Breaking News Live Updates: Defence, trade and technology discussed during Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's visit to US
Breaking News Live Updates: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Washington DC from May 27 to 29, where he held a series of high-level engagements with senior officials of the US Administration. Foreign Secretary Misri held wide-ranging discussions with counterparts across the Department of State, National Security Council, Department of Defence, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. The visit was a follow-up to the Prime Minister's visit to the United States on February 13, during which both sides launched the India-U.S. COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century. Deputy National Security Advisor Pavan Kapoor was also part of the Indian delegation. According to MEA, at a luncheon meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, both sides reviewed the full spectrum of the bilateral agenda. They underscored that Technology, Trade, and Talent would be the key pillars shaping the India-U.S. partnership in the 21st century.
A bridge collapse causes a train to derail in Russia, killing at least 7 people, officials say
A passenger train derailed in western Russia late Saturday after a bridge collapsed because of what local officials described as 'illegal interference,' killing at least seven people and injuring 30.
The bridge in Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, was damaged 'as a result of illegal interference in transport operations,' Moscow Railways said in a statement, without elaborating.
Russia's federal road transportation agency, Rosavtodor, said the destroyed bridge passed above the railway tracks where the train was traveling.
Photos posted by government agencies from the scene appeared to show passenger cars from the train ripped apart and lying amid fallen concrete from the collapsed bridge. Other footage on social media appeared to be taken from inside other vehicles that narrowly avoided driving onto the bridge before it collapsed.
"Did you make deal over Sindoor out of fear of losing trade?": Pawan Khera seeks clarification from PM Modi on Trump's claim
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Saturday sought clarification from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over US President Donald Trump's recent statement, in which he claimed that trade diplomacy helped de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Speaking to ANI in Delhi, Khera said, "Prime Minister Modi is going around the country, doing a fancy dress competition. He hasn't brought up Donald Trump even once."
He insisted that only the Prime Minister could provide clarity on the matter, saying, "Now, only our Prime Minister can respond for Donald Trump, you and I certainly cannot. What is this pressure to respond, what is this fear about?"
He added, "We are repeatedly asking: Did you make a deal over Sindoor (Operation Sindoor) out of fear of losing trade? That has been our question from day one."
Russia launches air attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv, mayor says
Ukraine's air defence units were trying to repel a Russian air attack on the capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said early on Sunday on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
"Pakistan used its nuclear power to shield its terrorist activities": Baijayant Panda stresses India's stance against terrorism
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Baijayant Panda, who is leading an all-party delegation to Algeria, slammed Pakistan on Saturday (local time), highlighting that the neighbouring country is using its nuclear power to shield its terrorist activities.
Addressing the Algerian media, members of think tanks and the Indian diaspora, Baijayant Panda said, "Pakistan has used its nuclear power to shield its terrorist training, funding and arming program. When I say that they have been doing this with terrorists openly, it is not just me saying it. You can look it up on the internet. Everybody knows Pakistan has done this many times in the past."
Referring to Pakistan's support in hiding Osama Bin Laden in the country, Panda said, "Remember Osama bin Laden, for years, they used to lie until the Americans intervened and took him out. They are doing the same thing, except there are 52 Osama bin Ladens."
"The United Nations Security Council, of which Algeria is a member today, has sanctioned and banned a number of terrorist organisations and individuals, among them 52 terror organisations and terrorists are openly operating in Pakistan today," he added.
Kanimozhi-led delegation lands in Madrid, to highlight India's fight against terrorism
Group 6 of the all-party parliamentary delegation from India arrived in Madrid on the final leg of its multi-nation outreach. Led by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the delegation was received by Dinesh K Patnaik, India's Ambassador to Spain.
Speaking in Madrid, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Dr Ashok Kumar Mittal outlined the purpose of the visit.
"Our final stop on this journey is Madrid, Spain, and first of all, we are meeting with the Indian diaspora here. We want to understand their sentiments and also make them aware of the sentiments of the Government of India and our Prime Minister," he said.
The delegation aims to engage with local government representatives, policy think tanks and Spanish parliamentarians during its visit.
Wild celebrations in Paris after PSG's Champions League win
Thousands of Paris Saint-Germain supporters took to the streets of the French capital on Saturday to celebrate their club's victory in the Champions League final, but nearly 300 arrests were made after some clashes with police.
The majority of fans celebrated peacefully, but Paris police said scuffles broke out near the city's Champs-Elysees avenue and PSG's Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 had watched the 5-0 win against Inter Milan in Munich on big screens.
Most of the nearly 300 people detained were suspected of possessing fireworks and causing disorder, Paris police said.
AFP journalists saw police use a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe.
"Troublemakers on the Champs-Elysees were looking to create incidents and repeatedly came into contact with police by throwing large fireworks and other objects," police said in a statement.
Outside Paris, police said a car careered into fans celebrating PSG's win in Grenoble in southeastern France, leaving four people injured, two of them seriously.
Defence, trade and technology discussed during Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's visit to US
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Washington DC from May 27 to 29, where he held a series of high-level engagements with senior officials of the US Administration.
Foreign Secretary Misri held wide-ranging discussions with counterparts across the Department of State, National Security Council, Department of Defence, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The visit was a follow-up to the Prime Minister's visit to the United States on February 13, during which both sides launched the India-U.S. COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century.
Deputy National Security Advisor Pavan Kapoor was also part of the Indian delegation.
According to MEA, at a luncheon meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, both sides reviewed the full spectrum of the bilateral agenda. They underscored that Technology, Trade, and Talent would be the key pillars shaping the India-U.S. partnership in the 21st century.
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Indian Express
17 minutes ago
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History of US role in India-Pakistan issues: Four wars, the hyphen, and Trump
US President Donald Trump has yet again claimed that he 'got India and Pakistan to stop fighting' by using trade talks as a bargaining chip. 'We talk trade, and we say we can't trade with people who are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons… They understood and they agreed, and that all stopped,' Trump said on May 31. New Delhi has repeatedly emphasised that the recent ceasefire in Operation Sindoor came after bilateral talks with Pakistan, and that trade with US did not figure in the calculations. While Trump is known for making extraordinary statements, his claims of 'stopping a potential nuclear war' between India and Pakistan touch a raw nerve for New Delhi. Trump's rhetoric — deliberately or unwittingly — is 'hyphenating' India and Pakistan again, something India has long fought against. Secondly, it goes against India's established position that its problems with Pakistan have to be resolved bilaterally, without the need for third party intervention. And as far as third parties go, the US on many occasions has acted more in Pakistan's interests than India's. What is India's hyphenation with Pakistan, and why does New Delhi oppose it? Why is New Delhi against third party intervention? And what has the USA's role been in India-Pakistan hostilities in the past? We explain. The history of the hyphenation and of India's distrust of third parties are intertwined. Barely two months after independence in August 1947, infiltrators from Pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir. Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten advised India to go to the UN, which it did on January 1, 1948. India had expected that its rights over a territory which legitimately acceded to it would be respected at the UN. However, the British did not support India, which many Indians perceived as a betrayal. Historian Ramachandra Guha writes (in the book India after Gandhi) of the January-February 1948 UN sessions, 'India suffered a significant symbolic defeat when the Security Council altered the agenda item from the 'Jammu and Kashmir question' to the 'India-Pakistan question'.' This is how the formal hyphenation on international fora began. India's objection to this treatment broadly are — such a framing puts India and Pakistan on the same level when the two parties are not comparable actors, India is the victim of Pakistan's territorial aggression; and that India's identity, as a democratic country and significant economy, can't be tied to Pakistan's. New Delhi believes that the world should engage with India in its own right and not as one half of a conflict zone. This is a goal it has been able to achieve to a large degree. The UN episode also put India off bringing in bigger powers, while Pakistan preferred internationalising the Kashmir issue. During the Cold War years, the West, led by the US, saw Pakistan as a critical ally in the tussle with the Soviet Union, while the non-aligned India was considered less dependable. Later, the war in Afghanistan and the US 'war on terror' ensured Pakistan's importance for the US and the West, often to India's disadvantage. Also, India with its potential to emerge as a leader of the Global South, does not believe it depends on bigger powers to help solve its problems. The role of the US To understand this in brief, the USA's actions during four wars fought by India can be considered. Alongside this, India and US have had a storied bilateral relationship quite independent of the Pakistan issue. The 1947 India-Pakistan war: Quite contrary to what Trump is doing now, in 1947, the US wanted India and Pakistan to resolve their issues bilaterally. A position paper sent by the US Secretary of State to the embassy in India says, 'We would much prefer that the Kashmir question be settled by direct negotiation between India and Pakistan. However, in the event that a resolution requesting the intervention of the United Nations, and in particular requesting the United Nations to supervise a referendum in Kashmir, is introduced by India or Pakistan and supported by the United Kingdom, the United States Delegation should also support the resolution.' The 1962 India-China war: In this war, the US helped India, airlifting military supplies. However, it used the goodwill thus generated to get together with the UK and pressure India to talk to Pakistan. Six rounds of talks were held, with no progress. Then US Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles wrote about that period, 'We had also—rather ineptly—seized upon India's acute need for US assistance as a lever to force India to make concessions to the Pakistanis in regard to Kashmir, which no democratic Indian Government could make and survive.' While the fighting was on, then US President John F Kennedy is believed to have stopped Pakistan from opening another front against India. Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow of the American think tank Brookings, wrote in 2015, 'Then Pakistan President Ayub Khan told Kennedy that he wanted 'compensation' from India in Kashmir for Pakistan's neutrality during the war. Kennedy made clear to Ayub that no such compensation would be tolerated, and that Pakistani intervention in the war in the Himalayas would be seen by Washington as a hostile act.' The 1971 India-Pakistan war: This was the time the US backed Pakistan most forcefully and publicly, even dispatching warships towards the Bay of Bengal. The US Department of State has a website called Office of the Historian. Its article on the 1971 war says that as Pakistan had recently helped the US and China start diplomatic ties, Washington decided to back Pakistan against India, but the 'action against the mass protests in East Pakistan was well-publicized and widely condemned, which limited the extent to which the US Government was willing to help the Pakistani Government…' Eventually, America's actions during this war damaged its prestige 'in both nations, in Pakistan for failing to help prevent the loss of East Pakistan and in India for supporting the brutality of the Pakistani regime's actions…' The Kargil war of 1999: If the previous war had seen the US veer very close to Pakistan, the Kargil war redefined its relationship with India. Riedel wrote in 2019, 'When the US determined that Pakistan had deliberately violated the Line of Control near Kargil, [then President Bill] Clinton did not hesitate to blame Pakistan for risking a broader war. For the first time, an American administration was siding publicly with India against Pakistani aggression.' Clinton played a major role in getting Pakistan to retreat behind the LOC. After this, Clinton visited the subcontinent in 2000. He was the first US President to come to India in over 20 years. He spent five days in India, in contrast with just a few hours in Pakistan. Apart from these wars, the US has also worked to defuse tensions after the Parliament attack in 2001 and the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. However, preventing tensions from escalating is different from meditating on Kashmir or other bilateral issues, which Trump has been making claims and offers about. Yashee is an Assistant Editor with the where she is a member of the Explained team. She is a journalist with over 10 years of experience, starting her career with the Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times. She has also worked with India Today, where she wrote opinion and analysis pieces for DailyO. Her articles break down complex issues for readers with context and insight. Yashee has a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from Presidency College, Kolkata, and a postgraduate diploma in journalism from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, one of the premier media institutes in the countr ... Read More
Hindustan Times
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- Hindustan Times
NATO east flank backs Ukraine membership, Poland, Romania and Lithuania say
VILNIUS -Nordic, Baltic and central European NATO members are committed to Ukrainian membership of the military alliance, the leaders of Poland, Romania and Lithuania said following a summit of the so-called B9 and Nordic countries on Monday. NATO allies declared their support for Ukraine's "irreversible path" towards membership at last year's Washington summit. But President Donald Trump has since said that prior U.S. support for Ukraine's NATO bid was a cause of the war and has further indicated that Ukraine will not get membership. Russian President Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards, and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported last week. Poland, Romania and Lithuania said on Monday, after a meeting of Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European leaders in the capital of Lithuania, that the region remains committed to the path towards Ukrainian NATO membership, and called for further pressure on Russia, including more sanctions. "We stand firm on Allied decision and commitment regarding Ukraine's irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership. Ukraine has the right to choose its own security arrangements and to decide its own future, free from outside interference," they said in a joint statement released on behalf of all meeting participants. The meeting, held ahead of a NATO summit at The Hague later this month, included Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Time of India
29 minutes ago
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‘It's not us, it's Trump': China accuses US of violating Geneva trade truce, vows firm response - The Economic Times Video
Tensions are mounting once again between the U.S. and China over trade truce. Beijing has strongly rejected US President Donald Trump's accusations that China violated the Geneva trade pact. Instead, China claimed that it's the US that has 'seriously violated' the agreement with new restrictions on chip tech and student visas. The Chinese Commerce Ministry warned that it will take 'resolute' and 'forceful' action if Washington continues down this path.
