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By Rahul Oberoi, ETMarkets.com|Jan 30, 2018,DELHI Want to add zing to your equity portfolio? Consider metals. A financial result posted by South Korean steel giant Posco showed good times ahead for global steel makers.  Posco's annual sales touched 60 trillion won for the first time in three years in 2017, with 4.62 trillion won in operating profit, the biggest gain in the past six years. The company expects top line to rise further in 2018 as Chinese steel prices should remain strong early this year, thanks to Beijing's efforts to scale down production.  On an aggregate basis, metal majors on the BSE Metal index reported a 43 per cent drop in bottom line in 2016-17 compared with 2010-11. Ajay Jaiswal, President - Strategies & Head of Research at Stewart & Mackertich, said, "Posco is not a bellwether, but its results indicate a trend in Asian steel companies. Financial results of the company suggested good performance from other steel companies as wel...

The Economic Times, BY IANS | JAN 29, 2018,   The world's leading ATM makers have warned of "jackpotting" attacks against US cash machines in the wake of the country's first confirmed hacks.  ATM "jackpotting" is a sophisticated hack in which thieves gain physical access to the machine and, with the help of malware or specialised electronics, force ATMs to spit out huge volumes of cash.  NCR Corp., a leading ATM manufacturer, said in a advisory sent to its customers that it had received reports about "jackpotting" attacks, also known as "logical attacks", against US ATMs, but its equipment had not been affected in the recent attacks, security news website KrebsOnSecurity reported.  "This represents the first confirmed cases of losses due to logical attacks in the US," read the NCR alert. "This should be treated as a call to action to take appropriate steps to protect their ATMs against these forms of attac...

By rediff.com,  January 29, 2018 Will the Union Budget impose a tax on long-term capital gains on shares? There is a lot of speculation on this now.   The prime minister has been hinting at it for over two years. On January 29, 2016, speaking at a business summit, he said, “Dividends and long-term capital gains on shares traded in stock exchanges are totally exempt from income tax even though it is not the poor who earn them.” On December 24, 2016, the PM said in another speech “those who profit from financial markets must make a fair contribution to nation-building through taxes ... the contribution of tax from those who make money on the markets has been low… may be because of the structure of our tax laws. Low or zero tax rate is given to certain types of financial income.” Since only long-term capital gains and dividend income are tax-free, it was clear what the PM was hinting at. On both occasions the markets fell after the PM’s speech and the finance min...

Financial Express: January 30, 2018 Around 47 million children in India under five years of age reside in areas where particulate matter levels exceed the prescribed limits, with 17 million among them inhabiting places where the pollution levels are twice the limits, says a recent report. ‘Airpocalypse-II’, a Greenpeace India report, said children are worst affected in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra and Delhi respectively. It said Delhi remained the worst impacted city with annual PM10 levels exceeding approximately five times the national ambient air quality standards. According to the report, a massive part of the population i.e. 580 million or 47 per cent are living in areas where “no air quality data is available”. It claimed that out of 630 million, close to 550 million people live in areas exceeding national standards for PM10, including 180 million living in areas where air pollution levels are “more than twice the stipulated limit of 60g/m3 wh...

The Economic Times, BY ET BUREAU |  JAN 30, 2018, Delhi India's formal sector workforce is 5.2 crore more when estimated on the basis of the filings under the goods and services tax regime than the so far prevalent definition based on the social security, the Economic Survey has said.  The government's fresh and higher than expected estimate of the country's workforce has come at a time when there has been pressure from all sides on the jobless growth in the country.  "Formal non-farm payroll from a social security perspective is estimated at about 7.5 crore or 31% of the non-agricultural workforce. The formal non-farm payroll from a tax definition is estimated at 12.7 crore or nearly 53% of the non-agricultural workforce in the formal sector," the Survey has said.  According to the Survey, these estimates are enterprise-based and not householdbased definitions of employment and exclude the agriculture sector. "These estimates for formal non...

The Hindu, Reuters,  LONDON, JANUARY 30, 2018  CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Russia will target U.S. mid-term elections later this year as part of the Kremlin’s attempt to influence domestic politics across the West, and warned the world had to do more to push back against Chinese meddling. In an interview with the BBC aired on Tuesday, U.S. intelligence chief Mr. Pompeo said Russia had a long history of information campaigns and said its threat would not go away. ‘We’ll push back’ Asked if Russia would try to influence the mid-term elections, he said: “Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that. “But I am confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election. That we’ll push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won’t be great.” He also said the Chinese posed a threat of equal concern, and were “very active” with a world class cyber-capability. “We can watc...

The Economic Times,  By Reuters, 2018, Washington The Pentagon has restricted the release of critical information on the progress being made in the war in Afghanistan, a move that will limit transparency, the US government's top watchdog on Afghanistan said on Monday.  For years, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, has published a quarterly report that includes unclassified data on the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and the government.  In a report published late on Monday, SIGAR said, however, it was told not to release that information. The military also classified, for the first time since 2009, the actual and authorized total troop numbers and attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, or ANDSF.  "The implication is that I think the average American who reads our reports or reads your press accounts of it, has no meaningful ability to analyze how his money ...

By Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, ET Bureau|Jan 30, 2018, The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has reversed its earlier decision on doing away with printing last page of passport and issuing orange passport for ECR passport holders.  A decision was taken by the Ministry of External Affairs on the recommendations of a three Member Committee comprising officials of MEA and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, not to print the last page of Passport Booklet.  MEA also took the decision to issue a passport with orange colour jacket to passport holders with ECR status, with a view to help and assist them on priority basis.  Following announcement in the recent past MEA has received several individual and collective representations requesting to reconsider these two decisions.  Subsequently at a meeting chaired by Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister, on January 29 2018 the decision of the MEA on both these issues was reviewed in the light of th...

The Hindu Business Line,  MUMBAI, JAN 29. 2018 In a bid to ascertain the facts behind allegations against the NSE in the matter related to its co-location facility, SEBI has now formed its own internal team of core officials to look into the evidence collected by other agencies. This is the first time since allegations were levelled against NSE in 2015 that SEBI has decided to set up its own investigation team. According to sources close to the investigations, the SEBI officials will go into all the evidence collected so far, including digital footprints, reports from experts and forensic investigators, to unravel the truth behind the alleged scam. NSE itself has denied any wrongdoing. The sources also said in December, SEBI officials visited NSE premises and offices of several stockbroking entities to take over or copy data in digital devices and computer hard disks. SEBI's probe team comprises officials at the level of chief general manager and above from market regul...

The Economic Times, January 30, 2018, New Delhi India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of USD 8,230 billion, while the United States topped the chart, says a report. According to a report by New World Wealth, the United States is the wealthiest country in the world as the total wealth held in 2017 amounted to USD 64,584 billion, followed by China at the second place with USD 24,803 billion and Japan with USD 19,522 billion at third.  Total wealth, refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals living in each country/city. It includes all their assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) less any liabilities. The report, however, excludes government funds from its figures.  Others in the list include United Kingdom (4th, USD 9,919 billion), Germany (5th, USD 9,660 billion), France (7th, USD 6,649 billion), Canada (8th, USD 6,393 billion), Australia (9th, USD 6,142 billion) and Italy (10th, USD 4,27...

The Economic Times: January 30, 2018 WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has restricted the release of critical information on the progress being made in the war in Afghanistan, a move that will limit transparency, the US government's top watchdog on Afghanistan said on Monday.  For years, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, has published a quarterly report that includes unclassified data on the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and the government.  In a report published late on Monday, SIGAR said, however, it was told not to release that information. The military also classified, for the first time since 2009, the actual and authorized total troop numbers and attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, or ANDSF.  "The implication is that I think the average American who reads our reports or reads your press accounts of it, has no meaningful ability to analyze how his money or her...