S Jaishankar appointed Foreign Secretary
In a surprise move, the government on Wednesday terminated the term of Sujatha Singh as Foreign Secretary and appointed S Jaishankar in her place with immediate effect. It is unclear why Singh was removed so quickly, despite the fact that she was due to retire on August 31. Jaishankar is well-known for his achievements in the services, including for his part in shaping the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008, for handling tensions between New Delhi and Beijing in 2013, and for handling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in 2014. His father K Subrahmanyam was one the country’s most prominent defence strategists.
PDP and BJP one step closer forming government in J&K
Jammu and Kashmir may have a government soon as both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People’s Democratic Party indicated that they had arrived at a broad understanding on seat sharing in the state. BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav and PDP MLA Nirmal Singh met with Governor NN Vohra separately on Wednesday, apprising him that all issues between have been sorted out and that track-II talks were in progress. In the recent poll for the state's 87-member house, the PDP won 28 seats and BJP got 25 seats. The National Conference was voted out of power, winning only 15 seats.
India wants to know if Japan can build India Navy’s stealth submarines
New Delhi has forwarded a proposal to Tokyo to build six stealth submarines for India at Rs 50,000 crore, officials said on Wednesday, following Japan’s lifting its arms-export embargo recently. The submarines outlined in the proposal are the diesel-electric Soryu-class vessels, which Australia has also been eyeing thanks to the impending retirement of its Collins-class vessels. The proposal comes against the backdrop of the possible sale of Japanese US-2i ShinMayva amphibious aircraft to the Indian Navy.
Apple posts record earnings in last quarter
Apple, Inc. posted the biggest ever profit by a public corporation on Wednesday, on the back of selling a record 74.5 million iPhones and 5.5 million Macs, accompanied by a 70% surge in sales in China. As a result, analysts expect the electronics giant will boost share buybacks to the point of returning $200 billion to investors. Up to Tuesday’s close, Apple stock had risen 39% in the last 12 months, adding more than $177 billion to its market capitalisation. On Wednesday, shares were up 7.7% in early trading on the NASDAQ, at $117.50.
IS extends deadline for suicide bomber’s release to sunset Thursday
On Wednesday, the Islamic State released a video purportedly of its Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, saying it would extend the deadline for Jordan to release a jihadi suicide bomber in its custody in exchange for Goto and a Jordanian pilot. Jordan has agreed to release the bomber, Sajida al-Rishawi. IS’s new deadline ends on sunset Thursday.
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In a surprise move, the government on Wednesday terminated the term of Sujatha Singh as Foreign Secretary and appointed S Jaishankar in her place with immediate effect. It is unclear why Singh was removed so quickly, despite the fact that she was due to retire on August 31. Jaishankar is well-known for his achievements in the services, including for his part in shaping the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008, for handling tensions between New Delhi and Beijing in 2013, and for handling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in 2014. His father K Subrahmanyam was one the country’s most prominent defence strategists.
PDP and BJP one step closer forming government in J&K
Jammu and Kashmir may have a government soon as both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People’s Democratic Party indicated that they had arrived at a broad understanding on seat sharing in the state. BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav and PDP MLA Nirmal Singh met with Governor NN Vohra separately on Wednesday, apprising him that all issues between have been sorted out and that track-II talks were in progress. In the recent poll for the state's 87-member house, the PDP won 28 seats and BJP got 25 seats. The National Conference was voted out of power, winning only 15 seats.
India wants to know if Japan can build India Navy’s stealth submarines
New Delhi has forwarded a proposal to Tokyo to build six stealth submarines for India at Rs 50,000 crore, officials said on Wednesday, following Japan’s lifting its arms-export embargo recently. The submarines outlined in the proposal are the diesel-electric Soryu-class vessels, which Australia has also been eyeing thanks to the impending retirement of its Collins-class vessels. The proposal comes against the backdrop of the possible sale of Japanese US-2i ShinMayva amphibious aircraft to the Indian Navy.
Apple posts record earnings in last quarter
Apple, Inc. posted the biggest ever profit by a public corporation on Wednesday, on the back of selling a record 74.5 million iPhones and 5.5 million Macs, accompanied by a 70% surge in sales in China. As a result, analysts expect the electronics giant will boost share buybacks to the point of returning $200 billion to investors. Up to Tuesday’s close, Apple stock had risen 39% in the last 12 months, adding more than $177 billion to its market capitalisation. On Wednesday, shares were up 7.7% in early trading on the NASDAQ, at $117.50.
IS extends deadline for suicide bomber’s release to sunset Thursday
On Wednesday, the Islamic State released a video purportedly of its Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, saying it would extend the deadline for Jordan to release a jihadi suicide bomber in its custody in exchange for Goto and a Jordanian pilot. Jordan has agreed to release the bomber, Sajida al-Rishawi. IS’s new deadline ends on sunset Thursday.
