Author: News Desk

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday said the South Asian nation needs to stop seeking approval from other nations on its relations with the world. Mr Jaishankar made his remarks during the concluding day of the Raisina Dialogue, India’s biggest foreign policy event, which began on Monday in the capital New Delhi and largely focused on political developments in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. India has pursued an independent policy towards Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, despite pressure from western allies to join the anti-Russia camp. New Delhi has refused to explicitly condemn Russia, its long-time ally and largest weapons supplier. It…

DETROIT : Elon Musk’s request to scrap a settlement with securities regulators over 2018 tweets claiming he had the funding to take Tesla private was denied by a federal judge in New York. Judge Lewis Liman on Wednesday also rejected a motion to nullify a subpoena of Musk seeking information about possible violations of his settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk had asked the court to throw out the settlement, which required that his tweets be approved by a Tesla attorney before being published. The SEC is investigating whether the Tesla CEO violated the settlement with tweets…

POKROVSK : Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, dramatically escalating its standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine. European leaders decried the move as “blackmail.” A day after the U.S. and other Western allies vowed to speed more and heavier weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin used its most essential export as leverage against two of Kyiv’s staunch backers. Gas prices in Europe shot up on the news. The tactic could eventually force targeted nations to resort to gas rationing and could deal another blow…

Russia : A gunman has killed two children and a staff member at a kindergarten in Russia, said a lawmaker on Tuesday. Citing “preliminary information,” federal lawmaker and former governor Sergei Morozov wrote on the VK social network that a man had entered the kindergarten in the town of Veshkayma in central Russia and shot a female staff member and children, before shooting himself. One other staff member was wounded, according to local health officials. The motive of the gunman remained unclear. Ulyanovsk human rights envoy Sergei Lulkov told the Interfax news agency that the man had no relation whatsoever…

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has upended commodity markets, altering global trade, production and consumption patterns that will keep food and energy prices at “historically high levels” until 2024, the World Bank has said. The surge in energy prices over the past two years has been the largest since the 1973 oil crisis, the Washington-based lender said in its latest commodity markets outlook. Meanwhile, the increase in the prices of food commodities — of which Russia and Ukraine are large producers — and fertilisers, which rely on natural gas as a production input, have been the largest since 2008. “Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we…

Electric scooter riders in Dubai can apply for permits from Thursday which allow for travel on a number of designated cycling tracks and ‘safe streets’ in the emirate. The free online permit will cover ten districts spanning a 167-kilometre stretch across Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai Internet City, Al Rigga, 2nd of December Street, Palm Jumeirah, and City Walk. It also includes safe roads and tracks within specific zones at Al Qusais, Al Mankhool and Al Karama and all cycling and scooter lanes across Dubai, except for the cycling tracks at Saih Assalam, Al Qudra and Meydan. Members of…

Bahrain : The Studies and Initiatives Center of the Bahrain Chamber for Commerce and Industry has issued its periodic report for the first quarter of 2022, titled “Overview of the Local Economy- Q1 2022.” The report highlighted the contribution of the economic sectors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), statistics on trade exchange, local economic outlook, and the standing of Bahrain globally.  It also provides a bird’s eye view on the global economic outlook. Bahrain’s economy has continued its trajectory to recovery as proven by several economic indicators, such the 2.2% growth in the real GDP growth in 2021 ,…

WASHINGTON : Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy. Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a “close contact” of Harris in recent days. Because of their travel schedules, the last time Harris saw Biden was Monday, April 18. Harris tested positive on both rapid and PCR tests but “has exhibited no symptoms,” the White House said. She will isolate at…

Tunis :  The death toll from African migrant boats that sank off Tunisia at the weekend rose to 20 people, a judicial official said, the latest migrant boat disaster off Tunisia. The coast guard recovered three more bodies on Monday, said Mourad Turki, spokesperson for Sfax Courts. Seventeen bodies were recovered at the weekend after four boats carrying 120 African migrants to Italy capsized off the Tunisian city of Sfax.

Twitter’s board has unanimously agreed to sell the platform in its entirety to Elon Musk for a deal valued at $44 billion, the company announced on Monday. Stockholders will receive $54.20 per share by Mr Musk as part of the deal, a 38 per cent premium over the social platform’s closing stock price on April 1. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr Musk said in the…