New Delhi: Demolition of Babri mosque and Gujarat riots were the greatest failure of Indian Constitution, Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy said on Saturday, as opposition leaders from different parties accused the ruling BJP of undermining the Constitution. Participating in a debate on 75 years of the Constitution of India, Roy also accused the Union government of destroying federalist structure of the country. “The greatest failure of the Constitution was when Babri mosque was demolished by the ‘Hindutva walas.’ It was a matter of shame for the whole country,” Roy said. “Another big setback to the Constitution was when Gujarat riots took place under (then) chief minister Modi, that was a matter of shame,” he said. The TMC leader said, “While we are speaking of Savarkar, Modi is today’s Savarkar.” He accused the Centre of not giving states their due share, and said the government is “destroying federalism.” DMK leader A Raja hit out at the BJP, claiming that it would have changed the Constitution had the words “secular” and “socialist” not been added to the Preamble of the document during Emergency. Participating in the debate, Raja also dared the BJP to spell out the contribution of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Hindu Mahasabha to the making of the Constitution. A Union minister in the UPA government, Raja said democracy came under an assault when the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was imposed during Emergency, but under the BJP-led government, the basic structure of the Constitution, codified by the Supreme Court in the Kesavananda Bharti case, is under attack. “... in your regime, entire six elements (spelt out in the Kesavananda Bharati case), namely democracy, secularism, rule of law, equality, federalism, judicial impartiality, everything has gone,” Raja said. Congress MP Kumari Selja said, “It has become a trend to first demolish the Constitution and then attempt to resurrect it.” She said introduction of private and contractual jobs has taken away employment opportunities for Dalits. “We speak about the rights of Dalits, but today, equal opportunities have been taken away by introducing private and contractual jobs. What kind of equality are you talking about?” she said. “We demand a caste census because equality will only come when we acknowledge and address the realities... The wealth of the nation should accrue to its people. But today, is it being distributed equally? Without a caste census, who will be the beneficiaries?” she added. On the ongoing farmers’ protest, she said, “You have turned Haryana and Punjab’s borders into something resembling India-Pakistan. Farmers are sitting in protest, and they are being removed. You promised MSP (Minimum Support Price), but where is it? Where is the policy you claimed to have made?” National Conference MP Mian Altaf Ahmad saying that while the Congress apologised for imposing Emergency, the BJP ruling party has been silent on its own actions. Ahmad also slammed the BJP for bifurcating the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. “Congress has apologised for the Emergency but you are silent on various things you have done... Congress toppled elected governments, but you divided our state into two Union Territories, which was unnecessary,” he said. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation MP Raja Ram Singh, meanwhile, said the idea of economic equality is also enshrined in the Constitution, and there should be a proportional difference in the salary of the President and a peon. “You want a peon for Rs 5,000 but the CEO gets paid Rs 2.5- 3 crore... Government in encouraging growing economic disparity,” he said. The MP also slammed the BJP for wanting to keep “Gandhi in one pocket, and Savarkar in the other pocket.” “This double standard would not work. BJP is playing with the Constitution, they want to bring communal fascism in this country,” he said. Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP NK Premchandran also pointed out the “growing divide” between the rich and the poor, and referred to the directive principles which speak about minimising inequalities. He accused the BJP government of trying to concentrate wealth and means of production in a few hands. “The fruit of so-called economic development is not reaching the poor and the marginalised,” he said, adding a warning by BR Ambedkar against deepening economic and social inequalities that may destroy the foundation of democracy. Premchandran also said the secular fabric of the country was under threat. He said people of the country did not give absolute majority to the BJP because they wanted to protect the secular character of the nation. AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi expressed his concern over the situation of minorities. “What Babasaheb said 75 years ago remains absolutely true even today — no one wants the minority to share power,” he said. “Let me explain the measure of success of parliamentary democracy. Articles 25, 26, 29, 30, 14, and 21—these fundamental rights form the foundation. By focusing on these, I will illustrate whether justice has truly been served to the weaker sections of society,” he said, citing examples of incidents of harassment against Muslims in the country.KakaoBank nets 15 million users for digital certificate that enables IDV, authentication
AUSTIN, Texas , Dec. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) today announced fiscal 2025 Q2 results. Total quarterly revenues were up 9% year-over-year, in both USD and constant currency, to $14.1 billion . Cloud services and license support revenues were up 12% year-over-year, in both USD and constant currency, to $10.8 billion . Cloud license and on-premise license revenues were up 1% in USD and up 3% in constant currency, to $1.2 billion . Q2 GAAP operating income was $4.2 billion . Non-GAAP operating income was $6.1 billion , up 10% in both USD and constant currency. GAAP operating margin was 30%, and non-GAAP operating margin was 43%. GAAP net income was $3.2 billion . Non-GAAP net income was $4.2 billion , up 12% in both USD and constant currency. Q2 GAAP earnings per share was $1.10 , up 24% in USD and up 23% in constant currency, while non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.47 , up 10% in both USD and constant currency. Short-term deferred revenues were $9.4 billion . Over the last twelve months, operating cash flow was $20.3 billion and free cash flow was $9.5 billion . "Record level AI demand drove Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue up 52% in Q2, a much higher growth rate than any of our hyperscale cloud infrastructure competitors," said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz . "Growth in the AI segment of our Infrastructure business was extraordinary—GPU consumption was up 336% in the quarter—and we delivered the world's largest and fastest AI SuperComputer scaling up to 65,000 NVIDIA H200 GPUs. With our remaining performance obligation (RPO) up 50% to $97 billion , we believe our already impressive growth rates will continue to climb even higher. This fiscal year, total Oracle Cloud revenue should top $25 billion ." "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison . "And we just signed an agreement with Meta—for them to use Oracle's AI Cloud Infrastructure—and collaborate with Oracle on the development of AI Agents based on Meta's Llama models. The Oracle Cloud trains dozens of specialized AI models and embeds hundreds of AI Agents in cloud applications. For example, Oracle's AI Agents automate drug design, image and genomic analysis for cancer diagnostics, audio updates to electronic health records for patient care, satellite image analysis to predict and improve agricultural output, fraud and money laundering detection, dual-factor biometric computer logins, and real time video weapons detection in schools. Oracle trained AI models and AI Agents will improve the rate of scientific discovery, economic development and corporate growth throughout the world. The scale of the opportunity is unimaginable." The board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share of outstanding common stock. This dividend will be paid to stockholders of record as of the close of business on January 9, 2025 , with a payment date of January 23, 2025 . Earnings Conference Call and Webcast Oracle will hold a conference call and webcast today to discuss these results at 4:00 p.m. Central. A live and replay webcast will be available on the Oracle Investor Relations website at www.oracle.com/investor/ . About Oracle Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com . Trademarks Oracle, Java, MySQL, and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company—ushering in the new era of cloud computing. "Safe Harbor" Statement: Statements in this press release relating to future plans, expectations, beliefs, intentions and prospects, including the expectations for converting the Remaining Performance Obligations to revenue, future total Oracle Cloud revenue this fiscal year and the scale of opportunity for Oracle trained AI models and AI Agents, are "forward-looking statements" and are subject to material risks and uncertainties. Risks and uncertainties that could affect our current expectations and our actual results, include, among others: our ability to develop new products and services, integrate acquired products and services and enhance our existing products and services, including our AI products; our management of complex cloud and hardware offerings, including the sourcing of technologies and technology components; our ability to secure data center capacity; significant coding, manufacturing or configuration errors in our offerings; risks associated with acquisitions; economic, political and market conditions; information technology system failures, privacy and data security concerns; cybersecurity breaches; unfavorable legal proceedings, government investigations, and complex and changing laws and regulations. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading "Risk Factors." Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or by contacting Oracle's Investor Relations Department at (650) 506-4073 or by clicking on SEC Filings on the Oracle Investor Relations website at www.oracle.com/investor/ . All information set forth in this press release is current as of December 9, 2024 . Oracle undertakes no duty to update any statement in light of new information or future events. ORACLE CORPORATION Q2 FISCAL 2025 FINANCIAL RESULTS CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS ($ in millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended November 30, % Increase % Increase (Decrease) % of % of (Decrease) in Constant 2024 Revenues 2023 Revenues in US $ Currency (1) REVENUES Cloud services and license support $ 10,806 77 % $ 9,639 74 % 12 % 12 % Cloud license and on-premise license 1,195 9 % 1,178 9 % 1 % 3 % Hardware 728 5 % 756 6 % (4 %) (3 %) Services 1,330 9 % 1,368 11 % (3 %) (3 %) Total revenues 14,059 100 % 12,941 100 % 9 % 9 % OPERATING EXPENSES Cloud services and license support 2,746 19 % 2,274 17 % 21 % 21 % Hardware 172 1 % 213 2 % (20 %) (19 %) Services 1,167 8 % 1,253 10 % (7 %) (7 %) Sales and marketing 2,190 16 % 2,093 16 % 5 % 5 % Research and development 2,471 18 % 2,226 17 % 11 % 11 % General and administrative 387 3 % 375 3 % 3 % 3 % Amortization of intangible assets 591 4 % 755 6 % (22 %) (22 %) Acquisition related and other 31 0 % 47 0 % (34 %) (33 %) Restructuring 84 1 % 83 1 % 0 % 1 % Total operating expenses 9,839 70 % 9,319 72 % 6 % 6 % OPERATING INCOME 4,220 30 % 3,622 28 % 17 % 16 % Interest expense (866) (6 %) (888) (7 %) (3 %) (3 %) Non-operating income (expenses), net 36 0 % (14) 0 % * * INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES 3,390 24 % 2,720 21 % 25 % 24 % Provision for income taxes 239 2 % 217 2 % 11 % 10 % NET INCOME $ 3,151 22 % $ 2,503 19 % 26 % 26 % EARNINGS PER SHARE: Basic $ 1.13 $ 0.91 Diluted $ 1.10 $ 0.89 WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING: Basic 2,790 2,746 Diluted 2,869 2,817 (1) We compare the percent change in the results from one period to another period using constant currency disclosure. We present constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars at the exchange rates in effect on May 31, 2024, which was the last day of our prior fiscal year, rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. Movements in international currencies relative to the United States dollar during the three months ended November 30, 2024 compared with the corresponding prior year period increased our operating income by 1 percentage point. * Not meaningful ORACLE CORPORATION Q2 FISCAL 2025 FINANCIAL RESULTS RECONCILIATION OF SELECTED GAAP MEASURES TO NON-GAAP MEASURES (1) ($ in millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended November 30, % Increase (Decrease) in US $ % Increase (Decrease) in Constant Currency (2) 2024 2024 2023 2023 GAAP Non-GAAP GAAP Non-GAAP GAAP Adj. Non-GAAP GAAP Adj. Non-GAAP TOTAL REVENUES $ 14,059 $ - $ 14,059 $ 12,941 $ - $ 12,941 9 % 9 % 9 % 9 % TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES $ 9,839 $ (1,876) $ 7,963 $ 9,319 $ (1,914) $ 7,405 6 % 8 % 6 % 8 % Stock-based compensation (3)Matt Gaetz says he won’t return to Congress next year after withdrawing name for attorney generalNew York Emerging Technology Advisory Board Publishes First Report Outlining Vision to Elevate Leadership in AI
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