Australian police have charged a male offender overnight after a man was stabbed to death in Melbourne.

Emergency services were called to a property on Warnock Street in Broadmeadows shortly before 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday following reports of a man having been stabbed, reports Xinhua news agency.

The suburb is located approximately 15 kilometres north of Melbourne’s central business district, home to over 12,000 residents.

Upon arrival, officers found a 32-year-old man of no fixed place of address deceased outside the property.

A 42-year-old Broadmeadows man was arrested at the scene before he was charged with murder. AGENCIES

 Kenyan President William Ruto termed Tuesday’s street protests against proposed tax hikes in the East African nation as treasonous, noting that his government will soon provide an expeditious response to the situation.

Ruto’s remarks came a few hours after at least five protestors were shot dead and more than 150 others injured as police used tear gas and live rounds after thousands stormed into Kenya’s Parliament and set part of it on fire.

In his televised address to the nation, Ruto said the government has mobilized all its resources to ensure the situation does not occur again “at whatever cost”.

He directed security organs to use all means possible to thwart any threats to the country’s national security, Xinhua news agency reported.

“It is possible that the criminals who reigned terror on innocent people and challenged our security organs are likely to continue with this behaviour,” he said, adding that the planners, financiers and abetters of the protests would not go scot-free.

The protestors gathered in various towns across Kenya, including the capital Nairobi, where they breached the heavily guarded premises to enter both the National Assembly and the Senate, destroying property and marching into the buildings despite police firing live bullets in the air.

In his address, Ruto said the government would not tolerate crime masked as democratic expression. “The government will secure the nation and any threats to national security are a danger to the Republic and will be dealt with,” he said.

The president observed that the national conversation on what affects the nation would only be done under the rule of law, constitutionalism, and respect for the nation.

Ruto spoke as Aden Duale, the cabinet secretary for defence, gazetted the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces to aid the police in curbing protests.

The Kenya Defence Forces were deployed on Tuesday in support of the National Police Service in response to the security emergency caused by ongoing violent protests in various parts of the country, Duale said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appealed for calm and dialogue, noting that he is saddened by the loss of lives occasioned by the protests.

Kenyatta asked elected leaders to listen to the people’s grievances, calling for calm and for the leadership “to show restraint and do the right thing by listening to the people and not be antagonistic to them.”

The lawmakers on Tuesday morning passed the contentious finance bill 2024, seeking to raise an additional 346.7 billion shillings ($2.67 billion), by such measures as increasing the railway development levy from 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent and the import declaration fee from 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

The legislators also imposed an eco-levy on imported items like smartphones and electronics, noting they end up as electronic waste damaging the environment.

Ruto, who won the elections in August 2022 on the platform of helping the poor, has been under pressure to raise additional revenues in the country amid rising government debt repayments.

The finance bill was thus amended to remove the proposed 16 per cent VAT on bread, transportation of sugar, financial services, foreign exchange transactions, and the 2.5 per cent motor vehicle tax.

There will be no increase in mobile money transfer fees, and the excise duty on vegetable oil has also been removed. Levies on the housing fund and the proposed one on social health insurance will not attract income tax. AGENCIES

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has emphasised the significance of a strong turnout in the country’s upcoming presidential election, scheduled for Friday.

He made the remarks on Tuesday in an address to thousands of Iranians from different provinces gathered in Iran’s capital Tehran, three days ahead of the 14th presidential election and on the occasion of the religious holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement published on the leader’s website.

“In three days, the Iranian people will face the important test of election, whose importance is greater than ever,” Khamenei said, stressing that maximum participation and the selection of the most qualified candidate would bring pride to the nation.

Listing the characteristics of the “most qualified” candidate, Iran’s leader stated that the next president should firmly believe in the principles and foundations of the Islamic Revolution and establishment, demonstrate efficiency and liveliness in fulfilling responsibilities, and possess the ability to harness the country’s diverse and abundant resources to drive progress.

He emphasized that Iran had always managed to make progress without reliance on foreigners, adding the Iranian people would never let others decide their fate.

“We have from the very beginning sought to interact with the entire world, with one or two exceptions,” he said.

Iran’s 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following the unexpected death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19 in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.

The candidates for the upcoming election include Alireza Zakani, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Masoud Pezeshkian, Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi. AGENCIES

 Wipro 3D and Nikon SLM Solutions on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing in India. With this partnership, the companies aim to foster innovation, optimise production processes, and drive widespread adoption of additive manufacturing across all industries in the country.

“By leveraging our capabilities and extensive experience in implementing 3D printing solutions across various sectors, we can significantly expand the adoption of additive manufacturing,” Yathiraj Kasal, Business Head and General Manager at Wipro 3D, said in a statement. He also mentioned that this initiative will contribute positively to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by producing “innovative and cost-effective metal parts and systems domestically”. Nikon SLM Solutions provides a versatile line of advanced metal additive manufacturing systems, including the Nikon SLM 125, Nikon SLM 280 2.0, Nikon SLM 500, and Nikon SLM 800.

These systems are acclaimed for their high build rates and precision, enabling Indian manufacturers to produce complex metal parts efficiently and of high quality, the company said. “This partnership seeks to foster innovation in additive manufacturing, within high-precision industries. It provides tailored solutions to customers, addressing future challenges along the way with Wipro 3D’s comprehensive understanding and our technologies,” said Ashan Dhunna, General Manager of Nikon SLM Solutions India. AGENCIES

 The founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, addressed the prestigious annual meeting of the Academic Council of the United Nations System (ACUNS) here and delivered the keynote speech titled ‘The Role of Universities in the Global South for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’.

In his discourse, Dr. Raj Kumar outlined how critical it was to achieve the ambitious Agenda 2030 in the remaining six years and how important it is for all the stakeholders, governments and corporations to undertake strategic policies and actions to contribute directly to the fulfilment of the SDGs and solve pressing global issues.

“It is essential that knowledge production and distribution, innovation, cutting-edge research, interactive learning, and capacity building are enhanced for human development and universities and other higher education institutions can be a key platform to realise the fruitful conclusion of these important and demanding tasks,” he said. AGENCIES

 Electric motorcycle company Silveline Power on Wednesday said that it entered into a Technology License Agreement worth $135 million with SRAM & MRAM Group for Hydrogen fuel-based electric vehicles (EVs).

Through this collaboration, SRAM intends to scale up the manufacturing and commercialise it. This will be a step further in SRAM’s contribution to the ‘Green and Clean Energy’ and ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.

As major economies aim to meet global emission norms and adopt green energy, the government is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2070.

In this context, SRAM’s innovators have spent the past decade developing disruptive technologies and have now achieved success with hydrogen fuel cell technology.

SRAM said that it is in the advanced stages of perfecting its hydrogen cell storage design, aiming to integrate it with all component manufacturers for two- and four-wheeler EVs.

“The most expensive components of any EV are the battery and its assemblies, along with the motors. The Group has already developed a motor design and manufacturing system ready to be adopted for any existing design,” the company said.

Currently, critical components of Li-Ion batteries are costly and pose safety risks in terms of power storage. In contrast, hydrogen cells encased in aluminium moulds offer a cheaper and safer battery solution.

Using aluminium, the most affordable packing material will significantly reduce costs. With this development, SRAM will be producing the most affordable hydrogen fuel-based electric vehicles in India and Malaysia using its proprietary and patented hydrogen fuel cell technology, the company mentioned. AGENCIES

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das sees India moving ahead towards an 8 per cent GDP growth trajectory on a sustained basis, driven by structural economic reforms such as GST.

“If you look at the average growth India recorded over the three years, the average comes to 8.3 per cent and the current year we have given a projection of 7.2 per cent growth,” Das said at the 188th AGM (Annual General Meeting) of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

India’s growth momentum remains strong and could improve further in the coming months. The country was on a path to achieving 8 per cent growth on a sustained basis, he added.

The RBI Governor also said there was clear evidence of private sector capital expenditure having picked up momentum, which should help growth further.

He also highlighted India’s contribution to global growth amid the worldwide economic slowdown.

“The Indian economy in the last financial year 2023-24 contributed to 18.5 per cent of the global growth, i.e., 18.5 per cent of the global growth was driven by India. It is an achievement as it was much lower 7 or 8 years ago and I think the IMF projects this growth to go up,” he said.

He said that the major drivers of this growth are the implementation of GST, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and Flexible Inflation Targeting.

“GST has the advantage of avoiding the multiplicity of taxes. It is one of India’s biggest structural reforms since 1947,” he remarked.

GST collections have touched 1.7 lakh crore in a month and it is in a range of 1.5 to 1.7 lakh crore every month, he added.

He also highlighted the fact that India is poised to become the third-largest economy in the world from its current position as the fifth-largest. AGENCIES

 The National Pension System enrolled as many as 110,655 new subscribers in April, reflecting the increasing attractiveness of the scheme, according to the latest figures compiled by the National Statistical Office.

The data show that state government employees constitute nearly two-thirds of these new subscribers.

Employees of state governments constitute 79,876 of these subscribers while central government staffers number 20,000. There were also 10,250 subscribers from the corporate sector during the month.

An age-wise analysis showed that 43.8 per cent (48,530) of new subscribers belonged to the 18-28 age group, who have got jobs for the first time. This also indicates the increase in employment that is taking place in the economy.

The National Statistical Office released the compiled payroll data on Tuesday after a gap of three months due to the model code of conduct remaining in place.

Overall, 937,000 subscribers joined the National Pension System during 2023-24 which is 13.6 per cent higher than the 824,700 new subscribers in 2022-23.

The corporate component of the scheme is voluntary in nature and includes people working in public sector organisations, private limited companies, or public sector banks.

The National Pension System, managed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, is being implemented on a contribution basis. Both the subscriber and the employer contribute an equal amount to the pension account. It was made mandatory for all new central government employees from January 1, 2004, except the armed forces. AGENCIES

 The publishing arm of gaming company Nazara Technologies on Wednesday said that it has partnered with nCore Games to publish the ‘Made in India’ FAU-G Domination mobile game.

Mobile Shooter FAU-G: Domination game will be marketed and distributed by Nazara Publishing. Pre-registrations for the game will be available on Google Play and the App Store later this year.”Made in India games have a huge potential to address the growing needs of the Indian gamer with locally relevant content and we are excited to partner with nCore to bring FAU-G: Domination to all our players,” Nitish Mittersain, Jt. MD & CEO of Nazara Technologies, said in a statement.

FAU-G: Domination is developed by Dot9 Games, a studio of nCore Games. The game features modern-day military aesthetics with Indian characters, each with a unique backstories.

The game includes various maps with diverse environments that reflect India’s rich heritage, blending cultural pride with cutting-edge gameplay.

“FAU-G: Domination is our humble response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make-in-India’ call, and we’re thankful that Nazara shares our vision to bring the best of India to the world,” said Vishal Gondal, Co-Founder of nCore Games.

Nazara Publishing provides comprehensive services for both local and global game developers aiming to tap into the booming Indian gaming market. AGENCIES

 Indian equity markets gave stellar returns in the first six months of 2024.

The Sensex was up nearly 8 per cent and Nifty was up nearly 9 per cent so far this year.

The impact of the rally in the market was also visible on mutual fund schemes and investors have got very good returns.

According to a media report, around 260 mutual fund schemes have given an average return of about 17.67 per cent in the first half of 2024.

In terms of returns, top mutual funds schemes were from the Midcap and smallcap categories.

Quant Midcap Fund, JM Midcap Fund, ITI Midcap Fund, and Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund are on top, with returns of more than 30 per cent, since the start of 2024.

JM Flexi Cap Fund, Quant Value Fund, Quant Large and Midcap Fund, ICICI Prudential Midcap Fund, and LIC Small Cap Fund are among the top 10 schemes with returns ranging from 27 per cent to 29 per cent.

Nippon India Small Cap Fund, which is the largest fund by asset value, has given a return of nearly 21 per cent.

At the same time, HDFC Midcap Opportunity Fund, the largest fund in the midcap category, has given returns of more than 20 per cent to investors so far in 2024.

Mirae Assets Focused Fund gave the lowest return of about 7 per cent to investors in the beginning of 2024. AGENCIES