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New Delhi: India is looking to fortify its imports of LNG, a crucial ingredient in industrial applications and partly in transportation, through long-term contracts with overseas exporters. This week, state-run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd signed a long-term contract with French energy giant TotalEnergies in France for supply of LNG (liquefied natural gas), two people aware of the development said. Under the contract, TotalEnergies would supply 1 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa) of LNG to IOCL for a period of around 10 years.

Russia and India on visa-free tourism will begin in June, according to a senior Russian official. «India is at the final stage of internal state coordination,» Nikita Kondratyev, director of the Russian Economic Development Ministry's Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects, said on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum «Russia — Islamic World: KazanForum 2024» in Kazan. Both sides will sign a pact for visa-free tourism this year, he said, adding that the first discussion on a draft agreement is scheduled to take place in June and a signing is expected by the end of the year.

Russia and China are interested in increasing their oil and gas trade, President Vladimir Putin told reporters in Harbin on Friday. «Mutual interest in implementation of such projects has been confirmed,» Putin said in the final hours of his state visit to China, as per a briefing broadcast by state-run Rossiya 24 TV. «We have a huge common border and nothing can interfere: neither sanctions against the tanker fleet, nor sanctions against financial institutions. We will buy and sell everything in national currencies.» Russia's relations with western nations, formerly its main energy market, are at the lowest point since the Cold War due to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. That makes Moscow increasingly reliant on oil and gas deliveries to growing Asian economies. China, the word's largest energy importer, is currently a key buyer of Russian barrels and Gazprom PJSC's natural gas.

India is a friend of the world and the global community expects it to contribute significantly in bringing peace to war-torn Ukraine, Swiss State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Fasel said on Friday as Switzerland prepares to host a major summit next month to end the conflict in Ukraine. Fasel held wide-ranging talks with his Indian interlocutors and extended an invitation to the Indian prime minister for participating at the summit that is aimed at charting a course for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. Switzerland has extended invitations to over 160 countries for the summit to be held on June 15 and 16. «India is a friend of the world. There is really an expectation from the international community that India can contribute to this (peace) process,» Fasel told PTI in an interview.

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin expressed concern that the U.S. sanctions policy was eroding confidence in the dollar. He highlighted that Russia and China were exploring solutions to prevent the imposition of measures against Chinese banks from disrupting their growing trade.

KYIV: A massive Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea early Friday has left the city of Sevastopol without power and set a refinery ablaze in southern Russia, Russian authorities said. The drone raids marked Kyiv's attempt to strike back during Moscow's offensive in northeastern Ukraine, which has added to the pressure on outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces who are waiting for delayed deliveries of crucial weapons and ammunition from Western partners. The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 51 Ukrainian drones over Crimea, another 44 over the Krasnodar region and six over the Belgorod region. It said Russian warplanes and patrol boats also destroyed six sea drones in the Black Sea.

The United Nations is reporting improved economic prospects since its January forecast for the global economy, pointing to a better outlook in the United States and several large emerging economies including Brazil, India and Russia

Ukraine-Russia conflict since Vladimir Putin started the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He made phone calls with Putin and Volodymyr Zelansky to ensure safe passage for Indians stranded in war-torn regions. Putin and Zelensky have invited him to their respective countries after the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

dual-use materials and weapons components to Russia, Beijing has no interest in dropping its backing for President Vladimir Putin, analysts say. While China does not want to upend its ties with the West, and insists it is not sending lethal weapons to Moscow, Washington has stressed that Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without Beijing. On Thursday, Putin arrived in China on a two-day visit as Moscow is seeking more support from President Xi Jinping for the war effort in Ukraine following multiple rounds of Western sanctions.

Ukraine has retaken half of the territory Russia seized at the beginning of the war – and one day it will be a NATO member, the alliance’s top soldier said.

Japan and the United States on Wednesday signed an arrangement to jointly develop a new type of missile defense system as the allies seek to defend against the growing threat of hypersonic weapons, which are possessed by China and Russia and being tested by North Korea. The project was initially agreed between Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden at their summit last August and reaffirmed between the leaders during Kishida's April visit to Washington. The Glide Sphere Interceptor is planned for deployment by the mid-2030s. Wednesday's agreement determines the allocation of responsibility and decision-making process, a first major step in the project, Japanese defense ministry officials said. They hope to decide on Japanese contractors and start the development process by March 2025.

China visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke highly of the people-to-people ties between the two countries, saying that the Russians and the Chinese are "brothers forever", state news agency TASS reported. Weighing in on the relations between Moscow and Beijing, the Russian President compared it to a song from the 1940s.

discussed measures to “deepen" their strategic cooperation and partnership. A lot happened on the first day of Putin's visit to China. Here's all you need to know: Xi Jinping welcomed Putin, saying, “Dear President Putin, my old friend, we welcome your participation in the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation." Later, the two leaders held a key meeting on Thursday.

Finland’s national carrier Finnair is resuming flights to Estonia’s second largest city in June after two of its planes were prevented from landing in Tartu last month because of GPS disruptions

India Today said that the world leaders are confident that his party's government will be formed in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024. «I got a call from (Russian) President Putin for an invitation to a September meeting. I got a call from G-7 as well. The world is fully confident that our government will be formed,» the Prime Minister said in the interview. Although the PM said, «We should never go into the comfort zone. If this becomes comfortable, I will start challenging myself. You must have noticed that there are more accidents on straight highways and where there are curves, there are fewer accidents. I want to keep my team alert and awake. I want to keep them running,» during the interview.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping for China’s proposals on ending the war in Ukraine, which have been rejected by Ukraine and its Western supporters as largely following the Kremlin’s line

purchase only slightly lower at 1,037.4 tonnes. This strong demand is one reason why gold prices have surged recently, rising roughly 20% over the past year.Also Read: Planning to invest in gold as an asset class? This is how the taxation works The vast majority of purchases during 2022 and 2023 have continued to come from emerging market central banks. A World Gold Council survey, amongst Central Banks from both advanced and emerging markets, regarding factors affecting the Central bank’s decision to hold gold, throws light on the possible reasons why Central Banks, especially from emerging markets, are buying so much gold.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and taken to hospital Wednesday, according to a post on his Facebook page and government statements that called the shooting an attempted assassination.

Robert Fico was shot multiple times after a political event Wednesday afternoon, an episode of violence that punctuated his decades-long career in politics. His deputy prime minister Tomas Taraba later told the BBC he believed Fico would survive the attack, saying «he's not in a life threatening situation at this moment.»

Kyiv drew criticism from netizens since the video went viral on social media platforms. Many X users called the top US diplomat's performance ‘inappropriate’, particularly in light of Ukraine's ongoing conflict with Russia. Some even went as far as to reprimand him for what they perceived as poor judgment, especially considering Russia's recent incursion into northwestern Ukraine.

Two Russian teenagers have been arrested in a crackdown on a suspected crypto-powered “money laundering” ring, a police source claimed on May 14.