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The Indian Express June 03, 2019 Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) picked up 7.11 lakh shares of IT firm Mindtree between May 27-30 for about Rs 70 crore, according to regulatory data. The development assumes significance as L&T has been steadily increasing its holding in the Bengaluru-based tech firm where it acquired around 20 per cent stake of V G Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee Day last month. L&T, which has been pursuing a hostile takeover of Mindtree, has expressed its intent to ramp up its shareholding up to 66 per cent. According to BSE data, L&T acquired shares from the open market throughout the week (May 27-30) with the highest quantum of shares being purchased on May 28 when it picked up over 3.5 lakh shares of Mindtree at Rs 979.98 apiece. A back-of-the-envelope calculation showed that the company spent close to Rs 70 crore during the week for these transactions, which took its overall shareholding to 28.88 per cent. In m...

The Guardian June 02, 2019 Bathed in late afternoon sun, secretary of state Mike Pompeo boarded a steamboat on Lake Geneva. He was there for drinks and nibbles with the King of Holland and the head of Nato, a glamorous end to a busy day at the Bilderberg summit. Representing the White House, Jared Kushner wore a beatific smile as he strode towards the boat, thinking, perhaps, of how best to sell a war with Iran over a glass of frascati. Security at the wharf was drum tight. Amid a sea of secret service personnel, Pompeo was accompanied by the US ambassador to Switzerland, Ed McMullen. The pair looked keen to continue the geopolitical strategizing over canapés. The secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, was flanked by heavily armed bodyguards as he strode along the jetty. He has attended the last three Bilderberg meetings, turning up for “informal discussions” with a watchful squad of security and staff. Officers aboard a Swiss police launch scoured the waterfront ...

The Indian Express June 03, 2019 On May 14, Japan complained to the WTO against import duties imposed by India over the last 24 months on a wide range of electronic products such as mobile phones and components, and integrated circuits. Soon afterward, China and Thailand expressed interest in joining consultations in the case filed by Japan. Singapore, Canada, and Chinese Taipei are learnt to have sought to join, too. Much of this played out when the general elections were under way in India, and the new government is learnt to be taking stock of the widening impact of these trade challenges. In early April, the European Union, which oversees trade policy for the 28-member bloc, had separately launched a WTO dispute against India over import duties levied on electronic products. But the action is not limited to electronics. Late last year, Australia moved to refer India to the WTO over subsidies paid to sugarcane farmers. (The government had approved a fresh Rs 5,...

Reuters June 02, 2019 U.S. stock futures, Asian share markets and oil prices slipped to multi-month lows on Monday on worries intensifying Sino-U.S. tensions and Washington’s new tariff threats against Mexico could tip the global economy into a recession. The E-mini futures for S&P500 dropped 0.5% in early Asian trade to 2,738, near their March low of 2,722 while Japan’s Nikkei skidded 1.1% to a four-month low. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed in early trade, but held barely above last week’s four-month low. The CSI 300 index of Chinese shares advanced 0.9%, but kept within its recent range. Helping the mood, a private survey on Chinese manufacturing sector published on Monday pointed to a modest expansion in factory activity as export orders bounced from a contraction. Yet the slightly better reading is unlikely to allay growing fears about the economic impact from an escalating trade dispute with the United Stat...

The Hindu  June 02, 2019 China on Sunday defended the bloody Tiananmen crackdown on student protesters in a rare public acknowledgement of the event, days before its 30th anniversary, saying it was the “correct” policy. After seven weeks of protests by students and workers, soldiers and tanks chased and killed demonstrators and onlookers in the streets leading to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Hundreds, or possibly more than 1,000, were killed, although the precise number of deaths remains unknown. “That incident was a political turbulence and the central government took measures to stop the turbulence which is a correct policy,” Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe told a regional security forum in Singapore. Gen. Wei asked why people still say that China “did not handle the incident properly”. “The 30 years have proven that China has undergone major changes,” he said, adding that because of the government’s action at that time “China ...

The Guardian June 01, 2019 Over the past year, evidence of Monsanto’s deceptive efforts to defend the safety of its top-selling Roundup herbicide have been laid bare for all to see. Through three civil trials, the public release of internal corporate communications has revealed conduct that all three juries have found so unethical as to warrant punishing punitive damage awards. Much attention has been paid to Monsanto conversations in which company scientists casually discuss ghostwriting scientific papers and suppressing science that conflicts with corporate assertions of Roundup’s safety. There has also been public outrage over internal records illustrating cozy relationships with friendly regulators which border on – and possibly cross into – collusion. But these once-confidential Monsanto documents demonstrate that the deception has gone much deeper. In addition to the manipulation of science and of regulators, the company’s most insidious deceit may be its strategi...

Business Line June 01, 2019 Edible oil industry has raised its demand for an export incentive even as the disparity between domestic and international prices makes Indian oilseeds products globally non-competitive. At a workshop organised by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) in Gandhinagar for the revival of edible oil sector, Industry players underlined a need to support the oilseeds sector with measures such as increased export support accompanied with better realisation for the crop. The Saurashtra Oil Mills Association (SOMA) expressed the need to promote consumption of groundnut oil in the overall edible oil complex and spread awareness about the health benefits of the groundnut oil. "Currently the share of groundnut oil in the overall edible oil consumption is about 3 per cent, while we want to take it to 7 per cent to make it beneficial for the producers," was pointed out by SOMA representatives. N Ramesh, director, ...

Business Line May 31, 2019 The CBI told the Supreme Court on Friday that it is ready to take over the investigation into the multi-crore bitcoin Ponzi scheme in which several investors were allegedly lured on the promise of handsome returns. CBI said this before a vacation bench comprising Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna, hearing a plea filed by one of the arrested accused in the case seeking bail. The accused has also sought a CBI investigation in the case saying cases have been lodged against him in several states. Bitcoin or cryptocurrency is unregulated digital money that is issued and normally controlled by its developers and used and accepted among members of a virtual community. Bitcoin is not a legal tender in the country and not recognised as a medium of exchange. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), said that it is a “huge” scam involving multi-crores of rupees and the CBI was ready to take over the pr...

Business Line June 01, 2019 The US Justice Department is preparing an investigation of Alphabet Inc's Google to determine whether the tech giant broke antitrust law in operating its sprawling online businesses, two sources familiar with the matter said. Officials from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission, which both enforce antitrust law, met in recent weeks to give Justice jurisdiction over Google, said the sources, who sought anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the record. The potential investigation represents the latest attack on a tech company by the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has accused social media companies and Google of suppressing conservative voices on their platforms online. One source said the potential investigation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, focused on accusations that Google gave preference to its own businesses in searches. A spokesman for the Just...

Business Line June 01, 2019 President Donald Trump’s vow to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports risks sabotaging not just his drive to forge more favourable trade deals but also a US economy that he says has strengthened under his watch. Trump announced on Thursday that he would impose a 5 per cent tax on all Mexican imports on June 10 — and raise it to 25 per cent by October 1 — unless Mexico stopped a surge of Central American migrants into the US That would swell the prices Americans pay for countless items from avocadoes to clothes to medical devices. His threat, which drew an outcry from a broad span of business groups and political figures, suddenly cast doubt on prospects for a new North American trade agreement. Trump last year negotiated the deal, formally called the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, and billed it a triumph of his economic policymaking. The USMCA must be approved by lawmakers in all three countries. Yet Mexico is unlikely to ratify the pac...