Trade deal close, says Rubio, asks India to scale up purchase of US tech, energy

AS INDIA and the US look to finalise their trade deal, stalled by tensions over American tar-iffs and India's purchase of Rus-sian oil, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar sought to deepen energy and defence ties during their talks in Mumbai on Tuesday. Rubio said the two sides were "very, very close" on the trade deal, with a "small number of items to wrap up".

Two years later, PM internship revamp draws more youth, but quality gaps persist

EXPANDING THE scope of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) to MSMEs and sunrise sectors from top 500 companies, a near doubling of stipend to Rs 9,000, easing age and education crite-ria, and reducing the intern-ship period to 6-9 months from 12 months earlier, has resulted in a sharp 67% to 100% increase in youth joining the scheme in the third round. The Round III, which was launched in April this year, will end in December.

No justification for terror and no double standards in addressing it: Rajnath at SCO

DEFENCE MINISTER Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called on member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to make efforts to "dismantle the ecosystem of terrorism". He was addressing the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO in Tajikistan's Dushanbe, when he said that terrorism radicalises societies and de-prives youth of the opportunities they deserve.

Jaishankar, Al Nahyan discuss West Asia crisis, peace initiatives

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Minister S Jaishankar Tuesday held bi-lateral talks with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Mumbai and reaffirmed New Delhi's support for every initiative encouraging peace through dialogue and diplomacy in the West Asia Region. The two sides also discussed ways to enhance energy, trade and defence ties.

India's tech sector needs deeper pools of risk capital

If India wants more of its technology talent to create products, IP and enterprise value that are owned here, it needs sufficiently deep pools of risk capital that can back ideas before the evidence is overwhelming

The economic mess at the heart of France's protests

FRANCE, EUROPE'S second largest economy and one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, is burning after violent protesters unleashed some of the worst episodes of vandalism in French history.

• Over the decades, the French have got used to an expansive welfare state.

• But since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, France's growth has not kept pace with its ambitions of welfare.

A piece of Mars's moon: Why Japan has sent a mission to Phobos

• The MMX mission is carrying 13 scientific instruments, including cameras, spectrometers and devices to measure the surface and composition of the Mar-tian moon Phobos.

• One of its key components is the IDEFIX rover, developed jointly by CNES (France) and the DLR (Germany). The main craft will deploy the rover on Phobos before it lands.

Scientists turn to Al-designed viruses to fight drug-resistant infection

SCIENTISTS SAY they have used Al-designed viruses to treat a human patient for the first time, giving a phage to fight a deadly bacterial infection. Phages attack bacteria, and researchers hope this one will kill the microbes causing the infection. Radical Numerics, the start-up behind the viruses, posted a technical report online but declined to identify the pa-tient or doctors involved, citing confidentiality.