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In 1989, just before the collapse of the USSR, the Pepsi Company cut a deal with Soviet Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev that left it with a fleet of Russian military ships, making PepsiCo temporarily the sixth-largest Navy in the world.
Known for free-money giveaways ranging into the tens of thousands of dollars, TheSugarDad1 also maintained an Instagram account as well as a popular Twitch account where he streamed games and offered similar big-money giveaways. All of it, though, was a lie.
We don't know how to commit the perfect crime, but doing the crime in front of your own security camera and not deleting the footage strikes us as a bad way to start.
The trick to getting an amazing iMac for less money? Buy Certified Refurbished — this Apple iMac 21.5" features an Intel Core i3-2100 Dual-Core 3.1GHz CPU with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM for next-level multitasking, and an impressive 250 GB SATA hard drive, all for 68% off retail price. You can bring it home for just $379 today.
Do fireworks scare your pooch? Give this anxiety vest a try for the Fourth of July. Not only does it hug your dog, but it also plays soothing music and smells like both lavender and chamomile.
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The next time you go to buy toilet paper online, an algorithm may decide to charge you $5 more than your neighbor. You'd probably never know. But even if you did, there's no way for you to find out why.
Comedy club owners allowing him to work their venues demonstrate a lack of interest in protecting their employees — especially women. You have a right not to be jerked off in front of at your job, no matter what your job is.
With Coinstar machines increasingly hard to track down, creating one of these babies at home might be your best bet if you have a surplus of metal money.
The House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees announced Tuesday that Mueller had agreed to testify after they issued subpoenas for his testimony, and Mueller would appear in public before the two panels next month.
A new federal study has found that an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began 14 years ago has been releasing as much as 4,500 gallons a day, not three or four gallons a day as the rig owner has claimed.
The Premier Lacrosse League — founded by star player Paul Rabil and his brother, Mike — wants to make the club-dominated sport into a moneymaking phenomenon. Does the world need more lax bros? And can the US support another professional sports league?
Insulin is a 100-year-old drug whose wholesale price has tripled in ten years. The reasons why explain everything wrong with America's broken prescription drug market.
Armed right-wing militias offered to help them fight off state police sent to bring them back to the Senate, and one senator threatened to shoot them himself, warning that anyone sent after him best be a bachelor.
While this 70-ton train requires a unique driving technique, it can otherwise run back-and-forth from destination to destination with ease. Amazingly, it also adds more power to the grid than it takes.
The past few years have seen more successful, lasting romantic relationships form across "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise." Where did they go right?
In a time of chaos and uncertainty, when traditional belief systems no longer seem to have all the answers, more and more young people are finding comfort in Satanism.
Though data is scarce, the anecdotal evidence that progressive workplaces are finally shedding outdated binary pronoun norms — in the same way several colleges already have — is fast accumulating.
If you're sick of having to stop to charge your Bluetooth headphones, it's time to upgrade to this Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H4 set. These headphones can play up to 19 hours on just one charge, and they sound spectacular.
BREAKING: The U.S. military says 2 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan. It did not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths. https://t.co/XhZJhzXVHb
Today, it was my great honor to present the Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia (HERO) for his courageous actions as a squad leader in Fallujah. #MOHhttps://t.co/FkNCazkWWo
* NATO has warned Russia to destroy its nuclear missile in breach of 1987 treaty * Washington and Kremlin are involved in face-off over the new nuclear system * NATO said today, 'We will need to respond,' unless Russia disarm the weapon * On Monday, the Russian navy arrived at Havana with echoes of the missile crisis
NATO has warned Russia to destroy a new nuclear missile or face the consequences after the Kremlin warned of a repeat of the Cuban crisis and sent a ship to Havana.
Allied defence ministers issued the stark warning to the Kremlin today amid a Moscow face-off with Washington over a treaty keeping land-based nuclear warheads out of Europe.
The U.S. has said they will pull out of the Reagan-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) unless Russia destroys its nuclear-capable cruise missile system.
On Monday, the Kremlin warned of a Cuban Missile Crisis-style confrontation as one of its frigates arrived in Havana.
Saudi and Yemeni forces captured Abu Osama al-Muhajer and other members of ISIL during a raid on June 3, says official.
Saudi and Yemeni forces have captured the head of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL or ISIS) branch in Yemen, according to an official.
Abu Osama al-Muhajer was captured in a June 3 raid on a house that was under surveillance, Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Thee other members of the group, including its chief financial officer, were also caught in the 10-minute operation.
The announcement came after the chairmen of the two panels issued a subpoena compelling Mueller's testimony.
WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify in public about his two-year Russia investigation at a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee on July 17. The announcement came from the chairmen of the two panels, who issued a subpoena compelling his testimony.
In a news release issued late Tuesday, Judiciary Committee Chairmen Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that Mueller had agreed to testify next month.
"Pursuant to subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence tonight, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has agreed to testify before both Committees on July 17 in open session," the chairmen said in a statement.
RAF Joint Strike Fighters flying from Cyprus have been zipping around Syria and Iraq for more than a week already.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense says that Royal Air Force F-35B Joint Strike Fighters have been flying combat patrols over Iraq and Syria for more than a week. This is a major milestone for Britain's stealthy fighter jets, which only reached initial operational capability in January 2019.
A pair of F-35Bs, also known by their formal nickname Lightning II, from the RAF's 617 Squadron, flying from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, conducted the first combat patrol over Syria on June 16, 2019, according to an official statement. The detachment of six Joint Strike Fighters in Cyprus has since flown a combined total of 12 sorties over both Syria and Iraq. The jets have been at Akrotiri since April 2019 and conducted Exercise Lightning Dawn the following month as a workup to actual combat missions. The United Kingdom is now the third country to deploy its F-35s for combat, after Israel and the United States.
A U.S. destroyer is off the coast of Havana, Cuba, shadowing a detachment of Russian naval ships that includes one of the country's most advanced surface ships, USNI News has verified.
As of Tuesday morning, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) was roughly 50 nautical miles north of Havana and about 72 miles from Key West, Fla., operating in the Straits of Florida, according to publicly available ship location data reviewed by USNI News.
A day earlier, Russia's first-in-class frigate Admiral Gorshkov arrived in Havana. Admiral Gorshkov was joined by support vessel Elbrus and salvage tug Nikolay Chiker, according to several media reports.
Kenneth Pollack and Paul Pillar discuss Iran and the Trump administration strategy at a CFTNI event.
America's policy of maximum pressure on Iran continues, with the U.S. Department of the Treasury announcing new sanctions on eight Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commanders. That directive was tweeted during a luncheon event on Iran at the Center for the National Interest, which was moderated by Geoffrey Kemp, the Senior Director of Regional Security Programs at CFTNI who also served in the White House during the first Reagan administration as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the National Security Council Staff. The discussion focused on the ongoing crisis, Iran and America's interests, and whether war could be avoided.
WNU Editor: I do not believe President Trump wants a war with Iran. I also believe that many in the Iranian regime do not want a war with the U.S.. And while the focus is on redoing the Iranian nuclear deal and U.S. sanctions, the real problem in the Middle East is the Iran-Saudi/Sunni-Shiite/Islamic extremism/regional disputes and conflicts that have been ongoing for generations. The Middle East already sucked-in the U.S. to fight wars against Iraq, will it now suck-in the U.S. to fight a war against Iran? I hope not. But sometimes events spiral out of control, as it almost did last week when two oil tankers were attacked and a U.S. drone was shot down by Iran.
* The outcome of the G-20 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping could be a watershed moment that could impact the course of markets and the global economy for the second half of the year. * The G-20 summit in Osaka could end in a 'feel good' moment for markets, but the thorny issues in U.S.-Chinese trade talks are unlikely to be resolved and tariffs are expected to continue. * The meeting between President Trump and President Xi Saturday could lead to improved negotiations but the drag on the economy from tariffs and weakened sentiment is expected to continue until there is a real deal. * One economist said if the talks fail and the trade war escalates, the world is at risk of a recession.
Stocks are likely to see a temporary relief rally and bonds could sell off if there is a 'ceasefire' declared in the trade wars by the U.S. and China this weekend, but the damage to the global economy could continue until a tariff-ending deal is struck.
Wall Street has been handicapping the outcome of the much anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, and many investors believe the two will likely agree to hold off on new tariffs and restart negotiations, but existing tariffs would not be rolled back by much, if at all.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves his hand as he arrives to deliver a speech during a ceremony marking the 30th death anniversary of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran June 4, 2019. Official Khamenei website/Handout via REUTERS
WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to obliterate parts of Iran if it attacked "anything American," in a new war of words with Iran which condemned fresh U.S. sanctions on Tehran as "mentally retarded."
But Trump later left the door open for talks, saying that Iran should speak to the United States "peaceably" to ease tensions and potentially lift U.S. economic sanctions.
The U.S. president on Monday signed an executive order imposing additional, largely symbolic, sanctions against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures, with punitive measures against Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expected later this week.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group transits the Suez Canal, Thursday, May 9, 2019. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group 12, Destroyer Squadron 2, USS Leyte Gulf and Carrier Air Wing 7, as well as the Spanish navy Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Darion Chanelle Triplett/U.S. Navy via AP)
When oil tankers were bombed in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago, my thoughts turned to the summer of 1987 when I sailed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz for the first time as the Operations Officer in a brand-new Navy Cruiser, the U.S.S. Valley Forge. She was the fourth of the vaunted AEGIS-class guided missile cruisers, and our job was to protect the aircraft carrier carrying the admiral in command of our forces in the Arabian Gulf. Like today, tensions were elevated with Iran as a result of their attacks on merchant shipping, carried out largely through dumping mines in international waters – part of the so-called "Tanker War." Several oil tankers were hit, passage through the Strait was problematic, and the international community sought to keep the Strait open to allow some 30% of the world's oil that moves through it. That became the Navy's mission.
Russia has unveiled a combat surveillance drone intended to resemble a menacing owl spreading its wings.
The avian imposter was showcased at the Defense Ministry's annual military expo in the outskirts of Moscow on Tuesday.
Footage from the event published by the ministry's Zvezda news channel show the remote-controlled wheeled drone rolling across a grassy field before takeoff. The owl drone is equipped with a laser beam to guide artillery and aviation, the channel reported.
Air Force stealth fighters won't meet the 80-percent readiness goal that former defense secretary Jim Mattis decreed before quitting the Defense Department.
The U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor stealth fighters won't meet the 80-percent readiness goal that former defense secretary Jim Mattis decreed before quitting the Defense Department in protest of Pres. Donald Trump's foreign policy in January 2019.
Mattis had mandated all Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-22 and F-35 squadrons to achieve an 80-percent mission-capable rate by the end of September 2019.
In March 2019 then-Air Force secretary Heather Wilson warned that the 186-strong F-22 force might fall short of the readiness goal. Three months later Air Force brigadier general Heath Collins, the service's program executive officer for fighters and bombers, made it official.
In news that initially did not receive much prominence, on Monday a US judge found three large Chinese banks — reportedly the state-owned Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank — in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in an investigation into North Korean sanctions violations. This could open the door for them to be cut off from the US financial system, i.e. SWIFT.
"Should it occur, to say that China will not take that well is as large an understatement as one can conceive of. It would be an earthquake", commented Rabobank's Michael Every.
WNU Editor: If there was one thing that would raise the current tensions between the U.S. and China to an astronomical level, it is cutting off Chinese banks from SWIFT. I do not think it is going to happen, but people (like the above Zero Hedge article) are talking about it.
Tehran's downing of a sophisticated US drone – albeit a large, slow one – shows it knows how to use its missile systems, though it still lags far behind US capabilities.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The shooting down last week of a sophisticated US drone by an Iranian missile demonstrates that Tehran's air defense capabilities can pose a challenge to US air superiority, experts say.
The Global Hawk, an advanced US navy surveillance drone, was flying at high altitude — it can reach 60,000 feet (18 kilometers) — early Friday local time when it was struck by a ground-to-air missile by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
U.S. President Donald Trump has recently spoken privately about withdrawing from the defense treaty with Japan as he is of the view that the postwar pact treated the United States unfairly, Bloomberg reported late on Monday.
However, Trump has not taken any steps in this regard and such a move is highly unlikely, it said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. president believes the more than six-decades-old treaty is one-sided to the disadvantage of the United States as the Japanese military has no obligation to come to U.S. defense, according to the report.
Trump also talked about seeking compensation for relocating the U.S. base in Okinawa, Bloomberg said.
* President Donald Trump on Monday announced new sanctions targeted at Iran's top leadership and those thought responsible for downing a US drone flying near the country. * Iranians have complained of feeling their "bones breaking" under enormous and effective Trump-imposed sanctions. * Iran downed a $130 million US drone recently, but under Trump's sanctions, the country is likely losing more than $120 million a day in June. * Trump has so far declined to go to war with Iran or carry out military strikes, and he seems happy to let the country simply suffer under economic warfare until they take the humiliating step of holding a dialogue.
President Donald Trump on Monday announced new sanctions targeted at Iran's top leadership and those thought responsible for downing a US drone flying near the country.
The sanctions join with previous US-imposed restrictions on trade with Iran to form some of the harshest sanctions on any country in the world, and Iran is feeling the effects.
Iran's official press has recently bragged about its military prowess when downing a US drone worth about $130 million, touting it as a nasty black eye for the world's military superpower.
WNU Editor: These numbers do not reflect the loses that will be incurred with yesterday's sanctions. Bottom line .... U.S. sanctions may end up costing Iran tens of billions in revenues this year, and next year even more.
....Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump threatened Iran with "obliteration" on Tuesday, saying that an attack on "anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force."
"In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!" the President tweeted.
Earlier Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the White House is "suffering from mental disability" and behaving as "no sane person" in the wake of new sanctions imposed by US this week -- partly in retaliation over the downing of an American drone.
* Iran's president savaged the Trump administration in the wake of new sanctions * Hassan Rouhani said the White House is 'mentally retarded' and desperate * Sanctions are evidence the US is not serious about negotiating, he added * Added that sanctioning the ayatollah is 'futile' because he has no foreign assets * Trump tweeted furiously on Tuesday morning saying that any attack on 'anything American' would be met with 'overwhelming force' * 'In some areas overwhelming will mean obliteration,' he tweeted
Donald Trump threatened Iran with 'obliteration' if it attacks 'anything American' Tuesday after the country's president branded the White House 'mentally retarded' after Donald Trump issued fresh sanctions against the leadership in Tehran.
He launched a fusillade of tweets calling the country's leadership 'ignorant and insulting' after the insult from its president, Hassan Rouhani.
'Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality.' he said.
'Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!'
This is same Russian military plane that landed in broad daylight at the same commercial airport in #Venezuela three months ago. This surely has NOTHING to do with this weekend's Putin-Trump meeting in Osaka #subtlehttps://t.co/6pZV9vF6BFpic.twitter.com/EW3e0Xty3C
The much-hyped arrival in Venezuela of a plane operated by Moscow's Defense Ministry is anything but sensational, a senior Russian diplomat has insisted.
The Russian Air Forces Il-62 transport plane was spotted in Caracas on Monday, sparking speculation on social media about what it was carrying and why. According to Sergey Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, the visit is routine and isn't worthy of much attention.
Barr's bloodhounds are sniffing up Langley's skirts.
Last Wednesday the intelligence community launched its first attack on Attorney General William Barr's investigation into its illegal acts and abuses of power during the 2016 election. In a New York Times article entitled "Justice Department Seeks to Question CIA in its Own Russia Investigation," the IC makes clear its fear of the results of Barr's investigation of their spy operation on candidate Trump in 2016 that continued through his early presidency.
The article, obviously written at the behest of its intelligence community sources — "current and former American officials" — is the first of many concerted attacks on Attorney General William Barr's investigation of the joint CIA/FBI spy operation. Many other articles, based on carefully crafted leaks to the media and Congress, are sure to follow because current and former high-ranking officials of those agencies (and probably the NSA as well) have a lot to lose.
WNU Editor: If current and former U.S. intelligence officials are talking to the New York Times in order to attack this investigation, they are simply telegraphing to everyone that there is some information that they do not want disclosed.
National Security Adviser John Bolton says the president is open to real negotiations and "all that Iran needs to do is walk through that open door."
TEHRAN, Iran — Fresh sanctions levied by the United States drew an intense reaction from Iran on Tuesday, with a senior official saying they spell the "permanent closure" of diplomacy between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani mocked President Donald Trump, calling the measures "outrageous and idiotic" and saying the White House is suffering from a "mental illness."
Trump announced new sanctions on Monday against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his associates. The measures deny Khamenei and senior Iranian military figures access to financial resources and block their access to any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction.
On Tuesday, Iran's President Rouhani said in a televised speech that Trump's latest sanctions were "hilarious" and a "stupid and ugly act."
The report found executions commonly took place on river banks, open spaces and fields, market places, hills and mountains, sports grounds and school grounds
* Of 715 charges resulting in execution, 238 were due to theft or property damage * Four out of five interviewees said they'd witnessed an execution * The youngest witness to an execution was a seven-year-old
A stark map has revealed the 318 places in North Korea where people have been publicly executed - most commonly for theft or damage to property.
Using testimonies from more than 600 defectors the human rights researchers found executions commonly took place on river banks, fields, market places, hills and mountains, sports and school grounds.
Of the 715 mentions of charges resulting in an execution it was most commonly related to theft or damage to property, including food and livestock (238 times) followed by violent crime (115 times) and political crimes (73 times).
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. intelligence community does not believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is ready to denuclearize, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Robert Ashley told Fox News in an interview on Monday.
A summit in February between Kim and President Donald Trump collapsed when the two leaders were unable to bridge differences between U.S. demands for denuclearization and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.
"We still continue to assess within the IC (intelligence community) that Kim Jong Un is not ready to denuclearize," Ashley said.
Trump will visit South Korea this weekend after an exchange of letters with Kim boosted hopes for a resumption of talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program.
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will visit South Korea this weekend after an exchange of letters with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boosted hopes for a resumption of talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme.
Trump is set to arrive in South Korea for a two-day visit on Saturday and will meet President Moon Jae-in on Sunday, following a summit of G20 leaders in Japan, Moon's spokeswoman, Ko Min-jung, said on Monday.
The announcement came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped a letter Trump sent to Kim could pave the way for a revival of talks that have been stalled since a failed second summit between Trump and Kim in February.
CHINA has threatened to ban all meat imports from Canada as economic and diplomatic tensions between Justin Trudeau and Xi Jinping continue to escalate ahead of a crunch G20 summit this week.
LEO VARADKAR is facing a Brexit nightmare with fears his Irish government could fall at "a moment's notice" if he changes his stance on the backstop to avoid no deal.
E-cigarette sales have been banned in San Francisco making the Californian city the first one in the US to stop the sale of vape products - but what is the reason why and will the UK follow suit?
WORLD WAR 3 fears are rising after President Donald Trump threatened to use "overwhelming force" against Iran in escalating hostilities between the two nations - what is going on and how did we get here?
IRAN will speed up the enrichment of uranium after this week's deadline to Europe under the nuclear deal passes, the nation's atomic energy agency has confirmed.
VLADIMIR PUTIN appears to have stepped up Russia's position in the Caribbean and Moscow's move to send a warship to Cuba's Havana Harbour shares eery similarities to the early days of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
DONALD TRUMP's chances of invading Iran have been dismissed completely out of hand by a top Iranian military chief with tensions escalating and Tehran just a day away from breaching its uranium stockpile limit.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korean and U.S. officials are holding “behind-the-scenes talks” to arrange a third summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the fate of the North’s expanding nuclear arsenal, South Korea’s president said, four months after a second meeting between the leaders in Hanoi collapsed without any agreement.
There have been no public meetings between Washington and Pyongyang since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit. But the prospects for a resumption of U.S.-North Korea diplomacy have brightened since Trump and Kim recently exchanged personal letters. Trump called Kim’s letter “beautiful” while Kim described Trump’s as “excellent,” though the contents of their letters have not been disclosed.
In a response Tuesday to questions by The Associated Press and six other news agencies, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that Trump’s and Kim’s “willingness to engage in dialogue has never faded” and that their recent letter exchanges prove that.
Moon, a liberal who met Kim three times last year, has made dialogue with the North as a route to forging peace on the Korean Peninsula a centerpiece of his presidency. He has played a central role in facilitating U.S.-North Korean negotiations, even if those efforts have at times been overshadowed by the Trump-Kim talks that he helped broker.
Moon said he doesn’t see the Hanoi summit as a failure. He said he thinks the meeting served as a chance for both Washington and Pyongyang to better understand each other’s positions and “put everything they want on the negotiating table.”
“The success of denuclearization and the peace process on the Korean Peninsula cannot be determined by a summit or two,” Moon said, adding that discussions in Hanoi will form the basis for future talks. “Both sides clearly understand the necessity for dialogue,” he added.
Despite the deadlocked nuclear negotiations, both Trump and Kim have described their personal relationship as good. When asked whether Kim’s recent letter included a mention about another summit, Trump said, “May be there was.”
“But we, you know, at some point, we’ll do that,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “Getting along very well. He’s not doing nuclear testing,” he said.
In yet another reminder of North Korea’s continued mistrust of the United States, its foreign ministry said earlier Wednesday it won’t surrender to U.S.-led sanctions and accused Washington of trying to “bring us to our knees.”
Kim has said the North would seek a “new way” if the United States persists with sanctions and pressure. Following his setback in Hanoi, Kim traveled to the Russian Far East in April for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim also hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang last week for their fifth summit since March last year, and experts say the North’s outreach to its traditional allies is aimed at strengthening its leverage with the Trump administration.
Moon said he views the North’s expanding diplomacy with Beijing and Moscow as a positive development in efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff.
“China and Russia have continued to play constructive roles so far to peacefully resolve the Korean Peninsula issue,” he said. “I hope that China and Russia will play specific parts in helping the North resume dialogue at an early stage.”
Moon didn’t elaborate whether U.S and North Korean officials had face-to-face meetings and if so where they took place. He also didn’t clarify who were interlocutors or how close they were in setting up a third Kim-Trump summit.
Trump’s top envoy on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, is to visit South Korea on Thursday, and some experts said he may use his trip as a chance to meet North Korean officials at a Korean border village. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the U.S. was prepared to resume talks with North Korea “at a moment’s notice” if the North signaled it wanted discussions about denuclearization.
Despite a possible restart of negotiations, it’s still unclear whether Washington and Pyongyang can eventually achieve agreements that can satisfy both sides. The Hanoi summit fell apart after Trump rejected Kim’s calls for major sanctions relief in return for dismantling his main nuclear complex, something that U.S. officials see as a partial denuclearization step.
Kim has since fired missiles and other weapons into the sea and asked Trump to work out mutually acceptable agreements by the end of this December. U.S. officials maintain sanctions on North Korea would remain in place until North Korea takes significant steps toward nuclear disarmament.
North Korea has long bristled at the significant U.S. military presence in South Korea, and wants assurances it will not be targeted by the U.S. and South Korea. It sees its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as an insurance policy against military action.
In his written replies, Moon said he has found Kim to be a “flexible yet resolute person” during their talks. He said he believes that Kim’s “unequivocal resolve is to move from the past to the future” by pursuing economic growth over building up a nuclear arsenal.
The South Korean leader repeated that Kim has never linked denuclearization with South Korea’s military alliance with the U.S. or a pullout of American troops when they met.
Separately from the unofficial Washington-Pyongyang talks, Moon said the two Koreas have also been holding dialogue via unspecified “diverse channels” and repeated that he’s ready to meet Kim again at any place and time.
“It depends on Chairman Kim Jong Un,” Moon wrote. “I am prepared to meet with Chairman Kim in person at any given moment without being restrained by time, place or formalities.”
Last year saw a flurry of inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation programs between the Koreas, which have been split along the world’s most heavily fortified border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But North Korea has significantly reduced its dialogue and engagement with South Korea since the end of the Hanoi summit.
South Korea is now solely proceeding with a search of Korean War dead at the border, which it was supposed to jointly conduct with North Korea. North Korea has also ignored South Korean proposals for joint efforts to stem the spread of highly contagious African swine fever following an outbreak in the North.
Moon, who has stressed that South Korea should be in the “driver’s seat” in international efforts to deal with North Korea, reiterated his view that the resumption of inter-Korean economic projects currently held back by the U.N. sanctions would help induce further denuclearization steps from the North. Following the Hanoi summit, Moon had said Seoul would “consult” with Washington on resuming operations at an inter-Korean factory park in the North Korean border city of Kaesong and restarting South Korean tours to the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort.
While acknowledging that the resumption of such joint inter-Korean projects would depend on a substantive progress in U.S.-North Korea talks, Moon said improved economic relations between the Koreas would be “conductive” to the larger nuclear negotiations.
“History has shown that North Korean nuclear threats diminish when inter-Korean relations are good,” Moon wrote.
He said that the dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which Kim offered in Hanoi, could mean that the North’s denuclearization process has entered “an irreversible stage” if it’s completely demolished and verified. He said “substantive process” in U.S.-North Korea diplomacy could also help the international community seek a partial or gradual easing of the U.N. sanctions.
Yongbyon has facilities to produce both plutonium and highly enriched uranium, two key nuclear ingredients. North Korea has called the complex “the heart” of its nuclear program, while many outside experts say it’s an aging facility and that North Korea is believed to have additional multiple secret uranium enrichment facilities.
Moon repeated earlier claims that Kim has genuine willingness to trade his nuclear weapons for economic and security benefits, but that it would be important to create an environment where the North could focus on taking relevant steps toward disarmament.
“Chairman Kim should be helped along the path toward that goal in a way that sustains his commitment to nuclear dismantlement,” Moon wrote. “I think creating a security environment where Chairman Kim can decisively act on nuclear dismantlement without worries is the fastest way to achieve denuclearization diplomatically,” Moon added, without specifying the security concessions Washington and Seoul could make.
ROME (AP) — Doctors in Rome are warning of possible health hazards caused by overflowing trash bins in the city’s streets, as the Italian capital struggles with a renewed garbage emergency aggravated by the summer heat.Trash disposal is a decades-long problem for the Eternal City. Rome was left with no major site to treat the 1.7 million metric tons of trash it produces every year since the Malagrotta landfill was closed in 2013.Successive mayors from different parties have all proved incapable of solving the city’s garbage woes, which have re-emerged dramatically since Mayor Virginia Raggi of the populist 5-Star Movement took the helm three years ago.
Raggi’s administration is facing frustration and anger from both tourists and Romans over the piles of trash that threaten peoples’ health and tarnish the city’s image.
“We’ve become the third, fourth world in my opinion,” said Rome resident Rossana Franza. “Mrs. Raggi should take a small stroll here once and a while. Because in her neighborhood, which I have been to, it is all in order.”
Another woman living in Rome who only gave her name as Alessia told The Associated Press that a rat walked by her the other day and she cannot even go outside in the evenings because “there’s an incredible stink.”
Animals like dogs, cats and rats or even birds like seagulls pose a serious health risks as they root around in garbage and spread bacterial infections through their waste or urine, Dr. Roberto Volpe from the National Research Council CNR told The Associated Press.
“The main risk for us comes when we take out and throw the trash away,” Volpe warned. “There’s a risk of taking the contamination back home with us. That’s why it’s important to wash our hands properly afterward.”
Volpe also discouraged angry citizens from setting garbage piles on fire, saying that could cause greater health risks through dioxin contamination, which can lead to cancer.
Officials in Rome, who are often at odds over the possible solutions to the constant waste emergency, do agree on one thing: the garbage problem needs a long-term solution.
“Let’s be honest … no waste plan can solve a problem aggravated by 60 years of mismanagement in one year,” said Marco Cacciatore, president of the local commission for environmental and city politics in Rome. “Let’s tell the truth to citizens: We are human. This difficult infrastructural situation cannot be resolved in the short term.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea said Wednesday it won’t surrender to U.S.-led sanctions and accused Washington of trying to “bring us to our knees.”
The statement is yet another reminder that North Korea keeps mistrust of the U.S. though its leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump recently exchanged letters.
Their second summit in Hanoi in February ended without any agreement due to disputes over the extent of sanctions relief North Korea should win in return for a limited denuclearization step.
The North’s Foreign Ministry said it “will not hesitate to pull a muscle-flexing trigger in order to defend ourselves” if anyone dares to trample over its sovereignty.
It accused the U.S. of maintaining hostility toward North Korea. It cited recent U.S. reports on alleged human trafficking and religious crackdowns in North Korea, and comments by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that some 80-plus percent of the North Korean economy is sanctioned.
Pompeo “let loose a sophistry as if the sanctions are rendering the bilateral talks possible,” said the statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement said all these developments show the “wild dream of the U.S. to bring us to our knees by means of sanctions and pressure has not changed at all but grows even more undisguised.”
It said North Korea is “not a country that will surrender to the U.S. sanctions.”
The letter exchanges between Kim and Trump suggested the two leaders hoped to keep diplomacy alive, though there have been no publicly known official meetings between the two countries since the collapse of the Hanoi summit.
Trump is scheduled to arrive for a two-day visit to South Korea on Saturday.
(MANAMA, Bahrain) — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, appealed Tuesday for the Palestinians to consider a $50 billion economic support plan, even though they already rejected the proposal because it does not include a political resolution to the long-running conflict with the Israelis.
Kushner, speaking at a conference in Bahrain, defended the proposal as the foundation of any eventual peace plan. Meanwhile, Palestinians protested the plan in the streets of the West Bank, Gaza and elsewhere.
“We don’t need money. We are not hungry for bread,” said Gaza physician Said Jadba, one of the protesters jamming the streets of West Bank cities as the plan was unveiled. “We are hungry for dignity.”
The president’s son-in-law sought to defend his long-anticipated plan at the start of a two-day workshop aimed at building support for a program to combine private investment and support from regional governments to transform economically devastated Palestinian communities.
“My direct message to the Palestinians is that despite what those who have let you down in the past have told you, President Trump and America has not given up on you,” Kushner said. “This workshop is for you, and if this is executed correctly, it will lead to a better future for the Palestinian people: a future of dignity, prosperity and opportunity.”
Kushner’s audience in the tiny Gulf kingdom did not include any official Palestinian delegation. Israel, which will have to sign off on many of the proposal’s projects, did not send any government officials, either. Those who heard Kushner in person were Arab finance ministers, the heads of international financial organizations and global business executives and investors.
While the representation was broad, many countries’ delegations were not headed by Cabinet ministers, an indication of their uncertainty about the proposal’s viability.
The Palestinians have rejected the proposal — which aims in 10 years to create a million new jobs, slash unemployment and improve living standards in the West Bank, Gaza and across the Middle East — because it does not include a horizon for ending Israel’s occupation and granting independence. U.S. officials say the political portion of the plan addressing such thorny issues may not be released until fall.
Kushner acknowledged that a political solution is key to the success of the economic proposal. He said it was more important to first set out what is economically possible.
“Agreeing on an economic pathway forward is a necessary precondition to resolving what has been a previously unsolvable political situation,” he said.
Trump boiled it down to even simpler terms: “We have to get economic support because the Palestinians don’t have money, and we have to help the Palestinians with some money,” he told reporters at the White House.
But, without proposals on borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees, the Palestinians say the economic plan is meaningless. To express their rejection, Palestinians in Gaza called a general strike on Tuesday to protest the meeting, with demonstrators in the West Bank burning effigies of Trump and featuring a donkey pasted over with images of Gulf royals.
“Palestine is not for sale!” protesters chanted. “From Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, we are not tempted by your millions!”
Besides opposition from the intended beneficiaries of the proposal, the plan has been harshly criticized by former diplomats, aid workers and others involved in past peacemaking efforts for being unrealistic and lacking any clear description of who will pay for it.
Trump, Kushner and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin argue that a new approach is needed precisely because previous efforts have fallen short. They note that the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will attend and speak at the event, as will the head of FIFA, the international soccer federation, and the managers of numerous large investment funds.
The Palestinians wrote to FIFA chief Gianni Infantino on Tuesday urging him to reconsider his participation.
“How can the President of the highest governing body of football, and the most outspoken person on the importance of separating politics from sports, agree to participate in a political workshop whose objective is to determine the future of Palestine in the absence of Palestinians?” the letter said.
Enthusiasm has also been tempered by the Trump administration’s refusal to endorse the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the “two-state solution” that has long been viewed internationally as the only viable path to lasting peace.
The Palestinians cut ties with the White House after Trump recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and say they will not accept a peace proposal from an administration they see as biased toward Israel. Trump’s Mideast team has recently signaled it will accept Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank, the heartland of any Palestinian state, deepening Palestinian suspicions.
Even the Arab delegations attending the meeting in Bahrain have couched their participation with reaffirmations of support for an eventual Palestinian state.
Saudi Arabia, one of the few Arab countries to send its foreign minister to the event, said it remained committed to that end with a state based on the border that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab nations to have signed peace deals with Israel, are sending only midlevel representatives to Bahrain and said they would not abandon demands for a Palestinian state.
At a ceremony hosted by Israel’s president to mark 40 years of Egyptian-Israeli peace on Tuesday, Egypt’s ambassador to Israel, Khaled Azmi, said his country’s “vision was, and still is, based on full nation-statehood and security for everyone in the region.”
“The goal we aim to achieve through negotiations between the two parties is one that is based on justice, legitimate rights and mutual willingness to co-exist in two neighboring independent states living in peace and security,” he said.
Bahrain, which has close ties to the Saudis, has been criticized for hosting the conference and sharply limited the number of journalists allowed to cover it. It has defended its decision by saying its only objective is to support the “brotherly Palestinian people.”
Although Bahrain has cracked down on dissent, Bahraini opposition voices protested the meeting on social media, particularly on Twitter, where Arabic hashtags about the workshop were trending under banners “Down with Bahrain conference” and “Down with the Deal of Shame.”
___
Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Amira El Masaiti in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.
Protesters in Hong Kong Wednesday directly appealed for foreign backing in their bid to defend the city’s political freedoms, in a risky move that is certain to draw the ire of Beijing.
Several hundred protesters gathered in the heart of the former British colony’s business district, wearing t-shirts reading “Liberate Hong Kong.” They then marched on the consulates of G20 nations, including those of the U.S., U.K., Japan and France, and handed over letters asking for the plight of Hong Kong to be raised at the G20 summit in Osaka at the weekend.
At the U.S. consulate, one protester held a sign reading “President Trump please liberate Hong Kong.” Another carried a placard asking for Hong Kong to be freed from Chinese “colonization.”
Beijing has already made it clear that it regards the future of the semi-autonomous enclave, which was retroceded to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, as a domestic matter.
U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that he would talk about the protests in Hong Kong with his counterpart Xi Jinping in Osaka, but the Chinese side has said such discussion would not be tolerated.
The protesters want foreign powers to pressure the Hong Kong government to withdraw—instead of defer—a contentious bill that would allow the extradition of fugitives to China for the first time. The government says the bill is necessary to prevent Hong Kong from becoming a haven for criminals, but its detractors say Beijing will use the measure to apprehend dissidents and activists on trumped-up charges.
“Our aim is to make the world more alert about the extradition bill in Hong Kong, and for world leaders to bring up this up as a discussion topic during the G20 summit,” 44-year-old housewife Teresa Yu said Wednesday. She was holding a sign bearing a picture of the White House and the words “We need help” as she walked to the U.S. consulate. “I don’t know if it’ll work, but if we do absolutely nothing, then there will be no chance of anything changing.”
An organizer of the protest, Ventus Lau, said: “This movement has incited much international attention. We hope to use this opportunity before the G20 summit to get even more international support.”
Another organizer, who only wished to be identified as J.L., said: “Hong Kong, as an international city, has stakeholders from everywhere in the world. It’s a fusion of East and West, and this is where all the interests meet. Therefore, a serious Hong Kong issue is a serious international issue.”
A crowdfunding campaign has meanwhile raised over $700,000 for the purchase of a prominent advertisement against the extradition bill in the Financial Times before ministers gather in Osaka on Friday. Protesters also plan to book advertisements in newspapers in the U.S., France, Germany, and Japan, among other countries.
“If we can get other countries to hear our voices and act accordingly, that would be a great help to us,” said an 18-year-old student named Timothy Li as he handed a letter to the U.K.’s deputy consul general, Esther Blythe.
“The extradition bill is a major challenge to universal human rights, freedom and liberty. We hope that the G20 will extend our voices to an international level,” he said to the assembled crowd.
He added that as Hong Kong’s former sovereign power, Britain had a “responsibility” to uphold the freedoms promised to Hong Kong.
Opposition to the bill in Hong Kong has broadened into a tense struggle for greater democracy, and even, in some quarters, self-determination. Huge marches on June 9 and June 16 viewed as a stunning repudiation of the administration of the city’s top official, the Beijing-backed Carrie Lam. She faces a no-confidence motion in the legislature Wednesday.
Protesters have also occupied government offices and besieged police headquarters in a bid to make their voices heard. Many are angry at what they claim is heavy-handed suppression of the protests by police. The U.K. has said it would suspend sales of tear gas to the Hong Kong police until an independent investigation into the allegations was made.
Wednesday’s protesters also handed in letters at the legations of the E.U., Canada, and Germany, where a member of consulate staff came out to greet the crowd to shouts of “Danke!” (thank you).
Staff at the Russian, Indonesian and Indian consulates declined to meet with protesters, who chanted “Free Hong Kong from China!” and “Save Hong Kong from China!” Organizers said a total of 16 consulates were visited during the course of the day.
“We can’t do this ourselves—the international governments do have a responsibility to help us,” said a 22-year-old protester surnamed Chan. “Maybe Beijing will [step up accusations of foreign intervention], but we don’t live under the advice of the Beijing government. What they say will not affect our will.”
A rally against the extradition bill is planned in Hong Kong tonight. Rally organizers, the Civil Human Rights Front, said the demonstration was being held so that the people of Hong Kong could “sincerely urge” G20 leaders, “including Xi Jinping,” to answer “humble questions: Does Hong Kong deserve democracy? Should Hong Kong people enjoy democracy? Can [a] democratic system be implemented in Hong Kong now?”
—With reporting by Kamakshi Ayyar, Hillary Leung and Abhishyant Kidangoor / Hong Kong
Mirazur in Menton, France, is the No. 1 restaurant in the world.
This is the first time chef Mauro Colagreco and his sunny Provencal dining room have clinched the top spot; previously the restaurant was No. 3. This is also the first time France has gotten the No. 1 spot since the awards began 18 years ago.
That’s in part because executives behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list made a profound change to the rules this year, decreeing that no previous winner can be No. 1 again—or even be ranked on the list.
Previous winners have now been relegated to a “Best of the Best” category. That includes Osteria Francescana, Massimo Bottura’s modernist restaurant in Modena, which has won the award twice; Eleven Madison Park, which took the top spot in 2017; El Cellar de Can Roca; and the original Noma.
But the 2.0 version of Noma, which is set in a different location in Copenhagen with a new menu format, is eligible for the top spot and in fact skyrocketed to the No. 2 place on the list. William Drew, group editor of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, says the criteria they used, which included location and menu concept, was not just to allow Noma, one of the world’s highest-profile dining spots, to be in contention. “The aim is to have an objective set of criteria that prevails over time,” he says. Leading up to the announcement, which took place in Singapore on the evening of June 25 before an audience, Noma was an insider favorite to clinch the top spot.
The Best of the Best is a convenient landing place for some formerly top-ranked restaurants that have been falling on the list, like the Fat Duck in Bray, England, which last year came in at No. 74. Nonetheless, chef/owner Heston Blumenthal is sanguine about the experience: “If you get on the list, lap it up, bathe in the warmth of it, but just do your work. Nothing is permanent.”
Mirazur sits at the foot of a mountain and is housed in a 1930s building looking out over the sea, just inside France’s border with Italy. The Argentine-born chef draws inspiration from the region, serving vegetables from his own gardens and other local produce to create colorful Mediterranean dishes. Colagreco’s signature creation is oyster with tapioca, shallot cream and pear. The lunch menu costs 160 euros ($180), while the full menu is 260 euros.
“What a great year. Three Michelin stars and No. 1 all in the same year,” said Colagreco while accepting the award. “It’s a year I shall remember forever. I don’t have words to explain. I own the sky!”
He says the next step after basking in the awards is to expand his “little” 5-acre gardens into something greater. “We are fantastic producers, winemakers—we are a little paradise. Our vision is to share and to try to give love and to live happily with our work. It is a simple vision, but it is a vision of life.”
The World’s 50 Best committee also announced that it is highlighting diversity in advance of the ceremony. According to the website, voters are asked to “take issues of representation and reputation into consideration with their choices.”
This year, the list was also expanded from 100 to 120 to coincide with the list’s leading sponsor, San Pellegrino, celebrating its 120th anniversary. It’s a “one-off” expansion, according to Drew.
The restaurants appearing on the list from 51-120 were released ahead of time. That half of the list included restaurants from 25 countries, which demonstrates one good reason to expand the list, advertiser anniversaries notwithstanding. The expansion also makes it easier to highlight restaurants in cities that haven’t caught the 50 Best’s attention before, like Alcade in Guadalajara, Mexico (109 on the list). “We embraced the opportunity to showcase an even more diverse range of restaurants,” says Drew.
A lot of the buzz around the awards are the drops—and this was a year that saw more dramatic movement than usual. Besides Noma, Atelier Crenn in San Francisco entered the list at No. 35, and The Chairman, a Cantonese spot with dishes like flowery crab with aged Chinese wine, was another new entry at No. 41. The host city, Singapore, cracked the top 20: The elegant Odette moved up to No. 18.
Among the notable demotions on the list was Attica in Melbourne, which fell an astonishing 64 spots, to No. 84 from 20. Also eyebrow-raising were perennial favorites Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain, to No. 53 from 31, and D.O.M. in Sao Paulo, which fell to No. 54 from 30.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is organized and compiled by William Reed Business Media. It is created from the votes of 1,040 restaurateurs, chefs, food writers and foodies. The voters are split into 26 separate regions around the world. Each region has its own panel of 40 members. (Vines formerly chaired the U.K. and Ireland panel; he is no longer involved.) The awards started in 2002 as a feature in Restaurant, a U.K. publication, based on the picks of journalists and chefs. The founders compare it to a music magazine compiling a best-albums list.
Ahead of Tuesday evening’s ceremony, three awards were announced: Daniela Soto-Innes, of Cosme in New York, won Elit Vodka World’s Best Female Chef; the American Express Icon Award went to the humanitarian chef José Andrés; and Lido 84, a locally focused restaurant in Lombardy, Italy, won the Miele One to Watch.
(ANKARA, Turkey) — In his first public appearance since a crushing defeat in a rerun election for mayor of Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed to draw lessons and make adjustments in line with “the messages given by the people.”
Addressing legislators from his ruling party in Parliament, Erdogan again congratulated opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu who garnered 54.21% of the vote in Istanbul on Sunday to become Istanbul’s mayor. Erdogan had previously congratulated Imamoglu in a tweet.
Sunday’s results came as a rare electoral defeat for Erdogan and broke the Islamic-leaning ruling party’s decades-old grip on Turkey’s most important city. It was also a personal blow to Erdogan whose rise in Turkish politics had started with his own election as Istanbul mayor 25 years ago.
“In line with our political understanding, we cannot be angry or hold a grudge or blame the people,” Erdogan told his party’s legislators. “We don’t have the luxury of turning a deaf ear and ignoring the messages given by the people,”
He said his ruling party, which is scheduled to meet later Tuesday, would determine its “failings, disunity and errors” and look for ways to fix them.
In a related development, Erdogan in his speech marked the anniversary of last year’s electoral win that also ushered in a new political system by abolishing the office of the prime minister and vastly expanded the powers of the president. Critics say the system has eroded democracy and paved the way to one-man rule.
Erdogan said the people and country had “accepted” and “adjusted” to the new system but stated that a committee led by Vice President Fuat Oktay would nevertheless be formed to assess possible shortcomings.
Hours later, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who leads the main opposition party that backed Imamoglu, called for the new presidential system to be scrapped.
“Let’s lift this one-man regime and build a democratic system,” Kilicdaroglu said in a speech in Parliament.
Speaking to journalists on his way out of parliament, Erdogan wouldn’t rule out a Cabinet reshuffle following Sunday’s defeat.
“If one is needed we will do it, but we won’t take an order,” Erdogan said.
Sunday’s repeat election in Istanbul was held after the ruling party challenged the first vote over alleged irregularities, and Turkey’s electoral board nullified the results and revoked Imamoglu’s mandate after 18 days. Imamoglu won by around 800,000 votes more than his rival, compared with a 13,000-vote margin in the first vote.
The win electrified the secular party that has been spent nearly two decades in lackluster opposition as Erdogan strengthened his hold on power. The opposition also gained hold of the municipality of the capital, Ankara, in the March 31 local elections.
When oil tankers were bombed in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago, my thoughts turned to the summer of 1987 when I sailed through the narrow Strait of Hormuz for the first time as the Operations Officer in a brand-new Navy Cruiser, the U.S.S. Valley Forge. She was the fourth of the vaunted AEGIS-class guided missile cruisers, and our job was to protect the aircraft carrier carrying the admiral in command of our forces in the Arabian Gulf. Like today, tensions were elevated with Iran as a result of their attacks on merchant shipping, carried out largely through dumping mines in international waters – part of the so-called “Tanker War.” Several oil tankers were hit, passage through the Strait was problematic, and the international community sought to keep the Strait open to allow some 30% of the world’s oil that moves through it. That became the Navy’s mission.
Over the next 18 months, a reasonably effective convoy system was put in place, but more tankers hit mines and were attacked by Iranian gunboats, further elevating tensions. By spring 1988, the U.S. had attacked the Iranian Navy, sinking several warships and destroying naval bases in Operation Praying Mantis. While we have not had equally active combat with Iran over the three decades since, the US Navy has continued to have a very troubled relationship with both the Iranian Navy and the maritime arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Since that summer, I deployed five more times to the Arabian Gulf, and have sailed in and out of the Strait of Hormuz in command of destroyers, cruisers, and a carrier strike group as a Rear Admiral. It is dangerous, stressful and exhausting duty for our sailors.
While President Donald Trump correctly called off the strike against Iran last week over collateral damage concerns, the US warships in the Gulf remain at the highest state of readiness and combat alert. Led by the massive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, the current strike group will be prepared to resume offensive operations if diplomacy does not work. They will also be keenly aware of their vulnerabilities to Iranian attack, and will be taking significant steps to repulse anything that manifests hostile intent toward them. The crews of those warships, from the Admiral on the carrier’s Flag Bridge to the youngest sailors in the depths of the engineering plant, would have known a strike was about to be launched. Having a launch pulled back at literally the last moments is rare. While we do very occasionally stop strikes due to collateral damage concerns — and we should — it always creates further uncertainty in crews already poised on the edge of combat. All of that adds to the tension.
The Iranians have a highly capable asymmetric warfare capability, meaning they know they cannot match the pure firepower of a US strike group – with its 80+ combat aircraft, hundreds of long-range cruise missiles, and sophisticated air and subsurface defensive systems. Instead, they will focus on smaller, less expensive systems that can attack the warships in ways that potentially could spoof the high-powered US systems designed for major combat against a peer force. These Iranian systems include using mines, both floating and implanted by special forces (as they did against half-a-dozen tankers over the past six weeks); launching “swarm” attacks by small, high-speed gunboats, often with surface-to-surface missiles; employing stealthy, diesel powered submarines which are very quiet, hard to detect, and carry torpedoes; or barrages of cruise missiles capable of being launched in a concentrated attack at a single US warship.
Each of the U.S. ships, including the carrier, will have a high percentage of the crew up and at combat stations around the clock. While simply remaining at General Quarters 24/7 (everyone at their battle stations) is tempting, it simply burns out the crew too quickly. So the ships will be at a modified level of battle station manning, rotating for rest periods. Maintaining the highest level of surveillance around the surface of the ocean, below it, and in the air will be at the top of the crew’s priority list. This will be accomplished by linking into the vast U.S. satellite surveillance system; tapping into Iranian command and control via cyber work of the National Security Agency; relying on the U.S. intelligence community (including the CIA) for human intelligence “tippers;” and employing all the organic sensors of the strike group itself. This means flying surveillance aircraft on long patrols; sending out helicopters with sonar systems that dip into the water and listen for Iranian submarines; using the sophisticated radars on all the warships, especially the AEGIS ships; and listening with sophisticated electronic warfare receivers to pick up an early indication of Iranian fire control radars being employed.
The cat-and-mouse games in the Arabian Gulf will continue in the weeks and months to come as both sides attempt to position their maritime forces advantageously to conduct both offensive and defensive operations. The US holds an additional advantage in that we have a network of allies and bases in the region (in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain – the latter being the home of the headquarters of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet). We also have a long history of naval operations in the region, as well as more pure firepower at sea. But we cannot underestimate the danger of Iran, which likewise has deep experience in this type of operation, a highly motivated naval force, extensive bases on their own territory, and a sense of anger over the US sanctions which are crippling their economy.
On every US warship, the officers and crew understand the danger and the importance of their work. They are well aware of the decades of tension with Iran, and the Navy’s long and proud history in the Gulf. In their few hours off watch, they see the political and diplomatic twists and turns on CNN like other Americans back home. But for them, the stakes are deeply personal and very high indeed. Godspeed to them all on a dangerous summer mission in the steaming waters of the Arabian Gulf.
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TUEE Result 2019- Tezpur University is expected to release the results for the Tezpur University Entrance Exam (TUEE) 2019 today (25th June 2019, Tuesday). Candidates who had appeared for the exam will be able to check their results on the official website of the university once it is released. Tezpur University Entrance Exam Results 2019 will be declared by online at tezu.ernet.in. Students must note that the result link on the official website will be activated once the results are out. Apart from the merit list, a wait list will also be released. Scroll Down to gather the complete information about TUEE Result 2019.
TUEE Result 2019
As per reports, the University releases results in the form of merit list which will be published in the form of a PDF copy containing the names of the selected candidates. TUEE is taken by the students who wish to take admission to the autumn semester in B.Tech, M.Tech and M.Sc, MBBS and various Ph.D. and non Ph.D. courses offered by the Tezpur University. The University conducted TUEE 2019 through several centers spread across the country. Those who have been appeared will be waiting for the Tezpur University Result Date. And they check their TUEE Result 2019 Merit list pdf from the official website. As well as here we have provided a direct link to TUEE Result 2019 Pdf download from the below table.
Tezpur University Entrance Exam Result 2019 – Overview
Following the annual trend, Tezpur University will publish the TUEE 2019 Results in the form of merit list. The Merit List will be published in the form of a PDF copy which will include names of the candidates shortlisted or selected for admission. In addition to the merit list, the university will also announce a waitlist. The wait list will include names of the candidates who are on the waiting list and will be provided admission to various courses if any of the earlier shortlisted candidates fail to freeze their admissions.
Tezpur University has simplified the online checking procedure for TUEE Results 2019. Candidates who are not sure about the process and steps involved in it can follow the steps explained below to access TUEE 2019 Results, After the announcement of TUEE Results 2019, candidates will be called in for counseling session. During the counseling process, the candidates should highlight their preference about courses and colleges for the seat allotment.
TUEE Result 2019 – Counseling Process
After the result announcement, the shortlisted candidates will be called for the Counseling Process. Applicants those who got qualified for the Merit List, their name will appear on the next round. The applicants will be called for the Counseling process. They should appear for the Counseling by on time with required documents. As per the report, the counseling process will be held from 22 July to 25 July 2019. Those candidates who qualify will be attending the classes for the autumn semester from 26 July onward.
Steps to check Tezpur University Entrance Exam Result 2019
Visit the official website of Tezpur University at tezu.ernet.in
Click on the result link available on the homepage.
Enter your log-in details in the provided fields.
Hit Submit and TUEE Result 2019 will be displayed on your screen
Download the result PDF and take a print out for future reference.
Prasar Bharati Recruitment 2019 (प्रसार भारती रिक्रूटमेंट 2019-20): Doordarshan News, New Delhi is looking to engage 89 suitable candidates for available job vacancies. However, Anchor cum Correspondents, Copy Writer, Camera Person & Other jobs are available in Doordarshan (Prasar Bharati Parivar). Aspirants dreaming to start their career in Prasar Bharati can submit your application forms from 25th June 2019 to 12th July 2019. Application forms must be submitted through OFFLINE mode only. If you still have any related doubts please visit the official website i.e. www.prasarbharati.gov.in (OR) www.ddnews.gov.in
Details of post wise educational qualification, experience details, age limit, selection method are available below.
Jobs in Prasar Bharati Recruitment 2019 – Overview
Name of the Board
Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan), All India Radio
Name of the Post
Anchor cum Correspondents, Copy Writer, Camera Person & Others
Prasar Bharati is an autonomous statutory body created by the Prasar Bharati law and entered into force on 23.11.1997. It is the public service station of the country. The objectives of public service broadcasting are achieved under the Prasar Bharati law by All India Radio and Doordarshan, who previously worked as media units in the R & B ministry and have since become members of Prasar Bharati.
Prasar Bharati Parivar Vacancy 2019 details
Post Name
Vacancies
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. I (English)
03
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. II (English)
03
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. III (English)
04
Copy Writer Grade – II (English)
08
Assignment Coordinator
07
Correspondent (English)
16
Guest Coordinator Grade-I/II
04
Camera Person Grade – II
15
Broadcast Executive Grade – I (English)
10
Post Production Assistant Grade-I (English)
19
Total
89
Eligibility Criteria for All India Radio Prasar Bharati Recruitment 2019
Eligibility Criteria for Anchoring Jobs in Doordarshan Recruitment is provided below.
Educational Qualification for www.prasarbharati.gov.in recruitment 2019
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. I (English):
Degree from a recognized university or institution
Degree/PG Diploma in Journalism from a recognized institution
Camera Friendly face with the voice of a very good quality suited to telecasting
Correct pronunciation accent and modulation
Knowledge of current regional/Indian & Foreign affairs
Ability to interview people who matter in the news
Proficiency in the English Language
At least 10 years experience
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. II (English):
Degree from a recognized university or institution
Degree/PG Diploma in Journalism from a recognized institution
Camera Friendly face with the voice of a very good quality suited to telecasting
Correct pronunciation accent and modulation
Knowledge of current regional/Indian & Foreign affairs
Ability to interview people who matter in the news
Proficiency in the English Language
At least 01 years experience in relevant field or Internship for 01 year
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. III (English):
Degree from a recognized university or institution
Degree/PG Diploma in Journalism from a recognized institution
Camera Friendly face with the voice of a very good quality suited to telecasting
Correct pronunciation accent and modulation
Knowledge of current regional/Indian & Foreign affairs
Ability to interview people who matter in the news
Proficiency in the English Language
At least 10 years experience
Copy Writer Grade-II (English):
Graduate Degree in Mass Communication/PG Diploma in Journalism from a recognized board/university
01 years experience in relevant field
Proficiency in the English Language
Further Details:
Assignment Coordinator:
Graduate Degree in Mass Communication/PG Diploma in Journalism from a recognized board/university
05 years experience in relevant field
Proficiency in the English Language
Correspondent (English):
Graduate Degree in Mass Communication/PG Diploma in Journalism from a recognized board/university
05 years experience in relevant field
Camera Friendly face with the voice of a very good quality suited to telecasting
Correct pronunciation accent and modulation
Knowledge of current regional/Indian & Foreign affairs
Ability to interview people who matter in the news
Proficiency in the English Language
Guest Coordinator Grade – I/II:
Graduation from a recognized board/university
Diploma in Public Relation/Journalism from a recognized university or institution
Must have 07 years experience in Grade – I & 03 years experience for Grade-II in relevant field
Must have Proficiency in the English Language
Camera Person Grade – II:
Passed 10+2/12th Class from a recognized board
Degree/Diploma in Cinematography/Videography from a recognized board
01-year experience in relevant field
Broadcast Executive Grade-I (English):
Professional Degree/Diploma in Radio/TV Production from recognized board/university
03 years experience in relevant field
Proficiency in the English Language
Post Production Assistant Grade – I (English):
Graduation from a recognized board/university
Professional Diploma in Film & Video Editing
02 years experience in relevant field
Must have Proficiency in the English Language
Age Limit
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. I (English): Maximum Age – 45 Years
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. II (English): Maximum Age – 45 Years
For Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. III (English): Maximum Age – 40 Years
Anchor cum Correspondent Grade. I (English): Maximum Age – 40 Years
Assignment Coordinator: Maximum Age – 40 Years
Copy Writer Grade-II (English): Maximum Age – 40 Years
Assignment Coordinator: Maximum Age – 40 Years
Correspondent (English): Maximum Age – 40 Years
Guest Coordinator Grade – I/II: Maximum Age – 45 Years
Camera Person Grade – II: Maximum Age – 40 Years
Broadcast Executive Grade-I (English): Maximum Age – 40 Years
Post Production Assistant Grade – I (English): Maximum Age – 40 Years
Salary
Best Salary
Selection Process for प्रसार भारती रिक्रूटमेंट 2019-20
Selection procedure for Doordarshan Prasar Bharati Recruitment 2019 is as follows,
Written Examination
Interview
Application Fee
Kindly refer official notification pdf provided below.
How to apply for Jobs in Prasar Bharati Recruitment 2019
Click on Prasar Bharati Recruitment official Notification pdf provided below
Download the pdf and read the give instructions carefully
Ensure that you fulfill all the requirements
Now, click on Application Form
Download the application form and take a print out of it
Enter all necessary details such as your name, DOB, email address, telephone number, educational qualification, and others.
Paste your recent passport sized photograph
Attach xerox copies of certificates
Pay prescribed application fee
Finally, post the application form to the postal address given below.
Postal Address:
Deputy Director (KR),
Room No. 413, 4th Floor, DD News
Doordarshan Bhawan, Tower – B,
Copernicus Marg, New Delhi – 110001
(OR)
By Hand at the reception counter of DD News at Doordarshan Bhawan,
Important Dates for Prasar Bharati New Delhi Recruitment 2019
Notification Release Date
25th June 2019
Starting Date
25th June 2019
Last Date
12th July 2019
Important Links for Doordarshan Recruitment for Anchor cum Correspondents Posts 2019
Prasar Bharati Official Notification Pdf & Application Form
HSSC Instructor Syllabus 2019 Pdf is available here for various instructor posts. Applicants who are in search of the syllabus can get complete syllabus details along with exam pattern on this page. Download Haryana HSSC Instructor syllabus 2019 from the link given in below sections and start preparing for the exam.
HSSC Instructor Syllabus Pdf
Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) released the HSSC Recruitment 2019 notification for recruiting Instructors under various categories. Aspirants who have applied for the exam need to prepare according to latest syllabus & exam pattern. For those applicants here we have given updated HSSC instructor exam syllabus 2019 details.
It’s very important to have the updated syllabus & exam pattern details given briefly to prepare well for the exam. So, here in this article of recruitment guru, we have given updated details subject wise that would give an idea about the structure of the exam and also helps in analyzing the topics completely subject wise and prepare according to it to crack the exam successfully. Also, check the HSSC question paper for various instructor posts. However, go through the below section for HSSC various instructor post syllabus & exam pattern 2019 details.
IDBI Admit Card 2019 – IDBI has yet to release the IDBI Grade A exam admit card 2019. Download from the direct link given below once it released by the reputed Bank. Visit frequently to our website to get all the updated IDBI Bank Admit Cards. Moreover, Candidates can find the exam date, starting and closing date of Online registration from this page.
Thus, we update you the overall information about the IDBI Bank Admit Cards for various posts. Download the admit card by following the steps given below. Go through the article completely to get a clear view of the admit cards. Hence, we direct you to the official website to get an answer for your queries regarding IDBI admit cards 2019.
IDBI Call Letter 2019
Aspirants who are seeking for the bank job can now apply at Industrial Development Bank of India. Hence, Applying Candidates will be called for the examination process. Moreover, Aspirants have to appear for the exam along with the admit card. So, Candidates have to download the official IDBI Admit Card before the exam. Hence, the IDBI Call Letter is an important factor for the IDBI exams and interview. The Online application to apply for IDBI Assistant Manager Grade A is given below.
IDBI Assistant Manager Call Letter 2019 – Download Here
Required Things to Check in IDBI Call Letter 2019
Candidates have to check and fill in the IDBI Call Letter 2019. Hence, the candidates keep the application form along with you while downloading the admit card. Moreover, the admit card is the entrance ticket to write the exam. IDBI Call Letter will be uploaded in the Official Website. Hence, we will direct you to download the IDBI Admit Card. Candidates make use of the steps to download the hall ticket.
Name of the Applicant.
Exam Date, Time & Centre.
Post Applied for.
Application or Registration Number
Father Name and
Important Instructions.
Required Things to download IDBI Admit Card
Download IDBI Grade Exam hall tickets here. Carry the admit card for IDBI Garde exams. While in the absence of the admit card, Invigilators will not allow you to write the examination. However, Candidates are suggested to download the admit card in prior for the exams. Thus, Aspirants are suggested to follow the instructions stated in the admit card. Maintain the exam hall decorum. Check to the printed details in the hall ticket. Do not overwrite any texts in the admit card except the Candidate’s Signature.
AP VRO VRA Previous Papers Pdf is updated for free download for both Village Revenue Officer (VRO) and Village Revenue Assistant (VRA) posts. Candidates can get here the updated AP VRO Model Papers and start their exam preparation. Also, go through the exam pattern and syllabus details to get an overview of the examination.
AP VRO VRA Previous Papers
Applicants can get complete Study Material, Preparation tips along with AP Village Revenue Officer Previous Year Papers. We provided Last 10 Years APPSC VRO Exam Papers for the sake of aspirants. Hence the people who applied for AP VRO jobs can download Village Revenue Officer Exam Model Papers for free of cost. An enormous number of candidates are applying for Andhra Pradesh VRO VRA Recruitment 2019. So the competition will be very high. Therefore applicants need proper preparation to face this tough competition. You can get valuable and precious information related to AP VRO VRA Previous Papers from the below sections. Also, check AP VRO Exam Syllabus and Exam Pattern also with VRA Sample Papers provided below.
AP VRO VRA Previous Question Papers – Details
Description
Details
Name of the Organization
Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission
Total No. of Vacancies
Various
Name of the Posts
Village Revenue Officer & Village Revenue Assistant
Candidates applying for Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) for the VRO & VRA posts will be selected based on written examination and interview.
AP VRO VRA Exam Pattern 2019
Here we are providing Andhra Pradesh VRO Exam Syllabus and Exam Pattern details in a PDF format. Hence Aspirants can download the AP Village Revenue Officer Syllabus 2019 by visiting the following link. Syllabus and Exam Pattern are the two important factors to make your preparation easy and effective. Therefore, check the below table to get an idea about the AP VRO Exam Pattern 2019.
IDBI Assistant Manager Result 2019 Will be available Soon. Looking for IDBI Bank Result 2019? then you are in a place where you can check your result. IDBI Assistant Manager Results 2019 will be announced soon. A huge number of applicants have applied for the vacancies. IDBI is going to conduct the Online Computer Based Examination for the Post of Assistant Manager on 21st July 2019. After successful completion of the Online Examination, applicants will be waiting for the IDBI Assistant Manager Result. Check your results via the link mentioned below. Hence, all those might be looking for the Assistant Manager exam result now!
IDBI Assistant Manager Result 2019
IDBI Bank authority will conduct the online test for the Assistant Manager posts. All the candidates who had participated in the Online Test must check the IDBI Bank Exam Results 2019 from the official site @ idbi.com for regular updates and more details. The last date for submission of application through online mode is 03rd July 2019. Additional to this, for those candidates here we have provided a direct link to check and download their results. The result link will be work once the Result will be published by officially. Also candidates, who will clear all rounds of the selection process they will get hired for the Assistant Manager Posts.
Candidates can get ready to apply for the IDBI Assistant Manager Post and the online application starts from 23rd June 2019 to 03rd July 2019. Applicants those who are going to apply for this post should prepare well for the Online Test and appear for the Online Test on 21st July 2019. After finishing the Online Examination, candidates will wait for the IDBI Assistant Manager Result 2019. We are here to help you out from the Best choice to get the Results update. Here we will be providing a direct link to verify and download your IDBI Assistant Manager Result.
In order to Qualify the online test, the candidates have to obtain the IDBI Cut Off Marks 2019. All the participants must secure marks higher than the IDBI Cut Off Marks 2019 declared by the officials. Candidates who will clear the online test they will get a chance to attend the further rounds. Most importantly, candidates have to remember that the IDBI Cut Off Marks 2019 depends on Candidates Category (SC/ ST/ General/ Others). In case if the candidates qualify in all rounds then he/ she will get hired for the particular posts.
IDBI Merit List 2019 | idbi.com
The officials of IDBI Bank are soon going to announce the IDBI Merit List 2019. Candidates can check the IDBI Merit List 2019 from the official portal. The IDBI Merit List 2019 contains the Names, Marks, Rank of the top or high marks scored candidates. Moreover, IDBI Merit List 2019 is to shortlist the candidates. Candidates who are qualified in the Online Test must attend the further rounds of the selections process. So we advise the candidates to keep in touch with the official portal to more details of the IDBI Merit List 2019.
Steps to check IDBI Assistant Manager 2019 Result
Visit the IDBI Bank official portal i.e idbi.com.
Search for career section, click on it
You will get the link like Recruitment of Assistant Manager – 2019
In that click on the below links IDBI Assistant Manager Result 2019, Merit list, Cut Off and Marks
Now, your IDBI Bank Exam Result 2019 will displayed on the screen.
Download or take a print out of the Result for further reference.
Important links to download IDBI Assistant Manager Result 2019
Download IDBI Assistant Manager Result 2019 – Available Soon
UP NEET Merit List 2019 for Pre Medical Exam is available now. The Candidates those who appeared for the UP NEET 2019 Exam can download the Merit list. However, we provide you a direct link below to download the Uttar Pradesh Pre Medical Exam Merit List 2019. Also, check other details like UP NEET Online Counselling Details, document Verification schedule and Other in the sections below. Furthermore, an aspirant can visit the Official Website for more details about the UP NEET Merit list 2019.
UP NEET State Quota Merit List 2019
UP NEET merit list 2019 is available on the official website of Directorate General of Medical Education and Training, UP and here. It is recommended to all the applicants who have successfully registered themselves for UP NEET State quota MBBS/BDS Counselling 2019. NEET MBBS UP rank list will have the important information like candidate's state rank, roll number, NEET marks, NEET percentile, category, sub-category, NEET rank and status of the fee payment. Only those candidates will get the admission in UP medical colleges who will have their name in the merit list.
UP NEET Merit List 2019 Download
Name of the Institution
Directorate General of Medical Education and Training, UP
The counseling process will be conducted for admission into 3920 MBBS and 2251 BDS seats offered by government and private medical colleges of the state. You will get all the essential information about the UP NEET merit list from this post. UP Counselling Board has announced the State Merit list for NEET UG 2019 Exam. The candidates those who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh State can download the UP NEET UG 2019 Exam Merit List form the link given above. Also, check the Online Counselling Dates, Schedule, and the Documents for Verification in the sections below.
UP NEET 2019 Online Counselling Details 2019
The Candidate those who qualified in the written Examination can attend the Online Counselling for UP NEET UG Medical Pre Examination 2019. The Aspirants need to given fill their options online. The Board will release the Counselling Results or Seat Allotment Result online. Keep visiting we give you a direct link for UP NEET Counselling Result here. The first round of counseling will take place in July and once the seats after the first counseling round will be completed then the process for the second counseling round will be initiated. The selected candidates will have to report to the assigned colleges on the given date.
Documents Verification & Counselling Schedule @UP NEET UG 2019
The Candidates need to attend the Documents verification process before attending the Online Counselling, the Schedule for Document Verification with the list of important Documents need to carry for verification is given below. However, just click on the link given below and download the Document Verification Schedule for UP NEET 2019. As we stated above that the Merit list for admission in MBBS and BDS will be released online. Candidates can download the merit list to find put their name in it by following the below given steps.
Steps to Download the UP NEET Merit List PDF 2019
Click on the link given below.
The Merit list for UP NEET UG 2019 is shown on a new page.
Download the UP NEET Merit list 2019 for easy Verification.
This is UP State NEET UG Merit List 2019.
Later, check the Counselling and Document Verification Schedules given below.
NCERT Recruitment for LDC 2019 Notification released. National Council of Education Research Training Board Recruits candidates for the Lower Division Clerk (LDC) Post. The Jobs in NCERT is allotted for Ex-Servicemen and PWD Candidates. The Application is invited through Offline process from 25th June 2019. This Offline Application can be sent to the Board in the prescribed format before 10th July 2019. Applicants need not pay any application fee. Once the candidates get selected for NCERT LDC Recruitment, selected individuals will be allocated a posting accordingly. To know more details, please visit www.ncert.nic.in.
NCERT Recruitment for LDC 2019 – Job Details
Special Recruitment Drive for filling up vacancies for Ex-Servicemen & Persons With Disability (PWD) in the NCERT offices.
Name of the Board
National Council of Educational Research (NCERT)
Advertisement No.
01-LDC(Spl-D)/2019
Name of the Post
Lower Division Clerk (LDC) in PB-I
Educational Qualification
12th Pass
No of Vacancies
17
Starting Date to Apply
25th June 2019
Last Date to apply
10th July 2019
NCERT LDC Examination Date 2019
To be notified soon
Examination Centre
New Delhi/Delhi
Application Mode
Offline
Job Location
New Delhi, Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru & Shillong
About National Council of Educational Research (NCERT):
The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organization created in 1961 by the government of India to assist and advise central and state governments on policies and programs to improve quality school education. The main objectives of NCERT and its constituent units are: to undertake, promote and coordinate research in areas related to school education; prepares and publishes standard manuals, additional material, newsletters, magazines and develops teaching kits, digital multimedia material, etc.,
Organizes initial training and in-service of teachers; develop and disseminate innovative teaching techniques and practices, collaborate and establish networks with state departments, universities, NGOs and other educational institutions; serve as a center for the exchange of ideas and information on issues related to school education; and act as a nodal agency to achieve the goals of universalizing primary education.
Details for NCERT Job Vacancy 2019
Post Name
Vacancies
Lower Division Clerk (LDC)
17
Total
17
NCERT LDC Vacancy 2019
Category
Vacancies
Ex-Serviceman
12
Persons With Disability (PWD)
05
Total
17
Eligibility Criteria for National Council of Educational Research (NCERT) Jobs 2019
All applicants of NCERT LDC Jobs must know that their application forms will be accepted by the board only if they fulfill the eligibility conditions given below.
NCERT Recruitment Educational Qualification
12th Pass in relevant subject or equivalent from a recognized university or board.
A typing speed of 35 w.p.m. in English or 30 w.p.m. in Hindi on a computer (35 w.p.m. and 30 w.p.m correspond to 10500 KDPH/9000KDPH on an average of 5 key depression for each word)
Age Limit
Minimum- 18 years
Maximum- 27 years
Age Relaxation:
As per the norms
Age relaxation is not admissible to sons, daughters and dependents of Ex-Servicemen. Therefore, such candidates should not apply under Ex-Servicemen.
Salary
Rs.5,200/- to Rs.20,200/- per month + Grade Pay of Rs.1,900/-
Selection Process
Written Examination
Interview
Application Fee
No Application Fee
How to apply ONLINE for LDC Vacancies in NCERT Recruitment 2019?
Firstly, Download the NCERT LDC Application form.
Take a print out of it.
Fill the application form with correct data the same as in your certificates.
Attach the self-attested copies of required documents.
Post the application form to the specified address
Make sure it reaches the address before the due date.
Documents to Enclose:
A recent photograph of the applicant should be affixed on the application form.
Date and signature of the applicant is on the application form.
Photocopies of the educational certificate (self-attested).
Photocopy of caste/ disability/ service certificate (self-attested).
Ordinary Post:
Section Officer (R-II),
5th Floor, Zakir Hussain Khand,
NCERT, Sri Aurobindo Marg,
New Delhi-110016
Dropped in DropBox:
The Ground Floor,
Zakir Hussain Khand,
NCERT, Sri Aurobindo Marg,
New Delhi – 110016.
Important Dates for NCERT LDC Recruitment 2019
Notification Release Date
25th June 2019
Starting Date
25th June 2019
Last Date
6th July 2019
Important Links for NCERT Lower Divison Clerk Recruitment 2019
NCERT Recruitment Notification Pdf & Application Form
In addition to research, development, training, extension, publication and dissemination activities, NCERT is an agency that implements bilateral cultural exchange programs with other countries in the field of school education. NCERT also interacts and works with international organizations visiting foreign delegations and offers various training services to educational personnel in developing countries. The main NCERT units located in different parts of the country are:
Vijaya Bank Result 2019 – Vijaya Bank has been Conducted Peon sub Staff / Sweeper Group D Exam From March/April 2019. Those candidates Who Have Appeared in Vijay Bank Peon Online CBT Examination, Candidates they Can Check Vijaya Bank Sweeper Result 2019 From official Website. So Candidates check below the Vijaya Bank Peon Exam Result 2019 Region Wise and Vijaya Bank Peon/Sub Staff Result 2019 Cut off Marks. Candidates having their names in the merit list will be invited for document verification followed by a medical examination. After the completion of the selection process, a final merit list/ result will be released.
Vijaya Bank Result 2019
Candidates looking for Vijaya Bank Peon and Sweeper Sub-staff cadre result can go through the article shared below. Here, they will get relevant information related to bank result dates, merit list, process to access result online and various other details. Additionally, in this article we have also furnished the complete details about Vijaya Bank Merit List 2019, Vijaya Bank Cut Off Marks 2019, the stepwise procedure to download the Vijaya Bank Result 2019 and other details.
Latest Update: Vijaya Bank officials have canceled the Recruitment Process. The application fees and intimation charges paid by the applicants if any is being refunded to the account from which payment was received by the Bank.
Vijaya Bank has conducted the written exam to select/ pick up the eligible candidates for the post of Peon and the part-time Sweeper. The authority had decided to release the Vijaya Bank Peon Result 2019 along with the Vijaya Bank Sweeper Result 2019. Candidates can only check their Vijaya Bank Results 2019 for Peon and Sweeper posts when they have the details required to log in. By checking your results, you can easily know the status of the further rounds.
Candidates who are thinking that the Vijaya Bank Cut Off Marks are important then your answer is yes it is important. Vijaya Cut Off Marks plays a major role in Qualifying the candidates to next level of the selection process. Cut Off Marks may depend on the candidate's category and other factors. The authority of the Vijaya Bank declared the cut off marks as category wise for all regions.
Vijaya Bank Peon, Sweeper Merit List 2019
Aspirants whose name is given on the Vijaya Bank Merit List 2019 are declared as qualified candidates. These qualified candidates must participate in further rounds like Document Verification and others. Candidates need to keep in mind that the authorities of Vijaya Bank will present Vijaya Bank Peon, Sweeper Merit List 2019 on the home page after announcing the Vijaya Bank Results 2019 for the 432 Peon, Part Time Sweeper posts. So participants must check the official website or follow our page frequently to get to know the latest updates of the Vijaya Bank Merit List 2019. Those who name is present on the Result or the Merit List they need to attend the next level in the selection process which is the Document Verification.
Steps to check Vijaya Bank Result 2019
Visit the official website of the Vijaya Bank @ vijayabank.com.
In the home page contains some modules and search for the Careers module which is at the top of the page.
Now, Click the Careers module and select the Current Careers.
Search for the desired Vijaya Bank Result 2019 link in the Current Careers.
Then, you will get the result page with a login form.
Give the hall ticket number or the registration number in the required field.
Download or take a printout of Vijaya Bank Peon Result 2019 for further reference.
Important links to download Vijaya Bank Result 2019
NATA Admit Card 2019 – The Council of Architecture has released the admit card on 24th June 2019. Candidates who are applied for the July session examination can download it now. Hence, all the aspirants get the admit card by entering the Application Number and Password. The admit card will include the details of Exam Schedule and Exam center. Download NATA admit card from the below section. Drag down to get more details about NATA admit card details.
NATA Admit Card 2019
Attempt 1 admit card had released before a few days. And now, the board has released the admit card for the July session exam. An Examination Roll Number will also be generated for each candidate. Only those students who are successfully done NATA 2019 Registration can access the NATA Admit Card 2019. NATA 2019 candidates have to appear at the examination center with a printed hard copy of the Admit Card along with one original photo identity card
Required things to Check-in NATA Attempt 2 Admit Card
Attempt 2 exam Admit Card has been released on 24th June 2019. Moreover, Candidates start downloading the admit card by following the steps to download NATA Admit Card 2019. Hence, all the details regarding admit card have been listed out. Find each and every mandatory detail mentioned in the admit card. Fill all the mentioned particulars to print the valid NATA Admit Card.
Name of the Applicant.
Exam Date, Time & Centre.
Post Applied for.
Application or Registration Number
Father Name and
Important Instructions.
NATA Attempt 2 Exam 2019
National Aptitude Test in Architecture has declared the date of Attempt 2 exam on 07th July 2019. Moreover, Aspirants who are eligible to write the examination now can get the admit card. Appear for the exam at the mentioned time in the admit card. Get some more instructions about the NATA Exam in this section.
Rules& Regulations:
Candidates have to appear for the exam on or before 8.30am. Candidates will not be allowed for the exam after 8.30 am.
Biometric and Photograph of the candidate will be taken at the exam center for verification.
Enactment candidates will be disqualified and the case will be filed against on a candidate.
Candidates have to leave the examination hall after the completion of exam duration.
Exam Formalities:
Candidates have to sign the booklet filled by them.
The signature should be the same as in the application form.
In the drawing booklet, Candidate’s name should be mentioned in Block Letters and fill the exam center, Center code should be written in the respective places.
Things to be Carried for the NATA Exam:
Pencil
Ballpoint pen(Blue/ Black)
Eraser
Valid proof
Colour Pencil
Required things to Download NATA Admit Card 2019
Download NATA Hall Ticket from the below table. Check and download the admit card. If candidates found any error in the admit card contact the officials to change that. The Official detail has been given below. So, contact to the respective address or the Telephone number given. Carry the valid Identity Card along with the Admit Card for the exam.
Aadhar Card
College ID
Ration Card
Driving License
PAN Card
Voter ID
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IndiGo's co-founder Rakesh Gangwal wants "higher standards" when the airline gets into related party transactions, a demand that is the bone of contention between him and business partner Rahul Bhatia, a top executive at the airline said Monday."The differences (between the two promoters) is that Mr Gangwal wants higher standards while following related party transactions," the executive said on the condition of anonymity. "He wants an additional step."The two promoters were trying to resolve their differences, the executive said.Related party transactions are deals or arrangements between two parties who are joined by a pre-existing business relationship or common interest. In IndiGo's case, it would, for instance, be the airline's contract with Novotel, locally owned in part by Bhatia's Interglobe Enterprises for crew accommodation.The executive clarified the transactions are done at "arm's length" and through a tendering process and Interglobe owned companies don't always win the contracts.ET had on May 16 reported the differences between the promoters, which if unresolved would hamper the working of the airline.Legal firms Khaitan & Co and J Sagar Associates are helping the founders resolve the problems.On May 18, IndiGo's CEO Ronojoy Dutta acknowledged there "may be differences" between the promoters .Later, after IndiGo announced its earnings, Dutta reiterated there are differences but said they weren't about growth strategy, overseas expansion or management changes.Dutta said the promoters are debating "one issue" which will be "resolved soon".Gangwal, a United Airlines and US Airways veteran, has been the driving force behind IndiGo's emergence as one of the fastest growing carriers in the world.Gangwal crafted IndiGo's record-breaking plane orders, its aggressive expansion in India and the ambition to make it a global carrier, which resulted in major changes to the senior management. Gangwal is a US citizen. Bhatia ran the show in India, ably supporting the airline's growth and manoeuvring regulatory hurdles.Differences cropped up in the last couple of years, with Gangwal insisting IndiGo shouldn't break its momentum of aggressive growth, while Bhatia opted for a more cautious approach.There were differences also in choosing senior management personnel.Sources have said the differences between the promoters stemmed from a shareholders' agreement heavily skewed in favour of Bhatia. The agreement expires in October.But in a statement, Gangwal had earlier clarified he didn't want control of the airline."I am categorically and clearly stating that there is no interest or desire whatsoever on the part of the RG (Rakesh Gangwal) Group to take control of the company. Also, to put to rest the messaging on the fact that the RG Group is attempting to renegotiate the Shareholders Agreement, I am placing on record that the RG Group stands by the current SHA which, in any case, expires this October".
Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) Tuesday managed to meet 40% of its Rs 375-crore repayment commitment toward commercial papers, highlighting the cash-flow stress at the embattled mortgage lender that is selling assets to repay debt."Out of the aggregate amount of Rs 375 crore, 40% has been paid on a proportionate basis, and the balance amount of Rs 225 crore shall be paid in the next couple of days," DHFL said in a statement late Tuesday.A particular asset sale money did not arrive on time leading to cash shortage, said a source.Earlier this month, just before the Eid festival, DHFL failed to meet payment obligations. At that time, the company failed to pay due interest on bonds sold last year, and later paid the money within the grace period to avoid the 'default' tag.Mid-sized mutual funds, some of which are linked to select banks or large conglomerates, invested in the short-term debt papers that came up for repayment Tuesday, market sources told ET. There were a dozen investors in these instruments.On June 17, ET reported that the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had sought details of DHFL's plans for cash generation amid mounting concerns of default. The largest domestic institutional investor in debt assets sought to redeem half of its DHFL investments exercising the 'put option', an exit route given to investors before scheduled maturities.EPFO invested about Rs 1,300 crore in debt securities sold by DHFL.When EPFO made the investment in 2014-15, the company's debt was rated 'AAA' by CARE. As per rules, EPFO cannot invest in any debt securities rated below 'AA+'. But pension and insurance funds such as EPFO are not required to show mark-to-market losses.A few weeks ago, CAREdowngraded DHFL's debt to 'D', or the default category, citing a delay in the payment of interest totalling nearly Rs 1,000 crore.DHFL has been battling a liquidity crisis over the past three quarters after defaults in September by infrastructure financier IL&FS choked fund flows to the para-banking sector, causing an abnormal increase in the cost of funds for mortgage lenders and non-bank financiers.Since then, DHFL has sold assets and raised cash to meet about Rs 35,000-40,000 crore of outstanding debt obligations.At the end of the December 2018 quarter, DHFL was India's third-largest home financier, with assets under management of Rs 1.3 lakh crore and debt of Rs 90,000 crore.
MUMBAI: SoftBank-funded Grofers is converting dozens of grocery stores into its own branded outlets as the online retail firm looks to broaden its distribution and push own label products to earn better margins. It has changed nearly 100 such kirana and supermarket outlets to Grofers discount stores in the Delhi NCR region where it will manage back-end sourcing, inventory management and technology support on a revenue sharing model."The move helps in having bigger purchasing power. Also, it will be a subset of our offline delivery system since we already deal with nearly 6,000 partner stores," said Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder of Grofers that raised more than $200 million in May from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, South Korean investment firm, KTB and Tiger Global Management."We started testing this model in November last year and hope to have 200 such stores by expanding network to Bengaluru in the next few months," he said. 69949229 This is Grofers' second stint in brick-and-mortar format; in 2017, it had opened tuck shops and small stores at few Oyo properties as a pilot but discontinued it within two months. Also, about two years ago, the company changed its business model to inventory-led from a hyperlocal delivery start-up helping sales nearly double each year. The company claimed annual sales of Rs 2,000 crore.Within India's $500 billion grocery market, just 0.2% is online but players are growing nearly 50% annually after using data penetration and adoption of web-shopping in India to expand business in a category that until recently remained the monopoly of neighbourhood stores. Online grocers — Grofers and rival Bigbasket — have an outsize share, but Amazon, Flipkart and Swiggy are gradually mainstreaming the category.With highest frequency across categories and high potential for private labels, eGrocery can grow to $99 billion over the next decade, according to a latest CLSA report."Online doesn't offer any hing significant beyond convenience in the grocery segment which is a habit driven category and difficult to break. Retailers, both online and physical, have to look at channels where consumers go," said Devangshu Dutta, CEO at consultancy firm Third Eyesight.Grofers also joins the league of retailers such as Pepperfry, Myntra, baby products retailer FirstCry and Lenskart that started out solely in the ecommerce space, before branching out with physical stores. Grofers, however, maintained that their physical stores will not cannibalilse sales from its online venture since it appeals to an older consumer base compared to a younger demographic online.Also, for Grofers as well as rivals, high focus on private labels is a key for bargaining power and unit economics. Both Flipkart and Amazon too have launched private labels mostly in staples and packaged food, which see a higher traction online compared to branded home and personal care products."From 40% share of private labels, we hope to target about 60% in the next few years," said Dhindsa.
NEW DELHI: The government is contemplating measures to boost the housing sector in the budget, seeing this as a quick way of providing an impetus to the slowing economy and creating more jobs.The steps under consideration include a bigger tax benefit to encourage purchases, softer interest rates for affordable housing and restoring some benefits for a second house."There is a view that some incentives need to be given to encourage the housing sector," a senior government official said, adding that various options, including higher tax incentives or steps to boost the affordable housing sector, are being considered.Discussions have taken place, the official said, adding that a final call on the proposal will be taken closer to the July 5 budget.69951053 69951054 Policymakers are eyeing measures to reverse the economic slowdown and housing is seen as one of the potential sectors that can aid the process. India's GDP slowed to a five-year low of 6.8% in FY19.The Narendra Modi-led government had raised the maximum deduction from income for interest paid on a loan for self-occupied house from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh in its maiden budget in July 2014.DELAYED POSSESSIONEffectively, for a person in highest 30% income tax rate, this meant a rise in tax saving from Rs 45,000 a year to Rs 60,000 a year.Full deduction can be claimed if construction is completed within five years, which leads to issues where possession is delayed. The government could allow some benefit for the preconstruction period, keeping in view the delays faced by buyers. One of the options could be to allow the entire interest deduction for preconstruction."Bunching of interest of preconstruction period with the current year with a limit of Rs 2 lakh needs to be removed as the individual is never able to recoup the interest actually paid to the bank," said Rakesh Nangia, founder and managing partner, Nangia Advisors LLP.SECOND HOUSEPreviously, individuals having a second house could claim deduction on the interest paid on the housing loan without any monetary limit in a year. The loss, arising from interest being more than rental income, was eligible for offset against other income. In the budget for FY18, this deduction for interest on a second house had been capped at Rs 2 lakh. The loss is allowed to be carried forward for eight assessment years.However, with lower rental yields, it has become difficult to offset this loss.Tax experts said removal of these restrictions and reverting to the previous regime will provide relief to taxpayers as the primary investment of most of Indians is in real estate."Investors who have bought houses on loans will be able to set off these losses on account of the big difference in rental yields and prevailing interest rates," said Amit Maheshwari, partner, Ashok Maheshwary & Associates LLP.Apart from taxpayers, such a move will help clear unsold inventory and provide a boost to the real estate sector, which has been struggling for the last several years, Maheshwari said.
Eight years ago, when Dr Manmohan Singh was serving his second term as Prime Minister and India's retail inflation neared 9%, the central bank chose to have a hard look at the liquidity adjustment framework to make its rate signals more effective.A panel headed by Reserve Bank of India executive director Deepak Mohanty suggested that the liquidity adjustment facility operate in a deficit mode, with the repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends to banks, being the single policy rate to unambiguously signal monetary policy stance. Citing an example, the panel said a 100 bps change in the repo causes around 80 bps change in the weighted average call rate (WACR) over a month. However, the strength of the response turns out to be relatively small in a surplus liquidity situation. In theory, the job of the central bank is to anchor the overnight call money rate around the policy rate. While this objective works better in developed economies, it remained pretty wayward in India over the last decade.Keeping liquidity "in deficit" is easier said than done.The banking system was awash with funds after demonetisation when humble savers were forced to dig out money kept under the mattresses and deposit them in banks. Former Governor Urjit Patel did his bit to suck out liquidity and restore normalcy, but then lost his chair for sticking to his ground on "slightly deficit" liquidity even after the non-bank credit crisis of 2018, antagonising the government. Patel had a rift with the fiscal authority on issues such as the fate of RBI's excess reserves and central bank autonomy.His successor Shaktikanta Das, who initially followed the 2011 liquidity guidance, has now flagged expectations of easier flow of funds, setting up an internal working group that will review the existing liquidity management framework, suggest measures to simplify the system, and clearly communicate the objectives, quantitative measures and toolkit of liquidity management. The group is expected to submit its report by mid-July. System liquidity was in surplus of ?16,500 crore at the end of last week vs ?49,500 crore in the previous week.CHANGE IN CONTOURSLiquidity in the system turned into an average daily surplus in June after remaining in deficit during April and most of May due to restrained government spending. RBI said that transmission of the cumulative reduction of 50 bps in the policy repo rate in February and April 2019 was 21 bps to the weighted average lending rate (WALR) on fresh rupee loans. Interest rates on longer tenor money market instruments remained broadly aligned with the overnight weighted average call rate, reflecting near full transmission of the reduction in policy rate.The central bank lowered the policy rate by another 25 bps on June 6, making it the straight third rate cut in the year. The central bank has also changed its stance to accommodative from neutral, which means there would be no possibility of a rate hike in the near horizon. More critically, Das said that the central bank would ensure adequate liquidity in the system for all productive purposes.MARKET GIVES A THUMBS UPThere are many options for the new committee. The Reserve Bank's MPC could be advised to look beyond the WACR to gauge the liquidity situation in the economy."Like major central banks, MPC should look at the entire term structure of money market rates to gauge the efficacy of its liquidity stance," said B Prasanna, head of global markets groups at ICICI Bank. "Second, RBI may ease the daily CRR maintenance framework from the current 99% compliance to 80% or so. This will be indirectly relaxing CRR without officially cutting it. This will improve the banking liquidity condition."Corporate bond yields in the secondary market in April and May were lower than the lending rate of banks, indicative of the faster transmission of the RBI rate cuts in the bond markets. Corporate bond yields (weighted average in the secondary markets) were 9 bps lower than the banks' marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR) in April and 44 bps lower in May, said CARE Ratings. The 10-year government securities benchmark yield has also declined by about 56 basis points from its average in April 2019 to about 6.86%.The softening of bond yields in the secondary market and the consequent softening in the cost of borrowing in the primary market coincided with a rise in bond issuances. Prime Database showed an 86% monthly jump in volume to Rs 45,539 crore in May. The weighted average cost of issuances in the primary market was 13 bps lower at 8.49% compared to the month-ago rate.At the heart of the mismatch between the RBI's policy and the banks' failure to pass on the benefit to the borrowers is the slowdown in household savings."Deposit rates became soft in June as compared to the rates in April. But they are not as soft as was expected by the regulator. This is because small savings rates still remain elevated. A correction is needed in small savings rates for better transmission of monetary policy," said Allahabad Bank chief executive director SS Mallikarjuna Rao.The transmission in lending rate was restricted merely to new loans. The weighted average lending rate on outstanding rupee loans rose by 4 bps as past loans continue to be priced at high rates."Increased government borrowing and elevated small savings rates have rendered deposit mobilisation by banks expensive. Also, India's consumption demand is still not a pronounced credit fuelled or leveraged demand," Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings and Research, said ahead of the third rate cut of the year.The situation at the current juncture has become further complicated due to the crisis in both the banking and the non-bank sectors. While banks are saddled with about 11% of their loans turning bad, NBFCs are struggling with solvency issues leading to credit freeze.This creates a sense of déjà vu. Easier fund flow in inter-bank system in the yesteryears has led to credit underwriting crisis more often than not. RBI, which is at the cusp of cleansing the banking sector balance sheet after a four-year fire-fighting, should not allow it go waste.RBI may do well in harmonising the definition of liquidity and create a more effective communication channel among itself, market players and the government."The market often confuses between the liquidity availability with the willingness of entities to lend to one another, which is an independent commercial decision," said CARE Ratings chief economist MadanSabnavis.Rationalisation of market expectations and new ideas and tools are essential, but at the core of the operating framework is monetary transmission.
NEW DELHI: Any ban on audit firms may not impact those entities that are part of their networks or their lead partners, a senior government official said. This implies that disruption from a possible prohibition on Deloitte Haskins & Sells and BSR & Co, a KPMG network firm, may not be as widespread as earlier presumed.On the other hand, the government is set to tighten restrictions on audit firms to minimise conflicts of interest, the official said. These will apply to non-audit services offered to the companies they're auditing, he said. Earlier, this month, the Reserve Bank of India had barred audit firm SR Batliboi & Co, an EY member firm, from auditing commercial banks for a year starting April 1, citing lapses in a statutory audit."There is a lot of difference between an audit firm being debarred and the network being debarred," he said. "There may be more than one firm associated with the brand name. The ministry has not asked for debarring the use of the brand name."The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has sought a five-year ban on Deloitte Haskins & Sells and BSR & Co following an investigation into their role as auditors of IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN). The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), MCA's inquiry wing, has alleged that the auditors colluded with the management to conceal information and falsify accounts. 69951103 ET reported on June 12 that KPMG network firms audit 175 listed companies while the count is 167 for the Deloitte network.Prohibited List of Non-audit ServicesThese companies account for about 40% of the market capitalisation of listed companies, according to Prime Database. Deloitte has seven firms while KPMG has six in India. In India, the Big Four firms — EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC — operate through separate local entities to abide by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) rules. The official said that conflict-of-interest rules will be strengthened."The prohibited list (of non-audit services) may have to be extended, or there can be a cap on the revenue you generate though non-audit services as a percentage of (revenue from) audit service or you can completely ban nonaudit services to an auditee firms or its associates and subsidiaries," he said.The Companies Act prohibits some non-audit activities, including accounting and bookkeeping, investment advisory, investment banking and management services. The idea is that audits should not be influenced by any other consideration, said the official.Such steps are being debated in developed economies as well, the person said. The UK government, for instance, is considering a plan to get the Big Four firms to separate their audit and consultancy businesses.Some auditors backed the Indian proposal, saying it will eliminate the subjectivity that clouds the current list of such non-audit services."Restricted services are subjective in nature and therefore open to various interpretation, and in some cases, associate or network firm (of the auditor) is able to keep it out of disqualification criteria," said Ankit Singhi, partner at Corporate Professionals. He said the government should broaden the disqualification criteria or provide a maximum cap on revenue from non-audit services instead of a complete ban on nonaudit services.The shock default by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) on repayments in September last year led to a liquidity crunch at nonbanking finance companies (NBFCs) that has roiled the country's financial markets.
By Shawn DonnanPresident Donald Trump often cites China's massive exports to the U.S. as a grave injustice hanging over the world economy. But lately it pays to look at Chinese imports for the pain that his tariff wars are inflicting on global growth.The world's biggest trading nation last month saw imports from Japan, South Korea and the U.S. fall sharply from a year earlier, according to official data. The 27% fall from the U.S. is perhaps not surprising given a year of tit-for-tat tariffs, but a drop of 16% from Japan and 18% from South Korea is reason to consider the broader effects of Trump's trade battles.Such data illustrate why trade is at the top of the agenda for this week's Group of 20 meeting of leaders who preside over more than three-quarters of the global economy. While much of the focus will be on Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping's ability to resume talks, the other leaders in attendance have their own stakes to worry about.Global commerce is "being hit by new trade restrictions on a historically high level," World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo said in a report Monday that pointed to an increase in protectionist measures by G20 countries. "This will have consequences in increased uncertainty, lower investment and weaker trade growth."69946753 Almost every day brings fresh data on the economic impact.An analysis released on Monday by Bloomberg Economics of the more than 10,000 Chinese product categories hit by tariffs already found they had led to a 26% fall in the value of their exports to the U.S. in the first quarter of 2019.That was before the recent breakdown of U.S.-China talks and an increase May 10 from 10% to 25% of tariffs on products worth some $200 billion in annual trade before the conflict, the largest tranche of $250 billion in imports affected. Trump has also threatened to hit a further $300 billion in imports from China.Monthly trade data are volatile. But in numbers like China's May import data, WTO chief economist Robert Koopman sees evidence of the Trump trade wars rippling through supply chains and dragging on the world economy.Big economies such as the European Union, China and the U.S. are slowing for reasons ranging from Brexit to faltering manufacturing in China to the disappearing fiscal stimulus from tax cuts in the U.S.Adding to the malaise is rising uncertainty over the direction of the global economy and trade that is dampening investment, Koopman says. Then there's the direct cost of tariffs and counter-tariffs for businesses. Each feeds into the other and a global economy changing in response, he says.Trade BalanceTrump and his aides insist his push to take on China and go beyond that by threatening allies such as the EU and Japan with auto tariffs among other things is aimed at rebalancing America's economic relationships.Those actions have nothing to do with the slowdown underway in the world economy, they argue, though institutions like the International Monetary Fund have called escalating trade tensions the largest risk out there."I don't believe for a second that what we're doing is having a largely negative effect on economic growth," Robert Lighthizer, Trump's chief trade negotiator, told a congressional committee this month, pointing to a U.S. economy growing faster than G-7 peers. "The economy in a lot of other countries is slowing down and it doesn't have anything to do, in my judgment, with what we're doing."What Our Economists Say"The U.S. economy is already suffering as China's tariffs hit sales of agricultural products. Inability -- in the short term -- to fill the gap left by Chinese products means a second blow as U.S. manufacturing firms miss crucial inputs into the production process. As the economic iron curtain falls, it's not just those on the Chinese side that are suffering."-- Tom Orlik and Maeva CousinRobin Brooks, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, says it is too early in the trade wars to blame them for any broad economic trends. Nations such as Germany, which has been hit by Brexit and a slowdown in Turkey, have faced idiosyncratic forces, he argues. Data like those showing a slowdown in exports from Japan or South Korea to China represent "just the normal ups and downs of global manufacturing.''While economists such as Koopman say it's hard to say how much Trump's actions are to blame for a slowdown there's no doubt they are changing trade flows. Put another way: Trump is causing globalization to adapt rather than go into reverse as he intended.Production is shifting to other countries rather than coming home. Bloomberg's new analysis found that in the first quarter of 2019, Taiwan saw sales to the U.S. of products hit by Trump's China tariffs rise about 30% from a year earlier, while South Korea's jumped 17%. Vietnam saw sales of China-tariffed products to the U.S. increase 27%."Globalization going into reverse would mean a lot of the production coming back to the domestic market,'' Koopman says. "That's not what we are seeing.''China also hasn't let Trump's penalties go unanswered. Peterson Institute analysts point out that even as it has retaliated and raised import taxes on U.S. products, China has lowered duties on goods from the rest of the world. Still, China's data last month showed it's not clear that strategy has resulted in a broad surge in non-U.S. trade just yet.So whatever the outcome of the Trump-Xi talks at G-20 later this week, the early disruptions may leave lasting scars. "Even if we get some agreement at the G-20 meeting, we may underestimate the damage already done to capex planning and corporate sentiment by the trade war," Torsten Slok, Deutsche Bank's chief economist, said in a note to clients on Sunday.
NEW DELHI: Nifty50 staged a smart recovery on Tuesday and shut shop around 11,800 level. In the process, the 50-stock pack formed a 'Bullish Engulfing' candle on the daily chart. Analysts said the index consolidated in the 11,850-11,650 range for past seven sessions and a breakout of the range is necessary for any strong directional move."If the Nifty crosses and sustains above 11,820, it would see buying towards 11,860-11,890 levels in the extreme short term. Failing to hold above 11,730 level should cause it drift towards the 11,700-11,680 range," said Rajesh Palviya of Axis Securities.For the day, the index rose 96.80 points, or 0.83 per cent, to end at 11,796. In last hour of the session, the index saw a breakout above the resistance end of a 'Falling Channel' on the hourly chart, said Ruchir Jain of Angel Broking. "We expect Nifty to continue this positive momentum and resume its higher degree uptrend. The immediate resistance is placed at 11,845, but we expect it to be broken soon, which could then lead Nifty up to 12,000 level soon," Jain said.Gaurav Ratnaparkhi of Sharekhan said if the bulls manage to cross the swing high of 11,844, it can leap towards 12,000.Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities sees the overhead resistance for next 1-2 sessions in the 11,800-850 range.Gaurav Bissa of LKP Securities sees Nifty's immediate support in the 11,730-11,680 range. He said Nifty Bank has seen a breakout of the small bullish flag, suggesting that the current move may sustain.For the time being, Mazhar Mohammad of Chartviewindia.in advised traders to create fresh longs in the index only on a breakout above 11,843 level.
NEW DELHI: IT firm Persistent Systems Tuesday said its German subsidiary will acquire Youperience GmbH for up to 6.8 million euros (about Rs 53.6 crore).Youperience GmbH is focused on Salesforce-related implementation services. Its revenues were estimated to be 3.5 million euros for the 12 months ended March 31."The proposed acquisition strengthens Persistent's Salesforce practice in Europe and in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud domain," Persistent Systems said in a BSE filing.The filing added that the enterprise value payable for the acquisition of 100 per cent shares of Youperience is about 4.8 million euros."Additionally, an amount up to 2 million euros to be payable over two years, which is contingent on performance and retention of key management employees," the filing said.The consideration would be in cash."Persistent Systems Germany GmbH, through this acquisition of Youperience, has also acquired 30 per cent shareholding in Youperience Ltd, UK, affiliate of Youperience as a part of this deal structure," the filing said.
The world's biggest companies are coming to India for data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) skills. But renowned mathematicians believe the country needs to significantly improve its mathematics capabilities to be able to use these technologies to create really innovative and robust solutions — both for itself and the world. Manjul Bhargava, mathematics professor at Princeton University and winner of the Fields Medal, one of the highest honours in math, says India can't hope to lead the fourth industrial revolution, "if we don't have strong mathematical talent coming up very soon".Srinivasa Varadhan, mathematics professor at New York University, agrees. He says if you want to provide some guarantee that a certain ML algorithm will work the way it's supposed to, then you have to do the math. "Without the math, the procedures may be just experimental, may work sometimes, sometimes not. Only mathematics will tell you under what circumstances it would work," he says.As the last issue of this page said, AI and ML have become so simple and affordable that they can today be applied in a variety of areas. To improve medical diagnosis, to create highly effective chatbots and voicebots, in automating insurance claims handling, in matchmaking. But ensuring they work effectively in all circumstances and to create more complex solutions, math is seen to be crucial.A very important application of math and ML in Indian cities can be to programme traffic lights and public transport systems to reduce traffic and improve traffic flows, says Bhargava. Varadhan says how well weather is predicted depends on how good the mathematical modelling of the atmosphere is.India invented the zero, but math is seen to have suffered a decline here for several reasons. The first is a global phenomenon. In the 1970s, there was a big separation between pure and applied math, says Nalini Anantharaman, chair of mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in the University of Strasbourg, France, and last year's winner of the Infosys Prize in Mathematics. "It wasn't like that at the beginning of the 20th century. Now in France it's getting better. But in India, still not quite," she says.Bhargava describes it as a "very artificial separation", because all pure science and math eventually get applied. A second reason for math's decline is seen to be India's big focus on engineering from the time of Independence. "The fact that IITs became the most prestigious place to go to put engineering on a pedestal, in a way that prevented pure science from coming up. The moment parents see their children doing well in math, they say you are going to become an engineer?" says Bhargava.Yet another mistake that happened after Independence, Bhargava says, was the separation of teaching and research in India's higher education system. India has some fantastic research institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). But they are little islands of excellence. And then there's the whole teaching sector, state universities, where no research happens. "How can you have excellent higher education in an environment where no knowledge creation takes place! The best education happens in places that combine these, like in the Ivy Leagues, or earlier in India in Takshashila and Nalanda," he says.The US, he says, is using its advantage in holistic learning to develop, for instance, self-driving cars, where "we have to have computers that understand the human perspective of what they see, computer vision, that artistic, visual aspect, as well as mathematics".In India, there's some correction happening. A number of Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) — dedicated to science — have been established, and many have excellent faculty. The Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) has grown in stature. "It's so good that some are turning down IITs to go there," says Bhargava.Varadhan notes that CMI and ISI do both research and teaching. "And after all these years, IISc (Indian Institute of Science) is starting to have some undergraduate students," he says.
Dredger captain's wife seeks Gujarat High Court intervention The petition has been filed against the state of Gujarat, along with Gujarat Maritime Board, Port Officer of Porbandar Port, MMD, and Superintendent of Police of Jamnagar
Nokia 3.2 Review: A good blend of Android and beauty Nokia has been making beautiful phones that have been able to outdo rivals even though the specs are sometimes comparatively underwhelming. Does Nokia 3.2 make a difference?
Aligarh: Tax notice to kachori seller with turnover of Rs 1.50 crore The shop, named 'Mukesh Kachori', does brisk business every day and despite having limited options on the menu, has been a hot favourite among locals here
Appealing to 'Tinder' feels: How to date better online By using dating apps and enrolling in such classes, people lose track of their actual personality and are building an 'online' personality, says Ambarish Dharmadhikari
Get Rs 10 cr surety to travel abroad: Supreme Court tells Rajeev Saxena The Court suggestion came on an apprehension of the Enforcement Directorate that Saxena may not return to cooperate with the ongoing trial against the other accused
Opposition huddles up, lashes out at govt Sharpest criticism came from Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, who asked why funding for liberal education is being cut
Amazon, Flipkart flag FDI rule issues, but Piyush Goyal unlikely to ease norms Piyush Goyal says open to engage other countries on data & e-commerce but on reciprocity basis
Four neo-Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh operatives arrested in Kolkata Two operatives identified as Md Jiaur Rahman and Mamonur Rashid - both Bangladeshi nationals, were arrested from the vicinity of Sealdah Railway Station's parking lot
Vodafone Idea loses users in 4G segment Vodafone Idea saw its 4G subscriber base decline in April for the second consecutive month since their merger in August 2018.
