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Yahoo News September 17, 2019 Amnesty International's chief vowed Monday that the rights group would not be silenced on raising concerns about Kashmir despite what he called intimidation by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. India's financial crime investigators recently accused Amnesty's local branch of violating foreign exchange regulations through taking money from its London-based parent. That claim came after Amnesty vocally criticized Modi's Hindu nationalist government on Kashmir, which was India's only Muslim-majority state until New Delhi stripped its autonomy last month. "The Modi government has made a very big attempt to crush Amnesty in India," Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's secretary-general, told AFP on a visit to Washington. "On the Kashmir question, on various human rights questions in India itself, we are not intimidated," he said. "While our colleagues in our Indian office are...

The Telegraph September 17, 2019 Furquan Ameen My parents were in Delhi a few days ago. My father, a retired scientist with the central government who lives in Lucknow, was concerned about WhatsApp messages forwarded to him which say that he has “to get the documents in order”.  The messages warn that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is coming for everyone, across the country. Statements by home minister Amit Shah, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and more recently by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar have helped fuel such panic, especially in Muslims.  The NRC final list that was released in Assam on August 31 has declared over 19 lakh people stateless.  On September 8, Shah, while speaking at an event in Guwahati, said that not a "single illegal immigrant" will be allowed to remain in the country.  On WhatsApp groups that have predominantly Muslim members, such utterances are being read as a signal for a larger NRC exercise in oth...

The Telegraph September 17, 2019 Air India Assets Holdings Ltd (AIAHL), a special purpose vehicle, has raised Rs 7,000 crore through a bond issue, which was subscribed nearly three times. AIAHL had come out with its maiden bond issue for Rs 1,000 crore with an option to retain an additional subscription of up to Rs 6,000 crore. The bonds are fully-backed by the government. The funds, raised at a lower rate of 6.99 per cent, will be used to partly repay the airline’s debt of over Rs 58,000 crore.  The private placement got a good response from institutional investors with AIAHL receiving bids of Rs 20,830 crore. A statement from the BSE said AIAHL successfully raised Rs 7,000 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis using the ‘BSE bond’ platform.  It added that the bids of Rs 20,830 crore were the highest ever received for an yield-based bidding. “It is very heartening to note that the entire issue was subscribed at a very attractive rate of ...

The Telegraph September 17, 2019 The BSE Sensex on Tuesday plummeted 642 points as investors weighed India's fiscal worries because of soaring crude prices in the wake of growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. After nosediving 704 points, the 30-share index ended 642.22 points, or 1.73 per cent, lower at 36,481.09. The broader NSE Nifty too settled 185.90 points, or 1.69 per cent, down at 10,817.60. On the Sensex chart, losses were mainly driven by Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Maruti and SBI - falling as much as 6.19 per cent. Of the 30 scrips of the BSE gauge, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Infosys were the three gainers. Investors were spooked by geopolitical uncertainties over the Saudi oil turmoil amid reports that higher oil prices were likely to severely hit economic conditions in India, which imports more than 70 per cent of its oil needs, experts said. The attack on the world's largest oil processing facili...

BBC Monitoring September 17, 2019 Mina al-Lami The leader of Islamic State group (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has released a new message, the second this year, insisting that his group remains a potent force and a global threat. But al-Baghdadi’s softer tone towards Sunni Muslims who have allegedly strayed from the correct path and his call on his militants to be patient with ordinary Muslims suggests the group is aware it no longer has the upper hand and needs to go back to appealing to Sunnis for support. The IS leader also made his first strong mention of the plight of IS-linked men and women in prisons and refugee camps, presumably in Syria and Iraq, calling on the group’s fighter to free them or at least avenge them by targeting their captors. The audio message of 16 September comes five months after al-Baghdadi’s  rare video appearance of 29 April  that followed the group’s loss of its last base in Syria. Gaps between al-Baghdadi message...

CNN September 17, 2019 Julia Jones ,  New York (CNN)-  New York City's 1.1 million school students will be excused from class to participate in the global climate strike protests that are scheduled for this Friday. The city's department of education announced the news a tweet. Guidance sent to schools on Tuesday by the city's department of education advised that any student attending the protest -- with parental consent -- will have their absence excused. This means middle and high school students will need to get permission, while elementary school students will still need to be signed out by a parent. Children paint on a parachute made out of paper in New York City ahead of the September 20th Youth Climate Strike. If you're a parent wanting to give permission to your child to be absent, you'll need to do so "in the same manner they normally would," the guidance reads. Basically, parents should follow their individual school's at...

The Quint September 17, 2019 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday said that his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi did not request him to return controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who is a fugitive in India and has taken shelter in the Asian nation. Mahathir added that Modi, whom he met in Russia during an economic forum earlier this month, made no extradition request for Naik despite an official notice from New Delhi, reported Malay Mail. “Not many countries want him. I met with Modi. He didn’t ask me for this man,” Mahathir told the Kuala Lumpur-based BFM Malaysia radio station on Tuesday morning. Trying to Find a Place to Send Naik He said that the city of Putrajaya is still looking for a place to send the 53-year-old Naik. Mahathir also reaffirmed that Naik will no longer be allowed to publicly speak in Malaysia following his racially divisive remarks which include saying that the Chinese should be sent back to China. "Well, h...