There is no player in the Pakistan team, since the defeat against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy opener, who is under as much pressure as Babar Azam with his 90-ball 64 in the chase of 321 making him a national villain of sorts. Babar’s strike-rate and intent continues to remain the “hot topic of debate.” All eyes will be on Babar, who is supposed to be a lifeline of Pakistan batting, as an important showdown with India is scheduled for tomorrow. Here’s how his sluggish strike-rates pit him in contrast to Virat Kohli.With that, let’s move on to the top 5 stories from today’s edition:🚨 Big StoryJumping the gun? Ever since the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced early this week that it had “cancelled,” USAID funding of “$21 million for voter turnout in India,” the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the opposition Congress of using alleged external influence in India’s election process. However, records accessed by The Indian Express show that the amount was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh, not India. Here’s our exclusive report.Amid Trump’s allegations, the Congress and ruling BJP had started a war of words, with the Congress dismissing Trump’s remarks as “nonsensical,” and demanding a white paper on USAID’s financial support to government and non-governmental organisations in India. The BJP, on the other hand, stood firm that Trump had “confirmed” a foreign attempt to influence Indian elections.Terming Trump’s claim to be “very deeply troubling,” the Ministry of External Affairs said, “this has led to concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs”. On the investigation by The Indian Express, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “There are many departments and agencies in India that work with USAID. All these ministries and agencies are looking at this now. We will share with you as and when we get an update.”Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, meanwhile, said he was “stunned” by Trump’s recent statement that the previous administration was “trying to get someone else elected” in India, and said it revealed an attempt to manipulate Indian democracy.Story continues below this adReacting to the Express report, the Congress accused the government of making insinuations on the party without even knowing that US funds had landed in the neighbouring country. The BJP repeated its charge that the leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, was hand-in-glove with foreign powers to destabilise the NDA government because he lacked the popularity to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.⚡ Only in ExpressA wake-up call for India? Over the last couple of years, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and many more, have given people a glimpse into the possibilities that AI was always believed to have. Moreover, as the recent arrival of DeepSeek sets off AI ambitions in India, including an audacious bid to develop its own large language model (LLM), The Indian Express meets some of the top AI researchers as they map the country’s road to a seat at technology’s high table.💡 Express ExplainedHow and why does it matter what your government spends its money on? The latest monthly bulletin by the Reserve Bank of India, released on Wednesday, carries a study that looks at how well did Indian governments — both the Centre and various states — spend their money. From pushing for fiscal rectitude or discipline, to higher capital expenditure, Udit Misra explains the standout trends seen in India over the past two decades.✍️ Express OpinionIn our Opinion section today, Ishan Bakshi delves deeper into India’s developmental challenges, as the country continues to remain a lower middle-income economy. He writes: “India’s development challenge, as some have also argued, exists at two levels. One, to ensure that the western and southern states do not get trapped in the middle-income trap. And two, to see to it that the poorer states grow rapidly. This will necessarily involve operating across the entire smile curve — engaging in both low and high-value-added activities.”🎬 Movie ReviewStory continues below this adWondering what to binge-watch this weekend? Well, we’ve got you covered! It’s clockwork for Nicole Kidman as Romy in the erotic thriller Babygirl, as the CEO and founder of a company specialising in automating warehouse stacking. Taking jabs at power dynamics at work, women and desire, the film portrays Kidman, as Shalini Langer puts it in her review, as “excellent as a woman who supposedly has it all, now risking everything for this torrid affair with Harris Dickinson, where he calls the shots.”That’s all for today. Have a lovely weekend!Until next time,Ariba Business As Usual by E P Unny