Iran's New President Ebrahim Raisi named the chairman of a powerful state-owned foundation sanctioned by the United States as his first vice-president. Mohammad Mokhber has for years headed the foundation known as Setad or the Execution of Imam Khomeini's order.
Mokhber was appointed to the position by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2007. The Setad was originally founded in the late 1980s to manage confiscated properties following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hong Kong to Adopt China's Anti-sanctions Law
China's anti-sanctions law will be implemented in some form in Hong Kong, the city's leader confirmed, a move that will add fresh regulatory pressure on international companies in the finance hub.
Beijing's rubber-stamp legislature passed the law in June in response to Western penalties that were imposed following crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Its powers include denying visas, deportation, or seizing assets of those who formulate or comply with sanctions against Chinese businesses or officials.
Foreign companies can be sued in Chinese courts for applying sanctions and the law can also be wielded against family members.
China Recalls Lithuania Ambassador in Row over Taiwan Office
China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and expelled the Baltic nation's top representative to Beijing over the country's decision to allow self-governing Taiwan to open an office in Lithuania under its own name.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory without the right to diplomatic recognition, although the island maintains informal ties with all major nations through trade offices that act as de facto embassies, including in the United States and Japan. Chinese pressure has reduced Taiwan's formal diplomatic allies to just 15.
Taiwan and Lithuania agreed last month that the office in the capital Vilnius — set to open this fall — will bear the name Taiwan rather than "Chinese Taipei," the term used in other countries in order not to offend Beijing.
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched 'Digital Prayaas', an App based end to end digital lending platform, whereby loan sanction will be accorded to aspiring entrepreneurs from the bottom of the pyramid by the end of the day.
Further, to cater to the aspiring youth in urban areas, SIDBI tied up with a major aggregator -- BigBasket -- to on board its delivery partners across the country and provide loans at an affordable interest rate for purchase of environment friendly e-Bikes and e-Vans.
L&T to Sell Singoli-Bhatwari Hydroelectric Project to Renew Power
Larsen & Toubro announced divestment of 100 per cent stake in 99 megawatt run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant owned by its subsidiary L & T Uttaranchal Hydropower Ltd (LTUHPL) to Renew Power Services Pvt Ltd.
This is in line with the declared L & T focus of divesting non-core assets and improving shareholder value. The transaction is subject to completion of customary closing conditions and closing is expected to take place before September 30.
The sale consideration is Rs. 985 crore.
RBL Bank Gets Accredited as an Agency Bank to RBI
RBL Bank said that it has been accredited by the RBI to be an agency bank to carry on banking transactions of the central and state governments.
This authorisation will enable RBL Bank to handle a broad range of transactions related to government business.
It will be able to carry on the business of distributing subsidies, pension payments, collecting central and state taxes, including income tax, excise duties, customs, GST, stamp duty, registration, state Excise (VAT) and professional tax. These businesses can be conducted in both online and offline modes.
The accreditation comes on the heels of the RBI's guideline authorising scheduled private sector banks as agency banks to carry out specific government-related business transactions.
ISRO Fails to Put GISAT-1 EOS-03 Satellite into Orbit
The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) mission to launch Geo Imaging Satellite (Gisat-1) earth observation satellite, EOS-03 into orbit was declared 'unsuccessful'.
ISRO declared that the 'mission failed' as they were not receiving details from cryogenic engine. The launch was scheduled for 12-8-2021 and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10 (GSLV-F10) rocket was being launched to place the EOS in a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO).
This was the space agency's third attempt at launching the satellite into space. It was first scheduled for March 5, 2020. ISRO wanted to launch it again earlier this year (2021), but it did not take place due to a voltage issue.
Lionel Messi is set to sign for Paris Saint-Germain.
The Argentina star has agreed a two-year deal with the option for a further season.
Messi is set to earn around 35 million euros (41 million USD) net annually.
Funded for a decade by Qatari sovereign wealth, PSG is one of the few clubs in the world that could finance the signing that links Messi up with Brazil forward Neymar and France World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe.
Gearing up for the Assembly polls next year, the Congress constituted the election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union Ministers Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Shukla and R. P. N. Singh.
Apart from 38 members named in the panel, national president/chairperson of AICC organisations/departments from Uttar Pradesh, state heads of frontal organisations, vice-presidents and general secretaries of the UPCC will be its ex-officio members.
Indore Becomes India's First 'Water Plus' City
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Indore, which is the country's cleanest city, has now been declared as the first 'water plus' city of India under the Swachh Survekshan 2021.
Swachh Survekshan, which was launch as a part of Swachh Bharat Mission, is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns in India.
Nagaland Opposition, Ruling PDA to Come Together for United Government
The opposition Naga People's Front (NPF), the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), and the BJP, a major ally of the government, have agreed in principle to form an oppositionless "Nagaland United Government" including two Independent MLAs. This follows NPF's July 20 proposal to the NDPP-led People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) to come together for the Naga peace process.
This was resolved in a meeting held at the residential office of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio with the representatives of all the political parties involved.
Nagaland has had an oppositionless government earlier in 2015 during the third tenure of the NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland when Congress MLAs joined the government and subsequently merged with the ruling NPF.
India Tests DRDO-developed Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile
India has successfully tested the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-developed Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile off the coast of Odisha's Balasore district.
As per report, the missile flew for around 150 km with an indigenous cruise engine.
Earlier, in July India had successfully test-fired indigenously developed New Generation Akash Missile (Akash-NG), a Surface to Air Missile defence system in Balasore. It was the second test firing of the 30 km strike-range air defence missile systems in two days.
August 12 of every year is celebrated as the International Youth Day to raise awareness about the cultural and legal issues surrounding the youth. The day was designated as International Youth Day by the United Nations in the year 1999 after the General Assembly endorsed the recommendation by the 'World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth.' Subsequently, it is being celebrated every year to highlight the importance of youth people as the driving force of change in the world.
The day is marked with a theme every year as per its relevance to the times. The theme for 2021 is "Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health." It was chosen by the United Nations after these issues were highlighted at ECOSOC Youth Forum (EYF) 2021.
CEC Inaugurates 11th Annual Meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for 2021
Chief Election Commissioner of India and current Chairman, FEMBoSA Sushil Chandra accompanied by Election Commissioners Rajeev Kumar and A.C. Pandey, inaugurated the 11th Annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2021. The meeting in Virtual mode was hosted by the Election Commission of Bhutan. Along with India, delegations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka participated in the day-long meeting.
Maharashtra Govt. Announces Award Named after Former PM Rajiv Gandhi for IT firms
Maharashtra government has announced a new award named after the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for outstanding performance in the Information and Technology (IT) sector. The Rajiv Gandhi Award in Maharashtra will be given to institutes doing remarkable work in the field of information technology.
The decision to start an award in the state after former PM Rajiv Gandhi was taken in a meeting chaired by Maharashtra Minister of State for Information Technology and Home Satej Patil.
Parliament Passes Bill for Privatisation of State-run General Insurers
A bill to allow privatisation of state-run general insurance companies received parliamentary assent after the Rajya Sabha passed it with a voice vote amid vociferous protest by opposition parties.
The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021, was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 2.
Delhi Govt. Signs MoU with IB Board for Delhi Board of School Education
Delhi Government signed an MoU with International Baccalaureate (IB) Board. IB will be associated with the upcoming Delhi Board of School Education.
The International Baccalaureate board is a private international education board with a foundation office located in Geneva. Around 5,000 schools globally are affiliated with the IB board. Currently, 193 schools in India are affiliated with the IB board, all of which are private schools.
Book 'Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI'
These are some of the claims in Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI, journalist couple Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark's latest book, published by Juggernaut, on the alleged secret dealings of Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies.
While the authors have pieced together the anecdotes in the book from talking to several high-profile serving and retired spies, their main sources are two lesser-known, mid-level ex-officers, one in the ISI and the other R&AW.
On Jadhav — who was arrested in Balochistan in 2016 on charges of being an Indian spy and who has been languishing in a Pakistan jail since then — the authors write that ISI used the network of Uzair Baloch, a Karachi-based "landlord, trader, thug, local hero, robber, and philanthropist" with "deep connections into Iranian Baluchistan", to spy in the Iranian port city of Chabahar.
The authors quote an unnamed colonel in the external intelligence wing of ISI as saying, "The ISI waited patiently, hoping to grow Jadhav into something special and then when he was big enough, as a target, ISI would pull him in".
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