Religious leader demands ban on beef exports and declaration of cow as national personification following contested ritual access.
A religious leader protested denial of ritual access and demanded a ban on beef exports and declaration of the cow as a national personification; mela authorities issued a notice challenging his use of a contested religious title while citing a pending civil appeal that restrains consecration, and officials reported a barricade breach raising public-order and crowd-management concerns.

Aircraft subject to a threatened 50% tariff and decertification amid a certification dispute between the U.S. and Canada.
President Trump threatened a 50% tariff on aircraft sold into the United States and said he would decertify Canadian aircraft, including Bombardier's Global Express jets, as retaliation for Canada's refusal to certify Gulfstream aircraft; the announcement lacked procedural detail, raised unprecedented safety and regulatory concerns, and follows prior U.S. duties and an ITC finding addressing related subsidy and injury claims.

India-EU free trade agreement highlights multipolar partnerships reshaping global trade, security and cooperation norms.
The expansion of trade, technology and security partnerships-illustrated by the India-EU free trade agreement-is presented as a means to foster a networked multipolar order that supports robust multilateral institutions. The piece underscores the Security Council's exclusive Charter authority to make binding decisions and authorise force, warns against rival ad hoc bodies that cannot compel universal compliance, and links the UN's effectiveness to necessary reform of the Security Council.

Aircraft tariffs threatened: 50% tariff on aircraft sold into the US and decertification of Canadian jets.
A presidential announcement threatens a 50 per cent tariff on any aircraft sold into the United States in retaliation for Canada's alleged refusal to certify Gulfstream jets, and signals reciprocal decertification of Canadian aircraft including Bombardier, using import duties and aircraft certification withdrawal as instruments of trade leverage without specified timing or procedural detail.

India US trade negotiations aim for a mutually beneficial multi sectoral bilateral trade agreement while managing divergences and enhancing cooperation.
India and the United States are negotiating a mutually beneficial multi sectoral Bilateral Trade Agreement, with divergences on trade measures and sanctions managed through high level and institutional dialogues. Bilateral cooperation also includes defence co development and interoperability, technology collaboration under the US India TRUST initiative to build trusted and resilient supply chains, and strengthened higher education links alongside consular assistance mechanisms for the Indian diaspora.

Pakistan engages EU to address export impacts of the India-EU trade deal and potential loss of GSP+ tariff advantages.
Pakistan is consulting with the European Union to address potential export impacts from the EU-India free trade agreement, which may blunt Pakistan's tariff advantage under the GSP+ preferential access that drove significant textile export growth since 2014. Officials report active bilateral and Brussels-level engagement to preserve market access and assess competitive effects on trade flows valued at about 12 billion.

US tariffs, export controls, and rising nationalism prompt a push for economic sovereignty and Swadeshi while preserving efficiency.
The Economic Survey identifies US tariffs and expanding export controls, technology denial regimes, and carbon border mechanisms as key disruptions constraining rule based trade and multilateral cooperation. It links these shifts to rising ultra nationalism and geopolitical competition, and urges deliberate cultivation of enduring national capabilities to secure economic sovereignty. The Survey endorses Swadeshi as a policy tool to ensure production continuity amid external shocks, while emphasising the need to promote domestic self reliance without sacrificing efficiency, innovation, or constructive global integration.

International cybercrime racket used social-engineering and fake profiles to extort victims via bogus customs-fee demands.
An international cybercrime racket used fake social and matrimonial profiles, social-engineering and impersonation to extort payments for purported Customs duties by directing victims to pay via supplied bank accounts and SIM-enabled channels. Investigators employed call-detail records, IP logs, social media and bank-transaction analysis and food-delivery app data to trace suspects, leading to targeted raids, seizure of devices, foreign SIMs and a debit card, arrests including a foreign national and a minor, and identification of multiple similar complaints on the national cybercrime portal.

China UK strategic partnership agrees cooperation on border security, visa waiver, trade facilitation, intelligence sharing and transnational crime.
Xi and Starmer agreed a long term comprehensive strategic partnership to enhance cooperation on trade and tariffs, pursue a unilateral 30 day visa waiver for UK nationals, and sign a bilateral services partnership. They established a border security framework including intelligence sharing to identify smuggling supply routes, engagement with manufacturers to prevent exploitation by criminal gangs, measures to prevent Chinese made engines and equipment reaching smugglers, scaled removals of those without the right to be in the UK, and intensified action against gangs producing synthetic opioids.

China's manufacturing dominance prompts calls for reciprocal trade and corrective measures to protect foreign manufacturing jobs.
The U.S. envoy warned that China's growing manufacturing dominance threatens foreign factories and jobs, urging corrective measures to secure reciprocal trade and address market access barriers. He framed recent tariff tit for tat and negotiated pauses as a context for diplomacy and further negotiations, noting planned high level visits to create space to resolve complex trade imbalances and protect domestic manufacturing.

India's potential growth could rise to 7.5-8% if manufacturing, exports and process reforms reduce costs and boost competitiveness.
The Economic Survey 2025 26 sets India's potential GDP growth at 7%, with scope to reach 7.5-8% if manufacturing and export competitiveness and process reforms (land, subsidy, cost reductions) proceed; supply side measures-PLI schemes, FDI liberalisation, logistics reforms, and sustained public capex (~4% of GDP)-and regulatory and MSME credit reforms underpin a projected 6.8-7.2% GDP growth next fiscal, while rupee depreciation may affect investor sentiment.

India must build national capabilities and strategic indispensability to protect economic sovereignty amid rising trade fragmentation.
India must prioritise building enduring national capabilities and economic sovereignty in response to shrinking rules-based trading, protectionism, weaponisation of energy, and expanded export controls. The policy calls for cultivating strategic indispensability via supply-chain continuity, reduced external dependence, targeted domestic capacity-building, and a calibrated Swadeshi approach that preserves efficiency, innovation, and selective global integration amidst export controls and technology denial regimes.

India trade policy should focus on opportunities over tariffs, citing FTAs and emerging markets' growth.
India should prioritise exploiting trade opportunities over focusing on tariffs, emphasising the strategic value of free trade agreements. India has signed over 100 regional and bilateral pacts in two decades and recently concluded an India-EU free trade agreement that grants duty-free access for most Indian exports and lowers costs for certain EU imports, reflecting a broader trend of emerging markets gaining share in global trade and supporting market access and trade liberalisation through FTAs.

Swadeshi urged as export controls, technology denials and carbon measures signal the end of naive globalisation.
Swadeshi is presented as a necessary response to export controls, technology denial regimes and carbon border mechanisms, serving both defensive and offensive functions to secure production continuity and build national capabilities. The Survey advocates pursuing import substitution, strategic resilience and strategic indispensability together while warning that Swadeshi must be a disciplined strategy: permanent protection is unsuitable where India is cost-competitive, exports at scale, or where products are general-purpose inputs, and policy must avoid shielding poor-quality producers or severing support from innovation.

Gold and silver likely to stay elevated amid global uncertainty, unless durable peace and resolved trade wars occur.
Gold and silver prices are expected to remain elevated due to safe haven demand, a weakening US dollar, and negative real rate expectations, with moderation contingent on durable peace and resolved trade wars. The Survey records lifetime highs in 2025, rising gold imports and a marked increase in the gold component of reserves-attributed to valuation gains and reserve diversification-while projecting moderate rises for base metals and noting a World Bank forecast of a roughly 7% decline in global commodity prices in FY27, subject to geopolitical risks.

India-EU free trade agreement offers 93% Indian exports duty-free access, urging manufacturers to boost quality.
A concluded Free Trade Agreement between India and the EU grants duty-free access for about 93% of Indian shipments to the 27-nation bloc, lowers costs for certain imports, and establishes a large integrated market; the government urges manufacturers to expand capacity and improve quality to seize export opportunities.

Domestic demand and credit-led growth without productivity or export gains weakens currency and raises capital cost risk premia.
Reliance on domestic demand and credit-enabled consumption without commensurate productivity and export gains raises near-term activity but does not materially strengthen surplus formation and, in a structurally savings-short setting, tends to sustain a weaker currency and elevate rollover risk premia in domestic capital costs; durable reduction in the cost of capital therefore requires higher productivity, manufacturing competitiveness, sustained export growth, and a transition to structural savings strength, with financial deepening supporting but not substituting for these real-sector changes.

Economic Survey urges India to pursue long-term resilience while maintaining short-term agility amid geopolitical turbulence.
Economic Survey 2025-26 prescribes a dual stance of long-term resilience and short-term agility: pursue structural reforms to maximise domestic growth while building buffers, redundancy, and liquidity to absorb geopolitical shocks; treat policy credibility and administrative discipline as strategic assets to bolster investor interest and export earnings needed to finance rising import bills.

Economic growth projections and policy shifts signal GST adjustment, fiscal consolidation, and Swadeshi strategic push for manufacturing competitiveness.
Prioritises sustaining growth and completing fiscal consolidation with GDP projections of 6.8-7.2% next fiscal and a commitment to a fiscal deficit target of 4.4% of GDP; anticipates moderate near-term inflation and cautions on financial contagion risk if AI productivity gains disappoint. Announces GST restructuring as an adjustment factor, urges cautious engagement with external uncertainty, and promotes trade and industrial measures-including FTA engagement with Europe, a disciplined Swadeshi approach, a National Input Cost Reduction strategy, progression toward strategic indispensability, and reforms for gig-worker terms-to boost manufacturing competitiveness and export resilience.

Free trade agreements provide reliable market access and drive export competitiveness while relying on state-level implementation.
An expanding network of Free Trade Agreements provides reliable market access, enabling export-focused firms to boost production and integrate into global value chains while exposing them to international competition that drives productivity and reliability. The benefits of these agreements increasingly hinge on state-level implementation, with states required to supply infrastructure, regulatory certainty, and administrative coordination for firms to realise export competitiveness.