India is open to exploring the commercial merits of any crude supply options, including any from Venezuela, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday. Goyal added that a formal agreement was being drafted, which might take a month or a month and a half. On Venezuelan oil, Jaiswal added: “It has been a longstanding partner for us in the area of energy, both on the trade side as also on the investment side. We were importing crude oil from Venezuela till 2019-20, and thereafter we had to stop. "Again we started buying oil from Venezuela in 2023-24 but had to stop because of re-imposition of sanctions.

The state clinical establishment regulatory commission has asked a private hospital to compensate a 77-year-old woman with ₹5 lakh after her orthopaedic surgery went wrong. The hospital, TRA General Hospital, argued that they had a portable X-Ray machine, said Banerjee. The surgeon had not requested the portable X-Ray machine, said Banerjee. When Metro contacted TRA General Hospital on Thursday, a hospital official said it was a "private case of the doctor." We have an X-ray machine, but the doctor had not requested it," the official said.

A research team from the city-headquartered Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), in collaboration with international experts, has announced the discovery of two new species of Nereididae worms (polychaetes) from the coastal waters of Bengal. Nereididae are a family of marine polychaete worms, commonly known as ragworms or clam worms. The study, titled “Description of two new species of Nereididae (Annelida: Nereididae) from Bengal, India, Bay of Bengal,” was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. The discovery includes two distinct species, one named for its unique biological traitsand the other in honour of scientific leadership. Nereidids are vital to coastal health, playing a critical role in nutrient cycling and sediment aeration.

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly molested on a bus on which she was travelling with her mother on Thursday afternoon. The mother raised the alarm and ensured that the accused, a 66-year-old man, was handed over to the police by passengers. ADVERTISEMENTThe mother and daughter had boarded a private bus from Gopalnagar in Alipore around 2.30pm on Thursday. A complaint was lodged with Behala women’s police station. Das was arrested and charged under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at the police station.

Jaguar Land Rover will begin assembling the Range Rover Evoque at a new factory in southern India on February 9, accelerating a shift to relocate production and capture surging domestic demand for luxury cars, a Bloomberg report said. The first vehicle will roll out from parent Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles’ $994-million Panapakkam plant in Tamil Nadu, people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg. ADVERTISEMENTThe site, expected to become a hub for its premium cars, will eventually absorb more JLR assembly that’s currently handled at Tata’s Pune plant, the people said. Tata, which acquired JLR from Ford Motor in 2008, began local assembly in 2011 to bypass steep import duties. By expanding its domestic manufacturing footprint, JLR aims to price competitively against German competitors Mercedes-Benz Group AG, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi.

Andrea Dworkin articulates this reality with unflinching clarity, stating, ‘In our culture, not one part of a woman’s body is left untouched, unaltered. Hair as ResistanceYet hair can also become a powerful tool of resistance, a symbolic weapon wielded by the oppressed to demand visibility and justice. The act of self-inflicted hair removal inverts the typical oppressive cycle, with women regaining control over their own appearance and liberating themselves from the traditional mechanisms of control. In a paradigm of rampant commodification of the female form, commercial manipulation, patriarchal surveillance, caste-based discrimination, and ethno-religious domination, hair remains a contested terrain where power, identity, and resistance collide. Hair is political—whether it is a site of oppression or a dramatic gesture of resistance.

For Ananya Vajpeyi, it is all these and much more. In Place: Intimate Encounters with Cities, Vajpeyi, an academic, is a writer, philosopher, thinker, and guide. But when 9/11 happened, and the city wobbled like a child learning to stand, Vajpeyi realised that New York had changed. In yet another essay on Banaras, where she let go of her mother’s mortal remains, she writes evocatively about her parents’ love for each other. Place: Intimate Encounters with Cities Ananya Vajpeyi Women Unlimited Ink ₹625radhika.s@thehindu.co.in

But the 22-yard strip promises to be a “sporting” wicket for the T20 World Cup. Five group (B) matches will be played at the Eden before it hosts a Super Eight clash on March 1. ADVERTISEMENTThe ICC’s pitch consultant Andy Atkinson has spoken with Eden curator Sujan Mukherjee, and expects “good, proper” T20 wickets. “It will be a sporting pitch facilitating strokeplay, but both pacers and spinners will get purchase right through the game. Dew won’t be a factor since it’s a 3pm start (first game),” Mukherjee told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif may have reiterated his government’s stance of not playing India in the T20 World Cup, but the final word seems to have not been written yet. Sources told The Telegraph that the Pakistan Cricket Board has set conditions before the International Cricket Council during backroom channel discussions, which are being deliberated upon to break the deadlock arising out of the issue. It is understood that more drama could be in store despite Sharif issuing a hard stand late on Wednesday. Suryakumar Yadav confirmed the Indian team was travelling to Colombo for the match against Pakistan. However, there is doubt in several quarters over whether Pakistan will forfeit their match against India if their opener versus the Netherlands on Saturday is washed out.

Two people in Calcutta were deceived by unknown callers, resulting in losses exceeding ₹16 lakh each. One of the callers posed as an insurance agent and promised to help one of the victims in claiming benefits from an old insurance policy. The other caller, impersonating a bank official, offered to update the KYC information for the other victim without requiring them to leave home. The woman called the complainant and assured him that she would help him claim a pending insurance policy amount, said the police. Later, he also realised that the old policy that he was told about was non-existent,” said an officer of Bidhannagar cyber police station.

Nayar added that the emotions built up during online gaming often spill over into classrooms and playgrounds because children are unable to regulate their emotions. Many other online activities involve passiveviewing and do not hold their interest in the same way,” he said. “Children increasingly feel more confident and happier in the online world,” she said. “Adolescents inhabit a separate online world. The person you are interacting with could be anybody, and this anonymity poses serious challenges that children, adolescents, and young adults may not fully comprehend,” she said.

We meet American writer Barbara Kingsolver under a sheltering tree at Alipore Museum (formerly a jail built by the British where many of India’s political prisoners, including Jawaharlal Nehru, were incarcerated) in Kolkata. A biologist by training and writer by profession, she has always had her ear to the ground and her books reflect that. She sensitively recast Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield into Demon Copperhead (2022), in which an Appalachian boy narrates his life amid a raging opioid crisis. She immediately began writing in her notebook on Dickens’ desk, taking David Copperfield as a first draft, with its “great plot and fabulous characters”. I have these bad things happen to my characters, so that I can make them come back.”Besides being a writer, Kingsolver is also a pianist.

Modifying its 2017 order, which disqualified BJP leader Anurag Thakur from serving as Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President, the Supreme Court said on Thursday he will be free to participate in the Board’s affairs subject to its rules and regulations. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that its January 2, 2017 order asking him to “forthwith cease and desist from being associated with the working of BCCI” was not meant to operate for life. Appearing for Thakur, Senior Advocate P S Patwalia pointed out that he had submitted unconditional apology and had not been associated with the cricketing body for the last nine years.

Hindi NewsOpinionPandit Vijay Shankar Mehta Column: Open Mind At Office, Campus, Marketपं. विजयशंकर मेहता का कॉलम: घर की तरह ऑफिस, कैम्पस, बाजार में भी खुली सोच रखें15 घंटे पहलेकॉपी लिंकपं. विजयशंकर मेहताराज्य-व्यवस्था को सही दिशा और ऊंची गति देने के लिए अलग-अलग राजाओं ने खूब प्रयोग किए हैं। अगर हम केवल राम और कृष्ण की बात करें तो अयोध्या और द्वारका के प्रयोग हमें आज भी बड़ी प्रेरणा देंगे। हमारे देश को अगर दुनिया पर छाना है तो हमें जातिवाद की उलझनों से बाहर निकलना पड़ेगा।राजनीति की तो आदत ही है छेड़छाड़ करते हुए कुछ मुद्दे उछालो, मनुष्य उनमें उलझ जाए और राजनीति सत्ता का खेल खेलती रहे। लेकिन हमारे शास्त्रों ने हमको सिखाया है कि सबसे पहले हम मनुष्य हैं। जैसे भारत के घरों में धीरे-धीरे पति-पत्नी के जेंडर रोल अब समानता और मित्रता में बदल रहे हैं, ऐसे ही ऑफिस, बाजार, कैम्पस में भी खुली मानसिकता रखनी होगी।खुली मानसिकता का अर्थ स्वच्छंदता नहीं, राजनीति नहीं, बल्कि सबके प्रति स्वीकार्यता और सबका समावेश है। कोई छोटा-बड़ा नहीं होता, बड़ी-छोटी तो नीयत होती है। सब समान हैं। योग्यता को अवसर प्रदान करना ईश्वर की कार्यशैली है। राजनीति उससे तो छेड़छाड़ न करे।

Fluctuating temperatures have left many Calcuttans battling fever, sore throat and nasal congestion. Doctors said most of these illnesses appear to be caused by viruses, with low-grade fever, runny nose, nasal congestion and throat pain being the most common symptoms. A resident of Salt Lake described similar symptoms of weakness and throat pain. “About 20% of patients coming to the clinic present with fever, throat pain and runny nose. ENT specialist Agniva Basu said throat pain, nasal congestion and low-grade fever are the most common complaints.