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DAWN, Anwar Iqbal, November 01, 2017 WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has informed Congress that Pakistan is willing to target terrorists if provided information and Wash­ington plans to give Islamabad the opportunity to prove it. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Monday night, American lawmakers also warned that if the United States insisted on having the option of first strike against a nuclear-armed nation, it could send a wrong signal to other nations with nuclear weapons. They particularly mentioned India and Pakistan, two nuclear nations with strained relations. Although the hearing was on the US president’s authority to go to war, Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, asked Mr Tillerson to share with the committee what he heard from Pakistanis during his visit to Islamabad last week. “Pakistanis have indicated — if we provide them information they will act. We’re going to have to test that, give them an opportunity to do so,” Se...

The Telegraph, Barney Henderson, n  Nick Allen  Ben Riley, Smith,  Chris Graham, November 01, 2017 The Uzbek national who plowed through a New York bicycle path, killing eight people, was associated with Islamic State but "radicalised domestically," the state's governor Andrew Cuomo has said. The suspect, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov, was shot by police at the end of the rampage in lower Manhattan Tuesday but was expected to recover from his wounds. "He's a depraved coward is what he is, and he was associated with ISIS, and he was radicalised domestically, and he's a depraved coward," Gov. Cuomo said. The attacker struck just a few blocks from the site of the World Trade Center memorial, running over afternoon riders on the path before reaching a road and ploughing into a school bus. He then jumped out of the truck wielding what turned out to be a pellet gun, and a paintball gun. He was chased and shot in the stomach by a police off...

Rediff.com, November 01, 2017 Statements emanating from the recent Chinese Communist party congress suggest potentially increasing pressure on India with regard to the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, notes former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade. The week-long (October 18 to 24, 2017) 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which was held in Beijing, concluded as anticipated with Xi Jinping emerging considerably stronger. For those watching the congress for clues as to Xi's policies towards China's ethnic minorities and especially Tibet and Xinjiang, there appears little prospect of any relaxation of controls. In fact, the emphatic assertions during the congress that China will safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity were reinforced by a letter publicised a couple of days ago and ostensibly written by two Tibetan village girls to Xi during the congress. The girls, Zhoigar and Yangzom, had written describing l...

BusinessLine, PTI, November 01, 2017 The government is working with the World Bank to recognise over 200 reforms that will help propel India into the top-50 bracket in ease of doing business, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek. “We have already implemented 122 reforms this year, and are working with World Bank to recognise these. We will further initiate 90 more ease of doing business reforms this year,” Abhishek told presspersons on the sidelines of the CII Invest North conclave. India yesterday jumped 30 places to rank 100th in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution. “A jump of 30 positions in the World Bank rankings is extremely commendable. Now the aim is to move into the top-50 countries bracket,” he added. Abhishek said his department has already started meeting stakeholders and taking feedba...

NDTV PROFIT, PTI, November 02, 2017 New Delhi:  Market valuation of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) crossed the  R s.  6 lakh crore-mark at the close of trade on Wednesday, becoming the first company to reach this milestone. Reliance Industries commanded a market capitalisation or M-Cap of  R s.  6,03,097.82 crore or about $93 billion when the stock market closed. Shares of Reliance Industries ended 1.22 per cent higher at  R s.  952.30 on the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange). During the day, they had jumped 1.76 per cent to  R s.  957.40.  On the NSE, the company's stock rose by 1.24 per cent to close at  R s.  952.55. RIL's market valuation had on October 24 crossed the  R s.  6 lakh crore mark for a brief period on the NSE.  In terms of equity volume, 4.56 lakh shares of the company were traded on the BSE and over 80 lakh shares changed hands at the NSE during the day. RIL is the country's most valued f...

MONEYCONTROL, PTI, November 01, 2017 The Supreme Court today favoured creation of special courts to exclusively deal with criminal cases involving politicians and their speedy disposal, saying such a move would be in the "interest of the nation". The Supreme Court today favoured creation of special courts to exclusively deal with criminal cases involving politicians and their speedy disposal, saying such a move would be in the "interest of the nation". Directing the Centre to place before it a scheme in this regard, the top court asked it about the 1,581 cases involving MPs and MLAs, as declared by the politicians at the time of filing of their nominations during the 2014 elections, and the details of how many of them have been disposed of within one year as per its directions passed in 2014. It sought details of how many of these 1,581 cases have ended in conviction or acquittal of the accused, the number of criminal cases lodged against politici...

MONEYCONTROL, Sangeeta Bose, November 01, 2017 The popcorn-munching book fair lovers have established it and India's rich heritage of Vedas and Shastras stands testimony. Among 30 major countries surveyed, the NOP World Culture Score Index ranks India as the country that loves reading the most if the time spent doing so is taken into consideration. Indians clocked 10.4 hours of weekly reading, as per the list. On an average, that’s around one and a half hours of reading in a day. After India, Thailand and China are placed second and third on the list, clocking 9.24 hours and 8 hours respectively. The next three countries — Philippines, Egypt and the Czech Republic —read 7.36 hours, 7.3 hours and 7.24 hours respectively on a weekly basis. Is there a correlation with literacy? Surprisingly, the reading craze has nothing to do with literacy as European countries like Finland, Norway, and Denmark- all of whom are known for high literacy rates and excellent...

HUFFPOST, Stanley Carvalo, Reuters, November 01, 2017 ABU DHABI (Reuters) — Pakistan plans to build at least three to four big reactors as it targets nuclear power capacity of 8,800 megawatts (MW) by 2030, the country's atomic energy commission chairman said. Pakistan has five small reactors in operation with combined capacity of just over 1,300 MW. The last one in the four-reactor Chashma plant in Punjab province, built by China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), went into operation in September this year. It is also building two Chinese Hualong One reactors with a capacity of 1,100 MW each near the port city of Karachi. Muhammad Naeem, Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, told Reuters these two new reactors are now 60% and 40% complete respectively and should become operational in 2020 and 2021. Pakistan is now also in the final stages of awarding contracts for an eighth nuclear reactor with 1100 MW capacity which would take the country's total n...

DAWN, November 01, 2017 Bangladesh's foreign ministry on Wednesday registered a protest with Pakistan High Commissioner Rafiuzzaman Siddiqui against a video posted on the Pakistan High Commission's webpage, saying that it "distorted historical facts" about Bangladesh's independence,  BBC Urdu  reported . The video posted on the High Commission's website stated that Bangladesh's first president Sheikh Mujibur Rehman had desired self-rule for Bangladesh, not independence,  BBC Urdu  reported, quoting a statement issued by the foreign ministry in Dhaka. According to the statement, Secretary (Europe, Africa, America) Qamarul Ahsan registered the protest with Siddiqui, who was summoned by the foreign ministry, and asked for an apology for the video. "To state that Sheikh Mujib did not desire independence is an attempt to distort historical facts," said the  BBC Urdu  article quoting the official statement. "This is deliberate misuse...

DAWN, Nadir Guramani, October 31, 2017 Senators on Tuesday expressed serious reservations against the United States' policy on South Asia as well as related recent developments, including increased drone attacks and US Secretary of State Rex  Tillerson's visit to Islamabad . During a Senate session, lawmakers unequivocally criticised the US's new bent, terming it a threat to regional security and peace. Senator Taj Haider said US President Donald Trump "wants to divide people while erecting walls." He claimed that the US economy was rooted in conflict, but Islamabad would not become part of any proxy war in the region. Senator Farhatullah Babar turned his guns on the government, criticising Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for "not being able to control the reins of Pakistan's foreign policy". He also asked why drone strikes had resumed in the tenure of the incumbent government. He also lambasted Asif for a recent statement in which he ha...

The Times of India, AFP, November 01, 2017 BEIJING: Chinese President  Xi Jinping 's pledge to build a "world-class army" by 2050 is making his neighbours nervous, but analysts say Beijing's military ambitions do not constitute a strategic threat — for now. With purchases and construction of fighter jets, ships and hi-tech weaponry,  China's military budget  has grown steadily for 30 years, but remains three times smaller than that of the United States. Now, Beijing wants to catch up. "We should strive to fully transform the people's armed forces into a world-class military by the mid-21st century," Xi told 2,300 delegates of the  Chinese Communist Party , which he heads and which controls the army. The comments, made during the party's twice-a-decade congress, were aimed in part at domestic nationalists, but also intended to show other countries "China's desire to be strong economically as well as militarily,...