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.
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has ordered the shutdown of 19 ready mix concrete plants in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for violating environmental guidelines and contributing to deteriorating air quality levels.
The clock on the ceasefire is running out. But everyone's already whispering about round two, possibly as soon as this weekend.
Dubai's core promise -- that it is an oasis untouched by regional storms -- has been tested in full public view. The coming months will show whether investors view the attacks as a short-lived disruption or a deeper signal of lasting risk, points out Asif Ullah Khan.
The core issues to be settled -- access to Hormuz, Israel's aggression in Lebanon, the question of Iran's nuclear programme, sanctions relief and compensation -- are thorny enough to require weeks of patient negotiation. The most likely outcome of the opening sessions is that both sides take the measure of each other, establish what is and is not negotiable, and return home without having broken anything. That would count as progress.
By appearing to privilege ideological affinity over strategic balance, India risks eroding the trust painstakingly built across West Asia. Once the perception takes hold that India's friendship is conditional and transactional, rebuilding credibility will be difficult, warns Amberish K Diwanji.
'The next two to three weeks will not be decided in Washington.' 'They will be decided in Tehran, in whatever calculation Iran makes about the costs of continued resistance against the costs of appearing to have yielded.'
Colaba's character is also drawn from its strength. Seventeen years ago, Pakistani terrorists struck here -- at the core of Mumbai's soul -- in the deadliest attack ever seen in this country. 166 civilians and security personnel were killed in a battle that raged on for three days.
India's private and state government-owned ports (non-major ports) continued to grow faster than those owned by the Centre (major ports) through the first three quarters of 2023-24 (FY24), cargo handling data shows. At 604 million metric tonnes (mmt), cargo at major ports grew by 5 per cent between April and December, while non-major ports' cargo traffic growth was 11 per cent at 531 mmt. During December 2023, central government-owned ports in India handled cargo volumes of 69.9 mmt, a tepid year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 0.7 per cent.
Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Islamabad in what analysts say is the formal opening of a new diplomatic formation that could reshape the post-war regional order. Their immediate goal is a ceasefire; their larger ambition is to ensure that neither Iran nor Israel emerges from this war in a dominant position. Pakistan's foreign minister then flew directly to Beijing and mooted a Chinese role as guarantor of any eventual agreement. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Exercise caution when charging your phone in public places or borrowing a charger from someone -- you might get hacked.
The $22.8 billion CK Hutchison ports deal intensifies geopolitical tensions between the US and China. Chinese media has already called it 'a betrayal of all Chinese people'. Shyam G Menon explains how the proposed sale will reshapes global trade infrastructure.
'There is no shortage of fuel whatsoever.' 'India is stock surplus as far as petrol and diesel are concerned.'
Stock markets closed higher on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as expected and proposed allowing banks to lend to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with certain prudential safeguards to deepen the financing pool for the real estate sector.
On June 1, 2010, under Indian Ports Act, 1908, govt declared Port Blair as 13th major port in India
'I suspect that Bangladesh being given permission stuck in India's official craw, and this story was an attempt to balance the scales by giving the impression that a similar waiver had been given to India as well.'
Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier, point out Mukesh Butani and Shankey Agrawal.
'China's basic purpose of taking the Shaksgam Valley was access to the Indian Ocean.'
India's leading conglomerates are stepping up investments in real estate, recasting what was once a peripheral activity into a core growth driver. Supported by strong balance sheets, established brands and access to long-term capital, major business houses including Aditya Birla, Tata, Godrej, L&T, Raymond, Wadia, Shapoorji Pallonji, Mahindra and Adani are positioning realty as a strategic pillar within their diversified portfolios.
This is the first Budget in my memory of Budgets over the last half a century which has embraced upfront, enthusiastically and emphatically, technology, modernity and fiscal sobriety, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Digital Connexion, a joint venture between Brookfield, Reliance Industries and Digital Realty, on Wednesday announced an investment of $11 billion till 2030 for building 1 gigawatt (Gw) state-of-the-art AI-native, purpose-built data centres in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
'Trump had done a deal with the current regime minus Maduro. The current regime is giving Trump entry into Venezuelan oil. They are obeying him and doing whatever he says.' 'They are happy because they have saved their heads by sacrificing only two, Maduro and his wife. Thousands of Venezuelan military leaders would have been jailed or killed in American action had Maduro stayed in power.'
A 29-year-old dental surgeon died of a massive heart attack after completing a marathon in Goa, his father said on Thursday.
The new iOS 26 design modernises the interface, while Apple Intelligence 2.0 introduces AI in a controlled, privacy-focused way. Ashish Narsale brings you all the juice.
'It will be important strategically and geographically because there is no port in India which is as close to the international shipping route as Vizhinjam.'
The government is buying out the shares of India Ports Global, which are now held in a 60-40 ratio by the JNPT and Deendayal Port Trust in Kandla.
In a statement, the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways said it has directed all major ports to accord the highest priority in the berthing sequence to the vessels carrying consignments of medical grade oxygen, oxygen tanks, oxygen bottles, portable oxygen generators and oxygen concentrators.
The Russian embassy has taken up with the ministry of external affairs (MEA) the detention of a Russian cargo ship in Cochin port and requested for an "explanation" of the circumstances of the incident.
A team of CISF marine commandos rescued dozens of passengers from a sinking tourist ferry off the Mumbai coast, preventing panicked parents from throwing their children into the sea. The commandos reached the accident site within minutes and prioritized rescuing children and other vulnerable passengers. They also administered CPR to several victims and helped recover belongings from the water.
As already reported, citing continued threats to law and order and the security of its staffers, HBT announced on Wednesday that it was no longer bound by its 2010 agreement with the Kolkata Port Trust to run cargo handling operations at Haldia till 2020.
The cyber wing of the police under Kochi Police commissioner, which began investigations into the hacking of the site, found that the website had been hacked from Pakistan IP address.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust handles over 50 per cent of the country's container traffic.
The Shipping Ministry will award 30 port projects during the current financial year, which are likely to come up at an investment of about Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion).
The proposal, in preliminary stages, is likely to be finalised within a couple of months.
Cochin Port Trust has approved the revised proposal by Dubai Ports International for taking up construction and commissioning of the Rs 2000 crore (Rs 20 billion) International Container Transhipment Terminal at nearby Vallarpadam.
In its bid to induct mechanisation and increase productivity, Mumbai Port Trust is planning to privatise its four cargo terminals and will float tenders inviting bids from private players by this month end.
