Hamas delayed the release of Israeli hostages as part of its ceasefire deal with Israel. The militant group, which was due to free three more hostages this Saturday, accused Israel of stopping displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza. Israel Katz, Israel’s defence minister, called the announcement “a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement” and said the Israel Defence Forces were “at the highest level of alert”.
Donald Trump said that Palestinians moved from Gaza would have no right to return under his plan for America to take over the enclave. America’s president also told Fox News that he hoped to get Egypt and Jordan to agree to take in displaced Palestinians, adding Gaza would become “a real estate development for the future”. Mr Trump proposed his plan for Gaza last week.
Mr Trump also said he would impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into America. The new levies would take effect on Monday. Canada, China and Mexico are the country’s biggest suppliers of the metals. Mr Trump also promised to slap reciprocal tariffs on trade partners. “If they charge us, we charge them,” he said.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, announced investments worth €109bn ($113bn) for projects related to artificial intelligence. He warned that European countries must do more to catch up with America and China on the technology. Mr Macron made the comments before an AI summit in Paris; world leaders and leading tech executives, such as Sam Altman of OpenAI, are set to attend.
Klaus Iohannis, Romania’s president, said he would resign after the country’s hard-right opposition tried to impeach him. The process could have triggered a referendum to remove him. Mr Iohannis’s successor was supposed to be chosen in December, but he remained in office after Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election, citing Russian interference. The election is due to be re-run in May.
DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, reported bumper profits of S$2.56bn ($1.9bn) in the final quarter of 2024, an increase of 11% over a year earlier. The stellar results were driven by the lender’s retail-banking and wealth-management divisions. DBS’s share price rose by as much as 4% in early trading.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, accused Donald Trump of trying to bring the country “to its knees”. He made the comments in a speech to mark the anniversary of the revolution of 1979. On Friday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected the idea of starting negotiations with America over his country’s nuclear programme. Mr Trump has threatened to increase sanctions on Iran.
Fact of the day: 1.9bn, the number of users TikTok has worldwide. Read the full story.
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