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Trump slammed for using ‘Palestinian’ as slur against top Democrat

US President Donald Trump has been condemned by Jewish and Muslim groups for using the term “Palestinian” as a slur in an attack on the country’s highest-ranking elected Jewish official.In comments to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer had “become a Palestinian.””He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore, he’s a Palestinian,” Trump said.Schumer, a long-serving Democratic senator from New York, has resisted Republican pressure this week to back their stopgap plan to avoid a government shutdown.The Senate minority leader is a longtime advocate for Israel who has voiced support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and also criticized Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.Jewish and Muslim organizations both slammed  Trump’s comments as offensive.”A President has many powers, but none of them include deciding who is and isn’t Jewish. Doing so, and using ‘Palestinian’ as a slur, are both beneath any (US president),” the Jewish activist group, the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement on X.Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), called on Trump to apologize, adding that his use of the term “Palestinian” as a racial slur was both “offensive and beneath the dignity of his office.”Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, also condemned Trump’s statements, calling them “abhorrent.””Since taking office, he’s elevated antisemitic conspiracy theorists & attacked our democracy. His rhetoric, agenda, and alignment with right-wing extremists are endangering American Jews,” Soifer wrote on X.Schumer’s office did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.Last month, Trump also referred to Schumer as Palestinian when the president proposed a widely criticized plan for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate Palestinians.And ahead of last year’s election, Trump accused Schumer of being a “proud member of Hamas.”

Belgium carries out raids in EU parliament corruption probe

Belgian police on Thursday raided several addresses in the country as part of a probe into alleged corruption “under the guise of commercial lobbying”, prosecutors said.Several people were held for questioning over their “alleged involvement in active corruption within the European Parliament, as well as for forgery and use of forgeries,” the federal prosecutor’s office …

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Iraq says seeking alternatives to Iran gas

Iraq is exploring alternatives to Iranian gas imports, including options in the Gulf, a government official said, as it seeks to reduce dependence on its sanctions-hit neighbour.The administration of US President Donald Trump announced at the weekend its decision to end a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from Iran, though it has yet to bar gas imports.Iran’s gas and electricity supply accounts for a third of Iraq’s energy needs.”Previously, we only had imports from Iran, but there are government directives and a political will to rely on multiple sources of imports,” said Saad Jassem, an official at Iraq’s electricity ministry.”We have not yet stopped Iranian gas imports,” the director of the ministry’s fuel department told AFP in an interview on Wednesday.His remarks come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, after Iran rejected a US offer of talks on its nuclear programme.”The administration has made clear to the Iraqi government that it needs to make swift progress in eliminating all Iranian natural gas purchases,” a US diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.Despite its vast oil wealth, Iraq has been ravaged by decades of conflict, suffers from crumbling infrastructure and is plagued by daily power cuts.”We must consider the worst-case scenario — if there is an interruption, we have prepared alternatives,” said Jassem.”In the region, Qatar is the largest natural gas producer — we have made several visits, and they are ready to help Iraq with preferential rates,” the official said, adding that “Oman is also an option”.Negotiations were also underway to buy gas from Turkmenistan to be delivered via pipelines across Iran, he added.- ‘Vital’ -Iraq is setting up two floating liquefied natural gas terminals in the southern Khor al-Zubair region, Jassem said, expressing hope they will be operational by June.The facilities could be used to process 14 to 19 million cubic metres (500 to 700 million cubic feet) a day, he said.”If we manage to set up a third unit we could hit 800 to 900 million cubic feet,” he added, saying this would help offset the shortfall of Iranian gas that southern Iraq depends on.”The question of energy is vital for citizens: cutting off gas would mean a significant reduction in electricity supply,” Jassem said.Iraq faces the challenge of balancing relations with Iran and its strategic partner, the United States.In a bid to make Iraq self-sufficient, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s government wants to stop gas flaring in Iraq’s oil fields by 2028, and to use it instead to supply power stations.Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has called for a new nuclear deal with Tehran while reinstating his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions.Even before the United States ended its sanctions waiver, Iran’s gas supply to Iraq had already started to become erratic, with Baghdad falling behind on payments while Iraqi domestic consumption increased.Iran has regularly cut its deliveries, exacerbating life for Iraq’s 46 million people, especially during climate change-driven heatwaves.In 2024, Iraq and Iran renewed for five years their gas import agreement for the purchase of up to 50 million cubic metres a day.But Iraq currently receives no more than 15 million cubic metres, sharply down from the agreed amount.For Iraq, electricity shortages remain a sensitive issue, as power cuts have sparked protests, particularly during the summer months.

China urges ‘diplomatic’ Iran nuclear solution ahead of Beijing talks

China called on Thursday for a “diplomatic” resolution to the Iran nuclear issue as it prepared to host diplomats from Tehran and Moscow for talks.The United States withdrew from a landmark deal, which had imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, during President Donald Trump’s first term.Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal for a year after Washington’s withdrawal but then began rolling back its commitments.Efforts to revive the pact have since faltered.Beijing is set to host Russia and Iran — both key diplomatic partners — on Friday for trilateral talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.”In the current situation, we believe that all parties should maintain calm and restraint to avoid escalating the Iran nuclear situation, or even walking towards confrontation and conflict,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.The meeting will be attended by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, Beijing has said.Iran’s foreign ministry has said the meeting would focus on “developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions”.No details about the timing of the meeting have been shared.However, Beijing has said the talks would aim to “strengthen communication and coordination, to resume dialogue and negotiation at an early time”.”China sincerely hopes that all parties can work together, continuously increase mutual trust and dispel misgivings, and turn the momentum of restarting dialogue and negotiation into reality at an early date,” Mao said.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has called for a new nuclear deal with Tehran while reinstating his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions.Iran has officially ruled out direct talks as long as sanctions remain, with President Masoud Pezeshkian vowing on Tuesday that his country “will not bow in humiliation to anyone”.Trump said last week he had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.A quarterly report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in February said Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to 60 percent purity — a short step from the 90 percent needed to make a nuclear weapon.