PM Modi to sidebar with China's Xi Jinping at SCO summit | Hook News Wrap

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reportedly have his first bilateral meeting with China President Xi Jinping in seven years. PM Modi is slated to be in the city of Tianjin to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

The formal announcement of Modi's visit to China was made three days after New Delhi and Beijing unveiled a series of measures for a "stable, cooperative and forward-looking" relationship that included jointly maintaining peace along the contested frontier, reopening border trade and resuming direct flight services at the earliest.

But the Indian prime minister will skip a military parade in Beijing the following week. But two dozen world leaders -- most from the global south -- are expected to take part. Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Pakistan's Shehbaz Sharif are expected to attend.

Trouble for Indian H1-B visa holders?

Donald Trump's administration is pushing to scrap the H1-B visa for skilled foreign workers -- a provision that has helped millions of Indians to immigrate. The US Commerce Secretary said businesses should prioritise hiring Americans. But the pushback against the H1-B visa is also being seen an attempt to promote Trump's 'Gold Card' -- an expensive path to American citizenship.

Pope's appeal to Israel

Pope Leo XIV has flagged Israel for serving delivering a 'collective punishment' to the people of Gaza and made an appeal to end hunger in the Palestinian enclave. Reports say 10 more Palestinians, including 2 children, died of starvation on Wednesday.

Kyiv hit by wave of missiles

Mass Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine's capital, including a rare strike in the center of the city, early Thursday killed at least 8 people and wounded 48, local authorities said.

It was the first major Russian combined attack on Kyiv in weeks as US-led peace efforts to end the three-year war struggled to gain traction. Among the dead was at least one child, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said, citing preliminary information.

Russia launched decoy drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's city administration. At least 20 locations across seven districts of Kyiv had impacts. Nearly 100 buildings were damaged, including a shopping mall in the city center, and thousands of windows were shattered, he said.

Trump's tariffs hit Indian markets

The markets closed on Thursday with the Sensex tumbling down more than 700 points and the Nifty falling by over 211 points. The IT and realty indices were the worst hit a day after the Donald Trump's tariffs kicked in. Stocks like Shriram Finance, HCL technologies, TCS, Power Grid, and Infosys took a dive.