Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's top oil firm, has bought as much as 3 million barrels of crude oil that Russia had offered at steep discount to prevailing international rates, sources said. The purchase, made through a trader, is the first since Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine that brought international pressure for isolating Putin administration. Sources aware of the matter said IOC bought Urals crude for May delivery at a discount of $20-25 a barrel to dated Brent.
The football world gathered in the Qatari capital on Friday as the draw ceremony for the World Cup finals got under way with music and dance.
It is going to be a long-term proposition for India -- which has a decades-old relationship with Moscow -- to reorient its foreign policy away from Russia, the US has said, insisting that re-aligning one's approach is not like flipping a light switch.
China said that it would not attend the security dialogue on Afghanistan convened by India due to "scheduling reasons".
Tea planters and exporters are "extremely worried" over the possible impact on their shipments to Russia, India's second largest buyer of tea, in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Western sanctions and disruption of payments in dollars as well as transhipments to Russia are expected as a fall-out of Russia launching an attack on Ukraine on Thursday. "The Russian market for Indian tea is extremely important as there are payment issues for shipments to Iran, another vital tea export destination. "Around 18 per cent of India's tea shipments go to Russia," India Tea Association chairperson Nayantara Palchoudhuri told PTI.
'The prospects for both India and the global economy is that we are headed towards a very difficult time.' 'I see very uncertain at least 8-10 months for both India and the rest of the world.'
The need for an inclusive government in Kabul and a zero-tolerance stance on the use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups are among four aspects that Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed on Wednesday for countries in the region to focus on in the backdrop of the developments in the war-torn nation.
Taking advantage of a Russian offer to sell its crude oil cheap and bear the cost of insurance and transportation, India may import as much as 2 million tonnes (mt), or roughly 15 million barrels of crude, from the sanctioned nation in 2022, Business Standard has learnt. This comes after reports that Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) bought 3 million barrels of Russian Urals from trader Vitol for May delivery. This will be on cost, insurance and freight (CIF) model, where the seller incurs the costs and pays the freight, including insurance charges.
But it is less adventurous. It seems, at last, that in its eighth decade, Pakistan has settled into being a parliamentary democracy just like Bangladesh has and like we have always been, observes Aakar Patel.
In the face of strong opposition to Uniform Civil Code by Muslim outfits, the Congress on Thursday said its implementation would be impossible while the Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that the move is aimed at moving towards a progressive society.
Gen Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike on Friday. Trump alleged that Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilise the Middle East for the last 20 yrs.
'The lockdown was for both: To flatten the curve or more correctly, delay the rapid spread of COVID outbreak, and to create healthcare infrastructure.'
People familiar with the development said on Friday that the Chinese envoy held wide-ranging talks with the external affairs ministry's point person for Afghanistan J P Singh.
Queen Elizabeth II, who died aged 96 at her Balmoral Castle summer residence in Scotland on September 8, will be laid to rest at a state funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 19.
'These young men have become religious fundamentalists and gone to lead the life of Salafis somewhere.'
While the US-Iran conflict leading to a spike in global oil prices and trade war between the US and the EU topped the chart with 25 per cent, other major risks to the global economy include coronavirus, debt burdens causing a recess across emerging markets and Hong Kong protests causing an exodus from Asia's biggest financial centre.
Like China, India too should connect the dots and move ahead with a long-term perspective in Afghanistan, advises Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
State Bank of India, the nation's largest lender, has stopped processing transactions of Russian entities that have been sanctioned by the West over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, sources said. To effect this, SBI has issued a circular as it fears that any transaction with entities or sectors under sanction will invite sanction on it as well, sources said. No transactions involving entities, banks, ports or vessels appearing on a US, European Union or United Nations sanctions list would be processed irrespective of the currency of the transaction, they said. Payments due to such entities have to be processed by other mechanism rather than through the banking channel, sources added.
'In 1999, Gen Musharraf sent me along with Gen Iftikhar, who was the then chief of Air Defense Command. We were fighting India at Kargil, and we were in dire need of anti-aircraft missiles. Musharraf said we could purchase the missiles from North Korea. We went to North Korea and purchased 200 missiles from them.'
Come December, India may have to re-evaluate purchases of Russian oil if a price cap on crude oil proposed by the US and the European Union (EU) comes into effect. That impacts nearly a quarter of India's oil purchases that come at a discount, helping limit marketing losses for India's state refiners and enabling New Delhi to manage inflation by freezing pump prices of motor fuels. In September, India imported 1 million barrels a day or 24 per cent of its overall imports from Russia, which became the biggest supplier of oil to India.
China will host the third meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbours in Tunxi, central China's Anhui province, on March 30-31, the spokesperson said.
Kim Jong-un declared he would never surrender North Korea's nuclear weapons weapons even if his country faced 100 years of sanctions. Dr Rajaram Panda explains Pyongyang's new nuclear doctrine that makes the world a much more dangerous place.
A look back at many memorable moments in his life as Prince Charles.
The broader NSE Nifty closed below the 10,600 mark by plunging 98.15 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 11,582.35 after shuttling between 11,567.40 and 11,751.80.
As the economic crisis in Sri Lanka - the world's largest exporter of orthodox tea - continues to rage across the island nation, tea producers in India look to cash in on the opportunity to seize the market. The country's largest tea growing company, McLeod Russel India, expects orders to come in from July. "A huge opportunity is coming up for everyone in India. "McLeod Russel is well placed because we have the capacity for orthodox tea," said Azam Monem, director, McLeod Russel. About 10 per cent of McLeod's production is orthodox tea.
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Protesters attacked what they deemed to be US' disproportionate response -- the killing of 24 militiamen on Sunday in retaliation for the death of an American contractor on Friday.
The Taliban is showing its strong discontent as the high hopes given to it by the Pakistani military have been dashed, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In a war situation, the policy of 'what is not mine is enemy' tends to hold sway. It is high time professional militaries took air defence seriously, notes Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).somewhat, it is high time professional militaries took Air Defence seriously, suggests Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
'The threat of ceding space to China in Afghanistan appears to be one factor propelling our government to get a bit more active now.'
The United States will continue to focus on the Asia-Pacific region and shape a future of greater security, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, even as he vowed to veto any Congressional bill imposing new sanctions on Iran to give "diplomacy a chance to succeed".
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday discussed issues relating to Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific during his bilateral meetings with global counterparts on the sidelines of the annual high-level UN General Assembly session.
India needs to have a re-look of whole gamut of its relations with major powers and also prepare for a more turbulent neighbourhood. But such is the tyranny of Indian status quo mindset that any talk of re-look at nuclear doctrine or foreign relations is treated as blasphemy, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
The ineptness of successive American presidents, from Bush the Younger to Joe Biden the Old, combined with the cluelessness that Americans demonstrate in foreign lands, contrasts with the Chinese leadership's seemingly singular focus on the accumulation of wealth and power, asserts T N Ninan.
Cyberspace is a battleground as important as the traditional domains of air, land, sea and space, says US Defence Secretary Ash Carter, who visits India next week.
'Why was Top Gun: Maverick made? 'And the only reason I can think of is that the new film was made to emphasise and re-establish Tom Cruise's superstar status,' notes Aseem Chhabra who watched the Top Gun sequel at its premiere in Cannes.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his record-breaking form for Portugal as he grabbed two more goals in his country's 6-0 thrashing of Luxembourg in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Sunday.
There is no better way to address the security threat emanating from ISIS and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan than by co-opting the Taliban, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
You may be popular initially because of politics and ideology but if the economy slows down, you will be losing your popularity: Nouriel Roubini.
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