Author: GP Editor

Representative image | Photo Credit: Reuters The rupee rallied for the fourth straight session and rose 10 paise to 85.54 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Thursday (April 17, 2025) amid a renewed inflow of foreign funds in domestic equities and a weak American currency. However, subdued equity market sentiment and a slight recovery in crude oil prices put the local currency under pressure, according to forex traders. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 85.48 and slipped to 85.54 against the greenback in early deals, trading 10 paise higher from its previous closing level.…

Good hands with 4-4-4-1 distribution are among the most difficult hands to bid. North chose to open one club and reverse into two diamonds despite not having a five-card suit in his hand — perhaps as good a choice as any. South’s two-heart bid was the fourth suit and could have been made with many different hands, including hands that did not have four hearts. North’s raise to three hearts, therefore, promised four cards in the suit and pinpointed his spade shortage. South drove to slam when he learned that North held three aces.South won the opening trump lead in…

What has April 20 ever given us?

The AI chip trade is losing steam after a two-year rally as tariff threats and fears over Big Tech’s spending weigh on sentiment [File] | Photo Credit: AP American chipmaker Intel has informed Chinese clients it will start needing a license to sell some of its advanced artificial intelligence processors, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.The news comes a day after Nvidia warned of a $5.5 billion hit as Washington restricted exports of its AI processor tailored for China. Dutch chip-making tools giant ASML also raised doubts about its outlook earlier in the day.Intel, under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, told…

Across1 Aplomb — or kind of a trick? (10)6 4, whichever way you look at it! (4) 9 Cutter between Channel Islands, losing direction, distressed (7)10 Bullfighter Damon shown exit, we hear (7)12 ‘Paella?’ groaned displaced American writer (5,5,3)14 Jury’s findings after court’s thrown out Italian scorer (5)15 Runners’ trainers? (9) 16 Excess denim — rare — fancy! (9)18 Part of caterpillar going slowly (5) 20 Per Spooner, the time for gardening had come: no-one told me (3,3,1,2,4)23 To begin with, thoroughbred turned, went at moderate pace (7)24 Mix using seeds to augment relish — delicious, primarily? (7)25 Confines swans (4) 26 Buff and…

Last year, a £13.6-billion claim against Google was filed for alleged anti-competitiveness in digital advertising [File] | Photo Credit: AP Google on Wednesday said it would “vigorously” defend itself after some 250,000 UK businesses filed a multi-billion-pound legal claim against the US tech giant for allegedly overcharging for online advertising.Law firm Geradin Partners said it had filed a £5 billion ($6.6 billion) claim with Britain’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), arguing that Google “abused its dominant position to exclude competitors from the general search and search advertising markets”.Geradin noted that regulators worldwide “have described Google as operating a ‘monopoly’ and courts…

In the three months since U.S. President Donald Trump launched his “America First” trade policy, weaponising trade to extract concessions from his partner countries, there are indications that it could bring the global economy to its knees. “Reciprocal tariffs” were proposed as a key component for eliminating what Mr. Trump perceived as “unfair trade practices” of partner countries. But on April 9, the day this instrument was to take effect, President Trump did a turnaround and the implementation of “reciprocal tariffs” was postponed by 90 days for all 57 target countries, except China. The objective of the U.S. administration is…

A woman at work in a semi-mechanised match manufacturing unit at Kovilpatti in Tuticorin district. | Photo Credit: RAJESH N One of the drivers of Viksit Bharat will be manufacturing. One of the pillars of Viksit Bharat is ‘nari (women)’. However, women are missing from the factory floors. The share of women in India’s formal manufacturing sector fell from 20.9% in 2015-16 to 18.9% in 2022-23 (1.57 million out of 8.34 million formal workers). What is even more striking is that of all the women working in manufacturing, Tamil Nadu alone is employing 41%.In informal manufacturing, women form 43% of…

Gensol Engineering’s promoters treated the listed company as a proprietary firm, diverting corporate funds to buy a high-end apartment in The Camellias, DLF Gurgaon, splurging on a luxury golf set, paying off credit cards, and transferring money to close relatives, SEBI revealed in its interim order. At the core of SEBI’s findings is an alarming pattern of fund diversion by Gensol’s promoters — Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi — pointing to governance failures within the company. At the heart of the controversy is the alleged misutilisation of term loans availed by Gensol Engineering Ltd (GEL) from IREDA and…

‘It is clear that the U.S. tariff initiative is only its opening gambit’ | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs has come as a shock, though it is not a surprise. The new tariffs consist of two parts: the existing commodity-wise import tariff and an additional reciprocal country-wise common tariff for all goods. The resultant tariffs are country-wise as well as commodity-wise. The reciprocal tariffs announced are now on hold and limited to 10% for 90 days, except for China.Calculation of reciprocal tariffs The calculation of the reciprocal country-wise tariff is based on the following formula: U.S.…