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The Economic Times May 25, 2018 New Delhi: CBI Joint Director Rajiv Singh, who is overseeing a probe into the USD 2 billion PNB scam allegedly involving diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, has been prematurely repatriated to his home cadre of Tripura.  The move comes as the agency is planning to file for a Red Corner Notice against Modi and his uncle, Choksi.  Three other officers of the CBI -- Joint Director (STF) and Special Crime Nina Singh, DIG Anish Prasad and Superintendent of Police R Gopala Krishna Rao -- have also been repatriated to their respective cadres.  While Nina Singh is an IPS officer of the 1989 batch from Rajasthan cadre, the remaining three IPS officers are of Tripura cadre.  While Nina Singh is an IPS officer of the 1989 batch from Rajasthan cadre, the remaining three IPS officers are of Tripura cadre.  Rajiv Singh is of 1993 batch, Prasad of 2003 batch and Rao of 2005 batch, a DOPT order issued on May 23...

The Telegraph May 25, 2018 London: A global coalition set up a year ago to fight epidemics has struck a $25 million deal with two US biotech companies to accelerate work on a vaccine against the brain-damaging nipah virus that has killed 12 people in India. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said on Thursday that Profectus BioSciences and Emergent BioSolutions would receive up to $25 million to advance development and manufacturing of a shot for the bat-borne disease. There is currently no vaccine or treatment to tackle nipah, which has a mortality rate of around 70 per cent. The death toll from the latest outbreak in Kerala rose to 12 on Thursday, following the death of a 61-year-old man who had already lost three members of his family, including his two sons, to the virus. Indian officials said they were awaiting blood test results from a further 16 patients suspected to have the infection. The experimental vaccine being developed b...

The Economic Times May 24, 2018 NEW DELHI: A Home Ministry official, who was arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe during granting of long-term visa to Pakistani immigrants, has been placed under suspension, officials said today.  The ministry is also conducting an inquiry to find out whether there were lacunas in clearing the pending cases of Pakistani immigrants applying for Indian citizenship or extending long-term visa (LTV), and how to improve the whole process.  he official, P K Mishra, a senior secretariat assistant in the Foreigners Division of the Home Ministry, who was arrested along with three others by the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau last week, has been placed under suspension, an official said.  As per the government rules, any official arrested for any offence and in police custody for more than 48 hours deemed suspended from service.  Mishra was allegedly exploiting the process of delay in taking decisions on...

The Telegraph  May 25, 2015 Apart from the man himself, perhaps nothing has defined President Trump's political persona more than Twitter. But on Wednesday, one of Trump's Twitter habits - his practice of blocking critics on the service, preventing them from engaging with his account - was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in Manhattan. Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, addressing a novel issue about how the Constitution applies to social media platforms and public officials, found that the president's Twitter feed is a public forum. As a result, she ruled that when Trump or an aide blocked seven plaintiffs from viewing and replying to his posts, he violated the First Amendment If the principle undergirding Wednesday's ruling in Federal District Court stands, it is likely to have implications far beyond Trump's feed and its 52 million followers, said Jameel Jaffer, the Knight First Amendment Institute's executive director and the c...

THE HINDU  APAR GUPTA May 25, 2018 While the Americans and Europeans both call a sport football, they play a very different game. This difference is rooted not only in culture but in the rules of the game that provide rewards for goals, and penalties for breaching allowances. In the case of privacy regulations too, such a marked distinction is visible. With the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect on May 25, 2018, the absence of a comparable regulation across the Atlantic poses a question for India: What path should it take? Should it follow the U.S. or Europe? Or, in fact, should India take the lead in this regard? Last year, in November, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Carpenter v. United States, which many commentators termed as one of the most critical electronic surveillance case in decades. Among other finely threaded legal arguments was the “third party doctrine”. It reasons that once a person turns over her data to a ...

The Indian Express Khusboo Narayan May 25, 2018 According to the ED probe, Modi diverted $265 million (Rs 1,811 cr) to his Group firms, his sister Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta through nine UAE-based dummy firms. Both Purvi Modi and Maiank Mehta have been named as accused with Modi in the ED complaint. THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate (ED) has found that fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi diverted about $629 million (Rs 4,299 crore at current rate) of the $1,015.34 million (Rs 6,939.84 crore) outstanding fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoU) issued by Punjab National Bank (PNB) to himself, his firms and his relatives, through 15 “dummy companies” based in the UAE and Hong Kong, according to the first prosecution complaint (chargesheet) filed by the agency on Thursday. According to the ED probe, Modi diverted $265 million (Rs 1,811 cr) to his Group firms, his sister Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta through nine UAE-based dummy firms — Diagems FZC, Pacif...

The Indian Express Manish Sabharwal May 25, 2018 The Bhushan case is a brick in the wall of a new corporate meritocracy where rule of law matters. A Taliban prisoner once told an American soldier: “You have the watches, but we have the time.” His quip was not different from what defaulting entrepreneurs like Bhushan Steel have told bankers for decades: Do what you want or can but I’m not going anywhere. The bankruptcy sale of Bhushan to Tata Steel this month and the repayment of Rs 83,000 crore in overdue loans by 2,100 companies since the November restrictions on defaulter promoters bidding in bankruptcy represent the beginning of the end of the junoon or madness in banking (loans went from Rs 26 lakh crore in 2008 to Rs 64 lakh crore in 2014) and entrepreneurship (Bhushan Steel had more debt than our central government allocation to primary education). Bankruptcy is an important ingredient in fixing our Rs 10 lakh crore bad loans, but we shouldn’t rest till we have a ...

The Express Tribune May 24, 2018 ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Wednesday reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment in the fight against terrorism. Addressing the first Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting being hosted by Pakistan, the foreign secretary stated that terrorism should not be identified by any religion or nationalities. She said that Pakistan was cognizant of the threats posed by terrorism, separatism and extremism to the region and beyond. Janujua reiterated that having fought terrorism and losing of its citizens and law enforcement personnel, Pakistan has also suffered economic losses of over $120 billion. “But neither the human nor the financial losses have diminished my country’s resolve to fight this menace. Through our comprehensive efforts, over the past several years, supported by a firm domestic political consensus, we have been able to turn the tide,” she maintained. She further said that Pakistan now looks forward to w...

DNA May 24, 2018 The Karnataka DGP, who had a run-in with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been transferred. Sources claim that the transfer happened because the DGP, Neelamani Raju, who also happens to be the state's first woman DGP, 'insulted' Banerjee by making her walk a kilometre to Vidan Sauda during the swearing in of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.  Neelamani Raju was the first woman Director General of Police in the state. An official of the state home ministry told DNA that transfers are a regular occurrence in the police department and denied any political reason for her move. Neelamani, a 1983 IPS officer from Uttarakhand was named as the first woman to lead the police force in Karnataka in 2017. “I think it is a great responsibility and honour to be selected for this post,” she said. “Karnataka is a well managed state and has a good police organisation," she had said. Earlier, a video of the West Bengal CM having a heated d...

The Economic Times May 24, 2018 Violent protests against VedantaNSE 0.48 % subsidiary SterliteNSE 4.34 % copper plant at Tuticorin aren't new to the group. British mining and energy conglomerate Vedanta Resources Plc in which its founder and chairman Anil Agarwal holds 61.7% stake has been in the cross hairs of NGOs and activists for more than a decade. Activists have protested against it at its mines, plants as well as corporate meetings.  Activists and local people often accuse Vedanta of polluting the environment and violating human rights. Vedanta, however, has always refuted these claims. In case of protests against its mines in India, Agarwal has said his company is the victim of a foreign conspiracy aimed at keeping India reliant on imports, according to a Reuters report. "Certain vested interests will prefer India to remain import dependent and use our country as their market, making India spend hard-earned foreign exchangeand lose millions of jobs," h...

The Economic Times May 24, 2018 Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies make up just a tiny slice of the global economy. But that doesn’t mean regulators can ignore the wave of scams, fraud and market manipulation designed to snare gullible punters.  With U.S. law enforcers now probing trading practices such as “spoofing” – illegal and aggressive order cancellations designed to move markets – this looks very much like the beginning of a sustained crypto cleanup. Drawing investors back in, even with the promise of a less Wild West-style market, will take longer than cheerleaders expect.  Probing price manipulation in crypto market was a natural next step for the authorities., which have ramped up scrutiny of everything from new token sales to crypto-hedge funds in recent months. There's plenty of data evidence to dig into, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and SEC have demanded information from a lot of companies.  There are the “pump-and-dump” c...

The Economic Times May 24, 2018 WASHINGTON: The World Bank has said it could not reach an agreement with Pakistan to address its concerns regarding the Indus Waters Treaty with India after two-days of talks here, days after India inaugurated the Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir.  A high-powered Pakistani delegation led by Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali met with World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and other senior officials on Monday and Tuesday.  During the meetings, held at Pakistan's request to discuss issues regarding the Indus Waters Treaty and opportunities within the treaty to seek an amicable resolution, "several procedural options" for resolving the disagreement over the interpretation of the treaty's provisions were discussed, the Bank said.  "While an agreement on the way forward was not reached at the conclusion of the meetings, the World Bank will continue to work with both countries to ...

THE HINDU Mubashir Zaidi May 24, 2018 President Xi pitches the suggestion to Prime Minister Abbasi in the face of mounting international pressure on Islamabad. China has asked Pakistan to explore ways of relocating Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed to a West Asian country in response to mounting international pressure to act against him for his links with terror groups. Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested this course of action — allowing Saeed to live a quiet life in a West Asian country — to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the sidelines of the Boao Forum in China last month. “At a 35-minute meeting, at least 10 minutes of the discussion dealt with Saeed. The Chinese President was keen on pressing the Prime Minister to find an early solution to keep Saeed away from the limelight,” a close aide of Mr. Abbasi told The Hindu, requesting anonymity. Mr. Abbasi has consulted the government’s legal team, which is yet to come up with a solution. Th...

THE HINDU  May 24, 2018 Alleging that a private company was continuing to mine bauxite in Yercaud, causing extensive damage to the environment, the members of Speak Out Salem have demanded a white paper from the district administration on the operations of the company. Led by Piyush Manush, convener of Speak Out Salem, the members submitted a petition to the District Collector and the Deputy Director of Mines, here on Wednesday. The petition said that as per the orders of the Madras High Court on November 21, 2008, mining activity of the company was stopped in Kolli Hills in Namakkal district. The company shut its operations in Mettur Dam, but was continuing to mine bauxite in Yercaud. The petitioners wanted to know whether any action would be taken against the company as per law. Addressing mediapersons at the Collectorate, Mr. Manush also announced the start of a new campaign, “One question. Who profits?” over the proposed expansion of the Salem Airport and th...

THE HINDU Vaishna Roy May 24, 2018 When all opinion is converted into strict binaries, the possibility of a common ground recedes further An intriguing audio clip where one set of listeners swears it can hear ‘Yanni’ and another swears it’s ‘Laurel’ has become the Internet’s most contentious topic since the famous gold-or-blue dress war that erupted in 2015. The New York Times has chipped in with an online tool to show how shifting the audio to higher or lower frequencies can change what you hear. For the record, I hear ‘Yanni’ and it doesn’t change even when I move the slider to the extreme, ‘Laurelest’ left. Scientists and audiologists have explained the phenomenon as an auditory illusion comparable to visual illusions such as Rubin’s vase, where people see either a vase or two faces in profile. Ignoring nuances While these illusions are fascinating in themselves, what is striking is the ambiguity they represent. As each individual insists she hears ‘Laurel’ or ‘Yan...

The Indian Express May 24, 2018 Move aimed at recovering Rs 49,000 crore collected by PACL from small investors via various collective investment schemes. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday invited proposals from interested entities that can offer higher price for the properties belonging to PACL group, than the plan put in place by the company. The regulator has told investors who are interested to submit counter proposals till June 21, to R M Lodha committee, in response to the proposal submitted by PACL Ltd, the regulator said in a statement. Last month, PACL in its proposal has submitted a proposal to the committee to recover more than Rs 15,000 crore in two years. According to the proposal, the company offered to bring in buyers to purchase its assets for a total consideration of at least Rs 15,000 crore. Of this, the firm suggested to bring in Rs 7,500 crore each in the first year and the second year through either sale of its assets to...