Category: Business

Bankim Brahmbhatt, the Indian-origin CEO of a US-based telecom company, is facing a lawsuit in the US filed by HPS, the private credit investment arm of BlackRock.

It was just two years ago that Bankim Brahmbhatt, the Indian-origin CEO of a US-based telecom company, shot into the limelight after featuring in Capacity’s Power 100 List, which recognises the top 100 leaders in the telecoms industry. The Gujarat-born Brahmbhatt now finds himself embroiled in a massive financial scandal worth a whopping $500 million (Rs 4,200 crore) involving American multinational investment company BlackRock.

Brahmbhatt, who seems to have pulled off a Houdini, is now facing a lawsuit in the US filed by HPS, the private credit investment arm of BlackRock. Brahmbhatt is the owner of the little-known companies Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice. These belong to the Bankai Group, which previously identified him on X as its president and CEO.

THE MAKING OF A $500 MILLION FRAUD
Terming it a “breathtaking” fraud, the lenders, including HPS, alleged that Brahmbhatt fabricated invoices and accounts receivable that were pledged as collateral to secure massive loans, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, Brahmbhatt set up a web of financing vehicles — Carriox Capital and BB Capital SPV — to raise millions of dollars from private-credit investors.

HPS, a private-credit giant recently acquired by BlackRock, started lending to Brahmbhatt’s firms in 2020. It gradually raised its exposure to $385 million in 2021, and later to around $430 million in 2024. BNP Paribas, a European banking and financial services giant, helped finance the loans issued by HPS.

However, HPS had no inkling of the alleged massive fraud that was happening until July 2025. During a routine check, an HPS employee stumbled upon irregularities in customer email addresses provided by Brahmbhatt-owned companies to verify invoices.

HPS found that the email addresses were from fake domains mimicking real telecom companies. On being questioned, Brahmbhatt assured HPS that there was nothing to worry about. He later went incommunicado. A month later, on August 12, Brahmbhatt filed for bankruptcy – the same month HPS sued him.

In its lawsuit, HPS also alleged that assets meant as loan collateral were transferred to offshore accounts in India and Mauritius by Brahmbhatt.

WHO IS BANKIM BRAHMBHATT?
Very little is known about Brahmbhatt. His LinkedIn profile also appears to have been deleted.

Bankai Group, which claimed Brahmbhatt to be its CEO, claims to have around three decades of experience in the telecommunications industry. It sells services and infrastructure to other telecom companies.

Brahmbhatt featured in Capacity’s Power 100 List of 2023 for his work in the industry.

A report claimed that Brahmbhatt attended St Xavier’s School in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Nothing else is known about his educational background.

In several of his past interviews, Brahmbhatt said his career kicked off in 1989, when he set up a push-button telephone manufacturing unit in India. He then diversified into other ventures, like satellite dishes and media receivers.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/who-is-bankim-brahmbhatt-indian-origin-ceo-blackrock-loan-fraud-united-states-2811790-2025-11-01

The CBI has accused industrialist Anil Ambani of approving favours to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s family, causing huge financial losses to the bank. This development highlights alleged corruption and risky investments linked to Ambani’s companies.

In a major development in the Yes Bank corruption case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has accused industrialist Anil Ambani of approving favours extended to the family of the bank’s founder Rana Kapoor, allegedly in violation of established credit policy. The agency, in its detailed chargesheet filed before a special CBI court in Mumbai, claims that Yes Bank suffered losses of Rs 2,796.77 crore due to risky investments in Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) and Commercial Papers (CPs) of Ambani’s companies.

According to investigators, Kapoor was aware that these investments carried no viable secondary market and would damage the bank’s long-term interests, but went ahead with them after Ambani’s approval.

TWIN FIRs AND A Rs 5,000-CRORE INVESTMENT GONE BAD
Two FIRs were registered following complaints from the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of Yes Bank in November 2020. They accused Kapoor, Ambani, and several senior executives of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and corruption.

Between 2017 and 2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) and Rs 2,045 crore in Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), both part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG). By late 2019, both turned into non-performing investments, leaving the bank with unpaid dues of over Rs 3,300 crore.

LOANS TO KAPOOR’S FAMILY FIRMS
The CBI alleges a quid pro quo arrangement between the two sides. Around the same period, RHFL and RCFL disbursed multiple loans to companies owned by Kapoor’s wife Bindu Kapoor and their daughters.

Rs 60 crore each was sanctioned to RAB Enterprises (India) Pvt Ltd and Bliss House Pvt Ltd, both owned by Bindu Kapoor.

Rs 225 crore each went to RAB Enterprises and Imagine Estate Pvt Ltd, also controlled by her.

The loans, given at 9.25% annual interest, were allegedly cleared without field verification or due diligence.

PRIVATE MEETINGS, MUTUAL BENEFITS
The chargesheet paints a picture of close coordination between Kapoor and Ambani. CBI claims that Kapoor frequently held private business meetings with Ambani, often without any Yes Bank officials present. After these meetings, Kapoor would allegedly instruct his officers to approve proposals for ADAG companies as “agreed upon.”

In turn, Ambani allegedly directed his own key executives to relax loan conditions for companies owned by the Kapoor family.

RELIANCE NIPPON ANGLE AND ALLEGED SHELL FIRMS
The CBI has also flagged Ambani’s alleged misuse of Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund, saying he held unauthorised weekly meetings with its top executives, including then CEO Sundeep Sikka and Head of Fixed Income Amit Tripathi, to influence investment decisions. Ambani’s elder son Jai Anmol Ambani was reportedly present in some of these meetings, during which emails were exchanged to keep Japanese partners “out of the loop.”

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/cbi-links-anil-ambani-rana-kapoor-in-rs-2796-crore-yes-bank-loss-case-2811693-2025-11-01

Bankim Brahmbhatt, owner of Broadband Telecom & Bridgevoice, is accused of siphoning off up to $500 million that he received as loan collateral.

An India-origin CEO of a little-known telecom-services company in the US has emerged at the centre of what has been described as a “breathtaking” fraud in an opaque corner of the US debt markets.

A unit of Blackrock Inc. and other lenders are trying to recover hundreds of millions of dollars that they gave to Bankim Brahmbhatt, owner of Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice, as loan collateral, according to WSJ. The lenders—who filed the lawsuit in August—said that Brahmbhatt’s companies owe them more than $500 million.

Brahmbhatt disputes the allegations of fraud, his lawyer said.

BNP Paribas helped BlackRock’s HPS Investment Partners finance Brahmbhatt loans, people familiar with the matter said. A spokesman for the French bank declined to comment.

The dispute centres on a kind of debt deal known as asset-based finance, in which the borrower posts as collateral a stream of revenue generated by specified businesses, equipment or customer receivables.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/indiaorigin-ceo-emerges-at-centre-of-500-million-breathtaking-fraud-in-us-101761907727169.html

She wanted to be Mrs. Schmidt.

Michelle Ritter had become used to driving around in tech billionaire Eric Schmidt’s Tesla, living in his Bel Air Mansion and conducting business meetings in a bikini – all while paying herself $1 million a year.

But it wasn’t enough for the 31-year-old mistress. After five years of being with Silicon Valley’s most eligible married bachelor and 70-year-old ex-Google CEO, she wanted him to leave his wife for her.

Instead, he terminated their $100M business relationship, triggering a lawsuit which has brought his eye-opening, unconventional, dating life under scrutiny.

The ex-Google CEO, worth $32 billion, has long been known as a Silicon Valley player, syncing up with accomplished and high-profile women.

“I know him really well – he needs a lot. He’s very open about it. He needs an open relationship,” a source close to the tech titan told The Post.

Although Schmidt has an open marriage, sources told The Post Ritter’s mistake was he’d never officially leave Wendy, his wife of 45 years.

“It’s financial. He doesn’t want to split up his money,” one insider claimed, adding: “They have a family and they have a foundation. I don’t think he wants to walk away from that.”

It is unknown if Schmidt and Wendy — who lives her own life, largely on Nantucket, devoted to philanthropy and making the island sustainable — have a prenup.

Sources claimed Schmidt also operates a hierarchy between his wife and girlfriends, which Ritter appears to have attempted to overstep.

Sources say Schmidt chooses who to take, wife or girlfriend, depending on how important the event is.

“I just saw him and Wendy at the Milken Institute in LA. They just came down from meeting with the prince of Saudi Arabia.

“At these high-level events or state visits he takes Wendy.

“To [NYC member’s club] Zero Bond, or an Oscar watching party, he’ll take his girlfriend at the time,” the source told The Post.

“In the industry, [Ritter’s] known as the tech wife. Wendy is known as the philanthropy wife.

“[Ritter] was doing all the work, but she didn’t get the recognition. She’s like, ‘Put a ring on it. People know me as your tech wife. I want to be your wife for real.’ ”

Before meeting Ritter,Schmidt had been linked to fashion designer Shoshanna Gruss, socialite Ulla Parker and Kate Bohner, a former CNBC correspondent, among others — though the splits haven’t always ended smoothly.

In a somewhat hypocritical move, Schmidt famously dumped investor and financial advisor Parker in 2019 after about a year because he got tired of her simultaneously dating hedge funder Alex Roepers, The Post previously reported.

But it didn’t stop Schmidt — four months later he was spotted at a party in Sardinia, Italy, making out with former Olympic skater Alexandra Duisberg.

The pair were rumored to be engaged in July 2019, according to Page Six , when Duisberg was seen wearing a pink, 10 carat sapphire ring. However, the relationship fizzled out.

Schmidt’s dating life has been tabloid fodder ever since Gawker published a photo in 2010 of him posing with Bohner at Burning Man — wearing a pink polo shirt and white ankle socks.

His relationship with Ritter, however, went far beyond the PDAs of his past.

He is said to have poured $100 million into their failingAI startup, Steel Perlot, which has become front and center of their split.

“[Eric] was attracted to her intensity and thought she was going to be the next world class entrepreneur,” an insider told The Post.

Schmidt had first met Ritter in 2020 when she was a student at Columbia, according to tech site The Information. She is eight years younger than his daughter, Sophie, whom he shares with Wendy (the couple also had another daughter, Alison, who suddenly passed away from what their foundation described only as “a long illness” in 2017).

Schmidt’s first public outing with Ritter was in 2021, appearing at a Richard Branson space craft launch in New Mexico, which immediately set tongues wagging.

A few months later the pair launched Steel Perlot, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, which Schmidt described as “an AI and analytics company of companies,” that would invest in businesses in virtual reality, AI, space and other industries.

They launched the talent incubator at Zero Bond in Noho. Steel Perlot went on to invest millions in startups such as AI company Pyryon, payments platform Keeta and crypto trading company Tristero.

Publicly, Ritter appeared at the center of Schmidt’s circle of power players, which includes OpenAI’s Sam Altman and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They were also a fixture on the Hamptons social circuit, appearing at Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s exclusive bash.

However, Steel Perlot workers say the fading tech master and inexperienced businesswoman weren’t a great combo.

“She [Ritter] has a very hot-headed temper. She was extremely behaviorally inconsistent. You never really knew which version of her you were going to get,” a former employee told The Post.

“Other times, it was this bombastic, crazy, hyper-aggressive personality.”

Schmidt, founder of the biz, was nowhere to be found, sources say, due to his hands-off approach of letting Ritter run Steel Perlot.

“She put a bunch of crypto 23-year-olds in charge. She would hold meetings in a bikini in Miami with employees.

“Suddenly she’s making a million dollars a year and has no expenses – she thought it was always going to be a blank check.

“She allowed these inexperienced people to hire other people. On top of that there was [some people] drinking at 11 in the morning,” the former employee claimed, equating the vibe to that of the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

The party atmosphere came to an abrupt end once Ritter and Schmitt broke up.

Ritter filed for a temporary restraining order against the 70-year-old tech pioneer late last year, according to bombshell court documents obtained by The Post. The restraining order was withdrawn shortly after.

There’s also a lawsuit, in which Ritter accused Schmidt of stalking, abuse and “toxic masculinity” — claiming the tech titan subjected her to an “absolute digital surveillance system” while together.

Schmidt’s lawyer didn’t provide a comment for this story. Other sources claim he’s nothing like that.

“He’s a nice hippie dad – he says yes to everything. He says ‘Yes’ to all these women. But he’s totally harmless,” said one.

He and Ritter have also sparred over cash and access to the Bel Air mansion where Ritter was living, The Post reported last week.

Ritter’s lawyer, Skip Miller, laughs off claims about the work culture of Steel Perlot, saying Schmidt’s associates are now running a scheme to tarnish her reputation.

“It’s a pack of lies, to vilify our client. Throwing mud against the wall and hoping some sticks isn’t going to win this case for them,” Miller told The Post.

He also points out how Schmidt was a big part of the company.

“It’s ironic. Eric Schmidt funded and controlled everything in the business. He’s the powerful brilliant billionaire. He called the shots. He’s trying to blame Michelle.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/10/30/business/eric-schmidts-scorned-girlfriends-lawsuit-brings-playboy-lifestyle-into-focus/

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s flight to Bhutan made an emergency landing in Siliguri due to severe bad weather. She will stay overnight in Siliguri and continue her journey on Friday once conditions improve.

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman’s flight to Bhutan made an emergency landing on Thursday afternoon due to severe bad weather.

The aircraft, carrying the Union Minister and her delegation, was forced to land at Bagdogra Airport in Siliguri for safety reasons after encountering heavy rainfall and low atmospheric pressure.

As per Sitharaman’s official itinerary, she was scheduled to arrive in Bhutan today. However, due to the adverse weather conditions, she will spend the night in Siliguri. Administrative sources confirmed that the Finance Minister will resume her journey to Bhutan on Friday morning, depending on the improvement in weather conditions.

Sitharaman is leading the Indian delegation from the Department of Economic Affairs on an official visit to Bhutan from October 30 to November 2, 2025.

According to an official release, the Union Finance Minister will begin her official tour with a visit to the historic Sangchen Choekhor Monastery, established in 1765 and home to over 100 monks engaged in advanced Buddhist studies.

As part of the visit, Sitharaman will observe several key projects being implemented with the support of the Government of India. These include the Kurichhu Hydropower Plant Dam and Powerhouse, the Gyalsung Academy, the Sangchen Choekhor Monastery, and the Punakha Dzong.

During her stay, Sitharaman is scheduled to call on the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, and Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay. She will also hold a bilateral meeting with Bhutan’s Finance Minister, Lekey Dorji, to discuss avenues for further strengthening India-Bhutan economic and financial cooperation.

Microsoft said on Wednesday they are investigating an issue in which Microsoft 365 Cloud and Office.com were reported to be inaccessible.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/microsoft-investigating-access-issues-m365-cloud-and-officecom-5434221

Singapore and Vietnam on Thursday (Oct 30) signed an agreement that will see Vietnam support the unimpeded export of a mutually agreed quantity of rice to Singapore on agreed terms when requested by the government.

The memorandum of cooperation on rice trade was signed on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Week.

In a joint press release, the relevant ministries from the two countries said the memorandum of cooperation lays a “solid foundation” for promoting stable and sustainable rice trade.

This will help to strengthen bilateral food security by avoiding unnecessary trade restrictions.

The agreement was signed by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Ms Grace Fu, and Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien.

“This is Singapore’s first memorandum of cooperation on rice trade signed with a trading partner, and we are happy to do so with Vietnam, which is one of Singapore’s largest source countries for rice,” said Ms Fu.

Singapore imports rice from about 30 countries.

She noted that Singapore imports the vast majority of its food and is not spared from global food supply disruptions.

“Securing global and regional partnerships is essential for ensuring a stable supply of rice for Singapore,” she said.

Mr Dien said the agreement strengthens the connectivity between Singapore and Vietnam, and sets the stage for stable collaboration amid “unpredictable developments of the global market”.

He said enhancing rice trade cooperation is a tangible demonstration of joint efforts to ensure supply chain resilience and food security within ASEAN.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-vietnam-rice-cooperation-trade-5432466

Microsoft also said that it has secured a deal with OpenAI where the ChatGPT maker will purchase $250 billion of Azure cloud computing services.

Microsoft and OpenAI on Tuesday said they had reached a deal to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation, valuing OpenAI at $500 billion and clearing the way for it to become a publicly traded company. Microsoft would hold a stake of about $135 billion – or 27 per cent – in OpenAI Group PBC, which will be controlled by the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit. The deal removes a major constraint on raising capital for OpenAI, which was founded as a nonprofit AI safety group and which signed a deal in 2019 with Microsoft that gave the Redmond, Washington-based firm rights over much of OpenAI’s work in exchange for providing the costly cloud computing services neede2d to carry it out.

Microsoft shares jumped 4 per cent on the deal, which could clear the way for OpenAI to become publicly traded in the future.

The deal keeps the two firms intertwined until at least 2032 with a massive cloud computing contract and with Microsoft retaining some rights to OpenAI products and AI models until then even if OpenAI reaches artificial general intelligence (AGI), the point at which AI systems can match a well-educated human adult. Microsoft’s previous 2019 agreement had many provisions that rested on when OpenAI reached that point, and the new deal requires an independent panel to verify OpenAI’s claims it has reached AGI.

“OpenAI has completed its recapitalisation, simplifying its corporate structure,” Bret Taylor, the OpenAI Foundation’s board chair, said in a blog post. “The nonprofit remains in control of the for-profit, and now has a direct path to major resources before AGI arrives.”

Microsoft has invested $13.8 billion in OpenAI, with the deal on Tuesday implying that Microsoft had generated a return of nearly ten times its investment.

Gil Luria, head of technology research at DA Davidson, said the deal “resolves the longstanding issue of OpenAI being organized as a not-for-profit (organization) and settles the ownership rights of the technology vis-à-vis Microsoft. The new structure should provide more clarity on OpenAI’s investment path, thus facilitating further fundraising.”

Microsoft also said that it has secured a deal with OpenAI where the ChatGPT maker will purchase $250 billion of Azure cloud computing services. In exchange, Microsoft will no longer have a right of first refusal to provide computing services to OpenAI.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/business/companies/microsoft-openai-reach-new-deal-valuing-openai-at-500-billion-3778072

Amazon will lay off up to 30,000 corporate employees starting Tuesday, its biggest round of cuts since 2022, as the tech giant trims costs and corrects pandemic-era overhiring across divisions.

Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning on Tuesday, as the company pares expenses and compensates for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10 per cent of its roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would mark Amazon’s largest job cut since late 2022, when it started to eliminate around 27,000 positions.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Ferrari (RACE.MI), is tapping into crypto markets and tech-rich youngsters with a planned new digital token that its wealthiest fans will be able to use in an auction for a Ferrari 499P, the endurance car that won three straight Le Mans titles.
The plan for now is limited in scope and is an effort by the Italian sports car maker to tap into a trend among luxury brands seeking access to the growing wealth of younger tech entrepreneurs, as AI and data centres drive investment and markets around the world.

It comes after Ferrari, which is also developing its first electric car, began accepting Bitcoin, ethereum and USDC for car purchases in the United States in 2023 and extended the service to Europe last year.
Ferrari is working with Italian fintech Conio to launch the ‘Token Ferrari 499P’ for members of its Hyperclub — which groups 100 of its most exclusive clients, with a passion for endurance races – to trade amongst themselves and bid on the racing model.
It is set to debut with the start of the 2027 World Endurance Championship season.
“This is about strengthening the sense of belonging among our most loyal customers,” Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera told Reuters.

With prominent backers including U.S. President Donald Trump, crypto prices have surged, but regulators warn loose oversight and speculative trading creates risks for investors and financial stability. Bitcoin is up 60% in the last year.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ferrari-aims-ai-generation-with-crypto-auction-le-mans-car-2025-10-25/

U.S. President Donald Trump will test his deal-making capabilities on a trip to Asia, a region battered by his hardball trade policies, while doubts hang over his highly anticipated meeting with China’s Xi Jinping.
Trump, who left Washington on Friday night, is set for a five-day trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first to the region and longest journey abroad since taking office in January.

The Republican leader hopes to pile up trade, critical mineral and ceasefire deals before turning to the toughest challenge, a face-to-face with Xi on Thursday in South Korea.
Trump is also working to maintain the signature foreign policy achievement of his second term, a fragile ceasefire he helped to strike in the Israel-Gaza conflict, while the Russian war in Ukraine rages and a trade war with China shows little sign of ending.

US AND CHINA TRADE THREATS ON KEY MINERALS, TECHNOLOGY

Washington and Beijing have hiked tariffs on each other’s exports and threatened to cut off trade in critical minerals and technologies altogether.
The trip was formally announced by the White House on Thursday. Details remain in flux, including the meeting between leaders of the world’s two largest economies.

Neither side expects a breakthrough that would restore terms of trade that existed before Trump’s second-term inauguration in January, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Instead, talks between the two sides to prepare for the meeting focused on managing disagreements and modest improvements.
An interim agreement could include limited relief on tariffs, an extension of current rates, or China committing to buy U.S.-made soybeans and Boeing (BA.N), airplanes. Beijing reneged on similar promises in a 2020 deal with Trump.
Washington could let more high-end computer chips flow to Beijing, which in turn could loosen controls on rare earth magnets that have angered Trump.
Or, nothing could come of the talks at all.
On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump-Xi talk would be a “pull-aside,” suggesting nothing formal. Trump later told reporters the two would have “a pretty long meeting,” allowing them to “work out a lot of our questions and our doubts and our tremendous assets together.”

The United States hit Russia’s major oil companies with sanctions on Wednesday and accused the Russians of a lack of commitment toward ending the war in Ukraine, as Moscow conducted a major training exercise involving nuclear arms.

The new sanctions were unveiled one day after plans for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin fell apart. Trump told reporters he cancelled the meeting because “it didn’t feel right to me.”

The U.S. Treasury Department said Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, were targeted in a bid to damage Moscow’s ability to fund its war machine.

The move marked a sharp turnaround for the White House, which has veered between pressuring Moscow and taking a more conciliatory approach aimed at securing peace in Ukraine. Only last week Trump appeared ready to hold off on new actions targeting Moscow.

“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Oil prices extended gains after Bessent’s comments, rising by more than $2 a barrel.

For months, Trump has resisted pressure from U.S. lawmakers to impose energy sanctions, hoping that Putin would agree to end the fighting. But with no end in sight, he said he felt it was time.

Trump said he was still not ready to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, which Kyiv has requested. Talking to reporters as he met NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said it would take the Ukrainians at least six months to learn how to use them.

Ahead of a meeting next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump said he would like to see Xi use his influence on Putin to halt the fighting. Xi and Putin have formed a strategic alliance between their countries.

In a fresh show of force, the Kremlin released video showing General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, reporting to Putin on the drills. Russia said it fired missiles from ground launchers, submarines and aircraft, including intercontinental ballistic weapons capable of striking the United States.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its long-range Tu-22M3 strategic bombers flew over the Baltic Sea, escorted at various points by fighter jets from foreign – presumably NATO – states.

At key moments in the war in Ukraine, Putin has issued reminders of Russia’s nuclear might as a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies. NATO has also been conducting nuclear deterrence exercises this month.

EU countries also approved a 19th package of sanctions against Russia for its war against Ukraine, which includes a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports, the Danish rotating presidency of the EU said on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal said the United States lifted a restriction on Ukraine’s use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies, which would allow Ukraine to increase attacks on targets inside Russia. In a social media post, Trump denied the report.

On Wednesday, Sweden said it had signed a letter of intent to export Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, as European governments act to boost Kyiv’s defences in a war that has ground on for three years and eight months since Russia’s full-scale invasion, and shows no sign of ending soon.

Ukrainian pilots have been in Sweden to test the Gripen, a rugged and relatively low-cost option compared to aircraft such as the U.S. F-35.

Kyiv aimed to receive and start using Gripens next year and expected to acquire at least 100, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a visit to Swedish defence manufacturer Saab (SAABb.ST)

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-ukraine-launch-overnight-missile-strikes-after-trump-putin-summit-delay-2025-10-22

There are ways to mitigate some of the risks of relying so much on cloud computing, says this University of Melbourne researcher.

The world’s largest cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), experienced a major outage that has impacted thousands of organisations, including banks, financial software platforms such as Xero, and social media platforms such as Snapchat.

The outage occurred on Monday (Oct 20). It was caused by a malfunction at one of AWS’ data centres located in Northern Virginia in the United States. Later in the day, AWS said it had fixed the underlying issue but some internet users were still reporting service disruptions at the time of writing.

This incident highlights the vulnerabilities of relying so much on cloud computing – or “the cloud” as it’s often called. But there are ways to mitigate some of the risks.

RENTING IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of diverse IT resources such as computing power, database storage, and applications over the internet. In simple terms, it’s renting (not owning) your own IT infrastructure.

During Diwali week, the Prime Minister was a de-light-ful winner of the national Fancy Dress Contest cosplaying as a brave soldier. You might have seen the reels by now and the blanket coverage. You might have also spotted a mugshot of the same gent looking straight into the camera for all the self-congratulatory colourful communication created for the ‘GST Bachat Utsav’. Yes, it has been exactly a month since the Union government revised the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates. Happy Diwali to all of you. And since this column is called “Calling Attention”, allow me to call your attention to the much hyped ‘GST Bachat Utsav’ that ends this week.

Amidst all the hoopla, it is the State governments that truly deserve recognition for coming together for the GST revision. Because the States are the ones bearing the brunt of massive revenue losses. In fact, more credit should be given to Opposition-ruled States as they not only face revenue loss but also unfavourable and partisan flow of funds under different schemes and heads.

Look At The Data
Data from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) study of private corporate investment intentions revealed that Gujarat and Maharashtra, both BJP bastions, topped the list, averaging over 79 and 45 projects respectively between 2014 and 2023. During this period, the Prime Minister’s home State accounted for 88 additional projects. Among the top 10 States, which also included four Opposition-led States, an average of 343 projects were chalked up between 2014 and 2023. However, nine out of 10 projects went to BJP-ruled States. Gujarat itself accounted for nearly one-fourth of this share.

What do these numbers tell us. Either BJP-ruled States are the best governed States or investors and businesses are ‘strongly encouraged’ to invest in these States. Considering BJP-ruled States have the highest crimes against women, highest zero food children, lowest literacy rates in the country, the first reason cited is not convincing. The latter is closer to the truth. Chief Ministers of many Opposition-ruled States have often alleged that the Union government ‘diverts investments’. Consider this. Investments worth Rs 6,000 crore for Tamil Nadu were moved to Gujarat. The Chief Minister of Telangana alleged that he had evidence to suggest that the PMO told more than one company to opt for Gujarat. The Information and Technology Minister of Karnataka has made similar allegations. Even investments going to Maharashtra, which itself is an NDA-ruled State, were diverted to Gujarat’s GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) city. Media reports suggest that 17 major projects have been shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat.

Why States Wanted Assurances

The Union government has been boosting funding and investments to States run by the BJP by announcing various financial incentives. One such example is the GIFT city. Earlier, the UPA government had envisioned developing the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) as a financial hub. In 2007, the government committee chaired by former World Bank official Percy Mistry recommended transforming Mumbai into a global financial centre. However, focus shifted to the GIFT city in Gujarat. Many concessions have been given and extended until 2030.

In this situation, it is not surprising that many States, particularly those ruled by non-BJP parties, demanded assurances on revenue loss when the revised GST policy was rolled out a month ago. That is why, critics suggest that the ‘GST Bachav Utsav’ was high on noise and low on purpose.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/why-states-not-centre-should-get-all-the-credit-for-gst-savings-9495107

The AWS outage disrupted hundreds of websites and apps, including Venmo, Robinhood Markets Inc. and Apple Inc.’s Apple Music and Apple TV.

Amazon.com announced on Monday afternoon that its cloud services had returned to normal after a widespread internet outage disrupted thousands of websites worldwide, including major platforms such as Snapchat and Reddit.

However, the company said certain AWS services were still dealing with a backlog of messages that could take a few more hours to clear.

AWS hosts applications and computer processes for companies around the world, and the disruption knocked workers from London to Tokyo offline and halted others from conducting normal everyday tasks like paying hairdressers or changing their airline tickets. Users on Monday afternoon had complained of lingering difficulties using services such as digital wallet Venmo and video calling site Zoom, news agency Reuters reported.

Since last year’s CrowdStrike malfunction, it was reportedly the largest internet disruption.

It was at least the third time in five years that AWS’s northern Virginia cluster, known as US-EAST-1, contributed to a major internet meltdown.

Domain Name System
The problems stemmed from what is known as the Domain Name System, or DNS, which prevented applications from finding the correct address for AWS’s DynamoDB API, a cloud database relied upon to store user information and other critical data.

Earlier, AWS said the root cause of the outage was an underlying subsystem that monitors the health of its network load balancers used to distribute traffic across several servers.

The issue, AWS said, originated from within the “EC2 internal network”, Amazon’s “Elastic Compute Cloud” service, which provides on-demand cloud capacity within AWS.

Shortly after 3 p.m. PT (2200 GMT), Amazon said, “all AWS services returned to normal operations. Some services such as AWS Config, Redshift, and Connect continue to have a backlog of messages that they will finish processing over the next few hours.”

The outage, caused by a database network issue, disrupted hundreds of websites and apps, including Venmo, Robinhood Markets Inc. and Apple Inc.’s Apple Music and Apple TV.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/amazon-says-aws-cloud-service-back-to-normal-after-global-outage-101761009002023.html

China isn’t just fighting back, it’s fighting smart. By borrowing America’s own trade war tactics, Beijing is turning Washington’s long-arm rules against it in a high-stakes economic showdown.

China is fighting back in its escalating trade war with the United States, and it’s doing so by deploying the very same tactics Washington has used against it for years. In expanding export rules on rare earths this month, Beijing introduced a sweeping measure requiring foreign firms to seek Chinese government approval to export magnets containing even small amounts of China-originated rare earth materials or produced using Chinese technology.
That means, for example, a South Korean smartphone maker would need Beijing’s permission to sell devices to Australia if they contain China-originated rare earths. “This rule gives China control over basically the entire global economy in the technology supply chain,” an AP report cited Jamieson Greer, a US trade representative, as saying.
For anyone familiar with US trade tactics, this move mirrors America’s foreign direct product rule, which extends the reach of US law to foreign-made products and has been used to restrict China’s access to critical technologies. It’s a clear signal that Beijing is now borrowing from Washington’s own playbook.

Learning From the Best
“China is learning from the best,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. “Beijing is copying Washington’s playbook because it saw firsthand how effectively US export controls could constrain its own economic development and political choices.”

He added pointedly: “Game recognises game.”
This strategy is the culmination of years of preparation. Since the start of the trade war in 2018 under then-US President Donald Trump, Beijing has been building a legal and policy arsenal inspired by Washington’s methods.
Beijing’s Countermeasures Take Shape
In 2020, Beijing launched its Unreliable Entity List, closely resembling the US Commerce Department’s entity list that restricts foreign firms from doing business with American companies, the report further highlighted.
A year later, it enacted the anti-foreign sanctions law, empowering agencies like the Foreign Ministry to freeze assets and deny visas to individuals and businesses — a mirror image of US sanction mechanisms.
State-run China News Service described this strategy as “hitting back with the enemy’s methods.” Chinese scholar Li Qingming noted that the law was designed after reviewing foreign legislation and international legal principles, calling it a deterrent against further escalation.
Beijing has also introduced expanded export controls and foreign investment review tools, further aligning its regulatory approach with that of Washington.
Jeremy Daum, a senior research scholar at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, said China often draws from foreign models. As it develops retaliation capabilities in trade and sanctions, the tools are often “very parallel” to those of the US. Both governments, he added, have adopted a “holistic view of national security,” widening the scope of trade restrictions.
Tools Deployed as Trade War Escalates
When Trump returned to the White House earlier this year and reignited the trade war, Beijing wasted no time deploying these tools.
In February, after Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese exports over fentanyl-related concerns, China added PVH Corp. (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) and Illumina, Inc. to its Unreliable Entity List — effectively barring them from new investments or trade with China. It also imposed export controls on key elements like tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium, essential for high-tech manufacturing.
In March, after another 10% tariff, Beijing targeted 10 more US firms and added 15 companies including defense giants General Dynamics Land Systems and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, to its export control list, citing threats to national security.
Then came April’s “Liberation Day” tariffs: a 125% retaliatory tariff, an expanded blacklist, and new export restrictions on rare earth minerals. The move disrupted shipments of critical components needed for smartphones, electric vehicles, jet planes, and missiles.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/economy/china-turns-the-tables-beijing-is-playing-americas-game-but-to-what-end-article-153028010

New Delhi’s line is clear that it will not compromise on its strategic autonomy and will not be dictated to by anyone on whom it should be doing business with, particularly when it comes to Russia—an old and key strategic partner.

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ONCE again, US President Donald Trump has made a claim that may not square with facts — but is so closely linked to the ongoing diplomatic negotiations between India and US that New Delhi has little option but to tread with caution.

Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him Wednesday that India would stop buying Russian oil. The Ministry of External Affairs Thursday denied knowledge of any such conversation and reiterated its stated position on the Russian purchase for which the US had slapped an extra 25% tariff penalty in August.

Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/business/russian-oil-and-us-trade-talks-latest-trump-claim-frames-delhis-challenge-10311545

Female jobless rate hits a 3-month high; youth unemployment climbs to 15%

Google announced on Tuesday that it will invest $15 billion in India over the next five years to establish its first artificial intelligence hub in the country.

Located in the southern city of Visakhapatnam, the hub will be one of Google’s largest globally. It will feature gigawatt-scale data center operations, extensive energy infrastructure and an expanded fiber-optic network, the company said in a statement.

The investment underscores Google’s growing reliance on India as a key technology and talent base in the global race for AI dominance. For India, it brings in high-value infrastructure and foreign investment at a scale that can accelerate its digital transformation ambitions.

Google said its AI hub investment will include construction of a new international subsea gateway that would connect to the company’s more than 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) of existing terrestrial and subsea cables.

“The initiative creates substantial economic and societal opportunities for both India and the United States, while pioneering a generational shift in AI capability,” the company’s statement said.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the company’s ambitious plans.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/google-artificial-intelligence-visakhapatnam-modi-pichai-ba8fd50e11e41bbdb72097dd10262283

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, CFO of Reliance Power Limited, in connection with a money laundering investigation involving fake bank guarantees.

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested a top official in Anil Ambani’s firm in a money laundering case. Ashok Kumar Pal, CFO and Executive Director in Reliance Power Limited, was arrested in a fake bank guarantee case.
“ED arrested Ashok Pal, CFO of Reliance Power yesterday night after questioning in Delhi office in a case of fake bank guarantee. He will be produced before the judge today at 9.30,” Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.
Pal was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Company in January 29, 2023.

Wipro submitted that the company has used the trademark ‘WIPRO’ in relation to its consumer care and lighting products since at least 1977.

The Delhi High Court has declared the trademark ‘WIPRO’ as a well-known mark within the meaning of Section 2(1)(zg) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, formally recognising the brand’s enduring reputation, extensive commercial presence, and its association exclusively with Wipro Enterprises Private Limited [Wipro Enterprises Private Limited Vs Shivam Udhyog].

Justice Tejas Karia, while decreeing the suit in favour of Wipro Enterprises, observed that the company had established that the mark ‘WIPRO’ has acquired the status of a well-known mark under the Trademarks Act beyond a doubt.

The Court held that the mark’s continuous and widespread use since the 1970s, coupled with its significant financial and promotional footprint, justified its recognition as a well-known trademark.

The order was passed on a suit instituted by Wipro Enterprises Private Limited against Shivam Udhyog and its partners (defendants), who had applied to register “SHIVAM UDHYOG WIPRO WIRE MESH” as a trademark in Class 06.

Upon receiving summons, the defendants withdrew their application before the Registrar of Trade Marks and gave an undertaking that they would not use Wipro’s mark or any deceptively similar mark in the future.

Wipro agreed not to press its claims for damages or costs, provided a decree was passed restraining further use of the WIPRO mark and declaring it as a well-known trademark. The Court accordingly proceeded to consider the company’s request for recognition of its mark as a well-known trademark.

Wipro submitted that the company was originally incorporated in 1945 as Western India Vegetable Products Limited by MH Hasham Premji, and has used the trademark ‘WIPRO’ in relation to its consumer care and lighting products since at least 1977.

It further stated that over the decades, the brand has diversified into multiple sectors and established itself as one of India’s most recognised corporate names.

The company placed on record details of its extensive trademark registrations—both in India in Classes 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 16, 20, 29, 30, 35, 37, 40, and 42, and internationally in various foreign jurisdictions including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, and Mexico.

To demonstrate its goodwill, Wipro filed evidence showing a cumulative turnover of ₹60,775.6 crore between FY 1994–95 and FY 2023–24, including ₹5,055.9 crore in FY 2023–24 alone, and a total promotional expenditure of ₹8,800 crore, with ₹702.2 crore spent in FY 2023–24. The company also pointed to its global recognition, awards, and media presence to establish that the mark ‘WIPRO’ had become synonymous with the group’s identity.

After examining the evidence, Justice Karia held that the material placed on record conclusively established Wipro’s longstanding and dominant market presence.

“The Plaintiff has been using the mark ‘WIPRO’ continuously and uninterruptedly at least since the year 1977… The mark ‘WIPRO’ has become synonymous with the Plaintiff alone,” it said.

Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/delhi-high-court-declares-wipro-a-well-known-trademark

Tata Trusts Boardroom Battle: Tata Trusts faces internal strife as Noel Tata and N Chandrasekaran meet Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman over governance disputes.

Tata Trusts Infighting: The rift within Tata Trusts, the principal shareholder of Tata Sons, has reached the corridors of power. Sources close to the Tata Group told CNBC-TV18 that the government cannot be a silent spectator to the coup attempt by four trustees of Tata Trusts. They said the government has taken note of the widening rift within Tata Trusts and is prepared to intervene if necessary to prevent instability in one of India’s most influential conglomerates.

“The government cannot be a silent spectator to the coup attempt by four trustees of Tata Trusts,” a source close to Tata Group told CNBC-TV18, adding that the Centre is “fully seized of the matter” and is closely monitoring developments.

The Tata Trusts board is scheduled to meet on October 10, even as government officials engage with both sides to defuse the crisis. According to CNBC-TV18, sources close to the Tata group warned the conflict could spill over into Tata Sons’ functioning if not swiftly resolved.

Importantly, the sources close to the Tata group said the October 10 meeting “has nothing to do with the recent tensions”.

On Tuesday evening, Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, along with Tata Trusts Vice-Chairman Venu Srinivasan and trustee Darius Khambata, arrived together at Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence for discussions. Finance Minister Sitharaman also joined the meeting, which came against the backdrop of mounting tensions among trustees over board appointments and governance structures, the issues that threaten to impact the functioning of the over $180-billion Tata Group.

What’s The Issue?

The meeting comes against the backdrop of infighting among trustees of Tata Trusts, a key shareholder in Tata Sons, over board appointments and control mechanisms that adversely affect the functioning of the over $180-billion conglomerate.

A faction of four trustees – Darius Khambata, Jehangir HC Jehangir, Pramit Jhaveri, and Mehli Mistry – has reportedly been operating as a “super board”, undermining Noel Tata’s authority and creating friction within the Trusts. This internal power struggle has drawn the attention of the government due to its potential impact on Tata Sons, the holding company that controls the 156-year-old group spanning around 400 companies, including 30 listed firms.

What’s Behind the Tensions?

CNBC-TV18 reported that some of the key flashpoints that have led to tensions include an equity infusion by Tata Sons into Tata International, which is chaired by Noel Tata. The proposed Rs 1,000-crore infusion was aimed at helping Tata International tide over its losses. Although the proposal was eventually cleared, the move became a source of disagreement among trustees.

Differences also emerged over Noel Tata’s suggestion to create a deputy managing director position at Tata Sons, which some trustees reportedly opposed. In contrast, other trustees are said to have proposed the appointment of Mehli Mistry to the Tata Sons board, an idea opposed by Noel Tata and his allies.

Source : https://www.news18.com/business/coup-attempt-at-tata-sons-tensions-spill-over-as-four-trustees-square-off-with-noel-tata-ws-l-9621766.html

The much-needed modernization of the U.S. Army’s battlefield communications network being undertaken by Anduril, Palantir (PLTR.O), and others is rife with “fundamental security” problems and vulnerabilities, and should be treated as a “very high risk,” according to a recent internal Army memo.
The two Silicon Valley companies, led by allies of U.S. President Donald Trump, have gained access to the Pentagon’s lucrative flow of contracts on the promise of quickly providing less expensive and more sophisticated weapons than the Pentagon’s longstanding arms providers.

Military drone and software maker Anduril boasted it had a prototype of the NGC2 communications platform working during a battlefield test just eight weeks after winning the contract award. But the September 5 memo provides fodder for critics who argue that Silicon Valley’s move-fast, break-things ethos may not be the best approach for vital military equipment.
The memo from the Army’s chief technology officer about the NGC2 platform that connects soldiers, sensors, vehicles and commanders with real-time data paints a bleak security picture of the initial product.
“We cannot control who sees what, we cannot see what users are doing, and we cannot verify that the software itself is secure,” the memo says.

Those concerns have been addressed already as part of the “normal process” of development, Anduril said. “The recent report reflects an outdated snapshot, not the current state of the program,” the company said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
A Palantir spokesperson said, “No vulnerabilities were found in the Palantir platform.”
However, the Army internal memo written by Gabriele Chiulli, the Army chief technology officer authorizing official on the NGC2 prototype, said, “Given the current security posture of the platform and the hosted 3rd party applications the likelihood of an adversary gaining persistent undetectable access to the platform requires the system be treated as very high risk.”
Palantir stock closed down 7.5% on Friday. Anduril is not publicly traded, although company founder Palmer Luckey has said a public offering is planned.

A September 30 article on Anduril’s website touted the NGC2 system’s performance during a live-fire exercise in Fort Carson, Colorado: “Soldiers fired 26 live missions with M777 howitzers on Fort Carson’s live-fire ranges, running AXS side-by-side with legacy crews. The contrast was visible: one team struggling with delays, the other firing digitally in seconds.”
Leonel Garciga, Army chief information officer and Chiulli’s supervisor, told Reuters in an interview on Friday that frank vendor communication is important.
“I think there’s only one application that still has some vulnerabilities that they were working on,” Garciga said, adding that many issues were fixed within a matter of weeks and days.
The Army CTO’s assessment, seen by Reuters and first reported by Breaking Defense, comes just months after Anduril was awarded a $100 million contract to create a prototype of NGC2 with partners including Palantir, Microsoft <MSFT.O> and several smaller contractors.

The memo said the system allows any authorized user to access all applications and data regardless of their clearance level or operational need. As a result, “Any user can potentially access and misuse sensitive” classified information, the memo states, with no logging to track their actions.
Other deficiencies highlighted in the memo include the hosting of third-party applications that have not undergone Army security assessments. One application revealed 25 high-severity code vulnerabilities. Three additional applications under review each contain over 200 vulnerabilities requiring assessment, according to the document.
Garciga said that next week the Palantir Federal Cloud Service, which the battlefield system relies on, could be approved by the Army to deploy software updates more quickly after receiving a milestone permission known as “continuous authority to operate.”
Palantir and Anduril are leading a new wave of defense firms aiming to transform the U.S. military with cutting-edge technologies, including drones, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/anduril-palantir-battlefield-communication-system-has-deep-flaws-army-memo-says-2025-10-03/

Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab founder Jeff Bezos predicted on Friday gigawatt-scale data centres will be built in space within the next 10 to 20 years and that continuously available solar energy meant they would eventually outperform those based on Earth.

Speaking at the Italian Tech Week in Turin, Bezos also compared the surge in artificial intelligence to the internet boom of the early 2000s, urging optimism despite the risk of speculative bubbles.

The concept of orbital data centres has gained traction among tech giants as those on Earth have driven up demand for electricity and water to cool their servers.

“These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather,” Bezos said in a public conversation with Ferrari (RACE.MI), opens new tab and Stellantis (STLAM.MI), opens new tab Chairman John Elkann.

“We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centres in space in the next couple of decades.”

Bezos said the shift to space infrastructure is part of a broader trend of using space to improve life on Earth.

“It’s already happened with weather and communication satellites,” he said. “The next step is data centres, then other kinds of manufacturing.”

Hosting data centres in space has its own challenges, including the difficulty of maintenance and carrying out upgrades and the cost of launching rockets, as well as the risk the launches may fail.

The executive chair of Amazon said the AI wave shares traits with the dot-com era, when massive hype was followed by a crash.

“We should be extremely optimistic that the societal and beneficial consequences of AI, like we had with internet 25 years ago, are for real and there to stay,” he said.

“It is important to decorrelate the potential bubbles and their bursting consequences that might or might not happen from the actual reality,” Bezos said, adding that the benefits of AI were expected “to be broadly diffused and it will go everywhere”.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/data-centres-space-jeff-bezos-thinks-its-possible-2025-10-03

US lawmakers have requested explanations from Tata Consultancy Services regarding the company’s ongoing submission of numerous H-1B visa petitions despite laying off American tech workers.

US senators are taking up the fight against the H-1B visa program, right up to the top management of major US corporations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin have written a letter to 10 major U.S. employers, including Amazon, Apple, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Deloitte, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Walmart.

Letters addressed to Companies

The biggest concern that emerges from the letters addressed to CEO’s of these 10 US companies is the practice that US firms adopted for filing thousands of H-1B skilled visa petitions following significant layoffs of American workers.

The H-1B visa program, which seeks to hire foreign workers, is at the center of the storm against America’s non-immigrant temporary population. US companies are accused of replacing American workers with low-skilled foreign workers at lower wages.

In the letters to the American companies, US lawmakers highlighted rising unemployment among tech workers and recent STEM graduates, citing large-scale layoffs directed by company leaders in recent years.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the only Indian company among the other nine US companies that have been sent letters by US lawmakers. All the companies have been asked to respond by October 10.

Letter to TCS

“TCS recently announced plans to lay off over 12,000 employees worldwide, including American staff. For example, TCS laid off nearly five dozen employees in its Jacksonville office alone last month.

At the same time you have been laying off American employees, you have been filing H-1B visa petitions for thousands of foreign workers. In fiscal year 2025, TCS received approval to hire 5,505 H-1B employees, making TCS the second-largest employer of newly approved H-1B beneficiaries in the nation.

With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that TCS cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions.

TCS is already under investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly firing older American workers in favor of newly hired South-Asian H-1B employees. TCS is doing itself no favors by replacing Americans with H-1Bs while this investigation is ongoing.

We would like to give you an opportunity to explain yourself. Please provide answers to the following questions, with accompanying data where appropriate, by October 10, 2025.”

Questions Asked

Why is TCS hiring foreign tech workers when hundreds of thousands of American tech workers have been laid off over the past few years?

Does TCS make a good faith effort to fill open positions with Americans before filing H-1B petitions? Explain in detail.

Does TCS hide H-1B recruitment ads by listing them separately from general hiring ads?

Has TCS displaced any American employees with H-1B employees?

Are your company’s H-1B hires provided the same salary and benefits as your American workers with the same qualifications? Please provide specific details.

How many H-1B workers at TCS were recruited and hired at level one wages? How many of those workers are still working at level one wages?

Does TCS outsource any hiring to contractors or staffing firms that place H-1B workers within your organization?

Source : https://www.financialexpress.com/business/investing-abroad-us-lawmakers-question-tcs-on-h-1b-wages-layoffs-and-hiring-practices-3995856/

The Pulses Mission is expected to benefit around 2 crore farmers with the supply of better seeds, post-harvest infrastructure and 100 per cent assured procurement of tur, urad, and masoor pulses from growers at the Minimum Support Price during the next 4 years, according to an official statement.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses with a financial outlay of Rs 11,440 crore.

The landmark initiative aimed at boosting domestic production and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses will be implemented over a six-year period from 2025-26 to 2030-31.

The Pulses Mission is expected to benefit around 2 crore farmers with the supply of better seeds, post-harvest infrastructure and 100 per cent assured procurement of tur, urad, and masoor pulses from growers at the Minimum Support Price during the next 4 years, according to an official statement.

Pulses hold special importance in India’s cropping systems and diets. India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pulses. With rising incomes and standard of living, pulses’ consumption has increased. However, domestic production has not kept pace with demand, leading to a 15–20 per cent increase in pulses imports.

To make improved varieties widely available, 126 lakh quintals of certified seeds will be distributed to pulse-growing farmers, covering 370 lakh hectares by 2030-31.

The Mission also seeks to expand the area under pulses by an additional 35 lakh hectares by targeting rice fallow areas and other diversifiable lands, supported by promoting intercropping and crop diversification. For this, 88 lakh seed kits will be distributed free of cost to the farmers.

To reduce this import dependency, meet rising demand, maximise production, and enhance farmers’ income, a 6-year “Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses” was announced in the FY 2025-26 Budget. The Mission will adopt a comprehensive strategy covering research, seed systems, area expansion, procurement, and price stability.

The emphasis will be placed on developing and disseminating the latest varieties of pulses which are high in productivity, pest-resistant and climate-resilient. Multi-location trials will be carried out in major pulse-growing states to ensure regional suitability.

By 2030-31, the Mission is expected to expand the area under pulses to 310 lakh hectares, increase production to 350 lakh tonnes, and raise yield to 1130 kg/ha. Alongside productivity gains, the Mission will generate significant employment.

In addition, to ensure availability for premium quality seeds, states will prepare five-year rolling seed production plans. The breeder seed production will be supervised by the ICAR Foundation, and certified seed production will be done by state and central level agencies, and closely tracked through the Seed Authentication, Traceability &amp; Holistic Inventory (SATHI) portal.

This will be complemented by convergence with the soil health programme, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation, balanced fertiliser use, plant protection, and extensive demonstrations by ICAR, KVKs, and state Agriculture Departments to promote best practices.

Capacity building of farmers and seed growers will be taken up through structured training programmes to promote sustainable techniques and modern technologies.

To strengthen markets and value chains, the Mission will help develop post-harvest infrastructure, including 1,000 processing units, thereby reducing crop losses, improving value addition, and increasing farmer incomes. A maximum subsidy of Rs 25 lakh will be available for setting up processing and packaging units.

The Mission will adopt a cluster-based approach, tailoring interventions to the specific needs of each cluster. This will enable more effective allocation of resources, enhance productivity, and promote geographic diversification of pulse production.

A major feature of the Mission will be to ensure maximum procurement of tur, urad, and masoor under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) of PM-AASHA. NAFED and NCCF will undertake 100 per cent procurement in participating states for the next four years from farmers who register with these agencies and enter into agreements.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/pm-modi-led-union-cabinet-approves-11440-crore-mission-to-achieve-self-sufficiency-in-pulses

China’s Pop Mart (9992.HK), is borrowing from Disney’s (DIS.N), playbook to turn toothy monster Labubu’s blockbuster sales into long-term success, Executive Director and co-COO Si De told Reuters in a rare interview.
Pop Mart has already done what many thought impossible – making Labubu the first Chinese product to win a global audience for its emotional and creative appeal rather than because it represents value-for-money.

Now it aims to capitalise on the art toy’s success.
“We have learned from Disney for a long time. In fact, Disney’s great value lies in its ability to operate IP (intellectual property) over the long-term, even up to 100 years,” Si said, pointing to the example of Mickey Mouse, created as a cartoon nearly a century ago.
Even as analysts question Pop Mart’s reliance on Labubu and the company’s fate as the toy’s popularity inevitably cools, the firm itself still sees plenty of potential to develop content, entertainment, theme parks and more merchandise around the character – as Disney does with its most popular IP.

Si did not give a timeline or estimate on investment during the first interview a top executive from the firm has done with foreign media since 2022.
He said Pop Mart’s focus in the near-term was not to find the “next big hit” but to invest in “better products, finding better collaborations, developing content, theme parks, store displays” for Labubu, and the eventual goal was to have five to 10 IPs with similar long-term potential to Labubu.

THE LABUBU PARADOX

Labubu’s global success has sent the Hong Kong-listed company’s shares up almost 200% so far this year, and Pop Mart is now worth more than Hasbro, Mattel and Sanrio combined.
“Pop Mart is selling a lifestyle that consumers are buying because they want to be part of it,” said Louis Houdart, China managing partner at Mad, a consulting firm, adding that its margins rivalled some luxury brands.

It has also fuelled investment in China’s red-hot art toy industry, intensifying the competitive pressure on Pop Mart, the market leader.
Estimates in July from Industry World, a Chinese market intelligence platform, said the Chinese art toy market was expected to reach more than 120 billion yuan ($16.85 billion) in revenue this year, accounting for more than 35% of the global market and maintaining double-digit growth in China.

Though Pop Mart does not break out Labubu sales, the series it belongs to, The Monsters, accounted for almost 35% of total first-half revenue this year, raising questions about the company’s dependence on the character.
Labubu’s popularity has boosted sales of stablemates such as Molly, Skullpanda and Crybaby (which each had more than 1 billion yuan in sales in the first half), but also fuelled curiosity beyond Pop Mart’s offerings.

“Because of the success of Pop Mart, there are more people with money wanting to invest in this industry. You see right now there’s a lot of new companies and there’s definitely more and more artists trying to do IP as a way of making money,” said Runyu, the 24-year-old winner of China’s first art toy design competition reality TV show.
Other major art toy retailers in China include 52 Toys and Miniso (9896.HK), which traditionally relied on licensing IP from the likes of Disney and Sanrio (8136.T), but is now investing more in original IP development and signing partnerships with art toy designers.
“Pop Mart has blazed a trail” for the rest of China’s art toy industry, said Zhou Junyu, head of IP at Siguworks, one of the art toy companies working with Miniso.
As Pop Mart has studied Disney, other firms in China have studied Pop Mart. Whether the Disney model will help it see off the growing competition remains unclear.
“We all know Disney’s playbook, which overall is relatively easy to replicate, but its success is not,” said Morningstar analyst Jeff Zhang. “I mean, compared to the legacy IP operators like Disney and Sanrio, Pop Mart still has a long way to go and during the process, there is also execution risk.”

FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS

Pop Mart’s success with Labubu did not happen overnight, and was largely due to strategic decisions taken by founder and CEO Wang Ning over the past decade, three current and former Pop Mart employees said. They declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
In 2010, Wang, only 23 but with a string of entrepreneurial ventures behind him, opened a hip lifestyle store in Beijing.
Within a few years he saw collectible figurines accounting for a significant portion of revenue, and decided to focus on art toys.
Wang also realised Pop Mart needed to own the IP it sold, according to two former employees, leading him to Kenny Wong – the designer of Molly, with her distinctive pouty face.
Hong Kong-based Wong was dismissive when Wang first approached him in 2016, but he eventually agreed to a trial collaboration.
“During my most difficult years, inventory was my biggest concern, then Wang Ning showed up. He first solved my inventory problem, selling out all of it in a short period of time,” Wong told Reuters. Wong handed regional licensing for Molly over to Pop Mart and the success continued. Labubu made its Pop Mart debut in 2019.
“Each time, they achieved remarkable results and progress, so much so that I finally gave them everything I had,” Wong said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/labubu-maker-pop-mart-learns-disney-capitalise-toys-viral-success-2025-09-30/

Consumer confidence fell sharply in September on growing worries about the labor market.

The consumer-confidence index dropped to 94.2 in September from a revised 97.8 in the prior month, the Conference Board said Tuesday. This is the lowest level since April.

Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast the index to slip to 96.0 in September from the initial estimate of 97.4 in August.

Consumers’ assessment of the availability of jobs fell for the ninth straight month.

Key details: A measure that looks at how consumers feel about the economy right now fell 7 points to 125.4. That’s the largest drop in a year.

A confidence gauge that looks six months ahead dropped by 1.3 points to 73.4. Since February, the expectations index has been below the threshold of 80, which has traditionally been seen as a signal of recession.

Economists focus on labor-market conditions by measuring the spread between the percentage of consumers who think jobs are plentiful and the percentage who think jobs are hard to get.

That spread, called the labor-market differential, has narrowed for nine straight months and is now at a multiyear low of 7.8.

Big picture: The decline in sentiment reflects worries about the labor market that spiked after the weak July jobs report.

People are pessimistic because it is difficult to upgrade a job, interest rates are high, the threat of tariffs remains and “there seems to be a new impactful development in economic policy each week,” said Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet.

Source : https://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumer-confidence-weakens-to-lowest-level-since-april-on-growing-concerns-about-job-availability-ea314d78

They’re flying off the shelves and not in the good way.

Amazon has pulled roughly 500 thousand units of various products from its virtual store in recent weeks after manufacturer recalls for safety concerns — including fans that cause fires and potentially suffocating baby crib attachments, according to a report.

A variety of imported goods were part of the latest waves of recalls with many of the products posing a significant risk — as serious as death — to infants and children, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Newsweek reported.

The products being yanked include Buddy Portable Misting Fans from company IcyBreeze Cooling have been recalled, ironically, for going up in flames.

Over 22,600 units sold from November 2023 and August 2024 feature lithium-ion batteries that are known to cause fires when they overheat, the outlet reported.

There have been reports of seven overheating incidents including two fires, according to CPSC data the outlet reported.

Chinese-made Baby Loungers and Crib Bumpers from LXDHSTRA that were sold on the website from May to August 2025 and are now being pulled for safety concerns.

The loungers were recalled on September 18th because of dangerously low sides, overly thick sleeping pads, and wide foot openings, regulators found, according to the report.

The crib bumpers pose suffocation risk and fail to meet the standards of the Federal Safe Sleep for Babies Act, Newsweek reported.

No injuries have been reported regarding these products, according to the outlet.

Over 480,000 Anker Power Banks from by Anker Innovations were recalled due to overheating lithium-ion batteries which have caused fires.

The recall includes models A1647, A1652, A1257, A1618 and A1689, which were sold between January and July 2024.

There were 33 reports of fire and explosion incidents, including four burn injuries, according to CPSC.

Company YooxArmor pulled 1,800 multi-purpose kids’ helmets sold on the everything website after they failed to meet federal bicycle helmet safety standards.

Regulators found the helmets lack proper impact protection, stability, labeling, and certification, thus posing a significant risk for head injury to kids — though no injuries have been reported.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/09/20/business/amazon-recalls-500k-consumer-products-here-are-the-five-popular-items-getting-yanked

BharatGen, India’s first government-supported multimodal AI initiative, has secured Rs 988.6 crore from the IndiaAI Mission 2025, as revealed by Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

BharatGen, India’s first government-backed multimodal sovereign AI initiative, has emerged as the single largest beneficiary of the government’s IndiaAI Mission 2025. The company has been awarded Rs 988.6 crore in funding by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Friday in New Delhi.

The funding is part of the Rs 1,500-crore IndiaAI Mission, designed to accelerate the development of indigenous artificial intelligence capabilities and reduce reliance on global AI ecosystems. BharatGen’s share underscores its pivotal role in shaping India’s sovereign AI roadmap.

Advanced Models in the Pipeline
With this infusion, BharatGen is set to build next-generation AI models, including large language models (LLMs) and multimodal systems with up to 1 trillion parameters—a scale comparable to some of the world’s most advanced AI projects. It will also develop smaller, domain-specific AI models aimed at practical use cases across industries.

India-Focused Innovation

Beyond large-scale models, the initiative will prioritise India-centric technologies such as:

• Text-to-speech and speech recognition tools tailored to Indian languages
• Vision-language systems for agriculture and governance
• AI-powered solutions in finance, healthcare, and education

These capabilities are expected to boost accessibility and drive innovation for citizens, businesses, and government institutions alike.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/companies/bharatgen-secures-rs-988-6-crore-funding-under-indiaai-mission-article-152859054f

In a statement, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) announced revision in price list of more than 700 product packs, offering full benefit of GST reduction to its customers, effective September 22, 2025.

New Delhi: GCMMF, which markets dairy items under Amul brand, on Saturday announced reduction of retail prices of more than 700 product packs, including ghee, butter ice cream, bakery and frozen snacks, as it decided to pass on benefits of the GST rate cut to consumers.

The new price will be effective from September 22.

In a statement, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) announced revision in price list of more than 700 product packs, offering full benefit of GST reduction to its customers, effective September 22, 2025.

“This revision is across the range of product categories like butter, ghee, UHT milk, ice cream, cheese, paneer, chocolates, bakery range, frozen dairy and potato snacks, condensed milk, peanut spread, malt-based drink, etc,” GCMMF said.

The MRP of butter (100 gm) has been reduced to Rs 58 from Rs 62.

Ghee rates have been cut by Rs 40 to Rs 610 per litre.

The MRP of Amul processed cheese block (1kg) has been cut by Rs 30 to Rs 545 per kg.

The new MRP of frozen paneer (200 gm) will be Rs 95 from September 22 as against Rs 99 now.

“Amul believes the reduction in prices will spur consumption of a wide range of dairy products particularly ice cream, cheese and butter as the per capita consumption remains very low in India, creating a large growth opportunity,” the statement said.

GCMMF, which is owned by 36 lakh farmers, said the reduction in prices will boost demand for its dairy products, leading to growth in its turnover.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/business/companies/amul-cuts-prices-of-700-product-packs-ghee-to-be-cheaper-by-rs-40litre-from-sep-22-3737152

Adani Group companies gained over Rs 69,000 crore in market capitalisation in a single session on Friday, fueled by a buying frenzy following SEBI’s clean chit in the Hindenburg case.

Adani Group companies gained over Rs 69,000 crore in market capitalisation in a single session on Friday, fueled by a buying frenzy following SEBI’s clean chit in the Hindenburg case.

Regulator Dismisses Allegations

The regulator’s order, which dismissed allegations of stock manipulation and related-party misuse, ignited a surge of investor confidence, sending Adani stocks sharply higher across the board.

Top Gainers Among Adani Firms

Leading the charge, Adani Power surged 12.40 per cent, emerging as the top gainer across the group’s listed entities. Adani Total Gas jumped 7.35 per cent, while Adani Green Energy and Adani Enterprises climbed 5.33 per cent and 5.04 per cent, respectively, according to stock exchange data.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican who leads oversight of the Federal Communications Commission, joined Democrats on Friday in criticizing FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s recent threats against Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab and local broadcasters for airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

The conservative senator from Texas, one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, said Carr’s threat to fine broadcasters or pull their licenses over the content of their shows was dangerous.

WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican who leads oversight of the Federal Communications Commission, joined Democrats on Friday in criticizing FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s recent threats against Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab and local broadcasters for airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

The conservative senator from Texas, one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, said Carr’s threat to fine broadcasters or pull their licenses over the content of their shows was dangerous.
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“I got to say that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas’,” Cruz said, evoking the Martin Scorsese gangster movie. “That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it’.”
The senator’s remarks are a rare example of a prominent member of President Donald Trump’s own party publicly criticizing the actions of the administration, highlighting deepening concerns over free-speech rights and Trump’s threatened crackdowns.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he disagreed with Cruz, calling Carr “an incredible American patriot with courage.”

Prominent Democrats and civil rights groups condemned the Trump administration’s pressure to punish Kimmel and others who speak negatively of the president.

Cruz, chair of the Senate’s commerce oversight committee, joined the criticism on the Friday episode of his podcast, saying Carr’s comments were “dangerous as hell.”

The senator, a former constitutional lawyer, then adopted a broad mafioso accent to quote Carr’s comments about broadcasters this week: “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who infrequently agrees with Cruz, has called on Carr to resign or for Trump to fire him. Schumer called Carr “one of the single greatest threats to free speech America has ever known.” Some Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Friday asked the FCC’s inspector general to investigate Carr’s actions and comments.

Carr and the FCC did not respond to requests for comment, but Carr said earlier this week he is “not going anywhere” and vowed to continue his work taking on media firms and defending the “public interest.”

TRUMP CELEBRATES COMEDIAN’S DOWNFALL

Trump, a former successful TV host himself, spoke several times during a state visit to Britain this week to commend Kimmel’s suspension, calling the Los Angeles comedian untalented and denouncing him for saying “a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.”

In Monday’s monologue, Kimmel, who frequently lampoons Trump, mocked the president for turning a question about his grief for Kirk into a cheerful promotion for his planned White House ballroom.

“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel said. “This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/jimmy-kimmel-suspension-puts-disney-back-hotseat-writers-hold-protest-2025-09-19

A woman approached the police five days and had loged a complaint against Samir, a senior police official told Hindustan Times.

Fugitive businessman and former IPL chief Lalit Modi’s brother Samir Modi has been arrested by the Delhi Police on rape charges. The arrest was made at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday evening.

A woman approached the police five days ago and had lodged a complaint against Samir, a senior police official told Hindustan Times.

Based on the woman’s complaint, a case of rape and criminal intimidation was registered and Samir Modi was arrested. The woman had alleged that the incident took place earlier.

Samir Modi is the founder and managing director of Modicare, a direct selling company.

He was also in the news last year over an inheritance dispute with his mother Bina Modi. Back in June 2024, he had sought protection from Delhi Police citing threats from his mother amid a family feud.

The feud had stemmed from the distribution of a ₹11,000-crore inheritance following the death of family patriarch KK Modi in 2019.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/lalit-modi-brother-samir-modi-arrested-delhi-police-rape-charges-101758204522305.html

Nvidia has spent over $900 million to hire Enfabrica CEO Rochan Sankar and other staff at the artificial intelligence hardware startup and to license the company’s technology, CNBC reported on Thursday.

The AI chip giant is paying in cash and stock, CNBC said, citing two people familiar with the arrangement. The deal closed last week and Sankar has already joined Nvidia.

Enfabrica, a Silicon Valley-based chip startup, is tackling one of the biggest technical problems that has emerged in the AI field: how to tie tens of thousands or more chips together with a network to effectively work as a single computer.

If that network is too slow, expensive chips from companies such as Nvidia end up sitting idle and waiting for data.

The startup’s technologies can string together about 100,000 AI computing chips before the network starts to bog down.

Nvidia declined to comment, while Enfabrica did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters.

Founded by veterans from Broadcom and Alphabet, Enfabrica has raised $260 million in venture capital. It released a chip-and-software system in July aimed at reining in the cost of memory chips in those centers.

The deal is reminiscent of the recent agreements by Meta and Google, according to the CNBC report.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/nvidia-spent-over-900-million-hire-enfabrica-ceo-license-technology-cnbc-reports-5357201

Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft (TRNF_p.MM), has warned producers they may have to cut output following Ukraine’s drone attacks on critical export ports and refineries, three industry sources said on Tuesday.
In a statement on its website, Transneft described the news as “fake” and part of the West’s “information war” against Russia.

Kyiv has stepped up attacks on Russian energy assets since August in a bid to impede Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine and reduce the Kremlin’s revenues as attempts to secure an end to the conflict through peace talks have stalled.

OIL AND GAS – RUSSIA’S KEY SOURCE OF FINANCING

Oil and gas revenues have accounted for between a third and half of Russia’s total federal budget proceeds over the past decade, making the sector the single most important source of financing for the government.
Ukrainian drones have hit at least 10 refineries – cutting Russia’s refining capacity by almost a fifth at one point – and damaged its leading Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, Ukrainian military officials and Russian industry sources said.
Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the extent of the damage or its impact on production and exports.
However, Transneft, which handles more than 80% of all the oil extracted in Russia, has in recent days restricted oil firms’ ability to store oil in its pipeline system, two industry sources close to Russian oil firms told Reuters.

Transneft has also warned producers it may have to accept less oil if its infrastructure sustains further damage, the two sources said.
The attacks could force Russia, which accounts for 9% of global oil production, to ultimately cut output, said the two sources and a third source familiar with oil pumping operations.
The three sources asked not to be named due to sensitivity of the issue.
“The appearance of such fake news with reference to some unnamed sources in the Russian fuel and energy complex causes damage to the image of PAO Transneft,” Transneft said in its statement.
“It can only be caused by the attempts to destabilize the situation within the framework of the information war unleashed by the West against the Russian Federation,” it added.

The incursion of Russian drones in Poland has reignited safety concerns over the vulnerability of civil air transport in Europe, aviation and insurance experts said, the latest upheaval facing airlines from escalating global conflict.
Early on Wednesday, Poland shot down drones in its airspace with the backing of military aircraft from its NATO allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Warsaw Chopin and Modlin airports, as well as Rzeszow and Lublin airports in the country’s east, temporarily closed before resuming operations.
Countries bordering on Ukraine have reported occasional Russian missiles or drones entering their airspace since Russia’s 2022 invasion, but not on such a large scale, and they are not known to have shot them down.

AIRLINES LEFT WITH FEWER OPTIONS, HIGHER COSTS

Proliferating conflict zones around the world have increased the burden on airline operations and profitability, adding to safety concerns and disrupting travel.
With airspace closures around Russia and Ukraine, throughout the Middle East, between India and Pakistan, and in parts of Africa, airlines are left with fewer route options.

Detours add to airlines’ fuel costs and lengthen journey times. Eurocontrol, a 41-nation coordination agency, has said Ukraine’s closed airspace has added to congestion in the region’s skies.
Since October 2023, many international carriers have suspended flights to the region due to fears of missile and drone interference.
Wednesday’s drone incident followed Israel’s attempt on Tuesday to kill the political leaders of Hamas in the Qatari capital Doha.

Worries about further disruption for the travel industry pressured airline stocks. Shares in British Airways owner IAG (ICAG.L), were down 4.1%, easyJet (EZJ.L), fell 2.2% to its weakest since April, while Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), and Ryanair (RYA.I), were both also 2.2% lower at the close of trade.
Flight disruptions were relatively limited because the drone incursion happened early in the morning, before many airlines had started flying.

Polish airline LOT redirected some flights to western Poland and said it expected cancellations and delays.
A spokesperson for budget airline Wizz Air (WIZZ.L), which operates in central and eastern Europe, said its security teams “closely monitored” the situation and adjusted flight schedules after airports closed.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said no advisory was needed for the drone incursion due to its temporary nature, adding that Poland’s aviation authorities were able to sufficiently handle the incident.

AIRLINES, INSURERS EYE RISKS

Aviation analysts say airlines are increasingly wary of the risks posed by incursions into civilian flight zones.
“This is a wake-up call, I think, for everyone in Europe that can expect this more often,” said Eric Schouten, head of security consultancy Dyami.
Two senior aviation insurance market sources said the market was watching events in Poland and Qatar closely.
If the market got a sense either that Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace were becoming consistent and deliberate, or that Israeli airstrikes in the Middle East were likely to continue, it would pose serious questions for insurers, one source added.
LOT, Lufthansa, Ryanair, and airBaltic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Poland’s civil aviation authority and air navigation service did not respond to a request for comment on additional measures taken to ensure airspace safety.

WORST-CASE SCENARIO

Following the drone incident, airlines may review their risk assessments in Poland, said Matthew Borie, chief intelligence officer at aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions.
They may consider flying further west in Poland away from the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian borders, operating during daylight hours and carrying extra fuel to cope with potential diversions, he said, similar to steps taken in the Middle East.
The worst-case scenario for airlines flying near a conflict zone is a plane being struck — either accidentally or deliberately — by weaponry.
Since 2001, six commercial planes have been unintentionally shot down, with three additional close calls, according to Osprey.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russian-drones-polands-airspace-stir-worries-europes-civil-aviation-2025-09-11/

Oracle shares surged about 43 percent to a record high on Wednesday, putting the company on track to join the elite trillion-dollar club and propelling co-founder Larry Ellison closer to the top of the world’s richest list.

The company unveiled four multi-billion-dollar contracts on Tuesday, amid an industry-wide shift, led by companies such as OpenAI and xAI, to aggressively spend to secure the massive computing capacity needed to stay ahead in the AI race.

The stock was last up 36.7 percent, after rising to hit a record high of US$345.69, set for its biggest one-day percentage jump since 1992.

Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that OpenAI has signed a contract to purchase US$300 billion in computing power from Oracle over roughly five years, marking one of the biggest cloud contracts ever signed.

A majority of the new revenue Oracle described on Tuesday will come from the OpenAI deal, the report said. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request, while Oracle declined to comment.

Ellison, 81, whose net worth is largely derived from his 41 percent stake in Oracle, saw his fortune rise by about US$100 billion to around US$392.6 billion, according to Forbes.

He is rapidly closing in on Tesla chief Elon Musk in the race for the title of the world’s richest person. Musk’s net worth last stood at US$439.9 billion.

Oracle will add about US$234 billion to its market valuation, taking the total to around US$913 billion, if gains hold, and bringing the company closer to the coveted US$1 trillion-dollar club.

Its shares have risen 45 percent so far this year, outperforming the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks and the broader S&P 500 index, with investors betting big on AI-driven cloud firms.

“Over the next few months, we expect to sign up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars,” said CEO Safra Catz during a post-earnings call.

Currently, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud dominate the cloud computing market with a combined 65 percent share, while Oracle, Alibaba, CoreWeave and others hold a smaller slice of the market.

Oracle’s first-quarter results lifted shares of Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices, which supply semiconductors used in data centers. Shares of the companies rose between 2 percent and 8 percent.

Competitor CoreWeave’s shares were up about 15 percent.

The company has struck deals with Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft to let their cloud customers run Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) alongside native services. The revenue from these partnerships rose more than sixteen-fold in the first quarter.

“What matters here is that this figure now includes contributions from the Stargate venture and two other big AI players, meaning revenues beyond 2026 go much higher,” said Ben Reitzes, analyst at Melius Research.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/oracle-soars-ai-cloud-gains-ellison-closes-in-musk-worlds-richest-5341601

The market distribution for UPI transactions continues to be led by a few key applications. In terms of transaction volume, PhonePe was the market leader with an estimated 9.6 billion transactions, followed by Google Pay with 7.4 billion transactions and Paytm in third place with 1.6 billion transactions.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network processed over 20 billion transactions in August 2025, marking the first time it has crossed the 20 billion monthly transaction thresholds.According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the total value of these transactions was Rs 24.85 lakh crore.

The market distribution for UPI transactions continues to be led by a few key applications. In terms of transaction volume, PhonePe was the market leader with an estimated 9.6 billion transactions, followed by Google Pay with 7.4 billion transactions and Paytm in third place with 1.6 billion transactions. Their shares of the total transaction value reflected a similar trend, with PhonePe holding 48.64 per cent, Google Pay contributing 35.53 per cent, and Paytm accounting for about 8.5 per cent.Other notable platforms in the ecosystem include Navi and CRED, which also featured among the top five applications by transaction volume.

Navi processed around 406 million transactions, while CRED handled approximately 219 million. On average, the UPI network handled more than 645 million transactions each day throughout August.An analysis of UPI transaction data from August reveals a spending landscape weighted towards financial payments and essential goods.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/upi-transactions-exceed-20-billion-in-august-phonepe-google-pay-retain-top-spots

Poland shot down drones that entered its airspace during a widespread Russian attack in western Ukraine on Wednesday, with the NATO member calling the incursion “an act of aggression”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that he was in “constant contact” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Tusk has called for an emergency meeting of the council of ministers at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), a government spokesman said.

Poland’s military command said drones repeatedly violated Polish airspace during the Russian attack across the border, in western Ukraine, but that operations against these violations had now concluded.
Radars tracked more than 10 objects and those that could pose a threat were “neutralised,” the command said.
“Some of the drones that entered our airspace were shot down. Searches and efforts to locate the potential crash sites of these objects are ongoing,” it said in a statement.
It urged people to stay at home, naming the regions of Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lublin as most at risk, adding: “This is an act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens.”

Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been briefed, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins said on Tuesday. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NATO is yet to comment on the incident.
Since the war started in 2022, there have been several incidents of Russian drones entering the airspace of states bordering Ukraine, including Poland and Romania, but they have so far avoided shooting them down.
Officials have cited the physical danger that such actions could cause and a desire to avoid an escalation in tensions between Russia and NATO.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the violations of Poland’s airspace showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was expanding his war and testing the West.

“The longer he faces no strength in response, the more aggressive he gets,” Sybiha said on X. ” A weak response now will provoke Russia even more – and then Russian missiles and drones will fly even further into Europe.”

AIRPORT CLOSED

Chopin airport in Warsaw, the country’s largest, closed its airspace for several hours before reopening. It said there would be disruptions and delays through the day.
Most of Ukraine, including western regions of Volyn and Lviv which border Poland, had been under air raid alerts for nearly all night, according to Ukraine’s air force.
Earlier, Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian drones had entered NATO-member Poland’s airspace, posing a threat to the city of Zamosc, but it subsequently removed that statement from the Telegram messaging app.
In the United States, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said repeated violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones were a sign that “Vladimir Putin is testing our resolve to protect Poland and the Baltic nations.”

“After the carnage Putin continues to visit on Ukraine, these incursions cannot be ignored,” he said on X.
Republican representative Joe Wilson, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a post on X that Russia was “attacking NATO ally Poland” with drones, calling it an “act of war”.
Wilson urged U.S. President Donald Trump to respond with sanctions “that will bankrupt the Russian war machine”.
“Putin is no longer content just losing in Ukraine while bombing mothers and babies, he is now directly testing our resolve in NATO territory,” he said.
Trump, who warmly welcomed Putin to the United States for a summit in August, said over the weekend he was ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia after months of fruitless talks about a peace deal.
It was his strongest indication yet that he may escalate pressure on Moscow or its oil buyers in response to the war in Ukraine.
The European Union’s top sanctions official was in Washington on Monday to discuss what would be the first coordinated transatlantic measures against Russia since Trump returned to office in January promising to end the war in 24 hours.
Poland has been on high alert for objects entering its airspace since a stray Ukrainian missile struck a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people, a few months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/poland-shoots-down-drones-its-airspace-during-russias-ukraine-attack-calls-2025-09-09/

India and the European Union are intensifying talks to finalise their free trade agreement by year-end. The negotiations focus on resolving trade barriers while expanding strategic and defence ties amid global uncertainties.

India and the European Union are accelerating efforts on an ambitious free trade agreement (FTA), scheduling two critical rounds of negotiations within the next month to resolve longstanding differences, officials said.

A delegation of European officials is expected in New Delhi this week, with talks focusing on contentious issues such as rules of origin, market access, and duties on agricultural products, particularly wine and dairy.

The renewed push comes against the backdrop of US tariffs on India and the White House’s call for the EU to impose additional duties on Indian goods as a punitive measure for continuing crude oil trade with Russia.

Both sides aim to conclude the negotiations by the end of the year, as New Delhi seeks new markets to cushion the impact of the Trump tariff. The EU is India’s largest trade partner, with bilateral goods trade touching USD 135 billion in 2023-24.

While non-tariff barriers remain a hurdle, sources say negotiators are optimistic about bridging gaps to strike the “right equilibrium”. The commitment was reaffirmed in a recent phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top EU leaders, where both sides underscored the strategic importance of the partnership in advancing global stability and a rules-based order.

Beyond the trade pact, India and the EU are also working on a broader strategic agenda, including a new politico-strategic vision and frameworks to strengthen defence ties, steps seen as particularly significant amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.

The EU is expected to unveil its new strategic vision for ties with India on September 17, with formal adoption likely at the annual summit scheduled to be held in India early next year.

European Commission trade chief Maros Sefcovic and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen will be in New Delhi for high-level talks with Indian counterparts.

The next three months will see a flurry of engagements: a visit by the EU’s Political and Security Committee, comprising envoys from its 27 member states; counter-terrorism talks in Brussels; and an October visit to New Delhi by the European Parliament’s Standing Committee on Trade. The Indo-Pacific ministerial forum is slated for November 20-21, followed by the next meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC).

The 13th round of FTA negotiations is scheduled in New Delhi this week, with the next round in Brussels early next month. While 11 chapters — including customs, digital trade, and dispute settlement — have already been concluded, key issues like rules of origin and market access remain unresolved.

India’s main exports to the EU include a diverse range of products, with a strong emphasis on machinery and appliances, transport equipment, chemicals, and textiles. India is also a major exporter of diesel to Europe, and trade in gems, jewellery, and pharmaceuticals is also substantial.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/india-eu-europe-free-trade-deal-market-access-agricultural-duties-trump-tariff-2783480-2025-09-08

Addressing a news conference here, Haryana Chief Minister Saini said the wide-ranging reforms approved by the GST Council will prove to be a milestone towards “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. Saini said it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment “that we have to empower and strengthen the poor, farmers and common sections”.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday hailed GST reforms as a historic measure that will benefit every section of society, and said it is the Prime Minister’s commitment to empower the poor, farmers, and common sections.

Hailing slashing of goods and services tax (GST) tax rates on common use items, he said “middle class, poor and common people will benefit. This will not only lower inflation, but strengthen the poor”.Addressing a news conference here, Saini said the wide-ranging reforms approved by the GST Council will prove to be a milestone towards “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. Saini said it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment “that we have to empower and strengthen the poor, farmers and common sections”.

He said from common people to the poor to industrialists, everyone has welcomed the move.Replying to a question, Saini said the move should not be seen as linked with any election. “You will see one election or another happening somewhere in the country. Don’t link it with Bihar elections..,” he stressed.The GST Council’s decision to bring all products, except sin goods, under 5 per cent and 18 per cent slabs, while reducing it to zero on a host of essential items, will kick in from September 22, the first day of Navratra.With the Congress and its allies taking swipes at the government for “delayed” rationalisation of the GST regime, Saini hit back, saying they are left with no issues.

“Have Congress and other members of the INDI Alliance praised even one decision taken by the Prime Minister in the past decade?” Saini asked.Slamming the Congress, he said, “These days they have come up with ‘vote theft’ charge. Earlier, they blamed EVMs, then they said the constitution and democracy is in danger.

“Neither the constitution, nor democracy is in danger, but it is the Congress which is in danger, it is getting wiped out. It has no issues left. They have lost ground,” Saini said.People in Haryana including farmers, poor and common people will stand to benefit by nearly Rs 4,000 crore from the GST cuts, the chief minister said.

The rates on common use items will come down and increase the savings of the middle class, he said.Saini highlighted the reduction in GST rates on tractors and their parts, stating that this measure will lower input costs for farmers, promote the adoption of modern machinery, and contribute to the modernisation of agriculture.

Expressing gratitude to the central government and the GST Council, Saini said it has been decided to reduce the GST rate on dairy projects such as packaged milk and cheese from 5 per cent to zero.The chief minister described the GST, implemented in 2017 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the country’s biggest economic reform since Independence.

He stated that it has made the tax system simpler and more transparent, eliminated trade barriers between states, and realised the vision of ‘One India- One Tax- One Market’.What the Prime Minister says, he fulfils that, Saini said. Saini said the Haryana government extended its full support to all decisions by the GST Council.The panel approved simplifying the GST from the current four slabs — 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent — to a two-rate structure — 5 and 18 per cent. A special 40 per cent slab is also proposed for a select few items such as high-end cars, tobacco and cigarettes.

Source; https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/gst-reforms-a-historic-measure-that-will-benefit-every-section-of-society-pm-modi-empowering-the-poor-farmers-haryana-cm-saini

Noida Scam Alert: Police have seized four mobile phones, eight SIM cards, a laptop, a car, GST-related documents and a rent agreement from the accused.

The police has arrested a former employee of a private firm in Noida for allegedly generating fake invoices of around Rs 10 crore to fraudulently claim input tax credit of Rs 1.8 crore.
Accused Abhinav Tyagi, originally from Moradabad and currently residing in the Bisrakh area of Greater Noida, was nabbed by the Cyber Police, officials said. He allegedly colluded with an accomplice to carry out the fraud while working in the accounts section of the company and handling filings on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and tax-return portals, they added.
“On Saturday, the Cyber Police, Noida, arrested Abhinav Tyagi. He had prepared fake invoices amounting to about Rs 10 crore to claim GST of Rs 1.8 crore,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Shavya Goyal told PTI.

The visit, facilitated by the MHA, is seen as a significant step in ongoing legal proceedings in UK courts, senior officials confirmed.

A delegation from the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recently visited Tihar Jail in Delhi to assess prison conditions, as part of efforts to strengthen India’s case for the extradition of , among others, high-profile economic offenders such as Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. The visit, facilitated by the ministry of home affairs (MHA), is seen as a significant step in ongoing legal proceedings in UK courts, senior officials confirmed.

According to officials, although the CPS team was generally satisfied with the standards of care and facilities provided to inmates, Indian authorities are learnt to have assured the delegation that, if necessary, a dedicated “enclave” could be established within the Tihar complex to accommodate high-profile extraditees, ensuring their specific needs are met in line with international expectations and there is no threat to them.

The inspection is expected to result in favorable feedback being relayed to UK authorities, bolstering the confidence of Indian investigators seeking the return of fugitives currently sheltering in the United Kingdom.

Three senior officials independently confirmed the high-level visit, which took place in July, to HT. Email queries to the CPS press office in London and British high commission in Delhi remained unanswered.

“A four-member team — two CPS experts and two British high commission officials — visited the Tihar prison in July to assess the prison conditions for extradition cases being pursued by CPS on behalf of the Indian government. They were largely impressed with the facilities available to the prisoners, including in high-security wards, and called them at par with international standards,” said one of the officers cited above.

A second officer cited above said the CPS team inspected the high-security wards in the prison and even interacted with some inmates during their visit.

“Besides, they also had a meeting with senior officers at the MHA, ministry of external affairs, investigating agencies and Tihar to comprehensively discuss various aspects related to extradition of suspects from the UK and legal requirements of the CPS prosecutors representing India,” the second officer said.

Several high-profile white collar fugitives including arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, diamantaire Nirav Modi, and others located in the UK have argued in courts there that if extradited to India, they would be at real risk of extortion, torture or violence in Tihar jail, from other prisoners or prison officials.

In fact, prison conditions were one of the major reasons the UK high court, on February 28 this year, refused Bhandari’s extradition to India. The HC, in April, also disallowed India to go into appeal to the Supreme Court, making Bhandari a free man in London. Citing similar arguments, on April 11, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring at Westminster Magistrate’s court discharged a fugitive couple — Virkaran Awasty and his wife Ritika Awasty (accused in a ₹750 crore fraud) — on unconditional bail. Goldspring referred to the Bhandari ruling in his order, saying “in the absence of assurances that Awasty won’t be held in Tihar, or if he is, that the issues raised in Bhandari (case) will not apply to him, the real risk remains”.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/as-india-seeks-to-bring-back-vijay-mallya-nirav-modi-fugitives-uk-team-assesses-tihar-facilities-101757202588872.html

Hundreds of federal agents descended on a sprawling site where Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles in Georgia and detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals.

This is the latest in a long line of workplace raids conducted as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. But the one on Thursday is especially distinct because of its large size and the fact that it targeted a manufacturing site that state officials have long called Georgia’s largest economic development project.

The detainment of South Korean nationals also sets it apart, as they are rarely caught up in immigration enforcement compared to other nationalities.

Here are some things to know about the raid and the people impacted:

THE WORKERS DETAINED

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Saturday that more than 300 South Koreans were among the 475 people detained.

Some of them worked for the battery plant operated by HL-GA Battery, a joint venture by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution that is slated to open next year, while others were employed by contractors and subcontractors at the construction site, according to Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations.

He said that some of the detained workers had illegally crossed the US border, while others had entered the country legally but had expired visas or had entered on a visa waiver that prohibited them from working.

But an immigration attorney representing two of the detained workers said his clients arrived from South Korea under a visa waiver program that enables them to travel for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.

Attorney Charles Kuck said one of his clients has been in the US for a couple of weeks, while the other has been in the country for about 45 days, adding that they had been planning to return home soon.

Hyundai Motor Company said in a statement Friday that none of its employees had been detained as far as it knew and that it is reviewing its practices to make sure suppliers and subcontractors follow US employment laws. LG told The Associated Press that it couldn’t immediately confirm how many of its employees or Hyundai workers had been detained.

The South Korean government expressed “concern and regret” over the operation targeting its citizens and is sending diplomats to the site.

“The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of US law enforcement,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong said in a televised statement from Seoul.

Most of the people detained have been taken to an immigration detention center in Folkston, Georgia, near the Florida state line. None of them have been charged with any crimes yet, Schrank said, but the investigation is ongoing.

RAID RESULTS OF MONTHS-LONG INVESTIGATION
The raid was the result of a months-long investigation into allegations of illegal hiring at the site, Schrank said.

In a search warrant and related affidavits, agents sought everything from employment records for current and former workers and timecards to video and photos of workers.

Court records filed this week indicated that prosecutors do not know who hired what it called “hundreds of illegal aliens”. The identity of the “actual company or contractor hiring the illegal aliens is currently unknown”, the US Attorney’s Office wrote in a Thursday court filing.

THE SPRAWLING MANUFACTURING SITE
The raid targeted a manufacturing site widely considered one of Georgia’s largest and most high profile.

Hyundai Motor Group started manufacturing EVs at the US$7.6 billion plant a year ago. Today, the site employs about 1,200 people in a largely rural area about 40km west of Savannah.

Agents specifically honed in on an adjacent plant that is still under construction at which Hyundai has partnered with LG Energy Solution to produce batteries that power EVs.

The Hyundai site is in Bryan County, which saw its population increase by more than a quarter in the early 2020s and stood at almost 47,000 residents in 2023, the most recent year data is available. The county’s Asian population went from 1.5 per cent in 2018 to 2.2 per cent in 2023, and the growth was primarily among people of Indian descent, according to Census Bureau figures.

LARGEST SINGLE-SITE ENFORCEMENT OPERATION
From farms and construction sites to restaurants and auto repair shops, there have been a wide array of workplace raids undertaken in this administration. But most have been smaller, including a raid the same day as the Georgia one in which federal officers took away dozens of workers from a snack-bar manufacturer in Cato, New York.

Other recent high-profile raids have included one in July targeting a legal marijuana farm northwest of Los Angeles. More than 360 people were arrested in one of the largest raids since Trump took office in January. Another one took place at an Omaha. Nebraska, meat production plant and involved dozens of workers being taken away.

Schrank described the one in Georgia as the “largest single site enforcement operation” in the agency’s two-decade history.

The majority of the people detained are Koreans. During the 12-month period that ended Sep 30, 2024, only 46 Koreans were deported during out of more than 270,000 removals for all nationalities, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Community members and advocates have mixed reactions

Kemp and other Georgia Republican officials, who had courted Hyundai and celebrated the EV plant’s opening, issued statements Friday saying all employers in the state were expected to follow the law.

The nonprofit legal advocacy organisation Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta described the raid in a joint statement as “unacceptable.”

“Our communities know the workers targeted at Hyundai are everyday people who are trying to feed their families, build stronger communities, and work toward a better future,” the statement said.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/us-immigration-raid-south-korea-hyundai-plant-atlanta-georgia-5336066

A disgraced former FBI official tipped off an employee of a Chinese group that did business with the Biden family about planned arrests related to a criminal investigation, compromising the integrity of the probe, according to a Justice Department watchdog.

Charles McGonigal, who helmed the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison in 2023 for colluding with a Russian oligarch to evade US sanctions — but his leaks about the bureau’s investigation into China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), its top executive Patrick Ho and affiliated companies, were only made public Thursday by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.

While overseeing the FBI probe into CEFC, McGonigal met with an Albanian official working for CEFC in June 2017 and told them “something to the effect of ‘we are looking into them’ or ‘we are going after them,’” the Albanian official, only identified as “Person B,” told the FBI in a 2022 proffer interview.

“Person B said that he understood ‘we’ to be the FBI and ‘them’ to be CEFC China or CEFC NGO,” the inspector general report noted.

Person B traveled to Washington, DC, the day after his meeting with McGonigal and notified Ho about what he had gleaned from the FBI mole.

He warned Ho that he believed the bureau had plans to arrest him and potentially others involved with CEFC.

Person B later shared the leaked intel with CEFC China Chairman Ye Jianming, who warned another FBI target — identified as “Target 3” in the report — about the potential of imminent arrests.

In November 2017, Person B contacted McGonigal after receiving an invitation from Ho to attend a CEFC-sponsored event in New York.

Person B was not in the US at the time and appeared to be wrestling with the idea of attending the event, given the FBI probe into CEFC.

“Stay in Albania,” McGonigal advised Person B, according to the report.

The FBI official also said something to the effect of “we are ready for them” or “ready for action,” Person B said in the proffer interview.

Person B claims he did not pass along this tip to anyone at CEFC, and Ho attended the event and was arrested on bribery and money laundering charges when he arrived in the US from China.

Documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee indicate that former first son Hunter Biden referred to Ho, the vice-chairman of CEFC, as his client and the “f–king spy chief of China,”

Ho agreed to pay Hunter a $1 million retainer for “Counsel to matters related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm or Lawyer,” according to the documents.

In other correspondence between Hunter and CEFC, he said that any deals struck would be “interesting for me and my family.”

Hunter and his uncle James Biden raked in $4.8 million from CEFC’s affiliate company, CEFC China Energy, in 2017 and 2018.

As the FBI investigated the leaks, it was concluded that Ho “decided to attend the CEFC event after James Biden or another individual likely told Ho, relying on information provided by a private investigator, that it was safe for Ho to return to the United States.”

The inspector general report notes that the FBI interviewed a retired US Secret Service agent working as a private investigator who told the bureau that James Biden reached out to him in November 2017 with a request to determine whether there was an arrest warrant for Ho.

“Re new case I need ASAP—I’m in Hong Kong,” read the subject line on James Biden’s email to the retired agent.

“Have info on an individual I need a background on one specific issue. Very timely. Thanks Jim [phone number]. Please call,” the message read.

On a phone call, James Biden told the former Secret Service agent turned PI that “we have information from China that Ho may be arrested” and that Ho wanted to travel to the United States but was concerned about a potential warrant for his arrest.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/09/05/us-news/ex-fbi-official-tipped-off-chinese-firm-doing-business-with-biden-family-about-arrests-doj-watchdog

When asked what would be next on agenda for the finance ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about non-financial regulators.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reflected on the recently introduced reforms in the goods and services tax (GST) rates, and said it would fuel increased consumption, thus helping the economy.

When asked what would be next on agenda for the finance ministry, Sitharaman told Hindustan Times, “The next would be about regulators who are non-financial. That’s one area which is pending reform. I announced it in the budget. That’s very critical. Like Competition Commission of India (CCI), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)…”

In her budget speech earlier this year, Sitharaman had said that a regulatory reforms committee would review all non-financial sector regulations, certifications, licenses, and permissions. “The objective is to strengthen trust-based economic governance and take transformational measures to enhance ‘ease of doing business’, especially in matters of inspections and compliances. States will be encouraged to join in this endeavour,” she was quoted in a government release.

It was also said that the high-level committee would make recommendations within a year.

‘Will see how GST 2.0 plays out’
The GST Council recently introduced major reforms to its structure, approving a two-tier rate structure of 5 and 18 per cent, to take effect starting September 22.

Talking about the reforms, Sitharaman appeared hopeful and said she looks forward to seeing how the reforms will play out and how people will benefit from it.

“I enjoyed this phase. It was rigorous. It was intense. It was like taking a tough exam. And passing. For the entire team. Whether this benefits people is a different exam — and I will take that too. The rejuvenation I feel… that’s the reward for the sweat and toil, I suppose,” she told HT.

Will revenues dip due to GST reforms?
Sitharaman was asked how states responded to the reforms introduced in the GST rates. To this, the Finance Minister said the only concern brought forth was: if revenues go down.

“…I explained to them that we were all in this together. That all the money was coming from the same pool,” she said.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/nirmala-sitharaman-interview-gst-reforms-non-financial-regulators-101757130393897.html

US President Donald Trump hosted top tech leaders at the White House, with AI and investments in focus. Five Indian-origin CEOs, including Nadella and Pichai, highlighted the diaspora’s growing influence in global technology.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday hosted a high-profile dinner at the White House with America’s top technology leaders, with discussions centered on artificial intelligence and corporate investments in the United States.
While the guest list featured industry heavyweights such as Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai, the evening stood out for the strong Indian-American presence at the table.
“The most brilliant people are gathered around this table. This is definitely a high-IQ group and I’m very proud of them,” Trump said

A federal jury has ordered Google to pay $425.7 million for improperly snooping on people’s smartphones during a nearly decade-long period of intrusions.

The verdict reached Wednesday in San Francisco federal court followed a more than two-week trial in a class-action case covering about 98 million smartphones operating in the United States between July 1, 2016, through Sept. 23, 2024. That means the total damages awarded in the five-year-old case works out to about $4 per device.

Google had denied that it was improperly tracking the online activity of people who thought they had shielded themselves with privacy controls. The company maintained its stance even though the eight-person jury concluded Google had been spying in violation of California privacy laws.

“This decision misunderstands how our products work, and we will appeal it,” Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said Thursday. “Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.”

The lawyers who filed the case had argued Google had used the data they collected off smartphones without users’ permission to help sell ads tailored to users’ individual interests — a strategy that resulted in the company reaping billions in additional revenue. The lawyers framed those ad sales as illegal profiteering that merited damages of more than $30 billion.

Even though the jury came up with a far lower calculation for the damages, one of the lawyers who brought the case against Google hailed the outcome as a victory for privacy protection.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/google-smartphone-surveillance-verdict-damages-c93e0150089fd47ec396f1d0abacb4a8

Florida plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for students to attend schools, the state’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, announced on Wednesday, a move public health experts warned could trigger severe outbreaks among children, tourists and those with compromised immune systems.
Ladapo, along with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, cast the issue of vaccination as one of personal choice.

“Every last one of the them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo said at a press conference in Tampa. “Who am I as a government or anyone else, or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what to do with your body?”

Ladapo said his agency would roll back mandates for a half-dozen or so vaccines under its authority but will need to work with the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature on a broader package of reforms. He did not specify which vaccine mandates his agency would do away with.
DeSantis, a Republican, made opposing COVID-19 mandates and precautions a central tenet of his first term in office.
“Medical freedom is something we’ve got to be very conscientious about protecting,” DeSantis said.
All U.S. states have vaccine requirements to attend public schools with specific exceptions varying by state.

Vaccination rates for several diseases, including measles, diphtheria and polio, decreased among U.S. kindergartners in the 2024-25 school year, according to federal data.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new figures in July in the midst of a growing measles outbreak, with confirmed cases that month reaching the highest level since the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.
Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said Florida’s move was “going to be a major disaster.”
“You’re going to get multiple outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease and spread of these diseases,” she said. “These kids are going to bring it home.”
If Florida follows through with dropping all vaccine mandates, it could also impact vaccination requirements at daycares or other places that require inoculations, she added.

It could also put people who are immunocompromised and unable to get vaccinated at risk of disease and death. And because Florida is a major vacation destination, the move could spread diseases to other states.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, called the decision “reckless.”
“Every parent of a child who dies or who is hospitalized with a vaccine-preventable disease will know exactly why,” said Osterholm, who is helping organize the Vaccine Integrity Project, a group of public health and infectious disease experts formed due to concerns about changes to U.S. vaccine policy.
Shares of COVID vaccine makers were down, Pfizer (PFE.N), by 0.9% and Moderna (MRNA.O), off 1.4%.

‘NEXT GOVERNOR GETS TO FIRE THIS GUY’

President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has long questioned the safety of vaccines and has promoted the view that vaccines contribute to rising rates of autism, contrary to scientific evidence.

Since taking office this year, Kennedy has taken steps to remake U.S. policy on vaccines, firing expert vaccine advisers to the CDC and replacing them with people who more closely share his views.
Last week, the CDC’s director was ousted after clashing with Kennedy over vaccine policy, prompting the resignation of four of the agency’s most senior officials who said they could no longer trust their ability to maintain scientific integrity.
DeSantis said on Wednesday he was establishing a commission to align the state with Kennedy’s healthcare agenda that will also provide input for a legislative package. The legislature does not convene until January.
Ladapo said, as the state’s top public health official, he lacks the authority to mandate certain vaccines.
“Your body is a gift from God,” he said. “What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God. I don’t have that right.”
Ladapo has criticized the mRNA COVID shots from Pfizer and BioNTech (22UAy.DE), opens new tab and Moderna, and in 2023 called on regulatory agencies to study what he said were their harmful effects, without scientific evidence.
COVID vaccines in the first year of their use during the pandemic saved some 14.4 million lives globally, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Ladapo also urged Florida communities to stop adding fluoride to drinking water.
During the COVID pandemic, Ladapo was counseled by Tracy Beth Hoeg, a sports medicine physician who worked for him as an epidemiologist. Hoeg opposed masks and universal mandates during the pandemic and the use of some childhood vaccines. She is now employed at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Before the White House nominated Susan Monarez to head the CDC, some media reports briefly raised Ladapo as a possible candidate. DeSantis on Wednesday again suggested he would make a good choice to take over the public health agency.
David Jolly, a Democratic candidate to succeed DeSantis as governor, blasted Ladapo on X.
“The next governor gets to fire this guy. I know I would,” he said.
CDC data shows that for the 2024-2025 school year, about 5.1% of Florida kindergartners were exempted from one or more vaccines, or about 11,287 children. As a percentage, Florida ranks alongside many states, though in absolute numbers, it is second only to Texas.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/florida-plans-end-all-state-vaccine-mandates-including-schools-2025-09-03/

President Trump has criticized India for its high tariffs, labeling it the “most tariffed nation.” He claims India has proposed a “no tariff” deal but warns it may be too late. Trump defends his 50% tariff on Indian imports, asserting that it is necessary for fair trade.

US President Donald Trump has once again lashed out at India over trade practices, branding it the “most tariffed nation” in the world and accusing New Delhi of maintaining a “totally one-sided” relationship with Washington. Speaking on The Scott Jennings Radio Show, Trump reiterated his long-standing claim that India has now offered a “no tariff” deal, though he warned that the offer might be “too late.”
Trump, who has made tariffs a central theme of his economic and foreign policy, defended his decision to impose a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods entering the US. “China kills us with tariffs, India kills us with tariffs, Brazil kills us with tariffs. I’ve understood tariffs better than they did; I understood tariffs better than any human beings in the world,” he remarked. “India was the most highly tariffed nation in the world… and you know what, they’ve offered me no tariffs in India anymore. No tariffs. If I didn’t have tariffs, they would never make that offer. So you have to have tariffs.”
The former businessman-turned-president claimed that the US has historically done “very little business” with India, while New Delhi has sold “massive amounts of goods” to America, making Washington its largest client. On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump described the relationship as a “one-sided disaster” spanning decades. He argued that US companies had been unable to expand in India because of what he called “the highest tariffs of any country,” and criticised India’s heavy reliance on Russian oil and defence imports instead of sourcing more from the United States.

The controversial remarks come even as a US appeals court recently ruled that Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports were unlawful, sparking debate within American political and business circles. Several lawmakers have argued that the tariffs risk hurting US consumers and manufacturers rather than balancing trade. Meanwhile, India’s top exports to the US, including textiles, gems, pharmaceuticals, and machinery, have all faced significant duties under Trump’s policy.

In India, officials have maintained that trade negotiations are ongoing. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal recently said that both sides remain in dialogue to resolve the tariff dispute, though Washington has kept the 50 per cent duties in place. Analysts suggest that Trump’s combative rhetoric may be aimed as much at a domestic political audience as at New Delhi, framing his tariffs as a tool of “tough bargaining.”
The criticism of Trump’s India policy has not been limited to trade. Former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has accused Trump of weakening America’s long-term strategic ties with India while pivoting closer to Pakistan due to commercial interests. Sullivan, who served under President Joe Biden, said the US had spent decades nurturing relations with India in areas such as technology, talent and security cooperation against China, but Trump’s approach has “jeopardised” that foundation. He also warned that allies like Germany and Japan may now question Washington’s reliability as a partner.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/economy/donald-trump-accuses-india-of-killing-us-with-tariffs-claims-new-delhi-offered-a-no-tariff-deal-again-article-152650903

Microsoft (MSFT.O), forecast on Wednesday a record $30 billion in capital spending for the current fiscal first quarter, after booming sales in its Azure cloud computing business showcased the growing returns on its massive bets on artificial intelligence.
Shares of the software company rose 9% in extended trading after it said Azure sales surpassed $75 billion on an annual basis, the first time it has disclosed that figure, beating expectations for $74.62 billion.

Microsoft’s higher-than-expected capital expenditure forecast – its largest ever for a single quarter – put it on track to potentially outspend its rivals over the next year. It came after Google said it would spend more on data centers to meet demand for AI services, and Meta projected higher sales with only modest increases in spending. The trio of results could help resolve investor questions about whether Big Tech is benefiting from its massive data center buildout, with capital spending to reach $330 billion this year.
Microsoft and Meta’s results helped fuel a $500-billion gain in AI stocks.

“I feel very good that the spend that we’re making is correlated to basically contracted, on-the-books business that we need to deliver,” Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said on a conference call with investors.

Microsoft’s cloud business still trails market leader Amazon Web Services (AMZN.O), which had a head start in cloud computing and brought in $107.56 billion in its most recent fiscal year. But investors said Microsoft’s new revenue figure indicates its investments are translating to increased sales.
“Now that Microsoft’s disclosing that number, it’s really just helping justify the huge investments,” said Dave Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, which holds Microsoft shares.
Rival Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), earnings also showed last week that AI spending was rising, but so were the returns, as it beat revenue estimates and lifted its outlay forecast by $10 billion.

Microsoft said Azure revenue jumped 39% in the June quarter, more than the average analyst estimate of 34.75%, according to Visible Alpha. The company said it expects growth of 37% for the current quarter, beating analyst estimates of 33.5%, according to Visible Alpha data.

Microsoft has said the spending is crucial to overcoming supply constraints that have hampered its ability to meet soaring AI demand. The fiscal first-quarter capital expenditure estimate of $30 billion surpassed analysts’ expectations of $23.75 billion, according to Visible Alpha data.
In the just-ended fiscal fourth quarter, capital spending rose 27% to $24.2 billion, compared with estimates of $23.08 billion, per Visible Alpha.
Microsoft said its Copilot AI tools had surpassed 100 million monthly active users, the first time it has provided such a figure. Google has said rival Gemini has 450 million active users.

Overall revenue rose 18% to $76.4 billion in the April-June period, Microsoft’s fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts on average expected $73.81 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

LONGER-LIVED ASSETS

Microsoft said its capital spending trended slightly toward longer-lived assets such as data centers, after it previously told investors the mix would shift toward shorter-lived assets such as chips over its 2026 fiscal year. Jonathan Neilson, Microsoft’s vice president of investor relations, said that guidance does not mean that Microsoft will not continue to invest in longer-lived assets when capacity is needed to meet demand.
“We are going to absolutely invest against that,” Neilson said in an interview.
The company has emerged as an early leader in making money from AI thanks to its exclusive access to OpenAI’s technology. The tie-up has helped attract scores of businesses to its cloud service and allowed Microsoft to swiftly roll out AI products such as its M365 Copilot AI assistant for enterprises.
“The bar was set really high. And my impression is they delivered … They were able to execute in a very demanding environment,” said Dan Morgan, portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, which owns Microsoft shares.
Microsoft is just $200 billion short of becoming only the second company to hit a $4-trillion valuation, with its shares up about 20% this year.
But investor doubts have risen about the OpenAI tie-up as the companies renegotiate the deal and the startup shifts some workloads to rivals, including Google and Oracle .

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/microsoft-spend-record-30-billion-this-quarter-ai-investments-pay-off-2025-07-30/

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI roughly doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching $12 billion in annualized revenue, the Information reported on Wednesday citing a source.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. OpenAI declined to comment.

The figure implies that OpenAI is generating $1 billion a month, the report said, adding that the company has around 700 million weekly active users for its ChatGPT products used by both consumers and business customers.

The Microsoft-backed company has increased its cash burn projection to roughly $8 billion in 2025, up $1 billion from the cash burn it projected earlier in the year, the Information said.

The firm has been lining up investors for the second $30 billion portion of its funding round, the report said, adding that shareholders Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the round.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/openai-hits-12-billion-in-annualized-revenue-information-reports-5268801

The Income Tax department denied claims of increased long-term capital gains tax on LLPs in the new Income Tax Bill, 2025

The Income Tax department on Tuesday categorically refuted the claims of a possible increase in the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in the new Income Tax Bill, 2025.

The Income Tax Department in a post on X has clarified that the new Bill, which is currently under parliamentary scrutiny, does not include any change in tax rates.

“There are news articles circulating on various media platforms that the new Income Tax Bill, 2025 proposes to change tax rates on LTCG for certain categories of taxpayers. It is clarified that the Income Tax Bill, 2025 aims at language simplification and removal of redundant/obsolete provisions. It does not seek to change any rates of taxes,” the I-T Department said in a post on X.

“Any ambiguity in this respect shall be duly addressed during the passing of the Bill,” it added.

Rumours were circulating on social media the draft Bill’s provisions on Alternate Minimum Tax (AMT) could effectively raise the LTCG tax on LLPs from 12.5% to 18.5%.

Several tax practitioners have voiced concerns that the way AMT provisions have been redrafted may result in higher effective tax liability for LLPs currently benefiting from lower LTCG rates.

Source : https://www.news18.com/business/income-tax-bill-is-18-5-ltcg-tax-rates-proposed-on-llps-under-new-draft-bill-ws-l-9471921.html

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced mass layoffs affecting approximately 12,000 employees, or 2% of its workforce, marking the largest reductions in the company’s history.

The announcement of mass layoffs at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has prompted the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) to reach out to Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. On Sunday, India’s largest IT services firm confirmed plans to lay off around 12,000 employees this year, roughly 2% of its total workforce.
With this move, TCS is set to carry out the largest workforce reduction in its history. Back in 2015, the company had terminated around 3,000 employees, roughly 1% of its staff then. This latest layoff is now being seen as the biggest mass termination the Indian IT industry has ever witnessed.

TCS job cut: The move is part of a broader plan to adapt to changing technology trends and streamline operations as the company aims to become a “future-ready” organisation.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software exporter, is planning to lay off around 12,000 employees, or about 2% of its global workforce, during the current financial year.

The move is part of a broader plan to adapt to changing technology trends and streamline operations as the company aims to become a “future-ready” organisation.

This comes shortly after TCS updated its HR policy, requiring employees to maintain at least 225 billable days a year and capping bench time at 35 days.

In a statement, TCS said, “TCS is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure and realigning our workforce model.”

“Towards this, a number of reskilling and redeployment initiatives have been underway. As part of this journey, we will also be releasing associates from the organisation whose deployment may not be feasible. This will impact about 2% of our global workforce, primarily in the middle and the senior grades, over the course of the year.”

The company stressed that this change is being handled with care to ensure that client service remains unaffected.

“We understand that this is a challenging time for our colleagues likely to be affected. We thank them for their service and we will be making all efforts to provide appropriate benefits, outplacement, counselling, and support as they transition to new opportunities,” the statement added.

TCS CEO and MD K Krithivasan said that the layoffs will not be done in a rush. He explained that the process will involve identifying impacted employees carefully and giving them a fair opportunity to be redeployed.

“It’s a process through which we identify the people. It will be coming through the year. We won’t do it in a hurry. We will be first talking to the people that could be impacted. We will provide them an opportunity. When we are not able to provide the opportunity, then we need to do the step we need. And, that is, we will do whatever is the benefit that we have to provide,” Krithivasan told Moneycontrol.

He added that the company will follow its HR policy to ensure that outgoing employees are treated with dignity and provided adequate support.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/tcs-layoff-job-cut-12000-what-it-company-offer-to-affected-employees-updated-hr-policy-ai-2762192-2025-07-27

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the U.S. automaker had signed a $16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics, a move expected to bolster the South Korean tech giant’s loss-making contract manufacturing business.

Samsung shares rose more than 6 per cent after the news.

“Samsung’s giant new Texas fab will be dedicated to making Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip. The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate,” Musk said in a post on X on Monday.

If Musk was referring to Samsung’s upcoming Taylor, Texas, plant, the deal could revive the project that has faced delays amid Samsung’s struggles to retain and win major customers.

“Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house,” Musk said on his social media platform.

While no timeline was provided for AI6 chip production, Musk has previously said that next-generation A15 chips will be produced at the end of 2026, suggesting A16 would follow.

Samsung currently makes Tesla’s A14 chips, which power its Full Self-Driving driver assistant system, while TSMC will make the AI5 initially in Taiwan and then Arizona, Musk has said.

In October, Reuters reported that Samsung had postponed taking deliveries of ASML chipmaking equipment for its factory in Texas as it had not yet won any major customers for the project. It has already delayed the plant’s operational start to 2026.

Samsung, the world’s top memory chip maker, also produces logic chips designed by customers through its foundry business. The Texas project is central to Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee’s strategy to expand beyond its bread-and-butter memory chips into contract chip manufacturing.

Samsung currently trails a distant second in the global foundry market, with an 8 per cent share versus leader TSMC’s 67 per cent share, data from market researcher Trendforce show.

Samsung had earlier announced the $16.5 billion chip supply deal without naming the client, saying the customer had requested confidentiality about the details of the deal, which will run through the end of 2033.

Three sources briefed about the matter told Reuters that Tesla was the customer for the deal.

HELP FOUNDRY BUSINESS

The news comes as Samsung, which is due to report its earnings on Thursday, faces mounting pressure in the race to produce artificial intelligence chips, where it trails rivals such as TSMC and SK Hynix. This lag has weighed heavily on its profits and share price.

Pak Yuak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the deal would help reduce losses at Samsung’s foundry business, which he estimated exceeded 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) in the first half of the year.

Analysts say Samsung has struggled with the defection of key clients to TSMC for advanced chips. TSMC counts Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm among its customers.

It is not clear whether the Samsung-Tesla deal is related to ongoing trade talks between Korea and the United States. Seoul is seeking U.S. partnerships in chips and shipbuilding amid last-ditch efforts to reach a trade deal to eliminate or reduce potential 25 per cent U.S. tariffs.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/musk-says-tesla-samsung-electronics-sign-165-billion-chip-supply-deal-5261791

McDonald’s Corp is planning to sell eight prime retail properties in Hong Kong with a total market value of around HK$1.2 billion ($152.89 million), JLL, which has been appointed as the sole agent of the sale, said on Monday.

The McDonald’s outlets in the locations will continue to operate, JLL executive director of capital markets Eunice Tang said in a statement.

In a separate statement, McDonald’s Corp said it continually reviewed its property portfolio and that the Hong Kong sites were available for sale as part of that assessment.

The fast-food company, which is headquartered in Chicago, said it remained fully committed to the Hong Kong market.

Hong Kong Economic Times reported earlier on Monday McDonald’s planned to sell all of its 23 retail spaces – valued at nearly HK$3 billion in total – in batches, but it would continue operating in existing locations as tenants, and the sale would not affect its operations in the city.

McDonald’s has around 256 restaurants in Hong Kong, the report said, many in rented spaces.

In 2017, McDonald’s Corp sold an 80 per cent stake in its mainland Chinese and Hong Kong operations to a group that included CITIC Ltd, its investment arm CITIC Capital, and Carlyle Group for up to $2.1 billion. But the assets remain under McDonald’s Corp.

The sale of the eight retail properties is offered through a public tender that ends on September 16. JLL said it had already received significant interest from a wide pool of potential investors.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/mcdonalds-sell-8-hong-kong-retail-spaces-valued-153-million-jll-says-5262161

A bitter family feud has erupted in the RS 30,000 crore Sona Group after the sudden death of chairman Sunjay Kapur. His mother, Rani Kapur, alleges coercion and exclusion from key decisions, including the appointment of daughter-in-law Priya Sachdev Kapur.

Following the death of Sunjay Kapur, the fight for control over the Sona Group – an empire worth Rs 30,000 crore – took an ugly turn when his mother Rani Kapur alleged that she was “coerced” into signing some documents while she was grieving over his son’s untimely death. The issue escalated further when the company went ahead with the annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday, despite Rani Kapur’s objection. Furthermore, the flagship company, Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd, said that Sunjay Kapur’s mother has not been a shareholder since 2019, justifying the proceedings.
Kapur wrote to the board, asserting herself as the majority shareholder and requesting that the Annual General Meeting scheduled for this afternoon be postponed.
She alleged that she had been coerced into signing certain documents and raised objections over the appointment of “certain people (i.e., Priya Sachdev Kapur, her daughter-in-law)” who, she claimed, were representing the family without her consent.

In response, the company, in a filing to the stock exchanges, stated that in May 2019 it had received a “declaration of significant beneficial ownership” identifying Sunjay Kapur as the “sole beneficial owner…”.
The company justified Priya Sachdev Kapur’s appointment as a non-executive director, saying her name was “duly reviewed… and approved”. The company also clarified that Rani Kapur’s allegation of being coerced into signing documents was not true, as the board stressed that no documents had been signed or obtained from her since Sunjay Kapur’s death.
The family feud erupted after an email from Rani Kapur late Thursday, in which she requested the deferment of the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The board stated it sought legal advice on how to proceed “out of respect” for Ms Kapur.
“Based on the legal counsel and the fact Rani Kapur is not a shareholder of the Company, the Company concluded that it could not defer the AGM,” the exchange filing said.
Earlier, Kapur had accused her ‘enemies’ of attempting to usurp her family’s legacy while she was mourning the loss of her son. She said she had been informed of an item on the AGM agenda, i.e., “the passing of a resolution to appoint certain Director(s) as being the representative of the Kapur family”.
That ‘representative’ was Priya Sachdev Kapur.
Kapur made it very clear that she had not been consulted in this decision.
“For the record, I state I have not given any consent or officially nominated any person to come on the board of the company, or any other Sona Group company, after my son’s demise, or given any consent to any person to represent me in any capacity before any Sona Group company.”
“At this stage I do not wish to dilate any further on various gross illegalities… except to state, in no uncertain terms, that it is imperative that no decisions are taken without my consent,” she added.
According to a report in The Economic Times, Rani Kapur, who asserts that she holds majority ownership in the Sona Group based on her late husband’s 2015 will, may approach the high court next week to seek a declaration affirming her status as a shareholder and alleging she was excluded from voting at the AGM. Sources also indicated that she is likely to file a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), accusing the company of oppression and mismanagement. However, her legal counsel, senior advocate Vaibhav Gaggar, has denied that any legal proceedings have been initiated at this stage.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/companies/who-controls-sona-group-now-kapur-familys-battle-over-legacy-and-power-after-sunjay-kapurs-death-explained-article-152348570

In a sweeping move under the Trump administration’s directive to streamline federal agencies, NASA is set to lose nearly 3,870 employees through a voluntary resignation programme, raising concerns about talent drain and mission safety.

In a significant reshaping of the United States space programme, NASA has confirmed that approximately 3,870 employees will resign from the agency as part of a Deferred Resignation Program launched in 2025, aligning with the Trump administration’s broader push to reduce the federal workforce, said a Bloomberg report.
The mass exits, expected to leave NASA with a civil servant base of roughly 14,000, mark one of the largest voluntary exits in the agency’s history. This includes both phases of the resignation offer and the normal attrition rate of around 500 staff.
“This is about ensuring we become a more streamlined and efficient organisation,” said NASA in an official statement issued Friday. “But safety remains a top priority as we pursue a Golden Era of exploration, including to the Moon and Mars.”

The first round of resignations began in early 2025, when about 870 employees, or 4.8 per cent of the agency’s workforce, opted in. The second round, launched in June with a July 25 deadline, saw a staggering 3,000 employees, or 16.4 per cent, agree to leave,reported Bloomberg.
Former acting administrator Janet Petro, during a June town hall, acknowledged the gravity of the situation, “The reason we are doing this is to minimise any involuntary workforce reductions in the future. That is our whole goal, minimising that.”
While NASA emphasised that participation in the programme is voluntary, and resignations are still under review, internal sources revealed concerns that the talent drain could affect NASA’s mission-readiness.
A letter titled “The Voyager Declaration”, signed by hundreds of current and former NASA employees, has been sent to interim administrator Sean Duffy, also head of the US Transportation Department. It warns, “Thousands of NASA civil servant employees have already been terminated, resigned or retired early, taking with them highly specialised, irreplaceable knowledge crucial to carrying out NASA’s mission.”
The letter calls for a reevaluation of the administration’s strategy, citing the risk to mission-critical operations and deep-space initiatives.
The Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk as part of Trump’s controversial federal reforms, has been instrumental in overseeing this reduction. However, critics argue the plan may have long-term consequences for America’s space ambitions.
The move has already drawn scrutiny from aerospace contractors, union representatives, and Congressional aides. Experts caution that an exodus of this scale — particularly of scientific and engineering staff — may result in delays to key programmes like Artemis, Orion, and deep-space robotic missions.
NASA has reportedly applied for a “blanket waiver” earlier this year in hopes of shielding probationary employees from forced layoffs, but its status remains unclear.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/companies/mass-resignations-at-nasa-spark-alarm-3870-employees-set-to-exit-amid-trump-era-workforce-cuts-article-152348674

A higher ethanol blend should theoretically lower the price of petrol. It has instead, potentially increased the average cost of vehicle ownership. Here’s how.

Having achieved its 20% ethanol blending targets five years prior to its deadline, it’s safe to say that biofuel is to play a key role in the central government’s plan to reduce crude oil dependence. It’s a win-win for both the government and the agricultural sector, which can now utilise excess sugar for ethanol production.

With the exception of Delhi, petrol prices range between ₹100 – ₹104.2 per litre. Earlier this year, the per-litre price of ethanol increased by ₹1.69, bringing the total ex-mill cost of ethanol produced for the purposes of blending with petrol to ₹57.97. Given that ethanol is a little over half the price of petrol, the 20% blend, which was achieved earlier this year, should theoretically be accompanied by a marginal drop in petrol prices. In 2021, a 20% blend was projected to reduce petrol prices by ₹8/litre, according to a report by CNBC TV18. That hasn’t turned out to be the case.

In India, retail fuel prices are determined by international crude oil prices and the existing tax structure imposed by states via excise and VAT. While there has been no major fluctuation in VAT in the last couple of years, excise duty did go up in April, although the cost was not passed on to the customers, according to a report by Reuters. However, the benefit of the lower cost of production of ethanol has also not been passed down to the customers. In fact, it has indirectly added to the running cost of a petrol vehicle as ethanol burns much faster than petrol and isn’t as energy efficient.

Translation: lower mileage. You have to buy a lot more blended petrol in order to go the same distance as you would without unblended petrol. The prices also depend on just how the ethanol is produced. According to a report by the Centre of Social and Economic Progress, ethanol derived from B-Heavy Mollases, Sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup, and damaged food grains brings the ex-mill price range up to ₹60 – ₹65.6. Add transportation charges and a 5% flat GST charge per litre, and the weighted average comes down to ₹65.35/litre of ethanol. Theoretically, then, the average price of petrol should be around ₹95/litre, which is only available in Delhi at the moment.

The report goes on to claim there is enough evidence to suggest that the Ethanol Blend Petrol Programme has played a key role in reducing crude oil imports, saving foreign exchange and generating domestic revenue. However, no cost benefit has been passed down to the customer. With the government working to meet an E27 target ( a 27-30% ethanol blend by 2030) there’s no evidence to suggest that the consumer will benefit at all. In fact, as it stands, the move is costing the petrol car consumer due to lower mileage and wear and tear caused by the corrosive nature of ethanol.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/can-a-higher-ethanol-blend-negatively-impact-petrol-prices-101753498932155.html

An Antonov An-24 passenger plane carrying 48 people crashed in Russia’s far east on Thursday as it was preparing to land, killing everyone on board in an incident that spotlighted the continued use of old, Soviet-era aircraft.
The burning fuselage of the plane, which was made in 1976, was spotted by a search helicopter after it disappeared from radar screens. It had been attempting to land for a second time after failing to touch down on its first approach, the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

Operated by the privately owned Siberian regional airline Angara, it had been en route from the city of Blagoveshchensk near the Chinese border to Tynda, an important railway junction in the Amur region. It was carrying 42 passengers, including five children, and six crew.
The regional governor and federal investigators confirmed that everyone on board had been killed.
Investigators said they had opened a criminal case into the suspected violation of air traffic and air transport rules, resulting in the death of more than two people through negligence. The plane had recently passed a technical safety inspection, Russian news agencies reported, and had been involved in four apparently minor incidents since 2018.

The crash is likely to raise new questions about the viability of continuing to fly such old planes in far-flung corners of Russia at a time when Western sanctions have crimped Moscow’s ability to access investment and spare parts.
It may also prompt other countries that operate the aircraft to review their fleets. North Korea, Kazakhstan, Laos, Cuba, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe operate the An-24, according to the authoritative RussianPlanes web-portal.
Video shot from a helicopter showed pale smoke rising from the crash site in a densely forested hilly area around 15 km (10 miles) from Tynda. There were no roads to the site and a rescue team had to use heavy machinery to cut a path there.
President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and held a minute’s silence at the start of a government meeting.

At least one Chinese citizen was reported to have been on board and Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his condolences to Putin.
Moscow said it had set up a commission to deal with the aftermath in addition to the criminal and air safety investigations. A representative of Angara said they could not offer any more details.

‘FLYING TRACTORS’

Angara is based in the Siberian city of Irkutsk and serves airports in Siberia and Russia’s far east. Before Thursday’s crash, it operated 10 An-24s built between 1972 and 1976, according to RussianPlanes.
It was one of two Siberian airlines that last year asked the Russian government, to extend the service life of the Antonov aircraft, as Russian planemakers scramble to plug the gap left by an exodus of foreign manufacturers.
Nicknamed “flying tractors” by some, the propeller-driven An-24s are regarded as reliable workhorses inside Russia and are well-suited to Siberia as they are able to operate in sub-zero conditions and don’t have to land on runways.
But airline executives, pilots and industry experts say the cost of maintaining the Antonovs – which make up a fraction of Russia’s fleet of over 1,000 passenger planes – has increased after Western sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine hit investment and access to parts.
Almost 1,340 An-24 planes were built in the Soviet Union. Eighty-eight have now been lost because of crashes and 65 because of serious incidents without casualties, and 75 are currently in operation, according to data from the RussianPlanes web-portal and Reuters analysis.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/soviet-era-passenger-plane-crashes-russias-far-east-killing-all-48-board-2025-07-24/

Demand in China has begun surging for a business that, in theory, shouldn’t exist: the repair of advanced Nvidia (NVDA.O), artificial intelligence chipsets that the U.S. has banned the export of to its trade and tech rival.
Around a dozen boutique companies now offer repair services, according to two such firms in the tech hub of Shenzhen which say they predominantly fix Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) that have somehow made their way to the country, as well as A100 GPUs and a range of other chips.

Even before it was launched, the H100 was banned from sale in China in September 2022 by U.S. authorities keen to rein in Chinese technological development, particularly advances that its military could use. Its predecessor, the A100, was also banned at the same time after being on the market for over two years.
“There is really significant repair demand,” said a co-owner of a firm that has been fixing Nvidia’s gaming GPUs for 15 years and began working on AI chips in late 2024.
Business has been so good that the owners created a new company to handle those orders, which now repairs up to 500 Nvidia AI chips per month. Its facilities, as shown in social media advertising, include a room which can accommodate 256 servers, simulating customers’ data centre environments to conduct testing and validate repairs.

The rapid growth of the repair industry from late last year supports the view that there has been a significant amount of smuggling of Nvidia chipsets into China. Tenders have shown that the government and the military have made purchases of the U.S. firm’s banned AI chips.
Concern about large-scale smuggling of high-end Nvidia products into China has prompted both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to introduce bills that would require the tracking of chipsets so that their location can be verified after they are sold. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration also backed the idea this week.
The thriving repair industry also highlights how Nvidia’s advanced GPUs remain in high demand despite new, albeit less powerful, products from Chinese tech giant Huawei (HWT.UL).
Though the buying, selling and repair of Nvidia GPUs is not illegal in China, sources for this article were reluctant to draw scrutiny from U.S. or Chinese authorities and declined to be identified.

Nvidia cannot legally provide repair or replacement items for restricted products in China. In contrast, sources said if an Nvidia GPU in another nation has a defect and is under warranty, which is normally three years, the company usually replaces it.
An Nvidia spokesperson said only the company and authorised partners “are able to provide the service and support that customers need. Using restricted products without approved hardware, software, and technical support is a nonstarter, both technically and economically.”

REPAIR DEMAND MAY NOT FADE

Nvidia has only just been allowed to recommence sales of its H20 AI chipset, which has been specifically developed for China to comply with U.S. restrictions. Switching over to H20 chipsets is, however, not necessarily a simple or good option for Chinese entities.
Price is an issue as one H20 server with eight GPUs inside will likely cost more than 1 million yuan ($139,400), industry sources say. H20 chipsets, which have increased memory bandwidth, have been specifically designed for AI inference work, but firms involved in the training of large language models would likely prefer H100 chipsets which are better suited to that task.

Industry sources said some of the H100 and A100 GPUs in China have been crunching data around the clock for years now, leading to an increase in failure rates. Depending on how frequently a GPU is used and how often it is maintained, an Nvidia GPU generally lasts two to five years before needing to be repaired, they said.
According to the first source, his company charges between 10,000 yuan and 20,000 yuan ($1,400 to $2,800) to fix a GPU depending on the complexity of the problem.
The second Shenzhen-based repair service provider – which shifted from GPU rentals to repairs this year – says it can repair up to 200 Nvidia AI chips each month, charging about 10% of the GPUs’ original selling price per repair.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-repair-demand-banned-nvidia-ai-chipsets-booms-2025-07-24/

In response to rising US-China tensions and intensifying data security laws, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has implemented strict new rules for employees traveling to China. The policy, effective 16 July, prohibits the use of company-issued devices and network access during both business and personal travel, signalling growing corporate unease over regulatory unpredictability in the world’s second-largest economy.

On 16 July 2025, BlackRock Inc., which manages over $10 trillion in global assets, introduced a new internal travel protocol that bars employees from using company-issued iPhones, iPads, laptops, or accessing the company’s network while in China, according to internal memos reviewed by Bloomberg and Reuters.
Instead, travelling employees must rely on temporary “loaner” devices and are not permitted to access BlackRock systems via VPN or any remote access methods while in the country—even during personal visits. The move reflects increasing operational caution in a climate marked by tightened data laws and geopolitical volatility.

A federal court in Marshall, Texas, said on Wednesday that U.S. telecom company Verizon Wireless must pay $175 million in damages for violating an inventor’s patent rights related to wireless communications technology.

The jury’s decision in favor of Headwater Research comes just months after the firm secured a $278 million verdict in a separate patent dispute against Samsung over wireless technology, also in the same Marshall, Texas, federal court.

Spokespeople for Verizon and attorneys for Headwater did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday’s verdict.

Tyler, Texas-based Headwater was founded by scientist and inventor Gregory Raleigh. Headwater said in its complaint in 2023 that its patented technology allows wireless devices to “reduce data usage and network congestion, extend battery life by decreasing power consumption, and enable users to stay connected.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/verizon-owes-175-million-in-patent-infringement-case-texas-jury-says-5255456

Tesla(TSLA.O), Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Wednesday that U.S. government cuts in support for electric vehicle makers could lead to a “few rough quarters” for the company before a wave of revenue from self-driving software and services begins late next year.
Shares fell nearly 5% after Musk responded on a quarterly results conference call to questions about new U.S. government policies under President Donald Trump.

Musk’s electric vehicle maker posted the worst quarterly sales decline in more than a decade and profit that missed Wall Street targets, but its profit margin on making cars was better than many feared. Musk is pursuing autonomous driving to power privately owned vehicles as well as robotaxis that it plans to put into production next year.
In the meantime, it is working on a new, cheaper car, though Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said that production would ramp up next quarter, slower than initially expected. It produced some initial units by the end of June. The company did not provide an update on its full-year deliveries forecast, citing the economy and timing of the new car rollout.

“Tesla’s disappointing results aren’t surprising given the rocky road it’s traveled recently,” said eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne. “A truly affordable model will hit the bullseye in terms of boosting sales if Tesla can effectively position it right without detracting from its higher-priced models.”
The second straight quarterly revenue drop, with a 12% fall, comes despite the launch of a refreshed version of its best-selling Model Y SUV that investors had hoped would help revive demand.
A 51% dive in sales of automotive regulatory credits, which other automakers who have difficulty complying with government emissions rules buy from Tesla, also hurt revenue and profit.
Revenue fell to $22.5 billion for the April-June quarter from $25.50 billion a year earlier, slightly behind analyst targets compiled by LSEG. Adjusted profit per share of 40 cents lagged the Wall Street consensus.

The automotive gross margin, which excludes regulatory credits, was 14.96%, above Wall Street estimates, helped in part by lower cost per vehicle.
Pricing and margins are important as Tesla wrestles with demand and faces falling government support. Tesla global deliveries dropped 13.5% in the second quarter, and the U.S. government later this year is cutting $7,500 tax credits for EV buyers.
“We probably could have a few rough quarters,” Musk said, when asked about the credits. “I’m not saying we will, but we could – you know, Q4, Q1, maybe Q2, but once you get to autonomy at scale in the second half of next year, certainly by the end of next year, I think I’d be surprised if Tesla’s economics are not very compelling.”

AUTONOMOUS RIDE HAILING

Tesla had said in April it would start producing the more affordable model by the end of the first half and sources had told Reuters the vehicle, a stripped-down version of its Model Y SUV, would be delayed by at least months. Tesla on Wednesday did not disclose any details of the model, how many units it had made, or how it would be priced. Musk responded to a question of what the vehicle would look like by saying, “It’s just a Model Y,” joking that he “let the cat out of the bag there.”

Tesla’s lineup is relatively old, despite a recent refresh of the flagship Model Y, and it faces rising competition from cheaper EVs, especially in China, and a persistent backlash against Musk’s far-right political views.
The company also said it continued to expect volume production of its custom-built robotaxi – called the Cybercab – and Semi Truck in 2026.
Much of the company’s trillion-dollar valuation hangs on its bet on its robotaxi service – a small trial of which was started in Austin, Texas, last month with about a dozen Model Y SUVs – and on its development of humanoid robots.
“Autonomy is the story,” Musk said on the conference call, describing plans to roll out autonomous ride hailing to about half of the U.S. population by the end of this year. Tesla is looking for robotaxi regulatory approval in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and other places, he said, and the company is close to getting regulatory approval for supervised Full Self-Driving driver assistance software in the Netherlands. The robotaxi business was likely to have a material impact on financials around the end of next year, Musk said.
Investors are concerned about whether Musk will be able to devote enough time and attention to Tesla after he locked horns with Trump by forming a new political party this month. He had promised weeks earlier that he would cut back on government work and focus on his companies.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-likely-faces-a-few-rough-quarters-end-us-ev-support-musk-says-2025-07-23/

Hundreds of thousands of doses of mpox vaccine that the United States had promised to send to African nations are in danger of going to waste, dozens of congressional Democrats said in a letter to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.
Forty-eight Democratic members of the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Sara Jacobs of California, signed the letter, saying that the vaccines may expire as they sit in warehouses, wasting the U.S. taxpayer dollars that paid for them.

The letter said 800,000 doses of the vaccines are at risk, and that some 220,000 doses could be viable if the State Department begins shipping them immediately.
“This is a moral, strategic, and public health failure in the making,” the letter said.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has made sharp cuts to foreign aid programs since beginning his second term six months ago, firing thousands of aid agency employees and contractors and throwing global humanitarian operations into chaos.
The Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation this month approving Trump’s request for about $8 billion in foreign aid cuts.

Trump has said the U.S. pays disproportionately for foreign aid, and he wants other countries to shoulder more of the burden.
The World Health Organization first declared the outbreak of mpox in August 2024, when an outbreak of a new form of the disease spread from the badly-hit Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/hundreds-thousands-us-taxpayer-funded-vaccine-doses-may-expire-lawmakers-say-2025-07-23/

CoinDCX in the FIR said that the full financial impact is being absorbed by the company’s treasury reserves, with no losses passed on to customers.

Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has reported a major security breach resulting in a loss of approximately ₹378 crore ($44.2 million). The incident, which took place on July 19 at 4 am IST, involved unauthorized access to an internal operational account on a partner exchange. The company has assured users that their funds remain secure and unaffected.

In a FIR released on Sunday, CoinDCX said that the full financial impact is being absorbed by the company’s treasury reserves, with no losses passed on to customers. Co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal addressed the situation on the social media platform X, attributing the breach to a “sophisticated server attack” targeting an internal wallet used for liquidity provisioning.

“Today, one of our internal operational accounts – used only for liquidity provisioning on a partner exchange – was compromised due to a sophisticated server breach. I confirm that the CoinDCX wallets used to store customer assets are not impacted and are completely safe. This won’t cause any loss to our customers. CoinDCX will be bearing the full amount,” Gupta posted.

Khandelwal added, “The total amount lost was ₹378 crore ($44 million) out of our treasury assets. CoinDCX Treasury will be bearing these losses.”

The incident was first flagged by blockchain investigator ZachXBT, after which CoinDCX made the breach public. However, the delay of nearly 17 hours before disclosure has sparked criticism online, even as many commended the company’s decision to protect user assets.

Following the news, a rush of withdrawal requests overwhelmed CoinDCX’s systems, causing its portfolio APIs—which display user balances and transaction histories—to become temporarily unresponsive. Many users were unable to view their holdings for several hours, fueling speculation and anxiety across platforms. The company later confirmed that the APIs have been restored.

CoinDCX stated that the affected infrastructure has been completely isolated, and platform operations are functioning normally. Trading activities, INR deposits, and withdrawals continue without disruption. The company clarified that INR withdrawals below ₹5 lakh will be processed within 5 hours, while those above ₹5 lakh will be completed within 72 hours.

CoinDCX has reported the breach to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and initiated forensic investigations in collaboration with two globally reputed cybersecurity firms. The company has committed to sharing its findings publicly.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/coindcx-suffers-378-crore-security-breach-company-explains-what-happened-101753062902511.html

The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) has warned that unnotified trade restrictions imposed by China are disrupting supply chains and jeopardising India’s target of exporting $32 billion worth of smartphones in FY26. These measures, which impact capital goods, raw materials, and skilled personnel, could reverse India’s manufacturing gains and undermine its emerging role as a global electronics hub.

India’s electronics industry has raised serious concerns over China’s informal trade restrictions, which it claims are quietly undermining the country’s smartphone export ambitions. In a letter to the government, the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) said these curbs pose a significant threat to India’s export target of $32 billion for FY26, up from $24.1 billion the previous year.
The ICEA , whose members include Apple, Google, Motorola, Foxconn, Tata Electronics, Vivo, Oppo, Lava, Dixon, and Flex, said China has been deploying unofficial and sequential curbs on the export of capital equipment, rare minerals, and skilled Chinese personnel, all of which are critical to smartphone production in India.
“While domestic production remains relatively insulated for now, export-linked manufacturing to the tune of $24 billion in FY25, projected to cross $32 billion in FY26 in smartphones, has now come under serious risk,” ICEA said in its letter.

IIT Kharagpur graduate Pavan Guntupalli faced seven failed startups and 75 investor rejections before launching Rapido, India’s first bike-taxi platform now worth Rs 9,350 crore. His journey from failure to leading a transport revolution is a lesson in resilience, vision and timing.

When Pavan Guntupalli launched Rapido in 2015, few believed bike taxis could survive India’s crowded mobility market. But today, Rapido is valued at Rs 9,350 crore, operates in over 100 cities, and has been downloaded by over 5 crore users-all thanks to one man’s refusal to give up.
Before this success, Guntupalli endured seven failed ventures and 75 investor rejections. It wasn’t until a chance traffic jam sparked a breakthrough idea that things began to change.

Jio BlackRock, a high-profile joint venture between Jio Financial Services and global investment giant BlackRock, has made a ₹17,800 crore debut with three debt mutual fund schemes. But beyond the big numbers, it signals a strategic push to revolutionise Indian retail investing using tech, trust, and telecom.

Earlier this month, Jio BlackRock Asset Management, the 50:50 joint venture between Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Financial Services and US-based investment powerhouse BlackRock, marked its official entry into India’s mutual fund industry with a bang. The firm mobilised Rs 17,800 crore through the New Fund Offers (NFOs) of its first three debt-focused schemes.
This impressive launch places Jio BlackRock at 29th among 47 Indian fund houses by assets under management (AUM), based on June-quarter data. While it’s a long climb to the top in an industry where the top 10 players command 77 per cent of the Rs 72.3 trillion mutual fund space, Ambani and BlackRock are betting on scale, technology, and retail muscle to disrupt the game.

What is Jio BlackRock?

At its core, Jio BlackRock is a digital-first asset management company, seeking to fuse Reliance Jio’s telecom reach with BlackRock’s investment expertise. The goal is simple yet audacious: to bring millions of Indians—particularly from Tier II and Tier III cities—into the formal investment fold through mutual funds.
The venture aims to democratise access to mutual fund products, targeting users directly through Reliance’s financial ecosystem, especially the Jio Finance app, pre-installed on phones used by 475 million Reliance Jio subscribers.

Why Does It Matter?

India’s mutual fund industry has traditionally been top-heavy and metro-centric. Back in 2017, the top 35 cities accounted for about 90 per cent of the AUM. By March 2025, this had fallen to around 70 per cent, with rural and semi-urban participation rising steadily.
Jio BlackRock is well-positioned to tap into this shift. Its telecom backbone gives it reach, while BlackRock’s proprietary investment and risk-management systems offer the sophistication needed to manage funds at scale. “It’s not just about size—it’s about sustained performance,” said a Mumbai-based mutual fund analyst. “If they can marry performance with access, it could be a defining moment for Indian retail investing.”

How Will It Work?

Dolly Chaiwala, the viral tea-staller, has announced the launch of his business venture, receiving a plethora of applications to purchase the franchise.

Sunil Patil, also known as Dolly Chaiwala on the internet, has announced the launch of his business franchise Dolly Ki Tapri through an expensive franchise model across India. A Nagpur-based tea seller, Patil gained viral fame for his unique tea-serving style and a video appearance with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. He has now ventured into the business world, while also declaring his plans to expand the new brand.

“It’s India’s first viral street brand, and now… It’s a business opportunity. From carts to flagship cafes, we’re launching nationwide and looking for real people with real passion to carry this dream forward. If you’ve ever wanted to build something big, something desi, something truly legendary — this is your moment. Limited cities. Unlimited chai. Applications open now.” Patil wrote on his official social media channels, announcing the launch of “Dolly Ki Tapri”. The post contained a link to an application form through Instagram Stories, with three franchise options detailed for prospective business partners. Over 1,600 applications have already been received.

Dolly Chaiwala Franchise Cost

Dolly Chaiwala’s application form lists cart stall, store model and flagship cafe models with the range of costs described. While a cart stall can be bought for Rs 4.5 lakhs to Rs 6 lakhs in the venture, the store model franchise is available for Rs 20-22 lakhs. Business partners eyeing the Flagship Café model will have to shell out Rs 39 lakh to Rs 43 lakh. These models are part of Patil’s vision of growing the “Dolly Ki Tapri” from just a viral internet sensation to a well-structured and functioning nationwide business entity.

“Dolly Ki Tapri” Stuns The Internet Again

The announcement comes as tech giants such as Meta aggressively chase high-profile acquisitions and offer multi-million-dollar pay packages to attract top talent in the race to lead the next wave of artificial intelligence.

Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that Meta Platforms would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on computing power to build superintelligence, intensifying his pursuit of a technology he has chased with a talent war for top AI engineers.

The announcement comes as tech giants such as Meta aggressively chase high-profile acquisitions and offer multi-million-dollar pay packages to attract top talent in the race to lead the next wave of artificial intelligence.

“We have the capital from our business to do this,” Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads.

The Facebook and Instagram parent has recently unveiled its new division, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), to unify the company’s AI efforts, following setbacks with its Llama 4 model and key staff departures.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/companies/zuckerberg-says-meta-will-invest-hundreds-of-billions-in-superintelligence-2-3629833

The social media firm has slashed premium account subscription fee for mobile app by about 48 per cent to Rs 470 from Rs 900 it charged earlier on a monthly basis.

Social media platform X has slashed subscription fees for account holders in India by up to 48 per cent, according to updates on its portal.

The social media firm has slashed premium account subscription fee for mobile app by about 48 per cent to Rs 470 from Rs 900 it charged earlier on a monthly basis.

The subscribers of premium and premium-plus service at X get a checkmark next to their name or id.

Similarly, X has reduced premium subscription fee by about 34 per cent for web accounts to Rs 427 from Rs 650 charged earlier.

The charges for premium subscription on mobile apps are higher at Rs 470 due to additional fees charged by app stores.

The company has slashed monthly subscription for basic subscribers on their handle by 30 per cent to Rs 170 from Rs 243.75 earlier.

The basic account holder gets featured to enable them to edit posts, write longer posts, background video playback and they can download videos.

The reduction is about 34 per cent for the annual subscription fee of basic account, which will be billed Rs 1,700 on an annual basis, down from Rs 2,590.48 charged earlier.

The premium plus subscription of X account now cost users about 26 per cent less at Rs 2,570 on web compared to Rs 3,470 charged earlier.

The premium plus accounts on X are completely ad free, holders can write articles, get access to SuperGrok with Grok 4. These services are not available for premium and basic account holders.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/business/companies/x-slashes-subscription-fees-in-india-by-up-to-48-3626474

Tesla is set to open its first Indian showroom in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex on July 15. The Tesla India X account shared a “coming soon” post on Friday night.

Tesla has signalled its imminent entry into the Indian market with a “coming soon” teaser on its newly created X (formerly Twitter) account, giving a long-awaited update to fans and potential buyers in the country.

Tesla is set to open its first Indian showroom in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex on July 15. The opening marks the electric vehicle (EV) giant’s formal debut in the world’s third-largest car market. The company is expected to begin deliveries of its popular Model Y SUVs by late August, as per a report by Bloomberg.

The Mumbai showroom, referred to as a “Tesla experience centre” in invitations sent to the media, will initially open its doors to VIPs and business partners. General public access is likely to follow the week after. Visitors will reportedly be able to compare model options, check prices, and begin configuring orders, possibly as early as next week.

Tesla’s debut in India comes after years of speculation, lobbying over import duties, and even a cancelled visit by CEO Elon Musk last year. While Musk had earlier expressed interest in investing $2-3 billion to build EVs locally, reports suggest the company is currently focused on imports, not manufacturing.

Commercial records from January to June indicate that Tesla imported around $1 million worth of vehicles, chargers, and accessories into India, mainly from China and the US. This includes six Model Y SUVs, five priced at $32,500 each and one long-range variant at $46,000, as well as several Superchargers.

Due to India’s steep import duty of around 70% on fully-built cars under $40,000, the final price for Indian customers is expected to be significantly higher than the car’s US cost. This could make the Model Y a test case for how far Indian consumers are willing to stretch for the Tesla brand.

The timing of Tesla’s India entry aligns with its broader strategy to expand in newer markets amid declining sales elsewhere and underused capacity at its global factories. The Indian EV market, while still in its early stages, is growing steadily with increasing interest among urban buyers and policy pushes from the government.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/tesla-drops-coming-soon-teaser-on-new-x-account-ahead-of-india-launch-2754573-2025-07-11

Complaints were lodged after Grok posted antisemitic content, including praise for Adolf Hitler. Elon Musk’s xAI removed “inappropriate” posts.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is at the center of scandal after posting antisemitic remarks.

Developer xAI announced on Wednesday that it was in the process of removing “inappropriate posts” by Grok on the online platform X.

That comes after complaints from users on social media platform X and the US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that Grok was producing content that had antisemitic tropes and praise for Adolf Hitler.

xAI removing ‘inappropriate posts’
In a post on X, Grok said it was “aware of recent posts made by Grok and [is] actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.”

“Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.”

The ADL called for Grok, along with other producers of Large Language Model (LLM) software, to avoid “producing content rooted in antisemitic and extremist hate.”

“What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple. This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” the ADL said on X.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/musks-grok-chatbot-at-the-center-of-antisemitic-scandal/a-73212009

As Bitcoin’s market cap has crossed into the trillions, more institutional investors are entering the space. Large firms that once stayed away are now taking positions in digital assets, helping push prices higher.

Bitcoin reached a fresh all-time high on Wednesday, climbing close to the $112,000 mark as demand from institutional investors and a broader appetite for risk continued to drive momentum in the cryptocurrency market.

The world’s most popular digital currency touched a new peak of $111,988.90 during the day and was last seen trading at $111,259, up 0.4%. Since the beginning of 2025, Bitcoin has gained more than 18%, making it one of the top-performing assets of the year so far.

The rally is being supported by several factors, including expectations of a rate cut in the United States, falling strength of the dollar, and a renewed interest from large financial firms that are now more comfortable investing in cryptocurrencies.

INSTITUTIONAL INTEREST ON THE RISE

Anthony Pompliano, founder and CEO of Professional Capital Management, said in a note to investors that Bitcoin has become a safer bet as it grows in market size. “Bitcoin is the only asset I am aware of where it becomes less risky as it grows in size,” he said, explaining that its trillion-dollar valuation now makes it suitable for big capital allocators.

As Bitcoin’s market cap has crossed into the trillions, more institutional investors are entering the space. Large firms that once stayed away are now taking positions in digital assets, helping push prices higher.

U.S. FED RATE OUTLOOK TRIGGERS RISK SENTIMENT

The recent surge in Bitcoin also followed the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes. Most policymakers signalled support for at least one interest rate cut in 2025, which sparked a risk-on mood in global markets. Investors see this as a positive sign for assets like Bitcoin that often benefit from easier monetary conditions.

Edul Patel, Co-founder and CEO of crypto investment platform Mudrex, said Bitcoin broke out of its consolidation phase and cleared key resistance levels following the Fed’s update. He said that “Bitcoin recorded a fresh all-time high of $112,022” and added that the weakening U.S. dollar made the cryptocurrency more attractive.

The U.S. dollar index dropped to its weakest level in 21 years when compared to its 200-day moving average, pushing many investors to shift to alternative stores of value like Bitcoin.

MARKET LOOKS AHEAD TO CPI DATA AND FED MEETING

Patel also pointed out that Bitcoin is now trading above $111,300, and if momentum continues, it could enter a price discovery phase—where prices move into uncharted territory with no clear resistance levels.

However, traders are now focusing on the U.S. inflation data due on July 11 and the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy decision. These two events could shape the next direction of the cryptocurrency market.

Another boost for Bitcoin has come from recent pro-crypto moves in the U.S. political landscape. The Trump administration’s friendly stance towards digital assets has added confidence among crypto traders.

Reports suggest that Trump Media & Technology Group, led by members of the U.S. president’s family, is preparing to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will invest in multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and Ripple. The firm has filed the necessary paperwork with the U.S. markets regulator.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/business/market/story/bitcoin-all-time-high-usd-112000-near-crypto-currency-price-rise-fed-rate-cut-investor-optimism-2753509-2025-07-10

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that his nation would act with reciprocity.

United States President Donald Trump launched his global tariff assault into overdrive on Wednesday (Jul 9), announcing a new 50 per cent tariff on US copper imports and a 50 per cent duty on goods from Brazil, both to start on Aug 1.

“I am announcing a 50 per cent TARIFF on Copper, effective Aug 1, 2025, after receiving a robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social media platform, a reference to a “Section 232” national security trade investigation into the red metal that has been underway.

The announcement came hours after he also informed Brazil that its “reciprocal” tariff on Aug 1 would rise to 50 per cent from 10 per cent, a shockingly high level for a country with a balanced US trade relationship.

Trump first broached the copper tariff during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, setting off a scramble by companies to import as much copper as soon as possible from Chile and other major suppliers.

He blamed the decline of the US copper industry on past administrations, saying copper was needed for semiconductors, aircraft, electric vehicle batteries and military hardware.

“America will, once again, build a DOMINANT Copper Industry,” Trump wrote.

Trump’s Brazil tariff order came in a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that vented anger over what he called the “Witch Hunt” trial of Lula’s right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, and added to an increasingly bitter public feud with Lula.

Trump also criticised what he said were Brazil’s attacks on free elections, Americans’ free speech and “SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders to US Social Media platforms”.

He ordered the US Trade Representative’s office to launch a new “Section 301” unfair trade practices investigation that could add even more tariffs, citing “Brazil’s continued attacks on the Digital Trade Activities of American companies”.

But Trump’s letter to Lula contained the same language as previous form letters describing Brazil’s trading relationship as “very unfair”.

Lula on Wednesday said that his nation would act with reciprocity.

“Any measure to unilaterally raise tariffs will be responded to in accordance with Brazil’s Economic Reciprocity Law,” Lula’s office said in a statement.

However, the government hit back at X and accused it of twisting facts and delaying unblocking the accounts of Reuters.

New Delhi: Elon Musk-owned social media platform X on Tuesday expressed deep concern about “ongoing press censorship” in India, days after global news agency Reuters’ account was ‘withheld’ in the country after an order by the Narendra Modi government.

However, the government hit back at X and accused it of twisting facts and delaying unblocking the accounts of Reuters.

X’s Global Government Affairs account has claimed that last week (July 3), the Indian government ordered the social media platform to block 2,355 accounts in the country, including that of Reuters “under Section 69A of the IT Act”. It added that non-compliance with the order “risked criminal liability”.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded immediate action- within one hour, without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice, the post said.

After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, the X said in its post.

“We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available. Unlike users located in India, X is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders. We urge affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts,” X said.

The social media platform also claimed that India’s IT ministry demanded that X adhere to the order “within an hour” and did not provide any “justification” for the move.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/govt-denies-making-any-fresh-demand-for-blockage-of-global-wire-agencys-x-account-3620998

During a meeting with Anton Siluanov, Finance Minister of Russia, Sitharaman expressed gratitude for the support extended by President Vladimir Putin after the Pahalgam terror attack, the finance ministry said in a post on X.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a series of bilateral meetings, including with Russian and Chinese counterparts, and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and interests.

These meetings were held on the sidelines of the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

During a meeting with Anton Siluanov, Finance Minister of Russia, Sitharaman expressed gratitude for the support extended by President Vladimir Putin after the Pahalgam terror attack, the finance ministry said in a post on X.

The two leaders discussed India-Russia long-standing partnership.

The finance minister observed that India and Russia enjoy exemplary levels of mutual trust and understanding and our Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership remains resilient and steadfast, it said.

The two sides also discussed issues of bilateral cooperation, including cooperation in the financial sector, along with matters related to NDB.

In another bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart Lan Fo’an, both leaders discussed strengthening collaboration across a wide range of areas due to the common rich human capital, deep civilisational ties, and expanding economic influence.

The two leaders recalled their last meeting in Samarkand in September 2024 on the sidelines of the AIIB Annual Meetings, another post by the finance ministry said.

Sitharaman underlined that India and China are uniquely positioned to drive inclusive global growth and innovation as the two nations are the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world.

The finance minister suggested that deeper engagement between the two countries can help amplify the voice of developing economies, and shape global narratives that reflect the priorities and aspirations of the global South, it said.

During bilateral meeting with Thomas Djiwandono, Vice Finance Minister of Indonesia, Sitharaman said India looks forward to hosting the Indonesia Economic and Financial Dialogue soon.

She also thanked Indonesia for their support in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, a separate post on X by the finance ministry said.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/at-brics-meet-fm-nirmala-sitharaman-holds-bilateral-talks-with-china-russia-brazil-and-indonesia

After a 25-year presence, Microsoft has reportedly shut down its operations in Pakistan, leaving only a small liaison office. Founding country manager Jawwad Rehman called the move “more than a corporate exit,” reflecting on the deteriorating business climate that even global tech giants find unsustainable.

Global software giant Microsoft has formally exited Pakistan, ending a 25-year presence that began in June 2000. The decision, although not publicly announced by the company itself, was confirmed through a LinkedIn post by Jawwad Rehman, the founding country manager of Microsoft Pakistan.
The exit reportedly comes after years of gradual downsizing, culminating in the complete closure of operational activities and a reduction to a small liaison office with just five employees. This move has raised significant concerns in Pakistan’s business and tech communities, with observers warning that it reflects broader structural challenges facing the country’s investment environment.

“End of an Era”: A Founder Reflects

In his emotionally charged post titled “End of an Era… Microsoft Pakistan”, Rehman wrote: “Today, I learned that Microsoft is officially closing its operations in Pakistan. The last few remaining employees were formally informed and just like that, an era ends…”
Rehman, who launched Microsoft Pakistan in 2000, said the departure was not just a business decision but a sobering signal of Pakistan’s worsening economic and governance conditions. “This is more than a corporate exit. It’s a sobering signal of the environment our country has created… one where even global giants like Microsoft find it unsustainable to stay,” he wrote.

He further questioned the national leadership and policy drift, asking: “We must ask: What changed? What was lost? What happened to the values, leadership, and vision that once made it all possible?”

Why Microsoft Left

While Microsoft has made no official comment, reports suggest that its retreat stems from macroeconomic instability, regulatory uncertainty, digital policy inconsistency, and a shrinking commercial market. Pakistan’s current foreign exchange challenges, import restrictions, and poor ease-of-doing-business rankings have already triggered exits or downsizing from several multinational firms over the past three years.
TechRadar reported that Microsoft’s presence in Pakistan had been steadily diminishing, and the remaining employees were formally informed this week. With this move, Microsoft joins a growing list of multinationals, including Procter & Gamble, Suzuki, and Lotte, that have restructured or exited operations in Pakistan due to a difficult economic environment.

The gain in forex reserves during week ended June 27 was led by an increase in foreign currency assets, which surge by $5.75 billion to $594.82 billion.

India’s Latest Forex Reserves: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose sharply by $4.84 billion to $702.78 billion in the week ended June 27, bringing them within striking distance of the all-time-high level of $704.89 billion recorded in end-September 2024, according to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This marks a strong rebound from late January levels, when reserves had fallen to a multi-month low of around $624 billion.

The gain was led by an increase in foreign currency assets, while gold reserves declined. The value of gold reserves fell $1.23 billion to $84.5 billion, while foreign currency assets surged by $5.75 billion to $594.82 billion.

Foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, account for the impact of the appreciation or depreciation of other currencies such as the euro, pound, and yen held in the reserves.

Special drawing rights (SDRs) rose by $158 million to $18.83 billion during the week ended June 27. India’s reserve position with the IMF also saw an uptick of $176 million to $4.62 billion, according to the RBI data released on July 4.

Despite the headline rise in reserves, the RBI’s forward dollar book — which represents future dollar obligations — fell by $19 billion in April and May, shrinking to $65.2 billion in May from a record $88.7 billion in February. However, the RBI’s net dollar sales during the same period were relatively modest at $3.2 billion.

The forward book positions matter because they can offset part of the comfort provided by headline reserves, as they reflect future dollar outflows.

The rupee, which has seen increased volatility since April amid global trade tensions, has also been supported by the RBI intervention. The central bank strategically buys dollars when the rupee is strong and sells them when it weakens to smooth out volatility and prevent steep depreciation.

In its last monetary policy statement, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said India’s forex reserves were adequate to cover 11 months of imports and 96% of the country’s external debt, underlining the strength of India’s external position.

Source : https://www.news18.com/business/economy/indias-forex-reserves-cross-700-billion-again-near-all-time-high-9422071.html

Nvidia was on track to become the most valuable company in history on Thursday (Jul 2), with the chipmaker’s market capitalisation reaching US$3.92 trillion as Wall Street doubled down on optimism about artificial intelligence.

Shares of the leading designer of high-end AI chips were up 2.2 per cent at US$160.60 in morning trading, giving the company a higher market capitalisation than Apple’s record closing value of US$3.915 trillion on Dec 26, 2024.

Nvidia’s newest chips have made gains in training the largest AI models, fueling demand for products by the Santa Clara, California, company.

Microsoft is currently the second-most valuable company on Wall Street, with a market capitalisation of US$3.7 trillion as its shares rose 1.5 per cent to US$498.5.

Apple rose 0.8 per cent, giving it a market value of US$3.19 trillion, in third place.

A race among Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Tesla to build AI data centres and dominate the emerging technology has fueled insatiable demand for Nvidia’s high-end processors.

“When the first company crossed a trillion dollars, it was amazing. And now you’re talking four trillion, which is just incredible. It tells you that there’s this huge rush with AI spending and everybody’s chasing it right now,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading.

The stock market value of Nvidia, whose core technology was developed to power video games, has increased nearly eightfold over the past four years, from US$500 billion in 2021.

Nvidia is now worth more than the combined value of the Canadian and Mexican stock markets, according to LSEG data. The tech company also exceeds the total value of all publicly listed companies in the United Kingdom.

Nvidia recently traded at about 32 times analysts’ expected earnings for the next 12 months, below its average of about 41 over the past five years, according to LSEG data.

That relatively modest price-to-earnings valuation reflects steadily increasing earnings estimates that have outpaced Nvidia’s sizable stock gains.

The company’s stock has now rebounded more than 68 per cent from its recent closing low on Apr 4, when Wall Street was reeling from President Donald Trump’s global tariff announcements.

US stocks, including Nvidia, have recovered on expectations that the White House will cement trade deals to soften Trump’s tariffs. Nvidia holds a weight of nearly 7.4 per cent on the benchmark S&P 500.

AI POSTER CHILD
Nvidia’s swelling market capitalisation underscores Wall Street’s big bets on the proliferation of generative AI technology, with the chipmaker’s hardware serving as the foundation.

Co-founded in 1993 by CEO Jensen Huang, Nvidia has evolved from a niche company popular among video game enthusiasts into Wall Street’s barometer for the AI industry.

The stock’s recent rally comes after a slow first half of the year, when investor optimism about AI took a back seat to worries about tariffs and Trump’s trade dispute with Beijing.

Chinese startup DeepSeek in January triggered a selloff in global equities markets with a cut-price AI model that outperformed many Western competitors and sparked speculation that companies might spend less on high-end processors.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/nvidia-set-become-most-valuable-company-history-ai-5218971

In terms of extant guidelines, banks and NBFCs are not permitted to levy foreclosure charges/pre-payment penalties on any floating rate term-loan sanctioned to individual borrowers with or without co-obligant(s) for purposes other than business.

The RBI on Wednesday directed banks and other lenders not to levy any pre-payment charges on all floating-rate loans and advances, including for business purposes, availed by individuals and micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

The directions will be applicable to all loans and advances sanctioned or renewed on or after January 1, 2026.

In terms of extant guidelines, banks and NBFCs are not permitted to levy foreclosure charges/pre-payment penalties on any floating rate term-loan sanctioned to individual borrowers with or without co-obligant(s) for purposes other than business.

In a circular, the Reserve Bank said the availability of easy and affordable financing to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) is of paramount importance.

However, the Reserve Bank’s supervisory reviews have indicated divergent practices among regulated entities (REs) with regard to the levy of pre-payment charges in case of loans sanctioned to MSEs, which lead to customer grievances and disputes, it said.

Based on a review of the supervisory findings and public feedback received on a draft circular, the central bank has issued the Reserve Bank of India (Pre-payment Charges on Loans) Directions, 2025.

For all loans granted for business purpose to individuals and MSEs, with or without co-obligant(s), a commercial bank (excluding Small Finance bank, Regional Rural bank and Local Area bank), a Tier 4 Primary (Urban) Co-operative bank, an NBFC-UL, and an All India Financial Institution “shall not levy any pre-payment charges”, said the directions.

Also, for all loans granted for purposes other than business to individuals, with or without co-obligant(s), a regulated entity (RE) shall not levy pre-payment charges, it said.

“A Small Finance bank, a Regional Rural bank, a Tier 3 Primary (Urban) Cooperative bank, State Cooperative bank, Central Cooperative bank and an NBFCML shall not levy any pre-payment charges on loans with sanctioned amount/ limit up to Rs 50 lakh,” it added.

The RBI also said the norms will be applicable irrespective of the source of funds used for pre-payment of loans, either in part or in full, and without any minimum lock-in period.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/business/rbi-directs-banks-other-lenders-not-to-levy-pre-payment-charges-on-biz-loans-to-individuals-mses-3613159

Meta (META.O), CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reorganized the company’s artificial intelligence efforts under a new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs, according to a source on Monday.
The division will be headed by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of data labeling startup Scale AI. He will be the chief AI officer of the new initiative at the social media giant, the source said.

The high-stakes push follows senior staff departures and a poor reception for Meta’s latest open-source Llama 4 model, challenges that have allowed rivals including Google, OpenAI and China’s DeepSeek to seize momentum in the AI race.

Zuckerberg hopes the new lab will fast-track work on artificial general intelligence – machines that can outthink humans – and help create new cash flows from the Meta AI app, image-to-video ad tools and smart glasses.
Over the past month, Zuckerberg personally led an aggressive talent raid, floating offers for startups including OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence (SSI) and courting prospects directly on WhatsApp with million-dollar pay packages.
Earlier this month, the Facebook and Instagram parent invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI.
Apart from Wang and some Scale AI staff, the new division will reportedly include SSI’s co-founder and CEO, Daniel Gross.

Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will co-lead the Superintelligence Labs with Wang and head the company’s work on AI products and applied research, according to the source.
Zuckerberg has also brought on 11 new hires in the AI field, including researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, the source said.
The new appointments include former DeepMind researchers Jack Rae and Pei Sun; several OpenAI alumni such as Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, Shengjia Zhao and Hongyu Ren; as well as Anthropic’s Joel Pobar, who previously spent more than a decade at Meta, according to the source.
Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Meta had offered his employees bonuses of $100 million to recruit them.
But some analysts worry that Meta’s AGI bet could be another moonshot to yield near-term returns. Its other big bet, the Reality Labs unit, has burned through more than $60 billion since 2020, with little to show beyond the Ray-Ban smart glasses and Quest headsets.

Together, big tech companies are expected to spend $320 billion on AI this year.
In 2024, Microsoft spent $650 million to scoop up most of Inflection AI’s staff, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, while Amazon poached key talent from Adept.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/meta-deepens-ai-push-with-superintelligence-lab-source-says-2025-06-30/

Hong Kong builder New World Development said on Monday (Jun 30) it had received commitments for a HK$88.2 billion (US$11.24 billion) loan refinancing, as the builder finalises a crucial lifeline in a distressed property market.

New World’s refinancing, poised to be one of the largest ever seen in Hong Kong, concludes months of negotiations over a debt package designed to steer the company away from the brink of default.

The deal offers a temporary reprieve, while China’s prolonged property downturn continues to cast a shadow over the developer’s outlook.

New World said it had refinanced portions of its existing offshore unsecured debt, including bank loans, through a new facility, and had also aligned the terms of its remaining loan agreements.

The new facility consists of multiple tranches of bank loans with different maturities, with the earliest being Jun 30, 2028.

The refinancing includes terms such as financial covenants and security over certain assets that provide the firm with greater flexibility to effectively manage its ongoing business operations and financial requirements, the company said.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the banking community for their continued support. This is a testament to the confidence placed in our operation,” said Echo Huang, CEO of New World.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/hong-kongs-new-world-development-gets-us1124-billion-refinancing-5211381

Oil prices edged down on Tuesday, weighed by expectations of an OPEC+ output hike in August and concerns of an economic slowdown driven by prospects of higher U.S. tariffs.

Brent crude futures for September delivery fell 16 cents, or 0.24 per cent, to $66.58 a barrel by 0000 GMT. U.S.

West Texas Intermediate crude declined 20 cents, or 0.31 per cent, to $64.91 a barrel.

“The market is now concerned that the OPEC+ alliance will continue with its accelerated rate of output increases,” ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said in a note.

Four OPEC+ sources told Reuters last week that the group plans to raise output by 411,000 barrels per day in August, following similar hikes in May, June, and July.

If approved, this would bring OPEC+’s total supply increase for the year to 1.78 million bpd, equivalent to more than 1.5 per cent of global oil demand. OPEC and its allies including Russia, together known as OPEC+, will meet on July 6.

Uncertainty about U.S. tariffs and their impact on global growth also kept a lid on oil prices.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that countries could be notified of sharply higher tariffs despite good-faith negotiations as a July 9 deadline approaches, when tariff rates are scheduled to revert from a temporary 10 per cent level to President Donald Trump’s suspended rates of 11 per cent to 50 per cent announced on April 2.

Morgan Stanley expects Brent futures to retrace to around $60 by early next year, with the market being well supplied and geopolitical risk abating following the Israel-Iran de-escalation. It expects an oversupply of 1.3 million bpd in 2026.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/oil-edges-down-expectations-more-opec-supply-tariff-fears-5212936

Nvidia’s (NVDA.O),  stock hit a record high on Wednesday, and the chipmaker reclaimed the crown as the world’s most valuable company after an analyst said the chipmaker was set to ride a “Golden Wave” of artificial intelligence.
Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company rose over 4% to a record high of $154.10. The rise sent Nvidia’s stock market value to $3.76 trillion, overtaking Microsoft (MSFT.O), which was last valued at $3.65 trillion following a 0.2% increase in its stock.

Fueling Nvidia’s latest rally, Loop Capital lifted its price target for the designer of high-end AI processors to $250 from $175, while maintaining its “buy” rating.
“Our work suggests we are entering the next ‘Golden Wave’ of Gen AI adoption and NVDA is at the front-end of another material leg of stronger than anticipated demand,” Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah wrote in a client note.
Nvidia’s latest gains reflect the U.S. stock market’s return to the “AI trade” that fueled massive gains in chip stocks and related technology companies in recent years on optimism about the emerging technology.

Nvidia recently traded at about 30 times analysts’ expected earnings for the next 12 months, below its average of about 40 over the past five years, according to LSEG data. That relatively modest price-to-earnings valuation reflects steadily increasing earnings estimates that have outpaced Nvidia’s sizable stock gains.
Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple (AAPL.O), have traded places several times as the world’s most valuable company over the past year, with Microsoft leading recently after overtaking Nvidia in early June.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/nvidia-hits-record-high-analyst-predicts-ai-golden-wave-2025-06-25/

At least 11 people were killed, including a teenager, and more wounded in a Tuesday night shooting in the central Mexican city of Irapuato, authorities said on Wednesday.
The attorney general’s office in Guanajuato, the violence-plagued state where Irapuato is located, said that 20 others were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier on Wednesday that the victims included children, although the attorney general’s office later confirmed only one casualty was a minor, aged 17.

“It is very unfortunate what happened. An investigation is under way,” Sheinbaum said.
Local media reported the shooting happened during an evening party celebrating a Catholic holiday, the Nativity of John the Baptist.
A video circulating on social media showed people dancing in the patio of a housing complex while a band played in the background, before gunfire erupted. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/least-10-killed-home-shooting-central-mexico-2025-06-25/

Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week’s celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez.
The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed “the wedding of the century”.

But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating.
Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group “Everyone hates Elon” (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St Mark’s Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.
“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals.
Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million).
Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St Mark’s bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/greenpeace-joins-protests-against-gala-bezos-wedding-venice-2025-06-23/

The proposal will burn India’s foreign reserves, decrease foreign exchange inflow, and disrupt non-residents’ existing financial strategies.

On May 22, 2025, the US House of Representatives passed the controversial ‘The One, Big, Beautiful Bill’. The Bill includes a significant provision levying an excise tax on every single dollar of remittance or international money transfer made by non-US citizens. The proposal has inevitably sent shockwaves across immigrant communities, especially, the second-largest migrant community, the Indian diaspora. As per the RBI’s March 2025 report, the US accounted for 28% of India’s total remittances of $118 billion, which amounts to $33 billion in the financial year 2024.

What is the remittance tax?

The Big Beautiful Bill proposes to levy a 3.5% (originally envisaged 5%) excise tax on every outbound remittance made by immigrants. This means, for example, a single transaction of Rs. 1 lakh ($1154.96) transfer will attract Rs. 3,500 (USD 40.42). In the absence of any cap, the new tax will apply to all transfers, whether single or multiple, small or big in amount. If one goes by the RBI’s latest report, the Indian community should prepare to cough up a little over $1 billion in remittance taxes, annually.

Who are the subjects?

Non-US residents having assets or income in the US, including ESOP proceeds, restricted stock units (RSUs), employees holding work permit H1B, H2A, L1 visas, students holding F1 visa, and Green Card holders awaiting US citizenship will be subject to the tax.

The Bill exempts US citizens or nationals, individuals of Indian origin holding US citizenship, provided they use ‘qualified remittance transfer providers’ from the tax ambit. In case of remittances made through non-qualified channels, the tax will apply. However, they are eligible to claim it as a tax refund.

Who gets a tax refund?

The exempted US citizens and nationals can claim back full tax refund, subject to providing a valid Social Security Number or SSN (similar to India’s Aadhaar) and proof of taxes paid. As the new levy is labelled as ‘Excise Tax on Remittances’ and not a tax on income, it is very unlikely to fall within the ambit of Article 2 of the India-US tax treaty. Thus, it may not extend the refund mechanism to non-resident Indians. Also, as of now, there is no clarity whether this additional tax will be available for a tax credit in India.

Effect on Indian households

The proposal will burn India’s foreign reserves, decrease foreign exchange inflow, and disrupt non-residents’ existing financial strategies. Whether a non-resident is supporting aged parents, funding education, healthcare, household consumption, or investing in real estate back in India, they will all feel the pinch. The remittance from the US is a lifeline for thousands of families in the country.

A significant drop in remittances is likely to affect real estate investments in major Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi’s NCR, as well as capital market and gold. The young Indian working professionals will be hit hard, because a large chunk of their salaries go into repaying higher education loans taken out here.

As per a research report, the levy may result in a 10-15% decrease in remittances to India, or a $12-18 billion yearly shortfall.

What should NRIs do?

Indian professionals as a permanent solution may negotiate with their employers the additional 3.5% cost as part of their salary package, or increase the part of the salary paid here, to set off the impact effectively. Since the tax will apply across all legitimate channels, including NRE/NRO accounts and traditional banks backed by increased regulatory supervision and stricter KYC norms, it will be very difficult to bypass the levy. The compliance burden for non-residents will increase manifold.

Indian govt’s reaction

A finance ministry official reportedly told a local daily that the Government is yet to make an impact analysis of the remittance tax. However, a formal word could be expected during the upcoming monsoon session of the Parliament.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/business/economy/the-big-beautiful-bill-its-impact-on-indian-households-3597797

The crash must prompt fundamental reforms—beginning with the regulator and extending to airline management—as the aviation ecosystem is structurally compromised.

The Indian aviation industry is facing its biggest crisis in decades as it grapples with the devastating crash of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. The London-bound AI171 went down just 36 seconds after takeoff, killing over 240 passengers and several others on the ground.

The tragedy has shattered the airline’s narrative of renewal under Tata Group ownership, exposing deep cracks in its safety culture and raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of regulatory oversight in one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets.

A pattern of neglect

Air India has been under scrutiny for repeated safety violations in recent years, particularly since Tata Sons took over the airline.

More of that later. In September 2022, Air India unveiled a five–year roadmap called Vihaan.AI, focusing on five key pillars: exceptional customer experience, robust operations, industry-best talent, industry leadership, and commercial efficiency and profitability.

But an entirely different scenario has been unfolding since the Renaissance project was launched nearly three years ago.

A recent Reuters report stated that days before the crash, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had warned the airline about operating three Airbus aircraft without conducting any inspections of the critical emergency escape slides. According to the report, one aircraft was allowed to fly international routes despite safety checks being overdue by over a month; another had missed inspections by more than three months.

In another instance, and as recently as February this year, the regulator imposed a Rs 30 lakh penalty on Air India for allegedly allowing one of the pilots to operate a flight without complying with certain regulatory norms. The DGCA, in its order, stated that it has found “recurrent rostering issues” among the crew, which violate flight duty time and rest periods.

On an earlier occasion, a DGCA review in 2023 revealed that internal safety audit reports by the airline at major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, and Goa, had been altered. The report was shared with the regulator after being asked to do so by the regulator. Moreover, it was reported that an unauthorised official had allegedly signed off on safety documents, including medical and ramp checks.

Regulatory shortfalls

The DGCA’s role in this unfolding disaster cannot be ignored, either. It is widely acknowledged that the watchdog is dangerously understaffed and underfunded to an extent that raises serious concerns. Parliamentary data shows half of the posts in the organisation are vacant. Adding to their woes, a Parliamentary Standing Committee reported a 91% cut in funding for civil aviation safety infrastructure earlier this year, even as the number of domestic airports has doubled from 74 in 2014 to 147.

Such a resource crunch is likely to impact the regulator’s efficiency. There have been multiple reports about how audits are conducted in a hurry or are skipped altogether. In the case of Air India, repeated warnings appear to have failed to elicit corrective action.

The economic fallout

The economic impact of the crash is expected to hurt all the stakeholders. According to preliminary estimates, the insurance payout could reach $475 million, making it one of India’s costliest aviation claims. That includes $125 million for the aircraft’s hull and engines, and roughly $350 million in passenger liability.

The ripple effects are already visible. Insurance premiums for Indian carriers, especially those operating Boeing fleets, are expected to rise by up to 100% in the next underwriting cycle. Air India and SpiceJet, both major Boeing customers, may see premiums increase from $28 million to between $40 million and $50 million annually. The cost will likely be passed on to passengers through higher ticket prices, estimated to rise by 2% to 5% or even more on metro routes.

Aircraft leasing costs are also expected to increase, especially for Boeing models. Lessors will now factor in higher risk and insurance liabilities.

Mounting safety breaches

Meanwhile, two former senior flight attendants have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that they were asked to resign from the airline for refusing to lie about a serious safety incident involving the same model of Dreamliner that crashed. According to their June 19 letter, a door malfunction on flight AI-129 in May 2024 resulted in the accidental deployment of an emergency slide raft after the aircraft landed at Heathrow Airport in London. The incident, they say, was hushed up by both the airline and the DGCA, and if there was ever a formal inquiry, it was never made public.

Another whistleblower, Captain Deven Kanani, claims he was dismissed in 2023 after raising the oxygen supply issues on Boeing 777 flights operating on high-altitude routes. According to him, the aircraft had just 12 minutes of oxygen reserve—barely enough in the event of sudden depressurisation.

These incidents don’t appear to be isolated. In 2024 alone, the aviation ministry reported 23 safety violations by Indian carriers, 12 of which involved Air India or its low-fare airline, Air India Express. The violations ranged from unauthorised cockpit access to insufficient oxygen supplies. This led to Air India being fined its largest amount, $127,000.

Need for reform

The crash must prompt fundamental reforms—beginning with the regulator and extending to airline management—as the aviation ecosystem is structurally compromised.

The Government must recruit professionals to manage the DGCA. An earlier experiment to get executives from global consultancy companies to hold key positions in the organisation resulted in chaos rather than strengthening it. The agency should be empowered to hire the best in the business, and remuneration should be market-driven. Surveillance should shift from reactive audits to real-time monitoring using digital tools, predictive analytics, and rigorous flight safety databases.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) requires increased funding, which would enable the agency to modernise its investigative capabilities. Its Rs 9 crore black box lab reportedly failed to retrieve data from the damaged recorders in the Ahmedabad crash, underlining the need for investment in technical infrastructure.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/business/companies/flight-ai-171-wasn-t-an-accident-it-was-a-consequence-3597806

Tesla (TSLA.O), deployed a small group of self-driving taxis picking up paying passengers on Sunday in Austin, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk announcing the “robotaxi launch” and social-media influencers posting videos of their first rides.
The event marked the first time Tesla cars without human drivers have carried paying riders, a business that Musk sees as crucial to the electric car maker’s financial future.

He called the moment the “culmination of a decade of hard work” in a post on his social-media platform X and noted that “the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla.”
Teslas were spotted early Sunday in a neighborhood called South Congress with no one in the driver’s seat but one person in the passenger seat. The automaker planned a small trial with about 10 vehicles and front-seat riders acting as “safety monitors,” though it remained unclear how much control they had over the vehicles.
In recent days, the automaker sent invites to a select group of influencers for a carefully monitored robotaxi trial in a limited zone. The rides are being offered for a flat fee of $4.20, Musk said on X.

Tesla investor and social-media personality Sawyer Merritt posted videos on X Sunday afternoon showing him ordering, getting picked up, and taking a ride to a nearby bar and restaurant, Frazier’s Long and Low, using a Tesla robotaxi app.
If Tesla succeeds with the small deployment, it still faces major challenges in delivering on Musk’s promises to scale up quickly in Austin and other cities, industry experts say.
It could take years or decades for Tesla and self-driving rivals, such as Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), Waymo, to fully develop a robotaxi industry, said Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-engineering professor with expertise in autonomous-vehicle technology.
A successful Austin trial for Tesla, he said, would be “the end of the beginning – not the beginning of the end.”
Most of Tesla’s sky-high stock value now rests on its ability to deliver robotaxis and humanoid robots, according to many industry analysts. Tesla is by far the world’s most valuable automaker.

As Tesla’s robotaxi-rollout date approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact autonomous-vehicle rules. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Friday signed legislation requiring a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles.
The law, which takes effect September 1, signals that state officials from both parties want the driverless-vehicle industry to proceed cautiously.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. The governor’s office declined to comment.

“EASY TO GET, EASY TO LOSE”

The law softens the state’s previous anti-regulation stance on autonomous vehicles. A 2017 Texas law specifically prohibited cities from regulating self-driving cars.
The new law requires autonomous-vehicle operators to get approval from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles before operating on public streets without a human driver. It gives state authorities the power to revoke permits for operators they deem a public danger.

The law also requires firms to provide information on how first responders can deal with their driverless vehicles in emergency situations.
The law’s permit requirements for an “automated motor vehicle” are not onerous but require firms to attest their vehicles can operate legally and safely.
It defines an automated vehicle as having at least “Level 4” autonomous-driving capability under a recognized standard, meaning it can operate with no human driver under specified conditions. Level 5 autonomy is the top level and means a car can drive itself anywhere, under any conditions.
Compliance remains far easier than in some states, notably California, which requires submission of vehicle-testing data under state oversight.
Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor who focuses on autonomous driving, said it appears any company that meets minimum application requirements will get a Texas permit – but could also lose it if problems arise.
“California permits are hard to get, easy to lose,” he said. “In Texas, the permit is easy to get and easy to lose.”

MUSK’S SAFETY PLEDGES

The Tesla robotaxi rollout comes after more than a decade of Musk’s unfulfilled promises to deliver self-driving Teslas.
Musk has said Tesla would be “super paranoid” about robotaxi safety in Austin, including operating in limited areas.
The service in Austin will have other restrictions as well. Tesla plans to avoid bad weather, difficult intersections, and will not carry anyone below age 18.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-tiptoes-into-long-promised-robotaxi-service-2025-06-22/

Around 10,000 Russian soldiers are fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, about 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of which is controlled by Ukraine, Ukraine’s top military commander said.
“We control about 90 square kilometers of territory in the Hlushkov district of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, and these are our preemptive actions in response to a possible enemy attack,” Oleksandr Syrskyi said without elaborating, in remarks released by his office for publication on Sunday.
The Ukrainian military said the activity in this area prevented Russia from sending a significant number of its forces to Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk, where some of the heaviest fighting has taken place in the more than three-year-old full-scale invasion.
Syrskyi’s troops are repelling Russian forces along the frontline, which stretches for about 1,200 km, where the situation remains difficult, the Ukrainian military said.
Russian gains have accelerated in May and June, though the Ukrainian military says it comes at a cost of high Russian casualties in small assault-group attacks.
While the military says its troops repelled Russian approaches toward Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region borders last week, the pressure continues in the country’s eastern and northern regions.

The Russian military also continues its deadly drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian cities further from the front, prompting Ukraine to innovate its approaches to air defence.
Ukraine’s military said it currently destroys around 82% of Shahed-type drones launched by Russia but requires more surface-to-air missile systems to defend critical infrastructure and cities.
The military said the air force was also working on developing the use of light aircraft and drone interceptors in repelling Russian assaults which can involve hundreds of drones.
Ukraine also relies on its long-range capabilities to deal damage to economic and military targets on Russian territory, increasing the cost of war to Moscow.
Between January and May, Ukraine dealt over $1.3 billion in direct losses in the Russian oil refining and fuel production industry, energy and transport supplies as well as strategic communications, the Ukrainian military said.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-fighting-10000-russian-troops-kursk-region-ukrainian-commander-says-2025-06-22/