AFP Asia Business

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday, as Israel and Hamas say they are ready for negotiations on a new phase in their fragile Gaza ceasefire.Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump returned to power last month, will discuss the truce’s future and efforts to end the Gaza war.Hours before their meeting, Netanyahu’s office said Israel would send a delegation to the Qatari capital Doha later this week for negotiations.”Israel is preparing for the working-level delegation to leave for Doha at the end of this week in order to discuss technical details related to the continued implementation of the agreement,” the office said in a statement following meetings in Washington between Netanyahu and Trump’s advisors, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.Hamas has said it is ready to negotiate the second stage of the ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.The next phase aims to secure the release of remaining hostages and lay out steps toward ending the war, which has devastated the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.- ‘No guarantees’ -The war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.Trump has repeatedly touted a plan to “clean out” Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan, despite all those parties strongly rejecting his proposal.Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu said Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its confrontations with Iran had “redrawn the map” in the Middle East.”But I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” he said.The White House meeting promises to be a crucial one for a region shattered by war since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.Netanyahu hailed the fact he would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his January 20 inauguration as “testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance.”The Israeli prime minister had tense relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden over the growing death toll in Gaza, despite Biden’s steadfast maintenance of US military aid.But Trump, who has claimed credit for sealing the ceasefire after 15 months of war and prides himself on his dealmaking ability, will be pushing Netanyahu to stick to the agreement.He is also expected to lean on Netanyahu to accept a deal to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia, something he tried to do in his first term.Trump said Sunday that talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were “progressing” — but then warned less than 24 hours later that there that were “no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”- Unrest in West Bank -Witkoff — who met Netanyahu on Monday over terms for the second phase of the truce — said however that he was “certainly hopeful” the truce would stick.Trump’s sudden floating of a plan to move people out of Gaza — which he describes as a “demolition site” — has added uncertainty to an already tense and difficult situation.Trump said the plan could be temporary or permanent, but the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza was strongly rejected by Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians and ceasefire mediator Qatar.Under the Gaza ceasefire’s ongoing 42-day first phase, Hamas is to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.Four hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, and militants have freed 18 hostages so far in exchange of some 600 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.The truce has also led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, as well as allowing displaced Gazans to return to the territory’s north.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.Israel has turned its focus to the occupied West Bank and an operation it says is aimed at rooting out extremism that has killed dozens.On Tuesday, the military said its forces killed an assailant who fired on troops near the city of Jenin in the West Bank.burs-jd/dv

China on Tuesday said it would probe US tech giant Google over violations of anti-monopoly laws after Washington slapped 10 percent levies on Chinese goods.Beijing’s State Administration for Market Regulation said the US tech giant was “suspected of violating the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China”.It has “launched an investigation into Google in …

China says to probe Google over anti-monopoly violations Read More »

OpenAI chief Sam Altman inked a deal with tech giant Kakao in South Korea on Tuesday as the US firm seeks new alliances after Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the global AI industry.Kakao, which owns an online bank, South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app and KakaoTalk, announced a partnership allowing them to use ChatGPT for its new …

OpenAI chief Altman inks deal with S. Korea’s Kakao after DeepSeek upset Read More »

Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa visits Ankara on Tuesday for talks with Turkey’s leaders on rebuilding his land and the volatile issue of Kurdish fighters near the countries’ border.Sharaa is scheduled to arrive mid-afternoon, flying in from Saudi Arabia where he made his first international visit since his Islamist-led rebels overthrew Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8.The move left Syria — which shares a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border with Turkey — facing a fragile transition involving multiple territorial and governance challenges.Working to keep balanced regional ties following his trip to Saudi Arabia, Sharaa will now look to draw on a strategic relationship he has built up with Ankara over the years.Tuesday’s visit, which comes “at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan”, will see Sharaa hosted at the presidential palace, the Turkish leader’s office said Monday.The pair will discuss the “joint steps to be taken for economic recovery, sustainable stability and security,” Erdogan’s communications chief Fahrettin Altun wrote on X.Despite being constrained by its own economic crisis, Turkey is offering to help with Syria’s recovery after a devastating 13-year civil war.In return, Turkey is keen to secure Damascus’s support against Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria, where the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been battling Ankara-backed forces.Turkey opposes the SDF on the grounds that its main component, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), is aligned with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a separatist group outlawed in Turkey.The Kurdish-led force controls much of Syria’s oil-producing northeast, where it has enjoyed de facto autonomy for more than a decade.Turkey has threatened to take military action to keep Kurdish forces away from its borders despite US efforts to broker a truce.- Kurds in Syria -Ankara had a strong presence in the northwestern enclave of Idlib which from 2017 was run by a coalition headed by Sharaa. It still has military bases in northern Syria.In the past, Sharaa’s former Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel movement was “always careful not to engage in fighting with the SDF, despite Turkish pressure,” a Western diplomatic source said.While keeping up pressure on Kurdish fighters in Syria, Ankara has at the same time offered an olive branch to jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, raising the prospect that he may soon urge his followers to lay down their arms.That call would likely be aimed at military leaders of the movement in Syria and Iraq.”Erdogan does not want a Kurdish entity on his doorstep” in Syria, said Hamit Bozarslan, a Paris-based specialist on Kurdish issues.Meanwhile, however, Sharaa “knows how much he owes to the Kurds who remained neutral (during his rebel advance) and he needs to work with these movements”, he told AFP.For Sharaa, the “first option is to resolve this via diplomacy and talks”, said Gonul Tol, head of the Turkish studies programme at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.But at some point, he and his administration will have to act “because they cannot afford to have a region that is beyond their control,” she added.Much will depend on the attitude of the new US administration under President Donald Trump, although for now their policy is “unreadable”, she said.

From retaliatory tariffs on US goods like car parts and soy beans to controls on raw minerals essential for American manufacturing — analysts say China has plenty of options if it wants to reply to fresh US levies.US President Donald Trump over the weekend announced 10 percent tariffs on Chinese products, upping the stakes in …

How China could respond to Trump’s new tariffs Read More »

Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump will discuss the future of the Gaza ceasefire Tuesday as the Israeli prime minister becomes the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the US president’s return to power.Netanyahu is in Washington for talks with the new Trump administration on a second, longer-term phase of Israel’s fragile truce with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has not yet been finalized.Trump has meanwhile repeatedly touted a plan to “clean out” Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighboring countries such as Egypt or Jordan, despite all those parties strongly rejecting his proposal.Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu said that Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its confrontations with Iran had “redrawn the map” in the Middle East.”But I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” Netanyahu said.The White House meeting promises to be a crucial one for a region shattered by war since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.Netanyahu hailed the fact that he would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his January 20 inauguration as “testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance.”The Israeli premier had tense relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden over the growing death toll in Gaza, despite Biden’s steadfast maintenance of US military aid.But Trump, who has claimed credit for sealing the ceasefire after 15 months of war and prides himself on his dealmaking ability, will be pushing Netanyahu to stick to the agreement.He is also expected to lean on Netanyahu to accept a deal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, something he tried to do in his first term.- ‘No guarantees’ -Trump said Sunday that talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were “progressing” — but then warned less than 24 hours later that there that were “no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — who met Netanyahu on Monday over terms for the second phase of the Gaza truce — said however that he was “certainly hopeful” that the truce would stick.Hamas officials have said they were ready to begin talks on the details of the second phase, which is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and could lead to a more permanent end to the war.But Trump’s sudden floating of a plan to move people out of Gaza — which he describes as a “demolition site” — has added further uncertainty to an already tense and difficult situation.Trump said the plan could be temporary or permanent, but the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza was strongly rejected by Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians, and ceasefire mediator Qatar.Under the Gaza ceasefire’s 42-day first phase, Hamas is to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.Four hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, and the truce has led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, as well as allowing displaced Gazans to return to the territory’s north.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,498 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.Israel has meanwhile turned its focus to the occupied West Bank and an operation it says is aimed at rooting out extremism that has killed dozens.