Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump discussed the Middle East crisis, with a focus on the Strait of Hormuz.
Petrol diesel price today March 20, 2026: IOCL & HPCL hike premium petrol (XP95, Speed, Power) by 2/litre and industrial diesel by 22/litre. Regular petrol in Delhi 94.77, diesel 87.67 unchanged. Full city-wise rates inside.
During the first round on Monday, the Russian delegation conveyed Moscow's demand to enshrine Ukraine's non-bloc status at the parliamentary level and hold a referendum.
India described as "inaccurate" a media report that said artillery shells sold by Indian arms manufacturers have been diverted by European customers to Ukraine and New Delhi has not intervened to stop it.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Donald Trump defends the recent surge in global oil prices, arguing it's a necessary short-term cost to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat and ensure global security.
Despite international crude oil rates crossing USD 100 per barrel due to Middle East tensions, the Indian government plans to maintain current petrol and diesel prices, ensuring uninterrupted fuel supply across the country.
Russian forces pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city by shelling Europe's largest nuclear plant early on Friday, sparking a fire and raising fears that radiation could leak from the damaged power station.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has backed the imposition of tariffs on countries maintaining economic ties with Russia, saying it is the 'right idea' in the face of continued aggression by Moscow.
Guterres, who opened an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Ukraine late Wednesday, in his brief off-the-cuff remarks said 'if indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart: President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died'.
The 'rescue' operation occurred within kilometres of Iran's underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, assessed by the IAEA and US intelligence as holding a substantial portion of the country's 60 per cent enriched uranium stockpile. Retired senior US military officers have highlighted that the mission's footprint -- hundreds of special operators, multiple heavy-lift aircraft deep inside Iran -- appears outsized for recovering a single airman. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
Russia attacked Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, with missiles and drones on Tuesday, January 2, 2024. Some of Russia's latest weapons were used in the savage attack.
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted about India-US defence cooperation, claiming that India's order for 68 Apache attack helicopters was delayed by five years and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally raised concerns over the long delivery period during a meeting with him.
'Without ground troops the US will not be able to oust the Iranian Islamic regime. Political change does not happen just by using bombs or planes.'
'The White House lunch that Trump hosted for Munir last year came just after Munir returned from a visit to Iran, at a moment when Israel and Iran were at war.' 'Trump said after that lunch that the Pakistanis know Iran very well. He likely views Munir as a useful interlocutor that can give helpful insights on Iran.'
'There is a solution only for the organisation of humanitarian corridors,' Advisor to the Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
Sensex and Nifty post steepest weekly loss in over a year, falling nearly 3 per cent.
Fight on toward goals that keep receding, or exit with most objectives unmet. Trump is agitated, his poll numbers falling below the Plimsoll line, his base fractured between those who back the war and those who remember that he campaigned on ending them.
United States President Donald Trump on Sunday said a peace agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war is getting 'very close', after a high-level meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
With the Iran war escalating sharply and crisis deepening in the global energy market, India on Monday unveiled a coordinated plan to support exporters and shippers caught in the fallout.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that India remains committed to making every possible contribution for an early and peaceful solution to the conflict. Zelenskyy sought India's support in limiting Russian energy exports.
Zelenskyy further said that the assault occurred overnight and into the morning, and involved a barrage of approximately 120 missiles and 90 drones, including Shaheds, Zircons, Iskanders, and Kinzhals.
Ukraine Foreign Minister said Dmytro Kuleba claimed that the Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP.
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
Trump called for immediate negotiations for the US to acquire Greenland from Denmark, describing the country as ungrateful, during his speech at Davos.
'In India, there is this first generation migrant, say from a small village in UP. He didn't go to the Gulf to buy a big house but make the life of his family better.' 'He may have paid 1 lakh rupees to an agent to go to the Gulf. Imagine what will happen to him and his family if he has to come back. He and his family will become poor again.' 'He went to the Gulf to come out of poverty, but this war will make his family trapped in poverty once again.'
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has conceded that he was wrong in opposing India's stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, stating that the country's current position allows it to play a significant role in achieving lasting peace. Tharoor, who had initially criticized India's neutrality, now acknowledges that the policy has positioned India as a mediator, capable of engaging with both Russia and Ukraine.
A fire erupted in Russia's Kursk Nuclear Power Plant on Sunday after Ukraine launched a drone attack at one of Russia's biggest nuclear power plants, damaging a transformer and causing a fall in the output of one of its reactors by 50 per cent, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the plant's press service.
Will rising tensions between US-Israel and Iran threaten crude oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz, putting India's fuel prices, imports, and economic stability at risk?
US President Donald Trump claims India has significantly reduced and nearly stopped purchasing oil from Russia, citing de-escalation efforts. This follows previous tensions over tariffs and India's energy sourcing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier on Tuesday that talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations should continue saying that it is difficult, but important as the positions of the sides sound more realistic now.
What we are watching is something different: A fog manufactured and maintained by the people who started the war, so that the question of why it was started never has to be answered, observes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the war in the Middle East.
India and Russia have solidified a five-year plan to enhance their economic and trade partnership, while also addressing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the threat of terrorism.
United States President Donald Trump once again mounted a sharp attack on India and Russia for their close ties and said that the two countries can take their 'dead economies down together'.
Putin further described the Ukraine conflict as a mere "pretext" by Western powers to take these broader punitive measures against countries maintaining strong economic ties with Russia.
With the fight now having been taken to the seizure of nuclear plants, it is one more warning to Europe that this prolonged war could end up with disastrous consequences, observes Rashme Sehgal
'Russia is aiming at demoralising Ukraine as a nation.' 'They want to bomb the infrastructure, the electric stations so that regular citizens will not to be able to live, to cook, to give comfort to their kids.'
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed holding direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15 without any preconditions, a move welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who insisted that Moscow must agree to a ceasefire first.
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