accepts

Oct. 21 (UPI) — President Donald Trump accepted the Architect of Peace Award from the Richard Nixon Foundation during a closed ceremony at the White House on Tuesday morning.

Trump earned the award due to his central role in negotiating the current cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel to end the unchecked war in Gaza that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, CBS News reported.

Award presenters included former President Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien and acting U.S. archivist Jim Byron, CBS News reported.

Trump had argued he deserved to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for securing a cease-fire in Gaza and ending other wars.

Among wars that Trump has said he ended are those between Cambodia and Thailand, the Congo and Rwanda, Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Serbia and Kosovo, the president told the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24.

The Nobel Peace Prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who opposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in that nation’s 2024 presidential election, which exit polling suggests Machado won despite Maduro’s victory claim.

The Architect of Peace award is not given annually but instead when foundation representatives decide one has been earned by those who “embody [Nixon’s] lifelong goal of shaping a more peaceful world,” according to the Architect of Peace Award website.

The award last year honored former President George W. Bush, Farah Pahlavi and Reza Pahlavi.

Bush received the award for establishing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which globally has saved millions of lives.

The Pahlavis received the award for championing a secular Iranian government, religious freedom and human rights, according to the Nixon Foundation.

Farah Pahlavi is Iran’s former queen, while Reza is her son.

Sept. 12 (UPI) — The European Union has accepted assurance from Microsoft that it will cease forcing its Teams application onto users and allow similar apps a chance to compete.

“Today, the European Commission has accepted commitments from Microsoft addressing its concerns that the distribution of Teams, Microsoft’s communication and collaboration product, harmed competition,” said EU Director for Information, Technology, Communication and Media Carlota Reyners Fontana in a video statement posted to social media Friday.

Those commitments mean that Microsoft will detangle Teams from its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites for business customers, freeing up consumers to obtain productivity apps like Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word minus Teams for a lesser cost.

The promise also long-term licensed Microsoft customers the ability to switch out of suites that contain Teams, to allow competing apps to operate on Microsoft products and permit users to move data out of Teams and into competing apps.

However, should the commission deem Microsoft to be skirting its commitments, it could be fined as much as 10% of its global profits, or face 5% fines daily until in compliance.

The European Commission opened proceedings against Microsoft in July of 2023 following complaints by the companies behind the Slack and Alfaview communication apps for potentially breaching EU competition rules and determined that by tying Teams to its suites, the company “abused its dominant position,” according to Fontana.

“Teams competitors could not offset that advantage,” she continued.

In a press release, the European Commission announced Thursday that the guarantees made by Microsoft are now considered legally binding under EU antitrust rules.

“By helping to restore fair competition, these commitments will open up the market for other providers of communication and collaboration tools in Europe,” the commission stated in a press release on Thursday.

Teams features calling, messaging, video meetings and file sharing cloud-based capabilities that can further tie into other Microsoft apps. When Teams was first released, it was bundled with Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

After the commission opened its investigation, Microsoft at first released some suite options without Teams in 2023 and 2024, but “these changes were insufficient to address its concerns and that more extensive changes were necessary to effectively end the anticompetitive tying practice and its effects,” the release noted.

Microsoft then arrived at the commitments eventually accepted by the commission in May, and after market testing both Slack and Alfaview withdrew their complaints.

The commitments made by Microsoft will remain in effect for seven years, except for the interoperability and data portability promises, which will stand for 10 years.

Sept. 1 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV confirmed his intent to include LGBTQ parishioners within the Catholic Church ahead of their planned Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City.

The pope met editor and author the Rev. James Martin of New York for 30 minutes and said he intends to continue Pope Francis‘ policy of inclusion for all, the National Catholic Reporter reported Monday.

Pope Francis refused to judge and expel a gay priest in 2013 and afterward allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.

Francis did not change the Catholic Church’s policy of teaching parishioners that homosexual acts are “disordered,” though.

Martin co-founded Outreach, which is a Catholic ministry that promotes LGBTQ inclusion, and will participate in the Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City on Friday and Saturday.

An estimated 1,200 people are expected to participate in the pilgrimage, which is not sponsored by the Vatican.

Leo and Martin met in the library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, where the Pope clarified his position of inclusion for LGBTQ church members.

The pontiff’s position was in doubt after he criticized what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” in 2012 while serving the church and was still known as the Rev. Robert Prevost.

After being elevated to a cardinal in 2023, Prevost told Catholic News Service he did not oppose Pope Francis’ inclusion of members due to the choices that they make in their personal lives.

He confirmed the Catholic Church’s policy regarding homosexuality had not changed.

Leo also said church leaders were “looking to be more welcoming and more open and to say all people are welcome in the church,” the Catholic News Service reported.

RAFAH, Egypt — Hamas said Monday it has accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as Israel indicated its positions haven’t changed, while Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll from 22 months of war has passed 62,000.

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the long-running negotiations that Washington has mediated as well. “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” he posted on social media.

Israel announced plans to reoccupy Gaza City and other heavily populated areas after ceasefire talks appeared to break down last month, raising the possibility of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which experts say is sliding into famine.

Plans to expand the offensive, in part aimed at pressuring Hamas, have sparked international outrage and infuriated many Israelis who fear for the remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war. Hundreds of thousands took part in mass protests on Sunday calling for their return.

Egypt says Witkoff invited to join talks

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said mediators are “exerting extensive efforts” to revive a U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, during which some of the remaining 50 hostages would be released and the sides would negotiate a lasting ceasefire and the return of the rest.

Abdelatty told the Associated Press they are inviting U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to join the ceasefire talks.

Abdelatty spoke to journalists during a visit to Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, which has not functioned since Israel seized the Palestinian side in May 2024. He was accompanied by Mohammad Mustafa, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, which has been largely sidelined since the war began.

Abdelatty said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani had joined the talks, which include senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, who arrived in Cairo last week. Abdelatty said they are open to other ideas, including for a comprehensive deal that would release all the hostages at once.

Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told the AP that the militant group had accepted the proposal introduced by the mediators, without elaborating.

An Egyptian official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, said the proposal includes changes to Israel’s pullback of its forces and guarantees for negotiations on a lasting ceasefire during the initial truce. The official said it is almost identical to an earlier proposal accepted by Israel, which has not yet joined the latest talks.

Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egypt State Information Service, told the AP that Egypt and Qatar have sent the Hamas-accepted proposal to Israel.

An Israeli official said Israel’s positions, including on the release of all hostages, had not changed from previous rounds of talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas has been disarmed, and to maintain lasting security control over Gaza. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

Netanyahu said in a video addressing the Israeli public that reports of Hamas’ acceptance of the proposal showed that it is “under massive pressure.”

Palestinian death toll surpasses 62,000

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the attack that ignited the war. Around 20 of the hostages still in Gaza are believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll from the war had climbed to 62,004, with another 156,230 people wounded. It does not say how many were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. Israel disputes its toll but has not provided its own.

The ministry said 1,965 people have been killed while seeking humanitarian aid since May, either in the chaos around U.N. convoys or while heading to sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor.

Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired toward crowds seeking aid. Israel says it has only fired warning shots at people who approached its forces. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired into the air on rare occasions to prevent deadly crowding.

More deaths linked to malnutrition

Experts have warned that Israel’s ongoing offensive is pushing Gaza toward famine, even after it eased a complete two-and-a-half-month blockade on the territory in May. Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that five more people, including two children, died of malnutrition-related causes.

It says at least 112 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began, and 151 adults have died since the ministry started tracking adult malnutrition deaths in June.

Amnesty International on Monday accused Israel of “carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation.”

Israel has rejected such allegations, saying it allows in enough food and accusing the U.N. of failing to promptly deliver it. U.N. agencies say they are hindered by Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in the territory, around three-quarters of which is now controlled by Israel.

Eastwood, Magdy and Lidman write for the Associated Press. Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Tel Aviv. AP writer Rod McGuirk contributed from Canberra, Australia.

In July, U.S. President Donald Trump (C) met with African leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal at the White House in Washington, D.C., to discuss trade. Rwanda is now the first nation on the African continent to bow to the Trump administration in accepting U.S.-deported migrants part of sweeping immigration efforts in the United States. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 5 (UPI) — Rwanda on Tuesday agreed to accept hundreds of U.S.-deported migrants as part of a broad effort by the Trump administration to get African nations to take in deportees.

“Rwanda has agreed with the United States to accept up to 250 migrants, in part because nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Politico and The New York Times.

Rwanda’s societal values, Makolo claimed in a statement, were “founded on reintegration and rehabilitation.”

Rwanda’s foreign minister Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe initially confirmed the talks in May.

Its notorious 1994 genocide that killed over 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu peoples and later recovery made the small African country stand on its own in the eyes of the global community.

The Trump administration issued requests to at least 15 African nations, including South Sudan and Eswatini, to accept illegal migrants supposedly unable to return to their native country.

A second Rwandan government official told said the United States will provide funding but declined to outline a figure.

Last month, an internal memo out of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicated the federal agency intended to expand its effort to deport immigrants to other countries abroad where they do not hold citizenship.

The White House previously signed off on a $6 million infusion of U.S. dollars to El Salvador to imprison Venezuelan and Salvadoran citizens.

Meanwhile, Rwandan officials said the U.S.-infused money will support further work and training programs by its immigration authority.

The Rwandan official granted anonymity indicated its government agreed to demands as an opportunity to form closer ties to Washington.

In early July, President Donald Trump met at the White House with the leaders of Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon to talk over trade. Within days the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the administration was permitted to deport eight migrants to war-torn South Sudan held at a U.S. military base in neighboring Djibouti.

The anonymous Rwandan government official said Tuesday that as a small country, “any time you can find a way consistent with your own policies and values, to be able to talk to a major country about something that it is interested in and not just asking them to take an interest in your issues,” that it creates a “more productive” and a “more balanced” diplomatic relationship “that’s good for both sides.”

However, the official did state that it’s an “obviously not equal” relationship.