Today's Hot Stories - April 15, 2014 - PT education

Today's Hot Stories - April 15, 2014

10 Headlines for Today

(1) SC recognises transgenders as third gender
(2) Varun files papers from Sultanpur
(3) Afghan deputy minister kidnapped in Kabul
(4) Infosys Q4 net rises to Rs.2,992 crore
(5) Mahindra Shubh Labh in joint venture with Belgian Univeg
(6) Zoozoos set for a comeback to the living room
(7) Olympic champ Lee Yon’s doping ban reversed
(8) Michael Phelps coming out of retirement
(9) Fognini, Robredo into Monte Carlo 2nd round
(10) Donna Tartt wins fiction Pulitzer for 'Goldfinch'

5 Stories for Today

(1) Standing alone for the first time, Patnaik battles ‘Modi wave’
(2) UK probes Islamists' plot of taking over schools
(3) SBI to offload up to Rs.4,000 crore bad loans to ARCs
(4) Diageo Plc announces tender offer for up to 26 per cent of United Spirits Ltd
(5) Global trade to rise by 4.7 % in 2014: WTO

(1) Standing alone for the first time, Patnaik battles ‘Modi wave’


The infighting within BJD is affecting the party’s prospects in at least 10 Assembly constituencies

It is for the first time that Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik is fighting the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections alone. Surprisingly, he is having a tough time in coastal Odisha, one of his party’s strongholds.

As the coastal and northern regions of the State are scheduled to go to the polls on April 17, Mr. Patnaik is leaving no stone unturned by addressing a series of public meetings seeking votes for his party nominees. There was no number-2 leader in the party to share his burden, and he has engaged many Odia film stars to draw crowds at party rallies.

This is for the first time that the BJD is fighting the elections without having alliance or seat-sharing arrangement with any other party, and Mr. Patnaik having no known advisor.

Bureaucrat-turned politician Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who earlier used to manage elections for the BJD, is not with Mr. Patnaik since 2012.

Mr. Mohapatra, however, has not succeeded in strengthening the Odisha Janmorcha that he had founded after Mr. Patnaik ousted him for engineering a failed coup attempt against him almost two years ago. Mr. Patnaik and his party colleagues are happy that Mr. Mohapatra’s party had failed to cause much harm to their party’s electoral prospects.

Mr. Patnaik and his lieutenants, however, are facing an uphill task since BJP had emerged as the third major contender across the State by riding the ‘Modi wave’, even though the main opposition, Congress, had remained weak due to factionalism.

Even though the BJD alone had, in the 2009 elections, won nine of the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies and around 70 of 77 the Assembly seats going to the polls on April 17, Mr. Patnaik was also finding the going tough because of infighting in the party in many areas.

The infighting within BJD is affecting the party’s prospects in at least 10 Assembly constituencies. Many of his party’s Lok Sabha members, Ministers and sitting legislators are also facing the anti-incumbency factor.

Mr. Patnaik continues to blame the Congress-led government at the Centre for allegedly neglecting the cause of Odisha, and criticise the Bharatiya Janata Party, stressing the need to prevent the saffron party in forming government at the Centre.

Mr. Patnaik continues his assurances to fulfil his father’s dreams of building a prosperous and developed Odisha, to thinning crowds at his rallies, in a bid to gain votes for his party nominees in the State for the fourth consecutive time.

The opposition parties have already started criticising his promise as the State was carrying the ‘Most Backward’ tag even after he had ruled for 14 years. The outcome of the polls, being held amid the ‘Modi wave’ campaign, may prove the pollster wrong if voters shy away from the BJD in coastal Odisha for varied reasons.

Source: The Hindu

(2) UK probes Islamists' plot of taking over schools


UK police have zeroed in on at least 25 schools in Birmingham, Britain's second largest city, to investigate an alleged plot by Islamists to take over the curriculum.

The probe into the so-called 'Operation Trojan Horse' by Islamist hardliners, which came to light over the weekend, has been widened after Birmingham City Council said it had received over 200 reports in relation to inquiries it made to gauge the level of influence in the day-to-day running of schools.

Birmingham has a large Muslim population - nearly 22 per cent, according to the 2011 census.

Former head teacher Ian Kershaw has been appointed as chief advisor of the probe after an anonymous letter was sent to the city's authorities warning against the covert operation.

Kershaw will conduct a study and report to a newly-formed review group made up of MPs, police, councillors and faith groups.

His report will be published alongside a parallel investigation by the department for education (DfE) in May.

The 25 schools now being looked at include primaries, secondaries and academies.

The 200-plus reports to the council include emails and calls from staff, parents and governors.

"It is about the general specifics, the behaviour of the schools, what happens within the schools, the school day, the assembly," said Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council.

Concerns were raised last year when an undated and anonymous letter outlined a suspected plot, dubbed 'Operation Trojan Horse', which allegedly had already ousted four head teachers and brought about an adherence to more hardline Islamic principles.

The letter was apparently penned by someone in Birmingham to a contact in Bradford.

Sir Albert said the city council had spoken to local authorities in both Manchester and Bradford.

Since the allegations made in the Trojan Horse letter came to light, a number of school staff have come forward to make various statements.

These include claims of boys and girls being segregated in classrooms and assemblies, sex education being banned and non-Muslim staff bullied.

On a visit to Birmingham this month, Prime Minister David Cameron had said: "We will not accept any school being run by extremists or promoting extremist views."

Source: The Times of India

(3) SBI to offload up to Rs.4,000 crore bad loans to ARCs


India's largest banker SBI is selling off its non-performing assets (NPA) of around Rs. 3,500 – Rs. 4,000 crore for the financial year 2013-14 to asset reconstruction companies (ARC).

"We are selling NPA between Rs. 3,500 – 4,000 crore of NPA," SBI chairman and managing director Arundhati Bhattacharya said last evening at IIM Calcutta.

SBI has total bad assets of Rs. 67,799 crore. It had reported 5.73% of its assets as bad loans in the October-December quarter.

It had said earlier that there were 14 ARCs functioning and many of them had been invited to pick up stressed loans.

Normally ARCs pay 5-10% of the total bad loans being bought in cash and the rest could be security receipts (SRs). This helps banks to take the equivalent NPA figure out of books and make an yearly provision for recovery or actual cash payment.

"We will make yearly provisions and adjust it on mark-to-market basis," Bhattacharya said.

She said that the first quarter outlook for 2014-15 would remain sluggish and there would not be much credit growth.

Regarding predictions of a poor monsoon because of the El Nino effect, she said "Let us keep our fingers crossed on the prospect of monsoon this year. But one thing is reassuring – the ground water levels stand sufficiently recharged by the last rains."

Source: Hindustan Times

(4) Diageo Plc announces tender offer for up to 26 per cent of United Spirits Ltd


United Spirits to be Diageo's sales agent in India

Diageo Plc on Tuesday launched a tender offer to the public shareholders of United Spirits Ltd to acquire up to 37,785,214 shares in USL, which represents 26% of USL’s fully diluted issued share capital as on April 15. The tender offer will be at a price of Rs 3,030 per share and the total consideration for the increased stake (assuming take-up in full at the announced price) will be Rs 11,448 crore (approximately £1,132,458,720).

Check Live BSE Sensex Update

Diageo has launched the tender offer through Relay B.V. a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Diageo. Relay currently holds 28.78% of the issued share capital of USL, acquired for a total investment of Rs 6,574 crore (£726,550,972). On completion of the tender offer, if all shares are purchased, Relay will hold 54.78% of USL’s issued share capital and will have paid approximately Rs 18,023 crore (£1,859,009,692) for its total shareholding in USL.

If the offer is subscribed in full, the total consideration payable, at the announced price for Diageo’s increased stake will represent a 38x multiple of USL’s EBITDA on a consolidated basis for the year ended March 2013. Diageo’s total investment of Rs 180,23 crore (£1,859,009,692) in USL is expected to be EP positive in FY2022, the 7th full financial year after completion (assuming a 12 % WACC) and EPS accretive in the year ended 30 June 2016.

USL is the leading spirits producer in India. On a consolidated basis, in the financial year ended 31 March 2013, USL earned net revenue of Rs 10,598 crore (£1,048.3 million) from operations, EBITDA of Rs 1,354 crore (£134.0 million) and losses after tax of Rs 105 crore (£10.4 million). USL had INR 16,384 crore (£1,621 million) of total assets on a consolidated basis as at 31 March 2013.

Source: The Indian Express

(5) Global trade to rise by 4.7 % in 2014: WTO


Global trade is expected to increase by 4.7 per cent in 2014, better than the average of 2.2 per cent in the past two years, on the back of projected improvements in the developed economies, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said.

The world trade growth is projected to accelerate to 5.3 per cent in 2015. “For the last two years trade growth has been sluggish. Looking ahead, if GDP forecasts hold true, we expect a broad-based but modest upturn in 2014, and further consolidation of this growth in 2015,” said WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo.

“It’s clear that trade is going to improve as the world economy improves. But I know that just waiting for an automatic increase in trade will not be enough for WTO members,” Mr. Azevedo said in a statement.

Although the 2014 forecast of 4.7 per cent is more than double the 2.1 per cent increase of last year, it remains below the 20-year average of 5.3 per cent. For the past two years, growth has averaged only 2.2 per cent.

The sluggish pace of trade growth in 2013 was due to a combination of flat import demand in developed economies (0.2 per cent) and moderate import growth in developing economies (4.4 per cent).

On the export side, both developed and developing economies only managed to record small, positive increases (1.5 per cent for developed economies and 3.3 per cent for developing economies).

In 2013, the dollar value of world merchandise exports rose 2.1 per cent to $18.8 trillion, while the value of world commercial services exports rose 5.5 per cent to $4.6 trillion.

The trade forecast for 2014 is premised on an assumption of 3 percent growth in world GDP growth at market exchange rates, while the forecast for 2015 assumes output growth of 3.1 percent.

“Risks to the trade forecast are still mostly on the downside, but there is some upside potential, particularly since trade in developed economies is starting from a low base,” the WTO said.

However, volatility is likely to be a defining feature of 2014 as monetary policy in developed economies becomes less accommodative, it said.

“Concluding the Doha round would provide a strong foundation for trade in the future, and a powerful stimulus in today’s slow growth environment. We are currently discussing new ideas and new approaches which would help us to get the job done and to do it quickly,” Mr. Azevedo said.

Source: The Economic Times

Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.