25 FEBRUARY 2016

Ø  India & Pakistan restores Dosti bus service.

Ø  ndia added 27 new billionaires with Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), emerging at the top with a personal wealth of $26 billion, according to Hurun Global Rich List 2016. Cumulative Indian billionaires’ wealth stood at $308 billion, registering a 25 per cent growth over last year. Mr. Ambani, who is ranked 21st globally, was followed by Sun Pharma promoter, Dilip Shanghvi , with personal wealth of $18 billion. India is home to 111 billionaires and most of them are from Mumbai, according to the report. With the launch of new central government schemes, Make in India push and so on, I see an immense potential for wealth creation in India. I hope India's 2016 budget would simplify tax laws, reduce red tape resulting in an overall increase in transparency. India’s e-commerce leaders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal of Flipkart, with wealth of $1.4 billion, were ranked amongst the 69 billionaires under the age of 40. Globally, 99 new billionaires were added to the list in 2016 to take the total billionaire rich list to a record of 2,188, 50 per cent more than 2013. The rich in China overtook their U.S. counterparts to make Beijing, the `billionaire capital of the world’ for the first time, according to Hurun. In China real estate generated most number of billionaires (117), followed by manufacturing and technology with 94 and 68 respectively. Led by Beijing, five Chinese cities make the top 10 cities for super wealth creators. Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou are home to 100, 64, 50, 46 and 32 billionaires respectively. Average age of the billionaires is 56. China is the number 1 in the world in terms of generating self-made billionaires akin to “rags to riches,” according to the report. Total billionaires wealth increased by nine per cent to $7.3 trillion, more than the GDP of Germany and the U.K. combined and coming close to half that of the U.S. The Hurun Rich list saw 729 individuals’ wealth declining while 102 fell out of last year’s list. The Hurun Rich list saw 729 individuals’ wealth declining while 102 fell out of last year’s list. Commodity price correction dragged down the wealth of metal & mining billionaires. Lakshmi Mittal, 65, lost US$7bn owing to iron ore price correction of 40 per cent as per IMF commodity price data Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun Report, said: “Despite its own slowdown and falling stock markets, China minted more new billionaires than any other country in the world last year, mainly on the back of new listings. Growth in billionaires for the rest of the world was held back by a slowdown in the global economy, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar and the drop in oil prices. The number of billionaires, however, has jumped 50% since 2013.” Hurun Report on Wednesday released the Hurun Global Rich List 2016, a ranking of the US dollar billionaires currently found in the world.

Ø  Captain Sunita Williams, Astronaut with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S., will be in India on a two-day visit beginning on Thursday even as a NASA team is holding discussions with their Indian counterparts to deepen space cooperation. In Delhi, Capt. Williams has a series of engagements addressing students on her journey as an astronaut and women’s empowerment through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. She is also scheduled to discuss the broadening Indo-U.S. space cooperation during the valedictory address on Friday at “The Second Kalpana Chawla Annual Space Policy” organised by the Observer Research Foundation. Capt. Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer of Indian-Slovenian origin.On her earlier visit to India in 2013 she described herself as a “spiritual person who is rooted to India.” Coinciding with the visit a NASA team lead by the Deputy Administrator Dava Newman is at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru for the third face-to-face meeting of the ISRO-NASA Mars Working Group. The working group coordinates observations and science analysis between the NASA and the ISRO’s Mars spacecraft — including India’s Mars Orbiter Mission and the NASA’s MAVEN which arrived at Mars within days of each other in September 2014 – and explores potential cooperation on future missions to Mars.

Ø  China has deployed fighter jets to the same contested island in the South China Sea to which it also has sent surface-to-air missiles. Citing two unnamed U.S. officials, Fox News said US intelligence services had spotted Chinese Shenyang J-11 and Xian JH-7 warplanes on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel Islands chain over the past few days. Navy Captain Darryn James, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, confirmed the report but noted that Chinese fighter jets have previously used the island. Woody Island, which is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, has had an operational airfield since the 1990s but it was upgraded last year.

Ø  India approved a $150 million project to develop the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar, which includes a transit route to Afghanistan bypassing neighbouring Pakistan, a government statement said on Wednesday. New Delhi signed a multi-million-dollar memorandum of understanding with Tehran last May to develop the port on its southeastern coast, but the deal had been stuck since. The approval came at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The statement said the project would “provide opportunities to Indian companies to penetrate and enhance its footprint in the region,” adding: “Cabinet approves provision of credit of $150 million USD to Islamic Republic of Iran for Chabahar port development.”