DAN HODGES: Starmer needs to admit the truth: migrants DO commit more crime than native Brits. This is a national crisis - and the PM's silence isn't good enough
As a migrant himself, what did he think about the raids, and the reaction to them, Schwarzenegger was asked.
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The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
Soldiers under bombardment in eastern Ukraine say peace still feels far away
In a Ukrainian dugout, where the constant thunder of Russian weapons sends dirt raining from the ceiling and black plastic lining the walls slips, soldiers express profound scepticism about peace talks. Amid the regular blasts from glide bombs and artillery shells, forcing them underground except to fire their M777 howitzer, the prospect of an end to the conflict feels remote. On the Eastern Front, there is no indication the war will conclude anytime soon. Diplomatic efforts, soldiers believe, are too far removed from the brutal reality of the battlefield to yield results. Their doubt stems from what they perceive as months of unfulfilled US promises to swiftly end the war. Recent suggestions by Donald Trump of "swapping of territories", coupled with media reports implying Ukrainian troops might abandon the Donetsk region – a territory they have defended inch by inch for years – have only deepened the confusion and rejection among the fighting forces. Few believe the current talks can end the war. More likely, they say, is a brief pause in hostilities before Russia resumes the assault with greater force. 'At minimum, the result would be to stop active fighting — that would be the first sign of some kind of settlement,' said soldier Dmytro Loviniukov of the 148th Brigade. 'Right now, that's not happening. And while these talks are taking place, they (the Russians) are only strengthening their positions on the front line.' On one artillery position, talk often turns to home. Many Ukrainian soldiers joined the army in the first days of the full-scale invasion, leaving behind civilian jobs. Some thought they would serve only briefly. Others didn't think about the future at all — because at that moment, it didn't exist. In the years since, many have been killed. Those who survived are in their fourth year of a grueling war, far removed from the civilian lives they once knew. With mobilization faltering and the war dragging on far longer than expected, there is no one to replace them as the Ukrainian army struggles with recruiting new people. The army cannot also demobilize those who serve without risking the collapse of the front. That is why soldiers wait for even the possibility of a pause in hostilities. When direct talks between Russia and Ukraine were held in Istanbul in May, the soldiers from 148th brigade read the news with cautious hope, said a soldier with the call sign Bronson, who once worked as a tattoo artist. Months later, hope has been replaced with dark humor. On the eve of a deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly gave Russia's Vladimir Putin — one that has since vanished from the agenda amid talk of a meeting in Alaska — the Russian fire roared every minute for hours. Soldiers joked that the shelling was because the deadline was 'running out.' 'We are on our land. We have no way back,' said the commander of the artillery group, Dmytro Loviniukov. 'We stand here because there is no choice. No one else will come here to defend us.' Dozens of kilometers from Zaporizhzhia region, north to the Donetsk area, heavy fighting grinds on toward Pokrovsk — now the epicenter of fighting. Once home to about 60,000 people, the city has been under sustained Russian assault for months. The Russians have formed a pocket around Pokrovsk, though Ukrainian troops still hold the city and street fighting has yet to begin. Reports of Russian saboteurs entering the city started to appear almost daily, but the military says those groups have been neutralized. Ukrainian soldiers of the Spartan brigade push through drills with full intensity, honing their skills for the battlefield in the Pokrovsk area. Everything at the training range, only 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the front, is designed to mirror real combat conditions — even the terrain. A thin strip of forest breaks up the vast fields of blooming sunflowers stretching into the distance until the next tree line appears. One of the soldiers training there is a 35-year-old with the call sign Komrad, who joined the military only recently. He says he has no illusions that the war will end soon. 'My motivation is that there is simply no way back,' he said. 'If you are in the military, you have to fight. If we're here, we need to cover our brothers in arms.' For Serhii Filimonov, commander of the 'Da Vinci Wolves' battalion of the 59th brigade, the war's end is nowhere in sight, and current news doesn't influence the ongoing struggle to find enough resources to equip the unit that is fighting around Pokrovsk. 'We are preparing for a long war. We have no illusions that Russia will stop," he said, speaking at his field command post. "There may be a ceasefire, but there will be no peace.' Filimonov dismisses recent talk of exchanging territory or signing agreements as temporary fixes at best. 'Russia will not abandon its goal of capturing all of Ukraine,' he said. 'They will attack again. The big question is what security guarantees we get — and how we hit pause." A soldier with the call sign Mirche from the 68th brigade said that whenever there is a new round of talks, the hostilities intensify around Pokrovsk — Russia's key priority during this summer's campaign. Whenever peace talks begin, "things on the front get terrifying,' he said.
Reuters
41 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump urges China to quadruple soybean orders
Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged China to quadruple its soybean purchases ahead of a key tariff truce deadline, sending Chicago soybean prices higher, though analysts were quick to question the feasibility of any such deal. In a late night post on Truth Social, Trump said China was worried about a shortage of soybeans and he hoped it would quickly quadruple its soybean orders from the U.S. "Rapid service will be provided. Thank you President XI," Trump said in his post. The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) jumped 2.38% to $10.11 a bushel at 0637 GMT on Monday after Trump's post. The contract was steady earlier. China, the world's largest soybean buyer, imported roughly 105 million metric tons last year, just under a quarter coming from the U.S. and most of the remainder from Brazil. Quadrupling shipments would require China to import the bulk of its soybeans from the U.S. "It's highly unlikely that China would ever buy four times its usual volume of soybeans from the U.S.," said Johnny Xiang, founder of Beijing-based AgRadar Consulting. A tariff truce between Beijing and Washington is set to expire on August 12, but the Trump administration has hinted that the deadline may be extended. It is unclear if securing China's agreement to buy more U.S. soybeans is a condition for extending the truce as Trump looks to reduce China's trade surplus with the U.S. China's soymeal futures fell 0.65% to 3,068 yuan per metric ton on expectations U.S. imports could increase supply. China's Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Under the Phase One trade deal signed during Trump's first term, China agreed to boost purchases of U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans. However, Beijing fell far short of meeting those targets. This year, amid Washington–Beijing trade tensions, it has yet to buy any fourth quarter U.S. beans, fuelling concerns as the U.S. harvest export season approaches. "On Beijing's side, there have been quite a few signals that China is prepared to forego U.S. soybeans altogether this year, including booking those test cargoes of soymeal from Argentina," said Even Rogers Pay, an agricultural analyst at Trivium China. Reuters previously reported that Chinese feedmakers have purchased three Argentine soymeal cargoes as they aim to secure cheaper South American supplies amid concerns about a possible soybean supply disruption in the fourth quarter. U.S. soybean industry has been seeking alternative buyers, but no other country matches China's scale. Last year, China imported 22.13 million tons of soybeans from the U.S., and 74.65 million tons from Brazil.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Nvidia and AMD reportedly agree to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US
Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the US government 15% of their revenues from chip sales in China, under an unprecedented arrangement to obtain export licenses for the semiconductors, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The revenue share applies to Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips, the report said, citing a US official, noting that the Trump administration had yet to determine how to use the money. The chipmakers agreed to the quid pro quo arrangement as a condition for obtaining export licenses for the Chinese market that were granted last week, according to the unnamed official. According to export control experts, no US company has ever agreed to pay a portion of their revenues to obtain export licenses, the newspaper reported. But Donald Trump has encouraged firms, and countries, to make investments in the US to, in his words, 'buy down' the tariff rates he imposes. Nvidia follows rules the US government sets for its participation in worldwide markets, an Nvidia spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. 'While we haven't shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide.' AMD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US commerce department started issuing licenses to Nvidia to export its H20 chips to China last week, removing a significant hurdle to the artificial intelligence bellwether's access to a key market. The US in July reversed an April ban on the sale of the H20 chip to China. The company had tailored the microprocessor specially to the Chinese market to comply with the Biden-era AI chip export controls. Nvidia's chips are a major driver of the AI boom, and in July the company became the first ever to have its market value surpass $4tn. Complications facing the company are not necessarily over, however, with growing scrutiny of Nvidia by Chinese authorities. Late last month China's cyberspace watchdog summoned Nvidia to a meeting to discuss whether the chips had any 'backdoor' security risks which would allow remote access or control. Nvidia said they did not. But Chinese state media has continued to raise concerns. In a commentary earlier this month, the People's Daily said Nvidia must produce 'convincing security proofs' to eliminate Chinese users' worries over security risks in its chips and regain market trust. And On Sunday a state media account on Chinese social media platform WeChat said the H20 chips posed a security risk for China. The account, Yuyuan Tantian, claimed Nvidia chips could achieve functions including 'remote shutdown' through a hardware 'backdoor'. Nvidia has not responded. With Reuters
