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Asserting the purpose of charity should not be conversion, the Supreme Court reaffirmed on Monday that forced religious conversion is a "serious issue" and against the Constitution. The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking direction to the Centre and states to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversion by "intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits". The Centre told the court it is collecting information from states on religious conversion through such means. Appearing before a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought time to furnish detailed information on the issue. Mehta sought a week's time from the court which it granted. "The purpose of charity should not be conversion. Allurement is dangerous," the top court said, and acknowledged that forced religious conversion is a very serious matter. When a lawyer questioned the maintainability of
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett donated more than USD750 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the four foundations run by his family, but unlike his annual gifts to charity each summer, the recipients didn't include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett has been making annual donations to the same five charities every year since 2006 when he unveiled a plan to give away his fortune over time, with the Gates Foundation receiving the biggest donations. Wednesday's donations mark the first time the 92-year-old has made a second major gift within the same year. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed Buffett gave 1.5 million Class B shares in the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate he leads to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife. He also gave 300,000 Class B shares apiece to the three foundations run by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. In June, he gave 11 million
The auction of a high-tech portrait of Warren Buffett didn't come close to matching the $19 million someone paid earlier this year for a private lunch with the billionaire, but it still raised $75,100 for one of his favorite charities. The eBay auction wrapped up Tuesday evening on Buffett's 92nd birthday. The portrait created by Motiva Art features a grid of letters over the picture that light up to spell out 11 of the Berkshire Hathaway CEO's best-known quotes including, "It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked." A previous portrait of Buffett painted by performance artist Michael Israel in 10 minutes outside the Berkshire annual meeting attracted a $100,000 price in 2008. The lunch auction Buffett has done for years to benefit the Glide Foundation that helps the homeless in San Francisco always attracts big bids because it offers exclusive access to the investor who is willing to answer almost any question except what he might buy next. This .
The conservation charity founded by Prince William, second in line to the British throne and who launched the Earthshot Prize, keeps its investments in a bank that is one of the world's biggest backers of fossil fuels, The Associated Press has learned. The Royal Foundation also places more than half of its investments in a fund advertised as green that owns shares in large food companies that buy palm oil from companies linked to deforestation. The earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice, the prince, a well-known environmentalist, is quoted saying on the websites of the Earthshot Prize and Royal Foundation. Yet in 2021, the charity kept more than 1.1 million pounds (USD 1.3 million) with JPMorgan Chase, according to the most recent filings, and still invests with the corporation today. The foundation also held 1.7 million pounds (USD 2 million) in a fund run by British firm Cazenove Capital Management, according to the 2021 filing. As with JPMorgan, it still keeps f