Author: AFP
The Muslim world will be asked to throw its weight behind an Arab counter-plan to US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned proposal to take over war-torn Gaza at an emergency meeting on Friday. Foreign ministers from the 57-member Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will meet at its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League endorsed Egypt’s alternative plan for Gaza. At Tuesday’s summit in Cairo, Arab leaders backed the proposal to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority. However, the plan, which does not outline a role for Hamas, which controls…
Hamas released on Friday a video of an Israeli hostage seen alive and addressing his family after identifying himself. In the footage, he is heard urging Israeli authorities to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. The ceasefire’s first phase ended last weekend, after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the deal’s second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war. AFP was unable to verify the…
An Israeli attack on Iran would set off a wider conflict in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told AFP on Friday. “I believe that if an attack on Iran were to take place, this attack could turn into a widespread fire in the region — not that we will do that,” he said in an interview. “Iran’s nuclear programme ‘cannot be destroyed’ militarily” Iran’s nuclear programme cannot be destroyed in a military attack, Araghchi said in a statement following a threat by Israel. “Iran’s nuclear programme cannot be destroyed through military operations… this is a technology that we…
It was another roller-coaster week in US President Donald Trump’s trade war as tariffs against China came into force while Mexico and Canada were given a temporary reprieve. Here is what happened this week and what’s looming in the coming weeks: – North American standoff – Trump unveiled 25-percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods on February 1, with a lower rate of 10 percent for Canadian oil. But hours before they were due to take effect on February 4, Trump agreed to delay the move for a month. Fast-forward to March 4: the tariffs come into force, hitting imports…
The leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Friday the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift its blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.
Ukraine wants peace “as soon as possible”, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday ahead of fresh talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia next week. “The theme is clear: peace as soon as possible, security as reliable as possible. Ukraine is determined to be very constructive,” Zelensky said of the upcoming talks in his evening address.
President Donald Trump responded Thursday to growing criticism over unprecedented cuts to the US government overseen by his billionaire advisor Elon Musk, saying they should be carefully targeted. “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,'” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was pausing sweeping tariffs he recently imposed on Mexican imports after talks with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, citing their positive relationship. He said fresh tariffs would not apply to trade falling under a pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada for now, adding: “This Agreement is until April 2nd.”
NATO chief Mark Rutte declared himself “cautiously optimistic” Thursday that Ukraine and the United States can overcome the breakdown triggered by last week’s White House clash between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump. Ukrainian President Zelensky has scrambled to re-engage Washington following the Oval Office debacle — declaring himself ready to work towards a peace deal under the US president’s “strong leadership” and to finalise an accord on American access to Ukrainian mineral resources. “I welcome very much that the United States and Ukraine, as we speak, are discussing how to go forward with this, and how to solve some of…
France’s defence minister Thursday said Paris was providing military intelligence to Ukraine, after Washington suspended sharing its own with Kyiv. “Our intelligence is sovereign… with our own capacities,” Sebastien Lecornu told France Inter radio. “We are passing this on to the Ukrainians.”