Australia passes foreign interference laws
Canberra, June 28: Australia's parliament on Thursday passed a package of new laws aimed at preventing foreign interference in the country.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the crackdown last December, reports the BBC.
Although he denied it was aimed specifically at China, the move has added to diplomatic tensions with Beijing in recent months.
The government has described the wide-ranging laws, approved in the Senate, as the most significant counter-espionage reforms in Australia since the 1970s.
The approval comes after months of review by a parliamentary national security committee.
The laws criminalise covert, deceptive or threatening actions that are intended to interfere with democratic processes or provide intelligence to overseas governments.
They are designed to include actions that may have fallen short of previous definitions of espionage.
The government also plans to ban foreign political donations through a separate bill later this year.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Actress Kasthuri arrested by Chennai police in Hyderabad over alleged anti-Telugu remarks
Chennai, Nov 16: Actress Kasthuri, who made a remark on the Telugu-speaking people of Tamil Nadu that stoked a controversy, was arrested in Hyderabad on Saturday, police said.
Though the actress, soon after the row, withdrew her remarks, complaints were filed against her with police.
A Chennai police team traced her to a film producer's house in Hyderabad and effected the arrest.
She will be brought to Chennai to be produced before a magistrate court here, police said.
Anticipating her arrest, the actress had moved the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, recently, but the court rejected her advance bail plea.
Broadly, her allegation covers an accusation that some Telugu speaking people, who had come to the state centuries ago to serve the then rulers, were now claiming to be Tamils, while Tamil Brahmins were not considered as Tamil.
It was a portion of her recent address at a protest venue here in support of Brahmins, who were often dubbed as outsiders by some Dravidian ideologues.
