adviser

A federal grand jury in Maryland has indicted John Bolton, United States President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, over his handling of classified documents, charging him with retaining and transmitting national defence information.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Maryland on Thursday, charges Bolton with eight counts of transmission of national defence information and 10 counts of retention of national defence information, all in violation of the Espionage Act.

Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison if Bolton is convicted, but any sentence would be determined by a judge based on a range of factors.

Bolton’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement that his client “did not unlawfully share or store any information.”

Bolton served as US ambassador to the United Nations as well as White House national security adviser during Trump’s first term before emerging as one of the president’s most vocal critics. He described Trump as unfit to be president in a memoir he released last year.

The charges come two months after FBI agents searched Bolton’s home and office, seeking evidence of possible violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to remove, retain or transmit national defence records, according to partially unsealed search warrants filed in federal court.

In his Maryland home, agents seized two cellphones, documents in folders labelled “Trump I-IV” and a binder labelled “statements and reflections to Allied Strikes”, according to court documents.

In Bolton’s office, agents found records labelled “confidential”, including documents that referenced weapons of mass destruction, the US mission to the United Nations, and other materials related to the government’s strategic communications, according to court records.

The indictment levied Thursday alleges Bolton transmitted confidential information via personal email, used private messaging accounts to send sensitive documents that were classified as top secret and illegally retained intelligence documents in his home, according to the Department of Justice.

Bolton is accused of sharing more than 1,000 pages of information about government activities with relatives, according to the indictment.

The indictment says the notes Bolton shared with the two people included information he gleaned from meetings with senior government officials, discussions with foreign leaders, and intelligence briefings.

Prosecutors said a “cyber actor” tied to the Iranian government hacked Bolton’s personal email after he left government service and accessed classified information. A representative for Bolton told the government about the hack but did not report that he stored classified information in the email account, according to the indictment.

“These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career – records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021,” Bolton’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said in an emailed statement. “Like many public officials throughout history, Amb. Bolton kept diaries – that is not a crime.”

Trump, who campaigned for the presidency on a vow of retribution after facing a slew of legal woes once his first term in the White House ended in 2021, has dispensed with decades-long norms designed to insulate federal law enforcement from political pressures.

In recent months, he has actively pushed Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department to bring charges against his perceived adversaries, even driving out a prosecutor he deemed to be moving too slowly in doing so.

Asked by reporters at the White House about the Bolton indictment on Thursday, Trump said: “He’s a bad guy.”

Bolton served as national security adviser during Trump’s first term from 2018 to 2019. In that time, he clashed with the president over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea before getting fired in 2019.

He has subsequently criticised Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government, including in a 2020 book titled The Room Where it Happened, which portrayed the president as ill-informed on foreign policy.

The search warrant affidavit said a National Security Council official had reviewed the book manuscript and told Bolton in 2020 that it appeared to contain “significant amounts” of classified information, some at a top-secret level.

Earlier this month, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led a legal case against Trump over alleged fraud in his businesses, was charged with lying on a mortgage application, drawing accusations of political vindictiveness by the White House.

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted on September 25 on charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation, which he denies. Trump has feuded with Comey since the Russia investigation, which examined possible ties between Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Moscow.

The Justice Department has also launched investigations into US Senator Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Schiff and Cook have not been charged, and both reject any suggestion of wrongdoing.

Oct. 11 (UPI) — Former National Security adviser John Bolton might be charged with federal crimes next week for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

Federal prosecutors met on Saturday to weigh potential charges that would be filed in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, which is Bolton’s state of residence, according to CNN.

Bolton served as President Donald Trump‘s National Security adviser from April 9, 2018, to Sept. 10, 2019.

He has been under investigation for several years due to how he handled classified information, and Saturday’s meeting of federal prosecutors is to determine potential charges.

Bolton’s attorney Abbe Lowell dismissed claims that Bolton inappropriately handled classified documents, NBC News reported.

“An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Amb. Bolton,” Lowell said in a prepared statement and referring to Bolton’s former position as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

She said the files in Bolton’s possession had been reviewed and closed, and he intended to use them while writing a book.

“These are the kinds of ordinary records, many of which are 20 years old or more, that would be kept by a longtime career official who served at the State Department, as an assistant attorney general, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the National Security adviser,” Lowell said.

FBI agents in August searched Bolton’s home and his office in Washington as part of a national security investigation regarding classified documents.

Federal prosecutors are determining how they might pursue a federal grand jury indictment against him.

A grand jury indictment against Bolton would be the third secured by interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, whom Trump recently appointed after firing her predecessor for not pursuing such indictments.

Halligan recently obtained federal grand jury indictments against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress in 2020.

Earlier this week, she also obtained a grand jury indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged bank fraud related to the purchase of a home in Alexandria, Va.

William French Smith, Ronald Reagan’s personal lawyer and a key adviser who placed his conservative stamp on federal policy during his term as U.S. attorney general, died Monday in Los Angeles.

Smith, 73, died with his family at his bedside at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Center at County-USC Medical Center, where he had been admitted Oct. 2, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A corporate attorney and senior partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles’ largest law firm, Smith was an original member of the “kitchen cabinet” that helped guide Reagan from Hollywood to Sacramento and the White House.

As attorney general, Smith “brought talent, wisdom and the highest integrity to the Department of Justice,” Reagan said Monday. “Our nation was indeed fortunate to have a person of his excellence and patriotism in the cabinet. And we were made better as a country because of Bill’s work.

“More than a colleague, Bill was a valued and trusted friend and adviser. I often sought his wise counsel throughout my years in public life, and I was fortunate to have him at my side.”

As attorney general from 1981-85, Smith was a key architect of the Reagan Administration’s conservative shift on issues affecting domestic policy, including civil rights. While acknowledging that the Administration had been accused of “abandoning the federal civil rights effort,” he maintained that the Justice Department under his leadership vigorously enforced civil rights laws.

But more than half the lawyers in the Justice Department’s civil rights division signed a letter of protest after Smith reversed an 11-year-old policy that gave the Internal Revenue Service the power to deny tax exemptions to private schools.

Smith “served the United States with great distinction,” Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said.

U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, Smith’s former law partner and his chief of staff in the Justice Department, said Smith was “an immensely gifted lawyer with marvelous sound and wise judgment (who was) unfailingly kind and thoughtful. He was always willing to listen to people, to hear people out.

“It was one of the ironies of his tenure that it was characterized by such far-reaching and profound change in the direction of the federal legal system . . . done in a quintessentially quiet, prudent and lawyerlike fashion.”

After meeting Reagan in 1963, Smith became the future President’s personal lawyer, confidant and business adviser. He has been credited with engineering Reagan’s rise to wealth at a time when the former actor’s primary income was royalties from movies.

Smith, drug store magnate Justin Dart, auto dealer Holmes Tuttle and oil, entertainment and real estate entrepreneur Jack Wrather were among the group of California millionaires known as the “kitchen cabinet.”

They rallied to Reagan after hearing him give a nationally broadcast speech in support of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential candidacy. The group persuaded Reagan to run for California governor in 1966, and remained his most important political advisers and fund-raisers. Tuttle once remarked that during Reagan’s eight years in Sacramento, the group “never made a move” without first asking: “Has this been cleared with Bill Smith?”

Born Aug. 26, 1917, in Wilton, N.H., Smith was a direct descendant of Uriah Oakes, the fourth president of Harvard College. His father, who died when Smith was 6, was president of the Mexican Telephone and Telegraph Co., whose headquarters were in Boston.

Smith graduated summa cum laude from UC Berkeley in 1939 and earned his law degree at Harvard in 1942. After World War II duty as an officer in the Naval Reserve, Smith broke away from his New England roots and settled in California. He had decided, he said, that his life “wasn’t going to be dictated to by my ancestors.”

He joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1946 and eventually headed its labor department, where he represented the firms blue-chip corporate clients in collective bargaining negotiations.

In 1968, Reagan appointed Smith to the University of California Board of Regents, where he reflected the then-governor’s hard-line views toward Vietnam War protesters. He opposed demands that the university discontinue nuclear weapons research, and he resisted efforts to force the university to divest itself of stock in countries doing business in South Africa.

Fred Dutton, a former official in the John F. Kennedy Administration who served as a UC regent with Smith, said the former attorney general’s philosophy “is that a small central establishment of a few people who have proven successful should run the rest of our lives.”

But other liberals on the board credited Smith with being free of ideological rigidity and willing to listen to all sides of any argument.

Once at the helm in the Justice Department, Smith systematically set about dismantling policies that had been in place for a generation.

In 1981, he summarized the direction in which he was taking the department:

“We have firmly enforced the law that forbids federal employees from striking. We have opposed the distortion of the meaning of equal protection by courts that mandate counterproductive busing and quotas. We have helped to select appointees to the federal bench who understand the meaning of judicial restraint.”

One of those appointees–one he took great pride in recruiting–is Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Smith was president of the California Chamber of Commerce from 1974 to 1975. He was a director of Pacific Telephone & Telegraph of San Francisco, Crocker National Bank and Crocker National Corp., Pacific Mutual Life Insurance of Los Angeles, Pacific Lighting Corp., Jorgensen Steel Corp. and Pullman Inc. of Chicago.

Smith’s first marriage ended in divorce. In 1964 he married his second wife, Jean Webb. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Stephanie Smith Lorenzen; three sons, William, Scott and Gregory; a stepson, G. William Vaughan Jr.; a stepdaughter, Merry Vaughan Dunn, and seven grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

Oct. 1 (UPI) — Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will attend the Super Bowl’s halftime show featuring Bad Bunny.

Lewandowski, 52, appeared on “The Benny Show” podcast on Wednesday when he made his claim about ICE at the Super Bowl, according to The Hill.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said in response to a question from podcast host Benny Johnson.

“We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you,” he claimed.

Lewandowski was President Donald Trump‘s campaign manager in 2016 and a senior adviser in 2020 and 2024.

The Super Bowl is the only U.S. performance scheduled so far in 2026 for Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico and has won three Grammy Awards.

The popular rapper last month said he was skipping performing in the United States due to his fear that ICE would raid his concert venues, Variety reported.

Bad Bunny on Sunday affirmed he is skipping dates in the United States, other than the Super Bowl, next year, according to Billboard.

“I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States,” he posted on X.

The popular rapper has a world tour scheduled from December through July, but said concerns that ICE might show up at U.S. shows caused him to skip performing here.

The Super Bowl is scheduled at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

Sept. 15 (UPI) — Senate Republicans on Monday confirmed White House economic adviser Stephen Miran to join the Federal Reserve Board despite staunch Democratic concerns about his independence.

The Senate voted 48-47 mostly along party lines to narrowly approve Miran’s nomination to serve as governor on the Federal Reserve Board, an independent nonpartisan agency that has been targeted by the Trump administration as it seeks to consolidate federal government power.

He will fill the remainder of Adriana Kugler’s 14-year term, which is set to expire in January.

As one of seven Fed governors, Miran will be a key economic policymaker, voting on the country’s monetary policy, including U.S. interest rates, which President Donald Trump has been calling to be lowered for much of his second term.

Democrats have been in vocal opposition to Miran’s nomination, saying his appointment to the board would undermine its independence due to his loyalty to Trump and the fact that he will remain chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

“Stephen Miran isn’t being nominated to help families. He’s being put on the Fed to do Trump’s bidding,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, said in a statement defending his “no” vote.

“He’ll do whatever helps Trump politically and leave us all with higher prices and a bad job market.”

Republicans backed the nomination, with the GOP-led U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., saying it is “a win” for the American people.

“He brings deep experience, proven leadership and a clear commitment to ensuring the American economy remains strong and competitive. I am confident Dr. Miran will act in an independent manner,” Scott said in a statement.

The Senate took up the vote Monday after the Senate Banking Committee earlier in the day voted to advance Miran’s nomination for the seat left vacant by Kugler, a Biden nominee, who abruptly resigned.

Miran said during the committee hearing that he would take a leave of absence from his position at the White House while finishing the remainder of Kugler’s term. That unusual arrangement and Trump’s pressure campaign to get the Fed to lower interest rates has stoked concern about the independence of the central bank.

“You are going to be technically an employee of the president of the United States, but an independent member of the board of the Federal Reserve?” Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, said during the hearing. “That’s ridiculous.”

Miran said during the hearing that his thinking process would be independent while serving on the board. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., replied that they would hold him to that.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said in a recorded statement before the Senate vote that if Miran is confirmed he will call for him to resign as Trump’s chief economic advisor.

“He cannot have someone simultaneously working for the White House, working directly under Donald Trump, and sitting on the board of the Federal Reserve,” he said, adding that several of his Republican colleagues have told him that they are also “very uncomfortable” with arrangement.

“If he wants to go, he has to resign his position at the White House.”

The Fed is expected to begin discussions on interest rates Tuesday.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has been reluctant to lower the cost of borrowing despite sharp criticism and insults by Trump, who is viewed as seeking to undermine the central bank’s independence.

Trump has attempted to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, alleging she committed mortgage fraud. A judge earlier found the charge to be unfounded and ordered her to be reinstated.

Georgia Fowkes is a travel advisor who spends a lot of time in the UK and says there is one beach that is so special it gives her ‘goosebumps every single time’

A travel adviser has revealed the one UK beach that gives her goosebumps every time she visits. Georgia Fowkes, a travel advisor for Altezza Travel, which boasts a 5/5 rating on TripAdvisor with over 2,000 reviews, is an American based in Pittsburgh who frequently travels the globe and spends ample time with family in the UK.

She has declared Bamburgh beach in Northumberland as her personal favourite. “Bamburgh is the raw North in its purest form: endless sand with a castle rising straight out of the dunes”, she says. “You walk the shoreline and the dark fortress walls reflect in the wet sand, the sea stretching out like the castle’s extension.

“For me, Bamburgh is the best beach in Britain because it ties the vastness of the ocean to the weight of history. This isn’t just a holiday sea – it roars the same way it did centuries ago, when the castle walls faced the same waves I’m watching now. Standing there gives me goosebumps every single time.”

While Bamburgh Beach isn’t the only UK beach where a castle majestically overlooks the sea below, with other examples including Llansteffan and Harlech in Wales, as well as Tintagel in Cornwall, it still stands out as a unique feature of the UK coastline, boasting pristine sand, drifting sand dunes, and a magnificent view of the castle from almost every angle, reports the Express.

Bamburgh has been crowned the UK’s top seaside spot for five consecutive years, earning five-star reviews for its beach, seafront, scenery, and tranquil atmosphere.

One visitor to Bamburgh shared their love for the place with Which?, saying: “It’s a gem. The beaches are sandy, clean, and stretch for miles. There are walks galore, the food on offer is top-notch, the feel is of a time gone by, and there’s enough history to delve into to last several holidays.”

The castle, which boasts a history spanning 3,000 years, is now in the hands of Francis and Claire Watson-Armstrong.

“There is nowhere like Bamburgh. You can see dolphins, the sunsets, the sunrises. You just stand there and breathe in – the smell of the sea. It is unique. As it has been over the centuries, there is something about the soul of the place,” she expressed.

Despite the unpredictable British weather on the harsh North Sea coast, Bamburgh is increasingly becoming a worldwide attraction, drawing tourists from across the globe. It offers several dining and drinking options, including a seafood shack named Creel and Reel, the Victoria Hotel pub, and the Potted Lobster restaurant.

Georgia also mentioned Holkham beach in Norfolk as another favourite spot. She described: “Holkham is cinematic in scale. Dunes and a flat sweep of sand run to the horizon, so far you lose all sense of boundaries.

“It’s no surprise filmmakers chose it for Pride and Prejudice and Shakespeare in Love – standing here, you see why: the landscape itself looks like a film still. I’d call it England’s best beach because it turns a simple walk into a moment you want to hold on to. Empty yet majestic, it’s where sea, sky, and infinite sand shrink you down – but make you feel lucky to be part of the vast picture.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has searched the home of John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who later became a frequent critic.

News outlets reported on Friday that the raid was part of a national security probe into Bolton’s handling of classified information. Police cars were observed stationed outside Bolton’s home in the Washington, DC, suburb of Bethesda, Maryland.

“NO ONE is above the law,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post on Friday that did not explicitly refer to Bolton but noted that FBI agents were “on mission”.

Trump, meanwhile, denied having any knowledge of the raid on Bolton’s home.

“No, I don’t know about it. I saw it on television this morning,” Trump told reporters, before adding: “I’m not a fan of John Bolton. He’s a real sort of a lowlife.”

But the raid on Bolton’s home comes as the Trump administration steps up threats and probes against rivals and critics.

Bolton served as a hawkish foreign policy adviser during several Republican administrations, including Trump’s first term in office. He was also considered a strong advocate for the US invasion of Iraq during the administration of former President George W Bush.

Nowadays, however, he often appears on US news shows to criticise Trump and his policies. In his memoir, The Room Where It Happened, Bolton also offered a scathing assessment of his time in the Trump White House.

“He couldn’t tell the difference between his personal interests and the country’s interests,” Bolton wrote of Trump.

Trump, meanwhile, has criticised Bolton for his aggressive foreign policy stance. On Friday, he described Bolton as a menacing presence in meetings with foreign leaders.

“He really doesn’t talk. He’s quiet,” Trump said. “I’d walk into a room with him with a foreign country, and the foreign country would give me everything because they’d say, oh no, they’re going to get blown up because John Bolton’s there.”

The news agency Reuters reported that a spokesperson for the FBI had confirmed “court-authorised activity” on Friday in the area around Bolton’s home.

The Associated Press noted that Bolton was also seen on Friday in the lobby of a building where he works in Washington, DC. He was observed speaking with two people who had the label “FBI” on their vests.

The news agency said agents were then spotted taking bags into the building through the rear entrance.

This is not the first action the Trump administration has taken against Bolton. Trump cancelled Bolton’s security clearance in January, on his first day back in the White House.

Then, several days later, Trump revoked the security detail assigned to protect Bolton.

“I am disappointed but not surprised,” Bolton said at the time. For his part, Trump called Bolton a “very dumb person” and questioned why the former adviser would need government protection for the rest of his life.

This month, in an interview with ABC News, Bolton accused Trump of lashing out at his political rivals and leveraging the power of the government for punishment: “I think it is a retribution presidency.”

But on Friday, Trump repeatedly denied knowledge of the raid and credited his Department of Justice, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, with making such decisions.

“I tell Pam and I tell the group, I don’t want to know about this. You have to do what you have to do. I don’t want to know about it. It’s not necessary,” Trump said. “I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer. But I feel it’s better this way.”

He added that he expected to be briefed on the raid later in the day. He also took some swipes at Bolton.

“He’s not a smart guy. He could be a very unpatriotic guy. We’re going to find out,” Trump said.

Under Trump, the Department of Justice has also unveiled probes into a number of Trump critics, including Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud lawsuit against the president and his company, the Trump Organization.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Jack Smith, who led two federal investigations into Trump, faces a probe from the Office of the Special Counsel, based on Republican allegations that his inquiries amounted to illegal political activity under the Hatch Act.

Aug. 22 (UPI) — A former chief adviser to New York Mayor Eric Adams has been charged with accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in what the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office describes as “a wide-ranging series of bribery conspiracies.”

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, announced Thursday four separate indictments against Ingrid Lewis-Martin, charging her with four fourth-degree conspiracy counts and four second-degree counts of receiving bribes for perpetrating schemes that leveraged her former position in Adams’ office.

“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in classic bribery conspiracies that had a deep and wide-ranging impact on city government,” Bragg said in a statement.

“Hardworking city employees were undermined, businesses and developers who followed the law were pushed aside and the public was victimized by corruption at the highest levels of government.”

The charges add to an indictment filed against her in December over allegedly receiving more than $100,000 from real estate advisers in exchange for influencing the Department of Buildings in their favor.

Like the December indictment, two of the four unveiled Thursday also charge her adult son, Glenn Martin II.

Prosecutors alleged in one of the indictments that of the $75,000 in bribes Lewis-Martin was paid, $50,000 was received by her son in cash from a diverted New York City contract as well as benefits. She also allegedly received the benefit of an appearance on a TV show.

That indictment alleges the mother-son pair conspired to steer contracts for asylum seeker shelter sites to developer Tian Ji Li’s preferred property owners, with Li allegedly receiving 10% of each contract.

One such contract involving a New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation allegedly netted Li $1.2 million.

The indictment also accuses Lewis-Martin of fast-tracking city approvals for V Show, a karaoke bar being developed by Li.

The second indictment alleges Lewis-Martin conspired to have the city withdraw its approval for a Brooklyn street redesign involving protected bike lanes on behalf of the owners of Broadway Stages. In exchange, Lewis-Martin allegedly received $2,500 and $10,000 in catering services.

Lewis-Martin, Martin II and Jessie Hamilton, deputy commissioner for Real Estate Services, were charged in the third indictment for fast-tracking development projects and steering city contracts in exchange for home renovations.

The final indictment only charges Lewis-Martin. That scheme allegedly saw her obtain approval for a residential renovation project in exchange for thousands of dollars in catering services.

“As charged, Ingrid Lewis-Martin influenced city agency decision making in a wide range of areas, from construction to street design, to serve the interests of co-defendants who paid her bribes,” Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber of the Department of Investigation said in a statement.

Strauber said she has notified relevant agencies and requested their review of permits and design determinations mentioned in the indictments.

Lewis-Martin was initially arrested and charged amid upheaval in Adams’ office last year, as the mayor was under federal investigation that led to him being charged with conspiracy in September.

The charges, however, were dismissed in April after the Justice Department moved to drop the case.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says India’s purchases of Russian crude oil are funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine and have to stop, as Washington ramps up pressure on New Delhi to cut off its energy imports from Russia.

“India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Monday.

He added that India’s dependence on Russian crude is “opportunistic and deeply corrosive of the world’s efforts to isolate Putin’s war economy”.

India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China, and more than 30 percent of its fuel is sourced from Moscow, providing revenue to the Kremlin amid Western sanctions.

In the beginning of this month, United States President Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods over the issue, straining US-India ties.

In a speech on the occasion of India’s Independence Day on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck a defiant note, pledging to protect his country’s farmers in the face of high tariffs slapped by the Trump administration.

“Modi will stand like a wall against any policy that threatens their interests. India will never compromise when it comes to protecting the interests of our farmers,” he said.

India-Russia ties

India counts Russia among its closest defence partners, with the bulk of its weapons, including the S-400 missile defence system, sourced from Moscow. India has continued to maintain good ties with Russia, with Modi meeting Putin in Moscow amid the Ukraine war.

But New Delhi has been cultivating ties with Washington in the past decades, raising their relations to a strategic level. The two countries have annual bilateral trade of $128bn, but Trump has been pushing to lower the $45bn deficit in India’s favour.

The US also saw India as a bulwark against rising China, but the recent actions by the Trump administration seem to have pushed India to mend ties with its rival, China.

Indian Prime Minister Modi is set to travel to China at the end of the month, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is arriving in India on Monday on a two-day trip, for talks on the disputed border between the two countries.

In the opinion piece on Monday, the White House adviser pointed out that India is “cozying up” to Russia and China. “If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one,” Navarro wrote.

The adviser also said it was risky to transfer cutting-edge US military capabilities to India as New Delhi’s ties to China and Russia deepen.

Navarro is the second senior Trump administration official to accuse India of financing Russia’s war in Ukraine. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House, in the first week of August said that New Delhi’s purchase of Russia crude was “not acceptable”.

“What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” Miller, one of Trump’s most influential aides, said in an interview with Fox News.

‘Unfairly singled out’

India’s Foreign Ministry has said the country is being ‘unfairly’ singled out for buying Russian oil while the US and European Union continue to buy goods from Russia.

The EU and US trade much more with Russia than India does – New Delhi’s contention for being singled out – although this trade has dipped significantly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

According to the EU, its total trade with Russia was worth 67.5 billion euros ($77.9bn) in 2024, a fall from 257.5 billion euros ($297.4bn) in 2021.

The bloc also continues to buy Russian gas – $105.6bn for gas imports since the war began – an amount equivalent to 75 percent of Russia’s 2024 military budget, according to the Finnish think tank the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Total Russia-US trade in 2024, meanwhile, stood at $5.2bn, according to the US Trade Representative’s office – though significantly down from 2021, when it stood at $36bn.

India and the US have also been haggling for months to agree on a free trade agreement, with Trump accusing New Delhi of denying access to US goods by imposing high tariffs.

Meanwhile, a planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25 to 29 has been called off, a source told the Reuters news agency, delaying talks on a proposed trade agreement meant to be a relief from additional US tariffs on Indian goods.

Sunak’s appointment comes after resigning from the PM role last year after a loss to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party

Goldman Sachs has named former United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a senior adviser, adding a veteran policymaker to its roster as banks navigate rising geopolitical and regulatory uncertainty.

The investment bank announced Sunak’s appointment on Tuesday.

Sunak, who remains a Conservative member of parliament from a seat in northern England, previously worked at Goldman as an analyst in the early 2000s before joining a series of hedge funds.

Through a combination of his past career in financial services and the family wealth of his wife, whose father co-founded the Indian IT services company Infosys, Sunak became the wealthiest British prime minister, drawing criticism of being out of touch with most UK voters.

He has remained largely out of the spotlight since resigning as leader of the Conservatives after the party’s worst defeat in more than a century in July last year. He took up posts at Oxford and Stanford universities earlier this year.

Goldman’s hiring of Sunak, who had also served as the UK’s finance minister, adds to a long list of senior politicians taking up positions in finance, where their policy backgrounds and global networks are viewed as strategic assets.

“I am excited to welcome Rishi back to Goldman Sachs,” Goldman CEO David Solomon said in a statement. “In his role, he will work with leaders across the firm to advise our clients globally on a range of important topics, sharing his unique perspectives and insights on the macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape,” Solomon said.

Former British finance ministers George Osborne and Sajid Javid have also made the move to finance with Osborne holding positions at asset manager BlackRock and advisory firm Robey Warshaw and Javid becoming a partner at investment firm Centricus.

May 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump bid multi-billionaire Elon Musk farewell from his role as a senior adviser tasked with shrinking the government through program cuts and worker departures.

Musk, dressed in all black in a T-shirt, jacket, DOGE baseball cap and pants, appeared with Trump in the White House’s Oval Office, 130 days after beginning as a special government employee, including running the Department of Government Efficiency.

“Today, it’s about a man named Elon, and he’s one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” Trump told reporters about Musk, who is worth $421.2 billion, according to Forbes. “He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation, and we appreciate it.”

Then, a video by CNBC’s Joe Kernan and Rick Santelli was shown that praises the Trump administration.

Musk claims to have identified more than $160 billion in federal spending cuts since Trump entered office on Jan. 20. That includes 56,000 employees terminated and 34 taking buyouts. There are plans to dissolve the Department of Education and cut health programs despite Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy‘s goal to Make Amerca Healthy Again. The Department of Defense and Homeland Security aren’t facing as severe cuts.

Musk initially predicted he could cut $2 trillion from the nation’s roughly $6.8 trillion federal budget. Despite the much lower number, Musk said he believes the savings will reach $1 trillion.

“It’s just a lot of work going through the vast expenses of the federal government and just really asking questions,” Trump said.

Musk said the president wants him to still help out.

“Elon is really not leaving,” Trump said. “He’s going to be back and forth. It’s his baby.”

Musk, who personally spent $277 million to bring Trump back to the White House, announced his departure Wednesday on X, saying the DOGE “mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

During the public appearance with Trump, Musk said: “This is not the end, but the beginning. My role as a government employee has to end. It comes with a time limit.”

Musk said he will remain as an informal adviser and make trips to the White House. Plans are for him to maintain an office in the White House.

“The DOGE team is doing an incredible job and will continue to do an incredible job,” he said, noting most of the 100 workers will remain in government. “I look forward to being back in this room. Isn’t it incredible? “

He said loved the “gold in the ceiling” of the Oval Office.

Musk was presented with a special symbolic gold key to the White House.

Musk plans to focus more on his businesses: Tesla, SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI, which now includes X.

Musk told reporters last week that he had worked in Washington, D.C., on his DOGE initiative “seven days a week, or close to seven days a week” during Trump’s first 100 days in office. He frequently traveled on Air Force One with Trump to the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and recently to the Middle East.

This has meant less attention to his companies, including publicly held Tesla, the company that makes electric vehicles, solar panels/shingles and energy storage devices.

He said his efforts have been far more challenging than expected and DOGE had become “the whipping boy for everything.”

He also became at odds with Trump on Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package going through Congress.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS Sunday Morning. “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both.”

Later Friday Trump was to head to Pittsburgh to praise a partnership between iconic U.S. Steel and its Japanese rival, Nippon Steel.

SEOUL, May 26 (UPI) — Conservative South Korean presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo would ”proactively support” a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if elected, a key policy adviser said Monday.

Kim Hyung-suk, co-chair of the Unification and Foreign Affairs Committee of the candidate’s People Power Party, made the remark during a briefing with foreign media in downtown Seoul. South Korea’s presidential election will be held on June 3, with Kim trailing liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party in polls.

“If Mr. Trump seeks to re-engage with Kim Jong Un on talks of denuclearization [and] addressing peace and prosperity issues on the Korean Peninsula … [Kim Moon-soo] will proactively support the communication between the two,” Kim said.

“We [would] respect and highly approve of their communications,” he added.

The White House has not prioritized North Korea in its foreign policy agenda since Trump returned to office, but there has been speculation that the president may look to revive nuclear negotiations with Kim Jong Un.

During Trump’s first term, the two leaders held a pair of high-profile summits and met briefly a third time at the DMZ. The diplomatic outreach failed to result in a nuclear deal, however, and Pyongyang has accelerated the development of its weapons programs in the intervening years.

At the beginning of April, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that there has been communication with North Korea and that the two sides would “probably do something at some point.”

“I have a very good relationship with [Kim],” Trump said. “I think it’s very important. He’s a big nuclear nation and he’s a very smart guy.”

Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated dramatically in recent years, with Pyongyang officially designating the South a “hostile state” in a 2024 constitutional revision.

On Monday, Kim Hyung-suk said that a Kim Moon-soo administration would aim to “normalize inter-Korean relations” while maintaining Washington and Seoul’s longtime stance calling for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

“The Kim Moon-soo administration will consistently strive for a phased and actionable solution for the complete denuclearization of North Korea in close cooperation with the Trump administration,” he said.

The policy adviser added that Kim is eager to engage with North Korea and is making outreach plans with or without involvement from the Trump administration.

“As we know, President Trump is very busy these days due to a long list of different engagements internationally,” Kim said. “I don’t think we can wait years and years for the two to meet. In order to bring North Korea to the table, we are going to actively pursue communication, whether it be three-party or two-party.”

Kim’s opponent in the election, Lee Jae-myung, also voiced his support for engaging with North Korea while on the campaign trail Monday, but called the prospect of his own summit with Kim Jong Un “very difficult.”

Lee announced a campaign pledge on Monday to improve inter-Korean communications, including restoring a military hotline that North Korea has not responded to since 2023, but said that a face-to-face meeting with Kim would pose a challenge.

“It is something that should obviously be done, but I am not sure if it would be possible,” he told reporters at Ajou University in Suwon, south of Seoul. “It would be very difficult in the current situation.”

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada pledges to continue ‘relentless fight against insecurity’.

Two top aides to the mayor of Mexico City have been shot dead in the latest attack against public officials in the Latin American country.

Private secretary Ximena Guzman and adviser Jose Munoz were shot dead on Tuesday in an early morning ambush in the central neighbourhood of Moderna, city authorities said.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada condemned the killings and pledged to continue her administration’s “relentless fight against insecurity”.

“Investigating, clarifying and ensuring there is no impunity is our commitment,” Brugada said during a news conference.

Mexico has one of the highest murder rates on the planet, largely due to violence driven by drug cartels, but the capital is known for its relative security compared with the rest of the country.

Reporting from Mexico City, Al Jazeera’s John Holman said there had been 50 political murders in the country in the first three months of the year alone, though political killings are relatively rare in the capital.

“The reasons for this one are still unknown. But there are powerful criminal groups in the capital fighting for territory and control of lucrative rackets,” Holman said.

“Politicians can get in the way, as elsewhere in the country.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, a Brugada ally who previously served as the capital’s mayor, expressed condolences over the killings and said her government would ensure that “justice is served”.

“We express our solidarity and support for the families of these two individuals who have worked in our movement for a long time,” Sheinbaum said.

“We know them, we stand with their families, and we will give her [Brugada] all the support the city needs from the Mexican government.”

In 2020, Mexico City’s security chief, Omar Garcia Harfuch, survived an ambush by gunmen that killed two of his bodyguards and a bystander.