31/05/2025

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SATURDAY | MAY 31, 2025

US proposes 60-day ceasefire in Gaza

will agree to end the war. Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war. Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries usually reluctant to criticise it demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort. Witkoff said on Wednesday that Washington was close to “sending out a new term sheet” about a ceasefire by the two sides in the conflict. “I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict,” Witkoff said at the time. The 60-day ceasefire, according to the plan, may be extended if negotiations for a permanent ceasefire are not concluded within the set period. – Reuters

Israeli media said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted the deal presented by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Hamas said it was reviewing the plan and would respond today. The US plan provides for Hamas to release the last 30 of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages once a permanent ceasefire is in place. Israel will also cease all military operations in Gaza as soon as the truce takes effect, it shows. The Israeli army will also redeploy its troops in stages. Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March. Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm, be dismantled as a military and governing force and return all 58 hostages still held in Gaza before it

WASHINGTON: A US plan for Gaza seen by Reuters yesterday proposes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 hostages in the first week and the release of 125 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians. The plan, which says it is guaranteed by US President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement. The aid will be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels. On Thursday, the White House said Israel had agreed to the US ceasefire proposal. o Israel to redeploy troops in stages

Displaced Palestinians carry relief supplies distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip. – AFPPIC

Actor denies rape, sex assault charges LONDON: British actor and comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty in a London court yesterday to charges of rape and sexual assault relating to four women more than two decades ago. Brand, once one of Britain’s most high-profile broadcasters and former husband of pop singer Katy Perry, appeared at Southwark Crown Court and denied all five criminal charges. Prosecutors announced last month that Brand, 49, had been charged with two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault, and two counts of sexual assault against four women between 1999 and 2005.

Dismiss Boeing case, judge told WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department on Thursday asked a judge to dismiss a criminal fraud charge against Boeing stemming from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people, saying it had reached agreement with the planemaker.

two US senators had urged the Justice Department not to abandon its prosecution and some lawyers have vowed to challenge the deal. The government said the deal “secures meaningful accountability, delivers substantial and immediate public benefits, and brings finality to a difficult and complex case whose outcome would otherwise be uncertain”. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg signed the agreement on Thursday, finalising a deal the Justice Department said last week it had struck in principle. The Justice Department said the vast majority of the families of the 346 people killed in the crashes have settled civil suits with Boeing and collectively they have been “paid several billion dollars”. “Boeing is committed to complying with its obligations under the resolution reached today, which include a substantial additional fine and commitments to further institutional improvements and investments,” the company said on Thursday. – Reuters

Under the deal, Boeing will avoid being branded a convicted felon, but it has agreed to pay an additional US$444.5 million (RM1.9 billion) into a crash victims’ fund that would be divided evenly per crash victim on top of an additional US$243.6 million fine. Boeing, which last year had agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal, will pay US$1.1 billion in total, including the fine and compensation to families and over US$455 million to strengthen its compliance, safety, and quality programmes, the Justice Department said. The agreement has been harshly criticised by many families who lost relatives in the crashes and had pressed prosecutors to take Boeing to trial. A lawyer for family members and

Brand spoke only to confirm his name and enter his five not guilty pleas, before leaving the court. He is due to stand trial in June next year. After the charges were first announced, Brand said in a video posted on social media that in his younger days, before getting married and having children, he had been a fool and a sex addict but “what I never was, was a rapist”. In the 2000s, Brand was a regular

Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court in south London. – AFPPIC

where he airs his views on politics and free speech. In September 2023, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 TV’s Dispatches show reported allegations of sex offences against him. Police began investigating some weeks later. Brand, who said last year he had become a Christian, rejected those accusations. – Reuters

on British screens, known for his flamboyant style and appearance. He worked for the BBC and starred in a number of films including Get Him to the Greek before marrying Perry in 2010. They divorced 14 months later. By the early 2020s, he had faded from mainstream culture, appearing primarily on his internet channel

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