Jerusalem:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited by US President Donald Trump to a meeting at the White House on February 4, the Israeli premier’s office said on Tuesday.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House during President Trump’s second term,” the statement said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The cauldron rises by the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, on July 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony | Paris unveils ultimate spectacle with pomp, fervour and splendour

The magnificent City of Light, dotted with the spectacular Eiffel Tower and scores of majestic buildings featuring admirable architecture, welcomed the 33rd Olympic Games in a unique way, with the much-awaited Opening Ceremony on the Seine involving a stretch of Paris’ rich heritage, here on Friday. The riot of colours and lights turned the Seine and the pastel city into a surreal place, amalgamating history and contemporariness in a spellbinding show.

Mosques, mazar covered on Haridwar kanwar route; removed after flak

Facades of two mosques and a mazar along the kanwar yatra route in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar city were on Friday covered with large sheets of white cloth to “prevent trouble” but were removed by the evening after objections from various quarters. The sheets were hung on bamboo scaffoldings in front of the mosques and the mazar, all in the Jwalapur area.

17 share top rank as NTA declares final results of NEET-UG

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday released re-revised results, the fourth iteration, of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate exam that pave way for medical and para-medical course admissions. The latest results were published after the Supreme Court asked the NTA to deduct marks for a Physics question that NTA had said had two ‘correct’ answers.

NEET paper leak case: CBI arrests one more accused

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested one more accused, Pawan Kumar, from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district on July 26 in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. This is the 37th arrest in the case in Jharkhand and Bihar.

ED attaches assets of Tamil Nadu Minister Ponmudy’s kin, associates

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Friday provisionally attached movable and immovable properties, worth ₹14.21 crore, belonging to the family members and associates of Tamil Nadu Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudy and his son and former Kallakurichi MP P. Gautham Sigamani in the illegal red earth quarrying case.The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued a safety advisory expressing concern over the recent increase in fire accidents at airport buildings. The safety advisory laid emphasis on following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to prevent and respond to fires, which could cause chaos, loss of life and flight disruptions.

NITI Aayog needs to be scrapped: Mamata Banerjee

A day before the meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called for “scrapping” the body claiming that it had little use other than organising annual meetings. Six Opposition Chief Ministers are skipping the meeting protesting the alleged bias in the Union Budget which they claim, only catered for the NDA-ruled States. Ms. Banerjee and her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren are the only Opposition Chief Ministers who are expected to attend the meeting.

India, U.S. sign agreement to protect cultural heritage

India and the U.S. on July 26 signed a cultural property agreement aimed at enhancing cooperation to protect cultural heritage of the two countries. Cultural property agreements prevent the illegal trade of cultural property and simplify the process by which looted and stolen antiquities may be returned to their country of origin.

Trump meets Netanyahu, mends relationship with key political ally

A beaming former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to their first face-to-face meeting in nearly four years on Friday, patching up a political alliance important to both men that had broken down when the Israeli leader offended Mr. Trump by being one of the first to congratulate Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory.

BJP chief attacks Congress for politicising Agnipath scheme, PM’s Drass visit

Union Minister and BJP chief J.P. Nadda on Friday hit out at the Congress for politicising the Agnipath military recruitment scheme and the Drass visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay tributes to the soldiers on the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas.

Delhi HC seeks the police’s reply to MP Mahua Moitra’s plea to quash FIR over derogatory remarks to NCW chief

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Delhi police to respond to Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra’s plea seeking the quashing of an FIR against her over an alleged “derogatory” social media remark on National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma. The court listed the matter for arguments on November 6.

Congress accuses Modi government of ‘unprecedented fiscal mismanagement’ in J&K

The Congress on July 26 accused the Narendra Modi government of “unprecedented fiscal mismanagement” in Jammu and Kashmir. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a statement, asked why Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was “benevolent” towards Andhra Pradesh and Bihar but not to the Union Territory.

At the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in October, Donald Trump loudly presented himself as the key US ally’s ultimate champion.

But six months and more than 33,000 deaths in Gaza later, the Republican White House hopeful has become increasingly vague on the intensity of that support.

The former US president, not usually known for biting his tongue on any given topic, has only halfheartedly commented on the issue in two recent interviews.

“I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it,” he told a conservative radio host Thursday about Israel’s offensive.

And in an exchange with Israeli media, Trump warned that videos “of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza” offer “a very bad picture for the world.”

“Israel is absolutely losing the PR war,” the 77-year-old told radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Historic ally

Despite allusions to his concerns, Trump has not explicitly mentioned the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where experts warn a famine is looming, the Palestinian civilian death count, or the seven aid workers killed Monday by an Israeli drone strike.

Still, any comment critical of Israel is a major departure for the Republican White House hopeful, and his remarks have garnered notice in Israel and in Washington.

Trump has long boasted of having done more for Israel than any other US president.

In 2018, his administration reversed decades of US policy and snubbed a major tenet of an eventual two-state solution with the Palestinians by unilaterally recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, sparking international backlash.

By the end of his term, the United States had brokered the so-called Abraham Accords, which saw Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize ties with Israel.

The move kicked any imperative to address the Palestinian issue even further down the road — at least temporarily.

‘Punditry’

But it’s not clear whether the billionaire’s shift in tone since the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, would correlate to any real change in policy, if he were to be elected president again in November.

“Nobody’s entirely sure what Trump’s views are on this,” Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow at conservative think tank AEI, told AFP, adding that his recent rhetoric sounds more like it’s coming from a “media consultant” than an Oval Office candidate.

“That’s not presidential, that’s not policy — that’s more punditry,” she said.

For some observers, Trump’s non-committal attitude is best explained by the conflict’s high electoral stakes in the United States, as he battles President Joe Biden — who has faced increasing criticism over his handling of the crisis — for votes.

The otherwise outspoken Trump is employing the same strategy of deliberate ambiguity on other flashpoint issues as well, including abortion, aware that staking out an extreme position on either side could cost him dearly at the polls.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)