World

Trump Says Deal with Xi 'Extremely Hard' as Steel Tariffs Double

This is Beirut 04/06 22:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump United States China Tarrifs Xi Jinping

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday it is "extremely hard" to reach a deal with China over a trade impasse that has roiled global markets, while his doubling of metal tariffs fueled tensions with key partners. Trump's latest salvos came as ministers from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries ...

Trump Says Putin Plans to Retaliate after Ukraine Drone Strikes

This is Beirut 04/06 22:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin Russia United States Ukraine

Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin warned him "very strongly" in a call Wednesday that he would respond to Ukraine's stunning attack on Russian airfields, adding that any immediate prospect of peace remained far off. Kyiv's daring mass drone strikes on Sunday destroyed several nuclear-capable bombers worth billions of dollars and ...

Trump Accuses Iran of 'Slow-walking' as Khamenei Opposes Nuclear Proposal

This is Beirut 04/06 22:09 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Donald Trump Ukraine Russia

US President Donald Trump accused Tehran on Wednesday of "slow-walking" on a nuclear deal after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the latest proposal from Washington was against the national interest. The longtime foes have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new accord to replace the deal with ...

Syria Says Seized All Captagon Factories

This is Beirut 04/06 21:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Captagon Bashar al-Assad

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab said Wednesday that authorities had seized all production facilities of illicit stimulant captagon, which became Syria's largest export under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad. In an interview with state television, Khattab said that "we were able to stop the production of this drug and seize all the materials and ...

Putin Says Ukraine Wants Ceasefire to Rearm and Mobilize

This is Beirut 04/06 20:11 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Vladimir Putin Russia Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday appeared to rule out a full ceasefire in Ukraine, saying that Kyiv would use any pause in the fighting to rearm. Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal to Moscow at peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. "Why reward them by giving them a ...

Zelensky Says Russian Ceasefire Memorandum is an 'Ultimatum'

This is Beirut 04/06 17:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine Russia United States

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said that Russia was giving Ukraine an ultimatum for peace negotiations but said he was ready to hold direct talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump "any day." His comments came after Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul swapped terms for agreeing to a ...

Syria Monitor Says Five Alawites Found Dead after Detention

This is Beirut 04/06 16:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Alawite Community SOHR

Five men from Syria's Alawite minority were found dead in a hospital two days after being detained by security forces, a war monitor said Wednesday, alleging they had been "summarily executed." Since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the Alawite community, which he hails from, has been the target of many attacks, including ...

Turkey Arrests Five Mayors From Main Opposition Party

This is Beirut 04/06 13:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Politics Opposition Arrest Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish police arrested five opposition mayors early Wednesday alongside 17 others as part of a probe into corruption allegations at CHP-held municipalities, a party spokesman told AFP. The latest arrests targeted a former lawmaker and three CHP mayors in Istanbul, and two more in the southern province of Adana, the spokesman said. The latest ...

Million-Plus Pilgrims Begin Hajj Under Blazing Sun

This is Beirut 04/06 13:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Islam Hajj

More than a million pilgrims joined Islam's most important rite under a beating sun on Wednesday, as the hajj kicked off with the Saudi hosts scrambling to avoid last year's 1,000-plus deaths in sweltering heat. With temperatures expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), robed pilgrims slowly circled the Kaaba -- the black cube ...

Khamenei Says US Nuclear Proposal Against National Interest

This is Beirut 04/06 12:33 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Iran US Nuclear Diplomacy

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday a US proposal for a nuclear agreement was against the national interest, amid sharp differences over whether Tehran can continue to enrich uranium. The longtime foes have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new accord to replace the deal with major powers that US ...

World War II Bombs Spark Large-Scale Evacuation in Cologne

This is Beirut 04/06 12:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Germany WWII Bomb

Around 20,000 people were being evacuated from central Cologne Wednesday after three unexploded World War II bombs were found, the biggest such operation in the German city since the end of the war. Bomb squad technicians were planning to defuse the three American explosives, two weighing 1,000 kilograms (2,204 pounds) and one 500 kg, which were ...

Trump Says “Extremely Hard” to Do Deal With Xi as Steel Tariffs Double

This is Beirut 04/06 11:58 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

USA trade tariff diplomacy steel

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday it was "extremely hard" to reach a deal with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as he ramped up his global trade war by doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The comments and higher levies came as OECD ministers gathered to discuss the outlook for the world economy in light of the US ...