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US, Chinese officials to hold trade talks in Switzerland

Senior US and Chinese officials will travel to Switzerland later this week to kickstart stalled trade talks following President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff rollout, according to statements from both countries.The talks mark the first official public engagement between the world’s two largest economies to resolve a trade war escalated by Trump shortly after his return …

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Panic in Port Sudan as drone strikes rattle haven city

War-weary civilians have looked up at a blackened sky in Port Sudan this week as the two-year war they had fled finally reached their once-safe haven on Sudan’s Red Sea coast.”Panic is setting in, people are terrified,” Port Sudan native Sami Hussein Abdel Wahab told AFP as smoke billowed behind him.Giant plumes of thick smoke have hung in Port Sudan’s skies since Sunday, when the first drone strikes, blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), struck the city.Tuesday’s dawn attack on the wartime de facto capital struck the airport, fuel depots and a power substation, grounding all international flights in and out of Sudan and causing a city-wide blackout.”It’s us, the citizens, that they’re targeting,” Mohamed Ahmed Karar, 57, told AFP, referring to the RSF, at war with the regular army since April 2023.Another resident, Salem Omar Ibrahim, said: “They hit everything that benefits civilians.”Port Sudan, a strategic target for the RSF, is also Sudan’s largest operational port and a “lifeline for humanitarian operations”, the United Nations said Tuesday.Nearly all aid into the country — home to nearly 25 million people suffering dire food insecurity — transits through Port Sudan, where massive fires raged in fuel depots for over 36 hours.At petrol stations across the city, queues of cars stretched for more than a kilometre (0.6 miles) as drivers scrambled to fill their tanks, an AFP correspondent reported.Drivers waited for hours in the rising heat, engines off, hoping for a few litres before supplies ran dry again.But most were unsure where they would go. Even territories the army has reclaimed, including parts of the capital Khartoum, suffer without basic services.”Yesterday and today just confirm to us that this war will follow us no matter where we go,” said Hussein Ibrahim, 64, who has fled RSF attacks on his hometown in Al-Jazira state, about 1,000 kilometres away.In markets and street corners, anxious neighbours exchanged half-formed plans. They could stay, waiting for more attacks, or head back to where they had been uprooted from.- ‘No alternative’ -Until Sunday, Port Sudan had been a rare safe refuge in the war between the army and the RSF that has ripped the country apart.The city has hosted government ministries and the United Nations and sheltered hundreds of thousands of people, mostly displaced from Khartoum and central Sudan.The war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created what the UN describes as the world’s worst largest hunger and displacement crises.The conflict has effectively divided the country in two, with the army controlling the north, east and centre and the RSF holding nearly all of the western Darfur region and parts of the south.Now, the sense of safety that had defined Port Sudan has been shattered.”The sound of the explosion was terrifying, it’s caused us to panic,” said Soad Babiker, 45, who had also fled the violence in Al-Jazira.Ahmed Ali, a shopkeeper near the market, said the atmosphere was unlike anything he had seen before.”There is no electricity, no water,” he said.”The market is half-asleep. People are scared. Some families fled their homes overnight.”Despite the fear, some residents cautiously clung to their daily routine.Though schools were closed on Tuesday, central Port Sudan bustled with an eerie semblance of normal life. Shops in the city’s main market were open and long rows of public minibuses waited for passengers as usual.”There’s no alternative,” said resident Al-Nour Mokhtar Othman.”What are people supposed to do? We just have to keep going and hope for stability.”

Macron to host Syrian leader’s first European visit

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday meets France’s Emmanuel Macron in Paris on his first visit to Europe since taking power after the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.The visit comes with Syria’s new authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, under increasing pressure from Europe to show their seriousness on protecting human rights as Damascus seeks the full lifting of Assad-era sanctions. “This meeting is part of France’s historic commitment to the Syrian people who aspire to peace and democracy,” the Elysee Palace said on Tuesday.Macron will “reiterate France’s support for the construction of a new Syria, a free, stable, sovereign Syria that respects all components of Syrian society,” the presidency said.Macron will also emphasise “his demands on the Syrian government, primarily the stabilisation of the region, including Lebanon, and the fight against terrorism,” it said.Sharaa was the head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded Assad’s overthrow after 14 years of civil war and formerly had links to Al-Qaeda. He is still subject to a UN travel ban and France most likely had to request an exemption from the United Nations, as was the case for his recent trips to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, according to a source familiar with the matter.EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said, referring to the Syrian leader by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, that exemptions can be granted in certain cases if UN officials determine “that the entry or transit is justified”.Macron is due to welcome al-Sharaa to the Elysee Palace at 1515 GMT followed by a joint news conference.- Humanitarian crisis -France, a former colonial-era ruler of Syria, is eyeing an opportunity to increase its influence in the country after years of Russian presence, with French companies also seeking business contracts.Last week, French logistics giant CMA CGM signed a 30-year contract to develop and operate the port of Latakia.Macron had first invited Syria’s new leader to visit France in February.In March, he repeated the invitation but made it conditional on the formation of an inclusive Syrian government representing “all components of civil society”, describing his initial negotiations with the interim leaders as “positive”.Mehad, a French NGO which has operated in Syria since 2011, warned of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country and called for “a strong response” from France.”Emmanuel Macron’s strong commitment must now be translated into action, not only by maintaining the budget allocated to humanitarian aid in Syria, but also by disbursing it quickly,” said Mehad director Mego Terzian.”Otherwise we are heading for a humanitarian and health disaster in the country.”- ‘Shock and dismay’ -Syria’s new Islamist authorities have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country.But sectarian clashes in March in which more than 1,700 people were killed, mostly from Assad’s Alawite minority, sparked condemnation.More recent clashes involving fighters from the Druze community, as well as reports of abuses from NGOs, have also raised doubts about the interim government’s ability to control extremists in its ranks.Adding to pressure on the new Syrian government, Israel has also launched hundreds of strikes on the country since Assad’s overthrow, including one near the presidential palace in Damascus on Friday.The interim government described the strike as a “dangerous escalation”, while the United Nations urged Israel to halt its attacks on Syria “at once”.The French far right criticised the upcoming talks.Far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused Macron of hosting talks with “a jihadist” who has been involved with the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda, adding such a meeting would be “provocative and irresponsible”.”Shock and dismay,” Le Pen said on X.Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who met with the Syrian leader on a visit to Damascus in January, defended the talks.Not engaging with the leaders of Syria and Lebanon would amount to “rolling out the red carpet for Daesh,” Barrot told broadcaster RTL, referring to the Islamic State jihadists.