Author: AFP
The Vatican will make final preparations Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners file through St Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin. Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St Peter’s Square, who include US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, are expected to arrive on Friday in Rome. Italian and Vatican authorities have placed the area around St Peter’s under tight security ahead of the funeral, with drones blocked, snipers on roofs and fighter jets on standby. Further check-points will be activated…
Just under five months into her job as the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas admits it has been a rollercoaster start as US President Donald Trump has turned the global order on its head. “Every morning you wake up and it’s like do I dare, do I dare? OK, what’s happened?” she told AFP, grimacing as she mimed checking her mobile phone. “It’s crazy.” A former prime minister of Estonia, Kallas, 47, was picked as foreign policy chief by her fellow leaders last June on the back of her fierce support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. A hawkish…
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin needed to “stop lying” over wanting peace in Ukraine while continuing to strike the country. “The only thing to do is for President Putin to finally stop lying,” Macron said during a visit to Madagascar, saying the Russian leader was telling US negotiators “he wants peace” but then continuing “to bombard Ukraine”. “In Ukraine, they only want a single answer: Does President Putin agree to an unconditional ceasefire?”
The European Union and United States are far from reaching a deal on tariffs, France’s economy minister said Thursday, as the bloc seeks a way out from trade tensions with Washington. US President Donald Trump has slapped new 10 percent tariffs on most trading partners since returning to the White House in January, and imposed sharp levies on imports of steel, aluminum and autos. The EU has not been spared, and a 90-day pause on even higher rates for goods from the bloc is due to expire in early July. “We’re not going to hide the fact that we’re still…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Russia’s large-scale missile attack on Kyiv, the deadliest strike on the Ukrainian capital in months, was designed to put “pressure” on the United States. He also insisted that Kyiv would not change its position on Crimea — after US President Donald Trump criticised him for not agreeing to cede the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Zelensky is visiting South Africa but has said he will cut his trip short to return to Kyiv — hit at dawn by the biggest Russian attack since last summer — after his talks with…
Tesla reported a 71 percent drop in first-quarter profits Tuesday in results that lagged analyst estimates as Elon Musk’s automaker warned of a hit to demand due to “changing political sentiment.” The electric vehicle producer reported profits of $409 million following a drop in auto sales that analysts said reflected brand damage due to Musk’s work for the Trump administration. Revenues fell nine percent to $19.3 billion. The company retreated from its 2025 guidance, citing unpredictability over trade policy and demand. “Uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets continues to increase as rapidly evolving trade policy adversely impacts the global…
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide said Wednesday he had arrived in London alongside top Ukrainian officials, pledging he would work for peace despite planned talks being downgraded to a lower level at the last minute. “We arrived in London together with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga. Despite everything, we will work for peace,” Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram shortly after the UK Foreign Office told AFP the planned negotiations between foreign ministers of Ukraine’s allies had been postponed, with lower-level talks to be held instead on Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that the United States would “walk away” unless Russia and Ukraine agree a peace deal, as envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations gathered for downgraded talks in Britain. “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’, or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters in India. US media reported that President Donald Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, and Vance said land swaps would be…
France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Iraq should not be pulled into conflicts in a turbulent Middle East during his first visit to the country, which has suffered from decades of instability. Jean-Noel Barrot will also visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq, an ally to both Tehran and Washington, has been navigating a delicate balancing act not to be drawn into the fighting, after pro-Iran factions launched numerous attacks on US troops based in Iraq, as well…
More than 50 aftershocks rocked the Istanbul region after a powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Sea of Marmara just to the south of Turkey’s biggest city on Wednesday, the interior minister said. “By 3:12 pm (1512 GMT), 51 aftershocks — the largest of which was 5.9 magnitude — had been recorded,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, saying the first 6.2 magnitude quake, which hit at 12:59 pm was “approximately seven kilometres deep lasted a total of 13 seconds”.