Author: Daily Sabah With DPA

Environmental protests against Tesla’s factory outside of Berlin show no sign of abating, with around 50 people participating in a forest walk demonstration on Saturday. The protest was organized by the Turn Off the Tap on Tesla group, which argues the US electric carmaker’s presence is threatening water supplies in one of the driest areas of Germany. “This production facility is a danger to groundwater and drinking water,” said group spokeswoman Caro Weber. Police described the protest as peaceful. Participants say they are motivated by Tesla’s plan to expand its 300-hectare factory site in the small town of Grünheide to…

NATO is concerned that Russia could soon deploy nuclear weapons in space, according to a report in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that was released on Saturday. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told the newspaper that NATO is aware that Russia is considering putting nuclear weapons into space. He called Moscow’s current capabilities in space out of date and not comparable to those of the West. That’s why, Rutte said, developing nuclear weapons in space could allow Russia to improve its capabilities, which he said is of deep concern. These so-called anti-satellite weapons are not directed at Earth but at…

Ousted and imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has appeared in the first of the two court hearings scheduled on Friday that could lead to prison time and a political ban. The hearing, including CHP lawmakers, mayors and party members in the audience, began with Imamoğlu’s defense, Turkish media reported. The court case involves allegations that he threatened Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. Prosecutors are seeking a prison term of up to seven years and four months for Imamoğlu. He is accused of using his influence as a mayor to exert pressure on judiciary organs…

The European Union is putting retaliatory tariffs on US imports on hold for 90 days, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday. “We want to give negotiations a chance,” von der Leyen said. “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in,” she added. “Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table.” On Wednesday, EU member states agreed to retaliatory tariffs of 10% to 25% on US imports, which were due to be implemented from next week, in response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium…

Russia and Ukraine launched fresh drone attacks on each other overnight, resulting in injuries and damage across multiple regions, according to officials on both sides. Ukrainian authorities reported strikes in several areas. In the city of Dnipro, 15 people were injured and 15 private homes, along with several multi-storey residential and commercial buildings, were damaged, said regional Governor Serhiy Lysak. In the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported five people injured by Russian attacks in various communities. In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, two people were wounded following what local prosecutors described as a large-scale drone attack. Fires broke…

US President Donald Trump took a step back from his international trade conflict on Wednesday and announced a 90-day pause for some tariffs that have just come into force. On his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that he had “authorized a 90 day PAUSE” on tariffs, with the exception of those on China. Instead, he said, a universal customs rate of 10% would apply during the three-month break, effective immediately. Trump said he had made this decision “based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and…

Shortly before talks between Tehran and Washington on Iran’s nuclear programme, the Iranian president has surprisingly left the door open to US investment in the country. “I see the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] several times a week. He has no objections to American investors in the country,” said President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to the state news agency IRNA on Wednesday. “What we reject are conspiracies, subversion attempts and the incorrect policies they pursue,” he said. On Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to hold indirect talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Gulf state of Oman.…

Russia and Ukraine launched fresh drone attacks on each other overnight, resulting in injuries and damage across multiple regions, according to officials on both sides. Ukrainian authorities reported strikes in several areas. In the city of Dnipro, 15 people were injured and 15 private homes, along with several multi-storey residential and commercial buildings, were damaged, said regional Governor Serhiy Lysak. In the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported five people injured by Russian attacks in various communities. In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, two people were wounded following what local prosecutors described as a large-scale drone attack. Fires broke…

The United States will further raise its tariffs on imports from China, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump added. China, the world’s second-largest economy after the US, has already seen its…

Russia has “effectively” begun an offensive in Ukraine’s north-eastern regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s military chief said on Wednesday. “For almost a week now, we have been observing an almost two-fold increase in the enemy’s attacks on all main sections,” Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told the online portal lb.ua. He said Russia’s goal remains to establish a buffer zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions – an objective that Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly stated on multiple occasions. Despite sustained losses, Russia is reinforcing its front line presence by 8,000 to 9,000 soldiers each…