Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed various aspects of India-US bilateral ties, focusing on defence, trade, energy, and technology. Rubio extended an invitation from President Donald Trump for PM Modi to visit the US.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit India from May 23-26 to enhance cooperation in trade, defence, and energy, attending meetings with senior Indian officials and participating in a Quad group meeting in New Delhi.
The diamond studded crown of India's Srishti Rana, who has been crowned Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 in Busan, South Korea, was seized for not paying customs, a senior customs official said.
The United States' historical strategic alignment with Pakistan, dating back to the Cold War, has consistently aimed to create a political and military parity with India, despite India's significantly larger size and resources. This long-standing relationship continues to influence regional dynamics, particularly in West Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
'Monsoon is the pran (life) of our water system.' 'A weak monsoon will have a very negative impact on crops and people's lives.'
There were a few fissures but no major cracks apparent in FIFA president Sepp Blatter's bedrock of Asia-Pacific support as officials began returning to the region from the annual congress of soccer's world governing body over the weekend.
'For the first time in a hundred years, the army has been taken out of the political equation. And for the first time ever, there is only one man who calls the shots. Not even Mao had this kind of power.'
Trump announced that India and the US agreed to a trade deal under which Washington will charge a reduced reciprocal tariff on Delhi, lowering it from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.
President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from over 60 international organisations, including United Nations bodies and the India-France-led International Solar Alliance, calling the institutions 'redundant' and 'contrary' to America's interests.
The US has approved the sale of Excalibur Projectiles, Javelin Missile System and related equipment totalling over 90 million dollars to India.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has announced his intention to appoint Anoop Singh as Director of the Asia Pacific Department. Singh, an Indian national, who is currently Director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, will succeed David Burton. He holds graduate and post graduate degrees from the Universities of Bombay, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics. Singh has also been special advisor to the governor of the RBI.
Rubio voiced "appreciation" for New Delhi's continued engagement on bilateral issues, including trade, defence and energy.
'Trump is not shy when he is frustrated with countries'
'The launch of Nila, our very first satellite was very emotional as well as nerve wracking. We tried to calm ourselves by cracking some poor jokes!'
'...it should not delude itself into thinking that India's security or its great-power ambitions will be advanced by those partnerships.'
'Instead, what India should focus on is on riding out the next three-and-a-half years of Trump's presidency with minimal damage to itself.'
India remains the largest growing economy in the world, a senior official from the International Monetary Fund said, observing that the country's macroeconomic fundamentals are good. "India is said to remain the largest growing economy in the world. We project growth at seven per cent in FY24-25, supported by recovery in rural consumption, as there have been favourable harvests.
Apple will source the majority of the iPhone sold in the US from India in the June quarter while China will produce the vast majority of the devices for other markets amid uncertainty over tax tariffs, a top official said on Friday.
Challenging the decision of the Biden Administration to investigate the activities of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his companies, an influential Republican lawmaker on Tuesday said such selective actions risk damaging critical alliance partners.
The BJP accused Congress leaders of colluding with foreign forces to destabilize India and demanded Sonia Gandhi to disclose her role in a George Soros Foundation-funded organization's activities. The ruling party also attacked Rahul Gandhi, calling him a "pawn" for his protests against the Adani issue.
Six US Congressmen have written to the Attorney General of the United States expressing concerns over the Department of Justice's indictment of the Adani Group, alleging it jeopardizes relations with India. The letter, signed by Lance Gooden, Pat Fallon, Mike Haridopolos, Brandon Gill, William R Timmmons, and Brian Babin, criticizes the Biden administration's decision to pursue the case, arguing that it has no real injury to US interests and could negatively impact the strategic partnership between the US and India. The Congressmen call for an investigation into the DOJ's conduct and request records pertaining to the case.
The IMF has said the fall in inflation rate and slowdown in credit growth were positive signs but the RBI must remain vigilant to prevent overheating of the India economy.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a series of executive orders fulfilling campaign promises, including declaring an emergency at the southern border, addressing a national energy crisis, and defining sex-related policies. The orders aim to address immigration, national security, and energy independence, with a focus on reversing policies implemented by the previous administration.
The United Nations Security Council held closed-door consultations on rising tensions between India and Pakistan, with envoys calling for restraint and dialogue. The consultations, requested by Pakistan, lasted for about an hour and a half. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the tensions, urging both countries to avoid a military confrontation. India's former Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, said that no consequential outcome could be expected from the discussion.
We have nothing to gain by raising our concerns internationally as our narrative has got entangled with several controversial concepts in the United Nations, asserts Ambassador T N Sreenivasan.
India's historical focus on its continental borders has overshadowed its maritime ambitions, but that is changing quickly, notes Ajai Shukla.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has links to an organisation financed by the George Soros Foundation, which has reportedly supported the idea of an independent Kashmir. The party claims this connection demonstrates foreign influence in Indian internal affairs. This comes after BJP's claims of US involvement in destabilizing India, which the US has denied. The BJP also accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of collaborating with the Soros-funded OCCRP to damage India's economy and reputation. The allegations have drawn criticism from the US embassy and the opposition Congress.
Asian economies are unlikely to undergo a sustained recovery until mid-2010 and can not rely on China to pull the region out of its current slump, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Wednesday, casting doubts on a "green shoots" theory that has helped bolster Asian stock markets recently.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
'Trump has no more elections to fight and his soaring ambition, which is no secret, will be to carve out a presidential legacy that outshines by far all his mediocre predecessors.' 'Trump's turnaround on the H-1B visa debate shows that he can take tough decisions and there are no holy cows in his domain,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India is expected to contribute 15 per cent to the global growth in 2023, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said on Tuesday. "Both India and China are expected to contribute 50 per cent of the global growth in the upcoming year (2023). "However, the share of India's contribution to global growth is expected to be around 15 per cent," Krishna Srinivasan, director, Asia and Pacific Department (APD) at IMF said at a roundtable with reporters from south Asian countries.
33 per cent of all road accidents and 35 per cent of fatal accidents took place on national highways and expressways.
El Nino is often associated with below average warmer, dry weather across Asia Pacific region.
"We see the Indian economy rebounding from our projected 6.1 per cent growth this fiscal year to something like 7 per cent in the next fiscal year (2020). We see the factors that will support growth, including monetary policy stimulus, working their way through the pipeline," Jonathan Ostry, Deputy Director, Asia Pacific Department at the IMF, told reporters.
The Trump regime has informed the Congress that it 'strongly supports' transfers of F-18 and F-16 fighter proposals put forth by Boeing and Lockheed Martin respectively.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
It has aircraft utilisation target of 16 hours as against the current 13 hours.
Indian companies continue to update benefit plans and and increase employee communication.
Auckland in New Zealand has been named the world's most liveable city.
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