Conflict

Region faces "stagflationary" risk, a senior IMF official warns, citing Ukraine conflict, spike in commodity costs and a slowdown in China as creating significant uncertainty. Governments will need strong responses, starting with targeted aid to poor families most harmed by higher prices, IMF says.…

In times of crisis, there is no good; there’s only a best course of action, given the circumstances. Is crypto good in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Is it bad? Neutral? It’s a hard question to answer. Cryptocurrency is now a more mainstream part of the global financial system, which means that — for better or for worse — it’s inevitably a part of international conflict, too. This is on full display as Russian forces invade Ukraine. Some Ukrainians are also turning to crypto as an alternative to…

NASA has granted three more missions — Crew-7, Crew-8, and Crew-9 — to SpaceX as part of its Commercial Human Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract for crew transportation services to the International Space Station (ISS). This takes the space agency's total number of crewed missions to the ISS to nine, including the three successful operational trips over the last two years. The original $2.6-billion (roughly Rs. 19,700 crore) contract was awarded to SpaceX in 2014 for the development of American crewed launch…

SpaceX will delay the maiden flight of Starship, the spaceship designed to transport humans to Moon and Mars, as it is switching priorities to cyber defence and overcoming signal jamming, CEO Elon Musk said. The tech billionaire did not say what or who was causing these attacks on SpaceX. But Musk and his SpaceX-operated Starlink Internet satellite constellation has been assisting Ukraine to remain online after the Russian invasion. SpaceX has sent free Starlink terminals at the request of the Ukrainian government. Since…

NASA has insisted tensions linked to the war in Ukraine had no impact on International Space Station operations or the planned return of an American astronaut aboard a Russian capsule later this month.Mark Vande Hei is due to fly to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov on March 30 after 355 days in space, a new US record.There have been fears that soaring tensions between the US and Russia over Ukraine could leave the 55-year-old stranded on…

Hackers on Friday temporarily shut down dozens of Ukrainian government websites, causing no major damage but adding to simmering tensions while Russia amasses troops on the Ukrainian border. Separately, in a rare gesture to the US at a time of chilly relations, Russia said it had arrested members of a major ransomware gang that targeted US entities.The events, though seemingly unrelated, came during a frenetic period of activity as the US publicly accused Moscow of preparing a further invasion of Ukraine and of creating a…

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine military conflict and the geopolitical and economic uncertainties are likely to further worsen the global semi-conductor shortage, Moody's Analytics said in a report on Friday.COVID-19 pandemic has caused shipping costs to skyrocket over 300 percent and will continue to be high due to the scarcity of new containers.According to Moody's Analytics analysis, Palladium and neon are two resources that are key to the production of semiconductor chips, and given that Russia supplies over 40 percent of…