Category: International

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that China would have approved a TikTok deal if Washington hadn’t imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports just days earlier. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs.”

The remarks came just two days after Trump slapped a 34 percent tariff on all Chinese imports, a move that prompted Beijing’s hesitation over the potential TikTok transaction. Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer by 75 days to avoid being banned in the United States, giving more time for negotiations.

The video-sharing app, with over 170 million American users, faces a possible shutdown under a US law passed last year unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Trump indicated his administration was close to brokering a deal that involved several investors, but he did not provide details.

ByteDance acknowledged ongoing talks with the US government but highlighted that several important issues remain unresolved. “An agreement has not been executed,” the company said, adding that any potential outcome would be “subject to approval under Chinese law.” The future of TikTok in the US remains uncertain as trade tensions continue to influence tech negotiations.

BANGKOK: Phatsakon Kaewkla was terrified when he returned home to see wide cracks in the walls of his Bangkok flat on the 22nd floor, which had been rocked by a powerful earthquake just hours before.

The 23-year-old Thai decided to stay away for two days until specialists gave the high-rise the all-clear because he felt unsafe in the edifice that had been devastated by the largest tremors to strike the capital in decades.

The sales coordinator is now one of many Bangkok residents wondering if they should seek safer housing in a city where hundreds of residential buildings were damaged by the 7.7-magnitude quake that struck neighbouring Myanmar on March 28.

The owners of Phatsakon’s condominium assured him that engineers had checked every part of the building and concluded it was habitable.

But he is still spooked about the cracks.

“I feel a little bit scared. And also my mum told me to move out from here,” he said.

Over 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away from the epicentre, the Thai capital — its skyline dotted with hundreds of towers and glinting high-rises — virtually never experiences such tremors.

Bangkok-based real estate consultant Owen Zhu, 40, told AFP that the impact on his sector had been “significant”.

“People seem to have realised that living in high-rise buildings might carry greater risks when it comes to earthquake resistance compared to two-story or low-rise structures,” the Chinese property expert said.

The earthquake prompted a flurry of enquiries from residents looking to relocate in the past week, he says, due to widespread “fear and anxiety” of living far above ground.

‘Gap in perception’

Yigit Buyukergun from Turkey was at home in Bangkok with his wife when the quake struck. After it subsided, they emerged from under a table to inspect the damage on their 22nd-floor flat.

“Everywhere is cracked, especially in the corridor. You can see all the roof is really bad condition,” the 25-year-old said.

Despite Buyukergun’s safety concerns, the owners of the block seemed unfazed.

They say it is “100% safe, but I don’t believe it,” he said.

A large number of studio apartments in Bangkok’s sprawling residential projects are rented out on annual leases requiring a two-month deposit.

Most condos do not permit short-term rentals for security reasons, and only hotels may lease for under 30 days.

Zhu says tenants and property owners often disagree over the habitability of quake-damaged apartments, with disputes becoming more common.

There is “a gap in perception and judgment between the two parties,” he told AFP.

“The landlord sees the unit as safe, while the tenant feels it’s unsafe and insists on moving out and getting their deposit back”.

Raising the bar

Earthquake safety standards for buildings in Thailand were “not particularly strict” before the disaster and not something property-seeking clients specifically asked about, Zhu said.

Heightening anxiety since the quake was the shocking total collapse of a 30-storey construction in Bangkok that trapped dozens of workers, most of whom remain unaccounted for over a week later.

City authorities are now investigating whether substandard building materials had been used in its construction.

Zhu says more of his clients are now opting for low-rises.

For house hunters still considering high-rises, they often require that the property sustained “minimal or no damage during the recent earthquake, or at least was not severely affected”.

He believes property prices will grow in the long-term as demand for safer buildings drives the adoption of costly seismic resistance measures, adding that “the bar for Thailand’s real estate sector has been raised”.

But for Buyukergun, talk of improving building regulations is not enough to calm his fears about the uncontrollable factors of geology.

While the prevalence of earthquakes in his home country of Turkey made him feel uneasy, he had not expected to feel the same way about Thailand.

“Thailand is safe,” he recalled thinking before.

“That’s why I couldn’t believe (the) earthquake (happened).”

TEXAS: Recent reports have revealed a wave of sudden visa cancellations of international students at prestigious universities in the United States, triggering significant anxiety among affected students.

Many of those impacted are Muslim and South Asian. Institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Texas in Austin have seen dozens of student visas revoked.

Other major universities, including the University of Michigan and multiple campuses of the University of California, such as Berkeley, San Diego, Irvine, Davis, and UCLA, are also affected.

At UCLA alone, six current students and six recent graduates have had their visas cancelled, while at UC Berkeley, one undergraduate, three graduate students, and two alumni were impacted.

At the University of Michigan, one student whose identity has not been disclosed has already left the country following the visa revocation, with the university pledging full support to ensure their academic progress continues.

The University of California has stated that it is closely monitoring the situation and offering legal and institutional support to those affected.

Harvard confirmed the revocation of visas for three current students and two recent graduates, while Stanford reported similar action against four students and two alumni.

In most cases, neither the universities nor the students were given prior notice, and the cancellations were discovered during routine checks of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

While the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security have not officially commented on these actions, former Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that more than 300 international student visas have been cancelled nationwide.

He suggested that many of these students were involved in political activism, particularly pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

At UCLA, Chancellor Julio Frenk assured students that the university stands by its international community, supporting their rights to study, work, and live without fear. He acknowledged that the sudden nature of these cancellations has created immense uncertainty and distress.

Similarly, seven international students at Ohio State University have had their visas revoked, and four students at the University of Michigan were affected, one of whom had to leave the US upon the university’s advice. These revocations are believed to be part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration targeting politically active international students.

University officials, human rights advocates, and student organisations have raised serious concerns about the lack of due process in these visa cancellations.

In many cases, visas were revoked without formal notification or any legal proceedings, undermining the principles of fair treatment and transparency.

International students, many of whom contribute significantly to academics, research, and campus life, are now facing a heightened sense of vulnerability.

This evolving situation demands that both the US government and academic institutions provide clarity and ensure a fair and transparent process for international students.

The current climate is sending a troubling message to the global academic community: that studying in the United States may no longer be as safe or welcoming, especially for those who choose to express their beliefs or engage in peaceful activism.

The US Supreme Court has temporarily halted a lower court’s order requiring the return of a Salvadoran man who had been deported, granting an emergency request from the Trump administration. 

Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to pause the ruling, which had set a deadline of midnight on Monday for Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be brought back to the United States.

Mr Garcia, 29, was deported to El Salvador on 15 March in what the US government describes as an “administrative error”. However, officials have also alleged that he is affiliated with the MS-13 gang – a claim his lawyer strongly denies.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the administration argued that the Maryland-based judge who issued the order lacked the authority to do so and stated that the US government could not compel the sovereign nation of El Salvador to act.

“The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding,” wrote US Solicitor General D John Sauer in court filings. He added: “The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal.”

Mr Garcia is currently held in El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), along with hundreds of others deported over suspected gang or criminal involvement. His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura – a US citizen – has called for his release.

Though a judge granted Mr Garcia deportation protection in 2019, his removal still occurred. “The equivalent of a forcible expulsion,” said the family’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.

US District Judge Paula Xinis, who issued the return order, later ruled that Mr Garcia was held “without legal basis” and that the administration acted “without any lawful authority”.

The Supreme Court’s decision came just hours before the deadline, which the Trump administration had described as “impossible” to meet.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the government lawyer involved, Erez Reuveni, had been placed on paid leave over his handling of the case.

At least 20 people have died in a fire at a nursing home in northern China´s Hebei province, Beijing’s news agency Xinhua said Wednesday.

According to the Chinese news agency, the fire broke out around 9:00pm Tuesday at the nursing home in Longhua County, roughly 180 kilometres northeast of the Chinese capital, Beijing.

As of 3:00am Wednesday, it added, 20 people were confirmed dead.

“Other elderly people in the nursing home have been transferred to nearby hospitals for further observation and treatment,” the Chinese news agency said.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, it said.

Deadly fires are relatively common in China due to lax building codes and an often slipshod approach to workplace safety.

In January, a fire at a vegetable market in Zhangjiakou city, northwest of Beijing, killed eight people and injured 15.

A month before that, nine people died in a fire at a construction site in eastern China’s Rongcheng city.

TAIPEI: A deep, 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan’s rural northeastern county of Yilan on Wednesday, the island’s weather administration said, with no reports of damage.

The quake, which shook buildings in capital Taipei, had a depth of 72.4km (45 miles), the weather administration said.

Taiwan’s fire department said there had been no damage reported, including at the island’s science parks where much of Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing takes place.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes.

Taiwan’s last major earthquake was in April of last year, a 7.2 magnitude temblor that hit the east coast county of Hualien, killing at least 13 people.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, and a 7.3 magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.

Since then, Taiwan has updated and enhanced its building code to incorporate quake-resistant construction methods, such as steel bars that allow a building to sway more easily when the ground moves.

Famous for its cutting-edge tech firms, Taiwan has built up an advanced early warning system that can alert the public to potentially serious ground shaking within seconds.

The system has been enhanced over the years to incorporate new tools such as smartphones and high-speed data connectivity, even in some of the most remote parts of the island.

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— With additional input from AFP

Clean energy sources accounted for 40.9% of the world’s electricity in 2024, according to a new report by energy think tank Ember. This is the highest share since the 1940s, when hydroelectric stations dominated a smaller global energy market.

Despite this milestone, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have reached a record high of 14.6 billion tonnes. Hotter weather, which drove up demand for air conditioning, led to a 4% increase in electricity use—prompting more reliance on fossil fuel power stations.

“Solar power has become the engine of the global energy transition,” said Phil Macdonald, Ember’s managing director. “Hotter weather drove the fossil generation increase in 2024, but we’re very unlikely to see a similar jump in 2025.”

Solar power remains the fastest-growing source of electricity for the 20th consecutive year, with output doubling every three years since 2012. China leads the charge, contributing over half of the global solar increase, while India doubled its solar capacity between 2023 and 2024.

However, solar still only makes up just under 7% of the global electricity supply—roughly enough to power all of India. Wind accounts for a little over 8%, while hydropower, the largest clean source, contributes 14%. Nuclear energy makes up about 9%.

Though renewables are expanding quickly, they haven’t yet overtaken rising energy demands—particularly in rapidly growing Asian economies like India and China, which still rely heavily on coal and gas.

Fossil fuel use climbed by 1.4% last year, with coal making up 34% of global generation and gas contributing 22%.

The European Copernicus climate service also reported that March 2025 was the second hottest on record, extending an ongoing pattern of high global temperatures.

Ember had previously forecast that CO2 emissions would soon begin to decline, but rising electricity consumption continues to delay that shift.

The report underscores a key tension in the global energy transition: while clean energy is growing, it’s not yet outpacing the demand that still fuels fossil energy.

Most Americans anticipate rising prices in the wake of Donald Trump’s recent announcement of broad new import tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

In the three-day poll, concluded Sunday, 73% of respondents said they expected prices to rise in the next six months for the goods they purchase regularly. Only 4% believed prices would fall, with others unsure or expecting no change.

Last week, Trump proposed the most significant tariff hikes in decades, imposing at least a 10% tax on imports from almost every nation. The decision sparked fears of inflation and recession, with many economists and investors expressing alarm.

57% of those surveyed said they opposed the tariffs—including 25% of Republicans. Support stood at 39%, while 52% agreed with Trump’s view that the US has been exploited by its trade partners.

Despite that agreement, 44% of respondents disagreed with Trump’s assertion that new trade barriers will revitalise US manufacturing.

The poll showed clear political divisions: Half of respondents, nearly all of whom were Republicans, agreed that “any short-term economic pain is worth it to make the U.S. stronger in the long term.” Most Democrats took the opposite stance.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online across the US and surveyed 1,027 adults. The margin of error is approximately 3 percentage points.

The number of recorded executions worldwide rose to the highest level in a decade in 2024, according to Amnesty International, BBC reported. 

In its Death Sentences and Executions 2024 report, the human rights group said at least 1,500 people were executed last year—the most since 2015.

Three countries were primarily responsible for the increase: Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which together accounted for at least 1,380 executions. The United States carried out 25.

Despite this rise, the number of countries known to have executed people dropped to 15—the lowest ever recorded, and unchanged from 2023.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s Secretary General, said: “The tide is turning on capital punishment… it is only a matter of time until the world is free from the shadow of the gallows.”

The report highlights major increases in Iran, where executions jumped from 853 in 2023 to 972 last year; Iraq, which saw a rise from 16 to 63; and Saudi Arabia, which doubled its tally from 172 to 345.

Amnesty warned that over 40% of the global executions in 2024 were for drug-related crimes—something it says breaches international human rights law. The organisation also raised alarm over governments using the death penalty as a political tool to target protesters.

The true global figure is likely much higher, the report noted, due to lack of access to reliable data from countries like China, North Korea and Vietnam. In China and Vietnam, execution data is classified as a state secret.

Conflict zones and highly controlled states, including Gaza and Syria, also pose barriers to collecting accurate figures.

There were positive signs too. Zimbabwe passed legislation in 2024 to abolish the death penalty for ordinary crimes. Amnesty also noted cases of death row inmates receiving clemency in Japan and the US.

More than two-thirds of UN member states voted in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty last year, bolstering international momentum against capital punishment.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, United States President Donald Trump revealed that the US and Iran are set to begin direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme on Saturday. 

While Iran’s foreign minister said the discussions in Oman would be indirect, Trump warned that if the talks are unsuccessful, “Iran is going to be in great danger”, indicating a further sign of the difficult path to any deal between the two geopolitical foes.

Recently, Iran had pushed back against Trump’s demands that it directly negotiate over its nuclear programme or be bombed, and it appeared to be sticking to that position on Monday.

“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” Trump said. He added that Saturday’s talks with Iran would be at a very high level, without elaborating. He declined to say where the talks would take place but held out the possibility that a deal could be reached.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on X that indirect high-level talks would be held in Oman, adding: “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.”

The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden’s term but made little progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.

Warnings by Trump of military action against Iran had jangled already tense nerves across the Middle East after open warfare in the region, a change of leadership in Syria.

Trump, who has beefed up the US military presence in the region since taking office in January, has said he would prefer a deal over Iran’s nuclear programme to armed confrontation and, on March 7, said he had written to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to suggest talks.

Iranian officials said at the time that Tehran would not be bullied into negotiations.

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.

Direct talks would not occur without the explicit approval of Khamenei, who in February said negotiations with the US were “not smart, wise, or honourable.”

Iran insists on indirect negotiations

Hours before Trump’s announcement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that Iran was awaiting a US response to Tehran’s proposal for indirect negotiations. He said the Islamic Republic believed it was making a generous, responsible and honourable offer.

After Trump spoke, a senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “The talks will not be direct … It will be with Oman’s mediation.” Oman, which maintains good relations with both the US and Iran, has been a longtime channel for messages between the rival states.

Iran’s Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, described Trump’s statement about a planned direct meeting as part of a “psychological operation aimed at influencing domestic and international public opinion.”

A second Iranian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said over the weekend there was possibly a window of around two months to reach a deal, citing worries that Iran’s longtime foe Israel might launch its attack if talks took longer.

Netanyahu, who has shown little support for US negotiations with Iran, said if diplomacy could prevent Tehran from ever getting nuclear weapons “in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”

During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran’s sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment.

Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons capability by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say is justifiable for a civilian atomic energy programme.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes.

The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for details.

The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another key Iranian ally, has further weakened the Islamic Republic’s influence.