I've always been fascinated by India. It's my mum's favourite country and the house we share is full of treasures from her travels there, from peacock fans and silk scarves, to jewellery boxes carved from mango wood. I grew up hearing spellbinding tales of painted elephants and mirrored palaces, and India soon occupied a special place in my imagination. Having got to 42 without making it to the promised land,
US tech giant Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will invest $17.5 billion (15 billion) in India over the next four years as it looks to strengthen the country's cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Satya Nadella shared the news of Microsoft's largest-ever investment in Asia in a post on X after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Nadella said the multi-billion-dollar commitment is aimed at helping India develop the "infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities" essential for an AI-driven future. Nadella is currently on a three-day visit to India, meeting policymakers and participating in AI-related events in Bengaluru the nation's technology center and Mumbai, its financial capital.
AI has soaked up most of the venture capital raised globally and the 20-year-old VC firm also sees AI as a defining technological shift. But it argues crowding into a single, overheated category carries its own risks. India's digital economy provides a counterbalance: an expanding market where AI adoption is rising and opportunities remain more diverse. For Nexus, that balance is rooted in its origins. The Delaware-headquartered firm, with offices in Menlo Park, Mumbai and Bengaluru, has operated as a single fund and an integrated U.S.-India team since its founding in 2006.
India faces an unprecedented diplomatic challenge after a court in Bangladesh this week sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity. Hasina has been living in exile in India since a massive youth-led uprising ended her 15-year rule in August 2024. UN investigators estimate up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violent repression of the mass protests.
Indian media reports have not confirmed the death toll, but one official reported that up to 45 people many from the southern Indian state of Telangana, had perished. Diplomats and politicians expressed their condolences over the tragic incident. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on social media that he was deeply saddened, that his thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones, and that he was praying for the swift recovery of all those injured.
At the turn of the 20th century, a young Sicilian woman who will soon marry a "rich American" presents two postcards, supposedly from the United States, to a village elder. The first depicts a man holding a wheelbarrow that contains a massive onion, so large that it dwarfs both the wheelbarrow and the man. The second postcard displays a tree that is bursting with coins, as if money is sprouting from the branches.
In good news for the States, GitHub's numbers show that the country has been a "steady number one" in terms of developer population for the last five years, with a current coding community of 28 million. But India will add another 35.6 million-plus devs between now and 2030, taking it to 57.5 million or more, ahead of the projected 54.7 million calling the US home.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently vetoed what would have been landmark legislation aimed at protecting Californians from transnational repression, when foreign governments target diaspora communities and expatriates living in other countries. Newsom's decision is a missed opportunity to help Californians feel safer, especially the state's sizable South Asian community, which for years has faced intimidation and violence orchestrated by India's Hindu nationalist government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Australia host a five-match T20 series against World Cup holders India as the teams prep for the 2026 edition. India's white-ball tour of Australia turns to the T20s as the sides play a five-game series in the format. The matches, which follow the one-day internationals (ODIs) between the sides, mark a crucial contest as the nations prepare for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Leaders are gathering in Gyeongju, South Korea, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a grouping that promotes trade, investment and economic cooperation among the economies of the Asia-Pacific region. Before its main event begins on Friday, this year's summit was already dominated by a meeting on the sidelines Thursday between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, who agreed to cool trade tensions for the time being.
India will be formally approved as hosts of the centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030 next month as the country steps up its ambitions to stage the 2036 Olympics. Commonwealth Sport says its executive board had recommended Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, as the host city for the 2030 Games ahead of what it called an ambitious bid by Nigeria. The decision still needs to be ratified by a general assembly in Glasgow on 26 November, but multiple sources described that process a formality.
Patent applications are a key indicator of a country's innovative capacity. A high volume of filings indicates effective research and development (R&D) activity, economic competitiveness, and a forward-looking approach to growth and productivity. Patent application filings don't actually record nationality or immigration background. But using a unique methodology, which assigns inventors' first names to one of 24 language areas, the IW patent database claims to be able to track "the region of origin" of inventors with a high degree of accuracy.
For the last month, Indian police have raided multiple markets and homes, arresting Muslim men in states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party. Some of their homes have been bulldozed. The genesis of their alleged crime is common: writing, I Love Muhammad, a reference to Prophet Muhammad, on posters, t-shirts, or in social media posts. The authorities say the expression is threatening public order.
Floods in Pakistan and India re-ignite the debate on the mounting cost of global disasters. Global natural disasters are striking harder and more often, with climate emergencies now breaking records year after year. The UN says a child born today faces a nearly nine in 10 chance of experiencing a catastrophic flood during their lifetime.
India on Friday announced that it was reopening its embassy in Kabul, four years after it was shut following the 2021 return of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The announcement was made by Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar during a bilateral meeting with his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi. "I am pleased to announce today the upgrading of India's Technical Mission in Kabul to the status of Embassy of India," Jaishankar said.
Most winners in the Indian hotels category were found across Northern metropolises like New Delhi or Jaipur, but Chennai's The Leela Palace and Bengaluru's JW Marriott are two glittering spots in India's south which snuck into the top 10, too. The Mughal extravagance of The Oberoi Rajvilas and Samode Haveli also caught your eye, but it was the experiential thrills (from kalbelia dancing to vintage car rides) and princely service of Rambagh Palace that took it to first place.
Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Friday that would impose an annual $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, dealing a potentially major blow to the US tech industry, which relies more than any other sector of the US economy on immigrants who hold these visas. Trump's threat to crack down on H-1B visas has become a major flashpoint with the tech industry.
Floods in Pakistan and India re-ignite the debate on the mounting cost of global disasters. Global natural disasters are striking harder and more often, with climate emergencies now breaking records year after year. The UN says a child born today faces a nearly nine in 10 chance of experiencing a catastrophic flood during their lifetime. The financial toll is staggering, with more than $200bn a year.
Called the India Deep Tech Investment Alliance, the group brings together Celesta Capital, Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Ideaspring Capital, Premji Invest, Tenacity Ventures, and Venture Catalysts, the firms said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The launch follows the Indian government's approval of a ₹1 trillion (approximately $11 billion) Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) scheme, announced in the national budget earlier this year to boost deep tech R&D.
The backlog in visa appointments dates to the Trump administration's pause on all student visa interviews in late May, after which the government began mandating social media reviews for all F-1 visa applicants. Some experts argue that the mandatory social media reviews have also extended the visa process by adding more responsibilities to the workload of consulate staff. Since then, experts have speculated about how significant the drop in international student enrollment will be this fall.
"No bank, financial institution, or any other person facilitating financial transactions or authorization of funds shall engage in, permit, aid, abet, induce, or otherwise facilitate any transaction or authorization of funds towards payment for any online money gaming service."
Perplexity is enhancing its Finance dashboard by adding live transcriptions of quarterly earnings calls for Indian public companies and providing a schedule for post-results conference calls.
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