India's Reliance will load its first cargo of Venezuelan crude in three months this week in exchange for diesel under a swap deal the parties say is permitted under the U.S. sanctions regime on the Latin American country, according to a Reliance source and a shipping document from state oil firm PDVSA.

Washington has exempted some Venezuelan oil trade from sanctions, when transactions are in exchange for fuel and food or to repay debts rather than for cash.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to meet Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs to dicuss the current military standoff between the Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LOC) in Eastern Ladakh today.

The meeting will also focus on the overall security situation of the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the 750 MW Solar Project set up at Rewa, Madhya Pradesh on Friday.The project exemplifies India`s commitment to attain the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022.

The Project comprises of three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500-hectare plot of land situated inside a solar park (total area 1500 hectare).

The World Health Organisation on Thursday admitted that the novel coronavirus has the potential to spread via air but at the same time stated that more research was required regarding the matter.

On Thursday, the WHO released new guidelines after receiving an open letter written by over 200 scientists urging the Geneva-based body to update its guidelines to include aerosol transmission.

Nepal has banned all Indian news channels, except DD News, for alleged propaganda against the country.

Reports say that Nepal cable operators have stopped getting signals of Indian news channels.

A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers will arrive in Tamil Nadu's Madurai on Friday to take over investigations into the father-son custodial death case, the counsel for the agency informed the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday.

The CBI counsel also added that the agency had sought all necessary facilities from the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary for the investigation into the case.

Even as worries grow over Kuwait's expat bill that can force out lakhs of Indian workers from the country, India has discussed the matter with the country highlighting the well regarded role of Indians.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday that the government is closely following the developments.

A day after he was caught by the Ujjain Police in Madhya Pradesh, UP gangster Vikas Dubey has been killed in an encounter by the UP Police.

He was being brought back to Kanpur from Ujjain when one of the vehicles of the convoy of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) overturned. According to sources quoted by news agency ANI, Dubey attempted to flee after the car overturned. Shots were fired and he was rushed to a hospital. However, the doctors declared him dead on arrival.

United Airlines will send layoff warnings to 36,000 employees - nearly half its US staff - in the clearest signal yet of how deeply the virus outbreak is hurting the airline industry.

The outlook for a recovery in air travel has dimmed in just the past two weeks, as infection rates rise in much of the US and some states imposed new quarantine requirements.

Veteran actor Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jafri, popularly known by his stage name Jagdeep, passed away at the age of 81 on Wednesday.

He is survived by his two sons Jaaved Jaaferi and Naved Jafri.

In his career of more than six decades, Jagdeep acted in over 400 films and was a part of several hit Hindi films including 1975 blockbuster Sholay in which he played the character of Soorma Bhopali.

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