“Dr. Navarro contends that he has no statutory duties under the PRA. … This position would defeat the entire purpose of the statute, i.e., to ensure that Presidential records, as defined, are collected, maintained and made available to the public,” wrote Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. “The PRA makes plain that Presidential advisors such as Dr. Navarro are part and parcel of the statutory scheme in that they are required to preserve Presidential records during their tenure so that they can be transferred to [the National Archives and Records Administration] at the end of an administration.”
Navarro argued that the personal-account provision didn’t apply to messages he received, only to those he sent, but the judge dismissed that contention.
“All the emails in Dr. Navarro’s personal email account, whether created or received, are therefore subject to being assessed as potential Presidential records if they arose out of his employment in the administration,” she wrote.
An attorney for Navarro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The tone of Kollar-Kotelly’s 22-page opinion was brutal, but the lawsuit is far from Navarro’s biggest legal worry. He is facing a trial in the coming months on two criminal, misdemeanor charges of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump’s role in fomenting doubt about the 2020 presidential election results.
Despite his role as a trade adviser, Navarro drew the attention of congressional investigators because in his final weeks in the White House, he shifted his focus toward efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results. He prepared a report based on discredited claims of fraud and worked with longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon and GOP lawmakers to strategize ways to object to the results on Jan. 6, 2021.
Navarro argued in the lawsuit that he should not have to turn over the disputed emails because the government might seek to use them against him in the criminal case, but the judge also saw no merit in that position.
“Producing these pre-existing records in no way implicates a compelled testimonial communication that is incriminating,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. She ordered Navarro to turn over “forthwith” about 200 to 250 messages his lawyers have already deemed likely presidential records. She gave the two sides 30 days to sort out a protocol to find other official records in Navarro’s personal account.
The Justice Department is set to make a key filing in Navarro’s criminal case next week, explaining why the department concluded that Navarro is not immune from a congressional subpoena even though he was serving as a top adviser to Trump in the White House in the weeks before and after Jan. 6, 2021.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday met US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to discuss India’s G20 priorities and bilateral cooperation to further boost investment and trade.
In a tweet, the Finance Ministry said Sitharaman and Raimondo also appreciated the substantial and multi-faceted India-US relations which are centred on strong economic and financial engagements.
Raimondo is here for the India-US Commercial Dialogue and India-US CEO Forum meet on March 10 to discuss cooperation in various sectors that could unlock new trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
The two leaders also discussed India’s G20 priorities and other issues of mutual interest.
“During their deliberations, FM Smt. @nsitharaman and Secretary Ms. @SecRaimondo also exchanged views on enhancing #bilateral cooperation to further boost #investment and #trade in mutually agreed areas,” the ministry tweeted.
In a separate tweet, the ministry said Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach too called on Sitharaman on Thursday.
LONDON — The U.K. government was scrambling on Sunday to limit the fallout for the British tech sector from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a big U.S. lender to many startups and technology companies.
The government is treating the potential reverberations as “a high priority” after a run on deposits drove California-based SVB into insolvency, marking the largest bank failure since the global financial crisis, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in a statement Sunday morning. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other policymakers were on alert that problems at SVB could spread.
Hunt said the British government is working on a plan to backstop the cashflow needs of companies affected by SVB’s implosion and the halt in trading of its British unit, Silicon Valley Bank UK. The Bank of England announced on Friday that the U.K. unit is set to enter insolvency.
Silicon Valley Bank’s “failure could have a significant impact on the liquidity of the tech ecosystem,” Hunt said.
The government is working “to avoid or minimize damage to some of our most promising companies in the U.K.,” the chancellor said. “We will bring forward immediate plans to ensure the short-term operational and cashflow needs of Silicon Valley Bank UK customers are able to be met.”
Hunt told the BBC Sunday morning that the government would have a plan that deals with the operational cashflow needs of companies “in the next few days.”
Discussions between the governor of the Bank of England, the prime minister and the chancellor were taking place over the weekend, according to the statement.
Speaking on Sky News Sunday morning, Hunt said that Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey had made it clear that there was “no systemic risk to our financial system.” But Hunt warned that there was a “serious risk” to the technology and life-sciences sectors in the U.K.
Ministers held talks with the tech industry on Saturday after tech executives in an open letter warned Hunt that the SVB collapse posed an “existential threat” to the U.K. tech sector. They called for government intervention.
Britain’s science and technology minister on Saturday pledged to do “everything we can” to limit the repercussions on U.K. tech companies.
Michelle Donelan, who heads the newly created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, said in a tweet: “We recognize that the tech sector is often not cashflow positive as they grow and I am determined to stand with them as we do everything we can to minimize impact on the sector.”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said protecting the U.K. sector from the impacts of SVB’s collapse was a “high priority” | Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
A bank insolvency procedure for Silicon Valley Bank UK would mean eligible depositors would be paid the protected limit of £85,000, or up to £170,000 for joint accounts.
The Bank of England said in its Friday statement that SVB UK “has a limited presence in the U.K. and no critical functions supporting the financial system.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks at Cambridge University that he was under surveillance triggered a political slugfest on Friday with the BJP accusing him of maligning India on foreign soil and the Congress hitting back by citing instances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi raking up internal politics abroad.
Gandhi, who is a visiting fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School, during a lecture ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’ on Tuesday evening said Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance.
Referring to the controversial Pegasus snooping issue, Gandhi alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him.
“I, myself, had Pegasus on my phone. A large number of politicians have Pegasus on their phones. I’ve been called by intelligence officers who say please be careful what you say on the phone because we are sort of recording this stuff. So, this is a constant pressure that we feel,” the 52-year-old former Congress chief claimed at the lecture, a video recording of which was posted on Twitter by Congress leader Sam Pitroda, ex-adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Reacting to the remarks, Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi over his claims of being under surveillance by intelligence agencies and accused him of maligning India on foreign soil after facing successive electoral setbacks. “Pegasus is not in Rahul Gandhi’s phone but in his mind,” he said.
Thakur wondered what prevented Gandhi and other Congress leaders from submitting their phones to a Supreme Court-appointed technical committee that probed the Pegasus snooping issue.
“We can understand his hatred towards the prime minister, but the conspiracy to malign the country on foreign soil with the help of foreign friends raises questions on the agenda of the Congress,” the information and broadcasting minister told reporters here.
Thakur said Gandhi was aware of the electoral rout the Congress was facing in the assembly elections and had resorted to levelling allegations from foreign soil.
“Once again, the Congress lost in the elections but their bankruptcy was evident when they lost no opportunity to malign India from foreign soil,” he said.
Hitting back at Thakur and the BJP for its criticism of Gandhi, the Congress cited instances of Prime Minister Modi going abroad and allegedly raising internal politics and criticising the Congress.
“I have seen those foolish statements given by Anurag ‘Golimaaro’ Thakur,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said in an apparent reference to the ‘Golimaro’ slogans purportedly raised at a public meeting of Thakur last year.
She urged the information and broadcasting minister him to listen to Gandhi’s full lecture.
On BJP’s criticism that Gandhi was “maligning” the country from foreign soil, Shrinate said the kind of statements Modi had made in places such as Shanghai, Toronto, California, Seoul and Abu Dhabi on internal politics and against the leading Opposition party of the country, if those are recounted then the BJP will have no place to hide.
If they listen to Rahul Gandhi’s lecture, they would get to know that he has talked about democracy and how the media, judiciary and the Opposition are intimidated and how it is important for agencies to remain impartial, she said.
“He (Gandhi) has talked about strengthening democracy. Those who give statements of ‘Golimaaro’ from stage and become cabinet minister from minister of state, they can never understand the meaning of these remarks,” she said.
Congress’ head of media and publicity department Pawan Khera said the party would like to advise the BJP that they should stop such activities which are shameful to even discuss.
“So if they stop doing such activities, we will stop discussing them. There is an allegation on you (BJP) took the help of Israel to snoop into the phones of Opposition and your own leaders. They don’t feel ashamed of that, but if it is discussed they feel shame,” he said.
The BJP thinks that England will not find out about their raid on BBC if the Congress does not discuss it, he said.
“We are living in a different era we are not living in the 17th or 18th century where news travelled at the speed of a camel cart or at the speed of a pigeon. Now if I am talking to you anybody sitting in Papua New Guinea can hear me out,” Khera said.
In an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Modi, Khera claimed that from foreign soil he made fun of the country. “The kind of activities you are involved in, you should first be ashamed of that. We will stop discussing them then so that you don’t feel ashamed,” the Congress leader said.
Earlier, the BJP made light of Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that he was being snooped upon, saying the Congress leader was “hallucinating” and makes such claims as he wants to create headlines wherever he goes.
“What we can say for Rahul Gandhi’s hallucinations. If he makes his (Congress) MoU with China public, we will be interested and people of India will also like to know. Who is interested in his telephonic conversations,” BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told reporters.
Vadakkan noted that the Supreme Court has closed the Pegasus matter.
LONDON — Britain was rebuffed by the Biden administration after multiple requests to develop an advanced trade and technology dialogue similar to structures the U.S. set up with the European Union.
On visits to Washington as a Cabinet minister over the past two years, Liz Truss urged U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and senior Biden administration officials to intensify talks with the U.K. to build clean technology supply chains and boost collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
After Truss became prime minister in fall 2022, the idea was floated again when Raimondo visited London last October, people familiar with the conversations told POLITICO. But fear of angering the U.S.’s European partners and the U.K.’s diminished status outside the EU post-Brexit have posed barriers to influencing Washington.
Businesses, lawmakers and experts worry the U.K. is being left on the sidelines.
“We tried many times,” said a former senior Downing Street official, of the British government’s efforts to set up a U.K. equivalent to the U.S.-E.U. Trade and Technology Council (TTC), noting Truss’ overtures began as trade chief in July 2021. They requested anonymity to speak on sensitive issues.
“We did speak to Gina Raimondo about that, saying ‘we think it would be a good opportunity,’” said the former official — not necessarily to join the EU-U.S. talks directly, “but to increase trilateral cooperation.”
Set up in June 2021, the TTC forum co-chaired by Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. trade chief Katherine Tai gives their EU counterparts, Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis, a direct line to shape tech and trade policy.
The U.S. is pushing forward with export controls on advanced semiconductors to China; forging new secure tech supply chains away from Beijing; and spurring innovation through subsidies for cutting-edge green technology and microprocessors.
The TTC’s 10 working groups with the EU, Raimondo said in an interview late last year, “set the standards,” though Brussels has rebuffed Washington’s efforts to use the transatlantic body to go directly after Beijing.
But the U.K. “is missing the boat on not being completely engaged in that dialogue,” said a U.S.-based representative of a major business group. “There has been some discussion about the U.K. perhaps joining the TTC,” they confirmed, and “it was kind of mooted, at least in private” with Raimondo by the Truss administration on her visit to London last October.
The response from the U.S. had been ‘’let’s work with what we’ve got at the moment,’” said the former Downing Street official.
Even if the U.S. does want to talk, “they don’t want to irritate the Europeans,” the same former official added. Right now the U.K.’s conversations with the U.S. on these issues are “ad hoc” under the new Atlantic Charter Boris Johnson and Joe Biden signed around the G7 summit in 2021, they said, and “nothing institutional.”
Last October, Washington and London held the first meeting of the data and tech forum Johnson and Biden set up | Pool photo by Olivier Matthys/AFP via Getty Images
Securing British access to the U.S.-EU tech forum or an equivalent was also discussed when CBI chief Tony Danker was in Washington last July, said people familiar with conversations during his visit.
The U.K.’s science and tech secretary, Michelle Donelan, confirmed the British government had discussed establishing a more regular channel for tech and trade discussions with the U.S., both last October and more recently. “My officials have just been out [to the U.S.],” she told POLITICO. “They’ve had very productive conversations.”
A U.K. government spokesperson said: “The U.K. remains committed to working closely with the U.S. and EU to further our shared trade and technology objectives, through the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the U.S.-U.K. Future of Atlantic Trade dialogues, and the U.K.-U.S. technology partnership.
“We will continue to advance U.K. interests in trade and technology and explore further areas of cooperation with partners where it is mutually beneficial.”
Britain the rule-taker?
Last October, Washington and London held the first meeting of the data and tech forum Johnson and Biden set up. Senior officials hoped to get a deal securing the free flow of data between the U.S. and U.K. across the line and addressed similar issues as the TTC.
They couldn’t secure the data deal. The U.K. is expected to join a U.S.-led effort to expand data transfer rules baked into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trading agreement as soon as this year, according to a former and a current British official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The next formal meeting between the U.K. and U.S. is penciled in for January 2024.
Ongoing dialogue “is vital to secure an overarching agreement on U.K.-U.S. data flows, without which modern day business cannot function,” said William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). “It would also provide an opportunity to set the ground rules around a host of other technological developments.”
In contrast, the U.S. and EU are always at work, with TTC officials in constant contact with the operation — though questions have been raised about how long-term the transatlantic cooperation is likely to prove, ahead of next year’s U.S. presidential election.
“Unless you have a structured system or setup, often overseen by ministers, you don’t really get the drive to actually get things done,” said the former Downing Street official.
Right now cooperation with the U.S. on tech issues is not as intense or structured as desired, the same former official said, and is “not really brought together” in one central forum.
Britain has yet to publish a formal semiconductor strategy | Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images
“This initiative [the TTC] between the world’s two regulatory powerhouses risks sidelining the U.K.,” warned lawmakers on the UK parliament’s foreign affairs committee in a report last October. Britain may become “a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker,” MPs noted, citing the government’s “ambiguous” position on technology standards. Britain has yet to publish a formal semiconductor strategy, and others on critical minerals — like those used in EV batteries — or AI are also missing.
Over the last two years, U.S. trade chief Tai has “spoken regularly to her three successive U.K. counterparts to identify and tackle shared economic and trade priorities,” said a spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative, adding “we intend to continue strengthening this partnership in the years to come.”
All eyes on Europe
For its part, the EU has to date shown little interest in closer cooperation with the U.K.
Three European Commission officials disregarded the likelihood of Britain joining the club, though one of those officials said that London may be asked to join — alongside other like-minded countries — for specific discussions related to ongoing export bans against Russia.
Even with last week’s breakthrough over the Northern Ireland protocol calming friction between London and Brussels, the U.K. was not a priority country for involvement in the TTC, added another of the EU officials.
“The U.K. was extremely keen to be part of a dialogue of some sort of equivalent of TTC,” said a senior business representative in London, who requested anonymity to speak about sensitive issues.
U.K. firms see “the Holy Grail” as Britain, the U.S. and EU working together on this, they said. “We’re very keen to see a triangular dialogue at some point.”
The U.K.’s haggling with the EU over the details of the Northern Ireland protocol governing trade in the region has posed “a political obstacle” to realizing that vision, they suggested.
Yet with a solution to the dispute announced in late February, the same business figure said, “there will be a more prominent push to work together with the U.K.”
TTC+
Some trade experts think the U.K. would increase its chances of accession to the TTC if it submitted a joint request with other nations.
But prior to that happening, “I think the EU-U.S. TTC will need to first deliver bilaterally,” said Sabina Ciofu, an international tech policy expert at the trade body techUK.
Representatives speak to the media following the Trade and Technology Council Meeting in Maryland | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
When there is momentum, Ciofu said, the U.K. should join forces with Japan, South Korea and other advanced economies to ask for a TTC+ that could include the G7 or other partners. At the last TTC meeting in December, U.S. and EU officials said they were open to such an expansion around specific topics that had global significance.
But not all trade experts think this is essential. Andy Burwell, director of international trade at the CBI, said he doesn’t “think it necessarily matters” whether the U.K. has a structured conversation with the U.S. like the TTC forum.
Off the back of a soon-to-be-published refresh of the Integrated Review — the U.K.’s national security and foreign policy strategy — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should instead seize the opportunity, Burwell said, to pinpoint where Britain is “going to own, collaborate and have access to various aspects of the supply chains.”
The G7, Burwell said, “could be the right platform for having some of those conversations.”
Yet the “danger with the ad hoc approach with lots of different people is incoherence,” said the former Downing Street official quoted above.
Too many countries involved in setting the standards can, the former official said, “create difficulty in leveraging what you want — which is all of the countries agreeing together on a certain way forward … especially when you’re dealing with issues that relate to, for example, China.”
Mark Scott, Annabelle Dickson and Tom Bristowcontributed reporting.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
“There are serious trade disparities that should rightfully be raised, but we should be honest about the potential economic impact to rural America,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.).
Another farm state Republican lawmaker was more blunt when asked about how Trump’s new trade proposal could impact the U.S. agriculture economy, calling it “fucking suicide” for rural communities.
Trump’s last tariff war with China originally targeted China’s steel dumping but provoked crippling retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports to China — hitting farmers who were already struggling financially. Rural families, especially on small farms, felt the economic toll. Farms increasingly defaulted on their loans as China looked to Brazil and other foreign markets for farm exports, even after Trump spent $28 billion in federal funds on bailout payments. Trump eventually signed a trade deal with Beijing that he claimed would result in China purchasing $50 billion in U.S. farm goods, something China has failed to live up to. Tariffs on billions of dollars on Chinese goods put in place by Trump remain today. The Biden administration, which is reviewing the tariffs, has made no moves to ease them in the past two years.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a staunch Trump ally, cautioned against new trade moves that could hurt American agriculture. “I can understand what he’s doing — China is our biggest adversary,” Tuberville said. “But we’ve got to be careful about tariffs on farmers.”
Some GOP lawmakers begrudgingly went along with Trump’s last tariff war with Beijing, in support of the general goal to punish China for intellectual property theft, steel dumping, broader state subsidies and a wide range of other malign actions. But they now caution that the process of disentangling the country’s complex economic relationship with China requires far more nuance than what Trump is proposing.
“It’s important that we take a protective posture with regard to the sort of predatory practices of China,” said Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.). But “I also know we have such a great deal invested in China, probably trillions of dollars,” Crawford continued, adding that the unwinding of those investments will need to be conducted “forthrightly” and “aggressively” while also protecting the U.S. agriculture economy.
Some farm state lawmakers, however, lauded parts of Trump’s plans. Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.), a former state agriculture commissioner, said the proposal to revoke China’s preferred nation trading status “makes some sense.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a potential 2024 presidential contender himself, said tariffs are “the only angle we have to protect our markets from their unfair practices.” Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) said he supported tariffs on Chinese goods, especially given that “they’re already not meeting their obligations under the previous trade agreement.”
And there are a swath of Republican lawmakers who are still uneasy about publicly criticizing the former president, given his pull among a vocal slice of the party. Asked by POLITICO about Trump’s plan, more than a dozen pro-Trump Republicans said they didn’t want to weigh in since they hadn’t seen the proposal yet.
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), a former Trump aide who is now on the House Agriculture Committee, said he wanted to “look at the language” of any tariff proposals “and who it’s really going to hurt and who it’s really going to affect.”
“Sometimes it provides a big relief to the bigger consumers within our country,” Miller said. “But sometimes it’s the little guy and the little woman at the end who really take on that burden sharing of actually having the tariff cost them more money.”
Miller, who has endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, said he backed Trump’s previous tariffs on China. “I’m supportive of those tariffs,” Miller said, but added, he’s “a little bit different, more free trade individual myself.” Miller went on to say the “Milton Friedman model I believe is the best way for economic prosperity of the entire world,” referring to one of the most well-known advocates of free market trade — a belief system largely shunned by the former president.
Trump’s campaign didn’t consult key agricultural groups before rolling out his new trade plans — even conservative-leaning groups he was close to during his presidency.
Trump relied on the American Farm Bureau Federation during his initial trade war with China, as he argued farmers were doing their patriotic duty by helping to carry the financial burden on his larger effort to punish China for its economic tactics. But Zippy Duvall, the ag lobby’s president, said Trump aides hadn’t asked him about the former president’s new trade proposal. A Trump spokesperson didn’t respond to an inquiry regarding the Republican pushback to the plans or whether the campaign had reached out to any agriculture groups about it.
Some Republicans said that while they haven’t yet seen or reviewed Trump’s proposal, they’re generally leery of enacting new tariffs on China, given the likely backlash on U.S. farm exports.
“I like free trade. I think that’s what our country is built upon and the sooner we can get back to that, I think it’s going to help our farmers and ranchers,” said Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.), a pro-Trump freshman who represents a rural stretch of Missouri.
“I really don’t have a lot of comment on this at this point, because it’s all speculation, right?” House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) said.
Asked if he would support new tariffs on China in general, Thompson replied, “I still think we’re resolving the impact of tariffs now.”
Steven Overly contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
SRINAGAR: The Divisional Commissioner (Div Com) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri and Commissioner SMC, Athar Aamir Khan along with senior officials from Srinagar Municipal Corporation on Saturday held a detailed meeting and discussion with the representatives of various trade federations to discuss the proposed property tax within Srinagar Municipal limits.
Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kashmir Hoteliers Association, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries, KCIF, KTMF, CCIK, Kashmir Economic Alliance and many other trade federations and civil society bodies attended the meeting.
Div Com and Commissioner SMC gave a detailed presentation to all stakeholders about the property tax. The process and method of property tax calculation was discussed with the members present.
It was impressed that the property tax adopted by J&K is a progressive model. The tax to be collected will go into the account of the local bodies only and will be used for the development of the respective city only. The Tax rates are among the lowest in the country, they informed.
The members present calculated the model test cases of commercial as well as residential properties.
The tax is to be paid annually not monthly and Residential properties up to 1000 sqft have been exempted from the tax so are the agricultural land and the religious places.
The tax slabs have been kept in a very progressive manner so that the distributive Justice is taken care of.
Meanwhile, the property tax will be effective from 1st April, 2023.
Hyderabad: A Round table conference on ‘Trade and Investment Opportunities in Vietnam’ was held on Saturday at The Federation of Telangana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI), Red Hills, Hyderabad.
Eleven senior officers and executives from four Vietnamese provinces met with the FTCCI officials to discuss the trade and investment opportunities in Vietnam.
Welcoming the Vietnam delegation, Anil Agarwal, president of FTCCI, said the delegation came to participate in BioAsia and used this opportunity to visit FTCCI to explain the opportunities for trade and investment in Vietnam in various provinces.
“We visited Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai Province, and Binh Duong Province in Vietnam some time ago last year and learned about the way these provinces are progressing with cluster and industrial development initiatives thereby attracting investments through FDIs. We really appreciate the steps taken by the Vietnam delegation to promote bilateral trade and will always support such initiatives,” said Agarwal.
Bui Anh Tuan, Commerce Section, Consulate General of India in Vietnam introduced the Vietnamese delegates to the gathering. He said they are looking for investments in Tourism, IT, Biotechnology, Health Care, Agriculture, and Food Processing.
Pham Minh An, director of Ba Ria – Vung Tau Department of Health, spoke about the Foreign Direct Investment policy.
Head of the Ministry of External Affairs branch secretariat, Dasari Balaiah addressing the gathering said that every small opportunity can turn into a big one and India being the Chair of G-20 must utilise every possible opportunity.
Look east policy of the Government of India is the flagship initiative of the Government of India, he said.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Saturday as Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav sought to corner the state government over the killing of a prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA murder case, drawing a sharp retort from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Adityanath alleged that Samajwadi Party not only nurtured criminals, but also made them MLAs and MPs, and said his government will “decimate” (mitti me mila denge) the mafia.
Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal, was shot dead outside his residence here, the police said.
Police on Saturday registered an FIR against several people, including former MP Atiq Ahmed. The mafia-turned-politician is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail. Atiq was a SP MP from Phulpur parliamentary constituency (in Prayagraj).
When the House assembled for the chief minister’s speech on the Governor’s address at 11 am, the SP and Yadav tried to corner the government over Pal’s killing.
The chief minister termed the Prayagraj incident “sad” and said the government has taken cognizance of it.
He said, “I would assure the House that the action which has been taken under the zero tolerance policy, its result will be out soon.”
Without taking any names, the UP chief minister said, “Who had nurtured the criminals and the mafia? The mafia whose name is emerging in the Prayagraj incident, is it not true that the Samajwadi Party had made him an MP.”
“He was a mafia nurtured by the SP. Our government is working to break its back. We will decimate (Mitti me mila denge) them,” Adityanath said.
Further attacking the Samajwadi Party, Adityanath said, “They are the mentors of criminals, and they have been doing it continuously. Crime flows in their veins. They have learnt nothing except crime. The entire state knows about this, and today they are giving justification.”
“The mafia leader who had perpetrated this act yesterday, is out of Uttar Pradesh, and became MLA and MP because of the assistance of the Samajwadi Party. Is it not true that in 1996, that mafia leader became a MLA from Allahabad West seat. In 2004, these people made him the Lok Sabha MP. Our government will finish them off, he said.
Referring to the address by UP Governor Anandiben Patel, Adityanath said, “People who could not give respect to a woman Governor in the House, how can they give respect to women?”
He also took a jibe at the SP while referring to SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s “boys commit mistakes” quote.
Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut has once again targeted filmmaker Karan Johar but this time it’s a film he has backed with his Dharma Productions – ‘Selfiee’. The Bollywood actress called the movie a “flop” and even compared the first day collections to her film ‘Dhaakad’.
Kangana slammed filmmaker Karan’s co-produced film ‘Selfiee’ starring Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi on the day it hit screens.
Kangana wrote on her story: “Karan Johar movie Selfie has hardly made 10 lakhs on the first day I don’t see even one trade or media person talk about it forget mocking or bullying him the way they harass me.”
In her next post, Kangana re-shared an article, the headline of which read: “‘Male version of Kangana Ranaut!,’ Netizens react as Akshay’s ‘Selfiee’ fails to impress viewers, may be his 6th flop film in a row.”
She captioned it: “I was looking for news about selfie flop I found all the news is about me. Yeh bhi meri hi galti hai (This is also my fault). Wah bhai Karan Johar wah.”
‘Selfiee’ is the official Hindi remake of the Malayalam film ‘Driving License’. It’s backed by Karan Johar’s Dharma Production along with Magic Frames, Prithviraj Productions, Cape of Good Films and Star Studios.
