Page 179 - Politics
Tanker hit in Gulf attacks heads to port
A Japanese tanker, one of two vessels attacked in sensitive Gulf waters this week, was heading to port on Saturday, its owners said. The Kokuka Courageous was rocked by explosions as it passed through the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, threatening its highly flammable cargo of methanol. The resulting blaze was quickly extinguished, although one crew member suffered minor injuries. US President Donald Trump said the twin attack, which also targeted a tanker owned by Oslo-listed company Frontline, had Iran "written all over it". The Japanese tanker's Tokyo-based operator Kokuka confirmed the vessel was heading to port in the United Arab Emirates. "We still don't know if the tanker goes to Khor Fakkan or Fujairah as they are very close," said a spokesman, referring to two Emirati ports on the Gulf of Oman. As US-Iranian tensions soared, Trump dismissed Tehran's repeated threats that in case of conflict it could block the Hormuz Strait -- a narrow seaway vital to the world's oil ...
Maharashtra Cabinet expansion: RPI leader Avinash Mahtekar to take oath as cabinet minister tomo
Avinash Mahtekar, a senior Republican Party of India (RPI) leader, will take oath as a minister in Maharashtra government's cabinet expansion.The development has come to light just days after Minister for Finance and Planning in the Maharashtra government Sudhir Mungatiwar stated that Cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will ensure allies are satisfied.Mungantiwar's statement comes at a time when speculations are rife on an alleged rift between the Shiv Sena and BJP over portfolio allocation and Chief Minister post in Maharashtra.The Maharashtra Minister had assured that BJP will help candidates of its allies win from their respective seats in the upcoming assembly elections as per the directions of BJPPresident Amit Shah."The next Chief Minister will be from BJP and cabinet ministers from all our allied parties. This is what BJP President Amit Shah told us and this is what we are aiming for. Abki baar 220 paar (We will cross 220 seats this time)," Mungantiwar had ...
Kerala CM meets Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in Delhi
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari here to discuss the progress of ongoing road and infrastructure projects in the state.The meeting comes after Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here ahead of the fifth governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog slated to be held later in the day.V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and for Parliamentary Affairs, also attended the meeting.
Akhilesh meets governor over law and order situation
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav met Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Saturday and handed over a memorandum about the deteriorating law and order situation, farmers plight and the governments apathy towards issues related to the common man.
Kumaraswamy meets Modi in Delhi, congratulates him on becoming Prime Minister for second term
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and congratulated him on being re-elected for a second term.On the issue of the expansion of Karnataka Cabinet, Kumaraswamy told media that it is a political issue and he will manage it. "That is a political issue, leave it. We will manage it and there is nothing to worry," he said.Amidst coalitions troubles and decimation of the ruling combine in elections, Kumaraswamy on Friday expanded his Cabinet by inducting two independent MLAs.Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to R Shankar and H Nagesh at the Raj Bhavan where deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and others were also present.In Karnataka, BJP is the single largest party with 105 members in the 225 member assembly, while the ruling coalition of Congress and JD(U) has 117 members. 79 legislators belong to Congress, 37 from JD(S)and 1 from BSP.
Mamata, KCR to not attend NITI Aayog meeting
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is involved in a bitter fight with BJP and the Centre, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh skipped the NITI Aayog convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.These leaders had also skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi's oath-taking ceremony last month.Banerjee, in a letter to Modi last week, had said she would not be attending the Niti Ayog meeting as it would be "fruitless" while Amarinder Singh is said to be unwell.She said that NITI Ayog has no financial powers to support the state-run schemes and it is fruitless for her to attend the meeting."Given the fact that the NITI Ayog has no financial powers and the power to support State Plans, it is fruitless for me to attend the meeting of a body that is bereft of any financial powers," the letter reads.Prime Minister Modi will today chair the fifth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhavan.The ...
Manmohan Singh meets Congress Chief Ministers
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday met Congress Chief Ministers and discussed issues to be taken up at the meeting of the governing council of Niti Aayog later in the day.
US raises concern over increasing North Korean activities in Nepal
Voicing concern over growing business activities of North Koreans in Nepal, the US has asked the Nepal government not to entertain North Koreans in the country stating that Nepal as a member of the UN should respect the decision taken by the global body to impose sanctions on the country. Mark Lambert, special US envoy for North Korea, who is on a three-day visit to Nepal, made this appeal to lawmakers, senior government officials and ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Himalayn Times reported Saturday. He expressed concerns about growing business activities of North Koreans in Nepal. He also expressed fear that North Koreans might have been using Nepal as a base to commit cyber crimes, a lawmaker, who met Lambert, was quoting as saying. In the meeting Lambert told the lawmakers that the UN Security Council has placed sanctions on North Korea, and Nepal, as a member country, should respect this decision, the daily said. Nepal became a member country of .
Ahead of NITI Aayog, Manmohan Singh meets Congress Chief Ministers
Former Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday held a meeting with chief ministers of Congress-ruled states to discuss the issues to be taken up by them at the governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later today.In the meeting held at All India Congress Committee (AICC) here, Singh expressed concerns over various issues including the need for river rejuvenation and the importance of reviving the agriculture sector.Moreover, the forest amendment act to ease the lives of tribals and the need for investment in Naxal-affected areas were also discussed.Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who was part of the meeting, said, "We had a discussion on various issues pertaining to the agrarian and acute water crisis in several states. There should be a scheme that would address the crisis and a major step should be taken to rejuvenate those drying rivers and other water resources."Besides Nath, chief ministers including Ashok Gehlot, V ...
Pak will engage with India on 'basis of equality'; ball in New Delhi's court, says Pak FM Qureshi
Pakistan will hold talks with India on the "basis of equality" and in a "dignified manner", and it is up to New Delhi whether to engage with Islamabad to resolve all outstanding issues, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said. Qureshi, who was in the Kyrgyz capital to attend the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, said this while confirming exchange of plesantaries between Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi here on Friday on the sidelines of the multilateral meeting. "Yes, the meeting did take place, there was a handshake and exchange of pleasantries," Qureshi told Geo News. He accused the Indian government of being in the "election mindset" to keep their "vote bank intact". "Pakistan has said what it had to," Qureshi said. "So India has to make this decision, we are neither in haste, nor troubled. When India prepares itself, it would find us prepared, but we will hold talks on the basis of equality, in a dignified ...
J-K: People residing in areas adjoining IB thank Centre for approving reservation bill
People residing near the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district have thanked the central government for approving a bill to provide for job reservation to them on the lines of the concession enjoyed by those living along the Line of Control.The Union Cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has earlier this week cleared the decks for approval of The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which will now be introduced in Parliament in the forthcoming session.Hailing the government's decision, a local resident said, "Every time firing is done from the other side of the border, we are forced to leave this place. Our children's studies are affected badly due to this, our crops get damaged and our business comes to a halt. Government does provide us help but still we have to suffer a lot. We thank the central government for helping us out. If people here will get reservation in jobs then it will help us a lot as it is difficult ..
Vinayak B. Raut named Shiv Sena group leader in LS
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday appointed Vinayak B. Raut as the group leader of Shiv Sena's Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.
KCR to skip NITI Aayog meeting
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting today in the national capital.More details are currently awaited.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today chair the fifth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhavan.Ministers of Defence, Home Affairs, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, as ex-officio members; Vice Chairman, Members, CEO and senior officers of NITI Aayog; and few other ministers will be attending the event as special invitees to the Governing Council.Special invitees to the fifth meeting of the NITI Aayog include the National Security Adviser, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Minister of Jal Shakti and the Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.The council, which includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of union territories, several union ministers and senior government officials, reviews the ...
Doctors at Delhi's AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital call off strike
The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on Saturday called off its day-long strike announced in support of the protesting medicos in West Bengal
UK accuses Iran of attacking tankers in Gulf of Oman
The United Kingdoms on Friday accused the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of carrying out the attack on the two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier this week."It is almost certain that a branch of the Iranian military - the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - attacked the two tankers on 13 June. No other state or non-state actor could plausibly have been responsible," Sputnik quoted a statement issued by UK Foreign office.On Thursday, two oil tankers-- Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair and the Panama-flagged Kokuka Courageous-- were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz. Shortly after the incident, the United States claimed that Tehran was responsible for the attack, a statement that was denounced by the latter earlier today.To back its claim, the US released a blurry video which, the country believed, showed the boat crew of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers shortly after the attack.The statement issued ..
'Jungle-raj' prevailing in Uttar Pradesh, wake up state govt: Akhilesh to Governor
Alleging that "jungle-raj" was prevailing in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav met Governor Ram Naik on Saturday over the poor law and order situation and asked him to "wake up" the Yogi Adityanath government as he used to do during the SP regime. "The Governor used to intervene on law and order earlier (during SP regime). It was said that there were only Yadav officers...Now there is hardly any Yadav SP or DM. We have requested him (Governor) to wake up the government and give direction to control the prevailing 'jungle-raj'," the SP chief told reporters after meeting the Governor. He, along with senior party leader Ahmad Hasan, gave a memorandum to the Governor and sought his intervention to check deteriorating law and order situation in the state. "Bar council chairperson is being murdered in her chamber. There is murder in jail...How these are happening? The state government is responsible," he said. Uttar Pradesh Bar Council president Darvesh Singh was ...
Hong Kong on edge, more protests over extradition bill loom
Pressure on Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam was mounting Saturday, with signs emerging that she may delay an unpopular extradition bill that has drawn hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest. Lam was expected to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT), the government said in an announcement. It gave no details about what she planned to say. Another mass protest was expected on Sunday, after clashes that turned violent on Wednesday, leaving about 80 people injured including 22 police officers. The standoff between police and protesters in the former British colony is Hong Kong's most severe political crisis since the Communist Party-ruled mainland took control in 1997 with a promise not to interfere with the city's civil liberties and courts. Lam, chosen by Beijing to be the highest-level local official, is caught between her Communist Party bosses and a public anxious to protect the liberties they enjoy as a former British colony. Opponents want her to ..
Social Media goes blue to show solidarity for Sudan
Social media users are turning their profile pictures blue to express solidarity with Sudan in the wake of the recent military crackdown in the country that left at least 113 pro-democratic protestors dead in capital Khartoum.One of the protestors shot in the incident was 26-year-old Mohamed Hashim Mattar, who became a symbol for #BlueforSudan social media campaign. Reportedly, blue was Mattar's favourite colour and his friends and family had put up this colour on their profiles to honour his death, reported CNN.It soon spread across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with stars like Rihanna putting up the colour and using the hashtag to spread awareness about the ongoing situation in Sudan."Once he was murdered, his friends and family changed their profile picture to match his, and eventually other people began to join in," Al Jazeera quoted Mattar's friend, Shahd Khidir, as saying. "Now [the colour] represents all of the Sudanese people who ..
Trump blames Iran for tanker attacks but calls for talks
President Donald Trump is blaming Iran for attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. But he's also hoping that implicit US threats to use force will yield talks with the Islamic Republic as the Pentagon considers beefing up defenses in the Persian Gulf area. A day after explosions blew holes in two oil tankers just outside Iran's territorial waters, rattling international oil markets, the administration seemed caught between pressure to punish Iran and reassure Washington's Gulf Arab allies without drawing the U.S. closer to war. Trump said Friday on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that "Iran did it." And the U.S. military released video it said showed Iran's Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from one of the oil tankers.
US concerned about N. Korean activities in Nepal
Amidst reports of growing activities of North Koreans in Nepal, Mark Lambert, the special US envoy for Pyongyang, has asked the Himalayan nation's government and politicians not to entertain North Koreans in the country.