Page 2614 - Politics
Meet Manzoor Pashteen, the leader fighting for Pashtun rights in Pak
A young leader is changing the landscape of Pakistani politics one rally at a time, with his views attracting thousands to every public gathering organised by the movement led by him.Manzoor Pashteen, a young and ethnic Pashtun leader, drew a crowd of thousands at a rally organised recently in Bannu in Pakistan, according to a video uploaded by a Youtube user."Manzoor Pashteen climbs up to the stage - see people's response - and their numbers. Who would've thought that a totally new, rights based, secular, non-violent movement, led by a lad in his twenties, would attract such crowds in Pakistan of 2018. Stuff of fairy tales," tweeted a doctor named Mumtaz on Monday, sharing a video of Pashteen taking the stage at the same rally.At the helm of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), Pashteen's demands are the "bare minimum that citizens can ask from their country," according to Zarrar Khuhro's article on the Dawn."The removal of landmines, the status of missing persons, extrajudicial ...
US State Department spokeswoman under consideration for UN Ambassador
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert is under consideration to be the next US Ambassador to the UN, according to a senior Republican official.
South Korea asks U.S. for 'maximum flexibility' on Iran sanctions waiver
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has asked the United States for "maximum flexibility" on its request for a waiver to prevent South Korean companies from being affected by renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran, the foreign ministry said.
There is only one Trump: White House
There is only one Donald Trump, the White House has said, rejecting comparisons between the US president and the new right wing leader of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. On Sunday, Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil. His brash style and harsh statements have led many to compare him to the US president, referring to him as "Trump of the tropics" or "Brazil's Donald Trump." "There's only one Donald Trump in my opinion," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters when asked what she thinks about the comparison. Sanders said the US values its longstanding relationship with Brazil. "We want to continue to be able to work with them, and we'll see what happens from there," she said.
UN official meets Sri Lanka Speaker over political crisis
A UN official met Sri Lanka's Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and conveyed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's concern over the ongoing political crisis that has gripped the island nation.
US following development in SL, urges all sides to respect due process: State Dept
The United States is following developments in Sri Lanka with concern after a political turmoil sparked by the sudden sacking of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and urged all parties to respect the due process, a senior US State Department official has said. Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister, triggering political chaos in the Indian Ocean island nation. Next day, he suspended Parliament after Wickremesinghe, who had termed his sacking as illegal and unconstitutional, sought an emergency session to prove his majority. The president also withdrew Wickremesinghe's personal security and vehicles in order to accord them to his 72-year-old successor, who staged a dramatic political comeback. "The United States continues to follow developments in Sri Lanka with concern and urges all sides to respect due process," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI on Monday. "We expect
Illegal militants groups prevail in Idlib: Syrian Foreign Minister
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Monday stated that despite the Russian-Turkish agreements to enforce a demilitarised zone (DMZ) in the Idlib province, the presence of illegal militant groups armed with heavy ordinance continues to remain in the area."Speaking of the agreement on Idlib, of the creation of a demilitarized zone 15-20 kilometers wide, until now, the terrorists are present there with their heavy weapons, which indicate the lack of desire by Turkey to fulfill its obligations," Sputnik quoted Muallem as saying while addressing a meeting with the joint delegation of the International Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Peace Council. "Therefore, the Idlib province is still under control by the terrorists who are supported by Turkey and the West," the Syrian Foreign Minister added.Muallem's remarks come in the wake of the October 27 summit on Syria, held in Istanbul, wherein Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country had the right to ...
Newly appointed Sri Lankan cabinet sworn in
Newly-appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse's cabinet was on Monday sworn in amid increasing pressure on President Maithripala Sirisena to convene an early session of the Parliament.The Finance Ministry has remained with Rajapakse with Sarath Amunguma being appointed as the new foreign minister of the island nation. Additionally, a number of ministers who supported Sirisena during the previous cabinet have retained their portfolios.Meanwhile, claiming his majority support in the Parliament, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe demanded the convening of the Parliament at the earliest, calling upon his supporters to gather in Colombo tomorrow to protest his ousting.126 lawmakers out of the total 225-member Parliament have signed a petition, urging the speaker to call an emergency session of the Parliament. The speaker issued a warning, stating that the country's political turmoil could turn violent if an early parliamentary session is not convened.Police arrested .
Generals, 'Chicago boy' loom large in Brazil's next government
Brazil's far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is likely to tap army generals and an ultra-free-market economist for key roles in his cabinet. The former army captain styles himself as an outsider -- even though he has spent a long career in Congress -- and has mostly sought prospective ministers with little political experience. Bolsonaro, 63, wants to slash the number of ministries from 29 to 15, and has vowed to end the practice of using cabinet appointments as bargaining chips to build a coalition with other parties -- long a basic rule of the political game in Brazil. "He wants to reinvent the way the country is governed by ending the 'presidency by coalition.' It will be his biggest challenge," said Marcos Coimbra, a political strategist at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Brasilia. The cabinet will have "four or five generals," according to the head of Bolsonaro's Social Liberal Party, Gustavo Bebianno. That is likely to be controversial in a country still scarred by a ..
Former Australian prime minister warns of Indonesia reaction
A former Australian prime minister has warned the government to expect a negative reaction from Indonesia if Australia follows the United States by shifting its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke to reporters after meeting Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on the tourist island of Bali on Monday to discuss a bilateral free trade deal. "The president expressed to me ... the very serious concern held in Indonesia about the prospect of the Australian Embassy in Israel being moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview aired on Tuesday. "There's no question that were that move to occur, it would be met with a very negative reaction in Indonesia." "This is after all the largest ... majority-Muslim country in the world, so we have to be very clear-eyed about that and we have to take into account Australia's national interest and our interests in the region when we ... consider ..
AIADMK allots bypoll duties for party leaders
The ruling AIADMK party on Monday geared up for bypolls in 20 assembly constituencies by announcing rolls for various party leaders.
'US to announce decision of action regarding Khashoggi's death'
US is weighing "different options" concerning the death of a Saudi journalist and will announce its decision of action, said the White House.
PM Modi returns to Delhi after Japan visit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi early on Tuesday morning returned to New Delhi after concluding his two-day Japan visit.India and Japan signed six agreements after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe held talks in Tokyo on Monday.After the 13th bilateral summit, both the sides also made two key announcements on defence and development projects.In defence, it was agreed to establish a 22 dialogue mechanism between the Foreign Ministers and the Defence Ministers of the two countries to augment bilateral defence and strategic ties.India and Japan also called upon Pakistan to "bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, including those of November 2008 in Mumbai and January 2016 in Pathankot" in a joint statement delivered after bilateral talks on Monday.During his visit, Prime Minister Modi also wished Japan luck for hosting the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo, the G-20 summit in Osaka in 2019 and Rugby World Cup in 2019.India and Japan have also ...
Czech communist secret police had dossier on Donald Trump: report
Secret police in communist-era Czechoslovakia kept a dossier on Donald Trump after his first marriage to a Czech woman, Ivana Zelnickova, a Prague weekly reported in cooperation with Britain's Guardian newspaper. "Yes, the Trumps were in our line of sight," a former regional chief of state security StB, Vlastimil Danek, told the Czech paper Respekt. "We knew that Trump was influential. He didn't hide that he wanted to become president one day. We were interested in learning more things about him," he said. Married in 1978, Ivana Trump, a former skier and model turned businesswoman, is the mother of three of his children: Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric. They divorced in 1992. Trump allegedly began to think about running for US president in 1986 but gave up the idea as he thought that at 41, he was too young at the time. A note in the dossier read: "With his candidature, he wants to become an exception in American history. He wants to seek the presidency as a politically independent person.
Top Palestinian body backs suspension of Israel recognition, security coordination
A top Palestinian body authorised Monday the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to suspend recognition of Israel and stop security coordination with the Jewish state. The rare meeting of the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), a body of the PLO, in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank said the suspensions should be in place until Israel recognised the Palestinian state. Israeli and Palestinian security forces work closely together throughout the West Bank and any suspension would increase fears of an uptick in violence. The body made similar calls at its last meeting in January and in 2015, but the decision was ultimately not implemented by the PLO's executive committee and president Mahmud Abbas. A statement at the closure of the two-day meeting said that in light of Israel's "denial" of its obligations under agreements signed with the Palestinians, the PCC authorised the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority to "end their obligations... ...
Owaisi condemns Andhra CM's remark on attack on Jagan Reddy
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday criticised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu over his comments on the attack on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy at the Visakhapatnam airport."The attack was carried to kill him (Reddy). God has saved him. It's unfortunate that the incident happened at the airport. It's more unfortunate that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is making a joke of the incident. I expected that the Chief Minister will speak to Reddy over the phone and support him. Being a Chief Minister, he is joking about the incident. Andhra public is watching this act of the government," Owaisi told ANI.Naidu had last week termed the attack on Reddy as "drama" played on the direction of the Central Government."While our government is developing the state with our own resources, they are creating obstacles everywhere and are hampering development. There has been a prolonged friction ..
2019 elections: UP ministers, BJP leaders discuss strategy for polls
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday held a party meeting to discuss its strategy for the upcoming polls.According to sources, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Ministers and senior party leader were present at the meeting.Also present at the meeting were state president of the party, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Deputy Chief Ministers, Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was not present at the meeting.Sources said that in the meeting, responsibilities for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were decided.
White House to Bolsonaro: there's only one Trump
Brazil's right-wing president-elect Jair Bolsonaro better not get too carried away with comparisons of him to the US president. "There's only one Donald Trump," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders dead-panned Monday, pouring cold water on claims -- both from supporters and opponents -- that Brazil has produced its very own tropical Trump. Despite this, there were signs of a budding Trump-Bolsonaro friendship after the former paratrooper's election on Sunday. Washington has avoided any comment on Bolsonaro's long history of making comments seen as sexist, homophobic and racist, as well as openly praising torture and military rule under Brazil's 1964-1985 dictatorship. Instead, Trump was quick off the mark with a phone call to congratulate Bolsonaro on Sunday.
Trump talks with Bolsonaro; to work closely on trade, security
US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he had an "excellent" telephone conversation with Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, with whom he promised to work "closely" on trade and security.
Another suspicious package addressed to CNN intercepted
US authorities has intercepted another suspicious package addressed to the main offices of CNN, bringing to 14 the number of packages with the same characteristics sent to key Democrats and to the cable news network.