Closing post
Time to wrap up….Donald Trump has claimed the world is “richer, safer and much more peaceful than it was just one year ago” as he hosted a launch event for his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
At a signing ceremony for the new organisation, the US president said it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”.
US and Palestinian officials also used the ceremony to lay out a blueprint for the next steps in implementing a ceasefire in Gaza, and putting the territory under the day-to-day control of a Palestinian-run technocratic administration, which has been assembled in Cairo.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner outlined a plan for the next 100 days, including a significant increase in aid deliveries, the rehabilitation of essential infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sewage systems, and the reconstruction of hospitals and bakeries. Kushner also presented an aspirational map of a future Gaza in which the territory had a buffer zone around the border with Israel but was unified, rather than partitioned as it is now.
My colleague Jakub Krupa is covering the latest developments on Greenland, and Ukraine, here:
We’ll be back tomorrow for the final day of the World Economic Forum. One more heave….
Sir Tony Blair’s presence at the launch of Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” has prompted criticism in London, the Financial Times reports.
As we blogged this morning, the former Labour prime minister was hailed by the US president at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, “Thank you, Tony, for being here, we appreciate it,” Trump said.
However, Trump’s decision to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to join the Board of Peace has caused unease in Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
“Putin’s possible involvement puts Tony in a really difficult position,” said one senior minister.
“Presumably, he didn’t know about Putin when he agreed to sign up.”
We spotted Blair chatting with a group including Jared Kushner at the end of the board of peace signing ceremony.
Updated
