Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet US Vice-President Mike Pence Wednesday in Singapore, where both leaders will participate in the East Asia summit.

Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (east) Vijay Thakur Singh Monday confirmed the meeting, which is scheduled to take place on November 14 on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia summits.

Sources said that the agenda for discussions will cover regional issues, as well as some bilateral issues.

While Modi will travel to Singapore for only 36 hours between November 14 to 15 to attend the two summits and a few other engagements, Pence arrived in Tokyo Monday to discuss North Korea and other issues with Japanese officials before heading to the two regional summits.

Pence, in a recent op-ed article, had stressed on America’s commitment to the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region, while Modi has also enunciated the government’s vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific in a speech at the Shangri La dialogue in June this year.

The meeting between Modi and Pence comes days after US President Donald Trump met Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu at the Paris Peace Forum on Sunday.

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won Arizona’s open US Senate seat Monday in a race that was among the most closely watched in the nation, beating Republican Rep. Martha McSally in the battle to replace GOP Sen. Jeff Flake.

The three-term congresswoman won after a slow vote count that dragged on for nearly a week after voters went to the polls on November 6. She becomes Arizona’s first Democratic US senator since 1994. Her win cemented Arizona as a swing state after years of Republican dominance.

Sinema portrayed herself as a moderate who works across the aisle to get things done.

McSally, a former Air Force pilot who embraced President Donald Trump after opposing him during the 2016 elections, had claimed that Sinema’s anti-war protests 15 years ago disqualified her and said one protest amounted to what she called “treason.”

But during her six years in Congress, Sinema built one of most centrist records in the Democratic caucus, and she voted for bills backed by Trump more than 60 percent of the time. She backed legislation increasing penalties against people in the country illegally who commit crimes.

McSally’s attacks on Sinema reached back more than 15 years, when Sinema was a Green Party spokeswoman and liberal activist.

The results of baseline test conducted for the first time for Class IX and X students of state schools under the Congress government’s ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ learning enhancement programme have revealed very poor learning levels in four subjects — English, mathematics, science and social science.

The state education department is blaming the ‘no-detention policy’ under Right to Education Act (RTE) due to which no student is detained or failed till Class VIII. As many as 1.65 lakh students of Class X and 2.18 lakh students of Class IX were tested in the baseline exam.

In mathematics, students were tested in mensuration, geometry, algebra and number system. Class IX students were given Class VII and VIII-level questions and Class X students were given Class VIII and IX-level questions to solve. Over 65 per cent students of Class IX failed to answer at least 15 of 23 questions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give awards on Thursday to winners of the first “India-Singapore Hackathon 2018”, a 40-team competition which began here Monday. Singapore Education Minister Ong Ye Kung will be present at the award ceremony.

The Prime Minister will visit Singapore on November 14-15 for a series of regional summits related to East Asia and will have a breakfast meeting with ASEAN leaders. During his official visit to Singapore on May 31-June 2, Modi had proposed to his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong that India and Singapore should organise a joint hackathon. Lee had welcomed the proposal.

Singapore has designated the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and its innovation and enterprise arm –- NTUitive — to conduct the Hackathon. India has designated the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

High Commission of India in Singapore facilitated the event in collaboration with Singapore’s Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs.

The first day of Odisha government’s flagship investment summit, Make in Odisha (MIO), was kicked off in Bhubaneswar with a slew of commitments from the country’s top industrialists.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik welcomed the guests to the second edition of MIO and went on to highlight the state’s status as the “aluminium capital of South Asia, accounting for well over half of the country’s production” and “Steel Hub of India, contributing to about a quarter of the country’s steel production.”

Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekharan, speaking of the group’s long association with Odisha, said, “Tata Steel was given its first iron ore lease by the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj in the early part of the twentieth century.”

“Already we have made investments worth Rs 75,000 crores. With the announcement of Kalinga Nagar (Tata Steel plant) expansion, another 25000 crores… we will soon cross a total investment of Rs 100,000 crores in Odisha,” he said.

Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Naveen Jindal said the group’s story started in Odisha thirty years ago. “By 2030, we are going to take our 6 million tonne steel plant to a 20 million tonne steel plant, our investment from Rs 45,000 crores to Rs 100,000 crores, from employing 50,000 people to employing 100,000 people,” he committed in the plenary session on Monday.

P V Sindhu will look to continue her consistent run when she spearheads the Indian challenge at the Hong Kong World Tour Super 500 tournament beginning here on Tuesday. Sindhu finished second best in the last edition after her gallant fight ended in agony against world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying and the Indian will have to once again bring her best to the fore to salvage any hopes of making the podium again in a tough field.

In a gruelling season, Sindhu managed to claim silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games. She also reached the finals at the India Open and Thailand Open.

At the rear-end of the season, the Indian will have to go full throttle if she has to reach the finals. Sindhu begins her campaign against Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol and is likely to face China’s He Bingjiao in the quarterfinals, an opponent who has defeated her thrice this year.

Saina Nehwal, who claimed a second Commonwealth Games gold and a bronze at the Asian Games this season, will have a tough task at hand when she faces the formidable Akane Yamaguchi, the second seeded Japanese.

Saina will have to produce the kind of form that she displayed on way to the Denmark Open final last month. Interestingly, the Indian had beaten the Japanese in the second round at Odense.

In the men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth will face Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the opener and might face compatriot HS Prannoy in the second round if he crosses the opening hurdle.

Prannoy opens his campaign against Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, an opponent he had defeated at the Japan Open last year in their only meeting. Also in action will be Sameer Verma, who won the Swiss Open and Hyderabad Open this season. The 24-year-old will take on Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon in the first round.

The rupee weakened by 26 paise to 72.76 against the US dollar Monday, owing to increased demand for the American currency from importers amid increasing global crude oil prices.

The international benchmark, Brent crude again breached the USD 71 a barrel mark by surging 1.21 per cent.

Forex traders said besides increased demand of the US currency from importers, the dollar’s strength against some currencies overseas weighed on the rupee but a higher opening of the domestic equity markets, capped the losses.

At the Interbank forex market, the rupee opened lower at 72.74 and slipped further to quote at 72.76 against US dollar, down 26 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee rose by 50 paise to end at 72.50 per US dollar Friday on increased selling of the greenback by exporters amid softening crude oil prices, which slipped below the USD 70 per barrel mark.

Meanwhile, on net basis, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 614.14 crore, while DIIs sold share to the tune of Rs 337.28 crore Friday, provisional data showed.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 99.26 points, or 0.25 per cent to 35,257.81.

Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. registered record sales on its biggest shopping day, the annual Single’s Day, on Sunday generating RMB 213.5 billion (US $30.8 billion) of gross merchandise volume (GMV), an increase of 27 per cent compared to last year.

People from over 230 countries and regions flocked Alibaba’s online portals, helping it surpass the 100 billion yuan mark in less than two hours. Alibaba owned logistic enterprise Cainiao Network alone processed more than 1 billion delivery orders.

Daniel Zhang, the CEO of Alibaba Group, said, “Today we witnessed the strength and rise of China’s consumption economy and consumers’ continued pursuit to upgrade their everyday lifestyles.”

“Participation from the entire Alibaba ecosystem enabled our brand and merchant partners to engage with consumers like never before. Looking ahead, Alibaba will continue to lead the evolution towards the future digital economy and lifestyle,” he added.

With more than 180,000 participating brands, 237 of them exceeded RMB 100 million in GMV, including leading international brands Apple, Dyson, Kindle, Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Gap, Nike and Adidas. Over 40 per cent of consumers made purchases from international brands.

The top countries selling to China were Japan, the United States, South Korea, Australia and Germany, with the most popular items purchased overseas being dresses, woollen coats, pants and hoodies, Bloomberg reported.

Bengaluru: Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar passed away in Bengaluru on Monday at 2 am from complications following cancer and infections. He was 59. Kumar, who also held the portfolio of minister for chemicals and fertilizer in the Narendra Modi government, had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city and was on a ventilator in the ICU for last few days. 

Karnataka government has declared a one-day holiday for today as a mark of respect for Kumar - schools and colleges will remain shut today. The Union Minister's mortal remains will be kept at his residence in Bengaluru till 7 am on Tuesday and his funeral is expected to take place tomorrow. Kumar, who had been suffering from lung cancer, had not been keeping well since the last few months. Following the news of his demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a series of heartfelt tweets, remembering a "remarkable leader" and extended condolences to his family and friends. PM Modi hailed Kumar's contribution as an "able administrator", adding that he was a "great asset" to the BJP organisation. 

The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 155 points and the NSE Nifty breached the 10,600-mark in opening trade Monday on fresh buying by investors, ahead of release of macroeconomic data later in the day.

Traders said, fresh fund inflows by foreign funds and a bullish trend on other Asian bourses also influenced trading sentiments here.
The 30-share Sensex was quoting 155.14 points, or 0.44 per cent higher at 35,313.69 points. The gauge had lost over 79 points on Friday.
Reflecting the market’s better mood, all the sectoral indices led by consumer durables, IT, healthcare and banking were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.66 per cent.

Also, the NSE Nifty was trading higher by 46.55 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,631.75. Brokers said, building up of positions by domestic investors ahead of the release of index of industrial production (IIP) data for September and inflation data for October later in the day, buoyed trading sentiment.

Among the Sensex constituents, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Infosys, HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, M&M, TCS, ONGC, Coal India, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Vedanta Ltd, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were major gainers, rising by up to 1.49 per cent.

Meanwhile, on net basis, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 614.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 337.28 crore Friday, provisional data showed.