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Ukraine scrambled Saturday to respond to a US plan to end the war that includes many of Russia’s hardline demands, with Kyiv saying it had discussed the next steps with several key European allies.  While President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back against the 28-point plan, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has welcomed the proposal, which would force Ukraine to give up land, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO. The United States bypassed Europe with the plan, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X he had “outlined the logic of our further steps” in a call with European counterparts, including from France, Britain and the EU’s foreign policy chief.British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted separately that “Ukraine must determine its future”.European leaders are due to meet Saturday on the sidelines of a G20 summit in South Africa to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine less than a week to sign but Zelensky on Friday pledged to work to ensure any deal would not “betray” Ukraine’s interests, acknowledging he risked losing Washington as an ally.Ukraine faces one of the most challenging moments in its history, Zelensky said in an address to the nation, adding that he would propose alternatives to Trump’s proposal.Putin said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from negotiations.Russia would gain territory, be reintegrated into the global economy and rejoin the G8, under a draft of the plan seen by AFP.- ‘He’ll have to like it’ -“Ukraine and its European allies are still living under illusions and dreaming of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield,” Putin said in a televised meeting with his security council. If Kyiv walks away, Russia claimed its recent recapturing of the Ukrainian city Kupiansk “will inevitably be repeated in other key areas of the front line”, Putin added.The Ukrainian army denies Russia has retaken Kupiansk, which Kyiv lost to Moscow the day it launched its invasion in 2022, then wrested back.Zelensky on Friday recalled how he marshalled Kyiv’s response to the Russian invasion, saying “we did not betray Ukraine then, we will not do so now”. “I will present arguments, I will persuade, I will propose alternatives,” he added.Trump said that November 27 — when the United States celebrates Thanksgiving — was an “appropriate time” to set for Zelensky to agree a deal, but he indicated it could be flexible.”He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting,” Trump told reporters. “At some point he’s going to have to accept something.”Zelensky said after talks with US Vice President JD Vance that Ukraine continues to “respect” Trump’s desire to end the war. He also held an emergency call with the German, French and British leaders.The Ukrainian leader plans to speak directly to Trump soon, his office has said.- ‘Loss of dignity’ -In Kyiv, people were divided over whether Ukraine should engage with the proposal and negotiate a better position, or reject it as a capitulation. Yanina, a 41-year-old seamstress, predicted the proposal will lead nowhere and the war will continue. “Neither us nor Russia will make concessions,” she said. Earlier this week, Russia carried out one of its deadliest attacks this year and one of the worst on western Ukraine since the invasion. The death toll in the western city of Ternopil rose to 32, regional police said, after cruise missiles slammed into apartment blocks.The Ternopil attack came as Russia batters Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of winter, and with Kyiv’s stretched troops under pressure on the front line.To end the war, the US plan envisages recognising territories controlled by Moscow as “de facto” Russian, with Kyiv pulling troops out of parts of the Donetsk region. Kyiv would also cap its army at 600,000, rule out joining NATO and have no NATO troops deployed to its territory.In return, Ukraine would get unspecified “reliable security guarantees” and a fund for reconstruction using some Russia assets frozen in foreign accounts.”The pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest. Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” Zelensky said in his address.bur-ant-jc-asy/kjm/lb

US lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, an influential figure of the far right, announced Friday she is quitting her seat in Congress, one week after President Donald Trump pulled his support for the former staunch ally.In a video posted online, the 51-year-old Republican congresswoman from Georgia elected in 2020 said she had “always been despised in Washington DC and never fit in.”Greene said she did not want her supporters and family to endure “a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms.”I will be resigning from office with my last day being January 5, 2026,” she said.Greene had previously been a standard-bearer of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, but the president announced he was withdrawing all support for “‘Wacky’ Marjorie” on November 7.He followed up again the next morning with multiple posts on his Truth Social platform attacking Greene as a “lightweight” and even a “traitor” to the Republican Party.The former key political ally to Trump subsequently said she was being targeted by a wave of threats.The shock move by Greene was the clearest sign yet of a growing split in MAGA world, in churn over strong Democratic victories in this month’s off-year elections, and Trump’s chummy White House meeting earlier Friday with leftist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.The movement has been particularly riven over Trump’s flip-flop on the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose web of contacts allegedly included several American elites.”Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for,” Greene said. 

A US-European rift over the future of Ukraine is set to overshadow a G20 summit starting in South Africa on Saturday further marked by Donald Trump’s pointed absence. The Johannesburg gathering is being attended by a host of world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.But Trump is boycotting, with his government saying South Africa’s priorities — notably boosting global cooperation on trade and climate action — run counter to US policy.The US president nevertheless loomed large at the event, the first summit of the group of major economies to be held in Africa, after producing a surprise unilateral US plan to end the war in Ukraine largely in line with Russia’s goals.Following an urgent call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that any such plan needed the “joint support and consensus of European partners and NATO allies”.On Saturday, European leaders are to meet on the sidelines of the summit to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.She said a follow-up meeting would be held at an EU-Africa Union summit in Angola on Monday and Tuesday.Trump has warned Ukraine it has a limited window to accept his administration’s 28-point plan, telling Fox News Radio that “Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time”.- Climate impasse -Another issue dogging the G20 summit was a deadlock at COP30 climate negotiations taking place in Brazil.Friday was meant to be the last day of those talks, which had gone on for nearly two weeks. But they threatened to drag on because petro-states were accused of resisting any reference to a fossil fuel phaseout in the final text.Despite the headwinds, host South Africa was projecting optimism that it would get backing for its G20 aims to reduce economic inequalities, shrink debt for low-income countries, secure help for clean-energy transitions and establish a critical minerals pact.”As South Africa, we are hoping that we will have the leaders’ declaration adopted, which will set a new and continuing agenda for the world, particularly the G20,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said late Friday.Political negotiators from the participating countries finalised on Friday a final draft joint text for the leaders to agree on, sources told AFP. They were not authorised to divulge the draft’s contents.It was uncertain the document would be a traditional summit statement, given the US boycott and a warning from Washington that no declaration in the name of the G20 should be issued.Ramaphosa, who has bristled at the US absence and the Trump government’s unfounded allegations of a “white genocide” in South Africa, has been joined by other leaders in stressing that the G20 was an important platform for multilateral cooperation. “Multilateralism is our best, maybe our only defence against disruption, violence and chaos. And South Africa put multilateralism to work,” Antonio Costa, European Council president, told a pre-summit press conference. The US boycott echoes Trump’s decision not to send an official delegation to the COP30.Washington has said it would send its charge d’affaires from its embassy at the end of the Johannesburg meeting only for a handover ceremony, as the United States will host next year’s G20 summit at a golf club owned by Trump in Florida.The G20 is a grouping of 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. It represents 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.

Months of sniping melted away Friday as New York’s incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump were all smiles at a White House meeting — promising to set aside their feud and cooperate on the city’s future.Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, had taken on Trump in a bruising war of words, likening the Republican to “bad landlords… taking advantage of their tenants.”Washington watchers were bracing for sparks to fly when the self-described Democratic socialist met the Republican leader who has in turn branded the mayor-elect a “communist” and suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.But the Oval Office summit was instead the embodiment of civility as a beaming Trump, 79, praised Mamdani’s historic election win, said he could do a “great job,” and called him a “man who really wants to see New York be great again.””We’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true: having a strong and very safe New York,” Trump said. Mamdani described the face-to-face as “very productive” and spoke of the leaders’ “shared admiration and love” for America’s financial capital and largest city.By dinnertime, Trump had shared multiple photographs of the White House meeting on his Truth Social platform, gushing that “It was a Great Honor meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City!”The about-face caused some conservative figures to recoil, with prominent far-right activist Laura Loomer framing the unexpected cordiality as a harbinger of political disaster.”The Democrats will have a land slide in the midterms after today,” she wrote on X. “How will the GOP campaign ahead of 2026 if Mamdani and his policies are now considered rational?”Both men hail from the Queens borough of New York City and both are masters of political theater — but their styles couldn’t be more different, with Trump thriving on bombast and grievance as Mamdani pitches affordability and inclusion.Oval Office encounters with the brash billionaire often turn into ambush theater — a lesson absorbed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who endured a public dressing-down by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Political analysts had warned that Mamdani could be walking into a Zelensky-like situation. For weeks they had traded barbs, with Trump threatening to make life difficult for the young political upstart.- Political lightning strike -But Trump repeatedly offered his support for Mamdani — even telling reporters it was “OK” for the younger politician to have called him a “despot.””I’ve been called much worse than a despot. So it’s not that insulting. Maybe he’ll change his mind after we get to working together,” a conciliatory Trump said, adding that he hoped Mamdani would be “a really great mayor.” For his part, Mamdani noted that many New Yorkers had backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election “because of that focus on cost of living.” “And I’m looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability,” he said.It was all a far cry from the barbs the pair had exchanged in the run-up to the meeting.Beyond mocking Mamdani’s South Asian name, the president has dangled cuts to federal funding and even National Guard deployments — a tactic he used against other Democratic cities.Mamdani’s rise has been nothing short of electric. Virtually unknown a year ago, he stormed the political barricades with a campaign promising rent freezes, free buses, and city-run grocery stores — while flooding social media with upbeat videos and dialed-up charisma.He didn’t just win — he shattered records, pulling in more than one million votes, the first New York mayoral candidate to do so since 1969.Yet the firebrand progressive set to become New York’s first Muslim mayor has shown flashes of pragmatism, soothing centrists wary of a radical shake-up.He reappointed incumbent police commissioner Jessica Tisch, a steady hand popular with rank-and-file officers, and named veteran bureaucrat Dean Fuleihan as his first deputy mayor — signs of continuity amid his promised revolution.On the campaign trail, Mamdani cast himself as part of the anti-Trump resistance, but he has since stressed his desire to work with the president on the “national crisis of affordability.”

Bolivia’s brand-new narcotics czar, Ernesto Justiniano, told AFP Friday the US Drug Enforcement Administration, expelled in 2008, will be returning to bolster the South American country’s anti-cocaine campaigns.Justiniano is part of the new administration of President Rodrigo Paz, a pro-business conservative who took office on November 8 after two decades of leftist rule.Paz, 58, is aiming for a sharp political, economic, social and diplomatic shift away from the policies of leftist leaders blamed by many for Bolivia’s economic collapse, with dollars in short supply and annual inflation over 20 percent.In an interview with AFP Friday, Justiniano said “there is a political commitment” for the DEA to return to Bolivia, where he said cocaine production has spiraled out of control.”International cooperation is fundamental,” he added. “We will no longer be an isolated country, a country that is self-absorbed and acts solely out of political necessity.”The new government has set for itself the tasks of eradicating coca leaves — the raw material for cocaine production — and going after drug cartels.According to United Nations data, Bolivia is the world’s third-largest producer of coca and cocaine, after Colombia and Peru.Ties with the United States were severed under former socialist leader Evo Morales, in office from 2006 to 2019.Bolivia took a sharp turn to the left under Morales, nationalizing energy resources and making alliances with China, Russia and fellow leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.In 2008, Morales expelled the US ambassador and DEA officials, accusing them of interference in Bolivia’s affairs. USAID officials followed in 2013.Washington expelled Bolivia’s ambassador in retaliation, and the envoys were never replaced.Paz, an economist-turned-senator, vowed the day after his election victory to renew ties with Washington.- No money for eradication -Justiniano — whose official title is deputy minister of social defense and controlled substances — said Bolivia’s cocaine production levels were alarming, with estimated annual production of about 300 tons.The UN says Bolivia has 31,000 hectares of coca crops. Of these, about 22,000 hectares are legal — grown to be chewed as a stimulant, brewed into a tea thought to combat altitude sickness or used in religious rituals. Justiniano, 56, said modern processes had reduced the amount of coca required to make one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cocaine by about half.”With one hectare of illegal coca, I can produce more than double the cocaine than twenty years ago,” he told AFP.He added that Bolivia’s ability to address the problem was limited, with helicopters and planes grounded due to a lack of money for insurance or spare parts.”All incursions… are conducted by land,” he stated. “And once on site, they must travel on foot, even lacking fuel for vehicles.” Bolivia’s economy is in recession, according to the World Bank. 

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday pushed back against a US plan to end the war in Ukraine, while Russian leader Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal that includes many of his hardline demands.With President Donald Trump giving Ukraine less than a week to sign, Zelensky pledged to work to ensure any deal would not “betray” Ukraine’s interests, while acknowledging he risked losing Washington as an ally.Putin said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from negotiations.Ukraine faces one of the most challenging moments in its history, Zelensky said in an address to the nation, adding that he would propose alternatives to Trump’s 28-point plan.Kyiv and its European allies were startled by the proposal — which would force Ukraine to give up land, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO. Russia, meanwhile, would gain territory, be reintegrated into the global economy and rejoin the G8, under a draft of the plan, seen by AFP.- ‘He’ll have to like it’ -“Ukraine and its European allies are still living under illusions and dreaming of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield,” Putin said in a televised meeting with his security council. If Kyiv walks away, Russia’s claimed recent capture of Ukrainian city Kupiansk “will inevitably be repeated in other key areas of the front line,” Putin added.The Ukrainian army says Kupiansk remains under Kyiv’s control. Zelensky on Friday recalled how he marshalled Kyiv’s response to the Russian invasion in February 2022, saying “we did not betray Ukraine then, we will not do so now.” “I will present arguments, I will persuade, I will propose alternatives,” he added.Trump said at the White House that next Thursday was an “appropriate time” to set for Zelensky to agree a deal, but he indicated it could be flexible.”He’ll have to like it, and if he doesn’t like it, then you know, they should just keep fighting,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “At some point he’s going to have to accept something.”Zelensky said after talks with US Vice President JD Vance that Ukraine continues to “respect” Trump’s desire to end the war. He also held an emergency call with the German, French and British leaders as Europe, cut out of the process, scrambled to respond.- Army cuts -The Ukrainian leader plans to speak directly to Trump soon, his office has said.The US plan envisages recognizing territories controlled by Moscow as “de-facto” Russian, with Kyiv pulling troops out of parts of the Donetsk region. Kyiv would also cap its army at 600,000, rule out joining NATO and have no NATO troops deployed to its territory.In return, Ukraine would get unspecified “reliable security guarantees” and a fund for reconstruction using some Russia assets frozen in foreign accounts.”Right now is one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Zelensky said in his address. “The pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest. Ukraine may face a very difficult choice: either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner,” he said, warning of a break with Washington.In a call with Zelensky, key allies Britain, France and Germany stressed their “unwavering and full support for Ukraine on the path to a lasting and just peace,” said a joint statement after the talks. The United States bypassed Europe with the plan, and many European governments were unsettled by the prospect of the war ending on Moscow’s terms.- ‘Flexibility’ – Putin, who treated Trump’s proposal more favourably, said an early version of the plan was discussed with the US president even before they met in Alaska on August 15. There, Putin told Trump that Russia was ready “to show flexibility” in resolving the conflict, without elaborating how, according to the Kremlin chief’s televised meeting.Putin added that Russia is ready for detailed discussion of Trump’s plan. Otherwise, it will continue the war.Trump’s administration has previously rejected accusations that it worked on the proposal with Moscow.The White House gave Zelensky until November 27, when the United States celebrates Thanksgiving, to decide on what it called a “good plan” for Russia and Ukraine.In Kyiv, people were divided over whether Ukraine should engage with the proposal and negotiate a better position, or reject it as a capitulation. Yanina, a 41-year-old seamstress, predicted the proposal will lead nowhere and the war will continue. “Neither us nor Russia will make concessions,” she said. bur-ant-jc-asy/tw/bgs

A self-portrait by celebrated Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold for $54.66 million in New York on Thursday, setting a record for the price of a painting by a woman, the auction house Sotheby’s said.The sale of Kahlo’s 1940 artwork, titled “El sueno (La cama)” — which translates to “The dream (The bed)” — broke the previous record set by American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, whose 1932 painting “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1” sold for $44.4 million in 2014.Kahlo’s painting is “the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction,” Sotheby’s said in a post on social media platform X.The artwork depicts Kahlo sleeping in a bed that appears to float through the sky, beneath a skeleton with its legs wrapped in sticks of dynamite. The work was painted during a pivotal decade in Kahlo’s career, marked by her turbulent relationship with Mexican painter Diego Rivera, the auction house said on X. The painting went on the auction block with an estimated price range of $40 million to $60 million.The buyer’s name was not disclosed. The work is a “very personal” painting, in which Kahlo “merges folkloric motifs from Mexican culture with European surrealism,” Anna Di Stasi, the head of Latin American art at Sotheby’s, told AFP. The Mexican artist, who died in 1954 at the age of 47, “did not completely agree” with her work being associated with the surrealist movement, Di Stasi said.However, “given this magnificent iconography, it seems entirely appropriate to include it,” she said.Kahlo struggled with fragile health throughout her life due to childhood illness, polio and a serious bus accident in 1925, and pain and death were central to her work.The skeleton depicted in the painting echoed the papier-mache version that hung above Kahlo’s bed, according to Sotheby’s.-Women under-represented-None of the 162 pieces of art that had previously sold for more than $50 million were by women, according to an AFP tally. Less than one percent of the 468 works sold for more than $30 million are by women artists.The record-setting sale of Kahlo’s self-portrait came two nights after Sotheby’s made another record sale, with a painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt fetching $236.4 million — the second-most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” which he painted between 1914 and 1916, depicts the daughter of his main patron standing in front of a blue tapestry.The most expensive painting ever sold at auction remains the “Salvator Mundi,” (Savior of the World), a Renaissance work attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was bought for $450 million in 2017.Female artists whose works have fetched the highest sale prices are primarily prominent 20th century figures.The third-highest sale price, after O’Keeffe’s White Flower No. 1,” was for a huge spider sculpture by French visual artist Louise Bourgeois, which sold for $32.5 million in 2023.Kahlo’s self-portrait “Diego y yo” (“Diego and I”, 1949) fetched $34.9 million in 2021 and “Portrait of Marjorie Ferry” (1932) by the Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka was sold for $21.2 million in 2020.

New York’s incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani marches into the White House on Friday for a high-stakes sit-down with President Donald Trump, after a bruising war of words that lit up cable news and social media.Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, said Thursday he was “ready for whatever happens.”Sparks could fly when the self-described Democratic socialist meets the 79-year-old Republican leader who has branded him a “communist” and even suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.Both men hail from the Queens borough of New York City and both are masters of political theater — but their styles couldn’t be more different. The Oval Office showdown is seen more as a clash of ideologies, generations and egos than a courtesy call, with Trump thriving on bombast and grievance as Mamdani pitches affordability and inclusion.”Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you — turn the volume up!” Mamdani said during a defiant acceptance speech making clear to the president that he would not be cowed or sidelined.But Trump struck a conciliatory tone Friday as he was asked by Fox News Radio to react to Mamdani’s anti-Trump campaign rhetoric, telling the network: “I was hitting him a little hard too, in all fairness.””He’s got a different philosophy — he’s a little bit different. I give a lot of credit for the run,” Trump said.”He did a successful run, and we all know that runs are not easy, but I think we’ll get along fine. Look, we’re looking for the same thing — we want to make New York strong.”Mamdani focused his pre-meeting messaging on the cost of living, posting on X that it was “time for a city government that puts affordability at the top of the agenda.”- Political lightning strike -Trump has threatened to make life difficult for the young political upstart.Beyond mocking Mamdani’s South Asian name, the president is dangling cuts to federal funding and even National Guard deployments — a tactic he used against other Democratic cities. For New Yorkers, that could mean billions lost and troops on the streets once Mamdani, set to become the city’s first Muslim mayor, takes office.Mamdani’s rise has been nothing short of electric. Virtually unknown a year ago, he stormed the political barricades with a campaign promising rent freezes, free buses, and city-run grocery stores — untested ideas that nevertheless resonated with voters crushed by soaring costs. He didn’t just win — he shattered records, pulling in more than one million votes, the first New York mayoral candidate to do so since 1969.- Into the lion’s den -Yet the firebrand progressive has shown flashes of pragmatism, soothing centrists wary of a radical shake-up.He reappointed incumbent police commissioner Jessica Tisch, a steady hand popular with rank-and-file officers, and named veteran bureaucrat Dean Fuleihan as his first deputy mayor — signs of continuity amid his promised revolution.On the trail, Mamdani cast himself as part of the anti-Trump resistance, but he has since stressed his desire to work with the president on the “national crisis of affordability.”Oval Office encounters with Trump often turn into ambush theater — a lesson absorbed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who endured a public dressing-down by Trump’s vice president. Columbia University political analyst Lincoln Mitchell warned that Mamdani could walk into a Zelensky-like situation, where Trump watched his vice president, JD Vance, censure the wartime Ukrainian leader in front of the world’s media.”It certainly could — you could see Vance just picking at him,” he told AFP.”Look for the outcome of that meeting to be something to the effect of, ‘I think I can work with (him) — but we will see how it goes and I’m hopeful — we both want the city to succeed’,” said Syracuse University politics professor Grant Reeher. 

A US court sentenced rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel to 14 years in prison for involvement in a billion-dollar Malaysia scam that funneled money into American politics, his lawyer confirmed Friday.In 2023, the 53-year-old founding member of the 1990s hit trio the Fugees was convicted of money laundering and campaign finance violations in a global foreign influence scandal led by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho.The scheme funneled millions of dollars into former US president Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.A jury had found Michel guilty on 10 criminal counts following a trial that included Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio as a witness.In addition, Michel was found guilty of conspiracy, forgery, and acting as an undisclosed agent of a foreign government.He was also tried for illegal lobbying on behalf of China in 2017, during the first Trump administration. He intended to request the extradition to Beijing of entrepreneur Guo Wengui, accused of defrauding thousands of investors to the sum of over $1 billion dollars.Michel’s attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, said his client would appeal and that the sentence was lop-sided.”It is true that Mr. Michel was sentenced to 168 months,” Zeidenberg told AFP following Thursday’s sentencing. “We believe the verdict was unsupported by the evidence and that the sentence is completely disproportional to the facts alleged, particularly when compared to his codefendants.”Zeidenberg was referring to others implicated in the case: Elliott Broidy, a former leading fundraiser for Donald Trump before his first presidency; George Higginbotham, a former US Department of Justice official; and Nickie Lum Davis, an American international businesswoman from Hawaii. “Elliott Broidy was pardoned, George Higginbotham got 3 months’ probation, and Nicki Lum Davis received 24 months,” Zeidenberg said in an email.”There simply is no justification for Mr. Michel being singled out like this except for the penalty for opting for trial.”Justice Department prosecutors said last year that Michel had “betrayed his country for money” and “funneled millions of dollars in prohibited foreign contributions into a United States presidential election,” warranting a serious sentence.In the early 2010s, Low — now a fugitive believed to be hiding in China — used billions of dollars stolen from a Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB to invest in luxury US real estate, fine art and Hollywood films like DiCaprio’s Wolf of Wall Street.The exposure of the 1MDB scandal brought about the downfall of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government in 2018 and his later conviction and imprisonment.     Michel was accused of helping Low secretly channel money into then-president Obama’s 2012 campaign via shell companies, hiding the donations’ origins.Michel, originally from Brooklyn and a Haitian-American, founded the Fugees with his childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean.The group won two Grammy Awards at the peak of their fame in the 1990s and sold tens of millions of albums.

The EU will demand more tariff exemptions on products including wines when US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick meets the bloc’s trade ministers on Monday.US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen struck a deal in July for most EU exports to face a 15-percent US levy, but the European Union has been seeking various exemptions for more sectors.Despite the deal, both sides point to outstanding issues and the agreement still awaits approval by the EU parliament before further implementation.The EU’s trade ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday during which Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join them for lunch.Greer will also hold talks with EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic on Sunday, the European Commission said.As the EU’s digital rules are the subject of thorny relations with Washington, the bloc’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen is also expected to meet the Americans.The European Commission said on Friday it continues “to engage with the US both at political and technical level”.Diplomats said EU states were set to finalise a list of sectors they want to exempt from levies on Friday that will likely include wines and spirits — and potentially pasta, already the subject of tensions between Rome and Washington.Italy last month appealed to Washington and Brussels in an attempt to dissuade the United States from imposing provisional anti-dumping duties of over 91 percent on pasta from January 2026, on top of the 15 percent already in place.”The EU is aiming to present a united front and not come off as divided with all ministers arguing their own national exemptions,” a diplomat told AFP.Relations between the transatlantic allies remain tense.The United States is pushing Brussels to scrap digital and green rules, viewed as “non-tariff” barriers to trade by Washington.But the EU has insisted its digital laws are not up for discussion.President Donald Trump has lashed out at Brussels’ moves against US Big Tech companies including a whopping 2.95-billion-euro ($3.4-billion) fine on Google in September, threatening tariffs if the bloc does not repeal the measure.Brussels also wants Washington to cut its 50-percent steel tariffs, and proposes to create a broader “metals alliance” with the United States to ringfence their respective economies from Chinese overcapacity.