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Roving Periscope: Modi may negotiate ‘honorable’ exit to get war fatigued Russia off the Ukraine hook

September 21, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Wars are easy to start, but difficult to close—honorably! Amid reports of war fatigue in its seven-month-long Ukraine conflict, death and maiming of an unspecified but many troops, the unwillingness of many fleeing Russian soldiers to continue the invasion ahead of the biting winter from next month, and global diplomacy […]

Business

Global crisis: “World is in great peril”, UN chief Guterres warns

September 20, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Expressing deep concern over the problems facing the world since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned leaders that the world is in “great peril.” He made these remarks ahead of the world leaders’ meeting for the General Debate at the United Nations […]

Business

Roving Periscope: The US okays $450 mn F-16 plan for starving Pakistan !

September 8, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Plagued with extreme weather and existential economic crisis, a near-bankrupt Pakistan is crying for international aid, but its ‘frenemy,’ the US, will rearm a crippled Islamabad with a USD 450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet “sustainment program.” It is still unclear if the US has provided any aid to Pakistan […]

Business

Pakistan: Food shortages stare at 33 million people as floods multiply miseries

September 3, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Pakistan’s backseat driver, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, after an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas, said this week it would take his country several years to recover from the natural disaster. India can offer help, and even Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismael favors it, but Prime Minister Shehbaz […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Gotabaya’s return may plunge Sri Lanka into anarchy, again

September 3, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had fled his chaotic country on July 13, returned home on Friday from Thailand, where he was camping after the Maldives and Singapore denied him refuge. Rajapaksa, an ex-military officer, had become the Sri Lankan President in November 2019. Now, as a former […]

Business

Price rise: After banning wheat outgo, India to restrict wheat flour’s export also

August 25, 2022 virendra pandit

New Delhi: After banning wheat export three months ago, India on Thursday decided to restrict the export of wheat flour also to curb rising prices of this key commodity in the country. The Centre took this decision after a Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. An official […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Broke, Sri Lanka crushes protesting students, spurs professionals’ brain drain

August 24, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Unable to face economic and political crisis any longer, those who can are moving out of Sri Lanka as the South Asian country, where a mass uprising since March forced the dominant Rajapaksa family out of power and country. According to the media reports, thousands of Sri Lankans are fleeing […]

Business

Energy: Crisis may worsen in cash-strapped South Asian countries

July 28, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: With suppliers hesitant to provide oil and gas without pre-payment, some of the South Asian countries—Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—may witness a worsening energy crisis in the coming months, whose ripple effect may adversely further imperil their fledgling economies. Already, an unprecedented energy crisis has gripped some of South Asia’s […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Amid war, Russia, and Ukraine sign deal to ease world food crisis

July 23, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Amid their 149-day-old ongoing war, Russia and Ukraine on Friday signed a deal aimed at relieving a global food crisis caused by the blocked Black Sea grain deliveries, the media reported on Saturday. The two countries, known as Europe’s Break Baskets, account for a quarter of global grain production, and […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Troops crackdown on protesters; Gunawardena’s new Lanka PM

July 22, 2022 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: As a veteran politician, Dinesh Gunawardena took oath as the new Prime Minister in crisis-ridden Sri Lanka on Friday; heavily armed troops took positions on key buildings across the capital Colombo and cracked down on protesters camping in the city since March against the island country’s bankrupt economy. Six-time Prime […]