Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

Tech billionaire and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk promoted a cash giveaway Thursday for Wisconsin voters who sign a petition against “activist judges,” days before a key election for the US state’s supreme court. The move comes as Trump demands that courts across the nation stop blocking his agenda. Judges in recent weeks have delayed efforts by his administration to overhaul the federal government through Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. America PAC, a pro-Trump political action committee established and largely funded by Musk, said it would give $100 to Wisconsin voters who sign the “petition in opposition to activist…

Europe’s biggest military powers are drawing up plans to take on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defence from the U.S., including a pitch to the Trump administration for a managed transfer over the next five to 10 years, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The UK, France, Germany and the Nordics are among the countries engaged in the informal but structured discussions, the newspaper reported, citing four European officials involved.

Europe’s biggest military powers are drawing up plans to take on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defence from the U.S., including a pitch to the Trump administration for a managed transfer over the next five to 10 years, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The UK, France, Germany and the Nordics are among the countries engaged in the informal but structured discussions, the newspaper reported, citing four European officials involved.

British stocks closed lower on Friday on continued worries about the economic impact of U.S. tariff policy, while a shutdown of Heathrow Airport pressured travel stocks. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.6%. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index declined 0.9%. Despite the day’s losses, the blue-chip index rose 0.3% this week. The mid-cap index snapped four weeks of losses, rising 0.5%. Meanwhile, Britain’s Heathrow said it had begun the process of reopening, after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe’s busiest airport for the day. The shutdown weighed on airline and travel stocks globally, though stocks pared…

Ukraine does not consider a U.N. mission an alternative to the deployment of a contingent of foreign troops or security guarantees to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday. “With all due respect, the U.N. will not protect us from the occupation or Putin’s desire to come back,” Zelensky said at a joint press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel in Kyiv.

Europe’s biggest military powers are drawing up plans to take on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defence from the U.S., including a pitch to the Trump administration for a managed transfer over the next five to 10 years, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The UK, France, Germany and the Nordics are among the countries engaged in the informal but structured discussions, the newspaper reported, citing four European officials involved.

Billionaire Elon Musk took his campaign to cut the U.S. federal government into uncharted waters on Friday, holding an unprecedented top-level meeting at the Pentagon and calling for the prosecution of any Defense Department officials leaking “maliciously false information” about his visit. Musk, whose businesses have a number of Defense Department contracts, met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 80 minutes in his first such talks at the Pentagon, which is responsible for a large chunk of federal government spending. It was unclear whether U.S. generals joined that meeting virtually. The New York Times reported that Musk would be briefed…

Last year was the deadliest on record for migrants, with nearly 9,000 people dying on perilous routes and one in 10 of those killed violently in incidents such as shootings, the U.N. migration agency said on Friday. In 2024, at least 8,938 people died on migration routes, with Asian routes being the most deadly followed by the Mediterranean crossing and Africa, which includes the Sahara Desert. “The increase in deaths across so many regions in the world shows why we need an international, holistic response that can prevent further tragic loss of life,”   International Organization for Migration (IOM) Deputy Director General…

Palestinian resistance group Hamas is to blame for deaths in the Gaza Strip since hostilities resumed, the United States told the United Nations Security Council on Friday. “Hamas bears full responsibility for the ongoing war in Gaza and for the resumption of hostilities. Every death would have been avoided had Hamas accepted the bridge proposal that the United States offered last Wednesday,” acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea told the 15-member council.

The United States and Israel will hold strategic talks on Iran’s nuclear program at the White House next week, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two Israeli officials and one U.S. official. Israeli strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi will be part of Israel’s delegation, according to Axios.