Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates appeared to back out of giving a keynote address at an AI summit in India on Thursday as fresh questions circle about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates was scheduled to address the AI Summit in India on behalf of his nonprofit, the Gates Foundation, that he launched with his now ex-wife, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/business/bill-gates-epstein-india-ai-summit.html">The New York Times</a>.
“After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not be delivering his keynote address. The Gates Foundation will be represented by Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Offices, who will speak later today at the Summit,” the Gates Foundation said in a <a href="https://x.com/BMGFIndia/status/2024316125400748512">statement</a> on Thursday.
“The Gates Foundation remains fully committed to our work in India to advance our shared health and development goals,” it added.
Gates’ relationship with the late, disgraced financier Epstein, convicted in 2008 of sex crimes involving a minor, was revealed after Epstein died by suicide in his cell in a New York correctional facility in 2019. But the full extent of Gates’ relationship with Epstein, which lasted for years after Epstein’s conviction, is still unknown. Gates has since called his interactions with Epstein a “mistake.”
More questions were raised about Gates’ involvement with Epstein in the latest tranche of Epstein files released to the public last month. In the hundreds of thousands of pages of messages and other information, emails that Epstein wrote to himself say that the financier helped Gates acquire medication “in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls.”
Gates has dismissed the claim.
“These claims — from a proven, disgruntled liar — are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” a Gates representative has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/us/bill-gates-epstein.html">said</a>.
Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda, divorced in 2021 for reasons that in part included Gates’ past relationship with Epstein. On Epstein’s message suggesting Gates was involved in extramarital relationships, Melinda Gates did not deny the allegations.
“For me, it&#8217;s personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage,” she <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/02/03/nx-s1-5697080/melinda-french-gates-reacts-to-ex-husband-bill-gates-being-mentioned-in-epstein-files">said</a> on an NPR podcast earlier this month.
“Whatever questions remain there of what — I can&#8217;t even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband,” she added. “They need to answer to those things, not me.”

Bill Gates

Bill Gates Drops Out Of Keynote Speech Last Minute As Epstein Rumors Swirl

General

India

Jeffrey Epstein

World

President Donald Trump said that India would no longer buy Russian oil and instead purchase from America and “potentially” Venezuela. 
Trump said he reached a trade deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a wide-ranging phone call Monday morning. The president <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-modi-has-assured-him-india-will-not-buy-russian-oil?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump%3A+India+Will+Stop+Buying+Russian+Oil+Until+Ukraine+War+Ends">first said</a> India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil last October, but no deal was formalized at the time. 
“We spoke about many things, including Trade, and ending the War with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116002095109616255">wrote</a> on Truth Social. “This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week!”
After the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump said that the United States would take over Venezuela&#8217;s oil industry and rebuild its oil fields. He said that American companies will invest billions into Venezuela as part of the takeover.
As part of the deal, Trump added that tariffs on India would be lowered from 25% to 18%. 
“Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%,” Trump continued. “They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO.”
Trump said that Modi committed to purchasing more American products, including over $500 billion of energy, tech, and agricultural products. 
“Our amazing relationship with India will be even stronger going forward. Prime Minister Modi and I are two people that GET THINGS DONE, something that cannot be said for most,” Trump said. 
Since last fall, Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-doubles-tariff-on-india-for-fueling-russian-war-machine?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Doubles+Tariff+On+India+For+Fueling+‘Russian+War+Machine’">been pressuring</a> India to stop buying oil from Russia, accusing the country of funding the war with Ukraine. 
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” Trump said in August. “Because of this, I will be substantially raising the tariff paid by India to the USA.”
After the war with Ukraine started in 2022, India became the largest importer of Russian seaborne crude oil, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-asks-refiners-weekly-russian-oil-import-data-it-seeks-us-trade-deal-2026-01-02/">reported</a>. In 2025, about 35% of oil imported into India came from Russia.

TOPSHOT-US-INDIA-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-MODI

Trump Says India Will Drop Russian Oil, Shift To The U.S. And ‘Potentially’ Venezuela

Trump Says India Will No Longer Buy Russian Oil, Will 'Potentially' Turn To Venezuela

Donald Trump

Venezuela

Two illegal immigrant truckers from India were arrested Saturday for allegedly hauling 309 pounds of cocaine inside a semi-truck they were driving through Putnam County, Indiana, The Daily Wire has learned.
Gurpreet Singh, 25, and Jasveer Singh, 30, were driving from Joplin, Missouri, when they were pulled over by Indiana State Troopers, who observed that their truck was drifting, <a href="https://x.com/angelaganote/status/2008194673597124716" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to FOX59. The troopers brought in a drug-sniffing K9, who helped them locate 140-kilogram packages containing approximately 309 pounds of cocaine that were concealed in the truck&#8217;s sleeper berth.
The cache of drugs is worth an estimated $7 million, according to reports.
During the traffic stop, the illegal immigrant pair presented the troopers with their California-issued commercial driver&#8217;s licenses.
In a statement shared with The Daily Wire, the Department of Homeland Security blamed Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the alleged drug smuggling attempt.
“Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s reckless policies, these two criminal illegal aliens were granted commercial licenses by the state of California and were arrested for trafficking a whopping 300 pounds of cocaine inside a semi-truck,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire.
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“Gavin Newsom and his fellow sanctuary politicians even refused to honor an arrest detainer on one of these criminal illegal aliens in December. Sanctuary policies put American lives at risk. ICE law enforcement lodged arrest detainers to ensure these drug traffickers are not allowed back into American communities,&#8221; she said.
Gurpreet Singh crossed the southern border illegally on March 11, 2023, near Lukeville, Arizona, and was released into the country under the Biden administration, DHS told The Daily Wire.
Jasveer Singh crossed the border illegally on March 21, 2017, near Otay Mesa, California. He was arrested in December 2025 in San Bernardino for allegedly receiving stolen property, but was released after sanctuary authorities in California refused to honor a federal immigration detainer.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since filed detainers with local authorities to ensure that they&#8217;re handed over for deportation rather than eventually released onto the streets after their latest alleged crimes, according to DHS.
During his latest encounter with police, Jasveer said he was employed as a truck driver, but that he hitched a ride with a different carrier for the latest trip, according to FOX59. He said he was instructed to haul an empty tractor-trailer to an Indian restaurant near Richmond, Indiana, to eat food and wait for his cargo load to arrive.
Meanwhile, Gurpreet said he hitched a ride from California to Joplin in a different truck before he met up with Jasveer as they headed to the same Indian restaurant, the outlet reported.
Jasveer also said that the truck lacked the required Electronic Logging Device that ensures drivers aren&#8217;t on the roads for longer than what is considered safe, according to FOX59.
The Trump administration has heavily scrutinized Newsom as it investigates the issuance of commercial driver&#8217;s licenses across the country to illegal immigrants following a string of fatal collisions.
California recently announced that it would delay its effort to cancel thousands of commercial driver&#8217;s licenses issued to foreign drivers.
The Trump administration instructed California to get it done by Jan. 5, threatening to withhold $160 million in federal funding if the state failed to make the deadline.
Newsom responded, saying their delay was a result of &#8220;federal mismanagement.&#8221;
&#8220;YOUR staff told CA DMV they were open to an extension 8 days ago. In fact, FMCSA agreed an extension made logistical sense and was reasonable (in a meeting on Dec. 18)! DMV relied on that guidance and acted accordingly,&#8221; Newsom wrote in a Dec. 31 X post.
&#8220;Only after the plan became public did your agency suddenly object,&#8221; he wrote.

Untitled design – 2026-01-05T153203.397

Illegal Immigrants Caught Hauling 300 Pounds Of Cocaine In Semi-Truck

Crime

Drugs

illegal immigrant

Illegal Immigration

Indiana

Truckers

U.S.

The United States is facing down an existential threat right now.
That existential threat comes from a lack of willpower. It comes from a doubt about what America is. But in terms of foreign policy, that existential threat comes from a team-up that has been growing.
That team-up is between China — which is really the sponsor state of the anti-American bloc — and its friends like Russia and Iran.
The existential threat doesn&#8217;t mean that China is going to attack the United States.
It does mean that as the United States recedes from the world, Russia will expand its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. China will expand its sphere of influence, not just in the Far East, but also in Africa, across the rest of Asia into South America. The United States is going to be in the unenviable position of having to withdraw from the world, and we will no longer be able to guarantee freedom of the seas.
A United States with no economic allies, a United States that is a secondary partner for all the rest of these countries while China is a primary partner, is a United States that has an economy that is shrinking, a United States that is forced within its own borders.
That is a problem.
There is this bizarre notion that has arisen on the Right that if the United States were to be essentially an autarky and withdraw from the rest of the world, suddenly things would get better. The belief that the amount that we expend in foreign aid, for example, or military expenditure, is a complete waste of money, and if we just spent that money at home, then magically everything would get better.
The problem, of course, is that the world is interconnected. The reason that you can obtain better, cheaper products that make your life easier every single day is because the interconnection of world trade makes that possible. And that, of course, is only possible because of the power of the United States economy and the power of the United States military.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2330-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Why do I bring that up? Because China seems to be posing a broader and broader threat, and yet there is a bizarre unwillingness on the Left to acknowledge the threat that is China.
And on the Right, there seems to be an unwillingness to deal with the actual realities of what it would mean to face down China in a responsible and coherent fashion.
In the West, there is the bizarre perception that what we ought to do is radically increase tariffs, not just on China — which would be retaliatory and worthwhile — but on everywhere else. 
That is a gigantic mistake. And it leads to questions about the overall policy of the United States vis-à-vis China.
What exactly are we trying to do vis-à-vis China? 
I&#8217;ve made the case that if you wish to face down China, you have to do a few things. One is that you need closer trade and security relationships, not more attenuated relationships, with other countries surrounding China, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and India.
Better relations with those countries will help box in and essentially isolate China. If China wants to cheat, if they don&#8217;t want to play by the rules, if China wishes to beggar its neighbor, let them pursue an autarkic economic policy.
Autarky tends to make the country pursuing it poorer over time. Initially, it looks like an explosion of economic activity, but over time, as countries start pouring resources into less efficient modes of manufacturing in order to do it at home, rather than to import those products from abroad, they tend to empty themselves out.
This is the common pattern in economics. Every mercantilist or fascist economic system that has worked like this shows very good early growth numbers. And then that growth curve eventually peters out, and the country ends up with economic stagnation.
This happened in Japan. It happened in South Korea. If you go back prior to World War II, this happened in Germany. One of the reasons that Germany, under the Nazis, had to become an expansionist power is because Germany tried to pursue economic autarky in the 1930s, and they saw, for a brief moment in time, a gigantic manufacturing boom, people getting off unemployment lines, moving out of the Weimar Republic era.
But as it turns out, they were doing that based on state expenditures that made them less economically viable over the long term. And so then they had to turn to actual physical territorial expansionism.
Autarky very often turns into a necessity for expanding your access to resources, which leads to invasions of other countries. It is not a coincidence that countries that tend to embrace a strong mercantilist policy, an economic policy that focuses on “Let&#8217;s build everything right here at home,” find that when they can’t, they have to expand their own territorial borders or the places under their immediate dominion.
Free trade generally means that you don&#8217;t have to invade other places because you can trade with those other places.
So, when you look at China, how would you stop China? We need to build up better security and economic relationships in the Far East, and also build up better security and economic relationships with Europe.
That means that we can use tariffs as a way to force the Europeans to get rid of their non-tariff barriers. One of the ways I would be forcing the Europeans to pay their fair share is by using things like tariffs, in order to push the Europeans to pay their fair share. When it comes to, for example, the price of pharmaceuticals, Europe pays far less than what the actual market rate should be for pharmaceuticals, and then the United States ends up paying for that via our taxpayers and via our consumers.
That’s just the way that it works. We should stop that.
There are things that we can do to fight the non-tariff barriers and also the unfairness of our systems with Europe. But in the end, we should be pursuing freer trade and better relationships. 
That’s because if you&#8217;re going to box in China, you need to offer both the carrot and the stick to China, but just carrots to our friends. 
When it comes to offering carrots for our friends, we can offer a little bit of the stick in order to achieve the carrot. That is why I&#8217;m not against using tariffs as a way to pressure other countries to lower their tariffs. This is a case that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has made.
You need to box China in. You need to treat them like the adversary they are.
You need to build out other lines of supply. You need supply chains that are diversified, so we&#8217;re not as reliant on China.
You need to cut off China&#8217;s allies at the knees. If we believe, as we should, that Russia is a geopolitical adversary of the United States, then obviously we should be pursuing an attempt to get Russia to stop invading Eastern Europe.
And that means supporting allies in the region to the extent necessary to stop the Russians, because it&#8217;s not as though Russia and China aren&#8217;t talking to each other. They&#8217;re talking very extensively to each other.
If we are attempting to form a better relationship with India, then we should be attempting to form a better relationship with them. We should be trying to make trade relations with India so beneficial to India that they don&#8217;t want to trade with the Chinese. There are natural differences in opinion between China and India, which have nearly come to blows several times over the course of the last several decades.
India and China are not working hand in glove. They have actual territorial conflicts. We could be attempting to pry India out of China&#8217;s sphere of influence. 
These are all things that a responsible foreign policy would do.
And then we certainly would not be shipping many of the most important components in the battle for the future to China.
China is already stealing our intellectual property. China is already cheating when it comes to trade relationships. China is already badgering its neighbors. Why should we be sending some of our most sophisticated microchips produced in the United States? Why should we be allowing those to flow into China? Even if we&#8217;re going to argue that it&#8217;s only a marginal increase in China&#8217;s capacity, why would we allow that increase in China&#8217;s capacity?
China is our geopolitical enemy. They are our opponent. Trying to pretend otherwise is foolish because if you allow China to continue pursuing its normal policies, China will blow itself out.
China has a serious demographic problem. It does not have enough people. China is in steep demographic decline. Even though they have a billion people, they do not have enough human beings to be able to generate the economic growth necessary to pay for their gigantic redistributionist schemes and mercantilist ideas.
They have an enormous debt problem. They&#8217;ve been burying that debt problem in local and regional debt issues, and then building gigantic empty cities rooted in debt that they&#8217;re taking out from their own citizens and against their own citizens.
We tend to look at the fact that China builds some nice things and say, “Wow, they must be doing it right.”
But the fact is that mercantilism looks systematic when you look at the areas where it succeeds, but looks like a trash heap when you look at the areas where it doesn&#8217;t succeed. The areas where you don&#8217;t succeed in a centralized economy are the areas that tend to be ignored, and there are a lot of them.
Capitalism looks really messy, but it has a much higher hit rate because capital follows the best ideas. You don&#8217;t just keep investing in bad ideas the way you do with a centralized economic system, like China.
There are ways to box in China.
The question is whether the United States will actually do it.

China trade cargo container hanging against clouds background

What Do We Do About China?

Ben Shapiro

China

Economy

Foreign Policy

Opinion

Russia

Tariffs

At least 15 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in two separate suicide bombings in Pakistan on Monday and Tuesday, and eight people were killed in a car explosion in India.
The latest bombing targeted a district court building in Islamabad, killing 12 people and wounding 27 more on Tuesday, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/explosion-injures-eight-outside-court-pakistans-capital-police-say-2025-11-11/">reported</a>. Authorities said that the attacker attempted to enter the court building but was unsuccessful and then targeted a police car. All of those killed in the attack were civilians, while four police officers were also wounded, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/11/pakistan-capital-islamabad-suicide-bombing/">The Washington Post</a>.
The bombing in Islamabad came just hours after a suicide bomber targeted a military school in Pakistan&#8217;s northwest territory. Three people were killed in that bombing, and militants stormed the school, where at least three of them remain holed up.
While no terror group has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, the Pakistani government suspects that terrorists backed by India and the Taliban in Afghanistan carried out the deadly bombings. Pakistani officials believe that the Pakistani Taliban, which the government suspects of being supported by India and Afghanistan, planned the bombing in Islamabad.
“The attack on Pakistani citizens by Indian proxy terrorist groups is condemnable,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The attack in Islamabad came just hours after a car exploded in India&#8217;s capital, New Delhi, killing eight people and wounding 20 more. Indian officials said they were still trying to determine whether the blast was from an issue with the vehicle or was a targeted attack, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/india/car-explosion-in-indias-capital-kills-eight-d7301ad7?mod=article_inline">reported</a>. Authorities are investigating the car explosion under an anti-terrorism law, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that the explosion in New Delhi was an attack on his country.
“The conspirators behind this will not be spared,” Modi said. “All those responsible will be brought to justice.”
The bombings in Pakistan and India threaten to reignite tensions between the two countries, months after they exchanged missile attacks and bombings and engaged in border skirmishes. In April, India launched airstrikes at targets in Pakistan, saying that it was hitting Pakistan-backed terrorist militia infrastructure after terrorists killed 26 people in Indian territory. The Pakistani government, however, accused India of killing civilians in the strikes and targeting mosques. Pakistan responded with its own mortar attack on India.
The Trump administration quickly got involved in ceasefire negotiations between the two countries in May, and India and Pakistan agreed to stop fighting after weeks of retaliatory attacks. The fighting between India and Pakistan was especially concerning for the Trump administration, as the two countries are also considerable nuclear powers.
President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVDCecGK7m8">said</a> that his trade policies helped end the conflict between the two countries and prevent a &#8220;potential nuclear disaster.&#8221;
&#8220;I called them up and I said, &#8216;You go to war and we&#8217;re not doing a trade deal.&#8217; &#8230; And 24 hours later, they called me [and said], &#8216;We have decided not to do it.&#8217; We stopped the war. We stopped the potential nuclear disaster because of trade,&#8221; the president said last month.

TOPSHOT-PAKISTAN-EXPLOSION

More Than 20 Killed In Bombings In India And Pakistan, Fragile Ceasefire Threatened

Bombings

Pakistan

Terrorism

Trump Administration

India has promised to stop buying Russian oil, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.
Trump made the announcement to reporters in the Oval Office. The promise made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a key victory for Trump in his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That&#8217;s a big step. Now we&#8217;re going to get China to do the same thing,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/clashreport/status/1978554147323384129">told</a> reporters.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: Indian Prime Minister Modi &#8220;has assured me there will be NO OIL purchased from Russia.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/aJpeEss9YK">pic.twitter.com/aJpeEss9YK</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1978557602180083831?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In recent months, Trump has shifted from pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate to applying pressure more directly to Putin. The U.S. President has worked through diplomacy, sanctions, and strengthening Ukraine’s military position to increase pressure on Moscow to seek an end to the roughly three-and-a-half year war.
&#8220;He&#8217;s assured me that there will be no oil purchased from Russia, maybe that&#8217;s a breaking story, can I say that? Would you say?&#8221; Trump asked. &#8220;There will be no oil, he&#8217;s not buying his oil from Russia — it&#8217;s started.&#8221;
“You know, he can&#8217;t do it immediately. It&#8217;s a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over soon. All we want from President [Vladimir] Putin is to stop this, stop killing Ukrainians and stop killing Russians,” <a href="https://x.com/ANI/status/1978564154068701562">said</a> Trump.
“Who would think I created peace in the Middle East and can’t get the two guys to settle?” he added. “But I think we&#8217;ll get them. If India doesn&#8217;t buy oil, it makes it much easier. And they assured me, within a short period of time, they will not be buying oil from Russia. And they&#8217;ll go back to Russia after the war is over.”
Once confirmed, Modi’s decision to cut off India’s purchase of Russian oil, at least for the duration of the war, would be a major stroke for Trump and a meaningful improvement in U.S.-India relations. In August, Trump slapped 50% tariffs on India. Half of the tariff sought to punish India for purchases it made from Russia.
At the time, New Delhi gave no signal that it would cut off purchasing oil from Russia, other than to say that it would continue to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ykznn158qo">look</a> for the “best deal.”
Trump is scheduled to meet with Zelensky at the White House on Friday. The visit will be Zelensky’s third to the White House since Trump began his second term. The meeting is expected to cover the potential provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, as well as air defense to protect from Russian drones and missiles.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Trump holds a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Modi at the White House in Washington D.C.

Trump: India Will Stop Buying Russian Oil Until Ukraine War Ends

Modi

Putin

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed on Friday that toxic cough syrups linked to children&#8217;s deaths in India had not been shipped to the United States.
The World Health Organization has said India has a &#8220;regulatory gap&#8221; in screening locally sold syrup medicines.
The U.S. FDA said it was aware of news reports of devastating, ongoing diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol contamination in children&#8217;s cough and cold medicine in India.
Indian authorities advised the public to avoid two more brands of cough syrup on Wednesday following the deaths of 17 children under age five, linked to a toxic ingredient.
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The children died in India over the past month after consuming cough medicine containing toxic diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit, officials said. The deaths were all linked to the Coldrif medicine brand, which was banned after a test confirmed the presence of the chemical on October 2.
India&#8217;s health authority, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, informed the U.S. regulator that these products were not exported from India to any other country, the FDA said.
The FDA also said it remains vigilant to prevent contaminated drugs from entering the U.S. and asked manufacturers to ensure that drugs marketed in the U.S. are safe and of the highest quality.
(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

Cough Syrup

Cough Syrups Linked To Child Deaths Not Shipped To U.S., FDA Makes Clear

Health

Prescription Drugs

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that there was one prize that was more valuable to him than any Nobel Peace Prize or international recognition — &#8220;the sons and daughters who live to grow up&#8221; because of the wars that were ended or prevented altogether.
Trump raised the topic of the prestigious <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pax-trumpana-trumps-resume-for-winning-the-nobel-peace-prize">Nobel Peace Prize</a> during his remarks before the United Nations, noting that several world leaders had already voiced support for him to receive it. Just this year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had formally nominated him receive it, as had the government of Pakistan.
And while such recognition for his foreign policy achievements might certainly be a feather in his cap, Trump told the UN General Assembly that the lives saved when wars were ended were the greatest prize.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: After ending these wars and earlier negotiating the Abraham Accords, everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars. <a href="https://t.co/msmmbfCRY1">pic.twitter.com/msmmbfCRY1</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1970495024522772744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Now after ending all of these wars and also earlier negotiating the Abraham Accords, which is a very big thing for which our country received no credit, it never receives credit, everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements,&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;But for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and inglorious wars,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;What I care about is not winning prizes, it&#8217;s saving lives. We&#8217;re saving millions and millions of lives with the seven wars, and we have others that we&#8217;re working on — and you know that.&#8221;
Trump mentioned the Abraham Accords directly, but also referenced peace deals he negotiated in his second term alone — between Armenia and Azerbaijan, between India and Pakistan, between Thailand and Cambodia — and the recent ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Iran.

World Leaders Gather For The 80th Session Of The United Nations General Assembly

Trump Says There’s One ‘Prize’ He Values More Than Any Nobel Peace Prize

Trump Says There's One 'Prize' He Values More Than Any Nobel Peace Prize

Global Politics

Nobel Peace Prize

Politics

Ukraine Russia

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

A new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas in the United States that goes into effect on Sunday will be levied per petition and will not be applied to existing holders of valid visas re-entering the country, the White House said on Saturday.
&#8220;This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition,&#8221; White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Saturday.
Leavitt also said that current H-1B visa holders who are currently outside of the country right now will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter the United States.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday said the fee would be paid annually, but added that details were &#8220;still being considered.&#8221;
Some companies including Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Amazon, had responded to the Friday announcement by advising employees holding H-1B visas to remain in the United States, according to internal emails reviewed by Reuters. A Goldman Sachs internal memo seen by Reuters on Saturday urged employees with such visas to exercise caution on international travel.
Leavitt said on X that H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would and that the new fee would only apply in the next H-1B lottery round and not to current visa holders or renewals.
The White House said the fee was being imposed to level the playing field for American workers which it said are being &#8220;replaced with lower-paid foreign labor.&#8221;
The executive order imposing the new fee on H-1B visa applications, which was signed by President Donald Trump on Friday night, could disrupt the global operations of Indian technology services companies that deploy skilled professionals to the United States, Indian IT industry body Nasscom said early on Saturday.
In a fact sheet distributed on Saturday, the White House said it would allow an H-1B visa application without the $100,000 fee on a case-by-case basis &#8220;if in the national interest.&#8221;
The fact sheet said that the share of IT workers with H-1B visas has risen from 32% in FY 2003 to over 65% in recent years.
It also requires the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to issue joint guidance for verification, enforcement, audits, and penalties and directs the Labor Secretary to start a rulemaking to &#8220;revise the prevailing wage levels for the H-1B program&#8221; and &#8220;to prioritize high-skilled, high-paid H-1B workers.&#8221;
Friday&#8217;s announcement sparked concerns among employees across swaths of corporate America.
On the popular Chinese social media app Rednote, many H-1B holders shared stories of rushing back to the U.S. — some just hours after landing abroad — fearing they would be subject to the new $100,000 fee.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington and Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Marguerita Choy and Andrea Ricci)

American visa

New U.S. H-1B Visa Fee Will Not Apply To Existing Holders, White House Says

Big Tech

Visa

President Donald Trump plans to impose a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B worker visas, a White House official said, potentially dealing a big blow to the technology sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India and China.
As part of his broader immigration crackdown, the Republican president was expected to sign a proclamation as early as Friday restricting entry under the H-1B visa program unless the application fee is paid, the official said.
Reuters was not immediately able to establish details of who the fee would apply to or how it would be administered.
The H-1B program has become a major flashpoint between Trump&#8217;s conservative base and the tech industry that contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign.
Critics of the program, including many U.S. technology workers, argue that it allows firms to suppress wages and sideline Americans who could do the jobs. Supporters, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, say it brings in highly skilled workers essential to filling talent gaps and keeping firms competitive.
The $100,000 fee could significantly push up costs for companies. While the new fees may not deter Big Tech, which routinely spends heavily to secure top talent, they could squeeze smaller tech firms and start-ups.
Roughly two-thirds of jobs secured through the program are computer-related, government figures show, but employers also use the visa to bring in engineers, educators, and health care workers.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7%, according to government data.
In the first half of 2025, Amazon.com had more than 10,000 H-1B visas approved, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms had over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each.
Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, an IT services company that relies extensively on H-1B visa holders, as well as U.S.-listed shares of Indian tech firms Infosys and Wipro, fell more than 2% each.
Microsoft declined to comment. The other companies, the Indian embassy in Washington, and the Chinese Consulate General in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration. The move to reshape the H-1B visa program represents his administration&#8217;s most high-profile effort so far to rework temporary employment visas.
The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually to employers bringing in temporary foreign workers in specialized fields, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees.
Under the current system, H-1B applicants pay a small fee to enter a lottery and, if selected, subsequent fees that can amount to several thousand dollars depending on the case. Nearly all the visa fees have to be paid by the employers. The H-1B visas are approved for a period of three to six years.
Last month, the U.S. launched a pilot program allowing consular officers to demand bonds of up to $15,000 for tourist and business visas from countries with high overstay rates or limited vetting data, a Federal Register notice said.
That followed Trump&#8217;s June travel ban restricting entry from 19 nations, part of a broader immigration push that has already deterred some visitors and driven down transatlantic airfares.
Trump&#8217;s first-term administration issued several regulations that aimed to limit access to the visas and give them to higher-paying employers, but the regulations were blocked in federal court.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington, Dheeraj Kumar in Bengaluru, and Aditya Soni and Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Rosalba O&#8217;Brien)

Donald Trump Signs Memorandum In The Oval Office

Trump To Impose $100,000 Fee For H-1B Worker Visas, White House Says

Immigration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said India and Russia seem to have been &#8220;lost&#8221; to China after their leaders met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, highlighting his split from New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order.
&#8220;Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!&#8221; Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three other world leaders together at Xi&#8217;s summit in China.
Asked about Trump&#8217;s post, the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters in New Delhi that he had no comment.
Representatives for Beijing and Moscow could not be immediately reached for comment on Trump&#8217;s post on his Truth Social platform.
Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Putin and Modi were see holding hands at the summit as they walked toward Xi before all three men stood side by side.
Modi&#8217;s warming ties with China comes as Trump has chilled U.S.-India ties amid trade tensions and other disputes. Trump earlier this week said he was &#8220;very disappointed&#8221; in Putin but not worried about growing Russia-China ties.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi Editing by Kevin Liffey and Doina Chiacu)

U.S. President Donald Trump makes announcement at the White House

Trump: India And Russia Sell Out To Communist China

Executive

Chicago&#8217;s mayor leads protests against President Trump&#8217;s potential crime crackdown as judges block the deportation of illegal immigrants. India cozies up to China and Russia at a summit in Beijing, a major foreign policy challenge for the Trump administration as a federal court strikes down his tariffs. The FDA moves to ban a potent, opioid-like substance called 7-OH that is being sold in gas stations and marketed to kids.
It’s Tuesday, September 2, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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<h2>Chicago Mayor Fights Trump Crime Crackdown</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-967537" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH1.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is leading protests against President Trump&#8217;s potential federal crime crackdown in his city, while Democrat-appointed judges are blocking the administration&#8217;s efforts to deport illegal immigrants.
After President Trump signaled that Chicago would be the next target of a federal crime crackdown similar to the one in Washington, D.C., Mayor Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker have threatened non-cooperation and legal action. Pritzker called a potential deployment of the National Guard an &#8220;invasion,&#8221; and Johnson has preemptively ordered Chicago police not to cooperate with any federal law enforcement. The moves have drawn criticism from some local Democrats who argue the city should be coordinating with the federal government to reduce crime.
Meanwhile, the administration&#8217;s deportation efforts are being stalled in the courts. On Sunday, a Biden-appointed judge blocked the deportation of 76 Guatemalan children. Last week, an Obama-appointed judge halted the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a clip of a recent CBS News interview, noting that the network edited out the serious allegations against Abrego Garcia, including that he is a &#8220;known human smuggler&#8221; and a &#8220;wife beater&#8221; who &#8220;solicited nude photos from minors.&#8221;
<h2>India Tilts Toward China, Russia as Court Strikes Down Trump Tariffs</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-967541" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH2-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH2.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: In a major foreign policy challenge for the Trump administration, India’s Prime Minister joined the leaders of China and Russia for a summit in Beijing, signaling a potential realignment as a U.S. federal court struck down many of President Trump’s global tariffs.
This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting a summit with leaders from across Asia and the Middle East. A rare public display of unity between Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is setting off &#8220;alarm bells in Washington.&#8221; The move is seen as a direct response to Trump&#8217;s 50% tariffs on Indian goods and signals that India is willing to work with U.S. adversaries if its relationship with Washington deteriorates.
The summit comes as a federal appeals court dealt a major blow to Trump&#8217;s signature trade policy. On Friday, the court ruled that the president was not justified in using emergency powers to unilaterally impose his global tariffs. Trump responded over the weekend, warning, &#8220;More than 15 Trillion Dollars will be invested in the USA&#8230; If a Radical Left Court is allowed to terminate these Tariffs, almost all of this investment&#8230; will be immediately cancelled!” The ruling allows the tariffs to remain in effect until at least October, giving the Supreme Court time to potentially hear the case.
<h2>FDA Moves to Ban Opioid-Like ‘Kratom’ Product</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-967539" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH3-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MRN-9.2.25-Tue-SH3.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The FDA is taking emergency action to ban 7-OH, a potent, opioid-like substance derived from the kratom plant that is being sold in gas stations and vape shops and aggressively marketed to children.
The FDA has recommended that 7-OH be classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, which would make it illegal to sell or possess. The agency says the compound is an opioid, up to 13 times more potent than morphine, and carries significant health risks, including addiction and overdose. FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary issued a stark warning that the substance &#8220;may be the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic.&#8221;
The products are sold in forms that are appealing to kids, such as fruit-flavored gummies, vapes, and even ice cream cones, often without clear or accurate labeling. There is currently no federal age restriction on the products. The move to ban the substance comes after a number of anecdotal reports of addiction and death, including a Georgia two-year-old who had to be revived with Narcan after accidentally ingesting a 7-OH product marketed as an &#8220;energy pill.&#8221; Several states, led by Florida and Ohio, are also moving to ban or restrict the substance.

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