Business

Sao Paulo, Oct 9 (AP-PTI) Bars in Sao Paulo are full again for evening happy hours, lawmakers in the capital of Brasilia have nearly done away with video sessions via Zoom, and Rio de Janeiro's beaches are packed. Calls for strict social distancing seem but a memory.

08 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israel has been dealt a hammer blow by sports clothing manufacturer Nike. The mega-brand has announced that it will end the sale of its products in stores within the occupation state in a move welcomed by social media users as another victory for the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) Salt-to-software conglomerate Tatas have won the bid to acquire debt-laden state-run Air India offering Rs 18,000 crore for acquiring 100 per cent shareholding, a senior government official said on Friday.

An SPV of Tata Sons - the holding company of conglomerate - has emerged as successful bidder, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) -- the government department responsible for privatisation - said.

Tata Sons beat SpiceJet promoter to bag Air India.

Washington, Oct 7 (PTI) The US and China have agreed in principle that President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit before the end of the year, a senior White House official said, amid high tension in bilateral relationship over Beijing's actions on issues like trade, human rights, the South China Sea and Taiwan.

The announcement by the White House followed a nearly six-hour meeting in Zurich between US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on Wednesday.

New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) India on Thursday said discussions are going on with the US on the S-400 missile defence deal, a day after US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman expressed unease over New Delhi's procurement of the Russian weapons system.

"This has been under discussion between our two countries for some time. It was raised and we have discussed it and explained our perspective. And discussions on this are ongoing," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) Putting an end to the vaccine certification row, the UK on Thursday announced that Indians, fully vaccinated with Covishield vaccine, will no longer require to undergo quarantine on their arrival in Britain from October 11.

The announcement was made by British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis.

Mumbai, Oct 8 (PTI) The rupee opened on a weak note and fell below the 75 per US dollar level in early trade on Friday as rising crude prices and strength of the American currency in the overseas market weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 75, then fell further to 75.15, registering a decline of 36 paise from its last close.

Guwahati, Oct 8 (PTI) The Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati was handed over to the Adani Group for operations, management and development responsibilities on Friday.

Beginning the process of developing and modernising the Northeast's foremost airport, the symbolic key of the airport was handed over by Ramesh Kumar, Airport Director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). to Utpal Baruah, Chief Airport Officer of the new airport operator at an event held midnight, a press statement said.

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) Petrol price on Friday was hiked by 30 paise a litre and diesel by 35 paise per litre as domestic fuel prices witnessed possibly the largest rally in rates.

The price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of Rs 103.54 a litre and to Rs 109.54 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

Diesel rates too touched a record high of Rs 92.12 in Delhi and inched closer to the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Mumbai. It currently costs Rs 99.92 a litre in Mumbai.

NEW DELHI (AP) — An energy crisis is looming over India as coal supplies grow perilously low, adding to challenges for a recovery in Asia’s third largest economy after it was wracked by the pandemic.

Supplies across the majority of coal-fired power plants in India have dwindled to just days worth of stock.

Federal Power Minister R. K. Singh told the Indian Express newspaper this week that he was bracing for a “trying five to six months.”

“I can’t say I am secure … With less than three days of stock, you can’t be secure,” Singh said.