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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 …

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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 …

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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.

The man accused of trying to kill the author Salman Rushdie, leaving him blind in one eye, goes on trial Tuesday for attempted murder, according to state court filings.Hadi Matar, an American of Lebanese descent, has also been charged separately by a federal court on suspicion of terrorism for allegedly conducting the 2022 stabbing attack on behalf of militant group Hezbollah.In August 2022 Rushdie, now 77, lost vision in his right eye after the attack by a knife-wielding assailant, who jumped on stage at an arts gathering in New York state and stabbed the author about 10 times.The Indian-born writer, a naturalized American based in New York, has faced death threats since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader.Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989 calling on Muslims anywhere in the world to kill Rushdie.Hezbollah endorsed the fatwa, the FBI has said.Matar had told the New York Post newspaper that he had only read two pages of Rushdie’s novel but believed he had “attacked Islam.”Rushdie suffered stab wounds in the neck and abdomen before attendees and guards subdued the attacker, later identified as Matar.Matar was due to appear before judge David Foley in Chautauqua County Court on Tuesday, according to a New York state case listing index.The charges against him in the case are attempted murder and assault.- ‘I just stood there’ -Rushdie had lived in seclusion in London for the first decade after the fatwa was issued, but for the past 20 years he has lived a relatively normal life in New York.Last year, he published a memoir called “Knife” in which he recounted the near-death experience.”Why didn’t I fight? Why didn’t I run? I just stood there like a pinata and let him smash me,” Rushdie wrote.”It didn’t feel dramatic, or particularly awful. It just felt probable… matter-of-fact.”Tehran denied any link with the attacker — but said only Rushdie was to blame for the incident. The suspect, now 27, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.Rushdie explained in “Knife” that the attack has not changed his view on his most famous work. “I am proud of the work I’ve done, and that very much includes The Satanic Verses. If anyone’s looking for remorse, you can stop reading right here,” he said.Rushdie has said that he did not want to attend the talk, and two days before the incident, he had a dream of being attacked by a gladiator with a spear in a Roman amphitheater.”And then I thought, ‘Don’t be silly. It’s a dream,'” he told CBS.

Iran may seem an unlikely setting for women’s ice hockey, but a fledgling league has seen its young players confront the country’s deeply conservative values and financial obstacles to blaze a trail for the sport.”The first time I was given a stick, I fell in love with this sport,” said Soheila Khosravi, a member of the Iranian women’s league, which played its inaugural round just three years ago.Khosravi left her family home two years ago to dedicate herself fully to ice hockey in Tehran, where Iran’s only Olympic ice rink is located.”It’s hard to live alone here, but it’s for the love of hockey,” said the 17-year-old athlete from the central province of Isfahan.Many of the players often face difficult odds, from social pressures to logistical and financial challenges in pursuing the sport.The players are required to wear the hijab head covering under their helmets, in keeping with the Islamic dress code mandated after the 1979 Islamic Revolution — though in recent years women in big cities have increasingly flouted the law.But despite these challenges and its very recent inception, the women’s league has seen a stellar rise since its first round in December 2021, when four teams competed.The Iranian women’s team claimed the title at the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Asia and Oceania Cup after defeating the Philippines in the finals, completing an unbeaten run.The victory marked a leap forward for the sport, allowing it to emerge from the sidelines and claim a place in the country.”Hockey is a sport that requires courage and bravery, and you see these two characteristics in Iranian women,” Kaveh Sedghi, a former captain of the men’s national team, told AFP.”We are the only country with more female players than male ice hockey players,” added Sedghi, who is now the president of Iran’s ice hockey association.- ‘Motivated’ -At the rink in Tehran, two teams battle it out for victory to the frenzied cheers of hundreds of exuberant spectators — both women and men.The M.R team, wearing red and white, and the Pandas, in green and black jerseys, are two out of the six teams competing in the league this year.The young women glide across the ice, skillfully manoeuvring the puck at the Iran Mall ice rink — one of only four in the country — which opened less than six years ago.Iran’s ski federation, which oversees ice hockey, introduced a girls’ ice hockey league last August to support the newly established women’s league.But the road to the league is not without obstacles.”We observe hijab when we play and no, we have no restrictions,” said national team player Dorsa Rahmani.”Our jerseys are exactly the same as men. From afar, sometimes you can’t even tell if a girl is playing or a boy,” the 19-year-old added. Financial constraints can nonetheless be a significant hurdle as many talented athletes come from less affluent backgrounds.”They are motivated, but the expenses are their biggest difficulty,” explained Azam Sanaei, the coach of the Iranian women’s team.According to her, a hockey stick, which may need to be replaced every two months, costs around $200 — equal to the average monthly salary in Iran.Despite these challenges, the players remain highly motivated and show great potential, according to Sanaei.Rahmani echoed this sentiment.”We work hard to achieve results,” said the young player who proudly wears the national jersey.