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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump remains in excellent health and his high cholesterol is “well controlled,” White House physician US Navy Captain Sean Barbella said in a report released on Sunday, two days after Trump underwent a routine physical.

The report is the most detailed information on the health of Trump, 78, since he returned to the White House in January as the oldest person to assume the US presidency.

“President Trump exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” Barbella wrote in his report.

The report noted that Trump has a history of “well-controlled” high cholesterol and is taking two medications to address it.

The report also noted that Trump has scarring on his right ear, the result of a gunshot wound he suffered when a would-be assassin fired at him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last year.

The report said his hearing was normal.

Trump’s campaign released a report after the assassination attempt last year concluding the injuries were superficial.

“It went, I think, well. […] Every test you can imagine, I was there for a long time, the yearly physical,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday after the exam. “I think I did well.”

Barbella’s report also references Trump’s history with COVID-19. Trump was hospitalised during a serious bout with the virus in October 2020 during his run for reelection.

It noted that Trump takes two medications to control cholesterol — rosuvastatin and ezetimibe, generic names of the branded drugs Crestor and Zetia — and uses a mometasone cream to control rosacea, a condition that can cause redness in the face, as well as aspirin.

Vaccines up to date

It also mentions that Trump has received all recommended vaccines. Trump has in the past spread debunked claims about links between vaccines and autism often mentioned by his Health Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr Kennedy has also cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines during a large, ongoing US measles outbreak, contrary to established science, but has also said the vaccine is the best way to prevent the virus’ spread.

Trump told reporters he took a cognitive test because he wanted to “be a little different” than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, now 82.

Trump scored 30 out of 30 on the test, known as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Barbella’s report noted.

Trump sought to draw a contrast with Biden during his presidential campaign last year, portraying himself as younger and fitter. A disastrous debate performance from Biden last year raised questions about his acuity and ultimately forced him from the presidential race.

Biden’s doctors repeatedly deemed him fit to serve, but several books published in recent months have raised questions about his mental fitness in his final months in the White House.

Barbella’s report on Trump concludes that his “active lifestyle” contributes to his health, referencing daily meetings, press events and “frequent victories in golf events.”

US President Trump on Sunday pushed back against the idea that his 90-day tariff delay means countries are avoiding trade penalties, asserting that all nations remain under pressure and that China, in particular, continues to face serious consequences.

Following the April 2 announcement of sweeping tariffs, markets have been shaken by uncertainty. A recent pause in the most severe tariffs offered a brief recovery, with most countries now facing a 10 percent levy—except China, which escalated tensions by raising its own tariffs to 125 percent. U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods now reach 145 percent.

Despite these developments, Trump remains committed to correcting what he describes as unfair trade imbalances. “NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!” he posted on Truth Social.

Although Trump’s administration granted a temporary exemption for Chinese electronics and semiconductors on Friday, he clarified Sunday that the move did not represent a full exemption. “No Tariff ‘exception’” was made, he said, noting that the products remain under a 20 percent tariff in a different “bucket.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added that additional targeted tariffs will follow within two months, particularly on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, which fall outside the reciprocal tariff structure. Trump promised “very specific” announcements on Monday regarding which products are next.

The exemptions are not expected to last. Consumer electronics could soon be hit again as part of sector-specific tariffs aimed at protecting US national security.

Meanwhile, the administration continues to state its willingness to negotiate with China, though US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, “we don’t have any plans” for a direct conversation between Trump and President Xi Jinping.

As Trump holds firm, China is reaching out elsewhere. Xi begins a five-day visit to Southeast Asia on Monday, aiming to strengthen economic ties with countries like Vietnam and Malaysia.

Despite pushback from Wall Street and market instability, the White House claims its tariff approach is already leading multiple countries to seek new trade deals before the 90-day window ends.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed on Sunday that newly exempted electronics, including smartphones and computers, may soon be subject to a separate set of tariffs, Reuters reported. 

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Lutnick indicated that new duties could be imposed within the next two months, also targeting semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

These remarks mark a new development in President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff strategy, which has unsettled global trade and triggered intense volatility in financial markets since its rollout on April 2 — what Trump called “Liberation Day.”

On Friday, the Trump administration granted exclusions for certain electronics from the steep reciprocal tariffs on Chinese imports. The move was seen as a reprieve for companies like Apple and Dell, which depend heavily on Chinese suppliers. However, Lutnick’s comments signaled that the exemption may be short-lived.

Lutnick said Trump plans to enact “a special focus-type of tariff” on select electronics, distinct from the reciprocal tariffs that now stand at 125%. “He’s saying they’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick explained. “These are things that are national security, that we need to be made in America.”

The uncertainty stemming from the administration’s shifting policy has led to the wildest market swings since the COVID-19 pandemic. The S&P 500 index is down more than 10% since Trump took office in January.

Lutnick’s comments go further than the White House’s Saturday announcement that the administration would launch a national security investigation into semiconductors, potentially leading to more tariffs. China, which raised tariffs on US goods to 125% on Friday, said it was evaluating the implications of the tech exemptions.

“The bell on a tiger’s neck can only be untied by the person who tied it,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said.

Investor Bill Ackman, who had supported Trump, urged him to pause the reciprocal tariffs on China for three months. Ackman said that trimming tariffs to 10% temporarily could incentivise supply chain shifts without the same disruption. “He would achieve the same objective… without the disruption and risk,” he wrote on X.

Sven Henrich, founder of NorthmanTrader, blasted the administration’s inconsistency. “Sentiment check: The biggest rally of the year would come on the day Lutnick gets fired,” Henrich posted. “I suggest the administration figures out who controls the message… as it changes every day. US business can’t plan or invest with the constant back and forth.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren also condemned the tariff changes. “There is no tariff policy—only chaos and corruption,” she said on This Week.

The US Customs and Border Protection’s notice published Friday listed 20 categories, such as laptops, memory chips, and flat panel displays, as exempt from the reciprocal tariffs. However, Trump’s earlier 20% tariff on all Chinese imports linked to the fentanyl crisis remains.

White House adviser Peter Navarro confirmed ongoing talks with allies but excluded China, while Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said no Trump-Xi meeting was planned. “My goal is to get meaningful deals before 90 days,” Greer said.

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warned on Meet the Press, “Right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession… I’m worried about something worse if this isn’t handled well.”

WASHINGTON: The US defense secretary reiterated Sunday that the United States hopes for a diplomatic solution to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, but if that failed the military was ready “to go deep and to go big.”

US and Iranian diplomats opened indirect talks Saturday in Oman in an effort to resolve Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday described the first, tentative contacts in Oman as “productive” and “a good step.”

He told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that while President Donald Trump hoped to never have to resort to a military option, “We’ve shown a capability to go far, to go deep and to go big.”

“Again, we don’t want to do that, but if we have to, we will to prevent the nuclear bomb in Iran’s hands.”

Trump said Wednesday that military action was “absolutely” possible — in conjunction with Israel – if the talks in Oman failed.

“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” he told reporters. “Israel will obviously be very much involved in that, be the leader of that.”

That followed a blunt warning in late March that “if they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.”

Trump pulled the United States out of an earlier multi-nation nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018, during his first term in the White House.

Analysts say Iran may now be just weeks away from producing a deliverable nuclear weapon – though Tehran denies it is building such arms.

RIYADH: A preliminary agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia will be signed to steer towards the kingdom’s ambitions to develop a civil nuclear industry, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the reporters in Riyadh on Sunday.

Wright, who had met Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman earlier on Sunday, said Riyadh and Washington were on a “a pathway” to reaching an agreement to work together to develop a Saudi civil nuclear programme.

Wright, on his first visit to the kingdom as secretary as part of tour of energy-producing Gulf states, said further details over a memorandum detailing the energy cooperation between Riyadh and Washington would come later this year.

“For a US partnership and involvement in nuclear here, there will definitely be a 123 agreement […] there’s lots of ways to structure a deal that will accomplish both the Saudi objectives and the American objectives,” he said.

A so-called 123 agreement with Riyadh refers to Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and is required to permit the US government and American companies to work with entities in the kingdom to develop a civil nuclear industry.

Saudi authorities have not agreed to the requirements under the act, Wright said. It specifies nine non-proliferation criteria a state must meet to keep it from using the technology to develop nuclear arms or transfer sensitive materials to others.

Progress on the discussions had previously been difficult because Saudi Arabia did not want to sign a deal that would rule out the possibility of enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel – both potential paths to a bomb.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has long said that if Iran developed a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would follow suit, a stance that has fuelled deep concern among arms control advocates and some US lawmakers over a possible US-Saudi civil nuclear deal.

Wright did not mention a wider arrangement with the kingdom, which the previous administration of US president Joe Biden had been seeking and included a civil nuclear agreement and security guarantees in the hopes it would lead to normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is seeking to generate substantial renewable energy and reduce emissions, under the crown prince’s Vision 2030 reform plan. At least some of this is expected to come from nuclear energy.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Sunday that talks with the United States slated for next weekend will remain “indirect” with Omani mediation, and focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks Saturday in Muscat, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.

They agreed to meet again in seven days.

“Negotiations will continue to be indirect. Oman will remain the mediator, but we are discussing the location of future negotiations,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in an interview with state TV.

He said the talks would only focus on “the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions,” and that Iran “will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue.”

Analysts had said the US would push to include on the agenda discussions over Iran’s ballistic missile programme along with Tehran’s support for the “axis of resistance” — a network of militant groups opposed to Israel.

Tehran has, however, maintained it will talk only about its nuclear programme.

Donald Trump in 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers during his first term as US president.

Saturday’s rare negotiations came weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

Iran and the US separately described Saturday’s discussions as “constructive”.

Iran said the talks were held indirectly with Oman’s foreign minister acting as intermediary.

The negotiators, Araghchi and Witkoff, spoke directly for “a few minutes” after the talks, Tehran’s foreign ministry said.

Another round of talks will be held on Saturday, April 19.

Asked about the talks, Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One: “I think they’re going OK. Nothing matters until you get it done.”

The process took place in a “friendly atmosphere”, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.

‘Turning point’

Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump´s “maximum pressure” campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.

On Sunday, Iranian media largely welcomed the rare talks as a “decisive turning point” in relations between the longtime foes.

Iran’s conservative Javan daily praised the US for “not seeking to expand the negotiations to non-nuclear issues”.

The government-sponsored newspaper, Iran, described the discussions as “constructive and respectful,” quoting Araghchi.

Meanwhile, the reformist Shargh newspaper said it was a “decisive turning point” in Iran-US relations.

The Kayhan newspaper, which was largely sceptical in the days leading up to the talks, lamented that Iran does not have a “plan B” while there was “no clear prospect for an agreement with Donald Trump.”

It, however, lauded the fact that the American side did not bring up “the dismantling of nuclear facilities” and “the possibility of a military attack” during the discussions.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah.

Iran has been wary about engaging in talks with the United States, often citing previous experience and undermined trust.

After pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal Trump reimposed sweeping economic sanctions against Iran.

Tehran continued to adhere to the agreement for a year after Washington’s pullout but later began rolling back its own commitments.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Moderate-magnitude earthquakes struck Myanmar, which is already dealing with the extensive damage caused by a recent earthquake, Papua New Guinea and Tajikistan on Sunday.

As Myanmar lamented thousands of deaths amid the celebration marking the start of the water festival, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported that an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 had rattled the crisis-hit country.

As per the seismological centre, the quake was at a depth of 35 kilometres (21.75 miles).

The EMSC also reported an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 in the central Asian country of Tajikistan at a depth of 16km (10 miles).

Meanwhile, the German Research Centre for Geosciences reported that an earthquake of magnitude 5.79 struck Papua New Guinea, hitting at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).

Though the earthquake in these countries took place on the same day but they lie far away from each other.

Myanmar reeling from death and destruction

The earthquake in Myanmar took place at a time when thousands of citizens were celebrating the start of Myanmar’s water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month’s earthquake, with the country’s most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor.

The “Thingyan” festival typically celebrates Myanmar’s new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake.

Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent encampments peppered among pancaked apartment blocks, razed tea shops and demolished hotels.

Many still lack working latrines and need to queue for drinking water, and the weather forecast for heavy rains has them fretting over their makeshift homes.

Myanmar’s ruling military junta has commanded the five-day festival to have no music or dance.

Since the March 28 quake Mandalay temperatures have soared up to a parching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) while at night tent-dwellers are needled by mosquitos before rising at dawn to line up for aid.

More than 5,200 buildings have been destroyed according to official figures, while more than two million people are in need as a result of the earthquake, the UN says.

The tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, where a high-rise under construction collapsed and trapped dozens of workers. 

The Saudi Ministry of Interior has outlined a series of procedures and guidelines in preparation for Hajj 2025, aimed at ensuring the safety and security of pilgrims throughout the holy season.

In a notification issued on Sunday, the ministry announced that the final date for Umrah performers to enter the Kingdom is Sunday, 13 April 2025, while the last permissible date for departure is Tuesday, 29 April 2025.

The ministry cautioned that overstaying beyond the specified deadline would constitute a breach.

Under the announced guidelines, access to the holy city of Makkah will be strictly regulated from Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Individuals wishing to enter the holy city must present one of the following: a valid work permit, a residency ID issued from Makkah, or a valid Hajj permit.

Foreign residents living in other parts of the Kingdom will not be allowed entry into Makkah unless they acquire the appropriate permit. Violators attempting to enter without permits will be sent back through Al Shumaisi or other checkpoints, the statement read.

The ministry also announced a suspension of Umrah permit issuance via the “Nusuk” platform from April 29 to June 10, 2025.

Furthermore, individuals holding any visa type other than an official Hajj visa will be barred from entering or staying in Makkah, starting April 29.

The guidelines suggest that foreign nationals who are required to enter Makkah or the surrounding holy sites for employment purposes must apply for travel permits via the relevant portals.