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First Post August 20, 2020 The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it would first hear the "broad issue" regarding challenge to the change of land use for the ambitious Central Vista project, covering three-kilometre stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in Lutyens' Delhi. A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, which was hearing the petitions raising questions over several aspects including the environmental clearance (EC) granted to the project, said the allegations regarding change of land use is the threshold issue. "We make it clear that the court will first begin with the hearing of broad issue regarding challenge to the change of land use being contrary to the provisions of Delhi Development Act, 1957," said the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna. The apex court said the broad issues raised in the pleas pending before it are — allegations regarding change of land use, alleged violation of statu

Hindustan Times August 21, 2020 The Trump administration on Thursday formally notified the United Nations of its demand for all UN sanctions on Iran to be restored, setting off an immediate confrontation with Russia and other Security Council members, including America’s European allies, who called the US move illegal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the notification to the president of the UN Security Council, citing significant Iranian violations of the 2015 nuclear deal, a requirement to “snap back” UN sanctions. “The United States will never allow the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism to freely buy and sell planes, tanks, missiles and other kinds of conventional weapons ... (or) to have a nuclear weapon,” Pompeo told a UN press conference. He said the US action will extend the arms embargo, which is set to expire Oct. 18, and also prohibit Iran from ballistic missile testing and enrichment of nuclear material. Russia’s deputy ambassador to

First  Post August 21, 2020 The United States has notified UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres of its decision to trigger a ''snapback'' that will initiate restoration of all UN sanctions on Iran, saying Washington will never allow "the world's largest State sponsor of terrorism" to freely buy and sell any kind of conventional weapons. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo visited the UN headquarters on Thursday and met Guterres as well as the president of the UN Security Council for the month of August, Indonesian ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, to deliver letters notifying them that the US was initiating the restoration of virtually all UN sanctions on Iran lifted under the UN Security Council Resolution 2231. "Our message is very, very simple. The United States will never allow the world's largest State sponsor of terrorism to freely buy and sell planes, tanks, missiles, and other kinds of conventional weapons. These UN sanctions

Hindustan Times  August 20, 2020 Russia is looking for a partnership with India for producing Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced that his country has developed the world’s first vaccine against Covid-19, which works “quite effectively” and forms a “stable immunity” against the disease. Sputnik V has been developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, along with the RDIF. The vaccine has not been tested in Phase 3 or larger clinical trials. Addressing an online press briefing, Dmitriev said several nations are interested in the production of the vaccine from countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. “The production of the vaccine is a very important issue. Currently, we are looking for a partnership with India. We believe that they are capable of producing the Gamaleya vaccine and it is very i

The Guardian August 20, 2020 For years, Cai Xia, a former professor at China’s elite Central Party School, has watched the ruling Communist party decay from the inside. Now she is out. On Monday she was expelled from the party, two months after an audio recording of her describing the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, as a “mafia boss” was leaked online. In an interview with the Guardian in June, Cai went even further in her denunciation of Xi, discussing what she considered to be his mistakes as a leader and why she believed a democratic transition would take place one day. Then she asked that her comments not be published because of threats that she and her family had received. Now that she has been expelled and is outside of China, Cai says she is free to speak. “My speech is free from any constraints. Now I am responsible only for my own conscience and principles,” she told the Guardian on Tuesday. The following is an edited transcript of the June interview, Cai

The Print  August 20, 2020 Prompted by last week’s historic deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalise relations, it is that time of the year again when a discussion in Pakistan begins, rather discretely: Do we accept Israel, or not? And like all the other times, this too shall pass, or not. Prime Minister Imran Khan has stated that no matter what other countries do, Pakistan will never recognise Israel until “Palestinians are given their right of a just settlement”. If Pakistan accepts Israel, it will have to give up Kashmir as well, because the same situation applies there. Khan’s statement came after a carefully drafted response from the Pakistan Foreign Office that the UAE-Israel deal “is a development with far-reaching implications”. Neither condemning nor commending, staying clear of creating troubles for itself with the Gulf state, while still recovering from the diplomatic fiasco with Saudi Arabia. For a state that Pakistan refuses to recognis

The Washington Post Feb 20, 2020 Facebook created “Project P” for propaganda — in the hectic weeks after the 2016 presidential election and quickly found dozens of pages that had peddled false news reports ahead of Donald Trump’s surprise victory. Nearly all were based overseas, had financial motives and displayed a clear rightward bent. In a world of perfect neutrality, which Facebook espouses as its goal, the political tilt of the pages shouldn’t have mattered. But in a video conference between Facebook’s Washington office and its Silicon Valley headquarters in December 2016, the company’s most senior Republican, Joel Kaplan, voiced concerns that would become familiar to those within the company. “We can’t remove all of it because it will disproportionately affect conservatives,” said Kaplan, a former George W. Bush White House official and now the head of Facebook’s Washington office, according to people familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymi

Great Game India August 20, 2020 In December 2017, Great Game India revealed how a secret unit of Facebook helped create troll armies for governments around the world including India for digital propaganda to influence elections. We are republishing the report owing to repeated requests from our readers. Under fire for Facebook Inc.’s role as a platform for political propaganda, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has punched back, saying his mission is above partisanship. But Facebook, it turns out, is no bystander in global politics. What he hasn’t said is that his company actively works with political parties and leaders including those who use the platform to stifle opposition—sometimes with the aid of “troll armies” that spread misinformation and extremist ideologies. The initiative is run by a little-known Facebook global government and politics team led from Washington by Katie Harbath, a former digital strategist who worked on 2014 Indian elections. Since Faceboo

Outlook August 20, 2020 For the first time since abrogating Article 370, the Home Ministry has decided to withdraw 10,000 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel who were flown to Kashmir ahead of August 5, 2019. But the move has not pleased the local political parties who termed the troop withdrawal ‘cosmetic measure’. The withdrawal of 10,000 CAPF personnel comes days after the J&K administration, under Supreme Court directions, restored 4G mobile internet services in two districts on trial basis. “It won’t change anything in Kashmir. When a state has been scrapped, its political rights snatched and it is reduced to the level of Panchayat and municipality, such measures hardly mean anything,” says former minister and senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar. He adds, “When the state is free to use all that is provided by the book including AFSPA, NIA, CBI, PSA, and what is not even provided in the book like thousands of illegal detentions and unacknowledged detentions,

The Hindu AUGUST 19, 2020 The milestone follows the successful start-up of the plant’s first reactor at the end of last month and launches the UAE on the road to meeting 25% of its electricity needs from nuclear power. The oil-rich United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday that it has connected its Barakah nuclear power plant to the national grid in a first for the Arab world. The milestone follows the successful start-up of the plant’s first reactor at the end of last month and launches the UAE on the road to meeting 25% of its electricity needs from nuclear power. “The safe and successful connection of Unit 1 to the UAE grid marks the key moment when we begin to deliver on our mission to power the growth of the nation by supplying clean electricity, around the clock,” said Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation CEO Mohamed Ibrahim al-Hammadi. “We are confident in our people and our technology to continue to progress to reach... the completion of the remaini

The Print  August 20, 2020 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that retail loans will not be within the purview of the K.V. Kamath committee, which was set up earlier this month to prepare the contours for the one-time loan restructuring scheme. Banking industry sources told The Print that the RBI issued the clarification in a communication to the committee earlier this week.  They (RBI) have modified the terms and conditions by excluding retail; it is only for corporate loans now. It has said personal loans are not covered,” said a source privy to the development. Following the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown which impacted economic activity, the RBI in March had allowed banks to extend the benefit of a moratorium on repayment on term loans for both corporate and retail customers for three months, which later extended by three more months. With the moratorium period ending in August, the banking regulator announced a loan restr

Reuters AUGUST 20, 2020 MUMBAI/NEW DELHI  - India is staring at a protracted slowdown as coronavirus cases reach its countryside, with signs of recovery in the rural economy hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “at best a mitigating factor”, government officials and analysts said. The world’s No.5 economy reports first-quarter GDP data on Aug. 31 and, according to a Reuters poll, it is likely to have contracted 20% over April-June. It is forecast to shrink 5.1% in the year to March 2021, the weakest since 1979. Nearly half of India’s 1.38 billion population rely on agriculture to survive, with the sector accounting for 15% of its economic output. A slump in monthly demand for fuel, electricity, steel, consumer durables and auto sales over April-June further highlight the dire state of the economy. India also has the third-highest number of virus infections in the world at more than 2.7 million, and new cases are increasingly emerging outside major cities, dash

Live Mint August 20, 2020 China and the United States have agreed to hold trade talks "in the coming days" to evaluate the progress of their Phase 1 trade deal six months after it took effect in February, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday. Ministry spokesman Gao Feng made the comments at a weekly briefing held online, but did not elaborate.  They followed Tuesday's remarks by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that no new high-level trade talks were scheduled, though both sides were in touch about implementing the Phase 1 deal. The deal, reached on Jan. 15, and seen as a major breakthrough after a two-year long trade dispute between the world's two largest economies, set ambitious targets for China to sharply boost purchases of US farm and manufactured goods. But ties quickly soured in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and China's imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong.  Both sides traded threats and sa

Financial  August 20, 2020 Amazon.com Inc. has begun making forays into everything from grocery delivery and insurance to drugs in India, setting up a monumental clash with Mukesh Ambani’s hard-charging Jio Platforms. The U.S. giant is fanning out at a pace not seen elsewhere in the world. Amazon is now delivering prescription and over-the-counter medicines and herbal remedies in Bangalore. It started last month selling car and motorbike insurance — a first for the Seattle-based online giant — claiming to finalize policies in under two minutes without paperwork. It piloted a restaurant delivery service to Prime subscribers in parts of Bangalore last year. And it’s even reportedly unveiling wealth management services this year. Those eclectic choices coincide with a similarly rapid-fire expansion by Jio’s parent, Reliance Industries Ltd. The energy-to-retail conglomerate run by Ambani, one of the world’s wealthiest men, scored more than $20 billion of investment in just mont

Live Mint  August 20, 2020 Indian benchmark equity indices snapped three straight days on gains on Thursday to close in the red, dragged by banks and financial stocks. Selloff in global markets after US Fed's gloomy economic outlook also spooked investors. Indian benchmark equity indices snapped three straight days of gains on Thursday to close in the red, dragged by banks and financial stocks. Selloff in global markets after US Fed's gloomy economic outlook also spooked investors. Sensex settled at 38,220.39, down 394.40 points or 1.02%. Nifty ended 96.20 points or 0.84% lower at 11,312.20. NTPC, closing nearly 7% higher, was the top Sensex gainer followed by ONGC, Power Grid, Tata Steel and HCL Tech. HDFC, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards. Of 30 Sensex shares, 25 closed in the red. Reference:  https://www.livemint.com/market/stock-market-news/sensex-today-live-stock-market-news-nifty-20-08-2020-sbi-ruchi-soya-irctc-shares