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External affairs minister S Jaishankar questioned the contention by US President Donald Trump and his administration that India has profited unfairly from the purchase and sale of Russian crude, pointing to the irony of such an allegation. “If you have a problem buying oil or refined products from India, don't buy it. Nobody forces you to buy it. Europe buys, America buys… so (if) you don’t like it, don’t buy it,” he said. “It’s funny to have people who work for a pro-business American administration accusing other people of doing business.” Trump has threatened to double tariffs on Indian goods to 50% over India’s purchases of Russian oil that he said is helping to fund the Ukraine conflict.At The Economic Times World Leaders Forum in the Capital on Saturday, Jaishankar defended the concept of strategic autonomy that India has adopted.‘Red Lines in Negotiations ClearJaishankar underlined that the country will continue to take decisions independently, even as trade remains a “sticking point” in discussions with the US.He recalled that when oil prices surged as the Russia-Ukraine conflict kicked off, there was global concern. “In 2022, there was deep nervousness on the international level due to oil prices going up,” he said. “That time, it was said that if India wants to buy Russian oil, let them, because that would stabilise prices… Yes, it is in our national interest but it is also in the global interest.”When asked if India-China ties are being reset in the backdrop of recent US-India tensions, Jaishankar said the engagement has to be contextualised over a longer period, rather than in terms of news cycles. “It is not correct to integrate our ties with China and US in one space,” he said. “What's happening with China now had its preparation done from October 2024. India-US and India-China ties are different situations and timelines. We have historical problems with China and a stable border is still a prerequisite for development of ties, but trade and relations are important for our industries here.”Jaishankar said talks during his Russia visit focused on the annual bilateral summit. He happens to be the first foreign minister to visit the Kremlin after the recent summit between Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin. “We’d like to increase trade with Russia,” he said, while stressing that New Delhi’s position on the Ukraine conflict is clear. “Where India stands is very clear and we want an early end to the Russia-Ukraine issue.”With regard to India-US ties under Trump, he said, “Right now, there are issues, it is pretty open. But it’s not like we never had issues before. Other parts of the relationship are strong.” However, the external affairs minister said dialogue channels remain active despite differences. “We are two big countries, we need to have conversations and we will see how it goes.”On trade talks with the US, Jaishankar said the two sides are in touch but India’s position is firm. Since the 50% tariff threat by Trump, the US has deferred the visit of its team to India for negotiating the bilateral trade agreement (BTA). He reiterated that India will ensure national interest is safeguarded and that the Centre will protect the interests of its people. “We have red lines in the negotiations, and we have to be clear about them,” he said. “We are committed to protecting the interests of farmers and small businesses.”

India Post recently announced that its Registered Post service, revered for legal proof and heartfelt messages, will retire on September 1, merging into Speed Post. In our office, the younger generation reacted with a “what service is that again?”, even as the oldies reminisced about “acknowledgment cards.”That brought us here. Once upon a time, before swipe-rights and ChatGPT, there was a world where the loudest sound in a household was the screech of dial-up internet, where letters came folded in blue aerogrammes, and where an entire family’s weekend plan hinged on whether the Doordarshan antenna faced the right direction. Before emojis, there were pager codes. Before Spotify, there was the mixtape cassette. Before Google Maps, there were fold-out atlases that never folded back in the same way. Here is a throwback list of things the younger lot may never know, but which once ruled the daily lives of your folks, when they were young.A Guide to Millennial ChildhoodsAirplane ticket booklets Yup, many of your folks’ first flight tickets were literally booklets.AltaVista search engineSearch, peaked before Google 123476501AOL instant messengerAnother messenger, this time with a distinct ‘door opening’ sound.Ask JeevesSearch engine with a butler mascot, also peaked before GoogleASL plsThe icebreaker in chatrooms that broke through internet anonymity. Stands for “age, sex, location please”BetamaxSony’s failed video formatCalling cardsScratch to reveal a PIN for payphone calls. Bought for a specific amountCarbon paperFor duplicate copies in forms and letters.Cassette tapesMagnetic reels for music and data. Could be turned around for a whole new bunch of songsCD tower stacks Spindles of blank CDs CD-R and CD-RW drives Wanted to write something on a CD? You needed to burn it using one of these drivesClippy The coolest virtual assistant ever. Siri, Alexa, eat your hearts outDemand draft When a payment needed to be made, and a cheque wasn’t enoughDetachable car stereos It helped avoid car stereo theft. Yup, that used to be a problem. 123476526Dot matrix printers Loud, perforated paper printing, still found at railway ticketing boothsEncarta Microsoft’s CD encyclopedia, which was supposed to replace huge volumes of Britannica from library shelvesFax machines Curling thermal paper messages scanning letters across geographiesFilm roll canisters Kodak or Fuji rolls in black cases, which needed a dark room to somehow become a photographFloppy disks (8", 5.25", 3.5") Limited MBs — yes, mega byte — storage in a black plastic case. Used to contain entire gamesGame Boy (Monochrome) Green-tinted handheld gaming, for those lucky few kids in schoolGeocities DIY personal websites with glitter textMonochrome monitors Heavy, curved glass displays. Early examples had weirdly green text options onlyHotmail Email, pre-Gmail. Was cool because of it was an Indian dude, Sabeer Bhatia, who created itIn just 20 years, the world went from floppy disks to cloud, from trunk calls to FaceTime, from money orders to UPI. What Gen Z and Alpha swipe through in seconds, older generations once waited days, weeks, or even months for:ICQ Early instant messaging serviceInflight smoking Technically it took till the early 2000s for airlines to ban smoking. Until then, many offered smoking sections at the backInland letters Foldable blue paper you could write on, for when envelopes were too expensiveCyber cafés The internet, available in a shop, chargeable by time spentISD/STD/PCO booths Yellow signs, black boxy phones, and long queues. These were public phones with timed billing slipsLAN partiesHauling PCs for multi-player gaming, connecting them via cables and playing classics like Need For SpeedLightweight blue aerogrammes International airmail folded paper letters with blue and red coloured edges, because it was meant to go abroadMoney order UPI transfer across geographies that involved the postman carrying money sent from afarMS-DOS commands Black screens and text input. Introduction to computers for a generation was in commands like DIR and CDNetscape navigator Web browser with a star logo. The Chrome browser of that eraOrkut The social networking site from Google that became a thing in India and Brazil for some reason. Eventually made uncool by Facebook Pager numeric codes 143 for ‘I love you’, etcPager If you’re wondering what a pager is, it’s a small device with a screen where numeric or short texts pop up. No, it’s not at all a mobile phone 123476544Pen pals Strangers, exchanging letters to build friendship or learn about each other’s cultures, often across countriesPhonograms Recorded voice messages sent via post or telecom 123476569Photo negatives Kept in envelopes after the films were developed. People looked funny in ’emRegistered post Signed acceptance and proof of delivery in the form of an acknowledgment card made this the blue tick for snail mailRotary dial telephones Finger-wheel dialling of a phone, complete with a whirr sound. Dialling numbers would take as long as entire conversationsT9 predictive text A way for folks to type fast on their alphanumeric mobile phone keyboards Telegram The original ‘instant message’ delivered via printed slips. They were short, urgent and always ending in STOP 123476587Telephone directory Imagine everyone’s number in your city in one book. It was the thickest book in most householdsTelex Pre-fax era long-distance text transmissionTraveller’s cheques Instead of forex cards, these were physical papers with a prepaid fixed amount for when you travelled, and it worked like cashTrunk calls You booked a call via an operator for long-distance landline calls, who then called back once the call was connected. Yup, you could even take hoursTypewriters Clack-clack and carriage return ding. Typing used to be a skill to be honed in institutesVHS tapes Video recording cassettes, which had to be rewound every time to get to the startVCD players The hardware used to play the VHS tapesWalkman Portable cassette playersWinamp Skinnable music player, for those illegal MP3 songsY2K bug scare The year 2000 brought about computer panic and pretty much created India’s IT boomYahoo! chat rooms The OG of online minglingYahoo! groups Pre-social media discussion boardsYellow Pages Another book, this time for business listings with addresses and contact numbersLoading...When the current generation looks back at the relics of our past, they may find it hard to believe that there existed a time when people spent hours on dial-up connections and queued up outside cyber cafés, all just to access the internet123476634123476658

The European Central Bank is likely to keep interest rates on hold next month but discussions about further cuts may well resume in the autumn if the economy weakens, five sources told Reuters. ECB President Christine Lagarde said in July the euro zone's central bank was "in a good place" as it left its key rate at 2%, bringing a year-long cutting cycle to an end and leading investors to bet on a prolonged pause. Data since then showed the euro zone economy was proving more resilient than expected while inflation hovered at the ECB's 2% target, central bank officials in Europe and at the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium said. Meanwhile tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on European Union imports, at 15% for most goods, were close to the ECB's own expectations and averted the most pessimistic scenarios, the central bank sources said. This meant that a rate cut on September 11 was now largely seen as unnecessary, barring a sudden worsening in incoming data such as a flash inflation reading for August and economic activity surveys, according to the sources. They all declined to be named because policy deliberations are confidential. Equally, the sources noted that the ECB's latest economic projections, which see inflation dipping below its 2% target next year before edging back to it, incorporate a further rate reduction. This meant that discussions about further monetary policy easing were likely to resume at the ECB's October 30 and December 18 meetings, particularly if U.S. tariffs started taking a toll on euro zone exports to its top trading partner or if hopes for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine were dashed, the sources added. An ECB spokesperson declined to comment. Money markets were pricing in some chance of a further ECB rate cut, but not before the spring of next year. Investors have grown more optimistic about the euro zone's economic outlook after surveys showed business activity picked up pace over the summer, with new orders increasing in August for the first time since May 2024. Some policymakers cautioned this may be due to U.S. importers bringing forward orders from the euro zone to beat tariffs, which would imply a reversal in the coming months.