Page 1749 - Politics
Pakistan Foreign Minister calls up Kashmiri separatist leader Geelani
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday called up hard-line Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, in yet another provocative act on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu and Kashmir.During the phone call, Qureshi discussed the situation in Kashmir with Geelani, according to ARY channel.Geelani is the second Kashmiri separatist leader whom Qureshi called up in the last few days.Earlier, he had a telephonic conversation Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.India took strong objection to that phone call and Pakistan's High Commissioner in New Delhi Sohail Mahmood was summoned by Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale to lodge a protest.Gokhale bluntly told Mahmood that Pakistan should desist from such provocative actions, failing which there will be "implications".Significantly, Qureshi's phone call to Geelani came just a day ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to the state.Prime Minister Modi will launch several developmental projects ...
Maduro vows to defend Venezuela
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to defend his homeland as the country has been embroiled in a political turmoil since National Assembly leader Juan Guaido claimed himself interim President.
Gujarat Congress MLA Asha Patel quits ahead of polls
In a jolt to the Congress in Gujarat ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Asha Patel resigned Saturday, accusing the party of factionalism and divisive politics. Patel, member of the Legislative Assembly from Unjha in Mehsana district, resigned as legislator and also quit the party. In her resignation letter to party president Rahul Gandhi, she said, "On one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Section, while the Congress is trying to create a rift between different castes here." She submitted her resignation as MLA to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi in Gandhinagar Saturday morning. The Speaker accepted the resignation, sources said. Unjha is one of the seven Assembly segments within the Mahesana Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by the BJP. Of the seven Assembly segments, the BJP holds four while the Congress holds three, including Unjha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hometown Vadnagar comes under the ...
C'garh journalist covering BJP meet thrashed by partymen
A journalist of a Raipur-based website was allegedly beaten up Saturday by BJP functionaries while he was recording a meeting of the party's district-level meeting here, police said. Based on the complaint by journalist Suman Pandey, who sustained minor injuries to his head, a case has been registered against four persons, including BJP Raipur district president Rajeev Agrawal, a police official told PTI. He identified the other three accused as local BJP office-bearers Vijay Vyas, Utkarsh Trivedi and Deena Dongre, adding that no arrests had been made in this connection. The accused were booked under section section 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of IPC, the official said. Pandey's complaint alleges that he was thrashed when he was covering the BJP meeting Saturday afternoon at its Ekatma Parisar office here, adding that leaders there were involved in a scuffle among themselves when the ...
Mobile internet services suspended in Srinagar ahead of Modi's visit
Mobile internet services were suspended in Srinagar on Sunday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's arrival here, officials said.
Rahul Gandhi to address 'Jan Akanksha Rally' at Patna's Gandhi Maidan today
Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address the 'Jan Akanksha Rally' here on Sunday, the first public meeting organised by the party at Patna's Gandhi Maidan almost three decades. Earlier in 1989, Rahul's father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had addressed the rally in Bihar at the same venue.However, Congress' performance in the state has not been well and it has been confined to a small partnership in the alliances from time to time.Interestingly, the party workers of the state will be hearing the speech of the Congress president after three decades.Earlier, Congress leader and MLC Prem Chand Mishra had said that the party has invited top opposition leaders from across the country to attend the rally."It will be a huge rally as the party is holding it after 28 years without any alliance. All party workers, MPs or MLAs have geared up to make this rally a big success. We have invited all Opposition leaders to attend this rally in Patna. People of Bihar have the right to know .
Venezuela's Maduro calls for early legislative elections
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro has threatened to bring forward parliamentary elections in a bid to sideline opposition leader Juan Guaido's challenge to his authority. Guaido is the parliament president but declared himself acting president of the country on January 23. The National Assembly head led a mass opposition street protest in Caracas on Saturday demanding Maduro resign and hold new presidential elections. But speaking at a rival pro-regime rally celebrating the 20th anniversary of the socialist revolution led by his predecessor Hugo Chavez, Maduro said he was in favor of a Constituent Assembly proposal to bring forward to this year parliamentary elections set for the end of 2020. "I agree and I will hold to this decision," said Maduro, who was making his first public appearance in six months. "They (the opposition) want to bring forward elections, let's have elections," he said defiantly. Four major European nations - Britain, France, Germany and Spain - have said they ..
US calls on Venezuela's military to join Guaido camp
A top White House official has called on Venezuela's military to follow the lead of a general who sided with opposition leader Juan Guaido against President Nicolas Maduro. "The US calls on all military members to follow General Yanez's lead, and to protect the peaceful protestors supporting democracy," National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a tweet on Saturday. He was referring to Major General Francisco Yanez who posted a video of himself rejecting Maduro's "dictatorial" authority and recognising Guaido, the National Assembly head, as the acting president. Yanez, who is strategic planning director of the Venezuelan air force's high command, is the highest-ranking active duty officer to turn against Maduro since Guaido declared himself acting president January 23, promising to organize presidential elections.
Russia will suspend INF Treaty, says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced that Russia will suspend its participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in a mirror response to the US' decision.
Virginia governor refuses to resign over racist photo
Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of the US state of Virginia, reportedly changed his story Saturday about appearing in a racist 1984 yearbook photo and insists he will not resign from office. Northam called several state Democratic officials to say that he isn't one of the men in a photo from his university yearbook depicting two people -- one in blackface, the other dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, according to various US media reports. The Virginia governor, who initially acknowledged he was one of them in the picture and apologized, told local media he will make a statement from the governor's mansion in the state capital Richmond later Saturday. On Friday, a website published a photograph from Northam's medical school yearbook "in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive," the governor said in a statement soon after the picture surfaced. "I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and ...
Venezuela's Guaido calls new anti-Maduro demonstration on Feb 12
Venezuela's self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido on Saturday announced a new street demonstration for February 12 to keep up the pressure on embattled socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. Speaking to thousands of opposition supporters during a mass protest in the east of Caracas, Guaido urged protesters to "stay in the streets," announcing two new demonstrations: one for Youth Day on February 10 and another at an unspecified time related to the entry of humanitarian aid that he earlier said would arrive from Colombia and Brazil.
Centre to use technology to seal borders with Bangladesh: Rajnath
The Central government has decided to use a new technology to seal India's international borders with Bangladesh passing through Assam and West Bengal by putting in place a comprehensive integrated border management system, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said here on Saturday.
Central Africa reaches peace deal with rebels: Govt
The Central African Republic government and 14 armed groups struck a deal Saturday to end years of fighting that has killed thousands, the parties and a mediator said. The deal, the seventh since 2012, was announced on Twitter by the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera just a day after the African Union and UN-sponsored talks in Khartoum were suspended amid disagreements over amnesty. "A peace agreement has been reached," said the tweet. "This agreement should be initialled tomorrow (Sunday) and its signing will take place in Bangui in a few days," the Tweet added. Also on Twitter, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui confirmed the breakthrough, adding some details of the pact still had to be ironed out. "I am humbled to announce that with the exemplary cooperation I received from both the Government of the CAR and the 14 armed groups, we have secured a peace agreement today in the interest of the people of CAR." Aboubakar Sidik, spokesman for .
PNB manager arrested for accepting bribe in lieu of Mudra loan
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB) after he was caught red-handed by the CBI sleuths accepting a bribe of Rs 40,000 here on Saturday.According to the information, he has demanded a bribe of Rs 50,000 for sanctioning "MUDRA loan" worth Rs 5 lakh from one person. However, the deal was finalised at Rs 40 thousand.The CBI has also raided his office and home and seized several documents.
Egypt army says kills 8 jihadists in desert air strikes
Egypt's military said Saturday it had killed eight jihadists in air strikes in the Western Desert, as it leads a major campaign against the Islamic State group. "The air force targeted the terrorist base... the completed operation has killed eight very dangerous terrorists", the military said in a statement. The military said "other people" had been arrested during the operation, but did not give details. "The terrorist cell .... planned hostile actions that aimed to destabilise the country's security and stability", the army said, without elaborating. Egypt launched an operation dubbed "Sinai 2018" a year ago, in a bid to dislodge IS from the northeastern Sinai Peninsula and other parts of the country, including the Western Desert bordering Libya. The security forces regularly announce that alleged jihadists have been killed, but rarely identify the deceased, the groups they support, or the operations they were purportedly planning. It is impossible to verify information on military .
Venezuela's Guaido says humanitarian aid to come from Colombia and Brazil
Venezuela's self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido said Saturday the opposition will start gathering humanitarian aid from Colombia and Brazil and urged the military to let it into the crisis-wracked country. The opposition leader, who is challenging the authority of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, said the aid would be gathered in three places: Cucuta in Colombia, somewhere in Brazil and a Caribbean island. The 35-year-old National Assembly president, speaking at a mass opposition rally in the east of Caracas, also announced the creation of a "global coalition for the humanitarian aid and Venezuela's freedom," without giving more details. He said "what we need for our people to survive" would be gathered "in the coming days" before adding: "You, soldier... have the decision in your hands" to allow it in or not. Maduro has so far refused to authorize the entry of humanitarian aid, arguing that it would precede a military intervention by those countries backing Guaido's claim
Iraq and Jordan launch oil, trade deals
Iraq resumed oil deliveries to neighbouring Jordan on Saturday as the premiers of both countries met along their shared border as part of a bid to boost trade. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi met with his Jordanian counterpart Omar al-Razzaz at the Treibil border crossing, referred to as Al-Karameh in Jordan, which reopened in August 2017. The only crossing between the two countries was shuttered in 2014 as the Islamic State group swept across Iraq, but was reopened after Iraqi forces pushed back the jihadists. Baghdad declared victory against IS in late 2017. On Saturday, the two sides agreed that Iraq would provide Jordan with 10,000 barrels of crude a day transported by truck from oil-rich Kirkuk province, Jordan's official Petra news agency said. Transport costs would be taken into account under the deal, according to Petra, and the possibility of Baghdad granting discounts to Amman has upset some Iraqis. Amman is pushing to meet its hydrocarbon needs through a pipeline ...
Ignoring 'dissent', govt names former MP police chief Rishi Kumar Shukla as CBI director
Ending speculation, the government on Saturday appointed former Madhya Pradesh Police chief Rishi Kumar Shukla as the director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), weeks after the controversial removal of Alok Kumar Verma from the post. The appointment came amid Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who was part of the three-member selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising objection. Shukla, a 1983 batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, will have a fixed tenure of two years, an order issued by Personnel Ministry said. He is at present working as the chairman of Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation in Bhopal after being removed from the post of director general of Madhya Pradesh Police a few days ago by the Congress government in the state. Shukla will take charge from M Nageshwara Rao, who is working as the interim chief of the probe agency following ouster of Verma. Shukla has never worked in the CBI. The appointment of Shukla triggered a fresh war ..
India takes up kidnapping of Indian national with Ukraine
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday that India has taken up with Ukraine the case of kidnapping of an Indian national in that country.
Rajasthan Congress duping youths: BJP
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress-led Rajasthan government of duping youngsters of the state by making false promises.