Chinese-made weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates have been identified with Sudan’s paramilitaries, Amnesty International said Thursday, as drone attacks prompted civilians to flee the army-held aid hub of Port Sudan.The Britain-based watchdog said that its research had detailed the use by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of sophisticated Chinese-made artillery and guided bombs …
La Bourse de Paris a terminé en hausse jeudi, poussée par l’optimisme sur les marchés après l’annonce d’un accord entre Washington et Londres, qui laisse entrevoir des perspectives de désescalade des tensions commerciales.L’indice vedette de la Bourse de Paris, le CAC 40, a terminé en hausse de 0,89%, soit un gain de 67,60 points, pour s’établir à 7.694,44 points. La veille, il avait cédé 0,91% pour s’établir à 7.626,84 points à la clôture.”Un vent d’optimisme souffle à nouveau” sur les marchés d’actions, commente Matt Britzman, analyste chez Hargreaves Lansdown.Donald Trump a annoncé jeudi une première trêve dans son offensive commerciale mondiale sous la forme d’un compromis commercial avec Londres. Dans le détail, Donald Trump a assuré que le Royaume-Uni allait s’ouvrir davantage aux produits américains, pour “plusieurs milliards de dollars”, “en particulier pour le bœuf américain, l’éthanol et quasiment tous les produits que produisent [leurs] chers agriculteurs”.Côté britannique, Keir Starmer a parlé d’un accord “extrêmement important” pour l’industrie automobile et la sidérurgie britanniques. En particulier, la taxe de 25% imposée par les États-Unis sur les voitures importées sera réduite à 10% pour les véhicules britanniques, selon Downing Street.Si les analystes constatent un retour de l’appétit pour le risque, “l’annonce de l’accord commercial avec le Royaume-Uni” n’a toutefois “pas déclenché un bond spectaculaire sur les marchés”, remarque Susannah Streeter, responsable des marchés chez Hargreaves Lansdown.Cette réaction modérée s’explique par “la portée limitée de l’accord”, estime Kathleen Brooks, directrice de la recherche chez XBT. Le président américain a en effet précisé que la taxe plancher de 10% annoncée le 2 avril sur toutes les marchandises importées aux États-Unis resterait en place, jugeant qu’il s’agissant d’un taux “bas”.Désormais, les investisseurs “attendent des nouvelles concernant les différends commerciaux entre les États-Unis et la Chine”, commente Andreas Lipkow, analyste indépendant.Les valeurs automobiles ont grimpé en Bourse, soutenues par l’annonce d’une réduction à 10% (dans la limite de 100.000 véhicules par an) des surtaxes imposées par Donald Trump sur le secteur automobile britannique. Le marché y entrevoit des perspectives d’accalmie quant aux taxes américaines imposées sur les automobiles exportées aux États-Unis.De son côté, l’UE a menacé jeudi de taxer pour 95 milliards d’euros d’importations américaines, dont les voitures et avions, en cas d’échec des négociations pour mettre fin aux droits de douane de Donald Trump sur les produits européens.Le titre de Stellantis, constructeur européen particulièrement exposé aux États-Unis, a terminé en hausse de 5,11% à la Bourse de Paris, à 8,71 euros.emb/jum/LyS
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels have emerged bruised but defiant from a blistering US bombing campaign, cementing their role as one of the Middle East’s most powerful non-state actors after a truce with Washington.US President Donald Trump said the rebels had “capitulated” after the intense, seven-week campaign that came in response to Huthi threats to renew attacks on Red Sea shipping over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi slammed Trump’s remarks on Thursday, calling on supporters to celebrate “America’s great failure” during Friday demonstrations and labelling their campaign on the key shipping route a “total success”.The rebels are the biggest winners of this truce, analysts told AFP, with an official confirming they will keep targeting Israeli ships in the key maritime waterway.The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.They paused their attacks during a recent two-month Gaza ceasefire, but in March threatened to resume targeting international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on Gaza.The move triggered a response from the US army, which hammered the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting March 15 to keep them from threatening shipping in the key waterways.”It is at best a very unstable agreement. The Huthis’ ambitions in the Red Sea against Israel and in the region in general will not wind down,” said Thomas Juneau, a Middle East specialist at the University of Ottawa.”This allows President Trump to claim victory, but ultimately, it is a very limited” win, he said.- ‘Doubly resistant’ -The Yemeni rebels have framed the ceasefire as a victory, regularly announcing throughout the escalation that they shot down MQ-9 drones and at least three F-18 aircrafts.These losses highlight “billions spent by the US,” said Mohammed Albasha, of the US-based Basha Report Risk Advisory, noting that “none of their senior commanders were harmed”.The recent agreement failed to curb the Huthis’ ambitions.”On the ground, anti‑Huthi forces lacked the capacity to conduct ground operations without Emirati and Saudi backing,” Albasha said.”Both Gulf states publicly opposed a ground offensive given their ongoing understandings with the Huthis,” he added.The group operating out of hard-to-access mountain strongholds has withstood a decade of war against a well-armed, Saudi-led coalition.”The nature of Huthi rule and how they operate makes them doubly resistant to air strikes,” said Michael Shurkin of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank.”The Huthis as an organisation are dispersed and rely on tribal networks. They are classic guerrilla fighters and proficient at asymmetrical warfare,” he added.- Iran links -The Huthis have become Iran’s strongest ally after the Palestinian Hamas group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah were decimated in wars with Israel.”Their importance has increased,” said Juneau, adding that they had become “more indispensable in Iran’s eyes”.Clara Broekaert, a researcher at the Soufan Center, said “the current pause presents a strategic opportunity for the Huthis to rearm and reposition”.But the rebels have retained a certain autonomy from their Iranian backer.A senior member of the Revolutionary Guards is part of one of the Huthis’ essential decision-making bodies, according to Juneau.Tehran provides them with “missile and drone technologies, military and intelligence support” but the rebels are “not puppets acting at Iran’s whim”, he said.”Dependency works both ways” between Iran and the rebels, he said, adding that “this gives the Huthis significant bargaining power”.Camille Lons, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the group allows Tehran to “maintain pressure points, retain regional assets and networks in Yemen”.- Weapons -Relatively unknown a decade ago, the Huthis have remained largely under the radar of Western intelligence services. Their attacks, often with home-assembled drones and missiles, are simple but effective, dramatically reducing Red Sea shipping volumes as cargo companies have avoided the route.It is difficult to asses the extent of their arsenal or how badly the latest US campaign has affected their military capacities.”The assumption is that the knowhow for the sophisticated weapons come from Iran,” said Jeremy Binnie of British private intelligence firm Janes.”Some local manufacturing is taking place to reduce the burden on the smuggling networks, although the extent that is happening isn’t particularly clear,” he said.The Conflict Armament Research (CAR) group said the group was “attempting to use hydrogen fuel cells to power their” drones. If the experiment is succesful, they would be the first non-state actor to do so.”This is no longer a small group manufacturing underdeveloped weapons,” Lons said, underlining the increased “complexity of what the Huthis are capable of producing by themselves”.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced Thursday an accelerated timeframe for giving away his fortune as he touted artificial intelligence as a game-changer to boost public health and save lives globally.Under a new timetable, the Gates Foundation will spend more than $200 billion over the next 20 years, shutting down in 2045. The organization had originally planned to close 20 years after Gates’ death.The announcement came as Gates took aim at another billionaire tech titan, Elon Musk.The Tesla CEO pushed through draconian cuts to the US Agency for International Development because Musk “didn’t go to a party that weekend,” Gates told the New York Times in an apparent dig at Musk’s lifestyle.Gates is listed as the 13th on the Forbes “real-time” billionaire list, with a net worth of $112.6 billion. Musk is first with $383.2 billion.Gates, 69, published a chart showing his net worth plummeting 99 percent over the next 20 years in a blog post announcing the shift, describing a doubling of the pace of giving.”People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” Gates wrote.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched in 2000, the same year Bill Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft. In 2024, Melinda French Gates exited the foundation three years after the couple’s divorce.The organization, which had more than $71 billion in assets at the end of 2023, has been credited with helping to reshape the world of global public health.It lists five offices throughout Africa, in addition to locations in the United States, Europe, China, India and the Middle East.Gates cited progress in health efforts including campaigns to eradicate polio and the creation of a new vaccine for rotavirus that has helped reduce the number of children who die from diarrhea each year by 75 percent.Separate from the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder said he plans to continue to provide funding for initiatives to expand access to affordable energy and for breakthrough research into Alzheimer’s disease.- Not a ‘forever’ foundation -In the blog post, Gates credited the writings of 19th-century US steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, whose foundation is still around.But Gates told the New York Times he had no designs on creating a “forever” foundation out of “some weird legacy thing,” preferring to pump out billions more to take advantage of emerging technologies.”The tools are so phenomenal,” he said of the potential for AI in global health.”All the intelligence will be in the AI, and so you will have a personal doctor that’s as good as somebody who has a full-time dedicated doctor — that’s actually better than even what rich countries have,” Gates told the New York Times.While private foundations can do a lot, Gates described the government role as essential, ruing deep budget cuts by the United States, Britain, France and other countries.”It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people. But the one thing we can guarantee is that, in all of our work, the Gates Foundation will support efforts to help people and countries pull themselves out of poverty,” he wrote. The moves have included the assault on USAID by Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” in Donald Trump’s presidential administration. Gates called the cuts “stunning,” far more severe than expected.Musk is “the one who cut the USAID budget,” Gates told the New York Times. “He put it in the wood chipper.”In an interview with the Financial Times, Gates ridiculed Musk’s apparent confusion of Gaza Province in Mozambique with Gaza in the Middle East as the Trump administration targeted programs.”The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates said of Musk in an interview with the Financial Times.
Le Parlement ukrainien a ratifié jeudi l’accord “historique” avec les États-Unis sur l’exploitation des ressources naturelles du pays, signé après des semaines de négociations houleuses et qui pourrait, selon Kiev, ouvrir la voie à une nouvelle aide militaire américaine. Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky a estimé que ce texte ouvrait d’ores et déjà un “nouveau chapitre” dans les relations entre Kiev et Washington.”A l’heure actuelle, (l’accord) constitue une base solide pour la coopération en matière de sécurité et, à long terme, il offre à l’Ukraine et aux États-Unis l’occasion d’élargir une collaboration économique mutuellement bénéfique”, a ajouté jeudi M. Zelensky, dans un message publié sur les réseaux sociaux.Plus tôt, sur X, la ministre de l’Économie, Ioulia Svyrydenko, avait annoncé la ratification par le Parlement ukrainien d’un “accord de partenariat économique historique”.Ce document concerne l’extraction de minerais, de pétrole et de gaz – 57 types de ressources au total en Ukraine, qui fait face depuis plus de trois ans à l’invasion russe. Selon des députés, 338 parlementaires ont voté en faveur de ce texte, le minimum requis étant de 226.Il ne comporte toutefois pas de garanties de sécurité pour Kiev, qui pourtant insistait sur cette condition. “Cet accord offre la possibilité de bénéficier d’une nouvelle aide militaire (…) de la part de l’administration américaine”, a assuré Mme Svyrydenko. L’administration de Donald Trump a annoncé son intention de mettre un terme rapidement à la guerre entre l’Ukraine et la Russie et ses relations se sont réchauffées spectaculairement avec Moscou, faisant craindre l’abandon de la poursuite du crucial soutien américain à Kiev.L’accord bilatéral avait été signé fin avril après des semaines de tensions entre Kiev et Washington, qui avaient culminé dans une joute verbale entre les présidents Trump et Zelensky dans le Bureau ovale, fin février. Contrairement à ce que voulait initialement M. Trump, le document ne prévoit pas de comptabiliser comme dette de l’Ukraine envers les États-Unis l’aide américaine accordée par son prédécesseur Joe Biden depuis le début de l’invasion en 2022.”L’accord ne mentionne aucune dette, mais uniquement les nouveaux investissements. Et il est très important que ces investissements soient réalisés en Ukraine”, s’est félicité Mme Svyrydenko sur X.Il ne comporte pas de garanties de sécurité mais offre “une occasion de faire pression sur la Russie, car cela montre que les États-Unis sont prêts à protéger leur partenariat et leurs intérêts. Ce ne sont pas seulement mes sentiments, ce sont les mots de la Maison Blanche”, a-t-elle souligné. Le texte prévoit en revanche que la nouvelle aide militaire américaine peut être comptabilisée comme contribution à un fonds d’investissement ukraino-américain, a rappelé la ministre.Ce fonds pour la “reconstruction” de l’Ukraine, ravagée par plus de trois ans de guerre, sera financé et géré à parts égales par les deux parties.La contribution ukrainienne sera, elle, constituée de 50% des redevances tirées de nouvelles licences délivrées pour l’exploitation de ressources naturelles, selon Kiev.
India and Pakistan accused each other Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks, as deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed foes drew global calls for calm.The fighting comes two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.India on Wednesday launched missiles it said targeted “terrorist camps”, and Pakistan retaliated with a barrage of artillery strikes, with at least 48 deaths reported on both sides since the escalation, 32 of them in Pakistan, including children.The South Asian neighbours have fought multiple wars over Kashmir since the end of British rule in 1947.Pakistan’s army said it shot down 28 Indian drones, while New Delhi accused Islamabad of launching overnight raids with “drones and missiles”, and claimed it destroyed an air defence system in Lahore.”Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets… using drones and missiles,” India’s defence ministry said in a statement Thursday, adding that “these were neutralised”.The defence ministry said earlier its military had “targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan”, adding it had been “reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised”.On Thursday evening, explosions were reported at the airport of Jammu, a key city in the Indian-held part of disputed Kashmir, a security source who was unauthorised to speak to the media told AFP, without giving further details.Shesh Paul Vaid, a former director general of police for Jammu and Kashmir, also wrote on social media that there were “loud explosions”. – Blasts heard in Lahore -Pakistan’s military said on Thursday it had neutralised 28 out of 29 Israeli-made Harop drones that crossed into the country in “another act of aggression by India”.Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the drones “made attempts to attack military installations” and “targeted civilians”, killing one and injuring four, while four army personnel were also wounded.Among the cities targeted was Rawalpindi, where the military is headquartered and the cricket stadium is hosting the Pakistan Super League. Residents in Lahore reported hearing the sound of blasts, and aviation authorities briefly shut down operations at the main airport there and in the capital, Islamabad.Karachi airport remained closed on Thursday evening.Trading was halted on Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index after it slumped 6.3 percent on news of the drone attacks.- ‘Shrapnel pierced her chest’ -India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said New Delhi had a “right to respond” following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation for the Pahalgam shooting, and the nations traded days of threats and diplomatic measures.Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation into the April 22 attack.Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday that five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.There was trauma on both sides of the disputed border after the exchange of heavy artillery in darkness on Wednesday.”A missile struck the mosque nearby, and a piece of shrapnel from the blast pierced my daughter’s chest,” 50-year-old Safeer Ahmad Awan told AFP in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan Kashmir that was targeted by Indian air strikes.”It was only when her clothes were soaked in blood that we discovered the injury,” he added of the 15-year-old girl, who still has the metal lodged in her body.On the other side of the border in Poonch, a town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that was bombarded on Wednesday, and bore the brunt of shelling by Pakistan, Madasar Choudhary said his sister saw two children killed by shells.”She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside,” said Choudhary, 29.”But shrapnel hit the children — and they eventually died.”- Global pressure -Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries to step back from the brink.”I want to see them stop,” US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.Top US diplomat Marco Rubio spoke with leaders of both countries Thursday and urged “immediate de-escalation,” his spokeswoman said.Meanwhile Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi, days after visiting Pakistan, as Tehran seeks to mediate.Based on past conflicts, analyst Happymon Jacob — director of the New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defence Research, said the latest would “likely end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other’s territory”.In a late Wednesday TV address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned they would “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes.”We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” he said.burs-ecl/des
