No reason to believe change in India's stance on Russian oil: Russian Foreign Ministry
Moscow (PTI): Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said it has "no reason" to believe that India has changed its position on buying Russian oil, which it said is beneficial for both countries and maintains stability in the global hydrocarbons market.
The remarks came in the backdrop of Washington's claim that New Delhi has agreed to stop importing Russian crude oil.
“We have no reason to believe that India has changed its position on buying Russian hydrocarbons. India’s purchase of Russian hydrocarbons benefits both countries and helps maintain stability in the international energy market,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in her weekly briefing.
“There is nothing new in the claims of US President Donald Trump, as well as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have grabbed the right to dictate to independent nations,” Zakharova said.
Following a recent phone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump, both sides announced a reduction of the US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.
The reduction included the removal of a 25 per cent tariff that Trump had slapped on India in August last year for New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil.
Last week, Rubio said that India has committed to stop buying Russian oil, days after New Delhi reiterated that “national interests” will be the “guiding factor” for India’s energy procurement.
While announcing the trade deal with New Delhi early in February, Trump had also claimed India had agreed to not procure crude oil from Russia.
India has not yet confirmed or denied Washington's claim that it has committed to stopping the procurement of Russian crude oil.
Earlier too, Russia had accused the US of attempting to prevent India and other countries from buying Russian oil, saying Washington was using a wide range of “coercive” measures, including tariffs, sanctions and direct prohibitions.
In her strongly worded statement, Zakharova also criticised the European allies of the Ukrainian regime, saying that they do not want a peace solution.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
