The United States expects to resolve a bitter tariff row with India within weeks, an envoy of President Donald Trump said Thursday, as he voiced hope for keeping New Delhi in US good graces.India has seen outrage and a spike in anti-US sentiment after Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on some of its exports over purchases of oil from Russia, under Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.Sergio Gor, nominated by Trump to be ambassador to India, said he expected progress when India’s trade minister visits Washington next week.”I do think it will get resolved over the next few weeks,” Gor told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his confirmation hearing.Gor has risen quickly in the Trump White House after spearheading the quick vetting for loyalty of 4,000 appointees to run the US government.Despite his lack of formal foreign policy experience, Gor, a 38-year-old former fund-raiser for Trump, appeared prepared for his questions, deftly not replying to a senator’s question on India’s volatile relationship with Pakistan.Describing the tariffs as a “little hiccup,” Gor — also named to a broad position of Trump’s special envoy for South Asia — said of concern over India’s Russia ties, “We hold our friends to different standards.””I will make it a top priority to ensure that they’re pulled in our direction, not away from us,” Gor said of India.Gor noted that Trump, not shy about airing grievances with other leaders, has not personally attacked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fellow right-wing populist.”When the president has been critical of India, he has gone out of his way to compliment Prime Minister Modi,” Gor said.Trump has accused New Delhi of fueling Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine by buying oil from Russia, its Cold War ally. Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro has even called it “Modi’s war.”Trump has not taken similar action against Russia itself and appeared peeved that Modi did not personally credit him for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following their conflict in May.India — maintaining a decades-old red line against outside intervention over divided Kashmir — has also rebuffed Trump’s overtures to mediate between the two nuclear-armed nations.- ‘Wrong direction’ -Politicians from across the US political spectrum have nearly unanimously supported warm ties with India, making Trump’s tariffs a greater jolt.US policymakers have eyed democratic India as a balance to the world’s other billion-plus nation, China, seen as the top long-term adversary to the United States. Modi recently paid a friendly visit to China, despite the two powers’ long animosity.Democratic Senator Tim Kaine told Gor that the United States should be “tough when we need to be, but balance that with a real understanding that we want to be close to India and we don’t want to push them in the wrong direction.”Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has used tariffs as a wide-ranging tool to address what Washington deems unfair trade practices as well as assorted other priorities.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday that “India basically has to open their market, has to stop buying Russian oil,” when asked about trade talks.He added that “we’ve got a big deal coming with Taiwan, we’ll probably get a deal done with Switzerland.” Steeper tariffs took effect on both economies in early August.

The killing of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump, marks a new milestone in an increasingly violent political scene in the United States.Officials are treating the gunning down of Kirk, 31, at a university in Utah as a politically motivated assassination — something that Trump has called a “dark moment for America.”The US president himself, known like Kirk for his divisive rhetoric, was targeted by a would-be assassin in July 2024 during an election campaign in Pennsylvania. He escaped with just a minor injury to his right ear but the attempted killing shook the United States, which has a long line of murdered presidents, politicians and activists.It’s a violent history that does not discriminate on either side of the political aisle. In June, a masked shooter killed Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband at their home. Another elected official and his wife were also targeted and seriously injured. And Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro — touted last year as a presidential hopeful — had his home set alight in April in an alleged assassination attempt. Kirk’s death in front of a crowd of hundreds has particularly shaken conservative politicians. Trump, whose own supporters attacked the US Congress in 2021 after his election loss, condemned political violence in a video address late Wednesday. But rather than calling for unity, he took aim at the “radical left” for rhetoric that Trump said “is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”And listing recent instances of political violence in the US, he notably did not mention the killing of Melissa Hortman. Trump’s finger pointing was repeated by other conservative figures including Elon Musk, who wrote on X: “The Left is the party of murder.”In the House of Representatives late Wednesday, Republican speaker Mike Johnson observed a silent prayer in tribute to Kirk.But even that led to conflict, as a loyal Trump lawmaker Lauren Boebert’s request that the prayer be said aloud was rejected by Democrats, who cited another shooting at a high school in Colorado on Wednesday. “You all caused this,” shouted Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, in apparent reference to Kirk’s murder. That dramatic scene seemed to show how Congress, much like American politics, has tipped into more extreme polarization, even on such a somber night. 

US authorities investigating the killing of right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk released pictures Thursday of a man they were hunting, as Donald Trump paid tribute to a “giant of his generation.”Kirk, a 31-year-old superstar on the Republican right who was credited with helping Trump return to the presidency last year, was shot while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.The killing — described by the FBI as a “targeted event” — shocked a nation already reeling from political tensions half a year into Trump’s second term.Authorities acknowledged the gunman remained at large after having escaped initially into woodland.”We’re doing everything we can to find him, and we’re not sure how far he has gone yet, but we will do our best,” FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls told a media briefing.Authorities said the suspect was of university age and that they had quality video footage, yet to be released, identifying the man. The FBI also announced a reward of up to $100,000 for information.The FBI issued grainy photos of a person of interest — not yet a suspect — and asked for the public’s help identifying him. The pictures showed a man wearing a black baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and what appeared to be jeans, with a long-sleeved top emblazoned with a design including an American flag.Bohls said the presumed murder weapon had been found.”It is a high powered bolt action rifle. That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” the FBI agent said.- ‘Dark moment’ -Reflecting the intensely political nature of the incident, it was Trump, rather than law enforcement authorities, who first announced to Americans on Wednesday that Kirk had died from the gunshot to his neck.Trump then addressed the nation in a video address on social media in which he cited a “dark moment for America.”Despite no public information about the shooter’s identity or motive, the president went on to suggest that the left wing was responsible — and to pledge a wide-reaching response.”For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing.”On Thursday Trump used a tribute to victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks 24 years ago to honor Kirk.”Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people,” Trump said, adding that he would be posthumously awarding the activist the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.- Shot in neck -Kirk was shot while speaking to the crowd and immediately collapsed in his chair.Students at the university described the ensuing panic — and their broader fears as political divisions deepen across the country.”It makes me feel like I should be very careful about expressing my political ideas,” said Samuel Kimball, a software engineering student, told AFP.Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, called the killing a “political assassination.”Kirk, who supporters have hailed as a “martyr” for conservative ideals, had an outsized influence in US politics.He co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to drive conservative viewpoints among young people, his natural showmanship making him a go-to spokesman on television networks.Kirk used his enormous audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for anti-immigration policies, outspoken Christianity and gun ownership, and to spread carefully edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events.Three months ago, a Minnesota man shot dead a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in their home, and Trump survived an assassination attempt during his election campaign in July 2024.Vice President JD Vance was due to travel to Utah to meet Kirk’s family Thursday, a source familiar with the plans said, after he canceled a trip to New York to mark the 9/11 attacks anniversary.