Author: staff

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slap a 200 percent tariff on all “wines, champagne and alcoholic products” from France and other EU countries. The threat comes after the White House put global tariffs on steel and aluminum, with the EU readying retaliatory tariffs of its own. These will be imposed in two stages in April, the European Commission announced Wednesday morning. In his post on Truth Social, Trump claimed the EU “put a nasty 50 percent tariff on whisky,” even though the EU’s bourbon tariff will only kick in from April 1. This story is being updated.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund will purchase Pokémon Go as part of a major mobile game company acquisition. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is set to pay $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) to buy the gaming division of Niantic. The San Francisco-based software development company is best known for its mobile games Pokémon Go and Monster Hunter Now. Pokémon Go is one of the world’s most popular mobile games. Launched in 2016, the augmented reality game was developed in collaboration with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo. Its usership peaked at 232 million active monthly players in…

Ladois has also held jobs in Geneva, New York and Paris, where he worked at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ladois is expected to start work next week. He’ll take over from Anastasia Colosimo, who joined the Elysée in 2023 and was known in media circles for her candor as well as her biting — and sometimes combative — language. The 34-year-old is set to start work for the infrastructure company Ellipse Projects. “I don’t come from the world of communications and I’m going back to my former activities,” said Colosimo in an interview with the French daily L’Opinion,…

This article was originally published in Arabic In recent years, women in Arab markets during Ramadan have been increasingly wearing the abaya, a traditional, loose-fitting symbol of chastity and dignity. With designers giving it a modern and chic twist, it’s now become has become a hallmark of the fasting month. In Arab countries, the abaya is known by many names, such as Jalaba, Jalabiya, Omani and Qaftan, but it is basically a simple and loose garment – often black in colour – worn by women in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa, as it is considered suitable for…

According to archaeologists, the head of the same statue was dug up in 1927 and is now in Cambodia’s National museum in the capital Phnom Penh. The two parts may be reattached for display. Archaeologists in Cambodia are celebrating an unexpected find at the country’s centuries-old Angkor temple complex: the torso of a statue of Buddha that matches a head found nearly a century ago at the same site.The torso, believed to be from the 12th or 13th century, stands at 1.16 meters tall and is in the Bayon art style, associated with Angkor’s Bayon temple.It was found along with…

Belgian federal police conducted raids in the early hours of Thursday, as part of a corruption probe involving the European Parliament. “We can confirm that we have an ongoing investigation on preliminary charges of active corruption, forgery of documents, money laundering at the European Parliament,” said a spokesperson for the Belgian Prosecutor’s office. Police conducted raids on 21 addresses in Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia and in Portugal, the spokesperson added. Several individuals have been arrested.

The former Dutch premier and secretary general of the transatlantic alliance has flown to Washington DC for a crucial meeting with Donald Trump. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will have to convince President Trump that US interests are best served as a leading member of the transatlantic alliance when he visits the White House today.The US will be pushing NATO allies to focus on their obligation to defend themselves without relying on US support, according to a US source.President Trump has long pushed for NATO countries to spend more on defence and has threatened to pull US support for members…

Three French trade groups are launching legal action against Meta over the company’s widespread use of copyrighted works to train its generative AI model – all without authorization. French publishers and authors have stated that they’re taking Meta to court, accusing the social media company of using their works without permission to train its artificial intelligence model.Three trade groups said on Wednesday they were launching legal action against Meta in a Paris court over what they said was the company’s “massive use of copyrighted works without authorization” to train its generative AI model.Meta has rolled out generative-AI powered chatbot assistants…

“The borders of NATO moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of the NATO infrastructure east. For me this is obvious,” Duda said. “Russia didn’t even hesitate when it moved its nuclear weapons to Belarus. They didn’t ask anyone for permission,” the Polish president added. However, the request is likely to be seen as highly provocative in Moscow. Duda’s comments come after he said last month that Poland would “very willingly” host American troops if Germany doesn’t want them. He was responding to Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, who cautioned that the Trump administration…

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. It’s crunch time for Keir Starmer’s government. With rumours of a cabinet reshuffle rife – when might it take place? And who’s on the chopping block? This at a time when a rebellion over planned cuts to the welfare budget is brewing. Sam and Anne also explain how the subject of civil service reform is in fact very interesting – Keir Starmer will want to take note. Today, he’ll apparently be announcing changes to defence spending, AI, and radical…