U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2 for a highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world&#8217;s two biggest economies, a trip announced as the Supreme Court overturned Trump&#8217;s sweeping tariffs on imported goods.
A White House official confirmed the trip on Friday, just before the highest U.S. court dealt Trump a stinging defeat by striking down many of the tariffs he has used in a global trade war, including some against rival China.
Trump&#8217;s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on an extended visit to Beijing had been expected to revolve around extending a trade truce that kept both countries from further hiking tariffs.
But the Supreme Court&#8217;s reversal created new questions for tense U.S.-China relations that had recently stabilized after Trump trimmed tariffs on Chinese goods, in exchange for measures from Beijing, including cracking down on the illicit fentanyl trade and pausing export restrictions on critical minerals.
Twenty-percent tariffs on China&#8217;s U.S.-bound exports were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, which the court ruled Trump had overstepped. Those tariffs were tied to national emergencies related to fentanyl distribution and trade imbalances.
Other duties on Chinese goods, including those implemented under legislated trade authorities known as Section 301 and Section 232, remain in place.
It was not immediately clear how many of the tariffs Trump would restore, but he told a press conference that he would impose a new 10% global tariff for 150 days.
Trump&#8217;s last trip to China, in 2017, was the most recent by a U.S. president.
&#8220;That&#8217;s going to be a wild one,&#8221; Trump told foreign leaders visiting Washington on Thursday about the upcoming China visit. &#8220;We have to put on the biggest display you&#8217;ve ever had in the history of China.&#8221;
The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the dates of the trip, which were first reported by Reuters. Beijing has not confirmed the trip.
The Trump administration has said the global tariffs were necessary because of national emergencies related to trade imbalances that have weakened U.S. manufacturing.
Trump had already been &#8220;playing defense&#8221; in the trade war, given the effectiveness of Beijing&#8217;s threat to cut off rare earths, said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The tariff defeat likely &#8220;cements his weakness in their eyes,&#8221; he said.
Chinese officials &#8220;like the direction of travel of the bilateral relationship in which the U.S. is diminished and they want to keep things from re-escalating,&#8221; Kennedy said.
Trump&#8217;s visit will be the leaders&#8217; first in-person talks since an October meeting in South Korea, where they agreed on the trade truce.
While the October meeting largely sidestepped the sensitive issue of Taiwan, Xi raised U.S. arms sales to the island when the two leaders spoke this month.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a position Taipei rejects. The U.S., bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, has formal diplomatic ties with China, but it maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island&#8217;s most important arms supplier.
Washington announced its largest-ever arms sale approval with Taiwan in December, including $11.1 billion in weapons that could ostensibly be used to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan expects more such sales.
Xi also said during the February call that he would consider further increasing soybean purchases, according to Trump. Struggling U.S. farmers are a major political constituency for Trump, and China is the top soybean consumer. Analysts said on Friday that China may be less likely to follow through on another big purchase of U.S. soybeans after the Supreme Court ruling.
Although Trump has justified hawkish policy steps from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela as necessary to thwart China, he has eased policy toward Beijing in the past several months in areas from tariffs to advanced computer chips and drones.
The global trade war Trump initiated after he began his second term as president in January 2025 has alienated other trading partners, including allies.
Critics had argued that imposing steep tariffs on countries across the board actually insulated Beijing from the tariff barrage and reduced incentives to move supply chains out of China.
Friday&#8217;s ruling could indirectly increase pressure on Beijing if the effective tariff rates on other countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, fall more than those on China, said Martin Chorzempa, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics.
&#8220;Unlike with many other countries, there is a well-established, much more legally durable mechanism for most of the tariffs on China that make them less affected than those on other countries,&#8221; Chorzempa said.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Colleen Jenkins, Rod Nickel, Patricia Zengerle)

Donald Trump, Xi Jinping

Trump To Travel To China In March, With Tariffs In Focus

Communist China

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Tariffs

World

Xi Jinping

Ukraine hit a Russian plant manufacturing ballistic missiles in a missile strike in the remote Udmurtia region, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday.
Ukraine said its forces attacked the plant manufacturing Russian missiles, including the short-range Iskander and intercontinental Topol-M, in Votkinsk, east of Moscow and about 1,400 km (800 miles) from Ukraine.
It said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the Ukrainian forces used domestically produced ground-launched Flamingo cruise missiles. The attack caused a fire on the site, the Ukrainian military said.
Alexander Brechalov, the governor of the Udmurtia region in Russia, had earlier said a site there had been attacked overnight with drones.
&#8220;There has been damage and injuries as a result,&#8221; Brechalov said in a video posted on the Telegram app. He provided no other details.
The airport in Udmurtia&#8217;s main city, Izhevsk, and those in cities in nearby regions suspended operations, the civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.
The unofficial Russian Telegram channel SHOT, which often quotes contacts in the security services, said residents in Votkinsk reported hearing at least three explosions and the humming of drones.
Russia uses its ballistic missiles to reinforce its drone attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, knocking out electricity and heating supplies for millions across Ukraine during the cold winter months.
Ukraine is increasingly targeting military and energy infrastructure deep inside Russia. Kyiv says that hitting the weapons producers and the energy system that fuels Russia&#8217;s military is the best way to gain leverage over its bigger enemy as the war enters its fifth year next week.
The Ukrainian military said it also hit a gas processing plant in the Russian Samara region. Russian officials in the Samara region issued no report of such an attack.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Alex Richardson)

Missile

Ukraine Strikes Ballistic Missile Producer Deep Inside Russia, Kyiv Says

Russia

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Germany&#8217;s ruling conservatives on Saturday passed a motion to ban social media use for under 14s and introduce more stringent digital verification checks for teenagers, building momentum for such limits in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
At a party conference in the city of Stuttgart, Chancellor Friedrich Merz&#8217;s Christian Democratic Union also called for fines for online platforms that failed to enforce such limits, and European Union-wide harmonisation of age standards.
A growing number of countries, including Spain, Greece, France and Britain, are looking at similar social media bans or restrictions on accessing platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
It follows the example of Australia, which last year became the first country to force platforms to cut off access for children.
European nations are more broadly ratcheting up pressure on social media companies, risking a backlash from the United States. President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs and sanctions if EU countries impose new tech taxes or online regulations that hit U.S. firms.
&#8220;We call on the federal government to introduce a legal age limit of 14 for the use of social networks and to address the special need for protection in the digital sphere up to the age of 16,&#8221; said the motion that passed on Saturday.
Merz&#8217;s coalition partners the Social Democrats have also backed social media curbs for children. Pressure from both parties in the coalition makes it increasingly likely that the federal government will push for restrictions.
However, under Germany&#8217;s federal system, media regulation is a state‑level responsibility and states must negotiate with each other to agree consistent nationwide rules.
The ban could affect children like those at the Cardinal Frings Gymnasium in the city of Bonn, several of whom a day earlier were scrolling on their phones in the school grounds.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s fair, but I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether to forbid it, not the state,&#8221; said 13-year-old Moritz, who says he only watches YouTube.
&#8220;For children under 12 it should be forbidden, but from age 12 onwards I think children can already distinguish between what is fake news and what is not.&#8221;
His classmate Emma, 13, almost exclusively uses Snapchat, but has a time limit on her phone.
A ban would be &#8220;kind of unusual, because you get used to sending your snap in the morning before school, or what my friends do, like just scrolling through Instagram or TikTok for a bit,&#8221; she said.
Ella, 12, scrolls through social media several times a day.
&#8220;So I have TikTok and Instagram myself, but I understand that it&#8217;s all addictive, and the more you scroll, the more you want to see.&#8221;
Teacher Till Franke said that for many of the children, &#8220;it would be a shock at first, because of this daily use of social media.&#8221;
But eventually, the students would get used to it, he said, &#8220;because they would find other niches where they could communicate with each other.&#8221;
(Andreas Rinke, Stephane Nitschke and Petra Wischgoll; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Top Social Media Platforms

Germany’s Ruling Party Backs Social Media Curbs For Children

Big Tech

Children

Germany

Mental Health

Social Media

Bayer said on Tuesday its Monsanto unit had reached an agreement worth as much as $7.25 billion to resolve tens of thousands of current and future lawsuits claiming that its Roundup weedkiller caused cancer.
The German company said the proposed nationwide settlement, filed on Tuesday in state court in St. Louis, Missouri, would establish a long-term claims program funded by capped annual payments over up to 21 years.
The company, which acquired Roundup as part of its $63 billion purchase of agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018, is facing claims over Roundup from approximately 65,000 plaintiffs in U.S. state and federal courts.
The plaintiffs say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other forms of cancer after using the weedkiller, either at home or on the job.
Following the announcement, Bayer shares rose as much as 7.7% to reach their highest level since September 12, 2023. Frankfurt-listed Bayer shares were up 7.2% by 1839 GMT.
Bayer said it expects its provisions and litigation liabilities to rise from 7.8 billion euros ($9.24 billion) to 11.8 billion euros. It anticipates around 5 billion euros in litigation-related payouts in 2026, and now expects negative free cash flow for the year.
Roundup is among the most widely used weedkillers in the United States. Bayer has said decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.
The deal covers the bulk of the lawsuits, but requires a judge&#8217;s approval and a minimum number of plaintiffs to opt in. It does not require Bayer to admit liability or wrongdoing and allows the company to back out if too many plaintiffs decline to participate.
It is also designed to head off future lawsuits, and allows people who can prove they have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and were exposed to Roundup prior to Tuesday to file claims to receive a portion of the settlement up to 21 years from now.
The agreement was negotiated with Motley Rice, Seeger Weiss and other law firms that would represent a nationwide class of plaintiffs, if the court allows the deal to proceed.
Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said on a call with investors and reporters that he is confident the proposed class action settlement will resolve the vast majority of the claims, although he declined to say how many people currently support the deal.
Attorneys who negotiated on behalf of the plaintiffs said the deal represents the best path forward. Payouts will be determined by a tiered system that considers exposure, age at diagnosis and cancer type. Individuals could receive up to $198,000 or more, according to attorney Eric Holland.
The company said it had separately reached confidential settlements to resolve other Roundup cases with specific law firms, although the company would not name the firms or specify the amount of those deals.
Tuesday&#8217;s proposed settlement comes after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in a case that Bayer argues will sharply limit its liability in the litigation.
The company said the Supreme Court case, scheduled for oral arguments at the end of April, remains essential to resolving the Roundup litigation.
Bayer is arguing that consumers should not be able to sue it under state law for failing to warn that Roundup increases cancer risk because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found no such risk and requires no such warning. Bayer argued that federal law does not allow it to add any warning to the product beyond the EPA-approved label.
A favorable ruling would wipe out several large verdicts that remain on appeal and could also prevent future claims from individuals who choose to opt out of the nationwide settlement.
Bayer investors welcomed news of the proposed settlement but some, like Markus Manns, portfolio manager at Bayer shareholder Union Investment, cautioned it was &#8220;not yet the breakthrough that many investors had hoped for.&#8221;
&#8220;The settlement buys Bayer time, but without a win in the Supreme Court, a new wave of lawsuits could roll over Bayer in a few years,&#8221; Manns said.
The company had previously paid about $10 billion to settle most of the Roundup lawsuits that were pending as of 2020, but failed to get a settlement then covering future cases.
It has had a mixed record with cases that have gone to trial. It prevailed in a series of Roundup trials, but has been hit with large jury awards in the past few years, including a $2.1 billion verdict in a case in the U.S. state of Georgia in March.
The verdicts shattered both investor confidence and company hopes that the worst of the Roundup litigation was over, and put pressure on Bayer to find a comprehensive solution to the lawsuits.
(Reporting by Diana Jones and Kirsti Knolle; Additional reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Writing by Linda Pasquini and Friederike Heine; Editing by Alexander Smith, Alexia Garamfalvi and Jan Harvey)

Roundup

Bayer Proposes $7.25 Billion Plan To Settle Roundup Cancer Cases

Cancer

Courts

Lawsuit

Monsanto

U.S.

The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense on Sunday for the first time transported a small nuclear reactor on a cargo plane from California to Utah to demonstrate the potential to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use.
The agencies partnered with California-based Valar Atomics to fly one of the company’s Ward microreactors on a C-17 aircraft — without nuclear fuel — to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey were on the C-17 flight with the reactor and its components, and hailed the event as a breakthrough for U.S. nuclear energy and military logistics.
“This gets us closer to deploy nuclear power when and where it is needed to give our nation’s warfighters the tools to win in battle,” Duffey said.
President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration sees small nuclear reactors as one of several ways to expand U.S. energy production. Trump last May issued four executive orders aimed at boosting domestic nuclear deployment to meet growing demand for energy for national security and competitive AI advancements.
The Energy Department in December issued two grants to help accelerate development of small modular reactors.
Proponents of microreactors also have touted them as energy sources that can be sent to far-flung and remote places, offering an alternative to diesel generators which require frequent deliveries of fuel. But skeptics have argued that the industry has not proven that small nuclear reactors can generate power for a reasonable price.
&#8220;There is no business case for microreactors, which — even if they work as designed — will produce electricity at a far higher cost than large nuclear reactors, not to mention renewables like wind or solar,&#8221; said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Energy Department plans to have three microreactors reach “criticality” — when a nuclear reaction can sustain itself — by July 4, Wright said.
The microreactor in Sunday&#8217;s event, a little larger than a minivan, can generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, according to Valar CEO Isaiah Taylor. It will start operating in July at 100 kilowatts and peak at 250 kilowatts this year before ramping up to full capacity, he said.
Valar hopes to start selling power on a test basis in 2027 and become fully commercial in 2028. Although private industry funds its own development of nuclear technology, it also needs the federal government “doing some enabling actions to allow fuel fabrication here and uranium enrichment here,” he said.
Fuel for Valar&#8217;s reactor will be transported from the Nevada National Security site to the San Rafael facility, Wright told reporters.
However, even small generators result in a significant amount of radioactive waste, Lyman said. Other experts have said designers are not compelled to consider waste at inception, beyond a plan for how it will be managed.
Although disposal of nuclear waste remains an unresolved issue, the Energy Department is in talks with a few states, including Utah, to host sites that could reprocess fuel or handle permanent disposal, Wright said.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Sergio Non and Lincoln Feast.)

Microreactor

U.S. Conducts First Air Transport Of Nuclear Microreactor In Bid To Show Tech’s Viability

General

Nuclear

Nuclear Power

Technology

About 100 U.S. military personnel have arrived in Nigeria as Washington scales up an operation to target Islamist insurgents, a Nigerian defence spokesperson said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians from Islamist militants in the northwest.
Nigeria denies discriminating against any religion, saying its security forces target armed groups that attack both Christians and Muslims.
The U.S. carried out strikes targeting Islamic State-linked militants in December, and a small U.S. military team has been operating on the ground to boost Nigeria&#8217;s intelligence capabilities.
In recent days, several planes carrying U.S. troops and equipment have headed to Nigeria&#8217;s northern states, according to flight tracking data reviewed by Reuters.
Major General Samaila Uba, spokesperson for Nigeria&#8217;s Defense Headquarters, said the troops would train and advise local forces, but not take part in combat.
Earlier this month, Nigeria&#8217;s military said it expected around 200 more U.S. troops.
Presidential spokesperson Sunday Dare said Nigeria needed &#8220;massive support from the U.S. government&#8221; in terms of fighter jets and munitions, but declined to give numbers or a timeframe.
Nigeria&#8217;s 240 million people are evenly split between Christians mainly in the south and Muslims mainly in the north.
It acknowledges serious security problems, including from Islamist fighters, but denies that Christians face widespread or systematic persecution.
(Reporting by Jessica Donati, and MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Kevin Liffey)

U.S. Troops

Nigeria Says 100 More U.S. Military Personnel Have Arrived To Tackle Islamists

Christians

Islamists

Nigeria

U.S. Military

Warner Bros Discovery is considering reopening sale talks with rival Hollywood studio Paramount Skydance after receiving its hostile suitor&#8217;s most recent amended offer, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Members of Warner Bros&#8217; board are discussing whether Paramount could offer the path to a superior deal, the Bloomberg report said, adding that the board has not decided how to respond and may stick to the current deal with Netflix.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Paramount, Warner Bros and Netflix did not respond to requests for comment.
Paramount had enhanced its Warner Bros bid last week by offering shareholders extra cash for each quarter the deal fails to close after this year. It also agreed to cover the breakup fee the HBO parent would owe Netflix if it walked away, even though the CBS owner did not raise its per-share offer.
Paramount said it has offered shareholders a 25-cent-per-share quarterly &#8220;ticking fee&#8221; (about $650 million) in cash starting in 2027 until closing and agreed to cover Warner Bros’ $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix. However, it did not raise its $30-per-share offer, valuing the deal at $108.4 billion including debt.
Both Netflix and Paramount covet Warner Bros for its leading film and television studios, extensive content library and major franchises such as &#8220;Game of Thrones,&#8221; &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; and DC Comics superheroes Batman and Superman.
Activist investor Ancora Holdings, which has built a nearly $200 million stake, last week said it plans to oppose the Netflix deal, arguing the board did not sufficiently engage with Paramount over its rival bid, which includes cable assets like CNN and TNT.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

In this photo illustration, the Warner Bros Discovery logo

Warner Bros Weighs Reopening Sale Talks With Paramount, Bloomberg Reports

Media

Movies

Netflix

Paramount

Warner Bros

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called &#8220;troubling&#8221; a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using toxin from poison dart frogs, adding that Washington had no reason to question it.
&#8220;We obviously are aware of the report. It&#8217;s a troubling report. We&#8217;re aware of that case of Mr. Navalny and certainly&#8230; we don&#8217;t have any reason to question it,&#8221; Rubio told reporters at a news conference in Brastislava during a visit to Slovakia.
In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands on Saturday said analyses of samples from Navalny&#8217;s body &#8220;conclusively&#8221; confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.
The Russian government, which has repeatedly denied any responsibility for Navalny&#8217;s death while he was held in an Arctic penal colony two years ago, dismissed the latest allegations as &#8220;a Western propaganda hoax,&#8221; according to Russia&#8217;s state news agency TASS.
When asked why the United States did not join the statement, Rubio said this was an endeavour by them.
&#8220;Those countries came to that conclusion. They coordinated that. We chose &#8211; doesn&#8217;t mean we disagree with the outcome. We just, it wasn&#8217;t, our endeavor. Sometimes countries go out and do their thing with based on the intelligence they&#8217;ve gathered.&#8221; Rubio said.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not disputing or getting into a fight with these countries over it. But it was their report, and they put that out there,&#8221; he added.
Russian opposition leader Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony in February 2024, after being convicted of extremism and other charges, all of which he denied.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Jan Lopatka; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Susan Fenton)

Secretary Of State Marco Rubio

Rubio Says U.S. Does Not Dispute Navalny Poisoning Assessment By Europeans

Alexei Navalny

Marco Rubio

Murder

Vladimir Putin

The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.
The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold negotiations with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned on Saturday that while Trump&#8217;s preference was to reach a deal with Tehran, &#8220;that’s very hard to do.&#8221;
Meanwhile, Trump has amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action. U.S. officials said on Friday the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of waging attacks and defending against them.
Trump, speaking on Friday after a military event at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, openly floated the possibility of changing the government in Iran, saying it &#8220;seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.&#8221; He declined to share who he wanted to take over Iran, but said, &#8220;there are people.&#8221;
&#8220;For 47 years, they&#8217;ve been talking and talking and talking,&#8221; Trump said.
Trump has long voiced skepticism about sending ground troops into Iran, saying last year, &#8220;the last thing you want to do is ground forces,&#8221; and the kinds of U.S. firepower arrayed in the Middle East so far suggest options for strikes primarily by air and naval forces. In Venezuela, Trump demonstrated a willingness to rely also on special operations forces to seize that country&#8217;s president, Nicolas Maduro, in a raid last month.
Asked for comment on the preparations for a potentially sustained U.S. military operation, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: &#8220;President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran.&#8221;
&#8220;He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security,&#8221; Kelly said.
The Pentagon declined to comment.
The United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region last year, when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.
However, June&#8217;s &#8220;Midnight Hammer&#8221; operation was essentially a one-off U.S. attack, with stealth bombers flying from the United States to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran staged a very limited retaliatory strike on a U.S. base in Qatar.
The planning under way this time is more complex, the officials said.
In a sustained campaign, the U.S. military could hit Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said. The official declined to provide specific details.
Experts say the risks to U.S. forces would be far greater in such an operation against Iran, which boasts a formidable arsenal of missiles. Retaliatory Iranian strikes also increase the risk of a regional conflict.
The same official said the United States fully expected Iran to retaliate, leading to back-and-forth strikes and reprisals over time.
The White House and Pentagon did not respond to questions about the risks of retaliation or regional conflict.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and crushing of internal dissent. On Thursday, he warned the alternative to a diplomatic solution would &#8220;be very traumatic, very traumatic.&#8221;
Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guard has warned that in case of strikes on Iranian territory, it could retaliate against any U.S. military base.
The U.S. maintains bases throughout the Middle East, including in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, saying that if an agreement with Iran were reached, &#8220;it must include the elements that are vital to Israel.&#8221;
Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles.
On Saturday, Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi said U.S. military intervention in Iran could save lives and urged Washington not to spend too long negotiating with Tehran&#8217;s clerical rulers on a nuclear deal.
The exiled son of Iran&#8217;s toppled shah told Reuters in an interview there were signs that the Iranian government was on the brink of collapse and that an attack could weaken it or accelerate its fall.
&#8220;We are hoping that this attack will expedite the process and the people can be finally back in the streets and take it all the way to the ultimate regime&#8217;s downfall,&#8221; said Pahlavi, who is based in the United States and has lived outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Don Durfee, Rosalba O&#8217;Brien, Rod Nickel)

F/A18 Tested In Carrier Landing

U.S. Military Preparing For Potentially Weeks-Long Iran Operations

Iran

Military

Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi on Saturday said U.S. military intervention in Iran could save lives and urged President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration not to spend too long negotiating with Tehran&#8217;s clerical rulers on a nuclear deal.
The exiled son of Iran&#8217;s toppled shah told Reuters in an interview that there were signs that the Iranian government was on the brink of collapse and that an attack could weaken it or accelerate its fall.
Pahlavi was speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where officials from the Iranian government are banned.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a matter of time. We are hoping that this attack will expedite the process and the people can be finally back in the streets and take it all the way to the ultimate regime&#8217;s downfall,&#8221; said Pahlavi, who is based in the United States and has lived outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A campaign of mass arrests and intimidation has led to the arrests of thousands as Iranian authorities seek to deter further protests after last month&#8217;s crackdown on the bloodiest unrest since 1979. The protests began on December 28 as a modest demonstration in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic hardship and quickly spread nationwide.
Iran&#8217;s opposition is fragmented among rival groups and ideological factions &#8211; including the monarchists who back Pahlavi &#8211; and appears to have little organized presence inside the Islamic Republic. In an interview with Reuters last month, Trump sounded skeptical about the level of Pahlavi&#8217;s support inside Iran.
The Trump administration has engaged with Iran to see if a nuclear deal can be struck as Washington amassed military forces in the region. U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks in Oman last week and further talks in the coming week are expected.
&#8220;People are hoping that at some point the decision will be made that there&#8217;s no use, there&#8217;s no point, we&#8217;re not going to get anywhere with negotiations. Therefore, that&#8217;s time for the United States to intervene and do what President Trump promised he will do, to have the people&#8217;s back,&#8221; Pahlavi said.
&#8220;Intervention is a way to save lives,&#8221; he added.
On Friday, in a speech to U.S. troops in North Carolina, Trump said Iran has been difficult in nuclear negotiations and suggested that instilling fear in Tehran may be necessary to resolve the standoff peacefully.
Two U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters on Friday that the U.S. military was preparing for the possibility of a sustained, weeks-long operation against Iran if Trump ordered an attack.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Barbara Lewis)

FRANCE-IRAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT

Son Of Iran’s Last Shah Urges U.S. Military Intervention In Iran

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Online telehealth company Hims &amp; Hers on Saturday reversed course on its launch of a $49 compounded version of Novo Nordisk&#8217;s Wegovy weight-loss pill after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it would take action against it.
&#8220;Since launching the compounded semaglutide pill on our platform, we’ve had constructive conversations with stakeholders across the industry. As a result, we have decided to stop offering access to this treatment,&#8221; the telehealth firm said.
The FDA said on Friday that it plans to restrict GLP-1 ingredients used in compounded drugs that companies such as Hims and online pharmacies have marketed, citing concerns over quality, safety and potential violations of federal law.
The Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday it would refer the company to the Department of Justice but did not make clear whether it could quickly halt the sale of the Hims&#8217; product, the cheapest GLP-1 therapy on the U.S. market.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Hims would begin offering copies of Novo Nordisk&#8217;s new Wegovy pill at an introductory price of $49 per month, about $100 less than the brand name.
The news caused a selloff in shares of Novo and rival Eli Lilly, whose own pill is expected to launch in April. The shares recovered some of the losses on Friday after FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary tweeted his concern after the market&#8217;s close on Thursday while Hims&#8217; shares fell.
&#8220;No one should be mass-compounding or selling knockoff GLP-1 products regardless of how they’re administered,&#8221; a Lilly spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters on Saturday after Hims &amp; Hers said it would stop offering its GLP-1 pill.
Compounding, in which pharmacies mix ingredients for specialized medicines or to copy a drug but at different dosages, has flourished as Americans chase cheaper prices for drugs. The practice is legal under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act in certain circumstances.
Novo on Thursday responded to Hims&#8217; launch by threatening legal action against the company while Lilly, which has battled compounded copies of its injectable drug Zepbound, said that patients deserved better than copies with no clinical evidence.
Hims&#8217; compounded drug is not FDA-approved and has not gone through clinical trials to prove efficacy.
Novo did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Saturday.
Hims &amp; Hers did not respond to a Reuters query about whether it would continue selling compounded semaglutide injections on its website. The company, alongside Novo and Lilly, is spending millions during Sunday&#8217;s Super Bowl to promote its offerings.
Novo has been losing share in the weight-loss market to rival Lilly and telehealth firms like Hims. Novo and Hims had a partnership in 2025 allowing Hims to sell injectable Wegovy, but the two companies walked away with Novo saying Hims had wrongfully marketed copycats of Wegovy. Hims&#8217; CEO Andrew Dudum accused Novo of attempting to control how clinicians at Hims make decisions.
Makary said in a statement on Friday that the agency will &#8220;use all available compliance and enforcement tools within its authorities to address unsubstantiated claims and associated public health concerns.&#8221;
HHS, which oversees the FDA, was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah and Amina Niasse; Editing by Caroline Humer and Andrea Ricci)

Hims Drops Fat-Loss Pill After FDA Warning

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Russia launched a massive air attack on Ukrainian energy facilities overnight on Saturday, targeting electricity generation and distribution, Kyiv said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight attack involved more than 400 drones and some 40 missiles of various types, targeting the grid, generation facilities and distribution substations.
Nearly four years into the war that began with Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine&#8217;s battered energy sector is crumbling under the Russian strikes, accumulated wartime damage and bitterly cold winter weather.
&#8220;Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes,&#8221; Zelensky posted on X. &#8220;It is crucial that everyone who supports the trilateral negotiations respond to this. Moscow must be deprived of the ability to use the cold as leverage against Ukraine.&#8221;
Moscow did not immediately comment on the attacks.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said the strikes hit two thermal power stations in Ukraine&#8217;s western regions and core elements of the Ukrainian electricity distribution system &#8211; substations and key electricity distribution lines.
&#8220;Russian criminals carried out another massive attack on Ukraine&#8217;s energy facilities,&#8221; Shmyhal said on the Telegram app. &#8220;Energy workers are ready to start repair works as soon as the security situation allows.&#8221;
The strikes were launched as temperatures began to drop and are forecast to fall to minus 14 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coming days.
The new Russian attacks on the energy system also come just days after the latest round of the U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia on how to end the war.
Despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration and rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have so far brought no tangible results.
Since autumn 2025, Moscow has intensified its attacks on the Ukrainian power grid and other energy infrastructure, forcing frequent blackouts across Ukraine and plunging millions into darkness for hours.
Ukrainian officials said that emergency power cuts were introduced across the country. Shmyhal said the government asked Poland for emergency power imports to help the Ukrainian grid.
Regional officials reported attacks across the country, including in the western regions of Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv.
The Burshtyn and Dobrotvir thermal power plants in western Ukraine were hit, officials said.
DTEK, Ukraine&#8217;s largest private energy company, said that equipment was damaged significantly at its thermal power plants in different regions. DTEK said it was the 10th attack on its thermal power stations since October 2025.
&#8220;Since Russians have been targeting energy facilities in various regions of our country, power outages may last much longer,&#8221; said Maksym Kozytskyi, the Lviv regional governor.
He said air alerts lasted more than six hours in the western Lviv region, close to the Polish border.
Polish authorities said two airports in southeastern Poland were suspended from operations as a precaution due to Russian strikes on nearby Ukrainian territory. The airports in Poland later resumed operations.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by)

Severely damaged Darnytska CHPP in Kyiv after massive Russian attack

Russia Launches Massive Attack On Ukraine’s Energy System, Zelensky Says

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