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The Nation, February 15, 2018 Pakistan has serious concerns regarding motion with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for placing Pakistan on its watch list, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said on Thursday. During his weekly media briefing, Faisal said FATF is an international body that sets standards relating to combating of money laundering and terrorist financing. "Such motions are aimed to hamper the economic growth of Pakistan," he added. He said Pakistan remains committed to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and ongoing terrorist combating operations by Pakistan army are proof of our commitment towards combating this menace. Replying to a question, Dr Faisal said Afghan president’s tweets regarding Naqeebullah Mehsud case is an act of interference in Pakistan’s internal affair. He said Pakistan strongly rejects the allegations of certain Indian police and defense officials and media insinuations in connect...

The Indian Express Harinder Sidhu February 16, 2018 For the past month, I have been using every opportunity I can to highlight a disease that kills a quarter of a million women each year — cervical cancvaer. Sadly, one in four of those women is in India. In terms of number of cases and deaths, India has the highest burden of the disease in the world. The social and economic costs of losing women to cervical cancer are devastating; many families are losing their mothers, sisters, daughters, breadwinners and caretakers. And yet, this is a disease that can be prevented. Effective interventions exist to save lives. There are screening techniques for early detection of cervical pre-cancer, simple procedures to treat pre-cancerous lesions, and there is a vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV). The technology behind the first HPV vaccine was developed more than 25 years ago by Ian Frazer, Jian Zhou and their colleagues at the University of Queensland, Australia. The ...

Money control, February, 17, 2018 The US has approached an international group to place Pakistan on global terrorist-financing watch list, accusing Islamabad of not complying with the UN Security Council resolutions relating to terror groups including al-Qaeda and its affiliates, a top State Department official said today. US President Donald Trump, in his first tweet of 2018, had lashed out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists and accused it of "lies and deceit" and of fooling US leaders while sheltering terrorists. Unveiling his new South Asia policy in August last year, Trump had warned of tougher measures against Pakistan if it failed to cooperate with the US in the fight against terror. "The US has consistently expressed our long-standing concern about ongoing deficiencies in Pakistan's implementation of its anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism finance (AML/CFT) regime,as a State Department Spokesperson told PTI amid media repo...

NEWS 18 February 16, 2018 "We are just seeking an equal treatment. WhatsApp payment does not ask for log-in password, which is a huge security risk for consumers. While it (WhatsApp's payment) is in beta testing, we don't think there will be any changes added later," Vijay Sharma told PTI. New Delhi: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has alleged that Facebook-owned WhatsApp's UPI payment platform has security risks for consumers and is not in compliance with the guidelines. WhatsApp, which has over 230 million users in India, has started testing payments through its platform in the country. India is the largest market for the messaging app. "We are just seeking an equal treatment. WhatsApp payment does not ask for log-in password, which is a huge security risk for consumers. While it (WhatsApp's payment) is in beta testing, we don't think there will be any changes added later," Sharma told PTI. He alleged that Facebook ha...

NDTV, The Press Trust of India, February 16, 2018 The international community has long-standing concerns over deficiencies in the implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism measures by Pakistan, the US said today, amid reports that it wants to put Islamabad in an international terrorist-financing watchlist. The remarks by State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert came ahead of a crucial Financial Action Task Force(FATF) meeting to be held in Paris from February 18 to 23. The FATF is an international policy-making and standard-setting body dedicated to combating money laundering and terrorist financing. "The international community has a longstanding concern when it comes to the Government of Pakistan about what we consider to be deficiencies in the implementation of anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism and other types of issues similar to that," Ms Nauert told reporters at her daily news conference. Ms Nauert was asked about Pa...

NEWS 18 Feb 16, 2018 The attack, which started in Ukraine and Russia before spreading globally, affected thousands of computers, particularly affecting multinational companies and critical infrastructure. Russia has denied involvement. Washington: The United States on Thursday pinned the blame for the massive 2017 'NotPetya" cyber attack firmly on Russia and warned Moscow it will face "international consequences." The attack, which started in Ukraine and Russia before spreading globally, affected thousands of computers, particularly affecting multinational companies and critical infrastructure. The Kremlin has denied involvement. "In June 2017, the Russian military launched the most destructive and costly cyber attack in history," the White House said in a tersely worded statement. "The attack, dubbed 'NotPetya,' quickly spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It was...

DAWN, February 16, 2018 In a major policy shift, Pakistan will deploy troops in Saudi Arabia under an existing bilateral security cooperation agreement with its close ally which is involved in a civil war in neighbouring Yemen. Pakistan Army announced the decision to send troops on a “training and advise mission to Saudi Arabia after a meeting between Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Saudi ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi yesterday. “In continuation of ongoing Pak-Saudi bilateral security cooperation, a Pakistan Army contingent is being sent to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on training and advise mission. These or troops already there will not be employed outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Pakistan Army said in a brief statement.It also said the army “maintains bilateral security cooperation with many other Gulf/regional countries”. The move comes three years after Pakistan decided against sending soldiers to...

The Indian Express Rahul Tripathi Feb 16, 2018 The MHA has written to state governments, urging them to share cases of “phone fraud” and spread awareness on such crimes. In the first such exercise to upgrade the quality of cybercrime investigations, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has rolled out a programme for judicial officers, prosecutors and police officers to study significant cybercrime cases. Among these are the 2004 DPS MMS case, frauds related to cryptocurrency, cyberstalking, creation of fake social media profiles, ransomware, dark web, steganography, frauds on e-wallets, among others. The MHA has written to state governments, urging them to share cases of “phone fraud” and spread awareness on such crimes. In its communication to Chief Secretaries of states and union territories, the MHA wrote, “There has been a phenomenal increase in use of computers, smart-phones and internet… Under the Nirbhaya fund, the scheme envisages to train 27,500 polic...

Anwar Iqbal, DAWN, February 17, 2018 Not just the United States but others in the international community also have concerns about “Pakistan’s deficiencies” in implementing anti-money laundering and counterterrorism laws, says the US State Department. At a Thursday afternoon news briefing, the department’s spokesperson Heather Nauert hinted that a resolution to place Pakistan on a global terror-financing watchlist had been submitted to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Britain, France and Germany have also endorsed this resolution, which was moved by the United States. The remarks precede a crucial FATF meeting in Paris next week to consider new proposals for countering terrorism and money laundering. The FATF is an international policy-making and standard-setting body dedicated to combating money laundering and terrorist financing. It maintains grey and black lists for identifying countries with weak counterterrorism mechanisms. The watchdog does not have the power...

The Indian Express Khushboo Narayan Feb 15, 2018 On February 5, CBI had booked diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, his wife Ami Modi, brother Nishal Modi and his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi in connection with an alleged Rs 280-crore cheating case after it received a complaint from PNB on January 29. State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB), in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Wednesday, said it had detected fraudulent transactions worth $1,771.7 million (over Rs 11,000 crore) in its mid-corporate branch in south Mumbai. At least ten employees of PNB have been suspended. These transactions, sources said, involved a few firms promoted by billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi who was initially booked by the CBI in an alleged Rs 280-crore cheating case after it received a complaint from the PNB on January 29. The bank, sources said, has now found that the total “unauthorised transactions” by Modi’s firms were worth $1,771.7 million. The bank filed a sec...

AAmir Yasin, DAWN, February 17, 2018 The Punjab government has directed the Rawalpindi’s district administration to conduct a survey for taking under its control more seminaries and health units run by the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and to seek information from cantonment administrations about the activities of the group in their areas. Also, the Islamabad administration has presented a report to the federal government about JuD’s health and education units which it has taken under its control. Taking action against JuD, the Islamabad Capital Territory’s (ICT) administration has taken under its control three JuD-run dispensaries in a rural area and confiscated more than three ambulances. Islamabad Deputy Commissioner retired Captain Mushtaq Ahmed told Dawn that the ICT administration had taken over three health facilities and seven ambulances in Shareefabad, Ghouri Town and Quba Mosque I-8/ Markaz in the federal capital. “The ICT health department looks after the dispensa...

Anwar Iqbal, The DAWN, February 15, 2018 Seventeen US intelligence agencies have warned Congress that Pakistan will continue to slip out of America’s influence and into China’s orbit in 2019, and will become a threat to Washington’s interests in the South Asian region. The review is part of an annual report that Director of US National Intelligence Daniel R. Coats presented to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, underlining worldwide threat assessment of the American intelligence community. The 17 agencies that jointly produced this report include Central Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Agency. In their report on Pakistan, the agencies warned that the country will continue to threaten US interests by “deploying new nuclear weapons capabilities, maintaining its ties to militants, restricting counterterrorism cooperation, and drawing closer to China”. The report claimed that Islamabad-backed m...

The Indian Express Khushboo Narayan , Deeptiman Tiwary  February 16, 2018 As investigating agencies pore over documents seized from premises connected to jewellery czar Nirav Modi in connection with the Rs 11,000-crore alleged fraud in Punjab National Bank, evidence has emerged of an additional Rs 3,000 crore worth of exposure of 17 banks; rolling over of the same Letters of Understanding (LoUs) many times and alleged round-tripping of funds. Sources said that as many as 17 banks lent about Rs 3,000 crore to various firms of Nirav Modi, including his flagship firm Firestar International Ltd. These include, besides PNB, Cenral Bank of India (Rs 194 crore), Dena Bank (Rs 153.25 crore), Vijaya Bank (Rs 150.15 crore), Bank of India (Rs 127 crore), Syndicate Bank (Rs 125 crore), Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 120 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 110 crore) and IDBI Bank and Allahabad Bank (Rs 100 crore each). Data accessed by The Indian Express shows that these...