Today's Hot Stories – February 21, 2014
10 Headlines for Today(1) SC to hear AAP plea to dissolve Delhi Assembly
(2) Supreme Court stays release of Rajiv case convicts
(3) Venezuela protests escalate
(4) SC summons Subrata Roy, Sahara group directors
(5) Mutual fund asset base can grow to Rs.20 lakh crore: SEBI
(6) MSD, Cipla to co-market AIDS drug in India
(7) Tough to provide fool-proof security to IPL: Shinde
(8) Dhoni ruled out of Asia Cup
(9) Elgar, de Villiers steady Proteas
(10) Now online images of Indian heritage sites to woo tourists
5 Stories for Today
(1) ‘Match-fixing by Congress, BJP’ in Rajya Sabha gives birth to Telangana
(2) Obama to meet Dalai Lama today
(3) Elections set to fuel Ad industry growth
(4) WhatsApp founders mint billions from FB
(5) India's economy still stuck in a rut: HSBC
(1) ‘Match-fixing by Congress, BJP’ in Rajya Sabha gives birth to Telangana
Dramatic scenes marked the passage of the Telangana Bill in the Rajya Sabha when all the amendments moved by Opposition members were either defeated by voice-vote or not put to vote by the Chair on the grounds that there was disorder in the House.
Every time an Opposition party member, particularly from the BJP, pressed for “division of votes,” Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh — who was a member of the GoM on Telangana and a key architect of the Bill — would rush to the Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley who would gently gesticulate to him to “relax.” More than twice BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu sought “division” but was quick to catch on to the situation as Mr. Ramesh would rush back to the treasury benches and from there give an “explanation” or “an assurance” which would “satisfy” Mr. Naidu
A repeat of the scene at least five times prompted CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury to charge that there was “match fixing” between the ruling party and the main Opposition party.
Elderly BJP member M. Rama Jois moved at least five amendments on the issue of a High Court Bench in Hyderabad and since nothing was audible in the din, would every time insist on pressing for “division,” only to be persuaded by his party members not to pursue it. Finally, when it came to the last two of his amendments, he did not even rise from his seat, gesticulating that he was not moving, triggering laughter in the House.
Other members too objected when the Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien could not hear in the din two Biju Janata Dal members who wanted to press their amendment on a water issue. Left party members were on their feet in protest, seeking “as much time to other parties as the BJP members.” A few of them were heard saying that the Bill was being rushed through. But for the CPI, the non-Congress, non-BJP bloc who had come together recently for coordination on the floor of the House voiced their protest. Some of them walked out.
There were some anxious moments for the ruling party as much of the points the Opposition members were raising had been answered in the Prime Minister’s statement on special package and other incentives. When Mr. Naidu insisted on seeking replies about finances, Mr. Ramesh realised that the member had not been given the Prime Minister’s statement. He rushed to Mr. Shinde and took his copy of the statement to Mr. Naidu. When Mr. Jaitley also asked for a copy, Mr. Ramesh came to the Prime Minister and took his copy to hand over to the Leader of the Opposition.
All through this, members of the Telugu Desam Party and the Trinamool Congress were in the Well of the House either holding placards that said the Bill was “unconstitutional, illegal and not right” or raising slogans. As the Prime Minister was making his statement, TMC members tore copies of the Bill and flung them saying “tear the Bill, throw it.”
C.M. Ramesh (TDP), who has been in the forefront of protests against division of the State, said only four words when his turn came: “This Bill is illegal.”
Source: The Hindu
(2) Obama to meet Dalai Lama today
US President Barack Obama will meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, a fellow Nobel peace laureate, at the White House on Friday.
"The President will meet the Dalai Lama in his capacity as an internationally respected religious and cultural leader," National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said.
Obama met the Dalai Lama in February 2010 and July 2011, she said, adding the US presidents of both parties over the past three decades have met with the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Hayden said the United States supported the Dalai Lama's "middle way" approach of neither assimilation nor independence for Tibetans but recognised Tibet to be "a part of China".
"We do not support Tibetan independence," she said. Hayden said the US strongly supports human rights and religious freedom in China.
"We are concerned about continuing tensions and the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibetan areas of China. We will continue to urge the Chinese government to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, as a means to reduce tensions," Hayden said.
The Nobel peace prize winner, who is here for a two-week tour of the US west coast, on Thursday, told a Washington audience that he is warming to capitalism.
"Now after listening to the presenters today, I developed more respect about capitalism. Otherwise, my impression is capitalism only take the money, then exploitation," the Dalai Lama said at a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute.
Source: The Times of India
(3) Elections set to fuel Ad industry growth
The Indian advertising market is expected to grow strongly at 16.8 per cent in 2014 to reach Rs.37,000 crore. The Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook 2014 said the market grew 11.1 per cent in 2013 to reach Rs.31,877 crore.
Presenting the report, Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, said the expected high growth was because 2014 was an election year. “We expect nearly 50 per cent of this growth or Rs.2,500 crore to come from the Lok Sabha elections and five State elections. Not only will political parties spend, but hundreds of individual candidates, we expect, will unleash small campaigns in print and outdoor. Organic growth and new advertisers will fuel the rest”.
Ad cap in TV would fuel rate hike, regional dailies would continue to grow and the Phase-3 roll-out of Radio was expected to attract new local advertisers, he added.
Mr. Balsara attributed the 11.1 per cent growth in 2013 to the fact that many advertisers tried to counter the slowdown with increased advertising. “FMCG, telecom and auto were the major sectors that increased spend and real estate added to print spends,” he said. In 2013, print advertising was the largest segment accounting for 41.3 per cent followed by TV at 39 per cent, digital at 10 per cent and outdoor, radio and cinema making up the balance 10 per cent.
TV advertising grew 8.2 per cent and can grow 15 per cent in 2014 “on the back of reduced inventory because of ad cap, launch of carefully positioned new channels by existing networks and elections”. Print advertising grew 10 per cent and can grow 17 per cent in 2014.
For the first time, FMCG became the largest contributor to print and TV, overtaking auto and education, the report said. In 2013, Hindi dailies toppled English dailies with a share of 38 per cent.
India maintained its 12 position in the global ad-spend ranking with the U.S. continuing to dominate with a 40 per cent share. The report said that in 2013, India was the second fastest growing market behind Russia. “If our prognosis turns out to be right, India will be the fastest growing advertising market of the world,” Mr. Balsara said.
Source: The Economic Times
(4) WhatsApp founders mint billions from FB
An unassuming white building in Mountain View, California, entered Silicon Valley folklore on Wednesday as the place where Jan Koum signed a $19 billion deal.
As immigrants from Ukraine, Koum and his mother survived month to month on food stamps from that building, which then housed the North County Social Services office.
The WhatsApp co-founder returned to that building on Wednesday — in a Porsche — with co-founder Brian Acton to sign papers selling their company to Facebook.
By the time they left the building, Koum's personal worth, based on his reported 45% ownership of the company, had shot to $6.8 billion and Acton's to at least $3 billion.
Koum, 37, moved to California from Kiev, Ukraine, with his mother when he was 16. His mother took up babysitting and Koum swept floor at a local grocery to make ends meet.
School wasn't much fun, and he was soon a known troublemaker. But he had also begun teaching himself computer networking with the help of used manuals from a nearby store.
While enrolled at San Jose State University, Koum began moonlighting with Ernst & Young as a security tester, which in 1997 took him to Yahoo one day, where he met Acton. They bonded.
"Neither of us has an ability to bullshit," Koum told Forbes magazine. He joined Yahoo six months later; and soon dropped out of college, which he didn't like much.
The two became close after Koum's mother died.
They left Yahoo in 2007, travelled around and tried a few things. They even applied at Facebook. Both were rejected. Acton tried at Twitter too, with the same outcome.
Around 2009, Koum started working on an App for iPhone that allowed users to check on the statuses of people in your address book — on call, busy or at the gym.
And you could change your status to let others know too.
Koum named the App WhatsApp immediately, taking off on "what's up?" He incorporated it even before he had written the code for it, a friend of his told Forbes.
Status changes, Koum figured, registered immediately, as instant messages, like a text message going over the net and not through service providers' cellular network, which was billed.
He released WhatsApp 2,0 with a messaging component and was surprised to see it grown immediately to 250,000 users.
Acton came on board, now.
And they were on their way.
Source: Hindustan Times
(5) India's economy still stuck in a rut: HSBC
India is "stuck in a rut" as weaker consumption and stalled investments prevent the economy from building any sort of momentum, HSBC said in a report today adding "slow recovery" could start post elections.
According to the global financial services major, the year 2014 could thus prove to be a tale of two halves. In the latter half of the year, there would be some economic recovery and return to normal business conditions.
"Pent-up demand should be released after the elections are over," HSBC said in a research note adding that "given that passions are running high, the outcome could bring considerable volatility to Indian equities."
HSBC for now is "underweight" on Indian equities but some of its preferred sectors include energy which is likely to gain from subsidy changes, power (stands to benefit from distribution reform), non-ferrous metals (corporate restructuring) and telecoms (more clarity post the auctions).
"We stay underweight India for now. Prefer sectors such as energy, power, non-ferrous metals and telecoms," HSBC said.
On price rise, the report said while inflation is coming down from the near 10 per cent levels witnessed in 2013, the demand pressure prevents inflation from falling to levels seen some years ago.
"We would add that India's central bank seems to have shifted its bias from growth to inflation fighting and, thus, remain of the view that Indian interest rates might remain elevated," the report said.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan had raised the key policy rate by 0.25 per cent to 8 per cent in the third quarter review of monetary policy in a bid to curb inflation.
After Rajan took over as RBI governor, the central bank increased key policy rate three times by 0.25 per cent each.
According to HSBC, the completion of the elections could spur rotation into under-owned investment oriented sectors, but overall flows are likely to remain subdued in the backdrop of a Fed taper.
"As of now we stay underweight on India in the regional context," HSBC added.
Source: The Indian Express
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
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