Marvel's bid to get Avengers: Endgame one, last broken box office record has paid off. Until July 21, 2019, Avatar was the top-earning release of all time worldwide, with a total of $2.789 billion earned at the box office. Now, Endgame is out in front, with an estimated $1.5 million in weekend ticket sales bringing its grand total to an Avatar-topping $2.790 billion.
The broken record was all but assured by Saturday, which ended with just $500,000 separating the two movies. Disney even sent out a press blast celebrating that, complete with a statement from Walt Disney Studios co-chairman and chief creative officer, Alan Horn. Read more...
Are you going on vacation this summer but worried something gonna happen to the house? Well, we think its time you invested in some smart home products. Especially the Ring Spotlight Cam and the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. Both devices allow you to see, hear, and speak to visitors from your phone. It also sends alerts as soon as motion is detected.
Already got security devices setup? Then why not treat yourself with the 2019 model of Samsung's 43-inch 4K 'The Frame' QLED TV, saving $301 off the listed price at Walmart.
A project management approach focused on committing as few errors as possible, Six Sigma uses a framework — DMAIC, which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control — to reduce defects in every process of a business. The result should only yield 3.4 errors in every 1 million attempts. If you couple that methodology with Lean, another approach that focuses on cutting down waste, then the idea is that your business will achieve peak productivity. Read more...
One of the Apple product library’s secret superpowers is longevity. Seriously: Apple has actually run into problems because their iPads simply refuse to die, so users never have to go buy new ones.
That means that their line of refurbished products is actually a solid investment. So if you don’t mind a couple of dings on the brushed steel frame or the perverse knowledge that someone else has maybe watched porn on your iPad, why not take a look at these deals here?
The iPad Mini may be small but remember: we live in 2019. TV shows are streamed, video games are a job, and tiny devices pack a lot of power. In this case, it packs a 1.5 GHz dual-core A8 processor and a beautiful 7.9 Retina display. And hey, you know that famous ten-hour battery life that all iPads have? It’s got that too. Read more...
Even the most productive people procrastinate now and then. In fact, research shows that the average office worker spends less than three hours of each day working productively. That’s not too surprising when you consider how distracting social media or articles about being productive at work can be (ahem), but we can all agree there’s definitely room for improvement.
Check out these deals on productivity tools and apps that help you get more done — and then get back to work!
No more hunting through a massive, unmanageable list of bookmarks thanks to History Search, a browser extension that indexes the text of webpages you browse. This way you can search and open your info online, just like you would through a file manager on your computer, and save yourself tons of timeTry the Pro Plan today, on sale for $47.88.Read more...
TL;DR:Ivacy VPN is on sale for just £1.80 a month, saving you 77% on list price.
There are many great ways to spend your Sunday. You could go for a walk, or hang out with friends, or eat with family. Or you could do none of that, and invest in a VPN instead.
OK, it's not going to take all day to purchase a VPN, and you should still visit your family, but maybe you could find the time to save with this deal. We have tracked down the best VPN deal to help you cruise through the end of the weekend.
You can now purchase a five-year Ivacy VPN plan for just £1.80 a month. This deal is down by 77% on list price. That's a massive saving, and one that shouldn't be ignored, even on a Sunday. Read more...
Marvel Studios announced as much during their Comic-Con panel Saturday, revealing that the fourth Thor movie, now titled Thor: Love and Thunder, would reveal Thor's erstwhile girlfriend as the new God of Thunder. The film will be based on the Mighty Thor comics, written by Jason Aaron.
Natalie Portman, who played the character in Thor, Thor: The Dark World, and Avengers: Endgame, will once again play Jane.
Chris Hemsworth will return as Thor Odinson (and wow, is it going to get confusing real quick to have two characters called "Thor" running around). Thor will now be the first Marvel Cinematic Universe lead to get four standalone films. Read more...
The Marvel Cinematic Universe take on Hawkeye isn't everyone's favorite, but Marvel looks to be tapping into a killer source for his next act.
A Hawkeye series reveal at San Diego Comic-Con for Disney+ release in fall 2021 was accompanied by a logo, and a small-but-vital piece of information. The logo has the same art style as writer Matt Fraction's fantastic Marvel Comics series and the Disney+ take will feature his young protégé, Kate Bishop.
Just announced in Hall H at #SDCC, Marvel Studios’ HAWKEYE with Jeremy Renner, an original series that will also introduce Kate Bishop. Streaming exclusively on Disney+, Fall 2021pic.twitter.com/qPH8M2TQSj
In a surprise announcement, Marvel Studios confirmed that a new film based on the superhero is in the works, with Mahershala Ali in the title role. The character is a human-vampire hybrid who protects humankind by hunting vampires.
Previously, Wesley Snipes played Blade in a trilogy of movies released between 1998 and 2004, right at the dawn of the current comic-book movie boom.
Blade isn't Ali's first foray into the world of Marvel. He also played the villain Cornell Stokes a.k.a. Cottonmouth in Netflix's Luke Cage — which is technically also part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kinda. It's complicated. Read more...
The studio announced at Comic-Con Saturday that Simu Liu is set to star in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — making him the first solo Asian lead of a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
Also starring in Shang-Chi will be Tony Leung as the Mandarin — the real one. (A false version of the character was portrayed by Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3.) In addition, Awkwafina has been cast in an undisclosed role.
Just announced in Hall H at #SDCC, Marvel Studios’ SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, with Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Tony Leung, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. In theaters February 12, 2021pic.twitter.com/VXaqJ5uN6B
On July 20, 1969, U.S. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the Moon. Down here on Earth, roughly 500 million people watched the broadcast of the landing, a moment that would inspire dozens of fictional stories and factual recreations in the world of film and television for years to come.
In 2019, we're just as mesmerized by the awe-inspiring moment. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, we've selected 9 of the best astronaut and sci-fi flicks (ranked in no particular order) to help you celebrate that big step for mankind, all of which are streaming now. Enjoy! Read more...
Are you sitting down? Go do that before you watch this Picard trailer, because it's going to knock you off your feet.
The first trailer for the CBS All Access Trek spin-off series starring Patrick Stewart is here, compliments of San Diego Comic-Con. And boy oh boy is it wall-to-wall with the most incredible fan service.
Data parts! Seven of Nine! A whole entire Borg cube! Plus that card game at the end. What is even happening here?! The only thing that's missing — and it's majorly disappointing, I'm not gonna lie — is Jean-Luc Picard's dog, revealed in the series first poster.
That's OK, though. There's plenty of time to meet the pup, who apparently goes by the name "Number One" (omg). This trailer is everything a Trek fan could hope for — and more, really. There are so many surprises in there. Read more...
Another season of Fortnite is at an end, and this one owes a lot to Pacific Rim, Godzilla, and kaiju fiction.
The Season 9 send-off featured a knockdown brawl between a towering sea monster with a castle rampart affixed to its back and a multi-colored mecha that's like if Voltron had a robo-cat head. Players could only watch as the two skyscraper-sized being duked it out.
The mecha emerged in the end as our victor, bouncing back after having an arm ripped off to plunge a giant sword into the monster's head. The mecha then did a one-armed floss dance — one of the many real world dances that have been appropriated into Fortnite emotes — before flying off into parts unknown. Read more...
The National Audubon Society has announced the 2019 winners of its annual photography competition, and the birds are looking great.
In addition to the Grand Prize, which went to Kathrin Swoboda for her photo of a Red-winged Blackbird, the contest awards prizes in four divisions: professional, amateur, youth, and plants for birds. There's also the Fisher Prize, which goes to a photograph "depicting the most creative approach to bird photography across all divisions."
This year, the society noted that many of the birds featured are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which bans the sale or trade of migratory birds, their eggs, and their nests. It remains one of the Audubon Society's trademark successes. However, the Trump administration has put the legislation in jeopardy through a lax interpretation, which does not hold industries accountable for "incidental" bird deaths that occur on their watch — including birds killed by power lines as well as disasters like oil spills. Read more...
The internet's collective plan to storm Area 51 in September may or may not pan out — but the viral moment has already done some good, helping 22 dogs find their forever homes at an animal shelter in Oklahoma.
On Friday, Oklahoma City Animal Welfare events coordinator Natalie Winfree dressed up three of the shelter's most photogenic (and cooperative) pups in tinfoil hats in hopes of raising awareness for the organization's cause.
"Come storm our shelter," read Winfree's now-viral post on the shelter's Facebook page. "We have great animals ready to protect you from the Area 51 aliens. Adoption isn't that far out of this world! #Stormtheshelter" Read more...
It's looking like HBO's take on Watchmen is, in fact, a sequel. This new trailer, which dives deeper into the story than any of our looks so far, pitches a story set a decade after the events of the comics.
From the look of things, the masked vigilante Rorschach inspired some kind of gang or cult that staged a terrorist attack in which police officers were hunted down in their homes and murdered. That led to a world in which cops wear facemasks to hide their identity.
Also, Doctor Manhattan is apparently living on "fucking Mars" now.
The trailer serves up a whole lot of star Regina King beating up bad guys, along with a first look at Jeremy Irons' aging Ozymandias and a brief, distant glimpse of Doctor Manhattan himself. The Damon Lindelof-helmed series is set to air on HBO in Oct. 2019. Read more...
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of Earth's moon. Now, 50 years later, NASA has imagined what the space mission's website would have looked like.
It's a cute tie-in for the U.S. space agency's ongoing 50th anniversary celebration of the moon landing. The "website" is really more of a screenshot mock-up. It doesn't really have 1969 internet vibes because there was no internet in 1969. But it does look like an old-ass landing page from the World Wide Web.
Here, see for yourself:
Image: NASA / Gary Daines
There was, of course, an online world before websites like the one imagined above existed. I'm calling back to the era of services like Prodigy, America Online, and CompuServe, and to the Bulletin Board Systems that inspired those services. Read more...
Fans have known for a while that Season 10 of The Walking Dead would probably be Danai Gurira's last as Michonne, but the star confirmed it once and for all at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday.
"I would just like to say that this has been one of the purest joys of my life to play this role and to be amongst these people and those who are not here right now and amongst all of you," Gurira said, per The Hollywood Reporter. "My heart does not leave in any way, shape or form. The TWD family is forever."
This shark expert has been diving with these creatures for decades and insists they are "gentle giants." While that's great, we're going to err on the side of caution on this one.
The newest "Legend of Zelda" game is full of stunning landscapes and picturesque locales. But often the element from which the player gets most of their information about the game is not the visuals, but the soundscape.
This gorgeous book from Julia Rothman provides detailed illustrations of how everything around us actually works. "Nature Anatomy" is a perfect introduction to the natural world for kids, but grown-ups will definitely enjoy it too.
If you're in need of eye-catching designs for a project (and don't have a designer on staff), check out this StockUnlimited Vector Plan: Lifetime Subscription to access an ever-growing library of quality stock vector graphics and clipart for $34.99.
Use coupon code "SAVE70" during checkout, and you can save up to 70 percent on select clothes and shoes at Columbia. This deal only runs through July 30th, so don't wait too long.
We sat down with the people behind America's reimagined sports car for background on the biggest fundamental change to the Chevrolet Corvette in its history.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tens of thousands marched in sweltering heat in Hong Kong on Sunday as anti-government protests show no sign of let-up, with anger over an extradition bill morphing into a fresh front against what many see as an erosion of freedoms by Beijing.
Millions have rallied over the past two months in an unprecedented show of force against Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, triggering the worst social turmoil to rock the former British colony since it returned to Chinese rule 22 years ago.
Protesters marched in temperatures of around 31 degrees Celsius (87.8°F) from Victoria Park in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay to Wan Chai, just one metro stop away, after police shortened the route, citing safety concerns.
* The Stena Impero was seized in the Strait of Hormuz at 4pm yesterday by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces * British-registered tanker was ordered to turn to the north and was taken into Iranian territorial waters * Warship HMS Montrose, which was patrolling the Persian Gulf, did a U-turn and raced to help captured ship * A second vessel, the British-operated Mesdar was seized by Iran but was released after being inspected * Following an emergency COBRA meeting, Iran was warned it faces 'serious consequences' for their actions
Military chiefs will this week brief Britain's new Prime Minister on the mounting Iran crisis and tell him: 'Send in the Marines'.
After the dramatic hijacking of the Stena Impero oil tanker carrying 23 crew by Iranian Special Forces, top brass were last night devising a list of options for a rapid military response.
It is understood they will seek the green light to deploy Royal Marines on British vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz to act as a deterrent to further aggression.
The involvement of the elite Iranian troops in the capture of the Stena Impero was broadcast on Iranian state television yesterday.
* Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched on Rossello's residence Friday * Several lawmakers tweeted that they stand with the protesters and also called for Rossello to resign * The protests have been ongoing since July 13, when Rossello's leaked chat messages were published * Some of the messages were vulgar, misogynistic and homophobic * The messages were unearthed during a federal corruption probe * Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Rick Scott and others were among the lawmakers who said Rossello should step down
Congressional lawmakers have added their voice to those of protesters calling for Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello's resignation in the wake of a federal corruption probe that unearthed hundreds of pages of vulgar and offensive leaked chat messages.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans, led by protesters on horseback with some banging drums and singing, marched on the governor's residence in San Juan on Friday, demanding that Rossello resign over the messages, which attacked political adversaries, many using misogynistic and homophobic language.
The chats on a Telegram message group were published on July 13, adding to Rossello's woes the same week that two of his former officials were arrested by the FBI as part of a federal corruption probe in the bankrupt U.S. territory.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Former National Security Agency contractor Harold 'Hal' Martin was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty in March to willful retention of national defense information.
Martin admitted to stealing top-secret documents over a 20-year period and storing them at his Glen Burnie home- some, in an unlocked storage shed.
Prosecutors said that Martin took over 50 terabytes of information, 300 times what Edward Snowden — another NSA contractor from Maryland — leaked to the world.
"He's incredibly embarrassed," Deb Shaw, Martin's estranged wife, said. "He let down people he has such incredible high regard for. He feels the weight of the disappointment he looks up to."
The presidential helicopter isn't supposed to leave scorch marks on the White House lawn. So the Navy and Lockheed Martin Corp. are working to fix a "high risk" problem after the new Marine One did just that in a test without the president on board.
The first in a $5 billion fleet of new Marine One helicopters is supposed to be ready to go into service by September 2020. President Donald Trump already has showcased the new aircraft with a flyover during his Fourth of July appearance in Washington.
The previously undisclosed episode occurred last September, during a test "conducted in a manner very different than normal Marine Helicopter Squadron One operations to the White House South Lawn," Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews, a spokesman for the Pentagon's testing office, said in an email.
Steadily increasing its bets in an international game of bluff, Iran has gone almost all in with a gamble that its hard liners must believe is worth the punt -- but which will certainly end their credit lines even among friends.
In seizing a foreign tanker which it accuses of "violating international regulations," Tehran has resorted to a form of piracy in international waters.
At a time when Iran might have begun to win friends and influence people in the world's corridors of power, it's showing that it really could be the force of dangerous instability that its most ardent enemies have claimed.
Iran has legitimate frustrations over the American withdrawal from the nuclear deal that was supposed to swap limiting its nuclear program for an end to economic sanctions.
WNU Editor: I am sure this seizure of a British oil tanker is playing well in Iran. But will this seizure help Iran in eliminating sanctions and gain allies in the world .... IMHO definitely not. It also puts two key European supporters of the Iranian nuclear deal in a difficult position. Germany and France have worked hard to help Iran circumvent US sanctions, but any help will be impossible now with this seizure. For the moment both countries are condemning this move .... Germany and France condemn Iran's seizure of British tanker (DW), but for all practical purposes any EU movement to assist Iran is now "dead in the water". It also puts China and Russia in a bind, especially China who have made pursuing an alternative new world order and respect of international law that is independent of the West. Supporting a country's action of piracy is not what China wants to do, and I predict that they will stay neutral. As for Russia .... they are going to stay away from this conflict as much as possible, and will watch from the sidelines.
The Stena Impero was surrounded by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces at 4pm and ordered to head north. The British registered vessel switched off its maritime tracker a short time later. A second British vessel, Medsar, abruptly changed course towards Iran around 4.45pm. Last night's action follows attacks on six oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and an earlier attempt to seize a British oil tanker which was thwarted by the Royal Navy
* The Stena Impero was seized in the Strait of Hormuz at 4pm yesterday by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces * British-registered tanker was ordered to turn to the north and was taken into Iranian territorial waters * Warship HMS Montrose, which was patrolling the Persian Gulf, did a U-turn and raced to help captured ship * A second vessel, the British-operated Mesdar was seized by Iran but was released after being inspected * Following an emergency COBRA meeting, Iran was warned it faces 'serious consequences' for their actions
A Royal Navy warship raced to help a British oil tanker that was captured by Iran last night but arrived ten minutes too late, a defence source revealed today.
HMS Montrose, which was patrolling the Persian Gulf, was forced to do a U-turn when it received orders to assist the UK-flagged Stena Impero, which had been seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Stena Impero was still in Omani waters when the orders were sent, but by the time HMS Montrose arrived the vessel had been taken and redirected into Iranian territorial waters. It's claimed the Iranians were ready to 'engage' the Type 23 frigate.
Iran's seizure of the British ships was a deliberate act of provocation because the ships were in international waters.
* President Trump had a photo-op at the White House Friday amid commemorations of the 1969 moon landing * Guest included Buzz Aldrin, the Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 11, and Michael Collins, who served as command pilot * Neil Armstrong, the mission commander, passed away in 2012 and was represented by his sons * Trump called the mission 'one of the great achievements ever' at the 50th anniversary celebration * The president has spoken in the past of reaching Mars and says he wants to create a 'Space Force'
President Donald Trump joined in some of the Apollo 11 anniversary fever by hosting the two living astronauts who helped carry out the historic 1969 mission to the moon.
Buzz Aldrin, the Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 11, and Michael Collins, who served as command module pilot, both attended an Oval Office photo-op that the White House opened to the press at the last minute on Friday.
'What a career you've had. Great careers,' Trump said, during back-and-forth remarks where he quizzed the astronauts about the modern space program.
MICHELLE OBAMA criticised current US President, Donald Trump's inauguration by recounting her overwhelming emotion at her husband's "scandal-free" administration.
COSTA RICA residents and tourists have been put on high alert and warned not to drink certain types of alcohol after nearly 20 people died from an infected liquor.
IRANIAN news agency social media accounts have been blocked by Twitter after the seizure of the British oil tanker, Stena Impero this week as tensions continue to escalate.
A BRITISH oil tanker that was seized by Tehran after steering into Iranian waters is believed to have been steered by false GPS co-ordinates sent by Russian spies, according to recent reports.
MICHELLE OBAMA and Oprah Winfrey are the only two Democrats who can defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential elections because they both have "balls of steel", Piers Morgan has claimed.
ANGELA MERKEL had to make a last-minute phone call to Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to secure the votes which ratified ally Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission President, a political analyst has said.
DONALD TRUMP is being urged to defend the Philippines from China's increasingly aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea, as tensions between Beijing and Washington intensify over trade.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says he believes Russians and Ukrainians constitute one nation and that the countries should find a way to integrate.
Putin made the comments in an interview with the American film director Oliver Stone on June 19; material from the interview was used in a Stone film about Ukraine and the full transcript was published by the Kremlin on Friday.
“I believe that Russians and Ukrainians are one people … one nation, in fact,” Putin said. “When these lands that are now the core of Ukraine joined Russia … nobody thought of themselves as anything but Russians.”
In light of this bond, Putin said “we can use this as our competitive advantage during some form of integration.”
TEHRAN, Iran — A powerful council in Iran said Saturday the country’s seizure of a British oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz was in response to Britain’s role in impounding an Iranian supertanker two weeks earlier.
Spokesman of Iran’s Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted in the semi-official Fars news agency saying “the rule of reciprocal action is well-known in international law” and that Iran’s moves to “confront the illegitimate economic war and seizure of oil tankers is an instance of this rule and is based on international rights.”
The council rarely comments on state matters, but when it does it is seen as a reflection of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s views. That’s because the council works closely with Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters.
The free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is of international importance because one-fifth of all global crude exports passes through the waterway from Mideast exporters to countries around the world.
The British-flagged Stena Impero was seized by Iran on Friday evening with a crew of 23 crew aboard. None are British nationals. Maritime trackers show it was headed to a port in Saudi Arabia.
Two weeks earlier, Britain’s Royal Marines took part in the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of Iranian crude by Gibraltar, a British overseas territory off the southern coast of Spain. Officials there initially said the July 4 seizure happened on orders from the U.S.
Britain has said it would release the vessel if Iran could prove it was not breaching European Union sanctions on oil shipments to Syria. However, on Friday, a court in Gibraltar extended by 30 days the detention of the Panama-flagged Grace.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif characterized the seizure of Iran’s tanker as “piracy.” In comments on Twitter, he wrote that the U.K. must cease being an accessory to the “economic terrorism” of the U.S. — a reference to sweeping American sanctions on Iran.
Iran’s subsequent seizure of the British tanker was seen as a significant escalation. Germany and France have both condemned the move, with Berlin saying it undermines all efforts to find a way out of the current crisis.
In London, Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of Britain’s House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said military action to free the British tanker would be “extremely unwise,” especially because the vessel was apparently taken to a well-protected port.
Current tensions have been escalating since President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and imposed economic sanctions on Iran, including its oil exports.
In May, the U.S. announced it was dispatching an aircraft carrier and additional troops to the Middle East, citing unspecified threats posed by Iran.
The ongoing showdown has caused jitters around the globe, with each maneuver bringing fear that any misunderstanding or misstep by either side could lead to war.
In June, Iran shot down an American drone in the same waterway, and Trump came close to retaliating but called off an airstrike at the last moment. Just this week, Washington claimed that a U.S. warship downed an Iranian drone in the strait. Iran denied that it lost an aircraft in the area. There have also been attacks on oil tankers in recent weeks that the U.S. blames on Iran — an allegation denied by the Islamic Republic.
Stena Bulk, the owner of the seized British tanker, said the vessel’s crew members are of Indian, Filipino, Russian and Latvian nationalities. Iranian officials say the crew remain on the tanker.
The state-run news agency IRNA had reported earlier Saturday that Iran seized the British-flagged vessel after it collided with an Iranian fishing boat — an explanation that portrayed the seizure as a technicality rather than a tit-for-tat move.
The company that owns the ship said the vessel was in full compliance with all international regulations when it was intercepted Friday by “unidentified small crafts and a helicopter” during its transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
The comments Saturday by the Guardian Council reflect how prominently Britain has featured in the rising U.S. tensions with Iran.
There was a brief standoff between the British navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels recently. The British navy said it warned three Guard vessels away after they tried to impede the passage of a commercial British tanker that the navy was escorting.
U.K.-flagged vessels represented less than 0.6% of the 67,533 ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz in 2018, with 427 transits, according to maritime publication Lloyd’s List, quoting research from Russel Group.
Iran’s government has desperately tried to get out of the economic chokehold, urging the other partners in the nuclear deal, particularly European nations, to find ways around the U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is mulling a proposal called the Sentinel Program — a coalition of nations working with the U.S. to preserve maritime security in the Persian Gulf and keep eyes on Iran.
The U.S. is also sending several hundred troops as well as aircraft and air defense missiles to Iran’s rival, Saudi Arabia, as part of its increased military presence in the region. The move has been in the works for several weeks.
King Salman approved hosting U.S. armed forces in the kingdom “to increase joint cooperation in defense and regional security and stability,” a statement in the state-run Saudi Press Agency said.
___
Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Gregory Katz in London contributed to this report.
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DU Entrance Exam Result 2019 Released – The University of Delhi has declared the First Cut Off list for admissions to various Undergraduate Courses (based on merit) for the academic year 2019-2020 on 28th June 2019. The details of the minimum cut off percentage of marks (First admission list) at which Delhi University UG Admission 2019 to various courses have been offered by different colleges are given. The applicants those who have been appeared for the DU Entrance Exam can check their result from the official website i.e, www.du.ac.in. Students can verify their result just by clicking the link provided below in the table.
DU UG Fifth Cutoff 2019– Delhi University has recently uploaded Fifth Cutoff, DUET Result for the Admission of Under Graduate UG in Various Courses 2019 on 20th July 2019. Those candidates who have applied for this Exam can download Fifth Cutoff and DUET Result now. Applicants can get the Fifth Cutoff by clicking the direct link provided below in the table. We have given the separate links for each subject i.e, Science, Art & Commerce, BA Prog. Applicants can click the appropriate link to check and download your DU UG Fifth Cutoff and DUET Result 2019.
DU JAT 2019 Result – National Testing Agency (NTA) has declared the DU JAT Result 2019 for BBA (FIA), BMS and B.A Business Economics (H) today. Candidates who appeared for these exams can now access the result from the official website. The result has been declared in online mode for the convenience of the candidates. The DU JAT Result 2019 is available on the official website du.ac.in and nta.ac.in. Alternatively, a direct link to check the result has also been given below.
DU B.Tech Entrance Exam Result 2019 – Delhi University will soon declare the result of B.Tech Entrance Exam. Those Candidates who have given the Entrance Exam are eagerly waiting for the Exam Result. So We want to suggest all the students have some patience as the Exam Result will be upload on the Official Website. Candidates can check their result from the link which is given below. The University of Delhi Conduct Entrance Exam for B.Tech in the month of June 2019. Students those who have been appeared this Examination can check their result here. Check your results via the link mentioned below. Hence, all those might be looking for the DU B.Tech Entrance Exam Result now!
DU Entrance Exam Result 2019 – The University of Delhi has declared the First Cut Off list for admissions to various Undergraduate Courses (based on merit) for the academic year 2019-2020 on 28th June 2019. The details of the minimum cut off percentage of marks (First admission list) at which Delhi University UG Admission 2019 to various courses have been offered by different colleges are given. Students those who have been appeared this Examination can check their result here. Check your results via the link mentioned below. Hence, all those might be looking for the DU Entrance Exam Result now!
The University of Delhi provides admission into Undergraduate, Postgraduate & Ph.D. courses on the basis of merit list & entrance exam. DU releases the cut off at its official website and its notice board. The results for all the courses will be released on different dates. The cut off of Shri Ram College of Commerce is at 98.5%. Hans Raj College has also released the cut off list. The candidates who get their name in the DU’s first cut off list are required to appear for admission process between 28th June to 01st July 2019. The first Cut Off List available on the DU’s Official website by today i.e, 28th June 2019.
There are about 90 colleges and 16 faculties affiliated to the University of Delhi, spread across Delhi, North Campus and South Campus which serve as the two main campuses of the University. The University shortlists candidates for admission in UG and PG courses such as BMS, BA (Honours) Business Economics, B.Sc (Physical Education, Health Education & Sports), MA Hindi, MA Philosophy, etc. Candidates those will appear in the entrance exam can check it through online mode from the official website. Delhi University Entrance Result 2019 will be notified on the admissions portal as well as the allotment of college & course (where applicable).
After result announcement, the university will publish the admission list for UG entrance based & PG admission. Candidates who qualified the entrance test will complete the admission formalities. DU 2019 Cut-Off has been released on today. A separate cut-off list for Science, Arts & Commerce & other courses will be released online. The cut-off is the minimum marks which candidates have to score in the entrance test & qualifying examination. The cut-off is the minimum marks which candidates have to secure in the examination. The university publishes it according to the colleges & categories. The cut-off list is comprised of college name, course name, category wise cut-off, etc.
DU Top Courses & Cutoffs
Maximum candidates have opted for the BA program courses this year with highest numbers of applications being filed for the B.A. (Hons.) English. A total of 142970 applicants have shown interest in this course. This is followed by B.A. (Hons.) Political Science (130240 applications), B.A. Programme (125519 applications), B.A. (Hons.) Economics (124538), B.A. (Hons.) History (120590), B.A. (Hons.) Psychology (112312), B.A. (Hons.) Journalism (112233) and B.Com (106549) among other courses. The colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi have released the cut-off yesterday late evening for the candidates who have applied for the different courses offered by the university. Candidates are advised to keep the documents ready for the purpose of verification.
Steps to check DU Entrance Result 2019
Visit the official website of University of Delhi i.e, www.du.ac.in
In the home page click on the First Cut Off 2019 link
A new page will be open with pdf file
Applicants can check the DU Entrance Result 2019 details
They can log in to their appropriate college, and get the results
Download or take a print out of the result for further reference.
Important links to download DU Entrance Exam Result 2019
ASRB Result 2019 – Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) has declared the Head of Division & Project Coordinator Interview Result on 19th July 2019. The exam was held all over India through Computer Based mode on 24th June 2018. After the Main Exam Result announcement, three times of Interview has been conducted by various timings. Now recently the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board has announced the Interview result for the post of Head of Division & Project Coordinator. Applicants those who have been coming under the three types of Interview can check your results from this Page.
ASRB Result Date 2019 | ASRB ARS 2019
Like every year Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) has given an employment notification for the recruitment of Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Examination 2017 vacancies through National Eligibility Test (NET-I) 2018. Applicants have applied for the post of Head of Division & Project Coordinator and attended the Interview. Now the officials have released the Interview result for Head of Division & Project Coordinator Posts. Here we have provided a direct link to check & download your results.
19th July 2019 – Result link available in below section
Official Website
www.asrb.org.in
Applicants can get the ASRB Interview result date, Number of Vacancies, Official website link, and others. It will give an overview of the ASRB ARS 2019 Result. This ASRB Recruitment has consist of Preliminary Examination, Main Written Exam, and Interview. For these Posts, a huge number of applicants has been applied. The candidates those who have cleared the Preliminary Examination attended for the Main Exam on 24th June 2018. Finally, they have conducted the three codes of Interview. Now, the officials have recently uploaded the ASRB Result 2019 (Interview).
Applicants have appeared for three Interview Schedule and waiting to know the result. This Recruitment process Started over one year later. So your waiting time is over now. Because of final Interview result has been released now. After this ASRB ARS Result applicants will call for the appointment order. We advise the applicants to wait for the official announcement of the next process. ARS Exam 2017 Result has been released by the Officials.
ASRB 2019 – ARS Interview Result Released
Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) has declared interview results for the post of ARS Exam 2017. Here, you go through the ASRB ARS Result 2019 for the Exam on 24th June 2018. Also, we have given a quick link to analyze your ASRB Head of Division & Project Coordinator Interview Result. Moreover, applicants can follow the below steps to download the ASRB ARS Result 2019. Candidates are advised to keep track on this page because here we will update the latest updates regarding the ASRB ARS Result.
Steps to check ASRB Head of Division & Project Coordinator Interview Result
First Visit the official website of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, i.e, www.asrb.org.in
On the home page, applicants can see the latest news section on the right side
Click on the link – List of candidates recommended for ARS-2017 Examination
A new page will open with the ARS 2017 Examination Result Pdf
Download or take a print out of the result for further reference.
NCDRC Recruitment 2019 – Online Application for 37 UDC, LDC & MTS Posts. Dear Candidates !! Here is a Government Job Offer in New Delhi. National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has recently released the Official Notification to fill up their Commission with 37 UDC, LDC & MTS Vacancies. Interested Aspirants can check their eligibility and apply for the respective post in NCDRC Recruitment. Candidates can submit the Application via Online Mode from 20th July 2019. Get your Online Application Link from the below section.
Read the entire article to get the How to Apply Steps, Eligibility Criteria to apply in NCDRC Recruitment. Aspirants with the mentioned Age Limit will be permissible to register the application. Applications should reach the Commission on or before the last date ends. Moreover, the last date to submit the application is 19th August 2019.
Eligibility Criteria for National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Recruitment 2019
Candidates can get the detailed information about the Eligibility Criteria of NCDRC Jobs 2019. Hence, Applying Applicants must have a clear view of the eligibility details to apply for the posts.
Educational Qualification:
Name of the Post
Educational Qualification
UDC – Group C
Graduate
LDC – Group C
12th Standard
MTS – Group C
10th Standard
Age Limit:
Name of the Post
Age Limit
UDC
18-27 Years
LDC
MTS
18-25 Years
Age Relaxation:
SC/ST – 5 years
OBC – 3 years
PwD (Unreserved) – 10 years
For PwD (OBC) – 13 years
PwD (SC/ST) – 15 years
Ex-Servicemen – 3 years
Central Government Civilian Employees – Upto 40 years
Selection Process:
Candidates will get selected who qualified the below listed Selection Process.
OMR Based Objective Type Questions.
Written Test.
Typing Skill Test
Application Fee:
Check with the Official Notification of NCDRC Recruitment to know the Application Fee Details.
NCDRC Recruitment Salary Details:
Name of the Post
Salary Details
UDC
Level-04 (Rs. 25500 – Rs. 81100/-)
LDC
Level-02 (Rs. 19900 – Rs. 63200/-)
MTS
Level-01 (Rs. 18000 – Rs. 56900/-)
How to apply for NCDRC Careers 2019-20?
Firstly, Click on the Apply Online Link.
Select the desired post that you want to apply.
Click on Fresh Candidate Log in, if you are a new user.
Enter all the details which are asked in that.
Enter the Verification Code in the Application Form.
Check the details once before submitting the application form.
Finally, Submit the application form.
Take a print out of the application for future reference.
About National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, India is a judicial commission in India. It has been set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. Head Office is located in New Delhi. The commission is headed by a Higher Authorities of the Supreme Court of India. The commission is presently headed by Justice R K Agrawal, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. Section 21 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 posits that the National Consumer shall have jurisdiction:- to entertain a complaint valued more than one crore and also have Appellate and Revisional jurisdiction from the orders of State Commissions or the District fora as the case may be. Section 23 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986, provides that any person aggrieved by an order of NCDRC may prefer an Appeal against such order to Supreme Court of India within a period of 30 days.
HPPSC Administrative CCE Result 2019 – Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) has declared the Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result 2019 on 19th July 2019. HPPSC has conducted the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Combined Competitive Exam 2018. Then Administrative CCE (Prelims) Exam has conducted on 26th June 2019. As per the report, there is a number of applicants have appeared for this Preliminary Examination. After the one month of time, now Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has uploaded the HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result 2019.
HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result
As we know, applicants those who have appeared for the HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Exam are waiting for your result. Your waiting time is over now. Because of Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) officials have recently uploaded the Result. Now applicants can find the HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result from this page. Here we have given a quick link to analyze your Result. Moreover, candidates can get the steps to check the HPPSC Result (Administrative CCE (Prelims)) 2019 from this article.
19th July 2019 – Result link available in below section
Main Exam Date
09th September 2019
Official Website
www.hppsc.hp.gov.in
HPPSC (Prelims) Result For Administrative CCE Exam 2019 has been declared on 19th July 2019. Applicants can get an overview of the HPPSC Result by referring to the above table. In the table, we have mentioned the Preliminary Exam Date and Result Date. As well as applicants can find the HPPSC Administrative CCE Main Exam Date. Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) has released the Prelims Result notification of selected candidates for the post of Himachal Pradesh Administrative Services Combined Competitive Exam 2019.
HPPSC has recruited 27 candidates for various Vacancies. For these Recruitment process, they have conducted the Administrative CCE Exam 2018-19. The interview Process consists of Preliminary Examination, Main Examination, and Interview. Now they have released the Administrative CCE Preliminary Result 2019. So, Candidates, those who qualify from this Prelims Exam can start preparing for the Main Examination. If the Candidates will qualify in the Main Examination they will call for the Interview.
HPPSC (Prelims) Result For Administrative CCE Exam 2019
Applicants can receive the HPPSC Administrative CCE Merit List and Cut off Marks after the Main Examination. The HPPSC Administrative CCE Cut off marks will upload by the officials along with the HPPSC Administrative CCE Main Examination. Applicants can get the Cut off marks under some categories. If the candidates get the High level Cut off marks then the applicant’s name will appear on the HPPSC Administrative CCE Merit list. Also, applicants can follow the below steps to check your HPPSC Administrative CCE Result 2019 (Prelims).
Steps to check HPPSC Administrative CCE Result 2019 (Prelims)
First visit the official website of Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission i.e, www.hppsc.hp.gov.in
In the home page, you can view the results tab on the left side
Click on the Results tab, it will lead to a new page
Then, on the Screening Test column click on this link- Result of Himachal Pradesh Administrative Services Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination-2018
A new page will be open with an HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result pdf
Download the result for further reference.
Direct link to download HPPSC Administrative CCE Result 2019
Download HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result
HPPSC HPAS Prelims Result 2019 – Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) has declared the Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result 2019 on 19th July 2019. HPPSC has conducted the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Combined Competitive Exam 2018. Then Administrative CCE (Prelims) Exam has conducted on 26th June 2019. As per the report, there is a number of applicants have appeared for this Preliminary Examination. After the one month of time, now Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has uploaded the HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result 2019.
HPAS Result 2019 | HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result
As we know, applicants those who have appeared for the HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Exam are waiting for your result. Your waiting time is over now. Because of Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) officials have recently uploaded the Result. Now applicants can find the HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result from this page. Here we have given a quick link to analyze your Result. Moreover, candidates can get the steps to check the HPPSC Result (Administrative CCE (Prelims)) 2019 from this article.
19th July 2019 – Result link available in below section
Main Exam Date
09th September 2019
Official Website
www.hppsc.hp.gov.in
HPPSC (Prelims) Result For Administrative CCE Exam 2019 has been declared on 19th July 2019. Applicants can get an overview of the HPPSC Result by referring to the above table. In the table, we have mentioned the Preliminary Exam Date and Result Date. As well as applicants can find the HPPSC Administrative CCE Main Exam Date. Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) has released the Prelims Result notification of selected candidates for the post of Himachal Pradesh Administrative Services Combined Competitive Exam 2019.
HPPSC has recruited 27 candidates for various Vacancies. For these Recruitment process, they have conducted the Administrative CCE Exam 2018-19. The interview Process consists of Preliminary Examination, Main Examination, and Interview. Now they have released the Administrative CCE Preliminary Result 2019. So, Candidates, those who qualify from this Prelims Exam can start preparing for the Main Examination. If the Candidates will qualify in the Main Examination they will call for the Interview.
HPPSC (Prelims) Result For Administrative CCE Exam 2019
Applicants can receive the HPPSC Administrative CCE Merit List and Cut off Marks after the Main Examination. The HPPSC Administrative CCE Cut off marks will upload by the officials along with the HPPSC Administrative CCE Main Examination. Applicants can get the Cut off marks under some categories. If the candidates get the High level Cut off marks then the applicant’s name will appear on the HPPSC Administrative CCE Merit list. Also, applicants can follow the below steps to check your HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result 2019.
Steps to check HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result
First visit the official website of Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission i.e, www.hppsc.hp.gov.in
In the home page, you can view the results tab on the left side
Click on the Results tab, it will lead to a new page
Then, on the Screening Test column click on this link- Result of Himachal Pradesh Administrative Services Combined Competitive (Preliminary) Examination-2018
A new page will be open with an HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result pdf
Download the result for further reference.
Direct link to download HPPSC HPAS Prelims Result 2019 (Administrative CCE)
Download HPPSC Administrative CCE (Prelims) Result
Gauhati High Court Result 2019 – Applicants those who are waiting for the Gauhati High Court Stenographer Grade III Result, can check your results from now!!. Because Gauhati High Court officials have recently uploaded the Gauhati High Court Stenographer Result on 18th July 2019. In the official website of Gauhati High Court candidates can check and download your results. Moreover, here we have given a direct link to access your Gauhati High Court Result 2019. From the below table applicants can find the quick link to download your Results.
Gauhati High Court Stenographer Result
Gauhati High Court has announced a notification for the recruitment of Stenographer Grade III vacancies. A huge number of applicants have applied for the Gauhati High Court Recruitment. Then Stenography Test was conducted on 29th April 2019. As we know all those candidates may wait for the result. Finally, the officials have released the Gauhati High Court Stenographer Grade III Result on 18th July 2019. From now on applicants can download your results from this page. Apart from this, we have given some steps to check your Gauhati High Court Exam Result 2019 in this article.
18th July 2019 – Result link available in below section
Stenography Written Exam Date
04th August 2019
Official Website
ghconline.gov.in
The Gauhati High Court has released only the Stenography Test Result now. Still, the Stenography Written Exam is in pending. So the Stenography Written Exam is going to conduct on 04th August 2019. We advise the applicants to refer to the above table to get a clear idea about Gauhati High Court Result. In this article, applicants can get the direct link to download Gauhati High Court Stenographer Result. After checking the Stenographer results, applicants should start preparing for the Stenography Written Exam.
After the Stenography Written Exam, applicants can get the Gauhati High Court Stenographer Merit List and Cut off Marks. The officials will upload the GHC Cut off marks along with the Stenography Written Exam Result. The Cut off marks will be the main role in the part of Interview. Because applicants should get minimum or maximum marks to get into the Cut off marks. Gauhati High Court officials will decide the Cut off marks for every candidate. Because officials will consider the number of questions, difficulty level, vacancy details, and applicants category to set the Cut off marks.
Gauhati High Court Stenographer Merit List 2019
Candidates those who have got high cut off marks in the Stenography Written Exam can appear in the Merit list. The Merit list contains the Name of the Candidates, Marks obtained in the Exam, Roll Number and Registration number. Applicants can refer the below steps to check the Gauhati High Court Stenographer Grade III Result. Also from the below link applicants can get the Stenography Test Result & Written Exam Date. Candidates can just click the link to get the Gauhati High Court Stenographer Grade 3 Result.
Steps to check Gauhati High Court Result 2019
Visit the official website of Gauhati High Court i.e, ghconline.gov.in
In the home page, applicants can view the latest update on the right side
Click on the link Result of Stenography test for recruitment of Stenographer Grade-III for the subordinate courts of Assam.
A new pdf file will open with the Stenographer Grade-III Result in 2019
Applicants can download the Result for further reference.
Direct link to download Gauhati High Court Stenographer Grade III Result
Download Gauhati High Court Stenographer Grade III Result & Written Exam Date
Of the 100 largest banks of the world ranked by total assets, China claims 18; the US 11; Japan 8; Britain, France and South Korea six each; Canada, Germany and Spain five each; Australia and Brazil four each; Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore and Sweden three each, and Belgium and Switzerland two each. Seven other countries have one bank each in this league table. In this group stands India, along with Finland, Russia, Austria, Denmark, Norway and Taiwan.India is the world's fifth largest economy in nominal GDP. Its largest bank by assets, State Bank of India, ranks 55th by total assets. And no Indian bank figures in the list of globally systemically important banks.In other words, Indian banking is stunted in relation to the country's position in the world economy. Blame this, to a certain extent, on that signal event on July 19, 1969 — one day before Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind on the moon — when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi nationalised the biggest 14 private banks of the country. However, the principal blame for the stunting of the financial sector must be placed on the late blooming of the Indian economy and bad politics, besides conservative regulation of finance.India is one of the places where the earliest records of organised lending can be found, along with Sumeria and Assyria.Rinam kritvaapi ghritam pibet (drink ghee even if you have to borrow), the materialist philosopher Charvaka is supposed to have said, at least in the caricatured versions of his thought that survive.Medieval merchants used hundis, the equivalent of a banker's cheque. The merchant on whom the hundi was drawn would honour the request for payment to the bearer of the instrument. A story goes that a king ran out of money to pay his soldiers while laying siege to an enemy fortress, but had with him a hundi drawn on a rich merchant of the town under attack and sent word that he wanted the hundi encashed, in response to which the ruler of the besieged town felt obliged to let the trader honour the hundi.The story might be apocryphal, but it goes to show the respect Indians used to have for honouring credit relations in Medieval times — a far cry from the situation these days, when, of the total advances by scheduled commercial banks, as large a proportion as 14.33% by value are classified as non-performing, the ratio going up to 18.77% for public sector banks, according to the Reserve Bank of India's Financial Stability Report released in June, providing data for March 2019.Is this the fault of nationalisation? Well, the ratio of gross non-performing assets to total advances was 6.34% for private banks and 3.42% for foreign banks. Clearly, there is something about public ownership that makes banks vulnerable to accumulating bad loans. What could it be?Since the mid-nineties, when the influx of foreign institutional investors started pouring discerning capital into the Indian stock markets and relatively well-run companies started getting rewarded with huge rise in their share price, leading to an increase in their market capitalisation and the respective promoters' net worth, listed companies have had a strong incentive to stop concealing their income and earnings. But this did not mean that corporate governance turned from mud to potable water overnight. Promoters still take out huge sums of money from their companies — to fund Indian democracy, besides to build their own personal fortunes. Banks play a big role in the process.Unlike in developed democracies, the bulk of India's political funding is opaque. Parties take tribute from promoters, and declare a tiny share of their actual income and expenditure to the Election Commission.Promoters have to create the stash from which to pay off politicians, inspectors and other officials who have to clear files or refrain from raising objections that are in their power to raise.Promoters do it when they procure things for their companies, when the company acquires another company — the seller overcharges and passes on the extra to the promoter of the acquiring company in an offshore account — and, most commonly, when the company sets up a new facility.The project cost is inflated, to begin with. The bank manager and his political bosses are propitiated to make them overlook the cost padding.During the implementation of the project, the padded cost is taken out and transferred to the promoters' own kitty, from where he pays out yet more to keep Indian democracy going, apart from to put up the capital for fresh projects for which he would again raise loans.Cleaning up political funding is a necessary part of cleaning up state-owned banking. Developing a well-functioning debt market to fund long-gestation infrastructure projects that banks, with their short lending horizons, are ill equipped to finance is another step that has to be taken. Another vital reform is creating a remuneration structure for public sector bankers that is in line with their private sector counterparts'. Ideally, it would backload the bulk of pay, linking remuneration to the performance of the assets they originate, subject to claw-back.Such reforms are more important than any change of ownership, as banks face potential challenge from fintech companies that can compete with them in every one of the assorted services banks perform while mediating savings to investment.
Nearly 17 months after it began operations, Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited Saturday announced winding up of its business on account of "unanticipated developments" that made its economic model "unviable".The company is the fourth payments bank to shut shop after Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank Ltd and Telenor Financial Services that pulled the plug of operations.Vodafone Idea Limited in a regulatory filing said, "the Board of Directors of our associate company Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited (ABIPBL), has subject to receipt of requisite regulatory consents and approvals, approved the voluntary winding up of ABIPBL".The decision has been taken due to unanticipated developments in the business landscape that have made the economic model unviable, the filing added.In February 2018, Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank became the fourth such entity to begin operations since the issuance of licences to 11 firms by the RBI in August 2015.ABIPBL had received the banking licence from the RBI on April 3, 2017, for carrying on the business of a payments bank and had also received an authorisation to carry on the business of Prepaid Payments Instrument business. It commenced business from February 22, 2018.Sources privy to the development said that the payments bank has about 200 employees and a majority of them are likely to be absorbed in other group entities, while the rest will be offered outplacement assistance.Total deposits with Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank stand at about Rs 20 crore, according to sources."The payments bank does not want customers to worry about what happens to their money. They will be given enough time and notice to transfer or withdraw it," the source said adding that the closure of operations could take about three months.Aditya Birla Payments Bank is promoted by Grasim Industries Limited and Vodafone Idea Limited with 51 and 49 per cent shareholdings respectively.According to the filing, ABIPBL incurred a loss of Rs 24 crore at the end of 2017-18.Aditya Birla group said ABIPBL has made full and complete arrangement of funds for the return of customer deposits and meeting its all liabilities and is taking steps to ensure smooth closure of all the customer accounts and settlement of their balances."The Bank will continue to be operational for limited banking transactions and will provide a facility to the customers for withdrawing/transferring their balances," the group said in a statement. PTI PRS MBIMR 07202202 NNNN
Kulbhushan Jadhav will live. Whether the retired naval officer returns home or not, he will certainly get another trial in Pakistan, after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ruled that Pakistan breached its obligations under the Vienna Convention. This new trial will probably be more open and not by the military and India will probably be able to ensure Jadhav gets adequate legal cover.Three years ago, on the evening of March 29, Pakistani TV channels had lit up with a "confession video" by Jadhav, where he was seen saying that he was a RAW agent and was in Pakistan to do subversive acts in insurgency-affected Balochistan.The Indian High Commission in Islamabad was only informed after the TV show by the Pakistani authorities. Immediately, the then high commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, shot off a request for consular access to Jadhav.Jadhav was said to have been arrested on March 3, 2016. So that made it over three weeks that he was in Pakistan Army's custody without India's knowledge.Over the coming months, Bambawale would send similar requests every 15 days or so to the then Nawaz Sharif government. In the process, India built up an impressive dossier of requests for consular access that was denied by Pakistan. These would come in handy later.Back in New Delhi, the government did not deny Jadhav's nationality, describing him as a retired officer of the Indian Navy, who was doing business in Iran. India alleged that Pakistan had kidnapped Jadhav in Iran and brought him to Pakistan. A German diplomat in Pakistan suggested the Taliban (or some other terrorist group) had kidnapped him and sold him to the Pakistan Army (the diplomat later fudged his story). 70311031 Even Sartaj Aziz, Sharif's foreign policy adviser, was on record saying the "evidence" against Jadhav were "mere statements". Between mid-2016 and early 2017, the Indian government decided to be creative and approached the ICJ in The Hague and found it had a strong legal case against Pakistan on consular relations under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention.In early 2017 too, Pakistan had approached India for "assistance" in its probe on Jadhav, saying the charges of terrorism against him included investigations against National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and then chiefs of Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.After Pakistan had aired another "confession video" by Jadhav, then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament in April 2017: "They (Pakistan) linked providing consular access to our acceptance of their position... We pointed out that consular access to Shri Jadhav would be an essential prerequisite in order to verify the facts and understand the circumstances of his presence in Pakistan."For Pakistan, Jadhav was seen as a great catch. After an attack on an army camp in Uri in September 2016 and stepped up infiltration in Jammu & Kashmir, Jadhav was something Pakistan could use to gain equivalence against India. It felt the Balochistan trope could be trotted out with conviction that India was sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, leaving India no moral space. Never one to shy away from risks, Pakistan added to this by pronouncing a death sentence on Jadhav in April 2017.As Swaraj said: "To make matters even more absurd, three hours after the death sentence was announced, the Indian High Commission received an official communication from the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan reiterating the Pakistani proposal for conditional consular access. That tells us a lot about the farcical nature of the alleged proceedings..." It became clear then that regardless of the circumstances of Jadhav's arrest, Pakistan's sole interest was to tar India on the insurgency in Balochistan. Pakistan was taken aback at the ICJ case, because it was a clear departure from how it thought India would act.For India, this case was unique in many ways. Ever since then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took the Kashmir file to the UN Security Council in 1948, India has studiously stayed away from "internationalisation" of bilateral issues, particularly with Pakistan. That it was India which took the Jadhav case to ICJ had several implications.India was confident it had a solid case against Pakistan. From the start, it has confined its response to asking for consular access to Jadhav, which has been denied 16 times by Pakistan. For this, India utilised a small loophole left over in the Vienna Convention on consular matters, one of the few areas where both India and Pakistan acknowledge jurisdiction by the ICJ.In fact, the Indian case has been a well-prepared and solidly argued one on a simple request - of access to Jadhav. Second, India had to make certain that this case would not give Pakistan an opening to use the ICJ route on other issues like Kashmir or Indus water sharing.This gamble needed strong political backing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who does not shy away from taking unconventional paths, was solidly behind Swaraj and then foreign secretary and current foreign minister S Jaishankar. It could have gone against India if ICJ had accepted Pakistan's argument that the 2008 bilateral agreement would prevail. In fact, the July 17 verdict settled one important point forever - that the Vienna Convention trumps the bilateral pact.Julia Sebutinde, one of the ICJ judges, in her declaration, said: "It appears that -right from the arrest of Mr. Jadhav and without waiting for his trial - Pakistan determined that he was a spy who under Pakistani law was not entitled to consular access and, similarly, that India having "interfered in the internal affairs of Pakistan -had also forfeited its right to consular access, under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention".What happens now? Regardless of the spin given to the verdict by Pakistan's public relations department, it had to announce that Indian officials would get access to Jadhav. India will want that access to be unfettered, that is, without the presence of any Pakistani officials in the room. New Delhi hopes to get a clearer picture of how Jadhav was picked up.Second, the ICJ verdict has made the entire "trial" poisonous and internationally unacceptable. But no Pakistan Army chief can sanction Jadhav's release.India will be pushing for a civilian and open trial, where the story might be different from the current one scripted by the ISI, Pakistan's spy agency.Pakistan would want to avoid that too. Jadhav is now a hot potato for the Imran Khan government. They cannot execute him and holding on to him means Indians will walk all over any proceeding. But they will still want to exchange him for an official dialogue with India or any other form of engagement. India wants Jadhav's return but on different terms.Jadhav may have to spend many more years in a Pakistani jail or, worse, be under the risk of being attacked in - jail riot - like the one in which Sarabjit Singh, convicted on spying charges, was killed in 2013.Either way, Pakistan will remain under Indian pressure. The ICJ verdict just added to the pressure.
NEW DELHI: Behind the warm smile and gentle "batao beta" lay a wily political mind with an iron grip over her administration. Three-term chief minister and state party leader Sheila Dikshit tackled thorny issues between Centre and state like the demand for statehood, land disputes and law and order with sophisticated ease.Politics in the Sheila-era was a far cry from the no-holds-barred duel that the city witnessed between the Centre and the AAP government in the past four years. When she unseated Sushma Swaraj from the CM's seat in 1998, the government at the Centre was headed by BJP. But her amicable relationship with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and deputy PM L K Advani were well known.In an interview to TOI a few months ago, Sheila had said that she would often go to the PM and managed to get her wish list approved with no fuss. "If I go to the PM or the home minister with a list of five things, I would make them agree on three or four," Sheila had said. It was no empty boast. Sheila was also known for the skillful manner in which she worked in coordination with the bureaucracy, a lesson learnt as the wife of a bureaucrat herself.Recalling an incident, former Delhi transport secretary RK Verma said the UPA government at the Centre once transferred a number of senior IAS officers out of the national capital just ahead of Commonwealth Games when the city administration was struggling to meet the deadline. "Sheila met the then home minister, P Chidambaram, and put her foot down. The home minister had to quash the orders," said Verma.Verma added she was willing to countenance any departure if they could achieve what was good for the people of Delhi. "She firmly believed that public interest was paramount and for larger public good there was no harm if the ends justified the means," he said. However, she was quite unhappy when then PM Manmohan Singh constituted an inquiry committee under former comptroller and auditor general VK Shunglu to probe irregularities in Commonwealth Games. She had said that the event that had many "proud moments" was reduced to a "contentious issue". She had also accused the Centre of providing the logistical and infrastructural requirements late in 2009 which led to hurried preparations.Ironically, she faced stiff competition from her own party leaders. While she was considered an outsider when she was first made president of the state Congress committee in 1998, she earned several enemies when she was made chief minister of Delhi within a span of a few months.Delhi Congress suffered from infighting with several leaders, including Choudhury Prem Singh as Speaker, Ram Babu Sharma as standing committee chairman in MCD and party leader Subhash Chopra, working against her. But over time Sheila succeeded in wearing down the opposition both within the party and outside. "The party veterans despised her but the young brigade supported her. With her style of working, she managed to win over even those who were on the other side of the fence. She was charming and affectionate towards everyone but at the same time commanded lot of respect," said Arvinder Singh Lovely, her cabinet colleague. "There were also times that her own MLAs openly revolted against her and even staged protests against her. The unwavering support she got from the central leadership and her closeness to the Gandhis did the trick and she managed to neutralise her detractors," said Sat Pal, information officer in the CMO during her tenure.
Aryan Ramsinghani reached infant milestones like crawling and sitting up at expected times. But in 2004, when he was around two, he slipped from his uncle's shoulder and hit his head on the floor.Then things changed. "He fell whenever I made him sit up," says his mother Riddhi. She and her husband, who live in the Mumbai suburb of Chembur, decided to get medical help. Ramsinghani's doctors ran a series of tests, including a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, and diagnosed him with a rare genetic disease called leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter disease, which affects the brain and the spinal cord. They were puzzled.What had caused this progressive neurological disorder in their toddler? The Ramsinghanis decided to get a genetic test done. At the time, The Netherlands was the only country that had the technical knowhow for the test, so they sent their blood samples along with the child's.What followed was a long and uncertain wait. The test took two years, at the end of which they were told the cause was indeed genetic — a variation in both copies of a gene inherited from his parents caused this disease. (We all inherit one copy of a gene from each parent.) His parents were carriers, which means each of them had just one abnormal copy of the gene and so did not have the disease. 70309924 "Now the same test can be done in India in 3-4 weeks," says Dr Vrajesh Udani, a paediatric neurologist at Mumbai's Hinduja Hospital, who diagnosed Ramsinghani. While the Ramsinghanis did not have to pay for the genetic test in 2004 since it was done as part of research on the disease, its cost then would have run into lakhs of rupees. But now, it can be done for just Rs 20,000-35,000.This is a sign of how far genetic testing has come in India, with an increasing number of tests being done here and a lot them costing half as much as they did five years ago. Moreover, tests that took weeks can now be done in days. 70309928 Genetic testing is being used for a variety of purposes — right from confirming a diagnosis as in Ramsinghani's case to checking someone's predisposition to a disease to deciding the course of treatment for certain cancers. "It's not just about knowing the risk, but looking at particular genes for actionable insight," says Sooraj Ratnakumar, cofounder of Swagene, a Chennai-based genetesting company.There is no cure yet for Ramsinghani's disease and he is wheelchair-bound. "People with this condition deteriorate, but thank god he is stable," says Riddhi. His diagnosis led his parents to make sure their second child did not also have the same disease. When Riddhi was pregnant again in 2009, she got a prenatal genetic test done and it turned out the foetus was just a carrier like the parents. (The samples were again sent to The Netherlands and the test cost them Rs 60,000, while it can now be carried out in India for a tenth of that.) 70309935 Riddhi had the baby and named her Kanak, who is now a healthy 10-year-old. To avoid her children getting the disease, Kanak will have to make sure she does not marry another carrier, which can again be confirmed with a genetic test. Leukoencephalopathy with white matter disease is caused by mutation in any of five genes — EIF2B1 to EIF2B5 — and Ramsinghani had a mutation in EIF2B5.Genetic tests in India can cost anywhere between Rs 3,000 for something like thalassemia, a blood disorder marked by inadequate haemoglobin production, and Rs 1 lakh for whole genome sequencing (WGS). This is significant since the first effort to sequence a genome took 13 years and cost nearly $3 billion. The genome comprises all of our deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which carries our genetic information. The DNA molecule contains four chemical units, expressed in letters A, T, G and C. WGS looks at the order of three billion pairs of these letters. 70309938 There are around 20,000 genes (made of DNA) in every cell of our body, which act as instructions to make molecules called proteins, which then determine the structure and functioning of our cells, tissues and organs. Mutation in any one of these genes on their own or in combination with mutations in other genes or with environmental factors can cause a disease. "The explosion in genetic testing is as big as the internet and the industrial revolution," says Udani, who on an average prescribes one genetic test a day.Dr Girisha Katta, professor of medical genetics at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, says there is no branch of medicine that does not require genetic testing. "Only the degree varies."Paediatrics, foetal medicine, oncology and haematology may use genetic testing more than, say, pulmonology. Around 80% of the 7,000-odd rare diseases are genetic in origin, according to Global Genes, a non-profit organisation. 70309942 As per a Union health ministry report from March 2017, around 450 of these diseases have been recorded in India.Ramesh Hariharan, cofounder and chief executive of Strand Life Sciences, believes most of the tests can be done in a week. "But to be cost-effective you have to wait for enough samples." Multiple samples can be processed at the same time. Strand offers tests ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000.According to industry sources, there are around 20 genetesting labs in India and around 50 companies in the space, most of whom outsource the tests to external labs in India or overseas. The size of the industry is pegged at Rs 300-400 crore, which has been growing at 30% annually over the past couple of years. The most prominent companies in the space are homegrown MedGenome and Strand Life Sciences and global players such as Centogene and Eurofins. Some major hospitals also have their own labs. 70309945 These companies focus on genetic tests ordered by clinicians, while the likes of Mapmygenome concentrate on what are called direct-toconsumer (DTC) tests, which account for less than 10% of India's genetic-testing market. Thanks to people's curiosity about their ancestry, DTC tests offered by companies such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe are on the rise in the US, with orders ballooning from 4.5 million in 2017 to 26.5 million in early 2019, according to MIT Technology Review.But Indians are not nearly as likely to shell out money to find out more about their lineage. Most DTC tests in India are to do with wellness and nutrition and knowing your susceptibility to certain diseases.Vedam Ramprasad, chief operating officer of MedGenome, calls DTC tests "recreational". "Clinical diagnostics is saturated in the US so they are moving to DTC. In India, we don't even have enough labs to tackle genetic diseases." He adds that it is not possible to use genetic tests to determine one's predisposition to diseases like diabetes and hypertension, where multiple genes may have a role to play, in addition to lifestyle factors. "We don't really tell people whether or not they will get a disease. We just tell them that if a disease runs in their family, they are more at risk than others and they need to be careful," says Anu Acharya, CEO, Mapmygemone. Some 70% of her company's business comes from DTC tests. 70309959 MedGenome, which was founded in 2013 and has raised $64 million in funding from several investors including Sequoia and HDFC, processed about 85,000 samples in 2018 and the number is expected to rise to 120,000 in 2019. The company's College of American Pathologists-accredited genetic-testing lab in Bengaluru's Electronic City has stateof-the-art sequencers, which resemble mini-refrigerators hooked to copiers. Around 40% of its tests are whole exome sequencing, which look for mutations in all the proteincoding genes. This is helpful when the symptoms are nonspecific or when the symptoms are common to more than one genetic disease.In several forms of cancers, genetic testing is used to determine which medicine or treatment procedure will best work for the patient. For instance, when Delhi-based teacher Vaidehi Mishra (name changed) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2018, the 50-year-old underwent a genetic test to see if she had inherited an abnormality in her BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene — her mother had died of ovarian cancer. She tested positive for a mutation in BRCA1, which meant she could be put on the cancer drug Olaparib after chemotherapy. The drug is only for certain types of ovarian or fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancers. 70309993 "The doctor suggested we get our son (25) and daughter (21) also tested for the mutation," says her husband Prakash (name changed), who works with a multinational chemicals company. They are awaiting the results. Dr Manish Singhal, the oncologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in the capital who has been treating Mishra, says genetic testing has made a huge difference in breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers. Now around 60 of his patients undergo a genetic test annually, compared with just 2-3 some years ago.Among the constraints in genetic testing in India are the lack of sufficient medical geneticists to analyse and interpret the data thrown up by these tests and the inadequate understanding of genetics among clinicians. "Medical genetics is still not a prominent part of the medical curriculum," observes Katta. Geneticists are also worried about the absence of guidelines for gene-testing labs. Equally important is counselling patients and their families before a genetic test about its implications.While falling prices have helped increase the adoption of genetic testing, the fact that these tests are not covered by medical insurance, unlike in the US, has been a barrier, according to Hariharan. Coverage of genetic disorders by insurers is not mandatory either, after a Supreme Court ruling last year, which has affected patients like Aryan Ramsinghani.It is evident that genetic testing is now key to several clinical specialties and will only become more so. But that has to be accompanied by better awareness of its potential and consequences among patients and high standards in the labs.
Nearly 17 months after it began operations, Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited Saturday announced winding up of its business on account of "unanticipated developments" that made its economic model "unviable".The company is the fourth payments bank to shut shop after Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank Ltd and Telenor Financial Services that pulled the plug of operations.Vodafone Idea Limited in a regulatory filing said, "the Board of Directors of our associate company Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited (ABIPBL), has subject to receipt of requisite regulatory consents and approvals, approved the voluntary winding up of ABIPBL".The decision has been taken due to unanticipated developments in the business landscape that have made the economic model unviable, the filing added.In February 2018, Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank became the fourth such entity to begin operations since the issuance of licences to 11 firms by the RBI in August 2015.ABIPBL had received the banking licence from the RBI on April 3, 2017, for carrying on the business of a payments bank and had also received an authorisation to carry on the business of Prepaid Payments Instrument business. It commenced business from February 22, 2018.Sources privy to the development said that the payments bank has about 200 employees and a majority of them are likely to be absorbed in other group entities, while the rest will be offered outplacement assistance.Total deposits with Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank stand at about Rs 20 crore, according to sources."The payments bank does not want customers to worry about what happens to their money. They will be given enough time and notice to transfer or withdraw it," the source said adding that the closure of operations could take about three months.Aditya Birla Payments Bank is promoted by Grasim Industries Limited and Vodafone Idea Limited with 51 and 49 per cent shareholdings respectively.According to the filing, ABIPBL incurred a loss of Rs 24 crore at the end of 2017-18.Aditya Birla group said ABIPBL has made full and complete arrangement of funds for the return of customer deposits and meeting its all liabilities and is taking steps to ensure smooth closure of all the customer accounts and settlement of their balances."The Bank will continue to be operational for limited banking transactions and will provide a facility to the customers for withdrawing/transferring their balances," the group said in a statement. PTI PRS MBIMR 07202202 NNNN
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty extended their fall into the second straight week following sustained outflow of foreign portfolio investors' money amid geopolitical tensions and earnings disappointments. The 30-share Sensex declined 1.03 per cent to 38,337 for the week ended July 19 from 38,736 on July 12. Likewise, the 50-share Nifty declined 1.15 per cent to 11,419 from 11,552.Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Senior VP and Head of Research (Wealth), Centrum Broking said, "Indian markets are in capitulation mode, as there has been a dearth of good news. Back-to-back debt defaults, high-tax regime, weak earnings and a fragile economy are not helping the already delicate sentiment. With the crisis deepening and widening, markets are eagerly awaiting to see if policymakers can talk up the market."Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 2,758 crore in last five sessions, while domestic institutional investors poured in Rs 2,500 crore.We look at the stocks and sectors that created maximum buzz through the week.Nifty top gainersInfosys: The stock gained traction after Q1FY20 revenue beat market expectations and the company raised its revenue guidance for the year. The company posted 5.26 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,802 crore for the quarter ended June 30 compared with Rs 3,612 crore posted for the same quarter last year. Total consolidated income increased by 13.52 per cent to Rs 22,539 crore from Rs 19,854 crore in Q1FY19. The company has increased FY20 revenue growth guidance to 8.5-10 per cent range in constant currency terms. The scrip jumped 8 per cent to Rs 785.40 for the week ended July 19.Sun Pharma: This stock gained 3 per cent during the week on the launch of Ezallor Sprinkle (rosuvastatin) capsules in the US for the treatment of three types of elevated lipid disorders in people who have difficulty in swallowing, a problem that is estimated to affect approximately 30-35 per cent of long-term care residents. The scrip jumped to Rs 421.40 on July 19 from Rs 407.70 on July 12.Nifty top losersYES Bank: Shares of the private sector lender declined over 11 per cent during the week after the bank's net profit plunged 91 per cent on a yearly basis to Rs 113.80 crore, dented by one-off impact from mark-to-market provisions of Rs 1,109 crore.M&M, Hero Moto and Eicher: Shares of the auto majors tumbled up to 10 per cent after the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations' (FADA) reported that retail sales of automobiles across India declined 5.4 per cent YoY in June to 1.64 million units. Shares of M&M, Hero MotoCorp and Eicher Motors lost 10 per cent, 7 per cent and 6.80 per cent, respectively, for week ended July 19.Stocks that rallied up to 20%As many as 10 stocks on the BSE500 index managed to deliver over 5 per cent returns to investors during the week. They included Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (up 20.98 per cent), HDFC AMC (18.99 per cent), SpiceJet (12.98 per cent), Procter & Gamble Health (9.95 per cent) and Infosys (8.05 per cent). RBL Bank: This stock took a beating after the lender said given the difficult environment, it expects to face challenges on some of the exposures in the near term. The scrip tanked nearly 14 per cent on Friday to close at Rs 500.35 on July 19.392 scrips that crackedAs many as 392 stocks in the BSE500 index wiped out investors' wealth during the week gone by, with Dewan Housing Finance Corporation falling 22 per cent, followed by RBL Bank (down 21.88 per cent) and Magma Fincorp (down 21.78 per cent). DCB Bank, India Tourism Development Corporation, Tata Elxsi, Reliance Infrastructure HEG plunged 15-19 per cent during the past five sessions.CPSE ETF updateThe sixth tranche of CPSE ETF was oversubscribed five times by both institutional and retail investors, who put in bids worth over Rs 40,000 crore, as against the base issue size of Rs 8,000 crore.Stocks @fresh all-time highAs many as seven stocks on the BSE500 hit their fresh all-time highs during the week. They included Infosys, SBI and HDFC. HDFC AMC, Procter & Gamble, SBI Life Insurance and Intellect Design Arena also scaled fresh all-time highs. Scrips at fresh life lowsOn the BSE500 index, The New India Assurance, Housing & Urban Development Corporation, Reliance Power, Central Bank of India, Vodafone Idea, Network 18 and Eris Lifesciences hit new all-time lows. Sectoral updateSector-wise, the BSE IT and Teck indices gained more than 1 per cent during the week. However, the BSE Auto, Telecom, Capital Goods, Metal, Bankex and Oil & Gas indices weakened up to 5.85 per cent.
The global markets are having an undoubtedly strong party and our markets are sitting over here, sweating it out, trying to grapple through the domestic news flow, says Kunal Bothra, Independent Market Analyst in a conversation with ET NOW.Across the board, there has been selling pressure, volatility has been at a low and nothing spared the carnage, be it largecaps or midcaps. What is on the horizon?I will try and address it in two different ongoing situations. One is that the global markets are having an undoubtedly strong party and our markets are sitting over here, sweating it out, trying to grapple through the domestic news flow which has been going on for the last couple of weeks. I think that is one big overhang because if the global party takes a pause and our markets rejoin them, how would the balance be for our markets? That is a very big question mark because we are severely underperforming with such a strong global market. Then you look at the second spectrum which is the market internals. The largecap falling indicates there still is a lot of institutional wholesale selling which is happening in the stocks. It is not just retail-based selling because not only midcap stocks but even largecaps participated on the downside. Nifty is breaking some key supports in terms of technical levels and thus the internals of the markets are also not improving. All those signs indicate that there could be more pain left for the indices. Rather than playing for a very short-term bounce, which could happen if the indicators are oversold, play for medium-term downtrend which could be the trend for the next couple of weeks.How do you expect IndiGo to behave when the market opens on Monday?The stock should open with a decent gap up as it has shown a lot of resilience, not just last week and especially on Friday, but throughout the last 9-10 months of this heightened market volatility; a complex situation. IndiGo stock has managed to perform extremely well. So, it should not come as a surprise to the market. Now, the next level of targets for IndiGo could be closer to Rs 1590-1600 and that is where I believe the stock should be heading on the back of these strong results.What are your top picks for the week ahead?I will go with one buy and one sell recommendation. We are expecting the market to remain volatile for the first half of next week as well. So, the first is a buy on Power Grid. We saw a lot of PSUs making a very good comeback on Friday in terms of price patterns and volumes coming back. Power Grid could be in line for some more recovery. It has also traditionally been one of the low bit of stocks. With the market getting a bit volatile, try to shield trading ideas with a few low beta names. In that regard, Power Grid is a buy with a target of Rs 212 and the stop loss at Rs 202. Apollo Tyres is a stock I have been bearish on for the last couple of weeks or rather months. The stock continues to drag lower. In fact, on Friday, the stock made a fresh low swing for itself. So, the weakness could continue for Apollo. Hence I suggest a sell call there, with a target of Rs 165 approximately and stop loss at Rs 180.
NEW DELHI: Chinese handset maker Xiaomi is making another attempt at cracking India's mid-to-premium market with its latest handsets under its newly created sub-brand Redmi. With powerful specs and flagship design, the market leader is going aggressively in the $300 to $500 segment, competing with One Plus 7, Vivo, Oppo and Samsung.ManuKumar Jain, global VP Xiaomi and MD Xiaomi India said the handset maker is more focused on the mid and premium segment as more customers are looking for upgrade. "We are now starting to see a movement and growth potential in mid and premium segments. We want to tap new customer segments with new phones. It will help our brand positioning in India," Jain said.The top variant of Redmi K20 Pro is priced at Rs 30,999. It also launched Redmi K20 at a starting price of Rs 21,999. According to Counterpoint Research analysis, the premium segment Rs 30,000 and above is the fast-growing segment at 20% compared to 10% growth for the overall market.Redmi as a sub-brand now spans a very wide price range from less than $100 to nearing $500 with K20 Pro. Analysts believe that It will be the most important brand for Xiaomi going forward.Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint said that the premium and even mid-segment is offering enough room to every brand to grow. "We are seeing different tiers of premium emerging now with different use cases such as camera or gaming."Xiaomi had previously tried to disrupt the premium segment with its Poco F1 smartphone with Snapdragon 845 processor but priced it below the premium category. It also has its Mi smartphone portfolio which it uses in European markets to offer premium handsets.Jain said that there could be smartphones from its sub-brand and other portiolio in the same price category, but they will target different customer segments. "…some cannibalisation will happen, but not much.""We expect the Redmi K series to become a disruptor in the market," he added.Navkendar Singh, research director at IDC India said that the K series is an important launch for Xiaomi in terms of both giving flagship specs at such an aggressive price while also "attempting to climb up the price ladder with more seriousness (vs Poco F1) , more specifically for Redmi as a brand.""This should be seen as a step in the right direction by Xiaomi. Its customer base acquired in last 2 years or so, mainly in $100 to 300 segment, will be looking to upgrade now and Xiaomi would like to ring fence them within the Xiaomi brand family," Singh added.Xiaomi, which has just completed five years in India, is also planning to replicate the success in the handset across all other product categories like consumer durables and connected devices. "Our next five years will focus on replicating the handset success across other categories," Jain said.Xiaomi had 46% online volume market share in January-May period, as per Counterpoint data. It also remained the leader with an overall 30% share during the same period.Jain said that Xiaomi has learned a lot from its rival Samsung for devising the offline strategy. "They have built a phenomenal brand and reach in India. We learn from all other brands."On competition, Jain said that other brands have started copying Xiaomi's brand strategy by launching different sub-brands and "series" smartphones for the Indian market. "Imitation is a sincerest form of flattery. We have changed the game and redefined how smartphone markets should behave and are not worried at all about the competition."Interestingly, Xiaomi's bitter rival Realme's India CEO Madhav Sheth had recently told ET that India's top smartphone maker is "insecure" about the relative newcomer's success. 70261717
Indian Railways to display details of 1.25 lakh foot and rail overbridges On Saturday union railway minister Piyush Goyal announced the same after he inaugurated revamp of Byculla station.
Ahmedabad: Man fails to pay cricket bet money, gets abducted by 3 During the cricket world cup, Nilesh lost Rs 15 lakh in cricket betting and he was in debt of his friend Vijay Chawda, a resident of Junagadh
Navghar-Chirner corridor: Panel suggest Term of reference This corridor would also be useful for the development of upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, JNPT Port, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation invites tender for Gokhale bridge To reconstruct the slopes on both sides of the structure, estimate cost at Rs 88 crore
