US Will Work Closely With "Great Ally" India: Trump Administration

Agencies
May 29, 2019

Washington, May 29: India is a "great ally" of America and the US will continue to work closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Trump administration has said, asserting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was looking forward to have a "robust discussion" with his Indian counterpart on a wide range of issues.

State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told reporters during an off-camera news conference here on Tuesday that the US was confident in the fairness and integrity of the just-concluded general elections in India.

The Trump administration, including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Mr Pompeo, congratulated PM Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party on the spectacular electoral victory in the Lok Sabha elections whose results were declared on May 23.

"We, of course, will work closely with Modi, as we have many times," Mr Ortagus told reporters in response to a question.

"We''re confident in the fairness and integrity of the elections, and I think that Secretary Pompeo will have a very robust discussion on a range of issues. India is a great ally and partner of the United States," Mr Ortagus said.

The US Lawmakers and senior government officials continue to congratulate PM Modi on his grand electoral victory.

Indian-Americans organised victory celebrations in various parts of the US. Several more are in the pipeline on a large scale in the coming weeks.

According to a compilation made by the Indian Embassy here, more than 50 Congressmen, Senators and the senior government officials have sent congratulatory messages to PM Modi.

"India continues to have amazing potential and is a strong US partner. Congratulations to Narendra Modi on your success with the elections and the direction you are taking India. We look forward to seeing our partnership continue to strengthen," tweeted Indian-American politician Nikki Haley.

"Congratulations to Modi ''on being re-elected'' as Prime Minister of India, said Congressman Al Green.

"I wish peace and prosperity for India and its neighbours and look forward to seeing you at India House in my congressional district in Houston, Texas, USA," he said.

In the first back-to-back majority for a single party in over three decades, the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 out of the total 542 Lok Sabha seats, handing out a crushing defeat to the Congress Party and many other political opponents.

"Prime Minister Modi has led India and has brought lot of credibility in foreign affairs and made India a power to reckon with. He has travelled all the continents and made friends and has a given the prestige to India that was long overdue," said Sampat Shivangi, president of Indian American Forum.

"India is a no more a third world country and has stood the test of time and has been recognised as one of the top six economies in the world," Mr Shivangi said.

The Indian-Americans will put pressure and use the political clout to impress upon the US the importance of a balanced and fair trade agreement with India.

"We do not want another impasse as we see with US-China trade and we do not want India to be another China," he said.

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Mumbai, Mar 8: A day after the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and raided his premises, he was taken to the agency's office in Mumbai on Saturday for further questioning.

Kapoor, who was grilled by central agency's officials on Friday night at his Samudra Mahal residence in Mumbai, was shifted to the ED office in the metropolis around 12.30 pm.

ED officials said Kapoor was questioned throughout the night, with some rest time.

A senior ED official connected with the probe told IANS: "Kapoor will be questioned about Yes Bank loans to Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL)."

The official said that during searches a lot of incriminating documents were found and the agency wanted to grill him on his links with DHFL promoters and other companies.

Kapoor's alleged role in the disbursal of loan to a corporate entity and kickbacks reportedly received in his wife's bank account are also under probe.

The ED had filed the money laundering case against Kapoor and raided his residence, apart from issuing a look-out circular so that he does not flee the country.

The ED registered a money laundering case against Kapoor as a continuation of its probe against the DHFL wherein it was allegedly found that Rs 12,500 crore was diverted to 80 shell companies using one lakh fake borrowers. The transactions with these shell companies date back to 2015.

An ED official in New Delhi told IANS that the DHFL probe revealed that funds diverted by the DHFL originated from Yes Bank.

He said that the searches at Kapoor's residence on Friday night were meant to find out any irregularity in grant of loans to the DHFL by the Yes Bank.

The ED has accused Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of DHFL of purchasing shares in five firms -- Faith Realtors, Marvel Township, Abe Realty, Poseidon Realty, and Random Realtors -- after which they were amalgamated with Sunblink.

The outstanding loans of these five firms, totalling around Rs 2,186 crore till July 2019, were allegedly appropriated onto the books of Sunblink to cover up the diversion of loans acquired from DHFL.

The ED's action comes after the RBI superseded Yes Bank Board for 30 days and appointed an administrator, putting a cap of Rs 50,000 on withdrawals by account holders for a month.

The RBI said that the bank's board was superseded "owing to serious deterioration in the financial position of the bank".

Former SBI CFO Prashant Kumar was appointed as administrator of Yes Bank, which has over 1,000 branches and 1,800-plus ATMs across the country.

On Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the bank was on watch since 2017 and developments relating to it were monitored on a day-to-day basis.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Washington, Aug 7: US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) signed executive orders halting all transactions with Chinese applications TikTok and WeChat within 45 days, citing national security concerns, further escalating the tensions between Beijing and Washington.

"WeChat, a messaging, social media, and electronic payment application owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd., reportedly has over one billion users worldwide, including users in the United States. Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. 

This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," Trump said in a statement.

Citing reasons for the ban on WeChat, the US President said that the application captures the personal and proprietary information of Chinese nationals visiting the US, thereby providing the CCP a mechanism to keep tabs on the Chinese citizens who may be "enjoying the benefits of a free society for the first time in their lives".

"In March 2019, a researcher reportedly discovered a Chinese database containing billions of WeChat messages sent from users in not only China but also the United States, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia. WeChat, like TikTok, also reportedly censors content that the CCP deems politically sensitive and may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the CCP. 

These risks have led other countries, including Australia and India, to begin restricting or banning the use of WeChat. The US must take aggressive action against the owner of WeChat to protect our national security," he added.

Earlier, Trump had issued an order banning TikTok as it "reportedly censors content that the CCP deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China's treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. 

TikTok may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the CCP."
US politicians have repeatedly criticised TikTok, owned by Beijing-based startup ByteDance, of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China.

The development comes as China and the US are at loggerheads on a variety of issues including Hong Kong national security law, the South China Sea, the novel coronavirus and trade.

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News Network
February 19,2020

New Delhi, Feb 19: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, their first meeting after the assembly polls in the national capital.

The meeting went on for over 20 minutes at Shah's residence. The meeting was earlier scheduled at the Home Ministry.

"Met Hon'ble Home Minister Sh Amit Shah ji. Had a very good and fruitful meeting. Discussed several issues related to Delhi. Both of us agreed that we will work together for development of Delhi," Kejriwal tweeted.

Shah had led the BJP offensive against Kejriwal in the Delhi Assembly polls in which AAP trounced the saffron party, bagging 62 of the 70 seats.

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