1. Virginia Raggi first female mayor in Rome
Rome has elected populist Virginia Raggi as its first female mayor in a significant electoral reverse for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
2. SBI in 'Hall of Shame' of banks funding cluster bomb makers
State-run banking behemoth SBI has been named in a 'Hall of Shame' list of 158 banking and financial institutions globally that have invested billions of dollars in companies making cluster bombs.
State Bank of India (SBI) is the only Indian entity on the list, which includes global giants like JP Morgan, Barclays, Bank of America and Credit Suisse that invested over USD 28 billion in seven producers of cluster munitions between June 2012 and April 2016, according to a report by Dutch campaign group PAX.
While SBI said it "always works in accordance with local laws and regulations" and there is "no prohibition, whatsoever either in us or in India to finance such commercial projects", PAX said the investments have been made in these cluster bomb producers despite an international ban.
In its 275-page report, PAX said the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) categorically bans use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.
This convention was signed by 94 countries in 2008 and it came into force from August 1, 2010.
Most financial institutions named in the Pax list are from countries that have not signed this convention. However, there are also banks from the countries that have adopted this treaty over years.
The maximum number of 74 banks are from the US, followed by China (29) and South Korea (26).
SBI has been included in the list because of its exposure to Orbital ATK, a US-based company specialising in the design, manufacture and launch of small and medium-class space and rocket systems for commercial, military and other government customers.
3. F1: Rosberg wins European GP
Mercedes Driver Nico Rosberg won the European Grand Prix. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany finished second.
4. Mahesh Babu, Nayanthara win Best Actors at Filmfare Awards South
Mahesh Babu won the Best Actor for Telugu drama "Srimanthudu", while Nayanthara bagged the Best Actress trophy for her performance in Tamil action-comedy "Naanum Rowdydhaan" for the year 2015 at the star-studded 63rd Filmfare Awards southern edition.
The best talents across the four southern industries -- Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada -- were felicitated by Filmfare here on Saturday.
In Tamil, while Vikram-starrer "I" pocketed four awards, while Jayam Ravi's "Thani Oruvana and Dhanush's "Thangamagan" bagged two awards each. Vignesh Shivan-directed "Naanum Rowdydhaan" and critically-acclaimed "Kaaka Muttai" won an award each.
Vikram won the best actor award for his performance as a body-builder turned suave model in "I", which also won the Music Director Award for A.R Rahman, Best Lyrics for Madhan Karky and Best Playback Singer (Male) for Sid Sriram for the song "Ennodu Nee Irundhal".
For "Thani Oruvan", Mohan Raja won the Best Director Award and Arvind Swamy won the award for Best Supporting Actor (Male).
Shweta Mohan won the Best Playback (Female) singer for the song from "Enna Solla" from "Thanga Magan", which also won veteran actress Radikaa Sarath Kumar an award for Best Supporting Actor (Female).
National Award-winning "Kaaka Muttai" bagged the award for Best Film.
Composer-turned-actor G.V. Prakash won the Best Debut (Male) award for horror-comedy "Darling".
The critics' award for Best Actor (Male) went to Jayam Ravi for his powerful performance in "Thani Oruvan". In the same category, Jyotika won the best actor female award for "36 Vayadhinile".
In Telugu, S.S. Rajamouli's "Baahubali" bagged five awards, while Mahesh Babu's "Srimanthudu" won three awards.
Gunasekar-directed period drama "Rudhramadevi" and National award-winning romantic war-drama "Kanche" bagged two awards each.
Mahesh Babu pocketed the Best Actor Award for his performance in "Srimanthudu", which also fetched Devi Sri Prasad Best Music Director Award and Best Playback Singer (Male) Award for MLR Karthikeyan for the song "Pora Srimanthuda".
"Baahubali" won the Best Film Award and earned Rajamouli the Best Director honour, besides also fetching Best Supporting Actor (Female) award for Ramya Krishnan and Best Playback Singer (Female) Award for Geetha Madhuri for the song "Jeevanadi". S.S. Senthi Kumar won the Best Cinematography Award.
While Anushka Shetty won the Best Actor (Female) Award for "Rudhramadevi", Allu Arjun won the Best Supporting Actor (Male) Award for the same film.
5. Record 65.3 million people displaced, often face barriers: UNHCR
A record 65.3 million people were uprooted worldwide last year, many of them fleeing wars only to face walls, tougher laws and xenophobia as they reach borders, the United Nations refugee agency.
The figure, which jumped from 59.5 million in 2014 and by 50 percent in five years, means that 1 in every 113 people on the planet is now a refugee, asylum-seeker or internally displaced in a home country.
Fighting in Syria, Afghanistan, Burundi and South Sudan has driven the latest exodus, bringing the total number of refugees to 21.3 million, half of them children, the UNHCR said in its "Global Trends" report marking World Refugee Day.
"The refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean and arriving on the shores of Europe, the message that they have carried is that if you don't solve problems, problems will come to you," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news briefing.
"It's painful that it has taken so long for people in the rich countries to understand that," he said. "We need action, political action to stop conflicts, that would be the most important prevention of refugee flows."
A record 2 million new asylum claims were lodged in industrialized countries in 2015, the report said. Nearly 100,000 were children unaccompanied or separated from their families, a three-fold rise on 2014 and a historic high.
Germany, where one in three applicants was Syrian, led with 441,900 claims, followed by the United States with 172,700, many of them fleeing gang and drug-related violence in Mexico and Central America.
Developing regions still host 86 percent of the world's refugees, led by Turkey with 2.5 million Syrians, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon, the report said.
6. Modi govt's big reform push: Approves 100% FDI in Defence, Civil Aviation
In the latest, government has announced a series of big changes in the FDI norms for single brand retail, civil aviation, airports, pharmaceuticals and animal husbandry.
The decision to further liberalise FDI regime with the objective of "providing major impetus to employment and job creation in India" was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the second major reform in the FDI space. The Centre in last November had significantly relaxed the foreign investment regime.
Key Highlights:
The government has allowed 100 percent in aviation policy for scheduled carriers. 49 percent FDI has been permitted under the automatic route.
100 percent FDI has been approved in the broadcasting carriage services such as cable networks, DTH and mobile TV and food product e-commerce.
Foreign investment in greenfield pharma projects has been approved 100 percent and 74 percent in brownfield projects. 100 percent FDI has been announced in the defence sector.
The government has also relaxed sourcing norms for up to five years for single-brand retail trading.
Rome has elected populist Virginia Raggi as its first female mayor in a significant electoral reverse for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
2. SBI in 'Hall of Shame' of banks funding cluster bomb makers
State-run banking behemoth SBI has been named in a 'Hall of Shame' list of 158 banking and financial institutions globally that have invested billions of dollars in companies making cluster bombs.
State Bank of India (SBI) is the only Indian entity on the list, which includes global giants like JP Morgan, Barclays, Bank of America and Credit Suisse that invested over USD 28 billion in seven producers of cluster munitions between June 2012 and April 2016, according to a report by Dutch campaign group PAX.
While SBI said it "always works in accordance with local laws and regulations" and there is "no prohibition, whatsoever either in us or in India to finance such commercial projects", PAX said the investments have been made in these cluster bomb producers despite an international ban.
In its 275-page report, PAX said the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) categorically bans use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.
This convention was signed by 94 countries in 2008 and it came into force from August 1, 2010.
Most financial institutions named in the Pax list are from countries that have not signed this convention. However, there are also banks from the countries that have adopted this treaty over years.
The maximum number of 74 banks are from the US, followed by China (29) and South Korea (26).
SBI has been included in the list because of its exposure to Orbital ATK, a US-based company specialising in the design, manufacture and launch of small and medium-class space and rocket systems for commercial, military and other government customers.
3. F1: Rosberg wins European GP
Mercedes Driver Nico Rosberg won the European Grand Prix. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany finished second.
4. Mahesh Babu, Nayanthara win Best Actors at Filmfare Awards South
Mahesh Babu won the Best Actor for Telugu drama "Srimanthudu", while Nayanthara bagged the Best Actress trophy for her performance in Tamil action-comedy "Naanum Rowdydhaan" for the year 2015 at the star-studded 63rd Filmfare Awards southern edition.
The best talents across the four southern industries -- Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada -- were felicitated by Filmfare here on Saturday.
In Tamil, while Vikram-starrer "I" pocketed four awards, while Jayam Ravi's "Thani Oruvana and Dhanush's "Thangamagan" bagged two awards each. Vignesh Shivan-directed "Naanum Rowdydhaan" and critically-acclaimed "Kaaka Muttai" won an award each.
Vikram won the best actor award for his performance as a body-builder turned suave model in "I", which also won the Music Director Award for A.R Rahman, Best Lyrics for Madhan Karky and Best Playback Singer (Male) for Sid Sriram for the song "Ennodu Nee Irundhal".
For "Thani Oruvan", Mohan Raja won the Best Director Award and Arvind Swamy won the award for Best Supporting Actor (Male).
Shweta Mohan won the Best Playback (Female) singer for the song from "Enna Solla" from "Thanga Magan", which also won veteran actress Radikaa Sarath Kumar an award for Best Supporting Actor (Female).
National Award-winning "Kaaka Muttai" bagged the award for Best Film.
Composer-turned-actor G.V. Prakash won the Best Debut (Male) award for horror-comedy "Darling".
The critics' award for Best Actor (Male) went to Jayam Ravi for his powerful performance in "Thani Oruvan". In the same category, Jyotika won the best actor female award for "36 Vayadhinile".
In Telugu, S.S. Rajamouli's "Baahubali" bagged five awards, while Mahesh Babu's "Srimanthudu" won three awards.
Gunasekar-directed period drama "Rudhramadevi" and National award-winning romantic war-drama "Kanche" bagged two awards each.
Mahesh Babu pocketed the Best Actor Award for his performance in "Srimanthudu", which also fetched Devi Sri Prasad Best Music Director Award and Best Playback Singer (Male) Award for MLR Karthikeyan for the song "Pora Srimanthuda".
"Baahubali" won the Best Film Award and earned Rajamouli the Best Director honour, besides also fetching Best Supporting Actor (Female) award for Ramya Krishnan and Best Playback Singer (Female) Award for Geetha Madhuri for the song "Jeevanadi". S.S. Senthi Kumar won the Best Cinematography Award.
While Anushka Shetty won the Best Actor (Female) Award for "Rudhramadevi", Allu Arjun won the Best Supporting Actor (Male) Award for the same film.
5. Record 65.3 million people displaced, often face barriers: UNHCR
A record 65.3 million people were uprooted worldwide last year, many of them fleeing wars only to face walls, tougher laws and xenophobia as they reach borders, the United Nations refugee agency.
The figure, which jumped from 59.5 million in 2014 and by 50 percent in five years, means that 1 in every 113 people on the planet is now a refugee, asylum-seeker or internally displaced in a home country.
Fighting in Syria, Afghanistan, Burundi and South Sudan has driven the latest exodus, bringing the total number of refugees to 21.3 million, half of them children, the UNHCR said in its "Global Trends" report marking World Refugee Day.
"The refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean and arriving on the shores of Europe, the message that they have carried is that if you don't solve problems, problems will come to you," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a news briefing.
"It's painful that it has taken so long for people in the rich countries to understand that," he said. "We need action, political action to stop conflicts, that would be the most important prevention of refugee flows."
A record 2 million new asylum claims were lodged in industrialized countries in 2015, the report said. Nearly 100,000 were children unaccompanied or separated from their families, a three-fold rise on 2014 and a historic high.
Germany, where one in three applicants was Syrian, led with 441,900 claims, followed by the United States with 172,700, many of them fleeing gang and drug-related violence in Mexico and Central America.
Developing regions still host 86 percent of the world's refugees, led by Turkey with 2.5 million Syrians, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon, the report said.
6. Modi govt's big reform push: Approves 100% FDI in Defence, Civil Aviation
In the latest, government has announced a series of big changes in the FDI norms for single brand retail, civil aviation, airports, pharmaceuticals and animal husbandry.
The decision to further liberalise FDI regime with the objective of "providing major impetus to employment and job creation in India" was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the second major reform in the FDI space. The Centre in last November had significantly relaxed the foreign investment regime.
Key Highlights:
The government has allowed 100 percent in aviation policy for scheduled carriers. 49 percent FDI has been permitted under the automatic route.
100 percent FDI has been approved in the broadcasting carriage services such as cable networks, DTH and mobile TV and food product e-commerce.
Foreign investment in greenfield pharma projects has been approved 100 percent and 74 percent in brownfield projects. 100 percent FDI has been announced in the defence sector.
The government has also relaxed sourcing norms for up to five years for single-brand retail trading.
7. ICICI Bank attracts Rs 3 lakh crore digital biz in FY16
Country's
largest private sector lender ICICI Bank said it has attracted
transactions worth Rs 3 lakh crore on its digital platform in 2015-16.
"Digital
channels recorded over Rs 3 trillion worth of transactions in fiscal
2016. Consumers are increasingly demanding more and more services on the
move. ICICI Bank continues to deploy cutting edge technology to deliver
innovative banking solutions on mobile devices," the bank said in its
annual report 2015-16.
The
objective of the group is to integrate all technology teams as well as
the digital channels, business intelligence and analytics teams, it
said.
8. Kannada movie 'Thithi' wins top awards at 19th Shanghai International Film Festival
Filmmaker
Raam Reddy's acclaimed Kannada film "Thithi" has bagged the top awards
at the ongoing 19th Shanghai International Film Festival and the
filmmaker says the response from the Chinese audience for the film has
been "overwhelming".
"Thithi"
won the Best Film and Best Script Writers in the Asia New Talent Awards
at the festival in Shanghai. Other films nominated in the Best Film
Category were "One Night Only", "Hana's Miso Soup", "Land of the Little
People" and "Detective China ..
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