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Mint. The plan involves launching at least one satellite in collaboration with ISRO for weather profiling in each state, and increasing by ten-fold, the number of observation stations, rain gauges, radiosonde (a meteorological device that measures atmospheric parameters and transmits it back to ground stations) and wind profilers deployed in the country.

Countries that adopted such a trajectory have manufacturing’s share at 20%+ of their gross domestic product. Despite the reforms and initiatives, India’s manufacturing ecosystem continues to face challenges on key investment criteria on account of low labour productivity, high logistics and power costs, and limited innovation.

Union Budget 2024: In a bid to enhance passenger travel experience and facilitate faster speeds, thereby reducing travel time, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in her interim budget speech earlier this year that 40,000 normal rail bogies will undergo conversion to Vande Bharat standards. This announcement marked a significant boost to India’s railway infrastructure, underscoring its pivotal role in the government’s capital expenditure agenda. The interim budget for fiscal 2024-25 allocated Rs 2.55 lakh crore to Indian Railways. Sitharaman, in her sixth budget speech, proposed a 5.8% increase over the budgetary estimate (BE) of Rs 2.41 lakh crore set for fiscal 2023-24. The revised estimates (RE) for fiscal 2023-24 stood at Rs 2.43 lakh crore, marking a notable commitment to bolstering the railway sector. Once again, this allocation in the interim budget represented the highest ever granted to the national transporter, reflecting the government's steadfast commitment to enhancing railway infrastructure and services across the country.

Malaria vaccine: Ivory Coast has become the first country to deploy a malaria shot developed by Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world’s largest vaccine maker, and the University of Oxford.The first doses of the R21 immunization were administered on Monday to children in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the West African country, the developers and their partners said in a statement — the second malaria vaccine to go into use.“The new vaccine has been authorized by Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, and many others are preparing to receive shipments," they said in the statement. A total of 656,600 doses have been received, which will initially vaccinate 250,000 children from newborns to 23 months across 16 regions of Ivory Coast.The vaccine was recommended in 2023 by the World Health Organization for use in Africa for children under five years old, the age group there that bears the brunt of a disease that kills more than 600,000 people per year.

LONDON : The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, coming so soon after President Biden’s stumbles during the recent presidential debate, is reinforcing an impression outside the U.S. that the world’s pre-eminent superpower is entering an unusually turbulent and unpredictable period, prompting allies to question its reliability and foes to gloat.

New strict border rules for dogs come into effect on Aug. 1 and it may mean owners will have to leave their canine companion at home before crossing into the U.S.

“Banks should provide liquidity to engineering industries, specifically MSMEs, for purchase of new machines, equipment and technology updates so that smaller engineering firms can produce world-class products, both in volume and at affordable prices to compete internationally,” says Arun Shukla, MD of Vikramaditya engineering, a Baddi-based MSME engineering company. He advocates increased government incentives to acquire capital goods and machinery; these are now imported, putting a significant burden on engineering firms’ working capital. “The finance minister should allocate substantial funds for industrial infrastructure for MSME the way China has done, for example, for common effluent plants, testing laboratories, logistic hubs, uninterrupted electricity, etc. Unnecessary statutory and regulatory compliance burden hurting productivity needs to go away. Also, labour reforms should be imposed strictly so that exploitation can be reduced. Product-wise MSME clusters should be announced. Collateral-free funding should be available at a low interest rate for development, automation, research & development and expansion purposes,” Shukla adds.

Budget 2024 Expectations Live Updates: As the Union Budget 2024 approaches, various sectors are abuzz with expectations for significant policy shifts and financial allocations. The real estate industry hopes for renewed tax reliefs and infrastructure investments, while the financial sector looks forward to grants for Bank Mitras.

Netflix has a new rival that might be even more compelling than its well-liked series Bridgerton. The streaming giant's newest product, 'The Decameron', will launch on July 25. According to Yahoo Entertainment, this new series aims to recreate the same charm that initially made Bridgerton a smash, but with its own twist and historical context.

Nathan Nearest Green was hired by Jack Daniel's Distillery as its first master distiller in 1866. Its sour-mash whiskey is still the top-selling whiskey and most globally recognized spirit made in the US. Green's descendants have been working at the distillery for more than 150 years. The whiskey is unique in its taste and texture and some experts believe that it is so due to the technique known in western Africa. Charles K. Cowdery, author of the book «Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey,» has described in detail the journey from a slave boy to the maker of one of the finest whiskey in the country.

Donald Trump announced Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Vance, once a vocal critic of Trump, has since become a staunch ally, marking a significant turnaround in their political relationship. Trump made the announcement via his social media platform, Truth Social, during a Republican Party convention in Milwaukee, which was heightened by the recent attempt on Trump's life. Born James David Bowman in 1984 in Middletown, Ohio, Vance's upbringing in the struggling Appalachian coal country shaped his perspective. After serving in the Marines and earning degrees in political science and philosophy from Ohio State University and Yale Law School, Vance gained national attention with his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy."

Adani Group expects its ports business to grow at a robust pace, with the Indian operations expected to double by volume in five years, said a senior company executive. Speaking to ET, Karan Adani, managing director of Adani Ports and SEZ (APSEZ) said the aim is to transform India's leading port operator into a global ports hub by boosting the share of international traffic. The ports business currently gets about 5% of its total volume from international operations, which it is aiming to double by 2030, said Adani. The ports business has been seeing exponential growth in the past few years, and Adani expects the trajectory to continue. «Currently, the split between our ports and logistics segment is 70:30, and we expect the same to continue because while our logistics segment is growing, so is our ports segment, and that too at a much faster pace,» he said. Revenue from the ports segment grew to Rs 20,972 crore in FY24, from Rs 17,304 crore in the previous year. On the other hand, revenue from the logistics segment grew to Rs 2,079 crore from Rs 1,744 crore in the same period.

France has always been at the center of enthusiasm around sports, most importantly in soccer, as its national team is one of the top ranked in the entire world. As the Paris Olympics kicks in, which promised to initially be a worthwhile investment, boosting the country's economy as well as tourism, it is now facing growing concerns of things not actually matching the checklist.

Tense deliberations over how and if to allow deep sea mining are unfolding in Jamaica as at least one company threatens to apply for permission before rules and regulations are in place

Powell participates in a discussion at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

G20 task force on digital public infrastructure (DPI) has suggested that countries use plug-and-play models to deploy certain DPI while ensuring their sovereignty and data ownership, exhorting them to make their existing infrastructure universally applicable for common good. Releasing the task force's report on Monday, India's G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said the country's fast-growing DPI has enabled it to achieve in nine years what would have taken it 50 years to realise without the DPI. India's push for interoperable DPI during its G20 presidency last year had faced resistance from developed countries, who feared it could undermine the growth of global private payments entities. The plug-and-play method mooted by the task force appears to be aimed at addressing this fear.

high efficacy" malaria vaccine co-developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and the University of Oxford was officially rolled out on Monday when Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa became the first country to begin administering R21/Matrix-M. The vaccine, which was granted World Health Organisation (WHO) approval last year, is said to have undergone a rigorous regulatory process and clinical assessment and was found to be highly effective and affordable. As a low-dose vaccine, it can be manufactured at speed and scale which is seen as critical to stemming the spread of the mosquito-borne disease. «Reducing the malaria burden is finally within sight. Today's start of the R21/Matrix-M vaccine roll-out marks a monumental milestone after years of incredible work with our partners at Oxford and Novavax,» said SII CEO Adar Poonawalla. «At Serum, we believe that it is every person's right to have access to affordable and essential disease prevention. That's why we have committed to producing 100 million doses of R21, which will protect millions of lives and alleviate the burden of this deadly disease for future generations,» he said.

Donald Trump is now a martyr for the 'cause', no longer an ordinary candidate against Joe Biden. His supporters believe nothing less than the hand of god came between him and the assassin's bullet. Within hours, Republicans were sharing an image of Christ with his hand on Trump's shoulder. Political benefits were instant. Elon Musk endorsed Trump, as did another billionaire. The script flipped: it was the Democrats' demonisation of the Republican candidate that led to the assassination attempt, not the general political tinderbox that American politics has become over the past decade to which Trump has generously contributed, as have fringe Left groups. For the Democrats, an already dicey election just got harder. Internal turmoil is currently their signature tune. Biden has been fighting polls and party leaders to insist he is their best bet even though voters vehemently disagree. Debates on TV channels are a sad reflection on a party seeped in doubt, despair and disarray. Biden hopes the assassination attempt will unite Dems behind him, but the opposite may happen now that Trump is stronger.

Niti Aayog has said. Niti Aayog, in a report titled 'Domestic Manufacturing Capacity & Potential Cyber Security Challenges in the Wind Sector and Way Forward', said wind turbines' capability to exchange information through power plant controllers (PPC) poses a significant cybersecurity threat. «The PPC software is of critical importance and associated with risks — used in the device which connects the wind farm directly to the national/state grid. »PPC OEMs of foreign origin, especially neighbouring countries, need to be examined, and a call needs to be taken for their suspension while not adhering to the protocol," it said.

CropLife India, which describes itself as an association of 17 R&D driven crop science companies, has claimed in a media release that a proposal towards enhancement of customs duty on agrochemical formulations to 20%; would hurt the interests of the farmers of the country, in terms of higher costs of farming and non-availability of the newer products. «The idea of doubling customs duty was being proposed based on ‘misinformation’; in the last couple of months, about the “huge” formulation imports in the country. However, the actual data of import proves otherwise,» said Croplife in the release. Durgesh Chandra, Secretary General, CropLife Indiasaid,“Imported Formulations hardly constitute 20% of total imports of agrochemicals in India. Theproposal to increase custom duty on formulations will set the wrong precedent, signal uncertainty in ease of doing business, will question the stability of Indian policies and send out wrong signals for both foreign and Indian investment in this sector; apart from not achieving any significant financial benefit for the exchequer”.

Donald Trump cements his hold on his Republican Party at its 2024 convention this week, having survived an assassination attempt and navigated numerous legal tangles on the road to the party's presidential nomination. During the four-day event beginning on Monday, the former president will announce his choice for a running mate, having cited as frontrunners Ohio U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, all of whom will speak at the gathering. While the event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will be a festive affair to formally nominate Trump, it occurs at a tense moment in U.S. history on the road to the Nov. 5 election rematch between President Joe Biden, 81, and Trump, 78.