Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 3

Trump claimed India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil. New Delhi says it knows nothing about it

ndia has seemingly pushed back against US President Donald Trump’s claim it had agreed to stop importing Russian oil, signaling the issue that has strained ties is unlikely to be resolved soon. Trump on Wednesday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “assured me today that they (India) will not be buying oil from Russia,” which is subject to US sanctions, describing it as a “big step.”But

Will Putin’s call lure Trump closer to the Kremlin?

Timing in diplomacy is everything, and the Kremlin seems to have timed its latest, lengthy phone call with the White House – the eighth in the past eight months – to perfection.With US President Donald Trump poised to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, and publicly weighing the risks of supplying Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, Russian officials described the

China’s Rare Earth Restrictions Could Backfire on Xi. Here’s How

Beijing’s latest rare earth restrictions, intended to consolidate an already dominant position and boost its leverage amid ongoing trade negotiations, may be an ill-judged gambit that could see China cede control over what is shaping up to be the 21st century’s most critical supply chain.Under the new rules—unveiled by China’s Ministry of Commerce last week and set to take effect in December—

India Responds to Trump’s Claim About Russian Oil Pledge

New Delhi has responded to President Donald Trump’s claim on Wednesday that his Indian counterpart pledged to begin phasing out Russian oil imports, amid the administration’s efforts to pressure Russia to end its war in Ukraine."India is a significant importer of oil and gas," Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement Thursday. "It has been our

Remembering Jerome A. Cohen: A ChinaFile Conversation

Jerome Alan Cohen (July 1, 1930 – September 22, 2025) was a renowned American lawyer who was one of the foremost foreign scholars of Chinese law. After studying law at Yale, Cohen embarked on a career in constitutional law, clerking for Supreme Justices Earl Warren and Felix Frankfurter before beginning to teach law at the University of California, Berkeley. But at the age of 30 he pivoted,

India's exports to US plunge as Trump's 50% tariffs bite

India's goods exports to the US, its largest foreign market, dropped sharply by 20% in September and nearly 40% in the last four months, as Trump's steep tariffs took effect, data shows. September was the first full month of Washington's 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which kicked in on 27 August. This includes a 25% penalty for Delhi's refusal to stop buying oil from Russia. "US has become

China arrested 30 Christians. Some fear it's the start of a bigger crackdown

Last Friday Grace Jin Drexel received a text from her father in China, the prominent pastor Jin Mingri, telling her to pray for another pastor who had gone missing. The text said that the other pastor had been detained while visiting the southern city of Shenzhen."Shortly after that, I got a call from my mum. She said she couldn't contact my dad," Ms Jin Drexel, who lives in the US, told the BBC.

India Overtakes China in World Air Force Ranking

In a stunning shift in global military power, India has leapfrogged China to claim the title of the third most powerful air force in the world. While the United States continues to dominate, followed by Russia, India’s rise signals a dramatic recalibration in Asia’s strategic balance. China, long considered a major air power, now ranks fourth. The latest World Directory of Modern Military

Trump’s EV retreat is a huge win for his No. 1 trade rival

Two years ago, as President Donald Trump was running for reelection, he derided President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle push as a “hoax” promoted by “Radical Left Fascists, Marxists & Communists.”“Within 3 years, all of these cars will be made in China,” he wrote on social media at the time.That last jab now reads as more of a promise than a prediction.Since returning to office, Trump and

A newborn baby was found buried alive. The reason may have been her gender

Her arm was the first thing Shyam Babu saw, tiny and frail, poking through the mud like a discarded doll. But this was no doll. Covered with ants and bleeding from what doctors would later suspect were animal bites, the pig farmer had just made a terrifying discovery near a river in this north Indian village.Wrapped in a towel, barely stirring, but slightly breathing, was a newborn baby girl