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Live Mint July 14, 2018 Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg The ban was removed after ZTE paid the final tranche of a $1.4 billion penalty by placing $400 million in escrow at a US bank. Washington: The US Commerce Department has lifted the ban on American firms selling products to China’s ZTE Corp., removing the final hurdle for the company to start rebuilding its business. The ban was removed after ZTE paid the final tranche of a $1.4 billion penalty by placing $400 million in escrow at a US bank, the department said in an emailed statement on Friday. That sum comes in addition to $892 million in penalties the telecommunications-equipment maker has paid to the US government after pleading guilty to violating sanctions, it said. Removing the ban on ZTE was a key Chinese government demand amid escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies. While those talks have stalled since the last high-level meeting in June, the US and China have indicated their willing

Rediff.com July 14, 2018 Tarun Vijay Dying To Survive, on its way to becoming China's biggest box office hit, may compel the Xi Jinping government to change its policy towards Indian pharmaceutical companies, says Tarun Vijay. Made into a film called Dying To Survive, its box office earnings have crossed $200 million in the first week itself (According to a media report, 'the cumulative according to Ent was $199.7 million. The total included $5.7 million earned from 532 IMAX screens'). The movie, which had 167,000 screenings in the first week, moved up to 193,000 screenings by the coming Saturday. Helmed by debutant director Wen Muye, it is based on the emotional real-life story of a cancer survivor who helped cancer patients by providing them with cheap drugs from India. Indian pharmaceutical companies are banned by from marketing their generic drugs in China. When leukaemia patient Lu Yong finds that Indian drugs are equally effective in fighti

Live Mint July 14, 2018 Amy Teibel, Saud Abu Ramadan, Bloomberg Violence flared along the volatile Israel-Gaza Strip border today, with Palestinian militants firing volleys of mortars, rockets and the Israeli air force striking sites inside the Hamas-ruled enclave. Jerusalem: Violence flared along the volatile Israel-Gaza Strip border early Saturday, with Palestinian militants firing volleys of mortars and rockets and the Israeli air force striking sites inside the Hamas-ruled enclave, including a tunnel dug to infiltrate the country’s south. No serious casualties were reported on either side. The military said 31 projectiles were fired overnight, most of them mortar shells, and that six were intercepted by its missile-defense systems. Israeli aircraft struck a tunnel dug from Gaza for militants to enter Israel to carry out assaults, as well as military compounds including a site used to prepare kites and balloons to carry out arson attacks, it said. Hamas spokesm

THE WIRE July 13, 2018 While the MEA has refused to comment on the invitation, sources confirmed that there has been no green light yet from the US. Four years ago, then US President Barack Obama was the chief guest at Narendra Modi’s first Republic Day celebration as prime minister. The Indian government is now hoping that Modi’s tenure will be book-ended with Donald Trump as the Republic Day chief guest in 2019. The Times of India reported on Friday that the invitation for Trump had been sent in April. However, there has no official confirmation yet, though the White House is  apparently “favourably considering” the invitation. Modi had invited Trump to visit India during the former’s visit to Washington in 2017. But no dates had been discussed at that time. Securing a presidential visit for Republic Day would help the two governments dispel the prevailing notion that relations have started to drift. This notion gained ground after the had US postponed the ‘2+

THE ASIAN AGE July 14, 2018 The defence minister said it may take two-and-a-half to four years to implement S-400 missile deal after it is signed. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the S-400 Triumf air defence missile deal with Russia will go ahead notwithstanding the US sanctions on military transactions with Moscow. Referring to CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), under which the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on military deals with Russia, she said it is an American law and not a UN law and India has conveyed its position on the issue to the US. "Our defence relation with Russia has endured several decades and we have conveyed about it to a US Congressional delegation which visited India recently," Sitharaman told a group of reporters at her office in South Block. She said negotiations with Russia for the S-400 missile deal have almost come to conclusion. The defence minister said it may

THE WIRE July 14, 2018 Unomati Biswas and her son crossed into India hoping to live with honour but what they faced was deception. And despite Modi's promises of citizenship, they were dogged by court cases before eventually going back home. “Brothers and sisters, there are two types of people who have come here from Bangladesh – the first type are the refugees, who have been driven out in the name of religion … and that is why, those who are driven out of Bangladesh, those who were the children of Bharat Ma, those who love Bharat Ma, those who celebrate Durgasthami and still speak Bengali – they are my brothers, their security, their reverence, their prestige will be the same as that of a son of Bharat Ma.”  Would-be Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bankura, West Bengal, May 4, 2014. Guwahati: The ongoing National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) process in Assam has triggered anxiety among lakhs of Indian Bengali Muslims in the state who fear being classifie

NEWS24 July 14, 2018 Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk inaugurated the Pakistan-China Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) project that would serve as the first land-based communication link between the two countries, a media report said. The project that has been completed in two years will help develop the telecom sector in Gilgit-Baltistan region, besides contributing to enhancement of security of the schemes falling under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), reports Dawn news. The project includes an 820 km-long underground OFC from Rawalpindi to Khunjerab and a 172-km aerial OFC link from Karimabad to Khunjerab.  The project being launched as part of the CPEC also has 26 high-capacity microwave links as backup to the OFC network and nine node centres in different locations. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony here on Friday, Mulk said: "The project will contribute to provision of state-of-the-art ICT (information and communication technologies

Hindustan Times July 14, 2018 Sutirtho Patranobis The strategy was discussed during the second India-China Maritime Affairs Dialogue in Beijing, where the “two sides exchanged views on various topics of mutual interest. India on Friday explained its “vision” for the Indo-Pacific region to China at a maritime dialogue in Beijing amid a new warm-up in bilateral ties, putting a question mark on the future of the “quad” group of which it is a member along with the US, Australia and Japan. The strategy was discussed during the second India-China Maritime Affairs Dialogue in Beijing, where the “two sides exchanged views on various topics of mutual interest, including perspectives on maritime security and cooperation, blue economy, and further strengthening of practical cooperation”, a statement by the Indian embassy said on Friday. “The Indian side elaborated on India’s vision for the Indo-Pacific region as articulated in Prime Minister Modi’s keynote address at this year’

The Indian Express July 14, 2018 Surjit S Bhalla Let us debate facts or close approximations. Let discussions on government’s economic performance rise above the unintelligent discourse that passes for analysis. It is election season — but isn’t that always the case in India? However, what is new is that the forthcoming national election is likely to be the most contentious, and given that it is 2018, likely to have the most WhatsApp and other fake baggage. Sometimes Indians are shy about their inventions, but not so the Americans who proudly proclaimed to the rest of the world that they, via the 2016 election that brought Donald Trump to office, had invented fake news and its use in election campaigns. Even a cursory perusal of the Indian elections over the last four years will convince any sceptic that the “trophy” belongs to India, and its politicians and journalists. Consider the following pieces of evidence. Cash is back, or so we are told. What are the facts? At

First Post July 15, 2018 Akbar Patel Pakistan awaits its latest saviour, the fast bowler Imran Khan, who will most likely become the prime minister after elections later this month. He is the candidate preferred by the Pakistan army and the pliant bureaucracy that services it, jointly referred to by Pakistan’s media as the ‘establishment’. The final step in this direction came with the arrest and jailing of Nawaz Sharif, the popular Punjabi leader (of Kashmiri origin). The strength of Imran’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and in some parts of Punjab, where Sharif’s party is also strong. It would not have been possible for Imran to succeed democratically unless Sharif had been laid low, as has been done with his conviction (many claims it to be unfair) in a case of corruption and disproportionate assets triggered by the Panama Papers revelations. With Sharif out of the way, the road for Imran is open. Why is Imran seen as the

The Indian Express July 14, 2018 Sunny Verma In the wake of US sanctions, India may explore the possibility of reviving the rupee-rial arrangement to import oil from Iran that it has used in the past. Just weeks before US sanctions on Iran begin, the Centre has approved a proposal from Iranian private lender Bank Pasargad to open a branch in Mumbai, it is learnt. The Finance Ministry has conveyed to the RBI that it has no objection to allowing the Tehran-based Bank Pasargad to open its branch in India. The clearance to the Iranian bank comes amidst the US announcing sanctions and asking other countries to minimise oil purchases from Iran. The first US sanctions on Iran will start from August 6 and a second set will begin from November 4. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations had earlier approached the RBI suggesting that they should allow the entry of Iranian banks into India to facilitate bilateral trade. Apart from the Iranian Bank, branch licence propos

Business Standard  July 15, 2018 Microsoft's chief legal officer on Friday called for regulation of facial recognition technology due to the risk to privacy and human rights. Brad Smith made a case for a government initiative to lay out rules for proper use of facial recognition technology, with input from a bipartisan and expert commission. Facial recognition technology raises significant human rights and privacy concerns, Smith said in a blog post. "Imagine a government tracking everywhere you walked over the past month without your permission or knowledge," he said. "Imagine a database of everyone who attended a political rally that constitutes the very essence of free speech." It could become possible for businesses to track visitors or customers, using what they see for decisions regarding credit scores, lending decisions, or employment opportunities without telling people. He said scenarios portrayed in fictional films such as &

The Economic Times July 15, 2018 G. seethraman The bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, is considered the seminal moment in the global financial crisis. But an event two months earlier deserves mention. On July 13, government-sponsored mortgage finance companies Freddie Mac and Fannie May got a big boost from the US Federal Reserve, which said it would lend more to the entities, in a bid to calm the markets that were already roiling. Banks had already stopped lending to each other due to fears of potential losses on high-risk US mortgages. The July 13 move was the government’s attempt to prop up the two providers of liquidity to financial institutions. The entities then owned or guaranteed almost half of all US home loans, at the core of the crisis. A decade since the crisis spread to the rest of the world and crippled several economies, ET Magazine walks you through the key events, actors and sub-sectors of the financial industry that were res

Daily Hunt  July 15,  2018 An Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 159 people in Pakistan on Friday in one of the country's worst attacks in living memory ahead of a tense July 25 national election. The blast also injured 200 others at an election rally in northwestern Mastung in the restive province of Balochistan, Ali Ahmed, a rescue worker in Mastung told Bloomberg News. Interim Balochistan Home Minister Agha Umer Bangalzai said on Twitter that a "suicide bomber loaded with 8 Kg explosives material caused this much devastation." SITE Intel group, which tracks militant activities, said Islamic State claimed responsibility. This is the third major attack targeting politicians in the South Asian nation this week. Balochistan Awami Party leader Siraj Raisani was killed in the Mastung blast, while Haroon Bilour, a key leader of the Awami National Party, was murdered in a suicide bombing in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Akram Khan Durrani of the