BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned sweeping new U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Wednesday and said Germany was “studying the suggestions of the European Commission” for retaliatory measures. “I think the decisions on tariffs by the USA are wrong and we will react to them appropriately and quickly,” Scholz told a press conference in Berlin alongside European Council chief Antonio Costa. He assured that the European Union would respond swiftly and appropriately to these tariffs, indicating a clear stance from the EU on the matter.

 

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that she will send a diplomatic note to the United States after a US envoy criticized her at a UN conference for holding a political rally Sunday in Mexico’s capital. The rally was meant to inform the public about the latest U.S.-Mexico negotiations that led Washington to agree to pause some trade tariffs on Mexican goods. Cartwright Weiland, U.S. envoy to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, said that it is too soon to celebrate when women and children are shot to death in Mexican places.

 

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PARIS (Reuters) - The defense ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland met in Paris on Wednesday, promising concrete steps to boost European defense and provide security guarantees for Ukraine as Washington pursues rapprochement with Moscow. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was invited to attend an initial meeting to discuss aid for hi country, after which a second meeting would focus on building up European defense capabilities. “European nations are stepping up,” said Britain’s defense secretary, John Healey. “By deepening our defense cooperation, boosting spending and enhancing our collective strength, we send a clear message: we will not waver in standing with Ukraine and defending our shared values.” France and Britain, Europe’s two nuclear powers, have worked closely together over the past few weeks to rally European support for Ukraine amid U.S. unpredictability. The meetings, held at the Val-de-Grâce former military hospital in Paris, were also due to be attended by European Union and NATO officials.

 

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PARIS (EURONEWS) - A report by the National Observatory on Violence Against Women found that seven in ten women in the Île-de-France region have been subjected to some form of sexual violence on public transport. The number of reported victims of sexual violence on public transport hit a record high in France last year, a report has revealed. The study, which was published by the National Observatory on Violence Against Women, found that the annual number of victims had increased by 86% since 2016. In 2024, 3,374 victims of sexual violence on public transport were recorded by the police, 6% higher than the previous year and 9% above the figures seen in 2022, according to the report.

 

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TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — A court in Georgia on Wednesday convicted imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili on embezzlement charges and handed him another prison term of nine years. Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s president in 2004-13, is already serving a six-year prison term for abuse of power. He was convicted in absentia in 2018, and arrested in 2021 upon his return to Georgia. In the new case against Saakashvili, Georgia’s prosecutors accused him of embezzling and spending 9 million Georgian lari (roughly $3.2 million) worth of state funds funneled through Georgia’s State Security Service on various personal expenses, including luxury services and his sons’ education. Saakashvili’s defense has denied the charges and insisted they were politically motivated.