Edition 04

Week in Review
July 15, 2019

www.facebook.com/nmims.mantavya
mantavya@nmims.edu.in
 NATIONAL
Parliament passes Aadhaar amendment Bill

Parliament on Monday passed an amendment bill which allows

voluntary use of Aadhaar as proof of identity for users to open
bank accounts and get mobile phone connection. The bill was
already passed by Lok Sabha on July 4.
https://bit.ly/30A7j50

Protests over Karnataka crisis disrupt Parliament

The Rajya Sabha witnessed its first adjournment in the inaugural

session of the second term of Narendra Modi government over
the Karnataka political crisis. The issue rocked the Lok Sabha
also, with Congress MPs staging a walkout after accusing the BJP
of indulging in a “politics of poaching”
https://bit.ly/2JKnWEo

Bill for single tribunal to hear water disputes cleared

The Union Cabinet has approved the Inter-State River Water

Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that will help adjudicate
disputes relating to waters of inter-State rivers and river valleys.
A version of this bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in
2017 but subsequently lapsed.
https://bit.ly/2xKCQFa

Floods displace over 4 lakhs in Assam

More than 4.23 lakh people have been displaced by floods that
affected 17 of Assam’s 33 districts. Torrential rain wreaked
misery elsewhere in the northeast, claiming the lives of two 10-
year-old girls in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang after a wall
collapsed on their hostel.
https://bit.ly/2Lk1xAX

India, Russia discuss space cooperation

India and Russia explored the “possibilities for production of

space systems in India” during the discussions between National
Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the visiting Director General of
Russia’s space agency ROSCOSMOS and former Deputy Prime
Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
https://bit.ly/2NXkbkq
 INTERNATIONAL
Trump says he will not impose uranium quotas

In a statement issued on Friday, Trump said Commerce Secretary

Wilbur Ross’s findings about national security “raise significant
concerns”. Yet the President opted against quotas as advocated
by the domestic uranium industry, which would limit imports to
guarantee that U.S. miners supply 25% of uranium for domestic
use.
https://bit.ly/2JJPdqw

Nepal floods: death toll touches 43, 24 people still missing

Heavy monsoon rains for the past few days have left many
settlements at high risk of floods and landslides in several
places in Nepal. Transportation has also been disrupted in all
major highways. Deaths were reported from various districts
including Lalitpur, Kavre, Kotang, Bhojpur and Makanpur.
https://bit.ly/2LR26Sh

Britain to send destroyer to Gulf amid Iranian threats

Iran demanded the British navy to release an Iranian oil tanker

seized last week off Gibraltar, accusing London of playing a
“dangerous game” and threatening retribution, while London
announced it was sending a destroyer to the Persian Gulf.
https://bit.ly/2JFDKZ1

Poverty and environmental goals “not ambitious enough”: UN

Key findings report that the pace of poverty reduction is starting

to decelerate as the world struggles to respond to entrenched
deprivation, violent conflicts and vulnerabilities to natural
disasters. A faster response is required to achieve 2030
development agenda, according to the UN.
https://bit.ly/30ppIBF

Clashes erupt as Hong Kong protest targets Chinese traders

Several thousand people marched in Hong Kong against traders

from mainland China on Saturday in what is fast becoming a
summer of unrest in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The
city's leader, Carrie Lam, has pledged to listen to all sectors of
society, but many protesters want her to resign.
https://abcn.ws/2XQlS2K
 BUSINESS
Infosys completes localisation target for US

US contributes more than 60 per cent of Infosys’ total revenue,

and hence is a critical market. Owing to H1B1 visa restriction,
IT firms are building local employee base in US. Infosys has
hired the targeted number of locals (10,000) from local
universities and has also set up four innovation hubs.
https://bit.ly/2Jyks99

AB InBev pulls Budweiser listing, cancelling year's largest IPO

AB InBev cancelled their planned listing in Hong Kong of its Asia

Pacific unit, Budweiser Brewing Company. AB InBev was aiming
to sell as much as $9.8 billion in Budweiser stock to seek relief
from its heavy debt burden. Shares ended trading in New York
down 3%, as investors saw the prospect slipping away.
https://bit.ly/32of6VD

DHFL net loss zooms in March quarter

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation released its standalone

unaudited results for the March 2019 quarter in which the crisis-
hit firm reported a net loss of Rs 2,223 crore on account of the
additional provisioning of Rs 3,280 crore. The financials of the
company have been quite strained for the quarter.
https://bit.ly/2Ls2szJ

J&J faces U.S. criminal probe related to baby powder

The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing a criminal probe into

whether Johnson & Johnson lied about potential cancer risks of
its talcum powder and has convened a grand jury in Washington.
J&J disclosed in its annual report that it had received subpoenas
from the Justice Department and the SEC.
https://reut.rs/2LnKNc3

Volkswagen zooms ahead in extension of alliance with Ford

Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG are planning to spend billions

of dollars to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles.
The latest collaborations could save hundreds of millions of
dollars for each company.
https://reut.rs/2NTqIg3
 TECHNOLOGY
Global app revenue grows 15% in H1 2019: Sensor Tower

F Revenue from Apple App Store and Google Play reached $39.7
billion during the first half of this year - up 15.4% from the $34.4
billion consumers spent across both stores in the first half of last
year. While consumers spent an estimated $25.5 billion globally on
Apple’s App Store in the first half of 2019, Google Play’s estimated
gross revenue was $14.2 billion.
https://bit.ly/2LTHF7A

Tesla seeks Apple’s help to catch robocar-secrets thief

Tesla and Apple both suspect they were betrayed by driverless

technology engineers. Tesla is now asking for Apple’s help in a
lawsuit in which the electric carmaker accused an engineer who
worked on its Autopilot program of taking thousands of highly
confidential files when he went to work for XMotors.ai, the U.S.
research arm of Guangzhou-based Xpeng.
https://bit.ly/32rZale

Chandrayaan 2 launch called off due to technical snag

India's second unmanned mission to the Moon, named Chandrayaan

2 was originally scheduled for liftoff from Sriharikota on 15 July at
2.51 am IST. It has been put on hold citing technical issues, and a
revised countdown is to be announced shortly.
https://bit.ly/2JJVLp0

Elon Musk's Neuralink Set to Reveal 'Computer-Brain Interface'

Tesla Founder and CEO Elon Musk owns a start-up called Neuralink
that is developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces,
to connect humans and computers. The company is set to reveal its
progress in developing the technology on July 16 during an event
in San Francisco.
http://bit.ly/2LUwlI0

Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacked

Tokyo-based Remixpoint, which runs the BITPoint exchange has

reported a hack causing the loss of 3.5 billion yen, or $32 million,
worth of virtual money. The losses include bitcoins as well as
Ethereum, Ripple and other kinds of cryptocurrencies.
http://bit.ly/2GcFnwD
E-COMMERCE & START-UPS
Indian start-ups raise a record $3.9 billion so far in 2019

Start-ups in India have raised $3.9 billion in the six months ended
30 June. The investments this year across 292 deals is a 44.4%
jump YoY. The data defines venture capital investments as seed,
to Series F deals in companies that are less than 10 years old.
http://bit.ly/2Y5u6IC

OYO is now world's third largest hotel chain

OYO said that it has emerged, in terms of room count, as the world's
third largest hotel chain. London and Dallas emerged as top
destinations for OYO as it expanded its presence to over 800 cities in
a span of six years. Oyo is preparing to list in next 2-3 years, eyes
up to $18 billion valuation.
http://bit.ly/2LS8j0v

Samsung’s VC unit makes India debut

Samsung Venture, the venture capital arm of Samsung Group,

said that it has invested $8.5 million across four start-ups in
India. Samsung Venture has made investments in a system apps
company OSLabs (Indus OS), speech technology start-up
Gnani.ai, IoT solutions provider Silvan Innovation Labs and an
early-stage computer vision start-up.
http://bit.ly/30wj8JF

Qatar wealth fund, Owl Ventures invest $150 million in Byju’s

Byju’s, India’s most valued ed-tech company, has raised $150

million in its latest round of funding led by Qatar Investment
Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. The round
also saw investments from Owl Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based
VC fund.
http://bit.ly/2Jxkheg

SoftBank pumps in $250 million in Ola Electric

Ola's electric vehicle arm, Ola Electric Mobility has secured a

funding of over ₹1,725 crore (about $250 million) from SoftBank.
With this latest infusion, Ola Electric Mobility (OEM) has joined
the list of unicorns in India.
http://bit.ly/2xL6JoL
 SPORTS
Cricket WC final: England beat New Zealand in dramatic fashion

England won the men's World Cup for the first time after one of
the most amazing games of cricket ever played was tied twice.
In an electric atmosphere at Lord's, both sides scored 241 in their
50 overs and were level on 15 when they batted for an extra over
apiece. It meant England were crowned world champions by
virtue of having scored more boundaries.
https://bbc.in/2SoXKDv

Djokovic beats Federer in longest Wimbledon singles final

Novak Djokovic saved two championship points in Wimbledon's

longest singles final at 4 hours 57 minutes to retain his title in a
thrilling win over Roger Federer. On a Centre Court, with an
atmosphere that felt at times more akin to football than tennis,
Djokovic won 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 13-12 (7-3).
https://bbc.in/2GgoSj8

Hamilton wins record sixth British Grand Prix after Vettel crash

Lewis Hamilton took a record sixth British GP victory in a

thrilling race featuring a crash between Max Verstappen and
Sebastian Vettel. Battles throughout the field created a dramatic
race - by far the best of the year so far - as Hamilton benefited
from a safety-car period to take a lead he never lost.
https://bbc.in/2GaPwtK

Africa Cup of Nations: Algeria beat Nigeria to reach final

Riyad Mahrez scored a stunning free-kick with virtually the last

kick of the game as Algeria beat Nigeria 2-1 to reach the Africa
Cup of Nations final. Algeria will face Senegal, who earlier beat
Tunisia 1-0 thanks to an extra-time own goal, in the final on
Friday, July 19, 2019.
https://bbc.in/2YbPyMd

Hima Das claims 3rd international gold within two weeks

Hima Das won the women's 200m event for her 3rd triumph in 11
days while Mohammad Anas bettered his own national record in
men's 400m race to bag gold at the Kladno Memorial Athletics
Meet at Kladno, Czech Republic on Saturday, July 13.
https://bit.ly/2SoYsk9