Hamas is ready to begin talks on the details of a second phase of the ongoing truce in Gaza, two officials from the Palestinian militant group told AFP on Monday. “Hamas has informed the mediators, during ongoing communications and meetings held with Egyptian mediators last week in Cairo, that we are ready to start the…
From retaliatory tariffs on US goods like car parts and soybeans to controls on raw minerals essential for American manufacturing, analysts say China has plenty of options if it wants to reply to fresh US levies. US President Donald Trump over the weekend announced 10 percent tariffs on Chinese products, upping the stakes in a…
President Donald Trump has pushed into new trade law territory with an emergency sanctions law to justify punishing 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and an extra 10 percent duty on Chinese goods to curb fentanyl and illegal immigration into the US. Trade and legal experts said the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will start negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire when he meets with US President Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Monday in Washington, Netanyahu’s office said late on Saturday. Netanyahu is scheduled to depart Israel on Sunday for Washington, where he is to meet next…
US President Donald Trump said on Friday the military helicopter involved in the crash in Washington, DC, was flying too high at the time of the accident that killed 67 people. “The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand,…
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet at the White House on Tuesday, a US official said on Friday. The meeting, confirmed this week by the two leaders’ respective governments, is set to take place amid a fragile six-week ceasefire that has brought a temporary pause to 15 months of…
The Trump administration is moving to strip a slimmed-down US Agency for International Development of its independence and put it under State Department control, two sources familiar with the discussions said on Friday, in what would be a significant overhaul of how Washington allocates US foreign aid. The National Security Council hosted discussions this week on…
A medevac plane crashed soon after takeoff in Philadelphia on Friday with a child and five others on board, the air ambulance company that operated it said, adding that it had not confirmed any survivors. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, based in Mexico and licensed to operate in the US, said its aircraft crashed with four…
A regional jet from Kansas carrying 60 passengers crashed into Washington’s Potomac River after colliding mid-air with a Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 military helicopter while on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, officials said Wednesday, prompting a major emergency response and grounding all flights. Eight bodies have since been recovered, according to media reports….
Colombian President Gustavo Petro welcomes ‘free and dignified’ deportees, stressing that migrants are not criminals. The first flights carrying migrants deported from the United States to Colombia after a major diplomatic row have arrived in the capital Bogota. The Colombian government confirmed on Tuesday that two planes carrying migrants had landed. A total of 201 migrants —…
The Trump administration has put on leave about 60 senior career officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), sources familiar with the matter said, after Washington put a sweeping freeze on US aid worldwide. The administration on Saturday urged USAID staff to help transform how Washington allocates aid around the world in line with Trump’s…
US President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated his desire to move Palestinians from Gaza to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan, and said he would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington “very soon.” The president on Saturday floated the idea to “clean out” Gaza after more than 15 months of Israel’s…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday said allies should work toward determining a format for any upcoming peace talks with Russia and that Kyiv must be involved for successful negotiations. His comments are the latest to pile speculation over the possibility of talks to end the brutal conflict that has cost tens of thousands of…
New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” with his Philippine counterpart on Wednesday and underscored the “ironclad” US defense commitment to Manila. “Secretary Rubio conveyed that (China’s) behavior undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law,” the US State Department said in a…
Americans will be hit by a “Trump tariffs tax” if the US president-elect increases customs duties on Canadian products, the Canadian foreign minister said Friday, pledging a hard-hitting response in any trade war. Donald Trump, who returns to the White House next week, has said he plans to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports as…
