Indonesia will buy 50 Boeing jets, $15bn in energy in trade deal: Trump
KEN MORIYASU
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had agreed to a trade deal with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto that includes the purchase of 50 Boeing planes.
Indonesia committed to buying $15 billion worth of U.S. energy, $4.5 billion in American agricultural products and 50 Boeing jets, "many of them 777's," Trump announced on social media.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
24 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Israel Bombs Damascus, Stoking Conflict with Syria's New Government
DAMASCUS, Syria – Israel on Wednesday launched what it said were 'dozens' of strikes across Syria, including in the capital, escalating a conflict with a fledgling government that was already grappling with domestic unrest in which scores of people have been killed. Israel tied Wednesday's strikes and others this week to that internal conflict, saying it was attacking forces of the new Islamist government to protect the Druze minority. The Trump administration, which has pursued warmer relations with Syria following the toppling last year of dictator Bashar al-Assad, including by easing sanctions, said it was trying to calm tensions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at the White House on Wednesday, blamed the violence on a 'misunderstanding' between Israel and Syria stemming from the sectarian conflict in Syria's south. 'We've been engaged with them all morning long and all night long, with both sides,' he said. 'We think we're on our way towards real de-escalation,' he said. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israel Defense Forces would 'continue to operate forcefully in Sweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until their full withdrawal.' 'The painful blows have begun,' Katz wrote on X, sharing a video from Syrian television of an anchor ducking for cover as the Defense Ministry in Damascus was struck. Israel hit the ministry multiple times Wednesday, including with two large strikes around 3 p.m., as bystanders and journalists including a Washington Post photographer were in the vicinity, looking for damage from an earlier Israeli strike. Another airstrike landed near the presidential palace in Damascus. At least three people were killed and 34 were wounded in the strikes on the capital, Syrian media reported. The Israeli attacks coincided with efforts by Syrian troops to intervene in a bout of sectarian violence that has raged for days in southern Syria. It began with clashes between the Druze and Bedouins around Druze-majority Sweida, a city of tens of thousands. At least 169 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded since Sunday in clashes, extrajudicial killings and Israeli airstrikes, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said, in what it called a preliminary tally. Druze leaders have long bristled at the presence of government forces in Sweida. They have maintained their own militias while expressing fears of the new government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria who spearheaded the rebel drive that deposed Assad in December. Israel has bombed and set up military outposts in Syria since Assad's fall, in what Israeli officials say is an effort to secure their borders from a government they view as extremist. 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A medical assistant at Sweida National Hospital said it was barely functioning Wednesday because of water and electricity shortages. She said about 100 unidentified bodies were inside.
Japan Today
24 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Japan racks up trade deficit amid threat from Trump's tariffs
A car, center, is moved to another location of the area where export vehicles are parked at Daikoku Pier in Yokohama on April 8. By YURI KAGEYAMA Japan sank into a trade deficit of 2.2 trillion yen ($15 billion) for the first six month of this year, according to government data released Thursday, as exports were hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs. In June, Japan's exports slipped 0.5% from a year earlier after its shipments of vehicles and other products were slapped with a 25% tariff. Trump has postponed implementing that higher import duty until Aug. 1, to allow time for negotiations but so far no deal has been reached. Exports in June totaled nearly 9.2 trillion yen ($62 billion), in the second straight month of declines. Imports in June rose 0.2% to 9 trillion yen ($61 billion), the Finance Ministry said. That left a trade surplus of 153 billion yen (just over $1 billion). The trade deficit in May was 637.6 billion yen, or $4.4 billion. Japan's exports to the United States fell 11% in June, with auto exports plunging 25%. Shipments to China decreased by nearly 5%. Exports to Mexico, a major auto assembly hub for North America for Japanese automakers, fell nearly 20%. In the first half of the year, Japan's exports totaled 53.4 trillion yen ($360 billion), up 3.6%, while imports rose 1.3% to 55.6 trillion yen ($375 billion). Japan and the U.S. have been holding trade talks, with Japanese officials stressing that Japan is a key U.S. ally. Trump has focused on rice, a sector traditionally protected from foreign competition for the sake of Japan's food security. Japan imports more than 300,000 tons of rice a year from the U.S., according to various data, although some of that is used for animal feed. Japan will hold an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday. Given falling public support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's administration, the conservative and pro-business ruling Liberal Democratic Party could lose its majority unless it gains another coalition partner. Japan's economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter, partly due to slowing exports. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Nikkei Asia
2 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Indonesia's modest fashion makers ramp up overseas push
Models wear items designed by Indonesian modest fashion company Buttonscarves, which targets not only Muslim women, but also women who prefer to wear more concealing clothes. (Photo courtesy of Buttonscarves) BELINDA YOHANA JAKARTA -- From starting an online shop to showcasing in New York, Buttonscarves founder and CEO Linda Anggrea continues to dream big. Her Indonesian fashion company has expanded quickly since starting out as a small online shop in 2016. It now runs physical stores in high-end shopping malls in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur and even ships items to the United States.
