The United States will continue to monitor the possibility of North Korea conducting another nuclear test, a Pentagon spokesperson said, amid concerns that Pyongyang could engage in provocative acts around the US presidential election in November.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh made the remarks on Friday after South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik said in a recent interview with Bloomberg that South Korea is not ruling out the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test before or after the US general election, Yonhap news agency reported.
“It’s something that we’re going to continue to monitor and something that we will always work with our ROK and Japanese allies on and coordinate on,” she said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
“But any tests like that are incredibly destabilising to the region, and we will continue to monitor,” she added.
Singh also reiterated that the US wants to see the “denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.”
In the interview with Bloomberg, Shin said that Pyongyang has completed preparations to conduct what would be its seventh nuclear test “when a decision is made” and that the North could conduct it before or after the election to “raise its leverage against the US.” agencies
Considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art, Dutch Post – Impressionist master Vincent van Gogh is also a popular choice for modern, immersive exhibitions where technology meets art. The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience will showcase in Chandigarh from August 2 at Nexus Elante Mall and will be on for a month. The exhibition will showcase around 265 artworks from the 2,100-collection scattered around the world in museums and private collections. Immersive experiences that transform the walls and floors of an exhibition space into a kind of technicolor Van Gogh dream world have popped up from New York, Paris, London, Singapore, Amsterdam, Chennai to Hyderabad. Chandigarh will host the Van Gogh experience for the first time, following its successful runs in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Expressing his excitement on bringing the experience to Chandigarh, the Executive Producer, and brand ambassador for the exhibit Nikhil Chinapa said, “The Real Van Gogh Immersive has become a new sensation among the youth and a trendsetter in the Indian art scene, igniting a renewed passion for art appreciation and consumption. I am thrilled we could bring this to Nexus Elante in Chandigarh, a city with design deeply interwoven into its identity.”
Speaking on the press conference, Nishank Joshi, CMO, Nexus Select Trust “Nexus Elante is thrilled to host the Real Van Gogh art exhibition to Chandigarh. This immersive experience offers visitors of all ages a unique opportunity to explore the iconic work of Van Gogh like never before. At Nexus we believe in providing exceptional experiences and services to our customers. We are always committed to bringing world-class cultural events to our location, and this exhibition is a testament to that dedication. We are proud to host such an immersive experience for the audience of this tricity at our mall.”
The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience brings out the colours and emotions of the Dutch master’s paintings via an unparalleled visual spectacle, boasting India’s first 22000 lumen projection and largest screens in India, and a specially-created music score by Mitch de Klein that breathes new life into van Gogh’s timeless masterpieces. The paintings for The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience were curated and animated by visual artists Hemali Vadalia and Naveen Boktapa of Motionvan Studios, with inputs by Executive Producer, Jay Punjabi.
Presented by The Silly Fellows in collaboration with creative entrepreneur Nikhil Chinapa, the Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience 2024 saw art enthusiasts and curious onlookers sell out show after show in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Van Gogh experienced life and the world intensely and his bold, dramatic brushstrokes conveyed joy, anxiety and anguish his mind held. A specially curated line-up featuring visually captivating pieces from van Gogh’s extraordinary collection, such as Starry Night, The Plain of Auvers, Wheatfield with Crows, Portrait of Theo, and The Potato Eaters, is on display.
“This isn’t just about art; it’s a bold move to redefine cultural experiences in our own backyard, giving every doorstep a front-row seat to the avant-garde of today’s creative narrative, and being able to showcase it to audiences beyond Tier 1 cities,” added The Silly Fellow’s co-founder Sharan John.
“Immersive experiences like this have taken the world by storm and ignited a love for art in the young generation in a way that speaks to them and we are very keen to take The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience to every corner of the country,” Executive Producer, Jay Punjabi said.
The content for this captivating showcase was meticulously crafted over a span of nine months, ensuring a rich and engaging experience for visitors. The 60-minute journey through the exhibition unfolds across four carefully curated spaces, each designed to offer a distinct facet of the artist’s work.
The Education Room serves as an informative and insightful introduction, providing context and background to van Gogh’s life and artistic journey. The first room in the experience, it takes visitors through the tapestry of his work and life.
The Infinity Room, as the name suggests, is an expansive space where visitors find themselves in an immersive and awe-inspiring environment.
The Immersive Room transports attendees deeper into the world of Vincent van Gogh. Dynamic projections and sensory elements enhance the connection between the audience and the artist’s creations.
After the immersive journey, visitors can explore The Merchandise Store, where they can take home souvenirs and mementos related to the exhibition.
Exhibits like The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience reflect a growing appetite for immersive and culturally enriching events, solidifying its place as a must-see, Instagram-friendly spectacle for the 21st century consumer.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) on Thursday posted the highest-ever net profit at Rs 3,107 crore (up 47 per cent year-on-year) along with record EBITDA at Rs 4,848 crore for the quarter that ended June 30.
The Adani Group’s flagship company posted the highest-ever quarterly revenue at Rs 7,560 crore, a 21 per cent growth, as volume grew 8 per cent to 109 MT in the April-June quarter.
“FY25 has begun on a strong note for us with a stellar performance on both financial and growth fronts. On the financial front, we posted all-time high earnings. But for the temporary disruption in Gangavaram Port, which is now fully restored, our Q1 cargo volume would have been at 114.7 MMT, a 13 per cent increase,” said Ashwani Gupta, Whole-time Director and CEO, APSEZ.
“On the growth front, we won two new port concessions and a port O&M contract. We are proud that four of our ports featured in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index 2023,” Gupta added.
The cargo volume growth was primarily driven by containers (up 18 per cent YoY) and liquids and gas (up 11 per cent YoY).
The company had a temporary disruption leading to a loss of 5.7 MMT at the Gangavaram Port, which is now fully restored.
Mundra port handled the highest quarterly volume by any Indian port (51 MMT) in the quarter.
Mundra, Kattupalli, Hazira, and Krishnapatnam featured in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index 2023. The index benchmarks ports globally across multiple parameters, including productivity, efficiency and reliability.
Adani Ports signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Tanzania Ports Authority to operate and manage Container Terminal 2 at the Dar es Salaam Port, Tanzania.
The quarter also saw the first mothership arriving at the Vizhinjam Port, India’s first trans-shipment port equipped with South Asia’s most advanced container handling technology.
Last month, ‘San Fernando’, a vessel of the world’s second-largest shipping company Maersk, arrived at the Vizhinjam Port with over 2,000 containers on it.
Vizhinjam Port is a perfect example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s triple focus — Ports for Prosperity, Ports for Progress and Ports for Productivity. AGENCIES
India’s coal production has increased by a robust 11.7 per cent to scale a record level of 997.83 million tonnes during the financial year March 31, 2024, Minister of Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy has informed the Lok Sabha.
He said that the government focuses on increasing the domestic production of the fuel to eliminate non-essential imports of coal in the country.
The minister said that coal production has risen steadily in the last four years from 730.9 million tonnes in 2019-20.
“The double-digit increase has been carried over to the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year with a growth of 10.75 per cent to 247.396 MT,” the minister said.
He said that the steps taken by the government to step up coal production in the country include a single window clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up the operationalisation of coal mines.
As part of the new reforms, an auction of commercial mining on a revenue-sharing basis was launched in 2020.
“Under the commercial mining scheme, a rebate of 50 per cent on the final offer has been allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than the scheduled date of production,” he said.
The minister added that the incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction (rebate of 50 per cent on final offer) have also been granted.
“The terms of commercial coal mining too have been liberalised with no restriction on utilisation of coal, which has allowed new companies to participate in the bidding process,” the minister explained.
He said that coal companies including the country’s largest producer Coal India Ltd have also taken various steps to increase domestic coal production such as the adoption of mass production technologies.
“It has also been using state-of-the-art technology in its high-capacity excavators, dumpers and surface miners. Besides, Coal India is planning large capacity UG mines wherever feasible,” the minister added. AGENCIES
HONOR is poised to make waves in the smartphone market with the upcoming launch of its flagship device, the HONOR Magic6 Pro 5G.
This cutting-edge smartphone is set to introduce a range of best-in-class features that promise to elevate the user experience to new heights.
The Magic6 Pro 5G redefines smartphone photography with the AI-powered HONOR Falcon Camera System. This advanced triple-camera setup features a 50MP main camera with the flagship Super Dynamic Falcon Camera H9000 HDR sensor, a 180MP Periscope Telephoto camera, and a 50MP ultra-wide and macro camera.
The Falcon system boasts an industry-first 1/1.3-inch sensor, offering an 800 per cent improvement in dynamic range and exceptional clarity in all lighting conditions. The front-facing 50MP camera, equipped with a 3D depth sensor, supports 4K video recording, ensuring stunning selfies and video calls.
At the heart of the HONOR Magic6 Pro 5G is MagicOS 8.0, the world’s first intent-based user interface. This groundbreaking UI leverages advanced AI capabilities to provide a seamless and highly intelligent experience.
Built on Android 14, MagicOS 8.0 introduces features like Magic Ring for enhanced device connectivity, Magic Capsule for intuitive interactions, and AI Call Privacy 3.0 for superior call privacy.
The system’s proprietary AI language model, MagicLM, ensures smooth and intuitive natural language processing, making the Magic6 Pro 5G a truly smart device.
The Magic6 Pro 5G is equipped with a 6.8-inch full-range Low Power Consumption LTPO display, featuring a resolution of 2800×1280 and a peak HDR brightness of 5000 nits. The display supports a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, Dolby Vision, and Full Screen AOD (Always On Display) for an immersive viewing experience.
With TUV Rheinland Flicker Free and Circadian Friendly certifications, the Magic6 Pro 5G prioritises eye safety and user comfort.
The HONOR NanoCrystal Shield provides unmatched screen durability, offering 10x toughness and an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.
Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform, the HONOR Magic6 Pro 5G delivers exceptional performance, with a 30 per cent improvement in CPU and a 25 per cent increase in GPU performance.
The device’s AI capabilities enhance productivity and ensure smooth, stable operations, making it ideal for gaming, multitasking, and more.
The HONOR Magic6 Pro 5G introduces the segment’s first silicon-carbon battery, inspired by advancements in electric vehicle technology. With a robust 5,600mAh capacity, this second-generation battery offers extended usage and exceptional performance, even in low-temperature environments.
The innovative battery technology, paired with the HONOR E1 Power Enhanced Chip, provides intelligent power management and fast charging capabilities, allowing users to recharge their devices to 100 per cent in just 39 minutes.AGENCIES
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) on Thursday reported 3.21 per cent drop in total vehicle sales for July at 64,563 units, against 66,701 vehicles in the same month last year.
The automaker sold 49,013 units in the domestic market, a 3.33 per cent decrease from 50,701 vehicles sold in July last year.
In terms of exports, it stood at 15,550 units, 2.81 per cent down from 16,000 vehicles.
In the first half of this year (January-June period), the company sold 4,50,335 units, achieving a growth of 4.3 per cent (year-on-year).
SUVs accounted for 66.6 per cent of the domestic sales, with the new Hyundai CRETA achieving sales of 1 lakh units, since its launch in January.
“The new Hyundai CRETA achieved key milestones of 1 lakh unit sales till July, while also achieving highest-ever monthly domestic sales of 17,350 units in July 2024,” said Tarun Garg, Whole-time Director and Chief Operating Officer, HMIL.
Meanwhile, Kia India continued its growth momentum with 20,507 domestic sales in July.
The automaker registered 2.5 per cent YoY growth compared to 20,002 units sold in July last year.
The newly-launched Sonet claimed the highest contribution to Kia India’s July sales with 9,459 units, followed by Carens and Seltos with 5,679 and 5347 units, respectively.
As per Vahan data, Kia India recorded a growth of 26 per cent against the industry average of 9 per cent in the month.
“We have registered a healthy YoY sales growth in July, a good headstart for the Q3 and H2 of the year. We are determined to maintain this momentum throughout the year, which should give us all confidence in our future success,” said Hardeep Singh Brar, SVP and National Head of Sales and Marketing.
Kia India has completed over 1.2 million vehicle dispatches from its Anantapur plant, including over 9.8 lakh domestic sales and over 2.5 lakh exports. AGENCIES
Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that India is now their largest market for artificial intelligence (AI) usage.
In the Q2 earnings call with analysts, Zuckerberg said they are seeing particularly promising signs on WhatsApp in terms of retention and engagement, which has coincided with “India becoming our largest market for Meta AI usage”.
Meta AI now available in Hindi, unveils largest and most capable open-source model
The AI assistant Meta AI is now available in seven new languages including Hindi, and has become more creative and smarter.
Besides Hindi and Hindi-romanised script, Meta AI is now available in other languages such as French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Users can interact with Meta AI across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook in these new languages. The company said it will soon add more languages.
After posting a revenue of $39.1 billion for Q2, up 22 per cent (year-on-year), Meta CEO said that people can now use Meta AI in over 20 countries and eight languages and in the US, “we are rolling out new features like Imagine Edit, which allows people to edit images they generate with Meta AI”.
“Beyond Generative AI, the Threads community also continues to grow and deepen their engagement, as we ship new features and enhance our content recommendation systems,” he added.
Zuckerberg said that Meta AI is on track to become the most used AI assistant by the end of the year.
“An important part of our vision is that we’re not just creating a single AI, but enabling lots of people to create their own AIs. And this week we launched AI Studio, which lets anyone create AIs to interact with across our apps,” said the CEO. AGENCIES
India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) has raised India’s GDP growth forecast for 2024-25 to 7.5 per cent from 7.1 per cent projected earlier as it expects the Union Budget to give a further fillip to the economy.
The report states that ongoing growth momentum led by government capex, healthier balance sheets of banks, and incipient private corporate capex cycle has now found support from the Union Budget.
The budget aims to bolster spending in the agricultural and rural sector, improve credit delivery to MSMEs and incentivise employment creation in the economy.
Ind-Ra expects the above-normal monsoon coupled with measures announced in the Union Budget for FY25 to boost the demand for goods and services consumed by rural and lower-income households.
“Ind-Ra believes these measures would help in broad-basing the consumption demand,” the report observed.
Ind-Ra expects Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) to grow to a three-year high of 7.4 per cent in FY25, up from 4 per cent in FY24.
While food inflation poses a risk, the report expects lower average retail inflation in the current financial year compared to the previous year, to support real wage growth.
The RBI has projected a growth rate of 7.2 per cent for the Indian economy while the Economic Survey has estimated GDP expansion between 6.5-7 per cent.
However, Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran said achieving a 7 per cent GDP growth rate “is doable” for India despite the global environment having become more challenging since the beginning of the year.
“We were more confident of a 7 per cent GDP growth when we wrote the interim Economic Survey in January. Since then the global environment has become even more polarised. Given that we feel 7 per cent is doable, but yet we want to be not necessarily cautious but prudent,” he added. AGENCIES
India’s manufacturing activity continued to expand at a robust pace in July on the back of strong domestic demand and new export orders, according to an HSBC survey released on Thursday.
“With demand conditions remaining favourable and new orders coming in, goods producers purchased additional inputs in July,” the survey highlighted.
The HSBC final India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) compiled by S&P Global, came in at 58.1 last month which was about the same as the June figure of 58.3.
The index has been above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction since July 2021 which is the longest expansionary phase in the last 11 years.
“India’s headline manufacturing PMI showed a marginal slowdown in the pace of expansion in July, but with most components remaining at robust levels, the small drop is no cause for concern,” Domestic demand recorded a healthy growth in new orders while exports rose at the second-fastest pace in 13 years driven by rising demand from countries in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, the report states.
“New export orders remain a bright spot, rising by 1 point to the second-highest level since early 2011,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC.
The outlook for the coming 12 months remained optimistic with firms still taking on additional staff. While the pace of hiring was slower than in June, it maintained the positive momentum in creating new jobs, the survey states.
However, high demand pushed up both the input and output price sub-indexes. “The rate of expansion was sharp, as more than a quarter of panellists increased their buying levels. In turn, strong input demand drove cost inflation higher. Manufacturers reported paying more for coal, leather, packaging, paper, rubber, and steel,” the survey observed.
“The continuous increase in the output price index, driven by input and labour cost pressure, may signal further inflationary pressure in the economy,” Bhandari said. AGENCIES
Infosys shares fell on Thursday after it received a GST notice citing an alleged Rs 32,000 crore tax evasion, a claim that the IT major has disputed.
Infosys shares that opened at Rs 1,850 were trading 0.5-1 per cent low.
The company’s share has gained more than 20 per cent since January this year.
Reports earlier claimed on Wednesday, citing Directorate General of GST Intelligence, that Infosys is “liable to pay IGST under reverse charge mechanism on supplies received from branches located outside India to the tune of Rs 32,403.46 crore for the period 2017-18 (July 2017 onwards) to 2021-22.”
The company denied this in a late evening stock exchange filing.
“Karnataka State GST authorities have issued a pre-show cause notice for payment of GST of Rs 32,403 crore for the period July 2017 to March 2022 towards the expenses incurred by overseas branch offices of Infosys Limited,” said the company in the filing.
The company responded to the pre-show cause notice.
Infosys also received a pre-show cause notice from the Director General of GST Intelligence on the same matter and “is in the process of responding to the same”.
“The company believes that as per regulations, GST is not applicable on these expenses. Additionally, as per a recent Circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on the recommendations of the GST Council, services provided by the overseas branches to Indian entities are not subject to GST,” said Infosys.
Infosys said it has paid all its GST dues and is fully in compliance with the central and state regulations on this matter. AGENCIES
