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Russia's share in India's crude oil imports fell to 34% in August from 42% in July as state-run refiners sharply reduced imports from Russia. Supplies from Russia fell 23% month-on-month to 1.47 million barrels per day (mbd) in August, even as India's overall crude imports fell 5% to 4.35 mbd, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa. Russia's seaborne crude exports to China, however, increased to 1.4 mbd in August from 1.3 mbd in July. Indian state refiners took 852,000 barrels per day of Russian oil in August, 30% less than in July while private sector refiners' intake of 617,000 barrels per day was 13% lower than in July. Imports from Russia fell due to the planned maintenance work at some refineries in India as well as a reduction in the availability of Russian supplies, analysts said.

Danube River port infrastructure that is critical to Ukraine's grain exports, injuring at least two people in the attack on southern parts of the Odesa region on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. The Danube has become Ukraine's main route for exporting grain since July, when Russia quit a U.N. and Turkey-brokered deal that had given safe passage to Kyiv's exports of grains, oilseeds and vegetables oils via the Black Sea. Sunday's attack took place the day before Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan are due to hold talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Turkey has been pressing to revive the grain deal. Ukraine's South Military Command said on social media that at least two civilians were injured in the early morning attack on what it called «civil infrastructure of the Danube». The Ukrainian Air Force said air defence systems shot down 22 of the 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia.

(Reuters) -Russian drones hit Danube River port infrastructure that is critical to Ukraine's grain exports, injuring at least two people in the attack on southern parts of the Odesa region on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said.

G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. The arrangements will be a showcase for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India's growing presence on the world stage. The two-day summit will have the most high-profile guest list India has ever welcomed, from US President Biden to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Bin Salman.

A week ago, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sat with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Jeddah for a meeting — or more importantly photo opportunity — he intended the world to see.

By Francesco Guarascio

By Arpan Chaturvedi

Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov on Sunday expressed regret over his light-hearted remarks about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that had raised a few eyebrows and said he only meant that Lavrov was much admired. In an interaction with media persons on Friday, a journalist asked Alipov about Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to skip the G20 summit and jocularly referred to how he is popular among Russian women and that it would have been nice if he had come to India. In a lighter vein, the envoy thanked the person who asked the question for the remarks and said, «Lavrov is married, by the way.

GDP share of the six new members, being added to the five-member BRICS grouping of emerging economies from January, will be just 11 per cent, with Saudi Arabia's contribution the highest at 4 per cent, an analysis shows. The proposed addition of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to the five-member BRICS, or Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will also see the grouping's share in the global GDP rising to 30 per cent from 26 per cent now and that of the population to 46 per cent, according to an analysis by the SBI Research. The expansion decision, effective January 1, 2024, was announced at the recent BRICS summit held in Johannesburg. Currently China contributes 70 per cent of the BRICS' GDP, which will decline to 62 per cent, while India chips in with 13 per cent now that will inch down to 12 per cent.

Russia's military, the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev, said on Sunday. Visiting Russia's Far East, Medvedev said he was meeting local officials to work on efforts to beef up the armed forces. «According to the Ministry of Defence, since Jan. 1, about 280,000 people have been accepted into the ranks of the Armed Forces on a contract basis,» including reservists, state news agency TASS quoted Medvedev as saying. Last year Russia announced a plan to expand its combat personnel more than 30% to 1.5 million, an ambitious task made harder by its heavy but undisclosed casualties in Moscow's war against Ukraine. Some Russian lawmakers suggested Russia needs a professional army 7-million strong to ensure the country's security — a move that would require a huge budget allowance.President Vladimir Putin ordered a «partial mobilisation» of 300,000 reservists in September 2022, prompting hundreds of thousands of others to flee Russia to avoid being sent to fight.

Pope Francis on Saturday praised Mongolia's tradition of religious freedom dating to the times of its founder, Genghis Khan, as he opened the first-ever papal visit to the Asian nation with a word of encouragement to its tiny Catholic flock. Francis met with President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh inside a traditional Mongolian ger, or round yurt, set up inside the state palace and wrote a message in the guest book that he was visiting «a country young and ancient, modern and rich of tradition,» as a pilgrim of peace. Francis is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world's newest and smallest Catholic communities — around 1,450 Mongolians are Catholic — and make a diplomatic foray into a region where the Holy See has long had troubled relations, with Russia to the north and China to the south. While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992, after the country abandoned its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution. While Catholicism is tolerated and legal, foreign missionaries working here lament that the government restricts their numbers and treats the church as a nongovernmental organization — limitations that the Holy See is hoping will be lifted with a comprehensive bilateral agreement. In his remarks, Francis praised Mongolia's tradition of religious liberty, noting that such tolerance existed even during the period of the Mongol Empire's vast expansion over much of the world.

G20 Summit in India next week, instead of President Xi Jinping who is going to skip the conclave, said people familiar with the development on Saturday. “The Chinese President is not traveling to India for the G20 Summit. Premier Li is likely to represent China at the Summit," said one of the people cited above on the condition of anonymity.

G20 Summit 2023. For the first time in history, India has become the host the the Group of 20 Nations (popularly known as G20).

Also Read: North Korea fires missiles after failed satellite launch: State Media "He affirmed that a future plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the WPK (Worker's Party of Korea) would set forth an important modernization of the complex and the development direction of the shipbuilding industry," the KCNA statement said. The statement did not specify the date of his visit.

Russia, Iran can't attend Nobel Prize event this year; invitation revoked after flak Meanwhile, a defrocked Russian priest who spoke out against Moscow's offensive in Ukraine was jailed for three years on Thursday, following a court found him guilty of spreading 'fake news' about the army. Ioann Kurmoyarov -- ran a YouTube channel called the 'Orthodox Virtual Parish' -- was charged after allegedly posting 'several videos with false information about the use of the Russian army'.

G20 Summit, Northern Railways has decided to cancel and divert over 200 passenger trains temporarily from September 8 to 11 here, a notification stated on Saturday. According to the schedule, over 90 trains have been cancelled on September 9. More than 100 passenger trains will be cancelled on September 10 as well.

Russia, Belarus and Iran not to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies as the Nobel Foundation has withdrawn its invitation following “strong reactions" from the Swedish lawmakers. Earlier today, several Swedish lawmakers said they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries to attend, saying it “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone." Some of the lawmakers cited Russia's war on Ukraine and the crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott.

HONG KONG—A new Cold War-style competition has put the moon back at the center of global space ambitions, but the U.S. has a new chief rival. More nations and companies are venturing into space, crowding the calendar with planned robotic landings for lunar research.

Russia and Mexico skipping the G20 Summit in India a closer look at the past summits revealed that not Heads of State among the members have always attended all Summits. While Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to PM Narendra Modi and announced that he would skip the Summit, it is widely believed that Presidents of China and Mexico will be the other absentees. As is evident, the level of attendance at global summits varies from year to year. In today's world with so many demands on the leaders' time, it is not always possible for every leader to attend every summit, sources pointed out. From time to time, many leaders skip summits for their own reasons. The most glaring example is the 2021 G20 Summit in Italy where there was no major geopolitical or health reason for leaders to skip it, but the circumstances happened in such a way that six countries attended below Head of State(HOS)/ Head of Government (HOG )level. These things do not reflect anything about the host country, sources said. From 2008, there have been 16 physical summits of the G20, and one virtual summit (Saudi Arabia, 2020). There were two summits each in 2009 and 2010. Out of these 16 physical summits, except the first three summits in 2008 and 2009, there has never been a single occasion from 2010 till now when every country has attended at HOS/HOG level. Six times there was one country below HOS/HOG: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 & 2017. Five times there were two countries below HOS/HOG: 2010, 2014, 2015, 2018 & 2019. One time there were three countries below HOS/HOG: 2022. One time there were six countries below HOS/HOG: 2021 (before Ukraine, after Covid)

Chandrayaan-3 on the South Pole of the Moon, a historic first. Somanath received a handmade model of the Vikram lander model from a very young neighbour. ISRO scientist PV Venkitakrishnan shared the news of the heart-warming gesture on microblogging site ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).

Ukrainian naval drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, forcing its temporary closure for the third time in less than a year. One naval drone was destroyed late Friday and two others early Saturday morning, according to Russia's Defence Ministry.