Oil dips; OPEC+ sticks to gradual output hikes

Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after OPEC and its allies agreed to stick to their existing policy of gradual oil output increases. Brent crude fell 18 cents to $71.45 a barrel by 1:09 p.m. EDT (1709 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 6 cents to $68.44 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, agreed on Wednesday to stick to a policy from July of phasing out record output cuts by adding 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) a month to the market. Still, the group revised up its 2022 demand outlook and faces U.S. pressure to raise production more quickly. "While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to cast some uncertainty, market fundamentals have strengthened and OECD stocks continue to fall as the recovery accelerates," OPEC+ said in a statement. OPEC+ has fulfilled a goal of removing excess oil from the global market and it is now important to keep the market balanced, Russia's top negotiator, Alexander Novak, said. In the United States, gasoline stocks rose by 1.3 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts had expected a 1.6 million-barrel drop. Rising coronavirus infections could curtail demand in the United States in coming weeks, along with seasonal declines after summer driving season wanes. "The gasoline build came as Tropical Storm Henry shut traffic on the East Coast which was a big hit to summer driving season," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. The jump in gasoline inventories came even as product supplied, a measure of demand, topped 22 million bpd for the first time ever, EIA said. U.S. crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels last week to 425.4 million barrels. Analysts had expected a 3.1 million-barrel drop. U.S. crude prices are expected to remain under pressure as offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico gradually recovers. However, reviving Louisiana refineries shut by Hurricane Ida could take weeks, analysts said.

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CBI books Anil Deshmukh's lawyer

The CBI has registered an FIR against the lawyer of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh for allegedly trying to influence the Bombay High-Court directed preliminary enquiry into corruption allegations against the leader, officials said Wednesday. The CBI Wednesday also questioned lawyer Anand Daga for allegedly trying to pay "illegal gratification" a sub-inspector-rank officer of the agency to "subvert the preliminary enquiry", they said, A report of preliminary enquiry purportedly giving clean chit to Deshmukh was leaked Saturday night. The CBI started a probe into the leakage which has so far revealed that Deshmukh's team allegedly tried to influence the conduct of PE against him by paying illegal gratification to a sub-inspector ranked officer of the agency, the officials said. The central agency Wednesday examined Deshmukh's son-in-law Gaurav Chaturvedi and lawyer Anand Daga in over its probe after which an FIR was registered, they said. The CBI did not find Chaturvedi's involvement so far and he was allowed to go, they said. "Attempt of Anil Deshmukh's team were in contempt of Bombay High Court which had directed that all concerned should fully cooperate with the CBI while conducting the PE. In this case it has appeared that Deshmukh's team tried to subvert the PE," an official told PTI. Their attempt could not succeed as there is a procedure in the CBI in which evidences on record and legal opinion is also taken on record before the registration of the FIR, he said. "They could not influence people at higher level," he said. The CBI had started a PE on the orders of the Bombay High Court which had issued the direction while hearing a public interest litigation on allegations of corruption against Deshmukh. The claimed PE findings which were leaked showed the Deputy SP probing the matter had purportedly opined that no cognisable offence was made out against Deshmukh. It was later converted into an FIR based on a contrasting opinion of the Deputy SP. The opinion mentioned in the FIR said that cognisable offence is made out against Deshmukh. "The Preliminary Enquiry prima facie revealed that a cognisable offence is made out in the matter, wherein the then Home minister of Maharashtra, Shri Anil Deshmukh and unknown others have attempted to obtain undue advantage for improper and dishonest performance of their public duty," the CBI FIR alleged. In the FIR, the CBI had booked Deshmukh and others unidentified under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and section of Prevention of Corruption Act for "attempt to obtain undue advantage for improper and dishonest performance of public duty." Allegations against Deshmukh had surfaced after the removal of Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. He was removed after the role of a policemen Sachin Waze surfaced into the case of an explosive-laden SUV which was found parked outside the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Waze was arrested by the NIA. In his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, after his removal, Singh had alleged Deshmukh had asked Waze to extort over Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants of Mumbai, they said. The FIR alleged that Deshmukh "and others" exercised undue influence over the transfer and posting of officials.

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Raikkonen to retire from Formula One at end of season

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Blame game begins in US over turbulent Afghan exit

A week into the evacuation from Kabul, the U.S. military was forced to take a drastic step: stop all flights from Hamid Karzai International Airport for seven hours because there was nowhere for the evacuees to go. For months, military officials had urged the U.S. State Department to convince other countries to take Afghans at risk from Taliban retaliation. They had largely failed to secure agreements with other countries, prompting officials across the U.S. government to rush to try to find space for the evacuees. The Biden administration's scramble was emblematic of failures over the past month, which culminated with a hastily organized airlift that left thousands of U.S.-allied Afghans behind and was punctuated by a suicide bombing outside Kabul's airport that killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghans. The chaotic end to America's longest war has sparked the biggest crisis of President Joe Biden's seven months in the White House, finger-pointing within the administration and questions about who, if anyone, would be held responsible. Despite the missteps, the administration carried out one of the largest airlifts in history, evacuating more than 120,000 Americans, Afghans and people of other nationalities amid the threat of attacks by Islamic State militants. The last U.S. troops left Afghanistan on Monday. Current and former officials and lawmakers said there is little appetite for Biden to fire or demote top advisers over the handling of the U.S. withdrawal. The Democratic president, meanwhile, has strongly defended his administration's actions. Frustrated and angry, officials at the Pentagon have privately blamed the lack of urgency leading up to the airlift on the State and Homeland Security departments, who in turn have blamed the White House for slow decision-making. "Finger-pointing is an ugly Washington sport ... in this case, fingers could be pointed in all directions and probably be right in each case," said Dan Fried, a former senior U.S. diplomat now at the Atlantic Council think tank. "A failure like this is collective. Everybody screwed up," Fried added. A source familiar with the matter defended the evacuation planning and said the State Department was unaware of any concerns at the Department of Defense about a lack of urgency in the effort. White House officials told Reuters that firings have not been discussed, but the administration expects Congress to aggressively investigate the turbulent exit from Afghanistan in hearings. One Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any dismissal would be seen as a tacit admission that the president had erred in removing troops unconditionally from the South Asian nation. Biden, in a defiant speech on Tuesday, defended his decision to withdraw the troops and stood by the evacuation plan. "Some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner and 'Couldn't this have be done - have been done in a more orderly manner?' I respectfully disagree," said Biden, who noted that he was ultimately responsible for the withdrawal. POLITICAL DECISIONBiden's party narrowly controls the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and aides in both chambers said that, while Democrats would investigate and expect to hold hearings, they are wary of giving Republicans a platform to attack the president. Democratic congressional committee leaders have pledged thorough reviews of the events in Afghanistan, but they made clear they intend to look into the entire 20-year conflict, which unfolded under the watch of four presidents, starting with Republican President George W. Bush. On Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the administration has provided many classified and unclassified briefings to lawmakers. "Now, it's a 20-year war, so there's obviously a lot to dig into," she said. Democrats want to pursue Biden's domestic agenda - expanding social programs, funding infrastructure and protecting voting rights. On the national security front, they want to highlight their investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. How Congress eventually proceeds will depend on the level of interest from voters. Less than 40% of Americans approve of Biden's handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said last month that the Biden administration would conduct a "hotwash" - an after-action review - to discover what went wrong in Afghanistan, and that he expected results of that review to be made public. White House officials said on Tuesday the review had not begun. WHO IS TO BLAME?The last month in Afghanistan was a series of failures, from the intelligence and military to diplomatic and immigration fronts, with one core error the failure to anticipate the speed of the Taliban's advance and collapse of the Afghan military. "In some way, everyone is to blame," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. Some Republicans have pointed fingers at Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the ones most responsible for setting the conditions for a chaotic evacuation, and have demanded their departure. Republicans also have called for Biden to fire the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated the Trump administration's 2020 deal with the Taliban that set the stage for the withdrawal. But when House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was asked whether he thought Biden or Blinken should be impeached, the California Republican did not answer, saying instead his focus was on getting the Americans out of Afghanistan. Defense officials told Reuters the State Department appeared out of touch with the reality on the ground in Afghanistan and had too much confidence in the Afghan government. During a congressional hearing in June, Blinken was asked if the administration was considering getting at-risk Afghans out of the country while their cases were being reviewed. "If there is a significant deterioration in security, that could well happen, we discussed this before, I don't think it's going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday," Blinken said. The Taliban seized two of Afghanistan's three largest cities - Kandahar and Herat - on Friday, Aug. 13 and took Kabul, the capital, two days later.

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SKM hits out at Delhi cops for issuing notices

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which has been agitating against the Centre's three agri laws, on Wednesday hit out at the Delhi police for issuing notices to farmers asking them to join the investigation in connection with cases related to January 26 incident. The police, however, said such notices are issued under relevant sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the normal course of any investigation. A senior Delhi Police officer said, "Notices have been issued as part of our ongoing investigation into the matter." A statement issued by the legal panel of SKM "strongly condemned" the action of Delhi police of issuing the notices u/s 160 CrPC to farmers to join the investigation in cases relating to 26 January incident. According to SKM, notices were issued to farmers Karanpreet Singh and Maninderjit Singh, who belong to the Jalandhar and Faridkot districts of Punjab, and they have been asked to appear at the concerned police station on September 3 for investigation purposes. Another such notice has also been issued to Surjit Singh Swaich, an advocate of Punjab and Haryana High Court and ex-secretary of High Court Bar Association, it said. In the statement, Prem Singh Bhangu, convener of the panel alleged, "Delhi police is doing this unconstitutional and illegal act at the instance of the central government because neither farmers to whom the notices have been issued are named in the FIR's nor have they have participated in any violent activity." The SKM directed the farmers not to appear before the investigation officers and accused the police of intending to "falsely implicate" in the cases. A farmers' tractor rally on Republic Day had turned violent, with a large group of protesters clashing with security personnel and storming the Red Fort where they hoisted a religious flag.

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Delhi: AIIMS staff to go on strike from Oct 25

All the three recognised unions of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, on Wednesday announced that they will go on an indefinite strike from October 25.Presidents of all three Unions - ANU's Harish Kajla, KU's Satyaprakash Kalia, and OA's Ajit Singh - submitted a joint memorandum to the AIIMS Director informing about the indefinite strike to be commenced from October 25.In a joint statement, the union Presidents said that they have had numerous meetings with the administration but the demands are still pending.Earlier, the Officers Association had submitted a memorandum to the administration last month with their demands of cadre review and others, saying the cadre review has not been done 1992, and the Union Health Ministry and AIIMS administration should seriously consider the matter.Union President Ajit Singh said: "We are requesting AIIMS administration for cadre review which has not been done for last 30 years. Once the care is reviewed, the employees of the Officers Association can be promoted, but no consideration has been given so far."The association's other demands include the review of the AIIMS's contribution in national pension scheme, with the union leader claiming that other government offices contribute 14 per cent in the NPS, but AIIMS offers only 10 per cent in the scheme for employees.KU President Kalia said: "We are not asking anything extra but to implement what regulation 35 of the parliamentary act of AIIMS has given us."

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China's kids get schooled in 'Xi Jinping thought'

Chinese pupils returned to school Wednesday with new textbooks peppered with "Xi Jinping thought", as the Communist Party aims to extend his personality cult to children as young as seven and rear a new generation of patriots.The education ministry has said it will incorporate Xi's vaguely defined political ideology into the national curriculum, from primary schools to graduate programmes, at the start of the new school year on Wednesday.Primary school teachers must "plant the seeds of loving the party, the country and socialism in young hearts", according to a government notice on the new curriculum.The new school books are decorated with the president's pithy quotes and images of his smiling face, with elementary school students served up chapters on the achievements of Chinese civilisation and the Communist Party's role in poverty alleviation and fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.Lessons are interspersed with quotes from Xi on patriotism and duty, as well as anecdotes of his meetings with ordinary citizens."Grandpa Xi Jinping is very busy with work, but no matter how busy he is, he still joins our activities and cares about our growth," one textbook says.Xi's thought, which encompasses 14 principles including "absolute Party leadership" over the military and "improving living standards through development".It was enshrined in the constitution during a 2018 legislative meeting that abolished term limits and paved the way for him to rule indefinitely.The principles are now cited regularly by officials in wildly varying contexts from fighting Covid-19 to literature and art, and universities have opened institutes dedicated to Xi's thought.The push to indoctrinate children with his political thinking brings Xi's ideology to its youngest audience yet.It comes as the Party conducts a wider campaign to fight what it considers corrupting influences on the youth, from video games to celebrities and foreign educational tools.Textbooks for older children delve into more complex topics such as the country's aerospace industry and the path to becoming a "modern socialist great power".Several parents privately expressed discomfort about the curriculum but declined to be interviewed by AFP, fearing they would get in trouble for speaking to foreign media.But the policy has been met with subtle pushback by anonymous internet commenters."Brainwashing starts from childhood," one user of the Weibo social media platform wrote."Can we refuse this?" asked another.Wang Fei-Ling, a professor of international affairs at Georgia Tech, said the textbooks were an example of the Communist Party's effort to "bet on a cult of personality in a Mao-like strong leader.""However, given what has happened in the Chinese society over the past four decades, I think many parents may not like it very much and many students may find it boring -- but few would or could protest it publicly," Wang added."Most are likely to simply not take it very seriously."While China has long given schoolchildren patriotism and political education, the new curriculum is "about promoting the cult of Xi as much as about instilling a greater sense of nationalism," China researcher Adam Ni told AFP.

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