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New Delhi: Iran on Monday, May 1, called for greater use of national currency in trade, even as India reportedly conveyed that the recent reconciliation between Tehran and Riyadh would have a profound impact in changing regional equations at the international level.

This was allegedly discussed during the delegation-level meeting of Irans Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani with visiting National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in Tehran on Monday, Iranian state media IRNA reported. The Indian NSA also called on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. There is no public readout of the meetings from the Indian side.

According to Indian government data, bilateral trade between India and Iran grew by 48% to reach $2.5 billion in 2022. This increase was largely due to an increase in Iranian petroleum exports to India. Western sanctions have largely impeded trade ties due to restrictions over financial transactions.

This year, bilateral trade dropped by 13% in the first two months. However, Irans exports grew by 91% to India in the two months compared to the same period in 2022.

The Iranian national security advisor told his Indian counterpart it would be helpful to activate the rial-rupee mechanism, as per Tasnim news agency.

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He emphasized that the launch of the financial transaction system using the currencies of Iran and India would be a major step towards the fulfilment of the common purposes in the economic field, said the Iranian news agency report.

Doval also reportedly asserted that Chabahar port in Iran, which is being supported by Indian firms, is the gateway for increased cooperation between the two countries.

According to Irna and Tasnim, Doval hailed the recent agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia that restored diplomatic relations. The agreement, brokered by China, marked the end of seven years of diplomatic estrangement.

Indias public response to the deal had been a cautious statement that New Delhi had always favoured dialogue and diplomacy. Irna indicated that Doval was more expansive and noted that the Iran-Saudi agreement would have profound regional effects on changing relations in the international system.

The senior Indian official also spoke about the deep influence of Iranian culture in India as an indication of close ties between the two nations.

Not surprisingly, Afghanistan was on the agenda, with Doval batting for cooperation between Tehran and New Delhi to boost stability in Afghanistan. The Indian NSA also said, as per IRNA, that the two countries should work together to eradicate Takfiri terrorism in Afghanistan, a label used by Iran and the Taliban against IslamicState-Khorasan Province (IS-KP).

Iran has cultivated close ties with the Taliban, even before the insurgency had taken over Kabul in August 2021. While officially Tehran does not recognise the Taliban government, it allowed a Taliban-appointed official to take over the Afghan embassy to Iran.

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At NSA Talks, Iran Raises Rial-Rupee Trade, India Says Deal With Saudi Will Have 'Profound' Impact - The Wire

The National Sheep Association (NSA) has said that its 2023 NSA Welsh Sheep event next month will showcase the very best of commercial farming in Wales.

The event will welcome visitors to Red House Farm, Aberharesp, Powys, on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

The on-farm event aims to be a technical and informative one that the NSA says is not to be missed by sheep producers far and wide.

This year, the association said, there will be a new emphasis on reaching out to tell the public of the positive story that is Welsh sheep farming.

The NSA said the event will feature a seminar tent that will have discussions on the role of lamb and mutton in the human diet.

As well as this, conversations will be held surrounding the sustainability of sheep farming and the importance of looking after the next sheep farming generation.

The seminars will be chaired by John Yeomans, NSA Cymru committee member; Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive; and Catherine Smith, chair of Hybu Cig Cymru Meat Promotion Wales (HCC).

Yeomans will chair the discussion on lamb and muttons role in the diet, and he will be joined by speakers Dr Eleri Thomas from HCC, Robbie Davison from Can Cook-Well Fed and Bob Kennard of British Heritage Sheep.

The NSA Welsh Sheep team said the discussion will focus on the criticism red meat has faced and how research needs to be used to challenge this.

This seminar will explore how our predominantly grass-fed lamb and mutton can fit with healthy eating messages, giving you some facts that can be used to dispel some of the myths around eating meat, it said.

NSA chief executive Stocker will chair the seminar on sheep sector sustainability, with guest speakers including Rachel Madeley Davies of HCC, Dr Janet Roden of Innovis, Prysor Williams of Bangor University and Nicky Naylor of Harper Adams University.

Stockers discussion will focus on how the Welsh sheep sector aims to produce high quality food sustainably, and fit in other interests around land management including the increasing demands relating to carbon sequestration.

Questions will be asked in relation to what can be done to reduce emissions in the sector, the potential for grasslands to outperform mass forestry in terms of its delivery of public goods, and how pastures and farm infrastructure may need to be managed differently to deliver more.

The events final seminar, on the next generation of sheep farmers chaired by Smith, will feature the following speakers:

The discussion will be centered on making the next generation of sheep farming enthusiastic and well-educated on the industry.

NSA Welsh Sheep said the young farmers need security and support as well as the potential for viable and rewarding businesses and careers.

This seminar will consider what it will take to further grow a positive recognition of sheep farmers and what we can do to ensure a satisfying and fulfilling future, it said.

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NSA event to showcase 'very best' of Welsh sheep farming - Agriland.co.uk

The Supreme Court on Friday granted more time to Tamil Nadu to respond to the plea of Bihar-based Youtuber Manish Kashyap against invoking stringent National Security Act (NSA) for circulating fake videos of migrant workers being attacked in Tamil Nadu.

On Friday, Manish's Kashyap's plea came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha. The bench, as per PTI, took note of the request by lawyer Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the state government, for time to respond to the petition.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing Kashyap, sought clubbing of all the FIRs lodged against the YouTuber in West Bengal and their transfer to Bihar in the interest of justice.

He alleged the state government invoked NSA against Kashyap, who is in jail for over a month now, during the pendency of his petition in the top court and this led him to amend the plea, as per PTI.

Following this, the Court gave time for Tiwari to file a fresh response to the amended plea.

The court then fixed the next date of hearing for the case on May 8.

Currently, Manish Kashyap is in Madurai prison for over a month now.

Earlier, the Apex Court issued a notice to Tamil Nadu and Bihar governments on Kashyap's plea challenging his detention under the National Security Act. "Apart from the relief sought under Article 32, the petitioner seeks to challenge the detention order under National Security Act (NSA). The petitioner is allowed to amend the plea. Issue notice on amended prayers," the bench had said before posting the matter on Friday (April 28).

"We direct that the petitioner be not moved from the Central Prison Madurai," the bench added.

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SC Grants Time To Tamil Nadu To Respond To Manish Kashyap's Amended Plea Against Invoking NSA - ABP Live

Last week, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held a hearing on Fixing FISA: How a Law Designed to Protect Americans Has Been Weaponized Against Them, ahead of the December 2023 expiration of the Section 702 surveillance authority. The three witnesses,Michael E. Horowitz (Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice), Sharon Bradford Franklin (Chair, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board), and Beth A. Williams (Board Member, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board) all sketched out their visions for the good, the bad, and the ugly about the invasive surveillance power.

The witnesses managed to use the hearing to sketch out a vision for what a minimally sufficient bill to reform Section 702 would look like. However, they were not nearly as skeptical as we are ofthe necessity of domestic law enforcements use of these powersespecially when the information collected under 702 could be obtained by law enforcement with a warrant through more traditional avenues.

Section 702 allows the government to conduct surveillance inside the United States by vacuuming up digital communications so long as the surveillance is directed at foreigners currently located outside the United States. It also prohibits intentionally targeting Americans. Nevertheless, the NSA routinely (incidentally) acquires innocent Americans' communications without a probable cause warrant. Once collected, the FBI can search through this massive database of information by querying the communications of specific individuals.

Previously the FBI alone reported conducting up to 3.4 million warrantless searches of Section 702 data in 2021 using Americans identifiers. Congress and the FISA Court haveimposed modest limitations on these backdoor searches,but according to several recent FISA Court opinions, the FBI has engaged in widespread violations of even these minimal privacy protections.

A just-published transparency report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) includes a recalculation of these statistics, reporting instead just under 3 million searches for 2021, and around 120,000 and 800,000 for 2022 and 2020 respectively. The report says that a single cybersecurity investigation in 2021 involving attempts to compromise critical infrastructure led to approximately 1.9 million queries related to potential victimsincluding U.S. persons[and] accounted for the vast majority of the increase in U.S. person queries conducted by FBI over the prior year.

But we should be far from reassured by these revised estimates of warrantless, backdoor searches of the 702 databases. First, even the lowest reported figurenearly 120,000 searches in 2022is still a whole lot of warrantless searches of Americans private communications. Second, the methodology used in this new report requires additional scrutiny. For example, it says that the FBIs new counting method includes deduplication, where instances in which the same query term was run multiple times, whether by the same user or by different users are apparently treated as only one search. Theres no reason to consider that the right way to count, though. If police conducted separate warrantless searches of a persons house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, a court would likely treat that as three separate violations of the persons Fourth Amendment rights.

Regardless of the exact numbers, the disturbing history of overreach is why its so urgent that civil society, concerned people, and lawmakers act to pass legislation that radically reforms Section 702 before were stuck with another 4 years of warrantless backdoor searches of U.S. data.

Chair of the PCLOB Sharon Bradford Franklin had three vital recommendations for the committee to consider before voting on legislation to renew Section 702.

These three suggestions are a good starting point, but much more work needs to be done to address the over-classification and government secrecy that hinders accountability, enables abuse, and prevents people fromsuing to address harms done by government surveillance.

Government representatives are always quick to testify to the legitimacy and utility of these programs by vaguely referencing classified events or attacks that intelligence agencies thwarted thanks to this program. Part of the problems of over-classification and extreme secrecy is that were expected to take their word for it rather than be brought into the process of understanding whether and when these programs actually provide some utility and are notlike Section 215 of the USA FREEDOM Acttouted as absolutely necessary until their authorities expire with little to no pushback from the national security apparatus.

PLCOB member Beth Williams also suggested that Section 702 was not a bulk collection program because it required specific targeting of individuals for surveillancea claim that EFF contests as being an absolute myth.

Even worse, Williams suggested Section 702 and its invasive surveillance capabilitiesvacuuming up and reviewing communications, presumably with people overseas, should be used as a tool for vetting hopeful immigrants to the United States as well as being people vetted for government jobs. Thismight give immigration services the ability to audit entire communication histories before deciding whether an immigrant can enter the country. This is a particularly problematic situation that could cost someone entrance to the United States based on, for instance, their own ora friends political opinionsas happened to a Palestinian Harvard student when his social media account was reviewed when coming to the U.S. to start his semester.

In addition to ending warrantless backdoor searchers, Section 702 also needs new measures of transparency to enable future audits and accountability of these secretive programs. FISA has long contained procedures for private parties to sue over surveillance that violates their rights, including a mechanism for considering classified evidence while preserving national security. But, in lawsuit after lawsuit, the executive branch has sought to avoid these procedures, and the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, has adopted cramped readings of the law that create a de facto national security exception to the Constitution. We need real accountability, and that includes the opportunity to contest surveillance in court.

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At Congressional Hearing, PCLOB Members Suggest Bare ... - EFF

The Kwara Government says it has adopted technological innovation to boost businesses and support youths in the state.

Temi Kolawole, managing director, Ilorin Innovation Hub, disclosed this in Ilorin at the ecosystem engagement on the adoption of the Nigeria Startup Act (NSA) in Kwara State.

Kolawole explained that the plan was to move more people from the informal sector to formal via technology to assist more youths to be self-reliant.

We have a very well structured business environment in Kwara. With the introduction of Startup Act, there is hope for Kwara youths.

We wanted to bring in innovation and technology to the ease of doing businesses and make life better for Kwara citizens, he said.

Kolawole disclosed that it would take six months to implement the Startup Act and capture youths in the state.

Through capacity building and training, we will surely get there and make Kwara a business hub, he added.

In her submission, Tracy Okoro-Isaac, the state Adoption Lead for NSA, said that the Act was signed into law in 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the Startup Act was signed to create enabling environment for tech-enabled companies to thrive in the country.

She noted that one of the challenges young people have with startups was little or no access to funding.

We want Nigeria to be at forefront as technology producers, solving technology problems.

We have more than enough talents in the country. We need to wake them and show them how to have quality life via technology, she explained.

She described Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as innovation -driven governor, who always key in to the digital economy and prosperity.

Okoro-Issac assured Kwara citizens of prosperous businesses and better life with the adoption of the friendly Nigeria Startup Act.

Also speaking, Ibrahim Akaje, Commissioner for Business Innovation and Technology, who was represented by Ibrahim Saleh, described the Startup Act as pivotal to economic activities.

He said eight out of 36 states have shown interest in the NSA.

The Kwara Government says it has adopted technological innovation to boost businesses and support youths in the state.Temi Kolawole, managing director, Ilorin Innovation Hub, disclosed this in Ilorin at the ecosystem engagement on the adoption of the Nigeria Startup Act (NSA) in Kwara State. Kolawole explained that the plan was to move more people from the informal sector to formal via technology to assist more youths to be self-reliant.We have a very well structured business environment in Kwara. With the introduction of Startup Act, there is hope for Kwara youths.We wanted to bring in innovation and technology to the ease of doing businesses and make life better for Kwara citizens," he said.Kolawole disclosed that it would take six months to implement the Startup Act and capture youths in the state.Through capacity building and training, we will surely get there and make Kwara a business hub, he added.In her submission, Tracy Okoro-Isaac, the state Adoption Lead for NSA, said that the Act was signed into law in 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the Startup Act was signed to create enabling environment for tech-enabled companies to thrive in the country.She noted that one of the challenges young people have with startups was little or no access to funding.We want Nigeria to be at forefront as technology producers, solving technology problems.We have more than enough talents in the country. We need to wake them and show them how to have quality life via technology, she explained.She described Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as innovation -driven governor, who always key in to the digital economy and prosperity.Okoro-Issac assured Kwara citizens of prosperous businesses and better life with the adoption of the friendly Nigeria Startup Act.Also speaking, Ibrahim Akaje, Commissioner for Business Innovation and Technology, who was represented by Ibrahim Saleh, described the Startup Act as pivotal to economic activities.He said eight out of 36 states have shown interest in the NSA.

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Kwara adopts technical innovation to boost businesses, empower youth - Businessday