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Tech Lite World News

Chinese smartphone market falls 14.3% in Q3

The China smartphone market witnessed a 14.3 per cent drop in the third quarter this year with 84.8 million units shipment, according to an IDC report, as the country faced soft demand, Huawei’s supply constraints and delayed flagship launches from both Huawei and Apple.

At the top of the table with 41.4 per cent share, Huawei cautiously managed its shipments across its product lineups and lowered the production of some popular models like the Mate 30 series.

Its channel management and prioritisation also resulted in a supply shortage in the lower-tier cities, delaying purchases from loyal customers, said IDC ‘Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker’.

“The escalated US trade restrictions in August ultimately impeded Huawei’s momentum in its home market. Nevertheless, the ban did not cool off the enthusiasm of local Huawei loyalists that supported Huawei’s market share to stay above the 40 per cent mark,” said Will Wong, Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC Asia/Pacific.

Huawei (File Photo)

At a distant second position with 17.8 per cent market share, Vivo put more focus on various consumer segments at different price points and recorded a narrower decline from a year ago.

The vendor continued to penetrate the less than $300 segment with the 5G-enabled Y-series while enhancing its positions in the mid-range and high-end segments with the new S7 and iQOO 5 series as well as the X series flagship.

OPPO at third position with 16.6 per cent market share narrowed its decline from a year ago by focusing on the $200-400 5G segment.

Xiaomi was at fourth position with 13 per cent marlet share. And Apple fifth with 8.3 per cent market share in China.

Apple’s delayed iPhone 12 launch resulted in lower shipments compared to the same period last year.

“Nevertheless, Apple managed to mitigate the shortfall with its iPhone 11 series, as the models still performed well in both online and offline channels and will continue to be promoted in the upcoming Singles’ Day shopping festival,” the report noted.

China has so far shipped a total of 117 million 5G handsets since 2019, with 49.7 million in Q3 2020 alone.

Also Read: Xiaomi leads as India’s smartphone shipments hit record high

Also Read: Samsung recaptures India’s smartphone crown after two years

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Economy India News

Corporate fund inflows to empower rupee

Rising corporate fund inflows along with buoyant equities are expected to strengthen the Indian rupee in the coming week.

Analysts have predicted the rupee to range between 73.60 and 74.40 with a “appreciation bias” from last week’s band of 73.80 to 74.88.

“Increase in corona cases globally shall keep casting risk on markets, while vaccine development shall keep the hopes high. Besides, the US Fed’s vow to keep rates low should help market buoyancy,” said Sajal Gupta, Head, Forex and Rates, Edelweiss Securities.

“Another big announcement with regard to Reliance Retail stake sale shall help keep the rupee at a strong footing, and we expect these tranches flowing in at regular intervals for the next two months,” Gupta said.

Last week, the rupee closed at 74.08 to a greenback.

“We expect the rupee to halt its current bout of appreciation near the 74-mark and consolidate near that levels for the next week,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

“On the upside, 74.4 will act as a resistance,” Vakil added.

Besides, analysts said that an early outcome of the US presidential elections will buoy sentiments.

On the domestic front, market participants will keep an eye out for the inflation and industrial production numbers.

According to Gaurang Somaiya, Forex and Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services: “Expectation is that inflation could inch higher and that could keep rupee gains in check. At the same time, volatility for the rupee has been curtailed as the RBI has been intervening to curb any major appreciation or depreciation of the currency.

“Investors will be awaiting for more clarity on the US presidential election results and that could trigger volatility for major crosses.”

In addition, Somaiya expects the rupee to trade positive against the US dollar and quote in the range of 73.50 and 74.50.

Also Read: Uncertain US elections erode rupee value

Also Read: Rupee expected to advance on fund inflows

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-Top News Arab News

Egyptians cast votes in second phase parliamentary elections

Egyptians voted in the second stage of parliamentary elections in 13 out of the country’s 27 provinces, including the capital Cairo, Suez, Port Said, Ismailia, North Sinai and South Sinai.

Out of the total 63 million eligible voters in Egypt, more than 31 million were entitled to cast their ballots in the two-day second and last stage to elect their representatives in the country’s legislative body, or the House of Representatives, reports Xinhua news agency.

At least 2,367 candidates are competing for 284 out of 568 parliament seats in the stage that started on Saturday.

Just like the first stage, half of the seats are allocated to individual candidates and the other half to party lists.

The elections are being held amid intensive security deployment and tight precautionary measures against the Covid-19 pandemic, where voters pass through disinfection gates to reach their polling stations and everyone wears medical face masks.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

The Egyptian presidential media center showed footage of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi casting his vote in the parliamentary elections earlier in on Saturday at one of the polling stations in Cairo.

In addition to the main 568 seats, the President will appoint 28 members according to the law, raising the total seats of the House of Representatives to 596.

At some 9,468 polling stations in the 13 provinces, the polls were overseen by about 12,000 judges and nearly 570 correspondents from 166 media institutions, as well as local and foreign organizations and candidate representatives.

The first stage of the Egyptian parliamentary elections was held on October 24-25 in 14 provinces including Giza, Alexandria, the Red Sea, Luxor and Aswan, with a similar number of candidates competing for half of the seats.

The turnout in the first stage, which involved 31.7 million eligible voters, stood at 28.06 per cent, according to the National Election Authority (NEA).

The result of the second stage will be announced on November 15.

The run-off rounds of the first stage inside the country will be held on November 23-24 and those of the second, if any, on December 7-8.

In August, Egyptians elected the country’s first Senate with 300 members, one third of whom are appointed by the President.

The newly created Senate will be an advisory body without legislative authority.

Also Read: Egyptian president extends state of emergency for 3 months

Also Read: Egypt votes in 1st stage of parliamentary elections

Categories
Cricket Sport

Don’t let IPL break you: Gayle’s advice to his mates

Chris Gayle.

West Indies and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) dashing batsman Chris Gayle on Sunday offered solace to players of his IPL franchise, days after his team crashed out of the tournament in the league phase.

KXIP, coached by Anil Kumble, finished sixth on the points table with 12 points.

“For me, it is a sad ending to the IPL, but you guys shouldn’t let IPL break you. Actually, it should make you, teach you about life. That’s the nature of cricket anyway. Cricket teaches you about life, ups and downs, you know it’s all in the game,” Gayle was seen telling his teammates in the dressing room in a video posted by Kings XI Punjab on twitter.

“Just a special thanks to each and everyone for the support,” Gayle added.

KXIP skipper KL Rahul said that he was proud of the way the team played.

“Really proud of the way we played. Will come back stronger next year and we will see some happy faces again,” said Rahul, who was appointed vice-captain of India’s limited-overs teams recently.

“It has been a difficult year, tough year. That’s how the game goes, that’s how the IPL is. Let’s take it on our chin and come back stronger next year,” Rahul was seen telling his teammates in the video.

Also Read: ‘IPL A Smashing Success This Year’

Categories
India News Motoring

FasTag to be mandatory from Jan 1

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification making a FASTag mandatory for all four-wheeler vehicles from January 1, 2021.

Accordingly, the ministry took the decision via amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.

“It may be stated that this notification would be a major step for ensuring that the payment of fees be 100 per cent at ‘Toll Plazas’ through the ‘Electronic Means’ only and that the vehicles pass seamlessly through the ‘Fee Plazas’,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The steps for ensuring the availablity of FASTag at multiple channels are being made through physical locations and also through online mechanism so that the citizens are able to have them affixed at their vehicles within the next two months at their convenience.”

Since December 1, 2017, the FASTag has been made mandatory for all registration of new four wheeled vehicles and is being supplied by the manufacturers or dealers.

It has been further mandated that a valid FASTag is mandatory while getting a new 3rd Party Insurance. This provision shall be applicable from April 1, 2021.

Also Read: Gadkari Calls For London Model Public Transport

Categories
-Top News UK News

Brexit talks to resume on Monday

LONDON, Jan. 8, 2020 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) meets with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in London, Britain, Jan. 8, 2020. The European Union is ready to develop a new partnership unprecedented in scope with Britain, but it can never be the same as before after Brexit, visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said here Wednesday. (Photo by Ray Tang/Xinhua/IANS)

Negotiators from the UK and the European Union (EU) will resume talks on a post-Brexit trade deal in London on Monday as “significant differences” remained between the two sides, a Downing Street statement said.

The statement came after a call between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday “for a stock take on the progress in the negotiations”, reports Xinhua news agency.

“The Prime Minister set out that, while some progress had been made in recent discussions, significant differences remain in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish,” said the statement.

“The Prime Minister and President agreed that their negotiating teams would continue talks in London next week, beginning on Monday, in order to redouble efforts to reach a deal.

“They agreed to remain in personal contact about the negotiations,” the statement added.

For her part, von der Leyen noted that “some progress had been made, but large differences remain”.

“Our teams will continue working hard next week,” she wrote on Twitter.

European Commission

Earlier this 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, the NAO said on Friday.

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.

Also Read: UK Prepares For a No-Deal Brexit

Also Read: Brexit: UK PM expresses “desirability” for EU trade deal

Categories
Motoring

Wait ends for RE fans: Meteor 350 out

Mid-size motorcycle segment major Royal Enfield on Friday launched the ‘Meteor 350’ at a starting price of Rs 175,817 (ex-showroom Chennai).

According to the company, the ‘Meteor 350’ inherits its name from another Royal Enfield motorcycle of the 1950’s.

“Launched at the end of 1952, the Meteor was a magnificent touring motorcycle with a reputation that has stood the test of time,” the company said in a statement.

“The new Royal Enfield Meteor 350 easy-cruiser, carries Royal Enfield’s signature styling but with many firsts, and is set to be an equally outstanding machine for our times,” it added.

The bike sports a 349 cc air-oil cooled single-cylinder engine which generates “20.2 bhp and 27 Nm of torque at 4000 rpm, resulting in an abundance of the low-down grunt that’s a fundamental characteristic of a cruiser”.

Besides, the new engine has a five-speed gearbox, with the fifth gear being an overdrive for stress-free and economical highway cruising, and a seven-plate clutch for “easy gear changes in built-up traffic”.

Also Read: Honda launches H’ness CB350 in India, takes on RE

Categories
Lifestyle World News

Surging mental illness during pandemic worrisome: Scientists

Scientists including two of Indian origin have used machine learning (ML) to analyse more than 800,000 Reddit posts and found that users anxiety and suicide risk levels are rising, among other negative trends, in the pandemic.

The ML models helped identify changes in the tone and content of language that people used as the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic progressed.

The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University showed they can track the pandemic’s impact on mental health by analysing the language that people use to express their anxiety online.

“We found that there were these natural clusters that emerged related to suicidality and loneliness, and the amount of posts in these clusters more than doubled during the pandemic as compared to the same months of the preceding year, which is a grave concern,” said Daniel Low from Harvard and MIT and the lead author of the study.

The analysis revealed varying impacts on people who already suffer from different types of mental illness.

“When the mental health needs of so many in our society are inadequately met, even at baseline, we wanted to bring attention to the ways that many people are suffering during this time, in order to amplify and inform the allocation of resources to support them,” says Laurie Rumker, a graduate student in the Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics PhD Program at Harvard and one of the authors of the study.

Satrajit Ghosh, a principal research scientist at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, is the senior author of the study published in the Journal of Internet Medical Research.

The researchers analysed posts from 15 sub-reddit groups devoted to a variety of mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder.

Using several types of natural language processing algorithms, the researchers measured the frequency of words associated with topics such as anxiety, death, isolation, and substance abuse, and grouped posts together based on similarities in the language used.
The researchers found that while people in most of the support groups began posting about Covid-19 in March, the group devoted to health anxiety started much earlier in January.

They also discovered that the mental health groups affected the most negatively early in the pandemic were those related to ADHD and eating disorders.

The researchers also found the introduction of new topics specifically seeking mental health help or social interaction.

“The topics within these subreddit support groups were shifting a bit, as people were trying to adapt to a new life and focus on how they can go about getting more help if needed,” said Talkar.

The researchers now plan to apply this approach to study whether posts on Reddit and other social media sites can be used to detect mental health disorders.

The findings could help psychiatrists, or potentially moderators of the Reddit forums that were studied, to better identify and help people whose mental health is suffering, the researchers said.

Also Read: How to take care of mentally-ill

Also Read: Chronic illness in childhood linked to high mental problems

Categories
Health Science World News

Climate Change to trigger major health conditions: Study

Researchers have revealed that climate change will extract an acute toll worldwide, with rising temperatures, wildfires and poor air quality, accompanied by higher rates of cancer, especially lung, skin and gastrointestinal cancers.

In a study, published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, the researchers provided a synopsis of future effects from global warming on major cancers, from environmental toxins to ultraviolet radiation, air pollution, infectious agents and disruptions in food and water supply.

Ultimately, the most profound challenge to the global cancer picture could come from the disruption of the complex health care systems required for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and care, the authors wrote.

“In the worldwide battle to mitigate climate change, the international community is not on track to slow emissions of greenhouses gases,” said lead author Robert A Hiatt from the University of California, San Francisco in the US.

The impact of climate change on health is large and is expected to continue growing without rapid action. High temperatures, poor air quality and wildfires lead to higher rates of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Warmer temperatures and changing rainfall patterns raise the risk and spread of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue.

“Extreme weather events cause death, injury, displacement, and disrupt health care delivery,” the authors wrote.

Cancer is widely predicted to be the leading cause of death in the 21st century.

The authors said the biggest cancer threats are likely to be from air pollution, exposure to ultraviolet radiation and industrial toxins, and disruptions in food and water supply.

Lung cancer, already the primary cause of cancer deaths worldwide, is expected to increase as a result of increasing exposure to particulate matter in air pollution, estimated to be responsible for as much as 15 percent of new cases.

According to the researchers, one comprehensive modelling study predicted more than half a million climate-related deaths worldwide, including cancer deaths, as a result of changes in food supply by 2050.

Major disruptions are also expected to take place in the infrastructure of health care systems for cancer control, which could affect all cancers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided a clear example of this disruption, shifting medical resources away from cancer and causing thousands of patients to delay cancer screenings out of fear of contracting the virus.

By reducing pollution deaths from lung cancer could decline, the authors said, and there are numerous clinical, behavioural, and policy solutions to slow climate change and prevent cancer cases and deaths.

Also Read: Healthy Diet To Reduce Cancer Risk

Also Read: Childhood obesity may increase bladder cancer risk

Categories
Economy USA

US Fed retains low rates with the election result pending

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell

The US Federal Reserve on Thursday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the record-low level of near zero amid uncertainty about the final result of Tuesday’s presidential election.

“Economic activity and employment have continued to recover but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year,” the Fed said in a statement after concluding a two-day policy meeting, adding the path of the US economy will depend significantly on the course of the coronavirus, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The ongoing public health crisis will continue to weigh on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term,” the Fed said.

The central bank decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0-0.25 per cent, pledging to use its full range of tools to support the US economy “in this challenging time”.

The Fed expects it will be appropriate to maintain this target range until labour market conditions have reached levels consistent with its assessments of maximum employment and inflation has risen to 2 per cent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 per cent for some time, according to the statement.

At a virtual press conference on Thursday afternoon, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the outlook for the economy is “extraordinarily uncertain” and will depend in large part on the success of efforts to keep the virus in check.

Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)

“The recent rise in new Covid-19 cases, both here in the US and abroad, is particularly concerning. All of us have a role to play in our nation’s response to the pandemic,” Powell said, adding a full economic recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it’s safe to re-engage in a broad range of activities.

Powell noted that the pace of US economic recovery “has moderated” in recent months, and more fiscal and monetary policy support is needed to bring the economy back to pre-pandemic levels.

“It will take a while to get back to the levels of economic activity and employment that prevailed at the beginning of this year. And it may take continued support from both monetary and fiscal policy to achieve that,” he said.

The Fed meeting came as the United States added record-breaking 100,000 plus new Covid-19 cases in a single day on Wednesday, while people nationwide are waiting for the outcome of the presidential election.

“Although there was no policy change, the Federal Reserve, facing the possibility of a divided government in Washington, remains the only game in town when it comes to providing sustained accommodation to an impaired economy,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at accounting and consulting firm RSM US LLP.

The Fed cut interest rates to near zero at two unscheduled meetings in March and began purchasing massive quantities of US treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities to repair financial markets. It also unveiled new lending programs to provide up to $2.3 trillion to support the economy in response to the coronavirus outbreak

Also Read: US weekly jobless claims reach 751,000

Also Read: US election: Official points out inefficiencies