ֱ

Trump says newly created US sovereign wealth fund could buy TikTok

Update Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, from left, speaks as President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listen in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, from left, speaks as President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listen in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 03 February 2025

Trump says newly created US sovereign wealth fund could buy TikTok

Trump says newly created US sovereign wealth fund could buy TikTok
  • Trump signed executive order to create sovereign wealth fund
  • TikTok, which has about 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing the US to take steps to start developing a government-owned investment fund that he said could be used to profit off of TikTok if he’s successful at finding it an American buyer.
Trump signed an order on his first day office to grant the Chinese-owned TikTok until early April to find a domestic partner or buyer, but he’s said he’s looking for the US to take a 50 percent stake in the massive social media platform. He said Monday in the Oval Office that TikTok was an example of what he could put in a new US sovereign wealth fund.
“We might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make or we do a partnership with very wealthy people, a lot of options,” he said of TikTok. “But we could put that as an example in the fund. We have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund.”
Trump noted many other nations have such investment funds and predicted that the US could eventually top ֱ’s fund size. “Eventually we’ll catch it,” he promised.
Trump put Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in charge of laying the groundwork for creating a the fund, which would likely require congressional approval.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration had studied the possibility of creating a sovereign wealth fund for national security investments, but the idea did not yield any concrete action before he left office last month.
Bessent said the administration’s goal was to have the fund open within the next 12 months, and Lutnick said another use of the fund could have been for the government to take an profit-earning stake in vaccine manufacturers.
“The extraordinary size and scale of the USgovernment and the business it does with companies should create value for American citizens,” Lutnick told reporters.


Marseille knife attacker ‘not radicalized’: French prosecutors

Marseille knife attacker ‘not radicalized’: French prosecutors
Updated 8 sec ago

Marseille knife attacker ‘not radicalized’: French prosecutors

Marseille knife attacker ‘not radicalized’: French prosecutors
  • Abdelkader Dibi, a 35-year-old Tunisian, stabbed several people on Tuesday at a hotel that had evicted him for non-payment
  • Police said Dibi was suffering from “psychiatric disorders” and was known “his violence and his addiction to both cocaine and alcohol”

MARSEILLE: French prosecutors on Wednesday said that a man who wounded five people before being shot dead by police in the southern port of Marseille was “not radicalized” but suffering from “psychiatric disorders.”
Abdelkader Dibi, a 35-year-old Tunisian, stabbed several people on Tuesday at a hotel that had evicted him for non-payment, then attacked several others on a busy shopping street.
The national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office would not handle the case even though the man shouted “Allah akbar” (God is great) several times before being shot by police, Marseille public prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told reporters.
Bessone said Dibi was screened for possible radicalization after an earlier incident in June when he allegedly made antisemitic comments. “The individual did not appear to be radicalized but was suffering from psychiatric disorders,” the prosecutor said.
Dibi was known for “his violence and his addiction to both cocaine and alcohol,” the prosecutor added, saying he had a conviction for violence with a weapon against a nephew in 2023.
The Tunisian government described the killing of Dibi as an “unjustified murder.” The country’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the French embassy’s charge d’affaire to present a “strong protest.”
Three victims stabbed during Tuesday’s attack are out of danger, including a person who shared a room with Dibi and was stabbed in the heart.
A police patrol intervened and ordered Dibi to drop his weapons, but opened fire when he refused, the prosecutor said.
 


Trump says China should have mentioned US during ‘beautiful ceremony’

Trump says China should have mentioned US during ‘beautiful ceremony’
Updated 2 min 32 sec ago

Trump says China should have mentioned US during ‘beautiful ceremony’

Trump says China should have mentioned US during ‘beautiful ceremony’
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping has made the 80th anniversary of the war’s end a major showcase for his government and its close ties with countries at odds with Washington

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China’s “beautiful ceremony” marking the end of World War Two should have highlighted the role that the US played in Japan’s defeat.
“I thought it was a beautiful ceremony. I thought it was very, very impressive,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, hours after he suggested on social media that foreign leaders meeting in Beijing might be conspiring against the US.
“I watched the speech last night. President Xi is a friend of mine, but I thought that the United States should have been mentioned last night during that speech, because we helped China very, very much.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made the 80th anniversary of the war’s end a major showcase for his government and its close ties with countries at odds with Washington.
Flanked by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Xi spoke before a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators at Tiananmen Square. He surveyed a parade of goose-stepping troops and cutting-edge military equipment aimed at deterring would-be adversaries including the United States.
Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 was a major escalation in fighting that would lead to World War Two, and Japan’s surrender in 1945 marked the end of the conflict. The US joined the war in 1941, aiding Chinese forces fighting the Japanese military and playing a decisive role in Japan’s defeat.
Deploying history to wage present-day political battles, Xi has cast World War Two as a major turning point in the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” now ruled by his Chinese Communist Party, and its allies.
On Wednesday, Xi thanked “the foreign governments and international friends who supported and assisted the Chinese people,” according to an official. But he did not dwell on the role of the United States in the war.
US-China relations are at a tense moment. The two sides are at odds on a range of security issues, from Ukraine to the South China Sea, and are wrangling over a broad trade deal to stave off tariffs on each other’s goods.
But Trump has repeatedly touted a positive personal relationship with Xi that his aides say can steer the world’s two largest economies in a constructive direction. He has also said he might soon meet with Xi.
In a post directed at Xi on Truth Social as the parade kicked off, Trump said, “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America.”
The Kremlin said they were not conspiring and suggested the remarks were ironic.


Putin vows not to back down in Ukraine

Putin vows not to back down in Ukraine
Updated 03 September 2025

Putin vows not to back down in Ukraine

Putin vows not to back down in Ukraine
  • Putin’s troops have kept up their strikes across the country, firing more than 500 drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight and killing nine in attacks on a frontline town
  • The Russian leader hailed his forces’ progress, saying they were advancing on “all fronts“

PARIS: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he would carry on fighting in Ukraine if a peace deal cannot be reached, as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky arrived for a meeting with allies in Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who will co-host the meeting of European leaders on Thursday, said that Europe was ready to offer Ukraine security guarantees as soon as a peace deal was agreed.
Progress toward settling the three-and-a-half-year war appears to have stalled despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts by US President Donald Trump, who met both his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts last month.
Putin’s troops have kept up their strikes across the country, firing more than 500 drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight and killing nine in attacks on a frontline town.
The Russian leader hailed his forces’ progress, saying they were advancing on “all fronts” and had hobbled Ukraine’s army so much it could no longer mount an offensive.
“Let’s see how the situation develops,” Putin told reporters in Beijing, where he had earlier attended a grand military parade alongside China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
If there was no peace deal, he said, “then we will have to resolve all our tasks militarily.”
Zelensky will meet European leaders on Thursday who have been trying to frame security guarantees and agree a peacekeeping force to protect Ukraine in the event a peace deal.
The Ukrainian president said as he arrived in Paris he had not yet seen any signs from Russia that they wanted to end the war.
Nevertheless, Macron said preparations had been completed for security guarantees during a meeting of defense ministers but added that the details were “extremely confidential.”
Trump said he would be speaking to Zelensky on Thursday.
“I’m having a conversation with him very shortly and I’ll know pretty much what we’re going to be doing,” Trump told an AFP reporter in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
- ‘Aggressive goals’ -

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier Wednesday he was still seeking international recognition that the parts of Ukraine annexed and occupied by its forces belong to Moscow.
Russia claims to have annexed five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which it seized in 2014.
“In order for a durable peace, the new territorial realities that arose... must be recognized and formalized in accordance with international law,” Lavrov said in remarks published by Moscow on Wednesday.
Who gets control of land captured by Russia in its offensive is a key sticking point in stalled peace talks.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga blasted Russia for tabling “old ultimatums.”
“Russia has not changed its aggressive goals and shows no signs of readiness for meaningful negotiations,” he said, adding: “It’s time to hit the Russian war machine with severe new sanctions and sober Moscow up.”
Ukraine’s industrial east has been decimated by more than a decade of fighting that erupted when armed Russian-backed separatists began a push to break away from Kyiv following the country’s pro-European revolution in 2014.

Frontline attacks

Ukraine has been calling for Putin to meet Zelensky for face-to-face talks for months, saying it is the only way to break the deadlock.
But Putin again ruled out an immediate meeting and said he had invited Zelensky to come to Moscow if he wanted to speak.
“Donald (Trump) asked me for such a meeting, I said: ‘Yes, it’s possible, let Zelensky come to Moscow’,” Putin said.
Kyiv has dismissed the invitation as cynical.
“Putin continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals,” Sybiga said, adding that at least seven countries had made genuine offers to host such a meeting.
Russia has kept up its deadly attacks on Kyiv despite Trump’s pressure to end the three-and-a-half-year war, strikes killing nine civilians in the frontline town of Kostiantynivka on Wednesday.


UK cosmetics chain closes for a day in Gaza protest

UK cosmetics chain closes for a day in Gaza protest
Updated 03 September 2025

UK cosmetics chain closes for a day in Gaza protest

UK cosmetics chain closes for a day in Gaza protest
  • The international retailer said it displayed signs reading “stop starving Gaza — we are closed in solidarity” across shuttered shop windows

LONDON: British cosmetics chain Lush on Wednesday shut down its UK shops, factories and online sales for the day to protest the devastating humanitarian effects of Israel’s war in Gaza.
The international retailer said it displayed signs reading “stop starving Gaza — we are closed in solidarity” across shuttered shop windows.
“Whilst Lush is losing a day of takings, this also means that the UK government is losing a day of tax contributions from Lush and our customers,” the company, which sells its products in over 50 countries, said on its website.
Lush said it “shares the anguish that millions of people feel seeing the images of starving people in Gaza” and called for the UK government to end arms sales to Israel.
London has in recent months suspended some export licenses to Israel for arms used in Gaza, but some UK-made parts, such as components for Israeli F-35 jets, are still exported there.
Lush, which has over 100 shops in Britain, faced a backlash in 2023 after a Dublin store displayed a sign urging “boycott Israel,” which the company called an “isolated” incident.
It has since launched a “Watermelon Slice” soap resembling the fruit which has come to represent solidarity with Palestinians, with the profits going to mental health services for children in Gaza and Israeli-occupied West Bank.


Maduro says there’s no place for colonialism, supremacism

Maduro says there’s no place for colonialism, supremacism
Updated 03 September 2025

Maduro says there’s no place for colonialism, supremacism

Maduro says there’s no place for colonialism, supremacism
  • Venezuela will never yield to blackmail or threats of any kind in our historical path, says president

CARACAS: A new global awareness is being consolidated, one that categorically rejects any form of colonialism, supremacism, and hegemonic power dynamics, both in Latin America and worldwide,  Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro told a press conference.

Addressing a press conference, he said his struggle is not that of a single man, but that of a people with a sacred history of revolution, projected through an inclusive humanist socialism.

He said more than 90 percent of Venezuelans reject and repudiate the threats from Washington, and expressed gratitude for the conscious solidarity of social movements and world public opinion — even in the US — where many reject the idea of war against the peoples of the Caribbean and Latin America.

“We have always maintained channels of conversation and diplomatic dialogue with the US, Maduro said, adding: “That is a golden rule.”

However, he lamented that these channels have deteriorated, as attempts have been made to impose gunboat diplomacy.

He said what has been orchestrated against Venezuela can only be described as a farce.

“It is a farce against an entire country. Having failed and been defeated in every form of so-called hybrid warfare, they have simply opted for the worst mistake,” he added.

Maduro said Venezuela has responded by calling for national unity and preparing to safeguard sovereignty, peace, and territorial integrity every day, every month.

“The Caribbean wants peace and opposes any foreign intervention that could unleash armed conflict. The Caribbean broadly supports Venezuela in its struggle for sovereignty and peace.”

Maduro denounced a grave foreign military threat, describing it as the greatest of the past century in the region, and declared that Venezuela responds with the “maximum preparation” for its defense, backed by its people and its armed forces.

He noted: “We have a work plan: the Homeland Plan, with seven strategic lines of action. This was a program debated and consulted by more than 4 million Venezuelan men and women in community and workers’ assemblies.”

Maduro said: “I thank all the citizens of Venezuela for their composure, firmness, patriotic awareness, spirit, and fervor shown in these days of escalating and continuous threats. 

“Venezuela is a pacifist, peaceful country, but we are a people of warriors, and Venezuela will never yield to blackmail or threats of any kind in our historical path.”

He reiterated his commitment to the defense of the country and stressed that the country has overcome economic sanctions and the diplomatic blockade.