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India’s economic problems threaten to undermine the prime minister, businesses in Britain prepare for a chaotic Brexit and Apple takes a strong stand on data privacy. Here’s the latest:
India’s high unemployment rate spells trouble for Modi
India’s jobless rate hit 6.1 percent in the last year, its highest level in 45 years, according to a report published on Thursday in the independent Indian newspaper Business Standard.
Alarm spread over the figure, as did accusations that the government had been trying to cover up the bad news. Two government advisers resigned in protest of its failure to release the economic data.
The developments could deepen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vulnerability in national elections that are expected to take place in early May.
Background: Mr. Modi swept into office in 2014 with a campaign focused on jobs and reviving the economy. But since then, droughts, a sluggish manufacturing sector and Mr. Modi’s widely criticized decision to replace most of India’s currency have fueled unemployment and contributed to an economic slowdown.
Already, the impact of the economy is beginning to hurt Mr. Modi. In recent local elections, described as the “semifinals” of Indian politics, his party suffered its worst defeat in recent years across five states.
British businesses prepare for chaos
Companies across Britain, faced with increasing uncertainty around the country’s departure from the E.U., have been stockpiling products, making backup plans and exploring new shipping routes. International banks are shifting thousands of jobs from Britain to the Continent.
“It’s meant extra resources, extra overtime, to get it done,” said one executive. “It’s incredibly annoying. It’s frustrating.”
By the numbers: The economy is 2.3 percent smaller than it would have been if Britain had voted to remain in the E.U. in 2016, according to one research institution. And investment in the auto sector was found to have plunged by almost 50 percent in 2018.
What’s next? Uncertainty is intensifying. Parliament remains at an impasse, with under 60 days to the March 29 deadline to leave the E.U.
Saudi Arabia ends its corruption purge
The kingdom announced that its crackdown on high-level corruption, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was over and claimed it had helped retrieve $106 billion for the state treasury.
A government statement said that the “anticorruption committee” had summoned 381 people. Of those detained, 87 were released after signing confessions and agreeing to settlements, while 64 had been referred to the public prosecutor.
Background: About 15 months ago, the Saudi government detained hundreds of businessmen, former officials and even members of the royal family at a Ritz-Carlton hotel, where many were subject to coercion and physical abuse, according to witnesses.
Analysis: The end of the crackdown may be part of an effort by Saudi Arabia to repair its image, which took a hit after the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year by Saudi operatives.
In other Saudi news: A Filipina maid was executed this week after being found guilty of murder, Philippine officials said, but details about her case were not made public.
Trump sees hope for U.S.-China trade deal
As negotiators were concluding the second of two days of trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, President Trump said there was a “good chance” of striking an agreement.
Liu He, China’s vice premier, was expected to formally propose that Mr. Trump meet with President Xi Jinping next month.
In other Washington news: The Senate voted to pass nonbinding bipartisan legislation that expressed opposition to Mr. Trump’s withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Syria, the second time in two months that the Senate has rebuked the president’s foreign policy.
“Waste of time”: Mr. Trump, in an interview with our reporters, said that he had all but given up on negotiations with Congress over his border wall. He also dismissed any wrongdoing in investigations that have ensnared his associates.
Here’s what else is happening
Apple: Chief executive Tim Cook cut off Facebook’s access to apps and updates that it was working on internally, because the social media company had violated Apple’s rules with a research app that snooped on users’ online activity.
Birth tourism: Three people who ran businesses that helped women give birth in the U.S. to secure American citizenship for their babies were arrested as part of a broad federal probe cracking down on an industry that has become increasingly popular, particularly among Chinese nationals.
Polar vortex: At least eight deaths have been associated with the record-breaking cold snap sweeping through much of the U.S. Midwest, and hospitals have been treating dozens of frostbite and hypothermia cases. Thousands of flights were canceled, and schools and universities were closed.
Soccer and human rights: An increasing number of powerful sports executives have called for the release of a Bahrain-born soccer player, Hakeem al-Araibi, who has refugee status in Australia but has been detained in Thailand since late November. The case represents the first time that sporting bodies have come together to “address the fate of a single person,” one of Mr. Araibi’s supporters said.
New Zealand: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern scrapped her initial targets in an ambitious plan to build 100,000 new homes over the next decade, signaling that a solution to the country’s shortage of affordable housing remains out of reach.
Iran: Britain, France and Germany, in an attempt to bolster Iran’s economy while skirting U.S. sanctions, have set up a company that would essentially allow goods to be bartered between companies. Whether anyone will actually use it remains to be seen.
11 days offline: Tonga, a remote island northeast of New Zealand, was forced into digital darkness after an underwater fiber-optic cable was severed on Jan. 20, cutting off internet connections, international calls and even credit card payments. Repairs are underway, and some connectivity has trickled back.
Sri Lanka: Our Frugal Traveler hopped on a train from Colombo to Kandy, then from Kandy to Ella, to take in the lush, hilly terrain with rows of perfectly manicured tea plants. The country “is a place best seen slowly,” he writes.
Overlooked no more: Forough Farrokhzad, who was perhaps the first female Iranian poet to write about the emotions and desires of women, elevating her among the great voices of Persian literature. Her death, from a car crash in 1967, was regarded as a national tragedy in Iran, but she didn’t receive a Times obituary. Until now.
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Back Story
On this day in 1786, a Briton living in India delivered a discourse on a little-known proposition: Sanskrit, Persian, Latin, Greek and other languages might have a common source.
The commentary set off the field of comparative linguistics. We know its fruits today as the concept of Proto-Indo-European, a mother language for dozens of tongues. The idea revolutionized not only the study of language but the sense of human history.
The man who delivered the talk, Sir William Jones, was, predictably, a student of languages and culture. Less predictably, he was in India because he was also a legal expert — the same reason he ultimately became convinced of his theory.
He arrived many decades before the Raj, or British government rule. The British East India Company was increasing its control over territories it had long traded in. Some of the company’s officials wanted British justices like Jones to supervise the administration of Indian courts; translations from Sanskrit to English were crucial to that effort.
Jones’s work with translators enabled his remarkable insights.
Andrea Kannapell, the briefings editor, wrote today’s Back Story.
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