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The Tribune, September 01, 2018 TOKYO: Japan’s Line said on Friday it will launch a cryptocurrency in September, as the company tries to build up a wide range of businesses using its popular messaging app as a platform. The company said the digital coin “LINK” will be given as rewards to users of its services and could be traded with other cryptocurrencies at its crypto exchange, BITBOX. The coin is not available for users in Japan and the United States for regulatory reasons, it said. Line said LINK digital coins would be used as payments or rewards within its blockchain-based app services. Link- https://tribune.com.pk/story/1792718/8-japanese-messaging-app-operator-line-launch-cryptocurrency/

Geo News,  31 August 2018 ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar informed the Senate on Friday that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had given Pakistan 15 months to comply with its requirements, with the deadline set to expire in September 2019. The minister said the FATF delegation had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month for a routine evaluation and the visit did not pertain to the greylist. Umar added that the next review of the FATF would take place in Jakarta on September 11 and 12. “27 deficiencies have been identified by the FATF having to deal with currency smuggling, havala and terror financing of proscribed organisations.” According to Umar, a National Action Committee had been formed to deal with this issue. The committee will be chaired by the finance minister and comprise officials from NAB, FIA and SECP. “We will have our own review on September 8 which will be completed before the next FATF review. Actions which need to be taken have been identified to

The Hindu, August 31, 2018 The U.S.’s top spy catcher said that Chinese espionage agencies are using fake LinkedIn accounts to try to recruit Americans with access to government and commercial secrets, and the company should shut them down. William Evanina, the U.S. counterintelligence chief, told Reuters that intelligence and law enforcement officials have told LinkedIn about China’s “super-aggressive” efforts on the site. He said the Chinese campaign includes contacting thousands of LinkedIn members at a time, but he declined to say how many fake accounts U.S. intelligence had discovered, how many Americans may have been contacted and how much success China has had in the recruitment drive. German and British authorities have previously warned their citizens that Beijing is using LinkedIn to try to recruit them as spies. But this is the first time a U.S. official has publicly discussed the challenge in the U.S. and indicated it is a bigger problem than previously known. Mr.

The Economic Times, September 01, 2018  Before it signed up for the Rafale fighter jets offset deal that has now become controversial, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence attempted to bag contracts from Russia, India’s old defence partner, but lost out on three major deals. Unlike France, Russia after consultations with India chose to partner with public sector units including Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, which will set up a production line for the $1 billion Kamov KA226 light helicopter. In similar fashion to the Paris trip in April 2015 where the Rafale pact was first discussed, Ambani was present during the prime minister’s visit to Moscow in December of the same year, batting for major contracts with Russia for his newly formed defence companies. The Kamov contract was the first to be formalised during the visit. While Reliance Defence was in advanced talks to partner the Russians in the preceding months, Russia decided to go the PSU way. HAL is a known partner for Russia as it alre

The Indian Express, September 01,2018 The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday told a special court that well known personalities like activists Shyam Manav and Mukta Dabholkar; NCP leader Jitendra Awhad and many others, “who spoke against the Hindu religion”, were on the target list of the five alleged Hindutva activists arrested on terror charges earlier this month. The court on Thursday was hearing a plea from the ATS seeking further custody of one of the accused — Avinash Pawar, who was arrested on August 25. A resident of Mumbai suburb Ghatkopar, the 30-year-old is alleged to be associated with Hindutva organisation Shri Shivapratishthan Hindustan. The court granted Pawar’s further custody to the ATS till September 4. Pawar was arrested after suspected Hindutva activists Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar and Sudhanva Gondhalekar were taken into custody by the ATS on August 10 for allegedly conspiring to carry out bomb blasts across Maharashtra.  Shiv Sena former corp

The Indian Express, September 01, 2018 Even as India’s GDP expanded by 8.2 per cent in the quarter ended June 2018, aided by rising domestic consumption and government spending, the other two engines of the economy — private investments and exports continue to lag. Even as exports have grown faster in Q1 FY19, between 2014 to 2018 the average annual export growth was just 0.6 per cent. In contrast, between 2004 and 2008, the average annual exports growth rate was 25.4 per cent. While the Q1 FY19 GDP growth is higher than market expectations, most analysts estimate the full year growth to be around 7.5 per cent. There is a sense in the market that as and when the investments and exports pick up, Indian economy will start delivering high growth rates on a sustained basis. If good monsoons have propped up agriculture growth and demand in the rural economy, the government expenditure on account salary revisions by states gave impetus to the consumption story. According to the

The Indian Express, September 01, 2018 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor B P Kanungo on Friday expressed concern over the signs of increasing fiscal imbalance in the finances of state governments. The consolidated fiscal position of states deteriorated during 2015-16 and 2016-17. The GFD-GDP ratio in 2017-18 (RE) is at 3.1 per cent and is above the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) threshold for the third consecutive year, he said at a meeting organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Outstanding liabilities of State Governments have been registering double-digit growth since 2012-13 (2014-15 being an exception). State-wise data reveal that the debt-GSDP ratio increased for 16 states,” Kanungo said. The downside risks to fiscal position of the states include stress on revenue expenditure in the run-up to the general elections, implementation of 7th pay commission recommendations by states, and farm loan waivers in certain states etc

The Indian Express, September 01, 2018 The Congress on Friday said the film production deal between Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment and former French President Francois Hollande’s partner — actor Julie Gayet — two days before Hollande’s India visit in 2016, during which he signed an MoU with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for delivering 36 Rafale aircraft, raises fresh questions of quid pro quo and conflict of interest. The Indian Express on Friday reported that Reliance Entertainment had entered into a pact with Gayet’s firm Rouge International to jointly produce a French film on January 24, 2016. On January 26, 2016, India and France signed the MoU for purchase of 36 jets in flyaway condition. Addressing reporters, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the pact between Reliance Entertainment and Gayet’s firm was not a coincidence. He did not name the Reliance Group, merely referring to it as the company which is the beneficiary of Rs 30,000 crore offset contract in t

The Indian Express, September 01, 2018 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday questioned former finance minister P Chidambaram for the fourth time in the Aircel-Maxis case. Sources said Chidambaram, who arrived at the ED office around noon, was questioned for six hours. He was questioned on various aspects of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval given for the Aircel-Maxis deal, sources said. Chidambaram, along with his son Karti, is being probed by the CBI and ED for allegedly allowing foreign direct investment into the Aircel-Maxis deal in contravention of rules for alleged pecuniary gains. Chidambaram has denied the allegations on multiple occasions and said the ED was probing him without even registering an FIR. After similar questioning by the ED in June, Chidambaram had said that what he told the agency was already recorded in government documents. He also said there was no FIR, yet a probe had been initiated. “More than half the time taken up by typi

The Indian Express, September 01, 2018 More than 25 years after the implementation of reservation for Other Backward Classes, based on the Mandal Commission’s recommendations, Union Home Minister  Rajnath Singh  Friday announced the first Census to count OBCs in 2021. A Home Ministry statement said the Minister discussed the roadmap for undertaking the Census in 2021. During the meeting, it was decided to collect data on OBCs for the first time, it said. The meeting also put special emphasis on improvements in design and technological interventions to ensure that data is finalised within three years of the conduct of the 2021 Census. This means that the OBC census data is likely to be available by 2024, which is when the general elections after 2019 are expected to be held. The latest move is likely to put an end to the longstanding demand from political parties to update the previous caste-based census conducted 87 years ago, in 1931, by the British. The previo

By Express Web Desk, September 1, 2018 Referring to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report that 99 per cent of the demonetised currency was restored in the banking system, former finance minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the return of junked notes proved that note ban was introduced to help people convert their black money into white. “If it has all come back to RBI, then the logical conclusion is three-four lakh crore of black money has been converted to white. So, there is a suspicion, in fact, it is a charge that you devised this demonetisation only to enable people to convert their black money into white,” Chidambaram was quoted as saying by  ANI . He added, “If all the currency notes have been exchanged, then obviously a significant portion of black money stock in the country has been exchanged. The government had claimed that three-four lakh crore will not return to the RBI and that would be the black money stock.” Asserting that Finance Minister  Arun J