The Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard troops in recent days to respond to protests in Los Angeles, over the objections of state and city officials
Disinformation spreading on social media platforms has stoked an already tense situation
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said that to suggest one can mediate between two unequals is not possible because there is no equivalence between terrorists and their victims, amid repeated claims by US President Donald Trump that he "helped settle" the tensions between India and Pakistan. Tharoor, currently in the US leading a multi-party delegation on Operation Sindoor, made the comments in response to a question during a conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations here Thursday. "Mediation is not a term that we are particularly willing to entertain. I'll tell you why not. The fact is that this implies, even when you say things like broker or whatever, you're implying an equivalence which simply doesn't exist," Tharoor said. He said there is no equivalence between terrorists and their victims. "There is no equivalence between a country that provides safe haven to terrorism, and a country that's a flourishing multi-party democracy that's trying to get on with its business," he
Most U.S. allies at NATO endorse President Donald Trump's demand that they invest 5% of gross domestic product on their defense needs and are ready to ramp up security spending even more, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday. There's broad support, Rutte told reporters after chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers at the alliance's Brussels headquarters. We are really close, he said, and added that he has total confidence that we will get there by the next NATO summit in three weeks. European allies and Canada have already been investing heavily in their armed forces, as well as on weapons and ammunition, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At the same time, some have balked at U.S. demands to invest 5% of GDP on defense 3.5% on core military spending and 1.5% on the roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports needed to deploy armies more quickly. Still struggling to meet the old goal: In 2023, as Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine entered i
At least five people, including a one-year-old child, were killed in a Russian drone strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky overnight, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said on Thursday. Six more people were wounded in the attack and have been hospitalised, Chaus said. According to him, six Shahed-type drones struck residential areas of Pryluky early Thursday morning, causing severe damage to residential buildings. Hours later, 17 people were wounded in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Thursday, including children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional head Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At around 1.05 am, Shahed-type drones struck two apartment buildings in the city's Slobidskyi district, causing fires and destroying several private vehicles. "By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror," Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
The CSIS report calls the Russia-Ukraine war one of the slowest offensives in modern times, with staggering losses on both sides and Kyiv surviving due to vital international support
As the United States cuts budgets and restricts immigration, China and Europe are offering researchers money and stability
President Donald Trump wants his big, beautiful bill of tax breaks and spending cuts on his desk to be signed into law by the Fourth of July, and he's pushing the slow-rolling Senate to make it happen sooner rather than later. Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House earlier this week and has been dialling senators for one-on-one chats, using both the carrot and stick to nudge, badger and encourage them to act. But it's still a long road ahead for the 1,000-page-plus package. His question to me was, How do you think the bill's going to go in the Senate? Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said about his call with Trump. Do you think there's going to be problems? It's a potentially tumultuous three-week sprint for senators preparing to put their own imprint on the massive Republican package that cleared the House late last month by a single vote. The senators have been meeting for weeks behind closed doors, including as they returned to Washington late Monday, to revi
President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a details-to-come deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in US Steel, which he says will keep the iconic American steelmaker under US-control. Though Trump initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker's bid to buy Pittsburgh-based US Steel, he changed course and announced an agreement last week for what he described as partial ownership by Nippon. It's not clear, though, if the deal his administration helped broker has been finalized or how ownership would be structured. Trump stressed the deal would maintain American control of the storied company, which is seen as both a political symbol and an important matter for the country's supply chain, industries like auto manufacturing and national security. Trump, who has been eager to strike deals and announce new investments in the US since retaking the White House, is also trying to satisfy voters, including blue-collar workers, who elected him as
Poland's presidential election has come down to a stark ideological choice: a liberal pro-European mayor versus a staunch nationalist conservative. They are polling so close that the outcome is impossible to predict in the run-off round on Sunday. It's not just a domestic affair. President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the nationalist candidate, Karol Nawrocki, and dangled the prospect of closer military ties if Poles choose him over liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski. A contest with global implications Trump met with Nawrocki earlier this month at the White House and sent his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to a meeting of the conservative pressure group CPAC in Poland, where she offered a strong endorsement. Noem even dangled the prospect of closer US-Polish military ties in the event of a Nawrocki win with the implied warning that a Trzaskowski victory could jeopardize Poland's security. At stake is not only Poland's domestic course but also the ...
The Congress on Thursday claimed that a special session of Parliament is being considered next month to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, and said this will be yet another classic exercise in "diversion and distraction" from real and more urgent issues by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that from the night of April 22nd itself, the Indian National Congress has been calling for an all-party meeting on the Pahalgam terror attack and its fallout to be chaired by the PM himself. That has yet to take place, he said. "On May 10th, both the LoP in the Lok Sabha and the LoP in the Rajya Sabha wrote to the PM requesting for a special session of Parliament to be convened and to demonstrate the nation's collective resolve through a resolution. The PM has NOT accepted that suggestion as well," Ramesh said in a post on X. "Now it appears that a special session of Parliament is being considered for June 25-26 to mark
The Trump administration has paused all new visa interviews for foreign students until their social media accounts undergo a vetting process. Watch the video to understand what it means.
In an unprecedented development, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University's eligibility to enrol international students, telling existing foreign students to transfer or lose their legal status, a move that can impact several students from India. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to terminate the Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. This means Harvard can no longer enrol foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status, the DHS said in a statement. Noem said in a letter to Harvard University that I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked. The development could impact students from India who are studying at Harvard University. Noem said in the letter that the revocation of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification means th
Between a barrage of executive orders, foreign trips and norm-shattering proclamations, Donald Trump has also been busy raking in cash. The president has amassed a war chest of at least USD 600 million in political donations heading into the midterm elections, according to three people familiar with the matter. It's an unprecedented sum in modern politics, particularly for a lame-duck president who is barred by the U.S. Constitution from running again. Trump is keeping an aggressive fundraising schedule with the ultimate goal of raising USD 1 billion or more to back his agenda and hold the House and Senate next November, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal details of the fundraising efforts. The preoccupation with fundraising might seem highly unusual for a president who was notably averse to dialing for dollars when he first ran. But according to people familiar with his thinking, it makes perfect sense: By amassing money, Trump amasses ..
Canadian PM Mark Carney confirms high-level talks with US over participation in Trump's space-based Golden Dome project; system set to be fully operational by 2029
For the first time since 2022, Ukraine and Russia are set to hold direct peace talks, but without Trump and Putin. Will this meeting be successful or end in failure? Watch for updates.
A federal judge agreed Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from stripping Foreign Service employees of their collective bargaining rights. US District Judge Paul Friedman granted a federal labour union's request for a preliminary injunction that, while its lawsuit against the government is pending, stops the Republican administration from implementing a key portion of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The American Foreign Service Association, which represents more than 18,000 members of the Foreign Service, sued to stop the administration over the March 27 executive order. The union said Trump's order upended decades of stable labor-management relations in the Foreign Service, removing all members at the State Department and US Agency for International Development from coverage of a law that gives them the right to organise and bargain collectively. Government lawyers said Trump determined that agencies with a primary national security focus a
A suspect accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump last September in South Florida can hire an expert to examine the rifle recovered from the scene, but only to determine its operability, a federal judge said Tuesday. Ryan Wesley Routh' s attorneys had asked that their expert be allowed to inspect, photograph and test the rifle in order to evaluate a government expert's findings, as well as test it for other information that they thought was relevant. In Tuesday's order, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon limited the testing to just its operability, with a May 15 deadline. Routh's trial is scheduled for September. Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. Before Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon
Iran's president said on Sunday that Tehran had rejected direct negotiations with the United States in response to a letter from President Donald Trump over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme. The remarks from President Masoud Pezeshkian represented the first official acknowledgment of how Iran responded to Trump's letter. It also suggests that tensions may further rise between Tehran and Washington. Pezeshkian said: Although the possibility of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected in this response, it has been emphasised that the path for indirect negotiations remains open. It's unclear, however, whether Trump would accept indirect negotiations. Indirect negotiations for years since Trump initially withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 have been unsuccessful. Trump's overture comes as both Israel and the United States have warned they will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontatio
The interregnum of a Democratic administration under President Joe Biden did little to reverse Mr Trump's original actions destabilising the global trading order