Month: September 2019

Arnold Schwarzenegger pays emotional tribute as ‘best friend’ Franco Columbu dies

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Italian bodybuilder, boxer and actor Franco Columbu, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s closest friends, has died in his native Sardinia. He was 78.

Columbu died at John Paul II hospital in the city of Olbia after he became ill while swimming in the sea, the hospital said. He lived in Los Angeles for years but was vacationing in Sardinia.

Schwarzenegger, a bodybuilder before he turned to acting, posted a warm farewell on Twitter about the man he called “my best friend.” He often referred to Columbu as the strongest man he ever knew.

The two men built an enduring friendship after meeting in Germany 54 years ago.

“I love you Franco. I will always remember the joy you brought to my life, the advices you gave me, and the twinkle in your eye that never disappeared,” the move star and former California governor wrote.

After starting his career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and later bodybuilding, winning the prestigious title of Mr. Olympia in 1976 and 1981.

Besides his athletic career, Columbu acted for TV shows series and in movies. He appeared in three of Schwarzenegger’s films: The Terminator, The Running Man and Conan the Barbarian.

Sylvester Stallone also remembered Columbu in a tweet.

“The greatest and strongest bodybuilder I have ever met has passed… He taught me many things that I have applied throughout my life – We will NEVER HAVE A MAN LIKE THIS AGAIN,” the actor tweeted

Schwarzenegger, who chose his longtime friend to be his best man when he married Maria Shriver in 1986, also paid tribute to Columbu Saturday on the website Medium and photos of them taken together.

“From the minute we met in Munich, you were my partner in crime. We pushed each other, we competed with each other, and we laughed at every moment along the way,” the actor wrote.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says ‘deeply concerned’ about situation in Kashmir

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

US senator and Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders told a gathering that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Kashmir and asked the US government to “speak out boldly” in support of a United Nations-backed peaceful resolution to resolve the issue.

Addressing the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America in Houston on Saturday, the 77-year-old leader also sought an immediate end to communications blockade in Kashmir.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.

Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik last week said internet and phone services have been shut because these are more useful to terrorists and Pakistan for mobilisation of people and indoctrination of youths.

“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Kashmir,” Sanders said while addressing one of the largest Muslim gatherings in the country.

“India’s action is unacceptable,” he said.

He said the US government “must speak out boldly in support of international humanitarian law and in support of a UN-backed peaceful resolution that respects the will of the Kashmiri people.”

His remarks came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday categorically rejected any scope for third party mediation on Kashmir, saying it was a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan — a position that was immediately backed by US President Donald Trump who had recently offered to mediate.

In an apparent backtracking from his earlier comments, Trump, while speaking to the media alongside Modi on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in France, said he feels that both India and Pakistan can resolve the Kashmir issue on their own.

Organisers said they invited all presidential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, but only Julian Castro and Sanders came.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

LPG prices raised by Rs 15.5, jet fuel reduced by 1%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Market-priced or non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was raised by Rs 15.5 per cylinder, oil firms said in a price notification.

Jet fuel price on Sunday was cut by about 1 percent to a four-month low on softening international oil prices, according to state-owned fuel retailers.

Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) price in Delhi was cut by Rs 596.62 per kilolitre or 0.9 percent, to Rs 62,698.86 per kilo litre. This is the third straight monthly price reduction.

Jet fuel prices were last cut by 5.8 percent or Rs 3,806.44 per kl on August 1.

State-owned fuel marketing companies revise ATF prices on the 1st of every month based on average of benchmark international oil price in the previous month.

In Mumbai, home to the country’s busiest airport, ATF price was cut to Rs 62,712.17 per kl from Rs 61,199.79 per kl.

Reduction in ATF rates will bring relief to cash strapped airlines.

Simultaneously, oil firms also revised the price of cooking gas or LPG.

Price of non-subsidised LPG, which consumers buy after exhausting their annual quota of 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg at subsidised rates, was hiked to Rs 590 from Rs 574.5.

The monthly 25 paise per litre increase in kerosene price continued for the 26th month in a row.

While Delhi has been declared a kerosene-free city after LPG penetration reached 100 per cent of the population, the subsidised fuel in Mumbai now costs Rs 33.27 per litre as compared to Rs 32.97 a litre last month.

Rates have been increased by 25 paise per litre every month since July 2016 with a view to eliminating subsidy on the cooking fuel.

Price of subsidised kerosene, sold through the public distribution system on ration cards, has more than doubled since the 25 paise hikes were introduced. The fuel was priced at Rs 15.02 per litre in Mumbai before the hike was introduced.

Non-subsidised or market-priced kerosene rate was cut to Rs 66,587.40 per kl (Rs 66.58 per litre) in Mumbai from Rs 66,693.60 per kl (Rs 66.69 per litre) in June.

At the current rate, it would take another two years to eliminate the entire subsidy on kerosene.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

National Health Forum requests Centre to ban e-cigarettes

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

NGO National Health Forum has requested the Centre to support Union health ministry’s decision to end manufacture, distribution, import and sale of e-cigarettes and ensure that such products are banned.

The NGO said that the Health Ministry’s decision against e-cigarettes and similar such products is “correct and laudable”.

“…All other ministries must support this move of ministry of health and ensure that such products are banned and are not included as legal products under the COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) or the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,” Mandakini Sinh (Managing Trustee) of National Health Forum said in a letter dated August 27 to the health minister Harsh Vardhan.

In the letter, she said that the ministry of health along with WHO (World Health Organisation) and domestic NGOs for the past many decades have worked “zealously” to ensure that cigarettes and other tobacco products are manufactured in reasonable and limited quantities and to that effect it is a licensed product with licensed capacities.

Also read: JUUL is the Apple of e-cigarettes, but can the American giant succeed in India?

“Any easing of these norms will lead to a deluge of these tobacco products which are pernicious to health.”

After a lot of thought, the health ministry in consultation with various NGOs had issued an advisory for states to ban e-cigarettes, e-vaps and e-hookah, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and similar such products, said Sinh, adding thereafter, about a dozen States have banned these products including Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

“There is a concerned attempt by importers of E-cigarettes to ensure that the Ministry of Health’s good work done providing a platform for prohibition of imports of these products is frustrated. To this end, it has been brought to our attention that various representations and legal challenges have been mounted by them.”

Noting that about 30 countries in the world, including various states of the US, have banned the production, import and sale of e-cigarettes, she said regulatory pressure on these products in their home markets is now compelling them to target developing economies like India.

In fact, Sinh said, international cigarette companies are involved in the manufacture of these products.

Mentioning that claims made by the manufacturers of E-cigarettes that they are “reduced harm alternatives” are not proven by any independent scientific studies, she said what the international conventional tobacco products manufacturers are doing is to use e-cigarettes as a gateway product in luring the youth.

“The idea is to introduce the young teenage user to E-cigarettes and then graduate them to the more conventional tobacco products. Infact, from studies conducted by the WHO and several independent scientific bodies it is clear that e-cigarettes can have adverse health effects like pulmonary and cardio- vascular diseases,” Sinh said.

By falsely spreading the idea that E-cigarettes are safe or reduced harm alternatives, she said a situation is being created in the minds of gullible youth of our Country to swing them from being non-smokers to smokers.

“It is in this context that I have observed a barrage of representations being made to the government, courts and in both, the print and electronic media as well as in social media,” she added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

NRC: People now want government action on the ‘excluded’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

A day after publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), people in Assam came out on Sunday with differing opinions regarding the historical document, which the state has realised 34 years after the signing of the Assam Accord.

While some people wanted the government at the state and the Centre to complete the process for identification of the illegal foreigners as soon as possible and arrange for their deportation, others called for humane consideration of the cases of excluded persons.

Although the final NRC published on August 31 excluded a total of 1,906,657 people from the document, yet these people would neither be detained nor termed as foreigners. The excluded people have been given 120 days time to approach the Foreigners’ Tribunals, and subsequently the higher courts, to establish their Indian citizenship.

The final NRC has included a total of 31,121,004 persons, who have been found eligible on the basis of their documents.

“We are not happy over the figure of illegal foreigners in Assam. There are more who have made it to the NRC. However, now since we have the statistics through a legal process, the government must soon end the formalities to confirm their identity and take steps to deport them,” said Rajen Baruah, a senior citizen.

“The government is trying to do politics over the NRC. However, the NRC is above party politics. We have got the NRC after a long and tiring process. It is not 100 percent correct, yet we have come closer to a number. It is not good to complain about such a process,” said noted intellectual Hiren Gohain.

Gohain also appealed everyone to consider the cases of excluded people with humanity.

“There is no question of granting citizenship to these people who have failed to prove their citizenship but we have sympathy for them. The government must consider their case with sympathy and humanity and must find out a solution for them,” he said.

Educationist Udayaditya Bharali also welcomed the NRC and said that there may have been some problems as it was a massive exercise.

“This NRC has at least given a clear stand to the people of Assam on illegal foreigners,” Bharali said, while appealing to everyone to abstain from activities that might threaten the peace of the state.

Senior journalist Haidar Hussain said that after the NRC, the people of Assam at least have a number regarding illegal foreigners.

“All these days there have been claims that there are 30 lakh Bangladeshis in Assam, 50 lakh Bangladeshi in Assam, etcetera. Now this NRC has given us a figure,” he said, adding that people should be vigilant against forces that might try to spread tension in society.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Arif Mohammad Khan appointed governor of Kerala, Kalraj Mishra gets Rajasthan in reshuffle

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

President Ram Nath Kovind has announced new governors for five states in the country in a reshuffle.

Kalraj Mishra has been transferred from Himachal Pradesh to Rajasthan, where he replaces Kalyan Singh as the new governor. Meanwhile, Mishra’s post in Himachal Pradesh will be filled by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) veteran Bandaru Dattatreya.

Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been appointed the new governor of Maharashtra, taking over from Vidyasagar Rao.

Arif Mohammad Khan, whose long political innings has seen him move from the Indian National Congress to Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP) via the Janata Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party, will replace P Sathasivam as the new governor of Kerala.

Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, the BJP Tamil Nadu president, will serve as the new Telangana governor, replacing ESL Narasimhan.

The appointments take effect from the dates the new governors take charge of their respective offices.

With agency inputs

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Manmohan Singh: State of the economy deeply worrying, all round mismanagement led to slowdown

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the state of the Indian economy is “deeply worrying” and it is yet to recover from “man-made blunders” of demonetisation and a hastily-implemented goods and services tax (GST) regime.

India’s GDP grew at a slower-than-expected 5 percent in the latest three-month period compared with 5.8 percent in the previous quarter, government data showed last week.

“The state of the economy today is deeply worrying. The last quarter’s GDP growth rate of 5 percent signals that we are in the midst of a prolonged slowdown. India has the potential to grow at a much faster rate but all-round mismanagement by the [Narendra] Modi government has resulted in this slow down,” Singh’s statement said.

Singh has previously seriously criticized the demonetization move of the Modi government, calling it a “black day for economy and democracy” as well as “organised loot and legalised plunder.”

“Domestic demand is depressed and consumption growth is at an 18-month low. Nominal GDP growth is at a 15-year low. There is a gaping hole in tax revenues. Tax buoyancy remains elusive as businessmen, small and big, are hounded and tax terrorism continues unabated. Investor sentiments are in doldrums. These are not the foundations for economic recovery,” Singh’s statement added.

The impact of the prolonged slowdown is starting to show in the manufacturing sector with widespread job losses in the automobile sector, one of the worst impacted industries in the current downturn.

Singh said that the slowdown will further affect jobs in the informal sector and the most vulnerable workers.

“The Modi government’s policies are resulting in massive job-less growth. More than 3.5 lakh jobs have been lost in the automobile sector alone. There will similarly be large scale job losses in the informal sector, hurting our most vulnerable workers.”

Singh, who served as finance minister from 1991 to 1996 and was the 15^th governor of the Reserve Bank of India for three years in the mid-1980s, said that institutions are being eroded under the current dispensation, adding that RBI’s resilience will be tested as it transferred Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the government.

“Institutions are under attack and their autonomy is being eroded. The resilience of the RBI will be tested after its record transfer of Rs. 1.76 lakh crores to the government, which claims that it does not have a plan on what it will do with this windfall.”

Singh urged the government to arrest the current slide.

“Our youth, farmers and farm workers, entrepreneurs and the marginalised sections deserve better. India cannot afford to continue down this path. Therefore, I urge the government to put aside vendetta politics, and reach out to all sane voices and thinking minds, to steer our economy out of this man-made crisis,” he concluded.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Eight of top-10 firms add Rs 77,222 crore in market cap; HDFC twins lead

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Eight of the 10 most valued domestic companies together added Rs 77,222.53 crore in market valuation last week, propelled by sharp gains in HDFC twins and ITC. While Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, HUL, HDFC, Infosys, ITC, ICICI Bank, SBI were on the gainer’s side, RIL and Kotak Mahindra Bank suffered losses in their market capitalisation (m-cap) for the week ended Friday.

HDFC’s m-cap zoomed Rs 21,657.69 crore to Rs 3,73,860.41 crore, while that of HDFC Bank jumped Rs 17,950.48 crore to Rs 6,09,441.46 crore.

The valuation of ITC climbed Rs 11,917.17 crore to Rs 3,01,657.76 crore.

ICICI Bank added Rs 9,490.11 crore to its m-cap to reach Rs 2,64,975.02 crore, while Infosys’ valuation advanced Rs 5,454.71 crore to Rs 3,49,874.16 crore.

The market cap of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) rose Rs 4,491.96 crore to Rs 4,07,004.24 crore and that of TCS went up by Rs 3,940.01 crore to Rs 8,47,307.23 crore.

SBI’s valuation spurted Rs 2,320.4 crore to Rs 2,44,266.62 crore.

In contrast, the m-cap of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) tumbled Rs 17,491.6 crore to Rs 7,91,344.45 crore and that of Kotak Mahindra Bank tanked Rs 7,791.07 crore to Rs 2,73,394.07 crore.

In the ranking of top-10 firms, TCS held on to its numero uno position, followed by RIL, HDFC Bank, HUL, HDFC, Infosys, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI.

Over the last week, the Sensex advanced 631.63 points or 1.72 percent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow