Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who played a key role in negotiating a trade deal with the United States, spearheaded the government’s response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his “compromised PM” remarks, in which the rival leader levelled a series of serious allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Amid the Lok Sabha leader of opposition’s criticisms of the interim India-US deal, Piyush Goyal called Gandhi a “puppet of foreign powers, anti-India forces, and anti-India organisations.”“Rahul Gandhi has, in a way, demonstrated a high-handed approach to politics before the nation and the world. He is nothing but a puppet of foreign powers, anti-India forces, anti-India organisations, and anti-India governments. This is the compromise Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family are making today: whether in Parliament, whether outside, whether in a press conference,” Goyal said. On Rahul calling PM Modi “compromised,” Goyal said the Congress leader was playing with the country and “completely putting the interests of the countrymen at stake”.“…perhaps they cannot tolerate the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the new India, the emerging economy, and India’s dominance in the emerging world. Therefore, they repeatedly compromise national and national interests by telling lies upon lies. And this isn’t a recent incident,” Goyal added.

On Rahul calling PM Modi “compromised,” Goyal said the Congress leader was playing with the country and “completely putting the interests of the countrymen at stake”.

Putting all the members of the Gandhi family, who have ruled the nation, in the dock, the Union minister said the clan never “shied away from compromising the country”.“You saw how Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wielded extra-constitutional powers even during Manmohan Singh’s government. Sometimes, they even tore up cabinet decisions in front of the press. Disrespecting the Prime Minister, running the government through the National Advisory Council, and imposing a leftist ideology on the country? Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi used to run a parallel cabinet and compromise the country,” Goyal said. He went further back to attack the Nehru-Gandhi family as he highlighted the infamous Bofors scandal that was widely reported during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure and had been the reason behind the fall of his government.“It wasn’t just Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who compromised the country… Rajiv Gandhi also never shied away from compromising the country. We all know how, at Rahul Gandhi’s behest, the Foreign Minister tried to stop the investigation in the Bofors scandal by asking Swedish authorities to do so. We all know how, in order to protect his friend Ottavio Cataracci, an honest investigation was prevented. It’s not known what role the Congress and Rajiv Gandhi played in Bofors... The Gandhi family tarnished the country before the world and compromised it,” Goyal said.The senior BJP leader also accused Indira Gandhi of “compromising” India’s interests by mentioning Ambassador Moynihan’s “CIA funded the Congress party” claims. “Indira Gandhi was no less in compromising the country’s interests. We saw how Ambassador Moynihan confirmed that the CIA repeatedly provided funds to the Congress party for elections and that the Congress party ran its politics through the CIA,” Goyal said.The minister also attacked Rahul over his “behaviour with the press” and accused him of addressing “a curated press conferences”.“We have seen his behaviour with the press. You can’t even ask an uncomfortable question to Rahul Gandhi without being tagged as a BJP-associated press person. He only wants curated press conferences. He can’t take questions other than those he’s given in writing. Such a person is leading the Congress party and playing with the country. They are completely putting the interests of the countrymen at stake,” Goyal alleged.Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday made serious allegations against PM Modi, claiming the PM rushed into a trade deal with the United States in the interest of his minister Hardeep Puri and industrialist Gautam Adani, who Rahul said is the “BJP’s financial structure”.

Rahul said: “He (PM Modi) left and called Trump, saying, ‘Sir, I’m ready to do whatever you say'”.

The Gandhi scion claimed Union minister Hardeep Puri’s name in the infamous Epstein files was released to “threaten” the PM, and that there are “videos and messages which have not been released from the millions of Epstein files” held up in the US.In another allegation, Rahul claimed that the case against Adani in the United States is not against the industrialist but against PM Modi, adding that these two were the reasons PM Modi finalised the trade pact with America, which had been stuck for months.Rahul said: “He (PM Modi) left and called Trump, saying, ‘Sir, I’m ready to do whatever you say’, and he sold the country… Narendra Modi is compromised; he was trapped and forced to sign the US-India trade deal.”

A file photo of Uttarakhand high court

The Uttarakhand high court has quashed criminal proceedings in a POCSO-linked case against a 21-year-old man from Udham Singh Nagar, holding that the continuation of prosecution would serve no meaningful purpose where the parties have since lawfully married, are cohabiting peacefully, and the woman is carrying a pregnancy. In an order dated February 20, 2026, Justice Alok Mahra allowed a compounding application and set aside the charge sheet dated 30.12.2022, the summoning order dated 23.01.2023, and the entire proceedings of S.S.T. No.101 of 2023 pending before the Fast Track Court/Special Judge (POCSO)/Additional Sessions Judge, Udham Singh Nagar. The court’s reasoning, as recorded in the order, turned on the present matrimonial status of the parties, the stability of their cohabitation, and the court’s view that allowing the case to proceed would amount to a “denial of complete justice,” warranting exercise of inherent jurisdiction to do “real and substantial justice.”

Background of the case

The proceedings arose from an FIR lodged on October 17, 2022 by the father of the girl (respondent no.3), invoking IPC Sections 376 (rape) and 363 (kidnapping) along with provisions of the POCSO Act. As recorded in the case narrative placed before the court, at the time of the FIR the accused was 19 and the girl was 17.The matter progressed to a charge sheet dated 30.12.2022 and a summoning order dated 23.01.2023, culminating in S.S.T. No.101 of 2023 before the designated POCSO court in Udham Singh Nagar. The applicant approached the high court through a C-528 application seeking quashing of the charge sheet, summoning order, and the entire trial proceedings on the basis of a compromise between the parties, supported by affidavits.

Key procedural points reflected in the order:

Appellant’s argumentsThe applicant’s counsel argued that the relationship between the applicant and respondent no.3 was consensual and that, on the date of the FIR, respondent no.3 was “above 17 years of age” and “competent to understand the nature and consequences of her actions.” The defence further submitted that after registration of the FIR, the parties “solemnized their marriage of their own free will” and were residing together as husband and wife. A central plank of the plea was the present circumstance that respondent no.3 was “carrying a pregnancy,” and that continuation of criminal proceedings would adversely affect:

These submissions were placed to support the request that the court permit compounding and quash the proceedings in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction.What respondents saidThe State, through its counsel, “vehemently opposed” the compounding application. The opposition, as reflected in the narrative of the case and consistent with the order’s framing, was that offences under the POCSO Act are serious and that proceedings should not be quashed merely on the basis of compromise between parties. The order also notes the context of a “recent judgment” of the Supreme Court addressing the limits of quashing in POCSO matters, indicating that the State’s resistance was anchored in the seriousness attached to such offences and the general principle that compromise alone is not determinative.HC’s analysisThe high court’s analysis proceeds in two linked steps: first, acknowledging the Supreme Court’s approach in a recent judgment; and second, applying that ratio to the facts before it.The order records that the Supreme Court recognised that even where a serious offence under the POCSO Act is involved, proceedings “could not be quashed solely on compromise.” At the same time, the Supreme Court emphasized “compassion and practicality” in a situation where the accused and victim were legally married and expecting a child, observing that the crime arose “from love, not lust,” and that continuing prosecution or imprisonment would “disrupt the family unit.” The high court then notes that the present case mirrors those stabilizing factors: lawful marriage, cohabitation as husband and wife, and pregnancy.

On facts, the court records:

On that basis, the court concludef that if proceedings are allowed to continue, it “would amount to denial of complete justice to the parties,” and therefore it is a fit case to exercise inherent jurisdiction to do “real and substantial justice.”Legal significanceThe order is significant for how it frames the court’s power to bring a POCSO-linked prosecution to an end in a post-marriage, post-compromise setting, not by treating compromise as sufficient in itself, but by anchoring the outcome in:

The final orderThe high court allowed the compounding application (I.A. No.1 of 2026), permitted the offences between the parties to be compounded, and quashed the entire proceedings of S.S.T. No.101 of 2023 pending before the Fast Track Court/Special Judge (POCSO)/Additional Sessions Judge, Udham Singh Nagar. The C-528 application was disposed of accordingly.

Operative directions recorded:

Key takeaways

Why this mattersThe ruling underscores how the high court, on the facts recorded before it, weighed the continuation of a POCSO-linked prosecution against the present reality of a lawfully married couple expecting a child and living in a stable matrimonial arrangement. It highlights a judicial approach that, while acknowledging the seriousness of POCSO offences and the State’s opposition to compromise-based quashing, still permits termination of proceedings where the court finds that continuing the case would undermine complete justice and destabilise an existing family unit, as reflected in the order’s own language and the Supreme Court ratio it cites.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

JPMorgan Chase shares fell moe than 4% this week as part of a broader sell-off in financial services stocks triggered by investor worries about artificial intelligence disrupting traditional payment systems. As reported by Wall Street Journal, a Citrini Research report suggested that AI could reshape the economy and undermine companies that profit from processing transactions, sending American Express down by 7% and Mastercard nearly 6%, and Visa more than 4%.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon pushes back

As reported by WSJ, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has dismissed the panic and said that fears about AI were exaggerated. “In my view, we’ll be a winner,” Dimon said at JPMorgan’s annual investor day in New York. “We always have the strategy to use technology to do a better job for customers, and we’re quite good at it.” Dimon, wearing a cast after treatment for arthritis and bone spurs, emphasized that the bank sees AI as an opportunity, not a threat.

JPMorgan says: CEO Jamie Dimon’s inclusion in Donald Trump’s $5 billion lawsuit is ‘fraudulent’

Recently, America’s largest bank JPMorgan and Chase accused the US President Donald Trump of fraudulently naming CEO Jamie Dimon in his $5 billion lawsuit over the closure of his accounts, arguing the move was designed to keep the case in Floria state court. As reported by Bloomberg, in a Thursday filling (February 19), the bank asked to move the case to federal court in Miami, with plans to later transfer it to New York. JPMorgan said Trump’s claim that Dimon directed the bank to ‘blackist’ him and his businesses was not supported under Florida’s unfair trade practices law. The bank believes that Dimon was “fraudulently joined” to avoid federal jurisdiction.

For the uninitiated, Trump sued JPMorgan and Dimon in January this year, seeking at least $5 billion in damages for allegedly ‘debanking’ him and his companies for political reasons. His legal team insists that Dimon personally directed the bank to backlist Trump, his family, and businesses, causing “overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”

Dalilah Coleman and Donald Trump

In his longest-ever State of the Union address, President Donald Trump pressed Congress to pass “Dalilah’s Law,” a proposed measure that would bar states from issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, aligning with his administration’s hardline immigration policies.Trump said the legislation was named after Dalilah Coleman, a first-grade student who was severely injured in a car crash involving an undocumented Indian-origin truck driver who allegedly failed to stop his speeding vehicle.The president also slammed his predecessor Joe Biden over illegal immigrants footfall in the United States.“Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs…That’s why tonight, I’m calling on Congress to pass what we will call the ‘Dalilah Law’—barring any state from granting Commercial Drivers Licenses to illegal aliens,” said Donald Trump.The US president also called for broader criminal justice reforms to ensure that “violent and dangerous repeat offenders are put behind bars, and importantly, stay there.”According to the department of homeland security, Partap Singh was driving an 18-wheeler through a construction zone when he failed to stop, causing a devastating crash that left then five-year-old Dalilah critically injured.Singh allegedly entered the United States illegally through the southern border in October 2022 and was later released under the Biden administration. He was re-arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August 2025 and is currently facing deportation proceedings.Dalilah spent three weeks in a coma and underwent six months of hospital treatment, including a craniectomy, before her family was able to bring her home. For four months, she lived without half her skull, according to the department of homeland security, citing her family.The New York Post reported that the crash left Dalilah unable to eat orally. She suffered a broken femur and multiple skull fractures and has since been diagnosed with diplegic cerebral palsy and global developmental delay, conditions that will require lifelong therapy.Now 7-years-old, Dalilah attended Trump’s State of the Union address, where he announced the proposal named in her honour. According to the New York Post, she is relearning how to walk following the traumatic 2024 accident that struck her family’s vehicle.

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise the Gaza issue during his Israel visit. She called on him to speak about the plight of civilians while addressing the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).Her remarks come as PM Modi departed for a two-day State visit to Israel from February 25–26 at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the trip, PM Modi is scheduled to meet Netanyahu, call on President Isaac Herzog and address the Knesset.

In a post on X, she wrote: “I hope that the Hon Prime Minister mentions the genocide of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Gaza while addressing the Knesset on his upcoming trip to Israel and demands justice for them. India has stood for what is right throughout our history as an independent nation, we must continue to show the light of truth, peace and justice to the world.”She emphasised that India has historically taken principled positions on global issues and said the country must continue to uphold truth, peace and justice on the world stage.The Congress party has also criticised the government over its position on the Gaza conflict. Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the government has abandoned the Palestinian cause despite claiming otherwise.In a post on X, Ramesh alleged that PM Modi is displaying “moral cowardice” by embracing Netanyahu while civilians suffer in Gaza.“On May 20 1960, Jawaharlal Nehru was in Gaza and met with the Indian contingent of the UN Emergency Force there. On Nov 29 1981, India issued a commemorative postage stamp in solidarity with Palestine. On Nov 18 1988, India formally recognised the state of Palestine. That was a different era. Now the Indian Prime Minister is brazenly embracing the Prime Minister of Israel, who has reduced Gaza to rubble and dust and who is orchestrating the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. When the entire world is critical of his ‘dear friend’ Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Modi will be displaying moral cowardice,” he wrote. Meanwhile, the government has described the visit as an opportunity to reaffirm the deep and long-standing India–Israel strategic partnership. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the two leaders will review progress in cooperation across defence and security, science and technology, innovation, agriculture, water management, trade, and people-to-people exchanges.An upgraded security agreement and progress on a proposed free trade agreement are expected to be key outcomes of the visit. PM Modi will also attend an innovation event and visit Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.Netanyahu has termed the visit “historic”, highlighting growing defence and economic cooperation between the two countries. The leaders are also expected to exchange views on regional and global developments, including the situation in West Asia.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that most of the US’ trading partners want to continue trade arrangements negotiated under his tariffs despite the recent ruling by the Supreme Court striking down many of them.Speaking at the joint session of Congress during his 2026 State of the Union address, Trump also reiterated that tariff revenue could eventually replace income taxes. “Congressional action will not be necessary,” he said. “As time goes by, I believe the tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax.”Slamming the ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs, Trump said, “Just four days ago, an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court. Very unfortunate ruling but the good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made.”“Knowing that the legal power that I, as President, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore, they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement,” he added.The high court’s decision, issued last week, found that Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing sweeping tariffs on imports. Chief justice John Roberts and justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan joined a 6–3 majority against several of the tariffs.Soon after the ruling, Trump imposed a new 10-per cent duty under a different law, with the measure taking effect Tuesday. He has pledged to raise the rate to 15 percent and said the temporary tariffs, set to last 150 days unless extended by Congress, would lead to a stronger long-term solution.“One of the primary reasons for our country’s stunning economic turnaround, the biggest in history, where the Dow Jones broke 50,000 four years ahead of schedule and the S&P hit 7,000 where it wasn’t supposed to do it for many years, were tariffs. I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis. Everything was working well,” he said.“Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars… And yet these countries are now happy, and so are we. We made deals. The deals are all done, and they’re happy… There was no inflation, tremendous growth, and the big story was how Donald Trump called the economy correctly, and 22 Nobel Prize winners in economics didn’t. They got it totally wrong. They got it really wrong,” said the US President.However, a New York Federal Reserve paper released this month found that nearly 90 percent of the tariffs’ economic burden fell on US firms and consumers. In 2026, the United States marks its 250th anniversary, commemorating the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The milestone celebrates two and a half centuries since the thirteen American colonies declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and launched a bold experiment in self-government.

When she left Zambia to study engineering in India, she packed textbooks, winter clothes, and the quiet confidence of someone ready for a new chapter. What she didn’t pack, because no one really can, was a manual for decoding head wobbles, surviving auto rickshaw rides, or understanding why tea is treated like oxygen.Through her Instagram account, @mercy_jo123, the Zambian student has been sharing humorous snapshots of daily life in India. Her posts are not dramatic culture-shock confessions. Instead, they read like voice notes from a friend, amused, curious, occasionally overwhelmed, but always observant.

@mercy_jo123 on Instagram

One of the first things that caught her attention was fashion. Walking through the streets of her university city, she noticed young women dressed in crop tops, oversized shirts, and trendy outfits that mirrored global fashion. Yet, when she turned on popular Indian films, the tone sometimes shifted dramatically. Sometimes,not always. Characters who seemed bold and modern in one scene appeared conservative and modest in another, depending on the storyline. The contrast was striking. It wasn’t judgment, it was genuine confusion at how cinema and everyday reality could feel like two different worlds coexisting.Then came the auto rickshaws.

Autorickshaw in India

For anyone new to India, the three-wheeled vehicles are less a mode of transport and more an initiation ritual. The first few rides felt like being inside a pinball machine. Traffic surge from every direction. Motorbikes squeeze into impossible gaps. Horns create a constant soundtrack. Sharp turns and sudden brakes make it impossible to tell left from right. “Your body has no idea which way is up,” she joked online.Another adjustment was the attention.As an African student, she quickly became aware of lingering glances in markets, small shops, and public spaces. The looks were rarely hostile, mostly curious. In many places, people simply were not accustomed to seeing someone from Zambia. But these moments often opened doors to conversations rather than closing them. Curiosity, she realized, is not always exclusion; sometimes it is simply unfamiliarity.If traffic was an adrenaline rush, tea was the opposite — grounding, constant, unavoidable.Back home, tea was a beverage choice. In India, it felt like a social obligation. Morning chai before lectures. Afternoon chai during study breaks. Evening chai with classmates. Tiny roadside stalls serving steaming cups to workers, students and strangers alike. Refusing tea sometimes felt like rejecting connection.Perhaps the most linguistically challenging discovery was the famous Indian head wobble.A subtle tilt. A gentle sway. A movement that can mean yes, no, maybe, I understand, or simply I’m listening. In the beginning, conversations required mental replay. Over time, context became the translator. Tone, facial expression, and situation mattered more than the motion itself. What once seemed impossible to decode slowly became intuitive, a small but significant sign of adaptation.Then there was bargaining, something she hadn’t fully experienced before.In many Indian markets, prices are not fixed; they are flexible starting points. Watching negotiations unfold felt like witnessing theatre. A shopkeeper would quote a price. The buyer would gasp in disbelief, and vice-versa. In India, bargaining isn’t aggression; it is engagement. It isn’t about being difficult; it is about playing the game.And then there were the midnight street snacks.Long after sunset, food stalls remained open, drawing students and night owls with the smell of frying spices. Back home, eating street food at midnight wasn’t part of daily life. Here, it felt normal. So much to choose from! There was hesitation at first, concern about spice levels, hygiene, and whether her stomach would approve. But curiosity won more often than caution. Each dish added to the growing archive of experiences that make up student life abroad.

@mercy_jo123 on Instagram

What stands out in her reflections is the balance between humour and humility. There is no mockery, no superiority, just observation. The tone suggests someone learning rather than judging, adjusting rather than resisting.Studying in a foreign country is already demanding. Add cultural translation to that equation, and every day becomes layered. Classroom lectures are only part of the education. The rest happens in auto rides, tea breaks, market negotiations and brief exchanges with strangers. One user responded, “I hope you enjoy your time here. I bet you’ll leave with a little piece of India in you.” And one wrote, “You have come to the best country!”Living in India has not erased her Zambian identity. Instead, it has added new dimensions to it. Through shared jokes and small confusions, adaptation unfolds quietly. And in documenting these moments online, she offers something refreshing: a reminder that cultural exchange isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it is just laughter in traffic, confusion in conversation, and the realization that tea, in some parts of the world, is never optional.

NEW DELHI: Jolted by two crashes involving small charter aircraft within a month that killed 12 people, India may soon rank non scheduled operator permit (NSOP) or charter and private jet operators based on their safety record.While this ranking is proposed to be released on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) website, operators will now mandatorily have to disclose “critical safety information on their websites, including aircraft age, maintenance history, and pilot experience.” This will be done to ensure people are “fully informed about the standards” of the aircraft they charter.Also, there will now be stricter penalties for operators violating norms regarding aircraft or crew utilisation. While pilots found violating flight duty time limitations (FDTL) or attempting to land below safety minima may face license suspensions of up to five years, operators not meeting compliance standards will have their licenses suspended.The regulator Tuesday met all NSOP or charter/private jet operators to “address a recent surge in aviation incidents” and emphasise on “critical need for increased focus on safety.” Non-adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs), inadequate flight planning, and training deficiencies were identified and the primary cause of accidents at this meeting.Following the meet, the DGCA issued “new measures aimed at enforcing a zero-tolerance policy toward safety compromises within the NSOP sector.” These include:Prioritising safety over commercial interests: The regulator has directed that safety must supersede all commercial considerations, charter commitments or VIP movements. It reaffirmed that the pilot-in-command’s decision to divert, delay, or cancel a flight for safety reasons is final and must be respected by operators without commercial consequences.Enhanced oversight and accountability: Apart from DGCA doing safety ranking of NSOPs and the latter disclosing their fleet and crew information, the regulator will The authority will conduct increased random cockpit voice recorder (CVR) audits and cross-verify fuel records, and technical logs to detect unauthorised operations or falsifying of data.”Accountable managers and senior leadership will be held personally responsible for systemic non-compliances, safety lapses cannot simply be blamed on pilots,” the regulator says. There will now be increased monitoring of older aircraft and those undergoing ownership changes. NSOPs that run their own maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities will be audited. “Those found lacking adequacy will be required to outsource maintenance to approved organisations.”The regulator has found weather-related accidents are “often the result of poor judgment rather than unpredictability of weather.” Operators are mandated to establish real-time weather update systems and strict compliance of established SOPs. Additionally, recurrent training for pilots must have greater emphasis on weather awareness strategies and decision-making in uncontrolled environments.To address systemic weaknesses in decision-making and to ensure operational discipline, the regulator is implementing several immediate measures. A senior official who was at the meeting said: “The message is clear to NSOP operators: Either operate with 100% compliance of all norms or surrender your licence and go home. They have to fall in line or be out of business.”