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Updated: October 5, 2017 13:09 IST | PTI The Supreme Court today referred to a five-judge constitution bench questions like whether a public functionary or a minister can claim freedom of speech while airing views in a sensitive matter which is under investigation. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the questions raised by senior advocates Harish Salve and Fali S. Nariman were required to be dealt by a larger bench. The bench, which also comprised Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and D. Y. Chandrachud, expressed concern over the misuse of social media platforms and said that people disseminated wrong information even about the court proceedings. Nariman, who is assisting the bench as an amicus curiae, concurred with the observation of the bench and said that a lot of misinformation and abuses are there on social media platforms and he has stopped looking at them. “I have deleted my Twitter account,” Salve said, adding that once when he was appearing in a ca...

By: Reuters | Sydney | Updated: October 5, 2017  Australian police will create a national photo database using existing identification records held by state authorities to identify terror suspects, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday, fanning privacy concerns among rights groups. Turnbull said the database was intended to accelerate the process of identifying potential terror suspects, replacing a time-consuming system that could take up to a week when national authorities requested information from their state counterparts. “It shouldn’t take seven days to be able to verify someone’s identity or seek to match the photo of someone who is a person of interest,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra. “It should be done seamlessly and in real time,” he said. The biometric database stops short of enabling real-time detection of suspects by scanning large crowds and alerting authorities when people on a security watch list are identified, similar to a system in ...

By PTI | Updated: Oct 05, 2017 Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani today emerged as India's wealthiest for the 10th straight year as his net worth swelled to USD 38 billion (nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore) while the wealth of 100 richest rose by 26 per cent despite economic hiccups.  Wipro's Azim Premji was the distant second with a net worth of USD 19 billion, moving up two places from last year, while Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi slipped from his earlier second place to the ninth now (USD 12.1 billion) on Forbes magazine's annual 'India Rich List 2017'.  Forbes said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "economic experiments" barely affected India's billionaires while none gained more than oil-and-gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani, who cemented his decade-long hold on the top slot by adding a staggering USD 15.3 billion (67 per cent) to his last year's wealth to become one of Asia's top five richest.  Anil Ambani, Mukesh's younger ...

PTI | Oct 5, 2017 As many as 4.5 lakh directors may face disqualification for their association with shell companies, Union minister P P Chaudhary said today as the government steps up its fight against the black money menace. Asserting that genuine corporates will not face action, the minister of state for corporate affairs said non-compliant companies are tarnishing the image of good ones. As the ministry pushes ahead with the efforts to weed out shell companies -- a term used for entities that have not been carrying out business for long and are allegedly used as conduit for illegal fund flows -- Chaudhary told PTI in an interview that the profile of all disqualified directors will be examined. The ministry has struck off names of 2,17,239 companies from the records as on September 22 as these have not been carrying out business activities for a long period and have also defaulted on compulsory filings while more such firms are likely to face action. "As o...

Updated: Oct 5, 2017, 22:25 IST  Reuters An unexplained dispute between  Pakistan 's interior minister and an elite paramilitary unit under his command is adding to political confusion in  Islamabad , prompting questions about a rift in ties between  civilian leaders and the powerful military. The spat comes at a moment of heightened concern over the feverish political climate in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which the United States seeks to include in its new strategy for South Asia.  Interior Minister Ashan Iqbal was taken by surprise when the elite Rangers unit, which provides security around parliament, withdrew its guards without explanation on Wednesday. "I was told the Rangers have unilaterally withdrawn from the important installations where they were on duty, which, for us, was shocking," Iqbal told domestic television channel Dawn News.  "This was a gross violation."  Outside parliament on Thursday, the country's Fr...

Dinakar Peri, NEW DELHI,  OCTOBER 05, 2017 Chances of two-front war low but IAF can face any threats despite shortage of fighter jets, he says. In a first formal statement from the military leadership after the disengagement at Doklam, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa on Thursday said Chinese troops were still present in the area.  “Their [China] forces in Chumbi Valley are still deployed and I expect that they will withdraw when their summer exercise gets over,” he said at the annual press conference ahead of the Air Force Day on October 8.  China, he said, held military exercises every year in summer and so their forces were closeby when the Doklam standoff happened.  The Air Chief said the possibility of a two-front war remains low but the Indian Air Force has adequate capability to tackle threats despite a shortage of fighter jets. “Possibility of a two-front war in the current geopolitical situation is low. Our respo...

Arun S, NEW DELHI ,  OCTOBER 05, 2017 Panel on Artificial Intelligence seeks more time to provide inputs; Govt to hold extensive consultations with stakeholders on the Policy The new ‘future-ready’ Industrial Policy, slated to be announced this month, will be delayed as a panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has sought more time to provide inputs. Besides, the Centre is planning to hold extensive consultations with stakeholders. The Policy will incorporate measures to facilitate the use of modern smart technologies such as AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics, with an aim to make India a global hub for advanced manufacturing. Asked if the Policy will be brought out this month as announced by the Centre in August, Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit (WEF-IES) that “It is a very important policy. So we would like to give it enough time....

October 05, 2017 The United States is concerned about the future of the government in Pakistan and wants to ensure long-term stability in the country, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday he sought to allay Pakistan's concerns over President Donald Trump's new South Asia policy. Tillerson's comments came after his meeting with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who is visiting the US as part of efforts to rebuild bilateral ties frayed after President Trump accused Islamabad of sheltering terror groups. Asif, during the meeting with Tillerson at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, defended his country's role in the war against terrorism. They held a wide-ranging exchange of views on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest, a statement by Pakistan's Embassy said. Wednesday's meeting signalled a gradual resumption of talks between the two countries that was paused by an upset Pakist...

Amit Anand Choudhary | TNN | Updated: Oct 5, 2017 The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over abusive and derogatory comments on social media and agreed with the contention of two senior advocates that people doing so should face the consequences. The court also hit back at those alleging that judges were increasingly becoming "pro-government". It said such accusations were unfortunate and people should come and sit in courtrooms to see how courts "hauled up" the government to protect the rights of citizens. The court was hearing a plea seeking its direction to restrain ministers and those holding public offices from expressing their views in criminal cases which might affect the probe. The issue came up after Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan termed the Bulandshahr gang rape last year as "an outcome of political conspiracy". A petition was filed against him in the apex court by the survivor's family following his remarks. ...

Surojit Gupta and Sidhartha | TNN | Oct 6, 2017 The Centre will use Friday's GST Council to push through relief measures and calm jittery businesses complaining about the new tax regime. The panel of state and Union finance ministers is expected to ease exporters' pain by allowing electronic payment of taxes through "virtual currency", while announcing a series of steps for small and medium enterprises as it seeks to smoothen the implementation of GST. Expectations of a raft of measures were triggered after PM Narendra Modi's strong defence of the health of the economy on Wednesday, which he backed up with a meeting with finance minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday. Shah, who is supposed to provide critical political feedback, cancelled his return to Kerala on Thursday for the planned padyatra. Jaitley skipped a scheduled speech at the India Economic Summit on Thursday evening. Sources, however, described the meeting as r...

PTI | Updated: Oct 5, 2017 WASHINGTON: The recent slowdown in India's economic growth+ is an "aberration" mainly due to the temporary disruptions in preparation for the GST, the World Bank said on Thursday, pointing out that it will get corrected in the coming months. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim also said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is going to have a hugely positive impact on the Indian economy. "There's been a deceleration in the first quarter, but we think that's mostly due to temporary disruptions in preparation for the GST, which by the way is going to have a hugely positive impact on the economy," Kim told a group of reporters during a conference call ahead of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank here. Finance minister Arun Jaitley would be leading the Indian delegation to the annual meeting next week. Kim was responding to questions on slowdown in India's growth in the f...

PTI|Updated: Oct 05, 2017 The 'Raja' model of running a company, where promoters act as monarchs may be favourable to them but hurts minority shareholders and the overall business confidence in the country, a Sebi panel on corporate governance said today.  Submitting its report to the regulator for overhaul of corporate governance norms for listed companies, the panel headed by eminent banker Uday Kotak instead favoured a 'custodian or trusteeship' model for running a company that works on 'Gandhian principles'.  In his foreword to the report, Kotak said leading corporates in India are often seen as role models by budding entrepreneurs, but if one investigates further, weaknesses become visible.  "This is where the contention between letter and spirit comes to light. By and large most leading corporates in India follow rules and regulations, and if their governance practices are put to test, they will likely stand scrutiny of the law.  ...

Bloomberg Updated: Oct 05, 2017 At first, bitcoin was a way to make payments without banks. Now, with more than $100 billion stashed in digital currencies, banks are debating whether and how to get in on the action.  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein tweeted Tuesday that his firm is examining the cryptocurrency. Other global investment banks are looking into facilitating trades of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to industry consultants. Bitcoin has surged more than 300 percent this year, drawing the attention of hedge funds and wealthy individuals.  “They’re clearly receiving interest from their clients, both from retail investors and on the institutional side,” said Axel Pierron, managing director of bank consultant Opimas. “It’s highly volatile, it’s highly illiquid when you need to trade large volumes, so they see the opportunity for a new asset class which would require the capability of a broker-dealer.”  ...