US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the national capital on Wednesday night primarily to attend a crucial meeting of G20 foreign ministers that is taking place amid a bitter rift between the West and the Russia-China combine over the Ukraine conflict. Besides attending the G20 meeting on Thursday, Blinken is expected to hold bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. He is also set to attend a Quad foreign ministers' meeting on Friday.
Oil were largely unchanged on Wednesday as signs of ample supply, including growing U.S. crude inventories, countered hopes for higher demand arising from a jump in manufacturing in top crude importer China. Brent crude futures were up 8 cents to $83.54 a barrel by 11:29 a.m. EST (1629 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $76.86.
Andhra Pradesh will focus on attracting investment in post-based industries like green hydrogen and pumped storage power generation from renewable sources in its maiden global investor summit to be held this Friday and Saturday, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Wednesday. The chief minister told PTI that top industrialists N Chandrasekaran, Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla and Sajjan Jindal among others have confirmed participation at the forthcoming global investor summit.
Aviation regulator DGCA has rejected the plea to revoke the suspension of the licence of an Air India pilot in connection with the urination incident onboard New York-Delhi flight in November last year, according to a source. The licence of the pilot was suspended for three months by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on January 20.
Pakistan Wednesday launched its first-ever digital population and housing census, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying that it will help future planning and efficient utilisation of resources ahead of this year's general elections. "Today marks the launch of Pakistan's very first Digital Census'23. This transparent system of data collection will feed into informed decision-making, future planning & efficient utilisation of resources. Congrats to all the organisations for designing this system indigenously," Shehbaz said in a tweet.
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday announced that Ruchi Chojer has taken charge as its executive director. She will handle the human resources department as well as corporation finance investigation department, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a statement. Prior to her promotion as Executive Director, Chojer was chief general manager in Sebi and has handled several assignments in markets regulator since joining in 1995.
Inaugurating several e-initiatives and a new administrative block of the Calcutta High Court through the virtual mode from the Supreme Court, the CJI said that adoption of technology is for the needs of "tomorrow and today." Reminiscing of the era when mobile phones were banned in many courtrooms, he said "and here we are today releasing a mobile application for the high court."
Supreme Court’s Constitution bench to pronounce judgment on formation of independent panel for appointing Chief Election Commissioner
Supreme Court to pronounce orders in Adani-Hindenburg PILs tomorrow
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi may make a quick visit to India to attend a meeting of his counterparts from the Quad countries on March 3.
Japan has sent minister of state for foreign affairs Kenji Yamada for the G20 foreign ministers' meeting after Hayashi decided not to attend it because of a "scheduling conflict" with the parliament session.
Snowfall in higher reaches and tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh blocked 120 roads, including three national highways, on Wednesday. The meteorological department also issued a 'yellow' warning for thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places over plains, low and mid-hills on March 2 and 4.
The second police constable deployed in the security of Umesh Pal, key witness in the 2005 BSP MLA murder case who was gunned down by assailants last week, died Wednesday. He was injured in the shootout. Raghvendra Singh was undergoing treatment at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow. R K Dhiman, director of the institute, confirmed the development.
