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24 Feb 2022; MEMO: Kuwait's new defence ministry headquarters is to be designed and constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers and other US-based contractors following the approval of a proposal by the Biden administration, worth an estimated $1 billion.

Beijing, Feb 24 (AP) Stocks plunged and oil prices surged by more than 5 per barrel Thursday after President Vladimir Putin launched military action in Ukraine, prompting Washington and Europe to vow sanctions on Moscow that may roil the global economy.

Market benchmarks in Europe and Asia fell by as much as 4% as traders tried to figure out how large Putin's incursion would be and the scale of Western retaliation. Wall Street futures retreated by an unusually wide daily margin of 2.5%.

Mumbai, Feb 24 (PTI) The rupee tanked 102 paise to close at 75.63 (provisional) against the US currency on Thursday as riskier assets took a hit after Russia launched military operations against Ukraine.

Forex traders said sustained foreign fund outflows, heavy selling in domestic equities and elevated crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI) The Indian government has paid Cairn Energy Plc Rs 7,900 crore to refund taxes it had collected to enforce a retrospective tax demand, ending a seven-year-old dispute that had tarred the country's image as an investment destination.

The company, which is now known as Capricorn Energy PLC, in a statement said it has received "net proceeds of USD 1.06 billion", of which nearly 70 per cent will be returned to the shareholders.

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI) US aerospace major Boeing on Thursday said it has delivered the 12th Poseidon-8I maritime patrol aircraft to India.

The fleet is being operated by the Indian Navy primarily to carry out surveillance in the Indian Ocean region.

Boeing said the aircraft delivered on Wednesday was the fourth of the four additional aircraft contract for which was signed in 2016.

Kanpur: The National Sugar Institute has developed a smarter means to catalyse the process of sugarcane juice with the help of a specially designed reactor, aerator and floatation clarifier.

The technology has been successfully tried in the Experimental Sugar Factor of the famed institute.

This feat was reported to be done in direct collaboration with The Sugar Technologists Association of India and M/s Chemical System Technologies, New Delhi.

24 Feb 2022; MEMO: Algeria, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa last week announced the formation of Group of Four Nations (G4) aiming to deal with various issues confronting Africa.

Leaders of the four nations, who met on the sidelines of the 6th EU-AU Summit at Brussels, used the opportunity to discuss crisis areas on the continent with a view to coming up with practical and effective solutions.

23 Feb 2022; MEMO: Israeli officials are reportedly worried that US sanctions on Russia over its possible invasion of Ukraine could harm Tel Aviv's security interests in neighbouring Syria.

According to a report by the Israeli news site, Walla!, anonymous Israeli officials expressed to it their concerns that, due to Israel's close ties with the US, any sanctions that the latter imposes on Russia will affect the former's ability to properly coordinate with Moscow in Syria to negotiate security issues.

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI) Investors' wealth tumbled by more than Rs 8 lakh crore in less than an hour of trade on Thursday, as Russia's attack on Ukraine pushed stock markets deep into the red.

Amid investors getting spooked by the escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies crashed to Rs 2,47,46,960.48 crore at around 10.15 am.

23 Feb 2022; MEMO: Neither Qatar nor any other single country has the capacity to replace Russian gas supplies to Europe with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the event of disruption due to a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Qatar's energy minister said yesterday, Reuters reports.