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PTI: Times of India: June 27, 2018 NEW YORK: China’s acquisition of the strategic Hambantota port from Sri Lanka has given it “control of a territory” just a few 100 miles off the shores of India, highlighting its “debt trap” and ambitious use of loans to gain influence around the world, a media report has said. An investigation by New York Times about Sri Lanka’s handover of the Hambantota Port to China in December 2017 illustrates how China turned an ally’s struggles to its strategic advantage. The report says feasibility studies had found that the port would not work and “frequent lenders” like India had refused to provide loans or assistance for the port, developed during Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rule. “However, every time Rajapaksa turned to his Chinese allies for loans and assistance with the ambitious port project, the answer was yes,” it says. Over years of construction and renegotiation with China Harbor Engineering Company, one of Beijing’s larg...

The Hindu, Jun 26, 2018 Pakistan could be placed on the blacklist of countries that financially aid terrorism, media reports said today as Islamabad fielded its interim Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar to defend the country in Paris where the Financial Action Task Force is meeting.  The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.  Currently placed on the FATF'S 'grey list', Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avoid being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations by the FATF, a measure that officials here fear could hurt its economy, which is already under strain.  In February, Pakistan narrowly escaped placement, but a senior official of the FATF confirmed that it will be placed on the FATF's watch-list in June, the Express Tribune...

The Telegraph, June 27, 2018 Calcutta: The ministry of external affairs has restricted the role of police verification of passport applicants to finding out if anyone has a criminal background. The new format for verification does not require the designated officer to visit every applicant at the given address to confirm his or her bona fides. The change has been communicated to the director-general of police in Bengal, which is a laggard in passport verification. Till April, 46,967 passport applications in Bengal were awaiting police verification, the highest in India. Compared to the national average of 10 to 15 days, the state police take 41 days on an average to send a verification report against each application. According to the officials in the ministry, this will not only reduce the time taken to conclude the verification process but also eliminate the possibility of harassment that applicants allegedly face at the hands of the police. "It may be note...

The New Indian Express, June 27, 2018 MOSCOW: Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell on Tuesday said, the United States threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey, if it buys Russia's S-400 air defense systems. It would be hard to restore relations between the US and Turkey if this happens, he added. "We made it clear that is Turkey buys S-400s. there will be consequences. We will introduce sanctions within Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)," Sputnik quoted Mitchell as saying. He further revealed that the US can withhold the transfer of F-35 combat aircraft to Turkey over national security concerns if Ankara decided to purchase the S-400s. "We believe that we have the existing legal authorities that would allow us to withhold transfer under certain circumstances, including national security concerns," Mitchell told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prospects ...

Dailyhunt June 27, 2018 BJP councillor killed on the way home Yet another BJP worker has been hacked to death. A BJP councillor of the Alandi municipal council in Pune district was allegedly hacked to death on Tuesday, 26 June by two unidentified persons on Bhosari-Alandi road near Pune, police said. The deceased is identified as Balaji Kamble (33), a resident of Alandi, located about 20 km from Pune. BJP worker stabbed to death by assailants The incident occurred when Kamble was returning to Alandi town on his two-wheeler, a police officer said. "Two unidentified assailants waylaidKamble and attacked him in the head with a sharp weapon before fleeing the spot," he said, adding that Kamble was rushed to hospital by some people where he was declared dead on arrival. A case of murder has been registered and an investigation is on, he added. Link: https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/east+coast+daily+eng-epaper-eeastco/bjp+councillor+ki...

The Financial Express, June 25, 2018 India is at the 19th position among 73 countries in terms of attracting cross-border capital into their respective property markets last year, with inflows touching USD 2.6 billion, says a report. The bulk of the inflows came from the US, Canada and Singapore, according to property consultant Knight Frank. “India ranks an impressive 19th position amongst the 73 countries that attracted cross-border capital into their property markets in 2017. “With USD 2.6 billion of cross-border capital inflows (excluding development sites), India ranks ahead of its Asia Pacific regional counterparts like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines, which collectively attracted lesser capital flows compared to India,” the consultant said in a statement. Knight Frank also said the capital flows into Indian property market have been 10 times higher than the outflows in 2017. Last year, the outflows stood at USD 0.26 billion. The huge inflow was mai...

Asian Age, Jun 26, 2018 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seychelles President Danny Faure on Monday agreed to work together on the Assumption Island joint naval base project in the island nation keeping “each other’s interests” in mind, days after the agreement between the two nations on the project was reported to be in jeopardy. India is keen on developing the Assumption Island in the Indian Ocean as a naval base to expand its footprint in the strategically-key region where China has been trying to enhance its military presence. The project is part of counter-piracy and counter-terrorism cooperation with Seychelles, aimed at preventing “intrusions by potential economic offenders indulging in illegal fishing, poaching, drug and human trafficking”. India had earlier said that the objective of the joint naval base “is to assist Seychelles secure its vast EEZ (exclusive economic zone)” and that “the proposed facility will be owned by Seychelles and jointly managed by both si...

NDTV: June 27, 2018 Nearly sixty foreign terrorists are among 243 terrorists operating in Kashmir valley where "Operation All Out" is in full swing to wipe them out to tackle terrorism in the valley. In less than six months, 75  young men including some highly educated have joined terrorism in Kashmir valley, thereby raising concerns due to an unusual surge in such persons taking up guns. Police and security forces are to intensify their "outreach programme" to persuade local terrorists through their families to lay down weapons and join the mainstream. "As many as 243 terrorists are operating in Kashmir valley and of these, 59 militants are foreigners", a senior Police officer told PTI quoting official statistics. Besides, 15 terrorists are operating in Jammu region, it said, adding  a total of 188 locals and 70 foreign terrorists are operating in the entire Jammu and Kashmir.  Operations against terrorists in J&K would be inte...

ANI: Indian Express: June 27, 2018 MOSCOW: Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell on Tuesday said, the United States threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey, if it buys Russia's S-400 air defense systems. It would be hard to restore relations between the US and Turkey if this happens, he added. "We made it clear that is Turkey buys S-400s. there will be consequences. We will introduce sanctions within Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)," Sputnik quoted Mitchell as saying. He further revealed that the US can withhold the transfer of F-35 combat aircraft to Turkey over national security concerns if Ankara decided to purchase the S-400s. "We believe that we have the existing legal authorities that would allow us to withhold transfer under certain circumstances, including national security concerns," Mitchell told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prospects for...

PTI: MoneyControl: June 26, 2018 Tata Sons board today came out in support of R Venkataramanan, the nominee director at AirAsia India who is under the CBI scanner for allegedly trying to manipulate government policies. No-frills airline AirAsia India is a joint venture between Tatas, which holds 51 per cent, and Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad. Venkataramanan, who holds stake in the carrier, are among those under the CBI lens for allegedly trying to manipulate government policies through corrupt means to get international licence for AirAsia India Ltd (AAIL). "The board expressed its confidence in its nominee director on the Board of AAIL – R Venkataramanan who would continue to serve on the board of AAIL," Tata Sons said in a statement. The board of Tata Sons was updated on the issues concerning AAIL and particularly matters pertaining to the investigations being carried out by official agencies. In this context, Tata Sons board expressed satisfaction that ...

Zahid Gishkori: The News: June 26, 2018 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has presented a strong case before Paris meeting of global anti-terror financing watchdog, a move which might pave the way for the country to get its inclusion in the terror financing list averted, commonly known as FATF Grey List.  But a few officials attending the Paris meetings still say that the threat of grey-listing Islamabad is not over yet as the final call would come up by the end of this week. In the last FATF Plenary and Working Group meetings in February 2018, the US, UK, France and Germany nominated Pakistan for International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) monitoring process on account of lack of adequate implementation of terrorism-related targeted financial sanctions against Jamatud Dawa (JuD), Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), lax supervision over financial institutions, inaction over the exploitation of money service businesses by terrorist groups and inadequacy of m...

The Express Tribune,  June 26, 2018 Pakistan has received nearly $10 billion in foreign loans in the past 11 months, and almost three-fourths have been utilised for budgetary support and meeting external financing requirements, underscoring that the amount cannot be returned without resorting to fresh borrowing. The total loan disbursement from July through May of fiscal year 2017-18 stood at $9.98 billion, reported the Economic Affairs Division on Monday. The 11-month disbursements were significantly higher than the budgetary estimate of $7.7 billion. As compared to five years ago, when about two-thirds of the loans used to be taken for project financing, now around 75% are obtained for budgetary support and building foreign currency reserves. This suggests that these loans have not been put into productive sectors of the economy, making it impossible to retire them without taking new loans. From July through May, project financing stood at a mere $2.8 billi...

Daily Hunt, June 25, 2018 New Delhi: Congress on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government for leading India into "financial anarchy" with its "utter economic mismanagement" that has led to bank scams over Rs 70,000 crore, and now forcing LIC to buy the sinking IDBI Bank to "hide its failures". "Post the numerous bank loot scams that have plunged the banking sector in deep crises, one more mega scam worth Rs 6,978 crore has been uncovered taking the total value of 13 bank loot scams to Rs 70,014 crore," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. He alleged that the Faridabad-based SRS Group, a diversified company, engaged in criminal conspiracy, cheating and frauds of Rs 6,978.72 crore reportedly using hundreds of shell companies defrauding 17 banks. It also laundered money and duped thousands of home buyers. Citing Indian banks' Q4 losses for 2017-18 that touched an "astronomical" ...

Daily Hunt, June 25, 2018 By passing off a good business deal as a long term investment, Robert Vadra, the beleaguered son-in-law of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, managed to evade taxes in one year alone to the tune of a whopping Rs 43 crore. An evasion on which he now has to pay Rs 25 crore as taxes after having lost the case to the tax department in the Supreme Court. The assessment order, a copy of which has been accessed by India Today, also details how Vadra got an overdraft facility of Rs 7.9 crore from Corporation Bank when the company's bank balance was a mere Rs 1 lakh. The New Friends Colony branch of the bank had, at that point, denied giving any overdraft to Vadra's Skylight Hospitality private limited. Vadra's Skylight Hospitality had declared an income of nearly Rs 40 lakh for the assessment year 2010-2011. However, after a reassessment, the office concerned decided to treat capital gains as business income. "Vadra's firms are in...

Daily Hunt, June 26, 2018 The body said that the UNHRC, over the last 30 years, has turned a blind eye to the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. New Delhi:  The All-India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) on Monday rejected the human rights violation report of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) issued on June 14. In a memorandum to the UN, the AIKS said the international organisation's report was neither based on facts nor does it reflect the realities existing in Jammu and Kashmir. "UNHRC, over the last 30 years, has turned a blind eye to the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. In 1989-90, this microscopic minority, along with many non-Muslims living in Kashmir, were cleansed out of Kashmir after they were subjected to ruthless violence by armed hordes sponsored by Pakistan," AIKS general secretary MK Pajan said. Late freedom fighter and poet Sarwanand Koul Premi's son, Rajendera, was 30 years old when the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits took place. Recol...