Seismic waves lie ahead...

Reduced supplies of oil, gas and metals produced by Russia, and wheat and corn – produced by both Russia and Ukraine – had driven up prices sharply, but was hurting lowerincome households around the world.

The IMF said it had revised downward its medium-term outlook for all groups, except commodity exporters who benefit from the surge in energy and food prices. It said advanced economies would take longer to recover to their pre-pandemic output trend, while the divergence between advanced and developing economies was likely to persist, suggesting some "permanent scarring" from the pandemic.

The war had also increased the risk of a more permanent fragmentation of the world economy into geopolitical blocks with distinct technology standards, cross-border payment systems, and reserve currencies.

Further sanctions on Russian energy and a widening of the war, a sharper-than-forecast deceleration in China and a renewed flare-up of the pandemic could further slow growth and boost inflation, while rising prices could trigger social unrest.

NSA SLAPPED

In 2011, he was booked for gambling, while in 2013, he was named as accused in an intimidation and assault case. In 2018, he was booked for attacking a police officer and not allowing him to do his duty, and in 2019, he was again booked for gambling.

The Delhi Police, which takes orders from the Union Home Ministry, has arrested 27 people so far, including a few minors, for the clashes during the Hanuman Jayanti procession. Even as streets in Jahangirpuri’s Kushal Chowk on Tuesday witnessed some resumption of normal activity, an uneasy sense of disquiet continued to prevail in the violence-hit area.

Yogi lays down norms...

There is a provision of five years imprisonment and penalty of Rs 10000, if the Act is violated. As per rules, no loudspeaker can be used between 10 PM in the night till 6.00 am in the morning. Besides, it cannot be used within 100meter radius of school and hospitals.

Stick to SC norms on...

On Sunday, Nashik Police Commissioner

Deepak Pandey had issued a directive, stating that no one would be allowed to play bhajans

or songs on loudspeaker in the 15 minutes before and after the call for ‘azaan’ in a 100metre radius of any mosques that fell under the jurisdiction of the Nashik Police Commissionerate. Pandey also issued a directive to religious places in the city, instructing them to obtain permission for the usage of loudspeakers by May 3, failing which legal action would be taken against those violating the rules, which includes being ‘externed or detained by police’.

The apex court had also directed the Union and the State governments to ensure that noise level at the boundary of the public place, which includes religious places, where loudspeakers or public address systems are used as per law, should not exceed 10dBA above the ambient noise standards for the area, or 75dBA, whichever is lower.

The apex court had also directed that there should be no drumming or tom-tomming or trumpeting or beats or the sound of any instrument or the use any sound amplifier at night (between 10pm and 6am), except in public emergencies, besides directing the authorities to ensure that the peripheral noise level of privately owned sound system should not be more than 5dBA over the ambient air quality standard specified for the area.

Russia opens a new war...

offensive in the Donbas, where Moscowbacked separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for the past eight years and have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Russia.

While Ukraine's president and other officials said the offensive had started, observers noted that it was just the beginning of a new massive onslaught.

Russian artillery hit 1,260 Ukrainian military facilities and 1,214 troops concentrations over the last 24 hours. The claims could not be independently verified.

The Pentagon cast the stepped-up campaign as “shaping operations” setting the stage for a broader offensive in the mostly Russianspeaking Donbas region.

The United States believes that Russian forces are “continuing to set the conditions for what they believe will be eventual success on the ground by putting in more forces, putting in more enablers, putting in more command and control capability for operations yet to come,”

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday.

Extend special judge...

The letter said that the judge was fully conversant with the record of the case and any new presiding officer would take time to come to terms with it as the record of the case runs into thousands of pages. It said further that 246 witnesses had already been examined and there were just a few remaining to be examined.

The judge has been conducting the trial in a praiseworthy manner, surmounting the influence of some accused, the letter stated. “Every day he sits on the dais at 11 sharp and starts the proceedings despite little cooperation from some of the accused and the NIA, who have allegedly used every tactic to slow the trial,” it added.

“That undersigned victim along with other sufferers of the blast have vested full faith in the judiciary of the country and believe that although justice has been delayed, it will not be denied to them,” the father’s letter read, while requesting that the tenure of the special judge be extended in the interests of justice.

SC quashes cancelled...

and that dealers did have unsold stock and transferred these vehicles in the names of individuals. These individuals were proprietors, partners of the dealerships. It noted further that these individuals who had legitimately bought these vehicles, then sold these to individuals. “We imagine this was common business prudence as no individual director would know what to do with 295 BMWs or Mercedes Benzes.” The bench said that the transport authorities seemed to have taken a stand that such secondhand sales after March 31, 2020 by these distributors were illegal. “We do not believe this is a correct reading of these orders,” it stated, adding that it saw nothing in the orders to support such a rigid view.

“The only question therefore is once these vehicles fall in the class of legitimately registered and permissible BS-IV compliant vehicles, are they prohibited from what is in effect a used car or secondhand sale? This does not seem to have been prohibited by the Supreme Court orders,” the bench opined.

The order was in relation to a bunch of petitions by vehicle owners connected with distributors, challenging the blacklisting of their BS-IV compliant vehicles.