July 17, 2025 4:42 PM

G20 finance chiefs meet under tariff cloud in South Africa

South Africa urged G20 countries to provide global and cooperative leadership to tackle challenges including rising trade barriers as the club's finance chiefs met on Thursday under the shadow of President Donald Trump's tariff threats. The G20, which emerged as a forum for cooperation to combat the 2008 global financial crisis, has for years been hobbled by disputes among key players that have been exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow. Host South Africa, unde...

July 15, 2025 11:59 AM

Texas flood death toll rises to 131 as new storms loom

The official tally of storm-related deaths across Texas rose to 131 on Monday as authorities warned of yet another round of heavy rains 10 days after a Hill Country flash flood that transformed the Guadalupe River into a killer torrent. A National Weather Service flood watch forecasting heavy downpours of up to half a foot of rain was posted until Tuesday morning for a wide swath of central Texas extending from the Rio Grande east to San Antonio and Austin. The advisory included Kerr County an...

July 14, 2025 11:33 AM

EU ready to hit US with 21-billion-euro tariff list, Italy foreign minister says

The European Union has already prepared a list of tariffs worth 21 billion euros ($24.52 billion) on U.S. goods if the two countries fail to reach a trade deal, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a newspaper interview on Monday. President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 30% tariff on imports from Mexico and the EU starting on Aug. 1, after weeks of negotiations with major U.S. trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive deal. Tajani also told daily Il Messagge...

July 14, 2025 10:43 AM

Trump demands more concessions as EU holds off on US tariff countermeasures

The European Union said on Sunday it would extend its suspension of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration demanded more concessions from trading partners. Trump said on Saturday he would impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico from August 1, adding to similar warnings for other countries and leaving them less than three weeks to hammer out framework deals that could ...

July 13, 2025 10:09 AM

EU says it still wants US trade deal, will defend interests

The European Union said on Saturday it was ready to retaliate to defend its interests if the United States pressed ahead with imposing a 30% tariff on European goods from August 1. U.S. President Donald Trump latest salvo surprised the bloc, the United States' largest trading partner, which had hoped to avoid an escalating trade war after intense negotiations and increasingly warm words from the White House. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU executive which handles trade policy for the 27 m...

July 13, 2025 9:36 AM

Iran says it will work with IAEA but inspections may be risky

Iran plans to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog despite restrictions imposed by its parliament, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, while stressing that access to its bombed nuclear sites posed security and safety issues. A new law passed in Iran following last month's Israeli and U.S. bombing campaign stipulates that inspection of Iran's nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top securit...

July 13, 2025 9:32 AM

Gaza truce talks faltering over withdrawal; 17 reported killed in latest shooting near aid

Progress is stalling at talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the sides divided over the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday. The indirect talks over a U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire continued throughout Saturday, an Israeli official told Reuters, seven days since talks began. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he hoped for a breakthrough soon based on a new...

July 11, 2025 1:16 PM

Rubio meets China’s Wang in Malaysia amid trade tension

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, their first in-person meeting at a time of simmering trade tensions between the two major powers. Washington's top diplomat is in Malaysia on his first trip to Asia since taking office, attending the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum alongside counterparts from Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Australia, India, the European Union and Southeast Asian states. His meeting with Wang c...

July 9, 2025 5:07 PM

Trump criticizes Putin after approving more weapons for Ukraine, Kremlin says it is ‘calm’

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had approved sending U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine. Trump, who pledged as a presidential candidate to end the war within a day, has not been able to follow through on that promise and efforts by his administration to broker peace have come up short. Trump directed his ire at ...

July 9, 2025 2:10 PM

Flash floods in New Mexico resort town kills three, traps dozens in homes and vehicles

Torrential rains triggered flash floods in New Mexico that killed at least three people on Tuesday, including two young children, and trapped dozens in homes and vehicles in the resort village of Ruidoso, a state emergency official and a village statement said. The children, aged four and seven years old, and a man were swept downstream and later found dead, the mountain resort village said late Tuesday on its website, adding that rescue operations were underway. Dramatic video footage on soci...