Page 2188 - Politics
Sudan President becomes first Arab leader to visit Syria since civil war
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Syria's capital Damascus, the first Arab leader to do so since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, state news agency SANA reported.
TN govt mulls challenging NGT order on Sterlite plant in SC
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami reiterated that the state government will knock the doors of the Supreme Court against the order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) to reopen the Vedanta Group's Sterlite plant at Tuticorin.Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister said, "Sterlite is a private company. Since they have violated the law, the government has closed it. The NGT's verdict has asked to open the Sterlite Company. We state government will approach the Supreme Court against the verdict."On December 15, the green tribunal set aside Tamil Nadu government's order for closing Sterlite plant.NGT directed the state government to roll-out fresh orders for the renewal of consent for Vedanta's copper smelter plant within a span of three weeks. It also directed the firm to spend Rs 100 crore in a period of three long years for the welfare of the people residing in nearby areas."We allow this appeal, set aside the impugned orders and direct the TNPCB (Tamil Nadu Pollution ...
Romania slams EU ahead of taking rotating presidency
Leaders of Romania's left-wing ruling majority on Sunday accused the European Union of "discriminatory" treatment, two weeks before the eastern European country takes over the bloc's rotating presidency. "Romania will no longer accept being treated as a second-rate country", Liviu Dragnea, leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party, told hundreds of party members in Bucharest. "We love and respect them (EU leaders), but we want to be entitled to our own opinions", he continued. Romania, one of the EU's poorest members, takes over the six-month presidency -- which coordinates the European Union's agenda and meetings -- from Austria in January. But doubts have been raised about whether it should do so given tensions between President Klaus Iohannis and the Social Democrat government led by Viorica Dancila, a former MEP who Dragnea cherry-picked for the role. Last month the European Commission adopted a highly critical report on the judicial reforms brought forward by Romania's ...
Sudan's Bashir visits Damascus, meets Assad: Syrian presidency
Sudan's President Omar al-Bachir visited Damascus on Sunday, the Syrian presidency said, in his first such visit to the war-torn country since the start of the conflict. "President Omar Hassan al-Bashir... arrived this afternoon on a visit to the Syrian Arab Republic," the presidency said. President Bashar al-Assad went to meet his Sudanese counterpart at the Damascus airport on Saturday afternoon, the presidency said. They discussed the "situations and crises faced by many Arab countries", it said. The two leaders also stressed the need to build "new principles for inter-Arab relations based on the respect of the sovereignty of countries and non-interference in internal affairs". The Arab League suspended Syria's membership at the end of 2011 following months of brutal repression of anti-regime demonstrations and an opposition movement supported by Gulf monarchies. A Sudanese official late Sunday said that Bashir had returned to Khartoum "from an important visit" to the Syrian ...
Trump backs child separation policy, slams Democrats' 'far worse' take on the practice
US President Donald Trump vocally lent his support to the separation of children from their parents at the border for migrant families, while slamming the Democrats for their "far worse" handling of the situation under former US President Barack Obama's leadership."The Democrats policy of Child Separation on the Border during the Obama Administration was far worse than the way we handle it now. Remember the 2014 picture of children in cages - the Obama years. However, if you don't separate, FAR more people will come. Smugglers use the kids!" Trump tweeted on Sunday.The Child Separation Policy under Trump has been under constant criticism by national media, who slammed the practice as a human rights violation.The Trump-led government had announced the family separation efforts in May this year. The subsequent outcry led to Trump ending the practice on June 20, according to The Washington Post. Following this, a US District judge, Dana M Sabraw, issued a reunification order and set a ...
Iran's private sector to begin construction projects in Syria
: Iran's private sector will undertake construction projects in Syria, Amir Amini, the Iranian deputy minister of Road and Urban Development was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Lawyer says Mueller can interview Trump only 'over my dead body'
A lawyer for Donald Trump Sunday pushed back Sunday against reports that the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election might be seeking to interview the president, saying it would happen only "over my dead body". Rudy Giuliani said special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors could not be trusted to deal fairly with the president, suggesting they had trapped another witness into committing perjury. Asked on "Fox News Sunday" about reports Mueller now wants a face-to-face interview to follow up on Trump's submission of written answers, Giuliani shot back: "Good luck. Good luck." "Over my dead body." Mueller's 19-month-long probe into possible Russian collusion with the Trump election campaign has led to dozens of indictments for federal crimes and several guilty pleas or convictions. Regarding a separate federal inquiry into hush-money payments by Trump to two women alleging sexual encounters with him, Giuliani said they did not violate federal ..
69.39% voter turnout in Haryana civic polls
Braving cold, 69.39 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the elections to five municipal corporations and two municipal committees in Haryana Sunday, officials said. The polls were held amid tight security arrangements and passed off peacefully, they said. The five municipal corporations where polling was held were Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar, and the two municipal committees were Jakhal Mandi in Fatehabad and Pundri in Kaithal. The polling began at 7:30 am and ended at 4.30 pm. The results will be out on December 19. Heavy polling was recorded in the two municipal committees of Jakhal Mandi (89.5 per cent) and Pundri (82.1 per cent). In the municipal corporations, 62.7 per cent polling was registered in Hisar, 61.8 per cent in Karnal, 62 per cent in Panipat, 62.4 per cent in Rohtak and 65.2 per cent in Yamuna Nagar, State Election Commissioner Dalip Singh said. However, the poll percentage in these corporations dropped slightly in comparison with the ...
DMK chief Stalin vows to make Rahul the next PM
In a dramatic assertion, DMK president M K Stalin Sunday vowed to make Congress chief Rahul Gandhi the country's next prime minister and lauded him for having the ability to defeat the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. He was speaking at a rally followed by the unveiling of a bronze statue of DMK patriarch and his father late M Karunanidhi at party headquarters Anna Arivalayam here. "In 2018, on the occasion of unveiling Thalaivar Kalaignar statue, I propose, we will install a new prime minister in Delhi. We will build a new India, as the Son of Thalaivar Kalaignar, I propose the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Tamil Nadu," he said. The statue unveiling event brought together key opposition parties of the DMK, Congress, TDP and CPI(M), to reaffirm their resolve to dislodge the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. Stalin said his proposal for making Rahul the prime minister was akin to his father's support to Indira Gandhi and later to the Congress party under the ...
Thousands protest in Turkey against cost of living
Thousands of people turned out to protest the rising cost of living in Turkey at a demonstration in Diyarbakir in the southeast of the country, an AFP journalist reported. There was a significant police presence in the Kurd-majority region for the march, which was organised by the KESK, a confederation of public service workers unions, in response to sharp price rises in recent months. They were also demanding the reinstatement of tens of thousands of public sectors who were sacked after the failed July 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey's economy has been suffering from the plummeting value of the Turkish Lira, a casualty of the diplomatic strains with the United States this summer and of market nervousness towards the government's economic policy. Inflation surged to 25.24 percent in October, a 15-year high, before dropping back to 21.62 percent in November -- but ordinary people are feeling it in their pockets. Some of the demonstrators praised the "yellow ...
Many oppn leaders expected to attend swearing-in of Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath, Bhupesh Baghel
A host of opposition leaders are expected to attend the swearing-in of Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel as chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively, on Monday. While Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be attending all the three oath-taking ceremonies, other prominent opposition leaders likely to attend the events include former prime minister H D Devegowda and Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah. While Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be attending the events along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, other leaders invited include AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal, TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi and LJD leader Sharad Yadav. Sources said the Congress has also invited the Aam Aadmi Party and its leader Sanjay Singh is likely to attend the events. Among other opposition leaders who have been invited and are likely to attend the ceremonies include JMM's Hemant Soren, ...
Karunanidhi defended, Modi govt attacking institutions: Rahul
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday claimed that while late Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi defended the institutions of the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attacking the voice, culture, institutions of Tamil Nadu and India."While Karunanidhi Ji defended institutions of this country, today we have a government that is attacking voice, culture, institutions of Tamil Nadu and our country. In memory of Karunanidhi Ji, all voices in India are going to get together and defeat the BJP in the next election," he said while addressing a public rally here.The Gandhi scion asserted that in order to save the institutions of the country, it is essential to defeat the BJP, thus reiterating the need for all voices of the nation to come together."We are not going to allow the destruction of the idea of India, the destructions of our institutions- the Supreme Court, the Reserve Bank of India, the Election Commission. We are going .
Congress only interested in incapacitating armed forces: Ram Madhav
The Congress party is only interested in incapacitating the country's armed forces, and defeating security preparedness of our country, said BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday in Bengaluru.Speaking to ANI in Bengaluru, Madhav said: "Why JPC? Let us discuss in front of 542 Parliamentarians. Why do they want to discuss this within a group of 30 JPC members? We are ready for a full-house debate. They are only interested in incapacitating our armed forces, defeating security preparedness of our country."Madhav's observation comes a day after the Indian Youth Congress workers marched to the India Gate demanding the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Rafale jet issue.On November 14, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a batch of petitions calling for a probe into the controversial Rafale deal by which the Centre procured 36 fighter jets for Rs 58,000 crore from French company Dassault Aviation."Perception of individuals cannot be the basis of fishing
Many oppn leaders have reservations against naming anyone as PM candidate: Sources
A number of opposition leaders are understood to have reservations over naming any prime ministerial nominee for the opposition alliance for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, sources in the opposition camp said. This came on a day DMK president M K Stalin said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi should be made the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition as he has the ability to defeat the BJP. "A number of opposition leaders are understood to have reservations against naming anyone as the prime ministerial face. The SP, TDP, BSP, TMC, and NCP disagree with Stalin's announcement. It is premature. The PM name is to be decided only after the Lok Sabha results," a top opposition leader said. DMK chief M K Stalin Sunday made a strong pitch for Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, saying the Gandhi scion had the ability to defeat the "fascist" Narendra Modi government. Stalin's plea is in line with the tradition of his late father M ...
Pak PM Imran condemns civilians' death in Kashmir
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday condemned the killing of seven civilians in Kashmir's Pulwama and threatened to raise the issue at the UN. Seven civilians died Saturday when security forces opened fire at an unruly mob that thronged the site of an encounter in south Kashmir's Pulwama district in which three terrorists and an army man were killed. In Srinagar, the army urged people not to march towards the headquarters of its Chinar Corps on the call of separatists to protest the killing of the civilians. Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said the responsibility of such deaths lies with separatists and supporters of militants, including the mainstream political parties. Khan took to Twitter to condemn the incident, saying only dialogue and not violence and killings will resolve this conflict. He threatened to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN and said the country will demand that the UN Security Council fulfil its plebiscite commitment in Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, ...
Maldives committed to protect foreign investment: President
Maldives is committed to provide protection and legal cover to foreign investments in the Indian Ocean island nation, the new Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said here on Sunday.
Amarinder Singh admitted to hospital for kidney stone removal
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was admitted to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here on Sunday. He will undergo a kidney stone removal procedure.
Karnataka CM to attend oath-taking ceremonies of Gehlot, Kamal Nath
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Congress' newly elected leaders Ashok Gehlot as Rajasthan Chief Minister in Jaipur, and Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in Bhopal on Monday, an official said on Sunday.
Jharkhand has various skill development programmes of global
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das Sunday said the state government is focusing on using new modes and means of training which can empower the youth to gainfully migrate to Dubai and other GCC countries. "The state has started various skill development programmes which meet the global standards of training and assessment. Jharkhand is also focusing on using new modes and means of training which can empower todays youth to gainfully migrate to Dubai and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries," Das said in Dubai, according to an official release. The chief minister is heading a high-level delegation which is on a three-day visit to the UAE to attract investments in the state. Das said, "Jharkhand is progressing rapidly on the path of development, the state is second in the country in terms of growth rate, fourth in ease of doing business, has been awarded best performing state in the cleanliness survey, number one in terms of improvement in health ...
N.Korea slams US' new sanctions on its officials
A research institute under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea on Sunday criticised the US for imposing sanctions against North Korean officials.