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Recent efforts to throttle Ukraine's access to satellite systems have created a blame game of sorts among Trump administration officials and their allies, who have offered mixed messages about what led to the sudden restrictions on Kyiv's ability to intercept Russian strikes. The limitations placed on Starshield -- SpaceX's military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service and the backbone of Ukraine's drone operations and communication -- last week alarmed the country's military and government officials, with commanders reporting lost drones and disrupted missions. After days of handwringing, President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that the service is again running at full speed. The episode and subsequent lack of accountability have sent shock waves through Russia hawks and Ukraine's allies on Capitol Hill. Questions have percolated since last week about who ordered the interruptions to the Elon Musk-made satellite internet system that Ukraine has relied on for
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that US President Donald Trump's tariffs have driven up costs for American families and upended a decades-old trade relationship as he unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan to shield Canada's manufacturing heartland from the trade war. Carney on Wednesday also said he spoke with Trump for "quite some time" about issues including trade, as the US Embassy in Canada accused Canadian politicians of seeking to influence American politics ahead of next month's midterm elections. Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford rejected suggestions of improper interference. Trump has openly said he wants automakers to move production from Canada to the US, threatening an industry deeply integrated across the border for decades. "US tariffs have upended a trade bargain that's existed for decades," Carney said. "They've raised costs for American families while putting Ontario workers and businesses at a disadvantage and under a cloud of uncertainty." Carney said
The Trump administration moved on Wednesday to end its legal fight to overhaul a popular student loan forgiveness programme. The Department of Justice appealed after federal judges ruled in June in favour of advocates who said the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme risked becoming a tool for political retribution. But it dropped two appeals on Wednesday in single-sentence joint agreements, which stipulated that each side would pay its own fees. Federal officials provided no explanation, but advocates praised the ruling. "The Trump administration's attempt to weaponise public service loan forgiveness against organisations it disagrees with was anti-democratic and unlawful from the start," Dan Zibel, an attorney for the group Student Defense, said in a written statement. "This is a significant victory for millions of Americans who have dedicated their careers to public service." The PSLF programme was designed to make jobs in government, public schools, fire and police ...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran in Mumbai on Wednesday morning before heading to Jamnagar in Gujarat to visit Reliance Industries' giant oil-refining complex, the world's largest single-site refinery, along with Vantara and giga factories being developed by the conglomerate. Rubio, who arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon, first met Adani, followed by a meeting with Chandrasekaran, sources said. Neither side released details of the meetings. Adani heads one of India's largest conglomerates, with interests spanning ports, airports, energy, logistics and infrastructure. The group has also been expanding its renewable-energy and manufacturing businesses, sectors that are central to India's ambitions to strengthen domestic supply chains and attract global investment. Chandrasekaran, who leads Tata Sons, the Tata Group's holding company, oversees a sprawling business empire with interests in automobiles, .
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Gujarat's Jamnagar city on Wednesday to visit the oil refinery complex owned by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd, a day after he described India as a crude oil refining "superpower". Rubio is on a three-day visit to India to advance bilateral ties in energy, trade and investment, defence and critical technologies, besides exchanging views on the West Asia crisis. During his visit, Rubio is scheduled to tour the Jamnagar refinery complex, which assumes significance in the context of his remarks on India's oil refining capabilities and his call for processing more Venezuelan crude in the country. According to the RIL website, its Jamnagar refinery is the "largest and most complex single-site refinery in the world with 1.4 million barrels per day (MMBPD) crude processing capacity and a complexity index of 21.1 - the highest in the world". It states that "the refinery has processed over 216 different grades of crude oil produced in
Vice President JD Vance faced tough questions from voters about the Trump administration's policies on data centres, high costs, immigration and his own rhetoric in a town hall on CBS News that aired Saturday night. The string of sharp queries, some from voters who said they had supported him and President Donald Trump, previewed the rocky path he may face trying to answer for the administration's record if he runs for president himself in 2028. Vance, who said during the town hall there's "of course" a chance he doesn't run for president, faced an especially pointed question about "a failure of leadership" posted by the widow of one of six US soldiers killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, which occurred the day after Trump started the war with Iran. "This literally is the first time I've heard of this," Vance said in response. As he went on, he said, "This job is an amazing honor, but you live in a bit of a bubble and sometimes information doesn't filter up." Questions abo
Facing intense criticism, US President Donald Trump said he had taken a "good decision" to exempt Russia from sweeping sanctions under a new law and asserted that many did not know what it actually meant. "A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out," Trump told reporters at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Miami on Saturday evening. "It's a very good decision, and it's going to be a decision that's good for the country, and I think good for the world because we're really at a world stage," Trump said. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure Graham Act that the US Congress passed last month. The executive order also granted a waiver from 100 per cent tariffs on the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India. The order states that the waivers shall remain in effect until such time as the President or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary
US President Donald Trump wants to take a 60-day period to analyse what imposing sanctions on Russia and tariffs on other countries would mean for the global economy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said here. Rubio was responding to questions on Saturday evening ahead of his departure for a week-long tour of Uzbekistan and India. "I think the president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyse what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy, and even to the US economy," Rubio said in response to a question on the waivers granted by Trump under the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act or the Graham Act. On Friday, Trump waived key provisions of the Graham Act that authorised punitive tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil, offering relief to India. The executive order signed by Trump on Friday states that the waivers shall remain in effect until such time as the President or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the .
The United States is making an unprecedented attempt to revive three shuttered nuclear plants to meet rising energy demand, including from large-scale data centres. No commercial nuclear reactor is known to have resumed generating electricity after beginning the decommissioning process that takes one out of service, though some reactors have restarted after long outages. The Department of Energy is lending as much as USD 4.4 billion to restart the Palisades Power Plant in Michigan, the Crane Clean Energy Centre on Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island and the Duane Arnold Energy Centre in Iowa to restore a combined 2.25 gigawatts of electricity, which can power roughly 2 million homes and businesses. All three of the plants closed before their licenses expired, largely because the electricity they produced was considered too expensive. Not anymore. Two of the plants have contracts with Big Tech companies that will pay a premium to get large amounts of carbon-free energy for data centres.
A large number of US lawmakers and advocacy groups expressed shock at the alleged mass shooting attempt at a Hindu temple in Illinois, saying anti-India hatred was turning into violence. A 19-year-old was arrested in Palatine near Chicago for planning a mass shooting at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Aurora, Illinois on Sunday. The plan failed as the gun carried by the teenager jammed and could not fire. He appeared in court on October 14 and was charged with one count of making a terrorist threat and one count of unlawful possession of weapons. Senators Chuck Schumer, John Cornyn and Jacky Rosen lauded the timely police action in foiling the plot for carrying out mass shooting at the temple. "Anti-Indian and anti-Hindu rhetoric is at an alarming level in America, and now we are seeing that hatred turn into violence," Schumer, the Democratic Senator from New York, said in a post on X. "Bigotry against any community has no place in America, and I remain committed to ensuring that .
A federal judge extended an order blocking the Trump administration from banning reporters for three news outlets from the White House, as the extraordinary case pitting the president against the media makes its way through the legal system. US District Judge Timothy Kelly on Tuesday ruled that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are likely to succeed on their constitutional free speech and due process claims. "Still," he added, "no one should interpret the Court's decision to suggest that President Trump's concerns about accuracy and fairness in the media's reporting are unfounded, or that the government is powerless when its true aim is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed." Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President Donald Trump, previously ordered the White House to restore the reporters' "hard pass" press credentials while he weighed their claims. With that temporary order due to expire on Tuesday, the judge issued a prelimin
The Trump administration is cutting the time refugees have to contest the termination of their status, a move critics say could put tens of thousands of people who fled persecution and wars in their home countries on a path to deportation. The new policy, which goes into effect Wednesday, reduces from 30 to 10 the number of days refugees have to challenge the revocation of their status. It is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to restrict and transform a program that has served for decades as a pathway for refugees. The goal of the new policy, according to the document, is to "mitigate potential risks" associated with people who were admitted as refugees but were not eligible for refugee status. The policy does not say exactly how many people could be affected, but it specifically refers to refugees admitted during President Joe Biden's administration, when it says there was an "alarming erosion of the integrity" of the refugee program. Refugee advocates dispute th
Facing criticism over the diesel deal with Russia, US President Donald Trump said the fuel from Moscow's refineries was meant to stabilise the global market, which has been hit by high prices. On October 9, Trump announced that Russia would supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons "immediately thereafter." To facilitate the shipments, the US Treasury Department issued a temporary licence easing sanctions on Russian diesel shipments to global markets until April 7, 2027. The move came ahead of November congressional midterms in the US, as diesel prices surged amid supply disruptions caused by the Iran war. "That's a diesel deal. Not for us. That's being released into the world. That's not being released to us," Trump told reporters here on Tuesday, amid a growing chorus against the surprise deal he announced last week after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Republicans and Democrats hit out at the deal