Europe: Srebrencia remembered, UK-France migrant deal examined
Foreign correspondent Seamus Kearney talks about commemorations in Bosnia-Herzegovina to mark 30 years since the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity in Europe since WWII. The European Commission is seeking more information about a controversial migrant deal struck between the UK and France. And EU officials have been taken by surprise over US President Trump's threat to impose 30% tariffs on EU goods.
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Scoop
7 hours ago
- Scoop
Justice For The Cuban People On The Fourth Anniversary Of The July 11 Protests
July 11, 2025 Four years ago, thousands of Cubans peacefully took to the streets to demand a future free from tyranny. The Cuban regime responded with violence and repression, unjustly detaining thousands, including over 700 who are still imprisoned and subjected to torture or abuse. Today, the Department of State is taking steps to implement President Trump's strengthened Cuba policy outlined in National Security Presidential Memorandum-5 from June 30, 2025. In solidarity with the Cuban people and the island's political prisoners, the United States is designating key regime leaders under Section 7031(c) for their involvement in gross violations of human rights. We are also taking steps to impose visa restrictions on numerous Cuban judicial and prison officials responsible for, or complicit in, the unjust detention and torture of July 2021 protestors. In addition, the Department is updating the Cuba Restricted List and the Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List to include 11 regime-linked properties, including the new 42-story 'Torre K' hotel, to prevent U.S. funds from reaching the island's corrupt repressors. The U.S. will continue to stand for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Cuba, and make clear no illegitimate, dictatorial regimes are welcome in our hemisphere. The designations of Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, López Miera, Álvarez Casas, and their immediate family members are made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47), as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 (Div. A, P.L. 119-4). The steps to impose visa restrictions on Cuban officials are taken under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
NZ Herald
9 hours ago
- NZ Herald
‘He didn't fool me' - how Trump changed his tone on Putin and the war in Ukraine
Putin responded with his own compliments, saying that he couldn't 'help but feel happy about' Trump's continued support for a negotiated peace favourable to Russia. Many of Trump's comments about Putin have reflected his anger about the US investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election that dominated his first term. 'Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,' he said in February, seated next to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine in the Oval Office. But in recent weeks, Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with his Russian counterpart over the lack of progress on a ceasefire in Ukraine, as the New York Times has reported. 'I am disappointed in President Putin,' Trump said today NZT, announcing his plans to impose 'very severe' tariffs that would hurt Russia if it does not agree to a ceasefire deal in the next 50 days. 'The talk doesn't mean anything.' 'My conversations with him are always very pleasant,' Trump said of Putin. 'And then the missiles go off that night.' The changes in Trump's public remarks illuminate the challenges he has faced in fulfilling one of his main campaign pledges: that he would swiftly end the conflict. Trump now acknowledges the war in Ukraine has been 'difficult' to end. While he was running for president, Trump said he could settle the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, ending the largest land war in Europe since 1945 before his first day in office. The promise was implausible, but he kept doubling down. After he took office, Trump said he had been speaking 'figuratively'. By May, Trump was telling Zelenskyy and other European leaders that Russia and Ukraine would have to find a solution to the war themselves. The war is still raging, and Trump's early message has changed dramatically. 'It's more difficult than people would have any idea,' Trump said at the Nato summit last month. 'Vladimir Putin has been more difficult. Frankly, I had some problems with Zelenskyy.' While Trump previously expressed scepticism about devoting American resources to the conflict, he told reporters last week that it was necessary to bolster Ukraine's defences. He resumed the delivery of US weapons to the country that had been temporarily paused. 'They have to be able to defend themselves,' he said. 'They're getting hit very hard. Now they're getting hit very hard. We're going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily, but they're getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess.' Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said that Trump had always been consistent on foreign policy and blamed former President Joe Biden for the prolonged war in Ukraine. Trump 'will always put America first, and he wants peace in Ukraine and around the world,' Kelly said in a statement. After a review 'to ensure all foreign military aid aligns with American interests, the President decided to send Ukraine defensive munitions to help stop the killing in this brutal war.' Since the resumption of US military aid, Putin has escalated his attack, again striking cities and towns across central and western Ukraine. According to people close to the Kremlin, Putin is now convinced that his military could overpower Ukraine's in the months to come, aiming for a strategic victory in the war that has lasted 40 months and led to hundreds of thousands of casualties within his military. Trump is now sharply expressing his displeasure with Putin. During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly expressed optimism that he could work with the Russian leader. 'It's a smart thing' to talk to Putin, Trump said in October when asked whether he talked to Putin after his first term. 'If I'm friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that's a good thing.' After his re-election, Trump seemed to side with Russia in the conflict. He scolded Zelenskyy for being an ingrate and asking for more military support. He sent his envoys to Saudi Arabia to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine with Putin's surrogates — all without input or consent from Zelenskyy, a US ally. In March, Trump said he was confident Putin wanted to find a path to peace, even though the Russian leader was continuing to bomb Ukraine. 'I believe him,' Trump said. 'I think we're doing very well with Russia.' But his tone has shifted in recent weeks. After a July 3 call with Putin, Trump complained to reporters that their conversation did not lead to 'progress'. The next day, Russia assaulted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with the largest number of drones and missiles launched since the beginning of the war. 'I'm not happy with President Putin at all,' Trump said on July 7. Last week, after reversing the pause on US military aid, Trump further expressed his frustration over Putin's recalcitrance. 'We get a lot of bulls*** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,' Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting. Today, he again suggested the Russian President has been duplicitous: 'He has fooled a lot of people. He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden.' But Trump said that he would be an exception to what he sees as the list of American presidents whom the Russian leader outmanoeuvred. 'He didn't fool me,' Trump said. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Minho Kim Photographs by: Erin Schaff ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
David Robie: New Zealand must do more for Pacific and confront nuclear powers
"Hot off the press" David Robie talks 'Eyes of Fire' his book marking 40 years since the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis The New Zealand government needs to do more for its Pacific Island neighbours and stand up to nuclear powers, a distinguished journalist, media educator and author says. Professor David Robie, a recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), released the latest edition of his book 'Eyes of Fire: The last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior', which highlights the nuclear legacies of the United States and France. Robie, who has worked in Pacific journalism and academia for 50 years, recounts his experiences aboard the Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior in 1985, before it was bombed in Auckland Harbour. At the time, New Zealand stood up to nuclear powers, he said. "It was pretty callous [of] the US and French authorities to think they can just carry on nuclear tests in the Pacific, far away from the metropolitan countries, out of the range of most media, and just do what they like," Robie told RNZ Pacific. "It is shocking, really." The bombed hull of the Rainbow Warrior. Photo: AFP Speaking to Pacific Waves , Robie said that Aotearoa has forgotten how to stand up for the region. "The real issue in the Pacific is about climate crisis and climate justice. And we're being pushed this way and that by the US [and] by the French. The French want to make a stake in their Indo-Pacific policies as well," he said. "We need to stand up for smaller Pacific countries." Photo: Greenpeace / Fernando Pereira Robie believes that New Zealand is failing with its diplomacy in the region. He accused the coalition government of being "too timid" and "afraid of offending President Donald Trump" to make a stand on the nuclear issue. However, a spokesperson for the New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Pacific that New Zealand's "overarching to work with Pacific partners to achieve a secure, stable, and prosperous region that preserves Pacific sovereignty and agency". The spokesperson said that through its foreign policy reset, New Zealand is committed to "comprehensive relationships" with Pacific Island countries. "New Zealand's identity, prosperity and security are intertwined with the Pacific through deep cultural, people, historical, security, and economic linkages." The New Zealand government commits almost 60 percent of its development funding to the region. The spokesperson said that the Pacific was becoming increasingly contested and complex. "New Zealand has been clear with all of our partners that it is important that engagement in the Pacific takes place in a manner which advances Pacific priorities, is consistent with established regional practices, and supportive of Pacific regional institutions." They added that New Zealand's main focus remains on the Pacific, "where we will be working with partners including the United States, Australia, Japan and in Europe to more intensively leverage greater support for the region." "We will maintain the high tempo of political engagement across the Pacific to ensure alignment between our programme and New Zealand and partner priorities. And we will work more strategically with Pacific Governments to strengthen their systems, so they can better deliver the services their people need." But former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, writing in the preface of Robie's book, said: "New Zealand needs to re-emphasise the principles and values which drove its nuclear-free legislation and its advocacy for a nuclear-free South Pacific and global nuclear disarmament." Robie added that looking back 40 years to the 1980s, there was a strong sense of pride in being from Aotearoa, the small country which set an example around the world. "We took nuclear powers," Robie said. "And the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was symbolic of that struggle, in a way, but it was a struggle that most New Zealanders felt a part of, and we were very proud of that [anti-nuclear] role that we took. Over the years, it is sort of been forgotten". France conducted 193 nuclear tests over three decades until 1996 in French Polynesia. Until 2009, France claimed that its tests were clean and caused no harm, but in 2010, under the stewardship of Defence Minister Herve Morin, a compensation law was passed. From 1946 to 1962, 67 nuclear bombs were detonated in the Marshall Islands by the US. The 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll, the largest nuclear weapon ever exploded by the United States, left a legacy of fallout and radiation contamination that continues to this day. Photo: Marshall Islands Journal In 2024, then-US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell, while responding to a question from RNZ Pacific about America's nuclear legacy, said: "Washington has attempted to address it constructively with massive resources and a sustained commitment." However, Robie said that is not good enough and labelled the destruction left behind by the US, and France, as "outrageous". "It is political speak; politicians trying to cover their backs and so on. If you look at history, [the response] is nowhere near good enough, both by the US and the French.
