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Pakistan court’s 17-yr jail term to human rights lawyers over social media posts sparks global backlash

EU spokesperson condemned the conviction of Imaan Zainab Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, saying convictions over social media violate free expression and lawyers’ independence.

Bangladesh considers ending duty-free Indian yarn imports, impose tariffs amid textile sector unrest

Millers in Bangladesh say duty-free yarn imports threaten their businesses, warn of indefinite strike. But garment exporters say new duties could hurt their competitiveness.

US Treasury Secy Bessent slams India-EU FTA, says ‘Europeans funding war against themselves’

In CNBC interview, Scott Bessent accuses EU of putting ‘trade ahead of the Ukrainian people’ & shielding FTA negotiations with India.

Largest IPO ever: Musk suggests timing SpaceX IPO with his 55th birthday, Jupiter-Venus alignment

SpaceX is looking to raise as much as $50 billion in the offering at a valuation of about $1.5 trillion, the FT reported, which would make it the largest IPO in history.

Crime & punishment, Taliban adaptation: 15 days’ jail for beating wife, only if there are ‘bruises’

New ‘criminal code’ in Afghanistan also legalises ‘Caste-like slavery’, prescribes flog-at-sight for ‘sinners’ & proposes 3 months’ jail for wife visiting kin without ‘permission’.

Indian-American businessman Vinod Khosla & Elon Musk trade barbs on X over ‘WAGA’ jibe

Khosla reposted an old Musk tweet, accused him of backing 'white America great again' and urged Tesla, SpaceX and X staff to quit. Musk hit back as well.

World still falling behind on clean water & sanitation, says UN. ‘Millions of lives lost each year’

Nearly 90% of countries have policies for water, sanitation, but fewer than 13% have enough funds & trained staff to fully implement them, says a 2025 UN report.

In FTA, India offers EU auto quota six times larger than the UK deal

The free trade agreement will gradually allow up to 250,000 European-made vehicles to enter India at preferential duty rates— far above the 37,000-unit quota extended to the UK.

Trump’s US officially exits Paris climate deal: What does it mean for rest of the world?

Climate organisations will have to grapple with the loss of billions of dollars of US funding — unless other nations or philanthropies step in to fill the void.

With discounts & no US deal, Russia oil flows to India prove unexpectedly resilient

Flow is very unlikely to drop to near-zero as many had forecast after the US blacklisted Russian crude giants Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC.

On Camera

India’s tech ambitions need private sector investment in R&D. Budget 2026 holds the key

India’s private sector remains hesitant to invest in R&D. This is understandable, as the domestic market often fails to reward differentiated technologies adequately.

SEBI green-lights NSE IPO. What exchange’s CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan revealed about next steps

Speaking at ThePrint OTC Thursday, NSE CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said the exchange has been trying to list itself since 2016, but it couldn’t happen due to one reason or the other.

‘LCA man’ Ravi Kota, key in operationalisation of IAF’s Tejas fleet, picked as next HAL CMD

Mechanical engineer & alumnus of IIM-A & IAS France, Kota was General Manager in HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft division. He was selected from a pool of eight candidates.

Non-alignment is coming back in a new avatar: Trump-peedit alliance

No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.