‘A stern message’: how return of Trump loomed over Gaza ceasefire negotiations

US president-elect demanded a deal – while success against Iran and Hezbollah gave Israeli PM room to make one

The phone call from Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, surprised the aides of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Calling from Doha in Qatar last Friday evening, after Shabbat had already begun, Witkoff announced he was coming to Israel and would meet Netanyahu. Overruling the suggestion of Netanyahu’s aides that they could meet once the Jewish day of rest was over, Witkoff, 67 – a billionaire lawyer and real estate developer – insisted brusquely that they meet in the morning.

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‘Homecoming’ show for artist Frank Auerbach to be held at Berlin gallery

Exclusive: First show of figurative painter’s work to be displayed in city he fled in 1939 to escape Nazi regime

Frank Auerbach is to be the subject of what has been billed as a homecoming show in Berlin, at which some of his final paintings will be displayed in the city he fled as a child.

Auerbach, who died in November last year, never had a show in the city of his birth, which he left due to persecution by the Nazis. Both of his parents were later killed in Auschwitz.

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Italy seeks to protect restaurants and hotels from fake and paid-for reviews

Under draft law, online reviewers would have to provide ID and proof that they visited the place in question

The Italian government is seeking to clamp down on fake and paid-for online reviews in an effort to protect the country’s hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions from misleading and damaging content.

Under a draft law announced this week, which still needs to be approved in parliament, anyone wanting to write an online review would be required to provide verifiable ID and proof that they visited the place in question.

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Ireland’s two main centre-right parties to form coalition government

Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin will be taoiseach for first three years with Fine Gael’s Simon Harris taking over in November 2027

Ireland’s two main centre-right parties have clinched a deal with a group of independent lawmakers to form a coalition government, six weeks after an election that wiped out the Greens as a political force.

In the deal, sealed on Wednesday, Fianna Fáil’s leader, Micheál Martin, will become taoiseach, or prime minister, for the first three years of the five-year government, with the incumbent Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, taking over in November 2027.

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UK stalls Chagos Islands deal until Trump administration can ‘consider detail’

Future of Diego Garcia military base should be considered before handover to Mauritius signed off, No 10 says

The UK government will not sign off a deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius until Donald Trump’s administration has had a chance to consider the future of the joint military base, Downing Street has confirmed.

Allies of the US president-elect have been critical of the deal because of the implications for the strategically important Diego Garcia base, with concerns that it could bolster Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean.

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