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Pakistan has tried to downplay the snub from the BRICS, saying it has not yet made a formal request to join it after the bloc ignored Islamabad when it announced its major expansion in years. On August 24, The leaders of the BRICS nations decided to admit Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the new members of the grouping, sealing a long-drawn process. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch issued the details of her weekly briefing on Friday night, a day after the bloc of developing countries added new countries. «We will examine the latest developments and make a determination about our future engagement with BRICS,» Baloch said. To a query, if Pakistan was ignored by the bloc, she said Pakistan followed BRICS' developments in its latest summit in South Africa and also noted its openness to inclusive multilateralism. «Pakistan is an ardent supporter of multilateralism and as a member of several multilateral organisations it has always played an important role in global peace and development,» she said. The spokesperson termed Pakistan as an important developing country that has made «important contributions to promote peace, solidarity and cooperation among countries of the South». «We shall continue our efforts at the international fora for fostering the spirit of international cooperation and revitalisation of inclusive multilateralism,» she said. BRICS initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has undertaken major expansion taking its members to eleven, making it more representative of the Global South. Reportedly several countries are queuing up to join the group but Pakistan may face a challenge due to the presence of India which enjoys

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that he had personally advised Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar against making the effort to greet him at the airport upon his arrival as he was not sure of his arrival time after a long flight. According to a PTI report, Prime Minister Modi arrived in Bengaluru at approximately 6 am, having flown directly from the Greek capital, Athens.

Kazakhstan has ranked 25th in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Report. The office of KAZAKH INVEST in India is ready to provide assistance, starting from an idea to the commissioning.

India and Greece on Friday agreed to elevate their relationship to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ as PM Narendra Modi held wide ranging dialogue with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece in Athens. The two leaders called for respect of international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity in the backdrop of India’s consistent support on Cyprus issue and Greece’s constant support on the Kashmir issue. The PM level discussions covered various dimensions of the bilateral partnership, including trade and investment, defense and security, technology, infrastructure, digital payments, shipping, pharma, agriculture, migration and mobility, tourism, skill development, culture, education and people to people ties, an official informed. They also discussed regional and multilateral issues, including the EU, Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean. “Greece expressed its support for the India-EU Trade and Investment Agreement. Over the Ukraine issue, both countries support diplomacy and dialogue.

The prime ministers of India and Greece have pledged to boost their countries’ trade, business and defense ties during a visit to Athens by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Lebanon’s interim central bank governor has called on the country’s ruling class to quickly implement economic and financial reforms that the central bank won’t offer loans to the state and does not plan on printing money to cover the huge budget defic...

Supreme Court on Friday allowed completion of a forensic audit of Ruchi Soya Industries (now taken over by Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved) and asked its erstwhile management to cooperate in the process. The audit has been initiated at the instance of IDBI Bank, which is leading a consortium of lenders of Ruchi Soya. «It is imperative that the fresh forensic audit be taken to its logical conclusion,» solicitor general Tushar Mehta told a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, adding the allegation involved misappropriation of ₹9,000 crore of public money advanced by banks. Appearing for IDBI Bank, the SG, along with counsels Akshay Sapre and Abhijeet Swaroop, argued that only a forensic audit would unearth any financial mismanagement that has taken place in the company. The bank also wanted restoration of its contempt proceedings initiated against Ruchi Soya's former MD Dinesh Shahra, as it claimed the audit could not be concluded due to his non-cooperation.

India and China on Friday offered divergent views to characterise the conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Johannesburg two days ago even as Beijing sought to downplay the eastern Ladakh border standoff saying the boundary question does not represent the «entirety» of the bilateral relations. In a readout on the conversation between the two leaders, the Chinese foreign ministry said President Xi Jinping conveyed to PM Modi that both sides should «bear in mind» the «overall interests» of the ties and «properly» handle the border issue. Hours after Beijing's statement on Modi-Xi conversation claimed it was held at the Indian side's request, Indian sources said there was a «pending request» from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting, suggesting that New Delhi has not heeded to it. «The two leaders, however, had an informal conversation in the leaders' lounge during the BRICS summit,» one of the sources said. Modi and Xi held the conversation on Wednesday on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Johannesburg, amid continuing strain in bilateral ties in view of the lingering border standoff in eastern Ladakh. The conversation was not a structured bilateral meeting.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, coming off less-than-stellar third-quarter financial results that fell short of analyst expectations, said it is facing a probe over anti-money-laundering (AML) compliance in the United States.

DUBAI (Reuters) — Qatar is balancing its relationships with both the United States and China and one link does not damage the other, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Friday.

Toronto-Dominion Bank says it’s been receiving inquiries from regulators and law enforcement about its compliance with anti-money-laundering rules, including requests related to a United States Department of Justice investigation.

Sullivan convened the national security and senior G20 representatives of the Quint (an informal decision-making group consisting of the United States and France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the European Union) at the White House to discuss the ensuing G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi, according to a White House release. The participants discussed their unified support for the G20 and India's G20 Presidency, as well as their commitment to ensuring strong outcomes in New Delhi, including demonstrating the G20's role as the premier forum for economic cooperation, driving an affirmative and ambitious agenda for developing and emerging countries, and making progress on evolving the multilateral development banks to be more responsive to shared global challenges, the official release informed. The G20 Summit is slated to take place on September 9-10 at the recently-inaugurated state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam convention centre at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Many heads of state and diplomats including US President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to be attending the G20 Leaders' Summit. The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Delhi, under India's presidency will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies. Sullivan also convened the Quint national security advisors of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom at the White House on Thursday. Noting that it is also Ukraine's Independence Day, participants reiterated their enduring commitment to supporting Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression for as long

maritime transport, defence, trade and investments and people-to-people ties." Meanwhile, Greek Ambassador to India Dimitrios Ioannou has said that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Greece visit, the two countries will upgrade their long friendship. "We are very happy to welcome him.

Narendra Modi on Thursday met Dr Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of Iran, shortly after Iran's inclusion as one of the new members of Brics and explored cooperation with regard to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and counter-terror partnership.

European Union has proposed an investment court system to India to resolve investor-state disputes, a substantive change from its earlier proposal, as the two sides thrash out the modalities of the proposed bilateral investment protection pact. EU commissioner for trade Valdis Dombrovskis also indicated the two sides may resolve their outstanding dispute. The two are involved in a dispute over tariffs imposed by New Delhi on information and communication technology goods outside the World Trade Organization. Noting India's ambition to become a manufacturing hub and integrate itself with the global value chains which requires a lot of investment, he said: «For this investment to come, there also needs to be proper investment protection and a proper mechanism to solve disputes as they arise.» India and the EU are negotiating a trade pact, an investment protection agreement and an agreement on geographical indications. The bloc has proposed the investment court system on the lines of agreements with other countries. «We are awaiting India's proposal on this,» said Dombrovskis, who is in India for the two-day G20 trade and investment ministers meeting that began Thursday. «It's a change of EU approach instead of relying on arbitrations where sometimes it was not transparent.

By Carien du Plessis, Anait Miridzhanian and Bhargav Acharya

The operator of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is now releasing treated but still slightly radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the most likely nominees for the 2024 presidential election, but you won't see many new books about either this fall

Chandrayaan-3 mission has opened up the potential to use the Moon as a take-off point for future planetary missions, and bolstered India's credentials to participate in such futuristic explorations, veteran space scientist K Kasturirangan said on Thursday.

Japan began pumping more than a million metric tons of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Thursday, a process that will take decades to complete. The water was distilled after being contaminated from contact with fuel rods at the reactor, destroyed in a 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Tanks on the site hold about 1.3 million tonnes of the water — enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.WHAT IS JAPAN'S WATER RELEASE PLAN? The utility responsible for the plant, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), has been filtering the contaminated water to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate. Tepco will dilute the water until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits before pumping it into the sea from the site on the coast north of Tokyo. Water containing tritium is routinely released from nuclear plants around the world, and regulatory authorities support dealing with the Fukushima water in this way. Tritium is considered to be relatively harmless because its radiation is not energetic enough to penetrate human skin.

BRICS 2023 summit: UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on 24 August said his country looks forward to working with BRICS for the benefit of all. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote, “We respect the vision of the BRICS leadership and appreciate the inclusion of the UAE as a member to this important group.