January 2020

Serena Williams Loses at Australian Open MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams tumbled out of the Australian Open in the third round on Friday, eliminated by an opponent who had previously been one of her least daunting. The eighth-seeded Williams, a seven-time Australian Open champion, lost to the 27th-seeded Wang Qiang of China, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5. At the same time Williams was battling at Rod Laver Arena, her close friend Caroline Wozniacki played the final match of her career at Melbourne Arena, losing to the 78th-ranked Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Source: The New York Times

Red Bull’s Avinash Pant joins Facebook India as marketing head NEW DELHI : Facebook on Friday announced the appointment of Avinash Pant as marketing director for its India operations. The newly created role has the mandate to drive the company’s consumer marketing efforts across the family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. He will report to Ajit Mohan, vice-president and managing director of Facebook India. Pant’s appointment comes a year after Facebook announced new leadership structure in India bringing company’s operations under Ajit Mohan, reporting directly to its headquarters in Menlo Park. Source: Livemint

Ajit Agarkar applies for national selector’s job, front-runner for chairman’s post Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar on Friday entered the race for the national selector’s job and is a frontrunner for the chairman’s post. Agarkar, who is a former chairman of Mumbai senior selection committee, is in contention for the chairman’s post as the new constitution doesn’t have provisions for zonal system. With BCCI setting January 24 as the deadline for sending applications, the 42-year-old Agarkar is certainly the post high-profile name with 26 Tests, 191 ODIs and 3 T20 Internationals, picking 349 wickets across formats. Source: Hindustan Times

Realme’s first fitness band to launch next month, confirms CEO Madhav Sheth Realme has steadily been expanding its ecosystem in India that will allow the brand to take on Xiaomi more strategically. Last year, India CEO Madhav Sheth teased the first fitness band that will join the Realme family. On the latest AskMadhav episode on YouTube, Sheth finally confirmed that the company’s first fitness band will be released in February. Without sharing any specifics about the device, Sheth revealed a tentative timeline for the anticipated Realme fitness band. He also made some revelations about the introduction of advertisements on Realme...

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali group is aiming at ₹25,000 crore revenue this fiscal New Delhi: Haridwar-based Patanjali group, which has acquired debt-ridden Ruchi Soya, is expecting ₹25,000 crore turnover this fiscal, and aims to become the country’s largest FMCG company in coming years, Yoga Guru Ramdev said on Friday. The company will register a joint turnover of ₹25,000 crore in the current fiscal ending March 2020, in which around ₹12,000 crore would be contributed by Patanjali group firms and ₹13,000 crore will come from Ruchi Soya, he said. Source: Livemint

Need structural, fiscal measures to boost demand and growth: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said that there is need for structural and fiscal measures along with monetary policy to augment demand and growth in the economy. “Monetary policy, however, has its own limits. Structural reforms and fiscal measures may have to be continued and further activated to provide a durable push to demand and boost growth,” Das said on January 24. He added that steps like prioritising food processing industries, tourism, e-commerce, startups and efforts to become a part of the global...

‘Like a Honey Bee Draws Nectar’: CJI SA Bobde Calls Arbitrary, Excessive Tax a Social Injustice by Govt New Delhi: Just a week ahead of the Union Budget, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Friday said arbitrary and excessive tax resulted in social injustice and asked the government to reduce the burden on citizens. Drawing an analogy, the CJI referred to ancient taxation laws in India and said that tax should be collected from people like a honey bee draws nectar from a flower without harming it. He was speaking at an event held to mark the 79th Foundation...

Peaceful protests will deepen democratic roots: Pranab In an obvious reference to the the ongoing peaceful protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a National Register of Citizens exercise in the future, former President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday such agitations would lead to a deepening of the democratic roots. Mr. Mukherjee was speaking at the first annual Sukumar Sen Memorial lecture organised by the Election Commission of India in honour of the first Chief Election Commissioner of India. Source: The Hindu

At Davos, billionaire George Soros tears into Narendra Modi; says nationalism in India ‘biggest and most frightening setback’ Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros criticised the Narendra Modi government at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, accusing the prime minister of “creating a Hindu nationalist state”. “Far from being reversed, it made further headway. The biggest and most frightening setback came in India, where a democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state,” Soros said while speaking on nationalism. His statements assume significance as it comes at a time when the Modi government has been facing backlash over...

‘Don’t need degree to know about climate targets’: Greta to US Treasury chief US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Greta Thunberg on Thursday she should study economics, a jibe which prompted the climate activist to say she did not need a degree to know the world was not meeting its climate targets. Asked about Thunberg’s previous calls to divest from fossil fuels, Mnuchin told a news briefing in Davos: “Is she the chief economist? I’m confused … After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us.” Mnuchin lists a bachelor’s degree in...