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China Ousts Top Trade Negotiator From Former WTO Position
China has reassigned its top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, removing him from his position as permanent representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.
The news comes after tension between the world’s two biggest economies flared after the United States added more foreign companies under its sanctions and China set wide-ranging export curbs on rare earths and critical materials in response.
The announcement, following Li’s April appointment to the job of lead international trade negotiator, was part of a routine list of recent ambassadorial changes approved by President Xi Jinping.
China’s current representative to the WTO is Li Yongjie, who presented her credentials on September 29, the trade body said on its Weibo social media account. Beijing sometimes makes no formal announcement when an official takes up a new role.
As former WTO envoy and assistant minister of commerce, Li Chenggang, 58, played a key role in four successive rounds of U.S.-China trade talks as the two seek to avert a bruising trade war after imposing tariffs of more than 100% on each other in April.
Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the unusual step of singling Li out by name, describing him as “unhinged” at a public event.
“Perhaps the vice minister who showed up here with very incendiary language on Aug. 28 has gone rogue,” Bessent added at a separate press conference on Wednesday after the “unhinged” remark.
“This individual was very disrespectful.”
Li’s August visit to Washington ruffled feathers in the Trump administration, as he arrived uninvited, demanded senior-level meetings, “restated China’s false narratives and lectured the Americans,” said a source briefed on the matter who sought anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Xi, Trump Summit Expected
Bessent has since sought to scale down tension before an expected summit of President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this month on the sidelines of an APEC summit in South Korea.
In a video call on Friday with China’s economic tsar, He Lifeng, both sides had “frank and detailed discussions” on U.S.-China trade, Bessent wrote on X.
Both men will meet next week in Malaysia, Bessent added, to try to forestall an escalation of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
Li’s unexpected appointment in April, replacing veteran trade negotiator Wang Shouwen, came days after Beijing launched tariffs of 125% against Washington in its hardline stance early in the trade war.
China’s ambassador to the WTO for more than four years, Li had previously held several key jobs in the commerce ministry, including in departments overseeing treaties, law and fair trade.
A graduate of the elite Peking University and Germany’s Hamburg University, Li has an extensive knowledge of WTO laws.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Cargo Plane Skids Off Hong Kong Runway, Two Airport Staff Dead
Two Hong Kong airport security staff were killed Monday morning when a cargo plane from Dubai skidded off the runway on landing, struck their patrol vehicle, and pushed it into the sea, the airport operator reported.
The Boeing 747 involved in the deadliest airport incident in the financial hub in more than 25 years also fell into the water and was partially submerged, but all four crew members on board escaped.
The airport security staff were not breathing when rescued from the water, with one confirmed dead at the scene and another later at the hospital, said Steven Yiu, executive director of airport operations at Airport Authority Hong Kong.
The accident at the world’s busiest cargo airport involved a plane operated by Turkish freight carrier ACT Airlines on behalf of Emirates, the Dubai-based airline said in a statement.
Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the crash, with weather, runway conditions, the aircraft and aircrew part of the investigation, Yiu said.
The accident occurred around 3:50 a.m. Hong Kong time on Monday (1950 GMT on Sunday).
An air traffic control recording available on LiveATC.net reviewed by Reuters, indicated the cargo plane’s pilot confirmed plans to land on runway 07L where the crash occurred, but he did not report any technical issues on the recording.
“An incident happened at the airfield just now,” a female controller said minutes later.
Man Ka-chai, chief accident and safety investigator for Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority, confirmed air traffic control had directed the flight to land at the north runway, but added: “We didn’t receive any message requesting help from the pilot.”
Yiu said the security patrol car was in charge of patrolling the north runway along a road that was outside the runway fence. It was operating in its usual area and “definitely didn’t rush onto the runway,” he said.
The airplane suddenly veered left after landing on the runway before hitting the car, which “wasn’t a normal path”, he said.
Airport Flights Not Affected
Flights at Hong Kong’s airport have not been affected, Yiu said, adding that the northern runway at the world’s busiest cargo airport, where the incident occurred, would reopen after safety inspections were complete.
The south and central runways are operating as normal, the authority said.
Photos taken after the accident showed a cargo aircraft with AirACT livery partially submerged in water near the airport’s sea wall with an escape slide deployed and the nose and tail sections separated.
Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said in a statement on Monday that the aircraft had “deviated from the north runway after landing and ditched into the sea.”
Emirates said flight EK9788 sustained damage on landing in Hong Kong on Monday and was a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft wet-leased from and operated by ACT Airlines.
“Crew are confirmed to be safe and there was no cargo onboard,” Emirates said.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ACT Airlines is a Turkish carrier that provides extra cargo capacity to major airlines. It did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 said the aircraft involved in the accident was 32 years old and had served as a passenger plane before being converted into a freighter.
Yiu said the airport authority would provide all necessary assistance and support to the family, adding the two staff who died had worked at the airport for seven and 12 years respectively.
It was the deadliest airport accident in Hong Kong since a China Airlines flight crashed on landing in 1999, killing three of the 315 people on board, according to an Aviation Safety Network database.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Top EU Diplomat Calls Possible Putin Visit To Hungary ‘Unpleasant’
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Monday called it “not nice” that Russian President Vladimir Putin may visit EU member Hungary for talks on the Ukraine war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would soon meet Putin in Budapest.
Kallas told reporters ahead of a gathering of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg that Trump’s efforts to bring peace were welcome but that it was also important for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet the Russian leader.
“America has a lot of strength to pressure Russia to come to the negotiation table, if they use that, then, of course, this is good if Russia stops this war,” Kallas said.
More EU Sanctions
Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which Hungary is in the process of leaving. Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces have committed atrocities in Ukraine and argues the ICC has no jurisdiction over it.
“Regarding Budapest, no, it’s not nice … to see that really a person put to the arrest warrant by the ICC is coming to a European country,” Kallas said, adding that the “question is whether there is any outcome”.
Zelenskyy said he would be willing to go to Budapest if a trilateral meeting or a “shuttle diplomacy” format were proposed.
Kallas said she expected that a 19th package of sanctions against Russia would be adopted this week, but said that approval would not come on Monday.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that there was no place for Putin in any European capital.
“The only place for Putin in Europe (is) in The Hague, in front of the tribunal, not in any of our capitals,” he said ahead of the ministers’ meeting.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen also raised concern about Putin’s possible visit to an EU country.
“Let’s see where the meeting will be held and in which format, but it is of course evident that within the EU area a war criminal, such as Putin, should not be welcome,” she told reporters.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that Putin’s planned trip only made sense if it led to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, while Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel told reporters, “the most important thing is that we have a negotiating table”.
Two people briefed on the discussion said Trump pushed Zelenskyy to give up swaths of territory to Russia during a tense meeting in Washington on Friday. After his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump publicly called for a ceasefire on the current frontlines.
A Kremlin aide has said that Putin had reiterated to Trump in a call on Thursday his longstanding position on the state of the war, saying Russian troops had the strategic initiative along the whole front line.
(With inputs from Reuters)
AWS Outage Hits Global Apps And Services, Recovery Underway
Amazon’s cloud arm, AWS, began recovering on Monday after a major outage disrupted thousands of websites and popular apps like Snapchat and Reddit, affecting businesses across the globe.
The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year’s CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, and highlights the vulnerability of the world’s interconnected technologies.
After roughly three hours of disruptions, systems were gradually coming back online as of 6:00 a.m. ET (1000 GMT), with AWS saying it was seeing “significant signs of recovery” for some impacted services.
“Most requests should now be succeeding. We continue to work through a backlog of queued requests,” it said in the latest update on the outage posted on its status page.
Issue Should Be Resolved In Coming Hours, Expert Says
AWS provides on-demand computing power, data storage and other digital services to companies, governments and individuals. Disruptions to its servers can cause outages across websites and platforms that rely on its cloud infrastructure.
AWS competes with Google and Microsoft’s cloud services.
Asked for comment on the outage, AWS directed Reuters to its status page. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Junade Ali, a software engineer, cyber expert and Fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said the issue appeared to be with one of the networking systems AWS uses to control a database product.
“As this issue can usually be resolved centrally … unless there are further issues identified, the issue should be able to be mitigated over the coming hours,” he said.
Initial Signs Of Recovery
Ookla, owner of outage tracking website Downdetector, said over 4 million users reported issues due to the incident.
Issues on some apps and websites, including Snapchat, Roblox, streaming site Max and PayPal’s Venmo were showing signs of easing, according to Downdetector.
Snapchat last had over 4,000 reports on Downdetector, down from an earlier peak of more than 22,000, while reports on Roblox dropped to less than 500 from a peak of over 12,600.
Other services, however, remained affected, with thousands of reports for social media app Reddit and financial platform Chime on Downdetector.
AI startup Perplexity, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and trading app Robinhood all experienced platform disruptions and attributed them to AWS.
Amazon’s own services, including its shopping website, Prime Video and Alexa, were also hit, although Downdetector last showed a decrease in severity.
Fortnite, owned by Epic Games, along with Clash Royale and Clash of Clans were among the gaming platforms affected. Uber rival Lyft was also knocked down in the United States.
In a post on X, Signal’s President Meredith Whittaker confirmed the messaging app was hit by the outage as well, though billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X, said his platform continued to work.
Risk Of Dependence On Handful Of Providers
In Britain, Lloyd Bank, Bank of Scotland and telecom service providers Vodafone and BT were also facing issues, according to Downdetector’s UK website, as was UK tax, payments and customs authority HMRC’s website.
The problem highlights how interconnected everyday digital services have become and how reliant they now are on a small number of global cloud providers, with one glitch causing havoc with business and day-to-day life, experts and academics said.
“The main reason for this issue is that all these big companies have relied on just one service,” said Nishanth Sastry, Director of Research at the University of Surrey’s Department of Computer Science.
While there has been no indication yet of a potential cyberattack behind Monday’s outage, the scale of the disruption has fed speculation.
“When anything like this happens, the concern that it’s a cyber incident is understandable,” said Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at cybersecurity firm Sophos.
“AWS has a far-reaching and intricate footprint, so any issue can cause a major upset.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Albanese, Trump To Hold First Summit On Security, Rare Earths
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, seeking stronger American investment in Australia’s critical minerals sector amid China’s tightening grip on global supply chains.
The centre-left Australian leader also expects to discuss nuclear submarines, trade and Indo-Pacific stability with his security ally, his office said. Albanese has travelled to Washington with his minister for resources, but not the foreign and defence ministers.
The Trump Administration is reviewing the A$368 billion($239.46 billion) AUKUS treaty that will see Australia buy U.S. nuclear-powered submarines in 2032 before building a new submarine class with Britain. Australian officials have said they are confident AUKUS will proceed, with Defence Minister Richard Marles last week saying he knew when the review would conclude.
“Australia and the United States have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in every major conflict for over a century,” Albanese, re-elected in May for a second term, said in a statement on Sunday.
‘Cooperative, Professional, Hopefully Warm’ Relationship
Ahead of Monday’s meeting between the two leaders, Australian officials have emphasised Canberra is paying its way under AUKUS, contributing $2 billion this year to boost production rates at U.S. submarine shipyards, and preparing to maintain U.S. Virginia-class submarines at its Indian Ocean naval base from 2027.
The delay of 10 months in an official meeting since Trump took office has caused some anxiety in Australia as the Pentagon urged Canberra to lift defence spending. The two leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.
Australia is willing to sell shares in its planned strategic reserve of critical minerals to allies, including Britain, Reuters reported last month, as Western governments scramble to end their reliance on China for rare earths and minor metals.
Top U.S. officials last week condemned Beijing’s expansion of rare earth export controls as a threat to global supply chains. China is the world’s biggest producer of the materials that are vital materials for products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radars.
Resource-rich Australia, wanting to extract and process rare earths, put preferential access to its strategic reserve on the table in U.S. trade negotiations in April.
Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney, said the “mood music is good” for the summit, and “the outstanding bilateral issues are not terribly serious.
“The most important thing is for Mr Albanese to establish a cooperative, professional and hopefully warm relationship with the president,” he said.
Maintaining Stable Economic Ties With China
The United States has a large trade surplus with Australia, which is among the countries with the lowest U.S. tariffs.
Australia’s biggest trade partner is China, with exports of iron ore and coal long underpinning its national budget, despite efforts by Albanese’s government to diversify export markets after Beijing’s $20 billion boycott of Australian agriculture and coal from 2020 to 2023.
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who held talks with Trump’s economic adviser Kevin Hassett on critical minerals, told reporters in Washington on Friday that Canberra wanted to do more with the United States, while maintaining a stable economic relationship with China.
“We know that American companies desperately need critical minerals, and Australia is very well placed to service that need,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Police Seek Custody Of Majority Of South Koreans Brought Back From Cambodia Over Cyber Fraud
South Korean authorities announced on Monday that they plan to take into custody the majority of the 64 citizens recently brought back from Cambodia, following accusations that they participated in large-scale online scam operations while based in the Southeast Asian nation.
The police have filed requests to the courts to detain 58 of the repatriated citizens, while one is already held in custody, they said in a statement.
The United Nations says the scam centres, which emerged in Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic and target victims around the world with phone and online scams, generate billions of dollars in revenue every year for criminal networks.
It estimates hundreds of thousands of people are working in the centres, some lured with the promise of a well-paid job but many forced to do so under threats of violence.
The South Koreans’ return to Cambodia on Saturday followed the death of a South Korean student who was lured to Cambodia for what he thought was a high-paying job.
South Korea has issued a “code-black” travel ban for parts of Cambodia over recent increases in cases of detention and “fraudulent employment”.
The government has also set up a taskforce to help nationals lured into working in scam compounds and secure the release of those held against their will.
The returnees, who were arrested in Cambodia in recent months, are implicated in various crimes linked to voice phishing, romance scams and “no-show” fraud schemes, according to police.
‘No-Show’ Scams
“No-show” scams are a new kind of fraud where scammers make large reservations or take advance payments under a false identity and disappear with the money.
Britain and the United States last week sanctioned the Cambodia-based Prince Group, a multinational network accused of operating vast online scam operations that trafficked people to work in compounds defrauding victims from around the world.
The British government said the centres, located in Cambodia, Myanmar and across Southeast Asia, used fake job adverts to lure workers who were then forced to commit online fraud under threat of torture.
Scam operations in Cambodia are estimated to have about 200,000 workers, including 1,000 South Koreans, according to estimates from South Korean officials.
“The police plan to thoroughly investigate all allegations surrounding the Cambodian scam compounds,” the police said, including the kidnapping or detention of South Koreans.
The police said they were also checking on claims that four of those returned from Cambodia at the weekend were locked up and beaten by the criminal organisations running the scam compounds.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Masked Robbers Pull Off Bold Jewel Heist At Paris’ Louvre Museum
Masked thieves wearing balaclavas broke into the Louvre museum in Paris on Sunday, using a crane to shatter an upstairs window before seizing priceless artifacts from the section displaying the French crown jewels. They fled the scene on motorbikes, officials said.
The robbery raises awkward questions about security at the museum, where officials had already sounded the alarm about lack of investment at a world-famous site, home to artworks such as the Mona Lisa, that welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our History,” President Emmanuel Macron said on X. “We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”
The thieves struck at about 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) when the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and entered the Galerie d’Apollon building, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on BFM TV.
The robbery took between six to seven minutes and was carried out by four people who were unarmed, but who threatened the guards with angle grinders, she said.
Eight Objects Stolen
A total of nine objects were targeted by the criminals, and eight were actually stolen. The thieves lost the ninth one, the crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie, during their escape, Beccuau said.
“It’s worth several tens of millions of euros – just this crown. And it’s not, in my opinion, the most important item,” Drouot auction house President Alexandre Giquello said.
Beccuau said it was a mystery why the thieves did not steal the Regent diamond, which is housed in the Galerie d’Apollon and is estimated to be worth more than $60 million by Sotheby’s.
“I don’t have an explanation,” she said. “It’ll only be when they’re in custody and face investigators that we’ll know what type of order they had and why they didn’t target that window.”
Beccuau said one of the thieves was wearing a yellow reflective vest, which investigators have since recovered. She added that the robbers tried and failed to set fire to the crane, mounted on the back of a small truck, as they fled.
Probe By Specialist Unit
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the probe had been entrusted to a specialized police unit that has a high success rate in cracking high-profile robberies.
Investigators were keeping all leads open, Beccuau said.
But she said it was likely the robbery was either commissioned by a collector, in which case there was a chance of recovering the pieces in a good state, or undertaken by thieves interested only in the valuable jewels and precious metals. She said foreign interference was not among the main hypotheses.
“We’re looking at the hypothesis of organised crime,” she said, adding that it could be thieves working on spec for a buyer, or seeking to get access to jewels that can be useful to launder criminal proceeds.
“Nowadays, anything can be linked to drug trafficking, given the significant sums of money obtained from drug trafficking.”
The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, said on X it would remain closed for the day for “exceptional reasons”.
Security Under Radar
Joan and Jim Carpenter, from Santa Cruz, California, said they had been moved out of a gallery just as they were about to see the Mona Lisa.
“Well, when you rob the Louvre, that’s a big deal to all of France, so I knew something was up because of the way they swept the whole museum,” Joan Carpenter said.
The Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum in 1911 in one of the most daring art thefts in history, in a heist involving a former employee. He was eventually caught and the painting was returned to the museum two years later.
Earlier this year, officials at the Louvre requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate the museum’s ageing exhibition halls and better protect its countless works of art.
Macron, writing on X, said that a new government plan for the Louvre announced in January “provides for strengthened security.”
Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the issue of museum security was not new.
“For 40 years, there was little focus on securing these major museums, and two years ago, the president of the Louvre requested a security audit from the police prefect. Why? Because museums must adapt to new forms of crime,” she said. “Today, it’s organised crime – professionals.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Vows Higher Tariffs On Colombia Amid Escalating Drug Trade Dispute
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday night that he would impose higher tariffs on Colombia and suspend all financial payments to the South American country, intensifying a dispute linked to U.S. military strikes on vessels allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the region.
Earlier in the day, Trump called Colombian President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader,” while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. forces had attacked a vessel associated with a Colombian rebel group.
Petro said the boat belonged to a “humble family,” not a rebel group, while his government called Trump’s remarks offensive.
Trump’s latest comments marked a new low in relations between Washington and Bogota, which Trump accuses of being complicit in the illicit drug trade. “They don’t have a fight against drugs — they make drugs,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Petro has objected to the U.S. military’s strikes against vessels in the Caribbean, which have killed dozens of people and inflamed tensions in the region. Many legal experts and human rights activists have also condemned the extraordinary series of military actions.
Trump said U.S. financial aid would be cut off to the country and details about the new tariffs would be unveiled on Monday.
“I’m stopping all payments to Colombia,” he said.
It was not clear what funding support Trump was referring to. Colombia was once among the largest recipients of U.S. aid in the Western Hemisphere, but the flow of money was suddenly curtailed this year by the shuttering of USAID, the U.S. government’s humanitarian assistance arm.
Colombia currently pays 10% tariffs on most imports to the United States, the baseline level Trump has imposed on many countries.
Colombia’s foreign ministry vowed to seek international support in defence of Petro and the country’s autonomy. “These accusations represent an extremely serious act and undermine the dignity of the president of Colombians,” it said in a statement.
U.S. Strike On Drug Vessel
Hegseth wrote on X that the Pentagon had destroyed a vessel and killed three people on Friday “in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” which includes the Caribbean.
He said the ship was affiliated with the leftist rebel group National Liberation Army and was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, without offering evidence to back the claim.
The Pentagon said it had nothing to add beyond Hegseth’s initial post.
Petro condemned the bombing, saying the boat belonged to a “humble family,” not the National Liberation Army. He also hit back at Trump’s remarks.
“Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the United States… but you are rude and ignorant to Colombia,” Petro said on X. “Since I am not a businessman, I am even less a drug trafficker. There is no greed in my heart.”
Earlier this month, Petro said one of the strikes hit a Colombian vessel, an allegation the Trump administration denied.
Last month, the United States revoked Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.
Colombia is fighting its own longstanding drug problems. Last year, Petro pledged to tame coca-growing regions in the country with massive social and military intervention, but the strategy has brought little success.
In September, Trump designated countries such as Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia and Venezuela among those the United States believes to have “failed demonstrably” in upholding counternarcotics agreements during the past year.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Thousands Gather To Bid Farewell To Late Kenyan Opposition Leader After Violent Week
Thousands of mourners, including family members and dignitaries, gathered on Sunday to honour the memory of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose funeral took place near his farm in Bondo, close to Lake Victoria in western Kenya.
Sunday’s Anglican service and burial took place without major incident after an outpouring of national grief this week, in which at least five people were killed and hundreds injured when surging crowds eager for a glimpse of his body overwhelmed authorities.
“Now finally Baba is home,” said his son and namesake, Raila junior, as his father’s casket, draped in the Kenyan flag, stood under a marquee. Odinga senior had died on Wednesday aged 80 in India where he was receiving medical treatment.
Champion Of Peace
Odinga was widely referred to as “Baba” or “father” in the Swahili language. After the main service at a local university, the funeral cortege headed to a private interment with a military band gun salute.
In a message on social media platform X, former U.S. President Barack Obama praised Odinga as a champion of peace who placed his country’s interests ahead of personal ambitions.
“Like few other leaders anywhere, he was willing to choose the path of peaceful reconciliation without compromising his core values,” Obama said.
Tributes also came from current Kenyan President William Ruto, as well as former Kenyan and Nigerian presidents, Uhuru Kenyatta and Olusegun Obasanjo, who were at the service in Bondo.
Though mainly known as an opposition figure, Odinga became prime minister in 2008 and struck political pacts with Kenyatta in 2018, and with Ruto last year, in a career of shifting alliances. He was once imprisoned for treason and ran unsuccessfully for president five times.
Several Killed, Many Injured
Back from India on home soil, the first public viewing of his body on Thursday turned deadly when officers opened fire to disperse crowds after they breached a stadium gate.
On Friday, another two people were killed and more than 160 others injured at the state funeral in capital Nairobi, while dozens of mourners were injured on Saturday after his body was flown to the city of Kisumu, the political heartland of his Luo tribe.
“I’m feeling so low having lost him and this feels like a bad dream … I still can’t believe Baba is gone,” Ainea Opilu, a 25-year-old tutor, said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Reiterates Modi’s Assurance To Halt Russian Oil, Warns Of Tariffs
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump once again said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him India would halt buying Russian oil, but warned that New Delhi would face ‘massive’ tariffs if it didn’t.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked about India’s assertion that it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
Russian Oil: A Deciding Factor
Russian oil has been one of the main irritants for Trump in prolonged trade talks with India – half of his 50% tariffs on Indian goods are in retaliation for those purchases. The US government has said petroleum revenue funds Russia’s war in Ukraine.
India has become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Trump on Wednesday said Modi had assured him that day that India would stop its Russian oil purchases. India’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of any telephone conversation between the leaders that day, but said that New Delhi’s main concern was to “safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer”.
Cuts Not Immediate Despite US Claims
A White House official said on Thursday that India has halved its purchases of Russian oil, but Indian sources said no immediate reduction had been seen.
The sources said Indian refiners already placed orders for November loading, including some slated for December arrival, so any cut may start showing up in December or January import numbers.
India’s imports of Russian oil are set to rise about 20% this month to 1.9 million barrels per day, according to estimates from commodities data firm Kpler, as Russia ramps up exports after Ukrainian drones hit its refineries.
(With inputs from Reuters)