Trump's subdued response in Beijing raises questions amid Taiwan discussions with Xi Jinping.

Donald Trump appeared unusually subdued in Beijing on Thursday after a private meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the US president offering only a brief answer to reporters after Chinese officials said Taiwan had featured prominently in the talks.

Trump had arrived in the Chinese capital on Wednesday night with senior administration officials and a group of Silicon Valley chief executives ahead of meetings with Xi on Thursday and Friday. The visit opened with all the ceremony expected of a state occasion, including a red carpet, a cannon salute, an honour guard and children waving flags, before the two men began their first round of talks at the Great Hall of the People.

Donald Trump Strikes A Different Tone In Beijing

Early on, the public optics were almost absurdly cordial. Xi told Trump that 'the whole world is watching our meeting' and asked whether China and the United States could 'meet global challenges together and provide more stability for the world.' Trump responded in familiar fashion, lavishing praise on his host and telling Xi, 'You're a great leader, I say it to everybody, you're a great leader'.

He did not sound like that afterwards.

According to The Daily Beast, the first round of talks lasted roughly two hours and 15 minutes. When Trump later appeared with Xi outside Beijing's Temple of Heaven, he was asked how the meeting had gone. His answer was startlingly short by his own standards. 'It's great, a great place. Incredible. China is beautiful.'

That was it. No riffing. No improvised verdict on trade or diplomacy. No attempt to dominate the moment with one of the sprawling, combative answers that usually follow him around. Xi stayed silent, Trump said nothing more, and the two men moved inside as one reporter tried to ask a final question about Taiwan.

There is no jet fuel shortage, according to Greg Raiff, CEO of private jet services company Elevate Jet.

The Strait of Hormuz may be closed, locking away more than 20% of the world’s supply of jet fuel. Major airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights all over the world. And Europe may reach a 23-day shortage threshold in June.

But Raiff hasn’t seen a lack of jet fuel.

“Those stories are largely politically driven by governmental authorities who are trying to pressure an end to the war, and no better way to get people out than tell them that they can’t get to their summer holiday,” he told Fortune.

“Not only has demand not slowed for private aviation, since fuel prices went up and the war started, it’s actually gone up slightly,” he says. “Aviation is up this year in terms of total demand, total hours flown, total volume of arrivals and departures, on a global basis.”

“I’m saying we are not going to run out of jet fuel. In my professional opinion, 35 years doing this, that we are in no risk of running out of jet fuel anytime soon,” Raiff said.

What Raiff has seen is price-gouging at private airports and terminals.

The price of jet fuel on the open market is now over $4 a gallon. But at one Washington, D.C., facility Raiff says he saw private jet owners being charged $10.42 per gallon.

In addition to the price of the fuel, “they’re now charging about $1 in taxes and fees and $5 for the privilege of having the minimum wage kid at the fuel truck pump gas into your airplane, so it’s over $10 a gallon,” he said.

So why are commercial airlines canceling thousands of seats across the globe?

Because airlines want to weasel out of running their less lucrative routes, he says. To keep their “slots” at airports, airlines have to contractually commit to running a minimum number of flights on certain routes. Normally that is no problem. But with the price of jet fuel double what it was before the war, suddenly some of those routes aren’t profitable. And a lot of the canceled flights were to places like Dubai or Riyadh, where no one wants to land anymore.

Source: Fortune

Index provider MSCI is to remove more than a dozen Indonesian stocks from its global indices, including some of the country’s largest tycoon-owned companies, following warnings over high shareholding concentration.

MSCI will cut six Indonesian stocks from its Global Standard Index and 13 from the small-cap index as of the close of May 29, it said in its quarterly review. One removed from the global index will be placed in the small-cap index, bringing the total number of deletions to 18.

MSCI did not give a reason for removing the stocks in its Tuesday statement. The index provider previously warned in January that it could downgrade Indonesia from an emerging to frontier market owing to high shareholding concentration and a lack of transparency in ownership.

The six stocks to be removed from the Global Standard Index are Barito Renewables Energy, Chandra Asri Pacific, Petrindo Jaya Kreasi, Amman Mineral Internasional, Sumber Alfaria Trijaya and Dian Swastatika Sentosa. All are owned by Indonesia’s tycoons, who investors, regulators and analysts say maintain tight control over their companies either directly or through nominees.

The first MSCI warning in January triggered the worst stock market decline in years. Jakarta’s main stock index has fallen 22 per cent this year, making it one of the world’s worst-performing equity markets. 

“You seem nuts, buddy.” - Former FBI director James Comey.

WASHINGTON, May 13 — US President Donald Trump went on an extraordinary social media spree into the early hours of Tuesday, posting dozens of conspiracy theories and crude memes attacking his opponents.

The intense outburst on Truth Social came amid growing public scrutiny of the 79-year-old Republican’s health.

As Trump deals with the economically damaging impasse of the war with Iran, and was en route Tuesday to a summit in China, his attention was elsewhere in the nighttime flurry.

In a span of just three hours around midnight Monday, Trump posted over 50 times, almost exclusively re-sharing videos and screenshots from supporters’ accounts, plus AI-created memes.

Two posts called former Democratic president Barack Obama a “traitor” and a “DEMONIC FORCE.” Others called for Obama and other Trump critics to be arrested.

One repost accused former FBI director James Comey of failing to look into a link to Obama during the investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

In an interview with CNN Tuesday, Comey responded to a question about whether Trump seemed to have changed since their briefings during his first term.

“He doesn’t seem okay to me – and I know that sounds like a political shot. It seems like there’s something wrong with the man,” Comey told CNN, saying the “middle-of-the-night, obsessive” posts seemed “crazy.”

Comey added: “You seem nuts, buddy.”

He also shared at least two original posts signed “President DJT”: one cryptically saying the US was “going to talk” with Cuba and another – over 400 words long – defending his costly renovation project of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

In a recent Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll, 59 per cent of respondents said they believed Trump lacked the mental capacity to lead the country, while 55 per cent said he was not physically fit.

Trump, the oldest president ever elected to the presidency, insists he is in top shape.

“I feel the same as I did 50 years ago. It’s crazy,” he asserted on Monday.

Source: AFP

“The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.”

TEHRAN, May 13 — Iran’s chief negotiator said Tuesday that Washington must accept Tehran’s latest peace plan or face failure, after US President Donald Trump warned the truce in the Middle East war was on the brink of collapse.

The war, which erupted more than two months ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread throughout the Middle East and roiled the global economy despite the ceasefire, impacting hundreds of millions worldwide.

Both sides have refused to make concessions and repeatedly threatened to resume fighting, but neither appears willing to return to all-out war.

“There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

“The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.”

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the cost of the war had climbed to nearly US$29 billion (RM115 billion) – about US$4 billion higher than an estimate offered two weeks ago.

Iran sent its latest proposal in response to an earlier US plan, details of which remain limited. Media reports have said the American plan involved a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the fighting and establishing a framework for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iran’s foreign ministry said its response called for ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, halting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and securing the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad under longstanding sanctions.

But Trump slammed Tehran’s reply as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”, saying the United States would enjoy a “complete victory” over Iran and that the truce that has halted fighting for over a month was on its last legs.

Source: AFP

BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, accused the opposition Congress of being a parasite in the wake of its separation from long-standing ally DMK in Tamil Nadu.

"DMK stood with Congess for three decades and repeatedly rescued Congress during crises. The UPA government before 2014 also survived because of DMK's support. But the moment political equations shifted, power-hungry Congress stabbed DMK in the back... Now Corngress is searching for another party to ride on as a parasite."

While the TVK won some seats narrowly, it also lost 12 seats by margins of less than 2,000 votes.

19 seats in total were lost by margins of under 5,000 votes.

In Thirukkoyilur, the TVK candidate lost by 285 votes.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 61 seats in the 2026 election were decided by margins of fewer than 5,000 votes, highlighting the competitive landscape that left TVK 10 seats short of an outright majority.

This is the picture from the ground up. It does not look like a "massive shake up " in TN - as portrayed by many media.

Now that TVK will form the govt - albeit with a thin margin made up of parties that have nothing in common except fear of re-election - the longevity of this government is predicated with much less popular support than it was made out to be.

"A clear and present danger"

Thirty-six prominent mental health professionals entered a stark warning published into the Congressional Record, declaring President Donald Trump mentally unfit for office and presenting "a clear and present danger" to the nation and world.

The letter, entered by Senators Whitehouse and Reed of Rhode Island on April 30, represents an unusually direct intervention by medical experts spanning conservative and liberal ideologies, multiple religions, and diverse backgrounds.

The press release announcing this action was published Tuesday night (May 5).

The project is spearheaded by Dr. Henry David Abraham, an American psychiatrist and author who was a co-recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.

Citing the "group of medical colleagues I’ve been working with to express our concerns about the mental instability of the president, and his need to be removed from office," the Nobel Peace Prize winner added, "Clearly this will be controversial and certainly not easily done. But with Trump’s emotionally volatile finger on the nuclear button, it needs to be said."

The group of psychiatrists and neurologists in their letter documented "marked deterioration in cognitive functioning" including disorganized speech, factual confusions, and episodes of apparent somnolence during critical proceedings. They identified grandiose and delusional beliefs—including assertions of infallibility and depictions of himself as Pope and mythical warrior.

Most alarming to the signatories is the president's control over 5,000 nuclear warheads with no countermand authority available. The letter invoked the Nixon precedent, when Defense Secretary James Schlesinger quietly removed nuclear launch codes from Richard Nixon's control during his final days.

"If we were called upon under the 25th Amendment to judge the President's present ability to discharge the duties of his office, we would have to conclude that he lacks the capacity to do so," the letter stated.

The professionals documented severely impaired judgment, reckless threats of violence, and perseverative behavior—including 150 social media posts in a single night and fixations on perceived enemies.

While emphasizing they had not conducted face-to-face examinations, the signatories stressed their collective expertise in diagnosing cognitive disorders and evaluating dangerousness.

Their conclusion is that Trump's decline is "rapidly worsening, reality-untethered," and demands urgent removal steps "with vital responsibilities on the shoulders of those in positions of leadership."

Iran's Fars news agency says 2 missiles hit

a US warship in Hormuz.

Iran's Fars news agency, citing local

sources, reports two missiles hit a US

navy vessel near Jask island after it ig-

nored warnings from the Revolutionary

Guard to halt.

The reported attack comes after

President Trump said the US will begin

"Project Freedom" on Monday to "guide"

stranded ships out of the Strait of

Hormuz.

US Central Command said it would sup-

port the effort with 15,000 military per-

sonnel, more than 100 land and sea-

based aircraft, along with warships and

drones.

U.S. crude oil exports surged to a record 5.2 million barrels per day in April, according to data from commodities data firm Kpler.

Corpus Christi, Texas, one of the largest oil export terminals in the world, had the busiest first quarter in its history.

Ship traffic in Corpus Christi rose to more than 240 vessels in March compared to the 200 the port normally sees in a month, the CEO said.

March was the busiest month in the history of the Port of Corpus Christi, and the first quarter was its busiest quarter ever, said CEO Kent Britton. Oil exports have increased to about 2.5 million barrels per day since the war started compared to 2.2 million bpd last year, Britton said.

Ship traffic in Corpus Christi rose to more than 240 vessels in March compared to the 200 the port normally sees in a month, the CEO said.

"It's a constant parade of tankers coming in and out," he said.

Asian buyers

Corpus Christi accounted for about half of U.S. crude oil exports in April while Houston made up most of the rest, according to data from Kpler.

Some 50 to 60 big tankers called very large crude carriers (VLCCs) are heading to U.S. ports on any given day right now, double the volume seen last year, Kpler's data shows. VLCCs can typically carry up to 2 million barrels.

Many of those tankers are coming from Asian countries that imported their oil from the Middle East before the war, said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler. They are now turning to the U.S. Gulf Coast because the trade route into the Persian Gulf through the strait is effectively closed.

"Asian markets are buying whatever they can get their hands on, so they're taking a lot of light sweet crude," Smith said.

Corpus Christi has also seen a big increase of refined product exports to the Middle East. The volume of those exports to the region was higher in the first quarter than all of last year, Britton, the CEO, said.

U.S. oil exports are probably capped somewhere just above 5 million bpd just due to dock capacity, said Smith. 

Source: CNBC

The editorial board of The New York Times is suggesting that U.S. military is “losing its edge,” pointing to the war in Iran as proof.

“While President Trump seems eager for a negotiated truce, Iran’s leaders do not. Somehow, the weaker nation is in the stronger negotiating position,” the editorial board wrote on Thursday. “That reality exposes the vulnerabilities in the American way of war. Tactical success has not yielded victory.”

The U.S., the board argued, “has left itself unprepared for modern war.”

The editorial, titled “The U.S. Military Was Losing Its Edge. After Iran, Everyone Knows It,” came just a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced a grilling from lawmakers over his characterization of the war in Iran and recent high-profile firings of top military leaders.

Also on Wednesday, former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) tore into military leaders for sitting on $400 million in military aid to Ukraine authorized by Congress, funds that Hegseth later said had been released.

“The good news is that Congress, the administration and the Pentagon can all now see our military shortcomings.

The bad news is that our adversaries can see them too,” the Times wrote.

“Washington can no longer just talk about reforming the military. It has to do it, or risk making the disappointments in the Iran war become a preview of far worse.”

Source: The Hill

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said today that the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with the Islamic republic.

The Middle East war, launched by the US and Israel in late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan.

Negotiations have since stalled as the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran has kept the key Strait of Hormuz largely closed.

The Guards intelligence organisation said that US President Donald “Trump must choose between ‘an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran’”, in an online post carried by state television.

It added that the window for US decision-making “has been narrowed”, citing what it described as a “shift in tone” from China, Russia and Europe towards Washington as well as what it called an Iranian “deadline” over the US naval blockade, without elaborating.

US outlet Axios, citing two sources briefed on a recent Iranian proposal to the US, reported that Tehran had set “a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US naval blockade and permanently end the war in Iran and in Lebanon”.

Iranian media, including the Tasnim and Fars news agencies, reported yesterday on the contents of the proposal.

According to Tasnim, Iran has said the outstanding issues between the two sides “should be resolved within 30 days” and should focus “on ending the war instead of extending the ceasefire”

The issues, Tasnim said, included “the withdrawal of US military forces from Iran’s periphery, lifting the naval blockade, releasing Iran’s frozen assets and lifting sanctions”.

The report mentioned “ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon and agreeing a new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz”.

Source: AFP

Trump says he considers it “treasonous” for people to say the US is not “winning” the war.

President Donald Trump said the US could be “better off” if officials don’t reach a deal with Iran. 

Trump also called a law limiting the use of force without congressional authorization “totally unconstitutional,” although in a letter to Congress leaders, he argued that “hostilities” with Iran have “terminated.”

Separately, Trump told an event in Florida he considers it “treasonous” for people to say the US is not “winning” the war.

The Pentagon said the US will be withdrawing roughly 5,000 troops from Germany. Trump had said that the US was considering removing troops after Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the war.

The Israeli military warned residents in southern Lebanon to evacuate amid a fragile ceasefire. Several people were killed in Israeli strikes on the region on Friday.

Source: CNN

The government is spending $1.33 for every dollar it collects in revenue. 

WASHINGTON—The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II.

As of March 31, the country’s publicly held debt was $31.265 trillion, while GDP over the preceding year was $31.216 trillion, according to data released Thursday.

That puts the ratio at 100.2%, compared with 99.5% when the last fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That figure will likely climb for the foreseeable future because the federal government is running historically large annual deficits of nearly 6% of GDP, which add to the debt.

The national debt was at 99.5 percent of GDP at the end of fiscal 2025 in September.

Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the borrowing did not come from “a seismic global conflict, but rather a total bipartisan abdication of making hard choices.”  

“It’s happened — the national debt is now larger than the U.S. economy, about twice the historic average,” Goldwein said in a statement reacting to the news.

“We’ve heard plenty of alarm bells in the past few years about our fiscal path, but this one rings especially loudly,” Goldwein continued. “The real question is whether or not our leaders in Washington will listen.”

Indonesia is finalizing a financial special economic zone (SEZ) to capture global capital flows, as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East push investors to seek safer destinations.

Chief of Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the initiative aims to position Indonesia as a credible international financial hub, rather than losing out to regional peers like Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as financial centers in the United Arab Emirates.

The government is reviewing key instruments required by global investors, including trustee systems, legal entities such as foundations, and dispute settlement mechanisms aligned with international common law standards.

“All of these are being prepared, and we are also monitoring potential locations,” he added.

The push builds on earlier efforts led by National Economic Council (DEN) Chairman Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who in 2024 proposed establishing family offices in Bali to attract foreign capital into Indonesia’s real sector without relying on the state budget. The scheme offers initial tax incentives, with funds entering tax-free while profits are taxed later.

Family offices, private firms managing assets typically exceeding $50–100 million, are central to Indonesia’s ambition to compete with established hubs. The initiative is part of a broader strategy to rival financial centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.