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Hindustan Times September 14, 2018 Yashwant Raj A top US think tank has recommended publicly naming Pakistan-based terrorists and their groups to shame their host and the release of intelligence on their location as part of measures to be adopted if the Trump administration wants to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan. A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) further suggests stripping Pakistan of its status as a non-NATO ally of the US, which comes with significant military benefits, and even declaring it a terrorist state, an old demand. “If Washington is serious about ending the war in Afghanistan – including through a peace settlement – it needs to put significant pressure on the Taliban and Haqqani Network in Pakistan, not just in Afghanistan,” Seth G Jones, a former defence department official who served in Afghanistan and now heads the Transnational Threats Project at CSIS, writes. The report, The insurgent sanctuary in Pakistan, comes at a

M ondaq September 14, 2018 Martin Weber  and  Zlatina Iliev In an unusually fast procedure due to international pressure, Switzerland enacted increased transparency regulations for corporations, which became effective as of 1 July 2015. This FATF legislation is proposed to be further tightened. However, in light of uncertainties in the practical implementation of the existing FATF law, this tightening is premature. 1 TIGHTENING OF FATF TRANSPARENCY RULES ANTE PORTAS As one of over 150 members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum), Switzerland is committed to implementing internationally agreed standards for transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes. Compliance with the agreed standards is monitored by the Global Forum through periodic peer reviews. Following the implementation of corresponding recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Art. 697i et seqq. of the Swiss Code of Obliga

Dawn September 12, 2018 Anwar Iqbal Alice G. Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said in a conference call with journalists on Monday that restrictions also apply to investments in Iran’s Chahbahar port, a project built with India’s cooperation. Ms Wells – who was briefing journalists on the two-plus-two talks between the US and India, held in New Delhi on Sept 6 – said there was no “blanket waiver or country-specific waiver” from US sanctions on trading with or investing in Iran. She said the sanctions on Iran that come into force on Nov 4 are not specific to India, which imports 25 per cent of its oil from Tehran. Iran is India’s third largest supplier of oil, after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Between April 2017 and January 2018, Iran supplied 18.4 million tonnes of crude oil to India. Answering a question on whether US restrictions on trade with Iran were discussed at the US-India talks, she said that there was a discussion in gener

The Express Tribune September 14, 2018 Danish Hussain Islamabad:  French President Emmanuel Macron late Thursday night had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Imran Khan, in which he acknowledged the “high price” Pakistan has paid in the fight against terrorism. According to a statement released by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the French president congratulated Imran on his party’s election win and also for assuming the prime minister’s office. Macron doubled down on the need to foster bilateral dialogue.  He also expressed Paris’ desire to cooperate in the fields of energy, water resource management, trade, as well as, the economy. He also hoped both nations could join hands on issues of mutual interest on the global stage. The french premier lauded Pakistan’s efforts in fighting terrorism. He also condoled Imran on the deadly spate of terrorists attacks in the run up to the the country going to the polls back in July.  The PTI supremo thanked Macron fo

The Indian Express September 14, 2018 Two Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants were killed in an encounter in north Kashmir’s Sopore town on Thursday, police said. While two Aadhaar cards have been recovered from the militants, police said that they were foreigners. “From the incriminating material recovered from the encounter site, the killed terrorists have been identified as foreigners namely Ali alias Athar and Zia-ur-Rehman,” police said. “They were affiliated to proscribed terror outfit JeM.”  Ali was a top Jaish commander who was behind the IED blast in Sopore on January 6 in which four policemen were killed, police said. Both militants were involved in attacks on security establishments, police said. On Wednesday night, a joint team of J-K Police, Army and paramilitary forces cordoned off the Teliyan neighbourhood of Sopore town after receiving specific inputs about the presence of militants.  As the joint team zeroed in on the target house on Thursday, militants opened fi

The Indian Express September 14, 2018  Pritam Pal Singh The Delhi High Court Thursday granted bail to Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, who was arrested by the NIA in a terror-funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, and observed that nothing has been shown to suggest that his trade was “geared toward funding of terrorist activities”. In its 40-page bail order, a bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel directed Watali not to influence or intimidate prospective prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence in the case. The court also ordered 70-year-old Watali to surrender his passport before the trial court and said he will not travel abroad without prior permission of the court. “The documents (seized in the case) do not enable this court to prima facie conclude, as the trial court has in its order stated, that appellant (Watali) received money from A-1 (LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed) or PHC (Pakistan High Commission in

The Indian Express September 14, 2018 P Vaidyanathan Iyer India choked when the Lehman Brothers collapse struck the US on September 15, 2008, and triggered a global financial crisis. It’s going to be 10 years, and despite a rebound in India’s GDP growth in April-June 2018, the macros look stressed. The rupee continues to slide, having lost over 13% since January 1 this year, and the current account deficit has widened to 2.4% of GDP in the  in the quarter ending June 2018. The biggest of all problems — non-performing assets of banks — continues to grow. When and how did banks pile up such bad loans? To trace its origin, let’s rewind to the halcyon days of 2005-08. The India Shining campaign of the previous NDA government (1999-2004) did not bring electoral gains to the BJP, but at the end of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s term, the economy stood primed for unprecedented growth rates touching double digits in the coming years. The UPA government’s fiscal discipline during 2004-0

        The Hindu         September 14, 2018 The Supreme Court on September 14 will pronounce its judgment on a plea by former space scientist Nambi Narayanan to prosecute senior police officials for framing him in the notorious ISRO spy scandal. A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra would likely deal with the question of enhanced compensation to be paid to Mr. Narayanan in its verdict.  The hearings had seen an interesting turn of events on July 10, when the apex court reserved the case for judgment, when the CBI had said it had “nothing to hide”. The agency, which took over the probe from the State Police and filed a closure report in 1996, even invited the court to launch a probe into the its conduct in the case. Mr. Narayanan has accused the Kerala Police and the IB of torturing and extracting statements from him.  The State of Kerala had filed an affidavit saying it was  illing to unconditionally abide by whatever the apex court orders. The court said it wo

The Economic Times September 14,2018 Pranab Dhal Samanta NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of  Investigation has opened a probe with an  intent to file a fresh charge sheet on the  involvement of finance ministry officials in the  disbursal of loans from public sector banks to  Kingfisher Airlines  during the UPA  government.  ET has reliably gathered that the CBI has  already officially approached the finance  ministry and formally obtained relevant  documentation to build its case. These files,  sources said, are currently being scrutinised for further interrogation of officials. Those familiar with the details of the proceedings told ET that some officials from the  relevant period have already been questioned. Sources said these are initial inquires,  which will continue as the probe widens.  Key to CBI’s probe are the correspondence and email exchanges recovered during the  search of Kingfisher Airlines owner Vijay Mallya’s residence. These were also documented in the

The Wire September 14, 2018 New Delhi:  Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who has been in jail since June 2017, was released early Friday morning.  According to  Hindustan Times , hundreds of Bhim Army supporters gathered outside Saharanpur jail as their leader walked out, and raised slogans of ‘Bhim Army Zindabad’ and ‘Chandrashekhar Zindabad’.  “The state government misused government machinery,” Azad reportedly said upon his release. “I will continue my fight for marginalized people against injustice.” The Uttar Pradesh government had booked Azad under the National Security Act (NSA) on November 2, 2017, a day after he was granted bail by the Allahabad high court. The NSA would have lapsed on November 1, 2018.  The state’s decision to release Azad ahead of time was announced on Thursday, and according to a statement released by the government, it was taken based on a plea filed by Azad’s mother, Kamlesh Devi. Along with Azad, two others, Shivkumar and Sonu, who had

News18 September 13, 2018 Utkarsh Anand New Delhi:  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has told the Supreme Court that cypto-currency, such as Bitcoins, cannot be considered as valid ‘currency’ or ‘money’ under the existing legal regime.   In its counter affidavit filed in response to a clutch of petitions led by Sidharth Dalmia and Dwaipayan Bhowmik, India’s monetary regulator further said that virtual currency cannot even be validated as a ‘payment system’ since it is peer-to-peer and does not involve a service provider. It is submitted that crypto-currencies fall short of being true currencies. It is further submitted that RBI does not consider virtual currencies such as Bitcoins as ‘currency’ under the extant laws. There are no enabling provisions under the extant law to treat Bitcoin as currency,” stated the affidavit, filed through the Assistant General Manager of the RBI.  The regulator cited provisions of The Coinage Act and The RBI Act to emphasise that as Bitcoins and o

The Times of India September 13,2018 Yudhajit Shankar Das NEW DELHI: A debate might be raging on the use of the word itself, but an entire ecosystem is slowly being built  around ‘Dalit’ and even ‘Chamar’, with T-shirts that say ‘Kiss me. I’m Dalit’, or ‘It’s a Dalit thing, you wouldn’t  understand’. From unpolished grains via Dalit Foods to an aesthetically-crafted handbag from Chamar Studio, from  tea mugs with ‘Valmiki’ emblazoned on them to stickers of Ambedkar on bikes, Dalit pride is showing on the streets  of India and the country has a new brand to contend with and accommodate. A simple Google search for Dalit T-shirt throws up results with bold slogans like ‘Dalit Blood Runs Through My  Veins’, ‘Untouchable-Property of Dalit’, or ‘Keep Calm And Say Jai Bhim’. On the metamorphosis — a community  that hid its identity was suddenly showing it off — Dalit ideologue Chandra Bhan Prasad said, “With deepening of  constitutionalism and advent of capitalism, caste is losing