World Bank Group President Ajay Banga (Photo-AP)

India should “think less” about tariffs and focus more on opportunities to expand trade, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said on Thursday, as geopolitical tensions continue to cloud the global trade outlook.Interacting with media during a visit to the Central Tool Room and Training Centre (CTTC) in Bhubaneswar, Banga pointed to India’s growing engagement through trade agreements, noting that the country has signed more than 100 regional and bilateral pacts over the past two decades, with the recently concluded India–European Union free trade agreement as a key example, PTI reported.

“Think less about the tariffs, and more about the opportunities like you (India) have done (the FTA) with the European Union,” he said, stressing that all trade deals are important in an evolving global landscape.Highlighting shifts in global commerce, Banga said world trade has quadrupled over the last 20 years, while the share of emerging markets has doubled from 20 per cent to 40 per cent. “If you look at the way trade has changed over last two decades, the global trade has quadrupled, while the share of the emerging markets doubled from 20 per cent to 40 per cent. Therfore, emerging markets like India have now become key components in the global trade,” he said.India and the EU recently announced the conclusion of negotiations for the long-pending free trade agreement, often described as the ‘mother of all deals’. Under the pact, 93 per cent of Indian shipments will get duty-free access to the 27-nation bloc, while imports of luxury cars and wines from the EU are set to become cheaper.The agreement, finalised after negotiations spanning nearly two decades, will create a market of around 2 billion people, bringing together India, the world’s fourth-largest economy, and the EU, the second-largest economic bloc.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s captain Smriti Mandhana and teammate Richa Ghosh celebrate their victory (PTI Photo)

Former champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru produced a commanding all-round display to thrash UP Warriorz by eight wickets, sealing their spot in the WPL final and all but ending the opposition’s playoff hopes here on Thursday. After opting to bowl, RCB clawed their way back impressively despite a brisk start from UP Warriorz. Nadine de Klerk led the fightback with a brilliant spell of 4 for 22, while Grace Harris chipped in with 2 for 22, as UPW slipped from a strong position to post a modest 143 for eight.

Harris then made the chase a one-sided affair. The Australian unleashed a blistering 75 off just 37 deliveries, ensuring RCB romped home with 41 balls to spare. The emphatic victory lifted RCB to 12 points, confirming a top-of-the-table finish in the five-team competition. In contrast, UP Warriorz were left rooted to the bottom with four points and the poorest net run-rate, their campaign hanging by a thread despite having a game in hand. Harris set the tempo early, targeting Kranti Gaud in the powerplay and plundering five boundaries in the third over alone. She reached her half-century in just 28 balls, lifting Asha Sobhana over long-on, and dominated a 108-run stand with captain Smriti Mandhana. Mandhana played the perfect supporting role, bringing up a classy fifty off 26 balls. Although Harris was eventually bowled by Shikha Pandey while attempting to work a cross-seam delivery, the result was already beyond doubt, with only 36 runs needed and plenty of overs left. Earlier, UP Warriorz had looked well placed thanks to Deepti Sharma’s fluent 55 off 43 balls, her first fifty of the season. Deepti and Meg Lanning put on their best opening stand of the campaign, adding 72 in just 49 balls. However, once Lanning fell, the innings lost momentum. From a comfortable 74 without loss after eight overs, UPW slumped to 103 for four as de Klerk and Harris tightened the screws through the middle phase. De Klerk removed Lanning and trapped Amy Jones lbw, before Harris struck in consecutive overs to dismiss Harleen Deol and Chloe Tryon, swinging the contest decisively in RCB’s favour.

Microsoft led a pullback on Wall Street on Thursday, with US stocks retreating from record levels after the tech heavyweight logged its steepest single-day fall in years, weighing on broader market sentiment. While gold prices also reversed sharply after a blistering run, reflecting a broader cooling of risk appetite across global markets.Microsoft sank 12.3% despite reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue for the latest quarter. Investors focused instead on the scale of its capital spending, concerns over a potential slowdown in Azure cloud growth, and uncertainty over when its heavy investments in artificial intelligence will translate into meaningful profits. The stock was on track for its worst day since the Covid-led market crash of 2020 and accounted for more than half of the S&P 500’s decline.The S&P 500 fell 1.1% after briefly hovering near an all-time high earlier in the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 203 points, or 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.1%.Tesla also weighed on sentiment, slipping 2% after posting higher-than-expected quarterly profit that was still sharply lower than a year earlier. Chief executive Elon Musk has urged investors to look beyond weak car sales towards the company’s ambitions in robotaxis and robotics.Several other large technology stocks came under pressure. ServiceNow tumbled 10.7% despite delivering a profit beat, extending a slide that has been under way since last summer.Gains elsewhere offered only limited support. Meta Platforms rose 7.4% after topping earnings expectations, even as it reiterated plans for heavy AI-related investments. IBM climbed 5.7% on strong results, while Southwest Airlines surged 12.9% after issuing an upbeat earnings outlook for 2026 despite a quarterly profit miss.In commodities, gold prices reversed sharply after touching fresh highs earlier in the day. Bullion briefly traded near $5,600 an ounce before sliding back to $5,274.30, down 1.2% on the day, after crossing the $5,000 mark for the first time earlier this week. Silver fell 1.6%, while bitcoin dropped more than 5% to below $85,000.Market participants said the pullback reflected profit-taking after what many viewed as an overheated rally in precious metals driven by concerns over geopolitical risks, high government debt and stretched equity valuations.In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury eased to 4.23% from 4.26% late Wednesday. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday paused its rate-cut cycle, citing inflation that remains above its 2% target. President Donald Trump renewed criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, pressing again for lower interest rates.Overseas, equity markets were largely higher, with South Korea’s Kospi rising 1% to a fresh record, helped by gains in chipmaker SK Hynix, according to AP.

NEW DELHI: In an urgent missive to Election Commission, Congress on Thursday accused the ruling BJP of using the EC’s Form 7 to target genuine voters for wrongful deletion in the Claim and Objection phase of the SIR in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.AICC general secretary and MP KC Venugopal, in a complaint to EC, termed the watchdog’s inaction in addressing concerns about systematic subversion of electoral rolls revision as worrisome and urged immediate steps to prevent BJP from misusing the electoral rolls to gain unfair electoral advantage.

“These actions, if not taken cognizance of by the Commission, … will lead to the disenfranchisement of lakhs of voters, especially those belonging to the backward, marginalised communities,” he said, adding that backward communities are being targeted by BJP.Venugopal said Form 7 serves a narrow purpose of raising objection to a voter’s name with fact-based reasons like death or duplication, and “is not meant for generalised or speculative objections”. He said the burden of proof too rests on the person filing the Form, with penalties prescribed for making a false submission.Specifying the pattern involved in engineering wrongful deletion, Venugopal said Form 7 is being generated in bulk through a centralised system, which is then being used to raise objections in bulk against targetted categories of electors, including SCs, STs, the minorities and senior citizens. He said these forms are then being handed over to BLOs across multiple constituencies through a well-organised mechanism. The striking feature here is the absence of clear and verifiable particulars of the individual submitting the Form 7, though EC mandates disclosure of an objector’s identity along with documentary material substantiating the objection. He said in many instances, the alleged objectors denied filing the objections.“This casts serious doubts over the sanctity of the entire SIR process being undertaken,” he said.Congress urged EC to institute real-time supervision over the voter deletion process and the monitoring of Form 7 applications, including their issuance and submission. It also sought investigation under Article 324 into misuse of Form 7. Congress further urged EC to release disaggregated data relating to Form-7 applications for all 12 States undergoing SIR.

Pune: The black box of the Learjet that crashed in Baramati has been recovered, and the investigation is proceeding expeditiously, the ministry of civil aviation said on Thursday, a day after the tragedy in which deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed.The black box, comprising the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), records technical flight parameters and cockpit audio providing critical information to the investigators. A source said, “It is being checked if the equipment and data were damaged in any way because of the fire. Data extraction generally takes some more time in such a situation.” A team of three officers from the Aircraft Accident Bureau, Delhi, and another team of three officers from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Mumbai regional office reached the crash site on Wednesday, the ministry added. On Wednesday, the Learjet operated by Delhi-based VSR Ventures took off from Mumbai and crashed at 8.44 am just short of runway 11 of Baramati airport. The accident has drawn focus to the lack of ground-based navigation aids at the Baramati airport. The airport was transferred to the MADC (Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd) last year on instructions of the late deputy chief minister.While multiple calls and text messages sent to MADC vice-chairman-cum-managing director Swati Pandey went unanswered, sources told TOI that the govt resolution on the transfer of the facility to MADC came only in December. Before the facility went to the MADC, it was with the MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation). The Baramati airport does not have any commercial flight movements, but records movement of non-scheduled flight operations due to its proximity to the Pawar family. Baramati is an uncontrolled airfield, which means air traffic navigation services are provided by the instructors and pilots of a local flying training organisation and not the Airports Authority of India.Aviation sources said that flying on chartered rotor or fixed wing aircraft has increased by more than 100% compared to seven to eight years ago. “Heavy flying definitely puts pressure on the pilots, considering that they have to fly many times across less known terrains and runways. On average, jets are flying more than 100 hours a month against three hours to 40 hours a month some years back,” said Ishwarchandra Gulgule, MD, Kaigu Aviation, Pune.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticised European countries over the trade deal with India on Wednesday.Asked in an interview with CNBC whether the India-EU trade deal threatened US interests, Bessent said countries should do what is best for themselves. But he said he was “very disappointed” with Europe’s actions, especially given the war in Ukraine.

“We have put 25% tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Guess what happened last week? The Europeans signed a trade deal with India,” he said.“The Europeans are on the front line of the Ukraine-Russia war,” Bessent further said. He pointed out that while India began buying sanctioned Russian oil, European countries later bought the refined products. “So, the Europeans have been funding the war against themselves,” he said.Bessent added that the US had imposed a 25 per cent tariff on India for buying Russian oil, but said European countries did not join Washington’s efforts. “The Europeans were unwilling to join us and it turns out because they wanted to do this trade deal,” he said.He said Europe had placed trade interests above the war in Ukraine. “Every time you hear a European talk about the importance of the Ukrainian people remember that they put trade ahead of the Ukrainian people,” Bessent said. “European trade, more important than ending the war in Ukraine.”His comments came a day after India and the European Union announced they had concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement, ending talks that began nearly 20 years ago. The deal, described by Indian officials as the “mother of all deals”, is India’s 19th trade agreement.The agreement is expected to boost India’s exports to the 27-nation EU bloc and change competition for several domestic industries. It comes at a time when global trade is under strain due to high US tariffs, fragile supply chains and ongoing geopolitical tensions, including the Russia-Ukraine war.India is currently facing high tariffs from the United States, while the European Union is also at risk of higher American duties.

As the cricketing world turns its gaze toward the co-hosted spectacle in India and Sri Lanka, the buzz surrounding the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 has reached a fever pitch. With India entering the tournament as the defending champions, the question isn’t just whether they can reach the final on home soil, but who will be standing across from them at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Recently, a panel of legendary Indian cricketers and analysts on Star Sports weighed in, and the consensus was unanimous, India is the team to beat.

Indian experts shortlist the most likely finalists against India

In a high-profile discussion on Star Sports, a Who’s who of Indian cricket history shared their visions for the 2026 final. While every single expert confidently placed India in the summit clash, their predictions for the other finalist revealed a fascinating divide in how they perceive the current global T20 hierarchy.

The predictions from the panel are summarized below:

The data suggests a heavyweight tilt toward Australia, with Irfan Pathan, Aakash Chopra, and Sanjay Bangar all anticipating a high-stakes rematch of the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Meanwhile, veteran spinners like Anil Kumble and batting stalwarts like Cheteshwar Pujara are wary of England’s Bazball-influenced T20 aggression. Interestingly, Suresh Raina stood out as the lone voice backing New Zealand, perhaps acknowledging the Black Caps’ uncanny ability to over-perform in ICC events.

Also READ: Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan and other experts predict Team India’s leading run-scorer at T20 World Cup 2026

India to begin their title defence at home

India’s journey to defend the title they clinched in 2024 is structured as a marathon, not a sprint. As co-hosts, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side enjoys the luxury of familiar conditions and a partisan home crowd, but the pressure of being the hunted rather than the hunter is immense.

India’s schedule begins in Group A, where they are slated to face the USA (Feb 7), Namibia (Feb 12), Pakistan (Feb 15), and the Netherlands (Feb 18). While the clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo is the undeniable headliner of the group stage, India’s path to the trophy requires navigating the treacherous Super 8 stage, where they are expected to encounter the world’s top-seeded teams.

The Indian management has already signaled a shift toward a “strike-rate first” philosophy, prioritizing explosive hitters like Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma alongside the clinical finishing of Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh. With the final scheduled for March 8, 2026, in Ahmedabad, the roadmap is clear: dominate the powerplays, rely on the mastery of Jasprit Bumrah in the death overs, and turn the home advantage into a historic third T20 World Cup title.

Also READ: ‘When your leader…’: Rahul Dravid makes big comment on Rohit Sharma’s influence as Indian captain

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