عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Italian Prime Minister Meloni Meets with Trump at His Florida Resort

A handout picture made available by the Chigi Palace (Palazzo Chigi) Press Office shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (R) meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago resort, Palm Beach, Florida, USA, 04 January 2025 (issued 05 January 2025). (EPA/ Filippo Attili/ Chigi Palace Press Office Handout)
A handout picture made available by the Chigi Palace (Palazzo Chigi) Press Office shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (R) meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago resort, Palm Beach, Florida, USA, 04 January 2025 (issued 05 January 2025). (EPA/ Filippo Attili/ Chigi Palace Press Office Handout)
TT
TT

Italian Prime Minister Meloni Meets with Trump at His Florida Resort

A handout picture made available by the Chigi Palace (Palazzo Chigi) Press Office shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (R) meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago resort, Palm Beach, Florida, USA, 04 January 2025 (issued 05 January 2025). (EPA/ Filippo Attili/ Chigi Palace Press Office Handout)
A handout picture made available by the Chigi Palace (Palazzo Chigi) Press Office shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (R) meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago resort, Palm Beach, Florida, USA, 04 January 2025 (issued 05 January 2025). (EPA/ Filippo Attili/ Chigi Palace Press Office Handout)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida to meet with President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, as the key European leader sought to buttress ties with Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Members of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort welcomed Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to videos shared on social media by reporters and others.

Her trip comes days before she is to meet US President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from Thursday to Jan. 12. Trump defeated Biden in the November election and is preparing to return to the White House.

While no details of their meeting have been disclosed, Meloni had planned to talk with Trump about Russia's war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, according to Italian media reports.

Meloni's office declined to comment on the reports.

She is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition she heads in Italy. She has also forged a close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to help him win the election.

"This is very exciting. I'm here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy," Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd, according to a media pool report. "She’s really taken Europe by storm."

Trump and Meloni then sat down for a screening of a documentary questioning the criminal investigations and legal scrutiny faced by John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was central to Trump's unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

One of the biggest challenges facing Meloni is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran on Dec. 19.

Sala was detained three days after Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan's Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three US service members near the Syrian-Jordanian border. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.

On Friday, Iran's foreign ministry summoned Italy's ambassador over Abedini's detention, Iranian state media reported.

Meloni became the latest in the handful of foreign leaders who have visited Trump in Florida since the Nov. 5 election. He has met with Argentinian President Javier Milei, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Nigeria Says Joint US Strikes Kill 175 ISIS Militants, Senior Leaders

Nigerian soldiers walk past military tanks prepared for deployment during a tour of the Theater Command Operation Lafiya Dole by Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, November 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Nigerian soldiers walk past military tanks prepared for deployment during a tour of the Theater Command Operation Lafiya Dole by Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, November 7, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Nigeria Says Joint US Strikes Kill 175 ISIS Militants, Senior Leaders

Nigerian soldiers walk past military tanks prepared for deployment during a tour of the Theater Command Operation Lafiya Dole by Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, November 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Nigerian soldiers walk past military tanks prepared for deployment during a tour of the Theater Command Operation Lafiya Dole by Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, November 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Nigerian forces, working with the United States, have killed 175 ISIS militants in a series of joint air and ground strikes in the country's northeast in recent days, the Defense Headquarters said on Tuesday.

The military said operations conducted with US Africa Command destroyed checkpoints, weapons caches, logistics hubs, and financing networks ‌used by ISIS West Africa Province, which ‌has ⁠led a years-long ⁠insurgency in the region.

Since suffering major setbacks in the Middle East, ISIS has pivoted toward Africa, which accounted for 86% of the group's global activity in the first three ⁠months of 2026, according to crisis ‌monitoring group Armed ‌Conflict Location & Event Data.

"As of 19 May, ‌assessments indicate that 175 ISIS militants have ‌been eliminated from the battlefield," Nigeria's Defense spokesperson Major-General Samaila Uba said in a statement.

Strikes that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki on May ‌16, described by both governments as ISIS’s global No. 2, ⁠were followed ⁠by further raids last weekend that also killed Abd al-Wahhab, an ISWAP leader overseeing attacks and propaganda, Abu Musa al-Mangawi, and Abu al-Muthanna al-Muhajir, a senior media operative and close associate of al-Minuki, the statement said.

The Defense Headquarters said the operations formed part of an ongoing campaign to "hunt down and destroy" militants threatening Nigeria and the wider region.

World

US Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Iranian Exchange House, Shadow Fleet Vessels

US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent poses for a family photograph of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as they meet to prepare the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 19, 2026. (AFP)
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent poses for a family photograph of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as they meet to prepare the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 19, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT

US Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Iranian Exchange House, Shadow Fleet Vessels

US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent poses for a family photograph of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as they meet to prepare the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 19, 2026. (AFP)
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent poses for a family photograph of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as they meet to prepare the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 19, 2026. (AFP)

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an Iranian foreign currency exchange house and what it said were front companies overseeing transactions on behalf of Iranian banks as the US maintains pressure on Tehran.

The move came after Iran said its latest peace proposal to the United States over the US-Israeli led war that started February 28 involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of US forces ‌from areas close ‌to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by ‌the ⁠conflict.

The Treasury Department ⁠imposed sanctions on the Iran-based Amin Exchange, also known as Ebrahimi and Associates Partnership Company, which it said has a widespread network of front companies spanning multiple jurisdictions, including in Türkiye and Hong Kong.

The US also blocked 19 vessels it said were involved in shipping Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals to foreign customers.

The Treasury ⁠Department said Iranian exchange houses facilitate billions of dollars ‌in foreign currency transactions a year, ‌enabling the government to evade sanctions and access the international financial system. It ‌said the front companies oversee hundreds of millions of dollars ‌in transactions on behalf of Iranian banks.

"Iran’s shadow banking system facilitates the illicit transfer of funding for terrorist purposes," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a release. "As Treasury systematically dismantles Tehran’s shadow banking system and shadow fleet under Economic ‌Fury, financial institutions must be alert to how the regime manipulates the international financial system to ⁠wreak havoc."

The sanctions block US assets of those designated and prevent Americans from doing business with them.

The US also designated vessels for transporting Iranian-origin oil, petroleum products and petrochemicals including the Barbados flagged liquefied petroleum gas tanker Great Sail, the Palau-flagged products tanker Ocean Wave, and the Panama-flagged chemical/oil tanker Swift Falcon.

World

Israel Finance Minister Says ICC Seeks Arrest Warrant Against Him

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Israel Finance Minister Says ICC Seeks Arrest Warrant Against Him

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that the International Criminal Court prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant against him, accusing the Palestinian Authority of pushing for the move.

Smotrich said he would retaliate by ordering the evacuation of the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank.

"Last night I was informed that the criminal prosecutor of the antisemitic court in The Hague has filed a request for an international arrest warrant against me," Smotrich told a news conference broadcast on his X account Monday.

"As a sovereign and independent state, we do not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that time and again take a stand against the State of Israel," he added, without disclosing the charges for which the warrant has been requested.

The ICC prosecutor's office said it was "unable to comment on media speculation or questions related to any alleged application for a warrant of arrest".

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, to face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity over Israel's actions during its war against Hamas in Gaza.

- 'Declaration of war' -

"Immediately upon the conclusion of my remarks here, we will sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar," Smotrich said, calling the warrant request "a declaration of war".

More than 750 people live in the community of Khan al-Ahmar, around 10 kilometers east of Jerusalem's Old City in the central West Bank and surrounded by Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian Authority's Settlement and Wall Resistance Commission urged the international community to stop the move.

"Targeting Khan al-Ahmar is part of a long-term strategic settlement project... through which Israel seeks to create complete settlement contiguity that would separate the northern West Bank from its south," the commission's minister, Muayad Shaaban, was quoted as saying.

Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, also denounced the move.

"The Minister of Expulsion and Annexation seeks to take revenge on The Hague and the international community at the expense of one of the most vulnerable communities," it said.

Khan al-Ahmar sits near land Israel plans to use for its controversial E1 development project that would facilitate settlement expansion in the area near Jerusalem.

Smotrich, who lives in a settlement himself, is a staunch proponent of Israel annexing the West Bank.

"Under this government, we see that for the first time they've approved the very sensitive and significant plan of E1, and they're going ahead with plans to annex that entire region," Lior Amihai, Peace Now's executive director, told AFP.

"In order for them to annex the entire region, they need to also expel the Palestinian communities from there and Khan al-Ahmar is one of them," he added.