Trump ups global tariff from 10% to 15%, but EU says “deal is a deal”
Having immediately announced a 10% across-the-board tariff on Friday after the US Supreme Court struck down his previous tariff programme as invalid, US President Donald Trump decided on Saturday to raise raised temporary tariffs on almost all US from 10% to 15%, the maximum level allowed under the law. The new levies are grounded in a separate law, known as Section 122, that allows tariffs up to 15% but requires congressional approval to extend them after 150 days. The European Commission says the US must honour the trade deal it made with the EU last year. The Commission said: “The current situation is not conducive to delivering ‘fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial’ transatlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides… A deal is a deal.”
Convicted fraudster gets top Free State hospital job
Multiple insiders and whistleblowers say the appointment of convicted fraudster Zongezile Adam Zumane as CEO of Senorita Nhlabathi Hospital has exposed the extent of political patronage networks operating within the Free State department of health. Sources claim that the controversial appointment, which only surfaced last week, has also left Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi unhappy. City Press reports that it understands that the unsuccessful candidate for the job, Mbulelo Diba, is a qualified medical doctor who has been working in the hospital for many years, while Zumane holds a national diploma in nursing and used to work for Mangaung metro as a public servant. Court documents from 2012 show that Zumane was convicted of defrauding Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality of more than R5 million between 2000 and 2005, within a broader criminal enterprise involving six government officials and five private citizens.
Mass anti-govt protests in Iran first since Tehran’s deadly crackdown
Students at several universities have mounted the first anti-government rallies in Iran since the deadly crackdown on protests by the authorities last month. This coincides with the start of the new university term and what has been described as the 40th day of mourning for many of the thousands of people killed by security forces in early January. This development comes as the US continues building up its military presence near Iran. President Donald Trump has said he is considering a limited military strike. Meanwhile, Iranian sources have indicated that while Iran is refusing to export its 300kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium, it is willing to dilute the purity of the stockpile it holds under the supervision of UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Arab, Muslim nations outraged by Ambassador Huckabee’s remarks on Israel
US ambassador to Israel Mikel Huckabee’s remarks about Israel’s putative claims to much of the Middle East on Biblical grounds have prompted a statement of outrage from more than a dozen states and institutions in the region. In an interview with conservative US commentator Tucker Carlson, Huckabee was asked whether Israel had a right to an area which the host said was, according to the Bible, “essentially the entire Middle East”. The ambassador said “it would be fine if it took it all”. But he added Israel was not seeking to do so, rather it was “asking to at least take the land that they now occupy” and protect its people. In a joint statement, more than a dozen governments including Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, called the comments “dangerous and inflammatory”, and a threat to efforts to end the war in Gaza. The Jerusalem Post notes that support for Zionism and Israel being rooted in the Old Testament “helped lead to support for the Balfour Declaration in 1917”, but that “(w)hat the Carlson-Huckabee discussion appears to have missed is a wider discussion of how this debate about the Bible relates to modern-day policy”.
France objects to US statement on death of far-right activist
The statement by the US embassy in France and the US state department’s bureau of counterterrorism that they were monitoring the case of the killing of the French far-right activist Quentin Deranque – with both warning on X that “violent radical leftism is on the rise” and should be treated as a public safety threat – has angered France. French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, has said he will summon Charles Kushner, the US ambassador to France. Barrot said an interview with French media outlets: “We refuse all political opportunism around this drama, which is the bereavement of a French family.”
ICC war crimes hearing begins on Duterte’s anti-drugs campaign that killed thousands
The International Criminal Court hearing will determine whether charges of crimes against humanity against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte should proceed to trial. The 80-year-old has been in detention at the ICC facility in The Hague for nearly a year. He was arrested in Manila in connection with the deaths of thousands of people in an anti-drugs crackdown during his president, between 2016 and 2022. The court ruled last month that Duterte was fit to attend hearings, rejecting claims by his defence team that he cannot participate because of “cognitive impairment in multiple domains”.
Sources: BBC, Reuters, City Press, The Guardian, The Jerusalem Post, Sky News