'If the US intention was to use the FATF platform to isolate Pakistan and impose sanctions against it, that is not going to work when influential countries such as Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia will not lend support to the US campaign,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
The rupee ended the day stronger against the dollar.
The perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack, who shot dead 166 people, had confessed to details that should have been enough to hang him, but Pakistan enjoyed his anti-India rhetoric and let him spread his tentacles. A revealing excerpt from Khaled Ahmed's Pakistan's Terror Conundrum.
'Modi forgot to ask Trump for anything that India may need -- and there is so much shortfall all around!', states Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India expects to remain unscathed this time, mainly because it is in a sweet spot as the world's third largest oil consumer, after the US and China, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
Rosneft bought a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil's refinery port and petrol pumps, while Netherlands-based Trafigura Group Pte, one of the world's biggest commodity trading companies, and Russian investment fund United Capital Partners split another 49 per cent equity equally.
Indians must remember that Pakistanis hate losing to India, at war or in cricket, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
With Donald Trump the appeal has to be to his business instincts in which his personal interests seem to play a significant role, says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.
The drop in oil to around $50 a barrel this year has triggered steep cutbacks in production of US shale oil
'Drone warfare has come to stay.' 'India should exploit the expected Reaper acquisition from the US to build an effective counter terror campaign,' argues Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Both the Greek and Iranian deals are extremely imperfect and fraught with uncertainty, says Claude Smadja.
India became more dependent on Iraqi oil recently after it cut supplies from the sanctions-hit Iran.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
'As far as acquisition of Russian equipment is concerned, with about 70% of Indian military equipment being of Russian origin, a sudden decision to abandon imports from Russia is not feasible,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Chinese observers believe the Sino-US relationship will be impacted by issues in North Korea, Japan, India, Ukraine and Iran and that conflicts with these 'third parties' will without exception ultimately become conflicts between China and the US, points out former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
Aziz Haniffa reports from Washignton, DC, on Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh's three-day visit to the US capital.
OPEC's move to cut output has pushed up oil prices. From here it could go either way: oil could reach $100/barrel or an analysis of demand and supply might follow, say Abheek Barua & Bidisha Ganguly.
Economics and politics both have major roles in determining oil prices.
The exploration and production assets of Essar Oil will not be part of the Rosneft deal and would continue to remain with the Group.
Adidas can declare itself the winner over arch rival Nike in the upcoming soccer World Cup even before the first match kicks off as it is kitting out the most teams.
"We will be doing something very rapidly to do with the additional security for our country. You'll be seeing that sometime next week," Trump said.
The broader NSE Nifty moved between 10,705 and 10,785.55, before ending 25.15 points, or 0.23 per cent down at 10,716.55.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Islamabad and discussed connectivity, terror threats to the war-torn country and the peace and reconciliation process there.
Chinese equipment contracts had been given by many public sector undertakings and government companies for their networks, even in sensitive places such as the north east.
Summary of World Cup qualifiers played across the world on Thursday
Indian basket at 6-month low of $49.11 a bbl
'The challenge before the two countries is to turn the peak into a plateau and enter an irreversible phase of cooperation,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Saudis are interested in expanding their relationship with India, given it is becoming the main driver of crude demand growth in Asia
'Both India and Pakistan are now, for the first time in history, very closely allied and connected with the US -- economically and politically.'
Govt may further hike excise on petrol, diesel before Budget.
Just one year after taking office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a challenge that could come to haunt him.
Stock specific action is seen with some of the prominent companies posting their quarterly numbers.
"Under different scenarios, we see the impact of higher crude prices ranging from $25 billion to a maximum of $50 billion on the oil import bill. The increase in the oil import bill will also affect the current account deficit," economic affairs secretary S C Garg said in a conference on Friday.
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Just like China wants Trump to lose the US presidential poll, it may want Modi to lose the Lok Sabha polls. So months before the 2024 elections, China may take possession of an important area, say one of the Char Dhams, warns Sanjeev Nayyar.
"It would be my hope that people understand why this particular transaction is important for us," the EAM said in Washington, DC.
Investors booked profits in range-bound trade, led by PSU, oil & gas, energy, infrastructure, telecom, realty, healthcare, bankex, FMCG, capital goods and power counters.
Belgian-born Rich, whose trading group eventually became the global commodities powerhouse Glencore Xstrata, died in hospital from a stroke.
Modi made a strong case for a partnership between the producers and consumers in the oil market as it exists in other markets.
