Daily Bulletin: Karnataka Speaker says floor test will be done by 6 pm today; Trump offers to mediate on Kashmir issue; day's top stories

Karnataka crisis: Speaker adjourns House on third day of trust vote debate, assures floor test by 6 pm today The fate of the Congress-JD(S) government remained uncertain even on the third day of the debate over the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. Today, the Assembly is finally expected to vote on the Motion of Trust as Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar told Kumaraswamy that he will ensure the test is conducted tomorrow. “By 6 pm tomorrow (Tuesday), the floor test will be done,” he said on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_6997581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy with other coalition members during the Assembly session on 15 July. PTI[/caption] After the ruling parties and BJP locked horns to debate on the motion, Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar adjourned the proceedings till 10 am on Tuesday. Right from the time when the proceedings began, Kumar repeatedly reminded the government to honour its commitment to complete the trust process Monday itself. As the House resumed its sitting after an hour’s delay in the morning, the Speaker made it clear, “Everybody is watching us. Please don’t make me a scapegoat. Let us reach our goal,” stressing that the process should reach finality Monday. Kumaraswamy had moved the confidence motion on Thursday to decide the fate of the Congress-JD(S) government, rocked by rebellion by a section of its MLAs threatening its survival. The debate on the confidence motion prolonged to Friday, with the ruling coalition defying the two deadlines set by Governor Vajubhai Vala — to complete the process by 1.30 pm on Friday and later by the end of the day. The proceedings were adjourned till Monday after the Speaker extracted a commitment from the government that the process would be completed by Monday itself. But the trust vote debates is to continue on to Tuesday. Trump offers to mediate on Kashmir issue; MEA says Modi made no such request  US President Donald Trump on Monday offered to be the “mediator” between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue as he met Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House where the two leaders discussed a host of issues, including the Afghan peace process. India, however, has denied such claims sticking to its original position of refusing any third party intervention in the boundary dispute with the neighbouring state. The Indian government has denied President Trump’s astonishing claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate.

We have seen @POTUS's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to US President. It has been India's consistent position...1/2

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) July 22, 2019

“It has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism. The Shimla Agreement & the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India and Pakistan bilaterally,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar added. Trump, who is known to make inaccurate statements, claimed that Prime Minister Modi asked him to mediate on the Kashmir issue. “If I can help, I would love to be a mediator. If I can do anything to help, let me know,” Trump said in response to a question. Trump said that he is ready to help, if the two countries ask for it. India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together. Trump claimed that Modi and he discussed the issue of Kashmir in Osaka, Japan on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit last month, where the Indian prime minister made an offer of a third-party arbitration on Kashmir. SC hearing today over NRC case to re-verify and extend deadline Alleging wrongful inclusions and exclusions in the National Register of Citizens, the Centre and the Assam government on Friday sought from the Supreme Court extension of the 31 July deadline for finalisation of the NRC and said India could not be the refugee capital of the world. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman took note of the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the state government, that they be allowed to undertake verification of 20 percent random samples of citizens for wrongful inclusions or exclusions in the NRC. The court, which had fixed 31 July as the deadline for publication of the final list of the NRC, has now fixed the applications of both the governments for deliberation on 23 July (today) on the issue of proposed sample survey. “Please extend the deadline for publication of final Assam NRC from July 31 to a future date. There is a growing perception that many exclusions and many more inclusions have been made wrongly,” the solicitor general said The first draft of the NRC for Assam was published on the intervening night of 31 December 2017 and 1 January 2018 in accordance with the top court’s direction. Names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated then. Assam, which had faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC which was first prepared in 1951. Britain’s next PM: Boris Johnson likely to be confirmed winner as polls draw to a close; result to be announced today Boris Johnson is expected to be elected leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party and the country’s next prime minister on Tuesday, tasked with following through on his “do or die” pledge to deliver Brexit in just over three months time. After a month-long contest between former London mayor Johnson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the postal votes of up to 160,000 grassroots Conservatives will decide the governing party’s next leader. The voting window slams shut at 5.00 pm (1600 GMT). The result will be announced on Tuesday, with the winner immediately becoming the new Conservative leader, the victor taking office as prime minister on Wednesday. Both candidates have had a rocky end to the campaign. An online poll of 1,199 members conducted on Friday and Saturday by the Conservative Home website put Johnson on 73 percent. Bookmakers give Hunt around a one in 15 chance of winning. The Conservatives command a razor-thin majority in parliament’s lower House of Commons and Johnson’s opponents — both within and outside the party — are keen to scupper his leadership. Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the European Union on 31 October, with or without a divorce deal. Indian banks win UK court order to seek details of Vijay Mallya’s asset ownership Two superyachts, a game reserve, numerous undeclared high-value and vintage cars, valuable paintings and a piano previously owned by Elton John are among the assets in contention as part of a latest legal claim by Indian banks against embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya in the UK High Court on 22 July. Justice Robin Knowles, presiding over the hearing in the Commercial Court division of the High Court, ruled that he was satisfied that a consortium of Indian banks led by SBI have a right to the documents they are seeking to establish the true ownership of the assets they believe are linked with the Mallya. “I consider the test to be satisfied and I don’t take that view lightly. I do take the view that without this disclosure the consequences are highly unsatisfactory for a judgment creditor [Indian banks] and from the vantage point of progressing towards a fair conclusion of the matter and a conclusion that is cost-effective,” said Judge Knowles in his ruling. Leaked documents reveal Huawei’s North Korean connection Leaked documents obtained by The Washington Post suggest that Huawei illegally helped build North Korea’s 3G cellular network. The work wasn’t carried out directly by Huawei but via another Chinese company that Huawei works with, making the allegations hard to prove. If Huawei’s involvement in this is confirmed, the company’s actions would be deemed to be in direct violation of US export controls. Nicole Kidman ‘would love’ to do season 3 of Big Little Lies The second season of Big Little Lies came to an end today and while fans are reeling over the conclusion of the Emmy-winning HBO show, actor Nicole Kidman recently hinted at a possibility of a season three. The Oscar-winning actor said that she would “love” to continue working on the hit HBO show, reported People. “I think we would love to do a season three because there are certainly ideas,” Kidman said, adding, “But we would not do it without all of the same people involved even the kids.“​