US Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban

WASHINGTON: In a major victory for President Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court has allowed his travel ban to take full effect pending appeal, for people coming from six Muslim-majority countries. 

As a result of the Supreme Court's ruling, Trump's travel ban, which restricts travel to the US by people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad without bona fide connections to the US, can take full effect while legal challenges proceed. 

The travel ban is the third version of a contentious policy that Trump first sought to implement a week after taking office in January. 

Seven of the nine judges lifted restrictions on the travel ban imposed by other courts earlier. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Sonia Sotomayor said they would have denied the government's request. 

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Indian firms in Germany generated 11 billion euro revenue in 2016: CII

Around 80 Indian companies in Germany employing a total workforce of 27,400 generated combined revenues of Euro 11.4 billion in 2016, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on Sunday citing its joint study conducted on the matter. 

Based on interviews with leading Indian chief executives, the study, done by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Ernst & Young (EY) and CII, showed that, since 2010, nearly 140 major investment projects by Indian companies have been initiated in Germany. 

"This includes FDI (foreign direct investment) announcements as well as M&As (merger and acquisitions)," a CII release said here. 

"Between 2010 and 2016, Germany was the second-largest recipient of Indian FDI in Europe with 96 projects," it said. 

According to the study, the top sectors for investment include automobiles, metals and metal processing, professional, technical and scientific services, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, electrotechnics and machine building. 

The study found that Indian companies in Germany currently generate nearly 70 per cent of their turnover in the labour intensive sectors of metals (40 per cent) and automotives (29 per cent). Major players in these sectors are Tata Stee, Hindalco industries and Sona Autocomp. "The Indian IT industry accounts for a revenue share of nine percent," CII said. 

Access to innovation and technology are important factors that influence the decision to invest in Germany, according to 80 per cent of the CEOs surveyed. 

This is borne out by the M&A activity over the past six years, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said in the statement. 

"In fact, one-fifth of the acquisitions made by Indians were found to be in the automotive supplier sector and one-third in the mechanical engineering sector," he said. 

"Moreover, the planned merger of the steel businesses of Tata Group and ThyssenKrupp has taken Indo-German cooperation to a whole new level," he added. 

According to Murali Nair of Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany should put more focus on government incentives in innovation, such as tax relief for depreciation, in order to encourage long-term commitment of foreign investors. Besides, 90 per cent of surveyed Indian CEOs were of the opinion that Britain's exit from the European Union will increase the attractiveness of Germany as an investment location and will help increase the volume and diversity of Indian investments in the country. 

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IANS|

Dec 03, 2017, 06.33 PM IST

CREATIVITY IS INDEED AN ART-READ THESE INDIAN CREATIVE LINES.

People are getting more and more creative.

Here is a set of desi puns which I had not seen before.

1. Lakshman to Sita: Stay offline

2. Mayawati ctrl+all+dalit

3. My watch is stuck between 2 and 2:30; it's a do or dhai situation

4. Vishwanathan Anand gets tense when the waiter asks, 'Check de doon'

5. A potato was grilled by cops; after two hours of torture, it gave in, 'Main Batata hun, main Batata hun...'

6. A well-executed theft without any fingerprints is a stainless steal.

7. Sita after seeing Hanuman in Lanka for the first time, 'Yahoo! Messenger'

8. Friends pay food bills on a de-tu-de basis

9. 'I laughed yesterday' in Hindi, 'Michael Hussey'

10. An old lady asked me the way to the temple; I replied, 'Magistrate'

11. Rahul Dravid's wristwatch is technically a wall clock

13. Toll Booths are nothing but Bill Gates

14. The way to the cemetery, 'Go straight and take the last rite.'

15. The salaried class feel that the changing nature of taxes is too T.D.S..

Check how many records Virat broke on Saturday

December 02, 2017 20:25 IST

Rajneesh Gupta gives us all the numbers and tells us how Virat Kohli creates record after record.

IMAGE: Virat Kohli acknowledges the cheers at the Feroz Shah Kotla after scoring a century, December 2, 2017. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI

Virat Kohli ended day one of the Delhi Test with an unbeaten 156 -- his third hundred on the trot.

Virat scored 104* in the second innings of the Kolkata Test after getting out for a duck in the first innings.

He then scored 213 in India's only innings in the Nagpur Test.

 

Virat is the first captain ever to score three consecutive centuries on TWO occasions.

Virat started his captaincy stint with three consecutive centuries versus Australia.

The record of most consecutive centuries as a captain is held by South Africa's Alan Melville who scored four in a row versus England between 1938-1939 and 1947.

Hundreds in most consecutive innings as captain

BATSMAN	SCORE	VS	VENUE	SEASON
Season Four
Alan Melville	103	England	Durban	1938-1939
	189 + 104*	England	Nottingham	1947
	117	England	Lord's	1947
Season Three
Don Bradman	132 + 127*	India	Melbourne	1947-1948
	201	India	Adelaide	1947-1948
Graham Gooch	333 + 123	India	Lord's	1990
	116	India	Manchester	1990
Mahela Jayawardene	195	England	Colombo SSC	2007-2008
	213*	England	Galle	2007-2008
	136	West Indies	Providence	2007-2008
Kumar Sangakkara	137	India	Mumbai	2009-2010
	103	India	Galle	2010
	219	India	Colombo SSC	2010
Misbah-ul Haq	101 + 101*	Australia	Abu Dhabi	2014-2015
	102*	New Zealand	Abu Dhabi	2014-2015
Virat Kohli (Ind)	115 + 141	Australia	Adelaide	2014-2015
	147	Australia	Sydney	2014-2015
Virat Kohli	104*	Sri Lanka	Kolkata	2017-2018
	213	Sri Lanka	Nagpur	2017-2018
	156*	Sri Lanka	Delhi	2017-2018

Other major records Virat broke on Saturday:

• On 25, Virat completed his 5,000 runs in Test cricket. He became the 11th Indian batsman to score 5,000 runs in Test cricket.
  By taking just 105 innings, Virat became the fourth quickest among Indians to accomplish this feat after Sunil Gavaskar (95), Virender Sehwag (99) and Sachin Tendulkar (103).
• On 39, Virat completed 16,000 runs in international cricket. He is the quickest to reach this mark taking only 350 innings.
  Hashim Amla held the record previously, taking 363 innings to do so.
• On 50, Virat scored the fastest fifty of his Test career (off 52 balls). He had taken 53 balls to score his fifty against the West Indies at Mumbai in 2013.
• On 100, Virat became the first captain to score a hundred in each game of a three Test series.
• On 100, Virat became the first captain to score three consecutive centuries on TWO occasions.
  He had started his Test captaincy stint with three consecutive centuries (115, 141 and 147 versus Australia in 2014-2015.
• It took Virat only 110 balls to reach his hundred -- his fastest ever.
  Virat had taken 119 balls at the Eden Gardens to reach his hundred in the first Test of this series.
• The hundred is Virat's 20th in Test cricket in 105 innings.
  He is the second quickest among the Indians and the fifth quickest overall to score 20 hundreds.
  Only Don Bradman (55), Sunil Gavaskar (93), Matthew Hayden (95) and Steven Smith (99) have scored 20 hundreds in fewer innings than Virat.
• The hundred is Virat's 52nd in international cricket. He is now 48 short of Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 100 international hundreds.
• On 102, Virat established a new record of most runs by an Indian batsman in international cricket in a single calendar year, surpassing Rahul Dravid's 2,626 runs in 53 matches in 1999.
  At the close of play on day one, Virat has 2,681 runs from 46 games in 2017.
• Virat ended the day with 156 runs -- the most ever scored by an Indian captain on the first day of a Test.
  Interestingly, the previous record was also held by Virat when he scored 151 on the opening day of the Vizag Test against England in 2016.

Rajneesh Gupta

SUNDAY SPECIAL

*Killer joke*

Husband was sipping his whisky, while sitting in the balcony with wife.

He says,
"I love you so much, I don't know how I could ever live without you."

Wife asks, "Is that you, or the whisky talking?"

Husband replies, "It's me... talking to whisky."

Seven popular myths about human brain

The human brain is a power organ that controls all body functions, interprets information from the outside world and stores that information in our memory. Composed of the cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem, the brain controls our capacity for art, language, moral judgment and rational thought. But we humans have some very wrong ideas about our brain. ET Magazine busts some of the popular myths about the command centre of the human nervous system: 

Myth: We use only 10% of our brains 

FACT:This is one of the most popular myths about brain. It can only be tracked down to the reserve energy theory by Harvard psychologists William James and Boris Sidis. In the 1890s, they tested the theory in the accelerated raising of a child; thereafter, James said that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim. Many of us believe that we could achieve so much more - learning new languages,musical instruments and sports - if only we applied ourselves. The myth sounds appealing because they see it in terms of human potential - implying that we have huge reserves of untapped mental powers. 

Myth: Brain damage is permanent 

FACT: The brain can repair or compensate for certain losses, and even generate new cells. Scientists believed that the brain was unalterable; that once it was "broken", it could not be fixed. However, it should be noted that the brain remains plastic throughout life, and can rewire itself in response to learning. 

Myth: Doing crossword puzzles improves memory 

FACT: A study, led by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, found that solving crossword puzzles initially delayed the onset of memory decline in individuals between the ages of 75 and 85, but sped the decline once a person showed signs of dementia. Today, most neuroscientists agree there is no harm in the activity but there's no great benefit other than making you an expert in crossword puzzles. 

Myth: Being in a coma is like being asleep: You wake up well rested 

FACT: In the movies, coma looks harmless. In real life, those emerging from coma often suffer disabilities and need rehabilitation. Scientists at the French National Center for Scientific Research, in 2012, found that high-traffic brain regions - normally bright hubs of activity, even during sleep - are dark in coma patients while other areas inexplicably light up. 

Myth: Headaches are in the brain 

FACT: Headaches are thought to be caused by the tension and swelling of blood vessels of the brain. But there are no pain receptors in the brain itself. However, the meninges (coverings around the brain), periosteum (coverings on the bones), and the scalp have pain receptors. Headaches are actually caused by the tightening of the muscles in the neck and the head. Headaches may also be caused by an imbalance in serotonin levels. Serotonin is essential for regulating mood, sleep and blood vessel size. 

Myth: Male brains are biologically better suited for math and science, female brains for empathy 

FACT: There are small anatomical differences between male and female brains. The hippocampus, involved in memory, is usually larger in women, while the amygdala, involved in emotion, is larger in men, which is quite contrary to the myth. Evidence suggests gender disparities are due to cultural expectations, not biology. 

Myth: A person's personality displays a right-brain or left-brain dominance 

FACT: The two sides of the brain are intricately co-dependent. We often hear that one can be "right-brained" or "left-brained" - and that those who favour the right are more creative or artistic and those who favour the left are more technical and logical. But brain-scanning technology has revealed that the two hemispheres of the brain most often work together in complex processing. For example, language processing, once believed to be the provenance of the left hemisphere only, is now understood to take place in both hemispheres: the left-side processes grammar and pronunciation while the right processes intonation. 

White & Grey's Anatomy 

* The human brain is the largest brain of all vertebrates relative to body size 

* It weighs about 1.5 kg. The cerebrum makes up 85% of the brain's weight 

* Brain makes up about 2% of a person's body weight 

* It contains about 100 billion nerve cells (neurons) - the "grey matter". These neurons are connected by trillions of connections, or synapses 

* It contains 1 billion nerve fibres (axons and dendrites) - the "white matter" 

Did you know? 

* A human brain can have a storage capacity of anywhere between 3 terabytes and 1,000 terabytes 

* The brain is the fattest organ in our body at around 60 years 

* There are over 1,00,000 miles of axons in your brain. That's enough to wrap around the world 4 times 

* At any given time, the brain can generate up to 25 watts of power. That's enough to power a lightbulb 

* Information can fly around your brain at 260 mph

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to inaugurate Chabahar port today

TEHRAN (IRAN): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will be inaugurating the first phase of Chabahar port, known as the Shahid Beheshti port, on Sunday.

The port will open Afghanistan and Central Asia to Indian commerce while isolating Pakistan.

Giving a boost to the bilateral ties between India and Iran, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has made an unannounced visit to Tehran, while returning from Sochi in Russia, ahead of the inauguration of the strategically important port.

Over a month ago, India sent the first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar Port, which Swaraj remarked as a gift from Indians to Afghans.

Swaraj then said that India remains committed to work closely with its regional and international partners to bring peace, security, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.

The port located on the coast of the Gulf of Oman in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province has two docks. 

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HOW A GUJARATI WOMAN IS BREAKING MANY STEREOTYPES IN CALIFORNIA

By 

Ishani Duttagupta

, ET Bureau|

Dec 03, 2017, 12.01 AM IST

SIMA PATEL reached Oakland, California, as a fresh-off-the-boat bride in 1979. The girl from Surat spoke very little English. Husband Pravin’s family, like so many Patel families in the US, ran a motel. She started helping out, pitching in at the front office, doing the books and sharing housekeeping duties. She kept going, growing the family business, getting to the corner office and breaking many stereotypes and glass ceilings on the way. 

Today, she chairs the California Travel and Tourism commission Patel, who is also the CEO of Ridgemont Hospitality, has achieved a first for a Gujarati woman — becoming a leader in the hospitality sector in the US. “Typically within the Gujarati community, women were not taken seriously back in those days and even today many don’t recognise my achievements,” Patel, 54, told ET Magazine, when she was in India as part of a delegation from Visit California, the official tourism agency of the state. 

In Delhi and Mumbai, Patel spoke about promoting California as an affluent, chic and luxury destination among wellheeled Indian travellers. Annually three lakh Indians visit California and spend over $700 million — a figure that Patel and other members of the delegation hope will cross $1 billion by 2020. 

Patel speaks with a hint of a Gujarati accent. And she shows no hesitation in speaking about her heritage and her early days and how she has moved to her current position within the family business. “I am part of all important decisions, including new project development, financing and choosing construction companies. I am the driver and visionary,” says Patel. She feels having a woman at the helm gives Ridgemont an edge over other Gujarati-owned hospitality businesses in the US. The company has just broken ground for its biggest project so far — a greenfield, 121-room Hampton Inn in downtown Oakland, near San Francisco — a project personally helmed by Patel. 

Change in Attitude 

Mike Patel, a prominent Indian-American hotelier and entrepreneur from Atlanta, Georgia, admits there is a glass ceiling. “Our culture still keeps women behind the scenes and is gender selective in offering major responsibilities. It is restricting them from realising their business potential as owners or leaders of any of our big hospitality companies.” 

But attitudes are changing. The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) which has over 16,000 members, last year elected Jagruti Panwala as its treasurer for 2017-18. Panwala, also from Surat, moved to the US in 1991 and earned undergraduate degrees in finance and economics. She and her husband now own and operate multiple hotels, and she also heads an asset management and succession planning firm Wealth Protection Strategies. 

AAHOA had launched a women’s leadership conference over a decade ago. It now has elected women members on its board, rather than just two women nominated directors. In a couple of years, members hope, AAHOA will have its first woman chairperson. Sima Patel herself had made history in 2004 when she became the first American woman from a minority community to chair a major lodging association — the California Lodging Industry Association (CLIA). 

In 2006, she was elected to serve on the California Travel and Tourism Commission. “My peers in industry urged me to represent them. However, it was the encouragement and support that I got from Pravin and his family that helped me make up my mind,” she says. In 2016, she became the first industry-elected chair of the Visit California board of directors. “After two terms the governor of California, Edmund G Brown, reappointed me on the board. I’m proud to be the longest serving board member.” 

Mukesh J Mowji, hospitality investor and CEO of Silicon Valley-based startup Pracrea Inc, feels it’s better that women are now getting elected to leadership positions in hospitality, instead of being nominated. He says: “The old-school thinking that women should stay at home is changing in our community. 

Today’s young women are welltrained professionals who are striking out independently as entrepreneurs in sectors such as food services and real estate.” The change in attitudewithin  the community has led many professional Gujarati women to come back to family businesses, adds Patel. “They have college degrees and bring with them professional skills and I feel proud of them,” she says. 

Patel says second- and third-generation Gujarati hospitality entrepreneurs are diversifying into new areas and growing the family businesses more professionally. She identifies this as crucial as the industry faces challenges from the likes of Airbnb, which is a competition, but can also turn a collaborator in times of high demand. “My son, Dhruv, too is a millennial and thinks differently from us. As director of operations, he has helped raise the revenues of the company by half a million dollars through innovative thinking,” Patel says. She sees the same trend in many families in the community. 

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INTERESTING:- MAP OF INDIAN SWEETS (MITHAI) STATEWISE.

Aadhaar linking deadlines you should not miss

Forex reserves back above $400 billion after 5 weeks

Kolkata: India's foreign exchange reserves have surpassed the $400-billion mark again after hovering below that level for the last five weeks reflecting changes in valuation. 

Rise in India's forex reserves over the last one year caught the attention of other major global economies with the US Treasury saying last month that it would keep a close watch as Mint Street continues to accumulate dollar quite aggressively. 

Reserve Bank of India weekly data showed that reserves rose $1.2 billion in the week to November 24 to $400.742 billion. 

While RBI does not provide reasons behind rise or fall in reserves, the data last week suggests that the rise was due to change in valuation of reserves held in other global currencies such as pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen. 

Foreign currency assets, which captures the change in valuation, rose $1.2 billion in the week under review to $376,305 billion. India's reserves now cover about 11 months of imports. India has added about $31 billion in foreign exchange reserves over the past one year with consistent foreign investment flows. 

By Atmadip Ray ET

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