HYDERABAD: Indian authorities have cleared beggars off the streets and brought in 10,000 extra security forces for Ivanka Trump’s biggest foreign mission since her father became president.
President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter is to be the key speaker Tuesday at the opening of a three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad alongside India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The southern city is home to the India operations of Google, Facebook and Amazon.
The 36-year-old, who is an official White House adviser, will seek to press women’s empowerment in business.
She will also underline the growing friendship between the United States and India — so the host country is taking no chances.
Trump will be greeted in Hyderabad by Modi who will host a gala dinner at the Falaknuma Palace, a luxury hotel once owned by one of the nizams who ruled the city before India’s independence.
Authorities have spruced up an open-air market around Charminar, a 16th century mosque that is one of the city’s icons. Media reports have suggested that Trump could visit the market.
Police have cleared hundreds of beggars off the streets, saying they cause nuisance and obstruct traffic.
More than 10,000 security personnel including anti-terrorist forces and dog squads will be deployed, and Trump will travel around Hyderabad in her own special bullet proof vehicle with US Secret Service taking care of close security.
The visit has been clouded by US media reports questioning Trump’s clothing line and its supply chain as well as a snub by Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, who has reportedly refused to send senior staff with Trump to India.
“They won’t send someone senior because they don’t want to bolster Ivanka,” CNN quoted a senior State Department official as saying.
But US business leaders will be in the Trump delegation joining more than 1,200 entrepreneurs from 150 countries at the meeting.
“Entrepreneurship... is a key priority for this administration. The US recognizes innovation and entrepreneurship as essential tools for job creation, economic growth, and stability...” Trump said ahead of the visit.
“Globally, between 2014 and 2016, entrepreneurship activity among women increased by 10 percent. One study estimates that closing the gender entrepreneurship gap worldwide could grow our global GDP by as much as two percent.”
Trump’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or We-Fi, aims to boost access to business capital for women in the developing world.
According to Trump, women-owned businesses in the developing world suffer an annual credit deficit of $300 billion, either by being unable to borrow or receiving only high-cost, short-term credit.
The We-Fi was first proposed at the G20 summit in Hamburg this year and is supported by Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other countries.
India takes no chances for Ivanka Trump visit
India takes no chances for Ivanka Trump visit
Chinese foreign minister calls on Global South to safeguard multilateral trade
- Wang said the world is again at a critical crossroads
In a written speech to a roundtable meeting in Beijing on Thursday and referred to in the statement, Wang said the world is again at a critical crossroads, urging countries to oppose “unilateral protectionism” and build an open world economy. (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Tom Hogue)
US YouTuber remains in custody in India after visiting restricted island with a Diet Coke can
- Polyakov is suspected of violating Indian laws that carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine
NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old American YouTuber who was arrested after visiting an off-limits island in the Indian Ocean with hopes of establishing contact with a reclusive tribe was further detained in custody on Thursday.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov will next appear before a local court in Port Blair — the capital of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands — on April 29, police said.
Polyakov, from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested on March 31, two days after he set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island in a bid to meet people from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe.
He left a can of Diet Coke and a coconut as offering for the tribe this time after he failed to contact the Sentinelese. He shot a video of the island on his camera and collected some sand samples before returning to his boat.
“It may be claimed to be an adventure trip, but the fact is that there has been a violation of Indian laws. Outsiders meeting Sentinelese could endanger the tribe’s survival,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity as he isn’t authorized to speak about the case under investigation.
Polyakov is suspected of violating Indian laws that carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine.
Visitors are banned from traveling within 3 miles of North Sentinel Island, whose population has been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. The inhabitants use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who lands onto their beaches.
In 2018, an American missionary who landed illegally on the beach was killed by North Sentinelese Islanders who apparently shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach. In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two fishermen who had accidentally landed on the shore.
An official from the US consulate visited Polyakov in jail earlier this week. “We take our commitment to assist US citizens abroad seriously and are monitoring the situation,” the US Embassy in New Delhi said in a statement, while declining to divulge further details due to privacy considerations.
Police said Polyakov had conducted detailed research on sea conditions, tides and accessibility to the island before starting his journey. He stayed on the beach for about an hour, blowing a whistle to attract attention but got no response from the islanders.
On his return he was spotted by local fishermen, who informed the authorities and Polyakov was arrested in Port Blair, an archipelago nearly 750 miles east of India’s mainland.
France hails ‘positive process’ as Europe, US discuss Ukraine ceasefire
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressed a US peace plan during the discussions in Paris
- Russian strikes overnight Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens of others in the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy
Paris: France said talks Thursday between top US and European officials on the war in Ukraine had launched a “positive process,” as Europe seeks to be included in efforts to end the three-year-old conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio again pressed a US peace plan during the discussions in Paris.
The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio, US envoy Steve Witkoff, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, German officials and Ukrainian ministers.
They took place as US President Donald Trump’s push to end the war stumbles, with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rebuffing a complete truce.
“Today in Paris, we launched a positive process in which the Europeans are involved,” the French presidency said.
A new meeting of envoys from the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Ukraine will take place next week in London, it added.
Rubio later called Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the Paris meeting.
“President Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace,” Rubio told his Russian counterpart, according to the US State Department.
“The encouraging reception in Paris to the US framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement,” he added.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said Lavrov “reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to continue collaborative efforts with American counterparts to comprehensively address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Lavrov and Rubio agreed on the need to maintain “prompt communication channels,” in light of the London meeting next week, the statement said.
’Europeans at the table’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has clashed with Trump, praised the talks, saying it was important to work toward “real security” in Europe.
Posting on Telegram, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Friday thanked Macron “for your efforts in the process of achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov however dismissed the Paris meeting, saying earlier that Europeans seemed to have “a focus on continuing the war.”
France and Britain have sought a coordinated European response to defending Ukraine, during the conflict and in any ceasefire, after Trump shocked them by opening talks with Russia.
Macron said the Paris talks were “a very important occasion for convergence,” as everybody wanted “a robust and sustainable peace.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters the talks had made a breakthrough because the United States, Ukraine, and European ministers had “gathered around the same table” when Europe had previously feared it would be excluded from decision-making.
The United States “has understood that a just and sustainable peace ... can only be achieved with the consent and contribution of Europeans,” he added later on LCI television.
Two dead in fresh strikes
Russia’s strikes, which have recently killed dozens of people including children in Ukrainian cities, have increased pressure for new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Russian strikes overnight Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens of others in the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, local and regional authorities said Friday.
Zelensky earlier accused Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.
“I believe that Mr.Witkoff has taken on the strategy of the Russian side,” Zelensky told reporters.
“It is very dangerous, because he is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives.”
Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to “permanent peace” after talks with the Kremlin chief in Saint Petersburg, their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Putin last month rejected a US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire, after Kyiv gave its backing to the idea.
He also suggested Zelensky be removed from office, sparking an angry response from Trump who said he was “very angry” with the Russian leader.
France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu held talks in Washington on Thursday with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who called on France to boost military spending, a Pentagon spokesman said.
“The secretary urged France to increase defense spending and, alongside other NATO allies, take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense,” the spokesman said.
US ambassador to Japan ‘extremely optimistic’ about trade deal
- Japanese companies are the biggest investors into the United States
- US President Donald Trump also imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on Japan of 24 percent
Tokyo: The new US ambassador to Japan said Friday he was “extremely optimistic” that the two countries will agree a trade deal, after Tokyo’s envoy held talks in Washington.
“I’ve met now with most of the principals who are in the room and doing the negotiating and talking this through. And I’m extremely optimistic that a deal will get done,” George Glass told reporters.
“We have two very sophisticated economies that are very successful, and they are two of the top five economies of the world,” he said at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
“And we have the best and the brightest from Japan there doing the negotiations. We have the best and brightest from the United States.
“The secretary of Treasury, the secretary of commerce are both people that I know and have spoken with and are brilliant in their fields,” he said.
“And when I saw that President Trump then decided he was going to get involved and has now named this his top priority, that’s why I have a lot of confidence that we’ll get something done,” Glass said.
Japanese companies are the biggest investors into the United States and Japan is a vital strategic ally for Washington in the Asia-Pacific region.
But Japan is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed by Trump on most countries as well as painful steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminum.
US President Donald Trump also imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on Japan of 24 percent, although these have been paused for 90 days along with those on other countries except China.
Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa met Trump on Wednesday and held talks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
There was no immediate breakthrough, although the next round of negotiations is scheduled before the end of the month.
Prime Minister Carney says Trump’s trade war will lead to lower trade barriers within Canada
- Carney has set a goal of free trade within the country’s 10 provinces and three territories. Canada has long had interprovincial trade barriers
- Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism
TORONTO: Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday eliminating trade barriers within Canada would benefit Canadians far more than US President Donald Trump can ever take away with his trade war as he made his case to retain power at the last debate ahead of the April 28 vote.
Carney has set a goal of free trade within the country’s 10 provinces and three territories by July 1. Canada has long had interprovincial trade barriers.
“We can give ourselves far more than Donald Trump can ever take away,” Carney said “We can have one economy. This is within our grasp.”
Carney said the relationship Canada has had with the US for the past 40 years has fundamentally changed because of Trump’s tariffs. If reelected Carney plans to immediately enter into trade walks with the Trump administration.
Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has bolstered Liberal Party poll numbers.
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is imploring Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth term. He hoped to make the election a referendum on Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.
But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became Liberal party leader and prime minister last month after a party leadership race.
“It maybe difficult, Mr. Poilievre, you spent years running against Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax and they are both gone,” Carney said. “I am a very different person than Justin Trudeau.”
Public opinion has changed. In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47 percent to 20 percent. In the latest Nanos poll released Thursday, the Liberals led by 5 percentage points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points while the latest poll had a 2.7-point margin.
“We can’t afford a fourth Liberal term of rising housing costs,” Poilievre said.
Poilievre accused Carney’s Liberals of being hostile toward Canada’s energy sector and pipelines. He accused the Liberals of weakening the economy and vowed that a Conservative government would repeal “anti-energy laws, red tape and high taxes.”
