Britain and India clinch major trade deal
Britain and India clinched a long-coveted free trade pact on Tuesday after tariff turmoil sparked by United States President Donald Trump forced the two sides to hasten efforts to increase their trade in whiskey, cars and food.
The deal, between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies, has been concluded after three years of stop-start negotiations and aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds by 2040.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the trade deal was “ambitious and mutually beneficial”. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the strengthened alliance would reduce trade barriers in a “new era for trade”.
India to retain share of water it once sent outside the country
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that water that previously was being sent outside the country would now be retained for internal use, days after New Delhi suspended a water-sharing pact with Pakistan.
“Earlier, water belonging to India was also going outside. Now India’s water will flow in its share... and be utilised for India itself,” Mr Modi said while speaking at an event in New Delhi.
Last month, India suspended a 1960 water-sharing pact that ensured supply to 80 per cent of Pakistani farms following a terrorist attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 tourists.
15 extremists killed in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district
More than 15 Maoist rebels were killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday in the forests of Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district bordering Telangana where a massive counter-insurgency operation is underway, a senior police official said.
The gunfight broke out in the morning in Karregutta forest.
Operation Sankalp, one of the biggest counter-insurgency actions launched in the Bastar region, involves around 24,000 security personnel.
Samsung fights US$520 million tax demand, points to Reliance practice
Samsung has asked an Indian tribunal to quash a US$520 million ($673 million) tax demand for allegedly misclassifying imports of networking gear, arguing officials were aware of the practice as India’s Reliance imported the same component similarly for years, Reuters reported.
Samsung becomes the second major foreign company in recent months to challenge an Indian tax demand.
Volkswagen has sued the Indian government in court for a record demand of US$1.4 billion for misclassifying its component imports.
Panel to review copyright law amid legal challenges to OpenAI
The Indian government has set up a panel to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, an official memo showed, at a time when OpenAI faces legal challenges stemming from accusations of exploiting copyrighted material.
A case in the Delhi High Court by a group of top Indian news outlets and book publishers who say the firm uses their content without permission to help train its ChatGPT chatbot could reshape how the sector operates in India, reported Reuters. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing.
The memo, which is not public according to Reuters, said the commerce ministry set up a panel of eight experts last month to examine issues related to AI and their implications for India’s copyright law.
Trump’s movie tariff threat alarms Bollywood
India’s film industry, which earns roughly 40 per cent of its overseas revenue from the United States, sounded the alarm this week about higher costs after President Donald Trump threatened a tariff of 100 per cent on all movies produced beyond American soil.
Filmmakers, producers and distributors in one of the world’s largest film industries by output struggled to weigh the likely impact of such a tariff as Mr Trump provided scant details, stirring more questions than answers.
“The real question is how the term ‘foreign produced’ will be defined, and until that’s clear, it’s hard to say anything,” said filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, known for his Netflix streaming series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.
Mars, Venus on India’s radar for space exploration missions
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that India was marching ahead with renewed confidence in the field of space exploration and its astronauts’ footprints will be on the Moon.
Mars and Venus were also on the country’s radar for exploration missions, he stressed in a pre-recorded message for the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX-2025) in New Delhi.
PM Modi said for India, space was about exploration as well as empowerment, and listed out plans to set up the Bharatiya Anatariksh Station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the Moon by 2040.
Rohit quits Test cricket, to continue in one-day format
One of India’s greatest batters ever, Rohit Sharma, 38, has announced his retirement from Test cricket.
“Hello everyone, I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites,” Rohit said in an Instagram post. “Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format.”
This move comes ahead of the Indian team’s tour to England in July and amid reports that he would be stripped of his captaincy following his poor form in the last tour to Australia.
Messi’s Kerala visit appears uncertain over funding
The much-anticipated visit of the Argentina football team, including star player Lionel Messi, to Kerala appears uncertain over failure to mobilise funds.
The New Indian Express reported that the team will instead play friendly matches in China, Angola and Qatar in October and November this year.
Kerala’s proposal, revealed last November by Minister for Sports V.Abdurahiman, aimed to bring the reigning world champions to play two international friendlies in Kerala.
