Category Archives: India

Former Bush adviser charged with amassing top secret files

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Indian-American Ashley Tellis allegedly obtained US military data and passed envelopes to Chinese officials

A prominent Indian-American academic and former US government adviser has been arrested and charged with the unlawful detention of national security information, including thousands of pages of top secret documents that were found at his home in Virginia.

Ashley Tellis, 64, who served on the national security council of the former US president George W Bush and is credited for helping to negotiate the US-India nuclear deal, was arrested and charged over the weekend.

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Raila Odinga, towering Kenyan opposition figure, dies aged 80

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Odinga, who ran five times for presidency and had profound influence on Kenyan politics, has died in India

The veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who ran five times for the presidency and had a profound influence on the country’s politics, has died aged 80 in India.

Odinga was in the southern city of Kochi for treatment. The Press Trust of India news agency reported that he had a cardiac arrest during a morning walk.

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‘Your basis to live is checked at each and every step’: India’s ID system divides opinion

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Keir Starmer is considering Aadhaar as model for UK, but detractors warn of ‘digital coercion’ and security breaches

It is often difficult for people in India to remember life before Aadhaar. The digital biometric ID, allegedly available for every Indian citizen, was only introduced 15 years ago but its presence in daily life is ubiquitous.

Indians now need an Aadhaar number to buy a house, get a job, open a bank account, pay their tax, receive benefits, buy a car, get a sim card, book priority train tickets and admit children into school. Babies can be given Aadhaar numbers almost immediately after they are born. While it is not mandatory, not having Aadhaar de facto means the state does not recognise you exist, digital rights activists say.

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Arbitrary detention victims urge Starmer to press Modi on jailed British Sikh

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Activist Jagtar Singh Johal has been held in Indian prison for nearly eight years without full trial

The sisters of the British-Egyptian human rights campaigner Alaa Abd el-Fattah have intervened for the first time since his release from prison in Egypt to call on Keir Starmer to push Narendra Modi to free a British Sikh activist when he meets the Indian prime minister next week.

Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, has been held in an Indian jail for nearly eight years without facing full trial in what his supporters say is an arbitrary and egregious denial of justice by a British ally.

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Canada designates Indian gang linked to high-profile killings as terrorist entity

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Canadian government accuses the Lawrence Bishnoi gang of being involved in murder of prominent Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver

Canada’s federal government has announced that a powerful and ruthless Indian gang which uses “murder, shootings and arson” to extort and intimidate diaspora communities – and has alleged links to India’s ruling government – has been designated as a terrorist entity.

Canada has accused the Lawrence Bishnoi gang of possible involvement in the murder of prominent Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver.

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At least 40 dead and 124 injured in crush at Vijay rally in India

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Victims include nine children at election campaign gathering in Tamil Nadu led by popular actor and politician

Police in India have opened a criminal case against the leaders of a party headed by the actor turned politician Vijay, after a crowd crush at one of his rallies killed 40 people and injured at least 124 others.

Local officials reported that at least nine children had died at the rally, which took place on Saturday night in the Karur district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Vijay, one of the most popular and successful actors in Tamil cinema, who entered politics last year, was addressing the crowd for his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party before state elections early next year.

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Ladakh statehood activist arrested days after violent crackdown by Modi

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Sonam Wangchuk, who has been agitating against the government, was on his way to speak at a press briefing

A renowned environmentalist at the forefront of a protest movement in the Indian region of Ladakh has been arrested amid a wider crackdown on dissent under the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Sonam Wangchuk, an activist, engineer and inventor, has been leading a lengthy agitation against the Modi government, calling for statehood and greater protections to be granted to his home region of Ladakh. He was arrested on Friday afternoon, on his way to address a press conference.

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‘This is their attempt to silence him’: Umar Khalid reaches five years in Indian jail without trial

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Held since 2020, India’s most prominent political prisoner has become a symbol of repression under the Modi regime

“There is indeed something about captivity that makes one feel like a state of somewhere between life and death,” wrote Umar Khalid in June in a letter penned as his fifth year languishing behind bars approached.

Few understand the purgatory of jail like Khalid. For five years – since his arrest in September 2020 under a draconian terrorism law – he has remained India’s most prominent political prisoner, to many a potent symbol of the systematic crushing of dissent under the dominant Hindu nationalist regime of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

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For comedians around the world, the laughs often end as democracy fades

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Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel sets US on course similar to that charted by authoritarian regimes from Egypt to India

The exiled Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef has experienced firsthand how intolerant governments can silence political satire. And he had a short message this week for those living in an age of Donald Trump’s free speech clampdown: “My Fellow American Citizens,” he wrote on X. “Welcome to my world.”

In his attacks on the most prominent of American satirists, the US president has joined a cadre of illiberal and sensitive leaders around the world who will not tolerate a joke.

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‘Cricket diplomacy’ collapses as India-Pakistan hostility enters field of play

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Indian players refuse to shake hands with Pakistani counterparts after Asia Cup match, in sign that traditional onfield camaraderie is eroding

As nationalistic rivalries go, few run as deep as India and Pakistan. But even as the neighbours fought wars against each other, carried out rival nuclear tests and conducted nightly shows of strength along their heavily militarised border, there was always one thing that brought them together: cricket.

But as the two sides came together on Sunday for a match in the Asia Cup tournament, the camaraderie that was once celebrated as cricket diplomacy had vanished.

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Brother of Briton jailed in India asks why UK border police are stopping him

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Gurpreet Singh Johal wants to know if stops are linked to his efforts to find out whether UK intelligence played a role in sibling’s arrest

The brother of Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh jailed in India, has written to the Home Office to ask why he is being repeatedly stopped at the airport by British border police.

Gurpreet Singh Johal, a Labour councillor in Dumbarton, asked if it was linked to his legal efforts to discover whether British intelligence played a role in his brother’s arrest eight years ago.

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Trump asks EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China

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In effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, US president proposes tariffs targeting Putin allies and trade partners

Donald Trump has asked the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China as part of an effort to force the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine.

The US president made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia on Tuesday, according to a White House official.

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Thursday briefing: China flexes its muscle in the tussle for global dominance

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In today’s newsletter: In hosting anti-western leaders at its largest ever military parade, Beijing sent a defiant message that will be heard loud and clear across the world

Good morning. All eyes have been on China this week as the second biggest global economy flexed its muscles.

Dozens of world leaders, including from the global south, authoritarian pariah states and the EU, attended China’s largest ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the war of resistance against Japanese aggression.

UK news | Deputy PM Angela Rayner has admitted she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat, after coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her property arrangements.

Russia | Vladimir Putin has invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.

Police | The Metropolitan police have declined to drop their investigation into the comedy writer Graham Linehan for tweets about trans issues, and said that the law used by officers to detain him needs reviewing.

Israel | Israeli drones dropped four grenades near UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, the agency’s force said on Wednesday, in what it described as “one of the most serious attacks” on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

Portugal | A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 15 people were killed when Lisbon’s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.

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Putin hails ties with China as Kim Jong-un arrives in Beijing on eve of parade

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Russian president says relations at ‘unprecedentedly high level’ as dozens of leaders gather for Victory Day events

Vladimir Putin has hailed Russia’s “unprecedentedly” high level of ties with China, as dozens of leaders including the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, arrived in Beijing on the eve of a massive military parade intended to showcase a Chinese-led global order.

Putin called China’s leader, Xi Jinping, a “dear friend” after the two held talks at the Great Hall of the People and then at Xi’s personal residence. “Our close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russia-China relations, which are at an unprecedentedly high level,” Putin told Xi, according to a video on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel. “We were always together then, and we remain together now.”

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Modi’s warm meeting with Xi shows impact of Trump’s ‘tariff tantrum’

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China seizes on opportunity for geopolitical realignment after India was hit with one of US’s harshest trade penalties

They stood together like old friends, heads thrown back in jovial laughter, clutching one another’s hands affectionately. Except this was no ordinary gathering of three men, but a meeting of three of the most powerful non-western leaders: Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi.

The overt displays of intimacy were widely regarded by observers as a telling message of defiance aimed at their western counterparts, in particular Donald Trump, who just a few days earlier had slapped India with 50% import tariffs, among the harshest of the US president’s trade penalties.

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Xi Jinping criticises ‘bullying behaviour’ and Putin blames west for Ukraine war at Shanghai summit

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China’s leader urges attendees to oppose ‘cold war mentality’ while Russian president claims Ukraine war was ‘provoked by the west’

Xi Jinping has criticised the “bullying behaviour” of other countries while Vladimir Putin has blamed the west for his war on Ukraine, on the second day of a major summit in China which seeks to challenge western-led multilateral blocs.

The Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) began in the city of Tianjin on Sunday, with Xi welcoming dozens of leaders from Eurasian member states and other partner and observer countries, including Putin, and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

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Putin, Modi and Erdoğan among leaders in China for talks with Xi

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Chinese president hosts bilateral meetings on sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have met on the sidelines of a showpiece summit in China that seeks to challenge US-led, western-dominated blocs and is being attended by the leaders of more than two dozen nations.

The Chinese and Russian leaders, who are closely allied under what they have termed a “limitless” partnership, discussed Putin’s recent meeting with Donald Trump, according to a Kremlin official, who gave no further details.

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India’s supreme court orders inquiry into giant zoo run by son of Asia’s richest person

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Activists claim Anant Ambani’s Vantara facility has no plan to return its endangered species to the wild

India’s supreme court has ordered an investigation into a vast private zoo founded by the son of Asia’s richest person over allegations of illegal wildlife imports and financial misconduct.

Home to a reported 200 lions, 250 leopards and 900 crocodiles, Vantara in western Gujarat state describes itself as the “world’s biggest wild animal rescue centre”. It is run by Anant Ambani, a son of Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire head of the conglomerate Reliance Industries, and was one of the venues for his extravagant wedding celebrations last year, where celebrities were encouraged to wear “jungle fever” outfits.

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India and China hail warming ties amid Trump-induced geopolitical shake-up

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Countries agree to resume trade links and work to resolving border dispute after visit to Delhi by top diplomat Wang Yi

India’s prime minister and China’s foreign minister have hailed “steady” progress in their countries’ fractious relationship, agreeing to resume trade and other ties, as well as work towards resolving the long-running Himalayan border dispute, amid a global geopolitical shake-up instigated by Donald Trump’s tariff regime.

According to statements from China’s foreign ministry, the two sides agreed to resume direct flights – reiterating a pledge made in January – as well as issuing visas to journalists and facilitating business and cultural exchanges.

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Trump’s tariffs replace diplomacy as other US tools of statecraft are discarded

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Measures meant to rebalance America’s economy are wielded instead against the likes of Canada, India and Brazil ‘to compel loyalty to the president’

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump pledged to use tariffs to revitalise American industry, bringing jobs home and helping to make America great again. But more than six months into his administration, experts say the president’s trade war is increasingly being wielded as a political cudgel, in lieu of more traditional forms of diplomacy.

The president’s current target, India, has been unable to reach a trade agreement, and Trump appears ready to follow through with his threat to impose a further 25% tariff on Delhi – bringing the total to 50% – the joint highest levy on any country, along with Brazil.

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