Latest News
Trump pledges to lift Syria sanctions as he seals $142bn arms deal on Saudi visit
President Donald Trump has said the US has “no stronger partner” than Saudi Arabia during his first major foreign trip – a whirlwind visit of Gulf countries mainly focused on shoring up investment.
Speaking in Riyadh, the US president also pledged to lift all sanctions against Syria, saying it was now time for the country to move forward with “a chance at greatness”.
Day one of the tour saw the US and Saudi Arabia announce a $142bn (£107bn) arms deal, as well as other investments that the country’s crown prince said could eventually be worth $1tn.
Trump also made Saudi Arabia the first foreign stop during his first term, in 2017. The rest of his trip will include stops in Qatar and the UAE.
Trump’s arrival in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday was met with a grand reception, including a lavish lavender-coloured carpet rolled out to greet him. He had even chosen a purple tie to match it.
Riyadh swapped red carpets for lavender in 2021, saying that it was a symbol of the kingdom’s desert wildflowers and generosity.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Trump on the tarmac and provided an honour guard of Arabian horses to accompany his presidential limo.
In his remarks at an investment forum, Trump lauded the US-Saudi relationship as “more powerful than ever before”.
“From the moment we started we’ve seen wealth that has poured – and is pouring – into America,” he said.
Trump is trying to woo foreign investors to the US to boost the American economy, a key focus of his administration in the nearly four months of his second term.
“I like him too much,” Trump said of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de-facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. “That’s why we give so much.”
The pomp and ceremony was a step up from the muted welcome for former US President Joe Biden, who travelled to the oil-rich kingdom in 2022 to seek their help in lowering petrol prices, fist-bumping the crown prince.
That visit came two years after he declared Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state following the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Trump flew to the Gulf to strike financial deals and argued in his speech that it is through this kind of commerce and economic development that the Middle East would transcend violence and division.
Underscoring his commitment to deal-making, Trump was joined by a number of business leaders including billionaire ally Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
The high-profile executives are meeting a Saudi Arabia eager to diversify its oil-rich economy by increasing its artificial intelligence capabilities.
Mr Huang announced during the visit that Nvidia will sell more than 18,000 of its latest AI chips to Saudi company Humain.
During his address, Trump said it was his “dream” to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords, a deal brokered in his first administration that saw relations between Israel and some Gulf countries normalised for the first time.
But his good friend, Mohammed bin Salman, has made it clear that will not happen until there is a permanent end to the war in Gaza and a clear path to Palestinian statehood.
There is a limit to what this friendship can deliver.
Trump only briefly addressed the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
He told those in attendance that people in Gaza deserved a “better future”, which had been held back by Hamas choosing “to kidnap, torture and target” for “political ends” – a reference to the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
Trump also announced he was lifting sanctions on Syria to improve the country’s new government, a move he suggested was requested by Mohammed bin Salman.
“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” the US leader said.
American sanctions on Syria had been in place for over a decade, meant to apply pressure and economic pain against the dictatorship of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in December.
Syria has since elected a new transitional president, creating an opening for renewed US diplomacy efforts.
The surprise announcement to lift the sanctions represents a sea change for Syria, described by its foreign minister Asaad Shibani as a “new start” in the country’s reconstruction path.
Robert Ford, who served as US ambassador to Syria under President Barack Obama, applauded the Trump administration’s move to lift sanctions.
“I visited Syria three months ago and the country is simply devastated after the 13-year civil war. It needs to rebuild, it needs reconstruction, it needs foreign financing to do that,” he told the BBC.
“So removing the sanctions, that will enable international capital flows to go into Syria from Gulf states, from other Arab states and from different aid agencies is absolutely vital.”
Trump was expected to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia.
From Riyadh, Trump will head to both Qatar and the UAE, which has already committed to investing $1.4tn in the US over the next decade.
[BBC]
Sri Lanka took a shade under 15 minutes to wrap up the Bamgladesh innings on the third morning in Galle, and then made a brisk start in running down the visitors’ total of 495. Sri Lanka did that by keeping a run rate of touch under four.
Pathum Nissanka (46) and Dinesh Chandimal (22) had put on unbeaten stand of 53 by the lunch break, while the deficit had been trimmed down to 395. The only blip for the hosts was the loss of Lahiru Udara for a 34-ball 29, after he had chipped a leading edge back to Taijul Islam. The 31-year-old had impressed on his debut up until that point, scoring six boundaries in his brief stay.
Sri Lanka set the tone for their innings from the off, with neither pacer safe in the early exchanges. Both Hasan Mahmud and express Nahid Rana – his pace was consistently in the low to mid 140s – being punished for any errors in line and length. Udara’s drives on the up were a particular highlight, and he will be kicking himself at not making more of this opportunity.
Nissanka, who had taken a back seat during the early exchanges, became more proactive following Udara’s dismissal, though Bangladesh will feel like they gave a few too many loose deliveries.
For instance, Nissanka’s three boundaries off Taijul all came against ones that had been dropped shorter. It served as a pressure release valve, one Sri Lanka would have been grateful for with Taijul otherwise doing well in varying his pace on a surface that had begun to show starting signs of assistance for spin.
The six-foot off spinner Nayeem Hasan, meanwhile, was the most expensive of the bowlers going for 16 in his three overs, though his extra height – and the bounce he derived from that – had caused some issues to the batters.
Off just his third delivery he got one to spit back past Nissanka’s inside edge on to his back pad, and then later on had Chandimal edging a drive past slip. But chances like that were few and far between, as Sri Lanka’s batters had it mostly their own way.
Earlier in the day, Asitha had got Rana to glove a loose ball down leg side as Bangladesh’s innings was brought to a swift close. The visitors had added 11 runs to their overnight total. Asitha finished with innings best figures of 4 for 86.
Brief scores: Day 3 Lunch
Sri Lanka 100 for 1 (Pathum Nissanka 46*, Lahiru Udra 29, Dinesh Chandimal 22*, Taijul Islam 1-34) trail Bangladesh 495 in 153.4 overs (Monimul Haque 29, Mushfiqur Rahim 163, Najmul Hossain Shanto 148, Litton Das 90, Asitha Fernando 4-86, Milan Rathnayake 3-39, Tharindu Rathnayake 3-196) by 395 runs
[Cricinfo]
Mushfiqu Rahim, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Litton Das scored 401 runs among them, but the complexion of the game changed after a two-hour rain interruption as Sri Lanka came roaring back late in the day, to leave Bangladesh on 484 for 9 at stumps of day two in Galle.
It meant the 20.4 overs bowled in the final session saw five wickets fall for 61 runs, and resulted in a dramatic Bangladesh collapse following two mammoth back-to-back stands – 264 and 149 – between Shanto and Mushfiqur, and then Mushfiqur and Litton.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 484 for 9 in 151 overs (Monimul Haque 29, Najmul Hossain Shanto 148, Mushfiqur Rahim 163, Litton Das 90, Milan Rathnayake 3-38, Asitha Fernando 3-30, Tharindu Rathnayake 3-196) vs Sri Lanka
[Cricinfo]
Airbus has struck a deal with Vietnamese budget airline Vietjet for up to 150 single-aisle jets at the Paris Air Show as the aviation industry’s hopes to return to a tariff-free trade agreement were given a boost by United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The French plane maker announced the deal on Tuesday.
Airbus is the main supplier of jets to Vietnam, accounting for 86 percent of the planes currently operated by Vietnamese airlines. The export-dependent Southeast Asian country is under pressure from Washington to buy more US goods.
Vietjet Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said the scale of the airline’s orders was backed by plans to develop a major aviation hub in Vietnam, which Airbus says has seen its aviation market grow by 7.5 percent a year.
A deal for 150 A321neos could be worth around $9.4bn, according to estimated prices provided by Cirium Ascend.
The agreement was the latest in a flurry of business announced by Airbus at the world’s biggest aviation trade fair in Paris, France.
Airbus has made gains against its chief competitor Boeing as airlines reconsider purchases of the US-made jets amid ongoing tariff threats in recent months. In May, budget airline Ryanair threatened to pull orders of Boeing aircraft amid tariff threats.
Duffy said he wanted civil aviation to return to a 1979 zero-tariff trade agreement, in one of the clearest signs yet that the administration of US President Donald Trump might favour such a move. However, Duffy added that while the White House was aware that the US is a net exporter in aerospace, it was also dealing with a complex tariff situation.
“Now, again, you look at what free trade has done for aviation. It’s been remarkable for them. It’s a great space of net exporters,” Duffy said. “And so the White House understands that, but if you go over there and you see the moving parts of what they’re dealing with, it is pretty intense and it’s a lot.”
Trump’s sweeping 10 percent import tariffs are a headache for an industry already battling supply chain challenges and facing fresh turbulence from last week’s deadly Air India crash and conflict in the Middle East.
In early May, the US Commerce Department launched a “Section 232” national security investigation into imports of commercial aircraft, jet engines and parts that could form the basis for even higher tariffs on such imports.
Airlines, plane makers and several US trading partners have been lobbying Trump to restore the tariff-free regime under the 1979 agreement.
Boeing was having a subdued show and parking announcements while focusing on the probe into last week’s fatal crash of an Air India Boeing 787 and after it racked up huge deals during Trump’s recent tour of the Middle East.
Attention turned to another big Airbus customer, AirAsia, long associated with buzzy show finales and looking at buying 100 A220s, with Brazil’s Embraer seeking to wrest away the deal after losing a key contest in Poland, delegates said. Airbus was also expected to reveal Egyptair as the airline behind a recent unidentified order for six more A350s.
Even so, Airbus’s hopes of using the event as a showcase for its first significant deal with Royal Air Maroc faded after the airline postponed plans to announce a larger Boeing deal, delegates said.
[Aljazeera]
UNHRC Chief due here: Chagie asks NPP govt. to set the record straight
NPP vows action against Mahinda, Maithri, Ranil, Basil, others over dairy cows
As dengue rages in 16 districts authorities to hold National Mosquito Control Week
-
Features5 days agoAs I remember, from 50 years ago: the 75-80 Katubedda Engineering Batch
-
Features5 days agoWriting History on Paris Clay – French Open 2025
-
Life style5 days agoMiss World from Thailand!
-
Features4 days agoWhen the water rises: Climate change and the future of Yala’s Mugger Crocodiles
-
Editorial6 days agoSugar Scam: Get at bitter truth
-
Features5 days agoFailed institution
-
News4 days agoSC appointment: AKD withdraws his nominee, SJB to raise issue in House
-
Business1 day agoSpring board to ‘unleashing a new era in start-up driven growth’