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Showing posts from February 8, 2019

Bid to develop narratives to alter public opinion in Valley, Pakistan using social media to influence youths in Kashmir, says Indian Army

Firstpost, PTI, Feb 08, 2019 Udhampur : The general officer commanding-in-chief of the northern command, Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, said on Thursday that the Pakistani army has been using social media to mobilise support among the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to stir them towards militancy. He also said that terrorist infrastructure continues to remain intact in PoK and Pakistan. He said Pakistan is trying to develop narratives to alter public opinion in Kashmir to disrupt peace and stability. "It is matter of concern for us. We are seized of this concern." He said the Pakistani army has been exploiting social media platforms to influence the youth of the Valley to join militancy. "Radicalisation is not only a concern in India but a global concern," Singh told reporters. However, he added, the Indian Army has developed effective counter-terrorism capabilities and the fight against terrorism has now entered "an important phase". &quo

Jamal Khashoggi murder 'planned and perpetrated' by Saudi officials, says UN; final report to be presented to UNHRC in June

Firstpost, Feb 08, 2019 Geneva:  A UN rapporteur probing the murder in Turkey of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Thursday that the killing was "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials. Khashoggi, a  Washington Post  contributor and Saudi regime critic, was murdered at the ultra-conservative kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on 2 October by what Ankara says was a hit squad sent from Riyadh. "Evidence collected during my mission to Turkey shows (a) prima facie case that Mr Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia," Agnes Callamard said at the end of a visit to Turkey, according to a UN statement.  who strangled him at the mission, and media reports have said his body was cut up and dissolved in acid. Riyadh, after denying the killing for two weeks, eventually described it as a "rogue" operation but denied any involvement by Crown Prince Mohamm

Lobbyist Deepak Talwar has links with Vijay Mallya, ED tells court

The Indian Express, Anand Mohan J, Feb 08, 2019 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday claimed before a Delhi court that corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar has links with fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya in a money laundering case. Advertising The development came when the ED was arguing for extended custody of Talwar, who was arrested from IGI Airport on January 31 this year. Special Judge S S Mann extended ED’s custody of Talwar till February 12 after the agency said he was to be confronted with his son who is currently abroad and has been summoned by the agency. “Investigation has revealed his links with Vijay Mallya, when both the said persons were evading the process of law and the investigation on the said aspect is ongoing for determining the trail of the tainted money in the instant case. We also found that Mallya had sent an email to Talwar,” ED Special Public Prosecutor D P Singh told the court. The ED claims, “Talwar allegedly got kickbacks for favo

SBI slapped with Rs one crore fine by RBI for violating norms

Financial Express, PTI, Feb 07, 2019 State Bank of India Thursday said the Reserve Bank of India has slapped Rs 1 crore penalty on the country’s largest lender for violating norms.  RBI  “in exercise of powers conferred under Section 47 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 has levied a penalty of Rupees one crore on the bank for not monitoring the end use of funds in respect of one of its borrowers,” SBI said in a regulatory filing. SBI, however, did not share details of the borrower and the loan amount given to the borrower. Link: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/sbi-slapped-with-rs-one-crore-fine-by-rbi-for-violating-norms/1480619/

RBI may deliver more positive surprises on the rate front, say bankers

Financial Express, Feb 07, 2019 With the change in the monetary policy stance to “neutral” from “calibrated tightening” and a benign inflation forecast, the Reserve Bank may deliver more positive surprises on the rate front, say bankers. At the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review Thursday the  RBI  surprisingly reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent and also changed the policy stance to ‘neutral’ from the earlier ‘calibrated tightening’ it had said in the December review, signalling further softening on its approach to rates if the inflation prints at the projected lower levels. “The policy rightfully signals that rates may further soften further going forward, with the headline inflation numbers consistently undershooting the RBI inflation mandate and inflation expectations materially down,” State Bank’s Rajnish Kumar said. The central bank also lowered its headline inflation forecast for the next year, and expects the numbers to print in at 2.8 percent

Google warns data privacy changes could hurt its business

Hindustan Times, Gerrit De Vynck, Mark Bergen, Feb 06, 2019 Google parent Alphabet warned that its business may be damaged by changing data privacy practices, new digital advertising policies and software bugs that leak user information. The company  filed its annual report  on Tuesday and added language that suggests it is adjusting to stepped up regulatory scrutiny and evolving consumer attitudes toward data and privacy online. “Changes to our data privacy practices, as well as changes to third-party advertising policies or practices may affect the type of ads and/or manner of advertising that we are able to provide which could have an adverse effect on our business,” the company wrote in the filing. “If we do not provide superior value or deliver advertisements efficiently and competitively, our reputation could be affected, we could see a decrease in revenue from advertisers and/or experience other adverse effects to our business.” As consumers and politicians re-eval