New Zealand hails 'breakthrough' in trade talks with India, but no timeline for deal
NEW DELHI — New Zealand's deputy prime minister said on Friday that talks over a free trade agreement between his country and India were ongoing, but he didn't provide a timeline for when the two nations could eventually sign a deal.
Winston Peters, who is on a two-day visit to India, said that the negotiations were 'going with real meaning now,' calling them 'a breakthrough in our economic relationship.'
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India top general admits aerial ‘losses' in recent conflict with Pakistan
India's chief of defence staff says the country suffered initial losses in the air during a recent military conflict with neighbouring Pakistan, but declined to give details. 'What was important is, why did these losses occur, and what we will do after that,' General Anil Chauhan told the Reuters news agency on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore. India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day conflict this month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, but there are competing claims on the casualties. India says more than 100 'terrorists' were killed in its 'precision strikes' on several 'terror camps' across Pakistan, which rejects the claim, saying more than 30 Pakistani civilians were killed in the Indian attacks. New Delhi, meanwhile, says nearly two dozen civilians were killed on the Indian side, most of them in Indian-administered Kashmir, along the disputed fighting between the two nuclear powers was triggered by an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 people, almost all of them tourists. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for supporting the armed group behind the attack, an allegation Islamabad denied. During their conflict, Pakistan had also claimed to have downed at least five Indian military jets, including at least three Rafale fighters. But Chauhan on Saturday dismissed it as 'absolutely incorrect', confirming his country had lost at least one aircraft. 'I think what is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down,' he told Bloomberg TV in a separate interview in Singapore. On May 11, a day after the ceasefire, India's Air Marshal AK Bharti told reporters in New Delhi that 'all our pilots are back home', adding that 'we are in a combat scenario, and that losses are a part of combat'. Chauhan said on Saturday India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of conflict and established a decisive advantage. 'So we rectified tactics and then went back on the [May] 7th, 8th and 10th in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, carried out precision strikes,' he said. Islamabad has denied it suffered any losses of planes but has acknowledged its airbases suffered some hits, although losses were minimal. Chauhan said while the fighting had ceased, the Indian government had made it clear that it would respond 'precisely and decisively should there be any further terror attacks emanating from Pakistan'. 'So that has its own dynamics as far [as] the armed forces are concerned. It will require us to be prepared 24/7,' he said. Chauhan also said that although Pakistan is closely allied with China, which borders India in the north and the northeast, there was no sign of any actual help from Beijing during the conflict. 'While this was unfolding from [April] 22nd onwards, we didn't find any unusual activity in the operational or tactical depth of our northern borders, and things were generally all right,' he told Reuters. Asked whether China may have provided any satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence to Pakistan during the conflict, Chauhan said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China as well as other sources.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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India's IndiGo to add 10 new international destinations to its network
(Reuters) -Indian airline IndiGo will add 10 international destinations and broaden its business class offerings overseas this year, CEO Pieter Elbers said on Friday, ramping up competition with rival Air India. The move marks a fresh push by IndiGo to tap into premium international travel, a space long dominated by Tata-owned Air India. IndiGo, which holds nearly 60% of India's domestic market, flew 1.8 million international passengers in the October–December quarter, just behind Air India and its budget unit's combined 2 million, DGCA data showed. The company will add business class seats on routes to Singapore, Phuket and Dubai, CEO Pieter Elbers said at an event in Delhi on Friday, without specifying the Indian departure points. The airline also plans to expand its long-haul network later this year with new destinations including London, Copenhagen, Athens, and Southeast Asian countries and cities like Hanoi and Cambodia. Earlier this year, IndiGo said it aims to increase international seat capacity and expand its fleet to over 600 aircraft by fiscal 2030. It has also signed a deal with Bengaluru International Airport to develop maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) infrastructure to support this growth. Connectez-vous pour accéder à votre portefeuille
Yahoo
3 hours ago
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Indian military chief acknowledges loss of fighter jets in May conflict with Pakistan
India's military has acknowledged for the first time that an unspecified number of its fighter jets were shot down during strikes on Pakistani-controlled territory amid intense fighting between the neighbors in early May. Indian officials had previously refused to confirm even a single aircraft loss. Asked by a Bloomberg correspondent on Saturday if Pakistan was correct in its claim that 'six Indian jets' were downed, Anil Chauhan, the chief of defense staff of the Indian Armed Forces, initially denied the veracity of the claim, stating: 'Absolutely incorrect and that is not information which, as I said, is important.' But he went on to say that 'what is important is why they went down,' seeming to imply that a number of jets were shot down during fighting between the historic foes, although not confirming how many. 'That is more important for us. And what did we do after that? That's more important,' he said, speaking to Bloomberg's Haslinda Amin while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defense forum, in Singapore. The official also accepted that India's military had made a 'tactical mistake,' in response to another question about Pakistan's claim. 'The good part is we were able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets, again targeting at long range,' he said. Pakistan claimed its pilots shot down five Indian fighter jets in aerial battles – including three advanced French-made Rafales – after India launched its military operation against Pakistan in early May. Pakistan said it used Chinese-made fighter jets to shoot down the Indian combat aircraft, including the Rafales. India initially denied the claims, with Nalin Kohli, spokesperson for India's Bharatiya Janata Party, telling CNN that 'if that was the case, and if something of that extent had happened, we would have said so.' A high-ranking French intelligence official told CNN at the time that one Rafale fighter jet operated by the Indian Air Force had been downed by Pakistan, and that French authorities were looking into whether more than one was brought down. Indian eyewitnesses also told CNN they saw one aircraft plunging from the sky in flames. The fighting was a major escalation between the South Asian neighbors and came in response to the killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in April. India blamed Pakistan for the attack, an accusation rejected by Islamabad. A truce between Islamabad and New Delhi was announced on May 10. CNN's Benjamin Brown, Matthew Chance, Sophia Saifi and Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report.
