For foreign dignitaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often chosen gifts that showcase India's rich cultural and artistic traditions, and it was no different this time as he picked a variety of products for the heads of governments at the G7 Summit.
He then went on to say that, however, he won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for any of his efforts.
Modi, flanked by Trump, on Monday categorically rejected any scope for third party mediation on Kashmir.
Russia has welcomed India's decision to not support the price cap on Russian oil announced by G7 and its allies and offered it cooperation on leasing and building large-capacity ships to overcome the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in the European Union and Britain to continue buying discounted oil. The offer came as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Indian Ambassador to Moscow, Pavan Kapoor, on Friday. "The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed India's decision not to support the price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed on December 5 by the G7 countries and their allies," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The mourning will be observed across the country on April 22 and 23, and again on the day of the Pope's funeral.
Union Minister George Kurian on Saturday said the much-awaited visit of Pope Francis to India is likely to happen after 2025, which has been announced as the 'Jubilee Year' by the Catholic Church.
India has accused Pakistan of breaching an understanding reached earlier on Saturday to stop military actions. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said there have been repeated violations of the understanding since the evening, and that the Indian armed forces are giving an appropriate response.
Pakistan military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry told a hurriedly called press conference in Islamabad at around 4 am that th Pakistan air force's Nur Khan (Chaklala, Rawalpindi), Murid (Chakwal) and Rafiqui (Shorkot in Jhang district) airbases were targeted.
Pakistani military targets at Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur and Chunian were engaged using air-launched precision weapons from Indian fighter jets and the retaliation largely focused on command and control centres, radar sites and weapon storage areas, Qureshi said.
Here's what you need to know, says Ashish Narsale.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd is estimated to have earned 724 million euros (about Rs 6,850 crore) from exporting fuel made from Russian crude oil to the US in one year, an European think tank said in a report. "From January 2024 to the end of January 2025, the US imported EUR 2.8 billion of refined oil from six refineries in India and Turkey that process Russian crude.
Pope Francis's connection with India was marked by a mix of hopes and challenges. His long-held wish to visit the country remained unfulfilled, but he made significant contributions to the Catholic community in India, including elevating Indian figures to sainthood and appointing an Indian priest as a Cardinal. While his efforts to resolve conflicts within the Syro-Malabar Church were unsuccessful, his legacy will be remembered for his efforts to promote unity and understanding in the Catholic Church.
Defuses worries on global currency war.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, spent 112.5 billion euro (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore) on buying crude oil from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, a European think tank said on Thursday. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) released a report on payments to Russia for fossil fuels since February 24, 2022. "According to our estimates, since the beginning of the war, Russia earned EUR 835 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports," it said.
Oil prices rose following Biden's suggestion that United States and Israeli officials were considering a possible Israeli strike on Iranian oil facilities, as reported by the Washington Post.
The International Institute of Finance, which has representatives from 360 major banks and financial institutions of 60 countries, has suggested the expansion of the G-7 to G-11 to include India, China, Russia and Brazil.
Trump abruptly rejected the text of the consensus statement and bitterly insulted Canadian PM Trudeau.
Chess960, created by former world champion Bobby Fischer in 1996, has been gaining in popularity after an invitational tournament played last year at the Weissenhaus Luxury Resort, which hosted the G7 Foreign Minister summit in 2022.
The leaders expressed their support, he told reporters around midnight in Tokyo after the G7 heads of state held an unprecedented meeting by video conference. At the G7 video conference, leaders committed to doing 'whatever is necessary' to battle the coronavirus pandemic and to work together more closely to protect public health, jobs and growth, and issued a statement promising to address the health and economic risks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral talks with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Bari during which they discussed defence and security cooperation and hoped for further enhancing the defence industrial collaboration.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News) on Friday said Trudeau described the meeting as a "brief exchange" when the two leaders met during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Vientiane, Laos held on Thursday.
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
'Hi friends, from #Melodi', this is how Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni captioned a small selfie video showing her camaraderie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Did he assure the Pope that he would do everything in his power to protect churches and Christians in India from attacks?
Modi will travel to Poland before visiting Ukraine.
'Senior Vatican officials were pleasantly surprised at the number of Indians who had come to witness the ceremony.'
Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took to X to wish a happy birthday to her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi who turned 74 on Tuesday and said they will continue to strengthen the ties between the two countries.
Trudeau said that he had spoken to the Liberal Party President to start looking for a new prime ministerial candidate.
The wide-ranging sanctions imposed by the US on the Russian oil sector have started to dent near-term oil flows to India with state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) saying not enough cargoes are available for March.
Ukraine is currently in the middle of a strategic offensive into Russia's Kursk region.
A photograph of United States President Donald Trump and Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel displaying less-than-friendly body language has become the defining image of the G7 summit. The photo shows Merkel standing with her hands firmly planted on a table staring down at the US President. Trump looks back defiant, arms folded and with eyes glaring. The photo was tweeted by Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert, sparking frenzy on social media.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict and that the way to peace is through 'dialogue and diplomacy'.
The party said no Congress worker would even entertain the remotest thought of insulting the Pope, whom Christians around the world consider as God-like.
India's export of fuels like diesel to the European Union jumped 58 per cent in the first three quarters of 2024, with a bulk of them likely coming from refining discounted Russian oil, according to a monthly tracker report. The EU/G7 countries in December 2022 introduced a price cap and an embargo on the imports of Russian crude oil in a bid to cripple Kremlin's revenue and create a vacuum in its funding for the invasion of Ukraine.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he sees a new opening to engage with India on 'some very serious' issues on national security after the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to office for a third consecutive term.
Despite discounts on Russian crude oil - which fell to the lowest since the Ukraine war began - and the rising sanctions, import volumes from the country will remain stable for now or at least till July, said refinery officials. "There is an appetite for Russian crude, and shipments are not expected to taper off beyond this point unless something major happens. "Talks are on, and buying will continue," an official at a major refinery said.
The proposed visit is being planned around the Ukrainian National Day of August 24 and the prime minister may also travel to Poland as part of a two-nation tour, they said.
As a leader, he was ambitious, not for himself but for India and its people. His was not the short-term election cycle calculation of individual political gain. His was a practical vision of how to better the lives of his fellow citizens, asserts Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, who served as foreign secretary and national security advisor when Dr Singh was prime minister.
After four days of intense negotiations among the G-7, India maintained that it would discuss the ideas proposed by the US, Australia and Brazil with its domestic farm constituencies before finalising on any decision. India also maintained that it could not give any acceptance to the ideas without discussing them with all its partners in the G-33 coalition.
The Quad Leaders' Summit this year was earlier supposed to be held in India, but US President Joe Biden was keen to hold the event in his hometown.
