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conflicts in the Indo-Mediterranean. In Afghanistan the Taliban has completely taken over the country and has launched a diplomatic offensive to gain international acceptance. However, they have disenfranchised the female population banning women from working and studying. Female Afghan citizens find themselves locked in their houses, at the mercy of a regime which gives them no rights, not to mention religious minorities who have left the country. It is not much better in Pakistan, Afghan refugees are being deported to the clutches of the Taliban in the middle of a harsh winter, as the world is distracted from the conflicts of the day. Violence against minority Hindu’s, Christians andAhmadiyya’s is on the rise as Pakistan veers from one political crisis to another. Similar horrifying stories are being told after a regime change in Bangladesh recently saw Nobel Laureate Mohamed Yunus replace elected leader Shiekh Hasina in Dhaka. Hindus, Buddhists, Christians are being singled out and targeted, their businesses destroyed, their leaders arrested on trumped up charges. From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, the story repeats itself in Syria where Muslim brotherhood inspired HTS replaced the gruesome Assad regime. Minorities including Kurds, Alawites, Shi’a don’t accept the new regime’s impositions finding themselves dealing with a new government that they fear will be more brutal than the one it replaced. Apart from religious and ethnic minorities it is the vulnerable groups, the women and children that suffer the most from these radical groups seizing power.

Alstom has achieved a key milestone with the delivery of its 500th electric locomotive to Indian Railways, the company said on Tuesday. The company highlighted that all of these locomotives are fully manufactured in India, underscoring a major step in both Alstom’s and India’s Railways' modernisation efforts. The 500th fully India-made Prima T8 WAG12B e-locomotive was delivered from Alstom’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Madhepura, Bihar. The delivery event was attended by key dignitaries, including Mr. Manish Kumar, Chief Administrative Officer of Indian Railways, along with senior officials from Alstom.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a weather update predicting significant changes across various parts of India from March 25 to March 28. The forecast includes thunderstorms, rain, and lightning in several northern states due to the influence of a western disturbance that began on the night of March 24. From March 25 to 27, the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand are expected to experience thunderstorms, rain, and even isolated snowfall. Jammu is likely to see heavy rainfall on March 26, while Kashmir may witness heavy rainfall and snowfall in certain areas. The IMD also warned of the possibility of heavy rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh on March 28 and 29, with snowfall likely in isolated pockets of the region.

Strategic Defense Initiative, was mocked as «Star Wars» and ultimately shelved. Now, under President Donald Trump’s directive, that idea has been reborn as the «Golden Dome.» Announced in a congressional address, Trump positioned the initiative as a critical step in bolstering national security. “As a first step, I’m asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence shield to protect our homeland. All made in the USA,” he declared. Unlike Israel’s Iron Dome, which focuses on short-range threats, the Golden Dome is designed to counter a wide range of missile attacks, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and hypersonic weapons. The challenge? The sheer size of the US means covering the entire country is a vastly more complex undertaking.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said that as on date, reciprocal tariffs have not been applied by the US on India. He said that the government continues to engage with the US to achieve enhancement and broadening of bilateral trade ties in a mutually beneficial and fair manner. “Both countries plan to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement. Both countries would focus on increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, enhancing supply chain integration and resolving bilateral trade issues,” Prasada said. In a separate reply, he said recently, the government has not taken any such steps to lift ban on import of certain prohibited and restricted products from USA, China and UK.

Currently, industries, households and agriculture account for 33 per cent, 28 per cent and 19 per cent of India's total electricity consumption, respectively. Household electricity demand has grown the fastest over the past decade, according to Disha Agarwal, Senior Programme Lead — Renewables at the Delhi-based think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water. The share of household electricity consumption increased from 22 per cent in 2012-13 to 25 per cent in 2022-23. Much of this rise can be attributed to economic growth and the increasing need for cooling due to rising temperatures, experts say.

This increase acknowledges existing central social protection schemes that had not been considered earlier. India has made significant strides in enhancing its social protection coverage through a comprehensive data-pooling exercise led by the Ministry in collaboration with ILO. By utilising encrypted Aadhaar as a unique identifier across 34 major central schemes, such as MGNREGA, EPFO, ESIC, APY, and PM-POSHAN, over 200 crore records were processed to identify unique beneficiaries. According to the release, this exercise revealed that 65% of India's population (92 crore people) is covered by at least one social protection benefit (cash and in-kind both), with 48.8% receiving cash benefits.

Trump said automobile tariffs are coming soon even as he indicated that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks. Potential price hikes, changes in sourcing locations and new U.S. plants are among the actions planned since Trump unveiled the tariffs and threatened potentially more levies. HIGHER PRICES * Best Buy warned of the possibility of higher prices for American shoppers. «The giant wildcard obviously is how the consumers are going to react to the price increases ...,» CFO Matt Bilunas said on a call with analysts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : India is advancing negotiations on a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US—what would typically be called a free trade agreement (FTA)—but a critical gap in Washington’s trade framework threatens to complicate the deal. Unlike past trade agreements, any pact India finalizes could face prolonged scrutiny and potential amendments by US lawmakers, as the country currently lacks Fast Track Trade Authority (FTTA)—a mechanism that allows the US president to negotiate trade deals and present them for a simple up-or-down vote in Congress.

Starlink nears regulatory approval in India for satellite broadband services, analysts say a victory there could pave a road into more emerging markets and boost the company's ambitions to add a million subscribers every year. There are still legal hurdles to overcome, and competition from companies such as Eutelsat and China's SpaceSail, which is entering Brazil, Malaysia and Kazakhstan. SpaceX also argues that U.S. regulations put it at a disadvantage against foreign rivals. But a foothold in India would be a potential $25 billion boon for Starlink, helping it reshape that country's satellite broadband industry and making an attractive case to other developing markets, experts say.

HDFC Bank and IT stocks was offset by losses in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, and M&M. The benchmark BSE Sensex added 32.81 points or 0.04% to close at 78,017.19, while the broader Nifty 50 index closed at 23,668.65, higher by 10.30 points or 0.04%.

«India's GDP will grow 6.5 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, we expect. Our forecast is the same as the outcome for the previous fiscal year, but less than our earlier forecast of 6.7 per cent,» S&P said. The forecast assumes that the upcoming monsoon season will be normal and that commodity- especially crude-- prices will be soft. Cooling food inflation, the tax benefits announced in the country's budget for the fiscal year ending March 2026, and lower borrowing costs will support discretionary consumption in India, S&P said. The global credit rating agency expects central banks in the Asia Pacific region to continue cutting benchmark interest rates through this year.

Godrej Enterprises Group expects sales of its air conditioners to grow 50 per cent in the next fiscal on the back of continued robust demand and its new range of products, including smart ACs, a top company official said on Tuesday. With the early onset of summer, the group expects the overall industry demand for ACs to be strong at around 30-35 per cent growth but not as high as 60 per cent witnessed last year due to a high base, Godrej Enterprises Group, Business Head & EVP, Appliances Business Kamal Nandi told PTI here. The group on Tuesday ramped up its AC portfolio, including a premium range of smart ACs and also announced its foray into the commercial AC segment with Cassette ACs and Tower ACs. «We will be ending this year (FY25), doubling our volumes. We will be closing this year with about 10 per cent market share. This is up from 6.7 lakh to 14 lakh units. We are growing more than 100 per cent against industry growth that will be roughly about 36 per cent,» Nandi said when asked about the group's growth prospects.

India told the UN Security Council that peacekeepers have to contend with the presence of non-state actors, armed groups and terrorists, and in an era of complex conflicts and threats, perpetrators of crimes against peacekeepers must be brought to justice. These remarks were made by India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, during the UN Security Council Open Debate on Advancing Adaptability in UN Peace operations on Monday. «UN Peacekeepers today have to contend with the presence of non-state actors, armed groups, terrorists, as well as transnational criminal networks. Technological advancements have created new challenges in the form of mis-/dis-/mal-information and hate speech, new-age weapons, including drones, IEDs etc. These are but a few new realities that peacekeepers are up against,» he said. «Safety and security of peacekeepers must remain paramount. In an era marked by complex conflicts and asymmetric threats, we must ensure that those who risk their lives for peace are adequately protected and that perpetrators of crimes against peacekeepers are brought to justice,» he said. He stressed that troop/police-contributing countries need to focus on enhancing the capabilities of their personnel to address emerging challenges to operate effectively in hostile environments. «India is willing to curate and offer courses that address specific demands of modern peacekeeping at our Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK), which has been training national and international peacekeepers for over two decades,» he added.

Vietnam, which has now emerged as the fastest-growing tourism destination in Southeast Asia. Now, Vietnam has emerged as the third-most-visited country in the region, with 17.5 million international arrivals in 2024, edging ahead of Singapore. It follows Malaysia, which had 25 million visitors, and Thailand, which remains at the top with 35 million. The numbers also make Vietnam, also referred to as the Land of the Ascending Dragon, the regional leader in tourism recovery. Five years after the Covid-19 pandemic brought global travel to a halt, Vietnam has regained 98% of its pre-pandemic tourism business, outpacing all its neighbours, including Thailand (87.5%) and Singapore (86%). The momentum shows no signs of slowing down. Nearly four million international tourists arrived in Vietnam in January and February this year, a 30.2% increase from the same period last year, according to figures from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Wipro GE Healthcare, the 35-year-old joint venture between GE HealthCare and Wipro Enterprises, has started rolling out its $1 billion investment plan to expand manufacturing in India and boost exports, confident that it can dodge the impact of reciprocal tariffs that the US may impose on India’s medtech industry. The company expects to make about 70% of its products for the Indian market locally by 2030, a top executive said, compared with 40-45% currently.

As competition grows, and ahead of the launch of its new Model Y mid-size SUV, Elon Musk's battery-electric (BEV) brand has sold 42.6% fewer cars in Europe so far this year, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed. Tesla commanded 1.8% of the total market and 10.3% of the BEV market in February, down from 2.8% and 21.6% last year respectively. It sold fewer than 17,000 cars in the European Union, Britain and European Free Trade Association countries, compared to over 28,000 in the same month in 2024. Tesla currently faces a number of challenges in Europe. The EV maker has a smaller, ageing lineup while traditional automaker rivals and new Chinese entrants alike continue to launch new, often cheaper electric models.

Singapore on Tuesday signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC), with a focus on digitalisation and decarbonisation. The Singapore-India GDSC, when established, will enhance collaboration from both countries and help accelerate the development and uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emission technologies and the adoption of digital solutions, a joint release from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and Ministry of Ports, Shipping said. The minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said his visit to Singapore with a high-level marine sector delegation will strengthen the long-standing relationship. Moreover, the «Comprehensive Strategic Partnership» will deepen and broaden cooperation between the two countries, he noted.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. PARIS—Two weeks after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron descended 20 stories beneath Paris to send a message to Moscow. He entered France’s nuclear bunker deep under his regal presidential palace to lead an exercise dubbed Poker.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MANY KNOW the mortification of sending the wrong text message to the wrong person. But when the fat thumb is that of America’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, the message is a detailed military plan to bomb Yemen and the recipient is a prominent journalist, the error is not just a cause of shame but potentially a serious breach of national security.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. US President Donald Trump has sent yet another signal that he has no qualms deploying tariffs as a geopolitical weapon. As reported, he has now said the US would levy a 25% tariff on all imports from any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela, a country that has been under US sanctions but whose finances he evidently wants to squeeze harder.