Country Financial News

There is no longer any justification for consuming alcohol excessively and then deciding to drive home, especially in Italy. The Italian government intends to initiate a trial initiative aimed at offering intoxicated individuals the opportunity to utilize complimentary taxi services. Italy is currently testing a strategy to offer free taxi rides to party attendees as a means to reduce instances of drunk driving and mitigate fatal accidents.

EG.5 is on the rise in the US. The variant is causing about 17 per cent of the new Covid-19 cases in the country compared to 16 per cent for the next most common lineage, XBB.1.16, according to the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CNN reported. The new variant is a spinoff of the XBB recombinant strain of the Omicron family.

Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will prohibit some new US investment in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and require government notification in other tech sectors. The long-awaited order authorizes the US Treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems.

Battlegrounds Mobile India) quickly rose to prominence in India after the ban on PUBG Mobile. Despite facing its own ban, the Indian government decided to allow BGMI back into the country with certain modifications around 10 months ago. Similar to other popular battle royale titles like Garena Free Fire, BGMI developers regularly release redeem codes that grant players access to a wide range of enticing rewards and freebies.

agricultural practices, the reduction of reliance on imported food, and the reinforcement of resilience against the impacts of climate change. In a conversation with LiveMint, Lisa Moon, who holds the position of President and CEO at the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) and is also the organizer of the G20 Global Food Security Summit 2023, emphasized the critical objectives and pressing nature of ensuring food security. (Edited excerpts.) The Global Food Security Summit 2023 is comprised of officials, businesses and civil society members from across India.

The government’s Aug. 3 announcement means businesses will need an import license to bring items like laptops into the country — a sign that earlier incentives designed to increase domestic production had failed to gain traction. Specifically, a 169 billion rupee ($2 billion) plan to hand cash back to makers of computer equipment doesn’t seem to be garnering the levels of interest received for an earlier policy aimed at smartphone makers.

Facebook across the globe, a University of Oxford study claims on Wednesday that it found no evidence that the social media platform's worldwide penetration is linked to adverse mental health impact. The study by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) used wellbeing data from nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years and harnessed actual individual usage data from millions of Facebook users worldwide to investigate the impact on wellbeing of the platform, now branded as Meta.

PTI, the 'Pension Rights Maharally' will be organised under the banner of the Joint Forum for Restoration of Old Pension Scheme (JFROPS)/National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), the union leaders informed on Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference, NJCA national convener and general secretary of All India Railway Men's Federation (AIRF) Shiv Gopal Mishra said, “the employees who joined government service after January 1, 2004 are strongly opposing the New Pension Scheme (NPS)." "They are worried about their future after retirement because they have been deprived of the Old Pension Scheme and forced into the New Pension Scheme", he said.

ANI as saying, “This government is merely busy breaking the Opposition parties, unleashing central agencies to harass Opposition leaders and resorting to politics while people continue to suffer," Taking a sharp dig at Prime Minister Modi, the editorial added, "He brags about the country being on course to becoming the third biggest in the world but a 'mauni (silent) baba' on the issue of runaway inflation. The people, who are already bearing the brunt of inflation, are now being sucked into a shortage of essential food grains and pulses.

Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order to ban some new US investments in China like computer chips, leading to the requirement of government notification in other tech sectors, according to a report published by Reuters. The long-awaited order has restricted the US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors — semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems.

BEIJING — Two years after Evergrande's debt troubles, worries about China's real estate sector are coming to the forefront again.

Krafton Inc said it will make investments of $150 million into Indian startups over the next two to three years. Over the last three years, the firm has invested about $140 million in 11 Indian gaming and content-driven ventures including Nazara Technologies’ unit Nodwin Gaming, Pratilipi, KukuFM and Loco.

digital competition law to regulate big tech, said people aware of the matter. The corporate affairs ministry is mulling a separate legislation instead of tweaking the existing Competition Act, which was amended recently, they said. «Given the complexity of the issue and differing views of stakeholders, introducing a bill to this effect will take time.

By Sourasis Bose

By Clare Jim

The pilot will begin on 15 August and involve select clients of the participating banks. It will test the opening of digital ruble accounts and money transfers to them, person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and QR code-based payments.

By Andrea Shalal and Karen Freifeld

BJP targeted INDIA bloc on Quit India anniversary. BJP's twitter handle posted a video message on Wednesday, 'New movement of new India-Quit India.' «Tributes to the greats who took part in the Quit India Movement. Under the leadership of Gandhi Ji, this Movement played a major role in freeing India from colonial rule.

India1 is set to transform itself into a fintech company from being the top white-label ATM services provider. While the fintech businesses could take time to deliver profits, the ATM business keeps ringing in the cash. “We are looking at revenue streams beyond white-label ATMs,” said K Srinivas, managing director and CEO of India1 Payments. “Besides providing switching services to smaller banks to connect their ATM network, we are also working as a digital loan facilitator by connecting our 54 million customers who are already on our digital platform to potential lenders,” he added. India1 Payments, in which ICICI Ventures has about 49% stake, is promoted by Australia’s Banktech group. The company plans to leverage its customer base using its white-label ATM platform by being an account aggregator and connecting those interested in small-ticket loans with the potential lender. This could earn the company a fee-based income for the concluded transactions. The company will also continue to expand its mainstream business of providing white-label ATMs in semi-urban and rural areas where it is already having a strong presence and increase its ATM network and expand its regional spread. India1 Payments currently manages 12,200 white-label ATMs throughout the country and plans to double the count by rolling out another 12,000 more ATMs over the next five years.

China’s consumer prices have slipped into deflation for the first time since its peak-pandemic demand lull in early 2021. The consumer price index was down 0.3% in July, according to the latest official data. This comes a day after the country reported a drop in exports as well as imports last month.

bits of their representatives to know what is good for them, what is bad. Which is why, quite rightly for a country yet to mature, never mind ready to rise, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that the referendum — direct vote on a proposal, law or political issue by the electorate and not through intermediaries like MPs and MLAs — is not for us.