SEOUL, June 22:The military searched today for an armed South Korean soldier who fled after killing five of his comrades and wounding seven at an outpost near the North Korean border.
The sergeant, identified only by his surname, Yim, opened fire last night with his standard issue K2 assault rifle at an outpost in Gangwon province, east of Seoul, according to a Defence Ministry spokesman. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules.
Yim, who was scheduled to be discharged from the military in September, fled with his weapon, but it wasn’t clear how much live ammunition he had, the official said.
Defence official Kim Min-seok said today at a televised briefing that all the wounded were expected to survive, although two were injured seriously. He said search operations were underway to quickly find Yim, without elaborating.
Park Cheol-yong, the head of Madal village, near the army division where the gunfire took place, said he warned villagers to stay in their houses.
Park Jin-soo, a pastor at a church in the village, said that today services would take place as usual despite the tension over the missing soldier and the shooting.
Thousands of troops from the rival Koreas are squared off along the world’s most heavily armed border.
There was no indication that North Korea was involved. But tensions between the two countries have been high recently, with North Korea staging a series of missile and artillery drills and threatening South Korea’s leader.
The Koreas have also traded fire along their disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea. South Korea has repeatedly vowed to respond with strength if provoked by the North. Shootings happen occasionally at the border.
In 2011, a 19-year-old marine corporal went on a shooting rampage at a Gwanghwa Island base, just south of the maritime border with North Korea. Military investigators later said that corporal was angry about being shunned and slighted and showed signs of mental illness before the shooting.
In 2005, a soldier tossed a hand grenade and opened fire at a front-line army unit in a rampage that killed eight colleagues and injured several others. Pfc Kim Dong-min told investigators he was enraged at superiors who verbally abused him.
All able-bodied South Korean men must serve about two years in the military under a conscription system aimed at countering aggression from North Korea.
The Korean Peninsula is still technically in a state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korean aggression. (AGENCIES)
Search on for South Korea soldier who killed 5 comrades
BlackBerry to complete sale of Canadian real estate by August
NEW DELHI, June 22: Embattled smartphone maker BlackBerry, which has sold 80 per cent of its real estate in its home country, expects to complete sale of the remaining properties in Canada by August-end as it tries to improve operations and increase efficiency.
The Waterloo (Ontario)-headquartered firm is targeting break-even cash flow results by the end of fiscal 2015 (February-March).
In May, the firm said it would sell a majority of its Canadian real estate holdings to real estate investment firm Spear Street for about USD 278 million, whereas in March, it sold its US office in Texas to Brookfield Property Group.
This is part of BlackBerry’s Cost Optimisation and Resource Efficiency (CORE) Programme, which includes cutting its headcount by about 4,500 to bring the total global workforce to 7,000 people.
The move is being seen as a part of the Canadian handset maker’s broader efforts to conserve cash and fund turnaround efforts amid intense competition from Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system-based smartphones.
The company has completed various sales of real estate assets in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 as part of the CORE programme, it said in a regulatory filing with the US SEC last week.
BlackBerry added in 2014 fiscal it announced plans to “strategically divest” the majority of its Canadian commercial real estate portfolio, offering properties comprising over 3 million square feet of space through a combination of sale, leaseback and vacant asset sales.
“Subsequently, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with Spear Street Capital to sell the properties for approximately USD 278 million and lease back a portion of the space for the company’s operations.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2015, the company completed the sale of properties valued at approximately 80 per cent of the total real estate sale and expects to complete the remaining 20 per cent of the sale in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, it said in the filing.
Last week, it had reported a higher-than-expected net profit of USD 23 million in the quarter ended May 31, helped by growing smartphone sales and higher adoption of enterprise services.
BlackBerry sold 1.6 million smartphones in the March-May quarter and issued 1.2 million BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 licences, in a sign of recovery with the embattled company finally coming out of the red.
The Waterloo (Ontario)-headquartered firm had posted a net loss of USD 84 million is the year-ago period.
Revenue for the first quarter of its fiscal 2015 stood at USD 966 million, down 1 per cent from USD 976 million in the same quarter of previous fiscal. (PTI)
Carmakers want excise duty cut to continue even after June 30
NEW DELHI, June 22: With the June 30 deadline fast approaching for expiry of reduced excise rate, car makers want the government to extend it further even as they adopt a wait and watch policy before considering price hikes.
“We certainly hope that the government of India will give us an opportunity to continue keeping our customers happy,” Nissan Motor India, VP sales and marketing, Ajay Raghuvanshi told.
Asked if the company would raise prices after June 30, he said: “We will wait and watch the developments before making a firm decision on this subject.”
With the Budget expected only next month, the auto industry is awaiting the new government’s steps on the matter.
Another Japanese car makers Honda said it was also hoping that the matter would get addressed and resolved before the June 30 deadline.
“We will have to follow the excise duty structure applicable during that period. The industry has already made its recommendations to the ministry through SIAM,” Honda Cars India spokesperson said when asked about possible changes in price structure of its products.
In the Interim Budget presented in February, excise duty on small cars, scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles was reduced to 8 per cent from 12 per cent; 24 per cent from 30 per cent for SUVs; 20 per cent for mid-sized car from 24 per cent and 24 per cent for large cars from 27 per cent.
The reduction in excise duty, given to the auto sector with an aim to give some impetus to sagging sales, is applicable till June 30.
Most of the carmakers had passed on the benefit of excise duty reduction to customers by cutting product prices.
Major companies, including Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, did not comment on the issue.
According to SIAM, excise rates would revert back to the earlier level after June 30. The auto industry body has been lobbying hard with the government to extend the reduced excise rates.
India’s automobile industry has been struggling from a prolonged market slump. Car sales in India fell for the second consecutive fiscal in 2013-14 with a drop of 4.65 per cent at 17,86,899 units as compared to 18,74,055 units in the previous fiscal.
In the 2012-13, car sales in India fell 6.69 per cent, which was the first decline in a decade. (PTI)
Death toll from Venezuela protests hits 43
CARACAS, June 22: At least 43 people have died in opposition protests against President Nicolas Maduro that began in February, a non-government group has said after a student died from a bullet wound.
Alfredo Romero, who heads the Penal Forum group, said yesterday Josue Farias died in the western city of Maracaibo from a gunshot injury sustained during an anti-government protest nearly a month ago on May 29.
Farias was an accounting student at a Zulia state university.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets to march against rampant crime, runaway inflation and shortages of basic goods in the country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Government authorities have yet to add this latest death to its own official count of those who died in the sometimes bloody protests.
In their latest report on June 11, they counted 42 deaths and 873 people injured in the demonstrations that have decreased in intensity in recent weeks.
Efforts to resolve differences between the government and opposition through dialogue have faltered in the wake of the arrest of more than 200 students last month, when authorities demolished protest camps.
Venezuela, an OPEC nation, is struggling with inflation near 60 per cent, as well as rampant crime and shortages of goods as basic as toilet paper, milk and sugar.
Most economic experts blame the South American country’s problems on a decade of rigid currency and price controls, as well as rising debt, dependence on imports and stagnant growth. (AGENCIES)
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Diadeis Alia to expand India operations
NEW DELHI, June 22: Pre-media agency Diadeis Alia is ramping up operations in India with plans to double its head count at its production centres while earmarking an investment of a million dollar in the coming months.
The firm is looking to expand its service offering beyond the FMCG sector and tap new areas like automobiles, financial institutions and telecom.
“In India Diadeis Alia’s focus for this year is to modernise and grow the existing centres. We expect to double our production head count in the next 3-4 month,” Diadeis Alia Managing Director Sethunath P told.
While he did not share the exact headcount in the Indian centres, he said “there are several technology additions envisaged for this year. We expect to invest a minimum of USD one million in the coming few months.”
Premedia firms provide services and solutions to manage and organise content for marketing, publishing and printing purposes to their clients.
Diadeis Alia has two production centres in India with annual capacity of over 60,000 artworks. It presently employs 140 across Asia.
Earlier this year, Paris headquartered Diadeis had acquired controlling stake in Alia, which focuses on FMCG sector along with its overseas assets in Dubai, Durban and Singapore. Alia’s business across Asia & Africa was acquired by Diadeis.
Sethunath said after the acquisition that the idea was to expand the clientele in other sectors.
“While FMCG still remain the primary focus, in the coming years we will be also focusing on other sectors where graphic content is heavy and complex,” he said.
Extending premedia services to automobiles, financial institutions and telecom will bring a lot of opportunities for Diadies Alia and a strong benefits to these clients, Sethunath added.
“This needs few internal developments and solution creation and we expect to attend to this during the year,” he said.
Diadeis, which had a turnover of USD 30 million in 2013, is expecting to double the turnover in the next two years, according to Sethunath. (PTI)
British monarchy defends cost of William and Kate’s home
LONDON, June 22: The British monarchy has defended the cost of refurbishing a Kensington Palace apartment for Prince William, his wife Catherine and their baby son Prince George.
A royal spokesman did not confirm the seven-figure cost — reportedly at USD 6.8 million for repairs and refurbishments, but said the royal couple had paid for their own furnishings.
The bill includes extensive work on the 17th-century London palace apartment, including installing a new roof, overhauling the electrics and carrying out plumbing repairs, while work was needed to remove asbestos.
William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have taken up Apartment 1A, formerly the home of princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, who died in 2002.
The living space was last refurbished in 1963, shortly after the newly-married Margaret moved in.
The apartment was designed by Christopher Wren, the architect who built London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“This is the Duke and Duchess’s one and only official residence. It is here that they plan to stay for many, many years to come,” the royal spokesman said.
“We also had to take into account the fact that Kensington Palace is a scheduled ancient monument, and all elements of the refurbishment had to be agreed with English Heritage,” the conservation body responsible for protecting historic sites.
“Often this meant ensuring a high standard of work in line with the historical significance of the Christopher Wren building.”
He said William and Kate, both 32, “paid privately” for all the internal furnishings, including carpets and curtains. They couple were also at pains to ensure that the specification was not extravagant, the spokesman said.
William is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles.
Steeped in royal history, Kensington Palace, part of which is open to the public, is William’s childhood home. It was the main residence for him and his brother Prince Harry until 1998.
Mourners left a sea of flowers and tributes at the palace gates after the death of Diana, their mother, in a Paris car crash in 1997.
William and Kate had been living in the small Nottingham Cottage within the Kensington Palace complex. The plan was for Harry to take it over when the Cambridges moved into the palace proper.
Fter two tours in Afghanistan, army captain Harry now has a desk job coordinating army commemorative events in London.(AGENCIES)
On expansion mode, Flipkart to hire 12,000 people this yr
NEW DELHI, June 22: Flipkart will hire 12,000 people this year to beef up its support and technology operations as the homegrown firm witnesses strong surge in online shopping in the country.
The online marketplace giant has already chalked out an ambitious plan to expand its reach across India, the world’s third largest country in terms of Internet users.
“As business scales up, our focus on hiring is going to be pretty aggressive. We are looking to increase our current team strength from 13,000 to 25,000,” Flipkart Chief People Officer (CPO) Mekin Maheshwari told PTI.
The firm will be hire across levels and functions, with senior leadership and technology hiring being the priority, he added.
“In engineering alone we plan to have a 1,200 strong team by the end of 2014,” Maheshwari said.
As part of its expansion drive, the Bangalore-based firm will also increase its sellerbase to 12,000 covering 30 cities before the end of 2014.
The company is in talks with manufacturing clusters like Tirupur and Ludhiana as part of bringing more sellers on-board to meet the strong growth in demand. It plans to tie-up with clusters in Surat, Agra and Ludhiana, where synthetic apparels and leather items are produced.
Besides, Flipkart has also tied-up with with small and medium enterprise (SMEs) promotion bodies to provide micro, small and medium entrepreneurs infrastructural support in data analytics, marketing and customer acquisition to help them scale their businesses.
Flipkart last month acquired online clothing seller Myntra Designs for an estimated Rs 2,000 crore in a deal that will give it control of roughly half of nation’s e-commerce market by sales.
According to Technopak Advisors, India’s e-commerce sector is expected to have 7 per cent share of country’s retail market amounting to USD 60 billion by 2023.
As per tech giant Google, the size of the industry was USD 1.5 billion in 2012 (exclusive of tickets) and grew to USD 2.5-2.8 billion in 2013.
The number of online shoppers also more than doubled – 20 million in 2013 from 8 million in 2012. The average consumer basket has grown by 50-80 per cent online. (PTI)
ITeS to see highest attrition at 21%; exits at junior level
NEW DELHI, June 22: With relatively easy recruitment norms, the country’s ITeS industry is expected to see high double-digit attrition rates with most exits likely at the junior levels, says a report.
Going by findings of executive search firm MANCER Consulting, ITeS (Information Technology Enabled Services) will face an overall attrition of 21 per cent – the highest across all industries – this year.
“This sector (ITeS) faces the highest overall attrition rates (21 per cent), closely followed by Media, IT and Pharma sectors,” MANCER Consulting CEO Satya D Sinha said.
While ITeS is likely to witness high exit rates across different levels of management, the maximum attrition (30 per cent) would be recorded among the junior staff.
The junior-level attrition in ITeS is also the highest across industries, the report said.
Sinha said: “Easy entry and exit barriers, with minimum qualifications and skills levels required, makes the junior level staff in ITeS sector less stable workforce.”
Besides, the sector would witness 20 per cent attrition at mid-level management and 13-15 per cent among its top management.
“ITeS sector has earned the reputation of being talent banks, funding the requirements of other sector like retail, health and wellness, entertainment and tourism,” Sinha said.
“Raising the barriers to entry and exit, providing opportunities for brushing up skills and better pay packages can help bring down the attrition levels in the ITeS sector,” he added.
Executive search firm Spectrum Talent Management director Vidur Gupta was of the view that as entry level talent at ITeS firms are paid at par with other industries and therefore “it is not difficult for other firms to poach such talent with a not very substantial hike in compensation”.
Additionally, Gupta said that as “a lot of the junior population working in the industry are undergraduates, with a high likeliness of absence of proper career orientation. A mere salary hike or a more preferred location could be more than good reason for them to change assignments”. (PTI)
Our stolen money in Swiss banks
After evading taxes on money earned through right or wrong means, many “patriotic” Indians have been stashing their wealth in foreign banks, especially in Switzerland. Feeling that their money would be unearthed and accounted for by IT sleuths at home, these “patriots” chose to take it away and deposit in the safe haven of Swiss banks just because of that country’s status of neutrality and banking rules that debar bank authorities from disclosing information about deposits to the third party.
The issue of Indians depositing their unaccounted income or wealth (commonly called black money) inside and outside the country was actually raked up in the context of Bofors gun scandal. Government’s denial of the then PM’s involvement in that scandal did not convince the Opposition. Ever since that event, conjectures have been made about more of black money being stashed in Swiss banks.
When a couple of mega scandals, in which enormous money was involved, came to light during the second stint of UPA Government, the issue of black money in Swiss banks also came to be revived. The Opposition benches in the Parliament then demanded investigation into such illegal deposits abroad and brought pressure on the Government to take up the matter with Swiss authorities.
In March 2011, Indian Finance Ministry commissioned a study on estimation of unaccounted income or wealth both inside and outside the country. It did not complete the study within the given time of 18 months. When the question was raised in the Parliament again, the Finance Minister found alibi in some clauses of the RTI Act and declined to say more.
The then Finance Minister P Chidambaram took up the issue with the Swiss Government asking that details of Indian clients and their credits in Swiss banks be given to the Government of India. He emphasized that the Government of India believed income tax on the money taken out had not been paid and that was contravention of financial rules of the country. Some exchange of letter between former Finance Minister and his Swiss counterpart took place, particularly pertaining to tax regime and a treaty was also signed between the two. But Swiss authorities refused to divulge any information that the Indian Finance Minister was seeking.
In pursuance of BJP’s election manifesto, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of eleven members. Actually the President had made it clear in his address to the opening session of the new parliament that the Government was determined to remove the scourge of corruption and menace of black money.
The most intriguing aspect of black money stashed in Swiss banks is the assessment of its quantum. Various figures are cited and speculation is rife that in any case it is enormous money. According to one speculation it could be in the range of USD 500 billion to 1,400 billion. Global Financial Integrity estimated USD 462 billion. Swiss National Bank disclosed that Indian money in Swiss banks rose by 43 per cent which is 2.03 billion Swiss Francs (equal to Rs. 14000 crore) tilll 2013. The SIT constituted by Modi Government will also try to establish the exact quantum of Indian money deposited in Swiss banks.
On the face of it, we find that the Swiss authorities may not cooperate in divulging the quantum of money stolen from India and deposited in their banks. How much success the Special Investigation Team will achieve in arriving at its terms of reference is a moot point. So far there are no convincing signs that the Swiss Government will be forthcoming in the matter and will respect the sentiments of the Indian people.
At the same time, as the grapevine has it, top political leaders, business magnates and corporate houses could be among the clients of Swiss Banks or the banks in other countries of Europe like France or Germany. The more we rake the issue, the more hatred will grow among the Indians against the unpatriotic people who have let down the nation. Looking in retrospect, though the former Finance Minister did take up the issue with the Swiss Government, yet the thrust needed to push the matter was not there. Naturally it created doubts in the mind of Indians that their elected Government had succumbed to personal aggrandizement and was just not seriously taking up the issue on bilateral and multilateral levels. It should be reminded that scans and corruption had dogged the previous Government. This and the black money taken out of the country clandestinely and deposited in foreign banks, particularly the Swiss banks, were the planks which the opposition exploited against the then ruling party and brought about their disaster.
It is a matter of humiliation that when about 32 per cent of Indians live below poverty line and many of them do not afford two square meals and go empty stomach to bed, such enormous money should have been taken out illegally without paying income tax and deposited in a foreign bank. Imagine if the entire black money estimated to be 6.5 billion Swiss Francs is brought back and invested in national development projects across the country, how much progress can we make and how many people will find means of subsistence.
The entire nation is eager to track the progress of the SIT in this matter. The nation wants that its money should be retrieved from foreign control, invested in mega national projects and the swindlers who duped the nation be given exemplary punishment so that nobody dares to repeat their perfidy.
Governor’s post
Sir,
This has reference to the news item ‘Govt should talk to Governors’ DE June 20.
The Central Government has made its mind to appoint new Governors in place of the incumbent ones. The way this issue has been highlighted through media has taken some sheen off the gubernatorial post.
The new Government led by PM Narendra Modi is expected to lay foundation for a new India where selction of people on responsible posts such as Governor’s is not made on political considerations but on merit. First of all, the gubernatorial post should not be a rehabilitation centre for political ‘rejects’ or party veterans who could not be accommodated in government.
Second there is the option of dispensing with the post. The post does not serve much, other than being ceremonial.
And in case the sanctity of the post is to be maintained then people with political affiliations should not be appointed at all. This is because they are liable to be suspected of favouritism and nepotism.
Yours etc…
Rajesh Sharma
Gangyal Jammu