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Last fall, when the deadliest blaze in America in a century blew through Northern California, thousands of people — including those in the tiny community of Helltown — were forced to flee. This is the story of four friends who stayed to fight.
Last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (net worth: $150 billion) boasted about his company's recent decision to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour. For some useful perspective on what that means for actual humans, we now bring you the thoughts of a longtime Amazon customer service employee.
Carl "Sargon of Akkad" Benjamin, one of the original voices of GamerGate, is running for a seat in the European Parliament. He's not a fringe voice — he's becoming the mainstream.
You don't need an expensive degree in computer science to learn to program — this Complete Learn to Code Master Class Bonus Bundle is a comprehensive education in and of itself, covering the most in-demand languages out there including: Python, Ruby, JavaScript and more.
While civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are pushing the Stop Secret Surveillance Ordinance, the San Francisco Police Officers Association has been opposing the bill and pushing its own supporters to send emails to lawmakers demanding the bill be defeated.
Eilish isn't just a goth-pop icon for disaffected teens. With her whispery vocals and woozy, bass-driven pop, the 17-year-old is becoming uniquely beloved among fans of ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response.
In order to leave their roosts as they grow up, barnacle geese chicks must jump off cliffs hundreds of feet high, bounce off rocky faces and hope to survive. It's brutal as hell.
A few good Samaritans in Bethesda, Maryland work together to lift a blind man off of the tracks. Moments later a train comes barreling through the station.
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Here is the hypothesis: Not so long ago, the very nature of planet Earth suffered a devastating rupture. The break was sudden, global, and irreversible. It happened on a Sunday within living memory.
It's worth noting that Rooney would probably hate to hear her books classified as a symbol of an "Instagram cool girl," because it's antithetical to the ethos her books preach.
Private Facebook groups have been a respite from online toxicity, even as the social media giant continues to suck at combating misinformation and abuse.
In a break with the president, Congress voted for the first time to invoke the War Powers Resolution to try and stop US involvement in a foreign conflict.
When I saw "True West," I was enthralled by the chaotic wreckage it left in the play's wake. How would anyone, save for a skilled team of crime scene cleaners, be able to return this stage to a state of order?
Anti-abortion activists routinely use words like "violation" and "fail" to describe minor deficiencies at abortion clinics, making some administrative errors look like gross violations of patient safety.
Comedy Central knocked it out of the park with this hilarious sketch about those douchebags who play terrible pranks for YouTube views. Don't forget to like and subscribe!
"Public Sans," a sharp new typeface for interface design has been made freely available, courtesy of a somewhat unusual source: the United States federal government.
From early Coen brothers noir to Hollywood studio-era gems to masterpieces of world cinema, the newly launched streaming service is the go-to destination for movie lovers.
It will be released on May 7 and will cost $249.99. That makes it the least expensive Xbox One in Microsoft's lineup, $50 less than the standard Xbox One S.
Just to make this all the more terrifying: these creatures can grow up to a 16-foot span and weigh upwards of 110 pounds. After they engulf their prey (mostly crustaceans), they inject them with paralyzing saliva before dismembering them with their beaks.
Former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party has won a majority in Alberta's provincial election, unseating Rachel Notley and ushering in a return to the centre-right for the province.
Kenney's victory follows an often heated 28-day-long political slugfest, dominated by name calling and personal attacks, allegations of voter fraud and even a last-minute RCMP search of a UCP candidate's office.
Cheers erupted and chants of "UCP! UCP! UCP!" rang out at Kenney's election night headquarters in The Big Four building on the Calgary Stampede grounds when news of his victory flashed on a screen in the room.
WNU Editor: The election was not even close. With over 50% of the vote, the United Conservative Party has won a massive majority, and will immediately join the growing provincial opposition to Prime Minister Trudeau's climate and economic policies.
Black-charred roof beams - many hundreds of years old - litter the floor inside Notre-Dame de Paris after the devastating inferno pic.twitter.com/RJBOzQjOZH
Great visit yesterday to @FtBraggNC with @SecondLady and @SecArmy. The United States Military is a national treasure and I am so grateful to all the hard working men, women and families who serve our great nation. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/kDHSdbGkdJ
France's superrich have stepped in and pledged to donate millions to help rebuild Notre-Dame, one of the most recognized sights in Paris, after the centuries-old cathedral was devastated by a fire.
The fire toppled the cathedral's iconic spire and led to the collapse of the roof, but the two bell towers and much of the shell of the structure were saved.
The aircraft, designated AX-6, is the second F-35A assembled at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' F-35 Final Assembly & Check-Out (FACO) facility in Nagoya, Japan and is the first to be assigned to the JASDF's 3rd Air Wing, 302nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan. JASDF's 3rd Air Wing, 302nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan.
* One week has passed since a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter mysteriously disappeared. * Japanese authorities believe the fifth-generation stealth fighter crashed in the Pacific. * The US and Japan have deployed high-end search and rescue and surveillance assets to find the missing pilot and his fighter jet, but so far, the allies have only been able to recover debris. * "The F-35A is an airplane that contains a significant amount of secrets that need to be protected," Japan's defense minister said recently.
The US and Japan have been conducting a tireless, around-the-clock search for a missing F-35 for a week, but so far, they have yet to recover the downed fighter or its pilot. A life is on the line, and the "secrets" of the most expensive weapon in the world are lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
A Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter flown by 41-year-old Maj. Akinori Hosomi disappeared from radar last Tuesday, April 9. No distress signal was sent out as the aircraft vanished roughly 85 miles east of Misawa Air Base.
A view of what researchers of Beyond Parallel, a CSIS project, describe as the Radiochemistry Laboratory at the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, in this commercial satellite image taken April 12, 2019 and released April 16, 2019. CSIS/Beyond Parallel/DigitalGlobe 2019 via REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images from last week show movement at North Korea's main nuclear site that could be associated with the reprocessing of radioactive material into bomb fuel, a U.S. think tank said on Tuesday.
Any new reprocessing activity would underscore the failure of a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in late February to make progress toward North Korea's denuclearization.
Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report that satellite imagery of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear site from April 12 showed five specialized railcars near its Uranium Enrichment Facility and Radiochemistry Laboratory.
It said their movement could indicate the transfer of radioactive material.
* The resolution passed the House of Representatives in April and the Senate in March, marking the first time both chambers of Congress had supported a War Powers resolution, which limits the president's ability to send troops into action. * Neither the 247-175 tally in the Democratic-majority House nor the 54-46 vote in the Republican-led Senate would be enough to override the veto, which would require two-thirds majorities in both chambers.
President Donald Trump has vetoed a congressional resolution that sought to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the White House said on Tuesday.
"This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future," Trump said in the veto message.
The resolution passed the House of Representatives in April and the Senate in March, marking the first time both chambers of Congress had supported a War Powers resolution, which limits the president's ability to send troops into action.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Tuesday met with Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in Washington to discuss the S-400 rift between the two countries and the regional developments in Syria.
According to a statement by the Ministry of National Defense, Akar and Patrick discussed developments in Syria, bilateral relations, other regional security issues, and defense industry cooperation between both countries.
Akar "reiterated Turkey's views and expectations on the proposed Safe Zone in Syria, S-400 procurement, F-35 aircraft and latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean," according to the statement.
It said Akar underlined the importance of cooperation between Turkey and the U.S. on the basis of strategic partnership that would ensure the stability and security of both countries.
Image: A poster created by the Al-Muntasir media group - an ISIS affiliated propaganda wing - appeared online on Monday night, according to the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium
* ISIS affiliated propaganda group made a heartless poster of the inferno in Paris * It was accompanied by a cruel message bidding 'au revoir' to Notre Dame * The world mourned as the 850-year-old cathedral erupted in flames on Monday * Prosecutors said they are treating it as an accident, ruling out terror for now
ISIS fanatics are heartlessly revelling in the inferno at Notre Dame Cathedral just days before Easter calling it 'retribution and punishment', according to terror intelligence researchers.
A poster of the blazing cathedral appeared online accompanied by the words, 'Have a good day,' and was created by the ISIS affiliated Al-Muntasir group according to the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium.
The poster says: 'Its construction began in the year 1163 and ended in 1345. It's time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism.'
The destruction of Notre Dame cathedral is lamentable. A wonderful icon has been largely destroyed by fire. However, we should not despair.
Part of the reason this loss is so upsetting is because we are immersed in a Western way of thinking that equates authenticity with preserving the original materials used to create an object or building.
Near disaster: An aerial view shows the vast extent of the damage to the Gothic cathedral's roof, where the fire took hold and raged throughout Monday night
* France, along with much of the world, has been deeply shocked at the near-demise of 'Our Lady of Paris' * Yesterday evening, fresh images of the wreckage were released showing the aisle piled high with timbers * It could have been much worse. The 850-year-old towers which stand guard over entrance are in one piece
Beneath the light rain that greeted a sleepless Parisian dawn yesterday, there was one over-riding emotion: That some sort of miracle had occurred in the early hours as it transpired one of the world's greatest medieval buildings had survived wholesale destruction.
The near-cataclysmic fire which had raged through the Cathedral of Notre Dame for eight hours during the night had finally been brought under control and smothered by first light.
Notre Dame has, without doubt, been horribly damaged. France, along with much of the world, has been deeply shocked at the near-demise of 'Our Lady of Paris'. Yesterday evening, fresh images of the wreckage were released showing the aisle piled high with charred and twisted timbers.
The C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel, appears to have struck a balance between sticking to her principles while also keeping the C.I.A. mostly free from President Trump's ire. Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Gina Haspel was trying to brief President Trump early in her tenure as the C.I.A. director, but he appeared distracted. Houseflies buzzing around the Oval Office were drawing his attention, and ire.
On returning to her office, Ms. Haspel found a solution, according to two officials familiar with the episode, and sent it to Mr. Trump: flypaper.
Ms. Haspel, who will give only her second public speech as director on Thursday, has taken the reins of the nation's premier intelligence agency at a difficult moment in its 71-year history, under pressure from a president often publicly dismissive of its conclusions and a White House that views national security professionals with deep skepticism.
As she approaches her first full year on the job, Ms. Haspel has proved an adept tactician, charming the president with small gestures and talking to him with a blend of a hardheaded realism and appeals to emotion. A career case officer trained to handle informants, she has relied on the skills of a spy — good listening, empathy and an ability to connect — to make sure her voice is heard at the White House.
WNU Editor: A puff piece from the New York Times on CIA Director Gina Haspel. As to the her relationship with President Trump .... I suspect that it is good. She is not political, and she clearly has the President's ear.
The Trump administration intends to announce Wednesday that it will allow U.S. citizens to sue companies doing business in Cuba, according to a senior administration official.
Marking another break from Trump's predecessors that threatens to upend relations with allies, the administration plans to enforce a provision of a 1996 law known as Helms-Burton that allows Cubans who fled Fidel Castro's regime to sue companies that have used their former property on the island.
Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2) transits the Gulf of Aden during a vertical replenishment while on a regularly scheduled deployment of Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Virginia – The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter is not only changing the way Marine forces conduct their missions, it is also changing the way the amphibious navy can do its work in the absence of an aircraft carrier, leaders from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Essex Amphibious Ready Group said.
The Essex ARG and 13th MEU were the first to deploy from the United States with the F-35B, and they operated in the Pacific and Middle East from mid-July until their March 1 return home to San Diego. The deployment not only generated lessons learned on how to operate and sustain the F-35B jets as part of the Marine unit and in support of its objectives ashore, but also how to use the new jet to support blue-water Navy missions at sea, 13th MEU Commanding Officer Col. Chandler Nelms and Amphibious Squadron 1 Operations Officer Lt. Cmdr. David Mahoney told the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies on April 12.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister may have been kicked out of North Korea's top decision-making body, NK News reported, suggesting a fall from favor.
Kim Yo Jong was not listed as an alternate member of the ruling party's politburo during an important party gathering last week, the North Korea news site reported.
She is widely referred to as North Korea's "princess" and has accompanied Kim Jong Un to multiple international events, including the North Korean leader's recent summit with President Donald Trump in Vietnam.
WNU Editor: She has always been with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un in the past, and she will be in the future. She is not a threat, and she is certainly not a liability. So no .... she has not fallen from favour.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif offered to send Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops to protect embattled Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, according to Channel 13 news.
Venezuela has been in crisis since its National Assembly chief Guaido proclaimed himself acting president of Venezuela following a mass opposition rally against incumbent socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
The country has seen two million flee the country following food and medicine shortages.
The Instagram accounts of at least three commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were suspended on Tuesday, only a day after the US officially designated it as a foreign terrorist organization.
The accounts that were suspended included those of Major-General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, and Brigadier-General Mohammed Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC Ground Forces.
The reasons for the suspension of the accounts were not immediately clear.
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani attends his swearing-in ceremony for a further term, at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, August 5, 2017. President.ir/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian lawmakers approved a measure Tuesday designating U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorists, The Associated Press reported.
The bill, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Iranian parliament, comes a day after the U.S.'s terrorism designation for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officially took effect, the news service noted.
Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami introduced the bill, which accuses U.S. forces of "terrorist actions" and demands authorities use "legal, political and diplomatic" measures to neutralize them, according to the AP.
Portrayal of Soviet withdrawal from country distorts historical facts, claims politician.
A row has broken out in Russia over a film about the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan, after politicians and former servicemen criticised its unflattering depiction of Red Army soldiers as unpatriotic.
Leaving Afghanistan, directed by Pavel Lungin, is based on the experiences of Nikolay Kovalyov, a veteran of the Afghan war who went on to lead Russia's FSB spy agency. It tells the story of a group of Red Army soldiers whose departure from Afghanistan is delayed after they are ordered to free a Soviet general's son taken captive by mujahideen fighters. Lungin told Variety magazine last year that the film depicts the "senselessness and cruelty of war".
* Heroic rescue team charged into the burning cathedral and saved the 850-year-old building from destruction * Notre Dame's roof and spire collapsed but priceless treasures including reputed crown of Jesus were saved * Today photos of the cathedral's interior showed debris strewn across the floor and the wooden roof missing * Police currently interviewing specialist restorers who were carrying out works on the cathedral's iconic spire * Authorities currently treating blaze as a tragic accident caused by a 'stray flame' and not arson or terrorism * Two of France's richest men have pledged 300million euros with the total donor tally at over 600million
Officials attending the Notre Dame blaze initially couldn't find any sign of fire despite the alarm being raised 23 minutes before the structure went up in flames.
Russia has stopped all cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with state media on Monday.
The Western alliance suspended military and civilian cooperation with Russia in the spring of 2014 in response to Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Several disputes, including a naval standoff in the Kerch Strait and the U.S. withdrawal from a Cold War-era nuclear treaty, have further strained ties between Russia and the 70-year-old bloc.
Russian condolences poured in after a fire tore through the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris late on Monday, but some commentators in the country said the inferno symbolized the decline of Europe.
Firefighters doused the smoldering ruins of the eight-centuries-old Gothic cathedral with water on Tuesday as investigators tried to establish what started the fire, Reuters reported. The blaze consumed the roof and caused the cathedral's spire to collapse before firefighters brought the flames under control in eight hours, saving its bell towers and outer walls.
Muscovites brought flowers to the French Embassy as a show of support in the wake of the fire. The first red carnations appeared outside the embassy as early as Monday evening, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. At Russia's largest Catholic church, worshippers in Moscow held a service in honor of the badly damaged cathedral.
WNU Editor: This is my view also. The Notre Dame fire will become a symbol to many on the decline of Western Europe. This is also a good reason on why it should be rebuilt ASAP.
A firefighter is seen as flames shoot through the front door of St. Sulpice Church in Paris March 17, 2019, in this still image taken from social media. Vandals and arsonists have targeted French churches in a wave of attacks that has lasted nearly two months. (Credit: CNS photo/Instagram@agneswebste via Reuters.)
* In Germany, four separate churches were vandalized and/or torched in March alone. "In this country," PI-News, a German news site, explained, "there is a creeping war against everything that symbolizes Christianity: attacks on mountain-summit crosses, on sacred statues by the wayside, on churches... and recently also on cemeteries."
* In virtually every instance of church attacks, authorities and media obfuscate the identity of the vandals. In those rare instances when the Muslim (or "migrant") identity of the destroyers is leaked, the desecraters are then presented as suffering from mental health issues.
* "Hardly anyone writes and speaks about the increasing attacks on Christian symbols. There is an eloquent silence in both France and Germany about the scandal of the desecrations and the origin of the perpetrators.... Not a word, not even the slightest hint that could in anyway lead to the suspicion of migrants... It is not the perpetrators who are in danger of being ostracized, but those who dare to associate the desecration of Christian symbols with immigrant imports. They are accused of hatred, hate speech and racism." -- PI News, March 24, 2019
A view of the debris inside Notre-Dame de Paris in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the cathedral, during the visit of French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner (not pictured) in Paris, France, April 16, 2019. Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via REUTERS
PARIS (Reuters) - The fire that tore through Notre-Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors said on Tuesday after firefighters doused the last flames in the ruins overnight and the nation grieved for the destruction of one of its symbols.
More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to extinguish the fire some 14 hours after it began.
Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said there was no obvious indication the fire was arson. Fifty people were working on what would be a long and complex investigation. One firefighter was injured but no one else was hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening.
WNU Editor: The political and media rush to deny arson being responsible for the Notre Dame Cathedral fire is quite a sight to see. No one knows what caused the fire, and an investigation has not even started. But the conclusion on every major news network is already been made that this was an "accident".
Some of the dozen-plus officials interviewed by Mueller are concerned about president's "wrath" if they are seen as a source of damaging information in Thursday's report.
WASHINGTON — Some of the more than dozen current and former White House officials who cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller are worried that the version of his report expected to be made public on Thursday will expose them as the source of damaging information about President Donald Trump, according to multiple witnesses in the investigation.
Some of the officials and their lawyers have sought clarity from the Justice Department on whether the names of those who cooperated with Mueller's team will be redacted or if the public report will be written in a way that makes it obvious who shared certain details of Trump's actions that were part of the obstruction of justice probe, people familiar with the discussions said. But, they said, the Justice Department has refused to elaborate.
WNU Editor: We will know tomorrow if the Mueller Report names witnesses, and make public their testimonies (which I doubt). As for the release of the report itself. I expect nothing new will be revealed, but it is not going to stop those who have been voicing for two years that the evidence of Trump - Russian collusion is overwhelming to be quiet.
China’s economy rebounded through the first quarter, offering the government room for maneuver as trade negotiations with the U.S. enter a crucial stage.
Gross domestic product rose 6.4 percent in the first three months from a year earlier — matching last quarter’s pace and beating economists’ estimates. Factory output in March jumped 8.5 percent from a year earlier, much higher than forecast. Retail sales expanded 8.7 percent while investment was up 6.3 percent in the year to date.
The numbers are a reversal from as recently as January when key readings were pointing to a pronounced downturn. U.S. officials had previously touted such weakness as leverage in their push for a trade agreement.
“President Trump and other U.S. officials spent much of the last year saying that China’s slowdown was making Beijing desperate for a deal,” said Michael Hirson, Practice Head, China and Northeast Asia at Eurasia Group and a former U.S. Treasury Department official. “Now that China’s growth is recovering, Trump and team will be getting more questions from pundits and the media about whether his leverage is slipping away.”
While the better data isn’t likely to radically alter the course of negotiations that are already in their late stages, at the very least they will change the atmosphere, Hirson said.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who in January described China’s economy as “very weak,” on Tuesday said the negotiations are making “very good progress.”
The exchange of tit for tat tariffs last year between the world’s two-biggest economies on roughly $360 billion worth of each others goods had dragged on global growth and hammered sentiment before both governments agreed a truce.
What Bloomberg’s Economists Say
“We expect the economy to continue to stabilize in 2Q, but believe continued policy support is warranted. Government-led infrastructure spending has kick started the recovery. What’s needed still — a turnaround in the private sector to drive self-sustaining growth.” Chang Shu, and Qian Wan, Bloomberg Economics
Car production grew in March for the first time since September, showing manufacturers might be more optimistic after the sales slump last year. Aluminum and steel output also reached records in the first quarter as producers ramped up operations amid prospects for better demand in the world’s biggest commodities consumer.
The robust data stoked skepticism as critics said authorities are again relying on cheap credit to stoke lending and demand. Investment by state-owned firms quickened to 6.7 percent and slowed for private firms to 6.4 percent, underscoring the government’s role in supporting growth.
“I think policymakers, who were choosing “deleveraging” over the past two years, are now back to increasing leverage,” said Alex Wolf, head of investment strategy at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Asia.
It wasn’t all good news either: The surveyed jobless rate remained over 5 percent for a third month and the nominal growth rate, which is un-adjusted for price trends, decelerated. That means slower corporate profits. On top of those, some other factors raising concerns about the sustainability of the recovery are:
A sharp slowdown in fixed-asset investment by manufacturers The slowest services sector growth since 1992 The pickup in state investment, probably on the back of efforts to spend more of the budget earlier in the year. As the budget funds run down through the rest of the year, that investment may taper Polluting sectors such as rubber, plastics and mining saw big increases in output, suggesting relaxed pollution controls
The reports led some economists to conclude that the data mean policy makers will scale back stimulus measures that had been penciled in for the year.
“First quarter and March data confirm a cyclical turning point,” Morgan Stanley economists including Robin Xing in Hong Kong wrote in a note. Reserve-ratio cuts “could be fewer amid strong fiscal support. We expect an economic upturn in the second to fourth quarters as fiscal easing fully kicks in, trade tensions ease, and consumer confidence normalizes.”
For the global economy and for China’s trade negotiators, that’s a marked turnaround from the gloomy outlook seen just a few months ago.
“It strengthens China’s hand,” said Cui Li, head of macro research at CCB International Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong. “With the strong data, it’s easier to make a win-win argument that China will help the global economy to achieve a soft landing, and everyone is better off without the uncertainties as global growth slows.”
(WASHINGTON) — Stepping up pressure on Cuba, the Trump administration will allow lawsuits against foreign companies doing business in properties seized from Americans after the island’s 1959 revolution, a senior administration official said.
The move marks a change in more than two decades of U.S. policy on Cuba.
President Donald Trump has been taking steps to isolate embattled Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, who is holding power with help from other countries, including Cuba, China and Russia. The new policy against Havana could deal a severe blow to Cuba’s efforts to draw foreign investment, and spawn international trade disputes between the U.S. and Europe.
The administration official who provided details of the shift spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement Wednesday by the State Department.
After that announcement, national security adviser John Bolton is expected to discuss the new policy during a midday speech Wednesday in Miami, which is home to thousands of exiles and immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The speech at the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association is to be delivered on the 58th anniversary of the United States’ failed 1961 invasion of the island, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.
Johana Tablada, Cuba’s deputy director of U.S. affairs, said on Twitter: “Before they try to euphorically ride a wave of wickedness and lies, they should take a dose of reality. The world has told John Bolton and the U.S. government to eliminate the criminal blockade against Cuba and the Helms-Burton Act.”
The 1996 act gave Americans the right to sue the mostly European companies that operate out of hotels, tobacco factories, distilleries and other properties that Cuba nationalized after Fidel Castro took power. The act even allows lawsuits by Cubans who became U.S. citizens years after their properties were taken.
Canada, France, Spain, Great Britain and other countries with large investments in Cuba have ferociously protested the law and threatened to sue in the World Trade Organization if Washington tries to interfere with the business ties between Cuba and another sovereign nation.
“The extraterritorial application of the U.S. embargo is illegal and violates international law,” said Alberto Navarro, the European Union ambassador to Cuba. “I personally consider it immoral. For 60 years the only thing that’s resulted from the embargo is the suffering of the Cuban people.”
U.S. airlines and cruise lines that bring hundreds of thousands of travelers to Cuba each year appear to be exempt from the key provision of the Helms-Burton Act.
Every U.S. president since Bill Clinton has suspended the key clause to avoid those trade clashes and a potential mass of lawsuits that would prevent any future settlement with Cuba over nationalized properties. Cuba has said it is willing to reimburse the owners of confiscated properties, but only if the communist government is also reimbursed for billions of dollars in damages generated by the six-decade U.S. trade embargo.
The announcement comes at a moment of severe economic weakness for Cuba, which is struggling to find enough cash to import basic food and other supplies following a drop in aid from Venezuela, and a string of bad years in other key economic sectors.
Foreign investment in Cuba increased slightly in recent years, but it remains far below the levels needed to recapitalize the island’s dilapidated, often collapsing infrastructure. The Trump administration’s decision is not expected to drive out major foreign players like Pernod-Ricard of France, which makes Havana Club rum, or Spanish hotel chains Melia or Iberostar, but it could prove a major obstacle to new investment from foreign companies.
“It will harm prospective investment in Cuba. It will not cause people who are invested in Cuba already to pull out now,” said Phil Peters, director of the Arlington, Virginia-based Cuba Research Center, who advocated for closer relations with Cuba and has consulted for U.S. companies looking to invest.
Peters said he also believed the new measure could hurt the Trump administration’s effort to force Maduro from power with help from allies like Spain.
“There are plenty of countries that are interested in helping Venezuela find a soft landing after Maduro, but they are not interested in waging an economic war on Cuba,” Peters said.
The U.S. official said the administration also plans to start enforcing the section of the act that allows the U.S. to deny entry visas to Cubans and citizens of other countries involved in trafficking in the confiscated property.
(JERUSALEM) — An Israeli court on Tuesday upheld a deportation order against Human Rights Watch’s local director and gave him two weeks to leave the country.
The Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal by Omar Shakir to remain in the country, saying that his activities against Israel’s West Bank settlements amount to a boycott of the country.
Israel enacted a law in 2017 barring entry to any foreigner who “knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel.” Tuesday’s ruling was the first time the law was applied to someone already residing in the country.
Shakir, a U.S. citizen, has worked as the New York-based group’s Israel and Palestine director since October 2016.
Israel’s interior minister ordered Shakir’s deportation in May 2018, calling him a “boycott activist.”
The court said that Shakir “continues his actions publicly to advance a boycott against Israel, but it’s not on the stages at conferences or in university panels, rather through disseminating his calls to advance boycott primarily through his Twitter account and by other means.”
It cited Shakir’s support on Twitter for AirBnb’s decision to remove postings from Israeli settlements in the West Bank as an example. AirBnb later backtracked on that decision.
Human Rights Watch said neither the organization nor Shakir promotes Israel boycotts, but has called for companies to cease operations in West Bank settlements because they “inherently benefit from and contribute to serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek these territories for a future state. Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.
The court upheld the law applying to boycotts of “areas under (Israel’s) control,” namely the West Bank, not just of Israel proper.
Human Rights Watch said the court’s ruling “threatens the ability of all Human Rights Watch staff members to access both Israel and the West Bank.”
“The decision sends the chilling message that those who criticize the involvement of businesses in serious abuses in Israeli settlements risk being barred from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank,” said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch.
The court gave Shakir until May 1 to leave the country. The group said it would appeal the decision and seek an injunction blocking the deportation while legal proceedings continue.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, whose ministry leads anti-boycott efforts, praised the ruling. “Boycott activists need to understand that what was will no longer be,” he said.
(JAKARTA, Indonesia) — Voting is underway in presidential and legislative elections Wednesday in Indonesia, the world’s third-biggest democracy, after a campaign that pitted the moderate incumbent against an ultranationalist former general.
The first votes were cast in easternmost provinces after polling booths opened at 7 a.m. followed an hour later by central regions such as Bali and then the capital Jakarta and western provinces. Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, has three time zones.
About 193 million people are eligible to vote in polls that will decide who leads the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. Indonesians are also voting for Senate and national, provincial and district legislatures.
The presidential race is a choice between five more years of the steady progress achieved under Indonesia’s first president from outside the Jakarta elite, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, or electing Prabowo Subianto, a former general from the era of the Suharto military dictatorship.
Opinion polls have consistently given a large lead to Widodo of up to 20 percentage points though analysts say the race is likely tighter.
“I’ve voted for Jokowi because five years in office was not enough for him to complete his brilliant programs for infrastructure, health and education,” said Eko Cahya Pratama, 43, after voting in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta.
“For me, this country is better to be managed by a man with a clean track record rather than a dirty one in the past,” he said.
Widodo’s campaign highlighted his progress in poverty reduction and improving Indonesia’s inadequate infrastructure with new ports, toll roads, airports, and mass rapid transit — which became a reality last month in Jakarta, the country’s chronically congested capital.
A strident nationalist, Subianto has run a fear-based campaign, highlighting what he sees as Indonesia’s weakness and the risk of exploitation by foreign powers or disintegration.
“He deserves to get my vote because I was impressed with his commitment to create a clean government and a great nation,” said Anneka Karoine, 43, after she and her husband voted for Subianto and his running mate tycoon Sandiaga Uno. “I believe they will lead our country better than the current leader.”
Voting ends at 1 p.m. and so called “quick count” results are expected after about two hours.
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — Red Cross volunteers distributed the first shipment of badly needed emergency supplies in Venezuela on Tuesday after months of feuding between the government, which has denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis, and opponents who have been seeking to use the delivery of aid to force President Nicolás Maduro from power.
In the working class neighborhood of Catia near downtown Caracas, government supporters fired a half dozen gunshots in the air as a van arrived to distribute water purification tablets and empty plastic jugs, creating a small commotion on a major avenue during rush hour.
“We’re very happy,” Sergio Guerra, a motorcycle taxi driver, said nonchalantly as the sound of the shots cracked overhead. “With these tablets we can defend ourselves a little better by drinking cleaner water.”
A small contingent of police showed up to restore order, and volunteers in blue vests agreed to close the van doors from which they were running the slow-moving distribution operation. Elsewhere, trucks carrying the aid snaked through a Caracas highway, the drivers of several vehicles jubilantly honking in support.
The delivery of international humanitarian aid has become a focal point in Venezuela’s power struggle, now in its third month, after opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president. Both the opposition and the government have been accused of politicizing the aid issue as hospitals struggle to provide even basic care.
Guaidó has rallied the international community and amassed several hundred tons of aid, primarily from the United States, at Venezuela’s borders with Colombia, Brazil and the Dutch Caribbean. But Maduro has steadfastly refused to allow it in, blocking opposition activists who in February organized a caravan to deliver the shipments.
“We aren’t beggars,” Maduro said at the time.
On Tuesday evening, Maduro sought to claim credit for the arrival of the first batch of Red Cross aid, saying on national television that his government coordinated it in line with “international protocols.”
As large crowds have taken to the streets to protest his rule this year, Maduro has been pressed to address the nation’s shortages of essential goods like food and medicine. He’s selectively chosen to accept aid from allies like China, framing it as a necessary measure to confront U.S. economic sanctions.
The delivery of any aid is tacit recognition that his country is in a humanitarian crisis, a notion he has long dismissed as opposition propaganda to pave the way for a foreign military intervention.
In recent years, an estimated 3.7 million people have fled the South American nation for neighboring countries like Colombia, some seeking health care for everything from minor infections to cancer treatment they can no longer obtain. Hospitals in Venezuela often operate without essential supplies, asking patients to bring in surgical gear and medicine.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded Venezuela’s health system is in “utter collapse.” It cited increased levels of maternal and infant mortality, the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and high levels of child malnutrition.
In late March, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced it would soon begin delivering assistance to an estimated 650,000 people and vowed that it would not accept interference from either side of the polarized country. Federation President Francesco Rocca said Red Cross workers would focus on the medical needs of hospitals, regardless of whether they are state-run or not — a pledge repeated Tuesday.
“It will be distributed in conformance with the fundamental principles of our movement, especially neutrality, impartiality and independence,” said Mario Villarroel, president of the Venezuelan Red Cross.
Nonetheless, both sides made not-so-subtle inferences seeking to claim the upper hand in the aid’s arrival.
Health Minister Carlos Alvarado, speaking from the airport where the aid landed, said a total of 24 tons was delivered Tuesday, including 14 generators which have become vital as the nation suffers from consistent blackouts.
Guaidó, meanwhile, lashed out at Maduro’s government for letting Venezuela’s health crisis spiral out of control.
“Aid is entering because they destroyed the health system,” he said. “It entered because we demanded it.”
Villarroel said the aid will be distributed to various hospitals around the country and thanked both state and private institutions for their help.
(BANGKOK) — A dog found swimming more than 220 kilometers (135 miles) from shore by workers on an oil rig crew in the Gulf of Thailand has been returned safely to land.
A worker on the rig belonging to Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Vitisak Payalaw, said on his Facebook page that they saw the dog swimming toward the platform last Friday. He said they were lucky to spot it because if there had been waves it probably would not have been visible.
The dog made it to the platform, clinging to the support structure below deck without barking or whimpering, Vitisak wrote.
Vitisak Payalaw—AP In this Friday, April 12, 2019, photo, a dog sits on an oil rig after being rescued in the Gulf of Thailand.
The crew managed to lower a rope and secure it around the dog’s neck and haul it up. Vitisak said they speculated the dog might have fallen off a fishing trawler, and dubbed it Boon Rod, or Survivor.
The dog was delivered by boat to the southern port of Songkhla on Monday and was declared in good shape after being taken to the animal protection group Watchdog Thailand.
Vitisak said if the dog was unclaimed, he would like to take it to his home in northeast Thailand.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed a bill passed by Congress to end U.S. military assistance in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.
In a break with the president, Congress voted for the first time earlier this month to invoke the War Powers Resolution to try to stop U.S. involvement in a foreign conflict.
The veto — the second in Trump’s presidency — was expected. Congress lacks the votes to override him.
“This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future,” Trump wrote in explaining his veto.
Congress has grown uneasy with Trump’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia as he tries to further isolate Iran, a regional rival.
Many lawmakers also criticized the president for not condemning Saudi Arabia for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi who lived in the United States and had written critically about the kingdom. Khashoggi went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October and never came out. Intelligence agencies said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the killing.
The U.S. provides billions of dollars of arms to the Saudi-led coalition fighting against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. Members of Congress have expressed concern about the thousands of civilians killed in coalition airstrikes since the conflict began in 2014. The fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country also has left millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and has pushed the country to the brink of famine.
House approval of the resolution came earlier this month on a 247-175 vote. The Senate vote last month was 54-46.
Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, voted to end U.S. military assistance to the war, saying the humanitarian crisis in Yemen triggered “demands moral leadership.”
The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, acknowledged the dire situation in Yemen for civilians, but spoke out in opposition to the bill. McCaul said it was an abuse of the War Powers Resolution and predicted it could disrupt U.S. security cooperation agreements with more than 100 countries.
Trump issued his first veto last month on legislation related to immigration. Trump had declared a national emergency so he could use more money to construct a border wall. Congress voted to block the emergency declaration and Trump vetoed that measure.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is poised to allow lawsuits against foreign firms that have profited from former U.S. firms that Cuba seized after the 1959 revolution.
The move marks a change in more than two decades of U.S. policy on Cuba.
A senior Trump administration official provided details of the shift, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.
The 1996 Helms-Burton Act gave Americans the right to sue companies profiting from properties confiscated by Cuba. But every U.S. president since Bill Clinton has suspended the key clause because of fears of alienating U.S. allies and complicating relations with Cuba.
The official said going forward, there will be no more waivers.
(PARIS) — A Paris judicial official says investigators have questioned about 30 people after the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral.
He said most of them were employees working on the renovation of the monument.
The official, speaking anonymously on an ongoing investigation, said the cathedral’s fire alarms sounded twice on Monday evening.
The first time, some people, including a fire official permanently working on the site, went to check under the roof and saw nothing. The second time it was already too late because the fire was too strong, the official said.
He added that 40 to 50 investigators are working on the case but are not allowed to enter the monument yet for safety reasons.
Less than a day after French President Emmanuel Macron made a call for donations to help rebuild the landmark Notre Dame cathedral which was severely damaged in a blaze on Monday night, more than $400 million has been received in pledges.
Experts say that restoring Notre-Dame, which took a century to build after construction started in 1160, will take years, or even decades. Stephane Bern, an expert on Medieval France and government heritage representative, said the rebuilding would take “10 to 20 years minimum,” Agence France Presse reports.
The director of UNESCO, the U.N.’s culture agency, told the Associated Press that work to protect the 12th Century stone and wood structure from water damage should start immediately, saying “the first 24, 48 hours” will be crucial to the building’s future.
The bulk of the money has been promised by France’s wealthiest individuals and companies. François-Henri Pinault, the 56 year-old C.E.O. of Paris-based luxury goods group Kering, which owns brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, said Tuesday morning that his family would give around $113 million.
The largest pledge came from Bernard Arnault, 70, whose family owns the luxury conglomerate LVMH. The Arnault family and LVMH will give $226 million to “show their solidarity at a this time of national tragedy,” the company said in a statement. LMVH, which owns Louis Vuitton, also offered the French state the use of its “creative, architectural and financial specialists” to assist in fundraising and reconstruction efforts.
Fundraising campaigns of all sizes have sprung up online. The Fondation du Patrimoine, which funds French heritage projects, said it had already collected around €2 million (around $2.3 million) by Tuesday lunchtime in France.
Mobilisation incroyable pour Notre-Dame ! C'est avec émotion que nous traitons vos dons et vos messages de soutien. Nous avons déjà récolté environ 2 millions d’euros pour sauver Notre-Dame. Faire un don sur ➡ https://t.co/M6x5tOvavYpic.twitter.com/zdhCVdELXT
— Fondation du patrimoine (@fond_patrimoine) April 16, 2019
Another campaign, on crowdfunding site dartagnans.fr under the title “Notre-Dame de Paris, Je T’aime!” (Notre-Dame de Paris, I love you!) has raised some €54,000 ($61,000).
The New York-based French Heritage Society, a non-profit supporting French heritage in the U.S. and France, also launched a donations page, inviting American lovers of the cathedral to contribute.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for a Europe-wide effort to rebuild the cathedral, saying that “[Notre-Dame] is not only a great building, it is a great European landmark” and that footage of it burning would “probably leave no one in Europe untouched,” the AP reports. Steinmeier asked Germans to “support” the restoration.
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THE Indonesia election results are set to be announced with the initial 'quick count' for the presidential and legislative elections first to be called.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU's tenure as Canadian Prime Minister suffered a major blow after an energy industry supporting politician swept to power in the Alberta election.
New Delhi: Google and Apple have blocked the download of TikTok from Play Store and App Store respectively in India, following a request from the government to ban access to the Chinese short video-sharing app that has been downloaded over 230 million times in the country.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had asked Google and Apple to block the app following the Supreme Court's refusal to stay the original Madras HC court order on April 3.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday refused to lift the ban on TikTok and set April 24 the next hearing date.
A Google spokesperson told IANS: "As a policy, we don't comment on individual apps but adhere to the law in countries we operate in."
TikTok said in a statement that the company has faith in the Indian judicial system. "We are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India, who continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives," a TikTok spokesperson said.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere, for now, with the Madras High Court's order banning Chinese video app TikTok, and directed further hearing in the matter on April 22.
The Lok Sabha elections have already kickstarted, Congress President Rahul Gandhi began his poll campaign in Kerala's Wayanad today. Wayanad is one of the seat apart from Amethi where Rahul Gandhi will contest elections from. He started his poll campaign by offering prayers at the Thirunelli temple.
Wayanad: Congress President and party's candidate from Wayanad parliamentary constituency, Rahul Gandhi offers prayer at the Thirunelli temple. #Keralapic.twitter.com/8uuZta227m
More visuals from Wayanad as Congress President Rahul Gandhi performs rituals, after offering prayers at the Thirunelli temple. #Keralapic.twitter.com/MUzC1SpXU0
As he kicked off his day-long campaign in Kerala, while talking to reporters Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being the "most anti-national" and accused him of "dividing the nation". Gandhi is set to visit Kannur and will also be touring five assembly constituencies in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
Mukesh Ambani & world's most profitable firm are talking a deal MUMBAI: In what is shaping up into a mega-deal between two corporate behemoths, Saudi Aramco, the world's most profitable company in history, is learned to be in "serious discussions" to acquire up to 25% in the refining and petrochemicals businesses of Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest company.While Saudi Aramco, which is also the world's largest oil exporter, is known to have first shown interest in Reliance about four months ago, talks gathered momentum following the visit of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to India in February, during which he met RIL chairman and India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.There might be an agreement on valuation around June this year, people with knowledge of the development said. A minority stake sale could fetch around $10-15 billion, valuing RIL's refining and petrochemicals businesses at around $55-60 billion. At Tuesday's share price, RIL has a market capitalisation topping $122 billion (or Rs 8.5 lakh crore).Goldman Sachs, the storied investment banker, is said to have been mandated to advise on the proposed deal. "RIL has grown too big - from energy to retail to telecom. It needs to compartmentalise. It makes sense to spin off some of its verticals. It'll help raise funds and unlock shareholder value," said a highly placed person in the financial sector who didn't wish to be quoted since he didn't have direct knowledge of the matter.RIL has financed Reliance Jio's high-voltage entry into telecom even as gross debt soared to about Rs 3 lakh crore. Deleveraging would also allow Jio to pursue its aggressive expansion plans, according to corporate finance specialists. "It's sensible market policy," said one of them. TOI has in the past reported about share sale plans in telecom infra and retail. "But Jio is still some way away from being spun off, it'll take more time," said a source.RIL may create standalone vertical for downstream biz 68916153 It was after he attended Mukesh Ambani's daughter Isha's pre-wedding festivities in Udaipur in December that Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih publicly signalled Aramco's interest in forming joint ventures, including with RIL, to expand India's refining capacity, which is currently straining at around 4.6 bpd. Domestic crude oil consumption is expected to more than double to 10 million bpd by the year 2040. India is the world's third largest consumer of crude oil after the US and China, with daily use topping 4 million barrels per day (bpd)."As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumours. Our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis," said an RIL spokesperson in response to emailed queries. A Saudi Aramco spokesperson said he would respond at the earliest, but had not reverted till the time of going to press. 68916161 Sources said RIL would likely look at creating a standalone vertical for its downstream businesses - refining and petrochemicals - in which Aramco would participate. This is somewhat similar to BP's deal to buy a $7 billion stake in RIL's upstream natural gas and exploration businesses in 2011.In February, Aramco said it and Indian state oil companies were planning to build a greenfield refinery on the west coast in Maharashtra with a 1.2-million bpd capacity. It is not clear if a big stake purchase in RIL's downstream assets would alter its broader India plans.MBS wants Saudi to steer away from domestic oil money and look for a meaningful overseas footprint, especially in value-added petrochemicals business. Aramco on Monday announced plans to pick up a 13% stake in Hyundai Oilbank as part of its expansion into South Korea, another large Asian energy consumer.Earlier this month, Aramco reported a $111 billion profit on revenues of $360 billion in 2018, dethroning iPhone maker Apple Inc as the world's most profitable company, according to global media. Aramco recently opened up its finances to rating agencies as it raised $12 billion through a bond issue, investor interest in which turned out to be 10 times the amount on offer. With its sights set on a jaw-dropping valuation of $2 trillion, Aramco - which is geologically blessed with huge hydrocarbon reserves and low cost production - tested the waters to raise $100 billion in an overseas IPO about 18 months ago, but subsequently rolled back its plans. Source: ET
Now it will be even more difficult to fudge your tax returns The CBDT has notified a new format for Form 16 – the salary TDS certificate – requiring a detailed break up of tax exempt allowances paid to employee and also of all tax breaks claimed by him/her. The earlier format allowed companies to give consolidated figures or break-up in different formats for both these thereby leaving some ambiguity regarding their individual composition. Concurrent changes have been made in the format of the TDS return (details of TDS from employees' salaries) filed by companies with the tax department to allow the tax man to cross check an employee's ITR, Form 16 and the company's TDS return easily. Last year the tax man had detected several cases of false claims of large income tax refunds made by some employees which is likely to be another reason for this streamlining exercise which is aimed at removing all space for such manoeuvres in future. The new format will allow the tax department to view a detailed break up of the income and tax breaks claimed by a salaried person at the first instance itself. Consequently, any discrepancy between the income and deductions shown in Form 16 and the ITR filed by the person can be immediately spotted. This new format is likely to help the department digitise cross checking of figures too because it takes away the leeway that companies earlier had in providing the break up of income and deductions and fixes the format for providing these.The new format for Form 16 was notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) via a notification dated April 12, 2019. The format specified in the notification comes into effect from May 12, 2019 which is well before the last date for issue of Form 16 or the TDS certificate for salary by employers. Therefore, those issuing Form 16 after this date will have to do so in the new format.As per the changes notified, Form-16 issued by an employer will have to specify the nature of tax-exempt allowances paid to the employee. Abhishek Soni, CEO, Tax2filing.in, a tax-filing website says, "The previous format of Form-16 was not providing the specific list of tax-exempt allowances on which the salaried person was not required to pay any tax. Now as per the revised format, the employer will have to specify the nature as well as amount of allowances which are exempt from tax. Similar details have also been asked for in this year's ITR-1." The revised format provides a list of allowances such as Travel concession or assistance under section 10(5), house rent allowance under section 10(13A) and so on that are exempt under the Income Tax Act.Tax-exempt allowances recieved by an employee to be reported in new Form-16 under section 10 68915208 Source: Notification issued by CBDTChartered Accountant, Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann.com says, "In existing Form 16 (Part B), the employer had an option to provide a description of the exempt allowance. Consequently, every organization had created different formats as per their requirements, which resulted in different formats of Part B of Form 16. The new Form 16 (Part B) has removed this option to write-down the description of exempt allowances. Now the employers have to mention the amount of exempt allowance before earmarked fields."The move is expected to make it easier for the department to cross check information from ITR-filed by the taxpayer, TDS returns (Form 24Q) filed by the employer for the tax deducted and Part-B of Form-16. Apart from making changes in the Form-16, the notification has made concurrent changes in the format of TDS returns filed by the employer for the tax deducted from salary paid to employees.Chetan Chandak, Head of Tax Research, H&R Block India says, "The Part B of form 16 has been amended to provide the section wise break of various exemptions allowed under section 10 of the Income Tax Act. This is in line with the recent changes made in the tax return forms (ITRs) last year (i.e. A.Y. 2018-19). The new forms also ask for more elaborate section wise break-up of various Chapter- VI-A deductions. Though many corporates/employers were already providing this break in the Form 16s issued by them but it was difficult for the tax department to verify as to whether the employees/taxpayers are reporting these exemption/deductions in their tax return in-line with the form 16 issued by the employer. As these details were not uniform across Form16, TDS return - Form 24Q and Individual Tax Return forms - ITR, it was bit difficult for the tax department to track the tax evaders who were resorting to false claim (exemptions/deductions) to reduce the tax liability."Wadhwa says, "In new Form 24Q, it is mandatory to furnish the PAN of the lender in case any deduction has been claimed in respect of housing loan taken from a person other than a Financial Institution or the Employer. Earlier, it was optional."Chandak says, "In recent past there were many instances where the tax department unearthed many fraud cases where few tax professionals helped the taxpayers claiming unreasonably high refunds by resorting to false claims. Therefore the tax department has also made similar changes in Form 24Q - TDS return to bring uniformity across all the sources of information. This is with an intention to track the tax evaders who resort to illegal means for reducing the tax burden."Form-16 will also provide the break-up of all the tax-related deductions under section 80C to 80U you have claimed from salary paid by your employer. Soni says, "Just like tax-exempt allowance, the earlier Form-16 format specified the total amount of deductions that have been claimed as per chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act by the employee from employer. The new format will also provide the detailed break-up of deductions that have been claimed."Wadhwa says, "Similar changes have been made in respect of deduction available under Chapter VI-A and losses under the head house property. These changes would ensure that organizations follow common structure for TDS certificates and employees find it convenient to file the tax return on basis of TDS certificates. Further, it also gives a confirmation that the deductions and exemptions claimed by the employees in Income-tax return match with the information available in TDS certificate"This also means that if there is any additional tax break/deduction claimed by you while filing ITR (beyond the ones claimed against salary income from employer), the income tax department would be able to easily spot the extra claim. Soni advises, "If there is any deduction that you have not been claimed through your employer but is being claimed while filing ITR, then you should have the document proof for it, in case tax department has further queries regarding the same."Wadhwa says, "If an employee has received salary from his ex-employer or other employer during the previous year and same has been reported to the current employer for TDS purposes, then separate reporting is required for such salary income in new Form 16."Standard deduction, announced in the Budget 2018, has also been introduced in Form16 under the head 'Deduction under section 16'. Source: ET
3 of the Big 4 firms caught in IL&FS mess MUMBAI: The newly formed regulator for auditors is probing the role of three of the big four auditors in the alleged financial irregularity in Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services and two of its group companies.National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has asked Indian arms of EY, KPMG and Deloitte to furnish last few years' financial details of IL&FS, IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) and IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN), four people with direct knowledge of the matter told ET. "NFRA had issued a letter and sought we submit some financial details including audit reports and documents supporting that for the last three years," said a person working with IL&FS Group. "We understand that there would be a detailed scrutiny of the audits." He said the letters were issued to the firms in the last week of March.This is the first probe NFRA has undertaken after it came into force in November last year under the corporate affairs ministry. 68915381 NFRA would scrutinise the audited accounts and role of the auditors when they audited debt ridden IL&FS and its affiliate firms, the sources said. Investigations would also look into whether the audits were carried out in a negligent or fraudulent manner, said one of the persons close to the development.Some of the senior audit partners ET spoke with insisted it's incorrect to call the exercise undertaken by NFRA an investigation. "It's more like an audit quality review," said one.A legal expert who is aware of the development said the probe raises the question whether the regulator can investigate an irregularity retrospectively—that is, any alleged irregularity or scam that happened before it came into force. "When the alleged irregularity happened in IL&FS and its group companies, NFRA was non-existent. This point could be challenged in the courts as this probe is retrospective in nature," he said.None of the auditors commented on this point. Two of the people close to the development said the issue was never discussed internally after the NFRA notices. "As a policy, we cannot comment on company or client specific matter," a KPMG spokesperson said.Questionnaires sent to EY and the corporate affairs ministry did not elicit any response as of press time on Tuesday. Source: ET
Google blocks TikTok in India after court order NEW DELHI: The Chinese video app TikTok is no longer available in Google and Apple app stores in India after Madras HC prohibited its downloads, a setback for developer Bytedance Technology's efforts to tap users in a key market.TikTok, which allows users to create and share short videos with special effects, is hugely popular in India but some politicians say its content is inappropriate.The court asked Centre on April 3 to ban TikTok, saying it encouraged pornography and warning that sexual predators could target child users.The government sent a letter requesting Apple and Google to abide by the state court's order, according to an IT ministry official.Google blocked access to TikTok in its Play store in India to comply with the court's directive, a person with direct knowledge told Reuters on Tuesday. The app was not available in Apple's app store on Wednesday.Google said in a statement it does not comment on individual apps but adheres to local laws. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.A spokesman for TikTok in India declined to comment on the app's removal, saying the matter was still in the courts.The company had faith in the judicial system and was "optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by" its millions of users in India, he added.TikTok had been downloaded more than 240 million times in India, app analytics firm Sensor Tower said in February. More than 30 million users installed the app in January 2019, 12 times more than in the same month last year.Jokes, clips and footage related to India's thriving movie industry dominate the app's platform, along with memes and videos in which youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-sync and dance to popular music.Bytedance challenged the state court's ban order in India's Supreme Court last week, saying it went against freedom of speech rights in India.The top court had referred the case back to the state court, where a judge on Tuesday rejected Bytedance's request to put the ban order on hold, K. Neelamegam, a lawyer arguing against Bytedance in the case, said.The state court has requested written submissions from Bytedance in the case and has scheduled its next hearing for April 24.Salman Waris, a technology lawyer at TechLegis Advocates & Solicitors, said the legal action against Bytedance could set a precedent of Indian courts intervening to regulate content on social media and other digital platforms.In its Supreme Court filing, Bytedance argued that a "very minuscule" proportion of TikTok content was considered inappropriate or obscene.The company employs more than 250 people in India and had plans for more investment as it expands the business, it said. Source: ET
Power companies challenge GST on green certificates Are renewable energy certificates, bought by power companies, goods or services?Neither. And so, must be out of the indirect tax ambit, according to power companies which have suffered higher costs because of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).The power companies that buy these certificates to comply with the environmental norms challenged the levy through a writ petition filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.Power companies buy these certificates from renewable energy exchanges to abide by government norms that mandate that a certain percentage of power generated should be through renewable sources.The certificates are derivatives based on the power generated in green route. Most power generators buy renewable energy from their green peers, sometimes based abroad. These certificates also work as a source to buy the balance quantity of renewable energy that cannot be bought or generated directly by the power firms."The taxability of renewable energy certificates has been challenged as these are securities which are excluded from both goods and services. These scrips are traded every Wednesday on IEX (Indian Energy Exchange) and PXIL (Power Exchange India), the two exchanges for the trading purposes," said Abhishek A Rastogi, partner, Khaitan and Co.According to the power companies, a government circular that came out in June last year added to their woes. It talked about the applicability of GST on the renewable energy certificates at 12%. "It is hereby clarified that Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLCs) and other similar documents are classifiable under heading 4907 and attract 12% GST," it read."Taxing renewable energy certificates will prove to be fatal for the power consumers by further increasing the cost of electricity. The regulatory obligations to consume renewable energy as a part of the climate change initiative to control global warming and the taxability can only be decided by the court," said Harry Dhaul, director general of the Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI)."The circular provides for the taxability of renewable energy certificates and it will have to be determined in light of the statutory provisions," said Rastogi. Source: ET
Adani urges govt to give 'fair go' for Australian coal mine project Indian energy giant Adani has urged the Australian government to give its controversial coal mine project "a fair go" and indicated that the opposition party would not derail the proposed billion dollar project if it comes to power.Gautam Adani-led Adani Group entered Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north.The massive coal mine in Queensland state has been a controversial topic, with the project expected to produce 2.3 billion tonnes of low-quality coal.''All we're every asking for a fair go and to be treated like everyone else. I think at certain points, that has not been the case. We're certainly not whinging about it. We just want to get on with it now. We want a fair go," Adani Mining chief executive officer Lucas Dow, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation.He said the sort of scrutiny that the project was facing on the management plans was unprecedented.The Adani project which still require to clear few more approvals from the Queensland Government, including groundwater modelling, recently received the clearance from federal government for development.Commenting if the mine project could run any risk if the Labor Party comes to power, Dow said "I think (Federal Labor) has been crystal clear that if they are to form government they won't be in the habit of creating sovereign risk by ripping up the existing approvals."He said that he was satisfied by recent assurances given by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen."Shorten and Bowen have been at pains to say...they won't be creating sovereign risk and potential compensation requirements," he said.The federal approval came just before Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the federal election are set for next month.Dow denied directly lobbying with the Prime Minister for the final approval before the election announcement and said, ''We provided updates on both sides of politics, to be able to give people clarity in terms of exactly where our project was up to, what we need to be able to do, to be able to then step in and start delivering jobs for thousands of Queenslanders.''Meanwhile, environment groups have continued their campaign against the mine."We don't really know why these approvals were granted in such a rush," Christian Slattery of Australian Conservation Foundation said, adding "We have big concerns about the integrity of that process given that there was substantial pressure on the minister from other members of the Government."Last year, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten indicated the party's "skeptical" stance towards the project but said the approvals will not be revoked even if they win."We don't know what they'll be up to by the time we get into government. So we'll deal with facts and the situation we're presented with if we win the election in 24 weeks' time," he said."We'll be making decisions at that point based on the national interest. Of course we're not interested in sovereign risk or breaking contracts. We'll be guided by the best science and the national interest."Carmichael would be the largest coal mine in Australian and one of the biggest in the world.The Coalition has been split over the project - rural Queensland MPs have been strongly supportive, while urban Liberals have worried it could damage their electoral chances.The Opposition has been walking a similar political tightrope as it seeks to capture seats in central Queensland while holding off inner-city Greens challengers.Adani said last year it would fully fund the coal mine and rail project itself, but did not give an updated estimate of the cost of the mine.The mine previously estimated at about USD 2.9 billion. Source: ET
Valuation gap between IndiGo, SpiceJet likely to get narrow ET Intelligence Group: In an industry where the fall of one player brings handsome gains to the rivals, the attention that SpiceJet is getting from investors looks normal. But what may not be so obvious is the steeper gain that the stock has seen in the past two weeks since the troubles of rival Jet Airways worsened, compared with that of Inter-Globe Aviation that operates Indi-Go, the nation's largest airline.SpiceJet's stock has gained 36 per cent in two weeks through Tuesday to Rs 132, against an 11.8 per cent increase for Inter-Globe, which closed at Rs 1,583.Despite this recent high interest in both SpiceJet and InterGlobe, there is a marked shift in the way the Street is assessing the stocks. A key question gaining credence post the operational crisis of Jet Airways is the valuation premium that Inter-Globe enjoys over SpiceJet. The market expects this gap to reduce, and that explains the steeper gains in the stock price of the smaller airline.68915007 There are a few reasons for the valuation gap to narrow. One, SpiceJet has grabbed a large number of slots held by Jet Airways. These slots should serve well for the airline which has a market share of 13.5 per cent at the end of February. In the coming months, it is expected to gain incremental market share as Jet's operations have dwindled (it is operating just five aircraft, compared with as many as 120 a few months ago).Another factor is that SpiceJet has demonstrated better pricing power in comparison with its peers. The difference in pricing power of SpiceJet and Indigo is more prominent in routes beyond metros — it is estimated to be 10-15 per cent. Also, as SpiceJet flies more routes under the government's regional connectivity scheme, it has a higher potential to gain further market share and may improve its yields meaningfully. Analysts expect it to gain incremental market share of at least 2 per cent in the coming months.At present, Indigo has a market share of 43 per cent, which is more than three times that of SpiceJet. Inter-Globe's market capitalisation is close to eight times that of the smaller rival.On the valuation front, considering the estimated earnings for fiscal 2021, SpiceJet is trading at an EV/EBIDTA of 6.5, against Inter-Globe's 8.5. That is a discount of 24 per cent for SpiceJet.InterGlobe is expected to continue trading at a premium given its huge capacity and dominant market share, but the Street believes the 24 per cent gap to be too steep. It may come down in the coming months, as SpiceJet's revenue is expected to grow faster. Source: ET
Resurgent Nifty set to shed its underperformer tag vs peers Indian markets are fast closing the performance gap with other global markets, thanks to the pre-election rally and strong flows from off-shore funds. Until mid-February, the benchmark Nifty index was among the biggest underperformers globally. But after February 19, when the current leg of the rally in the Indian equities started, the Nifty soared 11.3 per cent in dollar terms, making it the best performing major global market index only after China. The top 20 global indices rose an average of 5 per cent during the period, data compiled from Bloomberg showed.Since February, while Indian markets gained momentum, other developed and emerging markets (EM) remained muted. For instance, South Korea's benchmark Kospi was up over 9 per cent till mid-February, but the index managed to grow only less than 2 per cent since then. Similarly, the US benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 11 per cent till mid-February after which it added just 1.9 per cent. Nifty's underperformance with Kospi was 12 per cent till February, but now the gap is only 1.5 per cent; while with Dow Jones, Nifty's underperformance was 14 per cent till February, but now the gap is down to 4.5 per cent.68915130 "EMs started witnessing FII inflows right from January 2019 as US bond yields started coming off. This led to flow of money away from the US to EMs," said Siddharth Khemka, head retail research at Motilal Oswal. "However, the flows weren't coming to India on account of several uncertainties including the geo-political tensions with Pakistan. From late-February there was a sudden rush among FIIs for Indian stocks since the tensions subsided and the macro-environment started looking better."Concerns over liquidity in debt markets along with political uncertainty and expensive valuations led the Nifty to correct 12 per cent between September and October 2018. From there, markets remained largely choppy until mid-February amid strong sell-off by foreign funds. Between September 2018 and January 2019, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pulled out Rs 35,000 crore from the Indian equities.However, things started turning in February 2019, post the Union Budget. The general elections was the biggest headwind market was facing during the time. Post February, markets started a preelection rally with opinion polls suggesting a comeback for the current National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government giving the Street hope of policy continuity. Since then FIIs started buying Indian shares aggressively. Stock exchange data show that FIIs have net purchased shares worth Rs 65,115 crore since February."The market sentiment was boosted by expectations that the incumbent government will come back to power ensuring policy continuity," said Gaurav Dua, head of research, Sharekhan.This rally was also supported by the buoyancy in some of the index heavyweights of the Nifty. For instance, shares of Reliance Industries have gained close to 20 per cent in 2019. 68904345 68902180 Source: ET
Google blocks Chinese app TikTok in India after court order NEW DELHI: The Chinese video app TikTok is no longer available in Google and Apple app stores in India after Madras HC prohibited its downloads, a setback for developer Bytedance Technology's efforts to tap users in a key market.TikTok, which allows users to create and share short videos with special effects, is hugely popular in India but some politicians say its content is inappropriate.The court asked Centre on April 3 to ban TikTok, saying it encouraged pornography and warning that sexual predators could target child users.The government sent a letter requesting Apple and Google to abide by the state court's order, according to an IT ministry official.Google blocked access to TikTok in its Play store in India to comply with the court's directive, a person with direct knowledge told Reuters on Tuesday. The app was not available in Apple's app store on Wednesday.Google said in a statement it does not comment on individual apps but adheres to local laws. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.A spokesman for TikTok in India declined to comment on the app's removal, saying the matter was still in the courts.The company had faith in the judicial system and was "optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by" its millions of users in India, he added.TikTok had been downloaded more than 240 million times in India, app analytics firm Sensor Tower said in February. More than 30 million users installed the app in January 2019, 12 times more than in the same month last year.Jokes, clips and footage related to India's thriving movie industry dominate the app's platform, along with memes and videos in which youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-sync and dance to popular music.Bytedance challenged the state court's ban order in India's Supreme Court last week, saying it went against freedom of speech rights in India.The top court had referred the case back to the state court, where a judge on Tuesday rejected Bytedance's request to put the ban order on hold, K. Neelamegam, a lawyer arguing against Bytedance in the case, said.The state court has requested written submissions from Bytedance in the case and has scheduled its next hearing for April 24.Salman Waris, a technology lawyer at TechLegis Advocates & Solicitors, said the legal action against Bytedance could set a precedent of Indian courts intervening to regulate content on social media and other digital platforms.In its Supreme Court filing, Bytedance argued that a "very minuscule" proportion of TikTok content was considered inappropriate or obscene.The company employs more than 250 people in India and had plans for more investment as it expands the business, it said. Source: ET
The Mumbai jobs case study that could've saved Jack Ma from a big controversy Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba, recently talked his way into a big controversy when he endorsed a 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week work routine for young professionals.To survive at Alibaba, one needs to work 12 hours a day, six days a week, he said. "To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss," said Ma, China's richest man. "If you want to join Alibaba, you need to be prepared to work 12 hours a day, otherwise why even bother joining."Looks like Ma's critics could do with a quick trip to Mumbai or, for that matter, even Delhi, where working long hours hardly raises any eyebrows, and where people think nothing of putting in extra hours at work.As per a post on Alibaba's official Weibo account, Ma had said that Alibaba didn't need workers who wanted a typical eight-hour office lifestyle.Ma's comments fanned a raging online fire about workers dying from high-levels of workplace stress. In March, Chinese techies had taken to GitHub — an online platform for code-sharers — under the banner 996.ICU to express dissent over their general working conditions.The topic in question — 996 work culture — indicates working hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. At a time when discussions on work-life balance make for a lively debate, this show of dissent quickly went on to become most popular topic on the site.So what was Ma thinking, endorsing such extreme overtime which he must have known would certainly cause a furore? Examples from offices in cities like Mumbai, maybe?We will never know, but here a look at what kind of hours the world's most prominent cities — including Delhi and Mumbai — put in at work.Maximum ways of the Maximum CityAn average employee in Mumbai works 3,315 hours a year — which is more than any other place on earth, a study by Swiss investment bank UBS has found. Which would mean that the maximum city — the city that never sleeps — is also the hardest working city in the world.Not just that. The vacation days Mumbai employees took — around 10 days a year — were also among the least in the world. The fewer vacations Mumbaikars took could be linked to the longer hours they work, UBS said.The study ranked 77 top cities on a range of key parameters like working hours and pay. As per the findings, workers in Mumbai, Hanoi, Mexico City, New Delhi and Bogota put in the longest hours in a year. At the other end of the spectrum, workers in Helsinki, Moscow, Copenhagen, Paris, Rome and Lagos logged the least hours.Along with Mumbai employees, those in cities like Los Angeles, Beijing, Hanoi and Lagos take the least or the shortest vacations.At 37 days a year, workers in Riyadh took the highest number of off days. Other cities where employees availed more than 30 days a year of holidays include Moscow, St Petersburg, Barcelona and Doha.Long hours, big purse? Fat chanceThe UBS study employed a very interesting yardstick — the iPhone X, which tops most millennials' wish list — to gauge if longest hours at work were also getting people the fattest of pay packets. Here's what it found:— A Mumbai worker will have to put in more than 900 hours of work to be able to afford the phone.— The same product would require the average Delhi worker to work for at least 800 hours.— On this parameter, India's top two cities are above just one global peer — Cairo (1,000 hours).In sharp contrast, workers in Zurich require just 38 hours of work to make enough for an iPhone X. Employees in Los Angeles, Geneva, Miami and Nicosia too will need to put in considerably fewer hours — less than 100 — for the same purpose. Source: ET
Rahul Gandhi maligning entire community by calling me thief: PM Narendra Modi Addressing a poll rally here, Modi also slammed the "dynastic politics" of Sharad Pawar and claimed the NCP chief had "fled" the poll arena from Madha Lok Sabha constituency as he sensed defeat.
Addressing a poll rally here, Modi also slammed the "dynastic politics" of Sharad Pawar and claimed the NCP chief had "fled" the poll arena from Madha Lok Sabha constituency as he sensed defeat.
