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New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will address a major press conference on Sunday to reveal what he described as a wider political nexus involving Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi.

Biswa Sarma mounted a sharp political offensive against the reported understanding between the Congress and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal ahead of the Assembly elections, asserting that the Opposition alliance has no prospects in the state.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of newly constructed school buildings, earlier on Monday, Sarma said the proposed February 8 briefing would go beyond earlier allegations related to Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged “Pakistan link” and would place before the public what he termed as the “entire network” associated with it. He claimed that the press conference would contain “important disclosures” with political ramifications.

Reacting to reports of a Congress–Raijor Dal tie-up, the Chief Minister said Opposition leaders were free to form governments “anywhere else,” but categorically ruled out their chances in Assam.

Taking a swipe at Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi, Sarma remarked that the latter would not be able to form a government in Assam “even in 500 years.” He further alleged that Gaurav Gogoi was attempting to coordinate with Akhil Gogoi and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi in anticipation of a joint political counterattack following the Sunday's press conference.

According to the Chief Minister, these moves were aimed solely at shielding themselves from the impact of the BJP’s forthcoming revelations. In a pointed message to the Opposition leadership, Sarma said this was the “appropriate time” for Akhil Gogoi and Lurinjyoti Gogoi to negotiate seat-sharing arrangements, claiming that their political relevance would diminish after February 8.

“They should take whatever political advantage they can now, because after February 8, the situation will change,” he said.

The Chief Minister’s remarks have further heightened political tensions in Assam, with the political discourse intensifying as the state moves closer to the Assembly elections.

--IANS

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Cairo, Feb 8 (IANS) Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said that he expected a new round of talks with the United States to take place "soon," describing the meeting held a day earlier as a positive start while cautioning that rebuilding trust would take time.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, aired on Saturday and later shared in Persian on his Telegram channel, Araghchi also made clear that Tehran would not relinquish its uranium enrichment program, which he called an "inalienable right." He added that his country was open to an agreement that reassures the international community while preserving its enrichment activities, Xinhua news agency reported.

Araghchi also noted that Iran opposes transferring its uranium abroad and said the nuclear dispute could be resolved only through negotiations. He also rejected US demands that Iran curb its missile program, calling missiles a defensive matter that is "never negotiable."

He confirmed that members of the Iranian and American delegations briefly shook hands despite the talks being conducted indirectly. "Although the negotiations were indirect, an opportunity arose to shake hands with the American delegation," he said, disputing US reports that the two sides had held a short direct exchange during the discussions in Muscat.

After concluding the talks with Steve Witkoff, US President Trump's special envoy, Araghchi traveled to Doha, where he met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Qatari media reported.

Iran's military chief of staff, Abdolrahim Mousavi, struck a more confrontational tone, warning that any attempt to impose war on Iran would spread conflict across the Middle East. Iran would not initiate a war, he said, but would respond "decisively" to defend its sovereignty.

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, described the Oman talks as "very good," saying Iran "looks like it wants to make a deal very badly." He said the sides would meet again early next week.

On Friday, Trump also signed an executive order threatening additional tariffs on countries that continue to trade with Iran. While the order does not specify a tariff rate, it cites 25 per cent as an example and says the measure could apply to goods imported into the United States from any country that "directly or indirectly" purchases goods or services from Iran.

The talks in Muscat marked a renewed diplomatic effort amid heightened regional tensions. In recent weeks, the United States has expanded its military presence in the Middle East, while Iran has stepped up its own preparations, fueling concerns among regional governments about the risk of a wider conflict.

Israel is watching the negotiations closely. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that he would travel to Washington later this week to discuss the talks with Trump. Netanyahu believes any agreement must include limits on Iran's ballistic missile program and an end to its support for allied militant groups, the statement said.

Earlier this week and ahead of the Muscat meeting, Witkoff visited Israel for consultations, during which Netanyahu said Iran had "repeatedly demonstrated it cannot be trusted to keep its promises."

Regional reactions were cautiously supportive. Egypt and the United Arab Emirates welcomed the talks as a constructive step toward dialogue and de-escalation.

Egypt's foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, praised Oman's role in hosting the negotiations and reaffirmed Cairo's support for a negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue. The Emirati foreign ministry said Oman's mediation had helped create conditions conducive to dialogue and expressed hope for outcomes that would enhance regional security.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also welcomed the talks, voicing hope they would open a diplomatic path to ease tensions and promote regional stability.

"The region is burdened by multiple crises, and finding a diplomatic solution between the United States and Iran is essential for achieving peace and stability," he said during a press conference on Friday.

Qatar's foreign minister, during his Saturday meeting with Araghchi in Doha, voiced hope that the negotiations would lead to a comprehensive agreement that strengthens stability and security across the region, according to a statement from the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

--IANS

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Ahmedabad, Feb 8 (IANS) The Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Saturday arrested five members of a sophisticated interstate gang involved in defrauding major e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart and Amazon, and seized goods and equipment worth Rs 20.5 lakh.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Ramlal alias Romil Gehlot (27), Manoj Kumar Mali (30), Bharat Kumar Sundesha (25), Vishal Panchal (29), all residents of Jalore, Rajasthan, and Vishal Bavri, a resident of Surat.

Two other members, Rishipal Bhati and Vinod, remain at large.

The gang operated across cities such as Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, and Jalore. They infiltrated the logistics chain to replace genuine electronic items with dummy products.

Using multiple fake user IDs and passwords, the gang placed orders for high-value gadgets, which were intercepted by their delivery personnel before reaching customers.

Specialised tools were used to remove genuine products carefully and replace them with identical-looking dummy items.

Orders were then officially marked as ‘cancelled’ or ‘returned’, after which the gang sold the real products in the market for illegal profit.

An official told IANS, “We are currently investigating more directions. These five were arrested as part of the primary investigation. We’ll analyse and reach the root of the case.”

Police have seized eight genuine mobile phones, 25 dummy phones, three dummy earbuds, 12 dummy gaming processors, a camera lens, an electric hair dryer, three glue remover bottles, 14 plastic syringes, two steel tools used to tamper with parcels, packaging material, and a Mahindra Scorpio vehicle used to transport the goods.

During questioning, the accused admitted to previous frauds, including the theft of an iPhone 17 Pro Max and three iPhone 16 Pro devices in Vadodara in January this year, seven mobile phones and 10 Apple Watches in Surat in October 2025, and two Apple Watches in Jalore in December 2025.

The case has been registered at the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) Police Station in the city and is being investigated under Sections 61(2)(a) and 316(5) of the Indian Penal Code.

Authorities have urged customers to remain vigilant while shopping online and warned that strict legal action will be taken against anyone found involved in such fraudulent activities.

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Feb 7 (IANS) Union Minister for Railways, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Saturday, released the new two-nanometre Qualcomm chip and said that it is a major development for the country.

Speaking in Bengaluru, Union Minister Vaishnaw made the statement while inaugurating Texas Instruments' new product research and development facility in Bengaluru.

The Union Minister said, "I am very happy to share with you that today we unveiled the 2 nanometer wafer and 2 nanometre chip at Qualcomm. It's a series of developments companies are now designing end to end products in India."

"Gone are those days when most of back office development was done here, and now from the entire customer product definition to design, the final silicon, getting it taped out and getting it validated, that entire thing is being done in India," he added.

"This is a major development for our country, our industry. I would like to thank to all those pioneers here in Qualcomm, who have taken the challenge few years ago, I requested them to go ahead in the most advanced designs in India and I thank them for taking up that challenge and doing it in India," Union Minister Vaishnaw said.

Congratulations to the entire team for doing this in India, he added.

Talking about the wafer, Union Minister said, "This is the wafer in which each die contains nearly 20 to 30 billion transistors. One die, the small square you see here, has about 20 billion transistors. To put it in perspective, 20 billion equals 2,000 crore or 20 lakh crore."

Exhibiting the tiny silicon chip, he said that this is basically having GPU and the CPU within this small chip.

"The end product which comes out of this is a module which will be AI computer on the desktop of any person on the edge, meaning on the camera, within the wifi router, or within any device on the machine or any moving car or automobile or train. That kind of development is happening," the Union Minister added.

"This breakthrough has firmly placed India among countries working on cutting-edge chip design, alongside companies such as AMD that have already demonstrated such capabilities."

Union Minister Vaishnaw also said, "India is making significant progress in semiconductor manufacturing and chip design."

Though the semiconductor sector is relatively new in the country, the Union Minister said the entire semiconductor ecosystem is rapidly taking shape and preparing for large-scale growth.

The development also established India from being a software provider and a back-office to an end-to-end semiconductor product design and development hub, he added.

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Feb 7 (IANS) Union Minister for Railways, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Saturday, appealed to the Congress-led government in Karnataka not to adopt a narrow-minded approach.

Saying that the Centre believes in cooperative federalism, the Union Minister called upon all stakeholders to work together towards making India a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

He made the statement after inaugurating the 'Zetwerk Electronics' manufacturing facility at the KIADB Hi-Tech Hardware Park in Bengaluru's Mahadeva Kodigehalli.

It can be noted that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar have repeatedly made statements against the Centre violating principles of cooperative federalism alleging injustice to Karnataka.

Addressing the Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries, M.B. Patil, who was present at the event, Union Minister Vaishnaw said, "We believe in cooperative federalism. Patil saab, when all states grow, only then does the country grow. Even the Union Budget is ultimately implemented in the states. Therefore, I appeal to everyone not to have a narrow outlook but to adopt a broad vision."

"The vision is to take India towards a Viksit or developed Bharat by 2047. This is the vision given to us by our Prime Minister. Let us all work together with unity and laser-sharp focus towards that goal," the Union Minister said.

Speaking about the electronics component manufacturing scheme, Union Minister Vaishnaw said significant changes had taken place in a short period.

"After the focus shifted from finished products to electronics components, the sector has taken off like a hockey stick. We already have 46 approvals, and investments worth more than Rs 10,000 crore are coming to Karnataka," he added.

He said that investments were flowing in from across the country and added that the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had increased the budget for the electronics component manufacturing scheme from Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore.

"The journey has just begun, and the electronics manufacturing sector is now set to accelerate at a very fast pace," he added.

Union Minister Vaishnaw said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set a target of $500 billion in electronics production by the financial year 2030–31.

"We must move very fast in that direction. If you have any new ideas or suggestions, we are open-minded and ready to change our policies if required. Whatever works for the industry, we will adopt it as policy," he added.

Expressing satisfaction over recent developments, the Union Minister said, "It is very encouraging to see that end-to-end two-nanometre chip designs are now being developed in India. This is a major achievement. Equipment manufacturers have also started coming to India. Companies such as Applied Materials and Lam Research have come to India, and our next target should be to bring ASML."

It can be noted that ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) is a Dutch multinational corporation and the world's leading supplier of photolithography systems for the semiconductor industry.

Calling the journey satisfying, Union Minister Vaishnaw said commercial production would begin this year.

"Within the next few weeks, the first commercially produced chip will come out of a semiconductor plant. Stay tuned for that. Semicon 2.0 will be bigger, with a focus on design, equipment manufacturing, chemicals, gases, validation, yield improvement, and all functions required for a sustainable semiconductor ecosystem," he added.

He said that talent development in the sector had progressed well.

"We are targeting 85,000 semiconductor engineers over the next 10 years. In the last four years alone, we have trained 67,000 engineers. A large part of chip design work will happen in India, which will be a major leap in the coming years," he added.

"We have also laid out a roadmap from 28 nanometres to 7 nanometres under Semicon 2.0. After that, we will move towards 2 to 3 nanometres. I would like to thank each and every industry partner," the Union Minister said.

--IANS

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