A court in western Zambia’s Mongu district on Wednesday sent a medical doctor to three years in jail after convicting him of defaming President Edgar Lungu.

The doctor had created a fake Facebook account which he used to bring the name of the Zambian leader in ridicule by posting disturbing remarks, insults and digitally altering his images, Xinhua quoted police spokesperson Esther Mwaata-Katongo as saying.

She said the doctor had used the name of another medical to create the Facebook account and went on to threaten the same doctor with murder when he complained.

The police spokesperson said the judgment was welcome as it will send a strong warning to people who were in the habit of abusing social media.

Jigar Sanghvi and Kripesh Sanghvi, ‘1 Above’ pub co-owners wanted in connection with the December 29 Kamala Mills fire that claimed 14 lives, were arrested on Wednesday, police said.

The Sanghvi brothers, who were on the run since the incident, were arrested from the Andheri area here, additional commissioner of police S Jaikumar told PTI.

The police had on Tuesday arrested Vishal Kariya, a hotelier, for allegedly giving shelter to the Sanghvi brothers and Abhijeet Mankar — owners of the ‘1 Above’ pub.

The trio have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences under the Indian Penal Code. Police had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information about their whereabouts.

Mankar was still absconding.

On December 29, fire had swept through the ‘1 Above’ and adjacent Mojo’s Bistro resto pub in Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai, resulting in the death of 14 people.

Addressing privacy concerns after a news report claimed a breach in the Aadhaar database, the UIDAI on Wednesday announced a new two-layer system to strengthen security of Aadhaar number holders which would do away with the need to share the unique ID for verification purposes.

Under the new system, at the user-end, the Aadhaar holder will have the choice not to share their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication. Instead, a random 16-digit Virtual ID number would be generated and could be used in lieu of Aadhaar with the authorised agency like banks and telecom service providers.

“Virtual ID will be a temporary, revocable 16 digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number. It is not possible to derive Aadhaar number from Virtual ID,” a circular issued by UIDAI said.

At the agency-end, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced the concept of “Limited KYC” (Know Your Customer) which won’t return Aadhaar number but would only provide an “agency specific unique UID token to eliminate agencies storing Aadhaar numbers while still enabling their own paperless KYC”.

The move comes amid heightened concerns around the collection and storage of personal and demographic data of individuals after The Tribune reported it bought unrestricted access to details of over one billion Aadhaar numbers — for just Rs 500 and in 10 minutes.

However, people would have to wait till March 1 as the UIDAI would be releasing necessary applications for its implementation by that day, the circular said.

“And by June 1, all agencies would have to fully migrate to the new system.”

As per the circular, a virtual ID will be valid for a defined period of time and every time a new one gets generated by the user, the older one gets automatically cancelled.

“Aadhaar number being a permanent ID for life, there is a need to provide mechanism to ensure its continued use by the Aadhaar number holder while optimally protecting the collection and storage of Aadhaar number itself in many databases,” the UIDAI said.

It added that while it is important to ensure that Aadhaar number holders can use their identity information to avail products and services, the collection and storage of Aadhaar numbers by various entities had heightened privacy concerns.

Last week, the Tribune report, widely shared on social media, claimed that it had got access through an “agent” to every detail of any individual submitted to the UIDAI including name, address, postal code, photo, phone number and email and found in its investigation that unauthorised persons had gained access to people’s personal information.

After a Milan court acquitted Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica’s former chief Giuseppe Orsi and former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini in the case, the Congress on Wednesday said the BJP stands exposed for fabricating a perception that the party is corrupt.

It also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remained silent on the alleged corruption charges against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and not taken any action against party’s President Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah for charges against him.

“We were open to any kind of inquiry. The government has set up inquiries, but this perception battle that the BJP had built upon corruption charge against the Congress government is a smack in their face,” said Congress spokesperson R.P.N Singh.

“We saw that being played out in the 2G scam, which was a make-believe scam, that the BJP took to the whole country,” he added.

Singh also said: “We have seen that now in the so-called VIP chopper scam. This is exactly what the BJP does — creating false perceptions about the Congress party. In the end truth shall prevail.

“But why the BJP is not taking any action against BJP President’s son when there is adequate proof?”

He also asked why the Prime Minister had not spoken even once about the corruption in the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, and against the chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states, against whom there were charges of graft.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said its investigation in the multi-million dollar AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal case during the UPA government was “independent and very strong”.

The central agency’s remarks came following the acquittal of Orsi and Spagnolini by an Italian appellate court on Monday.

After the Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to further probe 186 anti-Sikh riots cases closed by an earlier SIT, the Congress party said it will support any probe into the 1984 riots.

“I don’t have not full information about the Supreme Court order. But, if there is any order to do an investigation to ensure full inquiry, the Congress will always support it,” said Congress spokesperson R.P.N Singh.

“If any torture has been done to the Sikh community, there should be a probe into it and if anyone found guilty, must be punished,” he added.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud ordered formation of the new SIT — comprising a serving Indian Police Service officer and a retired one.

The move came following receipt of a report by a supervisory committee that said of the 241 cases closed by the earlier SIT, 186 were closed without further investigation.

Dubbing the Karnataka government “corrupt at all levels”, BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday said the state’s people are waiting to throw out the ruling Congress in the upcoming assembly elections, due in April.

“The countdown for the exit of the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has begun, as the people are waiting to throw it out lock, stock and barrel,” said Shah at a party’s rally in Holakere in the state’s central district, about 200km from Bengaluru.

Addressing over 50,000 people at the party’s “Nava Karnataka Parivarthana” rally, Shah said the Congress cadres were the only people to be happy with their government and no other one section of society, be it women, farmers or youth — rural or urban.

“This government deserves to be thrown to the dustbin of history, as corruption is rampant and inefficiency permeates at all levels of governance,” asserted Shah.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in the state for the first time after the 2008 assembly election, lost to the Congress in the 2013 poll following a split in its state unit and five years of “misrule” with three chief ministers at the helm.

Listing out various scams of the state government, Shah said the ruling Congress was involved in the Rs 900-crore Malaprabha river project, Rs 100-crore steel bridge project that was abandoned later, Rs 300-crore solar power project and denotification (releasing from government control) of about 1,800 lakes across the state, especially Bengaluru.

Accusing the government of misusing central funds, looting tax-payers’ money, farmers and fishermen, Shah said though the Modi government at the Centre had given the southern state Rs 3 lakh-crore over the past 42 months under various schemes, the money did not reach the intended beneficiaries.

“The Modi government has provided Rs 2,19,506 crore to Karnataka under the 14th Finance Commission and Rs 79,000 crore under various schemes since 2014-15. I ask Siddaramaiah to furnish accounts as to what he did with so much money, as it did not reach the poor or its beneficiaries,” reiterated Shah.

Blaming the Congress for indulging in minority appeasement and playing votebank politics, the BJP President said the Chief Minister had been indifferent to the killing of 21 workers of his party (BJP) and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

“More than 20 BJP and RSS activists have been killed in the state. What was their mistake? The state government is not even probing their death. When our party comes to power, whoever responsible for these deaths will be put behind the bars,” claimed Shah.

Besides party’s state unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa, central ministers from the state Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Railway Minister Piyush Goel and Union HRD Minister and party’s state in-charge Prakash Javdekar and its state leaders Jagadish Shettar, K.S Eshwarappa and A.R. Ashok participated in the rally.

The investigation wing of the Income Tax Department raided 34 premises of four leading business groups in six cities across the country, said an official on Wednesday.

“The searches were conducted at 34 premises of four groups, which are into hotel, hospitality and food business in Bengaluru and Mangaluru, Delhi and Faridabad (Haryana), Indore and Mumbai,” said department’s Joint Director G. Ramesh in a statement here.

The official, however, declined to identify the groups raided, saying the names “cannot be disclosed at the time of investigation”.

Sources in the city police, whose personnel provided security to the tax department sleuths, told IANS that among the premises raided in Bengaluru were a leading gold and jewellery retail chain and a leather goods outlet.

“As the search and seizure exercise is continuing, details will be given after completing the investigation,” added Ramesh.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif reaffirmed their commitment to a multilateral deal on Iran’s nuclear programme here on Wednesday.

They expressed willingness to continue to fulfil obligations under the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Xinhua reported.

“Possible disruption of the JCPOA’s implementation due to Washington’s actions would go against the task of maintaining international and regional security and stability and negatively affect multilateral efforts in the field of nuclear non-proliferation,” they said in a joint statement.

The JCPOA was reached between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany, in July 2015.

Under the deal, Iran agrees to halt its nuclear weapon programme in exchange for economic aid and lifting of international sanctions.

However, in October 2017, US President Donald Trump called for de-certifying the agreement, alleging Iran had committed “multiple violations,” which Tehran has denied.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Washington could “conceivably” re-enter into the global Paris climate agreement, from which he announced the withdrawal last year.

At a news conference, Trump insisted that Paris Agreement, which the international community signed in 2015 with the aim of combating climate change by limiting global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius, was “a bad deal” and “very unfair” to the US.

Trump’s decision in June last year to pull the US out of the landmark global accord has sparked a wave of anger and dismay at home and also a chorus of disapproval abroad, Xinhua reported.

Former Nagaland Home Minister Yanthungo Patton on Wednesday resigned as member of the assembly.

Chief Minister T.R.Zeliang sacked Patton and five others ministers from his ministry last month to facilitate reconciliation between the two wrangling factions of the ruling Naga People’s Front.

In his resignation letter submitted to Assembly Speaker Imtiwapang Aier, Patton stated that he voluntarily tendered his resignation, as member of the assembly, with immediate effect. However, Aier is yet to accept Patton’s resignation.

The Congress on Wednesday charged the BJP with dishonesty after the Narendra Modi government’s decision to approve 100 per cent FDI in retail, citing their record on the policy when they were in the opposition.

“Deception, dishonesty and dodginess of BJP leadership unmasked on FDI in retail.

“Dupe, lie and vilify when out of power. Do the opposite on gaining power,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Twitter.

He also pointed what BJP leders had commented about FDI in retail in a booklet during the UPA government. “BJP’s ‘Booklet on FDI’- ‘Government of Foreigners’ – Narendra Modi. ‘End Consumer Interests’ – Arun Jaitley and ‘Betrayal’ – Sushma Swaraj,” he said in another tweet.

In major changes liberalising foreign direct investment in key sectors, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 100 per cent foreign investment in single brand retail trading.

Rio Olympics gold medalist Helen Maroulis did the star-turn as two times runners-up Haryana Hammers open their Pro Wrestling League (PWL )campaign with an impressive 5-2 win over debutants Veer Marathas 5-2 at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium Delhi on Wednesday.

Apart from Maroulis, it was Harphool played a crucial role as he won his bout to increase Haryana’s lead to 4-2 and seal Marathas fate with one bout remaining.

In the high-profile clash of the day, Helen took on Rio Olympics Bronze medalist Marwa Amri of Tunisia in the women’s 57 kg competition. However it turned out to be a lopsided affair with the US wrestler completely dominating her opponent to win the bout 9-1 by pin fall.

The fifth bout of the day between Amit Dhankar and Harphool in the 65 kg turned out to be the most exciting duel of the night. Both the wrestlers were at the top of the game and ended the bout 55. However, it was Harphool who adjudged the winner by the virtue of winning the last point of the bout. Russian Khetik Tsabolov then added more insult to Marathas injury after he beat Parveen Rana 10-0 in 74 kg affair in the last contest of the day.

Haryana were on top right from the onset and blocked the dangerous Levan Berianidze of Armenia in the 125 kg after they won the toss. Marathas in turn took Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sun Yanan of China out of the equation. Sarita restored parity for Hammers mid-way into the tie with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Manju.

Manju did well in the opening period and warded off a strong attack from Sarita to concede just a solitary point. She was water-tight in her defense in the second round as well but the 2017 Asian Championship silver medalist did just enough to seal the match 4-3 in the 62 kg competition. Marathas asserted their further in the tie with Georgi Ketoev of Armenia completely annihilating India’s Roublejit Singh Rangi 16-0 by technical superiority in the 92 kg weight category to go 2-1 up in the tie.

2017 World Championship silver medalist Vasilisia Marzaulik of Belarus and ICON player of the Marathas brought her team back into the tournament after she pinned India’s Pooja to win the match 8-0 in the 76 kg in the opening period of the bout itself.

The Indian was no match for the Armenian and could hardly mount any challenge and went down meekly to wipe her team’s advantage. Earlier in the opener of the day, 2017 World Championship bronze medalist Vladimir Khinchegashvili beat India’s Shravan 7-3 to log in the first point for the Hammers.

Leading pugilists from 25 countries will be seen in action in the inaugural Indian Open of Boxing to be held at the Thyagraj Stadium New Delhi, from 28 January to 1 February, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) announced on Wednesday.

Talking to media persons at the launch of the Indian Open of Boxing along with the cast of upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Mukkabaaz’ in Delhi, BFI president Ajay Singh said, “We have the India Open for the first time in which 25 countries will take part.”

He said that four Indian teams across all 10 categories will take part in it. “All the leading boxing nations like Cuba, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia have confirmed their participation ” he added. The gold medallists in the Indian Open will get $2,500 as prize money, the silver medallists will earn $1,000 while the two bronze medallists in each category will receive by $500 each.

About the much awaited World Series of Boxing (WSB), the BFI chief said, “We also have the World Series of Boxing (WSB) where India will be participating after a long gap. The home matches will be held on March 23 while the away matches will be in early February. We will be announcing the team very soon.”

“We are also going to host the Elite women World Championships in November this year. Before that, we will have the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games,” he added. Asked about the performance of Indian pugilists since the BFI took charge in September 2016,he admitted that there is still a lot to be achieved to turn the country into a boxing power house.

“Boxing did not have an elected sports federation for many years. We have just had the BFI for the last one year. In this last one year, a lot of progress has been made. Indian boxers are winning medals across the world,” he said. “We have coaching camps going on throughout the year in every category. We have an incredibly large number of championships that are being
conducted.

Disregarding positive global cues and World Bank’s laudatory comment on India’s long-term growth potential, Dalal Street participants disrupted the record-smashing run of main equity indices of Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange with a spell of profit booking, primarily in those shares/segments that have gained most in recent weeks.

Analysts said selling pressure at higher level like in 2017 will be a normal feature of stock trade in 2018 as well but the overall bull run may continue undisturbed as economic fundamentals display distinct improvement.

While indices were struggling to fight back profit booking pressure, the news came that the Union Cabinet has further relaxed FDI norms, permitting 100 per cent foreign flow into single-brand retail and 49 per cent FDI in Air India which helped equity market to cut its losses.In the final 30 minutes, BSE and NSE main indices pared some losses but closed with a little downside bias.

The Sensex closed at 34,433.07 points, registering a decline of 10.12 points or 0.03 per cent.

The Nifty lost 0.05 per cent or 4.80 points to finish at 10,632.20 points. Bank shares were among those suffering profit booking.

The Nifty Bank lost 0.34 per cent or 86.50 points to close at 25,617.30 points. In the Sensex pack, seven shares ended up and 24 were down. For the Nifty, the advance-decline ratio stood at 18 versus 32.
Today, profit booking spared IT stocks after the United States administration moderated its H1-B visa policy for Indians already working there.

Analysts pointed out that the profit booking was seen across all regional markets on account of no let-up in rising crude oil prices. The Asia-Pacific MSCI or Morgan Stanley Composite Index (outside Japan) dropped nearly 0.5 per cent intra-day today as investors turned to profit booking.

Analysts see business in Dalal Street moving in a narrow range ahead of Infosys Technologies kicking off Q3 earnings season in a couple of days.

In the run-up to Budget 2018-19 presentation on 1 February, business & industry and financial sector are airing their expectations more candidly, say analysts, since it would be the last comprehensive exercise by the finance minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, before a series of state assembly and Parliament elections.

However, the 30-share Sensitive Index of BSE and the 50-scrip Nifty of NSE are virtually hitting new highs every week ignoring the concern being raised by participants over likely introduction of long-term capital gain tax or LTCGT on equity, the desirability of which was first spoken of by the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, about 18 months ago while inaugurating an event by the Securities and Exchange Board of India or Sebi in Mumbai. It had then stirred a hornet’s nest bringingequity indices down.

Some analysts feel if corporate earnings for Q3 (October-December) meet the market’s expectations, it will be a major trigger for increase in not only the Sensex and the Nifty, but also mid-cap and small cap segments since it would be the first-ever earnings growth by private sector in three years.

Gainers in the BSE benchmark included TCS at Rs 2,805, up 3.56 per cent; Wipro at Rs 325, up 2.33 per cent; Coal India at Rs 308.80, up 1.56 per cent and Infosys Rs 1,050.10, up 0.85 per cent.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday decided to continue the scheme of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Fund (MPLAD) till the end of the 14th Finance Commission, which concludes on 31 March 2020.

The scheme would entail an annual allocation of Rs 3,950 crore and a total outlay of Rs 11,850 crore over the next three years with an additional annual allocation of Rs 5 crore per year for monitoring through an independent agency or agencies and for capacity building or training to state or district officials to be imparted by the Ministry.

The MPLADS funds are released to the nodal district authorities on receipt of requisite documents and as per provisions of guidelines on MPLADS. The scheme has effectively created durable assets like drinking water, education among others for the entire country.

In a massive crackdown on unauthorised constructions in the national capital, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) sealed upper floors and basements of 135 shops in the posh Meher Chand Market on Wednesday.

Besides, two PSU banks were been given two days to wind up their operations, a senior SDMC official said.

Wednesday’s drive was termed the biggest by the civic body following instructions of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.

“Sealing action was taken in 135 of the 153 shops in Meher Chand Market, Lodi Road, but ground floors were spared. Only upper flowers and basements built or used in violation of civic norms were sealed. Two banks, State Bank of India and Dena Bank, have been given two days to wind up their operation,” the official said.

The ground floors, built legally, have been spared, he added. Meher Chand Market is home to many plush eateries and boutique shops, and known to have a good footfall.

In nearby upscale Khan Market, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Tuesday sealed 16 commercial establishments for unauthorised construction. A day earlier the civic body had sealed terraces and open spaces of eight major establishments in Khan Market.

On January 5, as many as 56 establishments, including showrooms of automobile majors, in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj were sealed by the SDMC for “misuse” and “encroachment” of property.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said it would raise the issue of the shops sealed by the Bhartiya Janata Party-governed municipal corporations in the upcoming session of Delhi Assembly.

An “anti-sealing action committee” has also been formed by the party that will utilise the lawful means against the sealing of shops in the city.

BJP-governed civic bodies, including three corporations ~ North, South and East ~ and New Delhi Municipal Council have sealed a large number of eateries and shops in posh and other areas of the city since December last.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi AAP convener Gopal Rai said that in the past few days BJP-ruled corporations have created a panic in Delhi markets under the guise of Supreme Court orders to seal illegal constructions in the city.

Rai said in the name “use conversion charge”, the municipal corporations recovered Rs 17 crore from various traders across Delhi in past few weeks.

Rai, who also holds the cabinet post in the government, said that after holding a meeting with the trade wing of AAP, the party decided that it would take up the matter in the upcoming Delhi Assembly session on 15 January.

Rai said that the AAP legislators along with volunteers would also lead a protest march on 12 January.  It shall commence from party office in Rose Avenue and end at Civic Centre.

Rai said in the name of sealing, an open game of corruption was being played by the corporations. “For the last 10 to 30 years, the money is being levied in the name of parking and conversion charges from raders. This time the game of bribe is being run under the hammer of court,” he said.