India | Pakistan

India on Wednesday test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, a government statement said, in an apparent show of strength ahead of a threatened US tariff increase. The Agni-5 missile was successfully launched in India’s eastern Odisha state, with authorities saying it “validated all operational and technical parameters.” The test-fire came a week before US tariffs are set to double from 25 per cent to 50 pc, unless India meets President Donald Trump’s demand that it stop buying Russian oil. India last tested the Agni-5 missile in March 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this month that, in the face of US tariffs, India was seeking self-reliance with energy independence and the development of its own defence systems. New Delhi has deepened defence cooperation with Western countries in recent years, including in the Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia as an apparent counter to rival China. But India’s relations with China have wa...

Massive, sudden downpours of rain known as cloudbursts have struck Pakistan and India during this monsoon season, killing hundreds of people in the flash floods and landslides they have triggered. Rescue workers and residents gather after cloudburst following the heavy rains and floodings, in Jibrari village in Salarzai Tehsil, Pakistan on August 15, 2025. — Reuters Why are cloudbursts and why do they occur? By a widely accepted definition, a cloudburst means more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rainfall in one hour, over a small area. This year, the monsoon, which originates in the Bay of Bengal and then sweeps westwards across northern India to Pakistan every summer, has brought deadly cloudbursts. Weather studies say cloudbursts typically occur in South Asia when warm, monsoon winds, laden with moisture, meet the cold mountain air in the north of India and Pakistan, causing condensation. With a warming planet, the monsoon has hotter air, which can carry more moisture. India’s weather department data shows cloudb...

India and China agreed on Tuesday to resume direct flights and step up trade and investment flows as the neighbours rebuild ties damaged by a 2020 border clash. The Asian giants are cautiously strengthening ties against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy, staging a series of high-level bilateral visits. The two countries would resume direct flights and boost trade and investment, including reopening border trade at three designated points, and facilitate in visas, the Indian foreign ministry said. Direct flights have been suspended since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. No date was given for their resumption. The latest statements came at the end of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to New Delhi for the 24th round of talks with Indian National Security (NSA) Adviser Ajit Doval to resolve their decades old border dispute. The border talks covered issues related to pulling back troops both countries have amassed on their Himalayan border, delimitation of border...

India’s National Sports Governance Bill has become an Act after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the legislation, which promises to overhaul India’s sports administration, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Tuesday. The development comes days after India said it will bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, seen as part of a wider push by the cricket-mad nation to host the 2036 Olympics. The presidential assent came on Monday, stated a gazette notification by the central government. The legislation has been described as a path-breaking reform by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, PTI reports. “The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 18th August, 2025 and is hereby published for general information — The National Sports Governance Act, 2025,” the legislation stated. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on July 23 and passed on August 11. A day later, it was passed by the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament). The bill provides...

Relations between China and India are on a “positive trend” towards cooperation, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart in New Delhi, according to a readout of the meeting published on Tuesday. The world’s two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia, and fought a deadly border clash in 2020. India is also part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China. But caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war, the countries have moved to mend ties. During talks on Monday with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, Wang said the two countries should “view each other as partners and opportunities, rather than adversaries or threats”. He pointed to the resumption of “dialogue at all levels” and “maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas” as evidence that bilateral ties were on a “positive trend of returning t...

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday said India’s purchases of Russian crude were funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine and had to stop. New Delhi was “now cosying up to both Russia and China”, Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times today. “If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the United States, it needs to start acting like one.” India’s Foreign Ministry has previously said the country is being unfairly singled out for buying Russian oil while the US and European Union continue to purchase goods from Russia. US President Donald Trump announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods earlier this month, citing New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. The move will take total tariffs on imports from India to 50pc. “India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro wrote. The adviser also said India’s close ties with Russia and China made ...

New Delhi: A planned visit by U.S. trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been cancelled, delaying talks on a proposed bilateral trade agreement, Indian business and financial news network NDTV Profit reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, China’s top diplomat will visit India next week for talks about […]

China’s top diplomat will visit India next week for talks about their shared boundary, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Saturday, as the two countries eye resuming border trade five years after halting it. “From August 18 to 20 … (Chinese foreign minister) Wang Yi will upon invitation visit India and hold the 24th special representatives meeting on the China-India border issue,” a spokesperson said in a statement. Past trade between the neighbours across icy and high-altitude Himalayan border passes was usually small in volume, but any resumption is significant for its symbolism. It stopped following a deadly 2020 clash between border troops. Indian media had reported earlier in the week that China’s Wang was expected for talks in New Delhi on Monday. His Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, visited Beijing in July. The two major economic powers have long competed for strategic influence across South Asia. However, caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald T...

President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir celebrate Independence Day with calls for unity, hail success in Marka-e-Haq and Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos in May conflict with India.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Washington could increase secondary tariffs on India, the BBC reported on Thursday. He said the decision would depend on the outcome of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. “We’ve put secondary tariffs on Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see, If things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” Bessent said in an interview to Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25 per cent penalty on India in addition to 25pc tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia. The US has been trying to mediate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and on Wednesday, Trump warned of “severe consequences” if Moscow did not agree to a peace deal. Russian oil made up 35-40pc of India’s oil imports in 2024, up from 3pc in 2021 Trump and Putin are set to meet in Anchorage on Friday to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine. “President Trump is meeting with President Put...

Federal Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Moeen Wattoo on Thursday criticised India for seeking to “run away” from the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after its foreign ministry rejected a Hague court ruling to follow the accord in designing new hydroelectric projects on rivers flowing to Pakistan. Under the 1960 IWT, three rivers that flow westwards were awarded to Pakistan, with India getting three eastern-flowing rivers. In 2023, Pakistan brought a case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague over the design of Indian hydropower projects on rivers that were awarded to Pakistan under the treaty. The court, in its ruling that was posted on its website on Monday, said it had jurisdiction over the dispute and ruled the treaty “does not permit India to generate hydro-electric power on the Western Rivers based on what might be the ideal or best practices approach for engineering” of these projects. Instead, the design of these projects must adhere “strictly” to the specifications laid down in the ...

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Shaheens were presented with national honours for their aerial performance in the recent conflict against India as part of Pakistan’s 79th Independence Day celebrations on Thursday. In July, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said this year’s Independence Day would be marked as “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth). The term is used by the state for the conflict with India from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the end of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos with a ceasefire on May 10. The May conflict was sparked as New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack without evidence — a claim strongly refuted by Pakistan. On May 6–7, New Delhi launched air strikes that killed civilians. In retaliation, PAF downed six Indian planes in air-to-air combat on May 7. India’s highest-ranking general has also acknowledged that its forces suffered losses in the air, but denied losing six aircraft. At a ceremony in Islamabad today, the awards, including both wartime and peacetime honours, were conferred by President Asif...

India and China are discussing resuming border trade five years after it was halted, foreign ministry officials on both sides have said, as US tariffs disrupt the global trade order. Past trade across the icy and high-altitude Himalayan border passes between the neighbours was usually small in volume, but any resumption is significant for its symbolism. The two major economic powers have long competed for strategic influence across South Asia. But caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, the countries have moved to mend ties. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to hold talks in New Delhi on Monday, according to Indian media, after his counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Beijing in July. That, as well as agreements to resume direct flights and issue tourist visas, has been seen as an effort to rebuild a relationship damaged after a deadly border clash in 2020 between their nations’ troops. “For a long time, China-India border tr...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday warned India that any attempt to block Pakistan’s water in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty would be met with a decisive response. “You threaten to stop our water. If you attempt such a move, Pakistan will teach you a lesson you will never forget,” the Prime Minister […]

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that while a neighbouring country has threatened to cut off Pakistan’s water supply, India cannot take away even a single drop of Pakistan’s share.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday warned India against any designs on the Indus River, saying that it could not snatch “even one drop” of water belonging to Pakistan amid tensions over the share of hydel resources in the region. India in April held the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. A supplemental award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in June held that India could not unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance. India, in response, said it did not recognise the court or its decisions. A day ago, the PCA issued an “Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the IWT” in the Indus Waters case, stating ...

Pakistan–US ties have witnessed an unexpected upswing, sparking unease in India, the Financial Times reported.

Robust backing from the government and a desire to stage big-ticket events make India a strong candidate to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, a top Indian Olympic Association (IOA) official told Reuters. The world’s most populous nation is bidding for the 2030 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad to boost its bigger dream of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games at the western Indian city. A Commonwealth Sports delegation visited Ahmedabad last week to share their experience from the previous Games and help the Indian organisers prepare a comprehensive bid to be submitted by the August 31 deadline. “First and foremost, the mood of the country is upbeat for sporting activities and there is a strong will of the government to host global sporting events,” IOA executive council member Harpal Singh said by telephone. “India wants to host larger sporting events — be it Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, or Olympics — and we have the full backing of the government. “The existing infrastructure is very good, and the...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday strongly rejected the remarks made by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) regarding Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, calling them “immature” and yet another example of India’s tendency to distort facts and twist statements out of context. In a statement, a Foreign Office Spokesperson emphasized that Pakistan, as a responsible nuclear […]

Pakistan has strongly rejected what it called India’s deliberate distortion of Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir’s remarks during his recent visit to the United States.