The Republic Day long weekend beginning Saturday is driving a surge in travel with hotels and resorts witnessing an increase in bookings led by high demand, reflecting a decisive shift in traveller behaviour and the rise of micro-getaways, industry players said. The increasing preference for short, experience-led holidays is emerging as a strong trend shaping the country's leisure travel market.
Under the defence partnership, India and the UAE are eyeing defence industrial collaboration and cooperation in advanced technologies, cyberspace training, special operations, interoperability of their militaries and counter terrorism.
Russia, being bogged down by the Ukraine war and prioritising the requirements of its own armed forces, along with India's consistent diversification policy, will remain a major challenge to the bilateral partnership, note Harsh V Pant and Aleksei Zakharov.
The 2025 US National Security Strategy marks a major pullback, with America turning backward and effectively allowing China greater dominance in Asia. while long-time partners like India are left to face an increasingly unstable global order largely on their own, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
Sehili was placed in a pre-trial detention centre in Ussuriysk, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Vladivostok. He could have faced up to two years in a Russian jail.
Sanctioning Russian oil would have led to a sharp surge in oil prices to above $80 per barrel levels, which would impact pump prices in the US ahead of midterm elections next year.
One key development is the direct cargo connection between Chennai and Vladivostok, a crucial Russian port on the Northern Sea Route.
'Will he be on Europe and Ukraine's side? Or will he decide that Russia is more important for America?'
'During the 5-day visit, Amir Khan Muttaqi would have, conceivably, bumped into our powerful security agencies one way or another and some interaction would have ensued, which, in turn, can lead to future dealings.' 'Indeed, this will be the one crucial template of the Indo-Afghan relationship that Pakistan will be monitoring closely,' points Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Describing the visit as "productive" in a post on X, the PM said he emphasised India's position on key global issues during his engagements.
China has expressed its support for Russia's initiative to revive the Russia-India-China (RIC) troika, emphasizing its importance for regional and global security and stability.
The era where nations thrived through rigid alignments is giving way to an age where the connective State defines power. For India, that era has arrived, points out Dr Nishakant Ojha.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged that NATO is blatantly trying to lure India into anti-China intrigues.
India and the US have collaborated through the past one month on launching a powerful satellite; are commencing joint production of GE Aerospace's F414 jet engines in India; India is participating in a massive three week-long military exercise in the Western Pacific, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted above-normal rainfall for the upcoming monsoon season in India (June to September). The cumulative rainfall is estimated to be 105 percent of the long-period average. The IMD has also ruled out the possibility of El Nino conditions during the entire season. The monsoon is crucial for India's agriculture sector, which supports the livelihood of a significant portion of the population and contributes substantially to the country's GDP. However, while the prediction of normal rainfall brings relief, climate change is expected to cause variations in rainfall distribution.
'He may respect others, but he is unlikely to admire them'
Trump knows by now that the western narrative of Biden's war is a load of bullshit peppered with falsehoods and outright lies, and that the war erupted only out of the diabolic western plot to poke the bear, which got provoked finally and hit out, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Indian and Russian officials have discussed Indian-Russian cargo transit along the Northern Sea route, joint projects in Arctic shipbuilding and possible training of Indian sailors for polar navigation.
'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.
Vladimir Putin -- who only travels to countries (like China, North Korea) where he cannot be arrested and extradited to The Hague to face the International Court of Justice -- embraces Kim Jong Un on his arrival in Pyongyang early on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
On May 15, the weather office had announced the onset of monsoon over Kerala by May 31.
India's trade deficit with Russia continued to widen for the second consecutive year to $57 billion in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), with Moscow becoming New Delhi's largest source of crude oil imports. All eyes will now be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia during July 8-9, where he is set to meet President Vladimir Putin. This will be Modi's first visit to the Kremlin since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began over two years ago.
"This year, the Southwest Monsoon is likely to set over Kerala on May 31 with a model error of four days," the India meteorological department said on Wednesday.
In the document, Russia underlined that it will build on a privileged strategic partnership with India with a view to enhance and expand cooperation in all areas on a mutually beneficial basis.
In line with India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy, the largest share of aid portfolio has been granted to Bhutan with the allocation of Rs 2,068 crore.
The agency had received Rs 946.51 crore to manage its affairs in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24, which was later increased to Rs 968.86 crore in the Revised Estimates.
EAM Jaishankar's mission is aimed at strengthening India's strategic autonomy in a complex international environment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The onset of the southwest monsoon is being keenly watched this year as it may provide an early sign regarding its progress over the Indian subcontinent, particularly when El Nio is expected to rear its head during the latter half of the season.
Musk refuted the report, saying he spoke to Putin only once.
The rising dependence on discounted crude oil has resulted in India's trade deficit with Russia hitting the second-highest place last year, after China, reveals Department of Commerce data. From April through January 2022-23 (FY23), India's maximum trade deficit was with China, at $71.58 billion. This was followed by Russia, where the deficit expanded sevenfold - from $4.86 billion in April-January of 2021-22 (FY22) to $34.79 billion during the same period in FY23.
The Karnataka government on Saturday said the mortal remains of a medical student from the state, who was killed in Russian shelling in war-torn Ukraine, is expected to reach the airport in Bengaluru early on March 21, and all the documentations required for transportation have been completed.
The country can expect normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season as a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and a lower snow cover over the northern hemisphere are likely to counter the evolving El Nino conditions, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Tuesday.
The unalloyed truth about the Ukraine-Russia conflict is that it is a war that Russia cannot lose and Ukraine cannot win, observes Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
'Both Russia and the USA seek New Delhi's friendship, because for both -- Russia and the USA -- India is a certain counterbalance to China.'
'If the Indian government actually delivers on the infrastructure plans, the hospitality sector would double itself by 2025.'
The Modi government has been put on notice.'Will it buckle under such pressure? These are times when the moral fibre of the leadership makes all the difference, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Russia remains in a unique position since it has special strategic relations with both India and China and these relationships are independent in nature'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
In a bad start to the new year, hotels are counting their losses again. Weddings and corporate events for this month have either been called off or postponed. The blow has throttled the nascent recovery which had kicked in around August. It is primarily hurting the banquet-driven hotel chains, some of which are seeing cancellations running into lakhs for a single day.
After a better-than-expected Dussehra weekend, hospitality firms are hopeful of ending the year on a positive note by doing good business over Christmas and the New Year. Typically, year-end bookings kick in two to four weeks before the season begins. Owing to pandemic-related uncertainties, hotels are seeing a significant reduction in the booking window, with travellers waiting till the last minute to make hotel reservations.
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