Provident Financial News

Xi Jinping has declined an invitation to visit Brussels for an summit to mark the 50th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic ties, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Beijing told EU officials that Premier Li Qiang would meet the presidents of the European Council and Commission instead of Xi, the FT said, citing two people familiar with the matter whom it did not identify. The Chinese premier usually attends the summit when it is held in Brussels, while the president hosts it in Beijing, but the EU wants Xi to attend to commemorate half a century of relations between Beijing and the bloc, the newspaper said. Tensions between Brussels and Beijing have grown since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the EU accusing China of backing the Kremlin, the FT said. Last year, the European Union also imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports. «Informal discussions are ongoing, both about setting the date for the EU-China summit this year and the level of representation,» an EU official told the newspaper, while the Chinese ministry was quoted as saying it did not have any information to provide on the matter.

interest rate decision, global trends, tariff-related developments and trading activity of foreign investors will drive the equity market movement this week, analysts said. Among macroeconomic data announcement, WPI inflation for February is scheduled to be announced on Monday. «Persistent uncertainties surrounding global trade and the fear of a US recession may continue to influence the domestic market's momentum,» Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Chandigarh have jointly developed 32-bit Microprocessors — Vikram 3201 and Kalpana 3201-- for space applications, the space agency has said. Vikram 3201 is the first fully Indian-made 32-bit microprocessor qualified for use in the harsh environmental conditions of launch vehicles. The processor was fabricated at the 180nm (nanometer) CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) semiconductor fab of SCL. This processor is an advanced version of the indigenously designed 16-bit Vikram 1601 microprocessor, which has been operating in the avionics system of ISRO's launch vehicles since 2009, ISRO said in a statement released late on Saturday. A «Make-in-India» version of the Vikram 1601 processor was subsequently inducted in 2016 after the 180nm semiconductor fab was established at SCL, the statement said. Kalpana 3201 is a 32-bit SPARC V8 (Scalable Processor ARChitecture, version 8) RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) microprocessor and is based on the IEEE 1754 Instruction Set Architecture, the space agency said. This microprocessor has been designed to be compatible with open-source software toolsets along with in-house developed simulators and IDE (Integrated Development Environment), and has been tested with flight software, it said.

Mexico City offered more than music, food and booze. Amidst the usual festival fare, a booth provided free, anonymous drug testing. The initiative, known as «Checa tu Sustancia» (Check Your Substance), is one of several recent efforts by Mexican civil society to reduce risk among people taking drugs. Spearheaded by the Instituto RIA, a Mexico-based drug policy research and advocacy organization, it aims to address drug use from a public health and social justice perspective, rather than a security one. In a well-lit corner of the festival, members of the Instituto RIA used reagents and laboratory porcelain plates to test substances that some of the partygoers planned to use and recorded the data. Their analysis uses color changes to indicate what's in the drug: It can reveal the presence of adulterants but not their exact proportion. They also offered test strips that can detect the presence of fentanyl and nasal sprays of naloxone, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. Also available were informational flyers detailing the effects of various psychoactive substances and what to do to reduce the risks associated with using them, including simple but critical measures like staying hydrated and eating well.

Wherever the Congress comes to power, it tries to strangle the basic spirit of the Constitution, he alleged. The Siddaramaiah government has given its nod for amending the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act to provide four per cent reservation in government tenders to Muslim contractors. Sai said, «The decision is a well-planned conspiracy of the Congress to spread animosity in the society. The courts have already declared religion-based reservation unconstitutional, so this decision too will not stand before judicial review. The Congress is playing with the rights of the deprived sections just for vote bank politics.» The injustice to tribals, Dalits and deprived sections of the society will not be tolerated, the BJP leader said.

Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the Hyperloop testing facility at IIT Madras on Saturday and said that the Hyperloop tube, being developed with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, will soon be the world's longest tube, measuring 410 meters in length. The 410-meter-long Hyperloop test tube located at IIT Chennai is already the longest Hyperloop test facility in Asia. Hyperloop is a high-speed train that runs in a vacuum in a tube. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday in a social media post added, «Longest Hyperloop tube in Asia (410 m)… soon to be the world's longest.»

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, has unexpectedly caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite initial skepticism, Trump recently called her “tough” and praised her leadership, particularly on migration and fentanyl trafficking. But what exactly did Sheinbaum do to earn this recognition?

Rosmerta Digital Services, an operational creditor of Ola Electric Technologies, has filed a plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the wholly owned subsidiary of electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric, over alleged payment defaults. The petition, filed before the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), claims non-payment for services rendered and seeks to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Ola Electric Technologies. Ola Electric has disputed the claims and said it plans to challenge the petition through legal proceedings.

Although «The Crossword» its larger, more challenging cousin — remains exclusive to subscribers, The Mini has carved out a dedicated following of its own, offering a brief yet engaging challenge each day. If today’s puzzle, released on Saturday, March 15, 2025, has left you stumped on a clue or two, worry not. Below, we provide a carefully organized list of hints for both «Across» and «Down» words, followed by the full answers for those seeking a little extra help. Proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers!

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SINGAPORE—In 2002, with China’s shipyards producing just 8% of global commercial tonnage, then-Premier Zhu Rongji challenged his nation. “China," he said, “can hope to become the world’s No.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A four-and-a-half-hour drive from Bengaluru takes you to Chikmagalur, believed to be the coffee capital of India. Ironically, I discovered it’s easier to buy liquor than quality coffee beans there, although its estates grow some of India’s finest high-altitude beans.

vocational courses and provide training on artificial intelligence applications to help students find jobs as the world’s second biggest economy confronts a record number of graduates this year. Universities are required to help students become more employable by establishing vocational training centers and collaborating with enterprises to offer 1,000 micro majors and 1,000 vocational training courses, according to a notice from the Ministry of Education. The institutions should also solicit employment and education projects in the field of AI and carry out specialised training on AI applications, the ministry added.

This troubling development comes despite legislative mandates designed to expedite trials, primarily due to the absence of sufficient dedicated courts to handle such cases. The alarming statistics were revealed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by city-based activist Vihar Durve on February 6, 2025, requesting details on the pendency of POCSO-related cases in the state. A reply provided by the Bombay High Court’s Public Information Officer on March 4 disclosed that the number of pending cases rose from 32,988 at the beginning of 2023 to 41,977 by January 31, 2025. This increase occurred even as laws stipulate the fast-tracking of cases involving child victims. The backlog has been growing significantly each year. In 2024 alone, 12,838 new cases were registered, while only 7,942 were resolved, contributing nearly 5,000 additional cases to the pile. The pendency rate has risen by 11.2% in 2023 and 13.3% in 2024, with 405 new cases added to the backlog in the first month of 2025 alone.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman has just shared a game-changing framework to fix that—and it’s surprisingly simple.

Staff Selection Commission (SSC) is expected to declare the SSC GD Constable Result 2025 on Saturday. Candidates will be able to check their results on the SSC website, ssc.gov.in. once they are announced. The results will be available in PDF format, with separate links provided for the cut-off marks and merit list.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. “THE ACTION that is needed has to be bold and determined," declared Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, this week. She was talking about how the European Union should respond to Donald Trump’s habit of tearing up supposedly “ironclad commitments", thereby threatening “European values".

ITAT) in Mumbai has ruled in favour of an individual who claimed non-resident status for tax purposes as he had spent 210 days abroad for work and job search, according to a TOI report by Lubna Kably. The tribunal clarified that an individual’s tax residency status must be decided only based on the number of days spent in India. M Gulati, the taxpayer, did not disclose his overseas income of Rs 1.2 crore for the financial year 2015-16, asserting that he was a non-resident because he stayed in India for less than 182 days. The Income-tax department, however, contended that of the 210 days spent outside India, 28 days were used to search for employment and thus should not be counted. Based on this, the department treated him as a tax resident, making his global income taxable in India. The ITAT rejected this argument and held that days spent abroad for seeking employment must be considered as valid for determining non-resident status. The tribunal referred to Explanation 1 to section 6(1) of the Income-tax Act, which provides that if a person leaves India for employment purposes, they will be considered a tax resident only if they stay in India for 182 days or more in that year.

Karnataka Cabinet has given its nod for amending the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act aimed at providing 4 per cent reservation in tenders to Muslim contractors, official sources said. The Cabinet also approved the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide 'B' khatas to all unauthorised rural properties, similar to the exercise being carried out in urban areas. The bill is expected to cover some 90 lakh rural properties that do not have khatas. According to the sources, the Cabinet discussed a proposal to give 4.24 acres of land belonging to the Agriculture Department in Hebbal for the International Flower Auction Bangalore (IFAB) on a rent-free basis for two years. Discussions were also held on approving financial assistance of Rs 96.77 crore for reconstruction and replacement of equipment at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre after the January fire incident. The Cabinet discussed measures to reform the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) on Friday, the sources said.

Klarna Group Plc filed publicly for a US IPO in what could be one of the year’s biggest financial company listings. The Stockholm-founded digital payments company’s revenue climbed 24% last year. Klarna had net income of $21 million on revenue of $2.81 billion for 2024, compared with net loss of $244 million on revenue of $2.28 billion a year earlier, according to its filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Klarna filed confidentially for the initial public offering in November. Klarna is seeking to raise at least $1 billion in the IPO and is targeting a valuation of more than $15 billion in the listing, Bloomberg News reported. The company and some of its shareholders are selling shares in the offering, the filing shows.

It is happening across businesses and states, with the taxman snooping around for transaction details with organisations in financial services, hospitality, healthcare, real estate, manufacturing, and those linked to telecom and direct-to-home services. The aim is to collect evidence of tax evasion, misreporting, and racketeering by verifying various dealing records with the claims made by individuals and entities, under the scrutiny of the I-T Department. «The request for information spans multiple sectors, highlighting an increased dependence on third-party information, documents, and confirmations,» said Ashish Karundia, founder of CA firm Ashish Karundia & Co. Use of Sec 133(6) Multiplies

comeback programmes — designed to help professionals, primarily women, re-enter the workforce after a career break — are paying off for companies, but there's still a long way to go, say experts. Companies that have adopted returnship programmes are seeing the benefits: access to a bigger pool of talent, improved diversity and low attrition rates among the returnees. Alumni of these programmes often become the organisation's strongest advocates, frequently referring friends, former colleagues and other professionals. «Returnships are likely to become a standard part of talent acquisition strategies as companies realise their strategic value in addressing skill shortages and promoting diversity,» said Shilpa Khanna, people advisory leader, India, at professional services firm Aon. «The vision is for all talent that is interested to work have a fair and objective chance of returning to the workforce, get relevant support to be successful and not be discriminated against for stepping away from their careers,» Khanna said.