World
Incoming Trump admin, Congress showdown looms with South Africa over support for Russia, US foes
JOHANNESBURG – Key Republicans are already pressing the incoming Trump administration to kick South Africa out of lucrative trade arrangements, should the South African government not change its position on Russia, China, Iran and Israel.
Most at risk is South Africa’s duty-free exports to the U.S. of items such as cars and citrus fruit under AGOA – the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and with it the potential loss of tens of thousands of African jobs. South Africa is likely to be under intense scrutiny from the incoming administration.
A publication from the Center for African Studies at Howard University, in 2023, warned that a country wanting AGOA’s preferential trade agreements “cannot act in a manner that undermines U.S. national security or foreign policy interests”.
South Africa joins Russia’s military aircraft and naval vessels on exercises, allowing Pretoria’s naval bases to be used by the Kremlin and Russia’s sanctioned warships. Senior South African military officials have received training in Moscow. At the U.N., South Africa has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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President-elect Trump (Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)
South Africa’s majority ANC party has met with terror group Hamas, and recently one branch of the ANC supported a local Muslim leader who reportedly shouted to a cheering crowd, “I am Hamas, Cape Town is Hamas, Viva Hamas!” The government also issued a statement condemning the killing this year of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The country’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, spoke out against the “assassination” of this designated terrorist leader, saying “such acts of extrajudicial killings violate international law.”
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
South Africa’s biggest trading partner is China, with the two countries being founder members of the BRICS trade organization. South Africa has welcomed the inclusion now of Iran in BRICS. There have been accusations of deep links between Tehran and Pretoria.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the BRICS summit in Kazan on Oct. 23, 2024. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“Given the South African positions on the Russia-Ukraine and Mideast conflicts, South Africa is leaning away from American positions in a number of ways, most especially in its vigorous pursuit of Israel and its leaders in the international courts,” J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital.
Spector, a former U.S. diplomat now based in Johannesburg, and deputy editor of the respected Daily Maverick, added that “continuing action and rhetoric by South Africa in its pursuit of Israel in international court efforts will, however, encourage Republicans in Congress (and probably in the administration as well) to strip South Africa of benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, assuming the act is renewed next year.”
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ACCUSED OF ‘TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE’ TO SAVE THE PEOPLE OF WAR-TORN, FAMINE-STRICKEN SUDAN
“Such pursuits by the South African government may also lead to efforts to cut back on assistance to important efforts such as PEPFAR – the aid program that, together with the Global Fund and local organizations, has been crucial in the country’s successful efforts combatting HIV and AIDS.”
One such leading Republican, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News Digital, “I remain concerned about South Africa’s efforts to cozy up to Russia, China and Iran, including Iran’s terror proxies, and the impact this has on U.S. national security – a vital element in AGOA eligibility. The country’s foreign policy actions will remain a focus of my oversight efforts.”
Naledi Pandor, minister of international relations and cooperation of South Africa, and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, minister of foreign affairs of Iran, meet in Tehran on Oct. 22, 2023. (Haydar Sahin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and member of the Senate Finance Committee, slammed South Africa in 2023, “South Africa has harbored sanctioned Russian ships, expanded relations with Iran and issued statements against Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’ recent terror attacks”
Both of these influential Republican leaders are expected to become more powerful when President-elect Trump takes office in January, with Scott’s office staff telling Fox News Digital, “Sen. Scott looks forward to working with the Trump administration to ensure that AGOA participants are not undermining our national security interests.”
The now deceased Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal at a rally in his honor on Oct. 21, 2015, in Cape Town. South Africa. (Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)
South Africa’s moves are very definitely in an extremely bright spotlight in Washington. From inside the beltway, Richard Goldberg told Fox News Digital he’s worried particularly over potential links between South Africa and Iran. Goldberg is a former member of the National Security Council, and a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He told Fox, “The first step is to build the case publicly, and give South Africa one last moment of choosing. We should declassify intelligence about South Africa’s deep relationship with Iran, and any other support or partnership with terrorist groups.”
Goldberg continued, “And then we need to use our full diplomatic and economic weight to force Pretoria to choose between the United States and our terrorist adversaries. AGOA should be one of several items on the policy menu.”
South Africa’s Department of International Relations didn’t respond to several requests for comment. But COSATU’s Parliamentary Co-ordinator, Matthew Parks did. COSATU is the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, historically aligned with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC party. Parks is highly respected for his meaningful and dignified pursuance of workers’ rights. His members have much to lose, including potentially their jobs, if South Africa is pushed out of AGOA. But he appeared to be cautiously optimistic when talking to Fox News Digital, “We are confident that our relations with the U.S. will continue to grow, including through AGOA, simply because it is to the benefit of both our peoples.”
Sen. Tim Scott and former President Trump during a Fox News Channel town hall on Feb. 20, 2024, in Greenville, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
“We’ve been extensively involved in engagements between South Africa and the U.S., on how to deepen our relations and toward the renewal of AGOA,” Parks continued. “We’ve engaged extensively with our colleagues in the U.S. labor movement, business community, Congress (both Republicans and Democrats), the State Department, Department of Labor, NSC and the White House.”
As Trump moves into the White House, nearby Ebrahim Rassool will be starting his second term as South African ambassador to the U.S. This month he talked to the Daily Maverick on South Africa’s challenges with the new administration, referring to South Africa’s attack on Israel at the ICJ. “We will stick by the case, but let us now trust our legal team,” he said, “trust the evidence that we have placed in front of the judges of the ICJ, trust the judges of the ICJ to come to a sustainable, just solution – but that we need to put away the megaphone now.”
THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS ‘DELIBERATELY TARGETED’ AND KILLED IN NIGERIA, NEW REPORT SAYS
Sen. Jim Risch during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on April 26, 2022. (Bonnie Cash-Pool/Getty Images)
Rassool pointed out that the South African oranges exported to the U.S. under AGOA enabled Americans to drink orange juice all year round, when Florida and California oranges were out of season.
And Rassool added, “Why would you want to punish America with expensive cars when the BMWs coming from South Africa are going to be much cheaper than getting them from Germany or manufacturing your own?
“Likewise, to point out that American cancer patients are receiving medical nuclear isotopes that come from South Africa.”
The expulsion of South Africa from AGOA would be “disastrous,” Renai Moothilal wrote in the Business Day newspaper last year. Moothilal is CEO of the National Association of Automotive Component & Allied Manufacturers, and wrote, “It will be no surprise if some component manufacturers close their doors. U.S.-headquartered multinational manufacturers with plants here may exit the South African country if there are volume losses linked to our exclusion from AGOA, or other forms of political pressure are brought to bear.”
Observers note there are loud threats coming from President-elect Trump himself, including a claim that he will slap a 100% import tariff on countries like South Africa if, as members of BRICS, they adopt a new currency to rival the dollar. In the other corner of the ring, South African politicians are taking a more placatory and reserved tone. The Democratic Alliance or DA is South Africa’s main opposition party. But since May, they have also been members of the government of national unity, working in a sometimes noisy coalition with President Ramaphosa’s ANC.
The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov docked in the Cape Town harbor, Feb. 14, 2023, en route to naval exercises with the South African and Chinese Navy. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)
Emma Powell, the DA’s national spokesperson for foreign affairs, told Fox News Digital that it’s likely the relationship between Pretoria and Washington “will become increasingly transactional, with greater emphasis placed on equitable reciprocity. This would contrast the Biden administration’s approach to beneficiation-based investment and development. There is also likely to be less tolerance for any action on the part of the South African government that may be perceived as undermining the national security interests of the United States.”
Powell added “the Trump administration is also likely to take a more cautious approach on AGOA eligibility.”
J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital he could take home one strong positive: “The incoming U.S. president’s often-expressed support for transactional foreign economic policies may possibly be an incentive for Africa’s nations – urged on by South Africa – to come together with initiatives offering trade and market concessions in Africa to America.”
Iran has launched operations targeting Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in neighbouring Iraq as the regional war ignited by the United States and Israel entered its sixth day, with more than 1,000 people killed across the country.
State television, Press TV, reported early on Thursday that Tehran was striking “anti-Iran separatist forces”, referring to Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups believed to be based in mountainous, hard-to-reach areas near the Iran-Iraq border.
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Iranian missiles hit Sulaimaniyah city in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to local reports.
“We targeted the headquarters of Kurdish groups opposed to the revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan with three missiles,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday, quoting a military statement. The Iranian military said earlier on Tuesday it used “30 drones” on Kurdish positions.
The attack comes just days after multiple publications reported that US President Donald Trump was in active talks with Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups, and that Washington hopes to use them to spur a popular uprising.
Various Iranian Kurdish groups, which share close ties with Iraqi Kurds, have long opposed Tehran from their bases in northern Iraq and along the Iraq-Iran border. These groups reportedly have thousands of fighters between them.
Here’s what we know so far:
Why are Kurdish groups cooperating with the US?
US officials said the aim is to stretch Iranian forces and take out the remains of the military-dominated Iranian government, according to reporting by CNN.
There is also speculation that the groups could be supported to take control of northern Iran to create a ground buffer for Israeli forces, possibly streaming in from Iraq.
US-Israeli bombings have heavily targeted areas along the Iraq-Iran border since the start of the war on Saturday, possibly to degrade Iranian defences and allow Kurdish opposition groups to cross fully into Iran, according to a briefing by US-based think tank, the Soufan Center.
The US has not ruled out sending ground forces, although analysts told Al Jazeera Iran’s rugged territory would make that very difficult.
If the US does support these groups against Tehran, it would mean that Washington is treating them like armed “players on a board,” Winthrop Rodgers, associate fellow at the UK think tank, Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.
Which Kurdish groups are there?
Neither the US nor Kurdish groups had confirmed any agreements by Thursday.
However, it is known that Trump has spoken to the leaders of two Kurdish groups in Iraq: Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Bafel Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), according to US publication, Axios. Talabani confirmed the call on Wednesday.
Trump also spoke to Mustafa Hijri, head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), on Tuesday, CNN reported, quoting a Kurdish official.
Meanwhile, Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which have thousands of fighters along the Iraq-Iran border, formed the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK) alliance one week before the war broke out.
The group issued statements at the start of the conflict, signalling imminent intervention and urging Iranian military members to defect. According to Israel’s I24News, thousands of its fighters were in Iran by Wednesday.
Here are the different groups:
Kurdistan Democratic Party: The ruling party in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The party controls the capital city of Erbil as well as Duhok. It has historical ties with Iranian Kurdish groups.
However, the KRG is not eager to be seen as supporting attacks on Iran, even as Iranian drones have hit US assets in Erbil. On Wednesday, Kurdistan region President Nechirvan Barzani spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and told him his region “will not be part of conflicts” targeting Tehran.
In 2023, the two countries signed a security deal that saw Iraq promise to disarm and relocate Iranian opposition groups on its territory, although it appears many groups are still based there, reflecting the limited influence the government wields over them.
Iraqi Kurds, who have close ties with both the US and Iran, are in a “difficult position”, said Rodgers.
“They are under tremendous pressure from a wide range of forces, including (pro-Iran) Iraqi militias. They will try to stay out of the conflict as much as they can, but that will likely prove impossible,” he said.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK): The PUK is the official opposition in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and also nationally relevant as Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid is a member. In a statement on Sunday, Rashid urged dialogue and an end to the war. Iraq declared three days of mourning following the killing of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Saturday.
Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK): Formed on February 22, 2026, the group includes six Iranian Kurdish opposition groups seeking an independent state.
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) – Based in the Kurdistan region, the group has about 1,200 members and is proscribed as a “terror” group by Iran.
Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) – Also based in Kurdistan, it has an estimated 1,000 members.
Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) – A close ally of the Turkish opposition armed group, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), PJAK is proscribed as a “terror” group by Ankara. PJAK’s armed wing, the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), is believed to have between 1,000 and 3,000 members, many of them women. It is based in the rugged Qandil Mountains near the Iran-Iraq border and in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region. It has launched numerous attacks on Iranian forces in the past decade. A recent Iranian strike reportedly killed one fighter.
Organisation of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Khabat) – It has an unknown number of fighters.
Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan – Based in Iraq’s KRG, it has an unknown number of fighters.
Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KPIK) – Also headquartered in the Kurdistan region, it has an estimated 1,000 fighters in 2017.
What is the history of US involvement with Kurdish resistance groups in the Middle East?
Kurds are an ethnic minority spread across the Middle East with a shared language and culture. They do not have a state of their own and have historically been marginalised across countries – mainly Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkiye.
For decades, several armed Kurdish groups have sought self-governance in Turkiye, Syria and Iran.
In Iraq, Kurdish nationalist groups gained some success during the 1991 Gulf War by working with the US, which helped establish the self-governing Kurdistan region of Iraq. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also trained and armed its army, known as the Peshmerga, after the US invaded Iraq in 2003. In 2005, the semiautonomous region was officially recognised in Iraq’s constitution.
Since 2017, Washington has also armed and trained the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkiye lists as a “terror” group because of its links with the proscribed PKK. The group, which successfully resisted ISIL (ISIS), now forms the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It controlled Raqqa and other ISIL strongholds.
However, when it began military clashes with Syrian forces under the President Ahmed al-Sharaa-led government last August, Washington turned away from the group and backed Damascus instead. In January this year, the SDF signed an agreement with the Syrian government to integrate into the government forces. In return, the Syrian government recognised Kurdish rights.
In Turkiye, meanwhile, the PKK, whose presence in northern Iraq has long been a source of tension with Ankara, declared a ceasefire in March 2025, after a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to disarm.
How does Kurdish resistance in Iran compare with others?
Iranian Kurds opposed the Iranian government even before the formation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Rodgers said, and Tehran’s current weakness provides an opportunity for them to advance their political aims in the country.
However, the new coalition of multiple diverse groups is unprecedented, the analyst added, and their internal dynamics will be a key decisive factor in what role Kurdish groups will play in this war.
“Support from the US is helpful, especially in terms of targeting security forces’ infrastructure with air strikes, but they will likely be cautious about relying too much on Washington, especially from an administration as capricious and disorganised as Trump’s,” Rodgers said, noting how Washington abandoned the Kurds in Syria.
Unlike the split Iranian movements, Iraqi Kurds have long united to form a devolved government enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, built an advanced economy, and secured substantive relations with a wide range of foreign countries. That’s something Kurdish groups will also be hoping to establish in a democratic Iran, he said.
“I think it is unlikely that the Trump administration has made any commitments to the Iranian Kurds about supporting their political goals,” Rodgers said, adding that the US’s plan “does not look fully thought through at all”.
World
Netflix, After Walking Away From Warner Bros. Deal, Will ‘Move Forward’ With ‘$2.8 Billion in Our Pocket That We Didn’t Have a Few Weeks Ago,’ CFO Says
Netflix is no longer contemplating a future that includes Warner Bros., having ceded the heated M&A battle to Paramount Skydance. Netflix CFO Spence Neumann, speaking Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, reiterated the company’s position that it bailed out of the bidding for Warner Bros. because Paramount increased its offer price.
“The short answer is, it was all about price,” Neumann said. “We said all along this opportunity was a nice-to-have at the right price, not a must-have at any price,” he added, echoing Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ previous statement.
Netflix, when it struck the deal to buy WB’s studios and streaming business in December, was playing “offense, not defense,” Neumann said. According to the CFO, Netflix has a “unique view” into how to value the WBD assets. “We went into it with a point of view on price,” he said. “When it became clear it didn’t make sense for us financially anymore,” the company bowed out.
“Now we move forward, and we move forward with $2.8 billion in our pocket that we didn’t have a few weeks ago,” said Neumann, referring to the breakup fee it received from Paramount Skydance.
On Feb. 26, Netflix abandoned its deal to buy Warner Bros.’s studios and streaming business after David Ellison’s Paramount upped its hostile bid for WBD in its entirety to $31/share — leaving Paramount the winner of a debt-fueled takeover of the media conglomerate. Paramount Skydance paid Netflix the $2.8 billion breakup fee once Warner Bros. Discovery terminated its agreement with Netflix in favor of Paramount’s “superior” offer.
Asked if the Warner Bros. bidding war changed Netflix’s M&A strategy, Neumann replied, “I know it sounds boring, but it’s really no change.” The company will “continue to stay focused on what are those opportunities” to accelerate the growth of the business, he said.
Neumann said Netflix, by the end of the bidding process for Warner Bros., had “a stronger belief” that “we would have been great stewards” for those assets. And, he insisted, Netflix had high confidence that it had a “clear path” to regulatory approval.
“At the end of the day, we were going to be disciplined” on the price it was willing to pay for Warner Bros., Neumann said.
In 2026, Netflix plans to boost its total cash content spending to around $20 billion, up 10% from last year. It is forecasting revenue of $50.7 billion-$51.7 billion, which would be an increase of 12%-14% year over year, and projects hitting 31.5% operating margin in 2026. The streaming heavyweight reported more than 325 million subscribers worldwide as of the end of 2025, up from 301.2 million a year prior.
The expected 10% increase in Netflix’s content spending this year is in line with its expected revenue growth, Neumann said. “It’s really no change in our approach,” he said. “We really want to be that starting point and destination for professionally produced content for creators around the world.”
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A large-scale blackout struck western Cuba on Wednesday, leaving millions without power in the latest outage to hit the island as it grapples with dwindling oil supplies due to sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba said that at approximately 12:41 p.m., there was a “disconnection of the national electrical grid resulting in a complete power outage” stretching from Camagüey to Pinar del Río, including the greater Havana metropolitan area.
“Cuba’s national electrical grid is increasingly unstable and prolonged scheduled and unscheduled power outages are a daily occurrence across the country to include Havana,” the embassy said.
“Outages affect water supply, lighting, refrigeration, and communications. Take precautions by conserving fuel, water, food, and mobile phone charge, and be prepared for significant disruption.”
Neya Perez, 86, paints the nails of her neighbor Reyna Maria Rodriguez, 77, during a mass blackout across most of the country, in Havana, Cuba, on March 4, 2026. (REUTERS/Norlys Perez)
The incident was reportedly caused by an unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located roughly 62 miles east of Havana.
Local reports indicate the island may need at least three days to restore operations, according to the Associated Press.
Vicente de la O Levy, the minister of Energy and Mines of Cuba, added that “We are working on the restoration of the SEN amid a complex energy situation.”
At least one power plant, Felton 1, remains online, he said.
CUBA’S PRESIDENT DEFIANT, SAYS NO NEGOTIATIONS SCHEDULED AS TRUMP MOVES TO CHOKE OFF OIL LIFELINE
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on Oct. 6, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Reuters reported that, because Cuba is accustomed to frequent power outages caused by state-imposed energy rationing, some traffic lights and businesses remained operational thanks to solar panels or backup generators. Many residents have also installed solar panels on their homes and vehicles to maintain electricity amid soaring fuel prices, the outlet said.
Cuba has endured a string of widespread blackouts in recent years due to long-standing issues with its aging power infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages.
However, the situation worsened in January after a U.S. military operation captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and halted Venezuelan oil exports, effectively choking off Cuba’s key source of fuel.
FILE – Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canel walks through the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated in January that, despite the U.S. severing Havana’s energy lifeline, his administration would not negotiate with Washington to establish a new agreement.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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