Page 2383 - Politics
Stage set for fresh Australia election in May
Australia is set for a May election showdown after the prime minister Tuesday announced a budget date in the new year and his weakened liberal party staggers on following another defection. Scott Morrison announced a new national spending plan for April 2, promised a fiscal surplus and hailed his party's custodianship of a booming economy in remarks effectively firing the starter's gun for the 2019 election campaign. Parliamentary budget rules and constitutional provisions about the length of campaigns mean the election will now almost certainly take place in early to mid-May. On Tuesday, Liberal MP Julia Banks -- who had earlier complained of party bullying and is an ally of ousted former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull -- delivered Morrison a hammer blow, quitting the party to become an independent. The defection put the ruling conservative Liberal Party two members short of a parliamentary majority. With his government in the minority and his party riven by divisions between ...
Ex-IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi joins BJP
Former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Aparajita Sarangi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday.Sarangi was inducted into the BJP at the residence of party president Amit Shah. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP's Odisha Chief Basant Panda were also present on the occasion.The 1994-batch IAS officer is scheduled to return to Odisha tomorrow and will be welcomed by the BJP leaders of the state unit.Sarangi, who was serving as the Joint Secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) under the Ministry of Rural Development, completed her tenure in August this year.
Mystery of black money has deepened further, says Shiv Sena
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre for failing to fulfill its promise of bringing back black money stashed money from abroad to the country."There are a lot of mysteries which the people want to know about in our country. Similarly, black money is one such thing," the Shiv Sena said in its editorial mouthpiece, Saamna.The Shiv Sena cornered their ally and blamed them for breaking the general public's trust and merely using it for garnering votes."They (BJP) had promised to return back money stashed abroad and each citizen would receive Rs. 15 lakh in their account. The public bestowed faith in them and they used it for hoarding votes. But with the next Lok Sabha elections approaching, neither the black money has been retrieved nor we know how much stashed money came from abroad?" the Shiv Sena questioned.The editorial further read that the ruling party has remained mum over the issue of black money and the authorities are also ...
J-K panchayat polls: Ballots prevail over terror attacks in Pulwama
Despite repeated attempts by terrorists to mar democratic processes, polling for Panchayat elections has begun in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.Polling began on a brisk note in the district at 8 am today, despite an ongoing encounter in Tral, which is merely 25 kilometers from the polling area.The Election Commission has set up nine polling booths in the region, where locals started to trickle after voting commenced.The region witnessed the last elections in the year 2014, when representatives of the State Assembly were elected.The terror-infested district, which is spread across 1,398 kilometres, falls under the Anantnag parliamentary constituency. By-elections in Anantnag were scheduled to be held in 2017 but had to be stalled eventually due to rising cases of terrorism in the region.Voting is also being held in Baramulla, another region that is a hotbed of terror activities. Voters were seen queuing up in large numbers outside a polling station in Noorkhan Bijhama to ...
Ex-Trump aide Manafort violated plea agreement by lying, prosecutors say
Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort violated his plea agreement by lying to investigators, prosecutors said Monday, as another former aide began serving a jail sentence for making false statements to the FBI. Manafort had agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as part of a plea deal in September. "After signing the plea agreement, Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel's Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement," prosecutors said in a court filing. "A breach relieves the government of any obligations it has under the agreement." In the same joint status report filing, Manafort's legal team pushed back against the government's assertion. "Manafort has provided information to the government in an effort to live up to his cooperation obligations," it said. "He believes he
Perpetrators of terrorist acts should be brought to justice: UN spokesperson
Any person who takes part in terrorist attacks or any acts of violence should be brought to justice, the UN has said as India marked the 10th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks carried out by terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. About 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the terror attack carried out by 10 LeT terrorists over a period of three days. Nine of the attackers were killed by the police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and hanged after he was handed down death sentence by an Indian court. "As a matter of principle, we always believe that those who are responsible for violence..random violence for acts of terrorism should be brought to justice," Spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric said at his daily press briefing Monday. Dujarric was responding to a question by PTI on the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks and the US State Department announcement to offer a five million ...
Woman describes torture, beatings in Chinese detention camp
A member of the Uighur minority on Monday detailed torture and abuse she says she experienced in one of the internment camps where the Chinese government has detained hundreds of thousands of religious minorities. Mihrigul Tursun, speaking to reporters in Washington, said she was interrogated for four days in a row without sleep, had her hair shaved and was subjected to an intrusive medical examination following her second arrest in China in 2017. After she was arrested a third time, the treatment grew worse. "I thought that I would rather die than go through this torture and begged them to kill me," Tursun, 29, told reporters at a meeting at the National Press Club. Human rights groups say China has detained up to 2 million Uighurs to promote what the government calls "ethnic unity" in the country's far west. On Monday, over 270 scholars from 26 countries released a statement drawing attention to "mass human rights abuses and deliberate attacks on indigenous cultures" taking place in
Cold wave sweeps through Kashmir Valley, Ladakh
A cold wave continues in the Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh region, with the coldest temperature recorded at minus 8.8 degrees Celsius in Kargil on Tuesday, Met said.
Pakistan-born woman pleads guilty to providing material support to ISIS
A Pakistan-born woman has pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) by participating in a scheme under which she wired over USD 150,000 to individuals and shell entities in Pakistan, China and Turkey that were fronts for the terror group. Zoobia Shahnaz, 27, of Brentwood, New York, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Joanna Seybert, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers said. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal last December, Pakistan-born Shahnaz was a naturalized US. citizen. She had come to the US using a family-based immigration system, under which she had got the US visa because of her family ties. According to court filings and facts presented at the plea hearing, between March 2017 and the date of her attempted travel to Syria on July 31, 2017, Shahnaz engaged in a scheme to defraud numerous financial institutions. Specifically, Shahnaz obtained a loan for approximately USD 22,500 by way of materially ...
INLD leaders resign in show of support to Ajay Chautala, sons
Followers of expelled Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders Ajay Singh Chautala and his sons Dushyant Singh and Digvijay Chautala, along with select senior leaders of the party, have submitted their resignations.The supporters of Ajay and his sons submitted their resignations on Monday, reportedly owing to unacceptable treatment of the ousted leaders by the party.Dushyant Singh's supporters further said a rally will be held in Jind on December 9 in order to show their support to Singh.Former Haryana chief minister and INLD Chief Om Prakash Chautala on November 14 had removed his son Ajay Singh Chautala from the post of the party's state unit secretary general and also expelled him from the party's primary membership for allegedly "vitiating the party discipline."This came nearly two weeks after Dushyant Chautala and his brother Digvijay were expelled from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect.Dushyant, a Member of Parliament (MP) from Hisar, was also removed from .
Alibaba's Jack Ma is a Communist Party member, China state paper reveals
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Jack Ma, the head of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and China's best-known capitalist, is a Communist Party member, the official Party newspaper said on Monday, debunking a public assumption the billionaire was politically unattached.
MP polls: EC to set up 65,000 polling booths, 2000 to be women-operated
Chief Electoral Officer, Madhya Pradesh, VL Kantha Rao on Monday announced that 65,000 polling booths will be set up for the assembly elections, including 2000 booths that would be entirely women-operated."3 Lakh government employees including 45,000 women have been deployed on polling duty. 65,000 polling booths are being made in the state. Around 2,000 entirely women-only polling booths would be functional. 160 polling booths will be fully operated by differently-abled personnel," he informed.Rao also announced that the silence period for Madhya Pradesh had begun, prohibiting all forms of campaigning in the state."With only 48 hours remaining from the end of polling, the silence period has begun for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections and all campaigning is prohibited now onwards. Any advertisement on print, electronic media or social media is prohibited. Campaigning through phone calls or messaging services is also prohibited."Rao further informed that special arrangements have ..
US 'slams the brakes' on UN Yemen ceasefire resolution
The US has "slammed the brakes" on a UN Security Council resolution calling for a limited ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid in Yemen over concerns about angering Saudi Arabia.
Another encounter breaks out in J-K
A second encounter has broken out between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir; this time, in Pulwama district.As per officials, Tral's Hafoo area, where the encounter is underway, is under cordon.Earlier today, an encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists in the Redwani area of Kulgam district.Two to three terrorists are said to be holed up in the area. Security forces are on the job to restrain their movement.Further details are awaited.
4th phase of J&K Panchayat polls: Voting begins
Voting started normally on Tuesday for the fourth phase of Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir under tight security arrangements.
US stands with India in its quest for justice for 26/11: Trump
On the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attack, President Donald Trump Monday said that the United States stands with the people of India in their quest for justice. In the barbaric attack unleashed on November 26, 2008 by 10 LeT fedayeen from Pakistan, 166 people, six of whom were US nationals, were killed. "On the ten-year anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack, the U.S. stands with the people of India in their quest for justice," Trump tweeted. "The attack killed 166 innocents, including six Americans. We will never let terrorists win, or even come close to winning!" he said. Kia Scherr, whose husband and a 13-year-old daughter were killed in the attack, thanked the president for his tweet. "May this day serve to remind us that love overpowers hate. This is the strength no bullet can kill. This is our true power. Thank you," she said. At a solemn event "in memory of the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks" at the Indian Embassy here, a top American counterterrorism .
Rajnath mocks Cong for not choosing Rajasthan CM candidate
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday launched a blistering attack on the Congress party and said that the Congress has not declared a chief minister candidate for the state, because they know that their party will lose if they do so.Addressing a public rally here on Monday, Singh said, "Congress is now in the election battle but it must be asked as to whom they would make the chief minister if they form the government. They know the reality that in Rajasthan they cannot form the government. But it must be asked that who their leader is. They cannot name their leader because they know that the day they tell a name, their Congress party in the state will be broken into pieces. Hence they cannot muster the courage to announce their leader or chief minister."He further took a dig at the Congress and compared its condition in the state with that of a groom less marriage procession."They (Congress) have taken out a marriage procession but the groom is nowhere to be found. Has anyone .
Rajnath mocks Cong for not choosing Rajasthan CM candidate
Addressing a public rally on Monday, Singh said Congress was now in the election battle but it must be asked as to whom it would make the chief minister if it formed the government
US stands with India in their quest for justice: Trump on 26/11
Expressing solidarity with the victims of the deadly terror attack that occurred in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, President Donald Trump here on Monday said that Washington stands along with the Indians in their quest for justice over the attack.The US President took to Twitter saying, "On the ten-year anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack, the U.S. stands with the people of India in their quest for justice. The attack killed 166 innocents, including six Americans. We will never let terrorists win, or even come close to winning!"Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, in a press statement released by the US Department of State, announced that Washington will reward up to USD five million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual involved in planning or facilitating the 2008 attack."The United States is committed to seeing that those responsible for this attack face justice. The Department of State Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program ...
Trump says Brexit deal may benefit EU more, block UK-US trade
US President Donald Trump has said that he does not like the Brexit deal between Britain and the European Union (EU), noting it seems to favor the EU more and might block the trade between Britain and the United States.