Iran hits back at India, inks gas field deal with Russian firm

June 7, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 7: Iran has signed a basic agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom for development of Farzad B gas field, discovered by a consortium of Indian state-run companies, in an apparent retaliation against India's bid to pressure Tehran for a formal deal by cutting purchase of Iranian oil.Iran

This is likely to strain ties between the two countries as it can potentially hit India's ongoing participation and investment in development of oil and gas sector in Iran. The agreement with Russia comes on the back of India's failure to finalize a commercial contract for Farzad B with Iran despite the optimism expressed by PM Narendra Modi and President Hassan Rouhani for the same when they met in Tehran last year.

Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh recently told Argus, the top global energy market information provider, that Farzad-B field was among three such agreements signed with Gazprom. The other two fields are North Pars and Kish gas fields. Zanganeh's announcement, made in an interview to Argus publication, follows his threat to replace the Indian consortium led by ONGC Videsh, the overseas acquisition arm of flagship explorer ONGC, in Farzad-B.

TOI had on May 30 reported that Iran was considering the option of inducting companies from other countries to replace the Indian consortium or relegate it to developing a small part of the offshore field. Government officials here downplayed Iran's preliminary deal with Gazprom and said they were positive about a formal deal. But there are others who see the Gazprom deal as Tehran's willingness to play hardball and let commercial considerations guide relations with India. Farzad-B negotiations have been in a stalemate since the field's discovery in 2008.

The two sides have missed several deadlines even after oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan's visit to the country last year. India has blamed Iran's flip-flop over the terms of the delay, while Tehran holds the Indian consortium's offer as "unsatisfactory".

As reported, miffed with the delay, New Delhi asked its refiners to reduce oil imports from Iran by a fifth. India is Iran's key oil buyer. Iran hit back by reducing the payment window from 90 days to 60 days for Indian refiners. National Iranian Oil Company also cut the discount on ocean freight it offered to Indian buyers from 80% to nearly 60%. India had stood by Iran through the sanctions and continued to buy Iranian crude after seeking a US waiver.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Beijing, Mar 12: The number of fresh infections at the epicentre of China's coronavirus epidemic dropped to a new low on Thursday but the country imported more cases from abroad.

Another 11 people died, the lowest daily increase since late January, bringing the toll in China to 3,169 deaths, according to the National Health Commission.

There were only eight new cases in Wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged in December before growing into a national crisis and a pandemic.

It is the first time that new cases in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, have fallen to single-digits since figures started to be reported in January.

With cases falling dramatically in recent weeks, authorities this week began to loosen some restrictions on Hubei's 56 million people, who have been under quarantine since late January.

Healthy people living in low-risk areas of the province can now travel within Hubei. While Wuhan is not included, some of the city's companies were told they could resume work.

Only one other non-imported case was recorded elsewhere in the country.

But as global hotspots emerge elsewhere, China fears that cases arriving from abroad could undermine its progress.

On Thursday there were six more imported cases reported, bringing the total of infections from overseas to 85, health officials said.

Beijing has ordered a 14-day quarantine for everyone arriving in the city from any country.

Travellers flying into Beijing Capital International Airport from high-risk countries are now handled separately from other passengers.

A total of 80,793 people have now been infected in China.

President Xi Jinping said this week during his first visit to Wuhan since the crisis erupted that the spread of the disease has been "basically curbed" in China.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Tel Aviv, Jan 4: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday came out in the support of Trump administration for carrying out the strike near Baghdad's international airport which led to the killing of Iran's elite IRGC Qassem Soleimani, saying that "The US has the right of self-defence."

"Just as Israel has the right of self-defence, the United States has exactly the same right. Qassem Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks," PM Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Netanyahu also credited US President Donald Trump for acting decisively in the operation of Iraq that led to the killing of Qassem Soleimani -- a US-designated terrorist, along with six others.

"President Donald Trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively. Israel stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defence," he added.

Meanwhile, Iran on Friday vowed to take a "vigorous revenge" over the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite IRGC.

The US had accused Soleimani of orchestrating several attacks on coalition bases in Iraq including the December 27 attack in which American and Iraqi personnel were killed. 

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Agencies
February 4,2020

The Seattle City Council, one of the most powerful city councils in the U.S., on Monday unanimously passed a resolution condemning India’s recently-enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Reaffirming Seattle as a welcoming city and expressing solidarity with the city’s South Asian community regardless of religion and caste, the resolution “resolves that the Seattle City Council opposes the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act in India, and finds these policies to be discriminatory to Muslims, oppressed castes, women, indigenous, and LGBT people“.

Introduced by Indian American City Council member Kshama Sawant, the resolution urges the Parliament of India to uphold the Indian Constitution by repealing the CAA, and to stop the National Register of Citizens, and take steps towards helping refugees by ratifying various UN treaties on refugees.

“Seattle City’s decision to condemn CAA should be a message to all who wish to undermine pluralism and religious freedom. They cannot peddle in hate and bigotry, and expect to have international acceptability at the same time,” said Ahsan Khan, president of Indian American Muslim Council.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan of Equality Labs, which organised the community in support of the resolution, welcomed its passage. “We are proud of the Seattle City Council for standing on the right side of history today. Seattle is leading the moral consensus in the global outcry against the CAA, she said.

Soundararajan said that thousands of organizers across the country have called, e-mailed, and visited Seattle City Council members to amplify this resolution, and it sets an example to cities across the United States.

“At a time when members of the Indian ruling party sided Trump, the Muslim ban, and his war on immigrants as justification for targeting hundreds of millions of Indian minorities, Americans have a unique responsibility to stand up and speak about this human rights crisis. We are glad that Seattle is leading the way on this,” she said.

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