War Financial News

5G airwaves worth over Rs 96,000 crore is set to kick-off Tuesday. However, unlike the last sale in 2022, when the government netted a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore, this time the exercise is expected to be a muted affair, said industry executives and analysts. They say the upcoming airwaves sale is likely to be low-key as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) have adequate 5G airwave holdings and, 5G adoption remains low in the absence of any consumer-centric use cases for the masses. Analysts expect that the three telecom firms could collectively buy around Rs 12,500 crore of spectrum, which is about 13% of the Rs 96,320 crore worth of airwaves on offer.

Reserve Bank of India's gold reserves parked overseas dropped to a six-year low at the end of March — 47% of total. This is the lowest since it started accumulating the precious metal in December 2017. Data shows that the RBI started bringing the gold to India in March 2022, coinciding with the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. This is in line with the trend of central banks globally that have turned cautious after the US government froze Russian foreign currency assets as the conflict began in February 2022.

China says it has banned a number of business units of American aviation maker Lockheed Martin Corporation and three of its executives over arms deals with Taiwan, the self-ruling island it claims as its own territory

Ukraine is experiencing rolling blackouts as Russia intensified strikes targeting energy infrastructure over the past three months

An aerial drone likely launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea

Washington on Sunday to discuss the next phase of the Gaza war and escalating hostilities on the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have stoked fears of wider conflict. Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel shortly after Hamas' Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, and the sides have been trading blows in the months since then. Hezbollah has said it will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. «We are prepared for any action that may be required in Gaza, Lebanon, and in more areas,» Gallant said in a statement before setting off to Washington, where he said he would meet his counterpart Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that there had been a «dramatic drop» in U.S. weapons deliveries for Israel's war effort in Gaza, doubling down on a claim that the Biden administration has denied and underscoring the growing strains between the two allies. Netanyahu told his Cabinet that the drop had occurred four months ago, without specifying which weapons, saying only that «certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind.» The spat highlights how high tensions have surged between Israel and Washington over the war in Gaza, particularly surrounding the Israeli military's conduct in the beleaguered territory and the harm to civilian life there. President Joe Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs since May over those concerns, but his administration fought back last week against Netanyahu's charges that other shipments had also been affected.

Moscow may change the timing for use of its nuclear weapons if threats against Russia increase, the RIA state news agency cited Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian lower house's defence committee, as saying on Sunday. The former general's comments follow recent warnings by President Vladimir Putin that Moscow may change its nuclear doctrine, which lays out the conditions in which such weapons could be used. «If we see that the challenges and threats increase, it means that we can correct something in (the doctrine) regarding the timing of the use of nuclear weapons and the decision to make this use,» the agency quoted Kartapolov as saying.

Israeli strikes across northern Gaza on Saturday, as rescue workers scrambled to find survivors beneath the rubble, according to Palestinian and hospital officials. Fadel Naem, director of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that more than three dozen bodies arrived at the hospital. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency group active in Gaza, said its emergency workers were digging for survivors at the site of a strike in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City and that it had pulled several dozen bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighborhood of Gaza City. Israel said Saturday that its fighter jets struck two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area but did not elaborate further.

anti-government protests in several parts of Israel on Saturday night, calling for new elections and the return of hostages held in Gaza, The Times of Israel reported. On Tel Aviv's Kaplan Street, David Grossman, one of Israel's best-known authors, urged the people of Israel to fill the streets with demonstrations and fight for their country in a poem he read to protesters.

the sinking this week of the ship Tutor, which marked what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign of strikes on ships in the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the U.S. military ordered the USS Dwight D.

Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim marks a significant return to Middle Earth cinema, adapting uncharted aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology. This animated film in the Japanese Anime style represents a fresh take on the beloved franchise, arriving a decade after Peter Jackson's final Hobbit installment and amidst ongoing Middle Earth projects, including Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power.

Reform UK's top leader Nigel Farage, in an interview with BBC, had claimed that the West had somehow 'provoked' Vladimir Putin to go into war against the Ukraine, a statement that has received severe criticism from leaders like Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, says an Evening Standard report.

Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain's right-wing Reform UK party, said the eastward of expansion of the European Union and NATO had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The remarks, made in an interview with the BBC aired late on Friday, drew strong criticism across the British political spectrum ahead of a July 4 election in which Farage's party is predicted to win millions of votes.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Saturday highlighted the importance of Bangladesh in India's strategic plans for regional cooperation and security stating that neighbouring country is crucial for India's SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) doctrine and its vision for the Indo-Pacific region. Addressing a special press briefing on the State visit of Bangladesh PM to India today, Kwatra also stated that renewing the disaster management agreement will improve response and capacity building. Additionally, they will focus on reducing and managing disaster risks, which is a key part of the Indo-Pacific Oceans initiative. «Bangladesh is a key part of India's SAGAR doctrine and the Indo-Pacific vision. The renewal of the MoU on maritime cooperation and blue economy that was signed in exchange earlier today aims to develop our ocean-based blue economy and maritime cooperation,» said Kwatra

Russia has sent so many men to join its war in Ukraine that crime levels in the country fell soon after the invasion began. Now their return is starting to unleash a wave of offending. Crimes committed by servicemen that aren’t linked to the war increased by more than 20% last year, according to data from Russia’s Supreme Court. While the overall numbers are still small and many returning servicemembers don’t go onto commit offenses, there was a jump in cases of violent crimes as well as thefts and drug-related transgressions. The figures exclude crimes involving tens of thousands of convicts released from jail to join the war under a program set up by the late Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Those who survived six months at the front were able to gain a pardon from President Vladimir Putin and return to Russia as free men.

silver prices remained in the limelight followed by feeble US economic numbers, which fuelled hopes that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this year. In the key domestic futures market, prices were placed well above Rs 90,000 a kg level while it crossed the key $30-level mark in the overseas market last week.

Crude prices eased about 1% on Friday on worries that global oil demand growth could be reduced by a strong U.S. dollar and negative economic news from some parts of the world. Prices declined despite signs of improving U.S. oil demand and falling fuel inventories that boosted crude prices to a seven-week high a day earlier.

Release Date and Platforms

We are talking about journalism this week, about newspapers and warring newsrooms and lost readership and what to do. At bottom, though this gets lost, all the arguments are really about what journalism is. Here is what it is.

Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail for two weeks to activist Mahesh Raut, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, for attending the rituals following the death of his grandmother. A vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and S V N Bhatti directed that the interim bail will commence from June 26 and Raut shall surrender without fail on July 10. The bench passed the order on his application seeking interim bail to attend the rituals which are likely to be held on June 29-30 and July 5-6. «Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the period of incarceration already undergone by the respondent and also the nature of request made for the purpose, we are inclined to grant two weeks interim bail to the applicant (Raut) which may commence from June 26, 2024 and end on July 10, 2024,» the bench said.