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The Star
11 minutes ago
- The Star
Trump calls on 'highly conflicted' Intel CEO to resign over China ties
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the immediate resignation of Intel's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, calling him "highly conflicted" due to his ties to Chinese firms and raising doubts about the future of the American chip icon. A change in leadership could pile pressure on the company as it pushes through a major strategic reset started by Tan that aims to slash costs by shrinking its workforce and halting construction on some of its planned manufacturing plants. Trump's comments came a day after Reuters reported U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton had sent a letter to Intel's board chair with questions about Tan's ties to Chinese firms and a recent criminal case involving his former firm Cadence Design. Reuters reported in April that Tan - himself or through venture funds he has founded or operates - invested in hundreds of Chinese companies, some of which are linked to the Chinese military. "There is no other solution to this problem," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, knocking shares of Intel down around 4% in U.S. premarket trading. Intel is a key pillar of U.S. efforts to boost domestic chipmaking and last year secured nearly $20 billion in grants and loans, the largest federal award under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, to subsidize leading-edge semiconductor production. Intel and Tan, who took over the CEO role in March after the ousting of his predecessor Pat Gelsinger late last year, did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. An Intel spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday that "Intel and Tan are deeply committed to the national security of the U.S. and the integrity of our role in the U.S. defense ecosystem." The company said it would address the matters in the letter with the Senator. The Intel CEO invested at least $200 million in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms between March 2012 and December 2024, Reuters reported in April. A source familiar with the matter had at the time told Reuters that Tan had divested from his positions in entities in China, without providing further details. Chinese databases reviewed by Reuters at the time had listed many of his investments as current, and Reuters was at the time unable to establish the extent of his divestitures. Once the dominant force in chip-making, Intel has in recent years lost its manufacturing edge to Taiwanese rival TSMC. It also has virtually no presence in the booming market for artificial intelligence chips dominated by Nvidia. To revive Intel's fortunes, Tan has set a goal of slashing the chipmaker's workforce to 75,000 people by year-end, a reduction of around 22%. Intel also vowed to take a more disciplined approach to manufacturing investment. (Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, Doina Chiacu and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Malay Mail
11 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Amid spat over trade and oil, US-India ties near breaking point as Modi faces pressure to stand up to Trump
NEW DELHI, Aug 7 — U.S. President Donald Trump's tirade against India over trade and Russian oil purchases threatens to undo two decades of diplomatic progress, analysts and officials say, and could derail other areas of cooperation as domestic political pressures drive both sides to harden their stances. India's opposition parties and the general public have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stand up to what they call bullying by Trump, who on Wednesday signed an executive order subjecting Indian imports to an additional 25% in duties on top of an existing 25 per cent tariff, due to its big purchases of Russian oil. While India has emerged in recent years as a key partner for Washington in its strategic rivalry with China, its large U.S. trade surplus and close relations with Russia — which Trump is seeking to pressure into agreeing to a peace agreement with Ukraine — have made it a prime target in the Republican president's global tariff offensive. Trump's taunt that India could buy oil from arch enemy Pakistan has also not gone down well in New Delhi, said two Indian government sources. India has also rejected repeated claims by Trump that he used trade as a lever to end a recent military conflict between India and Pakistan. In an unusually sharp statement this week, India accused the U.S. of double standards in singling it out for Russian oil imports while continuing to buy Russian uranium hexafluoride, palladium and fertiliser. On Wednesday, it called the tariffs 'unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,' vowing to 'take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.' But New Delhi knows that any further escalation will hurt it in matters beyond trade, said the sources. Unlike China, India does not have leverage like supplies of rare earths to force Trump's hand to improve the terms of any trade deal, they said. In recent years, successive U.S. administrations, including Trump's first, carefully cultivated relations with India with an eye on it as a vital partner in long-term efforts to counter the growing might of China. But analysts say Trump's recent moves have plunged the relationship back to possibly its worst phase since the U.S. imposed sanctions on India for nuclear tests in 1998. 'India is now in a trap: because of Trump's pressure, Modi will reduce India's oil purchases from Russia, but he cannot publicly admit to doing so for fear of looking like he's surrendering to Trump's blackmail,' said Ashley Tellis at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 'We could be heading into a needless crisis that unravels a quarter century of hard-won gains with India.' Indian state refiners have in recent days stopped buying Russian oil as discounts narrowed and pressure from Trump rose, Reuters has reported. New challenges for relations A more pressing challenge for India, analysts say, is the stark divergence between its priorities and Trump's political base on key issues such as work visas for tech professionals and offshoring of services. India has long been a major beneficiary of U.S. work visa programmes and the outsourcing of software and business services, a sore point for Americans who have lost jobs to cheaper workers in India. Relations with India risk becoming a 'football in American domestic politics,' warned Evan Feigenbaum, a former senior State Department official under the Republican presidency of George W. Bush. 'Issues that directly touch India are among the most partisan and explosive in Washington, including immigration and deportation, H1B visas for tech workers, offshoring and overseas manufacturing by U.S. companies, and technology sharing and co-innovation with foreigners,' he wrote in a LinkedIn post. Since a 2008 deal to cooperate on civilian nuclear technology, the two countries have deepened intelligence sharing and defence cooperation and expanded interactions with Australia and Japan through the Quad grouping aimed at containing China's dominance in the Indo-Pacific. But fractures have appeared, despite Modi's rapport with Trump in his first term and then former President Joe Biden. Images in February of Indians deported by the U.S. on military planes, their hands and legs shackled, horrified the country just days before Modi went to see Trump seeking to stave off high tariffs. The relationship was also seriously tested in late 2023 when the U.S. said it had foiled a plot with Indian links to kill a Sikh separatist leader on U.S. soil. New Delhi has denied any official connection to the plot. 'The Modi regime's credibility in the U.S. has gone down,' said Sukh Deo Muni, a former Indian diplomat and a professor emeritus at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. 'And maybe there are people who think that India or Modi had to be brought back on track, if not taught a lesson. And if that trend continues, I'm quite worried that the challenge is quite powerful and strong for India to navigate.' Strengthening ties with U.S. rivals One Indian government source said India needs to gradually repair ties with the U.S. while engaging more with other nations that have faced the brunt of Trump tariffs and aid cuts, including the African Union and the BRICS bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. India is already making some moves with Russia and China. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit New Delhi this year and on Tuesday, Russia said the two countries had discussed further strengthening defence cooperation 'in the form of a particularly privileged strategic partnership.' India has also boosted engagement with China, a change after years of tensions following a deadly border clash in 2020. Modi is set to visit China soon for the first time since 2018. 'Russia will attempt to exploit the rift between the U.S. and India by proposing the restoration of the Russia–India–China trilateral and new projects in defence,' said analyst Aleksei Zakharov at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. 'India will undoubtedly be mindful of structural factors such as sanctions against Russia and will seek to find a compromise with the Trump administration.' — Reuters
The Star
41 minutes ago
- The Star
Bolivia's socialists lose support of the Aymara, once their base
LA PAZ (Reuters) -The rise in power and influence of the Indigenous Aymara in Bolivia has been the country's biggest political shift of recent decades, driven by the success of former President Evo Morales and the leftist party he founded. But as Bolivia prepares for a general election on August 17, it seems increasingly clear that Indigenous voters are abandoning the ruling Movement to Socialism, or MAS, the party that once claimed to champion them. Voters from inner-city Aymara and Quechua communities say their loyalty to MAS has been eroded over the country's worsteconomic crisis in decades, and younger Bolivians in particular say questions of identity now loom less important. "Most Indigenous people are having to deal with how to earn money," said Sayuri Loza, an Aymara social media influencer and daughter of Remedios Loza, the first Indigenous woman elected to Bolivia's national legislature. "The need for economic stability, for education, for healthcare — none of those are being met," said the 42-year-old, who does not plan to cast her vote for MAS. Bolivia has the highest Indigenous population proportionally of any country in Latin America, at about 62%, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Made up of diverse ethnic groups, the largest are Aymara and Quechua, long the backbone of MAS, which has dominated the country's politics for nearly two decades. Now support for leftist and MAS-affiliated candidates is trailing the right-wing opposition. A July survey by Ipsos CIESMORI showed Andronico Rodriguez, the leading leftist contender, with just 6% support in July, from 19% earlier this year. Another candidate of Aymara heritage, Eva Copa, stood down from the race last week. Such is the rout that the official MAS candidate is polling around 2%, while Rodriguez has distanced himself from the party. President Luis Arce is not seeking reelection. Nearly half of the electorate is under 35 - a generation that has known no political era other than that shaped by Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous leader, and Arce, his successor. Younger voters like Lirio Fuertes, 29, who runs a fashion brand and teaches the Quechua language on TikTok, said the party's promises fell short. "Indigenous identity was paraded in speeches, flags, and festivals," said Fuertes, who on social media goes by T'ikita Wara, meaning little flower in Quechua. "But it never translated into better healthcare, education, or justice." Loza, a historian who promotes Indigenous traditions on social media, also said public services and financial stability rather than her identity were the key drivers of her vote. Bolivia's emerging middle class, much of it Indigenous, has moved beyond identity politics, and the younger generation spanned diverse professions, said Bolivian sociologist Renzo Abruzzese. "Bolivia's social structure has transformed," he said. TENSIONS EMERGE The 2006 election of Morales was a historic moment for a nation where Indigenous groups for centuries had felt like second-class citizens. They were forbidden, until the mid-1950s, from entering the square outside the presidential palace. Serfdom was only abolished in 1945. Before his first inauguration, Morales received the chieftain's staff at the pre-Inca site of Tiwanaku, pledging togrant rights to the Amerindian majority. "Today begins a new era for the native peoples of the world," Morales said at the time, surrounded by Indigenous activists who had traveled from as far as the United States. Tensions first emerged with some Indigenous groups in 2011, when Morales wanted to build a highway through Indigenous territory in the Bolivian Amazon. Protests broke out and relations between MAS and those groups suffered. Morales, who served three terms until 2019, is barred from running after a failed attempt to change the constitution to allow a fourth term. He is now in hiding in the coca-growing region of the Chapare, after a court in December issued a warrant for his arrest on child abuse and terrorism charges. The former president denies the allegations. Instead of standing for hope, Morales is now associated with disillusionment, Fuertes said. "Sadly, Evo Morales and this radicalized group that refuses to relinquish power have caused the Indigenous movement to be associated with anti-democracy, with corruption and abuse," she said. MAS did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The official MAS candidate, Eduardo del Castillo, said last month that the problems in Arce's administration had been "identified." "There are people who believe in us and trust us," he told EFE in an interview last month. 'WALLET VOTE' This election comes as Bolivia faces its worst economic crisis since the mid-1980s. Natural gas exports have plummeted, inflation is at a 40-year high, and dollars are scarce. The boliviano currency has lost half of its value on the black market this year, even as the official exchange rate has been held artificially steady by government intervention. Urban, business-minded Indigenous voters were questioning the relevance of MAS, and many blamed the ruling party's spend-to-grow model for the downturn, said Quechua political analyst, Andres Gomez. "The 'wallet vote' is starting to outweigh the identity vote," said Gomez. It was still unclear, he said, how that would manifest on election day. Polls show conservative contenders Samuel Doria Medina and Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga leading the race, but neither commands more than 30% support, while around a third of Bolivians remain undecided. If no candidate wins the August vote outright the election will head to a runoff scheduled for October 19. Some Indigenous voters who are passing over MAS were also skeptical of the alternatives. "The right doesn't understand Indigenous Bolivia either," Loza said. (Reporting by Monica Machicao in La Paz and Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo. Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Rosalba O'Brien)
