In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Putin over the lack of progress towards ending the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022
President Donald Trump is escalating his pressure campaign to get the Federal Reserve chairman to either lower interest rates or quit his post by targeting the expensive renovation at the central bank's headquarters. The latest step came Thursday when Russ Vought, Trump's top budget adviser, sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying the president is extremely troubled that plans may have violated government building rules with an ostentatious overhaul. Trump also named two close aides to an obscure commission who plan to review the Federal Reserve building plans another avenue to increase scrutiny on Powell, whose eight-year term formally ends next May. This follows a near-daily drumbeat of criticism that Trump has leveled at Powell, whom he has disparaged as a very stupid person who should resign immediately. It's an unprecedented attempt to reshape the Federal Reserve's traditional role as an autonomous arbiter of US monetary policy. If successful in getting
Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva said Thursday that he will impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States if President Donald Trump follows through on a pledge to boost import taxes by 50% over the South American country's criminal trial against his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Lula said he will trigger Brazil's reciprocity law approved by Congress earlier this year if negotiations with the US fail. If there's no negotiation, the reciprocity law will be put to work. If he charges 50 (per cent tariffs) from us, we will charge 50 from them, Lula told TV Record in excerpts of an interview that will be fully aired later in the day. Respect is good. I like to offer mine and I like to receive it. Lula's comments raise the risk of a tariffs war erupting between the two countries, similar to what has happened between the US and China. Trump has vowed to respond forcefully if countries seek to punish the US by adding tariffs of their own. The tariffs letter that Trump sent to
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a memorial service on Thursday for two slain Israeli Embassy staffers as he wraps up a four-day visit to Washington in which talks with President Donald Trump, White House aides and lawmakers focused on finding a pathway to a ceasefire deal in Gaza. But as Netanyahu gets set to head back to Israel, it is unclear if there was any breakthrough on sealing a Trump-backed 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas, which the US leader believes can lead to a permanent end to the 21-month war in Gaza. Netanyahu said in a video released Thursday that he is trying to wrap up the US-backed deal but stressed it will be temporary and would be aimed at releasing the final 50 hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza. The prime minister also underscored that in any potential ceasefire agreement he will not budge from his fundamental demand that Hamas lay down its arms and no longer have any governing or military capabilitiessomething the group so far has ...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Trump is going to do everything he can within his power to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
A preliminary injunction was granted Thursday by US Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire, restricting enforcement of Trump's order while the case proceeds
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemns Donald Trump's 50% import tariff and rejects US interference in Bolsonaro trial
Points to deepening India-US trade; diversified crude flows in as counterbalance
EU imports nearly all rare earths from China; experts warn of 'blackmail' risk as bloc faces pressure from Trump tariffs, Beijing's grip ahead of high-stakes EU-China summit
With New Delhi set to assume the Brics chairmanship in 2026, India needs to differentiate itself from members like China and Russia, who are seeking to build the bloc as an opposition voice to the US
Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defence, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US commitment to Kyiv's defence. Premier Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were opening the meeting Thursday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine, firing a record number of drones across 10 regions this week. Italian organisers said 100 official delegations were attending and 40 international organisations and development banks. But there are also 2,000 businesses, civil society and local Ukrainian governments sending representatives to participate in a trade fair, complete with booths, on the grounds of the ministerial-level meeting at Rome's funky new Cloud conference centre in the Fascist-era EUR neighbourhood. The conference will pair ...
Bangladesh has proposed to import more cotton, oil, Boeing aircraft, soybeans, etc from the United States, a Bangladeshi official who participated in the talks said
US copper futures widened their premium to the London benchmark overnight after Trump announced plans to impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper
Industry experts warn that the US is dependent on copper imports, and levies could increase costs across critical industries from electronics and automobiles to infrastructure and defence
Several hundred people gathered for a worship ceremony at a high school stadium in Texas on Wednesday evening to remember the at least 120 people who died in the catastrophic flash floods over the July Fourth holiday, as well the many still missing. Our communities were struck with tragedy literally in the darkness, Wyatt Wentrcek, a local youth minister, told the crowd in the bleachers of Tivy Antler Stadium in Kerrville. Middle of the night. During a series of prayers for the victims and the more than 160 people still believed to be missing in hard-hit Kerr County, which includes Kerrville, people in the crowd clutched one another and brushed away tears. Many attendees wore blue shirts with the school's slogan, Tivy Fight Never Die, or green ribbons for Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp in Kerr County where at least 27 campers and counsellors died. Officials said five campers and one counsellor have still not been found. Ricky Pruitt, with the Kerrville
US President Donald Trump triggers a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports over Jair Bolsonaro's prosecution, prompting sharp retaliation from President Lula
Israeli official said that if the two sides agree to a proposed 60-day ceasefire, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent ceasefire that would require the Palestinian militant group to disarm
The proposed US bill seeks harsh penalties on Russian oil buyers like India and China, aiming to choke Kremlin's war funding and compel an end to the Ukraine war
President Donald Trump promised West African leaders a pivot from aid to trade during a White House meeting on Wednesday as the region reels from the impact of sweeping US aid cuts. Trump said he sees great economic potential in Africa as the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau boasted of their countries' natural resources and heaped praise on the US president, including their thanks for his help in settling a long-running conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Trump described the nations represented at the meeting as all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people a definite shift from his first term, when he used a vulgar term to describe African nations. The meeting comes amid a shift in US global and domestic priorities under Trump's leadership. Earlier this month, US authorities dissolved the US Agency for International Development and said it was no longer followi
Russia pounded Ukraine's capital with another mass missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, causing fires in areas across the city and injuring at least 10 people a day after the heaviest aerial attack of the three-year war so far, according to Ukrainian officials. In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said rescue workers were working at a residential building in Shevchenkivskyi District, after falling debris caused a fire on the top floor of an apartment building. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Administration, said there were fires in at least five other districts at residential buildings, cars, warehouses, office and other non-residential structures. He said three of the injured had shrapnel wounds. Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses with major attacks that include increasing numbers of decoy drones. The previous night, it fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones, topping previous nightly barrages