LIVE: JEE-Mains rescheduled to June and July, NEET to be held on July 17

JEE (Main) dates rescheduled to enable students across the country to prepare well for the exams, says National Testing Agency

Live news updates: India is on the "side of peace" in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, condemns killings and wants peace, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Parliament on Wednesday.

Jaishankar said India is "deeply disturbed" at reports alleging that Russian forces killed civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. "This is an extremely serious matter and we support the call for an independent investigation," he said.

"If India has chosen a side, it is a side of peace and it is for an immediate end to violence. This is our principled stand and has consistently guided our position in international forums and debates, including in the UN," Jaishankar said in Lok Sabha.

Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign, a minister said on Wednesday, despite protests against his handling of the country's worst economic crisis in decades and as doctors held street protests over a shortage of medicine.

Rajapaksa, governing the country since 2019 with other family members in top positions, revoked a state of emergency late on Tuesday after five days as dozens of lawmakers walked out of the ruling coalition, leaving his government in a minority.

People have been suffering from shortages of fuel, power, food, drugs and other items for weeks, and doctors say the entire health system could collapse in weeks. Street protests began a month ago and have intensified in recent days, with people openly defying the emergency and a weekend curfew, said Reuters.
 

11:29 PM

Russia to pay bonds in rubles, which may cause default

Russia said Wednesday that it made a debt payment in rubles this week, a move that may not be accepted by Russia's foreign debtholders and could put the country on a path to an historic default.

 

The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that it tried to make a $649 million payment toward two bonds to an unnamed U.S. bank previously reported as JPMorgan Chase but that payment was not accepted because new U.S. sanctions prohibit Russia from using U.S. banks to pay its debts.

 

Russia said it has instead transferred the funds in rubles into a special bank account with Russia's National Settlement Depository, the country's securities regulator. The ministry added that once the country is allowed to access foreign exchange markets not something that will happen for the foreseeable future due to sanctions it will decide whether to allow bondholders to convert the ruble payment back into dollars or euros.

10:59 PM

JEE-Mains rescheduled to June and July, NEET to be held on July 17

10:36 PM

US Treasury's Yellen says Biden wants Russia out of G20, may boycott meetings

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said President Joe Biden wants Russia expelled from the Group of 20 major economies forum, and the United States will boycott "a number of G20 meetings" in Indonesia if Russian officials show up.

 

Her comments at a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing raised questions over the future of the G20, which has been the premier global economic and policy forum since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

 

But Yellen said Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities revealed after Russian troops retreated from Bucha "represent an unacceptable affront to the rules-based international order."

 

She said it was unlikely that Russia could be expelled from the International Monetary Fund, but the Biden administration wants to push Russia out of active participation in such international institutions. The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are due to meet in person and virtually in Washington later in April on the sidelines of IMF and World Bank Spring meetings.

10:31 PM

Russian lawmakers vote for delisting of Russia-registered firms from foreign bourses

Russia's lower house of parliament has passed in a third and final reading on Wednesday a bill on delisting of companies that are registered in Russia and have depositary receipts traded on foreign bourses.

 

Their depositary receipts will be converted into equities traded in Russia, the bill showed.

 

Several major Russian companies have listings abroad, which has always been a matter of prestige for them. 

 

But since Russia began what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Western bourses have halted trading of Russian securities.

 

The new bill obliges companies that are registered in Russia and have foreign listings to take steps to dissolve agreements that allow trading of depositary receipts outside Russia.

 

10:26 PM

Eastern Ukraine town empties as residents fear new Russian assault

Dragging trolleys and clutching plastic bags with their meagre belongings, residents of the northeastern Ukrainian town of Derhachi, near the border with Russia, boarded buses on Wednesday to be evacuated as fears of a Russian assault grew.

 

Since pulling back from outside the capital Kyiv last week, Russian forces have shifted their assault towards Ukraine's south and east.

 

Ukraine's general staff said the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the country's second-largest, remained under attack on Wednesday, and authorities expect Russian forces to launch a full-blown assault soon to try to take the city.

 

Many in the town of Derhachi, which lies just north of Kharkiv and 30km (19 miles) from the border with Russia, have decided to leave while they can. Buildings have already been badly damaged by Russian artillery.

10:25 PM

Ukrainian Railways report casualties after rockets hit eastern rail station

State-owned Ukrainian Railways said on Wednesday there were a number of casualties after three rockets hit a rail station in eastern Ukraine, damaging buildings, tracks and rail stock.

 

"There are casualties," it said in a statement, without providing detail on the number of victims or the location of the attack.

10:24 PM

UK imposes toughest' new sanctions against Russia

Britain on Wednesday announced what it described as a "significant ratcheting up" of sanctions on Russia, including a full asset freeze on the country's largest bank Sberbank and end to all new British outward investment into Russia.

 

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that the reported attacks on civilians by Russian forces in the Ukrainian town of Bucha do not "look far short of genocide".

 

Dozens of people have been found dead in the town after Russian troops withdrawal, resulting in worldwide condemnation, but Moscow has denied involvement and described the reports as fake news.

 

"I'm afraid when you look at what's happening in Bucha, the revelations that we are seeing from what Putin has done in Ukraine doesn't look far short of genocide to me, Johnson told reporters.

10:12 PM

US, G7, EU impose severe severe financial sanctions on Russia

The United States, along with the G7 nations and European Union (EU) has imposed severe and immediate economic costs on Russia for its "atrocities in Ukraine, including in Bucha".

 

As per an official statement from the White House, as a part of mechanisms to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine, the US has announced economic measures to ban new investment in Russia and imposed severe financial sanctions on Russia's largest bank and several of its most critical state-owned enterprises and on Russian government officials and their family members.

 

These sweeping financial sanctions follow our action earlier this week to cut off Russia's frozen funds in the United States to make debt payments, read the statement.

 

In the new economic cost, the US has announced full blocking sanctions on Russia's largest financial institution, Sberbank, and Russia's largest private bank, Alfa Bank. This action will freeze any of Sberbank's and Alfa Bank's assets touching the US financial system and prohibit US persons from doing business with them.

 

The US has also prohibited new investment in the Russian Federation as President Joe Biden will sign a new Executive Order (E.O.) that includes a prohibition on new investment in Russia by US persons wherever located, aimed at isolating Russia from the global economy.

9:51 PM

Russia threatens states with consequences over UN vote on Human Rights Council

Russia has warned countries at the United Nations that a yes vote or abstention on a U.S. push to suspend Moscow from the Human Rights Council will be viewed as an "unfriendly gesture" with consequences for bilateral ties, according to a note seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

 

The United States said on Monday it would seek Russia's suspension after Ukraine accused Russian troops of killing hundreds of civilians in the town of Bucha.

 

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly in New York is due to vote on the measure on Thursday.

 

A two-thirds majority of voting members - abstentions do not count - can suspend a country from the 47-member Geneva-based Human Rights Council for committing gross and systematic violations of human rights.

9:51 PM

Inflation in Russia hits 7-yr high, prices jump 10% in year-to-date

Annual inflation in Russia accelerated to 16.70% as of April 1, its highest since March 2015 and up from 15.66% a week earlier, the economy ministry said on Wednesday, as the volatile rouble sent prices soaring amid unprecedented Western sanctions.

 

Inflation in Russia has accelerated sharply in the past few weeks as the rouble's fall to an all-time low boosted demand for a wide range of goods from food staples to cars on expectations prices will rise even more.

 

Weekly inflation in Russia slowed to 0.99% in the week to April 1 from 1.16% a week earlier, taking the year-to-date increase in consumer prices to 9.99%, data from statistics service Rosstat showed on Wednesday.

9:00 PM

Treasury's Yellen says US will not be in G20 meetings if Russia is present

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said the United States will not participate in "a number of meetings" of the Group of 20 largest global economies if Russia is a participant because of its invasion of Ukraine.

 

"President Biden's made it clear, and I certainly agree with him, that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in any of the financial institutions. He's asked that Russia be removed from the G20, and I've made clear to my colleagues in Indonesia that we will not be participating in a number of meetings if the Russians" are present, Yellen said in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee.

8:46 PM

Parliament has witnessed a healthy discussion: PM Modi

8:17 PM

US announces new round of sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions, Kremlin officials

The United States on Wednesday announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions, as well as Kremlin officials and their family members, following mounting global accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

 

The measures include banning new investment in Russia, sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's adult children and Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov's family members.

 

A senior administration official told reporters that if Putin were to change course in Ukraine, sanctions could slow and possibly reverse.

8:17 PM

US sanctions Russia's Sberbank, Putin's kids, bans investment

The United States targeted Russian banks and elites with a new package of sanctions on Wednesday that includes banning any American from investing in Russia, after Washington and Kyiv accused Moscow of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

 

The new sanctions will put full blocking sanctions in Russia's Sberbank, which holds one-third of Russia's total banking assets, and Alfabank, a senior U.S. official told reporters. Energy transactions are blocked from these sanctions, the official said.

 

The United States is also sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's adult daughters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's wife and daughter, and members of Russia's security council, the official said. Americans are banned from investing in Russia, the official said, including through venture capital or mergers.

8:09 PM

Breaking ranks with EU, Hungary says ready to pay for Russian gas in roubles

Hungary said on Wednesday it was prepared to pay roubles for Russian gas, breaking ranks with the European Union which has sought a united front in opposing Moscow's demand for payment in the currency.

 

Hungary will pay for shipments in roubles if Russia asks it to, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news conference on Wednesday in reply to a Reuters question.