Good morning! This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit and I’m Alex Mathew. Here’s everything you need to know at the start of your day.
In a shocking news from the U.S., a 42-year-old Texas man drove a pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s Day in New Orleans and then opened fire on police, killing at least 10 people and injuring 35. The attack took place early morning local time and is being pegged as a potential act of terrorism by the FBI.
The driver, who died at the scene in the shootout, was identified as Shamsud-din Jabbar and was a U.S. citizen from Texas. An ISIS flag was found in the vehicle, prompting an investigation into possible links to terrorist organisations, according to the FBI.
Weapons and a potential explosive device were found in the vehicle and other potential explosive devices were found in the French Quarter, where the attack took place. That has led the authorities to believe that there may have been more people involved. The explosives were rendered safe by the police.
In a separate incident, police are investigating the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to a BBC report. Police said a truck pulled up in front of the hotel on Wednesday near a glass entrance, then smoke started coming from the vehicle and it exploded. The driver was killed and seven people were injured, police said without naming any of the individuals involved. Officials said all injuries were minor.
In a post on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the explosion “was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself”.
In more international news, Russian gas stopped flowing to Europe via Ukraine, closing off a route that’s operated for five decades after Kyiv refused to allow the transit. Both sides confirmed the halt on Wednesday after a key transit deal expired. The stoppage of the route, which accounts for 5% of Europe’s needs, means central European countries that have relied on the flows will be forced to source more expensive gas elsewhere. That increases ongoing pressure on supplies just as the region depletes winter storage at the fastest pace in years. Gas prices there are currently up 50% year-on-year, according to Reuters.
Most international markets were shut yesterday to mark the beginning of the New Year, including markets in the U.S. This morning, in the Asia Pacific region, two of the three early risers were trading, both higher by about 0.2%.
In news back home, India’s goods and services tax collections in December increased on an annual basis but slipped sequentially—a trend that was observed in the preceding months as well. The GST collections grew 7.3% year-on-year to Rs 1.72 lakh crore in December, according to the data released by the government on Wednesday.
The government has approved the extension of a one-time special package of Rs 3,850 crore for diammonium phosphate fertilisers. Farmers will get DAP at Rs 1,350 per bag of 50 kg; however, the extra burden will be borne by the government, according to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a press conference.
Geopolitical tensions and war situations have made the global market prices of DAP more volatile and the extension on the package is beyond the National Budget Support subsidy of Rs 3,500 per MT.
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