BRISBANE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the reform process is bound to face resistance and wanted it to be insulated from political pressures.

Making a strong pitch for economic reforms, Modi told fellow G20 leaders at a retreat in Brisbane that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that methods of governance must be reformed.

The retreat was hosted by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the Queensland Parliament House, where the leaders met without aides shortly before the annual summit of the 20 industrialised and major economies kicked off at the Brisbane Convention Centre in the afternoon.

A barbeque lunch was served to the G20 leaders.

“Reform is bound to face resistance ... must be insulated from political pressures,” said Modi.

The Prime Minister also made it clear that reform has to be driven by the people and that it cannot be undertaken by “stealth”.

Asserting that reforms must be people-centric and people-driven, he said globally reforms are handicapped with perception of being government programmes and a burden on the people and this needs to change.

Modi felt that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that governance methods must be reformed.

Noting that reform is a continuous multi-stage process and that it must be institutionalised, the Prime Minister said it must be technology driven and must have scale and address root causes.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on Friday that Abbott had specially requested Modi to outline his vision for reforms at the informal meeting of G20 leaders at the retreat in addition to his intervention at the main summit.

In his remarks at the retreat, Abbott said the G20 leaders bear heavy responsibility to achieve economic change.

“Nowhere on earth will there be a more influential gathering than this,” he told the group.

“The world is looking to all of us right now to try to demonstrate to an uncertain and at times anxious world there are people who know what they are doing, that there are people who have a plan ... for growth and for jobs,” Abbott said.

However, Abbott acknowledged there were limitations in what could be achieved, and that there would be inevitable disagreements among the leaders.

He urged them to speak candidly and openly at the summit.

“The only rules, as far as I’m concerned, are if we can speak from our heart rather than from a script, that would be good,” he added. — PTI

BRISBANE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday unequivocally said that repatriation of black money kept abroad is a “priority” for his government, as he sought close global coordination to achieve this objective.

Raising the black money issue at an informal meeting of leaders of the five-nation BRICS bloc, Modi set the tone on this key issue ahead of the G20 Summit in the wake of his commitment to bring back every penny of black money stashed abroad.

“Repatriation of black money kept abroad is a key priority for us,” Modi told the BRICS leaders.

Calling for close coordination on the issue of black money kept abroad, Modi also said this unaccounted money is also linked to security challenges.

As India makes attempts to retrieve the black money, the Prime Minister has already made it clear that close cooperation to retrieve the black money from abroad is a key issue for him.

The G20 host Australia on Friday vowed a “very aggressive” crackdown on tax avoidance. India is also seeking strong action by the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies against tax havens.

“A key issue for me would be to highlight the importance of international cooperation against black money,” Modi had said, as he is set to renew the country’s commitment at the G20 summit to a global response to deal with cross border tax avoidance and evasion.

India is also expected to urge the G20 to pressure tax havens into revealing more information on black money from India to help retrieve this illegal money.

Besides Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, were the other leaders who took part in the informal interaction.

“Namaste! Leaving for my first programme, the Informal BRICS meeting,” Modi tweeted ahead of the meeting. — PTI

JAKARTA: A 7.3-magnitude earthquake rocked the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning.

The undersea quake struck at a depth of 46 km at 10.31 am (0231 GMT), 154 km northwest of Kota Ternate, the USGS said.

"Tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 km," said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

The Centre said tsunami waves could hit parts of Indonesia, as well the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and islands in the South Pacific.

Tsunami waves between 12 inches and one metre could hit parts of Indonesia, said the Centre, adding that waves below 30 centimetres were forecast for the coasts of the Philippines.

"We have issued an early tsunami warning," an official from Indonesia's meteorological agency told AFP.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

A huge undersea quake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed more than 170,000 people in Aceh province, on western Sumatra island, and tens of thousands more in other countries with coasts on the Indian Ocean. — AFP

FUZHOU (China): Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal and young shuttler K. Srikanth stormed into the finals of the women's and men's singles events, respectively, at the $700,000 China Open Super Series Premier on Saturday.

In her sixth appearance in the prestigious tournament, Saina continued her rampaging run as she produced another good show to outclass World No. 17 Liu Xin of China 21-17 21-17 in the women's singles semifinals that lasted 47 minutes at the Haixia Olympic Sport Center.

The World No. 5 Indian will take on the winner of match between fifth seed Bae Yeon Ju of Korea and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, in the summit clash on Sunday.

World No. 16 Srikanth too set up a mouth-watering finale with two-time Olympic and five-time world Champion Lin Dan after his opponent in the men's singles semifinal, Marc Zwiebler of Germany, retired midway with the score reading 21-11 13-7 in the Indian's favour.

In the women's singles semifinals, Saina took time to get going initially as Liu opened up a slender 7-4 lead but the Indian soon clawed back and went into the interval with a narrow 11-10 lead. She came out all guns blazing after that to create a huge 19-13 gap.

The Chinese girl reeled off four points to reduce the margin but the Indian soon pocketed the first game. In the second game, Liu once again marched ahead 5-2 but Saina didn't take much time to draw level and enter the break with a two-point lead.

Saina's angled strokes had Liu struggling but the Chinese kept herself in close range after the Indian stumbled to some unforced errors.

At 14-14, Saina hit long allowing Liu to take the lead. The Chinese then won an aggressive rally when Saina failed to connect and hit wide. However, Liu then fell pray to a series of unforced errors as Saina soon moved to a three-point cushion. Liu once again hit wide helping Saina clinch her place in the final.

The last time Saina reached the finals of a tournament was at the Australian Super Series, where she defeated Spain's Carolina Marin to win the title. The Indian had won the Syed Modi International Grand Prix gold early in the year.

Srikanth, who had a 1-1 record against Marc ahead of the match, dished out a dominating show as from 6-6 the Indian didn't give any chance to the German to make a comeback.

World No. 25 Marc was probably affected by the gruelling three-game matches which he played before coming into the semifinal. He tried his best to fight but decided not to continue after lagging 7-13 in the second game.

The 21-year-old Indian, who won the Thailand Grand Prix Gold in 2013, finished runner up at the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow. He was a quarterfinalist in this year's Malaysian Open.

He was also a part of the Indian badminton contingent that reached the semifinals of the mixed-team event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. — PTI

JAMMU: Pakistani Rangers on Saturday violated the ceasefire by resorting to brief firing along the International Border in Jammu district, forcing BSF troops to retaliate.

“The Pakistani troops resorted to few rounds of firing on forward Border Out Posts (BoPs) along IB in Arnia belt in Jammu district today,” a senior BSF official said.

BSF troops retaliated briefly, he said, adding, there was no injury to anyone in the firing.

Earlier, Pakistani Rangers had violated ceasefire on Wednesday by resorting to brief small arms firing on Border Out Posts (BoPS) along IB in Jammu and Samba sectors.

As many as 11 persons have been killed and over 90 others injured in shelling and firing by Pakistani troops during first fortnight of October, triggering migration of over 32,000 people from border areas of Jammu, Kathua, and Samba districts. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The BCCI has called an Emergent Working Committee meeting on November 18 to discuss the scheduling of its Annual General Meeting which has been postponed by four weeks after president-in-exile N. Srinivasan was named by the Supreme Court in the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

The AGM was originally scheduled for November 20 but has been postponed.

It is learnt that Srinivasan will attend the meeting as the chief of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), where the members of the all-powerful sub-committee of the Board will be apprised of the current situation in Chennai.

"The BCCI's lawyers will apprise the WC members of the situation and the legal implications. Obviously, for BCCI to announce a fresh date for the AGM, one needs to call a Working Committee Meeting. The AGM is now likely to be held in the third week of December," a BCCI official told PTI today.

Since the next hearing of the Supreme Court is on November 24, the BCCI decided to postpone its AGM — primarily because majority of the members want the Tamil Nadu strongman to be in the clear as he is vying for a second term as BCCI president.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court named Srinivasan, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra, cricket administrator Sundar Raman, who were all probed by the Justice Mudgal committee. The top court said had it had found "some misdemeanour by certain persons" and indicted them in the IPL6 scam.

It also ordered that supply of relevant portions of the report to the four so that they can file their objections within four days of receipt of the report.

"Certain findings recorded by the Committee are understood to have indicted some individuals against whose conduct investigation has been conducted. The report also deals with the conduct of the players which are for the present held back," the Bench said.

The court did not give details of the indictment or the misdemeanour or the persons who committed it. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Amnesty International on Friday said the Central government has agreed to increase the compensation for Bhopal gas tragedy victims and promised to revise the numbers of deaths and injuries.

The government decision came following hunger strike by five women on November 10. The five, along with 200 survivors and activists, were called to a meeting with Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar.

The Minister agreed, in writing, to revise figures the government was using in the compensation claim, and promised to do so before the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster on December 2, the statement said.

“We welcome this important move by the government. Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi must ensure his government’s pledge is honoured,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Director for Global Issues.

“That would be a historic step towards justice for Bhopal,” he added in the statement. — PTI