The Indian Navy rescued an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel with 19 Pakistani crew members and a Sri Lankan trawler in two swift operations after armed pirates hijacked the boats in the Arabian Sea amid deteriorating security situation arising out of Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeting various cargo ships in the region.
Saturday's drone attack on MV Chem Pluto came amid increasing concerns over various commercial vessels being targeted reportedly by Iran-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
An ecological disaster is in the making in the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forest spanning across the Indo-Bangla border, after an oil tanker collided with an empty cargo vessel. The incident spilled nearly 350 tonnes of oil into the Sela river, threatening the survival of multiple species of flora and fauna.
The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the blast was a suicide attack targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers and investors leaving the Jinnah International Airport.
Indian Navy on Wednesday said its ships and aircraft remain 'mission deployed' for maintaining enhanced surveillance and undertaking maritime security operations.
Most of India's oil supplies are expected to stay safe because of the country's good relations with both Russia and Iran. That would take care of over a third of India's supplies.
Russian oil supplies to India will continue to flow unhindered and suppliers will come up with ways to sidestep secondary sanctions, a Russian official told Business Standard.
India on Thursday said it is closely watching the unfolding situation in the Red Sea, amid growing global concerns over Houthi militants stepping up attacks on several commercial ships in the region.
Three Taliban militants have been given a death sentence by a Pakistani court for attacking trucks carrying critical supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan in 2010.
Oil tanker MT Heroic Idun and its 26 crew members, including 16 Indians, were in detention since August last year.
Despite discounts on Russian crude oil - which fell to the lowest since the Ukraine war began - and the rising sanctions, import volumes from the country will remain stable for now or at least till July, said refinery officials. "There is an appetite for Russian crude, and shipments are not expected to taper off beyond this point unless something major happens. "Talks are on, and buying will continue," an official at a major refinery said.
The Indian Navy's 'mission deployed' guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam responded to the attack within an hour of receiving a distress call from the vessel Genco Picardy, they said.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi on Saturday called his Indian counterpart S M Krishna over the killing of two Indian fishermen by the guards of an Italian oil tanker off Kollam coast in Kerala. Krishna told Terzi that the captain the Italian oil tanker must cooperate with Indian law enforcers. Krishna said the law should be allowed to take its own course in connection with the incident.
A year after a Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 and the ensuing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, India's trade with most West Asian countries has largely escaped any major disruption, except with countries like Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. However, repeated flare-ups of geopolitical tensions in the region continue to drive up shipping and logistics costs.
US-led NATO forces are facing a tough time in Afghanistan after Pakistan blockaded the main supply route and the Taliban stepped up attacks on vehicles and oil-tankers carrying essentials with nearly 60 trucks being destroyed in last three days.
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.
The CBI has booked an ITBP commandant and his two subordinates for alleged corruption in purchase of heating oil and other items for an outpost at Indo-China LAC in Uttarakhand, officials said Tuesday.
The government on Monday informed that the European Union ban on single hull oil tankers of over 23 years of age would not impact privatisation-bound Shipping Corporation of India.\n\n\n\n
'If attacks escalate, there is a risk the Suez Canal may be closed.'
In a statement issued on Saturday, Austin said that the US and the UK also received support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand in conducting the additional strikes.
The Navy deployed a warship, maritime patrol aircraft P-8I, helicopters and and MQ9B Predator drones to assist the vessel, MV Lila Norfolk, after it sent a message on the UK Maritime Trade Operations portal, saying unknown armed personnel had boarded it on Thursday evening.
A driver who accidentally hits a person and subsequently informs the police or takes the victim to the nearest hospital will not be prosecuted under the stringent provisions of the recently enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), a senior government functionary said on Tuesday.
The Indian Navy continues to monitor the situation very closely with all stakeholders and remains committed to ensuring the safety of merchant shipping in the region, it said in a statement.
Drivers of commercial vehicles, including trucks and tankers, stopped work in several states on Monday and blocked roads at some places to protest against the provision in the new penal law regarding hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
Russia on Thursday said it was not bothered at a possible price cap on its crude oil proposed by the West, saying Moscow will negotiate directly with its partners like India and China as the price should be decided between the producers and consumers, and "not someone who just decided to punish someone." Members of the G7 have agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in a bid to hit Moscow's ability to finance the war in Ukraine. Countries want to reach an agreement ahead of December 5, when Europe's embargo on Russian crude travelling by sea takes effect.
Russia has welcomed India's decision to not support the price cap on Russian oil announced by G7 and its allies and offered it cooperation on leasing and building large-capacity ships to overcome the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in the European Union and Britain to continue buying discounted oil. The offer came as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Indian Ambassador to Moscow, Pavan Kapoor, on Friday. "The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed India's decision not to support the price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed on December 5 by the G7 countries and their allies," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The apex body of petroleum workers in Assam on Thursday said it has stopped transportation of fuel to Meghalaya, following reports of attacks on vehicles from Assam in the backdrop of violence along the inter-state border that left six people dead.
A French Navy has rescued eleven Indian sailors from suspected pirates at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. According to a media release of the Embassy of France in New Delhi, the rescue operation took place on January 18 off the coast of Oman.
The Indian Navy has deployed task groups comprising frontline destroyers and frigates in the central and north Arabian Sea and augmented its force levels in the region to undertake maritime security operations in view of recent attacks on commercial vessels in key shipping lanes.
At least six people were killed and 27 tankers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation were set on fire during an attack by suspected militants on an oil depot close to Islamabad. According to the BBC, dozens of tankers were being filled with fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan when the attack took place on Monday morning."Between 10 to 12 men armed with automatic weapons stormed the depot from two sides. They opened indiscriminate fire on the tankers," said an official.
The Tirupati Laddu row intensified on Friday with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which is managing the super-rich temple, backing Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu's claim that the famous 'prasadam' had animal fat and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy dubbing the accusations as 'atrocious'.
Twelve oil tankers of a goods train were charred and four others derailed due to a blast allegedly triggered by ULFA militants near Moriani in Assam's Jorhat district, disrupting train services on the section. Each tanker was carrying 70,000 litres of high speed diesel valued at about 25 lakh each, Numaligarh Refinery Limited sources said.
At least 10 people were charred to death and another 12 got injured when a gas tanker caught fire and exploded after being hit by a truck on a highway near Beelpur village, 35 kilometres from Jaipur, late Saturday night.
Terrorists torched 10 tankers carrying oil for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan in southern Pakistan, injuring five persons including the vehicles' drivers, police and witnesses said on Monday.
Indian Navy's elite marine commandos on Friday rescued 21 crew members including 15 Indians from a bulk carrier in the North Arabian Sea and sanitised it in a swift operation while responding to an attempted hijacking of the Liberian-flagged vessel by around five-six armed personnel.
Petrol pumps in many cities witnessed long queues on Tuesday as people came to fill up their vehicle tanks fearing shortage of fuel amid the protest by truck drivers against a provision in the new penal law on hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
An oil tanker with 21 Indian crew members on board was hijacked on Saturday off the coast of Oman, Directorate General of Shipping said in Mumbai.
Singh said India has intensified patrolling of the seas after the recent attacks on merchant navy ships.
Several petrol pumps in Kolkata and south Bengal went dry with the strike by oil tankers entering the third day today as industry officials sought the intervention of the state government to end the impasse.
A Ganesh Nadar visits the families of the two fishermen killed at sea by two Italian marines, who mistook them for pirates.
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