Hook News Brief | 14.05.25

India expels Pak diplomat

The Indian government has expelled an unnamed Pakistani diplomat posted at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. The government declared the diplomat ‘persona non grata’ for engaging in actions “not in keeping with his official status” and ordered him to leave the country within 24 hours.

Southwest Monsoon arrives a week early: IMD

The India Meteorological Department or IMD declared the onset of the Southwest Monsoon over some areas of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea at least a week before its scheduled arrival time.

This year’s monsoon onset over these regions is the earliest recorded in the past seven years.

In what will come as a relief to many Indians, according to the IMD, this year’s monsoon rainfall is expected to be ‘above’ normal or 105% of the Long Period Average of 880 mm.

Trump to lift Syria sanctions, secures $600 billion Saudi deal

US President Donald Trump kicked off his trip to the Gulf with a surprise announcement that the US will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria - designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the US government since 1979.

Trump also triumphantly declared a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US. Conversely, the US has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion. According to the White House it is the largest "defense cooperation agreement" Washington has ever done.

New Canada PM Carney unveils cabinet

To the Great White North now and newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled his new cabinet. Carney promised "decisive action" on his ambitious economic agenda, amid a trade war with the US.

Interestingly several veterans of former PM Justin Trudeau's government have made a return to cabinet with Carney also continuing Trudeau's policy of maintaining gender parity in his cabinet.

Zelenskyy pushes for direct talks with Putin in Turkey

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to 'do everything' to ensure direct talks with Putin in Turkey. Zelenskyy has said he will travel to Turkey's capital Ankara to meet President Erdogan and will be available for direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Istanbul on Thursday.

Russia has not yet said who will fly to Istanbul.

Putin and Zelenskyy have not themselves met since December 2019. Coincidentally, direct talks between the two countries last took place in Istanbul, in March 2022, in the early weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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