3 Dead As Pest Control Plane Crashes In Mexico
A small airplane from Guatemala involved in fighting an outbreak of flesh-eating larvae crashed in southern Mexico on Friday, killing three people, authorities said.
The aircraft came down in the southernmost Chiapas state while releasing sterile screwworm flies to combat a pest that prompted the United States to suspend livestock imports from Mexico last month.
Two Guatemalan pilots and a Mexican crew member were killed in the crash, aviation authorities said.
Mexico and the United States are working together to try to contain the outbreak of the screwworm fly, whose larvae can kill cattle.
President Donald Trump's administration complained in April that Mexico was restricting US-contracted planes involved in the effort to operating six days a week instead of seven.
Washington also accused Mexican authorities of imposing "substantial import duties" on aviation parts, equipment and sterile fly shipments.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the US livestock import suspension "unfair" and said she hoped that it would be lifted soon.
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Hindustan Times
34 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Jewish groups in US line up to oppose Trump anti-Semitism strategy
US Jewish groups are unified over the need to fight mounting anti-Semitic incidents across the country, but many are bitterly opposed to how President Donald Trump is seeking to counter the scourge. A string of incidents has targeted Jews in the United States in recent weeks. Two Israeli embassy workers were murdered in Washington, Molotov cocktails were thrown at an event in Colorado, and tensions persist on university campuses. The conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, behind the "Project 2025" roadmap for radically overhauling and shrinking the government, published in October "Project Esther" a blueprint on combatting anti-Semitism. The project seeks to "dismantle" so-called "anti-Israel," "anti-Zionist," or "pro-Palestinian" organizations allegedly part of a "Hamas support network" that has "infiltrated" universities including Columbia and Harvard. The text advocates the dismissal of professors, barring some foreign students from campuses, expelling others outright, and withholding public funding from universities. Robert Greenway, a Project Esther co-author, recently told The New York Times it was "no coincidence that we called for a series of actions to take place privately and publicly, and they are now happening." The Heritage Foundation refused an interview request. Stefanie Fox, director of Jewish Voice for Peace , said "Project Esther sets out a blueprint for the Trump administration to sharpen the legal regimes that will best advance 'Make America Great Again' goals." The JVP, a Jewish organization that leads demonstrations against "genocide" in Gaza, is named in Project Esther as a member of the so-called Hamas support network. "These assumptions are baseless, paranoid, laughable," said Fox, whose group is on the left. Although 89 percent of the 7.2 million US Jews say they are concerned about anti-Semitism, 64 percent disapprove of Trump's efforts to combat it, according to a recent Jewish Voters Resource Center poll. "There is anti-Semitism on those campuses... But to give the broad claim that the thrust to fight anti-Semitism is to go after higher education is just absolutely ridiculous," said Kevin Rachlin. He is a prominent figure in the Nexus Project formed in opposition to Project Esther that seeks to counter anti-Semitism without impairing freedom of speech. Trump's strategy "doesn't keep Jews safe." Rather, it seeks to separate the Jewish minority from others in the country and ignores right-wing anti-Semitism, Rachlin argues. "We as Jews are safer when we're in coalition with other groups and other minorities," he said, adding that combatting anti-Semitism through education was more viable than targeting universities. Traditional Jewish groups have aligned more with Trump's Republicans and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike the "majority" of American Jews, claims author Eric Alterman. "What's happened in Gaza has been very hard for most American Jews particularly young American Jews to stomach. Young American Jews are now roughly evenly divided between supporting Israel and supporting the Palestinians," he told AFP. Alterman added most US Jews are not anti-Zionist but don't like the war in Gaza or Israel's West Bank strategy. "They're kind of caught in the middle." Some Jewish groups warn that when Trump targets higher education purportedly combatting anti-Semitism, he is actually "weaponizing" the sensitive issue to stifle freedom of expression. In recent weeks, ten major Jewish organizations criticized the Trump administration in a letter, saying they reject the "false choice" between "Jewish safety" and "democracy." "There should be no doubt that anti-Semitism is rising" but access to "higher education, and strong democratic norms... have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years," the letter states. One of the signatories, rabbi and former ambassador for religious freedom David Saperstein, said there was "appreciation" for Trump prioritizing anti-Semitic violence and rhetoric but opposed the clampdown on universities, media and judges. He added: "Ironically, they are targeting democratic institutions that have given the Jewry in America more rights, more freedom, more opportunities than we have ever known in our 2,600 years of diasporic history." gl/gw/dw/st THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
Scroll.in
42 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
Slighted by Trump, India must rejig foreign policy paradigm
Indians were shocked by US President Donald Trump asking American CEOs and industrialists to not base their manufacturing facilities in India. Trump reportedly told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he does not want him to manufacture iPhones in India. He threatened Apple with 25% tariffs if they did so. This is not the first time that Trump directed major industry leaders not to manufacture in India. Earlier, in February, he had told Elon Musk not to set up a Tesla factory in India as that would be 'unfair' to the US. This directive came just after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the US President and the Tesla CEO on February 13 with the hope that Tesla would build in India. These provocative actions have sorely disappointed Indians who were expecting to be beneficiaries of Trump's benevolence as US companies moved out of China. In addition, Indians were shocked at the way illegal migrants from the country were degraded, criminalised and transported back to India in fetters on a military aircraft. And now, Indian students are not getting visas or their visas are being cancelled disrupting their studies at US universities. Indians recovering from shock Trump's comeback electoral win of November 2024 was welcomed in India as he was seen by the establishment virtually as 'Our man in Washington'. This perception was bolstered by the hyped chemistry between him and Modi. However, public opinion has started shifting in the opposite direction. Trump's core foreign policy objectives rest on trade, tariffs, transactions and targets. He chose to target India as a ' very high tariff nation ' in his very first address to the joint session of the US Congress on March 7 when he implied that India imposed the most unfair tariffs on the US. Trump called India a 'tariff king' and a 'big abuser'. The US trade deficit of US$100 billion with India irked Trump. Now, he is pushing for an almost zero tariff on US goods, especially cars – now that Tesla is ready to enter the Indian market. However, Trump wants the opening of markets for free and easy entry of US goods – irrespective of whether they are in demand in India or not; for example, he seeks to replace Scotch with American bourbon whiskey. The US is targeting both China and India. Others in the Global South are likely to be targeted next. Trump's 'Make America Great Again' policy seems to be about cutting the bottom out of any potential manufacturing adversary. Trump equates India and Pakistan As if the economic hit was not hard enough, the Trump team has gone after India's strategic interests in the light of the ghastly terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on April 22, which India believes was Pakistan-sponsored, and the Indian retribution that followed. Trump called the terror attack a 'bad one', without naming Pakistan, but turned it into an even-handed India-Pakistan conflict, stating incorrectly that the two had been ' fighting for 1,500 years '. As usual, Trump put the focus on himself as he said he was 'close to both countries', and the two would ' figure it out one way or another ', distancing himself from any special relation with India that Indian strategic analysts used to boast about. As India carried out military strikes against Pakistan, named Operation Sindoor, the US Presidential team reiterated 'good relations with both' countries and Trump said that if he could 'help I will be there'. In the two days of the military operations that followed, the US Secretary of State repeatedly said that they were speaking to both sides, which subsequently agreed to an immediate ceasefire and start talks. He claimed that the ' US stopped nuclear conflict '. Trump further said he would 'soon' give trade access to India-Pakistan, a claim that the US Commerce Secretary put on record. India took pains to claim that while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did speak to Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the military operation was halted after the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations asked for a halt; ie, the ceasefire was reached bilaterally. India upset with US Why did India feel slighted by the alleged US role? The US hyphenated India-Pakistan, something that India does not like. It has sought to de-hyphenate itself with Pakistan by improving relations with the US for years. India perhaps also saw the US infantilising both countries with its rhetoric that only a politically mature US could stop the two squabbling neighbours. US claims also demonstrated its ability to intervene in South Asian affairs and underlined that the US remains a hegemon in this region. India also saw in the US statements a challenge to its strategic autonomy. It was seen by India as siding with Pakistan's nuclear blackmail and threat, as it helped demonstrate that the US had saved the world from a possible nuclear escalation. Lastly and most importantly, by pointing to Kashmir as the root cause of the war, the US was seen as internationalising an issue that India sees as an internal issue. It is quite possible that now, US think tanks will do their bit to showcase the US role and heighten this agenda. What India needs to do What can India conclude about the US behaviour? First, that the US has no permanent friends or enemies – only permanent interests. Second, that the US has a hub and spokes policy towards all – the US is the central hub and all other countries are spokes of different sizes that the US can manipulate and manage. Third, that the US military-industrial technology complex will seek to derive the greatest benefits from both countries and across the region. India will, therefore, have to rejig both its thinking and paradigm in foreign policy at the global, regional and bilateral levels as also in its domestic debates. India must also be wary of US interests drowning Indian interests – the US has always been a predatory power and embeds itself in regional conflicts and gains from these. India has been committed to multi-polarity, BRICS and other such forums and should stick with and enhance this. India must continue with self-reliance and its traditional time-tested partners. It also needs to curb the domestic war rhetoric as that does not help the interest of peace or show India as a sane voice of the Global South.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Fentanyl crisis in the US: How is India helping out? FBI Director Kash Patel explains
FBI Director Kash Patel has recently talked about the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the United States and the way the Trump administration is trying to combat it. A former federal public defender, national security prosecutor, Patel has stood out as one of the leading loyalists of Donald Trump's administration as a senior official in both the Department of Justice and the Trump administration. In the podcast uploaded by the Joe Rogan Experience YouTube channel on June 6, Patel claimed that he recently contacted the Indian government and sought help regarding the crisis. His words included, 'I literally just got off the phone with the Indian government. I said, I need your help. This stuff's coming into your country, and then they're moving it from your country because India is not consuming fentanyl.' The fentanyl crisis is about a terrifying wave of overdose deaths sweeping the United States. It is mostly driven by illegally made fentanyl, an incredibly powerful synthetic opioid. Just tiny amounts, like a few grains of salt, can kill you. The worst part? People often don't even know they're taking it. Dealers secretly mix fentanyl into other drugs like heroin, cocaine, or fake pills made to look like prescription painkillers or ADHD meds bought online or on the street. Someone thinks they're taking one thing, but it's actually laced with poison. This has made accidental overdoses horrifyingly common. Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for adults under 50 in the US. The crisis is so bad that life-saving naloxone (Narcan) is now carried by many cops, families, and even schools. Public health campaigns, even by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) scream "One Pill Can Kill" because it has turned tragically true. Kash Patel claimed that Mexican cartels are shipping their fentanyl to India and using routes to bring it to the United States. "What they (Mexican cartels) are doing now to get cute is that they're shipping that stuff not straight to here. They're going to places like India, and I'm also doing operations in India, and they're having the Mexican cartels now make this fentanyl down in Mexico still. But, instead of going right up to the southern border and into America, they're flying it into Vancouver," Patel said in the Joe Rogan podcast. "Americans don't understand the depth and depravity of fentanyl. You don't hear about fentanyl deaths in India, China, England, Australia, New Zealand," he continued. Patel also explained the Indian government's role in the fentanyl crisis. 'I literally just got off the phone with the Indian government. I said I need your help, this stuff is coming in from your country, and then they are moving it from your country because India is not consuming fentanyl. No one's dying over there. I need you and your help, so my FBI is over there working with their heads of government law enforcement authorities.' "We're going to sanction them and we're going to arrest them where we can. This is now a global problem, and the reason why it's gotten so bad is because no one did anything for four years," the FBI chief claimed.
