Donald Trump said he would “cut off all trade with Spain” after the country denied access to its military bases for his bombing campaign against Iran, spurring a sharp rebuke from Madrid that the US president must respect international trade agreements. “I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain,” Trump said on Tuesday during a meeting at the White House, referring to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Trump did not explain how he planned to follow through with that threat, which could...

US and Chinese trade negotiators are slated to meet in mid-March, according to people familiar with the matter, signalling that a planned summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping is pushing ahead despite American strikes against Iran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng are expected to convene in Paris at the end of next week to discuss business deals that could stem from the leaders’ meeting, said the people who...

Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi urged his Israeli counterpart to help bring about an immediate end to the war in Iran during a call on Tuesday, reportedly held at Israel’s request. The call came three days after Israel and the United States launched a massive attack on Tehran, killing its Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife and senior Iranian officials, prompting largely ineffective Iranian counter-attacks across the Middle East so far. “China opposes any military strikes launched by...

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s death is “historically significant” but will not “automatically” lead to the fall of the Iranian system, the widow of the country’s last shah said in an interview on Tuesday. “The passing of a man – however central he may be to the architecture of power – does not automatically mean the end of a system,” said Farah Pahlavi, three days after US-Israeli strikes on Iran killed Khamenei. The attacks on Iran have thrown the Middle East into turmoil and raised...

A US man who gave his teenage son the gun he is accused of using to kill two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday. Jurors took less than two hours to find Colin Gray guilty of all charges in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, northeast of Atlanta. Gray is one of a number of parents prosecuted after their children were accused in fatal shootings across the country. Colin Gray...

Philippine carers have described racing to bomb shelters in Israel as the US-Israeli war in Iran sends missiles across the Middle East. More than 1.1 million overseas workers from the Philippines are based in the region, with over 96 per cent concentrated in five countries closely tied to the fighting, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. One Philippine carer has already been killed during an air strike.

A British woman has been convicted of blackmailing a compatriot for a £100,000 (US$134,030) payout after accusing him of rape and threatening to report him to Hong Kong police. Isabel Anonia Barbra Eudora Rose, 25, turned from an alleged rape victim into a defendant standing trial at the District Court in Wan Chai for blackmailing the man, a banker she met during a trip to Thailand, and for making a false police report about the alleged rape, which she claimed took place on the night of January...