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  • Porsche's Mueller takes reins at Volkswagen: Here's how lar

    Days after admitting that the world's top-selling carmaker had rigged diesel emissions to pass US tests during his tenure, longtime CEO of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn stepped down on Wednesday. Winterkorn, VW's boss since 2007, had come under intense pressure since the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) di[...]

  • From 'digital dinner' to FB townhall: Why PM Modi's Silicon

    Prime minister Narendra Modi has managed to get an impressive line-up of CEO meetings during his visit to the Silicon Valley later this month. With over 40,000 people already registered to attend Modi's speech, the event has now become a keenly awaited one in India.For the uninitiated, the prime minister is visitin[...]

  • Small banks mark the biggest banking revolution in India si

    Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) dominated the second set of differentiated and small finance banks announced by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday. Eight of the ten companies that received the in-principle nod from the central bank are MFIs.Of the other two that received approvals, one is a Rajasthan-based non[...]

  • Gold bonds are a clear winner but high chances of deposit s

    The gold bond scheme finalised by the government on Wednesday is a clear winner since the idea of issuing gold bonds can absorb a major part of the gold investment demand in the country.Presently, an estimated 300 tonnes of physical bars and coins are purchased every year for investment-purpose in India. Most of this[...]

  • Politics
  • Modi’s tears only drama? Why is it so tough to believe a st

    There was nothing unusual in the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke down at the Facebook Town Hall in San Jose. After all, this is not the first time that the country’s strongest political leader bared his emotional side to an audience that came to appraise him. What was unusual this time was the fact that h[...]

  • When it comes to Modi vs Sharif, we have our backs to the w

    Islamabad: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an astute politician with the ability to outsmart rivals and he is aiming for the "political and military dominance of India", said a Pakistani daily that noted he was “received like a star” in the US. An editorial in The Nation on Monday said that everyone loves[...]

  • AAP MLA Somnath Bharti faces arrest after Delhi High Court

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has rejected the bail application of AAP MLA Somnath Bharti in the domestic violence case filed against him by his wife Lipika. The former Delhi law minister had moved High Court after a city court had cancelled his bail plea earlier and issued an arrest warrant against him.&[...]

  • Why the Congress petition to suspend PM Modi's Mann Ki Baat

    The Congress wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop airing his Mann Ki Baat address, until the Bihar Assembly election concludes on 8 November. In fact, the party wishes to flag this as a serious issue of violation of the model code of conduct, and is petitioning the Election Commission to issue necessary direc[...]

  • Technology
  • India and Pakistan seem to be at war; this time in cyberspa

    #Cyber-war      India and Pakistan have long been k[...]

  • Government exempts WhatsApp, social media from purview of e

    NEW DELHI: Shortly after a controversy erupted over government's proposal to investigate on every message that an individual will send via WhatsApp, SMS, or Google Hangouts, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology clarified in a draft that social media websites and applications will be exempted[...]

  • Indian IT companies among world's worst paymasters

    NEW DELHI: Indian IT companies are among the 10 worst paymasters in the world, says a survey -- a mid-level IT manager draws an average salary of $41,213 while his Swiss counterpart gets over four times more.According to recruitment platform MyHiringClub.com's Worldwide IT Salary 2015 survey, India was ranked 7[...]

  • Bengaluru first Indian city to get Uber car-pool service

    BENGALURU: Taxi-hailing app Uber will be rolling out UberPool in Bengaluru in the coming weeks, making it the first city in India chosen for its car-pooling pilot. With UberPool, riders can share a ride and split the cost with another person who happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route. Uber will n[...]

  • Entertainment
  • Ranbir Kapoor's special working birthday on the sets of 'Ae

    The baby-faced, towel-dropping Saawariya debutant turns 33 today. And in the 8 years since Ranbir Kapoor's debut film, he has been a part of many films. However, the birthday boy recently started shooting for Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in London, and had a working birthday this year. However, tha[...]

  • FIR registered against Farhan Akhtar, Ranbir Kapoor

    Ranbir Kapoor An FIR has been registered against Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar and actor Ranbir Kapoor for criminal breach of trust and forgery for promoting an online shopping site which is allegedly "duping" customers. The FIR has been registered by a lawyer Rajat Bansal, a resident of Keshav Nag[...]

  • Konkona Sensharma: My mother is shy around my son

    A day before this meeting with Konkona Sensharma happened, her husband Ranvir Shorey and she took to Twitter to announce their separation. Both of them also conveyed their decision to co-parent their young son Haroon. Konkona is clear she will not answer any questions pertaining to the above because she has never s[...]

  • We Are Your Friends review: In Zac Efron's hands, even EDM

    There aren’t many movies on electronic dance music (EDM) or its industrial-techno-underground flavours. The 2004 Michael Dowse film It’s All Gone Pete Tong was one of the first of its kind and it turned out to be a truly stunning sendoff to EDM fans, thanks to it’s unique plot featuring a deaf DJ, mouthwatering Ibi[...]

  • Sports
  • Manpreet Kaur breaks national shot put record on road to Ri

    Railways shot putter Manpreet Kaur today became the latest Indian athlete to qualify for next year's Olympics when she shattered an 18-year-old national record en route to a sixth title at the 55th National Open Athletics Championship today.The Patiala-based shot putter threw 17.96 metres in her second attempt to c[...]

  • Champions League: Chelsea cruise but Dinamo Zagreb stun 10-

    The Champions League season is only one match day old, but it will be tough for anyone to better Alessandro Florenzi's eye-popping strike that gave Roma a 1-1 draw with defending champion Barcelona on Wednesday.Florenzi launched an audacious 60-yard (meter) lob from near the sideline and watched it sail over Barcelon[...]

  • Sanjay Bangar is right: We have been too quick to judge Roh

    Rohit Sharma, the much criticised India batsman, recently received some support from India batting coach Sanjay Bangar, who urged the critics to compare Rohit’s record to those of others at the same stage of their careers."If you look at the numbers, he has played 13 Test matches and scored 800-900 (870 runs) runs a[...]

  • With an eye on 2019 World Cup, it's time for Virat Kohli to

    It was only a matter of time before the murmuring began.With an historic series win in Sri Lanka under his belt, Virat Kohli, India’s Test captain, is reportedly being considered for the one-day captaincy as well. Considering that MS Dhoni’s aura shines brightest in the 50-over game, where he is still a formidable [...]

  • Cars
  • 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show: 2016 Suzuki Baleno to be showcas

    The 66th Frankfurt Motor Show will witness the world debut of the all-new Baleno. Suzuki plans to showcase their new "ideal hatchback" to the media on September 15, 2015. The motor show will be open to public from September 17-27, 2015. In its new form, the Baleno takes after the IK-2 concept that was shown at th[...]

  • Maruti Suzuki launches S-Cross

    Country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday launched its crossover hatchback S-Cross priced in the range of Rs.8.34 lakh and Rs.13.74 lakh as it looks to cement its position in the premium car market. The S-Cross will compete with models such as Hyundai’s recently-launched Creta, Renault’s Duster, Ford’s [...]

  • CCI slaps Hyundai with fine of Rs 420.26 cr for restricting

    New Delhi: Coming down hard on carmakers found to be restricting sale of spare parts in open market, fair trade regulator CCI on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 420.26 crore on Hyundai Motor India and asked two others -- Reva and Premier -- to 'cease and desist' from anti-competitive practices. This follows penaltie[...]

  • Recent Articles

    Zuckerberg Vows to Daughter He’ll Donate 99% of His Facebook Shares

    SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, announced on Tuesday that he and his wife would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares “during our lives” — holdings currently worth more than $45 billion — to charitable purposes.From Our AdvertisersThe pledge was made in an open lett[...]

    02 Dec 2015 | 0 commentsView Post

    Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announce baby girl – and massive charity initiative

    In a Facebook post to newborn child Max, the Facebook CEO says he will administer the initiative himself using 99% of shares in company’s stock.   The Zuckerbergs announced two births on Tuesday: a baby girl, and to one of the world’s biggest charities. That sterling spoon you might have been considering f[...]

    02 Dec 2015 | 0 commentsView Post

    Osama cited Bapu as inspiration in 1993 speech

    cassettes were discovered. The cache soon passed many hands from an Afghan family to a cassette shop and then to a CNN cameraman, finally making its way to the Afghan Media Project at Williams College in Massachusetts, who asked Flagg Miller — an expert in Arabic literature and culture from the University of Californ[...]

    02 Oct 2015 | 0 commentsView Post

    Water on Mars? Here’s why Nasa believes there can be signs of life on the red planet

    Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Horowitz crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. Image Credit: nasa.tumblr.com The dark narrow streaks called recurring slope lineae are up to few hundred meters in length.[...]

    29 Sep 2015 | 0 commentsView Post

    Ranbir Kapoor's special working birthday on the sets of 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'

    The baby-faced, towel-dropping Saawariya debutant turns 33 today. And in the 8 years since Ranbir Kapoor's debut film, he has been a part of many films. However, the birthday boy recently started shooting for Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in London, and had a working birthday this year. However, tha[...]

    29 Sep 2015 | 0 commentsView Post

    Modi extracts $75 billion investment pledge from UAE

    On the face of it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pulled off a feat which none of his predecessors could: extracting a pledge from a foreign country to invest $75 billion in India. This is the most concrete outcome of his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (16-17 August).

    But on the flip side, one has to wait and watch to see the broad contours of the UAE’s proposed investment in India. Moreover, one doesn’t know the status of similar investment pledges by Japan and China eleven months ago wherein the two Asian giants had announced to invest $35 billion and $20 billion respectively in India.

    The India-UAE Joint Statement released on Monday evening touches upon the proposed $75 billion investment from UAW to India but does not give details or the timeline of the proposed investment.

    The Joint Statement talks about as many as 31 areas of broad convergence between India and UAE, including the two sides’ decision to elevate their bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperate in manufacture of defence equipment in India, veritably winning the UAE’s support for PM Modi’s Make in India initiative.

    But undoubtedly the most important of all the 31 agreements between Modi and his UAE interlocutors as reflected in the Joint Statement is the point about $75 billion UAE investment in India. Here is the relevant paragraph: "Recognising that India is emerging as the new frontier of investment opportunities, especially with the new initiatives by the Government to facilitate trade and investment, encourage the investment institutions of UAE to raise their investments in India, including through the establishment of UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund, with the aim of reaching a target of USD 75 billion to support investment in India's plans for rapid expansion of next generation infrastructure, especially in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks."

    While the news is absolutely welcome and heart-warming, the devil lies in the details and there aren’t any as of now. No timeline is given as to by when the $75 billion investment would come to India from the UAE and what will be the pre-conditions.


    Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, HH Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presenting a book to Prime Minister  Narendra Modi, at Za’abeel Palace, Dubai on 17 August 2015. Image courtesy PIB

    After all, don’t we know the fate of the South Korean steel giant POSCO which pledged to pour $12 billion in India’s single biggest FDI project way back in 2005 but had to suspend the project a decade later in view of enormous difficulties faced in implementing the project?

    One must remember that this is only a statement of intent and one has to wait to see the UAE money actually arriving in India for infrastructural projects in the sectors named above. This may take months and even years. The probable difficulties were pointed out in an earlier Firstpost article.

    Therefore, the Indian government must learn its lessons from the POSCO fiasco and not jump the gun by trumpeting its achievement of getting the UAE to pledge investments in India up to $75 billion till the finer details are put in public domain and the first tranche of investment comes to India.

    However, PM Modi needs to be congratulated for injecting a new life into the India-UAE relationship and putting UAE on its front burner, its rightful place. Consider the following achievements, mentioned in the India-UAE Joint Statement:

    • Establish a dialogue between their National Security Advisors and National Security Councils. The National Security Advisors, together with other high level representatives for security from both nations, will meet every six months. The two sides will also establish points of contact between their security agencies to further improve operational cooperation.

    • Strengthen defence relations, including through regular exercises and training of naval, air, land and Special Forces, and in coastal defence. India warmly welcomed UAE's decision to participate in International Fleet Review in India in February 2016.

    • Denounce and oppose terrorism in all forms and manifestations, wherever committed and by whomever, calling on all states to reject and abandon the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they exist, and bring perpetrators of terrorism to justice.

    • Enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, intelligence sharing and capacity building.

    • Work together for the adoption of India’s proposed Comprehensive convention on international terrorism in the United Nations.

    • Work together to control, regulate and share information on flow of funds that could have a bearing on radicalization activities and cooperate in interdicting illegal flows and take action against concerned individuals and organizations.

    • Strengthen cooperation in law enforcement, anti-money laundering, drug trafficking, other trans-national crimes, extradition arrangements, as well as police training.

    • Promote cooperation in cyber security, including prevention on use of cyber for terrorism, radicalization and disturbing social harmony.

    • Establish a Strategic Security Dialogue between the two governments.

    • Facilitate participation of Indian companies in infrastructure development in UAE.

    • Promote strategic partnership in the energy sector, including through UAE's participation in India in the development of strategic petroleum reserves, upstream and downstream petroleum sectors, and collaboration in third countries.

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  • Zuckerberg Vows to Daughter He’ll Donate 99% of His Faceboo

    SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, announced on Tuesday that he and his wife would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares “during our lives” — holdings currently worth more than $45 billion — to charitable purposes.From Our AdvertisersThe pledge was made in an open lett[...]

  • Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announce baby girl – an

    In a Facebook post to newborn child Max, the Facebook CEO says he will administer the initiative himself using 99% of shares in company’s stock.   The Zuckerbergs announced two births on Tuesday: a baby girl, and to one of the world’s biggest charities. That sterling spoon you might have been considering f[...]

  • Osama cited Bapu as inspiration in 1993 speech

    cassettes were discovered. The cache soon passed many hands from an Afghan family to a cassette shop and then to a CNN cameraman, finally making its way to the Afghan Media Project at Williams College in Massachusetts, who asked Flagg Miller — an expert in Arabic literature and culture from the University of Californ[...]

  • Water on Mars? Here’s why Nasa believes there can be signs

    Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Horowitz crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. Image Credit: nasa.tumblr.com The dark narrow streaks called recurring slope lineae are up to few hundred meters in length.[...]

  • Ranbir Kapoor's special working birthday on the sets of 'Ae

    The baby-faced, towel-dropping Saawariya debutant turns 33 today. And in the 8 years since Ranbir Kapoor's debut film, he has been a part of many films. However, the birthday boy recently started shooting for Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in London, and had a working birthday this year. However, tha[...]

  • Modi’s tears only drama? Why is it so tough to believe a st

    There was nothing unusual in the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke down at the Facebook Town Hall in San Jose. After all, this is not the first time that the country’s strongest political leader bared his emotional side to an audience that came to appraise him. What was unusual this time was the fact that h[...]

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