Page 2458 - Politics
Rajasthan: CM Raje flags off BJP's election campaign
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje along with Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Prakash Javadekar on Monday flagged off the election campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the state elections."From today onwards the election campaign has finally begun in the state of Rajasthan. It has now initiated legally and formally for the coming general assembly polls. BJP is connected with the people from grass root level. The people of Rajasthan have always favoured development. I am fully assured that BJP will come to power again in the state," Raje told media here.Raje further stated that the BJP will also bag the Tonk legislative constituency, from where Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) chief Sachin Pilot is contesting.The assembly elections will take place in a single phase for all 200 seats on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.
EU debates 'painful' details of Brexit divorce
European governments started to thrash out a plan for close ties with post-Brexit Britain on Monday in the last week before they gather to sign their divorce papers. Ministers from the other 27 EU members met in Brussels at the start of what Prime Minister Theresa May calls "an intense week of negotiations" ahead of Sunday's summit "A painful week in European politics is starting," Austrian minister for Europe Gernot Blumel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters. "We have the divorce papers on the table. 45 years of difficult marriage are coming to an end." The British leader has said she will be in the city herself this week to see the president of the EU commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, for last-ditch talks. Neither May nor European leaders are keen to reopen the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement that was grudgingly approved by the British cabinet last week. But both sides are scrambling to finalise a parallel political declaration that will set out a ...
Netanyahu says new elections would be 'irresponsible'
Israel's prime minister says it would be "irresponsible" to dissolve the government and call early elections. Benjamin Netanyahu issued the message on Monday, moments before his education minister, Naftali Bennett, was to announce whether he's pulling his Jewish Home Party out of the coalition. If Bennett leaves, it would cause the government to collapse and trigger new elections. Bennett has threatened to withdraw from the coalition to protest a cease-fire reached by Netanyahu last week with Hamas militants. Netanyahu's defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, resigned in protest. Bennett had demanded the defense portfolio as a condition for remaining in the government. But late Sunday, Netanyahu said he would take the job himself. Netanyahu says he will do whatever is needed to protect the country, regardless of his coalition partners' decision.
Sirisena asks MPs to call for another no-confidence vote
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has told MPs to call for another no-confidence vote on the government, after he rejected last week's no-confidence vote as unconstitutional, the President's Office said on Monday.
Impeached economy minister to head Iran oil firm
Iran's former economy minister, impeached less than three months ago, will head the national oil company as it works to evade renewed US sanctions, local media reported Monday. Masoud Karbasian, 67, was impeached by parliament on August 26 after only a year in the job, over his handling of the country's economic downturn. In a short statement run by the state-run Iran newspaper Monday, he vowed to "use four decades of experience... to overcome the sanctions crisis." Karbasian takes over the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) at a crucial moment following the US oil embargo that was reimposed on November 5. Although he kept a very low profile during his tenure as economy minister, he was praised in the reformist Sazandegi newspaper on Monday for his "anti-corruption" stance -- particularly during an earlier stint as head of customs. But there was some confusion over his appointment, since he is in breach of a new law barring anyone over 60 -- the age of retirement -- from public ...
Train services resume in Jammu after suspension due to Punjab farmers' agitation
Train services resumed here on Monday, two days after its suspension due to blockade by agitating farmers in Punjab near Dasua, a senior railway official said. The track was cleared for operations on Sunday night, he said, adding that two trains left for their destinations late at night. "The train traffic was resumed. Several trains have left for their destinations," the official told PTI. The farmers blocked rail tracks to protest non-payment of sugarcane dues by the Punjab government. Due to blockade by the agitating farmers on the Jalandhar-Pathankot section, five trains from Jammu to different destinations remained cancelled on Sunday, causing inconvenience to commuters for the second consecutive day. Hemkund Express from Katra to Rishikesh, Uttar Sampark Kranti from Katra to Delhi, Shalimar Express from Jammu Tawi to Delhi, Pooja Express from Jammu to Old Delhi and AC Special from Udhampur to Old Delhi remained cancelled as they had not reached their destinations Sunday. Due to
Trump's tirade against Pak a lesson for leaders who appeased US: Pak minister
Pakistan's Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari on Monday said that US President Donald Trump's tirade against Islamabad should be a lesson to those Pakistani leaders who appeased America after 9/11. Mazari's remarks came a day after Trump defended his administration's decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying the country does not do "a damn thing" for the US and its government had helped Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city. The minister in a series of tweets said that whether China or Iran, US policies of "containment and isolation" do not coincide with Pakistan's strategic interests. "Trump's tirade against Pak & his claim that that Pak does not do 'a damn thing' for the US shd be a lesson for those Pak ldrs who kept appeasing the US esp after 9/11! The renditions; the loss of Pak lives in US WoT; the free space for Raymond Davis & other operatives; etc etc," she tweeted. "The illegal killings by drone ...
National Herald case: Court changes Swamy's cross-examination date
Delhi's Patiala House Court on Monday altered the date of Subramanian Swamy's cross-examination in the National Herald case from January 8 to Januart 11.The Bharatiya Janata Party leader had filed the case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi and others.Swamy, in his complaint, alleged that both Sonia, Rahul and others misused party funds to buy a firm that published the National Herald newspaperThe recording of Swamy's statement as a complainant-witness concluded recently.Veteran Congress party leader Motilal Vora, who is mentioned in the complaint, told the court that Swamy was indulging in "character assassination" of the accused by tweeting.The court is likely to pronounce an order on Vora's complaint seeking directions to restrain Swamy from posting derogatory tweets regarding the case.In his complaint, Swamy also claimed that the Congress party president and others committed fraud worth Rs 16 billion by acquiring a public limited company Associated ...
Cambodian PM says no China naval base being built
Cambodia will not allow foreign military bases on its soil, strongman premier Hun Sen said Monday, swatting away US concerns about a possible Chinese naval site near hotly contested seas. China has lavished billions of dollars in soft loans, infrastructure and investment on the poor Southeast Asian kingdom, gifting Prime Minister Hun Sen a fast growing economy that he wields as justification for his 33-year authoritarian rule. In exchange Cambodia has been staunch China ally. It has seeded disunity among the 10-member ASEAN bloc of Southeast Asian nations over a diplomatic pushback to Beijing's aggression in the strategically pivotal South China Sea. Rumours a Chinese naval base is under contruction off Cambodia's southwest coast have been swirling. The area under scrutiny is in the Gulf of Thailand but gives ready access to the South China Sea. Beijing claims most of the flashpoint area, infuriating the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan who all have competing claims to its ...
Rahul hopes RBI Governor will show Modi 'his place' (Lead, rephrasing intro)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday charged the Centre with destroying institutions and hoped Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel will show Prime Minister Narendra Modi "his place". He accused Modi of attempting to "destroy the RBI" through his "puppets" and "cronies".
PTI delegation leaves for China on 7-day visit
A 20-member delegation of Pakistan's ruling Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday left for China on a seven-day visit.
Modi endangering lives by opening incomplete Expressway: Congress
The Congress on Monday alleged the Modi government and the Manohar Lal Khattar government are endangering the lives of commuters by inaugurating an incomplete Expressway in Haryana without any testing by engineers.
Kerala CM justifies police action in Sabarimala
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Monday justified police action in Sabarimala, saying those who tried to create trouble were arrested on Sunday night even as he accused the Sangh Parivar of implementing its agenda. "They were not Ayyappa devotees. RSS workers were camping at Sannidhanam with a motive to create trouble. The government cannot let anyone create trouble at Sabarimala," the chief minister said at the state conference of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). 68 persons were taken into custody from the Ayyappa temple complex in the early hours and brought to the Manniyar camp.. Asserting that his government was with the devotees, Vijayan said it was being targeted for trying to implement the Supreme Court order permitting entry of all women into the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. The chief minister said his government was not taking any steps to take women to Lord Ayyappa temple but made it clear that post the Supreme Court verdict, it has the ...
Top Yemen rebel calls for halt to military operations
A high-ranking Yemeni rebel official urged his leadership Monday to freeze military operations and stop firing missiles into Saudi Arabia as the UN prepares for peace talks. Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi insurgents' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted that he also wants his group to announce "readiness to suspend and halt all military operations". He called on "all (Huthi) official Yemeni sides to issue directives to end launching missiles and drones against aggression countries... in order to deprive them from any reason to continue their aggression and siege." He also said the rebels should be ready "to freeze and stop all military operations on all fronts" to achieve "a just and honourable peace". Huthi rebels have controlled the capital Sanaa since capturing it in late 2014. They have since fired hundreds of ballistic missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which since 2015 has led a regional military coalition aiming to restore .
Vietnam and Russia aim to triple bilateral trade by 2020
The prime ministers of Vietnam and Russia have agreed to nearly triple their bilateral trade volume to USD 10 billion by 2020 from USD 3.55 billion last year. Speaking to reporters after talks behind closed doors in Hanoi on Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the two countries will continue to expand their cooperation in the oil, gas and energy industries and transportation. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said bilateral cooperation in defence and security among other things has seen positive results. Russia is Vietnam's main weapons supplier. Phuc said the two countries will be able to cooperate more effectively through the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union trade deal, which took effect in 2016, and will boost bilateral trade volume to USD 10 billion by 2020.
Minister slams Trump over 'tirade' against Pakistan
A day after Donald Trump claimed that Pakistan "does not do anything" for the US, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari reminded the President about the human losses incurred by Islamabad over the years.
Leaders pay tributes to Indira Gandhi on birth anniversary
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi were among those who paid tributes to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 101st birth anniversary on Monday.
Hong Kong democracy protesters plead not guilty
Three of Hong Kongs most high-profile democracy activists on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges of public nuisance for their involvement in the 2014 street protests.
BJP fields Yunus Khan from Tonk against Pilot
The BJP on Monday, in its final list for the Rajasthan Assembly polls, changed its candidate from Tonk and fielded PWD Minister Yunus Khan against Congress state unit chief Sachin Pilot.
Train traffic resumes in Jammu after suspension due to Punjab farmers' agitation
Train traffic resumed in the city on Monday, two days after its suspension due to blockade by agitating farmers in Punjab near Dasua, a senior railway official said. The track was cleared for operations on Sunday night, he said, adding that two trains left for their destinations late at night. "The train traffic was resumed. Several trains have left for their destinations," the official told PTI. The farmers blocked rail tracks to protest non-payment of sugarcane dues by the Punjab government. Due to blockade by the agitating farmers on the Jalandhar-Pathankot section, five trains from Jammu to different destinations remained cancelled on Sunday, causing inconvenience to commuters for the second consecutive day. Hemkund Express from Katra to Rishikesh, Uttar Sampark Kranti from Katra to Delhi, Shalimar Express from Jammu Tawi to Delhi, Pooja Express from Jammu to Old Delhi and AC Special from Udhampur to Old Delhi remained cancelled as they had not reached their destinations ...