Gail Slater, President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday (March 10, 2025).

The department’s antitrust division enforces laws against illegal monopolies and anticompetitive business behavior, alongside the Federal Trade Commission.

Ms. Slater, a veteran antitrust attorney and former economic adviser to Vice-President J.D. Vance, has said that her top priority as assistant attorney general will be to protect consumers by scrutinising industries such as healthcare, tech and agriculture.

Former antitrust enforcers from both Republican and Democratic administrations have praised Ms. Slater’s qualifications, as have antitrust hawks in Washington.

“President Trump is making crystal clear he’s continuing this term what he started in his last term: The bipartisan antitrust law-enforcement effort to hold accountable the trillion-dollar Big Tech monopolists,” said Mike Davis, former counsel to Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

The Justice Department and state attorneys general are going to trial in April seeking an order that would require Alphabet’s Google to sell its Chrome browser to promote competition in online search. The department is also pursuing antitrust cases against Apple, LiveNation and Visa.

Ms. Slater said in written replies to the Senate that while she expects the Trump administration to settle more merger cases, she sees common ground with her predecessors on protecting workers and scrutinising dominant players buying small rivals.

Policy groups including Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, and the Tech Oversight Project, a group aligned with the progressive left of the Democratic party, have supported Ms. Slater’s confirmation.

“The diverse voices and interests that have lined up in support of her nomination reflect that people want to see corporate accountability — not at the expense of economic growth, but as a means to achieving it,” said Amanda Lewis, an antitrust attorney at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca who previously worked alongside Ms. Slater at the FTC.

Democrats pressed Ms. Slater at her hearing in February on whether she would take illegal or unethical action at Trump’s behest.

“If confirmed, I will always follow the law, as well as uphold my oath to support and defend the Constitution,” she said after the hearing, while adding she did not anticipate any such request.

WASHINGTON – Hopes for the release of detained Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai are higher following US President Donald Trump’s return to office, Lai’s son said on March 11 in Washington, where he and advocates plan to meet Trump administration officials.

Lai, the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

China-imposed national security legislation in Hong Kong has been used to jail pro-democracy activists after violent street protests there in 2019. The United States and other foreign governments have criticized the law as a tool for authorities to clamp down on dissent.

Lai’s case is a source of friction between Washington and Beijing, with Mr Trump having said in 2024 during his campaign for the presidency that he would “100 per cent” get Lai out of China.

Mr Sebastien Lai told reporters that even as his father’s health declines in harsh, solitary confinement in Hong Kong, the pro-democracy advocate is still fighting for his beliefs at 77.

“President Trump was the first president of the United States that mentioned my father by name,” the younger Mr Lai told reporters in Washington, adding that his father’s cause had always received bipartisan support in the US.

“The short of it is, yes, we’re a lot more hopeful,” he said, when asked if his confidence had grown with Trump in the White House.

He said Lai’s advocates had already met this week with State Department officials, and would meet with officials at the White House National Security Council.

The White House and State Department did not respond immediately to Reuters questions about the meetings.

China has described the claims about Lai’s health as slanderous. China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment. REUTERS

Join ST’s Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in crunch talks in Jeddah on Tuesday after three years of grinding war.

The positive response from Ukraine prompted U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to lift a freeze on military aid and to predict the beginning to an end to three years of war.

With Trump stunning allies by applying intense pressure on Kyiv and reaching out to Moscow, Ukrainian officials came to talks in Saudi Arabia eager to make up and had proposed a partial truce on air and sea attacks.

Minutes before US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he would double his tariffs on steel imported from Canada, the senior Democrat on a Congressional subcommittee blasted punitive duties that were already set to take effect as a threat to American military shipbuilding.

Speaking at a House sea power and projection forces subcommittee hearing examining the state of US shipbuilding, Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut said the tariffs already announced were “going to impact whether or not we can build steel ships”.

“When we’re talking about cost overruns … we’ve got to think holistically here in terms of just, this is not just a [National Defence Authorisation Act] issue,” Courtney said, referring to the budget bill that must be passed annually to fund the US military.

“Tariffs are going to impact whether or not we can build steel ships with nickel alloy [steel products] coming from Canada.”

Steel products made with nickel are stronger than many other varieties, making them crucial inputs for military hardware.

Shortly after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the new government led by rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa pledged to unite Syrians and establish a “civil peace” in the country.

In recent days, this fragile peace has been tested. Late last week, clashes broke out between government security forces and the remnants of pro-Assad militias in the former president’s stronghold of Latakia province on the northwestern coast. More than 1,000 people were killed, mostly civilians.

In a positive sign, a major deal was struck on Monday between the government and another armed faction, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northeastern Syria. The SDF has agreed to integrate all of its forces and institutions with the central government in Damascus.

Yet, the threat of more violence in the fractured country remains. This raises serious doubts about whether al-Sharaa’s vision can become a reality.

What caused the recent violence?

The unrest in Latakia was sparked by an ambush attack by pro-Assad gunmen against government security forces (composed primarily of former rebel fighters) last Thursday. This reignited old wounds from Syria’s 13-year civil war, triggering the deadliest violence since the fall of al-Assad in December.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 1,068 civilians were killed in the violence – mostly members of the Alawite minority (a sect of Shiite Islam), as well as some Christians.

The United Nations said it had received “extremely disturbing” reports of entire families being killed, including children.

Many members of Assad’s family and his former regime’s high-ranking officials belong to the Alawite minority. Tensions have persisted between these Assad loyalists and the new government, which is dominated by Sunni factions with a history of jihadist and anti-Shiite leanings.

The government said its operations against the pro-Assad forces had ended by Monday. Al-Sharaa also acknowledged that human rights violations had occurred and announced an investigation to identify those responsible.

However, he placed primary blame on the pro-Assad groups for instigating the violence. While defending the crackdown overall, he stressed that security forces should not “exaggerate in their response.”

Following the violence, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed solidarity with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, calling on the interim government to hold the perpetrators accountable.

The European Union, which recently eased some restrictions on Syria to support an “inclusive political transition,” also condemned the violence.

Transitional justice is key

In a diverse and deeply divided country like Syria, the decades of dictatorship eroded national identity and fueled sectarian conflict. This is why a comprehensive process of transitional justice is essential.

Such a process would help bridge the divisions between different ethnic and religious communities. This would foster national unity, while respecting the unique identities of individual groups.

Although the new administration has emphasized the importance of social cohesion, its forces are accused of acting counter to this pledge and carrying out extrajudicial killings. Sectarian rhetoric from some pro-government figures has only further inflamed tensions.

Additionally, Alawites have faced increasing marginalization, including dismissals from public employment, salary cuts and targeted persecutions.

These developments underscore Syria’s urgent need for an independent transitional justice committee. Without a structured approach to hold those accountable for crimes committed under the Assad regime and national reconciliation, the country risks replacing one cycle of repression with another. This will only deepen grievances, not heal them.

A well-designed justice process is crucial to help Syrians move beyond the trauma of the previous regime and build a stable, inclusive future.

Challenges to a united Syria

Amid the ongoing turmoil, the recent agreement signed between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and al-Sharaa’s government has raised hopes the country may still have a chance to maintain its unity and avoid fragmentation.

However, the details of how the SDF forces will be integrated remain unclear. Will the Kurds finally achieve their long-held demand for semi-autonomy within a federal state? Or will this integration mark the end of their aspirations?

The situation is equally complex for the Alawites and Druze communities in the western and southern regions of Syria, given they have two powerful regional forces backing them.

Israel has made significant inroads in the Druze areas of southern Syria, offering to defend the Druze if necessary. Similarly, Iran continues to support the Alawites, with its leadership predicting an uprising against the new Syrian regime.

These dynamics present serious obstacles to Syria’s unity. In such a polarized environment, a federal system may be the last viable option to preserve the country’s cohesion. However, if the new regime continues to reject this idea, the country risks fragmentation and undoubtedly more violence.

Ali Mamouri is a research fellow in Middle East studies at Deakin University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Kazakhstan aims to further increase the volume of oil it exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, underscoring Astana’s continued efforts to diversify its routes amid the Central Asian region’s constrained geography.

Following a meeting in Astana this week with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu noted that the two sides were implementing prior agreements to supply Kazakh energy resources to global markets via Azerbaijan. 

“Last year, 1.4 million tons of oil were exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. In the future, it is planned to increase the volume of transit of Kazakhstani oil to 2.2 million tons per year,” he said.

In November 2022, Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company, KazMunayGas (KMG), signed a five-year agreement with Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company, SOCAR, in which 1.5 million tons of Kazakh oil would be transferred via the BTC pipeline from Azerbaijan to Georgia and on to Turkiye.

At the time, then-Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov indicated the country’s aims to increase its oil exports via alternative routes, with the Astana Times reporting that Kazakhstan planned “to increase oil supplies through Azerbaijan to 6-6.5 million tons.”

The agreement came as Kazakhstan looked to operationalize additional routes in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Writing in October 2022, Paolo Sorbello noted that oil producers in Kazakhstan recognized the risks of the war on pipelines running through Russia as well as the opportunities presented by European customers looking for alternative suppliers.

By April 2023, Kazakh oil was being shipped from Ceyhan, in Turkiye, across the Black Sea to the Petromidia refinery near the Romanian port of Constanta (the port of Midia, one of Constanta’s satellite ports, is used to supply the refinery). Petromidia is owned by KMG International, which acquired a 75 percent stake in the original operating company, Rompetrol, in 2007 and the final 25 percent in 2009. Petromidia is Romania’s only Black Sea coast refinery. 

Bloomberg reported in March 2023 on Kazakh struggles to export enough crude oil via pipelines to meet European demands, given a drop in production in February 2023 amid unplanned maintenance work at the Tengiz field. Production volumes ebb and flow: in October 2024 maintenance work brought production levels down at the Kashagan field; in February 2025, however, Kazakhstan’s oil output hit a record high, in particular on the back of surging output at Tengiz. 

There have also been more unique issues, such as the February 17 Ukrainian drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). The CPC carries oil from Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk; it handles an estimated 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s exports. According to RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, Azattyq,  in 2024, the CPC transported 63 million tons of oil – 53 million tons from Kazakhstan – most of which went on to Europe and the United States. 

An expansion of volumes routed through the BTC pipeline won’t come anywhere close to lessening Kazakhstan’s dependence on the CPC, but serves to underscore the continued necessity of expanding Astana’s options wherever possible. The significant volume Kazakhstan would need to reroute to eliminate its dependence on Russian territory arguably requires a pipeline across the Caspian Sea. 

In an August 2024 article, Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, argued that a “pipeline is the only economically viable way to move natural gas across the Caspian Sea.”

A full decade ago, in 2016, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were discussing a trans-Caspian project, building on a decade of prior discussion. While the pipeline remains a dream, the motivations for such a project continue to accrue.

(UPDATE) Former president Rodrigo Duterte was flown from Villamor Air Base last night to the International Criminal Court (ICC) headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, following his arrest on Tuesday.

In a statement, Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, denounced the administration for the arrest.

A man stands in a damaged building near the site where several Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Five Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, were killed by Israeli forces in Jenin over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday (March 11, 2025), adding to a growing toll from one of the largest operations seen in the West Bank in years.

Also Read | Israeli forces kill two Palestinian militants who carried out West Bank bus attack

Another man, who was wanted over previous incidents, was killed by Palestinian security forces, the PA said in a separate statement.

The latest incidents bring the number of Palestinians killed since January, when Israeli forces launched a major operation involving thousands of troops in cities and refugee camps in the north of the West Bank, to more than 30.

Many of those killed have been armed fighters from Palestinian militant groups, but numerous uninvolved civilians have also been killed.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes since the West Bank operation began at the start of a ceasefire in Gaza. Troops have swept through refugee camps in Jenin and nearby cities, demolishing houses and infrastructure, including roads and water pipes.

Israel says the West Bank operation is aimed at hitting Iranian-backed militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, that have made strongholds of the crowded townships built to house descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.

Countries including France and Germany and international groups including the United Nations have expressed alarm at the scale of the operation and called for restraint.

On Tuesday, police special forces fought a gun battle with armed Palestinians barricaded in a house in Jenin, killing two and wounding another man, the Israeli military said.

In a separate incident, a man who opened fire on Israeli troops was killed, it said.

The PA said troops firing from a checkpoint also killed a 60-year-old woman. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The previous evening, a Palestinian man was killed when his motorcycle was hit by an Israeli army vehicle, the PA said.

The Authority also said its own security forces had killed a man wanted for opening fire on the headquarters of the security forces in Jenin on previous occasions, an incident that was condemned by the militant group Hamas, which warned of “serious repercussions”.

On Tuesday, as gun battles were fought around the city, troops detained 10 Palestinians and seized two vehicles filled with weapons, the military said.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, armed Israeli settlers attacked the village of Umm Safa, near the main city of Ramallah, about 100 km (62 miles) south of Jenin, torching three vehicles, the head of the village council said.

JAKARTA – The Indonesian authorities rescued a critically endangered baby Sumatran elephant after it became separated from its mother at a palm oil plantation, a local official said on March 11.

Sumatran elephants are on the brink of extinction, with only about 2,400-2,800 left in the world, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The two-month-old male calf was found at an oil palm plantation in Riau province on the western island of Sumatra on March 10 after residents alerted the authorities, local conservation agency official Ujang Holisudin told AFP.

“We suspect this elephant was left behind by his group or his mother,” Mr Ujang said, adding that the calf was alone when the authorities found him.

The baby elephant is in good health after medical checks and was brought to the conservation agency’s elephant training centre near the provincial capital Pekanbaru, he said.

The authorities were monitoring for elephant herds near the area to see if the calf could be reunited with its family.

“It is our hope that the group can be found, and we can reunite (the calf). That is our hope,” Mr Ujang said.

Elephant populations are threatened by rampant poaching for their tusks, which are prized in the illegal wildlife trade.

The south-east Asian nation is battling wildlife crime and several cases of elephant poisoning have been reported in recent years.

Deforestation has also reduced their natural habitat and brought them into increasing conflict with humans. AFP

Join ST’s Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Spending related to the 2025 Osaka Expo will reach ¥1 trillion, according to a forecast by Resona Research Institute.

There are hopes the expo, which will be held for six months from April 13, will help spur regional economic revitalization. Related spending will include direct outlays from visitors to the event, such as fees for tickets and transportation, and spending outside the site, including on accommodation, restaurants and travel to nearby areas.

Hideyuki Araki, chief researcher of the institute, estimated spending related to the expo on the assumption that 28 million people will visit the event through October.

The ¥1 trillion projection includes ¥196 billion for tickets and ¥212 billion for transportation.

Spending outside the site, such as on hotels, restaurants and tourism to nearby areas, is estimated at ¥462 billion, causing new demand in the Kansai region to reach ¥567 billion.

With increasing numbers of tourists in mind, Araki said that spending may exceed the estimate.

However, the balance of accommodation supply is worsening due to labor shortages. “Depending on the response to accommodation demand, tourism after the expo may face difficulties,” Araki said.