Web Desk/AFP

ISLAMABAD: The United States on Friday approved a sale of $9 billion in Patriot defense missiles for Saudi Arabia, at a point of high tensions with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-iran-wants-to-make-a-deal" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iran</a>, AFP reported.&nbsp; The kingdom, a longtime US partner, plans to buy 730 Patriot missiles from the United States, the State Department said. The missiles are used to defend against incoming attacks. Growing pressure &nbsp;Iran has faced growing pressure after major protests against the government. Saudi Arabia has voiced caution about an <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/saudi-qatar-oman-convinced-trump-to-give-iran-a-chance-senior-saudi-official" style="color:#0073e6;">attack on Iran</a>. Condemnation of Israeli aggression&nbsp;In June last year, according to a&nbsp;state-run Saudi Press Agency&#39;s report,&nbsp;the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the &ldquo;blatant Israeli aggressions&rdquo; against Iran, which it said undermined its sovereignty and security and constituted a clear violation of international laws and norms. &ldquo;While the Kingdom condemns these heinous attacks, it affirms that the international community and the Security Council bear a great responsibility to immediately halt this aggression,&rdquo; the report had said.

Middle East

State Department says the kingdom, a longtime US partner, plans to buy 730 Patriot missiles from the United States.

US approves $9 billion in Patriot missile defense for Saudi Arabia

MINNEAPOLIS: US Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar was targeted during a speech late Tuesday by a man who sprayed an unidentified liquid at her from a syringe before being tackled by security guards, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. The man was led out of the premises as Omar continued her speech, saying, &quot;We will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw on us.&quot; The man was taken into custody by Minneapolis police, her office said. The incident took place during a town hall in the US city of Minneapolis, where two American citizens were killed this month in a violent anti-immigration crackdown with thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents provoking growing unrest. Omar had just finished calling for the Trump administration to reverse its current course when the attack occurred. &quot;ICE cannot be reformed; it cannot be rehabilitated. We must abolish ICE for good,&quot; Omar said, to applause. &quot;And (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.&quot; After Omar uttered those words, a man sprang up from the front row, made a remark, and sprayed the congresswoman, as security leapt to grab him. Omar raised a fist and stepped toward the attacker before returning to the podium. After uttering a few expletives and against her team&#39;s vocal concerns that she should not continue, the congresswoman took the microphone. &quot;Here&#39;s the reality that people like this ugly man don&#39;t understand: We are Minnesota strong. And we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw on us,&quot; Omar said. Earlier Tuesday, Trump blasted Omar and Somalia during a speech in Iowa, saying the Mogadishu-born congresswoman &quot;comes from a country that&#39;s a disaster.&quot; Trump has ordered 143 strikes against Somalia in his second term, according to US think tank New America, and has pulled back diplomatic relations, including recently stopping humanitarian aid.

Americas

Man led out of the premises as Omar continued her speech, saying, 'We will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw' at us; man taken into custody by Minneapolis police.

US congresswoman Omar sprayed by unknown substance during speech

BEIJING:&nbsp;China said on Monday that a preliminary trade deal with Canada &ldquo;does not target any third parties&rdquo; after the United States threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian products if the agreement were finalized. Under the deal, announced this month, Beijing is expected to reduce tariffs on Canadian canola imports and grant Canadians visa-free travel to China. But over the weekend, the United States --&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-threatens-canada-with-100-tariff-if-it-completes-china-trade-deal" style="color:#0073e6;">Canada&#39;s traditional ally</a>&nbsp;-- threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian products if the deal were to go ahead, saying it would allow China to &ldquo;dump goods&rdquo;. China&#39;s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday that the trade deal was not aimed at Washington. &lsquo;New type of strategic partnership&rsquo;&quot;China and Canada have established a new type of strategic partnership... it does not target any third party,&quot; China&#39;s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference. &quot;China advocates that nations should approach state-to-state relations with a win-win rather than zero-sum mindset, and through cooperation rather than confrontation,&quot; he added. The deal was announced during Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney&#39;s visit to Beijing this month, as he seeks to distance himself from a volatile United States under President Donald Trump. Trade war&nbsp;Canada and the United States have been caught in a trade war since the Trump administration imposed import duties on its northern neighbor. On Sunday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-axes-canadas-board-of-peace-invitation" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trump</a>wrote on social media that negotiations between Ottawa and Beijing amounted to China &quot;successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada&quot;. Following the president&#39;s comments, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told US media that &quot;we can&#39;t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the US&quot;.

Asia

China's foreign ministry spokesman says China advocates that nations should approach state-to-state relations with a win-win rather than zero-sum mindset, and through cooperation rather than confrontation.

China says Canada deal not aimed at US after Trump tariff threat

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;US President Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of his return to the White House on Tuesday with a rambling, often downbeat news conference that leaned heavily on familiar grievances rather than celebration. The 79-year-old brandished a folder in front of reporters, saying it contained a list of 365 achievements since he was sworn in on Jan. 20 last year. &quot;God is very proud of the work I have done,&quot; he declared. However, in a monologue that lasted more than an hour before he took questions from reporters, Trump complained that he wasn&#39;t getting credit. He insulted and swore at opponents, and continued to spread conspiracy theories &mdash; including his claim that he won the 2020 election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Amid dire ratings &mdash; averaging at about 55% disapproval, 42% approval &mdash; and deep discontent over high prices, Trump said he deserved more appreciation. &quot;Maybe I have bad public relations people, but we&rsquo;re not getting it,&quot; he said, also blaming &quot;fake news.&quot; Trump was headed to Davos hours later to join world political and business leaders. He signaled that his speech there on Wednesday will defend his aggressive moves on Greenland, which is part of the US ally Denmark. &quot;We need it for national security,&quot; he said. &quot;Things are going to work out pretty well.&quot; But when asked how far he was willing to go to act on his threats to take over the vast island, he retorted: &quot;You&#39;ll find out.&quot; He rejected an idea floated by French President Emmanuel Macron for an emergency G7 meeting. &quot;No,&quot; he said about attending. &quot;I wouldn&#39;t do that.&quot; Hardly a victory lap&nbsp;Delivered in a subdued tone, the address opened with Trump praising his crackdown by military-style agents on illegal immigration. Trump showed off mugshots of criminals he said had been apprehended in Minnesota, where a protester was shot dead this month by one of the agents. He touted the US military raid to seize Venezuela&#39;s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, and was unapologetic about his insistence that Washington would somehow take control of Greenland. But as Trump lurched from subject to subject, the address felt less like a victory lap than a reprise of last year&#39;s campaign to defeat then vice president Kamala Harris and win his second term. The president repeated a series of claims long disputed or debunked, including that his 2020 election loss was &quot;rigged,&quot; that prescription drug prices had fallen by 600%, and that the United States had attracted $18 trillion in inward investment. On foreign affairs, the Republican signaled an interest in working with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the country&#39;s future, following Washington&rsquo;s Jan. 3 military operation that removed Nicol&aacute;s Maduro from power. &quot;We&#39;re talking to her,&quot; Trump said. &quot;Maybe we can get her involved in some way. I&#39;d love to be able to do that.&quot; He praised Machado for giving him her Nobel Peace Prize medal, complaining again that the Norwegian committee should have honored him instead. He also gave support to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who launched an offensive against Washington&#39;s erstwhile Kurdish allies. Trump said the Syrian leader was &quot;working very, very hard&quot; and a &quot;choir boy&quot; could not handle the situation in that country.

US president signals interest in working with Venezuelan opposition leader Machado on country's future; White House aides circulate 31-page document listing 365 claimed "wins" across immigration, the economy and foreign policy, as reporters packed the briefing room.

Muted anniversary: Trump marks first year back with grievances

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Wednesday said it has taken coordinated legal action in the United States and Britain to disrupt a low-cost subscription service called RedVDS that helps cybercriminals carry out lucrative scams.&nbsp;RedVDS charges as little as $24 monthly for access to disposable virtual computers that enable large-scale fraud that is difficult to trace, according to the company.&nbsp;&quot;Services like these have quietly become a driving force behind today&#39;s surge in cyber-enabled crime,&quot; Digital Crimes Unit Assistant General Counsel Steven Masada said in a blog post.&nbsp;Microsoft said RedVDS has been used primarily for payment diversion fraud, where attackers intercept legitimate business communications and redirect funds by impersonating trusted parties.&nbsp;Two victims joined Microsoft as co-plaintiffs: an Alabama pharmaceutical company that lost more than $7.3 million, and a Florida condominium association defrauded of nearly $500,000 in resident funds.&nbsp;Real estate transactions have been particularly vulnerable, Microsoft said.&nbsp;Generative AI tools are often paired with RedVDS services to help identify prime targets quickly and generate more authentic-appearing messages to victims, according to Masada.&nbsp;Microsoft reported finding hundreds of cases in which scammers used AI tools for face-swapping, voice cloning or video manipulation to trick victims.&nbsp;RedVDS did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;Microsoft estimated that <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/google-says-hackers-are-sending-extortion-emails-to-executives" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">cybercrime</a> involving RedVDS services is linked to some $40 million in US fraud losses since March of last year.&nbsp;Microsoft coordinated the legal action against RedVDS with Britain as part of a broad effort to thwart the growing trend of &quot;cybercrime-as-a-service,&quot; according to Masada.&nbsp;RedVDS provides inexpensive access to effective virtual computers running unlicensed software, allowing criminals to operate quickly, anonymously and across borders, Masada said.&nbsp;The US tech giant said the effort includes prosecutors and police in Germany, where a critical computer server used to power RedVDS was seized, according to Masada.&nbsp;Microsoft said it is also working with Europol&#39;s European Cybercrime Centre and law enforcement agencies elsewhere to disrupt the RedVDS server and payment networks.

Microsoft logo displayed at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, with the stage and branding visible in the background.

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft launched coordinated legal action in the US and Britain against RedVDS, a low-cost service enabling large-scale cyber fraud, often paired with AI tools, linked to $40 million in losses and disrupted with international law enforcement support.

Microsoft disrupts cybercrime service linked to AI-enabled fraud

Pakistan TV Satellite

ISLAMABAD: Iran&rsquo;s Ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghaddam, has said the United States and Israel are orchestrating unrest inside Iran, warning that any foreign aggression would be met with a strong and decisive response. In an exclusive interview with Pakistan TV, the ambassador thanked the government, media and people of Pakistan for closely and sensitively following developments in Iran. He said Iran&rsquo;s security was being threatened through a &ldquo;designed plan&rdquo; involving the US, Israel and terrorist elements, while Iranian security forces and the public were working to maintain law and order. Moghaddam said recent protests were rooted in economic challenges caused by decades-long US sanctions, government reforms related to foreign exchange and subsidy mechanisms for essential goods.&nbsp; He stressed that peaceful protest is a constitutional right in Iran and that the government engaged directly with traders and demonstrators, including meetings held by the interior minister, commerce minister and the president. However, he said the protests were later exploited by hostile foreign actors. The Iranian envoy said that the US and Israel facilitated the infiltration of armed groups from Syria and Iraq under the cover of protests, adding these elements targeted both security personnel and civilians. He said Iran has lost around 100 police and security personnel, adding that terrorist violence, including attacks on women and children, is unacceptable anywhere in the world. Rejecting foreign-backed opposition narratives, the ambassador said public rallies in support of Iran&rsquo;s political system were underway, reflecting what he described as the people&rsquo;s rejection of external interference. On the possibility of military aggression, the ambassador warned that Iran has proven over the past four decades that it will deliver a befitting response to any attack by the US or Israel. He said diplomatic channels with Washington remain open through the Swiss-managed interest protection office, but stressed that Iran will never recognize or negotiate with Israel.

Beyond Borders

In an Exclusive Interview with Pakistan TV, Iranian Envoy Says Security Threats Are Part of a ‘Designed Plan’.

Iranian Ambassador says US, Israel Behind Unrest, Warns of Strong Response

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from a foundational climate treaty and the world&#39;s leading global warming assessment body, as part of a sweeping exit from the United Nations system, the White House announced Wednesday. A total of 66 international organizations were named in a White House memorandum as &quot;contrary to the interests of the United States.&quot; Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements. Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a &quot;hoax&quot; at the UN&#39;s high-level summit last September. The UNFCCC was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and approved later that year by the US Senate during George H.W. Bush&#39;s presidency. The US Constitution allows presidents to enter treaties &quot;provided two thirds of Senators present concur,&quot; but it is silent on the process for withdrawing from them &mdash; a legal ambiguity that could invite challenges. Trump has already withdrawn from the landmark Paris climate accord since returning to office, just as he did during his first term, a move that Democratic president Joe Biden later reversed. Exiting the underlying treaty could introduce additional legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin. &quot;President Trump&#39;s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people&#39;s well-being and destabilize global cooperation,&quot; Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists told AFP. The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water. As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement and from UNESCO &mdash; the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization &mdash; which Washington had rejoined under Biden. Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid, slashing funding for numerous UN agencies and forcing them to scale back operations on the ground, including the High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Program. Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which works on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which focuses on trade, investment and development. Speaking before the General Assembly in September, Trump delivered a scathing broadside against the UN, saying it was &quot;not even coming close to living up&quot; to its potential.

A total of 66 international organizations are named in a White House memorandum as "contrary to the interests of the United States"; most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements.

Trump pulls US out of key climate treaty, science body: White House

GENEVA: Washington on Monday pledged an initial $2 billion for United Nations humanitarian aid in 2026&mdash;far less than it has provided in recent years&mdash;warning individual UN agencies to &quot;adapt, shrink or die&quot;. With its pledge, announced at the US mission in Geneva alongside the United Nations&#39; aid chief Tom Fletcher, the United States is pursuing a dramatic overhaul of how it funds UN humanitarian work. Instead of handing funds to individual agencies, the United States will funnel its contributions through the UN aid agency OCHA, headed by Fletcher, which earlier this year launched a so-called Humanitarian Reset to improve efficiency and accountability. The US funds will then be distributed to more than a dozen selected countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Sudan. &quot;It is an initial anchor commitment,&quot; Jeremy Lewin, the senior US official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, told reporters. &quot;There are other countries that we will add as we continue to get more funding into this mechanism.&quot; He challenged other countries to match or beat US funding for UN aid. &quot;This new model will better share the burden of UN humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the UN to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability, and oversight mechanisms,&quot; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X. According to UN data, the United States remained the top humanitarian aid donor in the world in 2025, but that amount fell significantly to $2.7 billion, down from around $11 billion in 2023 and 2024, and from over $14 billion in 2022. Other key donor countries have also been tightening their belts, triggering major upheaval in the global aid sector. &quot;Individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die,&quot; a State Department statement said. Hard priority choicesFletcher, who is British, said the US pledge was an &quot;extraordinary&quot; commitment. &quot;The US has long been the world&#39;s humanitarian superpower,&quot; he said in a statement. &quot;Hundreds of millions of people are alive today because of American generosity&mdash;and many millions more will survive in 2026 because of this landmark investment in humanity.&quot; Fletcher said reform of the humanitarian system was in the pipeline, and US taxpayers would be able to see how their money was delivering life-saving impacts. &quot;The US is also placing a significant and encouraging vote of trust and confidence in the Humanitarian Reset, through which we are making humanitarian action faster, smarter and closer to the people on the front lines of emergencies,&quot; he said. &quot;We&#39;re cutting red tape, eliminating duplication, and prioritizing hard.&quot; When Fletcher launched the UN&#39;s annual Global Humanitarian Appeal for 2026 earlier this month, he requested $23 billion to provide assistance to 87 million of the world&#39;s neediest people, with a heavy focus on dire conflicts like those in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar. The amount and number of people covered by the appeal has been dramatically reduced over recent years, as the UN strives to adapt to a new reality after President Donald Trump slashed US foreign aid spending. The United Nations has stressed that the smaller appeal does not mean needs have shrunk. It estimates that some 240 million people&mdash;in conflict zones, suffering from epidemics, or victims of natural disasters and climate change -- are in need of emergency aid. In 2025, the UN&#39;s appeal for more than $45 billion was only funded to the $12 billion mark, the lowest in a decade. That only allowed it to help 98 million people, 25 million fewer than the year before.&nbsp;

The United States will pledge $2 billion for UN humanitarian aid in 2026, far below past levels, as funding declines strain UN appeals seeking $23 billion to assist millions amid global conflicts and disasters worldwide

US to pledge $2B for UN humanitarian aid in 2026, lower than previously

MIAMI: US and Ukrainian envoys issued a joint statement on Sunday that hailed &quot;productive and constructive&quot; talks in Miami, but did not announce any apparent breakthrough in efforts to end the war with Russia. Top representatives of Ukraine and Russia, as well as Kyiv&#39;s European allies, have been in southern Florida over the past several days for a series of separate talks hosted by US President Donald Trump&#39;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Despite a flurry of high-level meetings in recent weeks, there have been no clear signals of imminent resolutions to key hurdles on ending the nearly four-year war. The diplomatic blitz came after Washington last month presented a 28-point plan on the war that was widely seen as echoing the Kremlin&#39;s demands. It has since been redrafted following Ukraine and Europe&#39;s involvement, though its contents have not been publicly disclosed. &quot;Over the last three days in Florida, the Ukrainian delegation held a series of productive and constructive meetings with American and European partners,&quot; Witkoff and Ukraine&#39;s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said in separate statements on X. They said a bilateral US-Ukraine meeting focused on developing and aligning positions on &quot;four key documents&quot; -- a &quot;20-point plan,&quot; a &quot;Multilateral security guarantee framework,&quot; a &quot;US Security guarantee framework for Ukraine&quot; and an &quot;economic &amp; prosperity plan.&quot; &quot;Particular attention was given to discussing timelines and the sequencing of next steps,&quot; they said, without announcing any further meetings. National security advisors from Kyiv&#39;s European allies &quot;also joined the discussions to align on a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States, and Europe,&quot; the statements added. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev was also in southern Florida and believed to have met with the US delegation, which includes billionaire real estate developer Witkoff and Trump&#39;s son-in-law Jared Kushner. A video on Russian state media showed Dmitriev arriving in a motorcade to Witkoff&#39;s Shell Bay luxury golf club. The Kremlin on Sunday said recent proposed changes to the plan to end the war were a non-starter. Dmitriev &quot;should receive information about what has been developed by the Americans and Europeans&quot; in the plan and report that back to Moscow later, Kremlin&#39;s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV. Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sees Europe as pro-war and argues its participation in the talks only hinders them. - War rages on -While little is known of the latest peace plans, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory -- a prospect resented by many Ukrainians -- in exchange for US security guarantees. Though envoys from both Moscow and Kyiv were in town, the Kremlin had earlier ruled out three-way talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier described the talks as &quot;constructive&quot; and said they were &quot;moving at a fairly rapid pace.&quot; He nevertheless cautioned that &quot;much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real.&quot; He also hailed this week as &quot;historic&quot; for Ukraine, thanking Europe for pledging $100 billion of funding over the next two years. Moscow&#39;s troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months. Putin on Friday hailed the Russian army&#39;s territorial gains -- and threatened more in the coming weeks. Just over the week, &quot;Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types&quot; against Ukraine, Zelensky said. Most of them have pummelled the Black Sea region of Odesa, where relentless strikes wrought havoc on ports, bridges and energy facilities, killing eight people Saturday. In the eastern Sumy region, Russian troops attempted a breakthrough in an area previously spared from an intense ground offensive. Russian forces forcibly moved 50 people from a local village, said Kyiv. &quot;Russian invaders have stolen five dozen civilian people, mostly elderly women, from a tiny Ukrainian village Grabovske, right across the state border in the Sumy region,&quot; Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said. Russia made no comment on the matter.

Europe

United States and Ukraine envoys issued joint statements hailing Miami talks as productive, yet did not announce any apparent breakthrough

US, Ukraine hail 'productive' Miami talks but no breakthrough

WASHINGTON: The United States has stopped and boarded an oil tanker off Venezuela, the latest salvo in a pressure campaign against Caracas, US media reported Saturday. The New York Times reported that the vessel was a Panamanian-flagged tanker carrying Venezuelan oil that had recently left Venezuela and was in Caribbean waters.

United States stopped and boarded an oil tanker off Venezuela, the latest salvo in a pressure campaign against Caracas

Articles tagged with "United States"