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The Indian Express: May 11, 2019 A new satellite-based study shows that China and India are leading the increase in “greening efforts” across the world. Published in Nature Sustainability, the study shows that the change driving these efforts emerges from China’s ambitious tree-planting programmes and intensive agriculture practised in both countries. A group of researchers from the US, Europe, China and India had detected the greening phenomenon in satellite data from the 1980s; it was initially unclear whether human activity was the cause. Lead study author Chi Chen, from Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment, said this was especially unknown in the case of China and India, which saw quick economic development since the 2000s. The findings The research team set out to track the total amount of Earth’s land area covered by vegetation and how it changed over time (2000-17). Through NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, the te...

Business Line: May 08, 2019 We’ve come a long way from when Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the White House and bear-hugged President Donald Trump. Since then, India-US relations have had highs and lows. On the strategic front, it’s unquestionable the Americans worked the phones after Balakot and campaigned to have Masood Azhar declared an international terrorist, much to Pakistan’s chagrin. But India has been one of the worst hit by Washington’s Iranian oil sanctions. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also struck an acrimonious note in Delhi when he said India would be breaking WTO rules if it retaliated against withdrawal of trade privileges giving 3,000 Indian goods duty-free US access. Ross didn’t mince words as he listed various India and US trade-conflict areas. “Any time a government makes a decision adverse to another, you will have to anticipate there could be consequences,” he said, though he’s indicated the Generalised System of Preferences scheme might be pres...

Business Line, May 07, 2019 US Labour Secretary seeks an increase to train Americans in ‘tech activities’ Engineers hoping for an onsite in the US are set to receive another jolt as the Trump administration could soon increase the H-1B visa fee further, pushing IT companies to hire locally in the US. US Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta told US lawmakers that an increase in H-1B visa application fee will raise funding for the expansion of an apprentice programme, which trains American youths in technology-related activities. While the exact details of the visa-fee hike were not disclosed, Acosta, who was testifying before a Congressional committee on annual budget for the Department of Labour for fiscal 2020, argued that foreigners hurt American workers by competing for jobs and driving down wages. Indian IT companies so far have been the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa, but increased visa fee in the last few years along with higher scrutiny under the Trump admini...

The Hindu: Reuter: May 06, 2019 Relentless pursuit of economic growth, twinned with the impact of climate change, has put an ”unprecedented” one million species at risk of extinction, scientists said on Monday in a landmark report on the damage done by modern civilisation to the natural world. Only a wide-ranging transformation of the global economic and financial system could pull ecosystems that are vital to the future of human communities worldwide back from the brink of collapse, concluded the report, which was endorsed by 130 countries, including the U.S., Russia and China. “The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed,” said Professor Josef Settele, who co-chaired the study, launched in Paris on Monday by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). “This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the wo...

The Indian Express: May 11, 2019 It was a significant victory for the Indian political and diplomatic establishment when the Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council finally succeeded in declaring dreaded Pakistani terrorist, Masood Azhar, a “Global Terrorist”. With this decision, Azhar has joined notorious company. Several attempts were made in the past to get the Security Council to so designate Azhar but every time, it was our neighbour China which blocked those efforts. It did so by deceptively imposing what is called a “technical hold”. The credit goes to the doggedness of the Narendra Modi government in pursuing the matter to its logical conclusion. Although the matter was taken to the UNSC by the UPA government in 2009, it was not pursued enough and appropriately. Once Modi became prime minister, a resolute effort was launched at the UN level and elsewhere to ensure that the resolution is passed. It was a nerve-racking effort for our diplomats because the Chinese...

Indian Express: May 11, 2019 Indian Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Monday discussed “various outstanding trade issues” and agreed to explore “suitable resolutions”, according to the Ministry of Commerce. “Both sides agreed to engage regularly at various levels to resolve outstanding trade issues by exploring suitable solutions, which are mutually beneficial and promote economic development and prosperity in both countries,” stated the ministry in a release following the meeting. “Both sides agreed to deepen economic cooperation and bilateral trade by ensuring greater cooperation amongst stakeholders, including Government, businesses and entrepreneurs,” it added. The bilateral meet has taken place ahead of the US Trade Winds Business Forum and Mission initiative, which will take place in Delhi until May 10, 2019. While the ministry did not elaborate on which outstanding trade issues were discussed specifically, the US Commerce Sec...

Indian Express: May 11, 2019 US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad on Monday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and briefed her on the Afghan peace process. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said both sides discussed the role of all regional stakeholders in bringing peace and development to Afghanistan, adding India will work with key partners in the coming days. Khalilzad has been holding talks with the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha to hammer out a deal to bring lasting peace and stability to war-ravaged Afghanistan. “Appreciate Amb @US4AfghanPeace Khalilzad briefing EAM @SushmaSwaraj on peace efforts in Afghanistan in midst of ongoing Doha meetings. Both discussed role of all regional stakeholders in bringing peace & development in Afghanistan. India will work with key partners in days ahead,” Kumar tweeted. Last week, the US officials held their sixth round of talks with the Taliban to end the over 17-ye...

Indian Express: Express Tech: May 11, 2019 Intel Corp Chief Executive Officer Bob Swan gave new long-term forecasts that indicate the chipmaker’s growth will remain stalled. His comments, during his first investor event as CEO, sent shares down 2.5 per cent at the close of trading in New York. Intel last month said sales will decline in 2019 and it reduced forecasts for profit and revenue in the current quarter. Swan on Wednesday said the chipmaker let investors down when it cut the guidance. “I do just want to acknowledge the present,” Swan said at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California. “We let you down. We let ourselves down,” While sales of the company’s data-centric products — a term coined to include server and other chips such as artificial intelligence processors — will expand at a per centage in the high-single digits, the unit’s growth won’t be enough to overcome the sluggish PC market, he said. Total revenue will increase by low, single-digit...

Indian Express: May 11, 2019 The rupee and the benchmark Sensex on Monday plunged after US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China, triggering a global rout in risky assets. The rupee fell by 18 paise to close at 69.40 against the US dollar as renewed trade war worries made the forex market nervous. The BSE gauge Sensex opened on a weak note at 38,719.33 against its previous close of 38,963.26 and lost further ground as the trade progressed and hit a low of 38,509.79 during the day before finally settling at 38,600.34, down 363 points or 0.93 per cent. The broader NSE Nifty started off the session on a bearish note at 11,605.80 and fell to a low of 11,571.35 before settling the day at 11,598.25, losing 114 points or 0.97 per cent. Trump on Sunday said he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon. On Friday, he had cited good progress in trade talks and praised his relationship ...

Firstpost, PTI, May 06, 2019 Mumbai:  Despite the stress on performance due to regulatory restrictions, the value of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in hospital sector jumped by a record 155 percent at Rs 7,615 crore in FY19, a report said on Monday. The total value of M&A transactions in the hospital sector in FY19 recorded an increase of 155 percent amounting to Rs 7,615 crore, the highest value in the sector in over five year, as against transactions worth Rs 2,991 crore done in FY18, according to rating agency Icra. Two largest transactions in FY19 were the acquisition of stakes Fortis Healthcare for around Rs 4,000 crore and Max Healthcare for Rs 2,351 crore. In both these cases, the deal has been signed at a premium to the then prevailing market price, it noted. The acquisition of shares in Fortis Healthcare had been done at a price of Rs 170 per share, against the then prevailing market price of Rs 144 per share, noting that as this was a primary inf...