India Begins Epoch of Modi (In Pictures)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scatters rose petals at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat ahead of his swearing-in ceremonyReuters

Narendra Modi has been sworn in as the prime minister of India, along with his council of ministers.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi took oath as the 15th Prime Minister of India as the Hindu nationalist party won the Indian General Election with highest majority.

The swearing-in ceremony was presided over by president Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in India.

Along with prime minister Modi, cabinet ministers too took oath of office. Prominent leaders of the Hindu nationalist party, including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Aruj Jaitly, Nitin Gadkari and many other leaders have been included in Modi Government.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended by around 4000 guests including SAARC country leaders from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and Nepal.

Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended the ceremony in spite of stern opposition from the extremist parties from his country.

Before his swearing-in ceremony, Modi thanked his supporters via Twitter.

A big thank you to all friends who will be viewing the ceremony on TV and through social media. Your constant support & blessings mean a lot

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 26, 2014

I am glad & honoured that people from all walks of life will join the swearing in ceremony. I welcome them. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 26, 2014

Meanwhile, chief minister of India's southern state Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha, and politician Vaiko expressed their disappointment for inviting the Sri Lankan President.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes his oath at the presidential palace in New Delhi May 26, 2014. Modi was sworn in as India's prime minister in an elaborate ceremony at New Delhi's resplendent presidential palace on MondayReuters

India's President Pranab Mukherjee (3rd L) administers the oath of office to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) at the presidential palace in New Delhi.Reuters

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) shakes hands with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai after taking oath at the presidential palaceReuters

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) is greeted by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif (3rd R) after Modi took the oath of office at the presidential palace in New DelhiReuters

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee pose with lawmakers after the oath-taking ceremony at the presidential palace in New DelhiReuters

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waves upon his arrival at the airport in New Delhi.Reuters

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (2nd from bottom) disembarks from his plane upon his arrival at the airport in New Delhi.Reuters

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa waves upon his arrival at the airport in New Delhi May 26, 2014.Reuters

Vaiko (C), chief of the regional Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party, shouts slogans during a protest against the visit of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa near the Indian parliament in New Delhi.Reuters

A supporter of MDMK, a regional political party, holds a placard during a protest against the visit of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa near the Indian parliament in New DelhiReuters

Betting on Narendra Modi, Foreign Investors to Pump $60bn into India

Betting on Modi, foreign investors to pump $60bn into India this year.Reuters

Foreign investment inflows into India, Asia's third largest economy, are forecast to more than double to $60bn in the financial year 2014-15 as overseas investors repose confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pro-business regime, according to a report.

"Riding on huge expectations from the incoming Modi government, global investors are gung ho on the Indian economy which is expected to witness [an] over 100% increase in foreign investment inflows - both FDI and FIIs - to above $60bn (£36bn, €44bn) in the current financial year as against $29bn during [fiscal] 2013-14," according to the report by industry lobby group Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

"The unfolding scenario also points to easing of prices and lowering of interest rates, the two major challenges that the Indian economy had been facing for some years now," Assocham president Rana Kapoor was quoted as saying in a statement.

"If the Modi government is able to take some reforms-friendly measures along with taming inflation and earning goodwill of the people, the FDI will do a fast catch-up with the FIIs. The euphoria must be taken advantage of and things will move on from there."

Deutsche Bank analysts Abhay Laijawala and Abhishek Saraf wrote in a note: "A tailwind of high expectations and a national consensus on economic development increases our conviction that the [Modi] government will embrace reforms, albeit gradually and focus on a manufacturing revival."

"While the budget will now emerge as the next key milestone for the market, we expect the government to focus on: articulation of a credible roadmap rather than big bang isolated reform; dismantling archaic regulations of land, labour & commodity markets; an aggressive focus on empowering the states through a new centre state coordinating committee; a strong thrust on FDI with defence being an area of high focus; increase in government plan expenditure together with bold moves on subsidy rationalization; an integrated energy policy to raise India's energy security through higher domestic production; and dilution of government ownership in PSU banks."

US Man Reunites with Mother from Amazonian Tribe After 20 Years

Yarima talks to David Good's father via satellite phone. Good reunited with her mother Yarima, who belongs to an indigenous tribe of Amazon, after nearly 20 years.The Good Project/Facebook

An American man, who was abandoned by his mother when he was about six, has found her living with an Amazonian tribe.

David Good, 28, from Philadelphia hated his mother for having left him. He did not know who she was and where she came from until he saw her photo at a tribal exhibit during his school's field trip to the Museum of Natural History.

David's mother Yarima belongs to Venezuela's Yanomami tribe, who have thrived in the rainforests of South America for over 15,000 years.

"I just froze," David, who was then about 10 years old, told the New York Post.

"All the blood drained out of me. I ran to a dark corner and hid for 10 minutes."

"I didn't want my friends to know that my mom's a naked jungle woman eating tarantulas. I didn't want to be known as a half-breed. And it was my revenge; I was angry that she left me. So I just wanted to stick with the story that she was dead."

David gets a traditional bowl haircut from his long-lost tribal mom. "I think it made her very happy," he said.The Good Project/Facebook

According to the report, Yarima was offered to David's father Kenneth Good, an anthropology professor, as his wife after the tribal community regarded him as their part following his frequent visits to the community more than 30 years ago.

The couple who have three children together kept shuffling between their stays in the US and in forest in Venezuela for 12 years but Yarima, the report said, always wanted to return to her roots.

Kenneth said when Yarima was pregnant with David and went into labour, she "was panicked by the American hospital: the gurneys, the monitors, the machines, the needles."

"Once admitted, she sprung herself out of bed and attempted to give birth by squatting in the corner of the hospital room. It was so unnatural to her. It went against everything she ever learned," Kenneth said.

Yarima cooks inside her tribal hut in Venezuela's rainforest.The Good Project/Facebook

In 1991, Kenneth Good made a deal with National Geographic to film a documentary for which the entire family would be in Amazon. It was then Yarima decided that she would not go back to America.

"After two or three years, I began internalizsing it as abandonment," said David, who reunited with his mother in August 2011 when he was about 25.

"That trip was all about uncertainty. I didn't know if she would like me, or if I would like her, or if she would reject me. I said, 'Mama, I made it, I'm home. It took so long, but I made it.' "

David, who now makes frequent visits to his mother, wants to be Yanomami. He has even started a non-profit firm, The Good Project, dedicated to embracing and celebrating indigenous peoples.

"I want to trek through the jungle like they do," he told the New York Post.

He said Yarima wanted to visit America to see her other two children and Kenneth.

"It's not like there's closure. We're at the beginning of our story, in so many ways."

AOL's Project Nautilus Eyes Israeli Startups

AOL's project Nautilus to invest in Israeli start-ups.Reuters

AOL is set to roll out a programme in Israel to assist startups and the internet giant will invest at least $100,000 in about 10 projects at a time.

Project Nautilus is meant to give "maximum freedom to entrepreneurs" and "grant them access to all the tools and connections of a global company", said Hanan Laschover, chief executive of AOL Israel.

The first investment will be in Take&Make, AOL said in a statement. The startup has developed a platform for "do-it-yourself" videos.

AOL's first-quarter earnings missed expectations owing to the cost of restructuring its digital and media entertainment businesses.

Net income in the first-quarter dropped 64% to $9.3m (£5.5m, €6.8m).

AOL, which owns the Huffington Post website and the TechCrunch blog, has been investing in advertising.

Earlier in the month, the firm said it would shell out $101m to acquire Convertro, a platform designed to assist advertisers manage spending budgets across different media.

AOL in 2013 picked up video advertising platform Adap.tv, for $405m, whose platform helps advertisers buy and sell television ads and online video in real time.

Shanghai FTZ to Host Sony PlayStation Joint Ventures

Shanghai FTZ to host Sony PlayStation joint ventures.Reuters

Japan's Sony and China's Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group will set up two joint ventures to produce and market Sony's PlayStation gaming console in Shanghai, with China lifting a 13-year ban on foreign firms making consoles on its soil.

One joint venture will focus on the console's hardware and the other will develop software, Shanghai Oriental Pearl said.

One joint venture will have a registered capital of 10m yuan ($1.6m, £951,350, €1.2m) and will be 51% owned by Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development and 49% by Sony's China arm, according to Shanghai Oriental Pearl.

The other will have a registered capital of 43.8m yuan and will be 70% owned by Sony's China arm.

Tough Market

The joint ventures, which will be housed within the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ), are looking to tap China's multi-billion-dollar gaming market.

However, the ventures may find it hard to crack the market -- smuggling of consoles and piracy aside, the Chinese gaming market differs from traditional markets like Japan, Europe and the US in that the Chinese mostly play PC and mobile games.

The Chinese also do not pay for games but pay for in-game upgrades such as extra lives and special weapons, whereas gaming consoles typically make money from the sale of the console and the games.

Xbox One

Sony's move comes a month after Microsoft and its joint-venture partner BesTV New Media said they would introduce Microsoft's flagship Xbox One gaming console in China in September 2014.

China's video game market generated revenues of about $13bn in 2013, up 38% from 2012, according to data released at the annual China games industry conference in December 2013.

According to the data from the China Games Party, a committee that oversees the games industry in the region, client-based PC games represented more than 64.5% of revenue totalling about $8.7bn.

Browser-based games brought in $2bn and social games generated less than $1bn.

India: 40 Killed, About 100 Injured as Trains Collide

At least 40 people were killed when a passenger train rammed into a goods train near a railway station in the central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.REUTERS - file photo

At least 40 people have been killed when a passenger train rammed into a goods train near a railway station in the central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The mishap was caused by a signal failure that left a passenger train speeding into a stationary freight train at Sant Kabir Nagar, about 225 km from state capital Lucknow, local media reported.

Gorakhpur-bound Gorakhdham Express was running at high speed when its drivers realised they were hurtling down a track on which a freight train was standing.

The driver slammed the brakes but the express crashed into the goods train. The driver and the assistant driver of the express train were in critical condition.

The station master apparently disappeared after the accident and the authorities are searching for him, the Associated Press reported.

Three general coaches of the Gorakhdham Express were mangled in the crash, while six other coaches derailed.

While the district administration confirmed 40 people died in the collision and more than 100 injured, the railway authorities have withheld the number of the dead and injured.

"People are saying this based on their own assessment. There are lot of people inside the coaches who need to be rescued first," a railway official said, according to the Times of India.

The railways have not confirmed that signal failure caused the accident. After preliminary investigations, the authorities said the accident was caused by the derailing of some of the coaches of the passenger express.

Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of those killed. He also tweeted that he has asked for a high-level investigation into the accident.

More than 20 million people travel by train in India every day.

Drugmakers Suffer 5% Cut in China Profit Margins Amid Crackdown

GSK China accused of routing 3bn yuan in bribes to doctors.Reuters

China's crackdown on corruption in the domestic pharmaceutical sector and aggressive pricing amid tough competition has cut down drugmakers' profits and margins in the country.

A Reuters's survey of 60 listed Chinese healthcare firms showed that average profit margins of drug companies in China declined to about 10% in 2013 from 15% in 2012. Meanwhile, average net profits fell 2.1% compared to about 20% growth in previous years.

The world's most populous nation's healthcare demand has been on the rise in recent years. China has the largest drugs market among emerging nations and is expected to overtake Japan as the world's second biggest drugs market behind the US by 2016, according to IMS Health.

The unprecedented growth of China's pharmaceutical sector has attracted big global drug companies, as key US and European markets experienced a slowdown.

"Most companies, local and foreign, have enjoyed an easy growth phase for 5-6 years as money was thrown at the healthcare system to improve access," Reuters quoted as saying Alexander Ng, Hong Kong-based associate principal at McKinsey & Co.

"Now China is more into cost containment mode... and the squeeze on pricing and margins is a lot more apparent."

China started probing its pharmaceutical sector amid rising complaints about corruption and price fixing. Chinese authorities particularly targeted foreign firms working in the sector, and British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has faced the most high-profile investigation for suspected bribery and tax-related offences in China since early July 2013.

China's Ministry of Public Security accused unnamed GSK executives of routing 3bn yuan ($488m, £307m, €365m) in bribes to doctors through 700 travel agencies and consultancies over six years.

In connection with the allegations, Chinese authorities have taken several GSK executives into custody and claimed a number admitted to criminal charges of bribery and tax law violations.

China formally announced the charges against the former boss of GSK's China unit, Mark Reilly and two other executives, Zhang Guowei and Zhao Hongyan.

In addition to GSK, US drugmaker Eli Lilly, France's Sanofi, Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG and German drugmaker Bayer were probed by Chinese authorities.

Danish firms Novo Nordisk and H. Lundbeck, Britain's AstraZeneca and Belgian firm UCB have also allegedly faced China-led investigations.

Downward pressure on the company's margins and profits is likely to remain as doctors are afraid to meet medical reps amid intense investigations.

The drugmakers also suffered from price cuts, according to Reuters. China's leaders are looking to cut the country's healthcare bill that is set to hit $1tn by 2020. As a result, drug firms are pushing prices lower to beat rivals to contracts.

"The industry is in a very competitive stage, where firms want to take market share to stay in the game, but at the same time can't deal with the low prices," the news agency quoted Yu Mingde, president of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprises Association, as saying.

iPhone Producer Hon Hai Precision Plans $3.1bn GDR Sale

iPhone manufacturer Hon Hai Precision plans $310m GDR sale.Reuters

Hon Hai Precision, the Taipei-based manufacturer of Apple's iPhones, proposes to raise about $3.1bn through sale of new shares to foreign investors to fund its overseas expansion and into Taiwan's growing 4G telecom market.

Hon Hai will seek shareholder approval for the T$93bn ($3.1bn, £1.8bn, €2.3bn) share sale at its AGM in June, with the contract electronics manufacturer looking to sell up to one billion new shares through global deposit receipts (GDR), reported the Economic Daily News.

Hon Hai shares finished 0.54% lower at T$92.50 on 26 May.

Hon Hai Precision, the largest firm in the Foxconn Technology Group, earlier in the month, said first-quarter net income jumped 20% to NT$19.5bn ($647mn), matching expectations.

In January, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou said his firm was studying the feasibility of building an advanced panel manufacturing plant in the US that would produce liquid display screens larger than 60 inches. The move is expected to address the company's difficulty in shipping large-sized displays to the US from Asia.

In November, the company said it was considering a $40m investment in manufacturing and research facilities in Pennsylvania.