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LIVE! EC should act: Vasundhara Raje on Sharad Yadav’s body-shaming remark


09:57  Rupee rises 46 paise to 70.44 against US dollar in early trade:  The rupee appreciated by 46 paise to 70.44 against the US dollar in early trade Friday at the interbank foreign exchange, amid weakness in the greenback against some currencies overseas and a higher opening of domestic equities.

Forex traders said, increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks and sustained foreign fund inflows also supported the domestic currency.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened higher at 70.58 and rose further to quote at 70.44, showing a rise of 46 paise over its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee fell by 44 paise against the dollar to close at 70.90. The local unit also gathered momentum following easing crude oil prices. — PTI

09:46  EC should act: Vasundhara Raje on Sharad Yadav’s body-shaming remark :  

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje today expressed shock at senior politician Sharad Yadav’s body-shaming comments at her in an election rally and said the Election Commission must act.

“I am shocked. I feel insulted. He has insulted women. I think to set an example, it is very important that the Election Commission takes cognizance,” Raje told reporters on Friday, after casting her vote for the Rajasthan election.

“Is this the sort of example he wants to set for youngsters? Congress and its allies should be restrained in their language,” the CM said angrily.

Sharad Yadav while addressing a rally in Alwar said, “Vasundhara ko aaram do, bahut thak gayi hain, bahut moti ho gayi hain, pehle patli thi. Humare Madhya Pradesh ki beti hai. (Give rest to Vasundhara. She looks too tired and has gained too much weight. Earlier she was slim. She is our Madhya Pradesh’s daughter),” Yadav said on Thursday in Alwar while addressing a rally.

Later, while clarifying his remarks, Yadav said that it was a mere ‘joke’ and his intentions were not to hurt the Bharatiya Janata Party leader.

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09:24  An 80-year-old woman cast her vote at booth no. 103 in Sardarpura constituency of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. 


09:06  Indian IT firm HCL Tech to acquire select IBM software products:  

Indian IT company HCL Technologies on Friday said it will acquire select IBM software products for USD 1.8 billion (over Rs 12,700 crore) in an all-cash deal.

 

The transaction, subject to “completion of applicable regulatory reviews”, is slated to close by mid-2019, HCL Technologies said in a statement.

The deal entails seven products in areas including security, marketing and collaboration solutions, and represents a total addressable market of more than USD 50 billion, HCL Tech said in a regulatory filing.

“IBM and HCL Technologies today announced a definitive agreement under which HCL will acquire select IBM software products for USD 1.8 billion,” it said.

With this acquisition, HCL Tech will get software products in areas of marketing, commerce, security and collaboration, a “highly profitable revenue stream” containing a significant annuity component, and access to over 5,000 large clients across industries and geographic markets, along with sales and marketing teams, the filing said.

HCL Tech Chief Financial Officer Prateek Aggarwal told PTI that the deal also entails transfer of IBM employees, but did not divulge any numbers. 

The cash deal will be funded largely through internal accruals, with USD 300 million of debt, HCL Tech said, adding that nearly half of the total amount will be paid at close of the deal.

This is the biggest acquisition for HCL Tech till date, and among the largest by an Indian tech company. The acquisition also reflects HCL’s ambitions for software products business — considered to be the next growth frontier for IT companies.

The software products in the deal include Appscan (for secure application development), BigFix (for secure device management), Unica (for marketing automation), Commerce (for omni-channel eCommerce), Portal (for digital experience), Notes & Domino (for email and low-code rapid application development), and Connections (for workstream collaboration).

HCL and IBM have an ongoing intellectual property partnership for five of these products. — PTI

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08:59  Polling begins in Telangana, Rajasthan:  

After a high-voltage campaign that saw war of words among contending parties, polling began in Rajastha and Telangana today.

In Telangana, voting began at 7 am and will conclude at 5 pm, except in 13 constituencies classified as Left Wing Extremist-affected, where the process ends at 4 pm itself.

Over 2,000 candidates are in the fray for 199 assembly seats in Rajasthan, where polling on Friday will determine whether the Bharatiya Janata Party bucks anti-incumbency and an increasingly aggressive opposition to return to power.

Votes will be cast at 51,687 polling booths, 259 of them managed exclusively by women officials and security personnel.

In Telangana, the Congress-led alliance is challenging the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti, and the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking to make it a triangular contest for 119 assembly seats.

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08:34  IndiGo becomes first Indian airline to have 200 planes:  

Budget carrier IndiGo on Thursday said it has become the first domestic airline to have 200 aircraft in its fleet.

 

Four new aircraft have joined the fleet, including town Airbus A320 ceo (VT-IKA and VT-IKB) and two A320 neo (VT IZK AND VT-IZI) taking the fleet count to 200 and number of deliveries to 226, IndiGo said in an internal  communication.

With the addition of VT-IZI, IndiGo has become the first Indian airline to have two aircraft in its fleet, the largest domestic carrier said in the communication.

The Gurgaon-based no-frills carrier, which enjoys over 40 per cent of the total domestic traffic, had inducted the 100th aircraft on December 24, 2015.

“It has taken us only three years to take delivery of another 100 planes,” it added.

The airline’s fleet now comprises 123 A320ceos (current engine option), 61 A320 neos (new engine option) as well as 12 regional jets ATR.

IndiGo currently offers over 1,200 flights to 63 domestic destinations, which include 49 domestic and 14 international ones. — PTI 


08:30  2 Indian-American CEOs attend White House summit for Tech leaders:  

Two Indian-American CEOs — Satya Nadella from Microsoft and Sunder Pichai from Microsoft — were among a select group of CEOs invited by the White House for a technology summit as part of the Trump Administration’s move to ease its relationship, which thus far has remained tensed, with the Silicon Valley.

“We had a productive and engaging discussion at the White House today about America’s leadership in emerging technologies,” Pichai was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal. 

President Donald Trump made a brief appearance at the summit organised by his daughter Ivanka Trump. Ginni Rometty (IBM) Safra Catz (Oracle) and Steve Mollenkopf (Qualcomm) were among those who attended the White House Tech Summit. 

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger also attended the summit which was themed “Industries of the Future”. 

The tech summit was intended to be a listening session for tech leaders to share policy ideas, a senior administration official said.

No other details were immediately available. CEOs who attended the summit did not respond to reporters’ questions at the White House. — PTI

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00:19  OPEC to consider views of Modi before cutting production: Saudi oil min:  

Oil cartel Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will consider views of world leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represent the voice of major consuming nations, with seriousness before taking a decision on cutting output to support falling prices, Saudi oil minister Khalid Al Falih said on Thursday.

India is the world’s third largest oil consuming nation, which is more than 80 per cent dependent on imports to meet its energy needs.

Led by Modi, it has been very strongly making a case for oil producers’ cartel OPEC to price crude at reasonable and responsible rates.

Speaking to reporters at the meeting of the OPEC, he said: “We take the views of Prime Minister Narendra Modi seriously who (like US President Donald Trump) is equally vocal about the issue.

“We just met him in Buenos Aires (during G20 summit) and privately he made those points very very strongly that he does care for Indian consumers and is very serious about it. I have also seen him at three times at various energy events in India where he was very vocal.”

He was replying to a question on US President’s expectations from OPEC meeting.

OPEC on Thursday delayed a decision on production until it meets with other producers on Friday.

Following this, crude oil prices traded sharply lower.

Growing concerns that oil producers won’t reach an agreement to aggressively reduce production has also weighed on prices.

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery lost $2.30, or 4.4 per cent, to $50.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Members of OPEC concluded their meeting in Vienna, without deciding on output-cut figures. It plans to debate output figures with non-OPEC producers during their meeting Friday.  — PTI

Source: Rediff