talks

US envoy Steve Witkoff to meet senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in Miami to discuss next phase of deal.

The United States Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will hold talks in Miami, Florida, with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye as efforts continue to advance the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, even as Israel repeatedly violates the truce on the ground.

A White House official told Al Jazeera Arabic on Friday that Witkoff is set to meet representatives from the three countries to discuss the future of the agreement aimed at halting Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Axios separately reported that the meeting, scheduled for later on Friday, will include Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

At the same time, Israel’s public broadcaster, quoting an Israeli official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a restricted security consultation to examine the second phase of the ceasefire and potential scenarios.

That official warned that Israel could launch a new military campaign to disarm Hamas if US President Donald Trump were to disengage from the Gaza process, while acknowledging that such a move was unlikely because Trump wants to preserve calm in the enclave.

Despite Washington’s insistence that the ceasefire remains intact, Israeli attacks have continued almost uninterrupted, as it continues to renege on the terms of the first phase, as it blocks the free flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

According to an Al Jazeera analysis, Israeli forces carried out attacks on Gaza on 58 of the past 69 days of the truce, leaving only 11 days without reported deaths, injuries or violence.

In Washington, Trump said on Thursday that Netanyahu is likely to visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays, as the US president presses for the launch of the agreement’s second phase.

“Yes, he will probably visit me in Florida. He wants to meet me. We haven’t formally arranged it yet, but he wants to meet me,” Trump told reporters.

Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating and guaranteeing the truce after a devastating two-year genocide in Gaza, have urged a transition to the second phase of the agreement. The plan includes a full Israeli military withdrawal and the deployment of an international stabilisation force (ISF).

Fragile truce, entrenched occupation

Qatar’s prime minister warned on Wednesday that daily Israeli breaches of the Gaza ceasefire are threatening the entire agreement, as he called for urgent progress towards the next phase of the deal to end Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Sheikh Mohammed made the appeal following talks with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, where he stressed that “delays and ceasefire violations endanger the entire process and place mediators in a difficult position”.

The ceasefire remains deeply unstable, and Palestinians and rights groups say it is a ceasefire only in name, amid Israeli violations and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Since the truce took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel has repeatedly breached the agreement, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israel committed at least 738 violations between October 10 and December 12, including air strikes, artillery fire and direct shootings.

Israeli forces shot at civilians 205 times, carried out 37 incursions beyond the so-called “yellow line”, bombed or shelled Gaza 358 times, demolished property on 138 occasions and detained 43 Palestinians, the office said.

Israel has also continued to block critical humanitarian aid while systematically destroying homes and infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Israel Hayom quoted an Israeli security official as saying the so-called “yellow line” now marks Israel’s new border inside Gaza, adding that Israeli forces will not withdraw unless Hamas is disarmed. The official said the army is preparing to remain there indefinitely.

The newspaper also reported that Israeli military leaders are proposing continued control over half of Gaza, underscoring Israel’s apparent intent to entrench its occupation rather than implement a genuine ceasefire.

Compounding the misery in Gaza, a huge storm that recently hit the Strip has killed at least 13 people as torrential rains and fierce winds flooded tents and caused damaged buildings to collapse.

Israel’s two-year war has decimated more than 80 percent of the structures across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to take refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters.

Leon Thomas recently dyed the tips of his signature locs dark green. His new hair color — a stark contrast from the vibrant red he’d been rocking for the last four years — is the first thing that stands out about him when he strolls into the Los Angeles Times building on an unusually rainy day in October.

When asked about his hair, which peeks out from underneath a black beret-style hat, a wide grin stretches across his face.

“I had a vision,” the 32-year-old singer says, leaning in. “In [this] vision, I had more tats, a six pack and I had green dreads. And I was like, ‘You know what, let’s work on it.’” He’s been working out more consistently and he has his eyes set on a couple of tattoo artists in L.A. and Europe, but the new hair kicked everything off.

“That’s how the rest of my life has worked: I’ve seen something in my head, I’ve seen a version of myself that’s not there yet and then you work hard to get there.”

This instinct has carried Thomas throughout his 20-plus-year career in the entertainment industry, and has cleared a path for him to emerge as a leading force in modern R&B music. After years of dedicating his skill to acting, writing and producing chart-topping bangers for artists like Drake, Ariana Grande and SZA (he won his first Grammy for her record “Snooze”), for the first time Thomas is up for six Grammy nominations including album of the year and best new artist for his own work.

“I feel like this is a byproduct of me finally having a machine that works,” Thomas says about his team. He signed to EZMNY, a record label co-founded by Grammy-nominated artist Ty Dolla $ign and A&R executive Shawn Barron, in 2021. He takes an audible breath before continuing, “Not to sound cocky or anything, but I just always felt in my heart of hearts that once people could finally hear what I had to offer, it would be a different story. I’m glad that God gave me the foresight to see that.”

He has good reason to be feeling himself these days. “Mutt,” his breakout 2024 single, quietly simmered for months before it was pushed into ubiquity. The track’s metaphorical meaning — comparing his own flawed behavior in relationships to a “mutt” or a dog with good intentions — along with a sensual bassline and knocking drums eventually became a sleeper hit. It also became a favorite for Tems, SZA, Keke Palmer and Issa Rae, who shouted out the song in interviews.

“That’s how the rest of my life has worked: I’ve seen something in my head, I’ve seen a version of myself that’s not there yet and then you work hard to get there,” said Leon Thomas.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

By early this year, the song, which is the title track from his sophomore album, had cracked the Hot 100 Billboard charts, recently climbing to No. 1 on Billboard’s radio songs chart, earning double platinum status.

The success of the album and the deluxe edition that followed launched Thomas into a whirlwind of promo: radio and podcast stops, interviews galore and after-party appearances. Meanwhile, he’s still made time to make records with other artists like Wale, Disclosure, Odeal and Sasha Keable. He kicked off his “Mutts Don’t Heel” tour in October, and this year alone, he’s had more than 70 performances, including the Hollywood Bowl with Inglewood-born singer SiR, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and the BET Awards (where he won best new artist). Earlier this year, Thomas stopped by NPR’s Tiny Desk, a live set that has more than 4 million views and has since been turned into an EP. (His Tiny Desk performance also received a Grammy nod for best R&B performance.)

“It’s been nonstop like something great happening every single week,” says Barron, co-founder of EZMNY.

Long before fans were belting out the lyrics “I’m a doggggg / I’m a mutt,” Thomas was getting his first taste of what it takes to be a musician from his family. Thomas’ late grandfather, John Anthony, was an opera singer who starred in the 1976 Broadway production of “Porgy & Bess.” His mother — a singer — and his stepfather — who played guitar for B.B. King — were part of New York’s Black Rock Coalition and “didn’t believe in babysitters,” says the Brooklyn native who now resides in L.A. He has fond memories of doing his homework while his parents were performing and hopping on stage at times to hit a dance move for a packed crowd.

At just 10 years old, Thomas booked the role of Young Simba on Broadway after a family friend encouraged him to audition. He went on to star in more productions, including “Caroline, or Change” and “The Color Purple,” before booking his first film, “August Rush” (starring late actor Robin Williams), which required him to learn to play the guitar. As a result, he began writing his own songs, one of which impressed his parents so much that they booked studio time and a session bass player to help him to lay down the track. “It definitely influenced my perspective on if I could actually make professional music or not,” recalls Thomas, who plays five instruments, including drums (his first love), guitar, bass, piano and saxophone.

“Not to sound cocky or anything, but I just always felt in my heart of hearts that once people could finally hear what I had to offer, it would be a different story. I’m glad that God gave me the foresight to see that,” said Leon Thomas.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

By age 13, Thomas had signed a development deal with Nickelodeon that came with a Columbia Records recording contract. After appearing in various shows like “The Backyardigans” and “iCarly,” he snagged the role of André Harris, a high-school-age singer and multi-instrumentalist, on the tween sitcom “Victorious” alongside star-in-the-making Grande.

When the show ended in 2013, Thomas began working with one of modern music’s most decorated architects, Babyface, who introduced him to producer and songwriter Khris Riddick-Tynes. Together, Thomas and Riddick-Tynes formed the Rascals and began producing records like Rick Ross’ “Gold Roses” featuring Drake (which received a Grammy nomination), “I’d Rather Be Broke” by Toni Braxton and SZA’s “Snooze,” which won best R&B song at the Grammys in 2024.

Still, pivoting from wholesome Nickelodeon star to a grown R&B artist didn’t happen overnight. “The biggest thing for me was just taking time away from the artistry in order to really allow people to celebrate the brand that I had built, but give me room to build something else,” he says. “Space and time can be a tough thing because you’re gonna have to reintroduce yourself even though you did a lot of work in the beginning to build what you had before, but I think it’s beautiful to kind of build a brand from scratch.”

That’s one of the reasons why the cover of his reintroduction project, “Genesis,” features a distorted forest instead of his face. “I didn’t want them to connect with what I was saying, what I was talking about, the feelings [and] the sounds,” he says. With every release, he’s slowly revealed more of himself.

Onstage, Thomas channels the intensity of some of his musical heroes — James Brown, Prince, Jimi Hendrix and D’Angelo. His music may sit comfortably under the R&B umbrella, but he bends and flips genres with ease, especially rock and funk. In TikTok recaps from his current tour, he can be seen ripping on the bass and guitar, whipping his body into turns and effortlessly hitting vocal runs, which fans have attempted to imitate. With him, you never have to question if the mic is on.

“Sometimes I go see R&B artists live and it’s very chill,” he says, but “the school I come from is competitive.” He recalls stories that his stepfather has told him about performing at the Village Underground in New York when he was coming up. “They used to do something called cutting heads, so the first guy would go do his solo, then the guy who came out on the second set had to go even further. He’s playing with his teeth, he’s spinning, he’s on the floor, he’s wildin’,” Thomas says excitedly.

“So I’m in that school of thinking when I hit a stage and for this tour where I get to curate things and really put it together like I want to, there’s gotta be that energy of cutting heads,” he adds.

Just days before launching his 27-city tour, Thomas released a cinematic trailer featuring Rae — who played his neighbor and hookup buddy on “Insecure” — to introduce his latest project, “Pholks.” The seven-track release, created in collaboration with musicians Rob “Freaky Rob” Gueringer and David Phelps, a.k.a. “D. Phelps” (who also worked on “Mutt”), is an homage to the funk, rock and soul artists who’ve inspired him. Led by the singles “Just How You Are” and “My Muse,” which could trigger a “Soul Train” line at any moment, the project feels warm and nostalgic, yet anchored in forward-thinking production and playful storytelling that helps push it into the future.

In April, Ty Dolla $ign brought Thomas out to perform during his headlining set at Coachella, a moment that was a no-brainer for Ty, who recently called Thomas “the new king” of R&B.

“I just can’t even believe that I was the one to be able to do this,” Ty says about working with the singer.

“Sometimes I go see R&B artists live and it’s very chill,” Leon Thomas said, but “the school I come from is competitive.”

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

In the midst of this busy season, Thomas has been more intentional about maintaining his mental health. “I’m doing a lot of grounding meditations,” he says, noting that family and his tight circle of friends have been an essential support system. “I’ve been picking up the Bible a little bit more.”

He also finds steadiness in revisiting wisdom passed down from his late grandfather, who passed away last year, and reflecting on his “why:” bringing a classic, musician-centered energy back to R&B and encouraging young artists to pick up an instrument.

“When a little kid sees me playing guitar on the Grammy stage or if they see me performing on Instagram playing drums, I want them to ask their mom for a guitar or some drum lessons,” he says. With the rise of AI, he says that live musicianship may become less common. “I hope that we can inspire a revolution of intelligence, people who are intelligently making music and coming from a standpoint of history.”

Thomas will close out his whirlwind year with two shows at the Wiltern on Dec. 22 and 23 before embarking on the European leg of his tour in March and heading to Australia in June. In the meantime, he’s trying to avoid thinking about the Grammys in February — though everyone, including myself, is making it impossible for him not to.

Whether he walks away with a golden gramophone or not, Thomas has already created a body of work that has reinvigorated not only R&B but also music in general, and he plans to continue pushing himself creatively. He’s known all along what he’s capable of and the career he’s destined to have because he’s envisioned it. It’s the world that’s had to catch up.

South Korea on Thursday called on China to play a role in fostering conditions to resume dialogue with North Korea, with China reaffirming its commitment to ensuring stability on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo made the call when he met with Ma Zhaoxu, China’s executive vice foreign minister, during the bilateral strategic dialogue in Beijing, the ministry said in a release.

The talks came as South Korea seeks to stably manage its ties with China, its largest trade partner and key economic benefactor of North Korea, amid the strategic rivalry between China and the United States, and Seoul’s drive to mend ties with Pyongyang.

“Vice Minister Park explained the government’s policy direction for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and asked for China’s role in fostering conditions to resume dialogue with North Korea,” the ministry said in a release.

Ma reaffirmed that China will “continue its constructive role in ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” according to the ministry.

They also agreed to work together to enhance “political and friendly” mutual trust, continuing the positive momentum in bilateral relations to further develop their ties.

It marked the first such talks since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung government in June.

The two sides exchanged opinions on issues of mutual concern, including China’s steel structures built in the overlapping sea zone in the Yellow Sea. The steel towers have raised speculation that China has installed them to lay territorial claims to the area, as was done in the South China Sea.

Noting that bilateral relations have recovered with the recent summit talks between President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, they agreed to implement follow-up steps in a substantive manner, through robust exchanges both at the government and private sector levels.

They also discussed ways to revitalize cultural exchanges between the two countries in a way that will “narrow the emotional distance between their peoples,” the ministry said.

Although China has never officially confirmed it, it has restricted the inflow of Korean cultural content and exchanges between relevant industries, including K-pop concerts and Korean films.

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England will hold discussions with cricket’s governing body with the aim of improving decision-making technology following a controversial error on the opening day of the third Ashes Test.

Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey survived a review for caught behind at the Adelaide Oval, only to later admit he edged the delivery bowled by England’s Josh Tongue.

Carey was given not out because the Snicko technology showed a discrepancy between the sound and pictures of the edge.

BBG, the company that provides Snicko, has admitted responsibility for the error.

At the close of play on day one, England head coach Brendon McCullum and team manager Wayne Bentley met with match referee Jeff Crowe.

Crowe confirmed the matter would be reviewed and England had a review reinstated for Australia’s first innings.

The England and Wales Cricket Board will also hold talks with the International Cricket Council (ICC) in an attempt to review and raise standards of the decision review system (DRS).

It is an ICC requirement for DRS to be in operation in all fixtures in the World Test Championship.

However, the ICC does not specify which technology providers should be used. In this instance, the Snicko system used in Australia is different from the Ultraedge employed for Tests in the UK.

US President Donald Trump has said that an agreement to end Russia’s war on Ukraine is “closer than ever” after key leaders held talks in Berlin, but several officials said that significant differences remain over territorial issues.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that he had “very long and very good talks” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and NATO.

“We’re having tremendous support from European leaders. They want to get it [the war] ended also,” he said.

“We had numerous conversations with President [Vladimir] Putin of Russia, and I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Zelenskyy had earlier said that negotiations with US and European leaders were difficult but productive.

The high-level discussions, involving Zelenskyy, a US delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and European leaders, took place in Berlin over two days amid mounting pressure from Washington for Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow to end one of Europe’s deadliest conflicts since World War II.

In a statement following the talks, European leaders said they and the US were committed to working together to provide “robust security guarantees” to Ukraine, including a European-led “multinational force Ukraine” supported by the US.

They said the force’s work would include “operating inside Ukraine” as well as assisting in rebuilding Ukraine’s forces, securing its skies and supporting safer seas. They said that Ukrainian forces should remain at a peacetime level of 800,000.

Two US officials, speaking to the Reuters news agency, described the proposed protections as “Article 5-like”, a reference to NATO’s Article 5 mutual defence pledge.

Ukraine had earlier signalled it may be willing to abandon its ambition to join the NATO military alliance in exchange for firm Western security guarantees.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv needed a clear understanding of the security guarantees on offer before making any decisions on territorial control under a potential peace settlement. He added that any guarantees must include effective ceasefire monitoring.

Ukrainian officials have been cautious about what form such guarantees could take. Ukraine received security assurances backed by the US and Europe after gaining independence in 1991, but those did not prevent Russia’s invasions in 2014 and 2022.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Washington had offered “considerable” security guarantees during the Berlin talks.

“What the US has placed on the table here in Berlin, in terms of legal and material guarantees, is really considerable,” Merz said at a joint news conference with Zelenskyy.

“We now have the chance for a real peace process,” he said, adding that territorial arrangements remain a central issue. “Only Ukraine can decide about territorial concessions. No ifs or buts.”

Merz also said it was essential for the European Union to reach an agreement on using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine to demonstrate to Moscow that continuing the war is futile. He warned that EU members must share the risks involved in appropriating those assets, or risk damaging the bloc’s reputation.

Meanwhile, the EU has adopted new sanctions targeting companies and individuals accused of helping Russia circumvent Western restrictions on oil exports that help finance the war.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was “open to peace and serious decisions” but opposed to what he described as “temporary respites and subterfuges”.

Reporting from Berlin, Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane said the outcome of the talks remains unclear.

“We know American emissaries were speaking to Ukrainians here in Berlin yesterday and today. Talks between those two groups have finished, according to a statement by Zelenskyy’s office,” Kane said.

“What we don’t yet know is how much of the US-led 28-point plan – parts of which were acceptable to Moscow but strongly opposed by Kyiv and EU officials – remains intact.”

Kane added that the German government has presented a separate 10-point proposal focused on military and intelligence cooperation rather than a peace settlement. European leaders are expected to continue discussions on the remaining areas of disagreement.

Fighting continues

Meanwhile, Ukraine said on Monday that Russia launched 153 drones overnight, with 17 striking their targets.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

Kyiv said its underwater drones struck a Russian submarine docked at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine has stepped up naval attacks in recent weeks on what it has described as Russia-linked vessels in the Black Sea.

Russian forces have continued to target the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, with two Turkish cargo ships hit in recent days. Kyiv said the strikes were aimed at Russian targets.

Zelenskyy also accused Moscow of using its attacks as leverage in peace negotiations.

He said Russia has struck every power station in Ukraine as part of its campaign against the country’s energy infrastructure.