From Gaza to Paris: Former FRANCE 24 fixer evacuated from the enclave testifies
29/07/2025
Ivory Coast President Ouattara, 83, says will seek fourth term
29/07/2025
Deadly Russian air raids hit Ukraine as Trump warns of sanctions
29/07/2025
France leads UN talks on Israel-Palestine two-state solution
29/07/2025
China: Deadly floods hit the north of the country
29/07/2025
France: Paris election shows split in the Republican party, Culture Minister and ex-PM to face off
29/07/2025
How Claude Monet's masterpiece named Impressionism?
29/07/2025
Colombia ex-president Uribe guilty in bribery trial
29/07/2025
Turkey battles wildfires, arrests suspects as heatwave grips Mediterranean
29/07/2025
Thailand and Cambodia ceasefire holds as wary displaced villagers return home
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France 24
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Sweida: Clashes rattle civilians as truce frays
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France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
US trade advisor says Trump tariff rates unlikely to change
Trump, who has wielded tariffs as a tool of American economic might, has set tariff rates for dozens of economies including the European Union at between 10 and 41 percent come August 7, his new hard deadline for the duties. In a pre-taped interview broadcast Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said "the coming days" are not likely to see changes in the tariff rates. "A lot of these are set rates pursuant to deals. Some of these deals are announced, some are not, others depend on the level of the trade deficit or surplus we may have with the country," Greer said. "These tariff rates are pretty much set." Undoubtedly some trade ministers "want to talk more and see how they can work in a different way with the United States," he added. But "we're seeing truly the contours of the president's tariff plan right now with these rates." Last Thursday, the former real estate developer announced hiked tariff rates on dozens of US trade partners. They will kick in on August 7 instead of August 1, which had previously been touted as a hard deadline. Among the countries facing steep new levies is Brazil. South America's largest economy is being hit with 50 percent tariffs on exports to the United States -- albeit with significant exemptions for key products such as aircraft and orange juice. Trump has openly admitted he is punishing Brazil for prosecuting his political ally Jair Bolsonaro, the ex-president accused of plotting a coup in a bid to cling to power. The US president has described the case as a "witch hunt." Greer said it was not unusual for Trump to use tariff tools for geopolitical purposes. "The president has seen in Brazil, like he's seen in other countries, a misuse of law, a misuse of democracy," Greer told CBS. "It is normal to use these tools for geopolitical issues." Trump was "elected to assess the foreign affairs situation... and take appropriate action," he added. Meanwhile White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said that while talks are expected to continue over the next week with some US trade partners, he concurred with Greer's tariffs assessment in that the bulk of the rates "are more or less locked in." Asked by the host of NBC's Sunday talk show "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" if Trump could change tariff rates should financial markets react negatively, Hassett said: "I would rule it out, because these are the final deals." Legal challenges have been filed against some of Trump's tariffs arguing he overstepped his authority. An appeals court panel on Thursday appeared skeptical of the government's arguments, though the case may be ultimately decided at the Supreme Court.
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Gunmen kidnap more than 50 people in Nigeria's northwest, UN report says
Gunmen kidnapped more than 50 people in northwest Nigeria in a mass abduction, according to a private conflict monitoring report created for the United Nations and seen by AFP on Sunday. "Armed bandits" targeted the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Zamfara state Friday, the report said, the latest attack in a region where residents in rural hinterlands have long suffered from gangs who kidnap for ransom, loot villages and demand taxes. The report said this was the first "mass capture" incident in the Bakura local government area this year, "the recent trend of mass captures in Zamfara has been concerning", noting "a shift in bandit strategy towards more large-scale attacks in northern Zamfara". A Zamfara police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Nigeria's rural vigilante patrols aim to protect local communities 10:57 Nigeria's "banditry" crisis originated in conflict over land and water rights between herders and farmers but has morphed into organised crime, with gangs preying on rural communities that have long had little or no government presence. The conflict is worsening a malnutrition crisis in the northwest as attacks drive people away from their farms, in a situation that has been complicated by climate change and western aid cuts. Last month, bandits in Zamfara killed 33 people they had kidnapped in February despite receiving a $33,700 ransom, while three babies died in captivity, officials and residents told AFP. Bandit-jihadist cooperation Since 2011, as arms trafficking increased and the wider Sahel fell into turmoil, organised armed gangs formed in northwest Nigeria, with cattle rustling and kidnapping becoming huge moneymakers in the largely impoverished countryside. Groups also levy taxes on farmers and artisanal miners. Violence has spread in recent years from the northwest into north-central Nigeria. Two weeks ago, Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed gang in a shootout and air strikes in the northwest state of Niger. But the military is overstretched. While improved co-operation between the army and air force has aided the fight, analysts say, air strikes have also killed hundreds of civilians over the years. Bandits, who are primarily motivated by money, have also increased their co-operation with Nigeria's jihadist groups, who are waging a separate, 16-year-old armed insurrection in the northeast. The recent emergence of the Lakurawa jihadist group in the northwest has worsened violence in the region. Governments of affected states have been forced to recruit anti-jihadist militias fighting the militants in the northeast to assist in countering the bandits.
