US treasury accuses Antal Rogán, a close aide of leader Viktor Orbán, as key to ‘system of corruption’
The United States has imposed sanctions on a senior member of the Hungarian government for alleged corruption, in a move which Budapest said it would challenge as soon as Donald Trump takes office.
The US treasury accused Antal Rogán, a close aide of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, of using his role to secure financial benefits for himself and his political allies.
Continue reading...Major resettlement reduces population in US detention facility in south-eastern Cuba to just 15 people
The United States has sent 11 Yemeni detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention center to Oman, the Pentagon said on Monday, in a major resettlement that nearly halves the detention facility’s remaining number of prisoners.
The released men include Tawfiq al-Bihani, who had been cleared for transfer since 2010; Khalid Qassim, a long-term hunger striker who has spoken about spending most of his adult life in Guantánamo; and Hassan bin Attash, who was captured in a security raid in Pakistan in 2002.
Reuters contributed reporting
Continue reading...US president-elect praises Italian prime minister at Florida resort for ‘really taking Europe by storm’
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, made a flying visit to Donald Trump’s Florida golf club on Saturday, during which the US president-elect praised the far-right leader for “really taking Europe by storm”.
The pair were photographed in the grand ballroom of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Continue reading...Ex-security minister says assassination ordered by Trump set off chain of events that led to revolution in Syria
Donald Trump’s decision to sanction the assassination of an elite Iranian commander triggered a chain of events that has revealed Iran as a paper tiger and led to the overthrow of Basher al-Assad, a former UK security minister has said.
Tom Tugendhat, now on the Conservative backbenches and intending to focus on foreign policy, also predicted the Iranian regime would collapse in a few years. He said that if handled properly, Syria could become the economic powerhouse of the Middle East within a decade.
Continue reading...Leaders cast the other as ill-prepared after Trump threatens to apply 25% taxes on goods from both countries
Mexico’s president has said Canadians “could only wish they had the cultural riches” of her country as tensions mount between the two nations, caught in a feud over tariffs and trade exacerbated by Donald Trump.
The US president-elect threatened in a social media post last week to apply devastating levies of 25% on all goods and services from both countries, and to keep them in place until “such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!”
Continue reading...Canadian government scrambles to ward off tariffs as prime minister briefs politicians on meeting with Trump
Canada’s federal government has redoubled its efforts to ward off potentially disastrous tariffs from its closest ally, but provincial leaders have hinted at divergent strategies in response to the protectionist threat from president-elect Donald Trump.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, convened a rare, in-person meeting with his political rivals on Tuesday to brief them on a surprise meeting with Trump at his Florida resort over the weekend.
Continue reading...US president remembers ‘stolen men and women and children brought to our shores’ and lauds American investment in country
Joe Biden addressed America’s history of enslavement in a speech on Tuesday at Angola’s National Museum of Slavery, calling it “our nation’s original sin” during a trip in which he also lauded recent US investment in the region.
“We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty,” Biden said, as the sun set over the water behind him.
Continue reading...Biden administration broadens limits on Chinese access to advanced microchip technology, with Donald Trump expected to go even further
The US has announced new export restrictions targeting China’s ability to make advanced semiconductors, drawing swift condemnation from Beijing.
Washington is expanding efforts to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China that can be used in advanced weapons systems and in artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Assad regime seeks to repel Islamist rebels in north as Iran’s top diplomat visits Damascus in show of support
Syrian and Russian airstrikes have pummelled areas of northern Syria as Iran’s top diplomat arrived in Damascus in a show of support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime after Islamist insurgents made a sudden advance and seized control of Aleppo.
As the regime attempted to repel the strongest challenge to its authority in years, state media in Damascus shared images of airstrikes across opposition-controlled areas, claiming they were targeting enemy command centres and positions. Syria’s military said they struck close to a stadium in Aleppo in a joint operation with Russia.
Continue reading...If Putin allowed to reduce Ukraine to vassal state ‘he will not stop there’, Richard Moore says in plea to Trump
Abandoning Ukraine would jeopardise British, European and American security and lead to “infinitely higher” costs in the long term, the head of MI6 has warned in a speech that amounted to a plea to Donald Trump to continue supporting Kyiv.
Richard Moore, giving a rare speech, said he believed Vladimir Putin “would not stop” at Ukraine if he was allowed to subjugate it in any peace talks involving the incoming US Republican administration.
Continue reading...Sheinbaum says she had cooperative talks with president-elect who threatened 25% tariff against Mexico on Tuesday
Claudia Sheinbaum has said her “very kind” phone conversation with Donald Trump, in which they discussed immigration and fentanyl, means “there will not be a potential tariff war” between the US and Mexico.
The president of Mexico spoke to reporters on Thursday following Trump’s threat earlier in the week to apply a 25% tariff against Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff against China, when he takes office in January if the countries did not stop all illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling into the US.
Continue reading...In a co-authored document presented to Trump in April, Keith Kellogg also said US should give Ukraine more weapons if Russia doesn’t join negotiations
Donald Trump’s plan to tap the retired US lieutenant general Keith Kellogg as US envoy to Ukraine and Russia has triggered renewed interest in a policy document he co-authored that proposes ending the war by withdrawing weapons from Ukraine if it doesn’t enter peace talks – and giving even more weapons to Ukraine if Russia doesn’t do the same.
Trump is said to have responded favorably to the plan – America First, Russia & Ukraine – which was presented to him in April and was written by Kellogg and the former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s national security council from 2017 to 2021.
Continue reading...Joe Biden may have revived diplomatic efforts, but after compromising in Lebanon, Netanyahu has even less leeway in Gaza
Joe Biden has revived diplomatic efforts to achieve a truce in Gaza with the hope of building on momentum generated by the newly agreed ceasefire in Lebanon.
There are doubts, however, that such momentum exists outside the Biden administration, which is anxious to use its last few weeks to salvage scraps of diplomatic honour after the bloody past 14 months in the Middle East.
Continue reading...US president-elect posted on social media about plan to impose 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada over immigration
Justin Trudeau has called an emergency meeting with provincial premiers across Canada after the US president-elect, Donald Trump, threatened a 25% tariff on the United States’ northern neighbour.
Trump posted on social media that he would “sign all necessary documents” to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all goods products coming into the United States, adding the levy would remain in place until “such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!”
Continue reading...Olympic gold medalist argues in video that podcaster’s remarks about war in Ukraine is result of Putin-led plot
The podcaster Joe Rogan is “repeating Russian propaganda” about the war in Ukraine, the former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko charged in remarks on social media, adding that Rogan should invite him on his podcast to discuss the issue “like free men”.
“I listen to your latest podcast,” said Klitschko, whose brother Vitali Klitschko was also a world champion boxer and is now mayor of Kyiv.
Continue reading...Warning comes as Biden agrees to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, days after lifting restrictions on use of long-range missiles
The US has temporarily closed its embassy in Kyiv after receiving warning of a “potential significant air attack”, advising American citizens to be prepared to move immediately to a shelter in the event of an air raid warning.
Such warnings are rare and likely to be based on specific intelligence. It comes amid reports that the US had approved the provision of anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine – a further step after Washington granted Kyiv permission to use long-range missiles inside Russia.
Continue reading...Antony Blinken makes statement months after President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won July contest
The US government has recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the “president-elect” of the South American country, months after President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won the July contest.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, recognized González in a post on X in which he also demanded “respect for the will” of Venezuelan voters.
Continue reading...President-elect’s surrogates accuse president of seeking to spark ‘world war three’ over decision to allow limited strikes
Allies of the president-elect, Donald Trump, have lashed out angrily at Joe Biden for his decision to permit Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to launch attacks inside Russia for the first time, in what the Kremlin has termed an “escalation” in the war.
Key Trump surrogates, including his son Donald Trump Jr, hardline congressional Republicans, and other backers have accused Biden of seeking to spark “world war three” before Trump’s presidential inauguration in January.
Continue reading...Carve-out for F-35 parts prioritised ‘US confidence in UK and Nato’ over risk of rights violations, court documents show
The UK government did not fully suspend export licences to Israel as it would undermine US confidence in the UK and Nato and have a “profound impact” on international peace and security, court documents reveal.
On Monday the UK government returned to the high court in legal action by the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) over the decision to continue arms exports to Israel.
Continue reading...Military and political consequences of allowing Kyiv to use Atacms missiles remain uncertain
It has taken an election defeat in the US and the arrival of 10,000 North Koreans in Ukraine for Joe Biden to finally relent. After two years of asking, Ukraine’s army has been given permission to use US long-range Atacms missiles to strike against targets inside Russia. The military and political consequences remain uncertain.
Russia has been able to bomb targets across all of Ukraine throughout the war. On Sunday it attacked key sites across the country’s power network, forcing Kyiv to implement national electricity rationing as a result of the damage caused. Some missiles were aimed as far west as Lviv and at sites near the border with Moldova, and an energy crisis is closer as a result.
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