US TO PAK: ELIMINATE TERROR NETWORKS WITHOUT DISTINCTION

 The US has conveyed “specific and concrete” steps to Pakistan that it could take to eliminate terror networks on its soil without any distinction, a Pentagon official said on Tuesday. The remarks came as the US in recent days stepped up efforts to put pressure on Pakistan to do more to combat terrorism. The Trump administration last week suspended nearly $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan for its failure to take decisive action against terror groups like Taliban and Haqqani Network.

“Our expectations are straight forward: Taliban and Haqqani leadership and attack planners should no longer be able to find safe haven or conduct operations from Pakistani soil,” Pentagon Press Secretary

Army Col Rob Manning told reporters during an off-camera news conference. He said the US had conveyed “specific and concrete steps” to Pakistan that it could take to eliminate terror networks on its soil. “We stand ready to work together with Pakistan to combat terrorist groups without distinction,” Manning said.

He reiterated the amount — $900 million in Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan — has been suspended, not cancelled or reprogrammed.                

(THE PIONEER)

MUELLER MAY QUIZ TRUMP ON RUSSIA PROBE

Special Counsel Conveyed Interest To Prez Lawyers Last Month

Matt Apuzzo & Michael S Schmidt

Washington: The special counsel, Robert S Mueller III, told President Trump’s lawyers last month that he will probably seek to interview the president, setting off discussions among Trump’s lawyers about the perils of such a move, two people familiar with the discussion said on Monday.

No formal request has been made and no date has been set. White House officials viewed the discussion as a sign that Mueller’s investigation of Trump could be nearing the end. But even if that is so, allowing prosecutors to interview a sitting president who has a history of hyperbolic or baseless assertions carries legal risk for him. Mueller has already brought charges against four of Trump’s former aides. All face accusations of lying to the authorities.

Trump’s lawyers have long expected that Mueller would eventually ask to speak with the president. Ty Cobb, the senior White House lawyer on the case, has for months pledged full cooperation, saying Trump has nothing to hide in an investigation into whether his campaign worked with Russian operatives to try to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s lawyers are expected to try to set ground rules for any interview or provide answers to written questions. If Trump were to refuse outright to cooperate, Mueller could respond with a grand jury subpoena. The White House had no comment on the discussions about a possible interview, which were first reported by NBC News.

One person familiar with the discussions said Mueller appeared most interested in asking questions about the former national security adviser, Michael T Flynn, and the firing of the FBI director, James B Comey — not the broader question of possible collusion with Russia. Those topics signal an interest in whether Trump tried to obstruct justice. The person spoke on condition of anonymity.

The obstruction investigation focuses on whether Trump broke the law by asking Comey to end the investigation into Flynn and whether he fired Comey to try to hinder the FBI investigation into Russia-related matters. Shortly after dismissing Comey in May, the president told Russian diplomats in an Oval Office meeting that doing so had relieved “great pressure” on him.

Trump has sat for depositions before and shown discipline when under oath. His testimony in civil cases reveals a canny ability to avoid being cornered and a frank acknowledgment that he uses “truthful hyperbole” or “innocent exaggeration.” But he has never faced questioning from someone like Mueller, a veteran prosecutor and former FBI director. And the stakes have never been higher. President Bill Clinton was impeached on a perjury charge over his grand jury testimony about his relationship with a White House intern.

Solomon L Wisenberg, one of the lawyers who questioned Clinton, said Mueller would probably wait until his inquiry was nearly complete to question the president. Wisenberg said that while Trump often makes statements to the public that are inflammatory or untrue, the president has shown he can be disciplined, as he has curtailed his criticisms of Mueller in recent months. NYT NEWS SERVICE

(TOI)

2 YOUTHS OFFER JOYRIDE, RAPE MINOR GIRL

A minor girl was allegedly gangraped by two youths who offered her a joyride outside the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib on the night of January 5.

Confirming the gang-rape, BK Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) said, “The complainant was walking along the footpath of the Baba Kharak Singh marg at around 9 pm when the accused, Paramdeep Singh along with his cousin, started following her.

One of the accused, Paramdeep introduced himself and offered her a ride in his White Swift Dzire car, which was parked in the parking lot of the Bangla Saheb Gurudwara.”

(THE PIONEER)

NDMC CRACKDOWN ON 16 KHAN MARKET OUTLETS

Civic Body Partially Seals Eateries, Shops; Drive Over For Now

New Delhi: The sealing drive at Khan Market continued on Tuesday with an inspection team of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) taking action against 16 more commercial establishments. On Monday, NDMC partially sealed eight establishments.

Following the directives of amonitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court, the drive was launched against shops and restaurants located on the first floor or above. According to NDMC officials, the establishments partially sealed on Tuesday included lounges and restaurants such as Chatter House, Civil House, Mamagoto, The Blue Door Cafe, Parallel Craft Kitchen, La Bodega and The Beer Cafe; high-end designer shops such as Anita Dongre and Raghavendra Rathore; and retail shops Fabindia and Sham Di Hatti.

After the sealing action, Civil House, a popular restaurant, had shut for the day. “We have been directed to remove some sections by NDMC officials. The shed for the water filter will be removed. We have closed down for the day due to hygiene issues,” said an employee on the condition of anonymity. La Bodega has been directed to remove metal beams while portions of other establishments were sealed for misuse of terrace area.

Officials carried out doorto-door inspection to check violations for illegal use of space and unauthorised construction. The drive, which started at 10.30am, concluded around 6.30pm. Officials said that until further orders, there won’t be any more sealing drive at Khan Market.

“As per the norms, no commercial activity is allowed on terrace and following the committee’s order, we have taken action against all those violating the norms openly,” said a senior NDMC official.

As people stayed away from the usually busy market, many traders complained about losses. Many also shut the shop early fearing action.

However, Anshu Tandon, president of restaurants’ association of Khan Market, said, “We have no complaint against NDMC for Tuesday’s drive. On Monday, many establishments were sealed wrongly. If any owner is using a space that is not permitted by law, it will be sealed. But the confusion is still there as the order of the monitoring committee and that of NDMC are contradictory.” A delegation of restaurant owners met officials from the Union urban development ministry on Tuesday, added Tandon.

Sanjiv Mehra, president of Khan Market traders’ association, said, “We tried to meet the NDMC chairman as well but he was not available. We will approach him again.”

(TOI)

JEFF BEZOS IS NOW WORTH MORE THAN BILL GATES EVER WAS

Jeff Bezos’s net worth reached $105.1 billion on Monday on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as Amazon.com Inc shares added to a 12-month surge that’s lifted the online shopping giant’s market value by almost 57%.

Amazon shares have risen 6.6% this year, with a report showing the Seattlebased company captured 89% of online spending among dominant holiday retailers in the fiveweek period beginning the day after Thanksgiving in the US.

The latest jump has pushed Bezos’s fortune definitively above the high reached by Microsoft Corp’s Bill Gates in 1999. The Amazon founder passed Gates in October with a net worth of $93.8 billion and his fortune crossed $100 billion for the first time a month later when the holiday shopping season kicked off on Black Friday.

Gates, 62, would have a net worth of more than $150 billion if he’d held onto assets that he’s given away, largely to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has given away almost 700 million Microsoft shares and $2.9 billion of cash and other assets since 1996, according to an analysis of his publicly disclosed giving.

Bezos also controls closely held space exploration business Blue Origin and the Washington Post.

BLOOMBERG

(TOI)

MIDDLECLASS CAN EXPECT TAX RELIEF IN UPCOMING BUDGET

Middle class can hope for a big relief in 2018-19 Budget, which will also be the last regular Budget of the NDA government, as the Finance Ministry is contemplating to hike personal tax exemption limit and tweak the tax slabs, according to sources.

The proposals before the ministry is to hike the tax exemption limit from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to at least Rs 3 lakh if not 5 lakh, they said.

Besides, the tinkering of tax slab is also being actively considered by the ministry to give substantial relief to middle-income group, especially the salaried class, to help them tide over the impact of retail inflation, which has started inching up.

In the last Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley left the slabs unchanged but gave marginal relief to small tax payer by reducing the rate from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for individuals having annual income between Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 lakh.

In the next Budget to be unveiled on February 1, the Government could lower tax rate by 10 per cent on income between 5-10 lakh, levy 20 per cent rate for income between Rs 10-20 lakh and 30 per cent for income beyond Rs 20 lakh.

At present, there is no tax slab for income between Rs 10-20 lakh.

“Considering the steep rise in cost of living due to inflation, it is suggested that basic limit for exemption and other income slabs should be enhanced to give benefit to low income group. The income trigger for peak rate in other countries is significantly higher,” industry chamber CII said in its pre-Budget memorandum to the Finance Ministry.

Although the industry chambers want the government to reduce peak tax slab to 25 per cent, it is unlikely that the ministry will agree to that due to pressure on fiscal deficit.

The subdued indirect tax collection following roll out of Goods and Services Tax from July 1 last year has put pressure on the fiscal deficit, which has been pegged at 3.2 per cent of the GDP for 2017-18.

The Government recently raised borrowing target by additional Rs 50,000 crore for the current fiscal to meet the shortfall.

According to industry body FICCI, there is a likelihood that demonetisation effects may linger on for some more months and hence there is a need to further boost demand and therefore, the government should consider revision of income tax slabs, by raising the income level on which peak tax rate would trigger.

“This would improve purchasing power and create additional demand. For individual taxpayers, 30 per cent tax rate should be applicable only if the income is above Rs 20 lakh. Additionally, interest rates should be lowered to enable affordable finance for conducting business operation and expansion,” it said.

Among other things, chambers have suggested re- introduction of the standard deduction for salaried employees to at least Rs 1 lakh to ease the tax burden of them and keeping in mind the rate of inflation and purchasing power of the salaried individual, which is dependent on salary available for disbursement.

(THE PIONEER)

ALESHA DIXON WANTS TO MAKE MEAT ILLEGAL

Singer Alesha Dixon would make it illegal to eat meat and would shut down slaughter houses if she ran the country. “I’d make smoking illegal and I’d ban the slaughter of animals for food or anything. So I’d close down every factory responsible for either and make it illegal to smoke or eat meat. Everyone would be fine, trust me,” a US website quoted Dixon as saying.

The 39-year-old singer gave up meat six years ago because she loves animals. But she has struggled to go vegan because she still really enjoys dairy products. “I listen to what my body wants. I gave up meat for many reasons, but mainly because of my love for animals. My mum is vegan and I think she has had a big influence on me over the years. I guess she finally cracked me. I’ve made other changes, too,” she added. The singer says she does not drink cow milk anymore and has almond milk instead.

(TOI)