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Showing posts from December 11, 2017

Communist parties win majority in Nepal vote

The Economic Times, By AFP | Updated: Dec 10, 2017  An alliance of Nepal's former Maoist rebels and the main Communist party have won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections and are expected to form the next government, according to preliminary results from the election commission late Sunday.  The Communist CPN-UML and the Maoist Party look set for a landslide victory in the landmark polls that mark the end of the Himalayan nation's drawn-out transition to federal democracy 11 years after the end of a brutal civil war.  The leftist alliance has won 84 seats in the national parliament and leads in a further 31, securing a majority.  The incumbent Nepali Congress has so far won just 13 seats, performing worse than expected. The lower house of parliament comprises 165 seats that are directly elected and a further 110 that are allocated to parties based on proportional representation votes. Early tallies show that the Communist alliance will also dom

Mega bitcoin gains come with megabyte tax

Economic Times,  By Sachin Dave  , ET Bureau, December 11, 2017 S Shridhar, an engineer working at an American IT company in Bengaluru, sold about 20 bitcoins on Friday following Reserve Bank of India warnings against trading in virtual currencies and a fall in its value, only to be told by his tax adviser that he could be in trouble.  The 36-year-old engineer and his advisers are now trying to figure out whether his return from the trade — which Shridhar transferred to his bank account — will be taxed and by how much.  Sridhar is one among a rising number of individuals in the country rushing to sell their bitcoin holdings even as there is no clarity on the tax implication on these investments.  Experts said returns from bitcoins could attract 20-30% tax, depending on whether they are categorised as business income or capital gains.  "In case anyone sells bitcoins, the gains would definitely attract taxation, depending on his intent to categorise the g

India's ultra-mega solar project to be discussed at France Summit: World Bank

The Economic Times, PTI | Dec 10, 2017, Washington India's ultra-mega solar project will come up for discussion at the One Planet Summit in France this week, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said.  The ultra-mega solar power projects, also known as ultra mega solar parks, are a series of solar power projects planned by India to enhance its capacity from 20,000 MW to 40,000 MW.  "Among one of the major projects that we're putting on the table at the summit is a ultramega project in India for solar," Kim said yesterday in response to a question.  In an interaction with reporters on bank's continuing work on climate change mitigation and its efforts at helping developing countries implement the Paris Agreement, Kim said he and the World Bank has worked very closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  "I am very optimistic about what could happen with renewable energy (in India)," Kim told reporters in a conference call ahead of th

Hurriyat leader Bhat sacked from party for meeting interlocutor

The Economic Times, By Hakeem Irfan Rashid, ET Bureau | Dec 10, 2017 A week after meeting Government of India's representative Dineshwar Sharma, senior separatist leader Abdul Gani Bhat has been sacked from his own party The Muslim Conference.  In a letter addressed to Mirwaiz Uma Farooq, new party president Muhammad Sultan Magray stated that Bhat has been removed as the party president in wake of his meeting with Sharma, which goes against the stand of Joint Hurriyat leadership led by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz and Yasin Malik.  "Our party cadre is concerned about the development and we called for an immediate meeting in which it was decided that Magray will be the acting president for next six months. It is therefore requested to your good self that for future programmes and coordination, Magray may be communicated," the letter read.  The letter has been widely circulated on social media. However, Mirwaiz said he was not aware of any such letter as no c

RIC meet: India and Russia must close all gaps in ties

Economic Times, Dec 11, 2017,By Harinder Sekhon The 15th foreign ministerial meeting of Russia, India and China (RIC) trilateral grouping, originally scheduled for April, comes after eight months of arduous negotiations following Chinese intransigence: First, due to their objections to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and second, the Dokalam stand-off.  This will be the first high-level visit by a Chinese official after the Nineteenth Party Congress during which the Chinese Premier Xi Jinping further strengthened his internal position by an overwhelming majority. The visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is significant as it is also expected to convey the tone of Xi’s policy approach to India in his second term. India-China ties have faced many ups and downs since Xi took office in 2013 with several provocative instances of border incursions. During this period, China has also consistently opposed India’s entry as a permanent member of the Nuclear Suppliers Gro

HC asks RBI, probe agencies to frame guidelines on ATM frauds

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the RBI, the CBI and city police to frame guidelines to investigate cases of ATM frauds here.  Disposing of a plea in this regard, it asked the Delhi government, Delhi Police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider it as a representation.  The petition filed by north Delhi resident Pravesh, who claims to be a private investigator, through advocates Kamlesh Kumar Mishra also sought transfer of such cases to the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police, claiming that culprits of ATM frauds were not nabbed.  "Several gangs must be operating because of which similar incidents keep happening in the same ATMs time and again. But because of lack of coordination even among the investigation officers within the same police station, the real culprits are not being nabbed. It is therefore the connivance of the local police with these gangsters cannot be ruled out."  Almost every

Haul of fake Rs 2,000 notes seized, two arrested: DRI

The Economic Times,  IANS, Dec 08, 2017, As many as 400 pieces of fake currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination with a total face value of Rs 8 lakh were seized and two persons was arrested from West Bengal's Murshidabad district, an DRI official said here on Friday.  "Acting on a tip-off, one person, who was carrying fake notes, was apprehended at Chander crossing on NH-34 in West Bengal's Murshidabad district. 400 pieces of fake Rs 2,000 denomination notes were recovered," said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) official.  According to official, the accused, aged about 25 years and a resident of area bordering Bangladesh, admitted that the fake Indian currency notes was smuggled into India from Bangladesh and that he was travelling to Kolkata for delivering them to another person. DRI sleuths also intercepted another person, a resident of Bihar, close to the India-Nepal border, who was supposed to receive fake currency from the first pers

ED issues 400 summons in Panama papers leak

The Economic Times, Sachin Dave, December 09, 2017 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to all high net-worth individuals (HNI) whose names had appeared in the so-called Panama Papers, the 2015 database leak at offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca.  According to people aware of the developments, the ED issued about 400 such summons, seeking explanations for overseas investments made since 2004. This comes at a time when the agency is investigating another leak-—Paradise Papers.  The ED has sought explanation on investment vehicles registered outside India and whether HNIs had followed domestic regulations. Some of the high-profile individuals, including Bollywood personalities, received similar summons a few months ago.  Industry trackers say that the ED summons come months after the income tax department had questioned the HNIs on the same issue. "The tax department issued notices and information were filed by many who had made inv

Glenmark Pharma begins clinical trial of anti-myeloma drug

The Economic Times, PTI, December 08, 2017 GlenmarkBSE 1.04 % Pharma today said the first patient has been dosed in a phase-1 clinical trial of GBR 1342, an investigational antibody for treatment of multiple myeloma. In May this year, the US health regulator had cleared Glenmark Pharma's investigational new drug application to initiate phase-1 study of GBR 1342. GBR 1342 is an investigational new drug from the company's immuno-oncology portfolio. "This first-in-human, open-label study's primary objective is to assess the safety and tolerability of increasing doses of GBR 1342 in multiple myeloma patients until a maximum tolerated dose is reached," Glenmark Pharma said in a BSE filing. The additional study objectives include assessment of biomarkers, immunogenicity and additional measures of anti- tumour activity, it added. "Glenmark is committed to a new model of drug discovery that emphasises quality and a highly efficient approach

This cryptocurrency is up 1,000% in a month, and it’s not bitcoin or ethereum

The Economic Times, By Rahul Oberoi, ETMarkets.com, December 09, 2017, New Delhi One of the most extravagant predictions sees bitcoin at $1 million within three years. But that's a story for another time.  Bitcoin, undoubtedly the most talked about asset class today, has spurted over 1,500 per cent on a year-date-basis so far and over 115 per cent in the past one month.  But a little known cryptocurrency has put to shame the meteoric rise in bitcoin.  With a rally of astounding nearly 1,000 per cent in the past one month alone, IOTA is now the fourth biggest crytocurrency in terms of market capitalisation after bitcoin, ethereum and bitcoin cash. Prices of IOTA surged 980 per cent to $4.14 on December 7, 2017 from $0.38 on November 7. The e-currency has surged over 180 per cent in December so far.  According to coingecko.com, IOTA is a distributed ledger for the Internet of Things. The first ledger with microtransactions without fees as well as secure data t

Zydus gets USFDA nod for schizophrenia treatment drug

The Economic Times, PTI | Updated: Dec 08, 2017,  New Delhi Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) Inc has received final approval from the US health regulator to market Clozapine tablets, used in treatment of severe schizophrenia.  The company has got final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market the drug in the strengths of 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg and 200 mg, Zydus Cadila said in a BSE filing. The drug will be produced at the group's formulations manufacturing facility at SEZ, Ahmedabad. The Zydus group has more than 175 approvals and so far filed over 310 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) since it started filings in 2003-04.  Zydus Pharmaceuticals Inc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cadila Healthcare Ltd.  Shares of Cadila Healthcare, the listed entity of the group, were up 0.41 per cent at Rs 418.80 per scrip on BSE today.  Link- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/pharmaceuticals/zydus-gets-u

Will free up enough spectrum to make India 5G ready: Telecom minister Manoj Sinha

The Economic Times, ET Bureau, 09 December, 2017, New Delhi Telecom minister Manoj Sinha said the government would see to it that there is no spectrum shortage to ensure India does not lag behind the rest of the world in launching 5G services, especially at a time when the country is seeing an unprecendented surge in data consumption.  Addressing delegates at the ET Telecom 5G Congress on Friday, Sinha said the new telecom policy would be suitably aligned to ensure India is 5G ready and in sync with the world's top telecom markets.  Having lagged on both the 3G and 4G fronts, the Indian government wants to draw level with the rest of the world on 5G, which is a next-generation mobile technology that promises blistering download speeds of 20 GBs/second against 1 GB/second on a 4G network. Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan, who was present at the ET event, said the government has already approved a 5G technologies test bed that would be anchored by IIT Chennai