Newshour US Defence Secretary calls strikes most complex military operation in history
Also in the programme: We speak to the Kenyan government following the killing of 16 protesters on Wednesday; and why is it so hard for women athletes to break the four-minute mile?
(Photo: US secretary of defence and the chairman of joint chiefs of staff holding a press conference. Credit: Reuters)
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Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Indian equity benchmarks open muted as investors assess Trump's tariff threat
Aug 5 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks opened little changed on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his threat of harsh tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases. The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab fell 0.01% to 24,720.25 points and the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab lost 0.09% to 80,946.43 as of 9:15 a.m. IST. Trump on Monday threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, while New Delhi called his attack "unjustified" and vowed to protect its economic interests, deepening the trade rift between the two countries. Analysts said the ongoing trade rift has hit the market sentiment, and expect the benchmarks to be rangebound until there is clarity over U.S. tariffs. Nine of the 16 major sectors logged gains at the open. The broader smallcaps (.NIFSMCP100), opens new tab and midcaps (.NIFMDCP100), opens new tab were flat.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Trump's NASA chief Sean Duffy expedites timeline for nuclear reactor on the moon
President Donald Trump's NASA chief Sean Duffy has expedited the timeline to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to a directive obtained by The Independent . The space agency has already mentioned the benefits of developing fission surface power (FSP) on the moon and Mars. 'Relatively small and lightweight, fission systems are powerful and could enable robust operations on the Moon and Mars,' NASA writes on its website. The agency says it's currently working with the Energy Department and the space industry to design a fission power system that would provide at least 40 kilowatts of power. In a directive sent to the heads of NASA on July 31, Duffy, the acting administrator of the agency and Trump's transportation secretary, ordered that the nuclear reactor provide at least 100 kilowatts of power and be ready to launch by 2030. NASA chief Sean Duffy has expedited the timeline to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to a new directive () The directive, first reported on by Politico, mentioned China and Russia's joint effort to place a reactor on the moon by the mid-2030s. The two U.S. adversaries first announced their plans in March 2024. 'The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first,' Duffy warned in the directive. NASA's Artemis campaign aims to establish the first long-term presence on the moon. During Trump's inaugural address, he said the U.S. would launch astronauts 'to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.' 'It is about winning the second space race,' a NASA senior official told Politico. An artist's concept of a fission power system on the moon (NASA) In Duffy's new timeline, a Fission Surface Power Program Executive will be designated within 30 days of the directive. The executive 'is empowered to provide reporting and updates with maximum transparency directly to the Administrator,' Duffy wrote. Within 60 days, NASA will ask for industry proposals for the nuclear reactor, according to the directive. The directive mentioned Trump's budget request for the 2026 fiscal year, which includes $350 million for a new program 'that will accelerate the development of high priority technologies for Mars, (i.e. FSP).' The funding would increase up to $500 million starting in the 2027 fiscal year. Trump's budget request also proposes a huge cut to NASA, with The Planetary Society, a global non-profit space organization, reporting it's the smallest budget proposed for the agency since 1961.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Controversial statue toppled during Black Lives Matter protest to be reinstalled under Trump
A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled and burned in Washington D.C. during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 will be reinstalled under President Donald Trump. The National Park Service announced on Monday that its crews are working to restore and reinstall the bronze sculpture of Confederate Brigadier General Albert Pike that once stood in the nation's capital. It was the only statue depicting a Confederate leader in Washington DC until demonstrators used ropes to pull down the structure outside of the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters. They then doused the figure in lighter fluid and set it ablaze on live television. President Trump - then in his first-term - immediately called for the statue to be put back up, but it has remained in storage ever since. Officials now hope to get the statue back up by October, as they shared a photo of a worker removing corrosion and paint from the site. 'Site preparation to repair the statue's damaged masonry plinth will begin shortly, with crews repairing broken stone, mortar joints and mounting elements,' the National Park Service said. It added that the move to reinstall the statue is in accordance with executive orders Trump signed to beautify Washington DC and restore 'truth and sanity to American history.' Under the order, Trump directed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to determine whether statues have been removed since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 to 'perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' The Pike statue has long been a source of contention in Washington DC. It was originally dedicated in 1901 at the behest of the Freemasons, who successfully lobbied Congress to grant them land for the statue they said would honor Pike's 32 years as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Rite of Scottish Freemasonry. Congress agreed to give the Masons the land so long as Pike would be depicted in civilian, and not military clothing. The DC City Council called for its removal for the first time in 1992, and Delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced multiple bills in Congress to get it removed in the decades that followed, NBC Washington reports. One such resolution referred to Pike as a 'chief founder of the post Civil War Ku Klux Klan,' a claim the Masons strongly deny. But Pike did lead a regimen of Native Americans in Arkansas who sided with the Confederacy and were accused of scalping Union troops in an 1862 battle. He eventually received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson for his wartime actions and went on to become a prominent member of the Freemasons. During the riots in 2020, protesters spray painted the statue, decrying Pike as a 'racist' and sharing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. It was one of many such Confederate statues toppled that summer, which Trump decried in his first term. 'Very sad to see States allowing roving gangs of wise guys, anarchists & looters, many of them having no idea what they are doing, indiscriminately ripping down our statues and monuments to the past,' he tweeted at the time. 'Some are great works of art, but all represent our History & Heritage, both the good and the bad. 'It is important for us to understand and remember, even in turbulent and difficult times, and learn from them. Knowledge comes from the most unusual of places!' The president also hit out at police for 'not doing their job as they watch a statue be ripped down & burn[ed]' after it was reported that officers did not respond to the scene until approximately an hour after the crowds gathered - despite police headquarters being mere feet away, WUSA reports. By then, the statue had already been toppled and torched, with officers left only able to extinguish the flames. In the years since, Delegate Holmes Norton has lobbied for the statue to be placed in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts, not remain in locations that imply honor,' she told WUSA on Monday. 'President Trump's longstanding determination to honor Confederate General Albert Pike by restoring and reinstalling the Pike statue is as indefensible as it is morally objectionable,' she continued. She went onto claim that Pike 'served dishonorably' and noted that he 'took up arms against the United States, misappropriated funds and was ultimately imprisoned by his fellow own troops. He resigned in disgrace after committing a war crime and dishonoring even his own Confederate military service.' Holmes Norton then announced that she will take action to prevent the statue from going back up. 'Given the NPS announcement today that it will restore and reinstall the statue, I plan to reintroduce my bill, which would permanently remove the statue of Pike and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate the statue to a museum or a similar entity,' she said. 'A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of DC,' she declared.
