Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’
Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’/node/2599097/world
Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’
Pakistani army soldiers lower down Pakistani and Kashmiri flags on the martyr monument park during sunset in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, on April 30, 2025, amid border tensions with India. (AFP)
Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’
Updated 6 min 37 sec ago
AFP
NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister said Thursday that those who planned and carried out an attack in Kashmir last week that left 26 men dead “must be brought to justice.”
New Delhi blames Pakistan for the gun attack on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.
Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.
“Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” India’s top diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a statement following a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening in which they discussed the attack.
Rubio also spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in a US readout of the call, told Sharif of the “need to condemn the terror attack” in Kashmir.
Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other overnight along the Line of Control, the de facto border in contested Kashmir, the Indian army said.
It was a seventh straight night gunfire was reported by India.
“During the night... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small-arms fire across the Line of Control opposite Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor,” the army said in a statement.
“These were responded proportionately by the Indian Army.”
There were no reported casualties and there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.
Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting and vowed that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit
At a Cabinet meeting, Trump hinted at Musk giving up his DOGE role “to get back home to his cars”
Musk's Tesla car company had been hit by boycott calls over his role in gutting the US bureaucracy
Updated 20 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tesla boss Elon Musk could stay working for the White House as long as he wanted but understood the tycoon wanted to get back to his businesses.
Musk last month said he will step back from his role as the unofficial head of the administration’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” to focus more on his troubled Tesla car company.
“The vast majority of the people in this country really respect and appreciate you,” Trump told Musk during a White House cabinet meeting, which could be his last before giving up his DOGE role.
“And you know you’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said, though added that Musk may want “to get back home to his cars.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, has seen his Tesla car company, which is the major source of his wealth, suffer significant brand damage from his political work.
Tesla showrooms have been hit by vandalism and boycott calls in Europe and the United States in a backlash against public service cuts introduced by Musk in his role as a close adviser to Trump.
“You really have sacrificed a lot. They treated you very unfairly,” Trump said of opponents to Musk.
“They did like to burn my cars, which is not great,” Musk responded.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Tesla’s board had begun procedures several weeks ago to find a successor to Musk as CEO.
The outlet reported — citing people familiar with the matter — that the board had met with Musk and told him that he needed to spend more time with the company, rather than in Washington.
David Sacks, a close Musk ally who is also a member of the Trump administration, last week said that Musk would not be leaving DOGE but reducing his role.
This was the same plan he carried out during his takeover of Twitter in 2022, he said.
“Once he felt like he had a mental model and he had the people in place that he trusted, he can move to more of a maintenance mode,” Sacks told the All-In podcast.
After sparking trade war, US now reaching out to China for tariff talks: Beijing state media
Punishing US tariffs that have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products, forcing China to retaliate
US President Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs , which Beijing denies
Updated 18 min 34 sec ago
AFP
BEIJING: US officials have reached out to their Chinese counterparts for talks on vast tariffs that have hammered markets and global supply chains, a Beijing-backed outlet said on Thursday citing sources.
Punishing US tariffs that have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products came into force in April, while Beijing has responded with fresh 125 percent duties on imports from the United States.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs — claims Beijing has vehemently denied.
On Thursday Yuyuan Tantian, a Chinese outlet linked to state broadcaster CCTV, said citing sources that Washington was “proactively” reaching out to China via “multiple channels” for talks on the tariffs.
“From a negotiation standpoint the US is currently the more anxious party,” the outlet, which blends analysis with news reporting, said on the X-like platform Weibo.
“The Trump administration is facing multiple pressures,” it added.
AFP has reached out to China’s foreign ministry for comment.
Beijing has repeatedly urged the United States to engage in dialogue in a “fair, respectful and reciprocal” manner.
But it has also said it will fight a trade war to the bitter end if needed, with a video posted on social media this week by its foreign ministry vowing to “never kneel down!”
US Senate votes down resolution to block Trump’s global tariffs amid economic turmoil
Absence of two opponents of Trump's global tariffs denied the Democrats the votes for passage of the resolution
The 49-49 vote came weeks after the Senate approved a resolution opposing Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada
Updated 01 May 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: Senate Republicans narrowly voted down a Democratic resolution Wednesday that would have blocked global tariffs announced by Donald Trump earlier this month, giving the president a modest win as lawmakers in both parties have remained skeptical of his trade agenda.
Trump announced the far-reaching tariffs on nearly all US trading partners April 2 and then reversed himself a few days later after a market meltdown, suspending the import taxes for 90 days. Amid the uncertainty for both US consumers and businesses, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that the US economy shrank 0.3 percent from January through March, the first drop in three years.
The 49-49 vote came weeks after the Senate approved a resolution that would have have thwarted Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada. That measure passed 51-48 with the votes of four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky. But McConnell — who has been sharply critical of the tariffs but had not said how he would vote — and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse were absent Wednesday, denying Democrats the votes for passage.
Democrats said their primary aim was to put Republicans on the record either way and to try to reassert congressional powers.
“The Senate cannot be an idle spectator in the tariff madness,” said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a lead sponsor of the resolution.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the dismal economic numbers should be a “wakeup call” to Republicans.
Wary of a rebuke to Trump, GOP leaders encouraged their conference not to vote for the resolution, even as many of them remain unconvinced about the tariffs. Vice President JD Vance attended a Senate GOP luncheon Tuesday with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who assured senators that the administration is making progress toward trade deals with individual countries.
Collins said ahead of the vote that she believes the Democratic resolution is too broad, but she was supporting it because it sends a message that “we really need to be far more discriminatory in imposing these tariffs and not treat allies like Canada the way we treat adversaries like China.”
But some Republicans argued that the vote was a political stunt. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said he backs separate legislation by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley that would give Congress increased power over determining tariffs but would vote no on the resolution, which he said is only about “making a point.”
Democrats say the Republicans’ failure to stand up to Trump could have dire consequences. “The only thing Donald Trump’s tariffs have succeeded in is raising the odds of recession and sending markets into a tailspin,” said Schumer, D-N.Y. “Today, they have to choose – stick with Trump or stand with your states.”
The Democratic resolution forced a vote under a statute that allows them to try to terminate the national economic emergency Trump used to levy the tariffs.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called it a “fake” emergency that Trump is using to impose his “on again, off again, red light, green light tariffs.”
The tariffs “are pushing our economy off a cliff,” Warren said.
The Republican president has tried to reassure voters that his tariffs will not provoke a recession as his administration has focused on China, raising tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent even as he paused the others. He told his Cabinet Wednesday morning that his tariffs meant China was “having tremendous difficulty because their factories are not doing business.”
Trump said the US does not really need imports from the world’s dominant manufacturer. “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,” he said. “So maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”
Trump suggests US may not give more grants to Harvard University
Harvard rejected numerous Trump demands earlier in April, calling them an attack on free speech and academic freedom
Updated 01 May 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday his government may stop giving grants to Harvard University, which has refused to concede to his demands regarding hiring, administration and speech regulation.
“And it looks like we are not going to be giving them any more grants, right Linda?” Trump said in remarks on Wednesday while referring to US Education Secretary Linda McMahon and without elaborating.
“A grant is at our discretion and they are really not behaving well. So it’s too bad.”
Harvard and the US Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks.
The Trump administration has targeted Harvard over antisemitism on campus during pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza after the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has escalated its actions against Harvard. It began a formal review into nearly $9 billion in federal funding for Harvard, demanded the university ban diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and crack down on some pro-Palestinian groups and masks in protests.
It has also urged Harvard to give more details on its foreign ties and threatened to remove its tax-exempt status and its ability to enroll foreign students.
Harvard rejected numerous Trump demands earlier in April, calling them an attack on free speech and academic freedom. It sued the Trump administration after it suspended about $2.3 billion in federal funding for the educational institution, while also pledging to tackle discrimination on campus.
The Trump administration has also threatened other educational institutions with federal funding cuts over issues like pro-Palestinian protests, DEI, climate initiatives and transgender rights.
Protesting groups, including some Jewish ones, have said the administration conflates their criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza with antisemitism and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Harvard University released two reports on Tuesday that found many Jewish, Arab and Muslim students experienced bigotry at its Massachusetts campus during protests last year, with some fearing exclusion for airing political views.
The Trump administration has thus far not initiated probes over Islamophobia or anti-Arab bias.
US, Ukraine sign economic deal after Trump presses Kyiv to pay back US for help in repelling Russia
Updated 01 May 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: The US and Ukraine announced on Wednesday an economic agreement after a weekslong press by President Donald Trump on Ukraine to compensate Washington for billions in military and economic assistance to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a video posted to X that “this partnership allows the United States to invest alongside Ukraine, to unlock Ukraine’s growth assets, mobilize American talent, capital and governance standards that will improve Ukraine’s investment climate and accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.”
The announcement comes at a critical moment in the war as Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with leaders of Russia and Ukraine with the brutal fighting dragging on.
The American president has criticized his Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for steps that he said were prolonging the killing, and he has rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin for complicating negotiations with “very bad timing” in launching deadly strikes on Kyiv.
Trump on Saturday met with Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in a post on X celebrated the breakthrough.
“Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment to our country,” she said.
The two sides offered only barebone details about the structure of the deal, but it is expected to give the US access to its valuable rare minerals in the hopes of ensuring continued American support for Kyiv in its grinding war with Russia.
Ukraine’s economy minister and deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, flew to Washington on Wednesday to help finalize the deal, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during an appearance on Ukrainian television. Although the main part of the agreement had been settled, there were still hurdles to overcome, said a senior Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
For Ukraine, the agreement is seen as key to ensuring its access to future US military aid.
“Truly, this is a strategic deal for the creation of an investment partner fund,” Shmyhal said. “This is truly an equal and good international deal on joint investment in the development and restoration of Ukraine between the governments of the United States and Ukraine.”
Trump began his push for a deal in February that he wanted access to Ukraine’s rare earth materials as a condition for continued US support in the war, describing it as reimbursement for the billions of dollars in aid the US has given to Kyiv.
But talks stalled after a tense Oval Office meeting of US and Ukrainian leaders, and reaching an agreement since then has proven difficult and strained relations between Washington and Kyiv.
Negotiations appeared to drag on till shortly before the two sides confirmed an agreement had been signed off on the deal.
Earlier Wednesday, Bessent said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House — hours after Ukrainian officials indicated a deal was nearly finalized — that there was still work to do.
“The Ukrainians decided last night to make some last-minute changes,” Bessent said when asked about reports that Ukraine was ready to agree to the pact. “We’re sure that they will reconsider that. And we are ready to sign this afternoon if they are.”
He didn’t elaborate as to the late changes he said Ukraine made.
The US has been seeking access to more than 20 raw materials deemed strategically critical to its interests, including some non-minerals such as oil and natural gas. Among them are Ukraine’s deposits of titanium, which is used for making aircraft wings and other aerospace manufacturing, and uranium, which is used for nuclear power, medical equipment and weapons. Ukraine also has lithium, graphite and manganese, which are used in electric vehicle batteries.
After Kyiv felt the initial US draft of the deal disproportionately favored American interests, it introduced new provisions aimed at addressing those concerns.
According to Shmyhal, the latest version would establish an equal partnership between the two countries and last for 10 years. Financial contributions to a joint fund would be made in cash, and only new US military aid would count toward the American share. Assistance provided before the agreement was signed would not be counted. Unlike an earlier draft, the deal would not conflict with Ukraine’s path toward European Union membership — a key provision for Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Cabinet approved the agreement Wednesday, empowering Svyrydenko to sign it in Washington. Once signed by both sides, the deal would need to be ratified by the Ukrainian Parliament before it could take effect. Putin wants answers before committing to a ceasefire
The negotiations come amid rocky progress in Washington’s push to stop the war.
Putin backs calls for a ceasefire before peace negotiations, “but before it’s done, it’s necessary to answer a few questions and sort out a few nuances,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Putin is also ready for direct talks with Ukraine without preconditions to seek a peace deal, he added.
“We realize that Washington wants to achieve quick progress, but we hope for understanding that the Ukrainian crisis settlement is far too complex to be done quickly,” Peskov said during his daily conference call with reporters.
Trump has expressed frustration over the slow pace of progress in negotiations aimed at stopping the war. Western European leaders have accused Putin of stalling while his forces seek to grab more Ukrainian land. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory since Moscow’s forces launched a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Trump has long dismissed the war as a waste of lives and American taxpayer money — a complaint he repeated Wednesday during his Cabinet meeting. That could spell an end to crucial military help for Ukraine and heavier economic sanctions on Russia. US wants both sides to speed things up
The US State Department on Tuesday tried again to push both sides to move more quickly and warned that the US could pull out of the negotiations if there’s no progress.
“We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce quoted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as telling her.
Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt to Ukraine’s mobilization effort and Western arms supplies to Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Wednesday that Ukraine had accepted an unconditional truce only because it was being pushed back on the battlefield, where the bigger Russian forces have the upper hand. UN says Ukrainian civilian casualties are on the rise
Meanwhile, Ukrainian civilians have been killed or wounded in attacks every day this year, according to a UN report presented Tuesday in New York.
The UN Human Rights Office said in the report that in the first three months of this year, it had verified 2,641 civilian casualties in Ukraine. That was almost 900 more than during the same period last year.
Also, between April 1-24, civilian casualties in Ukraine were up 46 percent from the same weeks in 2024, it said.
The daily grind of the war shows no sign of letting up. A nighttime Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, wounded at least 45 civilians, Ukrainian officials said.
Also Wednesday, the Ukrainian Security Service claimed its drones struck the Murom Instrument Engineering Plant in Russia’s Vladimir region overnight, causing five explosions and a fire at the military facility. The claim could not be independently verified.
