MediaTek announces Helio G35, Helio G25 chips for budget gaming smartphones

MediaTek Helio G25 and Helio G35 include MediaTek HyperEngine game technology.

MediaTek on Tuesday expanded its G-series mobile processors with the launch of Helio G35 and Helio G25 system-on-chips. The SoCs feature MediaTek HyperEngine game technology for enhanced gaming performance without compromising on the power efficiency. Besides gaming-centric enhancements, the chipsets are touted to bring improvements with regard to imaging capabilities. Targeting the global smartphone user base, the new chips are designed for feature-rich smartphones in budget and midrange segment.

“The MediaTek Helio G25 and G35 chips offer smartphone users premium features included in our other G-series family, including enhanced power efficiency, optimum performance, seamless gameplay, and enhanced photography,” said Dr Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager, Wireless Communications Business Unit, MediaTek.

Both the chips boast ARM Cortex-A53 CPUs, which operate at a peak frequency of up to 2GHz on the Helio G25 and up to 2.3GHz on the Helio G35. The chips have IMG PowerVR GE8320 graphic processing unit, with speeds of up to 650MHz and up to 680 MHz for the MediaTek Helio G25 and G35, respectively. Built on 12nm FinFET production process, the chips feature MediaTek HyperEngine’s intelligent power management for enhanced battery-life and power efficiency.

For imaging, the chips support multi-camera set-up and include a hardware depth engine for dual camera bokeh photography. The G25 supports a single camera mode of up to 21MP at 30fps, while the G35 supports up to 25MP cameras with artificial intelligence-based camera features, including simulated bokeh effects.

There are Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) and Rolling Shutter Compensation (RSC) engines to mitigate warped videos when capturing fast action or panning video. The chips also support AI-camera enhancements such as AI beautification, Smart Photo Album, and enhance precision in bokeh captures.

Know all about Marsha Johnson, the LGBTQ+ activist in today's Google doodle

Marsha is credited as one of the key leaders of the 1969 Stonewall uprising-widely regarded as a critical turning point for the international LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Google on Tuesday honoured LGBTQ+ rights activist Marsha P Johnson for emerging as one of the pioneers of the LGBTQ+ rights movement in the US. Today's Google doodle, illustrated by Los Angeles-based guest artist Rob Gilliam, has shown Marsha with all smiles and sporting her iconic flowery and colourful headgear.

On this day last year, Marsha was posthumously honored as a grand marshal of the New York City Pride March. New York City had also announced plans to erect statues of Marsha and her fellow transgender activist Sylvia Rivera Rivera in Greenwich Village, which will be one of the world's first monuments in honor of transgender people.

Marsha was born Malcolm Michaels Jr. on August 24th, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After graduating high school in 1963, she moved to New York City's Greenwich Village, a burgeoning cultural hub for LGBTQ+ people. Here, she legally changed her name to Marsha P. Johnson. Her middle initial-"P."-allegedly stood for her response to those who questioned her gender: "Pay It No Mind."

Marsha is credited as one of the key leaders of the 1969 Stonewall uprising-widely regarded as a critical turning point for the international LGBTQ+ rights movement. The following year, she founded the Street Transvestite (now Transgender) Action Revolutionaries (STAR) which was the first organisation in the United States to be led by a trans woman of color and was the first to open North America's first shelter for LGBTQ+ youth, said Google.

Digital strike: India bans 59 Chinese mobile apps on security threat

Experts say now service providers may be told to block IP addresses.

India has banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including the popular SHAREit, TikTok, UC Browser, and SHEIN, citing them to be a security threat. The government invoked its powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and relevant provisions under IT Rules 2009 to block these apps, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on Monday.

The move did not come as a surprise as it comes in the backdrop of stand-off along the Line of Actual control in Ladakh with Chinese troops. Other popular apps on the ban list include Club Factory, Helo, and CamScanner. The ministry said it had received complaints about the misuse of some mobile apps available on the Android and iOS platforms “for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data” in an unauthorised manner to servers located outside India. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the Home Ministry, who had had earlier sent an exhaustive recommendation on the apps to be blocked, were consulted on this issue, the MeitY statement said.

“The government believes these are data-mining apps that compromise the user’s data and national security,” said Salman Waris, managing partner at New Delhi-based specialist technology law firm TechLegis Advocates & Solicitors. “The next move could be the Department of Telecom asking internet service providers to block IP addresses and access to these apps.”

Waris said the sentiment could hamper the flow of Chinese capital into Indian start-ups. The government had in April amended the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, saying that an entity of a country, which shared a land border with India, can only invest through the government route.

Cyber attack on NHAI email server, 'prompt action' resulted in no data loss

The government had warned against a large-scale cyberattack against individuals and businesses earlier this month.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday said a cyberattack took place on its email server on Sunday night but prompt action resulted in no data loss.

As a precaution, the Authority had shut down the server.

"A ransom ware attack on NHAI email server took place yesterday night. The attack was foiled by the security system and email servers were shut down from safety point of view," NHAI Chief General Manager, IT, Akhilesh Srivastava, said.

The system is restored now, Srivastava added.

"No data loss took place. NHAI data lake and other systems remained unaffected from this attack," he said.

The government had warned against a large-scale cyberattack against individuals and businesses earlier this month.

India's cyber security nodal agency, CERT-In had issued an advisory warning that the potential phishing attacks could impersonate government agencies, departments and trade bodies that have been tasked to oversee disbursement of government fiscal aid.

The NHAI has been mandated the task to develop, maintain and manage National Highways, the arterial roads of the country, for inter-state movement of passengers and goods.

Covid-19 impact: Finance Commission discusses new tools for education

The Finance Commission discussed the impact of the new tools of education, including online classes and use of other technology amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Finance Commission on Monday discussed the impact of the new tools of education including online classes and use of other technology amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"The meeting was called to discuss the impact of the new tools of pedagogy, including online classes and use of other technology for Education, the need for which have arisen out of the ongoing pandemic," according to the release issued after the meeting of the 15th Finance Commission.

During the meeting with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the commission took into consideration the initiatives taken by Government of India related to Education as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus package designed to fight Economic impact of Covid-19, as per the release.

The meeting, chaired by NK Singh, was held in the presence of HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Minister of State (MHRD), Sanjay Dhotre and all senior officials.

The commission had called for this meeting more specifically for the purpose of making its recommendations in its report for 2020-21 and 2025-26 on the subject of education especially in the time of COVID-19, stated the release.

Meanwhile, the commission also had a detailed discussion with the Department of School Education & Literacy and Department of Higher Education on the necessity of submission of a revised memorandum to the Finance Commission by the Ministry in the light of the recent developments in the sector, it read.

With nearly 190,000 new cases, steepest hike seen globally in 24 hours: WHO

The latest rise to the overall case count is a significant increase from the 179,316 new positive tests reported on Saturday by the WHO.

The global COVID-19 case total has surged past 9.8 million after a single-day record of 189,077 cases were registered worldwide over the past 24 hours, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday (local time).

"Today, we report a record number of new cases in the last 24 hours globally (189,077 cases), with several countries reporting their highest number of new cases in a 24-hour period," the WHO said in its daily statistical bulletin.

The latest rise to the overall case count is a significant increase from the 179,316 new positive tests reported on Saturday by the WHO.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra not to lift lockdown on July 1, to ease curbs gradually: Uddhav

The bulk of the new cases were reported in Brazil and the United States, which confirmed 46,860 and 44,458 new positive tests over the past 24 hours, respectively. A further 19,906 new cases were also reported in India over the past day.

The WHO confirmed on Sunday that 4,612 people died from complications related to the coronavirus disease over the past 24 hours, a drop of 2,254 compared to the corresponding rise to the death toll on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the US-based Johns Hopkins University, whose Coronavirus Response Centre also tallies COVID-19 figures, reported that the global case count has already surpassed 10 million.

Starbucks latest to pause social media ads over call for Facebook's boycott

Facebook's market value dropped Friday by more than 8 per cent, or about $50 billion, as more companies said they would pause ads.

Starbucks is the latest company to say it will pause social media ads after a campaign led by civil rights organizations called for an ad boycott of Facebook, saying it doesn't do enough to stop racist and violent content.

Starbucks said Sunday that its actions were not part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, but that it is pausing its social ads while talking with civil rights organizations and its media partners about how to stop hate speech online.

The coffee chain's announcement follows statements from Unilever, the European consumer-goods giant behind Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap; Coca-Cola; cellphone company Verizon and outdoors companies like Patagonia, Eddie Bauer and REI; film company Magnolia Pictures; jeans maker Levi's and dozens of smaller companies. Some of the companies will pause ads just on Facebook, while others will refrain from advertising more broadly on social media.

In response to companies halting advertising, Facebook executive Carolyn Everson said earlier this week the social networking platform is committed to purging hateful content from its services.

Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organizations are about how, together, we can be a force for good, said Everson, vice president of Facebook's global business group.

Facebook's market value dropped Friday by more than 8 per cent, or about $50 billion, as more companies said they would pause ads.

'PizzaGate' conspiracy theory thrives anew in the TikTok era

The false theory targeting Democrats, now fueled by QAnon and teenagers on TikTok, is entangling new targets like Justin Bieber.

Four minutes into a video that was posted on Instagram last month, Justin Bieber leaned into the camera and adjusted the front of his black knit beanie. For some of his 130 million followers, it was a signal.

In the video, someone had posted a comment asking Bieber to touch his hat if he had been a victim of a child-trafficking ring known as PizzaGate. Thousands of comments were flooding in, and there was no evidence that Bieber had seen that message. But the pop star’s innocuous gesture set off a flurry of online activity, which highlighted the resurgence of one of social media’s early conspiracy theories.

Viewers quickly uploaded hundreds of videos online analysing Bieber’s action. The videos were translated into Spanish, Portuguese and other languages, amassing millions of views. Fans then left thousands of comments on Bieber’s social media posts asking him if he was safe. Within days, searches for “Justin and PizzaGate” soared on Google, and the hashtag #savebieber started trending.

Four years ago, ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the baseless notion that Hillary Clinton and Democratic elites were running a child sex-trafficking ring out of a Washington pizzeria spread across the internet, illustrating how a crackpot idea with no truth to it could blossom on social media — and how dangerous it could be. In December 2016, a vigilante gunman showed up at the restaurant with an assault rifle and opened fire into a closet.

In the years afterward, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube managed to largely suppress PizzaGate. But now, just months before the next presidential election, the conspiracy theory is making a comeback on these platforms — and on new ones such as TikTok — underlining the limits of their efforts to stamp out dangerous speech online and how little has changed despite rising public frustration.

Paytm Payouts processed Rs 1,500 cr in salaries, other benefits for firms

Paytm Payouts is a digital money transfer service for businesses to help them make payments to their employees, vendors and business partners.

Fintech major Paytm on Sunday said Paytm Payouts has processed over Rs 1,500 crore in salaries and other benefits for medium and large enterprises.

Paytm Payouts is a digital money transfer service for businesses to help them make payments to their employees, vendors and business partners.

"During this ongoing lockdown, over 5,000 companies have used Paytm Payouts to pay salaries and food allowances to employees, incentives and rewards to housekeeping, labourers and other contractual staff, and even for expenses like utility bills of their offices," Paytm said in a statement.

Launched this year, Paytm Payouts offers APIs (needed to make apps) or Paytm for Business Dashboard to make bulk payments to bank accounts, UPI addresses, and Paytm Wallets instantly.

"Within 3 months of lockdown, Paytm Payouts has transferred over Rs 1,500 crore either to the Paytm wallet, food wallet, gift voucher, or bank account of millions of beneficiaries," the statement said.

Companies like Pidilite Industries, Schneider Electric and Havmor Icecreams use the service to transfer money to their employees, vendors and business partners such as masons, painters, carpenters, electricians, sellers, etc, it added.

"During the ongoing lockdown, we have witnessed that more organisations are relying on digital money transfers to pay salaries and other benefits to their employees, vendors, and business partners. Paytm Payouts is a unique product that minimises their tasks of tracking and reconciliation of different payments," Paytm Vice President Narendra Yadav said.

Chinese firms take record 50% of global equity raised in first half of 2020

China-based companies sold shares worth $32.1 billion in January-June including multi-billion-dollar secondary listings in Hong Kong.

Firms in China brought in half of equity capital raised globally this year so far, setting a record that highlights the economy's earlier revival from the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the degree to which soured U.S. relations are turning Chinese firms homeward.

China-based companies sold shares worth $32.1 billion in January-June including multi-billion-dollar secondary listings in Hong Kong, equivalent to 49.8% of worldwide offerings, showed data from Refinitiv. The total for U.S. firms was $15.8 billion.

"With massive liquidity injections by various governments (supporting virus-hit economies), I'm not surprised by the size of Chinese capital raised this year - and the trend may continue," Li He, capital markets partner at Davis Polk, said of China firms taking advantage of their early lockdown emergence.

China was hit by the novel coronavirus in December and was the first country to impose virus-prevention lockdown measures on individual movement and business activity in late January. Markets began their return to normality in April.

Chinese fundraising has been helped by the popularity of Shanghai's year-old growth-focused STAR Market, as well as well-received initial public offerings (IPOs) in Hong Kong and the massive secondary listings - including the $3.9 billion raised by e-tailer JD.com Inc this month and $3.1 billion by games developer NetEase Inc

"For Chinese companies, both the Hong Kong and U.S. markets are getting back to normal," said Houston Huang, head of global investment banking for China at JPMorgan. "Market activity (deal volume) is much better than anybody expected at the beginning of the year."

Why India's automobile, pharma sectors are not ready to wean off China

India relies on China for products such as electronic components and drug ingredients because it cannot make them or source them elsewhere as cheap.

Days after a border clash with China this month in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, New Delhi told firms to find ways to cut imports from China. But two big industries, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, say this is easier said than done.
Like many countries, India relies on China for products such as electronic components and drug ingredients because it cannot make them or source them elsewhere as cheaply, company and industry figures say.

Thus any moves to curb imports or make them costlier without developing alternatives will hurt local businesses.

"We don't import because we like to, but because we have no choice," said R.C. Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd , the country's biggest carmaker.

"To attract companies to produce locally, we need to be more competitive and lower our costs compared with other countries."

India imported around $70.3 billion of goods from China in the fiscal year to March 2019, and exported just $16.7 billion - its widest trade deficit with any country.

The government is now consulting with companies on tightening curbs on 1,173 non-essential products, a trade body official said on condition of anonymity. They include toys, plastics, steel items, electronics and specific auto components - which feed vehicle manufacturing.

This is on top of plans to raise trade barriers and import duties on around 300 products from China and elsewhere, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's self-reliance campaign.

Google brings group calling to Nest Hub Max, previews Google Meet features

Currently available in the US, the Nest users can make a group video call with up to 32 participants through Google Duo or with up to 100 participants via Google Meet.

Google has announced group calling feature for its Nest Hub Max smart display through company’s existing video calling services Google Duo and Google Meet. Besides, the company also previewed Google Meet upcoming features like background blur, custom background, polling, etc. for educators and enterprises.

Video calling on Google Nest Hub Max

Currently available in the US, the Nest users can make a group video call with up to 32 participants through Google Duo or with up to 100 participants via Google Meet. To start a group video call through Google Duo using Nest Hub Max, user need to first create groups on the Duo mobile app. Once the groups are created, user can start a group video call through a voice command ‘Hey Google, make a group call’ to Nest Hub Max and tap on the group to connect with.

Besides Nest Hub Max, the Duo group video calling is available on LG XBOOM AI ThinQ WK9 Smart Display, JBL Link View and Lenovo's 8-inch and 10-inch Smart Displays. However, the Meet group video calling is available to Nest Hub Max users only.

Google Meet upcoming features

As for the upcoming Google Meet features, the company said it will soon add more features to its educator and enterprise centric video calling service. These features include hand raising to allow participants in meeting to notify the host when they have a question or something to say, meeting attendance for the host to know who attended the meeting, breakout rooms to split participants into smaller groups for parallel discussions without having to disconnect the video call, Q&A for convenient questions and answers session, and polling for participants to engage.

Fair solution to rate transmission in the works: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

The finance minister told the industry it needed to introspect on how businesses are run and on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, for India to realise the full potential.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday the ministry has been in talks with the Reserve Bank of India as well as banks on why transmission of interest rate reduction was not happening at the pace at which it should.

”The benefit of reducing interest rate should not be denied to the customer. The RBI is engaged with us. Hopefully, we will come up with some fair solution quickly," she said, while addressing a webinar on MSMEs organised by Chennai International Centre. She said she had been made aware of "reasons", but they were “not convincing”.

Responding to complaints that private banks were not providing support under the emergency credit facility, she said she would have “agreed to the comment 10 days back, but now the private banks are getting on board”. She said that while the public sector banks have cumulatively disbursed around Rs 22,200 crore, private sector banks have disbursed around Rs 10,700 crore. “But then, private sector banks have to buck up a bit more,” she said.

She said the government would consider extending the Rs 3-trillion emergency line of credit to include individual proprietors. Also, Sitharaman said, the industry’s suggestion on providing collateral-free credit based on outstanding goods and services tax bills as security would be discussed internally in the ministry before a call is taken.

The finance minister told the industry it needed to introspect on how businesses are run and on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, for India to realise the full potential. Even while understanding that we have the capabilities, for some reason there is no interest to pursue it, she said. Taking manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients in India as an example, she said: “India is a big captive market and there is a need to produce more within the country.”

EXIM Bank is planning to raise $2 bn by end of CY20: MD David Rasquinha

Managing Director David Rasquinha said the bank has enough resources to repay bonds ($500 million) maturing in August.

Export-Import Bank of India (India EXIM Bank) plans to raise $2 billion by end of CY20, for lending and managing repayments.

Managing Director David Rasquinha said the bank has enough resources to repay bonds ($500 million) maturing in August. Further, it will tap the international market H2FY21 for raising additional funds to facilitate long-term lending. India EXIM Bank, fully owned by the Union government, reported a 51 per cent rise in profit to Rs 124 crore for FY20.

Its loan portfolio rose 6.23 per cent to Rs 99,446 crore in March 2020. Capital adequacy ratio improved 106 basis points (bps) to 20.13 per cent.

As regards the refinance window offered by the RBI, he said it acts like a back-up facility or an insurance cover in case of failure to raise money from the market.

There is ample liquidity in hand, and the bank can raise money through bi-lateral and swap lines, Rasquinha added.

During FY20, the lender raised foreign currency resources aggregating $1.9 billion. The fundraising was conducted through a variety of instruments. In January this year, India Exim Bank raised $1 billion at a 10-year tenor, with a coupon rate of 3.25 per cent per annum.

Delisting spree: Investors in India betting on which companies will be next

In the last two months, the majority owners of Vedanta, Adani Power, and Hexaware Technologies have proposed buying out all publicly traded shares amid the coronavirus-induced sell-off in stocks.

A wave of voluntary delisting proposals in the country's $1.8-trillion stock market is stoking bets on which entity will be the next to go private.

In the last two months, the majority owners of Vedanta, Adani Power, and Hexaware Technologies have proposed buying out all publicly traded shares amid the coronavirus-induced sell-off in stocks. With speculation rife that other firms will follow, CNBC-TV18 last month reported that Diageo is exploring options to delist United Spirits, while some traders are betting that US-based Oracle can privatise its Indian unit.

Enthusiasm to invest in shares of public companies that can go private matches a trend seen in Singapore in recent years. The premium for privatisations and takeovers in the city-state averaged about 15 per cent between 2017 and July 2019, according to the data from DBS Bank. The strategy was earlier seen in India after the global financial crisis, and, in 2009, at least one local fund manager opened a fund to buy shares in companies seen to have a high likelihood of delisting.

“I have some stocks that are bets on delisting due to their cash-rich foreign parents,” said Chokkalingam G, head of investment advisory at Equinomics Research & Advisory, adding, “A fall in stock valuations and the rupee is underpinning investments in the likely delisting candidates.”

Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Resources last month was the first to propose delisting of its India listed Vedanta. Its shares had collapsed about 40 per cent between January 1 through May 12 — the day before Adani Power lost 39 per cent of its market value so far in 2020.

Will take action against sale of Patanjali Covid-19 drug in Rajasthan: Govt

Neither has anyone applied to the state government nor has the state government given any permission in this regard, State Health Minister Raghu Sharma said.

Amid the ongoing controversy over Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's company Patanjali Ayurveda introducing "cure" for coronavirus infection, Rajasthan government on Wednesday clarified that this drug cannot be not used as a medicine in the state without the permission of the Ministry of AYUSH.

Neither has anyone applied to the state government nor has the state government given any permission in this regard, State Health Minister Raghu Sharma said.

He said according to the gazette notification issued by the Government of India in April this year, under the Drugs and Cosmetic Act 1940 and 1945, no ayurvedic medicine can sold as medicine for corona infection during COVID-19 pandemic without the approval of Union Ministry of AYUSH.

Strict action will be taken against the seller as per the rules in case of sale of any drug as a medicine to treat the coronavirus infection, the minister added.

Patanjali Ayurveda, while presenting ''Coronil'' medicine on Tuesday had claimed that it has found a cure for coronavirus infection.

Sharma said compliance of the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health, Union Ministry of AYUSH and ICMR is being ensured in the treatment of coronavirus infection in the state.

The health minister said no human clinical test of a drug can be done without the permission of the state government and action will be taken against those who mislead the common people by doing ''clinical trials'' without permission.

Referring to the various guidelines of the central government and other regulatory bodies, Sharma said without their compliance, action will be taken against the publicity and sale of any such means to treat the infection.

Pompeo declares Reliance Jio 'clean' for spurning Huawei telecom gear

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had told US President Donald Trump during his February visit to India that Jio was the only network in the world to not have a single Chinese component.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared Reliance Jio a "clean" network for not using the Chinese company Huawei's equipment, keeping it safe from Beijing's intelligence intrusions.

Listing Jio among the "world's leading" telecom operators, Pompeo said on Wednesday that it was one of the "Clean Telcos" for spurning Huawei, which he called a part of the "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infrastructure."

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had told US President Donald Trump during his February visit to India that Jio was the only network in the world to not have a single Chinese component.

Jio is reportedly trying the 'swadeshi' route for 5G and has applied to the Department of Telecommunications for permission to carry out lab tests for the technology without third-party participation.

Facebook announced a $5.7 billion investment in Jio in April.

Pompeo said that by Jio along with some other Canadian, British and French telecoms was "disconnecting from the Chinese Communist Party infrastructure" by not using Huawei equipment.

"They are rejecting doing business with tools of the CCP surveillance state, companies like Huawei," he added while speaking to the media before the release of the State Department's annual terrorism report.

The US campaign against the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer over fears its gear can be used for espionage has intensified as the company begins its push into the next-generation 5G networks.

IMF projects global economy to shrink by 4.9% this year over Covid-19

The International Monetary Fund has sharply lowered its forecast for global growth this year because it envisions far more severe economic damage.

The International Monetary Fund has sharply lowered its forecast for global growth this year because it envisions far more severe economic damage from the coronavirus than it did just two months ago.

The IMF predicts that the global economy will shrink 4.9 per cent this year, significantly worse than the 3 per cent drop it had estimated in its previous report in April. It would be the worst annual contraction since immediately after World War II.

For the United States, the IMF predicts that the nation's gross domestic product the value of all goods and services produced in the United States will plummet 8 per cent this year, even more than its April estimate of a 5.9 per cent drop. This, too, would be the worst such annual decline since the US economy demobilized in the aftermath of World War II.

The IMF issued its bleaker forecasts Wednesday in an update to the World Economic Outlook it released in April.

The update is generally in line with other recent major forecasts. Earlier this month, for example, the World Bank projected that the global economy would shrink 5.2 per cent this year.

The IMF noted that the pandemic was disproportionately hurting low-income households, imperiling the significant progress made in reducing extreme poverty in the world since 1990.

Former Grab employees' start-up Nextbillionai raises $7 mn in funding

Company has launched an AI-driven mapping solution that customises APIs based on the size of the vehicles.

AI-driven solutions start-up Nextbillionai has raised $7 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Falcon Edge Capital. The company will use the funds to scale up hiring and launch new AI-enabled products.

The company--founded by former Grab executives Ajay Bulusu, Gaurav Bubna and Shaolin Zheng about three months ago--has launched an AI-driven mapping solution that customises APIs based on the size of the vehicles. The company has got 10 clients in India for its first product from sectors such as logistics, ecommerce, food delivery and freight.

“Globally, Google doesn’t provide any API except four wheeler. When you do that. Our first product Nextbillionmaps provides enterprises with a range of APIs like routing, navigation, direction and distance matrix,” said co-founder Bulusu, who is a former Google executive.

The Nextbillionai team aims to build products with AI as the backbone. For this, the founders have hired engineers from global companies like Alibaba, Tencent, TikTok and Google. The second product that the start-up is working on is a full stack AI labelling platform called Nextbilliontasks. The product decodes data and simplifies multi-lingual texts, image classification, and video annotations. It is also working to roll out products in the facial recognition segment.

“The opportunity in solving hyperlocal challenges is huge, and mapping is just one of them. We at Lightspeed are excited by the prospect of partnering with this team as they build a range of turnkey enterprise solutions around Maps, Facial AI and NLP to address the needs of the next billion consumers both in developing and developed markets,” said Hemant Mohapatra, Partner, Lightspeed Ventures.

Criminalising match-fixing in India will be a game-changer: ICC official

Legal experts have been advocating for years the need to criminalise match-fixing in India, the lack of which has meant that the hands of authorities have been tied.

A senior official of the ICC's anti-corruption unit feels that making match-fixing a criminal offence in India will be the "single-most-effective thing" in a country where the police are "operating with one hand tied behind their back" in the absence of any stringent law.

Legal experts have been advocating for years the need to criminalise match-fixing in India, the lack of which has meant that the hands of authorities have been tied when it comes to investigating corruption in the popular sport.

"At the moment with no legislation in place, we'll have good relations with Indian police, but they are operating with one hand tied behind their back," ICC ACU's coordinator of investigations, Steve Richardson, was quoted as saying by 'ESPNcricinfo'.

He added, "We will do everything we can to disrupt the corruptors. And we do, we make life very, very difficult for them as far and as much as we can to stop them from operating freely.

"But the legislation would be a game-changer in India. We have currently just under 50 investigations. The majority of those have links back to corruptors in India.

"So it would be the single-most-effective thing to happen in terms of protecting sport if India introduces match-fixing legislation."

With India set to host two ICC world events in the next three years, Richardson urged the Indian government to frame a legislation on match-fixing like its neighbour Sri Lanka, which became the first major cricket-playing country in South Asia to criminalise the corrupt practice in 2019.

Working to complete contours of Saudi Aramco deal, says Mukesh Ambani

The deal was to be concluded by March 2020 but has been delayed.

Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Tuesday said it is working to complete contours of a USD 15-billion deal with Saudi Aramco but did not give a timeline for its completion.

Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani in August last year announced talks for sale of 20 per cent stake in the oil-to-chemical (O2C) business, which comprises its twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical assets, to the world's largest oil exporter. The deal was to be concluded by March 2020 but has been delayed.

"Reliance is working to complete the contours of a strategic partnership with Saudi Aramco," Ambani said in the firm's latest annual report without giving timelines.

The partnership with Aramco would give Jamnagar refineries "access to a wide portfolio of value-accretive crude grades and enhanced feedstock security for a higher oil-to-chemicals conversion," he said.

Reliance executed on the next phase of its growth journey in 2019-20, forging transformative partnerships across businesses.

"Reliance and Aramco share a common outlook and vision on the evolution of the business in the future with emphasis on higher oil-to-chemicals conversion," the firm said in the annual report.

Also, the firm said it has formed a 51:49 joint venture with BP plc of the UK for automobile and aviation fuel business in India.

OnePlus goes back to making affordable smartphones, launch set for July

The upcoming phone will be a part of company's new smartphone series, which will coexist with company's premium smartphone line-up.

OnePlus is set to start making affordable smartphones once again. In recent years, the Chinese smartphone maker gradually shifted base to premium segment, leaving the midrange segment it once made mainstream in price conscious Indian smartphone market open for others. Now, the company is set to make cheaper OnePlus smartphones, which would launch in India and Europe in July. The upcoming phone will be a part of company’s new smartphone series, which will coexist with company’s premium smartphone line-up.

The company has not officially named the series or the first product. It has neither revealed the exact India launch date plans. However, it has started a new Instagram account for the upcoming series with the name OnePlusLiteZThing, which hints at the possible naming nomenclature. While the technology enthusiasts are calling the upcoming phone the OnePlus Z and OnePlus Nord, there is nothing official and we might get to hear about the products soon as the company is also launching in India its affordable OnePlus smart TVs on July 2.

“Never Settle has always been at the core of OnePlus. For more than 6 years, that has meant working hard to always deliver the best experience for flagship smartphone users. However, as we’ve grown together with our community, we know that there are many people who want a really solid smartphone that meets their everyday needs, and for a more accessible price,” said Pete Lau in a blogpost on OnePlus official forum.

He added, “As we have always done when we try something new, we are going to start relatively small with this new product line by first introducing it in Europe and India.”