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privileged strategic partnership" with India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. Lavrov said at an event that Russia is actively expanding ties with countries like China, India, Iran, North Korea and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Monday. «We prioritize boosting ties with the majority of global states,» he said at a meeting of the board of trustees of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund. «The relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with the People's Republic of China boast an unprecedented level of mutual trust. Particularly privileged strategic partnership is developing with India,» the top Russian diplomat said. Lavrov added that serious progress has been reached in expanding and deepening of friendly ties with such states as Iran and North Korea. Moscow puts special emphasis on strengthening of all areas of cooperation with allies and partners among CIS member states, including within the framework of the Commonwealth, as well as the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, Lavrov said.

Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they’re forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job, as per a report. For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk's Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security and intelligence experts say, AP reported. Mass layoffs and resignations at the federal government are prompting concerns that a disgruntled former employee may seek to sell secrets to a foreign power. National security experts say that while the overwhelming majority of federal workers are conscientious patriots who would never sell out their country, it would only take one or two informants to cause a significant national security crisis. Counterespionage is a concern even when the federal workforce is stable. But in recent weeks President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have slashed thousands of jobs. National security and intelligence experts say Russia, China and other adversaries will seek to take advantage of the opportunity. “This information is highly valuable, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Russia and China and other organizations — criminal syndicates for instance — would be aggressively recruiting government employees,” said Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer under President George W. Bush, who now runs her own cybersecurity firm.

The Asian nation’s state-owned processors are on track to secure more than three dozen cargoes that will load next month, according to people familiar with the matter. Combined with deliveries for private refiners Reliance Industries Ltd. and Nayara Energy Ltd., there may be more than 60 shipments of discounted Russian crude in April, or almost 52 million barrels, the people said, declining to be identified as the transactions aren’t public. Flows between the nations had slipped in recent months as a transition period for tighter US sanctions on shipments from Russia came to an end, forcing the state-owned refiners to issue a slew of spot tenders that saw them buy more expensive oil from alternative producers. Traders have now lined up enough “clean” Russian cargoes — meaning shipments untouched by any US-sanctioned entity — for April to help the companies meet most of their spot demand and ease concerns over future supplies, the people said.

Ukraine with Washington eyeing a separate Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal before securing a wider agreement. The talks, which followed U.S. negotiations with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, come as U.S. President Donald Trump intensifies his drive to end the three-year-old conflict after he last week spoke to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here are some of the issues that Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine are discussing:

Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they're forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job. For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk's Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security and intelligence experts say. Every former federal worker with knowledge of or access to sensitive information or systems could be a target. When thousands of them leave their jobs at the same time, that creates a lot of targets, as well as a counterespionage challenge for the United States. «This information is highly valuable, and it shouldn't be surprising that Russia and China and other organisations — criminal syndicates for instance — would be aggressively recruiting government employees,» said Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer under President George W. Bush, who now runs her own cybersecurity firm. Many agencies oversee crucial data Each year an average of more than 100,000 federal workers leave their jobs. Some retire; others move to the private sector. This year, in three months, the number is already many times higher.

Donald Trump says he is focused on stopping the «death march» in Ukraine «as soon as possible.» But for Russian President Vladimir Putin, ceasefire talks with Trump are a means to much broader ends. Russian and U.S. officials are set to meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to deepen their negotiations about technical details of a partial ceasefire to halt attacks on energy facilities and on ships in the Black Sea. While Ukraine says it's ready for a full truce, Putin has made it clear that he will seek a wide range of concessions first. The upshot: Russia appears determined to squeeze as many benefits as possible from Trump's desire for a Ukraine peace deal, even as it slow-walks the negotiations. Viewed from Russia, better ties with the United States are an economic and geopolitical boon — one that may be achieved even as Russian missiles continue pounding Ukraine. Interviews last week with senior Russian foreign-policy figures at a security conference in New Delhi suggested that Russia saw negotiations over Ukraine and over U.S.-Russia ties as running on two separate tracks. Putin continues to seek a far-reaching victory in Ukraine but is humoring Trump's ceasefire push to seize the benefits of a thaw with the United States.

SAIL shares may gain investor attention on Monday, March 24, after the company is likely to operationalise its 4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity Tasra coking coal mines, which may increase its crude steel production capacity to 35.65 MTPA by 2031. The company’s production stood at 19.10 MTPA in FY24. The said facility is located in Jharkhand and aims to start operations by the second half of 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dear reader, Last week, I wrote that the average retail trader appeared exhausted. I also advocated that the end of March was likely to be dominated by institutional players.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As the world rushes for gold, silver is also now back in vogue. Known as “the poor man’s gold", silver benefits from a correlation with gold, which just breached the $3,000 per ounce mark.

The meeting will precede talks between the U.S. and Russian delegations which are scheduled for Monday. The meetings follow a series of talks held in Saudi Arabia, first between the U.S. and Russia, and then later between the U.S. and Ukraine, when Kyiv accepted a 30-day truce proposal. The Ukrainian delegation at Sunday's meeting will be led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier said this fact would allow Kyiv to act in a «very quick and very substantive» way. However, Ukrainian officials have said they still see Sunday's meeting in Riyadh as purely technical.

Anora (2024) in key and multiple categories at the 97th Academy Awards, there lies an irrefutable fact. It is the noteworthy commercial success of Anora (2024) globally. The film was made on a budget of $6 million.

Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said that he wants the three-year conflict in Ukraine to end and has warned of the risks of it escalating into a world war between the United States and Russia. There have so far been two announced phone calls between Putin and Trump this year — on Feb. 12 and on March 18 — though there has been speculation about much more frequent contact, and also reports that they spoke before Trump was elected last year. When asked by the most prominent Kremlin correspondent for state television about remarks by Trump that indicated there may have been more than two calls, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said information had been released about those calls he knew of. «Listen, we inform you about the conversations that we are aware of. But we can't rule out everything else,» Peskov said.

India has imported 8.47 lakh tonnes of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser from China till February in the current fiscal year, government data showed. The Chinese imports represent 19.17 per cent of India's total DAP imports of 44.19 lakh tonnes during the period. In the previous fiscal year, China accounted for 22.28 lakh tonnes, or about 40 per cent, of India's overall DAP imports of 55.67 lakh tonnes. DAP is the second most widely used fertiliser in India after urea. The country also imports DAP from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Jordan, both as finished fertiliser and raw materials such as rock phosphate and intermediate chemicals. For the ongoing rabi season, domestic availability of DAP fertilisers has exceeded the estimated requirement of 52 lakh tonnes, with 48 lakh tonnes already sold. As of March 11, India maintained a closing DAP stock of 9.43 lakh tonnes. Domestic production of DAP and complex fertilisers has been constrained by several factors, including marketing limitations, high finished goods inventory and insufficient manpower.

Trump said on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war are «somewhat under control.» «Rational discussions» and having good relationships with presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine are key to negotiating an end to the war, Trump told Clay Travis, the founder of sports website Outkick, during an interview on Air Force One. Trump had separate discussions with Putin and Zelenskiy last week aimed at ending the war that began when Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Russia's smaller neighbor in 2022. The talks, which fell short of Trump's aim to secure a full 30-day ceasefire, resulted in Putin agreeing to stop Russian attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days and Zelenskiy saying he would also accept such a pause.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. KYIV, Ukraine—It was a scorching summer day in 2014 when Artem Kravchenko and hundreds of other Ukrainian soldiers put their trust in a Russian promise not to open fire and retreated in a column from the surrounded city of Ilovaisk. By the end of the day, Kravchenko found himself lying in a ditch surrounded by dead comrades after Russian forces shot up the column.

Speaking at a Business Today event here, Jaishankar also said that after decades of hearing the virtues of globalisation, the world today is grappling with the reality of industrial policies, export controls and tariff wars. He said that ensuring a favourable energy environment for coming decades is understandably one of India's key diplomatic objectives. Beyond fossil fuels, it extends to developing and deploying renewables on a large scale as well as exploring the potential of small modular reactors, he said. «The fifth biggest economy of the world must necessarily develop a broad and diverse set of energy relationships,» Jaishankar said.

International Olympic Committee for Kirsty Coventry. The first woman president elected in the IOC's 131-year history began Friday in a breakfast meeting with Thomas Bach to start their transition. The formal handover is on Olympic Day, June 23. They agreed Coventry will take precedence in major IOC decisions in the next three months. The 41-year-old sports minister of Zimbabwe will soon resign her government position and plans to move with her family in April to the Olympic home city, Lausanne in Switzerland. Here's a look at some of the issues ahead: Equality for women Coventry's victory is the biggest statement of Bach's consistent policies to promote women in Olympic sports and politics.

political thriller than real life, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly took an extraordinary step following the near-fatal assassination attempt on Donald Trump in 2024. According to Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, Putin didn’t just express concern—he went to church to pray for Trump and even commissioned a special portrait of him from one of Russia’s leading artists. But was this a simple gesture of goodwill, or does it hint at something deeper in their relationship?

China is practicing satellite dogfighting in space, according to CNN. The report, quoting the US Space Force, also said that China and Russia have deployed jammers in space. According to CNN, Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, vice chief of space operations for the US Space Force, revealed that they have observed five Chinese satellites maneuvering around each other in a coordinated manner—a practice he described as dogfighting in space. These included three Shiyan-24C satellites and two Shijian-6 05A/B experimental satellites.

Donald Trump on Friday took away security clearances for former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in his latest move against his Democratic opponents. The Republican president, who has also revoked the security clearance for former President Joe Biden, defeated Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and Harris in last year's election. «I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,» Trump said in a late Friday memorandum that also included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken. While the revocations may not have immediate impacts, it is another sign of the growing political rift in Washington as Trump seeks revenge on his perceived enemies. The memorandum was issued hours after Trump arrived at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf property for the weekend.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Centre’s net tax collections have been robust in the current financial year so far. India is working on a plan to import oil from the US to avoid reciprocal tariffs.