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India Today October 14, 2019 Jitendra Bahadur Singh, Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu  National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Monday slammed Pakistan for providing a safe breeding ground for terrorists and using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. "If a criminal has the support of a state, it becomes a great challenge. Some of the states have mastered this. In our case, Pakistan has made it as an instrument of its state policy," NSA Doval said at an event of the National Investigation Agency on Monday. 'War no more an option' The National Security Adviser added that Pakistan was under immense pressure at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting, currently underway in Paris, to rein in terror groups operating from its soil, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said on Monday. "One of the biggest pressures that has come on Pakistan today is because of the proceedings of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it has created so much pressure on them...

The Financial Express October 14, 2019 Facebook-owned instant messaging giant WhatsApp will be compliant with data localisation norms over the next two months, post which it can roll out its much-delayed payments service here, says the National Payments Corporation. Even after the launch of WhatsApp’s payments service, it will take at least two years to reduce the cash dominance in the economy as the user base of digital payments must at least treble to 300 million to have any tangible impact on paring cash usage, the RBI-created NPCI’s chief executive Dilip Asbe told PTI in an interview. WhatsApp has been running a beta version of its payments service since last year in the country, and its official launch is being keenly watched by stakeholders, including its over 300 million users. Many think WhatsApp can help India emulate China’s WeChat story, and help achieve the cashless payments objectives. “There are still a couple of intermediaries where work is in progress. O...

The Hindu October 14, 2019 Since it first started in August 2018, the Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people Health authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo will introduce a Johnson & Johnson(J&J) Ebola vaccine in November in the country's eastern provinces, to counter the current outbreak, they said. The J&J vaccine will complement another vaccine manufactured by Merck, which has been administered to more than 225,000 people. It requires two injections eight weeks apart, unlike the Merck vaccine, which requires a single shot. A first batch of 500,000 doses of the J&J vaccine should arrive in Congo next week, the authorities said in a statement. The inoculation process will start in Goma in early November and then be extended to other provinces. Congolese health authorities had announced the deployment of the vaccine last month, but had not specified when the campaign will take place. Since it first started in August 2018, ...

The Hindu October 14, 2019 Agency accuses Pakistan of being the ‘main source’ of pushing in illegal currency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said “high quality” fake currency notes have “resurfaced”, with Pakistan being the “main source”. One of the reasons cited by the Government in 2016, when it scrapped the ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes, was to wipe out fake currency notes in circulation. On Monday, at the national conference of chiefs of anti-terror squads of State police, NIA Inspector General Alok Mittal shared a presentation where he said Pakistan was the main source of printing of high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN). He made the presentation in presence of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. Major challenge The circulation of high quality FICN was one of the six major emerging challenges cited by the NIA at the meeting. The others listed by the agency are increase in Khalistani activities, collection of evidence from cyber...

The Guardian October 14, 2019 Julian Borger In the week since Donald Trump’s fateful phone conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the US has entirely abandoned the Kurds, its most effective allies in the Middle East, and with them a Syria strategy that was five years in the making. The Islamic State flag has been raised once more and the last vestige of US credibility as a reliable partner lies crushed under Turkish tank tracks. It has arguably been the worst seven days for US foreign policy since the invasion of Iraq. Administration officials have been under orders to deny that Trump gave Erdoğan a green light to invade north-eastern Syria, despite all the indications to the contrary. After the Turkish leader announced his intention to invade, Trump invited him to the White House, one of the most coveted rewards a US president can bestow. And even as his aides are instructed to lie on his behalf, Trump continues to flash a green light on Twitter, and not just to the...

The Economic Times October 14, 2019 Consulting company EY estimates that digital technologies have the potential to create $ one trillion economic value, contributing 20% to the country’s nominal GDP, sustaining 60-65 million jobs by 2025. "India is at an inflection point – digital has changed the way people communicate, socialize, create, sell, shop and work. ‘What comes next’ will be determined by the continued focus on fostering innovation, developing unique service offerings and enabling the digital infrastructure in the country which will help us achieve or even exceed the $one trillion target. India is poised to be a game-changer in the world digital economy by empowering its citizens and revolutionizing businesses,” said Prashant Singhal, Emerging Markets TMT Leader, EY. The consulting firm said that India’s goal of reaching $5 trillion economy is heavily banking on digital adoption. “Internet is the primary enabler of the digital economy - by 2025, India ...

The Hindu Business Line October 12, 2019 Rajalakshmi Nirmal  While the stage is all set for finalisation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact between ASEAN and six other countries, including India, the country’s manufacturing industries and farmers are keeping their fingers crossed, fearing it should not turn into a raw deal for them again. Their fear is only justified given India’s adverse experience in all the free trade agreements (FTAs) so far. RCEP is a trade agreement where associating countries agree upon reducing or completely eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers on imports and exports. India’s trade deficit with the ASEAN bloc - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the five others in the RCEP pact - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand is already massive, and only increasing every year. Trade deficit with the above countries which ...