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Phil Goff, New Zealand's former High Commissioner to the UK, sacked for publicly questioning US President Donald Trump's understanding of history, has defended his comments. Goff stated his comments were prompted by the US President's «disgraceful bullying» of Ukraine and its president Volodymyr Zelensky, and the «untruthful statements» made by the Trump administration about Russia’s invasion. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters moved quickly to dismiss Goff, stating his position had become “untenable.” Goff, however, maintains he has no regrets and believes his actions will be viewed favorably in the future. Goff made the first comments about Trump during a live-streamed Q&A event with Finland Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on March 4. Referring to Winston Churchill’s 1938 speech to the House of Commons following the Munich Agreement, asking Valtonen, “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?” This question, according to Goff, arose from the “dismay” shared within the diplomatic community in London regarding Trump's stance on Ukraine. “As one untruthful statement followed another like something out of an Orwell novel, I increasingly felt that the lies needed to be called out," he had said.

Pappu Yadav, on Friday claimed that the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the JD(U) chief was not in a good mental state and that he was no longer in control of his party. «Nitish Kumar ji's mental state is not very good in the present time. In his party, 90 of leaders are against SC/ST but aligned to BJP...The day voting takes place in Bihar, on that day after 5pm, BJP will not need Nitish Kumar..JD(U) is not in the hands of Nitish ji now,» Yadav said. Yadav also criticised the ruling party at the Centre, «Just because they have the numbers, they are bypassing the constitution...Do they even have a single Muslim MP? Do they give tickets to even a single Muslim?.. They want to divert attention from real issues...The nation will not accept it and will give a befitting reply to them.» JD(U) leader Raju Nayyar today submitted his resignation from JD(U) after Waqf Amendment Bill is passed and supported in the Lok Sabha. He went on to express his deep disappointment with the party, stating, «I am deeply hurt by the JD(U) voting in favour of this black law, which oppresses Muslims.»

gems and jewellery industry, one of the country’s top export earners and a major source of employment, is staring at job losses after US President Donald Trump announced a 26% tariff on imports from India. The US is the sector’s largest market, and with demand expected to fall sharply, exporters fear that the move will put thousands of livelihoods at risk. In the last financial year (FY24), India exported about $33 billion worth of gems and jewellery, of which nearly $10 billion went to the US, according to official data. The new tariff would raise the current US import duty from around 6% to about 34%, making Indian products significantly more expensive for American buyers, said industry players. The Indian gems and jewellery sector is the country’s third-largest export to the US, after engineering and electronic goods. It employs millions of people, many of whom are involved in labour-intensive work such as diamond cutting, polishing, and jewellery crafting. India is also the global leader in diamond processing, handling about 90% of all cut and polished diamonds in the world.

Aadhaar number by December 31, 2025.

BEIJING — China's reaction to new U.S. tariffs will likely focus on domestic stimulus and strengthening ties with trading partners, according to analysts based in Greater China.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, upholding parliament's impeachment motion over his short-lived imposition of martial law last year that sparked the country's worst political crisis in decades. With Yoon's ouster, a presidential election is required to take place within 60 days, according to the country's constitution. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will continue to serve as acting president until the new president is inaugurated. The ruling caps months of political turmoil that have overshadowed efforts to deal with the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump at a time of slowing growth. Separately, 64-year-old Yoon faces a criminal trial on insurrection charges. The embattled leader became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested on January 15 but was released in March after a court cancelled his arrest warrant.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Leaders from Canada, Europe and China are threatening stiff countermeasures against the U.S. in response to President Trump’s surprisingly steep tariffs on nearly all imports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—In the final run-up to President Trump’s “Liberation Day" tariff announcement, aides were left with a difficult task. They were struggling to square the president’s seemingly contradictory goals for sweeping new duties.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) have reached a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture to operate Intel's chipmaking facilities, tech news outlet The Information reported on Thursday. The Trump administration reportedly initiated the talks between the two semiconductor giants in an effort to revitalize Intel, which has struggled with manufacturing setbacks in recent years. TSMC was set to take a 20% stake in the new company, The Information said.

The S&P 500 ended down almost 5% after U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs ignited fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession.

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carmey said that the country will impose a 25 per cent tariff on all US vehicle imports that do not comply with the free trade agreement. The Canadian PM further said that the revenue generated from these tariffs would be directed toward supporting the country's auto workers and the industry. Sharing a post on X on Thursday (local time), Carney said, «In response to President Trump's tariffs on our auto sector, Canada will impose a 25% tariff on all US vehicle imports that do not comply with our free trade agreement. All revenues from these tariffs will be used to support our Canadian auto workers and their industry.» «For US vehicles that comply with The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), Canada will also impose a 25% tariff on the content which is not from either Canada or Mexico. The revenue from those tariffs will also go directly to supporting Canada's auto workers and their industry,» the post added.

Rajya Sabha early Friday adopted a Statutory Resolution confirming the imposition of President's Rule in strife-torn Manipur with members across party lines supporting the decision. Even though opposition members slammed the Centre for its failure to restore law and order in the state and control violence, the government said it was making all efforts to bring normalcy in the state, asserting that its policy was not to impose President's Rule in states. Speaking at the end of the discussion on the resolution, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said a meeting between the two communities from Manipur is likely to take place in the national capital soon. Shah informed the House that two meetings between the communities had already taken place in Manipur while the House was in session. "...We are investing our efforts to bring peace back in Manipur. Thirteen meetings have happened. We brought up the subject late as meetings were going on. The next meeting is in the offing and the issue will see its resolution soon," the minister said. «The path to communication is open… We don't use this for political mileage,» Shah added.

Trump's expansive new tariffs reverse a decades-long global trend of lower trade barriers and are likely, economists say, to raise prices for Americans by thousands of dollars each year while sharply slowing the U.S. economy. The White House is gambling that other countries will also suffer enough pain that they will open up their economies to more American exports, leading to negotiations that would reduce the tariffs imposed Wednesday. Or, the White House hopes, companies will reverse their moves toward global supply chains and bring more production to the United States to avoid higher import taxes. How will Americans react? But a key question for the Trump administration will be how Americans react to the tariffs. If prices rise noticeably and jobs are lost, voters could turn against the duties and make it harder to keep them in place for the time needed to encourage companies to return to the U.S. The Yale Budget Lab estimates the Trump administration's tariffs would cost the average household $3,800 in higher prices this year. That includes the 10% universal tariff plus much higher tariffs on about 60 countries announced Wednesday, as well as previous import taxes on steel, aluminum and cars. Inflation could top 4% this year, from 2.8% currently, while the economy may barely grow, according to estimates by Nationwide Financial.

dollar index weakened to a six-month low of 101.5. The local unit opened weaker at 85.77, but gained during the day to end stronger, traders said. “The safe haven status of the dollar seems to be diminishing due to concerns about how trade policy may impact growth in the US,” a trader in a private bank said. The weakness helped strengthen the rupee, he said.

Rajya Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 on Friday with 128 members voting in favour and 95 against it. With the Lok Sabha having already passed the Bill on Wednesday, it is set to become law after the approval of the President of India. The debate on the Bill was marred by frequent heated exchanges between the Treasury and the Opposition benches. In a House with total strength of 236, members present were 223 during voting. After all amendments moved by Opposition members were negatived, the Bill was passed at 2:33 am. In his introductory remarks during the debate on the Bill, Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Bill aims to bring transparency and accountability in the Waqf Boards. “Some people have said this Bill is aimed at harming Muslims and is unconstitutional. I want to dismiss these charges…We do not want to hurt anybody’s sentiments,” he said. The minister emphasized that there is no attempt to interfere in the religious practices of Muslims. Appealing to the Opposition to not engage in politics and rhetoric during the debate, Rijiju said the Narendra Modi government has shown the courage to carry out what Congress and other parties could not in the past. He reiterated his words that Waqf properties worth thousands of crores were not bringing any substantial benefits to the Muslims. If these properties are used well, they would benefit the poor Muslims and women, he added.

Information Technology stocks slumped by as much as 10% on Thursday amid renewed inflation concerns in the US, following President Donald Trump's announcement of long-anticipated reciprocal tariffs. The Nifty IT index tumbled 4.2% — the biggest loser among sector indices. Shares of Persistent Systems plunged 10%, while Coforge dropped nearly 8%. TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Mphasis, LTIMindtree, and HCL Technologies declined between 3% and 4%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s stock markets have managed to stabilise from lower levels as the scare created by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs seemed to be receding. A stock-specific action continued to dominate the proceedings as Indian markets attempted to decode the impact created by the global cues.

Rajya Sabha gave its approval, following 12 hours-long debate over the proposed legislation. The bill, which seeks to improve the administration and management of waqf properties in India, was passed with 128 votes in favour of the bill, as against 95. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill with a 288-232 vote in the wee hours of Thursday after nearly 12 hours of debate. Tabling the Bill in the Upper House, which was examined and redrafted by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), Rijiju said the proposed legislation has nothing to do with religion, but deals only with properties. The Bill aims to include all the Muslims sects in the Waqf board, Rijiju said. The government proposes to rename the Waqf Bill as Unified Waqf Management Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Bill. The bill was earlier presented in the Lok Sabha in August of last year and a Joint Parliamentary Committee, headed by BJP member Jagdambika Pal, examined it.

Business of word play- Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday spoke about the government's attempt to revive BSNL. After he completed his reply during question hour in the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said that BSNL now means 'Bhai Sahab Nishchit Lagega' while in the past people used to criticise BSNL for poor connection by mocking it as 'Bhai Sahab Nahi Lagega'. Happy about screen time- Sansad TV’s decision to show the presiding officer and the MP speaking at the moment in a split frame on the screen has made panellists chairing the proceedings happy. While the initial reaction was that this has been done to give more footage to the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker, the panellists are delighted as they get more visibility in the few minutes that they get to preside over the proceedings. People from their constituency and the state concerned see the panellists almost throughout the period they chair the proceedings.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariff plan comes with a “fallback” for free trade partners Canada and Mexico if a national emergency declaration on border controls and fentanyl used in February to justify 25 per cent tariffs on them doesn’t hold up. 

United States President Donald Trump Wednesday imposed reciprocal global tariffs on the trading partners that sent shock waves around the world and markets plunging.