Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan kill 63 people in 24 hours
18/07/2025
Sirens wail, cities shut down as Taiwan simulates Chinese air raid
18/07/2025
Child labour rises in Gaza as families struggle to survive
18/07/2025
Spain taming fire that belched smoke cloud over Madrid
18/07/2025
Syria: Renewed Druze and Bedouin clashes, UN rights chief urges prompt probe
18/07/2025
New clashes rock Syria's Druze heartland as tribal fighters reinforce Bedouin
18/07/2025
Germany: Top EU officials gather to discuss stricter migration measures
18/07/2025
European interior ministers gather for meeting on migration policy in Germany
18/07/2025
Trump threatens to sue WSJ over story on alleged letter to Epstein
18/07/2025
Russian deputies back fines for clicking on 'extremist' content
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Euronews
24 minutes ago
- Euronews
Western defence ministers meet to discuss providing Ukraine with arms
Members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG), chaired by the UK and Germany, are meeting Monday to discuss US President Donald Trump's plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons. The UDCG — also known as the Ramstein format — comes after Trump said that arms deliveries, including the Patriot air defence systems, could arrive in Ukraine within days. Trump last week said he sealed a deal with NATO allies that would lead to large-scale arms deliveries to Ukraine, including Patriot systems — regarded as one of the world's best for detecting and intercepting a wide range of oncoming air targets. "We're going to be sending Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that," Trump told US TV channel CBS News. The alliance would pay for the systems, he added. The US president, speaking alongside NATO chief Mark Rutte, said the weapons would be paid for by European allies and that initial deliveries would arrive "within days". It is understood that European nations will transfer the weapons — collected from existing stockpiles or new ones purchased from the US — to Ukraine. Replacements would be bought from the US. It is not yet clear if weapons transfers to Ukraine have been made, with NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, telling AP on Thursday that preparations for the weapons delivery were "under way." US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said he could not provide a timeframe. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that he was confident Germany would soon reach an agreement with the US on the delivery of Patriots. Negotiations between the defence ministers were "concrete" and their delivery was a "matter of days, maybe weeks", Merz said during a visit to London. Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, will hand over two of its nine remaining Patriot systems and receive replacements from the US, according to a report by DPA on Thursday. This move comes despite original plans to purchase two Patriot systems from the US and deliver them directly to Ukraine. Other systems could be delivered via Switzerland, whose defence ministry also announced on Thursday that it had been informed by the US Defence Department to "reprioritise the delivery" of five previously ordered systems to support Ukraine. A senior NATO official stated that the alliance is coordinating the delivery of additional military support, including ammunition and artillery rounds, as Ukraine awaits the arrival of the Patriot systems. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that his officials have proposed a fresh round of peace talks to take place this week. His announcement came as Russia struck Ukraine with some 300 drone strikes, according to Ukrainian officials. Moscow has continued to escalate its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, which analysts say are likely to continue.
France 24
5 hours ago
- France 24
Trump and Epstein: What was their relationship?
AFP looks at the pair's relationship as the Trump administration also faces demands to release all government files on Epstein's alleged crimes and his death. Parties and private jets Trump, then a property mogul and self-styled playboy, appears to have known Epstein, a wealthy money manager, since the 1990s. They partied together in 1992 with NFL cheerleaders at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to footage from NBC News, which shows the pair talking and laughing. The same year, Epstein was Trump's only guest at a "calendar girl" competition he hosted involving more than two dozen young women, The New York Times reported. In a display of their close ties, Trump flew on Epstein's private jet at least seven times during the 1990s, according to flight logs presented in court and cited by US media. He has denied this, and in 2024 said he was "never on Epstein's plane." In 1993, according to The New York Times, Trump allegedly groped swimsuit model Stacey Williams after Epstein introduced them at Trump Tower -- a claim the president has refuted. Separate from his links to Epstein, Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by around 20 women. In 2023, he was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming American journalist E. Jean Carroll in a civil trial. 'Terrific guy' Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's main accusers who died by suicide this year, said she was recruited into his alleged sex-trafficking network aged 17 while working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in 2000. Giuffre claimed she was approached there by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed in 2022 for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls. Trump seemed to be on good terms with Epstein during this time, praising him as a "terrific guy" in a 2002 New York Magazine profile. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side," Trump said. In 2003, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump penned a letter for Epstein's 50th birthday featuring a drawing of a naked woman, with his signature "Donald" mimicking pubic hair. His apparent message -- Trump dismissed the letter as a "fake thing" -- read: "Happy Birthday -- and may every day be another wonderful secret." 'I wasn't a fan' The pair reportedly had a rupture in 2004 as they competed to buy a waterfront property in Florida, which Trump eventually snagged. The two men were hardly seen together in public from that point. Trump would later say in 2019 that they had a "falling out" and hadn't spoken in 15 years. Shortly after the property auction, police launched a probe that saw Epstein jailed in 2008 for 13 months for soliciting an underage prostitute. He was arrested again in 2019 after he was accused of trafficking girls as young as 14 and engaging in sexual acts with them. Trump, then serving his first term as president, sought to distance himself from his old friend. "I wasn't a fan," he told reporters when the charges were revealed. In 2019, Epstein was found hanging dead in his prison cell awaiting trial. Authorities said he died by suicide. Since then, Trump has latched onto and fueled conspiracy theories that global elites including former president Bill Clinton were involved in Epstein's crimes or death. Those same theories now threaten to destabilize Trump's administration, despite his attempts to dismiss the saga as a "hoax" created by political adversaries. © 2025 AFP
LeMonde
14 hours ago
- LeMonde
The day Silicon Valley's oligarchs kissed Trump's ring
The seating plan, orchestrated by Donald Trump, had been deliberately designed to place them directly beneath a painting of a historic surrender: that of the British General John Burgoyne in 1777 to George Washington, the future first president of the United States, to whom Trump sometimes compares himself. But did they even notice? At that moment, the tech industry's leading executives seemed preoccupied with the cameras filming them, lined up in neat rows as they awaited the start of the inauguration ceremony on January 20. The whole world witnessed the scene, without knowing what was happening backstage. And yet, all the protagonists were there, at the heart of the Capitol, a symbol of American democracy that Trump supporters had stormed on January 6, 2021, or hidden away in the back rooms of power. Here is the place to start to understand this new nomenklatura, which made its fortune in less than a quarter-century by embedding itself into our lives. Even before entering the rotunda, where the crème de la crème of the guests were set to attend the ceremony, the first attendees heard the thunderous commotion that often signals Jeff Bezos's arrival, flanked by his assistants, a makeup artist and bodyguards. Within the empire that his company, Amazon, has become, he is a ruthless and blunt leader. With a "low tolerance for stupidity," his executives say, as if to excuse him. On the outside, he is the opposite: friendly, jovial, attentive to others and extremely flexible in his politics. In short, a good-natured person. Not long ago, the billionaire who transformed online retail – and, often, the labor market – with his all-encompassing delivery services, was still seen as a staunch Democrat. The Washington Post, the prestigious newspaper he bought in 2013, had endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and then Joe Biden in 2020. But business is business.
