Free Republic

US President Donald Trump has signaled a potential U-turn on his trade war with China amid continued market volatility, saying the high tariffs on Chinese goods will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.” Trump’s remarks, made at a White House news event Tuesday, appear to mark a rhetorical climbdown after weeks of tough posturing and tit-for-tat retaliation that sent tariffs on China beyond a staggering 145%. “145% is very high and it won’t be that high,” Trump said in a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office. “It won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down...

CNN — The bodies of six hostages held by Hamas have been recovered in an underground tunnel in Gaza, Israel’s military said Sunday. The captives, including an Israeli American, were among the more than 200 people taken by the militants into Gaza following their deadly cross-border rampage on October 7. Five of them were taken from an Israeli music festival where hundreds were killed and dozens more were kidnapped by Hamas fighters. The sixth was captured from a nearby farming community, according to the Hostages Families Forum, which has coordinated efforts to highlight the plight of the captives and their...

At the crest of his political career Meng Hongwei, the first-ever Chinese president of Interpol, was proudly hailed by state media as a testimony to the international community’s “full recognition” of China’s law enforcement capacity and status as a country based on the rule of law. Less than a year after he took the helm of the global policing body, Meng hosted its general assembly in Beijing – only the second time in the country’s history. At the opening ceremony, he was given the rare privilege of sitting next to the country’s most powerful man, President Xi Jinping, who –...