World leaders are reacting with dismay, threats of countermeasures and calls for swift negotiations to make trade rules fairer in response to the sweeping new tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. But initial moves have been measured, suggesting key trading partners hope to avoid outright trade wars with the world's biggest economy.

Asian markets fell in Thursday trading and U.S. futures tumbled, setting up what could be a brutal trading day in the U.S. as investors brace for the economic shocks.

The conviction of one of the most powerful figures of the European far right for embezzling EU Parliament funds has sent shockwaves around the continent and beyond. But Marine Le Pen's case is just one example of transparency problems that have plagued the legislature.

From Budapest to Washington, Le Pen's political allies cried foul over this week's French court-mandated five-year ban on seeking political office that could block her chances of securing France's presidency in 2027.

Israel and France share a "common" goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, the Israeli foreign minister said in Paris on Thursday.

"This objective to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapon is a common objective of France and Israel," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters.

The Kremlin's top economic negotiator said Thursday that he was in Washington for talks on improving ties, the highest-level visit by a Russian official to the United States since the Ukraine conflict began.

"From April 2-3, by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, I am holding meetings in Washington with representatives of President Donald Trump's administration," the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, said on Telegram.

Satellite images analyzed Wednesday by The Associated Press show the deployment of at least six nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit bombers to Camp Thunder Bay on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The presence of the bombers comes as the United States continues an intense airstrike campaign targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels. The B-2 has been used in combat to target the Houthis in the past.

Protests that erupted across Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor — the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — took a new direction Wednesday with calls for a one-day shopping boycott.

The student groups behind the call also urged businesses to close Wednesday.

President Emmanuel Macron told members of the government on Wednesday that the French judiciary was "independent" and that "judges must be protected", according to an official present at the meeting.

Speaking after far-right leader Marine Le Pen was banned from standing for office as part of an embezzlement conviction, Macron also said that "all litigants have the right to appeal", according to the participant who asked not to be named.

The White House is seriously considering an Iranian proposal for indirect nuclear talks, while at the same time significantly boosting U.S. forces in the Middle East in case President Donald Trump opts for military strikes, two U.S. officials told U.S. news portal Axios.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said Russia was intentionally attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure and called on allies to mount pressure on Moscow to halt its invasion.

"Another round of deliberate strikes and damage to energy facilities –- an FPV drone hit a substation in the Sumy region, and in Nikopol, Dnipro region, a power line was damaged by artillery fire," the Ukrainian leader said, adding that the strikes had cut power to thousands of people.

Since President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. government has used its immigration enforcement powers to crack down on international students and scholars at several American universities who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or criticized Israel over its military action in Gaza.

Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being "pro-Hamas," referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel's actions in the war.