Sectors with positive growth during the month include rice, iron ore, oil seeds, oil meals, meat, dairy and poultry products, pharmaceuticals, coffee, engineering goods, and plastic.
The Summit comes at a time when China is flexing its muscle to tighten its grip over the disputed South China Sea.
Two of Apple Inc's global vendors -- Wistron and Foxconn (through Han Hoi), which already manufacture Apple phones in India -- and a third entity, Pegatron, which will be setting up a new plant, have applied to the government to be eligible under the PLI scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturers.
A naval formation consisting of aircraft carrier Liaoning, several destroyers and frigates was on training and testing missions last week, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, quoting military officials.
An article in the Chinese newpaper People Daily, says that Japan is eeking out India to secure its supply of rare earth materials. Japan is said to be anxious to decrease its undue reliance on Chinese rare earth materials.
Streamlining its delivery network and shifting focus back to the mass segment - at a time when competitors were struggling to restore normalcy in operations due to the pandemi - aided the firm's revival.
'In India, there's currently evidence the Centre has not managed a smooth vaccine rollout.' 'It is now falling back on blaming states, which are facing vaccine shortages,' points out Devangshu Datta.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan advised people to refrain from non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore.
Modi will participate in the first-ever trilateral meeting between Japan, America and India and the 2nd Russia, India China trilateral, which is taking place after an interval of 12 years, on Friday.
Iceland retained the top spot while Afghanistan is now the least peaceful country in the world.
China on Thursday said it would not give up its efforts in searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane after its satellites spotted three floating pieces of possible debris in the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
'The fatal mistake for the USSR was the invasion of Afghanistan.' 'Quite possibly the fatal mistake for the Chinese empire is the assault on Ladakh,' observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
While Wuhan and 17 others cities in Hubei province remained the epicentre of the viral disease outbreak with most of the deaths having taken place there, the cases have started rising steadily in most of the Chinese provinces and cities, including Beijing.
Trump telephoned Modi to congratulate him on the historic electoral victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the White House said.
Cinemas, stadiums, town squares and other public gathering places are devoid of people as the coronavirus spreads to at least 118 countries around the world. As of Thursday, the Johns Hopkins University tracker says 1,26,258 people have contracted the disease and 4,638 have died across the globe. The vast majority of the victims have been in China but the country said on Thursday that it had only 15 new cases. The outbreak also claimed its most high-profile victim so far when Hollywood star Tom Hanks announced he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive. The couple, who are in Australia where Hanks is making a film about Elvis, said they had felt "a bit tired, like we had colds" before being "found to be positive" Take a look.
Other than India, China and Mexico, the top 10 recipients of remittances include the Philippines, Poland, Nigeria, Romania, Egypt, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Remittance flow to South and East Asia has continued to post strong growth, largely on the fact that the gulf countries, a major destination for Asian migrants, have not significantly reduced hiring migrants.
'The military aim in a future conflict, if it can't be avoided, should be to cause maximum damage to the adversary's war waging capability and capture limited amount of territory as a bargaining counter,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Modi said India will continue its support to ASEAN for a rules-based security architecture for the region.
"After friendly consultations between the Chinese and US sides, the handover work for the US underwater drone was smoothly completed in relevant waters in the South China Sea at midday on December 20," a brief Chinese ministry statement said without providing details.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will focus on extended neighbourhood, particularly the ASEAN and Central Asian regions, says Archis Mohan
India and China have so far held 19 rounds of talks to resolve the boundary dispute.
Three medical students studying at the Wuhan University, all natives of Kerala, who returned to India on their own recently and self-reported at a hospital in the state have tested positive for the respiratory virus.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the seventh day of the Asian Games on Saturday.
'India imports 70 per cent of its bulk drugs from China. Are we going to live without antibiotics?' asks Debashis Basu.
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand set a new national record while winning the 60m dash heats at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha on Friday.
;The world paid a heavy price for the megalomania of the Third Reich's fuehrer.' 'Will it pay a similar price for the ambitions of China's leader-for-life?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
It is impossible for anyone to explain how markets are hitting record highs during an economic recession. It is both mysterious and surreal, notes Debashis Basu.
A beautiful rendition of 'Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye', a favourite bhajan of Mahatma Gandhi, was sung on the occasion.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
China's behaviour in the post-pandemic geopolitical landscape which may determine the Quad's future trajectory, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The India-Japan joint naval exercises are a strategic signal for China, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Mumbai comes after Hanoi (Vietnam), Warsaw (Poland), Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) and Bangkok (Thailand).
Shrimp exporters see a major breakthrough in the US anti-dumping duty case, with a host of countries, including Brazil, China, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea, strongly supporting India at the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) panel hearing.
Reliance Industries, India's most valued company, and state-run gas firm GAIL India have identified 10 countries including Qatar, Australia and Russia for setting up a multi-billion-dollar petrochemical plant.
'Neither will China -- at least for now -- because its troops are deployed in equal strength.' 'We are negotiating at equal terms right now and it's a game of patience.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday deplored the "expansionist" tendency among some countries which "encroach" upon seas of others, in oblique comments against China which has a maritime dispute with Japan.
India's schedule at the Asian Games: Day 4
'It seems a wiser decision to pull out at the right moment than regret after joining the pact,' explains Dr Rahul Mishra.
On the sidelines of the India-ASEAN summit, Prime Minister Singh might also have bilateral meetings with some of the leaders.
The trade impact of the coronavirus epidemic for India is estimated to be about 348 million dollars (approximately Rs 25 billion) and the country figures among the top 15 economies most affected as slowdown of manufacturing in China disrupts world trade, according to a UN report. Estimates published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on Wednesday said that the slowdown of manufacturing in China due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is disrupting world trade and could result in a 50 billion dollar decrease in exports across global value chains.
