Author: Daily Sabah With DPA

US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed optimism Thursday that an EU-US trade deal could be worked out over the Republican’s market-shaking tariffs. Before a working lunch at the White House, Trump told reporters there would “100 percent” be a deal, while Meloni said she was “sure” an agreement could be reached, and reaffirmed that the United States is a “reliable partner” despite its tariffs move. Meloni added that she would invite Trump for an official visit to Italy and hopes to organize a meeting with other European leaders at that time.

A picture of a young Palestinian boy injured in the war in Gaza has been awarded the World Press Photo of the Year. Around 60,000 pictures from around 4,000 photographers across the world competed in the 2025 edition of the World Press Photo, the jury said on Thursday, with the main themes focusing on conflict, migration and climate change. The Amsterdam-based jury selected photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf’s image of 9-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour as the winner. Ajjour was severely injured in an Israeli attack on Gaza City in March 2024, losing both his arms in an explosion. He was later evacuated…

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has warned that President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policy is likely to drive up inflation and slow economic growth. “The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated,” Powell said at an event in Chicago on Wednesday. “The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.” While the inflationary spike may be temporary, Powell cautioned that it could become more persistent depending on how the situation evolves. “Our role is to make sure this will be a one-time increase…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday his country is now producing 40% of the weapons used on the front lines, as Kiev ramps up domestic arms manufacturing amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. “Our defence industry is already manufacturing more than a thousand types of weapons: from artillery shells to missiles and long-range weapons, to our drones. Over 40% of all the weapons used at the front to defend our country are produced in Ukraine,” Zelensky said during a meeting with defence industry representatives in Kiev, according to the presidential office. Zelensky noted that Ukraine’s growing defence sector now employs around…

California is suing the federal government over Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs, the governor and attorney general said Wednesday, claiming the American president does not have the right to impose them. The move marks the strongest pushback yet against a tariff roll-out that has sent global stock markets into meltdown, and left businesses across the US fretting about uncertainty. “It’s the worst own-goal in the history of this country,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said. “One of the most self-destructive things that we’ve experienced in modern American history.” With 40 million people and a large, outward-facing economy that accounts for 14 percent…

The former governor of Russia’s western Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, has been detained on suspicion of fraud, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. His former deputy Alexei Dedov was also arrested, TASS reported. Smirnov resigned from office in December 2024, well before the end of his term. According to media reports, the arrests followed testimony against the pair from a former senior official currently in custody for allegedly embezzling funds earmarked for regional defence fortifications. The fortifications were constructed in 2022, shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered…

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at resolving technical disputes ahead of a second round of US-Iran nuclear negotiations. According to Iran’s Mehr news agency, Grossi is scheduled to meet on Thursday with Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The visit is focused on clarifying technical differences with Tehran, particularly concerning its uranium enrichment programme. A key point of contention is Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 60% purity, a level far above the 3.67% cap set under the 2015 nuclear deal. Reducing enrichment would…

Hundreds of former Israeli soldiers have called for the prioritization of the release of hostages over continuing the Gaza war, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday. A letter signed by 472 former soldiers from special units, including 135 active reservists, stated that the release of hostages is the most important moral imperative, taking precedence over all other objectives. The letter argued that the continued holding of hostages in the Gaza Strip undermines the moral foundations of the state. The Palestinian resistance organization Hamas is demanding an end to the war in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release…

Former US president Barack Obama has praised Harvard University for resisting influence from the White House “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” Obama, an alumnus of Harvard, posted on the social media platform X on Tuesday. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit,” Obama posted. He recently urged universities to use their endowment funds or cut costs rather than comply with demands from…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed no fundamental objection to purchasing weapons from the United States, despite the policy shift under President Donald Trump, according to an interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit. Von der Leyen affirmed in the article published on Tuesday that US weapons, which could be technically disabled from Washington, could still be purchased. She added that she personally advocates for increased production within Europe. Currently, the majority of military materiel purchased by EU member states originates from outside Europe, said the CDU politician. This situation, she noted, also results in the…