Month: January 2015

India’s FDI increased by 26% in 2014

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Notwithstanding the decline in global foreign direct investment inflows, India’s FDI increased by 26 percent in 2014 to an estimated USD 35 billion with maximum growth in the services sector, a UN report said Thursday.

China toppled the US in 2014 as the world’s largest recipient of FDI — a position that the US had been holding almost consistently since the 1980’s — though with a modest increase of 3 percent, the latest ‘Global Investment Trade Monitor’ report released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said.

Coal India’s 10 percent megasale earns government Rs.22,745 crore

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The 10 percent stake sale in state-owned coal behemoth Coal India Ltd (CIL) fetched the government Rs.22,745 crore as a total issue of 63.16 crore shares went for the auction Friday.

Featuring as the biggest disinvestment exercise as well as the biggest sale ever from any private or public holding, the average bid price was higher by Rs.2.11 at Rs. 360.11 against the floor price of Rs. 358 declared Thursday by the government.

The government had expected to get at least Rs.22,600 crore at the floor price of Rs.358 per share declared Thursday.

Scientists identify biological clock to predict longivity

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A group of scientists has identified a biological clock that could help predict how long we live, according to a study.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with researchers in Australia and the US studied chemical changes to DNA to establish an individual’s biological age which they compared with their actual age, the Mirror reported Friday.

The results showed that people with biological age greater than their true age were more likely to die sooner than those whose biological and actual ages were the same.

Next inter-Syrian consultations in Moscow in a month

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The next meeting between the Syrian opposition and government representatives may take place in Moscow in late February, leader of the Syrian opposition Popular Front for Change and Liberation, Qadri Jamil, said in a news conference on Friday.

“The agreement has been reached to entrust the Russian side, in particular, the Institute of Oriental Studies, with the preparation of a second meeting that is to be held roughly in a month and with developing its agenda,” Jamil said.

According to him, “all the sides should make efforts to hold the meeting within the specified time”.

AAP’s Sunil Kulkarni joins BJP, says party isn’t what it used to be

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sunil Kulkarni, who contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Vadodara constituency in last year’s Lok Sabha elections, joined the BJP on Friday.

“I have joined BJP, will go to Delhi tomorrow and take part in Modiji’s rally. AAP isn’t what it was but Modi ji’s work is impressive,” Kulkarni told ANI.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been locked in a fierce battle with the AAP with the Delhi polls just round the corner.

The party is posing five questions to the AAP as part of its ongoing election campaign for the upcoming polls.

15 civilians killed in eastern Ukraine shelling

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At least 15 civilians were killed in the city of Donetsk by Ukrainian artillery bombardments, five of them killed in a new attack on a trolleybus, pro-Russian separatists charged Friday.

“Five people died in the trolleybus,” said the ministry of defence of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, adding that the vehicle was servicing public transport line 14 but was not in motion at the time it was shelled.

Obama’s religious freedom message came under Attack

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US President Barack Obama’s stress during his speech in India on the right of freedom of individuals to profess, practice and propagate religion was a message for Americans too, US Ambassador Richard Verma said Friday.

“You should look into the speech carefully…this is consistent with what he said at the UN General Assembly, that we have to stand up for all people… He talked as much about the US and our challenges, as he talked about India,” Verma told Karan Thapar in an interview on Headlines Today channel.

CBSE pre-exam counselling to begin Feb 2

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The Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) Friday said it will provide pre-examination psychological counselling to students and parents from Feb 2.

In its 18th year, annual counselling is an outreach programme which is carefully designed keeping in mind the heterogeneity of students’ population and geographical spread, a CBSE statement said.

“Multiple modes of communication such as telephonic counselling, question answer columns in newspapers and online counselling through CBSE website are used to reach out to more and more examines during this phase,” it said.

Prabhu flags off 4 trains remotely using RailTel service

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Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had remotely flagged off four express trains from here Thursday, using the telepresence service of the state-run RailTel, the ICT arm of Indian Railways, a statement said.

“The minister flagged off remotely all the four weekly trains starting from Kamakya in Assam, Patna, Tatanagar in Jharkhand and Bengaluru to Katra in Jammu and Kashmir using our Telepresence service,” RailTel said in a statement Friday.

India gives Nepal Rs 37.12 mn in aid for road upgradation

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India has given Rs 37.12 million in financial assistance to Nepal for road upgradation work.

The 2.2 km-long road from Ghorbanda along Butwal-Pokhara highway to Chilangdi Bhanjyang at Chirtungdhara in Palpa district is expected to benefit Ex-Servicemen and the local population through quality road network.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed yesterday between Embassy of India, Kathmandu and Department of Roads, Palpa for the upgradation work.

India-US n-deal: Pakistan warns of arms race

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Pakistan has warned of a renewed arms race in South Asia after India and US reached a brreakthrough on nuclear trade.

“Pakistan is examining the imbalance (likely to be caused by these agreements) and the possible ways and means for redressing it,” Pakistani Prime Minister`s Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Thursday.

He made the comments at a seminar organised by Islamabad-based think tank Strategic Vision Institute on the implications of US President Barack Obama`s second visit to India Jan 25.

Diego gets three-match suspension

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Chelsea striker Diego Costa was Friday suspended for three matches for stamping on Liverpool’s Emre Can Tuesday in the second leg of Capital One semi-final at Stamford Bridge, which the Blues clinched 2-1 on aggregate.

The Football Association (FA) has pressed the charges against the Spaniard related to an incident that happened 12 minutes into the game, reports bbc.com.

“Diego Costa will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after a charge of violent conduct against him was found proven by an independent regulatory commission Jan 30,” FA said in a statement.

Pakistan fears arms race in South Asia

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Pakistan has said the Indo-US agreements signed during President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi would spark an arms race in South Asia, days after the US and India reached a nuclear trade breakthrough and agreed to extend defence cooperation for another ten year.

“Pakistan is examining the imbalance (likely to be caused by these agreements) and the possible ways and means for redressing it,” National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz said yesterday at a seminar here organised by think- tank Strategic Vision Institute on implications of Obama’s visit to India.

Pak telecom regulator blocks over 2 million SIMs over security

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Pakistan’s telecom regulator authority has blocked over 2 million SIM cards across the country under a campaign launched by the government for authentication of details of mobile phone subscribers.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) earlier this month gave 91 days to verify 103 million unverified SIMs through the Biometric Verification System (BVS), as part of security measures following the December Peshawar school massacre that killed 150 people, the Dawn reported.

Sales volume falls in Hyd residential market

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Sales volume fell by 18 per cent in the residential market even as vacancy levels dropped to 17 per cent for first time since 2012 in the office market in Hyderabad during July-December 2014, according to a report by real estate research and brokerage firm, Knight Frank.

As per the second edition of Knight Frank India’s half-yearly report launched here, the residential market in
Hyderabad continues to lose steam despite political scenario (following bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh) easing out.

Delhi village without hospital, school to boycott polls

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A village with a population of over 10,000 has decided to boycott the Feb 7 assembly election in Delhi. The residents cited lack of basic amenities in their area as the reason behind the move.

“Leaders have been coming to us but we decided not to vote for any of them this time. It is high time now not to vote. They only give fake promises,” said Panja Singh, 62, a resident of Jhangola village that falls under Narela assembly constituency in northwest Delhi.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Neeldaman Khatri won the 2013 assembly polls from the constituency.

Pakistan province refers 423 cases for trial by military courts

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The government of Pakistan`s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province Friday referred a list of terror suspects to the federal government for trial by newly formed militart courts.

The 45-page report contains 423 cases of terror suspects for trial by military courts, which also includes the name of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah, Dawn reported.

At 116, Peshawar has the highest number of cases to be tried by military courts, whereas the remaining 307 cases are from other areas of the province.

Nepal PM asks Prachanda to forge consensus for constitution

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Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Friday appealed to UCPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda to cooperate in forging consensus among the warring political parties over the drafting of a new constitution.

Koirala, who met Prachanda at his residence, said he told the Maoist leader “to cooperate with the government in promulgating a democratic constitution.”

He called on Prachanda to forge consensus “so as to institutionalise the achievements of the past democratic movements as people want lasting peace and stability in the country.”

Tech Mahindra’s net up by 11.9 percent

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Tech Mahindra, a leading software services firm, has registered a growth of 11.9 percent in its net profit during the quarter ended Dec 31, 2014.

The profit after tax stood at Rs.805.3 crore, a quarter-on-quarter growth of 11.9 percent. It includes special adjustment of Rs.28.5 crore of profits of Mahindra Engineering Services Ltd (MESL) in the first half of the current fiscal.

The consolidated revenue stood at Rs.5,752 crore, a year-on-year growth of 17.4 percent and QoQ jump of 4.8 percent.

EU air safety body asks ‘extreme caution’ in Pak airspace

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The European air safety agency has warned airline operators to show “extreme caution” when flying over Pakistan amid fears of possible terror attacks.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “recommends all operators to exercise extreme caution” when flying over the
country and not to fly below 24,000 feet (7,300 metres), it said in a bulletin on its website dated January 22.

The appeal by EASA, which does not refer to any specific threat of attack, applies to flights into, out of or within
Pakistan airspace, it said.

Akali candidate with Rs.239 crore is richest in Delhi polls

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Shiromani Akali Dal’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa with assets worth Rs.239 crore is the richest among the 673 candidates in the fray for the Delhi assembly polls, a think-tank said Friday.

The Shiromani Akali Dal is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sirsa is contesting the Feb 7 polls from Rajouri Garden assembly segment.

Andhra Bank’s net up four-fold but NPAs challenge remains

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Drastic reduction in cost of funds and increased interest income helped Andhra Bank register a more than four-fold jump in its net profit during the third quarter ended December 2014.

Its net profit during the quarter was Rs.202 crore against Rs.45.57 crore in the same period of 2013-14.

The core operating profit of the bank during Q3 stood at Rs.923 crore compared to Rs.522 crore during corresponding quarter of previous year.

11 Christians convert to Hinduism in Tamil Nadu: Hindu outfit

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Eleven Christians – five men and six women – converted to Hinduism during a programme organised by the Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) here Friday, said its leader.

“Despite the attempts by the city police to thwart the voluntary conversion to Hinduism, 11 Christians came back to their mother religion,” HMK president Arjun Sampath told IANS.

He claimed as many as 162 people had come here to participate in the conversion programme though they had announced conversion of 108 people.

US economy grows by 2.6 percent in Q4 of 2014

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The US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, below market expectation, the US Commerce Department said Friday.

The economy grew 5 percent in the third quarter and 4.6 percent in the second after contracting in the first quarter of 2014. In whole 2014, the economy expanded 2.4 percent, compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in 2013, Xinhua news agency reported citing the Commerce Department.