Operation Sindoor: India strikes back at Pakistan

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Operation Sindoor: India strikes back at Pakistan

According to New Delhi, Indian strikes hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” targets in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Launched in the early hours today (Wednesday), the bombings targeted locations from which the Pahalgam attack was “planned.” Islamabad, however, says India hit “six localities” in three locations from air in Bahawalpur, Kotli and Muzaffarabad—see the map below:

What’s notable: The government emphasised these were precision strikes:

Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution… We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable.

The Indian Army succinctly tweeted: “Justice is Served. Jai Hind!”

Also notable: According to some Indian reports, Pakistan claims that India did not breach its air space—and launched the missiles from its territory. OTOH, according to CNN, Islamabad claims to have downed five Rafale jets. New Delhi hasn’t shared any details to confirm or counter any of this.

The Pakistani response: Islamabad issued a predictably outraged response—and promised badla. Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said the country “has every right to give a befitting reply to this act of war imposed by India and a befitting reply is being given.” Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, called the missile strikes a “cowardly attack” after midnight—“Let me say it unequivocally: Pakistan will respond to this at a time and place of its own choosing. This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.”

Point to note: At the time of publication, the extent of damage caused by the strikes is unclear. The videos from Pakistan show explosions:

Pakistan says eight civilians were killed—including a child.

What’s next: Some experts say the strikes have significantly escalated the conflict:

[Stimson Centre analyst] Elizabeth Threlkeld, said that the overnight strikes were a “far more significant set of Indian strikes compared to the 2019 Balakot crisis”, given nine targets were struck. “The fact that some [strikes] occurred in Punjab province, and that the targets included mosques where casualties reportedly occurred [means] the escalatory potential is significant, especially given initial reports of swift retaliation by Pakistan and potential downing of aircraft,” Threlkeld added.

But, but, but: India insists it has “demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and method of execution.” And Indian military experts—like retired Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam—point to Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir. He has made highly inflammatory speeches—and deliberately so:

Escalation with India is clearly on Munir’s mind and so is probably a grandiose idea that it may also be the right time to seize power in a situation that may again be projected as an existential crisis for Pakistan when India retaliates at a time and place of its own choosing.

In other words, Pahalgam and its aftermath may be an opportunity engineered by the military to reassert its control over Pakistan. But as Subramaniam points out. “Munir may well be lighting a fire that he may not be able to douse.”

Get ready for drills: The government has ordered a nationwide “civil defence drill”—the first since 1971:

Emergency response drills are scheduled across multiple districts, including mock evacuations and air raid siren trials. Officials initially described them as routine disaster management exercises, though the timing now appears more deliberate.

But New Delhi is being oddly reticent—refusing to link them to the conflict with Pakistan. The Indian Air Force will also hold military exercises as a show of force along the border. That said, there has been no mass mobilisation of troops—unlike Pakistan which has been assembling soldiers and equipment along the border since April 22.

Something to see: This astonishing map of commercial airlines avoiding Pakistani airspace:

Reading list: The Telegraph is best on the attacks. Indian Express explains the choice of targets. CNN has a useful live blog.

India inks (a very) beneficial trade pact with UK

Get ready for cheaper scotch, salmon and chocolates. New Delhi and London have finally signed a much-postponed bilateral agreement. The big picture: The Free Trade Agreement eliminates tariffs on 99% of Indian exports—and will double bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030. Here are the highlights:

Zero duties on Indian textiles, footwear, carpets, cars, and marine products—which currently face UK tariffs of 4% to 16%.
India in turn will slash duties on 90% of British products—from whisky and medical devices to machinery and lamb. And 85% will become tariff-free within a decade.
Tariffs on UK gin and whiskey will be halved asap—from 150% to 75%.
Also slashed: duties on British cars to 10% from over 100%.

Reuters and Mint have the most details.

OpenAI’s non-profit U-turn

The backstory: OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman as a non-profit with a high-minded mission: to create a machine with the learning and reasoning powers of a human mind—but carefully engineered for the benefit of humanity. In 2018, Musk left after clashing with Altman over control of the company—and would later sue the company, alleging that it had betrayed its ideals. The following year, OpenAI launched a for-profit arm—governed by its non-profit board—which resulted in a civil war and a great exodus of top-tier talent, including OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever.

What happened next: When the dust settled in November 2023, Altman was entirely in charge. By October 2024, OpenAI had raised $17.9 billion across ten rounds at a valuation of $157 billion—led by Microsoft and SoftBank. But the investor paisa came with a key condition: OpenAI must become fully for-profit in two years.

What happened now: OpenAI has abandoned its plans to become a fully for-profit entity. It will instead transform its for-profit arm into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). Wtf is a PBC, you ask? It’s a “for-profit corporation that can also prioritize non-financial goals”—as opposed to a typical for-profit company—whose core purpose is to make money for its shareholders.

How this works: Under the original governance structure, the for-profit arm was capped—allowing investors to “earn up to 100 times their investment but no more than that”, while the rest of the profits would be channeled to the non-profit arm. OTOH, a PBC doesn’t limit how much investors can make. Also this: The new structure will allow employees, investors and the nonprofit to own parts of the public-benefit corporation.

What’s with the U-turn? Altman was racing to kick the non-profit board out of the driver’s seat—to consolidate his control. No more tamasha created by pesky members—as in ousting Altman from his position like they did in November 2023. But the company has been under great pressure. Musk has gone to the courts to block the for-profit restructuring—claiming it's a betrayal of the original mission. More recently:

A group of ex-OpenAI employees, Nobel laureates, law professors and civil society organizations sent a letter last month to attorneys general in California and Delaware requesting that they halt the startup’s restructuring efforts out of safety concerns.

Maybe it’s easier for Altman to keep the non-profit in control, since he has kicked out all the dissenters on the board. He gets everything he wants—including playing the good samaritan.

What’s next: No one knows what SoftBank or Microsoft make of this move. Musk’s lawyers are still not happy—neither are OpenAI critics. CNBC reports on OpenAI’s for-profit walkback. Axios analyses what it means for the company and Altman For more context: We did a detailed Big Story on Altman and OpenAI in November 2023.

A great battle over Buddhist gems

The Piprahwa gems have become the subject of a high-stakes tussle between heirs of a colonial zamindar and the Indian government.

About these gems: The relics were discovered in 1898, by a British colonial landowner William Claxton Peppé—in Piprahwa in present-day Uttar Pradesh. They were an astonishing find—with great religious significance:

The gems include amethysts, coral, garnets, pearls, rock crystals, shells and gold, either worked into pendants, beads and other ornaments, or in their natural form. They were originally buried in a dome-shaped funerary monument, called a stupa, in Piprahwa, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, between 240BC and 200BC, when they were mixed with some of the cremated remains of the Buddha, who died about 480BC.

What happened next: Most of them were handed over to what is now the Indian Museum in Kolkata. But Peppé’s family were allowed to retain around a fifth—considered “duplicates” of the others—which have since passed down through generations of the family.

What happened now: The Peppé inheritance is scheduled to go up for auction at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong—valued at £9.7 million (nearly $13 million). The seller? Chris Peppé, William’s great-grandson, and a Los Angeles-based TV director. See them below:

Indian govt’s response: The government threatened to sue if the gems went on sale—saying the gem relics “constitute inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community.” India has also called out Sotheby’s role “in perpetuating colonial injustice.” Ofc, Chris Peppé disagrees. It isn’t clear what New Delhi’s argument will be—since the previous Indian government allowed the Peppés to keep these relics.

But, but, but: In a development that occurred overnight, Sotheby’s took down the auction listing from its website—there’s no clarity yet on whether the auction will still take place as scheduled.

Chris Peppé’s essay for Sotheby’s offers his account of the jewels. You can check out the website created by the family to share archival images and documents. The Guardian and BBC News have the best reporting on this story.

From our archives: We did a detailed two-part Big Story on the theft of ancient artefacts. In part one, we looked at the urbane, well-educated Indian dealers—Subash Kapoor and Vaman Narayan Ghiya—who made a fortune selling priceless artefacts to the West. Part two looked at why the world’s most respected galleries, museums and dealers buy smuggled artefacts—and why it is so hard to retrieve Indian artefacts even when we know they’ve been stolen.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Credit Suisse pled guilty to helping American taxpayers hide more than $4 billion from authorities under an agreement with the US Department of Justice—settling the case at a cost of $511 million.
Google accidentally revealed a new version of its Android design language ahead of its upcoming developer conference. TechCrunch has all the nerdy details.
Amazon’s robotaxi arm Zoox has recalled its driverless software after a crash in Vegas—no injuries, but plenty of red flags.
As Elon Musk’s Starlink awaits approval to launch in India, the Department of Telecommunications has rolled out more amendments to the licenses needed for satellite internet services to take off.

sports & entertainment

Fits and bursts of rain meant the IPL match between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians lasted over five hours—in the end, GT won a low-scoring nailbiter off the final ball by just three wickets.
Inter Milan will play in the UEFA Champions League final on May 31 after beating Barcelona in a 4-3 thriller that went into extra time. Super sub Davide Frattesi netted the decisive goal for Inter in the 99th minute.

health & environment

The Centre recently announced the successful development of two genome-edited rice varieties (read our curated headline here). An anti-GM organisation, however, has demanded their withdrawal alleging the seeds have “potential to harm humans and cause irreversible damage to the environment.”
Also, The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has expelled farmer Venugopal Badaravada from its Governing and General Bodies after he raised concerns about the genome-edited seeds.
Hawaii just passed a first-of-its-kind law hiking hotel taxes to fund climate defense.
A South Korean study has found that shingles vaccine could protect us against developing heart disease.
Europe’s last manufacturer of key antibiotics ingredients—Xellia Pharmaceuticals—has shuttered its biggest domestic factory in Copenhagen and will shift some of its production to China.

meanwhile, in the world

After a dramatic flop in round one, Friedrich Merz has scraped through a second vote to become Germany’s next chancellor—edging past the majority by just nine votes.
Israel’s military claims it’s taken Yemen’s main airport offline with airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels in Sanaa.
New York Times and The New Yorker were among the big winners of this year’s Pulitzers—for reportage from Sudan and commentaries on the war in Gaza, among other topics. Also victorious: Percival Everett, who took home the Pulitzer in fiction for his novel ‘James’.
Bangladesh’s health sector has been left reeling from Trump’s gutting of $48 million in snap aid—crucial in the country’s fight to eradicate tuberculosis.
While on his first visit to Trump, PM Mark Carney shut down talk of Canada becoming the 51st state with a firm ‘never for sale’.
An update on the Trump-Harvard kalesh—the White House says the Ivy League school will receive no new grants until it meets its demands on a wide range of issues.
Indian Americans are leading the pack among all Asian groups in the US—raking in a median household income of over $150,000, about 40% higher than Chinese and Japanese families.

meanwhile, in India

The three-judge panel has backed the claim of cash being found at Justice Yashwant Varma’s Delhi residence during a fire, with the Chief Justice of India suggesting Varma resign after reviewing the panel’s report.
On Monday, the Supreme Court published the assets of 21 out of its 33 serving judges—based on a decision taken by the court in April.
Air India has decided to extend the suspension of its flights to and from Tel Aviv till May 8. The reason: a missile attack near the airport in the Israeli city.
In August 2024, leaked audio tapes appeared to offer damning evidence of the former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh’s involvement in the violence in the state. The Supreme Court has asked for a fresh report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory on the authenticity of these tapes.
The Indian government has launched a cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims nationwide—which can cover a maximum amount of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person.

Four things to see

One: On April 5, Uber released a 52-second ad for its Uber Moto in collaboration with IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The ad features Australian cricketer Travis Head—who plays for SRH—who, along with a fictional character, takes the Uber Moto to a stadium and spray-paint “royally challenged Bangalore.” Royal Challengers Bangalore took offense and registered a plea at the Delhi High Court asking the court to ban the ad. The court has rejected the plea saying: “The impugned advertisement is in the context of a game of cricket, a game of sportsmanship, which, in the opinion of this court, does not call for any interference of any sort at this stage.” Below is the harmless ad. (Mint)

Two: The Indian government has launched a “strong protest” with Canada over the “threatening language” and “unacceptable imagery” targeting Modiji, Amit Shah and S Jaishankar at a parade held in Toronto on Sunday. The parade floats were reportedly led by Khalistan supporters. See the vid below. (Indian Express)

Three: Spoiler alert! The new Marvels movie ‘Thunderbolts*’—which released just last week—is now called ‘The New Avengers’. The change is a reference to a post-credits scene which calls the titular group of superheroes the New Avengers. At a PR event, the film’s cast, including Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour among others, tore a part of the poster to reveal its new name. See that vid below. Also this: Sebastian Stan was spotted changing the posters on the streets of Los Angeles—as you can see here. (Independent UK)

Four: The remarkable Denzel Washington headlines Spike Lee’s new movie ‘Highest 2 Lowest’—a crime thriller. It also stars A$AP Rocky. The movie is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival later this month. Then it will be released in theaters on August 22—after which it will stream on Apple TV+ from September 5. (Variety)