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California and 18 other US states will file a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block President Donald Trump's $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said. The lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court will be at least the third to challenge the fee announced by Trump in September, which dramatically raises the cost of obtaining H-1B visas. Currently, employers typically pay between $2,000 and $5,000 in fees. Bonta's office in a release said Trump lacks the power to impose the fee and that it violates federal law, which allows immigration authorities to collect only fees necessary to cover the cost of administering visa programs. The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields. The tech industry, with many companies headquartered in California, is particularly reliant on workers who receive the visas. Bonta, a Democrat, said the $100,000 fee would create unnecessary financial...

New Delhi: In a significant step, the US has launched Pax Silica, a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure, prosperous, and innovation driven silicon supply chain-from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics amid China's efforts to weaponise critical minerals and tech supply chains.The inaugural Pax Silica Summit convenes counterparts from Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, Israel, the UAE, and Australia. Together, these countries are home to the most important companies and investors powering the global AI supply chain, according to the US State Department. However, India which is part of Quad critical minerals initiative and has critical technology partnership with the US interestingly is not part of this Pax Silica initiative. India-US-South Korea had also joined hands to form a critical technology partnership but that did not make any forward movement under the Trump admini...

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New Delhi: Many companies are choosing to postpone in-person meetings and conferences and are avoiding non-essential travel this week amid the uncertainty associated with travel, following mass cancellation of flights by IndiGo, the country's largest airline.Even as IndiGo chief executive Peter Elbers said operations were "fully stabilised" and that the carrier operated more than 1,800 flights on Tuesday, companies are taking a cautious approach. Hospitality industry insiders said cancellations were coming in, but they expect the crisis to cause only a temporary blip in performance in a usually busy quarter."Many of the outstation travel now stands cancelled across airlines, both on account of flight unavailability and high fares," said a partner at a consulting firm who did not wish to reveal his identity. "It gives a feeling of being back to Covid days, where travel was restricted or uncertain, for different reasons. We are hoping for this to change in on...

Gold rose on Tuesday as traders remained optimistic ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, while silver rose to hit the unprecedented $60 per ounce milestone as the white metal faced supply constraints. Spot gold rose 0.6% to $4,215.19 per ounce by 11:11 a.m. ET (1610 GMT). U.S. gold futures for February delivery added 0.6% to $4,244.80 per ounce. Spot silver climbed over 4% to $60.52 per ounce, an all-time high. "People are anticipating that there's going to be strong industrial demand for silver for years to come, which is why it's been bid up, the silver price," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, adding that the buying momentum is strong at the moment. Silver prices have been supported by persistently low supplies and dwindling global inventories, expectations of the U.S. Federal Reserve easing interest rates, as well as its recent addition to the U.S. critical minerals list. "The move in gold right now i...

Bengaluru: More Indian employers plan to hire in the coming quarter despite an overall moderation in hiring volumes, especially at large enterprises, according to a survey by ManpowerGroup.Around 63% of 3,051 Indian employers said they would hire more people in the March quarter while 11% expect a decrease in hiring intent or don't have plans to backfill positions, as per Manpower's latest Employment Outlook Survey shared with ET. This positions the net employment outlook, used as a bellwether of labour market trends, at 52%-the difference between companies looking to hire and those expecting a fall.Hiring sentiments are 28 percentage points higher than the global average, placing India's outlook for the March quarter at the second-highest globally, after Brazil. The country's outlook next quarter is stronger by 12 percentage points compared to January-March 2025 and up 11 percentage points from the December quarter.125843938 While more employers than earlier intend to ...

Mumbai: A sharp drop in deposit rates, competition from other investment avenues, and a high credit-deposit (CD) ratio is likely to limit scope for further reduction in deposit rates, said bank executives.Bankers expect only a 10-to-15 basis points reduction in deposit rates following the 25 basis points reduction in the repo rate by the central bank last week.Inability to pass on rate cuts fully will delay improvement in bank margins, according to bankers. One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.125821080 The weighted average deposit rate on fresh term deposits has fallen 98 basis points to 5.57% since the current rate-cutting cycle began in February. With the latest 25 basis-point cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the benchmark repo rate is now down by 125 basis points.However, bankers say further deposit rate cuts will be limited."Banks will not be able to pass on the full extent of this cut because we are probably at near lows with savings bank rate at 2.50% to 2.75%,...

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New Delhi: India and Russia at Friday's annual summit are set to elevate cooperation in the space sector building on decades-long partnership including possible transfer of technology for semi-cryogenic rocket engines.The plan of space cooperation in future covers several joint areas, including engine development, crewed missions, orbital stations, personnel training, and rocket fuel, ET has learnt.It is learnt that Russia had agreed to 100% transfer of technology for RD-191M semi-cryogenic rocket engines to the Indian Space Research Organisation.Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov told Russian newspaper Izvestia on Wednesday that an announcement on space cooperation would be made as soon as "literally the day after tomorrow". He said the plan covers several joint areas, including engine development, crewed missions, orbital stations, personnel training, and rocket fuel.Bakanov said the partnership would focus on "mutually beneficial cooperation".Russia and India are...

The Department of Telecommunications has proposed one-way spectrum sharing among telecom operators that will enable service providers to monetise and optimally deploy unused radio waves, according to a draft notification. Earlier, operators were allowed to use spectrum in the same frequency band on a shared basis after approval from the government. As per the illustration given in the latest draft rule, a service provider holding frequencies in a different band can share them with other operators having spectrum in a separate band but within the same category and telecom circle. Industry experts said the move will help operators like Vodafone Idea and BSNL to unlock their unused spectrum and monetise the asset. It will also help operators like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel to optimise their 5G services across circles. According to Parag Kar, an industry expert, the implementation of the new rule can help telcos like Vodafone Idea to enter into roaming agreements with other operators t...

President Donald Trump has claimed for months that his administration and Harvard University were close to a monumental deal to end his extraordinary pressure campaign against the university.Even some at Harvard say a deal appeared imminent this summer. But eight months after the rupture between Harvard and the government blew open, no deal has materialized."Negotiations are proceeding and productive," said Madi Biedermann, a spokesperson for the Education Department, in a statement to The New York Times this week.The talks, though, have stumbled around arguments about where any money will go.Harvard has been open to spending $500 million on workforce training programs. But Trump officials have recently argued that some of the money should be paid directly to the federal government, a proposal that has not been previously reported. The idea has caused Harvard officials to balk, according to six Harvard and Trump administration officials and others familiar with the negotiatio...

Bahrain has lowered the minimum real estate investment required for its Golden Residency Visa to BHD 130,000, down from BHD 200,000. The considerably reduced threshold aims to make the visa more accessible to foreign investors. The visa, introduced in 2022, offers a 10-year renewable residence with work rights and family reunification. The Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) said the latest change is expected to support real estate demand and strengthen the kingdom’s appeal as a long-term residency and business hub.According to a Gulf News report, the NPRA announced the revised criteria as part of Bahrain’s plan to enhance its competitiveness in the Gulf. Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, Undersecretary for NPRA, said the move reflects the government’s commitment to a stable environment for long-term investors. “Lowering the threshold will boost the program’s competitiveness while preserving its standards and exclusivity,” he said.121924848Who qualifies for the ...

Mumbai: Green Gold Animation, the creator of the Chhota Bheem television series and the Krishna film series, is seeking to raise ₹250 crore at a valuation of about ₹800 crore to accelerate its next phase of expansion, founder Rajiv Chilaka said.The Hyderabad-based studio, which employs around 500 people, plans to build new intellectual properties (IPs) and strengthen its animation production capacity in domestic and international markets."We are exploring a ₹250 crore raise at a ₹800 crore valuation to support our next phase of growth. The focus is on strengthening our animation capabilities and building new IPs," Chilaka said.The two decade-old company is also open to a change in ownership if it supports long-term growth. "We are open to a controlling investor if there is strong alignment and the partnership helps us scale responsibly," Chilaka said.The fundraising comes as India's media and entertainment sector faces consolidation, tighter content budgets and ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia was "ready" for war if Europe seeks one, accusing the continent's leaders of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he met with US envoys.The comments came as US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the nearly four-year war, which were preceded by days of intense diplomacy."We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now," Putin told reporters in Moscow."They have no peaceful agenda, they are on the side of war," he added, repeating his claim that European leaders were hindering US attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.He added that European changes to Trump's latest plan to end the war "aimed solely at one thing -- to completely block the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia...

The Ministry of Tourism has entered into a "non-commercial" MoU with Netflix Entertainment Services India to promote the country's tourism destinations globally through cinematic storytelling, the government informed Parliament on Monday. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the OTT platform includes promotion of natural landscape, cultural and heritage sites of the country, including the state of Gujarat, Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said in a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha. He was asked whether the government has entered into a partnership with Netflix to promote tourism in India through visual storytelling and on-screen representation of destinations. "The Ministry of Tourism entered into a non-commercial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP with aim to promote Indian tourism destinations globally through cinematic storytelling. MoU with Netflix includes promotion of natural landscap...