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Roving Periscope: Despite Western sanctions, Putin claims Russia is the 5th largest global economy

January 12, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: As Russia completes two years of its Ukraine invasion on February 24, and struggles with Western sanctions on multiple fronts, President Vladimir Putin has claimed his country is now the fifth-largest economy worldwide. “Despite pressure, we are also now Europe’s largest economy,” he was quoted as saying in media reports […]

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Business

Pakistan: Ahead of February NA polls, IMF approves a $ 700 mn loan tranche

January 12, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Even as Pakistan’s economy is expected to grow at a meager 2 percent in the fiscal year 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to keep Islamabad’s nose up from drowning in bankruptcy by sanctioning another loan tranche of USD 700 million, ahead of the February 8 elections to National […]

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Business

Missing cops: 15 dead after rioters loot stores, and run amok amid police strike in PNG

January 11, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Papua New Guinea (PNG), the island nation in the Pacific Ocean next to Australia, on Thursday, became an example of what happens when police go on strike against pay cuts: hundreds of unafraid robbers and rioters roamed around freely, looted stores, and killed 15 people in gay abandon, and even […]

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Business

Technology: After Google, Amazon set to sack hundreds of employees soon

January 11, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: After Google gave the pink slip to around 12,000 staffers in 2023, and prepared to dismiss more this year, retail and technology giant Amazon is also set to sack hundreds in the coming weeks, the media reported on Thursday. The latest job cuts will impact the Amazon employees of Prime […]

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Business

Vibrant Gujarat: Direct listing of cos in GIFT City expected soon, says Nirmala

January 11, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    Gandhinagar: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday exuded confidence that direct listing of firms in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) would start soon as this emerging international financial hub is helping India connect the West with the Global South. Speaking at a seminar on “GIFT City—An Aspiration of Modern India” as […]

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Business

Collateral damage: Conflicts in Russia, Ukraine and Israel hit tourist inflow in Goa

January 11, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: The nearly two-year-old Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing three-month-long Hamas-Israel conflict have adversely affected regular tourist inflow in Goa. Until the wars started in February 2022 and October 2023, respectively, tourists from Russia, Ukraine and Israel contributed significantly to the inflow, Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte said on Wednesday. Because […]

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Business

Tightening screws: India to sell over 2.91 lakh ‘enemy property’ shares in 84 companies

January 11, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: In a major step seen as part of the government’s initiative to dispose of enemy property, India is set to sell over 2,91,000 ‘enemy property’ shares in 84 companies from February. Assets left behind by those who took citizenship of Pakistan and China—mostly between 1947 and 1962—are known as ‘enemy […]

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Business

Pakistan: SC upholds Musharraf’s death penalty—a year after he died!

January 10, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Pakistan doesn’t let even its dead leaders rest in peace! Nearly a year after he died of a disease, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld former President General Pervez Musharraf’s death penalty in a treason case, the media reported. The ruling came when the Prime Minister he toppled to grab […]

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Business

Ecuador: Gangsters declare “war” on the President after jailbreak, storm TV studio amid live broadcast

January 10, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: In a dramatic development on Tuesday, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared his South American nation in a state of “internal armed conflict” just hours after notorious gangsters and drug lords declared “war” against him in an escalating security crisis sparked by the prison escape of one of the country’s most […]

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Business

Vibrant Gujarat 2024: India to be a developed country in 25 years, says PM Modi

January 10, 2024 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said India is set to emerge as a developing country in the next 25 years. Inaugurating the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 here, in the presence of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other leaders, he said the world now sees India […]

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