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Rubio kicks off tour in Latin America as US vies for regional influence

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday arrived in Colombia following the recent election of hard-right lawyer and US ally President Abelardo de la Espriella, and a string of right-wing electoral victories across Latin America. Colombia is the first stop on a tour designed to bolster pro-US leaders and cement influence over the continent.

FRANCE 24

Trump tells Putin he wants swift end to Ukraine war, Kremlin says

US President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin he wanted a swift end to the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said, arguing that peace could pave the way for a broad restoration of US-Russia ties. The hour-long call Tuesday followed weekend talks by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow and Kyiv to try to revive stalled peace efforts.

FRANCE 24

UK, France, ⁠Canada sanction Israeli West Bank goods

Israel said on Tuesday it was closing Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem in response to plans by the UK, France and Canada to block imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks with Julie Norman, Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House and Director of UCL’s Israel-Palestine Initiative.

Sharon GAFFNEY

French AI startup Mistral valued at over 21 billion euros after latest funding

French AI company Mistral announced Tuesday that it had raised three billion euros ($3.5 billion) in what it described as the largest-ever European tech fundraising, valuing the startup at over 21 billion euros. While still an upstart compared to the AI giants OpenAI or Anthropic, Mistral says it is carving a niche by offering models that companies can run themselves with their own data.

FRANCE 24

Accelerating diversification: Canada seeks economic sovereignty amid Trump's 'nonsensical' posturing

François Picard is pleased to welcome Jean Simard, President and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada. According to Simard, the US-Canada aluminum dispute is not your conventional disagreement over trade, but rather a 'Trump posture that makes no sense". As American industrial demand substantially exceeds domestic production capacity, tariffs will do nothing to reduce Canadian aluminum from the US market. Protectionism does not eliminate interdependence, explains Simard, it makes that interdependence considerably more expensive.

François PICARD

Missiles or mediation? Trump envoys shuttle between Russia and Ukraine

Exactly two months ago, Ukraine’s momentum was all the talk at a Nato summit in Turkey. What with its long-range drones and Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that the US would allow Kyiv to produce Patriot anti-ballistic missiles on home soil. That was then. This is now: Trump's deal's yet to materialize, Russia’s ramped up cruise missile launches and Ukraine’s run out of air defenses to stop them. Moscow's also failing to stop incoming missiles. What happens in war when for both sides, offense proves better than defense?

François PICARD