NewsOvernight reports: Trump's new tariffs; Israel and Hamas agreement, and more
Overnight reports: Trump's new tariffs; Israel and Hamas agreement, and more
It happened while you were sleeping. Here’s what global agencies reported during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
- Options for responding to the incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on Canadian goods were the topic of a special meeting on Wednesday between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers of Canadian provinces. Halting oil exports was not ruled out. Canada has been the largest energy supplier to the United States for years. Each day, the USA purchases four million barrels of oil and natural gas from Canadian companies. The electricity imported from Canada is sufficient to power approximately 1.5 million UK households.
- "Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip and to exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners," a source familiar with the peace negotiations conducted in Qatar told Reuters.
- U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a speech summarising his fifty years of political involvement. "This will be my last address from the Oval Office as president," he told Americans.
- General Khalifa Haftar handed over the Matan as Sarra base near the Chadian and Sudanese border to Russia. The Russians are moving troops and equipment from Syria to this location. The Matan as Sarra base holds strategic significance. In the 1980s, it was utilised during the Libyan-Chadian war. Currently, Russia plans to transform it into a key point for military operations in Africa.
- The first inmates from the group of 553 prisoners, for whom the Vatican advocated, were released from Cuban prisons on Wednesday, independent Cuban media reported. According to independent Radio Marti, those set to leave the prisons after the Holy See's mediation comprise just under half of the opponents of the regime in Havana. The station, citing the human rights organisation Prisoners Defenders, specified that as of early January, 1,161 opponents of the Cuban regime were imprisoned.
