US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet French leaders in Paris on Thursday to discuss the war in Ukraine, his office said, amid flailing efforts to persuade Russia to agree to a ceasefire.Rubio and US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff would also discuss tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and Middle East trouble spots, in talks with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, according to a French diplomatic source.No specific proposals for the talks have been made public, but Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in a bid to press US President Donald Trump’s efforts for a ceasefire.Trump pledged before taking office that he would quickly end the war raging since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, and he has voiced frustration at Moscow’s tactics.Witkoff said this week, however, after his third meeting with Putin, that he still sees a peace deal “emerging”.Rubio will be on his third trip to Europe since becoming the top US diplomat, having already attended the Munich Security Conference and a NATO meeting in February and March.For Europe, Ukraine has become more critical following Russia’s recent missile strikes on two Ukrainian cities that left dozens of civilians dead. Barrot said on Wednesday that Putin “has again showed that his cruelty is limitless and that he has no intention of starting a ceasefire” as proposed by the United States and Ukraine last month.France, Britain and Germany were surprised by Trump opening talks on improving ties with Russia, but have sought a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine, during the conflict and in any ceasefire.Britain and France have proposed a mainly European “reassurance” force prepared to go to Ukraine if a ceasefire starts. However, many European leaders say it would need US support.The State Department said only that Rubio and Witkoff would meet European officials to discuss Trump’s efforts to “advance” the goal of stopping the Ukraine war.A French diplomatic source said Rubio and Barrot would discuss “the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear file”.The United States and Iran are to hold a second round of indirect talks on Iran’s nuclear programme in Rome on Saturday.The talks have become more important after Rafael Grossi, head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, warned on Wednesday that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.Talks to end the Gaza war have also stalled, with Israel blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Palestinian territory. The UN says Gaza now faces its worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the war in October 2023, after the Hamas attacks.Separately, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu will travel to Washington on Thursday.He was set to meet with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for talks also dominated by Ukraine, Iran and Gaza.Lecornu was also expected to meet with National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy.burs/tw/rjm

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers asked Wednesday he be allowed to spend the night in the hospital during his retrial on rape charges, saying the movie mogul’s health was deteriorating rapidly because of “mistreatment” in New York’s notorious Rikers prison.In papers filed with the court, a lawyer said 73-year-old Weinstein had received lacking care in prison while suffering from a number of “serious medical conditions,” including leukemia, diabetes, thyroid problems, obesity, back pain, sciatica and other health woes.”He is consistently mistreated for serious infections, medication is given incorrectly, or not at all, he is experiencing unhealthy and atypical weight gain, and he is forced to endure freezing temperatures while not even being provided clean clothing,” said lawyer Imran Ansari.All this justifies transferring Weinstein for observation to Bellevue Hospital where he has already been taken in recent months for urgent health care, the attorney said.Weinstein is back in court because his 2020 conviction by a jury was overturned last year by an appeals court that ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original New York trial was unlawful.The voiding of the jury’s verdict by the New York Court of Appeals was a setback to survivors of the #MeToo movement against sexual violence and the promotion of justice for them.Looking feeble, Weinstein is attending the retrial from a wheelchair and his lawyers have complained repeatedly that in prison he does not get proper medical care.Situated in the East River between the Bronx and Queens boroughs, Rikers Island prison has long had a reputation for overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and violence.High profile prisoners have included John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman, rapper Tupac Shakur, Sex Pistols musician Sid Vicious and ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.- Conviction overturned -The onetime Miramax studio boss was charged with the sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006, the rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, and a new count for an alleged sexual assault in 2006 at a hotel in Manhattan. In 2020, a jury of New Yorkers found Weinstein guilty of two out of five charges — the sexual assault of Haleyi and the rape of Mann.But the conviction and the 23-year prison sentence were overturned in April 2024.In a hotly debated four-to-three decision, New York’s appeals court ruled that jurors should not have heard testimonies of victims about sexual assaults for which Harvey Weinstein was not indicted.Since his downfall, Weinstein has been accused of harassment, sexual assault or rape by more than 80 women, including actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong’o and Ashley Judd. Weinstein has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.Accusers describe the movie mogul as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actors and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.By Wednesday, nine jurors had been selected out of the required 12, not including the six alternates also needed.Several dozen prospective jurors have indicated they could not give Weinstein a fair trial because of what they know about the case. Judge Curtis Farber said he hopes to conclude jury selection this week, allowing the trial to get fully underway next Monday or Tuesday.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday denied in court that his company bought rival services Instagram and WhatsApp to neutralize them, as his testimony in a landmark antitrust case came to a close.The case could see the Facebook owner forced to divest itself of the two apps, which have grown into global powerhouses since their buyouts.During his third and final day on the stand in a federal courtroom in Washington, Zuckerberg took aim at the Federal Trade Commission’s main argument — that Facebook, since renamed Meta, devoured what it saw as competitive threats.The co-founder of Facebook responded “No” when asked by Meta attorney Mark Hansen if his intent was to eliminate rivals with the purchases of photo sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp.He explained that Instagram, purchased in 2012, was attractive for “its camera and photo sharing experience” but added that he “didn’t view it as a broad network really competitive with where we were.”As for WhatsApp, bought two years later, Zuckerberg testified that he saw the app as technically impressive but its founders as “unambitious” in terms of “maximizing the impact that they could potentially have.””I basically ended up pushing to add things,” he told the court.Zuckerberg testified that Facebook put its scale and resources to work building Instagram and WhatsApp into apps now used by billions of people.Former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg testified after Zuckerberg, echoing much of what he told the court.Meta has had to take on an array of rivals including internet colossus Google as internet competition has become increasingly competitive, according to Sandberg.”Every time you go on your computer or phone, you have a choice of what you spend your time on,” Sandberg said.”That’s what all these producers are competing for: your time and attention.”- TikTok as new threat -A key part of the courtroom battle is how the Federal Trade Commission convincingly defines Meta’s market for the judge.The US government argues that Facebook and Instagram are dominant players in apps that provide a way to connect with family and friends, a category that does not include TikTok and YouTube.Meta’s defense attorneys counter that substantial investments transformed these acquisitions into the blockbusters they are today. They also highlight that Meta’s apps are free for users and face fierce competition.The case was originally filed in December 2020, in the last days of President Donald Trump’s first administration.Zuckerberg, the world’s third-richest person, has made repeated visits to the White House as he has tried to persuade the president to choose settlement instead of fighting the trial.As part of his lobbying efforts, Zuckerberg contributed to Trump’s inauguration fund and overhauled content moderation policies. He also purchased a $23 million mansion in Washington in what was seen as a bid to spend more time close to the center of political power.Zuckerberg wrapped some 12 hours of testimony on Wednesday with an assessment of TikTok, which he said has emerged as perhaps the biggest competitive threat for Instagram and Facebook.Meta has seen the growth of its apps slow as the China-based video-snippet sharing sensation has boomed, so the US tech titan added a TikTok-like Reels feature to fire back in the marketplace, according to Zuckerberg.”That said, TikTok is still bigger than either Facebook or Instagram, and I don’t like it when our competitors do better than us,” he told the court.And as video has evolved into a favorite form of online media, particularly on smartphones, YouTube has become serious competition for Meta, the chief executive testified.

A US judge said Wednesday he had found “probable cause” to hold President Donald Trump’s administration in contempt in a deportation case, raising the stakes in the White House’s confrontation with the justice system.The White House said it planned an “immediate” appeal to the decision by District Judge James Boasberg, who had ordered the government to halt flights of more than 200 alleged gang Venezuelan members to El Salvador.Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order on March 15 to halt the deportations, which were carried out under an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which strips away the usual legal due process.In a written opinion, the judge cited evidence that the government had engaged in “deliberate or reckless disregard” of his order when it proceeded with the flights.”Defendants provide no convincing reason to avoid the conclusion that appears obvious… that they deliberately flouted this Court’s written Order and, separately, its oral command that explicitly delineated what compliance entailed,” he wrote.The administration’s actions were “sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg wrote.The judge said the government would be offered a final chance to “purge such contempt” or face further court action.Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has flirted with open defiance of the judiciary following setbacks to his right-wing agenda, with deportation cases taking center stage.”We plan to seek immediate appellate relief,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement after the judge’s ruling.”The President is 100 percent committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country.”- ‘Administrative error’ -In invoking the Alien Enemies Act — which had only been used previously during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II — Trump said he was targeting transnational gangs he had declared foreign terrorist organizations.That included the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua, but lawyers for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not gang members, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.Trump has routinely criticized rulings that curb his policies and power, and attacked the judges who issued them, including Boasberg.The Republican president said Wednesday that US courts are “totally out of control,” writing on his Truth Social platform: “They seem to hate ‘TRUMP’ so much, that anything goes!”His administration is also under fire over its admission that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living in the eastern state of Maryland and married to a US citizen, was deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador due to an “administrative error.”A judge has ordered Trump to “facilitate” his return, an order upheld by the Supreme Court, but his government has said the court did not have the authority to order it to have him returned.Trump has alleged that Abrego Garcia is “an MS-13 Gang Member and Foreign Terrorist from El Salvador,” while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that he was “engaged in human trafficking.” The man has never been charged with any crimes.