World
Indonesia increases mining royalties. US, UK launch strikes against Houthis in Yemen; UN holds Gaza aid hearings. Canada elects anti-Trump Carney. By Jonathan Pearlman.
Trump urges Russia to ‘sign a deal’ after Zelensky meeting
Great power rivalry
Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, this week called for an immediate month-long ceasefire after Vladimir Putin – who has come under pressure from Donald Trump to “stop shooting” – announced a three-day truce from Thursday.
Trump urged Russia to end its attacks on Ukraine after a cordial meeting with Zelensky last weekend on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral. The United States president said Putin needed to “sign a deal” and questioned whether Russia wanted to end the war, particularly after its recent deadly attacks on Kyiv.
“If it weren’t for me, I think he [Putin] would want to take over the whole country,” Trump told ABC News on Tuesday. “I was not happy when I saw Putin shooting missiles into a few towns and cities.”
The US and Ukraine on Wednesday signed a deal to share future profits from Ukrainian minerals and rare earths – a move that will help to address Trump’s concerns the US should be repaid for the aid it provides to Kyiv.
On Monday, the Kremlin announced a unilateral ceasefire from May 8 to 10 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over the Nazis in World War II. Putin urged Ukraine to follow suit.
In response, Zelensky called for an immediate ceasefire of at least 30 days to allow for negotiations.
“There is no reason to wait for May 8,” he said in his nightly address. “And the ceasefire should be not for a few days only to resume the killing afterward.”
As pressure from the White House for a peace deal has increased, Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine, including a wave of drone and missile strikes on Kyiv late last week that killed 12 people.
The neighbourhood
Indonesia: Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia’s president, has increased mining royalties to boost revenue and pay for his program to provide free meals for schoolchildren, but the move risks damaging the country’s booming nickel industry.
The government last weekend lifted royalties on a range of resources, including coal, nickel, copper, gold and tin. The nickel royalty was lifted to a rate of 14 to 19 per cent, up from 10 per cent.
Cecep Mochammad Yasin, an official in the ministry of energy and mineral resources, defended the move, saying it would ensure the benefits of the country’s lucrative resources are spread “to all Indonesians”.
The government is under pressure to raise funds due to declining tax revenue and Prabowo’s flagship US$28 billion free meals program for children and pregnant women.
But miners say they are already struggling due to recent drops in commodity prices and may be forced to sack workers and cancel projects.
“It’s possible that some companies may have to reduce their production, or even shut down the mines,” Hendra Sinadia, from the Indonesian Mining Association, told the Financial Times. “The state budget is suffering … unfortunately, we are the only hope for the government.”
Indonesia has expanded its nickel industry in recent years and is now the world’s largest producer of the metal, which is used in electric vehicle batteries.
The royalty for coal, Indonesia’s biggest export, was lifted by one percentage point to up to 13.5 per cent.
War zone
Yemen/Gaza: The US launched intensive strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, including an attack that killed 68 people, as the United Nations’ highest court held hearings this week on Israel’s obligations to provide aid in Gaza.
The Iran-backed Houthis vowed to keep targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea this week after a US strike in the city of Saada that the Houthis said hit a detention centre and killed 68 African migrants. The US said it was investigating.
The US launched a campaign against the Houthis in mid-March that has involved more than 800 strikes. On Tuesday, British forces joined the military campaign, hitting sites in Yemen believed to be used to make drones.
John Healey, the British defence secretary, said the Houthis posed a “persistent threat” to freedom of navigation. “A 55 per cent drop in shipping through the Red Sea has already cost billions, fuelling regional instability,” he said.
The Houthis began attacking ships in November 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Hamas over the war in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice on Monday opened hearings on Israel’s obligations to allow the UN and other agencies to provide aid in Gaza. Israel blocked the flow of aid in early March after resuming fighting following failed attempts to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a further phase of their ceasefire.
Elinor Hammarskjöld, the UN’s under-secretary-general, told the court the blockage of aid has had “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said Israel was seeking to ensure the population of Gaza has “no way to survive”.
Israel, which has denied that supplies were running out in Gaza, refused to attend the hearings, saying the court was being politicised to attack it.
The court’s opinion, which is non-binding, is not expected for several months.
Khalil al-Faqawi, a Gaza resident, told Associated Press this week he had nine people to feed and was struggling to find enough food. “We’ve got lentils,” he said. “What happens when the lentils run out?”
Spotlight: Canada elects anti-Trump Carney
In March, Mark Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England who had never run for office, became Canada’s prime minister following the resignation of Justin Trudeau, whose popularity had plunged.
At the time, Carney’s Liberal Party seemed to be headed for a crushing defeat in the coming elections, trailing the Conservative Party 33 to 39 per cent.Carney abandoned some of Trudeau’s policies, including an unpopular carbon tax for consumers, and ran a campaign that tapped into the anxieties and patriotism sparked by the threats and tariffs of Donald Trump, who said he would annex Canada as America’s 51st state.
At the elections on Monday, Carney and the Liberals completed a spectacular comeback, winning 169 seats, compared with 144 for the Conservatives. Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader who adopted a “Canada First” slogan and Trump-style policies such as cutting foreign aid, lost his seat, which he had held for 21 years.
Celebrating his victory, Carney told his supporters on Tuesday that the country’s “old relationship” with the US, based on increased integration, was over. “These are tragedies, but it’s also our new reality,” he said.
“President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never happen.”
But the Liberals fell three seats short of a majority and will need to rely on the support of minor parties.
Carney, who is 60 years old, led the Bank of Canada during the 2008-09 recession and the Bank of England during Brexit. Voters viewed his serious, policy-focused approach as a welcome contrast to the improvised chaos of Trump, though the Liberals’ ascent began almost immediately after Trump’s inauguration in January. Back then, the Liberals trailed the Conservative Party 21 per cent to 45 per cent.
Trump phoned the Canadian leader on Tuesday to congratulate him. He told Fox News in March that “I don’t really care” about the impact he had on the election, saying he would prefer the Liberals won.
Following Carney’s win, a White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, told reporters: “The election does not affect President Trump’s plan to make Canada America’s cherished 51st state.”
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on May 3, 2025 as "Trump urges Russia to ‘sign a deal’ after Zelensky meeting ".
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