'Essential partner': US gives India one-month waiver to buy Russia oil

With an effective halt in cargo movement through the Strait of Hormuz hitting crude oil flow to India, the US has issued a temporary 30-day "waiver" to allow Indian refiners to buy Russian crude that is already in the high seas.

Panel led by MOEF Secy 'suppressed' FSI view on Aravalli, amicus informs SC

The Supreme Court's Amicus Curiae in the Aravalli definition case has submitted that the report by the court's Aravalli committee led by the Environment secretary "completely suppressed" the views of the Forest Survey of India (FSI) while recommending a 100-metre height definition for the hills.

Nepal rejects old guard, Balen Shah, 35, is set to become PM

In the first election post the September 2025 Gen Z protests that forced out the KP Sharma Oli government, Nepal appeared to have rejected the old guard, voting overwhelmingly for the three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and clearing the decks for its leader Balendra 'Balen' Shah to become Prime Minister.

Karnataka and Andhra move to ban social media use by children

Moving to ban social media use by children, Chief Ministers of two states Friday announced plans to impose such a restriction.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the state Assembly, where the Budget was being presented, that children below the age of 16 will be banned from using social media.

Protected under UN treaty, half of world's migratory wildlife on decline: Report

A new global report on the health of migratory wildlife has warned that 49 per cent of the migratory species population protected by the UN's Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) are declining, and 24 per cent of species are now facing extinction.

The threat of population decline has risen 5 per cent in just two years, while the percentage of species facing extinction has risen by 2 per cent over the same period, as per the interim report updating the landmark State of World's Migratory Species, which was first released in 2024.

'Abnormality is new normal': Rajnath says West Asia crisis threat to global energy security

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday issued a warning regarding the volatile security situation in West Asia, describing the conflict as "highly unusual" and a direct threat to global energy security.

Sinking of Dena opens new front in the war, disrupts hard-won regional peace

The Torpedoing of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, 40 miles off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka, in the early hours of March 4, offered India a blinding flash of harsh reality: The conflict we thought was 3,000 km away in the Persian Gulf had arrived at our doorstep.

Govt orders refiners to boost LPG output to meet cooking gas needs

In Order to ensure continued availability of cooking gas to crores of Indian households amid the West Asia crisis, the government has invoked emergency powers derived from the Essential Commodities Act to direct Indian refiners to maximise liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production and ensure that all the gas is supplied solely to domestic LPG consumers and not used to produce petrochemicals.

How West Asia conflict may impact other core industries, beyond oil & gas

Beyond the impact of the ongoing conflict in West Asia on global oil and gas markets, a quieter supply risk is emerging for several core Indian industries as tensions threaten to disrupt the flow of key industrial inputs from the region.

Sectors such as steel, fertilisers, cement and power transmission depend heavily on imports of essential raw materials from West Asia.

'Ongoing conflict may fuel imported inflation; prolonged crisis could hit exchange rate, CAD'

The Ongoing US-Israel strike on Iran has heightened geopolitical risk around the Strait of Hormuz, driving oil prices upward, which could feed through higher imported inflation, by raising fuel costs and weakening the rupee, complicating the inflation outlook for India, the Ministry of Finance said in its monthly economic review for February released on Friday.

New GDP series: Distance to $5-tn target increases

Last Week, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MosPI) came out with new GDP estimates. The GDP, the market price of all "final" goods and services produced within India, shows the economy's size. Broadly, the bigger the economy, the more prosperous a country is.

GDP estimates have to be refreshed from time to time because every economy goes through several changes -such as the prices people pay, the goods and services they purchase and use, etc. In the new series, 2022-23 is the new base year for GDP calculations. MoSPI has released the updated GDP for the years since and, in some time, will release the GDP of the year before the new base year.

Process to outcome, how Bengal SIR was different

The EC deployed 8,100 'micro-observers' in West Bengal to check documents submitted by electors during hearings, among other things.

Not only was this deployment of micro-observers for roll revision a first for the EC, the poll panel only did so in the state.