The Hindu Morning Digest: July 17, 2025
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) approved the 'Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana', or PMDDKY, to enhance agricultural productivity and increase adoption of sustainable agricultural practices across the country.
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka vie over aerospace park after the latter calls off land acquisition in Devanahalli
The Karnataka government's decision to cancel the acquisition of land in Devanahalli for an aerospace park has led to a tug of war between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka over the future of the project, with Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh inviting the aerospace industry to his State and Karnataka Industries Minister M.B. Patil stating that there was no need to relocate.
Madras High Court restrains recitation of Nama Sankeerthanam in residential locality without Collector's permission
Observing that what could be divine music to the ears of some might actually turn out to be a nuisance for others, the Madras High Court on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) restrained the use of a residential house for the recitation of Nama Sankeerthanam (congregational chanting of the names of Hindu Gods) unless the Collector grants permission for using the premises as a prayer hall.
Ex-husband seeks shared custody after Russian woman, kids found living in Karnataka's Gokarna cave
Days after Russian woman Nina Kutina was taken into custody for living in a cave deep inside the forest in Karnataka's Gokarna with her two daughters, her ex-husband, an Israeli citizen, is demanding shared custody of their daughters, saying he wants to be a father to them.
Syria says pulling troops from Druze heartland after U.S. request
Syria announced that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday (July 16, 2025), following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a U.S. call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city.
Trump says he's 'highly unlikely' to fire Fed's Jerome Powell after floating that idea in private
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) that he was 'highly unlikely' to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a public statement made less than 24 hours after suggesting in a private meeting that he was leaning in favour of dismissing the head of the nation's central bank.
Eight healthy babies born from three people's DNA in Britain free of genetic disease
Eight healthy babies were born in Britain with the help of an experimental technique that uses DNA from three people to help mothers avoid passing devastating rare diseases to their children, researchers reported.
Parliamentary panel clears Income Tax Bill 2025 with 285 suggestions, to be tabled in Monsoon Session
The Select Committee of Parliament that examines the Income Tax Bill-2025 is learnt to have finalised its report on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) with about 285 suggestions to change the legislation.
West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell to retire from international cricket
Two-time Twenty20 World Cup winner Andre Russell will retire from international cricket at age 37 after the second T20 match against Australia on July 22 in his hometown of Kingston, Jamaica, Cricket West Indies (CWI) said on Wednesday.
Lamine Yamal inherits Messi's iconic Barcelona number 10 jersey
Barcelona's electric 18-year-old winger Lamine Yamal has been handed the famous number 10 shirt previously worn by club icon Lionel Messi, capping a remarkable breakthrough season for the teenager.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
11 minutes ago
- Mint
US Bombs Halted Iran Uranium Enrichment, for Now, Minister Says
(Bloomberg) -- Iran's government confirmed that last month's US military strikes forced it to stop uranium enrichment and said it's open to indirect talks with Washington about the future of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. 'Enrichment has now stopped because damages are serious and severe,' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Fox News that aired Monday. 'Obviously we cannot give up our enrichment because it's an achievement of our own scientists, but it's also now a question of national pride.' Iran's right to enrich uranium was a major stumbling block in the last round of talks with the Trump administration that were scuttled by Israel when it began bombing the Islamic Republic on June 13. The US in May hardened its position from accepting low levels of uranium enrichment by Iran to insisting that Tehran dismantle its enrichment capability entirely. Iran says it wants to enrich uranium to the low levels needed for civilian purposes, such as fueling nuclear-power plants. Tehran advanced its nuclear program significantly after Trump quit a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in his first term, triggering concerns in the West that the Persian Gulf nation may try to develop a nuclear weapon. Araghchi's comments came as questions linger over the level of damage caused by a massive bombing raid ordered by US President Donald Trump on three key nuclear sites in Iran on June 22. 'If the goal is to make sure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons, that is achievable,' he said when asked about his country's ability to reach any agreement with the US. 'But if the goal is to deprive Iran from its rights, including the right of enrichment, I think we'll have difficulty.' The Islamic Republic is prepared to provide 'any confidence-building measure needed to prove' that its atomic program will 'remain peaceful forever,' said Araghchi, who also leads Iran's negotiations on its nuclear program. Iran continues to cooperate with the United Nations nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — and the country's atomic energy organization is currently evaluating the full extent of the damage caused by last month's air strikes, Araghchi said. The US attack came toward the end of Israel's 12-day military assault on Iran that targeted nuclear sites, military generals, critical infrastructure, commercial and residential districts in Tehran, hospitals and a prison housing hundreds of political detainees. More than 1,000 Iranians, mostly civilians, were killed by Israel's strikes. At least 29 Israeli civilians died in Iran's subsequent missile attacks. While the two countries agreed to a ceasefire on June 24, the risk of another confrontation remains high as Israel continues to threaten Iran with further attacks. Tehran insists it will continue its nuclear program as well as support for armed groups that challenge Israeli and US interests in the Middle East. Israel's military campaign against Iran 'is not over,' the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday. In addition to the proposed indirect talks with the US that Araghchi referred to, Iran agreed to hold discussions with France, the UK and Germany on Friday about its nuclear program. Iranian officials are also continuing parallel discussions with their Russian and Chinese counterparts. 'Any settlement for Iran's nuclear program should include enrichment because that's our right and we'll never give it up,' Araghchi told Fox. Iran also will maintain its missile program, which is 'still in very good shape' despite attacks by Israel on Iranian air defenses. 'That's our most reliable means of defense,' Araghchi said. 'I can tell you our missiles are of a deterrent nature, they are for defense, not offense, and I can assure you Iran's missiles will never have a nuclear warhead.' More stories like this are available on
NDTV
27 minutes ago
- NDTV
Tariff Blitz: Is India Becoming Collateral Damage In Someone Else's War?
In today's fractured world, great power rivalry is rewriting the rules of economic engagement. As the European Union (EU) and the United States tighten the screws on Russia, the knock-on effects land squarely on India. A slew of unilateral coercive measures is shrinking New Delhi's freedom to calibrate its foreign policy. The situation warrants discreet diplomacy and sober calculation, not slogans. Escalating Ultimatums The EU's eighteenth sanctions package, unveiled on July 18, slashes the price cap on Russian crude and bars the import of petroleum products refined from that crude in third countries. Indian refineries that bought discounted Russian oil and sold petroleum products to Europe now face exclusion and the loss of European finance, insurance and shipping cover if they continue handling Russian barrels. Across the Atlantic, the proposed 'Sanctioning Russia Act' threatens secondary tariffs of up to 500% on goods from any country trading with Russia should a Ukraine peace deal remain elusive. US President Donald Trump warned of "very severe tariffs" of 100% on any state "feeding Russia's war machine". Senator Lindsey Graham, the prime mover of the bill in the Senate, admonished Brazil, China and India, and said, "We're going to tear the hell out of you and crush your economy, because what you are doing is blood money." The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has previously voiced similar sentiments, accusing buyers of Russian energy of "sharing responsibility" for prolonging the conflict. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has also warned that India, China and Brazil "might be hit very hard" if they continue to lean on Putin. The message from transatlantic capitals is unmistakable. They are not only closing ranks against Russia but are also closing doors on those who refuse to fall in line. Compliance is no longer voluntary. It is being engineered. New Delhi has pushed back, accusing the EU of "double standards", alluding to European purchases of Russian energy. The Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculated that Russia has earned 913 billion euros from fossil fuel exports since February 2022. The EU accounts for 212 billion euros of that. Policy Peril Moral arguments aside, the economic risks are serious. Cheap Russian oil has helped India moderate inflation, and, paradoxically, the EU's lower price cap sweetens those discounts. Yet, a supply disruption triggered by the loss of shipping, insurance or tanker cover, or by high US duties on Indian imports, would flip the equation. Each $10 rise in crude prices adds an estimated $14 billion to India's annual import bill. Refineries geared to EU markets may have to abandon Russian feedstock or surrender premium customers. Punitive US duties would bruise Indian exports of pharmaceuticals, apparel, and machinery, sap investor confidence, and threaten jobs. The sanctions debate is not academic. It touches the factory floor and the balance sheet. India Has Been Here Before As a diplomatic trench warrior, I have seen India weather such situations before. Western sanctions followed our 1998 nuclear tests. India held its nerve through restraint and engagement. During the US-Iran standoff in the Obama administration, India devised a rupee payment mechanism to keep Iranian oil flowing. In 2022, it secured a CAATSA waiver to import Russia's S-400 air defence system. What is new now is the intensity of India's links with sanctioning partners. The EU is a vital source of trade, investment and technology. Prime Minister Modi and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to clinch a free trade agreement in 2025. The United States is India's largest export destination and key to its Indo-Pacific strategy. PM Modi and President Trump have set a $500 billion trade target for 2030 and aim to sign the first tranche of a trade agreement this autumn. Also, negotiations are underway on reciprocal tariffs scheduled to take effect on August 1. Meanwhile, India values its defence and diplomatic ties with Russia. The escalating sanctions are stress-testing India's three-cornered strategy. Walking a tightrope is hard enough. Juggling three flaming torches on that rope is quite another level of difficulty. Engagement Strategy Rhetoric won't ease tensions; deliberate diplomacy might. The EU financial measures bite only when buyers rely on European services. Moreover, tracing the origin of molecules in diesel or aviation fuel is technically fraught. It makes enforcement tricky, save at the Nayara refinery, where Rosneft holds a stake. India should quietly pursue regulatory clarity and carve-outs that offer compliance flexibility, without surrendering principle. With Washington, the priority is to preserve strategic trust. India can signal, discreetly, its intent to avoid dependence on any single supplier. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri has pointed out that India now imports from 40 nations, as against 27 before the start of the Ukraine conflict. Diversification is not optics. It is a strategy, and it undercuts the claim that India is "feeding Russia's war machine". Geo-economic interdependence also favours dialogue. The American Action Forum estimates that imposing 100% tariffs on the top five buyers of Russian exports, including India, would hit roughly 40% of total US imports, accounting for more than $1.3 trillion in goods. This could trigger supply shocks unseen since the pandemic. New Delhi can press this argument and, if necessary, seek a CAATSA-style waiver. A tariff war, it can convincingly show, would be a lose-lose outcome. Holding the Centre There is no virtue in grandstanding, nor wisdom in surrender. India's challenge is to retain economic and diplomatic space without becoming collateral damage in somebody else's contest. In an era where sanctions are the new missiles and tariffs the new trenches, India's credibility will rest on holding the centre calmly, clearly and on its own terms.
NDTV
27 minutes ago
- NDTV
MAGA-Style "Anti-Globalist" Politics Arrives In Japan
Tokyo: Populist ideals are gaining traction in Japan, spurred by right-wing politicians running rampant elsewhere, railing against "elitism", "globalism" and immigration. While Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition lost its upper house majority in an election on Sunday, the "Japanese first" Sanseito party, created only five years ago, increased its seats from two to 15. Sanseito's agenda comes straight from the copybook of right-wing movements such as US President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again", the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and Nigel Farage's Reform Party in Britain. This includes "stricter rules and limits" on immigration and foreign capital, opposition to "globalism" and "radical" gender policies, and a rethink on decarbonisation and vaccines, and pesticide-free agriculture. Founded on YouTube, Sanseito will "bring power back to the people", party leader Sohei Kamiya, a 47-year-old former teacher and supermarket manager, wrote in the Japan Times. Cheap labour Surveys have put immigration far down the list of voters' concerns, who are much more worried about inflation and the economy. But for Sanseito, the influx of newcomers into Japan -- where the immigration its economy badly needs is far lower than in other developed countries -- is to blame for a host of ills from crime to rising property prices to dangerous driving. "It's fine if they visit as tourists, but if you take in more and more foreigners, saying they're cheap labour, then Japanese people's wages won't rise," Kamiya said at a campaign. But he added: "We are not exclusionary. We have never called to drive out foreigners." Meanwhile, online platforms have been flooded with disinformation, some of which Japanese fact-checking groups and the government have debunked. Some posts falsely claimed that foreigners leave almost $3 billion of medical bills unpaid a year, or that Chinese residents on welfare doubled in five years. At a Sanseito election rally in front of Tokyo's Shinagawa station, where orange T-shirted party workers handed out "Stop destroying Japan!" flyers, one voter told AFP she was finally being heard. "They put into words what I had been thinking about but couldn't put into words for many years," said the 44-year-old IT worker on a precarious short-term contract. "When foreigners go to university, the Japanese government provides subsidies to them, but when we were going to university, everyone had huge debts." Moscow meddling? Russian bot accounts have been responsible for "large-scale information manipulation", according to a much-read blog post by Ichiro Yamamoto from the Japan Institute of Law and Information Systems think-tank. This has been helped by artificial intelligence, enabling better translation of material into Japanese. More understanding towards Russia -- something which was long anathema for Japanese right-wingers -- is also a theme for Kamiya. "Russia's military invasion (of Ukraine) was, of course, bad, but there are forces in the United States that drove Russia into doing that," Kamiya told AFP, denying he is "pro-Russia". He was forced during his campaign to deny receiving support from Moscow -- which has been accused of backing similar parties in other countries -- after a Sanseito candidate was interviewed by Russian state media. 'Zero illegals' As in other countries, the rise of Sanseito and its success has prompted the government to announce new immigration policies, and other parties to make promises during the election campaign. Ishiba's LDP proclaimed the goal of achieving "zero illegal foreign nationals" and said the government will strengthen the management system for immigration and residency status. Eight NGOs issued a joint statement last week, backed by over 1,000 groups, raising the alarm on "rapidly spreading xenophobia". "The argument that 'foreigners are prioritised' is totally unfounded demagoguery," the statement said. Hidehiro Yamamoto, politics and sociology professor at the University of Tsukuba, said that populism has not caught hold before because the LDP, unlike established parties elsewhere, has remained a "catch-all party". "The LDP has taken care of lower middle-class residents in cities, farmers in the countryside, and small- and mid-sized companies," Yamamoto said. And pointing to the rise and decline of other new parties in Japan in the past, he isn't sure Sanseito will last. "You can't continue gaining support only with a temporary mood among the public," Yamamoto said.
