Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said on Mar 30 , making him the first former US president to face a criminal charge and jolting his bid to retake the White House next year.

The charges remained under seal, but the investigation centred on payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. Prosecutors said they were working to coordinate Trump's surrender, which could happen early next week. They did not say whether they intended to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, a development that wouldn't prevent Trump from assuming the presidency.

The indictment, an extraordinary development after years of investigations into Trump’s business, political and personal dealings, injects a local district attorney’s office into the heart of a national presidential race and ushers in criminal proceedings in a city that the ex-president for decades called home. Arriving at a time of deep political divisions, the charges are likely to reinforce rather than reshape the duelling perspectives of those who see accountability as long overdue and those who, like Trump, feel the Republican is being targeted for political purposes by a Democratic prosecutor.

Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly assailed the investigation, called the indictment “political persecution” and predicted it would damage Democrats in 2024.

The White House said on Mar 30  it supports a global right to protest peacefully as the French continued to express outrage over President Emmanuel Macron's unpopular pensions reform and police brutality.

French police have been strongly criticized by rights groups for heavy-handed reaction to anti-Macron protests over the past month.

European Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic said last week that police cannot block or mistreat demonstrators just because a few people instigate violence.

Fintech company PhonePe has cancelled its plan to acquire ZestMoney. This is a huge setback for the buy-now-pay-later company. In November last year, it was said that PhonePe will acquire ZestMoney in a deal pegged at $200 million-$300 million.

PhonePe had to cancel it due to various reasons including a slowdown in the fintech sector, regulatory environment and also due to macroeconomic uncertainty.

Now, ZestMoney has to look for other options such as raising funds and also find a new acquirer. The start-up employs around 450 people and since the deal is now called off it is not yet known whether the company would fire some of its employees.

ZestMoney, which was founded in 2015 by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman, was last valued at $470 million. In September 2021, it raised $50 million, and in June 2022, the start-up raised around $20 million.

Though the public sector banks (PSBs) have been able to sail through the latest global banking crisis with ease, they do face issues like unfavourable deposit repricing, declining market share of CASA, frequent repricing of loans, etc.

These concerns were discussed recently in a performance review meeting of PSBs held last week. As the global banking crisis unfolded after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Credit Suisse, the government has identified several challenges faced by the country’s PSBs.  The Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, in its presentation, highlighted the challenges face by PSBs.

As per  the DFS presentation, PSBs are raising bulk deposits and funds via certificate of deposits (CDs) at higher rates, deposit repricing terms are also not in favour of these banks even as they have to deal with frequent repricing of loans linked to external benchmark rates. It was also highlighted that PSBs’ market share of CASA (Capital Accounts and Savings Account) deposits have fallen from 70% in FY14 to 58% in FY22 even as industry CASA deposits have gone up from 34% in FY14 to 45% in FY22.

Another area of concern raised by the ministry is yields may no longer outpace increase in cost of funds, resulting in fall in net interest margin (NIM), as deposits begin to be upwardly priced. NIM is a measure of profitability for banks. Higher the NIM the better it is for banks.

As per a recent RBI report, the median term deposit rates on fresh deposits rose by 82 bps during May 2022 to February 2023. As a result, term deposits recorded a growth of 13.2% on annual basis, whereas current and savings deposits rose at 4.6% and 7.3%, respectively. Higher share of CASA deposits is considered good for banks as they are cheaper than the term deposits.

The ministry hinted at potential rise in mark-to-market (MTM) losses as PSBs available-for-sale (AFS) bond exposure book was at Rs 10.67 lakh crore (28.6% of total investment, 7.9% of total assets and 12.9% of total gross advances), as of December 31, 2022.  AFS bond investments are recorded at market price, hence any drop in bonds prices has to be reported as loss.

·      Achilles heel

Yields may no longer outpace increase in cost of funds, resulting in contraction of net interest margin

PSBs are raising bulk deposits and funds through CDs on higher rates

Median-term deposit rates on fresh deposits increased by 82 bps during May 2022 to February 2023

PSBs’ market share of CASA deposits has fallen from 70% in FY14 to 58% in FY22

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has endorsed the country's bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, which would be the first ever held in Latin America.

Lula was joined by the president of the Brazilian soccer confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues, and Sports Minister Ana Moser at an official ceremony  on Mar 30  to confirm the bid. Rodrigues and Moser have been working to form a bid that is yet to be delivered to FIFA.

A joint bid from Belgium, Netherlands and Germany as well as another from South Africa are also in contention. U.S. soccer executives considering a bid to host the tournament either in 2027 or 2031.

The 77-year-old Brazilian president, in his first public appearance since he recovered from pneumonia, lifted the Women's World Cup trophy during the event. The trophy is traveling to all 32 countries competing in this year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Brazil hosted the men’s World Cup in 1950 and 2014.

The Brazilian women's team was runner-up at the 2007 World Cup in China, losing the final 2-0 to Germany.

FIFA is expected to announce its choice of host for 2027 next year.

Q1. Shin Bet is internal security agency of

1. Israel              
2. Ireland
3. Russia
4. Ukraine
5. None of These

Q2. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Mar 29  said its new factory at Narasapura (Karnataka) will produce 10 lakh electric vehicles (EV) by

1. 2024
2. 2026
3. 2028
4. 2030
5. None of These

Q3. Name the first Indian carrier to fly on a long route using  fuel blended with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) ?

1. Vistara
2. AirAsia India
3. Air India
4. Go First
5. None of These

Q4. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Mar 29  said it has signed an agreement with India to provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of Rs 18,750 crore as tranche 4 for the construction of

1. Patna Metro Rail Corporation Ltd
2. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
3. Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail
4. Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System
5. None of These

Q5. Name the  Speaker of Israel's Parliament who will travel to India for four days starting March 31, on his first official visit abroad after assuming office in December last year ?

1. Amit Halevi
2. Michael Biton
3. Benjamin Netanyahu
4. Amir Ohana
5. None of These

Answers

1------------------------1  Israel  

2------------------------4   2030

3-------------------------1 Vistara

4--------------------------3   Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail

5--------------------------4  Amir Ohana

The Indian government has requested the Nepal government not to allow pro-Khalistan activist and chief of  'Waris Punjab De' Amritpal Singh believed to be hiding in Nepal to flee to a third country. Nepal has been told to arrest him if he attempts to escape using Indian or any other fake passport. Thus, Nepal has put the radical Sikh preacher on their surveillance list.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Police on Mar 27 arrested yet another gunman of Amritpal Singh, Varinder Singh Johal alias 'Fauji' in relation to the Ajnala violence case.

The newly appointed president of the BJP  in Rajasthan, CP Joshi took over his responsibilities on Mar 27 at a special function in the party headquarters in Jaipur. Joshi who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Chittorgarh has replaced former state president Satish Poonia.