AFP Asia Business

The top US trade official on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly every other nation, telling US senators that with dozens of countries seeking a deal the strategy was “already bearing fruit.”Jamieson Greer’s appearance in Congress came with Republicans ringing alarm bells over Trump’s escalating trade war and Wall Street clamoring for …

Trump’s trade representative says tariffs ‘bearing fruit’ Read More »

US President Donald Trump appeared to catch Tehran off guard on Monday when he announced “direct talks” between the arch-foes over Iran’s nuclear programme, having previously threatened to bomb the Islamic republic.Despite previously having expressed major reservations over the talks, Tehran has agreed to participate but through an intermediary.- What does Iran want? -The priority for the Islamic republic is the lifting of biting sanctions that have placed a stranglehold on the energy-rich country’s economy for decades.In 2015, a landmark deal was reached between Iran and major powers including the United States, offering sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme.The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), also provided for the eventual return of Western investments into Iran.At the time, Iranians were hopeful that the deal would reflect in improvements in their economic conditions and end their country’s isolation.But that hope was short lived as in 2018, during Trump’s first term in office,  Washington unilaterally pulled out of the deal and reinstated sanctions.Ever since, the value of the Iranian rial has plummeted against the dollar, fuelling high inflation and unemployment and leaving much of the population impoverished.”If Iran manages to break the chains of the sanctions, it can achieve a considerable economic resurgence,” economist Fayyaz Zahed told AFP.In addition to some of the highest oil and gas reserves in the world, Iran also enjoys unique geography and has great potential to build its tourism industry and develop infrastructure.Its 86 million people also represent a large untapped market, a predominantly young and educated urbanised population with an average age of just 32.- Why talk now? -Alongside its economic challenges, Iran has been dealt major blows through the weakening of its network of proxies in the region in the aftermath of the Gaza war that began in October 2023.Lebanese group Hezbollah — a key bulwark in Iran’s so-called axis of resistance against Israel and the United States — emerged massively weakened from a war last year with Israel, having lost much of its leadership structure.In Syria, a Sunni Islamist-led offensive toppled Tehran’s longtime ally Bashar al-Assad in December, and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen have been under heavy US bombardment in recent weeks.”Iran no longer has any effective cards and is suffering the consequences” of upheavals in the region, Zahed said.Iran and Israel exchanged direct strikes twice last year for the first time in their history.- What is Iran’s strategy? -“Iran is prepared to accept the same technical conditions” that were in place for the 2015 deal, Zahed said.Tehran has long maintained its right to develop its nuclear capabilities for civil purposes, particularly energy.Western governments however accuse Iran of seeking to develop a weaponss capability, an ambition it vigorously denies.”On the other hand, the country will show no flexibility regarding its missiles,” Zahed warned.The Trump administration argued that its withdrawal from the JPCOA in 2018 was motivated by the absence of controls for Iran’s ballistic missile programme, viewed as a threat by Washington and its ally Israel.In February, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed there would be “no negotiations” with the Trump administration, pointing to previous deals with US leaders that were not honoured.In March, Trump sent a letter to the Iranian leader, calling for talks but also threatening to bomb Iran in the event that diplomacy failed.Iran responded that it would not negotiate under pressure.Trump’s announcement that “direct” talks would take place in Oman on Saturday appeared to take Iran by surprise.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi only confirmed the talks in a post on X in the middle of the night, however insisting that Iran would not speak directly with the Americans.According to US news website Axios, Trump has given Iran two months to reach a deal.Trump “broke the nuclear deal once”, wrote reformist Hossein Nouraninejad in the government daily Iran, adding that “there are many historical differences between the two countries”, which have not had diplomatic relations since 1980.However, direct talks between Trump and Khamenei seem “more likely than war”, wrote Ali Shakourirad, a politician close to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in the newspaper Etemad.

The Taliban government accused Pakistan on Tuesday of violently expelling Afghans after Islamabad cancelled hundreds of thousands of residence permits, pressuring families across the border.Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) would be cancelled — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already expelled around 800,000 undocumented Afghans.”The mistreatment of them (Afghans) by neighbouring countries is unacceptable and intolerable,” the Taliban Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said on X, calling for a joint agreement to facilitate repatriations.An average of 4,000 Afghans crossed the border from Pakistan on Sunday and Monday, “far higher than the March daily average of just 77”, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told AFP.The new phase in Pakistan’s campaign to repatriate Afghans “could affect up to 1.6 million undocumented Afghan migrants and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders during 2025″, the agency said.The United Nations says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan: 800,000 had their Pakistani ACC residency cards cancelled in April and 1.3 million still have residence permits until June 30 because they are registered with the UN refugees agency UNHCR. Others have no papers.”It is with great regret that Afghan refugees are being subjected to violence,” the Taliban refugees ministry said.”All refugees should be allowed to take their wealth, belongings and household goods with them to their own country,” it added.”No one should use refugees as tools for their political goals.”Afghans who crossed the border in recent days told AFP that they left without being able to take all their belongings or money, while others were rounded up and taken directly to the border.”My only crime is that I’m Afghan,” Shah Mahmood, who was born in northern Afghanistan, told AFP on Monday after crossing the Torkham border point.”I had papers and they ripped them up.”Human rights activists have for months been reporting harassment and extortion by Pakistani security forces against Afghans.Moniza Kakar, a lawyer in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, said that officials “are picking and arresting people randomly, from different places”.”There is no proper mechanism to shift the whole family,” she told AFP.Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban takeover, fuelled by a sharp rise in violence in Pakistan along the Afghan border.Pakistan’s interior ministry said it had issued “strict instructions” for the facilitation of Afghans’ exits, including “that no one should be harassed in this process”.In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids.

Israel’s top court held a hearing on Tuesday on the hotly contested decision to sack domestic security chief Ronen Bar, with protests from government supporters and critics briefly interrupting the proceedings.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last month that his government had unanimously approved a motion to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, citing “lack of trust” and requiring Bar to leave his post by April 10.The hearing on Tuesday followed petitions filed by opposition parties and non-profit groups, challenging the legality of the government’s move which the Supreme Court had already frozen until it issues a ruling.Protests were held outside the Jerusalem courtroom, and inside, shouts and interruptions forced the judges to halt proceedings after only 30 minutes.”No court in the world is run this way,” said Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit after warning government supporters and critics who interrupted the hearing, which was broadcast live.Amit called for a recess, during which scuffles between the sides continued outside the courtroom.The hearing resumed about an hour later, with no audience, “to allow the right to argue without fear for all parties involved”, according to the judges.Attorney Zion Amir, representing the government, said that “this is purely a political petition”.In the late afternoon, the floor was given to the petitioners’ lawyers.The judges will likely issue a decision later in the week, according to media reports.Bar has pushed back against the government’s move to sack him, dismissing Netanyahu’s arguments as “general, unsubstantiated accusations” motivated by “personal interest”.Bar said the decision was meant to “prevent investigations into the events leading up to October 7 and other serious matters” being looked at by the Shin Bet, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.- ‘Anti-democracy’ -Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has also cautioned that ousting Bar was “tainted by a personal conflict of interest on the part of the prime minister due to the criminal investigations involving his associates”.Baharav-Miara was referring to a case, dubbed “Qatargate” by Israeli media, involving Netanyahu’s close advisers under investigation for allegedly receiving money from the Gulf emirate which has longed hosted the political office of Hamas.Tomer Naor, from the Movement for Quality Government in Israel which submitted one of the petitions, told AFP that “Netanyahu is under a severe conflict of interest.”He said the group had petitioned the court to “remind (people) that Ronen Bar is the head of the Shin Bet (and) is in charge of the investigation into ‘Qatargate'”.Dov Halbertal, a lawyer who came to watch the hearing, said that “Netanyahu is the ruler, he can fire whoever he wants, especially this Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet that is responsible for the massacre” of October 7, 2023.The fact that the court was hearing the petitions was “anti-democracy”, he alleged.Rafi, a protester holding a megaphone outside the supreme court, said the judges were “acting without authority.”Baharav-Miara, who has often clashed with the Netanyahu administration over the independence of the judiciary, said that firing Bar could lead to the politicisation of the powerful position.Appointed Shin Bet chief in October 2021 by the previous government, led by opponents of Netanyahu, Bar has clashed with the long-serving incumbent since his return to power in late 2022.Bar was critical of a government proposal to reform the judiciary, which drew hundreds of thousands of Israelis onto the streets in protest and was temporarily shelved when the Gaza war began with Hamas’s attack.Bar, who was only meant to end his tenure next year, had suggested he would consider stepping down early due to his part in failing to prevent the October 7 attack, but only once the war is over and the hostages held in Gaza have been freed.

Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, the EU agency that monitors climate change said on Tuesday, prolonging an unprecedented heat streak that has pushed the bounds of scientific explanation. In Europe, it was the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, said the Copernicus Climate Change Service. That drove rainfall extremes across a …

World’s ‘exceptional’ heat streak lengthens into March Read More »

Stock markets regained some ground on Tuesday, even as trade tensions between the United States and China escalated sharply after days of turmoil over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs offensive.Trump has upended the world economy with sweeping tariffs that have raised the spectre of an international recession, but has ruled out any pause in his …

Markets calmer despite growing US-China trade tensions Read More »