Tencent Q4 net profit nearly doubles to 20.8 bn yuan, beats estimates

Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd posted on Wednesday a 98 percent rise in quarterly net profit, beating expectations as it deepens monetisation of the growing traffic on its social networks.

Net profit for the three months ended December 31 rose to 20.8 billion yuan ($3.29 billion), China's largest social media and gaming company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

That was above an average estimate of 16.90 billion yuan from 9 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 51 percent to 66.39 billion yuan, compared with analysts' average estimate of 69.5 billion yuan. Monthly active users of the social media mobile app WeChat exceeded 1 billion after the Chinese New Year in February, up from 980 million at the end of September.

Net profit for the full 2017 year rose 74 percent to 71.51 billion yuan. The company declared a final dividend of HK$0.88 per share.

Law, not faith, runs country: Oppn on Mohan Bhagwat's 'Ram Mandir' remarks

The opposition parties criticised Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat statement over his remarks on Ram Temple, saying that the chief is not above the Supreme Court and that the country is run by the Constitution and not faith.

"Mr Bhagwat is not above the Supreme Court and the country is run by the constitution and not by faith," Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik told ANI.

Criticising the RSS chief and BJP Malik said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is losing his grip in the country, while the BJP is losing the faith of the public.

"BJP Is losing public faith and that is why the Ram Mandir issue has been raised by BJP and Sangh parivar," he added.

He further stated that the matter is before the Supreme Court and the verdict of the highest court should be binding on everybody.

Echoing the same thoughts, Congress leader Virendra Kumar Madan said that the web of lies created by the BJP and RSS has been broken.

"The people of Uttar Pradesh and the whole nation have understood their false promises. Both RSS and BJP think that their land is slipping from their hands and hence are giving such controversial statements," he added.
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Defying rules, RSS chief Bhagwat raises tricolour at Kerala school on I-Day

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday unfurled the Indian tricolour at a government-aided school here despite being told by authorities that political personalities were not permitted do this.

The District Collector and police had told the Karnakeyamen School management near here that since the school was state-supported, only people's representatives or the head of the school could raise the flag and not political personalities.

The school belongs to RSS supporters and they had invited Bhagwat to be the chief guest on India's Independence Day.
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Hindu nationalists, Nuziveedu Seeds feud may make Monsanto abandon India

BREAKING NEWS - Tens of millions of dollars were within reach for M Prabhakara Rao as he prepared in April 2015 to take his Indian cotton seed company public.

The Indian businessman already had $54 million in initial funding from an American private equity investor. Rao had also locked in a long-term licensing agreement with Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, for the technology used in genetically modified cotton seeds that made up the majority of his annual sales.

Two months after publishing his initial public offering (IPO) plan, Rao gambled. He sent one of his executives to negotiate a 10 per cent cut in royalties with Monsanto. The multinational said no.

The outcome of that meeting ignited a corporate battle that has left Rao's IPO plans in tatters and drawn in the Indian and US governments. More ominously, the fight has disrupted India's $1.8 billion-a-year seed industry, with Monsanto saying it may abandon the market.

Monsanto's Indian joint venture last July withdrew its application to introduce a new generation of cotton seed technology to India. The existing version, in India for a decade, is losing effectiveness against bollworms, which can wipe out crops. If another company doesn't step into the breach, agricultural economists warn the dispute could damage India's cotton-growing sector - which recently surpassed China's as the world's biggest and last year accounted for more than a quarter of global output, with a value of over $8.5 billion. (READ MORE)

Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP's OBC face rewarded for UP win

Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP's OBC face in Uttar Pradesh, has been rewarded with the post of Deputy Chief Minister for working tirelessly to galvanise support for the party on the ground.

Associated with the RSS and the VHP from an early age, Maurya's life bears an uncanny similarity to that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both, as young men from poor families, helped their fathers sell tea.

Representing Phulpur in the Lok Sabha, Maurya, 47, has seen his career graph rise steadily in the party. He was said to be one of the top contenders for the chief ministership after the landslide victory secured by the party in the state.

After becoming the first time MLA in UP Assembly in 2012, he was made UP BJP chief in 2016 and had a role in the BJP securing three-fourths majority.

Born in a farmer's home in Kaushambi district of UP, Maurya spent his childhood in poverty. Like Modi, Maurya also worked at tea-stalls and sold newspapers to support his family and continue education.

Like Modi, Maurya takes pride in his childhood compulsion of serving tea to customers and considers it as a common thread that binds him with the prime minister.

The member's page on the website of Lok Sabha says that Keshav Prasad Maurya "got inspiration for doing social service as well as education during childhood while selling tea". (READ MORE)