Why Make-in-India isn’t a guaranteed success despite U.S. tariffs on China

U.S. President Donald Trump has never been the one to hold back an opinion.

“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said on a trip to Qatar last week, referring to a conversation he had with Apple’s chief executive about the company’s decision to move iPhone manufacturing from China to India, rather than the United States.

“I don’t want you building in India,” Trump said he told Cook, after news emerged of Apple’s decision to ramp up production in India with the aim of making around 25% of global iPhones in the country in the next few years, and reduce reliance on China, where around 90% of its flagship smartphone is currently assembled.

While India has certainly emerged as a significant, albeit nascent, hub for electronics assembly, the path to it becoming a clear-cut alternative to China isn’t a guaranteed outcome, despite U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.

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Watch: Chinese Ship Blasts US Ally's Boat With Water Cannon

The Philippines on Thursday released footage of a confrontation between two government vessels and the Chinese coast guard in the South China Sea's hotly contested Spratly Islands. The Chinese cutter can be seen conducting close-quarter maneuvers that Manila said caused a collision, damaging the smaller Philippine vessel and putting its occupants' lives "at risk."

The incident occurred Wednesday morning at Sandy Cay, a string of three sandbars near Thitu Island. Thitu is the only inhabited island in the Spratlys, home to around 250 residents, a modest military outpost, and the Philippines' only airstrip in the archipelago.

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China Issues New Warning Over US Tech War

China may impose sanctions on companies that comply with U.S. restrictions on its homegrown technology, the Chinese government said on Wednesday. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that the latest U.S. industry guidance—warning of possible penalties for American businesses that trade or use Chinese-made integrated circuits—was an "attempt to ban Chinese advanced-computing chips globally."

The U.S. Commerce and Treasury departments did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek it had nothing more to add beyond the ministry's statement. Washington argues that decoupling U.S. and Chinese tech is necessary because American scientific and technological know-how has inadvertently fueled the rapid modernization and expansion of China's armed forces.

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China and North Korea's Militaries Don't Trust Each Other: US Intel

North Korea's deepening security ties with Russia are likely part of Kim Jong Un's effort to "counterbalance" China, according to the latest U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report. Pyongyang's "blood-cemented alliance" with Beijing, by contrast, dates back decades but does not extend to meaningful military cooperation. This suggests the two sides "do not trust each other on military issues," says Decker Eveleth, an analyst at the Virginia-based think tank CNA Corporation.
Why It Matters

Vladimir Putin inked a landmark military assistance pact with Kim during the Russian leader's June 2024 visit to Pyongyang. The partnership shifted into top gear late last year with the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russian forces in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea is also the only country with which China maintains a mutual defense treaty, and the People's Liberation Army was instrumental in pushing advancing U.S.-led troops back across the 38th Parallel.

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How China's Online Army Helped Beijing Fight US Tariff War

A social network analysis firm says it has uncovered an operation involving over 1,000 fake accounts working to shape online discourse surrounding the United States-China trade war in Beijing's favor. The 90-day ceasefire reached in Geneva, Switzerland, by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng reduced duties on imported Chinese and U.S. goods by 145 and 125 percent, respectively. While the deal paused what had become a near-total embargo and bought negotiators time, tensions remain.

Trump has said the tariffs were necessary to end "unfair" treatment of U.S. exports, revive domestic manufacturing, and close the trade deficit with the U.S.'s third-largest trading partner. In its political messaging, Beijing has sought to rally other countries targeted by tariffs and cast itself as a defender of the global trade order, standing up to bullying.

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The islanders facing China's menacing presence on their horizon

At just 37 hectares, the Philippines-controlled island of Pagasa – or "hope" – is barely big enough to live on. There is almost nothing there. The 300 or so inhabitants live in a cluster of small, wooden houses. They fish in the clear, turquoise waters, and grow what vegetables they can in the sandy ground. But they are not alone in these disputed waters: just off shore, to the west, lies an armada of ships.

These are all Chinese, from the navy, the coastguard or the so-called maritime militia – large fishing vessels repurposed to maintain Chinese dominance of this sea. As our plane approached the island we counted at least 20.

For the past 10 years, China has been expanding its presence in the South China Sea, taking over submerged coral reefs, building three large air bases on them, and deploying hundreds of ships, to reinforce its claim to almost all of the strategic sea lanes running south from the great exporting cities on the Chinese coast.

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India’s caste system is controversial and discriminatory. So why is it being included in the next census?

For millions across India, a rigid caste system thousands of years old still dictates much of daily life – from social circles to dating pools to job opportunities and schooling. The Indian government has long insisted that the social hierarchy has no place in the world’s most populous nation, which banned caste discrimination in 1950. So, it came as a surprise when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration announced that caste would be counted in the upcoming national census for the first time since 1931 – when India was still a British colony.

Counting caste will “ensure that our social fabric does not come under political pressure,” the government said in its April press release. “This will ensure that society becomes stronger economically and socially, and the country’s progress continues without hindrance.”

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Kim Jong Un’s fury after watching North Korea’s new navy destroyer crippled in botched launch

North Korea’s newest warship was severely damaged during a launch ceremony Wednesday, with leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the accident, saying it brought shame to the nation’s prestige and vowing to punish those found responsible, state media reported.

In a rare admission of failure, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said a malfunction in the launch mechanism caused the stern of the as-yet unnamed 5,000-ton destroyer to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway.

Kim called the launch failure “a criminal act” and blamed it on “absolute carelessness” and “irresponsibility” by multiple state institutions - including the Munitions Industry Department, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the central ship design bureau.

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