TAIPEI -Taiwan officials held their first tariff talks with U.S. officials on Friday, with both sides looking forward to further discussions soon, the island’s government said on Saturday. While Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer facing tariffs of 32%, complained they…

SEOUL/HANOI – When Samsung Electronics chairman Jay Y. Lee met Vietnam’s prime minister in July, he had a simple message to convey. “Vietnam’s success is Samsung’s success, and Vietnam’s development is Samsung’s development,” Lee told Pham Minh Chinh, pledging long-term…

DUBAI – Iran and the United States will hold high-level talks in Oman on Saturday aimed at jump-starting negotiations over Tehran’s fast-advancing nuclear programme, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening military action if there is no deal. Iran is approaching…

LIMA -Newly implemented U.S. tariffs will have a moderate impact on Peru’s economy, the chief economist of the Andean nation’s central bank said on Friday. Peru, a major exporter of metals and agricultural commodities to the United States, now faces…

WASHINGTON – More than one hundred Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian military against Ukraine are mercenaries who do not appear to have a direct link to China’s government, two U.S. officials familiar with American intelligence and a former Western…

WASHINGTON – U.S. and Ukrainian officials met on Friday on a U.S. proposal to gain access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, a source with knowledge of the matter said, adding that prospects for a breakthrough were scant given the meeting’s “antagonistic”…

WASHINGTON – The World Bank is poised to announce a $12 billion financing package for Argentina on Friday, supplementing the International Monetary Fund’s expected approval of a $20 billion Argentina loan deal, a source with knowledge of the plan said….

BEIJING -Chinese President Xi Jinping will embark on a three-nation Southeast Asia tour next week in his first overseas trip this year to consolidate ties with some of China’s closest neighbours as trade tensions with the United States escalate. Xi…

DUBAI – Iran is giving talks with its arch foe the United States this weekend “a genuine chance”, the Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesperson posted on X on Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that Washington…

LONDON -Britain’s economy grew at a monthly pace of 0.5% in February, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday, well above economists’ expectations in a Reuters poll for an expansion of 0.1%. Gross domestic product in February…

BERLIN – German inflation eased to 2.3% in March, the federal statistics office said on Friday, confirming preliminary data. German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, had risen by 2.6% year-on-year in February.

TAIPEI -Taiwan is to be included in the first batch of trading partners to hold talks with Washington, President Lai Ching-te said on Friday, as his economy minister said the island could import over $200 billion worth of U.S. goods,…

GENEVA -Sweeping tariffs under U.S. President Donald Trump and countermeasures could have a “catastrophic” impact on developing countries, hitting even harder than foreign aid cuts, the director of the United Nation’s trade agency said on Friday. Global trade could shrink…

Venezuela’s national assembly on Thursday passed a decree proposed by President Nicolas Maduro’s government declaring a state of economic emergency in response to U.S. sanctions and tariffs. In March, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump began suspending authorizations for…

HONG KONG – Five senior members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, the city’s biggest and last remaining major opposition party, say Chinese officials or middlemen have warned the parties to disband or face serious consequences, including possible arrests. The Democratic…

MEXICO CITY – A U.S. citizen shot and killed on Wednesday a top state Mexican police officer in an elite unit known as “the Gringo Hunters,” which dedicates itself to arresting U.S. suspects who are fugitives in Mexico. Authorities say…

SEOUL – South Korea’s top trade envoy said on Friday his U.S. counterpart signaled a willingness to reach a deal over tariffs and that Seoul will negotiate in the best interests of the country despite a looming election, local broadcaster…

PARIS – French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it was naive and dangerous to think China could replace the United States as a trade partner, and urged European Union (EU) members to stick together in the current climate of global…

ABU DHABI – U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Friday that the United States could step up pressure on Iran and stop its oil exports as part of a plan to pressure Tehran over its nuclear programme. Wright, speaking…

BANGKOK – Thailand will cut tariffs on imports of corn from the United States, but volumes still need to be finalised, the finance minister said on Friday. The country is among those in Southeast Asia hardest hit by U.S. President…

BRUSSELS -Germany and Britain sent a message to Russia on Friday that Ukraine will be able to keep up its fight thanks to Western support, even as the U.S. pushed ahead with talks with Moscow. The European powers for the…

MEXICO CITY -Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday the country would immediately send Texas farmers a water delivery as part of a treaty that has recently strained tensions with the United States, though she did not specify a quantity….

GENEVA – The president of the Red Cross described the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Friday as “hell on earth” and warned that its field hospital will run out of supplies within two weeks. “We are now finding ourselves in…

SHENGJIN, Albania – Italy dispatched 40 failed asylum seekers to Albania on Friday to be held until repatriation to their home countries in vacant, Italian-run detention centres built for a stalled migration deterrent scheme. Italy built two facilities in Albania…

GAZA/CAIRO – Hundreds of thousands of Gaza City residents have lost their only source of clean water in the past week after supplies from Israel’s water utility were cut by the Israeli army’s renewed offensive, municipal authorities in the territory…

PARIS – Sales are brisk at the Villiers-Sur-Marne Harley-Davidson dealership outside Paris, where French bikers reckon they had better hurry if they want the American motorcycle of their dreams before trade war puts them out of reach. “It’s now or…

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON – Less than 48 hours after dining with a negotiator sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Washington last week, Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy leading talks with Moscow, sat down with President Donald Trump in the…