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The Telegraph July 16, 2019 AP in Washington Facebook's ambitious plan to create a financial eco-system based on a digital currency faces questions from lawmakers, as it's shadowed by negative comments from President Donald Trump, his treasury secretary and the head of the Federal Reserve. Congress begins two days of hearings Tuesday on the currency planned by Facebook, to be called Libra, starting with the Senate Banking Committee. Meanwhile, a House Judiciary subcommittee will extend its bipartisan investigation of the market power of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. Trump tweeted last week that the new currency, Libra, "will have little standing or dependability." Both Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed Chair Jerome Powell have expressed serious concerns recently that Libra could be used for illicit activity. The Treasury Department has "very serious concerns that Libra could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financers,...

Business Standard July 17, 2019 PTI Defence Secretary nominee Mark T Esper has told lawmakers that he wants to solidify the enduring strategic partnership with India. "If confirmed, my overall guiding objective for our relationship with India would be to solidify an enduring strategic partnership underpinned by strong defence cooperation with an Indian military able to collaborate effectively with the United States to address shared interests," Esper told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. In a written response to questions, Esper said the Trump administration would continue to bolster the overall defense relationship through senior-level engagement such as the 2+2 ministerial dialogue. Within the context of Major Defence Partnership, Esper said he would continue to prioritise increasing information-sharing capabilities with the Indian armed forces, and expanding the scope and complexity of military-to-military exercises, including ...

Business Standard July 17, 2019 Ian Johnstone ,   Tufts University , The Conversation Iran recently exceeded the limits on uranium enrichment set out in its nuclear deal with the US and five other countries. Iran’s move was in response to the US‘s renunciation of the same deal last May. Possession of the uranium  doesn’t put Iran much closer to developing a nuclear weapon , but it does raise troubling questions about the future of nuclear nonproliferation. Iran’s leadership has also twice threatened to withdraw from a separate pact that limits the spread of nuclear weapons, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. If Iran does withdraw from the treaty, it will be just the second country to do so, after  North Korea in 2003, whose withdrawal has never been formally accepted . But what is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? And how serious is Iran’s threat of withdrawal? 190 countries have signed In 1961, 16 years after US dropped two atomic bombs ...

Financial Express July 17, 2019 Shritama Bose In FY18, PSBs had written off loans worth Rs 1.28 lakh crore. Had banks not written off loans worth close to Rs 2.06 lakh crore in FY19, the value of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the system at the end of the year would have risen by an equivalent amount. Write-offs made by 27 banks in FY19 crossed the Rs 2-lakh-crore mark, with 16 public sector banks (PSBs) alone accounting for Rs 1.77 lakh crore worth of written-off loans, according to data put out by banks and compiled by FE. In FY18, PSBs had written off loans worth Rs 1.28 lakh crore. Had banks not written off loans worth close to Rs 2.06 lakh crore in FY19, the value of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the system at the end of the year would have risen by an equivalent amount. The amount of loans written off in FY19 by PSBs could turn out to be even higher as the numbers for Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank, which now stand merged with Bank of Baroda (BoB), are unavailable....

Financial Express July 17, 2019 In April, CARE Ratings had downgraded Suzlon Energy’s long- and short-term bank facilities worth a total Rs 16,185.46 crore to ‘D’ from ‘BB’, with a negative outlook on the borrowings. Wind-power producer Suzlon Energy on Tuesday said it has defaulted on principal payments due on foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) worth $172 million. The company owes banks Rs 9,624 crore as on March 31, 2019. In a notification to the stock exchanges, Suzlon Energy said, “This is to inform you that the company has not made the payment of the principal amount of the outstanding bonds, being $172,000,000, which was due on July 16, 2019, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the bonds. The company is working on holistic solution for its debt and continues to be in discussions with various stakeholders in relation to its outstanding debt (including bonds).” In April, CARE Ratings had downgraded Suzlon Energy’s long- and short-term bank facilities...

Financial Express July 17, 2019 Saurabh Kumar The ED in June attached properties worth Rs 9,778 crore of Sterling Biotech and related to the promoters Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, and Deepti Sandesara who are absconding and have left the country. Taking a step forward in the Sterling Biotech case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought a Letter of Request from its special court to attach the oil assets of the promoters in Nigeria. Earlier in June, the agency had issued a provisional attachment order for these apart from other overseas assets. “The Letter of Request will then be submitted to the competent court of Nigeria,” said a source. A Letter of request is required to attach overseas assets. The ED in June attached properties worth Rs 9,778 crore of Sterling Biotech and related to the promoters Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, and Deepti Sandesara who are absconding and have left the country. The agency is also looking for Hitesh Patel, brother of Ni...

Business Line July 17, 2019 PTI Washington More than a month after Trump revoked India’s preferential trade privileges, India imposed retaliatory tariffs on 28 US products The Trump administration said that there is an “enormous potential” for growth in the India-United States (US) relationship. They also exuded confidence that the ongoing trade issues could be worked through because of the friendship between the two nations. US President Donald Trump has often termed India a “tariff king” and repeatedly pointed to the 50 per cent tariffs it imposes on imports of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. India imposed retaliatory tariffs on 28 US products, including almonds and apples from June 5 after Trump revoked its preferential trade privileges. India had been the biggest beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences, a programme designed to help developing countries sell to US consumers. “As it relates to our trade relationship, the secretary (of state) has said this a...

Business Line July 16, 2019 All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), a farmer organisation affiliated to the CPI-M, said it would organise agitations jointly with like-minded organisations across the country to protest the proposed amendments to forest-related legislations next Monday. AIKS units would organise demonstrations to protest eviction threats faced by tribal and other traditional forest dwelling communities, its General Secretary Hannan Mollah and other leaders told at a press conference here. Millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwelling communities are facing the danger of eviction due to the Supreme Court ruling on February 13 this year. If their claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) are rejected, then the States have been directed to evict Adivasis and traditional forest dwellers from the forests, they said adding that the apex court which stayed the ruling till July 10 is to hear it on July 24. The protest is also against the proposed amendments to the...

India Today July 17, 2019 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamat ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has been arrested. The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police (Pakistan's) arrested Hafiz Saeed from Lahore when he was on his way to Gujranwala. Hafiz Saeed has been reportedly sent on judicial remand. As per sources, Hafiz Saeed has said he will challenge cases against him in the court. The arrest comes a day after Pakistan opened its airspace and before Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden trip to the White House to help repair its relationship with the United States. The Imran Khan government has been under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to act against terror outfits and terrorists operating out of Pakistan. Hafiz Saeed was earlier booked along with 12 accomplices for terror funding. He is facing 23 terror-related cases in Pakistan. Saeed was, however, granted bail as the government said they could not produce concrete ev...