New York/Washington(PTI): US President Donald Trump said he could travel to India next year, emphasising that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “wants” him to visit while calling him a “great man” and a friend.

“He's (PM Modi) a friend of mine, and we speak... He wants me to go there. We'll figure that out. I'll go. I will have a great trip there with Prime Minister Modi, he’s a great man. And I'll be going,” Trump said at the Oval Office on Thursday in response to a question. 

When asked if he is planning to go to India next year, Trump said, “It could be, yeah.” 

India will host leaders from Australia, Japan, and the United States for the Quad summit in New Delhi after the 2024 summit was held in Wilmington, Delaware.

However, the dates for the summit in India are yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, President Trump once again claimed that India has stopped buying from Russia.

"It’s great, going good. He (PM Modi) stopped... Largely he stopped buying oil from Russia,” Trump said in response to a question on how talks with Modi and trade discussions with India are progressing. 

Trump imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India and an additional 25 per cent levies for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties imposed on India to 50 per cent.

India had described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable" while maintaining that its energy policy is guided by its own national interest.

In his remarks before the press, Trump also reiterated his claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan in May using trade.

“Of the eight wars I ended, I would say five or six were ended because of tariffs. I'll give you an example. If you take a look at India and Pakistan, they started to fight, they are two nuclear nations... They were shooting each other. Eight planes were shot down. It was seven. Now it is eight, because the one that was sort of shot down is now abandoned. Eight planes were shot down.

“And I said, 'Listen, if you guys are going to fight, I'm gonna put tariffs on you’. And they both went, you know, they were not happy about that. And within 24 hours, I settled the war. If I didn't have tariffs, I wouldn't have been able to settle that war,” Trump said.

The president also termed tariffs a "great national defence".

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire" after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

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Vittla (Dakshina Kannada): A case has been registered at the Vittla Police Station against a school teacher on charges of seriously assaulting a student with a cane at an English-medium school in Idkidu village here near Vittla in Dakshina Kannada district.

According to the complaint, the student, who attends the school regularly, had gone to school as usual. Around 2 pm, the child’s parents received a call from the school office stating that their child had allegedly disturbed other students. The school informed them that when the teacher scolded the student over the issue, the child became frightened and urinated, and the parents were asked to come and take the child home.

The parents reportedly told the school staff that no one was at home at the time and requested that the child be sent home in an autorickshaw.

After returning home, the student told the parents that a teacher identified as Istikaar had beaten him severely on the hand with a cane. The child also said that he urinated out of fear while the assault was taking place.

When the parents contacted the teacher over the phone to question him about the incident, he allegedly responded in a dismissive manner.

Following this, the parents lodged complaints with the Vittla Police Station and the Child Development Project Office, seeking justice and strict action against the teacher for allegedly assaulting the child without any valid reason.

Police have registered a case against the teacher and have taken up further investigation.