A suicide car bomber and gunmen attacked a hotel where a political gathering was taking place in port city of Kismayo.
The death toll from a hotel attack in Somalia rose to 26 on Saturday with victims including Kenyans, Tanzanians, Americans, a Briton, a Canadian as well as prominent Somali politicians.
A presidential candidate for upcoming regional elections was also killed in the siege in Kismayo city that was carried out by al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, Jubbaland President Ahmed Mohamed said in a statement.
More than 50 people were also wounded. Police in the southern port city earlier put the toll at 13.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday he had approved the creation of a space command within the French air force to improve the country's defence capabilities.
Addressing military personnel a day before the Bastille Day parade, Macron said the new military doctrine setting up a space command would strengthen protection of French satellites. He said the investment involved had yet to determined.
"To give substance to this doctrine and ensure the development and reinforcement of our space capabilities, a space command will be created next September in the air force," Macron said, adding that it would later become the Space and Air Force.
The department says officials have provided consular services to the person in custody.
OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada says a Canadian citizen has been detained in Yantai, China.
The department says officials have provided consular services to the person in custody.
It said in an email statement on Friday that it could not release any other details about the Canadian's detention because of provisions of the Privacy Act.
Global Affairs would not comment on whether the detention is related to the detention by Chinese police of seven foreign teachers and nine foreign students on drug allegations in eastern China.
A U.S. service member died early Saturday morning while deployed in Afghanistan, military officials said.
The NATO-led Resolute Support mission gave no further details and withheld identifying the service member, pending notification to next of kin.
This death marks the 10th U.S. service member to be killed in combat in Afghanistan this year. It comes following seven rounds of U.S.-led peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
In a telephone interview, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told the Associated Press that the militant group was behind Saturday's killing. He said two U.S. service personnel were killed when Taliban militants attacked a tank in Sayed Abad district of central Wardak province, some 40 miles south of Kabul. The discrepancy between the number of fatalities given by the U.S. and the Taliban could not be immediately explained, but the Taliban often exaggerate their claims.
North Korea has embarked on an accelerated buildup of weapons of mass destruction and modernization of its already large conventional force.
The United States and its Asian allies regard North Korea as a grave security threat. North Korea has one of the world's largest conventional military forces, which, combined with its missile and nuclear tests and aggressive rhetoric, has aroused concern worldwide. But world powers have been ineffective in slowing its path to acquire nuclear weapons.
Nearly half a million believers have declared they're rushing Area 51 to "see them aliens."
By late Friday, 496,000 Facebook users RSVPd "yes" in hopes of catching up with their other-worldly friends at the event "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" on Sept. 20 in the Nevada desert. An additional 494,000 users responded that they were interested.
"We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry," according to the event organizer, whose Facebook handle is Sh**posting cause im in shambles.
China and Russia's intention to pursue hypersonic weapons lit a fire under the U.S. military, forcing it to re-invigorate its own programs.
But just how far the two rivals have come in their own programs and whether or not they can penetrate the United States' missile defenses is a matter of debate. Are they behind?
Have they caught up? Or are they ahead of the United States when it comes to this disruptive technology?
WNU Editor: I know that both China and Russia are serious when it comes to developing hypersonic weapons. They have not only invested monies and resources to make it happen, but more importantly both Presidents Putin and Xi have invested their political capital on its success. As to how advanced their programs are .... from what I have read the Russians are ahead, but they are limited in having the resources to deploy a significant number of these weapons .... U.S. Intelligence: Russia Will Only Make A Few Units Of A Hypersonic Weapon (July 2, 2019). The American version will catch up when testing begins later this year or next .... U.S. Navy Gets Ready For Hypersonic Weapons (July 1, 2019), and the Chinese version exists in propaganda videos .... New Propaganda Video Shows China Simulating A Hypersonic Missile Attack On Enemy Forces (June 28, 2019).
New weapons and technologies arming the Air Force's stealthy B-2 bombers are expected to bring "massive firepower to even the most heavily-defended targets," according to an official service acquisition report.
Specific adjustments, as outlined by the report, include the expected delivery of a new "earth-penetrating" upgraded B-61 mod 12 nuclear bomb for the aircraft - to arrive as soon as this year. Secondly, the stealth bomber is now being integrated with a new suite of on-board technologies to include improved sensors, avionics, intelligence and targeting, according to the Air Force 2018 Annual Acquisition Report.
The new avionics and targeting suite, called the Defense Management System (DMS), brings the aircraft an entirely new generation of technologies enabling the aircraft to elude enemy attacks and air-defense.
WASHINGTON - An American war against China or Russia would be truly awful. Even if the United States won — no sure thing — it could well suffer costs and casualties that would make the toll of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seem minor by comparison. So is there a way the U.S. could stymie a Chinese attack in the Pacific, or a Russian land-grab in Eastern Europe, without having to defeat enemy forces head-on? This is the motivating question behind the idea of "horizontal escalation."
Horizontal escalation is a strategic concept that relies on attacking an adversary's weaknesses outside the theater where the fighting started, so as to avoid confronting its strengths within that theater. It is an alluring idea that has won support from some key national security professionals. Unfortunately, it probably won't work.
Horizontal escalation is a response to a genuinely difficult problem: the immense challenges associated with directly defeating Chinese or Russian aggression.
WNU Editor: This is a good review on how "horizontal escalation" will be applied by the U.S. in any war against Russia or China. In short .... horizontal escalation is a strategic concept that relies on attacking China's or Russia's weaknesses outside the theater where the fighting started. In the case of Russia, it will be to attack Russian forces in places like Syria while imposing an all out trade and financial embargo. In the case of a Chinese attack in the Pacific, a naval blockade and complete financial/economic sanctions. The problem with this concept is that both countries will respond, and they will do so by attacking U.S. forces outside of the theatre where the fighting started, as well as attacking U.S. allies. And when that happens, I know in the case of Russia it will only be a short period of time before strategic nuclear weapons are used, and in the case of China, I can easily foresee the use of tactical weapons being used within a week.
A military spy satellite has come crashing down to earth after the failure of its launch rocket, sending the expensive payload into the Atlantic. The UAE-owned Falcon Eye 1 was intended for dual-use, meaning both military and civilian reconnaissance applications. And on the military side, one of the objectives of a UAE satellite—given the current situation in the region—would have been monitoring Iran.
Tensions in the Middle East remain high, between the U.S. and regional allies on one side, and Iran on the other. The UAE is seen by Teheran as part of that enemy axis led by the U.S. and set against Iranian interests. One of the core military objectives of the two Falcon Eye satellites—of which this was the first— is to monitor UAE's borders—especially its long maritime shoreline. And when it comes to the integrity of that maritime border, given those ongoing tensions, that means monitoring the activities of Iran in the Persian Gulf.
This is not something Washington should rush into.
Kenneth Adelman, a former assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a prominent figure in the U.S. foreign policy community, famously predicted in 2002 that a war to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would be a "cakewalk." President Donald Trump apparently learned nothing from Adelman's hubris and rosy optimism. Although he aborted a planned airstrike on Iran at the last minute, Trump later warned Iranian leaders that the military option was still very much on the table. He added that if the United States used force against Iran, Washington would not put boots on the ground but would wage the conflict entirely with America's vast air and naval power. There was no doubt in his mind about the outcome. He asserted that such a war "wouldn't last very long," and that it would mean the "obliteration" of Iran.
WNU Editor: All wars never end up as expected, especially in the Middle East. Does President Trump understand this .... I would like to think the answer is yes. Does Iran understand this .... I have doubts, and with sanctions now making an Iranian economy even worse than what it is, I have concerns on what they may do next.
House Democrats closed ranks to pass a massive $733 billion defense policy bill on Friday, teeing up a partisan clash with Senate Republicans over military funding and contentious foreign policy issues.
The National Defense Authorization Act was approved 220 to 197, with all House Republicans opposing the bill — enough to sustain a promised veto from President Donald Trump.
WNU Editor: This budget in its current form will be vetoed by President Trump. It endorses a smaller military budget than Republicans sought, blocks military action against Iran without congressional approval, reverses Trump's transgender troop ban, blocks his efforts to tap the defense budget to construct more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and puts limits on nuclear weapons programs.
A MASSIVE 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck west of the Australian beach resort of Broome on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said, in what is believed to have been the strongest tremor to ever hit the state.
FOREIGN Minister Jeremy Hunt has told Iran that the UK would be prepared to hand the Grace I oil tanker back to Tehran if it receives guarantees it will not head to Syria.
CHINA will be the main challenge to US security for the next 100 years according to General Mark A. Milley, who is set to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
DONALD TRUMP's administration have signalled a potential trans Atlantic post Brexit trade deal may depend on whether the next British Prime Minister is willing to fall in line with the US policy on Huawei.
ANGEA Merkel's coalition ally Germany's Social Democrats have attacked Ursula von der Leyen as an "inappropriate candidate" to lead the European Commission ahead of a vote on her nomination next week.
NORTH Korea's nuclear missiles can now hit anywhere in the United States, defence chiefs have acknowledged, confirming what has been suspected since Pyongyang's infamous weapons tests in 2017.
MOSCOW — A Russian Proton-M rocket successfully delivered a cutting-edge space telescope into orbit Saturday after days of launch delays, Russia’s space agency said.
Roscosmos said the telescope, named Spektr-RG, was delivered into a parking orbit before a final burn Saturday that kicked the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and on to its final destination: the L2 Lagrange point.
Lagrange points are unique positions in the solar system where objects can maintain their position relative to the sun and the planets that orbit it. Located 1.5 million kilometers (0.93 million miles) from Earth, L2 is particularly ideal for telescopes such as Spektr-RG.
If all goes well, the telescope will arrive at its designated position in three months, becoming the first Russian spacecraft to operate beyond Earth’s orbit since the Soviet era. The telescope aims to conduct a complete x-ray survey of the sky by 2025, the first space telescope to do so.
The Russian accomplishment comes as the U.S. space agency NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.
Russian space science missions have suffered greatly since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Budget cuts have forced the Russian space program to shift toward more commercial efforts.
A Russian Mars probe, called Mars 96, failed to leave Earth’s orbit in 1996. A later attempt to send a probe to Mars, called Fobos-Grunt, suffered a similar fate in 2011.
Work on Spektr-RG telescope began in the 1980s but was scrapped in the 1990s. Spektr-RG was revived in 2005 and redesigned to be smaller, simpler and cheaper.
In its modern form, the project is a close collaboration between Russian and German scientists, who both installed telescope equipment aboard the Russian spacecraft.
CAIRO — Egypt is opening two of its earliest pyramids, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the capital Cairo, to visitors for the first time since 1965.
Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany also told reporters on Saturday that Egyptian archeologists have uncovered a collection of stone, clay and wooden sarcophagi, some of them with mummies, in the Dahshur royal necropolis.
He says archeologists also found wooden funerary masks along with instruments used in cutting stones, dating to the Late Period (664-332 B.C.).
The Dahshur necropolis area is home to what is considered to be some of the earliest pyramids, including Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid.
Egypt hopes such discoveries will spur tourism, which is partially driven by antiquities sightseeing hit hard by political turmoil following the 2011 uprising.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with TIME correspondents Brian Bennett and Joseph Hincks at his residence in Jerusalem on June 25. The following excerpts from the conversation have been condensed and edited for clarity.
TIME: You are on track to surpass Ben-Gurion as the — as Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister. How does Netanyahu’s Israel look different from Ben-Gurion’s Israel?
NETANYAHU: Well, it has some of the same elements and foundations. First of all, Ben-Gurion established the renewed sovereignty of the Jewish people in our ancestral homeland. That’s an historic achievement. He also laid the foundations for the Israeli Army to guarantee that that reality persists. The way I’ve tried to contribute to the country — and I think it’s changed dramatically — is in the development of Israel as a global technological power. The rise of Israel among the community of nations is the rise of Israeli innovation and technology, both in the civilian field and the military and intelligence field. Israel has now become an important power in the world in these two leading respects.
TIME: What are the factors that contributed to that shift for Israel?
NETANYAHU: The most important one, and one that I’ve fought for and worked hard for, is to open up Israel’s economy, open it up to competition, open it up to the free movement of ideas and goods and people, open it up to success, and open it up to failure. Turning Israel into a free market economy I think was the second critical factor that made Israel the power, the rising power that it is among the countries. The first was the high intensity use of our most gifted men and women in our military for intelligence purposes.
TIME: What can be done to help the millions of people who live in the Occupied Territories who haven’t benefited economically or personally from that rise?
NETANYAHU: Well, I’d separate Gaza from the West Bank, from Judea Samaria, because there the Palestinian economy is on a much better footing, probably double the per capita income that they have in Gaza. Gaza is basically controlled by Hamas, which is a militant Islamic organization that really doesn’t allow any kind of real development to take place because they take all the money that comes in from international support — and there’s quite a bit of it — and they put it into turning tunnels into a terror machine. Because militarily, we’re in charge of the West Bank, we control the territory militarily. There’s no siphoning off of money for that purpose. And in fact, it’s doing better. I like to see more and more and more investments go to — in the private sector — go to the Palestinian areas for joint Israeli Palestinian efforts. Some of that is taking place any way. And I think what Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt has embarked in Bahrain could be tremendously beneficial to the Palestinians.
TIME: But the Palestinian officials wouldn’t even show up in Bahrain for that.
NETANYAHU: Let the markets do their thing. Because if we can get this ball rolling then I think it would enhance Palestinian lives, and I think it will also enhance peace. It’s not a substitute — economic development is not a substitute for political negotiations. It’s not a substitute for political solutions but it sure makes it a lot easier, and I — this automatic boycott by the Palestinians of a conference that is meant to give them a better life, and then to lay the foundations for political negotiations for peace, which is what the Trump plan is going to propose, I think that this automatic boycott is boycotting their own future. That’s what the Palestinians are doing.
TIME: Is the Trump plan going to propose annexation of settlements in the West Bank?
NETANYAHU: Well, I think we have to leave it to the plan as it comes out, and I’ll be able to respond to that when it’s —
TIME: Is there something you’re looking for in that plan?
NETANYAHU: I think everybody recognizes that under any peace proposal, any realistic peace proposal, there are areas in Judea and Samaria that have already become basically part of Israel already. And I separate that as a fact rather than as an ideological-political position. It’s a fact. Half of Jerusalem is beyond the proverbial green line. The ’67 separation. Does anyone believe that we’ll tear up half of Jerusalem? Nobody believes that.
TIME: Many say the series of taking more and more of the steps off the table has driven the Palestinians away from the peace process.
NETANYAHU: Oh, I don’t — they were offered everything, just about everything in Camp David in 2000, with President Clinton and the then Prime Minister Barak, and they walked away from that. They walk away each time. They walked away with Olmert. They walked away with Obama when President Obama and John Kerry wanted to propose a framework for negotiations. I said, you know — I was reelected. I had my reservations, but I said, yeah, I’ll go there. For peace, I’ll be there and we’ll negotiate. They wouldn’t go there. So they walk away. They serially walk away from any negotiations that will present a workable peace. And a workable peace means — it ultimately means compromise. They don’t have to announce in advance what their compromise will be. I don’t expect that from them, and they shouldn’t expect it from us. But we should be able to get into a room and begin to discuss it. They refused to enter the room.
TIME: Retired Israeli generals have suggested that any sort of annexation of West Bank settlements would result in the collapse of security cooperation imposing incredible economic and security costs on Israel. Do you disagree that that’s the case?
NETANYAHU: Well, listen, I heard the same thing about the Golan, that if the United States recognized our effective sovereignty over the Golan Heights, it would collapse any possibility of a process with Syria, and so on. It wasn’t true then, it’s not true here because the Palestinians themselves know that the areas — which are by the way a very small part, the populated areas are a very small part of the West Bank of Judea and Samaria. That that’s going to stay part of Israel. They know it. So let’s stop the pretense. How about let’s just talk straight, you know? If you want, if you are a maximalist and you demand, basically what you’re really seeking is the dismantling of Israel, the dissolution of the Jewish state. Going back to the orchards of Jaffa or Akko, these are places — Israeli towns on the seacoast — and you really want to reverse the last 70 years of history, then you’d take these positions, the maximalist positions that the Palestinians take. And nobody challenges it! In fact, they’ve been pampered too long. The reason we can’t get peace is because nobody goes to the heart of the problem, which is the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any borders. And when I ask them, okay, will you sit down with us to negotiate such a compromise? And then they don’t. And that has to be addressed and challenged. And I’m glad somebody is doing it, or appears to be doing it.
TIME: Former Prime Minister Olmert still insists that Abbas is the man to make peace. Is that not the case?
NETANYAHU: Let’s see. You know? Let’s see. I don’t choose the leaders for the Palestinians. It’s not that they have exactly the same democratic functions that we have, but I don’t intervene in the choice, in the process by which the Palestinian leadership comes to the fore. But let them come, let them negotiate. Why boycott? Why say no? No to Bahrain, an economic conference that is intended to bring billions of dollars of investment. Can you imagine this? Billions of dollars to the Palestinians, and no to the Trump plan before you’ve even heard it? That’s supposed to bring a political solution? How can you do that?
TIME: First-year members of Congress, first-year Democrats, have been critical of Israel quite vocally recently. Representative Ilhan Omar said that Israel was an apartheid regime. What is your response to this?
NETANYAHU: I think it’s — I think it’s nonsense. But it’s shameful nonsense because the one true democracy in the Middle East is Israel, the one country that ensures the full civic equality of its Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. Anybody can be in Israel. Everyone is equal under the law. Everyone has the right to be elected, and in fact, are elected to the Knesset, to the government. So a) the legal structure is the exact opposite of what she’s describing, and it’s only so in Israel. When you look around the Middle East, you see Christians being slaughtered, synagogues and churches being destroyed. Muslims of one sect destroying Muslims of other sects, and so on. The militant Islam and its firebrands are tearing the place apart. And this is what this representative has to say? Why is she not speaking out against the torture and hanging of gays in so many parts of the Middle East. In Iran. Why is she not speaking about the executions, the wholesale executions that go on in the marketplace inside Gaza against innocent Palestinians? Why is she not speaking about the way women are treated as chattel, not only enslaved but also murdered. I don’t hear any of that in so many of the countries around us. She has to talk about Israel, the one place where we have, you know, where we have a woman Supreme Court Justice, and where we have women fighter pilots, and where we have women who are taking part in every realm, aspect of life? I mean it’s just absurd.
TIME: When you look at the economic data, Israeli Arabs have not benefited as much as other citizens of Israel from the economic boom. What do you have to say about that? What could be done?
NETANYAHU: Well, I’ve been working very hard to change that. If you actually go beyond the — all these stereotypes — and you look at what we’re doing, what my government has done is to take $15 billion shekels — that’s a lot of money in Israel — and put it into a multi-year plan that has already had a measurable effect for improving the lives, and especially the infrastructure in the Arab sector. That’s a massive amount of money for roads, for schools, for clinics, for transportation. Transportation is important inside the communities because if a woman, an Arab woman in Israel, an Arab citizen of Israel, a woman wants to go to work, it’s very hard for her to get to work if she wants to go to — have herself educated. She has to get there. And if she doesn’t have her own private transportation –. You have to take care of public transportation. I did! Well, look, can you imagine there wasn’t any in Israel for so many years? We’ve done the same in so many other fields, and I’m glad because I want to see all of the citizens of Israel — Arabs and Jews alike — to have the same opportunity to benefit in this amazing success story that’s called the state of Israel….. So this is something I’m genuinely committed to. It’s not something that I just say. We actually passed these budgets, and we don’t just create budgets out of thin air. It always comes at the expense of something else. I thought this was important. So important that I was willing to prioritize it and put it in as part of our budgets, and I’m very glad to see and to hear the Arab citizens of Israel say, “This is good! We want to be part of Israel. We want to be part of Israeli society.” Are there gaps? Sure. Are we closing those gaps? You bet.
TIME: Do you worry that down the road in the U.S. there’s going to be less support for Israel in a future administration? And are you under pressure to give now in the peace process, or give some concessions now because future administrations may be less friendly to Israel?
NETANYAHU: Uh, look, I think there’s a continual effort on the part of Israel, certainly under my government, to reach out to — first of all to the American people because ultimately in our democracies, our twin democracies, and we are exactly that, we’re twin democracies, ultimately the power rests with the public. And it rests with public opinion. And Israel has to continually make its case before American public opinion. It’s generally been successful because the support for Israel has risen dramatically, and … consistently, over the last 40 years. And it encompasses the vast majority of the American people. But we also have opposition. We also have a lot of vilification, a lot of stereotyping of Israel.
TIME: You’ve been a polarizing figure among American Jews. Do you feel like you’ve played a role in increasing the divide between U.S. and Israeli Jews?
NETANYAHU: I don’t think I’ve been a polarizing figure at all. What, more than any other prime minister that I know to incorporate the diaspora Jews, the Jews of the United States, and other countries, to make them feel at home in Israel. To make arrangements and such things as conversion, marriage. And then prayer sites. It always involves, because of our system, compromises. These are never perfect solutions. But I’ve actually incorporated into law our communal responsibility with our fellow Jews abroad. So I’m often described in some circles in the way that you describe, but it’s not true. It doesn’t reflect on — it doesn’t reflect my basic tendency. I want every Jew to feel at home in Israel.
TIME: Has the Trump Administration’s policy on Iran made Israel more unsafe?
NETANYAHU: The answer categorically is no. What has made Israel — what has challenged Israel’s security is Iran’s goal, one, to have nuclear weapons, which they intend to use to annihilate Israel. And second, their attempts to bring their Army or pieces of their Army into Syria, right in Israel’s backyard with the express purpose of destroying Israel, with those forces. We have acted militarily against the Iranian attempt in Syria, and will continue to do so, because how would you act if you knew that somebody’s coming, right next to your neighborhood, and pledges to bring missiles and other lethal weapons to kill you and destroy you? Obviously, you’d try to stop them, which is what we’re doing in Syria. And equally, we appreciate the fact that President Trump has put crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy because what we see is those sanctions are actually drying up some of the funds that go to this war front in Syria. We see that very, very clearly. So I think on the contrary, that’s made us absolutely safer.
TIME: If Iran starts stockpiling nuclear material beyond the JCPOA and other agreements, what kind of action are you willing to take?
NETANYAHU: We’ll take whatever action is necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
TIME: Does that include an open strike on Iranian nuclear facilities?
NETANYAHU: Whatever action is necessary will be taken.
TIME: Are those facilities too far underground to be impacted by strikes?
NETANYAHU: Let’s consider what an intelligent journalist like you would consider an intelligent response to that. If I say yes or if I say no. I think neither one is satisfactory, so I’m just going to say we’ll take whatever action is needed.
TIME: The elections are coming up in September. One political analyst said some Israeli voters see the choice between the “indispensable Netanyahu” and “Bibi-fatigue.”
NETANYAHU: Journalists — yeah, they have Netanyahu fatigue from Day One. They didn’t have to go through these 13 years of my service in the office. They have it after 13 days. After 13 minutes. But there’s a very large majority, a very large part of the Israeli public that appreciates what we’ve been doing for the country. For its economy, for its security, for its diplomatic standing, for the state.
TIME: Have the corruption investigations weakened you politically?
NETANYAHU: I don’t think so. I think it actually works the other way around because people just don’t buy it. They think it’s concoction and I know it’s a concoction because there’s nothing there. So ultimately nothing will remain. But people by and large — my supporters — have been, if anything, energized by it.
TIME: You’ve said you don’t intend to pass legislation to protect you from criminal prosecution. Does that mean that you intend to contest the criminal trial as prime minister. And how might that detract from your running of the country?
NETANYAHU: Well, number one, I won’t pass, and didn’t intend to pass, any special immunity laws. That’s just not true. I mean it’s repeated ad nauseam. But it’s actually false. We never intended, and don’t need it, and didn’t ask for it. We have perfectly good — there’s a perfectly good immunity law in Israel. Whether I’ll need it or not, first let’s see what happens in the hearing. I think the hearing should come to nothing. If it doesn’t, then an Israeli prime minister can serve or can ask for immunity for his period of service. And I haven’t decided yet what I’ll do.
TIME: Last question Mr. Prime Minister. What has been the key to your political survival?
NETANYAHU: That I don’t look at survival. I don’t look at my survival. I look at the survival of the country — its durability, its future. And I have done things including dozens and dozens of economic reforms and a leveraging of the special capabilities that we’ve developed here through market reforms and innovation and technology and cybersecurity; and water and agriculture and transportation; and life sciences. We’ve taken these extraordinary abilities that Israel is now producing and have transferred it to security and political alliances around the world. I think the people of Israel see this. They see this.
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Managing China's $13.6 trillion economy was a less than enviable task before the trade war. Now it's downright daunting.U.S. tariffs are an obvious challenge. They've eroded American demand for Chinese exports and left many of the factories that produce those goods in danger of shutting. And while there's a truce and negotiators are talking again, a quick deal seems unlikely.As Beijing considers how to cushion the blow from trade, it'll also have to weigh the country's other major challenge: debt. China's total debt surged to 271% of gross domestic product last year, from 164% before the global financial crisis, according to estimates by Bloomberg Economics. That's left officials wary of rolling out any broad-based stimulus.On Monday, we'll get an update of how well policy makers have managed those challenges when China releases GDP data for the second quarter. Economists are expecting growth to have slowed to 6.2% from 6.4% in the previous quarter. 70187175 Expansion at 6.2%, even though it'd be the slowest in more than two decades, is something Beijing should find acceptable. It's well within China's official target for this year of between 6% to 6.5% growth.But there are clouds on the horizon. The truce presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shook on in Japan is no guarantee that the two sides strike a deal. And if they don't, U.S. tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese imports could well be on their way.That's not a blow China's economy appears ready to shrug off. Data for June showed that manufacturing activity contracted for a second consecutive month. A report on Chinese factory prices this week revealed that they'd fallen to just shy of deflation.All that uncertainty is sure to keep policy makers in Beijing burning the candle at both ends.Beyond tradeTensions in China's relationship with the U.S. haven't been limited to trade. This week, the U.S. State Department's decision to approve the sale of a $2 billion package of arms to Taiwan sparked a strong rebuke from Beijing. Meanwhile, Hong Kong media tycoon and outspoken China critic Jimmy Lai visited Washington, where he got a welcome that rankled Beijing. Lai's trip included meetings with National Security Adviser John Bolton, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the sort of hospitality usually reserved for the most-senior dignitaries. Hong KongIn Hong Kong, Chief Executive Carrie Lam declared that the city's controversial extradition bill was "dead." What she didn't say was that the bill had been withdrawn, which is what local demonstrators have demanded and why protest leaders responded to Lam's remarks with a vow to return to the streets. That's not good news for business, which is starting to feel the affects. Protesters this week began calling on advertisers to pull commercials from the city's largest broadcaster, claiming that Television Broadcasts Ltd.'s coverage of the demonstrations has been biased.Police Custody More also emerged this week about the circumstances surrounding the detention of Camsing International's chairwoman. Shares of the Hong Kong-listed company plunged after it revealed police in Shanghai had taken Chairwoman Lo Ching into custody. What the company didn't explain was why she'd been detained. Noah Holdings, one of China's largest wealth managers, followed with a statement saying one of its funds had lent money to companies related to Camsing and that Lo had been detained in connection with suspected fraudulent activity.Venture CapitalMeanwhile, there are signs that a boom in venture capital investing in China may be coming to an end. New data from research firm Preqin showed the amount of money invested in the second quarter fell 77% from a year earlier to $9.4 billion, while the number of deals halved. Some companies are still raising money. One example is Meicai, a Chinese start up that connects vegetable farmers with restaurants, which this week began looking to secure at least $500 million at a valuation of between $10 billion to $20 billion.Out of SchoolAnd finally, Chinese universities will be graduating more than 8 million students this summer. Unfortunately, it's not the greatest job market to be entering thanks to slowing growth and the ongoing trade war, even for those earning degrees from the country's most-prestigious institutions. The solution some are choosing is to either delay their graduation or to opt for a gap year. Why? They believe the worst will pass. 70187191
Dewan Housing Finance Limited today reported Rs 2,223 crore net loss for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019 against profit in the period a year ago as the financials were strained by increased provisioning and slowdown in disbursements. The company is undergoing financial stress since second half of last financial year and has suffered consistent downgrades. During the same quarter in the previous year, DHFL had reported profit of Rs 134 crore. It has made additional provisioning of Rs 3,280 crore in Q4, 2018-19. For the full year 2018-19, net loss stood at Rs 1,036 crore against profit of Rs 1,240 crore in 2017-18.The management is looking to monetize its assets and is in discussions with banks and international financial institutions to sell off its retail as well as wholesale portfolio. It is in discussions with the consortium of bankers and lenders to restructure its borrowings. For the full year, assets under management grew 8% to Rs 1,19,992 crore."Since the last 9 months, with single minded focus, we have met all our financial obligations and are looking to return to business normalcy at the earliest," said Kapil Wadhawan chairman and managing director DHFL. "DHFL aims to continue to protect all stakeholders, creditors & investors - big or small. "DHFL has made repayments of over Rs 41,800 crore primarily through securitization of assets and repayment collections since September 2018.On 5th June 2019, the credit rating was reduced to 'default grade' despite there being no default till that date. The company's ability to raise funds has been substantially impaired and the business has been brought to a standstill with there being virtually no disbursements.The company is in an advanced stage of submitting its resolution process under the inter-creditor agreement. The inter-creditor agreement will examine and firm up the terms of the resolution process by July 25, 2019 and make it operational before September 25, 2019.It is in the process of identifying a strategic investor is also nearing completion which will bring in an equity investor into DHFL to bolster its capital base. The board will meet in the next two weeks to look through the potential proposals and will decide accordingly on the way forward."The joint lender forum has also taken into account the need for recommencement of business by DHFL and commence originating new home loans," company said. "Banks would enable the infusion of necessary liquidity into the system."The company today appointed Asish Saraf - senior vice president, as the Chief Risk Officer of the Company. DHFL expects that it will be able to restart its business in August 2019 and scale it up in the months ahead.
If one leaves aside the twists and turns in the ongoing power tussle in Karnataka, there is nothing unexpected about these developments for two reasons.First, from when HD Kumaraswamy became chief minister in May 2018, the alliance resembled a boyhood duo running a three-legged race with partners out of step with one another. Additionally, those not selected to run the course constantly tried tripping the two.Second, it was obvious that the Lok Sabha results would immediately impact the government's stability. Although one can theorise on inducements offered, there is no ignoring that the era of politicians' declining commitment to ideology or programmes is a national reality. Most enter public life with the objective of being on the winning side. Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa spoke for himself, but voiced the thoughts of the larger political class, when he said: "We are not hermits."Political power and the lure of office is what counts and explains the still ongoing events in the BJP's southern bastion and to some extent in Maharashtra where the leader of the Opposition, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, abandoned the Congress party for a prized portfolio in the Devendra Fadnavis government. Likewise, Jaydutt Kshirsagar crossed over from the Nationalist Congress Party to Shiv Sena and secured a position in the state cabinet. But if crossovers in Karnataka are aimed at snatching reins of power and those in Maharashtra are indicative of pre-election switch over — a common phenomenon in India now (more than 70 prominent politicians crossed camps before the Lok Sabha polls and secured nominations) the surprising developments in Goa are symptomatic of the BJP's ceaseless efforts at consolidating power even in a territory where the party narrowly lost the South Goa seat to the Congress. Somewhat similar was the desertion of two thirds of the Congress legislative party to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. An 'operation' similar to the ones in these states, is imminent in Madhya Pradesh, too, where Kamal Nath will sooner than later have to navigate choppy waters.On the face of it, if events in these four states are to be seen as evidence of the BJP using the temptation of office, worry over action for alleged past indiscretions or misdemeanours and desire to be on the winning horse, these developments also underscore complete failure of the Congress — and the JD(S) — in coping with the post May 23 scenario.It almost appears that the opposition has thrown in the towel despite the odd unexpected turn at the hustings — the local body polls immediately after the Lok Sabha polls provided a verdict in the reverse. This is also a pointer to the structural anomaly in Indian politics and the failure of the Anti-defection law in preventing political opportunism.Part of the problem stems from lawmakers not being true to the primary factor behind their victory — was it due to personal popularity, ideology, party or the leadership? In many cases, especially in several elections since 2014, the primary reason for the successes of BJP candidates is the overarching idea, which has been successfully built by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In such a situation, those who won in state elections against this tide—and this includes Karnataka and Goa — the win was essentially for an alternate idea. Lawmakers now making a beeline for the BJP are certainly betraying the mandate of the people.Without doubt the BJP leadership's actions in this episode are driven by one facet of Chanakya's principles. Although the kingmaker's historical existence is viewed with scepticism by historians, legendary tales about his successes often highlight the tactic of spotting talent in enemy camp and winning them over to destroy the kingpin. The BJP leadership certainly sees no qualms in deploying the tactic although this may dilute its ideology. Importantly, it has been able to convince its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, about imperatives of power and realpolitik.As a result, crossovers to the party are no longer frowned upon because the ideologically committed see consistency in pursuit of programmes which strengthens the worldview of the organisation.The neo-converts, despite occasional unease with policies, programmes and periodic utterances of adversaries turned colleagues, remain mute because of the trappings of power. As these developments demonstrate, the BJP is no longer content with acquiring political power across states, it wishes to eliminate all opposition.Other dominant regional parties, like the TRS, too, are following suit and much would depend on capacity of the Congress and other opposition parties, to hold on to their terrain and start an uphill climb if and when enthusiasm over the present victors ebb.The strategy of decimating the opposition runs the risk of the 'problem of plenty' for the BJP. In Karnataka for instance, it will have to grapple with the situation arising from nominating as its candidates those former Congress or JD(S) legislators who resigned from the assembly to join the BJP. How the party leadership tackles aspirations of leaders who spent decades in the party, especially those who put up a credible fight in the last elections, will determine internal stability.In a cadre-based party, the problem of dissidence is both less and more. Lesser, because the party is more disciplined and ideology acts as glue. Greater, because rising through the ranks is a given and lateral entries cause deep disquiet through the ranks. But, power is a great leveller and the challenge before the leadership is to make an equitable distribution. Success with this will ensure BJP hegemony and keep the opposition at bay.The writer is a political commentator
When Suneeta Reddy joined Apollo Hospitals Enterprise 30 years ago, her job was to keep an eye on the company's daily revenues and occupancy and help the company raise debt. Today, as the managing director of India's largest hospital chain, her responsibilities are much wider. But numbers are still close to her heart. "It is the easiest to understand."Investors would agree with Suneeta Reddy as they look closely at the company's results to decide their course of action. And they have every reason to like what they have been seeing at Apollo over the past year.In FY2019, Apollo doubled its consolidated net profit to Rs 236 crore on revenues of Rs 9,617 crore, a growth of 17% over the previous year. This was significant since its 2017-18 bottom line was the lowest in nine years. The Chennai-based company has also made clear its intent to reduce its net debt of Rs 3,256 crore by recently selling its stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance.It is no surprise, then, that the company's shares have risen by more than a third over the past year, outperforming the S&P BSE Healthcare index and the S&P BSE Midcap index, which have fallen 9% and 6%, respectively, in the period. Apollo's peers Fortis Healthcare, Max India and Narayana Hrudalaya have declined 9%, 22% and 7%, respectively, in the same period. Apollo's market capitalisation — Rs 19,000 crore — is twice that its nearest competitor, Fortis. Of the 23 analysts monitoring the Apollo stock, 21 recommend buying it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.70207425 Apollo was founded by Suneeta Reddy's father Prathap Chandra Reddy, a cardiologist, in 1983. It is now run by Suneeta and her three sisters, Preetha, Sangita and Shobana Kamineni. Prathap Reddy is chairperson and Preetha and Shobana are vice chairpersons, while Sangita is joint managing director. "We all talk informally every day and meet at least once a month," Suneeta Reddy, the second-oldest of the sisters, tells ET Magazine in a telephonic interview. Shobana and Sangita are based in Hyderabad, while Suneeta and Preetha are in Chennai.70207436 The company's journey has mirrored the growth of India's Rs 4 lakh crore hospital industry, in which private players have gained at the expense of underfunded and illequipped government hospitals. India spends just less than 4% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, compared with a global average of 10%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Not surprisingly, its healthcare infrastructure is woefully inadequate, with just 9 beds per 10,000 people, compared with 28 beds in the US and 38 beds in China, according to the latest WHO and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data available for the countries. India has less than eight doctors for every 10,000 people, while the US has 26 and China 18. Four in every 10 hospital beds in India are in the private sector, according to government data.Apollo ended FY2019 with 70 hospitals and more than 10,000 beds. The company has been building or acquiring hospitals in cities such as Guwahati, Indore, Navi Mumbai and Lucknow since FY2015, adding to its debt and putting pressure on its margins. But that changed in FY2019, with the last of those hospitals becoming operational and their bed occupancy improving to 60% from 56% in FY2018. The new hospitals' ebitda margin — earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, which is a measure of a company's operational efficiency — also saw a marked rise in FY2019, from 2.5% to 6.3%.Moreover, the company's spend on new projects will nearly halve to Rs 200 crore in FY2020, according to Suneeta Reddy. The amount includes the money being spent on its proton cancer centre in Chennai. The capex moderation is the primary reason for investor optimism about the stock, says ICICI Direct analyst Siddhant Khandekar.Besides trimming its capex, Apollo has decided to focus on certain therapy areas to improve its margins. "This enables two things: you get better at your clinical work and it gives you the ability to price at a premium," says Suneeta Reddy, 60. For instance, the company grew its oncology business, which has a 25% margin, from Rs 600 crore in FY2018 to Rs 750 crore in FY2019, and hopes to take it to Rs 1,000 crore this year. The other high-margin segments the company is focussing on include cardiology, orthopaedics and neurology.Apollo also gives its patients the option of choosing an assured pricing plan, which insures patients against price shocks at the last moment and guarantees Apollo a margin of 20%, adds Reddy. In 2017, the government slashed the prices of cardiac stents and knee implants by up to 75%, denting healthcare companies' financials. An analysis of six hospital chains by Icra, a rating agency, found that the average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) per day rose only 3% in FY2018, compared with an annual average of 7% in the previous five years. But hospitals overcame that challenge by charging more for the services involved in a medical procedure to make up for the price reduction in medical devices."FY2018 had seen the first fall in editda of the sample set in more than five years. However, it increased thereafter, reflecting the bottoming out of the performance of the sector, after multiple headwinds," said a July 10 note by Icra, which looked at six hospital chains, whose ebitda grew 6% in FY2019.Apollo saw a 10.4% growth in its ARPOB a day in FY2019, compared with a 1.9% growth in FY2018. Still, Kapil Banga, an analyst with Icra, says the regulatory threat remains the single biggest challenge facing the healthcare sector. The government in February capped trade margins on certain cancer drugs, resulting in a price cut of up to 87%. But Deepak Malik, an analyst with Edelweiss Securities, sees the impact limited to the short term.Another government move that has implications for private hospitals is its Ayushman Bharat scheme, which provides an annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to each of 107 million beneficiary-families. While half the empanelled hospitals of the scheme are in the private sector, whether the costs quoted for procedures under the scheme would be viable for the private sector is to be seen. "We are hoping to work with the government for a more realistic compensation structure," says Reddy.The other big challenges for Apollo are its debt and its promoters' pledged shares. The recent sale of 51.2% in Apollo Munich Health Insurance to HDFC Ergo for Rs 1,347 crore will help on both fronts. 70207449 Cutting Debt Apollo, which held 10% in Apollo Munich, will get around Rs 300 crore from the deal, which will be instrumental in the company's plan to reduce its net debt from Rs 3,256 crore to less than Rs 2,500 crore by March 2020. The Reddys, who held 41% in Apollo Munich, will also use their proceeds from the deal to release their pledged shares. As of March, promoters held 34% of Apollo's shares and of that, 78% was pledged. "We believe this puts the promoters on track to release the complete pledge by year-end," said a June 19 report by JP Morgan India.Reddy is loth to discuss the other avenues the promoters have to reduce their pledged shareholding. "This is probably not the right time. We need to discuss it internally before we make the options public."On the company's debt front, while some analysts say Apollo could divest a part of its stake in its subsidiary Apollo Health and Lifestyle (AHLL) — which has fertility, diabetes and dental clinics — to deleverage its books, Reddy says there are no such plans. AHLL cut its losses by half in FY2019 and is set to break even this fiscal year, according to Edelweiss Securities.Another business that did well for Apollo last year was its pharmacies, the second biggest contributor to its revenues after hospitals. The pharmacy business posted higher revenue and ebitda growth in FY2019 than hospitals, albeit on a lower base. The company had over 3,400 pharmacies as of March 31. The company hopes the pharmacy business will generate annual revenues of Rs 10,000 crore in 4-5 years, compared with under Rs 3,900 crore in FY2019.70207458 Apollo's turnaround has come at a time when two of its peers have changed hands: Malaysia's IHH Healthcare acquired nearly a third of Fortis for Rs 4,000 crore last year and Radiant Life Care, backed by investment firm KKR, recently bought around 50% of Max Healthcare for Rs 2,130 crore. Both Fortis and Max have had their fair share of issues, with the promoters of the former accused of diverting funds from the company and the Delhi government cancelling the licence of one of Max's Delhi hospitals for medical negligence.Regardless of its competition or any new regulatory action, Apollo has a lot at stake in a smooth passing-of-the-baton in the Reddy family. The family has drawn up a succession plan for the four daughters and their 10 children, some of whom, including Suneeta Reddy's daughter Sindoori, are actively involved in the company. Suneeta says her elder sister Preetha will succeed the 87-year-old patriarch as chairperson, a position that will then be rotated among the sisters. "There is a well-harmonised division of duties among the sisters so there is no trust deficit on succession," says Khandekar of ICICI Direct.With the future leadership of the company not being a big worry for investors now, they will expect the company's recent good run to result in healthy numbers.70207473
Hyderabad: Reacting to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's decision to cancel power purchase agreements in renewable energy sector and renegotiate tariffs, Union renewable energy minister RK Singh has warned this would impact foreign investment flows into the sector.Ahead of a scheduled meeting of the Andhra government with renewable energy developers on Monday, the minister said, "Power purchase agreements are contracts binding on all the signatories. If the contracts are not honoured, investments will stop coming."Singh said the tariffs were fixed by the independent electricity regulators after due process of public hearings and examining all input costs. "If an impression goes out that the rule of law does not prevail or that contracts are not honoured, then the investments will dry up and growth will come to a halt. We have to move in a manner which is fair and transparent and according to the law. If we do not so, the investment process and development will come to a halt."The Jagan Mohan Reddy government had decided to cancel the PPAs and ordered that tariffs be renegotiated as it said the tariffs fixed in Andhra during the regime of N Chandrababu Naidu were higher than some of the other states, with a possibility of irregularities and corruption. "It will be wrong and against the law to cancel all the PPAs," said the Union minister, adding that "The tariff for solar and wind generation in different states will be different depending upon the solar insolation for solar energy and the CUF/wind speeds for wind energy."
By Baiju Kalesh & P R SanjaiEmami Group., an Indian conglomerate that runs businesses from cosmetics to a paper mill, has picked Arpwood Capital Ltd. and Credit Suisse Group AG to manage the sale of its cement unit, people familiar with the matter said.The bankers will start reaching out to prospective buyers for Emami Cement Ltd., seeking a valuation of about $1 billion, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A decision is yet to be made about the size of the stake to be sold and the group can add more managers for the deal later, the people said.The Kolkata-based conglomerate led by R. S. Agarwal and R.S. Goenka is joining tycoons including Anil Ambani and Subhash Chandra in selling assets to pare debt as a cash crunch in Indian markets increase funding costs. In June the founders of the group sold about 10% stake in it its listed flagship Emami Ltd. to trim borrowings.The conglomerate, which makes Boro Plus cream and herbal products under the Zandu brand, is in discussions with investors including UltraTech Cement Ltd., KKR & Co, and Temasek Holdings Pte. for a stake sale in the cement unit, the Economic Times reported in June.A spokesman for Emami and a spokeswoman for Credit Suisse declined to comment, while representatives for Arpwood didn't immediately respond to an email and phone call seeking comment.
The domestic equity market started the week on highly disappointed sentiments and Nifty registered the biggest one-day crash in last few years. Although some people cited the Union Budget as the reason, but actually the weight of high valuations itself caused this dramatic decline in the index. Nifty currently trades at a P/E of 29 times, which is at its all-time high. Under such circumstances, when the Budget didn't give any immediate short-term growth boosters, naturally the market had to react negatively.Auto and consumption stories seem to be tumbling like a pack of cards and macro factors are at the very core of this issue. Lack of sufficient liquidity to buy consumption products on credit or EMI and the changing dynamics in the auto space from internal combustion to electric are all adding to the already grieving economy.Moving to the IT sector, TCS came out with a 10.8 per cent YoY growth in bottom-line and a 11.4 per cent growth in revenue in June quarter earnings. The company has kept its run rate intact albeit with slightly lower margins, but it is largely on track to deliver consistent growth in the foreseeable future.Being the leader, it has set sectoral expectations this result season, which seems to be in line with market expectations.Event of the WeekDHFL, DLF , ADAG group stocks and some others were successful in working out resolution plans with their lenders. Piramal Enterprises announced a plan to raise Rs 1,500 crore through NCDs. Given that such transactions are taking place, it can be reasonably presumed that the liquidity pain is easing, and sanity is returning to the credit market.The market is also awaiting the Supreme Court verdict on Essar resolution plan. If the outcome is positive, this will further boost sentiment and ease liquidity.Technical OutlookAfter a steep fall, Nifty50 is consolidating, readying itself for the next leg of fall. However, the current consolidation can continue for a longer period as the earnings season has just started. The current support is very crucial, a breach of which may signal the beginning of a larger downfall.The 11,400 level seems to be crucial, and a decisive penetration below this would lead the market much lower. Traders may initiate shorts on rallies or if the market breaks below 11,400. 70201898 Expectations for the WeekGlobal factors, the biggest being oil politics and unfolding of events on the Gulf, could have a bearing on Indian bourses if the situation worsens. US Fed Chief Jerome Powell is implying a rate cut at the next Fed meet at the end of this month amid concerns of softer business investments due to trade wars and weak inflation.On the home front, the earnings season is set to get busier and company specifics could be key triggers for the next week. Results to look forward to next week are those of HDFC AMC, Federal Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and others.Investors must stand on the side lines with caution and not get into risky stocks which have high debt or high promoter pledge. Avoid auto and consumption sectors for now.Nifty closed the week at 11,552, down by 2.2 per cent.
Kunal Bothra, Independent Market Analyst explains why he has a buy on Apollo Hospital and KEC International. Excerpts from interview with ETNOW. It has been quite a tough week for the bulls -- 250 points gone. Purely on technicals, what do you make of this big downfall on Nifty?We were lucky that either the fall was not exacerbated because on Monday the kind of selloff which we had seen, we expected a lot of follow through for the markets because it was 500-400 points down on the Nifty in just a matter of one or two trading sessions. That probably leaves a very sharp impact to the near term trend. At a time you were trading at 12,000 levels comfortably till previous week, the near term outlook looks a bit grimmer for the index. I believe there are technical factors which are indicating that the index could head back and close that election gap or the exit poll gap of 11,400 pretty soon. So next week also, I am expecting this choppiness to continue and the downward drift on the index should also continue and we should be heading towards 11400 to 11350 over the next few days. Have you been observing any of this big tier IT companies especially on the technicals? Is something catching your eye?The Nifty IT overall index has given a breakdown of sorts on the technical chart patterns and that is a bit of a worry but the correction has not started post TCS results or just a couple of days before that. The correction for the IT index has already started from the month of May itself. I see 16,600 or 16,700 on spot levels for the index. It was on the verge of breaking that 15000 mark. It has already corrected 10% in the last two months for the index. I believe it is just a reaffirmation that these stocks could probably go through a bit of a grind. When I look at the internals of the Nifty IT, HCL Tech, Wipro, many of these stocks are now on the verge of breaking 200-day moving averages which I believe is a very important technical parameter because if these long-term averages get breached and the stock trades below them for quite a number of days as well, then the entire trend could probably reverse for these stocks and these are largecap names as well. I believe there is a spot of bother for the Nifty IT stocks and especially the ones which are already trading below their 200-day moving averages. Currently you have two buys -- Apollo Hospital and KEC. Why do you like them? Apollo Hospital is a fantastic chart. It is excellent in terms of the set up. In the last two months the stock has rallied from 1100-1150 levels to 1400 and then consolidated for almost one and a half odd months post that big rally. It is forming a classic bullish pattern. In technical terms, you call it a bullish flag pattern. I believe the stock is nearing a breakout. It has gone through time-based correction as well and a price rally should start for the stock price pretty soon. That is a buy target of Rs 1,500 and a stop loss at Rs 1,300 for Apollo Hospital. Second is a midcap stock. It is a buy on KEC International. That stock has also seen a very good pick-up in terms of price and volumes. We have seen the stock gradually taking support at key moving averages, almost on every short term correction and post taking support at those averages, it keeps on moving up higher and resumes its uptrend. KEC International is also a buy with target at Rs 355 and stop loss at Rs 315.
NEW DELHI: A whopping 16 million accounts of Indian influencers on Facebook-owned Instagram are fake, revealed a new study, suggesting such people are artificially boosting "vanity metrics" that marketers often use while selecting influencers, including followers and engagement.The research by Swedish e-commerce start-up A Good Company and data analytics firm HypeAuditor jointly assessed 1.84 million Instagram accounts across 82 countries.It found the three regions with the most fakes on the Facebook-owned platform are the US (49 million), Brazil (27 million) and India (16 million)."The Instagram fraud is estimated to cost marketers close to $750 million globally in wastage in a market now worth about $1.7 billion.Marketing firm Mediakix estimated that influencer marketing on Instagram alone could reach $2 billion by the end of this year from $1 billion in 2017."Companies are pouring money into influencer marketing, thinking that they are connecting with real people and not Russian bots. In reality, they are pouring money down the drain and giving away free products to someone who acquired a mass-following overnight," Anders Ankarlid, CEO of A Good Company, told PRWeek.The rise in popularity of social media platforms has opened up a relatively new advertising economy driven by "influencer marketing".While Instagram has over a billion monthly active users globally, its parent company Facebook has over 2.38 billion monthly active users and over 16 million people log in to Twitter every day. WhatsApp is another powerful platform which has over 300 million users in India.The kind of reach that social media platforms have can offer some idea about how big the influencer marketing business could be.With a wide array of social media analytics tool available online, it is not difficult to spot the right influencers for their advertising programmes. However, in India, it is difficult to distinguish between a paid post and a personal opinion owing to lack of user awareness.In May, personal data of millions of celebrities and influencers were allegedly exposed on Instagram and a massive database was traced to Mumbai-based social media marketing firm Chtrbox.The database contained 49 million records of several high-profile influencers, including prominent food bloggers, celebrities and other social media influencers, TechCrunch reported."Each record contained public data, including bio, profile picture, number of followers they have, location and private contact information," the report claimed.Chtrbox is a web development company which pays to social media influencers to promote content. It describes itself as a platform for brands to collaborate with influential social media characters in India.Instagram later said in a statement that initial investigations proved no private emails or phone numbers of its users were accessed improperly.
'SCs must go for haircut to other village': Villagers Those belonging to the scheduled caste (SC) communities have reportedly been stopped from getting their haircut at local barbershops, with the so-called upper castes calling them dirty.
Vibrant street life encourages people to walk & cycle around: Study Walk The Talk: Promoting walkability is a key measure to bring people into the public space and reduce congestion
Walk-to-work: Still a distant dream in India This is an urban concept where infrastructure like housing, workplace and shopping centres etc. are built in the vicinity of each other. Experts believe that this culture needs to gain momentum given the everyday challenges faced by commuters
New twists in Uttar Pradesh MLA-daughter saga Sakshi in the viral video had alleged that her father Pappu Bhartaul was opposed to her marriage to a Dalit youth and set goons after them.
Amarnath Yatra halted for one day As many as 1.31 lakh pilgrims have completed Amarnath Yatra within 10 days of commencement, despite terror threats in Jammu and Kashmir valley.
Border Security Force foils cattle smuggling bid at Indo-Bangla border On the intervening night of July 12-13, troops of BSF South Bengal Frontier prevented the smuggling of as many as 96 cattle; however, the smugglers managed to flee leaving behind the cattle.
Congress must take the blame for lynchings: Cleric This came from the national president of Jamat-e-Ulema-Hind, Molana Suhaib Qasmi in Guwahati on Friday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviews preparedness to tackle floods India Metrological Department (IMD) officers informed the minister that in the last 3-4 days, Assam and Bihar have received extremely heavy downpour.
As Chennai remains parched, floods wreak havoc in the east TN sweats it out to procure water, while Assam and Bihar struggle with the problem of plenty
