Author: AFP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “very concerned” about Indian military strikes on Pakistan, his spokesperson said on Tuesday, hours after India said it hit nine sites in Pakistani territory. “The Secretary-General is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries. The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson.
China’s finance minister lashed out at the United States’ tariffs for bringing “unprecedented huge risks” to the global economy, according to an article published by his ministry on Tuesday. Separately, the Chinese foreign ministry said the United States needed to change its “threatening” approach if it wishes to reach an agreement, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The world’s two largest economies are engaged in a punishing trade war in which US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs reaching 145 percent on many Chinese products and Beijing retaliated with 125 percent duties on imports from the United States. Lan Fo’an,…
The US trade deficit reached a new record in March, according to fresh government data published Tuesday, as imports surged ahead of President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff rollout. The overall trade gap of the world’s largest economy jumped 14.0 percent to $140.5 billion for the month, the Commerce Department said in a statement. This was the widest deficit for a month on record, dating back to 1992, and marked a $17.3 billion increase from a revised gap of $123.2 billion in February. The data covers the month before Trump introduced steep levies on China, and lower “baseline” levies of…
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he wanted Russia’s Vladimir Putin to “stop shooting” in the Ukraine war and sign a peace deal, a day after the US leader met Kyiv’s president. “Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal,” Trump said in response to a question on what he wanted from Putin.
The man suspected of stabbing a Muslim to death in a mosque in southern France has given himself up at a police station in Italy, a French prosecutor announced Monday. “This is very satisfying for me as a prosecutor. Faced with the effectiveness of the measures put in place, the suspect had no option but to hand himself in — and that is the best thing he could have done,” said Abdelkrim Grini, the prosecutor of the southern city of Ales, who is in charge of the case.
Beijing on Monday insisted that “no phone call” took place recently between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, after Donald Trump said he had spoken with the Chinese leader. The world’s two biggest economies are locked in an escalating tit-for-tat trade battle triggered by Trump’s levies on Chinese goods, which have reached 145 percent on many products. In an interview conducted on April 22 with TIME Magazine and published Friday, Trump insisted Chinese leader Xi called him despite Beijing denying there had been any contact between the two countries over their bitter trade dispute. The US president did not…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the United States is committed to working to end the war in Ukraine, the State Department said Monday. “The United States is serious about facilitating an end to this senseless war,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a readout of Sunday’s call, which was already announced by Russia. She said Rubio spoke to Lavrov about “the next steps in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and the need to end the war now.” The call took place before Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered a three-day truce to…
Senior diplomats from BRICS countries will meet on Monday in Brazil to present a united front in the face of threats emerging from US President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies. The meeting comes at a critical moment for the world economy after the International Monetary Fund this week slashed growth forecasts over the impact of the American leader’s sweeping new tariffs. Diplomats from the trading bloc that includes current presidents of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will meet for two days in Rio de Janeiro, as a precursor to a leaders summit in July. “The ministers are negotiating…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said Ukraine’s army was still fighting in Russia’s Kursk a day after Moscow claimed the “full liberation” of its western region. Kyiv had hoped it could use land in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia, which has seized parts of eastern and southern Ukraine since launching its offensive in February 2022. “Our military continues to actively defend the designated areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions,” Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that the situation remained difficult in many areas including Kursk. Russia said on Saturday it had…
Greenland’s new prime minister said on Sunday that the Arctic island would never be a “piece of property” to be bought, criticising US talk of seizing the Danish autonomous territory as lacking respect. “We will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by anyone, and that’s the message I think is most important to understand,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen told reporters alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen as he visited Denmark for the first time since taking office.