Page 1307 - Politics
US hopes to continue talks with North Korea: Pompeo
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington is still hopeful for continued talks with Pyongyang.
Iran accuses West of fuelling Islamophobia after New Zealand massacre
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused Western governments of encouraging Islamophobia, after the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand that killed 49 worshippers and wounded dozens. In a statement carried by the official government website on Friday, Rouhani said the shootings showed the need for "all out confrontation against...the Islamophobia pervasive in the West which is unfortunately encouraged by some Western governments." Rouhani promised Iran's foreign ministry would "diligently" follow the "arrest and trial of the perpetrators of this heinous act." Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also blamed "Western democracies" for the attack. "Western hypocrisy of defending demonisation of Muslims as 'freedom of expression' MUST end," Zarif tweeted. "Impunity in Western 'democracies' to promote bigotry leads to this," the tweet read. In another tweet Zarif said that while Iranians were "deeply shocked and saddened", they were not surprised by the "Christchurch ...
Trump vetoes bill blocking emergency declaration
US President Donald Trump has vetoed a bill blocking his declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, the first such move in his presidency.
New Zealand PM says attack victims came from across the Muslim world
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Saturday that victims of a terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch were from across the Muslim world, underscoring the global impact of the attack. Ardern said her government was working with consular officials from countries including "Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia," to deal with the aftermath of the attack that killed 49 people.
Trump issues first veto after rebuke of border order
President Donald Trump issued the first veto of his presidency, overruling Congress to protect his emergency declaration for border wall funding. Flanked by law enforcement officials as well as the parents of children killed by people in the country illegally, Trump maintained Friday that he is not through fighting for his signature campaign promise, which stands largely unfulfilled 18 months before voters decide whether to grant him another term. "Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution," Trump said, "and I have the duty to veto it." A dozen defecting Republicans joined Senate Democrats in approving the joint resolution on Thursday, which capped a week of confrontation with the White House as both parties in Congress strained to exert their power in new ways. It is unlikely that Congress will have the two-thirds majority required to override Trump's veto, though House Democrats have suggested they would try nonetheless. Trump wants to use the emergency order to divert ...
Chinese envoy calls Muslim detention centres 'campuses'
A top Chinese diplomat claimed that detention centres for Muslims in China's western province of Xinjiang are "campuses, not camps" and said they are eventually going to be closed as a "training programme" for ethnic Uighurs is downsized. At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Executive Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng reiterated Friday China's insistence that the detention centres are designed to provide training and fight regional terrorism. He also claimed that officials from around the world, including from the UN, had visited the region and that the detention centres in Xinjiang are "actually boarding schools or campuses, not camps" as reported by critics. The US State Department said this week that China has "significantly intensified" a campaign of mass detentions of minority Uighurs over the last year, with between 800,000 and 2 million people from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region interned in camps. The centres have drawn condemnation from across the world. Le told ...
Akhilesh, Mayawati to hold joint rallies in Uttar Pradesh
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will jointly hold 11 rallies in Uttar Pradesh.The rallies will be held in Saharanpur on April 7, Badaun on April 13, Agra on April 16, Mainpuri on April 19, Rampur and Firozabad on April 20, Kannauj on April 25, Faizabad on May 1, Azamgarh on May 8, Gorakhpur on May 13 and Varanasi on May 16.The alliance will begin the poll campaign with a joint rally of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati at Deoband on 7 April in which RLD chief Ajit Singh will also be present.SP and BSP are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh in alliance posing a formidable challenge to the BJP . According to the alliance the SP is contesting 37 seats and BSP 38. Two seats - Rae Bareli and Amethi -have been left for the Congress.In 2014 Lok Sabha election, NDA had won 73 seats from the state, SP had got just five seats, while BSP drew a blank.Recently SP and BSP forged an alliance to take on BJP in Lok Sabha elections 2019.The BSP chief's ..
Shivraj Singh Chouhan slams Digvijay Singh for insulting soldiers
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday slammed Digvijay Singh for questioning the outcome of air strike conducted by the IAF in Pakistan.Addressing a gathering here, he said, "There is one person here who has been the chief minister of the state for ten years, I will not take his name otherwise I will have to take bath. He insults the soldiers who have lost their lives and in order to oppose Modi he insults Bharat Mata, will you tolerate such people?"His statement comes after Congress leader Digvijay Singh sparked controversy by terming the Pulawama terror attack 'an accident'.He said after the Pulwama "durghatna" (accident) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) strike, "sandeh" (doubt) is being expressed in some foreign media reports following which "vishwasniyata" (credibility) of the government is under question.In another tweet, Singh had questioned the outcome of the air strike and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come clear on the same."Prime ...
Sushmita, Gogoi, Pala in Congress third Lok Sabha list
The Congress on Friday released its third list of party candidates fielding its sitting MPs Sushmita Dev from Silchar, Gaurav Gogoi from Kaliabor and Vincent H Pala from Shillong.
Sushmita, Pala in Congress third Lok Sabha list
AThe Congress on Friday released its third list of party candidates fielding Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev from Silichar, former MP Paban Singh Ghatowar from Dibrugarh and its sitting MP Vincent H Pala from Shillong.
Sena allied with BJP to provide strong govt at Centre: Uddhav
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Friday said his party has forged an alliance with the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls with an aim to provide a strong and progressive government at the Centre. The BJP and the Sena have reached a pre-poll alliance for the next month's Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, where they will contest 25 and 23 seats, respectively. The differences between the two parties have been sorted out, Thackeray said, adding the Sena never had personal issues but only matters concerning the interest of people which have been addressed by the government. Thackeray was addressing a jointmeeting of BJP-Sena workers here. Explaining his decision to align again with the BJP, he said, "I thought this is the election of the country. The government has taught a good lesson to Pakistan (in form of air strikes). "I recall the earlier governments of (Congress) which only condemned attacks on armed forces but did not do anything. Who would like to bring back such
Congress announces candidates for 8 Telangana LS seats
Battered by defections of its leg, the Congress in Telangana on Friday announced candidates for eight out of the state's 17 Lok Sabha seats.
Priyanka kicks off steamer poll campaign on Monday
With less than a month to go for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress General Secretary and eastern Uttar Pradesh in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will kick off a three-day poll campaign from her great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru's birthplace Prayagraj to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi by a steamer on March 18.
Cong releases third list of 18 candidates for LS polls
The Congress late Friday night released its third list of 18 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma from the Tura Parliamentary constituency. Among the third list of candidate declared by the Congress after a meeting of the party's central election committee are five from Assam, two from Meghalaya, one from Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland each, besides eight from Telangana. All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev has been fielded from the Silchar Lok Sabha seat and Gaurav Gogoi from the Kaliabor seat in Assam. Both are sitting members of Parliament and have been fielded from their respective constituencies. Former union ministers Vincent H Pala and Paban Singh Ghatowar have also been fielded from Shillong and Dibrugarh, Assam. Pala is also a sitting MP and has been fielded from the same seat. Senior SC leader P L Punia's son Tanuj Punia has been nominated to contest from Barabanki (SC) seat in Uttar Pradesh. The party has .
We don't have enough winnable candidates in Bengal: Dilip Ghosh
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Friday said his party does not have enough winnable candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in the state. "We have party leaders and workers who are working very hard. We had given them tickets in panchayat and assembly polls. But in case of fighting Lok Sabha polls we don't have enough candidates who can put up a fight and win the elections," Ghosh said. When asked whether resentment was brewing in the party ranks over leaders from other parties defecting and getting prominence in the BJP, Ghosh said,"There is no such thing in our party. If someone wants to come and join our party to be part of our development process, how can we stop it." His comments come in the backdrop of TMC MLA from Bhatpara Arjun Singh joining BJP on Thursday. Recently, a number of elected representatives from the TMC, the Congress and the CPI(M) have switched over to the BJP. Party president Amit Shah has set a target of winning 23 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Swaraj speaks with French counterpart on anti-terror cooperation
French Foreign Minister Le Drian Friday held a telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and informed her about France imposing sanctions on JeM chief Masood Azhar by freezing his assets. The External Affairs Ministry said that Drian informed Swaraj about the action taken by Paris against the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. France sanctioned Azhar at the national level by freezing his assets, the MEA said, days after China blocked a move to designate him as a global terrorist by the United Nations. The MEA said the French foreign minister also informed Swaraj that France has raised the issue with the European Union. "He reiterated that France has always been and will always be on India side in the fight against terrorism," the MEA said. On her part, Swaraj thanked Drian for France's "steadfast support" and said that India looked forward to continuing this cooperation on the anti-terrorism front. The ...
N.Korea may suspend denuclearisation talks with US
North Korea may suspend talks with the United States aimed at denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Friday.Addressing a press conference, Russian News Agency Tass quoted Hui as saying, "We have no intention to yield to the US demands [put forward at the Hanoi summit] in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind,"Pyongyang's decision came a day after officials from South Korea and the US met in Seoul on Thursday and discussed ways to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, amid a layer of sanctions imposed on the communist country.The US-South Korea working group met for the first time after the last month's meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, which ended in a stalemate with no agreement reached.In her statement, Hui blamed Washington for not reaching a consensus in Hanoi and said they (the US) "were too busy with pursuing their own ...
Recent India-Pak conflict arose due to terrorists that departed from Pakistan: Pompeo
The recent India-Pakistan conflict arose due to terrorists that departed from Pakistan, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, asking Islamabad to stop "harbouring" terrorists. He was referring to the recent escalation in tensions between the two nuclear states following the deadly February 14 attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that left 40 personnel dead. "We saw what happened with India, the conflict that arose there as a result of terrorists that departed from Pakistan. We need the Pakistanis to step up. They need to stop harbouring terrorists," Pompeo told Fox and Friends in an interview. He said the Trump administration has taken action against Pakistan that no other previous governments have taken. However, he said, "We need Pakistan to do more. They have to stop harbouring these terrorists.
India welcomes France's freeze of JeM chief's assets
India on Friday welcomed France's decision to freeze the assets of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar.
Mayawati to seek votes for Mulayam in Mainpuri
Burying her 25-year-old bitter feud with Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati will seek support for him at an election rally in Mainpuri on April 19, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said on Friday.