
Express News Quiz: Down's Syndrome, doomsday fish & quirky dolls
Before you try our other games, a look at the rich stories that couldn't make it into the quiz this week: Nationalist history presents India as Bharat Varsha, but British were conquering territories based on economic sense: Sam Dalrymple | 'Earliest Indians were migrants…India has been connected to the world from the very beginning,' says historian Audrey Truschke | Why India doesn't need to worry about the Trump-Munir lunch
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Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics.
She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks.
She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year.
She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home.
Write to her at aishwaryakhosla.ak@gmail.com or aishwarya.khosla@indianexpress.com. You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
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Soldier Killed In Action Near Line Of Control During Pak Infiltration Attempt
A soldier was killed near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri during a major firefight between Indian and Pakistan forces during an infiltration attempt. According to sources in the Army, infiltrators tried to enter India late on August 12. This was different from a routine infiltration attempt, as the intruders received firing support from the Pakistan Army. Such an infiltration attempt is typically carried out with the support of Pakistan's Border Action Teams, the dirty tricks department of the Pakistan Army. As Indian soldiers retaliated to the infiltration attempt, a gunfight broke out and a soldier succumbed to his injuries. The infiltration attempt was foiled, but the intruders took advantage of the bad weather and managed to escape. An official Army statement on the incident is awaited. This is the first major provocation by Pakistan after the uneasy calm in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, India's counterstrike to the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 innocents dead. Following India's targeted airstrikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and Pakistan's drone attacks along India's western border, the two sides had agreed on a ceasefire after Islamabad reached out to New Delhi. The past couple of months have seen Pakistani leaders make reckless public statements. Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir recently made headlines for his threats to nuke India. Speaking in the US, Munir reportedly threatened to take down "half the world" if Pakistan faced an existential threat in a future war with India. India responded that "nuclear sabre-rattling" is Pakistan's "stock-in-trade", and expressed regret that such remarks were made from the soil of a friendly third country. "The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforces the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups," the government said. "India has already made it clear that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail and will continue to take all necessary steps to safeguard its national security," the Ministry of External Affairs said.


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Ahead Of Putin Summit, Trump To Speak With Zelensky, European Leaders
Europe and Ukraine's leaders will speak to US President Donald Trump at a virtual meeting on Wednesday ahead of his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, as they try to drive home the perils of selling out Kyiv's interests in pursuit of a ceasefire. Trump hosts Putin, a pariah in the West since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, at talks in Alaska on Friday that the US president has said will serve as a "feel-out" meeting in his efforts to end the Russo-Ukraine war. Trump agreed last week to the first US-Russia summit since 2021, abruptly shifting course after weeks of voicing frustration with Putin for resisting the US peace initiative. Trump said his envoy had made "great progress" at talks in Moscow. The US president says both Kyiv and Moscow will have to cede land to end the war. Russian troops have already occupied almost a fifth of Ukraine. The unpredictability of how the summit will play out has fuelled European fears that the US and Russian leaders could take far-reaching decisions and even seek to coerce Ukraine into an unfavourable deal. "We are focusing now to ensure that it does not happen - engaging with US partners and staying coordinated and united on the European side. Still a lot of time until Friday," said one senior official from eastern Europe. Trump's administration tempered expectations on Tuesday for major progress toward a ceasefire, calling his meeting with Putin in Alaska a "listening exercise." The video conference among Trump, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Germany, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland and the European Union is expected to take place at 1200 GMT (1400 CET), a German government spokesperson said. NATO's secretary general will also attend the conference hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Ukraine hopes the meeting will serve - at least partially - as a European counterweight to the summit in Alaska. European leaders, who are wary of provoking Trump's ire, have repeatedly emphasised that they welcome his peace efforts, while underlining that there should be no deal about Ukraine without Ukraine's participation. Half a dozen senior European officials told Reuters that they see a risk of a deal being struck that is unfavourable for Europe and Ukraine's security. They said European unity would be vital if that happened. A source familiar with internal US deliberations said it could not be ruled out that Trump would seek a deal directly with Putin without involving Ukraine or Europe. But the source voiced doubt about that, saying it could cause problems with Kyiv and the EU. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday the summit will be a "listening exercise" for Trump to hear what it will take to get to a deal. After the call, Trump and Vice President JD Vance were expected to speak to European leaders at a separate online meeting at 1300 GMT (1500 CET), the German spokesperson said. That will be followed at 1430 GMT by an online meeting of the "coalition of the willing", a group of countries working on plans to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Mounting battlefield pressure A Gallup poll released last week found that 69% of Ukrainians favour a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible. But polls also show Ukrainians do not want peace at any cost if that means crushing concessions. Ahead of the calls, Zelensky said it would be impossible for Kyiv to agree to a deal that would require it to withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region, a large swathe of which is already occupied by Russia. That, he told reporters on Tuesday, would deprive Ukraine of a vast defensive network in the region, easing the way for Russia to mount a new push deeper into Ukraine in the future. Territorial issues, he added, could only be discussed once a ceasefire has been put in place and Ukraine has received security guarantees. Moscow's troops have recently ramped up pressure on the battlefield, tightening their stranglehold on the cities of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine.


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"India Has Been Bit Recalcitrant", Says US Treasury Chief On Trade Talks
New York: India has been a 'bit recalcitrant' on trade negotiations with the US, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. 'That's aspirational,' Bessent said on Fox Business on Tuesday, responding to a question on wrapping up all the tariffs and trade deals by the end of October. 'But I think we are in a good position. The big trade deals that aren't done or aren't agreed - Switzerland is still around, India has been a bit recalcitrant,' he said, adding that US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and teams of lawyers 'are busy papering all this over". "So I think we will have agreed on substantial terms with all the substantial countries. And as I've been saying for a long time, the President's (Donald Trump) doing peace deals, trade deals, tax deals,' he added. Even as trade negotiations between India and the US were ongoing, Trump imposed tariffs totalling 50 per cent on India, including 25 per cent for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, which will come into effect from August 27. Responding to the tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi has said that the targeting of India is "unjustified and unreasonable". 'Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,' it said. Last week's announcement of Trump's executive order imposing the additional 25 per cent tariffs on India came at a time when a team from the US is scheduled to visit India from August 25 for the sixth round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement. The two countries are aiming to conclude the first phase of the pact by fall (October-November) this year.