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Showing posts from May 29, 2020

But where are the kirana stores? JioMart launches in 200 cities without them

Deccan Chronicle May 26, 2020 Author: ANNIE THOMAS Weeks after Mukesh Ambani signed a deal between JioMart and Facebook, the self-declared kirana store aggregator has launched its services in 200 cities, including small cities such as Bhatinda, Mysuru and Dehradun, but without taking the neighbourhood stores on board. A pilot project launched last month in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan, all suburbs of Mumbai, included kirana stores as well as JioMart’s own warehouses; but now with the national launch, the kirana stores are nowhere in the picture at present. Currently, grocery orders placed on the JioMart website are serviced by Reliance Smart and Fresh stores and Reliance Retail’s Sahakari Bhandar stores, not neighbourhood shops, PTI quoted the financial services company Credit Suisse as saying. “Just prior to the national launch, Reliance Retail tapped the WhatsApp customer base in the three pilot regions to source orders. In our view, it was just a test phase

Trump move could scrap or weaken law that protects social media companies

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By: Reuters | Washington President Donald Trump said he will introduce legislation that may scrap or weaken a law that has protected internet companies, including Twitter and  Facebook , in an extraordinary attempt to regulate social media platforms where he has been criticized. The proposed legislation is part of  an executive order   Trump signed on Thursday afternoon. Trump had attacked Twitter for  tagging his tweets  about unsubstantiated claims of fraud about mail-in voting with a warning prompting readers to fact-check the posts. Trump wants to “remove or change” a provision of a law known as Section 230 that shields social media companies from liability for content posted by their users. Trump said US Attorney General William Barr will begin drafting legislation “immediately” to regulate social media companies. On Wednesday, Reuters reported the White House’s plan to modify Section 230 based on a copy of a draft executive order that experts said was unlikely to surviv

Covid-19 pandemic may create opportunities to deepen India’s engagement with Africa

Sujan R Chinoy The Indian Express Africa Day is observed every year on May 25 to commemorate the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (now known as the African Union). India has been closely associated with it on account of its shared colonial past and rich contemporary ties. The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses has hosted an Africa Day Round Table annually for the last four years in order to commemorate this epochal event. This year, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has marred the celebrations in India. Africa, too, has come to a standstill due to the coronavirus . The World Bank’s Africa’s Pulse, a biannual analysis of the near-term macroeconomic outlook for the region, in its April 9 report, assessed that the COVID-19 outbreak has sparked off the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region’s first recession in 25 years. Growth is expected to plummet to between -2.1 and -5.1 per cent in 2020, from a modest 2.4 per cent in 2019. With high rates of

NAB reviews probes against opposition leaders

Syed Irfan Raza Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2020 ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday revie­wed progress in investigations into corruption allegedly committed by former prime ministers Nawaz Sha­rif and Shahid Khaqan Abb­asi, former president Asif Zardari and Leader of the Opposition in the Nat­ional Assembly Shahbaz Sha­rif, his sons and “cronies”. The matter was discussed at a meeting chaired by NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal at the bureau’s headquarters. “The meeting reviewed progress on the ongoing inquiries/investigations of mega corruption... of former prime minister Nawaz Sha­rif, former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Sha­hbaz, Salman Shahbaz, Has­san Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, Ahad Cheema, Fawad Hassan Fawad, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Miftah Ismael, Imran ul Haq Sheikh and others,” said a press release issued by the anti-graft watchdog. The meeting also rev­iew­ed progress in the investigations into fake

Committed to peace, says Chinese defence ministry in 1st remark on Ladakh standoff

Sutirtho Patranobis Hindustan Times, Beijing The situation on the India-China border is “stable and controllable”, the Chinese defence ministry has said in its first comments on the ongoing standoff between border troops of the two countries in eastern Ladakh and Sikkim. The ministry said both countries have the wherewithal to resolve the situation through established communication mechanisms without directly commenting on US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between Beijing and New Delhi on the boundary problem. The ministry’s first statement comes in the backdrop of the standoff in eastern Ladakh between the militaries of India and China this month. “China’s position on the China-India border is clear. The Chinese border troops are committed to maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas,” defence ministry spokesperson, Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang said at the monthly ministry briefing on Thursday. “At present, the situation in the China-India bor

PM Modi had no conversation with Trump over border standoff with China: Officials

Amit Chaturvedi Hindustan Times, New Delhi There has been no recent contact between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, people familiar with the developments said. The last time the two leaders spoke was on April 4, when the subject of the conversation was hydroxychloroquine, an official said, hours after US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that he had spoken with PM Modi in recent days. They reiterated that India is directly in contact with China to address the border stand-off. Both India and China are involved in a stand-off in the Ladakh region along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). China was first to adopt an aggressive posturing by sending 6,000 soldiers of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to the region. The troops have been moved to four locations in eastern Ladakh - three in the Galwan Valley and one near Pangong Lake. Sources said that China wants to stop the infrastructure works being done by India in the remote region. At