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REUTERS, NOVEMBER 21, 2017 22:30 IST In recent years, Beijing has pursued a series of laws and regulations that have raised concerns from foreign companies trying to expand their user base across the country. Apple Inc. said on Tuesday it has removed several apps including Skype, Microsoft Corp's internet phone call and messaging service, from its app store in China after the country's government pointed to violations of local laws. “We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of voice over internet protocol apps do not comply with local law, therefore these apps have been removed from the App Store in China,” an Apple spokeswoman said. The removal of apps led to complaints from several Chinese users who were unable to pay for Skype's services through Apple, New York Times had reported, adding that the disruption started in October. Skype is the latest addition to the list of internet platforms, including Alphabet Inc'...

Surendra Singh | TNN | Updated: Nov 22, 2017, 08:34 IST In a development that will revolutionalise the satellite launch system in the country, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is developing a small launch vehicle that can be assembled in just three days as compared to 30-40 days for a normal-sized PSLV and can be built at a cost which will be just one-tenth the original manufacturing cost of a PSLV. The manufacturing cost of a launch vehicle is generally in the range of Rs 150 crore to Rs 500 crore across the world. Dr K Sivan, director of Thiruvananthapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC),on the sidelines of an international seminar on 'Indian Space Programme' told TOI, "Isro is busy developing a small launch vehicle which is likely to be ready for launch probably by 2018-end or early-2019. The cost of this vehicle will get drastically reduced by one-tenth of the manufacturing cost of a normal PSLV. However, this rocket will have the total paylo...

Updated: Nov 22, 2017, 09:44 IST TNN Intelligence agencies are scrambling to verify an input that Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar is setting up a special squad to target prominent politicians including senior cabinet ministers and a high-profile chief minister.  The input was shared with all stakeholders at an intelligence meeting last week, sources said. As per the initial tip-off, JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba have come together for the task and are using a Bangladesh-based cadre for logistics. Some of the men assigned to execute the task are learnt to have already crossed the border, the intelligence input suggested.  As per intercepted chatter, reports about a CM moving around with minimal security has made him one of the prime targets.  Sources, however, said the input was yet to be fully corroborated. Teams from a foreign intelligence agency is learnt to have visited the hideout mentioned near Dhaka but did not find anything.  Accord...

Wed, Nov 22 2017. 08 38 AM IST The Trump administration imposed new sanctions Tuesday on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in its latest push to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue. The Treasury Department also designated a North Korean corporation involved in exporting workers overseas. The action came a day after the United States returned North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. “These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea’s trade and its deceptive maneuvers.” Among the companies targeted were four Chinese-based companies and one Chinese individual said to have deep commercial ties with North Korea. The sanctio...

Mumbai, Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Paytm has picked up a stake in Mumbai-based fintech startup CreditMate. CreditMate was set up in 2016 by Jonathan Bill, Ashish Doshi and Aditya Singh. The company enables two-wheeler dealers and financiers to provide vehicle loans to customers with no formal credit history. Paytm, however, did not disclose the investment amount or the percentage of stake that has been picked up. As part of the deal, Paytm will leverage CreditMate's proprietary credit and asset valuation technology and loan management system. Paytm is also creating a loan management system for its customers. "We are constantly innovating to provide access to financial services and lending specifically targeted at the large majority of Indians who do not have access to such products," Paytm senior vice- president and CFO Madhur Deora said in a statement. He added that CreditMate is addressing the market for loans against two-wheelers through their p...

ET Online|Nov 21, 2017, 09.35 PM IST Here's one Indian industrialist US President Donald Trump would be proud of—Anand Mahindra, the chairman of Mahindra Group. He has just inaugurated a manufacturing plant in Detroit which would create jobs for the locals, an issue dear to Trump.  Mahindra today opened its new manufacturing plant with an investment of $230 million in the world's car capital which got its first automotive production facility in 25 years. His is the first Indian company to set up an auto manufacturing production facility in 25 years. His is the first Indian company to set up an auto manufacturing plant in the US.  The new plant will produce an off-road vehicle—designed and engineered by Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA)—which will extend Mahindra's current position in this growing segment.  The plant will help the company shift away from third-party original equipment manufacturers that build small units on the group's behalf....

By IndiaToday.in, Nov 21, 2017 In yet another controversial and disruptive move - after demonetisation - aimed at encouraging digital transactions and create a cashless India, the Centre is likely to ban all cheque books, a decision that could affect the transaction preferences of millions of people in the country. News agency Press Trust of India (PTI), in a story dated November 16, has quoted a senior official of a prominent trade body as sayig that the government needs to encourage the use of debit and credit cards. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal told PTI, "In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions." He was talking to reporters at the launch of 'Digital Rath', a joint initiative of the CAIT and Mastercard to encourage traders to adopt different modes of digital transactions and promote cashless economy. "The governme...

By ET Online | Nov 22, 2017, 09.23 AM IST When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation to fight black money, a valid criticism was that the black money is hoarded more in immovable property than cash. The government, however, has been saying that demonetisation was one step in fight against black money and more such steps would come.  Now the next big step against black money is round the corner, and this time it's immovable property that's on target. For the first time, a Union Cabinet minister has indicated that Aadhaar linkage with property transactions would be made mandatory.  Union Housing Minister Hardeep Puri has said that he has no doubt the linkage would happen. Speaking to Nayantara Rai of ET NOW, Puri said such a move would go a long way in sucking out black money from real estate and also help in crackdown on benami properties. "Seeding Aadhaar to property transaction is a great idea but I’m not going to make an announcement on that...

Uday Singh Rana | News18.com, Updated:November 21, 2017, 5:45 PM IST The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Tuesday released a report on the details of donations received by major political parties from financial year 2011-12 to 2015-16 in Gujarat. The report has revealed that the BJP has pulled in the maximum amount of donations over the last five years, followed by the Congress which is a distant second. Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday’s ADR report: BJP pulled in big money  The BJP has received the highest overall donations from Gujarat, worth Rs 80.45 crore from 2186 donations between Financial Year 2011-12 and 2015-16. The BJP is followed by the Indian National Congress, which has received the second highest amount of donations of Rs 14.09 crore from 53 donations. The CPM received Rs 3 crore and the CPI just under Rs 1 lakh, while the NCP and the BSP declared having received no donations over Rs 20,000. Out of the Rs 97.55 received by all p...

PTI, ISLAMABAD,  NOVEMBER 21, 2017 An accountability court ordered initiation of proceedings to declare Pakistan’s embattled Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as a proclaimed offender in a graft case in Islamabad on November 21. Judge Mohammad Bashir held the hearing even as 67-year- old Mr. Dar remained absent as he is in London for medical treatment. The judge also rejected an application by Mr. Dar’s lawyer to grant him exemption. The court also asked his guarantor, Ahmad Ali Qudoosi, to respond by November 24 as to why the surety bond of 5 million Pakistani rupees should not be confiscated as Mr. Qudoosi had failed to ensure Mr. Dar’s presence during the hearing. The court adjourned the hearing till December 4. The case was filed against Mr. Dar by the National Accountability Bureau in light of the Supreme Court order of July 28 that also disqualified Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister in the Panama Papers scandal. The NAB had registered three cases of corruption and money laun...

Arun S, NEW DELHI ,  NOVEMBER 22, 2017 At the upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) highest decision-making body, India will not agree to severe restrictions on its right to give price subsidies to farmers through the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to procure grains from them for food security purposes, according to highly-placed official sources. The WTO’s Ministerial Conference is slated to take place at Buenos Aires in Argentina next month. “Food security and protection of low-income and resource-poor farmers are top priority items for India [at the WTO meet], and we will hold our ground to protect our interests to the maximum extent possible,” an official privy to the developments said. Currently, an interim mechanism called the ‘Peace Clause’ is in place, per which WTO members had agreed not to challenge developing nations at the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism if they breached the cap of the product-specific domestic support (which is 10% of th...

Written by Shubhajit Roy | New Delhi | Updated: November 22, 2017 As smog enveloped the Delhi sky on the morning of November 10, South Block was busy chalking out plans to tackle the proposed odd-even scheme. Top officials were exchanging notes on who has odd-numbered cars and who has even ones, and the administration was working out car-pooling. At around that time, in New York, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had just finished the first round of voting for the post of a judge — Dalveer Bhandari, former Indian judge, had beaten UK’s Christopher Greenwood. The count was 115 votes in favour of Bhandari, 76 for Greenwood. But the outcome was the opposite in UN Security Council (UNSC), where Greenwood beat Bhandari nine to six. As External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was preparing for bilateral talks with visiting Vice Prime Minister from Democratic Republic of Congo, Leonard She Okitundu, she got a call from India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbar...

By: ENS Economic Bureau | Mumbai | Published:November 22, 2017 There’s a considerable wealth poverty in India with as many as 92 per cent of the adult population having a networth below $10,000 (around Rs 6.5 lakh), Swiss brokerage Credit Suisse said in a report. In China, only 63 per cent of population have a networth below $10,000. The report said just 0.5 per cent of Indians have a networth over $1,00,000 (Rs 65 lakh). However, due to India’s large population, this translates into 4.2 million people. The share of wealth fails to match the population share as the population share exceeds the wealth share by a factor of almost 10 in the country. The average wealth per adult here is estimated at $ 5,980 (Rs 3,88,700) in mid-2017, it said. Personal wealth is dominated by property and other real assets, which make up 86 per cent of estimated household assets, while personal debt is estimated to be $376, or 9 per cent of gross assets, even when adjustments are made for under-r...

Reuters/Stephen Lam, Nov 21, 2017 Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven’t used any apps, and haven’t even inserted a carrier SIM card? Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they’re connected to the internet, a Quartz investigation has revealed. Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals’ locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy. Quartz observed the data collection occur and contacted Google, which confirmed the practice. The cell tower addresses have been included in information sent to the system Google...

Saurabh Sinha | TNN | Updated: Nov 22, 2017 Come 2018 and domestic flyers out of Kolkata, Ahmebadad and Vijayawada will whiz through airports if they link their Aadhaar number to air tickets at the time of booking. Airports Authority of India (AAI) will implement the government's ambitious "digi yatra" programme as a pilot project early next year from these three airports and then roll out this Aadhaar-based seamless travel experience at other airports. Under the Aadhaar-based system, flyers will use stored biometrics to prove identity to enter terminals+ ; their Aadhaar-linked airline database will show what flight they are booked on and similarly linked airport databases will show they have been security screened and allowed access to boarding gate closer to the flight departure time. These three processes will eventually eliminate the need to show paper ID cards, paper tickets and boarding cards. AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said: "This solution...

By: Bhavik Nair | Mumbai | Published: November 22, 2017 Lodha Developers International is hitting the road with a $100 million bond issue. The company will conduct roadshows in Singapore, Hong Kong and London to market the dollar bonds, starting Wednesday. The bonds are an extension of its debt issued in 2015, sources aware of the deal told FE. The roadshows will continue till Friday and the bonds are likely to be priced next week, bankers indicated. In 2015, the company had raised $200 million via dollar bonds at a coupon rate of 12%. The forthcoming issue is a tap of the existing bonds which will mature in 2020. These bonds were quoted at a yield of 7.69% on Monday, according to Bloomberg data. Bankers say the tap issue might be priced in such a way that the yield looks a bit more attractive for investors. JP Morgan, CITIC CLSA Securities and UBS are the bankers to the deal. Moody’s Investors Service said in a release that Lodha Developers Private’s announcement of the tap bo...

By: Nanda Kasabe | Pune | Published: November 22, 2017 Onion prices are on the rise due to the late arrival of the new crop and the depleting stock of stored summer onions with farmers and traders. Modal prices touched Rs 3,000 per quintal on Tuesday at Lasalgaon, country’s largest wholesale market for the bulb with arrivals dropping to about 8,500 quintals. On Monday, arrivals were slightly higher at 10,480 quintals with modal onion prices touching Rs 3,100 per quintal. Last week, average onion prices were Rs 3,200 per quintal. The average wholesale onion prices increased by 25% in five days from Rs 2,561 per quintal on Monday to Rs 3,200 per quintal at Lasalgaon APMC on Friday due to rise in demand. According to Jaydutt Holkar, chairman, Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), the summer stock of onions with farmers has almost exhausted and may last another eight days. The arrival of fresh kharif crop is yet to pick up, which has led to shortage of supply, he sai...

By: Mukesh Butani | Published: November 22, 2017 The BBC noted that the name “Paradise Papers” dovetails well with the French term for a tax haven, paradis fiscal. Last fortnight, 13.4 million documents weighing over 1.4 terabytes of leaked data of an offshore law firm Appleby found its way to Wikipedia. The data leaked (by hackers) to a German newspaper comprised the most guarded investments and funding structures of over 120,000 businesses and individuals, not sparing world’s powerful monarchs, political leaders and most valued companies. The data shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a network of 380 journalists working collaboratively, made headlines to rattle administrations, leading countries such as Spain and India to order official enquiries and possible investigations. The Paradise Papers, as the recent leaks are labelled, coming after the Panama Papers of 2016, are more on theatrics and less on content. The media tendency in such ...