The unexpected missile attack on a second India-bound ship carrying Russian crude, just three weeks after the first, has complicated matters for domestic refiners. India now counts the Vladimir Putin-led nation as its biggest oil supplier, according to Paris-based market intelligence agency Kpler, and these attacks come on top of US sanctions since December, where vessels that bring crude to India are facing heightened scrutiny. Panama-registered Pollux, which loaded crude at the Sheshkaris oil terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk on January 24, was scheduled to deliver the medium, sour Urals grade to Paradip port on February 28.
This new Silk Road has the potential to once again have a lasting impact on the commerce and culture of this region for generations to come
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
Overall, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has focused on building ground-based air defense networks and network-centric operations rather than trying to match the Indian Air Force (IAF) in terms of straight fighter numbers along the border. All air assets fall under the Western Theater Command of the PLA, the largest geographic region of China's five military theater commands.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said China's claim over Galwan Valley was not in accordance with its own position in the past, noting that attempts of transgression by Chinese side were invariably met with appropriate response from the Indian troops.
Former vice chief of Indian Air Force Air Marshal P K Barbora (retd), known to be an outstanding air warrior who was instrumental in reactivation of the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) air strip in eastern Ladakh, passed away at a military hospital in New Delhi on Monday. He was 72.
Li also had a difficult meeting with some of the Western leaders on the sidelines, especially Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has signalled Italy's resolve to quit China's famed Belt and Road Initiative for its failure to bring the expected results to Rome.
At a media briefing, French President Emmanuel Macron said the G20 leaders' declaration "confirms" Russia's isolation for its attack on Ukraine and that the bloc is committed to "just and lasting" peace in the war-torn country.
The highlight of the occasion, according to officials, is an address to a special gathering in the morning by President Xi Jinping, who cast himself in the mould of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Communist Party of China as it is officially called.
China said that for a long time China has been conducting activities on its side of the Line of Actual Control and they have always complied with relevant agreements.
The right path for the two sides is to respect and support each other as this serves our long-term interests, Chinese foreign minister said.
The pharmaceuticals sector is expected to post a revenue growth of around 13.5 per cent and a net profit growth of 30.3 per cent for the third quarter of 2023-24 (FY24), riding on the approval for niche drugs in the US market, fall in raw material prices and correction in shipping rates. In the healthcare segment, hospitals are expected to post revenue growth of 13 per cent during the coverage, while net profit growth would be around 37 per cent, ICICI Securities said in a note. However, the performance may not be comparable on a sequential basis due to the offset of the festive season in Q3FY24, the analysts noted.
India's unabated tryst with Russian crude oil is slowly coming to an end. The time has come for Indian refiners to navigate, creatively, the choppy waters of the post-honeymoon period, and for Indian policymakers to take cognisance of the broader impact on India from the spillover of the Russian crisis - after Washington's warning to transgressors last week. Shipments from Russia to India have averaged over 1.8 million barrels a day since February, according to data from Paris-based market analytics firm Kpler. But much of the crude shipped to India was non-sanctioned because it traded below a price cap set by the US led G-7 nations in December.
Colombo seems to be veering to the middle path between China and the US on global matters, but in regional matters of strategic security, it is increasingly identifying with India, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The onus today is on China, but it also requires a little diplomatic finesse from India, backed by a modernised armed force, argues BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in this excerpt from his new book, Himalayan Challenge: India, China And The Quest For Peace.
India's iconic Vande Bharat train project may finally find a solution to its two Russian-related issues.
The stand by China spelt out by its foreign ministry insisting that it takes the 1959 line on perception of the LAC amid a nearly five-month-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh triggered a strong reaction from India.
The intrusions into India were likely carried out by the PLA's better trained and equipped 'mobile operational units'.
The Army on Tuesday said it was prepared to give an appropriate response to any adverse aggressive designs of China in the Ladakh sector, maintaining that the integrity of the country was being ensured through physical patrolling and technical means.
India would not be seen to be anything but rude with the Pakistanis. In the big picture, who is the bigger adversary right now? Who is the bigger pain in the neck? And who is it that is keeping more than 3,000 km of our borders active, throwing our military posture and deployments into imbalance? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Tokyo -- the songs Japan, Love In Tokyo and Sayonara from the 1966 Hindi film automatically pop up in the mind -- is buzzing and crowded like any other metropolis, discovers Deepa Gahlot. The modern apartment blocks are built cheek by jowl, so close together that one can open the window and borrow sugar from the neighbour in the next building. One of the fears of the Indian traveller is the unavailability of vegetarian food. Every city and town in Japan has an array of Indian restaurants that serve every variety of cuisine, right from Gujarati to Punjabi to Andhra and Kerala meals.
I did not take up research for any award.' 'What is more important is the medicine that I have developed.' 'This helps the patient recover and the family is happy that their relative has survived and they go back to their lives.
China on Tuesday said that the Dalai Lama can improve ties with it only by giving up wish for Tibetan independence and publicly announcing that Tibet is an inalienable part of the country.
The opinion piece added that the party combines the most striking principles of three major political entities in the world -- the Likud Party of Israel, the Communist Party of China and the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg are being finalised, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday but did not give a direct reply on the possibility of a meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
One looks upon the coming new year with foreboding as current wars in Ukraine and Gaza spill over and escalate and new ones erupt in incipient fault lines across the world, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Sheikh Hasina was on Thursday sworn in as the prime minister of Bangladesh for the fifth term, days after her Awami League won an overwhelming majority in the general elections boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
'In South Asia, unlike Southeast, East, or Central Asia, there is a natural hegemon: India. China cannot cast it aside easily'
'The fact that Modi and Xi exuded confidence to accelerate the negotiations for a border settlement alone underscores that the Russia-India-China triangle has become very dynamic,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
There is growing alarm at the inexorable rise of China, both of its military prowess and its aggressive bullying of other countries plus its subjugation of whole portions of its own population.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Putin said the 'policy' pursued by Modi is the main 'guarantor' of relations between the two countries.
This was the first phone call between the two leaders after Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20.
According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre, the earthquake with an epicentre in Jajarkot district was recorded at 11.47 pm.
'China is unwilling to restore the status quo ante of April 2020.' 'India will have to weigh its options based on this premise.'
China would have become another India "where around 20% of the world's poorest live" if it adopted democracy
'The numbers of troops on both sides are enormous.' 'They are about 50,000-60,000 soldiers facing each other in that sector -- that's about the total number of troops that both sides had in the 1962 War in all sectors.'
The strengthening of the Mountain Strike Corps is part of the steps taken by the force to rebalance its focus more towards the Chinese border from the western front with Pakistan.
Four Chinese soldiers were killed in the fierce clash with the Indian Army in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) acknowledged for the first time on Friday.
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