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ED attaches Vijay Mallya’s assets worth Rs 6,630 crore

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Vijay Mallya

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today issued its second attachment order for assets worth Rs 6,630 crore against beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya as it seized his farmhouse, flats and FDs in connection with its money laundering case against him and his associates.

The agency had recently expanded the probe in this regard as it took over investigation into the alleged loan default of Rs 6,027 crore availed from a consortium of nationalised banks led by SBI, a case also taken over by CBI recently.

The fresh action is an aftermath of the new case.The total attachment made by the agency in this case has now shot up to Rs 8,044 crore as it had attached assets worth Rs 1,411 crore few months back.

The provisional attachment order, issued under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), said it has ordered for seizing a farm house in Mandwa in Alibaugh worth Rs 25 crore, multiple flats in Kingfisher tower in Bengaluru worth Rs 565 crore, fixed deposits of Mallya with a private bank to the tune of Rs 10 crore and shares of USL, United Breweries Limited and Mcdowell Holding company, jointly held by the liquor baron and UBHL and his controlled entities, worth Rs 3,635 crore.

“The total attachment under today’s order is worth Rs 4,234.84 crore but the present market value of these properties and assets is Rs 6,630 crore approximately,” the agency’s order said.

The agency alleged these assets were the “proceeds generated out of criminal activity” of the alleged default of bank loans as it claimed Mallya “criminally conspired” with Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and United Breweries Holdings Limited to obtain funds through the consortium of banks and out of this total amount, the principal fund of Rs 4,930.34 crore “still remains unpaid.”

“In addition, huge number of shares were also being held in the name of various other group companies controlled directly or indirectly by Mallya. Hence, it appeared that even though sufficient funds were available with the promoters of KFA– Mallya and UBHL– they had no intention to make payment towards the bank loans from the consortium banks.

“They deliberately and intentionally kept the huge number of shares approximately worth Rs 3,600 crore pledged with UTI Investment Advisory Services Ltd and other financial institutions without substantial underlying liabilities and thus kept the consortium in dark,” the ED said in the order, accessed by PTI.

(PTI)

Triple talaq: Personal laws can’t be rewritten, Muslim board tells SC

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Triple talaq

New Delhi: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Friday told the Supreme Court that “personal laws cannot be re-written in the name of social reforms.”

Submitting its response in connection with the ongoing matter on the ‘triple talaq’ issue, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said, “Personal laws cannot be challenged as violative of Part III of the Constitution.”

“When serious discords develop in a marriage and husband wants to get rid of wife, legal compulsions and time consuming judicial process….in extreme cases husband may resort to illegal criminal ways of getting rid of her by murdering her. In such situations Triple Talaq is a better recourse,” AIMPLB told the apex court.

“Marriage is a contract in which both parties are not physically equal. Male is stronger and female is a weaker sex. Securing separation through court takes a long time deters prospects of remarriage,” it added.

The AIMPLB further said that polygamy as a social practice is not for gratifying men’s lust, but it is a social need.

“Muslim women have right to divorce under Khula practice. Issues of Muslim Personal Law are raised in the Supreme Court are for Parliament for decide. The Uniform Civil code is a directive principle and not enforceable. The personal laws are protected by Article 25, 26 and 29 of the Constitution as they are acts done in pursuance of a religion,” it added.

The apex court had last week issued notice to the Central Government on the plea of a Muslim woman challenging the Constitutional validity of ‘triple talaq’ to end a marriage.

The petitioner Ishrat Jahan has sought a declaration from the apex court, saying that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, was unconstitutional as it violated fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14 (equality), 15 (non-discrimination), 21 (life) and 25 (religion) of the Constitution.

In her petition, Jahan has asked whether an arbitrary and unilateral divorce through triple talaq can deprive the wife of her rights in her matrimonial home as also her right to have the custody of her children.

A batch of petitions is being heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and notices have already been issued to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and others.

However, this is not the first such type of petition that has been presented before the Supreme Court as Uttarakhand-based Shayara Banu and the Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh through its president Farah Faiz have raised similar queries.

On July 29, the apex court had favoured a wider debate on the petitions challenging the validity of triple talaq.

All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) president Shaista Ambar has demanded abolishing of the triple talaq system.

Talaq-e-bidat is a Muslim man divorcing his wife by pronouncing the word “talaq” more than once in a single tuhr (the period between two menstruations) or in a tuhr after coitus or pronouncing an irrevocable instantaneous divorce at one go (unilateral triple-talaq).

The Centre has set up a high-level committee to review the status of women in India and according to reports has recommended a ban on the practice of oral, unilateral and triple talaq (divorce) and polygamy.

(Agencies)

 

Deadly twin blasts hit court in Pakistan

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At least 14 people killed and dozens wounded after two bombs go off at a court in northwestern Pakistan.

Police said some of the wounded in the blasts were in a critical condition [AFP]

Police said some of the wounded in the blasts were in a critical condition [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

At least 14 people were killed and dozens wounded when two bomb blasts went off at a district court in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.

A suicide bomber threw a hand grenade at police guards before storming into the compound and blowing himself up in the court in Mardan town in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Nasir Khan Durrani, provincial police chief, told AFP news agency that the death toll had reached 14, with at least 58 people wounded, three of whom were critical.

Officials said the bomber had up to eight kilogrammes of explosives packed into his vest, while the dead included lawyers and police.

Amir Hussain, president of the Mardan Bar Association, said lawyers were being targeted because they are “an important part of democracy, and these terrorists are opposed to democracy”.

“Our morale is not dented. It is still high,” he told AFP.

Earlier, four suicide bombers who were trying to attack a Christian colony were killed during a gunfight with security forces outside the northwestern city of Peshawar, the army said.

Soldiers backed by army helicopters fought back the fighters who had tried to attack the colony near Warsak Dam, just north of Peshawar.

Asim Bajwa, an army spokesman, said “all four suicide bombers were killed” in the operation carried out against the fighters on Friday and that a clearance operation was under way.

Local sources, though, told Al Jazeera that at least one civilian was killed and several wounded in the attack.

Two of the four suicide bombers detonated their vests and the other two were shot dead, the sources said.

Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat-ur-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The group’s spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, promised more attacks in a statement released to media.

“We appeal to civilians to remain away from law enforcement installations and these un-Islamic courts. We will target them more,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said despite army claims to have limited the number of attacks, armed groups still managed to operate across the country.

“Just yesterday the Pakistan military gave a press conference in which they said they had been able to control the number of attacks in the country,” he said.

“But it appears that the Tehreek-e-Taliban and their factions are still able to operate within Pakistan and carry out these attacks.”

Last month, the Pakistan Taliban faction and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL,also known as ISIS) both claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at a hospital in Pakistan’s Quetta that killed at least 70 people.

The attack targeted a group of mourning lawyers, who had gathered at the emergency department of the hospital to accompany the body of a murdered colleague.

The Pakistan army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb under US pressure in 2014 in an effort to wipe out fighters and their bases in the North Waziristan tribal area.

‘Live and let live’, SC urges Karnataka to release Cauvery water

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cauvery

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday urged the Karnataka government to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

“Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have to maintain harmony in the water dispute, ‘Live and let live,'” said the court.

A three judge bench including Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justices AM Kanwilkar and DY Chandrachud asked Karnataka to inform the court on Monday how much water it can release to Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu government had filed a plea for an urgent judicial direction to the Karnataka government to release Cauvery water to its agricultural lands.

Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah conveyed the state’s inability to release Cauvery water for farmers in Tamil Nadu due to deficit rainfall in the river basin area.

(Agencies)

Modi models for Jio; PM is Mr Reliance, tweets Arvind Kejriwal

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modi jio ad

New Delhi: As India woke up to front page advertisements in leading newspapers featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Jio ad, a belligerent Arvind Kejriwal tweeted to ask if the PM is ‘Mr Reliance’ now.

“PM as Mr Reliance,” Kejriwal said in his comment as he retweeted a senior journalist who wondered if the Prime Minister has become the brand ambassador of a leading corporate.

“Any more proof reqd to prove that – Modi ji Ambani ki jeb mein (Do we need more proof that Modiji is in (Mukesh) Ambani’s pocket),” said another tweet by the Delhi Chief Minister.

“PM of India openly endorses Reliance product,” Kejriwal said in yet another tweet. He even retweeted an AAP member who posted, “Modi ji has become a “Salesman” of Reliance. #RelianceKaPM.”

The full-page ad published today has a large image of PM Modi in blue jacket – consistent with the colour of Jio’s logo – as the caption in boldface said: “Dedicated to India and 1.2 billion Indians”.

On Thursday, Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, had himself launched the much-talked about Jio 4G service, offering free voice calls and national roaming along with what he claimed will be the world’s lowest data tariff.

In his speech at the high-profile launch in Mumbai, Ambani alluded to Modi’s ambitious Digital India and Make in India programmes. “Jio will fulfill the Digital India dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

(Agencies)

Modi govt renews foreign funding licence of IRF; then suspends 4 officers

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zakir naik

New Delhi: Four home ministry officials, including joint secretary of the foreigners division G K Dwivedi, have been suspended for the renewal of the foreign funding licence of Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF).

 

The renewal of the licence embarrassed the Centre as it came even as agencies are trying their best to slap terror charges against Dr Naik in the wake of a massive hate campaign against him.

“The MHA has suspended four officers, including Dwivedi and three officers below him. A departmental inquiry is being ordered against him to find out if there was any mala fide intention behind renewal of registration of IRF under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA). Action will be taken accordingly,” said an MHA official.

Home ministry officers said it is highly unlikely that the file regarding licence renewal for IRF, being scanned not only for possible FCRA violations but also for alleged forced conversions was cleared in a moment of oversight.

“The government and its security agencies are weighing the option of declaring IRF an ‘unlawful’ organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and the foreigners division brass decides to renew its FCRA licence. This could well be an intentional act and not a plain goof-up,” said an officer.

Incidentally, the MHA had last month sent a standard questionnaire to IRF seeking foreign funding details. An IRF spokesperson was quoted on Thursday by a private news channel as saying that the NGO’s licence had been renewed last week and that it had replied to the MHA questionnaire.

(Agencies)

Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov has died

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Islam Karimov

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov has died, Turkey says – despite no official confirmation from the Uzbek government.

Mr Karimov, 78, was taken to hospital last week after a brain haemorrhage. However, the Uzbek government has only said Mr Karimov is critically ill.

On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a televised meeting Mr Karimov had died.

Mr Karimov had governed Uzbekistan in an authoritarian manner since 1989.

He has no clear successor. There is no legal political opposition and the media is tightly controlled by the state.

A UN report has described the use of torture as “systematic”. Mr Karimov has often justified his strong-arm tactics by highlighting the danger from Islamist militancy.

“Uzbek President Islam Karimov has passed away. May God’s mercy be upon him, as the Turkish Republic we are sharing the pain and sorrow of Uzbek people,” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a cabinet meeting broadcast live.

Long before Mr Yildirim’s statement, rumours were circulating that Mr Karimov had already died. He had not appeared in public since 17 August.

Earlier on Friday, Reuters news agency said three unnamed diplomatic sources had confirmed Mr Karimov’s death.

An opposition website, Fergana, reported that preparations were under way for his funeral in his home town, Samarkand.

Samarkand’s airport has been closed to scheduled flights on Saturday.

Nationwide strike evokes mixed response in Karnataka

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india strike

Bengaluru: The one-day nationwide strike called by ten central trade unions today evoked a mixed response in Karnataka.

While the state-run transport buses remained off the roads causing inconvenience to office-goers and those travelling to distant places, shops, establishments, markets and hotels functioned normally.

Though some auto and cab unions had announced their support for the bandh, their movement was by and large normal in Bengaluru. Metro services are also functioning normally.

Keeping safety of students in mind, authorities in various districts have declared holiday for school and college goers.

Police have made elaborate security arrangements in the state to avoid any untoward incident. In Bengaluru police personnel have been deployed across the city.

Thirty-six platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police, 21 of City Armed Reserve and 270 Police patrol vehicles are deployed across Bengaluru, officials said.

Demonstrations are being held by trade unions across the state. At a march held in the city, protesters with banners marched from Town hall to Freedom Park here shouting slogans against government policies.

The unions have called the protest against the central government’s “indifference” to their demands for better wages and facilities and “anti-worker” changes in labour laws.

Brazil: Michel Temer sworn in as new president

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New president Temer promises “new era” for Brazil, hours after senators voted to remove Dilma Rousseff from office.

Michel Temer

by Al Jazeera

Michel Temer, Brazil’s former vice president, has been sworn in as the country’s new president, a few hours after the country’s Senate voted to remove Dilma Rousseff from office.

Temer, 75, raised his hand and swore to uphold the constitution, drawing loud applause from his conservative supporters at Wednesday’s ceremony in a packed Senate chamber.

He is expected to stay in power until the next scheduled election in late 2018.

Temer promised a “new era” of government for Brazil.

“Today we inaugurate a new era of two years and four months” to see out the current presidential mandate, Temer told his ministers at a televised cabinet meeting.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from the capital, Brasilia, said the new president now carried “all the weight of this country on his shoulders.

“We are talking about a massive $60bn deficit, the worst recession this country has been in, double-digit inflation and millions of people out of work.”

Earlier on Wednesday, 61 of 81 senators voted to impeach suspended president Rousseff, after a five-day trial and a lengthy overnight debate.

“They decided to interrupt the mandate of a president who had committed no crime. They have convicted an innocent person and carried out a parliamentary coup,” Rousseff said in a statement following the Senate vote.

Speaking to reporters, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, Rousseff’s lawyer, said the former president would appeal against her impeachment.

But several motions filed to the country’s highest court throughout the impeachment proceedings have failed.

In a separate vote later on Wednesday, senators decided not to ban Rousseff from seeking a public office for the next eight years.

Rousseff, from the leftist Workers’ Party, is accused of taking illegal state loans to patch budget holes in 2014, masking the country’s problems as it slid into its deepest recession in decades.

Earlier this week, she told the Senate that she was innocent, saying the impeachment trial amounted to a right-wing “coup d’etat”.

Rousseff asserted that impeachment was the price she paid for refusing to quash a wide-ranging police investigation into the state oil giant Petrobras, saying that corrupt politicians conspired to oust her to derail the investigation into billions in kickbacks at the company.

She said it was “an irony of history” that she would be judged for crimes she did not commit, by people accused of serious crimes.

The Workers’ Party under Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is credited with raising around 29 million Brazilians out of poverty.

But many now blame the party, and Rousseff in particular, for the country’s multiple ills.

Growing competition in expanding media calls for self-regulation and reasonable restrictions, says Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu

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Venkaiah Naidu

Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has stressed on the need for self-regulation and reasonable restrictions in the context of rapid expansion of different forms of media in the country and the attendant competition in reporting on various events to maintain public order and ensure integrity and sovereignty of the country. He spoke at length on various aspects of functioning of the media after inaugurating a two day ‘Regional Editors Conference’ at Chennai today.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that there is a need to ensure balance between freedom of expression and the genuine need for reasonable restrictions to ensure that that there is no ‘divisive communication’ given the social, cultural and economic diversity in the country. Self-regulation by media could be useful in this regard, he said. The growing compulsion of ‘instant communication’ should not lead media away from truthful reporting, the Minister stressed.

The Minister urged the media to effectively play out its role as a partner in the progress of the nation by empowering the citizens with required information that would give them a voice. Shri Naidu noted that success of developmental programmes of central and state governments depend on mass mobilization of people in which the media has an important role to play. “Hence, the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has placed communication as a critical component in the Governance of the Nation” said Shri Naidu.

Noting that media in the country has been by and large progressive, Shri Naidu reminded the media of its first responsibility being towards the nation and the society. He noted that despite the emergence of new forms of media, print media has been reporting steady growth which is being driven by the growth of regional media. Shri Naidu noted that regional media is uniquely placed in connecting the governments and the people given their focus on regional and local issues and their proximity to the people.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu expressed concern over politicization of public discourse on issues that have a bearing on social cohesion and national unity and integrity. He said that “Human rights are meant for human being and not for terrorists. One should not identify those imprisoned by their caste or religion. Illegal detention is not correct. One can seek fast track adjudication but not on the basis of caste or religion. Media should guard itself while reporting on such demands and events”.

Tamil Nadu Minister of Information & Publicity Thiru Kadambur Raju, speaking on the occasion referred to the developmental initiatives of the State Government, the efforts being made to create an enabling environment for effective functioning of the media and the positive role being played by the media.

The two-day Regional Editors conference organized by the Press Information Bureau is aimed at sharing with the senior journalists of the southern States and Union Territories, the perspectives of and performance under new initiatives of the Government of India in sectors pertaining to Urban Development, Information Technology, Coastal security, Commerce and Industry and Shipping and Highways Development.

About 100 media persons are attending the conference.

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