Indian | Pakistan

A speedboat carrying Indian tourists capsized off southern Vietnam’s Phu Quoc island on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, state media reported. The boat was carrying 36 people when it overturned around 400 metres off May Rut Ngoai islet, according to the VNExpress website. Multiple tourist and coast guard boats participated in a rescue effort during which some people were plucked safely from the water. The Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted local police as saying 21 people had been transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, two of whom were in critical condition. India’s embassy in Vietnam confirmed the capsized boat had been carrying “several Indian tourists” but said that “exact details of the incident are being ascertained”. Nguyen Tien Hai, a provincial official of the ruling Communist Party, said authorities were still confirming the exact number of survivors, according to the state media report. Hai said initial assessments suggested that the speedboat may have overturned due to heavy winds and high ...

Says he ​directed the operation from an Indian jail cell using smuggled cellphones

India will supply BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and Astra air-to-air missiles to Indonesia, an Indian government official said on Tuesday, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started a two-day visit to Jakarta. Indian sources earlier told Reuters that the deal, worth around $630 million, would likely be signed during Modi’s visit. Indonesia would be the third country to sign an agreement to buy the missiles, which are manufactured by BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. The deal would mark a major expansion of India’s defence exports and deepen strategic ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy at a time of growing competition with China for influence in the Indo-Pacific. BrahMos missiles, jointly developed by India and Russia, are among the world’s fastest cruise missiles and can be launched from land, sea and air platforms. The Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles can be integrated on Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets in the Indonesian Air Force. The Indian government did not respond to earl...

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Information Department Secretary Muhammad Rashid Hanif claimed on Monday that state institutions had evidence of Indian funding behind the banned Joint Awami Action Committee’s (JAAC) “agenda” in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad, the information secretary said that state institutions had credible information about foreign funding behind ongoing activities in AJK. “The institutions have evidence of the use of Indian funding to mobilise overseas Kashmiris, such as UK-based Amjad Ayub Mirza, to advance an anti-Pakistan agenda,” Hanif said. He urged the people of AJK to dismiss the “baseless disinformation campaign on social media” and participate in the “due political process to restore peace and order in the region”. The information secretary elaborated that for the past month, members of the proscribed organisation had carried out multiple “illegal and violent” activities under the guise of human rights advocacy. “This apparent human rights movement h...

India’s Adani Group and Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC) are looking to invest $11.5 billion in a massive aluminum project in the eastern state of Odisha, the Indian conglomerate said on Thursday. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding with the Odisha state government, Adani said in a statement, with the proposed investment set to be India’s “largest foreign direct investment in the metallurgy sector”. The statement said the Odisha project will see Adani Enterprises Limited and an IHC subsidiary form a 50/50 joint venture. The project itself will consist of a refinery that can produce four million metric tonnes of aluminium per year, a smaller-capacity aluminum smelter and a 4,000-megawatt captive power plant. The project is expected to create 53,500 jobs, with 35,000 during ​construction and another 18,500 once operations begin, an official said ​at ⁠the MoU signing ceremony. Odisha, home to some of India’s ​largest bauxite reserves ​used to produce ⁠aluminum, accounts for 54 per...

India urged Pakistan on Wednesday to release and repatriate 97 Pakistani prisoners who have completed their sentences, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO). These prisoners include 64 civilians and 33 fishermen, the FO said, as it detailed the exchange of prisoner lists between India and Pakistan — a biannual practice that takes place in pursuance of the Agreement on Consular Access, 2008. The agreement requires both sides to share the lists of prisoners in each other’s custody on January 1 and July 1 every year. The FO said the “government of Pakistan handed over a list of 250 Indian prisoners in Pakistan (52 civilians and 198 fishermen) to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad”. It added that the Indian government shared a list of 439 prisoners who were “Pakistani or believed to be Pakistani”, including 386 civilian prisoners and 53 fishermen. It added that India was also urged to ensure the safety, security and well-being of all prisoners who were Pakistani or believed to be Pakista...

India’s opposition party Congress has demanded the resignation of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and stepped up criticism against him for “lying” in parliament about the deaths of Indian soldiers during the May 2025 conflict with Pakistan, according to Indian media. The criticism comes days after the Indian government on June 26 disclosed the names of six armed forces personnel who died during the military conflict, dubbed “Operation Sindoor” by New Delhi. The names were included in the Roll of Honour on the National War Memorial website, marking the first official disclosure of military casualties from the period, The Hindu noted. Subsequently, on Monday, chairperson of the Congress’s Ex-servicemen Department Col. (retd) Rohit Chaudhry and Wing Commander (retd) Anuma Acharya slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for concealing the deaths of the six personnel, The Hindu reported. In a press conference, Chaudhry demanded that Singh be removed from his position and that Modi and his party lawmakers ...

Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah said on Tuesday that he had written to his Indian counterpart regarding fluctuations in the flow of the Chenab River four times since last April — when New Delhi unilaterally decided to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance — but there had been no response thus far. Speaking at a seminar held in Islamabad to highlight the legal and constitutional framework of the IWT, he said he last wrote to his Indian counterpart last night over “significant fluctuations” in the flow of the River Chenab. The IWT allocates the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — to India, while the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — are largely allocated to Pakistan. The 1960 water-sharing agreement has also established mechanisms for data-sharing and dispute resolution. The Indus Waters commissioner said the fluctuation in the Chenab was not a “technical inconvenience, but rather a strategic hazard”. “There is no brainer in understanding that data-sharing i...

Sensitive lists of components and suppliers, and photos of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models are part of files posted on the dark web by the ransomware group that stole data from the US firm’s Indian supplier Tata Electronics, according to documents and a source. The exposure threatens the carefully negotiated business of building the iPhone, which Apple assembles from a thicket of suppliers worldwide. It could also upset Apple and its relationship with Tata given most of the supplier arrangements are fiercely protected by Apple, and could also hand rivals, counterfeiters and its own vendors a view of who makes what. Tata, which both supplies parts and assembles iPhones as a contract manufacturer, is emerging as one of Apple’s most important manufacturing partners outside China, an expansion that is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to make India an electronics manufacturing powerhouse. Apple is reportedly on track to release its iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in September. The leak comes at...

Indian police have arrested eight people over allegations of theft and misappropriation of offerings at a temple that has been at the centre of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-first politics, authorities said. The Ram Mandir temple in northern Uttar Pradesh state, built on grounds where a mosque stood for centuries before being torn down by Hindu zealots, was inaugurated in 2024 with great fanfare by Modi himself. Allegations regarding irregularities in the handling of donations led to a criminal case being registered on Thursday, with police arresting eight people, including temple employees, according to a government statement issued late on Thursday. Most of them were involved in counting or handling cash and valuables donated by devotees, including gold and silver, media reports said. The government has not disclosed the scale of the alleged embezzlement. Opposition parties and media reports say it could amount to more than $20 million. “It is so shameful that a shrine of such supreme importance is b...

A key road named after US President Donald Trump in India’s opposition-ruled tech hub of Hyderabad has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, which dismissed the move as “hypocrisy”. US-India ties have deteriorated during Trump’s second term, with Washington imposing high tariffs on Indian goods, punishing New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, and engaging closely with India’s arch-rival Pakistan. The road in the capital of the southern state of Telangana, ruled by the main opposition Congress party, adjoins the US consulate and is near the offices of major American tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. The road received its new name, Donald Trump Avenue, on Tuesday, at a time when Congress has been accusing Modi of being “compromised” by not taking on Trump on issues from the tariffs to US attacks on Indian-crewed tankers during the Iran war. “Rahul Gandhi says President Trump [is] hurting Indian interests,” Shehzad Poonawalla, a spokesperson of Modi’s Bharatiya Jan...

Meta has tapped Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah as the new head of WhatsApp, as the US tech giant seeks ways to monetise the messaging app’s massive user base. The announcement, made Monday night, was accompanied by news that Meta would also lead a $900 million funding round in Shah’s consumer finance firm CRED. “Kunal built CRED into one of India’s most important technology companies,” Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “He brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world’s biggest messaging app.” Shah, a serial entrepreneur and influential figure in India’s fintech world, started CRED in 2018 after selling an earlier payments startup to Indian e-commerce giant Snapdeal for roughly $400 million. He is also one of India’s most prolific angel investors, according to data tracker Tracxn, with the local financial press often reporting how Shah agrees to seed funding pitches within minutes of hearing them. But over the last few years, Shah ha...

Pakistani and Indian nationals were among 13 killed after an explosion at Qatar’s massive Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex, attributed to a “technical malfunction”, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Saad al-Kaabi said on Monday. Authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion, which Saad al-Kaabi said was “an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature”. He announced “the tragic loss of 13 lives of our people who hold Indian and Pakistani nationalities”. The state minister said that 66 people were reported injured and were receiving medical treatment, none of whom were in life-threatening condition. They hold Qatari, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Kenyan, Ghanian, Tanzanian, Nigerian and Nepalese nationalities, he added. India’s embassy in Qatar said local authorities had confirmed “that 12 Indian nationals have unfortunately passed away in the Ras Laffan incident”. The embassy said it was working in close contact with the Qatari authorities to extend “all possible help to the In...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has extended its airspace ban on Indian civilian and military aircraft for another month, until July 24, 2026, according to a Notice to Airmen (Notam) issued by the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Wednesday. The previous extension of the airspace ban was set to expire on June 24. “Pakistan has extended the air ban on Indian-registered aircraft till the morning of July 24,” the PAA Notam said. “The ban on Indian aircraft (both civil and military) will remain in effect from 5:50pm on June 16 to 4:59am on July 24,” the Notam added. The country’s airspace is divided into two flight information regions (FIRs) — Karachi and Lahore, according to a Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) document from 2022. The Notam applies to both the Karachi (OPKR) and Lahore (OPLR) FIRs. India and Pakistan closed their airspaces to each other’s airlines since late April 2025, when tensions between them escalated in the wake of a deadly attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. On April 24, Pakistan’s...

Pakistan has extended its ban on Indian civilian and military aircraft from using its airspace for another month, until July 24, according to a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Wednesday.

Fifteen-year-old cricket sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blew his fuse in an India A game in Sri Lanka and pushed an opposition player after a heated on-field exchange. The spotlight has been on Sooryavanshi since his batting heroics in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) won him a place in India’s senior men’s team for their T20 tour of Ireland and England. But he made headlines for all the wrong reasons after he and a Sri Lanka A player confronted each other, following India’s narrow defeat in a Super Over in Dambulla on Monday. Sri Lanka’s Vishen Halambage exchanged words with departing Indian batters before Sooryavanshi responded and shoved him, according to Indian media and broadcast footage. Sri Lanka A wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella stepped in to calm tempers and separated the two players. The teams exchanged handshakes, but TV images showed Sooryavanshi visibly upset. The left-handed opener capped off a stunning IPL 2026 season for Rajasthan Royals, where he amassed 776 runs to finish as the tourna...

The Foreign Office on Thursday warned that any deliberate attempt to block water essential to Pakistan’s survival and development would have “far-reaching consequences”. “Any such act would be treated with utmost seriousness and could possibly amount to an act of war under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” said FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi during a weekly media briefing while responding to a question about recent remarks by Indian water minister. A day ago, Indian Minister of Water CR Patil told India’s ANI news agency that “not a single drop of water will go [to Pakistan] in the coming years”. Patil said that India was “actively working on it” after “directives” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Taking note of the remarks, Andrabi said that “any attempt to block or substantially curtail water that is vital to the livelihood, agriculture and well being of over 25o million Pakistanis would be a deeply irresponsible act”. He added it would violate established international obligations “concerning transboundary r...

India and the United States are “about 99 per cent” done with the first tranche of a trade deal, the commerce minister said, as a US delegation began talks in New Delhi on Tuesday. The delegation, led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, is holding three days of talks with Indian trade officials, as the two sides seek to close negotiations. “About 99 per cent of the issues have been settled,” Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal told reporters in Delhi late on Monday. The two countries reached an initial understanding for the trade deal in February, but negotiations slowed after President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff measures were struck down by the US Supreme Court. After the court order, the Trump administration launched investigations into unfair trade practices against several countries, including India, while imposing a blanket 10pc tariff. Goyal said negotiators were examining how recent legal changes in the United States should be reflected in the final text...

A ban on Indian civilian and military aircraft using Pakistani airspace has been extended for another month, until June 24, according to a Notice to Airmen (Notam) issued by the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Tuesday. The previous extension was set to expire on May 24. The ban extension took effect on May 19 at 10:40am and the restriction was extended until 4:59am on June 24, according to the Notam. “Pakistan airspace not available for Indian registered aircraft and aircraft operated/owned or leased by Indian airlines/operators, including military flights,” the Notam, available with Dawn, read. Pakistan’s airspace is divided into two flight information regions (FIRs) — Karachi and Lahore, according to a Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) document from 2022. The Notam applies to both the Karachi (OPKR) and Lahore (OPLR) FIRs. India and Pakistan closed their airspaces to each other’s airlines since late April 2025, when tensions between them escalated in the wake of a deadly attack in Indian-occupie...

The Pakistan Airports Authority has extended restrictions on Indian aircraft using Pakistani airspace until June 23, 2026, through a newly issued Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) released on Tuesday.