Page 2340 - Politics
Tributes for former US president George HW Bush
Tributes have poured for former US president George HW Bush following his death on Friday at the age of 94. "George HW Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for." -- his son, former president George W. Bush "Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service." -- US President Donald Trump "I am profoundly grateful for every minute I spent with President Bush and will always hold our friendship as one of my life's greatest gifts." -- former US president Bill Clinton, who defeated Bush in the 1992 election. "We had the chance to work together during the time of enormous changes. And this was a dramatic time which called for huge responsibility from everyone. The result was the end of the Cold War and the arms race... He was a true partner." -- former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev "George H.W. Bush's life ..
Gorbachev hails Bush for role in ending Cold War
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday praised former US president George HW Bush for his role in ending the Cold War, calling him a "true partner". Gorbachev, 87, expressed his "deep condolences" to the family of the 41st US president and the entire American nation. Bush died at age 94 on Friday, his family has announced. The two men famously declared an end to the Cold War at the Malta Summit in December, 1989, weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with Bush declaring support for Gorbachev's "perestroika" reforms. "A lot of my memories are linked with this man. We had the chance to work to gether during the time of enormous changes," Gorbachev said in comments carried by Interfax news agency. "And this was a dramatic time which called for huge responsibility from everyone. The result was the end of the Cold War and the arms race." The last Soviet leader praised Bush senior for his contribution "to this historic achievement". "He was a true partner," he added. In 1991,
People will throw TRS govt out after polls: Congress leader
: Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jitin Prasad Saturday alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government in Telangana has failed on all parameters in the last five years and said the Congress party would form the next government in the state. Addressing a press conference here, he said the TRS chief and caretaker Chief Minister of the state K Chandrasekhar Rao was running a dictatorial regime. It has become clear that the people would throw the TRS government out as it belongs to one family and it was ruling the state as if it were a private limited company, the Congress leader said. Whatever the state government had promised for youth, the downtrodden and the minorities, has not been delivered, besides there were no jobs and farmers were in distress, Prasad said. The people were looking forward to Congress rule after the upcoming elections and it would deliver what the party has promised, he said. Prices of petroleum products have soared to an ...
Hazare warns of fast from Jan 30 if Lokpal not appointed
Social activist Anna Hazare said Saturday that he will launch a hunger strike from January 30 next year at his village if the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal is not appointed. In a letter to Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, Hazare accused the NDA government of making excuses to avoid appointment of Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states. The Narendra Modi government first said that Lokpal could not be appointed as there was no Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (who is to be part of the selection process) and later it said there was no eminent jurist in the selection committee, Hazare said. He sat on a fast at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 23 this year but called it off later when the PMO gave a written assurance that his demand would be fulfilled, he said. He then set a deadline of October 2, Hazare said. "On October 2, my agitation was to start from my village Ralegan Siddhi, but Maharashtra chief minister and other ...
Another UK govt minister quits over Brexit deal
British government minister Sam Gyimah quit late Friday over Prime Minister Theresa May's "naive" Brexit plan, dealing her another blow in her fight to pass it through parliament. The universities and science minister is the seventh member of May's government to quit since she brought back the draft Withdrawal Agreement from Brussels. Gyimah, who voted to remain in the EU, said the deal was "not in the British national interest" and that voting for it would set Britain "up for failure". "Britain will end up worse off, transformed from rule makers into rule takers," he wrote on Facebook. "It is a democratic deficit and a loss of sovereignty the public will rightly never accept," he added. He did not rule out the possibility of supporting a second referendum, saying "we shouldn't dismiss out of hand the idea of asking the people again what future they want". Gyimah said Britain's exclusion from the EU's Galileo programme because of Brexit was a "clarion call", saying it was "only a ...
Imran Khan govt has no vision: PML-N
Pakistan is witnessing downward economic and social indicators as the ruling party has no "vision" and "capability", opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said, in a scathing attack on Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government that has just completed its 100 days in office. The PML-N leaders issued a White Paper late Friday, a day after Prime Minister Khan celebrated 100 days of his government and asserted that the country was put on path to progress. In the white paper on the 100 days of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led administration, the PML-N criticised the government for "spending millions of rupees on advertisements in newspapers on its 100-day programme" and halting developmental construction projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Dawn reported. The USD 50 billion CPEC, launched in 2015, is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's resource-rich Muslim-majority Xinjiang province with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port.
Cong delegation meets EC; demands more caution around strong rooms where EVMs are stored
A Congress delegation met the Election Commission Saturday and raised concern over the security of EVMs inside strong rooms and their handling during the counting process in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the alleged deletion of voters in Uttar Pradesh. Talking to reporters after meeting the Election Commission, Congress leader and AICC's Chhattisgarh in-charge P L Punia said suspicious activities were being reported in the Dhamtari Assembly seat in the state. He claimed suspicious people with laptops and mobile phones were seen around the strong rooms, where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were kept after the voting, on the pretext of repairing the CCTVs. The party has also lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer in Raipur regarding this, Punia said. Congress MP Vivek Tankha claimed there was no electricity in a strong room in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal city for over an hour during which the CCTV cameras had also stopped functioning. He also claimed that 48 hours ...
Punjab minister seeks Sidhu's resignation
A day after cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu's remark on Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, a senior Punjab minister Saturday sought his resignation from the state cabinet. The resignation demand came even as Sidhu backtracked on his claim in Hyderabad that he attended the groundbreaking ceremony in Pakistan for the Kartarpur corridor after Congress president Rahul Gandhi asked him to go. "Rahul Gandhi didn't ask me to go, I went on (Pakistan Prime Minister) Imran Khan's personal invite," Sidhu tweeted. On Friday, Sidhu had said Gandhi was his 'captain', which was seen as a dig at Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, a former captain in the Army. "If he does not consider Capt Amarinder as his captain then he should resign on moral grounds from the cabinet and do whatever work is assigned to him by Rahul Gandhi," Punjab cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said here.
CBI faults Andhra for denying permission to act in corruption case
The CBI has taken a strong exception to the Andhra Pradesh government denying permission to carry out raids in a corruption case and leaking a confidential letter relating to it.
Mexico set to inaugurate new president Lopez Obrador
Anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will be sworn in as Mexico's next president on Saturday -- a dramatic change in direction for a country fed up with corruption, poverty and crime. The man widely known as "AMLO" is promising a sweeping "transformation" after 89 years of government by the same two parties. And he appears to have the mandate he needs to deliver it: he won a landslide victory in the July 1 elections, together with strong majorities in both houses of Congress for his coalition -- led by the party he founded just four years ago, Morena. It was the biggest win for any president, and the first for a leftist, since Mexico transitioned to a multi-party democracy in 2000. But the sharp-tongued, silver-haired leader inherits a sticky set of problems from his unpopular predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto. They include endemic corruption, gruesome violence fueled by the war on drug cartels, and the caravan of 6,000 Central American migrants camped at the ...
Raninder first Indian to be elected international shooting body's vice-president
Raninder Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of the four vice-presidents of the International Shooting Sport Federation. The 51-year-old Raninder also heads the National Rifle Association of India. In the elections held on Friday during the General Assembly meeting in Munich, Raninder secured 161 votes to make it to the coveted position. Kevin Kilty of Ireland received 162 votes, USA's Robert Mitchell got 153 votes and China's Wang Yifu was re-elected with 146 votes. Raninder said, "More than myself I am happy that this was a moment of great honour for the country. India's efforts in growing the sport have been widely recognised and this is a reflection of this recognition. "I thank all those members who voted for me as well as my other elected colleagues and promise to do my level best to live up to their aspirations. "I also want to thank my team at NRAI, the Government of India and the entire shooting fraternity, without whose continuous support and best wishes, ...
'After ISI report, EC to decide on raising polling stations where VVPAT slips matched with results'
Amid demands by parties to increase the number of polling stations where paper trail machine slips are matched with EVM results, outgoing Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat has said the poll panel will take a final call on the issue after the Indian Statistical Institute submits a report on it. "They will be submitting the report after these five assembly elections and then commission will be able to take a call," he told PTI. Asked whether the number of polling stations where slips are matched will increase, he said, "That I can't say, whether it will be increasing, status quo or decreasing. It will depend on the report." Rawat said they have been tasked with that "for 99.99 per cent confidence level with near zero error", what should be the optimum sample size. Parties parties have demanded that 10 to 30 per cent paper trail slips per constituency be counted to ensure there is no rigging and to assure voters that the electronic voting machines are working fine and have not been ..
Former AP Min Ravela Kishore Babu joins Jana Sena
A day after he quit from the ruling TDP in Andhra Pradesh, Former minister Ravela Kishore Babu joined the Jana Sena party Saturday. Formally welcoming Ravela into the party, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan said the latter rendered good services to the Scheduled Castes. Ravela quit the ruling Telugu Desam Party and also his Assembly membership Friday. The development came as a jolt to the TDP as Ravela was the first legislator to walk out of the ruling party since 2014. A first time legislator, Ravela served as social welfare minister in the Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet from June 8, 2014 to April 1, 2017. He was sacked for non-performance and his controversial behaviour. He represented Prathipadu Assembly constituency in Guntur district but never maintained cordial relations with the local party leaders. Speaking after admitting Ravela into his party, Kalyan denounced the growing caste politics in the state and stressed on the need to put an end to it. He also expressed concern
BJP respects J-K Guv's decision to dissolve Assembly: Jitendra Singh
Union minister and senior BJP leader Jitendra Singh Saturday said his party respects Governor Satya Pal Malik's decision of dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, as it believes in maintaining the sanctity of the country's constitutional institutions. The Assembly was abruptly dissolved by the governor on the night of November 21, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. "The decision of the governor (to dissolve the Assembly) is paramount for us. Keeping in mind the sanctity and honour of the institution he heads, we will accept his decisions in the future as well," Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. The Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office was replying to a question about former BJP MLA from R S Pura, Gagan Bhagat, reportedly ...
Iran hails oil-for-goods deal with South Korea
Iran said Saturday it had finalised a deal with South Korea to trade oil for goods, skirting renewed US sanctions. "A mechanism has been devised for returning oil export revenues from South Korea, by which Iran's oil export revenue will be bartered with imported goods," Hossein Tanhayi, head of the Iran-South Korea chamber of commerce, told state news agency IRNA. Washington unilaterally reimposed a crippling oil embargo on Iran last month following its withdrawal in May from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal. South Korea -- a close political ally of the United States -- has cut Iranian oil purchases to zero from an estimated 285,000 barrels per day in the first six months of the year, according to Bloomberg figures. The sanctions also target Iran's banking sector and its ability to bring dollars into the country, but leave open the possibility of trade in goods. Tanhayi did not give details of the mechanism, but said a "joint fund" could be opened between their respective central ...
Romania celebrates 100th birthday amid rule of law concerns
Thousands turned out Saturday to celebrate 100 years since Romania became a modern-day state, amid concerns about rule of law and the state of democracy. Romanians waving the country's flag attended huge military parades Saturday in Bucharest and Alba Iulia, the Transylvanian city that symbolizes Romania's 1918 reunification. Crowds braved temperatures of -5 C (23 F) to watch tanks and military vehicles driving under the Triumphal Arch built after World War I. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday thanked Romania for contributing to global and Black Sea security as a NATO member and participating in missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. A statement said Washington stands with Romania "in its efforts to uphold democratic values and the rule of law...which are ... the foundation of economic growth and prosperity." The US and the European Union are among those criticizing a judicial overhaul initiated by the ruling Social Democrats that they claim will undermine the fight against ...
Modi, Xi say perceptible improvement in India-China relations post-Wuhan Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping concurred that there had been a "perceptible improvement" in bilateral ties after the Wuhan Summit as they discussed a wide range of regional and global issues during their meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here. During their fourth meeting this year, Modi and Xi on Friday discussed joint efforts to further enhance mutual trust and friendship between the two giant neighbours. The two leaders have met twice after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late April -- once at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in June in China's Qingdao and the second time at the BRICS summit in South Africa's Johannesburg in July. Asserting that the Wuhan meet was a milestone in the Sino-India ties, Modi told Xi that he was looking forward to host him for an informal summit next year. "Such initiatives are helpful in maintaining the momentum," Modi said, adding that there "have been two review ...
Rahul Gandhi insulting slain Army soldiers: Shah
BJP chief Amit Shah Saturday alleged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was insulting slain Army soldiers by claiming that the 2016 surgical strike across the LoC was conducted to win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. He said that today Army jawans have developed a sense of pride that their government is standing behind them rock solid. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi took revenge for Army martyrs. Rahul Gandhi is saying that surgical strike was conducted to win Uttar Pradesh election. You insult the martyrs of the country. You could not even show some courage," Shah said at a public meeting in Phalodi town of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. Addressing a gathering at Udaipur in poll-bound Rajasthan earlier Saturday, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the surgical strike was made public as the BJP was fighting elections in Uttar Pradesh. He also told the gathering, "Like during the Narendra Modi government, surgical strike was conducted thrice during Manmohan Singh government. Are you aware .
Parrikar holds meeting of Goa govt officers at his residence
Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Saturday held a meeting with government officers at his private residence near here and directed them to expedite completion of pending works. The meeting was to take stock of various projects, including construction of a third bridge on the Mandovi river, a senior official told PTI. Parrikar had earlier held a cabinet meeting on October 31 and met party officials the next day. "Parrikar has asked the officers to expedite the process to fill vacancies in various government departments and set up a deadline," said the official from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). Vacancies in various departments of the state government lie unfulfilled since the last two years. The process of employment has been put on hold since the last nine months due to Parrikar's illness which prevented him from attending office. He said the chief minister also took stock of the solid waste collection and discussed overall bottlenecks in governance arising
Talks between Lankan President and UNF lawmakers ends without breakthrough
Sri Lanka's main Tamil party - Tamil National Alliance (TNA) - said that President Maithripala Sirisena has assured that he will resolve the ongoing political crisis when Parliament meets again next week even as the talks between the two sides ended without any breakthrough Friday night. President Sirisena had invited ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Front (UNF) and the TNA for talks Friday night amid speculation that Sirisena may opt to restore the pre-October 26 status quo. However, the talks on Friday night ended without any breakthrough. "President admitted that Mahinda Rajapaksa has no majority. He wants another motion to be approved in parliament to prove the issue," M Sivamohan, one of the TNA parliamentarians who attended Friday night's talks, told reporters. The President, however, said that there are enough examples of minority governments functioning around the world, he added. TNA leader R Sampanthan said the President assured he will resolve ...