🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡- "China talks will have to take place at lower levels than Trump and Xi," - Scott Bessent, US Secretary of Treasury.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡- "Trade war with China is not sustainable," - Scott Bessent, US Secretary of Treasury.

🇺🇸🇨🇳 - Chinese right-wing media is having a field day after the US succumbed.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡- "Regarding the tariff war launched by the US, China's position is clear: we are unwilling to fight, but not afraid to fight; if fought, we will fight to the end. The door to dialogue remains open," - China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

🇮🇳🇵🇰⚡- BREAKING: India suspends the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960.

🇮🇳🇵🇰⚡- India has closed the Wagha Attari crossing on the Amritsar-Lahore (India-Pakistan) border.

🇮🇳🇵🇰⚡- India withdraws all diplomatic staff from its High Commission Office in Islamabad.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡- "Meaning the US will fold without even getting a phone call from China. Here in China, we're happy that our enemy is making the strategic blunder of the century.

This strategic own goal is so stupid, some of us actually feel the second hand embarrassment for them.

Art of the deal? Art of a clown show," - Zhao Dashuai, China's right-wing media personnel.

🇮🇳🇵🇰⚡- India has given the diplomats at the Pakistani High Commission Office in New Delhi a week to leave the country.

🇺🇸🇺🇦⚡- "Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is boasting on the front page of The Wall Street Journal that, “Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about here.” This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion. Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired? The area also houses, for many years before “the Obama handover,” major Russian submarine bases. It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country. I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever. The statement made by Zelenskyy today will do nothing but prolong the “killing field,” and nobody wants that! We are very close to a Deal, but the man with “no cards to play” should now, finally, GET IT DONE. I look forward to being able to help Ukraine, and Russia, get out of this Complete and Total MESS, that would have never started if I were President," - Donald Trump, US President.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡- US President Trump welcomes Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir to his Mar-a-Lago residency.

🇮🇳🇵🇰 - Pakistan to convene the National Security Commitee tomorrow in face of Indian escalation

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- "Trump has not set a deadline for establishing a ceasefire in Ukraine, and Russia does not consider it appropriate to set deadlines either," - The Kremlin.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- "Zelensky's resignation is not among Russia's demands regarding Ukraine," - The Kremlin.

🇺🇸⚡- "Elon Musk and US Treasury Secretary Bessent got into a heated shouting match in earshot of Trump and other officials in the White House last week during a dispute about the IRS.

The argument was so heated that an aide stepped in between the two men to separate them," - Axios.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡- "Top Israeli officials were surprised by Trump’s turn from calling on Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear program in October 2024, to waving off their attack plans in 2025.

Top IDF and Mossad officials believed that Trump would be open to a full attack on Iran’s nuclear sites at some midpoint in 2025," - The Jerusalem Post.

🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡- "I pledge to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. If we lose the battle against Iran, Western countries will be next.

No country will stop us from holding Iran accountable, and if necessary, we will stand alone," - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister.

🏫🇺🇸⚡️- An open letter condemning the Trump administration's revocation of federal funds over "anti-semitism" has been signed by 320 university presidents, including 7 of the 8 Ivy League universities. The lone Ivy refusing to sign is Dartmouth College.

🇵🇰🇮🇱⚡- Talal Chaudhry, former Pakistani Interior Minister, says the government is exploring options to impose 'travel restrictions' on Pakistani journalists visiting Israel, risking 'losing [Pakistani] citizenship'.

This comes after several Pakistani journalists, notably Sabeen Agha, visited Israel in recent months, and accused Islamabad of preparing the grounds for normalization with Tel-Aviv. The process of normalization reignited after the signing of the Abraham Accords, but derailed again post October 7th 2023.

This was evident with Pakistan softening its stance on the Palestine-Israel conflict, under US pressure - the stance which was publicly praised by the American Jewish Congress last week, April 16.

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷⚡️- US Democrat Senator John Fetterman is advocating for President Trump to stop Iran peace talks and instead follow Israel's plan to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.