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Woman found dead, husband arrested

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A newly married woman was found dead at her in-laws’ residence here, police said on Monday. The husband has been arrested.

Iram was found hanging from a ceiling fan on Sunday in Gokulpuri.

“Several wounds were found on Iram’s body. Her family alleged that her husband, Nazim, was having an extra-marital affair, leading to quarrels, after which she was beaten to death,” a police officer said.

Iram and Nazim married five months ago and she was two months pregnant.

“Nazim, who ran a small cosmetic shop, was arrested after the victim’s father alleged foul play. Other family members are at large,” the officer added.

Minister UT Khader saying that allegations against Indira Canteen are politically motivated

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Urban Development and Housing Minister UT Khader have said that the allegations of irregularities in the Indira Canteen project were baseless and politically motivated.

Addressing a press conference in the city, the minister said that the allegations made by the opposition MLA Ramdas that Rs. 50 crore irregularities have taken place in the Indira Canteen project are far from the truth. It is a baseless allegation.

‘Indira Canteen’ is a project of Rs 211.24 crore. So far, Rs 113.78 crore has been spent on this project. 72 of 136 canteens are already functioning. The rest of the work is in progress, Minister Khader said.

Kumaraswamy’s remarks ’emotional outburst’, JD(S)-Cong govt running smoothly

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The Congress and the JD(S) had bitterly fought against each other for the May 12 Assembly polls but joined hands to form the government as the election threw up a hung verdict.

Congress, H D Kumaraswamy has said he was “not happy” as Karnataka chief minister and was swallowing pain like Lord Shiva who drank poison, but his party JD(S) today said all is well and the coalition government will last a full term.

Reflecting a strain in the alliance, Kumaraswamy broke down at a meeting of party cadres in Bengaluru yesterday, saying it was not the time for celebration.

“You are all happy that your elder or younger brother has become the chief minister, but I am not happy,” he said at a function organized to felicitate him.

“I am swallowing the pain like Vishakantha (Lord Shiva who drank poison to save the world),” he said.

On seeing him wiping tears, the crowd shouted, “We are with you.”

Kumaraswamy said that ahead of the Assembly polls, he had asked people to make him chief minister to bring in a pro-people government that would solve the issues of farmers, the poor and the needy, “but they did not show their trust in me”.

He said people showered him with love and affection when he traveled across the state, but forgot his party and candidates while voting.

JD(S) secretary general and party spokesperson Danish Ali, however, sought to play down Kumaraswamy’s remarks and claimed it was merely an “emotional outburst”.

“That was merely an emotional outburst and some in the media are reading too much into it,” he told.

“There are no strains between the Congress and the JD(S) and the coalition government in Karnataka is stable and will complete its five-year term under a common minimum programme for the welfare of the people of the state…,” Ali said.

Ali alleged that the opposition BJP was attempting to weaken the coalition government and bring it down but asserted the saffron will not succeed.

The BJP dismissed Kumaraswamy’s emotional comments, calling him a “legendary actor” and accusing him of “fooling the common man.”

The BJP state unit in a tweet said: “& the best acting award goes to…”

“Our country has produced talented actors. Actors who have mesmerized the audience with their brilliant performance, here we have another legendary actor Mr Kumaraswamy, an actor who has constantly fooled common man with his amazing acting skills,” it said, tagging a video clip of the chief minister getting emotional.

But the Congress joined the JD(S) in playing down Kumaraswamy’s statement.

“How can he say that… He must be definitely happy. A chief minister has to be happy always. If he is happy, we will all be happy,” Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader G Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.

It has been a rocky road for the JD(S) chief since he took over as Karnataka chief minister on May 23 as the head of the coalition government, confronting wrangling among leaders over portfolio allocation and presentation of the state budget.

Presenting his government’s first budget on July 5, Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, unveiled a Rs 34,000-crore farm loan waiver and subsequently announced an additional crop loan waiver of Rs 10,700 crore from cooperative banks.

However, his budget came under attack from within the coalition, with a few senior Congress MLAs, including former minister H K Patil, writing to him demanding programmes for the minority community and for the northern region of the state.

Recently former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is also the head of the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee, in a letter to Kumaraswamy, had pressed him to withdraw the decision on petrol and diesel price hike and reduce the supply of rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme, announced in the budget.

In the Assembly polls in May, the JD(S) won 37 seats in the 224-member House. While the Congress has 80 seats, the BJP 104 and the BSP one.

 

No claimants for Rs 300 cr lying in India-linked dormant Swiss bank accounts

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It is the third year since Swiss banks made public a list of accounts lying dormant without any trace of owners and no claimant has come forward for those with Indian links, even as a political slugfest continues in India over alleged black money parked there.

The list of all such accounts of Swiss citizens and foreigners including from India was first published by the Switzerland Banking Ombudsman in December 2015 and it keeps getting updated as and when an account is declared dormant.

This is to allow real owners of the accounts or their legal heirs to stake a claim with necessary proof.

The details get deleted from the list when a successful claim is made and this was the case for as many as 40 accounts and two safe deposit boxes in the year 2017 itself, as per the latest information shared by the Ombudsman.

However, the list of over 3,500 such accounts continues to have at least six with links to India since December 2015, as no successful claimant has come forward for them.

Switzerland was perceived to be among the safest havens globally for financial assets for many years before a global crackdown on alleged tax evasion by using such strong banking privacy practices as prevalent in Swiss banks led to Switzerland agreeing to tighten its rules.

Subsequently, Switzerland has framed new laws for greater cooperation with several other countries on an exchange of information and for a stricter clampdown on illicit activities like money laundering and tax frauds.

India is one of the countries with which Switzerland has inked an automatic exchange of information pact on financial matters, while the Alpine nation has already been providing details on bank accounts in cases where Indian authorities have been able to provide proof of wrongdoings.

As per the latest data released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), funds parked by Indians with Swiss banks rose 50 percent to CHF 1.01 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore) in 2017.

The funds, described by SNB as ‘liabilities’ of Swiss banks or ‘amounts due to’ their clients, are official figures disclosed by Swiss authorities and do not indicate to the exact quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held in the famed safe havens of Switzerland.

The official figures, disclosed annually by Switzerland’s central bank, also do not include the money that Indians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities from different countries.

It has been often alleged that Indians and other nationals seeking to stash their illicit wealth abroad use multiple layers of various jurisdictions, including tax havens, to shift the money in Swiss banks.

Also, with Switzerland putting in place an automatic information exchange framework with India and various other countries, the famed secrecy walls of Swiss banks are said to have crumbled. India will start getting this automatic data from next year.

However, the increase in Indians’ money in Swiss banks has already triggered a sharp opposition attack on the government, which in turn has said that it would be wrong to assume that all funds deposited in Swiss banks were ‘black money’ and strong action would be taken against wrongdoers.

The funds officially held by Indians with banks in Switzerland accounts for only 0.07 percent of the total funds kept by all foreign clients in the Swiss banking system, as per the SNB data.

In terms of the dormant accounts, at least three individuals from India and three others of Indian origin — but the resident of other countries — continue to figure on the list of unclaimed bank accounts made public by Switzerland since December 2015.

While specific figure for India-linked dormant accounts is not known, the total holding in all such accounts is estimated at about 44 million Swiss franc (about Rs 300 crore).

Of the six with Indian links, place of residence of three has been mentioned as India, while it is Paris (France) for one and London for another. The place of residence for the sixth person was not disclosed.

These are Pierre Vachek and Bernet Rosmarie from ‘Bombay’, the earlier name of Mumbai, Bahadur Chandra Singh from Dehradun, Dr Mohan Lal from Paris, Suchah Yogesch Prabhudas from London. Kishore Lall is the person whose place of residence was not disclosed.

The date of birth has also been disclosed in one case ? that is for Vachek as January 1, 1908.

All these accounts were added to the public list in December 2015 and would remain there till December 2020, unless a successful claim is made for the money.

There are also some such accounts from Pakistan, including of one Nawaz Haq of Wazirabad, which was added to the list in November last year.

The list is aimed at giving their owners or their legal heirs a chance to claim the funds in these accounts. Only those accounts form part of the list which have got at least 500 Swiss francs and have remained unclaimed for at least 60 years.

The list contains a large number of people from Switzerland itself, as also from Germany, France, the UK, the US, Turkey, Austria and various other countries.

If no legitimate party claims the assets that have been published within one year of publication, the banks can transfer the assets in question to the government.

The claim deadline for potential legitimate claimants is five years if the assets in question have been dormant since at least 1954.

8 killed in Kabul suicide bomb attack

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At least eight people were killed and 17 others wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a government ministry office in Kabul on Sunday, authorities said.

“The preliminary findings show that seven civilians and the bomber were killed on the spot and 17 people injured in the blast,” Xinhua quoted an official as saying.

“A terrorist detonated his explosive belt near the building of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in Dar-ul-Aman locality, Police District 6 of the city,” Hashmat Stanikzai, spokesman of Kabul police, tweeted earlier.

The attack took place when the ministry’s employees were leaving the building for home after work.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

The capital city with a population of nearly 5 million has been hit by series of terror attacks over the past couple of years.

One June 11 this year, 17 employees of the same ministry were killed and over 30 others wounded in a similar attack in Dar-ul-Aman.

India enter quarters of Asian Junior badminton

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Barring Lakshya Sen, none of the Indian could stand up to the clinical South Koreans as India went down 1-4 in their last Group C match in the Asian Junior Badminton Championships here on Sunday.

But, having finished second behind South Korea in the group, India entered the quarterfinals where they will take on Japan on Monday.

In contrast, the Indian juniors went through the motions against Sri Lanka in the morning and cleaned them up 5-0, stamping their subcontinental authority. They had on Saturday beaten Kazakhstan by the same margin in the opener.

India were expected to put up a semblance of fight against the third-seeded Koreans. But, unfortunately, the resistance came only in the form of Lakshya who revived India’s hope with straight sets win of 21-14, 21-13 against Kim Hyeong Jung in the men singles of the mixed team events.

Lakshya’s start was nice and he built on excellently with his strategy to keep his rival to the backcourt. And it paid dividends as the Indian not only used his smashes cleverly but also with his forecourt placings surprised the opponent. However hard the Korean tried to come back, he was unable to do as he hastened the defeat with several unforced errors.

But for this wonderful response, the other Indians didn’t have any auspicious beginning. The men doubles’ pair of Manjit Singh and Dingku Singh, who faced Ki Dong Ju Ki and Shin Tae Yang, in match opener could only run their opponents close but couldn’t stop them from winning the rubber 21-17, 21-11.

The Indians mixed well when the Koreans somewhat had a cautious beginning. Understandably, they were caught on the wrong foot at time and it helped the Indian shuttlers some leeway. Yet, the Koreans held therein and nerves to put their team 1-0 ahead.

Akarshi Kashyap, the world No 11, began really against Park Ga Eun and stretched her before winning the first game 23-21. But the Korean girl packed a lot of power in her forehand shots which brooked little challenge in the second and third. Park, after dropping the first game, played brilliantly to win 21-23, 21-13, 21-9, the tie consuming 51 minutes.

Then Jang Eun Seo and Lee Eun Ji combined well and disposed off the Indian women doubles pair, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker, 21-15, 21-9 in 26 minutes to assert themselves. Simram and Ritika could not match the game plan devised by their Korean rivals who were quick on their feet and complimented each other, managing the back and fore courts really well.

Having already established a winning lead of 3-1, one thought it should be a mere formality for the Korean mixed duo of Jeong Na Eun and Wang Chan but the Indians were not disgraces as Srishti Jupidi and Srikrishna Sai Kumar went down fighting the last rubber 13-21, 21-18, 21-23. That was, indeed, a gutsy performance from the mixed doubles team which kept the interest alive.

It was the best game we played in World Cup: Dalic

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Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic feels his team played the best match of the FIFA World Cup despite losing 4-2 to France in the final here on Sunday.

“I congratulate France on their title. We played well in the first 20 minutes, we controlled the game. Then there was an own goal from a set play. We came back to life, dominated and then the penalty was given,” Dalic was quoted as saying by fifa.com after the game.

A first-ever own goal in a World Cup final gave France the lead as Mario Mandzukic headed a free-kick into his own net in the 18th minute but Croatia pulled level through a strike from Ivan Perisic in the 28th minute.

Antoine Griezmann converted a penalty in the 38th minute to regain France’s lead which was further increased to 3-1 by Paul Pogba in the 59th minute.

Kylian Mbappe (65th) made it 4-1 before Mandzukic pounced on a blunder from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to reduce the difference to two in the 69th minute, giving some hope to Croatia. But the third goal from Croatia never arrived as the talented French side, coached by Didier Deschamps sealed a deserving triumph.

“I have to congratulate my players, it was maybe the best game we played in these championships; we controlled the match but we conceded,” Dalic further said.

He added that Croatia, playing their first-ever World Cup final, can be very proud of their achievements.

“Against such a strong side as France you must not make mistakes. We are a bit sad but we have to be proud as well for what we’ve done.”

Croatia’s celebrated FC Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic said they were unlucky to have not won the crown despite being the better team in the first period.

“We were the better team in the first half, we were attacking, but we were unlucky tonight. They scored four goals from their three shots on goal. But I congratulate France, they deserved it.”

France thus pulled level with South American powerhouses Argentina (1978, 1986) and Uruguay (1930, 1950) as the third nation with two World Cup titles.

Sindhu loses to Okuhara in Thailand Open final

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India’s star shuttler P.V. Sindhu lost to reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight games in the women’s singles final of the Thailand Open here on Sunday.

The second seeded Sindhu lost 15-21, 18-21 in 50 minutes as the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist took a 6-5 lead in head-to-head record.

While fourth seeded Okuhara got a prize money of $26,250, Sindhu, a three-time World Championship medallist, bagged $13,300.

The Japanese was quick off the blocks, taking a 6-2 lead. But Sindhu did well to gain three consecutive points, trailing 5-6.

Okuhara then won a 23-rally battle to take a 7-5 lead before she went on to extend her lead to four points with the scoreline at 12-8, thanks to couple of unforced errors on the part of the Indian.

Sindhu sensed the urgency in reducing the deficit as she didn’t allow Okuhara to run away with the game. However, the Japanese cotinued to maintain at least a two-point game until she reached 17 points.

Thereafter, Okuhara produced four consecutive points in a hurry to pocket the first game 21-15. A body smash rattled Sindhu, who then hit a shot wide before hitting one onto the net to trail 0-1 in the match.

In the second game, Sindhu started brigh, racing to an early 6-2 lead. But Sindhu was left stranded at the six-point mark as Okuhara fought valiantly to garner five points on the trot to take a 7-6 lead.

The Indian then brought her high-jump smashes to the fore to reel in three successive points to lead 9-7 but the Japanese equalised at the nine-point mark. Sindhu managed to go into the midgame break with a two point lead.

Afterwards, Okuhara brought out some delectable cross-court net-game to trouble Sindhu and lead 14-12. Even though Sindhu quickly pulled level, Okuhara raced to a 17-14 lead.

Sindhu came out with a strong defence which earned her two quick points. Okuhara smashed at the left and Sindhu dived to put it slowly past the other net but the Japanese couldn’t reach there. Then Okuhara shot wide to manage to hold a slim 17-16 lead.

Then, Sindhu’s smash went long as she trailed 16-18. Under pressure, both matched shots for shots as a half-smash on the right from Sindhu made Okuhara lead by a point before the Japanese could only defend a smash into the net, with the scores tied 18-all.

Just like the first game, Okuhara then showed her aggression to force Sindhu on the defensive. And as the Indian’s shot hit the net, the Japanese got her match point.

In the men’s singles final, Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan defeated Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto 21-16, 13-21, 21-9 in 58 minutes.

The men’s doubles title went to Japanese top seeded pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda, who defeated compatriots Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe 21-17, 21-19 in 44 minutes.

The mixed doubles final witnessed a huge upset as Indonesian eighth seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja stunned English top seeds Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock 21-12, 21-12 in 28 minutes.

In the women’s doubles final, Indonesian fourth seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu thrashed Japanese third seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 21-13, 21-10 in 53 minutes.

Hope people find comfort in my battle with depression, alcoholism: Simon Pegg

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English actor Simon Pegg described his fight with alcoholism and depression as “awful and terrible”, but he hopes his struggle will help and give strength to people fighting similar demons.

He says it is essential for people dealing with such issues to “find a community”, and that is why he decided to come out in the open about it.

“It is important for people who experience that kind of issue to find a community and to understand that a lot of (people face similar issues). It was just a decision which I made,” Pegg told IANS in an interview during the “Mission: Impossible Fallout” global junket here.

“I feel I have spoken about it enough now and everything that I have said is online to be read. So, I hope they find some comfort in that,” added the actor.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Pegg opened up about his battles with alcoholism and depression, saying “it was awful, terrible. It owned me”. The actor also admitted that he was “lost, unhappy, and an alcoholic” while shooting for “Mission: Impossible 3”.

On how the franchise helped him overcome the addiction, Pegg told IANS: “It is not just the franchise that helped me out of it. It just co-coincided with a certain period of my life. But having something to focus on was really good.

“The diversion and a way to re-focus when you are having any kind of emotional issues… Whatever you do — whether it is your job or a hobby or something to concentrate on and kind of give you a new lease of life. This kind of film is great as it gives you a focus on getting fit and training for new skills.”

The actor and comedian became a part of the “Mission Impossible” world as a lab technician Benji Dunn, but has graduated to a field agent accompanying Ethan Hunt, essayed by Tom Cruise, on his dangerous missions.

He adds a tinge of comic element amid all the action sequences and thrilling fight scenes, and this makes him a fan favourite.

Pegg says Benji’s evolution in the film franchise is parallel to his own “entry into this kind of filmmaking”.

“When I did ‘Mission: Impossible 3’, I had never been in this sort of Hollywood film before. And then as Benji has grown, I have got more and more used to the path and fabric of these kind of films. So, as an actor I think my journey is similar to Benji’s.”

Pegg has projects like “Shaun of the Dead”, “Big Nothing”, “Star Trek”, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”, “Paul” and “Absolutely Anything” to his credit.

The actor, who will be back as Benji in the forthcoming “Mission: Impossible Fallout”, feels lucky about everything in his life.

Looking back at his journey in the industry, he said: “I just feel lucky to be where I am. I feel lucky to be alive and feel lucky to be doing a job that I love. I always say to my child that if you find a thing you love doing the most, then try and do that for a living and I have been lucky enough to do that.”

At present, he is looking forward to “Mission: Impossible Fallout”. The Paramount Pictures movie will be distributed in India by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. It is set to release in India on July 27 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

For Pegg, the franchise stands for trust and inter-personal relationships.

“This film, for Ethan, is about almost his inability to not put his friends first and desire to look after the needs of many… It is about making a choice. So, I think it says a lot about friendship,” he said.

(IANS)

Facebook fails to stop users from sharing pirated movies

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Several Facebook groups are sharing pirated Hollywood movies to hundreds of thousands of users and the social media giant’s automated software are unable to stop copyright infringements, the media reported.

According to the Business Insider, these Facebook groups make no attempt to conceal catalogs brimming with the latest blockbusters like “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “A Quiet Place.”

“These groups, some of which are years old, exist despite Facebook’s army of human content moderators and automated software meant to detect copyright-infringing content, raising questions about the effectiveness of Facebook’s content-policing systems,” the report said on Sunday.

Some of the group’s titles are “Full HD English Movie” which has more than 134,000 members and “Free full movies 2018” that has 171,000 members.

A Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying that “it wasn’t the company’s responsibility to take down such content unless asked to by the content’s rights holders”.

In its battle against pirated content, Facebook last year acquired a US-based startup Source3 to help it weed out pirated videos and other content that users share without permission.

“We’re excited to work with the Source3 team and learn from the expertise they’ve built in intellectual property, trademarks and copyright. As always, we are focused on ensuring we serve our partners well,” a Facebook spokesperson said at the time of the acquisition.

Facebook has been struggling to crack down on pirated content for a long time.

The company had in past announced “Rights Manager” technology to detect and remove video clips shared by people who do not have rights to the video.

According to the recent Facebook transparency report, it took down 2.8 million pieces of content based on approximately 370,000 user copyright reports in the second half of 2017.

(IANS)

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