All posts tagged "india"

Trump mocked as ultimate 'pick me girl' as snubs leave him reeling

President Donald J. Trump is reportedly reeling after he wasn't invited to a meeting and military parade with Russia, China, North Korea and India — and it's a tough moment for the ultimate "pick me girl," an analyst wrote Friday.

"The leaders of Russia, China, and North Korea are not good men," Tom Nichols wrote for The Atlantic. "They preside over brutal autocracies replete with secret police and prison camps. But they are, nevertheless, serious men, and they know an unserious man when they see one. For nearly a decade, they have taken Donald Trump’s measure, and they have clearly reached a conclusion: The president of the United States is not worthy of their respect."

America has been sidelined by these leaders amid Trump's tariff fallout, Nichols wrote, and in the wake of Trump's snub from Putin following an unsuccessful meeting in Alaska aimed to stop Russian attacks on Ukraine.

The military parade Wednesday in Beijing "is the most recent evidence that the world’s authoritarians consider Trump a lightweight," Nichols reported. "Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s maximum nepo baby, Kim Jong Un, gathered to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. (Putin’s Belarusian satrap, Alexander Lukashenko, was also on hand.)"

The leaders' move added insult to injury — and an act of defiance from the authoritarian leaders — after Trump's ill-advised meeting in August.

"When the Kremlin’s dictator shows up with no interest in negotiation, speaks first at a press conference, and then caps the day by declining a carefully planned lunch and flying home, that’s a humiliation, not an exchange of views," Nichols writes.

The administration and Pentagon appear to struggle with complex foreign relationships under Pete Hegseth's leadership, and though it was long believed that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) would be "the adult in the room," he has "instead become a man in a Velcro suit," carrying out jobs and tasks stuck onto him by the president, according to the writer.

He added that the cracks in America's foreign diplomacy are starting to show.

"It has no coherent foreign policy, no team of senior professionals managing its national defense and diplomacy, and a president who has little interest in the world beyond what it can offer him," Nichols reported.

Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for leaders like Xi, Putin, and Kim Jong Un and had a "little kid high school reaction" to not joining the group in China this week, Nichols wrote.

Modi was seen driving in Putin's limousine, a move signifying the two leaders coming together following Trump's tariffs, the New York Times reports.

The Trump administration slapped India with its highest tariff rate of 50%; a 25% baseline tariff, and an additional 25% secondary tariff as a penalty for its continued purchasing of Russian oil. Trump was reportedly “completely upset” with India over its refusal to halt its purchasing of Russian oil.

After the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that the relationship between India and Russia had frayed.

"Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump wrote.

'Enough already!' MAGA's new target is also a key Trump voting bloc

MAGA extremists are turning their attention to Indian Americans, attacking the key Trump voting bloc over the president's trade fallout with India.

Indian Americans played a major role in Trump's victory in the 2024 election, yet the relationship between some conservative Indian Americans and MAGA is strained with backlash over Indian immigrants coming to the U.S. on H-1B visas, MSNBC reports.

"America does not need more visas for people from India," Charlie Kirk, MAGA influencer, posted on X in response to FOX News anchor Laura Ingram's post. "Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first."

As Trump's tariffs backfire, it's pushed former Trump ally Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi closer to China, with Modi visiting the country for the first time in seven years, attending a gathering in China alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Modi was seen driving in Putin's limousine, a move signifying the two leaders coming closer following Trump's tariffs, the New York Times reports.

After the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that the relationship between India and Russia had soured.

"Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump wrote.

American presidents have tried to maintain a good relationship with India over trading for decades.

Modi refused to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after tensions between India and Pakistan from earlier this year settled and the president claimed to have "solved" the war, which infuriated Modi, The Times reports.

Trump's Nobel Peace Prize nod withdrawn

Donald Trump's desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize took a major step backward when the Ukrainian lawmaker who nominated the U.S. president abruptly withdrew his recommendation.

Newsweek reported Tuesday that Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign committee who nominated Trump last November, said he had "lost any sort of faith and belief" that Trump would make good on his vow to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump promised during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would "end the Ukraine war within 24 hours." Trump has since said he was being "sarcastic" when he repeatedly made the remark, and said in April that the U.S. will "take a pass" on brokering further negotiations unless there Moscow and Kyiv made progress toward a ceasefire.

Merezhko told Newsweek, "Trump is 'is evading—he is dodging—the need to impose sanctions on Russia.'"

Pakistan has also announced it nominated Trump for the Peace Prize, "citing the role that Islamabad says he played in helping to negotiate a ceasefire last month between India and Pakistan." However, Pakistani politicians are now asking the government to withdraw the nomination over the U.S. airstrikes on Iran, a fellow Islamic nation.

The bombing has led to "questions about Trump's credentials as a peacemaker, which he has claimed to be in the India-Pakistan conflict of early May," CNBC reported.

Pakistani media quoted one politician, stating, "Trump has supported the Israeli attacks on Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Iran. How can this be a sign of peace?"

Trump has long claimed he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize, as have some present and past administration officials. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who withdrew as Trump's first pick for attorney general over an alleged sex scandal, claimed that the honor should be renamed the "Trump Peace Prize" if the president would broker a deal for nuclear inspectors to go into both Iran and Israel.

During a press gaggle last week, Trump said, "Well, they should give me the peace prize for Rwanda and, if you look, the Congo. Or you could say Serbia, Kosovo...the big one is India and Pakistan. I should have gotten it four or five times. I should get it for...the Abraham Accords would be a good one, too.

Read the Newsweek article here.

All out war could ensue if 'revenge-obsessed' Trump can't 'rise to the occasion': expert

The escalating conflict between India and Pakistan — one that has the real possibility of becoming nuclear — could turn out to be the first true test of the Trump administration's foreign policy mettle, according to a new piece in The Atlantic.

On Wednesday, Pakistan claimed to have downed several Indian fighter jets in response to India's attack on Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir earlier this week. Pakistan claimed 21 people were killed in the strikes, including two children, and vowed further retaliation. India claimed it was striking back after a terror attack on India-controlled Kashmir killed more than 20 tourists in April.

The Atlantic writer Tom Nichols claimed that it's in America's best interest "to prevent a larger conflict, which would be a diplomatic and humanitarian disaster on multiple levels even without the introduction of nuclear weapons."

He wrote, "We must hope that the [Trump] administration, which so far seems obsessed only with political revenge, culture wars, and indulging the president’s pet economic theories, can rise to this occasion."

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Nichols postulated, "Perhaps President Donald Trump is meeting with National Security Adviser Marco Rubio, who in turn is handling meetings and contributions from administration leaders such as…well, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And maybe Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are working hand in glove with other top National Security Council members to provide Trump with solid options for approaching the nations (as well as other interested parties) and de-escalating a potentially existential crisis."

"It would be pretty to think so," Nichols wrote, paraphrasing Ernest Hemingway.

Nichols gave an example of Trump's ignorance of the situation in South Asia when the president commented, "They’ve been fighting for many, many decades, and centuries, actually, if you really think about it." Except they didn't start fighting until they became two independent nations in 1947.

Nichols wrote that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "for his part, seems engaged" in lessening the conflict, having "reached out to the Pakistani prime minister and the Indian external affairs minister in an effort to lessen tensions; he has also engaged with both countries’ national security advisers."

Nichols encouraged the rest of the administration to "focus far less on its internal grievances (and insulting our allies), and more on keeping the nuclear peace."

Read The Atlantic article here.

50 dead in Kuwait fire, mostly from India, minister says

Most of the victims in a deadly blaze that engulfed a block housing immigrant workers were from India, Kuwait’s foreign minister said on Thursday, raising the death toll to 50.

Three Filipinos were among the dead, Philippines officials said, after the fire sent black smoke billowing through the six-storey building south of Kuwait City.

Most of oil-rich Kuwait’s four million-plus population is made up of foreigners, many of them from South and Southeast Asia working in construction and service industries.

Dozens more were injured in the fire in Mangaf, south of Kuwait City, which broke out around dawn on Wednesday at the ground level of the block housing nearly 200 workers.

“One of the injured died” overnight, Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya told reporters, after 49 people were declared dead on Wednesday.

“The majority of the dead are Indians,” he added. “There are other nationalities but I don’t remember exactly.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is “doing everything possible to assist those affected by this gruesome fire tragedy,” in a post on X late on Wednesday.

Next of kin will receive payments of 200,000 rupees ($2,400), Modi’s office announced.

India’s junior foreign minister Kirti Vardhan Singh, who has arrived to help survivors and repatriate remains on an Indian air force plane, said DNA testing was needed to identify some victims.

“Some of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition, so DNA tests (are) underway to identify the victims,” he told Indian media.

In Manila, the Department of Migrant Workers said three Filipinos died from smoke inhalation, with two more in critical condition while six escaped unharmed.

“We are in touch with the families of all the affected (workers), including the families of those two in critical condition and the families of the three fatalities,” Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac said in a statement.

Kuwaiti officials have detained the building’s owner over potential negligence and have warned that any blocks that flout safety rules will be closed.

The blaze was one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the world’s known oil reserves.

In 2009, 57 people died when a Kuwaiti woman, apparently seeking revenge, set fire to a tent at a wedding party when her husband married a second wife.

India’s Modi sworn in for third term after election setback

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on Sunday for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern.

Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time around, defying analysts’ expectations and exit polls.

He was instead forced into quick-fire talks with coalition partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which guaranteed him the parliamentary numbers to govern.

His office said he would appoint a 71-member cabinet, including 11 NDA ally ministers, without adding further details. Modi’s previous cabinet had 81 ministers.

Flanked by top BJP officials and party leaders of his coalition, Modi vowed in a ceremony marking his formal assumption of power to “bear true allegiance” to the constitution.

Honor guards lined the steps of the presidential palace where thousands gathered to watch Modi, dressed in a flowing white kurta shirt and blue waistcoat, take the oath.

Attack in Kashmir

The cheering crowd also included adoring BJP loyalists, as well as celebrities such as Bollywood legend Shahrukh Khan and billionaire tycoons Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, key Modi allies.

South Asian leaders from neighboring Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka attended the ceremony, however neighbouring rivals China and Pakistan did not.

But celebrations were overshadowed after police said gunmen had ambushed a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir shortly before the ceremony began.

The bus then tumbled into a ravine killing at least nine people.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, and both claim the high-altitude territory in full.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan, but violence fell drastically after 2019, when Modi’s government cancelled the region’s limited autonomy.

Senior opposition leader, Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge, condemned the “gruesome terror attack”, saying that Modi’s “chest-thumping propaganda of bringing peace and normalcy… rings hollow”.

Allies eye top posts

Larger coalition parties have demanded hefty concessions in exchange for their support.

With Modi yet to announce details of his cabinet, the line of lawmakers also taking the oath of office was keenly watched.

Indian media reported widely that the top jobs, including the four most powerful posts, would remain in the BJP’s grip.

Modi was followed immediately by top BJP aides Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari — the defence, interior and transport ministers in his last government respectively.

The first among the BJP’s coalition members was H.D. Kumaraswamy from the Janata Dal (Secular) party.

Other coalition leaders to take the oath included Ram Mohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the largest BJP ally with 16 seats, and which India media reports has extracted four cabinet positions.

Rajiv Ranjan Singh also took the oath, from the BJP’s next biggest ally the Janata Dal (United) with 12 seats, which has reportedly two minister posts.

‘More consultation’

But analysts said that the coalition will shift parliamentary politics and force Modi’s once domineering BJP into a more conciliatory approach.

“In the past, the BJP has had confidence because of its sheer majority,” said Sajjan Kumar, head of the Delhi-based political research group PRACCIS.

“The coalition will now force the BJP to engage in more consultation.”

Political analyst Zoya Hasan of Jawaharlal Nehru University told AFP that Modi faced potential challenges ahead — warning he may be “meeting his match” in the “crafty politicians” of among his coalition allies.

At the same time, Modi’s chief rival Rahul Gandhi was nominated on Saturday to lead India’s opposition in parliament, after he defied analysts’ forecasts to help the Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers.

It was Congress’s best result since Modi was swept to power a decade ago, rescuing the party from the political wilderness.

Gandhi is the scion of the dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades and is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.

India’s Modi eyes election victory, top opponent back behind bars

A top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to keep fighting “dictatorship” before he returned to jail Sunday, following elections widely expected to produce another landslide victory for the Hindu-nationalist leader.

Arvind Kejriwal is among several opposition leaders under criminal investigation, with colleagues describing his arrest the month before the general elections began in April as a “political conspiracy” orchestrated by Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an alliance formed to compete against Modi, Kejriwal was detained in March over a long-running corruption probe.

He was later released and allowed to campaign but ordered to return to jail once voting ended.

“When power becomes dictatorship, then jail becomes a responsibility,” said Kejriwal, who promised to continue “fighting” from behind bars.

“I don’t know when I will return,” he told supporters in an emotional departure speech at his Aam Aadmi party headquarters.

“I don’t know what they will do to me… every drop of my blood is for the country.”

Kejriwal later returned to jail, his party spokesman told AFP.

‘Take care of yourselves’

Exit polls showed Modi was well on track to triumph, with the premier saying he was confident that “the people of India have voted in record numbers” to re-elect his government.

Results are expected Tuesday but supporters of Modi in his constituency of Varanasi — the spiritual capital of the Hindu faith — said they believed their leader’s win was secure.

“His government is coming back,” said Nand Lal, selling flowers outside a temple.

Voting in the seventh and final staggered round of the six-week poll ended on Saturday, held in brutally hot conditions across swaths of the country.

At least 33 polling staff died from heatstroke in Uttar Pradesh state alone, where temperatures hit 46.9 degrees Celsius (116.4 degrees Fahrenheit), election officials said.

India’s top court granted Kejriwal bail last month, giving a fleeting boost to the opposition’s quixotic campaign to oust Modi, but ordered him to return to custody after the election.

Kejriwal, 55, has been chief minister for nearly a decade and first came to office as a staunch anti-corruption crusader.

His government was accused of corruption when it implemented a policy to liberalise the sale of liquor in 2021 and give up a lucrative government stake in the sector.

The policy was withdrawn the following year but the resulting probe into the alleged corrupt allocation of licences has since led to the jailing of two top Kejriwal allies.

“All of you, take care of yourselves,” Kejriwal, who has consistently denied wrongdoing and refused to relinquish his post, said earlier on social media.

“I will take care of you all in jail.”

‘Target political opponents’

Modi’s political opponents and international rights groups have long sounded the alarm about threats to India’s democracy.

US think tank Freedom House said this year the BJP had “increasingly used government institutions to target political opponents”.

Rahul Gandhi, the most prominent member of the opposition Congress party and scion of a dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades, was convicted of criminal libel last year after a complaint by a member of Modi’s party.

His two-year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament until the verdict was suspended by a higher court and raised concerns over democratic norms in the world’s most populous country.

Hemant Soren, the former chief minister of the eastern state of Jharkhand, was also arrested in February in a separate corruption probe.

Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi and Soren are all members of an opposition alliance composed of more than two dozen parties, but the bloc struggled to make inroads against Modi.

Ticket to Nicaragua: African, Asian migrants seek shortcut to US

Panama City (AFP) - Nicaragua has become a hot spot for migrants from around the world seeking to avoid a brutal trek through the Darien Gap jungle -- including the 303 Indians whose plane was grounded last week in France on their way to the Central American nation. Migrants from South American and Caribbean countries, Africa and Asia, have long had to brave the lawless, virtually impassable rainforest that straddles Panama and Colombia, in a bid to reach the United States. However, analysts say that the government of Nicaragua's iron-fisted President Daniel Ortega, a longtime nemesis of the U...

Global debt dominates as G20 finance chiefs meet

Gandhinagar (India) (AFP) - G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs opened talks Monday on debt restructuring deals, multilateral bank reform and finance to tackle climate change, as they aim to bolster a sagging global economy. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chair and host of the summit in Gandhinagar, began by telling finance leaders of "the responsibility we have... to steer the global economy towards strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth". Key on the two-day agenda will be "facilitating consensus to intractable issues associated with rising indebtedness", Si...

US rolls out red carpet for Modi even as criticism grows

Washington (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday opened a state visit to Washington as the United States steps up its wooing of India despite simmering disagreements on Ukraine and human rights. President Joe Biden is putting on the full pomp for only the third state visitor of his administration, with the billion-plus country seen as a pivotal partner in a growing global competition with China. Modi -- flying in from New York where he exerted Indian soft power with a public yoga demonstration -- kicked off his visit with an intimate private dinner with Biden at the White Ho...