Business

Kanpur: Fight continues in Ukraine. But its impact on the rate of soda ash is even felt here. An increase in the cost of soda ash has been affecting the business for the past three weeks.

According to the organisation's office bearers, 40% of soda ash is imported from Russia while nearly 30% comes from China.

As the fight has entered 21 days, the cost of soda ash is soaring continuously. Its rate on February 15 stayed at Rs 33 per kg has now soared to Rs 45 per kg. This comes to a 40% increase in the rate.

15 March 2022; MEMO: Forty-nine of the 50 Republican US senators said on Monday they will not back an emerging new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, underscoring their party's opposition to attempts to revive a 2015 accord amid fears talks might collapse, Reuters reports.

14 March 2022; MEMO: Palestinian authorities in Gaza have agreed to put in place customs exemptions for importers of flour and wheat in an effect to mitigate rising global prices as a result of Russia's war on Ukraine.

14 March 2022; MEMO: Qatar's foreign minister will travel to Moscow on Sunday for discussions on the Iran nuclear talks and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a source familiar with the visit said, Reuters reports.

The source said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, whose gas producing country is a U.S. ally, would meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official said Russia asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine, a request that heightened tensions about the ongoing war ahead of a Monday meeting in Rome between top aides for the U.S. and Chinese governments.

In advance of the talks, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan bluntly warned China to avoid helping Russia evade punishment from global sanctions that have hammered the Russian economy. “We will not allow that to go forward,” he said.

New Delhi, Mar 14 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented a Rs 1.42 lakh crore budget for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2022-23 in the Lok Sabha, amid demands from the opposition that it be given adequate time for studying the proposals.

Sitharaman also presented the supplementary demands for the year 2021-22 totalling Rs 18,860.32 crore for the Union Territory and moved a motion seeking suspension of certain rules to allow the House to take up the discussion on the same day.

11 March 2022; MEMO: Talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Friday faced the prospect of collapse after a last-minute Russian demand forced world powers to pause negotiations for an undetermined time, despite having a largely completed text, Reuters reports.

Negotiators have reached the final stages of 11 months of discussions to restore the deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, long seen by the West as a cover for developing atomic bombs.

11 March 2022; MEMO: Senior officials from Afghanistan, Qatar and the US held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) that kicked off in Turkiye on Friday Anadolu News Agency reports.

Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, met Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and Tom West, US special representative for Afghanistan, read an Afghan Foreign Ministry statement.

12 March 2022; MEMO: High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced on Friday that Iran and world powers would suspend talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement in the Austrian capital, Vienna. According to Borrell, the talks have been suspended due to "external factors" after Russian demands threatened to ruin the talks at the last minute.

Mumbai, Mar 11 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said the third budget of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was aimed at an all-around development of the state, which was in a revival mode after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a step towards becoming a USD 1 trillion economy.