The Afghan Taliban said that despite the ongoing talks with the U.S. and other regional powers, it had not yet reached any conclusion that would entail an immediate end to hostilities.
Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said that, even in Moscow talks, nothing concrete was achieved that would compel the militants to end the war.
He insisted that the Taliban is holding talks with the U.S. on its own initiative.
Abu Dhabi Includes Hindi as Official Language
In a landmark decision, Abu Dhabi has included Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English, as part of a move designed to improve access to justice.
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department has extended the adoption of interactive forms of statement of claims filed before courts by including the Hindi language alongside Arabic and English in labour cases.
This is aimed at helping Hindi speakers to learn about litigation procedures, their rights and duties without a language barrier, in addition to facilitating registration procedures via unified forms available through the ADJD website.
Trump to Meet Kim in Hanoi
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet for a second much-anticipated summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28.
US representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has yet to provide any official confirmation of the summit.
India offered 23 oil and gas and CBM blocks for bidding in the third round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OLAP), expecting up to to $700 million of investment that it hoped will help raise domestic output and cut imports.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the OALP-III bid round at the Petrotech 2019 conference.
In OALP-III, 23 blocks in 12 sedimentary basins are being offered. Of these, five are coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks.
Voltas to Invest Rs. 500 crore in Andhra Pradesh
Voltas Limited plans to set up a new manufacturing facility, spread over 65 acres, at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, at a cost of Rs. 500 crore.
This facility would initially manufacture and assemble air-conditioners and related cooling products with a total capacity of more than one million units and is expected to start rolling out products from the second half of 2020.
The new facility would be one of the first cooling appliances units in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
SBI and OBC Put Stressed Accounts on Sale
State-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) have put on sale various financial accounts to recover dues of about Rs. 5,740 crore.
SBI has invited bids from asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and financial institutions (FIs) to recover an outstanding of Rs. 4,975 crore.
The bulk of accounts up for sale by SBI are of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have dues of Rs. 4,667 crore. OBC wants to sell 13 accounts with a collective outstanding of Rs. 764.44 crore, as many as 281 SME accounts are up for sale by SBI, belonging to those firms that have dues of up to Rs. 50 crore.
SBI will also sell three accounts — Dennis Steels Pvt. Ltd. with outstanding of Rs. 258.73 crore, Shiva Speciality Yarns (Rs. 37.90 crore) and Bansidhar Spinning & Weaving Mills Ltd. (Rs. 11.73 crore).
Among the major loan accounts invited for sale by OBC are Mittal Corp Ltd. (Rs. 207.17 crore), Jayaswal Neco Industries Ltd. (Rs. 157.03 crore) and NCS Sugars Ltd. (Rs. 106.60 crore).
Dhoni Becomes First Indian to Play 300 T20 Matches
MS Dhoni added another accolade to his already illustrious career as the veteran wicket-keeper became the first India cricketer to play 300 T20 matches.
Dhoni joined the likes of Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik and Dwayne Bravo in an elite list of players with over 300 T20 appearances to their name.
The list is topped by West Indies all-rounder Kieran Pollard with 446 appearances.
Dhoni has represented India on 96 occasions and the rest came for the Indian Premier League (IPL) sides Rising Pune Supergiants and Chennai Super Kings.
The matches also include the Champions League T20.
In a big boost for Indian defence forces, the first batch of four Chinook helicopters for the Indian Air Force (IAF) arrived at the Mundra Airport in Gujarat.
As per reports, 15 Chinook helicopters are procured by Indian government from the United States.
These helicopters are manufactured by Boeing and Indian Air Force will induct these helicopters in its arsenal after thorough flight tests. The Indian Air Force is currently using Mi-17 and Mi-26 helicopters, which are manufactured by Russia.
The Chinook helicopters will be stationed at Chandigarh air base, which takes care of providing necessary items to Siachen and Eastern Ladakh sectors.
Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 81, is to seek a fifth term in April elections, despite health issues that have kept him largely out of the public eye for years.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been the fifth President of Algeria since 1999.
He was the president of the United Nations General Assembly for a term in 1974.
In November 2012, he surpassed Houari Boumédiène as the longest-serving head of state of Algeria.