January 2020

Amazon’s $1 billion investment in India no big favour, says Piyush Goyal NEW DELHI : Amazon hasn’t done India any big favours by investing $1 billion in the country, its trade minister said on Thursday, laying bare the tensions with the US online retail giant during a visit by its CEO Jeff Bezos. Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart are facing mounting criticism from India’s brick-and-mortar retailers, which accuse the US giants of violating Indian law by racking up billions of dollars of losses to fund deep discounts and discriminating against small sellers. The companies deny the allegations. Source: Livemint

Nancy Pelosi names managers for Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump Four weeks after the US House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday named managers for the Senate trial which is likely to begin next week. Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has been named as the lead manager. The other managers who would be part of the argument on behalf of the House as the Senate holds its trial, which is likely to begin on January 21, are Congressman Jerry Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee; Congresswoman Zoe...

Senior Advocate Harish Salve Appointed Queen’s Counsel for Courts of England & Wales New Delhi: Noted lawyer Harish Salve has been appointed as Queen’s Counsel (QC) for the courts of England and Wales, ‘Bar and Bench’ reported on Thursday. The title of QC is awarded to those who have demonstrated particular skill and expertise in the conduct of advocacy. Salve and other appointees will be formally appointed as QC on March 16, where the Lord Chancellor will preside over the appointment ceremony at Westminster Hall. Salve served as the Solicitor General of India from November 1999 to November 2002. He is...

Ratan Tata urges people to “support this visionary government” Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata on January 15 praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision for India” and hailed the PM and Home Minister Amit Shah’s efforts to make the country stronger. Tata’s comments came when he was in Gandhinagar at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Institute of Skills (IIS). He further urged the people to “support the visionary government”. Source: Moneycontrol

Japan minister Shinjiro Koizumi becomes first to announce paternity leave Tokyo: Japan’s environment minister on Wednesday said he would take two weeks of paternity leave, the first time a cabinet minister has publicly committed to such a move in the country. Shinjiro Koizumi, a media-savvy 38-year-old married to a former television anchorwoman, told a ministry meeting it had been a difficult decision to balance his duties as minister and his desire to be with his newborn. “I want to take a total of two weeks off flexibly, making exceptions for important public duties,” he said, adding he hoped his decision...

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bets big on his favourite stock Titan, buys 16.2 lakh shares in Q3 Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has bought an additional 16.2 lakh shares in Titan Company in the October-December quarter. The big bull held 4.67 crore Titan shares at the end of Q3 compared to 4.52 crore shares in the preceding quarter. Jhunjhunwala raised his stake in Titan Company to 5.27% in Q3 from 5.1% for the quarter ended September 2019. His wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala’s stake inched up to 1.42% in Q3 compared to 1.41% stake in the preceding quarter. Source: Business Today

Taiwan ‘already independent’, President Tsai Ing-wen warns China China must accept that Taiwan is already independent, President Tsai Ing-wen has said, warning Beijing that any attempt to invade the democratic island would be “very costly”. Tsai won a second term over the weekend with a record 8.2 million votes, an outcome that was seen as a forceful rebuke of China’s ongoing campaign to isolate the self-ruled island. China’s leadership had made no secret of its desire to see Tsai turfed out because she and her party refuse to acknowledge their view that the island is part of a “one China”....

Recreate alliance against ISIS: Javad Zarif The fight against the Islamic State suffered a setback with the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, said the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Wednesday. Addressing the annual Raisina Dialogue, the visiting minister said the Islamic State’s fighters are located near India and Iran and both countries should recreate the anti-ISIS alliance. “General Soleimani was the single most important challenger to Daesh. The fight against Daesh suffered a big setback with his assassination. There are two persons who are celebrating the assassination of General Soleimani, – President Trump and Daesh (Islamic State),” said Mr. Zarif...

India Has Not Closed Its Doors on World’s Largest Free Trade Agreement RCEP, Says S Jaishankar New Delhi: India has not closed its doors on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and will carry out a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate its merit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday. In his address at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said India pulled out of the RCEP as the offer made by countries of the bloc did not match India’s expectations. “Where RCEP is concerned, we have to look at cost and benefit. We will evaluate RCEP on its economic and trade merit....

Burger King offers Prince Harry part time job, has people in splits After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they will be stepping back as ‘senior members of the royal family’ and be ‘financially independent’, some brands have attempted to give it a humourous twist on social media, sometimes with disastrous results. The latest to do so is Amercian fast food chain Burger King, that offered the Duke of Sussex a “part-time” job. “If you’re looking for a job, we have a new crown for you,” read one an ad from the chain. Source: The Indian Express