VIDEO: Fresh clashes in Hong Kong after huge march to China station.
Riot police baton-charge anti-government protesters seeking to keep the pressure up on the city's pro-Beijing leaders, after a mass rally outside a train station linking the finance hub to mainland China pic.twitter.com/R4PAJkMzqi
Venezuelan soldiers take part in a military parade to celebrate the 208th anniversary of Venezuela's declaration of independence in Caracas, Venezuela July 5. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS
The UK is going through a "political nervous breakdown", a former intelligence chief has told the BBC.
Sir John Sawers said the UK could have a prime minister who does "not have the standing that we have become used to in our top leadership" - a criticism of the two Tory leadership contenders.
The former MI6 boss was also critical of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Boris Johnson ally Iain Duncan Smith countered Sir John's remarks, saying "democracy may well frighten him".
Sir John's intervention comes as Jeremy Hunt and Mr Johnson battle it out to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
The billionaire financier is charged with running a sex-trafficking operation that brought dozens of girls as young as 14 to his opulent Upper East Side home.
Federal prosecutors appear to have resurrected a federal sex crimes case against the billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein by focusing on accusations that he sexually assaulted girls at his mansion in Manhattan — more than a decade after a widely criticized plea deal shielded him from similar charges in Florida.
Federal prosecutors are expected to unseal the new charges on Monday accusing Mr. Epstein, 66, of running a sex-trafficking operation that lured dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14, to his Upper East Side home, according to three law enforcement officials.
He was arrested on Saturday at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, after arriving on a private flight from France, two law enforcement officials said. The sex trafficking charges carry a combined maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison.
The new charges are a revival of a yearslong case against Mr. Epstein, who faced similar accusations involving girls who told the police they were brought to his mansion in South Florida and assaulted.
That case unraveled in 2008 after Mr. Epstein was offered a secret plea deal by federal prosecutors, one of whom is now in President Trump's cabinet.
In fact, Mr. Epstein has long had links to a wide array of high-profile officials, celebrities and business moguls — from Mr. Trump to Bill Clinton to Prince Andrew.
* Leaked memos show Sir Kim Darroch's scathing assessment of US President * UK's ambassador to the US questioned if White House 'will ever look competent' * He also said 'worst cannot be ruled out' over allegations of Russian collusion * The remarks prompted Trump ally Nigel Farage to call for Sir Kim to be replaced * Trump aides said Sir Kim's position was 'not tenable' and they expect him to go
Donald Trump attacked Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's ambassador to the US, last night, claiming he had 'not served the UK well' after secret memos from the envoy were leaked.
In a series of cables, Sir Kim gave a scathing assessment of the White House under the US President, questioning whether it 'will ever look competent'.
Last night, the Foreign Office began investigation into the leak, which revealed that Sir Kim also described Donald Trump's regime as 'inept' and 'dysfunctional'.
Justice Secretary David Gauke called the leak 'disgraceful' and said it was important for ambassadors to 'tell the truth'. However, Mr Trump's ally, Nigel Farage, called for Sir Kim to be sacked.
WNU Editor: It is safe to say that U.K. ambassador Kim Darroch's days in the U.S. are coming to an end. As to who leaked these memos? My gut tells me that the ambassador has made some enemies in the Foreign Office, and they have just derailed his career in the U.S..
More News On President Trump Saying That U.K. Ambassador Kim Darroch Has 'Not Served Britain Well'
Venezuela's self-declared interim president Juan Guaido said Sunday a new dialogue between the opposition and President Nicolas Maduro's government would be held in Barbados.
He did not specify a date for resumption of talks at the new venue, in the Caribbean, after earlier discussions stalled in Norway.
"In response to the mediation of the Kingdom of Norway (the opposition) will attend a meeting with representatives of the usurper regime in Barbados, to establish a negotiation on the end of the dictatorship," Guaido said in a statement.
* Alexis Tsipras conceded defeat after partial vote count showed the opposition had comfortably won election * Centre-right New Democracy party of Kyriakos Mitsotakis had 39.7 per cent of the vote, enough to win easily * PM-elect Mitsotakis is from one of Greece's top political families and is also the son of a former prime minister * Ahead of today's vote, three opinion polls predicted a clear victory for the conservative New Democracy party
Radical left-wing Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has conceded defeat after a partial vote count showed the conservative opposition had comfortably won a snap parliamentary election.
The centre-right New Democracy party of Kyriakos Mitsotakis had 39.7 per cent of the vote compared to Mr Tsipras' Syriza party's 31.5 per cent after nearly 60 per cent of ballots were tallied. Turn out in today's snap election was around 57 per cent.
Mr Tsipras's Syriza party has held power in the country for nearly five years, making him Greece's longest- serving crisis premier and youngest in almost half a century at 44.
A British-registered Syrian rights watchdog says that at least 544 civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured since a Russia-backed assault on the final rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria began two months ago.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which monitors casualties and has briefed UN agencies, accused the Russian military and its Syrian government ally on July 5 of deliberately targeting civilians in rebel-held Idlib Province and neighboring regions.
"The Russian military and its Syrian ally are deliberately targeting civilians with a record number of medical facilities bombed," Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
A top US diplomat has formally asked Germany to send troops to Syria to help fight the terrorist militia Islamic State. James Jeffrey said allies needed to provide technical support for the Kurdish-led opposition.
US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey has called on Germany to send military trainers, logistics specialists and technicians to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
"We want ground troops from Germany to partially replace our soldiers," Jeffrey said in an interview with the German Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency and the weekly Welt am Sonntag newspaper, before adding that he expected an answer from the German government this month.
The Defence Force is closely tracking a high-tech Chinese spy ship as it makes its way towards Australia ahead of this month's Talisman Sabre war games on the Queensland coast.
Multiple military sources have confirmed to the ABC they are preparing for the imminent arrival of the Auxiliary General Intelligence (AGI) vessel, which is expected to closely monitor the massive biennial joint United States-Australian exercises from just outside Australian territorial waters.
On Saturday night, the Type 815G Dongdiao-class electronic surveillance ship was believed to be north of Papua New Guinea, having begun its voyage south towards Australia late last week.
* Iran has announced its second violation in a week of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. * The Iranian government announced Sunday, the end of a 60-day deadline given to the deal's remaining signatories, that it has begun enriching uranium above the 3.67% purity threshold set forth in the nuclear agreement. * On Monday, Iran announced that its stockpile of low-enriched uranium had grown beyond the 300 kg limit set in the nuclear deal. The country also said it would start enriching uranium at weapons-grade levels on July 7.
Iran announced its second violation in a week of the landmark deal meant to slow the country's march to a nuclear bomb.
Iranian officials announced Sunday that Iran has increased uranium enrichment beyond the purity limits set in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an accord commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, CNN reported.
Iranian government spokesperson Ali Rabiei said that his country has started enriching uranium above a concentration of 3.67%, the agreed upon threshold. Low-enriched uranium at that level is suitable for powering nuclear reactors, but it is far from weapons grade.
Ever since the guns fell silent in 1945, Europe has always been in third place in the global arms race.
Nations such as Britain, France and Sweden could devise weapons of clever and innovative design. But when it came to weapons technology, the innovation came from the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, who were willing to spend vast amounts of treasure on military research and development.
But is a new generation of weapons coming that will put Europe on a par with America and Russia?
WNU Editor: Will a coalition of European countries be willing to spend the hundreds in billions to develop and produce a 6th generation fighter jet? If recent history is any indication, the answer is a big no.
BRUSSELS chiefs have been warned to deliver significant reforms to make the EU more democratic after withering criticisms of the process to replace Jean-Claude Juncker.
IRAN has been rocked by a massive 5.7-magnitude earthquake which killed at least one person and devastated building and streets, according to local media.
AN ASTONISHING new British fighter jet which will fire lasers from the sky and control swarms of armed drones to attack multiple targets simultaneously with devastating effect has attracted a vital new Swedish partner – after being deliberately left out of a Franco- German strike aircraft project.
THE 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck California on Friday is believed to have somehow killed untold numbers of bees after disturbing footage emerged of swarms of insects lying dead on the ground - what has been going on?
UK TAXPAYERS will have to pay thousands of pounds to bring a Ugandan lesbian asylum seeker back to the UK after the High Court ruled she was unlawfully detained and deported, even after having been found in bed with a man.
THREE prominent Iranian scientists have been detained in the US after being accused of violating sanctions amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.
EARTHQUAKES keep shaking up the world today as a series temblors higher than magnitude-5.0 have already occurred on Monday in countries including Indonesia and Iran. Here are the latest earthquakes around the world today.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has hit back at the UK Ambassador to Washington after his comments about the current White House administration were leaked - what has been going on?
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Amnesty International urgently called for international pressure and an immediate U.N. investigation to help end what it says are possible crimes against humanity in the Philippine president’s bloody anti-drug crackdown.The London-based rights watchdog said in a study released Monday that extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s 3-year-old campaign remain rampant and the scale of abuses has reached “the threshold of crimes against humanity.”
About 6,600 people, most of them accused of petty drug crimes, have been killed in the crackdown Duterte launched as his centerpiece project when he took office in mid-2016. But nongovernment groups claim a much higher death toll, including many suspects killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen human rights groups suspect were financed by police officers.
There was no immediate government reaction to Amnesty’s report but Duterte and the police have denied any authorization of extrajudicial killings. Duterte, however, has repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death in televised speeches and encouraged law enforcers to shoot suspects who fight back. He has warned the crackdown would be more dangerous for suspects in the final three years of his six-year term.
Amnesty said Bulacan province north of the capital has become “the country’s bloodiest killing field” after some officers involved in the crackdown were transferred there from the Manila metropolis, which used to be the “epicenter of killings.”
“Within marginalised communities, police continue to kill with total impunity, fueling a pervasive climate of fear in cities, towns and neighbourhoods,” Amnesty said in its study. “The reliance on violent and repressive policies continues to perpetuate human rights violations and abuses in the country.”
The group said it investigated 20 drug-related incidents in which 27 people were killed across Bulacan from May 2018 to last April by interviewing witnesses, families of the dead, local officials and rights activists.
Amnesty concluded half of the incidents “appear to have been extrajudicial executions” based on witnesses’ accounts and other information. The others were murky due to difficulty in obtaining information about the killings “although their broad outlines were consistent with patterns of previous extrajudicial executions,” the group said.
Slain suspects, who struggled to earn a living, were accused of being “big-time” drug dealers, Amnesty said, citing interviews with families of suspects. Police officers always justified the deaths by claiming that suspects fought back during so-called “buy-bust” operations, where undercover agents posed as drug buyers, but Amnesty said it doubted the police reports, saying they did not “meet the feeblest standards of credibility.”
Some suspects who police claimed fired back were too poor to buy a gun. Others died after police forcibly broke into homes and opened fire then later claimed the suspects fought back after sensing they were being entrapped in police “buy-bust” transactions, Amnesty said, citing accounts by suspects’ relatives and witnesses.
Amnesty also questioned the legitimacy and accuracy of drug “watch lists,” which it said contain the names of drug suspects targeted in police raids.
The group called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to immediately initiate an investigation into the killings. It asked an International Criminal Court prosecutor to hasten the examination of complaints sparked by the massive deaths for The Hague-based tribunal to open a separate investigation.
Foreign governments should “use all diplomatic and political tools at your disposal to put pressure on the Philippines to immediately end all crimes” committed under the crackdown and stop foreign aid or any support that may contribute to the commission of human rights violations by police officers,” Amnesty said.
(ATHENS, Greece) — Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis comfortably won Greece’s parliamentary elections Sunday, delivering a stinging blow to leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras after a tumultuous four years in office as the country struggled through a crippling financial crisis.
With more than 90% of votes counted, Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party had 39.8% of the votes, compared to 31.5% for Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party.
The extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party, founded by neo-Nazi supporters, narrowly failed to make the 3% threshold needed to enter parliament — a huge fall of support for a party that had become the third-largest in the Greek legislature during the country’s financial crisis.
The results indicated Greek voters bucked a recent trend in Europe of citizens rejecting the political mainstream and turning to populist and euroskeptic parties.
“I asked for a strong mandate to change Greece. You offered it generously,” Mitsotakis said in his victory speech. “From today, a difficult but beautiful fight begins.”
Mitsotakis. 51, vowed to abide by his campaign pledges to cut taxes, attract investment and improve the job market. He had been ahead in opinion polls for three years and managed to build a sizeable lead.
“Greeks deserve better and the time has come for us to prove it,” he said.
Mitsotakis was scheduled to be officially sworn in as prime minister Monday, and was expected to announce his Cabinet later in the day.
Tsipras conceded defeat and phoned Mitsotakis to congratulate him.
“The citizens have made their choice. We fully respect the popular vote,” Tsipras said in a speech from central Athens.
He said his party now would work to protect the rights of working Greeks as “a responsible but dynamic opposition” to the government.
Tsipras said he hoped New Democracy’s return to government “will not lead to vengeance … particularly toward the significant achievements to protect the social majority and the workers.”
The election was the first since Greece emerged from three international bailouts that were dependent on successive governments implementing strict austerity measures, including major tax hikes and spending cuts. The financial crisis saw unemployment and poverty levels skyrocket and the economy shrink by a quarter.
Mitsotakis, the son of a former prime minister, brother of a former foreign minister and uncle to a newly elected mayor of Athens, fought during the campaign to shed the image of family privilege.
He pledged to make Greece more business-friendly, attract foreign investment, to modernize the country’s notorious bureaucracy and to cut taxes.
Tsipras, 44, called the election three months ahead of schedule after Syriza suffered a severe defeat in European Union and local elections in May and early June.
He had led his small Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, party to power in 2015 on promises to repeal the austerity of Greece’s first two bailouts. But after months of tough negotiations with international creditors that saw Greece nearly crash out of the European Union’s joint currency, he was forced to change tack and sign up to a third bailout that imposed spending cuts and tax hikes.
He also cemented a deal with neighboring North Macedonia under which that country changed its name from plain “Macedonia.” Although praised by Western allies, the deal angered many Greeks, who consider use of the term by their neighbor to harbor expansionist aims on the Greek province of the same name.
___
Associated Press writers Demetris Nellas and Stefania Vourazeri contributed to this report.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran increased its uranium enrichment Sunday beyond the limit allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, inching its program closer toward weapons-grade levels while calling for a diplomatic solution to a crisis heightening tensions with the U.S.
Iran’s move, coupled with earlier abandoning the deal’s limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile, intensifies pressure on Europe to find any effective way around U.S. sanctions that block Tehran’s oil sales abroad.
But the future of the accord that President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. from a year ago remains in question. While Iran’s recent measures could be easily reversed, Europe has struggled to respond, even after getting a 60-day warning that the increase was coming.
Meanwhile, experts fear a miscalculation in the crisis could explode into open conflict, as Trump already has nearly bombed Iran over Tehran shooting down a U.S. military surveillance drone.
International reaction to Iran’s decision came swiftly, with Britain warning Iran to “immediately stop and reverse all activities” violating the deal, Germany saying it is “extremely concerned,” and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime critic of the accord, urging world powers to impose so-called “snapback sanctions” on Tehran.
The European Union says parties to the deal are discussing a possible emergency meeting after Iran’s announcement, with EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic saying the bloc is “extremely concerned” about the move. There was no immediate response from the White House.
At a news conference, Iranian officials said the new level of uranium enrichment would be reached later in the day, but did not provide the percentage they planned to hit. Under the nuclear deal, the cap for enrichment was set at 3.67%, a percentage closely monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.
“Within hours, the technical tasks will be done and enrichment above 3.67% will begin,” Iran nuclear agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said. “We predict that the IAEA measurements early tomorrow morning will show that we have gone beyond 3.67%.”
The IAEA said it was aware of Iran’s comments and “inspectors in Iran will report to our headquarters as soon as they verify the announced development.”
Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made remarks in a video Saturday about Iran’s need for 5% enrichment. Bushehr, Iran’s only nuclear power plant, is now running on imported fuel from Russia that’s enriched to around 5%.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini outlining the steps it had taken, said Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister. Discussions with European powers are continuing and ministerial-level talks are planned later this month, he said.
“We will give another 60-day period, and then we will resume the reduction of our commitments,” Araghchi said, without elaborating.
On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron told his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, in a phone call that he is trying to find a way by July 15 to resume the dialogue between Iran and Western partners. It wasn’t clear if July 15 carried any importance. The U.S. has called for a special IAEA meeting for Wednesday to discuss Iran.
Kamalvandi stressed that Iran will continue to use only slower, first-generation IR-1 centrifuges to increase enrichment, as well as keep the number of centrifuges in use under the 5,060-limit set by the nuclear deal. Iran has the technical ability to build and operate advanced centrifuges that work faster but is barred from doing so under the deal.
“For the enrichment we are using the same machines with some more pressure and some special technical work,” he said. “So we don’t have an increase in the number of centrifuges for this purpose.”
But Kamalvandi stressed that Iran is able to continue enrichment “at any speed, any amount and any level.”
Enriched uranium at the 3.67% level is enough for peaceful pursuits but is far below weapons-grade levels of 90%.
The decision to ramp up uranium enrichment came less than a week after Iran acknowledged breaking the deal’s 300-kilogram (661-pound) limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile. Experts warn higher enrichment and a growing stockpile narrow the one-year window Iran would need to have enough material for an atomic bomb, something Iran denies it wants but the deal prevented.
The steps taken so far by Iran show it is more interested in applying political pressure than moving toward a nuclear weapon, said Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association. He said Iran would need at least 1,050 kilograms (2,315 pounds) of low-enriched uranium to make the core of a single nuclear bomb, then would have to enrich it to 90%.
“Iran is not racing toward the bomb as some allege but these are calibrated moves,” Kimball told The Associated Press. However, “if Iran and the United States remain on the current course, the agreement is indeed in jeopardy.”
Netanyahu urged the international community to punish Iran for its decision.
“It is a very, very dangerous step,” he said. “I’m asking you, not to provoke but out of joint knowledge of history and what happens when aggressive totalitarian regimes can cross the threshold toward things that are very dangerous to us all. Take the steps that you promised. Enact the sanctions.”
However, Kimball cautioned against that.
“Iran is clearly not going to enter negotiations for a new deal if these sanctions are in place,” he said. “This a self-made, Trump administration crisis because it has been taking drastic measures to dismantle the (deal) without a viable Plan B.”
___
Associated Press writers Kiyoko Metzler in Vienna, Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
(PAMPLONA, Spain) — Five people were hospitalized after the opening bull run of this year’s San Fermin festival in Pamplona, including two Americans and a Spaniard who were gored by bulls, officials in the northern Spanish city said Sunday.
A 46-year old man from San Francisco was gored in the neck in the city’s bullring, at the end of the 850-meter (930-yard) course. His injuries required surgery, the regional government reported.
A 23-year old man from Florence, Kentucky and a 40-year-old Spanish man were both gored in the thigh. Two young Spanish men sustained head injuries.
The running of the bulls in Pamplona draws about 1 million spectators every year. During the nine-day San Fermin fiesta, six bulls are run every morning in the city’s narrow streets and then killed in afternoon bullfights.
Hundreds of “runners” race ahead of or next to the bulls, while the more risk-averse watch from balconies. Some Americans come to follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, who immortalized the Pamplona festival in his 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.”
The first run of this year’s festival run featured bulls from the Puerto de San Lorenzo cattle breeder.
The pack dashed together along the cobblestoned, barricaded street course. Toward the end, one of the bulls stumbled briefly, causing panic and at least one goring when it resumed the race and charged at some of the racers.
The local Red Cross said emergency personnel attended to 48 people with less serious or minor injuries, including two who were trampled by the racing bulls.
The run, which lasted 2 minutes and 41 seconds, came after the festival’s official opening — or “Chupinazo” — on Friday, when tens of thousands of party-goers shower each other with wine and champagne in a packed square.
The annual festival also includes music performances, traditional sports and dance displays, a religious procession on Sunday to honor the local patron, a firework competition and endless partying.
(LONDON) — Britain’s ambassador to the United States described the Trump administration as “diplomatically clumsy and inept” and said he doubted it would become “substantially more normal,” according to a leaked diplomatic cable published Sunday.
The memo was one of several leaked documents published by the Mail on Sunday in which Ambassador Kim Darroch made highly negative statements about the government of Britain’s closest ally.
“We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,” Darroch wrote in one memo.
The United States and the U.K. enjoy what each describe as a “special relationship” that has held strong since World War II. But the ambassador communicated deep unease with Trump’s foreign policies, which have broken with Britain’s on key issues such as climate change and preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Britain’s Foreign Office did not challenge the authenticity of the leaked documents, which covered the period of 2017 to the present. It called the leak “mischievous behavior” and said the public expects diplomats to provide honest assessments of the politics in the countries where they are posted.
The Foreign Office said the leaks would not harm the productive relationship between the British government and the Trump White House. A formal investigation of the leak may be set in motion in the coming days.
It is customary for senior British diplomats posted overseas to file straightforward memos to senior ministers and security services analysts back home so that political trends and possible threats to British interests can be gauged, but it is unusual for a large number of them to be made public.
Justice Secretary David Gauke called the leak “disgraceful” but said Britain “should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it.”
The memos also characterized Trump’s policy on Iran as “incoherent, chaotic.” Trump has frustrated European allies by withdrawing the United States from a complex deal designed to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons and has seemed in recent weeks to be on the verge of armed conflict with Iran.
The ambassador said he did not believe Trump’s public explanation for calling off a planned military strike against Iran last month because of concern about possible civilian casualties. He said it is more likely the strike was cancelled at the last minute because Trump felt it would be a liability in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.
Darroch said there are doubts about whether the White House “will ever look competent” and that the only way to communicate with the president is by being simple and blunt.
He said that while Trump had been “dazzled” by British pageantry on a state visit hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in June, the successful visit would not lead to a fundamental shift in Trump’s priorities.
“This is still the land of America First,” he wrote.
Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind said the contents of the leaked cables were not surprising or troublesome but that he was concerned such a large cache of embassy documents had been made available to the newspaper.
“I’m not remotely concerned by what the ambassador said,” Rifkind said. “He was doing his job properly and for the most part, I agreed with his comments.”
Since the memos and telegrams dated back only to 2017, “not that many people will have had access to all the documents and that might help them trace who was responsible,” he said.
Darroch’s views may lead to some awkwardness, especially since Trump said shortly after his election in 2016 that Brexiteer Nigel Farage would make an excellent British ambassador to the United States.
Trump has not hesitated to inject himself into Britain’s political fray, repeatedly criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit negotiating strategy and praising both Farage and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a strong contender to become the next prime minister.
In their first major protest since an unprecedented break-in at the government complex last week, tens of thousands of Hong Kong demonstrators marched to a controversial railway terminus Sunday in a symbolic attempt to bring their grievances to Beijing’s doorstep. As the day drew to a close, the peaceful protest once again culminated in a late-night confrontation with riot police who arrived en masse shortly after 10 p.m.
The holdout protesters still gathered on the streets were declared an “illegal assembly” and police repeatedly warned them to disperse or force could be used. At least two arrests were caught on livefeeds from the scene, but protesters mostly retreated as columns of police advanced to clear the area.
Earlier in the day, organizers estimated 230,000 people attended a march billed as an opportunity to take the month-long protest movement into a new neighborhood and engage with mainland Chinese visitors to the city. Police said the crowd size maxed out at 56,000.
While the previous anti-government protests have mostly converged near the city’s political center, Sunday’s march hopped across the harbor for an inaugural rally in Kowloon, a peninsula connected to the mainland. The afternoon’s route forged through the heart of the Chinese tourist district and ended at a high-speed train that links the territory to the rest of China.
As they snaked through mega-malls and high-end hotels, protesters said they aimed to win over residents of the mainland, where news coverage has mostly been limited to state media’s anti-protester invectives.
“What little the mainland people might know about these demonstrations is incorrect,” Cherry Chow, a 21-year-old student, tells TIME. Chinese media, she said, paints a picture of violence and chaos. “They don’t show that most of us are actually peaceful.”
Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese enclave, has been seized by a spiraling political crisis this summer that kicked off over legislation that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland. The proposed law inflamed fears about the former British colony’s freedoms and independent judiciary—protected after its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997—and also underscored the depth of anxiety over its relationship to Beijing.
Massive protests, which drew up to two million people, forced the government to suspend the bill. But the move did little to pacify public anger. Protesters’ initial demands for the outright cancellation of the bill and for the city’s unelected, Beijing-backed leader to step down have since swelled into broader aspirations for genuine democracy, with some even agitating for independence from China.
As marchers gathered at a park along the harbor-front Sunday, their demands included a call for universal suffrage, and some waved banners that said, “Dissolve the communist party, return my Hong Kong.”
Protesters carried brochures in the simplified Chinese used on the mainland, while giving loudspeaker speeches that targeted Mandarin-speaking visitors, as opposed to the Cantonese-speaking locals. In front of a mall, protesters stopped to sing China’s national anthem and urged shoppers to join in the march. Some held up signs with QR codes scannable by apps popular on the mainland and linking to info on the protests.
“By spreading this message for [mainlanders] to bring back home, they will talk amongst themselves, and some will come to understand our point of view,” says a 22-year-old student who asked to be identified by the initials W.K. Defying Beijing’s heavy-handed censorship and educating citizens about the unrest may add pressure on the Chinese government “to change their policy towards Hong Kong,” he added.
Normally packed with suitcase-totting travelers, the commercial mecca was uncharacteristically quiet until the marchers rolled through, chanting their demands while cooling themselves with fans calling for “Democracy NOW!” Pharmacies, clothing outlets and eateries continued business as usual, though several mainland tour groups had previously announced they would not be stopping by the retail zone while protesters descended on the area.
Some visitors TIME spoke with said they were unaware of the protests roiling Hong Kong in recent weeks.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” said a mainland student observing the march and who asked to be identified only as Z. “[Seeing this many people] makes me kind of scared. I’m worried that violence might break out.”
Tom, a 24-year-old protester who works in engineering, said the march presented an opportunity to give mainland tourists a taste of the freedoms that distinguish Hong Kong as China’s freest city.
“We want them to know [people can] peacefully to express their demands in a place where there is still freedom because there’s no such opportunity for them…on the mainland,” he says.
Before marchers arrived at the designated end point, the new, multi-billion-dollar West Kowloon station, police walled off the facility with large barricades. Local media reported that ticket sales were suspended for the afternoon. The station, which opened in September, courted controversy after part of it was leased to Beijing and subject to Chinese jurisdiction, effectively allowing Chinese police to operate on Hong Kong soil and setting off alarms over Beijing’s encroachment.
Anti-China tensions peaked on July 1, the 22nd anniversary of the territory’s retrocession to the mainland. While hundreds of thousands of protesters staged an annual, peaceful march, their event was overshadowed when a separate, smaller group smashed their way through the legislative council’s fortified glass and vandalized the building. The enraged protesters covered the meeting chamber with graffiti, overturned cabinets and tore up Hong Kong’s mini-constitution. They also blacked out the part of the city’s official emblem that says “China” while leaving the part that says Hong Kong visible.
In a bid to reframe the protest narrative, organizers of Sunday’s march reiterated calls for a peaceful day and said there was no intention of staying and occupying the train station after the march finished.
“We are the most elegant protesters on the earth. Please protect this elegance today,” organizer Ventus Lau said at the outset.
—With reporting by Kamakshi Ayyar, Laignee Barron, Aria Hangyu Chen and Hillary Leung / Hong Kong
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TN NEET Merit List 2019 Declared- The TN NEET Merit List for the MBBS and BDS admissions has released by Selection committee for medical admissions in Tamil Nadu on 06th July 2019. The candidates who have applied for admission to medical colleges can check result at the official website, tnmedicalselection.org. The Tamil Nadu MBBS rank list 2019 for admission to 85% state quota MBBS and BDS seats will be derived from the NEET score.
Latest Update: According to Indian Express, the selection committee of DME has released Tamil Nadu Merit List on 6th July 2019
TN NEET Merit List 2019 Date
Candidates can track their application status of NEET MBBS Tamil Nadu Rank List from the official website i.e, tnmedicalselection.org. The admission authority, DME Tamil Nadu will prepare state rank list for admission to nearly 3950 MBBS and 1000 BDS seats in various medical and dental colleges of the state. Students who have appeared in the NEET Examination can get the TN NEET Merit List now. As per the report, TN NEET Merit List 2019 has available from 6th July 2019. Here we have provided a direct link to download your Tamil Nadu NEET 2019 Rank List.
Tamil Nadu NEET Rank List 2019 – Overview
Description
Details
Organization Name
Directorate of Medical Education (DME), Tamil Nadu
On the basis of Tamil Nadu NEET Merit list, students will grant admission medical and dental colleges under 85% state quota seats. While the counseling for the remaining 15% seats in all the government medical colleges will be reserved for students selected under All India Quota. The counseling for AIQ seats is going to do by Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) based on NEET scores. The link to check the merit list of Tamil Nadu MBBS/BDS 2019 will be available here.
TN NEET Merit List is expected to be released on 06th or 08th July 2019. DME, Tamil Nadu will release the state merit list for all the registered and eligible candidates. Based on the scores mentioned in the NEET UG 2019 result, the state merit list will be prepared and published. The eligible aspirants will be required to register for counseling as per the stipulated date and time.
Tamil Nadu NEET Merit List Pdf | www.tnmedicalselection.org
After the publication of NEET Tamilnadu Rank List 2019 Pdf, aspirants will be required to report for Tamil Nadu MBBS counseling 2019 process. During the counseling process, they have to provide their choices of colleges and courses, in which they wish to get admission. Based on these colleges and courses, Tamil Nadu MBBS state merit rank, availability of seats, reservation criteria and other details, the admission to Tamil Nadu MBBS 2019 will be granted. The allotment seats will be done on the basis of candidate’s merit position in the rank list, choice opted and considering the other factors like reservation and eligibility.
Steps to check Tamil Nadu NEET 2019 Rank List
Visit the official website, tnmedicalselection.org
Click on the link Tamil Nadu NEET Rank List.
The page will be directed, and Tamil Nadu MBBS NEET Rank List opens in PDF format.
Students can Find name or registration number.
Download and take a print out of it for future reference.
Direct link to download TN NEET Merit List
Provisional rank list for MBBS/BDS 2019-2020 session (Government Quota)
NEW DELHI: The government will take a carrot-and-stick approach to address indiscipline among some power distribution companies in the proposed succession scheme to the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (Uday).Coupled with other proposed reforms, such as disallowing commercial losses of more than 15% to be passed on in consumer tariffs and deferring of power price hikes by regulators, the government expects to set right the electricity distribution network — the weakest but the most critical link for consumer interface in the power sector.Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, said the government is examining performance of Uday and would improve it. The government is likely to revise targets and parameters of each state depending on their issues and past performances. There will be funding available as reward to improving states for investment in initiatives such as installation of smart meters, aerial bunch cabling and system upgrade. The present scheme did not have dedicated funds for these measures, a senior government official said.The power ministry has been allocated nearly Rs 10,200 crore towards schemes such as Integrated Power Development Scheme, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and strengthening of systems in the budget. The official said the ministry might have to seek more funds for the second phase of Uday.Uday financial incentives and additional funds towards network upkeep will be available to distribution utilities that meet the targets in the given timeline. The government official said performance of each state is being reviewed. "A micro study will be conducted on Uday trajectory and reasons for non-achievement in some states. There are about 7-8 states that have failed in achieving their targets, upsetting the scheme."Uday in its present form envisages reducing debt burden of distribution companies by entrusting 75% of their loans to state governments. The financial parameters included issuing bonds for the remaining 25% debt, reducing commercial losses and gap between cost and supply of power, regular tariff revision. While the operational parameters included metering at feeder level and distribution transformer level, connections to all households, installing smart metering, feeder segregation and distribution of LEDs. Increasing debt and overdues of distribution utilities over the last nine months has drawn criticism to Uday.
By Ashok V DesaiNirmala Sitharaman's Budget was an improvement on Arun Jaitley's in a few respects. Jaitley routinely gave lots of grants of Rs 50/100 crore to many NGOs, which were presumably on the right side of the ruling party. These were missing in Sitharaman's Budget. Jaitley's favourite organisations would probably continue to be patronised. But there was no expansion of their number.The second respect in which it differed from Jaitley's Budgets was that although Sitharaman gave the longest speech in my memory, there was not a single figure in it. The Budget documents were, of course, full of figures — they can hardly do otherwise — but none of them figured in her speech. I got the impression that while her revenue and expenditure departments made up the Budget, she took not the smallest interest in it. She must have been the first finance minister to do so, just as she was the first one to exchange the portfolio for a bright red cloth bag.The Budget emerged centuries ago as an instrument for Parliament to control the volume and direction of the monarch's expenditure. It was meant to make the monarch — in our context, the government — responsible for what he or she did with the money he or she raised from his people. Sitharaman is apparently quite unaware of this obligation. It may be because our MPs take the duty of making the government accountable very lightly: debates on the Budget are some of the least attended in our Parliament.The third respect in which it differed from all previous Budgets — and not just Jaitley's — was that macroeconomics was simply missing from her speech. As I said, the primary function of a Budget is to control government expenditure and limit it to what the representatives of the people approve. But as governments grew in size, both their Budget balance and their tax and expenditure policies had serious effects on the national economy. Parliaments are supposed to watch and control these effects. This function was entirely forgotten by Sitharaman. She did not err. Simply, it is her experience that Parliament does not care.Old HatSo, what does Parliament care about? It cares about what she talked about. It was all about controls, subsidies, fashions, prejudices and crazes that parliamentarians — in her case, mostly those of her party — get excited about. Election to legislatures, inter alia, gives their members power and resources to pursue their foibles. Some of them have some rationale. But pensions for shopkeepers, payment platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), cattle-feed marketing… these are just a few examples of unnecessary foibles.Politicians can indulge in them because they have access to free money from taxes paid by the people and debts incurred by governments in their name. Democracy has considerable reputation across the world. But in India, it has evolved into a sometimes lucrative but often ludicrous game. This is not an argument against democracy. I would rather live under the Indian democracy than the political arrangements in most of the world's nations. But after 70 years of evolution, our democracy has become something unique, somewhat peculiar, worthy of rational reform.Ever since the early 1990s, we talk glibly of reforms. We mean economic reforms. But we also deserve some political reforms by now. That is a big agenda. Let us start with something more achievable.It would be worthwhile to appoint a parliamentary commission on what is appropriate for the State to spend people's money on, and what it should leave to for-profit and non-profit organisations. We got confused on this with good reason: we started as a socialist democracy. But under the present political regime, this socialism has blossomed into something quite Indian. We only have to read our Budget speeches to see how bizarre it has become. It is time to confine GoI finances and activities to what is in the interests of the nation, and nothing else.New HousesOne way of doing so would be to have two houses of Parliament. One should be elected by proportional representation, with elimination of parties and candidates who get the least votes up to the point where the largest party would have a majority. The other should be elected by income-tax (I-T) payers, with votes in proportion to the tax they pay. The first house would pass the expenditure Budget: people's representatives would decide what to spend on. The second house would approve the revenue Budget: taxpayers would decide the level of taxes and borrowings.The two houses would have to agree on the Budget. The compromise they reach would optimise the finance at the command of the government and the uses it is put to. This is not the only possibility. One can think of other options that might be better. My argument here is just that the Budget has lived its life, and deserves rebirth.The writer is former chief economist, ministry of finance, GoI
NEW DELHI: Tax authorities would soon start targeting undisclosed overseas assets of individuals, who had acquired those when they were residents in India but had since become non-residents. Changes proposed to the black money law as part of the 2019-20 budget are aimed at covering such non-residents who possess undeclared overseas assets, a government official said. The move comes amid reports of many high-net-worth individuals moving out of India and changing their residency status. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday proposed to change the definition of 'assessee' retrospectively from July 1, 2015, to include a non-resident or resident but not ordinarily resident, who was residing in India in the year before an undisclosed asset was acquired.Incidentally, the black money law covers the direct owner of an asset as well as a beneficial owner. The law was part of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government's big crackdown on black money in its first term. It had offered an amnesty scheme, giving one last opportunity to people to come clean and declare their overseas assets with a 30% tax and 30% penalty. 70119338 Under the law, tax evaders will have to pay 30% tax plus a penalty of 90%. They could also face up to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The changes to the Act had become imperative to give more teeth to the authorities to go after tax evaders, who may have changed their residency status. India is now receiving information on assets held overseas by Indians under various global treaties, making it easier for authorities to nab evaders.
BENGALURU: Cash-rich Indian IT services companies may now offer more dividends to return cash to shareholders, against the recent norm of share buybacks that have become less attractive with the budget proposing to introduce a new tax."Buyback is the most efficient way to return capital in India because it was not taxed earlier. It also helps companies improve the value when they think the market is not fairly pricing the stock," said V Balakrishnan, a former finance chief of Infosys. "Suddenly you tax buyback, companies will shift to dividend because buyback comes with its own hassles."Share buybacks by listed companies aren't taxed currently, but there is a 15% tax on dividend payment. To discourage companies from using this loophole, the budget has proposed a 20% tax on the money spent on share buybacks. Technology services companies have been rewarding shareholders by buying back shares and issuing dividends. Top companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro returned more than Rs 40,725 crore to stockholders through share buyback in the past one year.70119666 Infosys has a stated strategy of returning 70% of free cash flow to shareholders, while TCS returns most of the cash flow to its shareholders. The most aggressive in using the buyback route in recent years has been Wipro, as it repurchased 14% of shares with three buybacks done over the past four years.Equity analysts said the proposed tax would impact the stock performance of these companies over the next few days. "With the new buyback tax, the government would gain Rs 8,145 crore (based on last fiscal year's total buyback of Rs 40,725 crore in the IT sector)," Madhu Babu, an IT analyst at Centrum, wrote in a note to clients. "Select midcaps like Persistent Systems, Cyient (and) Mphasis which could have been companies with potential regular buybacks stand impacted sentimentally."The brokerage also expects higher negative sentimental impact on Wipro. It was understood that such a proposal to tax distribution of capital through buyback would come sooner or later, said Kuldeep Koul, lead analyst (IT services), at ICICI Securities. "Companies may still go for a buyback, the impact will be on effective return. But between a dividend and a buyback, buyback will still be beneficial," Koul said.Brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher wrote in a note it would retain its "underweight" stand on IT, citing the impact of the proposed tax on buyback of shares.
By Anand RadhakrishnanSetting the tone for the new government, the Union Budget 2019-20 emphasises boosting infrastructure development, improving credit flow through recapitalisation of public sector banks (PSBs), addressing the non-banking finance companies (NBFC) issue, boosting foreign flows and a steady social sector spending to provide basic amenities to all.At the same time, the budget shows intention to follow fiscal consolidation path by reducing fiscal deficit estimate to 3.3% for FY20 and 3% for the next two years thereafter. In the backdrop of global trade tensions, the government intends to make use of opportunity by inviting global companies to set up manufacturing plants here.The government has proposed to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) that promoter holding limit be reduced from 75% to 65%. If approved, this would provide incremental equity supply over the next three to four years. On a case-to-case basis, the government intends to reduce its holding below 51% in certain centre-owned entities.Several measures have been taken to boost foreign flows. FDI limits have been relaxed for single-brand retail, aviation, insurance and media. KYC norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been eased. Sectoral limit has also been proposed to be raised for FPIs and raising government securities in international markets. The budget also proposes the FPI limit in companies goes up to FDI limit. These efforts to drive investment growth are a long-term positive.Much-needed impetus has been provided to banks and NBFCs. PSBs will get Rs 70,000 crore capital to improve credit flow. Foreign institutional investors (FII) and FPI investment will be allowed in debt securities issued by NBFCs. The government will provide a guarantee of Rs 1 lakh crore worth of securitisation to buyers of high-rated pooled assets of NBFCs for first loss up to 10% and for six months. It would boost investor sentiment.By providing tax incentives, an impetus has been provided to the housing sector. However, this is valid only till March 31, 2020. This may be too short a time for giving a meaningful stimulus to housing.Due to limited fiscal space, the FM did not make any major tax announcements. Cess on petrol and diesel increased by Rs 1 per litre and custom duty on gold is also raised to 12.5% from earlier 10%. By refraining from any populist measures government has continued its focus on fiscal deficit control.In summary, while the budget maintains a balance between prudence and populism, challenges regarding economic growth have not been fully acknowledged or addressed.
New Delhi: The power ministry will rework amendments to the rules for captive plants to prevent their misuse and abolish undue charges on free electricity trade to provide cheaper energy alternative to industries.A senior government official said the ministry will soon come out with a fresh draft to strengthen norms. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, said the Centre will work with states to remove barriers such as cross-subsidy surcharges, undesirable duties on open access sales or captive generation for industrial and other bulk power consumers.Indian Captive Power Producers Association secretary general Rajiv Agrawal said the government should also address coal availability issues. "It is visionary on part of the finance minister... It is time for the government to remove other discriminations and impediments to global competitiveness too, namely charging captive power generators 20-140% higher coal costs, vis-à-vis other power producers," he said.The ministry had, last year, proposed getting rid of loopholes in norms relating to captive and group captive generating power plants following complaints against dummy projects being created to avoid surcharges. The changes could lead to correction in equity and shareholding in over 5,000-mw existing captive power projects.The government proposed to change the definition of 'ownership' for captive power plants that should now be in terms of value of capital along with the voting rights and not in terms of number of shares only.Group captive power plants — based on coal, solar and wind — are operational in large numbers in the states of Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The concept was evolved by industries to avoid cross-subsidy charges levied on inter-state electricity sale. However, like open access, it is also seen as a threat to state discoms.Open access as the name suggests refers to enabling buyers to choose source of electricity and giving them right on transmission and distribution system for transfer of power.States fear losing their high paying industrial consumers to spot markets and thus impose levies on such transactions. Open access was announced as a reform in the Electricity Act 2003.In the proposed new tariff policy, the government proposes to remove cross-subsidy charges levied on the large power consumers. The Centre proposes to give direct benefit transfers to the targeted consumers. The tariff policy also proposes to penalise gratuitous load shedding by distribution companies.
By Maulik DoshiPost a thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi-led government announced the Union Budget on July 5, 2019. Amid concerns over an economic slowdown and lack of employment opportunities, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced some key tax amendments. One of the most important tax amendments was the levy of buyback tax on listed companies.Buyback Tax – Existing ProvisionsThe government introduced the concept of buyback tax under Sec 115QA vide the Finance Act 2013, wherein tax at the rate of 20 per cent was levied on the amount of income distributed by unlisted companies. The term 'distributed income' means the difference between considerations paid by the company on buyback less the amount received by the company on issue of such shares.It is pertinent to note that this tax was applicable to income distribution by unlisted companies, and not listed companies. In other words, income distributed by listed companies were not covered under the purview of buyback tax. Instead, shareholders were liable to capital gains tax on the same. This 2013 amendment was brought in as the government believed companies were avoiding dividend distribution, but distributing profits through the buyback mechanism, as it provided some arbitration for domestic investors and significant arbitration for international investors, especially those from treaty countries like Mauritius and Singapore. Buyback Tax – The Amendment The government was of the view that a similar practice should be adopted for listed companies given that there was also a tax arbitrage and, hence, the buyback tax has now been extended to listed companies as well.Correspondingly, investors will not have to pay any tax on capital gains on buyback as this is now exempted.The proposed provisions would be effective in respect of buyback undertaken from July 5, 2019.How will this work?If an individual has subscribed to a company in IPO stage at Rs 100 and subsequently the company announced a buyback a Rs 500, the company would pay the buyback tax at 20 per cent on Rs 400 (i.e. buyback price less issue price). In the earlier scenario, the individual would have paid long-term capital gains tax at 10 per cent or short-term capital gains tax at 15 per cent on the Rs 400 in the case listed companies.Unintended Double Taxation?The buyback tax for listed companies may result in indirect double taxation, as the computation mechanism provided considers buyback price less issue price. This does not consider the fact that the shareholder may have purchased the shares at rates higher than the issue price. Also, the previous transfers would have already been taxed. So, this may ultimately lead to double taxation.For example, if Mr A purchased shares of ABC on stock exchange at Rs 500 from Mr B. Mr B had originally subscribed to the shares of the company under IPO. ABC announced buyback at Rs 900. Here the original issue price of the shares was Rs 100. In this scenario, ABC would be paying 20 per cent buyback tax on Rs 800 (i.e. Rs 900 – Rs 100). It would be pertinent to note that Mr B would have already paid a long-term/short-term capital tax (@10%/15%) when he sold the shares to Mr A on the difference between Rs 500 less Rs 100. Total tax to the government kitty in this case would be Rs 200 (i.e. 20 per cent tax on 800 paid by ABC and 10 per cent tax on Rs 400 paid by Mr B). This would result in double taxation. The question is whether this is unintended or intentional?Our ViewBy extending the provisions of buyback tax to listed companies, the government may discourage listed companies from going through the buyback route. With this amendment, even genuine cases would be impacted.On one hand, the government introduced the buyback tax for listed companies and on the other hand they have recommended Sebi to increase public shareholding in listed companies from 25 per cent to 35 per cent. If this suggestion is accepted by Sebi, then there may be a situation where many MNCs having higher promoter shareholding may be forced to dilute their holdings or look to delist. Delisting would trigger an open offer and companies would have to pay buyback tax.The government should also amend the buyback rules, as the current rules provide for situations which are more relatable to unlisted companies and not listed companies. The computation of the "amount received by the company for issue of shares" may lead to absurd results, which would deter listed companies from buying back shares. Accordingly, the provisions for buyback may not be practically implemented, thus rendering them redundant over time.(Moulik Doshi is Senior Executive Director - Transfer Pricing and Transaction Advisory Services at SKP Business Consulting. Views are his own.)
NEW DELHI: The Union Budget 2019 is out of the way for markets and at least on the B-day, it did not go down well with market participants.In this edition of the Tweet Buster, we explore what top D-Street honchos made of the Budget and its impact on markets and other major developments of the week.The Budget brouhaha:> Tax on the ultra richThe Finance Minister proposed to increase the income-tax surcharge on individuals having taxable income of Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore and Rs 5 crore and above by around 3 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. This development was perceived differently by Dalal Street veterans.Safir Anand, a value investor, did not see any reason for it, and argued that top taxpayers in India now pay one of the highest taxes in the world when counted with GST impact, but are nowhere closer to the developed world in terms of quality of life, health benefits, social security, etc. Top tax payers now pay one of the highest taxes in the world with GST impact. But they are no where close in terms… https://t.co/hEwp8U1VDA— Safir (@safiranand) 1562351143000 However, Shyam Sekhar, co-founder, iThought, called the super-rich "self-seeking kanjoos" and that if asked to spend that money, most of them will be super-reluctant even to do that? I loved this phrase "Allegedly super rich". Actually in Local lingo, the phrase actually means " Self-seeking kan… https://t.co/gT96Gp7kyz— Shyam Sekhar (@shyamsek) 1562383889000 Smallcap czar Porinju Veliyath offered three options to individuals with incomes over Rs 5 crore. Options for Indians with >5Cr income: a) pay 42% income tax b) become Pvt Limited & pay 25% c) reduce the income— Porinju Veliyath (@porinju) 1562333235000 > Shareholding normsNirmala Sitharaman urged Sebi to reduce maximum promoter shareholding from the current level of 75 per cent to 65 per cent in the Union Budget and if Sebi follows up on the proposal, then some 1,174 listed companies will have to sell shares to meet the requirement. D-Street is expecting an oversupply of paper in the market, but Shyam Sekhar believes this would demolish the artificial scarcity and is central to price discovery. If all companies with 75% promoter shareholding have to do OFS, would they be able to get the same valuation prev… https://t.co/3k6WaSHmOp— Shyam Sekhar (@shyamsek) 1562343523000 > Hike in customs duty on goldSekhar fears the increase in customs duty on gold would increase smuggling of the precious metal into the country. I feel the raising of customs duty of Gold is retrograde. Smuggling will rise.— Shyam Sekhar (@shyamsek) 1562312250000 > Bank recapBasant Maheshwari, co-founder and partner Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers, questioned the Rs 70,000 crore bank recapitalisation scheme of the government, saying, "Do you have any more NPA, which you didn't show till now?" 70,000 crores more to PSU Banks. Come on guys, do you have any more NPAs which you didn't show till now ? #Budget2019— Basant Maheshwari (@BMTheEquityDesk) 1562309587000 > Budget & MarketsMaheshwari said the markets were narrow and now they'll get narrower. The market was already narrow it will get more narrow !! #TheThoughtfulInvestor— Basant Maheshwari (@BMTheEquityDesk) 1562314213000 Sandip Sabharwal, independent market advisor, cracked a joke, saying investors should have taken the hint from the red cover of Budget documents that it would be bad for the market. Budget documents were in Red Markets should have got a hint in the morning itself...— sandip sabharwal (@sandipsabharwal) 1562326212000 Sabaharwal claimed he would remain a buyer in the market post Budget. I remain a buyer in the markets post budget On a fall or on a rise Significant upside ahead— sandip sabharwal (@sandipsabharwal) 1562235881000 On a lighter note, Anand summed up the state of the market: Once upon a time there was a bull market, but very few lived happily again. Current state of stock mkt: Once upon a time there was a bull mkt but very few lived happily again— Safir (@safiranand) 1562417114000 Off the BudgetGiven the large number of debt defaults plaguing Dalal Street, Shyam Sekhar said an investor is always going to lose against a fraudulent promoter. Another 2018 draft tweet. I kind of clearly knew it. But, didn't probably do enough about this. An investor is alw… https://t.co/iLMcGJ0nr9— Shyam Sekhar (@shyamsek) 1562209173000 Sekhar in a separate tweet added that discussing distressed, badly managed companies is best education. Discussing distressed, badly managed cos is the best education. Picking holes. Finding forensic evidence. Calling… https://t.co/6t1xvWNpTG— Shyam Sekhar (@shyamsek) 1562081908000 Samir Arora made a tongue-in-cheek remark, asking, "Do rumours move stock prices or does movement in stock prices lead to creation of rumours?" Do rumors move stock prices or does movement in stock prices lead to creation of rumors?— Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) 1562150484000 Sabharwal believes crude oil prices are likely to fall going ahead and that augurs well for the Indian market. It is very interesting that Crude Oil prices are unable to sustain at higher levels despite Breakthrough in Trade T… https://t.co/leAK83rRR2— sandip sabharwal (@sandipsabharwal) 1562127281000 Shankar Sharma congratulated IndiaMart on the stellar Dalal Street debut. I am absolutely thrilled at IndiaMart's stellar debut on bourses. As a very heavy user of the platform to source al… https://t.co/HzZwMlHu0v— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) 1562469014000 Add lastly, any thought about naming roads on stock market investors? Here's one: Name roads after top tax payers: Survey. What if they were named after investors. On Google maps: To go to BSE: t… https://t.co/V7f30lL7u4— Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) 1562286123000
BENGALURU: Cash-rich Indian IT services companies may now offer more dividends to return cash to shareholders, against the recent norm of share buybacks that have become less attractive with the budget proposing to introduce a new tax."Buyback is the most efficient way to return capital in India because it was not taxed earlier. It also helps companies improve the value when they think the market is not fairly pricing the stock," said V Balakrishnan, a former finance chief of Infosys. "Suddenly you tax buyback, companies will shift to dividend because buyback comes with its own hassles."Share buybacks by listed companies aren't taxed currently, but there is a 15% tax on dividend payment. To discourage companies from using this loophole, the budget has proposed a 20% tax on the money spent on share buybacks. Technology services companies have been rewarding shareholders by buying back shares and issuing dividends. Top companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro returned more than Rs 40,725 crore to stockholders through share buyback in the past one year.70119666 Infosys has a stated strategy of returning 70% of free cash flow to shareholders, while TCS returns most of the cash flow to its shareholders. The most aggressive in using the buyback route in recent years has been Wipro, as it repurchased 14% of shares with three buybacks done over the past four years.Equity analysts said the proposed tax would impact the stock performance of these companies over the next few days. "With the new buyback tax, the government would gain Rs 8,145 crore (based on last fiscal year's total buyback of Rs 40,725 crore in the IT sector)," Madhu Babu, an IT analyst at Centrum, wrote in a note to clients. "Select midcaps like Persistent Systems, Cyient (and) Mphasis which could have been companies with potential regular buybacks stand impacted sentimentally."The brokerage also expects higher negative sentimental impact on Wipro. It was understood that such a proposal to tax distribution of capital through buyback would come sooner or later, said Kuldeep Koul, lead analyst (IT services), at ICICI Securities. "Companies may still go for a buyback, the impact will be on effective return. But between a dividend and a buyback, buyback will still be beneficial," Koul said.Brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher wrote in a note it would retain its "underweight" stand on IT, citing the impact of the proposed tax on buyback of shares.
NEW DELHI: If you have a taxable income of just under Rs 2 crore or Rs 5 crore, unless you get a very very hefty hike, your take-home won't increase at all. That's because with the new surcharges in this Budget - 25% for those earning between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore; and 37% for those earning Rs 5 crore and above - the moment someone hits Rs 2 crore or Rs 5 crore, his tax liability will shoot up. The surcharge for incomes below Rs 2 crore is 15%.Say, someone's taxable salary now is Rs 5 crore, his tax liability shoots up by Rs 33.9 lakh, because the surcharge is now 37%, up from 15% (which before Budget 2019 was the standard surcharge for those earning above Rs 1 crore). Even at a salary of Rs 2 crore, the surcharge has seen a sharp increase from 15% to 25%.In the new system, if one's income increases by Re 1 from Rs 2 crore or Rs 5 crore, his tax liability will go up. But the good news, of course, is that the tax system is such that it will not allow his take-home salary to go down. Say, his income goes up by Rs 10 lakh. That would lead to a lower take-home with the present taxes. But the system will ensure that he won't have to pay the full tax liability it will deduct only the extra Rs 10 lakh he earned as increment. This will go on till he crosses Rs 33.9 lakh. So, in effect he will not be better off, but not worse off either. 70112707 The tax slabs have not changed, but it's the surcharge which pushes up rates across the slabs. Take for example, someone earning between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore. The base rate for income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh will increase from 5% to 6.25% and the tax rate of 20% on income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh to 25%. In the highest tax slab, the rate will go up to 37.5% from 30%. With 4% cess, the rates become 6.50%, 26% and 39%.In the Rs 5 crore-plus category with 37% surcharge, plus 4% cess, the peak tax rate goes up to 42.74%. The rate up to Rs 5 lakh becomes 7.12%; for Rs 5-Rs 10 lakh it is 28%.
Omkar Developers cans its biggest slum redevelopment The Parksite-Vikhroli project is spread across 125 acre, comprising of several slum societies and more than 40,000 residents
Milind Deora resigns as Mumbai Congress chief to play national role Deora's resignation comes at a time when the Congress party is looking for new leader to take over as the party chief following Gandhi's denial to continue on the post
IL&FS road projects: 6 investors show interest in asset sale The four-lane project of Hazaribagh-Ranchi with an aggregate length of about 319 lane km in Jharkhand is an annuity project developed on a build-operate-transfer basis.
Maharashtra Congress is in complete disarray ahead of polls The party also fears large scale defection to BJP and Shiv Sena in the run up to the assembly poll
With prince & princess gone, our turn is next As I believe that everything is nature, I hold no grudge against people who have their own idea of what is green
Spate of resignations leaves Congress in chaos Rahul Gandhi's confidants Jyotiraditya Scindia and Milind Deora are the latest to have resigned from their respective party posts
Security tightened in J&K ahead of Burhan Wani's death anniversary Reacting to the separatists' plans, authorities on Sunday suspended mobile Internet facility in Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian districts
Mumbai drowns under mindless 'development' Every year, Mumbai falls prey to the administration's failure to curb flooding. Excessive concretisation, absence of smart design, lack of political will to plug leaks in the system, and now climate change take a yearly toll on the city
Haryanvi dancer Sapna Chaudhary joins BJP in Delhi The rumours of Sapna joining the party had been rife even during Lok Sabha election when she had campaigned for Manoj Tiwari
Spectrum auctions: Govt not very optimisitc, hopes to garner a modest Rs 30,000 crore The government has also asked Trai to review the spectrum reserve price because it is seen on the higher side. Trai is yet to respond to the government's request.
27% fall in sowing, Centre calls states' meet today on threat of drought The June deficit of monsoon rainfall (33%) was the highest in past 5 years. But the last 10 days of rains have reduced the overall deficit in monsoon to 21% now from 36% on June 26.
