World Briefing: March 12, 2025
US aid deliveries to Ukraine through Poland have resumed, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says, a day after Ukraine says it's ready to enter into an initial 30-day ceasefire. Donald Trump says he hopes to speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the next few days, as Washington officials prepare to travel to Moscow to discuss the offer. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said "the ball is in their [Russia's] court.” The Kremlin says it is "studying statements" from yesterday's US-Ukraine talks and waiting to be briefed by senior American officials before commenting on the ceasefire proposal. Meanwhile, a former Putin adviser tells the BBC the ceasefire proposals give Putin a "dilemma" and that "Biden was just an enemy, Trump is a rival.” Strikes on Ukraine continued overnight, with four people killed in the port city of Odesa and one killed in Kryvyy Rih, authorities say - BBC
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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced a response to new US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, unveiling a package of countermeasures aimed at US exports. Early Wednesday morning, the EU executive launched a set of proportionate countermeasures on US imports into the EU, targeting a variety of American products, ranging from boats to bourbon to Harley-Davidson motorbikes. The move comes in response to what the EU deems as unjustified and disruptive tariffs imposed by Washington, which took effect at midnight. “We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers. These tariffs are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Jobs are at stake. Prices will go up. In Europe and in the United States,” she continued - Euronews
The ship's captain arrested in connection with a crash into a US flagged tanker off the coast of England is a Russian national, the German company which owns the vessel said. The Solong crashed into the Stena Immaculate, a tanker carrying jet fuel for the US military, on Monday. A day later, British police arrested the Solong's captain on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. Police said the 59-year-old man remained in custody. Hamburg-based owner Ernst Russ said the captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong was Russian, adding the rest of the 14-person crew was a mix of Russian and Filipino nationals. The Stena Immaculate was at anchor when it was struck by the smaller Solong causing huge fires and explosions, leaving one crew member missing presumed dead, and releasing fuel into the sea, leading to fears about the impact on the environment. As speculation about the cause of the collision mounts, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the Solong had failed steering-related safety checks last year, citing a routine safety check carried out by Irish officials in Dublin in July - Wires via France 24
A senior official at the main U.S. aid agency, which is being dismantled by the Trump administration, told employees to clear safes holding classified documents and personnel files by shredding the papers or putting them into bags for burning, according to an email sent to the staff. The email, sent by Erica Y. Carr, the acting executive secretary, told employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development to empty out the classified safes and personnel document files on Tuesday. “Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” Ms. Carr wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by The New York Times. The agency has fired thousands of employees, put some on paid leave and asked a few to work from home, so its headquarters have been mostly empty for weeks. It is unclear if Ms. Carr or any other official at U.S.A.I.D. got permission from the National Archives and Records Administration to destroy the documents. The Federal Records Act of 1950 requires U.S. government officials to ask the records administration for approval before destroying documents. The documents being destroyed could have relevance to multiple court cases that have been filed against the Trump administration and the aid agency over the mass firing and sudden relocation of employees, the rapid dismantlement of the agency and a freeze on almost all foreign aid money - NYT
Hopes for the release of detained Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai are higher following U.S. President Donald Trump's return to office, Lai's son said on Tuesday in Washington, where he and advocates plan to meet Trump administration officials. Lai, the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. China-imposed national security legislation in Hong Kong has been used to jail pro-democracy activists after violent street protests there in 2019. The United States and other foreign governments have criticized the law as a tool for authorities to clamp down on dissent. Lai's case is a source of friction between Washington and Beijing, with Trump having said last year during his campaign for the presidency that he would "100%" get Lai out of China - Reuters
After passengers on a recent Air Canada flight discovered that Israel had been removed from the in-flight interactive map and relabeled as the Palestinian Territories, the Canadian flag carrier says that the change is the result of a “display issue.” Air Canada has been made aware of a display issue with the interactive map on the IFE systems of its B737 aircraft,” it says in response to an image posted on X of the altered flight map. “The issue has affected other carriers using the same system and we are working with the third-party provider on a remedy,” it adds. Last September, passengers noticed a similar change had been made to the interactive maps aboard a JetBlue flight. The airline similarly said that the map had been provided by a third party company, and decided “after a careful review” to switch to a new map vendor - Times of Israel
