India's Spot Oil Needs Wane as Russia Flows Are Set to Rebound
The Asian nation's state-owned processors are on track to secure more than three dozen cargoes that will load next month, according to people familiar with the matter. Combined with deliveries for private refiners Reliance Industries Ltd. and Nayara Energy Ltd., there may be more than 60 shipments of discounted Russian crude in April, or almost 52 million barrels, the people said, declining to be identified as the transactions aren't public.
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Associated Press
3 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Soccer players' union wants quick resolution of India's domestic league stalemate
Global soccer players' union FIFPRO has called for a swift resolution to the crisis that has gripped the domestic game in India. The 2025-26 India Super League (ISL) season was due to start in September, but the 14-team competition has been suspended due to uncertainty over the renewal of its organizing agreement between the Indian federation and its commercial partner, the Football Sports Development Ltd., pending a Supreme Court ruling. In early August, three ISL clubs, Bengaluru FC, Odisha FC and Chennaiyin FC, either suspended salaries or ceased soccer operations until a solution is found. 'The lack of clarity for players over the 2025-26 Indian Super League (ISL) season, arising from a dispute over the league's organization and governance that has led to its indefinite suspension, is having a significant impact on their livelihoods, careers, and well-being,' FIFPRO Asia/Oceania said in a statement released Tuesday. 'Players have been subjected to unilateral and unlawful suspensions of their employment contracts until further notice,' the statement added. 'These actions represent a direct breach of the players' labor rights and are causing significant distress.' Media reports in India said the Supreme Court's ruling was expected to be delivered on Friday. In early July, Manolo Márquez left his position by mutual consent as head coach of India's national team after just one win in eight games and less than a year in the job. On Aug. 1, after discarding hoax applications from Xavi and Pep Guardiola, the All India Football Federation hired Khalid Jamil as the new head coach. ___ AP soccer:
Forbes
28 minutes ago
- Forbes
Dubai Police Arrest 3 In $25 Million Pink Diamond Heist
Details of the $25 million 21.25-carat fancy intense pink diamond that was stolen and recovered in Dubai Dubai Police Dubai Police said it caught three persons Monday trying to leave the country just eight hours after stealing a rare and valuable pink diamond in an elaborate scheme that took approximately a year to execute. The fancy intense pink diamond weighs 21.25-carat and has a value of $25 million, according to the statement from the Government of Dubai Media Office. The dealer who had possession of the diamond has operated in Dubai since 2005, according to the statement. Calling it 'Operation Pink Diamond,' Dubai police said the three alleged thieves spent about a year trying to steal the precious gem. The plan, according to police, was to locate the diamond's owner, who was not identified, and deceive him into believing that a wealthy buyer was interested in purchasing it. To establish credibility, the suspects posed as wealthy individuals by renting luxury cars and arranging meetings at upscale hotels, eventually persuading the dealer to move the diamond out of his secure store, enabling them to steal it, police said. Police said its criminal investigation team foiled the plan 'in eight hours' by 'leveraging advanced technologies' to track the locations of the thieves and arrest them. The three alleged thieves were of Asian nationality, according to police, but were otherwise unidentified. The pink diamond was safely recovered before it could be smuggled out of the country in a small refrigerator bound for an Asian destination that police did not identify. The pink diamond has 'exceptional clarity, symmetry, and polish,' police said, adding that 'its extraordinary value and rarity made it a prime target.' Dubai Police revealed that the merchant had imported the diamond from a European country to sell in Dubai. The thieves had closely monitored its arrival and devised a sophisticated plan to steal it, posing as wealthy intermediaries representing a potential buyer, police said. The alleged thieves scheduled multiple meetings with the merchant, rented high-end cars and met him at luxury hotels to convince him of their credibility. 'They even hired a renowned diamond expert to authenticate the gem, further persuading the merchant of their seriousness,' according to the police statement. The three alleged thieves lured the merchant to a villa under the pretext of introducing him to the 'buyer.' Once the diamond was brought out, they nabbed it and fled, police said. As soon as the merchant reported the theft, Dubai police said they formed a specialized task force to identify and locate the three suspects. The suspects had initially lived together but separated after the heist and moved to different locations. Dubai Police said its teams raided these locations simultaneously, apprehending the suspects and recovering the diamond before it could leave the country. The pink diamond's owner described Dubai Police's swift response as 'astonishing,' according to the statement. After calling the 999 emergency number, the dealer said in the government statement that multiple patrols 'arrived within minutes, began the investigation and offered constant reassurance.' 'To my surprise, the very next morning, they called to say the suspects had been arrested and the diamond recovered,' the diamond dealer said. The dealer reportedly said he admitted being caught off guard by the scheme and urged others in the industry to follow official safety guidelines set by Dubai, according to the police statement.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - The Donbas is a poisoned chalice that neither Russia nor Ukraine should want
Whichever side in the Russo-Ukrainian War wins the Donbas loses the war. That is the savage and largely unacknowledged irony at the core of the struggle over the Donbas — a territory that has recently come to occupy center stage in President Trump's post-summit thinking about how to end the war. Inasmuch as Russia has occupied most of the industrial basin known as the Donbas since its first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 — and is highly unlikely to be driven from that territory anytime soon — Russia has already lost the war, regardless of how long it continues and whether or not a U.S.-brokered ceasefire or peace becomes a reality. The Donbas was the industrial powerhouse of the Soviet Union for decades, but the region was already going into decline by the 1970s and 1980s. When Ukraine became independent in 1991, it inherited what had largely become a value-destroying territory. The Donbas fed the corrupt appetites of local politicians, oligarchs and organized crime. Its working-class residents claimed to have an exalted status belied by a wretched reality. As the economist Anders Aslund put it in 2015, 'The Donbas is a rust belt of old mines, steel mills and chemical factories. Almost all the coal mines and chemical factories are inactive … The rebels have blown up railway bridges, complicating bulk transportation.' In 2016, Aslund estimated that it would cost some $20 billion to revive the Donbas. By 2025, the estimated cost of Ukraine's reconstruction had zoomed upward to $524 billion, a 26-fold increase. Much of that money would need to go to the Donbas, where most of the heaviest fighting has taken place. A reasonable guesstimate of how much it would cost to rebuild just the Donbas today is $200 billion — nearly one-tenth of Russia's reported annual GDP and slightly more than Ukraine's. If the fighting continues indefinitely, that sum will surely double or even triple. Neither Ukraine nor Russia has that kind of cash. It is conceivable that Vladimir Putin's fascist regime could squeeze some money out of its subjects, but Ukraine's democracy could not. Fixing the Donbas would bankrupt either state, especially as the international community and business are unlikely to offer much in the way of assistance. But the burden of owning the Donbas isn't just financial. It is also demographic, environmental and political. According to Aslund, writing in 2016, 'Ukraine claims 1.2 million internally displaced persons, while Russia reports half a million refugees from the Donbas, and the United Nations estimates that some 100,000 have fled elsewhere. If these numbers are reasonably correct, 1.8 million have fled and 1.5 million remain. Apart from some 45,000 fighters, the remaining population largely consists of pensioners and the destitute.' This was the Donbas 10 years ago. We don't know how many people fled after the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, but the numbers must be substantial. In addition, the armed militias that served in the phony Luhansk and Donetsk 'People's Republics' were thrown at the front and suffered enormous losses. Whatever its exact size, the Donbas's overwhelmingly aged and impoverished population can hardly be the basis of an economic boom. And how many refugees will return? How many people will move there from other parts of Ukraine or Russia if and when peace is attained? The questions are largely rhetorical, especially as the Donbas is an environmental hell hole. According to the Conflict and Environment Observatory, the fighting since 2014 has 'created a risk of environmental emergencies and will leave a lasting legacy of groundwater contamination from flooded coal mines.' Moreover, 'following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, hundreds of environmentally sensitive sites have been caught up in the conflict.' The Donbas will also become the site of endless political instability. If Ukraine inherits the territory, pro-Russian elements, in cahoots with the Russian security services, are sure to stage provocations, assassinate local officials, sabotage plants and so on. If Russia keeps the Donbas, Ukraine is sure to engage in equally subversive activities. How fair and free elections could take place under such conditions is anybody's guess. Despite these similarities, there is one fundamental difference. Putin's fascist regime will thrive on repression and violence; Ukraine's democracy won't. Indeed, while Putin can crush whatever opposition he encounters, Ukraine will have to mollify and integrate it — a test it failed before 2014 and one that it is unlikely to pass after years of war. Will failing this test make Ukraine more or less likely to overcome existing hurdles and join the European Union and NATO? Again, the question is rhetorical. The Donbas's transformation into a permanent source of instability will have at least two negative consequences for Putin. It will divert Russia's coercive resources from other, equally unstable parts of the Russian Federation. It will also encourage some non-Russian regions — the north Caucasus comes immediately to mind — to press for greater autonomy and less Kremlin oversight. France and the German states fought for centuries over Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhineland. That made some sense, since both regions were economically, politically and socially developed. Not so the Donbas. It is a black hole and will remain so for years to come. For better or for worse, neither Ukraine nor Russia can just turn their backs on the territory without violating their constitutions and courting mass demonstrations. Of course, as far as Putin is concerned, a constitution is just a piece of paper. Even so, to abandon the Donbas would be to admit defeat and experience political suicide. Ditto for Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. If winning means losing, does losing mean winning? Regardless of how they answer that question and what the terms of a possible peace deal might be, Ukrainians may take some consolation from the fact that, thanks to Putin's heady territorial ambitions, Russia will be stuck with that black hole for years to come. Indeed, Russia itself will progressively come to resemble the Donbas. That could be Ukraine's greatest victory. Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as 'Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires' and 'Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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