ambassador

ATHENS, Greece — Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor, television personality and close ally of President Trump, officially took office Tuesday as the first U.S. female ambassador to Greece.

Guilfoyle, 56, who was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr., presented her diplomatic credentials to Greek President Constantine Tassoulas after being sworn in Sept. 29 in Washington.

The former Fox News host’s arrival comes as the United States works to boost liquefied natural gas exports to eastern Europe through Greek port facilities.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are expected in Athens this week for talks focused on expanding Western gas exports to war-torn Ukraine through a modified multinational pipeline network.

Guilfoyle and the visiting officials are scheduled to meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and attend ministerial meetings organized by the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

Since 2018, Greece and the United States have strengthened military ties, including expanding U.S. access to Greek bases and increased involvement of American defense contractors in Greece’s multibillion-dollar armed forces modernization program.

Guilfoyle attended a black-tie welcome reception over the weekend in Athens. Joined by local business leaders and several Cabinet members, she took part in a lively Greek dance — linking arms with other guests and keeping pace as the music sped up.

“I know we will do amazing things for these two exceptional countries,” she told attendees. “I will not disappoint the United States of America. I shall not disappoint Greece.”

At Tuesday’s ceremony, Guilfoyle presented her credentials after the new ambassadors from Norway, Harriet Berg, and Canada, Sonya Thissen.

Colombia announced the move after US President Donald Trump called President Gustavo Petro an ‘illegal drug leader’.

Colombia has said it has recalled its ambassador to the United States, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off aid and made disparaging remarks about the Colombian president over the weekend.

The South American country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena had already arrived in Bogota to meet with President Gustavo Petro, whom Trump called an “illegal drug leader” on Sunday.

The growing feud between the two countries has centred on US strikes in the Caribbean on vessels that the Trump administration alleges are transporting drugs, mostly from Venezuela. Those strikes, which have killed dozens of people and are widely viewed as a violation of US and international law, have drawn strong criticism from Petro.

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said aid to Colombia would be cut off and threatened that if Petro did not take more steps to combat the drug trafficking in the country, the US would do the task itself, “and it won’t be done nicely”.

Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said on Monday that he viewed those remarks as “a threat of invasion or military action against Colombia”.

“I can’t imagine closing down some hectares [of drug production sites] unless it’s in that way, unless it’s by invading,” he added.

The US also announced over the weekend that it had struck a vessel from Colombia on Friday, alleging that it was helmed by a left-wing rebel group involved in the transport of drugs. The Trump administration has not provided evidence regarding those claims.

Petro responded in a series of social media posts, stating that one of those killed in the attack was a Colombian fisherman named Alejandro Carranza, who did not have any ties to drug trafficking.

“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” he wrote.

South African Ambassador Nkosinathi Emmanuel “Nathi” Mthethwa was found dead outside of a high-rise hotel in Paris. Police are investigating the cause of his death.

Sept. 14 (UPI) — Romania has summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest to lodge a protest over Moscow’s drone incursion into its airspace, making the second European nation whose airspace has been threatened by the Kremlin’s attacks on Ukraine in a week.

Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned Vladimir Lipaev to its headquarters on Sunday, a day after the incursion occurred.

“The Romanian side conveyed its strong protests against this unacceptable and irresponsible act, which represents a violation of Romania’s sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement. “Such recurring situations lead to the escalation and amplification of threats to regional security. The Russian side was requested to take, without delay, all necessary measures to prevent future violations of Romanian airspace.

Romania’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement it detected the Russian drone when a pair of F-16 jets were monitoring its border with Ukraine on Saturday at about 6 p.m. local time.

It said the drone was detected about 12 miles southwest of the village of Chilia Veche before it disappeared from radar.

A Sunday military assessment found that the drone flew for about 50 minutes before exiting Romanian airspace.

“The pilots received authorization to shoot down the target, but at the moments when they had direct contact, they assessed the collateral risks and decided not to open fire,” the Defense Ministry said.

Along with the Romanian fighter jets, German allies in Mihail Koglaniceanu scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoon jets to support the Romanian aircraft, which stayed deployed until 9:30 p.m.

The incident comes after Poland shot down at least three of at least 19 Russian drones that had breached its airspace overnight Tuesday to Wednesday morning.

Russia’s latest incursion into a European nation’s airspace has raised concerns throughout the region amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and has drawn condemnation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it an expansion of Russia’s war.

“The Russian military knows exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air,” Zelensky said in an online statement. “Their routes are always calculated. This cannot be a coincidence or a mistake or the initiative of some lower level commanders.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it a “blatant violation of EU sovereignty and a serious threat to regional security.”

“We are working closely with Romania and all member states to protect the EU territory,” she said in a statement.

“Suntem solidari cu Romania,” she added, which means, “we stand in solidarity with Romania” in Romanian.

Sept. 12 (UPI) — Former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo’s eldest son has been nominated to serve as the country’s next ambassador to China, according to reports.

The nomination of Roh Jae-heon, 60, was reported Thursday by Yonhap, JoongAng Ilbo and other local media, citing unidentified diplomatic sources.

Roh, director of the East Asia Culture Center in Seoul, would become the first ambassador to China under the administration of President Lee Jae-myung, who was sworn in ln June 4.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, told reporters during a regular scheduled press conference on Thursday that he has noted the reports of Roh’s nomination.

“Diplomatic envoys are important bridges for friendly cooperation and development of relations between countries,” he said. “China is waiting for the ROK’s formal nomination.”

The Republic of Korea is the country’s official name.

While Roh has no public service experience as a diplomat, he has been involved in relations between South Korea and China for over a decade, reports said.

He was among Lee’s delegation to China last month, just before a South Korea-U.S. summit in Washington.

Roh established the Korea-China Culture Center in 2012, which marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of ties between the two countries, which occurred during his father’s presidency. The center has since been renamed the East Asia Culture Center.

Critics of the appointment called it an “insult” to the families of the victims of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980. Roh’s father was associated with a brutal military crackdown against the pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju.

Tehran rejects Australia’s accusations, calling the move unjustified and influenced by internal political developments.

Iran has promised reciprocal action following Australia’s decision to expel its ambassador in Canberra over accusations that Tehran was behind anti-Jewish attacks in the country.

On Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei “absolutely rejected” Australia’s accusations, saying “any inappropriate and unjustified action on a diplomatic level will have a reciprocal reaction”.

Baghaei also said the measures appeared to be “influenced by internal developments” in Australia, including weekend protests across the country against Israel’s war on Gaza, which organisers said were the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations in Australia’s history.

“It seems that this action is taken in order to compensate for the limited criticism the Australian side has directed at the Zionist regime [Israel],” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Iran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney last October and directed a major arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne in December.

There were no casualties in either of the attacks where assailants set fire to the properties, causing extensive damage.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iran sees Australia’s actions “as a continuation of hostile actions by the Australian side over the past years”.

“Australia has imposed several sanctions [on Iran], for example, in 2024 after Iran’s retaliatory action to attack the Israeli territory”, he said, adding that Tehran sees these latest moves “as another sign of Australia siding with the Israelis”.

Expelled ambassador ‘vocal in his support for the Palestinian cause’

Australia declared the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the move marked the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.

Australia also withdrew its ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.

Wong added that the government will continue to maintain some diplomatic lines with Iran to advance Canberra’s interests.

Sadeghi was “vocal in his support for the Palestinian cause”, Foad Izadi, a world studies professor at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera.

“That is the main reason for Australia’s decision to expel him. Just a few days ago, we saw the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations in many Australian cities.

“Expelling a country’s ambassador is rarely done, and the fact that the Australian government has done this is an indication that … they’re afraid of their own population and they’re afraid of the demands this population [makes] when it comes to the issue of genocide in Palestine.”

PM Albanese also said, “… the government will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organisation.”

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is investigating possible IRGC involvement in other anti-Jewish attacks since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Izadi rejected those claims, saying it “has not provided any evidence”. He believes the Australian government has taken these decisions as it “is worried about the fact that the Australian people are seriously questioning Australia’s support for Israel” and “demanding that the government be more active in opposing the genocide in Palestine”.

Australia’s moves against Iran come as the country’s ties with Israel plummet over its criticism of Israeli-imposed famine and the war on Gaza, as well as its decision to join France, the United Kingdom and Canada in recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Last week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Albanese a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.

The Australian government has hit back at Netanyahu, with Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke saying that strength was not measured “by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry”.

Aug. 24 (UPI) — France summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner on Sunday after he published an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron accusing the government of failing to effectively take action on anti-Semitism.

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement to CNN saying Kushner would be expected at the ministry’s Paris headquarters Monday.

In the letter, published Sunday in The Wall Street Journal and dated Monday, Kushner wrote to Macron that he was concerned about “the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it.” Kushner, the father-in-law of President Donald Trump‘s daughter, Ivanka Trump, has served as the ambassador of France for less than seven weeks.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, “pro-Hamas extremists and radical activists have waged a campaign of intimidation and violence across Europe,” Kushner wrote.

The French Foreign Ministry denied the allegations and called Kushner’s comments “unacceptable.”

“The rise in anti-Semitic acts in France since the 7 October, 2023, is a reality that we deplore and against which French authorities are totally mobilized, because these actions are intolerable,” the ministry said, referencing the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Kushner took issue with France’s plans to recognize an independent Palestinian state in September, saying that doing so gives “legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”

“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures towards recognition of a Palestinian state emboldened extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France,” Kushner wrote. “In today’s world, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism — plain and simple.”

Macron announced in July that he plans to make a formal statement recognizing Palestine at U.N. headquarters in New York City. He said it was part of France’s “historical commitment to a just and durable peace in the Middle East.”

“The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population,” Macron said in a post on X.

Several other Western nations have come out in favor of a Palestinian state, including Canada, Spain, Norway and Ireland.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was against France’s plans in July.

“This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Macron of leading a “crusade against the Jewish state.”

Foreign Ministry calls Charles Kushner’s claim that Paris is not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism ‘unacceptable’.

France has summoned the US ambassador, Charles Kushner, after he wrote a letter to President Emmanuel Macron alleging that Paris had failed to do enough to stem anti-Semitic violence, a French Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson says.

Kushner published the open letter in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, in which he focused on France’s criticism of Israel – which has been accused by leading rights groups of carrying out a genocide in Gaza – and its plans to recognise a Palestinian state.

“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France,” he wrote. “In today’s world, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism – plain and simple.”

Paris was quick to respond to the ambassador.

“France firmly refutes these latest allegations,” a Foreign Ministry statement said on Sunday. “The allegations from the ambassador are unacceptable.”

France is “fully committed” to fighting anti-Semitism, the ministry added.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement also said that Kushner’s comments went “against international law, and in particular the duty not to interfere in internal matters of states” by diplomatic personnel.

“Furthermore, they do not live up to the quality of the transatlantic relationship between France and the United States and the trust that should result between allies,” it added.

Israel has been imposing deadly hunger on Palestinians in Gaza, whom it has displaced repeatedly as it systematically destroys the enclave of 2 million people, killing dozens daily.

In recent weeks, France and other Western nations have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state, while maintaining their trade, diplomatic and security ties to Israel.

Still, the move has angered Israel and its top ally, the US.

Kushner, who is the father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner, was pardoned by Trump during his first term, having been convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering in 2005.

The envoy’s letter follows a similar statement addressed to Macron by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, which also linked France’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state to anti-Semitism.

The French president’s office hit back swiftly at Netanyahu, calling his allegations “abject” and “erroneous”, and promising that they “will not go unanswered”.

“This is a time for seriousness and responsibility, not for conflation and manipulation,” the French presidency said, adding that France “protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens”.

Rights advocates say that Israel’s supporters often invoke accusations of anti-Semitism to distract from the country’s abuses against Palestinians and silence the debate around the issue.

Sand’s End – Scandinavia’s seas and sights are an easy win for a no-fly cruise, says Nigel Thompson, who boarded Ambassador’s 1,400-passenger cruise ship Ambience

My left foot is in the Baltic Sea, my right foot is in the North Sea and waves are dancing towards me from opposite directions. It’s wild, wonderful and a little weird as I step off what feels like the edge of the known world into the chilly water.

This is Grenen, in Denmark, at the tip of the Jutland peninsula where a 20-mile long sand spit narrows to nothing as it is swallowed up by the famously treacherous seas of the Skagerrak (North) and Kattegat (Baltic), which meet but do not mix due to differences in salinity, density and temperature (or possibly they are just neighbours who fell out over a boundary dispute). Not so much Land’s End, as Sand’s End.

My wife Debbie and I were on a tour from Ambassador’s 1,400-passenger cruise ship Ambience, which is docked in nearby Skagen, Denmark’s most northerly town.

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It’s a smart, likeable place of yellow-hued, red-roofed homes, shops, hotels and restaurants, which draws two million visitors a year to see the Grenen spit, a church half-swallowed by the omnipresent sand, a fishing and lifeboat museum and memorial to the many lost sailors – and to paint in what is regarded as glorious light for artists.

The fishing port is one of Europe’s largest, it’s the chief local employer and we were amazed by the vast size of some of the trawlers. We’d joined the ship, built in 1991 and given a major refurbishment in 2022, for a voyage to Scandinavia (or should that be Sandinavia?) from the London International Cruise Terminal in Tilbury, Essex. The Art Deco building dates from 1930 and is Grade II listed.

Handily, it’s just a half-hour drive from home for us – Ambassador also offers many convenient regional sailings from ports such as Bristol, Newcastle, Liverpool and Dundee – and it was an absolute doddle with the car park and luggage drop, then a short stroll to the terminal.

It’s worth taking the time to check the displays on the Empire Windrush immigration ship from 1948 and mail and cargo manifests from more than a century ago when Tilbury served the empire by sea.

So, speedily processed in the terminal and cruise cards picked up, we had gone from car park to cabin in a very impressive 41 minutes. Beat that.

And when I say cabin I more mean Manhattan penthouse! I have lived in flats considerably smaller than this and with none of the luxuries such as Occidental amenities, two TVs, a bath and shower, lounge/diner, dressing room, minibar, a vast amount of storage space and a large balcony.

A genuine showstopper and easily the poshest cabin we’ve ever had in a cruise ship. And we’ve had a few. We were still taking it all in (and taking many photos) when the bags arrived, again super-speedy work, and our friendly steward Mario introduced himself and gave us the cabin tour.

Helpfully, all the plugs are three-pin British with USB ports and the tea is Tetley, with a coffee pod machine and daily refilled bottles of filtered water. With a sailaway at 5pm, we had time to explore the 70,285 gross tonnage ship to get our bearings and do musters then watch the journey down the Thames Estuary with a glass of Prosecco on the open deck. Later, we’d be back on deck to look at the vast, mesmerising North Sea wind farms.

After a leisurely sea day (admittedly we’d overslept with the clocks changing and entirely missed breakfast!), day two had us docking in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city. We’d booked an excursion to Marstrand island, former royal summer retreat of King Oscar II (an Oscar wild for women, apparently) around an hour up the coast from the port.

The island is reached by just a 200-yard ferry journey to the pretty harbour with cobbled streets, upscale shops, cafes, taverns and restaurants. However, just past the (allegedly) randy king’s summer house is one of the most forbidding castles you’ll ever see.

Carlsten fortress dates from the mid-17th century, looks like it escaped from Game Of Thrones and we were not too surprised to learn it was also a prison. Our guide showed us the cells, the display of torture and execution instruments and the separate cells used for five years in solitary.

These are bleak beyond belief and one features a painting of horse and rider on a wall. What did the prisoner use for paint, you ask? His blood. What was his crime, you ask? He had publicly denounced Holy Communion. Harsh, those 17th-century Swedes.

We cheered ourselves up with a visit to the gallows in the keep then took in the view of the coast from the battlements.

Back on board, the avuncular and chatty Captain Egil, from Norway, was on the Tannoy that evening to tell us that the second stop in Sweden, Helsingborg, was now off-limits for cruise ships of a certain size (not that Ambience is particularly large by modern standards) so we would be staying in the Danish capital Copenhagen overnight and an extra day. Not the worst news we’d ever had.

The ship docks in the southern part of Copenhagen port and means a ­30-minute stroll to the city centre, via the ‘‘The Most Photographed Woman in Denmark’’. Yes, of course the Little Mermaid statue, which is slightly underwhelming but draws huge crowds of tourists for that essential Copenhagen photo opp.

It’s a grand-looking city of canals, redbrick older buildings, some modern development around the port mostly, but overall such a handsome, clean place and a pleasure to walk around – not least as the numerous local cyclists actually stop at red lights and pedestrian crossings.

We’d been a couple of times before, but not to the ­world-renowned Tivoli Gardens, a jolly city centre oasis of ponds, gardens, bars and restaurants and 30-plus theme park rides.

That was first on the list and we sauntered around, whizzed on roller coasters, flying carpets and swings and wound down in the serene aquarium. Next day, another must-see beckoned – pretty Nyhavn, a canal flanked by colourful buildings which are home to numerous bars and restaurants. Here, you can join a canals and harbour boat tour and we enjoyed the hour pootling around with a guide telling us about the historic and modern architecture and those fascinating snippets you only get from alocal.

He ­recommended the Broens street food market across the harbour (there is a pedestrian/cycle bridge from Nyhavn) where we narrowed down an overwhelming choice to fish and chips, as that seemed to be what the locals were mostly having!

Our Copenhagen sailaway that night took us past Helsingborg and, across the strait in Denmark, Kronborg Castle, which was the setting (as Elsinore) for Hamlet.

Skagen and Sand’s End seen (we noted how the captain gave it a very wide berth), a sea day with a spa treatment and another night took us back to the Thames Estuary, where we docked at Tilbury at 8am, were off the ship to the car park via bag collection at 8.30am and home by 9.15am.

We had such an easy, enjoyable week away and did not have to go to the ends of the Earth to find it. Well, actually…

We visited the top-notch, main included, Buckingham restaurant on five nights and were superbly looked after by servers Adie and Noor with standout dishes including a roast beet tartare with goat’s cheese, walnuts and rocket, a beef Wellington and a roast pork belly.

Our only quibbles were a couple of the grilled fish dishes we had contained some small bones and we sometimes felt a bit rushed. The drinks package allowed us to have the premium Spanish wines, with the zingy rosé proving perilously good. Also included is the Borough Market buffet, which can be very busy at breakfast and lunch but we always found a seat and something we liked.

Ambience has two extra-charge speciality restaurants and our ­seven-course tasting menu at Sea & Grass was fabulous. As the name suggests, it showcases seafood and meat and the smoked salmon, mushroom soup and pulled lamb were especially memorable with superb presentation and service.

Curry house Saffron also impressed, with excellent kebab starters and Thali veggie dishes and tamarind prawn mains. Our cleared plates said it all. The Coffee House is the go-to for that caffeine fix (extra charge), while The Grill by the pool rustles up included hotdogs, burgers and pizzas.

Our favourite bar was the swish and popular Botanical, perfect for anaperitif accompanied by the delightful sounds of classical violin and piano pair Mystic Duo.Version:1.0 StartHTML:000000096 EndHTML:000003119 StartFragment:000000186

We had plenty of variety, including a shocking performance in the interactive pop quiz (at least the winner was on our table!) in the Purple Turtle pub, but better efforts in the natural world and decades quizzes.

In the main theatre, we loved a wryly amusing stage play based on infidelity and a video doorbell and a murder-mystery matinee set in 1963 Cold War Berlin with more smiles via witty audience participation.

Late-night action saw us at the Observatory lounge’s lively Abba night and the brilliant mash-up of all four house bands, which filled the dance floor.

Book the holiday

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Former fast-food executive Andrew Puzder officially became the U.S. ambassador to the European Union during a swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday at the White House.

Puzder, 75, swore his oath of office in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump in attendance.

A 13-second clip of the ceremony, posted online by Margo Martin, special assistant to Trump, shows Puzder with his hand on the bible reciting an oath read to him by Secretary of state Marco Rubio.

“Congratulations to our Ambassador to the European Union, @AndyPuzder!” The White House said on X, posting a picture from the ceremony.

The Senate confirmed Puzder’s nomination to the ambassadorship on Aug. 2 with a 53-44 vote.

An April certificate of competency for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations describes Puzder as a “globally renowned business leader, political commentator, author, attorney and a retired chief executive officer.”

He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute and Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and a member of the Reagan Institute’s National Leadership Council.

“America just gained a superb EU Ambassador,” the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation said on X.

Puzder also frequently delivers lectures on economic and policies at various associations and academic institutions.

He also has contributed expert commentary for The Wall Street Journal, National Review, RealClearPolitics and Fox News and has authored several books.

Puzder earned a bachelor’s from Cleveland State University and a juris doctorate from the Washington University School of Law.

“Mr. Puzder’s broad understanding of international economic development and decades of experience in a range of professional settings make him a well-qualified candidate to be the U.S. representative to the European Union,” according to the competency certificate.

It’s the second time that Trump nominated Puzder for an important position within his administration.

He initially was Trump’s Labor Department secretary nominee during the president’s first term in 2017, but he withdrew his consideration a day before his scheduled Senate confirmation hearing.

Puzder was subject to claims of alleged spousal abuse and employing a housekeeper who was not a legal “immigrant” when he withdrew his consideration.

His former wife denied the allegations against Puzder.

Puzder formerly was the chief executive officer of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s owner CKE Restaurants for 17 years and helped the fast food chain recover from its financial troubles.

WASHINGTON — Diplomacy may be soft power, but in President Trump’s administration, it’s also lately a soft landing.

National security adviser Mike Waltz was nominated as United Nations ambassador after he mistakenly added a journalist to a Signal chat discussing military plans. Trump tapped IRS Commissioner Billy Long to be his ambassador to Iceland after Long contradicted the administration’s messaging in his less than two months in the job.

And Trump last weekend named State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy representative to the U.N. after she struggled to gel with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s close-knit team.

The new appointments can be viewed as consolation prizes for leaving a high-profile post in the Trump administration following rocky tenures. But they also reflect the degree to which Trump is trying to keep his loyalists close, even if their earlier placements in the administration were ill-fitting. Breaking with the reality TV show that helped make Trump a household name, the Republican president is not telling his top appointees “You’re fired!” but instead offering them another way to stay in his administration.

“It’s not like ‘The Apprentice,’” said John Bolton, another former Trump national security adviser, who has since become a Trump critic.

Trump’s first term featured more firings

During his first White House tenure, Trump was new to politics, made many staffing picks based on others’ recommendations and saw heavy staff turnover. Trump has stocked his second administration with proven boosters, which has meant fewer high-profile departures.

Still, those leaving often are the subject of effusive praise and kept in Trump’s political orbit, potentially preventing them from becoming critics who can criticize him on TV — something that didn’t happen to a long list of former first-term officials.

Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, and Trump can nominate anyone he likes, though many ultimately require Senate confirmation. Typically, top ambassadorships are rewards for large donors.

“It is a tremendous honor to represent the United States as an ambassador — which is why these positions are highly coveted and reserved for the president’s most loyal supporters,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. “Mike Waltz, Billy Long and Tammy Bruce are great patriots who believe strongly in the America First agenda, and the President trusts them fully to advance his foreign policy goals.”

From ‘glitch’ to a new job

Waltz’s days appeared numbered after The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed in March that Waltz had added him to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss planning for a military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

Trump initially expressed support for Waltz, downplaying the incident as “a glitch.” Roughly five weeks later, the president announced Waltz would be leaving — but not for good. He portrayed the job change as a cause for celebration.

“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first,” Trump posted in announcing Waltz’s move on May 1. “I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Vice President JD Vance also pushed back on insinuations that Waltz had been ousted.

“The media wants to frame this as a firing. Donald Trump has fired a lot of people,” Vance said in an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News Channel. “He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterwards.”

Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush before becoming Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, called it “a promotion to go in the other direction” — but not the way Waltz went.

“The lesson is, sometimes you do more good for yourself looking nice,” Bolton said of Trump’s reassignments.

Bruce also picked for a U.N. post

Ironically, Bruce learned of Waltz’s ouster from a reporter’s question while she was conducting a press briefing.

A former Fox News Channel contributor, Bruce is friendly with Trump and was a forceful advocate for his foreign policy. Over the course of her roughly six months as spokesperson, she reduced the frequency of State Department briefings with reporters from four or five days a week to two.

But Bruce had also begun to frequently decline to respond to queries on the effectiveness, substantiveness or consistency of the administration’s approaches to the Middle East, Russia’s war in Ukraine and other global hotspots. She told reporters that special envoy Steve Witkoff “is heading to the region now — to the Gaza area” but then had to concede that she’d not been told exactly where in the Middle East he was going.

Trump nonetheless posted Saturday that Bruce did a “fantastic job” at the State Department and would “represent our Country brilliantly at the United Nations.”

Former U.S. deputy U.N. ambassador Robert Wood, who served as deputy State Department spokesman during President George W. Bush’s term and as acting spokesman during President Obama’s term, voiced skepticism that Bruce’s new position was a move up. Wood later became the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament through the rest of the Obama’s tenure and all of the first Trump administration.

“Given the disdain in MAGA world for anything U.N., it’s hard to imagine Tammy Bruce’s nomination as U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. being seen as a promotion,” referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

During her final State Department briefing on Tuesday, Bruce said Trump’s announcing that he wanted her in a new role “was a surprise,” but called the decision “especially moving as it allows me to continue serving the State Department, to which I’m now quite attached.”

‘Exciting times ahead!’

Then there’s Long, a former Republican Missouri congressman, who was the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862. He contradicted administration messaging on several occasions.

Long said last month that the IRS’ Direct File program would be eliminated. An IRS spokesperson later indicated that it wouldn’t be, noting requirements in the tax and spending law Trump has championed. The Washington Post also reported that Long’s IRS disagreed with the White House about sharing taxpayer data with immigration officials to help locate people in the U.S. illegally.

After learning that Trump wanted him in Reykjavik, Long posted, “Exciting times ahead!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say Tuesday why Long was removed as IRS chief and being deployed to Iceland. “The president loves Billy Long, and he thinks he can serve the administration well in this position,” she said.

‘These things usually don’t work out’

The soft landings aren’t always heralded by Trump.

Former television commentator Morgan Ortagus, who was a State Department spokesperson during Trump’s first term, is now a special adviser to the United Nations after serving as deputy envoy to the Middle East under Witkoff.

Trump foresaw that Ortagus might not be a good fit. He posted in January, while announcing her as Witkoff’s deputy, that “Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson.”

“These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them,” Trump added. “Let’s see what happens.”

Ortagus lasted less than six months in the role.

Weissert and Price write for the Associated Press. AP writers Matthew Lee and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

JOHANNESBURG — U.S. reciprocal tariffs have put an estimated 30,000 jobs at risk, South African authorities said Monday, four days before a 30% U.S. tariff on most imports from South Africa kicks in.

South Africa was slapped with one of the highest tariff rates by its third-largest trading partner — after China and the EU — creating uncertainty for the future of some export industries and catapulting a scramble for new markets outside the U.S. Tariffs come into effect on Aug. 8.

In an update on mitigation measures, a senior government official warned that an estimated 30,000 jobs were in jeopardy if the response to the higher tariffs was “mismanaged”.

“We base this on the ongoing consultations that we have with all the sectors of the economy from automotive, agriculture and all the other sectors that are going to be impacted,” said Simphiwe Hamilton, director-general of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.

South Africa is already grappling with stubbornly high unemployment rates. The official rate was 32.9% in the first quarter of 2025 according to StatsSA, the national statistical agency, while the youth unemployment rate increased from 44.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 46,1% in the first quarter of 2025.

In his weekly public letter on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa must adapt swiftly to the tariffs since they could have a big impact on the economy, the industries that rely heavily on exports to the U.S. and the workers they employ.

“As government, we have been engaging the United States to enhance mutually beneficial trade and investment relations. All channels of communication remain open to engage with the US,” he said.

“Our foremost priority is protecting our export industries. We will continue to engage the US in an attempt to preserve market access for our products.”

President Trump has been highly critical of the country’s Black-led government over a new land law he claims discriminates against white people.

Negotiations with the U.S. have been complicated and unprecedented, according to South Africa’s ministers, who denied rumors that the lack of an ambassador in the U.S affected the result of the talks. The Trump administration expelled Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, in mid-March, accusing him of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates Trump.

International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola highlighted that even countries with ambassadors in the U.S. and allies of Washington had been hard hit with tariffs. However, Lamola confirmed that the process of appointing a replacement for Rasool was “at an advanced stage”.

The U.S. accounts for 7.5% of South Africa’s global exports. However, several sectors, accounting for 35% of exports to the U.S., remain exempt from the tariffs. These include copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber products, certain critical minerals, stainless steel scrap and energy products remain exempted from the tariffs.

The government has been scrambling to diversify South Africa’s export markets, particularly by deepening intra-African trade. Countries across Asia and the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have been touted as opportunities for high-growth markets. The government said it had made significant progress in opening vast new markets like China and Thailand, securing vital protocols for products like citrus.

The government has set up an Export Support Desk to aid manufacturers and exporters in South Africa search for alternate markets.

While welcoming the establishment of the Export Support Desk, an independent association representing some of South Africa’s biggest and most well-known businesses called for a trade crisis committee to be established that brings together business leaders and government officials, including from the finance ministry.

Business Leadership South Africa said such a committee would ensure fast, coordinated action to open new markets, provide financial support, and maintain employment.

“U.S. tariffs pose a severe threat to South Africa’s manufacturing and farming sectors, particularly in the Eastern Cape. While businesses can eventually adapt, urgent temporary support is essential,” said BLSA in a statement.

Gumede writes for the Associated Press.

July 15 (UPI) — U.N. ambassador nominee Mike Waltz denied any sensitive information was shared during a controversial mobile app chat in March while undergoing a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing was the first Congressional appearance by Waltz since his controversial participation in a Signal app chat that inadvertently included a journalist while discussing a pending military operation in March against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Waltz was the Trump administration’s national security adviser when the chat occurred, but no mention of the Signal chat occurred until past the hearing’s first hour.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., raised using the Signal app to discuss classified matters, which since has been dubbed “Signalgate.”

Waltz said no classified information was shared during the discussion that accidentally included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

“That engagement was driven by and recommended by the CyberSecurity Infrastructure Security Agency [and] by the Biden administration,” Waltz said, as reported by ABC News.

Waltz said Signal is an encrypted app that was authorized by the CSISA and recommended by the Biden administration.

“We followed the recommendation,” Waltz said. “But there was not classified information shared.”

Coons responded by saying he had hoped Waltz would express “some sense of regret” over the matter that he said included “very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app.”

Waltz told Coons they have a “fundamental disagreement” because no classified information was shared during the Signal chat.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the Defense Department’s inspector general and the Air Force have separate investigations ongoing in the matter and have not drawn any conclusions.

“There are two investigations going on at the Pentagon precisely to determine in an objective and independent way whether classified information was shared,” Kaine said.

Waltz declined to comment because the investigations are ongoing.

The U.N. ambassadorship is the last vacancy to be filled by the Trump administration, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called Waltz one of the nation’s “most well-qualified” U.N. ambassador nominees when introducing him to the committee members, CBS News reported.

Lee said Waltz is skilled at negotiations and has a lot of policy experience to guide him while dealing with the United Nations and representatives of its member nations.

“With Waltz at the helm, the U.N. will have what I regard as what could and should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” Lee told the committee.

July 10 (UPI) — Social media influencer Nick Adams is President Donald Trump‘s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Malaysia.

Trump announced the nomination on Wednesday while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Malaysia on a diplomatic trip to participate in an Association of Southeast Asian Nations event in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

“Accepting this call of duty should be the easiest decision made by any American,” Adams said in a video, as reported by The Hill.

“It is nothing short of a lifetime honor to take the president’s goodwill and spread it to the great people of Malaysia,” Adams said.

Our country is the land of tremendous opportunity,” he added. “In our new golden age, these opportunities will grow like never before.”

Adams, 40, is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Australia and has been a supporter of Trump’s for many years.

During his first term in office, Trump nominated Adams as a board member of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, NBC News reported.

Adams formerly was the deputy mayor of Ashfield, which is a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

His personal website describes Adams as a critic of illegal immigration, critical race theory and “radical feminism.”

He also says he is a “champion of American exceptionalism.”

Adams in 2016 established the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, which is a non-profit that teaches the United States’ founding documents and American values to grade-school students.

He says he earned bachelor’s and graduate degrees from the University of Sydney and has authored several books.

Adams has more than 3 million social media followers.

Published on
24/06/2025 – 18:17 GMT+2

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The Brazilian ambassador to the EU has told MEPs in Brussels that a disinformation campaign surrounds the trade deal signed in December 2024 between the EU and the Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva strenuously countered the arguments of the deal’s critics during a hearing of the Parliament’s trade committee on Tuesday.

“The occurrence of animal diseases is much higher in the EU than in Brazil. It shows the need to check the veracity of some narratives,” the ambassador said, holding up a sheet of paper and adding: “In any case, I need to stress that nothing in the agreement changes the right of the EU and its member states to protect human, animal, or plant health.”

The Mercosur agreement aims to establish a transatlantic free trade zone encompassing 750 million people and nearly one-fifth of the global economy.

The EU member states have yet to adopt the deal, but some – led by France – oppose it, facing strong domestic resistance from environmental activists and farmers who argue that it would create unfair competition and fail to uphold environmental and phytosanitary standards.

“The debate about this agreement has not always been a balanced one. Some people want to apply a unique benchmark to Mercosur and ask us to engage in an endless loop of negotiations,” Da Costa E Silva said.

He denounced what he described as unfair treatment of the deal when compared to others the EU has negotiated – citing recent agreements between the EU with Chile or Mexico, and those under discussion with India and the US – claiming these haven’t faced the same kinds of “accusations, and unreasonable demands and expectations”.

The ambassador also sought to counter the arguments raised by farmers concerned that their Brazilian counterparts would gain unfair competitive advantages.

“The [market] access we received in products considered sensitive by the European producers is very limited,” he said. And he claimed that some Brazilian standards are more stringent than European. “For example: the share of land that our farmers need to set aside for the protection of native vegetation varies from 20% of their properties in the south of Brazil to 80% in the Amazon region. This is far beyond the requirements asked of European farmers.”

US diplomat Dorothy Shea corrected herself after saying Israel’s government had “spread chaos, terror and suffering” across the Middle East during her statement at the UN Security Council. Shea went on to blame Iran for the conflict with Israel, saying they should have agreed to a deal.

June 18 (UPI) — Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wants to unseat incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., during the 2026 mid-term election.

Brink, 55, announced her candidacy on Wednesday after serving as a career diplomat under Democrat and Republican presidents, the Detroit Free Press reported.

A video announcement of Brink’s candidacy largely focuses on the Ukraine War, but she also mentions “unaccountable, unelected billionaires trying to slash and burn our government and our democracy.”

Brink is a native Michigander who lives in the state’s capital and said Trump administration policies are raising the cost of living for U.S. taxpayers.

“Extremists in Washington [D.C.] are sticking up with reckless tariffs that are raising the cost of living for working families, cutting critical services, including funding for our schools, veterans’ care and healthcare and taking away our freedoms [by] restricting reproductive rights and women’s healthcare,” Brink says.

Brink began her career in the State Department in 1996 and was the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia from 2019 to 2022 and ambassador to Ukraine from 2022 until resigning earlier this year.

In an op-ed published in May by the Detroit Free Press, Brink said she resigned her ambassadorship due to President Donald Trump‘s policy toward Ukraine.

“The policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than the aggressor, Russia,” Brink said.

“As such, I could no longer in good faith carry out the administration’s policy and felt it was my duty to step down,” she wrote.

“I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded and children killed with impunity.”

She called the Trump administration’s policy “appeasement” that “leads to more war and suffering.”

Brink is the first Democrat to announce her candidacy for the House seat that formerly was held by current Democratic Party Senator Elise Slotnik.

Other potential Democratic Party candidates include former Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski and retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, the Michigan Advance reported.

Pakistan has become the fourth country to appoint an ambassador to Kabul, after China, UAE and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan has announced it will designate an ambassador to Afghanistan, the first since the Taliban re-entered and captured Kabul in 2021, in a move aimed at improving previously strained relations between the neighbouring countries.

In a statement on Friday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have improved since his visit to Kabul in April. “To maintain this momentum, I am pleased to announce the decision of the Government of Pakistan to upgrade the level of its charge d’affaires in Kabul to the level of ambassador,” he said.

Dar’s announcement comes a week after he met his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, alongside their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a trilateral meeting in Beijing.

Dar expressed hope that the decision would strengthen economic cooperation, boost bilateral trade and enhance joint efforts to combat terrorism.

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are on positive trajectory after my very productive visit to Kabul with Pakistan delegation on 19th April 2025. To maintain this momentum, I am pleased to announce the decision of the Government of Pakistan to upgrade the level of its Chargé…

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) May 30, 2025

Tensions between the two countries have long been strained over Pakistan’s accusations that Kabul provides a haven to the Pakistan Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and are allies of the Afghan Taliban.

TTP is a separate group and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power four years ago.

There was no immediate comment from Kabul on the latest development. However, Pakistan had earlier signalled that the two sides were considering an upgrade in diplomatic relations.

Another critical dynamic is the presence of Afghan refugees and migrants in Pakistan. Islamabad has ramped up forced mass deportation, with some tens of thousands having crossed the border, in April, back to an uncertain future in Afghanistan, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported.

Nearly three million Afghans in Pakistan, many who have been there for decades as wars plagued their nation, face deportation after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced in October a three-phase plan to send them back to their home country.

Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban currently have embassies in each other’s capitals, but they are led by charges d’affaires, a lower level than an ambassador.

Pakistan has become the fourth country to designate an ambassador to Kabul, after China, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

No country has formally recognised the Taliban administration, with foreign powers saying they will not do so until it changes course on women’s rights.

Diplomats and experts say, however, that having an ambassador officially present their credentials represents a step towards recognition of the Taliban’s government.