Month: September 2020

Categories
-Top News UAE News

‘IPL shows world’s trust in UAE’

His Highness Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council

Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, has congratulated the stakeholders for the scintillating start and organisational success of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, IPL, in the UAE.

Organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in cooperation with the Emirates Cricket Board and other government entities, the much-anticipated 2020 edition of the star-studded Twenty20 Indian cricket league kicked-off on 19th September in the UAE, with no fans but lots of sizzling action and sensational finishes, especially in Dubai where two of the five matches until now have finished in the Super Over, which is the cricketing equivalent of a penalty shootout.

Sheikh Mansoor said, “The UAE has always welcomed the world with open arms and, thanks to our visionary leadership, we have available all the ingredients needed for the success of any event taking place on our soil, whether it is a sports event, economic or any other.

“The hospitality of the people of UAE is renowned across the world, and we are always keen to support and cooperate with everyone who seeks our assistance.”

He added, “Choosing UAE to host this major tournament at this particular time has great significance and is indicative of the world’s trust and confidence in UAE’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Players and officials from around the world are here for the IPL, and they are here because they feel safe and secure in the UAE.

Concluding his statement, Sheikh Mansoor said, “We are keen to continue hosting local and international sporting events in accordance with the precautionary measures and protocols in place, and we have succeeded, in cooperation with Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management and other relevant authorities, in organising and hosting various local and international sports events since reopening Dubai’s sports sector.”

The IPL is one of the most-watched cricketing events in the world, with top players from around the globe taking part.

The brand value of the 2019 IPL was estimated to be US$6.7 billion, according to New York-based financial consultancy firm Duff & Phelps, and it had a viewership of more than 462 million.

This edition will see a total of 60 matches being played in the UAE over 56 days, with the final on 10th November at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai Sports City. Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium and the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium are the other hosts for the tournament.

Also Read: IPL is India’s great soft power tool

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Lite Blogs UK News

Sky is the limit for little Maths Wiz – Neev Lukhi

Neev Lukhi

Kids have many dreams. Maths has always been my favourite subject; hence it was more of a hobby and I dreamt of doing something big in Maths. Chess is another such hobby cum dream. I have travelled places for playing chess tournaments and won loads of trophies. I love playing and watching cricket. Going out cycling with family and friends is what I cherish a lot too.

My name, Neev, means foundation. I believe, to do something better and big (in Maths), your foundation should be very strong. Yes, Abacus can help you achieve a solid base.

My journey with Abacus started 2 years back. I started doing Maths on my fingers using the Abacus technique, progressed to using the Abacus tool and then doing all Maths sums mentally visualizing an Abacus tool. Within 2 years, I was able to complete all my levels in Abacus.

There is a lot of practice taken by Rashmi Mantri and whole Abacus team. Their teaching technique is awesome. They make sure each and every kid attain a certain level of proficiency before moving to the next level. At times I was stuck at a particular level for many weeks. It was frustrating and I almost thought of quitting. My teachers encouraged me and gave more guidance. I realized it was for a purpose to master that level and I continued my journey ahead.

Mental Abacus has helped me with improved focus and concentration. Mental theory enhances visualization skills. Mental Abacus is nothing short of any brain exercise. This helps with confidence building and positive attitude.

Here’s hoping that my Maths journey continues with the upward trajectory that Abacus has given me a kick-start with.

Categories
Sport

Ruben Dias boards Man City

Manchester City complete signing of Ruben Dias from Benfica.

Manchester City have completed the signing of Portuguese international Ruben Dias from Benfica. The 23-year-old centre-back has signed a six-year contract, which keeps him at the club until 2026.

Dias has made more than 100 appearances in three seasons for the Lisbon giants, with whom he won a league title in 2018/19 and has been capped 19 times by Portugal.

“To have the opportunity to join a club like Manchester City is a fantastic opportunity for me and one I couldn’t turn down,” Dias said.

“I believe I can improve here, at a club whose ambitions match my own and I will give everything to be successful and win titles,” he added.

Meanwhile, defender Nicolas Otamendi left City and has signed a permanent deal with Benfica. The 32-year-old defender embarks on a new challenge in Portugal after five years of service during which he helped the club lift every major honour in English football.

“They were five wonderful years, not just in a footballing sense, but also at a club where they treat you in the best way possible, from the chefs to the kitmen, through to the backroom staff,” he told mancity.com.

In total, Otamendi made 210 appearances, scoring 11 goals and he departs a two-time Premier League champion, with four League Cup medals to his name and having lifted the FA Cup in 2019.He also won the Community Shield on two occasions.

Also Read: Thiago Alcantara tests positive

Categories
Economy India News

India’s Q1 trade surplus at $19.8 billion

After the COVID-19 pandemic triggered crisis cut down the internal demand and energy consumption, India has been recording a respite from its current account deficit story. As of Q1FY21, India posted a current account surplus in on the back of lower trade deficit, official data showed on Wednesday.

According to Reserve Bank of India’s data on India’s Balance of Payments (BoP), a year-on-year basis the Q1FY21 surplus stood at $19.8 billion from a deficit of $15 billion reported for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

“India’s current account balance (CAB) recorded a surplus of $19.8 billion (3.9 per cent of GDP) in Q1 of 2020-21 on top of a surplus of $0.6 billion (0.1 per cent of GDP) in the preceding quarter, i.e., Q4 of 2019-20; a deficit of $15 billion (2.1 per cent of GDP) was recorded a year ago,” the Reserve Bank said in its statement on developments in India’s Q1FY21 BoP.

“The surplus in the current account in Q1 of 2020-21 was on account of a sharp contraction in the trade deficit to $10 billion due to steeper decline in merchandise imports relative to exports on a year-on-year basis.”

Also Read: Trump paid more in taxes to India than to US in 2017

Also Read: Amnesty Halts India Operations

Categories
Business India News

Happiest Minds IPO takes Soota to the Rich List

Happiest Minds' founder Ashok Soota

IT sector veteran and Happiest Minds’ founder Ashok Soota has made it to the Hurun India rich list for the first time, backed by a bumper IPO of his company.

With a wealth of Rs 3,700 crore, Soota’s ranking on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020 stood at 282nd.

The IPO of Happiest Minds was oversubscribed 150 times. Shares of Happiest Minds, which got listed earlier this month, doubled on the day of listing.

“Backed by the post IPO performance of Happiest Minds, which got subscribed by 150 times, Ashok Soota, 77, registered a wealth of Rs 3,700 crore and debuted the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020 at the 282th rank,” said a statement by IIFL and Hurun India.

Soota, the Executive Chairman of Happiest Minds, was also the founding Chairman and Managing Director of MindTree, which also completed a successful IPO during his tenure.

Soota is the co-author of the national bestseller “Entrepreneurship Simplified”.

Meanwhile, retail tycoon Radhakishan Damani entered the top 10 with a wealth of Rs 87,200 crore, backed by a 51 per cent increase in D-Mart’s share price. Damani was ranked 6th in the list of richest Indians.

Also Read: Mukesh Ambani tops Hurun India Rich List for the Ninth Year

Categories
-Top News India News

BREAKING: CBI Court Acquits All Accused in Babri Demolition Case

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani addresses after inaugurating a maiden presentation of 'Sampoorna Ramleela' -- a dramatised musical rendetion of Hindu epic Ramayana -- which is dedicated to the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi on Oct 10, 2018. (Photo: IANS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V_i3Nq7bV8

A Special CBI court hearing the Babri mosque demolition case of December 6, 1992, acquitted all the 32 accused on Wednesday saying it was spontaneous and not a planned move.

Those acquitted in the case that lasted 28 years include former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, former Union Ministers M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, among others.

Former BJP MP Vinay Katiyar and Hindu leader Sadhvi Rithambhara, who were among the accused present in court, said: “Sab Ramji ki kripa hai”.

As soon as the court announced the acquittal of the accused, jubilation broke out outside the court, in Ayodhya and Lucknow where supporters of the leaders were present to celebrate the occasion.

Special CBI judge S.K. Yadav, in his verdict, said that the demotion was not a planned incident but a spontaneous act.

He said that Ashok Singhal and other Sangh Parivar leaders wanted to save the structure as Ram Lalla statues were inside.

All Babri demolition accused acquitted as act was ‘spontaneous’.

The court observed that leaders who were present on the dais repeatedly tried to persuade the ‘kar sewaks’ against taking any action on that day.

The court further said the CBI has failed to substantiate the charges levelled against the 32 accused persons. The court also said that the video recordings submitted to the court were ‘tampered with’.

The judge pointed out that the prosecution could not produce enough evidence against the accused.

He said that the authenticity of audio, video provided by CBI could not be proven and the audio of the speeches were not clear.

The court also said that those who climbed on the dome, were anti-social elements.

Babri Masjid. (File Photo: IANS)

The 26 accused persons who were present in court on Wednesday, said that they had always maintained that the demotion was a conspiracy by the then Congress government.

Babri plaintiff, Iqbal Ansari, said in Ayodhya that after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Ram temple last year, the demolition case had lost its relevance.

“I welcome acquittal of the 32 persons by the court. There should be no further dispute on the matter,” he said.

Categories
Sport

Thiago Alcantara tests positive

Thiago Alcantara.

Liverpool FC have confirmed that Spain international midfielder Thiago Alcantara has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently self-isolating according to the necessary guidelines,” the club said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The 29-year-old, who missed Monday’s match against Arsenal, has exhibited minor symptoms of the virus but is in good health and is getting better,” it added.

Alcantara had joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich earlier in September and had made his debut against Chelsea eight days ago.

“The club has, and will continue to, follow all protocols relating to Covid-19 and Thiago will remain in self-isolation for the required period of time,” informed the club.

LFC first-team doctor Jim Moxon said: “It is the choice of each individual whether they reveal publicly the outcome of a COVID-19 test. We have followed all the protocols to the letter and Thiago is ok. He will be self-isolating now as per the guidelines and hopefully he’ll be back with us soon.”

Thiago will now miss Spain’s forthcoming international games, which see them play a friendly in Portugal on October 7, and UEFA Nations League games at home to Switzerland on September 10 and away to the Ukraine three days later.

Also Read: Zlatan Ibrahimovic tests COVID-19 positive

Categories
-Top News Arab News UAE News

UAE chairs GCC-Russia meeting

Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, UAE.

The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday chaired a joint ministerial meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States and the Russian Federation, on the sidelines of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Addressing the meeting which was held via video technology, Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, affirmed the depth of the GCC-Russia relations and the importance of further consolidating them across all fronts, notably at the economic, investment, tourist and cultural levels.

During the meeting, issues of common interest between the GCC and the Russian Federation were reviewed, with specially emphasis on the global fight against COVID-19 and the prospects of setting the stage for enabling the region to move from tension and crises to opportunities, stability and development while building trust.

Also read:India announces 270 flights from UAE in october

Categories
-Top News USA

“Clown, Liar ,Shut up” : 1st debate ends in chaos

Trump, Biden trade early jabs in first presidential debate.

“Clown”, “Liar”, “just shush for a minute” and “keep yapping” were the insults that will forever be the highlight of the first Trump-Biden US presidential debate 2020 with Fox News anchor and moderator Chris Wallace coming in for serious flak based on how he allowed American President Donald Trump to aggressively interrupt his Democratic challenger Joe Biden throughout the first US presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio.

Trump snarled, grimaced and wagged his fingers at Biden repeatedly throughout the 90-minute debate. At one point, he said: “I’ll tell you Joe, you could never have done the job that we did. You don’t have it in your blood.”

“Everything he says here is a lie”, Biden snapped. The wrong guy, wrong night, wrong time.”

“This man doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Biden said several times during the evening.

The US election is 35 days away and it is increasingly likely that in the current Covid-19 situation, the results may not be known for days or weeks after November 3 — the election date.

“I’m 80 per cent sad, and 20 per cent mad as hell”, is how Claire McCaskill, former Senator from Missouri, described her takeaways from the debate.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson thinks “much of the nation must have been appalled.” “I don’t know what the hell we watched.”

Donald Trump chased the “television audience away” according to veteran Democratic strategist James Carville. “It was unwatchable, 25 minutes in.”

In less than 10 minutes, the debate descended into personal attacks when the moderator failed to keep Trump quiet during Biden’s two minute talk time. Biden shot back at Trump, “Will you shut up, man?”

Reacting to the first debate performance, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said “America was given a very clear choice”. She cast Trump as a man out of his depth and playing defence.

Kamala Devi Harris

“What we saw was a dog whistle through a bullhorn,” she said on late night television.

“That performance tonight is going to convince people Donald Trump is not worthy of another term” David Plouffe, former Barack Obama campaign manager, said in post debate comments.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden skewered each other with angry words over Trump’s coronavirus response, racial justice, the economy and each other’s fitness for the president’s office in their chaotic 90 minute meeting.

“The fact is that everything he’s said so far is simply a lie,” Biden said. “I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar.”

Biden tore into Trump within the first five minutes. He told Trump to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap” and “get into his golf cart to the Oval Office and come up with a plan to save people”.

When Trump struggled to answer questions about reports he paid a measly $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, Biden waded in. “Show us your taxes. Show us your taxes,” he pushed, even as Trump claimed he has paid “millions in taxes”.

Recent polling shows Trump’s support among key voter groups has slipped since 2016. Biden stepped onto the stage leading in head to head national polls and by razor thin margins in some battlegrounds.

In the crucial battlegrounds of Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where Trump was leading at this time in 2016, he is now trailing Biden. A RealClearPolitics poll of polls average puts Biden at about 6 points ahead of Trump nationally.

Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and ended the night refusing to say whether he would accept the election results. Trump’s coronavirus response was at the heart of the first presidential debate.

Biden called Trump a “failure” on the Covid-19 response. “You blew it”.

Also read:‘He is a liar’: Biden lashes out at Trump in first debate

Categories
Business India News

Mukesh Ambani tops Hurun India Rich List for the Ninth Year

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani. (File Photo: IANS)

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of India’s most valued firm Reliance Industries, continues to top the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020 for the ninth consecutive year, with a total wealth of Rs 6.58 lakh crore.

His total wealth has surged by 73 per cent in the last 12 months, propelling him to become the richest individual in Asia and fourth richest person in the world.

Indians with more than Rs 1,000 crore wealth cross the 828-mark in the 2020 edition of the rich list.

London-based Hinduja brothers (SP Hinduja, along with his three brothers) with a joint wealth of Rs 1.43 lakh crore bagged the second position. HCL Founder Shiv Nadar with a wealth of Rs 1.41 lakh crore ranked third, followed by Gautam Adani and family at fourth spot and Azim Premji at fifth spot. Radhakishan Damani, the founder of Avenue Supermarts, debuted in the top 10 wealthiest individuals ranking in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020.

“A 28 per cent of the upswing in wealth on the list has been bestowed by Mukesh Ambani, bespeaking Ambani’s meteoric success post diversifying from oil to telecom and retail. A further 21 per cent of the additional wealth has been generated by pharma, mainly on the back of the rise in healthcare spends and a realigned priority towards personal healthcare stimulated by the Covid-19,” Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said.

With rising new wealth creators such as innovative startups, family businesses with strong professional management, investors who believe in the India story, and a demographic advantage that is inferior to none, the India’s wealth creation story is still yet to reach the half-way mark, the report said.

“Assuming that for every one Hurun rich lister we have found, we have probably missed two, it is likely that India today has 2,000 individuals with Rs 1,000 crore,” continued Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

The cut-off for the top 10 rose by 6 per cent to Rs 76,000 crore this year, a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous year. The cumulative wealth of IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich Listers have increased by 20 per cent compared to that of last year. 84 individuals have migrated from India and are NRIs. 19 saw their wealth double year on year.

All three of Udaan founders became the highest gainers in terms of wealth as compared to the 2019 edition — with increase of 274 per cent in each of their wealth.

Chigurupati Krishna Prasad of Granules India, also registered a 218 per cent jump in the wealth to Rs 3,500 crore. With a wealth of Rs 4,500 crore, Ritesh Agarwal (26) of Oyo Rooms is the youngest person on the list and with a wealth of Rs 5,400 Crore, Dharam Pal Gulati (96) of MDH is the oldest on the list. Nearly 5 per cent of the list (40 individuals) is comprised of women. 10 out of these 40 women are self-made.

The richest woman in the list is Smita V Crishna, of Godrej with Rs 32,400 crore, followed by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, of Biocon with a wealth of Rs 31,600 crore.

Also Read: Reliance set to expand e-com footprint