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Hindustan Times Published By: Anonymous The India-Germany joint working group on counter-terrorism condemned terror in all its forms and stressed the need for stronger international cooperation to combat the menace in a sustained manner. India and Germany on Wednesday agreed to deepen counter-terror cooperation through regular exchanges of information, mutual capacity-building efforts and mutual legal assistance. A meeting of the India-Germany joint working group on counter-terrorism, held in New Delhi, condemned terror in all its forms and stressed the need for stronger international cooperation to combat the menace in a sustained manner. Both sides exchanged assessments on threats posed by globally proscribed terrorist entities and their affiliates, and concerns over cross-border terrorism in South Asia, the external affairs ministry said in a statement. The two sides also discussed ways to disrupt terror networks, safe havens, infrastructure and financing c...

Money Control News  Published By: Trinity Audio The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is planning to widen the number of companies included while calculating gross domestic product (GDP), the Financial Express  reported . By amending the Companies Act, the MCA is planning to ask large unlisted companies above a certain threshold to submit results quarterly instead of annually. The National Statistics Office (NSO) currently receives data on 4,000 companies from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for the MCA21 database. The MCA estimates that the move will help them get information on 30,000-40,000 companies every quarter. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story. “A larger sample size will also reduce the fluctuations in estimates, especially when the economy goes through a structural change,” an official told the publication. The MCA’s move comes amid criticism of India’s method of calculating GDP, w...

NDTV Published By: Anonymous United Nations:  In a significant development, Jammu and Kashmir has been removed from the United Nations(UN) list of unresolved disputes, giving a setback to Pakistan which has been asking the world body to intervene on the issue. The omission of Jammu and Kashmir from a list of disputes under the observation of the UN Security Council was noticed by Pakistan whose envoy has lodged a protest. "Jammu and Kashmir dispute was not mentioned in the context of unresolved long-running situations," said Amjad Hussain B Sial, Pakistan' acting envoy to the UN. "We understand this was an inadvertent omission, as Jammu and Kashmir is one of the oldest disputes on agenda of the Security Council," he added. Sial was speaking at the UN General Assembly session, which was discussing the functioning and reform of the Security Council. It was organised by the UK that holds the presidency of the Security Council this mont...

The Telegraph Published By: Anonymous he Personal Data Protection Bill was on Wednesday referred to a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament amid strong protests from the Opposition, which said citizens’ right to privacy was being compromised. Introducing the bill, Union electronics and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said it would empower the government to ask companies, including Facebook and Google, for anonymous personal and non-personal data. The Opposition, which had said the bill should be sent to the department standing committee, walked out in protest. The joint select committee will have 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. The Speaker will recommend one member as chairman. Tharoor said the decision to create a joint select committee instead of sending the bill to the existing standing committee sets a dangerous precedent. This will allow the government to bypass the designated panel whenever a contentious legislation is be...

The Indian Express Published By: Amitabh Sinha With the proceedings in the meeting rooms bringing little reason for hope, the Madrid climate talks was on Wednesday energised by news from Brussels where the European Union announced its intention to increase its climate targets and make an additional ten per cent reduction in its emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels. The announcement by EU, a 28-country bloc, which together is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, came on a day when a group of about 200 climate activists and protestors, increasingly impatient with the reluctance of countries to increase their climate actions, barged inside the conference venue and inside the main negotiating hall where UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was among those present and listening to ministers making their country statements. The dramatic protests resulted in many activists being barred from entering the conference venue for the remaining time. In its announcemen...

The Guardian Published By: Anonymous Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, was having a power cut, so the only light in the restaurant was from Fumba Chama’s mobile phone. The rapper, better known as PilAto, had just finished uploading a new track to Twitter. The bitter-sweet lyrics (in Bemba) of Yama Chinese describe the concerns of many Zambians: “They put on smart suits and fly to China to sell our country. The  roads belong to China . The hotels are for the Chinese. The chicken farms are Chinese. Even the brickworks are Chinese.” PilAto (an acronym for “people in the lyrical area taking over”) is a voice for Zambia’s voiceless. In May 2018 he returned from six months’ self-imposed exile in South Africa, where he had fled after death threats over another rap,  Koswe Mumpoto   ( Rat in the Pot ),  denouncing  corruption  in President Edgar Lungu’s government. Resentment of China is growing, especially in the copperbelt region, which generates 7...

Business Line Published By: Anonymous 5,620 fraud dockets registered against e-comm firms in first eight months of current fiscal, as against 4,955 cases in the previous fiscal The number of cases of fraud registered against e-commerce companies at the National Consumer Helpline have risen sharply in the current fiscal. As many as 5,620 fraud dockets have been registered under the e-commerce platform in the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal, compared to 4,955 cases registered in fiscal 2018-19, said the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. “The portal  www.consumerhelpline.gov.in  has been developed to provide a platform to consumers to register their complaints. Further, NCH has partnered some companies to resolve their customer complaints. This is an alternate grievance redressal method, and is a completely voluntary initiative taken up by these companies,” the Minister said. Since August...

Business Line Published By: Anonymous Washington is laying the groundwork for a delay in the latest round of tariffs  US President Donald Trump has days to decide whether to impose tariffs on nearly $160 billion in Chinese consumer goods just weeks before Christmas, a move that could be unwelcome in both the United States and China. The White House's top economic and trade advisers, including Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Larry Kudlow, Peter Navarro, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to meet in coming days with Trump over that decision, one person briefed on the situation said. There is still no clarity on what the decision will be. Washington is laying the groundwork for a delay in the latest tariffs, scheduled to take effect on December 15, but a final decision has not been made, the person told  Reuters . If the White House does allow the December 15 tariffs to take effect, then the US-China deal talks are likely done for...