Author: AFP

The United States plans to end long-running military assistance for European countries close to Russia, as President Donald Trump’s administration pushes the continent to play a greater role in its own defense, media reports said Thursday.

The Washington Post quoted six people familiar with the matter as confirming the move, which the newspaper said would impact hundreds of millions of dollars in aid aimed at bolstering defenses against Russia.

The Financial Times also reported the news, saying US officials informed European diplomats last week about Washington’s decision to halt funding for programs to train and equip eastern European militaries along Russia’s border.

A White House official pointed to a January executive order by Trump on the reevaluation of US foreign aid but did not confirm specifics of the decision to cut security assistance.

“This action has been coordinated with European countries in line with the executive order and the president’s longstanding emphasis on ensuring Europe takes more responsibility for its own defense,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The decision to curb assistance for countries located near Russia comes as Trump struggles to end Moscow’s three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.

Trump has long been skeptical of both US defense spending in Europe and aid for Ukraine, pushing some of Washington’s closest allies to play a greater role on both fronts.

Turkish authorities Wednesday said they have banned a planned concert Friday in Istanbul by Enrico Macias after calls to protest the French singer’s pro-Israeli views.

The Istanbul governorate said in a statement that it had wanted to prevent any demonstrations on the sidelines of the concert “against the genocide of the terrorist state Israel in Gaza and its supporters”.

The 86-year-old singer told AFP that he has performed in Turkey for 60 years and is “deeply surprised and saddened not to be able to see my audience, with whom I have always shared values of peace and fraternity.”

Macias, who was born into a Jewish family in Algeria, has on several occasions defended Israel’s lethal response to Hamas’s deadly October 2023 attacks.

“My problem is that I can’t stand the violence of the terrorists,” he said in an interview on YouTube in August.  “And if there was violence on the Israeli side, it was because of Hamas,” he said, while saying he had “nothing against the Palestinians.”

Macias has lived in France since 1961, where he has contributed to the popularity of Arab-Andalusian music.

European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are to meet in Paris on Thursday in a new effort to pile pressure on Vladimir Putin after he vowed Russia will fight on in Ukraine if no peace deal is reached.

Frustration has been building in the West over what leaders say is the Russian president’s unwillingness to strike a deal to end Moscow’s three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.

The summit, to be co-chaired by the leaders of France and the UK, aims to firm up plans on security guarantees for Ukraine if or when there is a ceasefire, and get a clearer picture of US involvement.

However, Russia has heaped scorn on such assurances, and Putin himself has said Moscow is willing to “resolve all our tasks militarily” in the absence of an agreement.

“We are ready, we the Europeans, to offer the security guarantees to Ukraine and Ukrainians the day that a peace (accord) is signed,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday evening, speaking alongside Zelensky.

Macron said the details of the guarantees were “extremely confidential” but the “preparation was completed” at an earlier meeting of defence ministers.

European leaders have been tight-lipped about the nature of the guarantees, which are expected to include the deployment of European troops to Ukraine, training and “backstop” support from the United States.

Zelensky, for his part, said he was confident Kyiv’s allies would help “increase pressure on Russia to move towards a diplomatic solution”.

But he also added: “Unfortunately, we have not yet seen any signs from Russia that they want to end the war.”

Hours before the talks were due to begin, Russia’s foreign ministry said the notional guarantees for Ukraine were “absolutely unacceptable”.

“They are not guarantees of Ukraine’s security, they are guarantees of danger to the European continent,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the sidelines of an economic forum in Russia’s far east.

She added that Russia would not consider the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine “in any format”.

– ‘Alliance between Europe and US’ –

In an interview with French magazine Le Point published ahead of the summit, Zelensky said European security guarantees “might not be enough” to prevent Putin from starting a new war.

“We need an alliance between Europe and the United States,” he said.

The summit will be followed by phone talks with US President Donald Trump, to begin at 1200 GMT, and then a 1300 GMT press conference.

The gathering takes place following Putin’s high-profile trips to China and the United States.

Speaking earlier Wednesday in Beijing, where he attended a massive military parade alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin hailed his forces’ progress in Ukraine.

He said Russian troops were advancing on “all fronts” and had hobbled Ukraine’s army so much it could no longer mount an offensive.

In unprecedented scenes, Putin was pictured shaking hands and chatting with Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they walked down a red carpet by Tiananmen Square.

Last month Trump rolled out a red carpet for Putin in Alaska but those talks yielded no breakthrough.

Trump has indicated the United States could back up any European peacekeeping plan, but would not deploy US soldiers to Ukraine.

– ‘War criminal’ –

European leaders have been growing exasperated with Putin, sharpening their criticism and warning that the Ukraine war could last for many more months.

“Putin is a war criminal,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on X on Tuesday.

“He is perhaps the most severe war criminal of our time that we see on a large scale. We must be clear about how to deal with war criminals: leniency is out of place here.”

Macron last month called Putin “an ogre at our gates”, while his Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Russia could continue to wage its war against Ukraine “for as long as it can”.

“In a Soviet KGB culture, buying time and deceiving one’s partners and adversaries is part of a well-known Russian strategy,” Lecornu told French daily Le Parisien in a recent interview, referring to the main security agency of Moscow’s predecessor state.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin discussed life-prolonging organ transplants and immortality as they chatted before Beijing’s massive military parade this week, in comments picked up by state media microphones.

Historic images showed Xi shaking hands and speaking with Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they walked down a red carpet by Tiananmen Square, in scenes viewed as a challenge to US President Donald Trump.

“These days… 70 years old,” Xi said in Mandarin as he walked beside Putin and Kim, footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed.

Xi’s translator, conveying his remarks to Putin, is then heard in Russian quoting a line from a Tang dynasty poem: “In the past, it used to be rare for someone to be older than 70 and these days they say that at 70 one’s still a child.”

Putin then turned towards Xi, speaking while gesturing with his hands, though this is inaudible on the CCTV feed.

The same Chinese translator then relayed Putin’s remarks to Xi.

“With the… development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, people could get younger as they grow older, and may even become immortal,” Putin said, according to the translator.

Xi then spoke again in Mandarin as the camera cut away: “Predictions are, in this century, it may be… possible to live to 150 years old.”

Putin confirmed the exchange during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“Ah, I think it was when we were going to the parade that the Chairman spoke about this,” he told reporters, referring to Xi.

“Modern means — both health improvement and medical means, and then even all kinds of surgical ones related to organ replacement — allow humanity to hope that active life will continue not as it does today,” Putin added.

The Chinese and Russian leaders, both 72, have not expressed any intention of stepping down.

While Xi’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao relinquished power after 10 years in office, he abolished term limits in 2018 and in 2023 was handed a third term as Chinese president.

China said on Tuesday it was “shocked” by an Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital in which five journalists were among at least 20 people killed.

“We are shocked and condemn the fact that medical personnel and journalists have once again unfortunately lost their lives in the conflict,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said when asked about the strikes.

“We express our condolences to the victims and our sympathies to their families.”

Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera all issued statements mourning their slain contributors, while the Israeli military said it would investigate the incident.

The ongoing war in Gaza has been one of the deadliest for journalists, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the nearly two-year Israeli assault, according to media watchdogs.

“China is highly concerned about the current situation in the Gaza Strip,” Guo said, adding China condemns “all actions that harm civilians… including acts of violence against journalists”.

“Israel should immediately stop its military operations in Gaza, achieve a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire as soon as possible, fully restore the entry of humanitarian supplies, prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis, and work to ease tensions as quickly as possible.”

Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador on Tuesday, accusing the country of being behind antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

It marks the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.

Intelligence services reached the “deeply disturbing conclusion” that Iran directed at least two antisemitic attacks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Tehran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney’s Bondi suburb in October 2024, the prime minister told a news conference.

It also directed a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024, he said, citing the intelligence findings.

No injuries were reported in the two attacks.

“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said.

“They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman denied the accusations and vowed “reciprocal reaction” to any unjustified diplomatic measures by Australia.

Australia declared Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.

– ‘Web of proxies’ –

Australia also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.

The Australian diplomats were all “safe in a third country”, the prime minister said.

Australia will also legislate to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, Albanese said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time in the post-war period that Australia had expelled an ambassador.

Canberra will maintain diplomatic lines with Iran to advance the interests of Australians, Wong said.

Though Australians have been advised not to travel through Iran since 2020, Wong said Canberra’s ability to provide consular assistance was now “extremely limited”.

“I do know that many Australians have family connections in Iran, but I urge any Australian who might be considering travelling to Iran, please do not do so,” she said.

“Our message is, if you are an Australian in Iran, leave now if it is safe to do so.”

Australian spy chief Michael Burgess said a “painstaking” intelligence service investigation had uncovered links between the antisemitic attacks and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The probe found that the Guard directed at least two and “likely” more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia, said Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

– ‘Fanned the flames’ –

The Revolutionary Guard, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement in the attacks, he said.

Iran’s embassy in Australia and its diplomats were not involved, however, the spy chief said.

The Australian intelligence service was still investigating possible Iranian involvement in a number of other attacks, Burgess said.

The Jewish community may find some solace in the investigation breakthrough, said Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

“Yet there will be great anxiety that we have been targeted in such a callous and calculated way, by a ruthless and violent foreign force, because of who we are,” he said.

Last year’s fire at the cafe in Bondi gutted the outlet, although police initially said there was nothing to suggest it was a targeted attack.

The blaze at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was one of the most destructive in a string of antisemitic incidents following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The fire destroyed much of the synagogue, shocked Australians and was tagged by police as a “likely terrorist incident”.

– ‘Important move’ –

Any fallout from Australia’s actions against Iran was likely to be constrained by the two countries’ limited ties, said Australian National University counter terrorism expert Levi West.

“We don’t have any defence arrangements like we do with other Middle East countries or intelligence relationships,” he told AFP.

Israel’s embassy in Australia welcomed the government’s decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

“This is a step we have long advocated for,” it said in a statement posted on social media.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods over New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil, a key revenue source for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The tariff, set to take effect in three weeks, comes on top of a separate 25 percent duty entering into force on Thursday, according to the text of the executive order released by the White House.

The order also threatens potential penalties on other countries deemed to be “directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”

Exemptions remain for items targeted by separate sector-specific duties such as steel and aluminum, and categories that could be hit like pharmaceuticals.

Trump has been ramping up pressure on India after signaling fresh sanctions on Moscow if it did not make progress by Friday towards a peace deal with Kyiv, as Russia’s devastating invasion of its pro-western neighbor drags on.

India’s national security adviser was in Moscow on Wednesday, media in New Delhi reported, coinciding with a visit by US envoy Steve Witkoff.

India’s foreign ministry earlier said US pressure to stop it buying Russian oil was “unjustified and unreasonable” and that it would protect its interests.