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- Vowing to cut US trade deficits and protect the nation's high-tech "crown jewels", President Donald Trump said on 15 june he's levying a 25 per cent tariff on up to $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, instantly escalating a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.
- Trump said he was fulfilling a campaign pledge to crack down on what he contends are China's unfair trade practices and efforts to undermine US technology and intellectual property.
- During an impromptu appearance on the White House North Lawn, the president hailed his "very big tariffs" on China. "You know we have the great brain power in Silicon Valley, and China and others steal those secrets. And we're going to protect those secrets. Those are crown jewels for this country," Trump said on "Fox & Friends".Asked about inciting a trade war, he said, "There is no trade war. They've taken so much already."
- The US tariffs will cover 1,102 Chinese product lines worth about $50 billion a year. Those include 818 products, worth $34 billion a year, remaining from a list of 1,333 the administration released in April. About 500 goods, including televisions and some pharmaceuticals, initially targeted for sanctions in March were stricken from the list at the behest of US firms that rely on imports, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
- The government will start to collect the tariffs from July 6. The administration also is targeting an additional 284 Chinese products, which it says benefit from China's aggressive industrial policies, worth $16 billion a year, but won't impose those tariffs until it collects public comment.
- US companies that rely on the targeted imports - and can't find substitutes can apply for exemptions from the tariffs.
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- There are moments in India’s peak summer when you begin to suspect if the airconditioning is effective. And it is precisely at these moments that one also tends to wonder how those in earlier days managed to survive the merciless heat of an Indian summer.
- Search a little and you would find that royals and the elite of the past used their common sense to beat the heat and leveraged the most obvious resource available water. Across geographies, dynasties and time periods, structures built in proximity to water bodies enabled them to escape the heat, dust and intrigues of their capital.
- Take for instance Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur, Karnataka. Towards the end of his long reign (ending 1627), he erected a water palace in Kumatagi, an isolated spot 20km east of his capital.
- Here, a complex system of hydraulic works on a lake provided water for a series of over-and-underground tanks, cisterns and fountains. The highlight was a two-storeyed pavilion set inside a tank. The tank is now dry, but one can still imagine the poetic Bijapur ruler composing verses in his cool summer palace.
- More than 2,000km north, something similar is visible in Sirhind, Punjab, the site of a large caravan sarai that served as a halt for the Mughals. Here, inside the enclosure for the royals, are the remains of an elaborate water cooling and heating system. Most significant is a Sard Khana in which a system of water tanks with pipes running through the walls kept the building cool in peak summer. A causeway connects two parts of the enclosure.
- At one end is a set of rooms that formed a hammam or bathing area. The presence of furnaces and terracotta pipes running through the walls indicates the availability of piped hot water
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- In what will be the second share buyback in two years under Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran, the country's largest software services company TCS has announced to spend up to Rs 16,000 crore to repurchase its own stock for Rs 2,100 a piece.
- The buyback price is 14 per cent premium to TCS' 15 june closing price of Rs 1,841 on the BSE. Aimed at distributing excess cash to shareholders, the company will repurchase 7.6 crore shares, representing about 2 per cent of its equity capital, on a proportionate basis.
- The biggest beneficiary of this share buyback scheme will be TCS' parent Tata Sons. Based on its 72 per cent stake in the IT services behemoth, the parent will get Rs 11,502 crore from participating in the programme.
- The money will give Chandrasekaran additional resources to strengthen Tata Sons' balance sheet, raise holdings in group companies, retire debt of the telecom business and finance buyouts like Bhushan Steel and Bhushan Power.
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- Consumer durables firm Bajaj Electricals on 15 june bought the non-stick cookware-maker Nirlep Appliances for around Rs 80 crore, which includes equity and debt.
- Aurangabad-based Nirlep, launched in 1968, is among pioneering brands to introduce non-stick tech and is also the first domestic firm to export to Europe.
- "We have proposed to acquire the entire shareholding of Nirlep for a consideration of Rs 42.50 crore, subject to adjustments of any additional liabilities for the period prior to acquisition," Bajaj Electricals said in a BSE filing.
- This will help Bajaj Electricals cement its position in the fast-growing Rs 12,000-crore kitchenware category. Nirlep founder Mukund Bhogale said, "We have agreed to sell the entire stake in Nirlep to Bajaj Electricals for around Rs 80 crore.
- The deal involves Rs 42.50 crore for 100 per cent equity and taking over Rs 30 crore of debt. The rest is deferred payment." The deal will be completed in two tranches.
- In the first tranche, 80 per cent of shares will be acquired within 60 days from 15 june and in the second tranche, the company has a right to exercise call option to acquire the remaining 20 per cent of shares any time after the closing date, Bajaj said.
- The publicly traded Bajaj had over Rs 4,700 crore in revenue last fiscal and is the largest small appliances player in the country.
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- Indians with advanced degrees may have to wait for over 150 years for a green card which authorises them to live and work in the US permanently, according to projections by a think-tank.
- The new calculation on the Green Card wait period by Cato Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, comes after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently released number of applicants for such cards.
- The calculation is based on the number of green card issuances in 2017.
- As of April 20, 2018, there were 632,219 Indian immigrants and their spouses and minor children waiting for green cards also known as legal permanent residency cards. The shortest wait is for the highest skilled category for EB-1 immigrants with "extraordinary ability". EB stands for employment based.
- The extraordinary immigrants from India will have to wait "only" six years, Cato Institute said in its latest report.
- According to the USCIS, there are 34,824 Indian applicants under EB-1 category. Along with their 48,754 spouse and children, 83,578 Indians are in line for green card under EB-1 category.
- EB-3 immigrants those with bachelor's degrees will have to wait about 17 years, Cato Institute said. As of April 20, there were 54,892 Indians in this category. Clubbed with 60,381 spouses and children, the total number of Indians waiting for Green Card in EB-3 category are 1,15,273.
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- NASA’s record-breaking astronaut, Peggy Whitson, retired Friday less than a year after returning from her last and longest spaceflight.
- She’s spent more time off the planet than any other American: 665 days over three space station missions. She’s also the world’s most experienced female spacewalker, with 10 under her spacesuit belt.
- Whitson was the first woman to command the International Space Station, holding the position twice, and the oldest woman ever to fly in space. She was also the only woman to have served as chief of NASA’s male-dominated astronaut corps.Fellow astronauts called her a “space ninja.”
- “It’s been the greatest honour to live out my lifelong dream of being a @NASA Astronaut,” Whitson said via Twitter, thanking “all who have supported me along the way.”
- “As I reminisce on my many treasured memories, it’s safe to say my journey at NASA has been out of this world!”
- The 58-year-old biochemist, who grew up on an Iowa hog farm, joined NASA as a researcher in 1986 and became an astronaut in 1996. Her last spaceflight, spanning 2016 and 2017, lasted close to 10 months.
- Only Russian men have spent more time in space: Gennady Padalka holds the record with 879 days over five missions.
- NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Whitson an inspiration, citing her determination and dedication to science, exploration and discovery.
- “She set the highest standards for human spaceflight operations,” Brian Kelly, director of flight operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement, “as well as being an outstanding role model for women and men in America and across the globe.”
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