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THE HINDU April 04, 2018 The UN Security Council’s updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including outfits like Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a media report. The list, headed by Osama bin Laden’s heir apparent  Hafeez Saeed’s  , identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, Dawn News reported. LeT’s Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities. The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans. The list also includes Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, an Indian national who, according to the UN Security Council, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said. The UN claims that he owns a pala...

News 18 April 04, 2018 The hoax tweets were reported several times and Twitter removed them shortly afterwards. As Twitterati searched for news regarding the shooting at the YouTube headquarters in the US, hackers compromised a verified employee's Twitter account to spread fake news in the midst of the attack, a media report said. According to The Verge, a hacker hijacked the verified Twitter account of Vadim Lavrusik, who works as the Product Manager at the video sharing platform and used the profile to implicate a YouTube broadcaster in the shooting. The hoax tweets reportedly began posting 20 minutes after the executive marked himself safe apparently while he was near the shooting site. The tweets were reported several times and Twitter removed them shortly afterwards. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later said the company was "on it" and taking care of the situation. "Even after Twitter executives became aware of the compromise, hoax tweets were s...

THE WIRE April 04, 2018 Altaf Hussain The killing of militants may be seen by those sitting in Delhi as a "success" for the security forces but the fact is that these deaths have strengthened separatist sentiment in the Valley. The killing of 13 militants in South Kashmir’s Shopian and Anantnag districts on Sunday is, to all appearances, a major success for the security forces. Some TV channels also termed it a “major boost” for the ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of next year’s general elections. But on closer look, we find that it is by no means a setback for the separatist movement. Rather, it is the opposite. The armed conflict, which has been going on for the past 30 years, has undergone a major change. In the first 10 years or more, bomb blasts, cordon-and-search operations, fire-fights, political assassinations and such other incidents were a daily occurrence. All that has changed now. Where there used to be 3,000 militants activ...

The Economics Times April 04, 2018 Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, wanted in India as the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts and accused of crimes such as match-fixing and extortion, figured in the UN Security Council's updated list of terrorists and militant groups. The list - which has 139 entries from Pakistan - identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, Dawn reported. Dawood, an Indian national, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, according to the list. The UN list says that the underworld don owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi. The 62-year-old fugitive mafia boss accrued a vast property portfolio across the Midlands and south-east in the UK as well as India, the UAE, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus and Australia.  Dawood, who has an Interpol ...

The Economic Times April 04, 2018 BEIJING: The world's top two economies edged towards an all-out trade war as China today rejected the US' demand to cut down trade deficit by USD 100 billion as "unviable" and announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs worth USD 50 billion on 106 American products, including soybeans, cars and small aircraft.  The move comes after President Donald Trump's administration yesterday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports worth USD 50 billion that could be hit by US tariffs because of Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology.  The Chinese Customs Tariff Commission of the central cabinet, in a retaliatory measure, decided to impose additional tariff of 25 per cent on 106 products under 14 categories worth USD 50 billion, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.  Affected products will include a wide variety of agricultural products such as soybeans, corn, beef, orange juice...

The Economics Times April 04, 2018 MUMBAI: The banking sector, which is already reeling under a mammoth pile of bad loans, is looking at potential dud assets of USD 38 billion from the power sector, as USD 53 billion of the USD 178 billion bank loans to the sector are already stressed, said a report.  "Of the USD 178 billion (around Rs 11.7 trillion) of debt of the power sector, USD 53 billion (around Rs 3.5 trillion) are already under stress (primarily to the generation sector) and of this, as much as USD 38 billion (around Rs 2.5 trillion) have the potential of being written- off as bad loans," the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report said today.  The report is based on the fact that as much as 71 gigawatt (gw) of private sector coal-based projects are facing bankruptcy filings at various NCLTs, implying probable resolution from June 2019 and it expects an average 75 per cent write-off in these loans.  Of the USD 178 billion loan, the distribution co...

The Economic Times April 04, 2018 NEW DELHI: India may have a large number of youth but most of them are inadequately skilled for jobs. It's truer in case of engineering education. IITians sure have impressed the world but a large number of students passing out of ordinary colleges are not even employable, let alone comparing with their counterparts from advanced countries.  A study has found that Russian and Chinese engineering students are better than those in India. Indian students make substantial gains in mathematics and critical thinking skills in the first two years of their education compared to their counterparts in China and Russia, but their overall higher-order thinking skills are substantially lower than the Chinese and Russians. This is the preliminary finding of learning outcome assessment of undergraduate engineering students conducted by Stanford University and the World Bank, according to an Indian Express report.  The World Bank and Stanford ...

One India April 04, 2018 Amidst the new counter-offensive in the Valley, the Indian Army has prepared a new hit-list. There are nine names part of this list. Kashmir has witnessed several encounters in the past two months owing to increased recruitment into the Hizbul Mujahideen. Recruitments have been the highest in Baramulla, an Intelligence Bureau report says. Here is the new hit-list:  1. Riyaz Naikoo alias Zubair Ul Islam, Hizbul Chief Of Kashmir Valley from Beighpora Pulwama Category A++  2. Showkat Tak, alias Abu Huzaifa, Lashkar Commander Pulwama from Panzgham Pulwama Category A++  3. Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Moosa, Ansar Chief from Noorpora Awantipora Category A++  4. Zeenat Ul islam alias Usman Hizb Area Commander Shopian from Shopian Category A++  5. Dr Saifullah alias Abu Musaib, Hizb Commander Srinagar Area From Malangpora Pulwama Category A++  6. Saddam Padder alias Zaid, Hizb Commander Shopian from Heff Shopian Cate...

Financial Express April 04, 2018 Reacting to the US move, the external affairs ministry said the designation of the MML also shows Pakistan's failure to dismantle terror sanctuaries in that country and vindicated India's position that Islamabad has not taken effective action against terrorist groups and individuals. India welcomed the US designating Pakistan-based Milli Muslim League (MML), an alias of Lashkar-e-Taiba, as a foreign terror organisation, saying the decision reflects rejection of the attempts being made in Pakistan to mainstream terrorist individuals and entities. Reacting to the US move, the external affairs ministry said the designation of the MML also shows Pakistan’s failure to dismantle terror sanctuaries in that country and vindicated India’s position that Islamabad has not taken effective action against terrorist groups and individuals. “It is also cognisance of the fact that terrorist individuals and entities are allowed to change names and con...

Financial Express April 04, 2018 Given how fast the directive was withdrawn, it would suggest the move was not even debated in the government. Given the tremendous scope for abuse in the media-gag plan the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry came out with, it is just as well that prime minister Narendra Modi asked for the proposal to be dropped, following the outrage over it. Though a BJP spokesperson sought to put a gloss over this, on a TV programme, by describing this as evidence of the prime minister’s ‘large-heartedness’, the latter would do well to use this to examine how decision-making takes place in his government—how was I&B minister Smriti Irani allowed to fly solo on this without getting opinions from other ministries on its ramifications? Sadly, this is not the only instance of such rash decision-making. In this particular case, though the bulk of fake news originates in social media and mindless retweets/WhatsApp forwards, Irani’s proposal ...

Business Standard April 04, 2018 Ajai Shukla Two months ago, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (pictured) set up a 13-member committee to review critical weapons procurements and identify why they were facing delays. Today, that committee itself is mired in delay. The ministry’s February 7 announcement constituting the Raksha Mantri’s Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence Capital Projects (RMCOMP) charged it with presenting an “initial status report” to Sitharaman by March 31. But, the convening letter for the committee is yet to be signed. The delay is caused by objections from officials at the inclusion of two private sector consultants — one from EY and the other from KPMG — in the committee. The officials object to private consultants learning procurement details of secret defence equipment. Officials further object to what they call a “conflict of interest” in allowing private sector consultancies access to procurement information, since the consultanci...

The Express Tribune April 04, 2018 The US Department of State amended its designation of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on Monday, identifying Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) as LeT affiliates, making it impossible for them to register as political parties. The Department of State has amended the designation of LeT to include the aliases MML and TAJK. “The aliases have been added to LeT’s designations as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224,” read a statement of the State Department. “Today’s amendments aim at LeT’s efforts to circumvent sanctions and deceive the public about its true character. Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group. The United States supports all efforts to ensure that LeT does not have a political voice until it gives up violence as a too...

The Express Tribune April 04, 2018 LAHORE: The recent US State Department move identifying the Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) affiliates has left MML and TAJK leaders stunned. MML leaders will come together at an emergency meeting today to analyse the situation, a party leader told Express News. He said those present would discuss how to further party agenda and facilitate Kashmiris in their struggle for freedom. The MML leader said all decisions will be taken in accordance with the law. The fact that the TAJK has also been listed as an LeT affiliate has left MML leaders particularly curious. The movement is not registered. It is just a small group of people striving for Kashmiris’ rights, he said. Pakistan had proscribed the TAJK earlier, the MML leader said. He said Jamaatud Dawa supremo Hafiz Saeed’s move to declare 2017 as the year of Kashmir had left India vexed. The MML leader blamed the United State-In...

Direct Truths April 04, 2018 Mahima Sharma At times antibodies turn a double-agent. The theory adds that the antibodies attach themselves to viruses, like that of dengue, to make the infection more severe. And many times, such an infection can be life-threatening, points out Mahima, in the weekly column, exclusively for Different Truths. My doctor tells me that globally all medical specialists are well aware of a particular disease theory. It suggests that at times antibodies turn a double-agent. The theory adds that the antibodies attach themselves to viruses, like that of dengue, to make the infection more severe. And many times, such an infection can be life-threatening. This theory called Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE) was first proposed some 40 years ago. It won both critics and supporters. And recently, I read that a widespread and long-term study in Nicaraguan children has resulted in a compelling evidence that ADE is no longer just a theory. Yes,...

THE HINDU  April 04, 2018 C. Rangarajan In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion on increasing inequality within several countries of the world, including India, particularly after the publication of Thomas Piketty’s book on inequality. It is true that rising inequality has adverse economic and social consequences. The Gini coefficient or other measures of inequality are being used to examine trends in inequality. In this column, we examine the trends in inequality and show that the poverty ratio is equally important as the Gini coefficient in analysing issues relating to growth and distribution. Generally the Gini coefficient, which lies between 0 and 1, is used for measuring inequality. The Gini coefficient of consumption expenditure for rural areas declined marginally between 1983-84 to 1993-94 (from 0.304 to 0.286) while it recorded a marginal rise during the high growth period of 2004-05 and 2011-12 (from 0.304 to 0.311). In the case of urban areas, it...