NJS donates Rs 3.5m

KATHMANDU: The Nepal Jesuit Society (NJS) donated Rs 3.5 million to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund on Sunday. Fr Boniface Tigga, SJ, director, Nepal Jesuit Society; Fr Amrit Rai, SJ, principal, St Xavier’s School Jawalakhel; Fr Augustine Thomas, SJ, principal, St Xavier’s College, Maitighar; Fr Boby Joseph, SJ, treasurer, NJS; Dip Prakash Pandey and Rabi Thapa presented the cheque to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in Baluwatar. St Xavier’s School, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur; St Xavier’s Godavari School, Lalitpur; St Xavier’s College, Maitighar; St Xavier’s School, Deonia, Jhapa; Moran Memorial School, Maheshpur, Jhapa; St Xavier’s Social Service Centre, Lalitpur and Shishu Bikas Kendra, Pokhara are NJS run institutions.

Ark’s SLC offer

KATHMANDU: Ark Smartphones, a leading smartphone brand of Nepal which is distributed by HIM Electronics of Golchha Organisation, has come up with a special SLC offer to celebrate the hard earned achievements of SLC graduates. The scheme offers SLC passed students the option to choose between and buy different models of Ark smartphones at special SLC Offer price. Under this offer, the Ark Icon R45 is being offered at Rs 9,890 instead of original price of Rs 11,490 and Ark Icon R40+ at Rs 8,190 instead of Rs 9,690. Similarly, Ark Edge A5HD, which is worth Rs 14,490 is being offered at Rs 13,790, Ark Storm K40 which costs Rs 8,190 at Rs 6,890 and the Ark Storm K35+ is being offered at Rs 5,790 instead of its original price of Rs 6,090. In addition, all these smartphones come with a 12-month warranty, and a chain of ARK stations that provides after sales service throughout the country. Scheme is valid from June 25 to July 5.

Creditors reject offer

MILAN: An offer by Indian vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra to take over Pininfarina has fallen through due to opposition from some of the Italian car designer’s creditor banks, newspaper Il Messaggero said on Saturday. Expectations of a sale have recently fuelled gains in the shares of the loss-making Pininfarina group, famous for designing Ferraris and other luxury cars. But three or four banks have rejected Mahindra’s offer because it envisaged writing off half of Pininfarina’s debts of 87 million euros ($97 million), the newspaper said. Pininfarina will now seek to agree a new debt restructuring, Il Messaggero said.

High earners’ tax

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s incoming centre-right government ran into controversy on Saturday over its plans to cut tax rates for high earners after it emerged the issue had caused the failure of coalition talks. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the leader of the Venstre party, said on Friday his party would govern alone after coalition talks with the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DPP) broke down. On Saturday, Danish media reported that one of the main reasons for the failure of the talks was Rasmussen’s wish to slash taxes on the highest earners from the current 15 per cent to 10 per cent.

Airbnb raises $1.5bn

NEW YORK: California-based Airbnb, the online accommodations hub, has arranged to raise $1.5 billion, sending its value up to $25.5 billion, a source close to the deal told AFP on Saturday. A group of American and Chinese investment funds were involved in the discussions which are aimed at expanding Airbnb’s offerings in Asia, according to the source, who asked not to be named.