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  January 31,2019    The Hindu The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday removed three State-owned banks from its weak-bank watch list, a move that will lift lending restrictions on them. “It has been decided that Bank of India [BoI] and Bank of Maharashtra [BoM] which meet the regulatory norms including Capital Conservation Buffer [CCB] and have Net NPAs [non-performing assets] of less than 6% as per third quarter results, are taken out of the PCA [prompt corrective action] framework subject to certain conditions and continuous monitoring,” the RBI said in a statement. In case of Oriental Bank of Commerce, the net NPA has come down to less than 6% as the government has infused sufficient capital, it said. Hence, it has been decided to remove the restrictions placed on Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) under PCA framework, subject to certain conditions and close monitoring, the apex bank added. Commenting on the RBI’s decision, Financial Services Secretary ...

  February 01,2019   The Hindu T Ramakrishnan The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has justified the exclusion of Sri Lanka’s Tamil refugees, most of whom are living in Tamil Nadu, from the ambit of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The MHA hinted to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which had studied the legislation and submitted its report to the Parliament in early January, that refugees from Sri Lanka and Myanmar among others were eligible for Long Term Visa (LTV) if they proved they had been “victims of oppression in their countries of origin on account of race, religion, sex, nationality, ethnic identity, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” The LTVs, if granted, would enable refugees to enjoy facilities such as gaining employment in the private sector and undertaking studies in any academic institution. The Central government, in December 2011, issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to protect the inte...

J anuary 31, 2019 The Hindu The U.S. President Donald Trump will make a significant announcement on the status of the fight against the ISIS in Syria during his State of the Union Address next week, the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. Mr. Trump is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union Address in a joint session of the US Congress on February 5. “The President will make a significant announcement, I think, in the State of the Union next week with respect to the status of the caliphate, the real estate, the grounds from which ISIS had been operating in Syria when this administration came in,” Mr. Pompeo told Fox News in an interview. Mr. Pompeo also informed that Mr. Trump would host foreign ministers of the “Global Coalition to Defeat the ISIS” and have discussions with them. “You remember prisoners in cages, people kneeling on the beaches and being beheaded. This was tragic. Next week on February 6, he is hosting foreign ministers of the “Global Coalition t...

April 22, 2018  The Guardian Officials get fed up with accusations that Britain is a cesspool of dirty money; that they do too little to check the wealth hidden behind shell corporations. They grouse among themselves that their critics overlook the work they’re doing to expose the money flows and to drive out the corrupt. When they do get a win, therefore, they trumpet it. Last month, Companies House successfully prosecuted someone who had lied in setting up a company, the kind of white-collar crime committed by the sophisticated fraudsters who fleece ordinary Brits every day, and the government went large. “This prosecution – the first of its kind in the UK – shows the government will come down hard on people who knowingly break the law and file false information on the company register,” crowed business minister, Andrew Griffiths,   in a press release. A Warwickshire businessman called Kevin Brewer had pleaded guilty, paid a fine and the government’s costs: a ...

February 01, 2019 News 18 E-commerce rules that went into effect in India on Friday caused widespread disruption for Amazon.com, forcing it to take down an array of items from its India website, including Echo speakers, batteries and floor cleaners. Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said the products began to disappear from the Amazon India site late on Thursday as it began complying with the revised norms before a midnight deadline. The company has no choice, they are fulfilling a compliance requirement ... customers will suffer," said one of the sources. In December, India modified foreign direct investment (FDI) rules for its burgeoning e-commerce sector, which has drawn major bets from not only Amazon.com but also the likes of Walmart Inc, which last year bought a majority stake in homegrown e-commerce player Flipkart. In December, India modified foreign direct investment (FDI) rules for its burgeoning e-commerce sector, which has d...

January 31, 2019 TheNew Indian Express By Mayank Singh Pakistan Army is considering buying peace with India in a bid to enable troop deployment to its western border, with Afghanistan. The army is assessing the situation on the LoC, on the basis of which it will decide whether to shift the troops to its western border. Over the last three months, several top officers of the Pakistan Army visited the LoC, purportedly in a bid to assess the troops on the ground. While the Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the LoC twice between October and November, he oversaw an exercise by the brigade in Jhelum on January 25. Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar, Commander of the Rawalpindi-based Corps, visited the LoC on January 29. Sources said discussions are on in the top echelons of the Pakistan Army to buy peace along the eastern border, with India, and mobilise forces on the Afghanistan border in a bid to curb the movement of ISIS and Al Qaeda cadre. The Pakistan Army esta...