Foreign News
How India overcame bitter G20 divisions over Ukraine
The G20 joint declaration in Delhi is being described as a significant diplomatic win for India.
The agreement of a joint statement looked almost impossible a few days ago, given how sharply divided the group was over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the end, we had a declaration that garnered unanimous support from all G20 member nations, without a single dissenting note.
Ukraine itself, which was not represented at the summit, was unhappy – though key players, including the US, the UK, Russia and China, praised the outcome.
So, how did India manage to bring together nations with starkly divergent views on Ukraine? A close reading of the declaration and some geopolitical developments weeks before the summit offer some clues.
The five-nation Brics group – which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – decided to include six new members during its annual summit in August.
The new members – Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – have close ties with China.
The expansion may not have played a direct role in the outcome of the G20 summit but it’s no secret that the West has been wary of China’s growing clout, particularly in the developing world, in the past few years.
“It was not a direct factor but the West, especially the US, is conscious that China is effectively trying to create an alternative international order that is anti-Western,” says Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, South Asia practice head of Eurasia Group. What is also not a secret is that the West sees India as a counterweight to China and it would have not wanted Delhi’s presidency to end without a declaration.”
So, there was more than one reason for the West to help India forge a consensus.
The main sticking point was the war in Ukraine. The G20’s declaration in Bali last year had called out “aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” while noting objections from some members to this assessment. It looked impossible that the West would agree to language that was weaker than that used in Bali, and Russia also indicated it would not agree to a statement that blamed it for the war.
A breakthrough was needed and India was well placed to broker one as it has good relations both with Moscow and the West. In the end, the declaration used language that satisfied Russia but also gave enough to Western countries.
“It was clear that the West did want India to have a diplomatic win. There was always a compromise involved. But the US and the West would not have signed onto a joint declaration if there were issues in the language on which they could not come to an agreement,” says Angela Mancini, partner and head of Asia-Pacific markets at consultancy firm Control Risks.
The Delhi declaration refrained from blaming Russia for the war, a stance viewed by analysts as more lenient than the one taken in Bali. However, it did address the “human suffering and adverse repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine on global food and energy security”.
In the end, leaders from the UK, the US and France appeared to be in agreement with Russia that the declaration was a good outcome of the summit. The two sides, however, interpreted the wordings differently.
UK PM Rishi Sunak said the declaration had “strong language, highlighting the impact of the war on food prices and food security”. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the Delhi summit a milestone.
But the unexpected agreement has upset Ukraine as it said the G20 had nothing to be proud of.
The debt crisis facing many developing countries was also a major concern ahead of the summit.
Developing nations have consistently argued that affluent countries must increase their support to help their economies. These were battered by the pandemic, and the war has exacerbated their challenges. The World Bank said in December that the world’s poorest countries owed $62bn in annual debt service to creditors and two-thirds of this was owed to China.
China’s lending practices have been often described as predatory by Western officials – an allegation Beijing rejects.
China, firmly aligned with Russia, could have potentially vetoed the declaration but it did not. The paragraph about the debt crisis makes no direct or indirect mention of China.
“On debt relief, we did not see any forward movement. In many ways, any criticism of lending practices would have been interpreted as an anti-China move,” Pal Chaudhari adds.
The declaration acknowledged the crisis and called upon G20 nations to step up the implementation of the common framework (CF) agreed in 2020 to help vulnerable nations.
Meanwhile, the group agreed on tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 but it didn’t set any major goals on emission cuts, despite the G20 nations accounting for nearly 80% of greenhouse gases.
Crucially, the declaration did not mention any targets on reducing the use of crude oil, and instead focused on phasing out the use of coal. This would have satisfied crude producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia. Even India and China have been uncomfortable with the West setting emission cut targets that they see as “unrealistic”.
It’s clear that Delhi worked hard to build consensus, even if it came at the cost of making serious compromises.
“Given the fact that it had to be a consensus document, it’s not surprising that some of the language was a bit muted in certain areas to reach that consensus,” says Mancini.
One topic that united the group even before the summit was the inclusion of the African Union into the G20.
It further bolstered Delhi’s push to give the Global South developing nations a bigger say on global platforms.
A Russian government negotiator said this was “one of the most difficult G20 summits” in the almost 25-year-old history of the forum. “It took almost 20 days to agree on the declaration before the summit and five days here on the spot,” Svetlana Lukash told Russian news agency Interfax.
It remains to be seen whether the G20 brings the rich and developing nations together or divides the world into two camps.
(BBC)
Nigeria says it will seek compensation from South Africa for its citizens who have left the country following recent protests targeting undocumented migrants.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa told the BBC that the issue would be discussed between the two governments “at the highest levels”.
Acting High Commissioner to South Africa Alexander Ajayi said on local television on Tuesday that the government had begun documenting businesses and properties left behind by Nigerians.
One Nigerian trader waiting to be repatriated told the BBC he had lived in South Africa for nearly a decade and had abandoned his business and home because he feared for his safety.
Oghodero Erejor Wilson, 32, said he was losing “everything because of fear”.
“I left everything in my house including clothes.”
He is among hundreds of Nigerians still waiting to be evacuated from South Africa. More than 600 Nigerians have already been repatriated in recent weeks.
The South African authorities say those who have been flown home were in the country illegally – though this is disputed by Nigeria.
About 25,000 nationals of other African countries have left South Africa following a wave of protests in recent weeks by groups demanding that the government does more to curb illegal migration.
Some anti-migrant groups had given undocumented foreigners a deadline of 30 June to leave the country and organised marches attended by thousands of people on Tuesday. These were largely peaceful but there were isolated incidents of violence against foreigners.
The South African police say that about 900 people were arrested, mostly for immigration-related offences and looting.
The BBC has asked South Africa’s government for comment on Nigeria’s compensation demand.
Nigeria’s acting high commissioner said he had asked all of those who had left South Africa “to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties”.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Ebienfa told the BBC that all claims would be verified before any formal request was made
“We have not severed ties with South Africa, we are still engaging them at the highest level, we will sort those details using our usual diplomatic channels,” he said.
Wilson, the trader, said he had run a clothing business in the South African city of Centurion in Gauteng province for several years.
But he said he had now closed his shop and fled to stay near the Nigeria High Commission in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.
Scheduled to leave on the next repatriation flight to Nigeria on Friday, he estimates the goods left in his shop are worth more than 16,000 rand ($975; £735).
Wilson said his residency documents had expired in 2021 and he had been unable to renew them.
He said he was not very hopeful about the prospect of getting compensation.
“If South Africa government can compensate it, it will be nice, but I know they won’t,” he said.
(BBC)
US President Donald Trump made more than $1bn (£750m) last year from business dealings in cryptocurrency, according to his mandatory financial report for 2025.
In a 927-page disclosure, he reported $635m in royalties from a Trump meme coin that has plunged in value since he launched it days before taking office.
He also reported over $500m in income from World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm founded by his own sons and the children of his special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
He earned millions more from real estate and Trump-themed items. But the White House denied he was profiting from the presidency.
The earnings from his latest financial disclosure far outpace the previous ones for 2024, when Trump disclosed over $600m in income.
But the White House, which has repeatedly emphasised that Trump has placed his business in a trust managed by his sons, again denied any conflict of interest.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said the president had proudly made the US “the crypto capital of the world”.
“Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged – or will ever engage – in conflicts of interest,” she said in a statement.
She added: “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”
The president himself has also highlighted that he is not subject to federal conflict of interest laws.
Trump once criticised cryptocurrency, famously calling Bitcoin a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen”.
But Tuesday’s disclosure shows his crypto earnings far overshadow income from his real estate business, which first catapulted him to fame.
He earned around $77m from his Mar-a-Lago club and $122m from his golf club in Doral, Florida.
He also earned more than $30m each from golf clubs in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Jupiter, Florida, and Turnberry, Scotland.
Trump also earned millions from other business ventures, according to the financial disclosure.
These included $4.7m in royalties from Trump-branded watches, along with Trump-branded Bibles, trainers, fragrances and guitars.
First Lady Melania Trump also listed her income from 2025 in the disclosure. She made $10.7m from a “license agreement” related to the documentary about her that was released last year.
Another $6m in income is listed for her from the sale of NFTs, which are digital images sold online.
The president listed millions of dollars, too, in settlements from various legal actions.
These included $16m from a lawsuit against ABC, $16m from CBS Broadcasting and CBS Interactive, $24.5m from Meta, $22m from YouTube and $8m from X.
But the White House has said most of that money went towards Trump’s future presidential library or a nonprofit dedicated to the upkeep of park sites in the Washington DC area.
According to a list of the world’s richest people compiled by Forbes magazine, Trump has an estimated fortune of $6bn – up from $2.3bn in 2024. Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index puts the president’s net worth at $7.6bn.
After his return to the White House, Trump adopted a friendly approach to the crypto industry, even as companies linked to his family issued digital tokens.
The Trump-appointed head of financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, is also seen as an ally of the crypto industry.
Since taking office in April 2025, Paul Atkins has shifted the agency away from the strict, regulation-by-enforcement approach of his predecessor.
Last July, the president signed the GENIUS Act into law, to make “make America the undisputed leader in digital assets”.
(BBC)
Guo Wengui, who was once believed to be one of China’s richest businessmen, has been sentenced to 30 years in jail in the US for running a billion dollar scam.
The former property tycoon fled China to the US in 2017, where he reinvented himself as a Communist Party critic and built a loyal online following.
But Guo was later convicted on charges of racketeering, fraud and money laundering.
New York court judge Analisa Torres said Guo had “preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to China”, taking their money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
The BBC has contacted Guo’s representatives for comment.
Guo – who goes by several names, including Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok – was sentenced in a courtroom packed with his supporters.
US attorney Sean S Buckley told the BBC: “Rather than being satisfied with the many legitimate opportunities afforded to him, Guo exploited the trust that thousands had placed in him for his own greed.”
“Today’s sentence shows that fame and wealth do not place you above the law, and that fraudsters who victimise families to enrich themselves will be met with significant consequences,” Buckley said.
Before fleeing China, Guo built a fortune as a property developer and had good ties with the country’s government.
But he sought asylum in the US after being accused by top Chinese officials of corruption.
Guo became a critic of China’s Communist regime and cultivated a wide online following among the Chinese community in the US.
Prosecutors said Guo raised more than $1bn (£760m) from online followers, who joined him in investment and cryptocurrency schemes between 2018 and 2023.
The money he raised was used to fund Guo’s lavish lifestyle which included a 50,000 square foot mansion, a $1m Lamborghini and a $37m yacht, they said.
Guo denied the allegations, saying the funds were used for his political activism.
He had built ties with other China critics, including Steve Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump.
Bannon and Guo often appeared in online videos and, in 2020, launched a campaign called the New Federal State of China, with the goal of overthrowing the Chinese Communist Party.
Later that year, Bannon was arrested on Guo’s yacht in Connecticut. Bannon was charged in an unrelated case with fraud in an alleged scheme to defraud people who funded a not-for-profit company to build a US-Mexico border wall.
Bannon entered a guilty plea in a Manhattan court to a first degree scheme to defraud charge and received a sentence of conditional discharge for three years.
He also faced federal charges over the wall campaign after he was indicted by a federal grand jury, but the prosecution came to a halt after Trump pardoned him 8n the final hours of his first White House term.
(BBC)
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