What is BPS aka basis points?

What is bps?

 Whenever there is a policy rate changes by RBI, we read this ''term" in newspapers.    The best point is that most of the newspapers also explain the same in one sentence in the same paragraph.   It is a very simple concept and meaning.   

In financial terms, 'one'  Basis Point is a unit  equivalent to  0.01% i.e. 1/100th of a percent.     Thus 10 bps means 0.10% and   100 bps means 1%.    BPs is mostly used to indicate the changes in interest rates and also bond yields.   .

Thus, when news comes that RBI has reduced Repo rate by 25 bps, you should know that it has been reduced by 0.25%, i.e. if the earlier Repo Rate was 4.50%, the new rate will be 4.25%.  Similarly, if you read in the newspaper that bond yields of 10 year GoI Bonds  have gone up by 20 bps in last one month, it means that the yield on bonds have gone up by 0.20%.   Thus, if the a month ago, the yield on 10 year GoI Bonds was 7.90%, the current yield on bonds will be 8.10%.
So, a bond whose yield increases from 5% to 5.5% is said to increase by 50 basis points; or interest rates that have risen 1% are said to have increased by 100 basis points.

For example, if the RBI raises interest rates by 25 basis points, it means that rates have risen by 0.25% percentage points. If rates were at 2.50%, and the Fed raised them by 0.25%, or 25 basis points, the new interest rate would be 2.75%

We have already explained that Basis Point is used for interest rates, but sometimes these days it is used to indicate the changes in the stock too, e.g. some say the stock index has gone up by 150 bps, which clearly means that there is an increase of 1.50% in the value of the stock index.

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What's so cool about CynogenMod?

Micromax has launched the Yu Yureka, which runs on CyanogenMod OS 11 based on Android 4.4.4. The company has earned the exclusive rights to Cyanogen software in India and has even filed a lawsuit against OnePlus for allegedly infringing those rights.
So what’s the deal with Cyanogen and why are manufacturers fighting over its software?
Truth be told, Cyanogen is considered one of the best custom ROMs for Android, where it preserves the stock Android experience while adding additional features. Also, as Cyanogen sends OTA updates for its devices, you won’t have to depend on Micromax to get the latest Android updates.
Here are some of the key features that set CyanogenMod apart from devices running stock Android.
Customisations
One of the biggest advantages of Cyanogen is the vast possibility of customisations it allows. CyanogenMod 11 powered Yu Yureka will let you install theme packs and customise icons, fonts, sound packs and even boot animations. Unlike stock Android, you can change the complete look of your Android device with CyanogenMod. Similarly, you can also add new buttons to the notification dropdown.

Micromax Yureka runs CyanogenMod OS 11.
Privacy Guard
Privacy Guard on CyanogenMod 11 allows users to permit or revoke location, contacts, calendar and SMS/MMS access for apps installed on the device. You can unblock blocked permissions from the notifications feature and a quick reset button lets you disable Privacy Guard and revert to the original app permissions. Not only that, Cyanogenmod 11 lets you pick which apps should be included on start up.
Create Profiles
CyanogenMod comes with the built-in option to create profiles for your smartphone, popularlised by Symbian devices. You can set profiles for different situations, for example, a specific profile that switches of notification sounds, Wi-Fi, GPS and mobile data when you’re sleeping. Or a car profile to switch on GPS and mobile data when you’re driving.

Micromax Yureka allows for personalisation from themes to lock screen and more. Tech2
Equaliser settings
You can get the best possible audio equaliser settings on your CyanogenMod-powered Yureka. The DSP Manager app on CyanogenMod lets you tweak the equaliser settings to get crisp sound when watching videos or playing music.
Call blacklisting
With CyanogenMod, you can blacklist callers that bother you. All you need to do is identify the number from your call log or dialler app, open the profile of the caller and select ‘Add to Blacklist’. CyanogenMod also lets you block unwanted messages from specific contacts.
Next Bit
Cyanogen has partnered with Next Bit, a cloud service that allows Yureka users to save all your games, log in credentials, app settings and other app data on the cloud. As it’s a cloud-based service, you can sync data across multiple devices and maintain the current state of your apps on a different device with the integrated Next Bit app.
 

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Quantitative easing

DEFINITION of 'Quantitative Easing'
An unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases government securities or other securities from the market in order to lower interest rates and increase the money supply. Quantitative easing increases the money supply by flooding financial institutions with capital in an effort to promote increased lending and liquidity. Quantitative easing is considered when short-term interest rates are at or approaching zero, and does not involve the printing of new banknotes.
Typically, central banks target the supply of money by buying or selling government bonds. When the bank seeks to promote economic growth, it buys government bonds, which lowers short-term interest rates and increases the money supply. This strategy loses effectiveness when interest rates approach zero, forcing banks to try other strategies in order to stimulate the economy. QE targets commercial bank and private sector assets instead, and attempts to spur economic growth by encouraging banks to lend money.

 However, if the money supply increases too quickly, quantitative easing can lead to higher rates of inflation. This is due to the fact that there is still a fixed amount of goods for sale when more money is now available in the economy. Additionally, banks may decide to keep funds generated by quantitative easing in reserve rather than lending those funds to individuals and businesses.

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Corporate Communication giants in Europe

Deutsche telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn. Deutsche Telekom was formed in 1996 as the former state-owned monopoly Deutsche Bundespost was privatized. As of June 2008, the German government still holds a 15% stake in company stock directly, and another 17% through the government bank KfW.
T-Mobile International AG is a holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM, UMTS and LTE-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company has financial stakes in mobile operators in both Central and Eastern Europe. The company has financial stakes in mobile operators in both Central and Eastern Europe.
Orange S.A., formerly France Télécom S.A., is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It currently employs about 170,000 people, 105,000 of them in France, and has 230 million customers worldwide.[2] In 2012, the group had revenue of €43.5 billion.[1] Its head office is in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, and the current CEO is Stéphane Richard.
Orange has been the company's main brand for mobile, landline, internet and IPTV services since 2006. The brand originated in 1994 when Hutchison Whampoa acquired a controlling stake in Microtel Communications during the early 1990s and rebranded it as Orange. It became a subsidiary of Mannesmann in 1999 and was acquired by France Télécom in 2000. The company was rebranded as Orange in July 2013.[3]

EE, formerly Everything Everywhere, is a mobile network operator and internet service provider. As of November 2014, they also offer an IPTV service through their EE TV Box. The company is headquartered in Hatfield, United Kingdom. It is the largest mobile network operator in the UK, with around 28 million customers.[4] It operates under the EE, Orange and T-Mobile brands and currently only offers its services within the UK.
EE is a 50:50 joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange S.A., formed in 2010 through the merger of their respective T-Mobile and Orange businesses in the UK.[5][6]
In addition to Hatfield, EE has main offices in Bristol, Darlington, North Tyneside and London.[7]

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. The term usually refers to a company that does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies to form a corporate group. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow the ownership and control of a number of different companies.
In the United States, 80% or more of stock, in voting and value, must be owned before tax consolidation benefits such as tax-free dividends can be claimed.[1] That is, if Company A owns 80% or more of the stock of Company B, Company A will not pay taxes on dividends paid by Company B to its stockholders, as the payment of dividends from B to A is essentially Company A switching cash from one of its pockets to another. Any other shareholders of Company B will pay the usual taxes on dividends, as they are legitimate and ordinary dividends to these stockholders.
Sometimes a company intended to be a pure holding company identifies itself as such by adding "Holdings" or "(Holdings)" to its name.
After the financial crisis of 2007–08, many U.S. investment banks converted to holding companies. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's (FFIEC) website, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., and Goldman Sachs Groups, Inc. were the five largest bank holdings companies in the finance sector, as of 31 December 2013, based on total assets.[2]
Shares outstanding are all the shares of a corporation or financial asset that have been authorized, issued and purchased by investors and are held by them. They have rights and represent ownership in the corporation by the person that holds the shares. They are distinguished from treasury shares, which are shares held by the corporation itself and have no exercisable rights. Shares outstanding plus treasury shares together amount to the number of issued shares.
Shares outstanding can be calculated as either basic or fully diluted. The basic count is the current number of shares. Dividend distributions and voting in the general meeting of shareholders are calculated according to this number. The fully diluted shares outstanding count, on the other hand, includes diluting securities, such as warrants, capital notes or convertibles. If the company has any diluting securities, this indicates the potential future increased number of shares outstanding.

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Stem sells could revitalize vision

A study published today in Science Translational Medicine claims to have discovered potent stem cells in the eye that have the ability to restore lost eye sight. According to the researchers from city-based premier eye institute and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, US these stem cells would help restore vision in millions of individuals globally in the future, serving as a potential alternative to corneal transplantation, required in patients who have lost vision following an infection or an injury to the cornea
Dr Sayan Basu, Consultant Corneal Surgeon, LV Prasad Eye Institute explains that the stromal cells were obtained from the area between the white and black part of the eyeball called the limbus. These cells when applied to damaged corneas healed them within four weeks of treatment. The treatment was tested by Basu, along with James L Funderburgh, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, US, on an experimental model of human eyes with corneal scarring. In an earlier study, researchers had discovered a method to regrow corneal tissue using the limbal cells called ABCB5 molecule. The researchers used antibodies for detection of ABCB5 to zero in on the stem cells in tissue obtained from deceased human donors. They were used to to regrow anatomically correct, fully functional human corneas in mice
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are cells that possess the ability to renew themselves. They also have the property of differentiating themselves into specialised cells to perform special functions depending on the environment they are grown in
The narcotics market in the city of Mumbai is cashing on the new drug Mephedrone, Meow Meow as it is commonly known. A number of fresh cases have been reported against this drug. It was introduced in India last year and the sales were expected to sky rocket on the New Years Eve.

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Castor Oil: Best for Winter

Winter season is here and it also brings the various skin and hair related problems. Castor oil is one amazing natural product that can help to solve out numerous problems.
Read on to know a few health benefits of castor oil:
-Castor oil is the answer for almost all of your hair queries. Applying castor oil regularly into your scalp boosts blood circulation and provides necessary oxygen, thereby leading to hair growth. Also, it is a rich source of vitamin E and omega-6 fatty acids that help retain hair moisture and prevent split ends and breakage.
-Applying castor oil on corns Corns or calluses can work wonders as it acts as a softener.
-When applied on skin during winter season, castor oil penetrates deep inside the skin and help prevent wrinkles and fine lines.
-It is also used to remove scars as it penetrates deeep inside the skin and promote the growth of healthy tissues thereby preventing scars.
-Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, massaging castor oil can greatly help in trating joint pains, sore muscles and even arthritis

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What is TVR's?

TVRs (Television Viewer Ratings) are the standard buying currency for television advertising in the UK. Television ratings are expressed as a percentage of the potential TV audience viewing at any given time. It Measures the popularity of a program or advert by comparing the number of target audience viewers who watched against the total available as a whole. One TVR is equivalent to 1% of a target audience. If an ad in any afternoon show gets a Housewives TVR of 20, that means that 20% of all Housewives viewed the ad. TVR=Reach x Time Spent

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Deflation - Its definition and examples from today

When the overall price level decreases so that inflation rate becomes negative, it is called deflation. It is the opposite of inflation.
Definition: When the overall price level decreases so that inflation rate becomes negative, it is called deflation. It is the opposite of the often-encountered inflation.
Description: A reduction in money supply or credit availability is the reason for deflation in most cases. Reduced investment spending by government or individuals may also lead to this situation. Deflation leads to a problem of increased unemployment due to slack in demand.
Central banks aim to keep the overall price level stable by avoiding situations of severe deflation/inflation. They may infuse a higher money supply into the economy to counter- balance the deflationary impact. In most cases, a depression occurs when the supply of goods is more than that of money.

Deflation is different from disinflation as the latter implies decrease in the level of inflation whereas on the other hand deflation implies negative inflation.
In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services.[1] Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0% (a negative inflation rate). This should not be confused with disinflation, a slow-down in the inflation rate (i.e., when inflation declines to lower levels).[2] Inflation reduces the real value of money over time; conversely, deflation increases the real value of money –- the currency of a national or regional economy. This allows one to buy more goods with the same amount of money over time.
Economists generally believe that deflation is a problem in a modern economy because it increases the real value of debt, and may aggravate recessions and lead to a deflationary spiral.[3] Historically not all episodes of deflation correspond with periods of poor economic growth.[4] Deflation occurred periodically in the U.S. during the 19th century (the most important exception was during the Civil War). This deflation was at times caused by technological progress that created significant economic growth, but at other times it was triggered by financial crises — notably the Panic of 1837 which caused deflation through 1844, and the Panic of 1873 which triggered the Long Depression that lasted until 1879.[5][6][7] These deflationary periods preceded the establishment of the U.S. Federal Reserve System and its active management of monetary matters. However, episodes of deflation have been rare and brief since the Federal Reserve was created (a notable exception being the Great Depression) while American economic progress has been unprecedented.
Although the values of capital assets are often casually said to "deflate" when they decline, this should not be confused with deflation as a defined term; a more accurate description for a decrease in the value of a capital asset is economic depreciation
Deflation started in the early 1990s in Japan. The Bank of Japan and the government tried to eliminate it by reducing interest rates and 'quantitative easing', but did not create a sustained increase in broad money and deflation persisted. In July 2006, the zero-rate policy was ended.
Systemic reasons for deflation in Japan can be said to include:
• Tight monetary conditions. The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy loose only when inflation was below zero, tightening whenever deflation ends.[34]
• Unfavorable demographics. Japan has an aging population (22.6% over age 65) that is not growing and will soon start a long decline. The Japanese death rate recently exceeded its birth rate.
• Fallen asset prices. In the case of Japan asset price deflation was a mean reversion or correction back to the price level that prevailed before the asset bubble. There was a rather large price bubble in stocks and especially real estate in Japan in the 1980s (peaking in late 1989).
• Insolvent companies: Banks lent to companies and individuals that invested in real estate. When real estate values dropped, these loans could not be paid. The banks could try to collect on the collateral (land), but this wouldn't pay off the loan. Banks delayed that decision, hoping asset prices would improve. These delays were allowed by national banking regulators. Some banks made even more loans to these companies that are used to service the debt they already had. This continuing process is known as maintaining an "unrealized loss", and until the assets are completely revalued and/or sold off (and the loss realized), it will continue to be a deflationary force in the economy. Improving bankruptcy law, land transfer law, and tax law have been suggested (by The Economist) as methods to speed this process and thus end the deflation.
• Insolvent banks: Banks with a larger percentage of their loans which are "non-performing", that is to say, they are not receiving payments on them, but have not yet written them off, cannot lend more money; they must increase their cash reserves to cover the bad loans.
• Fear of insolvent banks: Japanese people are afraid that banks will collapse so they prefer to buy (United States or Japanese) Treasury bonds instead of saving their money in a bank account. This likewise means the money is not available for lending and therefore economic growth. This means that the savings rate depresses consumption, but does not appear in the economy in an efficient form to spur new investment. People also save by owning real estate, further slowing growth, since it inflates land prices.
• Imported deflation: Japan imports Chinese and other countries' inexpensive consumable goods (due to lower wages and fast growth in those countries) and inexpensive raw materials, many of which reached all time real price minimums in the early 2000s. Thus, prices of imported products are decreasing. Domestic producers must match these prices in order to remain competitive. This decreases prices for many things in the economy, and thus is deflationary.
• Stimulus Spending: According to both Austrian and Monetarist economic theory, Keynesian 'stimulus' spending actually has a depressing effect. This is because the government is competing against private industry, and usurping private investment dollars.[35] In 1998, for example, Japan produced a 'stimulus' package of more than 16 trillion Yen, over half of it public works that would have a quashing effect on an equivalent amount of private, wealth-creating economic activity.[36]

Overall, Japan's 'stimulus' packages added up to over one hundred trillion Yen, and yet they failed. According to these economic schools, that 'stimulus' money actually perpetuated the problem it was intended to cure.
In November 2009 Japan has returned to deflation, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg L.P. reports that consumer prices fell in October 2009 by a near-record 2.2%


Eurozone is believed to be plunging into deflation as japan. The interest rates are kept low by ECB to improve influx of money into market. Value of debt increases . Suppose you had a debt of 100 Euro. Inflation means after some time it becomes smaller unit. Deflation means it becomes larger unit.  Hence debt market is affected most. That’s the turmoil in Greece now. The largest return on bond after india is Greece. The problem is that due to deflaton, the value of money of debt has increased. So when you get return after maturity, the value of money is more because of deflation. Hence if you exchange it,  the exchange money you get is more!!! Egs 100 euros bond you purchased. If you getting returns it after 1 year , due to deflation you get more rupees  after exchange.
The ECB is relying on a weaker euro as its main defence against deflation but Japan’s travails shows that this is a risky strategy without powerful action to back it up. Stephen Jen from SLJ Macro Partners said it will take very large outflows of capital to offset the eurozone’s current account surplus of €230bn, and then to push the exchange rate down to €1.20 against the dollar, the minimum level needed to kick start a recovery. “If the ECB’s actions are too weak, the euro could perversely appreciate, just as the yen did from 1990 to 2012,” he said.
The Greek government-debt crisis is part of the ongoing European debt crisis, being triggered by the turmoil of the Great Recession, and believed to have been directly caused locally in Greece by a combination of structural weaknesses of the Greek economy along with a decade long pre-existence of overly high structural deficits and debt-to-GDP levels on public accounts. In late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning Greece's ability to meet its debt obligations, due to a reported strong increase in government debt levels along with continued existence of high structural deficits.  This led to a crisis of confidence, indicated by a widening of bond yield spreads and the cost of risk insurance on credit default swaps compared to the other countries in the Eurozone, most importantly Germany.

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Has US overtaken Russia and Saudi as largest Oil producer?

Surpassing Saudi

U.S. oil output will surge to 13.1 million barrels a day in 2019 and plateau thereafter, according to the IEA, a Paris-based adviser to 29 nations. The country will lose its top-producer ranking at the start of the 2030s, the agency said in its World Energy Outlook in November.

“It’s very likely the U.S. stays as No. 1 producer for the rest of the year” as output is set to increase in the second half, Blanch said. Production growth outside the U.S. has been lower than the bank anticipated, keeping global oil prices high, he said.

Partly as a result of the shale boom, WTI futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange remain at a discount of about $7 a barrel to their European counterpart, the Brent contract on ICE Futures Europe’s London-based exchange. WTI was at $103.74 a barrel as of 4:13 p.m. London time.

Islamist Insurgency

“The shale production story is bigger than Iraqi production, but it hasn’t made the impact on prices you would expect,” said Blanch. “Typically such a large energy supply growth should bring prices lower, but in fact we’re not seeing that because the whole geopolitical situation outside the U.S. is dreadful.”

Territorial gains in northern Iraq by a group calling itself the Islamic State has spurred concerns that oil flows could be disrupted in the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. Exports from Libya have been reduced by protests, while Nigeria’s production is crimped by oil theft and sabotage.

Libya will resume exports as soon as possible from two oil ports in the country’s east after taking back control from rebels who blocked crude shipments for the past year, Mohamed Elharari, spokesman for the state-run National Oil Corp., said by phone yesterday from Tripoli.

The U.S. will consolidate its position as the world’s biggest producer in the coming months if returning Libyan supply limits the need for Saudi barrels, said Julian Lee, an oil strategist who writes for Bloomberg News First Word. The observations he makes are his own.

Record Investment

“There’s a very strong linkage between oil production growth, economic growth and wage growth across a range of U.S. states,” Blanch said. Annual investment in oil and gas in the country is at a record $200 billion, reaching 20 percent of the country’s total private fixed-structure spending for the first time, he said.

A U.S. Commerce Department decision to allow the overseas shipment of processed ultra-light oil called condensate has fanned speculation the nation may ease its four-decade ban on most crude exports. Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Enterprise Products Partners LP will be allowed to export condensate, provided it is first subject to preliminary distillation, the companies said June 25.

The decision was “a positive first step” to dispersing the build-up of crude supply in North America, Bank of America said in a report on June 27. The U.S. could potentially have daily exports of 1 million barrels of crude, including 300,000 of condensate, by the end of the year, according to a June 25 report from Citigroup Inc.

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What happened to pluto?

Pluto was first discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. Astronomers had long predicted that there would be a ninth planet in the Solar System, which they called Planet X. Only 22 at the time, Tombaugh was given the laborious task of comparing photographic plates. These were two images of a region of the sky, taken two weeks apart. Any moving object, like an asteroid, comet or planet, would appear to jump from one photograph to the next.

After a year of observations, Tombaugh finally discovered an object in the right orbit, and declared that he had discovered Planet X. Because they had discovered it, the Lowell team were allowed to name it. They settled on Pluto, a name suggested by an 11-year old school girl in Oxford, England (no, it wasn’t named after the Disney character, but the Roman god of the underworld).

The Solar System now had 9 planets.

Astronomers weren’t sure about Pluto’s mass until the discovery of its largest Moon, Charon, in 1978. And by knowing its mass (0.0021 Earths), they could more accurately gauge its size. The most accurate measurement currently gives the size of Pluto at 2,400 km (1,500 miles) across. Although this is small, Mercury is only 4,880 km (3,032 miles) across. Pluto is tiny, but it was considered larger than anything else past the orbit of Neptune.

Over the last few decades, powerful new ground and space-based observatories have completely changed previous understanding of the outer Solar System. Instead of being the only planet in its region, like the rest of the Solar System, Pluto and its moons are now known to be just a large example of a collection of objects called the Kuiper Belt. This region extends from the orbit of Neptune out to 55 astronomical units (55 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun).

Astronomers estimate that there are at least 70,000 icy objects, with the same composition as Pluto, that measure 100 km across or more in the Kuiper Belt. And according to the new rules, Pluto is not a planet. It’s just another Kuiper Belt object.

Here’s the problem. Astronomers had been turning up larger and larger objects in the Kuiper Belt. 2005 FY9, discovered by Caltech astronomer Mike Brown and his team is only a little smaller than Pluto. And there are several other Kuiper Belt objects in that same classification.
Astronomers realized that it was only a matter of time before an object larger than Pluto was discovered in the Kuiper Belt.

And in 2005, Mike Brown and his team dropped the bombshell. They had discovered an object, further out than the orbit of Pluto that was probably the same size, or even larger. Officially named 2003 UB313, the object was later designated as Eris. Since its discovery, astronomers have determined that Eris’ size is approximately 2,600 km (1,600 miles) across. It also has approximately 25% more mass than Pluto.
With Eris being larger, made of the same ice/rock mixture, and more massive than Pluto, the concept that we have nine planets in the Solar System began to fall apart. What is Eris, planet or Kuiper Belt Object; what is Pluto, for that matter? Astronomers decided they would make a final decision about the definition of a planet at the XXVIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, which was held from August 14 to August 25, 2006 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Astronomers from the association were given the opportunity to vote on the definition of planets. One version of the definition would have actually boosted the number of planets to 12; Pluto was still a planet, and so were Eris and even Ceres, which had been thought of as the largest asteroid. A different proposal kept the total at 9, defining the planets as just the familiar ones we know without any scientific rationale, and a third would drop the number of planets down to 8, and Pluto would be out of the planet club. But, then… what is Pluto?
In the end, astronomers voted for the controversial decision of demoting Pluto (and Eris) down to the newly created classification of “dwarf planet”.
Is Pluto a planet? Does it qualify? For an object to be a planet, it needs to meet these three requirements defined by the IAU:
• It needs to be in orbit around the Sun – Yes, so maybe Pluto is a planet.
• It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape – Pluto…check
• It needs to have “cleared the neighborhood” of its orbit – Uh oh. Here’s the rule breaker. According to this, Pluto is not a planet.
What does “cleared its neighborhood” mean? As planets form, they become the dominant gravitational body in their orbit in the Solar System. As they interact with other, smaller objects, they either consume them, or sling them away with their gravity. Pluto is only 0.07 times the mass of the other objects in its orbit. The Earth, in comparison, has 1.7 million times the mass of the other objects in its orbit.
Any object that doesn’t meet this 3rd criteria is considered a dwarf planet. And so, Pluto is a dwarf planet. There are still many objects with similar size and mass to Pluto jostling around in its orbit. And until Pluto crashes into many of them and gains mass, it will remain a dwarf planet. Eris suffers from the same problem.
It’s not impossible to imagine a future, though, where astronomers discover a large enough object in the distant Solar System that could qualify for planethood status. Then our Solar System would have 9 planets again.
Even though Pluto is a dwarf planet, and no longer officially a planet, it’ll still be a fascinating target for study. And that’s why NASA has sent their New Horizons spacecraft off to visit it. New Horizons will reach Pluto in July 2015, and capture the first close-up images of the (dwarf) planet’s surface

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F22 Raptor vs EF Typhoon vs Chengdu J20

The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor has for long been claimed to be the best air superiority fighter ever built, even before it was actually completed American officials said that with its stealth technology it would outperform any fighter that stood in its way without even being seen. But has this changed since its release in 1997?
F-22 is a very capable fighter, but since its release in 1997 there has come new competitors to the world, very many generation 4.5 jets has been built by both the Russians, the US, France and Germany. Therefore even though the Raptor is an extremely good fighter, every fighter has flaws that others can take advantage of, one fighter which is capable of using the F-22’s weakness is the German Eurofighter Typhoon.

 
The EF Typhoon is a 4.5 generation multirole fighter which was introduced in 2003 by its creators BAE Systems, Airbus group and Alenia Aermacchi where it showed off a delta wing setup with canards and a brand new twin engine. The reason for it not to be a generation 5 fighter is the fact that it does not have stealth properties. But what it does have which it was very new with when it came is its P.I.R.A.T.E – IRST (InfraRedSearchandTrack) system. This picks up heat changes around it and can by this spot subsonic aircrafts as far away as up to 100km+(The Germans say). This means that the Typhoon can still shoot its advanced IR-tracking missiles at a target, even though its enemy has stealth features.

The Chengdu J-20 fifth-generation fighter jet
China is also developing a second fifth-generation stealth aircraft called the J-20. The J-20 is only in its prototype phase, and is further from a full rollout than the more-developed F-35. But the plane could still be a game changer within Asia, and the aircraft has been at least partially modeled off of stolen F-22 and F-35 plans. The J-20 could hypothetically reach targets within Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Whereas the J-20 is largely seen as a copy of US aircraft, the J-31 will be smaller, sleeker, and more original in its design, assuming it flies in its intended form. Vladimir Barkovsky, chief of the Russian MiG aircraft design bureau, has called the J-31 a "well-done indigenous design."
A likely candidate for the purchase of a Chinese fifth-generation fighter would be Pakistan. The two nations had previously jointly developed an advanced fighter and Pakistan receives 54% of its arms from China.
China's sale of a fifth-generation fighter to Pakistan might feed into regional tensions with India - Pakistan's bigger geopolitical opponent is currently co-developing a fifth-generation fighter with Russia

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Tabare Vazquez wins Presidential Elections

Former president of Uruguay Tabare Vazquez won the presidential elections on Sunday, and will take over from current president Mujica in March
Tabare Vazquez won back his old job as president of Uruguay in a runoff election on Sunday, extending the decade-long rule of a leftist coalition and allowing it to roll out a groundbreaking law that legalizes the production and sale of marijuana.
Vazquez won comfortably with 52.8 percent support while his center-right challenger, Luis Lacalle Pou, trailed on 40.5 percent, official results showed late on Sunday night.

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Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are both aspects of strategic management, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or new location, without creating a subsidiary, other child entity or using a joint venture.
M&A can be defined as a type of restructuring in that they result in some entity reorganization with the aim to provide growth or positive value. Consolidation of an industry or sector occurs when widespread M&A activity concentrates the resources of many small companies into a few larger ones, such as occurred with the automotive industry between 1910 and 1940.
The distinction between a "merger" and an "acquisition" has become increasingly blurred in various respects (particularly in terms of the ultimate economic outcome), although it has not completely disappeared in all situations. From a legal point of view, a merger is a legal consolidation of two companies into one entity, whereas an acquisition occurs when one company takes over another and completely establishes itself as the new owner (in which case the target company still exists as an independent legal entity controlled by the acquirer). Either structure can result in the economic and financial consolidation of the two entities. In practice, a deal that is an acquisition for legal purposes may be euphemistically called a "merger of equals" if both CEOs agree that joining together is in the best interest of both of their companies, while when the deal is unfriendly (that is, when the target company does not want to be purchased) it is almost always regarded as an "acquisition".

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BIS - Bank of International Settlements

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS)  is an international organization of central banks which "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks".

The BIS carries out its work through subcommittees, the secretariats it hosts and through an annual general meeting of all member banks. It also provides banking services, but only to central banks and other international organizations. It is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City.

BIS also stands for Bureau of Indian Standards as well as Bureau of Industry and Services

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Depreciation

DEFINITION of 'Depreciation'
1. A method of allocating the cost of a tangible asset over its useful life. Businesses depreciate long-term assets for both tax and accounting purposes.
2. A decrease in an asset's value caused by unfavorable market conditions.

For accounting purposes, depreciation indicates how much of an asset's value has been used up. For tax purposes, businesses can deduct the cost of the tangible assets they purchase as business expenses; however, businesses must depreciate these assets in accordance with IRS rules about how and when the deduction may be taken based on what the asset is and how long it will last.

Depreciation is used in accounting to try to match the expense of an asset to the income that the asset helps the company earn. For example, if a company buys a piece of equipment for $1 million and expects it to have a useful life of 10 years, it will be depreciated over 10 years. Every accounting year, the company will expense $100,000 (assuming straight-line depreciation), which will be matched with the money that the equipment helps to make each year.

Currency and real estate are two examples of assets that can depreciate or lose value. During the infamous Russian ruble crisis in 1998, the ruble lost 25% of its value in one day. During the housing crisis of 2008, homeowners in the hardest-hit areas, such as Las Vegas, saw the value of their homes depreciate by as much as 50%.

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VAT- Value Added Tax

DEFINITION of 'Value-Added Tax - VAT'

A type of consumption tax that is placed on a product whenever value is added at a stage of production and at final sale. Value-added tax (VAT) is most often used in the European Union. The amount of value-added tax that the user pays is the cost of the product, less any of the costs of materials used in the product that have already been taxed.

For example when a television is built by a company in Europe the manufacturer is charged a value-added tax on all of the supplies they purchase for producing the television. Once the television reaches the shelf, the consumer who purchases it must pay the value-added tax that applies to him or her.

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What is FII's?

DEFINITION of 'Foreign Institutional Investor - FII'

An investor or investment fund that is from or registered in a country outside of the one in which it is currently investing. Institutional investors include hedge funds, insurance companies, pension funds and mutual funds. The term is used most commonly in India to refer to outside companies investing in the financial markets of India. International institutional investors must register with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to participate in the market. One of the major market regulations pertaining to FIIs involves placing limits on FII ownership in Indian companies.

These investment proposals by the FIIs are made on behalf of sub accounts, which may include foreign corporates, individuals, funds etcetera. In order to act as a banker to the FIIs, the RBI has designated banks that are authorised to deal with them. The biggest source through which FIIs invest is the issuance of Participatory Notes (P-Notes), which are also known as Offshore Derivatives.
Yes, FIIs can invest in the stocks and debentures of the Indian companies. In order to invest in the primary and secondary capital markets in India, they have to venture through the portfolio investment scheme (PIS). According to RBI regulations, the ceiling for overall investment for FIIs is 24% of the paid up capital of the Indian company. The limit is 20% of the paid up capital in the case of public sector banks. However, if the board and the general body approves and passes a special resolution, then the ceiling of 24% for FII investment can be raised up to sectoral cap for that particular segment. In fact, recently Sebi allowed FIIs to invest in unlisted exchanges as well, which means both BSE and NSE (the unlisted bourses) can now allot shares to FIIs also.

There is a long list of entities that are eligible to get registered as FIIs such as pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, investment trusts, banks, university funds, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and charitable trusts. In fact, asset management companies, investment managers, advisors or institutional portfolio managers set up and/or owned by NRIs are also eligible to be registered as FIIs. The nodal point for FII registrations is Sebi and hence all FIIs must register themselves with Sebi and should also comply with the exchange control regulations of the central bank. Apart from being allowed to invest in securities in primary and secondary markets, FIIs can also invest in mutual funds, dated government securities, derivatives traded on a recognised stock exchange and commercial papers.

Why are FIIs important for Indian mkts?
FIIs are among the major sources of liquidity for the Indian markets. If FIIs are investing huge amounts in the Indian stock exchanges then it reflects their high confidence and a healthy investor sentiment for our markets. But with the current global financial turmoil and a liquidity and credit freeze in the international markets, FIIs have become net sellers (on a day to day basis). The entry of FIIs in India has brought mixed consequences for our markets, on one hand they have improved the breadth and depth of Indian markets and on the other hand they have also become the major sources of speculation in testing times like these

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How a young engineer hoodwinked an entire nation

The story of 27-year-old Arun P Vijayakumar is a story about courage and sheer machismo. He has proven to the world that there is no limit to imagination.
Arun, a native of Manimala in Kottayam district in Kerala, made the entire nation proud when he said that he had been accepted as a research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the US, according to this report in The Hindu.
As he came from a family with financial problems, Arun obviously got a lot of attention from the media, as all 'Zero to Hero' stories frequently do. The poor, struggling Arun had always been interested in research-based work, artificial intelligence and the search for extraterrestrial life. Such nobility!
As if his NASA achievement was not enough, the very honest Arun also said that he is a doctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) doing research under Dr Barbara Lesko in learning theory. Like a cool scientist from Independence Day, Arun also proclaimed that he would be working with US scientists for the search of extraterrestrial life, adding that he would even get his own workstation. And thus, Arun would go to the US and become a scientist studying aliens and live happily ever after.
The minor problem, however, is that this entire fairytale narrated by Satyavadi Arun was a blatant lie. According to this report in the Deccan Chronicle, the entire story of NASA, MIT scientist studying aliens so beautifully constructed by Arun was revealed to be a hoax by a senior police officer after he got an input from 'Netizen police', a Facebook initiative by the police.
Crossing all limits of shamelessness, Arun had even claimed that he had been congratulated by PM Narendra Modi himself and had even talked to former President APJ Abdul Kalam about his 'projects'. This heroic claim was also revealed to be a lie.
In The Hindu report, Arun had said, "I am informed that I will be assigned to the study of Geo-intelligence framework for Astro biological research, a subject that I closely worked during my research proposals." One cannot help but wonder whether Honest Arun even knew the meaning of the words 'geo-intelligence framework' and 'atro biological research'.
Even Arun's parents admitted that their son was not associated with NASA, according to this Manorama Online report. By claiming that his passport was in the US before his mother later herself produced his passport along with other documents to the police, Arun taught the world how not to make your family proud.
The most shocking part of Arun's story, however, is his motive. Police claim his motive was just to get fame. In other words, Arun cooked up this entire story may be to just be cool in front of girls and tell them that he was a NASA super-scientist who was going to save the world from aliens!
Even after all this drama, Arun has still stuck to his claim and said that he would return to the US next month, despite having never been to the US in the first place. This man has clearly shown the limitlessness of human imagination as he successfully managed to hoodwink an entire country into believing his beautiful lie.

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Ponzi Scheme and Saradha Scam

Definition

A fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. The Ponzi scheme generates returns for older investors by acquiring new investors. This scam actually yields the promised returns to earlier investors, as long as there are more new investors. These schemes usually collapse on themselves when the new investments stop.
The Ponzi scam is named after Charles Ponzi, a clerk in Boston who first orchestrated such a scheme in 1919.
A Ponzi scheme is similar to a pyramid scheme in that both are based on using new investors' funds to pay the earlier backers. One difference between the two schemes is that the Ponzi mastermind gathers all relevant funds from new investors and then distributes them. Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, allow each investor to directly benefit depending on how many new investors are recruited. In this case, the person on the top of the pyramid does not at any point have access to all the money in the system.
The Ponzi scam is named after Charles Ponzi, a clerk in Boston who first orchestrated such a scheme in 1919.
A Ponzi scheme is similar to a pyramid scheme in that both are based on using new investors' funds to pay the earlier backers. One difference between the two schemes is that the Ponzi mastermind gathers all relevant funds from new investors and then distributes them. Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, allow each investor to directly benefit depending on how many new investors are recruited. In this case, the person on the top of the pyramid does not at any point have access to all the money in the system.

Saradha Scam

As a multi-agency probe continues in Saradha scam, findings of one official investigation suggests that the group floated at least 279 companies to channelise money collected from gullible investors as part of a vast 'ponzi' network.

Most of these firms have been found to be 'in-operational' and were utilised for the sole purpose of multi-routing of funds to hide the money trail, while close to Rs. 2,500 crore were raised by just four companies.

The probe, conducted by the Corporate Affairs Ministry's white-collar crime investigation agency Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), also found that these four companies collected 96 per cent money from small investors who deposited less than Rs. 50,000 each. The money was mobilised through a vast network of nearly 3 lakh agents, sources said citing an over 500-page SFIO probe report.

The scam, wherein lakhs of investors in West Bengal and neighbouring states were lured into illegal money pooling activities, came to light early last year amid allegations that a section of Trinamool Congress leaders were involved.

Initially, it came out to be known as 'Saradha chit fund scam' although none of Saradha group entities were registered as 'chit funds'. However, it has become the first major case in India to officially get a 'ponzi' tag after submission of final probe report of the SFIO to the government.

Like a typical ponzi scheme, Saradha was found to be paying returns to older investors from money collected from newer subscribers to its 'bonds and policies'.

Such activities came to be known as ponzi schemes after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious in the US in the 1920s for deploying this technique while promising 50 per cent return on investments in 45 days and 100 per cent within 90 days.

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"India's Mangalyaan among top inventions of 2014" - Times Magazine

India’s Mars satellite is among Time’s list of top inventions of 2014 that includes levitating skateboards, superbananas that prevent blindness, Ebola fighting filter, and a tablet that translates sign language.

Dubbing it the supersmart spacecraft, Time said: “Nobody gets Mars right on the first try. The US didn’t, Russia didn’t, the Europeans didn’t. But on 24 September, India did.”

It further said that at $74 million, Mangalyaan is equipped with five instruments that allow it to do simple tasks like measure Martian methane and surface composition. “More important, however, it allows India to flex its interplanetary muscles, which portends great things for the country’s space programme—and for science in general,” it added.

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