BRAVE MAG

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the vital Strait of ​Hormuz while Iran urged people to evacuate three ports in the United Arab Emirates as itswar with the United States and Israelshowed no signs of ending.

APTOPIX Iran US Israel

Iran's call to evacuate the Middle East's busiest port and two other UAE ports marked the first time it had openly threatened a neighboringcountry's non-U.S. assets.

Tehran said the U.S. had used "ports, docks and hideouts" in the UAE to launch strikes onKharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran's oil exports, without providing evidence. It urged people to leave areas where it said U.S. forces were sheltering.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's humanitarian crisis deepened, with over 800 people killedand 850,000 displacedas Israel launched waves of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

Iran says the US attacked from close to Dubai

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the U.S. attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, Ras Al-Khaimah and a place "very close to Dubai," calling that dangerous and saying Iran "will try to be careful not to attack any populated area" there.

U.S. Central Command said it had no response to Iran's claim. A diplomatic adviser to the UAE's president, Anwar Gargash, said on social media the country has the right to defend itself but "still prioritizes reason and logic, and continues exercising restraint."

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbors duringthe war, but it has said it was targeting U.S. assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.

Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was closed only to "those who are attacking us and their allies."

Trump urges allies to send warships to Strait of Hormuz

As global anxiety soars overoil prices and supplies, Trump said Saturday that he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz "open and safe." Britain in response said it was discussing with allies a "range of options" to secure shipping.

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Araghchi, in a social media post, urged neighbors to "expel foreign aggressors" and described Trump's call as "begging."

On Saturday, Iran's joint military command reiterated its threat to attack U.S.-linked "oil, economic and energy infrastructures" in the region if the Islamic Republic's oil infrastructure is hit.

Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency said the Kharg Island strikes caused no damage to oil infrastructure. It said they targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower and an offshore oil company's helicopter hangar.

U.S. identifies 6 killed in military aircraft crash

The U.S. Department of Defense on Saturdayidentified six service memberswho died when the military refueling aircraft they were aboard crashed Thursday while supporting operations against Iran.

The service members were Maj. John A. Klinner, 33; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, according to U.S. officials.

The crash in western Iraq followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in "friendly airspace," according to U.S. Central Command. The other plane landed safety.

Another attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad

A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Saturday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.

The State Department again warned citizens in Iraq to leave "now," and by land since commercial flights were not available. It noted that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups "may continue to target" U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure.

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem; Sally Abou AlJoud, Kareem Chehayeb and Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Tia Goldenberg in Washington contributed to this report.

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica (AP) — Growing up inTrinidad and Tobago,Carlon Augustus remembers reading the newspapers his grandparents bought daily. Now 32, he says he turns to social media for the latest news.

Caribbean Newspapers Closures

For him, it's about getting news in real time.

"Everything is on social media now. Whatever happens today, you don't have to wait to get the papers tomorrow," he said.

Media owners point to shifting reading habits like Augustus' as the primary reason two legacy newspapers have folded inthe Caribbeanso far this year: Guyana's Stabroek News and Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday.

Newsday's closing is a 'loss to the country, democracy'

Stabroek News printed its final edition on Sunday and halted its online publication. It was established in November 1986, a year after its founder asked Guyana's then-president if he would accept the creation of an independent newspaper. At the time, Guyana was six years away from its first free and fair elections in nearly 30 years.

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday stopped publishing its print and online editions in January.

"That is definitely a loss to the country, to our democracy, where particularly in this age of social media, credible professional media houses are needed more than ever," said Judy Raymond, Newsday's former editor-in-chief.

Newspapers in the Caribbean, which have covered corruption, political upheaval, deadly natural disasters and the oddball story worthy of a short novel, have struggled to attract and retain readers — like print media worldwide — proving little competition to influencers andsocial media.

The closures of these two papers hit especially hard because they were independently owned, so they offered a variety of voices and were less susceptible to being influenced by advertisers or power players, said Kiran Maharaj, president and cofounder of the Media Institute of the Caribbean.

"You have now a narrowing of that," she said.

A platform for free speech

Stabroek News became known for solid, independent journalism and set high standards emulated across the region. It drew literary giants to write its op-eds, including Guyanese poets Martin Carter and Ian McDonald, and covered the groundbreaking general election in October 1992, which ushered in democracy.

The paper also blossomed into a platform for free speech after years of authoritarian regime.

"Its letters page provided perhaps the most open and democratic public forum in Guyana," wrote lawyer Christopher Ram in a recent essay published by the paper.

"Over time that column became something of an informal national meeting place where academics, trade unionists, political figures, public servants, businesspeople and ordinary citizens debated, as equals, matters of public importance."

Stabroek News was considered Guyana's top newspaper. The country still has three other papers: one is state-owned and another is closely linked to the ruling party. The third one recently began asking its web visitors how willing they would be to pay to read online content.

Early Ward, a retired 76-year-old beverage company manager from Guyana, said he was depressed about the demise of Stabroek News.

"I have been reading newspapers since the 50s and prefer to have one in my hand to hold and to move around with and read anytime," he said.

Ward now relies on TV and social media for news.

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Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday made its debut in 1993, promising to reach the most remote communities on the twin-island nation where two long-established rivals still operate: the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian and the Trinidad Express.

The paper appealed to blue-collar workers and soon became a household name as journalists scooped other news outlets on stories and lawmakers referenced its articles in Parliament.

Newsday was known for its coverage of Tobago, the smaller, less developed of the two islands, and for amplifying voices of those struggling, said Raymond, who served as editor-in-chief from 2017 to 2022.

She said one of the most fulfilling roles at the paper was helping people because "they are desperate and officialdom has not helped them and they don't have anybody else to turn to."

A status symbol

From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, newspapers in the Caribbean enjoyed solid financial backing and became a status symbol, said journalist Wesley Gibbings, vice president of the Jamaican-based Media Institute of the Caribbean.

"People would be seen walking with a physical copy of newspapers," he recalled. "It was almost a prestigious thing to be the one with the newspaper."

Then Big Tech platforms including Google began attracting advertising content and revenue while mining mainstream media content, Gibbings said.

"The danger signs have been up for a very long time," he noted. "We are in a watershed period right now, and the crashes will continue."

The windup of Daily News Limited, which published Newsday, was due to a "perfect storm of challenges," said the company's managing director, Grant Taylor, noting that print advertising fell by 75% over the last decade.

Raymond, who helped set up Newsday's digital desk in early 2018, said perhaps Newsday "could have worked harder at broadening the revenue stream from online publications."

In hindsight, she pondered whether transforming Newsday into a digital-only news outlet could have been a viable option. However, with Loop News, a regional online news source that closed last July, she said becoming a digital-only publication would not have guaranteed Newsday's survival.

In the case of Stabroek News, its owners said the government paid "a mere" $7.5 million toward a debt of some $90 million owed for advertising services in the past year.

But the newspaper noted that overdue bills and a drop in government advertising are not the main reasons for its demise: "Readership patterns have changed dramatically, and fewer readers are willing to purchase printed editions — or even pay for electronic versions."

In a recently published letter to Stabroek News, Lurlene Nestor mourned its closure, "especially during this period of Guyana's history, where allegations of massive public corruption are rife, coupled with a situation where the nation's important resources, such as gold and oil, appear to be either corruptly exploited or used as personal political bargaining chips."

Anand Persaud, Stabroek News' editor-in-chief, echoed those concerns, adding that he's proud of the paper's work.

"We leave at this stage," he said, "because we want to make sure our independence is not on the line.

Gibbs reported from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and Wilkinson from Georgetown, Guyana.

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) - Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials are set to launch a new round of talks in Paris on Sunday to iron out kinks in their trade truce and clear a smooth path for U.S. President Donald Trump's trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March.

The discussions, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary ‌Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are expected to focus on shifting U.S. tariffs, the flow of Chinese-produced rare earth minerals and magnets to U.S. buyers, American high-tech export controls and ‌Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

The two sides will meet at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a source familiar with their planning said. China is not a member of the club of 38 mostly wealthy democracies and considers itself a ​developing country.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will also join the talks, which continue a string of meetings in European cities last year aimed at easing tensions that threatened a near collapse of trade between the world's two largest economies.

U.S.-China trade analysts said that with little time to prepare and Washington's attention focused on the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, prospects for a major trade breakthrough are limited, in Paris or at the Beijing summit.

"Both sides, I think have a minimum goal of having a meeting, which sort of keeps things together and avoids a rupture and re-escalation of tensions," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Trump may want to come ‌away from Beijing with major Chinese commitments to order new Boeing aircraft and ⁠buy more U.S. liquefied natural gas and soybeans, but to get that he may need to offer some concession on U.S. export controls, Kennedy added.

Instead, Kennedy said chances were high for a summit that "superficially suggests progress but that really just leaves things about where they've been for the last four months."

Trump and Xi could potentially meet three other times ⁠this year, including at a China-hosted APEC summit in November and a U.S.-hosted G20 summit in December that could yield more tangible progress.

IRAN WAR OIL CONCERNS

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran will likely come up at the Paris talks, especially in reference to the spike in oil prices and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which China gets 45% of its oil. Bessent on Thursday night announced a 30-day waiver of sanctions to allow the sale of Russian oil stranded at sea ​in ​tankers, a move to raise supplies.

On Saturday, Trump urged other nations to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, after Washington bombed ​military targets on Iran's Kharg Island oil loading hub and Iran threatened to retaliate .

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China's state-run China ‌Daily newspaper in an editorial called for continuity in the U.S.-China dialogue as a "stabilizing anchor" amid the uncertainty of the "ongoing crisis in the Middle East" and the best way to address specific differences on issues including strategic materials, technology, market access and agriculture.

"In a moment like this, the last thing the world needs is a trade war between its two largest economies," China Daily said.

TRADE TRUCE REVIEW

The two sides are expected to review their progress in meeting commitments under the October 2025 trade truce declared by Trump and Xi in Busan, South Korea. The deal forestalled a major flare-up in tensions, trimmed U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, and paused for a year China's draconian export controls on rare earths. It also paused the expansion of a U.S. blacklist of Chinese companies banned from buying high-technology U.S. goods such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

China also agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of ‌U.S. soybeans during the 2025 marketing year and 25 million tons in the 2026 season, which will start with the fall ​harvest.

U.S. officials, including Bessent, have said that China has so far met its commitments under the Busan deal, citing soybean purchases that ​met initial goals.

But while some industries are receiving rare earth exports from China, which dominates global production, U.S. ​aerospace and semiconductor firms are not and are facing worsening shortages of key materials, including yttrium, used in heat-resistant coatings for jet engines.

"U.S. priorities will likely be about agricultural purchases ‌by China and greater access to Chinese rare earths in the short term" at ​the Paris talks, said William Chou, a senior fellow at ​the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.

NEW TRADE PROBES

Greer and Bessent also bring a new irritant to the Paris talks, a new "Section 301" investigation into unfair trade practices targeting China and 15 other major trading partners over alleged excess industrial capacity that could lead to a new round of tariffs within months. Greer also launched a similar probe into alleged forced labor practices in 60 countries, including China, ​that could ban certain imports into the U.S.

The probes aim to rebuild Trump's ‌tariff pressure on trading partners after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump's global tariffs under an emergency law as illegal. The ruling effectively reduced Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods by 20 ​percentage points, but he immediately imposed a 10% global tariff under another trade law.

China on Friday denounced the probes and said it reserved the right to take countermeasures. The China Daily ​editorial added that the probes were "representative of unilateral actions that complicate negotiations."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci )