Indices open in green as global cues buoy sentiments

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Indices open in green as global cues buoy sentiments

Positive Asian markets along with value buying buoyed India’s key equity indices during early-morning trade session on Friday.

The key two indices — S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 — had a gap-up opening.

The 30-scrip sensitive index opened at 61,044.54 points from its previous close of 60,923.50 points.

Besides, the NSE Nifty50 opened at 18,230.70 points from its previous close of 18,178.10 points.

However at 10.05 a.m., both the indices had ceded much of their gas and were trading flat.

The 30-scrip sensitive index traded at 61,224.77 points around 10.20 a.m., up 301.27 points or 0.49 per cent.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 18,240.20, up 62.10 points or 0.34 per cent.

Lebanon intensifies efforts to control borders

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Lebanon intensifies efforts to control borders

Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said the country has increased control over its borders to prevent all kinds of smuggling activities and protect its ties with Arab nations.

“I am personally monitoring control work on the borders as we are concerned about the safety and security of our friendly and brotherly countries, and we are conscious enough to work on preventing the smuggling of weapons and drugs through all border crossings,” Xinhua news agency quoted Mawlawi as saying to reporters on Thursday.

Mawlawi assured that Lebanon is concerned about protecting its reputation and the social security of all countries, especially Saudi Arabia.

The Minister added that he hopes the Arab countries take into account the increased efforts of Lebanon in this area to restore their trade activities with the country.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia imposed a ban on the entry of consignments of Lebanese vegetables and fruits after the kingdom foiled an attempt to smuggle 5.3 million pills of Captagon hidden in a consignment of “pomegranate” fruit imported from Lebanon.

El Clasico, this weekend’s big game in La Liga

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El Clasico, this weekend’s big game in La Liga

The first ‘Clasico’ of the season between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid is the big game of the 10th round of matches in La Liga this weekend.

Sunday afternoon’s meeting comes with Real Madrid second in the table, three points behind Real Sociedad and with a game in hand, while Barca are two points behind Real Madrid in seventh. That means that at this early stage, the result won’t be decisive in the title race, but it would still be very significant for both clubs.

Although Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman survived his side’s defeat to Atletico Madrid before the international break and saw them squeeze through vital games against Valencia and Dynamo Kiev, defeat to Real Madrid in the Camp Nou would put him back to square one, while a heavy defeat could make his position almost untenable.

Koeman will be without Ronald Araujo and Pedri for the game, but Eric Garcia returns after suspension and Ansu Fati, who on Wednesday (October 20) agreed a new contract until 2027, will start after only playing the second half against Dynamo.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had been questioned after a poor run of form before the break, but his side’s 5-0 win away to Shakhtar Donetsk will have eased some pressure, while the return of Ferland Mendy and Marcelo give him more options in defence for a game which Eden Hazard will miss with another muscle problem, Xinhua reports. The round of matches kicks off this weekend with fifth-placed Osasuna at home to Granada, who have not played in three weeks after last weekend’s match against Atletico Madrid was postponed to allow Atletico’s South American players recovery time after their international commitments.

Granada coach Robert Moreno remains under pressure and could lose his job if his side lose.

Athletic Bilbao’s match at home to Villarreal will be their first game in 22 days after they also didn’t play last weekend to help accommodate Real Madrid.

Villarreal travel to Bilbao unbeaten away in La Liga and after a 4-1 win away to Young Boys in the Champions League, but will have to rotate their side after the midweek game.

Valencia look to end a run of five games without a win when they entertain Real Mallorca, while there is a tense game between Cadiz and Alaves.

Alaves have suffered seven defeats from eight games to pile the pressure on coach Javier Calleja, while Cadiz’s defeat to Espanyol last weekend leaves them with just seven points from nine games.

Espanyol travel down the east coast to face Elche and they will hope in-form Raul de Tomas can break down Fran Escriba’s well-drilled side, who have only netted six goals all campaign.

Sunday kicks off with Sevilla at home to Levante, who are looking for their first win of the season with their second coach of the campaign after Javier Pereira replaced Paco Lopez.

Real Betis face Rayo Vallecano in the first of a series of games which will test the visitors, who are currently sixth after a flying return to La Liga. Radamel Falcao will be back for Rayo after being rested last weekend.

League leaders Real Sociedad, who are still without the injured Mikel Oyarzabal, travel to play Atletico Madrid in what would be the standout game on any other weekend of the season. Atletico lost to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday and also lost Manuel Llorente to injury.

The round of games ends on Monday (October 25) when Quique Sanchez Flores aims to steer Getafe to their first win of the season at home to Celta Vigo, who need striker Iago Aspas to recover his best form and whose coach Eduardo Coudet could face the sack if his team return to Galicia empty handed.

Google lowers Play Store fees from 30% to 15% for developers

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Google lowers Play Store fees from 30% to 15% for developers

US-based search engine giant Google has announced that it will be decreasing the service fee for all subscriptions on Play Store to 15 per cent from 30 per cent for app developers starting January 1, 2022.

Previously, subscription apps were charged 30 per cent for the first year, then 15 per cent thereafter.

“Digital subscriptions have become one of the fastest growing models for developers but we know that subscription businesses face specific challenges in customer acquisition and retention,” the company said in a blog post.

“To help support the specific needs of developers offering subscriptions, starting on January 1, 2022, we’re decreasing the service fee for all subscriptions on Google Play from 30 per cent to 15 per cent starting from day one,” the post added.

In addition, Google announced that ebook and music streaming apps would be eligible for a service fee as low as 10 per cent.

Apple also offers reduced 15 per cent subscription fees from day one, but that’s limited to developers who are part of its App Store Small Business Program, which is available to those who earn up to but don’t exceed to $1 million in a calendar year.

Google has decided to reduce Play Store commission for apps that offer subscription services after widespread pushback from developers. The company is also facing increased regulatory pressure much like Apple.

South Korea recently passed an “anti-Google” law meant to curb in-app payment commissions.

In India, start-ups have been claiming that Google abuses its monopoly, enforcing the billing system, and takes a 30 per cent commission on the transactions. Google had said this wasn’t new and its payments policy has always required this.

It had said Google Play billing had always taken a 30 per cent commission on these transactions.

Google infusing $50 mn in Facebook-backed Indian platform Meesho

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Google infusing $50 mn in Facebook-backed Indian platform Meesho

Meesho, a Facebook-backed homegrown social commerce platform, is likely to get over $50 million from Google, as it aims to build a single digital ecosystem for 100 million small businesses and hire the best talent in the industry, the media reported on Friday.

Meesho has enabled over 13 million individual entrepreneurs to start their own online businesses with zero investment, bringing the benefits of e-commerce to more than 45 million customers in the country.

According to a TechCrunch report, “Google has held discussions to invest over $50 million in Indian social commerce startup Meesho”.

When reached, Meesho declined to immediately comment on the report.

Google, which has pledged to invest $10 billion in India, currently backs Indian startups like DailyHunt, Glance and others.

Meesho has Facebook, SoftBank, Sequoia Capital India, Y Combinator and others as its investors.

In April this year, Meesho raised $300 million (over Rs 2,200 crore) in a new round of funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, taking its valuation to $2.1 billion.

“We are focused on expanding our vision — from helping aspiring women entrepreneurs to creating Meesho as a single ecosystem that will enable all small businesses in India to succeed online,” said Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO of Meesho.

The company had said it has delivered orders from more than 100,000 registered suppliers to over 26,000 pin codes in more than 4,800 cities, generating over 500 crore in income for individual entrepreneurs.

Fuel prices on a roll, hiked again by 35 paise/litre

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Fuel prices on a roll, hiked again by 35 paise/litre

Petrol and diesel prices rallied to their highest ever levels across the country, as fuel rates were hiked again for the third consecutive day on Friday.

Accordingly, the pump price of petrol in Delhi rose by 35 paise to its highest-ever level of Rs 106.89 a litre while diesel prices also rose by the same margin to Rs 95.62 a litre, according to a price notification of the state-owned fuel retailers.

In the financial capital Mumbai, petrol prices have now risen to Rs 112.79 per litre while diesel to Rs 103.7 3 a litre, the highest among all metros.

The fuel prices remained static on Monday and Tuesday, but had risen for four straight days by 35 paise per litre previously before rising again for three consecutive days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There was no change in rates on October 12 and 13.

Diesel prices have increased on 22 out of the last 28 days taking up its retail price by Rs 7.10 per litre in Delhi.

With diesel prices rising sharply, the fuel is now available at over Rs 100 a litre in several parts of the country. This dubious distinction was earlier available to petrol that had crossed Rs 100 a litre-mark across the country a few months earlier.

Petrol prices had maintained stability since September 5 but oil companies finally raised the pump prices last week. Petrol prices have also risen on 19 of the previous 24 days taking up its pump price by Rs 5.70 per litre.

Crude prices have been on a surge rising over a three year-high level of over $ 85 a barrel now as global demand remains firm while OPEC+ continues to move slowly on increasing production. It has softened to just below $85 a barrel now. Since September 5, when both petrol and diesel prices were revised, the price of petrol and diesel in the international market is higher by around $9-10 per barrel as compared to average prices during August.

Trying too hard against Scotland was our undoing: Mahmudullah after PNG win

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Trying too hard against Scotland was our undoing: Mahmudullah after PNG win

Bangladesh “trying too hard because of the expectations” was one of the major reasons for the team going down to Scotland in the opening ICC T20 First Round Group B match on October 17, said skipper Mahmudullah after the side secured a ‘Super 12’ spot by beating Papua New Guinea here on Thursday (October 22).

Following the shock six-run defeat to debutants Scotland, Bangladesh upped their game and won the remaining two group matches to avoid the blushes and make it to the ‘Super 12s’.

“I think this win (against PNG on October 22), I think probably will give us a bit of more confidence going to the Super 12 in Sharjah. We all know that there will be teams who are highly competitive and highly skilled. But in Sharjah, we’ll be hopefully taking on those challenges and try to improve ourselves with them, and we are looking forward to those challenges,” said Mahmudullah.

Bangladesh, riding on Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round show (46 & and 4/9) and Mahmudullah’s quick-fire half-century, crushed PNG by 84 runs and sailed into the ‘Super 12s’ along with Scotland, who topped the group.

On the earlier loss to Scotland, Mahmudullah gave credit to the opponents for “executing the plans very well”.

“I think the thing that happened in our first game plan, I think we should give a lot of credit to the Scotland team. They have executed their plans very well. Having said that, probably we were trying too hard because the expectations were there to get us a win. But we didn’t do it.

“But after that, we had a good chat, how we want to represent ourselves because we always feel a lot of pride when we wear a national jersey. It takes a lot of courage, a lot of commitment, as I mentioned to these guys, a lot of them having painkillers, having injuries, but still giving more than a hundred per cent, that was a good thing to see,” added Mahmudullah.

“We are all eagerly wanting to perform for our team; each and every individual. That’s what matters, because within ourselves, we can try with our heart out, but sometimes we are also humans and we can do mistakes.

“So sometimes we need to sit back and see those things, how do we need to rate on those things and try not to replicate on those things when we get to the Super 12. But I think the energy was there. The energy was quite building in the team.”

Mahmudullah conceded the first six overs of powerplays were the weak link in the Bangladesh side, adding that that side hasn’t been “up to the mark” in those crucial overs.

“I think if you see our batting today, the thing we have been talking about — because the first two games we haven’t been up to the mark in the first six overs, both in the bat and the ball. So we had a good chat within ourselves that the intent has to be there. We need to be clear mind and with aggressive and positive attitude. We are happy that we have executed our plans quite well. Having said that, we can’t just sit back. We still need to be thinking ourselves as an improving side and we need to prove it again,” added Mahmudullah.

T20 World Cup: Scotland cruise into Super 12 with an emphatic victory

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T20 World Cup: Scotland cruise into Super 12 with an emphatic victory

Scotland cruised into the Super 12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Oman in a Group B match of Round 1 at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground here on Thursday.

With this win, Scotland have now topped Group B and are placed in Group 2 of Super 12 while Bangladesh move to Group 1.

Chasing 123, Scotland had a great power-play with 45 runs for the loss of George Munsey (20). Kyle Coetzer took over from Munsey, carting Zeeshan Maqsood for a six followed by taking a six and four off Fayyaz Butt in the next over.

Coetzer slammed a 93-m six off Mohammad Nadeem in the ninth over before Khawar Ali beat him on the inside edge with a googly and hit the stumps off pads on the stroke of drinks break.

Richie Berrington soothed Scotland’s nerves with massive sixes on both sides of the wicket off Khawar Ali in the 14th over. Berrington then smacked Mohammad Nadeem for a four over mid-wicket before sealing Scotland’s spot in the Super 12 with a thumping six over deep square leg.

Brief Scores: Oman 122 all out in 20 overs (Aaqib Ilyas 37, Zeeshan Maqsood 34, Josh Davey 3/25, Michael Leask 2/13) against Scotland 123/2 in 17 overs (Kyle Coetzer 41, Richie Berrington 31 not out, Fayyaz Butt 1/26, Khawar Ali 1/27) by eight wickets.

In-form Ridhima breaks another national record in swimming

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In-form Ridhima breaks another national record in swimming

Karnataka swimmer Ridhima Veerendrakumar came up with yet another record-breaking performance at the 37th Sub Junior and 47th Junior National Championships as she bagged the gold medal in 50m backstroke for group II girls, here on Thursday.

Much like her swim in the 100m backstroke on Wednesday, Ridhima got off to a quick start and built on her lead with powerful strokes to clock 29.94 seconds to erase Maana Patel’s record of 30.37 seconds created in 2014, Bhopal.

Shalini Dixit of Karnataka bagged the silver medal in this event with a time of 31.98 seconds while Sri Nitya Sago of Telangana took home the bronze medal with a time of 32.68 seconds.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s Apeksha Fernandes created a new national record in the 50m breast stroke for group I girls. She timed 34.44 in the final to better her own mark set earlier in the heats where she clocked 34.57 seconds to erase the previous record of 34.06 held by Annie Jain of Gujarat created in 2019, Rajkot.

Tanisha Chheda, also from Maharashtra took home the silver in this event with a time of 35.43 while Anvita A Gowda of Karnataka won bronze with a time of 36.37 seconds.

In another incredible race of the day, Yadesh Babu MS who broke the national record set by Ansh Arora (29.99 seconds) of UP in 2015, Pune with a time of 29.83 seconds clocked in the heats, was pushed to the fourth in the final. He was pipped by Meet Makhija of Maharashtra with a time of 30.04 while Bengal’s Swadesh Mondal took the silver with a time of 30.29 seconds and Srish Maulik of Maharashtra took home the bronze with a time of 30.39 seconds.

A new national record was also created in the 200m IM for Group III Girls with Karnataka’s Dhinidhi Desinghu clocking 2:33.36 to erase Vania Kapoor’s record of 2:37.99 set in 2013, Goa.

In the 200m butterfly for group I boys, Gujarat’s Aryan Panchal clocked 2:03.52 to better Supriya Mondal’s national record of 2:03.63 created in 2014, Bhopal.

Young sensation from Karnataka Jas Singh, on the other hand, went on to win his fifth individual gold medal today. He clocked 42.18 to finish first in the 50m breast stroke for group V boys.

TDP leader sent to jail for using abusive words against Andhra CM

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TDP leader sent to jail for using abusive words against Andhra CM

A city court on Thursday sent Telugu Desam Party (TDP) spokesman K. Pattabhi Ram to judicial custody for 14 days for allegedly using abusive words against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Ram — arrested on Wednesday night, was produced in Third Additional Metropolitan Court, which remanded him to judicial custody for two weeks.

The opposition party leader was subsequently shifted to Machilipatnam Jail.

After the arrest from his house amid high drama, Ram was taken to Thotlavalluru Police Station.

The TDP leader’s lawyer moved the bail petition but the government’s counsel opposed the same citing several cases booked against him in the past. After hearing the arguments of both sides, the magistrate rejected the bail plea and sent him to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Ram said he was not beaten up by police during the custody. He, however, denied that he used any abusive word against the chief minister or any other leader and said he was only highlighting the government’s failures.

Ram was arrested from his house by the police on Wednesday night, a day after his remarks triggered a huge backlash from alleged supporters of ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) who attacked the TDP’s central office at Mangalagiri in Amaravati and party offices in other parts of the state.

Pattabhi Ram’s house was also attacked by unidentified people on Tuesday.

Ram’s wife Chandra said he was arrested by policemen after breaking open the door. She said if anything happened to him, the government will be responsible.

According to police, the TDP leader was arrested in connection with a case booked against him at Governorpet Police Station. He was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 505 (2) (Statements conducing to public mischief), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) read with 120B (criminal conspiracy).

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