Sylvia Bongo, whose husband was ousted as Gabon’s leader in a 2023 coup, went on trial for graft on Monday, with the exiled former first lady the highest-profile absentee.Bongo, the 62-year-old wife of Ali Bongo, whose family ruled the central African country with an iron fist for 55 years, is accused of manipulating her husband …
China said on Monday it would suspend for one year “special port fees” on US vessels “simultaneously” with Washington’s pause on levies targeting Chinese ships, as a fragile trade truce between the superpowers takes shape.The United States and China have been engaged in a volatile trade and tariff war for months, but agreed to walk back some punitive measures after presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in South Korea last month.Duties on both sides had reached prohibitive triple-digit levels at one point, hampering trade between the world’s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains.The suspension of the port fees, which applied to ships operated by or built in the United States that visited Chinese ports, began at 13:01 (0501 GMT) on Monday, a transport ministry statement said.The US shipbuilding industry was dominant after World War II but has gradually declined and now accounts for just 0.1 percent of global output.The sector is now dominated by Asia, with China building nearly half of all ships launched, ahead of South Korea and Japan.Beijing also said separately it would suspend sanctions against US subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders.The year-long suspension of measures against Hanwha, effective from November 10, was linked to the US halting port fees it had levied on Chinese-built and operated ships, China’s commerce ministry said in an online statement.”In light of this (US suspension)… China has decided to suspend the relevant measures” for one year, it said.China had imposed sanctions on five US subsidiaries of Hanwha in October, accusing them of supporting a US government “Section 301” investigation that found Beijing’s dominance of the shipbuilding industry unreasonable.Organisations and individuals in China had been banned from cooperating with Hanwha Shipping LLC, Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc., Hanwha Ocean USA International LLC, Hanwha Shipping Holdings LLC and HS USA Holdings Corp.A planned probe into whether the Section 301 investigation affected the “security and development interests” of China’s shipbuilding industry and supply chain had also been shelved for one year, according to the transport ministry.Beijing “looks forward to the United States continuing to meet China halfway and jointly safeguarding fair competition in the global shipping and shipbuilding market”, the commerce ministry said in another statement.- Export controls -In another apparent move on Monday to implement recent agreements, China’s commerce ministry said it had added more than a dozen fentanyl precursors to a list of controlled exports to the United States, Mexico and Canada.Washington has long accused Beijing of failing to effectively crack down on flows of the deadly chemicals underpinning a devastating drug crisis in the United States.While the Chinese statement did not mention recent negotiations, the White House said on November 1 that Beijing had agreed to “stop the shipment of certain designated chemicals to North America” — part of “significant measures to end the flow of fentanyl”.The measures are the latest sign of a thaw in economic ties since the Xi-Trump meeting. China said on Wednesday it would extend the suspension of additional tariffs on US goods for one year, keeping them at 10 percent, and suspend some tariffs on soybeans and other US agricultural products.It also suspended an export ban on gallium, germanium and antimony, metals crucial for modern technology, on Sunday.Beijing also agreed following talks to halt restrictions on the export of rare earths technology for one year. Washington in turn agreed to suspend for one year export restrictions on affiliates of blacklisted foreign companies in which they had at least a 50 percent stake, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Wednesday.
US envoy Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday as Washington pressed efforts to ensure the fragile Gaza ceasefire holds.The truce, in effect since October 10, has largely halted the war that erupted after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.As part of its first stage, a series of prisoner and hostage exchanges have taken place in recent weeks.Netanyahu’s office confirmed his meeting with Kushner but did not provide further details.Israeli media said his visit coincided with ongoing US efforts to stabilise the truce and lay groundwork for its next phase.The second stage of the truce aims to tackle some of the most sensitive issues: Hamas’s disarmament, Gaza reconstruction, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.Hamas has repeatedly insisted that giving up its weapons is a red line.Plans also include deploying an “international stabilisation force” coordinated by US troops to maintain security across the territory.Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are potential participants, but the United Arab Emirates has indicated it is unlikely to join without a clear operational framework.”Under such circumstances, the UAE will probably not participate in such a force,” Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate Forum on Monday.Since the truce began, Hamas has returned all 20 living hostages and the remains of 24 captives, including 21 Israelis. Four bodies of hostages killed in the October 2023 attack remain in Gaza.- ‘We still do not feel safe’ -In exchange, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 prisoners and returned 315 bodies of Palestinian captives.The latest of those were the remains of 15 Palestinians handed over by Israel on Monday after Hamas a day earlier returned the remains of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, killed in the 2014 Gaza war.Goldin, killed while attempting to destroy Hamas tunnels near Rafah, had been missing for 11 years.”Time has stood still. It still feels like he just left and is already coming back,” his sister Ayelet Goldin said in a statement on Monday.”How do you process fighting for a brother who’s gone? How do you fight for a soldier who went into battle, fighting to bring him home, when in reality he’ll return in a casket? How are you supposed to feel? I still don’t know,” she said.Despite the progress in hostage returns, Gazans remain anxious about their future.”We still do not feel safe. Shooting continues … we try to protect our children from psychological trauma and to help them forget the war and its effects,” said Salma Abu Shawish, 40, a resident of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.”Life in Gaza is hard. We still lack food, and many families remain homeless. We only wish this nightmare would stop and never return.”Israel and Hamas continue to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.On Monday, the Israeli military said it killed two militants who approached the so-called “Yellow Line,” the boundary beyond which Israeli forces hold their positions in Gaza.
With reports of heavy weapons fire and drone strikes in northern Ethiopia over the past week, there are fears the region is returning to the devastating warfare it experienced between 2020 and 2022.AFP looks at the latest flaring of violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray and Afar regions, which threatens to upend a fragile peace deal.- What …
What we know on renewed fighting in north EthiopiaMon, 10 Nov 2025 12:34:31 GMT Read More »
Jihadists who have imposed a crippling fuel blockade in Mali want to topple the military junta and impose Islamist rule, but not necessarily rule themselves, France’s foreign intelligence chief said Monday.Speaking as France prepares this week to mark 10 years since the November 13, 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris that left 130 dead, Nicolas Lerner …
