Trump | Pakistan

U.S. President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of “treason” on Tuesday, accusing him, without providing evidence, of leading an effort to falsely tie him to Russia and undermine his 2016 presidential campaign. A spokesperson for Obama denounced Trump’s claims, saying “these bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.” While Trump has frequently […]

US President Donald Trump has announced a “massive” trade deal with Japan, as China said it will send its vice premier to US trade talks next week to secure its own agreement ahead of a looming deadline. In an attempt to slash his country’s colossal trade deficit, the US president has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive “reciprocal” tariffs if they do not hammer out a pact with Washington by August 1. The Japan agreement, along with another pact with the Philippines also announced on Tuesday, means Trump has now secured five agreements since his administration promised in April “90 deals in 90 days”. The others are with Britain, Vietnam and Indonesia, which the White House said Tuesday would ease critical mineral export restrictions. Negotiations are still ongoing with much larger US trading partners China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Representatives from China and the United States will meet next week in the Swedish capital Stockholm to try and hammer out a deal before an August 12 dead...

President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the UN culture and education agency Unesco on Tuesday, repeating a move he had already ordered during his first term, which had been reversed under Joe Biden. The withdrawal from the Paris-based agency, which was founded after World War Two to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture, will take effect on December 31, 2026. “President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from Unesco — which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. The State Department said remaining in Unesco was not in the national interest, accusing it of having “a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy”. Unesco chief Audrey Azoulay said she deeply regretted Trump’s decision, but that it was “expected, and Unesco has prepar...

United States President Donald Trump’s lunch meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir prompted a private diplomatic protest from India in a warning to Washington about risks to their bilateral ties while New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge, officials and analysts said. The meeting and other tensions in the US-India relationship, after decades of flourishing ties, have cast a shadow in trade negotiations, they said, as Trump’s administration weighs tariffs against one of its major partners in the Indo-Pacific. India blames Pakistan, especially the military establishment, for supporting what it alleges is cross-border terrorism and has told the US it is sending the wrong signals by wooing Field Marshal Munir, three senior Indian government officials directly aware of the matter told Reuters. It has created a sore spot that will hamper relations going forward, they said. Pakistan has denied accusations that it supports militants who carried out an attack in Ind...

US President Donald Trump might visit China before going to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit between October 30 and November 1, or he could meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC event in South Korea, The South China Morning Post reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources. The two countries have been trying to negotiate an end to an escalating tit-for-tat tariff war that has upended global trade and supply chains. The two sides have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders in the region this year, but they have not confirmed a date or location yet, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump has sought to impose tariffs on US importers for virtually all foreign goods, which he says will stimulate domestic manufacturing and which critics say will make many consumer goods more expensive for Americans. He has called for a universal base tariff rate of 10 per cent on goods imported from all countries, with higher rates for imports from the most “problematic” on...

INDIA’S opposition Congress party has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi provide a clear explanation after US President Donald Trump claimed that five fighter jets were shot down during the recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led the charge on Saturday, calling on Modi to address the nation regarding the fate of the jets. “Modi ji, what is the truth about the five [jets]? The country has the right to know!” Mr Gandhi posted on X, as criticism from the opposition mounted over the government’s han­­dling of the brief but intense conflict. The controversy erupted after Trump, speaking at a White House dinner with Republican lawmakers on Friday, said, “In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” referring to the hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Indian premier asked to ‘speak truth’ Trump did not specify which side’s aircraft were downed, nor did he provide furth...

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that five jets were shot down during the recent India-Pakistan conflict that began after a deadly attack in India-occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam, with the situation calming after a ceasefire in May. Trump, who made his remarks at a dinner with some Republican US lawmakers at the White House, did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to. Pakistan had said it downed six Indian planes after the latter carried out deadly attacks in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, while New Delhi had claimed it had downed “a few planes”. “Something I’m very proud of [is that] we stopped a lot of wars. A lot of wars. And these were serious, serious wars; would have been going on,” Trump said. “You had India-Pakistan that was going, and in fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said while talking about the India-Pakistan hostilities, without elaborating or providing further detail. “It was getting ...

United States President Donald Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion on Friday over the publication of a bombshell article on his friendship with the infamous alleged sex trafficker of underage girls, Jeffrey Epstein. The defamation lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, saw the 79-year-old Republican hitting back at a scandal threatening to cause serious political damage. “We have just filed a powerhouse lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, fake news ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is The Wall Street Journal,” Trump posted on Truth Social late on Friday. The Journal reported on Thursday that in 2003, the then-real estate magnate wrote a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared “secret”. The lawsuit, which also names two reporters, the Dow Jones corporation and Murdoch’s parent company News Corp as defendants, claims that no such letter exists and tha...

LONDON: The Bank of England has asked some lenders to test their resilience to potential U.S. dollar shocks, three sources said, the latest sign of how the Trump administration’s policies are eroding trust in the U.S. as a bedrock of financial stability. As the leading currency for global trade and capital flows, the U.S. dollar […]

US President Donald Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal on Thursday over a story about an alleged off-colour letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, amid lingering political fallout over his administration’s handling of the late financier’s sex trafficking case. The Journal story says the letter featuring a sketch of a naked woman and Trump’s signature was part of a collection of notes for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. The newspaper says it reviewed the letter but did not print an image. Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker “was told directly by (White House press secretary) Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social network. “Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway,” he said. “President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. (Rupert) Murdoch, shortly. The press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist.” The Republic...

The White House on Thursday said that no visit of United States President Donald Trump was scheduled to Pakistan “at this time” after widespread reports of a trip. Earlier in the day, some local television news channels reported, citing sources, that Trump was expected to visit Pakistan in September. The news channels said that Trump would also visit India after arriving in Islamabad in September. The channels later withdrew their reports. The White House dismissed the rumours. “A trip to Pakistan has not been scheduled at this time,” a White House official said. Talking to Dawn.com on the reported visit earlier, Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said: “We have no information about this matter.” Similarly, a US embassy spokesperson in Islamabad told Reuters, “We have nothing to announce,” and said that the White House might be able to provide confirmation on the president’s schedule. George W Bush was the last US president to visit Pakistan in 2006. US-Pakistan relations saw a major boost when Trum...

For years, United States President Donald Trump and his Republican allies benefited from conspiracy theories that fuelled the conservative MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement and targeted his political enemies. Now the persisting furore over files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has forced Trump into an unfamiliar role: trying to shut a conspiracy theory down. Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death. The saga burst back into the news last week after the Trump administration reversed course on its pledge to release documents it had suggested would reveal major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele. That reversal has enraged some of Trump’s most loyal followers. To contain the fallout, Trump and White House officials are weighing a range of options, including unsealing new documents, appointing a ...

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine should not target Moscow, after the Kremlin charged that a new US plan to supply weapons to Kyiv along with sanctions threats against Russia would delay peace efforts.US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine should not target Moscow, after the Kremlin charged that a new US […]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. would impose a 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new agreement with the Southeast Asian country and said more deals were in the works as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners and a path to reducing a […]

President Vladimir Putin intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace, unfazed by Donald Trump’s threats of tougher sanctions, and his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance, three sources close to the Kremlin said. Putin, who ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the country’s east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops, believes Russia’s economy and its military are strong enough to weather any additional Western measures, the sources said. Trump on Monday expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire and announced a wave of weapons supplies to Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. He also threatened further sanctions on Russia unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days. The three Russian sources, familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking, said Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West and believes Russia — which has survived the t...

A divided United States supreme court gave US President Donald Trump the green light on Monday to resume dismantling the Education Department. The conservative-dominated court, in an unsigned order, lifted a stay that had been placed by a federal district judge on mass layoffs at the department. The three liberal justices on the nine-member panel dissented. Trump pledged during his White House campaign to eliminate the Education Department, which was created by an act of Congress in 1979, and he moved in March to slash its workforce by nearly half. Trump instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “put herself out of a job”. Around 20 states joined teachers’ unions in challenging the move in court, arguing that the Republican president was violating the principle of separation of powers by encroaching on Congress’s prerogatives. In May, District Judge Myong Joun ordered the reinstatement of hundreds of fired Education Department employees. The supreme court lifted the judge’s order without explanation, ju...

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine on Monday, and threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agrees a peace deal, a major policy shift brought on by frustration with Moscow’s ongoing attacks on its neighbor. But Trump’s threat of sanctions came with a 50-day grace period, a move that was […]

United States President Donald Trump and Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte announced a plan on Monday to rearm Ukraine with missiles and other weaponry in its fight to fend off Russian invaders and warned of severe tariffs if Moscow does not end the war. The announcement by the two leaders followed weeks of frustration on the part of Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to make an agreement to end the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made frequent appeals to Trump and Nato leaders for more weapons. Under the deal, Trump said the US will supply weapons that will be paid for by Nato countries. Rutte said massive numbers of weapons would be sent, including missiles, as part of a first wave of equipment. “It’s a full complement with the batteries,” Trump said when asked whether he would send Patriot missiles specifically. “We’re going to have some come very soon, within days … a couple of the countries that have Patriots are going to swap over and will replace the Patri...

American comedian and talk show host Rosie O’Donnell has reacted after Donald Trump threatened to revoke her US citizenship. To Read Lifestyle Stories in Urdu – Click Here Known as a hard critic of the US president, the talk show host moved to Ireland earlier this year and is reportedly working to take up citizenship. […]

A congressional inquiry into the attempt to assassinate US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally a year ago lamented on Sunday “inexcusable” failures in the Secret Service’s operations and response and called for more serious disciplinary action. On July 13, 2024, a gunman shot the then-Republican presidential candidate during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear. One bystander was killed and two other people, in addition to Trump, were wounded before a government sniper killed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks. “What happened was inexcusable, and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation,” said the report released by the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The dramatic incident energised Trump’s bid to return to the White House, with his campaign using a photo of him bloodied and pumping his fist as he was hurried offstage to woo voters. The report did not shed new light on the gunman’s motive, which...