Page 118 - Politics
Ethiopia army chief of staff shot amid unrest
Ethiopia's army chief of staff has been shot, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on television Sunday as the government said it had thwarted an attempted coup in a regional state of this Horn of Africa nation. Abiy took to national television in the early hours of the morning dressed in military fatigues and announced that army chief Seare Mekonnen had been shot, an AFP correspondent said. His condition was unknown. The internet was cut in Ethiopia, and more details were not immediately available. The United States embassy issued alerts about reported gunfire in the capital Addis Ababa, and violence around Amhara's main city Bahir Dar. "The embassy is aware of reports of gunfire in Addis Ababa. Chief of mission personnel are advised to shelter in place," the embassy said in one of its two alerts. Earlier, Abiy's office announced that an attempted coup had taken place in Amhara, one of nine autonomous regions in the country. A statement from his office did not give details on who was .
Ethiopia PM Abiy says army chief of staff shot
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Sunday that the army chief of staff had been shot, however his condition was unknown after an evening of unrest in the Horn of Africa nation. Abiy took to national television dressed in military fatigues after a coup attempt in regional Amhara state, and said that army chief Seare Mekonnen had been shot, an AFP correspondent said, but more details were not given. The United States embassy issued alerts about reported gunfire in the capital Addis Ababa, and violence around Amhara's main city Bahir Dar.
Come Monday, Trump to enforce 'major' additional sanctions on Iran
US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that "major additional sanctions" will be imposed on Iran this Monday to stop the country from owning nuclear weapons.While Trump made no mention of it, his latest decision comes at a time when the Iran-US relationship has further deteriorated after the Middle Eastern nation shot down a US military drone in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday."Iran cannot have nuclear weapons! Under the terrible Obama plan, they would have been on their way to nuclear in a short number of years, and existing verification is not acceptable. We are putting major additional sanctions on Iran on Monday. I look forward to the day that sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again - The sooner the better!" he tweeted.As part of a "maximum pressure" campaign, the United States has reinstated sanctions against Iran after exiting from the Iran nuclear deal last year.The international community has called for restraint to be shown by ..
Regime strikes kill 8 civilians in Syria: monitor
Regime air strikes on an anti-government stronghold in northwestern Syria Saturday killed eight civilians including three children, a war monitor said. The Idlib region of some three million people is supposed to be protected by a September buffer zone deal, but the jihadist-run enclave has come under mounting bombardment by the government and its ally Russia since late April. Three civilians were killed in an air strike in the town of the Saraqib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. An AFP reporter at the scene saw rescue workers extract the body of a woman from the rubble of a destroyed building. After night fell, they searched for other victims, the lamps on their white helmets casting light onto the ruins in the dark. Earlier, two children were killed in a garage on the edge of the town of Maaret al-Numan, while another child died in the village of Maar Zita, the Britain-based monitoring group said. Two other civilians perished in strikes on the villages of Kansafra and .
199 migrants rescued off Libya's western coast
199 migrants have been rescued by the Libyan Navy off the country's western coast in the last three days.Five rescue operations were carried out by the Navy, Xinhua reported while quoting the Navy Spokesperson Ayob Qassem.The migrants are of different African and Asian nationalities, he added.Medical and humanitarian assistance was provided to the rescued who were taken to reception centres in different cities in Libya.
Veerappa Moily hits out at Kumaraswamy, says simply sitting after becoming CM doesn't work
Amidst turmoil in the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Saturday hit out at Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy over his 'village stay programme' stating that "simply sitting" after becoming a chief minister or minister does not work."Simply sitting after becoming a chief minister or minister does not work. It is important to concentrate on schemes and their implementation. Chief ministers or ministers roaming villages does not work," Moily said.As part of his 'Grama Vaastavya' or 'village stay programme', Kumaraswamy had on Friday spent the night at the Government Higher Primary School in Chandraki village along with other ministers. He was seen sleeping on the floor."Ministers should be responsible for people. They should think about it. Governance should go to people...not only chief minister or ministers... Simply going to the people does not work," the former Union Minister said targetting Kumaraswamy.Analysing Congress-JDS alliance's ...
Trump says planned immigration sweep delayed for two weeks
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was delaying a planned immigration sweep for two weeks to allow time for his Republican Party and opposition Democrats to find a political solution to the hot-button issue. The mass round-up of as many as 2,000 families who had been served with deportation orders or failed to show up for court appointments was expected to begin in up to 10 US cities as soon as Sunday. "At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border," he tweeted Saturday.
US to hit Iran with 'major' new sanctions Monday: Trump
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States would impose "major" new sanctions on Iran in two days, just hours after saying he would be the Islamic republic's new "best friend" if they were to renounce nuclear arms. Tensions between the United States and Iran have soared this week after Tehran downed a US surveillance drone. Trump said Friday that he called off retaliatory military strikes at the last minute because the response was not "proportionate." But he had brandished the threat of sanctions ever since, and has now set a timetable.
Trump: Military action against Iran still 'on the table'
President Donald Trump said Saturday he's still considering military action against Iran after it downed an unmanned US military aircraft, saying the use of force is "always on the table until we get this solved." The president said he aborted a military strike set for Thursday after learning 150 people would be killed. "I don't want to kill 150 Iranians. I don't want to kill 150 of anything or anybody unless it's absolutely necessary," he told reporters as he left the White House for a weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. Trump said "we very much appreciate" a decision by Iran's Revolutionary Guard not to shoot down a US spy plane carrying more than 30 people. He said the downing of the US drone was "probably intentional" contradicting what he said Thursday. The president's comments came as Iran summoned the United Arab Emirates' top envoy to Tehran to protest the neighboring Arab nation's decision to allow the US to use a base there to launch the drone that Iran says ...
White House unveils $50 billion Palestinian economic plan
The White House on Saturday unveiled a USD 50 billion Palestinian investment and infrastructure proposal aimed at supporting its much-anticipated but still unreleased "deal of the century" Middle East peace plan. The scheme, which calls for a mix of public and private financing and intends to create at least a million new jobs for Palestinians, was posted to the White House website ahead of a two-day conference in Bahrain. The so-called "Peace to Prosperity" workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday is being held amid heavy skepticism about its viability and outright opposition to it from the Palestinians. It's also taking place amid heightened regional tensions over Iran that threaten to overshadow its goals. With no official participation from the two main protagonists and scant enthusiasm from others, continued uncertainty and strong doubts over the plan's political vision and the distraction of a potential US-Iran conflict, expectations are decidedly low. The plan calls for projects worth
BJP rejects US report on religious freedom, attack on minorities in India
BJP on Saturday rejected a US report on religious freedom which accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi government of failing to tackle "mob attacks by violent extremist Hindu groups against minority communities" and said the assaults were a result of "local disputes.""The recently released '2018 International Religious Freedom Report' shows clear bias against the Modi government and the BJP. The basic presumption in this report that there is some grand design behind anti-minority violence is simply false. On the contrary, in most of such cases, these instances are carried out as a result of local disputes and by criminal mindsets," BJP's national media head Anil Baluni said in a communique.He said that the party and its leaders including Prime Minister Modi had "strongly deplored violence against minorities and weaker sections of the society."The report released by US State Department said minority communities, especially Muslims, were attacked by Hindu outfits throughout the year ...
U'khand BJP suspended from party's primary membership for 3 months
BJP MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion has been suspended from the party's primary membership for three months for allegedly misbehaving with a journalist and other acts of indiscipline.BJP's state unit chief Naresh Bansal said: "The decision to suspend Champion for three months from the primary membership of the party was taken after due consideration with party leaders and office-bearers in the state. He has also been issued a show-cause notice.
Pak, Qatar sign 3 agreements to boost bilateral ties
Pakistan and Qatar Saturday signed three agreements for cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, tourism and financial intelligence as Emir of the Gulf nation Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met Prime Minister Imran Khan. Qatari Emir arrived in Pakistan on a two-day official visit on Saturday and was accorded a red carpet reception. Prime Minister Khan personally received him at the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. The two leaders held a one-on-one meeting followed by delegation level talks between the two sides. "Both the leaders covered the entire gamut of bilateral relations to enhance cooperation in diverse fields," according to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office. Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and Qatari Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al Emadi signed an MoU for establishment of Pakistan-Qatar joint working group on trade and investment. The second MoU was signed between Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Fahmida Mirza and Secretary ...
Cong leader downplays Nehru's call to go solo in local body polls
Congress leader Karate R Thiagarajan on Saturday sought to downplay senior DMK leader K N Nehru's call to go solo in local body polls and said that the final call has to be taken by their party chiefs."I do not know how a senior DMK leader spoke like that. DMK president M K Stalin and our party leader have to take a call on such things," south Chennai Congress president Thiagarajan said here.He said that Congress may not have been "No. 1" but it was certainly a deciding factor in the Lok Sabha elections."Next week, there is a no-confidence motion in the Assembly against the Speaker and the Congress' seven votes are crucial. We are going to support the DMK's resolution," he said.He said that senior leadership of their parties shares a very good relationship, which was seen when Stalin invited UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to unveil Karunanidhi's statue.The Congress leader further said: "Over 30 Congress MLAs supported the last DMK government in the state."Earlier in the day, DMK's Nehru
Bihar BJP urges workers to help people affected by AES & heat
Union minister and Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai on Saturday called upon party leaders and workers to extend all help to the families of those suffering from brain fever or heat stroke "without using the party emblem or banner or any type of pomp and show". Rai said this here at a meeting which was attended by senior leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and national general secretary (organization) Ram Lal. The meeting began with the partymen observing a two- minute silence as an expression of grief over deaths in heat wave and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Heat wave and AES claimed over 100 and 200 lives respectively in the state. Addressing the meeting, Ram Lal said, "The primary characteristic of our organization has been its commitment to serving the nation. In this hour of crisis in Bihar, I hope our cadres will rise to the occasion." He also asked party workers to devote themselves towards strengthening the party's organization during the ..
Chhattisgarh: BJP stages protests against Cong govt's
The BJP Saturday staged a protest at all the district headquarters in Chhattisgarh, accusing the Congress government of failing to deliver on promises made during the Assembly polls last year. Former chief minister Raman Singh, former ministers Brijmohan Agrawal and Rajesh Munat and a large number of party workers took part in a demonstration at Budhapara here. Singh said the Congress government's performance in the last six months was "shameful". "The BJP ruled for 15 years and lived up to peoples' expectations with full honesty and commitment. Chhattisgarh which was once considered a 'Bimaru' (sick/backward) state became one of the few developed states," he said. "But the Congress has completely failed to meet the expectations and live up to the trust with which they were handed over the power," he alleged. The party won the election by making false promises and now it is betraying people, Singh said, terming the Congress regime as a "government of robbers". "Transfers .
Rajasthan CM holds pre-budget meetings with industry representatives
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Saturday said his government will prepare an inclusive budget based on the suggestions of various sections. The chief minister held pre-budget meetings with representatives of industries and sought their suggestions for the preparations of the state budget which will be presented in the upcoming assembly session. He said the government's focus was on growth and job creation and a balanced budget will be presented to meet the objectives. Gehlot also said that the government's focus will be on industrial development and creating an investment-friendly environment. Industry minister Parsadi Lal Meena, energy minister BD Kalla, advisor to CM Arvind Mayaram and senior officials were present at the meetings.
India's arguments on Pakistan progress on counter terrorism step are 'preposterous, unwarranted: Pak
Pakistan on Saturday claimed that India's arguments regarding Islamabad's progress in improving its counter-terror financing operation in line with an internationally agreed plan are "preposterous and unwarranted"."We regard the statement issued by India regarding the FATF report as preposterous and unwarranted," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement."If anything, this is yet another evidence of India's relentless efforts to politicise the deliberations of FATF for its narrow, partisan objectives," it added.The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) warned Pakistan to "swiftly" complete its action plan to curb terror financing by October or face consequences.The warning was made in a statement issued by the financial watchdog following a plenary meeting in Orlando here.Concerned India also urged Pakistan to take all necessary steps to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plan by September.Pakistan is currently on the "grey list" of countries that have been inadequate
Junior doctors call off stir
Junior doctors in Telangana Saturday called off their four day stir over their demand for recruitment of assistant professors, following an assurance from the government that would be looked into. The Telangana Junior Doctors Association announced its decision after talks with state health minister E Rajender. The minister assured the doctors that recruitment would be taken up through medical recruitment board in a time-bound manner, Association's chairman P S Vijayender said. The other demands include abolition of recruitment of doctors on contract basis and appointment of a committee, also comprising its members, to study the government's move to increase the retirement age of teaching faculty in government medical colleges from 58 to 65. The government assured the association that notification of contract published for Nalgonda and Suryapet medical colleges would be withdrawn after assessing feasibility of recognition by Medical Council of India, Vijayender said. It ..
Encephalitis : As death toll mounts, Surjewala attacks BJP-JDU coalition in Bihar
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Saturday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) coalition government in Bihar for failing to curb child deaths due to encephalitis in the state."Deaths inside (the hospital) due to Chamki (Encephalitis), skeletons strewn on the outside. Sidelining the cries of the small children, this double-engine (coalition) BJP government has itself fallen sick. The government has caught the fever of insensitivity, humanity lies ashamed," Surjewala tweeted in Hindi.Surjewala's tweet has come after human skeletons were recovered from behind the building of Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) earlier today.The state's Health Department has ordered an investigation into the matter. As many as 108 people have died due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) at SKMCH so far, which is grappling with the influx of AES cases for want of facilities and other necessary wherewithal.The total toll due to the vector-borne disease ..