Kumaraswamy to connect with 15 lakh WhatsApp users

Bengaluru, Jan 16: Senior Congress leader K J George on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate officials here in connection with a FEMA case.

The former minister is being investigated by the ED for probable violation of provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

The ED had recently issued summons to George.

Speaking to reporters after appearing before the ED, George said he has answered to the officials' queries and will cooperate further also.

"ED had issued me summons, as a law abiding citizen, I have answered and gave documents to whatever they asked.

Further also if they call me...I will cooperate and provide necessary documents," he said, without divulging any details.

George clarified that no summons has been issued by the ED to members of his family.

"If required they (ED officials) will call me again, and I'm ready to cooperate," the congress leader added.

Last year, the president of the Karnataka Rashtra Samithi Ravi Krishna Reddy had complained to the ED seeking a probe into the alleged money laundering and properties held by George and his family members in the United States.

Responding to a question about a defamation case filed by him against those who have levelled the allegations, George said "Just because ED has called me for questioning, I'm not proved guilty."

"Anyone can complain to agencies like the Income Tax or ED or Lokayukta, but my only objection is with going to the press to project someone as guilty," he said.

"...going to the press with an intention to do a propaganda against me..someone who is in public life-- to project me as guilty is wrong, so I have filed defamation case stating the allegations are false," he added.

George is the third senior Congress leader from Karnataka to face an ED probe after D K Shivakumar and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.

Shivakumar was arrested by the agency in a money laundering case and was kept in Tihar Jail, until he got bail in October, while Khan was summoned in connection with the multi-crore IMA group Ponzi scam case.

Mar 5: The Karnataka government on Thursday proposed to increase rate of tax on petrol and diesel by three per cent which would make the fuel dearer by Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.59 per litre, respectively.

Presenting the 2020-21 budget in the Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa proposed to increase rate of tax on petrol from 32 per cent to 35 per cent and diesel from 21 per cent to 24 per cent, as part of additional resource mobilisation measures.

Yediyurappa, who also holds the finance portfolio, increased excise duty on Indian Made Liquor (KML) across 18 slabs by six per cent.

However, to promote affordable housing, the government proposed to reduce stamp duty on first time registration of new apartments/flats costing less than Rs 20 lakh from existing five per cent to two per cent.

This is the first budget of the BJP government after coming to power last year; it's the seventh presented by Yediyurappa.

"For the year 2020-21, a total amount of Rs 55,732 crore is provided for stimulating economic growth sector", the Chief Minister said.

He said the revenue collection target for the Commercial Taxes department for the year 2020-21 is fixed at Rs 82,443 crore.

Stating the government had fixed a revenue target of Rs 20,950 crore for the excise department for the year 2019- 20, he said at the end of February Rs 19,701 crore had been collected.

"We hope to achieve the budget target."

He also hoped with the increase in rates and effective enforcement and regulatory measures, the Excise department would be achieving the target of Rs 22,700 crore fixed for the financial year 2020-21.

On the transport sector, Yediyurappa said it is proposed to levy motor vehicle tax on contract carriages having seating capacity to carry more than 12 passengers, but not more than 20 passengers at the rate of Rs 900 per seat per quarter.

He said it is also proposed to levy vehicle tax on new model sleeper coaches which are granted permits under section 88 (9) of MV Act 1988 at the rate of Rs 4,000 per sleeper per quarter.

Noting that a target of Rs 7,100 crore revenue collection is expected to be achieved in 2019-20 in transport sector, he said for 2020-21 revenue collection target has been fixed at Rs 7,115 crore.

He said the revenue collection target for 2019-20 under stamps and registration was fixed at Rs 11,828 crore and against this Rs 10,248 crore has been collected till the end of February 2020 which is 87 per cent of full year target.

While the revenue collection target for 2020-21 under stamps and registration is fixed at Rs 12,655 crore.

Newsroom, Feb 2: American business magnate Bill Gates has congratulated her daughter Jennifer Gates after she announced her engagement to her Muslim boyfriend Nayel Nassar.

“I am completely thrilled! Congratulations, @jenniferkgates and @nayelnassar”, commented the Microsoft boss to her daughter’s surprise Instagram story.

The proposal took place on a ski getaway. "Nayel Nassar, you are one of a kind. Absolutely swept me off my feet this past weekend, surprising me in the most meaningful location over one of our many shared passions," she wrote on Instagram. The pair does have one very significant shared passion - horses.

Nassar, 29, is a showjumper. Gates, 23, has famously grown up an equestrian, and has even competed against Steve Jobs' daughter.

In October, Nassar helped Egypt qualify for Tokyo 2020 - Egypt's first Olympic equestrian qualification in 60 years. He has been jumping since he was 10 years old and has the accolades to show for it - he has taken first place in a number of notable competitions, including the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup.

Nassar was born in Chicago to Egyptian parents and spent many of his formative years in Kuwait, where his well-to-do parents run an architecture and design firm, according to People. He is fluent in English, Arabic, and French.

He moved back to the US in 2009 and graduated from Stanford with an economics degree in 2013 - later, he supported Gates at her own Stanford graduation in 2018.

The couple received well wishes from many notable personalities on each of their Instagram posts, including comments from Bill and Melinda Gates, Georgina Bloomberg, and Eve Jobs.

 

 

 

 

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Happy birthday @nayelnassar, can’t begin to put into words how extraordinary you are. The most compassionate, intelligent, hilarious, supportive, warm, humble human being. Wishing you all the joy in the world today and all the years to come

A post shared by Jennifer Gates (@jenniferkgates) on Jan 21, 2020 at 8:44am PST