Traders decry Walmart-Flipkart deal, want it scrapped
New Delhi, July 2: Delhi traders staged a sit-in here on Monday against the proposed acquisition of Indian e-commerce company Flipkart by the international super store giant Walmart.
The traders, protesting under the lobby group Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), denounced the deal arguing that it would create "unfair competition" and demanded that the government scrap it.
They also said a body regulating e-commerce should be established.
"The deal will create an unfair competition and uneven playing field and will indulge in predatory pricing, deep discounts and loss of funding," CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal told IANS.
Khandelwal said similar protests were organised at about 1,000 places in several states across the country with over 10 lakh offline and online traders participating in them.
The CAIT said if their demands were not met they would decide on their future course of action at the national convention to be held from July 23-25.
In Delhi, the protest was held in Karol Bagh, a big commercial hub. Similar protests were held in Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pondicherry, Raipur, Rourkela, Ranchi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Jhansi and in other cities, the CAIT said in a press statement.
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Ukrainian president welcomes Russian overtures, but says ceasefire must come before peace talks
Kyiv, May 11 (AP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday welcomed Russia's offer for direct peace talks, but insisted there must be a full, temporary ceasefire in place before negotiations can start.
Zelenskyy, writing on X, called Russian President Vladimir Putin's counter-offer to start talks without a ceasefire a “positive sign”, and said “the entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time".
He added, however, that "the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire”.
Meanwhile, Russia resumed mass drone attacks in Ukraine early on Sunday, after its self-declared 3-day pause expired.
Russia launched 108 attack drones and simulator drones from six different directions, Ukraine's Air Force said on Sunday. It said 60 drones were shot down and another 41 simulator drones failed to reach targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures.
The Ukrainian president appeared to insist on his proposal to start a 30-day unconditional ceasefire on Monday. “There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day. We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire — full, lasting, and reliable — starting tomorrow, May 12th, and Ukraine is ready to meet,” Zelenskyy said.
Putin in remarks to the media overnight effectively rejected that ceasefire offer and proposed restarting direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday instead “without preconditions”. He said a ceasefire might be agreed on during the negotiations.
Putin's counteroffer came after leaders from four major European countries threatened to ratchet up pressure on Moscow if it does not accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine that they offered on Saturday in a strong show of unity with Kyiv.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments aired by Russian state TV on Sunday, called Putin's proposal “very serious” and said it “confirms a real intention for find a peaceful solution”.
“The goals of the talks are clear: to eliminate the root causes of the conflict. And also to ensure the interests of the Russian Federation,” Peskov said.
It is a positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider ending the war. The entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time. And the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 11, 2025
There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single…
