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Modi to visit China for first time in seven years

Modi to visit China for first time in seven years

Perth Now4 days ago
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China for the first time in more than seven years, in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the United States rise.
Modi will go to China for a summit of the multilateral Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which begins on August 31, a government source, with direct knowledge of the matter, told Reuters.
India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
His trip will come at a time when India's relationship with the US faces its most serious crisis in years after US President Donald Trump imposed the highest tariffs among Asian peers on goods imported from India.
Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on goods from India, saying the country directly or indirectly imported Russian oil.
The penalties for buying Russian oil are part of US efforts to seek a last-minute breakthrough that will bring about a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
Trump's top diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in Moscow, two days before the expiry of a deadline the president set for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
Modi's visit to the Chinese city of Tianjin for the summit, a Eurasian political and security grouping that includes Russia, will be his first since June 2018.
Subsequently, Sino-Indian ties deteriorated sharply after a military clash along their disputed Himalayan border in 2020.
Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Russia in October that led to a thaw.
The giant Asian neighbours are now slowly defusing tensions that have hampered business relations and travel between the two countries.
Trump has threatened to charge an additional 10 per cent tariff on imports from members of the BRICS group of major emerging economies for "aligning themselves with Anti-American policies".
Meanwhile, India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is in Russia on a scheduled visit and is expected to discuss India's purchases of Russian oil in the wake of Trump's pressure on India to stop buying Russian crude, according to another government source, who also did not want to be named.
Doval is likely to address India's defence cooperation with Russia, including obtaining faster access to pending exports to India of Moscow's S400 air defence system, and a possible visit by President Vladimir Putin to India.
Doval's trip will be followed by Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in the weeks to come.
US and Indian officials told Reuters a mix of political misjudgement, missed signals and bitterness scuttled trade deal negotiations between the world's biggest and fifth-largest economies, whose bilateral trade is worth over $US190 billion ($A293 billion).
India expects Trump's crackdown could cost it a competitive advantage in about $US64 billion ($A99 billion) worth of goods sent to the US that account for 80 per cent of its total exports, four separate sources told Reuters, citing an internal government assessment.
However, the relatively low share of exports in India's $US4 trillion ($ A$6.2 trillion) economy is expected to limit the direct impact on economic growth.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India left its GDP growth forecast for the current April-March financial year unchanged at 6.5 per cent and held rates steady despite the tariff uncertainties.
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Trump nominates ex-Fox News host as US deputy to UN
Trump nominates ex-Fox News host as US deputy to UN

The Advertiser

timean hour ago

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Trump nominates ex-Fox News host as US deputy to UN

US President Donald Trump says he is nominating State Department spokesperson and former Fox News Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations. Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January. In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a "fantastic job" as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump's Republican Party holds a majority. During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration's foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory. Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years. She has also authored books like Fear Itself: Exposing the Left's Mind-Killing Agenda that criticised liberals and left-leaning viewpoints. In a post after Trump's announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a "few weeks" away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts. "Now I'm blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post," Bruce wrote on X. Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his UN envoy. Waltz's Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce's boss, is still due. Waltz was Trump's national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his UN ambassador. US President Donald Trump says he is nominating State Department spokesperson and former Fox News Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations. Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January. In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a "fantastic job" as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump's Republican Party holds a majority. During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration's foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory. Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years. She has also authored books like Fear Itself: Exposing the Left's Mind-Killing Agenda that criticised liberals and left-leaning viewpoints. In a post after Trump's announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a "few weeks" away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts. "Now I'm blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post," Bruce wrote on X. Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his UN envoy. Waltz's Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce's boss, is still due. Waltz was Trump's national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his UN ambassador. US President Donald Trump says he is nominating State Department spokesperson and former Fox News Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations. Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January. In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a "fantastic job" as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump's Republican Party holds a majority. During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration's foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory. Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years. She has also authored books like Fear Itself: Exposing the Left's Mind-Killing Agenda that criticised liberals and left-leaning viewpoints. In a post after Trump's announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a "few weeks" away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts. "Now I'm blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post," Bruce wrote on X. Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his UN envoy. Waltz's Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce's boss, is still due. Waltz was Trump's national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his UN ambassador. US President Donald Trump says he is nominating State Department spokesperson and former Fox News Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations. Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January. In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a "fantastic job" as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump's Republican Party holds a majority. During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration's foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory. Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years. She has also authored books like Fear Itself: Exposing the Left's Mind-Killing Agenda that criticised liberals and left-leaning viewpoints. In a post after Trump's announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a "few weeks" away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts. "Now I'm blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post," Bruce wrote on X. Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his UN envoy. Waltz's Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce's boss, is still due. Waltz was Trump's national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his UN ambassador.

Fishing in Pacific protected area halted after ruling
Fishing in Pacific protected area halted after ruling

The Advertiser

timean hour ago

  • The Advertiser

Fishing in Pacific protected area halted after ruling

Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again, after a judge in Hawaii sided with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of ocean protections. The remote Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument is home to turtles, marine mammals and seabirds, which environmental groups say will get snagged by longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 100km or longer. US President Donald Trump's executive order to allow this and other types of commercial fishing in part of the monument changed regulations without providing a process for public comment and stripped core protections from the monument, the groups argued in a lawsuit. US District Judge Micah W. J. Smith granted a motion by the environmentalists. The ruling means boats catching fish for sale will need to immediately cease fishing in waters between 93km to 370km around Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island and Wake Island, said Earthjustice, an environmental law organisation representing the plaintiffs. US Justice Department lawyer representing the government did not immediately return a request seeking comment. Trump has said the US should be "the world's dominant seafood leader," and on the same day of his April executive order, he issued another one seeking to boost commercial fishing by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas. President George W. Bush created the marine monument in 2009. It consists of about 500,000 1.3 million sq km in the remote central Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. President Barack Obama expanded it in 2014. Soon after Trump's executive order, the National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them the green light to fish commercially in the monument's boundaries, Earthjustice's lawsuit says. Fishing resumed within days, the group said. Government lawyers say the fisheries service's letter merely notified commercial fishers of a change that had already taken place through Trump's authority to remove the prohibition on commercial fishing in certain areas. Earthjustice challenged that letter, and by granting the motion in their favour, the judge found the US government had chosen not to defend its letter on the merits and forfeited that argument. Smith also ruled against the government's other defences, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the letter and that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. David Henkin, an Earthjustice lawyer, said Smith's ruling requires the government to go through a process to determine what kind of fishing, and under what conditions, can happen in monument waters in a way that wouldn't destroy the area. The lawsuit says allowing commercial fishing in the monument expansion would also harm the "cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests" of a group of Native Hawaiian plaintiffs who are connected genealogically to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific. Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again, after a judge in Hawaii sided with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of ocean protections. The remote Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument is home to turtles, marine mammals and seabirds, which environmental groups say will get snagged by longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 100km or longer. US President Donald Trump's executive order to allow this and other types of commercial fishing in part of the monument changed regulations without providing a process for public comment and stripped core protections from the monument, the groups argued in a lawsuit. US District Judge Micah W. J. Smith granted a motion by the environmentalists. The ruling means boats catching fish for sale will need to immediately cease fishing in waters between 93km to 370km around Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island and Wake Island, said Earthjustice, an environmental law organisation representing the plaintiffs. US Justice Department lawyer representing the government did not immediately return a request seeking comment. Trump has said the US should be "the world's dominant seafood leader," and on the same day of his April executive order, he issued another one seeking to boost commercial fishing by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas. President George W. Bush created the marine monument in 2009. It consists of about 500,000 1.3 million sq km in the remote central Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. President Barack Obama expanded it in 2014. Soon after Trump's executive order, the National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them the green light to fish commercially in the monument's boundaries, Earthjustice's lawsuit says. Fishing resumed within days, the group said. Government lawyers say the fisheries service's letter merely notified commercial fishers of a change that had already taken place through Trump's authority to remove the prohibition on commercial fishing in certain areas. Earthjustice challenged that letter, and by granting the motion in their favour, the judge found the US government had chosen not to defend its letter on the merits and forfeited that argument. Smith also ruled against the government's other defences, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the letter and that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. David Henkin, an Earthjustice lawyer, said Smith's ruling requires the government to go through a process to determine what kind of fishing, and under what conditions, can happen in monument waters in a way that wouldn't destroy the area. The lawsuit says allowing commercial fishing in the monument expansion would also harm the "cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests" of a group of Native Hawaiian plaintiffs who are connected genealogically to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific. Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again, after a judge in Hawaii sided with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of ocean protections. The remote Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument is home to turtles, marine mammals and seabirds, which environmental groups say will get snagged by longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 100km or longer. US President Donald Trump's executive order to allow this and other types of commercial fishing in part of the monument changed regulations without providing a process for public comment and stripped core protections from the monument, the groups argued in a lawsuit. US District Judge Micah W. J. Smith granted a motion by the environmentalists. The ruling means boats catching fish for sale will need to immediately cease fishing in waters between 93km to 370km around Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island and Wake Island, said Earthjustice, an environmental law organisation representing the plaintiffs. US Justice Department lawyer representing the government did not immediately return a request seeking comment. Trump has said the US should be "the world's dominant seafood leader," and on the same day of his April executive order, he issued another one seeking to boost commercial fishing by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas. President George W. Bush created the marine monument in 2009. It consists of about 500,000 1.3 million sq km in the remote central Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. President Barack Obama expanded it in 2014. Soon after Trump's executive order, the National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them the green light to fish commercially in the monument's boundaries, Earthjustice's lawsuit says. Fishing resumed within days, the group said. Government lawyers say the fisheries service's letter merely notified commercial fishers of a change that had already taken place through Trump's authority to remove the prohibition on commercial fishing in certain areas. Earthjustice challenged that letter, and by granting the motion in their favour, the judge found the US government had chosen not to defend its letter on the merits and forfeited that argument. Smith also ruled against the government's other defences, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the letter and that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. David Henkin, an Earthjustice lawyer, said Smith's ruling requires the government to go through a process to determine what kind of fishing, and under what conditions, can happen in monument waters in a way that wouldn't destroy the area. The lawsuit says allowing commercial fishing in the monument expansion would also harm the "cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests" of a group of Native Hawaiian plaintiffs who are connected genealogically to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific. Commercial fishing that recently resumed in a vast protected area of the Pacific Ocean must halt once again, after a judge in Hawaii sided with environmentalists challenging a Trump administration rollback of ocean protections. The remote Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument is home to turtles, marine mammals and seabirds, which environmental groups say will get snagged by longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 100km or longer. US President Donald Trump's executive order to allow this and other types of commercial fishing in part of the monument changed regulations without providing a process for public comment and stripped core protections from the monument, the groups argued in a lawsuit. US District Judge Micah W. J. Smith granted a motion by the environmentalists. The ruling means boats catching fish for sale will need to immediately cease fishing in waters between 93km to 370km around Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island and Wake Island, said Earthjustice, an environmental law organisation representing the plaintiffs. US Justice Department lawyer representing the government did not immediately return a request seeking comment. Trump has said the US should be "the world's dominant seafood leader," and on the same day of his April executive order, he issued another one seeking to boost commercial fishing by peeling back regulations and opening up harvesting in previously protected areas. President George W. Bush created the marine monument in 2009. It consists of about 500,000 1.3 million sq km in the remote central Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. President Barack Obama expanded it in 2014. Soon after Trump's executive order, the National Marine Fisheries Service sent a letter to fishing permit holders giving them the green light to fish commercially in the monument's boundaries, Earthjustice's lawsuit says. Fishing resumed within days, the group said. Government lawyers say the fisheries service's letter merely notified commercial fishers of a change that had already taken place through Trump's authority to remove the prohibition on commercial fishing in certain areas. Earthjustice challenged that letter, and by granting the motion in their favour, the judge found the US government had chosen not to defend its letter on the merits and forfeited that argument. Smith also ruled against the government's other defences, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the letter and that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. David Henkin, an Earthjustice lawyer, said Smith's ruling requires the government to go through a process to determine what kind of fishing, and under what conditions, can happen in monument waters in a way that wouldn't destroy the area. The lawsuit says allowing commercial fishing in the monument expansion would also harm the "cultural, spiritual, religious, subsistence, educational, recreational, and aesthetic interests" of a group of Native Hawaiian plaintiffs who are connected genealogically to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific.

Trump's trade war is not the only threat to cheap PBS medicines
Trump's trade war is not the only threat to cheap PBS medicines

AU Financial Review

time3 hours ago

  • AU Financial Review

Trump's trade war is not the only threat to cheap PBS medicines

Despite its shortcomings, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has traditionally worked very effectively to keep medicine prices low for Australian consumers. But Australia's PBS system has recently come under renewed attack from large pharmaceutical companies, which have successfully mobilised the Trump administration to apply pressure here and in other countries with schemes similar to the PBS.

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