Pay Rs 1,500 cr by June 15, or go to jail, SC warns Subrata Roy

Apex court warns Roy he will be sent back to Tihar if cheque is dishonoured

 

#COMPANIES | Sahara chief Subrata Roy has been able to buy some time, with the Supreme Court on Thursday accepting his offer to pay Rs 2,500 crore to investors by July 15. However, the apex court warned Roy of dire consequences if the cheque was dishonoured.

While hearing a case involving embattled Sahara conglomerate chief Subrata Roy and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) over a dispute about returning money to its investors, the court warned Roy he would be sent to Tihar jail in case the cheque was not honoured.

Last Friday, a special Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) court had quashed a non-bailable warrant issued against Roy as he appeared before the court.

The warrant was also quashed on an assurance from Roy that he will appear in all hearings now as the court asked him to submit an undertaking for the same.

The next hearing in this matter will take place on May 18 when the argument on framing of charges will begin.

The apex court earlier on April 17 ordered the auction of Sahara's Aamby Valley over the business conglomerate's alleged failure to deposit money for refunding to its investors.

The top court ordered the selling of 34,000 crore rupees worth of Sahara properties and directed its chief Subrata Roy to appear before it on April 28.| read more..

Veteran Bollywood star Vinod Khanna dies at 70

He worked in more than 100 films

#LATEST| Vinod Khanna, the yesteryears Bollywood superstar, died at the age of 70 on Thursday. He was battling cancer. 

He worked in more than 100 films. 

He was an active politician, and a sitting Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur, Punjab. Vinod Khanna was born on 6 October, 1946.

He is survived by his wife Kavita Khanna, sons Rahul, Akshaye and Sakshi, and daughter Shraddha Khanna. Before marrying Kavita, Vinod Khanna was married to Getanjali but they later got divorced.

His polupar movies include Mere Apne, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Gaddaar (1973 film), Jail Yatra, Imitihaan, Inkaar, Kuchhe Dhaage, Amar Akbar Anthony, Rajput, Qurbani, Kudrat, Dayavan, Kaarnama,Suryaa: An Awakening and Jurm.

Vinod Khanna received the Filmfare award in the best supporting actor category for Haath Ki Safaai, and in 1999 he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, and again in 2007 he won a lifetime achievement award at the Zee Cine Awards.

In late 2016 and early 2017, news about his detoriating health started coming in, this kept him away from a public eye. In his last days he was surrounded by all his children and wife Kavita.| read more.

Modi to flag off first Udan flight from Shimla: What is the RCS scheme?

Bound to sell 50% of seats at subsidised fares; one-way ticket on Delhi-Shimla route is Rs 1,920

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first flight on Thursday under the Regional Connectivity Scheme Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (Udan) by flagging off the Alliance Airlines flight on Shimla-Delhi sector from Jubbar Hatti airport near Shimla.

Simultaneously, he will also flag off the inaugural Udan flight on Nanded-Hyderabad and Kadapa-Hyderabad sectors.

This gains significance as Shimla lacked air connectivity and a petition demanding recommencement of lights was suspended in 2012. Currently, the petition is being heard in the Supreme Court.

Here’s all you need to know about the scheme: 

• The Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderbad flights will be operated by TruJet and one-way tickets on these two routes are priced at Rs 1,000 minimum.

• Under the scheme, an airline is bound to sell 50% of the seats at subsidised fares and on Delhi-Shimla route one way ticket is priced at Rs 1,920. The highest fare on this route is Rs 20,000 for a one-way ticket.

• Five airlines will operate on 128 routes under the regional connectivity scheme wherein fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights.

• Over 45 unserved and under-served airports would be connected under the scheme. These include Bhatinda, Puducherry and Shimla.

• The operators are Air India subsidiary Airline Allied Services, SpiceJet, Air Deccan, Air Odishaand Turbo Megha. They would be operating 19-78 seater aircraft. (READ MORE)

Delhi voted against politics of excuses, says Amit Shah

Get live updates and latest news on Delhi MCD Election 2017 results along with photos, videos

 

MCD election result LIVE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in all three municipal corporations - North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation in the national capital. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are in the race for the second spot in the three civic bodies. Other parties which contested the election include Swaraj India, the political arm of Swaraj Abhiyan - co-founded by activists Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, BSP, SP.

Currently, BJP is leading in 188 seats, AAP is ahead in 43, Congress is leading in 28 seats while the other parties are set to grab around 10 seats.

While the Congress party welcomed the mandate, the Aam Aadmi party blamed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the party's dismal performance and the BJP's good show in the MCD polls. "This is not a Modi wave, but an EVM wave," Delhi Labour Minister and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said.

12:28 PM

Taking responsibility for defeat in all 3 wards, I offer to resign as MLA and from all party posts: Alka Lamba, AAP

12:27 PM

Piyush Goyal ✔ @PiyushGoyal

Congratulations to Shri @AmitShah, Shri @ManojTiwariMP & all the hard-working BJP Karyakartas for the iconic victory in Delhi MCD elections.

12:26 PM
This victory stands for the sincere trust & support that people have placed in PM Modi's vision of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas': Piyush Goyal

12:25 PM
Congratulations to BJP karyakartas and Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari on registering an emphatic victory in MCD polls: Rajnath Singh

12:24 PM
In a strong "personal message" to Arvind Kejriwal, old friend Mayank Gandhi has accused him of "manipulating" his supporters in order to become the Prime Minister in 2019 election, and asked him to choose between his "ego and the nation."| READ MORE

BJP leads; AAP blames EVMs; Congress shows grace

Get live updates and latest news on Delhi MCD Election 2017 results along with photos, videos

 

Exit polls predict sweep for BJP in Delhi
* India Today-Axis exit poll claimed the BJP may bag anything between 202 and 220 seats, while the AAP and the Congress will score something around 23-35 and 19-31 respectively.

* The CVoter-ABP exit poll claimed the BJP was likely to sweep Delhi with 218 seats, limiting the AAP and Congress to 24 and 22 seats respectively.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday warned of launching a "movement" if the MCD exit poll results, which have predicted a BJP sweep, come true.

"If such results come then it proves that manipulation has happened, like in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Pune, Mumbai, Bhind and Dholpur. We are the product of a movement. We are not here to enjoy the pleasures of power. We will return to movement," he said.

• 10:46 AM

  "Lesson & message" for "EVM Vilaap Mandli"- Instead of blaming EVM, respect people’s mandate & do introspection: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
  
  

• 10:45 AM

  
  

  

  ✔@ANI_news

  EC aur Govt ko duvidha duur karni chahiye par jo haarta hai vo kehta hai EVM kharab hai,jo jeet ta hai vo kehta hai theek hai:Sheila Dikshit

• 10:44 AM

  MCD overall: 270/272
  BJP: 67
  Congress: 12
  AAP: 43
  Others; 10
  
  
  

• 10:41 AM

  AAP has a bright future. It took BJP an entire decade to win its first state: Raghav Chadha
  
  

• 10:38 AM

  MCD 2017 election result: BJP leads in 71 wards; Congress, AAP rally behind
  
  

• 10:37 AM

  AAP's Ashutosh questioned how the BJP could win MCD election despite massive allegations of corruption

• 10:32 AM

  MCD Election Results: Civic polls a beginning for Swaraj India, says Yogendra Yadav

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MCD Election Results 2017 LIVE: BJP wins, AAP routed, Congress makes surprise comeback in Delhi

Get live updates and latest news on Delhi MCD Election 2017 results along with photos, videos

MCD election result LIVE: The Delhi civic election result will be declared today. The counting of votes polled in 270 wards of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) began at 8 am. BJP is set to have a clear mandate. The Congress party makes a surprise comeback and is at number 2 in the MCD South and MCD East, with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in last place. In the MCD North, where the BJP already has a big lead, AAP is a poor second. A win today will add to the BJP's list of victories in state and local elections across the country. For AAP, which swept assembly elections in Delhi two years ago, the Delhi civic elections are a fight to remain politically relevant after losing the Punjab and Goa elections last month

• 09:45 AM

  BJP respects the supreme sacrifice of our brave jawans, will not celebrate MCD victory : Manoj Tiwari, BJP
  
  

• 09:42 AM

  MCD Election First results: BJP wins from Janakpuri West and Janakpuri East
  
  

• 09:41 AM

  MCD overall: 270/270
  BJP: 184
  Congress: 40
  AAP: 37
  Others: 9
  
  

• 09:38 AM

  Delhi has made its preference for the BJP: Yogendra Yadav, the founder of Swaraj India
  
  

• 09:37 AM

  Trends out for all 270 seats for MCD Polls. BJP leading on 183 seats, Congress on 40 & AAP on 37 wards
  
  

• 09:35 AM

  No celebrations for the prospective victory as we are sad because of Sukhma incidents that claimed lives of jawans: Manoj Tiwari
  
  

• 09:34 AM

  Sisodia among other leaders reached Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence here as counting trends for the Delhi Municipal Corporation polls showed the Aam Aadmi Party trailing at third spot| READ MORE.
  
  
  
  

7-year-jail to Chhota Rajan, 3 others in fake passport case

Other persons who have been convicted are 3 retired government servants

A special court on Tuesday awarded seven-year jail term to gangster Chhota Rajan and three retired public servants in a fake passport case.

Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal awarded the sentence to Rajan and others for offences including forgery of valuable security under the IPC which entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Besides him, the other persons who have been convicted are three retired government servants — Jayashree Dattatray Rahate, Deepak Natvarlal Shah and Lalitha Lakshmanan.

Rajan is lodged in Tihar Jail here. The other three persons, who were out on bail, were taken into custody on Monday after the verdict was announced.

The court had on March 28 reserved its judgement in the case in which Rajan allegedly procured a fake passport in the name of Mohan Kumar with the help of the three government officials.

Lakshmanan had approached the high court to transfer to Bengaluru her trial in the case but the petition was rejected on January 9 on the ground that a district court here could also hear the matter.

During pendency of the plea, the high court had ordered a stay on pronouncement of verdict in the case by trial court. However, the high court later rejected the plea.| READ MORE

 

Naxal attack: Families of four slain jawans to get Rs 20 lakh each from TN

25 CRPF personnel were killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on Monday

 

Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh each to families of four slain CRPF personnel hailing from the state.

The four were among the 25 CRPF personnel killed in the Naxal attack in Chattisgarh on Monday.

Chief Minister K Palaniswamy condoled the death of M Padmanaban, N Senthil Kumar, N Thirumurugan and P Azhagupandi and expressed his sympathies with their families.

"I have directed providing a sum of Rs 20 lakh to the families," of the four deceased CRPF personnel, he said in a statement. (READ MORE)

Serious action by US on H1-B visa would worry India quite a bit: CEA

Anything that is going to interfere with export growth creates anxiety (in India)

 

Any "serious actions" taken by the Trump Administration on the H-1B visa programme would be a cause of "worry" as a majority of Indian exports in the services sector go to the US, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has said.

"If there are serious actions taken it's something that's going to kind of worry us a lot because, remember that our exports of services are about 40 to 45 per cent of the total exports," Subramanian told an audience here last week.

"Something like 50 to 60 per cent of all our exports of services goes to the United States. So it would worry us quite a bit," he said while responding to a question on the H1-B visa during his visit at the Peterson Institute, a top American economic think-tank.

Subramanian said that India would be "okay" as long as the visa reforms are manageable and it's keeping a close watch on it.

"Anything that is going to interfere with export growth creates anxiety (in India). In the context of the United States, we're all watching very carefully the H1-B visa situation," the Chief Economic Advisor said.

"On the visa side, I don't know but as long as you know we can keep this thing manageable. You know it should be okay," he said.

During his US visit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also taken up the the H-1B issue with the American side and highlighted the contribution Indian companies and professionals are making to the US economy.

President Donald Trump had earlier this month signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners, a decision that would impact India's USD 150 billion IT industry.| READ MORE

Public functions to go vegan? PETA urges Modi to ban meat at govt meetings

Letter said Germany's ministry went meat-free because meat production contributors to climate change

 

#LATEST| Animal rights organisation PETA India on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take meat off the menu from all government events, taking a cue from the German Environment Minister's initiative to ban all meat products from public meetings.

Noting that as a vegetarian, Modi is a a role model of "compassionate, healthy, and environmentally friendly" eating, PETA said that it is time the entire Indian government should follow his lead and protect the environment by eliminating animal-derived foods from its meals.

The letter notes that Germany's ministry went meat-free because meat production is one of the leading contributors to climate change, which is causing people throughout India to suffer severe droughts and heatwaves.

In addition to producing an estimated 51 per cent of worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions, meat production also uses a massive amount of water, land, and food resources, it said.

"I hope you will agree that India should also set a good example where environmental conservation is concerned by eliminating animal-derived foods from the menus of all government or government-sponsored meetings and functions," said Nikunj Sharma, Lead - Public Policy at PETA India in the letter.

PETA said that after going vegetarian, public functions could go vegan. It said that the meat production is one of the leading causes of climate change.

Quoting a report published by the Worldwatch Institute in 2009, it said that 51 per cent of worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions may be attributable to agriculture, specifically to businesses that raise cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, camels, and pigs for food.

"Raising animals for food also gobbles up land and food resources. According to Global Footprint Network, it takes 14 times as much biologically productive land to produce 1 tonne of beef as it does to produce 1 tonne of grain," it said.

"PETA is calling on Prime Minister Modi to set a global example by ensuring that exclusively healthy, humane, and environmentally friendly vegan meals are served at all government functions."

Stating, "animals are not ours to eat", PETA claimed that meat production causes climate change due to which people around the nation suffer through severe droughts, heatwaves, and more.

"According to the United Nations, a global shift towards a vegan lifestyle is vital in order to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty, and the worst effects of climate change," the letter added.

"I hope you will agree that India should also set a good example where environmental conservation is concerned by eliminating animal-derived foods from the menus of all government or government-sponsored meetings and functions," the letter written by Nikunj Sharma, Lead - Public Policy, PETA said.

Animal-derived foods include those that come from animal sources such as meat, milk, eggs, cheese and yogurt.

Sharma later told PTI that although the body first wants the prime minister to "eliminate" meat from menus, on a larger note, the organisation has sought a ban on food derived from animals.

"The meat industry is heating up the planet and gobbling up our natural resources, but we can fight climate change by starting with what's on our plates.

While more than 194 million people in India are undernourished, 60 per cent of the world's grain supply is used to feed farmed animals, as it takes 10 kilograms of grain to produce just 1 kilogram of meat, the body said.

According to the United Nations, a global shift towards a vegan lifestyle is vital in order to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty, and the worst effects of climate change.

Noting that India is home to more than 280 million cows and 200 million other ruminant animals such as goats and buffaloes, it said they are bred predominantly to be used for meat or dairy production.

According to satellite data from our space programme, these animals transfer almost 12 million tonnes of methane - which traps 25 times as much heat as carbon dioxide does - into the atmosphere via flatulence every year| READ MORE

Carnage in Indian IT? As Wipro fires 500, here is what other cos are doing

Trump's tightening H-1B visa norms, AI and automation are weighing heavy on India's IT workers

 

Wipro's move to sack around 500 of its employees as part of its appraisal process is indicative of the churn in India's information technology (IT) sector — which is moving towards increasing automation, use of artificial intelligence and is beset by tightening visa regulations.

he company is reported to have weeded out "non-performers" after a "rigorous performance appraisal". However, what happened at Wipro is not an outlier, other IT majors like Cognizant, Infosys and Capgemini are also facing their own share of challenges, and moving to either prune or re-skill their respective workforce. (Read more) 

The real bloodbath could be at Cognizant

US-listed IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has a significant workforce in India, is said to be reducing its employee count by as much as five per cent, which translates to close to 10,000 workers, as reported in March this year

Globally, the company employs around 260,000 employees, of this around 75 per cent of the workforce is based in India. 

Here too, according to what the company spokesperson told Business Standard, the layoffs will take place as part of the Cognizant's performance review process. Typically, the bottom one per cent of the workforce is weeded out for non-performance, a common practice across IT firms as part of the annual appraisal exercise. The appraisal process generally ends by March.| (READ MORE)

Severance pay row: Why Rajiv Bansal may have the upper hand against Infosys

Rajiv Bansal left the Infosys in 2015

 

Former Infosys chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal may have an upper hand in the arbitration with Infosys seeking the remaining severance pay. Human resource and legal experts say in such cases employees stay in favour as courts and tribunals consider them vulnerable before a large company or organisation. 

“Bansal has invoked his rights to an arbitral tribunal, and former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran has been appointed sole arbitrator in the case. The first arbitration meeting is scheduled in May. Law firm Indus Law is representing Bansal, while Nishith Desai Associates is Infosys's counsel in the matter,” Times of India first reported this development based on sources. 

Of the Rs 17.38 crore agreed upon between the company and Bansal, Infosys paid him Rs 5 crore and the rest was held back. Bansal left the company in 2015. The software drew flak from founders and co-founder N R Narayana Murthy for offering such large amount of severance package to a senior executive. 

Salman Waris, Managing Partner, TechLegis Advocates and Solicitors, says in such a high-profile case, chances are higher that Infosys settles this matter out of court.

(read more)

Gift settlements: How Mallya kept Diageo deal's $40 mn away from India

Vijay Mallya has to pay a whopping 9,000 crore of loan taken from a consortium of 17 banks

Earlier this week, India had a sip of victory after liquor baron Vijay Mallya was arrested by the Scotland Yard in London, but eventually, he was let off within a couple of hours on conditional bail. This has put India in a precarious position. Enforcement Directorate officials claim that bringing Mallya back to India will take over 6-12 months. Meanwhile, in its dossier, the ED has said that Mallya transferred Rs 26 ($40 million) crore to his three children through gift settlements.

According to Money Control, in an affidavit submitted before the Supreme Court, Mallya stated that the money had been transferred to his three children—Siddharth, Leena and Tanya Mallya—who were US citizens and sole beneficiaries of the three respective trusts of which he had no control in his individual capacity.

Mallya had received a payment of $40 million out of a $75 million package from Diageo following his resignation as chairman of United Spirits Ltd.

Vijay Mallya has to pay a whopping 9,000 crore of loan taken from a consortium of 17 banks led by the State Bank of India. But only IDBI Bank lodged a complaint with the CBI. The ED case, however, concerns the entire default amount of Rs 9,000 crore. Government sources described Mallya’s arrest as the first major step in bringing Mallya back.

The ED has gathered evidence on how a major portion of bank loans given to KFA was moved abroad as operational expenses or lease rentals, sources told Moneycontrol.

Here are some other dossiers submitted by ED in the money laundering case against India's poster boy of loan defaults:

* Between 2007 and 2012, KFA remitted funds worth Rs 3,280 crore to foreign entities, shown to be payments made towards aircraft rental leasing and maintenance, servicing and spare parts, according to the ED’s provisional attachment order issued last year

* Funds were essentially loans raised from a consortium of banks, but were moved overseas under questionable conditions

* There are huge variations in the payments especially in the leasing payments even or the same class and type of aircraft for the same time period

* Of the Rs 3,200 crore claiming to be expenses for the airline’s operational expense, about Rs 1500 crore were allegedly remitted overseas through letter of credit and other instruments issued by State Bank of India (SBI), Rs 531 crore through Punjab National Bank (PNB), and about Rs 1230 crore through Axis Bank.

* Rs 423 crore of the IDBI Bank loan has been remitted overseas without appropriate supporting documents

* The ED has also made a case alleging that Mallya received $40 million (out of an agreed $75 million) on February 25, 2016, from London-based liquor major Diageo Plc, barely a week before he left India. (Read More)

 

Trump's new order: Indian IT sees red as H-1B visa window gets smaller

Analysts say the impact on Indian entities would not be immediate

 

An executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Indian time) to protect American industry, has also targeted Indian information technology services firms, who depend on H-1B visas to send engineers to work on projects to the US. 

Trump has directed his top administration officials — the Secretaries of State, Labor and Homeland Security along with the Attorney General — to suggest reforms, so that the H-1B visas are given to the most skilled or highest paid beneficiaries. 

The move by Trump will help Silicon Valley-based entities such as Google, Facebook and Oracle to take advantage of the programme to get more engineers from India to work on projects back home. At the same time, it is expected to hurt outsourcing companies majors here, such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro, which traditionally have used the H-1B visa programme to send engineers to work on projects at customer locations in America. 

This has riled the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), which says there is a campaign to discredit the Indian services sector and the move would hurt the American economy, as the US faces a shortage of computer engineers. It would benefit only Silicon Valley companies at the cost of the rest of America.

“Regarding the concept of reorienting the H-1B lottery to be a system that prioritises the “most-skilled or highest-paid” visa applicants, the (US) Administration needs to be careful about unintended consequences,” it stated.

“Using salary levels as the metric is not necessarily the best indicator of benefits to the US economy. And, unless such a system reflects variations in wages in all parts of the US, it could advantage certain regions such as Silicon Valley over other regions of the US.” 

TCS, this country’s largest software exporter, says it has reduced the number of visas it has applied over the past few years, and has several local development centres in the US, hiring local engineers.

“We have to watch what the visa issues are. Are they going to be constraints for having the right people on projects? We have taken a view of this and our dependency on visas has been reducing. Our strategy is to move to a regime where our operating model should be visa-neutral,” says N G Subramaniam, chief operating officer at TCS.

(read more)

Amazon Fire TV Stick: All that you need to know

The streaming device market is hotting up with Amazon launching Fire TV Stick in India

 

Watching streaming content has caught on big time in India. Hotstar started streaming IPL two years ago and had a viewership of 41 million which crossed 100 million in 2016 and in the latest edition of the T20 Cricket tournament, Star is targeting a viewership of more than 130 million on its platform, Hotstar.

It is this market that companies are rushing to corner. While Airtel launched its “internet tv” device last week, Google’s Chromecast has been around for longer.

The latest entrant in this field is Amazon with its Fire TV Stick being launched in India today. 

What does Fire TV Stick do?

The Fire Stick TV is a HDMI stick that converts a tv into a smart tv. It plugs into the tv’s HDMI port and allows wireless streaming of content.

What are the tech specs like?

Fire TV stick runs a MediaTek Quad-core processor clocking at 1.3GHz, 1GB RAM and Mali450 graphics. It is a complete media player in itself and does not need a laptop or a phone to play content. Unlike Google Chromecast, it is not just a connectivity device between phones, laptops and tv sets. It runs on Android operating system with Amazon’s custom interface loaded on it.

What content can we get on the Fire TV Stick?

The stick comes preloaded with apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube etc. One can play content on these apps using the stick itself.

In India, the stick also carries Voot, NDTV, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Gaana on it.

Amazon Prime subscribers already get complimentary access to Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime membership can be purchased for just Rs 499 per annum.| READ MORE..

'South Tibet': China claims stake over Arunachal Pradesh, renames 6 places

China has for the first time announced 'standardised' official names for six places in Arunachal

 

#LATEST| Upping the ante, China has for the first time announced "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, days after it lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama's visit to the frontier state.

The state media here said the move was aimed at reaffirming China's claim over the state . China claims the state as 'South Tibet'.

"China's ministry of civil affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in 'South Tibet', which India calls 'Arunachal Pradesh', in accordance with the regulations of the central government," state-run Global Times reported today.

The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo'gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war.

The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of talks with Special Representatives to resolve the boundary dispute.

China's move comes just days after the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh , which was seventh since he fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India.

During the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader's Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take "necessary measures" to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests.

ALSO READ:  US Denounces North Korea's Weapon Test, Assures Full Support To Japan

Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to "reaffirm the country's territorial sovereignty to the disputed region", according to the daily.

"The standardisation came amid China's growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China's territorial sovereignty to South Tibet," Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijing's Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying.

Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions' names is a part of the rule of law.

"These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation," Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said.| read more...

Apple iPhone 8: Curved screen, dual-camera and everything we know so far

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 8 at the company's 10th anniversary

 

Apple is one smartphone manufacturer that enjoys to be among a fair share of rumours every year. And, if the rumour mill is to be believed, Apple has already started working on the design language, feature sets and hardware of the next generation of its iPhone, speculated to be named the iPhone 8 and expected to be launched later this year.

Given that Apple has been using the same design language for past three generation of iPhones – iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus – it is expected that the iPhone 8, or the next iteration, would make a design shift and be built right from scratch. Apart from the design language, there is also a lot of buzz around the hardware and software enhancement aspects of the iPhone.

Let’s take a quick look at the top speculations about the next iPhone:

Variants

According to speculations, Apple is currently testing at least 10 prototypes of the so-called iPhone 8 with different screen sizes, camera set-ups, battery capacities and display resolutions.

also read: Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue: Read the entire timeline of the dispute

Display

The anniversary edition of iPhone 8 is speculated to feature a large curved display, 5.7-inch to 5.8-inch in size. According to reports, the iPhone 8 could feature a display covering the entire front. The fingerprint scanner, earpiece, sensors and front camera might move behind the display. It is, however, difficult to understand how the company will make that possible.

If Apple covers the entire front with the display, it will reduce the iPhone 8 size remarkably – something that the tech community has been suggesting for a long time, considering that the top and bottom bezels on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 series are huge.

READ FULL STORY...