Modi and Trump call: US president says India ‘will do what’s right’ on illegal immigration

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Following a telephone contact with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump stated that India” will do what’s correct” regarding the imprisonment of illegal immigrants.

The leaders spoke on Monday, their initial talk since Trump’s inauguration next year.

In what the White House called a “productive call,” they discussed immigration, safety concerns, and business.

After the visit, Trump stated to reporters that Modi was likely to travel to the US” somewhere in February.”

Trump has announced a number of immigration-related administrative orders since taking office on January 20 and has helped to open the door for a common effort to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the US.

There are an estimated 725, 000 unauthorized Indian immigrants in the US as of 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.

As long as their records were shared and their nationality was verified, Delhi’s foreign government announced last week that it would take Indians who had overstayed “anywhere in the world.”

In their phone call on Monday, the department said, Trump and Modi discussed the diplomatic marriage, “including in the areas of technology, business, investment, power and defence”.

The two officials also discussed stability in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe.

Trump stressed the need for India to increase its purchasing of US-made safety equipment and to establish a “fair” diplomatic trading relationship, according to a White House statement.

In a post on X ( formerly Twitter ), Modi called Trump a “dear friend” and said they were” committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership”.

Both officials, according to the White House, stressed their commitment to advance both Japan and Australia’s Indo-Pacific Quad relationship and their respective places ‘ strategic partnerships.

In the coming months of this year, India will host the Triple officials for the first time.

Modi and Trump shared cordial connections during the US government’s first word between 2017 and 2021.

Companies on both sides were in jeopardized by the Trump administration’s harsh price war.

In November, following Trump’s election victory, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said the country was not nervous about working with the US president.

Trump had referred to Modi as a “great head” last year, but he also claimed that India had imposed increased tariffs.

Experts predict it will be interesting to see if the chemistry between the two will help to quell concerns about immigration and commerce.

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Joo Chiat, Tanjong Pagar shophouse rentals outpace average market rates

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ATTRACTING HIGH-END BRANDS

Some researchers noted that these regions have also caught the attention of high-end companies as they seek to establish their brands and establish connections. &nbsp,

Earlier this month, for example, a Louis Vuitton pop-up appeared in Joo Chiat. In 2023, luxury company Coach opened a shop along the busy Keong Saik Road. &nbsp,

The trend toward innovative retail spaces is especially important in nations like Singapore, where shopping malls “often lack variety in design and experience,” according to Ms. Ginette Chittick, program leader for the diploma in artistic direction for fashion at LASALLE College of the Arts.

This move is also driven by the interests of Gen Zs, who “prioritise integrity, dignity and important engagement with companies”, she added. &nbsp,

” In Singapore, where malls tend to follow a formulaic method, brands setting up in these innovative spaces, such as history shophouses, repurposed commercial buildings or outside pop-ups, you break away from the monotony and have out”.

These places feel “more authentic and unadulterated” with their own distinct styles, according to Dr. Samer El Hajjar, senior marketing lecturer at the National University of Singapore Business School, which some brands desire. &nbsp,

They “want to offer something new to consumers.” Because they all appear the same, shopping malls can feel monotonous, he continued. &nbsp,

” By using a unique space, these brands can surprise customers ( and ) give them an experience that they will remember” .&nbsp,

However, according to experts, traditional shopping malls still have a place in today’s society despite the growing number of hotspots for storefronts. &nbsp,

” It’s all about providing different experiences for different consumer segments”, said Dr El Hajjar.

” I still think Orchard Road and the common shopping roads in Singapore will always be popular for shopping, but we will also have other neighbourhoods, other new hotspots for shopping that offer different experiences for the consumers,” he said.

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DeepSeek AI shakes American swagger and upends assumptions

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The impact of the new Chinese AI app DeepSeek has had on the technology sector, the markets, and the bullish sense of American superiority in the field of artificial intelligence ( AI ) has been nothing short of astonishing.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen might have been saying it finest. ” DeepSeek-R1 is AI’s Sputnik time”, he posted to X on Sunday, referring to the telescope which kicked off the space race.

Over the weekend, DeepSeek was the most popular free apps on Apple’s US App Store. By Monday, the new AI bot had sparked a significant sell-off of significant technology companies that were in decline as fears grew about America’s position as the sector’s leader.

Shares of AI chip designer and recent Wall Street darling Nvidia, for example, had plunged by 17% by the time US markets closed on Monday. Or to put it in even starker terms, it lost nearly $600bn in market value which, according to Bloomberg, is the biggest drop in the history of the US stock market.

This remarkable, ancient spooking is largely been attributed to something as simple as price. And a state made by DeepSeek’s designers that raised serious questions in Silicon Valley.

While ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has been causing haemorrhaging money, spending only$ 5 billion in the last year, DeepSeek’s developers claim to have created the most recent model for only$ 5.6 million.

That is only a fraction of the cost used by Artificial companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to create their own designs.

There was a palpable solitude in several corners of Silicon Valley as this extraordinary moment for the field unfolded when I contacted those who are typically content to speak. Some observers, traders, and experts appeared stunned.

Some wondered if this marked a purchasing opportunity. Some people questioned the data DeepSeek was providing.

Veteran analyst Gene Munster told me on Monday,” I also believe the truth is beneath the surface when it comes to basically what’s going on.” He questioned the financial statements provided by DeepSeek, and if the startup’s figures were accurate or whether it was being subtracted.

The robot is” remarkably fine, which only makes it hard to believe”, he said.

Regardless, DeepSeek’s unexpected appearance is a “flex” by China and a “black gaze for US tech”, to use his own thoughts.

After all, it was only last week that Oracle’s Larry Ellison and OpenAI’s Sam Altman held a press event that had a real chance of being a press release.

The occasion represented top National optimism regarding AI.

They announced Stargate, a joint venture that promises up to$ 500bn in private investment for AI infrastructure: data centres in Texas and beyond, along with a promised 100, 000 new jobs.

Despite China’s supremacy of rare-earth metals and engineering ability, the US appeared to believe that its numerous data centers and power over the highest-end chips gave it a dominant edge in AI.

Some have even seen it as a foregone conclusion that America would dominate the AI race, despite some high-profile warnings from top executives who said the country’s advantages should not be taken for granted.

There is a feeling that DeepSeek has lost some of that swagger, though the US may still go on to continue to rule the industry.

Trump likely found comfort in the likes of Altman and Ellison when they described the Chinese application’s rapid emergence in recent days. He called this instant a “wake-up contact” for the American tech sector, and said finding a way to do cheaper AI is finally a” great thing”.

Additionally, it is important to point out that it wasn’t really tech companies that suffered on Monday. Shares in electricity did as well. We’ve been wronged for a long time about what it takes to develop AI because of DeepSeek’s introduction on the scene.

Maybe that nuclear renaissance – including firing up America’s Three Mile Island energy plant once again – won’t be needed. Maybe it does not take so much capital, compute, and power after all.

The future of silicon companies like Nvidia is still uncertain for the time being.

DeepSeek claims that its model was created using current technologies and open source software that anyone can use and use for free to use and share.

But WIRED reports that for years, DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfung’s hedge fund High-Flyer has been stockpiling the chips that form the backbone of AI – known as GPUs, or graphics processing units.

According to the company, its designs featured Nvidia H800 cards. US legislation restricting revenue of higher-powered cards to China may find a second-look under the new Trump presidency.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman was generally silent on X Monday. But very soon in the day, he wrote that DeepSeek was “impressive… especially around what they’re able to provide for the value”.

” We will clearly provide much better models and it’s true exhilarating to have a new competitor”! he wrote.

Sputnik was the real eve of the room time. It, too, the US was caught off guard. It will be interesting to see how the tech sector reacts to this ostensible surprise from a Chinese company, and how that may have given the Artificial race major traction.

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Australian butcher sets up stall at Toa Payoh wet market, sells handmade sausages and meatballs

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When he first relocated to Singapore, Speering took up a work at a meat-processing firm, where he trained personnel on slaughter techniques. Last season, he opened his individual independent slaughter in Katong Shopping Centre called&nbsp, Outback Butchery.

” We had the store for a month, but the employer raised the book, so we moved out”, said Speering. When he made the decision to enter a bid for a sweaty business barn close to his HDB apartment in Toa Payoh Lor 8?

He effectively bid for a second-floor system at the Lor 4 damp business and started operating that one and a half months ago despite failing to grab a kiosk at Lor 8.

” My in-laws live near this barn and it’s also near my children ‘ school, so it’s really convenient”, he said. When she has time, Ann, who works as a job lead in the business sector, gives her husband a helping hand.

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Supervisor cheated SIA Engineering Company to repair aircraft as external contractor

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A Singapore Airlines ( SIA ) Engineering Company engineer’s bids to maintain and repair the aircraft for his employer as an external contractor were successful.

Leong Siew Pui, 69, made the proposals in the name of Aittix Engineering, an coworker’s business, in which he did not hold any location.

He deceived his firm about the origin of the services rendered by no declaring this agreement to SIA Engineering Company.

Leong admitted guilt on Tuesday ( Jan 28 ) to three counts of lying to the Singaporean flag carrier’s maintenance company, SIA Engineering Company.

When he is sentenced on February 18th, three similar charges may be taken into account.

Gino Hardial Singh, Leong’s attorney, claimed that this was not a common event in which a business is duped because no-one performs the necessary work or performs shoddy work.

He claimed that Leong’s work on the website check body at SIA Engineering Company, which is used to evaluate the performance of aircraft engines, was unconcerned.

In regards to the works Leong performed in 2017, one of which the prosecution filed, the prosecutors also claimed that there was no proof the plays were inoperable.

Leong was accused of doing the crimes “because he thought he knew much,” according to District Judge Eugene Teo.

RETIREMENT PLAN

After he retired, Leong came up with the idea to work as an additional company and offer maintenance and repair services for SIA Engineering Company.

He had observed that outside contractors frequently needed two to three days for servicing inspections while working as an architectural supervisor, but he could never have allowed them due to functional constraints.

Because he was aware of the exact time frame for the maintenance and repair work, he believed he was more qualified than outside companies to do so.

He spoke with Mr. Alex Tan Han Wen, the owner of Aittix, who at the moment offered producing investing companies, around the Taiwanese New Year that season.

Leong inquired if Mr. Tan could use Aittix to submit contracts for an SIA Engineering Company open tender.

Mr. Tan agreed because he felt Aittix would benefit from having reputable clients like the SIA Engineering Company despite not having any prior experience with maintenance projects.

Aittix was chosen to be a vendor of SIA Engineering Company in that year’s open tender. From 2014 to 2017, the business then awarded Aittix a number of contracts.

As a result, Aittix issued SIA Engineering Company a total of 43 invoices over this period.

Leong replaced Aittix with all the invoiced services, with the exception of two invoices for sound absorbing panel repair. He claimed that he had intended to perform these works later.

Investigations were unable to establish whether Leong used secret information to compile the winning bids.

Leong therefore defrauded SIA Engineering Company into paying Aittix S$ 338, 517 across all six charges. &nbsp,

The crimes were found when the police learned about a suspected fraud case in January 2019.

Leong earned a profit of S$ 63, 737 ( US$ 47, 100 ) from the arrangement, which has been surrendered to the police. Additionally, he fully refunded the S$ 38, 984 for the two invoices for non-delivery.

ARGUMENTS ON SENTENCE

Jason Chua, Deputy Public Prosecutor, requested nine to eleven months in jail.

” While there is no evidence that the works done by the accused were defective or unsatisfactory, the accused made wrongful gain in the form of secret profits”, he argued.

Additionally, Mr. Chua noted that Leong’s crimes involved premeditution and occurred over a long period of time.

Defence lawyer Mr Singh asked for five months ‘ imprisonment, pointing to Leong’s remorse in his plea of guilt, and his voluntary disgorgement and restitution of the money.

He claimed that Leong now made money by working as a gaffner and doing odd manual tasks.

Leong had almost 20 years of experience with SIA Engineering Company at the time of the crimes.

Leong said,” Leong does not take any risks or take shortcuts when it comes to inspecting and maintaining aircraft engines,” adding that his client “has never compromised on safety.”

Additionally, according to Mr. Singh, Leong was given the task of overseeing the operation of the engine test cell and only had two full-time employees.

His repeated requests for SIA Engineering Company to hire more staff “fell on deaf ears,” the lawyer said.” He was placed under enormous pressure from his employers.

Leong allegedly hired Aittix to hire more workers in order to circumvent overtime and working conditions.

According to Mr. Singh, he also employed one full-time employee under the direction of Aittix who would be permanently stationed at the test cell to handle the growing demand and workload.

The attorney claimed that Aittix participated in price comparison exercises and offered work for a fair price, and that the completed projects never received audit reports.

The penalty for cheating is a jail term of up to three years, a fine, or both.

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How a kabaddi club is changing Indian girls’ lives

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1 minute ago
Anagha Pathak

BBC Marathi

BBC Nine girls from the kabaddi club standing in a V formation with their arms crossed, looking into the camera. Meena is at the front with four girls on each side fanning out behind her. They are wearing brightly coloured sports shirts.BBC

Meena is searching for the time when she can move while her eyes dart from left to right and back suddenly.

She is a participant in Kabaddi, an American contact sports that is currently practiced in more than 50 nations.

A Kabaddi game is played between two teams, each with seven people. Individuals can then hurl themselves into the opposing’s half of the field to mark their opponents and return to their own quarter without being ground-tied.

But for 14-year-old Meena, this is about more than winning positions. The game offers an escape from a restricted, remote living and opens up a world of possibilities.

” It feels diverse when I play”, she says awkwardly, struggling to find the words. ” In that time, I am not the Meena who is bound to laundry, weighed down by pressure and expectations. It’s just me and the player … It feels like I am more powerful than other women who don’t play”.

Meena lives on the fringes of a tiny ethnic community, Kudoshi, about 230km apart from India’s financial capital, Mumbai, where women ‘ life usually revolve around household chores, marriage and children.

But 15 years ago, a group of faculty at the village university decided they wanted to give girls more options.

Head and shoulder shot of Daji Rajguru - he has short dark hair and a moustache. He is wearing a white sports shirt with a dark blue collar and some blue and yellow markings.

” I have a child. I want her to accomplish things in life, live the best career she is, be something”, says one of them, Daji Rajguru. Why didn’t women enjoy Kabaddi and make a career out of it?

So he and his associates, who had played Kabaddi when they were younger, thought it would be great to teach native women how to sing. The pooled their discounts- 5, 000 pounds ($ 60, £50 )- persuaded the class to let them use its premises, and opened what they believe was the state’s second all-girls Kabaddi team.

At the start, only two women, who were children at the university, joined up. Kids were unwilling to let their daughters practice Kabaddi because it required a lot of downtime, he claims. They also expressed concern about the effect it might have on their daughter’s chances of getting married, as standard families would not approve of girls leaving soon.

Daji and his team members went door to door to let kids know their daughters may be protected using Kabaddi in Kabaddi both before and after school. They assured them that they would properly manage the women and never allow them to be swayed by boys.

Action shot of seven girls playing kabaddi. They are wearing purple, green and black sports shirts, shorts and have bare feet. The pitch is bare earth with white lines marked on it.

The professors would get the girls up from their homes and cut them off at first, but as the numbers increased, they were no longer able to do that. Today, there are about 30 women in the league and they estimate that about 300 have trained with them since they began training, including Daji’s individual child. Some begin playing when they are seven years old.

Meena railways for two days before class begins and two hours after the end of the team, like the rest of the team members. She has to leave home at sunrise and doesn’t get up until night.

” I go alone and it’s dark]in the morning ]. I once worried that someone might be able to harm me. My family was no sympathetic then, and are still angry with my decision to become a sportswoman”, she says.

But she is persistent, inspired by team members who have won numerous awards over the years and have since joined status teams or regional leagues. Samreen Burandkar and Siddhi Chalke were two of the first members of the first group of girls to spend about eight years of training at the pub. Then, at the age of 25, they are expert group players and are financially independent.

Their parents were unsatisfied when the women decided to pursue Kabaddi, believing that it would be a phase that may go. Although their families are glad that the ladies are doing well, they are still under a lot of pressure to get married.

Samreen with lots of medals around her neck and a trophy and more medals in the background. She is smiling and wearing a light blue sports shirt.

” No-one in my family earns as much as I do”, says Samreen. I presently reside in a large area and have the freedom to make my own decisions. Coming from my society, it’s hard for women to go after what they want. I am simply here because of Kabaddi”, she says.

Siddhi and Samreen are teammates; their companionship was born out of Kabaddi. They have travelled around India for tournaments, winning awards and tournaments. ” I could only do that because of Kabaddi. Then, I would have been married and ended up at my father’s place washing the dishes”, says Siddhi and they both laugh, apparently relieved that they have escaped this destiny.

In addition, playing sports well in India may help people find employment in the public market. High-achieving athletes are given jobs in American states, guaranteeing an income also after a person’s active wearing times are over.

Some rural girls pursue game with the aim of achieving financial independence through these professions. They may also benefit from greater esteem and identity-building.

” When we started the sports team, no-one gave any value to these women. They were always extra people in their houses, in society”, says Vilas Bendre, a fresh manager at the pub.

” But we realised that when rural girls climb ahead in their lives through sports, their lives change significantly. The way they talk, the way they carry themselves, their lifestyle, everything changes”.

Daji Rajguru in a checked shirt with two large golden trophies in front of him. The trophies are embossed with patterns and are shaped like vases with lids and handles.

Many members of the club have witnessed their confidence grow and have persuaded their families to let them pursue higher education and delay marriage until they are older, even if they haven’t become professional athletes.

The community has become more accepting too, and when they see girls exercising, people don’t frown at them any more.

The coaches provide funding for the club, along with occasional donations and cash prizes that the team receives in competitions. The majority of the girls don’t have to pay any subscription fees because they come from poor, underprivileged families.

The club also provides food like eggs, bananas, and milk, and frequently pays for player injuries treatment at the hospital during the summer, in addition to training during term time.

Over time, parents ‘ fears have been assuaged, but critics sometimes question the coaches ‘ motives. ” People say things indirectly like.’ Why don’t you coach boys?'” says Daji. However, he claims that there are already opportunities for boys and that there is still room for improvement for girls.

” We are not just their coaches”, adds Vilas. ” At times we are their parents, guiding them, disciplining them, helping them make the right choice”.

And Meena knows the potential of this prized opportunity:” I want to be the best raider and become the captain of India’s Kabaddi team”, she says, daring to dream about medals, championships and leaving an ordinary village girl’s life behind.

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Money Talks Podcast: MT Explains – Miles vs cash rebates on credit cards

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I guess with bonus, the benefits is it’s simple, right? You know, there’s a title level that you’re going to get, even 1.7, 1.8 per cent. The best rebate cards currently available, in my opinion, has a 2 percent minimum spend cap and no hoops to jump over.

But the downside is, if you want to meet these headline rates that a lot of them are promoting, some are saying up to 20 per cent cashback, or up to 10 per cent or up to 8 per cent, there’s an asterisk next to that, saying that you need to spend on this specific thing every quarter, minimum spend, and it’s capped at whatever 200 ( dollars ) per quarter. So there are hats to those items. &nbsp,

Andrea:
And I wonder as well, whether it’s on when you have that kind of cards.

For example, if I’m moving to a new home and I know I’m going to get plenty of large ticket things, that’s going to chalk up plenty of either miles or cash rebates, because I’m chalking up a huge bill.

Tim:
So I think that’s even another thing to consider, in the next form of six to 12 weeks, are you going to include a huge investment? If so, do you know which cards to put it on?

Because it might not make sense to simply put it on a card and receive yards or perhaps some bonus.

And that’s the point with some of these cards, even the miles cards, they have caps on the four-mile per dollar form of variety, you can only make it up to S$ 2, 000 a quarter, or S$ 1, 000 per declaration month, whatever it is. And that might not be practical if you’re spending a lot of money in one go.

Similar thing with bonus. There are monthly fees, and it might not make sense to spend as much as you do the first month if you don’t invest perhaps the least the following month.

There are definitely things you need to think about, but I may add that the decision is another factor to think about.

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