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.
When everyone has footage and no one can verify it, the loudest voice wins, notes Prem Panicker who begins a daily blog on the War in the Middle East.
Putin argued that European countries are putting forward demands related to the conflict that Russia cannot accept. He further accused Europe of obstructing initiatives by the United States and President Donald Trump to pursue a negotiated settlement.
Tu Yaa Main feels rather indulgent for a survival drama. You can see where it's headed, and it just grows tiresome after a point, observes Mayur Sanap.
A man in Indore died after a diarrhoea outbreak, with family claiming contaminated water was the cause. Officials deny the link, citing pre-existing conditions and hospital admission date.
The Indian Navy on Saturday said its guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam has deployed a team to help fire-fighting efforts on board British oil tanker MV Marlin Luanda which has got 22 Indian and one Bangladeshi crew members.
The United States carried out a covert drone strike on a port facility along Venezuela's coastline earlier this month, in what is believed to be the first known American attack on a target inside Venezuelan territory, CNN reported.
The embassy of India in Bamako said it was "aware of the unfortunate incident" involving the kidnapping of five Indian nationals in Mali on November 6 and is working closely with local authorities and the concerned company to ensure their "safe release as quickly as possible."
An Indian-flagged crude oil tanker is among two vessels that came under drone attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Southern Red Sea, the United States Central Command has said.
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.
The 2025 US National Security Strategy marks a major pullback, with America turning backward and effectively allowing China greater dominance in Asia. while long-time partners like India are left to face an increasingly unstable global order largely on their own, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Indian government has dismissed claims of a suicide attack on an Army brigade in Jammu and Kashmir and a drone attack in Punjab as "fake news." The Press Information Bureau's Fact Check Unit found the claims to be false and attributed the spread of disinformation to coordinated efforts by certain social media handles and mainstream media in Pakistan. The government urged citizens to rely on verified sources and refrain from sharing unverified content.
Whether Trump will actually press ahead with the oil sanctions remains unclear, since keeping Russian oil out of the world market risks high oil prices which could boomerang on the US economy and be damaging politically for Trump, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'People are suffering, we are seeing visuals on every news channel. What measures have you taken to control water wastage if water scarcity is a recurring problem in summers'
Brent crude oil prices can touch $150 a barrel (bbl) - up a whopping 103 per cent from the current levels - in the worst-case scenario if the Israel-Iran geopolitical tensions escalate, suggest analysts.
US strikes on Iran's three main nuclear facilities have once again raised concerns that Tehran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical chokepoints, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supply flows.
The Mumbai police at once alerted the Maharashtra ATS and the Goa police control room, the Mumbai police said.
Indian Navy's destroyer INS Kochi responded following the attack on the vessel, MV Andromeda Star, on April 26, officials said, adding all the crew members are safe.
Trump has a major decision to take in coming days -- specifically, how to rescue Israel from the attritional war that lies ahead, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Indian refiners are likely to import 2-2.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June - the highest in the last two years and more than the total volumes bought from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.
An Indian Navy warship on Monday successfully repulsed a pirate attack on a United States-owned tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia coast. MT Nordik Spirit, the tanker owned by the Nordik Shipping Company, was sailing in the Gulf of Aden at approximately 3 pm when the pirates made an attempt to hijack it and fired at the crew members. The warship flew out its helicopters with marine commandos and on seeing it, the pirates gave up their hijack attempt on the tanker.
Militants in Pakistan on Friday carried out two separate attacks on vehicles carrying fuel for NATO and United States forces in Afghanistan, killing five persons and injuring several others.
A driver of a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation oil tanker was killed and his assistant injured when suspected militants attacked the vehicle in Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Friday, police said.
Taliban militants targeted a convoy of the NATO supply vehicles and torched 50 oil tankers in northwest Pakistan, hours after a similar attack in the southwest killed a man and destroyed 20 tankers.
A resurgence in Saudi Arabian supplies of crude oil to India coupled with an attack on an Iraqi tanker in August carrying crude to Europe may result in improved bargaining power for India with West Asian and Russian suppliers for winter supplies. Shipments of Saudi oil rebounded in September from August, surging to the highest since March while Russian oil shipments rose marginally as Saudi Arabia tried to claw back market share in Asia, according to industry sources and ship tracking data.
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.
'Given that the situation is quickly escalating, such attacks will affect the flow of crude in the short term from West Asia' Subhayan Chakraborty and Dhruvaksh Saha report.
At least 16 people were killed and several more injured when North Atlantic Treaty Organisation oil tankers bound for Afghanistan were targeted with bombs in the Pakistani border town of Landi Kotal on Saturday, officials said.
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.
The number of suspected Guillain-Barr Syndrome (GBS) deaths in Pune district, Maharashtra, has reached six after a 63-year-old man died. The outbreak has been linked to water contamination caused by campylobacter jejuni, a common bacterial pathogen that causes gastroenteritis and can trigger GBS. The number of suspected GBS cases has risen to 173, with 140 diagnosed with GBS. 34 patients are in Pune Municipal Corporation limits, 87 from newly added villages in PMC area, 22 from Pimpri Chinchwad civic limits, 22 from rural parts of the district, and eight from other districts. Of the 173, a total of 72 have been discharged, 55 are in ICU and 21 are on ventilator support.
'If attacks escalate, there is a risk the Suez Canal may be closed.'
'Preliminary investigations suggest that the cause of the fires are small flying objects, possibly belonging to drones, that fell in the two areas. Teams from the competent authorities have been dispatched and the fire is currently being put out,' news reports said.
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.
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.
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.
A 36-year-old man diagnosed with Guillain-Barr Syndrome (GBS), a rare nerve disorder, died in a civic-run hospital in Pune, taking the number of suspected GBS fatalities to three in Maharashtra. The patient, a driver with a cab service, was admitted to the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) in Pimpri Chinchwad on January 21. An expert committee at YCMH concluded that the cause of death was trauma to the respiratory system due to pneumonia, leading to severe difficulty in breathing. The committee also noted that the patient had been diagnosed with GBS, with a nerve conduction test done on January 22. The immediate cause of death was identified as severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). With the latest loss of life, the number of suspected GBS deaths in Maharashtra has reached three. According to health officials, the suspected cases of the rare nerve disorder have risen to 130 in the state. Most of the cases in the state are from Pune and surrounding areas, and these infections, including the latest case, are likely linked to contaminated water sources. Campylobacter jejuni, a bacteria found in contaminated food and water, is believed to be the reason for the outbreak.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in a rally in Delhi, comparing him to notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj and accusing him of spreading lies about the BJP government in Haryana mixing poison in the Yamuna river. Modi said Kejriwal's claims are an insult to India and that the AAP is desperate due to the fear of defeat in the upcoming Delhi elections. He also highlighted the BJP's track record of fulfilling promises and urged people to give him a chance to serve them. The attack comes as the Delhi election campaign heats up, with the AAP and BJP locked in a tight race.
Twenty tankers which were destroyed were on their way to Afghanistan, and were attacked on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, early on Wednesday morning,a group of gunmen opened fire at nearly 40 tankers parked at Akhtarabad along the main highway between Quetta and the border town of Chaman, a witness said.
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