CORPORATE AFFAIRS, E-COMMERCE, TECHNOLOGY & CARS
1. Investors and startup mentors are urging entrepreneurs to frame contracts that specify mediation as the first option to settle business disputes as the industry comes to terms with the nearly month-long incarceration of a Chennai-based founder last month. Industry groups aim to organise specialised forums where entrepreneurs will be guided on the best way to structure and frame contracts that minimise legal tangles, particularly when business relationships turn sour.
2. Cement giant LafargeHolcim has initiated a process that could lead to the union of its Indian operations ACC and Ambuja Cement, following months of speculation that this could be happening. ACC is evaluating a potential merger with Ambuja Cement, both companies said on Friday. A meeting was held on Friday to evaluate the benefits of a merger. As a first step, a special committee of directors, of which a majority are independent, has been constituted to commence the evaluation.
3. After about a decade, the Master Blaster and PepsiCo are coming together again to start a brand new innings -for our better health. In a first-of-its-kind deal for both Sachin Tendulkar and the Purchase, NY-based global consumer company , the two have agreed to produce a raft of nutrition-focused food products and beverages.Liquefy Innovations LLP , the firm promoted by India's cricketing deity, would get a licence fee as part of the long-term arrangement, which would harness Tendulkar's vast experience on the oval and PepsiCo's product-development capabilities to build a range of healthy products.
4. The telecom tribunal on Friday admitted pleas of Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular against the sector regulator and Reliance Jio, where both the incumbent telcos have challenged the sectoral watchdog's decision to allow the new entrant to continue with its promotional offers beyond the mandated 90 days. The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which will hear the matter on July 25, has asked the parties to give their sides of the argument in detail within seven weeks. Four weeks will be given to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and Reliance Jio, and three will be given to Bharti and Idea.
5. Online classifieds company Quikr on Friday announced the acquisition of Zimmber, an ondemand household services provider, to further scale its hyperlocal household services business. This strategic move will help the company accelerate its growth in household services and continue towards its goal of organising this fragmented category. Through this partnership, Zimmber will benefit from synergies with QuikrServices and other Quikr verticals and also enter into newer markets.
6. Hyderabad-based Hetero and Natco Pharma said on Friday they had received the Drugs Controller General of India's approval for a generic version of a combination drug used in the treatment of Hepatitis C. The product is a copy of Gilead Sciences' Epclusa. Hetero Healthcare will market and distribute the sofosbuvir+velpatasvir combination under the brand Velasof. Natco will sell it as Velpanat. This drug will be launched under a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead, which allows to manufacture and sell generic versions of its chronic Hepatitis C medicines in 101 developing countries, Hetero said.Gilead has priced the drug at $75,000 for a 12-week treatment in the US. In India, the generic version is expected at around Rs 18,500. For Indian drug companies like Hetero, Natco, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Biocon and Sun Pharma who have voluntary licences from Gilead for its Hep C drugs, the ride has been anything but smooth.
7. Cognizant's first quarter revenue rose 2.4% sequentially and the US-listed IT services company maintained its full-year target for 2017. The Teaneck, New Jersey-based company is focused on boosting its non-GAAP margin to 22% by 2019, from it historic range of 19.20%. Cognizant let go over 6,000 employees in its last appraisal process, ET has previously reported. The company said it began a voluntary separation scheme for more senior employees last week. The company maintained its 2017 revenue range of between $14.56 billion and $14.84 billion, implying a growth of 8-10%. Cognizant's outlook is not directly comparable with its Indian IT peers because it reports results for the calendar year. For FY18, Infosys expects revenue growth of 6.17.1%. Tata Consultancy Services does not give guidance, Wipro does not give out a full year target. Cognizant's first-quarter revenue rose 2.4% sequentially to $3.55 billion. Net profit stood at $557 million. The company said second-quarter revenue would be $3.63-$3.68 billion, implying growth of 2.33.6%. Wipro expects no growth for the same period.
8. Godrej Properties, the real estate development arm of the Godrej group, has decided to sell its entire stake in its wholly-owned subsidiary Godrej Investment Advisers. Godrej Properties has taken an enabling resolution from the board of directors to sell the company. The exact valuation will be determined through a valuation exercise, the company spokesperson said in an email. Godrej Investment Advisers is the fund management business that the company created in March 2016.On Thursday, Godrej Properties reported consolidated net profit of Rs 63 crore for the March quarter as against net loss of Rs 12 crore a year ago. Total income for the quarter rose 21% from a year ago to Rs 475 crore. For the year ended March, the company reported 30% rise in net profit to Rs 207 crore. Total income for the year, however, decreased by 24% to Rs 1,733 crore.On Thursday, the company informed stock exchange it was planning to raise up to . Rs 500 crore through an issue of ` non-convertible debentures or other debt instruments on private placement basis.
9. Jubilant Life Sciences' subsidiary Jubilant Pharma will acquire the radio-pharmacy business of US-based Triad Isotopes for an undisclosed sum. “Jubilant Pharma (JPL)...through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, has signed an asset purchase agreement with Triad Isotopes Inc and its parent, Isotope Holdings Inc (Triad) to acquire substantially all of the assets which comprise the radio-pharmacy business of Triad,“ Jubilant Life Sciences said in a BSE filing. “The acquisition will be funded through JPL's internal accruals.“
10. The Bombay High Court on Friday sought to know from the Maharashtra government if over 600 acres of land in Nagpur was allotted to Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda at a throwaway price and on what grounds “concession“, if any, was given to the company. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice GS Kulkarni was hearing a petition filed by Congress Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam. The bench on Friday directed the state government to file an affidavit in response to the petition within six weeks.
11. BPO firm Firstsource Solutions on Friday reported a decline of 15.7% in its consolidated Rs 65.4 crore for the fourth net profit at quarter. The company had posted a net profit Rs 77.5 crore a year ago. The consolidated of ` revenue rose by 2.6% to ` Rs 892.3 crore from Rs 869.4 crore in the year ago period, Firstsource Solutions said in a statement.
12. Tata Coffee on Friday said it has infused over Rs 30 crore as equity in subsidiary firm Tata Coffee Vietnam Company. In December, the company had announced setting up of a new freeze dried instant coffee facility in Vietnam of 5,000-tonne capacity per annum through a subsidiary firm with an estimated project cost of $50 million (about Rs 350 crore).
13. Apollo Tyres on Friday reported 16.1% decline in consolidated profit after tax at `228.2 crore for the fourth quarter, hit by rise in raw material costs. The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax of `272.1crore in the same period of previous fiscal, Apollo Tyres said in a BSE filing.
14.Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT company , has said it has opened its first drones research lab in the United States to create drone-based solutions to meet the rising demand for unmanned aerial vehicles. The TCS Drones Research Lab featuring both indoor labs, showcase, warehouse, and outdoor terrain footprints aims to provide a rapid experimentation and co-innovation environment for customers to build solutions for specific industry problems in accelerated 30-60-90-day delivery cycles. Global market for commercial use of drones is seen at $127 b by 2020.
15. The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) to dispose of cases related to 120 homebuyers of Unitech Vistas and 111 buyers of Unitech Residences projects within eight weeks. The court also asked all directors of Unitech, including its chairman Ramesh Chandra and managing directors Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra, to be present in the court on May 8, when other cases against the real estate developer come up for hearing, said lawyer ML Lahoty who represented the Vistas and Residences homebuyers.
16. Sunil Mehta has been appointed to head Punjab National Bank, the country's second largest public sector bank, in place of Usha Ananthasubramanian, in a series of changes at public sector lenders.Dinabandhu Mohapatra has been promoted as MD and CEO of Bank of India, replacing Melwyn Rego. Ananthasubramanian has been transferred to smaller lender Allahabad Bank, while Rego has been moved to Syndicate Bank. A finance ministry official said that the government wanted to give a longer term to the new chiefs at the two large banks to fast track the loan-resolution process. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appointed Rajkiran Rai G, currently executive director of Oriental Bank of Commerce, as MD and CEO of Union Bank of India for a period of three years. This is extendable up to May 2022 after a review of his performance, the official statement said. Besides, R Subramaniakumar, currently executive director of Indian Overseas Bank, has been elevated to MD and CEO. Mehta is currently executive director at Corporation Bank.
17. Eicher Motors, the maker of Royal Enfield bikes, plans to invest Rs 1,250 crore this fiscal year, as it seeks to sustain the strong momentum attained in fiscal 2017 when it posted a 30% expansion in the sales of two-wheelers and 12% growth in commercial vehicles. The company would invest Rs 800 crore in Royal Enfield and the balance in VE Commercial Vehicles, its commercial vehicle joint venture with the Volvo Group.With both two-wheelers and commercial vehicles outpacing their respective segments in growth, Eicher Motors registered its highest ever consolidated revenue of `1,888 crore for the quarter, up 23% from a year earlier. Net profit rose 31% to `401crore, while the operating margin was the best in the industry at 31%, the company said.
18. The initial public offer (IPO) of IRB InvIT Fund, the country's first infrastructure investment trust to hit the primary market, closed on a strong note on Friday with the issue being subscribed 8.6 times. The issue got bids for 215.11 crore units compared to the issue size of 25.09 crore units excluding the anchor book portion. A day ahead of the IPO, IRB InvIT Fund allotted 20.53 crore units to 28 anchor investors at the upper end of the price band of Rs 100-102, raising Rs 2,094.50 crore. Government of Singapore, Platinum International Fund, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and Deutsche Global Infrastructure Fund were among the anchor investors.
19. Warren Buffett said he has sold about one-third of Berkshire Hathaway's big stake in IBM, CNBC reported on Thursday, reducing a bet by the famed investor that surprised many and which so far has yet to prove successful.IBM's stock closed on Thursday at $159.05 on the New York Stock Exchange. Buffett owned about 81 million shares of IBM at the end of 2016 and sold about a third in the first and second quarters of 2017.
20. The US Department of Justice has begun a criminal investigation into Uber Technologies' use of a software tool that helped its drivers evade local transportation regulators. Uber has acknowledged the software, known as Greyball, helped it identify and circumvent government officials who were trying to clamp down on Uber in areas where its service had not yet been approved, such as Portland, Oregon. The company prohibited the use of Greyball for this purpose shortly after the New York Times revealed its existence in March, saying the programme was created to check ride requests to prevent fraud and safeguard drivers. The Times report triggered a barrage of negative publicity for the company . The criminal probe could become a significant problem facing the company that is already struggling with an array of recent business and legal issues.
21. China's first large homemade passenger jet, touted as a competitor to Boeing and Airbus, made its maiden flight from Shanghai on Friday, signalling the Communist giant's entry into the global aviation industry. The 158-seater C919 took to the skies from Shanghai Pudong International Airport and made China the fourth jumbo jet producer after the US, Europe and Russia. The twin-engine plane departed with five crew members on board but without any passengers. The “C“ in the aircraft's name st a nd s for b ot h Ch i n a a nd COMAC while 9 symbolises “forever“ in Chinese culture and 19 represents the maximum 190 seats capacity. With a stand radius range of 4,075km, the narrow-body jet is comparable with updated Airbus 320 and Boeing's new generation 737.
22. The iPhone-maker has $148 billion of its record $257 billion cash pile invested in corporate debt alone, according to a company filing from Wednesday. That's enough to buy all the assets in the world's largest fixed-income mutual fund, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, which has about $145 billion of assets including company, government and mortgage bonds. Like many technology companies, Apple has resisted transferring the money it earns abroad back to the US to avoid triggering corporate income taxes on the earnings. Instead, the company invests in corporate bonds and other assets like money market funds and US Treasuries.
23. Cidco's struggle to free its vast acres of encroached land has yielded valuable real estate. Now, seven plots spread across nine acres have been tendered for developing a three-star hotel and six residential and commercial complexes. Cidco has been spurred to develop its properties by the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport in the vicinity .
24.Another multinational company has written to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to withdraw its latest drug-eluting stents from the Indian market.Boston Scientific is the third company do so after NPPA capped the prices of stents in February to check profiteering as these devices were being sold at over 100% margins.In April, two MNCs--Abbott and Medtronic--had written to and Medtronic--had written to NPPA seeking permission to withdraw their latest stents from the Indian markets. However, NPPA on April 25 rejected these applications. On the same day , another MNC Boston Scientific wrote to NPPA seeking permission to withdraw its premium stents Synergy and Promus Premier.
25. A prime sea-facing Charni Road plot in south Mumbai will be developed by Pune-based Panchshil Realty, which had earlier partnered with Donald Trump to build Trump Towers in Pune. The 2.2-acre land belongs to Marine Drive Hospitality and Realty , part of DB Group headed by developers Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa.Jinxed for a decade, a plan to construct India's tallest luxury hotel on the land, the 125storey Park Hyatt, was cancelled after DB Group found no demand for a hotel in that area.
26. HPCL-Mittal Energy, the joint venture with staterun Hindustan Petroleum and NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal, is gearing up to invest nearly $3 billion in setting up a petrochemi cals complex at the ir Bhatinda refine ry in Punjab. The company plans to set up a naphtha cracker with a capacity of up to 1.7 million tonnes for producing raw material for making plastics, HPCL chairman M K Surana told.
27. Johnson & Johnson was or dered by a Missouri jury to pay over $110 million to a Virginia woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after decades of using its talc-based products for feminine hygiene.
28. Even as gen-next successfully runs some of the biggest names in Motown, this week the third generation of the Mammen family took over the reigns at tyre giant MRF. Rahul Mammen Mappillai, 39, the eldest son of chairman & managing director (MD), K M Mammen and Ambika Mammen, director and grandson of the legendary K M Mammen Mappillai, took over as the new MD of the company . The move comes amid margin pressure and rising raw material costs, which saw MRF's Q4 net profit drop 32% to Rs 287 crore. Current MD Arun Mammen, brother of chairman K M Mammen, has been reappointed vice-chairman and MD.
29. Norway's wealth fund has excluded Bharat Heavy Electricals from its investment portfolio because of concerns over the environmental impact of a plant the company is building, the Norwegian central bank said on Friday . The $935-billion Norwegian fund, the world's largest, is not allowed to invest in companies that breach certain ethical guidelines set by the Norwegian Parliament. These include producing nuclear weapons, tobacco or anti-personnel landmines. BHEL did not reply to requests for comment.
30. Shares of Tata Motors fell by nearly 4%, wiping out Rs 4,835 crore from its market valuation on Friday , after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) retail sales went down in April. The stock declined by 3.8% to close at Rs 420 on BSE. Intra-day , it dipped 4.2% to Rs 418. The stock was the top loser among the BSE 30-share components.On NSE, it slipped 3.9 % to end at Rs 420. The company's market valuation too dropped to Rs 1,21,196 crore. On the volume front, 14.14 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 94 lakh shares changed hands at NSE during the day . JLR on Friday reported retail sales of 40,385 units for April, down 2.3% from the same month of last year.
POLITICS, ECONOMY, CRIMES, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
1. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the move to empower the Reserve Bank of India through an ordinance will break the logjam on bad loans and that banks had not been doing enough to resolve the stressed-assets situation.
2. The Reserve Bank of India sprang into action as soon as the government notified the ordinance on bad loans, with the regulator offering more teeth to groups of lenders to deal with recovery proceedings and telling banks to stick to majority-agreed plans or face a penalty.
3.Benchmark indices fell the most in over a month on Friday, shedding nearly 1% as bank shares reversed the previous day's gains after details in the ordinance for stressed loan resolution fell below investor expectations.
4. India on Friday successfully launched GSAT-9 for boosting connectivity among Saarc nations, minus Pakistan. Soon after GSLVF09 carrying GSAT-9 took off, leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal joined PM Narendra Modi in a video-conference to celebrate the launch.
5. The recent stock market rally that helped the Sensex cross the 30,000 mark has buoyed many private equity investors as a majority of PE-backed private equity investors firms that entered the market in recent years are trading at up to 300% more than their listing price. Of the 67 IPOs in past five years, 42 -that is, 63% -have shown positive returns of between 25% and 300%.
6. With SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav launching a new party --Samajwadi Secular Morcha -the Samajwadi Party appears headed for a split. Shivpal claimed that the new party would be headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
1. Investors and startup mentors are urging entrepreneurs to frame contracts that specify mediation as the first option to settle business disputes as the industry comes to terms with the nearly month-long incarceration of a Chennai-based founder last month. Industry groups aim to organise specialised forums where entrepreneurs will be guided on the best way to structure and frame contracts that minimise legal tangles, particularly when business relationships turn sour.
2. Cement giant LafargeHolcim has initiated a process that could lead to the union of its Indian operations ACC and Ambuja Cement, following months of speculation that this could be happening. ACC is evaluating a potential merger with Ambuja Cement, both companies said on Friday. A meeting was held on Friday to evaluate the benefits of a merger. As a first step, a special committee of directors, of which a majority are independent, has been constituted to commence the evaluation.
3. After about a decade, the Master Blaster and PepsiCo are coming together again to start a brand new innings -for our better health. In a first-of-its-kind deal for both Sachin Tendulkar and the Purchase, NY-based global consumer company , the two have agreed to produce a raft of nutrition-focused food products and beverages.Liquefy Innovations LLP , the firm promoted by India's cricketing deity, would get a licence fee as part of the long-term arrangement, which would harness Tendulkar's vast experience on the oval and PepsiCo's product-development capabilities to build a range of healthy products.
4. The telecom tribunal on Friday admitted pleas of Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular against the sector regulator and Reliance Jio, where both the incumbent telcos have challenged the sectoral watchdog's decision to allow the new entrant to continue with its promotional offers beyond the mandated 90 days. The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which will hear the matter on July 25, has asked the parties to give their sides of the argument in detail within seven weeks. Four weeks will be given to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and Reliance Jio, and three will be given to Bharti and Idea.
5. Online classifieds company Quikr on Friday announced the acquisition of Zimmber, an ondemand household services provider, to further scale its hyperlocal household services business. This strategic move will help the company accelerate its growth in household services and continue towards its goal of organising this fragmented category. Through this partnership, Zimmber will benefit from synergies with QuikrServices and other Quikr verticals and also enter into newer markets.
6. Hyderabad-based Hetero and Natco Pharma said on Friday they had received the Drugs Controller General of India's approval for a generic version of a combination drug used in the treatment of Hepatitis C. The product is a copy of Gilead Sciences' Epclusa. Hetero Healthcare will market and distribute the sofosbuvir+velpatasvir combination under the brand Velasof. Natco will sell it as Velpanat. This drug will be launched under a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead, which allows to manufacture and sell generic versions of its chronic Hepatitis C medicines in 101 developing countries, Hetero said.Gilead has priced the drug at $75,000 for a 12-week treatment in the US. In India, the generic version is expected at around Rs 18,500. For Indian drug companies like Hetero, Natco, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Biocon and Sun Pharma who have voluntary licences from Gilead for its Hep C drugs, the ride has been anything but smooth.
7. Cognizant's first quarter revenue rose 2.4% sequentially and the US-listed IT services company maintained its full-year target for 2017. The Teaneck, New Jersey-based company is focused on boosting its non-GAAP margin to 22% by 2019, from it historic range of 19.20%. Cognizant let go over 6,000 employees in its last appraisal process, ET has previously reported. The company said it began a voluntary separation scheme for more senior employees last week. The company maintained its 2017 revenue range of between $14.56 billion and $14.84 billion, implying a growth of 8-10%. Cognizant's outlook is not directly comparable with its Indian IT peers because it reports results for the calendar year. For FY18, Infosys expects revenue growth of 6.17.1%. Tata Consultancy Services does not give guidance, Wipro does not give out a full year target. Cognizant's first-quarter revenue rose 2.4% sequentially to $3.55 billion. Net profit stood at $557 million. The company said second-quarter revenue would be $3.63-$3.68 billion, implying growth of 2.33.6%. Wipro expects no growth for the same period.
8. Godrej Properties, the real estate development arm of the Godrej group, has decided to sell its entire stake in its wholly-owned subsidiary Godrej Investment Advisers. Godrej Properties has taken an enabling resolution from the board of directors to sell the company. The exact valuation will be determined through a valuation exercise, the company spokesperson said in an email. Godrej Investment Advisers is the fund management business that the company created in March 2016.On Thursday, Godrej Properties reported consolidated net profit of Rs 63 crore for the March quarter as against net loss of Rs 12 crore a year ago. Total income for the quarter rose 21% from a year ago to Rs 475 crore. For the year ended March, the company reported 30% rise in net profit to Rs 207 crore. Total income for the year, however, decreased by 24% to Rs 1,733 crore.On Thursday, the company informed stock exchange it was planning to raise up to . Rs 500 crore through an issue of ` non-convertible debentures or other debt instruments on private placement basis.
9. Jubilant Life Sciences' subsidiary Jubilant Pharma will acquire the radio-pharmacy business of US-based Triad Isotopes for an undisclosed sum. “Jubilant Pharma (JPL)...through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, has signed an asset purchase agreement with Triad Isotopes Inc and its parent, Isotope Holdings Inc (Triad) to acquire substantially all of the assets which comprise the radio-pharmacy business of Triad,“ Jubilant Life Sciences said in a BSE filing. “The acquisition will be funded through JPL's internal accruals.“
10. The Bombay High Court on Friday sought to know from the Maharashtra government if over 600 acres of land in Nagpur was allotted to Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda at a throwaway price and on what grounds “concession“, if any, was given to the company. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice GS Kulkarni was hearing a petition filed by Congress Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam. The bench on Friday directed the state government to file an affidavit in response to the petition within six weeks.
11. BPO firm Firstsource Solutions on Friday reported a decline of 15.7% in its consolidated Rs 65.4 crore for the fourth net profit at quarter. The company had posted a net profit Rs 77.5 crore a year ago. The consolidated of ` revenue rose by 2.6% to ` Rs 892.3 crore from Rs 869.4 crore in the year ago period, Firstsource Solutions said in a statement.
12. Tata Coffee on Friday said it has infused over Rs 30 crore as equity in subsidiary firm Tata Coffee Vietnam Company. In December, the company had announced setting up of a new freeze dried instant coffee facility in Vietnam of 5,000-tonne capacity per annum through a subsidiary firm with an estimated project cost of $50 million (about Rs 350 crore).
13. Apollo Tyres on Friday reported 16.1% decline in consolidated profit after tax at `228.2 crore for the fourth quarter, hit by rise in raw material costs. The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax of `272.1crore in the same period of previous fiscal, Apollo Tyres said in a BSE filing.
14.Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT company , has said it has opened its first drones research lab in the United States to create drone-based solutions to meet the rising demand for unmanned aerial vehicles. The TCS Drones Research Lab featuring both indoor labs, showcase, warehouse, and outdoor terrain footprints aims to provide a rapid experimentation and co-innovation environment for customers to build solutions for specific industry problems in accelerated 30-60-90-day delivery cycles. Global market for commercial use of drones is seen at $127 b by 2020.
15. The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) to dispose of cases related to 120 homebuyers of Unitech Vistas and 111 buyers of Unitech Residences projects within eight weeks. The court also asked all directors of Unitech, including its chairman Ramesh Chandra and managing directors Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra, to be present in the court on May 8, when other cases against the real estate developer come up for hearing, said lawyer ML Lahoty who represented the Vistas and Residences homebuyers.
16. Sunil Mehta has been appointed to head Punjab National Bank, the country's second largest public sector bank, in place of Usha Ananthasubramanian, in a series of changes at public sector lenders.Dinabandhu Mohapatra has been promoted as MD and CEO of Bank of India, replacing Melwyn Rego. Ananthasubramanian has been transferred to smaller lender Allahabad Bank, while Rego has been moved to Syndicate Bank. A finance ministry official said that the government wanted to give a longer term to the new chiefs at the two large banks to fast track the loan-resolution process. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appointed Rajkiran Rai G, currently executive director of Oriental Bank of Commerce, as MD and CEO of Union Bank of India for a period of three years. This is extendable up to May 2022 after a review of his performance, the official statement said. Besides, R Subramaniakumar, currently executive director of Indian Overseas Bank, has been elevated to MD and CEO. Mehta is currently executive director at Corporation Bank.
17. Eicher Motors, the maker of Royal Enfield bikes, plans to invest Rs 1,250 crore this fiscal year, as it seeks to sustain the strong momentum attained in fiscal 2017 when it posted a 30% expansion in the sales of two-wheelers and 12% growth in commercial vehicles. The company would invest Rs 800 crore in Royal Enfield and the balance in VE Commercial Vehicles, its commercial vehicle joint venture with the Volvo Group.With both two-wheelers and commercial vehicles outpacing their respective segments in growth, Eicher Motors registered its highest ever consolidated revenue of `1,888 crore for the quarter, up 23% from a year earlier. Net profit rose 31% to `401crore, while the operating margin was the best in the industry at 31%, the company said.
18. The initial public offer (IPO) of IRB InvIT Fund, the country's first infrastructure investment trust to hit the primary market, closed on a strong note on Friday with the issue being subscribed 8.6 times. The issue got bids for 215.11 crore units compared to the issue size of 25.09 crore units excluding the anchor book portion. A day ahead of the IPO, IRB InvIT Fund allotted 20.53 crore units to 28 anchor investors at the upper end of the price band of Rs 100-102, raising Rs 2,094.50 crore. Government of Singapore, Platinum International Fund, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and Deutsche Global Infrastructure Fund were among the anchor investors.
19. Warren Buffett said he has sold about one-third of Berkshire Hathaway's big stake in IBM, CNBC reported on Thursday, reducing a bet by the famed investor that surprised many and which so far has yet to prove successful.IBM's stock closed on Thursday at $159.05 on the New York Stock Exchange. Buffett owned about 81 million shares of IBM at the end of 2016 and sold about a third in the first and second quarters of 2017.
20. The US Department of Justice has begun a criminal investigation into Uber Technologies' use of a software tool that helped its drivers evade local transportation regulators. Uber has acknowledged the software, known as Greyball, helped it identify and circumvent government officials who were trying to clamp down on Uber in areas where its service had not yet been approved, such as Portland, Oregon. The company prohibited the use of Greyball for this purpose shortly after the New York Times revealed its existence in March, saying the programme was created to check ride requests to prevent fraud and safeguard drivers. The Times report triggered a barrage of negative publicity for the company . The criminal probe could become a significant problem facing the company that is already struggling with an array of recent business and legal issues.
21. China's first large homemade passenger jet, touted as a competitor to Boeing and Airbus, made its maiden flight from Shanghai on Friday, signalling the Communist giant's entry into the global aviation industry. The 158-seater C919 took to the skies from Shanghai Pudong International Airport and made China the fourth jumbo jet producer after the US, Europe and Russia. The twin-engine plane departed with five crew members on board but without any passengers. The “C“ in the aircraft's name st a nd s for b ot h Ch i n a a nd COMAC while 9 symbolises “forever“ in Chinese culture and 19 represents the maximum 190 seats capacity. With a stand radius range of 4,075km, the narrow-body jet is comparable with updated Airbus 320 and Boeing's new generation 737.
22. The iPhone-maker has $148 billion of its record $257 billion cash pile invested in corporate debt alone, according to a company filing from Wednesday. That's enough to buy all the assets in the world's largest fixed-income mutual fund, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, which has about $145 billion of assets including company, government and mortgage bonds. Like many technology companies, Apple has resisted transferring the money it earns abroad back to the US to avoid triggering corporate income taxes on the earnings. Instead, the company invests in corporate bonds and other assets like money market funds and US Treasuries.
23. Cidco's struggle to free its vast acres of encroached land has yielded valuable real estate. Now, seven plots spread across nine acres have been tendered for developing a three-star hotel and six residential and commercial complexes. Cidco has been spurred to develop its properties by the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport in the vicinity .
24.Another multinational company has written to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to withdraw its latest drug-eluting stents from the Indian market.Boston Scientific is the third company do so after NPPA capped the prices of stents in February to check profiteering as these devices were being sold at over 100% margins.In April, two MNCs--Abbott and Medtronic--had written to and Medtronic--had written to NPPA seeking permission to withdraw their latest stents from the Indian markets. However, NPPA on April 25 rejected these applications. On the same day , another MNC Boston Scientific wrote to NPPA seeking permission to withdraw its premium stents Synergy and Promus Premier.
25. A prime sea-facing Charni Road plot in south Mumbai will be developed by Pune-based Panchshil Realty, which had earlier partnered with Donald Trump to build Trump Towers in Pune. The 2.2-acre land belongs to Marine Drive Hospitality and Realty , part of DB Group headed by developers Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa.Jinxed for a decade, a plan to construct India's tallest luxury hotel on the land, the 125storey Park Hyatt, was cancelled after DB Group found no demand for a hotel in that area.
26. HPCL-Mittal Energy, the joint venture with staterun Hindustan Petroleum and NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal, is gearing up to invest nearly $3 billion in setting up a petrochemi cals complex at the ir Bhatinda refine ry in Punjab. The company plans to set up a naphtha cracker with a capacity of up to 1.7 million tonnes for producing raw material for making plastics, HPCL chairman M K Surana told.
27. Johnson & Johnson was or dered by a Missouri jury to pay over $110 million to a Virginia woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after decades of using its talc-based products for feminine hygiene.
28. Even as gen-next successfully runs some of the biggest names in Motown, this week the third generation of the Mammen family took over the reigns at tyre giant MRF. Rahul Mammen Mappillai, 39, the eldest son of chairman & managing director (MD), K M Mammen and Ambika Mammen, director and grandson of the legendary K M Mammen Mappillai, took over as the new MD of the company . The move comes amid margin pressure and rising raw material costs, which saw MRF's Q4 net profit drop 32% to Rs 287 crore. Current MD Arun Mammen, brother of chairman K M Mammen, has been reappointed vice-chairman and MD.
29. Norway's wealth fund has excluded Bharat Heavy Electricals from its investment portfolio because of concerns over the environmental impact of a plant the company is building, the Norwegian central bank said on Friday . The $935-billion Norwegian fund, the world's largest, is not allowed to invest in companies that breach certain ethical guidelines set by the Norwegian Parliament. These include producing nuclear weapons, tobacco or anti-personnel landmines. BHEL did not reply to requests for comment.
30. Shares of Tata Motors fell by nearly 4%, wiping out Rs 4,835 crore from its market valuation on Friday , after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) retail sales went down in April. The stock declined by 3.8% to close at Rs 420 on BSE. Intra-day , it dipped 4.2% to Rs 418. The stock was the top loser among the BSE 30-share components.On NSE, it slipped 3.9 % to end at Rs 420. The company's market valuation too dropped to Rs 1,21,196 crore. On the volume front, 14.14 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 94 lakh shares changed hands at NSE during the day . JLR on Friday reported retail sales of 40,385 units for April, down 2.3% from the same month of last year.
POLITICS, ECONOMY, CRIMES, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
1. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the move to empower the Reserve Bank of India through an ordinance will break the logjam on bad loans and that banks had not been doing enough to resolve the stressed-assets situation.
2. The Reserve Bank of India sprang into action as soon as the government notified the ordinance on bad loans, with the regulator offering more teeth to groups of lenders to deal with recovery proceedings and telling banks to stick to majority-agreed plans or face a penalty.
3.Benchmark indices fell the most in over a month on Friday, shedding nearly 1% as bank shares reversed the previous day's gains after details in the ordinance for stressed loan resolution fell below investor expectations.
4. India on Friday successfully launched GSAT-9 for boosting connectivity among Saarc nations, minus Pakistan. Soon after GSLVF09 carrying GSAT-9 took off, leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal joined PM Narendra Modi in a video-conference to celebrate the launch.
5. The recent stock market rally that helped the Sensex cross the 30,000 mark has buoyed many private equity investors as a majority of PE-backed private equity investors firms that entered the market in recent years are trading at up to 300% more than their listing price. Of the 67 IPOs in past five years, 42 -that is, 63% -have shown positive returns of between 25% and 300%.
6. With SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav launching a new party --Samajwadi Secular Morcha -the Samajwadi Party appears headed for a split. Shivpal claimed that the new party would be headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
7. The SC confirmed the death sentence to the four convicts in the December 16, 2012, gangrape and murder case, saying it had sent a `tsunami of shock' and was a `rarest of rare' case in which the most brutal, barbaric attack was carried out on the 23-year-old woman.
8. In a bid to tame unruly fliers post Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad incident, India has proposed a flying ban of up to two years and beyond for unruly passengers on domestic flights.
9. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will skip a CMs' meeting called by Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday to review the strategy on dealing with Left wing extremism.Home secretary Malay Dey will represent the state at the meeting that comes after the recent killings o f 2 5 C R P F jawans in Chhattisgarh's Sukma. State administration insiders said that the chief minister would not attend the meeting as she would be busy with prior engagements. Last month, Banerjee had also skipped a meeting of the governing council of the Niti Aayog convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She deputed finance minister Amit Mitra to attend the meeting. But Mitra could not attend the same after the PM's decision that only chief ministers and deputy chief ministers would be allowed to represent state governments.
10. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi was on Friday asked by the government to furnish details of overseas funding to it following suspicion that it might have violated the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, an official said.In a communication, the Union Home Ministry asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to explain certain fundings from abroad after suspecting that it might have violated FCRA provisions.
11. The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the NIA and Maharashtra on a plea of accused Shrikant Purohit, seeking bail in a case pertaining to the 2008 Malegaon blast. A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government on the plea of Purohit, former lieutenant colonel, against the Bombay HC order rejecting his bail plea in the case.
12. A frail but determined 14-year-old Rekha Kumari has emerged as a star in Koderma district of Jharkhand where within a week, as many as 26 minors, including 23 girls, were saved from being married off recently. As per local customs and tradition, Rekha was about to be married off to a man double her age on April 27 .When it looked as if she would be forcibly married off, the teenager sought help of Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation.
13. Policy reforms initiated by the NDA government would help India emerge as a major power, South Korean Ambassador Hyun Cho said here on Friday while pitching for greater cooperation between the two countries.The envoy said the relationship between South Korea and India has progressed steadily and satisfactorily, with economy taking the centre stage.
14. “Strengthening the party organisation and preparing the state Congress to face the assembly elections will be my first priority,“ said newly-appointed AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, where elections are due by 2018 end.
15. Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and discussed with him the securi ty situation in the Valley. The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Office at South Block and lasted about 45 minutes. The governor discussed the continuing unrest in parts of the Kashmir Valley.
16. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has warned that strict action would be taken against those who attempt to disrupt social harmo ny in the state in the name of cow protection. He said the state's preven tion of cow slaughter act does not grant any protection to `gau rakshaks' or vigilante groups. He was reacting to media reports that the state government had defended the law protecting `gau rakshaks', before the SC at a time when the Congress was accusing the BJP of encouraging activities of such groups. “K'taka Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act 1964 grants no protection to `gau rakshaks' or any vigilante grps who take law into their own hand,“ Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.
17. India and the US are looking at expanding the scope of their annual Malabar naval exercise, with this year's edition to be conducted in the Bay of Bengal likely to focus on increasing capability to jointly counter submarine operations, among other maritime threats. While the final list of participants for the joint exercise to be held in July is still not final, the US Pacific Fleet Commander whose warships will take part in the war games said both sides are expected to share expertise in anti-submarine warfare, given the common platform they operate with, the Boeing P8 aircraft.
18. The Supreme Court on Friday sought response of the Kerala Chief Secretary on a contempt plea by senior IPS officer TP Senkumar, who has alleged delay in his reinstatement as the state police chief despite the apex court's order. The court also imposed a cost of `25,000 on the Kerala government, which had filed a separate application seeking certain clarifications on its April 24 judgement on Senkumar.
19. Africa -undergoing a bitter experience in the aftermath of Chinese investments in the continent -may face more trouble after China's mega One Belt One Road (OBOR) connectivity initiative -that gives Beijing strategic foothold in the region --is rolled out. Chinese policy to harness raw material and export finished products to African nations have left the locals without fair share of jobs, killed local manufacturing industry, pushed the countries towards debt and created social tensions. It is felt that the mega infra projects under OBOR would exacerbate socio-economic difficulties for African nations, some among the fastest-growing economies in the world.
20. The Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry's top priority these days is to fulfil its budgetary commitment to overhauling the University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher education regulator. A committee has been set up to draw up provisions to categorise institutes on quality parameters, a measure aimed at helping decide how much autonomy they can be granted.
21. India has asserted that it protects the rights of vulnerable groups and is strengthening laws for their protection and welfare dismissing criticism from certain quarters that transgenders and women in the country face challenges.
22. The telecom regulator will introduce a mobile application to measure call quality and beef up the `do not disturb' mechanism as part of strategy to improve consumer experience. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma told reporters on Friday that the MyCall app will work on a crowd sourcing platform, where users will be able to choose the number of calls they want to rate. A star rating of five would imply very good quality. Sharma's comments come after the telecom minister said the government is keeping a close watch on all parameters to measure call drops.
23. You want to open a bank account. So, you reach the website or physical bank of your choice, key in details into your phone and when prompted to submit documents, you simply bring the phone to the eye-level and a scan of your iris finishes off the process. The next step, your scan is authenticated by Aadhaar and you have a valid bank account to begin transactions. This is one of many scenarios that Rakesh Deshmukh, co-founder and CEO of Indus OS, predicts once smartphones with this capability reaches consumers. Deshmukh wants Indus OS to be the bedrock of this transformation as the world's first regional OS -and India's second largest behind Android and ahead of Apple iOS -becomes the first of its kind Aadhaarauthenticated OS.
24. The bad loan ordinance will allow the Reserve Bank of India to ensure that dissenting banks come to the negotiating table and accept resolution plans adopted by the majority of lenders or the one that's most feasible in the circumstances. They won't be able to hold out for fear of writedowns or getting caught up in subsequent investigations by government agencies.
25. Divestment by large developers is estimated to drive four-fold rise in institutional funds inflow into India's commercial real estate this year to $3.5 billion, a new peak for these investments, said an RICS-Cushman & Wakefield report.
26. India's foreign exchange reserves reached a record $372.7 billion for the week ended April 28, rising almost $1.6 billion in one week, data released by the Reserve Bank of India show. The previous high was at $371.2 billion reported on September 9 last year. India is now the eighth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves in the world, just ahead of Brazil and South Korea.
27. Public sector lender Bank of India on Friday said its shareholders have approved a . 10,000 crore proposal to raise up to ` through issue of bonds. In a BSE filing, BoI said its shareholders have given “approval for issuance and allotment of up to 80 crore fresh equity shares...by way of Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), public issue, rights issue...or any such other issue...for an amount up to Rs 10,000 crore“.
28. Government bonds rebounded on good buying support from banks and corporates. The 6.97% security maturing in 2026 rose Rs 100.1825 from ` to Rs 99.99 previously, while its yield edged down to 6.94% from 6.97%. The overnight call money rates ended lower to 5.90% from its Thursday's level of 6.10%.
29. The EU has its money on pro-European presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron in Sunday's French run-off vote, wary of the threat posed by Marine Le Pen who calls for the bloc's destruction. A host of top Brussels figures led by JeanClaude Juncker have broken with their usual protocol of not interfering in national elections to openly back the centrist former banker to beat far-right leader Le Pen.
30. North Korea on Friday accused the CIA and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its “supreme leadership“ with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a “pipe-dream“ could never succeed. Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test or test-launch another ballistic missile in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
31. The US Department of State has proposed tougher questioning of visa applicants believed to warrant extra scrutiny, according to a document published on Thursday, in a push toward the “extreme vetting“ that President Donald Trump has said is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. Questions about social media accounts would be part of the stepped-up criteria, which would apply to 65,000 people per year, or about 0.5% of US visa applicants worldwide, the state department estimated. It did not target nationals of any particular countries. Those applicants would be required to provide all prior passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers, as well as 15 years of biographical information, when applying for a US visa.Consular officers would not request user passwords for social media accounts, the document said.
32. US President Donald Trump, on his third try at overhauling Obamacare, sent no tweets attacking fellow Republicans, set no deadlines and issued no public ultimatums. Lawmakers who met with him said he spoke with them, not at them. Some lawmakers and aides in the House of Representatives were hesitant to credit Trump or his softer approach with Thursday's 217-213 vote rolling back President Barack Obama's signature 2010 healthcare overhaul.
33. India plans to revamp its foreign trade policy and relook at incentives to give a leg-up to the export sector, which is hurt by lower global demand as well as an appreciating rupee.
34. Insurance companies may have the most reassuring taglines, but they are the ones most number of consumers are angry with. Insurance sector accounted for the maximum 21.2% of all complaints filed in various consumer forums last year, said a person who has access to the data. As many as 35,685 complaints were registered against insurance sector in 2016-17, out of which 27,313, or more than three-fourths, are still pending before consumer courts across national, state and district levels, the person said. Housing sector attracted the second highest number of consumer complaints last year at 23,185 out of which only 6,319 complaints have been addressed so far. It was followed by banking and electricity sectors, receiving 14,940 and 13,011 complaints, respectively. Experts said addressing consumer complaints is affected by the lack of judges and members in consumer forums. There are 307 vacancies for members in the consumer forum.
35. India's apex body for direct taxes has proposed new rules for bringing the value of unquoted shares on a par with the fair market value of underlying assets, seeking to prevent tax avoidance by firms that use the historical acquisition cost to set the price of unlisted stock. The Finance Act, 2017, inserted a new section to the Income-Tax Act on the valuation of unquoted shares -those not listed on any exchange -at fair market value for computing capital gains tax. It had also introduced new provisions to expand the scope of taxation of any gift or property received for inadequate consideration: Jewellery, artistic work, immovable property, or shares and securities were included in the purview. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday released draft rules prescribing the method of valuation of any such property, jewellery, artistic work, immovable property, or shares and securities. Stakeholders have until May 19 to provide their comments.
36. The BCCI's cautiously worded agenda of the SGM on May 7 doesn't mention a single word about the possibility of India pulling out of the Champions Trophy but around 23 members have already signed in favour of writing a letter to the ICC seeking “course correction“.“Around 23 BCCI units have sent their written approval that we need to send a letter to the ICC seeking course correction. But as the COA has communicated that they don't want any legal notice to be sent to ICC, we aren't sending one. But the letter would urge ICC to take corrective measure,“ a senior BCCI official said.
37. Lionel Messi has had his four-match international ban for verbally abusing a match official lifted by Fifa after the Argentinian Football Association successfully appealed against the suspension, meaning he is eligible to play in all of their remaining 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Messi served one of the four-game ban when he sat out Argentina's 2-0 defeat by Bolivia on 28 March, five days after he was found to have verbally abused a linesman during the 1-0 victory against Chile. Fifa were able to take retrospective action against the Barcelona forward as he was not reported for the alleged abuse by the match referee, with Fifa rules stating that bans should be “at least four matches for unsporting conduct toward a match official“.
38. Novak Djokovic has split with his longtime coach Marian Vajda and two other team members, saying he wants to find “the winning spark on the court again.“ Djokovic said on Friday that he mutually agreed with Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil Gritsch, and physiotherapist Miljan Amanovic to end their “successful and long term partnership“ two weeks ago after the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost in the quarterfinals. “It was not an easy decision, but we all felt that we need a change,“ Djokovic said. Djokovic lost his No. 1 ranking to Andy Murray last year after a slump in form following his French Open triumph.
39. In Vivo IPL 2017 Kings XI Punjab won Against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
40. There should be no restriction on the number of street hailing taxis, the committee set up by the Centre to frame a taxi policy for urban mobility has said. It made the recommendation in its report submitted in December and it is now being considered by the Maharashtra government. Mantralaya sources said the government is keen to do away with the nearly 20-year freeze on the issuance of taxi and auto rickshaw permits in the state.There are 1.15 lakh taxis and tourist cabs and 1.39 lakh autos in Mumbai and its suburbs.
41. In a first, the SIT formed to probe the road scam has decided to take IIT Bombay's help in taking samples of roads where the BMC detected shoddy repairs, reports Richa Pinto. In what raises doubts whether the police were convinced by the BMC's report, the SIT would take samples of 34 roads to check if they were repaired as per norms.
42. A 65-year-old tribal--one of the five accused in an alleged case of cow slaughter in a village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat--died in police custody late on Thursday night, reports Ashish Chauhan. Human rights activists suspect that the custodial death was caused by police brutality . His son is also an accused in the case filed under the Gujarat Animal Protection (Amendment) Act 2011.
43. The Supreme Court dism issed the state government's plea challenging the Bombay HC's stay on its domicile rule for PG medical admissions. The counselling deadline has also been extended from May 7 to May 9.
44. on the illegal beaming of Saudi & Pakistani channels in J&K, the Centre said it has issued an advisory to the state to confiscate the equipment of such operators .
45. A 13-year-old Vikhroli boy drowned at a dam near Palghar on Wednesday . Manan Gogri was part of a batch of 119 students that was taken to the camp by a group called Tarun Mitra Mandal.
46. Striking a balance between protecting the environment and development of Metro III, the HC has vacated its order restraining felling of trees for the 33.5km line.
47. All schools in the state will have to set up a complaint box on their premises for students to file anonymous complaints regarding their safety . The schools will have to address the complaints every week. A government resolution issued by the state education department on Friday states that the complaint box will have to be set up by all schools at a prominent place on the campus or near the school entrance so that it is accessible to all.
48. In yet another jolt to developer Kamla Landmarc, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police on Friday arrested Ramesh Jain (65), father of Jitendra,in connection with a Rs 3.5 crore cheating case.Ramesh Jain, who was picked up from his Vile Parle residence. Ramesh's son Jitendra, his son-in-law Ketan Shah and other director Sushil Mantri were arrested last year and are in jail. Police officials said that Ramesh's arrest pertains to a complaint filed by an investor, Ram Swami, who had booked two flats in Kamla Grandeur project in Lower Parel. In 2011, Swami reportedly paid Rs 42 lakh for two flats and as per the agreement, the builder was to give him a flat by August 2014.
49. Yet another platform overshooting has been reported at Malad. The motorman of a Churchgate-Borivli local, scheduled to halt at Malad at 7pm, Thursday , failed to apply brakes at the right moment. As a result three coaches overshot the platform, before the train stopped. Since two such incidents have been reported in quick succession on Western Railway , commuters are a bit disturbed.On Friday , a Borivli-Churchgate slow local halted one and a half coaches ahead of the platform at Grant Road. The incident occurred around 1.35pm, resulting in a delay of 5 minutes--crucial in the suburban schedule. The motormen and guards of both trains have been suspended.
50. For yet another year, online first year junior college (FYJC) admissions could see a delayed start as the education department is still to finalize the schedule and print information booklets, including user ID and password, for students. The delay could reduce the time students get to fill out the first part of admission forms. Last year, the education department had started Part I of the online registration for students on May 9, and on April 24 in 2015. Part I of the registration process involves signing up on the portal and uploading personal details. This year, though, education department officials are still verifying college registrations. College registrations began on April 7 and were to wrap up on April 15 but the deadline was extended multiple times as colleges continued to stream in with requests to accommodate them.
51. There was high drama for more than four hours at an under-construction building site in Wadala as a 32-year-old woman lawyer threatened to jump off the 18th-floor terrace on Friday . The edge-of-seat drama ended as the city police's `Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Team' managed to convince the woman to abandon her suicide bid plan. Around 10.30 am, the police control room received a call from the site supervisor of the underconstruction tower on Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg about a woman being perched on the parapet of the terrace. Joint commissioner of police Deven Bharti said the caller said that it seemed like the woman was waiting to jump off anytime.The crisis negotiation team was immediately alerted.
52. The ambitious Juhu vision plan of residents of the area has hit a roadblock thanks to silt which has piled up outside the Irla nullah.The silt, removed from the drain, has been lying unattended to. As part of the plan, citi zens had been working on the landscape of the area besides the nullah, with horticulture work being in progress. The Rs 25 crore project is funded by Javed Akhtar, MP, lyricist and screenwriter. There are plans to set up a cycling and jogging track besides the nullah. But these plans have taken a major hit with BMC's pre-monsoon nullah-cleaning work in progress.
53. A diamond merchant who allegedly cheated his partner of Rs 81 crore was arrested from his Kandivli residence by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police on Friday . Kalpesh Rajnikant Doshi (49) has been booked for cheating, forgery , breach of trust and criminal conspiracy . He has been sent to police custody till May 9. The police also raided Doshi's apartment and seized 11 gold biscuits worth 32 lakh, polished diamonds worth Rs 5.5 lakh, and Rs 6.8 lakh cash.
54. A gang of robbers who cleaned out gold and cash of a total value of Rs 65 lakh from a store in Kalyan on Thursday had flashed a torch into the camera set up at the shop to avoid being caught. The police said on Friday that brief footage recovered from the closed-circuit camera reveals almost nothing due to the glare of the torch flashing into the camera. The police however claimed that they suspect that the heist was carried out the handiwork of a gang from Jharkhand or Nepal. A police officer said that the method deployed by the robbers to carry out the robbery bore striking resemblance to that used by such gangs in the past.
55. At a time when children in the tribal belt are dying of malnutrition, the tribal development department, led by BJP leader Vishnu Savara, has diverted funds sanctioned by the Centre for the welfare of scheduled tribes and strengthening institutions for renovation of the secretary's chamber in Mantralaya.
54. Following the Eman episode, the state is planning to put in place certain rules for medical tourism. Addressing a medical conference on Friday , state health minister Dr Deepak Sawant proposed that clear documentation of treatment plans be provided to foreign patients.Union health minister J P Nadda was present at the conference.
55. Eman Ahmed woke up to her first morning in the Emirates, stretched out on the island of her gigantic bed and blanketed in a thick layer of skin when a faint smile flickered across her face. Her new home against a backdrop of swathes of sand that lies still and silent yet perpetually moving has almost become a metaphor for the 36-year-old and her incredible journey in cranes, planes and trucks from Alexandria to Mumbai to Abu Dhabi while she remained caged in her body .
56. A day before the PhD Entrance Test conducted by the Mumbai University is to be held, several students were yet to get their hall tickets. Around 3,267 candidates have registered for the test scheduled on Saturday . The university started uploading the hall tickets late on Friday evening. Students, who have not managed to get the hall ticket can reach their allocated exam centre and produce their application form and an identity card to take the exam, said an official.
57. A special CBI Anti-Corruption Bureau court on Thursday convicted and sentenced a CBI constable and an accomplice, a former bank officer, to four years' imprisonment for attempting to influence an officer investigating a disproportionate assets case against a senior railway official in 2005. The constable, Vijay Prabhu (47), assigned duty at the special CBI court in 2002, came in contact with Bank of India officer Bharat Shah (70), when he was convicted and sentenced to one day's imprisonment and fined Rs 4 lakh in a corruption case. The duo was arrested on March 12, 2006, and granted bail the following month.
58.The BMC is setting up a 12.5 MW solar plant at its Bhandup water works complex which will take care of one-third of the electricity requirement at the complex. The BMC had sought help from IIT-Bombay for the project being implemented in two phases. The BMC spends Rs 42 crore a year on electricity for the complex. The solar plant will help the civic body save around 14 crore annually.
59. Bombay high court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to decide on the heritage status of Morena House, an art deco-style building on Carmichael Road. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni set aside the state's order that approved “the opinion of BMC that Morena building is not a grade II-B heritage structure“.The state has been given eight weeks to arrive at a decision on whether Morena House, which once housed the Belgium Consulate, is a grade II-B or a grade III heritage structure, or if it is a building listed in the heritage precinct. The court has prohibited its demolition till the state decides on its heritage listing and grade.
60. A mother-son duo have been charged with sexually exploiting a 16-year-old girl inside their home in Panchpakhadi.The suspects are on the run. The main suspect is the 25-year-old brother-in-law of the girl.The teenager said in her police complaint that the youth raped her repeatedly over the past eight months.
61. The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the NIA on Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Srikant Purohit's bail plea. Purohit said the Bombay HC erred in granting bail to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, but denying him relief in the same case. Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam and advocate Neela Gokhale informed a bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre that Purohit was regarded as an excellent counter-insurgency officer and claimed he was framed in the case.
62. Union health minister J P Nadda announced that Rs 20 crore has been sanctioned for the new institutional and hostel complex of the central government-run family welfare training and research centre in New Panvel.
63. The Kalwa police are looking for a `quack', Shashi Suman (45) who allegedly administered a wrong injection to a patient, Pritesh Kadam, suffering from cough and cold, which resulted n his death on March 23.
64.The Manpada police are looking for three youths from a Dombivli building for allegedly molesting and assaulting a 30-year-old neighbour on Friday. The police said the accused had a dispute with the woman and hence, targeted her.
65.CR has installed four 24ft sweep high-volume low-speed fans in the suburban concourse at CST. Besides providing better ventilation, these fans will help save Rs 3.03 lakh per annum in energy costs.
66. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has taken action against 10 firms for discharging untreated chemicals into Waldhuni river in Ulhasnagar, activist Satyajeet Burman learnt through an RTI query . MPCB issued closure notices to eight denim manufacturing factories and Stan Chemical Industries, and a show-cause notice to D K Pharma for not following pollution norms.
67. Forty aspirants for bank jobs, who were kept in a reserve list by Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for the post of probationary officers for 2016-17 recently approached Bombay high court after being refused employment despite many non-joining vacancies in the participating public banks.
68. A Vashi builder, Jignesh Goradia, was arrested for allegedly cheating 14 flat buyers of Rs 5.22 crore as he failed to complete a 14storey residential building project in Ulwe. The APMC police have booked his wife Pankti as she is a partner in Yushan Realty Ventures and are looking for her. The APMC police said the builder couple neither gave possession of flats nor refunded the booking amount to the buyers.
69. The Bombay high court on Friday allowed the BMC to adopt due legal procedure to evict a vacant land tenant adjacent to the Mayor's Bungalow at Shivaji Park for the proposed memorial for late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray .
70. In a development that is likely to hit new constructions in Thane, the Bombay high court on Friday , in an interim order, said that no commencement or occupation certificates should be granted to building projects on Ghodbunder Road. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni passed the orders on a petition by residents claiming Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) was unable to provide adequate water supply to new highrises coming up on Ghodbunder Road.They were dependent on private water tanker suppliers.
71. The Azad Maidan police probing the pay-andpark racket at Crawford Market by BMC-appointed contractors on Friday arrested the main contractor of RT Corporation, Yusuf Ibrahim Khan. The police also seized orange stickers that Khan's employees would give to motorists whom they would overcharge without issuing a receipt. On Thursday , the police had arrested managers Mohammed Hasan Shaikh and Mohammed Salim Shaikh, and supervisors Ashraf Ali and Mohammed Shaikh of RT Corporation for allegedly running an extortion racket at the pay-andpark near Crawford Market. Police said the two managers filed anticipatory bail pleas before a session court, but they were rejected.
72. Two former state power distribution firm employees were arrested on Thursday for allegedly stealing nine power transformers in Shahapur and Bhiwandi rural areas in the last six months. The Thane rural crime branch is looking for their third accomplice. The accused would steal transformer parts, extract copper and sell the metal, said a police officer.
73. For the past month, parents have been at loggerheads with schools over fee hike and while both the parties are furious over government inaction, they feel Maharashtra, as compared to other states, has the best rules in place. The implementation, however, is a matter of concern, said parents. According to the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011, a private school can propose a fee hike six months before the academic year and must seek nod from the Parents Teachers Association's (PTA) executive body before implementing it. Other states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have either set a cap on fee hikes or appointed a HC judge-led committee to verify the fee hike. Schools feel Maharashtra is more democratic.
74. The Bombay high court on Friday rapped the Mumbai police and BMC for lack of coordination with regard to drives undertaken to demolish illegal structures in the city.
75. The Assam government is reviewing whether the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) could be withdrawn from some areas before making recommendations to the Centre. This move may have repercussions in Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur where the Act has been a major subject of dispute between the state governments and the Centre. Declaring the entire Assam as a “disturbed area“, the Centre had imposed the Act on November 27, 1990, at the height of militancy spearheaded by Ulfa.The Act enables the armed forces to exercise special powers while combating militancy .
76. The passenger service fee, which is a component of the airfare, may be raised in view of the higher cost of security and facilitation at all airports guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force. A high-level meeting on airport securityearlier this week asked the ministry of civil aviation to find out means to recover the cost of security arrangements at airports. The home ministry will work out the total annual cost of providing security at143 functional airports across the country ,a government functionary said.Based on this, an increase in the passenger service fee, particularly its security component that has remained unchanged at Rs 130 for the past 15 years, will be suggested. Currently , there is no unanimity on who should pick the Rs 800-crore tab on deployment of CISF at airports across the country . While civil aviation ministry argues that security being a sovereign function, the money should come from the Consolidated Fund of India, the finance ministry is keen to pass the burden on to air travellers.
77. In a video clip that has gone viral, two African women are seen to be loudly arguing with a group of commuters in a Metro coach in Delhi following what appears to be a dispute over seats. One of the women is so incensed that, taking the men by surprise, she starts taking off her clothes -saying `you want to fight, let's fight' -before a man intervenes to calm her down and defuse the situation.
78.A woman shot her husband as he drove their SUV down Hosur Road around 5pm on Friday . As the man, shot thrice in his abdomen, stumbled out and jumped into a BMTC bus to escape, she took over the wheel of the SUV and chased down the bus. Hamsa managed to waylay the bus, hopped on in search of her husband, and attacked him again. Critically injured, Sairam MR, 53, was saved as passengers apprehended her and handed her over to police. They rushed Sairam to Sparsh Hospital, Bommanahalli, where doctors treating him said he has suffered multiple bullet wounds in his abdomen. Police arrested Hamsa, 48, and are interrogating her.
79. India's refusal thus far to send any representative to attend the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) summit next week has not gone down well in Beijing, which believes New Delhi would be “isolated“ with its absence from the massive transnational connectivity exercise. China, however, emphasised that its decision against sending foreign minister Wang Yi for a Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting in Delhi was not retaliation against New Delhi allowing the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
80. In the wake of frequent bank robberies by militants in south Kashmir, the Mehbooba Mufti government issued an advisory on Friday to J&K Bank to immediately stop cash transactions in at least 40 branches in Pulwama and Shopian districts of South Kashmir. The J&K government advisory declared nearly 40 J&K Bank branches in Pulwama and Shopian as vulnerable to robbery and directed the bank authorities not to conduct cash business at these branches.
81. The lynching of a 60year-old man in Bulandshahr, which was triggered by elopement of an inter-faith couple, took a twist on Friday , when police slapped rape charges against the youth soon after the woman “recorded her statement in court“. Cops, however, refused to divulge what she told the local judicial magistrate.
82. A video showing two youths being tortured and their hair being shaved by militants went viral across Kashmir valley on Friday . The two youths were tortured and humiliated by Hizbul Mujahedeen militants after being branded as police informers in the video. The video has sent a fresh wave of terror across Kashmir Valley among young boys seeking police jobs. The two youths, according to the video, acted as police informers to get jobs as SPOs. The seven-minute video, which surfaced on social networking sites despite a government ban, starts with the Hizb's name and insignia scrolling on the screen. It then shows a dark room in which militants are shaving the head of a man pleading with them with folded hands for mercy .
83. The Gujarat high court, on Friday , ruled that a criminal case is not maintainable against “sex workers engaged in prostitution of their own volition, and not due to any inducement, force or coercion“. The court was interpreting provisions of Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code, which refer to physical or sexual exploitation and slavery , which were made more stringent by the Centre after Nirbhaya gangrape case. Even a customer of a sex worker is covered under the definition of `offender' in this section as far as prostitution is concerned.
84. Two farmers returning home with a cow and a calf were thrashed on Thursday afternoon in Greater Noida, in the same kind of vigilantism that led to the lynching of Pehlu Khan last month. Bhoop Singh (50) and his 30-year-old nephew Jabar Singh were accosted in Jewar village by a group of men, who accused them of being cattle smugglers and beat them up.
85. The Centre is considering getting states on board for removing restrictions on felling, transport and sale of trees grown on private land to encourage agroforestry. It has also decided to help states with dedicated electronic platforms where trees on non-forest land can be verified through geo-tagging. The move will not only help farmers in earning additional income from farm land but also reduce the country's dependence on import of wood. Taking note of the agriculture ministry's proposal, the environment ministry has written to states asking them to come out with their suggestions so that farmers can be backed for agro-forestry . It requested states to bring rules for liberalis ing felling and transit regime for tree species grown on non-forestprivate land.
86. The Narendra Modi government has opted to break from tradition in selecting its next set of secretaries by opting to empanel officers from the 1984 and 1985 batches of the IAS in one go. In the process, it ended up significantly reducing the number of officers from a batch promoted to the top job, which is much coveted in the bureaucracy . But the heartburn is not limited to reducing the number alone but also change in norms for appointment of “secretary-equivalents“. For instance, 17 officers from the batch that joined the IAS in 1984 have been empanelled as fulltime secretaries, while there are 20 from 1985.
87. The Enforcement Directorate on Friday attached assets worth Rs 33.75 crore seized from J Sekhar Reddy of Chennai in a case registered by the CBI and ED post-demonetisation, after multiple searches by the I-T department had resulted in seizure of unaccounted gold of over 177 kg and cash of more than Rs 140 crore, both in new and old currency notes. The ED said that the cash seized from Reddy are proceeds of crime and the accused failed to explain source of the money.
88. Deoband cleric and brother of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind general secretary, Maulana Masood Madani, was arrested on March 18, following a complaint from a woman who claimed that Madani had raped her under the pretext of curing her infertility with medicines and magic.Now, it has emerged that the woman, in her statement, had lied about her name and her address. Police will now file charges against the woman for having lied in her statement.
89. The BJP-led Assam government's decision to provide pension and skill training to Muslim women divorced through triple talaq came in for condemnation from Congress and CPM on Friday even as BJP maintained there was nothing wrong.Even women's organizations protested singling out one community for extending the benefit. Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said discrimination on the grounds of religion was unfair.
90. Fourteen people were killed while 28 sustained injuries when a truck ferrying over 50 people from an engagement ceremony drove into a roadside canal. The accident occurred near Sarai Neew on the Agra-Jalesar road in Etah at around 2.30 am. The truck was ferrying a group from Sakrauli in Jalesar area of Etah. All the passengers were from Nagaria Ahir village, Dauki, in Agra district.
91. The Delhi HC has asked the CRPF chief to accept the surrender of one of its jawans who had run away from his battalion after slamming home minister Rajnath Singh on social media regarding the Sukma attack. Justice Ashutosh Kumar, in a late evening hearing on Thursday, also asked the CRPF to deal with the jawan's case in accordance with law but “ensure no harm is caused to him.“ The order came on a letter written by the jawan to Delhi HC Chief Justice.
92. The SC upheld and relied heavily on three sets of Nirbhaya's dying declarations, including the one made mostly through gestures, nods and jottings, as she was not in a position to speak or write properly , to confirm the death sentences of the four convicts. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said a dying declaration should not necessarily be made by words or in writing, it could be through gestures. It refused to give credence to the convicts' submission that the dying declarations not be relied on. Three dying declarations were recorded. The first, by a doctor when Nirbhaya was admitted to hospital on December 16, 2012, and the second on December 21by the SDM in which she gave exact details. The third was recorded by a metropolitan magistrate on December 25, mostly through gestures.
93. The MP government wants to “introduce a bill“ in the state assembly proposing death penalty for rapists. State assemblies cannot pass legislations that require amendments to the IPC or other Acts related to crime against women. The assemblies can at best pass a resolution.
94. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a new chap ter in neighbourhood di plomacy by launching a South Asia satellite on Friday . It's the fulfilment of a promise made in 2014, but it is the larger progress towards regional integration that might show lasting benefits. Modi commended Isro scientists for the launch and addressed the heads of six South Asian countries, barring Pakistan, via video conferencing. Calling it a “historic moment“, Modi said the satellite “opens up new horizons of engagement and will greatly be nefit our region's progress“. In his address to six Saarc leaders -Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay , Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Modi said, “This launch tells us that even the sky is not the limit when it comes to regional cooperation.“ The Rs 450 crore satellite (GSAT-9) will link all Saarc countries except Pakistan, as the latter opted out of the project.The 2,230 kg satellite, with a mission life of over 12 years, will provide communications and disaster support among other services to India and its neighbours.
95. Good news for anyone who often finds themselves biting their tongue when pushing through the final stages of a workout -swearing can boost muscle strength and stamina, a study has found. Whether you're cycling up a hill and need extra oomph or simply trying to open a tightly closed jar, a good dose of foul language may just be the ticket. Psychologists from the University of Keele in the UK conducted tests in which some participants were asked to swear before either doing an intense session on an exercise bike or squeezing a device that measures hand grip strength.
96. If a toddler spends a lot of time playing on a mobile phone or tablet, it may delay when they start talking, researchers have warned. New research, which will be presented on Saturday at the annual Paediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, US, suggests that for every 30 minutes a child spent a day looking at a handheld screen, the risk of a delay in expressive speech was increased by 49%. Researchers studied 894 children aged between six months and two years in Toronto, Canada, over a three year period. By their 18 month check-up, 20% of the children spent roughly 28 minutes a day using a handheld device, according to their parents. Using a screening tool, researchers found that the more the handheld screen time reported, the more likely the child was to have delays in expressive speech. There were no other apparent links between screen time and other communication delays, including social interactions and body language.
8. In a bid to tame unruly fliers post Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad incident, India has proposed a flying ban of up to two years and beyond for unruly passengers on domestic flights.
9. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will skip a CMs' meeting called by Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday to review the strategy on dealing with Left wing extremism.Home secretary Malay Dey will represent the state at the meeting that comes after the recent killings o f 2 5 C R P F jawans in Chhattisgarh's Sukma. State administration insiders said that the chief minister would not attend the meeting as she would be busy with prior engagements. Last month, Banerjee had also skipped a meeting of the governing council of the Niti Aayog convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She deputed finance minister Amit Mitra to attend the meeting. But Mitra could not attend the same after the PM's decision that only chief ministers and deputy chief ministers would be allowed to represent state governments.
10. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi was on Friday asked by the government to furnish details of overseas funding to it following suspicion that it might have violated the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, an official said.In a communication, the Union Home Ministry asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to explain certain fundings from abroad after suspecting that it might have violated FCRA provisions.
11. The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the NIA and Maharashtra on a plea of accused Shrikant Purohit, seeking bail in a case pertaining to the 2008 Malegaon blast. A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government on the plea of Purohit, former lieutenant colonel, against the Bombay HC order rejecting his bail plea in the case.
12. A frail but determined 14-year-old Rekha Kumari has emerged as a star in Koderma district of Jharkhand where within a week, as many as 26 minors, including 23 girls, were saved from being married off recently. As per local customs and tradition, Rekha was about to be married off to a man double her age on April 27 .When it looked as if she would be forcibly married off, the teenager sought help of Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation.
13. Policy reforms initiated by the NDA government would help India emerge as a major power, South Korean Ambassador Hyun Cho said here on Friday while pitching for greater cooperation between the two countries.The envoy said the relationship between South Korea and India has progressed steadily and satisfactorily, with economy taking the centre stage.
14. “Strengthening the party organisation and preparing the state Congress to face the assembly elections will be my first priority,“ said newly-appointed AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, where elections are due by 2018 end.
15. Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and discussed with him the securi ty situation in the Valley. The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Office at South Block and lasted about 45 minutes. The governor discussed the continuing unrest in parts of the Kashmir Valley.
16. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has warned that strict action would be taken against those who attempt to disrupt social harmo ny in the state in the name of cow protection. He said the state's preven tion of cow slaughter act does not grant any protection to `gau rakshaks' or vigilante groups. He was reacting to media reports that the state government had defended the law protecting `gau rakshaks', before the SC at a time when the Congress was accusing the BJP of encouraging activities of such groups. “K'taka Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act 1964 grants no protection to `gau rakshaks' or any vigilante grps who take law into their own hand,“ Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.
17. India and the US are looking at expanding the scope of their annual Malabar naval exercise, with this year's edition to be conducted in the Bay of Bengal likely to focus on increasing capability to jointly counter submarine operations, among other maritime threats. While the final list of participants for the joint exercise to be held in July is still not final, the US Pacific Fleet Commander whose warships will take part in the war games said both sides are expected to share expertise in anti-submarine warfare, given the common platform they operate with, the Boeing P8 aircraft.
18. The Supreme Court on Friday sought response of the Kerala Chief Secretary on a contempt plea by senior IPS officer TP Senkumar, who has alleged delay in his reinstatement as the state police chief despite the apex court's order. The court also imposed a cost of `25,000 on the Kerala government, which had filed a separate application seeking certain clarifications on its April 24 judgement on Senkumar.
19. Africa -undergoing a bitter experience in the aftermath of Chinese investments in the continent -may face more trouble after China's mega One Belt One Road (OBOR) connectivity initiative -that gives Beijing strategic foothold in the region --is rolled out. Chinese policy to harness raw material and export finished products to African nations have left the locals without fair share of jobs, killed local manufacturing industry, pushed the countries towards debt and created social tensions. It is felt that the mega infra projects under OBOR would exacerbate socio-economic difficulties for African nations, some among the fastest-growing economies in the world.
20. The Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry's top priority these days is to fulfil its budgetary commitment to overhauling the University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher education regulator. A committee has been set up to draw up provisions to categorise institutes on quality parameters, a measure aimed at helping decide how much autonomy they can be granted.
21. India has asserted that it protects the rights of vulnerable groups and is strengthening laws for their protection and welfare dismissing criticism from certain quarters that transgenders and women in the country face challenges.
22. The telecom regulator will introduce a mobile application to measure call quality and beef up the `do not disturb' mechanism as part of strategy to improve consumer experience. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma told reporters on Friday that the MyCall app will work on a crowd sourcing platform, where users will be able to choose the number of calls they want to rate. A star rating of five would imply very good quality. Sharma's comments come after the telecom minister said the government is keeping a close watch on all parameters to measure call drops.
23. You want to open a bank account. So, you reach the website or physical bank of your choice, key in details into your phone and when prompted to submit documents, you simply bring the phone to the eye-level and a scan of your iris finishes off the process. The next step, your scan is authenticated by Aadhaar and you have a valid bank account to begin transactions. This is one of many scenarios that Rakesh Deshmukh, co-founder and CEO of Indus OS, predicts once smartphones with this capability reaches consumers. Deshmukh wants Indus OS to be the bedrock of this transformation as the world's first regional OS -and India's second largest behind Android and ahead of Apple iOS -becomes the first of its kind Aadhaarauthenticated OS.
24. The bad loan ordinance will allow the Reserve Bank of India to ensure that dissenting banks come to the negotiating table and accept resolution plans adopted by the majority of lenders or the one that's most feasible in the circumstances. They won't be able to hold out for fear of writedowns or getting caught up in subsequent investigations by government agencies.
25. Divestment by large developers is estimated to drive four-fold rise in institutional funds inflow into India's commercial real estate this year to $3.5 billion, a new peak for these investments, said an RICS-Cushman & Wakefield report.
26. India's foreign exchange reserves reached a record $372.7 billion for the week ended April 28, rising almost $1.6 billion in one week, data released by the Reserve Bank of India show. The previous high was at $371.2 billion reported on September 9 last year. India is now the eighth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves in the world, just ahead of Brazil and South Korea.
27. Public sector lender Bank of India on Friday said its shareholders have approved a . 10,000 crore proposal to raise up to ` through issue of bonds. In a BSE filing, BoI said its shareholders have given “approval for issuance and allotment of up to 80 crore fresh equity shares...by way of Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), public issue, rights issue...or any such other issue...for an amount up to Rs 10,000 crore“.
28. Government bonds rebounded on good buying support from banks and corporates. The 6.97% security maturing in 2026 rose Rs 100.1825 from ` to Rs 99.99 previously, while its yield edged down to 6.94% from 6.97%. The overnight call money rates ended lower to 5.90% from its Thursday's level of 6.10%.
29. The EU has its money on pro-European presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron in Sunday's French run-off vote, wary of the threat posed by Marine Le Pen who calls for the bloc's destruction. A host of top Brussels figures led by JeanClaude Juncker have broken with their usual protocol of not interfering in national elections to openly back the centrist former banker to beat far-right leader Le Pen.
30. North Korea on Friday accused the CIA and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its “supreme leadership“ with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a “pipe-dream“ could never succeed. Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test or test-launch another ballistic missile in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
31. The US Department of State has proposed tougher questioning of visa applicants believed to warrant extra scrutiny, according to a document published on Thursday, in a push toward the “extreme vetting“ that President Donald Trump has said is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. Questions about social media accounts would be part of the stepped-up criteria, which would apply to 65,000 people per year, or about 0.5% of US visa applicants worldwide, the state department estimated. It did not target nationals of any particular countries. Those applicants would be required to provide all prior passport numbers, five years' worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers, as well as 15 years of biographical information, when applying for a US visa.Consular officers would not request user passwords for social media accounts, the document said.
32. US President Donald Trump, on his third try at overhauling Obamacare, sent no tweets attacking fellow Republicans, set no deadlines and issued no public ultimatums. Lawmakers who met with him said he spoke with them, not at them. Some lawmakers and aides in the House of Representatives were hesitant to credit Trump or his softer approach with Thursday's 217-213 vote rolling back President Barack Obama's signature 2010 healthcare overhaul.
33. India plans to revamp its foreign trade policy and relook at incentives to give a leg-up to the export sector, which is hurt by lower global demand as well as an appreciating rupee.
34. Insurance companies may have the most reassuring taglines, but they are the ones most number of consumers are angry with. Insurance sector accounted for the maximum 21.2% of all complaints filed in various consumer forums last year, said a person who has access to the data. As many as 35,685 complaints were registered against insurance sector in 2016-17, out of which 27,313, or more than three-fourths, are still pending before consumer courts across national, state and district levels, the person said. Housing sector attracted the second highest number of consumer complaints last year at 23,185 out of which only 6,319 complaints have been addressed so far. It was followed by banking and electricity sectors, receiving 14,940 and 13,011 complaints, respectively. Experts said addressing consumer complaints is affected by the lack of judges and members in consumer forums. There are 307 vacancies for members in the consumer forum.
35. India's apex body for direct taxes has proposed new rules for bringing the value of unquoted shares on a par with the fair market value of underlying assets, seeking to prevent tax avoidance by firms that use the historical acquisition cost to set the price of unlisted stock. The Finance Act, 2017, inserted a new section to the Income-Tax Act on the valuation of unquoted shares -those not listed on any exchange -at fair market value for computing capital gains tax. It had also introduced new provisions to expand the scope of taxation of any gift or property received for inadequate consideration: Jewellery, artistic work, immovable property, or shares and securities were included in the purview. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday released draft rules prescribing the method of valuation of any such property, jewellery, artistic work, immovable property, or shares and securities. Stakeholders have until May 19 to provide their comments.
36. The BCCI's cautiously worded agenda of the SGM on May 7 doesn't mention a single word about the possibility of India pulling out of the Champions Trophy but around 23 members have already signed in favour of writing a letter to the ICC seeking “course correction“.“Around 23 BCCI units have sent their written approval that we need to send a letter to the ICC seeking course correction. But as the COA has communicated that they don't want any legal notice to be sent to ICC, we aren't sending one. But the letter would urge ICC to take corrective measure,“ a senior BCCI official said.
37. Lionel Messi has had his four-match international ban for verbally abusing a match official lifted by Fifa after the Argentinian Football Association successfully appealed against the suspension, meaning he is eligible to play in all of their remaining 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Messi served one of the four-game ban when he sat out Argentina's 2-0 defeat by Bolivia on 28 March, five days after he was found to have verbally abused a linesman during the 1-0 victory against Chile. Fifa were able to take retrospective action against the Barcelona forward as he was not reported for the alleged abuse by the match referee, with Fifa rules stating that bans should be “at least four matches for unsporting conduct toward a match official“.
38. Novak Djokovic has split with his longtime coach Marian Vajda and two other team members, saying he wants to find “the winning spark on the court again.“ Djokovic said on Friday that he mutually agreed with Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil Gritsch, and physiotherapist Miljan Amanovic to end their “successful and long term partnership“ two weeks ago after the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost in the quarterfinals. “It was not an easy decision, but we all felt that we need a change,“ Djokovic said. Djokovic lost his No. 1 ranking to Andy Murray last year after a slump in form following his French Open triumph.
39. In Vivo IPL 2017 Kings XI Punjab won Against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
40. There should be no restriction on the number of street hailing taxis, the committee set up by the Centre to frame a taxi policy for urban mobility has said. It made the recommendation in its report submitted in December and it is now being considered by the Maharashtra government. Mantralaya sources said the government is keen to do away with the nearly 20-year freeze on the issuance of taxi and auto rickshaw permits in the state.There are 1.15 lakh taxis and tourist cabs and 1.39 lakh autos in Mumbai and its suburbs.
41. In a first, the SIT formed to probe the road scam has decided to take IIT Bombay's help in taking samples of roads where the BMC detected shoddy repairs, reports Richa Pinto. In what raises doubts whether the police were convinced by the BMC's report, the SIT would take samples of 34 roads to check if they were repaired as per norms.
42. A 65-year-old tribal--one of the five accused in an alleged case of cow slaughter in a village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat--died in police custody late on Thursday night, reports Ashish Chauhan. Human rights activists suspect that the custodial death was caused by police brutality . His son is also an accused in the case filed under the Gujarat Animal Protection (Amendment) Act 2011.
43. The Supreme Court dism issed the state government's plea challenging the Bombay HC's stay on its domicile rule for PG medical admissions. The counselling deadline has also been extended from May 7 to May 9.
44. on the illegal beaming of Saudi & Pakistani channels in J&K, the Centre said it has issued an advisory to the state to confiscate the equipment of such operators .
45. A 13-year-old Vikhroli boy drowned at a dam near Palghar on Wednesday . Manan Gogri was part of a batch of 119 students that was taken to the camp by a group called Tarun Mitra Mandal.
46. Striking a balance between protecting the environment and development of Metro III, the HC has vacated its order restraining felling of trees for the 33.5km line.
47. All schools in the state will have to set up a complaint box on their premises for students to file anonymous complaints regarding their safety . The schools will have to address the complaints every week. A government resolution issued by the state education department on Friday states that the complaint box will have to be set up by all schools at a prominent place on the campus or near the school entrance so that it is accessible to all.
48. In yet another jolt to developer Kamla Landmarc, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police on Friday arrested Ramesh Jain (65), father of Jitendra,in connection with a Rs 3.5 crore cheating case.Ramesh Jain, who was picked up from his Vile Parle residence. Ramesh's son Jitendra, his son-in-law Ketan Shah and other director Sushil Mantri were arrested last year and are in jail. Police officials said that Ramesh's arrest pertains to a complaint filed by an investor, Ram Swami, who had booked two flats in Kamla Grandeur project in Lower Parel. In 2011, Swami reportedly paid Rs 42 lakh for two flats and as per the agreement, the builder was to give him a flat by August 2014.
49. Yet another platform overshooting has been reported at Malad. The motorman of a Churchgate-Borivli local, scheduled to halt at Malad at 7pm, Thursday , failed to apply brakes at the right moment. As a result three coaches overshot the platform, before the train stopped. Since two such incidents have been reported in quick succession on Western Railway , commuters are a bit disturbed.On Friday , a Borivli-Churchgate slow local halted one and a half coaches ahead of the platform at Grant Road. The incident occurred around 1.35pm, resulting in a delay of 5 minutes--crucial in the suburban schedule. The motormen and guards of both trains have been suspended.
50. For yet another year, online first year junior college (FYJC) admissions could see a delayed start as the education department is still to finalize the schedule and print information booklets, including user ID and password, for students. The delay could reduce the time students get to fill out the first part of admission forms. Last year, the education department had started Part I of the online registration for students on May 9, and on April 24 in 2015. Part I of the registration process involves signing up on the portal and uploading personal details. This year, though, education department officials are still verifying college registrations. College registrations began on April 7 and were to wrap up on April 15 but the deadline was extended multiple times as colleges continued to stream in with requests to accommodate them.
51. There was high drama for more than four hours at an under-construction building site in Wadala as a 32-year-old woman lawyer threatened to jump off the 18th-floor terrace on Friday . The edge-of-seat drama ended as the city police's `Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Team' managed to convince the woman to abandon her suicide bid plan. Around 10.30 am, the police control room received a call from the site supervisor of the underconstruction tower on Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg about a woman being perched on the parapet of the terrace. Joint commissioner of police Deven Bharti said the caller said that it seemed like the woman was waiting to jump off anytime.The crisis negotiation team was immediately alerted.
52. The ambitious Juhu vision plan of residents of the area has hit a roadblock thanks to silt which has piled up outside the Irla nullah.The silt, removed from the drain, has been lying unattended to. As part of the plan, citi zens had been working on the landscape of the area besides the nullah, with horticulture work being in progress. The Rs 25 crore project is funded by Javed Akhtar, MP, lyricist and screenwriter. There are plans to set up a cycling and jogging track besides the nullah. But these plans have taken a major hit with BMC's pre-monsoon nullah-cleaning work in progress.
53. A diamond merchant who allegedly cheated his partner of Rs 81 crore was arrested from his Kandivli residence by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police on Friday . Kalpesh Rajnikant Doshi (49) has been booked for cheating, forgery , breach of trust and criminal conspiracy . He has been sent to police custody till May 9. The police also raided Doshi's apartment and seized 11 gold biscuits worth 32 lakh, polished diamonds worth Rs 5.5 lakh, and Rs 6.8 lakh cash.
54. A gang of robbers who cleaned out gold and cash of a total value of Rs 65 lakh from a store in Kalyan on Thursday had flashed a torch into the camera set up at the shop to avoid being caught. The police said on Friday that brief footage recovered from the closed-circuit camera reveals almost nothing due to the glare of the torch flashing into the camera. The police however claimed that they suspect that the heist was carried out the handiwork of a gang from Jharkhand or Nepal. A police officer said that the method deployed by the robbers to carry out the robbery bore striking resemblance to that used by such gangs in the past.
55. At a time when children in the tribal belt are dying of malnutrition, the tribal development department, led by BJP leader Vishnu Savara, has diverted funds sanctioned by the Centre for the welfare of scheduled tribes and strengthening institutions for renovation of the secretary's chamber in Mantralaya.
54. Following the Eman episode, the state is planning to put in place certain rules for medical tourism. Addressing a medical conference on Friday , state health minister Dr Deepak Sawant proposed that clear documentation of treatment plans be provided to foreign patients.Union health minister J P Nadda was present at the conference.
55. Eman Ahmed woke up to her first morning in the Emirates, stretched out on the island of her gigantic bed and blanketed in a thick layer of skin when a faint smile flickered across her face. Her new home against a backdrop of swathes of sand that lies still and silent yet perpetually moving has almost become a metaphor for the 36-year-old and her incredible journey in cranes, planes and trucks from Alexandria to Mumbai to Abu Dhabi while she remained caged in her body .
56. A day before the PhD Entrance Test conducted by the Mumbai University is to be held, several students were yet to get their hall tickets. Around 3,267 candidates have registered for the test scheduled on Saturday . The university started uploading the hall tickets late on Friday evening. Students, who have not managed to get the hall ticket can reach their allocated exam centre and produce their application form and an identity card to take the exam, said an official.
57. A special CBI Anti-Corruption Bureau court on Thursday convicted and sentenced a CBI constable and an accomplice, a former bank officer, to four years' imprisonment for attempting to influence an officer investigating a disproportionate assets case against a senior railway official in 2005. The constable, Vijay Prabhu (47), assigned duty at the special CBI court in 2002, came in contact with Bank of India officer Bharat Shah (70), when he was convicted and sentenced to one day's imprisonment and fined Rs 4 lakh in a corruption case. The duo was arrested on March 12, 2006, and granted bail the following month.
58.The BMC is setting up a 12.5 MW solar plant at its Bhandup water works complex which will take care of one-third of the electricity requirement at the complex. The BMC had sought help from IIT-Bombay for the project being implemented in two phases. The BMC spends Rs 42 crore a year on electricity for the complex. The solar plant will help the civic body save around 14 crore annually.
59. Bombay high court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to decide on the heritage status of Morena House, an art deco-style building on Carmichael Road. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni set aside the state's order that approved “the opinion of BMC that Morena building is not a grade II-B heritage structure“.The state has been given eight weeks to arrive at a decision on whether Morena House, which once housed the Belgium Consulate, is a grade II-B or a grade III heritage structure, or if it is a building listed in the heritage precinct. The court has prohibited its demolition till the state decides on its heritage listing and grade.
60. A mother-son duo have been charged with sexually exploiting a 16-year-old girl inside their home in Panchpakhadi.The suspects are on the run. The main suspect is the 25-year-old brother-in-law of the girl.The teenager said in her police complaint that the youth raped her repeatedly over the past eight months.
61. The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the NIA on Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Srikant Purohit's bail plea. Purohit said the Bombay HC erred in granting bail to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, but denying him relief in the same case. Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam and advocate Neela Gokhale informed a bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre that Purohit was regarded as an excellent counter-insurgency officer and claimed he was framed in the case.
62. Union health minister J P Nadda announced that Rs 20 crore has been sanctioned for the new institutional and hostel complex of the central government-run family welfare training and research centre in New Panvel.
63. The Kalwa police are looking for a `quack', Shashi Suman (45) who allegedly administered a wrong injection to a patient, Pritesh Kadam, suffering from cough and cold, which resulted n his death on March 23.
64.The Manpada police are looking for three youths from a Dombivli building for allegedly molesting and assaulting a 30-year-old neighbour on Friday. The police said the accused had a dispute with the woman and hence, targeted her.
65.CR has installed four 24ft sweep high-volume low-speed fans in the suburban concourse at CST. Besides providing better ventilation, these fans will help save Rs 3.03 lakh per annum in energy costs.
66. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has taken action against 10 firms for discharging untreated chemicals into Waldhuni river in Ulhasnagar, activist Satyajeet Burman learnt through an RTI query . MPCB issued closure notices to eight denim manufacturing factories and Stan Chemical Industries, and a show-cause notice to D K Pharma for not following pollution norms.
67. Forty aspirants for bank jobs, who were kept in a reserve list by Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for the post of probationary officers for 2016-17 recently approached Bombay high court after being refused employment despite many non-joining vacancies in the participating public banks.
68. A Vashi builder, Jignesh Goradia, was arrested for allegedly cheating 14 flat buyers of Rs 5.22 crore as he failed to complete a 14storey residential building project in Ulwe. The APMC police have booked his wife Pankti as she is a partner in Yushan Realty Ventures and are looking for her. The APMC police said the builder couple neither gave possession of flats nor refunded the booking amount to the buyers.
69. The Bombay high court on Friday allowed the BMC to adopt due legal procedure to evict a vacant land tenant adjacent to the Mayor's Bungalow at Shivaji Park for the proposed memorial for late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray .
70. In a development that is likely to hit new constructions in Thane, the Bombay high court on Friday , in an interim order, said that no commencement or occupation certificates should be granted to building projects on Ghodbunder Road. A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni passed the orders on a petition by residents claiming Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) was unable to provide adequate water supply to new highrises coming up on Ghodbunder Road.They were dependent on private water tanker suppliers.
71. The Azad Maidan police probing the pay-andpark racket at Crawford Market by BMC-appointed contractors on Friday arrested the main contractor of RT Corporation, Yusuf Ibrahim Khan. The police also seized orange stickers that Khan's employees would give to motorists whom they would overcharge without issuing a receipt. On Thursday , the police had arrested managers Mohammed Hasan Shaikh and Mohammed Salim Shaikh, and supervisors Ashraf Ali and Mohammed Shaikh of RT Corporation for allegedly running an extortion racket at the pay-andpark near Crawford Market. Police said the two managers filed anticipatory bail pleas before a session court, but they were rejected.
72. Two former state power distribution firm employees were arrested on Thursday for allegedly stealing nine power transformers in Shahapur and Bhiwandi rural areas in the last six months. The Thane rural crime branch is looking for their third accomplice. The accused would steal transformer parts, extract copper and sell the metal, said a police officer.
73. For the past month, parents have been at loggerheads with schools over fee hike and while both the parties are furious over government inaction, they feel Maharashtra, as compared to other states, has the best rules in place. The implementation, however, is a matter of concern, said parents. According to the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011, a private school can propose a fee hike six months before the academic year and must seek nod from the Parents Teachers Association's (PTA) executive body before implementing it. Other states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have either set a cap on fee hikes or appointed a HC judge-led committee to verify the fee hike. Schools feel Maharashtra is more democratic.
74. The Bombay high court on Friday rapped the Mumbai police and BMC for lack of coordination with regard to drives undertaken to demolish illegal structures in the city.
75. The Assam government is reviewing whether the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) could be withdrawn from some areas before making recommendations to the Centre. This move may have repercussions in Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur where the Act has been a major subject of dispute between the state governments and the Centre. Declaring the entire Assam as a “disturbed area“, the Centre had imposed the Act on November 27, 1990, at the height of militancy spearheaded by Ulfa.The Act enables the armed forces to exercise special powers while combating militancy .
76. The passenger service fee, which is a component of the airfare, may be raised in view of the higher cost of security and facilitation at all airports guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force. A high-level meeting on airport securityearlier this week asked the ministry of civil aviation to find out means to recover the cost of security arrangements at airports. The home ministry will work out the total annual cost of providing security at143 functional airports across the country ,a government functionary said.Based on this, an increase in the passenger service fee, particularly its security component that has remained unchanged at Rs 130 for the past 15 years, will be suggested. Currently , there is no unanimity on who should pick the Rs 800-crore tab on deployment of CISF at airports across the country . While civil aviation ministry argues that security being a sovereign function, the money should come from the Consolidated Fund of India, the finance ministry is keen to pass the burden on to air travellers.
77. In a video clip that has gone viral, two African women are seen to be loudly arguing with a group of commuters in a Metro coach in Delhi following what appears to be a dispute over seats. One of the women is so incensed that, taking the men by surprise, she starts taking off her clothes -saying `you want to fight, let's fight' -before a man intervenes to calm her down and defuse the situation.
78.A woman shot her husband as he drove their SUV down Hosur Road around 5pm on Friday . As the man, shot thrice in his abdomen, stumbled out and jumped into a BMTC bus to escape, she took over the wheel of the SUV and chased down the bus. Hamsa managed to waylay the bus, hopped on in search of her husband, and attacked him again. Critically injured, Sairam MR, 53, was saved as passengers apprehended her and handed her over to police. They rushed Sairam to Sparsh Hospital, Bommanahalli, where doctors treating him said he has suffered multiple bullet wounds in his abdomen. Police arrested Hamsa, 48, and are interrogating her.
79. India's refusal thus far to send any representative to attend the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) summit next week has not gone down well in Beijing, which believes New Delhi would be “isolated“ with its absence from the massive transnational connectivity exercise. China, however, emphasised that its decision against sending foreign minister Wang Yi for a Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting in Delhi was not retaliation against New Delhi allowing the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
80. In the wake of frequent bank robberies by militants in south Kashmir, the Mehbooba Mufti government issued an advisory on Friday to J&K Bank to immediately stop cash transactions in at least 40 branches in Pulwama and Shopian districts of South Kashmir. The J&K government advisory declared nearly 40 J&K Bank branches in Pulwama and Shopian as vulnerable to robbery and directed the bank authorities not to conduct cash business at these branches.
81. The lynching of a 60year-old man in Bulandshahr, which was triggered by elopement of an inter-faith couple, took a twist on Friday , when police slapped rape charges against the youth soon after the woman “recorded her statement in court“. Cops, however, refused to divulge what she told the local judicial magistrate.
82. A video showing two youths being tortured and their hair being shaved by militants went viral across Kashmir valley on Friday . The two youths were tortured and humiliated by Hizbul Mujahedeen militants after being branded as police informers in the video. The video has sent a fresh wave of terror across Kashmir Valley among young boys seeking police jobs. The two youths, according to the video, acted as police informers to get jobs as SPOs. The seven-minute video, which surfaced on social networking sites despite a government ban, starts with the Hizb's name and insignia scrolling on the screen. It then shows a dark room in which militants are shaving the head of a man pleading with them with folded hands for mercy .
83. The Gujarat high court, on Friday , ruled that a criminal case is not maintainable against “sex workers engaged in prostitution of their own volition, and not due to any inducement, force or coercion“. The court was interpreting provisions of Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code, which refer to physical or sexual exploitation and slavery , which were made more stringent by the Centre after Nirbhaya gangrape case. Even a customer of a sex worker is covered under the definition of `offender' in this section as far as prostitution is concerned.
84. Two farmers returning home with a cow and a calf were thrashed on Thursday afternoon in Greater Noida, in the same kind of vigilantism that led to the lynching of Pehlu Khan last month. Bhoop Singh (50) and his 30-year-old nephew Jabar Singh were accosted in Jewar village by a group of men, who accused them of being cattle smugglers and beat them up.
85. The Centre is considering getting states on board for removing restrictions on felling, transport and sale of trees grown on private land to encourage agroforestry. It has also decided to help states with dedicated electronic platforms where trees on non-forest land can be verified through geo-tagging. The move will not only help farmers in earning additional income from farm land but also reduce the country's dependence on import of wood. Taking note of the agriculture ministry's proposal, the environment ministry has written to states asking them to come out with their suggestions so that farmers can be backed for agro-forestry . It requested states to bring rules for liberalis ing felling and transit regime for tree species grown on non-forestprivate land.
86. The Narendra Modi government has opted to break from tradition in selecting its next set of secretaries by opting to empanel officers from the 1984 and 1985 batches of the IAS in one go. In the process, it ended up significantly reducing the number of officers from a batch promoted to the top job, which is much coveted in the bureaucracy . But the heartburn is not limited to reducing the number alone but also change in norms for appointment of “secretary-equivalents“. For instance, 17 officers from the batch that joined the IAS in 1984 have been empanelled as fulltime secretaries, while there are 20 from 1985.
87. The Enforcement Directorate on Friday attached assets worth Rs 33.75 crore seized from J Sekhar Reddy of Chennai in a case registered by the CBI and ED post-demonetisation, after multiple searches by the I-T department had resulted in seizure of unaccounted gold of over 177 kg and cash of more than Rs 140 crore, both in new and old currency notes. The ED said that the cash seized from Reddy are proceeds of crime and the accused failed to explain source of the money.
88. Deoband cleric and brother of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind general secretary, Maulana Masood Madani, was arrested on March 18, following a complaint from a woman who claimed that Madani had raped her under the pretext of curing her infertility with medicines and magic.Now, it has emerged that the woman, in her statement, had lied about her name and her address. Police will now file charges against the woman for having lied in her statement.
89. The BJP-led Assam government's decision to provide pension and skill training to Muslim women divorced through triple talaq came in for condemnation from Congress and CPM on Friday even as BJP maintained there was nothing wrong.Even women's organizations protested singling out one community for extending the benefit. Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said discrimination on the grounds of religion was unfair.
90. Fourteen people were killed while 28 sustained injuries when a truck ferrying over 50 people from an engagement ceremony drove into a roadside canal. The accident occurred near Sarai Neew on the Agra-Jalesar road in Etah at around 2.30 am. The truck was ferrying a group from Sakrauli in Jalesar area of Etah. All the passengers were from Nagaria Ahir village, Dauki, in Agra district.
91. The Delhi HC has asked the CRPF chief to accept the surrender of one of its jawans who had run away from his battalion after slamming home minister Rajnath Singh on social media regarding the Sukma attack. Justice Ashutosh Kumar, in a late evening hearing on Thursday, also asked the CRPF to deal with the jawan's case in accordance with law but “ensure no harm is caused to him.“ The order came on a letter written by the jawan to Delhi HC Chief Justice.
92. The SC upheld and relied heavily on three sets of Nirbhaya's dying declarations, including the one made mostly through gestures, nods and jottings, as she was not in a position to speak or write properly , to confirm the death sentences of the four convicts. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said a dying declaration should not necessarily be made by words or in writing, it could be through gestures. It refused to give credence to the convicts' submission that the dying declarations not be relied on. Three dying declarations were recorded. The first, by a doctor when Nirbhaya was admitted to hospital on December 16, 2012, and the second on December 21by the SDM in which she gave exact details. The third was recorded by a metropolitan magistrate on December 25, mostly through gestures.
93. The MP government wants to “introduce a bill“ in the state assembly proposing death penalty for rapists. State assemblies cannot pass legislations that require amendments to the IPC or other Acts related to crime against women. The assemblies can at best pass a resolution.
94. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a new chap ter in neighbourhood di plomacy by launching a South Asia satellite on Friday . It's the fulfilment of a promise made in 2014, but it is the larger progress towards regional integration that might show lasting benefits. Modi commended Isro scientists for the launch and addressed the heads of six South Asian countries, barring Pakistan, via video conferencing. Calling it a “historic moment“, Modi said the satellite “opens up new horizons of engagement and will greatly be nefit our region's progress“. In his address to six Saarc leaders -Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay , Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Modi said, “This launch tells us that even the sky is not the limit when it comes to regional cooperation.“ The Rs 450 crore satellite (GSAT-9) will link all Saarc countries except Pakistan, as the latter opted out of the project.The 2,230 kg satellite, with a mission life of over 12 years, will provide communications and disaster support among other services to India and its neighbours.
95. Good news for anyone who often finds themselves biting their tongue when pushing through the final stages of a workout -swearing can boost muscle strength and stamina, a study has found. Whether you're cycling up a hill and need extra oomph or simply trying to open a tightly closed jar, a good dose of foul language may just be the ticket. Psychologists from the University of Keele in the UK conducted tests in which some participants were asked to swear before either doing an intense session on an exercise bike or squeezing a device that measures hand grip strength.
96. If a toddler spends a lot of time playing on a mobile phone or tablet, it may delay when they start talking, researchers have warned. New research, which will be presented on Saturday at the annual Paediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, US, suggests that for every 30 minutes a child spent a day looking at a handheld screen, the risk of a delay in expressive speech was increased by 49%. Researchers studied 894 children aged between six months and two years in Toronto, Canada, over a three year period. By their 18 month check-up, 20% of the children spent roughly 28 minutes a day using a handheld device, according to their parents. Using a screening tool, researchers found that the more the handheld screen time reported, the more likely the child was to have delays in expressive speech. There were no other apparent links between screen time and other communication delays, including social interactions and body language.
97. The rapid melting of sea ice in the Arctic is set to open up new shipping routes between the North Atlantic and between the North Atlantic and east Asia, dramatically cutting journey times. The amount of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean has declined sharply each decade since the 1980s, according to measurements taken each September when the ice is at its minimum. Older, thicker ice is disappearing as well. Scientists say global warming is largely responsible for the changes.Parts of the Arctic are warming twice as fast as elsewhere. Scientists say the region could be almost entirely free of sea ice within the next few decades for the first time in about 100,000 years. The changing conditions offer an opening to shipping companies.
98. There is no doubt that so me people seem to have heightened emotions and tend to be more sensitive than others. And psychologist Elaine Aron stirred widespread interest when she said that having a particularly high level of emotional sensitivity was an actual condition.
99. A synthetic, softtissue retina developed by Oxford University researchers -the first ever made -could offer fresh hope to visually impaired people. Until now, artificial reti nas have only been made from hard, rigid materials.The new research is the first to successfully use biological, synthetic tissues developed in a laboratory environment. The study could revolutionise the bionic implant industry and the development of new, less invasive technologies that more closely resemble human body A tissues, helping to treat degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa (a group of rare, genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina).
100. Police in Pakistan have registered a report called `roznamcha' against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly provoking people and creating hatred against the armed forces. The report was lodged with the Civil Line police in Rawalpindi on Wednesday by advocate Ishtiaq Ahmed Mirza, who claimed to be the chairman of the IM Pakistan party . The onepage report registered by police is not an FIR and is known in local parlance as `roznamcha', The Dawn newspaper reported. Mirza claimed he received a video clip on WhatsApp which showed a man making a speech. He said the man delivering the speech was Sharif himself who was allegedly provoking people and creating hatred against the armed forces. The complainant asked for the registration of a case against Sharif, head of the PMLN party . Mirza claimed that his IM Pakistan political party was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan, the report.
101. An International New York Times opinion piece criticising the Pakistani army was censored by its local publisher on Friday, replaced by a blank space. The online version of the piece by Mohammed Hanif was trending on Pakistani social media. In the article, entitled “Pakistan's Triangle of Hate“, he savaged the military for parading a former Pakistani Taliban spokesman before TV cameras to claim that the militants are bankrolled by India.
102. Pakistani lawmakers have unanimously rejected a bill aimed at increasing the minimum age for marriage of a girl from 16 to 18 years, terming the proposed amendment as “unIslamic“. The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Religious Affairs met on Thursday and discussed the `The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2016'. Even Hindu and Christian lawmakers opposed the proposed amendment, The Express Tribune reported.
103. North Korea on Friday accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its “supreme leadership“ with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a “pipe-dream“ could never succeed. Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test or test-launch another ballistic missile in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. Reclusive North Korea warned this week that US hostility had brought the region to the brink of nuclear war.The North's ministry of state security said “the last-ditch effort“ of US “imperialists“ and the South had gone “beyond the limits“.
104. The Trump administration on Thursday landed the first mortal blow on Obamacare, the national healthcare law that affects every American and nearly a fifth of the national economy , with the Republican-majority House of Representatives voting for a new legislation. It still has a long way to go before being passed as law -requiring Senate approval among other things -but the fact that Trump Republicans managed to push it through the House after initial setbacks threw the country into a tizzy , with supporters and opponents of the changes lining up for bigger battle that looms in the days ahead. The proposed law -dubbed Trumpcare or Ryancare after the Speaker Paul Ryan -falls short of repealing Obamacare outright as pledged by Trump during his election campaign, but it significantly alters the existing Affordable Care Act in ways that will affect every American.
105. Nepal's supreme court on Friday reinstated the country's first woman chief justice Sushila Karki and directed parliament to halt her impeachment as the tussle between the legislature and the judiciary took a dramatic turn. Just hours after the SC's interim order, chief justice Karki returned to office. SC assistant spokesperson Bishwo Raj Paudel said, “She will start legal work from Sunday .“ Asingle member bench of Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana issued the order stating that the impeachment move was against the spirit of Nepal's statute. His order came in response to a writ petition against the motion to impeach Karki.
106. An Australian man is su ing American Airlines for AUS $100,000 (US $77,753) after he claimed he was injured by being seated next to two passengers he described as “grossly obese“ on a long-haul flight. Michael Anthony Taylor, from Wollongong of New South Wales is seeking damages after he claims that he was left with permanent back and neck injuries because he was crushed by the passengers beside him during a 14-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.
107. Jean-Claude Juncker has ta-ken a swipe at London by stating that “English is losing importance“ amid an ongoing Brexit row with Theresa May .The European Commission chief made the comments before a speech, which he said would be better given in French instead. He said: “Slowly but surely, English is losing im portance in Europe.“ It is the latest blow in an intensifying war of words between the EU and the UK, with defence secretary Michael Fallon saying on Friday that Brexit talks would be easier if Commission officials kept their views to themselves. The row first burst into the open when May accused EU officials and politicians of trying to swing the UK election, after details of a private meeting she had with Juncker were leaked to the German press.
108. North Korea's embassy in Pakistan has accused the country's tax authorities of assaulting a diplomat and his wife, claiming armed officials broke into their Karachi home and held guns to their heads, an official confirmed on Friday . The written complaint addressed to the chief of Pakistan's excise and taxation department, demands action against the officials and warns the incident could impact diplomatic relations. It said at least 10 armed men from the department burst into the diplomat's Karachi home on April 9 and attacked him and his wife, drag ging her by the hair and hitting them both in the face before aiming guns at the couple.
109.Investment agreements worth Rs 2 lakh crore were signed at the first integrated logistics summit, said highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday.
98. There is no doubt that so me people seem to have heightened emotions and tend to be more sensitive than others. And psychologist Elaine Aron stirred widespread interest when she said that having a particularly high level of emotional sensitivity was an actual condition.
99. A synthetic, softtissue retina developed by Oxford University researchers -the first ever made -could offer fresh hope to visually impaired people. Until now, artificial reti nas have only been made from hard, rigid materials.The new research is the first to successfully use biological, synthetic tissues developed in a laboratory environment. The study could revolutionise the bionic implant industry and the development of new, less invasive technologies that more closely resemble human body A tissues, helping to treat degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa (a group of rare, genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina).
100. Police in Pakistan have registered a report called `roznamcha' against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly provoking people and creating hatred against the armed forces. The report was lodged with the Civil Line police in Rawalpindi on Wednesday by advocate Ishtiaq Ahmed Mirza, who claimed to be the chairman of the IM Pakistan party . The onepage report registered by police is not an FIR and is known in local parlance as `roznamcha', The Dawn newspaper reported. Mirza claimed he received a video clip on WhatsApp which showed a man making a speech. He said the man delivering the speech was Sharif himself who was allegedly provoking people and creating hatred against the armed forces. The complainant asked for the registration of a case against Sharif, head of the PMLN party . Mirza claimed that his IM Pakistan political party was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan, the report.
101. An International New York Times opinion piece criticising the Pakistani army was censored by its local publisher on Friday, replaced by a blank space. The online version of the piece by Mohammed Hanif was trending on Pakistani social media. In the article, entitled “Pakistan's Triangle of Hate“, he savaged the military for parading a former Pakistani Taliban spokesman before TV cameras to claim that the militants are bankrolled by India.
102. Pakistani lawmakers have unanimously rejected a bill aimed at increasing the minimum age for marriage of a girl from 16 to 18 years, terming the proposed amendment as “unIslamic“. The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Religious Affairs met on Thursday and discussed the `The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2016'. Even Hindu and Christian lawmakers opposed the proposed amendment, The Express Tribune reported.
103. North Korea on Friday accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its “supreme leadership“ with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a “pipe-dream“ could never succeed. Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test or test-launch another ballistic missile in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. Reclusive North Korea warned this week that US hostility had brought the region to the brink of nuclear war.The North's ministry of state security said “the last-ditch effort“ of US “imperialists“ and the South had gone “beyond the limits“.
104. The Trump administration on Thursday landed the first mortal blow on Obamacare, the national healthcare law that affects every American and nearly a fifth of the national economy , with the Republican-majority House of Representatives voting for a new legislation. It still has a long way to go before being passed as law -requiring Senate approval among other things -but the fact that Trump Republicans managed to push it through the House after initial setbacks threw the country into a tizzy , with supporters and opponents of the changes lining up for bigger battle that looms in the days ahead. The proposed law -dubbed Trumpcare or Ryancare after the Speaker Paul Ryan -falls short of repealing Obamacare outright as pledged by Trump during his election campaign, but it significantly alters the existing Affordable Care Act in ways that will affect every American.
105. Nepal's supreme court on Friday reinstated the country's first woman chief justice Sushila Karki and directed parliament to halt her impeachment as the tussle between the legislature and the judiciary took a dramatic turn. Just hours after the SC's interim order, chief justice Karki returned to office. SC assistant spokesperson Bishwo Raj Paudel said, “She will start legal work from Sunday .“ Asingle member bench of Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana issued the order stating that the impeachment move was against the spirit of Nepal's statute. His order came in response to a writ petition against the motion to impeach Karki.
106. An Australian man is su ing American Airlines for AUS $100,000 (US $77,753) after he claimed he was injured by being seated next to two passengers he described as “grossly obese“ on a long-haul flight. Michael Anthony Taylor, from Wollongong of New South Wales is seeking damages after he claims that he was left with permanent back and neck injuries because he was crushed by the passengers beside him during a 14-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.
107. Jean-Claude Juncker has ta-ken a swipe at London by stating that “English is losing importance“ amid an ongoing Brexit row with Theresa May .The European Commission chief made the comments before a speech, which he said would be better given in French instead. He said: “Slowly but surely, English is losing im portance in Europe.“ It is the latest blow in an intensifying war of words between the EU and the UK, with defence secretary Michael Fallon saying on Friday that Brexit talks would be easier if Commission officials kept their views to themselves. The row first burst into the open when May accused EU officials and politicians of trying to swing the UK election, after details of a private meeting she had with Juncker were leaked to the German press.
108. North Korea's embassy in Pakistan has accused the country's tax authorities of assaulting a diplomat and his wife, claiming armed officials broke into their Karachi home and held guns to their heads, an official confirmed on Friday . The written complaint addressed to the chief of Pakistan's excise and taxation department, demands action against the officials and warns the incident could impact diplomatic relations. It said at least 10 armed men from the department burst into the diplomat's Karachi home on April 9 and attacked him and his wife, drag ging her by the hair and hitting them both in the face before aiming guns at the couple.
109.Investment agreements worth Rs 2 lakh crore were signed at the first integrated logistics summit, said highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday.
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