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In 2017, a consortium led by Russian state oil company Rosneft agreed to buy Essar Oil for $12.9 billion in India's biggest foreign acquisition of a homegrown company. Rosneft's buyout of Essar's assets was meant to herald a wave of energy investments in India - over six decades after Esso, Caltex and Shell invested in India's refining sector in the 1950s. But the government has tripped up in its efforts to sell Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), formerly Burmah Shell, a blue chip public sector company. Bidders include a couple of global funds and resources firm Vedanta.
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
TheWhat led to Pakistan not taking advantage of India's difficulty is the hold that the US has over the Pakistani ruling elite, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Aircraft manufacturer Embraer has agreed to pay over $205 million (over Rs 1,371 crore) as settlement with American and Brazalian authorities for resolving corruption charges in India and three other countries.
According to the local Brass Handicrafts Manufacturers Association (BHMA), some 800,000 people are directly employed in Moradabad's massive brass handicrafts and utensils manufacturing industry, which has some 30,000 small and micro-scale units and a total annual turnover of Rs 10,000 crore. The manufacturers are heavily dependent on export markets such as the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union. And exports account for nearly 70 per cent of their revenues. According to industry insiders, since this year's lockdowns, manufacturing has been at 65 per cent of normal levels.
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The businessman, who travelled to Delhi to attend a Tablighi Jamaat congregation, died on March 26 in a Srinagar hospital, 19 days after he set off for the national capital. He could have infected scores of people during his travels and about 300 people have been put under quarantine because of him, officials said.
Recounting their ordeals, evacuees from Yemen have narrated their tales of horror during their stay in that war-torn country.
Though the deal was inked in 2008, the process had started much earlier.
The Saudi-Pakistan nuclear weapons cooperation is meant to sound alarm bells in Washington, reminding the Obama administration that its overtures to Iran would have serious negative consequences in terms of its ties with its closest allies in the region, says Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad. Exclusive to Rediff.com
US President Barack Obama left for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
'When the Taliban took over there was a genuine fear that they will harm me, but right now that fear is not there.'
Informing the world leaders of measures taken by him, Modi said India will continue to accord a high national priority to nuclear security through strong institutional framework, independent regulatory agency and trained and specialised manpower.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa discussed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir with China's Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Xu Qiliang when he visited the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi with a high-level delegation on Monday
Saudi Arabia has reportedly carried out tests to stand down its air defence to allow Israeli fighters to make bombing runs on Iran's nuclear sites. The official Saudi Press Agency, however, dismissed the reports, calling them 'false' and 'slanderous'.
The agency started a PE against unknown officials of Defence Ministry.
The jump in the sale of American weapons to India comes at a time when sale of weapons from the US to other countries has dipped to USD 50.8 billion in 2020 from USD 55.7 billion in 2019.
An Indian man who managed to board an Air India flight at Medina in Saudi Arabia without ticket or passport and hid in the toilet to travel Jaipur, has been booked under the Passport Act even as his interrogation so far has not revealed any intention to cause any harm.
Despite difficult working conditions, Indians are still seeking jobs in Gulf countries
The United States and the United Kingdom, citing terrorism concerns, on Tuesday barred passengers on some international flights from mostly Muslim-majority countries, from carrying large electronic devices like cameras and laptops as cabin baggage.
Stowaway Habib Husain, who hid in a toilet on an Air India Haj charter flight from Saudi Arabia, on Saturday walked free after his release from the central jail in Jaipur and said he was happy to be back home.
'There is a part of me that says it is a great time to tell stories from my own land.' 'But then opportunities are coming my way from all over the world.' 'So one foot is here and one foot is in the West.'
India on Sunday evacuated 670 more nationals, including 488 from Sanaa by three Air India flights, taking the total number of Indians rescued from war-ravaged Yemen to nearly 2,300 after the "largest" evacuation in a day so far.
'Unlike Dr Manmohan Singh, who quailed and turned away because the darkness was too frightening, Modi has taken a leap to the other side. He deserves applause for this fearlessness,' says Aditi Phadnis.
After a long hiatus of more than 20 months, the government had on November 26 announced the resumption of scheduled international commercial flights from December 15.
Indonesia's foreign ministry could lodge a formal protest over the incident, Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa reportedly said.
'The most ambitious part of the BAE-HAL agreement involves building an advanced version of the Hawk, which could be used as a light, manoeuvrable, fighter that could operate in the narrow valleys of India's Himalayan frontier, where high-performance fighters cannot turn,' reports Ajai Shukla.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
Swaraj is in Bahrain for a two-day visit to attend the first ministerial meeting of the India-Arab League Cooperation Forum to be held on Sunday.
With Pakyong now usable by AN-32s, the Indian Army can quickly move soldiers, weapons and supplies to this highly sensitive sector, which includes flashpoints like Doklam, Nathu La and the Siliguri Corridor.
"Our government has invariably made efforts to initiate the process of meaningful dialogue and adoption of peaceful means to resolve the issues but unfortunately the expansionist designs of India have remained the main hurdle in this regard," Abbasi said.
'The Chinese are only about 160-170 km behind.' 'It will not take much time for them to bring their troops back, considering that they have better infrastructure -- and the weather is now favourable.' 'They can move in much faster as the terrain favours them.'
In the Middle East, which is already coping with the Qatar-Saudi Arabia tensions, comes another pressure point.
Labourers in Saudi Arabia have asked authorities to enact a law that bans open-air work from 11 am to 3 pm during summer months due to potential health hazards.
The nation has the fifth largest defence budget in the world, at $52.5 billion in 2017 ($51.1 billion in 2016), overtaking the UK whose defence budget fell from $52.5 billion in 2016 to $50.7 billion in 2017.
These 12 images prove that we truly live in an incredibly bizarre world.
