Category Archives: India

India, US and Saudi Arabia in talks on rail and ports deal linking Gulf and south Asia

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Talks include Europe and UAE as Joe Biden flies to Delhi with aim of rivalling China’s Belt and Road

The US, Saudi Arabia, India and other nations are discussing a possible infrastructure deal that could reconfigure trade between the Gulf and south Asia, linking Middle Eastern countries by railways and connecting to India by port, according to US officials aware of the conversations.

The talks, which have also included the United Arab Emirates and Europe, may or may not yield a concrete result in time for an announcement on the sidelines of this week’s G20 leaders’ meeting, the officials said.

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UK decides not to call for release of Briton held in India on terror charges

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Public demand for Jagtar Singh Johal to be set free is ‘not in his best interests’, says Asia minister

The UK government has decided not to call for the release of a British man held in an Indian jail for five years, saying it would not be in his best interests.

There have been repeated calls for Britain to do more to secure the release of Jagtar Singh Johal, who claims to have been tortured and forced to make a confession. He faces terrorism charges and the first stages of his trial have just started after repeated delays caused by disputes over evidence.

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Rishi Sunak to urge Narendra Modi to take stronger stance on Russia

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Two prime ministers to meet before G20 summit as India continues to import Russian oil and weapons

Rishi Sunak will use a meeting with Narendra Modi in Delhi to push the Indian prime minister to take a tougher stance towards Russia, Downing Street has said.

The two prime ministers will meet this weekend before the G20 summit in the Indian capital, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be discussed in front of the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, told Modi a week ago he would not attend.

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Rishi Sunak ready to discuss corporate visas deal with India, No 10 suggests

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PM travels to Delhi for G20 summit this weekend and is likely to discuss trade agreement with Narendra Modi

Rishi Sunak is willing to discuss corporate visas as part of a trade negotiation with India, Downing Street officials have indicated, as he flies to Delhi this weekend hoping to lay the groundwork for an agreement later this year.

Sunak lands in Delhi on Friday for the weekend’s G20 summit of world leaders, but will begin his trip with a key meeting with Narendra Modi at which officials say the two prime ministers are likely to discuss the sensitive subject of the prospective trade deal.

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G20: battle for influence as US seeks to rival China in the global south

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There will be pressure on rich countries to fulfil a commitment to provide climate finance to poorer nations

The run-up to this weekend’s G20 summit in Delhi has largely been dominated by two issues: the host’s efforts to project India as a superpower; and the intriguing decision of Xi Jinping not to attend. The substance of what world leaders will discuss during their two days together has struggled to surface.

Yet this year’s G20 – the 24th since the format was inaugurated in 1999 – is potentially a make or break moment for the organisation that includes the world’s 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union as a bloc. With one part of the world increasingly gathering in the now expanded Brics format where China has a leading role, and the west comfortable with its annual G7 summitry, the G20 is the best remaining hope of keeping the principle of multilateralism alive. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, spoke on Thursday of a real risk of fragmentation of the world order, while his own organisation is paralysed by the war in Ukraine.

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Bharat G20 invitation fuels rumours India may change name

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World leaders attending summit in New Delhi at weekend asked to dinner with ‘president of Bharat’

India was buzzing with speculation over rumoured plans to scrap official use of the country’s English name, after a state-issued invitation to the G20 summit referred to it as Bharat.

The government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been working to remove lingering symbols of British rule from India’s urban landscape, political institutions and history books, but this could be the biggest move yet.

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A UK trade deal with India was promised by last October. Why is it still not ready?

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Successive prime ministers have failed to achieve what they see as one of the great dividends offered by Brexit

Liz Truss bowled into Downing Street last summer with a promise to rip up much of what her predecessor Boris Johnson had done. However, one goal remained: she insisted, as Johnson had done, she could deliver a free trade deal with India by Diwali in October.

Whitehall officials were dismayed, therefore, when they received the latest set of demands from Indian negotiators. It was not that New Delhi was asking too much, rather they were not saying what they were asking at all.

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Rishi Sunak rules out quick-fix trade deal with India

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Exclusive: Sources believe deal will not be struck before meeting with Narendra Modi at G20 summit

Rishi Sunak has ruled out a quick-fix trade deal with India, making it impossible to get an agreement over the line in time for this week’s G20 summit in Delhi – and possibly even by next year’s elections.

Multiple sources close to the negotiations told the Guardian the prime minister has rejected the idea of an “early harvest” deal, which could have lowered tariffs on goods such as whisky but would not have dealt with trickier subjects such as professional services.

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India launches space mission to the sun a week after moon landing

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Aditya-L1 is to observe sun’s outermost layers and will be first vessel by any Asian nation to be placed in orbit around sun

The latest mission in India’s ambitious space program has blasted off on a voyage towards the centre of the solar system, a week after the country’s successful unmanned moon landing.

Aditya-L1 launched shortly before midday, with a live broadcast showing hundreds of spectators cheering wildly against the deafening noise of the rocket’s ascent.

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Cutouts of menacing langurs employed to deter rhesus monkeys ahead of G20 in Delhi

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New Delhi municipal council has also deployed ‘30 to 40 people’ to make monkey sounds to create the impression that the animals are alive

Lifesize cutouts of langurs have sprung up in several parts of New Delhi over the last few days as officials look to prevent the smaller rhesus monkeys from disrupting the G20 summit that will take place next week.

Rhesus monkeys are a menace in many areas in India’s national capital, running across busy roads without warning – putting both themselves and motorists at risk – and often attacking unsuspecting pedestrians or residents.

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Rahul Gandhi demands Modi investigation into Adani Group

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Indian opposition leader brandishes Guardian article on alleged financial violations by Adani family

Rahul Gandhi has said India’s “global reputation is on the line” and demanded that the prime minister, Narendra Modi, opens a parliamentary investigation after the Guardian revealed years of alleged financial violations by the politically connected Adani family.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the most prominent figure in India’s opposition Congress party held aloft a copy of the Guardian article detailing how Adani family associates had appeared to use opaque offshore funds to secretly invest hundreds of millions of dollars into shares of their own Adani Group companies, one of the most powerful conglomerates in India.

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Seven new ‘walking leaf’ insect species discovered

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Researchers used genetic analysis to identify species that cannot be distinguished by appearance alone

Seven new leaf insect species, known as “walking leaves”, have been discovered.

The insects exhibit a sophisticated “twigs and leaf-like” camouflage allowing them to blend into their surroundings without detection, posing a challenge to both predators and researchers.

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Modi-linked Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest

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Offshore records suggest associates of wealthy Indian family spent years acquiring stock during rise of founder to be worth $120bn

A billionaire Indian family with close ties to the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, secretly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the Indian stock market, buying its own shares, newly disclosed documents suggest.

According to offshore financial records seen by the Guardian, associates of the Adani family may have spent years discreetly acquiring stock in the Adani Group’s own companies during its meteoric rise to become one of India’s largest and most powerful businesses.

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Monday briefing: The story of India’s space programme – and why it took off

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In today’s newsletter: The country’s lunar landing was a triumph. This is how it quietly built a successful mission

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Good morning.

Last week India became the fourth ever country to land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first to touch down successfully near its south pole. It was hailed as a success for “budget” missions, with the project costing £60m, less than half of the £131m it cost Christopher Nolan to make his 2014 space epic, Interstellar.

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Trade deal with Indian could be a double-edged sword for Sunak

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The position of the PM’s wife as a shareholder in a company that could benefit from an agreement is a major headache for No 10

• Read more: Rishi Sunak faces fresh conflict of interest row of India trade talks

With a general election not far away and the economy still struggling, Rishi Sunak is on the hunt for good news. Next month he will be in New Delhi for the G20 summit – a visit that will be unusually rich with picture opportunities and chances to strike deals. Sunak’s parents are of Indian Punjabi descent and his wife, Akshata Murthy, is a hugely wealthy Indian businesswoman, fashion designer and venture capitalist. In many ways it will be a homecoming for the first Asian couple ever to occupy No 10.

Sunak’s business and trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, has been in India over the past few days, laying the ground for a string of announcements with her G20 counterparts. Inevitably, much of the talk in UK and Indian diplomatic, business and trade circles has been about the possibility of a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and India. The two governments had hoped to conclude one last autumn but negotiations have dragged on.

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Rishi Sunak faces fresh conflict of interest row over India trade talks

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Exclusive: Labour has called for more financial transparency after it was revealed the prime minister’s wife’s shares could benefit from the agreement

• Read more: trade deal with Indian could be double-edged sword for Sunak

Rishi Sunak faces a new conflict of interest row before a G20 summit in New Delhi next month over claims that his family could stand to benefit financially from a post-Brexit trade deal that he is negotiating with India.

MPs and trade experts say there are concerns at the highest levels of government over potential “transparency” issues relating to his wife Akshata Murty’s shareholding – worth almost £500m – in the massive Bengaluru-based international IT services and consultancy company Infosys.

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India: nine people dead after fire breaks out in stationary train carriage

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Railway says smuggled-in gas cylinder caused blaze that burned for two hours at Madurai station in Tamil Nadu

Nine people have died after a fire broke out in a stationary train compartment at a railway station in southern India, officials said.

The blaze broke out at 5am on Saturday and burned for two hours before firefighters were able to put it out, authorities said.

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India birds report identifies 178 species as being of high conservation concern

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Large-scale study indicates population declines after collation of data from country’s conservation organisations and birdwatchers

A report on India’s bird population has painted a grim picture for many of the country’s species.

The State of India’s Birds (SoIB) report – published on Friday – showed worrisome declines, with 178 species of wild birds identified as needing immediate priority for conservation.

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India’s rover takes walk on the moon after frenzied celebrations

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Solar-powered vehicle will spend two weeks roaming lunar surface to help scientists understand geology of moon

India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has rolled its rover on to the moon’s surface after its successful landing at the lunar south pole.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the rover had “ramped down from the lander and India took a walk on the moon”.

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Brics to more than double with admission of six new countries

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Major expansion as economic bloc that includes Russia and China attempts to provide counterweight to the US and western allies

The Brics group of big emerging economies has announced the admission of six new members, in an attempt to reshape the global world order and provide a counterweight to the US and its allies.

From the beginning of next year, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the UAE and Ethiopia will join the current five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – it was announced at a summit in Johannesburg on Thursday.

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