Iran Dampens Hopes for Early Agreement in Dispute over Nuke Deal
Iran has dampened hopes of an early agreement in its dispute with the US over the 2015 nuclear deal.
We have come closer, but we are still far from an agreement," said Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Araghchi said that the US and other parties would have to make some difficult decisions.
Iran's final decision would also definitely not be made in Vienna, but in Tehran, the Deputy Minister and head of Iran's delegation in Vienna said.
A new problem in the Vienna negotiations is the imminent change of political power in Iran.
Russia Cuts US Dollar Holdings in $119-billion Wealth Fund to Zero
Russia said that it will eliminate the dollar from its oil fund to reduce vulnerability to Western sanctions just two weeks before President Vladimir Putin holds his first summit meeting with US leader Joe Biden.
The National Wellbeing Fund will shift its dollar holdings into euros, yuan and gold.
Coming ahead of the June 16 Biden-Putin meeting, the move marks another milestone in the Russian leader's drive to reduce his country's dependence on the dollar after years of steadily increasing U.S. restrictions.
IT services major, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced plans to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions across Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 70 per cent by 2025 (over 2016 base year), and to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.
In its recently published Integrated Annual Report 2020-21, the company has set forth this new carbon reduction goal after having achieved the previous target of reducing its specific carbon footprint by half by 2020 (versus baseline year FY 2008), ahead of schedule. In FY 2021, TCS' specific carbon footprint across Scope 1 and Scope 2 was lower by 61.6 per cent compared to baseline year FY 2008.
According to the leading GHG Protocol corporate standard,a company's greenhouse gas emissions are classified in three scopes. Scope 1 and 2 are mandatory to report, whereas scope 3 is voluntary and the hardest to monitor. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from company owned and controlled resources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions that emanate from purchased energy from a power utility.
India SME Investments infused Rs. 60 crore into a holding entity of KreditBee.
This investment comes in the form of both equity and debt.
This round is a follow-up tranche of investment from India SME after having invested Rs 28.4 crore in September 2019 as debt in Krazybee Services, the RBI-backed NBFC-ND-SI (non-banking financial company non-deposit taking systemically important), which is a part of the holding company of KreditBee.
In February, the Bengaluru-headquartered fintech lending startup KreditBee had closed its series C equity round worth USD 75 million from Premji Invest, Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund, Alpine Capital and Arkam Ventures, consisting of both primary and secondary investments.
SIDBI-backed India SME Investments focuses on investing in early-growth companies, primarily based out of/operating in tier II and III cities, targeting the lower/middle-class segment and benefiting from changing consumer preferences.
Wipro Third Indian IT Firm to Scale Rs. 3 Trillion Market Cap
Wipro touched Rs. 3 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time, becoming the third Indian IT firm to achieve the milestone after Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys.
According to a report, Wipro stock has surged since Thierry Delaporte joined as CEO and MD of the company. Delaporte slashed the top ranks of leadership from 25 people to four.
The company won its largest deal ever from German retailer Metro and has seen deal wins of $7.1 billion.
India has total of 13 listed firms that have crossed the Rs. 3 trillion m-cap. Wipro now ranks 14th.
NITI Aayog Submits Names of 2 PSU Banks to be Privatised
NITI Aayog has submitted to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment the finalised names of PSU banks to be privatised in the current fiscal as part of the disinvestment process.
NITI Aayog has been entrusted with the task of selection of names of two public sector banks and one general insurance company for the privatisation as announced in the Budget 2021-22.
NASA has announced that it is sending two new missions to Venus in order to examine the planet's atmosphere and geological features.
The missions, which have each been awarded $500m (£352m) in funding, are due to launch between 2028 and 2030.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said that the missions would offer the chance to investigate a planet we haven't been to in more than 30 years.
The last US probe to visit the planet was the Magellan orbiter in 1990.
However, other spacecraft - from Europe and Japan - have orbited the planet since then.
The missions were picked following a peer review process and were chosen based on their potential scientific value and the feasibility of their development plans.
The DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission will measure the planet's atmosphere to gain insight into how it formed and evolved. It will also aim to determine whether Venus ever had an ocean.
The second mission, VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), will map the planet's surface to understand its geological history and investigate how it developed so differently than Earth.
Microsoft to Unveil Next Generation of Windows
Tech giant Microsoft will unveil the next generation of Windows on June 24. The announcement comes a week after the company's CEO Satya Nadella teased major upgrades to the PC operating system for developers and creators.
The tech giant had confirmed last month that Windows 10X, its OS originally built for dual-screen devices, will no longer ship. The company is now rolling the visual elements of Windows 10X into the main version of Windows 10 instead.
India No. 3 Vidit Gujrathi has qualified for the FIDE Chess World Cup, to be held in Sochi, Russia, from July 10, on the basis of his rating. Grandmaster Gujrathi, ranked 23rd in the world, becomes the fourth Indian man to qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Grandmasters P. Harikrishna, Aravindh Chidambaram and P. Iniyan have also qualified for the World Cup. Koneru Humpy, D. Harika, Bhakti Kulkarni, R. Vaishali and Padmini Rout have qualified for the women's event.
Indian Newspaper Society Wants to be Excluded from New IT Rules
The Indian Newspaper Soc¬iety has written to the Prime Minister and the Inform¬ation and Broadcasting Minister to exclude traditional newspapers from the recently ann¬ounced Infor¬mation Techn¬ology Rules for social media intermediaries and digital publishers. INS has said that news websites of traditional papers follow the same stringent guidelines for publication as followed by newspapers, and should be exempted from the new IT Rules.
The print media in India is responsible and credible, following stringent editing and fact checking norms by Editors every day. Our newspaper digital websites are produced from the newspapers newsroom and follow the same guidelines," INS has said in the letter to PM Narendra Modi. It has further said that exemptions should be provided to newspapers registered wfh the Registrar of Newspapers in India as they fall under the Press and Registration of Books Act.
The PRB Act is a Parliamentary law, and has "stronger legal force" than the IT rules, which are subordinate legislation under the IT Act, INS added. It also said the new rules amount to "regulatory overreach and is unnecessary to ask the news organisations to follow ano¬ther set of rules, which are meant primarily for categories of organisations and intermediaries who are not covered by the PRB Act".
Sukhpal Khaira, 2 Rebel AAP MLAs Joins Congress
Amid the increased political activity within Punjab Congress, Bholath MLA and former Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira along with two rebel AAP MLAs Pirmal Singh and Jagdev Singh Kamalu joined the party.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh inducted three legislators--Khaira along with Bhadaur MLA Singh, and Maur MLA Kamalu--into the party fold in a low-key event before his visit to Delhi to meet the party's three-member panel (constituted to resolve factionalism in Punjab Congress).
Ranjitsinh Disale Becomes World Bank's Education Advisor
Ranjitsinh Disale, a school teacher from Maharashtra who received the Global Teacher Prize in 2020, has been named World Bank Education Advisor for the period June 2021 to June 2024.
The World Bank recently established a new Coach project aimed at improving in-service teacher professional development to help students learn their lessons at a faster pace.
Indian Navy Approaches Defence Ministry for Predator Drone Acquisition
The Indian Navy is set to approach the Defence Ministry for the acquisition of 30 Predator armed drones from the US for the three services to counter the challenge posed by Chinese Wing Loong II drone with precision strike capabilities. The Chinese weaponised drone has been acquired by Pakistan and has plans to jointly produce the same with parent manufacturer Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.
The Indian Navy, which has been designated as lead by both Army and Air Force in the acquisition of MQ-9 drones, has asked the Defence Ministry for early convening of Defence Procurement Board meeting under the chairmanship of Defence Secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar to get the project cleared in principle.
Iran's Largest Warship Sinks
The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the country's vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.
The 207-metre (679-foot) Kharg was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises.
The Kharg was a modified Ol-class fleet replenishment oiler of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, named after Kharg Island. Built by Swan Hunter in the United Kingdom and launched in 1977, it was delivered to Iran in 1984. Kharg was Iran's largest naval vessel based on tonnage until the launch of Makran in early 2021.
Amul's R. S. Sodhi Elected to Board of International Dairy Federation
The International Dairy Federation (IDF) has unanimously elected R. S. Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd or GCMMF that sells Amul branded products in India, to its board during the general assembly held on 1 June. He is alumni of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). He joined GCMMF (Amul) in the year 1982 after completing his post-graduation from IRMA.
IDF is an international non-governmental, non-profit association and represents the global dairy sector. The federation ensures that right policies, standards, practices and regulations monitor the production of dairy products globally.
WhatsApp Appoints Paresh B. Lal as Grievance Officer for India
The Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp has named Paresh B. Lal as the Grievance Officer for India. WhatsApp has updated the details on its website for how to contact Mr Lal because, under the IT law, social media companies are required to display the names and other details of their grievance officers on their websites.
The appointment is in line with the government's new IT order that requires all the tech companies, like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp to appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer from India. The grievance officer shall address the complaint within 24 hours and dispose of the complaint within 15 days.
International Day of Innocent and Children Victims of Aggression
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is a United Nations observance held on June 4 every year. It was established on 19 August 1982.
Originally focused on victims of the 1982 Lebanon War, its purpose expanded to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. This day affirms the UN's commitment to protect the rights of children.
Ex-CEA Arvind Subramanian to Join Brown University as Senior Fellow
Former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, who had resigned as a professor at Ashoka University in March this year (2021), will join Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs as a senior fellow on July 1.
Subramanian, an eminent economist, had joined the Ashoka University as a professor in the Department of Economics in July 2020 and put in his papers on March 18 this year. His resignation came soon after political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta left the Sonipat, Haryana-based university.
GMAT Aspirants Can Now Select Exam slots 6 Months in Advanced
Aspirants of Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), administered by the Graduation Management Admission Council (GMAC), will now be able to schedule online exam appointments up to 6 months in advance.
The test now also has the provision to select the exam section order and candidates can view unofficial score immediately. Applicants will have to demonstrate their writing and critical thinking skills with the addition of the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) section. They will have the option to take advantage of two eight-minute-long breaks to prepare themselves for the next section of the exam.
Indian citizens can now also use their Aadhaar Card as valid identity proof during the GMAT online registration process. While passport remains the only acceptable identity proof for taking the exam at a test centre, Aadhaar Card has been introduced as an alternative for only online GMAT exams.
Investor Protection: IEPFA's Six Modules of Short Film 'Hisaab Ki Baat' Launched
The Investor Education & Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) has come up with six modules of short films to highlight the importance of budget, saving, importance of Insurance schemes, various social security schemes of the government.
The modules — of 5 minutes duration each —also portray the consequences of a common man falling prey to the ponzu schemes and how they should protect themselves from such schemes.
The six modules of short films titled "Hisaab Ki Kitaab" was launched by Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur.
Hisaab ki kitab is a series of six short films, developed by CSC eGov as a part of their training tool. These short films will be used by IEPFA and its partnering organisation for Investor Awareness Programs across the country.
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