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July 30, 2018 First Post By Debobrat Ghose In April this year, Union Home Ministry removed 44 districts from the list of those affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), indicating a shrinking of the area of Maoist influence in the country. This is the result of a multi-pronged strategy that includes an offensive security and sustained development to wean away the locals from Maoist ideology. However, this is not the end of Maoist supremacy in the Red Corridor. The danger is very much lurking in the jungles, beaten, bruised and ready for retaliation. The bigger challenge for the administration is to enter the Maoist stronghold and carry out development right under the nose of the extremists. So, what exactly is the situation on the ground? Debobrat Ghose of Firstpost takes a trip through the Dandakaranya forests in the Maoist-hotbed of Bastar division of Chhattisgarh — one of the most badly affected regions by LWE and site of some of the deadliest attacks on the state by Maoists — to s...

July 01, 2018 First Post Reliance Industries on Tuesday regained its status as the country's most valued firm by market capitalisation (m-cap), replacing Tata Group's crown jewel TCS from the top slot. At close on BSE on Tuesday, RIL's market valuation stood at Rs 7,51,414.89 crore, which is Rs 8,192.73 crore more than that of TCS' Rs 7,43,222.16 crore m-cap. TCS is now at the second position in m-cap ranking followed by HDFC Bank with an m-cap of Rs 5,75,185.44 crore, HUL (Rs 3,74,827.99 crore) and ITC (Rs 3,63,149.63 crore). Shares of RIL rose by 3.14 percent to close at Rs 1,185.85 on BSE on Tuesday. During the day, it surged 3.50 percent to Rs 1,190 -- its lifetime high. The scrip has been on a rising spree for past three sessions after impressive quarterly results. The stock was the top gainer among the 30 Sensex blue chips. The stock of TCS ended flat at Rs 1,941.25, down 0.19 percent. Shares of Reliance Industries rose by 2 percent on Monday a...

August 01, 2018 First Post The United States on Tuesday designated Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Abdul Rehman al-Dakhil and two financial facilitators of the Pakistan-based terror group, Hameed-ul Hassan and Abdul Jabbar, as "specially designated global terrorists". A longtime member of the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and LeT, Dakhil was an operational leader for the groups' attacks in India between 1997 and 2001. In 2004, he was captured in Iraq by UK forces, then held in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan until his transfer to Pakistan in 2014. After his release from Pakistani custody, Dakhil returned to work for the LeT. In 2016, he was the LeT divisional commander for the Jammu region. As of early 2018, he remained a senior commander in the LeT. The designation seeks to deny Dakhil the resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks, the US State Department said in a statement. Among other consequences, all of his property and inte...

July 31, 2018 Dawn United States' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned that the US would closely be watching whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bails out Pakistan — a key player in China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) project, and right now in need of a bailout. "Make no mistake, we will be watching what the IMF does,"  Pompeo stated in an interview to  CNBC  after saying that he would welcome mutually beneficial engagement between the US and Pakistan. "There's no rationale for IMF tax dollars — and associated with that, American dollars that are part of the IMF funding — to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself," he added, signifying that Pakistan's new government, which is severely in need of a bailout, might run into further financial troubles after taking oath. All indicators suggest the Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf's government — which is likely to take oath next month — will immediately have to approach the IMF for w...

August 01, 2018, The Telegraph By  Monalisa Chaudhary and Pinak Ghosh Over 30 Calcuttans have approached city police with complaints that amounts ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 40,000 have been debited from their bank accounts, fuelling suspicion whether they had fallen victim to skimming devices planted on some ATM machines. It is yet to be established whether skimming machines were used in the city but such devices had been linked to rackets abroad. They are small devices that can be fitted to an ATM near the slot where cards are swiped. he device can copy the data on the magnetic stripe - such as the card number, expiry date and CVV number, which can be used later to clone the card, a police officer said. At least a dozen of the complaints are from accountholders in Canara Bank. Officials of the bank said customers who were affected might have been using old ATM cards that had a magnetic stripe, not the more secure chip-and-PIN ones. Canara Bank officials said they ...

  July31,2018, SC Media By Doug Olenick The U.S. Department of Defense has instructed its procurers and contractors to stop buying software that may have Chinese or Russian connections to help defend these institutions against a possible cyberattack. The Do Not Buy list covers software that does not meet national security standards, said Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, according to  Defense One . The list has been in the works for six months, but the Pentagon disclosed it for the first time and also said it has expanded the program to include working with three defense contractor trade associations to help assure their members abide by the rules. Defense One said the groups are the Aerospace Industries Association, National Defense Industrial Association and Professional Services Council. Firms are placed on the Do Not Buy list after being checked out by U.S. intelligence agencies and found to have some type of connection to Russia ...