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Financial Express August 13th 2019 According to official documents reviewed by FE, the initiative comes under the ‘Agrim Districts for Accessing Resources Sustainable and Harmoniously’ (Adarsh) scheme, which is being planned by the government to meet the rising energy demands of the country, via domestic resources. The government is planning to identify 25-30 mineral-rich districts in the country to accelerate mining programmes by expediting the approval mechanism for energy projects in these regions. According to official documents reviewed by FE, the initiative comes under the ‘Agrim Districts for Accessing Resources Sustainable and Harmoniously’ (Adarsh) scheme, which is being planned by the government to meet the rising energy demands of the country, via domestic resources. The plan has been designed by the ‘Five Year Vision Resources Group 2024’, which was tasked to layout a framework to increase energy supply and cut imports. According to sources, the ministries of p...

BBC News August 13th 2019 Indian-administered Kashmir has been under an unprecedented lockdown since last week after India revoked Article 370, a constitutional provision granting the region special status. Sumantra Bose, professor of international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics (LSE), explains why the decision is fraught with challenges. At the end of October, Jammu and Kashmir will cease to be a state of India. Last week, India's parliament approved by a large majority the decision by the federal government to split the state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Union territories have much less autonomy from the federal government than states do, and are essentially subject to Delhi's direct rule. Almost 98% of the erstwhile state's population will be in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, comprising two regions - the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, which has about eight million people, and the Hindu-...

Financial Times August 13th 2019 Saudi Aramco has agreed to take a 20 per cent stake in Reliance Industries’ refining and petrochemicals business, as the world’s largest crude oil exporter deepens its ties with India, the fastest-growing energy consumer. The deal, which values the business at $75bn including debt, would be one of the largest foreign investments in India, according to Mukesh Ambani, Reliance chairman, who disclosed the sale at a company shareholder meeting in Mumbai on Monday. Mr Ambani, Asia’s richest man, said the deal would strengthen links between Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producing company, and Reliance, which owns an enormous refinery and petrochemicals complex in Gujarat on India’s west coast. “Now we have transformed our longstanding relationship of two decades, based on mutual trust, into a partnership of growth potential for many years to come,” said Mr Ambani. As part of the agreement, Saudi Aramco will provide Reliance’s refinery business w...

Economic Times August 12th 2019 The  Government  of India contacted international media, such as  Al Jazeera  and BBC, on Saturday over their "videos on large-scale protests" in  Srinagar  on Friday morning, telling them that the news was "fabricated" and if they had any evidence to prove the  videos  were real. The news organisations however have said their videos are "genuine" and they can produce the raw footage if required. The I&B ministry, home ministry and the Intelligence Bureau are keeping a keen watch on national and international media reporting on Kashmir and have flagged four videos and seven reports as "misleading and fake" in their reports which include those on anti-India protests in the valley and those that claim the action might spark more tensions in the valley and cause a rise in militancy. Home ministry officials said they are awaiting a response from the foreign media outlets but so far they have not been abl...

CNN August 13th 2019 The Trump administration released a regulation Monday that could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications. Paired with last week's enforcement raids on food processing plants in Mississippi, Monday's announcement amounts to a concerted effort by the administration to limit legal immigration and crack down on illegal immigration. The rule means many green card and visa applicants could be turned down if they have low incomes or little education, and have used benefits such as most forms of Medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers, because they'd be deemed more likely to need government assistance in the future. It will encourage "self-reliance and self-sufficiency for those seeking to come to or stay in the United States," said acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli, appearing in the White Hous...

Firstpost. August 12th 2019 Ratings agency S&P has reaffirmed Tata Motors' long-term issuer and issue credit ratings to be 'vulnerable to nonpayment' while keeping the outlook negative. S&P Global Ratings said it has reaffirmed 'B+' on Tata Motors' long-term issuer and issue credit ratings while keeping negative outlook due to high cash burn at its British arm Jaguar Land Rover, geopolitical risks such as Brexit and the US tariffs, and India's automotive market slowdown. The ratings agency has also removed the company from CreditWatch stating geopolitical risks could take longer than expected to play out. "We expect Tata Motors' cash flow to stay negative at least for the next 12-24 months until global automotive demand recovers, the company's Chinese operations stabilise, and the expected cost-cutting restores its financial health," S&P said in a statement. Tata Motors' first-quarter fiscal 2020 performance re...

The Hindu Business Line August 12th 2019 Huge gains in gold and a crash in cotton prices have left domestic traders in a fix. Between last November and this July, around 2.14 lakh bales of cotton were deposited in warehouses in Maharashtra and Gujarat accredited by the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX). Of this, more than 1 lakh bales are still lying around as those holding them are reluctant to take delivery, mainly due to a price crash and scare over the quality of the stock, cotton traders told  BusinessLine . Quality concerns While taking delivery of cotton from warehouses is time consuming, a big trader holding a large stock has raised some quality issues with the MCX over some of the bales he had tested, sources said. The cotton trader is yet to test the quality of the entire quantity he holds. One bale is equal to 170 kg. Lengthy procedure The regulations are such that he may have to take delivery of the stock first before seeking to return it, and the stock re...

The Hindu August 11th 2019 Leader of U.K.’s opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn has called for resolving the situation in Kashmir through relevant UN resolutions. In a social media message, Mr. Corbyn has asked for protecting the rights of the Kashmiri people. “The situation in Kashmir is deeply disturbing. Human rights abuses taking place are unacceptable. The rights of the Kashmiri people must be respected and UN resolutions implemented,” the Labour leader posted on Twitter. Mr Corbyn’s statement drew strong comments from Indian-origin citizens in the U.K. who said he was displaying an “anti-India problem”. The Labour leader’s tweet came after several Labour MPs have spoken out against the communication blackout in Kashmir and the ending of the special status by India. Labour MP Liz McInnes was among the first to protest immediately after India changed the status of Kashmir, bifurcated the region and created two territories under the control of the union government ...

Aurora Intel August 11th, 2019                   On August 9, Islamic State (IS) released new video as part of its ongoing video series "The Best Outcome is for the Pious" which showed four Bangladeshi IS fighters renewing their pledge of allegiance to IS emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Two of the militants are seen wearing suicide vests The video also features several attackers from past IS attacks, including Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, who injured four people on a train near Würzburg with an axe before he was shot by police on 18th July 2016. Calibre Obscura , MENA weapons specialist, commented on the new IS video from Bangladesh, saying: So this latest IS release from Bengal (#Bangladesh) has the fighters armed with faux AK-12, obviously copied from the cancelled prototype version. ~20 round mags too, the area has a thriving craft-made illegal firearms industry. Earlier this year, IS appointed...