Rights groups urge Nepal to reverse Telegram ban

Rights groups on Thursday urged Nepal to reverse a ban on the Telegram messaging app, calling the move a serious threat to freedom of expression and digital privacy.The Himalayan nation blocked access to the app on July 18, citing a rise in online fraud and money laundering.”The government’s ban is a serious human rights violation and a discriminatory decision,” said Taranath Dahal of Freedom Forum, a media freedom watchdog. “This shows the government can ban any platform without transparency, which is extremely concerning.”Freedom Forum was among more than two dozen organisations to release a statement demanding an “immediate” reversal of the ban.”The sudden, unlawful disruption has severely impacted journalists, human rights defenders, students, small businesses, and others who depend on the platform for essential day-to-day communication,” said a statement released by #KeepItOn, an international coalition of civil society organisations. Min Prasad Aryal, spokesperson for the Nepal Telecommunication Authority, confirmed the government’s directive.”We asked all internet service providers to block the app after receiving an order from the Prime Minister’s Office,” Aryal told AFP. In a statement sent to AFP, Telegram said it had “always responded to Nepal’s legal requests” and that it “actively moderates harmful content on its platform and removes cases of fraud and money laundering as soon as they are discovered, although we have not received any reports of this from Nepalese authorities”.Nepal has restricted access to popular online platforms in the past. In August last year, the government lifted a nine-month ban on TikTok after the platform’s South Asia division agreed to comply with Nepali regulations.Telegram, launched in 2013, is a cloud-based messaging app known for its privacy features and support for large group chats and broadcast channels. The app has an estimated billion users worldwide, but faces restrictions in some countries. Telegram’s Russian-born founder and chief executive Pavel Durov was briefly detained in France last year and questioned again this week about the platform’s alleged complicity in criminal activity.

Sweden jihadist jailed for life over Jordan pilot burned alive

A Stockholm court on Thursday handed down a life term to Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem over the 2015 murder of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the Islamic State group in Syria.The Swedish court was the first to try a person over the killing that sparked outrage around the world.Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said “the investigation has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and allowed himself to be filmed.”Although video evidence showed that another man lit the fire, the judge said the “defendant’s actions contributed so significantly to the death of the victim that he should be considered a perpetrator”.Krayem, who is serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016, was given a life sentence for “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes”On December 24, 2014, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria.The pilot, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, was captured the same day by IS fighters near the central city of Raqqa and was burned alive in a cage sometime before February 3, 2015, when a slickly-produced video of the gruesome killing was published, according to the prosecution.Gullesjo said Krayem’s actions consisted of “guarding the victim both before and during the execution and taking him to the cage where he was set alight while still alive”.The court also awarded compensation to the parents and siblings of the Jordanian pilot, amounting to 80,000 Swedish kronor ($8,200) each.- ‘Comfort’ for family -Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact date of the murder, but the investigation has identified the location.The 32-year-old jihadist remained silent throughout the hearings, which lasted between June 4 and June 26, though segments from interrogations with Krayem conducted during the investigation were read out and played during the trial.The fact that the defendent did not speak did not “significantly impact the ruling, as the prosecution presented solid evidence, and the investigation was thorough,” Gullesjo told AFP.According to his lawyer, Krayem insisted he had spent only 15 to 20 minutes on-site, unaware of what was going to happen until he saw the cameras.”This verdict somewhat comforts the family,” the pilot’s brother Jawdat al-Kassasbeh, who was a civil party to the case, told AFP.”We thank Sweden and the impartial Swedish judiciary for their efforts in pursuing this case,” the brother added.He travelled from Jordan for the trial to testify to the pain, still raw, that he shares with his loved ones.- No remorse -The family’s lawyer lamented in court that Krayem showed no empathy or remorse for his actions.”Most people who witnessed what Maaz went through would undoubtedly need lifelong, or at least long-term, treatment to overcome the trauma that this causes in a normal individual,” Mikael Westerlund told the court.”Krayem, on the other hand, does not seem to have been traumatised, but inspired. Inspired to continue his terrorist activities, which led him to participate in and then be convicted of terrorist acts in Europe,” Westerlund added.Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for helping plan the November 2015 Paris attacks and to life imprisonment in Belgium for the 2016 attacks at Brussels’ main airport and metro station.On March 12, France agreed to hand him over to Sweden for nine months, the time needed for the investigation and trial. He must be returned to France by December 27 at the latest, the Stockholm court said Thursday.”Jordanians will always remember this horrible crime,” Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani told AFP.”This decision is a significant step towards achieving justice.”

Trump envoy to inspect Gaza aid as pressure mounts on Israel

President Donald Trump’s envoy met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ahead of a visit to inspect aid distribution in Gaza, as a deadly food crisis drove mounting international pressure for a ceasefire.Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in months of stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, met Netanyahu shortly after his arrival, the Israeli leader’s office said. On Friday, he is to visit Gaza, the White House announced.Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Witkoff, who visited Gaza in January, would inspect “distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground”.German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and afterwards declared: “The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination.”Here, the Israeli government must act quickly, safely and effectively to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality,” he said.”I have the impression that this has been understood today.”In an example of the deadly problems facing aid efforts in Gaza, the territory’s civil defence agency said that at least 58 Palestinians were killed late Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd attempting to block an aid convoy.- Hostage video -The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad meanwhile released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski. In the six-minute video, Braslavski, speaking in Hebrew, is seen watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza. He identifies himself and pleads with the Israeli government to secure his release.Braslavski was a security guard at the Nova music festival, one of the sites targeted by Hamas and other Palestinian fighters in the October 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war.”They managed to break Rom. Even the strongest person has a breaking point,” his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel.”Rom is an example of all the hostages. They must all be brought home now.”- Hungry crowd -The Israeli military said troops had fired “warning shots” as Gazans gathered around the aid trucks. An AFP correspondent saw stacks of bullet-riddled corpses in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital.Jameel Ashour, who lost a relative in the shooting, told AFP at the overflowing morgue that Israeli troops opened fire after “people saw thieves stealing and dropping food and the hungry crowd rushed in hopes of getting some”.Witkoff has been the top US representative in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas but talks in Doha broke down last week and Israel and the United States recalled their delegations.Israel is under mounting international pressure to agree a ceasefire and allow the world to flood Gaza with food, with Canada and Portugal the latest Western governments to announce plans to recognise a Palestinian state.- International pressure -Trump criticised Canada’s decision and, in a post on his Truth Social network, placed the blame for the crisis squarely on Palestinian militant group Hamas.”The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” declared Trump, one of Israel’s staunchest international supporters.Earlier this week, however, the US president contradicted Netanyahu’s insistence that reports of hunger in Gaza were exaggerated, warning that the territory faces “real starvation”.UN-backed experts have reported “famine is now unfolding” in Gaza, with images of sick and emaciated children drawing international outrage.The US State Department said it would deny visas to officials from the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank — the core of any future Palestinian state.- ‘This is what death looks like’ -The October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.Of the 251 people seized, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli military.The Israeli offensive, nearing its 23rd month, has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.This week UN aid agencies said deaths from starvation had begun.The civil defence agency said Israeli attacks across Gaza on Thursday killed at least 32 people.”Enough!” cried Najah Aish Umm Fadi, who lost relatives in a strike on a camp for the displaced in central Gaza.”We put up with being hungry, but now the death of children who had just been born?”Further north, Amir Zaqot told AFP after getting his hands on some of the aid parachuted from planes, that “this is what death looks like. People are fighting each other with knives.””If the crossings were opened… food could reach us. But this is nonsense,” Zaqot said of the airdrops.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties.burs-dc/rlp/sla

Un jihadiste suédois de l’EI condamné à perpétuité pour l’assassinat d’un pilote jordanien brûlé vif

Le jihadiste suédois Osama Krayem, déjà condamné pour les attentats de Paris et Bruxelles de 2015 et 2016, a écopé d’une peine de prison à perpétuité en Suède pour sa participation à l’assassinat filmé d’un pilote jordanien brûlé vif dans une cage par le groupe Etat islamique (EI) en Syrie.Le tribunal de Stockholm est le premier, et le seul, à avoir jugé une personne pour cet assassinat commis par des membres de l’EI, qui avait choqué le monde entier en 2015.”L’accusé se trouvait sur le lieu de l’exécution, en uniforme, armé, et il a accepté d’être filmé (…) Il a contribué de manière si déterminante à la mort de la victime qu’il doit être considéré comme coauteur des faits”, a déclaré la juge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjö, citée dans un communiqué du tribunal de Stockholm.Le 24 décembre 2014, un avion de l’armée de l’air jordanienne avait été abattu en Syrie, près de Raqqa, et le pilote, Muath al-Kasasbeh, capturé par l’EI le même jour. Une vidéo publiée le 3 février 2015 mettra en scène sa mise à mort: la cage est incendiée par l’un des 13 combattants présents, parmi lesquels se trouve le Suédois, embrasant le pilote.”Son comportement a consisté, de concert avec d’autres hommes, à garder la victime aussi bien avant que pendant l’exécution, et à la conduire jusqu’à la cage où elle a été brûlée vive”, a ajouté la magistrate.Le verdict est conforme au réquisitoire des procureurs. Osama Krayem était jugé pour “acte de terrorisme” et “crime de guerre aggravé” lors du procès qui s’est tenu du 4 au 26 juin.Le tribunal a également accordé une indemnisation aux parents et aux frères et sœurs du pilote jordanien, à hauteur de 80.000 couronnes suédoises (près de 7.200 euros) chacun.Le jihadiste de 32 ans a gardé le silence pendant toute la durée des audiences.Une sélection d’interrogatoires filmés et écrits versés au dossier d’instruction a donc été lue et diffusée pendant le procès.- Ni empathie, ni regret -Le fait que le Suédois n’ait pas parlé n’a pas “eu d’importance notable (sur le jugement), car le parquet a présenté des preuves solides, et l’enquête a été rigoureuse”, a dit à l’AFP Mme Gullesjö.Osama Krayem admet avoir été présent sur les lieux mais assure qu’il ignorait ce qui allait s’y passer avant d’apercevoir les caméras, selon son avocate.Ce verdict apporte du “réconfort à la famille”, a assuré à l’AFP le frère du pilote, Jawdat al-Kasasbeh, qui s’est constitué partie civile.”Au nom de la famille de Muath al-Kasasbeh et du peuple jordanien, nous remercions la Suède et le système judiciaire suédois impartial pour les efforts qu’ils ont déployés dans cette affaire”, a-t-il dit.Il s’était déplacé depuis la Jordanie à l’occasion de ce procès pour y témoigner de la douleur, encore vive, qu’il partage avec ses proches.”Les Jordaniens se souviendront toujours de cet horrible crime, et que cette décision est un pas significatif vers l’accomplissement de la justice”, a réagi auprès de l’AFP le porte-parole du gouvernement jordanien Mohammad Momani.L’avocat de la famille de la victime a, lors de sa plaidoirie finale, déploré que l’accusé n’eût montré ni empathie ni regret devant la cour.”La plupart des personnes qui auraient été témoins de ce que Muath a subi auraient sans doute besoin d’un traitement à vie, ou du moins long, pour surmonter le traumatisme que cela provoque chez un individu normalement constitué”, avait plaidé Mikael Westerlund.”Krayem, lui, ne semble pas avoir été traumatisé, mais inspiré. Inspiré pour poursuivre son entreprise terroriste, qui l’a conduit à participer puis à être condamné pour des actes terroristes en Europe”, avait ajouté M. Westerlund. Le Suédois a déjà été condamné à 30 ans de prison en France pour complicité lors des attentats de Paris en 2015 et à la perpétuité en Belgique pour les attentats dans le principal aéroport de Bruxelles et dans le métro en 2016.La France a accepté le 12 mars de le remettre pour neuf mois à la Suède, le temps de l’enquête et du jugement.Il devra y être renvoyé au plus tard le 27 décembre 2025, a précisé le tribunal de Stockholm dans son communiqué jeudi.

Un jihadiste suédois de l’EI condamné à perpétuité pour l’assassinat d’un pilote jordanien brûlé vif

Le jihadiste suédois Osama Krayem, déjà condamné pour les attentats de Paris et Bruxelles de 2015 et 2016, a écopé d’une peine de prison à perpétuité en Suède pour sa participation à l’assassinat filmé d’un pilote jordanien brûlé vif dans une cage par le groupe Etat islamique (EI) en Syrie.Le tribunal de Stockholm est le premier, et le seul, à avoir jugé une personne pour cet assassinat commis par des membres de l’EI, qui avait choqué le monde entier en 2015.”L’accusé se trouvait sur le lieu de l’exécution, en uniforme, armé, et il a accepté d’être filmé (…) Il a contribué de manière si déterminante à la mort de la victime qu’il doit être considéré comme coauteur des faits”, a déclaré la juge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjö, citée dans un communiqué du tribunal de Stockholm.Le 24 décembre 2014, un avion de l’armée de l’air jordanienne avait été abattu en Syrie, près de Raqqa, et le pilote, Muath al-Kasasbeh, capturé par l’EI le même jour. Une vidéo publiée le 3 février 2015 mettra en scène sa mise à mort: la cage est incendiée par l’un des 13 combattants présents, parmi lesquels se trouve le Suédois, embrasant le pilote.”Son comportement a consisté, de concert avec d’autres hommes, à garder la victime aussi bien avant que pendant l’exécution, et à la conduire jusqu’à la cage où elle a été brûlée vive”, a ajouté la magistrate.Le verdict est conforme au réquisitoire des procureurs. Osama Krayem était jugé pour “acte de terrorisme” et “crime de guerre aggravé” lors du procès qui s’est tenu du 4 au 26 juin.Le tribunal a également accordé une indemnisation aux parents et aux frères et sœurs du pilote jordanien, à hauteur de 80.000 couronnes suédoises (près de 7.200 euros) chacun.Le jihadiste de 32 ans a gardé le silence pendant toute la durée des audiences.Une sélection d’interrogatoires filmés et écrits versés au dossier d’instruction a donc été lue et diffusée pendant le procès.- Ni empathie, ni regret -Le fait que le Suédois n’ait pas parlé n’a pas “eu d’importance notable (sur le jugement), car le parquet a présenté des preuves solides, et l’enquête a été rigoureuse”, a dit à l’AFP Mme Gullesjö.Osama Krayem admet avoir été présent sur les lieux mais assure qu’il ignorait ce qui allait s’y passer avant d’apercevoir les caméras, selon son avocate.Ce verdict apporte du “réconfort à la famille”, a assuré à l’AFP le frère du pilote, Jawdat al-Kasasbeh, qui s’est constitué partie civile.”Au nom de la famille de Muath al-Kasasbeh et du peuple jordanien, nous remercions la Suède et le système judiciaire suédois impartial pour les efforts qu’ils ont déployés dans cette affaire”, a-t-il dit.Il s’était déplacé depuis la Jordanie à l’occasion de ce procès pour y témoigner de la douleur, encore vive, qu’il partage avec ses proches.”Les Jordaniens se souviendront toujours de cet horrible crime, et que cette décision est un pas significatif vers l’accomplissement de la justice”, a réagi auprès de l’AFP le porte-parole du gouvernement jordanien Mohammad Momani.L’avocat de la famille de la victime a, lors de sa plaidoirie finale, déploré que l’accusé n’eût montré ni empathie ni regret devant la cour.”La plupart des personnes qui auraient été témoins de ce que Muath a subi auraient sans doute besoin d’un traitement à vie, ou du moins long, pour surmonter le traumatisme que cela provoque chez un individu normalement constitué”, avait plaidé Mikael Westerlund.”Krayem, lui, ne semble pas avoir été traumatisé, mais inspiré. Inspiré pour poursuivre son entreprise terroriste, qui l’a conduit à participer puis à être condamné pour des actes terroristes en Europe”, avait ajouté M. Westerlund. Le Suédois a déjà été condamné à 30 ans de prison en France pour complicité lors des attentats de Paris en 2015 et à la perpétuité en Belgique pour les attentats dans le principal aéroport de Bruxelles et dans le métro en 2016.La France a accepté le 12 mars de le remettre pour neuf mois à la Suède, le temps de l’enquête et du jugement.Il devra y être renvoyé au plus tard le 27 décembre 2025, a précisé le tribunal de Stockholm dans son communiqué jeudi.

Kamala Harris to detail 2024 presidential run in new book

Former US vice president Kamala Harris on Thursday announced she will provide an inside look at her unsuccessful 2024 presidential run against Donald Trump in a book titled “107 Days.”The memoir, published by Simon & Schuster, will be released on September 23 in the United States.”Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for president of the United States, 107 days — traveling the country, fighting for our future — the shortest presidential campaign in modern history,” Harris said in a video posted on social media.The first woman to serve as vice president of the United States, Harris became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee after Joe Biden withdrew from the race in July amid concerns about his cognitive health.Harris said she wrote the book with “candor and reflection” and promised a “behind-the-scenes account” of the campaign.The former US senator representing California had announced Wednesday that she would not run for governor of the state in 2026, but according to US media, a 2028 White House run is not out of the question.In her video, Harris says that one truth kept coming back to her: “Sometimes, the fight takes a while” — a statement that is likely to fuel rumors about her political future.- Colbert show -After having virtually disappeared from public following her defeat by Trump, Harris is now mounting a return. The Democrat will make an appearance Thursday’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a flagship late-night talk show on US television that CBS recently canceled.CBS cited financial reasons for its decision to axe the show hosted by the well-known critic of the president. The network has been roiled in controversy since its parent company Paramount settled a Trump lawsuit over an election-time segment with Harris on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” show. The $16 million settlement — slammed by Colbert and others — came soon before the entertainment giant closed an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.Asked on Thursday about Harris’s political future, Trump said he “wouldn’t call her a skilled politician.””She can’t talk. She can’t do an interview. I thought it was a very strange campaign we had,” Trump told reporters.”Yeah, I think I’m going to buy it. I’d love to see it,” Trump also joked about “107 Days.”Another former Biden administration figure — former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — announced the upcoming release of her book titled “Independent” last month. She has left the Democratic Party, which she accuses of betraying her former boss.

Brazil vows to fight Trump tariff ‘injustice’

Brazil vowed Thursday to combat US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on its exports, saying it intends to lodge appeals if last-ditch negotiations fail.Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the tariffs announced Wednesday were “more favorable” than expected, with several key export products exempted.Still, there “is a lot of injustice in the measures announced yesterday. Corrections need to be made,” he told reporters.Citing a “witch hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro — Brazil’s former president on trial for allegedly plotting a coup — Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order adding a 40 percent tariff on Brazilian products, bringing total trade duties to 50 percent.The levies affect coffee and meat, two products of which Brazil is the world’s top exporter.The order, which takes effect on August 6, listed exemptions for nearly 700 other products including key exports such as planes, orange juice and pulp, Brazil nuts, and some iron, steel and aluminum products. Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — the man Bolsonaro is accused of having sought to topple — has denounced the tariffs as an attack on the “sovereignty” of South America’s largest economy.”The negotiation is not over; it starts today,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, tapped to oversee talks with Washington, told TV Globo.Alckmin said the new tariff will apply to nearly 36 percent of Brazil’s exports to the United States, equal to some $14.5 billion last year.Haddad said he would speak with his American counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and “there will be a cycle of negotiations.”He did not give a date.”We are starting from a point that is more favorable than one could have imagined, but still far from the finish line,” the minister said.If negotiations fail, Haddad said Brasilia would “file appeals with the appropriate authorities, both in the United States and with international bodies.”- ‘Judge and jury’ -Trump’s Brazil tariff is among the highest imposed on US trading partners.Unlike with other countries, the measures against Brazil have been framed in openly political terms, sweeping aside centuries-old trade ties and a surplus that Brasilia put at $284 million last year. “These are harsh measures that will have a real impact on important sectors of the Brazilian economy,” Reginaldo Nogueira, an economist with Brazil’s IBMEC business school, told AFP.”The exemptions help mitigate some of the pressure on Brazil but primarily protect strategic goods for the American economy,” he added.Haddad said the Brazilian government would put in place protection measures for the most affected companies, and noted that “nothing that was decided yesterday cannot be reviewed.”Trump’s order was based on the Brazilian government’s “politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of (Bolsonaro) and thousands of his supporters,” according to the White House.It also cited Brazil’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming US companies, the free speech rights of US persons, US foreign policy, and the US economy,” singling out Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.Moraes is the judge presiding over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and has clashed repeatedly with the far-right in Brazil, as well as with tech titan Elon Musk, over the spread of online misinformation.The US Treasury announced financial sanctions on Moraes Wednesday, saying he had “taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies.”A Supreme Court source told AFP that Moraes “does not have assets in the United States” where the sanctions would have frozen them.

Apple profit beats forecasts on strong iPhone sales

Apple on Thursday reported quarterly profit of $23.4 billion, topping forecasts despite concerns about the effect of US tariffs on its supply chain.Revenue was $94 billion for the usually slow quarter ending in June, the iPhone maker said.”Apple is proud to report a June quarter revenue record with double-digit growth in iPhone, Mac and Services and growth around the world, in every geographic segment,” said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.Apple shares were up more than two percent in after-market trading.Revenue from iPhone sales during the quarter was $44.6 billion, compared with $39.3 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Apple.Global shipments of smartphones fell marginally to 288.9 million units in the recently-ended quarter, according to market-tracker Canalys.Samsung was the largest vendor, shipping 57.5 million smartphones, while Apple finished second with iPhone shipments down two percent at 44.8 million units, Canalys reported.”Apple’s performance showed strong resilience amid fierce competition in China and an inventory correction in the US as it adjusted to the rapidly changing tariffs,” the market tracker said in its findings.Cook said that the Trump tariffs cost Apple $800 million in the quarter that just ended and are expected to cost the iPhone maker $1.1 billion in the current quarter.”Assuming the current global tariff rates, policies, and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter, and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add about $1.1 billion to our costs,” Cook said.Tariffs are essentially a tax paid by those importing goods to the United States. This means Apple is on the hook for tariffs on iPhones and other products or components it brings into the country from abroad.- More in US -Cook said that most iPhones sold in the United States now come from India as Apple works to navigate US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.Trump has taken aim at India with a 25 percent duty to begin Friday — slightly lower than previously threatened — after talks between Washington and New Delhi failed to bring about a trade pact.Apple’s tariff cost is up because sales are up, according to Cook.”In terms of what we do to mitigate, we obviously try to optimize our our supply chain,” Cook said of managing the tariff hit.”Ultimately, we will do more in the United States; we’ve committed $500 billion investment in the US over the next four years.”Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen hefty US levies imposed on China, with Beijing setting retaliatory barriers on US imports.Sales of iPhones in mainland China were $15.4 billion in the quarter, compared with $14.7 billion in the same period a year ago, according to Apple.Revenue in Apple’s services business selling digital content and subscriptions to fans of its devices grew to $27.4 billion in the quarter, Apple reported.”The results show that Apple’s iPhone strategy is working to offset the impact of looming challenges with AI development timelines, tariff pressures, and Google’s antitrust issues,” said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne.”The company’s successful pivot to iPhone manufacturing in India, demonstrates supply chain flexibility, while its return to iPhone growth in China and continued services segment expansion, including deeper financial services offerings, show diversification beyond hardware.”