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Reuters, May 23, 2018, The Dawn. Saudi Arabia has arrested at least three more women’s rights activists in a widening crackdown just weeks before a ban on women driving is set to end, international rights watchdogs said on Tuesday. Rights groups last week reported the detention of seven activists, mostly women who previously campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system, which requires women to obtain the consent of a male relative for major decisions. Official criticism by foreign governments, though, has been scant. Crown Pri­n­ce Mohammed bin Salman has courted Western allies to support his reforms. Hund­reds of billions of dollars of investments were discussed during his recent trips to the United States and Europe. Amnesty International said that seven women and two men were now being held, in addition to “one unidentified activist”. Human Rights Watch confirmed that total.  Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1409410/more-women

IANS, Greater Kashmir, May 23, 2018 Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed has said that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should not engage in politics after his disqualification and that he has become the biggest non-state actor in Pakistan. Saeed was talking to the media on Monday after a meeting with Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) party chief Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair in Pakistan's Hyderabad city, the Express Tribune reported on Tuesday. "Nawaz has been disqualified by the apex court. After his disqualification he shouldn't engage in politics," Saeed said.  He also commented on the inauguration of the Kishanganga hydropower project in Jammu and Kashmir for which Pakistan accused India of violating the Indus Waters Treaty. Islamabad fears the project might reduce the water flow into its territory.  Saeed said he had been "cautioning the Pakistani authorities for many years about India's intention to block or reduce river water supp

Mehtab Haider, The International News, May 23, 2018  Pakistan has sent its high-powered delegation to Bangkok for attending the two-day plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) starting from May 22 to brief the forum about the steps taken by Islamabad against money laundering and terror financing as a last-ditch effort to avoid falling into the grey list by next month. A top government official confirmed to The News here on Tuesday night: “Yes, we have sent a high-powered delegation to attend this session convened by FATF for outlining action plan in consultation with all the stakeholders.” This meeting is aimed at formulating an action plan to combat money laundering and terror financing after analysing the performance of the different member countries. “Pakistan will brief about its action which the government undertook by legislating the Finance Bill 2018, with the approval of the Parliament, for taxing foreign jurisdictions and helping the country to curb

Zahid Hussain, The dawn, May 23, 2018 DEFYING the doubters, the National Assembly will complete its five-year term next week. Notwithstanding the thunderbolts that frequently jolted the political process, the system has survived. Transition from one elected government to another now appears a reality, though there are still a few hurdles to cross. It will indeed be a high point in the country’s rocky democratic journey. These five years like the previous ones have also been extremely tumultuous, in which yet another elected prime minister has bitten the dust. The unceremonious ouster of arguably the country’s most powerful elected figure continues to cast long shadows over the fragile democratic political process. Already barred from the electoral process for life, the exit may mark the end of Nawaz Sharif’s long yet chequered political career, though not the end of the Sharif political dynasty. The elections would certainly lead to a changing of the guard but can that br

Business Standard  Mihir Sharma May 23, 2018 China forces Pakistan to buy Chinese equipment for use in Chinese projects, shredding its reserves; then Beijing extends loans to cover the purchases, which sends Pakistan's debt soaring. We’re about two months away from elections in Pakistan -- elections that are almost certain to be shrouded in controversy, one way or another. And, worryingly for Pakistan, it appears that the economy is weakening, just in time for the instability that might follow from the country’s turbulent politics. Under the outgoing government -- led till last April by Nawaz Sharif, three times prime minister -- the economy had appeared to be doing well. In fact, a new energy seemed to have infused Pakistan’s entrepreneurs and investors; in the last fiscal year, the economy grew at 5.8 per cent, the fastest rate in 13 years. That now appears set to change. Economists polled by Bloomberg worry that, in the coming year, growth will slow to 5.2

The Economic Times May 23, 2018 Pakistan has raised with the World Bank the alleged violation of the Indus Waters Treaty by India, which inaugurated the Kishanganga hydro project in Kashmir, as the multilateral lender sought opportunities within the treaty to find an amicable resolution of the issue.  The four-member Pakistani delegation, led by Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali, met the World Bank officials here yesterday, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 330 MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir.  The inauguration of the hydroelectric project was held amid protests from Pakistan which claims that the dam on a river flowing into Pakistan will disrupt water supplies.  Pakistan's Foreign Office had, on Friday, voiced concern over the inauguration of the hydroelectric project, saying inauguration without resolution of dispute between the two countries will tantamount to violation of the Indus Waters 1960 that regulates th

The Economic times Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar May 23, 2018 Walmart’s takeover of Flipkart for $16 billion has made global headlines. It is the largest takeover ever in India. It creates a new global strategy for Walmart, using e-commerce to combat Amazon. Many have welcomed the deal as a flag-bearer for more foreign direct investment (FDI).  However, small Indian retailers continue opposing Walmart’s entry. Leading the outcry has been Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of RSS, which has long opposed multinational corporations (MNCs) and rooted for national champions.  The Confederation of All India Traders says it will ask the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to veto the deal claiming it reduces competition.  Trade’s Tirade  BJP’s core support has long come from small traders and shopkeepers, who were hard hit by demonetisation, and then again by the goods and services tax (GST). They say Walmart’s takeover of Flipkart adds up to a triple wh

Sadaf Modak, Khushboo Narayan, The Indian Express, May 23, 2018 THE CBI has alleged in its chargesheet in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud that six persons, most of them illiterate and unemployed, were made partners in firms owned by diamantaire Nirav Modi. The agency has claimed that this was done to “disown liabilities and wrongdoings” by the firms. In the chargesheet against Nirav and 24 others, CBI has recorded statements of six men, all Gujarat residents, who have claimed that they were not aware of the consequences of signing on papers pertaining to the firms. CBI has said one Shailesh Chhotala, who worked with Nirav’s firm Firestar International Pvt Ltd, was asked by Nirav’s brother Neeshal to help CEO of the group, Mihir Bhansali, to arrange for six persons for the job of transporting diamonds. Chhotala allegedly got in touch with his relative Alpesh Kalsariya and asked him to arrange the men. Alpesh handed over identification documents of the six and a meeting wa

PTI, The Indian Express, May 22, 2018 The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) is planning to launch its Americas Regional Office in Brazil this year, its president K V Kamath has said. Kamath made the remarks while meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira in Shanghai on Monday. The Americas Regional Office will increase the operational capabilities of the NDB, headquartered in Shanghai, and facilitate identification and preparation of bankable projects in Brazil, the bank said in a press release on Tuesday. Together with the Africa Regional Centre opened last year in Johannesburg, South Africa, the new regional office will progressively support a growing range of the bank’s operations, the release said. The NDB was founded by the BRICS member countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — during the group’s sixth summit in Fortaleza, Brazil in July 2014 and formally opened in Shanghai in July 2015. The Bank is mandated to mobilise r

Nirupama Subramaniyam, The Indian Express, May 23, 2018 In November 2016, as India-Pakistan tensions escalated in the weeks after the attack in Uri and India’s much publicised strike-back, workers at the Kishanganga Hydel Electricity Project in Gurez in North Kashmir experienced for the the first time the dangers of the Line of Control. In all, 18 shells fell from across the LoC, just a kilometre away over the hills, on both sides of the dam, which was then close to completion. “All of us just left whatever we were doing and ran into the tunnel,” said Sanjay Kumar, an employee of the construction company building the dam. The tunnel, completed in June 2014, is an integral part of the KHEP — it takes the water from the Kishanganga River in Gurez Valley to an underground power station at Bandipora in the Kashmir Valley. Back then, there was no water in it. According to dam officials, along with the workers, a large number of villagers too, rushed into the tunnel for shelter

Vishnu Varma, The Indian Express, May 24, 2018 On Tuesday morning, Viswanathan, in his 30s, was hard at work at his small shop near Soopikada cleaving long pieces of wood to be shaped into chairs, desks and cabinets. But every five minutes or so, his face, partially and loosely covered by a cotton handkerchief, would glance up to the top of a mahogany tree, standing a few feet away, where a few dozen bats hang upside-down. “This is their centre. If you come after 6 in the evening, you will find hundreds of them on this tree,” he chuckled. For years, Viswanathan never paid any attention to the bats or their constant squeaks. But now, he has a reason to be vigilant. The flying mammals, which hunt for food mostly in the night, are now suspected by health officials and government authorities to have sparked a major virus outbreak in northern Kerala, particularly in the region near Perambra in Kozhikode district. Till Tuesday evening, a total of ten people had died with tw

The Economic Times May 23, 2018 NEW DELHI: India has the third largest number of billionaires in the world, and in the next decade, as many as 238 additional ultra high net worth individuals will join this elite club, says a report.  According to AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review, India currently has 119 billionaires, and this number is expected to swell to 357 by 2027.  Over the next 10 years, while India is expected to create 238 additional billionaires, its neighbour China is likely to add as 448 such individuals.  By 2027, the United States is likely to have the maximum number of billionaires at 884, followed by China (697), and India (357) in the second and third positions, respectively.  Billionaires refer to individuals with net assets of USD 1 billion or more.  Other countries that are expected to create significant number of billionaires over the next decade include Russian Federation (142), United Kingdom (113), Germany (90) and Hong Kong

The Economic Times May 23, 2018 The US State Department, has in a report commissioned by it and made public recently, has warned that China is offering $100 billion worth of loans to 16 countries in the Indo-Pacific region to gain economic leverage and strategic and military prowess, echoing India's views on Built & Road Initiative (BRI) projects.  The Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu, Tonga and Micronesia and Papua New Guinea are among the 16 countries that have fallen for China's so-called "debt book diplomacy", according to a report by the Harvard University which was commissioned by the State Deptartment.  China is giving hundreds of billions to countries that cannot afford to repay it, and it's going to want something in return for that money," the Harvard University said in the report. "China's public-private economic model makes it possible to transform economic debt into strategic influen

The Economic Times May 23, 2018 MUMBAI: Two people suspected to be infected with the brain-damaging Nipah virus are under treatment in Karnataka, a health official said on Wednesday, after an outbreak of the rare virus in neighbouring Kerala state killed 10.  Symptoms of the virus were seen in a 20-year old woman and a 75-year-old man in Karnataka's port city of Mangalore after they travelled to Kerala and came into contact with infected patients there, Rajesh B.V., a district surveillance officer said by phone.  They are not confirmed Nipah cases yet, so there is no need to panic ... the situation is under control," he said, adding that blood samples of the two people have been sent to Manipal Centre for Virus Research and results are awaited by Thursday.  Reference:  https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/two-suspected-cases-of-nipah-virus-reported-from-a-second-indian-state/articleshow/64284911.cms