08 Wx 04-Blurb

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The Trump administration’s latest trade deal with Britain unfairly penalizes U.S. automakers that have partnered with Canada and Mexico, a trade group representing Detroit automakers said Thursday.

In a sharply-worded statement, the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) said the U.S.-UK trade deal “hurts American automakers, suppliers, and auto workers,” according to the group’s president Matt Blunt.

The deal unveiled Thursday between U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lowers the tariff on British vehicles to 10 percent from 27.5 percent on the first 100,000 cars shipped from Britain to the United States.

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A U.S.-backed mechanism for distributing aid into Gaza should take effect soon, Washington’s ambassador to Israel said on Friday ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, but he gave few details.

Gaza’s residents are facing a growing humanitarian crisis with Israel enforcing a months-long blockade on aid supplies to the small Palestinian enclave in the third year of its war against militant group Hamas.

Ambassador Mike Huckabee said several partners had already committed to taking part in the aid arrangement but declined to name them, saying details would be released in the coming days.

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The decades-long dispute between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region has resulted in numerous bloody skirmishes and three full-fledged wars — in 1965, 1971, and 1999. In the wake of a horrific terrorist attack in the southern part of Indian-administered Kashmir last month, fighting has resumed and threatens now to embroil the two nuclear powers in another major war.

When pressed on Thursday to comment about the Trump administration’s concern “about the potential for nuclear war between India and Pakistan,” Vice President JD Vance told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that while concerned and keen on de-escalation, the U.S. is “not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it.”

“Look, we’re concerned about any time nuclear powers collide and have a major conflict,” said Vance. “What we’ve said, what Secretary Rubio has said, and certainly [what] the president has said is we want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible.”

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More than 50 years after its launch, a Soviet spacecraft called Kosmos 482 is about to come crashing back to Earth. It was originally intended to land on the surface of Venus, but it started to fall apart in low Earth orbit and never made it beyond there. After decades of circling our planet in an oval-shaped orbit, it’s finally about to hurtle back to the ground.

Kosmos 482 launched in 1972, but because of secrecy during the cold war period, little is known about its structure or its exact mission. We only know it was headed for Venus because of other Soviet missions that were focused on our neighbouring world at the time and because the spacecraft appeared to attempt to launch on a trajectory there before it went to pieces. It isn’t clear what exactly caused the spacecraft failure, but three of the four fragments fell in New Zealand shortly after the launch.

 

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New Delhi — A deadly terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s picturesque Pahalgam area in April has brought India and Pakistan once again to the brink of war. The nuclear armed South Asian neighbors have attacked each other this week with missiles and drones in a sudden flare-up of a decades-old feud that’s being watched with concern by leaders around the world.

The bitter rivals have fought three wars over Kashmir in the past, and once again they’re warning each other against any moves that could escalate the tension — and vowing to respond in kind to any such moves with tough military action.

After a week of intense clashes, air raid sirens blared in a couple Indian cities near the Pakistani border on Friday and authorities asked people to remain indoors. Officials said a woman was killed and four men injured in alleged Pakistani cross-border fire in the Kashmiri town of Uri, while all major airports and the capital city of Delhi were on high alert, with some schools shut and major landmarks evacuated.

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Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, made history on Thursday, May 8, when he was elected as the first American Pope. The Chicago native, who has spent many years serving as a missionary in Peru, took to the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and addressed the cheering crowd, speaking in Spanish and Italian.

On Friday morning, Pope Leo spoke once more when he presided over his first mass as Pontiff.

Dressed in a white robe with a gold border and a tall white miter, and holding a gold crucifix, Pope Leo delivered his first homily during which he spoke in his native English, as well as Latin and Italian, to the cardinals who elected him just a day before.

Leo referred to being appointed Pope as both a cross and a blessing, and spoke of the responsibility he and the cardinals have to spread Christianity in a world that sometimes mocks faith.

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China said Friday sales to the United States slumped last month while its total exports topped forecasts, as Beijing fought a gruelling trade war with its superpower rival.

Trade between the world’s two largest economies has nearly skidded to a halt since US President Donald Trump imposed various rounds of levies on China that began as retaliation for Beijing’s alleged role in a devastating fentanyl crisis.

Tariffs on many Chinese products now reach as high as 145 percent — with cumulative duties on some goods soaring to a staggering 245 percent.

Beijing has responded with 125 percent tariffs on imports of US goods, along with other measures targeting American firms.

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US President Donald Trump has foregone the condition originally set in negotiations with Saudi Arabia, and is prepared to discuss cooperation on a Saudi civilian nuclear project even without normalization of the country’s relations with Israel, according to a report by Reuters today.

The previous US president, Joe Biden, made expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Saudi recognition of Israel a condition for nuclear cooperation.

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The Trump administration is considering cutting the steep 145% tariff on Chinese imports by more than half, possibly as early as next week, as US and Chinese officials gear up for high-level trade talks in Switzerland,

The New York Post

reported, citing sources close to the negotiations.US officials are reportedly weighing a reduction of the levy to somewhere between 50% and 54%, a move aimed at easing tensions as trade negotiations unfold.