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The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear talks Sunday in Oman ahead of a visit to the region by Donald Trump, whose key negotiator staked out an increasingly hard line on the issue of uranium enrichment.Trump, who will visit three other Gulf Arab monarchies next week, has voiced hope for reaching a deal with Tehran to avert an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear program that could ignite a wider war.Three previous rounds of talks in Oman and Rome ended with notes of optimism, with the two sides saying the atmosphere was friendly despite the countries’ four decades of enmity.But they are not believed to have gone into technical detail, and basic questions remain.Steve Witkoff, Trump’s friend who has served as his globe-trotting negotiator on issues including on Iran, had initially suggested flexibility on Tehran maintaining low-level enrichment of uranium for civilian purposes.But in an interview published Friday, Witkoff gave his clearest message yet that the Trump administration would oppose any enrichment.”An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That’s our red line. No enrichment,” he told right-wing Breitbart News.”That means dismantlement, it means no weaponization, and it means that Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan — those are their three enrichment facilities — have to be dismantled,” he said.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier raised the possibility of Iran importing enriched uranium for any civilian energy.Trump in his first term withdrew from a nuclear agreement with Tehran negotiated by former president Barack Obama that allowed Iran to enrich uranium at levels well below what is needed for weapons.Many Iran watchers doubted that Iran would ever voluntarily dismantle its entire nuclear program and give up all enrichment.But Iran has found itself in a weaker place over the past year. Israel has decimated Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia backed by Iran that could launch a counter-attack in any war, and Iran’s main ally in the Arab world, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, was toppled in December.Israel also struck Iranian air defenses as the two countries came openly to blows in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, which is also supported by Iran’s clerical state.- ‘Blow ’em up nicely’ -Trump himself has acknowledged tensions in his policy on Iran, saying at the start of his second term that hawkish advisors were pushing him to step up pressure reluctantly.In an interview Thursday, Trump said he wanted “total verification” that Iran’s contested nuclear work is shut down but through diplomacy.”I’d much rather make a deal” than see military action, Trump told the conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.”There are only two alternatives — blow ’em up nicely or blow ’em up viciously,” Trump said.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Oman, which has been mediating, had proposed Sunday as the date and both sides had accepted.”Negotiations are moving ahead and naturally, the more we advance, the more consultations we have, and the more time the delegations need to examine the issues,” he said in a video carried by Iranian media.”But what’s important is that we are moving forward so that we gradually get into the details,” Araghchi said.The Trump administration has kept piling on sanctions despite the talks, angering Iran. On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on another refinery in China, the main market for Iranian oil.Since Trump’s withdrawal from the Obama-era deal, the United States has used its power to try to stop all other countries from buying Iranian oil.

Senior US and Chinese officials were meeting in Geneva Saturday in what Chinese state media described as an “important step” towards resolving the trade war sparked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were holding talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in the first such negotiations between the world’s two largest economies since Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month and Beijing’s robust retaliation. “The contact in Switzerland is an important step in promoting the resolution of the issue,” a commentary published by China’s state news agency Xinhua said.It provided no further details on the progress of closed-door discussions, which began mid-morning Saturday and were due to continue on Sunday.The talks were being held at the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, a discrete villa with sky blue shutters near a large parc on the left bank of Lake Geneva.Tariffs imposed by Trump on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 percent, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245 percent.In retaliation, China slapped 125 percent levies on US goods, cementing what appears to be a near trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.Trump signalled on Friday that he might lower the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, taking to social media to suggest that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!”.”The president would like to work it out with China…. He would like to de-escalate the situation,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Friday.Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, clarified that the US would not lower tariffs unilaterally, adding that China would need to make concessions as well.In any case, a move to that level would be a symbolic gesture, since the tariffs would remain prohibitively steep.- ‘Not good’ relationship -“The relationship is not good” between Washington and Beijing, said Bill Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We have trade-prohibitive tariffs going in both directions. Relations are deteriorating,” said Reinsch, a longtime former member of the American government’s US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “But the meeting is a good sign.””I think this is basically to show that both sides are talking — and that itself is very important,” said Xu Bin, professor of economics and finance at the China Europe International Business School. “Because China is the only country that has tit-for-tat tariffs against Trump’s tariffs,” he told AFP. Beijing has insisted the United States must lift tariffs first and vowed to defend its interests.Bessent has said the meetings in Switzerland would focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade deal”.The head of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization said on Friday she welcomed the talks, calling them a “positive and constructive step toward de-escalation”.”Sustained dialogue between the world’s two largest economies is critical to easing trade tensions, preventing fragmentation along geopolitical lines and safeguarding global growth,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, according to a spokesperson.- 10-percent ‘baseline’ – China’s vice president went into the discussions buoyed by news on Friday that China’s exports rose last month despite the trade war.The unexpected development was attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to Southeast Asia to mitigate US tariffs.Bessent and He were meeting two days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since he unleashed his blitz of sweeping global tariffs.The five-page, non-legally binding document with London confirmed to nervous investors that the United States is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties — in this case on British cars, steel and aluminium. In return, Britain agreed to open up its markets to US beef and other farm products.But a 10-percent baseline levy on most British goods remained intact and Trump remains “committed” to keeping it in place for other countries in talks with the United States, Leavitt told reporters on Friday. A few hours later, Trump appeared to contradict her, suggesting there could be some flexibility to the baseline — but only if the right deals could be reached. “There could be an exception at some point. We’ll see,” he said. “If somebody did something exceptional for us, that’s always possible.”burs-da-nl/vog/yad

The idyllic campus of Villanova University is ecstatic since the election of American Robert Prevost to the highest seat of the Catholic Church.And for good reason.It is where “Father Bob” studied math decades ago, before climbing the steps of the Vatican.In the verdant suburb of Philadelphia, locals, professors and students reveled as Cardinal Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday.Not only is he the first American pope, he is the first from the Augustinian order, whose tenets are central life at Villanova.Student Amelia Weiss was in her dorm with the door open as others nearby watched for updates from the Vatican.”All across the floor, I hear people start, like, yelling,” the 19-year-old biochemistry major told AFP.”And everyone was just kind of ecstatic,” she said, adding that the math students in particular were “on cloud nine.”Chicago-born Prevost graduated in 1977 from Villanova — the first American college established around the Augustinian tradition.”When they called his name and he emerged from that balcony, we were flabbergasted. I mean, it was complete surprise, joy, tears — people were screaming,” said Reverend Robert Hagan, a campus chaplain.”And to think that, as you say, to us, he’s Bob,” he added.- The Confessions -At Villanova — founded in 1842 by Irish Catholics — the writings of Saint Augustine are required reading for all students, regardless of their field of study.The 4th century Roman philosopher and theologian, who was born in Africa, inspired the Order of St. Augustine. The university says it seeks to promote “truth, unity and love” on campus.”We chase a lot of the things in this world that we think are going to satisfy and fulfill us, like the Internet, and power, and ambition, and sex, and all the things that get in the way of our ultimate happiness,” Hagan said.History student Will Kelly said he was blown away by the “surreal” election of Leo, and that he loved required reading.”Even if the text was 1600 years old, there’s still a level of relevance to that,” Kelly said.Jaisy Joseph, assistant professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova, said she hopes to see Leo XIV – who is often referred to on campus as “Bob” — apply his experience here as pope.She said that at the university — and according to Augustinian belief — people rely on each other in their spiritual journeys.”We wrestle with truth together, right? Shoulder to shoulder,” she told AFP in her office.Joseph said there is one phrase known to every Villanova student: “become what you are not yet.”

Senior US and Chinese officials were meeting in Geneva on Saturday in a bid to de-escalate a trade war sparked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff roll-out and further fuelled by Beijing’s robust retaliation. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were conferring with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the first such talks between the world’s two largest economies since Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month. The closed-door discussions began at mid-morning Saturday and were due to continue Sunday at the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.And after a break at around lunchtime, the delegations returned to the discrete villa with sky blue shutters near a large parc on the left bank of Lake Geneva, according to AFP journalists on site.Tariffs imposed by Trump on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 percent, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245 percent.In retaliation, China slapped 125 percent levies on US goods, cementing what appears a near trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.Trump signalled on Friday that he might lower the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, taking to social media to suggest that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!”.”The president would like to work it out with China…. He would like to de-escalate the situation,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Friday.Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, clarified that the US would not lower tariffs unilaterally, adding that China would need to make concessions as well.In any case, a move to that level would be a symbolic gesture, since the tariffs would remain prohibitively steep.- ‘Not good’ relationship -“The relationship is not good” between Washington and Beijing, noted Bill Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We have trade-prohibitive tariffs going in both directions. Relations are deteriorating,” said Reinsch, a longtime former member of the American government’s US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “But the meeting is a good sign.””I think this is basically to show that both sides are talking — and that itself is very important,” said Xu Bin, professor of economics and finance at the China Europe International Business School. “Because China is the only country that has tit-for-tat tariffs against Trump’s tariffs,” he told AFP. Beijing has insisted the United States must lift tariffs first and vowed to defend its interests.Bessent has said the meetings in Switzerland would focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade deal”.The head of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Friday she welcomed the talks, calling them a “positive and constructive step toward de-escalation”.- 10-percent ‘baseline’ – China’s vice president went into the discussions buoyed by news on Friday that China’s exports rose last month despite the trade war.The unexpected development was attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to Southeast Asia to mitigate US tariffs.Bessent and He were meeting two days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since he unleashed his blitz of sweeping global tariffs.The five-page, non-legally binding document with London confirmed to nervous investors that the United States is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties — in this case on British cars, steel and aluminium. In return, Britain agreed to open up its markets to US beef and other farm products.But a 10-percent baseline levy on most British goods remained intact and Trump remains “committed” to keeping it in place for other countries in talks with the United States, Leavitt told reporters on Friday. A few hours later, Trump appeared to contradict her, suggesting there could be some flexibility to the baseline — but only if the right deals could be reached. “There could be an exception at some point. We’ll see,” he said. “If somebody did something exceptional for us, that’s always possible.”burs-da-nl/vog/gil

US President Donald Trump heads for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Monday, eyeing big business deals even as accords on the Middle East’s hotspots will be harder to seal.While Israel’s war in Gaza and Iran’s nuclear program will loom large over Trump’s first major foreign trip of his second term, the White House said he looked forward to a “historic return” to the region.Eight years ago Trump also chose Riyadh for his first overseas trip as president — when he memorably posed over a glowing orb with the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.His decision to once more bypass traditional Western allies to visit the oil-rich Gulf states underscores their increasingly pivotal geopolitical role — as well as his own business ties there.”It’s hard for me to escape the idea that President Trump is going to the Gulf because this is his happy place,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They’ll be keen to make deals. They’ll flatter him and not criticize him, and they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners.”- ‘Historic return’ -Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi are expected to pull out all the stops for Trump, who’s making his first major overseas trip after briefly attending the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.The wealthy Arab states will mix pomp and ceremony for the 78-year-old billionaire with deals that could span defense, aviation, energy and artificial intelligence.”The president looks forward to embarking on his historic return to the Middle East” to promote a vision where “extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Friday.But he will not be able to avoid the long list of regional crises, including the war in Gaza, the Huthi rebels in Yemen and Syria’s post-Assad turmoil.The Gulf states have played a key diplomatic role under Trump 2.0. Qatar has been a major broker between Hamas and Israel while Saudi Arabia has facilitated talks on the war in Ukraine.”Trump is coming to the Gulf first because this region has become a geopolitical and financial center of gravity,” Anna Jacobs, non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told AFP.In Riyadh, Trump will meet the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.But one place that is not on the itinerary is Israel, the United States’ closest ally in the region. That has sparked speculation about tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Israel has set Trump’s trip as the deadline for a ceasefire deal with Hamas before launching its plan for the “conquest” of Gaza and the displacement of most Palestinians there.Trump has however taken an increasingly hands-off approach, although the United States says it is working with Israel on a US-led plan to get aid into the blockaded enclave.Efforts to get Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel, which Trump also sought during his first term, are likely to stay on the backburner as Riyadh says it first needs to see progress towards a Palestinian state.- ‘Monetizing MAGA’ -Iran will meanwhile also be high on the agenda. Washington and Tehran will hold the latest round of indirect talks on Iran’s nuclear program in Oman on Sunday.Iran has also reacted furiously after Trump said he was deciding whether to announce during the trip that he would change how the United States refers to the Gulf, from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Arabia.One thing that the White House says won’t be on the agenda is Trump’s own businesses.Last month, the Trump Organization struck its first luxury real estate deal in Qatar, and released details of a billion-dollar skyscraper in Dubai whose apartments can be bought in cryptocurrency.Trump’s son Eric was promoting a crypto firm in Dubai while Don Jr prepared to talk about “Monetizing MAGA” in Doha.But the White House denied Trump was cashing in. “It’s frankly ridiculous that anyone… would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” Leavitt said.burs-dk/jgc/sco

Senior US and Chinese officials will meet in Geneva on Saturday, seeking to de-escalate a trade war sparked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff rollout and fuelled by Beijing’s strong retaliatory measures. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to confer with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the Swiss city in the first such talks between the world’s two largest economies since Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month.  The exact venue for the weekend-long talks remained shrouded in secrecy.Tariffs imposed on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 percent, with cumulative duties on some goods reaching a staggering 245 percent.In retaliation, China slapped 125 percent levies on US goods, cementing what is effectively a trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.Trump signalled on Friday that he could lower the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, taking to social media to suggest that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!”.”The president would like to work it out with China… He would like to de-escalate the situation,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Friday evening.Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, clarified that the US would not lower tariffs unilaterally, adding that China would need to make concessions as well.In any case, it would be a symbolic gesture, since the tariffs would remain prohibitively steep.- ‘A good sign’ -“The relationship is not good,” said Bill Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), referring to current ties between Washington and Beijing. “We have trade-prohibitive tariffs going in both directions. Relations are deteriorating,” said Reinsch, a longtime former member of the American government’s US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “But the meeting is a good sign.””I think this is basically to show that both sides are talking — and that itself is very important,” Xu Bin, professor of economics and finance at the China Europe International Business School, told AFP. “Because China is the only country that has tit-for-tat tariffs against Trump’s tariffs.” Beijing has insisted the United States must lift tariffs first and vowed to defend its interests.Bessent has said the meetings in Switzerland would focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade deal”.The head of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Friday she welcomed the talks, calling them a “positive and constructive step toward de-escalation”.Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter also sounded an upbeat note.”Yesterday the Holy Spirit was in Rome,” she said on Friday, referring to the election of Pope Leo XIV. “We must hope that he will now go down to Geneva for the weekend.” – 10-percent ‘baseline’ – Bessent and He will meet two days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since he unleashed a blitz of sweeping global tariffs last month.The five-page, non-legally binding document confirmed to nervous investors that the United States is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties — in this case on British cars, steel and aluminium. In return, Britain agreed to open up its markets to US beef and other farm products.But a 10-percent baseline levy on most British goods remained intact and Trump remains “committed” to keeping it in place for other countries in talks with the United States, Leavitt told reporters on Friday. A few hours later, Trump appeared to contradict her, suggesting there could be some flexibility to the baseline — but only if the right deals could be reached. “There could be an exception at some point. We’ll see,” he said during an Oval Office event. “If somebody did something exceptional for us, that’s always possible.”burs-da-nl/gil

A forgotten industrial estate in Newark, New Jersey is the latest frontline in the fight over US President Donald Trump’s pursuit of mass deportations of undocumented migrants.Tensions at the site worsened on Friday when Newark mayor Ras Baraka was briefly detained while protesting against the newly reopened deportation center.Little more than a month after Trump’s inauguration in January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inked a billion-dollar, 15-year contract with outsourcing giant Geo to transform Delaney Hall into a 1,000-bed detention center.It dwarfed a similar for-profit facility in nearby Elizabeth that has some 300 beds, compared to the many thousands of people in New Jersey subject to removal proceedings.At that location, many detainees wear orange scrubs even though officials insist they are not prisoners and enjoy perks like the use of tablet computers.Bars and grilles cover windows, detainees face prison-like regimes, and surveillance cameras keep watch.There is an emphasis on suicide prevention in the centers, with posters in group cells encouraging detainees to volunteer to return home.In February, acting ICE director Caleb Vitello, who since moved jobs, praised the Newark site — the first new removal facility since Trump’s return — as helping “streamline” the president’s “mandate to arrest, detain and remove illegal aliens.”But there is friction with the host area as Newark is a sanctuary city, meaning local police do not routinely cooperate with ICE, and the city has sued to prevent the new detention site from operating.- ‘More afraid’ -Detainees started to arrive on May 1, Geo told AFP, sparking condemnation from Baraka, who is running to be statewide governor and fiercely opposes Trump’s migrant policy.Newark’s Department of Public Safety visited the vast fortified Delaney Hall site this week demanding to inspect it — but were refused entry.Baraka tried to get inside Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the location was reinforced with armed federal agents, but was turned away both times.On Friday, he was arrested at the site by federal officials who handcuffed him.Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings,” Alina Habba, who Trump has named as New Jersey’s interim US attorney, said on social media. “He has been taken into custody.””The reality is this: I did nothing wrong,” Baraka said on his release.Newark has accused Geo of not possessing a certificate of occupancy, suggesting it is operating Delaney Hall illegally.There are parallel legal and political fights against Trump’s anti-migrant tactics.”It’s a local step to oppose this kind of bullying that is going on, and the disregard for the people’s laws,” Baraka told AFP earlier this week, suggesting that failing to uphold the laws would result in “barbarism” — “the wild, wild west.”Baraka said the arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping a migrant evade ICE had sown fear among city employees.Geo insisted it had a valid occupancy certificate for the site, disused since 2023, but previously used to hold detainees under President Barack Obama. A spokesman accused Baraka of pursing a “politicized campaign” and interfering with federal authorities while jeopardizing jobs in the center that pay $105,000 annually on average.Near the center, flanked by an oil depot and squat warehouses, an acrid smell forced protesters to don masks.”People are more afraid than any time before,” said Viri Martinez, part of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, 30 members of which picketed Delaney Hall this week.”ICE out of New Jersey,” they chanted.”We’ve heard so many stories of parents being scared to drop off their kids at school. Kids being scared. ‘What if I do go to school and my mom and dad are not back home when I come back’, right?” she said, interrupted by a trucker honking in support. 

Over the past decade since the United States and Cuba restored ties US diplomats on the Caribbean island have walked a diplomatic tightrope.Their every move is scrutinized by Havana for signs of support for critics of communist rule.Cubans who meet with the representative of the island’s arch-foe, which has toughened its six-decade trade blockade since President Donald Trump returned to power, also risk the ire of the authorities.Yet the new US chief of mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, seems unfazed as he crisscrosses the country of 9.7 million, meeting with dissidents and splashing pictures of the encounters on social media since taking the post in November.It’s a sharp contrast to his more discreet predecessors.Cuba, which restored ties with the United States in 2015 after half a century of hostility, has accused Hammer of an “activist” approach to his mission.”I travel around Cuba because, as a diplomat with over 35 years’ experience, I know… that it is very important to understand a country and its people,” Hammer said recently in a Spanish-language video posted on the embassy’s X account.In the message he also invited Cubans to contact him to request a meeting and to suggest places he should visit.- Church activism -A former ambassador to Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Hammer arrived in Cuba in the dying days of Joe Biden’s presidency.In the past six months, he has met dozens of dissidents, human rights activists, independent journalists, church leaders and families of jailed anti-government demonstrators, most of whom are under close surveillance.At every turn, the affable diplomat presses for the release of political prisoners, quoting Cuban nationalist hero Jose Marti on the need for a republic “that opens its arms to all.”In February, he travelled to the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba to meet opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, who had just been released from prison under an eleventh-hour deal with Biden.Cuba agreed to free over 500 prisoners in return for Washington removing the island from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. On his first day back in office Trump tore up the deal by putting Cuba back on the terrorism list.Havana released the prisoners nonetheless but last month sent Ferrer and fellow longtime opposition leader Felix Navarro, whom Hammer also met, back to prison, for allegedly violating their parole conditions.Hammer has also shown solidarity with Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White rights group, who has been repeatedly arrested for trying to attend mass dressed in white, which the government considers a dissident act.On April 13, Hammer accompanied her to a Palm Sunday church service in Havana.Soler, 61, was briefly detained afterwards, triggering condemnation from Washington of Cuba’s “brutish treatment” of its people and its attempt to “intimidate US diplomats.”- Avoiding more sanctions -Michael Shifter, senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington, said Hammer’s style signaled a change in tack under Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who is fiercely critical of the island’s leadership.”Ambassador Hammer has instructions to make visits with greater frequency and visibility,” Shifter said.Cuba’s deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio last month lashed out at Hammer, accusing him of “being an activist that encourages Cubans to act against their country.”Another senior foreign ministry official accused Hammer of flouting the historic rapprochement deal struck by his former boss, ex-president Barack Obama with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro.For Cuban political scientist Arturo Lopez-Levy, professor of international relations at the University of Denver, the problem facing Cuba is how to “keep the embassy open without it becoming a platform for subversive activities.”Shifter said he expected Cuba to show restraint.The island is struggling with its worst economic crisis in 30 years, marked by shortages of food and fuel, recurring blackouts and a critical shortage of hard currency.As a result, Havana has “an interest in avoiding even tougher sanctions,” Shifter said.

Senior US and Chinese officials are in Switzerland this weekend for talks aimed at de-escalating a burgeoning trade war sparked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff rollout, and fueled by strong retaliatory measures from Beijing. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to confer with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng in the Swiss city of Geneva on Saturday and Sunday — the first such talks between the two sides since Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month.  Tariffs imposed on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 percent, with cumulative duties on some goods reaching a staggering 245 percent.In retaliation, China slapped 125 percent levies on US goods, cementing what is effectively a trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.Trump signaled on Friday that he could lower the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, taking to social media to suggest that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!” His press secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified he would not do so unilaterally, adding that China would need to make concessions as well.- ‘A good sign’ -“The relationship is not good,” said Bill Reinsch, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), referring to current ties between Washington and Beijing. “We have trade-prohibitive tariffs going in both directions. Relations are deteriorating,” said Reinsch, a longtime former member of the American government’s US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “But the meeting is a good sign.””I think this is basically to show that both sides are talking, and that itself is very important,” Xu Bin, professor of economics and finance at the China Europe International Business School, told AFP. “Because China is the only country that has tit-for-tat tariffs against Trump’s tariffs.” Beijing has insisted the United States must lift tariffs first and vowed to defend its interests.Bessent has said the meetings in Switzerland would focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade deal.”The head of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday welcomed the talks, calling them a “positive and constructive step toward de-escalation.””Sustained dialogue between the world’s two largest economies is critical to easing trade tensions, preventing fragmentation along geopolitical lines and safeguarding global growth,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, according to a spokesperson.Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter also sounded an upbeat note.”Yesterday the Holy Spirit was in Rome,” she said Friday, referring to the election of Pope Leo XIV. “We must hope that he will now go down to Geneva for the weekend.” – 10 percent ‘baseline’ – Bessent and He will meet two days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since he unleashed a blitz of sweeping global tariffs last month.The five-page, non-legally binding document confirmed to nervous investors that the United States is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties — in this case on British cars, steel and aluminum. In return, Britain agreed to open up its markets to US beef and other farm products.But a 10 percent baseline levy on most British goods remained intact, and Trump remains “committed” to keeping it in place for other countries in talks with the United States, Leavitt told reporters Friday. A few hours later, Trump appeared to contradict her, suggesting there could be some flexibility to the baseline — but only if the right deals could be reached. “There could be an exception at some point, we’ll see,” he said during an Oval Office event. “If somebody did something exceptional for us, that’s always possible.”Reinsch from CSIS said one of big issues for both the United States and China going into the talks in Geneva was their starkly different negotiating strategies.”Trump’s approach is generally top-down,” he said. “He wants to meet with (Chinese President) Xi Jinping, and thinks that if the two of them can get together, they can make a big deal and then have the subordinates go work out the details.””The Chinese are the reverse,” he said. “They want to have all the issues settled and everything agreed to at lower levels before there’s any leaders meeting.”burs-da/acb

Louis Prevost is still reckoning with what just happened in his family.His little brother, Robert Francis Prevost, is now Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in the Catholic Church’s history, an incredible fate for a boy from Chicago who dreamt of becoming a priest.”We knew from a very early time, maybe when he was five or six, he was going to be a priest. There was no doubt in my mind,” Prevost, 73, told AFP from his home in Port Charlotte, Florida.”When we played games, as kids, he liked to play priest a lot. I thought: ‘what the heck? Priest?'”He bought Necco wafers, little candy discs, and he’d pretend those were communion and give it to all our friends the yard,” Prevost recounted with a smile.”We were teasing him when he was six years old: ‘you’re gonna be the Pope.’ And he didn’t like that.”On Thursday, after white smoke billowed out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, Prevost recalled feeling nervous because he felt the cardinal chosen to be pope would be his brother.He turned on the TV, trying to calm down during the prolonged wait got the announcement.When Cardinal Dominique Mamberti said his brother’s name at the Vatican, Prevost burst with joy.”I was in the bed, sitting down. It’s good thing I was because I probably would have fallen over,” Prevost said.”When I thought: ‘My brother’s the Pope. You’re kidding me.’ My mind was blown out of this world, it was crazy, ridiculous. So excited.”- ‘Out of reach’ -Now with the initial excitement subsiding, he is left wondering how his youngest brother’s new role might affect their personal relationship.”This could be bad for the family. Will we ever see him again? Will we ever get to talk to him like brothers again? Or will it have to be all official? How are you Holy Father, blah, blah, blah. It opens up a lot of questions,” Prevost said. “He’s still there, but he’s out of reach. We can’t just pick up the phone and call him. Now it’s got to be really special when you get to call the Pope,” he added.Prevost hopes his other brother, John, will be able to give him some answers when he visits Rome from their hometown of Chicago.He thinks his brother’s papacy will be able to unite the Catholic Church, attract more faithful and make the world a more peaceful place.”Whether he has the ability to settle, like the Gaza thing or the Russia and Ukraine conflict, who knows? But I’ve seen him take two warring parties and make peace in five minutes between them,” Prevost said. “He’s got a gift to communicate to people and make them open their eyes.”He also hopes having an American pope will revitalize the Catholic Church in the United States.”When he comes to America, he’s going to speak English, not Latin or Spanish or Italian,” Prevost said.”People will understand what he’s saying. They’ll see him, they’ll realize he’s one of us.”