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 The Hindustan Times, 10.11.2020 Russian peacekeeping troops deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday under a deal that halted six weeks of fighting between Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces, and froze territorial gains by Azerbaijan. The agreement ended military action and restored relative calm to the breakaway territory, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and, until recently, fully controlled by ethnic Armenians.' The territory that Azerbaijan will keep includes the mountain enclave’s second city of Shusha, which Armenians call Shushi, and ethnic Armenian forces must give up control of a slew of other areas by December 1. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the deal, announced overnight and also signed by Moscow, should pave the way for a lasting political settlement to weeks of fighting that killed thousands, displaced many more and threatened to spark a wider war. Azerbaijan, which had been trying to regain land lost during a war in the 1990s, haile

 Financial Express, 11.11.2020 Shares were mostly higher Wednesday in Asia after a worldwide rally spurred by hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine will help the global economy return to normal. Benchmarks advanced in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney but edged lower in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where new Chinese regulations focused on technology companies prompted selling in that sector. The proposed regulations issued Monday for public comment give guidelines on how China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law will be applied to internet companies. The announcement gave no indication operators are accused of wrongdoing but cited areas where regulators might look for problems including sharing of information and alliances or pricing services below cost to keep out new competitors. As of midday, e-commerce giant Alibaba’s shares had fallen 7.3% and Tencent, owner of the popular WeChat social media platform, had lost 5% and online retailer JD.com was down 6.2%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 0.2% to 26,241.52 and the

 The Financial Express,  Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday proposed extending the requirement of constituting a risk management committee to top 1,000 listed entities from 500 at present. The risk management committee should meet at least twice in a year from the current practice of minimum one meeting every year, Sebi said in a consultation paper. Dhanteras, diwali, gold, silverGood time to buy gold after recent fall in prices; yellow metal may make new high by 2021dominos jubilantLove for Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts pushes Jubilant FoodWorks’ share price to all-time high Considering the multitude of risks faced by listed entities, the regulator said risk management has emerged as a very important function of the board. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for a robust risk management framework, it added. While LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) norms specify the role of various board committees of listed entities, defining the role and respons

The Telegraph Online, 11.11.2020 Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it had taken down listings of products such as briefs and doormats with Hindu sacred symbols, which were being sold on its overseas websites, following a furore on social media in India. #BoycottAmazon was one of the top trending topics on Twitter in India, with users sharing screenshots of Amazon listings of doormats and underwear emblazoned with insignia, including Ganesha. “We are taking down the products in question,” Amazon said in a statement. Link- https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/amazon-bows-to-anger/cid/1797111

 DailyHunt,  Islamabad : Several airlines operating in Pakistan may face a ban in 188 countries for failing to meet the international standards of pilot licencing recommended by a UN specialised agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Express Tribune reported. The country's national flag carrier- Pakistan International Airlines — has already been barred from flying to the United Kingdom and European Union over the licencing scandal. In a meeting, the ICAO approved a mechanism for addressing Significant Safety Concerns (SSCs) to its member states. Pakistan is a member state of the ICAO was identified among eight countries that had failed to address the SSCs. The ICAO issued a serious warning to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) - the regulator for all aspects of civil aviation in the country - over the safety concerns. India, China agree to exercise restraint along LAC In its letter dated November 3, the ICAO stated that PCAA had failed to meet the i

 Livemint,  The European Union formally accused US giant Amazon on Tuesday of abusing its control over an online marketplace to distort competition, a breach of anti-trust rules. Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Brussels had informed the company of its view and would push on with an investigation, while opening a second formal probe. This second investigation will probe whether Amazon's Prime service and the "buy box" that appears on the screen "artificially" push buyers into sellers using Amazon's logistics service. "We reached the preliminary conclusion that Amazon illegally has abused its dominant position as a marketplace service provider in Germany and France," she tweeted, ahead of a news conference. "Amazon may have used sensitive data big scale to compete against smaller retailers. Now for Amazon to respond." Shortly afterwards, she told journalists in Brussels: "We must ensure that dual role platforms with ma

 The Hindu Business Line, 10.11.2020 Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was addressing at the Indian Banks’ Association’s 73rd annual general meeting. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked Banks to seed all their accounts with ‘Aadhaar numbers’ ideally by December-end 2020 but not later than March 31, 2021. “Financial inclusion story is not over. You still have inclusion to carry forward. SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE Catalyst THE CURIOUS MARKETER Scaling new peaks of consumer delight In the new normal, brands will need to re-create ‘peak moments’ that enhance shoppers’ affection Catalyst IPL Viewership Game: Did Bihar polls stump the finals? Auto-Focus On the right trajectory: Royal Enfield’s new cruiser is built to kill The Meteor 350 sets a new benchmark for refinement and build quality in the mid-size cruiser segment Catalyst CAMPAIGN TRAIL IPL advertising: The good, the bad and the strange Catalyst THE CURIOUS MARKETER Scaling new peaks of consumer delight In th

 The Print.in, The Indian economy could turn the corner and register positive growth earlier than expected, but the unrelenting pressure of inflation and a second global Covid-19 wave pose a major risk to growth, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its monthly bulletin for November. The bulletin’s ‘nowcasting’ assessment, which forecasts the present or immediate future, has predicted that the economic contraction in the July-September quarter of 2020-21 may also be lower, at 8.6 per cent, compared to the 23.9 contraction in the lockdown-hit April-June quarter. The National Statistical Office will release the data for the second quarter on 30 November. The RBI said the Indian economy may register a positive growth in the October-to-December quarter after six months of contraction if the economic upturn sustains till the end of the year. “Incoming data for the month of October 2020 have brightened prospects and stirred up consumer and business confidence. With the momentum of Septemb

 The Print.in, The Indian rupee is set to recover by March to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to a rare current account surplus and expectations that the central bank may be more tolerant of a stronger currency, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. Nomura expects the rupee to bounce back to 72 per dollar by end-March, a level last seen in February. It sees sluggish oil prices to act as a tailwind for the net oil-importing nation, setting it on course to record its first current-account surplus since 2004. “We see the rupee as an outperformer versus other high yielders,” said Dushyant Padmanabhan, strategist at Nomura Holdings in Singapore. The rupee is “placed quite well – the balance of payment improvement has been quite dramatic, and continues to benefit from the recent drop in oil prices.” India’s currency rose from a two-month low last week ahead of U.S. election results to 74.3725 per dollar on Wednesday. The rupee is Asia’s worst performer with a year-to-date los

Nikkei Asia,  TOKYO -- Ministers from 15 countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreed Wednesday to sign the long-awaited trade deal at a summit Sunday, leaving the door open for reluctant India to return later. The 15 nations "have concluded negotiations and will sign the RCEP Agreement this Sunday" at the summit, Mohamed Azmin Ali, Malaysia's international trade and industry minister, said in a statement. The deal -- which encompasses Japan, China, South Korea, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Australia and New Zealand -- will create Asia's largest free trade zone, covering 30% of global gross domestic product and trade. It will be Japan's first free trade framework with China and South Korea, two vital trading partners. "After eight years of negotiating with blood, sweat and tears, we have finally come to the moment where we will seal the RCEP Agreement,"Azmin said after an online ministerial meeting.

 Firstpost, 11.11.2020 Hong Kong:  Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers have resigned en masse following a move by the city's government to disqualify four pro-democracy legislators. The pro-democracy camp announced their decision in a news conference Wednesday, hours after the Hong Kong government said it would be disqualifying four pro-democracy legislators — Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung — from the legislature. The disqualifications came after China's National People's Congress Standing Committee, which held meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, passed a resolution stating that those who support Hong Kong's independence or refuse to acknowledge China's sovereignty over the city, as well as commit acts that threaten national security or ask external forces to interfere in the city's affairs, should be disqualified. "Today we will resign from our positions, because our partners, our colleagues have been disqualified by the Central

 The Voa News, 10.11.2020 A top Pakistani government scientist says Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is not suited for Pakistan, or other developing countries because of the -80°C temperatures it needs to be kept at, and the need for a second shot. The American pharmaceutical company announced Monday that late-stage testing on its potential two-dose vaccine indicates it is more than 90% effective in preventing the virus in participants without evidence of prior infection. The revelation is being hailed as a rare piece of positive news in the fight against the pandemic that has globally infected more than 50 million people, with 1.2 million deaths and 33 million people recovered. But Professor Atta Ur Rahman, who heads Pakistan’s Task Force on Science and Technology, said Tuesday it is “premature at least" for his country or others in the developing world to celebrate the Pfizer vaccine. “This is a messenger RNA vaccine and it has to be transported at -80°C, so this vaccine is not suit

 Dailyhunt, 12.11.2020 The extreme low temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius required for storing a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer poses a big challenge for its delivery in a developing nation like India, especially in its smaller towns and rural areas where maintaining such cold chain facilities would be very difficult, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday. Most vaccines in India need to be stored at a temperature of two to eight degrees Celsius. The lowest minimum temperature at which vaccines can be kept to maintain the cold chain in most areas in the country is minus 25 degrees Celsius, Guleria said. He, however, said the first set of results announced by Pfizer Inc. And BioNTech SE from the Phase 3 vaccine trial, showing a 90-per cent efficacy in preventing the coronavirus infection, is quite encouraging. 'The extreme low temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius required for the potential anti-coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer poses a big

 The Hindustan Times,  The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII), which is working in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to find a vaccine for Covid-19, on Wednesday announced that it has completed the enrolment of phase 3 clinical trials for its candidate Covishield. SII and ICMR are currently conducting phase 2/3 clinical trials of Covishield at 15 different centres across the country, the Pune-based drugmaker said in a statement. As many as 1600 participants were enrolled on October 31, it added. “The strategic alliance between SII and the ICMR will advance India’s role in the global race to develop Covid-19 vaccines,” the drug manufacturer said in a statement. The SII said that the trials of the Oxford vaccine have shown promising results, which “so far give confidence that Covishield could be a realistic solution to the deadly pandemic”. Among the vaccines being developed in India, Covishield is in the most advanced stage of

 The Business Standard, 12.11.2020 In what could turn out to be a major boost to local manufacturing of high-value pharmaceuticals, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle approval to a Rs 15,000 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for pharmaceutical products. The government expects to attract investments worth Rs 50,000 crore from domestic and multinational drugmakers through the scheme. The incentive will be in the range of 5-10 per cent of production value, sources said. The idea is two-pronged — to reduce imports of high-value products like patented drugs, cell-based or gene therapy ... Link- https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/pli-scheme-govt-looks-to-get-rs-50-000-crore-investments-in-pharma-120111102088_1.html?utm_source=Spotlight&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=Premium_11072018