WORLD

A powerful Republican Senator has lifted the “hold” on the Senate confirmation of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has been nominated by US President Joe Biden as the country’s next ambassador to India. In a notice to the Senate on March 10, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley had said that he intended to object to Garcetti’s nomination to be the Ambassador to India.

“I will object because I have received numerous credible allegations from multiple whistleblowers alleging that Mr. Garcetti, while mayor of Los Angeles, had knowledge of sexual harassment and assaults allegedly committed against multiple city employees and their associates by his close adviser and that he ignored the misconduct,” according to Grassley.

The amount of unused capacity that the world can tap to produce more energy products is running out, warned top oil ministers.

Referring to recent price spikes for refined products, Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at a Tuesday conference, "I am a dinosaur, but I have never seen these things," according to Bloomberg.

"The world needs to wake up to an existing reality. The world is running out of energy capacity at all levels," he added.

Prices for crude oil have surged more than 50% from a year ago to roughly $105 a barrel. But prices for refined products like diesel have soared even higher. In the US, diesel prices are up 78% to $5.50 a gallon, Bloomberg data shows.

The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan said that it will speak to American officials about the fate of the Mi-17 choppers which were designated for Kabul but were given to Ukraine instead.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate will negotiate with US officials over the 16 Mi-17 helicopters and 17 other pieces of military equipment which the US had allocated for Afghanistan but were given to Ukraine, TOLO News reported.
"First of all, the traitors are those who fled with these helicopters from Afghanistan. Second, we are talking about the fate of them with the Americans and with the country's where our helicopters are present. We are trying to bring the Afghanistan property back to Afghanistan," Mujahid was quoted as saying.

Key foreign envoys to Sri Lanka and rights groups have expressed concern over President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's decision to declare a state of emergency for the second time in about 5 months, fearing that the security forces might use sweeping powers against peaceful protesters amid the country's worst economic crisis.

However, India was yet to issue any statement and was coordinating with the Rajapaksa government to deliver humanitarian aid to the country, media has learnt.

US ambassador to Lanka, Julie Chung, tweeted on Saturday that she was "concerned", adding that "voices of peaceful citizens need to be heard".

Russia has no intention of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday, a day after Moscow's top diplomat in the US chided Western officials for targeting it with "baseless" accusations.

"Russia firmly abides by the principle that there can be no victors in a nuclear war and it must not be unleashed," Alexey Zaitsev said. He added that Russian nuclear doctrine does not envisage any scenarios for potential strikes which would apply to Moscow's military goals in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Zaitsev added that "any provocations whatsoever can be expected" from Ukraine and the West, and that Russia has to "be ready for any development in the media space and directly on the ground."