Iran summoned France’s envoy in Tehran to protest against “insulting” remarks made by the French foreign minister after an Iranian filmmaker won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the prestigious Palme d’Or for his film It Was Just an Accident on Saturday, a political drama inspired by his…
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin had “constructive” talks in Moscow on Friday lasting three hours, according to an aide of Putin’s. Yuri Ushakov said the possibility of Russia and Ukraine resuming direct talks was a particular point of discussion. The US has not released details of what was discussed during the…
US Senior Advisor for Africa Massad Boulos has said that President Donald Trump values Africa, despite announcing sweeping aid cuts that have caused considerable humanitarian distress across the continent. Trump announced the aid freeze on his first day in office in January in line with his “America First” foreign policy, while Trump’s recent tariffs have…
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused US special envoy Steve Witkoff of “disseminating Russian narratives” after he appeared to suggest that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine hinged on the status of five Ukrainian regions. After holding a five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Witkoff told Fox News that a deal…
Suranjana Tewari Asia Business Reporter Getty Images Li Chenggang is a former World Trade Organisation and UN representative China has unexpectedly appointed a new trade envoy, as officials said the US’s practice of “tariff barriers and trade bullying” is having a serious impact on the global economic order. Li Chenggang, a former assistant commerce minister…
South Africa has appointed a special envoy to the US in an effort to ease tensions between the two countries, which have worsened since Donald Trump’s return as president. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Mcebisi Jonas’s selection, adding that he would be “entrusted with [advancing] South Africa’s diplomatic, trade and bilateral priorities”. Jonas, a former deputy…
Reuters Sir Keir met a group of military leaders from the “coalition of the willing” in the UK on Thursday Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as “a posture and a pose” by Donald Trump’s special envoy. Steve Witkoff said the idea was based…
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will speak in coming days, as talks continue over a possible ceasefire in the three-year war in Ukraine. US envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin on Thursday in Moscow, told CNN that he expected that “there will be a call with both presidents this…
New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom over remarks that questioned US President Donald Trump’s grasp of history. At an event in London on Tuesday, High Commissioner Phil Goff compared efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex…
Getty The US will still continue fighting climate change and curbing its emissions of planet-warming gases despite the election of Donald Trump, the US special envoy told the COP29 conference on its opening day. John Podesta, a Biden administration appointee, labelled the incoming president a climate denier who would dismantle environmental safeguards and remove the…
