All posts tagged: Breaking News: Europe

Trump says France must scrap tech ‘sales tax’ or face 100% wine tariffs: NY Post

Trump says France must scrap tech ‘sales tax’ or face 100% wine tariffs: NY Post

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump has warned France must scrap a 3% tech “sales tax” or face 100% tariffs on U.S. imports of its wines and champagne, the NY Post reported Monday. The president issued the threat ahead of this week’s G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France. “I asked [President Emmanuel Macron] not to charge American companies, and if they do, I have no choice but to charge a 100% tariff on all champagnes and all wines coming out of France,” Trump told the Post. The digital services tax, approved by French lawmakers in 2019, involves a 3% levy on gross revenues generated in France by large technology companies, including U.S. giants such as Amazon, Meta and Alphabet. Exports to the U.S. make up about one-fifth of the French wine industry’s total global sales, at about $2 billion annually. It is not the first time the Trump administration has targeted France’s wine industry with retaliatory measures. In 2019, the U.S. raised the possibility of imposing hefty charges on tech imports, including wine, in response to the then-new levy, which …

Trump says Iran war nearly done: Speech recap

Trump says Iran war nearly done: Speech recap

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Lindsey Graham says Trump gave a ‘compelling explanation’ about U.S. action against Iran Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks alongside Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Building on September 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said that President Trump gave a “compelling explanation” on why the U.S. had to act against Iran’s “evil regime.” Graham said in a post on X that it was “the best speech I could’ve hoped for,” adding that it informed Americans and the world that the U.S. is “2-3 weeks from reaching our military objectives, which is the destruction of Iran’s missile and nuclear weapon programs.” He said that “the most compelling and biggest takeaway of all” was that Trump’s declaration to use military force to destroy the Iranian regime’s economy, guaranteeing “they will never go back to their old ways.” Sen. Ted Cruz in his post on X said the U.S. was “on the cusp of ending Iran’s nuclear blackmail,” which makes America “much, much …

Israel says it has killed Iran navy chief

Israel says it has killed Iran navy chief

Published by Sam Flores

FILE PHOTO: In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi waves as he visits an exhibition of the Revolutionary Guard navy capabilities while accompanied by the guard’s navy commander Alireza Tangsiri, in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. Iranian Presidency Office | AP Israel’s Defense Forces said Thursday that Iranian naval commander Alireza Tangsiri had been killed in a “precise strike” in the port city of Bandar Abbas, accusing him of being responsible for efforts to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. The IDF said in a social media post that Tangsiri “oversaw maritime terrorism carried out against countries in the Middle East, as well as against U.S. and other nations’ energy infrastructure.” U.S. Central Command later confirmed Tangsiri’s death in a post on X. Tangsiri’s death from the Israeli airstrike “makes the region safer,” said the commander of CentCom, Adm. Brad Cooper, adding that strikes on the Iranian navy would continue. Iran has not yet commented on the report. Shipping traffic through the …

Israel says it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister

Israel says it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister

Published by Sam Flores

Iran’s then incumbent Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib (C) sits with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (C-R) before a speech to members of parliament in the capital Tehran, on August 17, 2024, as he defends his cabinet selection. Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images Israel’s Defense Forces said Wednesday that Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, had been killed in a “targeted strike” in Tehran, marking the third assassination of a high-ranking official in just two days. “Khatib played a significant role during the recent protests throughout Iran, including the arrest & killing of protestors and led terrorist activities against Israelis & Americans around the world,” the IDF said in a post on social media. “Similarly, he operated against Iranian citizens during the Mahsa Amini protests (2022–2023),” they added. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed Khatib’s death in a post on X. “The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Ismail Khatib, Ali Larijani, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, alongside some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us in deep mourning,” Pezeshkian wrote. It comes after Israel …

UAE’s Fujairah hit, causing a large fire at the key oil trading hub

UAE’s Fujairah hit, causing a large fire at the key oil trading hub

Published by Sam Flores

A family sits against the backdrop of a dockyard off the coastal city of Fujairah, in the Strait of Hormuz in the northern Emirate on Feb. 25, 2026. Giuseppe Cacace | Afp | Getty Images A drone attack at the United Arab Emirates’ key oil trading hub of Fujairah triggered a large fire, authorities said on Monday, with no injuries reported. “Civil Defense teams in the Emirate immediately responded to the incident and are continuing their efforts to control it,” Fujairah Media Office said on social media, according to a Google translation. Oil loading operations at the major oil bunkering hub had been suspended as a result of the drone attack, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed sources. CNBC has contacted the UAE’s ADNOC and is awaiting a response. The attack comes after a separate drone strike and fire at Fujairah on Saturday, underlining the vulnerability of the UAE’s only export route that bypasses the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Shipping traffic through one of the world’s most important energy choke points has virtually ground to …

Senate votes to block war powers resolution

Senate votes to block war powers resolution

Published by Sam Flores

Canada does not rule out military participation in Iran war: Carney Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he would not rule out military participation in the Iran conflict, according to media reports. When asked if he could definitively say Canada would not get involved militarily, Carney said, “One can never categorically rule out participation.” In a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Carney said that Canada will stand by its allies, but also maintained that the U.S.-Israeli strikes are “inconsistent with international law.” — Lim Hui Jie Pentagon provides names of the remaining two soldiers killed in Kuwait attack The Pentagon has provided the names of the fifth and sixth U.S. Army Reserve soldiers who were killed. They are: Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, Calif. Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa O’Brien died on March 1 in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack, per the press release. “Marzan was at the scene of the incident on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, …

Spain PM Sánchez brushes off Trump’s threat to cut off all trade

Spain PM Sánchez brushes off Trump’s threat to cut off all trade

Published by Sam Flores

The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, speaks during the official opening dinner of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2026, at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, on 1 March 2026, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Europa Press News | Europa Press | Getty Images Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday doubled down on his criticism of the U.S strikes against Iran, describing the escalating Middle East conflict as a “disaster.” His comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to cut off trade with Madrid after Spain’s government prevented two jointly operated bases in its territory from being used in the strikes. “Spain has been terrible,” Trump said on Tuesday, during a White House news conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added. In a televised address on Wednesday morning, Sánchez said: “Very often great wars start with a chain of events spiralling out of control due to miscalculations, technical failures, and unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, we …

Israel bolsters forces in southern Lebanon

Israel bolsters forces in southern Lebanon

Published by Sam Flores

UAE says it has the right to defend itself UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy arrives at the second day of the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 29, 2025. (Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP) (Photo by PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images) Pablo Porciuncula | Afp | Getty Images The UAE reaffirmed its right to self defense on Tuesday, stressing that any threat to Emirati sovereignty represents a threat to the wider Gulf. Reem Al Hashimy, the country’s minister of cooperation, said in a news conference in the capital Abu Dhabi, that the Gulf Cooperation Council operates as “one system,” and that an attack on any member state endangers the entire region. All six members of the GCC, the Arab monarchies of Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have all come under fire from Iranian missiles and drones since Saturday. Hashimy added that the UAE will not accept actions that compromise its sovereignty or security, warning that such escalations carry …

Six U.S. service members killed

Six U.S. service members killed

Published by Sam Flores

Speaker Johnson says Iran attack was ‘defensive operation’ U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media following a briefing for Congressional leaders on the situation in Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 2, 2026. Ken Cedeno | Reuters Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday said following a classified briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the U.S.’s attack on Iran was a “defensive operation,” the goal of which was not regime change. “Israel was determined to act in their own defense here. With or without American support. Why? Because Israel faced what they deemed to be an existential threat,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol following the briefing. “The objective was to take out those missiles, the short and midrange missiles, and their ability to produce them,” Johnson said, adding that the second objective was to eliminate Iran’s naval capabilities. “The ayatollah is no more. That was not the mission of the U.S. to go in and take out the regime, but that happened and in my …

Trump says U.S. military has begun major combat operations in Iran

Trump says U.S. military has begun major combat operations in Iran

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. military has begun “major combat operations” in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday, as explosions were heard in cities around the Middle East. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said in a video message on his Truth Social account. A U.S. official confirmed earlier that American forces attacked Iran by air and sea, Reuters reported. It also cited an unidentified Iranian official as saying that several ministries in the southern part of the Iranian capital, Tehran, were targeted Explosions were heard in key cities around the Middle East, including Jerusalem as Iran launched counterattacks. CNBC producer Joan Muwahed in Dubai reported hearing two explosions over the city in the United Arab Emirates. Qatar and the UAE condemned Iranian missile counterattacks. “The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles, considering it a flagrant violation of its national sovereignty,” Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said …