in Rummanah, near Jenin, earlier that morning.

The Israeli military stated that troops stationed in the village “neutralised” the man after he stabbed and moderately injured a soldier.

After nearly 40 years of bitter hostilities, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are meeting in Abu Dhabi to finalise a historic peace agreement—something once thought impossible until Russia’s war in Ukraine reshaped regional dynamics.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are set to hold talks on Thursday in the UAE capital, their offices confirmed, as they work to chart a peaceful future side by side.

A senior Israeli official told Times of Israel that Israeli intelligence shows Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remained at the three nuclear sites, Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, when they were targeted by the US last month during Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran, and that the material has not been relocated since.  

The official added that while the Iranians might still have access to the Isfahan site, extracting any of the uranium from there would be difficult.

South Korea’s ousted former president Yoon Suk Yeol was detained for a second time on Thursday over his imposition of martial law, as investigators expanded their probe into allegations of insurrection.

Yoon triggered a political crisis on December 3 last year when he attempted to undermine civilian rule by deploying armed soldiers to parliament in a failed bid to stop lawmakers from rejecting his martial law declaration.

Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in the early hours of Thursday—marking the second consecutive night of intense bombardment as Moscow steps up its attacks more than three years into the war.

Videos showed huge, fiery explosions lighting up the night sky, while thick smoke and the acrid smell of burning debris engulfed the city center.

President Donald Trump expressed optimism about a ceasefire in Gaza, saying there is a “very good chance” it could happen this week or next. The statement came after his second meeting in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing conflict. “We have a chance this week or next week,” Trump told reporters.

Washington and Tehran are circling back to negotiations, right when things between them are about as chilly as a freezer aisle. Trust? Practically nonexistent.

The meeting was supposed to happen on July 10th in Oslo, at least according to folks close to the matter. Now, word is it’s been bumped to sometime next week. Big surprise.

Whenever they finally sit down, it’s gonna be the first real shot at nuclear talks in ages—especially wild considering it’s only been a few weeks since those joint Israeli-US airstrikes hit Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

On Wednesday, the European Court of Human Rights called out Russia for major breaches of international humanitarian law in Ukraine.

The judges didn’t hold back—they handed down several decisions tied to complaints from both Ukraine and the Netherlands, dating all the way back to when things kicked off in 2014.

The list of violations is grim: the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, repeated blows to the Geneva Conventions, crackdowns on religious groups under so-called extremism laws, and heavy-handed interference with free speech and the press.

Three people have died—two of them are the young kids of a soldier who was just trying to enjoy a vacation with his family. Meanwhile, rescue crews in Texas are out there for the sixth straight day, still digging through the chaos, hoping to find anyone left alive.

On Wednesday, the US embassy in Yemen reported that Houthi militants had seized the crew of a cargo ship in the Red Sea following an attack.

According to a statement posted on X, the embassy said, “After killing some of the crew, sinking the vessel, and obstructing rescue operations, the Houthi militants have taken several survivors from the Eternity C hostage.”

The embassy demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of the crew. Earlier in the day, the Houthis said they had sunk the Eternity C using a drone boat and ballistic missiles while the ship was heading toward Israel’s southern port of Eilat.

Trump sat down with the leaders of five African nations on Wednesday and made it pretty clear: he wants a new kind of partnership—something that leans more on trade, not just the usual U.S. aid handouts.

At the White House, he met with the presidents of Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, and Gabon. The whole vibe? Less charity, more business. Africa’s on the brink of some serious economic growth, and Trump doesn’t want the U.S. missing out while everyone else cashes in.