Mr.Talha

https://www.economist.com/business/2021/08/14/one-way-to-make-europe-more-like-silicon-valley In silicon valley, running one or two startups into the ground is an essential step on an entrepreneur’s journey to success. For their European counterparts a single bankruptcy can derail a career. Being branded a failure once is all banks and other investors need to steer clear for ever. A new study shows the extent of the stigma a past failure can have on potential business-builders—and how it can be remedied. In the past, French public authorities often “flagged” top managers of firms that had gone bust for all to see. The blot featured prominently on records for three years and was readily available to banks, which used it to avoid once-failed managers. In 2013 the policy was changed: the flagging system was abolished, and the 143,000 erstwhile entrepreneurs informed of their newly cleaned slate. The overnight shift gave researchers a chance to see what impact the flagging system had had. Christophe Cahn and Mattia Girotti of the Banque de France, which ran the bankruptcy database, along with Augustin Landier of hec Paris, a business school, tracked the fortunes of the deflagged. In a paper in the Journal of Financial Economics they write that removing the stain of insolvency increased the probability of once-failed managers setting up a new business by at least 19%. Banks extended more credit and reduced the interest on some loans by nearly 0.5 percentage points. The impact was largest for young founders with short records. More surprising, bankers seemed to be making decisions based on the information that was put in front of them by regulators. It is still possible—albeit a touch less convenient—for lenders to pull up details of a borrower’s past ventures. Once the information was out of immediate sight, few seemed to care. The outcome is a vindication for French policymakers, who expressly wanted to encourage failed entrepreneurs to try again. About one in 40 managers were flagged at any one time, plenty of whom waited the three years until the stigma passed to have another go. Bankers, meanwhile, may want to dig into their borrowers’ histories: the study finds that a firm set up by a manager who had previously gone bust is nearly twice as likely to itself go under. Third time lucky?

It may not be a tourist destination up there with the Maldives, but if you’re into motorsport, Belgium is a great place to head in August (or rather, it would be if its borders weren’t closed to us...). The tiny nation has just held the marquee 24-hour race of the GT season, coming up is the Ypres Rally and then at the end of the month comes the Belgian Grand Prix. These three diverse events all have one thing in common: Spa-Francorchamps. Yes, Spa is around 165 miles from Ypres and doesn’t exactly have a rallying heritage; but the track and its surroundings will host four special stages of the Ypres Rally on the final day, including the points-paying seven-mile Power Stage. Sunday’s stages are an intriguing mix of classic Belgian asphalt roads and the actual Spa circuit, with the podium ceremony taking place at the track. Mixing rallying with circuits isn’t a new idea – most notably showcased by the Monza Rally, which made its WRC debut last year. Even before then, Britain’s round of the WRC used to regularly visit Castle Combe and Silverstone. But anybody who’s worried that the Ypres Rally might lose its unique ambience needn’t be concerned. It still hosts the best service park of the year, right in the town’s central square, conveniently flanked by bars and restaurants. Ypres and its environs are mired in World War One history, and it’s incredible how vivid and moving the many memorials and museums are. It’s a home event, too, for Thierry Neuville: a man who desperately needs some good luck to avoid his first winless WRC season since 2016. The Hyundai i20 driver is immersing himself in Belgium’s month of motorsport: he was avidly watching the Spa 24 Hours livestream, he will be the man of the moment in Ypres and he’s a regular guest at the Belgian Grand Prix. While Belgium is making its WRC debut this year, a Belgian team has actually already won the championship. Sébastien Loeb’s 2006 title was clinchedwith Kronos Racing, running his blue Xsara privately while Citroën took a sabbatical to develop the C4 WRC.

The COVID-19 positive case of Krunal Pandya during the white ball tour of Sri Lanka has raised questions about BCCI’s medical officer on tour delaying RT-PCR test by a day, leading to eight players missing out on two T20I games. It has now emerged that Krunal, after sensing symptoms like throat pain, had immediately red-flagged team’s accompanying doctor Abhijit Salvi on July 26 but neither was a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) done right away nor was the player immediately isolated. In fact, despite throat pain, the team doctor allowed the player to attend the team meeting and only on July 27 morning was his RT-PCR Test done. The reports came late in afternoon after which BCCI and SLC decided to jointly postpone the game by a day as eight of his close contacts were also tested. Initially all of them tested negative but later before the team left Sri Lanka, Krishnappa Gowtham and Yuzvendra Chahal were also found to be positive. The Indian white ball team led by Shikhar Dhawan and coached by Rahul Dravid played three ODIs and three T20 Internationals winning the first series 2-1 and losing the shortest format 1-2. “Krunal had throat pain on July 26 and he followed the protocol informing the medical officer. It is strange that he should have been immediately isolated with a Rapid Antigen Test (self test kit) done. But nothing of that sort happened,” a BCCI source privy to developments in Sri Lanka, told PTI on conditions of anonymity. “Although Rapid Antigen Test is not conclusive but it’s the first part of protocol. But I can confirm, Krunal despite throat pain attended team meeting,” “In fact, another question that’s being raised is how come BCCI’s medical team in Sri Lanka agreed to testing every fifth day whereas in IPL, testing is done every third day,” the source added. “Thanks to secretary Jay Shah, who intervened and the crisis of a series cancellation was averted by isolating all close contacts. His move saved the series and also helped the Sri Lankan Cricket board. But had the medical team been pro-active, the situation could have been averted,” the BCCI insider said. The man in question Salvi was contacted by the PTI for his side of the story. “I will not make any comments,” Salvi said. The T20 series defeat was primarily due to India only having four specialist batsmen with as many as eight close contacts of Krunal were put in mandatory isolation after the player tested positive. The trio of Krunal, Chahal and Gowtham returned home earlier this month.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58196575 Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong has been released from a South Korean prison and is now on parole. He served 207 days in jail - just over half the sentence he received after being convicted of bribery and embezzlement in January. The case involved the country's former President Park Guen-hye, who is also in jail for bribery and corruption. Samsung Electronics was founded by Lee's grandfather and he has been the de facto head since 2014 . Lee made a brief statement to reporters outside the prison. "I've caused much concern for the people. I deeply apologise," Lee said. "I am listening to the concerns, criticisms, worries and high expectations for me. I will work hard." The 53-year old was sent to prison for two-and-a-half years by a high court in January. He was accused of paying 43bn won ($37.7m; £26.7m) to two non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Park's, in exchange for political support - alleged to include backing for a controversial Samsung merger which paved the way for Lee to become eventual head of the conglomerate. The deal needed support from the government-run national pension fund. At the time of his verdict, the court said that Lee "actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the president to use her power to help his smooth succession" at the head of Samsung. The court found Lee guilty of bribery, embezzlement and concealment of criminal proceeds worth about 8.6 billion won ($7.8m; £5.75m). The Justice Ministry said it made the decision to release Lee after considering the effects of the pandemic on South Korea's economy and global markets. In a statement, President Moon Jae-in's office said his release was made in the national interest and asked for understanding. "We are well aware that there are supporting and opposing views on Vice-Chairman Jay Y Lee's parole. The views of the people who are opposed are also right," it said. "On the other hand, there have been many people who called for his parole in this severe crisis, hoping that he will help the country with respect to semiconductors and vaccines." However, Lee's parole conditions include five years of business restrictions - it is unclear if he will be able to run the company unless he gets an exemption. He will also need approval for any trips abroad. Lee is also under investigation for fraud and stock mani[CENSORED]tion and if found guilty could be jailed again.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58155203 A po[CENSORED]r Malaysian singer has died from Covid-19, just days after giving birth to a baby boy - her fourth child. Eight-month pregnant Siti Sarah Raisuddin, who had experienced low oxygen levels, was put into an induced coma so her baby could be delivered via surgery. The baby was saved, though she never got to hold him. Her husband said he made one last video call to her before her death, where she had tears running down her cheeks. "(It's) as if she understood what we were saying to her," comedian Shuib Sepahtu told local reporters. "It's just that it will be really challenging for me to break the news to my three kids on the death of their mother." Besides the newborn, the couple have three older children aged six to 10. Reports say that the entire family had tested positive for Covid-19 on July 25, after contracting it from their domestic helper. In the days after, Siti Sarah had shared videos on her Instagram account of her children crying after getting Covid tests, which she had described as hard to watch. News of her passing has devastated fans and other entertainment figures as they shared their grief online. The Malaysian king and queen also gave their condolences to her family. In a Facebook post, the palace wrote: "Their Majesties also expressed their sadness over her passing and hoped that her family will be patient and resilient as they cope with the loss." Siti Sarah's death comes as Malaysia is easing Covid restrictions for those fully vaccinated against the virus on Tuesday, even as the country is going through its worst wave. The easing of rules - which allows vaccinated residents greater leeway for travel, sports, and dining out - has been met with mixed reactions. Opposition parties have urged a rethink of a "poorly thought-out reopening" over fears it would further overwhelm the healthcare system. On Monday, Malaysia recorded 17,236 Covid infections, and 212 deaths, bringing the country's Covid death toll to 10,961. Around 27.5% of the 31.95m po[CENSORED]tion have been fully vaccinated so far.

Australia stand-in skipper Matthew Wade has lamented the team’s batting in Bangladesh after they crumbled in the T20 series finale with a record low score.Bangladesh thrashed Australia by 60 runs in Dhaka on Monday to secure a comprehensive 4-1 series win, with the tourists’ batsmen managing just 62 in 13.4 overs, their worst ever total in the format. “There’s not a lot of positives to take out of it, to get beaten in the fashion we did … was not good enough from an Australian cricket team regardless of the personnel we’ve got here,” Wade told reporters.”The reality is we need to get better at spin, myself included. There’s a lot of players in this team who need to find a way to score runs in these conditions. “The series loss follows Australia’s 4-1 defeat in T20s to West Indies last month.A slew of Australia’s first-choice players elected to skip the tours and regular captain Aaron Finch was ruled out of Bangladesh with a knee injury.But the series defeats have raised alarm bells before the T20 World Cup in United Arab Emirates and Oman in October and November. Wade, who top-scored for Australia with 22 on Monday, said he did not blame the team’s younger players.”Myself, Moises (Henriques), Dan Christian, we are all experienced players and we needed to do better,” he said. “Those (younger) guys got the opportunity to experience these conditions and if they take it as a learning opportunity to become better players, as we all should, then at least we’ve learnt something.”I’ve played a lot of cricket and they are certainly the most challenging T20 international pitches I’ve ever played on.”What they’ve seen out here will be very valuable going forward but it’s on the senior batting group, we needed to get more runs.”

One of my mates showed me his new ride the other day: a rather wonderful Bentley Continental GT. He had picked up this 2006 example with some issues and no service history, so full marks for bravery. Except that he found the service books and sorted out the problems, because he’s a proper mechanic, and effectively doubled its value overnight. He’s going to keep it, but he’s fully aware of the future implications. Luckily, he owns a garage – a proper one with hydraulic lifts in it. Even so, if the carbon-fibre brake discs need replacing, that’s £7000 each. Which makes me think: what could we buy that’s equally interesting? It might not have 12 cylinders, but it must deliver some kind of unique experience. There are a lot of coupés that will do pretty much the same job as a Continental but rather differently. It would be so easy to go for the default appeal of a 2009 BMW 320i Coupé M Sport Highline with an automatic gearbox and just 60,000 miles, which seems like the perfectly reasonable two-door to get for £6995. The thing is, I just remembered that Renault made a Mégane Coupé, which everyone else has forgotten, too. It’s not a bad-looking thing, and on our £7000 budget I was rather taken with a 2011 2.0 dCi GT Line TomTom. It has old-fashioned sat-nav and 70,000 miles under its wheels. Public enthusiasm is fading for diesels, but these cars are great and economical, and you will rarely see another – unlike a Continental GT. There are a lot of Bentley-related Volkswagen Group products, and if you look not too hard enough, you will find Golf switchgear and Audi A8 underpinnings. The Audi TT remains one of the most charismatic and distinctive coupés, and the choice is diesel or petrol at the £7000 price point. For that, you can get a 2009 S Line Edition 2 with 87,000 miles, four previous owners, a fresh MOT and all the history. It’s ULEZ-friendly, while a 2009 2.0 TD S Line – with a similar mileage, price and spec – isn’t. For a while, I was distracted by a £7000 Caterham – which turned out not to be. Kit cars shouldn’t be advertised as something they aren’t or are just pretending to be. There’s plenty you can buy at this generous price; the truth is that many just want a set of wheels to go from A to B, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s why for £6990, or almost the price of that Bentley disc, it’s possible to get a fairly fresh 2018 Citroën C1 with 30,000 miles – a one-owner, Bluetooth-equipped runaround in Urban Ride spec that will do 57mpg.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58144779 Coal needs to be consigned to history to limit global warming, says PM Boris Johnson, describing a UN report on climate change as "sobering". He said the world must shift to clean energy and provide finance to help countries at risk from changing climates. The landmark study found it was "unequivocal" that human activity was responsible for global warming. Green campaigners said the UK must halt planned new fossil fuel projects. Despite the call to end the use of coal, the UK is considering plans for a new coking coal mine in Cumbria, as well as proposals to tap a new oil field near Shetland. The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the UN group on the science of climate change - said climate change was already here and causing chaos in some places. Its authors said some of the changes, including rising sea levels, would not be reversed for hundreds or maybe thousands of years. The publication comes less than three months before the UK hosts a key climate summit, known as COP26, in Glasgow. Mr Johnson said: "Today's report makes for sobering reading, and it is clear that the next decade is going to be pivotal to securing the future of our planet. "We know what must be done to limit global warming - consign coal to history and shift to clean energy sources, protect nature and provide climate finance for countries on the frontline." The UK government, which has adopted a 2035 deadline for a 78% emissions cut, is due to publish its strategy on cutting UK emissions to zero overall by 2050 this autumn. Net zero means cutting carbon emissions as far as possible then balancing out any remaining releases, for example by tree planting. "The UK is leading the way, decarbonising our economy faster than any country in the G20 over the last two decades," the prime minister said. "I hope today's IPCC report will be a wake-up call for the world to take action now, before we meet in Glasgow in November for the critical COP26 summit." The UK has already drastically reduced the use of coal, with consumption falling from 61 million tonnes in 2013 to eight million tonnes last year. But the country remains dependent on other fossil fuels such as natural gas, which provides most home heating and about 40% of electricity. The Climate Change Committee, the UK's independent adviser on tackling global warming, says the UK has adequate policies for only two of 21 key areas in eliminating carbon emissions.

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