Red Storm Rising? Russia-China Drills Spark Fears As Trump Moves U.S. Subs Into Strike Zones
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
15 minutes ago
- Mint
US-led international authority to govern Gaza if Hamas meets ceasefire demands, release hostages: Report
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in the advanced stages of negotiating a new ceasefire and hostage release proposal aimed at ending the war in Gaza, The Jerusalem Post reported citing Israeli broadcaster N12. The proposed deal would require Hamas to immediately release all hostages and disarm. If the group agrees, the United States would lead an international administration to govern the Gaza Strip, the report said. 'We have a very, very good plan that we're working on collectively with the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu … for the reconstruction of Gaza. That effectively means the end of the war,' said Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, during a meeting with the families of Israeli hostages, according to a recording reviewed by Reuters. As part of the proposed deal, Trump would authorise Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to act with full force in Gaza should Hamas reject the terms. According to N12, the ultimatum makes clear that failure by Hamas to meet the conditions would result in intensified Israeli military operations in the enclave, with US backing. The reported breakthrough in negotiations comes as Gaza terror groups released disturbing footage of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, both appearing severely malnourished. The videos, widely circulated on Saturday, have sparked renewed outrage in Israel. 'We know from testimonies of freed hostages and from the information we have today that the hostages' captors do not appear this way,' a senior Israeli official was quoted as saying. 'This is deliberate starvation not only to abuse the hostages themselves but to torment their families and the public,' the official added. Trump previously indicated a willingness to take a more assertive role in Gaza. During a state visit to Qatar in May, he suggested the United States should "take control of the Gaza Strip, deal with Hamas, and turn it into a freedom zone." The President has made the resolution of the Gaza conflict a high-profile diplomatic priority as he returns to international negotiations during his second term. Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas recently collapsed. Talks had aimed at achieving a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half of the remaining Israeli hostages but ended in deadlock last week. Meanwhile, pressure continues to mount on the Israeli government over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the fate of remaining hostages.
India Today
15 minutes ago
- India Today
White House officials defend Trump's firing of BLS chief over job data shake-up
Donald Trump administration's top economic advisers on Sunday stood by the US president's decision to fire Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), amid increasing criticism that the move could erode confidence in official US economic to CBS' Face the Nation, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the president had "real concerns" over the reliability of employment figures released by the BLS. Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News that the decision is president is right to call for new leadership," Hassett said. "I think what we need is a fresh set of eyes at the BLS, somebody who can clean this thing up." At the centre of the controversy is the BLS report issued Friday, which revised previous job growth estimates downward. The report showed that 258,000 fewer jobs were created in May and June than initially ACCUSES BLS OF FAKING JOB NUMBERSPresident Trump accused McEntarfer of "faking the jobs numbers," although he has not provided any evidence to support the claim of data Bureau of Labor Statistics plays a critical role in shaping economic policy, compiling monthly employment data along with consumer and producer price the statement, the BLS attributed the downward revisions to routine updates: "Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors."McEntarfer responded to her dismissal in a post on the Bluesky social media platform, calling it "the honour of her life" to serve as BLS commissioner. She also praised the civil servants at the economists and former government officials raised alarms over the firing, warning that it could damage the credibility of the country's statistical agencies. Former BLS Commissioner William Beach, now co-chair of the advocacy group Friends of the BLS, called Trump's action "deeply troubling.""It undermines credibility," Beach said on CNN's State of the Union. "There is no way for a commissioner to rig the jobs numbers. These numbers get revised every year. During Trump's first term, we had a 500,000 job revision, and that was normal."Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton and economic adviser to President Obama, also weighed in."This is a preposterous charge," Summers said on ABC's This Week. "These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals. The idea that one person could manipulate this is absurd."JOB NUMBERS SLASHED BY 125,000According to news agency Reuters, behind every job report are thousands of business owners, payroll officers, and civil servants trying to paint an accurate picture of the economy. Each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reaches out to around 121,000 employers -- from local shops to federal agencies -- asking how many people they had on their payrolls during a specific not everyone answers right away. Some responses arrive late, and others require follow-ups. That's why the BLS regularly revises its numbers over the next two months, aiming for a fuller, more precise snapshot. By the third month, the response rate usually improves to around 92%.Still, the latest revision stood out. On Friday, the agency slashed its earlier estimate for May by 125,000 jobs — a drop that ranks amongst the largest in the past four decades. According to BLS data, outside the extreme disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the biggest downward revision from a second to a third estimate since March 1983.- EndsTune InTrending Reel
NDTV
29 minutes ago
- NDTV
Who Is Dmitry Medvedev, The Russian War Hawk Who Got Under Trump's Skin?
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has become embroiled in a tense back-and-forth on social media that prompted US President Donald Trump to announce he had ordered the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines. Who is Medvedev, what is his track record, and how influential is he? PRESIDENT WHO BRIEFLY RAISED HOPES IN THE WEST Medvedev was elected Russian president in 2008 when Vladimir Putin, having served two terms, was barred from standing again under the law in force at that time. Medvedev ran the Kremlin for four years, with Putin as his prime minister, but widely assumed by analysts in Russia and the West to be still calling the shots, before the two swapped places after the 2012 election - a political manoeuvre that provoked opposition protests. Medvedev, the son of two university professors, had studied law and worked for a time in the private sector. Short in height and quietly spoken, he was described by contemporaries as cultured and intelligent. But president, he was seen initially in the West as a potential moderniser and reformer, prepared to work to thaw relations with the United States. In 2009, he signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with President Barack Obama. But Medvedev's presidency also saw Russia fight a brief war with its neighbour Georgia in 2008, and he failed to achieve his stated goals of tackling pervasive corruption, improving the rule of law in Russia, strengthening the role of civil society and rebalancing the economy to reduce its over-reliance on oil and gas production. AFTER THE KREMLIN Medvedev served as Putin's prime minister for eight years in a period in which tensions with the West escalated anew, particularly over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. But his political fortunes took a dive when he was removed in January 2020 and replaced by Mikhail Mishustin, who has held the post ever since. Medvedev was shunted into a new role as deputy chairman of the Security Council, a powerful body that includes the heads of Russia's intelligence services. WAR CHEERLEADER After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Medvedev carved out a new role for himself as an arch-hawk and full-throated champion of the war, hurling aggressive rhetoric at Kyiv and the West and warning repeatedly of the risk of a nuclear "apocalypse". In May 2024, he said it would be a "fatal mistake" on the part of the West to think that Russia was not ready to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine. He also spoke of the potential to strike unnamed hostile countries with strategic nuclear weapons. His statements - including personal attacks on foreign leaders - were frequently designed to shock, insult and provoke. He referred to Ukrainians as "cockroaches", in language Kyiv condemned as openly genocidal, and called President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a criminal, a drug addict, a louse, a rat and a freak. In January 2023, he accused Japan's prime minister of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself. Russian opposition figures have dismissed Medvedev's outpourings as sad, impotent rants. However, some Western diplomats say they give a flavour of the thinking in Kremlin policy-making circles. Until now, they have rarely provoked a direct response from Western leaders. SPAT WITH TRUMP That changed last month when Trump rebuked Medvedev and accused him of throwing around the "N" word after the Russian criticised US air strikes on Iran and said "several countries" were ready to supply Iran with nuclear warheads. When Trump imposed a deadline on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine or face further sanctions, including on buyers of its exports, Medvedev accused him of playing a "game of ultimatums" and moving a step closer to war between Russia and the US. Trump retorted: "Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words. He's entering very dangerous territory!" Medvedev waded in again last Thursday, saying Trump's "nervous reaction" showed Russia was on the right course and referring again to Moscow's nuclear capabilities. Trump delivered his statement the following day on posting US nuclear submarines in "the appropriate regions", since Medvedev has not posted again.
