
Take a look at our newest merchandise
Trump: Crimea ‘will stick with Russia’
Donald Trump has stated in an interview with Time journal that Crimea “will stick with Russia” as a part of peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Trump accused Zelenskyy on Wednesday of prolonging the “killing subject” by refusing to give up the Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula as a part of a potential deal. Russia illegally annexed that space in 2014.
Zelenskyy has repeated many occasions throughout the battle that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a purple line for his nation.
Key occasions
Trump says he is open to assembly Iran’s leaders and thinks a deal shall be made
Donald Trump has stated he’s open to assembly Iran’s supreme chief or president as the 2 international locations started talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Following a gathering final week to stipulate a framework for a possible nuclear deal, which a US official described as yielding “superb progress”, Trump advised Time journal, in a 22 April interview printed on Friday:
I believe we’re going to make a cope with Iran.
As my colleague Patrick Wintour reported yesterday, Iran has insisted it have to be allowed to have its personal uranium enrichment capability for its civil nuclear programme, rejecting a US demand that Tehran should rely completely on imported nuclear gas.
If Washington sticks to the place taken by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, within the third spherical of talks in Oman on Saturday, the 2 sides may have hit their first main negotiating hurdle.
Requested within the Time interview whether or not he was open to assembly supreme chief Ali Khamenei or president Masoud Pezeshkian, Trump replied:
Certain.
Trump, who in 2018 pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear settlement between Tehran and world powers, has warned of army motion towards Iran until a brand new deal is swiftly reached to forestall it creating nuclear weapons.
When requested if the US would be a part of a battle towards Iran ought to Israel take motion, he responded:
I’ll go in very willingly if we will’t get a deal. If we don’t make a deal, I’ll be main the pack.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff holds fourth assembly with Vladimir Putin in Moscow
Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday at what Trump has stated is a key second in diplomacy to finish the battle in Ukraine.
Witkoff has emerged as Washington’s key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to finish the battle, and has already held three lengthy conferences with the Kremlin chief.
Video printed by the Kremlin confirmed Witkoff and Putin shaking palms and exchanging pleasantries earlier than sitting down on reverse sides of a white oval desk.
Putin was accompanied by his overseas coverage adviser Yuri Ushakov and funding envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Russian information outlet Izvestia earlier printed pictures displaying Witkoff strolling in central Moscow with Dmitriev, who has performed a outstanding function in contacts with the Trump administration.
Former president and first girl Joe and Jill Biden additionally deliberate to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, Biden spokesperson Kelly Scully stated.
Biden, a lifelong Catholic who had met the pope a number of occasions, awarded Pope Francis the presidential medal of freedom in January earlier than leaving the White Home.
Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy plan to reach in Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis within the Vatican’s St Peter’s Sq. on Saturday.
It wasn’t instantly clear if they’d meet individually.
The Vatican stated 130 delegations are confirmed, together with 50 heads of state and 10 reigning sovereigns.
Trump: Crimea ‘will stick with Russia’
Donald Trump has stated in an interview with Time journal that Crimea “will stick with Russia” as a part of peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Trump accused Zelenskyy on Wednesday of prolonging the “killing subject” by refusing to give up the Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula as a part of a potential deal. Russia illegally annexed that space in 2014.
Zelenskyy has repeated many occasions throughout the battle that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a purple line for his nation.
Donald Trump has stated he’s open to assembly Iran’s supreme chief or president as the 2 international locations started talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Following a gathering final week to stipulate a framework for a possible nuclear deal, which a US official described as yielding “superb progress”, the US president advised Time journal, in a 22 April interview printed on Friday: “I believe we’re going to make a cope with Iran.”
Requested whether or not he was open to assembly supreme chief Ali Khamenei or president Masoud Pezeshkian, Trump replied: “Certain.”
Since 2019, Iran has breached and much surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing shares far above what the west says is important for a civilian power programme.
Donald Trump stated he was open to assembly Iran’s supreme chief or the nation’s president, when he was requested by Time journal in an interview on 22 April whether or not he would meet with both because the international locations started nuclear talks.
Apple ‘goals to supply all US iPhones from India’, lowering reliance on China
Dan Milmo
Apple is reportedly planning to change meeting of all iPhones for the US market to India as the corporate seeks to scale back its reliance on a Chinese language manufacturing base amid Donald Trump’s commerce battle.
The $3tn (£2.3tn) know-how firm goals to make the shift as quickly as subsequent yr, the Monetary Occasions reported.
Apple has been swept up in Trump’s aggressive tariff insurance policies, with the iPhone maker at one level among the many largest inventory market casualties due to the prospect of its Chinese language-made merchandise being hit with a hefty import tax after they attain the US.
Nevertheless, the blow was softened by a White Home resolution to exclude smartphones from the heaviest Chinese language tariffs, though Apple remains to be uncovered to a 20% levy on all Chinese language items as a part of the US president’s response to China’s function in producing Fentanyl.
The advanced manufacturing course of behind iPhones entails greater than 1,000 elements sourced from everywhere in the world – albeit they’re largely put collectively in China. Apple is secretive about particulars of its manufacturing processes however analysts estimate that about 90% of its iPhones are assembled within the nation.
In accordance with the FT, Apple plans to supply from India the greater than 60m iPhones offered within the US yearly by the top of 2026 – a dedication that might require greater than doubling iPhone meeting in India.
Clea Skopeliti
The protection secretary, Pete Hegseth, had an unsecured web connection put in in his workplace to evade the Pentagon’s safety filters and use Sign on a private gadget, two sources advised the Related Press (AP).
Protection division computer systems are related to the web by means of two separate networks: one for labeled info and one other for unclassified info. The revelation that Hegseth was utilizing one other line means it’s potential that delicate info could have been susceptible to hacking or surveillance.
It’s the newest in a collection of developments regarding Hegseth and safety protocols, beginning with the explosive information that he and different prime safety officers have been utilizing Sign to debate strikes on Yemen, which got here to mild after a journalist was by chance added to the group.
You possibly can learn extra from in the present day’s First Issues publication right here:
US president Donald Trump stated his administration is speaking with China to strike a tariff deal and that Chinese language president Xi Jinping has referred to as him, based on a Time journal interview printed on Friday as Beijing continues to dispute US characterization of talks.
Former US social safety head predicts ‘interruption of advantages’ amid Doge cuts

Robert Tait
Social safety, the sacred cow of the US welfare system courting again to Franklin Roosevelt’s Thirties New Deal, faces important risk because it reels underneath the stress of Elon Musk’s aggressive incursions, its former head has stated.
Martin O’Malley, former commissioner of the social safety administration (SSA) underneath Joe Biden, stated such a breakdown might end in disruption to learn funds on which greater than 70 million People rely, sending shock waves throughout the financial and social panorama and posing a political problem to Donald Trump, who has repeatedly vowed that social safety shall be left untouched in his radical remake of US authorities.
The warnings come amid a welter of experiences of web site outages, regional workplace closures and recipients being wrongly declared lifeless following the actions of Musk’s unofficial “division of presidency effectivity”, often known as Doge, which has been missioned to make drastic cutbacks and root out supposed waste, fraud and abuse.
About 7,000 of the SSA’s 57,000-strong workforce have been culled in latest weeks as Musk, the tech billionaire and world’s richest particular person, has sought to reside as much as his vow to slash non-essential federal employees. Extra job cuts are feared to be on the best way.
Insiders and unions warn that the cuts already made threaten to render the system inoperable.
“I really imagine there’s going to be some interruption of advantages for some time frame, and I imagine that may in all probability occur within the very close to future,” the Lengthy Island Press quoted O’Malley as telling a city corridor assembly this week hosted by two Democratic representatives from New York, Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi.
“I’ve by no means hoped I used to be flawed a lot.”
Swiss chief says Trump administration foresees ‘privileged’ talks with 15 international locations on US tariffs
The Swiss president says Switzerland is amongst 15 international locations with which the United States plans to conduct “privileged” negotiations to assist attain a deal after sweeping US tariffs on dozens of nations which have shaken international markets, experiences the Related Press (AP).
Karin Keller-Sutter, in an interview with broadcaster SRF printed Friday, stated she was “happy” with talks in Washington this week that included an Worldwide Financial Fund convention and her one-on-one assembly with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent. Keller-Sutter additionally serves as Switzerland’s finance minister.
“The US has outlined a gaggle of 15 international locations with which it needs to seek out … a fast answer on this tariff query. Switzerland is a part of this group of those 15 international locations,” she advised reporters individually late on Thursday in Washington, based on the AP.
It was not instantly clear which 14 different international locations have been included, however she advised SRF that “the US envisages conducting – I might say considerably privileged – negotiations and discovering options” with that group.
Earlier than the Trump administration paused a few of its most stringent tariff plans, merchandise imported from Switzerland had been set to face tariffs of 31% – greater than the 20% tariffs on items from the European Union. Switzerland just isn’t a member of the 27-country bloc.
The AP experiences that, based on figures printed by the Swiss embassy in Washington, the US has been Switzerland’s most essential items export market worldwide since 2021, whereas Switzerland is the fourth most essential export marketplace for US providers. The bilateral commerce quantity in items and providers between Switzerland and the US reached $185.9bn in 2023, the embassy says on its web site.
Keller-Sutter stated a memorandum of understanding was to be drawn up after which negotiations can start. A doc would additionally lay out an important matters, and “now we have additionally been assigned a selected contact particular person. This isn’t simple within the US administration,” she was quoted as saying.
“The U.S. authorities have clearly expressed their need to discover a answer with Switzerland,” Keller-Sutter advised SRF. She stated no timetable had been set, however the two sides agreed to maneuver ahead rapidly “as a result of uncertainty is poison for the financial system.”
Trump’s sweeping “liberation day” tariffs on 2 April set off turmoil in world inventory markets. Every week later, Trump spoke by telephone with Keller-Sutter in a dialog that her workplace stated targeted on tariffs. She emphasised the “essential function of Swiss corporations and investments” within the US.
Hours later, Trump introduced the U-turn that paused the steep new tariffs on about 60 international locations for 90 days, fanning hypothesis – which was not confirmed – in some Swiss media that her chat with Trump may need performed a task within the change in fact.
On Thursday, Swiss overseas minister Ignazio Cassis, throughout a visit to Beijing, stated the US tariffs have thrust the affected international locations into “a form of coalition” to attempt to attain a cope with the US. In the meantime, on Monday, Swiss prescription drugs firm Roche introduced plans to take a position $50bn within the US over the following 5 years – an unspecified quantity of which has already been underneath manner, experiences the AP.
The US justice division says it didn’t hearth a former pardon legal professional, Liz Oyer, after she refused to advocate reinstating Mel Gibson’s gun rights.
However within the newest episode of Politics America Weekly Oyer tells Jonathan Freedland a special story, one she believes factors to a wider crackdown by the Trump administration on the rule of legislation within the US.
You possibly can hearken to the podcast right here:
China says US deep-sea mining plan ‘violates worldwide legislation’
A US push to approve deep-sea mining in home and worldwide waters “violates worldwide legislation”, China warned on Friday, after a White Home order to ramp up permits, experiences Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The US authorisation … violates worldwide legislation and harms the general pursuits of the worldwide group,” Chinese language overseas ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated.
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an govt order to “expedite the method for reviewing and issuing seabed mineral exploration licenses and industrial restoration permits in areas past nationwide jurisdiction”.
Personal corporations and governments have lengthy thought of the mineral and metallic sources present in stretches of the ocean flooring, however they’ve largely held off whereas ready for the Worldwide Seabed Authority (ISA) regulator to plan guidelines – a course of that started within the Nineties.
The US by no means ratified the agreements that empowered the Isa’s jurisdiction and isn’t a member of the UN-affiliated physique, experiences AFP.
Trump’s order calls for Washington turn into a “international chief” in seabed exploration and “counter China’s rising affect over seabed mineral sources”.
Beijing, which has up to now held off mining in worldwide waters whereas awaiting Isa guidelines, warned Trump’s orders “as soon as once more expose the unilateral strategy and hegemonic nature of america”.

Jakub Krupa
US peace envoy Steve Witkoff is in Moscow in the present day for additional talks with Russia, together with president Vladimir Putin, on Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.
Hoping to get outcomes earlier than Trump’s 100 days within the workplace subsequent week, Witkoff should discover a option to convey the sense of the president’s frustration with the Russian assault on Kyiv on Thursday, whereas hoping to make good progress as Washington tries to place strain on Kyiv to comply with its proposal.
Throughout a gathering of the Chinese language Communist social gathering’s prime decision-making physique targeted on financial work and attended by president Xi Jinping, leaders acknowledged that “the impression of exterior shocks is rising”, experiences Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing state information company Xinhua.
Additionally they stated they’d search to “work with the worldwide group to actively uphold multilateralism and oppose unilateral bullying practices”, stated Xinhua.
Final yr noticed China obtain file exports, offering a key supply of financial exercise as home challenges within the property sector and deflationary strain persevered.
Friday’s politburo assembly “reveals the federal government is able to launch new insurance policies when the financial system is affected by the exterior shock”, Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist of Pinpoint Asset Administration, wrote in a observe, experiences AFP.
Nevertheless, Zhang famous “it appears Beijing just isn’t in a rush to launch a big stimulus at this stage”. “It takes time to observe and consider the timing and the dimensions of the commerce shock,” he added.
China’s prime leaders pledge financial assist as commerce battle rages
China’s prime leaders pledged on Friday to step up assist for the financial system and oppose “unilateral bullying” in international commerce, providing a veiled rebuke of hefty tariffs lately imposed by US president Donald Trump.
The world’s two largest economies are engaged in a high-stakes tit-for-tat commerce battle that has spooked markets and spurred main producers to rethink provide chains.
Since returning to the White Home in January, Trump has slapped most buying and selling companions with 10% tariffs. However China has acquired the worst, with many merchandise from the nation now dealing with a 145% tariff. Beijing has responded with new 125% tariffs of its personal on US items.
A spokesperson for Beijing’s commerce ministry stated on Thursday that “there are presently no financial and commerce negotiations between China and america”. However hours later, requested concerning the state of negotiations with Beijing, Trump maintained: “We’ve been assembly with China.”
Chinese language monetary information outlet Caijing reported on Friday that Beijing was contemplating the exemption of sure US semiconductor merchandise from latest further tariffs, citing sources aware of the matter. Beijing’s commerce ministry didn’t instantly reply to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) request to verify the experiences.
In the meantime, the Hill experiences that China cancelled 12,000 metric tons of US pork shipments, based on knowledge from the US Division of Agriculture (USDA), with Bloomberg Information reporting that this represents the largest cancellation of pork orders because the Covid-19 pandemic.
Extra on this story in a second, however listed here are another latest developments:
-
US protection secretary Pete Hegseth had an unsecured web connection arrange in his Pentagon workplace in order that he might bypass authorities safety protocols and use the Sign messaging app on a private pc.
-
Donald Trump directed his legal professional common to research the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue based mostly on an unsubstantiated rightwing declare.
-
Federal judges blocked a number of facets of Trump’s agenda that he has tried to enact by means of govt orders, which don’t carry the pressure of legislation. One decide blocked his efforts so as to add a proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration type, a change that voting rights advocates warned would have disfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters.
-
One other decide dominated the Trump administration’s try and make federal funding to varsities conditional on them eliminating any DEI insurance policies erodes the “foundational ideas” that separates america from totalitarian regimes.
-
On immigration, a decide ordered the Trump administration to make “an excellent religion request” to the federal government of El Salvador to facilitate the return of a second man despatched to a jail there again to the US, saying his deportation violated a courtroom settlement. One other decide blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funding from a number of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions which have declined to cooperate with the president’s hardline immigration crackdown.
-
Trump issued a uncommon rebuke towards Vladimir Putin, and stated he has his personal deadline for the Russia-Ukraine battle. Trump stated that he nonetheless thinks the Russian chief will hearken to him.
-
The Trump administration is loosening guidelines to assist US automakers like Elon Musk’s Tesla develop self-driving automobiles to allow them to tackle Chinese language rivals. US corporations creating self-driving automobiles shall be allowed exemptions from sure federal security guidelines for testing functions, the transportation division stated on Thursday.
-
The Trump retailer is now promoting “Trump 2028” hats to followers of the president, who’s barred by the US structure from serving a 3rd time period, even if a brand new ballot from Reuters/Ipsos discovered that three-quarters of respondents stated Trump mustn’t even attempt to run.