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One of the top aides to US President Donald Trump has accused India of allegedly financing the Russian war against Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow. The development comes after the US president escalated pressure on New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil or face penalties, The Indian Express reported.

During an interview on Fox News‘ “Sunday Morning Futures”, Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House, said, “What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia."

Miller, who is seen as one of Trump’s most influential aides, criticised India for purchasing oil from Russia and effectively financing Moscow’s war against Kyiv. Miller’s criticism is being viewed as one of the strongest by the Trump administration yet about one of the US’ major partners in the Indo-Pacific, according to The Indian Express.

India and the Philippines staged joint sail and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea for the first time, a high-profile military deployment that will likely antagonize China. Beijing has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian democracies and a long-running regional rivalrywith New Delhi, Associated Press reported.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner said Monday that the two-day joint naval sail and exercises which began Sunday have been successful so far and expressed hopes that Filipino forces could engage India’s military in more joint maneuvers in the future.

Asked if Chinese forces carried out any action in response, Brawner said without elaborating that “we did not experience any untoward incident but we were still shadowed. We expected that already.”

The UN's main food agency has warned that families trapped within the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher face starvation, BBC reported.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had not been able to deliver food to the city in the western Darfur region by road for more than a year.

El-Fasher has been surrounded by paramilitary fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for nearly16 months - determined to seize it from Sudan's army.

The WFP warning comes as local activists have already begun reporting deaths by starvation in the city, which is home to about 250,000 people, according to BBC.

A new political party formed by the students who spearheaded an anti-government movement ousting former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday rallied in Bangladesh’s capital and pledged to build a new Bangladesh amid political uncertainty over the next election, Associated Press reported.

Separately, supporters of the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, also held a rally in the capital, Dhaka, where party leaders also vowed to work to establish democracy following the fall of Hasina.

The rallies took place two days before the country’s interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is marking the anniversary of Hasina’s fall, according to Associated Press.