Eyes of the India

 Joe Lonsdale The claims against Palantir co-founder and popular Silicon Valley venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale will make your stomach turn. In late January, a recent Stanford grad, Elise Clougherty, filed a lawsuit accusing Lonsdale of “a sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive relationship.” Lonsdale, who is also a founder of the VC firm Formation8, has since filed a countersuit claiming their relationship was consensual. The basic facts, which are in both the suit and countersuit, are the following: Lonsdale and Clougherty first met through a mutual friend in New York when she was a Stanford student. About a year later, Lonsdale served as an official mentor for Clougherty in a Stanford tech entrepreneurship program. The two entered into a relationship, which lasted for about a year between 2012 and 2013. Clougherty claims in her suit that Lonsdale hand-picked her to be his mentee, deliberately started a relationship with her, and over the course of the year became increasi...

 The Brazilian model claimed he struggled to satisfy all his partners equally, so he initially established a romp “rota” so he could fulfill each wife’s individual needs. Washington: Managing multiple partners apparently is a lot of work! It is no different for a Brazilian man who claims to have married nine women and to keep each of them happy had even devised a ‘sex time table’! The model and influencer, Arthur O Urso has been trying to implement different things to strengthen his marriage with his nine spouses and has apparently created a ‘sex rota’ so none of the women feel left out. According to a US-based media outlet, Arthur claimed he struggled to satisfy all his partners equally, so he initially established a romp “rota” so he could fulfill each wife’s individual needs. “They all want to fulfill my sexuality at any cost,” New York Post quoted Arthur as saying. However, it’s not as dreamy as it sounds. Finding the sex schedule too structured and stressful, Arthur had to fin...

 Anurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of the BW Businessworld grew up in a middle-class family in Gurgaon. He became a first-generation entrepreneur, after acquiring the iconic business media and magazine brand BW Business World, a 35-year strong media brand as well as the most respected business publication in the country. After his undergraduate studies, Batra went to an engineering school and then to a business school. While he was doing his business studies, he had very limited ambition. During that period, his ambition was to join an IT services company in marketing. Just like his wish, he got placement through campus selection. But just before he joined the firm, came the turning point of his life. Through his friend, Anurag Batra met the people who were setting up Colliers Jardine in India. Batra’s mind changed and he joined Colliers Jardine. It was a joint venture between HDFC and Ireland affairs and did property services. Anurag Batra, the Chairman & Editor-i...

  UN’s cultural body warns of international consequences With more than 160 historical sites having already been damaged or destroyed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN’s cultural agency is stressing the importance of protecting the world’s heritage during times of conflict. It is 40 years since Unesco launched the first World Heritage Day for monuments and sites, and recently its work has become more important than ever. Eight years since ISIS’s destruction of 80 per cent of Iraq’s historic sites in Mosul, Unesco is only just commencing restoration work. But just weeks before reconstruction work began there in March, Russia invaded Ukraine, putting yet more historic sites in jeopardy. “We are extremely concerned about the development of the situation,” Unesco told The National . “Very serious information has come to us, concerning other cultural sites.” Ukraine’s culture ministry has recorded 166 cultural sites which have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Russian ...

  The awards are a celebration of British theatre An intimate, sold-out production of Cabaret was the big winner at Sunday’s Olivier Awards , taking seven prizes including acting trophies for its high-voltage stars, Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley. Literary adaptation Life of Pi took five awards, including Best New Play. Cabaret was named Best Musical Revival at the ceremony, which saw the Oliviers — Britain’s equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards — return to live collective prize-giving after a three-year break imposed by the coronavirus pandemic . Redmayne and Buckley won lead acting prizes for their roles as the Emcee and Sally Bowles in a production of Cabaret that transformed London’s Playhouse Theatre into the Kit Kat Club in 1930s Berlin. Liza Sadovy and Elliot Levey won supporting performer awards for the same production, which continues its London run with new leads — and is rumoured to be Broadway-bound. Buckley, who was praised by Redmayne as “one of the greats”,...

Country’s central bank governor says the action is being taken in good faith, and nation has never defaulted on its debt payments Sri Lanka will temporarily suspend foreign debt payments to avoid a hard default, the central bank governor said on Tuesday, with its limited foreign reserves required for imports of essential items such as fuel. “It has come to a point that making debt payments are challenging and impossible. The best action that can be taken is to restructure debt and avoid a hard default,” Governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said. Sri Lanka is due to start talks with the International Monetary Fund on a loan programme next week, with the country suffering from prolonged power cuts alongside shortages of food and medicines. The island nation’s foreign reserves stood at a paltry $1.93 billion at the end of March, with foreign debt payments of around $4bn due this year, including a $1bn international sovereign bond maturing in July. The governor said the action was being ta...

  Property developer Damac says incidents are acted on as soon as they are reported Reports of animal abuse and possible illegal puppy sales in Damac Hills 2 resulted in tenants being evicted as authorities crack down on illegal pet traders. The Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment’s biosecure hotline received several reports about villas suspected of being used to illegally sell animals. Although breeding pets is not against the law, there are strict rules against illegal commercial breeding and trade in animals . Law on animal welfare The UAE has strict animal welfare laws and provides a framework to regulate the sale, use and exhibition of animals. Anyone who wants to breed animals for sale must obtain a licence in line with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. Operating without one incurs fines ranging from Dh10,000 to Dh700,000, confiscation of the animals and even a prison sentence in some cases. Animal welfare law in the UAE requires dog owner...

  The Spanish company is in talks with Adnoc and Masdar as it pursues its low-carbon energy strategy in Europe Cepsa is leveraging its relationship with Mubadala Investment Company and is in talks with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Masdar on potential co-investments and partnerships as it pursues its low-carbon energy strategy in Europe, its chief executive has said. The Spanish oil and gas company, which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment fund Mubadala, is in talks with state-owned energy producer Adnoc for a green hydrogen partnership, Maarten Wetselaar told The National in an interview. The potential tie-up can take the form of joint investments in developing the entire hydrogen value chain from the Middle East to Europe and North Africa. Another option is Cepsa focusing on building demand and infrastructure in Spain and other parts of Europe as Adnoc remains focused on hydrogen production, he said. “We are actually discussing exactly that question ...

  The K-pop boy band will play two more shows at Allegiant Stadium Fresh from their performance at the Grammys, K-pop stars BTS began their four-show mini-residency in Las Vegas over the weekend. Bringing their Permission to Dance On Stage world tour to the nearly 65,000-capacity Allegiant Stadium, the group dazzled fans by performing their biggest hits, including Butter , Dynamite and Boy With Luv . They also played old favourites such as DNA , Idol and and Fake Love during the two-hour show. The four show dates were announced in February and tickets for all the shows sold out before they went on sale to the general public. For those who missed out on a ticket, the performances will be broadcast live at the nearby MGM Grand Garden Arena in an event called “Live Play in Las Vegas”. The last show will also be live-streamed online for fans around the world. How to buy tickets for the final live-stream event The final concert takes place on April 16 and tickets for the live-stream ...

  As the Russia-Ukraine war and inflation weigh on global markets, the S&P 500 index, Chinese tech stocks and agriculture funds could help investors to take advantage of a recovery Investing is a long-term game, but it pays to take advantage of short-term opportunities. Buying assets when they are out of favour and trading at low prices can really pay off, assuming they bounce back later. So can spotting an opportunity before other investors do and jumping in before it takes off. Inevitably, both are risky. It is never easy to get your timing right. We asked analysts to name three exciting ways to invest $10,000 over the next three months. The first was supposed to have crashed this year but is proving resilient, the second plummeted last year, costing investors trillions of dollars, but now looks a brighter prospect, while the final one could go either way. Just remember that your aim should be to generate profits over years, rather than making a quick gain over a few m...

  Parliamentarians vote for a new leader after Imran Khan lost no-confidence vote Pakistan elected Shehbaz Sharif to be the country’s 23rd prime minister on Monday, a day after incumbent Imran Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence brought by opposition parties. Mr Sharif received 174 votes from the house’s 342 MPs after days of political drama that saw Mr Khan, the former cricketer-turned-politician, removed just after midnight on Sunday. In his maiden speech as prime minister, Mr Sharif called for unity to tackle Pakistan’s economic crisis. “If we have to save the sinking boat, what we all need is hard work, and unity, unity and unity. We are beginning a new era of development today,” he said. Ahead of Monday’s vote, members of Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had resigned in protest and demanded a national election. “We boycott this election according to the decision of our party, and we are resigning,” said Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Mr Qureshi had been the PTI candidate to b...

  Amateur jockey wins on his father’s horse Noble Yeats in last race Amateur rider Sam Waley-Cohen enjoyed a fairytale finale to his career as steered Noble Yeats to victory in the Grand National at Aintree. The 39-year-old announced his intention to retire on Thursday, nominating Emmet Mullins’ charge as his farewell ride in the world’s most famous steeplechase. Sent off at 50–1, few would have expected Noble Yeats to strike in the extended four-and-a-quarter-mile showpiece — but he ran a magnificent race as he fended off the 15–2 favourite Any Second Now by two and a quarter lengths for a famous National success. Coming to the last they were the only pair in contention and under a strong drive, Noble Yeats kept finding more to prevail in the colours of Waley-Cohen’s father, Robert. Delta Work (10–1) was 20 lengths back third, with Santini (33–1) another length and a quarter away in fourth. A jubilant Waley-Cohen — who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Long Run in 2011 — said:...

  Heavy fights between cape institute of technology college students

 India-US Talks: Recent public statements from Washington warning India about consequences for purchases of weapons and discounted oil from Russia are contrary to private discussions between the two sides. India is optimistic about talks next week with the US on military cooperation even as the Biden administration becomes more vocal in rebuking New Delhi over its reluctance to criticize Russia’s war in Ukraine, people familiar with the matter said. Recent public statements from Washington warning India about consequences for purchases of weapons and discounted oil from Russia are contrary to private discussions between the two sides, the people said, asking for anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks. They cited conversations in New Delhi last month with US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who offered help in finding alternative sources of weapons that could be used to counter neighbors Pakistan and China. India informed Nuland that the alternative...

  Anurag Batra , an entrepreneur, journalistand a media observer is the Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld and the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of exchange4media. Anurag Batra talks about the essential role that business schools play in driving the change in today’s economic scenario. The crisis of the last two years honed many sensibilities but the challenges that business leaders face still do not recede. The more we think of the makings of the new breed of assertive and prudent leaders and a resilient workforce, the more we understand the role that business schools play in driving change. Anurag Batra,the founder of exchange4media group & chairman BW Businessworld group “We don’t just need new skill sets, where the role of technology becomes more central in its application for business growth. We also need to cultivate a generation of leaders who understand global realities and India’s place in it, the importance of ESG (environment, social, governance), pos...

  City officials say efforts are under way to bring supplies into the city during a strict ‘zero Covid’ policy Shanghai on Wednesday made some concessions to a child separation Covid policy, in a nod to growing public frustration as it extends a citywide lockdown that left some residents struggling to buy food. The lockdown of China’s most populous city, which started in parts of Shanghai 10 days ago and has since been expanded to confine practically all its 26 million residents to their homes, has significantly disrupted daily life and business. Public criticism over the curbs, part of Beijing ’s elimination strategy, has ranged from complaints over crowded and unsanitary quarantine centres to difficulties in buying food or accessing medical treatment. But the most controversial policy is Shanghai’s practice of separating Covid-positive children from their parents, which came to the fore on Saturday and triggered widespread anger across the country. In the face of such crit...

  The Russia-Ukraine crisis, Covid-19 and volatile stock markets caused wealth erosion and led to 329 billionaires dropping out of the Forbes’ 2022 rich list The combined net worth of the world’s richest people slipped 3 per cent to $12.7 trillion over the past year, from a record $13.1tn in 2021, driven by the Russia-Ukraine crisis , Covid-19 pandemic and volatile stock markets , with Elon Musk , the founder and chief executive of Tesla topping the Forbes ’ 2022 World Billionaires List. There are 2,668 billionaires in the world, down from an all-time high of 2,755 last year, it said in the annual report, which used stock prices and exchange rates from March 11 to calculate the net worth of the world’s richest people. “In all, 329 people fell off the billionaires list this year — the most since the 2009 financial crisis,” Forbes said on Tuesday. Mr Musk , who was recently appointed to Twitter’s board after emerging as the biggest single shareholder in the microblogging platf...

  Foreign investors are concerned over geopolitical events and inflationary conditions, IIF says Emerging market (EM) stocks and bonds recorded an outflow of $9.8 billion in March, the first outflow month in a year, as concerns over geopolitical events , inflationary pressures and economic recovery from the pandemic dampened the outlook for investors. That compares with an inflow of about $17.6bn in February and roughly $1.1bn of flows in January , according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). Foreign investment in EM securities “suffered” throughout the first quarter of the year, with the outflow in March driven by China, the IIF said in its monthly Capital Flows Tracker report. Outflows were recorded from both bonds ($11.2bn) and equities ($6.3bn) in China, while non-China EM debt attracted $8.2bn. One constant through all the ups and downs in capital flows dynamics of recent years has been China, which saw steady inflows as foreign investors built their expos...