India strikes back as Army conducts surgical strikes across LoC in Pakistan

Significant casualties inflicted on terrorists; Pakistani DGMO informed of strikes post operation

The Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday night on launchpads where terrorists had amassed and positioned themselves to infiltrate into India, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh informed the gathered members of the press at the joint briefing following the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting held on Thursday.

According to Times Now, a total of eight surgical strikes were conducted by the Indian Army. There were no Indian casualties during the operation.

Singh said that the strikes were based on credible information and that the terrorists were poised to conduct attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and other major metros in the country. Singh revealed that significant casualties were inflicted on the terrorists in the operation.

The DGMO added that he had contacted his Pakistani counterpart to inform him of the operation conducted by the Indian armed forces on Wednesday night.

"It has been a serious matter of concern that there has been continuing and increasing infiltrations by terrorists across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. This is reflected in the terrorist attacks at Poonch and Uri on September 11 and 18, respectively. Almost 20 infiltrations attempts have been foiled by the Indian Army successfully this year. During these attacks and infiltration attempts, we have recovered items, including global positioning systems and stores which have had Pakistani markings," the DGMO added.Read more.

Also About:

• India strikes across LoC; What are Pakistan's options?
• Indian Army's cross-LoC raid: Reading the fine print
• India's claim of surgical strikes 'fabrication of truth': Pakistan

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance lists below issue price

The stock is listed at Rs 330, 1.2% below its issue price of Rs 334 per share, on the National Stock Exchange

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has listed at Rs 330, 1.2% below its issue price of Rs 334 per share, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

At 10:01 am, the stock was trading at Rs 331.60, after hitting a high of Rs 333.80 post its listing.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has raised Rs 6,057-crore through initial public offer (IPO), become the first insurer to list.

The company's public issue was oversubscribed 10.5 times. The quota set aside for qualified institutional buyers was subscribed 11.83 times while for the non-institutional investor category, it was 28.55 times. The retail portion was oversubscribed 1.42 times, the exchange data shows.

The insurer is a venture between banking major ICICI Bank and UK's Prudential Corporation Holdings. Singapore's Temasek and PremjiInvest are also the shareholders.

At the end of financial year 2016 (FY16), ICICI Prudential was the biggest private sector insurer in the Country having a market share of 11.3%. The company has 521 offices with around 10,663 employees and 121,016 advisors all over India as of FY16. ICICI Prudential Life’s total premium and net profit has risen at a CAGR of 8% and 5% in the past four years, respectively.

Article Source: Business Standard

Reliance Jio call drops due to its under-preparedness: Airtel

Reliance Jio call drops due to its under-preparedness: Airtel

Airtel on Tuesday blamed Reliance Jio itself for network connectivity issues and call failures, saying they are due to Jio's own "under-preparedness", insufficient testing efforts and acquiring a large number of customers at the pre-launch stage itself.

In a letter to Reliance Jio, Airtel said: "While RJIO has continued to allege huge call failure on account of insufficient number of PoIs (points of interconnect), however, we believe that the prime reason for such callfailures was on account of acquisition of a large number of subscribers by RJIO even before the declaration of the commercial launch."

The letter, sent on Monday, goes on to say that augmentation of POIs based on actual traffic, necessitates a reciprocal action from the other party also.

"It is important to note, that despite our best efforts, the POIs are still in the process of augmentation due to issues at your end," Airtel said.

Airtel said that despite the prompt and colossal effort on its part, as on date, only 2,484 E1s (interconnect ports) are live out of a total capacity of 3,048 provided, primarily due to various reasons for delay "attributable solely to RJIO's under-preparedness and insufficient testing teams and efforts".

It added: "Even these capacities could be augmented with great persuasion by Airtel teams. During the augmentation exercise, your circles had cited issues with regard to Acceptance Testing, transmission media related concerns and hence the augmentation process took much longer and even till date the complete POI's have not been augmented due to unpreparedness of your teams." Read more

Indian-origin lawyer shoots 9 in US, killed by police

Indian-origin lawyer shoots 9 in US, killed by police

An Indian-origin lawyer with apparent Nazi sympathies went on an early morning rampage in US' Houston city shooting nine people on Monday before he was killed by police, according to authorities.

Nathan Desai was wearing military-style clothing with Nazi symbols during the 20-minute shooting spree when he fired at passing cars.

Police said that they did not know why Desai went on the rampage hitting people at random.

Desai's name was written with the 's' capitalised in media reports in Houston, making it sound European, but his father was identified as Prakash Desai.

All of his victims survived but one person was critically wounded and five others were hospitalised, Houston's Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said.

She described the shooter as a lawyer who was having problems at his law firm. When police responded to the shooting, he shot at them and was killed when policereturned fire, Montalvo said.

The shooter's father, 80-year-old Prakash Desai told KPRC TV that his son was "worried" because his law practice was not doing so well.Read full article

US presidential debate: Poll says 62% viewers think Clinton won, only 27% say Trump did better

US presidential debate: Poll says 62% viewers think Clinton won, only 27% say Trump did better

Democrat Hillary Clinton is held to have won the first presidential debate held on Tuesday against her Republican rival Donald Trump, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

According to the poll of debate watchers, 62 per cent of voters who watched the debate thought Clinton won, while only 27 per cent said that Trump came out on top.

Clinton and Trump took to the stage on Tuesday to begin their first-ever presidential debate and immediately sparred over jobs, taxes, the Islamic State (IS), guns and the former secretary of state's undisclosed emails, media reports said.

Here is what both candidates had to say on various issues:
On prosperity, taxes and jobs

Moderator Leslie Holt of NBC News opened the 90-minute debate at Hofstra University, Long Island, New York, with the first topic being "Achieving Prosperity", where the first question about putting money back into Americans' pockets and creating jobs was directed to Clinton,CNN reported.

Clinton, the first woman to represent a major US party in the presidential race, mentioned her granddaughter's birthday, and talked about everything from gender pay gaps, to paid family leave, to presidential temperament.

She started her speech by defending the idea of creating "an economy for all" and stressed that she intends to do so "by having the wealthy pay their fair share", EFE news reported.

"I also want to see more companies do profit sharing. If you help create the profits, you should be able to share in them, not just the executives at the top," she said, and stressed that "the central question in this election is really what kind of country we want to be in".Read full Article

PM tells BJP cadres how they should view Muslims

PM tells BJP cadres how they should view Muslims

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday gave a definite pro-poverty shift to his government’s policies and programmes for the next one year, even as he finally addressed the elephant in the room — how his party views or should view India’s largest minority, the Muslims.

In the concluding day address of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s National Council meeting, the PM announced that his government would ratify the climate change agreement on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. “The reason why I have chosen Gandhiji’s birth anniversary is because he led his life with the minimumest of carbon footprint,” Modi said.

The rest of his speech was devoted to the memory of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the earlier avatar of the BJP. Modi launched the birth centenary celebrations of Upadhyaya, who was elected the Jana Sangh president in this city in December 1967. The city was then known as Calicut. But he died under mysterious circumstances 41 days later.

Invoking Upadhyaya’s call for serving the poorest, Modi said the government at the Centre and in the states would mark the next one year as Garib Kalyan Varsh, the year for the welfare of the downtrodden.Read more

Markets remain subdued on profit taking; L&T Technology Services lists at Rs 920

Markets remain subdued on profit taking; L&T Technology Services lists at Rs 920

Markets are trading in a subdued note tracking mixed global cues on account of booking profits after the recent run-up.

At 9:30 am, the S&P BSE Sensex slipped 48 points at 28,725 and the Nifty50 dipped 9 points to trade at 8,858. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcapindices are up 0.3%-0.5%.

“Subdued trading is expected early in the day inside the 8890-8860 region. Breakout beyond the same is expected, but a directional move is less likely. Downsides look limited, but upsides in the near term look more limited, suggesting that bearishness should dominate,” adds Geojit BNP Paribas in a technical note.

ALSO READ: Stock picks from Motilal Oswal Securities; buy HDFC, Aurobindo Pharma

On Thursday, Indian equities surged mirroring strong global markets after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates at a near-record low, but hinted a hike could come in December.

On the macro-economic front, the government, on Thursday, appointed three academics to the panel. The RBI has already appointed its members to the panel.

The government nominees are Chetan Ghate, professor, Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, director, Delhi School of Economics; and Ravindra H Dholakia, professor, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Read More

NASA denies it is changing Zodiacal signs

NASA denies it is changing Zodiacal signs

Refuting claims that it is updating the astrological signs, NASA has said that it did not do it as the space agency studies astronomy not astrology.

"We did not change any Zodiac signs, we just did the math. The Space Place (an educational page for kids run by NASA) article was about how astrology is not astronomy, how it was a relic of ancient history and pointed out the science and math that did come from observations of the night sky," NASA spokesperson Dwayne Brown told Gizmodo.

Last week a news spread that 86 per cent of the people now have a different star sign as NASAhad decided to update the astrological signs for the first time in 2,000 years.

In NASA's educational page for children called Space Place, the agency discussed how, some 3,000 years ago, the ancient Babylonians were keen sky-watchers and thought that the changing positions of constellations throughout the year could be linked to certain behaviours or events on Earth.

As a result of this, those sky-watchers invented the zodiac.

"So, as Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac. Since the Babylonians already had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the Moon), each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself," Science Alert reported on Monday citing the article in Space Place.

But seeing as this happened 3,000 years ago, things were a bit arbitrary, and for whatever reason, the Babylonians left a constellation out of their zodiac -- Ophiuchus, the report said.(more)

Uri attack: Military reviews 'escalation ladder'

Uri attack: Military reviews 'escalation ladder'

The strike by jihadi militants on Sunday on an army camp near Uri, in which 18 soldiers were killed and 29 injured, has inflamed tensions along the Line of Control (LoC). On Tuesday, the army shot down eight Pakistani militants after intercepting a 15-strong group that was discovered infiltrating from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).

With public opinion and the media aroused, and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowing to punish those responsible; and the army's top operations officer declaring the military would retaliate at a time and place of its choosing, both sides of the LoC are bracing for what might come.

New Delhi has pinned the attack on the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a militia controlled by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a wing of the Pakistani Army. Home Minister Rajnath Singhhas declared Pakistan a "terrorist state" and the Indian Army, already grappling with public turmoil in the Kashmir Valley, is evaluating options to extract revenge for Uri.

Pakistan presents an easy target for an Indian diplomatic offensive against its terror-friendly ways, in western capitals and multilateral forums. However, a calibrated military riposte would need more careful consideration.(more)

Also Read: Army's 2016 death toll highest in six years; 31 terrorists killed

Uri attack: 4 stories that highlight the human cost of terror

Uri attack: 4 stories that highlight the human cost of terror

Sepoy KV Janardhan on Monday succumbed to injuries sustained during Sunday morning's attack on an Indian Army camp near the border town of Uri in Jammu & Kashmir by suspected Pakistan-based terrorists, taking the number of martyrs to 18.

The attack has left the nation reeling, and the kin of the martyrs have called upon the government to avenge the loss of the 18 soldiers.

Across the country, families spread across states, from Maharashtra to Bihar, are just beginning to deal with the personal cost imposed by terrorism in the region.

The human cost

Uri Attack :Janardhan, who joined the army in 2008, had got married just two years ago, reports the Indian Express. The report adds that he is survived by his 23-year-old wife, Sneha, a four-month-old daughter, his parents and a younger brother.

According to the report, Janardhan, who hailed from the Yavatmal district in Maharashtra, had been transferred to the Uri Camp just six months ago.

Lance Naik Rajesh Kumar Yadav's family lives in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. Rajesh was among the original 17 martyrs who gave their lives for the country in the pre-dawn Sunday attack.

The national daily reports that people from Rajesh's village and his family members took measures to ensure that the news of his demise did not reach Parvati Devi, his eight months pregnant wife, and his ailing mother, who suffers from a heart condition.

Rajesh's youngest brother, Vikesh Yadav, told the daily that despite all their attempts, some journalists were able to contact Parvati and tell her the grim news.

Rajesh, who had served in the army for 18 years and had just returned to duty from a two-month visit home, is survived by his wife, mother, three brothers, eight-year-old daughter Radhika, and two-year-old daughter Preeti, the report added.Read more

• Ashraf Ghani calls up PM Modi, condemns Uri attack


• NIA takes over Uri terror attack case


• Ready to suspend trade with Pakistan if asked: Tea association


• Relations will Pakistan will never be same: Ravi Shankar Prasad post Uri attack


• India needs retribution, says Kashmiri activist on Uri attack

ACB officials question DCW chief Swati Maliwal

ACB officials question DCW chief Swati Maliwal

A team of Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) officials on Moday, questioned DCW chief Swati Maliwal in connection with a complaint of illegal recruitments in the women's panel.

A team comprising five ACB officers reached the office of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) at 11 am to question Maliwal, a senior ACB officer said, adding the questioning is still going on.

The ACB had sent a notice last week to Maliwal informing her that she would be questioned on September 19.

The probe has been taken up by the ACB on a complaint by former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh. In her complaint, Singh had claimed that several AAP supporters were given plum posts in the women's panel.

Singh, in her complaint, listed names of 85 people who, she claimed, got jobs "without requisite credentials".

Earlier, Maliwal had rubbished the allegations, saying the staff is needed in her office considering the number of cases the women's panel handles.

"During her tenure of nine years in DCW, Barkha Shukla Singh handled only one case. During this period, the commission made no recommendation to the government and conducted only six visits despite having a staff of about 50 officers," Maliwal had said.

Also Read: ACB registers case against DCW chief Swati Maliwal

How India is isolating Pakistan within Saarc

How India is isolating Pakistan within Saarc

The terrorist attack at an army administrative base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, which killed 17 soldiers, has reduced the political space for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to travel to Islamabad in November to attend the Saarc Summit. But, in recent months, New Delhi has shown uncharacteristic efficiency to reach out to Saarc members, other than Pakistan.

As part of the Modi government’s “neighbourhood first” policy, India has hosted or will be hosting the heads of states or governments of the six South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) members.

Alongside its Saarc outreach, the PM has raised the issue of terror havens in Pakistan and its export of terror at international platforms, most recently at the G20 Summit in China and the East Asia Summit in Laos. The Indian side, led by Vice-President M Hamid Ansari, raised Pakistan’s complicity in protecting outfits at the ongoing Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Venezuela.

While the PM will skip this year’s United Nations General Assembly, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is set to raise the involvement of terror outfits based in Pakistan in carrying out attacks on Indian soil — Pathankot last year and Uri now. She is also likely to tell the world how Pakistani government bombs its own people in Balochistan.(more)

Also Read: 17 soldiers killed, 23 injured in cross-LoC strike on Uri camp.

Priyanka Chopra among world's highest paid TV actresses

Priyanka Chopra among world's highest paid TV actresses

Priyanka Chopra has become the first Indian star to enter the Forbes list of highest paid television actresses in the world, after starring on American series "Quantico".

Priyanka ranks eighth in the coveted list, which has retained American actress Sofia Vergara at the first position fifth year in a row.

The 44-year-old Colombian-American actress brought home a whooping $43 million before management fees and taxes, but not all came from her hit TV show "Modern Family".

Vergara has an impressive array of endorsement deals as well as her line of products.

Priyanka, meanwhile, has earned $11 million. She made her international acting debut last year with ABC's "Quantico" and now is gearing up for its second season.

Back home, the 34-year-old actress has starred in two Bollywood films in the past one year -- "Bajirao Mastani" and "Jai Gangaajal"-- and will make her Hollywood film debut with "Baywatch" alongside Hollywood heavy-hitters including Dwayne Johnson, the world's highest-paid actor.(more)

Why the Indian market's an Apple-polisher

Why the Indian market's an Apple-polisher

Apple has slashed rates of the higher end version of its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus by Rs 22,000 in India, as it prepares to begin sales of its latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus from October 7. The move is aimed at tapping aspirational buyers, who might not want to cough up the full price for the newer model and increase market share.

“The price drop won’t move the needle much,” said Neil Shah, director at Counterpoint Research. “However, with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle, it gives Apple a window of opportunity to attract premium Samsung customers, with attractive offers on the iPhone 6s and 7. This could bump up Apple’s share in the premium smartphone market to above 60 per cent from 47 per cent currently.”

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is facing a global recall due to faulty batteries that is a potential fire hazard.

Prices of the 128GB variants of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were dropped from Rs 82,000 and Rs 92,000 to Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000, respectively. Appleusually drops the rates of older generation devices in order to appeal to buyers, who might not want to splurge on the latest devices.

The 16GB and 64GB variants of last year’s iPhone models have been discontinued, and the company has introduced a 32GB variant of both devices. The new base variant of the iPhone 6swill cost Rs 50,000, while that of the 6s Plus will cost Rs 60,000. It isn’t clear if Apple will continue to sell the older iPhone 6 variants in India.Read more.

PM to lay foundation stone in October for Mumbai's two elevated railway corridors costing Rs 34,000 cr

PM to lay foundation stone in October for Mumbai's two elevated railway corridors costing Rs 34,000 cr

The foundation stone of two new commuter rail corridors, Churchgate to Virar and CST to Panvel, will be unveiled next month by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The former is a Rs 23,000-crore project. The latter is a Rs 11,000-crore one.

These two projects are part of the state government's ambitious plan of a little over Rs 1 lakh crore to strengthen Mumbai's transportation infrastructure.

Union railways minister Suresh Prabhu last week reviewed the status of the pre-project development exercise. He and state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had recently said investors from abroad have evinced interest in providing long-term low interest loans for these two corridors.

The 48.3-km one between CST and Panvel, along the existing central line, will be elevated for 31.6 km and run parallel to the existing lines for 12.4 km on the surface. Churchgate-Virar entails 63.3 km along the existing western line, approximately 42 km of elevated stretch, eight km underground and 12 km on grade.

A state government official confirmed that efforts are on to kickstart the project development by laying foundation stone in October. Both projects are expected to be completed in five years and will be implemented by a joint venture of the railways and the state government, through a Special Purpose Vehicle.(more)

Donald Trump's paid maternity leave plan gets Hillary Clinton rejoinder

Donald Trump's paid maternity leave plan gets Hillary Clinton rejoinder

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has introduced an unorthodox childcare plan, becoming a rare Republican calling for paid maternity leave.

Introduced on Tuesday by his daughter Ivanka, who asserted that childcare issues were at the "root of wage inequality by disproportionately affecting women", Trump tried to soften his image at an event held in Pennsylvania, a former stronghold for moderate Republicans that has trended Democratic in recent years, the Guardianreported.

Trump also asserted that "my opponent has no childcare plan". Clinton has in fact made a number of detailed proposals on childcare.

Clinton in June last year first outlined a programme for universal pre-kindergarten and in May this year proposed to cap childcare costs at ten per cent of household income and to introduce 12 weeks of paid family leave.

Maya Harris, a senior policy adviser to Clinton, described Trump's plan as "half-baked and completely out of touch".

Trump's proposal came as he faces a major deficit among college-educated white women in polls.

According to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has a 50-40 lead over her Republican rival in a demographic that Mitt Romney won by six points in 2012 despite his decisive loss that year.

Trump called for making a childcare tax deductible, up to the average cost in a given family's state, until the age of 13, as well as an expanded rebate of up to $1,200 for those families that do not pay income tax and receive earned income tax credit (EITC).Read more