SEOUL: South Korea’s ambassador to the United States said Washington had raised concerns about intelligence cooperation between the allies and that Seoul had not yet ​fully addressed US expectations, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha ‌told a South Korean parliamentary audit in Washington that intelligence sharing was the most difficult issue in bilateral relations, according to Yonhap.

Here are some details from the report and background:

US Secretary ​of State Marco Rubio raised the matter during talks with South Korean ​Foreign Minister Cho Hyun last month, Kang said.

Kang did not detail ⁠Washington’s concerns, but said communication between the two countries’ intelligence agencies was continuing ​and had made progress.

The ambassador also said access to senior White House officials had ​been limited, according to the report.

South Korea’s foreign ministry did not immediately have a response to a Reuters request for comment on the report.

South Korean media have reported that Washington asked that Seoul’s ​National Intelligence Service be excluded from a June meeting with US and Japanese ​officials on North Korean cyber threats.

Seoul’s spy agency said the matter reflected a past misunderstanding and ‌had ⁠been resolved, acknowledging restrictions on some intelligence connected to the earlier dispute but denying reports that the US had reduced sharing of North Korean missile information or cut the overall flow of intelligence.

Kang said Seoul and Washington were discussing ways to ​secure South Korean rights ​to enrich uranium ⁠and reprocess spent nuclear fuel, either through revising their civil nuclear agreement or an additional arrangement.

No progress had been made towards ​a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean ​leader Kim ⁠Jong Un, despite Trump signalling openness to dialogue, Kang said.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that Seoul should avoid subservient attitudes in ⁠dealings ​with other countries.

Lee called the US alliance a central ​pillar of South Korean diplomacy which should be further developed, while adding differences between countries were inevitable ​and should be managed through discussion and coordination.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Ukraine to replace its leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy and railed against Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, a day after announcing a diesel supply ​deal with Russia that had drawn a sharp rebuke from Zelenskiy.

In some of his harshest criticism yet of the White House, Zelenskiy linked the US lifting of sanctions ‌on Russian diesel with a Russian attack on Saturday that killed 20 people, including 3 children, in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

A steep rise in global diesel prices, which followed the outbreak of the Iran war in February, has become a political liability for Trump’s Republican Party ahead of next month’s midterm elections, when opposition Democrats could gain control of one or both houses of Congress.

“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told ​reporters at the White House, saying Zelenskiy had hurt global diesel supplies with strikes on Russian refineries.

“He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel because ​Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world.”

Zelenskiy says diesel deal emboldens Russia

Earlier in the day, Zelenskiy said Trump’s announcement ⁠on Friday of the diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin had emboldened Moscow. Kyiv has instead urged Washington to pressure Moscow for serious negotiations to end the 4-1/2-year-old war.

The Russian government said on Saturday ​it had partially lifted a ban on diesel exports.

“Today, Russia said thank you for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskiy said.

“Last ​night provided yet more confirmation that Russia perceives any easing of pressure as a signal that it can supposedly keep fighting, that it can supposedly keep dropping bombs on cities. Different signals are needed.”

The southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has been a regular target of Russian bombardment with strikes intensifying in the past few months.

On Saturday, a 6-year-old girl was among those killed in Zaporizhzhia when one strike reduced part of an apartment block to rubble. Her grandfather, ​Anatoliy Chumniy, stood sobbing over her body, laid on the ground in a white bag, after rescuers pulled it from the wreckage.

“Her birthday would have been at the end of the month,” ​he said through tears.

It was the third mass-casualty attack on Ukraine this week.

Nearly 80 civilians were killed in Russian strikes on Wednesday and Thursday, including at least 30 killed by a bomb in the eastern garrison city ‌of Kramatorsk ⁠and 22 others by a missile in the town of Pryluky, about 130 km (80 miles) east of Kyiv.

Russian air strikes targeted port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, governor says

The diesel deal was also criticized by US lawmakers, including one of Trump’s fellow Republicans, Representative Don Bacon, who said it was time to apply more sanctions that Congress had recently passed, not lift them.

Analysts said the agreement was unlikely to lead to sustained lower fuel prices, with the volumes still much lower than what Russia usually exports when its refineries are not under attack.

Britain vows to strengthen Russia sanctions

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with Zelenskiy on Saturday and said Britain would strengthen its sanctions ​on Russia, according to a Downing Street spokesperson, ​who added that the two leaders would ⁠meet in person in the coming days.

The latest strikes followed talks between Ukrainian and European officials with US negotiators in Miami on Friday, which were aimed at developing a common proposal for ending the war, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Trump announced the diesel deal while the negotiations were ​under way, a move Zelenskiy said had caught Kyiv by surprise.

The Ukrainian delegation was headed home on Saturday, presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn was ​cited by the Interfax Ukraine ⁠news agency as saying.

Putin said after a call with Trump on Friday that an immediate resumption of peace talks was unlikely, citing Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow.

US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may visit Moscow within the next two weeks, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, citing a source.

In his remarks at the White House, Trump criticized Zelenskiy over the lack of a peace deal, while demanding an ⁠end to Ukrainian ​strikes on Russian energy facilities.

“I said to him, ‘Do what you want. Don’t hit refineries. There’s plenty of targets. Don’t ​hit refineries.’ And he went out and he hit,” Trump said. “He better damn well stop.”

“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals, but for some reason he never does,” he ​added.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday ‌that Russia had agreed to immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the US and global marketplace in an effort aimed at cutting prices for the fuel ahead of the November midterm elections.

The move comes as prices of diesel, used in agriculture, heating homes and trucking goods, are near record highs ahead of the November 3 congressional ​elections that will determine control of Congress.

Trump said in a post on social media he had a “highly successful” discussion with President ​Vladimir Putin in which they agreed that Russia will immediately supply the diesel.

An envoy for Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, ⁠praised cooperation between Russia and the United States on diesel and energy in a post on X on Friday, shortly after the call.

Trump ​said Russia would supply another 500,000 tons in November, and another 1,000,000 tons “immediately thereafter.” Even more would come after that, Trump said, “based on the condition ​of their diesel refineries” which have been damaged by attacks during Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Also read: Russia extends ban on diesel exports until September 30

The unusual move comes as the US has imposed sanctions on Russia’s energy companies over its war on Ukraine that began in February, 2022. The Treasury Department issued a general license on Friday allowing importation of Russian diesel until April 7 ​next year.

Diesel prices, which can drive inflation, are up 70% since the US-Israeli war with Iran began this year, despite two high-profile recent moves ​by Trump to boost supplies of the fuel: pressuring allies to release emergency reserves and expanding access to tax-exempt red-dyed diesel, which is normally used for farm equipment.

‌The wars ⁠in Iran and Ukraine have triggered an unprecedented global fuel supply crunch, pushing average US diesel prices to $6.28 a gallon on Thursday, according to the AAA motorist organization.

“Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority,” Trump said.

Defense production act

Three industry sources said earlier on Friday that Trump will issue a directive in coming days to some US department heads to find ways to control prices ​of diesel.

The directive, which they ​said could take the form ⁠of a presidential memo, will push officials to find ways to bypass local and state regulations blocking energy production and use the Cold War-era Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase output of oil and fuel.

Also read: US bill on Russian oil tariffs not expected to affect trade talks, Indian government source says

Under the DPA, ​the president has authorities allowing loans, or loan guarantees to expand domestic manufacturing of critical materials and to ​require companies to ⁠prioritize government contracts for essential goods.

The White House has been weighing how to use the DPA to expand refining capacity as the war with Iran exposes a US vulnerability to supply disruptions and price spikes.

Refining executives told administration officials last month that federal money would be better directed toward making refineries ⁠more efficient ​or expanding existing plants rather than financing an entirely new refinery, which would be ​considerably more costly and take years to complete.

Trump also said he expected gasoline prices to fall soon to levels around $1.85 to $1.95, well below Friday’s average price of about $4.37 a ​gallon, according to AAA.

ROME/LONDON: The West’s energy watchdog will meet next week to work out the details of a diesel stock release as market confusion grows over how many barrels Europe and the US plan to make available to address shortages and record-high prices, sources said.

Under pressure from US President Donald Trump, the Group of Seven major economies agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from emergency reserves and pledged to refrain from energy export restrictions.

They did not provide a breakdown of the volumes of crude, diesel and other products to be released, however, or say which countries would participate.

READ ALSO: 325 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves released: IEA

The governing board of the International Energy Agency, which advises industrialised countries and manages their strategic oil reserves, is expected to decide the details of the stocks release at an October 14-15 board meeting, two people close to the matter said on Tuesday.

The IEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what was expected to be decided at the board meeting.

The G7 includes the US, UK, Japan and Canada along with EU nations France, Germany and Italy.

One of the sources said that G7 member Italy would be part of the release.

The EU’s oil coordination group will meet on Wednesday, a European Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request to clarify details of the stocks release.

The Iran war sparked the biggest emergency stock release ever of 400 million barrels in March, which was coordinated by the IEA.

Announcing the new stocks release, G7 leaders said last Friday they would take into account commitments already fulfilled regarding the previous move.

Oil market participants and some EU government officials were trying on Tuesday to work out the finer points of the Friday announcement.

Russell Hardy, chief executive of Vitol, said at a conference in London on Tuesday that the commodities trading house was still trying to understand the details of the stocks release.

“It wasn’t a fully transparent announcement about exactly what was being released where,” he said.

“And so over the next two weeks, we’ll see tenders coming out from different bodies, and those tenders will tell us exactly how much oil and in which location it’s going to come out.”

GRAND ISLAND: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to expand access to tax-exempt diesel that he unveiled from a rally stage in Nebraska.

High diesel prices, which shot to a record of about $6.50 a gallon last month, are ​a risk to Trump ahead of the November 3 midterm US elections in which control of Congress ​is at stake.

Trump’s Republican Party currently holds a narrow majority in the ⁠Senate and House of Representatives.

Prices for the fuel integral to trucking goods have risen in response to the ​US-Israeli war on Iran and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the conflicts having led to attacks on ​refineries in the Middle East and Russia.

Trump said the directive will waive the off-road requirement for tax-free diesel and allow anyone to buy the red dye diesel fuel that is used by the agriculture industry and by some off-road vehicles.

“We ​are not going to need it long, I hope,” Trump said of the waiver.

The order released by the ​White House, directs the treasury secretary, in consultation with the Pentagon chief, “to defer payment of the federal excise tax imposed ‌for ⁠on-road use of dyed diesel fuel for the remainder of the year without interest or penalties, and to explore pathways to eliminate the obligation to pay the deferred taxes.”

It also directs the US agriculture secretary to “ensure farmers’ access to dyed diesel in high-demand areas” while asking the transportation secretary to coordinate with states, ​industry leadership, and labor ​organizations on access to ⁠dyed diesel.

G7 countries announced last week that they would release 100 million barrels of diesel, after pressure from Trump who had considered banning US exports of ​the fuel. But it was not clear how much of that release would ​be entirely ⁠new supplies or compliance with a global agreement in March.

Trump’s approval rating held at a record-low 32% in recent days, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday, with Americans most concerned about the high cost of living, spurred ⁠by ​soaring gasoline and diesel prices due to the US war ​on Iran.

NEW YORK: The dollar was on track for a fourth straight weekly gain against the euro on Friday, supported by elevated US Treasury yields amid a selloff in European government bond markets and expectations the Federal Reserve will maintain its hawkish interest rate stance.

The greenback trimmed some of its recent gains after data showed US job growth in September fell short of economists’ expectations and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.2 percent. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields also slipped after the report and were last trading at 5.191 percent.

Still, the dollar remained underpinned by US yields that are hovering near multi-decade highs, rising concerns over the fiscal outlook in parts of Europe, and higher oil prices.

The increase in crude prices has prompted some investors to reduce exposure to currencies of major energy importers, including the euro and the yen.

The euro is on track for its fourth straight week of losses against the dollar, the longest such stretch since mid-May 2025. It was last up 0.39 percent at USD1.1285.

“When I look at the (jobs) data in aggregate, I think about it as actually a Goldilocks set of numbers: so activity is still pretty resilient but it’s not generating significant inflationary pressure,” said Dominic Bunning, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura.

“That’s a good backdrop from a broad economic perspective. It should be a relatively good number for risk assets in general and for high beta currencies. It also probably at the margin doesn’t have a huge impact on Fed pricing, but it removes a little bit of tail risk as to whether they would hike again in October.”

The US central bank raised rates and signaled more hikes after the end of its policy meeting last month, with Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh reaffirming monetary policy independence despite repeated calls from US President Donald Trump for lower borrowing costs. Markets responded by raising their bets on further tightening.

Traders are pricing in an 86 percent chance that the Fed will hold rates steady later this month, compared with 36 percent a week earlier, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

The dollar weakened 0.49 percent to 0.827 against the Swiss franc, but it is still on track for a sixth straight weekly gain — its longest stretch since November 2024.

The greenback was also down 0.33 percent to 157.55 against the Japanese yen, but on track for its third straight weekly increase.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.29 percent to 101.68. It is set for its third straight weekly gain.

Trump said European countries have agreed to release diesel stocks. The White House had pressured governments to do so, in a bid to cool surging fuel prices linked to the Iran war.

Euro zone inflation is likely to increase in the coming months, keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to raise rates.

French and Italian government bonds have come under selling pressure in recent weeks amid expectations of rising policy rates and growing political risk as 2027 elections loom, with French 10-year yields jumping on Thursday to their highest level since 2002.

The premium of French 10-year government bond yields over safe-haven German ones rose to above 150 basis points on Friday, its highest since late 2011, as worries about France’s finances and political turmoil grew.

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures climbed on Tuesday on bargain buying, although gains were capped after China excluded soybeans from a list of US agricultural products eligible for tariff cuts.

Wheat firmed after falling to a six-week low in the previous session on optimism that diplomatic efforts could ease disruptions to Black Sea grain exports.

“China’s plans to keep tariffs on US soybeans will limit demand for US cargoes just as harvest is starting,” said an oilseed trader in Singapore.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.2percent at USD12.90-1/2 a bushel by 0252 GMT. The contract hit its weakest point since August 31 on Monday. Wheat edged 0.1percent higher to USD6.89-1/4 a bushel, having dropped to its lowest point since August 19 in the previous session. Corn rose 0.3percent to USD5.24-1/4 a bushel.

China is set to lower tariffs on a broad range of US agricultural products, including corn, wheat, meat and dairy, but soybeans, its biggest agricultural import from the US, were omitted from a tariff-reduction list jointly issued by China’s commerce ministry and the White House.

The announcement implies that US soybeans will still face an additional tariff of 10percent, which traders have warned is too high for private importers to absorb, even as Chinese state buyers have stepped up purchases.

The wheat market remained focused on diplomatic efforts to ease disruptions to Black Sea exports, traders said, even as daily attacks continued in Russia’s 4-1/2-year war with Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that India, Turkey, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries were taking part in talks on unblocking shipping in the Black Sea, while Turkey has submitted proposals to Moscow on the security of shipping.

Russia could quickly restart up to 80percent of its grain terminal capacity in the Black Sea if diplomatic efforts to halt mutual attacks result in a ceasefire, a Reuters analysis of industry data showed.

US farmers have harvested 18percent of the corn crop and 17percent of soybeans, matching their average pace over the past five years, the US Department of Agriculture said on Monday.

Crop-monitoring service MARS lowered its yield forecasts on Monday for maize and sugar beet in the European Union, citing that rainfall had returned too late to reverse damage from summer heat and drought in the bloc.

BEIJING: China said on Monday a two-month extension of a trade truce with the United States would provide room for both sides to evaluate the implementation of their arrangement to resolve economic and trade issues, while considering how to advance on those fronts.

In confirming the extension through to January 10, China’s commerce ministry said it also provides a “relatively stable and predictable policy environment” for cooperation among companies and continued active discussions.

The extension was one of the key takeaways from the second summit this year between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, hosted in Washington last week.

Among the first steps under a trade council that both sides have agreed to form, is to discuss a reciprocal tariff cut on $30 billion of products, aimed at maintaining stable bilateral economic and trade relations.

That would also create better conditions for the export of related Chinese products to the United States, the ministry said in its statement.

The economic and trade teams from both sides will hold regular talks focusing on potential investment opportunities and barriers, enhancing policy transparency and predictability, and responding to reasonable concerns from enterprises, it said.

A list released by the White House showed China was planning to trim tariffs on a variety of US agricultural products and other categories including medical equipment, raw materials and food items.  

Agriculture and coal

China’s proposed tariff cuts under the $30 billion of goods are dominated by agriculture including corn, wheat, dairy, meat but not soybeans, according to the White House release.

The choice of products looks designed to help China meet what the White House says is a $17-billion commitment to buy agricultural goods.

China has already resumed large-scale buying of US soybeans under a deal struck last year to buy 25 million metric tons annually.

Both countries will set up an agriculture working group under the trade council, which will hold its first meeting before the year ends to discuss two-way market access and regulation for agricultural products, China’s commerce ministry said.

Iran insists on diplomatic solution after Trump rejects peace plan

The presidential summit also yielded an agreement for China to import 10 million metric tons of coal annually from the United States in 2027 and 2028, the White House release showed.

That amount roughly equals 2% of China’s coal imports each year.

Liquefied natural gas and oil were not on the list.

“Importing US coal is not only a beneficial supplement to China’s domestic coal market, but also brings stable economic income and employment to the US coal industry,” the Chinese ministry said.  

AI, financial firms and direct flights

On artificial intelligence, both sides have agreed on a communication channel for incidents and will hold a follow-up dialogue by the end of November.

China will also examine and approve foreign financial services institutions, including those with US capital, to conduct business and open branches in China.

Trump returns from China with stability and a stalemate

There will also be continued communication on increasing flights between China and the United States, the ministry statement said.

WASHINGTON: AI requires safeguards that go beyond self-regulation, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in an interview that aired on Sunday, calling for legislation to be passed in Congress.

“You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like,” Gates said in a taped interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “And that has to be a required thing.”

A sudden groundswell has risen in favor of federal intervention after OpenAI said in July that an autonomous AI agent went rogue during a security test and hacked into another company, subverting human control. Gates joined that chorus, saying that government must be involved.

“No one thinks self-regulation is enough,” he said.

In a rare show of unity, the CEOs of rivals Anthropic, OpenAI, Google’s DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI have called for slowing the development of increasingly capable AI systems.

But US President Donald Trump and other opponents of additional regulation for AI say new government restrictions would simply give China the upper hand in the AI revolution. Trump has publicly dismissed calls for new laws on AI as a “hoax.”

Gates argued that safeguards would not dramatically hinder the industry, and that the risks of not implementing them are real.

“It’s not a hoax at all,” he told NBC.

Gates has said he wants to meet Trump to discuss AI.

“I hope that, given my life’s work in the field, my saying how unique and different this is and how concerned I am will add to what he’s hearing from other people,” Gates said.

Axios reported that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will have dinner on Sunday with Trump at the White House. Anthropic and the White House did not immediately return a request for comment on the Axios report.

Warnings about AI’s risks are not new. But they took on added urgency this month after researchers in leading AI labs attached both a timeline and a probability to those concerns.

Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that AI could kill us all by the end of the decade, prompting US lawmakers to call for new rules to govern the technology. Evan Hubinger, Anthropic’s alignment science lead, echoed Coxon’s warning, saying there was a more than 10% chance of such an event within the next decade.

Some policymakers have proposed mandating a “kill switch” that would allow federal authorities to halt AI models. Gates said that while he was not opposed to some sort of kill switch, it would not be enough if other safeguards were not also implemented.

The US and China agreed to launch a dialogue on AI following President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Washington.

WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS/CAIRO: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East.

Iran raised the initiative at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators and that it could reopen the strategic waterway and put an end to hostilities in the region within seven days.

But in comments to reporters at the White House, Trump said: “I reject their proposal. … I rejected their deal.

“They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” he said before leaving for Tennessee. “We’re winning tremendously.

“They want to make a deal and I think that’s fine, I like making a deal too. What they want to do is immediately open the Hormuz Strait … because they have no money coming in, because they get their money from the Hormuz Strait,” Trump said.

The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to lift its blockade of Hormuz, which has drastically reduced shipping through the strait, even though Trump again asserted that the US had control of the waterway.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials.

It said Trump was privately sceptical that Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November US midterm elections to Congress.

A US official had said earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were “positive and constructive”.

Conflict has disrupted oil flows, harmed global economy

The Iranians also engaged their Saudi rivals regarding the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the stakes of a seven-month-old conflict that has disrupted oil flows through a critical shipping lane and taken a toll on the global economy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

“If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,” Araqchi said. If the US were to agree, the warring parties could start wider talks “on mutually agreed subjects.”

That could potentially include discussions of Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump has said Tehran must never acquire a nuclear bomb, while a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear programme even if the US accepted its peace deal.

Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the country, the official said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday that China supports the US and Iran returning to a June deal that was meant to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, Xinhua news agency said.

WASHINGTON: CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists were barred from the White House on Thursday, just hours after a federal judge deemed US President Donald Trump’s ban of the three news outlets likely unconstitutional and ordered their access immediately restored.

The news organizations responded by requesting an immediate hearing before US District Judge Tim Kelly, whose ruling overnight ordered a halt to the ban for 14 days in a major setback for Trump. It is the latest in a series of confrontations over press freedom that have played out over the past week in the courtroom and White House grounds.

Kelly found that the revocation of the White House credentials of the journalists “likely violated their constitutional due process rights.”

The judge, who Trump appointed in 2017 during his first presidential term, also raised doubts about the US Department of Justice’s national security arguments for justifying the ban, noting that Trump himself had said the action was due to what the president alleged was false or negative coverage.

Just hours after the ruling, however, the outlets still had not gained access to the White House. Whether that was due to intentional defiance of Kelly’s order or a matter of confusion within the White House security staff and systems remained unclear.

Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Politico reporter’s credentials were confiscated, Politico said, while an MS NOW reporter said she was blocked from the White House. CNN said some of its staff members were denied entry onto the grounds.

Trump announced the ban last Friday on his social media platform, saying those news organizations “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States.” Trump framed their reporting as a threat to US national security.

The three outlets sued Trump and other members of his administration on Monday, saying the ban violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press, as well as their due process rights. A coalition of press freedom groups and dozens of news organizations, including Reuters, later filed a legal brief supporting the three news outlets.

National security concerns

Kelly ordered the Trump administration to immediately return the outlets’ press passes and stop enforcing the ban for two weeks. The judge rejected the administration’s stated national security concerns.

“The record lacks factual support for defendants’ contention that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds,” Kelly wrote.

In a filing on Tuesday, the Justice Department accused the outlets of threatening national security with their coverage, citing stories about US missile stockpiles, construction of Trump’s White House ballroom and turnout at the recent Republican midterm convention.

Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for the three outlets, welcomed the judge’s decision in a statement, saying: “This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”

In the wake of Trump’s ban, other members of the White House press pool of reporters who share resources to follow the US president’s movements have refused to record or disseminate his events until access is restored for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, acting in solidarity with their fellow journalists.

This occurred as Trump spoke at the United Nations and hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington this week, including events at the White House on Thursday.

There were no TV pool cameras set up for Xi’s arrival on the White House’s South Lawn Thursday morning, and FOX News, MS NOW and CNN did not air the two leaders’ arrival ceremony live.

Tensions with the press

Although other presidential administrations have battled with the press, Trump’s campaign against the media has been unprecedented. Upending decades of tradition, his White House had denied basic access to many major news organizations, launched personal attacks on journalists and filed multiple lawsuits against news organizations.

Kelly’s ruling came a day after Trump experienced another legal setback.

On Wednesday, an Iowa judge dismissed Trump’s 2024 ‌lawsuit against the Des Moines Register newspaper and pollster J. Ann Selzer. Trump sued the Register, its parent company Gannett and Selzer ‌over a ⁠poll published ahead of the November 2024 US election that showed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa. Trump accused the newspaper and its longtime pollster of fraudulently misleading readers.

In his ruling Wednesday, Iowa District Judge Scott Beattie said the poll was legally protected speech.

LONDON: Copper prices fell on Wednesday under pressure from a stronger dollar and profit-taking after the metal tested technical resistance above USD14,800 a metric ton.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.6percent at USD14,655 a ton in official open-outcry trading after touching USD14,833 for its highest since the record high of USD14,875 on September 10.

Comex copper hit a record peak of USD6.83 per lb, or USD15,057 a ton, on Tuesday before retreating on Wednesday. Comex copper inventories have started to record modest daily inflows as the premium on US copper futures over LME prices edged higher after a sharp pullback. That pullback was triggered by a Reuters report that the White House had yet to decide on copper import tariffs that have raised concerns over affordability.

After months of heavy inflows, Comex warehouses now hold 69percent of the roughly 1 million tons of copper tracked by global exchanges, supporting concerns about tightness outside the US.

The backdrop has helped LME copper prices to gain 18percent this year and currently coincides with signs of robust demand in top consumer China ahead of public holidays on September 25 and October 1 to October 7. Half of the 252,500 tons of copper stored in LME-registered warehouses, meanwhile, has been earmarked for delivery. The impact of these supportive factors is evident in the spread between the LME cash copper contract and the three-month benchmark, which swung to a premium this week. The premium was last at USD76 a ton, compared with a discount of USD86 on September 14.

“Buyers are willing to pay a premium to secure metal sooner, reinforcing the narrative of a tighter market,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said. On the supply side, traders were awaiting an update on contract negotiations with workers at BHP’s Escondida copper mine.

In other metals, LME aluminium slipped by 0.2percent to USD3,258 a ton in official activity while zinc and lead eased by 0.5percent to USD3,892 and USD1,926 respectively. Nickel lost 0.2percent to USD16,595 and tin was steady at USD54,200.

US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace will unveil a six-month, $2.45 billion recovery plan for Gaza at a meeting of its members on Wednesday, Axios reported.

The 66-project proposal includes estimated spending for temporary housing, rubble removal, hospital repairs, economic recovery and the deployment of a multinational security force, the report added, citing a copy of the plan.

The White House and US Department of State did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plan estimates physical damage in Gaza at $35.2 billion and says full recovery and reconstruction will require about $71.4 billion over the next decade, the Axios report added.

It also calls for repairing border crossings, restoring electricity and water infrastructure, deploying 25,000 portable solar power kits and permanently filling tunnels beneath sites needed for priority reconstruction projects.

Israeli strike kills two people in Gaza, medics say

Trump’s administration told Congress in late July it is sending more than $206 million for a proposed Gaza peacekeeping force, the first significant funding for the stalled US plan to rebuild the devastated enclave.

Trump set up a Board of Peace to oversee his ambitious plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza.

But since the announcement of an agreement in late July, the effort has stalled, with both Israel and Hamas refusing to fulfill conditions that would allow the deal to move ahead.

The report said the Board of Peace and the Palestinian government have not secured the entire $2.45 billion but are confident that, once political hurdles are cleared, donor countries will step up.

NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump met Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez late on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, their first meeting since American forces captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in a January raid.

The pull-aside meeting at a reception Trump hosted came during Rodriguez’s first trip to the US since taking office.

She is set to address the General Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

The Venezuelan delegation, which includes the vice president of economy, the oil minister and officials from state oil company PDVSA, is focused on making the country look “investable,” two people close to the delegation told Reuters.

Rodriguez called the meeting a historic step towards strengthening ties with the US in energy, mining, and security.

“Venezuela and the United States share a historic relationship that, in this new phase, we are called upon to steer through dialogue,” she said on messaging app Telegram after the talks.

Her administration would pursue diplomacy aimed at “concrete results and collective benefits” for Venezuelans, she added.

A White House official said the meeting with Rodriguez included President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Stephen Miller, assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for policy.

Trump has built a working relationship with Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president. But critics say Washington has sidelined the opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, dropping demands for free elections in favor of oil and investment deals with the interim government.

Machado, who has been in exile since late last year, made three unsuccessful attempts to return to Venezuela by sea and air in recent hours, her team and media said on Tuesday.

A small group of Venezuelans protested in New York, calling for elections. In his speech to the General Assembly, Trump called Maduro an “outlaw dictator,” said hundreds of political prisoners had been freed since his capture and held up the raid as proof the US would protect its interests in the Western Hemisphere.

“To the victor belong the spoils,” he said, calling an oil deal his administration signed with Caracas last month “perhaps the biggest deal ever made.”

Trump has said he wants $100 billion in investment to flow into Venezuela’s oil industry.

Rodriguez arrived in New York on Monday with the delegation that has been holding talks on energy, mining and debt with US officials, multilateral lenders and companies, sources said.

The head of the Inter-American Development Bank is working to secure approval for a $2.5 billion loan for Venezuela but has faced pushback from some members of the lender’s board.

Demonstrators demand free elections

More than 50 protesters waving Venezuelan flags and carrying signs reading, “No Vote, No Oil” and “New Face, Same Regime,” gathered outside the UN earlier on Tuesday to protest Rodriguez’s presence.

Many said they wanted Trump to push for free elections in the country.

They sang the Venezuelan national anthem and chanted “Delcy, I swear, you’re going to Brooklyn with Maduro”, referring to the federal jail in Brooklyn, just across the East River from the UN, where her predecessor is being held pending trial on drug trafficking charges.

“On one hand, it’s outrageous to see part of the regime meeting with the authorities of this country’s current government, but there’s also no doubt that thanks to this government, today we are one step closer to freedom,” said Miguel Eduardo Martinez, a 34-year-old social media manager who moved from Caracas in 2017.

Cesar Coello, who carried a sign depicting Rodriguez in an orange jumpsuit, said, “Delcy Rodriguez wasn’t born on January 3, 2026.

Delcy Rodriguez has been with the Chavista dictatorship for more than 20 years. She has been complicit.“

The reference was to “chavismo”, the political movement founded by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Coello said he hoped Trump and Rodriguez would discuss holding elections soon.

DETROIT: General Motors CEO Mary Barra is ‌expected to attend US President Donald Trump’s state dinner at the White House on Thursday for Chinese President Xi Jinping, two sources familiar with ​the matter said, as US automakers warn against allowing Chinese ​manufacturers into the market, while Trump signals he may ⁠be open to it.

Barra will not be joined by Stellantis ​CEO Antonio Filosa, who is out of the country, two ​sources said. Ford declined to comment on if CEO Jim Farley would attend the dinner. The automaker recently came under fire from US Transportation Secretary ​Sean Duffy for its business partnerships with Chinese companies.

The White ​House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US government has ‌set ⁠up numerous trade barriers and policies to keep Chinese automakers out. Still, the president, as recently as this month, said he is willing to let these global auto giants into the country ​if they employ ​US workers ⁠at their plants.

“If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars ​here, I’d be okay with that,” Trump said ​in an ⁠interview on Fox News. Major automakers, suppliers and dealers responded by urging Trump to keep Chinese carmakers out of the market.

Barra will ⁠be ​joining a number of tech and ​industry leaders at the dinner, including executives from Meta, Apple, Amazon and Tesla.

NEW YORK: The dollar was slightly higher on Tuesday, but off a two-month high hit earlier in the day as investors weighed another decline in oil prices against the possibility of more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices were down more than 2 percent to a two-week low following Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US eases military pressure.

In addition, Iran and the United States hinted at the prospect of reviving negotiations to end their conflict, with the presidents of both countries due at the UN General Assembly in New York.

“Obviously, the big bogeyman for everybody is inflation, but it’s all been about why is there so much inflation?” said Juan Perez, senior director of trading at Monex USA in Washington.

“It’s all due to the Iranian conflict going on so long, the escalation. So this is where markets are right now, and this is why you’re seeing the dollar not really have any clear direction.”

US President Donald Trump will use the UN General Assembly address to argue that the war with Iran prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to tout what he sees as progress toward peace and a global order increasingly aligned with American interests, according to a White House official.

The ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran had sent oil prices higher and fanned inflation worries, prompting rate hikes from several central banks in recent days, including the Federal Reserve.

Recent comments from Fed officials in the wake of its policy decision have also flagged the possibility of more rate increases if inflation does not cool.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins wrote on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she supported last week’s central bank interest rate increase amid the risks that future inflation will be above its 2 percent target.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.06 percent to 100.48, with the euro down 0.08 percent at USD1.1453. The dollar index had risen as much as 0.25 percent on the day to 100.66, its highest since July 30, while also falling as much as 0.11 percent.

Markets are roughly split on whether the Fed will raise rates at its October meeting, pricing in a 53.1 percent chance for a hike of at least 25 basis points, down from 57.6 percent in the prior session, according to CME FedWatch.

Other Fed officials speaking on Tuesday include Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.06 percent to 157.26.

Traders were also weighing whether the Bank of Japan would raise rates quickly enough to narrow the gap with its global peers.

Sterling weakened 0.06 percent to USD1.3357 and was on track for a second straight daily decline, and sixth in the past seven.

COPENHAGEN/WASHINGTON - The US plans to re-establish a Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up another on the east coast, now used by the Danish dog sled patrol, under a deal to be signed with Denmark and Greenland on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The sites are Narsarsuaq, whose population has dwindled to a few dozen people since the US closed its Bluie West One military base in the 1950s, and Mestersvig, a military outpost used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish special forces unit, said two of the people.

Denmark, Greenland and the United States are expected to sign their new agreement at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City at 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT) on Tuesday.

Greenland, Denmark say Trump deal won’t compromise sovereignty

The text of the agreement has not been made public and the three people familiar with the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said its details will not be finalized until it is signed.

The governments of Denmark and Greenland did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the details of the agreement, repeating an earlier statement that its signing on Tuesday would “secure and defend the security of Greenland and the United States.”

Denmark says the agreement puts Arctic security under the watch of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military defense alliance, rather than leaving it solely to the US and Denmark.

The deal follows months of pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has long said he wants the US to control Greenland and has at times refused to rule out military or economic force to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

The idea has been rejected by an overwhelming majority of Greenlanders, polling shows.

Trump’s threats, which peaked in January, triggered a diplomatic crisis within NATO and pushed Denmark and Greenland into negotiations with Washington aimed at defusing the pressure.

During the Cold War, the US maintained 17 military installations and more than 10,000 personnel in Greenland.

Today only Pituffik Space Base remains, with some 150 US military personnel.

COPENHAGEN: Denmark, Greenland and the United States are to sign a deal on Greenland’s security on Tuesday, an agreement Denmark says will put Arctic security under NATO’s watch rather than leaving it solely to Washington and Copenhagen.

The agreement, to be signed at the UN General Assembly in New York at 10:30 a.m. ET(1430 GMT) on Tuesday, has not been made public, though President Donald Trump says it grants the US “permanent control”. Denmark and Greenland have not commented on Trump’s assertion but said the deal will benefit the Arctic island and respect its sovereignty.

A White House official said Trump on Tuesday will meet in New York with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen for a trilateral signing ceremony.

“The three leaders will formalize their new agreement that will secure and defend the security of Greenland and the United States,” the official said.

The deal follows months of pressure from Trump, who has said the United States should control Greenland and at times refused to rule out using military or economic force to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory. His threats, which peaked in January, triggered a diplomatic crisis within NATO and pushed Denmark and Greenland into negotiations with Washington aimed at defusing the pressure.

“It (the agreement) will be in a form where responsibility for security in the Arctic is not only Danish or American,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told national broadcaster TV2 on Sunday. He added that to a large extent “it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic”.

BOOSTING NATO’S ‘COHESION’

It remained unclear whether the deal amends an existing 1951 defence agreement that is the legal basis for the US presence in Greenland.

“It appears that we are now using this crisis to try to strengthen NATO’s cohesion through Greenland,” said Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS).

Washington’s strategic interest in Greenland dates back to World War Two. In 1941, the US signed a deal with Danish envoy Henrik Kauffmann, who acted without authority from his country, then under German occupation.

The United States sought the deal to keep Greenland out of German hands and secure the North Atlantic supply route between North America and Europe. Under the agreement, the US built airfields, naval facilities, and weather stations across the island, reaching around 5,500 military personnel by 1943, according to DIIS.

WASHINGTON: US television networks staged an extraordinary revolt Monday when they effectively boycotted coverage of President Donald Trump in protest at his decision to ban three leading outlets from the White House. CNN, MS NOW and Politico also went to court after Trump on Friday ordered them to be barred, as the 80-year-old Republican stepped up his years-long assault on the US media.

In a rare move, the top five US broadcasters said on Monday that they were halting “pool” coverage of the White House — where a broadcaster films on behalf of all television outlets for the day — in solidarity with CNN.

LONDON: Copper prices rose for a fifth consecutive session on Monday, edging closer to record highs, as expectations of a seasonal pickup in demand in the world’s biggest consumer China sustained speculative buying.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.4percent at USD14,725 a metric ton in official open-outcry trading, after earlier touching USD14,762.5, its highest level since September 10, when it hit a peak of USD14,875.

Renewed speculative demand has pushed copper higher after funds cut their net long positions in Comex copper futures in the week to September 15, as the White House has yet to decide on refined copper tariffs, said Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy. The premium of US copper futures over LME prices widened, climbing back towards levels encouraging new physical shipments to COMEX copper stocks, which store 69percent of 1-million-ton exchange-monitored copper inventories.

Expectations for inventory replenishment in China ahead of the country’s holidays on September 25 and from October 1 to 7 provided support for copper prices, while traders await this week’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Yangshan copper, a gauge of Chinese demand for imported copper, finished last week at USD124 a ton, its highest in nearly four years, although it eased to USD119 on Monday.

Available copper stocks in LME-registered warehouses fell to 133,725 tons, daily LME data showed, after 9,600 tons of fresh cancellations in Asia. This helped to widen the premium of the LME cash copper contract over the benchmark to USD47 a ton from a discount of USD86 on September 14.

Among LME metals, aluminium fell 0.5percent to USD3,272.5 in official activity, while zinc was up 0.3percent at USD3,930, tin gained 0.6percent to USD54,040 and nickel added 0.5percent to USD16,260. Lead was up 0.3percent at USD1,927 after hitting a three-month high of USD1,929.5.

BEIJING/WASHINGTON: In the four months since the leaders of the two global superpowers last met, Xi Jinping has overseen a surge in China’s trade with the world while Donald Trump has struggled with falling approval ratings at home.

That shift in fortunes has tempered expectations for their summit in Washington this week, analysts say, with Xi in no rush to make concessions and Trump constrained by a costly war with Iran that has hurt both his popularity and Americans’ wallets.

While thorny issues like Taiwan may surface, the main focus of the September 24 meeting is whether the leaders will signal an extension to a trade truce struck last year that averted a major shock to the global economy.

“Xi is not really looking for anything tangible. He wants to extend the gentleman’s agreement with Trump so that China has time to fortify itself,” said Jon Czin, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution who formerly served as China director at the US National Security Council.  

‘Living in Xi’s world’

 White House officials have sought to downplay the potential for major breakthroughs. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng helmed preparatory talks in New York on Sunday aimed at teeing up some potential agreements on AI guardrails and trade in non-sensitive products.

That is a far cry from Trump’s vow when he returned to office in 2025 to use tariffs to address a trade imbalance with China that was “killing” the United States. But since agreeing the truce with Xi in October of that year, his attention has been divided among myriad other foreign policy battles, from the wars in Iran and Ukraine to disputes with Europe over free speech.

China has faced its own challenges, such as slowing domestic demand and a protracted property crisis, but the export juggernaut that Trump sought to tame has kept roaring in what economists are increasingly referring to as China Shock 2.0.

China’s global trade surplus is on pace to top $1 trillion for a second straight year.

While US efforts to curb the cheap parcels that online retailers such as Shein and Temu rely on have worked, more than half of the roughly 6,500 product categories China sold to the US so far this year have grown compared to 2025.

A delegation of Chinese business leaders, potentially including some firms facing US regulatory scrutiny as they seek greater market access, is set to accompany Xi to Washington.

The Trump administration “thought they could use massive unilateral pressure to force China to make concessions, and that did not occur,” said Scott Kennedy, an expert on the US-China economic relationship at Washington-based think tank CSIS.

“Now this is Xi Jinping’s world, and we’re all living in it.”  

Taiwan and trade wins

 If Xi is in the driver’s seat as analysts suggest, that will further unnerve US allies in Asia who expect the Chinese leader to push Trump to soften Washington’s support for Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing.

Xi repeatedly asked him about Taiwan when they met in Beijing in May, including about arms sales and Washington’s resolve to defend the island, Trump told reporters.

The US president described a pending $14 billion arms package for Taiwan as a “negotiating chip” with Beijing.

Some officials in Taipei and Tokyo worry he may be tempted to cash in that chip for political wins ahead of November’s midterm elections, which could prove challenging for his Republican Party.

That could include Chinese purchases of Boeing jets or farm goods, or commitments to curb the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals that have fuelled the US opioid crisis.

China trade beats forecasts in September as tariff fears rise

“China-US ties have become more transactional,” said Wu Xinbo, a professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University who advises China’s foreign ministry. While Washington may want to prioritise trade talks, for Beijing, the US approach to Taiwan could be key, he said.

“If you accommodate our concern on the Taiwan issue, then we would be willing to accommodate your concerns on other issues, be it law enforcement or on purchases of US agricultural products,” Wu said.  

Putting pressure on Iran

 Washington also sees Xi as uniquely able to exert pressure on Iran to bring an end to the war that has dragged Trump’s approval rating to the lowest of his political career.

However, Xi has shown little inclination to do so.

Reuters earlier this month reported that Beijing is selling billions of dollars’ worth of goods to Iran through a sanctions-evasion scheme.

China’s foreign ministry says it is not aware of such a scheme.

US threats last month of secondary sanctions on countries doing business with Iran - which Bessent called an “Economic D-Day” - appear not to have yet been wielded against Tehran’s largest trading partner.

That is more evidence, analysts say, that Trump is eager to keep relations with Xi steady as he focuses his energies elsewhere - an arrangement that also suits the Chinese leader.

‘China’s edge and America’s fragility’

“Both Xi and Trump feel it’s quite helpful to have stability in the relationship so that they can focus on more pressing things,” said Ruby Osman, senior geopolitical researcher at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“For Trump, that is Iran. For Xi, that is building out China’s domestic resilience for whatever comes after Trump.”

RIYADH: The United States warned that fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis could “escalate rapidly” after a missile attack targeted Riyadh for the first time since the Yemen conflict resumed.

US President Donald Trump cut short a weekend at Camp David, a secluded presidential complex in rural Maryland, to return unexpectedly to the White House on Saturday.

The White House gave no explanation for the early return, which comes as a new threshold was crossed in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen and are fighting government forces backed by a coalition led by Riyadh.

Loud explosions rang out on Saturday in the Saudi capital, where AFP journalists saw a fuel tank bearing the logo of oil giant Aramco on fire near the airport.

“This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly,” the US State Department warned, adding American citizens outside the Middle East should “seriously reconsider travel to and through the region”.

In recent weeks, the Houthis’ lightning offensive seizing swathes of Yemeni territory has left hundreds dead and, according to the UN refugee agency, displaced more than 110,000 people.

‘Thwarted’

The violence has already disrupted exports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading supplier of crude oil, as well as maritime traffic.

The United States, according to US news platform Axios, last week refused a Saudi request to strike the Houthis, but Washington has since approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets.

On Sunday, US Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a rare visit to Cairo.

Sisi stressed “the paramount importance of settling regional crises through political and diplomatic tracks,” according to a presidency statement.

The visit came days after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was also in the Egyptian capital, where he and Sisi urged safe and secure navigation through Bab al-Mandab, after the Houthis seized the Yemeni coast.

The Bab al-Mandab strait is a Red Sea waterway that is crucial to energy flows and global shipping and which has become even more strategic since Iran imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.

Condemning the Houthis’ latest attacks, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the broadcaster NTV that his country had had discussions with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, partners in a mutual defence pact, about possible assistance.

“In this regard, military needs, especially in state technical matters, may happen. There would be no problem in meeting this demand either,” he said.

Saudi Arabia meanwhile has scrambled to contain the fallout of the Houthis’ attacks on its territory.

On Sunday, the attack on Riyadh was not mentioned in several major Saudi papers, even though hours beforehand, the Riyadh-led coalition had confirmed that a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis was “successfully intercepted and destroyed”.

The coalition added that the pro-Iranian fighters had tried to target “civilians and civilian infrastructure” in several cities in the west of the kingdom, including the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, an important export hub for Saudi oil.

It said these attacks were thwarted by the Gulf monarchy’s air defences.

Saudi Arabia has responded with scores of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas but has failed to stop the fighters’ advance.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said fighters had carried out “two successful military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones”.

“The first targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the second targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu.”

Lightning offensive

This is the first time since Yemen’s civil war resumed that strikes have threatened the Saudi capital, piling further pressure on a global economy already rocked by seven months of war between the US and Iran.

Iran’s top negotiator said Tehran had conveyed to the US through mediators its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which it has blockaded throughout the Middle East war.

The Middle East war began in February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which responded with retaliatory attacks on countries around the region.

Houthis also got involved, with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen carrying out attacks against their foes.

While conflict in Yemen predates the Middle East war, the recent escalation in the country – one of the world’s poorest – has turned it into the most active front of the wider violence.

A fragile truce reached in 2022 collapsed in July, and the Houthis went on an all-out offensive against the internationally recognised government this month.

WASHINGTON: The US Department of State said on Thursday it had approved the potential sale of Lockheed Martin’s ‌F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom is drawn deeper into war in the Middle East.

A sale would mark a significant policy shift from the US, potentially altering the balance of military power in the Middle East and testing Washington’s definition of maintaining its ally Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”

Saudi Arabia made a direct appeal for ​the jets in early 2025 to US President Donald Trump and has long been interested in Lockheed Martin’s fighter.

The estimated $24.3 billion sale, which still ​needs congressional approval, would include 48 of the military aircraft and 49 Pratt & Whitney engines along ⁠with communications equipment, spare parts and other support items, the State Department said.

Yemen’s Houthis say shot down Saudi fighter jet

Washington weighs weapons sales to the Middle East in ​a way that ensures Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge”, effectively guaranteeing that Israel gets more advanced US weapons than regional Arab states.

The Saudi ​embassy in Washington welcomed the proposed sale, describing it as a further step in defense cooperation between the two countries.

“The proposed F-35 sale reflects the strength and enduring nature of the Saudi-U.S. strategic partnership and the continued advancement of our defense cooperation,” the embassy said on X.

The F-35, built with ​stealth technology that allows it to evade enemy detection, is considered the world’s most advanced fighter jet. Israel has operated the aircraft for a ​decade, building multiple squadrons, and remains the only Middle Eastern country to possess the system.

Saudi Arabia, the largest customer for US arms, has ‌sought the ⁠fighter for years as it looks to modernize its air force and counter regional threats, particularly from Iran. The kingdom’s renewed push for what would constitute two squadrons comes as the Trump administration has signaled openness to deepening defense cooperation with Riyadh.

Scores killed as Houthis, Saudi Arabia trade attacks

The Saudi Air Force flies a mix of fighter aircraft including Boeing F-15s, European Tornados and Typhoons.

The F-35 issue has also been ​intertwined with broader diplomatic efforts.

The ​administration of former US President Joe ⁠Biden previously explored providing F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a comprehensive deal that would have included Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel, though those efforts ultimately stalled.

Trump has made arms sales ​to Saudi Arabia a priority since returning to office.

In 2025, the United States agreed to ​sell the kingdom ⁠an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, which the White House called “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.

Congressional scrutiny could pose challenges to any F-35 sale. Lawmakers previously questioned arms deals with Riyadh following the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and some ⁠members of ​Congress remain wary of deepening military cooperation with the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is pursuing ambitious ​economic and military modernization plans under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda. It has sought to diversify its defense partnerships while maintaining its decades-long security ​relationship with Washington.

ISLAMABAD: US drone firm Powerus has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Army that includes an ​initial drone-related order, co-founder Brett Velicovich told Reuters on Wednesday.

Velicovich declined to provide details, citing security ‌sensitivities, but said the deal fell within the category of unmanned aerial systems. He also declined to disclose the value of the order, citing confidentiality.

The signing of the MOU and the initial order have not previously been reported.

Powerus, which offers aerial and maritime drones for military ​and industrial use, is due to merge with a publicly traded company backed by two of US President ​Donald Trump’s sons, called Aureus Greenway Holdings.

Both companies have said they expect the merger ⁠to complete in early October.

Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, own a stake in Aureus through an ​investment fund called American Ventures, according to U.S. regulatory filings. American Ventures is expected to hold a 9.9% beneficial ownership ​stake in the combined company after the merger, regulatory filings show.

Pakistan’s military on Wednesday said a Powerus delegation led by Velicovich met Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and they discussed defence procurement, production and long-term capacity building. The military statement did not mention the MoU.

The ​military’s media wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the agreement outside business hours.

The agreement comes ​amid warming ties between Washington and Islamabad after years of strained relations. Trump has publicly praised Pakistan army chief Munir, while Islamabad ‌has ⁠pursued a series of economic, financial and defence initiatives aimed at strengthening relations with the United States.

Andrew Fox, Powerus’ founder and chief executive, said that Pakistan’s private defence sector remains “emerging but still not mature,” leaving room for U.S. firms to move faster.

“The goal would be a joint technology relationship, pairing best-in-breed technology from the U.S. with best-in-breed technology from Pakistan,” ​Velicovich said, adding that Powerus ​was exploring ways to ⁠potentially build technology in Pakistan.

Fox dismissed suggestions that the company’s growth was linked to the involvement of the Trump sons, saying contracts were awarded on merit and that they had “no ​involvement on the business side” of the company.

Donald Trump Jr was a passive investor ​with an indirect ⁠holding, a spokesman for him said.

“Don has no involvement whatsoever in the management or operations of Powerus and plays absolutely no role in the procurement of contracts in the United States or abroad,” the spokesperson said.

“He had no prior knowledge of this deal ⁠and had ​no involvement of any kind in its negotiation, procurement or execution.” ​Eric Trump could not immediately be reached.

White House Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said: “There are no conflicts of ​interest.”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped an end to the war against Iran was near and a media report separately said he is expected to meet Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to discuss the conflict.

His comments come with the Iran war in its seventh month and with no immediate end in sight.

Axios reported late on Wednesday Trump’s meeting with Gulf leaders next week in New York is expected to focus on US plans for a postwar strategy.

The report cited unnamed sources. It added that Trump will meet with leaders or foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

The State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Oil prices extend losses as fears of Middle East supply disruptions ease

“Well, hopefully we are towards the end of the war,” Trump told reporters earlier in the evening.

“They want to make a deal. We’ll see how that works out,” he said on Iran, reiterating past comments.

Trump also said he had heard from Iran “directly,” without elaborating.

Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the war that began on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Trump says Iran wants deal, Houthis strike Saudi Arabia

Trump has cited weakening Iran’s nuclear capabilities as one of his war objectives. Iran does not have nuclear weapons and says its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes.

The US is nuclear-armed.

The rise in oil and gas prices due to the US-Israeli war on Iran has become a major issue for Trump’s Republican Party in the lead-up to the November midterm elections.

SYDNEY: Australian stocks ended Friday at a more than two-month low, as miners led by BHP lost on weaker commodity prices, while a surge in oil prices over the week heightened inflation concerns and kept investors on edge.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.9 percent to 8,741.20 points, its lowest closing level since July 2. It lost 2.1 percent in the week, its steepest drop since mid-March.

Global investors shunned risk assets on the day on fears that higher oil prices and persistent inflation fuelled by the Middle East war could prompt further policy tightening.

“It’s no surprise to see the market in a steep ‘risk-off’ mode with investors retreating to cash and defensive assets until we see some stability in the macroeconomic outlook,” said Luke Winchester, portfolio manager at Merewether Capital.

Heavyweight miners slumped 3.7 percent, their steepest drop since June 19, as copper fell after Reuters reported that the White House has yet to decide on refined copper tariffs amid officials’ concerns that higher prices for the metal could raise manufacturing costs. Major miner BHP slumped 4.1 percent, clocking its worst session since mid-June, while Rio Tinto shed 3.5 percent. Lithium miners Liontown and PLS tumbled 8.6 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.

Oil prices eased but were still set for a weekly gain, holding above $100 a barrel on fears of prolonged supply disruptions.

Over the week, hawkish signals from Reserve Bank of Australia governors, together with higher energy prices, increased expectations of further tightening.

Markets are currently pricing in 32 basis points of rate hikes by November and 39 bps for December.

Yields on both short-term and long-term Australian government bonds jumped over the 5 percent mark to their highest levels since mid-2011 as a global bond selloff took hold. Limiting losses, financials advanced 1.1 percent, clocking their best session in nearly two weeks, after three straight sessions of losses.

In New Zealand, benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 1 percent to 13,580.33 points, its lowest closing level since late-June. Investors are now awaiting the island nation’s June-quarter GDP data to be released next week.

CHICAGO: Chicago soybean futures extended losses on Friday following publication of the US Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand report that raised the agency’s forecast for soybean production. Corn briefly turned higher before paring gains. The USDA lowered its estimate for the nation’s corn harvest after summertime heat led to concerns about crop damage.

The most-traded soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade settled 35-3/4 cents, or 2.7percent, lower at USD12.96-1/2 per bushel, dropping from a roughly three-year high set earlier in the session.

Corn settled 3-1/2 cents lower at USD5.30-1/4 per bushel. CBOT wheat settled 16 cents lower at USD7.25-1/4 per bushel after the agency sidestepped making changes to Black Sea wheat exports.

REPORT IN LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS

Farmers will harvest 15.8 billion bushels of corn this autumn, with an average yield of 178.5 bushels per acre, and 4.535 billion bushels of soybeans, with an average yield of 52.8 bushels per acre, the agency said in a monthly report.

Analysts expected a corn crop of 15.785 billion bushels and a yield of 178.2 bushels per acre, and a soybean crop of 4.501 billion bushels, with an average yield of 52.5 bushels per acre, according to a Reuters poll.

Soybean futures jumped to their highest in roughly three years on support from Chinese demand. China’s purchase of US beans before the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping provided a floor to prices. China has bought around 1 million metric tons of US soybeans this week, traders told Reuters.

The purchases take China’s total US soybean buying to nearly half of the 25 million tons the White House said Beijing had committed to annually through 2028. Renewed diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine have weighed on grain prices.

However, more Russian attacks on Thursday, including one on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that damaged a vegetable oil factory of US agrifood group Bunge, kept attention on disruption to the massive Black Sea grain trade.

ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought assistance from President Donald Trump on Thursday to help fight Yemen’s Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, as the Houthis stepped up their threat to the Red Sea.

Trump held at least two phone conversations with the Saudi leader on Thursday, sources said. In the end, Washington told Riyadh that it was not willing to take direct military action for now but would help with intelligence sharing and targeting, the two sources said.

The White House did not address a Reuters question on any phone calls between the two leaders, but a senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Washington was in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government.

“The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests — such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea — while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges,” the official said.

The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the phone calls and conversations between the two leaders.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, traveled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for talks, two sources said.

News of the request to Trump was first reported by Axios.

Saudi appeal marks change of approach

The US war with Iran has entered its seventh month with no immediate end in sight. The war has driven up prices of global oil and US gasoline, sending Trump’s approval ratings to a record low before the November midterm elections.

Houthi control of the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, could give their backer Iran a critical advantage in its war with the US, reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil prices surging.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.

The escalation dates back to early July, when the Houthis said their forces confronted Saudi “warplanes” that were attempting to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa International Airport.

But back then, Saudi Arabia told the United States that it could fight the Houthis on its own and emphasized to Washington that the war should not escalate. Saudi officials urged their US counterparts to increase economic pressure on Iran.

The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called US President Donald Trump twice on Thursday and urged him to launch strikes against the Houthis, Axios reported, citing two US officials.

Trump rejected the request, and US officials said the administration does not intend to take direct military action against the Houthis at this time, the report said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

The White House and Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.

According to Axios, the US is increasingly concerned about the rapidly escalating conflict in Yemen and is stepping up support for Saudi Arabia while seeking to avoid direct military involvement. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US Central Command, traveled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for urgent coordination talks, according to the report.

US military and civilian officials have also told their Saudi counterparts in recent weeks that Trump’s directive is to keep American forces focused on Iran and safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz, while avoiding the opening of another military front, Axios added.

Reuters reported earlier in July that Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, as tensions in and around Yemen continue to escalate.

The escalation dates back to early July, when the Houthis said their forces confronted Saudi “warplanes” that were attempting to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa International Airport.

LONDON: Copper prices fell on Thursday after Reuters reported the White House has yet to decide on refined copper tariffs as officials assess concerns that higher prices could raise manufacturing costs. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 3.1percent to USD14,312 a metric ton by 1039 GMT after touching a record high of USD14,875 earlier in the session.

COMEX October copper futures slid 4.2percent to USD6.5355 per lb, or USD14,408 per ton, reducing the premium over the LME prices. The US administration under President Donald Trump is under pressure ahead of mid-term elections in November to demonstrate that its policies are lowering costs for American consumers and businesses.

“That update most certainly sent the cat in among the pigeons,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, referring to Reuters’ report.

Copper, widely used in power and construction, has gained 16percent this year as metal flowed into US warehouses ahead of potential tariffs on refined copper imports, stoking concerns over availability in traditional consuming regions.

Copper stocks in the COMEX warehouses have reached a record high of 696,259 tons after months of inflows. “Whether these inventories ultimately become stranded, or eventually return to the global market if no tariffs are introduced, may help determine whether current price levels are sustainable,” Hansen said.

After the Reuters’ report was published on Thursday, the premium of the LME cash contract over the three-month benchmark sank to a discount for the first time since late July. The discount was last at USD13.5 a ton, indicating reduced concerns about a shortage of near-term supplies.

Among other LME metals, aluminium fell 1.5percent to USD3,308 a ton, zinc slid 2.2percent to USD3,962.50, lead eased 0.4percent to USD1,907, tin lost 0.2percent to USD54,845 and nickel was down 0.9percent at USD16,740.

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund pushed back Thursday on a report that its lead candidate for chief economist had been dropped after he was found to have criticized the Trump administration’s policies.

London School of Economics professor Ricardo Reis was set to take on the role when the IMF changed its position at the last minute, the Financial Times reported earlier Thursday.

The shift was due to Reis’ earlier remarks that were critical of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the FT added, citing people familiar with the situation.

READ ALSO: This wave of Trump tariffs is likely here to stay; more are coming

The change initially sparked concern that the position would go to a candidate close to the Trump administration, but the FT noted these worries were eased after the IMF appointed Silvana Tenreyro – also a well-regarded professor at the London School of Economics.

Asked about the report, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack told reporters: “The IMF does not disqualify candidates because of their academic research, including research that may be critical of policies pursued by our membership.”

Kozack added that the fund’s appointment of Tenreyro, who has been in the role for about a month now, came after a rigorous selection process.

Reis had warned that Trump’s sweeping tariffs would cause consumer prices to climb, prompting a new wave of inflation, after the US leader unveiled wide-ranging levies last year.

The situation speaks to broader worries over the political climate that economists face in the United States under the Trump administration.

In February, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the authors of a New York Federal Reserve study should “be disciplined” after their paper found that US firms and consumers shouldered most of the economic burden from tariffs.

PARIS: Iran has used a barter-like arrangement to bypass sanctions on its oil sales and buy billions of dollars’ worth of goods from China, including military gear, two senior Iranian sources and three other people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The secretive trade mechanism, in which Iranian oil is exchanged ​for credits for Chinese imports, has provided a financial lifeline for Tehran in recent years as the United States stepped up economic and military pressure over its nuclear program, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It has also helped ‌China, the world’s biggest crude importer, retain access to discounted Iranian oil while shielding banks and companies that export to the Islamic Republic from international scrutiny or penalties, they said.

The US has imposed sanctions on some smaller Chinese entities that buy or facilitate shipments of Iranian oil but has stopped short of the most punishing measures that could have repercussions on the global economy.

China welcomes US-Iran peace agreement

Washington has intensified the pressure as it tries to resolve its war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries to cut business ties with Iran or risk being forced out of the dollar-based financial system.

Reuters could not determine the impact on the barter-like arrangement of the US naval blockade imposed on Iran ​as part of the six-month war.

No Iranian crude cargoes have successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz to China since the blockade was reinstated on July 14, the news agency reported last week.

China and Iran have repeatedly denounced what they regard as illegal unilateral Western sanctions and have ​vowed to protect their interests. The countries are longstanding economic and political partners but have said little publicly about how they keep trade flowing despite international restrictions.

Iran has used the arrangement to buy medicines, vehicles and communication equipment ⁠from China, all the sources said. The manufacturers were not dealing directly with Iran, and there is no indication they were in breach of sanctions.

The mechanism was also used at least once in the past year in connection with contracts to supply Iran with air defense equipment worth millions of dollars, the ​sources said.

They did not provide details about any of the alleged transactions with Chinese manufacturers, and Reuters could not independently verify that they took place.

A U.N. embargo on the export of most major conventional weapons to Iran was reinstated with other sanctions in September 2025 after the U.S. withdrew from a 2015 nuclear accord ​between Iran and world powers during President Donald Trump’s first term, and Tehran stopped complying with some of its provisions.

Responding to Reuters questions about the barter-like trade, China’s foreign ministry said it was “not familiar with the situation you describe.”

“China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and have not been authorized by the United Nations Security Council,” it said.

Iran’s U.N. missions in New York and Geneva did not respond to requests for comment.

In response to questions to the White House, a U.S. official said the Trump administration works with economic partners including the European Union to “deprive ​Iran of the material means of furthering its nuclear ambitions.” The official did not comment on the arrangement described to Reuters.

Avoiding international banking channels

Decades of US sanctions have left Iran with few oil customers.

China is the main buyer, accounting for more than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil in 2025, or an average ​1.4 million barrels per day, according to commodities data and analytics firm Kpler.

In 2021, the two countries signed a 25-year strategic partnership accord covering sectors such as energy and infrastructure, but public details remain scarce.

The arrangement described to Reuters is one of a number of mechanisms through which Iran purchases goods and services from China without paying Chinese ‌companies directly through ⁠international banking channels, three of the sources said.

A Western official and two other people familiar with the matter said a buyer acting on behalf of Chinese state-owned oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong was at least until this year depositing hundreds of millions of dollars a month with an obscure, China-based financial entity known as ChuXin.

The deposits covered purchases agreed with a Hong Kong-registered company linked to Iran’s national oil company, the people said, citing material gathered by intelligence agencies.

Brent holds above $100 as tanker attacks deepen supply fear

ChuXin would then send funds to Chinese exporters and companies that build infrastructure in Iran, likely via other Chinese financial institutions.

Roughly 70% of the Iranian oil proceeds handled by ChuXin are allocated to infrastructure projects, the three sources said, an arrangement first reported by the Wall Street Journal last October. The rest go into accounts belonging to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) used to pay companies that supply goods to Iran.

The Iranian sources, who are close to the country’s decision-making circle, confirmed the existence ​of the SPV, which has not previously been reported.

Iran and China said the move by European countries to automatically restore the sanctions through a “snapback” mechanism was “legally and procedurally flawed.”

All five sources said funds ​in the SPV are managed by two entities: a firm acting ⁠on behalf of China’s Ministry of Commerce and one linked to Iran’s central bank.

The Iran-linked firm notifies the Chinese one when Iran’s central bank authorizes importers to access funds in the SPV so payments can be sent to the suppliers, three said.

Reuters could find no record of a financial institution called ChuXin in Chinese company registries or of the firms said to be acting on behalf of China’s commerce ministry and Iran’s central bank. One source said ChuXin might ​only exist on a spreadsheet.

Companies with the same names as those said to be acting on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Zhuhai Zhenrong are listed in the Hong Kong companies registry, but Reuters ​could find no public records of their ownership ⁠structure or business dealings. Neither responded to questions delivered to their registered addresses, which are in offices belonging to secretarial services companies.

Plausible deniability

Zhuhai Zhenrong has been a target of U.S. sanctions over its alleged dealings with Iran.

One source shared what appeared to be a July 22, 2025, letter from NIOC to the Chinese oil trader requesting confirmation of an outstanding balance – evidence, the person said, of a business relationship.

Reuters could not independently authenticate the document. NIOC and Zhuhai Zhenrong did not respond to questions about it or their alleged roles in the trade mechanism.

Iran’s central bank and China’s commerce ministry also did not respond to requests for comment.

The mechanism described to Reuters ⁠has been in place ​since at least 2021 and was first used to supply medicines and COVID-19 vaccines to Iran, three sources said.

As Washington has stepped up pressure on companies that do business with Iran, ​it has become increasingly important for trade, they said.

They estimated that between $2 billion and $2.5 billion flowed through the SPV over the last year.

China is using such arrangements to push back against the U.S. and show it cannot be coerced with the threat of secondary sanctions, said Andrea Ghiselli, an international politics lecturer at the University of Exeter who studies Beijing’s relations with the Middle ​East.

But he said China’s leaders do not want their banks or companies excluded from the international financial system.

“They want plausible deniability.”

WASHINGTON: The United States banned a broad swath of Canadian alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and dairy products from import on Tuesday, sharply escalating an already acrimonious trade spat.

The import bans, ​which go into effect on September 29 and were published on the White House’s website, came after Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs on US goods took effect after midnight on Tuesday.

Those Canadian levies themselves ‌followed 50% tariffs that the United States imposed on some $20 billion of Canadian goods last month, after several rounds of negotiations collapsed.

The breakdown has widened a rift between the longtime allies, who have blamed each other for the failed talks, spurred Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge a further shift away from Canada’s biggest trading partner, and cast doubt on the viability of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“We have everything we need to pivot and prosper,” Carney said on Tuesday in a video posted on YouTube.

“That pivot will come at a cost. There’s always ​a cost to action. But it doesn’t come close to the cost of standing still,” he said.

The US bans appeared to cover most alcohol products, including beer and various types of wine, whisky, bourbon, rum, ​vodka, vermouth, tequila, mezcal, and brandy. The dairy ban covers whey protein, invert molasses, cane molasses and non-alcoholic beer, per notices on the White House’s website.

Canada to retaliate for US tariffs, worsening ties after talks fail

In addition to the ⁠import bans, various cheese products were added to a list of products subject to a 50% tariff, but not banned outright. Some paper, aluminum, wood, furniture, lighting and other products were also added to the list.

A U.S. official said President ​Donald Trump’s pre-existing threat to increase tariffs on Canadian autos from 25% to 50% on January 1 remained in effect. The official added that US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had spoken with Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for bilateral US ​trade, over the past couple of days, and the pair were expected to speak again in the coming days to see if there was an alternative path for the two countries.

In a social media post on Tuesday night, LeBlanc criticized the latest US measures and said he was in contact with Greer regarding a path forward.

“As has been the case for the last 18 months, our first priority remains on protecting and supporting Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses from these unjustified actions,” he wrote.

Ottawa strikes back

Ottawa’s retaliatory measures, which in ​turn provoked Washington’s move on Tuesday night, were designed to put economic and political pressure on Washington, Canadian government officials said.

Those counter-tariffs cover some $20 billion of US goods, with duties ranging from 15% to 50% across products from steel and furniture ​to clothing and electronics, and are expected to hit sectors in some competitive states such as Michigan and Ohio, ahead of US midterm elections in November.

US trade envoy says acting ‘soon’ on new tariffs as 10% levy to expire

While the tariffs affect a small amount of exports compared with total trade between the US and Canada, ‌some analysts worry ⁠the standoff could destabilize the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free-trade pact that succeeded NAFTA.

Together they have underpinned commerce across North America for decades.

“What we are worried about is an escalatory spiral,” said Michael Harvey, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance and a member of Carney’s advisory committee on bilateral US economic relations.

“But at the same time, we totally understand that the prime minister needs to find areas of leverage.”

Trump has been lobbing various attacks at Canada on Truth Social in recent days.

On Monday, he said Canadian private jet maker Bombardier would no longer be allowed to sell its planes in the United States unless it started manufacturing in the country.

He also shared a map of North America draped in the U.S. ​flag, including Canada and Mexico, and an AI-generated image ​reviving a running jab at Carney, calling him “Governor,” a ⁠reference to his repeated taunt that Canada should become the 51st US state.

On Tuesday, hours before the latest import bans, Trump directed the General Services Administration, a US government body responsible for providing services for the federal government, to coordinate with the US Trade Representative and “REMOVE Canadian-origin products from GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules unless Canada restores full and fair reciprocity ​for American Farmers and Companies.”

Various sectors hit

Trump’s tariffs implemented last month hit sectors including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment, covering $20 billion, or 5%, ​of Canadian exports to the US.

According ⁠to Canadian and US government data, Canada has shipped almost 68% of total exports to the U.S. this year, out of which roughly 80% moved duty-free due to exemptions under the USMCA pact. Protections under the agreement have provided the domestic economy some resilience.

Last month’s tariffs, imposed under a Depression-era US law, do not allow Ottawa to exercise USMCA exemptions.

Concerns about the USMCA’s future have fueled uncertainty about investment and growth, as Canada wages a trade war against an economy 13 times its size.

On Canada’s tariff frontline, business stalls over US trade deal jitters

Polls also show ⁠Carney has broad support ​from Canadians, but that could disappear within months as the consequences of the trade war sink in, according to political analysts.

A new poll from ​Angus Reid on Tuesday showed that approval of Carney’s performance jumped 11 points to 62% from an August poll.

Meanwhile, just 20% of Americans approved of Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Trump threatened last month to raise U.S. tariffs on all cars, trucks and automotive parts from Canada ​to 50% starting January 1, and signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America.

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of “highly useful” talks on Saturday with two U.S. envoys seeking a deal to end the Ukraine war, a Kremlin aide said, but he gave no indication of any breakthrough.

The aide, Yuri Ushakov, said Americans Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner “outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement”. Ushakov did not say what these ideas were.

He said Putin had told the pair that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield and was confident of achieving its goals, while stressing the necessity of addressing “all the root causes of the conflict”.

These are statements that Moscow has made repeatedly since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour in February 2022. Both sides have intensified long-range air strikes in recent weeks while the front lines remain largely static.

Putin praises Trump’s efforts

A White House official told Reuters the talks had been “substantive” and that next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.

There was no comment from Witkoff and Kushner, who were visiting Moscow for the first time since January on behalf of President Donald Trump. They flew out of Moscow soon after the talks and are due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday.

“The talks went beyond a mere exchange of views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis. Economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail,” Ushakov said. “Overall, one can say that the negotiations were timely and highly useful for both sides.”

Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, posted on X that the meeting had been an “important peacemaking visit”. He and Ushakov were both present at the meeting.

The Russian president praised Trump’s efforts to end the war.

“Understanding that he is entering a difficult situation, he nevertheless does not stop his efforts to help bring about a settlement and to make his contribution to resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,” Putin said in televised remarks at the start of the talks.

Trump suggested on Friday that the U.S. had a fresh proposal aimed at ending the war but did not elaborate.

Putin promised to ensure the safety of the U.S. negotiators. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin had ordered the Russian military not to strike Kyiv for three days because of their trip.

A vast Gulf in positions

Over the previous 10 days, Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital day and night with missiles and drones, including an attack on Friday on the headquarters of the SBU security service.

Ukraine has inflicted damaging hits throughout the summer on Russian refineries, oil terminals and warehouses of online retailer Wildberries, in an attempt to raise the cost to Moscow of continuing the war. Zelenskiy said Kyiv was prepared to refrain from strikes on Moscow through Monday.

Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on how to end the war, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

A person close to the Kremlin, speaking before reports emerged of the trip by Trump’s envoys, said Putin was still intent on capturing more territory.

“There is no chance of reaching an agreement regarding the front line until Putin finishes securing the remaining part of the Donetsk region,” this person told Reuters, adding that the Kremlin leader was confident — based on reports from his commanders — that this would happen by the end of the year.

Western military analysts see such a possibility as remote, given Moscow’s slow rate of progress. Ukraine has refused to surrender land it has successfully defended at huge cost, and rejects such terms as tantamount to surrender.

The Kremlin said on Friday the position that Putin set out in a speech two years ago — that Ukraine should cede the entire territory of four regions claimed by Russia and abandon its plan to join NATO — was “unshakeable”.

WASHINGTON: Fox News Media said on Thursday it was parting ways with its longtime business anchor Maria ​Bartiromo after more than a decade with the company.

The company gave ‌no specific reason for her departure, which it said was effective immediately. A Fox News spokesperson described the move as a “business decision.”

“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12-1/2 years ​and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” Fox News ​Media said in a statement.

Bartiromo was last on the air on ⁠August 9. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bartiromo was ​host of a daily morning show, “Mornings with Maria,” on Fox Business, as well ​as a Friday evening show, “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” and a Sunday morning program, “Sunday Morning Futures.”

She secured one of the first media interviews with US President Donald Trump after he left the White House ​in 2021.

Her sudden exit follows Karoline Leavitt’s departure from the White House press secretary ​role last month, although Vice President JD Vance, asked on Thursday whether Bartiromo would be ‌the next ⁠press secretary, told reporters: “No, I don’t think so.”

“I just saw the news literally as I walked out,” Vance said in the White House briefing room. “I love Maria. I think she’s an amazing person, amazing talent. I don’t get involved in ​the personal drama of ​media stations.”

Bartiromo joined Fox ⁠News in 2013 after two decades at rival CNBC, where she became the first journalist to report live daily from ​the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

She was among ​Fox hosts ⁠named in defamation litigation over the network’s airing of false claims that voting technology companies helped to rig the 2020 US presidential election, which Democrat Joe Biden won.

Fox agreed ⁠in 2023 ​to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle ​one of the lawsuits, while Smartmatic’s separate case against the network is still pending.

WASHINGTON: Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island is being blown to smithereens, US President Donald Trump said ​on Sunday, after forces hit two rocket launchers on another island in the first known American strikes on the Islamic Republic since late July.

Attacking Kharg, which handled ‌90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war, launched by US and Israeli attacks on February 28, would severely disrupt the Islamic Republic’s energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.

“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” Trump said on social media, but gave no further details.

The White House and the US Defence Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside of regular business hours.

Reuters was ​able to verify that an accompanying video clip showing dramatic explosions was artificially generated.

There was no immediate response to the comments on Iranian media.

Iran responded to the earlier ​US attack on rocket launchers on its island of Larak, about 660 km (410 miles) east of Kharg, with an assault on two US ⁠bases in Jordan, Iranian media said.

The return to hostilities followed weeks in which the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners with costly economic ​sanctions, shifting away from military options.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday new secondary sanctions were likely to be unveiled weekly in the effort to pressure Iran, with an initial focus ​on banks.

“We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling the banks it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime,” Bessent said in an interview.

After imposing penalties on the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr on Friday over alleged financial links to Iran, Bessent said the next step may be cutting off an institution entirely from the dollar-based financial system.

“You’re going to see a lot more ​of these every week,” Bessent told Reuters, ahead of a meeting of Group of 20 finance leaders.

In describing the first known US military strikes since late ​July, a US official said forces attacked two Iranian launchers on Larak Island, more than 600 km (370 miles) distant from Kharg.

The small island in the Strait of Hormuz near the strategic port of Bandar Abbas ‌overlooks shipping ⁠lanes at the mouth of the Gulf, giving it a key role in tension over Iran, maritime security and global energy supplies.

“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz,” the source added.

In retaliation, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Jordan, targeting two US bases. Jordan’s armed forces had intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace, state television said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and vowed a “response and punishment” from Tehran, according to Iranian state media.

In a statement, ​the US Central Command said it took “limited, precise” ​action against minelaying forces of Iran’s Revolutionary ⁠Guards that posed an “imminent threat” in the Strait of Hormuz. It gave no details.

After the US strikes, Iran attacked US forces stationed in Jordan, a Fox News reporter said on Sunday, citing a US source.

Nearly all incoming missiles “have been intercepted at this point,” the reporter said ​on X, flagging a lack of significant impact.

Amid threats to shipping, the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped ​to five a day ⁠over the weekend, shipping data showed.

The actual number could be higher as some vessels have switched off automatic identification systems to evade attacks.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the strait and Iran had been warned that any vessel placing new mines would be destroyed.

While Trump has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz is open, ⁠Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ ​navy had called those statements “an obvious lie”, reiterating that it remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.

The waterway ​carried nearly a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before it was blockaded in the six-month-old Iran war.

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The US government plans to take a 35% passive stake in Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt’s North American Blue Energy Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people involved in negotiating the deal.

The US also plans to secure preferential rights to purchase 20% of the company’s production at cost, the WSJ reported.

The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital plans to structure the investment through penny warrants that would yield the US an equity ownership in the business without significant capital investment, the WSJ reported.

The report comes only a day after US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US would take control of a fifth of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Trump provided few details about the arrangement, saying only that the US had secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves through a partnership with private business.

Venezuela’s interim president says US energy deal will last 25 years

Responding to a Reuters request for comment, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said:

“The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) does not take equity stakes in private companies. Under its statutory authority, OSC’s role is strictly limited to providing capital assistance in the form of a loan, loan guarantee, or technical assistance (including transaction structuring for developing and financing investments).”

The White House and North American Blue Energy Partners did not respond to requests for comments outside regular business hours.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States is not talking with Iran as Washington focuses on punishing Tehran economically, vowing to penalize countries that do business with the Islamic Republic.

“We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US economic campaign would continue until Iran decides to negotiate meaningfully.

“Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy,”  Leavitt told the “Fox & Friends” program. “No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way … He of course continues to retain all options on the table.”

READ MORE: US says no negotiations with Iran, all options on table

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries on Monday to cut their financial ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions as part of what had been billed as “Economic D-Day,” but the Treasury Department stopped short of actually imposing penalties.

When asked on Thursday if he would punish Russia for continuing to do business with Iran, Trump responded: “It depends. So far, I think Russia’s behaved quite well, having to do with the Strait of Hormuz, and you have to understand: for everything they do, we do also. You know, somebody was saying about China.

What about China? We hear they’re spying. We spy on them too.“

Then when asked if he would sanction Chinese banks for doing business with Iran, Trump said: “Who said I’m not? You don’t know if I’m doing it … I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”

Qatar’s prime minister visited Tehran on Thursday in a bid to relaunch diplomacy after the US and Iran traded recriminations over Washington’s promise to increase economic pressure, a move one Iranian official described as “all-out economic war.”

WASHINGTON: The United States and Iran are not currently in talks to end the war as Washington focuses on pressuring Tehran economically, but all options remain “on the table,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.

“What President Trump’s number one goal has been and will always be is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Period. And so we’ve had Operation Epic Fury to destroy their military. Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy,”  Leavitt told the “Fox & Friends” program.

Trump says Strait of Hormuz has been demined, warns Iran not to plant more

“No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way. We have not seen that yet,” she said. “He of course continues to retain all options on the table, and the naval blockade continues to be in effect as well.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had warned countries on Monday to cut their financial ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions as part of what had been billed as “economic D-Day,” but the Treasury Department stopped short of actually imposing penalties.

Iran condemns US plans to announce new sanctions

Qatar’s prime minister visited Tehran on Thursday in a bid to relaunch diplomacy after the U.S. and Iran traded recriminations over Washington’s promise to increase economic pressure, a move one Iranian official described as “all-out economic war.”

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Sunday warned that Canada would be “foolish” to think it could win a trade war with the United States, predicting a “devastating” impact on its northern neighbour.

Negotiations between Washington and Ottawa broke down late Friday, putting into force new 50-percent US tariffs impacting about USD20 billion worth of Canadian goods, or 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the United States. Canada in retaliation said it would match US tariffs, with new levies notably targeting the US steel and dairy industries to take effect on September 8. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Canada would come out worse from tussling with President Donald Trump in a trade war.

The United States currently accounts for roughly 70 percent of Canadian exports.

“We’re great trading partners, right? But Canada gets the benefit of trading with the US way more than the US gets the benefit of trading with Canada,” he told the “Fox News Sunday” talk show.

“To think that they’re going to go to war with Donald Trump and actually win that war with the US, I think it’s foolish on their part.”

He predicted that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney would return to negotiations “very very quickly, because it’s going to be devastating for his country.”

Carney was defiant on Saturday, announcing retaliatory tariffs on the US after walking away from a “bad deal” on trade as the rift between the longtime allies deepened.

“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney said.

Carney cited last-minute US demands that would restrict Canadian trade deals with other countries and unacceptable “threats” to the French language and Quebec culture.

Trump hit back early Sunday, saying, “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!”

“They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!” Trump added in a post on Truth Social. The acrimony underscored the deepening rift between the close allies since Trump began his second term in January 2025 — including his repeated threats to make Canada the 51st US state.

Carney has said bilateral relations have been forever changed, and that Canada must reduce its reliance on the United States. Despite the economic fallout, he has won political support at home for his willingness to stand up to Washington since taking office two months after Trump returned to the presidency.

“We have a bully in Washington,” Canadian retired teacher Stuart Edwards told AFP Saturday in Fort Erie, Ontario in the shadow of the Peace Bridge, a conduit for billions of dollars in annual trade with the United States.

“We’re not going to put up with it, Canada isn’t. We’ll fight back,” he said.

In the recent talks in Washington, Canada was seeking relief from Trump’s tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, which have battered the country’s economy, forced job losses and strained what was once an iron-clad trade relationship.

The White House had alleged “discriminatory treatment” by Canada against US alcohol, automobile and dairy products in introducing the duties.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told the New York Times on Saturday that the US had offered to reduce its tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, as well as eliminate a recently imposed tariff on Canadian lumber.

Greer said those measures would have given Canada “the most preferential treatment of any trading partner,” according to the Times.

He also said no new talks were planned with Canadian negotiators.

OTTAWA: Canada will impose tariffs on some US goods in retaliation for 50% ​levies ordered by President Donald Trump on Canadian products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday, after trade talks collapsed between the two neighbors.

The “dollar for dollar” tariffs ‌on imports of US steel, electronics and other products, to take effect on September 8, mark a further worsening of relations between the longtime allies and major trading partners.

The two countries failed to reach a trade deal late on Friday, with each side blaming the other for derailing three days of intensive negotiations. The breakdown complicates the future of a US-Mexico-Canada free-trade pact.

Trump’s new tariffs hit sectors including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment, covering some $20 ​billion of Canadian exports to the U.S. These duties do not exempt Canadian products under the three-nation trade deal, which has shielded most Canadian exports to the US in the ​last 18 months.

‘We got attacked,’ Carney says

“Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses,” ⁠Carney told a press conference.

“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney said when asked a question about whether Canada was engaged in a trade war.

Carney is one of the ​few global leaders to retaliate against US tariffs and has pledged to forge new trade and military alliances, despite Canada’s dependence on the United States for nearly 70% of its exports.

US hits Canadian goods with 50pc tariffs after trade talks fail

US Trade Representative Jamieson ​Greer called the breakdown “a missed opportunity for Canada to partner with the United States,” saying no new talks were planned with Canada.

“We’re moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation,” Greer told Fox News. “They’ve always had the best deal, and they still would have an even better deal, but they didn’t want that.”

The White House, the US commerce secretary’s office and the US trade representative’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Canada will impose ​tariffs on US steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics, along with some products the US previously targeted in Canada, Carney said from Ottawa’s Parliament building.

The government will release ​details on its response in the coming days, he said.

“We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked,” Carney said.

Trump had expressed hope that a deal with Canada could happen ‌on Friday.

But Carney ⁠said the US administration’s last-minute demands halted progress.

“In recent days, the US proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada, calling into question the reliability of any deal,” he said, adding these demands included curtailing Canada’s ability to forge new trade deals.

Larger vehicles, other sticking points

Carney said Canada would announce support measures next week for industries hit by the new US duties, adding these measures could last years.

The new US tariffs cover around 5% of Canada’s exports to the U.S. They could expose some vulnerable industries such as softwood lumber and wine to severe damage and lead ​to job losses and business closures, trade experts ​have said.

“We will be mobilizing our network ⁠of businesses in all regions and all sectors to brace for impact and make the best of a bad situation,” said Candace Laing, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, one of the most vocal opponents of U.S. tariffs, supported Carney’s decision to retaliate.

“I’m glad he didn’t sign ​that deal because it was a bad deal. It was a bad deal for Ontario. It was a bad deal for the auto sector, ​the steel sector, and manufacturing ⁠sector,” Ford told reporters on Saturday.

One of the main sticking points was the treatment of larger vehicles.

Three sources said Canada wanted favorable tariff terms proposed for light-duty vehicles to extend to medium- and heavy-duty trucks, something the US resisted. Carney said the US position would have excluded Canadian-made models, including Ford’s F-350, F-450 and F-550 trucks and General Motors’ Silverado, making Canadian production less competitive.

There were also US proposals that affected ⁠Canadian culture, language ​and sovereignty, Carney said, without elaborating.

Carney was elected last year on a promise to be a tough negotiator with Trump, ​and remains broadly popular.

Polls show most Canadians oppose making any concessions to the US.

“Canadians must stand united to defend our country against these unfair attacks on our jobs and businesses,” Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the official opposition Conservative Party, said ​in a statement.

WASHINGTON: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Saturday he would slap retaliatory tariffs on the United States after walking away from a “bad deal” on trade, deepening the rift between the longtime allies.

Negotiations between the neighboring countries broke down on Friday in Washington, allowing new 50-percent US tariffs impacting some $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the United States, to come into force.

Impacted products range from hockey sticks to cement.

US President Donald Trump had said Washington “should be able to have a deal with Canada,” citing his “good relationship” with Carney. But on Saturday, the Canadian prime minister said Trump had set conditions that were ultimately unacceptable.

“We believed earlier this week that we were moving towards a mutually beneficial agreement,” Carney said in the Canadian capital Ottawa. “In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal. In short, they asked too much and they offered too little,” he said.

“We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked,” Carney said, accusing Trump of launching a trade “war.” “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney said. New Canadian tariffs will notably target the US steel and dairy industries, and take effect on September 8. Carney said further details would come next week.

On Friday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Washington had offered “significant tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber” in exchange for concessions from Canada.

A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, characterized the talks as candid and not acrimonious, but said there were no further scheduled meetings.

Canada has been seeking relief from Trump’s tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, which have battered the country’s economy, forced job losses and strained what was once an iron-clad trade relationship.

Canadian negotiators had been camped out in Washington this week to firm up a deal that aimed to address various flashpoints.

The White House had alleged “discriminatory treatment” by Canada against US alcohol, automobile and dairy products in introducing the duties.

TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday fired back at US President Donald Trump’s claim that he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, saying the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded “will remain Iranian”.

Trump has repeatedly said the strait, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war in late February, is under US control — an assertion the Islamic republic denies.

“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X.

“This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command.” Trump told a political rally in New York state on Friday that after the US defeats Iran, “pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States”.

“It’s true,” he added.

An unnamed White House official later clarified that Trump was joking, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Last week, a top Iranian official laid out a laundry list of conditions for reopening the strait, including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr also demanded the end of crippling sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage.

As diplomacy stalls between the decades-long foes, attacks in the Hormuz strait have continued, highlighting the continued risks to regional shipping.

United Arab Emirates’ state-owned oil giant ADNOC said Saturday one of its vessels came under attack the night before.

On Friday the Gulf nation blamed Iran for other attacks on two vessels linked to ADNOC as they passed through the strait.

Such attacks led to the collapse of an April ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

As Iran throttles traffic in Hormuz, its Houthi allies in Yemen have also declared a parallel maritime blockade on Saudi ports in the Red Sea, the oil-exporting giant’s only other maritime route.

A June deal between Washington and Tehran — meant to serve as a jumping-off point for negotiations on a permanent settlement — had said Iran and Oman would hash out future arrangements for the strait in discussion with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.

Before the war, Hormuz carried around a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG exports, and prices have repeatedly surged since the dispute over the waterway erupted, piling economic and political pressure on Washington.

Iran wants to control the strait and charge tolls, powers it did not exercise before the war and a development that the US would fiercely oppose.

The closure of Hormuz has driven up prices for American voters, creating a political headache for Trump as November’s midterm elections near.

US Vice President JD Vance said this week that Washington’s top priority in the Iran war was keeping energy prices low for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ranking second. Tehran signalled last week that it had agreed with Oman a route for ships to transit the strait and were finalising arrangements to jointly manage the waterway.

The US has imposed its own retaliatory blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to cripple its economy.

“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” Trump said to a cheering crowd of supporters on Friday.

WASHINGTON: The US has received several warnings from Israel over the past year that Iran intended to assassinate President Donald Trump, ​including before a secret Air Force One ruse in Turkey, that US intelligence officials could not independently verify, according to a current US official and two former officials.

The warnings, passed to ‌US intelligence agencies and in some cases relayed directly by Israeli officials to senior White House officials, included possible plots to shoot Trump with a sniper or recruit someone to attack him with a knife at a large public event, the sources said.

The tips began in the lead-up to the 12-day war in June 2025 and intensified prior to the US decision to go to war in Iran in February, the sources said.

The most detailed warning came ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July, the ​US official and the other person familiar with the matter said. Israeli officials briefed the White House about intelligence that indicated Iran may try to kill Trump, potentially with a shoulder-launched missile, while he ​traveled on Air Force One for the summit, the officials said.

The US intelligence community has long assessed that Iran wants to retaliate for Trump’s killing of Iranian ⁠military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

But the Central Intelligence Agency has not been able to corroborate some of the specific threats against Trump’s life shared by Israeli intelligence since early last year, the officials said.

Trump flew secretly from Turkiye due to Iranian threat, the Washington Post reports

In the ​case of the NATO episode, a Turkish official said the country’s intelligence agencies also did not have any evidence to corroborate the Israeli claim about the threat to Trump’s life, an assessment the host country shared with ​Americans.

Despite the lack of verification, White House officials and the Secret Service have taken steps to mitigate the threats out of an abundance of caution, including an extraordinary deception operation during the Turkey trip that involved moving Trump from Air Force One to a different aircraft for his flight out of the country.

That episode underscores how Israeli intelligence is influencing the Trump administration’s decision-making about Iran at a time of heightened tensions with Tehran — and broader disagreement between US and Israeli intelligence assessments on Iran’s ​threat overall.

Jared Kushner may visit Israel next week for talks on Gaza, source says

Earlier this year, American intelligence agencies assessed that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon, even as Israel argued Tehran posed an urgent threat.

Despite the reports from the US intelligence community, Trump moved forward ​with strikes in Iran in February.

Trump also took into consideration intelligence shared by Israel that Tehran had tried to assassinate him before launching the military campaign, Reuters previously reported.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy disputed that Israel was using ‌its intelligence to ⁠influence US policy on Iran.

“The same people who claim that Israel is trying to influence US policy through alleged intelligence sharing would just as soon accuse Israel of concealing critical information if it benefited their own agenda,” the spokesperson said.

The White House and CIA both declined comment.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi declined to discuss specific intelligence matters but said the agency remains focused on Trump’s security amid recent assassination attempts and an increase in threats against the president.

“The US Secret Service continuously analyzes a wide range of information to guide our protective operations in real time and across every location we secure,” he said.

Close alliance

The US has long relied heavily on Israeli ​intelligence on Middle East matters, particularly as they relate ​to Iran.

The current and former officials said Israeli ⁠intelligence on Iran typically flows to the CIA or the National Security Agency through formal channels and is subsequently analyzed, two former US officials said.

Makkah agreement purely defensive, designed to ensure regional peace: PM

The US intelligence agencies often cannot verify Israeli intelligence but will use other forms of information to make judgment calls on its authenticity and accuracy, the officials said.

In several instances over ​the course of the two US military offensives in Iran, the CIA assessed it had “low confidence” in the Israeli intelligence about the threats posed by Iran, ​including any plans to assassinate Trump, ⁠according to one former official and another person familiar with the matter.

It is unclear how widely those assessments have been circulated inside the administration.

The NSA declined to comment.

Two of the former US officials described to Reuters several instances in which senior Israeli officials and representatives over the last year called the White House, including in the Situation Room, to brief senior Trump officials on Iranian threats directly.

Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia will form political, military mechanisms to coordinate under defence pact: Ankara

The direct engagement comes amid a breakdown in US intelligence sharing inside ⁠the Trump administration.

Last ​year, amid increased tension with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA stopped working on joint assessments with ​the National Intelligence Council, the former officials said.

The council is the US intelligence community’s elite analytical group overseen by ODNI to turn out reports reflecting the view of the broader intelligence community, with the CIA being the largest contributor to its assessments.

Fewer recent Iran assessments by ​the NIC have stemmed partly from recent layoffs at ODNI, the officials and another person familiar with the matter added.

WASHINGTON: A threat that Air Force ​One could be targeted by a shoulder-fired missile prompted the Secret Service to secretly move President Donald Trump onto a smaller government jet during a trip to Turkiye ‌last month, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.

The threat emerged on the final day of Trump’s visit to Ankara for the NATO summit amid heightened tensions with Iran, the source said.

The Secret Service deemed the threat to be credible and imminent, prompting an extraordinary operation to conceal the US president’s movements.

The source declined to say where the intelligence came from but said officials had little time to prepare and devised the plans at ​the last minute.

A second source briefed on the matter said there was not a clear plan by those hostile to Trump for executing the threat, but only an intent, ​which is why the planes were allowed to fly.

Trump and a small group of aides used a catering truck to surreptitiously switch from the big ⁠blue-and-white presidential aircraft to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet for the flight out of Turkiye on July 8, while Air Force One departed separately carrying senior administration officials, White House staff and ​the traveling press corps, according to the first source.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he made the switch at the direction of the Secret Service, which is charged with presidential security.

He flew from Ankara ​to a refueling stop in Britain without incident.

“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters, without providing evidence. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”

The threat may have been a new type of heat-seeking missile that homes in on hot aircraft engines and has become an increasing concern for military planners, said ​Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

They are harder to detect than traditional radar-guided threats and “can kind of come out of nowhere” because they don’t send out detectable ​radio waves.

One version, the Iranian SA-67, has a simple rail launcher and is believed to use heat-seeking as well as laser guidance systems, Birkey said.

A shoulder-mounted heat-seeking weapon, the 9K333 Verba, is made in Russia, ‌he said.

Secret travel

US ⁠presidents, including Trump, have occasionally traveled under secrecy when visiting war zones or high-risk regions in order to maintain security. But those trips typically involved advance notice for journalists traveling with the president.

Some members of the press got a heads-up ahead of a Thanksgiving 2003 trip by President George W. Bush to Baghdad. Other members of the press corps covering Bush’s Thanksgiving holiday in Crawford, Texas, were misled, however.

Told that Bush was spending the feast day with family, they were shocked when the president abruptly surfaced in Iraq.

The first source on Wednesday said the Secret Service did not have the ​luxury of time in Turkiye.

“They were scrambling to ​head off what they thought was a ⁠credible, imminent threat,” the source said.

The Washington Post first reported details of the operation this week, more than a month after it was carried out.

The New York Times reported that U.S. officials were alarmed to discover that Iranians knew where Trump was staying in Ankara, including the exact floor of ​his hotel.

Trump says will demand conflict compensation from Iran

On board the Air Force One jet now seen as a decoy were U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who the first source ​said was briefed on ⁠the maneuver; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; White House communications director Steven Cheung; and a number of other aides plus the typical 13-person press pool that included a Reuters correspondent and photographer.

White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp and director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta made the move in the catering truck with Trump, the source said.

Some media commentators and lawmakers have questioned whether the operation ⁠left Trump’s aides ​and journalists traveling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the president.

The first source said ​it was determined that it was in Trump’s best interests to keep the ruse secret as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkiye.

Turkish officials did not immediately comment on the threat.

What if the most revealing measure of Donald Trump’s elusive peace with Iran is no longer found in diplomatic statements or battlefield reports, but somewhere along the US Treasury yield curve?

That might sound an odd place to look for the consequences of a Middle Eastern war. Yet five months after the US and Israel attacked Iran, the bond market appears to be pricing yet another complication from a conflict whose economic spillovers keep travelling considerably further than its architects presumably intended. Oil is rising again, inflation anxiety has returned, long-dated Treasury yields are pushing towards uncomfortable territory and the Federal Reserve finds itself caught between political pressure and price stability.

So much for the peace dividend.

The immediate problem is oil. Negotiations with Tehran have stalled, attacks on shipping have resumed and Iran insists the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless Washington accepts its conditions. Brent settled near $89 on Tuesday as hopes of a quick settlement faded. Before the war, roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows passed through Hormuz. With that artery still compromised, how confidently can markets assume the energy shock is disappearing?

That question leads directly to the bond market. The US 10-year Treasury yield has reached 4.75 percent, its highest in 18 months, while the 30-year has moved above 5.20 percent, a level last seen in 2007. The long end appears increasingly worried about inflation, fiscal deficits and the credibility of monetary policy. And therein lies a rather delicious political problem.

Trump wants lower interest rates. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants lower long-term Treasury yields. In calmer circumstances, both men could reasonably expect to get their wish together. But what happens when an oil shock keeps inflation elevated?

A sufficiently dovish Fed might lower short-term borrowing costs and satisfy the White House. Yet if bond investors interpret that easing as evidence that the central bank is becoming less serious about inflation, couldn’t they demand greater compensation for holding long-term debt? The 10-year yield could then rise, delivering precisely the outcome Bessent would prefer to avoid.

And what might bring those longer yields down? Perhaps a Federal Reserve willing to demonstrate its inflation-fighting credentials by tightening policy. One suspects that would make for an interesting conversation in the Oval Office.

This is where the yield curve begins telling us considerably more about politics than a campaign speech ever could. The administration wants cheaper money ahead of November’s congressional elections. The Treasury wants manageable financing costs. The bond market wants protection against inflation. And the Fed is supposed to satisfy its mandate while pretending it cannot hear the political shouting outside the building.

Can Kevin Warsh manage that?

His appointment was always going to raise questions about Fed independence because Trump has made his preference for lower rates abundantly clear. Yet Warsh now faces circumstances considerably less convenient than the president might have imagined. Inflation remains above the Fed’s 2 percent target, energy prices are again under pressure and several policymakers have already shown greater willingness to tighten.

The latest US inflation figures (due late Wednesday Pakistan time) had not been released when this column was written. Markets were effectively treating the September Fed meeting as a coin toss between another hold and a quarter-point hike. That makes the coming data important. But does it also make Warsh’s response even more important?

If inflation surprises higher, pressure for a rate increase will grow. If it comes in softer, the Fed may have room to hold. Yet even that might not settle the matter. Would a central bank seen as reluctant to tighten simply transfer the inflation anxiety from the short end of the curve to the long end?

That is the trap.

And it arrives just as Trump has reopened his confrontation with the institution itself. His administration is again seeking to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook, this time over unproven mortgage-fraud allegations, while questions persist about presidential contact with Warsh. Could the timing be worse for a bond market already wondering how firmly the central bank intends to defend price stability?

Perhaps this is where another unintended consequence of the Iran adventure comes into view.

A war that was presumably expected to deliver geopolitical results has already disrupted energy markets and global trade. Now uncertainty surrounding Hormuz is helping keep oil prices elevated, which feeds inflation anxiety, complicates monetary policy and leaves Washington discovering that demanding lower interest rates is considerably easier than persuading bond investors to provide them.

And none of this stays in America.

The US Treasury curve remains one of the principal channels through which global financial conditions are transmitted. Sovereign borrowing costs, corporate debt, mortgages, currencies and emerging-market financing all respond, directly or indirectly, to movements in US yields. When the long end rises and the dollar strengthens, financial conditions tighten far beyond Wall Street.

Where does that leave an oil-importing, externally financed economy such as Pakistan?

Higher crude prices threaten the import bill and inflation. Higher Treasury yields can raise the cost of external capital. A stronger dollar can pressure emerging and frontier-market currencies. Should these forces arrive together, how much room do vulnerable economies really have to manoeuvre?

Perhaps that is why the bond market deserves watching so closely. Once again, financial prices are providing an unusually candid glimpse into the contradictions confronting the world’s halls of power.

Trump wants lower rates. Bessent wants lower yields. The Fed wants credibility. The bond market wants protection from inflation. Iran wants its conditions met before Hormuz reopens.

And everyone apparently wants peace.

No wonder one market analyst recently offered perhaps the most useful advice for navigating the moment: “If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he secretly switched planes in Turkiye last month at the direction of the US Secret Service, but that the plane he ultimately flew on was still more vulnerable than Air Force One.

Following a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump was transferred from Air Force One to a military plane via a catering truck in an extraordinary deception prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, US media reported.

The White House did not disclose the change and it remained a secret until the Washington Post first reported it on Monday.

Some media commentators questioned whether the operation left Trump’s aides and journalists traveling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the president.

“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

Trump flew secretly from Turkiye due to Iranian threat, the Washington Post reports

“I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”

After a day of social media memes portraying Trump as hiding out in the catering truck, the image-conscious president, who often promotes memes of himself as a bold and courageous leader, said he was following the direction of the Secret Service, the agency that protects the president.

“Well, it’s only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” Trump said.

“I guess there was a threat out there.

I didn’t really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats,“ Trump said.

The White House said at the time that the president was flying aboard Air Force One from Turkiye to Britain.

But moments after Trump boarded the plane, he left it in secret via the catering truck and boarded another aircraft for the flight to Britain, the Post said on Monday, quoting unnamed sources.

Trump had taken a newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to

 Ankara for the NATO summit but unexpectedly announced he would use an older Air Force One when departing the country, a move that prompted questions about the newer plane’s security.

The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkiye.

WASHINGTON: A secret operation that reportedly smuggled Donald Trump off Air Force One in a catering truck before the plane departed carrying journalists and top aides at apparent risk of an Iranian strike has raised questions over US security practices.

The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump covertly exited the presidential plane while it was on the ground in Turkey on July 8 as his security team deployed a scheme to evade an assassination threat.

Some traveling media expressed anger at having unwittingly served as decoys, while others complained about deception and lack of communication from the White House.

Trump boarded the presidential jet in full view of video cameras and photographers, with AFP pictures showing two supply containers on hydraulic lifts at the front and rear of the aircraft.

But he then reportedly quickly left the plane, stepping inside one of the cargo containers, to board a smaller US Air Force aircraft positioned nearby.

About a dozen journalists travelling in a separate section of Air Force One with no access to the president were unaware of the switch and flew out of Turkey on the plane despite the apparent threat from Iran, which is at war with the United States.

“When you sign up to work at the White House, even as a civilian, part of your job is to defend the president,” one unnamed White House reporter told the Post.

“That’s not my job. I cover the president. Reporters take risks as part of the job, but not on behalf of the president.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Israel had briefed the US about a possible shoulder-to-air missile strike on Air Force One, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among senior officials and staff who remained on the plane.

Dispatches sent by pool media on board noted a Secret Service order that window shades be lowered during takeoff – an unusual instruction outside of combat zones.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday called for Congress to be briefed “on the Iranian threats against the president, the extraordinary measures taken to get him out of Turkey.”

Trump’s trip to the NATO summit had already raised eyebrows after he arrived on a luxury Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar and retrofitted to carry the US president.

But it was reportedly not fitted with anti-missile security systems and the old Air Force One was called into action.

Trump claimed at the time that the new plane was being sent ahead for US troops in Britain to tour, as a treat.

At a stopover in Britain, he returned to the Qatar-gifted plane for the flight to Washington.

Asked at the time why journalists had been asked to lower window blinds he said “because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with.”

“If I go, you go. Right?” Trump told reporters.

The White House has yet to respond directly to the alleged plane swap.

“There are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

In 2000, Bill Clinton switched presidential planes at the last minute while traveling from India to Pakistan, using a decoy aircraft carrying Secret Service agents.

Joe Biden’s 2023 visit to Ukraine was also shrouded in strict secrecy during a long journey by plane and train, though he was accompanied by a reporter and photographer.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkiye last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, an extraordinary move prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Trump had taken the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara for the NATO summit but he unexpectedly used an older Air Force One when departing the country, a move that prompted questions about the newer plane’s security.

The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkiye.

Before departing Ankara, Trump said on Truth Social that he would use an older baby blue Air Force One plane “for old time’s sake” to RAF Mildenhall in Britain while the new plane stopped at the same base so US service members stationed there could tour the aircraft.

After Trump boarded the old Air Force One in front of cameras in Ankara, he was secretly shuttled by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, an Air Force C-32A, the Post reported citing a US official familiar with the operation and corroborating material it reviewed.

KSA, Turkiye, Pakistan sign defence deal

The deception operation was triggered by a credible threat to Trump, the Post reported.

A similar operation had taken place in 2000, when President Bill Clinton used an unmarked executive jet to fly into Pakistan while sending his formal Air Force One as decoy.

On this occasion, the journalists who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older Air Force One, which was effectively used as a decoy, reported being advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed.

The Post said aside from reporters, some White House staff also believed that the president was on board.

When asked later by reporters why they had to keep their shades shut during the flight, Trump said it was because they were “probably on a dangerous flight.”

He went onto say: “But if I go, you go. Right?“ The C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain, arriving at around 10:20 p.m. with the older Air Force One and media, arriving minutes later, the Post reported. It was not clear, the paper said, how Trump was moved from the C-32A back to the older Air Force One.

Trump’s traveling press pool reported he climbed down the stairs of the older Air Force One at 10:56 p.m. local time.

He gave press a peace sign but didn’t walk over to talk to them.

He then spent some time greeting service members before walking to the new, Qatar-donated plane.

Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia defence pact technically same as NATO’s Article 5, Turkish minister says

When asked for comment on the revelation of a secret flight on a third plane, the White House provided a statement from Communications Director Steve Cheung saying the Qatari-donated jet has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff.

“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,”

Cheung said. It was the same statement provided to the Post.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BEIJING: China’s July soybean imports fell 1.6percent from a year earlier to 11.48 million metric tons, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.

The country’s oilseed import volume was down from a high base from last year’s surge in buying of Brazilian beans amid the trade war with the US Shipments also declined because of reduced buying on expectations of weaker feed demand amid a shrinking sow herd size, said two commodity analysts who asked to remain unidentified because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Imports by the world’s largest buyer of soybeans totalled 61.51 million tons in the January-to-July period, up 0.7percent from 61.05 million a year earlier, the data showed.

Shipments from the US are expected to continue arriving after Beijing resumed purchases of US soybeans late last year. In January to June, China imported 9.31 million tons of soybeans from the United States.

Purchases of the new US crop have also picked up in recent weeks, as China is expected to meet a commitment outlined by the White House in October to buy 25 million metric tons of US soybeans annually through 2028.

“With massive volumes of imported soybeans arriving in the near term, soybean crushing plants will gradually ramp up operations, and soybean meal inventories will further enter a stock-building cycle,” said Rosa Wang, an analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. “We expect August arrivals to exceed 10 million metric tons.”

WASHINGTON: A US federal appeals court on Friday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to stop construction on a USD400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, dealing the Republican leader a major setback in a case testing his presidential authority.

The Washington-based US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a divided 2-1 order upheld a preliminary injunction won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year after the administration tore down the East Wing and began building a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom without seeking authorization from Congress.

The appeals court placed its ruling on hold for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the US Supreme Court. Trump appealed after US District Judge Richard Leon twice blocked above-ground construction on the site while allowing underground work to continue.

Leon, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush, had ruled that no federal statute “comes close to giving the President” the required authority to construct the ballroom without congressional approval.

The ballroom plan, which the administration has described as necessary for large formal functions and to preserve the safety of the White House, is the grandest of several Trump efforts to reshape central Washington’s landscape of government buildings and national monuments.

A judge in a separate lawsuit recently said Trump’s name was illegally added to the exterior of the Kennedy Center performing arts center and ordered its removal.

In the ballroom case, Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth said during D.C. Circuit arguments on June 5 that the courts have no role in weighing the privately funded project and that it would have been improper to block it at any point.

Roth said the National Trust’s “architectural preference” against the ballroom shouldn’t take precedence over national security concerns, claiming evidence that the former East Wing left the president and others in the White House vulnerable to attack.

“They just don’t want to go to Congress,” countered Thaddeus Heuer, a lawyer for the preservation group. Trump has defended his ballroom and its price tag, which has doubled from initial projections. Trump said in a post on Truth Social last month that the cost rose because “it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal” and promised “it will be magnificent, safe, and secure!”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration has refunded about USD 100 billion in tariffs since the Supreme Court struck down a wave of his duties this year, court filings show.

The figure, reported in documents Tuesday, constitutes about 60 percent of some USD 166 billion the Trump administration collected after invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose duties.

The refunds went to importers that had paid the duties.

Trump used the act to impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners since returning to the White House last year, but the high court ruled in February this year that he had exceeded his authority in doing so.

This dealt a sharp blow to the president’s ability to deploy tariffs at will, as he sought to use them as a tool for leverage against US allies and competitors alike.

The president’s sector-specific tariffs, which rely on different justifications, remain intact.

In the court filing on Tuesday, a US Customs and Border Protection official said that as of July 31, “approximately USD 128.68 billion in both potential and certified refunds” had been accepted for processing.

Of that total amount, refunds of around USD 100 billion had been completed and sent to the Treasury Department for disbursement, the official added.

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in February, Trump has turned to new means to reimpose tariffs on dozens of partners, sparking further court challenges.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States has a vast supply of munitions and threatened those who suggested otherwise with jail terms as his frustration with the Iran war boiled over.

The Republican leader lashed out on his Truth Social platform at media reports about the dwindling weapons stockpile, saying that the United States has “massive amounts of ‘munitions’ especially of certain types,” without giving further detail.

“Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the US as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history,” he said.

The Washington Post reported that Trump demanded answers about the munitions shortages from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth last Friday, when they attended a cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat.

US and Iran having ‘very good discussions’, Trump says

Trump told Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue “had been fixed,” the Post reported, citing two unidentified sources familiar with the exchange.

Trump railed against the media reports, threatening on Thursday that “the ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down” and “Long term jail sentences will be sought!”

CNN also reported that shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors had affected Trump’s strategy in the conflict with Iran, with the US military having “nearly exhausted 80%” of its stock of THAAD interceptors.

The Post also said that the shortages led Trump to call off fresh strikes against Iran, despite having threatened to hit the Islamic republic “very hard”.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt branded coverage of the exchange with Hegseth “FAKE NEWS!”

Trump tells Iranians to make deal or surrender

“I was at Camp David with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. This literally never happened,” she wrote on X.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the reports about Trump’s clash with Hegseth and the weapons shortages were “equally fictional.”

Iran’s foreign ministry has denied there are any negotiations underway with Washington, even as Trump said Tehran was keen for a deal.

CAIRO: US President Donald Trump said ​late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran’s nuclear ‌ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and “other Middle Eastern Countries” asked for a time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the Strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject ​to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”

Iran discusses Hormuz Strait in calls with Oman, Saudi Arabia

Israel “joins me in this commitment,” Trump wrote. Israel did not immediately make a public statement on the issue.

Iran warned the US this ​weekend against any “adventurous action” and said it would retaliate decisively if American forces followed through on Trump’s threats of fresh attacks on Iranian targets.

Iranian ⁠Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s comments in separate phone calls on Saturday with senior Turkish, Pakistani and Saudi officials came just hours after Kuwait’s army said it destroyed hostile drones launched by ​Iran against several vital facilities.

Speaking to Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Araqchi said Iran would respond decisively to any “aggression” and discussed the consequences ​of “destabilising actions” by the US, as well as prospects for heightened regional insecurity, according to Araqchi’s Telegram account.

Israeli strikes kill at least four in Gaza despite Trump announcing breakthrough

Araqchi later told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that any attacks by the US and Israel or participation by regional countries in such actions would be met with a “proportionate response.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Trump on Saturday and “expressed concern and asked for clarity” about US plans for Iran, ​a US official told Axios.