Political

Business

Pollution: India, France to bolster talks with nations to end the plastic menace

July 15, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: India and France will step up their collaboration in combating climate change and in environmental protection, and constructively engage other like-minded countries to strengthen the negotiations for an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. After talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris […]

Read more

Business

INR: Sri Lanka may start using Indian currency like the US dollar, says President Wickremesinghe

July 15, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: A week after a grateful Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena thanked India for “saving us…and averting a bloodbath” during the political and economic turmoil in 2022, the island nation’s President has said his country may start using the Indian rupee just like the US dollar. Sri Lanka would […]

Read more

Defence

Pakistan: Nawaz returning, PM Shehbaz Sharif promises to ‘hand over’ power next month

July 14, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Stating that his coalition government ‘sacrificed politics to protect the state,’ Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan, has promised to hand over power to the “caretaker set-up” once the current term of the National Assembly ends in August, the media reported on Friday. His statement came […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: PM Modi begins India’s re-engagement with Europe, via UPI in France

July 14, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: With France decorating him with its highest award, his participation as the chief guest in the host country’s Bastille Day Parade on Friday, and his announcement that India’s most successful online payment system UPI will now be available in Europe’s largest nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day state visit to […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: With a fresh IMF breather, cash-strapped Pakistan is relieved for now

July 13, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: After months of severe cash crunch, supply crisis, and political uncertainties, Pakistan, where general elections to the National Assembly are due in October 2023, got a breather from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which transferred a USD 1.2 billion bailout, the media reported on Thursday. A day after the global […]

Read more

Business

Debt and default: G-20’s finance chiefs to discuss more loans “Global South”

July 13, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: With many countries in the “Global South” experiencing a cash crunch, debt burden, and the risk of default, the global finance chiefs will meet in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, next week, as part of the ongoing Group of 20 (G-20) events,  to discuss increasing loans to developing nations from multilateral institutions, reforming […]

Read more

Business

Islamophobia: India, 27 others pass UN motion against Sweden Quran burning

July 12, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Despite differences of opinions amongst members, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday adopted a resolution “countering religious hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” after the Muslim holy book, The Qur’an, was desecrated in Sweden recently. India was among the 28 countries that supported the motion […]

Read more

Business

High prices: The Centre directs key coops to procure and distribute tomatoes

July 12, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday directed the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) to procure tomatoes from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra for distribution in major consumption centers, where retail prices have recorded maximum increase in the last one month because […]

Read more

Business

Roving Periscope: China opposes, Ukraine waits for NATO expansion

July 12, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit     New Delhi: As China protested the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Asia and the Pacific region, the Western security alliance, mainly focused on Europe, has said it would invite war-torn Ukraine to join it “when conditions are met,” showing its cautious approach so as not to provoke […]

Read more

Business

AI: After Odisha TV’s Lisa, e-com startup hires Lina, sacks 90% of staff!

July 11, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi: Just six months after it jolted the world with its potential, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has started impacting the economy in India. On Monday, Odisha TV launched India’s first regional AI news anchor named “Lisa”, who can speak multiple languages, including Odia and English. The TV station plans to enhance Lisa’s proficiency and […]

Read more