WebinarsNew
Deep DiveNew
Explore Business Standard
International News
The US imposed sanctions on eight persons and entities, including an Indian national associated with an explosives manufacturing firm, for allegedly fuelling the civil war in Sudan. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday said the targeted networks enabled both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to expand and intensify civil war in the African nation. Among the sanctioned individuals is Alok Choudhari of Raipur, the Chief Executive Officer of SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited, which allegedly supplied over 200 shipments of explosives and explosive-related materials to a company that maintained the SAF's arsenal. The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on SBL Energy Limited and other firms based in Sudan and Egypt. "These networks supply weapons, explosives, and foreign fighters to both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Their support has prolonged a ...
Two persons opened fire in a high school in the central Philippines on Monday, killing three students and wounding another five, police officials said. Two suspects have been taken into custody, police said, one of whom is a student at San Jose National High School in Tacloban city, where the shooting happened, according to police. Both are male. Police investigators were still trying to determine what sparked the shooting in the school, while police deployed forces to beef up security.
President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting that she asked "over and over" for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticising what he said was Italy's lack of cooperation during the Iran war. The remarks deepen the spat that began this week with the Republican president's interview with an Italian broadcaster, during which Trump claimed Meloni "begged" for the photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni has called that "completely fabricated." The dustup led Italy's foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni's government lined up in her defence. "Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France," Trump wrote on his social media platform while spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. He misspelled her first name in the initial post, which he later corrected. He continued: "She is doing poor
India is emerging as a "trusted partner" to the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, underlining that the country is investing across sectors that will drive growth, innovation and opportunity for generations to come. Addressing the Indian diaspora here, Modi also said that this is a defining period in India's journey, where aspirations are reaching new heights. "There was a time when relations between countries were determined solely by trade, but today, trust has become just as important alongside trade," Modi told the gathering at Salle Playel, one of the largest indoor venues in the French capital. "Every country wants a reliable supply chain. Every country wants a stable partnership. Every country is in search of such partners on whom trust can be placed for the long term, and at such a time, India is emerging as a trusted partner in the world," the prime minister said. Modi said that at the G7 meeting in Evian, he emphasised the importance of partnerships bas
Kenya has awarded a USD 2.9 billion contract to China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) to expand and modernise Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), marking a return to large-scale Chinese-backed infrastructure development nearly two years after the collapse of a proposed deal with India's Adani Group. The contract value is roughly 50 per cent higher than Adani Group's proposed airport concession, which was estimated at about USD 2 billion before being scrapped by President William Ruto's government in November 2024 amid political opposition, legal challenges and public scrutiny, sources said. Kenya had initially engaged with Adani for a few months on the project. However, the deal was cancelled in November 2024, following mounting pressure on President William Ruto amid global allegations raised by the US Department of Justice against the group (which Adani denied). Recently, the US Department of Justice closed the matter, citing a lack of conclusive evidence,
India on Tuesday came down hard on Islamabad for its "brutality" against people in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and called on the international community to hold that country accountable for its "abuses". India's reaction came as over 20 people were reportedly killed in police action on protesters in several parts of PoK. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, slamming Pakistan said, there have been "desperate" attempts by Islamabad to cover-up its "failings" and deflect attention away from its alleged human rights abuses. "We continue to see in this context, a pattern of fake news and videos emanating from Pakistan. It is a desperate attempt by Pakistan to cover-up its own failings and deflect attention away from its human rights abuses," he said. "There are reports of severe police brutality in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in which several protestors have been killed and many injured. We hope the international community will hold Pakistan accountable for its ...
Kerala-born Nithya Raman has surged ahead to second place in the primary election for Los Angeles Mayor, edging past reality TV star Spencer Pratt. He appears set to take on incumbent Karen Bass in November. Bass, 72, a former Democratic Congresswoman who has already advanced to the November runoff, remained in the lead with 34.7 per cent of the vote, according to the updated tally released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office. The primary election for the Mayor's post took place on January 2 and 80 per cent of the ballots have been counted so far. Raman, 44, who has steadily gained ground as the count has progressed, had 27.1 per cent, enough to overtake Pratt by a little more than 3,000 votes. Pratt, a Republican, had been running in second place since election night, but slipped to the third position with 26.69 per cent of the votes. Raman has been a Los Angeles councilwoman since 2020, when she defeated incumbent council member David Ryu, a victor
India and Nepal share a "special" relationship and there is an opportunity to "decisively" shift the engagement to realise its full potential, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday during a meeting with his Nepalese counterpart Shishir Khanal. Jaishankar reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "sentiment regarding India's commitment to working with Nepal for mutual prosperity, progress and well-being of the two countries". Khanal kicked off a three-day trip to New Delhi on Friday to strengthen bilateral ties, a visit overshadowed by a raging controversy triggered by Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah's recent remarks on the boundary row between the two sides. In his comments at the meeting with Jaishankar, Khanal said Nepal accords "highest priority" to its relationship with India and the Shah-led government is ready to engage "substantively and purposefully" with New Delhi. "We carry no old baggage and have only firm resolve for a genuinely transformative ..
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that any attempt to undermine India's sovereignty through "threats of sanctions" would "boomerang immediately" under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. Putin made these remarks at the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday in response to a question about his comments during an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies, including PTI, on Thursday night. "India always acts as a sovereign country, and under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, any potential threats of sanctions would boomerang immediately," Putin said. Putin said that he has been in close talks with Prime Minister Modi for a long period, while recalling the time when the Indian leader was banned from entering the United States. "I know PM Modi will never forget about it," Putin said. "Now that he is (the) prime minister, all the sanctions have been eliminated, and the relationship between the US and India is developing successfully a
Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese has become one of Hollywood's most prominent directors to openly embrace AI as a creative tool by joining artificial intelligence company Black Forest Labs as an adviser. The Oscar-winning director, who has made classics such as "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "Goodfellas", "Cape Fear", "The Aviator", "Shutter Island" and many more, said he has been using the company's FLUX generative AI model to create storyboards for an upcoming film. Scorsese, 83, described his experience of using the AI as "creatively freeing." "For 70 years, I've been creating my own storyboards. There's always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew," Scorsese said in a statement. "I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or
Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 16 civilians and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said Tuesday. The damage trapped some people under the rubble of apartment buildings. Emergency crews digging through the wreckage pulled out the body of a three-year-old child and the bodies of a mother and her eight-year-old son in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said. The attack stretched from night into day and the boom of explosions reverberated across cities. Kyiv residents had been on edge for days after Russia warned that a massive aerial attack was coming and warned foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. None appeared to heed the call. "A large-scale attack and an explicit statement by Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to the attack, ..
Crews have recovered six of nine workers missing and presumed to be dead after a chemical tank rupture in Washington state, officials said on Thursday. The total death toll is 11, including three who are still missing. It is one of the deadliest US workplace accidents in recent decades. Officials say the paper mill tank ruptured and spilled more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million litres) of a highly-destructive chemical mixture used in paper manufacturing at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview, a city along the Columbia River. Crews continued the painstaking search on Thursday for nine workers presumed dead after the chemical tank ruptured, devastating a community where many families have worked in the paper and lumber industries for generations. Authorities have said there was no hope of finding survivors of Tuesday's tank rupture at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview. Two workers were confirmed dead. Among the 11 victims were a grandfather who was alw