Montana’s Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease.
Stan Jones, a 63-year-old business consultant and part-time college instructor, said he started taking colloidal silver in 1999 for fear that Y2K disruptions might lead to a shortage of antibiotics.
His skin began turning blue-gray a year ago.
He does not take the supplement any longer, but the skin condition, called argyria, is permanent. The condition is generally not serious.
Donald Trump says there is peace in the Middle East, after signing the Gaza ceasefire deal. But when asked about a two-state solution, Trump suggested he hadn’t focused on long-term solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Analysts say there will be no lasting peace in the Middle East, without a Palestinian state.
Israel and the US are boycotting the UN-hosted event, but other countries are building on an earlier declaration.
France and Saudi Arabia are preparing to host a one-day summit at the United Nations, a day ahead of the start of the General Assembly, both of which will be heavily focused on Israel’s war on Gaza and the elusive two-state solution.
At the UN headquarters in New York, world leaders will convene Monday to revive the long-stalled notion amid warnings that a contiguous Palestinian state could “vanish altogether” as a result of Israel’s hegemonic moves in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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France is expected to announce its official recognition of a Palestinian state, and others like Belgium are considering doing the same. It will come one day after the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised Palestinian statehood in historic moves despite vehement opposition from Israel and the United States.
Israel and its top allies are boycotting the summit, with Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, describing the major multilateral event as a “circus” and sticking to Israel’s common refrain that such moves “reward terrorism”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under heavy domestic political pressure amid the surge in recognitions for a state of Palestine. Israeli media reports his far-right government is considering partial or full annexation of the occupied West Bank in response, but that Netanyahu needs US support and cover, which he will seek while in New York for the UNGA.
The UN has expressed hope that the summit could “inject new momentum into efforts to establish a UN roadmap towards two states”.
Monday’s summit is expected to expand on the “New York Declaration” that was adopted by the General Assembly earlier this month after a July conference also co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. Israel and the US boycotted those international gatherings as well.
The seven-page declaration that was endorsed outlined “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution, while also condemning Hamas and calling it to surrender, disarm, and release all captives held in Gaza. It further called for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza as Israel continues to starve the famine-stricken Palestinian people.
French President Emmanuel Macron will be a leading figure in the summit on Monday, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to attend via video link despite being a co-host.
In response to the growing global consensus against its genocidal war in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank, Israel has been advancing plans to annex parts of the West Bank with the explicit aim of ending the prospects of a future Palestinian state.
Israeli diplomats have also teased possible measures specifically against France and Macron, telling Israeli media that they might close down the French consulate in Jerusalem, possibly expel French diplomats or limit intelligence cooperation.
Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas but was bombed by Israel earlier this month, on Monday welcomed the announcements by the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal,
Israel has also only intensified its genocidal war in Gaza in response to the limited international mobilisation, particularly ramping up its ground invasion of Gaza City and deadly air and naval strikes across the besieged enclave.
The Israeli army killed at least 25 members of a Palestinian family in strikes on homes in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood on Sunday while pushing forward with its tanks and claiming all attacks were hitting “terrorist” targets.
The United Nations General Assembly has endorsed a resolution reviving a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. It also calls for Hamas to end its rule in Gaza. Israel and the United States were among the 10 members who voted against it.
Over the next few days, we are going to hear politicians, commentators and others remind us that political violence is never OK, and never the answer.
That is true.
There is no room in a healthy democracy, or a moral society, for killings based on vengeance or beliefs — political, religious, whatever.
But the sad reality is that our democracy is not healthy, and violence is a symptom of that. Not the make-believe, cities-overrun violence that has led to the military in our streets, but real, targeted political violence that has crept into society with increasing frequency.
Our decline did not begin with the horrific slaying Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old father and conservative media superstar, and it will not end with it. We are in a moment of struggle, with two competing views for where our country should go and what it should be. Only one can win, and both sides believe it is a battle worth fighting.
So be it. Fights in democracy are nothing new and nothing wrong.
We can blame the heated political rhetoric of either side for violence, as many already are, but words are not bullets and strong democracies can withstand even the ugliest of speeches, the most hateful of positions.
The painful and hard specter of more violence to come has less to do with far-right or far-left than extreme fringe in either political direction. Occasionally it’s ideological, but more often it isn’t MAGA, communist or socialist so much as confusion and rage cloaking itself in political convenience. Violence comes where trust in the system is decimated, and where hope is ground to dust.
These are the places were we find the isolated, the disenfranchised, the red-pilled or the blue-pilled — however you see it — and anyone else, who pushed by the stress and anger of this moment, finds themselves believing violence or even murder is a solution, maybe the only solution.
These are not mainstream people. Like all killers, they live outside the rules of society and likely would have found their way beyond our boundaries with or without politics. But politics found them, and provided what may have seemed like clarity in a maelstrom of anything but.
In the past few years, we have seen people such as this make two attempts on Donald Trump’s life. One of those was a 20-year-old student, Michael Thomas Crooks, still almost a kid, whose motives will likely never be known.
The American flag at the White House is lowered on Wednesday after the slaying of Charlie Kirk.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
A few months ago, we saw a political massacre in Minnesota aimed at Democratic lawmakers. Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed by the same attacker who shot state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and attempted to shoot their daughter Hope. Authorities found a hit list of 45 targets in his possession.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home was broken into in 2022 and her husband, Paul, was attacked by a hammer-wielding assailant with a unicorn costume in his backpack.
Despite the fact that these instances of violence have been aimed at both Democrats and Republicans, we live under a Republican government at the moment, one that holds unprecedented power.
Already, that power structure is calling not for calm or justice, but retribution.
“We’ve got trans shooters. You’ve got riots in L.A. They are at war with us, whether we want to accept it or not. They are at war with us,” said Fox News commentator Jesse Watters shortly after Kirk was shot. “What are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate? And that’s the question we’re just going to have to ask ourselves.”
On that last bit, I agree with Watters. We do need to ask ourselves how much political violence we are going to tolerate.
The internet is buzzing with a quote from Kirk on gun violence: “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
Like Kirk, I think some things are worth ugly prices. I don’t think guns are one of them, but I do think democracy is.
We can’t allow political violence to be the reason we curb democracy. Even if that violence continues, we must find ways to fight it that preserve the constitutional values that make America exceptional.
“It is extremely important to caution U.S. policymakers in this heated environment to act responsibly and not use the specter of political violence as an excuse to suppress nonviolent movements, curb freedoms of assembly and expression, encourage retaliation, or otherwise close civic spaces,” a trio of Brookings Institution researchers wrote as part of their “Monitoring the pillars of democracy” series. “Weaponizing calls for stability and peace in response to political violence is a real threat in democratic and nondemocratic countries globally.”
The slaying of Charlie Kirk is reprehensible, and his family and friends have suffered a loss I can’t imagine. Condolences don’t cover it.
But the legacy of his death, and of political violence, can’t be crackdowns — because if we do that, we forever damage the country we all claim to love.
If we take anything away from this tragic day, let it be a commitment to democracy, and America, in all her chaotic and flawed glory.
Architect Simon Ha was trying to squeeze an apartment building onto a 6,400-square foot lot in Hollywood.
The city of Los Angeles requires two stairways for such buildings, which limited the configurations Ha could use. After racking his brain, he finally came up with a solution.
“It was like designing a Swiss watch,” he said of the 2023 project.
Now, the L.A. City Council is on the brink of allowing just one stairway for buildings of up to six stories, making it easier and cheaper to build on smaller lots — but raising concerns about escape routes in a fire or earthquake.
Councilmember Nithya Raman, who introduced the single stairway proposal with Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, said she wants to speed up development to address the city’s housing crisis and to encourage the construction of apartments big enough for families. And she believes safety needn’t be sacrificed.
“We’re trying to say, ‘How can we build more safely — and build more overall?’” Raman said in an interview.
Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Until recently, New York, Seattle and Honolulu were among the few American cities that allowed single stairways in buildings of up to six stories. Since 2022, amid a nationwide affordable housing crunch, at least 16 cities and states have proposed or enacted single stairway regulations, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study released in February.
The double stairway rule, in place in California since 1981, makes it harder to build apartments with more than two bedrooms, urban planners and architects said.
Apartments typically have to be laid out along a long hallway, with windows on only one side of each unit, resulting in less light and ventilation, said Stephen Smith, who is executive director of the Center for Building in North America and one of the single stairway’s biggest advocates.
“For small lots in particular, the second stairway can eat up a huge amount of the building’s footprint,” he said.
A single stair layout without a long hallway could mean more room for larger units
Based on design by Simon Ha
Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee LOS ANGELES TIMES
Under state law, L.A. can reduce the number of stairways it requires, as long as it implements other restrictions, such as high-end sprinkler systems. Raman and Yaroslavsky’s proposal for single stairway buildings would limit the number of units per floor to four.
But proponents of double stairways say they are a key safety measure, giving residents two options for fleeing a fire, along with a separate route for firefighters.
Frank Lima, a Los Angeles firefighter and general secretary-treasurer of the International Assn. of Fire Fighters, or IAFF, said the stairways are a life-and-death issue.
“[A single stairway] forces building occupants to go down a stairwell while firefighters go up a stairwell,” Lima said. “That delays fire attack, delays people getting out of a building — when seconds count.”
“When you try to cut corners to save money or make more units, it shouldn’t be at the price of children that die,” Lima said.
The IAFF, which represents firefighters and emergency medical technicians across the U.S. and Canada, has strongly opposed single stairway proposals — “I’d rather call it ‘only one way out,’” Lima said.
On Aug. 20, the City Council voted 13 to 1 to request that city staffers draft a single stairway ordinance.
In a memo to the council, City Planning Director Vincent Bertoni wrote that the single stairway proposal could make a “substantial contribution” to the city’s housing supply.
“The result is that family-sized units — a much needed segment of Los Angeles’ housing stock — are not being produced at the scale required to meet existing and projected needs,” he wrote of the double stairway requirement.
About 14% of rental units in the city are three or more bedrooms, according to the Planning Department.
Zachary Pitts, the Los Angeles director of YIMBY Action, which advocates for more affordable housing, said he had a hard time finding a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Los Angeles.
There were plenty of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, but places big enough for his family of four cost a small fortune.
“We ended up buying a single-family home, since a mortgage was lower than the prices we were being quoted,” Pitts said.
Ha, the architect, said that ditching the double stairway requirement could enable developers to produce “East Coast-style” townhouses like those in New York — a contrast to the “podium-style” buildings now going up in L.A., which generally take up a half or whole block.
Ha has designed buildings from San Francisco to San Diego, though most of his work is in Los Angeles, where he is the architect of many micro-apartment complexes, which contain only studios.
Small parcels of 7,500 square feet or less, where a single stairway would make apartments easier to build, often sit empty for long periods, creating “missing teeth” in the city’s layout, Ha said.
Simon Ha stands inside one of two stairways at the Hollywood Premiere Apartments. Architects such as Ha are in support of single stairway reform that would make it easier and cheaper to develop on small lots.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Fire Department declined to comment on the single stairway proposal, saying it is under review by the city fire marshal. The councilmembers behind the proposal say the department has been consulted every step of the way.
Raman said she sees “no reduction in fire safety.”
“New fire safety standards in our building code have made it so new buildings are much safer overall,” she said.
Architect Simon Ha shows the two stairways at the Hollywood Premiere Apartments.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The Pew Charitable Trusts study, co-written and researched by Smith of the Center for Building in North America, found that in New York, the rate of fire deaths in single stairway buildings was the same as in other residential buildings.
“This [double stairway] code originates from when people were cooking with open flames, when there were no sprinklers or fire alarms,” Smith said.
City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian voted yes on the Aug. 20 motion to draft a single stairway ordinance, though he had previously expressed reservations about earthquake safety.
Seattle has single stairways but “less than one-tenth the number of seismic activity we have in our region,” he said during a council meeting.
Councilmember Traci Park was the lone no vote.
“Generally in life, when you have more exits and evacuation routes, things are generally more safe,” she said.
Each year, the world produces about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste – more than the combined weight of all the people on Earth.
Just 9 percent of it is recycled, and one study predicts that global emissions from plastic production could triple by 2050.
Since 2022, the United Nations has been trying to broker a global treaty to deal with plastic waste. But talks keep collapsing, particularly on the issue of introducing a cap on plastic production.
Campaigners blame petrostates whose economies depend on oil – the raw ingredient for plastics – for blocking the treaty negotiations.
This week, the UN is meeting in Switzerland in the latest attempt to reach an agreement. But, even if the delegates find a way to cut the amount of plastic the world makes, it could take years to have a meaningful effect.
In the meantime, institutions like the World Bank are turning to the markets for alternative solutions. One of these is plastic offsetting.
So what is plastic offsetting? Does it work? And what do programmes like this mean for vulnerable communities who depend on plastic waste to make a living?
What is plastic offsetting, and how do credits work?
Plastic credits are based on a similar idea to carbon credits.
With carbon credits, companies that emit greenhouse gases can pay a carbon credit company to have their emissions “cancelled out” by funding reforestation programmes or other projects to help “sink” their carbon output.
For each tonne of CO2 they cancel out, the company gets a carbon credit. This is how an airline can tell customers that their flight is “carbon neutral”.
Plastic credits work on a similar model. The world’s biggest plastic polluters can pay a plastic credit company to collect and re-purpose plastic.
If a polluter pays for one tonne of plastic to be collected, it gets one plastic credit.
If the polluter buys the number of plastic credits equivalent to its annual plastic output, it might be awarded “plastic neutral” or “plastic net zero” status.
Bags of plastic waste at a recycling yard in Accra [Costanza Gambarini/SourceMaterial]
Does plastic offsetting work?
Like carbon credits, plastic credits are controversial.
Carbon markets are already worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, with their value set to grow to billions.
But in 2023, SourceMaterial, a nonprofit newsroom, revealed that only a fraction of nearly 100 million carbon credits result in real emissions reductions.
“Companies are making false claims and then they’re convincing customers that they can fly guilt-free or buy carbon-neutral products when they aren’t in any way carbon-neutral,” Barbara Haya, a US carbon trading expert, said at the time.
The same thing could happen with plastics. Analysis by SourceMaterial of the world’s first plastic credit registry, Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) in the Philippines, found that only 14 percent of PCX credits went towards recycling.
While companies that had bought credits with PCX were getting “plastic neutral” status, most of the plastic was burned as fuel in cement factories, in a method known as “co-processing” that releases thousands of tonnes of CO2 and toxins linked to cancer.
A spokesperson for PCX said at the time that co-processing “reduces reliance on fossil fuels, and is conducted under controlled conditions to minimise emissions”.
Now, the World Bank is also pointing to plastic credits as a solution.
In January last year, the World Bank launched a $100m bond that “provides investors with a financial return” linked to the plastic credits projects backed by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, an industry initiative that supports plastic credit projects, in Ghana and Indonesia.
At the UN talks in December last year, a senior environmental specialist from the World Bank said plastic credits were an “emerging result-based financing tool” which can fund projects that “reduce plastic pollution”.
What do companies think of plastic credits?
Manufacturers, petrostates and the operators of credit projects have all lobbied for market solutions, including plastic credits, at the UN.
Oil giant ExxonMobil and petrochemicals companies LyondellBasell and Dow Chemical are all members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste in Ghana and Indonesia – both epicentres of plastic pollution that produce plastic domestically and import waste from overseas.
But those companies are also members of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a lobby group that has warned the UN it does “not support production caps or bans”, given the “benefits of plastics”.
What do critics and affected local communities say?
Critics like Anil Verma, a professor of human resource management at the University of Toronto who has studied waste pickers in Brazil, call plastic offsetting a “game of greenwashing”.
Verma argues that offsetting lets polluters claim they are tackling the waste problem without having to cut production – or profit.
Patrick O’Hare, an academic at St Andrews University in Scotland, who has attended all rounds of the UN plastic treaty negotiations, said he has “noticed with concern the increasing prominence given to plastics credits”.
Plastic credits are being promoted in some quarters “despite the lack of proven success stories to date” and “the evident problems with the carbon credit model on which it is based”, he added.
Goats at the dumping site in Accra [Costanza Gambarini/SourceMaterial]
Even some of the world’s biggest companies have distanced themselves from plastic credits.
Nestle, which had previously bought plastic credits, said last year that it does not believe in their effectiveness in their current form.
Coca-Cola and Unilever are also “not convinced”, according to reports, and like Nestle, they back government-mandated “extended producer responsibility” schemes.
Yet the World Bank has plans to expand its support for plastic offsetting, calling it a “win-win with the local communities and ecosystems that benefit from less pollution”.
Some of the poorest people in Ghana eke out a living by collecting plastic waste for recycling.
Johnson Doe, head of a refuse collectors’ group in the capital, Accra, says funds for offsetting would be better spent supporting local waste pickers.
Doe wants his association to be officially recognised and funded, instead of watching investment flow into plastic credits. They’re a “false solution”, he says.
This story was produced in partnership with SourceMaterial
Urgency surrounds the future of the two-state solution as Israel ramps up its control of historic Palestinian territory. And even though several countries have moved to recognise a Palestinian state, many observers say it’s too late. Soraya Lennie breaks it down.
LG Energy Solution, a rechargeable battery maker, said it recorded revenue of $4 billion in the second quarter, with an operating profit of $356 million. Photo courtesy of LG Energy Solution
SEOUL, July 28 (UPI) — Major South Korean companies Hyundai Steel and LG Energy Solution turned a profit during the second quarter of this year.
Hyundai Steel, the country’s No. 2 iron maker, announced last week that it posted $4.3 billion in sales during the April-June period, with an operating profit of $74 million. The company suffered a loss over the previous two quarters.
“During the second half of this year, Chinese steel exports are expected to decline further due to supply restrictions in the country,” NH Investment & Securities analyst Lee Jae-kwang noted in a market report.
“The anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese heavy plate steel are also projected to have a positive effect on Hyundai Steel,” he said. In April, South Korea levied tariffs of up to 38% on Chinese heavy plate steel for four months.
LG Energy Solution, a rechargeable battery maker, said Friday that the Seoul-based corporation recorded revenue of $4 billion in the second quarter, with an operating profit of $356 million. The company was profitable for the first time in six quarters.
“We succeeded in turning a profit even excluding the [U.S.] Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, thanks to an increased share of high-margin products and projects manufactured in North America,” LG Energy Solution CFO Lee Chang-sil told a conference call.
He said that the company would try to improve profits later this year by boosting the production of batteries for energy storage systems.
LG Energy Solution has received tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act for running and building battery plants in the United States.
Also included in other turnaround companies in the second quarter were Hotel Shilla, an operator of luxury hotels and duty-free shops, and brokerage house Woori Investment Securities.
Joseph Giarraputo, the Founder and Editorial Director of Global Finance, talks to Arjo Haksteen, Surecomp’s Head of Solution Consulting, about how cloud-based digital transformation is reshaping trade finance and the ecosystem of banks, corporates and cloud providers.
Selected by Global Finance as Best Trade Finance Software Provider for the third consecutive year, Surecomp is well-positioned to capitalise on this shift.
Haksteen explains that banks want to digitise processes to improve the customer experience by deploying new features and more personalised services and delivering them faster. Yet ‘anytime, anywhere’ solutions require real-time data insights, unlocking the potential of modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.
Digitisation drives greater cost efficiency, scalability and standardised software. This in turn makes trade finance solutions easier to scale and quicker to bring to market, and also enhances integration across various trade platforms and solutions.
By using reputable cloud service providers that have invested in the right infrastructure, compliance and monitoring capabilities, solution providers with rigorous protocols and controls, like Surecomp, can guarantee date protection andconfidentiality via a robust security and risk framework.
“The revolution of AI and machine learning will continue to go beyond our imagination, and we will see practical applications of blockchain and DLT technology,” says Haksteen. Widespread adoption of paperless digital trades and end-to-end digital workflows will lead to greater interoperability between different platforms and market segments, along with industry specific, multi-cloud strategies.
Watch for a deeper understanding of what’s driving digital trade finance and to learn how Surecomp is delivering best-practice, cloud-based solutions for corporates and financial institutions alike.
United States President Donald Trump has offered to work with India and Pakistan to achieve a “solution” for the long-disputed Kashmir region, days after his administration brokered a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
“I will work with you, both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
The US president doubled down on a historically inaccurate assertion that India and Pakistan have been fighting for “a thousand years” or more.
The Muslim-majority territory has been contested since the partition of British India in 1947 into India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars over the region. They both stake a claim over Kashmir as a whole but control parts of it.
India-administered Kashmir has seen decades of armed rebellion either for independence or a merger with Pakistan. New Delhi has deployed more than 700,000 soldiers to quash the rebellion.
The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far remained committed to a decades-old policy of refusing international mediation to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. In 2019, Modi’s government stripped India-administered Kashmir’s semiautonomy, further alienating the Kashmiris.
In its response, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday that it appreciates Trump’s willingness to resolve the Kashmir issue, which has implications for peace and security in South Asia and beyond.
“Pakistan reaffirms that any just and lasting settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and must ensure the realization of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people, including their inalienable right to self-determination,” it said.
India’s leaders have not directly commented, but Indian media quoted unnamed government sources as saying no decision has yet been made to engage in talks on anything beyond the ceasefire.
India and Pakistan agreed to halt all fighting on Saturday, but Trump was the first person to announce the deal on his online platform.
In his post on Sunday, Trump took credit for the ceasefire.
“I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision,” he wrote.
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations.”
The latest fighting between the two neighbours started when India attacked Pakistan in the aftermath of a shooting attack in India-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 civilians at a tourist location.
New Delhi again accused Pakistan of backing the “terrorist” groups that have launched many deadly attacks in India-administered Kashmir for decades.
Pakistan strongly denies the charges, maintaining that India has supported “terrorism” in its territory for many years and the Pahalgam attack was a false-flag operation to start a war.
The missile, drone and artillery attacks signified the most serious fighting between the two countries since they became nuclear-armed powers decades ago.
‘Neutral’ site for talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that in addition to the ceasefire, the two countries agreed to conduct broad talks over a host of issues at a “neutral” site soon.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said his country believes in the path of peaceful negotiations to resolve problems around distribution of water resources and “all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir”.
But India has for decades refused to hold negotiations over the contested region as it has tried to strengthen its hold over it.
Indian soldiers are deployed at a market in Srinagar in India-administered Kashmir on May 6, 2025 [Mukhtar Khan/AP]
Mohmad Waseem Malla, a research fellow at the International Centre for Peace Studies in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s statement, though not entirely surprising, was “striking both in tone and substance” and likely to raise concerns in New Delhi.
“Any suggestion of third-party involvement, even in passing, crosses a red line for New Delhi – especially under the current government, which has redefined the country’s foreign policy and its emphasis on territorial sovereignty.”
He added that while Trump’s mention of boosting trade and promoting peace may seem conciliatory internationally, India’s domestic political climate and strategic priorities make it difficult to entertain such offers right now.
“The key will be how New Delhi calibrates its response given current sensitivities.”
In response to the Pahalgam attack, India also expelled Pakistani diplomats, military advisers and visa holders; closed its main land border crossing and suspended trade; and launched a manhunt for the perpetrators.
Pakistan responded by kicking out Indian officials and citizens, closing its airspace to Indian flights and threatening to pull out of the Simla Agreement, which underpins the Line of Control in Kashmir.
BRUSSELS — The European Union published on Thursday a list of U.S. imports that it would target with retaliatory duties if no solution is found to end President Trump’s tariff war, which could include aircraft maker Boeing.
At the same time, the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, said that it would begin legal action at the World Trade Organization over the “reciprocal tariffs” that Trump imposed on countries around the world a month ago.
“The EU remains fully committed to finding negotiated outcomes with the U.S.,” commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “At the same time, we continue preparing for all possibilities.”
The commission manages trade deals and disputes on behalf of the 27 EU countries.
In early April, Trump imposed a 20% levy on goods from the EU as part of his tariff onslaught against global trading partners. A week later he paused them for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate solutions to U.S. trade concerns.
A blanket 10% tariff still applies to EU imports.
The commission drew up countermeasures to target 20.9 billion euros ($23.6 billion) of U.S. goods, roughly the equivalent of what Trump would be hitting in Europe. But it also paused them for 90 days to give negotiations a chance.
The bloc’s top trade official has shuttled between Brussels and Washington trying to find a solution, but with little to show, the commission has made public a list of American imports for possible targeting worth 95 billion euros ($107 billion).
The list is broken down into sectors and broad categories of products rather than brand names. It contains 10.5 billion euros ($11.9 billion) worth of aircraft, 10.3 billion euros ($11.6 billion) in vehicle parts and 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in vehicles.
Around 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in imports of U.S. wine, beer and spirits could also be hit. European wine producers have been deeply concerned that Trump’s tariffs would deal a severe blow to their sector, which relies on the U.S. as its top market.
Interested companies and parties are being given until June 10 to provide feedback, before the commission decides on the next steps. “Boeing is very welcome to make comments on this list,” a commission official said, briefing reporters on the list and the rationale for the EU’s approach.
In parallel, the commission said that it would be taking legal action at world trade’s governing body, and would soon request consultations with the United States to try to resolve the issue, which must take place within two months.
It said that this action would focus on Trump’s “universal” reciprocal tariffs, and duties on cars and car parts. “It is the unequivocal view of the EU that these tariffs blatantly violate fundamental WTO rules,” a statement said.
The commission estimates that 379 billion euros ($428 billion) of EU exports to the U.S. have been hit by new tariffs, including those on pause until mid-July, since Trump took office. It said they are already “raising costs for business, stifling growth, fueling inflation and heightening economic uncertainty.”
