In yet another theft incident plaguing India’s suburbs, a man walked into a bank on a busy Kerala highway, locked its staffers in the washroom at knifepoint, and escaped on his scooter with Rs 15 lakh in cash — all within two-and-a-half minutes. CCTV visuals have shown the backpack-wearing man pulling up outside the Federal Bank branch at Potta in Thrissur district at around 1.30 pm on Friday — when most of the staff was away on lunch break.
With that, let’s move on to the top 5 stories from today’s edition:
🚨 Big Story
In what can be termed as the “first firm deadline for a bilateral deal,” Delhi and Washington sent clear signals Thursday of their resolve to address the issue of tariffs and get down to business quickly by starting talks for a trade pact and sealing it by fall this year. This direction comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump met in the White House this week. The agreement means that negotiators have 7-8 months when Trump is expected in India for a summit of the Quad leaders.
Is this a good plan? The two leaders announced plans to double the total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. Trade experts have suggested the bilateral deal would likely involve India lowering tariffs to allow greater entry of American goods, rather than the US reciprocating, as US average tariffs are already among the lowest in the world. This is not the best time for a trade deal with the US, as it does not respect free trade agreements under the current administration, a New Delhi-based think tank highlighted.
While majority of the discussions after PM Modi met Trump involved India buying more defence equipment and energy (oil and gas) from the US, it is noteworthy that the US President has threatened of “reciprocal tariffs,” a trigger for India’s latest trade pacts. Under what Trump calls a “fair” system, the US will charge the same level of tariffs on goods coming into the US as others are charging on US exports. How will these reciprocal tariffs be calculated? Why is Trump doing this? Udit Misra explains.
Challenges ahead: While President Trump is set to visit India later this year to attend the Quad summit, the two sides have given themselves a few months to implement many of the ambitious goals they outlined this week. “While Modi has been quick, his challenge lies in galvanising the sluggish Indian bureaucracy to turn the new American opportunities into concrete outcomes. Success also depends on the government’s appetite for reforms,” C Raja Mohan explains it all here.
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Back in India: Days after an aircraft carrying 104 Indians from the US landed in Amritsar, and a discussion on illegal immigration took place between PM Modi and US president Trump, a second aircraft carrying 119 deported Indians from the country is set to land at Amritsar airport on Saturday.
⚡ Only in Express
32-year-old Simran Preet Panesar, who is facing a Canada-wide warrant and is wanted by the Canadian authorities for his alleged role in the gold heist of over $20 million, the largest in the country’s history, is living on the outskirts of Chandigarh with his family. In over a month-long investigation, The Indian Express, in collaboration with the CBC News: The Fifth Estate, Canada, tracked Panesar, only for him to refuse to speak “on record”, citing “legal reasons”.
📰 Express Opinion
In our Opinion section today, Sumana Roy shares her curiosity about songs on mausam in times of climate change and its extensive usage as part of love itself. Roy writes: “Our complaint now, made with as much bafflement as an impersonal sadness, about how love, its sweetness and translucence, has disappeared from our cinema, where we implicitly blame a “third person” that is not really a person but a machine, the smartphone, is perhaps related to the disappearance of mausam from our senses… its transfer from skin to screen, where we are made aware of it only through a language of numbers, the temperature and the AQI.”
🏏 Express Sports
Of sun, shadow and dew in Dubai: With only a week to go for India’s opening match against Bangladesh for the Champions Trophy, one must delve into the key elements India will have to factor in during their stay in Dubai, where they will play all their fixtures. This includes, shadow of the gigantic concrete structure, slower in the day, slight dew in the night, bit of live grass and largely batting-friendly conditions. Amidst these factors, one question lingers. Has India taken a gamble by including five spinners and just three seamers for the Dubai trip?
🎥 Movie Review
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Wondering what to binge-watch this weekend? Well, we’ve got you covered! Chhaava, based on the high-points of the life of Sambhaji Maharaj, the son of Shivaji Maharaj, will leave you pondering upon the cliche question: How much is fact, and how much fiction. Shubhra Gupta, in her review, writes: “The torture porn, supervised by Aurangzeb’s cruel daughter (Diana Penty, who’s having a bit of a costumed revival in period dramas), reminds you of the systematic flaying of Jesus in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of Christ’. It is relentless, and ends, as does the film, in an exhausting blur.”
That’s all for today. Have a lovely weekend!
Until next time,
Ariba
