Add source Login
Witkoff 'had no idea about Russia' when he started... he spent five hours with Putin! - Trump

Witkoff 'had no idea about Russia' when he started... he spent five hours with Putin! - Trump

"US President Donald Trump revealed that his envoy Steve Witkoff had 'no idea about Russia' when they first started talks, during his speech to the Knesset on Monday. "Steve had no idea about Russia, had no idea about Putin too much. Didn't know too much about politics - wasn't that interested. He was really good at real estate, but he had that quality that I was looking for, and I didn't see it around in too many ways. And I set up the meeting with Putin, and I called. I said, is Steve finished yet?" he asked. " That was about a half an hour into the meeting," Trump continued. "No, sir, he's not. He's still inside. This is in Moscow. I said, well, how's he doing? I don't know, sir. He's still inside. I called up an hour later. Let me speak to Steve. Sir, he's still with Putin. He's with President Putin. I said, wow, it's a long meeting one hour. I called up an hour later, he's still with Putin. Three hours later he was still with Putin." The US leader said he later asked him "what the hell were you talking about for five hours?" "And he says, just a lot of interesting things. We just, we're talking about a lot of interesting things, including what he went in there for," he added. "But you can't talk about it for five, you can talk about it for a certain period of time and you know what you're getting. But that's a talent." "

'Bibi called me so many times!' - Trump jokes Netanyahu asked him for 'weapons he'd never even heard of'

'Bibi called me so many times!' - Trump jokes Netanyahu asked him for 'weapons he'd never even heard of'

"Donald Trump joked that 'Bibi called me so many times' and asked him for 'weapons I've never even heard of' as he addressed the Knesset on Monday. Trump and his core team received huge applause in the parliament ahead of his speech. The US president is in Israel to address the Knesset and meet with Benjamin Netanyahu and the families of hostages, before flying to Egypt for the official signing of the peace deal. The final twenty living hostages were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross earlier. The bodies of 28 deceased hostages will also be returned later, while around 1,700 Palestinians detained in Gaza since October 2023 and 250 more serving life sentences, will be freed under the deal. The first phase of the deal, agreed by Israel and Hamas last week, includes the ceasefire, the swapping of hostages and prisoners, and the Israeli military withdrawal to the 'yellow line' in Gaza. Subsequent phases will include the governance of Gaza, the future of Hamas and the reconstruction of the enclave. "

Against ‘chat control’: we can’t eliminate child abuse by eliminating privacy

Against ‘chat control’: we can’t eliminate child abuse by eliminating privacy

Banning online anonymity tools like Tor won’t stop crime. It will only drive people underground and normalize government control over the internet Like the “war on drugs” or the “war on terror”, a “war on child abuse” has too often been used to justify authoritarian overreach. Governments across the world are expanding surveillance, weakening encryption, and curtailing freedoms under the guise of staunching the proliferation of sexual images and videos of children – but these measures don’t actually solve the problem. In Europe, the latest proposal for a “chat control” regulation put forward by the Danish presidency would require every internet-connected device to include government spyware, as easy to activate as Alexa or Siri. It would scan not only for known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) but also, in practice, would flag artwork, fan fiction, family photos and chats, relying on unreliable AI classifiers – which scientists warn can’t be implemented safely. Continue reading...

Microplastics are brought into the wilderness on hiking shoes and gear, study shows

Microplastics are brought into the wilderness on hiking shoes and gear, study shows

Research comparing Adirondack mountain lakes in New York suggests foot traffic is significant source of pollution Hiking shoes and outdoor gear are likely a significant source of microplastic pollution in the wilderness, new research that checked for the pernicious material in several Adirondack mountain lakes in upstate New York suggests. Researchers measured microplastic levels in two lakes that are the among highest sources of water for the Hudson River – one that sees heavy foot traffic from hikers, and another lake that is far away from a path and rarely touched by human activity. Continue reading...