Top stories on 21 June in a capsule
Sniper, Commandos to arrive in Kashmir before Amaranth Yatra: Reports
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Kamal Hassan meets Sonia Gandhi, squashes possibility of alliance
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Israel President’s wife in legal trouble over extravagant food orders
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Lionel Messi, owner of PVR Cinemas feature in fresh Panama Papers
In yet another explosive news report on foreign shell companies owned by the global personalities and celebrities, titled Panama Papers 2.0 released on Thursday revealed by the English newspaper, The Indian Express. The fresh leak showed 1.2 million new documents, out of which 12,000 belonged to Indians. The highlight of the report, however, remained that after the release of the first Panama Papers two years back, Mossack Fonseca, the law firm accused of providing offshore financial services to the celebrities, failed to identify 75% of its users. The report this year featured footballer Lionel Messi, founder and CEO of Hike Messenger Kavin Bharti Mittal, Ajay Bijli and his family, owner of PVR cinemas, among others.
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In an update to the Lucknow interfaith couple facing humiliation in the passport office, the officer-in-charge who was transferred in wake of the controversy, defended his action saying he did it for ‘national security.’ Regional passport officer Vikas Mishra on Thursday was accused of humiliating the couple Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth while applying for the passport, by asking Siddiqui to get married according to ‘Hindu customs’ and shouting at Seth to change her name. In an exclusive report by News18, Mishra said he asked Seth to use her name as mentioned in the Islamic marriage certificate as fake documents of such nature can be a danger to national security. Action against Mishra was taken after the couple reported the incident on microblogging site Twitter to Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. As of now, Mishra has been transferred to Gorakhpur while the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has sought a report on the incident.
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Lucknow passport officer transferred for humiliating couple, says he did it for 'national security'
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15 people of a family killed in major road accident in MP's Morena
In a tragic incident in Madhya Pradesh, 15 people of a family were killed in a road accident in Morena district while on their way to attend a relative’s funeral. The incident occurred at 5:30 in the morning when the jeep carrying the deceased rammed into a trolley. While 12 people died on the spot, 3 succumbed to their injuries, and five others are still in critical condition, as per reports by The Quint. The driver of the trolley, who is currently on the run was allegedly carrying sand mined illegally, a report by Times Now said while adding that a case had been registered against him.
Trump signs order to keep immigrant families together
President Donald Trump on Thursday reversed his decision and signed an executive order to keep immigrant parents and their children together. Just the day before, Trump had claimed his administration's hands were tied without congressional action. Trump's abrupt reversal in a volatile immigration crisis resulted from pressure by close family members, friends and lawmakers who urged him to climb down from a deeply unpopular hardline policy. Trump declared it is his administration's policy to "maintain family unity," including by detaining entire families together "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources”. The order directs other agencies, including the Pentagon, to take steps to find places to house family units.
New Zealand PM becomes 2nd leader to give birth while in office
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to her first child on Thursday becoming 2nd world leader to do so while in office. Ardern is one of the few elected leaders to hold office during pregnancy. Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto gave birth while she was prime minister in 1990. Ardern, 37, became New Zealand's youngest prime minister when she took office through a coalition deal last year after an inconclusive election, and now becomes the first woman in the country's history to give birth while in office. New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has stepped in as acting prime minister and will run the country for the next six weeks while Ardern takes maternity leave, according to an agreement they published earlier.
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India hikes custom duty on 30 US products
India on Thursday notified that its retaliatory tariff against 30 US products worth $240 million will come into effect starting August 4. This move is taken by India to counter Trump administration’s move to unilaterally hike duties on Indian steel and aluminium exports. In tariff rates issued late on Wednesday, India's commerce ministry named some varieties of apples, almonds, chickpeas, lentils and walnuts that would carry higher import taxes. Most of these are purchased from the United States. Trump’s move that has sparked fears of a global trade war when he hiked rates on March 9 this year. India had also dragged the US to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on steel and aluminium.
