Month: April 2018

Iran stored nuclear documents after 2015 deal, says Netanyahu

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Israel presented on Monday what it said was evidence that Iran had continued gathering nuclear knowledge after signing a 2015 agreement with world powers to curb it, calling on Washington to jettison the agreement.

“Iran’s leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a televised address carried by Israeli networks. “Tonight I’m here to tell you one thing: Iran lied.”

“First, Iran lied about never having a nuclear weapons programme. 100,000 secret files prove it did. Second, even after the deal, Iran continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge for future use,” Netanyahu said.

“Third, Iran lied again in 2015 when it didn’t come clear to the IAEA as required by the nuclear deal.”

The Israeli leader spoke in English and showed pictures and videos purporting to be of historic secret Iranian nuclear facilities, as well as Iranian documents and plans to develop atomic weapons.

“After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret files,” he said. “In 2017 Iran moved its nuclear weapons files to a highly secret location in Tehran.”

Netanyahu referred to a secret Iranian nuclear project, codenamed “Amad”, which he said had been shelved in 2003, but he said work in the field had continued.

US President Donald Trump has long criticised the 2015 agreement, under which world powers lifted economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs to its nuclear programme.

Trump has threatened to pull out of the agreement in the coming weeks unless it is renegotiated. Netanyahu said he expected Trump would do “the right thing” in reviewing the Iran deal.

Netanyahu met in Tel Aviv on Sunday with new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and both men talked tough about Iran.

“We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats towards Israel and the region,” said Pompeo.

Netanyahu said: “I think the greatest threat to the world and to our two countries, and to all countries, is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons, and specifically the attempt of Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu also discussed Iran by telephone with Trump over the weekend.

Israel has long opposed the agreement, while Washington’s major European allies have urged the Trump administration not to abandon it and argue that Iran is abiding by its terms.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy organisation said on Monday that Iran has the technical capability to enrich uranium to a higher level than it could before the multinational deal was reached.

“Technically, we are fully prepared to enrich uranium higher than we used to produce before the deal was reached… I hope Trump comes to his senses and stays in the deal,” Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by Iranian state television as saying.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, though it neither confirms nor denies possessing atomic weapons.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

UK government suffers Brexit defeat in House of Lords

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The UK government on Monday faced an embarrassing defeat on Brexit as the House of Lords voted to give Parliament powers to block or delay the final deal on the country’s departure from the European Union (EU).

The peers from the Upper House voted 335 to 244 in favour of an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill that could allow Parliament to send Britain back to the negotiating table with Brussels or even halt the country’s exit from the EU if it is not happy with the final offer.

“We are disappointed that the House of Lords has voted for this amendment inspite of the assurances we have provided,” said Lord Martin Callanan, Britain’s Minister for Exiting the EU.

“What this amendment would do is weaken the UK’s hand in our negotiations with the EU by giving Parliament unprecedented powers to instruct the government to do anything with regard to the negotiations including trying to keep the UK in the EU indefinitely,” he said, adding that the government will now consider the implications of the House of Lords’ decision.

The amendment to the Bill can be overturned by MPs in the House of Commons, where British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has a narrow majority.

The government maintains that it is open to Parliament being able to scrutinise the final deal, and has therefore committed to giving both Houses a vote on the final deal. But on Monday the House of Lords voted for what they believe is a more meaningful say over the final Brexit offer.

Peers have already defeated the government six times, with the vote on the latest amendment tabled by Lord Hailsham marking the seventh defeat.

Meanwhile, there is mounting pressure on the UK from another quarter as the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said that Britain and the EU must reach an agreement on the key points of the Northern Ireland border issue by June.

Michel Barnier, who was speaking at a conference in the Irish border town of Dundalk on Monday, warned that talks were at risk of collapse if no agreement was made on a “backstop” to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland once Britain is a non-member of the EU.

The issue of border arrangements between EU member Ireland and soon-to-be non-member Northern Ireland are seen as a major stumbling block in the ongoing negotiations.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Government launches scheme for procuring 2,500 MW aggregate power

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Centre will invite bids during this week for the procurement of aggregate power amounting to 2,500 MW on a competitive basis for three years from generators with commissioned projects but without power purchase agreements (PPA), under a scheme the pilot for which was launched on Monday.

A Power Ministry statement here said under the scheme, the aggregator, state-run PTC Ltd, would sign a three-year mid-term agreement for procurement of power from successful bidders, and power supply agreements with the distribution companies (discoms).

“Under the scheme, a single entity can be allotted maximum capacity of 600 MW. The scheme assures a minimum off-take of 55% of contracted capacity. The tariff will be fixed for three years without any escalation,” it said.

PFC Consulting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run Power Finance Corp (PFC) has been appointed as the nodal agency and power trader PTC Ltd as the aggregator.

“PFC Consulting is in process of inviting bids in the first week of May. The bidding will be conducted on the DEEP e-Bidding portal and with L1 matching for bucket filling without reverse auction,” it said.

The scheme is expected to revive power demand, the drop in which has affected generators who do not have PPAs, the statement added.

Meanwhile, all villages in India have now been connected with electricity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday.

On Saturday evening, Leisang village in Manipur’s Senapati district became the last village to be connected to the national power grid. As per official data, there were 18,452 villages without electricity in the country at the time of Modi’s taking office in May 2014.

The work of bringing power to India’s nearly six lakh villages had been undertaken under the government’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.

The government has set the next target of providing electricity connections to over four crore rural and urban households by March 2019 under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) initiative.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

AIBEA asks RBI to come up with mechanism to protect consumers

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has requested the RBI to come up with a mechanism to protect consumers from unauthorised transactions following the increase in use of payments through the digital mode.

The AIBEA, representing public and private sector banks, has presented a memorandum to the Reserve Bank of India Governor and finance ministry in this regard.

In the memorandum submitted recently, AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam alleged that the Centre was pushing customers to take to digital transactions,but banks do not adopt global test practices to protect them.

“We feel that the increased use of digital payments post the demonetisation drive (by the Centre), it is necessary to have in place a mechanism or system to protect customers from unauthorised banking transactions”, he said.

A master circular by the apex bank on unauthorised banking transactions would have a huge impact on protecting customers from frauds, he said.

Portability of bank account numbers across banks should be introduced since the initiative in the telecom sector was successful, Venkatachalam said.

“We feel effective portability of bank accounts is a good antidote to several restrictive practices followed by the banks. This has been successfully implemented in the telecom sector”, he said.

Stating that a RBI notification directing changes in core banking solutions in banks was leading to high costs, he said RBI must restrict changes in the circulars to keep costs in check.

Referring to the Charter of Customer Rights issued by RBI in December 2014, he said RBI has not fixed any timeframe for grievance redressal.

“A Master circular by the Reserve Bank giving teeth to Charter of Customer Rights with clear provisions fixing timelines for redressal, penalty for negligent service is urgently needed”, he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Report says Twitter sold users’ data to CA researcher, company denies

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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After the massive Facebook data scandal, a report in The Sunday Telegraph claimed that micro-blogging platform Twitter had also sold users’ data to a Cambridge Analytica (CA) researcher who collected the data of 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge — a charge that Twitter denied on Monday.

According to the report, Twitter sold public data access “for one day” in 2015 to Aleksandr Kogan, then a psychology researcher with University of Cambridge, and his company Global Science Research (GSR).

“GSR paid for one day of access in 2015, Twitter said, and scooped up a ‘random sample’ of public tweets covering a period between December 2014 and April 2015. Twitter added that it ‘did not find any access’ to private information,” the report noted.

In a statement given to IANS, Twitter said that based on the recent reports, they conducted their own internal review and did not find any access to private data about people who use Twitter.

“Unlike many other services, Twitter is public by its nature. People come to Twitter to speak publicly, and public Tweets are viewable and searchable by anyone,” a Twitter spokesperson told IANS.

“In 2015, GSR did have one-time API access to a random sample of public Tweets from a five-month period from December 2014 to April 2015,” he added.

The API access was for one day to pull a random sample from five months of “public” Tweets. According to sources, this is an important distinction from the way CA used other platforms like Facebook to improperly share users’ data, including that of its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

According to The Sunday Telegraph report, Kogan said the Twitter data had only been used to create “brand reports” and “survey extender tools” and that he had not violated Twitter’s policies.

However, “the most immediate concern is that GSR could theoretically have correlated Facebook and Twitter data. Still, this shows just how comprehensive the data collection was,” technology portal Engadget reported.

The quiz app “thisisyourdigitallife” developed by Kogan and his firm GSR, collected data from millions of Facebook users without their consent in 2014-2015 which was later shared with the British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

The leaked data was said to be inappropriately used by Cambridge Analytica in activities connected with US President Donald Trump’s election campaign in 2016.

Twitter said it had banned GSR and Cambridge Analytica from buying data or running adverts on the website and that no private data had been accessed.

“Twitter has also made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned and operated by Cambridge Analytica.

“This decision is based on our determination that Cambridge Analytica operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices,” The Telegraph reported, citing a Twitter spokesperson.

In a first interview after the Facebook data scandal broke out, Kogan told CBS News earlier this month that he was not sure whether he ever read Facebook’s developers’ policy.

“The idea that we stole the data, I think, is technically incorrect. I mean, they created these great tools for developers to collect the data.

“And they made it very easy. I mean, this was not a hack. This was, ‘Here’s the door. It’s open. We’re giving away the groceries. Please collect them’,” Kogan told the TV show host.

Kogan said he believes his assumptions were misguided and that what he did in 2014 “was not right and was not wise”.

Twitter reported a revenue of $665 million — an increase of 21 per cent year-over-year (yoy) — in the first quarter of 2018. The micro-blogging platform now has 336 million average monthly active users (MAUs).

As the deadline for European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) inches closer, Twitter has also updated its “Terms and Privacy Policy” to give its users more transparency over their data.

Twitter is giving users more control over how it shares certain non-public data. The updates will take effect on May 25, when the GDPR comes into force, and will apply globally.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IRB InvIT Fund reports Q4 FY18 revenue at Rs 151 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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IRB Infrastructure sponsored IRB InvIT Fund today reported a revenue of Rs 299 crore for the January-March quarter.

The trust clocked revenues of Rs 1,005 crore for the full fiscal 2017-18, the company said in a statement.

The InvIT also announced distribution of cash flow of Rs 174.15 crore to its unit holders at Rs 3 per unit, thus annualising the same to Rs 12.1 per unit for FY18, which includes Rs 2.20 per unit as interest and Rs 0.80 per unit as return of capital.

“There has been a strong bounce back in traffic growth, with double digit growth witnessed in Surat Dahisar, Tumkur Chitradurga, Bharuch Surat and Omallur Salem projects,” it said.

IRB InvIT is managing seven operational road assets at present, with an aggregate value of around Rs 7,560 crore spread across the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

************ Tamil Nadu ranks 1st in US Green Building Council list *

With 118 projects, Tamil Nadu ranks first in the list of top 10 Indian states in terms of gross sq ft (491 lakh sq ft) of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified space followed by Maharashtra.

According to the list released by US Green Building Council, Maharashtra, with 205 projects (367 lakh sq ft) ranks second with followed by Karnataka, Haryana, Delhi, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Punjab.

“India continues to be a leader in the green building movement and the states listed here have shown exceptional leadership and dedication to creating a more sustainable built environment,” USGBC and Green Business Certification President and CEO Mahesh Ramanujam said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trump has not decided yet on metals tariff exemptions, says Mnuchin

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Donald Trump has not yet made a decision on whether any countries should get extended exemptions on steel and aluminium tariffs, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview that aired on Monday.

“The president has not made any decision yet,” Mnuchin told Fox Business Network, speaking ahead of his appearance at a conference in Beverly Hills later on Monday and ahead of Tuesday’s tariff deadline.

US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminium in March, but granted temporary exemptions to certain countries. Those exemptions will expire on Tuesday.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview with Bloomberg published on Sunday that the White House will continue to grant some countries relief from the metal tariffs, although he declined to name the nations.

Ross also indicated that the White House had asked countries to accept import quotas in return for exemption from tariffs on the metals, Bloomberg said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Iran sees Turkmenistan-India gas pipeline unlikely to become operational, says Fars

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Iran said it was ready to participate in a gas swap between Pakistan and Turkmenistan and that a pipeline to transport gas from Turkmenistan to India was unlikely to become operational, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday.

“I see it unlikely for the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline to become operational and Iran is ready for this swap to Pakistan,” Fars quoted the head of the National Iranian Gas Company, Hamidreza Araqi, as saying.

The TAPI pipeline – named after the countries involved, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India – was first proposed three decades ago. But the region’s complex geopolitics and security concerns have hindered its construction.

TAPI will transport 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year along an 1,800 km (1,125 mile) route from Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh, the world’s second-biggest gas field, to Fazilka in northwest India.

“We have announced our readiness to Turkmenistan for exporting their natural gas to Pakistan, but have not received any response from them,” Araqi said.

“Given Iran’s situation in the centre of the region, we can join every gas pipeline that passes around the country.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US Supreme Court to hear Google privacy settlement dispute

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an internet privacy case involving Google that could put the brakes on an increasingly common form of settlement in class action suits that funnels money to unrelated third parties and charities instead of to people affected by the alleged wrongdoing.

The justices will take up an appeal by opponents, led by a conservative group, challenging the $8.5 million that Google agreed to pay in 2013 to settle claims that the search engine operator allowed other websites to see users’ search queries, violating their privacy rights. The settlement was upheld by a lower court. Google is part of Alphabet Inc.

The settlement awarded most of the money to universities and organisations that promote internet privacy but nothing to the millions of Google users who the plaintiffs were to have represented in the class action.

The deal’s opponents were led by Ted Frank, director of litigation for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based conservative think tank. They said the deal violated procedural rules in US law requiring settlements to be fair, reasonable and adequate.

Frank objected to the settlement on the basis of being one of the estimated 129 million Google users in the United States. Google has called Frank a “professional objector.”

At issue are what are known as “cy pres” awards in settlements that give money that goes unclaimed or cannot feasibly be distributed to unrelated entities as long as it would be in the plaintiffs’ interests. Critics have said such awards allow class action attorneys to benefit their own interests instead of their clients’ interests.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals justified the Google settlement’s structure because each of the 129 million US Google users who theoretically could have claimed part of it would have received “a paltry 4 cents in recovery.”

The case began when California resident Paloma Gaos filed a proposed class action lawsuit in 2010 in San Jose federal court claiming Google’s search protocols violated federal privacy law by disclosing users’ search terms to other websites.

Google agreed in the settlement to disclose on its website how users’ search terms are shared but was not required to change its behavior. Gaos and two other plaintiffs received $5,000 each for representing the class. Their attorneys received about $2.1 million.

Most of the rest of the money went to six entities including Stanford University, Harvard University and the Oregon-based World Privacy Forum, a privacy and data analytics research organisation.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow