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The US civil aviation regulator ordered Saturday that all MD-11 cargo planes remain grounded for inspections, after one of them was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky this week.A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft operated by UPS exploded into flames when it crashed shortly after departing Tuesday from the airport in Louisville, killing at least 14 people. A three-person crew was aboard.Freight carriers UPS and FedEx later grounded their MD-11 fleets, while Boeing, which owns McDonnell Douglas, said it had recommended that all operators suspend their use of the planes.On Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency directive that “prohibits further flight until the airplane is inspected and all applicable corrective actions are performed.”The directive applies to the MD-11 and MD-11F models and says it “was prompted by an accident where the left-hand engine and pylon detached from the airplane during takeoff.””The agency has determined the unsafe condition is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design,” it said.On Friday, UPS said it had decided to “temporarily ground” its MD-11s “out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety.” It said the model accounts for around nine percent of its fleet.FedEx said Saturday it, too, had grounded its 28 MD-11s out of a total fleet of around 700 aircraft as it conducts a safety review.Both carriers said they were acting on a recommendation from the plane’s manufacturer. McDonnell Douglas originally made the MD-11 but was acquired by Boeing in 1997.Boeing said it had “recommended to the three operators of the MD-11 Freighter that they suspend flight operations while additional engineering analysis is performed.”The only other carrier using the MD-11 is Western Global Airlines.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said another crash victim had been located, bringing the total number to 14.”Please pray for these families, the Louisville community and everyone affected by this terrible event,” he said on X.- Trail of debris -The plane, filled with around 38,000 gallons (144,000 liters) of fuel for the long-haul flight to Hawaii, narrowly missed a major Ford vehicle assembly plant that employs about 3,000 people.Aerial footage of the crash site showed a long trail of debris as firefighters doused the flames, with smoke billowing from the area.Todd Inman, a member of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said this week that investigators had identified the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — known as a plane’s black boxes — and would send them to Washington for analysis.The crash was reportedly the deadliest in UPS history. Its main hub, Worldport, is in Louisville, where it employs thousands of people.According to the NTSB, the plane was built in 1991 and was modified into a cargo aircraft.The crash comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning this week of “mass chaos” in the skies due to a lack of air traffic control staff.Inman said the NTSB was not aware of any staff shortages at Louisville’s airport at the time of the crash.

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist.Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.It’s the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts.The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May.US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus “to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel”, a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP.The State Department’s decision Friday to remove Sharaa from the blacklist was widely expected.State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa’s government had been meeting US demands including on working to find missing Americans and on eliminating any remaining chemical weapons.”These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,” Pigott said. The spokesman added that the US delisting would promote “regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.”- Transformation -Sharaa’s Washington trip comes after his landmark visit to the United Nations in September — his first time on US soil — where the ex-jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.On Thursday, Washington led a vote by the Security Council to remove UN sanctions against him.Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July.Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.The White House visit “is further testament to the US commitment to the new Syria and a hugely symbolic moment for the country’s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,” International Crisis Group US program director Michael Hanna said.Sharaa is expected to seek funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of brutal civil war.In October, the World Bank put a “conservative best estimate” of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion. 

Rodrigo Paz, a pro-business conservative, took office Saturday as Bolivia’s president, ending nearly 20 years of socialist rule and inheriting acute economic woes.Paz, the 58-year-old son of a former president, drew applause at the swearing-in ceremony at the Bolivian seat of congress as a torrential downpour fell outside.”God, family and country: yes, I take the oath of office,” said Paz, who won a run-off election last month.In his inauguration speech, he said Bolivia would now be different and open to the world after two decades of leftist rule that many here blame for the country’s economic ills. Under Evo Morales, in office from 2006 to 2019, Bolivia took a sharp turn to the left, nationalizing energy resources, breaking ties with Washington and making alliances with China, Russia and fellow leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.In one of his first official acts, Paz restored ambassador-level diplomatic relations with the United States after a 17-year break — a rift that came after Morales accused the former US envoy of supporting a right-wing conspiracy.  “Never again an isolated Bolivia, bound by failed ideologies, or a Bolivia with its back turned to the world,” Paz said during a ceremony attended by delegations from more than 70 countries and local VIPs.  Paz will have to address Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in 40 years, with year-on-year inflation at more than 20 percent and a chronic shortage of fuel and dollars. Long queues for motorists seeking to fill their tanks have become a way of life.The outgoing government of Luis Arce exhausted almost all of Bolivia’s hard currency reserves to prop up gasoline and diesel subsidies.On the campaign trail, the Christian Democrat Paz promised a “capitalism for all” approach to economic reform, with decentralization, lower taxes and fiscal discipline mixed with continued social spending.He also promised to maintain social programs while stabilizing the economy, but economists have said the two things are not possible at the same time.

Freight carriers UPS and FedEx said they have grounded their fleets of MD-11 cargo planes, after one of them was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky this week.A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft operated by UPS exploded into flames when it crashed shortly after departing on Tuesday from the airport in the US city of Louisville, killing at least 14 people. A three-person crew was aboard.Both carriers said they were acting on a recommendation from the plane’s manufacturer to halt use of these planes. McDonnell Douglas originally made the MD-11 but was acquired by Boeing in 1997.”Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet,” UPS said Friday.”The grounding is effective immediately. We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” the courier added.It said around nine percent of UPS’s fleet are MD-11s.FedEx said Saturday it, too, had grounded its 28 MD-11s out of a total fleet of around 700 aircraft as it conducts a safety review.”With safety as our top priority, we recommended to the three operators of the MD-11 Freighter that they suspend flight operations while additional engineering analysis is performed,” Boeing said in a statement.Besides UPS and FedEx, the only other carrier using the MD-11 is Western Global Airlines.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said another crash victim had been located, bringing the total number to 14.”Please pray for these families, the Louisville community and everyone affected by this terrible event,” he said on X.- Trail of debris -The plane, filled with around 38,000 gallons (144,000 liters) of fuel for the long-haul flight to Hawaii, narrowly missed a major Ford vehicle assembly plant that employs about 3,000 people.Aerial footage of the crash site showed a long trail of debris as firefighters poured water on the flames, with smoke billowing from the area.Investigators have said the accident was caused by one of the engines catching fire and detaching during takeoff.Todd Inman, a member of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said this week that investigators had identified the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — known as a plane’s black boxes — and would send them to Washington for analysis.The crash was reportedly the deadliest in UPS history. Its main hub, Worldport, is in Louisville, where it employs thousands of people.According to the NTSB, the plane was built in 1991 and was modified into a cargo aircraft. McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997.The crash comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning this week of “mass chaos” in the skies due to a lack of air traffic control staff.Inman said the NTSB was not aware of any staff shortages at Louisville’s airport at the time of the crash.

UPS said Friday that it had grounded its fleet of MD-11 cargo planes, after one of them was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky this week.A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft exploded into flames when it crashed shortly after departing on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people. A three-person crew was aboard.Delivery giant FedEx has also grounded its fleet of MD-11s while it conducts a safety review, according to US media reports. The company did not immediately reply to an AFP request for confirmation.”Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet,” UPS said.”The grounding is effective immediately. We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” the courier added.The company said it had contingency plans in place “to ensure we can continue to deliver reliable service.”Around nine percent of UPS’s fleet are MD-11s, according to the company.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said earlier that another crash victim had been located, bringing the total number to 14.”Please pray for these families, the Louisville community and everyone affected by this terrible event,” he said on X.- Trail of debris -The plane, filled with some 38,000 gallons of fuel for the long-haul flight to Hawaii, narrowly missed a major Ford vehicle assembly plant that employs some 3,000 people.Aerial footage of the crash site showed a long trail of debris as firefighters blasted water on the flames, with smoke billowing from the area.Investigators have said the accident was caused by one of the engines catching fire and detaching during takeoff.Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said this week that investigators had identified the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — known as a plane’s black boxes — and would send them to Washington for analysis.The crash was reportedly the deadliest in UPS history. Its main hub, Worldport, is in Louisville, where it employs thousands of people.According to the NTSB, the plane was built in 1991 and was modified into a cargo aircraft. McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997. The crash comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning this week of “mass chaos” in the skies due to a lack of air traffic control staff.Inman said the NTSB was not aware of any staff shortages at Louisville’s airport at the time of the crash.

President Donald Trump said no US officials would attend the G20 summit in South Africa, reviving debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.Trump had announced in September that Vice President JD Vance would travel to the meeting later this month instead of him, but has now said that US representatives will skip it entirely.”It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.”No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”Trump said that Afrikaners — descendants of the first European settlers of South Africa — “are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.”He added that he looked forward to hosting the 2026 G20 summit in the United States — which the billionaire US president will controversially hold at his own golf resort in Miami, Florida.The South African foreign ministry called Trump’s comments “regrettable” and said it was looking forward to hosting a “successful” summit set for November 22-23.”The characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution is not substantiated by fact,” it said in a statement. Pretoria chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme for its G20 presidency but has faced some resistance, including from Washington.”South Africa’s focus remains on its positive global contributions,” the foreign ministry said.”Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, our nation is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity.”- ‘White genocide’ -Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, most notably on his false claims of a “white genocide” in the country.He ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval office earlier this year, playing a video in which he alleged a campaign against white farmers by the post-apartheid government. South Africa’s government denies any such policy.Trump’s administration announced plans last week to drastically cut back the number of refugees to be accepted annually by the United States to a record low of 7,500 — and give priority to white South Africans.The two countries have also fallen out over issues including South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court.Trump has meanwhile slapped 30 percent tariffs on South Africa, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday.Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies in October after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine.But while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for special treatment. As they heaped praise on each other, Trump said he was considering an exemption because landlocked Hungary had to rely on pipelines that made it dependent on Russian oil and gas.”As you know they don’t have the advantage of having sea,” Trump told reporters.Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after the meeting that Washington had granted a “full and unlimited exemption from sanctions on oil and gas.”But a White House official told AFP that Hungary’s exemption was only for one year. Hungary had meanwhile committed to purchasing US liquified natural gas worth around $600 million, the official said.- ‘Miracle’ -The Hungarian prime minister has maintained close ties with both Moscow and Washington, while often bucking the rest of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.Orban offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, although the US leader called it off in October and hit Moscow with sanctions for the first time in his presidency.At the White House, Orban pressed his case that Russian energy was vital for Hungary.”Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It’s a physical reality because we don’t have port(s),” Orban said.Washington has given firms who work with Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil one month to cut ties or face secondary sanctions, which would deny them access to US banks, traders, shippers and insurers.Orban also said it would take a “miracle” for Ukraine to beat Moscow, underscoring the gulf between him and other European leaders on the war.- ‘Respect Hungary’ -Trump meanwhile wholeheartedly backed Orban on the touchstone issue of migration, saying that the Hungarian’s European Union counterparts should show him more respect.Orban has long thumbed his nose at the EU over migration. He has also refused to send military aid to Ukraine and opposes Kyiv’s EU bid, and has had frequent run-ins with Brussels on the rule of law and other issues.”I think they should respect Hungary and respect this leader very, very strongly because he’s been right on immigration,” Trump told reporters.Trump, who has carried out a sweeping crackdown on immigration at home, again alleged a link between migrants and crime, which is not backed up by statistics in the United States.Orban visited his “dear friend” Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida three times last year, but the US president’s return to power has had a mixed effect on Hungary.Washington has withdrawn sanctions against top Orban aide Antal Rogan and restored the country’s status in a visa waiver scheme.But Trump’s tariffs against the European Union have hit Hungary’s export-oriented car industry hard, contributing to an already weak economy.Experts said the meeting with the US president was expected to give at least a “symbolic” win to Orban, who faces an unprecedented challenge to his 15-year rule ahead of elections next spring amid economic stagnation.

The United States and Israel on Friday accused Iran of trying to kill Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, with Tehran rejecting the claim as a “big lie” and the Mexican government saying it was unaware of the plot.The purported assassination attempt came as tensions soared to new highs between Israel and Iran, which have each attacked the other’s territory.Israel said Mexican authorities had intervened to stop the attempt to kill its ambassador, Einat Kranz-Neiger, but Mexico’s foreign ministry later said it had “received no information” on the alleged incident.Without naming the United States or Israel, Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, which oversees intelligence, said it was open to “respectful and coordinated cooperation, always within the framework of national sovereignty, with all security agencies that request it.”Kranz-Neiger, when asked by Mexican media about the conflicting statements, said she was “unaware of the reasons” of Mexico’s denial.”Those who acted to neutralize this threat were the Mexican security and intelligence authorities,” she told Radio Formula.Iran’s embassy in Mexico meanwhile called the alleged plot “a great big lie.”The objective “is to damage the friendly and historic relations between both countries (Mexico and Iran), which we categorically reject,” the embassy in Mexico posted on X.Mexico historically seeks non-intervention in international affairs and has taken a more cautious stance on the Gaza war than other leftist-led Latin American countries.Mexico has backed an investigation into allegations of Israeli war crimes but has also maintained diplomatic relations with Israel, which were established decades ago and have been largely cordial.- Alleged Venezuela connection -A US official said the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force initiated the plot in late 2024 and that it was disrupted this year.The plot allegedly included recruiting operatives out of Iran’s embassy in Venezuela, whose leftist president, Nicolas Maduro, has a tactical alliance with Tehran.”This is just the latest in a long history of Iran’s global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply worry every country where there is an Iranian presence,” the US official said on condition of anonymity.The official did not provide detailed evidence or say how the plot was contained.The alleged plot would have taken place after Israel’s April 1, 2024 attack on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, then a close ally of Tehran. The attack killed several top Revolutionary Guards officers and prompted vows of revenge by Tehran, which fired missiles and drones against Israel.A year later Israel carried out a much more extensive bombing campaign in Iran, which killed more than 1,000 people. The United States, Israel’s main ally, joined by bombing key sites of Iran’s contested nuclear program.Iran’s cleric-run state has been a critical supporter of Hamas, the armed Palestinian militant group in Gaza that carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.Israel responded with a relentless campaign that has left most of Gaza in rubble and expanded its military offensive across the region, hitting Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar and Yemen.Israeli intelligence has accused the Quds Force of plotting against Israeli and Jewish targets overseas.Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador over what it said was Iranian involvement in two arson attacks — against a synagogue in Melbourne and a kosher restaurant in Sydney.Latin America is not a stranger to violence linked to the Middle East. A bombing at a Jewish center in 1994 in Buenos Aires killed 85 people, with Argentina and Israel saying it was carried out by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah at the request of Iran.Iran remains home to a historic Jewish community despite the hostility to Israel by the cleric-run government that took power with the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In a week when the US Democratic Party finally showed some signs of life after a year of flatlining, one man proved he was already the picture of political health: Gavin Newsom.The telegenic governor of California took another big step towards cementing his place as de facto leader of America’s opposition — and the presumed frontrunner in the race to be the party’s White House nominee in 2028.California voted by a thumping majority to redraw congressional districts in Democrats’ favor, approving Newsom’s plan to counter similar gerrymandering that President Donald Trump ordered in Texas.The move aimed to level the playing field for the 2026 midterm elections, when Democrats hope to wrestle control of the House of Representatives from a Republican majority they say has done nothing to check a burgeoning White House powergrab.Newsom wasted no time urging other Democratic-led states to follow suit.”We need to see other states, their remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things, meet this moment head on as well,” he said moments after polls closed Tuesday, as the two-to-one margin of victory became clear. “We can de facto end Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it” should Democrats reclaim the House next year, Newsom added. “It is all on the line.”While there were big Democratic wins in New York’s mayoral contest and governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, Newsom’s gambit — and its potential national ramifications — was balm to a party that has floundered since being trounced in last year’s election.Getting the California redistricting vote off the ground in just a few months, then winning so handily — albeit in a Democratic-leaning state — left some party members impressed.”It shows that he can get stuff done,” Christale Spain, chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, told The New York Times.”Democrats want somebody to fight back. He’s pushing back and fighting back.”- ‘Light years ahead’ – Newsom, 58, is no party shoo-in for 2028, in part because he hails from a state Republicans love to knock as a bastion of progressive “wokeness.”And several Democratic luminaries are believed to be in the presidential mix, including multiple fellow governors: Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and JB Pritzker of Illinois, who like Newsom has punched back fiercely against Trump’s immigration crackdowns.But few politicians have undergone the kind of evolution that Newsom experienced in 2025.Days after Trump was sworn into office in January, the governor welcomed him to California, where devastating wildfires had torched swathes of Los Angeles, killing dozens of people and leaving thousands more homeless.While the two men’s enmity was never completely hidden, Newsom at least appeared to try a bipartisan hug that would keep the mercurial president involved in the costly recovery.At the same time, Newsom was inviting MAGA movement figures like Steve Bannon onto his personal podcast, hoping to reach the hard-right voters that almost instinctively detest him.But when Trump refused to engage and returned to bashing California, the governor switched methods and started hitting back.His social media accounts began mimicking the president’s all-caps hyperbole, mocking Trump’s boastfulness and his peculiar writing style.The turn delighted Democrats — and got attention nationwide.Then when immigration raids in Los Angeles sparked demonstrations that Trump met with a military deployment, Newsom doubled down.”What we’re witnessing is not law enforcement — it’s authoritarianism,” he said in June. “What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”Newsom now routinely warns that Trump is a danger to Americans — while continuing to mock the thin-skinned president; a governor’s release Friday on the defunding of food assistance showed Trump’s face superimposed on a portrait of Marie Antoinette.Newsom is betting that kind of in-your-face pushback is just what Democrats want.Strategist Matt Rodriguez told Cal Matters the governor was “light years ahead of everyone else” in the race for the 2028 Democratic Party nomination.”He’s the only one driving his own news,” he said. “Everyone else is like a moth to flame.”

US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban an exemption from sanctions to keep buying Russian oil on Friday, as the right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting.As Orban and Trump heaped praise on each other, the Hungarian nationalist said it would take a “miracle” for Ukraine to beat Moscow, underscoring the gulf between him and other European leaders on the war.Trump meanwhile wholeheartedly backed Orban on the touchstone issue of migration, saying that the Hungarian’s European Union counterparts should show him more respect.Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto hailed what he called the “major outcome” of the meeting, Orban’s first at the White House since Trump returned to power in January.”The United States has granted Hungary a full and unlimited exemption from sanctions on oil and gas. We are grateful for this decision, which guarantees Hungary’s energy security,” Szijjarto said on X.Trump had earlier said he would consider giving landlocked Hungary a pass because it has to rely on pipelines, leaving it heavily dependent on Russia despite EU efforts to wean it off.”As you know they don’t have the advantage of having sea,” Trump told reporters.- Canceled summit -Orban, who has often bucked the rest of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, pressed his case that Russian energy was vital for his country.”Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It’s a physical reality because we don’t have port(s),” Orban said.Hungary — the closest ally in the European Union of both Trump and the Kremlin — has also offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Trump called off the summit in October amid growing frustration with Putin’s refusal to end his invasion of Ukraine, and slapped Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions.Washington has given firms who work with Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil one month to cut ties or face secondary sanctions, which would deny them access to US banks, traders, shippers and insurers.- ‘Respect this leader’ -Experts say the meeting with the US president was expected to give at least a “symbolic” win to Orban, who faces an unprecedented challenge to his 15-year rule ahead of elections next spring amid economic stagnation.Trump told European Union leaders to show more respect to Orban, who has thumbed his nose at them over migration.”I think they should respect Hungary and respect this leader very, very strongly because he’s been right on immigration,” Trump told reporters.Trump, who has carried out a sweeping crackdown on immigration at home, again alleged a link between migrants and crime, which is not backed up by statistics in the United States.Orban visited his “dear friend” Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida three times last year, but the US president’s return to power has had a mixed effect on Hungary.Washington has withdrawn sanctions against top Orban aide Antal Rogan and restored the country’s status in a visa waiver scheme.But Trump’s tariffs against the European Union have hit Hungary’s export-oriented car industry hard, contributing to an already weak economy.Daniel Hegedus, central Europe director at the German Marshall Fund (GMF), had predicted that Trump would show some flexibility on Orban’s request on the oil sanctions.”I expect Trump will give a victory to Orban that he can sell at home and strengthens his position, as the administration actively supports political forces that divide the EU,” he said.Orban — who has refused to send military aid to Ukraine and opposes Kyiv’s EU bid — has had frequent run-ins with Brussels on the rule of law and other issues.burs-dk/des