Canberra: The first F-35A aircraft has been inducted into BAE Systems Australia’s (BAESA) maintenance depot as part of the next major milestone in the Joint Strike Fighter Program.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the F-35A fleet was now 33 strong and ready to deploy on operations.
“This is about protecting and securing Australia’s interests but it’s also creating jobs and driving investment right here in the Hunter and across the country too,” the Prime Minister said.
“This induction demonstrates the world leading capability of our local defence industry here in Australia.
“We want to give as many opportunities to Australian companies as possible which is why there’s already more than 50 local companies sharing in $2.7 billion worth of contracts as part of the F-35 Program.
“As we recover from the COVID recession a key plank of our Economic Recovery Pl.....
New Dlhi: In the Budget speech, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman drew the attention of the Parliament on the fact that the pandemic’s impact on the economy has resulted in a weak revenue inflow. This was combined with high expenditure to provide essential relief to vulnerable sections of the society especially the poor, women, SCs and STs.
Revised Estimates (RE) 2020-21
Smt. Sitharaman said, “ we opted for a series of medium-sized packages during the pandemic so that we could calibrate and target our response according to an evolving situation. Once the health situation stabilised, and the lockdown was being slowly lifted, we switched to ramping up Government spending so as to revive domestic demand.” As a result, against an original Budgetary Estimates (BE) 2020-2021 for expenditure of ` 30.42 lakh crore, the Revised Estimates (RE).....
New Dlhi: Presenting the first ever digital Union Budget, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman stated that India’s fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021 and that this moment in history, when the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post-COVID world are changing, is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope.
Following are the highlights:
• Income tax return filers increased to 6.48 cr in 2020 from 3.31 cr in 2014. Senior citizens above 75 yrs of age with only pension income exempted from filing tax returns: FM. Govt cuts timeline for reopening of tax cases to 3 yrs from 6 yrs: FM.
• Serious tax offences of concealment of income of over Rs 50 lakh can be reopened after 10 years: FM.
• Govt proposes to make income tax appellate tribunals faceless; to set up natio.....
కేంద్ర ఆర్థిక, కార్పొరేట్ వ్యవహారాల శాఖ మంత్రి శ్రీమతి నిర్మల సీతారమణ్ పార్లమెంటు లో శుక్రవారం ఆర్థిక సర్వే 2020-21 ని సమర్పించారు. కోవిడ్ యోధులకు అంకితం చేసిన ఈ ఆర్థిక సర్వే 2020-21 తాలూకు ప్రధానాంశాలు ఈ కింద పేర్కొన్న విధంగా ఉన్నాయి:
కోవిడ్ -19 మహమ్మారి ప్రపంచవ్యాప్తం గా ఆర్థిక మందగమనానికి కారణమైంది. ఇది ప్రపంచ ఆర్థిక .....
Perth: The McGowan Government has established a new Ministerial Multicultural Advisory Council (MMAC) to consult on issues facing culturally and linguistically diverse communities of Western Australia.
The Council will advise the Government and Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Interests, on government policy, programs, services and planning processes as well as emerging issues and trends in multiculturalism.
The MMAC will play an important role in assisting the Minister in reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the Western Australian Multicultural Policy Framework, which was introduced by the McGowan Government in February 2020. It will also contribute to consultations with other public sector agencies.
In recognition of the importance of contributions from Western Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the McGowan Government has in.....
New Delhi: The country's exports are expected to contract by 5.8 per cent and imports by 11.3 per cent during the second half of the current financial year, though implementation of several measures by the government would help support exports going forward, according to the Economic Survey 2021.
With gradual recovery of economic activities, the survey said that imports and exports have picked up.
During the first half of 2020-21 (April-September), exports dipped by 21.31 per cent to USD 125.25 billion while imports declined by 40 per cent to USD 148.69 billion.
"Net exports (difference between exports and imports) is expected to re-enter the negative territory in the second half. Exports are expected to decline by 5.8 per cent and imports by 11.3 per cent in the second half of the year," the survey said.
Second half of 2020-21 will be October 2020-March 2021 period. The fina.....
Perth: Innovation and ICT Minister Dave Kelly today announced that the McGowan Government would invest $150,000 from the New Industries Fund towards the immediate establishment of a manufacturing facility for the Avicena rapid virus testing machine.
Western Australian start-up Avicena Systems is behind the innovative testing technology which uses saliva samples and has the potential to deliver a rapid alternative to the current COVID screening system. Initially designed to test for COVID-19, the testing technology also supports a range of other detection test kits for pathogens such as dengue fever, tuberculosis and malaria.
The local start-up received $500,000 in innovation funding from the McGowan Government through the Department of Health in October to pilot the technology.
The new technology supports rapid, low-cost and large-scale viral screening, which combines a range of.....
New Delhi: Chinese social media firm Bytedance, which owns Tiktok and Helo apps, has announced the closure of its India business following continued restrictions on its services in the country.
Tiktok's global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company that it is reducing team size and the decision will impact all employees in India.
The executives expressed uncertainty on the company's comeback to India but expressed hope to do so in times to come.
"While we don't know when we will make a comeback in India, we are confident in our resilience, and desire to do so in times to come," the email said.
According to a source at Bytedance, the company held a town hall on Wednesday where it communicated about the closure of India business.
When contacted Ti.....
International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates for air travel in Europe indicate a further deterioration in revenues, job prospects, and economic activity across the entire continent.
In 2021, Europe is expected to be the worst-hit global region in terms of airline losses (-$11.9 billion) and EBIT margin (-9.5%). Passenger traffic (measured in revenue passenger km, RPK) is estimated to have fallen 70% this year, the worst performance of any region with the exceptions of Africa (-72%) and the Middle East (-73%). RPK growth next year is expected to be a weak 47.5%, trailing the comparable regions of Asia Pacific (50%) and North America (60.5%).
“Our projections for this year and next are little short of a disaster for European air transport,” said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe. “Border restrictions and quarantine measures have brought.....
Canberra: The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has today provisionally approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia.
The Pfizer vaccine has met strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy.
The TGA provisional approval is for individuals 16 years of age and older. Two doses will be required – at least 21 days apart.
A priority group of Australians are expected to now receive their first dose of the vaccine as soon as it can be received from Pfizer and the necessary checks are undertaken by the TGA, prior to its distribution.
The latest advice given to the Government from Pfizer is that shipping and the first vaccinations are expected to be in late February.
If there are delays in shipping or production, the possibility remains that commencement could be in early March, however guidance remains for late February.
Prime Minister Scott Mo.....
New Delhi: The government's negotiations with protesting farm unions hit a roadblock on Friday as the farmer leaders stuck to their demands for a complete repeal of three farm laws they find pro-corporate and a legal guarantee for MSP, even as the Centre asked them to reconsider its proposal for putting the Acts on hold for 12-18 months
Unlike the last 10 rounds of talks, the 11th round could not even reach a decision on the next date for the meeting as the government also hardened its position saying it is ready to meet again once the unions agree to discuss the suspension proposal. This followed a big climbdown made by the Centre during the last round when they offered to suspend the laws and form a joint committee to find solutions
Farmer leaders said they will intensify their agitation now and alleged that the government's approach was not right during the meeting. They also sa.....
Wellington: Google on Friday threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government went ahead with plans to make tech giants pay for news content.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison quickly hit back, saying we don't respond to threats. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia, Morrison told reporters in Brisbane.
That's done in our Parliament. It's done by our government. And that's how things work here in Australia. Morrison's comments came after Mel Silva, the managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand, told a Senate inquiry into the bill that the new rules would be unworkable.
If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia, Silva told senators.
And that would be a bad outcome not only for us, but also for the Australian peo.....