India | Pakistan

England gained the upper hand after a rain-hit first day of the final India vs England Test at The Oval on Thursday as the tourists, needing victory to square the series, battled to 204-6, with all their big guns dismissed cheaply. England had to work hard for their breakthroughs and will be delighted to have […]

Hyderabad, India: After nearly three weeks of stress and numerous sightings, a leopard that had been roaming the surrounding areas of Hyderabad has finally been caught by the Forest Department. The dangerous animal, which was hard to catch, was trapped in a special cage designed to capture the leopard at Manchirevula Eco Trek Park, located […]

Indian opposition parties criticised the government on Thursday, describing US President Donald Trump’s threat of a 25 per cent tariff as a diplomatic failure for New Delhi, while the rupee currency tumbled and equity indexes slid in response to the news. The 25pc rate would single out India more harshly than other major trading partners, and threatens to unravel months of talks, undermining one of Washington’s strategic partners in the region, viewed as a counterbalance to China. Trump said the tariff on imports from India would start from Friday, in addition to an unspecified penalty for Russian dealings and involvement in the BRICS grouping of nations. In response, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was studying the implications of Trump’s remarks and was dedicated to securing a fair trade deal. “This development reflects a broader collapse of foreign policy under the Modi government,” a lawmaker of the main opposition Congress party said in a notice to the lower house of parliament, as...

A formidable new radar satellite jointly developed by the United States and India launched on Wednesday, designed to track subtle changes in Earth’s land and ice surfaces and help predict both natural and human-caused hazards. Dubbed NISAR (Nasa-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), the pickup truck-sized spacecraft blasted off around 5:40pm (5:10pm PKT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast, riding an ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket. A livestream of the event showed excited schoolchildren brought to watch the launch and mission teams erupting in cheers and hugging. Highly anticipated by scientists, the mission has also been hailed by US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a milestone in growing cooperation between the two countries. “Congratulations India!” Dr Jitendra Singh, India’s science and technology minister, wrote on X, calling the mission a “game changer”. “Our planet’s surface undergoes constant and meaningful change,” Karen St...

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed a 25 per cent tariff on goods imported from India starting August 1, along with an unspecified penalty for buying Russian weapons and oil, potentially straining relations with the world’s most populous democracy. The US decision singles out India more severely than other major trading partners, and threatens to unravel months of talks between the two countries, undermining a key strategic partner of Washington and a counterbalance to China. In posts on his social platform Truth Social, he said the US had a “massive trade deficit” with India. In another post, he said: “Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country. “Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ene...

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has accused India of launching a hybrid war against Pakistan following its defeat in Ma’arka Haq, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar yesterday said Pakistan was ready for composite dialogue with India.

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has opened up about the verbal spat between Gautam Gambhir and The Oval’s curator. The India head coach raised eyebrows after he was seen having an animated chat with Surrey groundsman Lee Fortis. Video footage showed Gambhir having a go at Fortis and pointing his finger in the direction of […]

At least 18 people were killed in eastern India on Tuesday after a bus ferrying Hindu pilgrims collided with a truck loaded with cooking gas cylinders, officials said. Visuals from the site in Jharkhand state showed the mangled wreckage of the bus, with its rear portion almost entirely burnt. Local lawmaker Nishikant Dubey said the pilgrims were travelling to a Hindu shrine to celebrate the sacred month of Shravan, coinciding with the onset of the monsoons in the subcontinent. “Eighteen devotees lost their lives due to a bus and truck accident,” Dubey said on social media. The pilgrims were carrying holy water from the Ganges to offer to the Hindu god of destruction, Lord Shiva. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his “deepest condolences to the families of the devotees who lost their lives”. “The road accident in Jharkhand’s Deoghar is extremely tragic,” his office said on social media. Tens of thousands of people die in road accidents in India every year, according to official data. More than 172,000 die...

Pakistani security sources said on Monday that India has once again begun “fake encounters” under the guise of countering terrorism, with an alleged plan to “use” detained Pakistanis in them, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. The statement came after the Indian Army’s Chinar Corps said they killed three alleged “terrorists” under ‘Operation Mahadev’ in occupied Kashmir’s Srinagar. While Indian media, citing sources, has been linking one of the dead to the Pahalgam attack, no official has stated that on record. The April 22 attack in held Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people and sparked heavy fighting between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, as New Delhi blamed the attack on Islamabad, which strongly denied the allegations while calling for a neutral investigation. India had launched Operation Sindoor in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, which included the deadly strikes launched on Pakistan on May 7. “After the failure of Operation Sindoor, India has once again initiated fake encounters under the guise of Ope...

India’s enthralling series in England is going all the way to the finish after the resilient tourists drew the fourth Test at Old Trafford on Sunday. Record-breaking skipper Shubman Gill scored his fourth century of the campaign before Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar also made hundreds. England remain 2-1 up in this five-match contest ahead of a quick turnaround to Thursday’s start of an Oval finale, where an India victory in south London would ensure a share of the spoils for Gill’s men. A draw looked anything but likely when India collapsed to 0-2 in the opening over of their second innings on Saturday as Chris Woakes struck with successive deliveries after England had piled up a mammoth 669 in their first innings. But Gill, in on a hat-trick, went on to score 103 in a marathon innings of some seven hours as he turned the tide during a stand of 188 with KL Rahul that ended before lunch on Sunday’s last day. Jadeja, reprieved first ball when Joe Root dropped a tough slip chance, went on to make 107 not...

At least six people were crushed to death at a popular Hindu temple in northern India’s Uttarakhand state on Sunday, officials said, after a massive crowd surge. The stampede occurred on the stairway leading to the Mansa Devi temple in the Hindu holy city of Haridwar, on the banks of the Ganges River, and left many injured. “Six dead and more than 10 injured are admitted to the hospital,” senior city police official Parmendra Dobhal told AFP. Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said relief and rescue operations were underway. “I am constantly in touch with the local administration regarding this matter, and continuous monitoring of the situation is being done,” he said in a statement. Deadly stampedes and crowd crushes are a common occurrence at Indian religious festivals. In June, a sudden crowd surge at a Hindu festival in the coastal state of Odisha triggered a stampede that killed at least three people and injured several others. The previous month, six people were crushed to death in the wester...

• Foreign minister says Pakistan-US mineral deal to be finalised soon • Ex-State Dept official Elizabeth Horst made acting envoy to Pakistan WASHINGTON: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday and discussed trade, investment, counterterrorism cooperation and the clash between India and Pakistan in May, according to officials from both countries. The meeting — the first such engagement between the foreign ministers of the two countries in three years — is being considered a breakthrough in diplomacy between Pakistan and the US. On the same day, the US named an acting ambassador in Islamabad. In Washington, Mr Dar and Secretary Rubio held their first meeting since working together in May to negotiate a ceasefire that ended a dangerous military standoff between India and Pakistan. In a post shared after the meeting, Mr Dar said he discussed bilateral relations with Secretary Rubio. “We reaffirmed our commitment to the long-term Pakistan-US partnership, with renewed focus on eco...

At least seven children were killed and 26 others injured Friday after part of the roof and walls of a government-run school collapsed in western India, police said. “Seven children have lost their lives so far and 26 others are injured,” Nand Kishore, a police officer in the state of Rajasthan, told AFP. There were around 60 students, teachers and staff members in the single-storey building when the accident happened in Jhalawar district, some 322 kilometres (200 miles) from the state capital Jaipur. Kishore said the structure collapsed when students were attending their classes early on Friday. Villagers rushed to the site and rescued many injured children who were taken to the closest medical facilities. Local media reports said the building was in a dilapidated condition and several complaints had been previously been raised about it. It had also been raining heavily in the area over the past few days. According to local news outlets, the children who died were between eight and 11 years of age, while two...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday said it was ready for talks with India and reiterated that any misadventure or aggressive design by India would be met with a robust and resolute response.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett got England off to a flying start in their first innings of the fourth Test before India ensured both openers fell agonisingly short of centuries. England were 225-2 at stumps on the second day at Old Trafford, a deficit of 133 runs, after they dismissed India for 358, with captain […]

Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. The two countries concluded talks on the trade pact in May after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides hastening efforts to clinch a deal in the shadow of tariff turmoil unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. The agreement between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds ($34bn) by 2040. It is Britain’s biggest trade deal since it left the European Union in 2020, although its impact will be a fraction of the effect of leaving the orbit of its closest trading partner. For India, it represents its biggest strategic partnership with an advanced economy, and one which could provide a template for a long-mooted deal with the EU as well as talks with other regions. It will take effect aft...

Pakistan is ready to engage in dialogue with India on all outstanding issues, but the next move depends on New Delhi, said Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan during a weekly press briefing on Thursday.

India has pushed hundreds of ethnic Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, accusing the government of flouting rules and fuelling bias on religious lines. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration — particularly from Muslim-majority Bangladesh — with top authorities referring to them as “termites” and “infiltrators”. Critics also accuse the government of sparking fear among India’s estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, which is widely spoken in both eastern India and Bangladesh. HRW, a New York-based nonprofit, said that India forcibly expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, quoting Bangladeshi authorities. “India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director ...

Rishabh Pant’s retirement through injury slowed India’s progress on day one of the fourth Test against England, with the tourists closing on 264-4 in their first innings as they look to keep the thrilling five-match series alive. With England eyeing victory at Old Trafford that would seal a series win with one match to spare, […]