Top headlines: Amazon goes to SC against Future, India and China cool off

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India, China reach pact to pull back troops in Pangong lake areas: Rajnath

India and China have reached an agreement on disengagement in the North and South bank of Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh that mandates both sides to cease forward deployment of troops in a "phased, coordinated and verifiable" manner, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament on Thursday, in a breakthrough after a nine-month border standoff. Sharing details of the pact to defuse the tense military face-off in eastern Ladakh that severely strained ties between the two Asian giants, Singh also assured the Rajya Sabha that India has not conceded anything in the sustained talks with China. India will not allow even an inch of its territory to be taken by anyone, he said. Read more

Cap on airline capacity extended till 31 Mar, but fares may rise up to 30%

Government on Thursday has extended the cap on capacity and control on air fare till 31 March. However, in order to help airlines improve their balance sheet, the government has increased the upper and lower cap on airfare by up to 30 percent. Currently, airlines are allowed to deploy 80 percent of their pre-Covid capacity but except market leader IndiGo, no other airline has been able to deploy around 70 percent capacity of what they operated during the winters of 2020. After a closure of almost two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, domestic flights resumed on 25 May, 2020. Read more

Aditya Mittal appointed ArcelorMittal CEO; father to be executive chairman

Aditya Mittal will take over as the chief executive officer (CEO) of ArcelorMittal from his father, said the steelmaker on Thursday about an executive who has the company’s acquisitions Aditya Mittal, 45, is now president, chief financial officer (CFO) and chief executive officer (CEO) ArcelorMittal Europe. His father Lakshmi Mittal, who founded the company in 1976 and is currently the chairman and CEO, will become executive chairman of the company. Read more

Amazon appeals to Supreme Court in Future-Reliance deal dispute: Report

Amazon.com Inc has mounted a legal challenge against its partner Future Group's $3.4 billion retail assets sale in India's Supreme Court, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, marking the US firm's latest effort to block the deal. Amazon, locked in legal disputes with Future, alleges the Indian firm violated contracts by agreeing to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries last year. Future denies any wrongdoing. A New Delhi court this week dealt a blow to the US firm by revoking a previous court decision that effectively blocked the deal, and Amazon has filed an appeal against it in the Supreme Court in the capital city, the three sources said. Read more

Biden seeks more foreign workers while skirting H-1B visa uproar

Joe Biden’s immigration overhaul seeks to allow more skilled foreign workers into the U.S. without stirring widespread protest from labor groups, whose opposition would all but ruin prospects for what is already one of the president’s most precarious priorities. The sweeping proposal Biden sent to Congress on his first day in office drew quick Republican opposition over its centerpiece: a faster path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Another provision would allow more foreign students and workers to enter the U.S. by increasing the number of employment-based green cards. Read more