World News

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/44038647

Ukrainians are tired, run down by the emotional toll of the invasion and the physical toll of sleepless nights due to air raid sirens, explosions and the screeching sounds of attack drones. "It was a long night," is a common remark you will hear in Kyiv.

So, Donald Trump's decision to give Russia 50 days to agree to a ceasefire or face "very severe tariffs… at about 100%" has not gone down well.

One of Ukraine's most prominent politicians, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, asked "why such a delay?" while speaking on German television. Russian attacks had become "more intense", he said, and more people could be killed in that 50-day period.

Beijing will now require government licenses for any effort to transfer abroad the technologies crucial for producing inexpensive electric cars.

France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at reducing the country’s ballooning deficit, boosting its economy and preventing it being “crushed” by debt.

Outlining the 2026 budget on Tuesday, Bayrou suggested Easter Monday and 8 May, when France commemorates Victory Day, marking the end of the second world war, although he said he was open to other options.

The centrist prime minister said: “The entire nation has to work more so that the activity of the country as a whole increases, and so that France’s situation improves. Everyone will have to contribute to the effort.”

France is under pressure to bring its public deficit, running at 5.8% of GDP, under the 3% figure required by EU rules, and to rein in €3.3tn of public debt – on which the annual interest, of €60bn, could soon become its biggest budget outlay.

The warning was delivered to Karim Khan by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the court who told Khan he had spoken to Netanyahu’s legal advisor and, according to a note of the meeting lodged on file at the ICC and seen by Middle East Eye, was "authorised" to make him a proposal that would allow Khan to "climb down the tree".

This, it was suggested, would allow Israel to access the details of the allegations, which it could not do at the time, and challenge them in private - without the outcome being made public.

Kaufman told MEE: "I do not deny that I told Mr Khan that he should be looking for a way to extricate himself from his errors. I am not authorised to make any proposals on behalf of the Israeli government nor did I."

-Plan involves moving 600,000 people to Rafah near Egypt -Netanyahu asks for new blueprints -Far-right minister dismisses debate as 'spin' -Finance Minister says defence officials trying to sabotage plan

JERUSALEM, July 15 (Reuters) - An Israeli scheme to move hundreds of thousands of already uprooted Palestinians to a so-called "humanitarian city" in Gaza has led politicians to spar with the defence establishment, but officials say a practical plan has yet to be crafted.

For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation

Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.

He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.

From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he’d get out.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/44002073

Official figures show the world's second largest economy grew by 5.2% in the three months to the end of June, compared to the same time last year. That's better than the 5.1% forecast by many economists but lower than the previous quarter.

Port of Antwerp-Bruges figures show 15.9% drop in export of cars, vans, trucks and tractors to US

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges has been turned into a giant car park with thousands of cars, vans, trucks and tractors bound for the US sitting idle as manufacturers try to avert the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Figures released by the port show a 15.9% drop in the transport of new passenger cars and vans to the US in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, with a sharp decline emerging in May – one month after the US president announced his “liberation day” tariffs.

Exports of trucks and what they call “high and heavy equipment” is down by almost a third at 31.5%.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/44000116

"Dialogue is how we advance our interests, how we manage our differences and we guard against misunderstanding," Albanese said at a press conference.

The two countries agreed to a new Policy Dialogue on Steel Decarbonisation that will give Australia insight into Chinese government planning, according to an Australian government statement. They also signed agreements on tourism, customs inspections, and agriculture, the statement said.