World News

Summary

The EU plans to fine Elon Musk’s X over $1 billion for violating the Digital Services Act by failing to control disinformation and illicit content.

This would mark the first major penalty under the new law and could trigger a legal clash with Musk, who vowed to fight in court.

Regulators say the fine aims to deter other platforms. Tensions with the U.S. are rising, as X also faces a broader investigation.

• China’s finance ministry on Friday said it will impose a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the U.S. starting on April 10.
• The ministry criticized Washington’s decision to impose 34% of additional reciprocal levies on China — bringing total U.S. tariffs against the country to 54% — as “inconsistent with international trade rules.”
• U.S. stock futures and European markets fell sharply on news of the reciprocal tariffs.

https://archive.ph/ZmcZJ

Germany has recently taken a chilling new step, signalling its willingness to use political views as grounds to curb migration. Authorities are now moving to deport foreign nationals for participating in pro-Palestine actions. As I reported this week in the Intercept, four people in Berlin – three EU citizens and one US citizen – are set to be deported over their involvement in demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza. None of the four have been convicted of a crime, and yet the authorities are seeking to simply throw them out of the country.

The accusations against them include aggravated breach of the peace and obstruction of a police arrest. Reports from last year suggest that one of the actions they were alleged to have been involved in included breaking into a university building and threatening people with objects that could have been used as potential weapons.

But the deportation orders go further. They cite a broader list of alleged behaviours: chanting slogans such as “Free Gaza” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, joining road blockades (a tactic frequently used by climate activists), and calling a police officer a “fascist”. Read closely, the real charge appears to be something more basic: protest itself.

As world leaders reacted to the US president’s “liberation day” tariff policies demolishing the international trading order, about $2.5tn (£1.9tn) was wiped off Wall Street and share prices in other financial centres across the globe.

World leaders from Brussels to Beijing rounded on Trump. China condemned “unilateral bullying” practices and the EU said it was drawing up countermeasures.

While Trump timed his Wednesday evening Rose Garden address to avoid live tickers of crashing stock markets, that fate arrived when Asian exchanges opened hours later.

Meta faces a $2.4bn (£1.8bn) lawsuit accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia after the Kenyan high court said a legal case against the US tech group could go ahead.

The case brought by two Ethiopian nationals calls on Facebook to alter its algorithm to stop promoting hateful material and incitement to violence, as well as hiring more content moderators in Africa. It is also seeking a $2.4bn “restitution fund” for victims of hate and violence incited on Facebook.

Summary

Donald Trump condemned France’s conviction of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, calling her four-year sentence and five-year political ban a “witch hunt” and likening it to his own legal battles.

Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling EU funds and plans to appeal.

Trump claimed the charges were politically motivated, calling them a “bookkeeping error” and urging France to “FREE MARINE LE PEN!”

He and allies like Elon Musk argue left-wing governments use the legal system to silence opponents. Le Pen’s National Rally party was fined $2 million.

It was the middle of the night when Zarin Gul realised that her daughter Nasrin had to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Her daughter’s husband was away working in Iran and the two women were alone with Nasrin’s seven children when Nasrin, heavily pregnant with her eighth child, began experiencing severe pains.

“I begged them, telling them my daughter was dying. I pleaded for their permission,” says Gul. “But they still refused. In desperation, I lied and said the rickshaw driver was my nephew and our guardian. Only then did they let us pass.”

By the time they reached the hospital it was too late. Nasrin’s baby had already died in her womb, and her uterus had ruptured. The doctors said Nasrin needed to be transferred to another hospital and so Gul helped her daughter into another rickshaw and they set off again, towards a government hospital an hour away. On their way they were stopped at two more Taliban checkpoints, each time detained for long periods because they were travelling alone.

They did finally reach the hospital, but Nasrin had not survived the journey. “The doctors told us that due to excessive bleeding and the ruptured uterus, both the baby and the mother had died,” says Gul. “We buried them side by side.”

Summary

European leaders condemned Trump’s new tariffs as “brutal” and “fundamentally wrong,” urging negotiations to avoid a trade war.

French President Emmanuel Macron suggested suspending new investments in the U.S. and hinted at targeting U.S. tech firms.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the tariffs “a major blow” and pledged countermeasures. The 20% U.S. tariff affects 70% of EU exports, potentially costing €80bn.

Leaders across the EU warned of economic damage and signaled readiness to retaliate.

The murders sparked protests in Messina, Rome and other Italian cities, including Bologna, on Wednesday night. Further events are planned on Thursday.

In March, Giorgia Meloni’s government approved a draft law which for the first time introduced a legal definition of femicide in criminal law, punishing it with life in prison while increasing sentences for crimes including stalking, sexual violence and “revenge porn”.

The law followed the strong public reaction to the killing of Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old student who was murdered by her former boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, in November 2023. Turetta was sentenced to life in prison in December.

Summary

Donald Trump warned the UK must accept chlorinated US chicken imports if it wants relief from new 10% tariffs on British exports.

The U.K. has long reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining high food standards, with polling showing 80% of Britons oppose a ch imports.

Critics argue chlorinated chicken stems from poorer production hygiene, with studies showing high bacteria rates in US chicken.

Farming advocates warn a US trade deal with lower standards would be "devastating for British farming."

> French President Emmanuel Macron called on Thursday for European companies to suspend planned investment in the United States

Summary

South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol for his unconstitutional martial law declaration in December, formally removing him from office.

Acting President Han Duck-soo will serve until new elections within 60 days.

The court ruled Yoon gravely violated democratic principles by using military force to obstruct parliament.

Yoon now faces criminal trial for insurrection. His removal sparked both celebrations and unrest, with 14,000 police deployed in Seoul. A Gallup Korea poll showed 60% supported his permanent removal.

In the upheaval of President Donald Trump’s blanket tariffs, China is seeking common cause with jilted partners of the United States as it tries to extend its influence and take center stage in a new trade order — rebuilt without Washington.

https://archive.ph/vWW6X

Summary

U.S. General Christopher Cavoli confirmed Ukrainian forces control part of Russia’s Kursk region and have expanded into Belgorod, marking the first official acknowledgment of Kyiv’s cross-border operations.

Speaking to Congress, Cavoli said Ukraine holds strong defensive terrain and has improved its manpower and training.

DeepState OSINT estimates Ukraine retains 140 km² in Kursk. President Zelenskyy earlier said Ukraine is reinforcing the border amid a potential Russian offensive.

Cavoli stressed that Ukraine is not destined to lose and is better positioned than last year.

Summary

A new Innofact poll shows 55% of Germans support returning to nuclear power, a divisive issue influencing coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and SPD.

While 36% oppose the shift, support is strongest among men and in southern and eastern Germany.

About 22% favor restarting recently closed reactors; 32% support building new ones.

Despite nuclear support, 57% still back investment in renewables. The CDU/CSU is exploring feasibility, but the SPD and Greens remain firmly against reversing the nuclear phase-out, citing stability and past policy shifts.

> The Constitutional Court of Korea ruled on April 4, 2025, to uphold the impeachment of South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, and remove him from office for imposing martial law on December 3, 2024.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s senate on Thursday rejected the two Supreme Court candidates that President Javier Milei nominated by decree earlier this year, dealing a major blow to the libertarian leader.

The congressional defeat could complicate the implementation of Milei’s radical state overhaul of Argentina, as analysts say the president had hoped to fill the Supreme Court vacancies with appointees who would rule favorably on challenges to his economic reforms.

Milei in February bypassed Congress to appoint two controversial Supreme Court candidates, invoking a clause in Argentina’s constitution that he said empowered him to fill the vacant seats during the legislature’s summer recess.

Politicians sharply criticized the move as an overreach of executive power, saying that a president has extremely limited authority to make judicial appointments during a congressional break.

“It’s a serious institutional conflict that the executive branch has initiated against the legislative and judicial branches,” said Sen. Anabel Fernández Sagasti from Unión por la Patria party, the hardline opposition bloc. “What we are discussing is an institutional assault.”

Both of Milei’s candidates — federal judge Ariel Lijo and conservative law professor Manuel García-Mansilla — had failed last year to secure the two-thirds majority required to confirm the candidates in the senate, where the president’s libertarian coalition holds just seven of the 72 seats.

Milei resorted to presidential decree to fill the two vacant seats on the five-judge court, testing the boundaries of his executive power as he has repeatedly done over the past year to overcome his minority in Congress.

> China said Friday that it will impose reciprocal 34% tariffs on all imports from the United States from April 10, making good on a promise to strike back after US President Donald Trump escalated a global trade war.

• Yoon ousted for violating constitutional powers, sparking political crisis
  • Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to serve as acting president until election
  • Yoon also faces criminal trial for insurrection charges

SEOUL, April 4 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted by the Constitutional Court on Friday, which upheld parliament's impeachment motion over his short-lived imposition of martial law last year that sparked the country's worst political crisis in decades.With Yoon's ouster, a presidential election is required to take place within 60 days, according to the country's constitution.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will continue to serve as acting president until the new president is inaugurated.

> The Iranian authorities are preparing to inflict the cruel and irreversible punishment of finger amputation against three prisoners as early as 11 April, following their torture-tainted convictions in unfair trials, Amnesty International warned today. The organization is calling on the international community to urgently press the Iranian authorities to end this spectacle of brutality. All Iranian officials responsible for ordering and/or carrying out these acts of torture must be criminally investigated and prosecuted.

> Latest displacement orders in Rafah and Gaza City have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee again.

> The restrictions also cover parts of Gaza City, where Israeli troops launched a new ground offensive on Friday morning to expand their “security zone”.

> These escalations have triggered one of the largest mass displacements of the war, pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – many already displaced multiple times – to flee yet again.

> On Friday, Israeli forces continued devastating aerial attacks, killing at least 30 people since dawn, according to local medical sources and Gaza’s civil defence agency. This followed an intense day of bombardment on Thursday that left 112 dead – many of them women and children.

Summary

Following fresh tariffs, Trump may escalate pressure on allies by leveraging America’s financial dominance.

Options include restricting dollar access via Fed swap lines or pressuring payment giants like Visa and Mastercard, risking disruptions in Europe.

Trump’s advisers suggest a “Mar-a-Lago accord” to force currency revaluations, echoing the 1985 Plaza Accord, though economists doubt its feasibility.

Such moves could strain global markets, weaken trust in the dollar, and provoke retaliation. European leaders are considering countermeasures, fearing economic coercion and financial instability.

> Fears of global recession rise as stock markets continue to fall after China responds to US president’s ‘bullying tactics’ > > Stock markets around the world plunged for a second day on Friday as China announced retaliatory tariffs of 34% on US imports, signalling a major escalation of a trade war ignited by Donald Trump and feeding fears of a global recession. > > “For all imported goods originating from the US, an additional tariff of 34% on top of the current applicable tariff rate will be imposed,” Beijing’s finance ministry said. > > China’s commerce ministry said that it would also impose more restrictions on the export of rare earths which are used in high-tech manufacturing such as batteries and electric vehicles. It added a further 16 US companies and organisations to its export control list, meaning that Chinese companies are restricted from doing business with them. > > China had previously promised “resolute countermeasures” against Trump’s tariffs, which slapped a 10% rate on all imports coming to the US, with extra levies for certain countries, including China. > > Wang Wen, the dean of Renmin University of China’s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, said: “China will never give in to Trump, but it does not exclude co-operation with the United States at the level of mutual respect and win-win co-operation. China knows that co-operation is not sought, but fought for.” Wang said that China’s response was “restrained” and limited to trade measures. > > However other analysts said that China’s response was forceful. > > Stephane Ekolo, a market and equity strategist for Tradition in London, told Reuters: “China comes out swinging with an aggressive response to Trump’s tariffs. This is significant and is unlikely to be over, hence the negative market reactions. Investors are afraid of a ‘tit for tat’ trade war situation.” > > Around 60% of duty-free packages coming into the US come from China. But those deliveries will, from May, be subject to a fee of 30% of the value of the goods, or $25, rising to $50 in June. > > China has also filed a lawsuit against the US with the World Trade Organisation. > > Archive link

> France this week warned that failure to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran could lead to war, further raising tensions in an already volatile region.

https://archive.ph/xt6hq

• Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco)

> Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk is quietly transporting fighter jet components to Israel, new documents suggest.

> The information is contained within cargo data reviewed exclusively by Declassified and The Ditch.

> The data exposes how goods from US Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth are being transported to Nevatim air base in Israel on two Maersk container ships between 5 April and 1 May.

BANGKOK (AP) — The head of Myanmar’s military government arrived in Thailand on Thursday for a regional summit, making a rare international trip as his country recovers from a devastating earthquake that killed thousands.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned by much of the West for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and subsequent brutal repression. He has not been allowed to participate in meetings of another regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, since the army seized of power in February 2021 and began violently suppressing opposition.

He is one of several regional leaders visiting Bangkok for a three-day summit of nations in the Bay of Bengal region.

It was Min Aung Hlaing’s first to a country other than his government’s main supporters and backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended a regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

He was greeted upon arrival at the airport by Thai Labor Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and later attended an official dinner for leaders of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

• A Reuters tally shows at least 21 politicians are on the app, with some boasting thousands of followers.
• "If you want to communicate with your electorate, you need to go where your electorate are and some of them are on Xiaohongshu," said Mr Laxale

Palestinian Territory – The nature of Israel’scrimes in the Gaza Strip must be denounced, particularly the crimes’ horrifying scope, methodical execution, and wide-ranging effects, which surpass those of armed groups like ISIS.

Israeli occupation forces detonated a robot today (Thursday 3 April 2025) rigged with tonnes of explosives in the heart of the densely populated Shuja’iyya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

The explosion occurred in an area packed with displaced civilians, though there was no military necessity and no combat activity in the vicinity.

This act embodies the conduct of existing terrorist organisations, even surpassing them in brutality and disregard for human life, and bears no resemblance to the conduct of a state bound by international law, regardless of any attempts to distort or evade it.