Morning bird: Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on countries trading with Iran. The Pope supported an independent Venezuela
Countries trading with Iran will be subject to a 25 percent customs surcharge when trading with the United States, decided by US President Donald Trump. Pope Leo XIV. met on Monday in the Vatican in a private audience with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
United States increases pressure on Iran
Countries that trade with Iran will be subject to a 25 percent customs surcharge when trading with the United States with immediate effect, reported the CNN portal. The US president Donald Trump announced this on his social network Truth Social, saying this directive is final and irreversible.
"With immediate effect, any country that trades with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a 25 percent duty on all trades with the United States,"
Trump wrote.
Iran is being shaken by anti-government demonstrations, in which, according to activists, hundreds have died since the turn of the year. Trump does not rule out that the United States will strike against Tehran.
The Pope met with Venezuelan opposition leader Machado at the audience
Pope Leo XIV met in a private audience at the Vatican on Monday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, reported by AP. The Pope called for the preservation of an independent Venezuela after US forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at his residence in Caracas and airlifted him to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges. Machado is traveling through Europe and the United States after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway in December.
The Cuban President stated that there are no negotiations with the USA due to Trump
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated that at the moment there are no negotiations taking place between Havana and the United States. According to him, the reason is that US President Donald Trump is escalating threats to Cuba after his attack on Venezuela. Díaz-Canel indicated on social networks on Monday that routine coordination on immigration continues between Cuba and the USA, but that currently there are no major negotiations, reported Al Jazeera.
Last year at least 2514 civilians were killed in Ukraine, the most since 2022
In the past year, at least 2514 civilians have been killed due to fighting in Ukraine and another 12142 were injured, which is more than in previous years, with the exception of 2022, when Russia launched an invasion of the country. The UN Monitoring Mission on Human Rights in Ukraine stated this in its latest report. According to her, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has already claimed the lives of at least 14999 civilians including hundreds of children, another 40601 individuals including minors were injured, wrote the server Ceskenoviny.cz.
Malaysia and Indonesia became the first countries to block Musk's Grok
Due to sexualized images of artificial intelligence, Malaysia and Indonesia became the first countries to block the Grok AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI company. There is a growing concern worldwide that it is being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images, reported AP. The Grok chatbot, which is accessible via Musk's social media platform X, has been criticized for generating a range of images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children.
Sources: CNN, AP, Al Jazeera, Ceskenoviny.cz
