India-Pakistan live: Pakistan launches 'retaliatory attacks' after accusing India of firing missiles at airbases
"Multiple locations in India are being targeted in the retaliatory attacks," state-run Pakistan media reports. It's the latest escalation in a conflict triggered by a deadly attack last month that India has blamed Pakistan for. Listen to The World podcast below as you scroll.
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
China calls on WTO for greater oversight on unilateral tariffs
BEIJING, June 4 (Reuters) - China's commerce minister has called on the World Trade Organisation to strengthen supervision over unilateral tariffs, and put forward objective and neutral policy proposals, the ministry said on Wednesday. At a WTO ministerial meeting in France, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reiterated China's stance on upholding a multilateral trading system and said WTO has the country's backing for a more important role in global economic governance. Wang also met with European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and had a "pragmatic and frank" discussion with his Canadian counterpart.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘They are in shock': Indian students fear Trump has ended their American dream
For weeks, Subash Devatwal's phone has not stopped ringing. Some of the calls have been from distressed students, at other times it is their panicked parents, but all have the same question – is their dream of studying in the US still possible? Devatwal runs an education consultancy in Ahmedabad, the main city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is one of thousands of such organisations that exist across the country, helping Indian students achieve what many consider to be the ultimate symbol of success: getting into an American university. It has long been a booming business for Devatwal. Families in India will often invest their entire life savings to send their children to study in the US and last year there were more than 330,000 Indians enrolled at American universities, more than any other foreign nationality, overtaking Chinese students in numbers for the first time in years. But this year the situation looks drastically different. As Donald Trump's administration has taken aim at international students – first implementing draconian screening measures over political views and then last week ordering all US embassies globally to indefinitely pause all student visa interviews – many Indian students and their families have been left in limbo. Trump's unilateral decision to block Harvard University from admitting international students, which was later blocked by the courts, also caused widespread panic and stoked fears that foreign students at other universities could get caught in the president's crosshairs. 'The students are in shock. Most of them spend several years preparing to study in the US,' said Devatwal. He said many of his clients were now hesitant to pursue a US degree, given the high levels of turmoil and uncertainty following the Trump administration's new policies. Indian students can expect to pay between $40,000 to $80,000 (£29,500 to £59,000) a year on tuition alone to study in the US. In previous years, Devatwal's organisation sent more than 100 students to American universities but this year he said the number had dropped to about 10. Instead, families were shifting their focus to the UK and other European countries. A recent analysis by the Hindu newspaper estimated a 28% drop in Indian students going to the US in 2025. 'Families contribute their savings, take out loans from banks and borrow from relatives, all in the hope that the student will secure a good job abroad, repay the debt, and build a promising future,' said Devatwal. 'In such uncertain circumstances, parents are understandably reluctant to let their children take such a risky path.' Brijesh Patel, 50, a textile trader in Surat, Gujarat, said he had been saving money for over a decade to make sure his son could go to a US university, including selling his wife's jewellery and borrowing money from relatives. 'Everyone in the family wanted our son to go to the US for his studies and make something good of his life,' said Patel. His 21-year-old son, who he asked not to be named for fear of retribution by the US authorities, had secured a place at two American universities for his master's degree and Patel had already paid 700,000 rupees (£68,000) to consultancies who helped with the applications. But amid the turmoil under Trump, Patel said his son was being advised not to even apply for his student visa, due to the uncertainty and high probability of rejection. 'We simply can't take that risk. If our son goes now and something goes wrong, we won't be able to save that kind of money again,' he said. However, Patel said he was not willing to give up on the family dream just yet. 'I am an optimist, and my son is willing to wait a year,' he said. 'We're hoping that things improve by then. It's not just my son who will be living the American dream, it's all of us: my wife, our relatives and our neighbours. I've struggled my whole life – I don't want my son to face the same struggles here in India.' The fear among prospective and current students was palpable. Several Indian students studying in the US declined to speak to the Guardian, fearing it could jeopardise their visas. In India, a student selected in December to be one of this year's Fulbright-Nehru doctoral fellows – a highly competitive scholarship that pays for the brightest students to study abroad at US universities as part of their PhD thesis – said the applications of their entire cohort had recently been demoted back to 'semi-finalists'. The student, who asked to remain anonymous over fears it would affect their application, said they had invitation letters from top Ivy League universities for the fellowship, which is considered one of the most prestigious scholarships in the US, but now everything was up in the air. 'We are supposed to start in October and our orientation was scheduled for May, all the flights and hotels were even booked, but then it all got cancelled. Now we've been informed all our applications are under review by the Trump administration,' said the student. They said it had caused 'huge panic and anxiety' among those accepted. 'I know a lot of people are going back through their social media, deleting things and doing a lot of self-censoring.' Piyush Bhartiya, a co-founder of the educational technology company AdmitKard, said many parents who had been set on sending their children to the US were rethinking their plans. He cited one example of a student who had been admitted to New York University for the coming year but was instead planning to go to the London School of Economics after the US visa interviews were paused. Bhartiya said Indian students primarily went to the US to study Stem subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – and so the focus had shifted to other countries strong in these areas. 'Germany is the main country where students are shifting to for Stem subjects,' he said. 'Other countries like Ireland, France, the Netherlands, which are also gaining substantial interest in the students. At the undergraduate level, the Middle East has also seen a lot of gain in interest given parents feel that it is close by and safer and given the current political environment they may want their kids closer to the home.' Among the Indian students forced to abandon their plans is Nihar Gokhale, 36. He had a fully funded offer for a PhD at a private university in Massachusetts, but recently received a letter saying the funding was being withdrawn, as the university faced issues under the Trump administration. 'It was quite shocking. I spoke to people at the university, and they admitted it was an exceptional situation for them too,' said Gokhale. Without the funding, the US was financially 'out of the question' and he said he had an offer from the UK he now intended to take up. 'For at least the next three or four years, I'm not considering the US at all,' he said.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Trump is ‘obsessed' about having a call with China's Xi this week to hammer out trade deal, insiders reveal
President Donald Trump has grown increasingly focused on calling Chinese President Xi Jinping this week to get closer to a deal to end the ongoing trade war between the world's two largest economies. The White House has said that Trump and Xi will 'likely' speak this week. However, it may not be the barrier-breaking conversation the president is aiming for. 'The president is obsessed with having a call with Xi,' a person familiar with the talks told Politico. Trump believes he can untie the knot even though the U.S. is trying to change a trade relationship worth $600 billion and doing so without losing too much political capital in the U.S. The person familiar with the discussions told the outlet that the administration is 'under a lot of pressure' following China 's critical minerals blockade, which blocks U.S. access to essential components in auto and electronics manufacturing as well as the production of munitions. 'I don't think Xi is too interested in exporting any more rare earths or magnets to the United States; he's made his position clear,' the person noted. But they added that Xi would likely take Trump's call. 'The president has some leverage, and the question is when he's ready to impose maximum pressure on the Chinese government,' they said. Meanwhile, a former Trump official who remains close to the White House told Politico that the president 'feels like a call between principals is a way to cut through a lot of this noise, and get right to the heart of the matter.' However, some observers think Trump will struggle to get Xi on the phone. Obama's assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Russel, told Politico that China 'has a sharp nose for weakness, and for all his bravado, Trump is signaling eagerness, even desperation, to cut a direct deal with Xi.' 'That only stiffens Beijing's resolve,' he added. Beijing has reportedly also been disturbed by Trump's very public showdowns with world leaders, such as with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. This has made the Chinese hesitant to participate in high-level discussions. Biden National Security Council deputy senior director for China and Taiwan, Rush Doshi, told the outlet that China 'sees President Trump as unpredictable, which poses risks reputationally for President Xi.' 'It's not usual practice for PRC diplomats to put the leader at risk of a potentially embarrassing or unpredictable encounter,' he added. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Xi and Trump would 'likely talk this week,' but a call has yet to be scheduled, a White House official told Politico. Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, 'I have no information to share' regarding a call. Last month, China and the U.S. reached an agreement to lower U.S. tariffs from 145 to 30 percent. Beijing cut back on levies on imports from the U.S. to 10 percent, and they said they would remove barriers on the exports of essential minerals. The agreement included a 90-day deadline to begin fresh discussions on a wider trade deal to take into account U.S. concerns regarding Chinese trade practices. However, these new talks have gotten off to a bad start with miscommunication and differing expectations. The Trump administration has argued that China has slowed its new shipments of critical minerals and rare earth magnets. Appearing on CNBC on Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said: 'When they agreed in Geneva to remove their tariff and their countermeasures, they removed the tariff like we did. But some of the countermeasures, they've slowed on.' While a business official told Politico that 'Everyone agrees that for any additional progress to happen on tariffs, the gateway is fentanyl,' the U.S. hasn't responded to two proposals put forward by Beijing to deal with the issue. The proposals have been described as being designed by Beijing to provoke talks about what the Chinese can do to stop the flow of components that Mexican cartels use to make the drug. However, many officials in the Trump administration don't believe China would actually take the steps required to adhere to any fentanyl agreement. Former Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush assistant U.S. trade representative Harry Broadman told Politico that while 'Trump is a deal maker,' Xi is not. 'He's a Party guy at the top of an administrative superstructure,' he said. 'I cannot imagine that Xi would get into specifics — at most, they might agree on certain principles, but that's not likely to satisfy Trump.'
