logic

Former US diplomat Nabeel Khoury says Israel’s latest attack on southern Lebanon follows the same flawed logic and pattern as its assault on Gaza.

Brazilian president says that Donald Trump was elected to lead the US, not to be ‘the emperor of the world’.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that his country will not take instructions from the United States after US President Donald Trump threatened Brazil with 50 percent tariffs and called for an end to the trial of right-wing ally Jair Bolsonaro.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, President Lula said that the tariffs have no “logic” but that he does not believe there is a “crisis” in relations between the US and his country as of yet.

“For me, it was a surprise, not only the value of that tariff, but also how it was announced, the way it was announced,” Lula said. “We cannot have President Trump forgetting that he was elected to govern the US, not to be the emperor of the world.”

The US president’s heavy-handed approach to economic relations with other countries has chafed foreign leaders such as Lula, who has expressed frustration at what he sees as Trump’s efforts to dictate terms to Brazil on matters of trade and domestic judicial proceedings.

Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil who has close ties with Trump and his family, is currently on trial for alleged efforts to mount a coup and reverse Lula’s victory over him in the 2022 election.

Trump, who also faced legal trouble stemming from his efforts to remain in office after losing an election, has called the trial a “witch hunt” and demanded that it come to an end. He has recently done the same for another right-wing ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The judiciary branch of power in Brazil is independent. The president of the republic has no influence whatsoever,” Lula said, stating that Bolsonaro “is not being judged personally”, but “being judged by the acts he tried to organise a coup d’etat”.

The US has also warned Brazil that it will be penalised with higher tariffs if it continues its work as a leading member of BRICS, a coalition of developing economies that have sought to promote alternatives to the US-backed global financial system.

Trump has attacked the group for “anti-Western priorities” and threatened higher tariffs for any countries involved with the bloc.

In Latin America, where the US has a long history of heavy-handed involvement in the domestic affairs of various nations, Trump’s threats and blunt use of US economic leverage have sparked anger.

“Brazil is to take care of Brazil and take care of the Brazilian people, and to take not to take care of the interests of the others,” Lula said.

“Brazil will not accept anything imposed on it. We accept negotiation and not imposition.”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV urged the warring sides in the Israel-Iran war to “reject the logic of bullying and revenge” and choose a path of dialogue and diplomacy to reach peace as he expressed solidarity with all Christians in the Middle East.

Speaking at his weekly Wednesday general audience, the American pope said he was following “with attention and hope” recent developments in the war. He cited the biblical exhortation: “A nation shall not raise the sword against another nation.”

A ceasefire is holding in the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict, which involved Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites and the U.S. intervening by dropping bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.

“Let us listen to this voice that comes from on High,” Leo said. “Heal the lacerations caused by the bloody actions of recent days, reject all logic of bullying and revenge, and resolutely take the path of dialogue, diplomacy and peace.”

The Chicago-born Leo also expressed solidarity with the victims of Sunday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus, Syria, and urged the international community to keep supporting Syrian reconciliation. Syria’s Interior Ministry has said a sleeper cell belonging to the Islamic State group was behind the attack at the Church of the Holy Cross, which killed at least 25 people.

“To the Christians in the Middle East, I am near you. All the church is close to you,” he said. “This tragic event is a reminder of the profound fragility that still marks Syria after years of conflict and instability, and therefore it is crucial that the international community doesn’t look away from this country, but continues to offer it support through gestures of solidarity and with a renewed commitment to peace and reconciliation.”