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India recalibrates strategy on US trade deal amid geopolitical tensions
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Shreya Nandi New Delhi
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India is resetting its expectations after talks for an interim trade deal with the US hit a pause amid geopolitical complexities and American President Donald Trump's announcement of additional tariffs in response to New Delhi's imports of Russian oil.
In July, negotiators from India and the US had discussed the visit of the American team for the sixth round of bilateral trade negotiations during the week starting August 25. That visit has now been called off. However, New Delhi remains cautiously optimistic that a breakthrough on the first tranche of the trade deal could happen by the fall deadline of
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Hindustan Times
23 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Hamas accepts 60-day Gaza ceasefire plan, says official; Israel yet to respond: Report
Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza without requesting amendments, a source from the group told AFP Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of war. Displaced Palestinians make their way towards the site of a humanitarian aid airdrop at the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, (AFP) Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have struggled to secure a lasting truce in the conflict, which has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. But after receiving a new proposal from meditators, Hamas said it was ready for talks. "Hamas has delivered its response to the mediators, confirming that Hamas and the factions agreed to the new ceasefire proposal without requesting any amendments," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Israel has yet to respond. A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said mediators were "expected to announce that an agreement has been reached and set a date for the resumption of talks", adding guarantees were offered to ensure implementation and pursue a permanent solution. Another Palestinian official earlier said mediators had proposed an initial 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches. The proposal comes more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to expand the war into Gaza City and nearby refugee camps, which has sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition. 'Confronted and destroyed' An Islamic Jihad source told AFP the plan envisaged a 60-day ceasefire "during which 10 Israeli hostages would be released alive, along with a number of bodies". Out of 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war, 49 are still held in Gaza including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Islamic Jihad source said "the remaining captives would be released in a second phase", with negotiations for a broader settlement to follow. They added that "all factions are supportive" of the Egyptian and Qatari proposal. US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: "We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!" "The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be." Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel "will agree to an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war". Meanwhile, in a now familiar scene in Gaza, AFP footage from the southern city of Khan Yunis showed crowds of mourners kneeling over the shrouded bodies of their loved ones who were killed seeking aid the day before. 'Beyond imagination' Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was visiting "to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible". Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where UN agencies and aid groups have warned of famine, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement. "The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination," he said. Egypt said on Monday it was willing to join a potential international force deployed to Gaza, but only if backed by a UN Security Council resolution and accompanied by a "political horizon". 'Deliberate' starvation On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 11 people across the territory on Monday, including six killed by Israeli fire in the south. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was "not aware of any casualties as a result of IDF fire" in the southern areas reported by the civil defence. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military. Rights group Amnesty International meanwhile accused Israel of enacting a "deliberate policy" of starvation in Gaza and "systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life". Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into Gaza, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation. Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's offensive has killed more than 62,004 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.
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First Post
25 minutes ago
- First Post
‘Peace through strength': Zelenskyy warns Putin won't negotiate without pressure ahead of Trump talks
Ahead of his 'very serious' meeting with US President Donald Trump later today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia will only come to the negotiating table 'through strength' Ahead of his 'very serious' meeting with US President Donald Trump later today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia will only come to the negotiating table 'through strength.' Zelenskyy made the remarks after meeting with US envoy Keith Kellogg, highlighting the urgency of strengthening diplomatic and military coordination to push back against ongoing Russian aggression. 'When peace is discussed for one country in Europe, it means peace for all of Europe,' The Guardian quoted Zelenskyy as saying. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'We are ready to continue working with maximum effort to end the war and to ensure reliable security. These are the key issues,' he added. The Ukrainian leader also addressed the latest round of Russian missile strikes, which he said targeted civilians in their sleep. 'Last night, Russian attacks on our cities continued – among those killed were two children, and dozens of people were wounded,' he said. Emphasising the united front between Ukraine, Europe, and the US, Zelenskyy added, 'We discussed the battlefield situation and our strong diplomatic capabilities – Ukraine's and all of Europe's together with America. Russia can only be forced into peace through strength, and President Trump has that strength. We have to do everything right to make peace happen.' Earlier, in a pointed message delivered ahead of their scheduled meeting in Washington on Monday, President Trump placed the responsibility on Zelenskyy to bring an end to the war with Russia. The move stood in sharp contrast to the warm reception Trump extended just days ago to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy, joined by several European leaders, is in Washington for high-stakes talks with Trump aimed at exploring potential solutions to the prolonged conflict. In a Truth Social post late Sunday night, Trump appeared to set the tone for Monday's meeting by outlining implicit conditions, hinting at a potentially tense exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,' Trump wrote. 'Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!' Trump added. Zelenskyy put out his own message shortly thereafter, reiterating that 'we all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably' — and alluding to parameters of his own around territorial concessions and security guarantees. 'Peace must be lasting,' Zelenskyy wrote in a post to X. 'Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East—part of Donbas—and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack. Or when Ukraine was given so called 'security guarantees' in 1994, but they didn't work.' Trump reportedly said he believed Putin would agree to a deal if Ukraine handed over its easternmost Donbas region, including parts Russia doesn't control. Zelenskyy has previously warned doing so would mean Ukraine loses key defensive positions and would be more vulnerable to Russian attacks in the future. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
Time of India
25 minutes ago
- Time of India
Ukraine's regions occupied by Russia: What you need to know
Diplomatic efforts are underway to settle the war, focusing on five Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia. Russia demands full control of Donetsk and Lugansk in exchange for freezing the southern front in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, a proposal the US leader is inclined to support. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Five Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia are at the centre of diplomatic efforts to settle the three-and-a-half-year has demanded the whole of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in exchange for a freeze on the southern front line in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, according to a source.A source briefed on a phone call between Donald Trump and European leaders following his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, told AFP that the US leader was "inclined to support" this Ukraine has refused to give up these regions, which it considers "temporarily occupied".Here is what you need to know about these territories.- Donetsk and Lugansk: Kremlin's top priority -The two regions bordering Russia form the Donbas, an industrial and mining region comprising Donetsk and Lugansk, and conquering it is a priority for troops hold more than 99 percent of the Lugansk region and 79 percent of the Donetsk region, as well as their regional capitals, according to AFP's analysis of data provided by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).According to local officials, some 242,700 people still live in the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region, including in several Russian advance is threatening Ukrainian military logistic centres and strongholds in the area, which has been heavily fortified since 2014, when a Moscow-sponsored separatist revolt triggered a full-scale invasion of February 2022 made things worse, devastating large swathes of land and forcing many to and Lugansk are traditionally majority Russian-speaking areas, which were used as a pretext by the Kremlin to justify the September 2022, Russia said it had annexed the two coal mining regions, along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the Donetsk region has seen some of the war's bloodiest battles, such as in Bakhmut, Mariupol and Avdiivka.- Kherson: partly liberated -The Kherson region, known for agriculture, was almost entirely occupied by the Russian army in the beginning of the Ukraine later recaptured the regional capital, also called Kherson, in a November 2022 front line has since then been relatively stable, with the Russian army controlling about 71 percent of the Kherson region, according to AFP's has also been little movement in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukraine retains control of the main urban centre as well.- Zaporizhzhia: fragile nuclear region -According to AFP's calculations, Russia holds 74 percent of the Zaporizhzhia region, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant , the largest in Europe, which Moscow captured in the first weeks of the though the power plant has been shut down, it is still considered unsafe as it remains close to the and Ukraine accuse each other of targeting it.- Sumy and Kharkiv: minor incursions -In addition to the territories Russia claims to have annexed, its troops are conducting minor incursions into the northeastern border regions of Sumy and Moscow does not control any major settlements there and only occupies five percent of the Kharkiv region and one percent of the Sumy region, AFP's analysis of ISW and CTP data Kremlin has said it wants to establish a "buffer zone" there to prevent Ukrainian offensives into Russia, such as the Kursk incursion in the summer of 2024.- Crimea: 11 years of occupation -Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 in a referendum denounced by the international community, and the Kremlin's grip over the peninsula remains particularly seeks recognition of the annexation by Western countries and control of Crimea was out of the question for Ukraine, Trump warned on Sunday evening, two days after meeting 2018, Russia built a bridge linking the resort and wine-making region to the mainland, which is now a target for the Ukrainian is also striking Moscow's military and navy infrastructure on the heavily fortified life is for Ukrainians in the annexed territories remains difficult to dissent or criticism of the occupation is punished by the Moscow-installed administration, with detention, torture or death, according to Ukrainian Kremlin is accused of "russification" of the territories by controlling education, the media and all aspects of daily life, offering Russians incentives to move there and handing out Russian passports to Ukrainians.
