Food

Business

India-Australia FTA: Effective today, trade to triple to $70 bn in 5 years

December 29, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: The India-Australia free trade agreement (FTA), which came into effect on Thursday, will help boost bilateral trade in goods and services to cross USD 70 billion in the next five years, an economic think said. The two countries signed the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) on April 2 this […]

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Business

Covid-19: ‘Not one but a cocktail of 4 Omicron variants roiling China’

December 28, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Amid China’s Covid explosion, which has infected millions and killed thousands this month, a top Indian expert said not one but four variants of the highly contagious Omicron strain are roiling the Asian country in its worst-ever health crisis. Dr. NK Arora, who heads the Government of India’s Covid-19 panel, […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: Russia retaliates against oil price-cap as war rages on in Ukraine

December 28, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: As its ongoing war in Ukraine entered the 10th month, Russia retaliated on Tuesday against a price cap on its oil imposed by western countries, while its rather reluctant armed forces got involved in heavy fighting around the bombed-out ghost town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the media reported on […]

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Business

Extreme weather: ‘Bomb cyclone’ kills 32 in the US as millions freeze in the darkness

December 26, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: A relentless and brutal winter storm that brought Christmas chaos to millions of Americans will dissipate only slowly, the US National Weather Service (NWS) said on Monday, after intense snow and frigid cold caused power outages, travel delays, and at least 32 deaths across the eastern part of the country. […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: ‘Bomb cyclone’ forecast panics 200 mn people in the US, Canada

December 24, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: A record-breaking, once-in-a-generation snowstorm is freezing the USA and Canada on Christmas. A day ahead of Christmas, as millions of people packed bags to celebrate the world’s biggest festival and holiday season, a deep freeze gripped the United States and Canada, where the forecast of an arctic ‘bomb cyclone’ panicked […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: Seeking support, Putin goes to Belarus, Zelensky to the US

December 22, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Frustrated over Russia’s failure to tame Ukraine despite shelling it relentlessly for 10 months, President Vladimir Putin asked his reluctant soldiers to do more and sought ally Belarus to open a second front, as his rival President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the US to bolster support to Kyiv to push back […]

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Business

Covid-19: China may already be suffering with 1 mn infections and 5,000 deaths daily

December 22, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: With the exponential spread of coronavirus, China is estimated to be already suffering with one million Covid-19 infections and around 5,000 deaths every day, the media reported on Thursday. The current virus wave sweeping the Asian giant may witness a daily case rise to 3.7 million infections in January and […]

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Education

The Bug Returns: China, the US, Brazil, S. Korea, Japan…back on the Covid-19 map

December 21, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: With India returning to the mask-and-sanitation regime, Covid-19 threatens to overwhelm not only China but also the US, South Korea, Brazil, Japan, and several other countries as their ships and aircraft potentially turn into carriers of the pandemic in the next few weeks, the media reported. With fresh coronavirus waves […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: After ‘Zero Covid’ collapse, China may face 3 killer waves in 3 months

December 21, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: As China’s budget deficit hit a record low of USD 1.1 trillion this year because of the Zero Covid slump, the world’s second-largest economy is now headed to face its worst-ever year in decades—experts have warned of three killer waves of the highly-infectious Omicron’s B.7 variant in the next three […]

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Business

Economy: World Bank slashes Covid-battered China’s growth to 2.7%

December 20, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: The surest sign of what China, the world’s second-largest economy, may face in 2023, came from the World Bank on Tuesday when it slashed its 2022 China growth forecast predicted in June at 4.3 percent to 2.7 percent now. Various reports have suggested that China could be overwhelmed with a […]

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