US pauses some weapons aid to Ukraine, Macron dials Putin | Hook News Brief

Hook News Brief | 03.07.25

US pauses some weapons aid to Ukraine

In a big blow to Ukraine, the White House declared it had cut off some weapons deliveries to the embattled nation. The decision was taken "to put America's interests first" following a defence department review of US "military support and assistance to other countries", White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two countries were now "clarifying all the details on supplies". Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry warned any delays "would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace".

Macron dials Putin to discuss Iran

Moving on, French President, Emmanuel Macron, spoke to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for the first time in three years on Tuesday in an attempt to de-escalate the Iran crisis.

The call followed Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signing a law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, including banning its inspectors from visiting any of its nuclear sites.

Remember, Macron had refused to speak to Putin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But Paris has become frustrated by the lack of communication with Moscow leaving diplomatic events exposed to the relationship between Putin and Trump.

US signs new trade pact with Vietnam

Speaking of Trump, the President in a post to Truth Social declared that the US has reached a new trade deal with Vietnam, cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner.

Under the trade pact, Vietnamese goods would face a 20% tariff and trans-shipments from third countries through Vietnam would face a 40% levy. Meanwhile Vietnam could import US products with a zero percent tariff.

Microsoft to cut up to 9,000 jobs as it invests in AI

Shifting focus, tech behemoth Microsoft has confirmed it will lay-off as many as 9,000 workers as part of its fourth wave of job cuts in 2025.

A company spokesperson told BBC that they continue “to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace".

Microsoft has set out plans to invest heavily in AI, and is spending $80 billion in huge datacenters to train AI models. The cuts would equate to 4% of Microsoft's 228,000 global workforce.

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