good morning,
Billionaire Elon Musk’s importance cannot be denied as he flexes his muscles in American politics. Kasturi, however, is not done playing kingmaker. What is interesting is his growing affinity with the right wing who more or less share Donald Trump’s anti-immigration and populist stances. Last week, Musk took to his social media mouthpiece, X, to endorse an ‘extreme’ far-right political party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD). It comes just weeks before Germany goes to the polls with the fall of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government. Now, there are reports that Musk is set to donate to Reform UK, the British right-wing party founded by Nigel Farage with the treasurer of “political disruption like we’ve never seen before”.
With that, let’s move on to today’s edition.
big story
India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been facing repeated setbacks in its high-profile money laundering cases. the reason? The Supreme Court had last year ordered that the watchdog cannot rely solely on “criminal conspiracy” as a “presumptive offence” on the basis of which it registers cases. The offense must also fall within the scope of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) schedule.
For reference: A “presumptive offence” refers to the nature of the offense mentioned in the Primary First Information Report (FIR) registered by another agency, on the basis of which the ED builds its case.
Some of the cases where they relied on criminal conspiracy include those against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and another against a retired IAS officer who served under former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. Incidentally, both are senior Congress leaders.
Now ED has decided Change tack.
Only on express
Something is amiss in the quiet village of Assagao in Goa. Villagers found that 25 of the 45 houses in the vicinity had secretly changed hands. However, the sales deeds were forged with Portuguese-era calligraphy. In fact, there were dead men and women among the vendors. Forged works also found their way into government archives by government officials Under the scanner.
From the front page
Error 404: The opposition did Not taken kindly Regarding the Central Government’s decision to amend the Election Code of Conduct. The Congress called it “part of a planned conspiracy to destroy the institutional integrity of the Election Commission of India”. The change in the rules limits public inspection of election documents to only those documents specified in the provisions. This effectively means that any CCTV footage or electronic record of the electoral process will be excluded from public scrutiny.
Next level: India has important relations with Kuwait. Their bilateral trade was worth US$ 10.47 billion in 2023-24. In fact, the Indian community is the largest expatriate group in Kuwait. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi’s visit With the Gulf nations, ties were forged in a “strategic partnership” with agreements for cooperation in defense, sports, culture and more.
A must read
AZ of Indian Economy: How will India fulfill its developed India dream by 2047? Is the Indian economy growing sufficiently? What should the central budget focus on this time? Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan answers all these and more in detail Interview With Indian Express.
Disagree: Hyundai was among the eight automakers that failed to meet the country’s second iteration of fuel efficiency standards for 2022-23. Interestingly, Hyundai had asked for the implementation of these standards to be deferred for one financial year. Records received Through the Right to Information Act. However, two ministries rejected the request.
Hit the brakes: Yellow Ambassador taxis have become synonymous with Kolkata since they were first introduced in the 1960s. The city of happiness, however, is saying goodbye to its icon. Kolkata plans to phase out 80 percent of its fleet by March. For drivers of yellow cabs, this is one An uncertain future.
And finally…
PR Sreejesh, considered one of the best goalkeepers in hockey, has decided to hang up his boots on his international career. He is now working as the head coach of India’s junior team. In the latest version of Exchange of ideasSreejesh looks back on his journey, how he bonded with Goalpost, and what the future holds.
Before you go, tune in to today’s episode The ‘3 Things’ PodcastWhere we discuss the opposition to the Katra Ropeway project in Jammu. We also discuss the latest model of artificial intelligence by OpenAI.
until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta
Business as usual by EP Unny
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