logo
NATO chief says India, Brazil, and China could be slammed by sanctions

NATO chief says India, Brazil, and China could be slammed by sanctions

The Hindua day ago
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) that countries such as Brazil, China and India could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continued to do business with Russia.
Mr. Rutte made the comment while meeting with senators in the U.S. Congress the day after President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days.
"My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the President of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard," Mr. Rutte told reporters, who met with Mr. Trump on Monday and agreed the new steps.
"So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way," Mr. Rutte added.
Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis praised Mr. Trump for announcing the steps, but said the 50-day delay "worries" him.
He said he was concerned that "Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate a peace agreement after having murdered and potentially collected more ground as a basis for negotiation.
"So we should look at the current state of Ukraine today and say, no matter what you do over the next 50 days, any of your gains are off the table," he added.
Mr. Rutte said Europe would find the money to ensure Ukraine was in the best possible position in peace talks.
He said that under the agreement with Trump, the U.S. would now "massively" supply Ukraine with weapons "not just air defense, also missiles, also ammunition paid for by the Europeans."
Asked if long-range missiles for Ukraine were under discussion, Rutte said: "It is both defensive and offensive. So there's all kinds of weapons, but we have not discussed in detail yesterday with the president. This is really being worked through now by the Pentagon, by the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, together with the Ukrainians."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director
Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director

New Indian Express

time15 minutes ago

  • New Indian Express

Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director

WASHINGTON: The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a federal prosecutor in Manhattan who worked on the cases against Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. There was no specific reason given for her firing, according to one of the people. They spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Maurene Comey was a veteran lawyer in the Southern District of New York, long considered the most elite of the Justice Department's prosecution offices. Her cases included the sex trafficking prosecution of Epstein, who killed himself behind bars in 2019 as he was awaiting trial, and the recent case against Combs, which ended earlier this month with a mixed verdict. She didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday. It's the latest move by the Justice Department to fire lawyers without explanation, which has raised alarm over a disregard for civil service protections designed to prevent terminations for political reasons. The Justice Department has also fired a number of prosecutors who worked on cases that have provoked President Donald Trump's ire, including some who handled U.S. Capitol riot cases and lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of Trump. Maurene Comey was long seen as a potential target given her father's fraught relationship over the last decade with the Republican president. The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear. Most recently, she was the lead prosecutor among six female prosecutors in the sex trafficking and racketeering case against Combs. The failure to convict the hip-hop mogul of the main charges, while gaining a conviction on prostitution-related charges that will likely result in a prison sentence of just a few years, was viewed by some fellow lawyers as a rare defeat by prosecutors. But she was successful in numerous other prosecutions, most notably the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell on sex trafficking charges for helping financier Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. In that case, she delivered a rebuttal argument during closings, as she did in the Combs case.

U.S. Senate passes aid, public broadcasting cuts in victory for Trump
U.S. Senate passes aid, public broadcasting cuts in victory for Trump

The Hindu

time15 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

U.S. Senate passes aid, public broadcasting cuts in victory for Trump

The U.S. Senate, early on Thursday (July 17, 2025), approved U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for billions of dollars in cuts to funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, handing the Republican president another victory as he exerts control over Congress with little opposition. The Senate voted 51 to 48 in favor of Mr. Trump's request to cut $9 billion in spending already approved by Congress. Most of the cuts are to programs to assist foreign countries suffering from disease, war and natural disasters, but the plan also eliminates all $1.1 billion the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years. Mr. Trump and many of his fellow Republicans argue that spending on public broadcasting is an unnecessary expense and reject its news coverage as suffering from anti-right bias. Standalone rescissions packages have not passed in decades, with lawmakers reluctant to cede their constitutionally mandated control of spending. But Trump's Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in the Senate and House, have shown little appetite for resisting his policies since he began his second term in January. The $9 billion at stake is extremely small in the context of the $6.8 trillion federal budget, and represents only a tiny portion of all the funds approved by Congress that the Trump administration has held up while it has pursued sweeping cuts, many ordered by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. As of mid-June, Mr. Trump was blocking $425 billion in funding that had already been appropriated and previously approved by Congress, according to Democratic lawmakers tracking frozen funding. However, Mr. Trump and his supporters have promised more of the "rescission" requests to eliminate previously approved spending in what they say is an effort to pare back the federal government. The House of Representatives passed the rescissions legislation without altering Mr. Trump's request by 214-212 last month. Four Republicans joined 208 Democrats in voting no. But after a handful of Republican senators balked at the extent of the cuts to global health programs, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on Tuesday that PEPFAR, a global program to fight HIV/AIDS launched in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush, was being exempted. The change brought the size of the package of cuts to $9 billion from $9.4 billion, requiring another House vote before the measure can be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law. The rescissions must pass by Friday. Otherwise, the request would expire and the White House will be required to adhere to spending plans passed by Congress. Republican 'No' Votes Two of the Senate's 53 Republicans - Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine - joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. "You don't need to gut the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting," Ms. Murkowski said in a Senate speech. She said the Trump administration also had not provided assurances that battles against diseases such as malaria and polio worldwide would be maintained. Most of all, Murkowski said, Congress must assert its role in deciding how federal funds were spent. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota called Mr. Trump's request a "small, but important step toward fiscal sanity." Democrats scoffed at that, noting that congressional Republicans earlier this month passed a massive package of tax and spending cuts that nonpartisan analysts estimated would add more than $3 trillion to the nation's $36.2 trillion debt. Democrats charged Republicans with giving up Congress' Constitutionally-mandated control of federal spending. "Today, Senate Republicans turn this chamber into a subservient rubber stamp for the executive, at the behest of Donald Trump," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. "Republicans embrace the credo of cut, cut, cut now, and ask questions later," Mr. Schumer said. The cuts would overturn bipartisan spending agreements most recently passed in a full-year stopgap funding bill in March. Democrats warn a partisan cut now could make it more difficult to negotiate government funding bills that must pass with bipartisan agreement by September 30 to avoid a shutdown. Appropriations bills require 60 votes to move ahead in the Senate, but the rescissions package needs just 51, meaning Republicans can pass it without Democratic support.

DMK members walk out of DISHA review meet
DMK members walk out of DISHA review meet

The Hindu

time15 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

DMK members walk out of DISHA review meet

DMK legislators led by Leader of Opposition and party convenor R. Siva walked out of a meeting of the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committees (DISHA) held on Wednesday to review Centrally-Sponsored Schemes to protest against the administration's alleged lack of accountability in sharing details of various schemes. The meeting, chaired by V. Vaithilingam, MP and committee chair, had been convened to review CSS works that had been completed or in progress, across five departments — Smart City Mission, District Rural Development Agency, departments of Survey, Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare and Town and Country Planning. Mr. Siva, in a press statement later, said no satisfactory response was forthcoming when members of the DMK and the Congress sought details on the lapse of allocated funds and the abandonment of over 30 original proposed civic infrastructure projects under the Mission. The Leader of Opposition also flagged the corruption charges shrouding some Smart City projects. Condemning the absence of key officials at the meeting that turned the exercise into an 'eye-wash,' the DMK members, including Annibal Kennedy, R. Senthilkumar and L. Sambath, MLAs, staged a walk-out from the Collectorate hall. Among those who attended the meeting were S. Selvaganabathy, MP, M. Vaithianathan, Congress MLA, AKD Aroumougame, AINRC legislator and District Collector A. Kulothungan.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store