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Ukraine: You’re Playing with Fire, Trump Warns Putin

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US President, Donald Trump, warned Vladimir Putin Tuesday that he is “playing with fire,” taking a fresh jab at his Russian counterpart as Washington weighs new sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war.

Trump’s latest broadside showed his frustration with stalled ceasefire talks and comes two days after he called the Kremlin leader “absolutely CRAZY” following a major drone attack on Ukraine.

Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, insisted it is responding to escalating Ukrainian strikes on its own civilians and accused Kyiv of trying to “disrupt” peace efforts.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have intensified in recent weeks, but Putin has been accused of stalling peace talks.

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Trump did not specify what the “really bad” things were.But the Wall Street Journal and CNN both reported that the Republican are now considering fresh sanctions as early as this week.

Trump told reporters on Sunday he was “absolutely” weighing such a move.

The White House said Trump was keeping “all options” open.

“This war is Joe Biden’s fault, and President Trump has been clear he wants to see a negotiated peace deal. President Trump has also smartly kept all options on the table,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP in a statement.

Biden, Trump’s Democratic predecessor, imposed sweeping sanctions after Russia’s invasion.

Trump has so far avoided what he says could be “devastating” sanctions on Russian banks.

But Trump’s recent rebukes mark a sharp change from his previous attitude towards Putin, of whom he often speaks with admiration.

His frustration at his failure to end a war he said he could solve within 24 hours boiled over at the weekend after Russia’s drone barrage killed at least 13 people.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Trump posted.

Russia has kept up attacks despite a phone call eight days ago in which Trump said Putin had agreed to immediately start talks.

Moscow did not react to Trump’s comments on Tuesday, but it earlier sought to blame Ukraine for the impasse.

“Kyiv, with the support of some European countries, has taken a series of provocative steps to thwart negotiations initiated by Russia,” the Russian defense ministry said.

Civilians including women and children were injured in what it said were Ukrainian drone strikes. Russian air defenses destroyed 2,331 Ukrainian drones between May 20 and 27, it said.

Fresh drone attacks were also reported overnight to Wednesday.Russian authorities said almost 150 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted, including 33 heading toward Moscow.

Ukraine said it is Russia that targeted civilians.

“We need to end this eternal waiting — Russia needs more sanctions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Tuesday on Telegram.

US lawmakers have stepped up calls for Trump to slap sanctions on Russia.Veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called for strong measures to let Putin know it was “game over.” Two other senators, Republican Lindsay Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, also called for heavy “secondary” sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and raw materials.

Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News that the next peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, if they happen, would likely take place in Geneva after Moscow rejected the Vatican as a venue.The aim would then be to get Trump, Putin and Zelensky together “and hammer this thing out,” he added.

The Swiss government would not confirm that it would host the talks.

“Switzerland remains ready to offer its good offices,” the foreign ministry told AFP in a statement, adding that it was “in contact with all parties.”

Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in more than three years in Istanbul in early May.

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Trump Declares Trade War on Nations Imposing Digital Tax on US Tech Firms

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U.S. President, Donald Trump, has threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on imports from any country that introduces a digital services tax (DST) targeting American technology companies.

In a statement posted on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump warned that countries introducing or maintaining digital services taxes on U.S. tech firms would face immediate retaliatory tariffs on all goods exported to the United States.

“Any country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any Goods sent to the United States of America,” Trump declared, insisting that digital services taxes unfairly single out American businesses and undermine U.S. economic interests.

The latest warning is aimed primarily at several European countries that have adopted or are considering digital services taxes on multinational technology companies such as Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Washington has long argued that such taxes disproportionately target U.S.-based firms while discriminating against American innovation.

Trump also asserted that the proposed 100 per cent tariff would supersede existing and future trade agreements, signalling a more confrontational trade policy if countries proceed with taxing revenues generated by U.S. technology giants within their borders.

France became the first major economy to introduce a digital services tax in 2019, prompting repeated threats of retaliatory tariffs from Washington.

Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Canada, have either implemented or proposed similar measures while negotiations continue under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to establish a global framework for taxing multinational corporations.

The OECD’s two-pillar international tax agreement was designed to reduce unilateral digital taxes by allocating a greater share of multinational profits to countries where earnings are earned while establishing a global minimum corporate tax.

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US Govt Releases Names of Terrorism Financiers Amid Growing Insecurity

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A fresh spotlight was cast on terrorism financing and security threats on Tuesday as the United States sanctioned a Lagos-based alleged ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) financier.

This came as troops neutralised suspected ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) operatives and the Federal Government deepened counterterrorism cooperation with international partners.

The United States imposed sanctions on Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad and three bureaux de change linked to him over accusations of facilitating funds for the terrorist group.

The sanctions, announced under Executive Order 13224, form part of a broader action targeting ISIS financial networks operating across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.

Muhammad, 35, also known as Adamu Mukhtar and Muhammad Mukhtar, was identified as a key facilitator for ISIS-West Africa. He was listed with an address in Agege, Lagos State.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Muhammad allegedly served as a conduit for ISIS financing through bureaux de change operating in Lagos and Kano states.

The three businesses sanctioned alongside him are Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited and Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited, both based in Lagos State, as well as Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited in Kano State.

The U.S. authorities said the sanctions targeted a network spanning France, Turkiye, Syria and Nigeria that allegedly supports ISIS operations, finances attacks and assists the group’s affiliates.

According to OFAC, the network includes a France-based facilitator accused of providing information on explosives to ISIS supporters and a Syria-based operator who allegedly used cryptocurrency to transfer funds to ISIS associates in several countries, including the United States.

Announcing the sanctions, U.S. State Department spokesperson Thomas “Tommy” Pigott said the measures were aimed at disrupting the terrorist group’s financial operations worldwide.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is dismantling ISIS’s ability to finance terrorism around the world.

“We are cutting off the financial lifelines that enable ISIS to fund attacks, support its regional affiliates, and threaten civilians, including religious minorities,” Pigott said.

He added that the actions reflected sustained U.S. efforts to weaken ISIS, which he said had increasingly decentralised its operations and relied on financial intermediaries to sustain its global network.

The U.S. government also reaffirmed its security partnership with Nigeria, citing Abuja’s role in the May 16, 2026, operation that resulted in the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as the second-highest-ranking ISIS official.

Washington pledged to continue deploying diplomatic and legal measures against ISIS and its supporters.

“We will continue to use every diplomatic and legal tool available to hold ISIS and its supporters accountable wherever they operate and however they move money.

“We remain fully committed to protecting American lives, defending religious minorities, and working with international partners to eliminate the threat that ISIS poses to global peace and security,” the Department said.

The sanctioned individuals and entities have been added to OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list, a designation that freezes any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits American individuals and organisations from conducting transactions with them.

ISIS was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation in 2004 and was later classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the United States in the same year.

The Guardian

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US Will Not ‘Rush into a Deal’ with Iran, Trump Declares

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President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he has told US negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran, amid anticipation — and mounting criticism — of an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.

“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

“The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

The United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports since April 13 after Tehran virtually halted traffic through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began February 28.

“Both sides must take their time and get it right,” Trump wrote in the same Truth Social post, while slamming the 2015 nuclear deal that former president Barack Obama agreed with Iran.

“Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one. They must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote.

While the White House has not released aspects of the deal, Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday on state television that the two sides were nearing a “a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses,” in “a trend toward rapprochement.”

Several voices, notably among Republican lawmakers close to Trump, expressed fears of an agreement favorable to Iran as supposed aspects of the deal that began to leak.

According to news outlet Axios, a possible agreement would extend the current ceasefire by 60 days, during which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran would freely sell oil, and negotiations would be held on Iran’s nuclear program.

The top Republican senator overseeing defense policy, Roger Wicker, said that agreeing to a “rumored 60-day ceasefire” with Iran would mean, “everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!”

Fellow Republican senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham also voiced opposition to Iran soon gaining benefits such as the ability to sell its oil freely.

“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz, a Republican from Texas, wrote on X.

Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, said the deal “doesn’t make sense to me.”

“We were told about 11 weeks ago by (Secretary of Defense Pete) Hegseth and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran’s defenses, and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all?” Tillis said on CNN’s “State of the Union” morning program.

AFP

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