Suppliers and buyers at a trade show in southern China were cautious on Wednesday as they weighed costs for ice cream machines, home appliances and cars that have risen since the start of the Middle East war.
Chinese exporters and Middle Eastern buyers at the opening day of the Canton Fair -- one of the largest trade shows in the world -- gloomily told AFP that the Iran war has pummelled orders and led to price hikes.
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter not to give Iran weapons, and Xi responded that China was not supplying Tehran, the U.S. president told Fox Business Network in an interview that aired on Wednesday.
Trump, in the interview taped on Tuesday, did not say when the letters were exchanged. Last week, he threatened countries with an immediate 50% tariff if they supplied Iran with weapons.
BELGRADE, April 15 (Reuters) - The Serbian army should create units with attack drones, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday, as the Balkan country seeks to modernise its armed forces from its obsolete Soviet-era technology.
Belgrade has already bought modern weapons and equipment from Europe, Israel and China and it wants to adapt its military strategy to conform with modern warfare.
Serbia is military neutral and is balancing a partnership with NATO and aspirations to join the European Union with its ties with Russia and China.
April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's security aide Sebastian Gorka is seeking to become the next head of the National Counterterrorism Center, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, nearly a month after the center's previous head quit due to differences over the war in Iran.
Joe Kent, who previously headed the center, had said while resigning last month that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday Washington and Tehran were "very close" to a peace deal and insisted that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium, a key sticking point in negotiations.
The United States had earlier threatened to resume airstrikes on the Islamic republic and maintain a naval blockade of its ports if Tehran refused to accept a deal to solve the conflict that broke out on February 28.
The latest developments in the Middle East war:
- Growing hunger fears -
The conflict in the Middle East could push millions more toward hunger as its economic fallout reverberates around the globe, the World Bank's chief economist told AFP.
"You have about 300 million people who suffer from acute food insecurity already," Indermit Gill said. "That'll go up by about 20 percent very, very quickly" as knock-on effects grow.
- Wall Street records -
By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON, April 15 (Reuters) - Portugal is against the creation of a separate European army and instead backs strengthening and modernising its armed forces within the U.S.-led NATO alliance, the country's defence minister said, contrasting with neighbouring Spain's position.
Nuno Melo said late on Tuesday that Portugal was a founding NATO member which valued the United States, describing Washington as a fundamental transatlantic partner.
April 15 (Reuters) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha held a call with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar to discuss a Russian vessel carrying what he described as grain stolen from Ukraine that was allowed to dock in an Israeli port.
Kyiv considers all grain produced in the four regions Russia claimed as its own since invading Ukraine in 2022, and Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, to have been stolen by Moscow.
MOSCOW, April 15 (Reuters) - Russia is ready to increase energy supplies to China ahead of an expected visit by President Vladimir Putin, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday at a news conference in Beijing.
The agencies quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit would take place in the first half of the year, while the Vedomosti newspaper cited sources as saying it would be during the week beginning May 18.
MANILA, April 15 (Reuters) - Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano has resigned, a Palace official said on Wednesday, and will be replaced by former military chief Eduardo Oban.
"The President has accepted the resignation of National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano. Secretary Ano has decided to retire from public service after decades of continuous service in government and the military," communications undersecretary Claire Castro told a briefing.
(Reporting by Nestor Corrales and Mikhail Flores; Editing by David Stanway)
