Category: World

PARIS: France has said that European nations are increasingly united in their support for Ukraine’s defence, with a “broad consensus” emerging on strengthening its armed forces to ensure long-term security. The defence ministers of Europe’s five main military powers—France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland—addressed reporters after meeting earlier Wednesday for talks in Paris. They acknowledged the challenges posed by the new administration of Donald Trump in the US—which is seeking direct talks with Russia to end the war sparked by the Russian 2022 invasion of Ukraine—while insisting Europe was ready…

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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s hiked tariffs on all US steel and aluminium imports came into effect on Wednesday effectively marking a key milestone in  a campaign to reorder global trade norms in favour of the US. The president’s decision to bulk up protections for American steel and aluminium producers restores effective global tariffs of 25% on all imports of the metals and extends the duties to hundreds of downstream products made from the metals, from nuts and bolts to bulldozer blades and soda cans. The European Commission responded almost immediately, saying it…

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WASHINGTON: With President Donald Trump in power, the United States’ Department of Education said Tuesday it was slashing its staff numbers by almost half, the opening gambit in a plan to dismantle a department that right-wing Republicans have long detested. The move is the latest to roil the US federal government in the six weeks since the president returned to the White House pledging to drastically slim what he says is a flabby and inefficient bureaucracy, with thousands of employees across the country already fired. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told…

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TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday to “do whatever damn thing” he wants, rejecting negotiations if conducted under orders or threats. During a meeting with Iranian producers and entrepreneurs, Pezeshkian said: “It’s not acceptable for them to say, ‘we’re ordering you not to do this, and not to do that, or we’ll do this.’” “I’m not coming to negotiate with you at all. Go and do whatever damn thing you want.” The comments followed Trump saying on Friday that he had written to…

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Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in crunch talks in Jeddah on Tuesday after three years of grinding war. The positive response from Ukraine prompted President Donald Trump’s administration to lift a freeze on military aid and to predict the beginning to an end to three years of war. With Trump stunning allies by applying intense pressure on Kyiv and reaching out to Moscow, Ukrainian officials came to talks in Saudi Arabia eager to make up and had proposed a…

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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was extradited to The Hague on Tuesday, hours after his arrest in Manila at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating his controversial war on drugs. Duterte, a former mayor and prosecutor who governed the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was detained in the early hours, marking a significant development in the ICC’s probe into allegations of crimes against humanity linked to his anti-drug campaign. At 79, Duterte could become the first former Asian head of state to stand trial at…

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US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he would classify violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism, standing alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk to express his backing amid recent “Tesla Takedown” protests and a slump in the company’s stock. Speaking at the White House, Musk revealed Tesla’s plans to double its US vehicle production within two years. Earlier in the day, Trump declared his intention to buy a new Tesla to demonstrate support for Musk, following mounting protests against the electric carmaker. Protests have erupted across the US due…

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JEDDAH: Following high-level talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at easing the conflict that has continued for three years, the United States and Ukraine have agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, but its implementation now depends on Russia’s response. In the first high-level US-Ukraine meeting since President Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House dressing-down, the Americans agreed to restore military aid and pledged to conclude a deal on Ukrainian minerals “as soon as possible,” a joint statement said. “Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a…

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MANILA: Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs. The 79-year-old faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs. “Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said…

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SYDNEY: Australian utilities raced to reconnect more than 120,000 homes and businesses on Tuesday, that are still blacked out by gales and floods that bashed the east coast. Before making landfall as a tropical low on Saturday, Cyclone Alfred, which hovered just offshore, battered a 400-kilometre (250-mile) stretch of coast for five days. The wild weather claimed one life when a 61-year-old man driving a four-wheel-drive pickup was swept off a bridge into a flooded river Friday. The wind and rain have since eased across the coastline straddling Queensland and…

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