Author: AFP

NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine was “not easy” and condemned Russia’s “terrible pattern” of attacks on Ukrainian civilians. “These discussions are not easy, not least in the wake of this horrific violence. But we all support President Trump’s push for peace,” Rutte said of US-led talks during a surprise visit to the port city of Odesa, where he met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. Rutte’s comments contrast with an assessment from Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said he sees a peace deal “emerging”…

US President Donald Trump resumed his attempts Monday to blame Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelensky six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. The Republican told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin number one, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing,…

The United Nations on Monday said Gaza was facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began, with no aid entering the territory for weeks and conditions rapidly deteriorating. “The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities,” said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half, since Israel ended a two-month ceasefire and began blocking their delivery.

Sudan’s civil war has resulted in “13 million displaced people and refugees”, including many women who reported being raped and children, a regional UNHCR official told AFP on Monday. “The conflict has provoked the displacement of 13 million people including 8.6 million internally displaced people and 3.8 million refugees,” the UN refugee agency’s Abdourahouf Gnon-Konde said in an interview after visiting the war-torn country.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged “reform” of the Palestinian Authority as part of a plan for the West Bank-based body to govern a post-war Gaza without the resistance movement Hamas. France is among European nations to have backed a plan for Gaza to return to the control of the Ramallah-based authority after nearly two decades of Hamas rule if a ceasefire deal is reached to end the war with Israel. Israel resumed its deadly air strikes in Gaza on March 18 after cutting off aid to the Palestinian coastal territory, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Macron called…

Spilling your Mexican beer on your t-shirt sewn in Vietnam while watching a US series on Netflix on your Chinese-made smartphone sitting outside at a Parisian cafe is an ordinary occurrence in our globalised world. But does the tariff war set off by US President Donald Trump spell the end for globalisation? Many experts believe that countries will still trade and be interdependent, but that trade will be more costly and complex. Trump Wednesday said he will jack up tariffs on China to 125 percent, but he announced a 90-day pause on his threatenned “reciprocal” levies on everyone else, leaving…

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that health authorities acted properly when they blocked e-cigarette companies from marketing fruit- and dessert-flavored flavors. The court’s six conservative and three liberal judges upheld the Food and Drug Administration’s argument that these products could be addictive for young people who like sweet flavors in vaping devices. Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered gadgets that produce an inhalable vapor by heating a nicotine-laden liquid. Unlike tobacco, they do not contain cancer-causing tar or carbon monoxide. But the World Health Organization and anti-smoking advocates refuse to consider them less harmful than smoking cigarettes. The country’s highest…

Amazon has made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The offer arrived in a letter to officials involved in talks regarding the sale of TikTok to appease US national security concerns, according to the New York Times. Amazon declined to comment on the report. President Donald Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app’s US business by a Saturday deadline. US media…

The World Health Organization is facing a gaping deficit this year and through 2027 following the US decision to withdraw, even after dramatically slashing its budget, a media report indicated Wednesday. As the United Nations health agency has been bracing for the planned full US withdrawal next January, it has gradually shrunk its two-year budget for 2026-2027 from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion. But even after the dramatic scaling back, it remains $1.9 billion short towards that budget, Health Policy Watch reported Wednesday. That figure, which the publication said had been provided to staff during a town hall meeting on…

US President Donald Trump said Monday he would be “very kind” to trading partners when he unveils further tariffs this week, risking global turmoil to address what he says are unfair trade imbalances. Trump — who has been making unprecedented use of presidential powers since taking office in January — said he could announce as early as Tuesday night exactly what “reciprocal tariffs” will be imposed. The Republican billionaire insists that reciprocal action is needed because the world’s biggest economy has been “ripped off by every country in the world,” promising “Liberation Day” for the United States. He could also…