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☆ Abbott's medical device sales hit by China curbs, supply-chain issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Leroy Leo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) on Wednesday reported lower-than-expected medical device sales in the fourth quarter as COVID-19 curbs in China and supply-chain issues hit its international operations, dragging shares 2.5% lower in premarket trading. The multinational healthcare giant recorded an overall medical device sales of $3.75 billion, missing analysts' average estimate of $3.84 billion. The company, however, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, underpinned by strong demand for its diagnostics business and glucose monitoring device FreeStyle Libre. Freestyle Libre has been driving the sales of Abbott's medical devices, offsetting a decline in COVID-19 diagnostic test sales as infections wane. The company recorded $1.1 billion each in sales of FreeStyle Libre and COVID-testing related sales.

☆ Indian university warns students not to screen BBC documentary on Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A top Indian university has threatened strict disciplinary action if its students' union carries out plans on Tuesday to screen a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the move might disturb peace and harmony on campus. The students' union of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, long seen as a bastion of left-wing politics, said on Twitter it would screen the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", at a cafeteria at 9 p.m. (1530 GMT). "The concerned students/individuals are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme immediately, failing which a strict disciplinary action may be initiated as per the university rules." She declined to comment on the university's threat of disciplinary action, however. The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the threat of disciplinary action.

☆ U.S. FDA proposes limits on lead in processed baby food
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed significant limits on levels of lead in processed baby food that could reduce exposure to the contaminant by as much as 27%. The health regulator's new draft guidance applies to packaged foods intended for babies and children under two years of age. "Although it is not possible to remove these elements entirely from the food supply, we expect that the recommended action levels will cause manufacturers to implement agricultural and processing measures to lower lead levels," the FDA said. High levels of lead exposure can cause brain damage and other problems, particularly in young children. The FDA estimates the new limits could cut lead exposure by 24-27% from processed baby foods.

The law minister said in the upper house of the parliament in December that 165 high court judges were appointed last year against 331 vacancies. A bill passed by parliament to change the process was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2015. The dispute has exacerbated a shortage of high court judges and a backlog of cases. Several lawyers and retired judges told Reuters they believed the government was seeking to influence the judiciary, which would be unconstitutional. When asked about Naik's case, a senior law ministry official said the government's decisions about appointments are confidential.

☆ The story behind hing, one of India's most divisive ingredients
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Shalbha Sarda | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The resin from its roots is used in Indian cooking – usually after it’s ground into powder and mixed with flour. At the Khari Baoli market in old Delhi, for instance, hing even manages to ‘out-smell’ all the other spices. Despite the culinary diversity of India, hing is a constant.”Jains, for example, eschew onion, garlic and ginger in addition to not eating meat. The history of hingSome scholars credit Alexander the Great for first bringing hing to India. Nevertheless, Indians have had their encounter with hing now; it came, it saw, and it stayed.”The professor adds that hing was used in some Greco-Roman cooking but didn’t last long.

Persons: ‘ Asa ’, it’s, hing, Hing, Siddharth Talwar, Rhea Rosalind Ramji, Ramji, Talwar, Alexander the Great, ”, Ashish Chopra, “, umami, asafoetida Organizations: CNN, The, Showbiz Chefs, hing, National Library of Medicine Locations: Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, India, Delhi, Worcestershire

"It's not just me and my children, future generations from our community in Jammu and Kashmir will vote for the BJP." A BJP victory in the disputed region could consolidate India's claim over the territory on the global stage. "We have taken a pledge to cross 50-plus seats to form the next government with a thumping majority," the BJP's president for Jammu and Kashmir, Ravinder Raina, told Reuters. Jammu has about 5.3 million inhabitants, 62% of whom are Hindu while Kashmir Valley has 6.7 million, 97% of them Muslim, according to a 2011 census. Previously unreported official records show just over 5.3 million certificates had been issued as of September.

☆ Employees at an Indian sports tech startup face a $1,200 fine if they contact staff who are on vacation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

India's Dream Sports requires its employees to take a week off and "unplug" every year. Any employee who contacts vacationing staff faces a $1,200 fine. Like other companies with vacation benefits, Dream Sports wants staff to take time off work — even amid a labor shortage. And if anyone contacts staff during their time off, they would be fined about $1,200, said Harsh Jain, Dream Sports co-founder and CEO. In the same month, Goldman Sachs implemented a scheme that allows senior bankers to take an unlimited number of vacation days.

India decriminalised homosexuality when it scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex in 2018, but it remains a taboo topic in this socially conservative country of 1.4 billion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has in the past refused to legalise same-sex marriage. The RSS, established in 1925, is estimated to have millions of active members across India and overseas. Lawyers for the couples declined to comment about Bhagwat's comments, saying the matter was before the court. Reporting by Rupam Jain, Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Carlyle buys majority stake in India's VLCC for $300 mln - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Private-equity firm Carlyle Group (CG.O) has acquired a majority stake in Indian beauty care and wellness solutions provider VLCC for around $300 million, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The equity for the transaction will come from funds managed and advised by entities affiliated with Carlyle Asia Partners, Carlyle said in a statement, without specifying a deal value. "In a crowded market, having a distinct value proposition with high product efficacy and an established brand is very valuable, and that's what VLCC has," Jain added. Founders Vandana Luthra and Mukesh Luthra will continue to hold a significant stake in the company, Carlyle said, without sharing further details. In December, the parent of Indian personal care products startup Mamaearth filedfor an initial public offering.

☆ Why artificial intelligence is set to be a game changer for businesses in 2023, according to 7 founders
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The most common theme was artificial intelligence and how they thought it would be used this year. Insider surveyed 68 founders for their 2023 predictions and the industries they believed would gain market value in the coming year. Here's why founders are talking about AI and how they think it will be used in 2023. It could have an outsize effect on healthcareMany founders believe we'll see significant advancements in healthcare using AI and similar technologies. Katie Wilson, a cofounder and the CEO of the vegan-snack brand BelliWelli, believes AI and robots will be at the forefront of the industry.

☆ CureVac says COVID vaccine produced immune response in early-stage trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Germany's CureVac AG said on Friday its second-generation COVID-19 vaccine produced virus-neutralizing antibodies against the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron, based on preliminary data from an early-stage trial. CureVac is developing the vaccine with Britain's GSK (GSK.L) and the companies are looking to catch-up to similar vaccine development by rivals. The company said the vaccine was shown to be generally well tolerated in the trial. CureVac gave up on its first-generation vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, in 2021 after poor data. The company also said its flu vaccine, which also uses mRNA technology, successfully boosted antibody levels against flu and was well-tolerated in an early-stage study.

☆ An Indian tech unicorn's founders share 3 tips for success — including a 'hit by a bus' plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Harsh Jain says it's an "open secret" that he doesn't use his own fantasy sports app — for fantasy football, at least. After introducing it to his childhood friend Bhavit Sheth, they set out to look for a fantasy cricket platform in India. Are you building scale and systems in a way ... not dependent on [a single person] and … having one person make a decision? Harsh Jain Co-founder and CEO, Dream SportsAccording to Jain, it's the "first mover's advantage" that brought their company Dream Sports — the parent company of Dream11 — to great heights. Harsh Jain CEO and co-founder, Dream Sports

☆ A sports tech startup lost millions — then made it big. Here's how its millennial founders staged a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Losing millions of dollars when they were 24 years old was a defining moment for entrepreneurs Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth. More than a decade after its launch, their company Dream Sports says it's now valued at $8 billion dollars, with 160 million users to boot. Dream Sports is a sports tech firm from India that owns Dream11, the biggest fantasy gaming platform in the country. Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth launched their startup Dream11 when they were just 22 — but it quickly "crashed and burned." That is something they learned from losing a large sum of money in the early days of their company, Jain added.

☆ They launched a fantasy sports company at 22. It's now worth $8 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth are the founders of Dream Sports, a sports tech firm from India that owns one of the biggest fantasy gaming platforms in the country — Dream11. The childhood friends started the company in 2008, but lost millions of starting capital in less than three years. More than a decade after its launch, Dream Sports says it's now valued at $8 billion with 160 million users. Watch the video above to find out how the duo bounced back from failure to launch India's first sports tech unicorn.

☆ India's largest winemaker Sula Vineyards drops 5% in market debut
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Nandan Mandayam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It was last trading down 4.2% at 341.8 rupees in a broader market (.NSEI) that was down 0.58%. "We like Sula, given (its) market leadership in India’s grape wine industry, especially in premium brands," said Motilal Oswal equity strategist Hemang Jani. It raised a total of 9.6 billion rupees in the IPO, including 2.88 billion rupees from anchor investors like Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Goldman Sachs. Sula, India's largest winemaker, has a portfolio of 56 labels from 13 of its own brands and 20 international ones. Its net revenue rose 8% year-over-year to 4.57 billion rupees in fiscal year 2022.

The four gay couples want a Supreme Court ruling that modifies or interprets laws in a way that allows same-gender marriages, the court filings show. The United States this month approved legislation that provides federal recognition to same-sex marriages in a bid to further safeguard gay rights. The law ministry has opposed same-sex marriages in the past and said courts should stay away from the law-making process that falls under parliament's purview. The Supreme Court has given the government until Jan. 6 to submit its responses. "A decision on same-sex marriage in the near future is inevitable.

☆ Nonprofit Health Plans With $6.8 Billion in Projected Revenue Set to Combine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Eric Hunter, left, the chief executive of CareOregon, would lead HealthRight’s Medicaid division. Sachin Jain, SCAN’s chief, would be CEO of the new company. Two nonprofit health plans focused on government-backed coverage are planning to combine in a deal that aims to create a sizable new player in the rapidly growing business of managed Medicare and Medicaid. SCAN Group, based in Long Beach, Calif., and CareOregon, of Portland, Ore., plan to join up under the new name HealthRight Group, they said.

☆ Malaria deaths dip in 2021 after rising in first year of COVID, says WHO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Pratik Jain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Estimated deaths from malaria globally declined to 619,000 last year from 625,000 in 2020 as healthcare services stabilized after pandemic-led disruptions, especially in Africa where the disease is most prevalent, the WHO stated in its World Malaria Report 2022. Four countries - Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Niger and Tanzania - accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2021. The decline in deaths comes even as the number of malaria infections continued to rise, albeit at a slower pace, to an estimated 247 million in 2021. The WHO also highlighted that lower funding due to the pandemic and rising costs have increased pressure on national malaria programmes. Funding in 2021 came in at nearly $3.5 billion, the report said, compared with a required investment of $7.3 billion.

☆ S&P posts 4th straight decline as recession talk weighs on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( David French | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in New York City, U.S., November 15, 2022. However, technology names generally suffered as investors applied caution toward high-growth companies whose performance would be sluggish in a challenging economy. Most of the 11 major S&P sectors declined, with energy and communications services (.SPLRCL) joining technology (.SPLRCT) as leading laggards. Future economic growth prospects were in focus on Tuesday following comments from financial titans pointing toward uncertain times ahead. The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and nine new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 262 new lows.

[1/2] The Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in New York City, U.S., November 15, 2022. Future economic growth prospects were in focus on Tuesday following comments from financial titans pointing toward uncertain times ahead. The S&P banks index (.SPXBK) was down 2.6%, with Bank of America leading declines with a 5.6% drop. Fears about economic growth come amid a re-evaluation by traders of what path future interest rate hikes will take, following strong data on jobs and the services sector in recent days. "If economic growth continues to be better than what people are expecting, there are chances that the Fed would have to continue to be hawkish," said Rusty Vanneman, chief investment strategist at Orion Advisor Solutions.

[1/2] The Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in New York City, U.S., November 15, 2022. Concerns about a steep increase in borrowing costs have boosted the dollar, while weighing on equities and bond markets this year, with the S&P 500 down 17.5%. The S&P 500 rallied 13.8% in October and November on hopes of smaller rate hikes and better-than-expected earnings. The bank sector index (.SPXBK) fell 2.1%, with Bank of America leading declines with a 4.9% drop. The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and eight new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 30 new highs and 191 new lows.

"It's the recession fear that a lot of investors have ... the concern is that profits begin to drop more meaningfully in the recession." As of Dec. 2, analysts expected S&P 500 companies to report a drop of 0.6% in fourth-quarter earnings after posting a 4.4% rise in the third quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data. ET, Dow e-minis were down 31 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 2 points, or 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 4.75 points, or 0.04%. Meanwhile, a Tuesday runoff election in Georgia between Democratic U.S. Among individual stocks, GameStop Corp (GME.N) rose 1.6% in premarket trading following a media report on layoffs.

☆ Futures subdued after sharp Wall St selloff on Fed worries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Concerns about steeper increase in borrowing costs have boosted dollar, while weighing on equities and bond markets this year, with the S&P 500 down 16.1% and the widely followed part of the Treasury yield curve deeply inverted - a harbinger of recession. As of Dec. 2, analysts expect S&P 500 companies to report a drop of 0.6% in fourth-quarter earnings after posting a 4.4% rise in the third quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data. ET, Dow e-minis were down 37 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 3.5 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 2.25 points, or 0.02%. Among individual stocks, General Electric (GE.N) rose 1.5% in premarket trading after Oppenheimer upgraded the industrial conglomerate's stock to "outperform". Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Australia's Big Four banks pass c.bank rate hike to home loan customers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 6 (Reuters) - All of Australia's "big four" banks said on Tuesday they will raise their home loan rates by a quarter-point, passing on the central bank's eighth rate hike in as many months to their customers in full. Earlier on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted its cash rate by 25 basis points to a 10-year high of 3.1%, and reiterated that further policy tightening would be needed to contain inflation. The top four lenders, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX), National Australia Bank (NAB.AX) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's (ANZ.AX) will hike their rates from the end of next week, while Westpac Banking Corp's (WBC.AX) hike will be effective December 20, the banks said in separate statements. However, heightened borrowing costs could impact credit demand, housing market, employment and economic growth, posing as challenges to the lenders. Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee and Echha Jain in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] The Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in New York City, U.S., November 15, 2022. The lender's chief executive said the bank's research predicted three quarters of mild negative growth next year. JPMorgan Chase and Co's (JPM.N) top boss Jamie Dimon also warned of a mild to more pronounced recession ahead. As of Dec. 2, analysts expected S&P 500 companies to report a drop of 0.6% in fourth-quarter earnings after posting a 4.4% rise in the third quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data. The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 15 new highs and 109 new lows.

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