Author: Mohal Tusharkanti Chande

Serbia hails gas deal that will help the country achieve its ‘strategic goal of diversifying supplies and strengthen its position as a transit country for gas supplies to Central Europe’. Serbia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement in Baku on Wednesday under which some 400 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan should be delivered per year to Serbia from 2024 onwards. Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic and Azerbaijan Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov signed a Memorandum of Understanding which, according to the Serbian ministry press release, “deepens relations in the field of energy”. A commercial contract…

Our weekly update on recent developments in Chinese-Russian-Central Asian affairs. Central Asia Details are emerging on the bevy of deals signed between Central Asian states and China on the sidelines of the Beijing jamboree celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Belt & Road initiative. Kazakhstan’s presidential press service reported that while President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was in China in mid-October, officials signed 30 commercial documents worth an estimated $16.54 billion, “including investment and trade agreements, agreements on the transfer of technology for production, the opening of credit lines, etc.” Perhaps the most significant deal aims to increase the capacity of the Trans-Caspian International…

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau have underscored the importance of de-escalation of the India-Canada diplomatic row and respect for the rule of law in a call, which was dominated by the standoff over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada in June. According to a Downing Street statement, the British Indian leader spoke to Trudeau on Friday evening during which he was updated on the situation relating to Canadian diplomats in India. Both leaders agreed to stay in contact as Sunak reaffirmed the UK position of respect for the rule of law…

Berlin (22/10 – 75) UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, reported during his trip to the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, he met with representatives of civil society and residents of the region. Varennes arrived in Tajikistan for a working visit on October 9 till October 20. The UN Special Rapporteur told journalists that the residents of Gorno-Badakhshan informed him about violations of their rights in 2021-2022, particularly concerning the rights of detainees and cases of harsh treatment by law enforcement agencies. He stated, “People are complaining about religious restrictions as well as limitations on the use…

At 140 MW in peak capacity, Karavasta is the biggest photovoltaic system in the region. It is about to begin delivering electricity to the transmission system in Albania. The largest photovoltaic facility in the Western Balkans is counting the days before the start of production. The Karavasta solar power plant will take over the title from Novaci in North Macedonia, which has just been commissioned. France-based utility Voltalia said Minister of External Trade Olivier Becht and the country’s Ambassador to Albania Catherine Suard visited the site south of Tirana. The construction of the system with a nameplate capacity of 140 MW began 15…

Israel has not only been the victim of a vicious and despicable terrorist attack. It is also the victim of a brazenly cynical move to disrupt the international stage and subvert tranquility in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian powder keg conveniently served to add yet another full scale crisis putting even further pressure on a global order already strained to breaking point. Although no concrete evidence exists of any involvement in the attacks, Russia stands to gain the most from this extra flash point on the world map, as violence and war in the Middle East distracts from Putin’s unjustified…

New DelhiCNN — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is close to fulfilling a decade-old election promise months out from nationwide polls with the announcement that a controversial new Hindu temple will open on disputed land in January. The first detailed descriptions of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir were released on Thursday, showing the lavishly decorated structure that is being built on the site of the Babri Masjid that was destroyed by right-wing Hindu mobs in 1992. Located in the holy city of Ayodhya in the electorally significant state of Uttar Pradesh, the temple’s interiors will be adorned with gold bars and artwork that…

A bibliophile and photographer’s visual essay, born out of a photography fellowship, explores Mumbai’s love for literature I think my most favourite photograph of the series is of an old gentleman reading a book at Chor Bazaar,” Rachna Chopra, winner of the Tata Literature Live! 2022 Photography Fellowship, tells us. Chor Bazaar, also known as “Shor” Bazaar, which she got to explore around the time she took the photo, is a place where “books, written letters, old postcards and filled journals and diaries, vintage typewriters and readers were not hard to find. It just speaks of how imbibed and intrinsic…

The commission issued a notice to the cable company, but it did not appear, and an ex parte order was passed. A district consumer commission in an order has directed a cable company to refund the money paid by the complainant even after the latter stopped appearing for the case. The commission stated in its order that it went ahead with hearing the case on merits based on the documents that were filed after giving abundant chance to the complainant. The cable company against whom the order was passed did not appear, and an ex-parte order was passed to move…

NEW DELHI : India is in talks with a number of African countries, including Namibia, Mozambique and Kenya, to help develop its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and to conclude commercial partnerships between payments platforms, according to persons aware of the matter. This push comes after Ritesh Shukla, International CEO of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which developed UPI, stated that the number of countries where UPI is live will double in the next 12-18 months. “There are many countries in the world which have similar problems we had before the advent of UPI. These are financial inclusion, supporting rural…