India | Pakistan

United States President Donald Trump announced a “trade deal” with India on Monday after speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying New Delhi agreed to stop buying Russian oil and may purchase it instead from Venezuela. In a post on social media platform Truth Social, the US president said that he and the Indian premier spoke about “many things”, including trade and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump added that “out of friendship and respect” for Modi, the US would lower its reciprocal tariff rate from 25 per cent to 18pc, while India would reduce tariffs on US goods to zero. “He (Modi) agreed to stop buying Russian oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela,” Trump wrote, adding that this would “end the war” between Russia and Ukraine. The US president, calling Modi “one of my greatest friends, and a powerful and respected leader of his country”, said that he agreed to “buy American” at a much higher level. Trump added that India would buy, “over $500 bi...

Deal sealed as Trump cuts India tariffs to 18%

NEW DELHI: India will spend a record amount on infrastructure and defence, the finance minister said in her national budget speech on Sunday, with plans for high-speed rail, submarines and fighter jets. New Delhi plans to spend $133 billion on infrastructure and $85 billion on defence, a respective rise of around nine and 15 percent compared to last year’s budget. Data centres, artificial intelligence, and the mining and processing of rare earths will also receive government support, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told parliament. She said public spending on infrastructure had increased dramatically from around $21 billion (2 trillion rupees) in 2014-15 and that it was now at an “all-time high”. Rajnath says armed forces would be equipped with fighter jets, drones, ships, submarines and critical hardware The defence spending hike comes after a four-day conflict with Pakistan last May that killed at least 70 people, and saw both sides make extensive use of drones as well as intense missile and artillery b...

After around a week of uncertainty, the government gave the nod on Sunday to the Pakistan cricket team for participation in the T20 World Cup but barred it from playing against India on February 15, when the Green Shirts are scheduled to play their only group-stage match against the arch-rivals. “The government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan cricket team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026, however, the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India,” a post of the government’s X account said. On Monday, Pakistan Cricket Board chief and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the possibility of a boycott of the T20 World Cup loomed over Bangladesh’s withdrawal from the tournament. After the meeting, Naqvi had said he had briefed the PM on the “International Cricket Council (ICC) matter” and a “final decision would be taken either on Friday or next Monday”. The meeting took place...

United States President Donald Trump on Saturday said India will buy Venezuelan oil, as opposed to purchasing oil from Iran. “We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters while on Air Force One, en route to Florida from Washington, DC. Trump also said on Saturday that China was also welcome to make a deal with the US to buy Venezuelan oil. Trump’s comment came a day after the US told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. India pledged to slash Russian crude oil purchases after Washington also hiked tariffs related to that activity, and India is on track to lower its Russian oil imports by several hundred thousand barrels per day in the coming months, according to the sources, who declined to be identified. Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on countries buying Venezuelan oil, including India, in March 2025, and his administration ramped up a campaign against Venezuelan Pr...

• Interior minister, Balochistan CM reaffirm resolve against terrorism • Akhtar Mengal says he has ‘never seen such a dangerous situation’ QUETTA: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday held India responsible for a spate of attacks in Balochistan, stressing that authorities would go after every single one of those involved, while an opposition leader warned that the situation in the region had spiralled “completely out of control”. Speaking to the media alongside Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Saturday night, he said: “These were not normal terrorists. India is behind these attacks. I can tell you for sure that India planned these attacks along with these terrorists. “We will expose them in the world — the face with which they meet the world and the face with which they support terrorists.” Mr Naqvi said India was the “main country” behind terrorism, saying that it was not only providing financial support to the terrorists but was also aiding them in planning and devising strategies. CM Bugti...

Key developments Interior minister says India behind the attacks; accuses country of providing support to terrorists ISPR says 92 terrorists killed; 18 civilians, 15 security personnel martyred ISPR says attacks were orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from outside Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday held India responsible for a spate of attacks in Balochistan, while the military’s media affairs said that 92 terrorists were killed as security forces responded to the onslaught. Speaking to the media alongside Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Saturday night, he said, “These were not normal terrorists. India is behind these attacks. I can tell you for sure that India planned these attacks along with these terrorists.” He said that authorities would go after every single one of those involved and the “masters behind them”. “We will expose them in the world — the face with which they meet the world and the face with which they support terrorists,” he said. Naqvi...

At an Indian gourmet food store, Avanti Mehta is organising a blind tasting of drinks sourced from France, Italy and India. No, this isn’t wine, it’s water. Participants use tiny shot glasses to check the minerality, carbonation and salinity in samples of Evian from the French Alps, Perrier from southern France, San Pellegrino from Italy and India’s Aava from the foothills of the Aravalli mountains. “They will all taste different … you should be choosing a water that can give you some sort of nutritional value,” said Mehta, who is 32 and calls herself India’s youngest water sommelier, a term usually associated with premium wine. Her family owns the Aava mineral water brand. Premium water is a $400 million business in the world’s most populous nation and is growing bigger as its wealthy see it as a new status symbol that fits in with a spreading wellness craze. Avanti Mehta, 32, India’s youngest water sommelier, talks about different brands of packaged water at “Sip and Sense”, a water tasting event in Hyderab...

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague has directed India to submit detailed operational records of its hydropower projects on rivers allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), in a significant development in the long-running water dispute between the two countries.

There is a low risk of the deadly Nipah virus spreading from India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday, adding that it did not recommend travel or trade curbs after two infections were reported by the South Asian nation. Pakistan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are among the Asian locations that tightened airport screening checks this week to guard against such a spread after India confirmed infections. “The WHO considers the risk of further spread of infection from these two cases is low,” the agency told Reuters in an email on Friday, adding that India had the capacity to contain such outbreaks. “There is no evidence yet of increased human-to-human transmission,” it said, adding that it has coordinated with Indian health authorities. But it did not rule out further exposure to the virus, which circulates in the bat population in parts of India and neighbouring Bangladesh. Carried by fruit bats and animals such as pigs, the virus can cause fever and brain inflammation. I...

India’s chief economic adviser proposed age-based limits on access to social media platforms he said were “predatory” in their approach to keeping users online, signalling a potential blow to Meta and YouTube in their largest user market. Such a shift would pull India in line with a growing global trend, after Australia became the first nation last year to ban social media for children younger than 16. On Monday, France’s National Assembly backed legislation to ban children under 15 from social media and Britain, Denmark and Greece are studying the issue. The adviser, V. Anantha Nageswaran, recommended in India’s annual economic survey that families promote screen-time limits, device-free hours and shared offline activities. “Policies on age-based access limits may be considered, as younger users are more vulnerable to compulsive use and harmful content,” he wrote in the survey, which was published on Thursday. “Platforms should be made responsible for enforcing age verification and age-appropriate defaults.”...

The deputy chief minister of India’s wealthiest state of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, was killed on Wednesday, along with four people on board his charter aircraft that went down in flames, the aviation regulator said. Pawar, who hailed from a top political family, was en route to his home region to canvass in local body elections, media said. Two of his staff and two crew were also aboard the aircraft, the directorate general of civil aviation said. “No person on board has survived,” it added in an initial statement. Pawar backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the state government, leading a faction that split in 2023 from the opposition Nationalist Congress Party. Video showed billows of smoke rising from some of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field. Media said Pawar’s aircraft, travelling from the financial capital of Mumbai, tried to make an emergency landing in the family stronghold of Baramati, 250 km away, where he was set to canvass in the elections. ...

Indian authorities said they had ensured “timely containment” of the deadly Nipah virus after two cases were confirmed in West Bengal state. Nipah, spreads from animals to humans, has no vaccine and a fatality rate ranging from 40 to 75 per cent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “Enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing, and field investigations were undertaken… which ensured timely containment of the cases,” India’s health ministry said in a statement late Tuesday. It did not give further details on the two infected patients. “The situation is under constant monitoring, and all necessary public health measures are in place”, it added, saying 196 contacts linked to the cases had been traced, and all were negative. Nipah was first identified in 1998 after it spread among pig farmers in Malaysia. In India, the first Nipah outbreak was reported in West Bengal in 2001. In 2018, at least 17 people died from Nipah in Kerala, and in 2023, two people died from the virus, also in the southern state. ...

India and the European Union have finalised a long-pending landmark trade deal, both sides said on Tuesday, as they seek to hedge against fickle ties with the United States. The deal is expected to double EU exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or reducing tariffs in 96.6 per cent of traded goods by value, and will lead to savings of 4 billion euros ($4.75 billion) in duties for European companies, the EU said. The EU will cut tariffs on 99.5pc goods traded over seven years, with tariffs to be cut to zero on Indian marine goods, leather and textile products, chemicals, rubber, base metals and gems and jewellery, India’s trade ministry said in a statement. “Yesterday, a big agreement was signed between the European Union and India,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier. “People around the world are calling this the mother of all deals. This agreement will bring major opportunities for the 1.4bn people of India and the millions of people in Europe,” he said. The accord would open up India’s vast ...

• Diplomats, press divided over New Delhi’s perceived reluctance to join Trump-led body • Given his propensity to paint himself as a global peacemaker, The Hindu warns US president may offer to mediate Kashmir dispute DESPITE being invited to join the ‘Board of Peace’ by President Donald Trump, India has yet to formally get involved in the process. Conspicuous by its absence from the Davos ceremony where 20 world leaders — including Trump and Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif — signed the board’s charter, some in India are viewing New Delhi’s reluctance through the lens of the Kashmir dispute. President Trump says the board’s goal is to make the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza permanent and oversee an interim government in the Palestinian territory. “This is not just for America, but for the whole world. I think we can spread it to other places. Like we did successfully in Gaza,” he had said at the time. But there seems to be concern among some circles that if India signs up for the board — which Trump ...

China’s President Xi Jinping said Beijing and New Delhi were “good neighbours, friends and partners” as he wished Indian President Droupadi Murmu congratulations on the South Asian nation’s Republic Day, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. Xi said that over the past year, China-India relations have continued to improve and develop and are of “great significance for maintaining and promoting world peace and prosperity,” according to Xinhua. Xi said China has always believed that being “good neighbours, friends and partners” is the right choice for both China and India. He referred to China and India as the “dragon and the elephant dancing together,” Xinhua said. Xi said he hoped that both sides would expand exchanges and cooperation and address each other’s concerns to promote healthy and stable relations. The nuclear-armed Asian neighbours share a 3,800 km border that is poorly demarcated and has been disputed since the 1950s. Ties between the countries were shaken by a 2020 clash in which 20 ...

European Council president Antonio Costa arrived in India on Sunday, as the EU and New Delhi seek to seal a free trade pact, capping nearly two decades of negotiations between the economic behemoths. Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are chief guests for this year’s Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on Monday before an EU-India summit on Tuesday, where they hope to shake hands on the accord, described as the “mother of all deals”. “President Costa is in New Delhi for the 16th EU-India summit taking place on Tuesday,” the EU Council said on X. “The summit will be an opportunity to build on the EU-India strategic partnership and further strengthen collaboration across key policy areas.” India, the world’s most populous nation, is on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy this year, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections. While the EU eyes India as an important market for the future, New Delhi sees the European bloc as an important source of much-ne...

India and Europe hope to strike the “mother of all deals” when European Union (EU) chiefs meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties. Facing challenges from China and the United States, India and the European Union have been negotiating a massive free trade pact — and talks, first launched about two decades ago, are nearing the finishing line. “We are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week. Von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa will attend Republic Day celebrations on Monday before an EU-India summit on Tuesday, where they hope to shake hands on the accord. Securing a pact, described by India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as “the mother of all deals”, would be a major win for Brussels and New Delhi as both seek to open up new markets in the face of US tariffs and Chinese export controls. But officials have been eager to stress there is more to it...

India on Thursday condemned an alleged act of vandalism at its embassy in Zagreb as Croatia promised to prosecute the offenders. The Indian foreign ministry said that an act of “trespassing and vandalism” at its embassy in the Croatian capital was committed by “anti-India elements” without providing further details of the incident. “We have taken up the matter strongly with Croatian authorities and asked them to hold the perpetrators accountable for their reprehensible and illegal actions,” a ministry statement said. Indian media reported that a video had been posted online, purporting to show Khalistan activists removing the Indian flag and replacing it with the yellow flag representing the Sikh separatist movement. AFP could not verify the video, while police and the embassy did not immediately respond to questions. The Khalistan movement seeks an independent state for the religious minority carved out of Indian territory. The Croatian foreign ministry strongly condemned the incident and added that the inte...

Bangladesh will not travel to India to play in next month’s T20 World Cup, its cricket board said on Thursday, effectively ruling the country out of the tournament. According to ESPN Cricinfo, the decision was announced after a meeting in Dhaka between Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Aminul Islam Bulbul, CEO Nizamuddin, Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul and several national team players. “Our only demand is to play the World Cup – but not in India,” the BCB president told reporters. The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that it would not be making any changes to the World Cup schedule or groups, days after Bangladesh requested that its matches be moved to Sri Lanka after refusing to play in India. “We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka,” the BCB president said. “They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum but a global body can’t really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup (if Bangladesh is axed). It will be their loss…” “Bangladesh is a cricket...