Oslo: The Nobel Foundation, commenting on the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado handing over her award to US President Donald Trump, has stressed on the mission of the Foundation to uphold the dignity of the prizes as well as their administration.

In a post on its Facebook page on Sunday, the Foundation stated, “The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,” and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize.”

Referring to Machado, the Venezuelan Opposition leader, handing over her prize to President Trump, the Foundation continued, “A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed.”

On its official website, the Foundation explained on Friday, “A Nobel Peace Prize laureate receives two central symbols of the prize: a gold medal and a diploma. In addition, the prize money is awarded separately,” and added, “Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize. Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The Foundation has also said that a laureate cannot share the prize with others, nor transfer it once it has been announced. “A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time,” it has stressed.

Washington: President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that “all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.” Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 am Tuesday. Had that happened the US could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30 per cent, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on US exports to China.

The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the US companies doing business with China.

Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, said the extension is “critical” to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that US businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.

“Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in US tariffs and a rollback of China’s retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart US agriculture and energy exports,” Stein said.

China said Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension.

Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes – tariffs – on almost every country on earth.

The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably US high tariffs (15 per cent on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse.

Trump’s trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average US tariff has gone from around 2.5 per cent at the start of the year to 18.6 per cent, highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.

But China tested the limits of a US trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals and magnets – used in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines.

In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for US firms to get access to rare earths.

“The US has realised it does not have the upper hand,” said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant US trade representative for China affairs.

In May, the US and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they’d slapped on each other’s products, which had reached as high as 145 per cent against China and 125 per cent against the US.

Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva they agreed to back off and keep talking: America’s tariffs went back down to a still-high 30 per cent and China’s to 10 per cent.

Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other, they’ve been talking ever since.

“By overestimating the ability of steep tariffs to induce economic concessions from China, the Trump administration has not only underscored the limits of unilateral US leverage, but also given Beijing grounds for believing that it can indefinitely enjoy the upper hand in subsequent talks with Washington by threatening to curtail rare earth exports,” said Ali Wyne, a specialist in US-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “The administration’s desire for a trade detente stems from the self-inflicted consequences of its earlier hubris.”

It’s unclear whether Washington and Beijing can reach a grand bargain over America’s biggest grievances. Among these are lax Chinese protection of intellectual property rights and Beijing’s subsidies and other industrial policies that, the Americans say, give Chinese firms an unfair advantage in world markets and have contributed to a massive US trade deficit with China of USD 262 billion last year.

Reade doesn’t expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets.

But the tougher issues will likely linger, and “the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future,” said Jeff Moon, a former US diplomat and trade official who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Brussels: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls as part of a ceasefire deal.

Zelenskyy said Russia’s position had been conveyed to him by US officials ahead of a summit Friday between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Alaska on the war in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would not withdraw from territories it controls, saying that would be unconsitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.

It remained unclear whether Ukraine would take part in the Friday summit. European Union also has been sidelined from the meeting, and they appealed to Trump on Tuesday to protect their interests.

Zelenskyy said at a news briefing in Kyiv that Putin wants the remaining 9,000 square kilometres of Donetsk under Kyiv’s control, where the war’s toughest battles are grinding on, as part of a ceasefire plan. He said the Russian position was conveyed to him by US officials.

Doing so would hand Russia almost the entirety of the Donbas, a region comprising Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland that Putin has long coveted.

Zelenskyy was offering new details on the call he held with Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff, after the latter’s bilateral meeting with Putin. Witkoff told Zelenskyy that Russia was ready to end the war and that there should be territorial concessions from both sides. Some European partners were also part of the call.

“And that, probably, Putin wants us to leave Donbas. That is, it didn’t sound like America wants us to leave,” he said, recounting the call. Further meetings at the level of National Security Advisors further clarified what Russia actually wanted, Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces on the ground have been closing in on a key territorial grab around the city of Pokrovsk, potentially to use as leverage in any peace negotiations.

Seeking Trump’s ear before the summit

Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year. The US president has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.

The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.

European countries’ overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.

Their leaders said Tuesday they “welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” But, they underlined, “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and “international borders must not be changed by force.”

The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin.

Russia holds shaky control over four of the country’s regions, two in the country’s east and two in the south.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelenskyy’s office, said anything short of Russia’s strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow’s terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world.

‘A profoundly alarming moment for Europe’

Trump’s seemingly public rehabilitation of Putin — a pariah in most of Europe — has unnerved Ukraine’s backers.

The summit in Alaska is a “profoundly alarming moment for Europe,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

According to Gould-Davies, Putin might persuade Trump to try to end the war by “accepting Russian sovereignty” over parts of Ukraine, even beyond areas that it currently occupies. Trump also could ease or lift sanctions which are causing “chronic pain” to the Russian economy.

That would provoke a “really serious split in the transatlantic alliance,” he said.

The war isn’t about Russia’s territorial expansion but about Putin’s goal of subordinating Ukraine, which would create the opportunity to threaten other parts of Europe, Gould-Davies said.

It was unclear whether the Europeans also were unsettled by Trump mistakenly saying twice he would be traveling to Russia on Friday to meet Putin. The summit is taking place in the U.S. state of Alaska, which was colonized by Russia in the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the U.S. in 1867.

Tuesday’s European joint statement was meant to be a demonstration of unity. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Putin’s closest ally in Europe and has tried to block EU support for Ukraine, was the only one of the bloc’s 27 leaders who refused to endorse it.

Russia closes in on Pokrovsk

Russia appeared close to taking an important city in the Donetsk region, Pokrovsk.

Military analysts using open-source information to monitor the battles said the next 24-48 hours could be critical. Losing Pokrovsk would hand Russia an important victory ahead of the summit. It also would complicate Ukrainian supply lines to the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has focused the bulk of military efforts.

“A lot will depend on availability, quantity and quality of Ukrainian reserves,” Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, wrote on social media late Monday.

Ukraine’s military said its forces are fending off Russian infantry units trying to infiltrate their defensive positions in the Donetsk region. The region’s Ukrainian military command on social media Monday acknowledged that the situation remains “difficult, unpleasant and dynamic.”

Elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on a military training facility left one soldier dead and 11 others wounded, the Ukrainian Ground Forces posted on social media. Soldiers rushing to shelters were hit with cluster munitions, according to the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has said India is very close to China in terms of its purchases of Russian oil and will pay tariffs of 50 per cent as he indicated that you are going to see so much secondary sanctions.

Trump signed an executive order Addressing Threats to the US by the Government of the Russian Federation early on Wednesday slapping an additional 25-per cent tariff on India for New Delhi’s purchases of oil from Russia. This took the total levies imposed on India to 50 per cent among the highest that Washington has imposed on any country, after the Trump administration had announced 25-per cent tariffs on India last week that come into effect from August 7. The additional 25-per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27.

At the White House event Trump was flanked by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Vice President J D Vance, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besant and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as the technology giant announced that it will invest USD 600 billion in the United States over the next four years.

Trump was asked several questions about his decision to impose an additional tariff on India.

To a question that if he reaches a deal with Ukraine and Russia, would he drop the additional tariffs on India Trump said We will determine that later but right now they are paying a 50-per cent tariff.

Trump was then told that Indian officials have said there are other countries like China that are buying Russian oil, to which he said, “It is okay.” On why was he singling India out for these additional tariffs, the US president said “it has only been eight hours, so let us see what happens over the next

You are going to see a lot more. You are going to see so much secondary sanctions.

The United States has imposed this additional tariff or penalty for Russian imports only on India, while other buyers, such as China and Turkiye, have so far escaped such measures. The 30-per cent tariff on China and 15 per cent on Turkiye is lower than India’s 50 per cent.

Asked about the additional penalties on India and whether he has any similar plans to enact more tariffs on China for its purchases, Trump said, “Could happen, could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen.

On another question on possible tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian oil, he said, “It may happen, I do not know, I cannot tell you yet. We did it with India. We are doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China.

Reacting to Trump’s additional tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that it is extremely unfortunate” that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest.

We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India the MEA statement said, adding that the US has in recent days targeted India’s oil imports from Russia.

“We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests,” it said.

In the executive order, Trump said he has determined that “it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.

I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 per cent Trump said in the executive order.

He also announced that the US will be putting a tariff of approximately 100 per cent on chips and semiconductors coming into the country. “But if you are building in the United States of America, there is no charge.

If you have made a commitment to build, or if you are in the process of building as many are there is no tariff.

India buys about 88 per cent of its crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel, from overseas. Russian oil made up for hardly 0.2 per cent of all crude oil that India imported till 2021. After Moscow invaded Ukraine, Russian oil was available at a discount to international benchmarks due to western sanctions and was quickly lapped up by Indian refiners.

Russia is now India’s largest oil supplier

In July, India imported about five million (50 lakh) barrels of oil a day of which 1.6 million (16 lakh) came from Russia.

After the new levy, India will attract the highest tariff of 50 per cent along with Brazil. After this, India’s competitors will be much better placed in the US market as their duty is lower — Myanmar (40 per cent), Thailand and Cambodia (both 36 per cent), Bangladesh (35 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), China and Sri Lanka (both 30 per cent), Malaysia (25 per cent), the Philippines and Vietnam (both 20 per cent).

The announcement comes at a time when a team from Washington is scheduled to visit India from August 25 for the sixth round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA).