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Putin, Biden plan high-stakes phone call in Ukraine crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden are to hold a high-stakes telephone call on Saturday as tensions over a possibility imminent invasion of Ukraine escalated sharply and the U.S. announced plans to evacuate its embassy in the Ukrainian capital.
Before talking to Biden, Putin is to have a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with him in Moscow earlier in the week to try to resolve the crisis.
Russia has massed troops near the Ukraine border and has sent troops to exercises in neighboring Belarus, but insistently denies that it intends to launch an offensive against Ukraine.
Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland to reassure allies.
Biden has said the U.S. military will not enter a war in Ukraine, but he has promised severe economic sanctions against Moscow, in concert with international allies.
The timing of any possible Russian military action remains a key question.
The U.S. picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date, according to a U.S. official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was, and the White House publicly underscored that the U.S. does not know with certainty whether Putin is committed to invasion.
US to evacuate Ukraine embassy amid Russian invasion fearsHowever, U.S. officials said anew that Russia’s buildup of offensive air, land and sea firepower near Ukraine has reached the point where it could invade on short notice.
U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the State Department plans to announce Saturday that virtually all American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave. The State Department would not comment.
The department had earlier ordered families of U.S. embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave. But it had left it to the discretion of nonessential personnel if they wanted to depart.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, urged all Americans in Ukraine to leave, emphasizing that they should not expect the U.S. military to rescue them in the event that air and rail transportation is severed after a Russian invasion.
Several NATO allies including Britain, Canada, Norway and Denmark also are asking their citizens to leave Ukraine, as is non-NATO ally New Zealand.
Sullivan said Russian military action could start with missile and air attacks, followed by a ground offensive.
“Yes, it is an urgent message because we are in an urgent situation,” he told reporters at the White House.
“Russia has all the forces it needs to conduct a major military action,” Sullivan said, adding, “Russia could choose, in very short order, to commence a major military action against Ukraine.” He said the scale of such an invasion could range from a limited incursion to a strike on Kyiv, the capital.
Russia scoffed at the U.S. talk of urgency.
“The hysteria of the White House is more indicative than ever,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At any cost. Provocations, misinformation and threats are a favorite method of solving their own problems.”
In addition to the more than 100,000 ground troops that U.S. officials say Russia has assembled along Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, the Russians have deployed missile, air, naval and special operations forces, as well as supplies to sustain a war. This week Russia moved six amphibious assault ships into the Black Sea, augmenting its capability to land marines on the coast.
Sullivan’s stark warning accelerated the projected timeframe for a potential invasion, which many analysts had believed was unlikely until after the Winter Olympics in China end on Feb. 20. Sullivan said the combination of a further Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders and unspecified intelligence indicators have prompted the administration to warn that war could begin any time.
“We can’t pinpoint the day at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but that is a very, very distinct possibility,” Sullivan said.
Biden has said U.S. troops will not enter Ukraine to contest any Russian invasion, but he has bolstered the U.S. military presence in Europe as reassurance to allies on NATO’s eastern flank. On Friday the Pentagon said Biden ordered a further 3,000 soldiers to Poland, on top of 1,700 who are on their way there. The U.S. Army also is shifting 1,000 soldiers from Germany to Romania, which like Poland shares a border with Ukraine.
Biden spoke to a number of European leaders on Friday to underscore the concerns raised by U.S. intelligence about the potential imminence of a Russian invasion. Sullivan said the Western leaders were completely united and would respond harshly to a Russian invasion with devastating economic and trade sanctions.
Russia is demanding that the West keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of NATO. It also wants NATO to refrain from deploying weapons near its border and to roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe — demands flatly rejected by the West.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader was driven from office by a popular uprising. Moscow responded by annexing Crimea and then backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.
A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped halt large-scale battles, but regular skirmishes have continued, and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled.
Biden weighs appeal of 3 top candidates for high court
President Joe Biden first zeroed in on a pair of finalists for his first U.S. Supreme Court pick when there were rumors last year that Justice Stephen Breyer would retire. But since the upcoming retirement was actually announced late last month, it has come with the rise of a third candidate, one with ready-made bipartisan support that has complicated the decision.
For Biden, it’s a tantalizing prospect. The president believes he was elected to try to bring the country together following the yawning and rancorous political divide that grew during the Trump administration and especially following the Capitol insurrection in January 2021.
And a Supreme Court nominee with a raft of qualifications who has the vocal support of even one or two Republican senators could well attract the backing of other Republicans. That, in turn, could make for a smoother nomination process after some painfully partisan ones in recent years.
This story is based on accounts from seven people familiar with Biden’s decision-making who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions.
Two of the three judges now on Biden’s short list were evaluated last year by White House aides, although that early vetting did not include deep dives into their opinions or backgrounds, formal interviews or FBI background checks.
Read:Justice Breyer to retire, giving Biden first court pick
They are Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, a recent appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she has served since June 2021, and Leondra Kruger, 45, a California Supreme Court judge since 2015 who would be the first person in more than 40 years to move from a state court to the Supreme Court if she were to be confirmed.
Jackson is seen as the top candidate. And she, too, has a proven record of bipartisan support: She was confirmed to the appeals court on a 53-44 vote. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted for her.
But J. Michelle Childs has rapidly become a serious third candidate after House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D.-S.C., publicly announced his support for her, as did the state’s Republican senators, Graham and Tim Scott. Graham has made clear Childs is his preferred choice.
The 55-year-old is a federal judge in South Carolina who has been nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That nomination is on hold while she’s under consideration for the high court.
Childs lacks the elite law school credentials of many current Supreme Court justices — she attended the University of South Carolina School of Law. But that’s part of her appeal to Clyburn and others who question why Ivy League credentials are necessary. Eight of the court’s nine current members attended law school at Harvard or Yale. Childs also has a master’s degree from the school as well as a different legal degree from Duke.
Among the three justices on Biden’s short list, Childs is considered the most moderate, and she has been criticized by progressives land labor groups who say her record is not sufficiently supportive of worker rights. She was previously a state court judge and has served as a federal trial court judge since 2010.
Jackson did attend Harvard Law School and has expertise that would bring considerable professional diversity to the high court. She worked as a public defender and served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission before she was nominated to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama. She is the favorite of progressives.
Kruger, 45, has been on the California Supreme Court since 2015. She was just 38 when chosen for the job by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She’s seen as a moderate on the seven-member court. She used to wok for the Department of Justice.
Breyer’s replacement won’t shift the ideological makeup of the court. So in some ways, that makes it easier for Republicans to back a candidate advanced by Biden. But Biden has also said bipartisan support is not a necessity; a razor-thin majority in the U.S. Senate means he doesn’t need it.
Biden said earlier this week he was looking closely at “about four” candidates and was interested in selecting a nominee in the mold of Breyer who could be a ”persuasive” force with fellow justices. Although his votes tended to put him to the left of center on an increasingly conservative court, Breyer frequently saw the gray in situations that colleagues to his right and left were more likely to find black or white.
Biden, who is spending the weekend at Camp David, is studying a range of cases and other materials about the candidates, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
His team, led by former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, has compiled past writings, public remarks and decisions of the candidates, as well as learning their life stories.
Psaki said Biden could begin meeting with top contenders as early as next week, noting that such interviews typically happen at the end of the vetting process. She said the president remains on track for an announcement by the end of the month.
Going back as far as his campaign, Biden has pledged to nominate a Black woman for the slot. The Supreme Court was made up entirely of white men for almost two centuries. Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Thurgood Marshall are the only two Black men who have served on the court. There has never been a Black woman.
Other possible candidates included U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright from Minnesota; Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor who is an expert in family law and reproductive rights justice; and Leslie Abrams Gardner, a U.S. district judge for the Middle District of Georgia and the sister of Stacey Abrams, a powerful voting rights activist and nominee for Georgia governor.
Canadian judge orders an end to blockade at border bridge
A judge on Friday ordered protesters at the Ambassador Bridge over the U.S.-Canadian border to end the 5-day-old blockade that has disrupted the flow of goods between the two countries and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production.
It was not immediately clear when or if law enforcement officers would be sent in to remove the demonstrators, who parked their pickups and other vehicles in a bumper-to-bumper protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and an outpouring of fury toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government.
Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz of the Ontario Superior Court said during a virtual hearing that the order would be effective at 7 p.m. to give protesters time to leave.
Windsor police immediately warned that anyone blocking the streets could be subject to arrest and their vehicles may be seized.
The news was met with defiance by protesters.
At the Ambassador Bridge, an unidentified person grabbed a microphone and addressed them, asking if they wanted to stay or leave when the deadline rolled around. By a show of applause, it was agreed they would stay. “OK,”’ the man said. “Let’s stand tall.” The protesters responded by singing the Canadian national anthem.
The crowd later grew in size and intensity, with flag-waving and frequent chants of “Freedom!” More patrol cars moved in around the site, and police handed out leaflets warning that a state of emergency would come into effect at midnight.
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Since Monday, drivers mostly in pickup trucks have bottled up the bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit. Hundreds more truckers have paralyzed downtown Ottawa over the past two weeks. And protesters have also blocked two other border crossings, in Alberta and Manitoba.
The judge’s decision came after a 4 1/2-hour court hearing at which the city of Windsor and lawyers for auto parts makers argued that the blockade was causing undue economic harm for the city and region.
Supporters of the protesters, some of them truckers, argued that an order to disband would disrupt their right to peacefully protest vaccine mandates that hinder their ability to earn a living.
The ruling came in a day of fast-moving developments as federal, provincial and local officials worked simultaneously on different fronts to try to break the standoff with the so-called Freedom Convoy, whose members have been cheered on by the right in the U.S., including Fox News personalities, Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
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“This unlawful activity has to end and it will end,” Trudeau warned just hours earlier.
“We heard you. It’s time to go home now,” the prime minister said, cautioning that “everything is on the table” for ending the blockades.
Also Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency and threatened heavy penalties against those who interfere with the free flow of goods and people.
Ford said he would convene the provincial cabinet on Saturday to urgently enact measures that make it “crystal clear” it is illegal to block critical infrastructure. Violators will face up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000, he said.
“There will be consequences for these actions, and they will be severe,” Ford said. “This is a pivotal, pivotal moment for our nation.”
The measures will also provide additional authority “to consider taking away the personal and commercial licenses of anyone who doesn’t comply,” according to the premier’s office.
Trudeau called Ontario’s decision “responsible and necessary” and said he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden about it.
“We discussed the American and indeed global influences on the protest,” Trudeau said. “We talked about the U.S.-based flooding of the 911 phone lines in Ottawa, the presence of U.S. citizens in the blockade and the impact of foreign money to fund this illegal activity.”
Trudeau said that on some fundraising platforms, as much as 50% of the donations are coming from the U.S.
He said he and Biden agreed that “for the security of people and the economy, these blockades can’t continue.”
Trudeau said he understands the protesters are frustrated by the pandemic, but “these blockades are hurting everyday families, auto assembly workers, farmers, truckers, blue-collar Canadians.”
The protests have caused shortages of auto parts that have forced General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Honda to close plants or cancel shifts.
Before the judge’s ruling came down, dozens of protesters in Windsor blocked the entrance to the bridge in what felt like a block party. Demonstrators milled about, carrying signs and Canadian flags — some at the ends of hockey sticks — while music played and food was handed out. A trampoline was set up for the children.
Troy Holman, a 32-year-old Windsor resident who has protested every day this week, said he believes the government overreached with its COVID-19 restrictions, which he said hurt his wife’s small business.
“Unfortunately, we have to be here, because this is what’s going to get the attention of the government,” he said.
Signs read, “Freedom Is Essential,” “Say No to Mandatory Vaccines” and “End Mandates.”
“We stand for freedom. We believe that it should be everyone’s personal decision what they inject into their bodies,” said protester Karen Driedger, 40, of Leamington, Ontario. “We’re saying, ‘That’s enough.’ We need to go back to normal and live our lives again.”
Authorities at various levels of government have hesitated to forcibly remove the protesters around the country, reflecting apparently a lack of manpower by local police, Canada’s reverence for free speech, and fears of violence. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens warned earlier this week that some of the truckers are “willing to die.”
But the political pressure to reopen the bridge appeared to be mounting along with the economic toll.
The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25% of all trade between the two countries. The standoff comes at a time when the auto industry is already struggling to maintain production in the face of pandemic-induced shortages of computer chips and other supply-chain disruptions.
“American legislators are freaking out, and rightfully so,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. “Pressure is now being exerted by the White House on Trudeau to act more decisively.”
Amid signs that authorities might be prepared to get tough, police in Windsor and Ottawa awaited reinforcements from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police force.
Ottawa’s mayor has asked for 1,800 additional officers, which could nearly double the manpower available to the capital city’s force.
The protests have spread outside Canada as well. Demonstrators angry over pandemic restrictions drove toward Paris in scattered convoys of camper vans, cars and trucks Friday in an effort to blockade the French capital, despite a police ban.
And in a bulletin to local and state law enforcement officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that truck protests may be in the works in the United States. The agency said the protests could begin in Southern California as early as this weekend and spread to Washington around the State of the Union address in March.
While the Canadian protesters are decrying vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 restrictions, many of the country’s infection measures, such as mask rules and vaccine passports for getting into restaurants and theaters, are already falling away as the omicron surge levels off.
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter in Canada than in the U.S., but Canadians have largely supported them. The vast majority of Canadians are vaccinated, and the COVID-19 death rate is one-third that of the United States.
US ramps up Ukraine warning, says Russia may invade any day
The Biden administration on Friday escalated dire warnings of a possibly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could happen at any moment, even as emergency diplomatic efforts continued. Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland to reassure allies.
As diplomatic options for averting war in Ukraine appeared to narrow, the White House said President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss the crisis by phone on Saturday.
Biden has said the U.S. military will not enter a war in Ukraine, but he has promised severe economic sanctions against Moscow, in concert with international allies.
Timing of possible Russian military action remains a key question.
The U.S. picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date, according to a U.S. official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was, and the White House publicly underscored that the U.S. does not know with certainty whether Putin is committed to invasion.
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However, U.S. officials said anew that Russia’s buildup of offensive air, land and sea firepower near Ukraine has reached the point where it could invade on short notice. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, urged all Americans in Ukraine to leave within the next 48 hours, emphasizing that they should not expect the U.S. military to rescue them in the event that air and rail transportation is severed after a Russian invasion.
Several NATO allies including Britain, Canada, Norway and Denmark also are asking their citizens to leave Ukraine.
Sullivan said Russian military action could start with missile and air attacks, followed by a ground offensive.
“Yes, it is an urgent message because we are in an urgent situation,” he told reporters at the White House.
Also read: British envoy in Moscow to try to ease Ukraine crisis
“Russia has all the forces it needs to conduct a major military action,” Sullivan said, adding, “Russia could choose, in very short order, to commence a major military action against Ukraine.” He said the scale of such an invasion could range from a limited incursion to a strike on Kyiv, the capital.
Russia scoffed at the U.S. talk of urgency.
“The hysteria of the White House is more indicative than ever,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At any cost. Provocations, misinformation and threats are a favorite method of solving their own problems.”
In addition to the more than 100,000 ground troops that U.S. officials say Russia has assembled along Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, the Russians have deployed missile, air, naval and special operations forces, as well as supplies to sustain a war. This week Russia moved six amphibious assault ships into the Black Sea, augmenting its capability to land marines on the coast.
Sullivan’s stark warning accelerated the projected timeframe for a potential invasion, which many analysts have believed was unlikely until after the Winter Olympics in China end on Feb. 20. Sullivan said the combination of a further Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders and unspecified intelligence indicators have prompted the administration to warn that war could begin any time.
“We can’t pinpoint the day at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but that is a very, very distinct possibility,” Sullivan said.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin conferred by phone with several of his NATO counterparts. Echoing Sullivan’s public remarks, Austin told them a Russian invasion of Ukraine “could begin at any time,” Kirby said.
Biden has said U.S. troops will not enter Ukraine to contest any Russian invasion, but he has bolstered the U.S. military presence in Europe as reassurance to allies on NATO’s eastern flank. On Friday the Pentagon said Biden ordered a further 3,000 soldiers to Poland, on top of 1,700 who are on their way there. Together they form an infantry brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. The U.S. Army also is shifting 1,000 soldiers from Germany to Romania, which like Poland shares a border with Ukraine.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke by phone Friday with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov. Milley’s office provided no details beyond saying the two men discussed “several security-related issues of concern.” Milley also had phone calls with several of his counterparts from NATO countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland and Romania.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was traveling in Australia, was the first senior U.S. official to say publicly that an invasion could come before the end of the Olympics.
Sullivan would not discuss the intelligence details behind the U.S. assessment and denied a report that American officials believe Putin has made the decision to invade. But he said U.S. officials believe there is “a strong possibility” of an invasion.
“We believe he very well may give the final go order,” Sullivan said. “It may well happen soon.”
Biden spoke to a number of European leaders on Friday to underscore the concerns raised by U.S. intelligence about the potential imminence of a Russian invasion. Sullivan said the Western leaders were completely united and would respond harshly to a Russian invasion with devastating economic and trade sanctions.
Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, visited Moscow a day after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss held frosty talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and urged him to pull back Russia’s troops near Ukraine. Lavrov characterized that meeting as a “conversation between deaf and dumb.”
Russia opened massive war games in Belarus on Thursday that are due to run through next weekend but says it has no plans to invade Ukraine.
The Russians are insisting that the West keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of NATO. It also wants NATO to refrain from deploying weapons near its border and to roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe — demands flatly rejected by the West.
Speaking at the start of his talks with Britain’s Wallace, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that “the military-political situation in Europe is growing increasingly tense, and it’s not our fault.”
Shoigu said that shipments of weapons to Ukraine by the U.S., Britain and other allies have contributed to the tensions and pointed to the recent deployment of British soldiers to Ukraine, asking why they were sent and how long they would stay.
Speaking to reporters after the talks, Wallace said the anti-tank missiles that Britain sent to Ukraine were defensive tactical weapons that do not pose a threat to any neighbor unless it invades.
He described the talks as “constructive and frank” and noted his Russian counterpart’s assurances that Moscow has no intention to attack Ukraine. But he also emphasized that the concentration of Russian troops near Ukrainian territory is clearly “beyond normal exercising.”
Russia’s troop concentration includes forces deployed on the territory of its ally Belarus for massive joint drills involving firing live ammunition. Those exercises entered a decisive phase Thursday and will run through Feb. 20. The Ukrainian capital is about 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of the Belarus border.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited a military base in Romania, hailing the deployment of additional U.S. troops as “a powerful demonstration of trans-Atlantic unity.”
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader was driven from office by a popular uprising. Moscow responded by annexing Crimea and then backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.
A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped halt large-scale battles, but regular skirmishes have continued, and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled.
India-US trade crossed $100bn-mark in 2021
In another sign of the deepening economic relationship between India and the United States, bilateral trade in goods between the two countries crossed the $100 billion mark in 2021, making it the largest volume of goods trade in a calendar year in India-US economic history. This also represents an almost 45% jump from 2020, and while US trade with its top 15 partners increased over the past year, the single biggest jump was with India, Hindustan Times reports .
India retains a trade surplus in the relationship.
According to figures released by the US Census Bureau, India-US bilateral goods trade was worth $113.391 billion from January to December 2021. India exported goods worth over $73 billion, and imported goods worth a little over $40 billion dollars.
In 2020 – an unusual year because of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and subsequent economic restrictions – trade fell to a little over $78.2 billion, from the high of $92.1 billion in 2019. India had then exported goods worth $57.8 billion and imported goods worth $34.2 billion.
Placing the figures in perspective, Richard M Rossow, the Wadhwani chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the foremost expert of the bilateral economic relationship in Washington DC, said that bilateral trade has been on an upward trajectory for 20 years, and shrunk year-on-year only three times since 2002.
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“While we should certainly pause to celebrate the milestone of crossing the $100 billion in bilateral trade, it is not far off the overall trajectory of the trade relationship in this period.” The 45% jump, he said, was due to the “deep trough” in 2020, as both India and the US dealt with the initial onslaught of the coronavirus.
Mukesh Aghi, president and chief executive officer of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), said that a key reason for the spike in Indian exports to the US was the concerted increase in demand in the US market.
“The US has seen consumption-driven growth in the past year. There was pent-up demand for items such as jewellery and electronics which has got channelled in the last six months. The fact that US companies have also sought to diversify their supply chains has played a role too. Electronic component markets have moved production to India. For instance, Apple now exports a million smart phones from India to the United States every month.” The challenge, he added, was to sustain the momentum.
When asked what had driven the spike, Rossow said that while the details of which products drove the record-breaking year was not clear yet, the push by the Donald Trump administration to sell American hydrocarbons to India had been a key factor in enabling greater trade.
“A decade ago, the US had nearly zero exports of natural gas, coal, or crude oil to India. Today these three are all among the 10 biggest export categories. US imports from India are more balanced, with good increases in trade among a range of categories. But a few stand out as over-performers such as furniture, aluminium, and food products.”
India’s principal goods exports to the US are precious and semi-precious stones, drugs and pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, cotton fabrics, garments, marine products, iron and steel products, electrical equipment and auto components. And its primary import was crude oil (the biggest import head in 2021, some $10.39 billion worth). India also imports pearls, coal, chemicals, gold, paper, and precious stones from the US.
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Recently, the US approved imports of mangoes and pomegranate from India, and secured New Delhi’s approval to supply of cherries, alfalfa hay, pork and pork products into India, according to an Indian government official who asked not to be named.
“This is as per a recent agreement between the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for implementing the ‘2 Vs 2’ agri-market access,” he added.
Another official familiar with the bilateral relationship said that the spike in trade was also a product of the concerted Indian attempts to deepen economic ties with a range of American economic stakeholders – be it through extensive commercial engagement or facilitating business-to-business exchanges or working to get commitments by major American corporates to source material from India or proactively leveraging the sentiment in the US to diversify from China.
A third official pointed out that the trade figures also firmly rebut the impression of India turning inwards and protectionist, and in fact, show that its outwards economic engagement, on its own terms, will only increase.
While India is working with Australia, the UK, the European Union, Canada and the US to push through larger trade arrangements, any major free trade agreement is unlikely, especially with the US, given the domestic political mood in Washington against trade pacts.
When asked if the increase in India-US trade showed that both countries have found ways to deepen ties while circumventing established formats, Rossow said, “Trade deals are helpful to boost trade ties, but far from essential. In recent decades, nations such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China managed to become major global trade players without vast networks of trade deals. It does, however, feel like our nations continue to defy gravity. Both governments have taken protectionist steps in recent years, both globally and towards each other. Whether this continued growth in trade can be sustained in light of anti-trade policies remains to be seen.”
UK lifts all testing requirements for vaccinated travelers
Vaccinated travelers can enter Britain without taking any coronavirus tests starting Friday, after the government scrapped one of the final restrictions imposed over the past two years in response to COVID-19.
British residents and visitors who have had at least two doses of an approved coronavirus vaccine now only need to fill out a passenger locator form before traveling to the U.K. Unvaccinated people still have to take tests both before and after arriving but no longer need to self-isolate until they get a negative result.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the U.K. “now has one of the most free-flowing borders in the world — sending a clear message that we are open for business.”
Airlines and other travel firms hailed the change as a lifeline after two years of severely constricted travel. Andrew Flintham, managing director of travel group Tui UK, said there was “a huge pent-up demand for international travel,” and people were rushing to book getaways for the February school break and April’s Easter holiday.
Gatwick, London’s second-busiest airport, said that it plans next month to reopen the second of its two terminals, shuttered since June 2020.
British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle urged other countries to follow Britain’s “pragmatic approach.”
But some scientists worry the government is moving too fast. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government lifted most domestic rules last month. Face masks are no longer mandatory in most indoor spaces in England, vaccine passports for gaining entry to nightclubs and large-scale events were scrapped, as was the official advice to work from home. Other parts of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — have also lifted most restrictions.
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Johnson announced this week that he hopes to lift the final restriction — mandatory self-isolation for people who test positive — by the end of February as part of a plan to live long-term with COVID-19. Officials have said the government plans to switch from legal restrictions to advisory measures and treat the coronavirus more like the flu as it becomes endemic in the country.
Scientists expressed surprise at Johnson’s announcement. Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at Kings College London, said it was “more a political type of statement rather than a scientific one.”
“There is some rationale to this and other countries are doing things similar, but it’s clearly a race for the government to say that ‘Britain is first, Britain is the first to come out of this, Britain has conquered omicron, our booster program is world beating etc, etc,’” he told Times Radio.
The re-opening came as statistics showed the U.K. economy grew by a bigger-than-expected 7.5% in 2021, despite an omicron-driven slowdown at the end of the year. The re-imposition of some restrictions in response to the highly transmissible variant brought a 0.2% contraction in December.
The Office for National Statistics said the growth follows a 9.4% contraction in 2020 as the pandemic shut down big chunks of the economy. The U.K. economy is now back to the size it was in February 2020, just before the new coronavirus swept the U.K.
Britain has Europe’s highest coronavirus toll after Russia, with more than 159,000 officially recorded deaths. The country has seen a drop in both new infections and COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals since the peak of the omicron spike in early January.
Officials have credited the government’s booster jab program with preventing the surge in omicron cases from causing serious stress to U.K. hospitals. In Britain, 84.6% of people 12 and up have had two doses of a vaccine and almost two-thirds have had a third, booster shot.
UK defense secretary in Moscow amid Ukraine tensions
Britain’s defense secretary visited Moscow Friday for talks on easing tensions amid massive Russian war games near Ukraine.
Ben Wallace’s trip comes a day after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss held talks in Moscow, urging Russia to pull back over 100,000 troops amassed near Ukraine and warning that attacking its neighbor would “have massive consequences and carry severe costs.”
Russia says it has no plans to invade Ukraine but wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of NATO. It also wants NATO to refrain from deploying weapons there and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe — demands flatly rejected by the West.
In an interview Thursday with NBC News, U.S. President Joe Biden repeated his warning that any Americans still in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly,” he said.
Asked whether there were any scenarios that would prompt him to send U.S. troops to Ukraine to rescue Americans, the president said: “There’s not. That’s a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another.”
Amid the soaring tensions, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Thursday that the Ukraine crisis has grown into “the most dangerous moment” for Europe in decades.
Russia’s troop concentration includes forces deployed on the territory of its ally Belarus for massive joint drills involving firing live ammunition. That entered a decisive phase Thursday and will run through Feb. 20. The Ukrainian capital is located about 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of the Belarus border.
Continuing its military buildup near Ukraine, Russia has moved six amphibious assault vessels into the Black Sea, augmenting its capability to land marines on the coast.
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Moscow has announced sweeping drills in the Black and Azov seas in the coming days and closed large areas for commercial shipping, drawing a strong protest from Ukraine on Thursday.
NATO has stepped up military deployments to bolster its eastern flank, with the U.S. sending troops to Poland and Romania.
The U.S. Navy said Thursday it has deployed four destroyers from the United States to European waters. The Navy did not directly tie this deployment to the Ukraine crisis but said the ships provide “additional flexibility” to the U.S. Sixth Fleet commander, whose area of responsibility includes the Mediterranean, and will operate in support of NATO allies.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader was driven from office by a popular uprising. Moscow responded by annexing Crimea and then backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.
A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped halt large-scale battles, but regular skirmishes have continued and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled. The Kremlin has accused Kyiv of sabotaging the agreement, and Ukrainian officials argued in recent weeks that implementing it would hurt their country.
Foreign policy advisers from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine held nearly nine hours of talks in Berlin on Thursday to try to revive the stalled agreement but made no progress.
Russian representative Dmitry Kozak said Ukraine firmly refused to commit to a dialogue with the rebels on a political settlement, blocking any further movement. Ukrainian envoy Andriy Yermak sounded a more positive note, noting that the parties agreed to continue their discussions and hailed the four-way talks as an “effective and efficient platform.“
Can you get long COVID after an infection with omicron?
It’s too early to know for sure, but many doctors believe it’s possible to have long-term effects from the omicron variant of the virus.
Long COVID is usually diagnosed many weeks after a bout with COVID-19. Any long-lasting effects typically appear about 90 days after symptoms of the initial infection go away, Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said this week.
Overall, some estimates suggest more than a third of COVID-19 survivors will develop some symptoms of long COVID. Symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, anxiety and other problems. The lingering illness is more likely if you’ve been hospitalized with COVID-19, but research shows it can happen even after a mild infection.
Omicron began its race around the world late last year. The variant generally causes milder illness than the delta version of the coronavirus, but has still overwhelmed hospitals.
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Van Kerkhove said she hasn’t seen any research indicating that the portion of COVID-19 survivors who get long COVID will change with the omicron variant.
Dr. Linda Geng of Stanford University, who co-directs one of the many clinics specializing in long COVID, said that though she can’t say for sure, a new wave of patients is likely.
“We have to be very cautious and very careful and prepared,” Geng said.
In the meantime, scientists are racing to figure out what’s behind the mysterious condition. Some theories? It may be an autoimmune disorder. Tiny microclots may be causing the disabling symptoms. Or perhaps latent viruses in the body have been reactivated.
READ: Bangladesh's Omicron tally rises to 187
Scientists are also looking at whether vaccines could be part of the answer. A Yale University team is studying the possibility that vaccination might reduce long COVID symptoms. And two other studies offer early evidence that being vaccinated before getting COVID-19 could help prevent the lingering illness or at least reduce its severity.
Karnataka hijab row: How the issue sparked massive protests
An Indian state has shut high schools and colleges after a row over the hijab that has gained international attention after Nobel Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai weighed in.
The government of Karnataka state in southern India took the decision after protests by students over Muslim women wearing headscarves in the classroom escalated into violence, reports BBC.
The state's high court is set to continue hearing a petition that argues for the Muslim women on Wednesday.
The developments occurred after protests by six teenage students at a government-run college over wearing hijabs spread to other colleges.
Several Hindu students then turned up wearing saffron shawls - the colour seen as a Hindu symbol - to protest against Muslim women wearing hijabs.
India row over right to wear hijab deepens
On Tuesday, Malala - who was 15 when she survived an attack by the Taliban in Pakistan for speaking up for the right of girls to be educated - called on India's leaders to do something to "stop the marginalisation of Muslim women".
"Refusing to let girls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying," the 24-year-old activist tweeted. "Objectification of women persists - for wearing less or more."
In India, the stand-off has increased fear and anger among minority Muslims, who say the country's constitution grants them the freedom to wear what they want.
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On Tuesday, viral videos showed a Muslim woman being heckled by a mob of young men shouting slogans, and heated arguments between students wearing hijabs and saffron shawls.
In a rare move, the judge hearing the case appealed to students and others to "maintain peace and tranquillity".
How did the row begin?
The issue began gaining attention when six teenage students at a government-run pre-university college - equivalent to a high school - in Karnataka's Udupi district began protesting over being barred from classes for wearing a hijab.
Udupi is one of three districts in Karnataka's communally sensitive coastal region - a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Commentators often describe the region as a laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics. The BJP is also in power in Karnataka.
The issue gained national attention after six women began protests at an Udupi college
The college said it allowed students to wear the hijab on campus and only asked them to take it off inside the classroom. But the protesters - who all wear the mandatory college uniform - argued they should also be allowed to cover their hair in the classroom.
"We have a few male teachers. We need to cover our hair before men. That is why we wear a hijab," Almas AH, one of the students, told BBC Hindi.
The students denied allegations that they were acting at the behest of the Campus Front of India - the student-wing of the radical Islamic group, Popular Front of India - who were advocating for them.
It's not unusual to see women wearing hijabs and burkas (the full Islamic veil) in India, where public displays of symbols of faith are common. But the college principal said it was necessary for the teacher to see the student's face and the uniform helped them ensure there was no discrimination among students.
Repeated meetings between the students, college officials and government representatives couldn't solve the stand-off.
How did it spread to other colleges?
The issue of Muslim women wearing hijabs had cropped up in a few other colleges in Karnataka earlier too, but it started gaining momentum when photos of the women protesters in Udupi went viral.
Soon, Hindu students in some other colleges began coming to classes wearing saffron shawls - this forced officials to insist that both couldn't be allowed on campus.
Last week, a video showing gates being shut on a group of hijab-clad students - shot at a pre-university college in Kundapur in Udupi district - had led to outrage.
Groups of Hindu students - both male and female - also began going on marches against their classmates wearing hijabs.
But there was no violence until Tuesday - hours before the court began hearing the petition, incidents of stone-throwing and even arson were reported from some cities.
Local authorities imposed Section 144 - a colonial-era law that prohibits the gathering of more than four people in one place - to curb the protests.
In Shivamogga district, a group of male students were caught on camera hoisting a saffron flag at their college, prompting the government to announce an inquiry.
In Mandya district, a viral video showed a young woman in a burka being approached by a mob of men with saffron shawls. As they yelled Jai Shri Ram (hail Lord Ram) repeatedly, she stood her ground, shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) as college authorities escorted her away.
Later, the woman - identified as Muskan - said her college principal assured her that he would support her.
"A few other Muslim girls were also heckled in a similar manner. The college administration and the principal never prevented us from wearing the burka, so why should I listen to outsiders?" she told The Indian Express newspaper.
A senior police official told BBC Hindi that these were all "minor incidents" and that the situation was in control.
What has the state government said?
Karnataka Education Minister Nagesh BC has backed college authorities who say both saffron scarves and headscarves should be banned on campuses.
He has also alleged that the students are being instigated to protest by "miscreants".
"It's basically politics. All this is happening because state assembly elections are due next year," Mr Nagesh told BBC Hindi, referring to attempts by the Popular Front of India's political wing to gain traction in the region.
Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai and the state's home minister have urged the students and others to "maintain peace and harmony".
What has the court said so far?
Two petitions have been filed on behalf of the protesters.
One argues that choosing what to wear is a fundamental right guaranteed by India's constitution. The other questions the legality of a recent state government dress code order for educational institutions, which bans headscarves and hijabs.
Their lawyer appearing has argued that the government's order on banning the hijab is both unconstitutional and illegal - he has also asked the court to pass an interim order that will allow the students to attend classes ahead of exams.
Justice Krishna Dixit has said he would act according to the constitution. "I will act according to the oath of office which I took. It is not a healthy situation that students should be outside the classrooms," he added.
Macron: Putin told him Russia won’t escalate Ukraine crisis
French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that Moscow would not further escalate the Ukraine crisis.
Macron also said it would take time to find a diplomatic solution to the rising tensions, which represent the biggest security crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
His remarks on a visit to Kyiv came as the Kremlin denied reports that he and Putin struck a deal on de-escalating the crisis. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “in the current situation, Moscow and Paris can’t be reaching any deals.”
Macron met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid mounting fears of a Russian invasion. Moscow has massed over 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, but insists it has no plans to attack.
The Kremlin wants guarantees from the West that NATO will not accept Ukraine and other former Soviet nations as members, that it halt weapon deployments there and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe — demands the U.S. and NATO reject as nonstarters.
At a news conference after meeting Zelenskyy, Macron said Putin told him during their more than five-hour session Monday that “he won’t be initiating an escalation. I think it is important.”
According to the French president, Putin also said there won’t be any Russian “permanent (military) base” or “deployment” in Belarus, where Russia had sent a large number of troops for war games.
Peskov said withdrawing Russian troops from Belarus after the maneuvers was the plan all along.
Zelenskyy said he would welcome concrete steps from Putin for de-escalation, adding he didn’t “trust words in general.”
Macron also sought to temper expectations.
“Let’s not be naive,” he said. “Since the beginning of the crisis, France hasn’t been inclined to exaggerate, but at the same time, I don’t believe this crisis can be settled in a few hours, through discussions”
Zelenskyy called his talks with Macron “very fruitful.”
“We have a common view with President Macron on threats and challenges to the security of Ukraine, of the whole of Europe, of the world in general,” Zelenskyy said.
He said France was giving 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in financial aid to Ukraine and helping restore infrastructure in the war-ravaged east of the country.
Western leaders in recent weeks have engaged in high-level talks, and more are planned against the backdrop of military drills in Russia and Belarus. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that six amphibious landing ships were moving from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea for exercises and two Tu-22M3 long-range nuclear capable bombers flew another patrol over Belarus.
Macron said he had not expected Putin to make any “gestures” Monday, saying his objective was to “prevent an escalation and open new perspectives. ... That objective is met.”
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Macron said Putin “set a collective trap” by initiating the exchange of documents with the U.S. Moscow submitted its demands to Washington in the form of draft agreements that were made public, and insisted on a written response, which was then leaked.
“In the history of diplomacy, there was never a crisis that has been settled by exchanges of letters which are to be made public afterward,” he said, adding that’s why he decided to go to Moscow for direct talks.
Macron later flew to Berlin, where he briefed Polish President Andrzej Duda and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said their stance was unified, with a joint goal “to prevent a war in Europe.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was pleased to see the high level of diplomatic activity, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “The secretary‑general could not be clearer in the need to increase diplomatic activity to avoid any sort of escalation,” Dujarric said.
Putin said after Monday’s meeting that the U.S. and NATO ignored Moscow’s demands, but signaled readiness to continue talking. He also reiterated a warning that NATO membership for Ukraine could trigger a war between Russia and the alliance should Kyiv try to retake the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
NATO, U.S. and European leaders reject the demands that they say challenge NATO’s core principles, like shutting the door to Ukraine or other countries that might seek membership; but they have offered to discuss other Russian security concerns in Europe.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said any prospect of Ukraine entering NATO “in the near term is not very likely,” but he and other alliance members and NATO itself refuse to rule out Ukraine’s future entry.
Biden met Monday with Scholz, who also will travel to Kyiv and Moscow on Feb. 14-15. They threatened Russia with grave consequences if it invaded, and Biden vowed that the Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline, which has been completed but is not yet operating, will be blocked. Such a move would hurt Russia economically but also cause energy supply problems for Germany.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in an article in the Times of London, also urged allies to finalize heavy economic sanctions that would take effect if Russia crosses into Ukraine. He said the U.K. is ready to bolster NATO forces in Latvia and Estonia as he prepared to meet the Lithuanian prime minister in London to show support for the Baltic nations.
Johnson said he was considering dispatching RAF Typhoon fighters and Royal Navy warships to southeastern Europe. Britain said Monday it is sending 350 troops to Poland to bolster NATO’s eastern flank. It already has sent anti-tank weapons to Ukraine.
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More than 100 U.S. military personnel arrived in Romania ahead of a deployment of about 1,000 NATO troops expected in the country in the coming days, Romania’s Defense Minister Vasile Dincu said.
U.S. officials have said that about 1,000 alliance troops will be sent from Germany to Romania, a NATO member since 2004. Romania borders Ukraine to the north. About 1,700 U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne are also going to Poland.
U.S. officials have portrayed the threat of an invasion of Ukraine as imminent — warnings Moscow has scoffed at, accusing Washington of fueling tensions.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east of the country. The fighting between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed over 14,000 people.
In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kyiv of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it would hurt Ukraine.
After meeting Macron, Putin said without elaboration that some of the French president’s proposals could serve as a basis for a settlement of the separatist conflict, adding that they agreed to speak by phone after Macron’s visit to Kyiv.
Peskov said such a call would take place “in the nearest future.”
Macron said both Putin and Zelenskyy confirmed they were willing to implement the Minsk agreements — “the only path allowing to build peace ... and find a sustainable political solution.”
Macron also said the presidential advisers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine will meet Thursday in Berlin on the next steps. “It will take time to get results,” he said.
Zelenskyy was mum on where Ukraine stands on implementing the Minsk agreements and whether he assured Macron that Kyiv is committed to do so, saying only that his country views Thursday’s meeting “very positively” and hoped for a subsequent meeting by the four leaders.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, visiting the front line in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, said she wanted “to get an impression of what it means that we still have war in the middle of Europe.”
Germany has given Ukraine about 1.8 billion euros in aid since 2014, part of which is helping those displaced by fighting.