Tag: Report

Israel to recruit Ronaldo to normalize ties with Saudi: Report

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Israel is planning to recruit Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo in order to accelerate the process of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, media reported.
The Israeli broadcasting Corporation Kan, stated in a report, that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is studying the recruitment of Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved about a month ago to the Saudi League, to help promote the talk of normalization between Israel and the Kingdom.
The channel’s political correspondent, Gili Cohen,explained that the issue is still under preliminary discussions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and revolves around the use of Ronaldo, who is one of the greatest soccer players in the world, to achieve the Israeli goal sought by Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
Saudi Arabia does not establish diplomatic relations with Israel, but it strives to include the Kingdom in the “Abraham Accords” that it signed in late 2021 with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and the West.
However, Saudi Arabia has announced on many occasions that it will not normalize relations with Israel as long as the Palestinian issue remains unresolved.
On Friday, December 30, Cristiano Ronaldo joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr on a 2.5-year contract, after leaving Manchester United to become a free agent.
Ronaldo has reportedly signed a deal worth more than 200 million euros with Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo was unveiled to a crowd at Al-Nassr Stadium on Tuesday, January 3, after officially joining the Saudi club.

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#Israel #recruit #Ronaldo #normalize #ties #Saudi #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 9, 2023
Fundraising gets tougher, 2023 super challenging for startup founders: Report

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New Delhi: Amid a deepening funding winter, only 53 per cent of startup founders had a positive fundraising experience (71 per cent of those who attempted to raise) in 2022, down from 92 per cent in 2021, a report said on Wednesday.
Founders expect this year to be challenging, with 58 per cent of founders expecting a tough fundraising environment, according to the report by InnoVen Capital, Asia’s leading venture debt firm.
Hiring is also expected to slow down with only 38 per cent of startup founders expecting a higher pace of hiring predominantly in early-stage companies. The report also highlighted that hiring good talent is still a challenge for founders.
“2022 was a challenging year for the startup ecosystem with an end to cheap money, rising interest rates and a challenging geopolitical environment. The positive aspect of the slowdown has been an increased appreciation for building sustainable business models,” said Ashish Sharma, Managing Partner, InnoVen Capital India.
The annual ‘Start up Outlook’ report gathered insights from 120 startup founders across stages and sectors such as fintech, software-as-a-service (SaaS), direct-to-consumer (D2C), logistics, e-commerce, healthtech and others.
An overwhelming majority (85 per cent) of founders identified that focus on more sustainable business models has been the most important impact of the current funding slowdown.
Tightening funding environment has also led to an increased focus on profitability and unit economics.
“While both growth and profitability are important, for the first time in seven years, founders had a higher bias for profitability over growth. Around 55 per cent of founders stated profitability as a bigger focus area, compared to only 17 per cent in 2021,” the findings showed.

Nearly 19 per cent of founders claim to be EBITDA profitable, while 62 per cent aim to turn EBITDA profitable in the next two years, up from 51 per cent last year.
Startup founders are also increasingly looking towards a domestic IPO as the likely mode of exit, despite the recent volatility of public market tech companies.
“Edtech was seen as the most overhyped sector, while healthtech and agritech were chosen as the most under-hyped sector,” said the report.
Founders chose fintech platform Zerodha as their most admired Indian start-up, for a third year in a row. Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath, the co-founders of Zerodha, were chosen as the favorite founder.
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#Fundraising #tougher #super #challenging #startup #founders #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 8, 2023
Fundraising gets tougher, 2023 super challenging for startups: Report

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New Delhi: Amid a deepening funding winter, only 53 per cent of startup founders had a positive fundraising experience (71 per cent of those who attempted to raise) in 2022, down from 92 per cent in 2021, a report said on Wednesday.
Founders expect this year to be challenging, with 58 per cent of founders expecting a tough fundraising environment, according to the report by InnoVen Capital, Asia’s leading venture debt firm.
Hiring is also expected to slow down with only 38 per cent of startup founders expecting a higher pace of hiring predominantly in early-stage companies. The report also highlighted that hiring good talent is still a challenge for founders.
“2022 was a challenging year for the startup ecosystem with an end to cheap money, rising interest rates and a challenging geopolitical environment. The positive aspect of the slowdown has been an increased appreciation for building sustainable business models,” said Ashish Sharma, Managing Partner, InnoVen Capital India.
The annual ‘Start up Outlook’ report gathered insights from 120 startup founders across stages and sectors such as fintech, software-as-a-service (SaaS), direct-to-consumer (D2C), logistics, e-commerce, healthtech and others.
An overwhelming majority (85 per cent) of founders identified that focus on more sustainable business models has been the most important impact of the current funding slowdown.
Tightening funding environment has also led to an increased focus on profitability and unit economics.
“While both growth and profitability are important, for the first time in seven years, founders had a higher bias for profitability over growth. Around 55 per cent of founders stated profitability as a bigger focus area, compared to only 17 per cent in 2021,” the findings showed.

Nearly 19 per cent of founders claim to be EBITDA profitable, while 62 per cent aim to turn EBITDA profitable in the next two years, up from 51 per cent last year.
Startup founders are also increasingly looking towards a domestic IPO as the likely mode of exit, despite the recent volatility of public market tech companies.
“Edtech was seen as the most overhyped sector, while healthtech and agritech were chosen as the most under-hyped sector,” said the report.
Founders chose fintech platform Zerodha as their most admired Indian start-up, for a third year in a row. Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath, the co-founders of Zerodha, were chosen as the favorite founder.
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#Fundraising #tougher #super #challenging #startups #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 8, 2023
AAP, BJP face off after CBI report claims Delhi govt’s feedback unit collected ‘political intelligence’

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New Delhi: A row erupted on Wednesday over a CBI report claiming political intelligence gathering by the Feedback Unit (FBU) formed by the AAP after coming to power in Delhi in 2015, with the BJP demanding registration of case against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Hitting back, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the BJP’s allegation that Sisodia was involved in “political snooping” is “completely false”.
The Kejriwal government claimed in a statement that these all cases are “politically motivated”. “The CBI and ED should rather investigate the dubious relationship between Modi and Adani where the real corruption happened,” it alleged.
The CBI in its preliminary inquiry report found that the FBU formed through a Delhi cabinet decision on September 29, 2015 indulged in gathering political intelligence.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that the AAP since its inception has been working with hostility towards its political opponents.
“The Kejriwal government formed FBU to keep an eye on not only its political opponents but Union Ministers, MPs, LG Office, media houses, leading businessmen and also the judges,” Sachdeva charged in a press conference.
The CBI in its report submitted to Vigilance department sought approval of the LG who is competent authority in the matter, to register a case against Deputy CM Manish Sisodia who played an “active role” in creation of the FBU.
The central agency also sought permission of the LG for registering cases against others involved in functioning of the FBU.

Sources said LG VK Saxena has referred the CBI request to the President through the Ministry of Home Affairs, for registration of a case against Sisodia.
The LG has also sent the CBI recommendation to Home ministry, regarding registration of cases against then FBU joint director, RK Sinha, and FBU officers Pradeep Kumar Punj and Satish Khetrapa. Approval for the prosecution against then Vigilance director, Sukesh Kumar Jain, an IRS officer, will come from the Finance ministry, they said.
The approval has, however, been given by the LG for registration of a case against Delhi Chief Minister’s advisor Gopal Mohan, the sources said.
The AAP in a statement said “the whole country knows political spying is done by Modi not Manish Sisodia. An FIR should be registered against Modi not Manish Sisodia,” the party said in its statement.
The CBI report said that the FBU was tasked to gather actionable feedback regarding working of various departments of Delhi government and also to do “trap cases”.
The FBU started functioning from February 2016 and a fund of Rs 1 crore was kept for it under “secret service expenditure”. A rough analysis of nature of reports generated by the unit revealed that while 60 per cent of it was related to vigilance matters, political intelligence and other issues accounted for around 40 per cent, the report said.
“Scrutiny of such reports during the period from February 2016 to early September 2016 shows that a substantial number of reports submitted by FBU officials were not actionable feedback on corruption in any department, but related to political activities of persons, political entities and political issues touching political interest of the Aam Admi Party,” the report said.
“The feedback unit was not functioning in the manner and for the purpose approved by the cabinet but was working for some other hidden purposes which were not in the interest of the GNCTD but private interest of Aam Admi Party and Manish Sisodia, the Dy CM, who played an active role in its creation of Feedback flouting established rules of GNCTD and MHA.” charged the CBI report.
It also alleged that the “unlawful” manner of creation and working of the FBU caused loss of to the government exchequer to the tune of around Rs 36 lakh.
BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri charged that the AAP government formed the FBU by misusing public fund and indulging in a “scam”.
He demanded registration of FIR against Kejriwal and Sisodia charging they had “malafide intention” behind creation of the feedback unit.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government termed “all allegations” as “completely bogus”.
“Till now, the CBI, ED and Delhi Police have registered so many cases against us. About 163 cases have been registered against us. However, the BJP has not been able to prove even a single case. About 134 of these cases have been dismissed by the courts and in the rest of the cases also, the BJP government has not been able to provide any evidence,” it said in the statement.
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#AAP #BJP #face #CBI #report #claims #Delhi #govts #feedback #unit #collected #political #intelligence
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 8, 2023
Hindenburg report exposes dangers Indians, economy are subjected to: BRS’ Keshava Rao

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New Delhi: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP K Keshava Rao on Wednesday gave a Suspension of Business Notice in Rajya Sabha demanding a discussion on the Hindenburg Report on Adani Enterprises and other companies of Adani Group.
Rao gave the Suspension of Business Notice in the lower house of parliament, during its ongoing Budget Session, under rule 267.
In the notice to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, he said that the report had revealed the dangers to which the country and its economy have been exposed to.
“I desire to move the following Motion…That this House suspend the Rules, pertaining to Business listed in today’s (8.2.2023) Agenda and take up discussion of Hindenburg Report on M/s Adani Enterprises and other companies of his group. Sir, The report exposes the dangers to which the Indian people and economy are subjected to and merit immediate discussion, adjourning today’s list of Business in the House, as sought,” it read.
The concerned report is from US-based Hindenburg Research that surfaced on January 24 and claimed that the Adani Group had weak business fundamentals, and was involved in stock manipulation and accounting fraud, among others.
According to a statement by the Adani Group, the Adani portfolio and the Adani verticals are focused on bringing India into the global economy and nation-building. In the summary of the long response by Adani Group, it said the report was “nothing but a lie”.
The report, however, triggered a sell-off of shares of all Adani Group companies.
Earlier claiming that Hindenburg Research has “exploited innocent investors”, advocate Manohar Lal Sharma filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court seeking a probe against the US-based firm, whose report has led to shares of Adani group plunging on the bourses.
The PIL by a lawyer sought an inquiry to prosecute short sellers Nathan Anderson, a resident of US and founder of the Hindenburg Research [which published a report recently leading to a huge dent in the Adani Group firms’ assets], and his Indian entities. The plea also sought to register an FIR against Anderson and his associates for exploiting and duping lakhs of innocent investors.

Notably, the Opposition has been continuously demanding a discussion on the Adani-Hindenburg row and is seeking the response of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
Opposition parties are also demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the allegations of stock manipulation against the Adani Group.
The budget session of Parliament started on January 31 this year with the joint Address by President Droupadi Murmu. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget 2023-24 on February 1.
Since then there has been no business in Parliament because of the continued logjam over the Adani issue. The Opposition has demanded that the government should come up and respond in Parliament about the Adani stock issue following which disruption has been witnessed in both Houses.
Congress is continuously cornering the government over the issue in Parliament forcing the adjournments of both Houses during the Budget Session.
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#Hindenburg #report #exposes #dangers #Indians #economy #subjected #BRS #Keshava #Rao
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 8, 2023
Plea in SC seeks constitution of committee to probe Hindenburg Research report on Adani Group

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New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to enquire and investigate into the Hindenburg Research report which made a slew of allegations against the business conglomerate led by industrialist Gautam Adani.
The fresh public interest litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, has also sought directions to set up a special committee to oversee the sanction policy for loans of over Rs 500 crore given to big corporates.
Last week, another PIL was filed in the apex court seeking prosecution of short seller Nathan Anderson of US-based firm Hindenburg Research and his associates in India and the US for allegedly exploiting innocent investors and the “artificial crashing” of Adani Group’s stock value in the market.
The Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation against the business conglomerate led by Gautam Adani.
The Adani Group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
In his plea, Tiwari has said the petition depicts the “drastic condition and fate of people” when there arises a situation of share fall in the securities market due to various reasons.
“Lots of people who had the whole lifetime saving in such stocks get a maximum setback due to fall in such shares with a huge amount of money getting into drain,” the PIL said.
It said with the recent news of the publication of the Hindenburg report, it has led to the loss of huge amount for various investors who have invested their life-saving in such shares.

“In the aftermath of an unprecedented attack on billionaire Gautam Adani’s vast empire by Hindenburg, the market value of all 10 Adani stocks have halved with investors sitting with a colossal loss…,” the plea said.
It claimed that no concrete steps have been taken by authorities on the issue despite a “massive attack being perpetrated” on the country’s economy.
“It is ultimately the public money for which the respondents (Centre and others) are answerable and there needs to be strict concern for mitigating of such loans with a clear process and sanction policy for such high stake loan amount,” it said.
The plea has made the Centre and others, including the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, as respondents.
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#Plea #seeks #constitution #committee #probe #Hindenburg #Research #report #Adani #Group
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 6, 2023
World producing record amount of single-use plastic waste than ever: Report

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The world is producing a record amount of single-use plastic waste, mostly made from polymers created from fossil fuels, despite global efforts to reduce plastic pollution and carbon emissions, according to a new report released on Monday.
The second Plastic Waste Makers Index, compiled by the Western Australia-based philanthropic Minderoo Foundation, found the world generated 139 million metric tonnes of single-use plastic waste in 2021, which was 6 million metric tonnes more than in 2019, when the first index was released, CNN reported.
The report found the additional plastic waste created in those two years equates to nearly one 1 kg more for every person on the planet and was driven by demand for flexible packagings like films and sachets.
In recent years, governments around the world have announced policies to reduce the volume of single-use plastic, banning products like single-use straws, disposable cutlery, food containers, cotton swabs, bags and balloons, CNN reported.
In July, California became the first US state to announce its own targets, including a drop of 25 per cent in the sale of plastic packaging by 2032.
In December, the UK extended its list of banned items to include single-use trays, balloon sticks and some types of polystyrene cups and food containers.
Bans are also in place in the European Union, Australia and India, among other places.
But the report found that recycling isn’t scaling up fast enough to deal with the amount of plastic being produced, meaning that used products are far more likely to be dumped in landfills, on beaches and in rivers and oceans than to make it into recycling plants, CNN reported.

“It demonstrates beyond any doubt that the plastic pollution problem is getting much bigger and is being driven by the polymer producers, which are of course, driven by the oil and gas sector,” said Andrew Forrest, Minderoo founder.
He’s proposing a “polymer premium” on every kilogram of plastic polymer made from fossil fuels to give people, companies and governments a financial incentive to recycle more.
“In the advanced world, that polymer payment will lead to automatic mechanize collection. In the developing world, it’ll lead to people who would not otherwise have any work, having work making sure there’s no plastic waste going into the ocean, there’s no plastic waste on streets, there’s no plastic waste poisoning wildlife,” he said.
Last year, the UN Environment Assembly agreed to create the world’s first-ever global plastic pollution treaty.
An intergovernmental committee is working to a 2024 deadline to draft a legally binding agreement that would address the full lifecycle of plastic, from its production and design to its disposal.
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#World #producing #record #amount #singleuse #plastic #waste #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 6, 2023
Technology sector cuts most jobs in January in US: Report

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San Francisco: Led by the technology sector, US-based employers announced 102,943 cuts in January, a massive 136 per cent increase from the 43,651 cuts announced in December, a new report has said.
It is 440 per cent higher than the 19,064 cuts announced in the same month in 2022, according to a report by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
The technology sector announced the most cuts with 41,829, 41 per cent of all cuts, announced in January. From Amazon to Meta, from Alphabet to Google, almost every big tech company laid off employees in thousands.
It is 158 per cent higher than the 16,193 cuts announced in December 2022 and 57,996 per cent higher than the 72 tracked in January 2022.
Since November 2022, which saw the highest monthly total for the sector since Challenger began tracking in 1993 with 52,771, technology companies have announced 110,793 job cuts. January’s total is the second-highest for the sector on record, the findings showed.
“We’re now on the other side of the hiring frenzy of the pandemic years,” said Andrew Challenger, labor expert and Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
“Companies are preparing for an economic slowdown, cutting workers and slowing hiring,” he added.
The media industry announced 754 cuts in January, the highest monthly total since 1,001 cuts were announced in June 2021.

Of those, 360 were in digital, print, and broadcast news organisations.
In January, US employers announced plans to hire 32,764 workers, primarily in entertainment/leisure. This is down 58 per cent from the 77,630 announced in January 2022 and down 37 per cent from the 51,693 new jobs employers announced in December of last year, said the report.
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#Technology #sector #cuts #jobs #January #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 6, 2023
Global smartphone revenue fall by 9% in 2022: Report

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New Delhi: The global smartphone revenue declined by 9 percent, amounting to $409 billion in 2022, the lowest since 2017, a new report has said.
According to Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market declined by 18 percent (year-over-year) to reach 304 million units in Q4 2022.
“The smartphone market remained under pressure in the fourth quarter of 2022 as the cost-of-living crisis, shortage in the labor market, and a decline in consumers’ purchasing power resulted in double-digit declines in the shipments of each of the top five smartphone players,” said Senior Analyst Harmeet Singh Walia.
Moreover, Apple achieved an all-time high revenue share of 48 percent in 2022, and also captured the highest-ever operating profit share of 85 percent.
“Having proficiently managed its production problems, Apple was able to weather a year already marred by economic and geopolitical turmoil better than other major smartphone players,” said Research Director Jeff Fieldhack.
Chinese smartphone players suffered from domestic lockdowns for much of the year in addition to facing global economic and geopolitical difficulties, said the report.
As a result, the shipments of Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo fell by more than 20 percent each.
Despite offering premium phones at aggressive margins, Chinese brands have yet to break into the premium market and have been unable to fully capitalize on Huawei’s decline, the report added.

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#Global #smartphone #revenue #fall #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 5, 2023
Technology sector cuts most jobs in January in US: Report

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San Francisco: Led by the technology sector, US-based employers announced 102,943 cuts in January, a massive 136 percent increase from the 43,651 cuts announced in December, a new report has said.
It is 440 percent higher than the 19,064 cuts announced in the same month in 2022, according to a report by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
The technology sector announced the most cuts with 41,829, 41 percent of all cuts, announced in January. From Amazon to Meta, from Alphabet to Google, almost every big tech company laid off employees thousands.
It is 158 percent higher than the 16,193 cuts announced in December 2022 and 57,996 percent higher than the 72 tracked in January 2022.
Since November 2022, which saw the highest monthly total for the sector since Challenger began tracking in 1993 with 52,771, technology companies have announced 110,793 job cuts. January’s total is the second-highest for the sector on record, the findings showed.
“We’re now on the other side of the hiring frenzy of the pandemic years,” said Andrew Challenger, a labor expert and Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
“Companies are preparing for an economic slowdown, cutting workers and slowing hiring,” he added.
The media industry announced 754 cuts in January, the highest monthly total since 1,001 cuts were announced in June 2021.

Of those, 360 were in digital, print, and broadcast news organizations.
In January, US employers announced plans to hire 32,764 workers, primarily in entertainment/leisure. This is down 58 percent from the 77,630 announced in January 2022 and down 37 percent from the 51,693 new jobs employers announced in December of last year, said the report.
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#Technology #sector #cuts #jobs #January #Report
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 5, 2023