India | Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility on Saturday, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Tech­n­o­logy’s Semiconductor Assembly, Test and Packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his official YouTube channel. The plant will convert advanced semiconductor wafers from Micron’s global network into finished memory and storage products. India’s semiconductor market has expanded from $38 billion in 2023 to an estimated $45-50bn in 2024-25, with government targets of up to $110bn by 2030. New Delhi is currently developing 10 chip projects worth more than $18bn , including two cutting-edge 3-nanometre des­ign fac...

India revived their T20 World Cup campaign with their “fearless” brand of cricket ahead of a winner-takes-all decider against the West Indies for the last semi-final berth. Hot favourites to defend their title on home soil, India thrashed Zimbabwe by 72 runs in Chennai on Thursday to bounce back from their heavy defeat against South Africa in their Super Eights opener. India’s batting, led by opener Abhishek Sharma’s blistering 55 and an unbeaten 50 by Hardik Pandya, piled up 256-4, the second-highest total in the history of the tournament. In a brutal show of power hitting, the Indian batters demolished the opposition bowling with 17 sixes and 17 fours at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. India face the West Indies, who went down to South Africa by nine wickets, in Kolkata on Sunday to decide the second semi-finalist from Group 1. “We want to play fearless cricket, the brand of cricket we played today and we played since last year,” batter Tilak Varma said. “The same intent we want to keep in the next game as we...

Defending champions India thrashed Zimbabwe by 72 runs in their Super Eights T20 World Cup match on Thursday, a result that guaranteed South Africa a place in the semi-finals. India posted a mammoth 256-4 and then restricted Zimbabwe to 184-6 in Chennai to make their clash with West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday a winner-takes-all decider for the last semi-final berth. South Africa hammered the West Indies by nine wickets earlier in Ahmedabad. At Chennai’s MA Chidambaram stadium, opener Abhishek Sharma blasted 55 and Hardik Pandya an unbeaten 50 as India piled up the second highest total in the history of the tournament after being invited to bat first. “I think we wanted to leave everything behind. We didn’t think too much about what we did in the league stage or in the last game in Ahmedabad,” said India captain Suryakumar Yadav. “With contributions from the top order right down to number seven, I think there was hardly anything missing in our performance. He said they had not thought about what is now a knoc...

India will soon give final shape to a mutually beneficial free trade agreement with Israel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. The two countries will also pursue joint development, production, and transfer of technology in defence, Modi said at the end of his two-day trip aimed at strengthening ties with Israel. Modi said Tel Aviv and New Delhi agreed there was “no place for terrorism in the world”. “India and Israel are clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world, in any form… We will oppose it shoulder to shoulder. We will always oppose it in the future,” Modi said at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. “Humanity must never become a victim of conflict,” he added. Following their meeting, Netanyahu’s office said the “two leaders will sign a series of agreements between Israel and India in economic, security, and diplomatic fields”. Separately, Modi said he and Israeli President Isaac Herzog held “extremely fruitful and wide-ranging” t...

Pakistan on Thursday accused India of involvement in terrorism inside its territory and alleged that New Delhi is engaged in anti-Pakistan propaganda, while also warning that recent Israeli actions pose a serious threat to regional peace.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told lawmakers in Jerusalem on Wednesday that India stands “firmly” with Israel following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. Modi also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a two-day visit aimed at deepening trade and defence ties that has drawn criticism at home. “I … carry with me the deepest condolences of the people of India for every life lost and for every family whose world was shattered in the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7,” Modi said in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. “We feel your pain, we share your grief. India stands with Israel firmly with full conviction in this moment and beyond.” In his speech, Modi did not explicitly mention the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the more than two-year-long Israeli onslaught. But he said that India “supports all efforts that contribute to durable peace and regional stability”. Modi also told Israeli lawmakers that his country’s economic growth and Israel’s leadership...

The Israeli opposition has planned to boycott the address of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Knesset during his visit to the country, top Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday. The Indian prime minister will visit Israel from February 25 to 26, India’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday. It will be Modi’s second visit to Israel. According to the report, the opposition — led by Yair Lapid — is in a “standoff” with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana due to his decision not to invite the Israeli Supreme Court President Isaac Amit to attend a special session of the parliament “as is customary”. The report said that Lapid on Monday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure Amit’s invitation. According to Haaretz, Lapid, in a post on X, said: “We want to be in the session, we need to be in the session. Prime Minister Netanyahu must instruct Ohana to allow us to participate in the session.” As per the report, Lapid, while speaking in the Knesset last week, warned that “boycotting Justice Amit is...

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks about a plan to ally with India and other countries to counter Muslim nations. The resolution moved in the House by PPP’s Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan deplored the continued provocative steps and statements by the Israeli leadership that threatened the regional and international peace and stability, including the latest statement about forming “alliances” against Muslim nations. Addressing a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country “will create an entire system — essentially a kind of hexagon of alliances — around or within the Middle East”, Times of Israel reported. Netanyahu listed India, Greece, Cyprus, and “unnamed Arab, African and Asian countries”, the report added. “The intention here is to create an axis of countries that see reality, the challenges, and the goals in the same way, in contrast to the radical axes,” he was quoted as saying. “B...

Defending T20 World Cup champions India need “two big performances” to reach the semi-finals after Sunday’s huge defeat to South Africa, said their assistant coach. India came into the T20 World Cup as hot favourites on home soil but were thrashed by 76 runs in the Super Eights as 80,000 fans at the massive Narendra Modi stadium were stunned into silence. In their first chase of the tournament, India’s batting came up woefully short in the face of some disciplined South Africa bowling. India collapsed to 111 all out in 18.5 overs in response to South Africa’s 187-7 as their 12-match win streak in the T20 World Cup came to a crashing end. The magnitude of the defeat has left India with a desperate net run-rate of -3.8 and likely needing to win their last two Super Eight matches convincingly to make it to the semi-finals. Anything less and India will need to rely on a combination of other results going their way. “Very disappointed in the performance,” said Ryan ten Doeschate. “When you set out to win a World C...

South Africa ended India’s 12-match winning streak at the T20 World Cup with a crushing 76-run win in Ahmedabad on Sunday in the opening Group 1 Super Eights match. After a counter-attacking 63 by David Miller and some late hitting from Tristan Stubbs took South Africa to 187-7, the defending champions were all out for 111 in 18.5 overs, failing badly in their first chase of the tournament. Left-arm quick Marco Jansen finished with 4-22, while left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj took 3-24 as the South African bowlers exposed India’s fragile batting line-up. “Great performance. Very different type of wicket to what we’ve had here, so great to see the boys assess that pretty early and adapt their skills to execute their plans,” said South Africa captain Aiden Markram. “We’re really pumped for the bowling group. They’ve been working hard, started the comp a bit tough, but the way they rocked up tonight was a great effort.” Hot favourites to defend their crown on home soil, India will need to win their two remaining ...

India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after talks in New Delhi with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “The agreement on critical minerals and rare earths [is] a major step towards building resilient supply chains,” Modi said. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of critical minerals, which are used in everything from electric vehicles, solar panels and smartphones to jet engines and guided missiles. India, seeking to cut its dependence on top exporter China, has been expanding domestic production and recycling while scouting for new suppliers. “Increasing investments and cooperation in matters of renewable energies and critical minerals is at the core of the pioneering agreement that we have signed today,” Lula said. The details of the deal were not immediately available. Nine other agreements and memoranda of understanding were finalised on Saturday, the foreign ministry’s spokesman said, touchin...

The United States is in “active negotiation” over the sale of Venezuelan oil to India, to help India diversify its sources of crude oil, US Envoy Sergio Gor said on Friday. The US has made diversification away from Russian crude a condition for cutting tariffs on goods imported from India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer. “The Department of Energy is speaking to the Ministry of Energy here, and so we’re hoping to have some news of that very soon,” Gor told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi where India joined the US-led Pax Silica initiative aimed at building a silicon supply chain for high-tech products. US President Donald Trump this month agreed to cut tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent under an interim trade deal. He also removed a 25pc punitive levy after India agreed to end the purchase of Russian oil, which the US said helps fund Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said India would buy more oil from the US and potentially Venezuela. A final trade deal with India wi...

France and India are entering a new era of defence cooperation with plans to jointly produce Rafale fighter jets as well as helicopters, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, adding France also hopes to sell more submarines to India. India’s expected order for another 114 Rafales is a “new step forward” in defence ties between the two countries and France hopes to see this replicated with submarines as well, Macron told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to India. “On Rafale, what we want to do is expand. India confirmed a few days ago its willingness to command a new bunch of Rafales … 114 … and to co-produce in India,” Macron said. The Defence Acquisition Council of India’s defence ministry last week gave initial clearance to acquire 114 more Rafale jets for the air force, besides other planes and missiles, months after the worst fighting in decades between India and Pakistan. So far, India has purchased 36 Rafales for its air force and ordered another 26 marine versions of the jet for t...

Bill Gates pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote address on Thursday, dealing another blow to a flagship event already marred by organisational lapses, a robot row and complaints of traffic chaos. Gates’ absence, followed by another high-profile cancellation by Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, adds to a difficult opening for a summit billed as the first major artificial intelligence forum in the Global South, where India has sought to position itself as a leading voice in worldwide AI governance. The Gates Foundation said the billionaire will not deliver his address “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities”. Only days ago, the foundation had dismissed rumours of his absence and insisted he was on track to attend. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for children’s safety on AI platforms as he addressed the gathering on Thursday, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. “We must be ...

An Indian university has been asked to vacate its stall at the country’s flagship artificial intelligence (AI) summit after a staff member was caught presenting a commercially available robotic dog made in China as its own creation, two government sources said. “You need to meet Orion. This has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University,” Neha Singh, a professor of communications, told state-run broadcaster DD News this week in remarks that have since gone viral. But social media users quickly identified the robot as the Unitree Go2, sold by China’s Unitree Robotics for about $2,800 and widely used in research and education globally. The episode has drawn sharp criticism and has cast an uncomfortable spotlight on India’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The embarrassment was amplified by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who shared the video clip on his official social media account before the backlash. The post was later deleted. The stall remained open to visitors as of Wednesday morni...

Google will build new subsea cables from its planned artificial intelligence (AI) hub in India and other locations, the US company announced on Wednesday, as New Delhi hosts a major artificial intelligence summit. Global tech giants are racing to unveil deals and investments in the country this week, as world leaders and top industry figures gather to discuss the opportunities and challenges that AI poses. Google’s announcement follows its October commitment to spend $15 billion over five years to construct its largest AI infrastructure hub outside the United States, in Visakhapatnam, an Indian port city in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, also known as Vizag. The US giant said it would build “three subsea paths connecting India to Singapore, South Africa, and Australia”. It will also create “four strategic fiber-optic routes that bolster network resilience and capacity between the United States, India, and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere”. These would include a direct cable connect...

Indian cricket greats Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev joined a dozen other former international captains on Tuesday in demanding better prison treatment for “one of the finest all-rounders” of the game, former prime minister Imran Khan. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran, 73, has been in jail since August 2023, convicted in a string of cases that he says were politically driven following his ouster in a 2022 parliamentary vote. Imran’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the Supreme Court last week that the former premier had lost a significant amount of vision in his right eye while in custody. On Monday, a medical board said the swelling had reduced after treatment, and his vision had improved. On Tuesday, former India captains Gavaskar and Kapil signed a petition expressing “deep concern” about Imran’s treatment and prison conditions. Former Australia captain Greg Chappell, his brother Ian Chappell and compatriots Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Belinda Clark and Kim Hughes have signed the petition. England’s Mike Atherton...

LAHORE: A Pakistani national was repatriated to his home country from India on Tuesday after spending 17 years in jail on charges of spying. “Muhammad Shahid Iqbal Bhatti, a Pakistani citizen imprisoned in India, was repatriated to Pakistan via the Wagah-Attari border today,” Pakistan’s High Commission in India said in a post on X. Separately, an official told Dawn that Bhatti was a resident of Kasur and was handed a 17-year sentence by an Indian court after he was accused of spying for Pakistan. Quoting Indian media reports, he said Bhatti was arrested in August 2008 by police in Indian Punjab. While in custody, he was interrogated for living in India allegedly without legal documents, the official said, adding that the then-chief manager of the State Bank of India had filed a complaint against him in November 2008. “Subsequently, Bhatti was sentenced by a court and sent to jail on charges of spying. He spent nearly 17 years of his life in prison,” the official said. He further said that as Bhatti’s prison t...

Spinner Usman Tariq said on Tuesday he was confident that Pakistan can bounce back from their T20 World Cup drubbing against India and seal qualification for the next round. India’s 61-run romp means Pakistan must beat Namibia in their final match in Colombo on Wednesday to qualify for the Super Eights. A defeat would eliminate Pakistan, who are third behind the USA on net run rate in Group A. It would also leave an outside chance for the Netherlands to qualify, but they would need a big win over co-hosts India in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. “Lifting the team is only difficult when you don’t work on your mistakes committed in the last game,” Tariq told reporters. “We have worked on our mistakes, so I think it will not be a tough task. “We have a resolve not to commit the same mistakes again.” Pakistan were criticised for asking India to bat then folding meekly for 114 in 18 overs chasing a stiff 176 target. “We can feel their (fans’) disappointment because the match is watched by the whole nation,” Tariq said. “S...

French President Emmanuel Macron begins a three-day visit to India on Tuesday, with talks focused on artificial intelligence cooperation and a potential multibillion-dollar Dassault Rafale fighter jet deal. France is seeking to expand its military partnership with New Delhi, with discussions expected on a potential contract for 114 additional French fighter jets. Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived around midnight on Monday in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, for his fourth visit to India since taking office in 2017. He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Tuesday. Macron will then travel to New Delhi for an artificial intelligence summit on Wednesday and Thursday. The visit follows New Delhi’s confirmation last week that it intends to place a major order for Rafale jets, as well as the signing of a landmark free trade agreement between India and the European Union in January. ‘Contract of the century’ New Delhi has sought over the past decade to reduce its dependence on Russia, its t...