| Top Stories Today Posted: 24 Jun 2019 07:57 AM PDT
- She Wants The Workers Off Her Land. They Say It's Their Socialist Right
- Should I Talk To My Son About His Pokémon Fetish, And Other Advice Column Questions
- Man Finds The Personal Information Of A Phone Scammer, Scares The Pants Off Of Him
- An Insane Credit Card Offering 0% Interest Until Nearly 2021
- NFL Star Cam Newton Offers Plane Passenger $1,500 To Switch Seats, Gets Rejected
- The US Island That Speaks Elizabethan English
- Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding. And It's Only Going To Get Worse
- Here's A Perfect 10-Second Video Of A Guy Getting Too Close To A Squirrel
- Bill Gates Says His 'Greatest Mistake Ever' Was Microsoft Losing To Android
- John Oliver Grapples With Mount Everest's Dangerous Tourism Problem
- A 10th American Has Died While Vacationing In The Dominican Republic
- Took You By Surprise: John and Paul's Lost Reunion
- This Travel-Friendly Electric Toothbrush Removes 10x More Plaque
- Hot Air Balloon Crash Lands Right Into The Middle Of Missouri Festival
- The Perverse Logic Of GoFundMe Healthcare
- John Mulaney Gets Made 'F*ckable' By 'Queer Eye' Star Tan France
- How Nine People Built An Illegal Airbnb Empire In New York
- This DIY Retro Gaming Console Kit Is Worth The Effort
- Diver Cannot Shake Loose A Friendly Octopus
- How Your Looks Shape Your Personality
- How A Housepainter And An Army Widow Led The Secret Fight To Save LGBT People From ISIS
- An Insane Credit Card Offering 0% Interest Until Nearly 2021
- Watching This Two-Legged Dog Run Around The Beach, Happy As A Clam, Is Bringing Us A Lot Of Joy
- Inside The Beat Hotel Of Paris
- Paraglider Is Pushed Off Track During Descent By Strong Winds, Lands In A Roundabout
- The New Science Of Building Baseball Superstars
- How An Asteroid Could Destroy The World Before Impact
- 100 People Take The Rorschach Test And Maybe Freud Was Right...
- This Japanese Company Charges Its Staff $100 An Hour To Use Conference Rooms
- Driverless Cars Are Coming. We'll Miss The Thrill Of The Ride
- At Work, Expertise Is Falling Out Of Favor
- A Step-By-Step Breakdown Of How Air Traffic Control Works
- This Is The Best US Women's Soccer Team Ever
- Scientists Want To Make Fuel And Plastic Out Of Bacteria
- So This Is How You Take Five Kids On A Walk As A Dad
- The Link Between Psychedelics, God Encounters And Mental Health
- Botched Spanish Statue That Went Viral Is Lovingly Unrestored
- This $85 Million New York City Penthouse Comes With Tickets To Outer Space
- Where Disease Stopped And My Brother Began
- Artist Swirls Silver Nitrate To Mirror The Inside Of A Glass Sculpture
- A Bizarre New Species Of Mollusk Eats Rocks, Poops Sand And Shapes Rivers
- Born Again: China's Girl Groups And The Life Cycle Of A Stardom
- A Bumbling Kitten Battles His Own Reflection
- Secrets And Lies At Guantanamo Bay
- The Astronaut Who Got A Cold In Orbit
- This Dog Tries To Sing Along With His Owner In Adorable Duet
- Yentl Syndrome: A Deadly Data Bias Against Women
- Craftsman Builds A Brilliant iPhone-Controlled Loom
- Over A Billion Dollars Worth Of Marble Is Buried Within These Italian Mountains
- Prepare To Be Struck Straight In The Face By Fifty Years Of Stars
- Pack It Up: Store All Your Gear Comfortably In One Backpack
- Start A Fire, Build It Up Then Put It Out With These Three Hot Picks
| She Wants The Workers Off Her Land. They Say It's Their Socialist Right Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT A standoff at the top of a hill between a once-wealthy landowner and some impoverished farmers has been going on for 10 years. Neither side is backing down. | | Should I Talk To My Son About His Pokémon Fetish, And Other Advice Column Questions Posted: 24 Jun 2019 05:35 AM PDT A roundup of the most interesting, thought-provoking and surprising questions that our favorite columnists addressed in recent days. | | Man Finds The Personal Information Of A Phone Scammer, Scares The Pants Off Of Him Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:49 AM PDT Suddenly, he can't seem to speak English, whereas he was fluent moments before. | | An Insane Credit Card Offering 0% Interest Until Nearly 2021 Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT This jaw-dropping card is offering 0% APR for 14 Months and 5% back in rotating categories. Pay no interest until nearly 2021 and double your cash back. | | NFL Star Cam Newton Offers Plane Passenger $1,500 To Switch Seats, Gets Rejected Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:23 AM PDT Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is 6'5" and wanted a bit of extra legroom on a recent flight to Paris. Unfortunately, the passenger with the seat he wanted would not be swayed by cash. | | The US Island That Speaks Elizabethan English Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:04 AM PDT Native Americans, English sailors and pirates all came together on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina to create the only American dialect that is not identified as American. | | Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding. And It's Only Going To Get Worse Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:04 AM PDT Climate change and human sprawl have triggered a pandemic. | | Here's A Perfect 10-Second Video Of A Guy Getting Too Close To A Squirrel Posted: 24 Jun 2019 07:12 AM PDT Generally, if you have to assure everyone around you that nothing bad is going to happen, something bad is about to happen. | | Bill Gates Says His 'Greatest Mistake Ever' Was Microsoft Losing To Android Posted: 24 Jun 2019 07:18 AM PDT Android ultimately killed Windows Mobile and Windows Phone off, and became the Windows equivalent in the mobile world. | | John Oliver Grapples With Mount Everest's Dangerous Tourism Problem Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:17 AM PDT Ambitious rich people are putting their lives and the lives of others on the line to scale the famous mountain. | | A 10th American Has Died While Vacationing In The Dominican Republic Posted: 24 Jun 2019 07:18 AM PDT A man from New York died while vacationing in the Dominican Republic earlier this month, according to a US State Department official, making him the 10th American tourist to have died during or after their stay in the Caribbean nation. | | Took You By Surprise: John and Paul's Lost Reunion Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:23 AM PDT Five years after the Beatles disbanded, a period fueled by intense acrimony, Lennon and McCartney set aside their differences and got back together one more time. Inside the rollicking atmosphere of that May 1974 recording session. | | This Travel-Friendly Electric Toothbrush Removes 10x More Plaque Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT Invest in your oral health with this AquaSonic Vibe Toothbrush & 8 DuPont Brush Heads + Carrying Case. It cleans your teeth by scrubbing them at 40,000 vibrations per minute, using four operation modes and smart vibration timers. Right now, it's 76% off — just $39.99. | | Hot Air Balloon Crash Lands Right Into The Middle Of Missouri Festival Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:49 AM PDT According to news reports, a young girl suffered minor injuries from the balloon's crash landing, but other than that there were, miraculously, no serious injuries. | | The Perverse Logic Of GoFundMe Healthcare Posted: 24 Jun 2019 07:18 AM PDT A third of the money raised on GoFundMe in 2017 was for medical expenses. This isn't surprising, given that the United States has the highest over-all health-care costs in the developed world. | | John Mulaney Gets Made 'F*ckable' By 'Queer Eye' Star Tan France Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:29 AM PDT The fashion maven gives the comedian a "Pete Davidson–style outfit" to hilarious results. | | How Nine People Built An Illegal Airbnb Empire In New York Posted: 24 Jun 2019 05:35 AM PDT The shoddily assembled living spaces were described with appealing titles like "Newly Renovated Apt Next to East River, NYC View!" ($195 per night); or "Clean and Comfy Room With Balcony, 15min to NYC!" ($100 per night). However, in reviews some guests described them as "packed with garbage," "broken furniture" and plagued by ants, centipedes, and black mold. | | This DIY Retro Gaming Console Kit Is Worth The Effort Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT Officially licensed miniature consoles are commonplace now, but the game libraries on offer are tiny. If you want a device that can handle huge swaths of your retro library, this Raspberry Pi-based solution has you covered. | | Diver Cannot Shake Loose A Friendly Octopus Posted: 21 Jun 2019 11:08 AM PDT At first, she's happy to have a sidekick, but after a while, this eight-legged squish is simply overstaying its welcome. | | How Your Looks Shape Your Personality Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT We tend to think of our looks as separate from who we are. But it turns out that physical traits like height or attractiveness may shape our personalities, behaviors, even politics. | | How A Housepainter And An Army Widow Led The Secret Fight To Save LGBT People From ISIS Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:49 AM PDT One is the son of a communist who smuggled messages in kebabs for party members. The other is an army widow whose husband was killed by al-Qaeda. Together they want to convince the world that targeting LGBT people is a crime against humanity. | | An Insane Credit Card Offering 0% Interest Until Nearly 2021 Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT This jaw-dropping card is offering 0% APR for 14 Months and 5% back in rotating categories. Pay no interest until nearly 2021 and double your cash back. | | Watching This Two-Legged Dog Run Around The Beach, Happy As A Clam, Is Bringing Us A Lot Of Joy Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:29 PM PDT This pup, who was born with a hind leg defect, has a wheelchair for hiking and long walks but prefers to be free of it when swimming. | | Inside The Beat Hotel Of Paris Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT "I lay there on the floor, he makes love to Nanette all night, as she whimpers," wrote Jack Kerouac, recalling the night he slept in Room 41 of a Parisian "fleabag" in the Latin Quarter that his friend and fellow poet had christened "The Beat Hotel." | | Paraglider Is Pushed Off Track During Descent By Strong Winds, Lands In A Roundabout Posted: 20 Jun 2019 01:21 PM PDT A quick-thinking adventure-seeker selects the safest possible option in a dangerous situation. | | The New Science Of Building Baseball Superstars Posted: 24 Jun 2019 05:26 AM PDT "Sabermetrics" changed the national pastime. Now another technological revolution is transforming the game, for good or ill. | | How An Asteroid Could Destroy The World Before Impact Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:06 PM PDT In the event of a collision, humanity would not fare well | | 100 People Take The Rorschach Test And Maybe Freud Was Right... Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:23 AM PDT It seems that everyone sees either blood or genitals or both. | | This Japanese Company Charges Its Staff $100 An Hour To Use Conference Rooms Posted: 24 Jun 2019 06:04 AM PDT "People really cut back on useless meetings," says Hiroyuki Suzuki, who works at chip-equipment maker Disco Corp. and is one of the company's 5,000 employees taking part in a radical experiment in business management. | | Driverless Cars Are Coming. We'll Miss The Thrill Of The Ride Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:06 PM PDT Flirting with danger on the open road is as old as, well, motoring itself. | | At Work, Expertise Is Falling Out Of Favor Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:58 PM PDT These days, it seems, just about all organizations are asking their employees to do more with less. Is that actually a good idea? | | A Step-By-Step Breakdown Of How Air Traffic Control Works Posted: 20 Jun 2019 07:18 AM PDT The astronomical salaries that air traffic controllers command make a lot more sense when you understand all of the factors they must juggle to safely coordinate flights. | | This Is The Best US Women's Soccer Team Ever Posted: 24 Jun 2019 05:26 AM PDT And yet: It still may not win the World Cup. | | Scientists Want To Make Fuel And Plastic Out Of Bacteria Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:02 PM PDT Tiny but mighty, octillions of cyanobacteria in the ocean create diesel-like hydrocarbons in huge amounts. A team of researchers wants to know why. | | So This Is How You Take Five Kids On A Walk As A Dad Posted: 20 Jun 2019 01:21 PM PDT Three in the stroller, one on the shoulder and one you lead by the hand. | | The Link Between Psychedelics, God Encounters And Mental Health Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:58 PM PDT New research suggests having a mystical experience may have long-lasting benefits. | | Botched Spanish Statue That Went Viral Is Lovingly Unrestored Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT After a year's exile and hundreds of hours of painstaking work, a 16th-century polychrome statue of Saint George and the dragon from northern Spain that made the news for all the wrong reasons has been lovingly and carefully unrestored. | | This $85 Million New York City Penthouse Comes With Tickets To Outer Space Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT To put this impossible number into context, $85 million is near twice the GDP of the nation of Tuvalu. | | Where Disease Stopped And My Brother Began Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:54 AM PDT Coming to terms with a sibling's suicide. | | Artist Swirls Silver Nitrate To Mirror The Inside Of A Glass Sculpture Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:29 PM PDT Artist Thor Bueno pours a solution of silver nitrate and a reducing agent into the glass bulb, which reacts with a tin-based sensitizing agent applied minutes earlier, creating a silver coating on the inside of the glass. | | A Bizarre New Species Of Mollusk Eats Rocks, Poops Sand And Shapes Rivers Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:25 PM PDT Lithoredo abatanica, a very weird shipworm found in a river in the Philippines, represents both a new species and genus. | | Born Again: China's Girl Groups And The Life Cycle Of A Stardom Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:06 PM PDT China's idol industry went from boom to bust in the blink of an eye. Now some girls are fighting their way back to the top. | | A Bumbling Kitten Battles His Own Reflection Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:25 PM PDT He's staring at the cat in the mirror, asking him to change his ways. | | Secrets And Lies At Guantanamo Bay Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:43 AM PDT Listening devices, FBI informants and gag orders… these are just some of the ways that the US is mishandling classified information in the Al Qaeda trials. | | The Astronaut Who Got A Cold In Orbit Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:02 AM PDT The Apollo astronauts might have been in peak physical condition, but that doesn't mean they didn't suffer all sorts of health complaints. In space, no one can hear your sneeze. | | This Dog Tries To Sing Along With His Owner In Adorable Duet Posted: 21 Jun 2019 12:13 PM PDT An owner attempted to goad his dog into singing and the results were hilarious. | | Yentl Syndrome: A Deadly Data Bias Against Women Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:43 AM PDT The science of medicine is based on male bodies, but researchers are beginning to realize how vastly the symptoms of disease differ between the sexes — and how much danger women are in. | | Craftsman Builds A Brilliant iPhone-Controlled Loom Posted: 19 Jun 2019 08:22 AM PDT Through a mix of laser cutting and 3D printing, this maker has build a cool iPhone-compatible loom that can weave abstract patterns quickly and easily. This oddly suspenseful video shows off what he's done. | | Over A Billion Dollars Worth Of Marble Is Buried Within These Italian Mountains Posted: 21 Jun 2019 09:54 AM PDT The Carrara quarrie produce more marble than any place on earth and each slab can cost up to $400 per square meter. | | Prepare To Be Struck Straight In The Face By Fifty Years Of Stars Posted: 21 Jun 2019 12:37 PM PDT Rolling Stone's giant book compiles a complete collection of their covers over a half-century. | | Pack It Up: Store All Your Gear Comfortably In One Backpack Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:50 AM PDT With two expansion zips, this incredibly handy backpack can expand to store up to 65 liters. And with high-quality shoulder and waist straps in play, you can schlep all of your important stuff without too much strain. | | Start A Fire, Build It Up Then Put It Out With These Three Hot Picks Posted: 20 Jun 2019 01:32 PM PDT A new fire starter, steel tools and a fancy extinguisher will make you a campfire master |   |
| Latest World News, World News, Current Affairs, Daily Current Affairs Posted: 24 Jun 2019 03:48 AM PDT
| Tweets For Today Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:14 PM PDT | | Picture Of The Day Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:56 PM PDT The sun rises as a reveller welcomes in the Summer Solstice at the Stonehenge stone circle, in Amesbury, June 21. REUTERS/Hannah McKay WNU Editor: The above picture came from this photo-gallery .... Summer solstice (Reuters).  | | Ethiopia Army Chief Shot Dead In Failed Coup Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:52 PM PDT | | Former Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen: 'The Last Thing In The World We Need Right Now Is A War With Iran' Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:14 PM PDT The Hill: Former Joint Chiefs chairman: 'The last thing in the world we need right now is a war with Iran'Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen on Sunday stressed the importance of avoiding war with Iran, saying it "could spin out of control." "I really would like to know that the American people who feel we should not go to war with Iran are pressing their congressmen, their senators and everybody in the public domain to make sure that no matter what happens with respect to where we are with Iran right now, that we do not go to war," he said on ABC's "This Week." "I think the politicians need to figure out a way to achieve the objective, which is Iran without a nuclear weapon, without -- from my perspective -- without regime change, without going to war." Read more .... WNU Editor: As I have said more than once before. You may not want war, but war wants you.  | | Turkish President Erdogan's Ally Loses Controversial Mayoral Re-Run In Istanbul Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:47 PM PDT | | NATO Aims To Recognize Space As A Domain Of Warfare This Year Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:59 PM PDT FILE PHOTO: Employees chat at a production line of Airbus' European Service Module (ESM), which is delivered for NASA's Orion Spaceship, at the Airbus plant in Bremen, Germany, February 19, 2019. Picture taken February 19,2019. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo Reuters: Exclusive: NATO aims to make space new frontier in defenseBRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO aims to recognize space as a domain of warfare this year, four senior diplomats said, partly to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the alliance is relevant and adapting to new threats after he signed off on the creation of a U.S. Space Force. The decision, set to be taken at a Dec. 3-4 leaders summit in London that Trump is due to attend, would formally acknowledge that battles can be waged not only on land, in the air, at sea and on computer networks, but also in space. "There's agreement that we should make space a domain and the London summit is the best place to make it official," said one senior NATO diplomat involved in the discussions, although cautioning that technical policy work was still underway. NATO diplomats deny the alliance would be on a war footing in space, but say declaring it a domain would begin a debate over whether NATO should eventually use space weapons that can shut down enemy missiles and air defenses or destroy satellites. Read more .... WNU Editor: Nato is realizing the obvious.  | | Editor's Note Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:26 AM PDT Spending time with the GF today. Blogging will return later this evening.  | | President Trump Warns Iran That They Face Obliteration If There Is War Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:21 AM PDT Politico: Trump warns Iran of 'obliteration like you've never seen before'President Donald Trump warned the United States may launch a devastating military attack on Iran unless it comes to the negotiating table and drops its bid to develop nuclear weapons. "I'm not looking for war and if there is, it'll be obliteration like you've never seen before. But I'm not looking to do that. But you can't have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise you can have a bad economy for the next three years," Trump said during an interview with NBC's "Meet The Press" airing Sunday. The president said he'd be willing to sit down with Iranian officials without any pre-conditions. The comments, made during an interview taped Friday, came the same day Trump confirmed on Twitter that he called off a retaliatory strike on Iran at the last minute Thursday night. He said he decided that the potential cost of human lives was "not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone." Read more .... WNU Editor: Iran has responded .... Iran lawmakers chant "Death to America" as U.S. called "terrorist" (Reuters).  | | A Review On Iran's Military Forces Aligned Against The U.S. And Its Allies Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:15 AM PDT This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Sunday, June 9, 2019, shows the Khordad 15, a new surface-to-air missile battery at an undisclosed location in Iran. IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY Stars and Stripes/Washington Post: The US outguns Iran, but it faces painful realities in the event of a warRising tensions that, according to President Donald Trump, left the United States just short of open conflict with Iran this week highlight a grim reality that the Pentagon has coped with for years: While the U.S. military outguns Iran, Tehran could still make even a limited war painful. Iran's military has more than 700,000 troops, including a conventional army of about 350,000 soldiers, according to a Congressional Research Service report published last month. That's not counting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a specialized force comprising another 125,000 troops in its army and 20,000 personnel in its navy, the CRS report said. It's the IRGC that has created friction between the United States and Iran. The force, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the administration in April, patrols the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, oversees Iran's ballistic missile programs and claimed responsibility for launching the missile that downed a U.S. RQ-4 surveillance drone over the Gulf of Oman early Thursday, prompting the Trump administration to plan a retaliatory strike before the president halted it late in the day. Read more .... WNU Editor: All wars are painful. A war against Iran will be primarily fought with missiles and in the waters near Iran. But the biggest impact will be geopolitical and on the world economy.  | | Afghan Leaders Are In Pakistan For Two Days Of Peace Talks Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:51 AM PDT Al Jazeera: Afghan leaders begin two-day peace talks in PakistanConference covering the economy, health and the repatriation of refugees comes before Afghan president's visit. Dozens of Afghan political leaders have attended a conference in neighbouring Pakistan to discuss possible ways to achieve peace in the war-torn country. In the inaugural ceremony of the Afghan peace conference titled "Lahore Process" at Bhurbhan in Murree on Saturday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan is committed in its efforts to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan. "For far too long, the vicious circle of mistrust, often fed into by our common enemies, has affected our relationship. The blame-game has not helped either of us," Qureshi said, according to his speech notes released by the foreign ministry. Read more .... Update #1: Afghan leaders begin peace summit in Pakistan (ABC News/AP) Update #2: Afghan Peace Conference Begins In Pakistan (TOLO News) WNU Editor: The Taliban are not showing up, which makes this gathering in Pakistan pointless.  | | There Are About 10,000 Spies In Washington DC Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:43 AM PDT We Are The Mighty: There are an estimated 10,000 spies in Washington DCOf the more than 700,000 residents of the capital of the United States, 10,000 of those are actively working in the interests of a foreign power. The city is filled with federal employees, military personnel, contractors, and more who are actively working for the United States government, and some are working to betray its biggest secrets to the highest bidder. It's an estimate from the DC-based international spy museum – and it's an estimate with which the FBI agrees. Read more .... WNU Editor: When it came to spies the focus in Washington has always been on the Soviet Union and later on Russia. No more now. China is the biggest player now.  | | Many Venezuelans Fleeing To Colombia Are Joining Rebel And Criminal Groups Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:33 AM PDT Business Insider/Reuters: Criminals and rebels in Colombia are trying to get desperate Venezuelans to help them make cocaine and fight the government* Tens of thousands of desperate Venezuelans have cross the border into Colombia, seeking relief from economic and political turmoil at home. * Criminal organizations and rebel groups in Colombia apparently see the influx as a pool of potential recruits help them produce drugs and fight the government. ARAUCA/CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Venezuela's crisis is spilling across the border into Colombia as Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries recruit migrants to strengthen their ranks, according to five Colombian military commanders. Violence still simmers in Colombia despite a 2016 peace deal with leftist FARC rebels, meant to end five decades of conflict. Dissident FARC fighters, the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN), right-wing paramilitaries and drug-trafficking gangs are battling each other and the military. Keen for recruits, these armed groups are targeting Venezuelans as they traverse the porous 1,380-mile frontier at illegal border crossings, according to the military officials, human rights officials and migrants themselves. Read more .... WNU Editor: When you are desperate you are willing to do almost anything.  | | Islamic State Followers In Syria And In Iraq Want To Be Evacuated To Somalia Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:26 AM PDT The al-Hol Camp in northern Syria was built for 10,000 people, but the population has now swelled to 72,000 and continues to grow, pictured in al-Hol Camp, Syria on March, 4, 2019. (H.Murdock/VOA Voice Of America: IS Followers in Syria, Iraq Want Evacuation to SomaliaDozens of European citizens of Somali origin who joined the Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq want to go to Somalia due to European countries' reluctance to take them back. Through their parents, the so-called Islamic State brides and their children have urged the Somali government to take them in. VOA Somali service's Investigative Dossier program has obtained the list of 23 women and 34 children who are now being held at al-Hol camp in northern Syria. The relatives say the IS brides have expressed "regret" and accept they made a "mistake" in leaving Europe to travel to Syria. Read more .... WNU Editor: People want to flee Somalia, not go there. I doubt that these European ISIS followers want to stay there. They just want to get out of Syria or Iraq because they have no way to get out of that cesspool.  |  |
| World News Updates, World News, Current Affairs, Daily Current Affairs, World News Updates Posted: 24 Jun 2019 02:29 AM PDT |
| World News, World News Updates, World News Headlines, Latest World News, Current Affairs Posted: 24 Jun 2019 01:47 AM PDT
| Mike Pompeo Sets Out to Build a Global Coalition Against Iran Posted: 24 Jun 2019 01:08 AM PDT (WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he wants to build a global coalition against Iran during urgent consultations in the Middle East, following a week of crisis that saw the United States pull back from the brink of a military strike on Iran. Pompeo spoke Sunday as he left Washington for Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Sunni Arab allies that are alarmed by Shiite Iran’s increasing assertiveness and are working to limit its influence in the region. His stops in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi were hastily arranged late last week as additions to a trip to India from where he will join President Donald Trump in Japan and South Korea. But they were not announced until immediately before his departure in a sign of fast-moving and unpredictable developments.
“We’ll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned, and how we can build out a global coalition, a coalition not only throughout the Gulf states, but in Asia and in Europe, that understands this challenge as it is prepared to push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror,” Pompeo said about Iran. But even as Pompeo delivered his tough talk, he echoed President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in saying the U.S. is prepared to negotiate with Iran, without preconditions, in a bid to ease tensions. Those tensions have been mounting since Trump last year withdrew the U.S. from a global nuclear deal with Iran and began pressuring Tehran with economic sanctions. A fresh round of Iran sanctions is to be announced Monday in a bid to force the Iranian leadership into talks. “They know precisely how to find us,” Pompeo said. It was a week of topsy-turvy pronouncements on U.S. policy toward Iran that careened between the bellicose, the conciliatory and back again after Iran shot down an American military drone and boasted it would not bow to Washington’s pressure. Trump initially said Iran had made a “very big mistake” and that it was “hard to believe” that shooting down the drone on Thursday was not intentional. He later said he thought it was an unintentional act carried out by a “loose and stupid” Iranian and called off retaliatory military strikes against Iran. On Saturday, Trump reversed himself and claimed that Iran had acted “knowingly.” But Trump also said over the weekend that he appreciated Iran’s decision to not shoot down a manned U.S. spy plane, and he opined about eventually becoming Iran’s “best friend” if Tehran ultimately agrees to abandon its drive to build nuclear weapons and he helps the country turn around its crippled economy. Then Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, stepped in Sunday with a blunt warning from Jerusalem, where he was traveling. Bolton said Iran should not “mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness” after Trump called off the military strike. Trump said he backed away from the planned strikes after learning that about 150 people would be killed, but he said the military option remained. A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton emphasized that the U.S. reserved the right to attack at a later point. “No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East. As President Trump said on Friday our military is rebuilt, new and ready to go,” Bolton said during an appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, himself a longtime and outspoken Iran critic. On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States’ “interventionist military presence” for fanning the flames. He was quoted by the official IRNA news agency. Shortly thereafter, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched an attack against an airport in southern Saudi Arabia, killing one person and wounding seven others, according to the Saudi military. Such attacks have been cited by Saudi and U.S. officials as examples of Iran’s “malign behavior” in the Middle East. Pompeo, who addressed reporters from the tarmac before he boarded his airplane in Washington, declared the goal of his talks with the Saudi kingdom and the UAE is to deny Iran “the resources to foment terror, to build out their nuclear weapon system, to build out their missile program.” “We are going to deny them the resources they need to do that, thereby keep American interests and American people safe all around the world,” said Pompeo, who was due to arrive in the region after one person was killed and seven others were wounded in an attack by Iranian-allied Yemeni rebels on an airport in Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening, the Saudi military said. The downing of the unmanned aircraft marked a new high in the rising tensions between the United States and Iran. The Trump administration has vowed to combine a “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions with a buildup of American forces in the region, following the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. U.S. military cyber forces on Thursday launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems, according to U.S. officials. The cyberattacks disabled Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps computer systems that controlled its rocket and missile launchers, the officials said. Throughout the recent crisis, Trump has wavered between bellicose language and actions toward Iran and a more accommodating tone, including a plea for negotiations. Iran has said it is not interested in a dialogue with Trump. His administration is aiming to cripple Iran’s economy and force policy changes by re-imposing sanctions, including on Iranian oil exports. ___ Associated Press writers Aron Heller in Jerusalem, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Matthew Lee in Bahrain contributed to this report.  | | Thailand’s Wild Boars Soccer Team Marks One Year Since Going Missing in a Cave Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:34 PM PDT (MAE SAI, Thailand) — When the 12 young boys and their soccer coach walked into a cave complex in northern Thailand a year ago Sunday, they didn’t know their lives were going to forever change. Rising floodwater quickly trapped the youngsters inside the Tham Luang cave complex, setting off a more than two-week ordeal that the world watched with rapt attention and that left the members of the Wild Boars soccer club with a survival tale that propelled them into celebrities. Nine of the boys and their coach were on hand Sunday in the northern town of Mae Sai to mark the anniversary along with some 4,000 others by taking part in a marathon and bike event to raise money to improve conditions at the cave.
“I want to thank everybody who has put so much effort and sacrifices to save all of us,” said Ekapol Chantawong, the former coach of the Wild Boars who led the boys on the ill-fated visit to the cave. Ekapol stood in front of a bronze statue of Lieutenant Commander Saman Gunan that has been erected to honor the former Thai navy SEAL who died while working on the search and rescue. The boys spent nine nights lost in the cave, living on very little food and water, before they were found spotted deep in the twisting cave complex huddled on a patch of dirt above the rising water line. It was a moment captured on video and soon broadcast to the world. It would be another eight days — until July 10 — before they were all safe. Also on hand Sunday were a number of the local and foreign divers who took part in the search and rescue operation, which due to its danger and difficulty has been hailed by many as a miracle. The operation required placing oxygen canisters along the path where the divers maneuvered dark, tight and twisting passageways filled with muddy waters and strong currents. “Not many children could have survived the way they did, so we have to respect them for that,” said Vernon Unsworth, a British diver whose advice and experience played a key part in the search for the boys and their eventual rescue. “What we should do right now is to just let them get on with their lives. Just let them grow up like normal kids,” he said. A year later the boys are notably older and taller. Wearing orange T-shirts from the event, they smiled and posed for photos. They have grown familiar with the attention they receive, though are not altogether comfortable with it. Abbot Prayutjetiyanukarn, a monk in the local neighborhood who interacts with the team every week, told The Associated Press that some of the boys are wary of the media and try to avoid the press whenever they can. “But they are fine, both physically and spiritually,” he said. “There’s nothing to worry about.” Three of the players as well as Ekapol were stateless and were granted Thai citizenship last August. The team traveled last year to Argentina and the U.S. The boys and their coach are represented by the 13 Tham Luang Co. Ltd ., which Thailand’s government helped establish to manage business opportunities stemming from the ordeal. Netflix has acquired the rights to their story. It wasn’t only the boys who were changed by the events of last summer. This town in mountainous Chiang Rai province near the border with Myanmar is now firmly on the tourist map, with curious travelers from all over the world flocking to see where the story of the Wild Boars unfolded. The cave’s surrounding amenities, which just last year primarily featured dirt roads and thick mud, has seen significant renovations with facilities being built, roads paved and shops settling in. Local souvenir shopkeepers said that the attention has improved their fortunes. “Since the kids have been rescued, the economy around here keeps getting better,” said Lek Yodnum, a shop owner who sells T-shirts and memorabilia of the cave rescue. “Before the kids became trapped, there wasn’t a single shop around here. It was all just farm and field,” he said. “Now, Tham Luang has officially become the financial hub of Mae Sai district.” The 12 boys and their coach were scheduled to attend a Buddhist merit-making ceremony at Tham Luang on Monday. ___ Associated Press writer Kaweewit Kaewjinda in Bangkok contributed to this report.  | | Opposition Win in Istanbul’s Mayoral Election Deals a Blow to Turkey’s Erdogan Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:27 PM PDT (ISTANBUL) — The opposition candidate for mayor of Istanbul celebrated a landmark win Sunday in a closely watched repeat election that ended weeks of political tension and broke the long hold President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party had on leading Turkey’s largest city. “Thank you, Istanbul,” Ekrem Imamoglu, 49, said to the tens of thousands of people who gathered to mark his victory after unofficial results showed he won a clear majority of the vote. The governing party’s candidate, former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, conceded moments after returns showed him trailing well behind Imamoglu, 54% to 45%. Imamoglu increased his lead from a March mayoral election by hundreds of thousands of votes.
Erdogan congratulated Imamoglu in a tweet. Analysts noted the president, who is grappling with an economic downturn and several international crises, could limit the mayor’s power or undermine Imamoglu’s authority in other ways. Imamoglu narrowly won an earlier mayoral election on March 31, but Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, AKP, challenged the vote over alleged irregularities. He spent 18 days in office before Turkey’s electoral board annulled the results after weeks of partial recounts. The voided vote raised concerns domestically and abroad about the state of Turkish democracy and whether Erdogan’s party would accept any electoral loss. AKP has governed Turkey since 2002. “You have protected the reputation of democracy in Turkey with the whole world watching,” Imamoglu, his voice hoarse after weeks of campaigning, told supporters. Jubilant supporters chanted “Mayor again! Mayor again!” Others hung out of cars, blaring horns and waving red-and-white Turkish flags. Erdogan campaigned hard for Yildirim in Istanbul, where the president started his political career as mayor in 1994. Lisel Hintz, an assistant international relations professor at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, said Imamoglu withstood a divisive campaign and prevailed with a positive message. The significance of his win “cannot be understated,” Hintz said. “We now have to wait and see whether Imamoglu’s tenure as mayor will be interfered with in any way, whether by cutting off funding and hampering his office’s ability to provide services or by removing him under some legal pretext,” Hintz said. AKP also lost control of the capital city of Ankara in Turkey’s March local elections, which were held as the country battled high inflation and two credit rating downgrades in the past year. Melahat Ugen said she switched her vote to the opposition because she could not afford to cover basic expenses. “I’ve certainly never voted left before,” she said. “But I’m 62, and a bag of onions costs too much. Everything is imported and we can’t afford it.” Istanbul, a city of more than 15 million, draws millions of tourists each year and is Turkey’s commercial and cultural hub. Straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul accounted for 31% of Turkey’s GDP in 2017. Erdogan has previously signaled an unwillingness to work with an opposition mayor, saying his party controls 25 of Istanbul’s 39 districts and a majority in the municipal assembly. Imamoglu will have to work with those officeholders to govern Istanbul, and he promised to do so Sunday. Addressing Erdogan in a speech, Imamoglu said, “I’m ready to work with you” to solve Istanbul’s problems. Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Ankara office director of the German Marshall Fund, argued that the loss of Istanbul is likely to fuel speculation of divisions within the ruling party and among its supporters. “It’s now clear that a sizable portion of the AKP voters is seriously dissatisfied by policies of the AKP,” he said. “The (opposition) was a house that was united. The AKP house looked like one that was already divided.” He argued Erdogan is already facing an “a perfect storm” this summer. Erdogan was already at odds with Western allies over Turkey’s plans to buy the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system and its challenge of EU-member Cyprus over natural gas drilling rights. ___ Bulut Emiroglu and Ayse Wieting in Istanbul contributed.  | | Mexico Detains More Migrants as Crackdown Steps Up Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:19 PM PDT ARRIAGA, Mexico (AP) — Authorities reinforced efforts over the weekend to deter Central Americans and others from crossing Mexico to reach the United States, detaining migrants in the south and stationing National Guardsmen along the Rio Grande in the north.In Arriaga, a town in the southern state of Chiapas, The Associated Press saw about 100 migrants bused to detention Sunday, while Milenio TV reported that 146 more were pulled from a private home in the central state of Queretaro and more than 100 were taken away from a hotel in the Gulf state of Veracruz.Pressured by the U.S., Mexico’s government has deployed some 6,000 agents of the National Guard, its new militarized policing force, along its southern and northern borders this month.In Ciudad Juarez, just south of El Paso, Texas, National Guardsmen turned back migrants trying to cross the border over the weekend. The guardsmen patrolled along the Rio Grande with assault rifles.
“The function of these brigades is to try to educate and inhibit people who are at risk,” said Luis Mario Dena Torres, representative of the Chihuahua state governor in Ciudad Juarez. Many of the National Guardsmen are soldiers and police officers who now wear black armbands indicating they are part of the National Guard. Some Mexicans worry that the increased enforcement is an overreach. “The National Guard, in theory, shouldn’t be repressing those who want to cross to the United States,” said Isabel Sanchez, coordinator for a Ciudad Juarez civic group concerned with security and justice. More broadly, however, stiffer immigration enforcement has popular support in Mexico. More than half the Mexicans surveyed by the newspaper El Universal earlier in June said that authorities should not allow migrants to enter the country and that those found traveling through Mexico without visas should be deported. Residents of Arriaga expressed a mixture of concern for the migrants they have grown accustomed to hosting and relief that officials are looking to get a better handle on migrant flows. “As a resident, sometimes you have distrust because with the necessity that they have, they could try to rob or do something to you,” said Rogelio Perez, an accountant. “They’re human beings and they need help, but Mexico can barely employ Mexicans.” Migrants have long congregated in Arriaga to hop on a freight train known as “The Beast.” Migrants would pile onto train cars, sometimes being maimed or killed when they fell off. Authorities started pulling migrants off the train in mid-2014, under pressure to reduce flows to the U.S. Still, Arriaga remains a strategic point on the migrant trail. Over the weekend, there were no migrants riding atop the trains that pulled in and out of town. Since January, Mexico has detained more than 74,000 migrants and deported over 53,000, according to the latest figures available. Those numbers are expected to rise when June figures are released. Luis Arbey Perez, a civil rights advocate, corroborated that five immigration vans carried about 100 migrants from Arriaga to the southern border with Guatemala early Sunday. He worries that the National Guard deployment, together with heightened inspections of passenger vehicles, will push migrants into more dangerous modes of travel. “There is more persecution, more detentions, but the people keep coming,” he said. “What rises is the risk.” Dozens of families have been found packed tight into semi-trailers in recent weeks, while travel in secret compartments of vehicles is also common. Mexican authorities have also broken up recent caravans of more than 100 migrants traveling in packs for greater safety. Last week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador instructed private bus companies to begin checking identifications of those buying bus tickets, in an effort to crackdown on human smuggling. Significant numbers of migrants appear to still be crossing into Mexico, but they are traveling in smaller groups and under the radar. Elias Camacho, coordinator of the 84-bed Hogar de la Misericordia migrant shelter in Arriaga, said that on average at least 15 migrants show up each day at his shelter. He said private homes in the town also take in migrants. Honduran migrant Edwin Cruz, 22, said conditions in his country will continue to propel Hondurans north. At least three people were killed in protests across Honduras last week that demanded the resignation of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. Violence, gang threats and poverty plague the country. Cruz said he spotted at least nine checkpoints on his way north from Mexico’s border with Guatemala. To avoid detection, he crossed through mountains and swamp rather than more visible highways. He also said he traveled by taxi and train. “It has become more complicated, but the necessities of the countries are increasing as well. So we prefer to take the risk than to stay there,” said Cruz, who hoped to make it to Tennessee. ___ Associated Press journalists Amy Guthrie in Mexico City and Salvador Gomez in Ciudad Juarez contributed to this report.  | | Massive Protest in Prague Calls for Prime Minister Andrej Babis to Resign Posted: 23 Jun 2019 12:25 PM PDT (PRAGUE) — The biggest anti-government protest in Prague since the 1989 pro-democratic Velvet Revolution is underway as Czechs urge Prime Minister Andrej Babis to resign. Protesters came to the capital from all corners of the Czech Republic to attend Sunday’s demonstration, the most massive of recent street protests opposing Babis. The demonstrators see the populist billionaire as a threat to democracy, including the independence of the country’s legal system. The protesters also are demanding the resignation of Babis’ new justice minister. They say the minister might compromise the legal system as prosecutors consider whether to indict Babis on fraud charges involving European Union funds. Babis denies wrongdoing and says there’s no reason for him to resign.  | | President Trump Suggests Saudi Arms Sales Are More Important Than Khashoggi Investigation Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:56 AM PDT (WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump isn’t saying whether he’ll direct the FBI to investigate the death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and suggests that pledges by Saudi Arabia to spend billions buying U.S. military equipment are more important to him because of the impact on jobs and the economy. Trump said the slaying of the Saudi journalist has “been heavily investigated.” Last week, however, an independent U.N. report on the killing found “credible evidence” to warrant further investigation into the possible role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and called for the FBI to investigate. U.S. intelligence agencies previously had concluded that the crown prince ordered that Khashoggi be killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where he went to pick up documents to marry his Turkish fiancee.
Khashoggi’s writings criticized the Saudi royal family. “Saudi Arabia is a big buyer of (American) product. That means something to me. It’s a big producer of jobs,” the president told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in a wide-ranging interview that was taped Friday and broadcast Sunday. Trump said the subject of Khashoggi “didn’t come up” when he and the crown prince spoke last Thursday, largely about Iran. Trump said the Middle East is a “vicious, hostile place” and that Iran and other countries in the region are also guilty of the type of behavior Saudi Arabia has been accused of engaging in. Khashoggi was killed, and believed to have been dismembered by Saudi agents, inside the consulate on Oct. 2. His remains have never been found. The president declined last year to penalize Saudi Arabia over the killing. Khashoggi had been living in the U.S. at the time of his death. Trump said he’s “not like a fool” that will refuse to do business with the U.S. ally, arguing that the kingdom will turn to U.S. rivals China and Russia if Washington refuses to sell arms to the Saudis. “Take their money. Take their money,” Trump said. The Senate voted last week to block the Trump administration from selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Trump has promised to veto the measure.  | | Palestinians Call White House’s Economic Proposal a ‘Snow Job’ Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:14 AM PDT Palestinians on Sunday rejected the White House’s $50 billion economic proposal meant to boost the Palestinian and Arab economies, calling it a “snow job.” Their objection came as no surprise. Palestinian business organizations and officials have declined the U.S. invitation to attend the Bahrain conference this week meant to promote their development, saying any economic proposal must come as part of a political agreement and not separately or ahead of it. Mounir el-Jagoub, information officer for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, said the plan was based on using Arab money “to kill the political aspirations of the Palestinian people.” Abbas didn’t even respond to the plan directly in a speech to the Fatah Central Committee on Saturday after the proposal was released in Washington.
The 40-page U.S. proposal includes the creation of a global investment fund that the U.S. hopes will lift Palestinian and neighboring Arab state economies. More than half of the $50 billion would be spent in Palestinian territories. “This is a nice snow job,” said Sam Bahour, a Ramallah-based Palestinian-American business consultant and chair of the board of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy. “Go home,” he advised President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.“You’re wasting time and taxpayers’ dollars trying to whitewash 52 years of military occupation.” The Palestinian economy is suffering in part because the Trump administration halted hundreds of millions of dollars of funding, making it hard for the government to pay salaries. Israel also withheld about $11 million in taxes, roughly 5% of the amount it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, prompting the Authority to reject the remaining 95 percent that it was due. Israel said its move was to offset stipends paid to families of Palestinians who killed Israelis or are held in Israeli jails on security-related charges. Azzam Shawwa, head of the Palestine Monetary Authority, said economic growth slowed to 0.8% last year from 3.3% in 2017, and he expects this year “to be a big mess” after the funding was halted. The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said on Sunday that the Palestinian budget deficit had reached $700 million and had the League reconfirm providing the Authority with a monthly safety net of $100 million. Palestinians view the U.S. plan with suspicion, said Kamel Husseini, an adviser to the Palestinian private sector, because it comes before and not in conjunction with a political plan that would culminate in statehood. What he called “dubious” measures by the U.S. have also undermined confidence, he said. Since Trump took office, he has walked back the longstanding U.S. commitment to Palestinian statehood, recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, closed the Palestine Liberation Organization’s diplomatic mission in Washington as well as halted the aid. Neither Israel nor the Palestinians will be at the conference this week. Kushner will lead the U.S. delegation and officials from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain will attend. Some Israelis expressed doubt about the summit. “I don’t see any chance that the conference will bring a solution,” former head of military intelligence Aharon Ze’evi Farkash told Kan News.  | | Ethiopia’s Military Chief Killed by Bodyguard Amid Failed Coup Attempt Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:59 AM PDT (ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia) — Ethiopia’s military chief was shot to death by his bodyguard amid a failed coup attempt against a regional government north of the capital, Addis Ababa, the prime minister said Sunday. The abortive coup Saturday in the Amhara region was led by a high-ranking military officer and others in the armed forces, said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who addressed the nation on state TV at 2 a.m. while wearing fatigues. The soldiers attacked a building where a meeting of regional officials was taking place, said Nigussu Tilahun, a spokesman for the prime minister. The regional governor and an adviser were killed, while the attorney general was wounded, he said.
Not long after afterward, army chief Gen. Seare Mekonnen who assassinated at his home in Addis Ababa, and a retired army general visiting him was also killed, the spokesman said. “There is a link between the two attacks,” Nigussu said without elaborating. The attack in Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara, was led by a renegade brigadier who had recently been pardoned by the prime minister after being jailed by the previous government, authorities said. Most of the perpetrators were captured, and others were being hunted down, the spokesman said. The brigadier remained at large, according to two officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Addis Ababa was peaceful on Sunday as soldiers stood guard in Meskel Square and set up roadblocks throughout the city. Ethiopia’s internet appeared to be shut down. The attempted coup was the latest challenge to Abiy, who was elected last year. The 42-year-old Abiy has captured the imagination of many with his political and economic reforms, including the surprise acceptance of a peace agreement with Eritrea, the opening of major state-owned sectors to private investment and the release of thousands of prisoners, including opposition figures once sentenced to death. Last June, a grenade meant for Abiy wounded many people at a big rally. Nine police officials were arrested, state media reported. In October, rebellious soldiers protested over pay and invaded Abiy’s office, but the prime minister was able to defuse the situation. Ethiopia is a key regional ally of the U.S. in the restive Horn of Africa region. Tibor Nagy, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, said the latest violence was a “shock, but it could have turned out so much worse,” adding: “Thankfully Prime Minister Abiy escaped this attempt, because there are many, many more people in Ethiopia who support his reforms than those who are opposed to them.” Speaking in South Africa, Nagy said “there are vestiges of the old regime” who are opposed to Abiy. “I wish I could say that this is will be the last of these attempts, but no one can be certain,” Nagy said. In Addis Ababa, politicians and government officials went to the home of the slain army chief to offer condolences to his family.  | | Thousands March in Kiev for LGBTQ Pride Parade Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:44 AM PDT (MOSCOW) — Thousands of supporters of LGBT rights have marched through the center of Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, under a heavy police presence to separate them from opponents. Police said Sunday that nine people were arrested on suspicion of preparing provocations against participants in the Kiev Pride event. Ukrainian news reports estimated the number of marchers at about 2,500. Several people protesting the march scuffled with police as the march assembled. Others stood along the route, shouting and holding a banner reading “Sodomy is the road to hell.” Opponents of gay rights say homosexuality is contrary to Ukraine’s traditional culture. In turn, a large banner at the head of the march declared that “our tradition is freedom.”  | | North Korea: Kim Jong Un Received ‘Excellent’ Letter From President Trump Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:23 AM PDT (SEOUL, South Korea) — U.S. President Donald Trump sent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un an “excellent” letter, the North’s state-run news agency reported Sunday, quoting Kim as saying he would “seriously contemplate” the content. The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said Trump sent a letter and “correspondence between the two leaders has been ongoing.” Formal talks between the U.S. and North Korea broke down after a failed summit between Kim and Trump in February in Vietnam. But earlier in June Trump told U.S. reporters he received a “beautiful” letter from Kim, without revealing what was written. In an interview with TIME magazine last week, Trump said he also received a “birthday letter” from Kim that was delivered by hand a day before.
The official stances remain the same. The U.S. is demanding that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons entirely before international sanctions are lifted. North Korea is seeking a step-by-step approach in which moves toward denuclearization are matched by concessions from the U.S., notably a relaxation of the sanctions. Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency’s report on the Trump letter said Kim “said with satisfaction that the letter is of excellent content.” “Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong Un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content,” the agency said, without elaborating. South Korea’s presidential office said it sees the exchange of letters between Kim and Trump as a positive development for keeping the momentum for dialogue alive. News of Trump’s letter came days after Kim’s summit with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping, which experts say underscored China’s importance in the diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with the North. North Korean state media said Kim and Xi discussed the political situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula and reached unspecified consensus on important issues. Xi is expected to meet with Trump next week in Japan during the G-20 summit. Analysts say he could pass him a message from Kim about the nuclear negotiations. Kim said during his New Year’s speech said he would seek a “new way” if the United States persists with sanctions and pressure against North Korea. After the collapse of his meeting with Trump in Hanoi, Kim said Washington has until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal to salvage the negotiations. Following a provocative run in weapons tests, Kim initiated negotiations with Seoul and Washington in 2018, which led to three summits with South Korea’s president and his first with Trump in Singapore on June 12, 2018. Kim and Trump issued a vague statement at that summit saying they would work toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing how. The lack of substance and fruitless working-level talks set up the breakdown of Kim’s second meeting with Trump, which the Americans blamed on excessive North Korean demands for sanctions relief in exchange for only a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. Nuclear negotiations have been at a standstill since. Trump and Kim also exchanged letters in 2018 after their first summit. Sanders said at the time that the letters addressed their commitment to work toward North Korea’s “complete denuclearization.” In September 2018, Trump told a cheering crowd at a campaign rally in West Virginia that Kim “wrote me beautiful letters and they’re great letters. We fell in love.” Analysts say the gesture of sending letters is part of North Korean efforts to present Kim as a legitimate international statesman who is reasonable and capable of negotiating solutions and making deals. Because of the weight of formality they provide, Kim might see personal letters as an important way to communicate with leaders of countries the North never had close ties with, they say.  |  |
| financial dictionary pdf - financial terminology dictionary - financial dictionary app Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:06 PM PDT
| What Investors Can Learn From Insider Trading Posted: Some insider trading is actually legal and can be extremely telling for investors. Here's more information. | | A Day in the Life of an Investment Banker Posted: Take a look at a day in the life of an investment banker, one of the most sought-after and stressful jobs in the financial sector. | | Top 10 Forex Brokers in the UK (FXCM, GCAP) Posted: Learn about the regulation of the foreign exchange market (forex), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the top 10 UK brokers that are FCA regulated. | | How Credit Card Balance Transfers Work Posted: How to decide if a credit card balance transfer is right for you, where to look for one, and the steps to take to complete the process. | | Real Estate Contract Conditions Posted: It's a good idea to educate yourself on the not-so-obvious parts of a real estate contract. | | Pips and How They Work in Currency Pairs Posted: Pips relate to the smallest price moves of foreign exchange rates. This differs from currency pairs, such as EUR/USD, which represent a euro and US dollar. | | The Difference Between Restructuring Debt & Refinancing Debt Posted: Refinancing and restructuring are very different debt reorganization processes designed to avoid bankruptcy and strengthen a company's financial outlook. | | Can I Use a Prepaid Credit Card to Pay Bills? Posted: Learn how prepaid credit cards enable convenient bill payments and transfers. | | Expected Return vs. Standard Deviation: What's the Difference? Posted: Expected return and standard deviation are two statistical measures that can be used to analyze a portfolio. One measures return that is anticipated, and the other the deviation from the mean return, | | Understanding the Sharpe Ratio Posted: The Sharpe ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted return. It describes how much excess return you receive for the volatility of holding a riskier asset. | | What's the Best Way to Contact Warren Buffett? Posted: Learn how to contact Warren Buffett and what kinds of contact is most likely to receive a response from him or from his company, Berkshire Hathaway. | | Zillow Estimates: Not As Accurate As You Think Posted: Zillow uses a variety of data to calculate its "Zestimates." But things like the wrong property details to missing upgrades can make them inaccurate. | | 5 Things You Need to Know About Index Funds Posted: Index funds, at their best, offer a low-cost way for investors to track popular stock and bond market indexes. But not all index funds are created equally. | | 10 Phrases You Should Ban From Your Resume Posted: In this competitive job market, your resume really needs to shine to stand out from the crowd, which means the tired cliches have to go. | | Top House-Hunting Mistakes Posted: Learn the top mistakes people make when hunting for their next home. When buying a home, slow down, overcome your emotions, and make a home-purchase decision that's good for both your feelings and your finances. | | 10 Bank Promotions That Pay You to Open an Account Posted: Find out which banks are running cash promotions and will pay you just for opening a new account. | | IPO vs. Direct Listing: Knowing the Difference Posted: These are the key differences between an initial public offering and a direct listing of shares. | | What Is an Equity-Indexed Annuity? Posted: An equity-indexed annuity offers the potential to earn a higher return than a traditional fixed annuity, but is more complex and has cons to consider. | | Introduction to Investing for Beginner Investors Posted: Discover how beginner investors can invest sensibly, suitably, and simply. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Rent-to-Own Homes: How the Process Works Posted: Learn the process behind a rent-to-own agreement—also known as a lease-option agreement or a lease-to-own agreement—and how you can use this method as an alternative way to buy a home. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | 10 Ways to Improve Cash Flow Posted: Cash flow is crucial for any business. Here are ten tips to increase your cash flow and keep your business profitable. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | When Are Beneficiaries of a Will Notified? Posted: Learn when the beneficiaries of a will must be notified and understand how this requirement varies depending on whether the will is probated. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How Do I Become an Underwriter? Posted: Learn about the education, training, and certification required to become an insurance underwriter and the important qualities the position demands. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How to Withdraw Money From Your 401(k) Early Posted: An early withdrawal from 401(k) is subject to a 10% withdrawal tax penalty. Before taking your money out, explore these penalty-free options. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Who Is Exempt From Paying Into Social Security? Posted: Understand more about the purpose of the Social Security system and which groups of taxpayers are exempt from the tax. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Understanding How Options Are Priced Posted: Before venturing into the world of trading options, investors should have a good understanding of the factors determining the value of an option. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | When does one sell a put option, and when does one sell a call option? Posted: An investor would sell a put option if her outlook on the underlying was bullish, and would sell a call option if her outlook on a specific asset was bearish. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How to fill out an I-9 form (step-by-step) Posted: Step-by-step, here's how you and the employee you've hired fill out the required I-9 verification form from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | What the Rule of 72 Reveals About the Future of an Investment Posted: The Rule of 72 determines how long an investment will take to double given a fixed annual rate of interest. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | A Bank Guarantee vs. a Bond: What's the Difference? Posted: Understand the differences between a bank guarantee and a bond. A bond is essentially a loan issued by an entity while a bank guarantee is a promise that can be included in a bank loan. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How Slack Cornered the Market and Battled Tech Giants Posted: The company will begin trading on the NYSE under the symbol "WORK" on June 20. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Slack IPO: What You Need to Know Posted: Slack Technologies, a provider of cloud-based business collaboration tools, will go public this week. Here are the highlights of Slack's offering. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | An Overview of Annuities Posted: An annuity can provide steady income during retirement, but make sure you understand the different types and how they work before purchasing one. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How Do a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA and SIMPLE IRA Differ? Posted: SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs have key differences, such as who can contribute and how much. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How The NBA Makes Money: Television, Merchandising, Ticket Sales Posted: The National Basketball Association has moved past Major League Baseball to represent the second most popular sport in the United States. How does the NBA make money? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Put-Call Ratio Definition Posted: The put-call ratio is a measurement that is widely used by investors to gauge the overall mood of a market. A rising ratio suggests bearish sentiment. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Top Forex Brokers Operating Under U.S. Regulations Posted: Here is a list of the top U.S.-regulated forex brokers operating in the United States. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | 6 High-Paying Jobs With Low Education Requirements Posted: If the high cost of college is getting you down, you can still find jobs that pay well but require little or no post-secondary education. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | How to Open a Brokerage Account For a Child Posted: An underage person may have a brokerage account with his or her own name attached to it, but a parent or guardian must be involved with it. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | What Retirement Will Look Like Without Savings Posted: Everyone knows they should save for retirement, but many don't do it at all. Unfortunately, retirement without savings isn't pretty. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Top Reasons Not to Roll Over Your 401(k) to an IRA Posted: Five cases in which keeping your plan in place—or employing another non-IRA strategy—is the better move. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |  |
| economic news of india - world economic news - economics news for students - indian economy news Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:54 PM PDT
| RBI deputy guv Viral Acharya puts in his papers, claims report Posted: Viral Acharya who had made a fervent pitch for autonomy for the regulator, has reportedly quit six months before the scheduled end of his term. Acharya, who joined the central back on January 23, 2017, was RBI's youngest deputy governor post economic liberalisation. The report said he was returning to New York's Stern School of Business to teach.Seniormost Deputy governor N Vishwanathan, who was to retire next month, may be asked to stay back. On October 26 last year, Acharya had spoken about the need to preserve the autonomy of the RBI. In the over 90-minute long speech, Acharya, who was incharge of the monetary policy department, warned of the wrath of the markets if the autonomy of a central bank was compromised. Acharya had explicitly said he had the backing of the then Governor Patel for making the speech. | | Tata Power has a big plan to trim its debt Posted: Mumbai: Tata Power is exploring the establishment of an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) for its near 3 gigawatt (GW) renewable energy portfolio to deleverage its balance sheet by a fourth and raise growth equity from investors, said people with knowledge of the matter. If it goes ahead, Tata Power will join Larsen and Toubro, Reliance Industries, Sterlite and Piramal Enterprises in creating investment trusts for operational infrastructure assets.Tata Power, the country's largest integrated power company, has 2,549 MW of renewable capacity and a presence in 14 states across India. Another 400-500 MW is in the pipeline. It's largely a solar portfolio on account of its $1.4 billion acquisition of Welspun Energy's assets in June 2016.The plan is to hive off the operating assets in the InVIT along with Rs 10,000 crore of debt. The company is seeking to raise Rs 6,000-7,000 crore ($750 million-1 billion) of equity from infrastructure-focussed investors, said people familiar with the plan. A few investors have been informally sounded out to gauge interest as well, according to one of the officials mentioned above, but this could not be independently verified.A final decision is expected in the coming weeks.A Tata Power spokesperson declined to comment on what it characterised as speculation.Projects in the pipeline will get loaded onto the InvIT platform once ready. The InvIT will also have a mandate to make brownfield acquisitions, said the people cited above.The operating portfolio clocked Rs 2,053 crore in FY19 ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation). The company therefore is looking at an eightfold EV/ebitda valuation from investors. It can get four-five investors on board for equity support as per the rules.The company has already embarked on a restructuring exercise of its green energy portfolio that was scattered in three different entities–parent Tata Power Ltd, wholly owned subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL) and Welspun (Walwhan Renewable Energy Ltd or WREL)--by carving out 380 MW of solar and wind assets from the former and merging it with TRPEL by a scheme of arrangement. WREL remains a standalone subsidiary of TPREL.A debt-reduction drive has also been underway with the sale of noncore assets that helped the company raise Rs 1,900 crore through divestments in FY19. Over the next one-two years, divestment-related proceeds are expected from monetising stakes in Tata Projects, Strategic Engineering Division, Cennergi South Africa and ITPC Zambia, land parcels, small stakes in other Tata Group companies and partial monetisation of its Delhi distribution's regulated assets."This should translate into further debt reduction over the next couple of years, which should provide a fillip to consolidated PAT," said Citi analyst Venkatesh Balasubramanium.Tata Power's gross debt stood at Rs 48,506 crore at the end of March.Tata Sons chairman N Chandrsekaran said debt reduction is a priority at Tata Power's annual general meeting last week."We continue to find ways in which we can bring the debt level further down primarily by selling noncore assets," he told shareholders. "We have to worry about return. The company's return on capital is only at 8%; we have to increase that and unless we do that we can't come to you to reduce debt."Chandrasekaran also highlighted that while Tata Power's renewables business is seeing growth, returns won't be immediate. "You are not going to see immediate size and scale," he said. "I am not setting the expectations high."Tata Power has been selectively looking to scale up growth in service-led business areas in distribution, solar EPC (engineering procurement construction) and along with utility scale solar projects, rooftop solar, microgrids and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It has already launched a retail rooftop solar business catering to small enterprises and households in 18 cities.In the past, Tata Power had created Resurgent Power, a platform for distressed thermal power assets, along with sovereign wealth and pension funds such as Canada's CDPQ, Kuwait Investment Authority and Oman State General Reserve Fund. CDPQ exited the platform in 2019. Tata holds a 26% stake in the venture that so far has had limited success.The government's 2022 renewable energy target of 175 GW along with declining costs have provided the impetus for a rapid increase in capacities. In FY19, 20 GW of renewable projects were awarded. The overall renewable addition was 8.6 GW against 11.8 GW in FY18. In FY19, a 25% safeguard duty was introduced on photovoltaic cell and module imports to help boost the local manufacturers. Despite this, the cost of solar generation has stayed low and tariffs have remained at Rs 2.50-3.00 per unit.Tata Power's flagship 4,000 MW Mundra project is still reporting huge losses and is the company's biggest drag due to price fluctuations of imported coal and fuel price risks. In FY18, the Mundra unit's loss widened to Rs 1,721.31 crore from Rs 849.74 crore a year ago, accounting for a big proportion of Tata Power's total debt. | | Why one poll may not be what India needs Posted: Everyone loves the two words, 'One Nation'. You start any argument with them, and you'll have people eating out of your hands: 'One Nation, One Flag'. 'One Nation, One Tax'. 'One Nation, One Slap'. 'One Nation, One Toilet'. It doesn't matter how ridiculous it sounds.With 'One Nation' prefixing anything, you rustle up enthusiasm of the level that combines 'One Ring to rule them all' of The Lord of the Rings and 'All for one, one for all' of The Three Musketeers. Eve polygamists, love it.So, when hard-selling the idea of holding simultaneous parliamentary elections and state assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was obviously going to always brand it as 'One Nation, One Election', not as any fuzzy-wuzzy 'Ek titli, anek titliyan' (One butterfly, many butterflies) kind of national unity with-pluralism of the 1980s Films Division propaganda.Order, Order?Now, don't get me wrong. It's indeed a pain for political parties — never mind for the Election Commission —having separate Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections across states around the year. And yes, crores of rupees can be saved, the same way that holding a mass wedding, instead of separate weddings, saves money, time, energy, for all parties, guests included.One also hears about the great bane of governments not being able to focus on their actual job — governance — because their minds are constantly focused on elections, twelve months a year. After all, before 1967 — the last time state and national elections were held simultaneously, with Congress losing eight of the 16 states, and a few months later, also losing UP after Charan Singh left the party with a posse of MLAs to head a non-Congress government — every government in the states and the Centre apparently worked like a dream. (Note: I am being ironic.) The man considered as the prime mover of the revival of simultaneous elections in India is LK Advani.He first raised the issue in 1995 stating that parties should join hands as the delinking of Lok Sabha and state assembly polls has "not been good either for the health of democracy or that of the administration". In 2010, as BJP parliamentary party chairman, he even blogged "I found both [Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee] receptive to a proposal I have been advocating for quite some time: fixed-term legislatures and simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls. The upshot would be: no uncertainty about the date of the five-yearly Lok Sabha and assembly elections," adding that "most European democracies have such an arrangement".Quite so. Swedes, for instance, voted in the national, regional and municipal elections on September 9 last year. Germany is another country whose name has been bandied about.Since the Weimar Republic had revolving-door administrations — which made the National Front-United Front governments of 1980s-1990s India seem super stable in comparison — post-World War 2, Germany opted for simultaneous federal (national) and federated state (assembly) elections. (Pre-World War 2, two state elections left the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) as the largest party in parliament, which led to nationally elected Paul von Hindenberg being replaced as chancellor by NSDAP leader Adolf Hitler in 1933, who did away with state assemblies (lantage) altogether.)Constructive CriticismWhile the European model of holding simultaneous elections may seem as enticing for India as the presence of riverside cafes and cycle lanes, it comes with a clause that India may not yet be politically ready for: a constructive vote of no-confidence.Here, whether in India or in Indore, we are familiar with the no-confidence motion. Governments at the Centre and states have had the rug pulled from under their feet — most famously on April 17, 1999 when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government succumbed to a no-confidence motion vote when its NDA ally AIADMK withdrew support on J Jayalalithaa's orders. Fresh polls were called, India lame-ducked for six months, after which Vajpayee's BJP-led NDA was reinstalled in October.In the German/European system of a constructive no-confidence vote (also in Israel and Lesotho), such kind of rug-pulling can't happen — unless there is a majority consensus on the successor of the rug-pulled head of government. So, government continues its business of governing —even as a minority government — while the leader of the government is sought to be changed.Is India willing to opt for such a 'presidential' system? And if so, are parties ready to delink party leaders from parties — beyond the manner by which, say, Lalu Yadav was replaced by Rabri Devi in 2000 as Bihar CM? Because if not, we may have lame-duck governments with Opposition parties waiting for fresh elections to come 'round the mountain (read: for months, even years). And for what? Just to sync national with state elections, rather than to govern or represent the people.Keeping politicians on their electoral toes via polls is actually as distracting for governance as listening to listeners' requests is distracting for a radio jockey playing listeners' requests. For a country that's really a union-nation of 'countries', keeping the sushi belt of elections running is the least worst option if you have the best for representative democracy — rather than chartered democrountancy — in mind. | | 6 PE funds make the cut for 26% in SBI General Posted: MUMBAI: Six private equity funds including PremjiInvest, Carlyle, ChrysCapital and GIC of Singapore, are among those in the shortlist for picking up a 26% stake in SBI General Insurance that will cost the acquirer about Rs 3,000 crore, two people close to the development told ET.The stake sale by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) will value SBI General Insurance at Rs 12,000 crore. Goldman Sachs is running the process and the deal is likely to be announced shortly, said the people cited above. "The deal is in the final stages and will be announced in a couple of weeks, after which they (the stakeholders concerned) will go to the insurance regulator for approvals," said one of them.PremjiInvest declined to comment. ChrysCapital, Carlyle and IAG didn't respond to queries. GIC of Singapore could not be immediately reached for comment. Incidentally, Carlyle and GIC of Singapore are reportedly in the process of buying a 10% stake in SBI Life Insurance. 69920455 The private equity investors may team up with one another and create groups to buy IAG stake. GIC of Singapore may tie up with ChrysCapital for the deal, said one of the sources cited above. ChrysCapital has been joining hands with other PEs to bid for businesses.State Bank of India (SBI) and IAG formed the joint venture in 2010 as a 74:26 partnership and the venture is now ranked eighth by way of gross written premiums among private insurers. IAG paid Rs 542 crore for its 26% stake.IAG Restructuring Asia-Pacific OpsAmong private insurers, the joint venture's market share is 5.77%."Earlier, reinsurance companies were looking at buying into SBI General but that would have led to a conflict as they provide us support through treaties," said an executive of the company.The biggest Australian general insurer is restructuring its Asia-Pacific operations and has already exited Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. IAG is concentrating on businesses in New Zealand and Australia.For price discovery, SBI had earlier sold 4% stake in SBI General Insurance for Rs 482 crore to Axis New Opportunities Fund and PremjiInvest, valuing the company at Rs 12,000 crore in September 2018. SBI currently holds a 70% stake. SBI General has a share capital of Rs 210 crore. As of FY19, the company's overall market ranking was 13 among about 30 insurers. It had recorded 32.83% growth in gross written premiums in FY19 at Rs 4,717 crore, compared with broader industry growth of 12.95%.The company has entered into strategic tieups with four large car manufacturers to drive growth in the motor portfolio. It currently has a presence through 23,000 branches of the State Bank group and more than 5,500 regional rural banks. That ensures reach in more than 110 cities.Private equity funds have been buying into insurance as India is one of the world's fastest-expanding markets in the sector and is set to grow to $280 billion by FY20, as per a study by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). KKR is an investor in SBI Life, while True North has bought 51% in Max Bupa. | | 6 PE funds make the cut for 26% in SBI General Posted: MUMBAI: Six private equity funds including PremjiInvest, Carlyle, ChrysCapital and GIC of Singapore, are among those in the shortlist for picking up a 26% stake in SBI General Insurance that will cost the acquirer about Rs 3,000 crore, two people close to the development told ET.The stake sale by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) will value SBI General Insurance at Rs 12,000 crore. Goldman Sachs is running the process and the deal is likely to be announced shortly, said the people cited above. "The deal is in the final stages and will be announced in a couple of weeks, after which they (the stakeholders concerned) will go to the insurance regulator for approvals," said one of them.PremjiInvest declined to comment. ChrysCapital, Carlyle and IAG didn't respond to queries. GIC of Singapore could not be immediately reached for comment. Incidentally, Carlyle and GIC of Singapore are reportedly in the process of buying a 10% stake in SBI Life Insurance. 69920455 The private equity investors may team up with one another and create groups to buy IAG stake. GIC of Singapore may tie up with ChrysCapital for the deal, said one of the sources cited above. ChrysCapital has been joining hands with other PEs to bid for businesses.State Bank of India (SBI) and IAG formed the joint venture in 2010 as a 74:26 partnership and the venture is now ranked eighth by way of gross written premiums among private insurers. IAG paid Rs 542 crore for its 26% stake.IAG Restructuring Asia-Pacific OpsAmong private insurers, the joint venture's market share is 5.77%."Earlier, reinsurance companies were looking at buying into SBI General but that would have led to a conflict as they provide us support through treaties," said an executive of the company.The biggest Australian general insurer is restructuring its Asia-Pacific operations and has already exited Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. IAG is concentrating on businesses in New Zealand and Australia.For price discovery, SBI had earlier sold 4% stake in SBI General Insurance for Rs 482 crore to Axis New Opportunities Fund and PremjiInvest, valuing the company at Rs 12,000 crore in September 2018. SBI currently holds a 70% stake. SBI General has a share capital of Rs 210 crore. As of FY19, the company's overall market ranking was 13 among about 30 insurers. It had recorded 32.83% growth in gross written premiums in FY19 at Rs 4,717 crore, compared with broader industry growth of 12.95%.The company has entered into strategic tieups with four large car manufacturers to drive growth in the motor portfolio. It currently has a presence through 23,000 branches of the State Bank group and more than 5,500 regional rural banks. That ensures reach in more than 110 cities.Private equity funds have been buying into insurance as India is one of the world's fastest-expanding markets in the sector and is set to grow to $280 billion by FY20, as per a study by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). KKR is an investor in SBI Life, while True North has bought 51% in Max Bupa. | | DLF-GIC JV to build country’s largest mall in Gurugram Posted: Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC is strengthening its alliance with India's largest listed realty developer DLF as it seeks to participate in helping build the country's biggest retail mall of more than 2.5 million sq ft, said two persons with direct knowledge of the development. The new project, a retail and commercialled mixed-use development to be known as Down Town, will be constructed on a 23-acre land parcel owned by DLF in Gurugram. The plot is on the highway opposite DLF's 2.5 million sq ft commercial project Cyber Park. "The retail mall will be part of this 8 million sq ft project that will also have component of serviced apartments, fivestar hotel and commercial development. The project will be developed in two-three phases in more than five years," said one of the persons cited above.The development, to be executed through DCCDL, is expected to supersede the country's current largest retail development 2.5-million-sq-ft LuLu International Shopping Mall in Kochi and DLF's own 2-million-sq-ft Mall of India in Noida. | | Eleven stocks, $14 billion erased: India's debt woes in charts Posted: By Ameya Karve and Divya PatilA year after a rare default in India's credit market led to its mini-Lehman moment, several shadow banks in the country, its oldest surviving private airline and the parent company of its biggest television broadcaster are still reeling.The fear which erased more than 1 trillion rupees ($14.4 billion) in market capitalization of the 11 worst-hit firms is refusing to ebb.A custom index of shares of these 11 companies -- ranging from Dewan Housing Finance Corporation to Reliance Capital -- has slumped 54 per cent since June compared with the S&P BSE Sensex's 12 per cent advance.Risk aversion in the credit market that followed the collapse of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services roared back this month after Dewan Housing's rating was cut to default. Many of these junk-rated borrowers have turned untouchable in credit markets curtailing their ability to refinance outstanding bonds of 2.03 trillion rupees.Money is not cheap for non-bank lenders outside this group of eleven either as financing costs surge. For instance, to issue a two-year paper even a top rated shadow lender has to pay a premium of 162 basis points over sovereign debt with a similar maturity. The spread has widened by 50 basis points in the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.69914663 Rollover risks for outstanding borrowings are rising as these companies could only raise less than one-seventh of debt they did in the year before. Founders of most of these companies are selling businesses to tide over the crunch.69914665 The impact of the credit crisis is spreading. Local asset managers such as HDFC Asset Management Company, which have holdings of some of these stressed debt papers, are facing the heat as the firms delay or default on payments. Investors are also scrutinizing Indian banks who have loan exposure to companies with stressed debt.Even as the cracks of the credit crunch spread far and wide, some investors are waiting to see if the government and the central bank will come up with enough measures to tide over it.Policy makers have taken steps to provide liquidity to the system. But before this crisis is over, in all likelihood we will see "a number of companies going under or barely surviving by selling off their crown jewels," said Andrew Holland, chief executive officer at Avendus Capital in Mumbai. | | Nifty may see pullback, has to cross 11,840-880 to sustain it Posted: Friday's session on Dalal Street ended on the expected lines, as the market re-entered the corrective mode and returned bulk of the previous day's gain. The market witnessed a negative start to trade. Nifty started the day in the negative territory and traded sideways for most of the session. In the last hour and-a-half, the session got weaker and went on to end the day with a net loss of 107.65 points or 0.91 per cent.The previous session confirmed the existence of a short-term falling channel, which was created by joining the 12,100 level with the subsequent lower tops. Given the falling nature of this channel, the 11,840-11,880 zone has become a significant resistance for the short term. On the downside, the 50-DMA at 11,687 will be a crucial level to watch, as any breach of this mark will bring in some more weakness to the market.On Monday, the 11,770 and 11,830 levels are likely to act as next resistance points. Support should come in at 11,669 and 11,610. 69913537 The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart stands at 41.0119; and it remains neutral, showing no divergence from the price. On visual inspection, the RSI appears trapped in a range with the formation of lower tops. The daily MACD is bearish, and it trades below the signal line. No significant structures have appeared on the candles.Pattern analysis on the daily charts shows the formation of a small channel, as a trend line can be drawn from 12,100, which joins the subsequent lower tops. Given its falling nature, each upward move in the form of a technical pullback will face resistance in 11,840-11,880 zone from here on.Going into Monday's trade, we may see some intermittent technical pullbacks. However, no such pullback will be sustainable unless Nifty moves past the 11,840- 11,880 zone and closes above that. On the other hand, if the 50-DMA, which currently stands at 11,687, is taken out, more weakness may creep into the market. While remaining cautious on every rise, if there is any, one should focus on protecting profits at higher levels.(Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA is Consultant Technical Analyst at Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services, Vadodara. He can be reached at milan.vaishnav@equityresearch.asia) | | iPhone vs Android: Amit Shah prefers iPhone XS to connect with team Posted: NEW DELHI: Who says only US President Donald Trump uses two smartphones and treats Twitter as his typewriter? Several key ministers in the Narendra Modi government are quite tech-savvy and are currently using best-in-class Apple and Android-based smartphones to remain active on various social media platforms.Led by gadget lover Modi who is on Apple family of devices, his second-in-command and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is currently using a brand new Apple XS.When it comes to official work, the MP from Gandhinagar uses both Facebook and Twitter to keep up with his team on daily workloads, sources told IANS.Shah currently has 14 million followers on Twitter.Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan uses two smartphones -- one iPhone and another Android-based device. He frequently uses WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter to remain updated and track all the official work. At present, Pradhan has 1.1 million followers on Twitter.Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is active on both Facebook and Twitter.The Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur in Maharashtra, Gadkari likes Twitter and Facebook to track routine official work. He frequently uses both the apps to monitor his team, sources told IANS. Gadkari currently has 5.15 million followers on Twitter.Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has one word to describe her social media profile: Twitter.With 2.23 million followers on Twitter, she is actively using Twitter to connect with the government officials and people to promote the work done by her ministry and Prime Minister Modi.Minister of State for Steel Faggansingh Kulaste is also utilizing the power of social media and is active on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. He has two phones at present.According to sources, Kulaste is using one iPhone and a Samsung keypad phone. He often uses the devices to connect with the public and office workers via WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook and track recent activities.Apart from the cabinet ministers, Lok Sabha MP from North-East Delhi and BJP's Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari has an iPhone and frequently uses social media apps. Tiwari has 7.65 lakh followers on Twitter.In 2018, Modi was seen sporting Apple iPhone 6 series devices during China and Dubai official visits. Admitting his fondness for gadgets, the Prime Minister only uses top-end Apple devices apparently for security reasons.Modi's 'Digital India' initiative has seen a spurt in smartphone usage in India.With 48.2 million followers on Twitter, Modi has more than 110 million followers worldwide across social media platforms, ahead of Trump who has over 96 million followers globally.Under Modi's leadership, India became the second largest mobile phone producers in the world in 2019 from just two mobile factories in 2014 to 268 mobile and ancillary manufacturing units at present. | | CII suggests creation of National Employment Board Posted: New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday recommended the creation of a National Employment Board cosisting of members from key Union Ministries, all state governments, industry experts and trade unions, among others, to look into and address issues faced in employment creation in the country.It also suggested that the government initiate a comprehensive National Employment Mission."Employment generation extends to multiple dimensions and a national mission is required to address all aspects holistically. The Government National Employment Mission should include flexibility in hiring, tax incentives, education and skill development, and promotion of labour-intensive sectors," CII Director General, Chandrajit Banerjee said in a statement.Recommending immediate action, CII outlined a five-point agenda for the upcoming Budget.It said that states should introduce "fixed term employment", while other labour law reforms should receive priority in new central government infrastructure project funding. Transport and power projects along with industrial parks can be fast-tracked for these states to enable them to leverage such employment policies."Benefits under Section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Act should be extended for all workers earning up to Rs 50,000 in any sector," it said.The industry body also said that under the Prime Minister's Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), the wage threshold should be increased to Rs 25,000 from the current Rs 15,000.PMRPY provides for government contribution to Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Employee's Pension Scheme (EPS) for new employees for three years, and is applicable to workers earning less than Rs 15,000. With wages increasing, the threshold for applicability should also be raised, said CII.It further said that corporate income tax rebates should be considered for enterprises employing over a certain number of formal workers."Skill vouchers and skill wallets may be provided for boosting skilling. This is in accordance with the Skill India Mission of incentive-based support rather than subsidy-based support. Skilling should be demand driven and focussed on the identified 24 high-growth sectors for higher impact."Regarding the concept of national minimum wage, CII said that states should have the power to determine minimum wages based on three criteria -- geographic location, skill and occupation.However, this cannot be lower than the minimum wage fixed by the Centre. The concept of a national minimum wage will affect job creation, so it is necessary to give states power to fix their own minimum wages, CII said.According to CII, while the government should fix the minimum wages of unskilled workers, the wages of the skilled and semi-skilled labour force should, however, be determined by market forces.To encourage more women to participate in the workforce, CII recommended providing child care and maternity benefit subsidies under the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act."While industry is not asking for a hire-and-fire policy, a more flexible labour regime would enable India to align with multiple global trade challenges at a time when other nations are attracting new investments," the statement said. |  |
| Mumbai's first skywalk razed to make way for flyover Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:11 PM PDT Mumbai's first skywalk razed to make way for flyover This skywalk connecting Kalanagar with Bandra station (E) will be reconnected in September this year after the MMRDA completes work on this flyover Source: DI  |
| Bihar encephalitis toll reaches 178 Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:09 PM PDT Source: FPJ  |
| Mumbai police bust multi-crore cricket betting racket, two bookies arrested Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:56 PM PDT Mumbai police bust multi-crore cricket betting racket, two bookies arrested The accused duo has been identified as Vishwas Takalkar (51) and Ajay Kantraj (24) Source: DI  |
| Yoga: Transforming lives the Buddha way Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:56 PM PDT Yoga: Transforming lives the Buddha way Like the Buddha in my room, lets hope Yoga now comes to sweetly storm into every nook of our 'penthouses', silently transforming our body, along with head and heart, making us realise our highest aspiration Source: DI  |
| Mumbai: Four booked for embezzling society funds in Worli Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:56 PM PDT Mumbai: Four booked for embezzling society funds in Worli According to the FIR lodged with Worli Police station, a forensic audit conducted by the residential society has unfolded a scam worth Rs 1 crore Source: DI  |
| Case against Rahul Gandhi for 'trying to malign' Army's image Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:56 PM PDT Case against Rahul Gandhi for 'trying to malign' Army's image DOG BITE: On yoga day, Gandhi scion had tweeted army dog squad pic with 'New India' caption Source: DI  |
| Creative Gadchiroli: Not just a land of disquiet and violence Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:56 PM PDT Creative Gadchiroli: Not just a land of disquiet and violence There were numerous children innovators we met during this walk about whom I will share the insights net week Source: DI  |
| Revised BEST fares bring taxi unions to their knees Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:46 PM PDT Revised BEST fares bring taxi unions to their knees Now, they demand minimum fare of Rs 25 as opposed to the previous Rs 30 Source: DI  |
| Mayawati's nephew BSP national coordinator Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:46 PM PDT Mayawati's nephew BSP national coordinator Experts maintain that Mayawati is planning to revive its cadre by bringing in new faces on important posts Source: DI  |
| Attack on doctors: Worst animal instincts Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:46 PM PDT Attack on doctors: Worst animal instincts Proper screening should be done so that wrong-intentioned persons are not allowed to enter the hospital premises Source: DI  |
| Maharashtra gets its first climate resilient beach at Ratnagiri Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:46 PM PDT Maharashtra gets its first climate resilient beach at Ratnagiri The beach has an artificial sand dune with vegetation as a line of defense against rising sea-level and high tides, which erode seashores, including the Dadar-Mahim seashore in Mumbai Source: DI  |
| Masked men fire shots at woman journo in the capital Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:46 PM PDT Masked men fire shots at woman journo in the capital The victim, identified as Mitali Chandola, told police that she was returning to her home in Noida after meeting her friend in Raj Nagar extension in a car driven by her Source: DI  |
| Is the blame game on? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:46 PM PDT Is the blame game on? Being at the receiving end and being blamed perpetually can take a terrible toll on one's mental wellbeing Source: DI  |
| Spent Rs 500 cr on drain works to tackle flooding, claims BMC Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:36 PM PDT Spent Rs 500 cr on drain works to tackle flooding, claims BMC A total of 273 flood-prone spots are identified; civic body claims it has addressed issues in 75% of the areas Source: DI  |
| Why were unclaimed bodies not cremated? Bihar govt is clueless Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:36 PM PDT Why were unclaimed bodies not cremated? Bihar govt is clueless Human skeleton remains were found near a garbage dump close to the post-mortem section of the hospital in Bihar's Muzaffarpur on Saturday Source: DI  |
| Advantage Ashok Gehlot, Rahul Gandhi era may end Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:36 PM PDT Advantage Ashok Gehlot, Rahul Gandhi era may end Cong top brass for Raj CM's elevation as party president Source: DI  |
| Maharashtra wants to cut dry days but's unsure about drinking permit Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:26 PM PDT Maharashtra wants to cut dry days but's unsure about drinking permit These drinking permits are a prohibition era legacy, which mandates that those consuming liquor must hold permits issued for the purpose Source: DI  |
| INS Visakhapatnam won't miss deadline Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:26 PM PDT INS Visakhapatnam won't miss deadline Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, which constructs warships and submarines for the Indian Navy, says the extent of the damage in the Friday fire is being ascertained Source: DI  |
| HIV, TB helpline favourite with fake callers who talk 'random topics' Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:16 PM PDT HIV, TB helpline favourite with fake callers who talk 'random topics' 'AUDIO PHOBIC': Many a time people call just to hear a female voice talking on the phone, claim MDACS staff Source: DI  |
