India's South Africa Envoy Concurrently Accredited As High Commissioner To Lesotho
India's High Commissioner to South Africa, Jaideep Sarkar, has been concurrently accredited as the country's next High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Lesotho, with residence in Pretoria, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
A 1987 IFS-batch officer, Sarkar was appointed India's High Commissioner to South Africa earlier in 2019.The diplomat has earlier served as envoy to Israel and Bhutan.
Sarkar has also served in Indian missions in Tokyo, Seoul and Bangladesh.
The diplomat worked in the Ministry of Finance from 1992-1996 dealing with economic relations with EU member states.
He also served as a Director in the MEA where his work involved managing India's relations with some of its neighbours including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Sudan New Premier Unveils First Post-Bashir Cabinet
In Sudan, country's new premier has unveiled the first cabinet since veteran leader Omar al-Bashir's overthrow, a major step in the country's hard-won transition to civilian rule after decades of authoritarianism.
The announcement had been delayed for days as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok mulled over the nominees proposed by the movement that led the months-long protests against Bashir and also the generals who ousted him in April 2019.
The 18-member cabinet includes four women, including foreign affairs minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Addresses 8th Seoul Defense Defence Dialogue 2019
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh delivered a keynote address at 'Seoul Defence Dialogue 2019' during his visit to South Korea.
The theme of Defence Dialogue was- 'Building Peace Together: Challenges and Vision'. Defence Minister is on a 3-day visit to Seoul.
During the address, Defence Minister highlighted that among the numerous security challenges that world is facing, gravest is that of terrorism as no country in world is safe from terrorism.
As India's foreign policy has always prioritized on good relations with its neighbours, therefore India also supports for peace and stability in Korean Peninsula and its denuclearisation through dialogue and diplomacy.
India has also strengthened co-operative engagements in Indo-Pacific region on basis of principle of SAGAR– Security and Growth for All in the Region, a principle that remains cornerstone of India's outlook for Indo-Pacific region.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio on September 5, 2019 announced the launch of fiber-based broadband services, offering minimum Internet speed of 100 Mbps for a monthly rental of ₹699.
JioFiber will offer broadband Internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps for ₹8,499 a month.
The broadband service will offer unlimited data, free voice calling to anywhere in India as well as TV video calling/conferencing.
India Among Top 10 Nations In Gold Reserves
India has pipped the Netherlands to move into the list of top ten countries in terms of total gold reserves.
According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves totalling 618.2 tonnes, which is marginally higher than the Netherlands' reserves of 612.5 tonnes.
Interestingly, in terms of individual countries, India actually ranks ninth since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) occupies the third position after the U.S. and Germany.
According to the latest release by the World Gold Council, U.S. leads the country list with total gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes followed by Germany with 3,366.8 tonnes.
While the IMF is ranked third with a holding of 2,451.8 tonnes, it is followed by countries such as Italy (2,451.8 tonnes), France (2,436.1 tonnes), Russia (2,219.2 tonnes), China (1,936.5 tonnes), Switzerland (1,040 tonnes) and Japan (765.2 tonnes) before India at the 10th spot.
India's entry into the list of top ten countries comes at a time when the quantum of monthly purchases is the lowest in over three years.
Wipro Bags $300 Million Deal From ICICI Bank Through Business Transfer
Wipro has received a long-term $300 million contract from ICICI Bank to provide digital technology led services.
Wipro has secured a strategic seven-year engagement from the major Indian private sector bank.
This is a business transfer from Vara lnfotech, which currently provides services to the bank.
As part of the strategic engagement, Wipro will absorb about 3,800 employees of Vara lnfotech along with its existing contracts, facilities and assets, on a going concern basis, through a business transfer agreement for an all cash consideration of Rs 321 crore and will provide these services to ICICI Bank.
YouTube To Pay USD 170M Fine After Violating Kids' Privacy Law
Google agreed to pay USD 170 million to settle charges that it illegally collected and shared data from children on its YouTube video service.
The company agreed to work with video creators to label material aimed at kids and said it will limit data collection when users view such videos, regardless of their age.
Some lawmakers and children's advocacy groups, however, complained that the settlement terms aren't strong enough to rein in a company whose parent, Alphabet, made a profit of USD 30.7 billion 2018 on revenue of USD 136.8 billion, mostly from targeted ads.
Google will pay USD 136 million to the Federal Trade Commission and USD 34 million to New York state, which had a similar investigation.
The fine is the largest the FTC has levied against Google, but it's tiny compared with the USD 5 billion fine against Facebook in 2019 for privacy violations.
Chinese Shoppers Adopt Facial Payments in Cashless Drive
No cash, no cards, no wallet, and no smartphones: China's shoppers are increasingly purchasing goods with just a turn of their heads as the country embraces facial payment technology.
China's mobile payment infrastructure is one of the most advanced in the world, but the new systems -- which require only face recognition -- being rolled out nationwide could make even QR codes seem old-fashioned.
Customers simply make a purchase by posing in front of point-of-sale (POS) machines equipped with cameras, after linking an image of their face to a digital payment system or bank account.
Prakash Padukone Academy Partners with Infosys Foundation
The Infosys Foundation and the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy signed a memorandum of understanding to groom young players in tier-2 and tier-3 cities from across the country.
The agreement was signed by Prakash Padukone, who heads the sports academy and Sudha Murthy, who leads the philanthropic wing of Infosys at the Foundation office in the city.
According to the agreement, the Infosys Foundation will provide a fund of Rs 16 crore, which will be spent for the next five years.
Rahmat Shah Becomes First Cricketer From Afghanistan To Score Test Century
All-rounder Rahmat Shah became the first cricketer from Afghanistan to score a Test century.
Shah achieved the feat during Afghanistan's one-off Test match against Bangladesh. The right-handed batsman smashed 102 runs in 187 balls before returning to the pavilion.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first in Chittagong.
Rahmat came into the middle in the 13th over after the dismissal of opener Ihsanullah. He went on to put on a 120-run stand with former skipper Asghar Afghan. At the end of the first session, Rahmat was on 97.
He finally crossed the coveted mark with a four off Nayeem Hassan.
India Lose To Oman Despite Taking Lead In Opening FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifier
Captain Sunil Chhetri's early strike went in vain as India surrendered a one-goal advantage to lose 1-2 to Oman in their opening fixture of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier.
The 87-ranked Oman rallied to score twice through Rabia Alawi Al Mandhar in the last eight minutes of regulation time.
India Lose to Oman Despite Taking Lead in Opening FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifier
Sunil Chhetri's opener was beaten by two goals from Rabia Alawi Al Mandhar as Oman defeated India 2-1 in Guwahati.
The 35-year-old Chhetri, international football's second-highest scorer among active players, pushed India ahead in the 24th minute with his 72nd strike.
CBI's First National Conference On Cyber Crime Investigation Held
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) organized the first National Conference on Cyber Crime Investigation and Cyber Forensics on September 4-5, 2019. The conference was inaugurated by CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla.
The conference had several panel discussions, lectures and presentations on various topics of law enforcement.
Cyber Forensics was including Social Media, Mobile/Digital Forensics, online harming including child sexual abuse, establishing standard formats for data exchange between service providers and LEAs and Intermediary liability.
The two-day national conference was aiming to create a platform and bring together investigators, forensic experts, academia and lawyers to discuss challenges related to cybercrime and ways to find solutions.
The conference covered one of the mandates of CBI which is to investigate crimes with inter-state and international ramifications.
It was also discussed in the conference that cases of cybercrimes are complex and require certain skills and forensic skills for detection.
Former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has died at the age of 95. His successor, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, expressed his utmost sadness calling Mr. Mugabe Zimbabwe's founding father and an icon of liberation.
Mugabe was a former guerrilla chief who took power after the end of white minority rule in 1980. He was ousted in a military coup in November 2017, ending three decades in power.
Noted novelist and playwright Kiran Nagarkar, known for his books 'Cuckold,' and 'Bedtime Story', died at a hospital in Mumbai night.
He was 77.
Nagarkar had been ailing for some time and was admitted to the hospital in south Mumbai where he died.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram Sent To Tihar Jail In INX Media Case
Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been sent to judicial custody till September 19, 2019 in the INX Media case being probed by CBI. He will be lodged in Tihar jail.
The order was pronounced by the Rouse Avenue Court. Chidambaram's counsel opposed the plea for judicial custody and offered that the former Finance Minister be taken into ED custody in the money laundering case.
The court allowed him to carry his medicines to jail. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that there will be adequate security for Chidambaram in jail.
With regard to Chidambaram's plea seeking to surrender in the money laundering case, the court issued notice to ED.
Chidambaram, 73, was produced before a Delhi court after the expiry of his 2-day CBI custody in the case.
Chidambaram's 15-day CBI custody, ordered by the special court in five spells, which started after his arrest on August 21, 2019 night, was to end on 5 Sept 2019.
The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the finance minister. Thereafter, the Enforcement Directorate lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017.
President Of India Presents National Awards To Meritorious Teachers On The Occasion Of Teachers' Day
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented National Awards to meritorious teachers from across the country at a function held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on September 5, 2019 on the occasion of Teachers' Day.
The President urged teachers to build a new generation that is full of knowledge and wisdom, so that it can successfully address all the contemporary challenges.
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Union Minister for Human Resource Development and Shri Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Minister of State for Human Resource Development.
IIT-HRD Ministry Awards The Status Of Institute Of Eminence To 5 Institutes
The Human Resource Development Ministry has awarded the status of Institute of Eminence to the IIT-Madras, the IIT-Kharagpur, Delhi University, Benares Hindu University and the University of Hyderabad.
Four private universities — the Vellore Institute of Technology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Jamia Hamdard University and the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology — were issued Letters of Intent to grant them the status.
The new greenfield Bharti Institute, a project of Airtel's Satya Bharti Foundation, has also been issued the letter.
The Ministry took the action, following a recommendation from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Each university will be required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry, laying out its plan to achieve the objective of becoming a world-class institution.
The public institutions on the list will then be eligible for a government grant of ₹1,000 crore.
Govt Launches Updated Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme For MSMEs
The government launched the updated Credit linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) to allow micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) access to capital.
MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari announced the government would prepare a final report on the recommendations of the U K Sinha committee, which had been set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to suggest expeditious ways to strengthen MSMEs.
Gadkari said the CLCSS scheme would be crucial in raising MSME contribution to gross domestic product from the current 29 per cent to 50 per cent, in addition to increasing exports from the sector to 50 per cent from 40 per cent now.
The scheme provides an upfront subsidy of 15 per cent on institutional credit up to Rs 1 crore for MSMEs in the specified 51 sub-sectors.
Govt. Launches Campaign To Promote 'Eat Right Movement'
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, kick-started POSHAN Maah 2019 with a year-long social and mass media campaign on the Eat Right India movement.
Dr. Vardhan also launched the new Eat Right India logo that represents a healthy plate, an online eat right quiz and online course for frontline health workers.
The Eat Right India movement is a crucial preventive healthcare measure to trigger social and behavioural change through a judicious mix of regulatory measures, combined with soft interventions for ensuring awareness and capacity building of food businesses and citizens alike.
Vice President Releases 2nd Volumes Of Loktantra Ke Swar & The Republican Ethic
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said, India never was an aggressor and never attacked any country as it believes that the entire world is one family.
He said, the problems can be resolved through discussion and debate. He, however, said that if somebody attacks India the country will give strong reply.
Mr Naidu said this in New Delhi while releasing the second volumes of Loktantra Ke Swar and the Republican Ethic, the compilation of 95 speeches delivered by President Ram Nath Kovind.
The Vice President said, India has chosen the path of democracy to achieve a better quality of life for all people.
Mr Naidu said, the faith of President Kovind in democratic values is unwavering and he goes much deeper to reveal before people multiple aspects-layer after layer, when he delves into the vision of the republic.
He said that President Kovind reminds the nation of the contributions of the Annadaatas - the farmers, scientists and professionals and above all the brave jawans.
IndiGo Partners With SonyLIV To Provide Mobile Inflight Entertainment
IndiGo announced that it has entered into a partnership with video-on-demand platform SonyLIV to provide mobile entertainment services on its domestic flights.
To avail this "exclusive offer", IndiGo will provide a link to its flyers at the boarding counter through which they can avail the weekly subscription of SonyLIV for Rs 25.
A flyer has to first subscribe it in the boarding area or check-in area, then download the content on his or her mobile phone or any other personal device, and the content then can be watched onboard in offline or airplane mode.
+91-85588-96644
