Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday said he was finding it more difficult to deal with Ukraine and that it may be easier to deal with Russia as his administration seeks to reach a peace agreement.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Friday he was alarmed by intense clashes and killings in coastal areas between Syrian Caretaker Authority forces and elements loyal to the former regime, “with very troubling reports of civilian casualties”.

A Paris court found the former head of France’s domestic security services, Bernard Squarcini, guilty on Friday of using public resources to benefit LVMH, in a trial that shed light on efforts by the world’s biggest luxury group to protect its reputation. Squarcini, 69, who headed France’s domestic security services from 2008 to 2012, was later hired by LVMH as a security consultant. The court gave him a two-year prison sentence that he can serve at home with an electronic bracelet and an additional two years suspended, and fined 200,000 euros ($217,300). His lawyers said he would appeal against the…

Iran’s foreign ministry warned on Friday that violence in Syria could cause regional instability, state media reported, amid reports of fighting in western Syria. It was the first comment by Iran, which had long backed Syria’s ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, during the fighting between the government in Damascus and fighters believed to be from Assad’s Alawite sect in western Syria. “Recalling the interim government’s responsibility in ensuring the security of all Syrian citizens, Iran strongly opposes insecurity, violence, killing and harming innocent Syrians from every group and tribe, and sees it as a catalyst for regional instability,” foreign ministry spokesperson…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that the central bank’s decision to cut its key interest rate by 250 basis points to 42.5% on Thursday was a step in the right direction. Speaking at a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner with tradesmen in Istanbul, Erdoğan also said vendors and tradesmen must not allow those imposing “exorbitant price hikes” on citizens.

The United States is stopping all federal funding to South Africa, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday. “To go a step further, any Farmer (with family!) from South Africa, seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety, will be invited into the United States of America with a rapid pathway to Citizenship,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Trump said this process will begin immediately. U.S. foreign assistance commitments to South Africa came in at $323.4 million in 2024, according to government data.

If sustained, U.S. tariffs imposed on Mexico and Canada will have a significant adverse impact on the those countries, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, citing the strong integration of both countries with the U.S. economy. IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said the U.S. tariffs on Mexico and Canada and new duties on China, along with responses from China and Canada, and potentially Mexico, amounted to significant new developments. She said the IMF would release a more comprehensive assessment at the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington in April. She cited increased volatility in financial markets…

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said U.S. discussions with Hamas were recent and the message to the Palestinian resistance group was that the United States wants to get hostages home. Witkoff also said the U.S. does not believe Hamas has been forthright.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on EU leaders in Brussels to support the idea of truce in the air and at sea towards achieving peace in Ukraine. “Everyone needs to make sure that Russia, as the sole source of this war, accepts the need to end it. This can be proved by two forms of silence that are easy to establish and monitor, namely, no attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure – truce for missiles, bombs, and long-range drones, and the second is truce on the water, meaning no military operations in the Black Sea,” he said.

A defence spending surge could boost Europe’s sluggish economy as long as it provides a springboard for a broader industrial revival and if governments convince the sector that the funding is there for the long haul. Amid growing concerns the continent can no longer rely on U.S. protection, European leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday to approve new ways to increase defence spending and pledge continued support for Ukraine. While questions remain over whether Europe will match words with action, this week’s deal between Germany’s likely next coalition partners to remove fiscal caps from defence spending has boosted hopes of…