The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday announced MPL Sports, the athleisure wear and sports merchandise brand from esports platform Mobile Premier League, as the new kit sponsor and official merchandise partner for the Indian cricket team.
MPL Sports has entered into a three-year agreement with BCCI from November 2020 to December 2023. The association begins with the upcoming India tour of Australia which will see Virat Kohli’s men sporting the new jerseys.
“We are delighted to announce the dawn of a new era for Indian cricket with the appointment of MPL Sports as the kit sponsor for the Indian men’s and women’s national cricket team until 2023. We look forward to MPL Sports adding a new chapter to the team’s kit, and bring Official BCCI licensed merchandise within easy and convenient reach for the billion-plus fans who cheer for Team India,” a BCCI release quoted BCCI President Sourav Ganguly as saying.
The senior men and women and the U-19 teams are also a part of the deal for the new kits.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said: “The partnership leads us to a new frontier for Team India and for sports merchandising in the country. We look forward to working with a young Indian brand like MPL Sports to tap the potential that this sphere holds. This partnership aims at facilitating access to high-quality Indian cricket fan merchandise, including the coveted Indian cricket team jersey for cricket fans not just in the country but globally.”
Apart from Team India jerseys, MPL Sports will also sell licensed Team India merchandise. MPL Sports will offer the jerseys and its wide range of Team India merchandise to fans.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach believes that the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games can be held safely and, in all likelihood, with some kind of crowd inside the venues next year.
Bach, who is on his first visit to Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic broke, on Monday said the nation had shown they can organise sporting events in a safe environment through recent competitions, which has given him the belief that the Games will go on with spectators present.
“We are looking for a reasonable number of spectators at the time of the Games”, tokyo2020.org quoted Bach as saying at a press conference following the first day of the Games’ Project Review.
“You can organise safe sports events. We have seen in the professional leagues, particularly in baseball, games already under the restrictions now with spectators that have been very successful. Of course everybody in the Olympic Games would like a full house, a full-capacity stadium. But the top priority of the IOC and of the organising committee has always been, and remains, to offer a safe environment – also for spectators,” he added.
Bach also said that if a vaccine becomes available in time for the July 23-August 8 Games in 2021, the IOC would foot the bill.
Earlier in the day, Bach met with both Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide and Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko, saying the IOC was “fully aligned” with them on how the Games should be run.
Prime Minister Suga assured Bach: “Our determination is to realise successful and secure Tokyo Games next summer as proof that humanity has defeated the virus.”
Bach added: “We share the great commitment of the Prime Minister that the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will happen next year. We are determined that safe Olympic Games will be a symbol of solidarity and unity.”
Before attending the Project Review at the headquarters of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, Bach was at the Japanese Olympic Museum, where he awarded the former Prime Minister, Abe Shinzo, the Olympic Order in Gold.
Former Pakistan speedster Aaqib Javed, whose rivalry with Sachin Tendulkar is part of cricketing folklore, said that the Indian batting maestro was the most impactful cricketer of his era and he rightfully deserved his place to be called the greatest of his time.
“Sachin created 100 per cent impact on the game with the quality or talent he had. He held the numero uno spot in the game for several years as he was a seasoned cricketer,” said Aaqib, who featured in 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for his country.
It was 31 years ago when Tendulkar had started his iconic journey in international cricket as a 16-year-old against the lethal pace attack of Pakistan.
Aaqib, who played for Pakistan for nine years, hogged limelight after returning with exceptional figures of 7/37 in an ODI game against arch-rivals India in 1991. He also claimed a hat-trick after he sent back Ravi Shastri, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin, who all were trapped leg before wickets.
There was much controversy over one of the umpire’s decisions during that hat-trick.
“Lack of technology gave a lot of power to the umpire at that time and whatever the umpire said was considered as the final decision,” said Aaquib.
Twitter has named famed hacker Peiter “Mudge” Zatko as its new head of security a few months after the microblogging site revealed a massive cryptocurrency hack that compromised several high-profile accounts.
Known more widely by his hacker name “Mudge,” Zatko most recently worked as head of security at the digital payments startup Stripe, according to a report in Engadget on Tuesday.
“I’m very excited to be joining the executive team at Twitter! I truly believe in the mission of (equitably) serving the public conversation. I will do my best,” Zatko said in a tweet late on Monday.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also responded to the tweet, saying, “Welcome, Mudge!”
Zatko served as a member of the high-profile hacker think tank the L0pht as well as the computer and culture hacking cooperative the Cult of the Dead Cow, a hacking group that shot into prominence for releasing Windows hacking tools with the aim of compelling Microsoft into improving security.
Almost a decade ago, he accepted a position as a programme manager at Pentagon’s famed Defense Advanced Research and Projects Agency (DARPA) where he oversaw cyber security research.
He later also worked for Google in their Advanced Technology & Projects division.
His appointment as Twitter’s head of security gains significance in view of the massive crypto hack that the site had to deal with in July.
Twitter said that the “social engineering” that occurred on July 15 targeted a small number of employees through a phone spear phishing attack.
The attackers targeted 130 Twitter accounts, ultimately Tweeting from 45, accessing the DM (Direct Message) inbox of 36, and downloading the Twitter Data of 7.
The accounts of major public figures including Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and then-presidential candidate Joe Biden were simultaneously compromised by attackers to spread a cryptocurrency scam.
Struggling to keep its consumer business afloat in the wake of the US sanctions, Chinese conglomerate Huawei on Tuesday announced to sell off its Honor smartphone business assets to China-based Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co Ltd.
The company said that the sale — which could be around $15 billion according to multiple reports — will help Honor’s channel sellers and suppliers make it through this difficult time.
Honor smartphones have been hit by US sanctions that prevent Huawei from doing business with the US companies.
“Once the sale is complete, Huawei will not hold any shares or be involved in any business management or decision-making activities in the new Honor company,” the company said in a statement.
“Huawei’s consumer business has been under tremendous pressure as of late. This has been due to a persistent unavailability of technical elements needed for our mobile phone business,” it added.
Huawei said the move has been made by Honor’s industry chain to “ensure its own survival”.
Over 30 agents and dealers of the Honor brand first proposed this acquisition.
Since its creation in 2013, the Honor brand has focused on the youth market by offering phones in the low- to mid-end price range.
“During these past seven years, Honor has developed into a smartphone brand that ships over 70 million units annually,” Huawei said.
In India, Honor recently entered the laptop market and also expanded its wearables portfolio in the country.
According to the Charles Peng, President, Honor India, the company’s entry into the India laptop market in August this year has also turned out to be a success.
Launched at Rs 42,990, the company’s introductory laptop, Honor MagicBook 15, comes with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a hidden pop-up webcam, 2-in-1 fingerprint power button and a compact 65W fast charger.
“It was sold out within seconds as soon as it went online. Further, we have received encouraging and positive feedback from our consumers who wish to own a PC that fulfills their requirements as well as suits their personality with a premium product at a competitive price,” Peng told IANS last month.
“On future prospects, we are confident about our performance in India. We aim to create an intelligent new world for individuals by developing a smart living ecosystem having a diverse product portfolio including smart band, smartwatch, smart audio, laptops, and smartphones,” he said.
Shares of the state-run petroleum major Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) fell nearly five per cent a day after the deadline for submitting bids for the strategic sale of the company ended.
Investor sentiments dampened as major energy giants including Reliance Industries, Saudi Aramco, BP gave the bidding process a miss and did not submit Expressions of Interest for the 52.98 per cent of the stake on sale.
Shares of BPCL on the BSE plunged 4.9 per cent to touch an intra-day low of Rs 392.35 per share.
At 10.54 a.m., it was at Rs 397.70, lower by 3.63 per cent from its previous close.
The government on Monday said that multiple EoIs have been received for divestment of Centre’s stake in the company.
Sources, however, said that several global players did not pitch in for the stake sale. Total and Russia’s Rosneft also did not bid for the stake sale.
The lack of interest among the major players comes on the back of the poor oil demand globally amid the pandemic and low oil prices.
The transaction will now move to the second stage after scrutiny by the transaction adviser, said a tweet from the Twitter handle of the Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).
“For strategic disinvestment of BPCL, multiple expressions of interest have been received by the Transaction Advisor. The Transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by TA,” it said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that the BPCL disinvestment process is making progress.
“Strategic disinvestment of BPCL progresses: Now moves to the second stage after multiple expressions of interest have been received,” she said in a tweet.
Sources said that 3-4 four bids have come in for the oil giant.
As the deadline for submitting the EoIs for privatisation of BPCL closed on Monday and there has so far been a buzz of mixed interest amongst the bidders.
RIL and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) were anticipated to submit their bids. While RIL has not put in a bid as per sources, it could not be ascertained whether ADNOC has gone ahead with a bid.
ADNOC already has footprint in India as it is the only overseas company that has crude stored in Indian caverns.
The lack of interest among major players comes on the back of the poor oil demand globally amid the pandemic and low oil prices.
The EoIs came on Monday after four extensions of the deadline for submission of bids.
The Centre has put its entre 52.98 per cent stake in the BPCL on the block.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has exuded confidence that air travel will reach pre-Covid level by the end of current year or early next year.
Addressing the ‘Deccan Dialogue’ organised by Indian School of Business (ISB) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, he said for the civil aviation sector to reach the pre-Covid level, people required to continue to maintain safety protocol with self-discipline.
“We opened civil aviation on 25th May, a good two months and two days after we had completely locked down, with 30,000 passengers a day. Two or three days ago, just before Diwali, we carried 225,000 people,” he said.
“At a scale at which we are opening up in a calibrated manner, we have already reached 70 per cent capacity and I have asked my colleagues to look at 80 per cent. I am confident that by 31st December or soon thereafter… means a week or two thereafter, we will be back to pre-Covid levels,” he added.
Puri said he was committed to bring aviation GDP back to India. He was confident that the sector would get a boost in the next few years with the country getting 100 new airports and the fleet size reaching up to 2,000 from around 750 now.
“Our fleet size today should be around 750. I know airlines when they come across a pandemic like this, they try to curtail the size of their fleet orders. But, I can say with seven per cent penetration which means out of every 100 Indians, only seven fly and a 17 per cent rate of growth which we experienced pre-Covid at one time. We will move from 750, not to the 1,200 which everybody says, but to 2,000 aircraft. We will do it pretty quickly,” he said.
He said that there is a massive opportunity for investors across the aviation ecosystem including airports, airlines, ground-handling, maintenance, repair and overhaul.
The minister also revealed that Indian carriers get a mere 17 per cent of the value of traffic between India and the US. “The value of traffic between India and the US is roughly 7 billion dollars annually. How much do Indian carriers get out of that traffic, a mere 17 per cent. It is not as if American carriers are getting the remaining 83 per cent. I am not going to say who is getting it. But I see no reason why Indian flagship carrier and private carriers should not be earning more money flying passengers,” he said while terming this as a distorted business model.
Puri, who is also the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, hoped that the country would be able to reposition itself as an economic player in the global supply chain before long.
He said even during the times of pandemic, global technology majors like Google, Amazon and Mubadala announced $20 billion investment in India.
He also said that the Aatmanirbhar Bharat concept and process would definitely lead to a stronger India post-Covid.
The Chairman and Members of the 15th Finance Commission presented a copy of its report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Commission had submitted its report to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 4.
Chairman N.K. Singh along with Members of the Commission, Ajay Narayan Jha, Anoop Singh, Ashok Lahiri and Ramesh Chand along with Secretary to the Commission Arvind Mehta were present at the presentation.
The Commission will present its Report to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.
The report will be placed on the table of the Parliament along with ‘Explanatory Memorandum’ by way of ATR as prescribed under the Constitution.
Last year, the Commission had submitted its report consisting of recommendations for 2020-21 fiscal, which was accepted by the Union government and tabled in Parliament on January 30 this year.
As per the terms of reference (ToR), the Commission was mandated to give its recommendations for the five-year period by October 30.
It was asked to give its recommendations on many unique and wide-ranging issues. Apart from the vertical and horizontal tax devolution, local government grants, disaster management grants, the Commission was also asked to examine and recommend performance incentives for states in many areas like power sector, adoption of DBT, solid waste management etc.
The panel was also asked to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up and, if so, how such a mechanism could be operationalised.
The Commission has sought to address all its ToRs in the latest report, organised in four volumes.
Volume I and II, as in the past, contain the main report and the accompanying annexes. Volume III is devoted to the Union government and examines key departments in greater depth, with the medium-term challenges and the road map ahead. Volume IV is entirely devoted to the states.
The Commission analysed the finances of each state in great depth and came up with state-specific considerations to address the key challenges that individual states faced.
The report entitled ‘Finance Commission in Covid Times’ uses scales on its cover to indicate the balance between the states and the Union.
Brexit Talks at Stake as Boris Enters II Quarantine; Anti-lockdown protest in England; A PROMISED LAND: Obama on India; Pashtun protests rock Pakistan – all in Asian Lite Daily – please click here.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this year, has announced that he was self-isolating after “being in contact with someone with Covid-19″…reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that he is “confident [the UK] will prosper” outside the European Union if a post-Brexit trade deal is not agreed with the bloc, the media reported.
The negotiations began again in Brussels on Monday, with the UK’s chief negotiator saying there had been “progress in a positive direction” on a deal, the BBC reported.
But Lord David Frost said “significant elements” are yet to be agreed.
“But we may not succeed. Either way, as the Prime Minister @BorisJohnson made clear on 16 October, people and businesses must prepare for the change that is coming on 31 December, most of which happens whether there is a deal or not,” Mr Frost tweeted.
According to BBC report, the EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, said he wanted “future cooperation to be open but fair” with the UK. Tweeting as talks started, he added: “We remain determined, patient, respectful.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this year, has announced that he was self-isolating after “being in contact with someone with Covid-19”.
Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister said: “I’ve been instructed by our NHS Test and Trace scheme to self-isolate for two weeks, after being in contact with someone with Covid-19.
“I’m in good health and have no symptoms, and will continue to lead on our response to the virus and our plans to #BuildBackBetter.”
In a video, also posted on the micro-blogging platform, Johnson said that he was “pinged” by the NHS Test and Trace on Sunday and was asked to self-isolate as a precautionary measure.
“We have got to interrupt the spread of the disease and one of the ways we could do that now is by self-isolating for 14 days when you get contacted by NHS Test and Trace,” Johnson said in the video.
“I am absolutely confident that together we can beat this disease. Don’t forget hands, face, space, get a test if you have symptoms,” he added.
According to a BBC report, the Prime Minister on November 12 spent about 35 minutes with Conservative MP Lee Anderson, who lost his sense of taste the next day.
On Sunday, Anderson announced that he was self-isolating with his wife after they both tested positive for the virus.
In April, Johnson spent three nights in intensive care after contracting the disease.
He later said it “could have gone either way” and thanked healthcare workers for saving his life.
Boris Johnson
The development comes as England is currently under a national lockdown, the second of its kind since the onset of the pandemic in the UK, aimed at curbing the resurgence of new Covid-19 cases.
As of Monday, the UK’s Covid-19 caseload and death toll stood at 1,372,884 and 52,026, respectively.
Coming back to Brexit, last week, the UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) warned of “significant disruption” when the Brexit transition period ends on December 31.
Regardless of the outcome of the post-Brexit negotiations for a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU, there will be a significant change at the border in 2021, it added.
The government spending watchdog said in its latest report that while the UK has now left the EU, preparations to manage the border at the end of the transition period remain very challenging.
The UK and the EU started their lengthy and bumpy post-Brexit talks in March after the country formally exited the bloc on January 31, trying to secure a future trade deal before the Brexit transition period expires.
