Chinese foreign minister to visit India, meet NSA Ajit Doval
This meeting comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on August 31.
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Time of India
38 minutes ago
- Time of India
Intel shares rise on report of possible US government stake
By Rashika Singh and Arsheeya Bajwa Intel shares rose 3% on Friday on hopes of more financial aid for the turnaround of the struggling chipmaker after a report that the U.S. government may buy a stake. The Bloomberg News report followed a meeting between CEO Lip-Bu Tan and President Donald Trump on Monday after Trump demanded the new Intel chief's resignation over his "highly conflicted" ties to Chinese firms. Trump, who called the meeting "very interesting", has taken an unprecedented approach to interventions and deal-making with corporate America. His administration had struck a deal with MP Materials that would make the Department of Defense the largest shareholder of the rare-earth producer. Federal backing could give Intel more time to revive its loss-making foundry business, analysts said, but it still faces a weak product roadmap and trouble attracting customers for new factories. Under the Biden administration, Intel had emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 2022 CHIPS Act , as former CEO Pat Gelsinger laid out plans to build advanced factories. Tan, however, pared back such ambitions, slowing construction of new plants in Ohio. He plans to build factories based on demand for the services, which analysts have said could put him at odds with Trump's push to shore up American manufacturing. The report said a deal would help build out the Ohio plant, which has faced delays and was expected to be completed by 2030. It could be a "game-changer", said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. But he warned "government support might help shore up confidence, but it doesn't fix the underlying competitiveness gap in advanced nodes." Intel lost its competitive edge years ago to Taiwan's TSMC . It has virtually no presence in the booming AI chips market dominated by Nvidia and is losing market share in PCs and datacenters to AMD. Its latest 18A manufacturing process is facing quality issues, Reuters has reported, as only a small share of chips produced are good enough for customers, while it remains partly dependent on TSMC to make Intel in-house designed chips. "Intel also needs capability; can the US government do anything to help here?" Bernstein analysts said. "Without a solid process roadmap the entire exercise would be economically equivalent to simply setting 10s of billions of dollars on fire."
News18
an hour ago
- News18
TTP-Army Confrontation Along CPEC Routes Highlights Pakistan's Dual Crisis
Presence of TTP militants has turned this key economic corridor into a battleground, forcing Pakistan to allocate troops away from its conventional fronts to guard CPEC projects An ongoing confrontation between the Pakistan army and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters on the crucial CPEC Islamabad–DI Khan (M-14) route highlights Pakistan's dual crisis of internal militancy and over-dependence on China. The presence of TTP militants has turned this key economic corridor into a battleground, forcing Pakistan to allocate troops away from its conventional fronts in order to protect CPEC projects. News18 has accessed exclusive videos showing TTP militants operating and dancing with weapons in the key tribal belts through which the CPEC route passes, a clear sign of their growing confidence and operational control in these areas. This resurgence has been fuelled by a safe haven and ideological guidance provided by al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, which TTP cadres are allegedly utilising for sanctuary, logistics, and training. Pakistan's strategic vulnerability has been exposed by the TTP's ability to operate with impunity from within Afghan territory, a situation exacerbated by the Afghan Taliban's refusal to act against the group. This has severely strained Pakistan-Afghan relations and limited Islamabad's options for a decisive military response. Beyond the military confrontation, the TTP is also actively engaging in a campaign of economic warfare. Reports indicate that the group is extorting money from China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) contractors, demanding a 5% 'tax" and threatening workers, machinery, and construction sites. This has added a layer of financial pressure and security risk to the already complex projects. For China, the security situation is a growing concern. The CPEC projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are high-value targets, and a number of attacks on Chinese engineers, including the deadly Dasu hydropower project incident, have prompted China to express repeated concern. Sources indicate that China's security stake in the project is rising, leading it to deploy private security personnel, as a full dependence on the Pakistan army for protection is deemed too risky. For Pakistan, losing operational control in these vital tribal belts has exposed its strategic vulnerability and underscored the fact that its counter-terrorism operations remain incomplete. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
India sticks to its multi-alignment policy as Trump-Putin talks end; Israel presses on to ‘bury' idea of Palestinian state
The Trump-Putin Alaska summit ends without a deal, dashing India's hope for a relief with respect to the secondary tariffs; as markets in India feel the heat, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his stance to protect the interests of the country's farmers; in addition to occupying Gaza, Israel pursues its planned settlement in the West Bank, drawing scathing criticism worldwide – here is weekly roundup of key global news. While the Indian market reels under US tariffs, a flurry of geopolitical developments appeared to change the tack of the country's foreign policy narrative. India is currently facing an additional 25 per cent tariffs—a 'penalty' for buying oil from Russia—set to come into effect on August 27. In this context, all eyes were glued to the much-touted August 15 meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, believing that a breakthrough on Ukraine would ease the additional tariffs. Nonetheless, this hope was dashed. While Indian goods are subjected to 25 per cent US tariffs that came into effect on August 7, the US and China announced that they have agreed to extend their 90-day pause on steep triple-digit tariffs against each other's products. The US's overtures towards China—the largest buyer of Russian oil—have prompted enough speculation. Analysts argue that China's economic strength enabled it to bargain hard. In addition to leveraging its control of the global rare-earth elements market, Beijing employed its power as an agricultural commodity importer. Its import of farm produce from the US dipped from $13.1 billion during January-June 2024 to $6.4 billion in the first six months of 2025, prompting Trump to urge China to 'quickly quadruple' its soyabean imports from the US. Such US overtures, specifically towards China, apparently undermined some of India's strategic assessments. For instance, New Delhi has placed itself at the centre of the US's Indo-Pacific strategy, primarily to contain an aggressive China. However, Trump's 'sudden, inexplicable hostility toward India' coupled with the gestures towards China have cast doubt on New Delhi's assessment, and reportedly prompted it to seek closer ties with Beijing. In this context, it is noted that China has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit later this month in Tianjin. Prior to this, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is slated to visit India on August 18 for talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. However, the strategic affairs community in China has raised questions over New Delhi's commitment to improve ties with Beijing, specifically as it comes against the backdrop of its economic and trade relations with the US, which are said to be at a low point. It is underlined in China that India has always pursued a policy of playing both sides. For example, on India being a member of the SCO and the US-led QUAD security dialogue (with Australia and Japan), a Chinese scholar cited Prime Minister Modi's previous remarks: 'India has never considered itself bound to a single security alliance'. However, scholars like Happymon Jacob, in his article titled 'The Shocking Rift Between India and the United States', published in Foreign Affairs magazine on August 14, argues that 'India's policy of multialignment has just undergone a geopolitical stress test and emerged rather winded. But Indian policymakers are not concluding that they should abandon it; to the contrary, they will fortify it.' In this context, the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting could be a case in point, although Delhi has so far not made its stand clear on it. At the same time, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his stance to protect the interests of the country's farmers, as he is slated to meet Trump next month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the last week of September. Meanwhile, the Indian market has started feeling the heat of the US tariffs, while the additional 25 per cent tariffs loom large. From India's diamond trade, leather footwear, textiles and gems to shrimp farmers, all are bracing for the impact of the US tariffs. For instance, Trump's latest decision to raise tariffs on Indian goods, hiking duties on leather footwear from 5-8 per cent to 25 per cent, with a further 25 per cent increase threatened by August 27, has made the shoe manufacturers in Agra nervous. Similarly, India's diamond trade is under duress, with reports saying that companies in the diamond hub of Surat had to put orders on hold. Notably, exports of non-industrial diamonds (suitable for jewellery or investment) make up 68 per cent of the total volume of the US's diamond imports. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council has also said that 50 per cent tariffs would make Indian exports uncompetitive, threatening thousands of jobs. Shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh, who make up 60 per cent of India's shrimp trade, have echoed similar concerns, as they brace for the impact of US tariffs that will touch 59.72 per cent after Trump announced 25 per cent additional tariffs over and above the 25 per cent announced earlier, as well as the 5.76 per cent countervailing duty and 3.96 per cent anti-dumping duty. Echoing the concerns of these manufacturers, former RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said that high tariffs imposed by the US on labour-intensive exports such as textiles and gems will deepen the jobless growth problem since a 50 per cent tariff threatens exports worth around 2 per cent of GDP. While India grapples with such economic headwinds, the situation in West Asia has turned more volatile. Notwithstanding the widespread condemnation, Israel has continued with its relentless bombardment of Gaza as it plans to occupy not just Gaza City but also the West Bank, threatening to 'bury the idea of a Palestinian state'. The number of people killed around aid-seeking sites has reached 1,760 since late May, according to the United Nations human rights office, while Gaza's Health Ministry states that over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's 22-month war. Last month, Israel also announced its planned settlement in the E1 area, east of occupied East Jerusalem, which its Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said 'buries the idea of a Palestinian state'. The proposed settlement in the West Bank would link the Ma'ale Adumim settlement with Jerusalem, effectively bisecting the West Bank. Smotrich said the planned settlement, which would comprise over 3,400 homes for Israeli settlers on Palestinian-owned land, was being revived as a response to plans by other countries to recognise a Palestinian state, Al Jazeera reported. The move has drawn scathing responses from the world over, including the UN, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany, and the European Union, calling it a violation of international law that would fuel regional instability and erode the viability of the two-state solution. The UN rights office spokesperson said the plan would break the West Bank into isolated enclaves and that it was 'a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies'. According to Reuters, about 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel. All three territories were captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has reacted angrily to the announcement made by the Lebanese government that it would seek to disarm the group by the end of this year. Hezbollah, seen as a key ally of Iran, said the Lebanese government 'does not have the right to question the resistance's legitimacy'. Send your feedback and ideas to
