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The merger of cash-rich oil producer Cairn India into its debt-ridden parent Vedanta Ltd is now complete, the two firms announced on Tuesday. "This merger consolidates Vedanta's position as one of the world's largest diversified natural resources companies, with world-class, low-cost assets in metals and mining and oil and gas," a joint statement by the two firms said. After absorbing its cash-rich subsidiary, Vedanta will have a larger pro forma market capitalisation of $15.6 billion and higher free float of 49.9 percent. The two companies announced plans of the merger in June 2016, which would give the metals and mining company Vedanta access to Cairn India's cash, helping it cut debt. In July last year, Vedanta had sweetened its merger proposal to win over minority shareholders like LIC. Shareholders of Cairn India will get one equity share of Vedanta and four redeemable preference shares of face value Rs 10 and coupon 7.5 percent, as against the proposal ...

China successfully conducted maiden glide test of its first amphibious aircraft, stated to be the largest in the world, in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. The glide was conducted on Saturday. Other tests and check-ups are under way, according to the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co Ltd. Designed to be the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, the 37-meter AG600 with a wingspan of 38.8 meters, has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes. It can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds, and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. With excellent manoeuvrability and a relatively wide search scope range, the AG600 will be mainly used for maritime rescue, forest fire fighting, marine environment monitoring and protection. Aviation Industry Corp of China said in March that AG600 would embark on its maiden flight over land in late May and on water in the second-half of 2017. The aircraft developer has recei...

The nearly 50-m-tall rocket that weighs about 400 tonnes will carry what is now dubbed as the ‘South Asia Satellite’ or what the Indian Space Research Organisation still prefers to call GSAT-9. The 2230-kg satellite has been fabricated in three years and is purely a communications satellite costing Rs. 235 crore. The uniqueness of this satellite is that it will have a footprint that extends all over South Asia and India is gifting it to its neighbours who according to India’s assessment could be helped in better utilising these space-based technologies. The South Asia Satellite has 12 Ku band transponders which India’s neighbours can utilise to increase communications. Each country will get access to at least one transponder through which they could beam their own programming and there could be common ‘South Asian programing’ as well. Each country has to develop its own ground infrastructure though India is willing to extend assistance and know-how. According to the governm...

 The Burmese government will not accept China’s offer to help mediate affairs in restive Arakan State, but “will collaborate” with Bangladesh, according to the President’s Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay. According to Bangladeshi foreign ministry officials, China has offered to help tackle a diplomatic row between the two countries over the plight of tens of thousands of Muslim minority Rohingya who fled violence in Arakan State and sought refuge in Bangladesh since late 2016. U Zaw Htay told reporters during a press conference on the National League for Democracy government’s first-year performance on Friday that the NLD administration “understands China’s concerns.” He noted China’s development project in Kyaukphyu, a special economic zone in Arakan State, but said that the government would opt to take a more standard path in obtaining assistance in dealing with conflict in the region. Chinese Special Envoy of Asian Affairs ...

The Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the People’s Liberation Army headed by President Xi Jinping, has decided to reorganise the army, defence ministry spokesperson senior colonel Yang Yujun said on Thursday. Yang said that 13 army groups (army corps) will be formed from the previous 18. The move is a crucial step to build a strong and modernised new-type army and is important to shifting the focus of the PLA from quantity to quality and efficiency, he told the media in Beijing. In response to a question on reform of military academies and research institutions, Yang said that the reform aims to adapt to the new command system and military structure, as well as to provide talent and theoretical and technological support to the building of a first-class military force. The downsizing of the PLA was announced by President Xi in 2015 to make the force leaner and reliant on modern warfare. The unprecedented reform began in November 2015, when CMC unveil...

North Korea has agreed to host a UN rights expert for the first time, granting access next week to the special rapporteur on disabled people’s rights, the world body said Thursday. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar is scheduled to arrive in the isolated nation on Wednesday following an invitation from Pyongyang, the UN rights office said in a statement. Her visit “will be the first ever to the country by an independent expert designated by the UN Human Rights Council,” the statement said. The rights council has accused North Korea of committing crimes against humanity and detaining up to 1,20,000 people in brutal prison camps. The North Korean regime last month boycotted a rights council session scrutinising its record, branding the body’s work a “mere political attack”. Devandas-Aguilar said the upcoming visit marked a important chance to study the situation in the country, with a particular focus on children living with disabilities. “My upcomin...

China’s plan to build a new city about two hours drive from Beijing has raised hopes it may catalyze better urban design across the nation, enhancing economic efficiency and cutting air pollution. The potential for gains is huge in a country where tens of millions of rural residents will move into urban areas by the end of the decade. The nation’s cities are afflicted by urban sprawl and designs that force millions of people to rely on cars to get around, exacerbating chronic traffic congestion and choking air pollution. Xiongan New Area, announced April 1, has been lauded by state media as a demonstration project for a new model of optimized development in densely-populated areas. It’s also intended to ease the pressure on Beijing, the capital city that plans to cap its population at 23 million by 2020. Morgan Stanley expects the investment in infrastructure and relocation to run about 2 trillion yuan ($290 billion) in the first 15 years. "China...

China needs to raise its military capabilities to protect its growing overseas interests, its foreign minister said following the launch of China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, but he vowed not to pursue expansionism. China launched the carrier on Wednesday amid rising tension over North Korea and regional worries about Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and its broader military modernisation programme. Speaking during a visit to Germany, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Chinese business and citizens had spread all around the world, with millions of people living overseas and nearly 30,000 Chinese-funded businesses registered in other countries. “Under this new environment, China has ample reason to raise its own national defence capability to effectively protect its fair rights that are increasingly extending overseas,” Wang said in response to a question on the new carrier, according to a statement on the ministry’s websi...

China offered on Tuesday to help tackle a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Burma over the flight of minority Rohingyas, two Bangladesh foreign ministry officials said. Around 69,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in northern Arakan State since October, straining relations between the two neighbors who each see the stateless Muslim minority as the other nation’s problem. Chinese special envoy Sun Guoxiang, beginning a four-day trip to Bangladesh, urged Dhaka to resolve the row with Burma bilaterally, but also said Beijing stood ready to help in the matter, a foreign ministry official in Dhaka told Reuters. Sun made the proposal during a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, the official said. He declined to be named, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media. “The envoy told us at the meeting that they were ready to help if necessary,” the official said. Another foreign ministry official confirmed the informati...

China on Wednesday launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier, which will join an existing one bought second-hand from the Ukraine, amid rising tensions over North Korea and worries about Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. State media said the carrier, designed in China and built in the northeast port of Dalian, is not expected to enter service until 2020. The announcement by the official Xinhua news agency had been well-flagged as foreign military analysts and Chinese media have for months published satellite images, photographs and news stories about the second carrier’s development. China confirmed its existence in late 2015. Its launch follows China’s celebration on Sunday of the 68th birthday of the founding of the Chinese navy, and it comes amid renewed tensions between North Korea and the United States over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

A state-owned Chinese firm has offered to invest $2 billion in Bangladesh’s construction materials sector, a media report said. The China Building Materials Federation has presented a plan to Bangladesh Investment Development Board (BIDA) offering $2 billion investment in the sector, bdnews24 reported. BIDA said a 12-strong Chinese delegation met its Executive Chairman Kazi M. Aminul Islam on Tuesday and expressed interest in investing. The chairman said they would get ‘one stop service’ in Dhaka. The Chinese side presented a proposal on ‘Cooperation Proposal for China-Bangladesh Building Material Upgrade Project and the Development of Industrial Park’ for investment in construction materials such as bricks, tiles, cement, ceramics and mosaic. Both sides also agreed to sign a MoU for an institutional framework of the proposal. BIDA is working to woo investors through a series of reforms. It aims at improving Bangladesh’s ranking in the World B...

India’s participation is very important to the Belt and Road initiative. It’s not only because of India’s population, labour resource and market size, but also India’s political influence on countries in South Asia and the Indian Ocean,” an article in the Global Times said. Written by Liu Zongyi, senior fellow of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, the article said India’s attitude toward the Belt and Road initiative will affect these countries’ decisions on whether to participate in the initiative. China requires India’s cooperation on anti-terrorism, regional stability and security in building the Belt and Road venture, it said. “India’s attitude toward the initiative is clear: supporting some part of the Belt and Road, opposing and hedging the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Maritime Silk Route, and delaying and replacing the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor,” the ar...

At least 100 kg of cannabis was seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) officials in West Bengal’s North 24-Parganas district , an official said. Acting on a tip-off, the Ramchandra Pur outpost troopers mounted a special vigil near the International Border, the official said. “The BSF personnel challenged some unidentified men with head loads and seized the Hemp cannabis wrapped in 47 plastic packets,” Deputy Inspector General R.P.S. Jaswal of the BSF’s South Bengal Frontier said. “The smugglers managed to flee taking advantage of the darkness. The cannabis has been handed over to the customs department of Bangoan for legal action,” he added. The south Bengal frontier of the BSF has seized 406.45 kg of cannabis and apprehended three smugglers so far this year.

Around 1000 kilograms of Cannabis worth approximately seven crore twenty lakh rupees in the international market has been seized by the 41 battalion Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Kolkata zonal unit on Friday night in Siliguri-Kolkata highway. The narcotics consignment was being brought from Manipur and was being transported to Kolkata. Throwing light on the catch Deputy Inspector General (DIG), SSB B.K Pal said that they had received information from their source.Meanwhile, on Friday evening Police also seized a truck loaded with 250 Kilograms of Cannabis and arrested two people in Boudh District of Odisha. The accused were smuggling cannabis to Bihar from Boudh.

In a major drug haul, the Narcotics Control Bureau have seized over 1,700 kilogram of poppy husk. This contraband of poppy husk was hidden behind the air conditioners in the container, which were to be off loaded in Haridwar. According to director (NCB) Madho Singh, a tip-off was received by the NCB that container was heading to Jodhpur from Ahmedabad with a huge consignment of poppy husk, to be delivered in Jodhpur. Upon the information, the NCB sleuths put up a nakabandi at Dangiawas near Jodhpur and intercepted a container bearing Gujarat registration number matching with the information in the tip-off. "The container was stuffed with the air conditioners. On minute checking of the container, these sacks of poppy husks were found hidden in the boxes of air conditioners," Singh said. The NCB seized the container and arrested the driver identified as Kanhaiyalal Nath. On weighing the poppy husk, it was found to be 1,745 kg packed in the sacks. Singh said that the contai...

The World Bank, in its latest report, said that the remittances to developing countries fell for a second consecutive year in 2016, a trend not seen in three decades. This was attributable mainly to the drop in oil prices and fiscal tightening in the oil producing countries in the Middle East, which has a significant Indian migrant population accounting for a large chunk of remittances. India, while retaining its top spot as the world's largest remittance recipient, led the decline with remittance inflows amounting to $62.7 billion last year, a decrease of 8.9% over $68.9 billion in 2015. In the latest edition of the Migration and Development Brief, the Bank estimates that officially recorded remittances to developing countries amounted to $429 billion in 2016, a decline of 2.4% over $440 billion in 2015. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, contracted by 1.2% to $575 billion in 2016, from $582 billion in 2015. Low oil prices and weak econom...

International  media have hailed China's successful launch of its first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1, which has docked with a space lab. Reuters reported that China's first cargo spacecraft's launch and successful docking with the Tiangong-2 space lab marked a major step toward Beijing's goal of establishing a permanently manned space station by 2022. The Tiangong-2 (Heavenly Palace 2) space laboratory was home to two "taikonauts" for a month last October in China's longest ever manned space mission, the report said. The Associated Press reported that the launch and docking marked further progress in China's ambitious space program. The report said that since China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, it has staged a spacewalk and landed its Jade Rabbit rover on the moon. A mission to land another rover on Mars and bring back samples is set to launch in 2020, while China also plans to become the first country to soft-land a probe on the...

Participating in G-20 finance ministers’ and central bank governors’ meeting, he said emerging economies have become increasingly important in driving global growth, accounting for more than 75% of global expansion. Among emerging economies, “India has been a major driver of global economic growth with an expected growth of 7.5 per cent for 2017-18 against 7.1 per cent in 2016-17”, an official statement quoted him as saying. India’s growth, he said, remains resilient with low inflation, fiscal prudence and low current account deficit (CAD), talking about robust structural reform measures. Addressing the meeting yesterday, Jaitley said India is on course to introduce the goods and services tax (GST) from July this year. GST, he said, will eliminate the multiplicity of taxes and make India a single common market. As per International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections, India’s medium-term growth is poised to go above 8%, Jaitley said. The finance minist...

Malaysia has reached an agreement to pay Abu Dhabi $2.5 billion as partial debt settlement for embattled government fund 1MDB . , according to a person familiar with the matter. Under a deal that’s expected to be announced Monday on the London Stock Exchange, Malaysia will pay Abu Dhabi $1.2 billion before the end of this year, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t yet public. Malaysia will also assume the coupon obligations for two dollar bonds issued by 1MDB and co-guaranteed by Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Co., the person said.  1MDB and the Malaysian finance ministry will pay the $2.5 billion through proceeds raised from the sale of units Brazen Sky Ltd. and 1MDB Global Investment Ltd., the person said. The two countries also agreed not to pursue legal action before December 2020 as they negotiate the dispute over $3.5 billion linked to the two bonds, the person said. 1MDB and IPIC...

Thousands of Chinese jihadis have come to Syria since the country’s civil war began in March 2011 to fight against government forces and their allies. Some have joined the al-Qaida’s branch in the country previously known as Nusra Front. Others paid allegiance to the Islamic State group and a smaller number joined factions such as the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham. But the majority of Chinese jihadis are with the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria, whose vast majority are Chinese Muslims, particularly those from the Turkic-speaking Uighur majority native to Xinjiang in China. Their growing role in Syria has resulted in increased cooperation between Syrian and Chinese intelligence agencies who fear those same jihadis could one day return home and cause trouble there. The Turkistan Islamic Party is the other name for the East Turkistan Islamic Movement that considers China’s Xinjiang to be East Turkistan. Like most jihadi groups in Syria, their aim is to remove Assad...

North Korea is prepared to respond to any nuclear attack by the United States in kind, the country’s number two official said Saturday. “We’re prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and we are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks,” Choe Ryong-Hae said in a speech at a ceremony before a large military parade started, which was broadcast live by the North’s Korean Central TV. The US had earlier warned that a policy of “Stratergic patience” with North Korea is over according to state news agency. The concern has grown since the US Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack. As North Korea marks its founders day, it warned to face retaliation to any kind of US military attack. “The Trump administration, which made a surprise guided cruise-missile strike on Syria on April 6, has entered the path of open threat and blackmail,” KCNA news agency quoted the milit...

The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — plans to issue bonds this year in Indian rupee and Chinese yuan, its president K V Kamath said on Friday. The bank sold its first three billion yuan (USD 437 million) yuan-denominated bonds in China last year in July to fund clean energy projects in member-states. Kamath, a former executive with India’s largest private lender ICICI Bank, told the state-run Xinhua news agency that after last year’s issuance of bonds, the preparation for the second batch of yuan-denominated bonds, possibly in the second half of this year, is expected to be more smooth. The size will be around three billion yuan, similar to the last one. He said the issuance will come after the bank is rated by international rating agencies. Between USD 300-500 million of rupee-denominated ‘masala’ bonds will be issued after July, added Kamath, who is based in Shanghai. ‘Masala’ bonds are rupee-denominate...

Israel Aerospace Industries limited announced that it been awarded contracts in India totaling almost $2 billion. The deal includes a huge contract worth over $1.6 billion - the largest defense contract in Israel's defense industries' history, to deliver an advanced MRSAM air and missile defense system to the Indian Army. The company will also supply additional LRSAM air and missile defense systems to be built in India for Indian aircraft carriers. MRSAM is an advanced ground breaking air and missile defense system that provides the ultimate protection against a variety of aerial threats. In its existing version, MRSAM is operational with the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Israel Defense Forces. The system includes an advanced phased-array radar, command and control, mobile launchers and missiles with advanced RF seekers. MRSAM was developed jointly for the Indian Army by IAI and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in collaboration with Rafael Adv...

The World Bank will support India as it sustainably develops its first modern inland water transport fairway on a 1,360 km-stretch of the Ganga river between Varanasi and the seaport of Haldia, bringing thousands of jobs in cargo logistics and transportation to one of the most populous regions in the country.  The World Bank’s Board today approved a $375 million loan to help the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) put in place the state-of-the-art infrastructure and navigation services needed to develop the waterway -- known as National Waterway 1 -- as an efficient logistics artery for northern India, while adopting the least intrusive methods of making the river navigable.  The Capacity Augmentation of National Waterway 1 (Jal Marg Vikas) Project will help save more than 150,000 tons of CO2 equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions annually by moving cargo away from fossil fuel-consuming road and rail networks. Experience from other countries shows that carrying...

Toshiba corp. shares recovered after Japan’s national broadcaster reported that Apple Inc. is considering an investment of several billion dollars in its semiconductor unit, raising the prospect that the struggling electronics conglomerate will get a much-needed cash infusion. Toshiba has put its memory chips business up for sale to make up for a writedown of 716.6 billion yen ($6.56 billion) in its U.S. nuclear equipment operations. One option being considered is an investment accompanied by Toshiba holding shares, so that a majority of the semiconductor unit will be held by U.S. and Japanese interests, satisfying the respective governments, NHK said. Yukihito Uchida, a spokesman for Toshiba, declined to comment on Apple’s involvement and the NHK article. Toshiba shares were down 4.8 percent at 1:56 p.m. in Tokyo, after declining as much as 8.1 percent during morning trade. The stock is down about 29 percent this year. While Toshiba has been narrowing the field of interested...

Military force cannot resolve tension over North Korea, China said on Thursday, while an influential Chinese newspaper urged the North to halt its nuclear programme in exchange for Chinese protection. Concerns have been growing that North Korea could soon conduct a sixth nuclear test or more missile launches in defiance of UN sanctions and stark warnings from the United States that a policy of patience was over. With a US aircraft carrier group steaming to the area in a show of force and tensions rising, fears of a confrontation have been rising. China, North Korea’s sole major ally and neighbour, which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, has called for talks leading to a peaceful resolution and the denuclearisation of the peninsula. “Military force cannot resolve the issue,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. “Amid tensions we will also find a kind of opportunity to return to talks.” While US President Donald Trump has put North Korea on noti...

India and Australia inked six pacts including one aimed at boosting counter-terrorism cooperation after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull in New Delhi. The two leaders held comprehensive discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest and concern. At a joint press event with Mr. Turnbull, Mr. Modi said they reviewed the entire gamut of ties and took many “forward looking” decisions including one on early holding of the next round of talks on comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. Emphasising on peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, Mr. Modi said challenges like terrorism and cyber security require global strategy and solutions. The two sides inked a pact to boost counter-terrorism cooperation which was signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs and its counterpart Australian ministry. While Mr. Modi noted that Australia was ready to supply uranium to India, Mr. Turn...

Two youth dug out the dead body of a 26-year-old woman from the grave who was cremated just two days ago. Thereafter, the two sick-minded men had sex with the woman's dead body. Only for the sexual satisfaction, some lecherous men did something so gruesome that has put the humanity to shame.Two youth dug out the dead body of a 26-year-old woman from the grave who was cremated just two days ago. Thereafter, the two sick-minded men had sex with the woman's dead body. The incident took place in Talheta village of Ghaziabad. The incident came to light when in the morning, people saw the dead body of the woman lying 20 feet away from the grave. The villagers immediately informed the family members and they further called up the police. According to reports, on Thursday night, two men blinded with lust dug out the dead body. They took it nearly 20 feet away from the grave and gang raped her. The family members said that the woman lost her life while delivering the baby. Two days ...

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) says the country is on an average 0.6 degree Celsius hotter than a century ago. 2016 was the warmest year since 1901. Until 2015, 13 of India’s 15 warmest years ever were after 2000. Heat waves are a sharply defined concept, as per Indian meteorology. Depending on whether a place’s historical temperature is 40C or less, a 4.5C (or greater) rise in temperature counts as a ‘heat wave’ and 6.5C and more, a ‘severe heat wave.’ The IMD counted the number of heat wave days in 110 weather stations nationwide and, in a 2013 report, found that between 1960 and 2010, there were about 510 ‘heat wave days’ every year in the decades 1961-70 and 1971-80. This decreased to 470 in (1981-90) and jumped to about 580 days/year and 670 days/year respectively in the decades (1991-00 and 2001-10). The same roughly holds for severe heat waves. From an average 74 days/year in the 1961-70 decade, it has jumped to 98 days/year in the last decade (2001-2010). Given tha...

At least 11 people were killed in a Sunday bombing at a church in Alexandria, Egypt's health ministry said, hours after a bomb killed 25 worshippers at a church north of Cairo.  According to the country’s Health Ministry a suspect device went off at Saint Mark's church in Egypt's second largest city. An earlier blast at a church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, north of Cairo, killed 25 people and wounded dozens, officials said, in an apparent attack on Coptic worshippers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the cause of the blast, just one week before Coptic Easter and the same month as Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt, was not known. Islamic State’s branch in Egypt, which has waged a low-level conflict for years in the Sinai peninsula, has stepped up attacks on Christians in Egypt in recent months. A suicide bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49 in December 2016, many of them women and ch...

At least 10 people have been killed in explosions at underground stations in St Petersburg, Russian media report. News agencies reported the blasts hit the Sennaya Ploschad and nearby Tekhnologichesky Institut stations in the centre of the city. Images posted on social media showed a carriage in Sennaya station with its doors blown out with casualties nearby. President Vladimir Putin said all causes, including terrorism, were being investigated. The Interfax and RIA news agencies reported that at least 50 people had been injured. Interfax said one of the blasts may have involved a device filled with shrapnel. President Putin was in St Petersburg earlier on Monday but is now outside the city, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "I have already spoken to the head of our special services, they are working to ascertain the cause," he said, at a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. Moscow metro officials said they were introducing extra security mea...

The Ministry of Human Resource Development adopted the National Institutional Ranking Framework which lists out the ranking of best colleges and universities in India. Below are the top 10 colleges, universities and management institutes in India. Top 10 colleges in India 1. Miranda House, New Delhi 2. Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 3. Shri Ram College of Commerce - New Delhi 4. Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu 5. Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, New Delhi 6. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, West Bengal 7. Lady Shri Ram College of Women, New Delhi 8. Dayal Singh College, New Delhi 9. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, New Delhi 10. The Women's Christian College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Top 10 universities 1. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 2. Jawaharlal Nehru College, New Delhi 3. Banaras Hindu University 4. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research 5. Jadavpur university 6. Anna University 7. University of Hyderabad 8. Univer...

Myanmar’s de-facto leader, former democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, in a televised speech on March 30 on occasion of the one-year anniversary of the installation of her government, for the first time acknowledged disappointment over the state of the country. She said she was prepared to step down if people are dissatisfied with her leadership. “When I joined politics, I said I promise one thing: that I will do my best’. That’s all. I can’t do better than that,” Suu Kyi said. “So, if you all think I am not good enough for our country and our people, if someone or some organisation can do better than us, we are ready to step down,” she added. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy took power last year amid high expectations after a landslide election victory which ended five decades of military rule in the impoverished country. But while her government has started enacting major reforms, many believe its performance has fallen shor...

Ruias-led Essar Group today announced sale of its BPO company Aegis Ltd to Singapore-based private equity fund manager Capital Square Partners for an estimated USD 275 to 300 million. The sale marks Essar’s complete exit from BPO business. Essar had in July 2014 sold Aegis USA Inc, an outsourcing and technology company with operations in the US, the Philippines and Costa Rica, to Teleperformance of Paris for USD 610 million. With its US subsidiary gone, Aegis’ headcount and revenue were reduced substantially. Since then, Aegis has again grown the business in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings nd customer base. Aegis had BPO business globally across India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK. It had 40,000 employees globally, 47 BPOs in these 10 countries and USD 400 million in revenue. “AGC Holdings Ltd (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global Ltd, has entered into a definitive ag...

Scientists have identified a soil fungus, which uses enzymes to rapidly break down plastic materials, an advance that could help deal with waste problem that threatens our environment. Humans are producing ever greater amounts of plastic — much of which ends up as garbage. Since plastic does not break down in the same way as other organic materials, it can persist in the environment over long periods of time. Now, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found an unexpected solution to the growing plastic problem in the form of a soil fungus. Attempts to deal with plastic waste through burying, recycling, incineration or other methods are variously unsustainable, costly and can result in toxic by-products, which are hazardous to human health. Researchers argue that we urgently need to find new, safer and more effective ways to degrade waste plastics. The team found the plastic-eating fungus living in a rubbish tip in Islamabad, Pakistan. The researchers took samp...

Four missiles fired from Afghanistan on Sunday landed in northwest Pakistan’s restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. One of the missiles hit a shop and other landed near a mosque in Shungak area in the remote Parachinar in Kurram Agency. Two other missiles hit a graveyard in Kachkina area. The residents were panicked after the shop was destroyed in Shingak area. No incidents of loss of life were reported, authorities said. An official said the missiles were fired from Afghanistan’s Paktia province. Kurram, which borders three Afghan provinces, is one of the most sensitive tribal areas. The incident occurred in the same area where the Pakistani Taliban on Friday targeted a Shia imambargah with a powerful car bomb, killing at least 24 people and injuring nearly 100 others at a crowded market. The blast struck the women’s entrance of the imambargah in the remote Parachinar in Kurram Agency, sending the large number of people gathered for Friday...

San Miguel corp. plans to invest $34 billion in an oil refinery, an integrated steel complex and an ocean-tide power plant as the Philippines’ largest company by sales expands amid forecasts for robust economic growth in the country, according to its president. The company, which sells nine of every 10 beers in the Philippines, is also “evaluating and may bid” for Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., President Ramon Ang told reporters on March 31. Vietnam may provide an anchor to increase its brewery business as consumption in the country is growing at an annual rate of at least 10 percent, five times that in the Philippines, he said. “The businesses we ventured into have matured, such that the company is in a very stable position,” Ang said, citing compounded annual 20 percent growth in recurring profit and a near fourfold increase in assets since 2008 following San Miguel’s diversification from food and drinks into non-allied industries such a...

China's home-grown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will expand its cooperation to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and then to the entire Southeast Asia, in a bid to go global, the system's operator has said. Du Li, general manager of Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou Holding Group Co., told Xinhua recently that his company will continue to explore models for international scientific and technical cooperation on BDS, including the joint construction of base stations, joint technical development and research, personnel training and exchanges, and others. Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou established the first batch of three overseas Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and its networking for BDS in Chonburi province, eastern Thailand in December 2013, while it is also planning to build a China-ASEAN science and technology city in Thailand for promoting BDS applications. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consists of 10 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vi...

U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners LP [SILAK.UL] and U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Ltd have offered Toshiba Corp about 2 trillion yen ($17.9 billion) for its chip unit, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday. About 10 potential bidders are interested in buying a stake in the NAN flash memory maker, a source with knowledge of the planned sale told Reuters earlier. Suitors include Western Digital Corp which operates a chip plant with Toshiba in Japan, Micron Technology Inc, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc and financial investors. Toshiba wants to make at least 1 trillion yen from the sale of part or all of the business to cover writedowns at its Westinghouse nuclear unit. It says it expects investors to value its chip operations at about 2 trillion yen. Toshiba is also asking potential bidders whether they intend to resell their stakes and wants to make a decision on the sale before a shareholders meeting in June, the Nikkei said, without saying where it obtained...