A high-altitude tunnel is latest flashpoint in India-China border tensions ff io
A tunnel constructed high in the mountains of northeastern India has become the latest flashpoint in a simmering border dispute between New Delhi and Beijing.
The Sela Tunnel, inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, has been hailed in India as a feat of engineering – blasted through the Himalayas at an elevation of some 13,000 feet (3,900 meters) – and a boon for the military, enabling faster, “all-weather” access to a tense de facto border with China.
That’s caught the attention of Beijing, whose long-running dispute with New Delhi over their contested 2,100-mile (3,379-kilometer) border has seen the two nuclear-armed powers clash in recent years.
That includes in 2020 when hand-to-hand fighting between the two sides resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers in Aksai Chin-Ladakh in the western stretches of the border.
And, decades ago, the dispute led to war.
China also claims the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, where the tunnel was constructed, as its own, even as the area has long functioned as Indian territory.
Chinese officials in recent days have slammed the tunnel project and Modi’s visit to the state, accusing New Delhi of taking steps to undermine peace along the border.
“We require the Indian side to cease any action that may complicate the boundary question … the Chinese military remains highly vigilant and will resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a Defense Ministry spokesperson said last week, using the Chinese name “Zangnan” or South Tibet to refer to Arunachal Pradesh.
Nike inflicts huge home defeat on Adidas by nabbing German soccer team kit deal криптобосс
Things have gone from bad to worse for Adidas. After a costly break-up with US rapper Ye that helped push the German sportswear giant into a rare loss last year, it’s now suffered a bruising defeat on home turf.
The German Football Association (DF announced Thursday that the company’s arch rival Nike (NKE) will be the official kit supplier for national soccer teams from 2027 until 2?034. The decision brings to an abrupt end more than seven decades of the sport’s partnership with Adidas that spanned four World Cup wins for the men’s team.
In a statement, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said German football owed “a great deal” to the partnership with Adidas and that the association was “fully committed” to achieving further joint success through the end of 2026, when their contract expires.
The DFB said Nike had made “by far the best financial offer” and impressed with its vision for developing women’s football, and amateur and grassroots sport in Germany. It did not say how much the new deal was worth.
An Adidas spokesperson said in a statement that “we were informed by the DFB yesterday that the federation will have a new supplier from 2027 onwards.”
Germany will be the host for the Euro 2024 men’s championship, taking place this June and July. Adidas will supply the kits for seven national teams, including the German, Italian and Spanish teams.
In just under three years’ time, however, fans will see Nike’s trademark ticks, not the three stripes of Adidas, on the shirts of Germany’s national teams. German economy minister Robert Habeck reportedly told local news agency DPA Friday that he could “hardly imagine” the prospect.
The partnership between Adidas and German football was a “piece of German identity,” he was reported as saying. “I would have liked a bit more local patriotism.”
Adidas was founded in 1949 in Herzogenaurach, a small town outside Nuremberg in south-east Germany, the same year it registered its now-iconic three-stripe logo.
DFB’s announcement comes at a bad time for Adidas, which last week posted a net loss of €58 million ($63 million) in its core business for 2023, citing a slowdown in sales of its Yeezy-branded clothing and sneakers, and a large tax burden.
announced Thursday that the company’s arch rival Nike (NKE) will be the official kit supplier for national soccer teams from 2027 until 2?034. The decision brings to an abrupt end more than seven decades of the sport’s partnership with Adidas that spanned four World Cup wins for the men’s team.