The Expo offers a significant opportunity for the Swiss Pavilion to showcase Switzerland’s technological expertise and to promote Switzerland as a fertile ground for scientific research and innovation…Reports Asian Lite News
Switzerland Pavilion is taking part in the first Pre-Expo event on 5−6 October 2020, reaffirming its commitment to the success of the Expo 2020 Dubai. Expo will run from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.
The Expo offers a significant opportunity for the Swiss Pavilion to showcase Switzerland’s technological expertise and to promote Switzerland as a fertile ground for scientific research and innovation. In this regard, the Swiss Pavilion joins the Pre-Expo Space Week, the first online event of the programme series ahead of next year’s Expo.
Let's mark one year to go to the opening of Expo 2020 on 1st October 2021 🎇 with our 🇨🇭 @CGSwissPavilion Manuel Salchli
We are proud to be part of this global event. It is an oppportunity to inspire solutions and enable actions towards world's most pressing issues. 🌍 💡 pic.twitter.com/ztDEfpx7DN
“Switzerland is not only a tech nation, but also a space nation! The pre-Expo Space Week is an excellent opportunity to highlight Switzerland’s strength in innovation, research and education in the field of space”, says Manuel Salchli, Commissioner General of the Swiss Pavilion and Chairman of the Steering Committee of Expo 2020 Dubai.
In a COVID-19 context, the Expo is also an important economic platform: the Swiss Pavilion will turn on the spotlight on Swiss companies and the tourism sector to promote the country’s economic capacity and attractiveness in the UAE, which is Switzerland’s foremost trading partner in the Middle East.
Will Boris be gone by April?; Indians in Germany Call For Tejasvi’s Removal From Consulate Event; UK Misses Nearly 16K Covid-19 Cases; FATF To Decide Fate of Pakistan This Month; ‘China Can’t Get Better Of Us’; India Boosts Naval Warfare Capabilities – all in Asian Lite Daily Digital
Ride-hailing major Ola has failed to get its licence renewed in London due to public safety concerns raised by the city’s transport regulator. The company will continue its operations in the city despite the legal hurdle.
Ola said that it will appeal against the decision of Transport for London (TfL). Under the rules, a company is allowed to operate while appealing the decision of TfL.
The India-based ride-hailing major which began operating in London in February believes that it has corrected all the issues raised by the regulator and hopes to demonstrate them on appeal.
Ola was told by TfL that the company was found not “fit and proper” to hold a private hire operator’s licence, Sky News reported on Sunday.
“At Ola, our core principle is to work closely, collaboratively and transparently with regulators such as TfL,” Marc Rozendal, Managing Director, Ola UK, said in a statement shared with IANS.
Rozendal said that Ola has been working with TfL during the review period and has sought to provide assurances and address the issues raised in an “open and transparent” manner.
“Ola will take the opportunity to appeal this decision and in doing so, our riders and drivers can rest assured that we will continue to operate as normal, providing safe and reliable mobility for London,” Rozendal said.
Besides, London, Ola operates in several other UK cities including Birmingham and Coventry.
Ola’s rival Uber last week won a legal battle over its London licence as a judge ruled in favour of the ride-hailing major, while overturning a ban on the app by the city’s transport regulator.
Uber London Limited brought the appeal against the decision of TfL last year not to renew its London private hire vehicle operator’s licence over passenger safety
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Wasim Khan says that India-Pakistan bilateral cricket is not likely to restart in the near future. He also said that Pakistan cricket has a lot to look forward to without worrying about playing India.
“My message to fans and followers of Pakistan cricket is that we have achieved a lot so far and there is still a lot of hard work ahead, but Pakistan cricket has a lot to look forward to without worrying about playing India [in bilateral series],” Khan told PakPassion.net in an interview.
“The BCCI have to get government of India’s permission before they play Pakistan and that’s a fact. So, based on that and the current regime in power, their outlook on life and their opinions on certain matters, including their views on Pakistan, it is highly unlikely that in the near future Pakistan will play India,” he said.
Khan said that the PCB was looking to become self-sustainable without worrying about a bilateral series against India and the recent deal it signed with PTV is a step in that direction.
“We just signed a deal with PTV and cable operators which will generate $200m over the next three years and it’s very important that we as a Board become self-sustainable and that is something we are working on, so that the PCB is in a position to invest in the right areas,” he said.
“We will continue to play India in ICC tournaments but in terms of bilateral cricket I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon. We have got a lot to look forward to in the next two years and I think we need to focus on the amount of cricket which is coming up. We also have three World Cups in the next three years, and we have four of the biggest cricket nations coming to play in Pakistan.”
South African speedster Kagiso Rabada picked four wickets for 24 runs to bowl Delhi Capitals (DC) to a 59-run win over Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and move the team to the top of the points table here on Monday.
DC now have eight points from five games, ahead of Mumbai Indians and RCB who are on six points each.
Rabada’s haul included the wicket of Kohli (43), who was the lone man fighting after RCB had lost the rest of the top-order that struggled to increase to keep the scoring rate high in chase of 197.
Apart from Rabada, pace bowler Anrich Nortje and left-arm spinner Axar Patel took two wickets each.
Delhi Capitals’ Kagiso Rabada celebrates the wicket of RCB skipper Virat Kohli.
Earlier, Marcus Stoinis’s quick half century helped DC post a challenging 196 for four wickets in 20 overs.
Stoinis (53 off 26 balls) put on 89 runs with Rishabh Pant for the fourth wicket in 6.5 overs as the duo took charge after RCB had claimed quick wickets to peg DC back following a strong start provided by Prithvi Shaw (42 off 23 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (32 off 28 balls).
Shaw and Dhawan put on 68 in just over six overs for the first wicket. However, three wickets over the next 30 balls with the addition of just 22 runs brought RCB back.
Stoinis survived an early chance with bowler Yuzvendra Chahal dropping him off his own bowling. After that he clobbered the RCB bowlers, hitting six fours and two sixes. Between the 13th and 17th overs, RCB scored 59 runs.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 196/4 wkts in 20 overs (M Stoinis 53 not out, P Shaw 42, R Pant 37, M Siraj 2/34) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 in 20 overs (V Kohli 43, K Rabada 4/24, A Patel 2/18, A Nortje 2/22)
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan (Photo: IANS)
“The number of people trading in Indian markets increased initially due to the lockdown. So effectively, we see a lot of people coming into the market not only for equities but for the trading part of it because people are sitting at home and want to trade,” says Bombay Stock Exchange MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan
Despite COVID-induced moderation, India’s economic fundamentals remain strong, thereby retaining investors’ interest, contended the chief of the Bombay Stock Exchange.
In a conversation with IANS, BSE MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan pointed out that rising investor participation in the equity segment along with recent industrial recovery trends clearly show the resilience of the Indian economy.
“Overall, I believe that despite a moderation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fundamentals of Indian economy remain strong and GDP growth is expected to rebound from the second quarter of FY 2020-21,” Chauhan said.
“Indian government is seen not only as reformative, but transformative in approach, as seen by the recent farm and labour bill enactments. Foreign investors, in my view, are focussed on such reforms.”
According to Chauhan, India’s economy has shown signs of stability in the last few months with manufacturing and services gradually improving even as coronavirus cases escalated across the country.
“Activity in India’s dominant services sector is picking up and manufacturing has bounced back into expansion due to government push after four successive months of contraction,” he said.
“So clearly the real economy is on the path of recovery, as the markets have indicated. It is early days to predict full recovery but current indications are good.”
Besides, he cited that in the last 1 year, BSE brokers have opened 1.5 crore investor accounts.
In the last 6 months alone, more than 80 lakh investor accounts have been opened on BSE.
Consequently, the stock exchange major has reached a landmark of 5.47 crore investor accounts registered on its platform.
“The number of people trading in Indian markets increased initially due to the lockdown. So effectively, we see a lot of people coming into the market not only for equities but for the trading part of it because people are sitting at home and want to trade,” Chauhan said.
Besides, he pointed out that organised markets’ ability to provide instant liquidity is one of the core reasons for continuance of their operations despite the lockdown.
“The government did not force the markets to close which allowed people who were in need of funds to sell their assets like stocks or mutual fund units, collect their money, use it for other purposes and that would not have been possible if we had closed down the markets,” he explained.
“So, there is a tremendous trust that has been built up in terms of the market’s ability to provide you liquidity albeit at a lower price. Even if the market asset prices had gone down, they also started going up.”
Furthermore, he elucidated that India has been a preferred destination of Foreign Institutional Investors over the past few months.
Bombay Stock Exchange. (File Photo: IANS)
Since the FII outflows in March, the following six months till September 2020 has seen net inflows of over Rs 21,000 crore.
India has continued to receive FII inflows, whereas emerging market peers recorded outflows. For instance, South Korea FII outflows stood at $2.3 billion and that of Taiwan at $2.2 billion.
In terms of IPOs hitting the market in FY21, Chauhan predicted that offerings this year are expected to be more than last year’s listings and amount raised as stock markets are flush with liquidity.
“Several firms had to keep their IPOs on hold due to lockdown curbs, which have hit the markets as the lockdowns have eased,” he said.
“As long as pricing remains fair, public confidence in the IPO market will be there, which in turn will increase the prospects of upcoming IPOs. It will also be crucial for companies to showcase their resilience to the pandemic and how they adapt to the emerging situation.”
Jerusalem, Sept. 13, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a briefing on COVID-19 pandemic in Israel at his office in Jerusalem, on Sept. 13, 2020. Israel will reimpose a nationwide lockdown for three weeks, beginning on Friday, to slow a rapid resurgence of coronavirus infections, the government decided on Sunday. (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
His remarks came after the coronavirus cabinet convened a meeting on Monday to discuss the pandemic situation in the country…Reports Asian Lite News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that although the country has witnessed a drop in Covid-19 infections, it was still “too early” to ease the ongoing three-week anti-coronavirus lockdown.
His remarks came after the coronavirus cabinet convened a meeting on Monday to discuss the pandemic situation in the country, The Times of Israel reported.
In a video posted on Twitter, the Prime Minister said that “it’s too early to say if it will hold”, as experts have recommended about a week’s wait to see if the trend continued.
He added that while Israel was the first to impose a second complete lockdown, many European countries were preparing to follow suit.
In the meeting, the Cabinet did not make any changes to the ongoing curbs and is slated to meet on October 12 to review the state of the pandemic.
Also on Monday, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said: “If the morbidity rate continues to decrease, we will work to reduce the restrictions, open businesses that do not receive customers, and open early childhood education.”
On Monday, Israel reported less than 3,000 single-day cases registered the previous day, according to the Health Ministry.
However, the Israel Defense Forces’ Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center said that the positive test rate was still relatively high, at around 11-12 per cent, The Times of Israel reported.
“A much wider scope of morbidity than actually detected,” it said, adding that more time was needed to see if there was an actual downward trend.
Israel has so far reported more than 272,000 coronavirus cases, with 1,757 deaths.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (Xinhua/SANA) (syq)
Oman has sent an ambassador to Syria, becoming the first Gulf Arab state to do so after they downgraded or shut missions in Damascus in 2012 over attacks by the government there on protests at the start of the war, reports Arab News.
Oman is one of the rare Arab countries that kept diplomatic relations with the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad after the 2011 uprising, despite pressure from the United States and other Gulf allies.
Syria’s foreign minister on Sunday accepted the credentials of Oman’s Ambassador Turki bin Mahmood Al-Busaidy, appointed to the post in a royal decree in March, state news agency ONA said.
Some Arab states are seeking reconciliation with Damascus after decisive gains by pro-government forces in the conflict, aiming to expand their clout in Syria at the expense of non-Arab Turkey and Iran, who have backed Assad.
Riyadh Turns Heat On Turkey; Ras Al Khaimah Airport to welcome passengers; Cheetahs Expected To Make A Comeback; FATF To Decide Fate of Pakistan This Month; ‘China Can’t Get Better Of Us’; India Boosts Naval Warfare Capabilities – all in Asian Lite Daily Digital – please click here to read.
There can be no question that Boris has lost support. A poll of Conservative supporters of cabinet ministers ranked him 24th out of 25th, 25th being Gavin Williamson, the education secretary and widely seen as the most incompetent minister in this, a government not noted for its competence…writes Mihir Bose
That Boris Johnson may be out of No 10 Downing Street by April was the confident forecast made a couple of weeks ago by a friend who was an MP and knows his politics. His point was the Conservative party worships power and when it feels power may be slipping away then it strikes.
Look at what happened to Mrs Thatcher. Three times Mrs Thatcher won the Conservatives elections, each time increasing the majority and making her brand of Conservativism the dominant philosophy of our times. It still survives even though Rishi Sunak has emerged as a surprising Tory socialist. But the moment the Conservative MPs felt she had lost support she was turfed out. I was in India when Mrs Thatcher was ousted. I rang a friend of mine, the very insightful and well informed political commentator Nigel Dudley, and told him that people in India could not work out how a three times winner and the dominant political figure of her age could be dethroned in such a fashion. His answer was that when Tory MPs felt they might lose their seats in the election they acted. This ruthlessness in the Tory can never be underestimated.
When Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, is one of those speaking against the government we know Tory MPs are very restless. He is in effect the shop steward of the backbenchers and a stanch loyalist who traditionally supports the leader. When he turns against the government this has echoes of how the 1922 committee was formed. In 1922 Conservative MPs meet in the Carlton Club and decided that they did not want any longer to be part of a coalition with the Liberals. It brought down the government and in the election that followed the Conservatives came to power.
There can be no question that Boris has lost support. A poll of Conservative supporters of cabinet ministers ranked him 24th out of 25th, 25th being Gavin Williamson, the education secretary and widely seen as the most incompetent minister in this, a government not noted for its competence.
Boris’s failings are easy to identify. He can be a wonderful speaker and light up a room, but he is no executive. Having been at the Daily Telegraph when he was a columnist I know how quickly he can grasp ideas. When BskyB bid for Manchester United, Boris, who had no awareness of what it meant, rang me to ask about the bid. When reading his column I was impressed by how quickly he had understood things.
But running a government, let alone during a pandemic which has posed the most horrendous issues any government has faced since the Second World War, is an entirely different matter. It requires not an ability to spin words or make jokes or show of his knowledge of ancient Greece, but skill in leading a team, consideration of the issues and the taking of decisions which will stand the test of time. You cannot make light of the pandemic by saying ‘sing happy birthday when washing your hands’ or that the aim is to squash the sombrero one minute and then give stern warnings about imposing penalties for those breaking the law the next. The main charges against this government are that it has consistently over promised, that it has changed courses at times so bewilderingly that even Boris cannot remember what the rules are, and that it has given no indication that it is knows where it is going or how to get there. Unlike his hero Churchill he has not got a cabinet which looks capable of coping with the various issues the pandemic has thrown up. It is always behind the curve and is always apologising for mistakes; the latest a technological failure which lead to the underreporting of thousands of infections. Given all this it is not surprising that Boris Johnson is very far from being the master of all he surveys, a position he could claim when he won the election last December.
But for all the manifest faults of Boris and this government I am not entirely convinced that the country is as against him as some commentators think. In the last month I have been to middle England, that part of this land that is proud that it never changes and can always claim to speak for England. What struck me is how, compared to London, they had taken the lockdown and all that the pandemic has brought in its wake, very much in their stride. It made me think that the common jibe thrown at us Londoners, that we live in a bubble, may not be far off the mark.
At a little market town when our friend’s car broke down the AA man who had been on furlough and was now back at work was philosophical. “Every day is a school day”. A very cheerful way of looking at things. He was certainly not blaming Boris or the government for what had happened.
My wife and I had our first coffee in a café since the lockdown and a lady who moved from Pimlico to the shires said the pandemic had made no difference to her life.
We visited a shop in Bourton-on-water often described as the Venice of England. We were the only customers and the owner said this year not only were there no Americans but also no Chinese, and their contribution to this country’s tourist industry is now very significant. Yet she was very happy with the help dishy Rishi had given and had not a single word of criticism about how the government was doing.
Nor were any of the stall holders at the Farmers Market, despite talking about the problems they faced as a result of the pandemic, critical of Boris Johnson or the government.
In some ways it was very revealing how Cerney Gardens, a romantic, secret, place in the Cotswolds had adjusted to Coronavirus. The tearoom had delicious coffee walnut cakes. But no staff. You just helped yourself, wrote out what you had eaten and put the money in the honesty box. We were honest and then tried to work off our indulgence by going on a long walk.
Now, of course, these are my personal experiences and I am not saying that this means opinion polls showing Boris has lost support are wrong. But that we should not read too much into the opinion polls as we know how wrong they can be. People may be bewildered but I am not sure they want Boris to vacate No 10. Not yet anyway.
If they did of course we could by the spring have a new President in the White House and a new Prime Minister in No 10. But much as that would be welcome I think that is very unlikely. Trump has a solid base of support and Johnson, as Ken Livingstone admitted to me after he lost the London Mayor election, was the one Conservative he feared. Boris Johnson’s ability to win elections should never be underestimated. Also, the British public are not yet in a mood for change.
