April 3, 2025

Trump escalates global trade war with new 'Liberation Day' tariffs "US President Donald Trump has unveiled a sweeping new ""Liberation Day"" tariffs in a decision that is billed to escalate a devastating global trade war. He announced plans for sweeping tariffs on Wednesday, saying ""our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, plundered"" by other nations. Trump promised so-called reciprocal tariffs on friends and foes alike if they target the world's largest economy, saying the levies will stop the United States being ""ripped off." UN chief 'deeply alarmed' by human toll in Gaza "UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep alarm about the human cost of intensified Israeli attacks in besieged Gaza. His spokesperson's office state that Guterres condemns the reported killing of over a thousand people, including women and children, since the collapse of the ceasefire."" The Israeli army killed at least 86 Palestinians in a series of air strikes across besieged Gaza." PKK/YPG to withdraw from Aleppo under deal with Syrian government "The PKK/YPG terror group will withdraw from two neighbourhoods in Aleppo under an agreement with the Syrian government, a Syrian official told. The group's so-called ""internal security forces"" in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods will be unified under a single structure and placed under the Interior Ministry. The official noted the deal includes provisions for removing barricades in the neighbourhood and forming committees to establish security checkpoints." Columbia students chain themselves to protest Mahmoud Khalil's detention "Students at Columbia University in New York, US, have chained themselves to the entrance gate of the school campus to demand the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for leading demonstrations in support of Palestine last Spring. A group of students, mostly of Jewish origin, organised a demonstration to protest the detention of Khalil on Wednesday, chanting slogans such as "Freedom for Palestine" and "Mahmoud Khalil, release him immediately." Amazon makes a last-minute bid to buy TikTok in US: report "Amazon has made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. President Donald Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business by a Saturday deadline. According to reports, the most likely solution would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.