The meeting between Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington on Thursday resulted in an “unprecedented” invitation to the US president from Britain’s King Charles III.

But what was actually in the letter that Starmer handed over?

Presenting Trump with the missive from the British monarch in the Oval Office, Starmer said it contained an invitation for an “unprecedented second state visit.”

“This is really special. This has never happened before. Unprecedented,” Starmer said, putting a hand on Trump’s shoulder.

“I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us,” he continued, adding: “I think the last state visit was a tremendous success. His Majesty the King wants to make this even better than that. So, this is – this is truly historic.”

As he took and opened the letter, Trump described the King as “a great, great gentlemen” and remarked on his “beautiful” signature.

“He’s a beautiful man. A wonderful man,” the president said, adding: “I’ve gotten to know him very well, actually.”

The contents of the letter that Trump flashed to reporters show the King eager to build on the strength of his personal relationship with the president.

In the first paragraph, Charles appears to outline the “breadth of challenges across the world” and “the vital role” their two countries have to play in “promoting” the values that “matter so much to us all.”

He starts the second paragraph by reminiscing about Trump’s previous visits to the UK during his first term as president, and thoughtfully provides him with options for how they could next meet in a way that is most convenient for the president.

“I remember with great fondness your visits to the United Kingdom during your previous Presidency, and recall our nascent plan for you to visit Dumfries House, in Scotland, as the global pandemic began and all bets – and flights! – were off… I can only say that it would be a great pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in the hope that you might at some stage be visiting Turnberry and a detour to a relatively near neighbour might not cause you too much inconvenience. An alternative might perhaps be for you to visit Balmoral, if you are calling in at Menie,” he writes.

Charles suggests the two could meet when Trump is already in Scotland for some leisure time, with Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry just 30 miles from Dumfries House, Charles’ 18th-century mansion near Glasgow. Trump’s golf course at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire is about 60 miles northeast of Balmoral Castle.

The King then looks for some common ground: “There is much on both Estates which I think you might find interesting, and enjoy – particularly as my Foundation at Dumfries House provides hospitality skills-training for young people who often end up as staff in your own establishments!”

The King closes the letter by saying a visit would present “an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest” and “would offer a valuable chance to plan a historic second state visit,” adding that they can together discuss “a range of options for location and programme content.”

“In so doing, working together, I know we will further enhance the special relationship between our two countries, of which we are both so proud,” Charles concludes.

Pope Francis suffered a sudden episode of respiratory difficulty and was put on a breathing machine on Friday, according to the latest medical update from the Vatican.

The episode was complicated by vomiting, some of which he aspirated, the Vatican said. Medical staff treated the aspiration issue before putting the pope on mechanical ventilation, it said.

The Vatican added that the pontiff “remained alert and oriented at all times.”

A spokesperson later noted that he is not considered out of danger at this point.

Francis was first admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital two weeks ago, after being plagued by a string of lung-related medical struggles, including bronchitis and then pneumonia. His current hospitalization is his forth, and now longest, stay since he became pope in 2013.

The pontiff has suffered from lung-related issues for much of his life. As a young man, he suffered from severe pneumonia and had part of one lung removed.

The Vatican has been releasing twice daily updates on the pope’s health. On Thursday, it said that Francis’ condition was “improving” but his prognosis remained unclear.

The Argentinian leader’s schedule has been cleared to accommodate his intensive medical treatment.

Earlier on Friday, the Vatican announced that the pope will not lead next week’s Ash Wednesday service, marking the start of Lent, for only the second time in his 12-year papacy. A cardinal is expected to lead the service instead.

This story has been updated.

An Israeli man who was held hostage by Hamas for 491 days has described how he was starved while in captivity and recalled the moment on his release from Gaza – when he found out his wife and daughters had been killed during the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Eli Sharabi was released earlier this month along with Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostages agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The 52-year-old Sharabi said his captors had not told him that his wife Lianne and daughters Noiya and Yahel were killed during the 2023 attack. Instead, he learned of their fate after his release.

In an emotional televised interview that aired Thursday on Israeli Channel 12, he recalled the moment he was taken by the Red Cross to an Israel Defense Forces post where psychologists and a family friend, a social worker, awaited. “I said, ‘Bring me my wife and the girls,’” Sharabi recalled. “She told me, ‘Osnat [his sister] and Mom are waiting for you.”

Choking back tears, Sharabi added: “It was clear that there’s no need to tell. Because at that moment, she had already told me. It’s clear that the worst has happened.”

“I really hope they didn’t feel pain in their last moments. That it happened fast and wasn’t painful. I hope they are in a good place,” he added, his voice breaking.

Sharabi also shed light on the plight of the remaining hostages, including his close friend Alon Ohel with whom he had shared a tunnel and formed an “unbreakable bond.”

Sharabi said hostages were given one meal a day – often a bowl of pasta or half a pita – totaling just 250-300 calories. “We’d cut the pita into four pieces and nibble one slice for 10 minutes, pretending it was enough,” Sharabi said, adding that he dreamed of his mother’s cooking. “You dream of opening a fridge … taking an egg, a vegetable, water. That’s freedom.”

The Channel 12 interview concluded with a plea from Sharabi: “People must understand – every hostage is someone’s child, parent, sibling. Don’t forget them.”

The ceasefire deal has seen the release of 38 hostages held by Hamas, five of whom were freed separately to the deal, as well as thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.

The first phase of the truce is set to end this weekend and negotiators are yet to agree on what comes next.

It was improbable from the start.

For months, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted he wanted to bring the hostages home from Gaza, he resisted signing a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Sustained pressure from thousands-strong marches could not get him to the signing table.

But the combined pressure of the outgoing and incoming American presidents got Netanyahu to agree to a 42-day truce for the release of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners, and an infusion of aid into Gaza. (Ultimately, 38 hostages were released over 39 days.)

The agreement he did ultimately sign, then-US President Joe Biden argued, was essentially the same deal that had been on the table for nearly a year.

The final, 42^nd-day of that truce is Saturday. The ceasefire agreement stipulates that the truce can continue so long as negotiators are talking, so it may well hobble on. But as tough as negotiations for the first phase were, whatever comes next will be much more difficult.

Phase two of a ceasefire, which is supposed to last another 42 days, would see the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of all living hostages held by Hamas – estimated to number 24 men – in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

But talks about what comes next have only just begun, and Netanyahu has made it increasingly clear that he has no interest in that framework.

Netanyahu blew past the February 3 deadline to send a negotiating team to talk about phase two, choosing instead to visit US President Donald Trump in Washington. At the 11th hour, on Thursday, he announced that he would send a team to Cairo – but without its chief negotiator, his close political ally, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

“We are committed to the release of all hostages, and we will continue to search for different ways to do so,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Thursday while meeting with his Czech counterpart. There was no mention of the fact that that framework exists – agreed to in the Qatari capital in January.

Hamas has repeatedly committed itself to the ceasefire. Despite walking close to the edge when it sent to Israel the body of an unknown Palestinian woman instead of Shiri Bibas – mistakenly, the group says – it has largely stuck to the agreement.

But it has yet to answer the big question: Will it disarm and leave Gaza?

Hamas’s leaders, scattered between Gaza and across the region, are bullish one moment and conciliatory the next – but have consistently refused to engage on the question of disarmament.

Hamas “was not erased” by the war, Osama Hamdan, a member of the group’s political bureau, said in Qatar last week. “Whoever comes to fill Israel’s place (in Gaza) will be treated like Israel.” Hamas, he said, has “an opportunity to expand.”

Hazam Qassem, a spokesperson for the group, said that week that he was “surprised” by a suggestion from an Arab League official that the “resignation of Hamas represents the interest of the Palestinian people.”

And yet on Wednesday, another political bureau official, Husam Badran, said that the group was willing to step aside from governing Gaza. “Our only condition is for this to be an internal Palestinian matter – we will not allow any regional or international party to get involved,” he told Al Arabiya. “As long as there is national consensus, Hamas will not be involved in the governance.”

Netanyahu still refuses to say what he envisions for Gaza’s post-war future, except to say that he endorses Trump’s plan for “a different Gaza” – the emigration of all 2.1 million Palestinians in the enclave, and the construction of a Gulf State-like Xanadu. And he thinks neither the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority nor Hamas should govern Gaza.

Objectionable though it may be, Trump’s plan capitalized on a vacuum of leadership not just from Netanyahu, but in the region. Arab leaders are scrambling to come up with their own vision for rebuilding Gaza – while allowing the Palestinians to remain.

Extending phase one indefinitely would suit an Israeli prime minister whose extremist ministerial allies want to start bombing Gaza again and then re-establish the Jewish settlements that Israel forced out 20 years ago.

That does not mean war is imminent in Gaza.

“There isn’t a desire to relaunch the war,” the Israeli source said. “However there is a desire to go along with the US, hand in hand with the US.”

“There is an understanding in Israel that Trump wants a more regional settlement. So that obviously doesn’t mean that the war will start again right away.”

Netanyahu may seek to get more hostages home while continuing to keep the military massed on Gaza’s borders on a hair trigger.

The question for the coming hours and days will be whether Hamas would agree to give up its most important negotiating asset – hostages – without any commitment to end the war.

“Netanyahu’s plan to extend phase 1 in order to release more hostages without obligating to end the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza will be totally rejected by Hamas,” the longtime former Israeli negotiator-turned-peace activist Gershon Baskin said on Monday.

Hamas’ leaders inside Gaza, he opined, “are becoming increasingly independent from the Hamas leaders outside.” Those exiled leaders, he said, are more willing than the battle-front commanders to resume the war, “with the full awareness that their leverage is the lives of the remaining hostages.”

Those inside Gaza “will not hesitate taking revenge on the hostages if the fighting resumes,” he said. “The war is over, even if Netanyahu fails to recognize it. The alternative to Hamas will be the result of political decisions and not more warfare.”

Kareem Khadder and Zeena Saifi contributed to this report.

As consumers face skyrocketing egg prices, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports an increase of people attempting to smuggle eggs across the border from Mexico.

The CBP’s San Diego Field Office reported Thursday seeing a 158% increase in egg interceptions since the fiscal year of 2024.

Egg prices have jumped to all-time highs due in part to an outbreak of avian flu, or bird flu, that has been afflicting egg-laying hens in the US since 2022. Across the past three years, about 166 million birds have been affected by the deadly avian flu, according to the US Agriculture Department.

“It is critical that we keep our traveling public informed to safeguard our agricultural industry while continuing to facilitate legitimate trade and travel,” Sidney Aki, CBP director of field operations in San Diego said in a statement Thursday.

Further east in Texas, El Paso area CBP not only reported busting 64 pounds of methamphetamine but “CBP agriculture specialists issued 16 civil penalties totaling almost $4,000 linked to the attempted smuggling of prohibited agriculture and food products including raw eggs,” the CBP said in a press release on February 21.

The director of field operations for the CBP’s Laredo, Texas, office posted a video on X this week warning people not to import eggs saying, “The Laredo Field Office along with CBP would like to remind the public that it is prohibited to import raw/fresh eggs, raw chicken, or live birds.”

Travelers are required to declare all agricultural products to CBP officers and agriculture specialists or face fines of up to $10,000.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Wednesday a plan to invest $1 billion in strategies to rein in soaring egg prices. Yet in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rollins acknowledged that it “won’t erase the problem overnight.” Rather, she said the egg market won’t stabilize for another “three to six months.”

The average cost of a dozen eggs in January was $4.95, almost double the price from a year prior and surpassing a record high, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Twenty-five people have been arrested in a global operation over AI-generated child sexual abuse material, said Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, in a statement Friday.

Operation Cumberland, which was led by Danish law enforcement, is one of the world’s first cases involving this kind of child abuse material, which Europol said made it “exceptionally challenging for investigators.”

The operation spanned 19 countries, including a number of European nations, as well as Australia and New Zealand, according to the statement.

The case began when a Danish man was arrested in November 2024, Europol said. The man allegedly produced AI-generated child sexual abuse material, then distributed it on an online platform he ran. Users would pay to access the platform and “watch children being abused,” Europol said.

Some 273 suspects were identified, with more arrests expected to take place in the coming weeks, the agency said.

Those already arrested were “part of a criminal group” whose members distributed fully AI-generated images of minors, it alleged.

“These artificially generated images are so easily created that they can be produced by individuals with criminal intent, even without substantial technical knowledge,” Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s Executive Director, said in the statement.

“This contributes to the growing prevalence of child sexual abuse material, and as the volume increases, it becomes progressively more challenging for investigators to identify offenders or victims,” she added.

Even though the content investigated in Operation Cumberland was “fully artificial” with “no real victim depicted,” AI-generated child sexual abuse material “still contributes to the objectification and sexualization of children,” the statement read.

The law enforcement agency will soon be launching an online campaign that will highlight “the consequences of using AI for illegal purposes,” it added.

Western leaders scrambled to back Ukraine after Friday’s acrimonious meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky deepened the already yawning fault lines between Washington and many of its key allies.

The remarkable Oval Office exchange highlights a tricky balancing act facing Western capitals since Trump’s return to office in January: maintaining steadfast support for Zelensky and Kyiv against Russian aggression, while not alienating a famously transactional president who appears increasingly sympathetic to President Valdimir Putin, tolerates little criticism and is upturning decades of transatlantic security alliances.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who met Trump in the White House on Thursday in one of the trickiest visits by a British leader to Washington in decades, spoke with both the US president and Zelensky following their shouting match, according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.

Starmer “retains his unwavering support for Ukraine and is playing his part to find a path forward to a lasting peace, based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine,” the spokeswoman said.

The UK is set to host a summit of European leaders on Sunday to discuss support for Kyiv. Zelensky is expected to attend what’s likely to be a much more welcoming setting for the Ukrainian leader, with Starmer having urged Trump against accepting any peace deal in Ukraine that would “reward” Russia or its allies.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a key Trump ally in Europe, also called for a summit with the US and European nations to discuss the war in Ukraine, saying that division makes the West weaker.

Europe’s leaders and officials have been blindsided by a staggering collapse in American support for Ukraine in the past weeks, after almost three years of ironclad backing by the previous administration of Joe Biden. Many still cannot understand why US President Donald Trump has turned so furiously on Zelensky and conceded key concessions to Putin before even starting talks.

Zelensky has spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron and to European Council President António Costa following his scathing exchange with Trump at the White House, according to a Ukrainian source with knowledge of the situation.

“There is an aggressor, which is Russia, and an attacked people, which is Ukraine,” Macron later said in a statement.

“Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians do,” wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on X. “Therefore we are working on a common path to a lasting and just peace. Ukraine can rely on Germany – and on Europe.”

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement that it’s “clear that the free world needs a new leader.” European Union leaders also issued a joint statement urging Zelensky to “be strong.”

Zelensky has also spoken to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, a source said.

“Ukraine, you’ll never walk alone,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said, while Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna cautioned that if “Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.”

There was swift vocal support too from key US allies outside Europe.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would “continue to stand with Ukraine.”

“Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine. For three years now, Ukrainians have fought with courage and resilience. Their fight for democracy, freedom, and sovereignty is a fight that matters to us all,” Trudeau wrote on X.

Australia’s prime minister reiterated his country’s support for Kyiv, saying it will “continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

“We stand unequivocally with Ukraine in their struggle, because we regard that as a struggle for the upholding of international law,” Anthony Albanese said.

Ukraine, you’ll never walk alone’

A notable exception to the wave of European solidarity was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a far-right populist and Trump ally, who took to X to stand with the US president.

“Strong men make peace, weak men make war,” Orban wrote. “Today President (Trump) stood bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest. Thank you, Mr. President!”

The tense exchange with Trump boosted Zelensky’s backing among many at home, with Ukraine’s lawmakers rallying behind Kyiv’s leader.

Merezhko said there’s “absolutely no doubt” that the Ukrainian parliament will back Zelensky.

“We are united behind our president but at the same time, we hope that wisdom and common sense will prevail.”

Ukraine’s military, who have spent more than three years holding back a far larger Russian force with the help of US and European aid, also maintained a message of defiance, at least on public channels.

“Trump understands the aggressive manner of negotiations and is trying to crush Zelensky,” said Stanislav Buniatov, another Ukrainian military officer, in a Telegram post. “There would have been no heated talks if Trump had offered at least a ceasefire on the contact line with minimal amendments.”

One military officer, who goes by the callsign Aleks, said on Telegram he doesn’t “give a damn” about the kind of peace Trump offers.

“It’s better to fight to death than to freeze the war and then be drained again in three years,” he said.