AFP Asia Business

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was not in a hurry to speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, despite expectations that they would hold talks after announcing tit-for-tat tariffs in a growing trade conflict.Beijing said it was imposing levies on imports of US energy, vehicles and equipment in a return salvo minutes after …

Trump in ‘no rush’ to speak with China’s Xi despite tariff battle Read More »

Honda shares surged on Wednesday as Japanese media said the automaker had proposed making its struggling rival Nissan a subsidiary — with some reports saying the move could spell the end of their merger talks.The companies agreed in December to launch discussions on joining forces to create the world’s third largest automaker, seen as a …

Honda shares jump on reports it wants Nissan as subsidiary Read More »

President Donald Trump revealed an extraordinary plan Tuesday for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip, resettle Palestinians in other countries — seemingly whether they wanted to leave or not — and turn the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”Trump made the stunning proposal to audible gasps during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he was hosting at the White House for talks.In a scheme that lacked details on how he would move out more than two million Palestinians or control Gaza, Trump said he would make the war-battered enclave “unbelievable” by removing unexploded bombs and rubble and economically redeveloping it.”The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” Trump said.He said there was support from the “highest leadership” in the Middle East and upped pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take displaced Gazans — despite both countries and the Palestinians flatly rejecting the surprise idea.Suggesting “long-term ownership” by the United States, Trump said his plan for Gaza would make it “the Riviera of the Middle East. This could be something that could be so magnificent.” Key US ally Netanyahu said Trump’s plan could “change history” and was worth “paying attention to.”Netanyahu was making the first visit of a foreign leader to the White House since Trump’s return to power, for what were billed as talks on securing a second phase of the Israel-Hamas truce after an initial six-week ceasefire.- ‘Miserable existence’ -But it quickly turned into the shock revelation of a plan that would completely transform the face of the Middle East.Trump, who also floated traveling to Gaza, appeared to suggest it would not be rebuilt for Palestinians. “It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have… lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there,” he said.The Palestinian envoy to the UN had pushed back strongly at Trump’s suggestions earlier Tuesday — before his proposal the United States take the territory over — for his people to be resettled. “Our homeland is our homeland,” said Riyad Mansour. “And I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”Gazans have also denounced Trump’s resettlement idea. “Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage — absolutely not,” said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.Trump was vague on the details of how he would execute the takeover plan, but hinted that it could require US boots on the ground in one of the most volatile places on earth “if necessary.” It is not the first time the former property tycoon has spoken about the Palestinian territory in terms of real estate, saying in October it could be “better than Monaco.”Standing at a podium beside Trump, Netanyahu hailed Trump as Israel’s “greatest friend” and praised his “willingness to think outside the box.”The two have had tense relations in the past, but Netanyahu has seized on the Republican’s return to power after his ties with former president Joe Biden became increasingly strained over the death toll in Gaza since Israel’s invasion.- ‘Winning the war’ -The Israeli leader would not rule out a return to hostilities with Hamas, or with its other foes in the region including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran.”We will end the war by winning the war,” Netanyahu insisted, while also vowing to secure the return of all hostages held by Hamas.He did voice confidence that a deal with regional rival Saudi Arabia to normalize relations was “going to happen.”But after Trump aired his proposal, Saudi Arabia said it would not formalize ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established. Trump’s grand Gaza plan however is set to face harsh opposition from Palestinians and Middle Eastern countries.Egypt, Jordan and ceasefire mediator Qatar have all flatly rejected Trump’s suggestion of moving Palestinians from Gaza.The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, taking into Gaza 251 hostages, 76 of whom are still held in the Palestinian territory including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.The truce that took effect on January 18 has led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into Gaza, and allowed people displaced by the war to return to the north of the Palestinian territory.But since the Gaza ceasefire took effect, Israel has launched a deadly operation against militants in the occupied West Bank’s north.burs-dk

At the bottom of Nisrine Ezzedine’s garden, cement blocks mark the graves of her husband, son and nephew, all killed by foreign jihadists in Syria’s Alawite minority heartland.After Islamist-led rebels ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8, the new authorities sought to reassure minorities in multi-ethnic multi-confessional Syria that they will be protected.But Alawites, from a branch of Shiite Islam, have an acute fear of reprisals because of their connection to the Assad clan, which recruited from and favoured its own religious community for military and public sector positions during more than half a century of iron-fisted rule.Ezzedine said foreign jihadists set up near the family olive groves, outside their mountain village of Ain al-Sharkia in the coastal province of Latakia, after Assad’s ouster.She said her civil servant husband Ammar, son Musa and her nephew Mohammed, both 17, were attacked there last month.”Extremists — masked foreigners — riddled them with bullets,” said Ezzedine, 48, her frail silhouette framed in a black coat.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor blamed “foreign Islamist fighters allied to Syria’s new authorities” for the attack.Some members of the Ezzedine family had been in the military, but all three were civilians.The boys “were supposed to finish school this year”, she said quietly.Alawites account for about nine percent of Syria’s population, or around 1.7 million people. The community has been repeatedly targeted since Assad’s ouster.This month, authorities said they were searching for “criminals” after an attack in an Alawite village in Hama province that the Observatory said killed 10 people, including a child and an elderly woman.- ‘Loyalists’ -The family acknowledged that the new authorities swiftly opened an investigation after the trio’s killing.”They promised to find the perpetrators, but so far we haven’t seen anything,” said electrical engineer Ali Ismail, a relative of Ezzedine.Ismail lived for a decade in the northern city of Aleppo, but like many Alawites has returned to his native Latakia province, fearing indiscriminate reprisals.”In every region, the community is under attack,” he said.People assume that being Alawite means “you are with the former regime, you committed crimes and fought alongside Bashar”, he added.The new authorities have regularly announced security sweeps and said they are facing armed “ex-regime loyalists”.The two highest-ranking former government officials arrested so far — military official Mohammed Kanjo Hassan and Assad’s cousin Atif Najib — were apprehended in the Alawite heartland.In Jableh, black-clad security forces in balaclavas manned a checkpoint where armed men carried out an attack last month, also throwing grenades at a police dormitory, killing two people and wounding three.Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the new security chief in Jableh, blamed the incident on “elements from the ranks of the regime or its militias”.”They know that if they are brought to justice they will be judged for their crimes. They want to sow chaos,” he told AFP.- ‘Civil peace’ -Interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa said Monday that ensuring “civil peace today is not a luxury in Syria — it is a duty for all”.He warned of a “great catastrophe” if the country remains “captive to internal and sectarian disputes”.In a village in central Hama province, Ali al-Shahhoud was receiving condolences at a funeral ceremony for five people, mostly close relatives, killed in another village called Al-Anz.His eye still red and his hand bandaged, the Alawite man in his 40s said armed assailants “speaking the local dialect” had rounded up more than a dozen men.”They shot at us randomly in front of the women and children,” he said, adding that Sunni Muslim neighbours took him to hospital.The dead included his brother, 80-year-old uncle, 75-year-old father and 15-year-old son.Shahhoud’s relative Rajab al-Mohammed, who also survived, denied links to Assad’s military.”We have no weapons,” he said. The attackers stole cattle and mobile phones to “conceal the sectarian aspect” of the murders, he charged.Former municipal official Ali al-Mohammed was at the funeral.He said people had fled around a dozen villages in the central region, fearing random reprisals.Since December 8, the Observatory has registered more than 240 extrajudicial killings and “revenge acts” mostly targeting Alawites and former security personnel, many in Homs and Hama provinces.Homs and Hama are “multi-confessional provinces”, Mohammed said as winter sun spilled into the funeral hall.”All these problems aim to put an end to coexistence — that’s the message we’re getting.”

President Donald Trump made an extraordinary proposal for the United States to “take over” the Gaza Strip, as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crucial talks on the truce with Hamas.Trump also doubled down on his call for Palestinians to move out of the war-battered territory to Middle Eastern countries like Egypt and Jordan, despite the Palestinians and both nations flatly rejecting his suggestion.”The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” Trump told a joint press conference with Netanyahu.Trump said the United States would get rid of unexploded bombs, “level the site” and remove destroyed buildings, and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”But Trump appeared to suggest that it was not Palestinians who would return there. “It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there,” he said.He said Gaza’s two million inhabitants should instead “go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts.”Netanyahu hailed Trump as the “greatest friend Israel has ever had.”He said the US president’s Gaza plan could “change history” and was worth “paying attention to.”- ‘Great force’ -Egypt and Jordan have flatly rejected Trump’s suggestion of moving Palestinians from Gaza. The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations meanwhile said world leaders should “respect” the wishes of Palestinians.Gazans have also denounced Trump’s idea. “Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage — absolutely not,” said 34-year-old Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern city of Rafah.The US president has claimed credit for securing the first six-week phase of the Israel-Hamas truce after more than 15 months of fighting and bombing, and he was expected to urge Netanyahu to move to the next phase aimed at a more lasting peace.Netanyahu earlier said “we’re going to try” when asked how optimistic he was about moving on to phase two.He hailed Trump’s “great force and powerful leadership” in sealing the original ceasefire deal, and took a swipe at former president Joe Biden, with whom he had tense relations over the death toll in Gaza.”When the other side sees daylight between us — and occasionally in the last few years they saw daylight — it’s more difficult. When we cooperate, chances are good,” Netanyahu said.Israel said hours ahead of the White House talks it was sending a team to mediator Qatar to discuss the second phase of the agreement.Hamas said Tuesday negotiations for the second phase had begun, with spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou saying the focus was on “shelter, relief and reconstruction”.Under the first phase of the ceasefire, Palestinian militants and Israel have begun exchanging hostages.Eighteen hostages have been freed so far in exchange for some 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, taking into Gaza 251 hostages, 76 of whom are still held in the Palestinian territory including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Families of the Israeli hostages have been urging all sides to ensure the agreement is maintained so their loved ones can be freed.Since the Gaza ceasefire took effect on January 19, Israel has launched a deadly operation against militants in the occupied West Bank’s north.UN aid agency UNRWA — which is now banned in Israel — warned that the heavily impacted refugee camp of Jenin was “going into a catastrophic direction”.On Tuesday, the Israeli army said a gunman killed two soldiers before being shot dead in an attack south of Jenin.The truce has also led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into Gaza, and allowed people displaced by the war to return to the north of the Palestinian territory.Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.burs-dk/st

Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies, a top official said Wednesday, citing privacy and malware risks posed by China’s breakout AI program.The DeepSeek chatbot — developed by a China-based startup — has astounded industry insiders and upended financial markets since it was released last month.But a growing …

Australia bans DeepSeek AI program on govt devices Read More »