Tottenham have leak inside club, says manager Postecoglou
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou believes there is a leak inside the north London club affecting his role. Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said a leak of information from inside the club is making his job more difficult as the Australian closes in on finding the source of the problem. Injury news has regularly found its way onto social media in advance of Spurs’ games during a troubled second season for Postecoglou. Before Thursday’s 1-1 Europa League quarterfinal, first-leg draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, Wilson Odobert’s absence from the starting lineup was leaked long before the team was officially announced. “There is no doubt we’ve got a leak inside the club,” Postecoglou said on Friday. “Someone continues to leak out information and they have all year. I don’t know why as it just makes our job even more difficult. It doesn’t help us as you don’t want to give the opposition a helping hand. “We’ve narrowed it down. I’ve got a fair idea where it’s coming from. We will deal with it. “It certainly doesn’t help us on game days. It’s sometimes half-truths and sometimes more. You’d like to think that everyone within our camp is working with us rather than against us.” Advertisement Tottenham’s lengthy injury list has played a major role in their disappointing Premier League season. Spurs sit 14th with seven games to play and are on course to miss out on the top 10 for the first time since the 2007/08 campaign. Postecoglou’s future at the club next season appears to solely depend on winning the Europa League and ending a 17-year wait for silverware. With that in mind, he is expected to make changes for Sunday’s trip to Wolves with one eye on the second leg in Frankfurt on Thursday. “We’ll need a big game, a big performance on Sunday, so having some fresh legs will help,” he added. “But also looking into next Thursday, it’s not about resting guys or managing guys, it’s also about having guys ready. It could go to 120 minutes and we’ll need people ready to go, so with a combination of those factors, we’ll make some changes.” Adblock test (Why?)
Trump’s tariffs: A simple illustrated guide to 15 economic terms to know
Throughout the past few weeks, United States President Donald Trump has announced a series of tariff policies, with shifting statements that have led to growing concerns about global economic instability. With Trump’s tariffs affecting nearly every country, many terms have been thrown around to describe the potential results. From trade wars to stock market drops, this article explains, in simple terms with illustrations, what these key terms mean, including those that may become more important in the coming months. 1. Tariff Tariffs are simply taxes imposed at the border by one country on the goods of a foreign country. They are usually aimed to protect local businesses from foreign competition. Reciprocal tariffs have come to define Trump’s trade policy of imposing the same tariffs on other countries that those countries impose on US goods. It’s like saying, “If you charge us, we’ll charge you the same.” Retaliatory tariffs are taxes imposed by a country on imported goods from a foreign country to strike back at that country’s imposition of similar taxes. It’s like saying, “If you make it hard for us, we’ll do the same to you.” 2. Trade war A trade war occurs when, for example, two countries dispute trade practices and one country places extra tariffs on goods from another that it believes is engaging in unfair trade practices. The other country retaliates with tariffs and this tit-for-tat continues, thus escalating into a trade war. Advertisement It’s like an economic tug-of-war where both sides keep pulling harder instead of finding a way to agree. A good example is the US-China trade war, which has been in effect since 2018 when the US first placed tariffs on Chinese goods. More recently, the tit-for-tat between Washington and Beijing has seen tariffs on China rise to 145 percent. 3. Trade deficit and surplus A trade deficit occurs when a country buys (imports) more goods than it sells (exports), meaning the demand for foreign goods is greater than the supply of its own products. For example, the US has a trade deficit with China because it buys more goods from China, like electronics and clothing, than it sells to it. A trade surplus is the opposite. This happens when a country sells more goods than it buys. For example, the US has a trade surplus with The Netherlands because it sells more goods, like machinery and agricultural products, to the Netherlands than it buys from it. 4. Subsidies Subsidies are financial support or money given by the government to help local businesses or industries, making their products cheaper or more competitive. For example, following Trump’s 25 percent tariff on all foreign automobiles and auto parts, South Korea announced emergency support for its auto sector by raising electric vehicles subsidies to boost demand. 5. Stock market The stock market is a place where shares of companies and other financial instruments are bought and sold. For example, if you buy Amazon shares, you’re owning part of the company, and the stock’s value can go up or down, meaning you can make or lose money. Advertisement An index is a way to measure how a group of stocks is performing. In the US, three of the biggest indices are: S&P 500 tracks the 500 largest companies in the US. Nasdaq Composite mainly tracks tech stocks such as Amazon and Google. Dow Jones Industrial Average tracks 30 large US companies like Coca-Cola and Walmart. 6. The Fed The Fed (short for the Federal Reserve) is the central bank of the United States. It helps control the country’s money supply, sets interest rates, and tries to keep the economy stable – more on these later. 7. Interest rates Interest rates are the cost of borrowing money, usually expressed as a percentage. For example, when the Fed raises interest rates, borrowing money becomes more expensive, and when it lowers rates, borrowing money becomes cheaper. Interest rates go up when central banks want to slow inflation or cool down an overheating economy. 8. Inflation Inflation measures how quickly the price of things rises over time. This means that money doesn’t buy as much as it used to. For example, if a sandwich cost $2.50 a year ago and now the same sandwich costs $3.00 then the inflation rate for the sandwich is 20 percent. Inflation can occur when demand for a product is higher than supply, or when it costs more to make the product. It can also occur if there’s too much money in the economy, like when a country prints more cash. The Fed tries to keep inflation steady. If prices rise too fast, it can hurt the economy by making goods and services too expensive. The Fed changes interest rates to help keep prices under control. 9. Exchange rate The exchange rate is the value of one country’s money compared to another’s. Advertisement For example, one US dollar will get you about 0.90 euros. Exchange rates are important because they affect the cost of buying and selling goods between countries. A strong currency makes imports cheaper and exports more expensive, while a weak currency makes exports cheaper and imports more expensive. The rates also affect travel, investments and global business. 10. Market trends Market trends are the general direction in which prices or markets are moving over time – going up, down, or staying stable. They help investors and businesses understand what’s happening in the economy. Economists use terms like “bull” and “bear” market to refer to these trends. Bull market – When the economy is doing well, prices go up and people feel confident. Think of a bull pushing up with its horns (prices rising) Bear market – When the economy is doing badly, prices fall and people feel cautious. Think of a bear swiping down with its paws (prices falling). Economists often use a formula based on the S&P 500 to determine if we’re in a bull or bear market, with a 20 percent change from the last high as the key threshold.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,142
These are the key events on day 1,142 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is where things stand on Friday, April 11: Fighting Russia said its aerial defence systems destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones overnight and into the early morning in the Bryansk, Kursk, Kaluga, Belgorod, Moscow and Oryol regions, as well as the Russian-annexed Crimea. The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces captured the border village of Zhuravka in Ukraine’s Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities recorded 145 Russian drones in its airspace in overnight attacks, of which 85 were destroyed while 49 were “lost” due to electronic warfare measures, Kyiv’s air force said. At least 13 people were injured by Russian drone attacks in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, local authorities said. The drone assaults also damaged nine apartment blocks, dozens of garages and an administrative building. At least one person was killed and three were injured by a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s Dnipro city. The attack damaged civilian infrastructure and sparked a huge fire, the regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said. A person was also killed in a separate drone strike on a residential building in the city of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said. Footage from a Ukrainian surveillance drone obtained by The Associated Press news agency showed four Ukrainian prisoners being shot dead by soldiers wearing Russian uniform markings. The Kremlin’s shorter version of the video, which was posted by a Russian military blogger, showed the Ukrainian soldiers lying on the ground alive. The video’s caption said the “enemy decided not to be killed and came out with their hands up”. The video did not show their execution. Advertisement Ceasefire Moscow’s Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of carrying out 11 attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past 24 hours despite a mutually agreed 30-day moratorium on energy strikes. Politics and Diplomacy Russia released Russian American ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence, in a prisoner exchange with the US, the Reuters news agency reports, citing Karelina’s lawyer. Karelina was found guilty of treason by a Russian court for donating $52 to a US charity aiding Ukraine. She was swapped for Arthur Petrov, a German Russian citizen arrested in 2023. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called for a “sober” view of its role in the Ukraine crisis after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s intelligence had information about 155 Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine. A spokesperson for the ministry also warned against making “irresponsible” remarks about the presence of Chinese fighters in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy accused Russia of working systematically in China to recruit fighters for the war in Ukraine. He also said, “Everything necessary must be done to ensure Russia has no such similar opportunities to prolong and expand the war.” The United States and Russia held talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, on normalising diplomatic relations between the two countries. The talks were led by Russia’s new ambassador to Washington, Alexander Darchiev, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter. Defence ministers from some 30 countries who are part of the “coalition of the willing” met in Brussels to discuss a “reassurance force” for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow. However, key questions about its mission and any support from the US remained unanswered. The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, is stepping down after three years of service, the US Department of State said. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
China to ‘reduce’ Hollywood movie releases in response to Trump’s tariffs
China’s National Film Administration says US movies will be less popular after Washington imposed a 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports. China has moved to “moderately reduce” the release of Hollywood films in the Chinese market in the latest front of the growing United States-China trade war. China’s National Film Administration directly linked their decision on Thursday to US tariffs on Chinese products, which US President Donald Trump has raised to a sky-high 145 percent. “The wrong move by the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favourability towards American films,” the film administration said in its announcement. “We will follow market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported,” it said. The decision likely came as no surprise to observers, who had predicted that China might target Hollywood as part of its response to surging US tariffs. China accepts 10 films a year from Hollywood, and the Chinese market was once seen as a major source of revenue for the US film industry. Actor Brad Pitt attends a promotional event for the movie Allied in Shanghai, China, in 2016 [File: Reuters] In recent years, though, the popularity of Western movies has waned with Hollywood films accounting for just 5 percent of box office receipts in China, according to Chris Fenton, author of Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business. Advertisement Still, the message sent by China to the US movie industry will be hard to miss, Fenton said, due to the industry’s symbolic cultural power. “Such a high-profile punishment of Hollywood is an all-win motion of strength by Beijing that will surely be noticed by Washington,” Fenton told the Reuters news agency. It is still unclear how the decision will impact much-anticipated releases due later this year, such as Paramount’s Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Warner Brothers’ latest Superman movie, and another version of Marvel’s The Fantastic Four. President Trump, who has been rebuked by many Hollywood celebrities in the past for his policies, told reporters on Thursday he was untroubled by the decision taken in China to target the film industry. “I think I’ve heard of worse things,” he said in response to a query. Adblock test (Why?)
Syria and South Korea establish formal diplomatic relations
The move is a blow to North Korea, which once counted Damascus as an ally until the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. South Korea and Syria have formally established diplomatic relations, in another milestone for the transitional government of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The move has also dealt a blow to Seoul’s archenemy, North Korea, which once counted Syria as a friend under the regime of now-deposed President Bashar al-Assad. Diplomatic ties were formalised on Thursday in Damascus between South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani. During the ceremony, Cho said South Korea was ready to help aid Syria’s recovery from its 13-year civil war through business investment and humanitarian assistance. Al-Shaibani said he hoped that Seoul would support the easing of international sanctions that remain on Damascus, according to a readout from South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The establishment of formal ties concludes talks that began in February with approval given by Seoul’s cabinet, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, and comes as both countries are in the middle of major political transitions. Advertisement In December, opposition forces in Syria overthrew President al-Assad, whose family ruled the country for more than 50 years. A transitional government was sworn in on March 30 under the leadership of President al-Sharaa, who previously led anti-Assad forces during Syria’s civil war. The focus of al-Sharaa’s government is on returning stability to Syria, which is still struggling with violent clashes months after the fall of Assad. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol was formally impeached last week after parliament received support from the country’s Constitutional Court for his removal from office. Yoon set off a political crisis in December when he briefly declared martial law, claiming that “antistate” and North Korean forces had infiltrated the government. South Korea is now headed by an acting president, and voters will choose Yoon’s replacement during a snap election in June. With the addition of Damascus, Seoul now has diplomatic ties with all 191 UN members, including the Holy See in Rome. Last year, Seoul and Cuba, another North Korean ally, established diplomatic ties in a surprise move that ended decades of isolation. Adblock test (Why?)
Manchester United: Cantona claims Ratcliffe is destroying club
Former Man Utd captain Eric Cantona blasts club ownership at fan event. Former Manchester United star Eric Cantona has accused co-owner Jim Ratcliffe and his lieutenants of destroying the Old Trafford club. British billionaire Ratcliffe has endured a turbulent spell since taking charge of United’s football operations after buying a minority share in February 2024. The INEOS owner has sacked boss Erik ten Hag and replaced him with Ruben Amorim, with little improvement as the team languishes in 13th place in the Premier League. Ratcliffe, a boyhood United fan, has also raised ticket prices and undertook drastic cost-cutting measures, resulting in about 450 lost jobs, while launching a plan to build a new 100,000-capacity stadium. A United legend after helping the club end their long wait to win the English title in 1993, Cantona is not impressed with Ratcliffe’s impact on his former team. “Since Ratcliffe arrived, this team of directors try to destroy everything and they don’t respect anybody,” Cantona told reporters during an event at FC United, the non-league team started by fans in 2005 as a response to the controversial takeover by the Glazer family, who remain the majority shareholders. Advertisement “They even want to change the stadium. The soul of the team and the club is not in the players. All the people around is like a big family. It’s very important to respect these people like you respect your manager and teammates. “Since Ratcliffe arrived, it’s the complete opposite. He doesn’t want Sir Alex Ferguson as an ambassador any more. He is more than a legend and I think we have to find this soul again.” An image of former Manchester United player Eric Cantona is seen outside Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom [Lee Smith/Action Images via Reuters] Former France striker Cantona, who has signed up to become an FC United co-owner, spent five years at United after Alex Ferguson signed him from Leeds, winning four Premier League titles and two FA Cups. The 58-year-old believes leaving Old Trafford would be a big mistake, because the soul of the club is tied to the stadium that has been its home since 1910. “This team of directors, they try to destroy everything. They don’t respect anybody. They even want to change the stadium. The stadium is iconic,” he said. “For me, Arsenal lost their soul when they left Highbury, and I’m sure a lot of fans miss Highbury. I don’t think United can play in another stadium than Old Trafford.” Cantona, who now works as an actor, revealed he offered to help Ratcliffe rebuild a club that has not won the Premier League since Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2013. “Until the end of October this year, I will shoot movies,” he said. “But I said to them, ‘I can put that aside and concentrate and help you to rebuild something’. And they don’t care. “I feel sad to see United in this kind of situation. They decided something else. They have another strategy, another project. “I support United because I really love United, but now, if I was a fan and I had to choose a club, I don’t think I would choose United. Because I don’t feel close to these kind of decisions. Advertisement “I think maybe we are dreamers and the owners are more like an economy and a strategy. I hate this kind of thing. I hate this kind of decision.” Adblock test (Why?)
Turkiye and Israel hold talks to avoid clashes in Syria
‘Technical talks’ aim to set up communications channel to avoid clashes in the region, Turkish official says. Turkish and Israeli officials have begun talks aimed at easing tensions in Syria, where the militaries of both countries are active, officials from both sides say. Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria and deployed troops to a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since opposition fighters removed President Bashar al-Assad in December. Turkiye is a key backer of the interim government in Syria, where its support includes operations against the ISIL (ISIS) armed group. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed on Wednesday that technical talks with Israel were under way, emphasising that deconfliction mechanisms were necessary to prevent misunderstandings between the two regional powers’ forces. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Thursday that the two sides “agreed to continue the dialogue in order to preserve regional stability”. The talks come as the two sides pursue competing interests in Syria. Turkish sources quoted by the news agency Reuters said the talks in Azerbaijan on Wednesday marked the beginning of efforts to set up a communications channel to avoid potential clashes or misunderstandings over military operations in the region. Advertisement “Efforts will continue to establish this mechanism,” one of the Turkish sources said, without providing details on the scope or timeline of the talks. A Turkish Ministry of National Defence official quoted by The Associated Press news agency said assessments for the establishment of a base for joint Turkish-Syrian training are ongoing, adding that such activities followed international law “without targeting third countries”. Israel has expressed concerns that Syria’s new leadership will pose a threat along its border while Israel also reportedly wants to thwart Turkish influence in Syria. Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Turkish bases in Syria would be a “danger to Israel”. An Israeli political source quoted by Reuters said that during the talks “Israel made it unequivocally clear that any change in the deployment of foreign forces in Syria – and in particular the establishment of Turkish bases in the Palmyra area – is a red line and will be considered a breaking of the rules.” According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based war monitor, Israel’s military carried out more than 500 air attacks on targets in Syria from December 8 to December 31 and has carried out at least 43 attacks so far this year. Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused Israel of waging a campaign against “the stability of the country”. Ties between Israel and Turkiye have deteriorated over Israel’s assault on Gaza. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war, which has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Tanzania opposition party leader Tundu Lissu charged with treason
Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven. A court in Tanzania has charged opposition party leader Tundu Lissu with treason after his arrest at a public rally in which he called for electoral reforms. The charges against the chairman of the Chadema party will bring new scrutiny to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bid for re-election in October as critics accuse the government of cracking down on the opposition. The opposition leader was forced into a police vehicle late on Wednesday after he had finished addressing a public rally in Mbinga in southern Tanzania. “I came here, we held a peaceful meeting and now I understand the tactics of the police. We are now clear on the situation. I will not enter the vehicle. There is no need for that. We will sleep here. What is the problem?” Lissu asked the police, moments before his supporters were tear-gassed. Lissu on Thursday afternoon arrived at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the commercial capital Dar-es-Salaam, appearing in high spirits and in the company of his lawyers and opposition party politicians. Advertisement He was, however, not allowed to enter a plea on the treason charge. He did plead not guilty to a separate charge of publishing false information and is due back in court on April 24. Lissu’s lawyer Rugemeleza Nshala said the charges against his client were politically driven. “You cannot separate these charges from politics,” Nshala told the Reuters news agency. “He was doing campaigns to educate Chadema supporters, but they have turned it into charges.” According to the charge sheet, Lissu, who survived being shot 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017, made the comments in question in Dar-es-Salaam on April 3. The charge sheet quoted him as saying: “It is true we say we will prevent the election. We will inspire rebellion. That is the way to get change.” “So we are going to spoil this election. We are going to really disrupt. … We are going to spoil it very badly,” the charge sheet accused him of saying. Hassan won plaudits after coming to power in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship of the media that proliferated under her predecessor John Magufuli, who died in office. But she has faced mounting criticism from human rights activists over a series of arrests and unexplained abductions and killings of political opponents. Hassan has said the government is committed to respecting human rights, and she ordered an investigation into reported abductions last year. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump-China tariff war: What could the US gain and lose?
US President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to implement a 90-day pause on the tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries has sent battered stock markets surging, even as he ratcheted up his trade war with China. Trump’s turnaround on Wednesday, which came just 13 hours after the duties had gone into effect, followed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the COVID-19 pandemic. Stocks soared following Trump’s announcement of a pause on some tariffs. The S&P 500 jumped 9.5 percent on Wednesday, the index’s biggest single-day leap since 2008. Oil prices, which slid in recent days on fears of a global recession, also rallied on the news. Still, not all of Trump’s tariffs have been lifted. A 10 percent levy on most countries remains in place. Meanwhile, the United States escalated its trade war with China, raising tariffs to a whopping 125 percent – deepening an economic crisis between the world’s two largest economies. What are Trump’s latest moves? On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs for almost 60 countries and the European Union. The tariffs were customised for each country and corresponded to the size of their trade surplus with the US. Advertisement Imports from those countries will now be subject to a flat tax of 10 percent, which Trump introduced on April 5. China was not included in the pause. Instead, Trump announced that he would raise levies on Chinese goods to 125 percent, from 104 percent. Trump’s decision came after Beijing announced plans to retaliate with an 84 percent duty on American goods on Wednesday. World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said the tensions “pose a significant risk of a sharp contraction in bilateral trade” between the US and China. “Our preliminary projections suggest that merchandise trade between these two economies could decrease by as much as 80 percent,” she said in a statement on April 9. What did Trump actually say? At a White House event celebrating Joey Logano, the NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Trump claimed his method for assigning and adjusting tariffs was based on “more of an instinct than anything else”. “You have to be flexible,” he said. Trump acknowledged that some investors had been “queasy” about the economic turbulence prompted by his tariffs. “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know.” But he emphasised a positive outlook towards the financial markets. “They [stock prices] change.” He said that markets had rallied to “the biggest day in financial history” after his latest tariff adjustment. “That’s a pretty big change.” He added that countries were now lining up to do business with his administration. “We have many other countries, as you know – many more than 75 – and they all want to come.” He also predicted the US would reap dividends before the end of the year. Advertisement “I did a 90-day pause for the people who didn’t retaliate because I told them, ‘If you retaliate, we’re going to double it.’ And that’s what I did with China, because they did retaliate.” He re-emphasised that his punitive tariff campaign against China would push Beijing to the bargaining table. “A deal could be made with every one of them. A deal’s going to be made with China. A deal’s going to be made with every one of them. And they’ll be fair deals. I just want fair,” Trump said. “They weren’t fair to the United States. They were sucking us dry. And you can’t do that.” What is the state of US-China trade relations? Despite growing tensions between the US and China, Washington and Beijing remain major trade partners. According to data from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the total goods trade between the US and China stood at an estimated $582.4bn in 2024. US goods exports to China totalled $143.5bn. On the other hand, US goods imports from China totalled $438.9bn. The upshot is that America’s trade deficit with China was $295.4bn last year, marking a 5.8 percent rise ($16.3bn) over 2023. China is the US’s third-largest trade partner, after Mexico and Canada. But the US has been slowly weaning itself off Chinese imports. Chinese goods accounted for 13.3 percent of US imports in 2024, down from a peak of 21.6 percent in 2017. Still, from washing machines and TV sets to clothing, China is one of the top suppliers of goods to the US. The US Department of Commerce calculated that mechanical appliances (mainly low to mid-range technology products) made up 46.4 percent of all US imports from China in 2022. (Al Jazeera) On the flipside, $24.7bn of agricultural products were exported from the US to China in 2024 – mainly in the form of soya beans. Advertisement China is also a large importer of US farming equipment, computer chips and fossil fuels. In what ways could the US benefit? Trump has long maintained that tariffs can reduce America’s trade deficits and bring foreign manufacturing back to the US. He has also said they will pave the way for future tax cuts. In 1979, nearly 20 million Americans made their living from manufacturing. Today, it’s closer to 12.5 million. In the years following World War II, the US was a leading producer of motor vehicles, aircraft and steel. “Since then,” says Vincent Vicard, head of international trade at the economic think tank CEPII, “foreign competition and productivity gains have shrunk the US relative share of manufacturing jobs”. “And while it’s hard to say exactly what Trump wants,” Vicard told Al Jazeera, “part of the tariff plan is about raising revenue for income tax cuts and boosting industry.” He pointed out that “some industries, like cars and steel, could benefit from lower foreign competition. However, they will also face higher prices for intermediate goods [used in their own manufacturing processes].” Vicard said there may be “investment in several industries over the longer term… beyond five years. But the impact of tariffs on consumers in the near term will be
Unpacking Israel’s war on international humanitarian law
On March 24, Israel struck a car in northern Gaza and killed Al Jazeera correspondent Hossam Shabat. The 23-year-old is one of countless civilians – men, women and children – Israel has killed since launching what legal scholars describe as a “genocidal” war on Gaza. Israel often justifies its killings by claiming that the targets are people sympathetic or affiliated with Hamas or other armed factions. This was the justification given for killing Shabat. Israel also regularly destroys entire neighbourhoods and buildings, killing dozens – often hundreds – at a time, ostensibly to target a single Hamas operative. For years, Israel has tried to justify these practices by employing lawyers to create shadowy quasi-legal concepts in the hope of establishing new, dangerous precedents, according to legal scholars and experts. However, legal scholars told Al Jazeera that neither so-called “targeted killings” nor disproportionate attacks against civilians have any grounding in international law. Advertisement “Is there any semblance of law or legal justification for the war tactics Israel is using in Gaza? The simple answer is no. There isn’t,” said Heidi Matthews, assistant professor of law at York University in Toronto, Canada. Setting precedents On September 28, 2000, Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Gaza began demonstrating against Israel’s ever-entrenching occupation in what became known as the second Intifada. Israel’s repression of the Intifada quickly prompted Palestinians to mobilise and fight back. Over the next five years, Israel launched what it named “targeted killings”, assassinating unarmed Palestinians. Israel claimed that these targets could pose a threat to Israelis in the future because of their alleged membership in an armed faction. “Israel … strips protection from civilians based on their views or perspectives,” said Noor Kilzi, a researcher with Legal Agenda, a nonprofit in Lebanon that advocates for legal reform and human rights in the Middle East. Relatives of the Palestinians who died as a result of an Israeli attack on a house belonging to the Mikdad family in Khan Younis refugee camp mourn as the dead bodies are taken from Nasser Hospital for burial on the second day of Eid al-Fitr in Khan Younis, Gaza, on March 31, 2025. It was reported that many people, including children, were killed and injured in the attack [Abed Rahim Khatib/ Anadolu Agency] Israel’s concept of targeted killings laid out a blueprint which the United States adapted during its “war on terror”, analysts told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “[In the early 2000s] Israel and the US changed their legal doctrines and implemented that as part of their military dogma,” York University’s Matthews told Al Jazeera. “When it came to distinguishing between civilians and combatants… the US and Israel began to view [anyone as a target] based on their membership to a group,” she added. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, a person is only a legitimate target if they are directly engaged in armed combat at the time they are killed. This means that suspected membership in an armed group is not a sufficient basis to assassinate someone. Leiber’s legacy? Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, it has routinely dropped 2,000lb (900kg) bombs in densely populated residential areas, as well as systematically targeted schools, hospitals and displacement shelters. Israeli officials justify these attacks by claiming that Israel is fighting a “just war” against barbarians. As a result, the ostensible goal of destroying Hamas outweighs minimising civilian casualties. This is rooted partly in the philosophy of Francis Leiber, a 19th-century German American military theorist, who was tasked with setting out the “rules of conduct” for Unionist soldiers fighting the Confederates in the US Civil War. He argued that some wars are vital to the moral progress of civilised nations and require a quick victory, which can only be achieved using tactics that will likely cause huge civilian casualties. “Leiber basically said that whatever is militarily necessary to carry out war is legal,” Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, a legal scholar at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement This terrifying reasoning is blatantly at odds with international norms and laws, Gurmendi Dunkelberg added. “He believed in killing as many people as you can, so that you finish the job quickly. He believed that was more humane than trying to protect people to the point that the war drags on for say 15 years,” he said. Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, its spokespeople have made similar arguments. Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the goal was to “get the [war] done quicker” when asked by PBS about why Israel had dropped 6,000 bombs in the first six days of attacks on the besieged enclave. Then spokesperson for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari, also admitted during the first days of the war that the emphasis in Gaza was on “damage and not accuracy”. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on April 8, 2025 [Ramadan Abed/REUTERS] (Reuters) Destroying the system In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved two arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – accused of using starvation as a weapon of war and deliberately attacking civilians in Gaza. An earlier ruling by the International Court of Justice found that Palestinians in Gaza faced a real risk of genocide due to Israel’s war practices. The rulings by the ICC and ICJ add weight to the argument that Israel has failed in trying to legally justify its war practices, which likely amount to multiple war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide. Advertisement As a result, Israel and its western allies are now trying to sabotage the very institutions that were created to uphold international law and prosecute perpetrators of atrocities, said Nadim Khoury, former director at Human Rights Watch and the founder of the Arab Reform Initiative think tank. “Israel has clearly hit the limit of what they can get away with by using legal arguments. Now, they’re just