December 3, 2025 10:42 AM

Brazil’s Lula and Trump discuss trade, sanctions in phone call

U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discussed trade, the economy and fighting organized crime in a phone call on Tuesday, both sides said. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said the two men also discussed sanctions - an apparent reference to his administration's targeting of Brazil's judiciary over the criminal case of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro. Trump said he and Lula "had a great talk. We talked about trade. We talked ab...

December 3, 2025 10:35 AM

Trump says any country trafficking drugs into US could be attacked

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said any country trafficking illegal drugs into the U.S. could be attacked. "Anybody that's doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack," Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House, after raising the issue of cocaine from Colombia. Colombian President Gustavo Petro shot back at Trump in a post on X, arguing the South American nation destroys a drug-producing laboratory every 40 minutes - "without missiles." Trump has ...

December 1, 2025 10:30 AM

US sees progress after talks in Florida with Ukraine, but more work needed to reach deal

U.S. and Ukrainian officials held what both sides called productive talks on Sunday about a Russia peace deal, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing optimism about progress despite challenges to ending the more than 3-year-long war. Rubio met with a Ukrainian delegation led by a new chief negotiator in Florida, his home state, for talks that he said were meant to create a pathway for Ukraine to remain sovereign and independent. "We continue to be realistic about how difficult this is,...

November 30, 2025 9:32 AM

US FDA memo links 10 child deaths to COVID vaccines

COVID-19 vaccinations probably contributed to the deaths of at least 10 children who died of heart inflammation, U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief medical and scientific officer Vinay Prasad told agency staffers. "These deaths are related to vaccination (likely/probable/possible attribution made by staff)," Prasad wrote in a Friday memo seen by Reuters. "This is a profound revelation. For the first time, the U.S. FDA will acknowledge that COVID-19 vaccines have killed American children." ...

November 27, 2025 9:31 AM

Trump says South Africa won’t get 2026 G20 invite, South Africa calls it punitive

Donald Trump said South Africa will not be invited to take part in next year's G20 summit in Florida after Washington boycotted the leaders' summit in Johannesburg last week, which the African nation called a "punitive" measure against it. The Group of 20 leaders adopted a declaration on Saturday toaddress the climate crisis and other global challenges despite U.S. objections, prompting the White House to accuse South Africa of weaponising its leadership of the group this year. "At the conclus...

November 17, 2025 10:48 AM

Saudi crown prince visits US with defence, AI and nuclear on the agenda

A visit by Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler to the White House for talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump aims to deepen decades-old cooperation on oil and security while broadening ties in commerce, technology and potentially even nuclear energy. It will be the first trip by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the U.S. since the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which caused a global uproar. U.S. intelligence concluded that MBS approved the captu...

November 17, 2025 9:19 AM

Trump says US may open talks with Venezuela’s Maduro

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States may open talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who faces escalating pressure from Washington amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean. It was one of the first signs of a possible path toward defusing an increasingly tense situation in the region as the U.S. wages a campaign of deadly strikes against suspected drug trafficking boats off the Venezuelan coast and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. "We may be having som...

November 16, 2025 5:58 PM

Iran says US is not ready for ‘equal and fair’ nuclear talks

Washington's current approach toward Tehran does not indicate any readiness for "equal and fair negotiations", Iran's foreign minister said on Sunday, after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted last week at potential discussions. Following Israel's attack on Iran in June, which was joined by U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, attempts at renewing dialogue on Tehran's nuclear programme have failed. The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear progr...

November 16, 2025 10:13 AM

Trump snubs South Africa, boycotts G20 summit: Principled outrage or payback for feud with Ramaphosa?

In a move that's sent shockwaves through global diplomacy, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a full American boycott of the G-20 Summit at Johannesburg in South Africa on 22nd and 23rd November. No U.S. official will attend. Not even Vice-President J.D. Vance. President Trump offered an explanation for the boycott on his Truth Social account. In it, he accused South Africa of human rights abuses against White Afrikaners, claiming that they're being killed and slaughtered in a so-called Whi...

November 16, 2025 10:07 AM

Syria, Saudi Arabia reluctant to make peace with Israel as Trump pushes to expand Abraham Accords

On 10 November, Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa strides into the Oval Office. He becomes the first Syrian leader ever to do so since the country's independence in 1946. Al-Sharaa, the 43-year-old former Al-Qaeda commander who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, meets President Trump for the third time this year. Al-Sharaa enters the White House through West Executive Avenue, a less visible and non-ceremonial route, rather than the traditional front driveway where foreign dignitaries are...