AFP USA

China said Tuesday it would impose tariffs on imports of US energy, vehicles and equipment, firing a return salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners Canada and Mexico, with goods from China hit with an additional 10 percent tariff on top of the duties they already endure.Minutes after they came into effect, Beijing unveiled levies of 15 percent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States, while crude oil, agricultural machinery, big-engined vehicles, and pickup trucks face 10 percent duties.China is a major market for US energy exports and according to Beijing customs data, imports of oil, coal and LNG totalled more than $7 billion last year.But that is dwarfed by China’s imports from more friendly powers such as Russia, from which it purchased $94 billion-worth last year.Beijing said the measures were in response to the “unilateral tariff hike” by Washington.The US decision, China said, “seriously violates World Trade Organization rules, does nothing to resolve its own problems, and disrupts normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States”.With that in mind, Beijing said it would file a complaint with the WTO over the “malicious” levies.Alongside its tariffs, China announced a probe into US tech giant Google and the addition of US fashion group PVH Corp. — which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — and biotech giant Illumina to a list of “unreliable entities”.Beijing also unveiled fresh export controls on rare metals and chemicals including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, and molybdenum, used in a range of industrial appliances.”I think the retaliation is not aggressive, as China only targets some US products, in response to the US tariff on all China’s exports to the US,” Zhang Zhiwei of Pinpoint Asset Management said in a note.”This is likely only the beginning of a long process for the two countries to negotiate”- Canada, Mexico deals -Trump has said his tariffs aimed to punish countries for failing to halt flows of illegal migrants and drugs including fentanyl into the United States.But he said Monday that he planned a call with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the next 24 hours.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had both earlier struck last-minute deals with Trump to tighten border measures against the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States, leading to a 30-day pause on threatened tariffs.Asian equities spiked Tuesday on news of the paused tariffs, and hopes that similar negotiations could relieve the levies against the world’s number-two economy provided extra optimism. However, traders pared some of those gains as China unveiled its measures.Markets had slumped Monday as Trump’s threat of sweeping levies on imports from Canada and Mexico sparked fears of a global trade war.The president said that after “very friendly” talks with Sheinbaum he would “immediately pause” the tariffs on Mexico, and that his counterpart had agreed to send 10,000 troops to the US-Mexico frontier.- ‘Not a trade war’ -Tensions appeared higher between the United States and Canada — but after two calls with Trudeau, Trump said on Truth Social that the prime minister had “agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl”.Trudeau said Canada would deploy nearly 10,000 frontline officers to help secure the border, list drug cartels as terrorists, appoint a “Fentanyl Czar” and crack down on money laundering.It was not clear the real extent of the changes on the Canadian border, given that authorities said in December they already had 8,500 personnel deployed.Canada, China and Mexico are the United States’s three biggest trading partners.The White House said earlier there had been a “heck of a lot of talks” over the weekend.”This is not a trade war, this is a drug war,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC, complaining that “the Canadians appeared to have misunderstood the plain language”.However, US government figures show that only a minimal quantity of drugs enter via Canada.- 51st state? -Ottawa had vowed to respond strongly to the tariffs.Canadians have booed the US national anthem at sporting events, cancelled holidays in the United States and boycotted American products.Its most populous province Ontario on Monday banned US firms from bidding on tens of billions of dollars in government contracts — and dumped a deal with Trump ally Elon Musk’s Starlink.Trump has upped the pressure recently by calling Canada’s existence into question — once again advocating on Monday for it to become the 51st US state.A political crisis in the Canadian government over Trump’s tariff threats led to Trudeau announcing last month that he would resign. Canadians now face elections as early as April.Mexico has meanwhile been under heavy pressure to secure its border with the United States as Trump vows a massive crackdown on undocumented migrants.burs-oho/je/dan

OpenAI chief Sam Altman signed a deal with tech giant Kakao in South Korea on Tuesday as the US firm seeks new alliances after Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the global AI industry.Kakao, which owns an online bank, South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app, and a messaging service, announced a partnership allowing them to use ChatGPT for its new artificial intelligence services, joining a global alliance led by OpenAI amid intensifying competition in the sector.”We’re excited to bring advanced AI to Kakao’s millions of users and work together to integrate our technology into services that transform how Kakao’s users communicate and connect,” said Altman.”Kakao has a deep understanding of how technology can enrich everyday lives,” he added.Kakao’s CEO Shina Chung said the company was “thrilled” to establish a strategic collaboration with OpenAI.Altman’s company is part of the Stargate drive announced by US President Donald Trump to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States.But AI newcomer DeepSeek has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.”Highly Aware”At a closed meeting with South Korean AI developers, Altman admitted OpenAI “hasn’t found a strategy yet” to respond to DeepSeek. When asked by an executive of Wrtn Technologies — a Seoul-based AI firm — about his plans for addressing the rise of open-source models such as DeepSeek, Altman said there is “definitely room for open source”.”We haven’t figured out a strategy yet, but we want to do more,” he added. Altman seems “quite nervous internally but it appears OpenAI is indeed highly aware of, and influenced by, DeepSeek’s impact”, said Kim Jang-hyun, a data science Professor at Sungkyunkwan University.. “With South Korea being a country known for its high loyalty, frequent usage, and tech-savvy user base,” OpenAI might use the country as “a testing ground before expanding globally”, Kim told AFP. Also on Altman’s agenda were meetings with two top South Korean chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, both key suppliers of advanced semiconductors used in AI servers.Altman met with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung in Seoul to discuss collaboration on AI memory chips, including high bandwidth memory (HBM), and AI services.He is also expected to meet with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong later Tuesday. Jaejune Kim, executive vice president of Samsung’s memory business, said last week that the company was “monitoring industry trends considering various scenarios” when asked about DeepSeek.DeepSeek’s performance has sparked a wave of accusations that it has reverse-engineered the capabilities of leading US technology.OpenAI warned last week that Chinese companies are actively attempting to replicate its advanced AI models, prompting closer cooperation with US authorities.OpenAI says rivals are using a process known as distillation in which developers creating smaller models learn from larger ones by copying their behaviour and decision-making patterns — similar to a student learning from a teacher.The company is itself facing multiple accusations of intellectual property violations, primarily related to the use of copyrighted materials in training its generative AI models.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday, as Israel and Hamas say they are ready for negotiations on a new phase in their fragile Gaza ceasefire.Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump returned to power last month, will discuss the truce’s future and efforts to end the Gaza war.Hours before their meeting, Netanyahu’s office said Israel would send a delegation to the Qatari capital Doha later this week for negotiations.”Israel is preparing for the working-level delegation to leave for Doha at the end of this week in order to discuss technical details related to the continued implementation of the agreement,” the office said in a statement following meetings in Washington between Netanyahu and Trump’s advisors, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.Hamas has said it is ready to negotiate the second stage of the ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.The next phase aims to secure the release of remaining hostages and lay out steps toward ending the war, which has devastated the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.- ‘No guarantees’ -The war broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.Trump has repeatedly touted a plan to “clean out” Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan, despite all those parties strongly rejecting his proposal.Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu said Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its confrontations with Iran had “redrawn the map” in the Middle East.”But I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” he said.The White House meeting promises to be a crucial one for a region shattered by war since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.Netanyahu hailed the fact he would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his January 20 inauguration as “testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance.”The Israeli prime minister had tense relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden over the growing death toll in Gaza, despite Biden’s steadfast maintenance of US military aid.But Trump, who has claimed credit for sealing the ceasefire after 15 months of war and prides himself on his dealmaking ability, will be pushing Netanyahu to stick to the agreement.He is also expected to lean on Netanyahu to accept a deal to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia, something he tried to do in his first term.Trump said Sunday that talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were “progressing” — but then warned less than 24 hours later that there that were “no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”- Unrest in West Bank -Witkoff — who met Netanyahu on Monday over terms for the second phase of the truce — said however that he was “certainly hopeful” the truce would stick.Trump’s sudden floating of a plan to move people out of Gaza — which he describes as a “demolition site” — has added uncertainty to an already tense and difficult situation.Trump said the plan could be temporary or permanent, but the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza was strongly rejected by Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians and ceasefire mediator Qatar.Under the Gaza ceasefire’s ongoing 42-day first phase, Hamas is to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.Four hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, and militants have freed 18 hostages so far in exchange of some 600 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.The truce has also led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, as well as allowing displaced Gazans to return to the territory’s north.Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.Israel has turned its focus to the occupied West Bank and an operation it says is aimed at rooting out extremism that has killed dozens.On Tuesday, the military said its forces killed an assailant who fired on troops near the city of Jenin in the West Bank.burs-jd/dv

China on Tuesday said it would probe US tech giant Google over violations of anti-monopoly laws after Washington slapped 10 percent levies on Chinese goods.Beijing’s State Administration for Market Regulation said the US tech giant was “suspected of violating the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China”.It has “launched an investigation into Google in accordance with the law” as a result, the administration said in a statement.It did not provide further details about the allegations against Google.The US tech behemoth’s core search engine and many of its services are blocked in mainland China, where US internet titans have long struggled with doing business due to the “Great Firewall” that blocks politically sensitive content.Google in 2011 abandoned its Chinese-language search engine in the mainland and transferred it to Hong Kong.By 2014, China blocked the last remaining way to access Google’s email service Gmail.Beijing also said Tuesday it would add US fashion group PVH Corp. — which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — and biotech giant Illumina to a list of “unreliable entities”.The move would “safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, in accordance with relevant laws”, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.”The above two entities violate normal market transaction principles, interrupt normal transactions with Chinese enterprises, and take discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises,” it added.China in September said it was investigating PVH for an “unreasonable” boycott of cotton from its Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused of widespread rights violations.AFP has reached out to all three firms for comment.The United States on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners, with goods from China facing an additional 10 percent tariff on top of existing duties.Trump said the measures aimed to punish countries for failing to halt flows of illegal migrants and drugs including fentanyl into the United States.

China said Tuesday it would slap tariffs on imports of US energy, vehicles and equipment, firing a return salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners including Canada and Mexico, with goods from China facing an additional 10 percent tariff on top of the duties they already endure.Just minutes after those tariffs came into effect, Beijing said it would impose levies of 15 percent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States.On Tuesday it unveiled 10 percent tariffs on imports of crude oil, agricultural machinery, big-engined vehicles, and pickup trucks.The new measures were in response to the “unilateral tariff hike” by Washington over the weekend, Beijing said.That US move, China said, “seriously violates World Trade Organization rules, does nothing to resolve its own problems, and disrupts normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States”.With that in mind, Beijing said it would file a complaint with the WTO over the “malicious” levies.Alongside its tariffs, China announced a probe into US tech giant Google as well as adding US fashion group PVH Corp. — which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — and biotech giant Illumina to a list of “unreliable entities”.Beijing also unveiled fresh export controls on rare metals and chemicals including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, and molybdenum, used in a range of industrial appliances.- Canada, Mexico deals -Trump has said his tariffs aimed to punish countries for failing to halt flows of illegal migrants and drugs including fentanyl into the United States.But he said Monday that he planned a call with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the next 24 hours.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had both earlier struck last-minute deals with Trump to tighten border measures against the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States, leading to a 30-day pause on threatened tariffs.Asian equities spiked Tuesday on news of the paused tariffs, and hopes that similar negotiations could relieve the levies against the world’s number-two economy provided extra optimism. However, traders pared some of those gains as China unveiled its measures.Global stock markets slumped Monday as Trump’s threat of sweeping levies on imports from Canada and Mexico sparked fears of a global trade war.Trump said that after “very friendly” talks with Sheinbaum he would “immediately pause” the tariffs on Mexico, and that his counterpart had agreed to send 10,000 troops to the US-Mexico frontier.- ‘Not a trade war’ -Tensions appeared higher between the United States and Canada — but after two calls with Trudeau, Trump said on Truth Social that the prime minister had “agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl”.Trudeau said Canada would deploy nearly 10,000 frontline officers to help secure the border, list drug cartels as terrorists, appoint a “Fentanyl Czar” and crack down on money laundering.It was not clear the real extent of the changes on the Canadian border, given that authorities said in December they already had 8,500 personnel deployed.Canada, China and Mexico are the United States’s three biggest trading partners.The White House said earlier there had been a “heck of a lot of talks” over the weekend.”This is not a trade war, this is a drug war,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC, complaining that “the Canadians appeared to have misunderstood the plain language”.However, US government figures show that only a minimal quantity of drugs enter via Canada.- 51st state? -Ottawa had vowed to respond strongly to the tariffs.Canadians have booed the US national anthem at sporting events, cancelled holidays in the United States and boycotted American products.Its most populous province Ontario on Monday banned US firms from bidding on tens of billions of dollars in government contracts — and dumped a deal with Trump ally Elon Musk’s Starlink.Trump has upped the pressure recently by calling Canada’s existence into question — once again advocating on Monday for it to become the 51st US state.A political crisis in the Canadian government over Trump’s tariff threats led to Trudeau announcing he would resign. Canadians now face elections as early as April.Mexico has meanwhile been under heavy pressure to secure its border with the United States as Trump vows a massive crackdown on undocumented migrants.The US president — who has said that the word “tariff” is the “most beautiful word in the dictionary” — is going even further in his second term on the levies than he did in his first.He has insisted that the impact would be borne by foreign exporters without being passed on to American consumers, despite most experts saying the contrary.But the billionaire 78-year-old did acknowledge as he returned from a weekend at his Florida resort Sunday that Americans might feel economic “pain”.burs-oho/je/fox

OpenAI chief Sam Altman inked a deal with tech giant Kakao in South Korea on Tuesday as the US firm seeks new alliances after Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the global AI industry.Kakao, which owns an online bank, South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app and KakaoTalk, announced a partnership allowing them to use ChatGPT for its new artificial intelligence services, joining a global alliance led by OpenAI amid intensifying competition in the sector.Altman’s company is part of the Stargate drive announced by US President Donald Trump to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States.But AI newcomer DeepSeek has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.”We’re excited to bring advanced AI to Kakao’s millions of users and work together to integrate our technology into services that transform how Kakao’s users communicate and connect,” said Altman.”Kakao has a deep understanding of how technology can enrich everyday lives,” he added.Kakao’s CEO Shina Chung said the company was “thrilled” to establish a “strategic collaboration” with OpenAI.Also on Altman’s agenda were meetings with two top South Korean chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, both key suppliers of advanced semiconductors used in AI servers.Altman met with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung in Seoul to discuss collaboration on AI memory chips, including high bandwidth memory (HBM), and AI services.He is also expected to meet with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong later Tuesday. Jaejune Kim, executive vice president of Samsung’s memory business, said last week that the company was “monitoring industry trends considering various scenarios” when asked about DeepSeek.DeepSeek’s performance has sparked a wave of accusations that it has reverse-engineered the capabilities of leading US technology, such as the AI powering ChatGPT.OpenAI warned last week that Chinese companies are actively attempting to replicate its advanced AI models, prompting closer cooperation with US authorities.OpenAI says rivals are using a process known as distillation in which developers creating smaller models learn from larger ones by copying their behaviour and decision-making patterns — similar to a student learning from a teacher.The company is itself facing multiple accusations of intellectual property violations, primarily related to the use of copyrighted materials in training its generative AI models.

From retaliatory tariffs on US goods like car parts and soy beans to controls on raw minerals essential for American manufacturing — analysts say China has plenty of options if it wants to reply to fresh US levies.US President Donald Trump over the weekend announced 10 percent tariffs on Chinese products, upping the stakes in a trade confrontation between the global superpowers that started eight years ago in his first term.Beijing in response warned there were “no winners” in a trade war and vowed as yet unspecified countermeasures.News that Canada and Mexico had agreed a deal with Trump to delay 25 percent tariffs on their goods was followed by his announcement that he would be holding talks with China “probably in the next 24 hours” to try for an agreement.But, as the threat of new measures continues to hang over Beijing, eyes are on what officials there have lined up as a response. With its economy still struggling with sluggish consumption and slow growth, observers expect China to keep its powder dry for now — at least until another round of tariffs that could do greater damage.”We expect China not to jump to immediate retaliation following the 10 percent tariff hike, but will keep the doors of negotiation and cooperation open,” UBS bank analysts wrote in a note.”We do not expect China to follow the same strategy as in the first round of tariff hikes in 2018-19.”Bilateral trade totalled more than $530 billion in 2024, according to US data, with exports of Chinese goods to the United States exceeding $400 billion. That was second only to Mexico.But that yawning trade imbalance — $270.4 billion in January-November last year — has long raised hackles in Washington.- Lesson learned? -Key US demands in the first trade war were greater access to China’s markets, broad reform of a business playing field that heavily favours Chinese firms, and a loosening of heavy state controls.This time around Washington has also called for China to crack down on exports to Mexico of chemical components used to make the synthetic opioid fentanyl, responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths a year. After long, fraught negotiations during Trump’s first term the two agreed what became known as the “phase one” deal — a ceasefire in the nearly two-year-old trade war.Beijing was quick to retaliate throughout that standoff — imposing tariffs of its own on everything from cars to soybeans, designed to inflict harm on Trump’s voting base in rural America.It also floated restrictions on exports of rare earth metals, of which China dominates global supplies and on which the United States remains heavily dependent.And should a new trade war escalate, “measures could include tariffs, export controls on critical minerals essential for US manufacturing, restricted market access to US firms operating in China, or the depreciation of the yuan”, Harry Murphy Cruise, head of China and Australia economics at Moody’s Analytics, told AFP.But he added Beijing may have learned its lesson from the first standoff.”The tit-for-tat trade war in Trump’s first term benefited no one; it made trade more costly and hindered growth in both countries,” Murphy Cruise said.- China’s weaker position -For now, analysts believe the latest measures won’t bite too hard. “The 10 percent tariff is not a big shock to China’s economy,” Zhang Zhiwei at Pinpoint Asset Management said in a note.”It’s unlikely to change the market expectation on China’s macro outlook this year, which already factored in higher tariffs from the US,” he added.And that could allow China to keep its powder dry in the event Trump’s first wave of tariffs are the prelude to a bigger showdown.The US president has ordered an in-depth review of Chinese trade practices, the results of which are due by April 1.That could serve as a “catalyst for more tariffs”, said Murphy Cruise, pushing Beijing to shift tactics. “This strategy of no retaliation may change if the US imposes additional significant tariffs later on,” UBS economists said.”In such a case, we think China may retaliate on a targeted basis and in a restrained manner, imposing tariffs on selected agricultural products, auto parts, energy,” they said.Experts added that China could also let the value of its currency devalue, increasing the competitiveness of its exports.Trump’s flagged talks with Beijing offer the two sides a chance to step back from the brink of a trade war that could hit hundreds of billions’ worth of goods.”China is looking to diffuse tensions,” Murphy Cruise said.”China’s economy is in a much weaker position this time around; it will be substantially harder to withstand a barrage of tariffs.”

Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump will discuss the future of the Gaza ceasefire Tuesday as the Israeli prime minister becomes the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the US president’s return to power.Netanyahu is in Washington for talks with the new Trump administration on a second, longer-term phase of Israel’s fragile truce with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has not yet been finalized.Trump has meanwhile repeatedly touted a plan to “clean out” Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to neighboring countries such as Egypt or Jordan, despite all those parties strongly rejecting his proposal.Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu said that Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its confrontations with Iran had “redrawn the map” in the Middle East.”But I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better,” Netanyahu said.The White House meeting promises to be a crucial one for a region shattered by war since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.Netanyahu hailed the fact that he would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his January 20 inauguration as “testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance.”The Israeli premier had tense relations with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden over the growing death toll in Gaza, despite Biden’s steadfast maintenance of US military aid.But Trump, who has claimed credit for sealing the ceasefire after 15 months of war and prides himself on his dealmaking ability, will be pushing Netanyahu to stick to the agreement.He is also expected to lean on Netanyahu to accept a deal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, something he tried to do in his first term.- ‘No guarantees’ -Trump said Sunday that talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were “progressing” — but then warned less than 24 hours later that there that were “no guarantees that the peace is going to hold.”Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — who met Netanyahu on Monday over terms for the second phase of the Gaza truce — said however that he was “certainly hopeful” that the truce would stick.Hamas officials have said they were ready to begin talks on the details of the second phase, which is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and could lead to a more permanent end to the war.But Trump’s sudden floating of a plan to move people out of Gaza — which he describes as a “demolition site” — has added further uncertainty to an already tense and difficult situation.Trump said the plan could be temporary or permanent, but the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza was strongly rejected by Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians, and ceasefire mediator Qatar.Under the Gaza ceasefire’s 42-day first phase, Hamas is to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.Four hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, and the truce has led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, as well as allowing displaced Gazans to return to the territory’s north.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,498 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.Israel has meanwhile turned its focus to the occupied West Bank and an operation it says is aimed at rooting out extremism that has killed dozens.

US President Donald Trump delayed the start of tariffs on neighbors Mexico and Canada for a month Monday — but China remained in the firing line for levies that are putting the global economy on edge.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both struck last-minute deals with Trump to tighten border measures against the flow of migrants and the drug fentanyl into the United States.Global stock markets had slumped as Trump’s threat of sweeping 25 percent levies on exports from Canada and Mexico to the United States sparked fears of a global trade war.Trump said that after “very friendly” talks with Sheinbaum he would “immediately pause” the tariffs on Mexico, and that his counterpart had agreed to send 10,000 troops to the US-Mexico frontier.Tensions appeared higher between the United States and Canada — but after two calls with Trudeau, Trump said on Truth Social that Canada had “agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl.”Trudeau said Canada would deploy nearly 10,000 frontline officers to help secure the border, list drug cartels as terrorists, appoint a “Fentanyl Czar” and crack down on money laundering.It was not clear the real extent of the changes on the Canadian border, given that authorities said in December they already had 8,500 personnel deployed.- Stocks slump -But China is still due to face a further 10 percent duty on top of existing levies.The US president said last-minute talks between Washington and Beijing were due in a bid to reach an agreement.His spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News “there is a plan for him to talk to President Xi in the next 24 hours.”Canada, China and Mexico are the United States’s three biggest trading partners.Wall Street’s three main indices fell sharply in early deals, but clawed back ground after Trump’s announcement of the Mexico deal. The London, Paris and Frankfurt stock markets finished in the red.The White House said earlier there had been a “heck of a lot of talks” over the weekend.”This is not a trade war, this is a drug war,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC, complaining that “the Canadians appeared to have misunderstood the plain language.”However, US government figures show that only a minimal quantity of drugs enter via Canada.- 51st state? -Canada had vowed to respond strongly to the tariffs.Canadians have booed the US national anthem at sporting events, cancelled holidays in the United States and boycotted American products.Its most populous province Ontario on Monday had banned US firms from bidding on tens of billions of dollars in government contracts — and dumped a deal with Trump ally Elon Musk’s Starlink.Trump has upped the pressure recently by calling Canada’s existence into question — once again advocating on Monday for it to become the 51st US state.A political crisis in the Canadian government over Trump’s tariff threats led to Trudeau announcing earlier this month that he would resign too. Canadians now face elections as early as April.Mexico has meanwhile been under heavy pressure to secure its border with the United States as Trump vows a massive crackdown on undocumented migrants.The US president — who has said that the word “tariff” is the “most beautiful word in the dictionary” — is going even further in his second term on the levies than he did in his first.He has insisted that the impact would be borne by foreign exporters without being passed on to American consumers, despite most experts saying the contrary.But the billionaire 78-year-old did acknowledge as he returned from a weekend at his Florida resort Sunday that Americans might feel economic “pain.”

Apple on Monday called a pornography app available for iPhones in the European Union a danger to children, saying landmark digital rules there allowed it to get on to its handsets via an alternative to its App Store.Apple had long fiercely protected the App Store as the lone gateway for digital content to get onto its popular mobile devices. But the company loosened its grip in Europe last year, after the EU said the terms prevented app developers from freely steering consumers to alternative ways to pay, and began allowing users to use other stores to purchase apps. The App Store does not allow porn — but the Hot Tub app is offered on AltStore PAL, one such alternative marketplace.AltStore billed Hot Tub as “the first Apple-approved porn app” in a post Monday on social platform X. The app made it through an Apple review process for security and functionality. “We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids,” Apple said when asked about the app by AFP. “Contrary to the false statements made by the marketplace developer, we certainly do not approve of this app and would never offer it in our App Store.”Apple last year became the first ever tech firm to face accusations of breaching a new EU law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA).It promised changes to comply with the DMA — including allowing developers in the EU to use alternative app marketplaces. – ‘All’ apps welcome -AltStore PAL launched early last year as an App Store alternative in the EU, according to a blog post by its creator, Riley Testut.”All apps are welcome, but I believe AltStore makes the most sense for smaller, indie apps that otherwise couldn’t exist due to App Store rules,” Testut said in the blog post.”We think iOS as a whole could benefit greatly from giving developers a chance to fully explore their ideas without arbitrary restrictions.”AltStore PAL initially charged users subscriptions of $1.55 (1.50 euros) annually to cover fees charged by Apple, but access became free in August after it received a grant from Epic Games, it said in a post on X. Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite game, has battled Apple in the courts to break its hold on the App Store.Epic and the European Commission did not immediately respond to a queries from AFP. “The truth is that we are required by the European Commission to allow it to be distributed by marketplace operators like AltStore and Epic who may not share our concerns for user safety,” Apple said of Hot Tub.Apple said that it shared concerns about the app with the European Commission in December.Apple has long argued that allowing “sideloading” of apps onto iPhones or iPads from places other that the App Store brings with it the risk of deceptive, dangerous and dubious digital content.