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Caracas will determine the fate of India's multi-billion dollar investments and hefty dividends.Indian investments in Venezuela have been stuck, said an official with an official with a state-run firm with major stakes in the country. "Volatility brings in concern, but we will have to watch out for the way forward. An opening-up of the market may allow more supplies," the official said on the condition of anonymity.ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

From India and New Zealand wrapping up trade talks in record time to the Centre planning a higher outlay on rail safety, a drop in overseas education remittances, shifts in the rural job guarantee burden, and a record US court payout in the Johnson & Johnson talc case—here's a compilation of this week's news in numbers.The Centre is likely to announce an outlay of over ₹1.3 trillion in FY27 on rail safety in the Union budget, about 12% higher than the current fiscal’s amount of ₹1.2 trillion, Mint reported. Funds would be used for rolling stock maintenance, track renewals, and expanding Kavach—India’s automatic train protection system.This marks a shift in the government’s focus towards railway safety: the outlay was up only 2% in FY26.

rare earth magnets, a key input for sectors ranging from defence and electronics to renewable energy and electric vehicles.Mint unpacks the committee's recommendations and India's ambitions for rare earth magnets.Critical mineral security assumes significance amid geopolitical uncertainties and trade wars as nations try to leverage their resources to disrupt supply chains.China’s export ban on rare earth magnets in April 2025, which disrupted manufacturing supply chains globally, resulted from an escalating trade war, with the world’s second-largest economy retaliating to steep US tariffs.Beijing used its dominance in the sector–60% of the world’s rare earth mining and 90% of the world’s processing capacity–as a tool to disrupt supply chains, pushing manufacturers across the globe into a frenzy.The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its Sustainable Development Goals Pulse 2025 report in July this year, noted that minerals required for the energy transition – copper, zinc, germanium, tin, and nickel, among others – faced higher export restrictions compared to other traded critical minerals. “This trend reflects rising geopolitical sensitivities and growing domestic value chain ambitions in producing countries,” the report noted.The International Energy Agency narrowed and simplified this sentiment, focusing on how critical minerals are shaping the energy transition.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. At the end of every year, somewhere between buying presents and overeating, Americans usually turn charitable. But it seems fewer of them will give money away in 2025 than in years gone by.

Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have worked out a constructive solution during his last America visit rather than just indulging in «photo ops» and exchanging gifts. He said that at a time the world is responding to the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US, the Indian government is merely buying time and leaving everything to fate. In an interview to PTI, the former minister for Corporate Affairs said the Indian government is accepting what has been given out and has not even offered a response. «I would imagine, when the PM was in Washington (in February) and met the president of the US, instead of just photo ops and exchanging gifts, something more constructive should have come out of it,» Pilot said. «If our relations are as strong as the two leaders claim, then we would not have been slapped with these steep tariffs. Clearly our exports will be severely hit, manufacturing was in any way on a downside, MSMEs are in for a shock...The economy will face severe stress due to resulting layoffs and job losses but unfortunately we have not had an adequate response or even an indication of how to navigate this situation.» he said. The government was caught napping and it seems under US pressure to sacrifice Indian interests, he alleged.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. President Trump’s high tariffs would make the U.S. one of the world’s most protectionist countries.

And he belaboured global trade with them on Wednesday. Much of the planet is in shock. This includes penguins and seals who are the sole inhabitants of Heard and McDonald Islands, an Australian external territory near Antarctica, which has been slapped with a 10% tariff. India is mildly disappointed that its constructive and radical offer to Washington — zero-for-zero tariffs on 70% of manufactured goods — didn't give it a reprieve beyond pharma. But GoI has sensibly taken a 'Keep Calm and Carry On' attitude to what it has come to recognise is a period of geopolitical upheaval, as the US, Russia and China, in their separate ways, disorder the global order.

European Council President Antonio Costa has called for a swift conclusion to trade agreements with key global partners, including India, in response to the recent tariff measures imposed by the United States. In a tweet posted on X on Thursday, Costa emphasised the urgency for Europe to deepen its trade ties beyond the U.S. to maintain global economic stability. «The trade tariffs imposed by the United States should urge Europe to reach free trade deals with other partners in the world,» Costa wrote. He expressed full support for the EU Commission in its trade negotiations with the U.S. and underscored the importance of trade in driving global prosperity. Costa's statement pointed to several crucial ongoing trade talks, noting, “Trade is a powerful engine of global prosperity. The EU will remain a staunch advocate for free and fair trade. We will engage with all our partners and continue to strengthen and expand our trade network. Now is the time to move forward with the agreements with #Mercosur, #Mexico and decisively advance in the negotiations with #India and other key partners."

«India has historically had higher tariffs on US goods than the US imposes on Indian goods. This means India is one of the key targets for Trump’s tariff realignment. The impact could be significant across pharmaceuticals, automobiles, agriculture, and textiles, disrupting billions in trade,” said Ross Maxwell, Global Strategy Operations Lead at VT Markets.

Freezing rain swept through Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada's most populous province on Sunday, causing widespread power outages as trees and power lines were brought down across the upper Great Lakes region. Thousands of people were left without electricity, while forecasters warned of severe weather heading towards Tennessee. The National Weather Service predicted winds of up to 70 mph (112 kph), along with the potential for tornadoes and hail up to 2 inches (5 centimetres) by Sunday night. «Make sure your safe place is ready just in case,» forecasters advised via a post on X (formerly Twitter). By Sunday evening, approximately 360,000 customers were without power in Michigan, with another 62,000 outages reported in Wisconsin and more than 110,000 in Indiana. In Ontario, over 400,000 customers were affected, reported NYT.

Frito-Lay is recalling a limited number of Tostitos tortilla chips because they may contain undeclared milk

Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh being built with Russian assistance in what is next step in building this power plant. An important process stage of the turbine installation has been completed at Rooppur NPP Unit 1 in Bangladesh (the general designer and general contractor is Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division). This resulted in the turbine set placement on the barring gear. During the tests, the turbine shaft started rotating at a slow speed. The barring gear ensures correct alignment and balancing of the turbine rotor before the start-up and shutdown, which prevents the turbine components form wearing and ensures safe and efficient work. The experts carried out control checks that confirmed accuracy of the alignment and high quality of assembly of the turbine set. “Installation of the turbine at Rooppur NPP Unit 1 has been completed successfully and this is an important step to the physical start-up of the plant. The turbine set placement on the barring gear and successful control checks confirm accuracy of the assembly and reliability of the equipment. This result is an accomplishment of a highly qualified team of specialists and another evidence of the reliability of Russian technologies”, noted Alexey Deriy, Atomstroyexport JSC Vice President for Projects in Bangladesh.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Are you inundated with spam calls? Soon, you will be able to see the caller's name flash on your phone screen without installing a third-party app like Truecaller. India’s private telecom operators Vodafone Idea Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd have tapped vendors such as HP, Dell, Ericsson, and Nokia for servers and software needed to make this feature possible, according to three senior executives familiar with the matter.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is finally making its way to PlayStation 5, with a confirmed release date of April 17. The game, which first appeared for Xbox and PC players in December 2024, will now be released to additional gaming platforms. Players can reserve both digital and physical editions of the game by placing preorders. They will also be able to get some special bonus items with their purchase.

Jakob Chychrun on Tuesday re-signed his contract with the Washington Capitals for an eight-year extension worth $72 million. The defenseman, who was acquired by the side in the last offseason, helped them emerge as the top NHL team by delivering offense from the blue line. He has now been signed for a long-term contract with the Washington Capitals, ESPN reported.

Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he was inadvertently included in a Signal messaging group wherein discussion of US military strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels was underway. The messages, Goldberg said, were exchanged between top officials of the Trump administration and outlined the plans for March 15 attacks. Goldberg detailed the incident in an article titled The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans. In the report, published on Monday, he disclosed that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz invited him to join a Signal group named Houthi PC small group on March 13—just two days before the strikes took place. As per the report in The Atlantic, initially skeptical, Goldberg suspected that the group was part of a disinformation campaign. He stated that he had strong doubts about the legitimacy of the texts in the group because he could not believe that national security leadership of the US would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans. However, the journalist was soon convinced of its authenticity. He saw real-time discussions involving senior officials of the Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tiny, niche back offices for high-tech, specialised work are being set up by new-age companies in India at an increasing pace, a trend that experts believe has the potential to take the global capability centre (GCC) wave to the next level in the country. According to industry insiders, companies such as M31, d-Matrix, and MemryX, among several others, are increasingly setting up focused ‘nano’ GCCs in India.

BEIJING — UBS analysts on Wednesday became the latest to raise expectations that China's struggling real estate market is close to stabilizing.

Trump made the comments at a White House event after signing an order to increase U.S. production of critical minerals. «We're doing very well with regard to Ukraine and Russia. And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earths with Ukraine.» Trump referred to his separate discussions this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine. Those 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 Zelenskyy saying he would also accept such a pause.

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta said Thursday it would launch its generative artificial intelligence assistant Meta AI in the European Union from «this week», more than a year after the service's US release. «It's taken longer than we would have liked to get our AI technology into the hands of people in Europe as we continue to navigate its complex regulatory system — but we're glad we're finally here,» the company said in a statement. «Starting this week, Meta AI will begin rolling out across 41 European countries.»

government of India did not participate in any exercise related to the Corruption Perception Index, and took various measures to combat graft in pursuance of its commitment to "zero tolerance against corruption", the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. The assertion came in response to a question whether the «government is aware that India's score on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2024 declined to 38 points, ranking 96th out of 180 countries, as per the Transparency International report», and reasons behind it, among others. In a written reply, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said, «No such surveys were conducted by any agency at the behest of the government of India.» Further, the government of India did not participate in any such exercise related to the Corruption Perception Index, Singh said. However, the government of India, in pursuance of its commitment to «zero tolerance against corruption», has taken several measures to combat corruption, which include systemic improvements and reforms to provide transparent citizen-friendly services and reduce corruption, the minister said. He cited the disbursement of welfare benefits directly to the citizens under various schemes of the government in a transparent manner through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode, implementation of e-tendering in public procurements, introduction of e-governance and simplification of procedures and systems besides the introduction of procurement through the government e-marketplace (GeM), as measures to check corruption.