Volkswagen's Porsche reputation once again tarnished by dealer arrests

Just when it seemed like Porsche India had driven past a series of legal tussles and business upsets, the legendary sports car maker, owned and managed by the Volkswagen Group is on tenterhooks again. Last week, Porsche and Audi dealers Rashpal Singh Todd (Rashy) and Mandhir Singh Todd (Mikey) were taken into custody by the authorities at the New Delhi airport. According to an HDFC Bank Official who confirmed that they filed an FIR, the alleged wrongdoing involved defaulting on collective bank loans of Rs 2.7 billion.

The Todds, who own Zenica Group, a dealership firm that sells Porsches as well as Audis, and are part of the Volkswagen portfolio, had borrowed from a consortium of banks including HDFC Bank and failed to make payments. Rashy Todd didn't return calls or messages as of the time of going to press. Audi has already reacted by sending a notice to dealers and customers indicating the Todds are no longer associated with them and Porsche, according to a source is going to do the same in a few days. Porsche India officials declined to confirm or deny if they were going to plug on Zenica as well.

Jet Airways pilots, engineers warn of 'non -cooperation' on salary payment

With Jet Airways delaying salaries of its pilots and engineers for the second consecutive month amid a severe financial crunch, its pilots have warned the management of "non-cooperation" over default on payments.

The Naresh Goyal-promoted private airline, in which UAE national carrier Etihad holds 24 per cent stake, is facing acute cash crunch after posting two back-to back quarterly losses this year.

While its losses stood at Rs 10.36 billion in the March quarter, the losses jumped to Rs 13 billion RPT crore in the subsequent June quarter of the current fiscal.

"Withholding salaries, that too without prior notice, is a serious matter and the management will bear sole responsibility for any repercussions," Jet Airways' pilots said in a communication to the management earlier this week.

"We would like to advice that failure to address the above points and not paying the salaries on time would lead to non-cooperation by pilots," they warned.

Trump does a U-turn on Paris climate accord, says US could rejoin deal

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States could "conceivably" return to the Paris climate accord, although he stopped short of signalling any move in that direction.

"Frankly, it's an agreement that I have no problem with, but I had a problem with the agreement that they signed, because, as usual, they made a bad deal," Trump told a news conference.

"So we can conceivably go back in," added the president, who pulled out of the 2015 accord on curbing global warming emissions last June.
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Will Trump admin's squeeze on security aid to Pakistan work?

The Trump Administration on the 4th of January announced the suspension of all security aid to Pakistan; approximately up to US$ 1.1 billion a year according to various estimates. What's new, you may ask? After all, we've seen this game before and we know that Pakistan had learned to game the US carrot-stick game like a pro. All indications now are that the US game has changed, the question though is how has it changed and what are the structural limitation that prevent the US from going the whole hog. 

President Trump's tweet on the 2nd of January, warning Pakistan of consequences, did not come out of the blue. Vice President Pence had previously delivered an extremely harsh and public warning to Pakistan during his visit to Afghanistan. Within 2 days, on the 4th of January, the State Department announced a suspension of all security related aid. Herein lies the key - non security related aid has not been suspended, neither has support for third party loans. Crucially this means continuing US support for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) loans to Pakistan. Both these bodies are controlled by the US and its allies and provide much more economic relief than direct US aid. As per the IMF website, total loans and drawing rights for Pakistan stood at US$ 6.8 billion dollars and the World Bank showed commitments over a 5 year period from 2013 to 2018 totalling US$ 8.5 billion. What this means is that while Pakistani military operations might be affected a bit, a US$ 1.1 billion security aid cut-off while inconvenient is not even remotely threatening Pakistan’s economic and therefore social stability. To avoid this cut-off, Pakistan is required to capture or kill 25 specific terrorists by 15th of January and initiate a crackdown on the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban. In fact it is perfectly foreseeable that Pakistan will not oblige the US on this score. In the past when aid cut-offs were threatened - as if on cue a high value Taliban or Al Qaeda target would be eliminated or detained by Pakistan security forces. 25 leaders on the other hand is far too many, and definitely not worth US$ 1.1 billion in the overall Pakistani scheme of things.
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Patanjali Ayurveda planning online push; to tie up with Flipkart, Amazon

Yoga Guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda, after making headway into several markets, is planning to enter the e-commerce industries.

The company will be tying up with up to eight big e-commerce giants, including Amazon and Flipkart.

Taking to Twitter, SK Tijarawala, Ramdev's spokesperson, said, "Patanjali Ayurveda has started working on a massive online push. The announcement of agreement with world's largest e-commerce companies will happen soon. A new chapter of online shopping of Patanjali products from many portals will begin soon."

Earlier on December 26, Patanjali Ayurveda announced it was eyeing the diaper and sanitary napkin industry, to take on the international companies.

One of the fastest growing companies, Patanjali climbed from 45th place last year to 19th this year, in the Forbes magazine's Annual India Rich List.
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Triple talaq debate continues amid RS slugfest, winter session to end today

The deadlock on the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha continued on Thursday as the government rejected the opposition's demand to send the controversial legislation to a Select Committee

The government tactically placed the bill in the bottom of priority in the list of business, which the opposition strongly objected to and demanded that its motions for referring the bill to a Select Committee be taken up first. The business list had the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill ahead of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017.

Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien pleaded helplessness on the ground that the listing of business was the government's priority and decided to go ahead with the GST bill, triggering an opposition uproar which finally forced him to adjourn the House for the day.

The government has decided to put the triple talaq bill, which seeks to criminalise instant divorce by uttering talaq thrice, for consideration on Friday -- the last day of the winter session.

Earlier, the opposition wanted the Chair to put the motions moved by Congress leader Anand Sharma and Trinamool Congress member Sukhendu Shekar Roy for reference of the legislation to a proposed Select Committee be put to vote immediately. They contended that before the House adjourned on Wednesday, a division was to be taken and so the Rajya Sabha should pick up the thread from where it was left.

After some discussion, the two sides agreed to conduct a short-duration discussion on the economy and take up the matter regarding triple talaq bill after that.Following Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's reply to the discussion, the opposition returned to its demand for a vote on the two motions.
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Aston Martin's sales hit nine-year high of over 5,000 cars, sales up 58%

Aston Martin's full-year sales rose 58 per cent to 5,117 units in 2017, hitting their highest level in nine years as the firm pursues a turnaround plan which could propel it towards a stock market flotation.

On Thursday, the carmaker said it now expected to beat its previous full-year guidance of adjusted earnings of at least 180 million pounds ($244 million) on revenues of more than 840 million pounds.

"We continue to perform ahead of expectations, both in terms of financial performance and in meeting our targets for the DB11 and special vehicles," said Chief Executive Andy Palmer.

Last month, sources told Reuters that the carmaker's owners have hired Lazard to prepare for a stock market listing or sale of the British sports car maker made famous by fictional spy James Bond.
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More pro-regime rallies as Iran declares 'sedition' over

Iran saw another day of large pro-regime rallies on Thursday after authorities declared the end of deadly unrest and turned attention to addressing economic concerns that fuelled protests.

A week after the demonstrations broke out, there were no reports of fresh protests in local media overnight, while videos on social media suggested only limited unrest in provincial towns which could not be immediately verified.

As Washington suggested it may be looking to impose fresh sanctions on Tehran, Iranian authorities were weighing options including blocking unpopular measures in President Hassan Rouhani's recent budget.

State television showed huge crowds marching in support of the government across 10 cities early today, including Isfahan, Ardebil and Mashhad, where the protests first erupted last Thursday.

"We are together behind the leader," chanted the crowds, in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The revolutionary Iranian people have responded in time to the enemies and trouble-makers by coming out on the streets," Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Khamenei, told the semi-official ISNA news agency.

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N Korea should worry about the mental health of Kim Jong-un: White House

The White House has questioned the mental health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after his repeated threats to the US that he has "nuclear button on his desk."

"I think the President and the people of this country should be concerned about the mental fitness of the leader of North Korea. He's made repeated threats. He's tested missiles time and time again for years," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at her daily news conference.

Sanders was responding to questions on Trump's nuclear button tweet, after which some political analysts in the US have been questioning his mental fitness.

"This is a President who's not going to cower down and he's not going to be weak, and is going to make sure that he does what he's promised to do, and that's stand up and protect the American people," Sanders said.

A day earlier, Trump, responding to the latest rhetoric of North Korean leader Kim Jong un, said that he too has a nuclear button which is not only much bigger and powerful, but also works.
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Palestinians say won't be 'blackmailed' after Trump threat

Palestinian leaders said today they will not be "blackmailed" after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut aid worth more than $300 million annually, his latest provocative move that could upturn years of careful diplomacy.

Relations between Trump's White House and the Palestinians were already tense after the US president's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last month.

The December 6 announcement concerning the disputed city led Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to say the United States could no longer play any role in the Middle East peace process.

Trump's threat in a tweet yesterday to try to force the Palestinians into negotiations led to further outrage, though Israeli ministers lauded the move.

The Palestinians rely heavily on international aid, with many analysts, including Israelis, saying such assistance helps maintain stability in a volatile region.

"We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect," Trump tweeted.
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Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle 'set to boost UK economy'

Prince Harry's wedding to American actress Meghan Markle could provide a 500 million pound boost to Britain's economy as tourists flock to the country and Britons celebrate, according to an estimate.

Harry, Queen Elizabeth's grandson and fifth-in-line to the throne, will tie the knot with Markle on May 19 at Windsor Castle, the royal palace home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the wedding of Harry's elder brother William to wife Kate in April 2011 led to an increase of 350,000 visitors to the UK compared to the same month the year before and business valuation consultancy Brand Finance predicted a similar surge in May.

In total, it estimates the nuptials will generate some 500 million pounds ($680 million).

"We think approximately 200 million pounds will come from tourism, travel, hotels," the company's chief executive David Haigh told Reuters.

About 150 million pounds would be spent on people having parties and celebrating with 50 million coming from people buying T-shirts, hats and other commemorative items, he said.

The wedding would also be worth about 100 million pounds in free advertising for Britain around the world, he added.
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Suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber kills 14 in Nigeria mosque

Fourteen worshippers were killed today when a suicide bomber attacked a mosque on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, civilian vigilantes told AFP.

The suspected Boko Haram jihadist blew himself up amid worshippers inside the mosque in Gamboru around 5:00 am, shortly before morning prayers.

"Fourteen bodies have been pulled out of the rubble," said Umar Kachalla, a civilian militiaman, who said the mosque had been completely destroyed.

"Only the muezzin has survived and we believe more bodies are buried under the debris," said Kachalla. "The death toll may likely rise."

An hour earlier, a patrol of vigilantes spotted four suspected suicide bombers on the outskirts of the town and arrested one of them after a chase, said a second vigilante, Shehu Mada.

"Two of them turned back and fled while the fourth disappeared into the darkness and we believe it was he who attacked the mosque," Mada said.

Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency against the government of Nigeria has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, killing around 20,000 people and displacing more than 2.6 million.
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Nissan's future cars will read your brain waves to make driving fun

The world's biggest carmakers and technology companies are spending billions of dollars to perfect your ability to drive without thinking. Nissan Motor Co is taking a different direction -- trying to "decode" your thinking so hands-on driving is more fun.

The Japanese company will unveil and test its "brain-to-vehicle" technology at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The "B2V" system requires a driver to wear a skullcap that measures brain-wave activity and transmits its readings to steering, acceleration and braking systems that can start responding before the driver initiates the action.

The driver still turns the wheel or hits the gas pedal, but the car anticipates those movements and begins the actions 0.2 seconds to 0.5 seconds sooner, said Lucian Gheorghe, a senior innovation researcher at Nissan overseeing the project. The earlier response should be imperceptible to drivers, he said.

"We imagine a future where manual driving is still a value of society," said Gheorghe, 40, who earned a doctorate in applied neural technology. "Driving pleasure is something as humans we should not lose."

Carmakers are working on ways to keep driving relevant as newcomers such as Alphabet Inc's Waymo and Apple Inc try to upend the industry with fully-autonomous technologies. IHS Markit expects 21 million autonomous vehicles to be sold annually by 2035 -- equivalent to about a quarter of all current vehicle sales.
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Norway suspends arms, ammo exports to UAE amid war in Yemen

Norway today said it has suspended exports of munitions and arms to the United Arab Emirates as a "precautionary line," based on its assessment of the situation in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Shiite rebels for the past three years.

The UAE is part of the coalition.

Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide said she has "no information" that any of Norway's military exports have been used in Yemen but that there's "great concern" over the humanitarian crisis.

The Emirati government offered no immediate comment on Norway's decision.

Yesterday, Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang published a video by the Yemeni rebels, known as the Houthis, in which they claim to have seized "a US spy submarine."

The Norwegian newspaper said it was a REMUS 600 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle made by Norway's Kongsberg group.

There was no comment from Kongsberg or from the Saudi-led coalition. It was also not clear when the sub was purportedly seized.

Eriksen Soreide said that since 2010, Norway has allowed sale of weapons and ammunition to the UAE. The decision to suspend sales for so-called A-material "munitions and arms" was made December 19 and announced today.
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Uber investors sell to SoftBank at big discount, but still make billions

Investors in the Uber ride-hailing service didn't get all they wanted in selling at least part of their holdings to a group led by Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank.

But don't show them too much sympathy.

Even though they sold at roughly a 30 per cent discount from what the shares were worth in 2016, those who invested early made nearly 100 times their initial stake, going from around 35 cents per share to just under $33, according to one investor who requested anonymity because the sales are private.

Uber was valued around $68.5 billion during a 2016 capital investment, but it dropped to somewhere above $48 billion in the SoftBank deal announced last week.

The reasons for the discount are many, among them the seemingly endless string of scandals, lawsuits and fights that plagued Uber through almost all of 2017. Also, competition has gotten tougher from Lyft and Grab in the US as well as Ola in India and several emerging services elsewhere.

During the past year, Uber has been rocked by revelations of rampant sexual harassment in the company, technological trickery designed to hinder regulators, and a yearlong cover- up of a hacking attack that stole personal information of 57 million passengers and 600,000 drivers.

Rohit Kulkarni, managing director of SharesPost, a company that analyzes private company investments, says three big events that happened around the time that SoftBank began courting investors combined to discount the shares.
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Airbnb wins lawsuit against property manager Aimco

A California judge has dismissed apartment investment and management company, Aimco's lawsuit against online marketplace and hospitality service provider, Airbnb.

Aimco, which owns and manages about 50,000 properties, sued Airbnb in February 2017 for deliberately incentivising people to breach their leases.

The company filed the lawsuit in both California and Florida state courts, seeking monetary damages as well as court orders to stop Airbnb from enabling people to breach their leases.

Moreover, in October 2017, Aimco filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt Airbnb's operations at four of its southern California properties.

However, Airbnb had argued that Aimco's ban on subleasing was not enforceable under California law.

Airbnb also argued that it can't be held responsible for the conduct of Aimco's tenants and their guests.

Aimco had asserted that Airbnb is an information content provider, which makes the company legally responsible for the content on its platform.

The court, however, concluded that Airbnb is not an information content provider, as it hosts content rather than creating it.

Aimco still has an active lawsuit against Airbnb in Florida.
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China set to overtake Japan as world's biggest natural gas importer

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Beijing's crackdown on pollution has put China on track to overtake Japan this year as the world's biggest importer of natural gas, used to replace dirtier coal.

China - already the biggest importer of oil and coal - is the world's third-biggest user of natural gas behind the United States and Russia, but has to import around 40 per cent of its total needs as domestic production can't keep up with demand.

Data compiled from the Thomson Reuters Eikon terminal indicates China's 2017 imports of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) will top 67 million tonnes, up by more than a quarter from a year earlier. LNG imports alone surged more than 50 percent.

The data, which includes LNG tanker arrivals to China and pipeline monthly import flow estimates, is preliminary as December figures are not yet available.

China still lags Japan, with gas annual imports of around 83.5 million tonnes, all as LNG, but its overall gas imports topped Japan's in September and again in November, government data and shipping flows show.

Analysts say the trend is set and China should top Japan for the full year in 2018.

"Both LNG and pipeline imports will continue to increase in the next few years. We expect China to overtake Japan as the world's largest gas importer in 2018," said Miaoru Huang, Asia gas and LNG senior manager at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
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In 2018, keep an eye on 9 market disruptions that didn't happen in 2017

Many of the assessments of the 2017 financial markets understandably focused on the impressively favourable outcomes delivered by stocks and other risk assets. Yet it is also worth considering what didn't happen -- in particular, nine events, which, by not taking place, contributed to make the last 12 months exceptional for many investors, big and small.

Superlatives have been, and should be used, to describe stock-market performance in 2017. Rewarding overall returns, including gains of 25 per cent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and 19 per cent for the S&P 500, came wrapped in extremely low volatility. The VIX, the most-widely followed measure of market volatility, registered nine of its 10 lowest levels last year.

The series of record highs during the year -- 71 for the Dow alone -- was accompanied by very few episodes of market retracement. And the rare times these occurred, they were comfortably limited in size, duration and scope.

Overall, the Dow rose nine months in a row, the longest streak since 1959; the S&P delivered positive returns every month of the year. The powerful performance of stocks was not limited to the US. A few international markets did better, including an almost 40 per cent return on Hong Kong stocks, and the MSCI ACWI (excluding the US) index returned a solid 24 per cent.

Adding to the good news for investors, the cost of risk mitigation associated with the traditional 60/40 stock/bond investment portfolio was de minimus, and even non-existent with a diversified fixed-income approach. In another unusual twist, both stocks and bonds delivered positive returns.
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Cold wave grips wide swath of US, two deaths reported

Bone-chilling cold has gripped much of the central US as 2018 opens, breaking century-old records and leading to at least two deaths attributed to exposure to the dangerously low temperatures.

The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories covering a vast area from south Texas to Canada and from Montana and Wyoming through New England. The bitter cold wave enveloped much of the Midwest, yet that didn't deter hundreds of people from ringing in the new year by jumping into Lake Michigan.

Despite sub-freezing temperatures and a warning of potential hypothermia from the local fire chief, throngs of people took part in the annual Milwaukee tradition Monday.

But a similar event was canceled from the Chicago lakefront, where the temperature dipped below zero as thick white steam rose from the lake. Organizers said the arctic blast made jumping into the lake too dangerous.

Temperatures plunged below zero elsewhere in the Midwest, including in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where the mercury dropped to a record-breaking minus 32 (-36 Celsius). The previous New Year's Day record had stood for 99 years.

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Putin writes to Trump: Equality, mutual respect only way forward for peace

In a New Year telegram to US President Donald Trump, Russia's President Vladimir Putin says a constructive dialogue between the two nations is essential for global stability.

The Kremlin said Saturday that Putin emphasized in his Seasons Greetings to Trump that Russia and the US could develop a "pragmatic cooperation aimed at long-term perspective" on the basis of "equality and mutual respect."

Putin noted that "the development a constructive Russian-US dialogue is particularly important for strengthening strategic stability in the world and finding the optimal answers to global threats and challenges."

Ties between Moscow and Washington sank to a post-Cold War low following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the allegations of its meddling in the US presidential election last year.
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