PM Modi at Somnath temple in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district on Sunday

AHMEDABAD/RAJKOT: India must remain vigilant against “merchants of appeasement” who are still active and hatching conspiracies to divide the country, PM Modi said Sunday while projecting Gujarat’s ancient Somnath temple as a model of resistance to what he termed “religious terrorism”. PM Modi carried the broader theme of resilience to the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference in Rajkot, where he assured investors that the country offers “extraordinary certainty” amid global turbulence. At a rally in Somnath, where the shrine was rebuilt over centuries of pillage by invaders, the PM accused unnamed historians and politicians of obfuscating what had happened. “Those with a mindset of religious extremism tried to disguise religious terrorism as merely motivated by wealth. They even wrote books to conceal the cruel history of hatred, atrocities and terrorism,” he said.PM Modi: In face of great global uncertainty, India stands outPM Modi said the temple’s history was inseparable from the valour of protectors like Raval Kanhardev, Veer Hamirji and Vegda Bhil, who never received due recognition for thwarting a succession of attempts to destroy the shrine. “There are no parallels anywhere in the world to Somnath’s retaliation against religious terrorism.” Harking back to how Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel faced hurdles after pledging to renovate Somnath and objections by some quarters to former President Rajendra Prasad’s 1951 temple visit, the PM said the “same forces” continue to pursue that agenda. “Only their methods have changed. In place of swords, they are now using vile means against India,” he said. In Rajkot, 200km from Somnath, PM Modi cited recent assessments by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rating agencies S&P and Fitch as evidence of rising global confidence in India’s economy. S&P upgraded India’s rating outlook after 18 years, he said, while IMF has described the country as the engine of global growth. “In the face of great global uncertainty, India today stands out,” PM Modi said. “There’s political stability, continuity in policy, and the rapid expansion of the neo-middle class with rising purchasing power.” The PM pointed to sectoral shifts, saying that from importing nine of every 10 mobile phones in 2014, India now ranks second globally in manufacturing handsets. The country has also become the largest consumer of mobile data and hosts the world’s largest real-time digital payments platform through UPI, he said. It has the third-largest startup ecosystem, ranks among the top three in solar power generation and has emerged as the third-largest aviation market, PM Modi said. “This Reform Express won’t halt,” PM Modi said before reprising his Red Fort punchline, “Yehi samay hai, sahi samay hai (This time is the right time).”

BENGALURU: Background verification firms and corporate forensic teams are flagging cases of location spoofing, particularly among hybrid employees and gig workers. In several instances, employees have been pulled up after allegedly misrepresenting their actual work location, with such discrepancies surfacing during random audits, compliance checks, or client reviews. Investigations found that some used travel routers or similar devices to make it appear they were working from their designated base locations while actually operating from elsewhere.An employee at an MNC firm was terminated after being flagged for location spoofing while working remotely, according to a post shared on the social media platform Reddit. The individual said he was with the company for a couple of years and travelled to his home country in South Asia last month due to a family emergency. To avoid drawing attention, the employee said they used a travel router configured with a cloud-based server to make it appear as though they were working from the US. According to the Reddit post, the employee was subsequently interviewed by an internal investigator and was terminated for violating the company’s business conduct guidelines by masking his actual work location. Amit Rahane, partner at EY’s Forensic and Integrity Services, said location spoofing is no longer theoretical. “Companies are detecting such cases through compliance audits, security reviews, and client checks rather than active surveillance. Many employees underestimate how much data is captured. Several controls were introduced during Covid to monitor moonlighting—such as IP tracking and login analytics—and these systems remain in place. As a result, location inconsistencies are often detected even without targeted monitoring,” he said.Ashok Hariharan, cofounder and CEO of identity verification platform Idfy, said companies want to verify whether a gig worker went to a specific location—for instance, whether a delivery was genuinely attempted at a customer’s residence. “Second, there are cases where a gig worker hands over their phone to another person. To prevent this, companies rely on face-matching tools alongside location data. Third, some apps are used to mask delivery attempts. In such cases, a phone may remain stationary while the app falsely indicates that the worker travelled and attempted the delivery. Since gig workers are sometimes paid even for attempted deliveries, this creates a potential fraud risk.” Hariharan said location spoofing can be identified by combining IP and VPN intelligence with GPS-based checks. “Monitoring these geographic and temporal signals enables authorities to anticipate where financial crime is likely to emerge next and intervene proactively. The same approach, correlating IP/VPN detection with GPS validation, can also be applied to identify location spoofing across a wide range of other use cases.”Idfy’s Hariharan said the process also involves validating GPS and sensor data, detecting rogue apps manipulating location, identifying VPN usage through latency and traffic patterns, and using device biometrics and behavioural signals, much of which is data science-driven.Rahane said most companies avoid active surveillance due to privacy concerns, with detection typically occurring through security audits, compliance checks, or client reviews. Forensic teams analyse controls such as geo-fencing, two-factor authentication, attendance logs, IP geolocation, Wi-Fi SSIDs, frequent location jumps, and unusual login times during routine audits. “VPN tools have become more sophisticated, but corporate systems still capture patterns beyond just IP masking, login behaviour, device fingerprints, and usage anomalies can still expose spoofing. It’s not as foolproof as employees assume,” he added.

Indian equity markets are set for an event-heavy week ahead, with investors closely tracking the onset of the December quarter earnings season, key domestic and global inflation data, and developments on the global macro and geopolitical front, analysts said, PTI reported.Quarterly results from several heavyweight companies across information technology, banking, financial services and energy sectors, including TCS and Infosys, are expected to provide the first major cues on corporate performance for the October–December period.“This week marks the start of the earnings season alongside a busy macroeconomic calendar. Investors will closely track India’s CPI inflation, WPI inflation,” Ajit Mishra, SVP – Research at Religare Broking Ltd, said, adding that results from major companies will be critical for near-term market direction.Global developments are also likely to remain firmly on investors’ radar. Mishra said markets would keenly watch the US Supreme Court verdict on the legality of Trump-era tariffs, which could emerge as a key sentiment driver, along with ongoing geopolitical developments.Currency movement and crude oil prices are expected to be other important variables during the week, analysts noted, given their influence on foreign fund flows and inflation expectations.“On the domestic front, the market is also entering the Q3 corporate earnings season, which will be a key near-term trigger for index direction and sectoral moves,” said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart Ltd.He said several heavyweight companies across indices are scheduled to announce results this week, including TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys, Jio Financial Services, Reliance Industries and Tech Mahindra.“Earnings commentary and management guidance from these leaders will play a crucial role in shaping market sentiment,” Gour added.The domestic equity market ended the previous week on a bearish note, weighed down by renewed US tariff threats, geopolitical tensions and persistent foreign fund outflows. The BSE benchmark Sensex declined 2,185.77 points, or 2.54 per cent, during the week, while the NSE Nifty slipped 645.25 points, or 2.45 per cent.Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, said investors would closely track a host of inflation and macroeconomic data releases scheduled during the week.“India’s December CPI, WPI food and manufacturing inflation data, along with the US core CPI, retail sales and home sales numbers, will be released throughout the week. These data points will influence expectations around the pace and timing of monetary policy easing by major central banks,” he said.Such expectations, he added, have implications for global capital flows, currency movements and emerging market sentiment.Vikram Kasat, Head – Advisory at PL Capital, said Q3 earnings will take centre stage, particularly for IT stocks, as major players begin announcing results.“Any commentary from the US on trade policy and deal negotiations will also be keenly watched,” Kasat said.

Google has expanded the shopping capabilities of its Gemini AI chatbot by partnering with major retailers including Walmart, Shopify and Wayfair, enabling users to browse and buy products directly within the chatbot, the company said on Sunday, AP reported.The move, announced on the opening day of the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York, positions Gemini as both a virtual shopping assistant and a transaction platform, allowing customers to complete purchases without leaving the chat interface.According to Google and Walmart, an instant checkout feature will let users buy products from participating retailers through multiple payment providers directly inside Gemini. Customers who link their Walmart and Gemini accounts will receive personalised recommendations based on past purchases, and items bought through the chatbot can be added to their existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online carts.“The transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” Walmart’s incoming president and CEO John Furner said in a joint statement with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.Google said Gemini’s shopping feature can respond to product-related queries — such as recommendations for ski gear — by pulling items from participating retailers’ inventories and facilitating purchases within the same conversation.The announcement comes amid intensifying competition among tech giants to dominate AI-powered commerce. Google, OpenAI and Amazon are all racing to enable seamless shopping experiences that take users from product discovery to checkout within chatbots.OpenAI and Walmart unveiled a similar partnership in October, allowing ChatGPT users to purchase most items available on Walmart’s website through instant checkout, excluding fresh food. Ahead of the holiday shopping season, OpenAI also launched in-chat purchasing for select retailers and Etsy sellers.Salesforce estimates that artificial intelligence influenced $272 billion, or about 20 per cent, of global retail sales during the recent holiday season.Google said the AI-assisted shopping features in Gemini will initially be available only to users in the US, with international expansion planned in the coming months.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is closely monitoring escalating unrest in Iran and that he wishes peace and prosperity for the people of Iran. Describing the ongoing situation as “yoke of tyranny”, he said that Israel and the world respect the courage of protestors.In a video released by his office of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said, “We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny, and when that day comes, Israel and Iran will once again be loyal partners in building a future of prosperity and peace for both peoples.”“Israel is closely monitoring events in Iran,” he further added, “The people of Israel and the entire world are in awe of the tremendous courage of Iran’s citizens.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also echoes the Israeli PM’s statement in a video he later shared on X. He said, “We also see the people of Iran. And frankly, we wish them much success. We support their struggle for freedom. We think they deserve freedom, we think they deserve a better future.”He further went on to express that Israel has had a “huge problem” with the Iranian regime and accused Iran of being an exporter of terrorism and radicalism.“We don’t have any hostility with the people of Iran. We have a huge problem, which is not only our problem, it’s a regional and international problem with the Iranian regime, which is the number one exporter of terrorism, radicalism. We have just heard what the Americans had described about their deed in Venezuela. It’s a really vicious regime.”The comments came as Netanyahu and US secretary of state Marco Rubio held a meeting focused on Iran’s internal turmoil and discussing possibilities of US intervention in the matter. While details of the discussion were not disclosed, Israeli officials said coordination with Washington remained “critical.”Earlier on Sunday, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that if the United States attacked Iran, “both the occupied territory and centres of the US military and shipping will be our legitimate targets.” An Israeli military official later said the army was “preparing defensively” and would be ready to respond if necessary.The United States has not signalled plans for imminent action, but tensions have risen sharply since Iran accused Washington and Israel of inciting nationwide protests aimed at destabilising Iran.Iran has been gripped by days of deadly demonstrations, initially sparked by rising living costs but quickly expanding into broader anti-government protests challenging the theocratic leadership that has ruled since 1979. Authorities have blamed foreign interference, while protesters have called for sweeping political change.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has arrested seven people linked to a transnational cybercrime syndicate that used illegal SIM box technology to defraud citizens across India. Investigators said the accused, including a Taiwanese national and a woman, had links to Chinese, Cambodian and Pakistani scam networks. A SIM box is a device that holds multiple SIM cards and enables fraudsters to bypass legitimate telecom networks by rerouting international calls through local numbers. Police said the accused exploited this technology to carry out a large-scale “digital arrest” scam. The accused have been identified as Parvinder Singh (38), Shashi Prasad (53), I-Tsung Chen (30), Sarbdeep Singh (33), Jaspreet Kaur (28), Abdus Salam (33) and Dinesh K (30), residents of Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab and Taiwan. According to police, the racket, operational since Sept last year, is estimated to have cheated thousands of victims of around Rs 100 crore. Victims received calls from fraudsters impersonating Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials. The callers falsely accused them of links to terror incidents such as the Pahalgam attack and the Delhi blasts, threatened immediate arrest and coerced them into transferring money under intense psychological pressure. Investigators found that the fraud calls were deliberately routed through low-frequency 2G networks to evade real-time location tracking. Though the calls appeared to originate from Indian numbers, they were actually placed from abroad—primarily Cambodia—and routed into India via SIM box installations. Police said the syndicate used sophisticated techniques to evade detection, including overwriting and rotating IMEI numbers and merging multiple SIM box units into a single virtual system. This resulted in call records showing the same number originating from multiple cities on the same day, misleading law enforcement agencies. DCP (IFSO) Vinit Kumar constituted a team that first arrested Shashi Prasad, custodian of a SIM box setup in Delhi, and Parvinder Singh, an active facilitator. The duo allegedly operated from five locations in the capital, knowingly enabling international cyber fraud. Further investigation led to the arrest of I-Tsung Chen at Delhi’s international airport. Police described him as the operational backbone of the syndicate, responsible for smuggling and configuring SIM box devices in India. Interrogation revealed his alleged links to a Taiwan-based organised crime network led by gangster Shang Min Wu, known for kidnapping, financial fraud and money laundering. Analysis of the Delhi setup pointed to additional SIM box hubs in Mohali, Punjab, resulting in the arrest of Sarbdeep Singh and Jaspreet Kaur. Both had previously worked in Cambodia-based scam centres and were allegedly recruited by a Pakistani handler who funded and controlled SIM box installations in India. The probe later uncovered attempts to install SIM box systems in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and Malad, Mumbai, leading to the arrests of Dinesh K and Abdus Salam. Police said Dinesh had undertaken multiple foreign trips to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, suspected to coordinate with cryptocurrency facilitators and financial handlers to launder extorted funds. Investigators said the scam operated through an international command-and-control structure, with Indian operations forming only the last link. Cambodia allegedly served as the recruitment and training base, Chinese nationals supplied and configured SIM box hardware, a Pakistani handler facilitated funding and IMEI manipulation, while Nepal functioned as a remote control centre directing operations in India. Police have seized 22 SIM box devices and 120 foreign SIM cards of China Mobile. Technical analysis revealed more than 5,000 compromised IMEI numbers and nearly 20,000 SIM cards embedded in the network. Further investigation is underway.