WASHINGTON: Ahead of his second go-around in the White House, President Donald Trump spoke with certainty about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine in the first 24 hours of his new administration and finding lasting peace from the devastating 18-month conflict in Gaza.
But as the Republican president nears the 100th day of his second term, he’s struggling to make good on two of his biggest foreign policy campaign promises and is not taking well to suggestions that he’s falling short. And after criticizing President Joe Biden during last year’s campaign for preventing Israel from carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Trump now finds himself giving diplomacy a chance as he tries to curb Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
“The war has been raging for three years. I just got here, and you say, ‘What’s taken so long?’” Trump bristled, when asked about the Ukraine war in a Time magazine interview about his first 100 days. As for the Gaza conflict, he insisted the war “would have never happened. Ever. You then say, ‘What’s taking so long?’“
Measuring a US president by his first 100 days in office is an arbitrary, albeit time-honored, tradition in Washington. And brokering peace deals between intractable warring parties is typically the work of years, not weeks.
But no other president has promised to do as much out of the gate as Trump, who is pursuing a seismic makeover of America’s approach to friends and foes during his second turn in the White House.
Trump has moved at dizzying speed to shift the rules-based world order that has formed the basis for global stability and security in the aftermath of World War II.
All sides have scrambled to acclimate as Trump launched a global tariff war and slashed US foreign aid all while talking up the ideas of taking Greenland from NATO ally Denmark and making Canada the 51st state.
But Trump’s inability to broker deals in Ukraine and Gaza — at least to date — might be the most demonstrable evidence that his effort to quickly shake up US foreign policy through sheer will could have its limits.
And Trump hasn’t obscured his frustration, particularly over the Ukraine war, which he’s long dismissed as a waste of US taxpayer money and of lives lost in the conflict.
The president and his team have gone hot and cold about prospects for peace in Ukraine since Trump’s Oval Office blowup with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
In that encounter, both Trump and Vice President JD Vance lectured the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for US assistance in the fight to repel Russia’s invading forces before asking him to leave the White House grounds.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that the White House is ready to walk away if Ukraine and Russia don’t make substantial progress toward a peace deal soon.
And Trump on back-to-back days this past week lambasted Zelensky for “prolonging” the “killing field” and then Russian President Vladimir Putin for complicating negotiations with “very bad timing” in launching brutal strikes that pummeled Kyiv.
But by Friday, Trump was expressing optimism again after his special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Moscow with Putin. Following the talks, Trump declared that the two sides were “very close to a deal.”
Less than 24 hours later, Trump was once again downcast after he met with Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral, expressing doubt in a social media post that Putin was serious about forging a deal.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along,” Trump said of Putin and Russia’s ongoing bombardment of Ukraine.
Trump again expressed frustration with Putin in an exchange with reporters on Sunday evening. “I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” Trump said. “We have the confines of a deal, I believe. And I want him to sign it and be done with it.”
White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt said Trump remains committed to getting a deal done and is “closer to that objective than at any point during Joe Biden’s presidency.”
“Within 100 days, President Trump has gotten both Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table with the aim to bring this horrific war to a peaceful resolution,” Hewitt said. “It is no longer a question of if this war will end but when.”
Peace in Gaza remains elusive
Trump started his second term with some momentum on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
His envoy Witkoff, a fellow New York real estate maverick turned high-stakes diplomat, teamed up with the outgoing Biden Middle East adviser Brett McGurk to get Israeli and Hamas officials to agree to a temporary ceasefire deal that went into effect one day before Trump’s inauguration.
On the eve of his return to office, Trump took full credit for what he called an “epic” agreement that would lead to a “lasting peace” in the Middle East.
The temporary ceasefire led to the freeing of 33 hostages held in Gaza and the release of roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
But the truce collapsed in March, and fighting resumed, with the two sides unable to come to an agreement for the return of 59 remaining hostages, more that half of whom Israeli officials believe are dead.
Conditions in Gaza remain bleak. Israel has cut off all aid to the territory and its more than 2 million people. Israel has disputed that there is a shortage of aid in Gaza and says it’s entitled to block the assistance because, it claims, Hamas seizes the goods for its own use.
Trump, as he flew to Rome on Friday for the pope’s funeral, told reporters that he’s pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “very hard” to get food and medicine into Gaza but dismissed questions about how the Israeli leader is responding to his appeal.
“Well, he knows all about it, OK?” Trump told reporters.
Hewitt, the National Security Council spokesman, pushed back on the notion that Trump has fallen short on his effort to find an endgame to the Gaza conflict, setting the blame squarely on Hamas.
“While we continue to work to secure the release of all remaining hostages, Hamas has chosen violence over peace, and President Trump has ensured that Hamas continues to face the gates of hell until it releases the hostages and disarms,” Hewitt said.
Trump’s team says the president has racked up more foreign policy wins than any other US president this early in a term.
The White House counts among its early victories invoking a 1798 wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport Venezuelan migrants it accuses of being gang members, securing the release of at least 46 Americans detained abroad, and carrying out hundreds of military strikes in Yemen against Houthi militants who have been attacking commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
Trump hopeful for Iran nuclear deal breakthrough
The White House this month also launched direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program, a renewed push to solve another of the most delicate foreign policy issues facing the White House and the Middle East.
Trump says his administration is making progress in its effort to secure a deal with Iran to scupper Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Witkoff flew directly from meeting with Putin in Moscow to Muscat, Oman, to take part in talks on Saturday, the third engagement between US and Iranian officials this month.
The US and other world powers in 2015 reached a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
Since Trump pulled out of the Obama-era deal, Iran has accelerated its production of near weapons-grade uranium.
The president said on Friday that he’s open to meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or President Masoud Pezeshkian, while also indicating military action — something that US ally Israel has advocated — remains an option.
As Trump increasingly expresses his preference for diplomacy rather than military action, Iran hawks at home are urging him to tread carefully in his hunt for a legacy-defining deal.
“The Iranians would have the talking point that they forced the same person who left the deal many years later, after them resisting maximum pressure, into an equal or worse deal,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
But Trump wants a solution, and fast.
“I think a deal is going to be made there,” Trump said Sunday “That’s going to happen pretty soon.”
Trump struggles to make good on promises to quickly end Ukraine and Gaza wars
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Trump struggles to make good on promises to quickly end Ukraine and Gaza wars
- Trump’s inability to broker deals in Ukraine and Gaza to date might be the most demonstrable evidence his effort to more broadly shake up US foreign policy
Trump warns Walmart: Don’t raise prices due to my tariffs but do eat the costs from those taxes
- "I’ll be watching," Trump warned, adding that Walmart "made billions of dollars last year, far more than expected"
- Walmart warned on Thursday that everything from bananas to children’s car seats could increase in price
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Saturday ripped into Walmart, saying on social media that the retail giant should eat the additional costs created by his tariffs.
As Trump has jacked up import taxes, he has tried to assure a skeptical public that foreign producers would pay for those taxes and that retailers and automakers would absorb the additional expenses. Most economic analyzes are deeply skeptical of those claims and have warned that the trade penalties would worsen inflation. Walmart warned on Thursday that everything from bananas to children’s car seats could increase in price.
Trump, in his Truth Social post, lashed out at the retailer, which employs 1.6 million people in the United States. He said the company, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, should sacrifice its profits for the sake of his economic agenda that he says will eventually lead to more domestic jobs in manufacturing.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump posted. “Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, “EAT THE TARIFFS,” and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
The posting by the Republican president reflected the increasingly awkward series of choices that many major American companies face as a result of his tariffs, from deteriorating sales to the possibility of incurring Trump’s wrath. Trump has similarly warned domestic automakers to not raise their prices, even though outside analyzes say his tariffs would raise production costs.
So far, those tariffs have darkened the mood of an otherwise resilient US economy. The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment on Friday slipped to its second lowest measure on record, with roughly 75 percent of respondents “spontaneously” mentioning tariffs as they largely expected inflation to accelerate.
In April, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was among the retail executives who met with Trump at the White House to discuss tariffs. But the Trump administration went forward despite warnings and has attacked other companies such as Amazon and Apple that are struggling with the disruptions to their supply chains.
Walmart chief financial officer John David Rainey said he thinks $350 car seats made in China will soon cost an additional $100, a 29 percent price increase.
“We’re wired to keep prices low, but there’s a limit to what we can bear, or any retailer for that matter,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday after the company reported strong first-quarter sales.
The administration recently ratcheted down its 145 percent tariffs on China to 30 percent for a 90-day period. Trump has placed tariffs as high as 25 percent on Mexico and Canada due to illegal immigration and drug trafficking, harming the relationship with America’s two largest trading partners.
There is a universal baseline tariff of 10 percent on most countries as Trump promises to reach trade deals in the coming weeks after having shocked the financial markets in early April by charging higher import taxes based on trade deficits with other countries. Trump insists he intends to preserve the tariffs as a revenue source and that a framework agreement with the United Kingdom would largely keep the 10 percent tariff rate in place.
Trump has also placed import taxes on autos, steel and aluminum and plans to do so on pharmaceutical drugs, among other products.
The tariffs and Trump’s own reversals on how much he should charge have generated uncertainty across the US economy, such that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has held the central bank’s benchmark rates steady until there is more clarity. Powell has warned that tariffs can both hurt growth and raise prices.
On Saturday, Trump repeated his calls for Powell to cut the benchmark rates. That could cause inflation to accelerate, but the president has maintained that inflationary pressures have largely disappeared from the economy.
“Too Late Powell, a man legendary for being Too Late, will probably blow it again — But who knows???” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Pope Leo to take charge of Catholic Church at grandiose inaugural Mass
- Sunday’s Mass will feature prayers in several languages, in a nod to the global reach of the 1.4-billion member Church, including Latin, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Polish, and Chinese
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV will formally take up his role as leader of the global Catholic Church on Sunday, with a Mass in St. Peter’s Square that will draw tens of thousands of well-wishers, including dozens of world leaders and European royalty.
Crowds are expected to cram the Square and surrounding streets in Rome for the formal celebration, which starts at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) and includes the first ride in the white popemobile by Leo, the first pope from the United States.
Born in Chicago, the 69-year-old pontiff spent many years as a missionary in Peru and also has Peruvian citizenship, meaning he is also the first pope from that South American nation.
Robert Prevost, a relative unknown on the world stage who only became a cardinal two years ago, was elected pope on May 8 after a short conclave of cardinals that lasted barely 24 hours.
He replaces Pope Francis, from Argentina, who died on April 21 after leading the Church for 12 often turbulent years during which he battled with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalized.
US Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who clashed with Francis over the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies, will lead a US delegation alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Catholic.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend and would be happy to meet other leaders, a top aide has said, as he did at Francis’ funeral when he had face-to-face talks with US President Donald Trump in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Zelensky last met Vance in February in the White House, when the two men clashed fiercely in front of the world’s media.
Also expected at the Vatican ceremony are the presidents of Peru, Israel and Nigeria, the prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Australia, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Many European royals will also be in the VIP seats near the main altar, including Spanish King Felipe and Queen Letizia.
FOCUS ON PEACE
In various sermons and comments since his election as pope, Leo has praised Francis repeatedly but has not offered many hints about whether he will continue with the late pontiff’s vision of opening the Church up to the modern world.
His homily on Sunday is likely to indicate some of the priorities for his papacy, having already made clear over the past 10 days that he will push for peace whenever possible.
His first words in an appearance to crowds in St. Peter’s Square on the night of his election were “Peace be with you all,” echoing words Catholics use in their celebrations.
In a May 14 address to officials of the eastern Catholic Churches, many of whom are based in global hot spots such as Ukraine and the Middle East, the new pope pledged he would make “every effort” for peace.
He also offered the Vatican as a mediator in global conflicts, saying war was “never inevitable.”
Sunday’s Mass will feature prayers in several languages, in a nod to the global reach of the 1.4-billion member Church, including Latin, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Polish, and Chinese.
As part of the ceremony, Leo will also formally receive two items as he takes up the papacy: a liturgical vestment known as a pallium, a strip of lambswool which represents his role as a shepherd, and a special band known as the fisherman’s ring.
The ceremonial gold signet ring is specially cast for each new pope and can be used by Leo to seal documents. It features a design of St. Peter holding the keys to Heaven and will be broken after his death, marking an end to his papacy.
UK PM Starmer to agree deal to strengthen EU partnership, his office says
- Brexit has grown increasingly unpopular with the British electorate
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to agree a deal next week to strengthen the country’s post-Brexit partnership with the European Union and to facilitate trade in some food products, his office said on Saturday.
Starmer will welcome EU leaders to London on Monday to help reset relations with the bloc, with both sides aiming to secure progress in specific areas while others will remain off-limits.
Britain left the EU in 2020, but Starmer has been trying to boost ties with the country’s biggest trading partner since his center-left Labour Party won last year’s national election.
The summit will result in a deal, his office said, though it provided few details beyond saying it would improve the situation for British producers currently facing checks on products or unable to export, and also that it would ease matters for families facing higher bills and queues when traveling.
“This week, the Prime Minister will strike yet another deal that will deliver in the national interest of this country. It will be good for growth, good for jobs, good for bills, and good for our borders,” Starmer’s 10 Downing Street office said in a statement.
Starmer on Friday raised the prospect that a youth mobility deal with the European Union would be struck at the summit.
Brexit has grown increasingly unpopular with the British electorate, opinion polls suggest, with the economy faring poorly in recent years and international trade a particular weak spot.
Bomb at fertility clinic in California kills one
LOS ANGELES: An explosion outside a California fertility clinic Saturday killed one person in what the local mayor described as a bomb attack.
The blast ripped through downtown Palm Springs, badly damaging the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of other nearby buildings, in what the city’s police chief said appeared to have been a deliberate act.
“The blast appears to be an intentional act of violence and the blast extends for blocks with several buildings damaged, some severely,” Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills said.
“There has been one fatality, the person’s identity is not known.”
Eyewitnesses told local media they had seen human remains near the American Reproductive Centers clinic, which appeared to have been badly damaged in the blast.
A statement posted on social media by the clinic said no staff had been hurt when the blast went off.
“This morning, an unexpected and tragic incident occurred outside our Palm Springs facility when a vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building,” it said.
“We are heartbroken to learn that this event claimed a life and caused injuries, and our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.
“We are immensely grateful to share that no members of the ARC team were harmed, and our lab — including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials — remains fully secure and undamaged.”
Reproductive care, including abortion and fertility services, remain controversial in the United States, where some conservatives believe the procedures should be outlawed for religious reasons.
Violence against clinics providing such services is rare, but not unheard of.
US Attorney Bill Essayli said his office was aware of the blast.
“FBI is on scene and will be investigating whether this was an intentional act,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The local ABC affiliate, which cited an unnamed law enforcement source, reported five people were injured in the explosion and the person who died was a suspect in the blast.
Video posted online by witnesses showed debris scattered in the street in front of the clinic and windows shattered at multiple businesses in the area.
People living nearby reported feeling the shaking from the blast throughout the city.
Matt Spencer, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, told the Palm Springs Post he ran outside as soon as he heard the blast, and was confronted with the sight of the burned out car and what appeared to be a body in the middle of the road.
“In front of the building [the car] was blown clear across four lanes into the parking lot of [Desert Regional Medical Center],” he told the paper.
“I could see the back of the car still on fire and the rims, that was the only thing that distinguished it as a car.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom had been briefed on the explosion, his office said.
President Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents were working to determine exactly what had happened.
“But let me be clear: the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America. Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable,” she said in a statement on social media.
Five dead in helicopter collision in Finland, police say
Five people were killed on Saturday when two helicopters collided and crashed in a wooded area near Eura Airport in southwestern Finland, police said.
Police said the mid-air collision occurred shortly after noon near the town of Kauttua, with the wreckage falling some 700 metres from the Ohikulkutie road.
"Five people have died in a helicopter accident near Eura Airport on Saturday," Detective Chief Inspector Johannes Siirilä of the National Bureau of Investigation said.
According to flight plans, there were two people aboard one helicopter and three in the other, police said, adding that both helicopters were registered outside Finland.
One helicopter was registered in Estonia, the other in Austria, according to an Estonian Public Broadcasting report, citing Finland's Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. Both belonged to Estonian companies. One was owned by NOBE and the other by Eleon, the report added.
The helicopters were reportedly en route to a hobby aviation event, according to the Pori Aviation Club, Yle News reported.
The National Bureau of Investigation is leading a joint probe with local police, and Finnish and Estonian authorities are cooperating.
