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THE HINDU DECEMBER 14, 2018 SRIRAM LAKSHMAN U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Robert Williams, an intelligence officer with a specialisation in South Asia and Afghanistan, as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. Mr. Williams will take over the role from Alice G. Wells, who has been Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia since June 2017. The White House statement did not include “Central Asia” in the designation. The joint South and Central Asian Bureau was created in 2006. Mr. Williams has, since 2017, been Associate Deputy Director for Intelligence and Director for Operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), a Washington DC-based Department of Defense intelligence group, according to the White House statement. In addition to being an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and American University, Mr Williams has also been the National I...

THE HINDU DECEMBER 13, 2018 SUHASINI HAIDER Derecognise business body, says MEA Taking its protest over the presence of a minister from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) at a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting to the next level, India has now demanded that the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) be “derecognised” by the South Asian grouping. In a letter addressed to the SAARC secretariat, which is based in Kathmandu, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) accused the SCCI of having “violated” the SAARC charter and principles by inviting the Minister from PoK Chaudhury Muhammad Saeed to its event in Islamabad on December 8. An Indian diplomat attending the event had walked out in protest against Mr. Saeed’s presence. According to government sources, the SCCI has written to the High Commission of India in Islamabad, “expressing regret”. In its letter dated December 10, two days after the event, the MEA referred to Mr. Saeed ...

THE ECONOMIC TIMES DECEMBER 13, 2018 KIRTIKA SUNJEA India, for the first time, pointed out the US’ failure to put forth any proposal to address their concerns on the functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  On Wednesday, India termed it a “unique position” as for over two years, the US has blocked the appointment of judges at the WTO, alleging its Appellate Body (AB) of over-stepping its authority by reviewing and reversing factual findings by trade arbitration panels but has not come up with possible options on how to address it.  “However, we find ourselves in the unique position where the member who has issues with the functioning of the Appellate Body has failed to put forth a single proposal to address their oft-repeated concerns,” India told the General Council, the WTO’s highest level decision-making body in Geneva, during a discussion on AB appointments and amendments of the Dispute Settlement Understandi...

THE ECONOMIC TIMES DECEMBER 13, 2018 BIKASH SINGH Khasi Students Union (KSU) has differed from the Meghalaya High Court's recent order and expressed its stout opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.  Meghalaya High court had, recently, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.  Justice Sudip Ranjan Sen of Meghalaya High Court had said that "nobody should try to make India… another Islamic country, otherwise it will be a doomsday for India and the world".  He had called the ongoing process of updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) as defective for "as many foreigners become Indians and original Indians are left out which is very sad".  On Monday, the High court gave a judgement asking the Prime Minister, Law Minister and Parliament to bring a legislation to allow...

THE ECONOMIC TIMES DECEMBER 13, 2018 SUNIL DHAWAN This scenario is enough to rattle anyone: An SMS in the middle of the night informing that a transaction has been made on your credit card in a city 1000s of miles away and even while the card is in your possession.  With the increase in the digital way of life, especially when it comes to financial transactions, the risk of financial frauds cannot be ignored. A fraudulent online transaction in one's bank account, debit or credit card could be because of e-mail spoofing, phishing or it could have been an act committed by cloning one's card.  What to do in case of a credit/debit card fraud The moment you come to know that a suspicious transaction has been done on your credit/debit card, inform the card issuer immediately. One should lodge a formal complaint with the bank and ideally call up the customer care number to block the card or the account immediately.  How to file a complaint If you a fraud ...

NDTV DECEMBER 13, 2018 NEETA SHARMA AND DEBJANI CHATTERJEE Global police body Interpol issued a red corner notice against fugitive offender Mehul Choksi, wanted in the 13,000-crore bank fraud case, on Thursday. The Interpol arrest warrant came on a CBI request. The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a charge sheet against him in a Mumbai court. Authorities in Antigua are now likely to trace him and inform India. Mr Choksi's movements will be tracked and he won't be allowed to leave the country. The 59-year-old had left India in January for medical treatment in the US. Mr Choksi was last traced to Antigua, where he has been granted citizenship. He had taken the oath of allegiance as a citizen of Antigua on January 15 and just days later, on January 29, the CBI filed a case and started investigating Mr Choksi and Nirav Modi. Sources say, the Interpol had issued the notice against Mr Choksi about a fortnight ago after a decision was taken by the Com...

THE INDIAN EXPRESS DECEMBER 13, 2018 GEORGE MATHEW The new Governor of RBI, former bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das said here on Wednesday that he would do everything possible to uphold the autonomy, credibility and integrity of RBI as a “great institution” and take all stakeholders, including the government, along through a consultative process. On maintaining the RBI’s autonomy, Das said, “I will ensure that it is intact. The RBI is a great institution… has a long and rich legacy.” He was speaking to reporters after taking over as the 25th Governor. “I wouldn’t go into the issues between the RBI and government but every institution has to maintain its autonomy and also adhere to accountability,” he said. Das indicated that he would take the government into confidence while formulating policies. “The government is not just a stakeholder… the government of the day runs the economy and the country,” he said, adding there is a need for free and fair discussions with the g...

THE HINDU DECEMBER 12, 2018 KRISHNA KUMAR Thousands of schoolchildren demonstrated on the streets of Australian cities at the end of November. They were protesting against their government’s lacklustre response to climate change. Their protest march coincided with the G20 summit in Argentina. The summit showed no consensus on climate change, proving the point the children in Australia had made — that political leaders are not serious about the environmental crisis. Official reaction Over the recent years, Australia has experienced dire consequences of global warming. By dropping their school routine on a working day, the children were making an additional point. They were conveying the feeling that natural catastrophe would make academic attainment meaningless. Their collective anger was neither politically engineered nor unruly. That is why it elicited a quick, though disapproving, response from the Australian Prime Minister. On his way to the G20 summit, he said stude...

THE HINDU DECEMBER 12, 2018 VIDYA RAM Anti-corruption campaigners have condemned the British Home Office’s decision to backtrack on plans to suspend a “golden visa” scheme for wealthy investors, just days after announcing the suspension. Last week, the Home Office had said it was planning to suspend the Tier-1 (investor) visa scheme that enables its holders to gain a swifter route to settlement in the U.K. until new safeguarding rules were brought in in 2019. While mainly used by Russian and Chinese nationals, it is also popular with Indian nationals:82 applied for an investor visa through this route between 2008 and March 2018, reported Transparency International. However, the formal announcement to Parliament never materialised, with no mention of the scheme or changes to it in an update from the Home Office. “The Tier 1 (Investor) visa is not currently suspended, however, we remain committed to reforming the route. A further announcement will be made in due...

THE HINDU DECEMBER 12, 2018 Numerous lawmakers asserted that Google uses its search engine as a propaganda machine. U.S. lawmakers’ grilling of Google CEO Sundar Pichai may have sounded like a broken record, but it amplified the prickly issues facing tech companies as Democrats prepare to take control of the House next month. The 3 1/2-hour hearing on Tuesday hit upon familiar themes online privacy, data protection and the danger of digital monopolies that are poised to come into even sharper focus next year. User privacy Looming over the tech industry is the possibility of government regulation intended to protect people’s data. One model for lawmakers may be Europe, where new rules governing data and privacy went into effect this year. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, tried to pin down Mr. Pichai on privacy during Tuesday’s hearing. “I’ve got an iPhone,” Mr. Poe said, waving his device. “Can Google track me when I move?” If he moved to the left toward his Democratic col...