Beijing slams ‘groundless accusations’ after Ukraine summons Chinese envoy

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was “OK” with raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, as his fellow Republicans consider scaling back the scope of the ambitious tax-cut package they aim to pass this year.
“Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.
Speaking to reporters later at the White House, Trump gave a stronger endorsement.
“I would love to do it, frankly,” he said in the Oval Office. “What you’re doing is you’re giving up something up top in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets save more. So it’s really a redistribution, and I’m willing to do it if they want.”
Trump, a wealthy businessman with properties all over the world, indicated he would be willing to pay more in taxes himself. “I would love to be able to give people in a lower bracket a big break by giving up some of what I have.”
The Senate’s top Republican, John Thune, said he was not enthusiastic about the idea. “We don’t want to raise taxes on anybody. I mean, we’re about lowering taxes on Americans,” he said on Fox News.
Trump’s message comes as US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson weighs whether to reduce the total tax package.
Johnson told some House Republicans on Thursday that he is now looking at $4 trillion in tax cuts, rather than an initial $4.5 trillion, according to a Republican aide.
Republicans are also fighting over spending cuts needed to pay for Trump’s “one big beautiful bill,” jeopardizing the goal of making all of the expiring provisions of his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent.
Trump privately urged Johnson this week to raise the tax rate and close the carried-interest loophole for Wall Street investors, sources told Reuters on Thursday.
The Republican president suggested an increase to 39.6 percent from 37 percent for individuals earning $2.5 million or higher and joint filers earning at least $5 million, with carve-outs for small businesses, one source said.
“I don’t think they’re going to be doing it, but I actually think it’s good politics to do it,” Trump said.
Spending cuts to Medicaid and other programs are likely to fall short of a $2 trillion goal over a decade.
Johnson and other top Republicans have resisted the idea of raising taxes on the wealthy.
But Representative Andy Harris, who chairs the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, said a higher top tax bracket would help pay for the Trump agenda.
“Personally, I’ve always believed that if we can’t find spending reductions elsewhere, we should look at restoring the pre TCJA tax bracket on million dollar income,” the Maryland Republican wrote on X.
Trump views higher taxes on the rich as a way to help pay for massive middle and working-class tax cuts, and to protect Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans.
But the president warned on Friday that Democrats would seize on “even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the ‘RICH,’” citing former Republican President George H.W. Bush, who lost his 1992 re-election bid after breaking his promise not to hike taxes.
Trump and Republican lawmakers have cited the potential extension of the 2017 tax cuts as relief for Americans and an economic boost amid Trump’s tariffs on imported goods.
They have vowed to enact the extension as part of a larger budget bill that would also fund border security, the deportation of undocumented immigrants, energy deregulation and a plus-up in military spending.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Military Spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Saturday India had attacked multiple bases in Pakistan, vowing retaliation.

In the latest confrontation between the two longstanding enemies that began on Wednesday, India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan in retaliation for what it says was a deadly Islamabad-backed attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. Pakistan says it was not involved and denied that any of the sites hit by India were militant bases. It said it shot down five Indian aircraft on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s military said on Friday it shot down 77 drones from India at multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, and the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the army’s headquarters.

On Saturday early morning, panic rang out in Pakistan as reports emerged that Pakistan Air Force’s Nur Khan base had been hit. 

The Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi, where the military has its headquarters, is around 10 kilometers from the capital, Islamabad.

In televised remarks, the military spokesman said three bases, Nur Khan, PAF Base Murid, an operational flying base of the Pakistan Air Force located near the village of Murid in the Chakwal District of Punjab, and one in Shorkot, had been targeted by Indian missiles. 

“Now you just wait for our response,” Chaudhry said.

The reports came after Chaudhry said India fired ballistic missiles that fell in Indian territory, announcing it in a sudden statement on national broadcaster at 1:50 a.m. local time on Saturday (2050 GMT), with no details provided to support the claim.

“I want to give you the shocking news that India fired six ballistic missiles from Adampur. One of the ballistic missiles hit in Adampur, the rest of the five missiles hit in the Indian Punjab area of Amritsar,” the army’s spokesman said in his short video statement.

Amritsar’s district commissioner in a text message between Friday and Saturday said: 

“Don’t panic. Siren is sounding as we are under red alert. Do not panic, as before, keep lights off, move away from windows. We will inform you when ready to resume power supply.”

Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday’s conflagration, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified.