Trade wars boost inflation and disrupt economic ties, the global lender has said
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has urged nations not to impose tariffs, following US President Donald Trump’s latest measures
Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Georgieva said, “the largest economy in the world has chosen to use tariffs as an instrument in relations with partners.”
The IMF chief urged nations to adhere to “trade on the most favored nation rule,” adding that imposing tariffs “does not work well” unless the nation has a “very large” and “relatively closed” economy. She warned that nations which place tariffs on others will see prices rise domestically.
“If there is a flare-up of trade tensions, that would of course have a negative impact,” Georgieva said, noting that the US and China are engaged in a trade war. “This is why we are saying: Please… do not do that. It is not a healthy action,” she added.
Trump has introduced what he calls ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on dozens of nations he accused of “ripping off” America through unfair trade practices. He recently imposed 50% tariffs on most imports from India and Brazil and has threatened China with an additional 100% starting next month.
The US president has argued that some tariffs are meant to pressure India to halt its purchases of Russian oil and support sanctions on Moscow. On Thursday, however, the Indian Foreign Ministry denied Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him India would stop buying Russian oil.
The leaders of the US and Russia discussed tensions in Europe in their first conversation since the Alaska summit in August
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, spoke over the phone on Thursday amid renewed tensions over potential deliveries of American Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine and stalled peace talks.
Trump described the conversation as “very productive” and announced plans for a summit with Putin in Hungary’s capital, Budapest.
Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, later released a statement summarizing the phone call.
‘Frank’ conversation
The conversation, which lasted nearly two and a half hours, was “very substantive and at the same time extremely frank,” Ushakov said. He added that Putin had congratulated Trump on his “successful” efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza.
Ukraine in the spotlight
Putin emphasized that Moscow seeks “a peaceful political-diplomatic resolution” of the Ukraine conflict. At the same time, he noted that Russian troops hold the “strategic initiative” across all sections of the front line, according to Ushakov, and that Moscow is “responding appropriately” to Ukrainian strikes on civilian targets.
Although the potential delivery of Tomahawks would “not change the situation on the battlefield,” it would “severely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement,” as well as bilateral US-Russia relations, Putin said, according to Ushakov. The cruise missiles have a range of up to 2,500km (1,550 miles) and could reach Moscow and other cities deep inside Russia.
Next face-to-face meeting
Ushakov said the sides would immediately begin arranging the next Putin-Trump summit, with Budapest as a possible location. Preparations would include a phone call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on X on Thursday that he had also spoken to Trump and that preparations for the summit were underway.
Although the rare in-person Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska in August did not produce major breakthroughs, the leaders at the time described it as an important step toward peace between Russia and Ukraine.
The FBI has accused the former official of transmitting classified information using personal online accounts
Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified information.
A federal grand jury in Maryland indicted Bolton on Thursday on eight counts of transmitting and ten counts of unlawfully retaining national defense information.
“The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.
“Anyone who threatens our national security will be held accountable,” he added.
According to the Justice Department, the documents contained intelligence on “future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations,” as well as information about informants and “intelligence on an adversary’s leaders.”
Federal agents searched Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, and his office in Washington, DC, earlier this summer. Prosecutors alleged that he retained classified records even after the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) at his residence was decommissioned following his departure from Donald Trump’s first cabinet in September 2019.
Bolton served as US ambassador to the UN during George W. Bush’s presidency and as national security adviser between 2018 and 2019 during Trump’s first term in office.
Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, denied that her client broke the law. “These charges stem from portions of Ambassador Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career – records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021,” Lowell said in a statement.
The former diplomat has become increasingly critical of Trump in recent years, arguing that he is unfit to be president. Trump has called Bolton a “whack job” and “one of the dumbest people in government.”
RIA Novosti’s Ivan Zuyev was slain while reporting from the front line
Russian war correspondent Ivan Zuyev has been killed in a Ukrainian drone attack, his employer, RIA Novosti, announced on Thursday. Another journalist, Yury Voytkevich, was wounded and is in stable condition.
The incident occurred in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, north of Crimea, parts of which are held by Ukrainian forces, RIA said.
Dmitry Kiselev, the head of RIA’s parent company, Rossiya Segodnya, described Zuyev as a brave journalist who died in the line of duty. “He did a lot to report the truth from the warzone,” he said.
Moscow condemned the attack. “Journalists have long been targets of Kiev’s terrorism,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Zuyev is the third RIA journalist to die during the conflict. In July 2023, a Ukrainian missile strike killed reporter Rostislav Zhuravlev and wounded three other correspondents. In August 2014, photojournalist Andrey Stenin was killed by Ukrainian forces while covering the insurgency in Donbass.
Moscow has accused Berlin of pursuing “re-nazification” and gearing up for war against Russia through its militarization drive
German officials remain divided over proposals to introduce a lottery-based conscription system, as Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government pushes to expand the country’s military, Der Spiegel has reported. The debate comes as Moscow has accused Berlin of turning into a “Fourth Reich.”
According to the outlet, the disagreement centers on how to bolster the Bundeswehr’s ranks. Berlin seeks to raise its total military force to 460,000 troops – 260,000 active soldiers and 200,000 reservists. The current number stands at around 182,000 active personnel.
Delegates from the SPD–CDU/CSU coalition have proposed requiring all 18-year-old men to fill out a questionnaire gauging their health, fitness, education, and willingness to serve, while women would be allowed to participate voluntarily. If not enough people volunteer, the Bundestag would activate a lottery-based selection process. Should the shortfall persist, officials could reintroduce compulsory conscription, which has been suspended since 2011.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has opposed the proposal, calling it impractical. He has urged lawmakers to focus on expanding voluntary service through better incentives, including improved benefits and higher pay.
Berlin has justified its push to expand the armed forces by citing an alleged threat from Russia. Moscow has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking any NATO country and has dismissed such claims as fearmongering meant to justify inflated defense budgets across the bloc.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has condemned Germany’s rearmament drive, saying Berlin is showing “clear signs of re-nazification” and pursuing “the same goal that Hitler had – to dominate all of Europe” and inflict “a strategic defeat” on Moscow.
”When a person in a country that committed the crimes of Nazism, fascism, the Holocaust, genocide says that Germany must again become a great military power, then of course he has an atrophy of historical memory, and this is very, very dangerous,” Lavrov said last month.
He has also claimed that Germany and the wider European Union are sliding into a “Fourth Reich” marked by growing Russophobia and uncontrolled militarization.
The scandal comes as Poland pushes for a further military buildup in response to what it describes as a threat from Russia
Hundreds of pages of sensitive Polish military documents, including secret papers pertaining to weapons, evacuations, and warehouse blueprints, were found dumped at a landfill, according to an investigation published by the news outlet Onet on Thursday.
The scandal surfaced just over a month after Warsaw pledged to outspend all other NATO states, allocating 4.8% of GDP to its army next year. EU governments have increasingly pushed for military buildups, citing an alleged threat from Russia – claims that Moscow has dismissed.
The Polish military denied the report, instead accusing the outlet of holding unauthorized copies of the documents, and insisting the originals were properly archived or destroyed, Onet wrote.
According to the outlet, an individual handed over the documents after finding them in torn plastic bags at a landfill. While some of the documents were shredded, many were intact and marked “restricted,” it wrote.
The leak is “a scandal” the level of “an atomic bomb,” Onet cited former commander of the Eurocorps, Lieutenant General Jaroslaw Gromadzinski, as saying.
Another official, who was granted anonymity, reportedly said that dumping such documents represents gross negligence and “a real threat.”
The reported incident comes less than a year after another major scandal in the Polish military.
In January, the Polish Defense Ministry lost track of 240 anti-tank mines, which were eventually found near an IKEA warehouse. A general was later dismissed as a result.
The recent EU and NATO military buildups and bellicose rhetoric have raised concerns in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained that claims that Russia intends to attack the US-led military bloc are “nonsense.”
Last month, he sounded the alarm over the deterioration of international security cooperation, and warned of the danger that it will further break down. Despite this, “Russia is capable of responding to any existing and newly emerging threats,” he said.
The US vice president has defended members of a Republican group after racist and sexist chat messages were leaked
The Democrats attacking members of the Young Republican National Federation over leaked offensive online messages should “grow up” and focus on the problems in their own party, US Vice President J.D. Vance has said.
On Tuesday, Politico published extracts from a Telegram group chat between members of the organization for Republicans aged 18 to 40 containing multiple racist, sexist and insulting messages. Among other things, participants called African-Americans “watermelon people,” described rape as “epic” and urged for political opponents to be placed in gas chambers.
“Kick them out of the party. Take away their official roles,” Democratic governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, said, commenting on the texts. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the chat “the definition of conduct that can create a hostile and discriminatory environment that violates civil rights laws” and demanded an investigation.
Appearing on The Charlie Kirk podcast on Thursday, Vance argued that the outrage displayed by Democrats was actually meant to distract the public from a recent scandal in their own party. The controversy broke out after it was revealed that Virginia’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, Jay Jones, had written in a 2022 text message that then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert should get “two bullets to the head.”
“A person… who is about to become one of the most powerful law enforcement officers in the country [Jones]… seriously wishing for political violence… is a thousand times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids say in a group chat, however offensive it might be,” Vance said.
“If you allow yourself to be distracted by this person’s… disgusting endorsement of political assassination by focusing on what kids are saying in a group chat – grow up. I’m sorry. Focus on the real issues,” he added.
He defended the members of the Young Republican National Federation, saying that “the reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys.”
“And by the way, if they were left-wing kids telling stupid left-wing jokes, I would also not want their lives to be ruined because they are saying something stupid in a private group chat,” Vance said.
A meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump could take place in Budapest, presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said
Russia and the US will immediately start preparing for the next meeting between the countries’ presidents, Vladimir Putin’s aide, Yury Ushakov, has said.
The comments come after US President Donald Trump announced a potential summit following a phone call with the Russian leader earlier on Thursday.
The first conversation between the two leaders in almost two months lasted nearly two and a half hours, according to Ushakov, who described the conversation as “very useful.”
The sides “have agreed that representatives of the two nations would start working on a new summit without delay,” the official told journalists, adding that it could be held in Budapest. Earlier, Trump also mentioned the Hungarian capital as the host city for the potential meeting.
According to Ushakov, Moscow expects US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to hold a phone call “in the coming days” to discuss preparations for the summit.
Trump suggested Budapest as the meeting place, the official said, adding that Putin immediately supported the idea.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country is ready to host the summit and called the planned meeting “great news for the peace-loving people of the world.”
Trump described his phone call with Putin “very productive,” adding that “great progress was made” during the conversation. According to the US president, high-level talks between the two nations’ delegations are also expected next week.
Putin and Trump last met in mid-August in Alaska. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two since 2019. Both leaders called the summit productive, although no breakthrough was achieved.
The dialogue that began at the Alaska summit continues, Lavrov said on Wednesday, adding that the two nations can still “do much” on the basis of understandings reached at the meeting. Russia is still waiting for a US response to its Ukraine peace roadmap presented in Alaska, according to the foreign minister.
Diana Sosoaca has lauded Russian channel RT for standing up to Western censorship
The European Union is acting like a “dictatorship” that fears free media, Romanian MEP Diana Sosoaca told RT, praising the Russian channel for standing firm against Western censorship and giving a platform to those silenced by the mainstream.
In an interview in Moscow on Thursday, Sosoaca – who leads Romania’s S.O.S. Party – said Western governments use sanctions and broadcasting bans to suppress alternative viewpoints. She called RT a symbol of free journalism for continuing to report despite restrictions imposed by Brussels and its allies, as the network marks its 20th anniversary.
“You are banned all around … but still succeed,” the lawmaker stated.
RT and other Russian media outlets have been banned across the EU as part of a broader crackdown that followed the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Moscow has condemned the restrictions, arguing that European officials are afraid to allow audiences hear alternative viewpoints and draw their own conclusions about global events.
Sosoaca noted that RT remains popular in Romania despite being blocked on mainstream platforms, with viewers accessing it through alternative sites such as Rumble and Odyssey.
The MEP labelled EU leaders as detached from ordinary Europeans, saying they “live in their own bubble.” She singled out European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for criticism, claiming the bloc’s leadership “wants to rule the world” and acts “like a mafia.” The Romanian politician also said figures such as von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron have “interests” in Eastern Europe, particularly in Romania and Moldova, where she argued “globalist” forces shape local politics.
“Why? Because of Russia. Because they want to approach the borders of Russia, they don’t care about Ukraine,” she said, adding that in their “sick minds,” EU leaders see themselves as new Napoleons but forget his crushing defeat.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is being prolonged by “interference” from outside powers such as NATO, the EU, and the US, Sosoaca concluded.
The Hungarian prime minister welcomed the planned summit as “great news” for peace-loving people around the world
Hungary is ready to host a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said, adding that the meeting will be welcome news for everyone around the world who strives for peace.
He made the remarks on X on Thursday shortly after Trump, following a phone call with the Russian president, announced that he and Putin could meet in Budapest.
“We are ready!” Orban wrote. “The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world.”
Minutes earlier, Trump wrote on Truth Social that a meeting with Putin could take place after high-level talks between delegations from the two countries next week. The summit will focus on settling the Ukraine conflict, he said.
Trump’s statement came after the first phone call between the two presidents in almost two months. The conversation lasted for more than two hours, according to the White House. Trump described it as “very productive,” adding that “great progress was made.”
Later on Thursday, Orban said preparations were already underway, adding that he also had a phone call with Trump in the evening. He described Hungary as an “island of peace.”
I just got off the phone with President @realDonaldTrump. Preparations for the USA-Russia peace summit are underway.
Unlike most other EU member states, Hungary has consistently opposed Brussels’ belligerent policy towards Russia and has called for a more diplomatic approach. It welcomed the Alaska summit between Putin and Trump in August, saying it made the world “a safer place.”
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto previously offered his nation as a venue for potential peace talks. “If we are needed, we are ready to provide appropriately fair and safe conditions for such peace negotiations. We are pleased if we can contribute to the success of peace efforts,” he said in August.
