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The Indian Express September 13, 2018 On a day former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he recalled that India’s “abiding friendship” was amply demonstrated by its rapid response to Sri Lanka’s needs during the 2009 war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Rajapaksa, who was President when the Sri Lankan army defeated the LTTE, said he was sensitive to India’s concerns at the time. “Our policy in this regard was constant consultation with India and other neighbouring countries. For this purpose, we had evolved the Troika mechanism involving key officials on both sides, who were in touch with one another at all times,” Rajapaksa said. He was referring to the Troika set up in 2008-09, as the war peaked. From the Indian side, it comprised three officials — NSA M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh — and three Sri Lankan officials — Advisor Basil Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary G...

The Indian Express September 13, 2018 Khushboo Narayan Almost three months before the Rs 13,600-crore banking fraud in the state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) became public, diamond jeweller Nirav Modi tried to secure a citizenship of Vanuatu, an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean, sources confirmed to The Indian Express. For citizenship of Vanuatu, Modi had, in November 2017, transferred $195,000 from his personal account to one of the 18 authorised agents of the Vanuatu government who facilitate Citizenship by Investment program of the country. Subsequently, the Vanuatu government ran an intelligence check on Modi and unearthed “adverse findings” against him. This prompted the Vanuatu government to reject Modi’s request for citizenship, these sources said.  Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific off northern Australia. “The purpose of the $195,000 was to pay the application fee for honorary Vanuatu citizenship. However, a Government...

The Economic Times September 13, 2018 Prabha Raghavan DIVYA RAJAGOPAL The health ministry pruned a list of banned combination medicines and added restrictions to the dosages or uses for six more types of such drugs, saying their ingredients had no therapeutic value and were risky for consumption. The ban on 328 such drugs — compared with 344 earlier — is effective immediately and may shave off over Rs 1,500 crore from India’s Rs 1.18 lakh crore pharmaceutical industry. Brands going off pharmacy shelves include Saridon, Panderm Plus and Taxim AZ, according to market research firm AIOCD Awacs PharmaTrac.  Such drugs, known as fixed dose combinations (FDCs), are cocktails of two or more therapeutic ingredients. The ministry’s decision was taken after its Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) said the ingredients of these FDCs have no therapeutic justification and they may be risky to consume. “The Board recom...

The National Law review September 12,2018 A ccording to the Financial Flow from Human Trafficking report recently published by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, human trafficking is estimated to generate $150.2 billion per year. Human trafficking remains one of the fastest growing and most profitable forms of international crime affecting nearly every country in the world. The FATF report examines the financial flow associated with human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor, sexual exploitation, and the removal of organs, and the common and unique ways that the proceeds from these types of exploitation are laundered. The FATF report identifies issues related to designing better efforts to detect money laundering related to human trafficking. First, the more exposure the offender and/or the victim have to the formal financial sector or government, the greater the opportunities for identifying si...

The Express Tribune September  12, 2018 Arsalan Altaf         Islamabad:- Authorities in Islamabad have barred 12 firebrand clerics from making speeches during the month of Muharram  with 14 others not allowed to enter the federal capital for a two-month period for inciting sectarian strife.  The orders issued by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) district magistrate, stating that the 26 clerics who have  been banned were “sectarian agitators, firebrand speakers and likely to indulge in sectarian activities”.  The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) took the decision in view of the past record that include former Lal  Masjid’s Abdul Aziz, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen’s (MWM) Ameen Shaheedi and Nasir Abbas Jafri, as well as, Tehreek-e-Labaik chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, and several other Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) leaders.  Moreover, ASWJ’s Abdul Rehman Muaviah, Masjid Qasmia F-8/3 khateeb Qari Ahsanullah; an...

The Express Tribune September 12, 2018 Hasnaat Malik Islamabad: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the federal government’s plea against a Lahore High Court (LHC)  order allowing Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its affiliated Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) to continue their ‘welfare activities’.  The apex court’s two-judge bench, comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, took up the  interior ministry’s plea against LHC’s interim order. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed had submitted a petition against government  sanctions.  While Saeed’s petition was still being heard, in April, LHC passed the order allowing FIF to continue activities until the final  judgment was released. Later, the government approached the apex court against the high court verdict.  Proscription of JuD: SC to take up today appeal against LHC order  The bench noted that the government is already involved in the high court’s hearing and hence d...

The Wire  September 12,2018 New Delhi:  On Wednesday, the Union cabinet announced a range of measures aimed at ensuring that farmers benefit from the minimum support prices (MSP) announced by the Centre. It announced a new umbrella scheme called the ‘Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan’ and abbreviated to PM-AASHA to be implemented with effect from the new kharif marketing season starting October. The new scheme will have three components: a price support scheme (PSS) that has existed for several years; a price deficiency payment scheme (PDPS) modelled on Bhawantar Bhugtan Yojana; and a private procurement and stockist scheme (PPPS). As much as Rs 15,053 crore has been allocated under this scheme. “The PM-AASHA is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to farmers for their produce as announced by the union budget for 2018. This is a historic decision,” said Radha Mohan Singh, minister for agriculture. Under the PSS, Central nodal agencies will p...

The New Indian Express September 12, 2018 UNITED NATIONS: India has expressed regret that the Kashmir issue is being raised at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) after mentions of it by Michelle Bachelet, the new UN Human Rights High Commissioner, and by Pakistan at its current session. "Terrorism is the biggest scourge and greatest violator of human rights and we hope that you will address it more emphatically in the coming years," Rajiv K. Chander, India's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, told Bachelet on Tuesday at the HRC meeting in Geneva. He told the HRC, "We regret that reference has been made to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Our views on the matter have been made abundantly clear in the Council." It is important that "human rights issues are handled constructively" and with regard to national sovereignty and territorial integrity in a transparent and credible manner, he added. In an apparent reference to the...

The Asian Age September 12, 2018      Washington: The "highly successful" first 2+2 Dialogue between India and the United States was a "defining moment" and the defence  co-operation between the two countries is on the right track, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said here Tuesday.  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held the crucial talks with Mattis and US Secretary  of State Mike Pompeo in New Delhi on September 6. "Last week I did go to India for what could only be considered highly successful consultations between the world's two largest  democracies. There was no difficulties that we uncovered there in moving forward on a number of pragmatic steps to draw ourselves  closer together in terms of security," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon here.  "It was a very heartening trip, historic I'd even say, as you look at where we've been over so many years as we've grown closer ...

Firstpost September 13,2018 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday reacted to embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya's claim that he met him before leaving India and said that "the statement is factually false in as much as it does not reflect truth." "My attention has been drawn to a statement made to the media by Vijay Mallaya (sic) on having met me with an offer of settlement," Jaitley said in a Facebook post. The finance minister said that Mallya "misused" his privilege of being a member of the Rajya Sabha and "paced to catch up" with him while he was walking out of the Rajya Sabha. "I had never given him an appointment, never at my office and never at my residence, nor have I ever offered to meet him," Jaitley further told  ANI . Apart from the encounter which Jaitley claimed to have described in his  Facebook  post, the finance minister said, "There is no question of my having ever met him, spoken to him. I...

TIMESNOWNEWS.COM September 11, 2018           Pune: The Bhima-Koregaon violence on January 1 in Maharashtra was “pre-planned” and masterminded by right-winged activists Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, claimed a “fact-finding” committee, which was led by the deputy mayor of Pune Siddharth Dhende. The multi-member committee on Tuesday submitted the report to the Pune Rural police.  The state government has set up a judicial commission to investigate the violence that took place in near Bhima-Koregaon village and killed one person on January 1, however, several “independent fact-finding” committees were also probing the matter, out of which, one was led by Dhende. Dhende said that report claimed, “Our committee members have visited the places where the violence took place. Along with the spot visits, we have also conducted interviews in the villagers and policemen.”"After the independent probe, we have come to a conclusion that it was a pre-planned...

The Hindu Business Line September 12, 2018 US President Donald Trump has identified India along with 21 other countries as among the major illicit drug producing or transit nations. Other Asian countries identified as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar. The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, are other countries listed in the group, as per a presidential determination. “A country’s presence on the foregoing list is not necessarily a reflection of its government’s counter narcotics efforts or level of cooperation with the United States,” Trump said. The reasons countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to transit or be produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics contr...

The Hindu Business Line September 12, 2018 Vidya Ram Vijay Mallya is set to appear in court on Wednesday, as India’s efforts to extradite him continue at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London. Closing oral submissions that were due to be held in July were postponed after the judge was unable to hear the case as scheduled. During the hearing, the judge is expected to review video footage provided by the Indian authorities at her request, following defence demands for an inspection of Barrack 12 of Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai where Mallya would be housed, before and after any court proceedings if extradited and sentenced. Mallya’s defence team had insisted that the Indian government’s assurances couldn’t be relied upon, but the judge rejected the call for an inspection and asked for a video to be taken at midday to allay concerns about lighting. Concerns around prison conditions have formed a key plank of Mallya’s defence against the efforts to extradite him. During a...

The Express Tribune September 11,2018 Peshawar : The Taliban are preparing to send a delegation for further talks with US officials about ending the conflict in Afghanistan, two officials involved with the process said on Tuesday, adding that the meeting could address a possible prisoner swap. The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Taliban leaders were meeting to discuss the makeup of the three-or four-person delegation and the subjects to be discussed. They said the Taliban would like to discuss an exchange of prisoners and could hold another meeting soon if the United States showed seriousness in talks by releasing prisoners. “This meeting will determine the future talks and we would see if the US is serious and sincere in negotiation,” one of the officials involved said. “We would hand over a list of prisoners languishing in jails across Afghanistan. If they set free our prisoners then we would meet again f...

Hindustan Times September 12, 2018 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday attacked the Congress in poll-bound Rajasthan over its criticism of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam while vowing to expel all Bangladeshi infiltrators. He said the criticism showed that the Congress “is more concerned about its vote bank rather than the country’s security”. The draft was published in July and excluded about 4 million people; it was part of an exercise to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Congress president Rahul Gandhi subsequently criticised the BJP governments at the Centre and in Assam over the “tardy” execution of the “critical and highly sensitive” drafting exercise. Shah cited Gandhi’s criticism and said the Congress president could oppose this as much as he wants. “But the BJP has vowed to not spare even a single Bangladeshi infiltrator. We will expel all of them,” Shah told a gathering of BJP workers in Jaipur.  Shah’s comment...