State Bank of India stops handling trade with sanctioned Russian entities: Sources

According to a letter seen by Reuters and people familiar with the matter, India’s top lender, subject to international sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, will not process any transactions involving Russian entities.

A letter sent by State Bank of India (SBI) to certain customers states that “any transaction involving entities, banks, ports or ships on the US, EU or UN sanctions list” will be processed irrespective of the currency of the transaction. will not be done. ,

SBI did not immediately respond to emails or calls seeking comment on the matter.

A senior SBI official said, “We have a significant international presence and need to comply with US and EU regulations as we are present in those jurisdictions and we cannot be seen as not complying with these rules. could.”

The invasion, which Moscow calls a “special operation” and the largest attack on a European state since World War II, was met with widespread condemnation and a series of sanctions.

India, which has deep trade and defense ties with Russia, has so far not publicly condemned its longtime ally but called for diplomacy and dialogue to end the violence and resolve the conflict.

SBI, in a letter to customers, also urged them to take “extra caution” while handling any transaction relating to approved countries.

Several prominent Indian corporate houses have deep ties with the state-controlled lender, which has a large network of overseas branches.

According to two senior sources in the energy industry, SBI has sought information from Indian oil companies about their exposure to Russia, including stake in Russian assets, funds received from Russia last year and the lenders involved in routing these transactions.

Indian Oil Corp, one of India’s top refiners, on Monday said it will no longer accept cargoes of Russian crude and Kazakh CPC blend cargo on free on board (FOB) basis due to insurance risk.

Apart from oil companies, Indian fertilizer companies also deal extensively with Russia for import of crop nutrients.

Originally published at Pen 18

india: Dynasts kept Purvanchal mired in caste issues: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said it is important for India to be powerful, with a host of challenges affecting the world, appealing to the people of Uttar Pradesh to keep in mind the need to make India strong while voting. Keep it, because the ‘gross familyist’ or dynastic politician can never achieve this goal.

Speaking at mega rallies in Maharajganj and Ballia in Purvanchal or Eastern UP, which Modi voted for on March 3, Modi also said that dynastic governments implicated Purvanchal in caste issues to stall the development of the state, and urged people to Told to be ‘careful’. them.

In Maharajganj, which shares its border with Nepal, Modi said it was important for the country to be “enabled” to make people feel safe in these border areas.

“The world is facing a lot of challenges and no one can remain unaffected. Be it rich, poor, farmer, laborer, trader or employee… India needs to be powerful in such times. From agriculture to army. From sea to space, India has to become powerful in every field. And as the largest state, it is the responsibility of UP to make this possible. This time, your vote is only for the development of your village or district. Not only for this, but also to make India strong. This time, your vote is for a capable country and a capable Uttar Pradesh. ‘Ghor Parivarwadis’ can never make India capable or UP strong.”

He also said that a network of roads is being laid along the Nepal border and the main roads are being converted into four lanes and highways. He also mentioned the ‘Vibrant Village’ scheme for border villages introduced in the annual budget.

Apart from criticizing the opposition for promoting caste division, Modi also sought to highlight the “class divide” among the people of the Purvanchal region, which comprises the most backward districts of the state.

“Families have excellent treatment facilities when they fall ill, but when the poor fall ill, they have to take loans to repay. Hence, our government has started the Ayushman Yojana. Now, even if you know I will bear the burden of up to 5 lakhs in the biggest hospital for the treatment lying vacant. Whether you have to go to any hospital in Ahmedabad, Mumbai or Chennai, Kharcha Modi will bear it.” Without naming anyone but describing SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Modi also said that family members ensure good education for their children and send them abroad, but only the BJP government provides quality education to the poor and middle class. making sure.

In Ballia, Modi said familyists have destroyed law and order and the traders of the district would remember how their money and property would be snatched away by goons, but the Yogi government is bringing law and order back on track and Women are feeling safe to step out. ,

Originally published at Pen 18

delimitation: J&K Delimitation panel rejects demand for redrawing seats

The J&K delimitation panel is believed to have taken up 22 ‘suggestions, objections and concerns’ raised by five associate members – Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament (MPS) Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishor and National Conference MP Farooq Abdullah. 15 is accepted. , Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi.

ET has learned that most of the demands are related to the renaming of the proposed assembly and parliamentary constituencies.

However, suggestions to include some areas, the halqa within another constituency, have been largely rejected by the panel on the basis of proximity among other factors.

The NC’s demand against the inclusion of assembly constituencies from Jammu in the recently drawn Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency was also rejected.

The delimitation panel is clear that J&K should be treated as a single entity and not as two separate divisions in the rescheduling of constituencies.

The panel also took suggestions seeking a less stringent approach on any proposal that tinkered with the 18 assembly constituencies per parliamentary constituency model or basic administrative unit or taluka—known as ‘patwar halqa’ in Kashmir. has been rejected.

While suggestions for restoration of constituency names or new ones have been largely accepted from both sides, ET has gathered.

For example, accepting the suggestions of the associate members, the Larlu constituency will now be known as Kokernag and Anantnag as Shangas Anantnag.

As per the demand of the NC, the Srinagar South constituency will be named as Habba Kadal as demanded by the NC MPs.

Congress has so far not sent any representation to the panel, nor has the People’s Democratic Party boycotted the delimitation discussion.

A revised draft delimitation motion—accepting 15 of the 22 suggestions—has been sent to the three associate members for their consideration.

They have to respond by March 4, after which, the election panel will take a final view on the draft delimitation and publish it for public comment as per procedure.

It is expected that the delimitation panel’s report will be ready by May 6- the extended deadline, setting the stage for holding elections in J&K.

The scene of action will then go to the Election Commission of India, which will then have to hold elections in the state.

The process of voter list revision is expected to take another 2-3 months.

Unless elections can be held in J&K by September-October this year, it is quite likely that the cold will send the polling schedule for the union territory in 2023.

Originally published at Pen 18

shah: BJP crossed the half-way mark in 5th phase: Union Home Min Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday claimed that the BJP has already crossed the half mark in the 403-seat assembly after five phases of elections in Uttar Pradesh. Accusing the Samajwadi Party and the BSP of working “on the basis of caste”, he said the BJP has worked for all communities since 2017.

In a public address in Kushinagar, Shah said, “BJP has reached the majority mark in the first five phases of the UP elections. In the sixth and seventh phases, people have to vote for the BJP to form the government with more than 300 seats. ” Where voting is to be held on March 3.

The district has seven assembly seats and BJP’s Padrauna MLA and influential OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya had given a jolt to the BJP by joining the SP. He also addressed rallies in Siddharthnagar, Sant Kabir Nagar and Basti.

Polling has been completed for 292 seats and the remaining 111 seats will go to polls in the last two phases.

Keeping caste considerations high in these backward Purvanchal districts, Shah said that while the SP and BSP have increased the poverty of the state, the BJP is working for the welfare of the poor and working for all castes. whether it is a backward or scheduled caste.

Referring to the Ayushman Yojana scheme, which provides free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh to the poor, Shah called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “representative of the poor”. At the same time, attacking SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, he said that as soon as summer comes, he flies to London with his family in a chartered plane and can never work for their welfare.

He also said that the Yogi Adityanath government sent criminals like Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed to jail because these people had harassed the poor under the previous governments.

Shah said that today UP is the country’s top producer of milk, sugarcane, sugar, amla, potato, ginger and green peas, but it was not so five years ago and under the SP government the state was at the top in dacoity, brutality. on women, extortion, murder and other crimes.

Originally published at Pen 18

shell: Shell pulls out of energy investments in Russia over war

Shell says it is pulling out of Russia because President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine costs the country’s all-important energy industry foreign investment and expertise.

Shell on Monday announced its intention to exit its joint ventures with Gazprom and related entities, including its 27.5 percent stake in the Sakhalin-II liquefied natural gas facility, its 50 percent stake in the Salim Petroleum Development and the Gydan Energy Enterprise. Is.

Shell also intends to terminate its participation in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

“We are shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine, which we condemn, has resulted from a senseless act of military aggression that threatens European security,” said Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Burden.

Originally published at Pen 18

As Russia invades Ukraine, Moscow battles big tech to control the narrative

New York/Moscow: As Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities, another fight broke out online and over the airwaves.

Moscow intensified efforts to control the narrative running across news media and tech platforms, while major tech companies Facebook-owned Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google controlled Russia’s state-controlled media outlets in Ukraine and around the world. banned.

On Friday, Russia said it would partially ban Facebook, a move Meta said after it rejected a government request to halt independent fact-checking of several Russian state media outlets. As of Saturday, Twitter also said that its service was being restricted to some Russian users.

According to users, after the slowdown was announced, images and videos were slow to load on Facebook, while Facebook Messenger had a longer period of time not loading. On mobile devices, Twitter has been slow — it has been the subject of a punitive slowdown since March. Several state websites, including the Kremlin site kremlin.ru, have also suffered outages in recent days.

For tech companies, the stand-off is the latest step in an ongoing confrontation with Russia, where platforms risk government-imposed sanctions in the country as it seeks to censor dissidents while protecting state-run media.

Major social, video and livestreaming platforms from Facebook to TikTok and Twitch are under increasing pressure to combat lies on their platforms related to the conflict, including the spread of misleading footage.

Find stories that interest you

The escalation of Russia’s confrontation with big tech comes days ahead of a deadline set for Moscow’s major foreign tech companies to comply with a new law that requires them to establish official representation in the country, allowing It may be easier for the Kremlin to regulate the platforms. It follows a series of fines and slowdowns imposed on platforms that the Russian government said failed to remove illegal content.

Before the March deadline, an online listing by Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor showed that only Apple, Spotify and Viber had met all three requirements of the law as of 2145 GMT on Sunday. They are: registering an account with the regulator, giving users a way to communicate directly with the company, and setting up a representative office.

This month, Russia threatened to impose an advertising ban if companies did not comply. Russian officials have said the harsher sanctions could include speed reductions or outright blocks.

Big tech companies also face the burden of demands from Ukrainian authorities and sympathizers around the world, who have asked them to expel Russian users from their services in order to stop the spread of false information, while dissidents are forced to leave their services. Access to critical digital equipment is protected.

“Mark Zuckerberg, when you make the Metaverse – Russia ruins real life in Ukraine! We ask you to ban Russia from accessing @facebookapp and @instagram – until tanks and missiles hit our kindergartens and hospitals Let’s attack!” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Responding to the demands, Meta’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, tweeted on Sunday that shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Russia would “silence critical expression at a critical time.”

It was clear that others in the technical landscape were grappling with similar dilemmas. Just minutes after saying in a post on Sunday that the Telegram messaging app would consider banning certain channels for spreading misinformation, founder Pavel Durov said the company would no longer do so after receiving feedback from users.

Sanctions

The activities of state-controlled media such as RT and Sputnik, which were hit by new EU sanctions on Sunday, have been a major source of conflict between Moscow and major tech platforms, as activists and politicians asked companies to monetize or ban the Kremlin. – Sponsored outlet.

Roskomnadzor has warned local media not to broadcast “false information” about Moscow’s military operation, banning the use of the words “invasion” and “assault” to describe its attack on Ukraine. Russian tech giant Yandex has also started warning Russian users searching for news about Ukraine on its search engine about unreliable information on the Internet.

Russia calls its actions a “special operation”, which it says is designed not to capture territory but to destroy Ukraine’s military capabilities and capture individuals seen as dangerous nationalists – Governments in Kyiv and Western powers say this is baseless propaganda. The media has long been a controversial presence on major social platforms, with some labeling those accounts in an effort to be more transparent about the source of the information.

Amid Russia’s invasion, Facebook, Twitter, Google and its video streaming service YouTube took new measures to ban Russian state media from making money from ads on their sites. Twitter, which banned ads from state-backed media in 2019, said it was blocking all ads in Russia and Ukraine to ensure the visibility of public safety information. Google, the world’s largest advertising vendor, also said it was not allowing Russian state media to sell ads using its tools.

Facebook and Google also said they had restricted access to some state media accounts in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government. Google said on Sunday that it has banned downloads of RT’s mobile app in Ukraine in response to a government legal request.

As Western companies begin to heed new economic sanctions against Russia and pressure mounts to tackle online propaganda, experts say the fight between Russia and the most powerful tech companies could intensify.

Originally published at Pen 18

Naomi Osaka Joins Fortnite Icon Series With New Outfits – WWD – Pen 18

Naomi Osaka has entered Fortnite.

The tennis phenom and highest paid female athlete in the world are the newest addition to the battle royale game Fortnite, as part of their Icon Series. Last year, Epic Games added LeBron James to Fortnite through the same series.

Osaka joins the game with two new outfits — Naomi Osaka and the Dark Priestess Outfit — inspired by her heritage and designed with the help of her sister, Mari. Gamers can apply outfits to their in-game characters starting March 3 at 7 p.m. EST.

“I’ve been playing Fortnite for a long time – when I saw LeBron join the Icon Series, it inspired me to join the Fortnite family as well. So many people around the world,” Osaka said in a statement. It’s really amazing to be able to connect with.

Epic Games celebrated the new outfits on Monday with a mural at West Hollywood in Los Angeles. On March 1, the tennis star will team up with Twitch streamer Berlizzi to get a first look at the outfits in action, and on March 2 gamers can compete in the Naomi Osaka Cup for a chance to unlock both outfits, as well as the Royal Rackets and the 3rd date. Ahead of the official launch of the Portalforger paddle pickaxe and a spray.

“The Icon Series is the ultimate celebration of the most dynamic figures in the culture for Fortnite’s millions of viewers, and there is none better than Naomi Osaka to join the series as the first female athlete,” said Nate Nanzer, Global VP . partnership, Epic Games in a statement. “Just as Fortnite is more than a sport, so Naomi is so much more than an athlete.”

Epic Games has joined a long list of partnerships for Osaka, including Louis Vuitton, Nike, Levi’s, Shiseido and most recently Victoria’s Secret as part of their VS Collective that offers collaborations, partnerships and campaigns. through women.

Prior to this launch, the game developer collaborated with Moncler to launch its Alyx collaboration in Fortnite and with Balenciaga to debut physical and digital collections.

Originally published at Pen 18