Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet President Donald Trump during a visit to the United States next month to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An Indian official familiar with the matter said a decision has not yet been taken, and that countries usually reserve slots for the General Debate at the assembly, which is why India's "head of government" features in a provisional list of speakers on September 26.

"The list will go through revisions," the official said, adding that it had not yet been decided if Modi would be going to the assembly.

The General Assembly kicks off on September 9, but the debate, the annual meeting of heads of state and government, will be held from September 23-29.

Although the reason for the potential visit will be to attend the UN meeting in New York, a key objective will be to hold talks with Trump and iron out trade and tariff issues that have led to some souring of ties between the two countries, the newspaper reported.

News of a possible Modi trip to the US comes days after Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods to penalise New Delhi for continuing to buy Russian oil.

The penalty took the total levy on Indian goods exported to the US to 50%, among the highest levied on any US trading partner.

Trade talks between New Delhi and Washington collapsed after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India's vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases.

On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said several large trade agreements were still waiting to be completed, including with Switzerland and India, but New Delhi had been "a bit recalcitrant" in talks with Washington.

Bessent told Fox Business Network's "Kudlow" he hoped the Trump administration could wrap up its trade negotiations by the end of October.

"That's aspirational, but I think we are in a good position," he said, adding "I think we can be, we will have agreed on substantial terms with all the substantial countries."

MSH

At least 34 people, including two babies were killed when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames in southern Benin near the border with Nigeria on Saturday.

According to Beninese Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, “a serious fire occurred in the town of Seme Podji. Another 20 people were seriously wounded in the incident.”

"I can't really give you the cause of the fire, but there is a large gasoline warehouse here and cars, tricycles and motorcycles come from morning to evening,” he added.

Nigeria is a main oil and gas producer where fuel smuggling is very common along its borders, particularly when the government maintains a subsidy to keep fuel prices low.

The majority of the victims were burnt and they could not be not be identified.

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