AFP USA

US Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Vatican on Saturday morning ahead of a meeting with the Holy See’s second-highest official, just two months after Pope Francis lambasted the new US administration.Catholic convert Vance and his delegation arrived at the pope’s official residence, the Apostolic Palace, just before 10:00 am (0800 GMT) and were due to hold a meeting with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states.The meeting comes just a day after Vance held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni where US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs were discussed.Vance is hoping also to meet with the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, who is recuperating after battling life-threatening pneumonia and spending nearly 40 days in hospital.The 40-year-old US vice president, his wife and three children attended a Good Friday liturgy at Saint Peter’s basilica following his meeting with Meloni.There has been no official confirmation whether Vance, who converted to Catholicism in his mid-30s, will attend Easter mass on Sunday, where the pope is expected to make an appearance to the thousands of faithful who will descend on the Vatican for the occasion.Any meeting between Vance and the pope could be a tense affair.In February, Francis incurred the wrath of the White House after writing a letter to US bishops in which he condemned Trump’s plan to deport migrants en masse, which he described as a “major crisis”.The US responded by telling Francis to “stick to” religion.Last year, Francis made a rare foray into the US election season to call harsh anti-migrant attitudes “madness” and criticise right-wing US Catholic figures for overly conservative stances.Vance has a close relationship with the most conservative fringe of American churches, which have criticised the pope over his stances on migration, LGBTQ rights and certain questions of social justice.In May 2017, when Trump was in his first term, he was received at the Vatican for a half-hour meeting.

The US Supreme Court on Saturday paused the Trump administration’s deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under an 18th-century law.US President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) last month to begin rounding up Venezuelan migrants accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang before expelling them to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.The obscure law has only previously been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.”The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the Supreme Court’s brief order issued early Saturday said.The order came after rights lawyers filed an emergency appeal to halt the deportation of migrants currently held in a facility in the southern state of Texas.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in its emergency filing on Friday night that the group of Venezuelans held in Texas had been told “they will be imminently removed under the AEA, as soon as tonight.” Attorneys for several of the Venezuelans previously deported had said their clients were not members of Tren de Aragua, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to expel millions of undocumented migrants, has accused Venezuela of “perpetrating an invasion” of the United States through the entry of alleged Tren de Aragua members.The Supreme Court said this month that anyone facing deportation under the AEA must first be given an opportunity to legally challenge their removal.- ‘Imminent removal’ -The ACLU said in its filing on Friday that the migrants in Texas were in danger of “being removed from the United States without notice or an opportunity to be heard.””Many individuals have already been loaded on to buses, presumably headed to the airport,” the rights group said.The Trump administration went ahead with the initial deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua members under the AEA in March despite an order by federal judge James Boasberg blocking the move.Judges and lawmakers are now wrangling with Salvadoran officials over the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported last month due to what the White House later said was an “administrative error.”The Supreme Court lifted the block on April 7, in the same decision where it said people facing deportation are entitled to due process.The deported migrants are currently held in El Salvador’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega-prison southeast of the capital San Salvador with capacity for 40,000 prisoners.Inmates there are packed in windowless cells, sleep on metal beds with no mattresses and are forbidden visitors.

The United States and Iran are set to resume high-stakes talks Saturday on Tehran’s nuclear programme, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as “constructive”.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Rome, images broadcast early Saturday by Iranian state television showed, where he was set to join Oman-mediated talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.Iranian state television reported that the talks in the Italian capital would begin at 0830 GMT.The meeting comes a week after the two sides conducted what Iran called indirect talks in Muscat. Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the foes since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.Following his return to office in January, Trump revived his “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against Iran.In March he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed nuclear talks while warning of military action if diplomacy failed.”I’m not in a rush” to use the military option, Trump said on Thursday. “I think Iran wants to talk.” On Friday Araghchi said Iran “observed a degree of seriousness” on the US side during the first round but questioned their intentions.”Although we have serious doubts about the intentions and motivations of the American side, in any case we will participate in tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) negotiations,” he said at a press conference in Moscow.In a social media post early on Saturday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran was “aware that it is not a smooth path but we take every step with open eyes, relying also on the past experiences”.- ‘Crucial stage’ -In an interview published on Wednesday by French newspaper Le Monde, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb. During Trump’s first term, Washington withdrew from the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers which offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. Tehran complied with the agreement for a year after Trump’s withdrawal before scaling back its compliance.Araghchi was a negotiator of the 2015 deal. His US counterpart in Rome, Witkoff, is a real estate magnate Trump has also tasked with talks on Ukraine.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 limit in the deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to decide on whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to trigger the mechanism expires in October this year.Iran has previously warned it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the mechanism were triggered.Grossi, who held talks with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran this week, said the US and Iran were “at a very crucial stage” in the talks and “don’t have much time” to secure a deal. – ‘Non-negotiable’ -Iranian officials have insisted that the talks only focus on its nuclear programme and lifting of sanctions.Araghchi said a deal with the US was “likely” if Washington refrained from “making unreasonable and unrealistic demands,” without elaborating.Analysts had said the United States would push to include discussions over Iran’s ballistic missile programme as well as Tehran’s support for militants in the Middle East.Araghchi said Iran’s right to enrich uranium was “non-negotiable”, after Witkoff called for its complete halt. Witkoff had previously demanded only that Iran return to the ceiling set by the 2015 deal.On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the country’s military capabilities were off limits in the discussions.Iran’s regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its “red lines” in the talks, the official IRNA news agency reported.On Friday US ally Israel affirmed its commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying it had a “clear course of action” to prevent this.Khamenei on Tuesday said Iranians should not pin hopes on progress in the negotiations which “may or may not yield results.”

Donald Trump’s simmering discontent with the US Federal Reserve boiled over this week, with the president threatening to take the unprecedented step of ousting the head of the fiercely independent central bank.Trump has repeatedly said he wants rate cuts now to help stimulate economic growth as he rolls out his tariff plans, and has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell if he does not comply, putting the bank and the White House on a collision course that analysts warn could destabilize US financial markets.”If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me,” Trump said Thursday, referring to Powell, whose second four-year stint as Fed chair ends in May 2026. Powell has said he has no plans to step down early, adding this week that he considers the bank’s independence over monetary policy to be a “matter of law.””Clearly, the fact that the Fed chairman feels that he has to address it means that they are serious,” KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told AFP, referring to the White House. Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, said she thinks “they will come into conflict,” but does not think “that the Fed is going to succumb to the political pressure.”Most economists agree that the administration’s tariff plans — which include a 10 percent “baseline” rate on imports from most countries — will put upward pressure on prices and cool economic growth, at least in the short term.That would keep inflation well away from the Fed’s long-term target of two percent, and likely prevent policymakers from cutting rates in the next few months.”They’re not going to react because Trump posted that they should be cutting,” Roth said in an interview, adding that doing so would be “a recipe for a disaster” for the US economy.- Fed independence ‘absolutely critical’ – Many legal scholars say the US president does not have the power to fire the Fed chair or any of his colleagues on the bank’s 19-person rate-setting committee for any reason but cause. The Fed system, created more than a century ago, is also designed to insulate the US central bank from political interference.”Independence is absolutely critical for the Fed,” said Roth. “Countries that do not have independent central banks have currencies that are notably weaker and interest rates that are notably higher.”Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told AFP that “we’ve had strong evidence that impairing central bank independence is a really bad idea.” – ‘Can’t control the bond market’ -One serious threat to the Fed’s independence comes from an ongoing case in which the Trump administration has indicated it will seek to challenge a 1935 Supreme Court decision denying the US president the right to fire the heads of independent government agencies. The case could have serious ramifications for the Fed, given its status as an independent agency whose leadership believes they cannot currently be fired by the president for any reason but cause. But even if the Trump administration succeeds in court, it may soon run into the ultimate guardrail of Fed independence: The bond markets.During the recent market turbulence unleashed by Trump’s tariff plans, US government bond yields surged and the dollar fell, signaling that investors may not see the United States as the safe haven investment it once was. Faced with the sharp rise in US Treasury yields, the Trump administration paused its plans for higher tariffs against dozens of countries, a move that helped calm the financial markets. If investors believed the Fed’s independence to tackle inflation was compromised, that would likely push up the yields on long-dated government bonds on the assumption that long-term inflation would be higher, and put pressure on the administration. “You can’t control the bond market. And that’s the moral of the story,” said Swonk.”And that’s why you want an independent Fed.”

Sara Lopez hugs the wall of the mall as she hurries back to her car after a shopping trip just outside Washington.”I’m afraid of being arrested while walking in the street,” the 41-year-old undocumented migrant said.Lopez left El Salvador three years ago to move in with her husband near the American capital, home to a large Salvadoran community, second only to that of Los Angeles.It was near here in March that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested — a Salvadoran migrant hustled off to a prison in his home country by the Trump administration despite a 2019 court order that was supposed to protect him from deportation.American authorities have acknowledged an “administrative error” in Abrego Garcia’s case, but they have dug in over seeking his return to the country.The Trump administration claims that Abrego Garcia belonged to the Salvadoran gang MS-13, which it has dubbed a “foreign terrorist organization” — and said he is guilty of domestic violence.”There should be a good investigation into this case, because we can’t all be tarred with the same brush,” Washington resident Lopez said.”We came here to work,” she insisted, adding that “we don’t do any harm to anyone.”In Mount Pleasant, a Washington neighborhood peppered with Salvadoran restaurants, 31-year-old Keylie said that in her community, “some are working two part-times, even three part-times, just to make ends meet.”The daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, she declined to give her family name.Keylie was born in the United States, and so holds citizenship, but said she still feels afraid.”Just by looking at me, you can tell I’m Hispanic. I could be targeted just because of that,” she said.- Divided views –The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from a notorious Salvadoran prison.Alberto Garcia, who is not related to Abrego Garcia, hailed the justices’ decision.The jailed man is the victim of an “injustice,” Alberto Garcia said, adding, “They didn’t give him the right to defend himself.”Some of the Salvadorans to whom AFP spoke, however, offered more nuanced takes on the case.”The governments here and there (in El Salvador) have apparently discovered that he was part of a gang,” said Saul Mercado with a shrug.The sunglasses-wearing 60-something, who was granted political asylum after fleeing El Salvador’s 1979-92 civil war, said he agrees with the policies Trump has pursued since returning to the White House in January.The billionaire president won the votes of more than four in 10 Latinos in the November election, gaining substantial support among the community since 2020.”He’s cleaning up all the crime,” Mercado said, comparing Trump to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who he said has his own country “making progress.”During a White House visit Monday, Bukele ruled out any flexibility in Abrego Garcia’s case, saying he was unable to send the man back.The Salvadoran president has boosted his popularity at home by waging relentless war on the gangs that once terrorized the Central American country.Abrego Garcia’s case “creates conflict” for many Salvadorans in the United States, said Abel Nunez, director of Carecen, a local group that aids Latin American migrants.”They can see that this young man was a victim, they are aware of that, but they are not necessarily blaming Bukele for it. For them, he’s just a jailer,” added Nunez, who is Salvadoran.”This case has more to do with the US as a whole, and not only with our community,” he said. “Kilmar’s expulsion opens the door for anyone to be sent outside of the country — and that includes citizens.”Trump himself has floated the idea of sending US citizens to be jailed abroad, saying on Tuesday that he “would love” to send “homegrown criminals” to El Salvador’s prisons.

Threats to Muslims living in Texas are nothing new, but lately the vile phone calls to Imran Chaudhary have ramped up.The cause?Chaudhary’s early plans for construction of 1,000 new homes, a community center, school, hospital and — controversially — a mosque and Islamic private school to serve the growing Muslim community near East Plano, in a thinly populated corner of east Texas.One anonymous caller says, in an expletive filled message, “I suggest you get the fuck out of America while it’s still an option.” The conservative, white, and Christian authorities tied to President Donald Trump in this state aren’t exactly welcoming either, launching investigations into the project’s legality.Chaudhary says the pressure is misguided.”We’ve been trying to follow every single law that is out there, from the state perspective to the federal perspective,” he said.But just this week, Senator John Cornyn called for an investigation into the constitutionality of Chaudhary’s project, an offshoot of an existing site called the East Plano Islamic Center or “EPIC.”The center “could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans,” he said.Texas governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott characterized the project as an attempt to install Islamic law. “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” he wrote on social media. Texas is one of more than a dozen states that have enacted “anti-Sharia law” bills, which anti-hate group Southern Poverty Law Center calls “one of the most successful far-right conspiracies to achieve mainstream viability.”The conspiracy theory holds that Islamic law, known as sharia, is encroaching on the American legal system, a claim the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal experts refute.Chaudhary denies that he envisions a Muslim-only town, saying that it’s “open to all, anybody can use our services, community center, our school.”As president of Community Capital Partners, which develops EPIC properties, Chaudhary told AFP, “We never even discussed sharia. From day one we’ve consulted with our attorneys what is the best way for us to do this project, to make sure that we follow all the state laws, we follow all the federal laws.”In a show of goodwill, Chaudhary invited the governor to a Texas-style barbeque over social media. Abbott didn’t respond.- Fear vs optimism -The EPIC Islamic community settled in Plano north of Dallas some 20 years ago, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the new community they want to build near Josephine.The Plano settlement of around 5,000 people now have their own mosque. Iman Yasir Qadhi leads prayers there.Born in Houston to a Pakistani family, Qadhi said Muslims like Texas because of the warm weather, low taxes and good food.”Organically, when the mosque was built, a lot of people began moving in here and we found that our space wasn’t sufficient for us,” he said. “Because of the influx of people we are looking to expand.”Only 313,000 Muslims reside in Texas, which has a population of more than 31 million, according to World Population Review.Prospective EPIC residents can reserve lots by putting down 20 percent, with single townhouse pads starting at $80,000 and 1-acre lots going for $250,000. Maps posted online indicate more than two dozen lots have already been sold.But at an April town hall meeting in Collin County, an overflow crowd showed up to speak out against EPIC’s project. And the developers’ lawyer Dan Cogdell said all the negative publicity will slow approvals down.”The lies and the misinformation that Abbott’s putting out is striking,” he said.Qadhi said he is worried about hate crimes. He said he himself has been accused of terrorism but “they are the ones terrorizing us.”Moitree Rahman, a 38-year-old mother of two from Bangladesh, says she remains optimistic and looks forward to the expanding EPIC community.”All the rhetoric that we are seeing and hearing, it’s not true,” she said. “That’s why we felt very confident in investing.”

A US senator described Friday how El Salvador staged a photo of him supposedly sipping margaritas with a wrongly deported constituent to cover up the man’s ordeal in a notorious prison.Chris Van Hollen denied that he drank cocktails with Kilmar Abrego Garcia while in El Salvador to meet the man, who was removed in what the White House has admitted was an “administrative error.”US President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to bring about the Maryland father’s release, despite a US federal judge’s order — backed by the Supreme Court — for his return.Van Hollen, a Democrat who represents Abrego Garcia’s home state, met the metal worker Thursday at the senator’s hotel in San Salvador.He told reporters on his return to Washington that Abrego Garcia had been moved to a better prison an hour’s drive away, but not before being scared for his safety in San Salvador’s CECOT, known for reports of rights abuses.Van Hollen said he realized he had been set up when Bukele posted photos on X of the meeting, alongside a caption stating that Abrego Garcia was “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”Later at the White House, Trump called Van Hollen a “fake” after he was asked about Bukele’s post.But the two-term senator said one of Bukele’s aides had planted cocktail glasses on the table to make it look like Abrego Garcia was being detained in the lap of luxury. “Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is. But this is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on,” Van Hollen said.”And it also shows the lengths that the Trump administration and the president will go to, because when he was asked (by) a reporter about this, he just went along for the ride.”Van Hollen said Bukele’s officials had even pushed for the meeting to take place beside the hotel’s pool “to create this appearance that life was just lovely for Kilmar.”- ‘Total blackout’ -Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant, entered the United States illegally in 2011 but was given an indefinite reprieve from deportation in 2019.He was among scores of deportees the Trump administration has paid Bukele’s administration several million dollars to keep in detention.Trump has not revealed the terms of the deal, including any arrangements for the detainees’ care, how the contract is being monitored for compliance or when the prisoners will be released.The US government says Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious MS-13 Salvadoran gang, although the evidence it has produced has been dismissed as inadequate by a federal court.He denies gang membership and has never been charged with crimes in either country.Van Hollen shared details of his half-hour meeting with Abrego Garcia, saying the detainee told him he had been in a cell with around 25 others. “He said he was not afraid of the other prisoners in his immediate cell, but that he was traumatized by being at CECOT, and fearful of many of the prisoners in other cell blocks who called out to him and taunted him in various ways,” the senator told reporters.Van Hollen added that even under his better conditions, Abrego Garcia was still under a “total blackout,” with no access to news from the outside world and no contact with family.The senator said Abrego Garcia grew emotional as he spoke repeatedly about his five-year-old son, who has autism and was in the car when Kilmar was pulled over by US government agents in Maryland and handcuffed.”His conversation with me was the first communication he had with anybody outside a prison since he was abducted. He said he felt very sad about being in a prison because he had not committed any crimes,” the Democrat went on. “When I asked him what was the one thing he would ask for, in addition to his freedom, he said he wanted to talk to his wife, Jennifer.”

Citing the US-China trade conflict, Ford said Friday it has “adjusted” its exports to the country, where the US auto giant operates manufacturing jointly with local partners.”We have adjusted exports from the US to China in light of the current tariffs,” Ford told AFP without specifying the models affected.The US auto giant halted Michigan-made shipments of the F-150 Raptor, Mustang and Bronco sport utility vehicles, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday. Also affected was the Lincoln Navigator, which is built in Kentucky, the newspaper said.Over the last decade, Ford has sold around 240,000 vehicles in China exported from the United States. But volumes fell sharply in 2024 to around 5,500.The move is the latest ripple effect from an escalating trade war between Beijing and Washington.Despite pulling back on many other tariffs, President Donald Trump has stuck firm to US duties on Chinese goods and raised them to 145 percent. In turn, China has increased tariffs on US exports, including cars, to 125 percent.Overall, Ford sold 442,000 vehicles — made in the United States and elsewhere — in China in 2024, comprising 1.6 percent of the market, according to the carmaker’s latest annual report.The US company operates a number of manufacturing joint ventures in China with Chinese companies, producing vehicles under both the Ford and Lincoln brands.Some of Ford’s production in China is exported to other markets. One of these vehicles, the Lincoln Nautilus, is now subject to hefty US tariffs, according to the Wall Street Journal.Ford’s Chinese ventures resulted in 2024 operating profits of around $900 million, Ford Vice Chairman John Lawler said this week at a financial conference.

US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Washington would “take a pass” on talks to end the Ukraine war within days unless there is rapid progress from Moscow and Kyiv.His comments came just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set the clock ticking, saying in Paris that the United States could “move on” from its role brokering the negotiations.Trump has been pressing both sides for a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite an ice-breaking call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeated negotiations with Moscow.”If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ — and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”Republican Trump refused to cast blame on either Putin, who ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, insisting both sides had to make progress.But Trump warned that a decision on whether to abandon the talks could come “very shortly”. “No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done,” he added.- ‘Move on’ -Moscow has kept up strikes on Ukraine, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more in attacks on the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, Ukrainian officials said.One of the few commitments Trump had wrangled from Russia — a temporary moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure — “expired” on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to an AFP question.After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss a ceasefire, Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term.””Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters.But speaking on a trip to Italy, US Vice President JD Vance still insisted he was “optimistic” about ending the three-year war.Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has little to show for his efforts so far.He has embarked on a rapprochement quest with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the United States and its European allies.He and Vance also had a blazing Oval Office row in February with Zelensky, whom he still accuses of bearing responsibility for Moscow’s invasion.Trump insisted that he was not being “played” by Moscow, which is accused by Ukraine of dragging its feet.”My whole life has been one big negotiation and I know when people are playing us and I know when they’re not,” the billionaire property tycoon added.Asked if Putin was stretching out the process, Trump added: “I hope not. I’m going to let you know about that soon if he is… he’s got a big force out there.” – ‘Mockery’ -Zelensky meanwhile slammed the latest attacks on his country, which came just days before Easter.Kyiv earlier announced it had received the bodies of 909 soldiers from Russia.”This is how Russia started Good Friday — with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” Zelensky said on Telegram.Russia said it had hit “key drone production sites” and Ukrainian military airfields.Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from his predecessor, Joe Biden.Ukraine is set to sign a deal next week in Washington that would give the United States sweeping access to its mineral resources.European powers have meanwhile been seeking a seat at the table in the negotiations, particularly as Trump’s administration insists the continent should share the burden for Ukraine’s security. France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process.”The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.Many allies have however been alarmed by Witkoff — who recently met Putin in Russia — repeating Moscow’s talking points about the war.burs-dk/tgb/

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.Washington has had troops in Syria for years as part of international efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, which rose out of the chaos of the country’s civil war to seize swaths of territory there and in neighboring Iraq over a decade ago.The brutal jihadists have since suffered major defeats in both countries, but still remain a threat.”Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria… to select locations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, without specifying the sites where this would take place.”This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 US forces in the coming months,” he said.”As this consolidation takes place…  US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (IS) in Syria,” Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should “NOT GET INVOLVED!””Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.- Years of war against IS -The 2014 onslaught by IS prompted a US-led air campaign in support of local ground forces — the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and  Iraqi government units.Washington also deployed thousands of American personnel to advise and assist local forces, with US troops in some cases directly fighting the jihadists.After years of bloody warfare, Iraq’s prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group’s “caliphate” in March 2019 after seizing its final bastion in Syria.But the jihadists still have some fighters in the countryside of both countries, and US forces have long carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent the group’s resurgence.Washington stepped up military action against IS in Syria in the wake of Assad’s overthrow, though it has more recently shifted its focus to strikes targeting Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping since late 2023.US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, but responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.Washington for years said it had some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against IS, but the Pentagon announced in December 2024 that the number of US troops in the country had doubled to around 2,000 earlier in the year.While the United States is reducing its forces in Syria, Iraq has also sought an end to the US-led coalition’s presence there, where Washington has said it has some 2,500 troops.The United States and Iraq have announced that the coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq by the end of 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.