LIVE: US will supply Ukraine with 'the weapons it needs' against Russia

US national security adviser said the Biden administration will send more weapons to Ukraine to prevent Russia from seizing more territory and targeting civilians

4:50 PM

Finland returns shipment of art to Russia

Finland says that a shipment of art works from Russian museums has been returned to Russia after it was seized under European Union sanctions against Moscow.

 

Finland's customs service said late Saturday that the Foreign Ministry granted a special permit to return the consignment with a total insured value of around 42 million euros ($46 million). It said that trucks carrying the art works from the Hermitage Museum and the Pavlovsk State Museum in St Petersburg, among others, left Finnish territory on Saturday afternoon.

 

The shipment was seized at the Vaalimaa border crossing at the beginning of April. The works were en route to Russia after loan to museums in Europe and Japan. Experts say that art works loaned from Russia typically travel overland via Finland.

4:11 PM

Zelensky says discussed additional Russia sanctions with Germany's Scholz

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had held spoken on the phone with German chancellor Olaf Scholz on the possibility of additional sanctions on Russia, as well as fresh defence and financial support for his country.

 

He made the statement on Twitter.

 

Separately, Zelenskiy's office said in a statement the president had held a conference call with Ukrainian officials during which Kyiv's proposals for a sixth package of European Union sanctions had been developed.

3:02 PM

Finance Minister Sitharaman too meet state-owned banks

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet heads of public sector banks (PSBs) on April 23 to review the lenders’ performance on government schemes for reviving the economy. This is the first full review meeting after Budget 2022-23, PTI reported.

2:50 PM

Covid-19 threat continues: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the coronavirus is resurfacing people must not to let their guard down. "Nobody ever knows when the 'bahurupiya' (one that changes form) Covid-19 will resurface," Modi said via video while addressing an event in Gujarat's Junagadh district.

2:33 PM

CBI rejects reports of FBI team in India to probe 'bitcoin scam'

The CBI rejected on Sunday reports that a team USA’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was in India to probe a bitcoin case the Karnataka Police is investigating. It called and the reports "speculative" and "without any basis". The agency gave the statement after the Congress on Friday asked whether the FBI is in India to investigate a "bitcoin scam" the party alleges the BJP government in Karnataka covered up last year.

2:13 PM

Russia increases its reserve fund for economic stability

The Russian government said on Sunday it was increasing its reserve fund by 273.4 billion roubles ($3.52 billion) to ensure economic stability against the backdrop of Western sanctions over Ukraine. "The funds, among other things, will be used to implement measures aimed at ensuring economic stability in light of external sanctions," the government said in a statement, according to Reuters.

12:29 PM

Shanghai Covid-19 cases keep rising

Shanghai reported nearly 25,000 locally transmitted Covid-19 infections on Sunday, as residents of China's most populous city voiced complaints over food and basic supplies and concern spread that more cities may soon be in the same situation. Streets of the locked-down financial hub of 26 million people remained empty as curbs under the city's "zero tolerance" policy allow only healthcare workers, volunteers, delivery personnel or those with special permission to go out.

11:51 AM

EV retail sales zoom over three-fold in FY22: FADA

Electric vehicle retail sales in India witnessed over three-fold jump last fiscal with two-wheeler offtake leading the segment, according to data compiled by automobile dealers' body FADA. Total electric vehicle (EV) retails reached 4,29,217 units in 2021-22, a rise of three-fold from 1,34,821 units in the financial year 2020-21, the industry body said.

11:25 AM

Record production unlikely to bring down Maharashtra sugar prices: Official

Maharashtra has produced 132 lakh tonnes of sugar this year, a government officer said. The record amount is unlikely bring down sugar prices though, sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad told PTI on Saturday.

11:06 AM

Govt will publish FAQ on crypto taxation: Civil servant

The government is working to answer questions people have about taxation of cryptocurrencies, seeking to clarify the applicability of income tax and GST on virtual digital assets, PTI quoted a civil servant as saying. The set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is drafted by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), the central bank, and the Revenue Department. The law ministry will study the questions, the civil servant said.

10:36 AM

Rs 1.82 trillion directly transferred to he bank accounts of farmers: PM Modi

9:57 AM

US tells citizens to avoid Shanghai

The US State Department asked Americans to reconsider travel to China and avoid visiting virus hotspots including Shanghai due to what it calls an “arbitrary enforcement” of Covid-19 restrictions amid the country’s worst outbreak, Bloomberg reported. In a travel advisory issued on Friday, Washington highlighted Hong Kong, and Jilin province in northeastern China in addition to Shanghai as places Americans should not travel to “due to Covid-19-related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated.”

9:46 AM

Small earthquake hits Gujarat's Kutch district

An earthquake of 3.2 magnitude hit Gujarat's Kutch district on Sunday, causing no damage. The tremor was recorded at 12.49 am, with its epicentre one km west-south-west of Rapar in Kutch district, at a depth of 12.2 km, PTI reported.

9:41 AM

India logs 1,054 new cases of Covid-19

India recorded 1,054 new cases of Covid-19 and 29 deaths from the disease in the last 24 hours, said the health ministry on Sunday. The country has 43,035,271 Covid-19 cases in total and the death toll from the disease is at 5,21,685.

9:01 AM

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 495.64 million

More than 495.64 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 6,570,282 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.