This seems to be the favourite modus operandi for business tycoons. Loot and scoot to a third nation which then refuses extradition. It is now the turn of South Africa. The UAE has turned down her request to extradite Saharanpur-born tycoons Atul and Rajesh Gupta who have allegedly siphoned off billions of dollars through fraud under the Jacob Zuma Presidency in South Africa.

The UAE government notified South African authorities  that the court had ruled in February that the Guptas could not be handed over despite an extradition treaty between the two nations. Money laundering and fraud is considered South Africa’s biggest post-apartheid scandal.

The Gupta brothers whose businesses ranged from mining to media moved to South Africa in 1993 and during the Presidency of Jacob Zuma rose to fame as becoming amongst the wealthiest in South Africa.

However, fraud and money laundering charges made the duo move to Dubai in 2016. In 2022, following an Interpol red notice they were arrested in Dubai. Extradition talks have been held between South Africa and UAE ever since.

The Israeli military said its forces attacked targets in Syria early  on Apr 9  after six rockets were launched from Syrian territory in two batches toward Israel in a rare attack from Israel’s northeastern neighbor.

After the second barrage of three rockets, Israel initially said it responded with artillery fire into the area in Syria from where the rockets were fired. Later, the military said Israeli fighter jets attacked Syrian army sites, including a compound of Syria's 4th Division and radar and artillery posts.

The rocket firings came after days of escalating violence on multiple fronts over tension in Jerusalem and an Israeli police raid on the city’s most sensitive holy site.

Al-Quds Brigade, a militia different than the larger Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing with a similar name said that  it fired the rockets to retaliate for the police raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, has carried out hundreds of strikes in government-controlled parts of that country in recent years, though it rarely acknowleges them.

Dozens of schoolgirls were poisoned on Apr 8  in several schools across Iran, local media reported, in continuation of the mysterious phenomenon that has shaken the country for months.

Since late November many schools, mostly for girls, have been affected by sudden poisoning incidents from gases or toxic substances, in some cases causing fainting and hospitalisation among the students.

At least "60 students were poisoned in a girls' school in the town of Haftkel" in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan.

A number of schoolgirls were poisoned in "five schools in Ardabil in the northwest", where the victims showed symptoms of "anxiety, shortness of breath and headaches.

According to an official count provided on March 7, "more than 5,000 students" have been affected by similar poisonings in more than 230 establishments, located in 25 of the country's 31 provinces.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had called on March 6 for "severe sentences" up to the death penalty against those found responsible for the poisonings, which he described as "unforgivable crimes".

The poisoning cases began two months after the start of a protest movement in Iran sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, following her arrest for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.

The Bangalore First Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed Bharti Airtel Ltd to pay Rs 1.55 lakh compensation, including Rs 5,000 litigation cost, to a customer for committing deficiency in service and unfair trade practice for not activating the sim card provided to him.

Partly allowing the complaint filed by Simha, a short film-maker, scriptwriter and director, residing at Vijayanagar, the commission comprising of president B Narayanappa and Member N Jyothi passed the ex-parte order, as Airtel did not turn up in spite of issuing notice. The complainant contended that he wanted to port his sim card from Vodafone to Airtel, but Airtel failed to activate it even though sims were three times, disrupting contact with potential investors and other members in his field of business.

The commission declined the contention observing that the entire process of porting his sim stretched less than a month from January 22, 2018, to February 18, 2018, during which the complainant could not have plausibly suffered monetarily “missing the biggest opportunity in his life and appointments with investor”.

The compensation claimed by the complainant to the tune of Rs 43 crore was irrational, said the commission, adding that he could have resorted to other telecommunication service providers and continued his business. 

India's imports of crude oil from Russia touched a new high of 1.64 million barrels per day in March and is now double the purchases from Iraq - the nation's traditional top oil supplier.

But the purchases appear to have plateaued as growth has slowed.

Russia continued to be the single largest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into petrol and diesel at refineries, for a sixth straight month by supplying more than one-third of all oil India imported, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

Refiners continue to snap up plentiful Russian cargo available at a discount to other grades.

From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Russia's share of India's imports rose to 1.64 million barrels per day in March, taking a 34 per cent share.

The purchases from Russia in March were double of 0.82 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil bought from Iraq, which has been India's top oil supplier since 2017-18.

India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the United States, has been snapping Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Month-on-month, purchases from Russia rose marginally from 1.62 million bpd of oil imported from the country in February.

According to Vortexa, Saudi Arabia was India's second-largest supplier of crude oil in March, selling 986,288 bpd.

Iraq with 821,952 bpd sales was the third biggest supplier. UAE overtook the US to become the fourth largest supplier at 313,002 bpd. The US supplied 136,464 bpd, down from 248,430 bpd in February.

Q1. Name the  mobile application (App), which provides road quality-related information and enables highway users to report any accident or pothole on the roads and which National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to upgrade its ?

1. Sukhad Yatra
2. Shubh Yatra
3. Mangal Yatra
4. Pabitra Yatra
5. None of These
6. 
   

Q2.  Name the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and veteran Congress leader  who has joined the saffron BJP?

1. B. Gopala Reddy
2. Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy 
3. N. Chandrababu Naidu
4. N Kiran Kumar Reddy
5. None of These

Q3. Name the  state in which Adani Power Ltd (APL) on Apr 6  has  said an 800 MW unit at its thermal plant has begun commercial operations ?

1. Uttarakhand
2. Himachal Pradesh
3. Jharkhand
4. Odisha
5. None of These

Q4. Name the US Treasury Secretary  who expects the world's biggest economy will continue to grow, despite heightened recession concerns following recent turmoil in the banking sector ?

1. Richard Rush
2. William H. Crawford
3. Janet Yellen
4. George W. Campbell
5. None of These

Q5. What is the World health Day theme for 2023?

1. Health  is Wealth
2. Health for All
3. Health for US
4. Health and Care  for All
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------------1  Sukhad Yatra

2----------------------4   N Kiran Kumar Reddy

3------------------------3  Jharkhand

4-------------------------3  Janet Yellen

5-------------------------2  Health for All

The government on Mar 31  came out with Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 which seeks to boost the country's exports to USD 2 trillion by 2030 by shifting from incentives to remission and entitlement-based regime.

Unlike the practice of announcing 5-year FTP, the latest policy has no end date and will be updated as and when needed, said Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Sarangi while briefing media about FTP 2023.

Earlier, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal unveiled FTP 2023 which will come into effect from April 1, 2023.

The DGFT also said India is likely to end this fiscal year with total exports of USD 760-770 billion as against USD 676 billion in 2021-22. The last five-year policy came into force on April 1, 2015.

However, it was extended several times in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent disruptions in economic activities globally. The last extension was given in September 2022 till March 31, 2023.

The new FTP identifies four new Towns of Export Excellence (TEE) -- Faridabad, Moradabad, Mirzapur and Varanasi -- in addition to the already existing 39 TEEs.

The FTP benefits have been extended to e-commerce exports, which are estimated to grow to USD 200-300 billion by 2023.

The value limit for exports through courier service is being increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per consignment, he said.

The new FTP also seeks to make the Indian rupee a global currency and allow international trade settlement in the domestic currency.

The DGFT further said FTP 2023 is dynamic and responsive to the emerging trade scenario. He also said the department of commerce is being restructured to make it "future-ready".

Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Mar 30 announced that 1,000 cities are targeted to become ‘3-star garbage free’ by October 2024. Speaking on the occasion of International Zero Waste Day 2023 in New Delhi, Puri highlighted the progress in the garbage-free city-star rating protocol, launched in January 2018 to encourage competition among urban local bodies (ULBs). He said the certification had increased exponentially since its inception. Interacting with the ‘Swachhta Doots’ (messenger of clean habits) from across the country, the minister congratulated them for being change-makers in their community.

The minister further informed that urban India has become Open Defecation Free (ODF), with all 4,715 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) completely ODF, 3,547 ULBs are ODF+ with the functional and hygienic community and public toilets and 1,191 ULBs are ODF++ with complete faecal sludge management.

Further, waste processing in India has gone up by over four times from 17 per cent in 2014 to 75 per cent today, added Puri.